Only Human (12 page)

He is right; their faces are smooth and without tension, not creased with pain as they were before. I can hear voices in the tunnel. Garok has heard them too
, and has gone to check it is only Uncle, and hopefully, Anne.

‘
Anne!!’

‘
She is ill child.’

‘
Uncle, where did you find her?’

‘
She was crawling back from the spring.’

‘
But Garok didn’t see her there. I…..’

‘
Sshh let me get her in and treat her. It doesn’t matter where she was.’

That is odd! Garok must have been too absorbed in his task of getting the boys home, to see her. She does look ill. That
’s my theory out of the window, she has Vamp blood as well as human, but she has caught this disease.

‘
Here, next to Lupe, I will bathe her Uncle.’

‘
Good, good, I have brought six bottles of water. Garok, empty my other bags will you?’

26.01.3012

I haven’t been able to think, outside of caring for the Clones and Anne last night Amica. It is dawn now, and they are still asleep, so I am grabbing this time (and this pen and paper), to write to you for a while.

You should have seen the amount of food
Uncle had in his other bags last night. Fluffy, raised bread, and cakes, so sweet and light, they melted the instant they touched your tongue. I couldn’t believe how hungry and thirsty I was, even after all the trauma of Leandra’s death. I felt guilty for enjoying the food when she couldn’t. The Clones didn’t eat a thing, but they managed to drink plenty of water, so that was good.

Orianna wasn
’t ill, but she wouldn’t eat. She is ultra-sensitive to others, and wanted nothing more, than to nurse her family through the night. I forced her to drink, and nibble some bread, at least; she mustn’t become weak, and vulnerable to this illness.

Anne surprised me
, and became much better, soon after she had returned with Uncle. She ate plenty, and drank even more, so I think the Vamp D.N.A. did its magic, and cured her pretty quickly. I’m still surprised that she contracted the illness at all.

Uncle
stayed as long as he could, but he has had to go to his pit now. He has told me that he is staying with friends, but that is as much as he would tell me about that.

With regard to this disease
, or illness, or whatever it is; he thinks that because the Clones have never had contact with the air, the food and water, the environment in which we live; they have no immune system whatsoever. Their bodies have never fought off any ailments or diseases in the course of their lifetime. Ironically, this means that their bodies weren’t stimulated to form a defense against it. When they get ill, they cannot fight, and are in danger of dying. A simple mild bout of influenza could kill them.

He has a cocktail of diseases that he is preparing for each of them
, and he will inject them tonight. Sounds barbaric I know, but this is called immunization, and the strength of each disease, is tiny enough, that there is no doubt their bodies will defeat it. It will then remember its battle, and will be prepared, should it encounter this disease again.

Amazing, interesting and baffling
, isn’t it. In my head, I can see an army of grim faced little cells, armed with mallets and shields, doinking the heads of a similar army, of black, gooey blobs with fangs, (everything bad has fangs, except for Uncle, mother, father and Zak). I don’t even know if
doinking
is a word, but it should be! Ha, I seriously worry if I am going completely and irrevocably looney tunes, Amica!

On a serious note, we formerly said goodbye to our Leandra last night. Even the boys, Lupe
, and Anne, managed to sit up as my Uncle wrapped her in gauze, and swore to commit her back into the earth. Uncle took her, and will bury her far from here, but that doesn’t matter. She will be all around us, in the wind and the ground, the sea and the stars. Garok’s sister and family are also part of nature again, and they will continue.

I don
’t feel so gut wrenchingly angry with Garok anymore. I have to admit that he was superb yesterday, in every way.  Don’t get carried away friend! I am not in love with him again. I just think he showed great courage, and inner strength, yesterday, in his dealings with the boys and Lupe. He was brave and kind, and he has nice eyes; that is all!

Going back to my
Uncle, I noticed he was extremely agitated last night. He had reason to be, I know, with all that went wrong yesterday, but it was more than that. I know my Uncle, and I sensed something more was bothering him.

He left us about twice the amount of food he normally does
, and he left Garok with a bag of personal things, that I haven’t been allowed to see yet. Garok used it as a pillow last night, so my plan to dive into it this morning, went out of the non-existent window.

There is an uneasy feeling in my heart Amica; the future is a long, long time
, and when you have no idea of what it contains, your mind fills it in for you. My mind torments me, with visions of bloodshed and pain, starvation and savagery. I can’t see any peace for a long time, if ever! Does that make me a pessimist? I want so much just to live a normal life, with those I love around me. I want that for everyone, even some Vampires if they are good.

DISEMBODIED VOICE, THE JOURNEY AND THE WELL

I wonder if it will ever be possible for
Vamps and Humans to live together peacefully. Can a predator have enough self-control to live with its prey, without harming it? I think too much, so many questions all of the time, I’m giving myself a headache. Seriously, I can hear buzzing or something…

‘
YOU MUST LEAVE!’ Who is that? Everyone is asleep but I can hear a voice.

‘
AECIA, YOU MUST LEAVE THE CAVE TODAY. You and your friends are in danger.’

All right, what the hell is going on? Am I going mad? Nobody else seems to hear anything. My God, it is the same voice that warned me to get out of the main hall in the Ordinatio.

‘Who are you?’

‘
What?’

I must have said that out loud and I
’ve woken Anne of all people!

‘
Nothing, sorry to wake you, just half asleep then Anne and chattering on in a dream.’

‘
Oh, well I was going to get up now anyway, I’ll put some water on. How is everyone this morning?’

‘
Well, they are still asleep, but they are not writhing in pain anymore. I think they are cooler too; they may have got over the worst.’

The voice has stopped now, I have to get outside and see if whoever it is
, speaks to my mind again.

‘
Aecia.’

Orianna is awake now too. Hells bells! What do you have to do to get a bit of privac
y around here? Go to the toilet that’s what!

‘
I’m just going outside to the loo Anne, won’t be long.’

Our
loo is one of two deep holes we have created for that purpose, and they are to the right of the mountain. Not posh I know, but we used to sleep in a pit or hang in a warehouse so it’s as good as a throne to us. Orianna is following me, I should have known. It’s okay, I would trust her with my life, and I just hope the
‘voice’
does too, and will re-establish contact.

‘
Aecia, I want loo.’

If I wasn
’t so preoccupied with this
‘voice’
situation I would be overjoyed to hear Orianna communicating so well. There’ll be no stopping her now!

‘
You are discovered. You must leave!’

He is back! Disembodied voice is back! I wonder if I
think
the words, can he understand them?

‘
Who are you? Who has discovered us and where could we go? I don’t know where there are more caves or safe houses, or anywhere else!’

‘
Rauul will know. Where is Rauul?’

‘
Now hang on a minute, I don’t know where he is and I wouldn’t tell you if I did! I don’t know who you are!’

‘
I am your friend which is all you need to know. Listen carefully and I will instruct you how to get to the nearest shelter. On the other side of the mountain, you will see to your left an overgrown footpath leading down towards some wild vegetable fields.’

‘
Do you mean like an ancient farm?’

‘
Yes possibly, but there is no habitation there. You must continue along the path and past the fields until you come to a stream.’

‘
That must be where the spring comes from at this end.’

‘
Sshh, listen carefully, you mustn’t forget! Cross over the stream and bear left, until you see a trail straight ahead. Follow this trail upwards towards the thick woodland and go into the forest.’

‘
We will get lost; none of us have ever been into a forest.’

‘
It is a straight line from the end of the trail, which is where you enter the forest. Right in the centre of the trees, there is an old brick well which is really the entrance to a number of tunnels, similar to the ones you are in now. You must go down the well and wait until I speak with your uncle, and we find you a safe house.’

‘
A WELL! You have got to be kidding me! Three of us are still sick and they won’t make the walk, let alone the descent into a smelly old well!’

Orianna looks
startled; I think I must have said that last sentence out loud. I’ll just give her a hug. ‘Sorry Orianna I’m just thinking out loud; you don’t know what I mean, but I’ll sound calm so you’ll feel better.’

There she is smiling now Amica. I don
’t know what to make of this
‘voice’
fella.

‘
I can hear your thoughts child, ALL of your thoughts.’

‘
Not all of the time?’

‘
No, just when we are linked as we are now.’ Thank God for that friend!

‘
Yes thank god for that friend! Will you collect your friends now and leave. You have time to get there before dusk.’

‘
Yes, but leave my thoughts alone now.’

‘
Goodbye for now.’

The buzzing and the ache have left my head and I think that means he has gone. No time to waste Amica, I will think more about this telepathy when we are safe.

‘Orianna, I really don’t know how much you understand me, but I need you to try. We have to go, leave the caves and walk over there.’

I am pointing and she is nodding. She knows what I want to do at least friend, now I have to convince the others. I want to explain to Garok and Anne first
, but should I tell them about our body less friend, or just say I have a feeling that we have to go? Garok is here, so fickle am I that I trust him more than Anne now.

‘
Garok, I can’t tell you why but you have to trust me. The Vamps know we are here and are coming at dusk. I know a place we can travel to, but we must leave now to get there in time.’

‘
Did your Uncle…?’

‘
It doesn’t matter how I know, please just trust me, please. Will the lads and Lupe be able to walk?’

‘
I think so, they will try. They are not in pain anymore but they still have a slight fever. They need more medicine really before they do anything, but they will trust you and follow wherever you want to go. I trust you too Aecia, let’s go and give them the bad news.’

We are packing up now
, and there is an air of gloom in the cave. The journey looms ahead of us and it seems an insurmountable task. We leave the first sanctuary, used by the first Humans rescued in hundreds of years. I feel sad, and quite nostalgic about it, as if we had been here a lot longer than just over a week or so.

To Sebastian, Lupe, Orianna and
Baran, it is the first and only home in which they have ever lived. Lupe and the boys don’t seem to be in any pain anymore but they are still way too hot and very weak. They shouldn’t be tackling this journey at all, but there is no choice.

‘
I don’t think we should go.’

‘
What!’

‘
I said, I don’t think we should go.’

‘
Anne, I don’t want to go either, but we must.’

‘
What about your uncle? He won’t know where to find us.’

‘
I know that; when we are safe we’ll have time to consider that problem. Now, we just have to get the hell out of here!’

‘
But why? You are too vague with your explanation of finding out why we are in danger. Plus, there are the Clones; this could kill them, they are not up to it.’