Page 50 of Smoke and Blood

Then call me stupid.

Her government had filled her body with death, and she welcomed anyone who would take her out of her misery.

She groaned and clutched at her stomach, balling the thin, cloth gown in her fist.Each shuddered breath took an effort until even that was excruciating, and she stopped.She held her breath and tried to lock her body down, resisting the gripping pain.Pressing her lids closed, she sightlessly reached for the large tree beside her, towering over her.When she made contact with the rough bark, she dug her nails into it and felt a bit of pain as slivers of the tree burrowed under her nails.She welcomed the outside agony and attempted to focus on it instead of the searing that sliced through her belly and tried to drag her to her knees.Her whole body quaked, and sweat no longer beaded on her skin but rolled down in rivers and streams, making her skin slick and sensitive.It caused the thin hospital gown to irritate her—chafing her skin.

But she kept it on, not because she feared being nude out in the wild, but because it and the thin slippers she wore were her only possessions.She had nothing and no one.The horrible sickness claimed everyone she loved.She’d been homeless and living on the streets, one step away from fighting the person hovelled in the alley beside her for rat meat.Enough of the small, nasty rodents had survived the nuclear wars to breed and run rampant in the district.Even with some people being brought so low that they caught, skewered, and grilled them for food, the vermin numbers continued to thrive.

So, seizing what the government offered was an easy choice.A life-saving decision she’d believed.

Now, she just wanted to find someplace to lay her head down for the last time, and she could await death's embrace.

During the time she had been traveling, she hadn’t heard or seen any sign of anything following her.She hoped it meant the government had counted their losses and let them go.However, everything in her screamed that they would never let her go.Not with what she possessed.

But, if the thing wasn’t following her, her only wish was that the government had made the right choice for once and decided not to release the horror on the world even if the only thing that remained were savages and cannibals.

When the wave of agonizing torture subsided enough for her to take in a full breath, she took several before she released the tree.Shaking, she stood as best she could before peeling her lids open and starting forward again.

Just take one more step.One more.One more.

It was the silly mantra she used to keep her going.It didn’t make sense since she knew nowhere to go.

Then, there was a break in the trees and thick bushes she’d steadily picked her way through, and she saw a large rock wall or formation across a vast stretch of land.She wasn’t sure what had once occupied the gulf of rocks and dirt between the trees and the low mountains.Whatever it had been, she didn’t care because her focus was on what appeared to be an opening in the rocks.She wasn’t sure if it was a pass or a cave.All she knew was that it seemed the perfect place to escape the sun and perhaps hide if anyone or anything came looking for her.

So, with gritted teeth and trembling legs, she made her way over the rocks and through the hardpacked dirt.Michaela wasn’t sure how many miles she trod to reach her destination, but relief showered her body as she crawled into the opening.

It was dark.The sun's fading light illuminated roughly fifty feet inside, allowing her to take in what lay before her.It was a cave, not a pass.The mouth's interior was bigger than the small room she and Ava shared over several weeks.However, the interior was pitch black beyond the line of the fading daylight, proof that the cave was wider and deeper than she could see.There wasn’t a hint of light inside the darkness hinting at another way out.No matter, she did not need to explore anything further.The part of the cave surrounding her would suffice; its only purpose was to provide her with a final resting place.

She moved further in and was relieved to see that the floor of the cave had a couple of boulders on one side, but the other was flat and clear of debris for the most part.Stooped over as another wave of pain drove through her, she headed in the direction of the cleared space.She dragged her hand along the wall to steady her hesitant gait.

Finally, when she couldn’t move further, she dropped to her knees, and the sharp impact on the hard surface knocked a grunt out of her.Weak, Michaela let her body fall to the side and welcomed the cool, dirty floorbed.It was cold in the cave and getting colder as the light receded.Shivering, she curled into a tight, familiar ball, stared outside, and focused on the darkening lavender sky.Her teeth chattered, and her bones ached as the chilly temperature seeped into her marrow.

Michaela closed her eyes when her gaze began wavering from the rising water filling them.She hoped Ava was safe.That bit of faith would allow Michaela to die knowing she’d accomplished something in her twenty-three years.

Another clawing pain ravaged her insides worse than ever before.Glacier rivers of sweat traveled along her body, its icy waves freezing her blood.Yes, death was coming.

Resigned to her fate, a whimper seeped from her parted, dry, cracked lips but did nothing to quell the hurt.

Come death.Come soon.

~YH~

He smelled her before he saw her.Not the dust and sweat covering her body but the dense, sweet, natural aroma that permeated the cavern walls around him.It was alluring and drew him through the catacombs where they kept the crypts of the ancients, where hundreds of vampire bats rustled as they were nestled in the crevices of the ceiling.They were companions, watchers of the ancients, but as night fell Amaros could hear the ultrasonic, high-pitched frequency, some already began to make.However, it was hours until they took flight to feed outside the caves.

He walked on.Not even having the time to absorb the peaceful, dark, dank space that usually brought him serenity to feel the wisdom and history bound inside the corpses of some of the first of his kind.

However, he found it hard to focus, troubling to link with the faded souls around him because of the erratic rhythm drumming through the marrow of his bones.He knew it hadn’t been his heart, for it only beat twice a minute, making it easier for his kind to zero in on prey.

A person could be as silent as they wanted to, even hide the scent of their body by covering it in the mud from the depths of the Dead Sea.However, they couldn’t mask or silence the beguiling thrumming of their heart that vibrated their veins.No, because it was a serenade drawing them to their blood.

Even now, as he stood deep in the dark and took in the waif curled on the ground before him, the odd cadence of her heartbeat caused his gums to tingle and fill his mouth with serum.If he weren’t such a controlled vampire, his fangs would have dropped, readied for the bite.

It had been years since a human stumbled into their territory, never the cave.Perhaps because the energy of the ancients warded most away, they would know what caused their trepidation, but they’d steer clear.

The fact this human had either disregarded the barrier or been unaffected by the strong presence pulsing within perplexed him and drew him closer.

Gliding forward soundlessly, he was startled to see her eyes open and staring directly at him as he stood over her in the low light.

She could not have heard him.That’s impossible.

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