Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 84

“Matilda, it’s time to go. Get your brother and head outside. Make sure you’re both wearing your coats, it’s cold outside.”

Moving before the voice was done, she slid out of bed and nudged her brother. She had already told him they had an important mission. Sliding their shoes on, a gift from these people, and the warm coats, they snuck outside into the cold. It was snowing again, so most people didn’t notice them in the dark.

“Turn left at the next opening, and stay low, so no one sees you.”

Taking Tommy’s hand, she led him down the alley, ducking to stay under the windows where people were inside talking.

When they reached the wall, she looked up, then down each side, wondering how they were supposed to get over it.

“Turn to your left, and go until you find the door. No one should see you, but go careful.”

Tommy didn’t complain as she led him along, only huddled deep in his coat, with a tight grip on her hand.

“Have Tommy open the door. He’s strong enough to force the handle to turn.”

Turning to him, she said, “You need to open the door, but be quiet, so no one gets us.”

“Are we leaving the compound? I like it here, they have lots of warm food.”

“We’ll be back, just like I said. We have to rescue everyone from the vampire.”

Nodding, as if that made sense, he took the handle and turned it slowly. Matilda could hear something inside of it breaking. As it opened, they both dashed through, and disappeared into the forest beyond.

XxxxX

Xun’s head was aching as he followed Dr. Achak into the next room. Mary was laying asleep on a bed, with a monitor on her.

“I had to tranquilize her, to keep her calm. She was far too terrified for me to be able to do anything with her.” He explained as he pulled out a chair for Xun to sit at.

The drug the doctor had given him was wearing off, and he was refusing to say anything. By all rights, he should get out of here, and take his friends with him, but curiosity, and the fact that the vampire hadn’t done more, kept him there.

“She smelled just like humans used to smell before the virus. I’m having some tests run to verify this, because if she doesn’t have the virus, then her blood may be nutritious to us, and I need to know why.”

Xun could tell he was very excited by this, so he allowed him to continue talking. As he leaned back in the chair, the male vampire from the lab next door, appeared briefly with some papers, before flitting away again.

Dr. Achak, flipped through them, reading the same things over and over.

“She still has the virus, but something is in the process of killing it. It’s almost like there’s a new virus involved. However, every attempt to find it has failed. This is interesting, but doesn’t answer many questions.”

Dr. Achak looked at the woman for a moment, before turning back to Xun.

“Do you want to know why I am so interested in you?”

“I have a few guesses.”

“Your group of humans, is the last compound remaining on the entire western coast. In order to get any more humans, I would have to travel to the other side of the continent. With the dwindling fuel supplies, that would be tiresome and annoying. If I can strike a deal with you, where I help to protect your compound from the few remaining Slavers and vampires in the area, I would like for you to be willing to allow me to collect blood from your people to test and run experiments on.”

“Why should I trust you? You can move faster than I can see. If you decide one day that you don’t like the way we’re running things, you could come and kill us all.”

“I have no interest in the petty squabbles and fights that would be a daily occurrence, among so many, living in such a small spot. I prefer the solitude of my lab, learning and expanding what I know. I have the two werewolves to provide nourishment for me and my ȧssistants, and the woman to continue my experiments. Killing you, or those left at the compound, is of no benefit to me.”

Xun knew that no matter how he tried to convince the people, none of them would ever be willing to go along with this crazy plan. He wasn’t even sure what he had planned to do when he came here this morning. This creature before him obviously had no moral compass to guide him on what was right or wrong. How could he go along with this?

A noise drew both of their attention. The door was slowly opening, and a clawed hand appeared near the floor.

Jumping to their feet, they watched as the desiccated corpse of one of the guards crawled towards them. Xun was reminded of the werewolves who returned to their human forms, then withered to mummies, when he looked at the shrunken face of the man.

Dr. Achak watched it struggle to pull itself closer to them for a moment, then calmly picked up the chair he had been sitting in, and smashed its head in. The brains that oozed from the skull were a strange neon yellow color. Being careful not to touch any with his hands, he scooped up the brain matter with the experiment results on Mary’s blood, and disappeared out the door.

Not wasting any time, Xun followed him past the body into the hall, but instead of following him back to the lab, he turned further down the lab, and began opening doors. When he saw no people or women in the room, he continued to the next door. At the end of the hall, a set of double doors were shut tight. Without wasting any time, he pushed through them.

The hallway on the other side was not as clean and neat. The smell of bleach and antiseptic was gone. Gore and blood stains were everywhere. Being careful of where he stepped, he moved deeper into the bunker, opening each door as he went. Some of them appeared to have been forced open, the doorknob was loose and turned too freely.

Up ahead, he could hear someone crying, and the sounds of scratching.