James couldn't stop thinking about all that he loved and lost, since the plague hit. He even missed the frivolous things everyone else enjoyed like
As James walked, he had already lost all hope. He knew that nothings would go back to how they were. He knew that the vampires were relentless, that eventually all men would die under the heavy cloak of night. And one day, even the day would cease to exist.
"The sun is falling. Grandfather. The sun is falling."
His grandson's voice was right. James had to find cover before the night came. The night was his enemy. The night was relentless and unforgiving and no place for man.
"The night is coming."
The road was littered with trash and a sun-bleached poster flew across the desolate road. The poster carried an illustration of the American future, of something that would never be. The cardboard poster was caught underneath a heavy rock. It shook like a leaf, then flew away, lifting into the cloudless grey sky, disappearing into the beyond, into the coming night.
"I'm coming for you, Steven. Don't worry," he answered the boy. "I'm coming for you. I'll never let you go. Never." He said those words, knowing that he or Steven would never step back into the light. It was a suicide mission that he was on. However, he promised Steven that he would never leave this world, like a coward and that they would make it to the end, together.
The sun was falling, as James headed into the night where death waited for him.
Since the black plague hit, James wasn't always alone. He always had the his grandson by his side. Together, they witnessed the horrors of men and creatures, alike. Together, they had made it as far as they could.
Until.
The sun was white, but the days were still hot. For a moment, he thought about the other survivors who he met on his journey with Steven. There were so many of them. Some were strong and evil. Others were good and weak. James was a bit of both, when he needed to be.
He could not remember their names, not all of them.
But, he remembered a group of people that he had just met in a place called "The Compound." From the road, it didn't look like much. On a large piece of land by a narrow river, there was a collection of three small structures, where three sisters lived. It didn't look like much at all. He was glad they were woman because every man that he crossed paths was a trickster at best. When the plague hit, America lost more than the night. We had lost any sense of good.
He wished that he had crossed their path sooner, though. Maybe, he wouldn't have lost the boy.
The group from "The Compound" warned James not to leave. "The Compound is the safest place to be at night," they told him. "You're an old fool. Do not to go out there, into the night. You'll never make it. No one has made it to the east coast and no one will."
Those that loved him most called him stupid, mad and possessed by the night itself.
"You're too old," they told him.
James knew that they were right about that. He was an old man. But, he wasn't frail, not at all. At age sixty, he was stronger than most men in their thirties.
Again they tried to deter him with reason. "You'll never find your boy, Willy. He's dead already, or something worse."
They were probably right about that, too. But, he didn't care. He still heard the boy's voice. And that was all that mattered.
The folks at the Compound tried everything to stop him, except for strapping him down to a chair. But, James was determined to find Steven, his only grandson, the last heir to his blood, the blue sky that once was.
When they asked him why he needed to go, he simply answered.
"Blood is thicker than night," he told them. And that was all.
The woman at the Compound knew that once Alberto made up his mind, it was difficult to change it. They knew that he would not stop looking for the boy until he found whatever remained of him. The sisters inside the Compound knew this about about James very well. Two of the sisters called him stubborn. One of them called him passionate.
During the time James stayed with them, he was one of the best workers that the Compound had ever had. He did whatever work the sisters needed to get done. He was more useful than some of the other men that had been there for years. Alberto was diligent, exact and hardworking. His hands were large and rough and worn with age. His hands were so muscular that he could not tighten a steel bolt with his fingers. At least, that was what the kids were saying.
Many inside the compound tried to kept him from leaving. But no matter what they said, he would not listen to them. He couldn't. He could not turn away from Steven. He could not accept that the boy was gone.
So Alberto opened up his ears to listen to the boy's voice that called to him and only him.
"The sun is falling and the night is coming."
He knew that the boy was now one of them, who dwell in the night. But, he did not care. He believed that there was still some good in the boy's blood. That was what he meant when he told the Compound that blood was thicker night. And that was all that they needed to understand. This was his business and no one at the compound would get in his way.
He knew that the voice echoing in his mind was not some kind of delusion. So, he allowed himself to be enchanted by the boy's voice and to be taken by it. He was sure that the voice would lead him to the boy.
"Come to me, Grandfather. Come to to me. Walk as fast as you can. Hurry."
Every time James heard the the boy's voice, he was surprised by how the night communicated with him. Instead of being fearful, he became curious about the nature of the creatures who ruled the night, hunting and feeding off of men.
As James traveled across the Midwestern plain, he heard the little boy's voice, as if the boy were floating right beside him. The whole time, the boy whispered in his good ear and it echoed, like waves of hot gas rising from underneath the soles of his leather boots.
The highway was dry and cracked as he headed toward the remains of the town where he grew up, the Town of Broken Tree. He headed there to get the boy back, to hold him and to tell him that everything was going to be alright, that the boy no longer needed to be afraid of the night. James needed to tell him that the Almighty bathed all - who believed in him - in eternal light. Not even the night could take that away. He wanted to hold the boy again, regardless of what the boy had now become. Steven was his grandson and would always be his little boy, his future.
Since the outbreak, Steven was his responsibility when the creatures of the night had taken his mother and father, shattering the boy's family into pieces.
"Hurry. Grandfather. Hurry." This time, Steven's voice echoed in the distance, in the direction he was going.
James remembered the night when they took Steven. He had a foolish idea that there was more to this world than a never ending grayness that stretched into the horizon. James confided in the boy about his plan. And Steven believed that his grandfather might be right.
So, James risked their safety to travel to east coast. He did so because a part of him still believed that the oceans were, still full of life. Not even the night could touch the endless bounty inside the ocean. If there was fresh food on the coast, he could safely harvest sea food during the day and hide at night. He could even teach the boy how to fish, before he passed away. He hoped to leave the boy with some way to survive.
So, Alberto and the boy began their journey and traveled from Midwest to the East Coast. He was sure that they could make the journey. He was sure that he could protect the boy, too.
However, he was wrong. No matter how much he prepared, the night was something that they had to deal with even during the day. It happened so quickly. It was a month ago, when the night came upon them. James was so tired that he let his guard down and those ungodly creatures took the boy.
It happened before James found the Compound. In reality, it was the Compound that had found him, at his weakest.
A small group from the Compound was in the mist of searching for fresh water, when they ran into James. By this
time, he had just lost Steven and was cursing God himself. He was in ruin and could not stop feeling that he had nothing left to live for. His entire family was gone and he had no one left to love him. God's world was a foul place indeed.
James stood in an wide dirt field, surrounded by wilted trees. The white sun was about to fall and he stood there waiting for the night to take him, once and for all. After losing Steven, he had lost the will to survive.
The small group from the compound moved fast through the wilted forest, when they came upon James. At first, they were unsure, if he was human. There were three in all, Mary, Irene and Melissa. They were sisters and the head of the three families that lived inside the Compound. They watched James stand in the field from behind a tree.
"We should go," Melissa told her her two sisters. "If that old fool wants to die, then that is none of our business. Lets go."
"She's right, Mary. The night is coming." Said Irene. She and her sister Melissa got up to walk back to the Compound. But, Mary did not move. She kept her eye on James, the whole time.
"Come on Mary. What are you waiting for?"
"I need to know who he is. Maybe he has seen others."
Mary came out from behind the tree and called out to him. "Hey! What are you doing? The night is coming, Mister!"
Irene and Melissa tried to keep Mary from walking toward James. "What are you doing? Leave him alone. Besides. How do you know that he isn't one of them?"
"Let me go Melissa!"
"How do you know?" Echoed Irene.
"Don't be stupid. He's human. The blood suckers are tied to the night. In all this time, I haven't seen one out in the day, not like this. Everyone knows that."
Mary called to James again. But, he did not turn around to face them. He stood there without moving, only looking at the sun. He in stood very well that sun was falling.
Mary continued walking toward James and her sisters walked behind her with machete in hand. Mary called out to him again. "What are you doing Mister?"
"My name is James," he answered, but did not turn around.
"What are you doing James?"
"I want to watch to the sun set in peace. That's all."
"And then?"
"Then, I'll enter the night and never come out. That's all. Is that alright with you?"
Mary looked him over and signal to her sisters to grab him.
"It's not. You'll attract some unwanted attention our way."
Mary grabbed Jamess arm and he resisted. He wasn't going to attack them. He just wanted to by left in peace.
"Let me die, damn it!"
"Let me die. I don't want to hear my boy's voice anymore." He broke free of Mary and walked a few paces ahead. He fell on hid knees and began to cry. "I'm sorry Steven. I'm sorry. God, why have you abandoned us? What has he done to you."
As James lamented his eyes became bloodshot. The veins along his neck bulged out, as if they were going to pop.
Mary kept her sisters from approaching him. She took the machete from her sister's hand and walked up behind him,
Mary could not allow James to die, no matter how much he pleaded. There were few survivors and the world needed everyone they could find, if they were going to take back the night.
Mary took the butt of the machete and knocked James out. All three sisters took him to the compound, before the sun disappeared.
When James woke up, he was in bed and clam. There was an i.v. connected to his arm to rehydrate him. His eyes were blurry. When they cleared, he saw Mary sitting by his bedside. She sat next to him, rubbing his forehead.
"Everything is okay James." But at the time, he could only think of the boy and his eyes brimmed with tears. "James, there nothing that you can do for the now...nothing." Eric knew that that was true." Tell what happened out there Eric. Tell me why you wanted to die. Why would you want to give away everything that the Almighty has given you."
James was about to laugh in Mary's face when he heard her words. He had not thought about the Almighty, since he was a boy. His mother had taken him to church only once. To James, the Almighty had never given him anything. Instead, the Almighty had taken everything away, his wife, his son and daughter in law, and now his grandson.
He was about to laugh. But, he could not. Her voice was soft and hypnotic, like the crest of an ocean wave washing over him.
Mary placed his her hand on his chest and asked, "Tell me James. How did you lose him?"
It was a month ago when James and Steven were on the run and hiding under a pile of wooden planks in an abandoned rest stop on I-80. They were making their way to the East Coast. The place was bare and night was coming. They barricaded themselves in the washroom of the rest stop.
Steven looked at the white sun and said, "the night is coming, father. We have to hurry."
That night, James and the boy had only a few moments before the creatures came upon them. In that moment, James tried to teach the boy something important, something that could save the boy's soul. Something that his mother once told him after his last time in church. He didn't know why it seemed appropriate. But, it was something that Steven should also hear.
As they hid, James and the boy's ears began to buzz with what was about to come upon them. The night was coming, quickly.
James kept the heavy planks of wood from crushing the boy. They had been in this place before.
He had prepared the place where they hid. And all the preparation that he did that day, did nothing to slow the horde down. He stuck his head out a little further than he should of. He was to anxious to reach the coast.
James held the boy and kept one hand on his knife. He needed to have it ready, if the dark one broke through the bathroom door. He had found the knife sometime ago. It was on a dead backpacker along the side of the road. It was serrated on both sides and the most useful tool he had.
James thought about his son and his daughter in law. "Please," they said. "Don't let Steven become one of those ungodly creatures. Please father. Don't let him turn."
In the dark, James unsheathed his knife and kept his ears alert. He could not let the night take the boy's soul.
"Steven, look at me." James tried to explain something important to the boy, something he should have told him a long time ago. James remembered what his mother told him, such a long time ago. He didn't understand why it pooped into his head at that moment. Maybe it was the fear or desperation. Anyways, he repeated it to Steven, word for word.
"God makes all things come true, Steven. Remember his name, Steven. Always keep him in your heart. He makes all things come true, like the water, fire, earth and dreams."
"And the night too?"
"Yes, even the night. But, listen to me. There is one more thing, I want you to know."
There was another loud bang on the bathroom door and Steven held his red flashlight and it turned on. It shined in his face, "The night is coming father."
"Listen, Steven. Listen closely."
Bang! There was a loud slam outside the bathroom door. Then another. Then nothing.
"The night is here, father." He whispered. "The night is here," the boy panicked. "What are we going to do?" Steven buried himself in his James's arms. He thought that his grandfather could protect him. They were both so scared of what was flying out there, in the night.
The sounds outside was unnatural. First, they heard something that sounded like rain, except the rain fell against the building sideways. Then, the rain felt like a thousand pebbles falling in a metal bucket. Finally, the sound felt like large rocks being thrown at the wall behind them. The wall shook and they braced themselves. Outside, thousands of large black bats pummeled the building, rocking it back and forth, with them holding on to dear life.
"Tell me grandfather. Hurry, what's his name?"
James knew the creatures of the night were upon them and he looked at the boy and saw fear in his eyes. He was so scared himself that he could not answer the boy's question. His words got caught in his throat.
Any hope that remained, vanished. He wanted to give the boy a chance to believe in something good before he died. He wanted to give the boy a good death.
James could not let the creatures of night take the boy alive. It was pitch dark and James brought the knife to the boy's neck, without him seeing. He could not let those monsters take the boy. He imagined his boy's face and his eyes watered and his stomach started to feel empty.
"The night is coming Grandfather The night..."
The pounding outside the bathroom door became louder and louder. The night was now inside the building.
Before James had a chance to tell the boy anything, the night covered them both in darkness and the boy was gone.
The night itself had snatched the boy from his arms and nothing remained. He felt as if someone took a bite out of his stomach and he didn't feel a thing.
It all happened so fast and he did not have a chance to tell the boy the Almighty's name. And if the boy had just believed in him, he would have been allowed into an everlasting light.
The boy never heard a word. The cold hands of night made sure that the boy was forever damned.
In the end, they left James alive. But, they took the boy to torture his soul, to take away hope in this world, to weaken him. So, that James would just give up and submit and they would no longer hunt him.
"Grandfather, help me. Come to me. Walk faster. The sun is falling and night is coming."
James stared at the darkening sky and the sun was dying. The night was coming and an uncontrollable fear rose in his throat. His hands shook with fear. Something unnatural and unholy waited for him out there and he could not turn back. The world he once knew was now gone.
Between James and the small town of Broken Tree, there was a thick layer of gray ash that radiated from the center of the small town. Resting on the dry earth, individual piles of black ash radiated from the town of Broken Tree.
"The dead are there, under the ash." Steven whispered in James's ear.
Purge of the Vampires Page 14
