Only Human (14 page)

‘
What do you reckon Garok, late afternoon or early evening?’

‘
Ha, isn’t late afternoon the same as early evening? Never mind, I mean I reckon it’s about 5.30.’

He
’s getting cocky that lad, I might have to rethink my position with him, blooming cheek!

‘
No, Baran, BARAN!’ Orianna is trying to give Baran some water now that we have stopped.

‘
What is it? He’s not worse is he? He looks a bit better Orianna and he doesn’t feel hot anymore.’ He doesn’t, he’s not flushed and his expression is serene, not agitated in pain.

‘Baran
, it is Aecia, wake up; we’re almost there.’

As I am kneeling down with
Baran I am holding his frail wrist and I can feel no heartbeat; any relief I felt at arriving in the forest is crushed and swallowed by grief. Baran is dead! Garok is standing behind me, as are the others, and I don’t want to turn and face them. I don’t want to rob them a few more seconds of believing he is alive. Why is this happening to us? Why is there always pain and loss? We don’t deserve this, we’re not bad people, and we only want to live, just live! Is that too much to ask of this stinking, bloodthirsty world!

‘
He has gone?’

Garok has his hand on my shoulder and I want to push it off. The latent anger in me that always simmers below the
surface is beginning to rise. Why blame him for this? I don’t know, but somehow all of this torment began the day I saw him outside the school gates. He did betray me, but he has tried to make up for it in so many ways. He was the catalyst for the events that would have happened at some time in the future, without a doubt. Is it me that is reigning in my blame, or is it you friend? I will breathe in and count to ten before I turn around.

‘
Yes, he is gone.’

The girls are weeping
but I will save my tears until we are all safe. Baran is with Leandra, out of pain and sleeping in peace. We have to move, ‘Garok, help me cover him over with a blanket and some forest brush, and we’ll have to move on to the well.’

My voice is as cold
, and hard as death itself. I am going to build a wall so strong; it’s impenetrable around my heart, so that I won’t feel this pain and helplessness again. Orianna and Lupe are clinging to Baran, but they will have to let go. We have to let go to survive. I swear it, we will survive and one day I will give this anger free reign, and destroy every heartless, black-blooded, buck-teethed Vampire that ever crosses my path!!

Dear God, what was that? I saw something behind the trunk of that tree; eyes, blue eyes
and white skin.

‘
Did any of you see that?’

The boys did, they are c
rouched, poised ready to defend; we are all whispering now, ‘There it is again, and there, more than one.’

‘
What are they?’

‘
They are not Vampire, they look human.’

‘
Could they be animal?’

‘
No animal I have ever heard of, smooth white skin and I saw an arm, I think.’

‘
But Garok, they are too small to be human. They are not attacking us; I have felt them watching us for a long time, since before the river.’

‘
I know, I told you I saw one at the river.’

‘
What do we do? We have to get to the well Garok. Anne is already way ahead of us, she’s alone and it’s not safe.’

‘
We will carry on as planned and hope that watching is all that they want to do.’

‘
We have no choice. Come everyone, stay close, it can’t be that far now.’

The girls can see the
Watchers now, whatever they are, and they are trembling as they walk with us. Each step seems to steal from the light, while the tall trees shaking their branches; merge into the hum of the forest. It’s a pocket of shadows and secrets in here, with strange, vague rustlings and nibblings as the animals go about their life. The birds must treat it as hallowed ground because they perch on the tops of the trees, declaring they have no intention of delving further. There is a pungent, but intoxicating smell of damp soil, real wood and wet leaves. I would drink this experience in if the situation wasn’t so critical. I can feel the Watcher’s eyes burning into my body as we walk, but somehow I sense there is curiosity more than evil intent. I wonder if Garok and the others can sense it too.

‘
The well, we are here!’

Anne is lying on the floor next to it and she is moaning with pain. Her face is
a mass of blisters and raw peeling skin. I have never seen anything like it!

‘
Help me! My allergy.’ There is what sounds like a herd of animals, retreating through the forest, which startles us all. ‘What that?’

Orianna and Lupe are clinging to one another in panic
, and the boys have instinctively poised to defend or attack again. This chaos just intensifies the urgency of getting down that well. ‘Garok, have a look down it and see if there’s a rope or something, hurry!’ I am pouring water all over Anne’s burns as I simultaneously check out the well. It is a large circle of grey, moss covered stones, cemented together. I’d say it was a couple of meters in width, so we would be able to fit into it easily. There is a steel rectangle, supporting a mobile steel cylinder which is directly over the well, and there is the thickest rope I have ever seen entwined around it. A large metal handle on one side must be to move the cylinder and extend the rope down into the well. I don’t know physics, but I recognise that it is a pulley. We have a way to get down and I think Anne should be first. I only hope it is not deeper than the length of the rope.

Garok and Sebastian appear to have adopted the same sense of urgency
, and are already tying the rope around Anne’s waist and lifting her into the well. She is almost unconscious, but she needs to stay alert, at least till we get her down there. God, should we have sent down one of the lads first to check it out? I don’t know, there is no time, she is literally burning up. The inside of the well is damp with moss and wet gunge, but I can see the bottom. There is no running water, and it looks like only five or six meters deep, I think. The boys have put the mini-torch in the pocket of her dress, and switched it on, so that we can see the state of the well further down. The handle is a bit stiff, but useable, and I think we just might be able to lower us all down safely. How the hell are we getting the last one down friend? That’s only just occurred to me. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, or should I say, take a leap of faith down a rickety old well. I don’t know why my brain won’t shut up occasionally Amica.

Anne is on the bottom
, and has loosened the rope and sent it back up. She is lying flat now, and I think she has fainted. ‘Lupe, it’s you next, you hold tight and be careful.’ If she wasn’t poorly, Lupe wouldn’t even need the rope; she’d scale down the side of that well, no problem! Look at her with that filthy, beautiful face; this illness or that well won’t get Lupe! Garok’s going purple turning that rusty handle, I better give him a lift. Orianna next, then Sebastian, Garok and I will have to figure the last two descents out. Phew! They are all on semi-solid ground below and it’s figuring out time for Garok and I.

‘
Aecia, I think we can tie the rope around us both at once, go back to back, each scaling down either side. What do you think?’

You don
’t want to know what I think! I don’t know if I hate you, like you, love or lust you Garok!

‘
There’s no other choice is there, we’ll have to try.’

OMG!
I can see something crawling under the leaves behind Garok, it’s not one of the Watchers, and it looks black skinned.

‘
AAAhhhhhh!’

It
’s just leapt out on to the bottom of his leg; it’s got fangs, ‘GAROK!’

The thing has
claws and flaming red eyes; it won’t let go, I’m wrapped in this rope with Garok and I’m kicking it so hard, why won’t it let go? What is it?

‘
Its teeth are sinking in! It has me! Kick it Aecia, kick harder!’

It
’s hard to move, but if I can just reach that rock, I’ll knock it out! I’ve got it,

‘
I’m sorry Garok, I’ll have to whack it while it’s attached; it’s going to hurt your leg.’

‘
Do it! Do it!’

Every last ounce of my strength has just gone into that blow
, but the thing is not dead, it’s only unconscious. I’ll have to pull the fangs from Garok’s leg. My God, there are more, moving closer, we have to get down the well.

‘
I don’t know if you can hear us, but lay out the bags of clothes for us to land on, we’re jumping!’

I hope to God, the rope ends just before we land
, and I can hang on, to break the pressure of the fall and stop us landing at speed, on the ground.

‘
Garok, don’t faint, get up on the well, I can’t carry you, come on!’

Oh my god!
We’re falling; I can see the others….

I must have passed out, where am I? It
’s dark and it smells of, what is that? Blood, I smell blood, dried blood. Garok, his leg, where is he?

‘
Garok, Orianna.’

‘
It’s ok, we are safe so don’t worry.’

That is Anne
’s voice but I can’t see her. I can’t see anything, it is pitch black.

‘
Are we in the well? I don’t remember climbing in, just falling.’

I am sitting up now
, as I remember those creatures, those black, slimy atrocities, and one of them had Garok! He has not spoken yet either, he’s not dead, he can’t be! I’m too mad at him, for him to die!

‘
Garok?’

‘
Is sleeping, his leg has stopped bleeding now and I have washed it, and ripped some rags to bandage it.’

My whole body
has just exhaled with relief, and yet again, I am confused about my reactions to Garok.

‘
Anne, you sound so much better, your allergy, those blisters?’

‘
Are healing nicely, I am fine.’

‘
How long have we been down here?’

‘
I’d say about two hours.’

‘
WHAT! I’ve been out of it for that length of time?’

‘
We had a rough day, and you and Garok had the worst of it. You banged your head when you landed.’

As I raise my hand to the throbbing pulse on my forehead
, I can feel an egg shaped bump.

‘
I reckon I got off lightly Anne, you didn’t see the devil that was biting chunks out of Garok.’

‘
I did, we all did! There were three or more, trying to climb down the side of the well after you, but they changed their minds. Sebastian lit some matches, and we shone the torch directly into their eyes. They don’t like fire, or light, apparently.’

‘
Good to know, so where are we now?’

‘
We dragged you through the tunnels as far as we could, and I couldn’t tell you exactly where we are. We’re just a good way from the well, underground, and resting in a man-made tunnel. You were right about this place Aecia, this was made by Humans. I am sorry I doubted you.’

My heart is beginning to warm to Anne again Amica, but I can see you sitting there
, sticking your tongue out and pulling faces at her. Now you’re sticking your fingers up her nose, and I’m going to laugh if you don’t stop! It’s safe to assume that you’re not buying this speech then?

‘
Did you say everyone was asleep Anne? It’s awful quiet down here, much too dark for my liking.’

‘
I know, bit creepy, but it’s just like you said, at least we are safe here. I think we should both get some sleep before anything else happens, don’t you?’

‘
Yeah, I could sleep for a week.’

As I rest my head against the cool steel of the cylinder tunnel
, I can feel one of my friends shifting around, and resting there weary arm on my leg. The heat from their body comforts me, and reminds me that I am not alone anymore in this, or any other event that comes my way. That means such a lot to me, and probably to them too, because we are all professional loners. I will never take them for granted Amica, as I will never take you for granted.

I
’m so tired, and my eyes feel like the dumbbells in a gym, so I’ll just doze for a while, and then we can crawl deeper into the tunnels.

What woke me up? Didn
’t I just close my eyes two seconds ago? It must have been that weird snuffling and moaning sound beside me. Whoever it is, sounds like a rat, munching, squeaking and scuttling around. What body parts must you be using to produce a sound like that Amica? Who is leaning on me, for they must be the culprit? It’s Garok, and he’s lying face down, so that explains the noise, he must be restricting his breathing. Where’s that mini-torch so I can get a good look at him?