The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning

by Harold Straugh

  “I will,” I responded.

  I kept leading the way, only stopping at a stream to shoot some fish for Yura and Mylicious. They thanked me and I noticed the scenery was getting less wooded and more open-fielded and mountainous, with some homes in places that weren’t there before. I knew it was going to be like that for the remainder of the trip, I was feeling a little lost.

  That night, I guess, Mylicious was feeling murderous, so, he transformed and took off into the night. I told him to be careful in his mind before he left, but didn’t respond. Yura stayed with me and with every sound, I could see her using her eyes, scanning the darkness.

  “Nature is more abundant here than there.” I spoke, hoping I could calm her down, “You’ll get used to it.” I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me, it was unusual for me to show any type of physical affection first

  “It’s been so long since I’ve heard this, I’ve forgotten, we don’t ever stay on the other land long,” you could hear the sadness in her voice.

  She was nestled next to me, I had a fire going well, when off in the distance we heard an animal scream. Yura shot up and looked around, “I take it Mylicious just found a meal.”

  “I hope so, maybe it’ll calm him down.” I said.

  “He’s not used to following, he’s not the leader on this land.”

  “That’s childish!” I said and left it that, we went back to staring at the stars, they weren’t as bright there, but they were still beautiful.

  It wasn’t but few minutes later that Mylicious came back, his face a bloody mess, “You know, I miss a nice cow here and there.”

  “I haven’t had a cow in a long time,” Yura perked up.

  “There’s a bunch over there,” he pointed to the west of us, “if you want one.”

  She was up and stripped down before I knew it, the darkness hid her transformation and it wasn’t but a few minutes later I heard the distinct scream of a cow being murdered. Mylicious walked over to the stream and washed off, then came back to the fire. He looked at me, the fire danced in his eyes, he nodded then laid back. After a few more minutes, his breathing changed, and he was sound asleep.

  It wasn’t but a few more minutes that Yura showed, she was in wolf form at first, then transformed in from of me. It was always weird watching three pair of breasts, go to two. She then, washed off in the stream, then went to sleep herself. I was left watching out the rest of the night for vampires. There was only one instant that night, that I felt one close by. It must have sensed me, like I sensed it and Mylicious and Yura, then left the area.

  I decided to do some bow maintenance while I was waiting for the sun to rise. I took some wax that I kept in a small pouch and rubbed the string down with it. I then inspected the bow itself for cracks, there weren’t any, but there were a lot of dings and scratches to it. It was an old bow and I was starting to feel like it was on borrowed time. I started thinking back at all kills and shots I had taken with that bow and I will not lie, I think I was sadder about the possibility of having to get a new bow than I was at the thought of Noemi’s passing.

  The thoughts and the fire dwindled down as the sun started to rise and I found myself staring off into it. I wasn’t paying attention, when Yura spoke, “I like the way the sun looks in your eyes.”

  “We have a lot of travel ahead of us, but the problem is now, some of this is looking different,” I mentioned, ignoring her compliment, and it was, it had been over eighty-five years and there were homes in places that was once barren land.

  “Is there any way Mylicious can help?”

  “Derium hasn’t responded to me in a long time,” Mylicous joined in our conversation, “I guess if his head isn’t attached to his body, he wouldn’t be responding.”

  “I am positive I’m heading in the right way, those mountains never change,” I pointed to the mountains, I knew Austria was a three day trip after the mountains.

  “Even if we do get lost, it’s still an adventure, on way or another,” Mylicious said, and got up.

  We picked up our pace a little bit, stopping only for Mylicious, Yura and the horses to rest. There were many graves, but Mylicious asked me to stop digging them up because we would have plenty of time afterwards to hunt them down.

  The rest of the travel went by smoothly, I only had to kill two vampires in front of Yura. Then, before I knew it, we were in, what is now known as Austria. There were so many buildings and so different from before, I was at a loss. We walked the town, of course, getting stared at. I let my brain do the work and decipher their language but said nothing to them.

  The dwellings were nicely built, way different from Judea, but just as nice. They all looked nice except one, that was right in the middle of town. It was decrepit, the green grass that filled the rest of the town, was blackened around the hut. The town was full of people and sheep and I noticed they all stayed clear of the black grass about as much as they stayed clear of us. I finally broke the ice, so to speak and asked someone about the hut.

  “What’s going on with this hut?” I asked a villager who was staring at me. She said nothing, the color drained from her already white skin and she stared at me, blankly, “Are you dumb, or mute?”

  “Neither,” she finally spit the words out, “I’m not fond of outsiders, none of us are,” she said. The woman I was talking to was in her forties, I would say. Her hair was long and blonde, and she had blue-grey eyes. She wore a robe of sorts, a tunic maybe, as did most people there. The fabric seemed light though, not the heavy garments that we were wearing, “That place is cursed, has been ever since my grandparents can remember. My grandparents said they tried putting a garden there and nothing would grow. They put a hut there and everything rotted and anyone who lived inside, would go mad. They burned it, but as you can see, it didn’t burn.”

  “Hmm,” after all the stuff she told me, that was the best I could come up with. I look over Mylicious, “I think that’s where his head is at.”

  “I can smell a stench of rot, I think you’re probably right.”

  I looked back at the woman, “What if I told you, I could remove this curse.”

  “We would be forever indebted to you,” she said, some of the other villagers heard me and they to stopped and listened.

  “Give me a little bit and I will remove the curse,” I told them.

  I walked on top of the black grass and people gasped. I could feel a difference in the atmosphere, it was dreadful. I walked up to the door and touched it and an image of Derium’s head, flashed in my head. I tried to open the door, but there was resistance and when I pushed harder, the hut moaned, yes, moaned. More villagers stopped and looked. I pushed harder and the wood gave under pressure, splintering into a hundred pieces.

  I walked inside and even though it was broad daylight outside, inside the hut was pitch black. I was hesitant to take another step, but what was I afraid of? I caused the darkness. I took a few more steps and the dreadful feeling was overwhelming, it was there, with my bare hands, that I started digging.

  The soil was soggy and smelled of death a thousand times over, but I was there and wasn’t giving up for the sake of Mylicious. With each hand full, the putrefied earth, oozed between my fingers. It felt as if I wasn’t getting anywhere with digging. I started to wonder why Mylicious and Yura weren’t helping me, but I focused back on the task of digging.

  My speed was pointless to use, it had to be slow and steady. After what felt like a few hours, I finally felt, the bane of my existence, in my hands. I couldn’t see it at all, but I could feel it. I made my ascent up the sludgy, side of the hole and exited out of the hut and cheers arose.

  Yura and Mylicious came rushing to me, even though I was covered in the foulness of the earth, “You act as if I have been gone for days, even though with some help, it could have gone faster.” I said and realized it was dark out.

  “You were gone for days and we tried to help. The door sealed up the minute you went in,” Yura said as tears filled h
er eyes.

  I stopped for a second to look at the skull of Derium, or thought it was a skull. His head was still intact, and the son-of-a-bitch was smiling. I tossed the head to Mylicous, “He’s all yours, I mean I could accompany you on the way to the mountains,” I offered.

  “That would be great!” Mylicous gleamed and put Derium’s head in a burlap-like sack.

  Yura smiled as well and gave me a hug, but it was then I noticed, my horse was gone, “Where is my horse?”

  “A strange thing happened,” the lady I talked to earlier spoke, “It just fell over dead the day after you entered the hut, but we can get you another one….if this lifts the curse.”

  Suddenly, there came a great rumble and the hut folded in on itself. The putrefied earth acted like quicksand and swallowed the hut whole. Instantly, the black grass started to fade, and green grass started to appear.

  I looked back at the lady, “I think that took care of it.”

  The village was ecstatic, Mylicous was happy and even though I felt, as if I had done a good thing, I was not happy. I should have been though, but I wasn’t, I just kept staring at the sack with head of Derium in it. I wanted to take it and smash it. I didn’t understand why I didn’t do it in the first place. I didn’t though and there I was, making everyone else happy except myself.

  As a token of their appreciation, the villagers, firstly, got me a horse, secondly, cooked up a feast. It was great, the food was great and finally, after years, I had potatoes for the first time in a long time.

  “I’ve never seen you eat so much,” Yura said.

  “Have you ever had these?” I asked, excitingly.

  “I can’t say that I have…” she started to say, but I shoved a piece in her mouth before she could finish talking. She looked appalled at first, then slowly started chewing up the potato. She half-smiled, “That is really good!”

  “You should try it,” I said to Mylicious, who took a bite and spat it out.

  “That tastes like dirt!”

  I was baffled, “You eat raw animals and you think it tastes bad?”

  “I’d rather eat my meal from the ass-end first than eat one those things again.”

  We laughed at that, of course we got strange looks from the rest of the people, because they didn’t know our language. I didn’t translate what was said either, I was the only odd one out in the group, Mylicious and Yura looked like regular foreigners. If I would have said what Mylicious said, it would seem more odd than funny.

  As the night wore on, the villagers wore out and soon it was just me. Mylicous and Yura were fast asleep, so I wondered around a little bit. I sensed no vampires around, I was starting to wonder if what I showed people had caught on and they were eradicating them. I did find it strange that there were vampires before Austria but not in Austria.

  I shook the thought from my head and looked over at Mylicous, who had Derium’s head the burlap-like sack, nestled next to him. I thought for a minute of picking it up and tossing it in the fire, then riding off into the night. I didn’t though, I was rather enjoying spending the time with Yura and Mylicous, even though it was resurrecting my dead, idiot brother.

  As night turned to day,we made sure to be on our way, long before any of the villagers woke up. My new horse was wider and slower than my old horse and would randomly stop and graze on grass.

  “Lucifer, are you playing tricks on me again?” I asked, and nudged the horse with my heels to get him to go faster. Yura was looking at me weird, so I told her the story of how Lucifer was my pet donkey for a little bit. I noticed Mylicous was looking at me, then I heard him in my head.

  “Careful about mentioning Lucifer too much, rumor has it, he’s a bad guy.”

  “Well, if she only knew who the real bad guy was,” I responded back, half rolled my eyes and shook my head.

  It would be another eight days before we reached the Carpathian Mountains. The travel was similar as before, I sought out graves, despite Mylicious’s wishes, while leading the way. I swear the bag that contained Derium’s head, would make noises. The activity picked up greatly the closer we got the mountains.

  There was one night, our sixth night out, that was brutal, and it was the first time Yura got to taste vampire blood. I had dug up eight graves that day, I couldn’t help it, and Mylicous didn’t understand, he thought I was still holding a grudge and didn’t see the vampires as the plague they are. We were all weary from out travels and were settling in for the night when I picked up the presence of a vampire, as did the other two. Mylicous and Yura were in the middle of eating a small cow.

  “There’s a few, off a way,” I said.

  “I’m glad you can sense them brother,” Mylicous said, chewing on a rib bone and tossed what was left, in the fire.

  “Seems we might have fight on our hands,” I got up from the ground.

  “Yes, I would say so, I can see them coming, there are about four, I believe we are outnumbered.” It wasn’t but a second later, Mylicous and Yura were stripped down and transforming. Once you hear the transformation, you can never get it out of your head.

  A tribe of four vampires soon surrounded us, hissing, fangs bared, hands arched in a claw-like manner. They hissed at us, like most vampires had done before. I never have and never will understand why they hiss. Anyway, three against four, them slightly faster, but Mylicous and Yura and myself stronger.

  Two went after Mylicous, I believe because he was the bigger of us three, but they completely, and mistakenly, underestimated, Yura and myself.

  The vampire that attacked me, had black, straggly hair, matted with dirt, a beak-like nose, when he hissed, his upper lip curled in both corners and an Adam’s Apple you could see half a mile away. He was slightly quicker than me, but I got ahold of his arm and that was it for him. I was able to rip it clean from its socket and tossed it. He stumbled back, which gave me time to punch him clean in his chest, destroying his heart. He fell to the ground when I pulled my hand out of his chest, my fist was covered in blood and a slimy substance.

  Yura wasted no time, swiping her vampire’s head clean off. We then turned our attention to Mylicous, who probably didn’t need our help, but got it regardless. He swiped at one vampire and she jumped out of the away. I grabbed her by her dirty, blonde hair, pulled her head back and bit into her neck. I felt the rush as her blood filled my mouth. I bit down even more and then, jerked my head back quickly, ripping out her throat.

  Yura and Mylicous had ahold of the last vampire, Yura had his feet and Mylicous had his arms, together they pulled, and the vampire ripped in half. Mylicous, then took and bit the head off the vampire. A loud, crunching noise terrified my ears as Mylicous chewed on the head. Brain matter dribbled out the corners of his mouth and coated the fur on his face.

  Oddly, I wasn’t covered in blood like I had thought, just had some running down my face, my clothes had a few spots. I was high on vampire blood and sat down and watched the fire. I zoned out as the two transformed back and got dressed, I then felt a tap on my shoulder.

  “You okay?” Yura asked, “your eyes are strange.”

  “It’s the likings of the vampire blood, it does something too me,” I said, watching the flames, “We need to toss the bodies on the fire.”

  We gathered the bodies, one still alive, but not moving much, and tossed them on the fire. A stench arose and green flames shot up from the fire. The horses didn’t care for the smell and acted up a little, stomping and neighing about. I just sat back down and watched the fire get brighter as the bodies burned.

  Mylicous and Yura prepared for sleep and I hated them for it. There wasn’t much time left in the night before the sun came up. What was left of the bodies burst even more into flames. Their burning bodies hissed in the flames, it almost sounded like they were alive again and hissing at me.

  Mylicous and Yura slept well into the day, I thought for a minute that they weren’t going to wake. So, I walked over and slightly poked Mylicous with a stick. He only stirred, but i
t was the conformation I needed that he wasn’t dead. I looked over a Yura, she was naked, blood smeared on her face, she was smiling in her sleep. I wanted to poke her with a stick as well, but I didn’t, I was just bored. It wasn’t soon after they woke up.

  There wasn’t a stream close by to wash off in and we had to travel a little bit before we found a small body of water. Mylicous and Yura were quick to rush into the water. The horses walked up to the edge of the water and started drinking. I simply just washed my face and started my reflection for a little bit.

  I had forgotten what I looked like. My pale skin, my white eyes and hair, my squared, jawline and slightly raised cheek bones. Even though I never plucked or trimmed my eyebrows, they weren’t bushy and arched slightly. I flicked the reflection, causing it to ripple out and then got up and looked at Mylicous and Yura.

  They were getting up out of the water and I found myself admiring Yura’s thick body once more. She had a gentle sway to her when she walked, causing her body to have little bounce to it. I watched as she flipped her head down, allowing her hair to dangle down, then flipped it back real quick. I even think I caught Mylicous looking, but he was quicker with his wits than I was.

  “You have something, trying to get out,” he said and pointed to my crotch. I hadn’t realized it, but I was erect, laughter broke out but I was embarrassed. I quickly turned around until it went away and when I looked back at Yura she was blushing.

  We waited a little bit before we left, the two seemed rather lethargic and I was getting slightly annoyed. They caught some fish from the pond and ate them, and even that seemed like it took forever. Finally, we got our horses and started back on our journey.

  I noticed more and more graves along the way, I dug them up as usual. I was expecting help, but when I looked back, Yura and Mylicous were asleep, upright on their horses. They didn’t even wake up when a vampire screeched, when it hit the sun. I said nothing, not that it would have mattered and got back on my horse.

  I spent the rest of the day entertaining myself. I found a nice wooded area, that didn’t have a path and went through it. I would dodge stray tree limbs and watched as the tree limbs hit Yura and Mylicous in the face. I then went through a rather deep river, which was thigh deep on me, not the horse. Their horses were smart and followed my exact route. I did think for a minute that the river was going to swallow us whole. That thought went away after a couple of steps, the horse started to rise out of the water. After I got out on the other side, I looked back and Yura and Mylicous were still asleep.