The Zompire (8 page)

Towards the morning of that first night, after covering a rather long distance, it stopped and sought a place to stay during the day. It didn’t want to draw attention to itself by travelling during the day. It therefore went off the roads and travelled along through the bush somewhat parallel to the supposed road direction. It soon came across something resembling a truck house. Its inquisitiveness led him to go check and see what was inside. It could well be his home to hide in till night came again. This time, it avoided the day just as much as it did as a vampire, not because of the fear of ultraviolet light which it found did not bother him anymore but because of its security instincts. When it pushed the door of the cabin, it opened freely and he went in. He sniffed almost everything he could find on the bed and on the table. Someone had obviously been there not long ago. He was still caught up in his perusal when a voice singing came walking towards the truck house. The zombie-vampire thought of how to hide its presence, but its rather inquisitive side also looked out to see who was approaching his newly sought hideout. When their paths were crossed, the man who was certainly out there on fish camping with another young man too old to be his son shouted out for help but his shouting was short lived. Even if there was any help around, it wouldn’t have been quick enough as it was only less than a minute that it took to kill him. The zompire growled and made inaudible sounds as it sniffed and then licked the face of the other man before mercilessly slaughtering him as well. After killing them both, he dragged their bodies into a dilapidated truck and settled down to dine on his fresh kills. After it had had its fill, it opened the window and locking up the door, sat and kept watch through the window. Its eyes closed in a seeming sleep but whenever a twig broke to the rustling of the wind or even the ruffling sound of leaves being carried about the forest floor, it opened up its eyes and looked out for a perceived intruder. Not finding anyone its eyelids closed down again each time. It was not until mid afternoon that a police search party came along that part of the bush searching for the man and his companion whom their family members had reported was yet to return from a night fishing camp that was a yearly event in their families. When they came upon the pickup truck that was parked outside, it was a match with the one described by the family and they had unsuspectingly made their way towards the truck with a reckless abandon, believing that the men must have simply gone hunting elsewhere leaving the pickup behind. They exited their patrol car and decided to check the old building that was there. They called out the men’s names but heard no reply. It was therefore a surprise to them when a huge manlike beast came jumping out of the old truck that was in the building at them. Scared shitless, the police officers ran instead of attack as they should and the zompire himself turned around and scampered into the forests. After seeing him flee into the woods, the patrol car men were shocked beyond expectation when they re-entered the building and found the mangled and partially eaten carcass of the man and the dead body of his fishing buddy. It was a horrible sight to behold. One of the officers went outside to throw up. The other officer peeped inside once again, holding his stomach as he viewed blood splattered all over and portions and chunks of the man’s organs that were strewn all over. The officers then decided against pursuing this creature and they radioed in for help.

The State Security Service picked up the information of the attack on a man and his friend night camping in the woods and immediately dispatched the nearest team to the location. They also notified the vampire control agency about the development and though it would take a while for them to get to the location, they mobilized and were immediately on their way. When the state security officials arrived with their dogs, it didn’t take long before the dogs picked up the trail and had them running in a direction, then another through different turns around the bushes and trees. They went fast for a long time before fatigue set in. They wondered how the creature could move the kind of distance they had covered on foot and so fast. They soon continued after a little rest and kept on the trail provided by their dogs. They were later radioed by the VCA team who were within the forest’s range and wanted to know where exactly they were. They gave their pilot their coordinates and waited. Seconds later, they could hear the hovering of their helicopter as it approached. They were soon just about overhead as the rope ladder was let down and they came down through it for lack of a landing space for the chopper. They related all the information they had to the VCA team as they joined them and they continued. It took them another one hour on foot before they proposed to rest again but the leader of the VCA team suggested his team go on and have the helicopter pick the rest of them who needed rest to meet up with them later. This they agreed to on the ground that splitting into two teams that keeps moving one at a time was good because every time they waste put the morphed vampire farther and farther away from them.

The hunt continued till they found that they were going more and more in the direction of the canal construction site. When they figured this, they quickly called the State security service chopper which arrived minutes later and picked up a number of VCA and SSS agents and headed straight to the canal construction camp. On getting there, they found nothing. Everyone had left and the camp tents were no more. The lead of the state security service team who was aware of the suspension of the project explained what had happened briefly to his surprised colleagues, bringing them up to speed and suggested they follow him to the cave where the vampires initially stayed. Though it was bit of a distance away from the camp, the distance could be trekked on foot. Besides, he didn’t want any tip off to be caused by the helicopter sound should they have decided and thought about using the helicopter to get there.

They were surprised when their dogs again picked up the trail of the creature again. They followed eagerly and called up the other team to make their way to the construction camp as they had picked up a trail from there. They continued on their part, treading cautiously as they drew closer and closer to the hideout cave. They lay ambush around the mouth of the cave as two officers went into the cave which was very quiet, one covering the other as he went in with his torch gun. There was no one in the cave. It seemed they had moved out as none of their personal effects was there either. Nothing that showed anyone still stayed there apart from the large fresh footprints that were made out in the dirt flooring and something resembling a fist punch in a soft section of the wall of the cave. They figured that the creature might’ve just been there and that the evidence they saw must have been that of him venting his anger at finding his past home deserted. The dog led them on, and they went into the woods on a path that none of them knew before then but one they were sure was going to lead to the creature they were in search of. When they had gone about a kilometer and some more, they heard strange sounds which sounded like that of a commotion. They spread out and moved towards the source ready for combat. As they closed in, the sounds got louder and louder. It was in fact an all out fight. What they saw surprised them. Right there before their eyes was a fight between the zombie morphed vampire and his former vampire clan. They could not understand this or what was the reason that could have led up to their fighting. It was not just a fight for authority and vampires never determined superiority by such means. It was rather a fight to death in which the five vampires simultaneously fought him. He fended them off with immense strength. Its moves were faster than theirs and its huge body gave it a clear distinct advantage. It was with the fight before them that they knew that what they were now facing was many times bigger than whatever they had faced in the past.

In a flash, he had knocked three of the vampires meters away from him and the unlucky fourth which charged towards him at that instance, he grabbed by the neck and bit into his shoulder. The only one standing was infuriated at the sight of it and rushed towards him in attack and anger but before she could reach him, he let go of his grip, letting the vampire sprawl onto the floor and with the back of his right hand smacked her across the face, sending her staggering and falling to the ground to his right.

She stared at her injured mate who shook and shuddered as its blood sprung from out of the huge wound on its shoulder. The other three called to her and her eyes never leaving him, she took steps backwards. Joining them, their new leader who was disgusted by the whole sight said to their former alpha ……

“There! Why not go ahead and eat your own?” He only growled at him with a charged stance.

Just then, the security agents opened fire on the zompire. The vampires were all surprised that they had not heard them approach. It was the rowdiness of their fight and all the commotion that made it possible. The vampires scampered for cover initially but figured moments later that they were not at all the targets of the attack. They continued on their way though. The cyanide bullets they used on him seemed not to do much to stop the creature as it only grew violent. It growled and kept moving in different directions towards the direction of the bullets that hit him before later running off in one officer’s direction whom he knocked over as he left.

But just as they picked themselves together, they heard sporadic gunshots coming from the direction the creature went and they quickly followed knowing it would be the rest of their team that it had run into early. They got to where the action was happening and joined in again. The moment it noticed this, it ran for safety. They followed in pursuit but could only go so far as twigs and fallen tree branches was all across their part. They retired from a long hunt as they called their pickup and made their way to the rallying point. It was one of those days when “too close” was not enough. They now wondered what would have this creature meet its waterloo seeing that cyanide bullets didn’t do much to stop him.

They returned back to their base with a same story of no success that had been heard again and again the days before. The state authorities were not happy with these reports, more so in view of the fact that they were dealing with just one vampire though morphologically changed; they believed that since it was always by itself as opposed to its close relatives that worked together, it should have been easier to eliminate. The teams explained that the cyanide had no effect on this one. If they were going to make even a head start at developing a substance lethal to this experimental error that they have on their hands, they would need its body fluid, and how could they get it when they are not even able to get it down. While they sat and deliberated this, a call came in from the hospital mortuary where the bodies of the dead scientists from the research facility were kept. It would seem that one of the dead bodies had broken out of the mortuary. On checking their records, they found that one of the bodies which was that of Mr. Cannon that was brought in by the security agencies was missing. A rapid response team was immediately deployed to scan the vicinity as they were well aware of what would happen next if their fears were true. It would be terrible if the morphed vampire could convert its victims just as it vampire counterparts. They checked the city’s records and obtained the address of the dead man’s family. They quickly dispatched the closest officers to his house and when they got there, they went in and sat the man’s wife down. One of the officers took his time to explain the reason they were there. The wife who burst into tears, being fully aware of the circumstances of her husband’s death understood and was solution oriented. She later wiped her eyes and asked what she was to do to help. The officer was glad.

“We will try to stop him before he enters the house but should that fail, we will give you an injection which you must administer to him just as you hug him. The drug is yet on its way and we hope they get here before him. You have nothing to fear, while the drug will only knock him out, you must also realize that he is not your husband that you used to know and that he is gone and gone for good”.

She nodded at the end of his explanation with tear filled eyes. The officer offered her a handkerchief with which she dabbed her tears away with. The officers of the VCA who were coming with the cyanide dose soon arrived and the other officer who was keeping watch by the door quickly let them in. They then went outside the house and took their positions. They sent neighbors into their homes by word of mouth as they didn’t want to cordon off the area. If they did that, it would sure warn the vampire that there was a trap.

They waited a couple of minutes before he arrived ……just as they had thought he would. It came through the back of the house so it was the team that was watching the back that had to deal with it. He was so white; he could pass for frosty the snowman. The marksman took a good aim to the base of its neck as it tried to jack open the door and the officer fired a single shot. It fell to the ground. The rest of the team was communicated with over the radio and they all came to the back of the house, cuffed him and took him to the ambulance. His wife came out to see him. She cried as she dragged off the officers to get a good view of her husband. The officer who had spoken to her earlier consoled her and helped her away from the ambulance as the ambulance drove away. They brought Mr. Cannon’s body into the lab and ran a few tests on him which confirmed that even though he was converted into a vampire by the bite of the zombie morphed vampire that was still at large, it only acquired the features of a vampire. They also found that he would not last long as the cyanide bullet had dissolved and was fast spread out all over its body. It died in an hour and his wife was notified. She decided an early burial would be best so that she wouldn’t have to go through the trauma of him getting up again by some means to torment her healing heart.