The Zompire (10 page)

While he still moved around at a much slower pace this time, the sun began to set. He then started heading out of the woods back into the town.

                                
Chapter 8

The vampire clan, having had their desired rest although it was one filled with much fear, continued their journey searching for a new residence which should be far from the place where their new enemy, the zombie-vampire, would not be able to reach them there. Having been on the move most of the day they haven't been able to feed so they stopped by a small community in the outskirts of the state hoping to find a few prey to feed on and they sure did. They lay ambush in wait for anyone they could find walking the streets without care. This time, they did not bother to choose for a palatable victim’s blood. They simply attacked and dragged their victims into the woods where they then settled to draining the bodies of every drop of blood. After sucking them dry, they continued their journey in search of the perfect location for their new camp.

In a major town in the state, news of a different breed of flesh eating vampire began hitting the media, putting everyone in the state in pandemonium. Not only do they have to already be worrying about the night-time only vampires, now they have to worrying about an any time of the day monster. A few misinformed residents stood behind their doors with crosses and stakes hoping to defend their lives and that of their family should this creature come knocking not knowing that it was immune to these objects which were believed to have a weakening effect on vampires.

The streets of the city were deserted, public offices closed, shopping malls shutdown. Schools were closed. Everyone was indoors and the only few found outside were hurrying home.

It felt like the end of the world. One could almost clench and smell the fear in the air.

Dr. Lenzo and Dr. Fisher were done inspecting the victims and now back in the laboratory. During the inspection they noticed the bite marks were that of two vampire eye-teeth not forgetting the fact that he had one of his vampire tooth extracted before his death and re-awakening. That means he still possessed the power to reproduce any body part lost including his bone structure.

Dr. Fisher picked up the extracted tooth and while staring closely at it, he noticed a clear slimy fluid contained in the hollow of the tooth; the draculin which the eye-teeth of a vampire secretions.

He gently tilted the tooth letting all the trapped fluid into a specimen bottle then said to his colleague Dr Lenzo,

“We can run a study of its draculin. We may yet be able to find enough to disable the vampire part of him.”

D. Lenzo didn’t want to go about explaining to Fisher that he had already ran extensive tests that had led to nothing from this same fluid. Fisher was a biologist of course, and Lenzo could only hope for the best; whatever provides solution to the problem, he was up for.

"Great idea!" exclaimed Dr Lenzo.

So they split the small draculin in the bottle into even smaller bits so as to make it easier to run series of tests at the same time. They started by checking its reaction to heat and then its reaction to other chemical agents and also previously designed lethal substances.

While the doctors were in the laboratory trying out various chemical compositions, searching for a means to neutralize the vampire traits of the zombie vampire, the state security service had also brought out the finest of weapons they had in their arsenal. Assorted variants of fire arms, skilled snipers positioned at strategic points in different cities, armed with rifles of incredible bullet speeds and thousands of police men on ground with Ak-47 rifles and grenades covered every perimeter. Police helicopters were hovering around the city trying to spot any clue.

As the skies darkened, the police raised their alert level. Some if the helicopters landed. Soon, as expected, the zombie- vampire whom the me
dia had now nicknamed “Zomvamp” and also “Zompire”, surfaced in one of the cities closest to the woods.  The team covering the area quickly communicated this over the radio to all units.

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As he moved into the streets occupied by the state security service men, he was predictably attacked by the SSS ( State Security Services ) who have been waiting his arrival. Unfortunately as they fired numerous shots of silver bullets and even lead bullets on which a ban had been placed stopping its use by the military, he still made his way towards them undeterred.

He breezed through them, knocking away their weapons and biting into those he had the time to. He kept at this until he came up to an officer in his vehicle who fearfully pulled the pin of his grenade and threw it at him. Luckily for him, it was a very close call and the explosion of the hand grenade pushes the ZOMPIRE back a few meters, giving the police officer enough time to run and hide.

As fate would have it, that man was one of
the few SSS officers in that incident who returned alive, the others were rescued by the helicopters.

The Zompire roamed the streets freely injuring and killing anyone it could get its hands and teeth into it.

Now at a safe distance, the vampire clan settled in a remote building whose residents, they had gotten rid of. In the sitting room of the first story they gathered, planning on how to attack the ZOMPIRE. The new Alpha suggested a plan,

"How about we pick up a prey and plant it close to him so while he comes out to feed it,we attack him".

Then the female amongst them asked,

"But how can we attack him when we are not certain on which weapon would kill him?".

Then the Alpha replied her

"We will try all the weapons we can lay our hands on excluding guns and "anti vampire serum" which those puny mortal humans have proved ineffective. We shall go with machetes and stakes. We shall move at once. Check across the perimeter of the building for the tool room and pick every object that can be of help,” he instructed.

So they went around with full speed, picking up knives, cutlasses, machetes, axes.

One of the vampires then left their camp and went into the city in search of a prey holding a rope and a strong duct tape. With much ease, he spots a lady walking all by herself. She had obviously not heard the news about the ZOMPIRE on rampage because if she had, she would have not been out in the streets at this time of the night, at least not by herself. He gently approached her and then swiftly dragged her off the road to a more quiet and lonely area, where he then firmly placed the duct tape over her mouth and tied her arms and legs behind her back. One of the greatest advantages of being a vampire over regular humans or even zombies is their speed. They can travel at a comparatively fast speed thus enabling them cover a very wide distance in very little time. Bad thing was also that their nemesis also portrayed that very same characteristic.

After binding her arms and legs, he lifted her and raced back towards their camp. Everything was now set. All these were done in just a bit more than an hour. The vampires then hit the roads as a group, heading back to their previous camp as they expect the ZOMPIRE to show up there.

This time, they were faster than they were in the day time so it took them lesser time before they arrived at the river.

They had to cross the river again to the other side, notwithstanding their hate for water. They had no choice than to go through the river as searching for an alternate route would be time wasting.

So they moved through the river as fast as they could, still carrying their struggling bait.

They were now across the river, half wet. Without any further delay, they moved with full speed, determined to carry out their mission of retaliation while being optimistic that it works out as planned.

On getting to their previous hold out site, they started sniffing around for traces of the ZOMPIRE. While they were still looking around for the enemy, they stumbled on the skeletal remains of one of its earlier victims. It wouldn’t be far away, they thought to themselves. They kept moving in the direction of the scent they had picked up.

They followed this scent all the way down till it finally stopped at a site in the woods where they spotted the ZOMPIRE feasting on the flesh of the SSS officers it had killed earlier. It seemed rather too engrossed on its meal and it didn’t even notice the movements of the vampire clan.

The vampires untied their bait, took off the tape covering her mouth, pushing her forward then ran to their various hiding spots behind trees with huge trunks.

The Zompire, now aware of some of the movements and the screams the bait made as she hit the ground after being pushed by the vampires, decided to find out who it was that could dare to distract him from his meal.

Just a few steps he took and he came in contact with the bait. On sight of this dirty green monstrosity, the lady made an effort to run away but to no avail.

He angrily grabbed at her and lifted her by her frail neck, staring deeply in into her eyes with his huge ugly soul searching eyes. At this point she literally stopped screaming for help and slumped in his arms. He didn't let go still, he carried out his ritual of blood sucking before settling down nearby to start devouring her soft womanly flesh.

While starting to feed on the hot blood flowing from her now dead body, the vampire clan pounced on him as planned. The alpha male of the group aimed at his neck with the machete but missed as the Zompire obstructed that machete swing with his arm, inflicting a deep wound in his arm. He suffered loads of cuts and bruises but these were of no use because his wounds seemed to heal mere seconds after being inflicted, and he seemed not to feel the injuries. The deepest cut he got was by the female vampire who chopped him in the face flush on with the axe, and that injury too healed within seconds, right before their very eyes.

The vampire clan momentarily had the upper hand although the injuries inflicted on him weren't long lasting. The female vampire amongst them then decided to make an attempt to suck some of  the Zompire’s blood. That was absolutely the worst decision any member of the clan of vampires made that night, as his body fluid was poisonous to them, which they wouldn’t have known before. It was a dark greenish sticky liquid which was poisonous to “regular” vampires.

She fell to the ground in agonizing pain with her whole body jerking. This shifted the attention of the vampire clan from the Zompire to their now injured member, giving the Zompire beast enough time to flee from the scene.

With the Zompire now out of sight, the vampire clan knelt beside their fallen female member, having to watch her writhing in pain and agony, not knowing how …IF…..they could help alleviate some of her pain. A few moments later, her body became motionless, and the axe that she had firmly grasped on in her hand, fell from within her now lifeless hand. They mourned their counterpart there before slowly moving back to their new residence with a feeling of mixed anger, hate and defeat.

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Having carried out multiple tests and experiments, Dr Fisher and the rest had still not been able to develop any new chemical weapon with which to fight the Zompire. They however noticed that the draculin gave up oxygen and experienced a temperature increase when Silver trioxonitride was added to it. They planned to give this a try so they begun a speedy process of creating a serum encapsulated in a dispersible bullet which when fired into its body would give way allowing the spread of this chemical in the creature’s body. This was going to take about a day to be reproduced in large enough quantities. Everyone in the VCA had their hands on deck. The earlier they finished the reproduction the earlier they would get to move out to test the serum on the beastly Zompire.

While they were at this, the Zompire who had now made the woods his home, went out at random, attacking the human population. Even the State security service was frustrated because all their fire arms couldn't deter this monster. They had given up on firing bullets and even using grenades as it only destroys neighboring buildings having negligible effect on him.