Containment Measures

  The Immortium Vol. 2

  Containment Measures

  By Eric Alan Williams

  ISBN: 9781729145562

  Imprint: Independently published

  Copyright © 2018, By Author Eric Alan Williams

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, fanfiction expansions or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author. For permission requests, write to the Author, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Eric32180@gmail.com

  Chapter 1

  Choices.

  The dark and decayed surroundings of the abandoned shopping complex didn’t seem to faze the undead creatures trailing behind the homeless woman as she ran as fast as her feet could muster. The ghouls were fast.

  These ghouls were fresh. The reanimated corpses of human military agents, scouring the ruins of New York City. The bite marks on their arms, and legs, gave a clear depiction in how they died, bitten by the very things they had become. Their red eyes almost glowed in the darkness as their razor-sharp teeth chattered together, as if they were freezing, but in reality, they had inherited the vampire’s ability of biosonar, though it was limited in range. The range however, allowed them to follow behind the frantic woman, that had been living as a scavenger for over two decades now.

  Xairin’s eyes focused through the debris of the old shopping mall’s galley. He could see them running past old shops and leaping over obstacles like a marathon runner. It was easy to know they were freshly dead given the sprinting corpses were still in their former body armor, the black kevlar uniforms of Interpol Enforcers. With his red eyes fixated, he could see the rows of razor-sharp teeth the red eyed ghouls had. They were dedicated to hunting the homeless woman running in front of them. If she was going to make it, Xairin would have to figure out a way to help her.

  As for the vampiric child, Xairin stood there looking at Tommy with profound concern morphing into his facial features. He remembered Ethan’s warning, any Immortium that begat ghouls, must die. It was the only way to end the ghoul plague. An end, so simple, it seemed to be too good to be true, all you had to do was kill the one that created them. Kill the maker.

  The auburn-haired vamp took two heavy breaths. He was lost in thought. He knew what Ethan had said, that it was every Immortium’s duty, to dispatch any immortal that was discovered to be a progenitor of a ghoul outbreak. Xairin looked at the blonde headed child and started to weep. He saw the way the ghouls ignored the child, running right past him without any effort at taking the boy into their jaws. A ghoul would eat anything that had human DNA, except for the one responsible for their existence. A clue that Xairin was being haunted with.

  If Ethan was right, and the lore was true, Tommy had to die. If he wasn’t right, then Xairin would be a murderer, a child murderer. This thought ripped at his inner being. The very thought of hurting a child went against everything in Xairin’s nature.

  Anna was running as fast as she could. The two ghouls were right behind her, each having their arms open wide as if they wanted to embrace her with a welcoming hug, their chattering sharp teeth said otherwise.

  The vagabond turned around and fired one shot. It hit one of the ghouls dressed in black kevlar in the neck. It's black blood exploded from where it's jugular would be. The shot didn’t slow the creature down.

  Anna screamed.

  Xairin sobbed as Tommy stood there looking out into the rest of the complex. He heard Anna screaming. “We have to save her.” The boy said.

  Xairin shook his head. He couldn’t be the one to kill the boy, he just couldn’t be the one. What if Ethan is wrong?” he thought to himself.

  Xairin watched Anna fire another shot at one of the ghouls. They were getting closer to her. Stopping to shoot, gave them a chance to catch up. This time, she at least shot at one of the ghoul’s kneecaps. It slowed the creature down in its pursuit, it's partner in crime however continued on without it.

  Xairin looked at Tommy. “Tommy, I need to ask you something?”

  The boy seemed distraught. “Are you going to save Anna?”

  Xairin nodded. His voice was burdened. “Yes, sure. Just answer something, please!”

  “Save her, it's almost got her!”

  Xairin bit his tongue. He exhaled heavily.

  Xairin took off running out of the opening in the broken glass. He saw the sprinting ghoul was almost upon Anna. There was no way she could turn around and shoot it as fast as it was chasing her. Doing so, would make her an easy meal.

  Xairin knew he couldn’t make it to her in time. He turned around and looked at Tommy. “DID YOU BITE A DEAD PERSON? A CORPSE? DID YOU?”

  “HAVE YOU FED ON A DEAD BODY? TRIED TO TURN IT?”

  The boy looked at him. His voice whimpered as Anna ran for her life. He couldn’t understand why Xairin wasn’t running to help her. All the vampire was doing was looking at him, weeping. The boy’s humanity was intact after eating what Xairin had helped him with. He wasn’t in some altered frame of mind, nor was the child feral. He couldn’t understand why Xairin was asking him this. One glance at how close the ghouls were to Anna, he finally blurted out. “I bit my mommy, so she could come back like I did. I thought it would bring her back like me!”

  Xairin looked at him. His voice quivered. “Did she come back as one of those things chasing Anna?” Tommy nodded.

  Xairin’s jaw dropped, and his lips shuddered. He looked at Anna, the ghoul was on top of her now. She was holding it back, it hadn’t bitten her yet. She had it by the throat, screaming. “HELP ME!”

  Xairin turned his head to the side. Tommy yelled. “SAVE HER!”

  It seemed like time stopped. Xairin looked at Tommy’s face. The boy was too distracted watching Anna fight for her life. Ethan’s words kept echoing over and over inside his head. He heard Ethan’s words echo louder. ““If a ghoul outbreak would occur, and I hate to say this, but the scavengers that opt for less civilized surroundings, won’t receive the education each of you are acquiring. So... If a ghoul outbreak should occur, we each must do our part in stopping it. It is an Immortium’s duty, to kill a ghoul progenitor once they have been confirmed guilty. Does everyone understand?”

  He remembered nodding. The grip on his machete became sweaty, sticky. “Oh god.” Xairin whimpered.

  Ethan’s words continued to reply in his mind. “A ghoul plague has been thwarted several times in the past by our kind being watch guards over the ages. The creation of such creatures is also forbidden. But know this, if any in this room would dare try, know that every immortal faction would hunt the one responsible. As an Alpha’s death results in the rise of Betas coming into power, the death of one who created a ghoul, ends the ghoul line. They are psychically linked to the creator’s existence. Kill the one responsible, and all the ghouls spawned from that immortal begin to disintegrate. Also, the progenitor of a ghoul outbreak, is the one humanoid the ghouls will not try and eat. A ghoul will try to eat you, just as it would a human, for we used to be human, it's in our DNA. But… Like I said. Kill the progenitor and the ghoul line dies along with the immortal responsible. We’ve never truly understood why…”

  Xairin had to do this. Despite the fact that it went against every fiber of his existence. He had to trust that Ethan was telling the truth. He heard Anna screaming again. “HELP ME!”

  “I'M SORRY!” Xairin yelled.

  He didn’t watch what happened to Tommy. His hand extended, grasping the machete from his back. He only turned his head in the direction of Anna. He heard Tommy’s body and his severed head hit the floor. He could smell the v
ampiric child’s blood on the blade. “WHAT HAVE I DONE?”

  Xairin looked off to the side in shame. He did everything he could to keep from looking at the body he had just made lifeless. The only comforts in the deed itself, were the facts in front of him. His eyes slowly found Anna.

  The ghoul on top of Anna, stopped fighting her. It simply lost the will to bite. It was as if it had died right on top of her. No growling, no clawing, no teeth chattering, it simply froze and began to slump on top of her.

  The ghoul she had shot in the leg also became immobile. It fell over and rolled over onto its back.

  Xairin closed his eyes tightly, seeing first hand that both ghouls dropped like flies as soon as Tommy was killed, he knew Ethan hadn't misled his class.

  Anna was having difficulty getting the ghoul off of her. The man that the ghoul once was, was stout. “I STILL NEED HELP DOWN HERE!”

  Xairin opened his eyes and wiped away the last tear he hoped he would shed over Tommy. He grit his teeth. To him, the one to truly blame wasn’t his blade, but the bat that had made both of them what they are. Xairin just wished he hadn't aspired to leaving Bastion City, but then again, how many other lives would be at stake if he didn’t. He knew that every ghoul related to Tommy’s bite would all be dyeing. That would help the survivors. He tried his best to find comfort in that thought. It didn’t give him a feeling of absolution, but rather resolution, her resolved an issue, one died, so many could be spared. It was still hard to swallow.

  He got it together and walked down to Anna. He pulled the ghoul off of her and reached out his clawed hand. “Come on, let's find that silver.”

  _____

  The docks.

  Ezra was in his own battle for his life, much like Anna. A ghoul was on top of the detective as he laid on the wooden floor of the boat’s cabin, trying his best to push the growling corpse off. The creature had been hiding under the bed, when it emerged, it's red eyes and sharp teeth were dripping foam. The sight was quick to catch Ezra’s attention as it neared his neck, pulling at him as it journeyed upward. He couldn’t reach his gun. All he could do was press the ghoul upward and hope someone came to help him.

  The smell in the room coming from both the ghoul, and the body of the old man lying next to the bed, permeated the room with a putrescent odor. Not only was Ezra out of breath from struggling, he had to breathe in the rancid smell causing the Interpol agent to gag.

  The ghoul was strong. You could tell the young man the undead thing was in life, had worked hard at staying alive in the ruins. His waterlogged clothing, and saturated skin made him heavier than he should have been. Despite its overly hydrated state, it wasn’t tiring at all. He had to do something, and quick. He looked at the creature, looking right into its haunting red eyes. Ethan’s face became stern, as his own eyes focused at the undead thing’s head. He relied on his sensitive powers. He could feel the frontal lobe of his brain, erupt with a psionic wave. The ghoul didn’t stop, it showed no pain as its head pulsated while Ezra choked it with his bare hands, trying to keep it from biting him.

  The one weapon he had on him, was his mind. He used every ounce of his psychic abilities to send out an expanding wave inside the undead thing’s head. The act itself caused Ezra’s nose to bleed.

  The creature began chattering its teeth, it's face began to hemorrhage. With a final chattering of its sharp incisors, the creatures head exploded, covering Ezra in black gooey brain matter.

  Releasing his psychic energies took a toll on the detective. His nose gushed, bleeding hard, followed by one hell of a headache. Ezra began to pull himself upward. He saw his gun and reached for it.

  The owner of the boat, the old man lying beside the bed where the ghoul had hidden, began moving. His eyes opened, revealing the same red eyes shared by all the ghouls of its specific creator’s line. Its red eyes caught its prey easily. It moved like a cat as it got up. The thing was quiet as it moved. It was as if it knew to hunt silently so it didn’t spook its prey.

  It's white clothing oozing in blood that was darkening into a black liquid flowing from the bite wounds covering its body dripped on the floor. It slowly reached out its arms as Ezra reached for his gun, paying the creature no mind. Ezra had no clue that the body had reanimated.

  Ezra stood up and turned around now that his gun was in his right hand. He pulled at the handle, pulling back the charging clip. The gun began to pulse with a blue light. He turned his head. The newly arisen ghoul’s teeth were ten inches from his face.

  Ezra froze up. The ghoul went into a biting motion. The very second, its teeth were but an inch from his face. Ezra’s eyes stretched with the long breath he took. The creature’s teeth were falling out and being replaced. He saw the sharpened teeth coming at him. Suddenly the ghoul’s body posture changed. Its mouth closed. The ghoul fell backwards onto the wooden floor. It simply stopped moving.

  The detective fell back against the wall and shit himself. He slid downward gasping for air while also trying to comprehend what the hell just happened. Ezra sat there looking at the lifeless corpse that was but a bite away from making him it's next meal, now lifeless. He wasn’t going to question it much, he was alive, not infected, and needing a change of clothes.

  Outside the boat, across the water, on the bridge, the red eyed ghouls began dropping one by one, like a wave of people kneeling, then slumping over.

  Lillian and Rhymes were outside of the command tent. Rhymes’s eyes seemed to bulge from his eye sockets, while Lillian took a gaping breath. Her words were softly spoken. “Someone killed the progenitor!”

  With the red eyed ghouls dying, the black-eyed ghouls remained. They made for much easier targets.

  There were still at least a hundred on the bridge. Lillian decided to show off what a Grand Alpha was capable of now that the risk of knocking the majority of the undead into the water had passed.

  She allowed her wings to unsheathe, and with a few powerful flaps of her leathery wings, she was airborne. She flew over the bridge and made two passes. She stopped, keeping her wings moving to maintain a stationary position. Her black eyes looked upward into the skies.

  From the docks, and the border control area around the bridge, the humans began to look upward as a storm cloud formed out of thin air. Electrical surges flashed within the growing grey cloud, lighting up the area as bolts of lightning began striking downward, each blast, aimed specifically at ghouls upon the bridge.

  It was like watching white fireworks, exploding as the currents of energy erupted from the storm cloud Lillian had conjured. From her position, her fangs formed from her canines and lateral incisors, they seemed to glow in the blasts of light. The Grand Alpha smiled right as the last one was fried to a crisp.

  She flew around the bridge as the storm above her began to vanish just as fast as she created it. She made six passes, making sure to scan the bridge with her black eyes checking for auras still active among the ghouls. She had killed every one of them that hadn’t died with Tommy’s death.

  A few descending flaps, and she was back on the ground, landing beside Grand General Rhymes. Once her wings were concealed, the man’s jaw dropped. He was speechless. Lillian wasn't. “We can advance across the bridge and set up a perimeter on the other side safely. Clearly someone has killed the one responsible for the red eyed ones. I've given us some leeway. We need to get into that city and find that roost of those bats before they create more ill taught vampires among the scavs and a new outbreak begins.”

  The Grand General scratched his scarred face, right where it fed into his silver hair line. “Are they all dead?”

  Lillian shook her head. “I doubt it. The red eyed ones, likely all of them, but the black-eyed ones, no. So, we need to be prepared.”

  _____

  The shopping center.

  Anna had asked Xairin where Tommy was, and what happened to the ghouls, specifically why they just up and died. It took Xairin several minutes to stop crying and tell her what had killed them. The act left
Anna speechless.

  Xairin sat there while Anna went back into the pharmacy looking for the colloidal silver while Xairin sat outside the broken glass of the store and reflected on his actions. He noticed a black pool of fluid around Tommy’s clothing. The boy had melted away into nothing. Xairin couldn’t help but blame himself, even if it was a necessary evil.

  Anna came out and stood beside the whimpering vamp. She wanted to hate him for what he had done. She couldn’t. He had saved her life, not once, but twice, she too felt some guilt for Tommy. Seeing what had happened, she knew Xairin had to be telling the truth. Tommy had to die. She knelt beside his clothes and said a prayer. “Dear god in heaven, forgive us for what we must do, and Tommy, may you forgive us as well. Dear god, accept our brother Tommy into your arms, take him home. Amen.”

  Xairin looked over his shoulder. He was never a religious person but felt compelled to say something. “Tommy please forgive me.”

  Xairin stood up after he had finished reflecting. “Did you find what you were looking for?”