The Mulligan Planet (4 page)

I couldn’t stop staring at
Wolfgang. When I first heard about the World War I was still in the
UK getting used to my quieter life but had already shown a high
level of experience in battle several times in the past. This had
not gone unnoticed and someone in the higher ranks had known who I
was despite my regular identity changes and employed me into a very
specific squad once I had enlisted. It was at that point that I got
moved around Europe faster than the Black Death. But that fight, I
knew it well, the third battle of Ypres, I remembered the crazed
American who I had fought with, I remembered pulling a young German
soldier to safety and I remembered turning him. I’d already turned
at least a dozen people by that point, terminally ill writers who
deserved their works written, artists poisoned by the very paints
they showed the world's beauty with and, of course, a soldier who
could never make it home. I hadn’t thought of that day in decades,
“I was…” Wolfgang looked up at me, “Yes?” the one who turned you,
nice and easy, “wondering where the name Wolfgang comes from?” why
couldn’t I tell him!? It wasn’t a bad thing. I guess it was just an
uncomfortable subject. He smiled, “Please, just Wolf is fine. Well,
my parent’s loved music, particularly Mozart, so I got his name.” I
smiled and nodded, “Great name, cool name.” Wolf raised his glass
to me, “Thank you very much.” I raised my glass to him and finished
my drink off to reveal a small card with 7B6 written in light
cursive stuck with the condensation to the base of my glass. I
peeled it off and investigated it for a moment.

Wolf tried to get a look at it,
“What have you got there?” I shrugged and handed it to him, “I
haven’t the slightest.” A massive, toothy grin spread across his
face, “Looks like you’re already making friends friend.” “What is
it?” Wolf spun it in his fingers to face me, “It’s a room, block
seven, room B6. And I believe I know whose it is.” He pointed over
my shoulder and I turned to see Amanda giving me cute smile shortly
before shooting me a wink. “Yeah I think I’ll pass on that
tonight.” Wolf took on a look of confusion shortly followed by
realisation, “Ooooh, you’re... you bat for the other team.” it took
me a moment to process what he meant, then I began shaking my head,
“No, well, I don't think so. I just, I mean I just got here, I
don’t even know my own room. I think I’d like to sleep in my own
bed before sleeping in someone else’s.” He gave me a thumbs up and
a little laugh, “Alright, makes sense, I’ll take you to your room,
sound good? Amanda! Can I get a bottle of scotch to go? You want
anything?” I stood up, “Uh, yeah, the same.” We shuffled out of the
booth, “Make that two thanks!” we walked over to the bar where
Amanda handed us the bottles in two brown paper bags as we began to
walk out, “Aren’t we supposed to pay?” we took a right down the
corridor, “No, we get everything for free, seeing as we’re the ones
risking our lives. All others on site have to pay, they get
subsidised living but that’s it.” We went down a set of stairs
branching from the corridor while Wolf pulled out a scrunched piece
of paper from his pocket, “Soooo, you’re in block ten, room… weird,
doesn’t have a room number, we’ll door knock.” We’d gone down five
flights of stairs when we came into what appeared to be an
underground street with ten large blocks of land, most of which had
what looked like two storey flats on them, but one of them looked
like small house. “Wow, how’d you guys build this?” Wolf was
looking around for the block ten as we walked past a few of the
flats, “Um, gifts of the government, this place used to be
basically an air pocket. After we got down here we just cleaned it
up. Levelled the ground and built housing for the other vampires, I
remember when it was three blocks. Here we are, block ten.” We had
stopped in front of the house, “Well, here’s your key, bottle, and
here’s a little something extra.” He handed a small bag of red
liquorice, “Thanks, I’ll see you around.” He started to walk off,
“Welcome, and if you need help, block one, room A2.” I waved him
off and turned, just looking at the small house for a moment. This
was my home now.

I walked through the door and a
smell hit me. It was familiar; I closed my eyes and breathed it in
deeply, it smelled like lingering coffee, Chinese take-out and
dried blood. It smelled like home. I opened my eyes and turned the
lights on; there it was, my apartment, maybe a bit bigger, but
other than that, exactly the same. My blue shag carpet, my TV, my
old coffee table and my old brown couch. I was ecstatic. I threw
myself onto my couch and breathed in again. This was it, life was
nearing the stage of minimal sense which was a vast upgrade based
on the past few days. I felt a wave of stress fall off of me that I
didn’t even know existed. I looked up at the roof and saw the same
red stain from when I tried to build a trebuchet, the end result
being the half full bottle of wine getting flung straight up. I sat
up, grabbed my scotch and red liquorice, popped the lid off the
scotch and took a mouthful of each. I felt the scotch burn my mouth
while the liquorice swirled around releasing its sweetness onto my
waiting taste buds. I gulped the mix and felt everything from my
stomach to my chest warm. I started to feel a bit thirsty, and I
mean
thirsty
. I placed the treats on my coffee table and
began walking to my room. On my way I was hoping that they hadn't
replaced any of my furniture and upon entering I could see
everything was exactly as I’d left it. I noticed a lump of
something sitting on my bed and I flicked on the lights, answering
one of my most important questions. There, in all their now blood
stained glory were my pyjamas. I smiled at the sentiment before
crouching next to my bed and lifting my blanket to reveal a
pin-pad. I punched in my four digit code, no, I’m not going to tell
you it, and felt a push of refrigerated air as my mattress lifted a
few inches. I reached in and began feeling around, old journal,
photos, and bingo, water bottle. I pulled it out and saw that the
beautiful red liquid from the fool who tried to rob me had so
generously donated was still filled to the brim, I unscrewed the
lid and began to drain its contents. I started to feel gentle
tingles run through my body. Ok, as well as having healing
properties, making us stronger, less susceptible to sun damage,
blood makes vampires kind of… Lusty.

I’d finished half the scotch,
topped it off with blood and a few pieces of liquorice, pocketed
the rest, brushed my teeth, slid on my brown jacket and was out the
door in less than two minutes. I began walking down the road and
found block six. I climbed the steps, and began counting off the
door numbers, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, I stopped in front of the
door, took a deep breath, I silently swore at myself for falling
for the temptation of a waitress. “You've got this John, be your
regular charming self.” I knocked three times, “Nope, no, nuhuh.
I'm leaving.” I turned to run away as I heard the door opening, but
instead of Amanda stood Kate wearing a pair of red silk shorts and
a baggy shirt, a frown sitting on her tired face, “What is… Oh, hi
John.” She immediately perked up and began leaning on the door
frame, being this close I realised she was a good five inches
shorter than me, she looked up into my eyes, “What’s up?” I was
deeply embarrassed, “Um, nothing,” I was trying to formulate an
excuse for why I was here other than the truthful 'I'm here to
sleep with Amanda', “well, not nothing. I wanted to see you. Not
see you! I mean, yes to see you... I wanted to see if you wanted to
have a drink?” she smiled, bit her lower lip and looked down for a
moment, “Sure come on in.” she walked back into her flat which was
exceptionally larger than I had previously expected, the soft scent
of incense burning swirled around my nose as I looked around her
living room, her walls were decorated with brightly coloured
artworks and photos, an oval shaped pink rug sat below a two-seater
black couch. “Take a seat, I’ll go get changed.” I smiled at her,
“Thanks, just on the couch?” she nodded as she walked into a room
and closed the door behind her. I sat on the couch and put the
bottle next to me, I continued to observe my surroundings, taking
in every aspect. She had a small shelf with a collection of DVDs,
her medium sized TV sat on what appeared to be a mahogany stand. I
looked over at her clock, I don’t know how, but somewhere between
the bar and Kate’s house I’d lost six hours. But as sure as the sun
would rise it was 8.10. I clapped my hands together and began
tapping my feet as I heard the door open behind me. I stood and
slowly turned to see Kate wearing a black jacket, red top, black
skirt, black stockings and boots, her hair now brushed and a shade
of rouge lit up her lips, “Let’s go somewhere,” I was stuck looking
at her, “Um, yeah, where would you like to go?” I mentally kicked
myself, 'Stop it with the um!' she smiled at me, “Let’s go to the
city, have some fun on the town.” I smiled back, “Sounds great,
lead the way.” I grabbed my bottle as she led me to her door, out
onto the street and toward an elevator on the opposite side of the
cavern to the stairs that I had initially entered from.

We entered the steel box and she
pushed a button with a little CP on it. I offered her some
liquorice which she accepted, “So when were you changed?” she
regarded me for a moment, “Odd question on a first date.” I opened
my mouth in an attempt to apologise but she cut me off, “I'm
kidding sweetie, 1992, I was at a party with some friends for my
twenty-forth. The night was finishing up and I decided I was well
enough to drive home, next thing I knew my car was wrapped around a
pole and I was in some guy’s house with a nice little love bite on
my wrist,” the elevator stopped and the doors slid back slowly to
reveal a mass of cars. She guided me as we began to walk toward a
new black coupe, Kate gestured toward it, “This’ll be yours, keys
will be on the driver seat, nice little gift from our friends
upstairs. It’s like a rental, when you get your own car you give it
back.” We climbed in and I started it up with a purr which quickly
turned into a roar and I began to follow the exit signs as the car
glided on the car-park's smooth concrete path, “Anyway, the guy
wouldn’t give me his name, he just explained the situation, gave me
some tea and sent me on my way once I healed.” There was a gate and
what looked like the end of a telescope poking out of a small box
to my right, “Look at it for a moment, it’s how they keep track on
us.” I did, there was a green flash and the gate rose. I handed her
the bottle as I pulled out onto the road and followed the sign left
that read 'Hobart'. “So why are you here? The others seem to have
pretty intense combat training.” She took a plastic cup from the
glove box and poured herself a drink, “Well, after that night I
began doing some mercenary work. I did some stuff in Rwanda,
Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and some more stuff in Korea. In 2004
Anton contacted me and sent me on a job in Sydney, after I was
finished he picked me up and brought me here.” I watched as
something scrambled across the road ahead of the car sending a
shiver run down my spine, I never liked things that scrambled as
movement, it was very... shudder producing. Some more movement
caught my peripheral vision, something more local and much less
shudder producing, Kate adjusting her skirt slightly, “Mind if I
turn the radio on?” I shrugged, “No, go ahead.” She pushed a button
near the centre console, a small screen lit up on her side of the
dashboard and she began to sweep her fingers on it, she tapped it
twice and a voice began blasting out of the speakers around me
causing me to veer around slightly, “Sorry, sorry!” Kate turned it
down and changed the station until a pop song began to beat around
the car. I desperately tried to blink the stars out of my eyes.

A few buildings started to come
into view. “You ever been here before?” I shook my head, partly as
an answer, partly as a vision enhancer, the stars had started
fading away, “What’s it like?” She smiled, “It’s pretty quiet, not
a lot to do, but it’s good to get out once in a while.” full
hearing and vision had been restored, “So what will we be doing?”
she pointed down a road which led to the coast and then into the
city, “Getting dinner, watch a movie. Oh, also you have a new bank
account, the card and code will be in your wallet, I really hope
you brought your wallet.” I took one of my hands off the wheel and
began patting myself down, and there it was, right where I left it.
I slid my hand into my jacket's pocket and pulled my wallet out. It
was old and made of brown dyed leather, I’d gotten it in Germany
shortly after the war. I shook it slightly and put it back in my
pocket. Houses began to become more frequent and before long we
were deep in the heart of the city. There were a few cars on the
streets and the even fewer people were scuttling to the nearest
open door, “If you want to pull up along here we can go find a
place to eat.” I nodded and parked between a green hatchback and a
brown 4wd, took the keys out and popped my door which resulted in
my face being hit by a breeze so cold it burnt, it quickly
dissipated and I stepped out into the street.

I heard the car door behind me
close and I turned to face Kate and smiled, a gesture which was
promptly returned, “Which way?” she seemed to shrink into her
jacket, digging her hands deep into her pockets, “Umm, if we go
left there’s a few Asian restaurants and a hot dog stand, aaand to
our right we’ve got a fish and chip shop. Your choice.” I juggled
the options, a restaurant would be classy and nice, but the fish
and chip place would have burgers. Big juicy burgers, Kate tilted
her head to her right, “Fish and chips has meat, and a pinball
machine.” A massive smile played across my face, this person is
cool, I like this one, “Let’s go then.” We made our way down the
street, in silence for a moment, which just felt wrong, “So, what
were you doing before you came here, I’ve read you’re file, but a
lot of what was written seemed to be hear-say.” I pushed my hands
further into my pockets in an attempt to stop them from freezing
off, unfortunately the cold had seemed to have pierced the very
fabric of my clothes, “Most recently I was a bartender at a small
place in Brisbane. Before that I fought and sustained myself on the
spoils of war, which, as it turns out, is highly profitable. The
first war I was in was also the war when I was changed, the
American Revolutionary War. It was 1776, I fought with the British
and I had taken a shot to my left lung which led to me promptly
bleeding out. But someone found me, he turned me, took care of me,
we wandered around for a while before he finally killed himself, he
was a good man... if you look at the big picture. After he passed I
went back to the war and fought until the final days. When the war
was over I took an extended holiday, I decided to truly live, I
spent the majority of my time in London, but also travelled to
Italy, France, and several more times to the States. I soon became
bored and began to study everything, learn every possible skill
that was out there, it was a wondrous time. That’s all I did for
many, many years.”