“Can’t you just do what you remember happening when you was evolved or whatever you call it?”
“I could try.”
“Good. Then I reckon I could try to get you out.”
27
Cali had waited a long time for this moment. Ever since her first conversation with Shelly she’d been looking forward to the day they could plant their garden.
They had ordered seeds through Master a long time ago. Every day that he came to eat and didn’t bring them, Cali hoped but didn’t dare ask. Master had made it clear it displeased him when his humans asked for things. After a few weeks, he finally brought the things they needed for the garden—a thick plastic trowel, seeds, a few small plants, and a bag of soil to add to the pots lining the garden area.
Shelly smiled so big he looked plain ridiculous, but he didn’t say a word until Master left. Cali ran to him and jumped into his arms, and he spun her around, both of them laughing. “I can’t wait,” Cali said, trying to control the size of her own smile. “Let’s go plant them right now.”
Together they carried all the equipment out to the balcony garden. Once the snow had melted, they could see what lay in their garden. Two long garden beds ran the full length of the area with a narrow space to walk between. Plastic strips held the dirt in the beds in place, and in a few places where they’d collapsed, dirt spilled onto the concrete walkway. Cali and Shelly fixed these as best they could. Under the beds a system of cups would hold water and the roots of plants that grew through the dirt.
Shelly had insisted on requesting a rose bush from Master. Cali had said it wasn’t food and he’d never get it, but Shelly had just shrugged and said he’d ask anyway. He didn’t think Master even knew what kinds of plants humans ate. As it turned out, Shelly was right. They put the potted rose next to the railing so it could climb the bars and then got to work. Since Master didn’t seem very suspicious of their order, they decided to ask for more soon. A fall garden, maybe.
They planted squash, potatoes, peas, green beans, turnips, tomatoes, herbs, and melons. Neither of them knew what would grow there at what time, although Shelly had a better idea as he was from closer to the mountains than Cali. They waited for the plants to come out, checking several times each day and spending most of the days outside weeding the little garden from the seeds that blew in or had been in the soil already. They watered and weeded, watched and waited.
“I love every part of gardening,” Cali said. “Even this part.”
“I only love the part where the food comes,” Shelly said as he and Cali combed the garden, speculating on each new sprout and bud.
“I love all of it,” Cali said, standing and stretching towards the sun. After so many months of cold and snow, she couldn’t get enough of being outside.
“I think it loves you, too, girl,” Shelly said, smiling. “You look just gorgeous in the sunlight. I don’t blame Master for wanting to eat you up.”
“That’s rotty,” Cali said, laughing. She squatted to examine a curled bean leaf.
“You look so good I’d almost eat you up,” Shelly said. “If only you were a boy.”
“If only you liked girls,” Cali said, flicking dirt at Shelly. “That’s the thing that would be normal, or even possible.”
“Hey!” a voice called. Cali and Shelly both looked around. “Over here.” They looked to see a face pressed to the bars of the garden above and to the left of theirs.
“Oh, hey,” Cali said, smiling at the boy. “You scared us.”
“I didn’t know nobody lived there,” the boy said. He looked young, maybe seven or eight, with shaggy hair. “Last few years it’s been empty. What’s your names?”
“I’m Cali and this is Shelly.”
“Shelly’s a girl’s name.”
Shelly laughed. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Sam, and down there is Martin and Terry,” the boy said, pointing down between his garden and Cali’s. On the level below was another garden built in the same way. Through the bars on the top of the garden they could see two people looking up at them. Cali strained to see them, since her head didn’t fit through the bars and she couldn’t see below very well.
“Hey, Martin and Terry,” Sam called. “The empty place is full. Cali and Shelly live up here.”
“Well, I’m glad you got a neighbor,” a woman’s voice said. “Nice to meet you, new guys. What are you growing?”
They talked through the bars of their garden that day, and soon they knew all the other gardens and their owners, and they all talked and gave gardening tips during the day. Cali and Shelly had settled into their new life.
At night, things weren’t going quite as well. Master came in one night and got his usual meal, but instead of leaving while they drained blood into his cup, he stood and watched them for a while. “Have you impregnated the female yet?” he asked Shelly.
Cali frowned into her cup. She had a name, and Master knew it. If he didn’t like it, he could change it. She didn’t like being called the female.
“Oh, we’re trying,” Shelly said, smiling up at Master in the most adoring way.
“I’d like at least one baby by next year,” Master said. Cali glanced at Shelly. They wouldn’t get any babies ever, if he didn’t change his mind. She didn’t see why it mattered that much. Maybe he did like boys. But he could still try it, for her. She thought he could do it once. Maybe he’d like it with her. She didn’t know if she’d like it, but she was willing to try. Why couldn’t he?
“We’ll do our best,” Shelly assured their master, handing over the cup he’d drained his arm into. Cali handed hers over too, and Master left.
Two weeks later, he was back asking again. “Are you impregnated yet?” he asked Cali.
“No, Master. I don’t think so.”
“Are you even trying?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Maybe you’re not doing it right. It shouldn’t take so long.”
“We’re doing our best,” Cali said, trying to swallow her humiliation. She didn’t care who Shelly liked. She would do her best just so Master would stop asking about it.
“What’s the hold-up then?” Master asked. “Do you need some help?”
“No!” Although Cali didn’t know what his help would entail, she didn’t want to find out.
“I’ll talk to another owner and see what they do. I know this isn’t natural. You should be halfway to birthing by now.”
When he had gone, Cali turned to Shelly. “Come on, let’s just try it. Just do it for me, okay?”
“I can’t just do it, sweetie. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not? Just do it even though you don’t like it. I don’t even care if you like it or if I like it. Let’s just do it until I’m pregnant, and then we don’t have to anymore.”
Shelly laughed. “I told you, I only like boys.”
“Well, that’s just unnatural.” Cali stood and stomped into the bathroom to shower before bed.
The next night Master came in just before morning and found Cali and Shelly sleeping. He switched on the lamp and bit them quickly, handing each of them a cup.
He moved away from the bed while they milked their arms. “I’ve talked to one of the men I work with, and he told me he had a similar problem with his saps breeding,” Master said. “So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take your clothes, and you can have them back when you’ve made me a baby.”
Cali looked up in alarm. Having Master see her naked was worse than all the unhealed bites he left in her arms. Her sisters had once teased her about her modesty, asking her where she got it. She didn’t think she was awfully modest, but she didn’t want to walk around without clothes all the time either, not even in front of Shelly. “Please Master,” she said. “Can we have another week? We’ll try harder. Every day, I promise.”
“Good. Try harder without clothes. The man down at work said once he took the clothes from his saps, they just mated like rabbits. Take off those o
nes you have on now, too. If you can call these clothes,” Master said, making a face as he accepted the raggedy nightclothes Shelly wore. He held them away from him and looked at Cali expectantly.
“I’d like to keep my clothes, Master Superior,” she said. “At least my underthings.”
“Are you arguing with me?”
“No, Master Superior. I’d just rather not give up my clothes.”
Master went in the bathroom and emerged with the scratchy jumpsuits they wore during the day. He went out into his own apartment, only to come back a few minutes later empty handed. “Your clothes,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Do it,” Shelly hissed, staring at Cali like she’d gone crazy.
“No.”
Master was beside them so fast Cali barely saw him move. His hand whipped across her face, and her head snapped back like her neck might break. “Do not disobey me, you worthless cuntscab. You can’t even produce a baby for me to sell. Don’t forget your place here is to do as I tell you.” He took the cup from her hand, downed it and tossed it on the floor. Then he grabbed the front of Cali’s shift and yanked. She fell forward with the force of his pull, and he dragged her from the bedroll onto the floor.
She struggled, panicked, and scratched at his arms as he loomed over her, huge and scary. When he hit her again, her head swam in blackness. He ripped away her clothes, lifted her and threw her onto the bed.
“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he said, completely calm and collected now. He used her shift to dab at the drops of blood she’d raised on his forearms. Cali huddled sobbing on the bed. Master took the cup of blood from Shelly, drank it in one swallow, put it on their counter and left the room.
Shelly moved over and patted Cali’s bare shoulder. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll be okay. I can’t believe you talked to him like that. Girl, you got bigger balls than I do. I’ve never seen anyone talk to a Superior like that.” He gave a shaky laugh, then got quiet for a minute and just sat patting her shoulder. “I’m sorry you got hurt. He hit you so hard I thought your head was gonna fly off. You gotta be more careful, girl. You know you gotta do what they want.”
Cali pushed Shelly’s hand away. “Oh yeah?” she said through her tears. “Then how come you won’t try to make a baby for him? Isn’t that doing what he wants? If it weren’t for you, this whole stupid thing wouldn’t have happened.” She pushed Shelly away again and pulled the blankets over her head. Master had humiliated her in front of Shelly, and it was his fault. Now she had no clothes, and she’d have to walk around naked, feeling more stupid and humiliated. Plus, her neck and shoulders and face hurt like crazy.
28
Draven didn’t see any of the homo-sapien men for a month of days. He didn’t see Sally for two weeks after his talk with her, but he was grateful for the absence of the men and didn’t dwell on Sally’s. For many days he lay without moving, letting the food she’d given him fuel his healing process. Although he grew hungry as soon as his body used the energy, he could once again move his legs, which seemed more than a fair exchange. He turned his legs back to the correct angles, clenching his teeth to keep from screaming while he worked. He didn’t want to call attention to himself.
Sally returned after a few weeks and brought more packets of food and the jar of water. The next day, she brought only six packets and told him the food was gone. He had eaten two weeks’ worth of rations—all he’d had in his bag when they had caught him. They’d held him captive for nearly six months, and he’d eaten only enough to sustain himself for a fraction of that time in a healthy state. And he’d been forced to use the energy for healing.
Although he didn’t regain much strength, he did regain motion in his limbs, and a tiny, delicate hand sprouted from his wrist. He removed some of the larger wooden shards from his body, since his flesh could not heal where wood remained lodged. Sally continued to visit, but the rest of her family did not. Draven found at least a bit of relief in that. Sally came every night, talked to him, and brought him water once he’d finished the food and she had nothing else to bring. Once, she brought him a quart of sap. He did not ask where it came from, but when he drank it, he recognized the taste of animal blood.
“My brother shot us a deer,” Sally said.
“It makes me want to vomit,” Draven said.
“Can’t you drink it?”
“Yes. I need it.” When he finished, he handed the jar back to her, a ring of partially congealed blood clinging to the rim. They both made faces of disgust. She left and returned shortly with a jar of water.
“Does your family not wonder where you have gone these nights?” he asked. “After what happened with your sister, I would think they’d not allow you to be alone with me.”
“They think you’re dead, and they don’t know I’m out here nohow,” Sally said. “I sneak out when they’s sleeping.”
“Will they not dispose of my body somehow if they think I’ve died?”
“I reckon. They don’t think about you much no more.”
“My fascination as their plaything has worn off then.”
“Yup. They was talking about you th’other day, and I reckon they’ll be out here soon to check up on you. Besides, Pappy has the only key, so they figure you’s just laying out here not needing no attention. You ain’t stinking yet, so they ain’t been out to check.”
“I do appreciate this, Sally. I know you could be shunned for helping me.”
“Yeah, I could. But you’re gonna make me live forever, so I reckon it’s worth getting in trouble over.”
“I suppose it is,” Draven said. He had thought of Sally’s request the last time they’d talked. He’d had much time for thinking.
“Don’t you go changing your mind on me now, you hear?” she said. “You can’t back outta this. A deal’s a deal.”
“Yes.”
“I mean it, mister. You want to see that human girl you love, you best be thinking about what-all you need to change me over. Is there anything you need me to get for the changing?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“You don’t believe so? Don’t you know how to do it?”
“I imagine.”
“Dang it, you better know. Even I know a little about it, from Angela.”
“I don’t need anything,” Draven said quickly. If he told her he did not know precisely how the process occurred, she might not release him. And he must get out.
“Good, then I reckon it’s all settled,” Sally said, sitting back in her chair. “So, this human girl you love. She love you back?”
“I do not love her. And no, she doesn’t love me back,” Draven said, then quickly corrected himself. “She doesn’t love me, either. It’s not right to love someone of a different species.”
“Why not?”
“It’s unseemly and…” Draven searched for the correct word. “Unnatural,” he said finally.
“I’m sorry,” Sally said. “That’s real sad. I think it would be a good story iffen you loved a human and she loved you back.”
“It’s not a story, it’s reality. And I wouldn’t want her to love me. I have to hurt her every time I eat. For her to love me despite that would be like a dog that loves a master who kicks it every day, but still it stays and cowers on the ground loving the one who beats it. I don’t want Cali to be a dog, and she’d have to be to love me.”
“I can see that.”
“And anyhow, humans do not love the way we do. Just talking about it is strange and distasteful.”
Sally shook her head. “Humans love just about the best way there is, I reckon. You probably don’t even remember after a hundred years.”
“I remember well enough. I never loved anyone much while I was human. Or anything, except perhaps some silly ideas about life and freedom.”
“Well, that’s doggone sad. Were you around when humans done ruled the world?”
“No. I cannot imagine how that was possible. We’re so much more advanced, it doesn’t
seem possible that at one point we allowed ourselves to be hunted almost to extinction when we are so capable of dominating humans.”
Sally shrugged. “I ain’t got no idea. I read some books, but none of them say nothing about it. I reckon if there were just a few bloodsuckers, it might be hard to control so many people.”
“That’s true. Will you come and bring me more to eat if your family hunts more animals? I need to be strong for the escape, and I’m still quite weak.”
“Really? I brought you all them packages of food.”
“My body was severely damaged, and it used that energy for healing. I can overpower a human, but I’m not strong like I should be.”
Sally put her arm through the bars. “I’m strong,” she said. “You can eat right here.”
“Sally…”
“Go on and do it afore I change my mind. Pretty soon I’m gonna be a bloodsucker too, so I best get used to seeing how it’s done. Besides, I’ll be strong at the start, right?”
“Yes.”
“All right then. I can’t have you getting all weak on me when we need to escape.”
Draven put his teeth in her arm and drank before she could change her mind. It was the best food he’d had in some time. When her flow began to ebb, he closed the vein, turned her arm and closed properly the two other marks he’d left open on the previous occasion. Strength surged through him almost immediately, along with a sharpness of mind. He made certain he hadn’t left any other scars.
Sally didn’t complain about the pain, just as she hadn’t complained about the pain of the scars before he’d pulled the pebbles from under her skin to remedy them. He never liked to leave a bite open, but he hadn’t been in his right mind the last two times he’d drawn from her. He’d been so desperate that he hadn’t thought of it until later, when he lay healing himself.
When Sally left that night, Draven thought of what she’d said about Cali. Sally said that he loved Cali, which was obviously impossible. But he did love little things about her—her scent and taste, the life that emanated from her, the spark of defiance in her, the way she didn’t bow and scrape, the way she laughed. But loving a homo-sapien in the way Sally meant was simply wrong. He couldn’t explain the pull she had over him. He only knew that he had to have her, now more than ever.
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