Mim-cha #Af200-27KJa1-480trzB3, AKA Kyle Johnson, stared into the night, and allowed himself a small sense of accomplishment. Judging by the position of the stars, he had traveled back in time 57,387 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, 19 hours, and 24 minutes.
He had not made this trip alone, however.
The vampire that had crawled into the sphere with him was barely a husk of her former self. She was bleeding from every orifice, and her breathing was ragged and labored. The hair on her head had fallen out in bunches during the trip through time, leaving only a few stray strands attached to bits of her skull. Her skin itself was patchy and blistering. Most of her flesh hung on her bones loosely. She lay on the ground, near death. Vampires, it is safe to say, do not time travel well.
She gasped at the robot before her, using what must have been an extraordinary amount of strength, to utter four words. First a question, then a demand.
"Where... Adam?"
Kyle considered that. Had his brother made the journey? He would need to determine the answer to that for himself. Looking around the meadow he was currently standing in, he did not see Connor but that didn't mean that he hadn't made the trip successfully. It was not an exact science, after all, he could be anywhere within a twenty mile radius. Or he might not have arrived yet. Or he could have arrived minutes ago and fled.
The vampire female spoke again. "Need... blood..." the last word was said so quietly that it was barely vocalized at all. Kyle heard, of course, but a human probably wouldn't have.
Kyle considered the pathetic creature before him, and then quickly, professionally, and painlessly, reached down and ended it's existence. The top priority, of all Mim-cha, after all, was to eliminate all vampires.
Kyle looked around his surroundings again, and saw tracks in the dirt - the footprints were human. A tribe of homo sapiens had been through this area. He followed them.
Pain.
So much pain.
He ran his tongue over his lower jaw and tasted blood, and felt that teeth were missing. His shoulder throbbed. He was bleeding. Where was he? For that matter, who was he? What had happened to him? And where was everyone? He felt for certain that moments ago there had been a lot of people around him. Thinking about the recent past filled him with an intense sadness, as though some essential test had just been failed. But he couldn't pinpoint why.
He had other things to focus on, however.
Like healing up. And, he realized, finding food. He was suddenly ravenous. He swallowed some more of his own blood from the wounds in his mouth, and, interestingly, that seemed to quell the hunger minutely.
He wanted ...more blood.
He stood and looked around. He was standing in an unfamiliar meadow, and it was a slightly cool night. In the distance, he could see a fire burning. Focusing that way, he could actually smell the flames. And the people around it. A small group of individuals were based around the fire. His stomach growled again, and he opted to head in that direction.
As he walked, his name came back to him. Adam. He was Adam.
The tribe heard him coming, and watched with a mixture of wonder and distrust at this pale stranger, wearing unusual garb. He spoke gibberish that they did not understand, but he indicated his mouth (which was bleeding), and they soon understood that he was looking to eat. They happily offered him some of their fruits (which he denied) and a sampling of their hyena that they had captured and eaten that night (which he took hungrily). Dining on the flesh of the animal seemed to ease the stranger, and the tribe laughed and sang into the night.
Adam felt himself healing after eating the hyena meat. But still, watching the group of people, he knew his hunger would not be satisfied completely with just hyena flesh.
Sometime in the night, after the tribe had gone to sleep, Adam woke. He walked through the sleeping people, silently, looking over each individual. He settled on a small female, who was probably only 10 years old or so. She was sleeping near her mother. He felt somewhat foolish preying on such a weak individual, but he himself was not up to his full strength, and did not want a fight. Not yet. There would be time for that soon enough.
He drained her of blood quickly, feeling the life force rush into him.
After he was done, he took her corpse and tossed it a good thirty yards from the camp. Feeling infinitely better, he returned to doze amongst his new friends.
Hours later, when the camp awoke, nobody thought anything at first - the girl's mother assumed the child had gone off to play. It wasn't until the body was discovered that things got ugly.
One of the tribesman blamed the newcomer - or at least that was Adam's interpretation - and sensing that his time with these people was growing short, Adam decided to feed again. He grabbed a young hunter, and swiftly sank his teeth (he marveled at the fact that his lower mandibles had begun to grow back in!) into the young man's jugular. Blood washed over him, and the power flooded into his body instantly. He felt that he could take on an entire army. The tribe had stood in shock at this development. They were so naive! He'd be able to dine for months with no problem!
And then he'd felt the stick hit him in the head.
One of the other men had grabbed a stick and whacked him with it. It didn't hurt, of course, not the way he was feeling, but it had been enough of a shock that he dropped the teen - he was dead now anyway - and turned to face his attacker. He snarled at the man, who stepped back defensively.
The whole tribe was shouting at him, surrounding him like the animal they obviously thought he was. Several of them had rocks, and had begun to throw them at him. Adam laughed. These people were no match for him. Not really.
But there was no need to stand here and take a beating. He pushed his way through the group and ran, leaving them to mourn their dead.
That night, he'd gone back to their camp, and he ate two more. He left both of the bodies there, blatantly mocking them.
As he was eating the second, he had a strange sensation to ...convert one. He couldn't describe the feeling any other way - it was simply an instinct make this one like himself. He wasn't sure how it would work, exactly, but he thought that if he simply fed on the person, without completely killing them, they should become like him. He had to admit that he was lonely.
He paused, but it was too late for this person. He had already drank too much. He dropped the lifeless body, and, though he wasn't hungry any more, he grabbed a third individual - a woman, and bit her as well. She woke up from the bite, and shrieked a scream that made Adam's hair stand on end. He instantly backed away from her, as the entire tribe awoke. One of them managed to take a sharpened stick - hell, it could have been a spear, for all Adam knew - and jabbed it into Adam's ribs.
"Jesus Christ!" Adam yelled in anger and pain. He stumbled away from the camp, as the tribe angrily forced him away, throwing rocks, sticks, anything they could find. They only chased him for a few yards before returning to their camp, as Adam retreated for the night to tend his wounds.
When the woman he bit converted, she tried to feed. The tribe exiled her out, wondering why she would act like the madman that had brought so much grief to their life.
She began to walk, searching for Adam.
Kyle found her first.
When he did, he knew that his brother had, indeed traveled through time, and had, unfortunately, become the first vampire. The very thing he (and all Mim-cha) had sought to prevent had been what they had created. Even though he was a robot, the irony was not lost on him.
Still. He had a mission, and he would do his best to fulfill it. Seeing the female vampire walking alone, Kyle approached her. At first, she must have thought he was Adam, as she joyfully ran toward him. Kyle realized long ago that all vamps seemed to know Adam, and thought of him as their leader. It was why the vampires in 2012 had been so willing to help him (and Connor) out - they had both looked very similar to the first vampire, the vampire that had indirectly borne them all: Adam.
As she got close enough to realize that Kyle was not Adam, she paused, unsure of whether he was a friend or not. He opened his arms in what he hoped was a universal signal of acceptance and friendship. She still paused.
Kyle bent down and picked up a small rock. He used it to draw some blood from his arm. He offered it to her. This got her attention. She eagerly approached his wound. As soon as she was within reach, he struck out with his other arm, and crushed her windpipe. He continued to squeeze her neck until her head detached.
He then continued to walk in the direction of his brother.
Adam was all set to torment the tribe for another night, but this time they were ready for him. Using fire, and guards with more of those spears, they pushed him away from their camp, toward a cave. Adam didn't know whether fire could kill him or not - he suspected it probably could - but it certainly hurt like hell. So he allowed himself to be pushed toward the mouth of the cave.
And then, a person looking almost exactly like himself showed up. "Hello, brother." The man said.
Adam was surprised, to say the least. A brother? Who spoke his same language! This was fantastic news!
The tribe was also surprised, and must have thought that the monster had brought reinforcements. They backed away in terror, leaving Adam and Kyle to face each other. Adam said, "Brother? I thought I was the only one of my kind. It's nice to see I'm not alone." He stepped forward to embrace his twin.
Kyle said, "I'm not like you," and grabbed the vampire by the arm. The two twirled, like dancers, into the mouth of the cave, and Kyle tripped over a rock, bringing Adam down with him. Adam leapt to his feet, snarling. "I'll kill you!" he promised.
Kyle got to his feet as well. "Doubtful."
Adam rushed at his twin, and managed to push him back into the cave's darkness, where, unknown to either of them, there was a precipice waiting. The duo tumbled down the hole, falling for nearly three hundred feet. Kyle landed first, and a pointed rock at the bottom impaled itself into his skull, breaking his main processor chip. His eyes dimmed as his power sources attempted to revert themselves.
Adam landed on top of the machine, and he felt his spine snap. Glaring at his dying robotic twin, the vampire felt his own consciousness fading. "Fuck you.... asshole." he said with his last breath before he blacked out.
55,385 years later, a spelunker in Eastern Africa stumbled across what appeared to be two skeletons at the bottom of a very deep hole.
"My god. This guy must've been done here for years." He went to investigate one of the bodies a little closer, and was amazed to discover that there was still flesh on him. The skin was paper-thin, and there was no way it should have been possible, but... this skeleton with a thin layer of flesh was still alive! "Oh my god! Don't worry, mister, we'll get you some...AHHHH!" The man began to scream in pain as the unbelievably thin man had bitten down on his fingers, drawing blood.
Adam felt the energy returning to him quickly. He had no idea how long he'd been down there, but he eyed the rope that the other man was using to try to escape. He smiled. Finishing off the man whose fingers he had just bitten off, he felt he could certainly climb a rope.
He left the endoskeleton of Kyle at the bottom of the cave saying, "See you around, bro."
The End
4 comments:
Seriously, though, have you started watching BSG?
... there's no specific reason why I'm asking.
Great stuff, Pat. I enjoyed that alot. One thing:
>>"Jesus Christ!" Adam yelled in anger and pain.<<
This was maybe the funniest thing ever. When you can have a character curse an anachronism, that's genius.
-Kirk
Thanks, guys!
And, no, Amy, we still haven't started watching BSG. I take it, though, that it's something I'd enjoy (or that might frustrate me for "stealing" my ideas)? I'll let you know when we get around to viewing it. :)
It would have been so much better if there were vampires.
Post a Comment