A Town Called America (26 page)

“Next you must feed on the blood of humans. You’ll crave it as a drunk craves wine, but in time you can learn to control it. When you don’t feed, you’ll feel pain like nothing you’ve felt before. The longer you go without feeding, the more intense it’ll be. You can, however, mitigate it with self-control.

“Your body is like that of a human—you’ll feel pain. You aren’t an invincible god; you can be hurt. The difference is that you’ll now heal much faster than a human does. A wound that takes a human months or years to heal will take you just hours.

“Your strength and speed will increase tremendously, as will the speed of your mind and thoughts. You won’t be able to control someone’s mind, but you can influence it—and the environment around you—in certain directions. You’ll also be able to manipulate objects. You’ll be able to move those objects with your thoughts, just as you’ll be able to converse without the use of your voice.

“You must breathe. You need air. The following is perhaps the most important: you must fear and respect water. If you’re thrown into the ocean with weights on your ankles, you’ll sink. Your lungs will fill with water; and you’ll indeed drown. Your body won’t be able to heal as long as your lungs are full of water. If this happens to you, you’ll be forever imprisoned on the ocean floor. Your soul will remain trapped there for eternity in purgatory. Again you must fear and respect water.

“I tell you this because the Nine will try to hunt you down if they find out you exist. So stay out of sight. They’ll do just as I’ve warned you about in order to keep only the nine vampires in control. They won’t allow any other vampire to live. Hear my words, Chris. You must fear the ocean as you fear the sun. Stay upon dry land, walking only at night, and stay clear of other vampires, as they’ll draw unwanted attention to you. There’s one more thing. Pure salt is a barrier and is acidic to your skin; therefore do not touch it. Saltwater on the other hand will burn you, but only to the point of a rash as it contains only dissolved salt. Lastly know that you aren’t a demon; you’ are just something higher than a human.

“Chris, after the global collapse, the vampires took Fort Bragg in North Carolina by force in order to gain access to weapons. That was just the beginning. The federal government already had collapsed. After months with no power or pay, most soldiers already had deserted their posts. After that it was easy for the nine to recruit soldiers and storm military bases, acquiring supplies, vehicles, and food.

“That’s when they built their army and a new government—the M.M.—to take the place of the United States. After the M.M. was strong enough, they moved west from the East Coast, looting, burning, and destroying anything in their path.

“The soldiers the Nine recruited into the M.M. are human, but the Nine control everything. They take able-bodied males from the towns they plunder and force them into servitude. In other words they become slaves, and if any slaves become too weak, the Nine use them to supplement their blood supply. After the collapse of the United States, it was the Nine who set off the EMPs.

“I myself am a Ghost. There are four of us, and it’s our job to hunt down vampires. We Ghosts aren’t vampires, but the Nine have given us certain enhancements that allow us to better carry out our duties.

“Now, Chris, you’ll sleep, and when you wake, you’ll see the world more clearly than any human ever has. There’s one more thing I need to tell you. Under no circumstances are you to tell anyone how we met.”

For nearly four hours, Rick had been running around the police station in a frantic but unsuccessful attempt to find Chris. No more doors were slammed; there were no voices or unseen people walking about. The building seemed to be completely normal, other than the fact that Chris had disappeared. The only thing he could now do was stay and hope for her to return.

When Chris finally opened her eyes after she had finished her transition, she saw the world around her as if for the first time. It was as if her whole life she had been asleep, and now she was finally able to see clearly. She was, for the first time, truly awake.

Every thought was like tapping into a huge supercomputer mainframe in which the entire universe was stored. Everything was there. She finally understood
everything
.

Through a window above, she looked up at the stars and, for the first time, understood exactly how they had been created. She saw a bird in flight and understood the aerodynamics of its body in relation to air and gravity.

She sat up and looked at Billy, who was sitting near her. He didn’t say a word, but she knew his thoughts.

Chris, there’s so much more I’ll teach you in time
, Billy said.
This is just the beginning
.

Chris smiled as she stood up.

Think about where you want to be, and you’ll move there. Like anyone who runs, you’ll eventually get tired, so go easy. If you go from here to there, it’s no problem
, Billy said, pointing to a spot thirty feet away.
However, if you try to go from here to, say France, well, not so much. You can control this, Chris. You must feed, but you don’t have to do it unnecessarily. Only take a life in order to sustain yours
.

Chris’s skin was now pale with the same slight irradiant glow the old man in the cell had. Her teeth were sharp, as that like those of a dangerous animal, and she felt powerful.

If your friend Rick or anyone else sees you like this
, Billy told her,
they’ll try to kill you. Now focus. You already know how to do it; you mustn’t appear like this when people see you. Wait here while I do some damage control with Rick. You can’t tell him about this. Do you understand?

Chris nodded, and Billy went upstairs, where he saw that Rick finally had fallen asleep. Concentrating he told Rick’s mind that Chris had fallen and hit her head and needed his help. He told him not to worry; she would be fine, but she needed him.

Rick woke up confused and with a headache. He sat up and put on his jacket then walked out the office door. After heading downstairs he went outside through the window through which he and Chris had entered the building.

As soon as he climbed through the window, there she was, lying under a tree, as Billy held her hand. Rick knelt next to her, and they held each other.

After that Chris didn’t have to explain anything to Rick. He’d only just met Billy, but because Billy had found Chris and tended to her head injury, he knew Billy was a friend. Rick also found that because Chris had hit her head, she no longer could tolerate sunlight. To Rick it all made perfect sense. Therefore it was the three of them from then on. They left the police station a few nights later, together on their horses, looking for a place to build their dream.

THIRTY EIGHT

C
hris was still in tears. She knew Mick didn’t understand what she was trying to convey to him. “So you wanted to know the truth,” she said. “Well, that’s it, the truth.”

“So you’re telling me you can control people’s thoughts,” Mick said.

“No, not control…just influence, and I don’t like doing that.”

“So…what happened to your last husband, this Rick person? Did you eat him?”

“I’m not some evil beast from the depths of hell, Mick. I didn’t ask for this…I’m still your wife.”

“My wife? You’re not my wife. My wife is Cara, and I don’t know who or what you are.”

“Mick, please, it’s me.”

Mick just looked at her as he pulled a handgun from his waist.

“That won’t help,” Chris said. “I could take that from you without thinking about it, but that’s not what I want. Please—”

When the pistol went off, Chris looked down at the bloodstain forming on her shirt. She fell to her knees before she lay down and closed her eyes. Whatever she was, Mick knew she was dead.

In shock, confused, and horrified, he dropped to his knees beside Chris. “My God, what have I done?” he whimpered, weeping.

Mick dropped the pistol, stood up slowly, and backed away from Chris, moving until his back reached the front door. Turning, he
saw Jessica and Egan were standing near the kitchen and had seen everything.

“Let’s go now,” Mick said to his children, as he turned them around and walked quickly to the bedroom. He finished packing a few belongings then rushed the children out the door.

After tossing their bags onto the horse-drawn wagon, he placed the children under the heavy canvas. Mick stepped over the two bodies on the ground. With one foot on the wooden step, he was about to pull himself onto the wagon when he heard a voice. As he turned he saw Chris standing not ten feet from him.

“That’s not possible.”

“Mick, please. It’s OK.”

“No, no, I killed you.”

Without another word he jumped into the wagon and grabbed the reins. “Ha!” he yelled, as the horses trotted off.

Chris stood watching as her family rode off into the night. She dropped to her knees and wept. Alone again, her spirit crushed, she knew this was the last time she would see her family.

After she had suffered so much loss, her chance at forgetting her past and living a real life was shattered once again. After all these years, she had endured so much: the abuse from her foster father and the horrific life she’d wanted to leave behind; then the loss of Billy, followed by the loss of Rick when he’d found out what she really was; and now Mick and their children.

Chris knew she could have stopped Mick. She could have pulled the children from the wagon in an instant. Nevertheless, if Mick were going to stay, she wanted it to be by his own free will, not because she had manipulated his mind. What cut her the deepest was that she hadn’t been able to say good-bye to her children.

Chris turned toward the house, and with her head hung low, she walked slowly. Taking shallow breaths, she felt the mixture of emotions that were building within her.
Billy was wrong
, Chris thought.
There is a demon inside me—a demon I didn’t ask to become
.

In an instant she dropped to her knees and pounded the ground with closed fists. “Why? Why did you curse my life?” she screamed as
loudly as she could, her arms outstretched as she looked up toward the star-filled sky.

All the rage, sadness, pain, and suffering she’d ever endured exploded within her in one moment. Her eyes became dark and her teeth sharp; the veins under her skin became luminescent. Chris stood up, and in a second, she was standing on the dock. The same pistol Mick had shot her with was in her hand.

“I don’t want this life anymore. Please, God…please take it back. I’m so sorry. God, please allow my children to forgive me.”

When the pistol went off, it was in Chris’s mouth. Her body fell to the dock, limp, as the bullet had exited through the back of her head.

Chris, don’t worry. I’m with you
.

The familiar voice spoke to her in her mind.

Billy?

Chris, I’ve always been with you. You’re my daughter
.

Where are you?

Did you forget everything I taught you? You can’t be killed—not by your hand or someone else’s. When you wake you’ll come to a town called America. I’ll be waiting for you with a few old friends
.

In that moment of clarity, Chris knew exactly what she needed to do. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to become a vampire. She had drunk blood only when it was necessary.

Since the time she first had transitioned, Chris had made every effort to keep the vampire within her from manifest itself. Oh, how many times could she have used her power to kill someone or change a situation? Other than at Robbie’s house when they were in a firefight with the M.M. she had managed to contain it. She hadn’t changed when she was hiding in that vent, watching slaves being loaded onto a flatbed truck, or any other time for that matter.

Yes, Chris had killed many people, and perhaps it would have been easier if she had let herself turn. But then again it was because Rick had found out that she was a vampire that he told her to leave. He didn’t try to kill her; he just asked her to leave. So, as difficult as it was, that’s exactly what she did.