Created (Book 1 of the Created) (16 page)

The scent had made me aware of the danger, but I hadn't been
able to place the origin.

I knew I needed to improve as a vampire or I was nothing
more than a weak human. I had been singled out because I was new and they were
testing me to gauge my reaction, though I wasn't sure if I had passed or
failed. Considering the reaction from the smaller wolf, I took myself as being
viewed as nothing more than a chump. I tried to shake it off, but the anger was
only getting worse inside of me. Obviously, a side effect of those damn pills.

Remnants of the foul aroma still hung in the air.

Trying to regain my composure as the anger flooded through
my very being, I lowly growled, "Wolves.
Damn, ugly ass
wolves."

My shoulder was healed by the time our bus pulled up to
carry us home. The injury was sore, but my shoulder was again in place and
useable.

I was ready for the bus ride. I think everybody was tired
since not a solitary word was spoken. It truly had been a long stressful day.
The day had not been all bad and the kiss with Veronica was a pleasant
surprise. The issue with the wolves was something of a different matter.

Why hadn't we been informed of the wolf team? The question
was nagging at me. It bothered me more than any fallout that was to occur from
the kiss with her. Lingering on the issue of the wolves being on the same
school site gave me time to reflect on my own stupidity. Neither Liam nor
Veronica had acted out of character when the group was sensed. For all I knew
the information was in our packet or even in the training I was missing. There
were definitely more drawbacks to not having been involved in the total
process.
 

I reassured myself that given time, everything would work
out in the end, plus there was only one more day of school this week. During
the weekend I was going to see if one of the guys would help me get acclimated.
Asking either Veronica or Darby for help was best, but given the current
climate with both, that seemed less than ideal.

Darby. Thinking of her reminded me to do one simple task
tonight; lock the doors and windows so we didn't suffer a repeat from last
night.

Having been lost in my own thoughts, I didn't realize how
tiring dealing with the duplicity of being a vampire in a human school could be
for us all. Looking around the bus, I realized that most of the group, except
for Veronica, was in the sleep state. She looked to be lost in deep thought, so
I opted not to bother her. Besides, the gentle, peaceful rocking of the bus
back and forth on the rural roads leading to the base made me relaxed, so I
decided to get some rest myself.

I closed my eyes. My thoughts were calm and peaceful as I
felt myself inch deeper into my sleep state. The relaxation allowed my mind to
become clear as I drifted along. The last image in my mind was of the cute
blonde girl I had knocked down in the hallway at school.

The bus had stopped moving and Veronica was standing beside
me. "Ethan, we are home. Ethan...Ethan
wake
up."

My eyes sprang open at the last call of my name. "We
are to the base already?"

We were the only ones on the bus except the driver.

She looked annoyed. "I am going to go through the list
one last time if you would pay attention. The feeding is tomorrow night and it
is optional, though I do think you should come get to know everybody better and
see how we co-exist. While I am thinking about it, make sure you pick up some
Inhibitor from me tomorrow morning before school, but be sure to do so in
private so that the others don't want to take a sample for themselves. It will
be the same departure time in the am. Now, let me think if there is anything
else."

Veronica stared at the ceiling and counted out details on
her fingers as if she was consulting a checklist in her mind. "Get some
rest. Walter is requesting we all go straight to our homes this afternoon to
get recharged and ready for tomorrow. He has imposed a curfew on school nights
at 10:00 pm until week three,
then
we are on our own.
There will be GZ13 sentinels used to guard our doors and windows until then. Be
sure to let your guard smell your hand before you enter the house that way we
can insure and imprint with your particular guard. The guard is already on
station."

She tried to turn, but instinctively I took her hand in
mine.

"Can we talk about the encounter today with the other
group?" I tried to be cautious about what I asked about around the driver.
"I know I should have reacted better to his act of intimidation, and I am
sorry that I didn't."

Veronica tilted her head, thought for a second then motioned
for the driver to step off the bus. "The wolves are a bunch of jerks.
Especially Haley, the one that bumped into you.
Tristan is
the short one who flipped you off. The big one is the worst. He even still goes
by the name John. Avoid dealing with them at school at all costs. If there is a
problem and it becomes personal, then save it for the Farm. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

I stood up as she began walking down the stairs out of the
bus. "About the other thing..."

Veronica cut me off. "It’s ok. I actually enjoyed
it."

I was going to discuss the manic state I had entered and
leave the make out session alone, but I was glad she had said what she did. In
fact it made me grin a little. Hell, a lot.

We walked separately to our houses. I watched her disappear
into the house before I tentatively approached the front porch of my own abode.

Along the sides of the house were two roaming decomposing
figures of death, each of who were chained to the wall with a very large, thick
metal chain. The chain must have weighed at least thirty pounds easily. The
heavy burden did not seem to deter as the figures shambled back and forth along
the narrow pathways along either side of the house.

The afternoon sun cast my door guardian in shadows which
made it indistinguishable to determine its nature until stepping fully onto the
porch with the figure. The figure paused his patrolling of the small enclosure
to watch my approach. I had read about the other creatures on the Farm, and
from their descriptions this thing on my porch was a zombie. The zombie was
exceedingly thin with a very gaunt face. The Z, as stitched on its uniform, was
in heavy decomposition with a very agitated disposition as I approached.

The creature lunged for me as I reached for the door handle.
I caught the zombie in mid attack and held him back by its fragile neck. The
undead guard was no stronger than a human, but possessed a tenacity and resolve
unlike anything I had encountered so far on the Farm. Despite its inability to
bite me, it countered with constantly snapping jaws of razor sharp metal teeth
and lethal finger nail tips of metal.
 

"Shit, who makes a freaking super zombie with stainless
steel teeth," I quipped before I realized it was the same people who made
herds of wolves and vampires, which included me.

My smart-aleck remark was not well thought through, but I
recovered nicely and proceeded to prolong the battle with the zombie until I
could formulate a plan.

Carefully, I tried to combat the zombie without getting
myself ripped to shreds. I had to dodge swat after swat as well as barge after
barge of attempts to wound me by biting with the steel mandibles.

The fight could have ended fast had I chosen to break the
neck of the zombie, but the poor thing was doing the job it was designed for
which was the protection of my house.

Thinking fast about how to react, I slammed the unyielding
zombie against the wood frame of the door. The hardness at which the sentinel
struck the house should have ended or slowed down the onslaught, yet the
attacker rose slowly then sped to continue with the job at hand.

As the zombie jogged toward me, I stepped aside to snatch
him around the neck, shielding myself from any harm. Shoving my arm under his
head I forced the jaws closed then placed my other hand under the nose of the
predator. I held my hand in place until there appeared to be something
resembling recognition, which in this case was when the zombie's struggling
stopped. Letting go, I stepped back. The zombie disregarded me and began pacing
back and forth along the small concrete floor of the porch.

As I entered my house I muttered. "What a day."

The dull droning coming from the zombies passing back and
forth along the sides of my house kept me awake most of the night, but by early
morning I had grown accustomed to the shallow, wheezing of one and the raspy,
hollow tenor of the other. The rattling of the chains was a mere afterthought
once one dealt with the sounds being emitted from both. Oddly, I could not
recall whether or not the zombie from the porch made a single sound during our
encounter.

For hours, I lay awake and watched the one I privately named
Chuck through the sliding door of my bedroom, but he never paid any mind to me
or what I was doing. The gray, spent eyes were constantly empty and soulless.
Eventually, I closed my eyes.

It was what wasn't there and not what was that had awoken me
from my slumber. Somewhere around five in the morning the sounds of chains and
moans had stopped quietly enough, but the lack of noise alerted me to the change
as the sounds got further and further away. Trudging to the door, I peeked to
see yellowed eyed humanoids leading the zombies away deeper into the Town.

Sitting in the chair in the living room, I cracked open the
cover of the e-reader from school and started scrolling through the story we
had been assigned to read. Pages in, I began to tire and dozed off as much as a
vampire can.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. No Darby in my bed.
No Veronica sounding an alarm or picking out my clothes. The house felt empty
as I readied myself for another day of high school.
 

I wasn't hungry, and I knew I could go days without feeding,
but I took two bags of type
A
blood from the fridge. I
warmed both to knock off the chill. The taste still wasn't like when I was
feeding on Darby, but it filled me with strength and renewed energy. Another
day was now certainly doable.

Everybody was gathered in front of his or her respective
house. We all had our own ways to pass the time. A few had
headphones,
a couple had their phone in hand, or like Liam, was simply staring into space.

Waving at Darby to say hello across our respective lawns,
she noticed my attentions then started reading from the e-reader in her hand
without acknowledgement.
 

I caught Veronica’s attention.

Our leader rolled her eyes then smiled a pained smile.

Veronica must have said something to Darby was the reason
she wasn't talking to me.

I huffed, and then joined the group in a version of the
quiet game until the bus arrived.

Even the bus trip was quiet. The group passed the time
sleeping or doing the same things as before the trip. If this was an indication
of how the day was going to be then it was going to be boring.

Veronica slipped me two Inhibitor pills as we got off the
bus together.

Taking them, I denied myself the feeling of having to deal
with the noise of the crowd. I didn't feel like it was going to be a day I
should try to handle without the added boost.
 

A couple hours ticked off the clock then another. Soon, we
would be in lunch then the home stretch, with Spanish class to finish the day.
I was sure it was going to be a wild weekend and was ready to get it started
when the whole day went to hell.

The U.S. had gone to great pains to put operatives in the
field for training and did not want territorial problems either at school or on
the Farm. The wolves and the vampires were kept separated by busses, class
schedules and hall assignments. The plan, except for the small hiccup the
previous day, had been flawless.

Lunch was the same as the previous day, though this time
with even less talking and without Darby's trademark smile. Something was up
besides school, besides Darby and me, besides...and it hit me. This had to do
with Veronica's punishment for helping me. It had to be about that because what
else could make even the normally bitchy Chloe act downright sadly and even a
tad bit with real emotional depth.

Veronica was upbeat, but quiet.

We all sat together human watching, as we called it.

I wondered if anybody found it weird that none of our clan
ate anything. The wonder stopped when I heard a commotion on the far said of
the expansive lunchroom. The commotion would have registered as a small grumble
to the humans that surrounded us, but to my enclave of vampires it was almost
riotous.

Scanning the room, I locked in on the source not by sight at
first, but by smell. The wolves were involved in causing an issue. There were
too many students blocking my view so I stood up to only have Darby tug at my
shirt trying to get me to sit down.

Darby loudly whispered, "Don't make a scene. We have a
job to do. Sit down.
Now."

She tugged harder. The threads of my shirt could be heard
starting to tear. "We need to talk anyway and this will give us a chance
to iron things out since I think you have the wrong impression of me."

I looked to Veronica for guidance, but she and the rest of
our group was already headed for the cafeteria exit.
 

Gently I removed Darby's hand from my shirt as I continued
to scope out what was the source of the problem occurring across the room.
"I know we need to talk and we will, but those wolves need an attitude
adjustment."