“Okay, I think I must be dreaming all of this and you are not real and neither is any of this. I need to just lie back down and go back to sleep. This is all too crazy for me, and this is just not true,” I say. I look over at Stella, and then I pull Max closer to me and give her a big hug. “You do need to get some more rest. Pulling you through the caves we saw that you had a sprained ankle, which we gave you some pain medicine for and that is probably ready to wear off, so we should give you a small dose now and that will help you relax for a little while. I know this has been a lot to take in. First you were chased by beast creatures, as you were calling them in your sleep, and now I am telling you that werewolves and vampires exist and that your friend Cody is captured by a vampire and that you could also be captured by a vampire, and that the both of you could have your blood drained out of you, and you both could die. I could see how that all sounds crazy, and I could see why you would think that I was making all this up. So rest is a great medicine for you, and after you are feeling up to it we can get you something to eat, and I can show you where you are. Now, please take these two pills. One of them is for the swelling, and the other one is for any pain that you might be feeling, or will be felling,” replies Stella with a twitch of frustration in her voice.
“I hope I did not just offend you in any way, it is just a lot to take in at this time for me.”
I take the pills and do not argue about them. The pills start to make me tired so I close my eyes.
I wake up to Max licking me on the face. I look around the room and see Stella sitting in a chair across the room and it looks as if she might be napping. I pet Max and try to stay quiet so that I do not wake up Stella. I decide to sit up a little in bed and look around the room. The room has an old look to it, almost like the cabins back at the summer camp location. I can tell the room that I am in is like a makeshift clinic or hospital room. It has some cabinets and counter space along with a few doctor-type instruments lying on them and different types of medicine bottles along with bandages and some sort of scissor-looking things. I begin to wonder if Stella is the only one here, since she is all I have seen and since she seems to be about my age that she is not a doctor unless she is really smart and skips a lot of grades. I notice over the doorway hanging garlic. I am thinking someone is playing a joke on me: they are playing a good one and they are going all out to get me. Not sure why, but they are doing a great job.
I look over to Stella and she seems to be moving around. I think that she must be okay because Max is not growling at her or trying to bite her. Max actually is very comfortable around her. Everything that has tried to hurt me so far Max has growled at them, and has tried to protect me from them. I guess she is safe, then. Stella rises up from the chair and says, “Oh, you are awake. Good, now let me go get you some soup from the kitchen and I will be right back with it. After you eat you should get up and see about walking around a little. You have been in that bed for like two days now and you need to get your blood flowing.”
“Good, of course. I have more questions for you, so please when you get back and I have eaten some soup, and you have given me my clothes, then we can talk, and you can introduce me to whoever else is here,” I reply. I look around to see where my clothes are. I cannot see them in the room anywhere, unless they are in a cabinet somewhere. The door opens and in walks Stella.
“Okay, I have your soup and some bread, and some water. You look dehydrated so you need to be drinking some water,” Stella says.
“Thank you for getting this for me. I am starving. I need to get something for Max to eat also and get her some water,” I say.
“First, you are welcome, and second, Max has been eating a lot since she has been here, and she has been drinking lots of water. She is not shy at all,” says Stella.
“This soup is very good. Whoever made it did a great job,” I say.
“Well, I did not make it, my mother did,” Stella says.
“So you live here with your mom and dad?” I ask.
“No, my mom is here with me and my uncle, but Dad died years back. He was killed by one of the Wasioux. Right after I was born, one of the Wasioux had captured my dad and was feeding on him on the night there was a full moon. The Wasioux went too far and drank too much blood, and my dad could not recover from all the lost blood,” Stella says.
“What? That is terrible. I am sorry. You said your dad was captured, what does that mean?” I ask.
“It means we do not go out of our houses on the night of the full moon, and definitely not on a double full moon. My dad ran out of the house to help one of our villagers: when he heard him cry out for help, he opened the door and ran outside. Once he did, one of the Wasioux grabbed him and started biting him. The Wasioux was new to being a Wasioux and was excited and loving the taste of blood, and he kept on until he had taken too much of my dad’s blood. I was told the other Wasioux tried to stop him, but could not get him to stop. He had cried out for help, but no one would go outside of their house to help him. Everyone was afraid of being bitten. It was said he lay out in the middle of the street all night and my mom had to watch him dying through the window. She wanted to run out the door and help him, but my uncle would not let her. Once the sun rose then everyone ran out to help him, but it was too late: he had already died. My mom grieved for several years. My goal is to kill Otaktay one day and with you here maybe you can help me do that,” Stella says.
“What, you want me to help you kill them? I could never do that. I have never even fought someone before. I could not harm a flea,” I reply.
“I don’t mean right now. I mean when we get Cody free, you can help me kill the head vampire. Before we can do that I will need to help teach you to fight. Otaktay has a few vampires that protect him and they are very mean when they are vampires, so in order to take Otaktay down we will need to take them down first,” Stella replies.
“So you are a fighter, and what does that actually mean, ‘fighter’? Other than vampires, which by the way I do not believe exist, what else do you fight against?” I say.
“Well, I also fight wereboons when they are in pursuit of someone. What the wereboons do is catch people on a full moon and take you to the Wasioux, or sometimes they rip open people and decide to eat them. If it is a full moon and they are very charged up and they are hungry, there is about a 50-50 chance that the people make it to the Wasioux village. Your chances of living are greater if the Wasioux capture you: at least they only bite you on a full moon and drain your blood, but they don’t kill you. They need you to stay alive so they can feed off of you again at some other time,” Stella replies.
“Then why do they allow the wereboons to take the people to them, especially since they know they might be killed?” I ask.
“The wereboons are the pets of the Wasioux: they bred them years ago and ever since they have always been the protectors of the Wasioux. You do not get close to the Wasioux without going through the wereboons first. They guard the whole area where the Wasioux live and you have to get permission to even speak to the Wasioux from the wereboons, unless you are friends with someone who lives there,” says Stella.
“What? What do you mean, you have to get permission from the wereboons? You mean you have to go meet with them and then they give you permission? Do you speak to them in some kind of wereboon language? What, you growl at them and they growl back at you and that’s how you speak to each other? They’re animals: you can’t understand them,” I say.
“Well, actually the head of the wereboons, their leader, can actually speak English. The Wasioux taught him. He was the first one who was born and they started training him after he was born,” Stella replies.
“Okay, this is getting just crazy. First you tell me there is a creature that is a breed between a werewolf and a baboon, and then you tell me that there are vampires that are real, and now you are telling me the hybrid werewolf and baboon can speak English. Man, I must have really hit my head hard to be hearing all this. I think I need to lie
back down and go to sleep, and hopefully this crazy stuff will all be gone away,” I say.
“What? This is not going away. This is reality and you need to understand what you walked into. You came here trying to help save your friend; well, this is the situation that your friend Cody has gotten himself into. How are you guys even friends? He is tough and you are weak. He saw all this and he knows it’s real. He has lived it and is living it right now. He didn’t believe it at first until he saw our people getting kidnapped, and then some of them were killed and some of them bitten by the Wasioux. He also saw how our people become friends with the Wasioux, because we work with them and we go to school with them, and we basically grow up with them. Then everything changed because Cody said he was going to find a way to kill Otaktay. We had a plan and he did not stick to it and got caught,” Stella says.
“Cody is easy to get distracted, I am not that way. I need a plan for everything. I need to go over it several times before I will ever act upon it,” I say.
“Well, we will have to come up with a new plan and I will need to train you and teach you everything I can. We only have a couple weeks until the full moon and then the next day is the double red moon. Remember the full moon is when the Wasioux become vampires and will drink your blood, but the double moon is when they can drink your blood and if it is the rare blood they can find immortality and live forever and not age. That is when they will be killing Cody. If you have ever used a weapon, what are the weapons of your choice?” Stella asks.
“I am okay with a crossbow. I have not every killed anyone, though. That will be something new for me. You asked how Cody and I met: it was years ago at summer camp. We have been best friends ever since,” I reply. The more she talks, the more excited she gets. She is very pretty. The more I look at her, the prettier she gets. She is around my age: you can tell she is not weak and that she has been defending herself all her life. She looks to be very strong and very smart. You can tell she does nothing but train on her fighting skills along with constantly trying to come up with a plan to defeat and kill the Wasioux. She is obsessed with it, but you cannot blame her with all the hurt that she has seen in her life. She has probably lost more family members than just her dad, along with very good friends. I will need to find out all she has been through so I can make sure she doesn’t do anything that can get us killed. I will let her train me, and while I am being trained I will pick her brain. I need training badly because I have never gotten into a fight before and I am not sure I could ever kill someone.
“When are we going to begin training? I am ready to get started.”
“Well, we still need to let your head heal a day or two. You hit your head very hard and you need some time to get better. So we will give it a day or two, and then we will start training. We have a few crossbows for you to use. We also have guns and knives. So there are a few things we can train with. When the Wasioux become vampires they have so much power and strength. They are also very fast, and will be on top of you in a split second. Part of your training will be to befriend a couple of them and then get to know their behavior. The more we know everything about them, the better it will be for you. I know a lot about the Wasioux behavior, but you are going to need to learn what behaviors they have also. I will not always be with you, and you will know their weaknesses then, and that will help a lot. So rest and I will be back in a little while to check on you. I will get you some clothes to change into along with bathing stuff so that you can wash up before we eat supper later. I know you are probably bored and want to get to training, or doing something. I get that, but we need to make sure you are a hundred percent first before we do anything else,” says Stella.
“Okay, I will lie back down and rest some before you come back. I do want to make sure I am a hundred percent also. I will need all my strength watching and listening to the behaviors of the Wasioux: I don’t want to miss anything. I want to know them inside out before we make our move on them. From what you have said, they are very strong and very fast. They are also very smart. It will take everything I have to make this happen. Trust me, I would like to go over there right now and start shooting them with a crossbow, but that would only get me killed, or get me caught like Cody did. He should not have let his guard down and he would not have gotten caught, and I am sure he should have listened to you guys also. I bet there was a pretty girl involved. He is not normally weak unless there is a girl involved.”
“Yes, you are right, he did start liking one of the Wasioux and her name is Aponi, but we call her Sandy: that’s what she wanted to be called. She happens to be a friend of mine. We have known everyone since we were little kids. She is not a vampire yet. She has never bitten anyone. She does not want to, but she has no choice because that is their culture and if she hasn’t bitten someone by the time she is 18 they will turn her anyway,” Stella replies.
“Can’t she just run away and keep running until she finds another town to live in and start afresh?” I say.
“No, the wereboons guard everyone and she would not get far. They are at our schools like guards protecting them. There is no way she would ever be able to get out of their sight. Cody met her in the village and became friends with her. He tried to get her to run also. He said he would take her away and then she would not be destined to be a vampire. She could live her life normally. Well, when he was courting her and going into their part of the village and learning everything about them and her, he had cut his finger and they smelled his blood and that’s how they figured out his blood was different and her brother knew what he needed to do. If they kill Cody, then that’s it: a few of them will be able to drink his blood and we will never get to kill them. They will be immortal and they will want to feed all the time then. We will have to worry about being bitten by the immortal ones every day. We cannot allow that to happen. That’s why we have to get Cody out of there and save him before they kill him. I know you have the same blood so we cannot let them find that out. I need you to help me finally be able to defeat them and then we can have our lives back. We have been living in this misery for years. I really thought with Cody coming in here and him being from the outside that he would have a fresh perspective on the situation and we could come up with a good plan. I did not count on him falling in love and becoming weak. He is so masculine and strong I figured basically he would kick butt and take names later. Well, you see where that got him. Him being masculine and strong made me weak, and I did not see what was happening right in front of me. I would not have been able to stop him from falling for her, but I would have been able to slow the process down and maybe have been able to come up with some options to try and help our cause,” Stella says.
“Well, I know Cody and if he has his mind set on a girl, then you would not have been able to stop him or slow him down. He is all in it when he starts liking a girl, and it takes a while to slow him down and let him see if she is worth it or not. The only way to make him see straight is to lock him up somewhere for a few days, not literally, but you know what I mean. You have to pull him out of the situation for a few days and then he comes back to his senses. She must be something really special for him to even get close to her family. He usually stays away from the girl’s parents. He just wants it to be them and no one else.”
“We can talk about this tomorrow. You need to get some rest. We have lots of training to do. I need you to be 100 percent. My mom cooks a mean breakfast. You will love it. Do you have everything you need for this evening?” Stella says.
“I was wondering where Max is,” I ask.
“She was getting some food and water. I will bring her in here. Here she is,” Stella says.
“Max, there is my girl. You ready to get some rest?” Max runs and jumps on the bed and I give her a big hug and she is licking me and then lies down beside me. “Okay, goodnight, you two,” Stella says.
* * *
CHAPTER 12: GETTING TO KNOW THE VILLAGE
* * *
I wonder what time it is? I h
ave been asleep it seems like forever. It’s very light in this room so it must be later in the morning. Max is still asleep next to me. She must have really been tired. I wonder if she has slept all the way through, or did she get up at some time during the night and then come back to bed? I know I didn’t move all night. I was dead tired. I smell food and it smells wonderful. There is a knock on the door. “Come in.”
“Good morning, you two, breakfast will be ready in about fifteen minutes,” Stella says.
“Good morning to you also. We will be ready in a few minutes and come out. It smells very good. Look at Max, she is all perked up when we start talking about food. She must be hungry.”
“Well, she slept the whole time you did, so I am sure she is hungry. We have to get training soon. I need to teach you how to use the weapons and I need to teach you all about our vampire friends. You will need to know everything. Time right now is not on our side. So get ready and let’s eat and then we can get started,” Stella says.
She turns around and leaves the room. She has a lot of energy this morning. It’s still strange being in this village where they live primitively: they don’t use electricity except for some things, and they are old-fashioned and cook everything old-fashioned. I wonder why they like to live this way. I am going to have to ask Stella why that is. I just don’t understand it. It reminds me of the Amish somewhat. I guess if you are used to living like this, then the way we live is probably strange to the people in this village.
Alright, Max, I see Stella found me a change of clothes. Not sure where she found them, but I will take it. I need to take a quick shower, though. I saw a shower stall in the bathroom. One thing they do have is running water and somehow some hot water. I open the bedroom door and go the bathroom. Max follows right behind and lies down in the bathroom. The bathroom has one sink, and a little shelf by it that you can put stuff on, and then it has another shelf that has towels and washcloths on it. Then you have a clawfoot tub along with a wooden shower stall. “Some people, Max, pay good money for wooden shower stalls.” Okay, I am done with my shower and I open the bathroom door and follow the smell of food down the hallway. “Wow, the kitchen is huge.”
HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP Page 8