Part Eight: It's Always in the Basement

“ We could just find the guy and rip him apart,” said Jack.

 

 

“ Yeah--WHAT!” That wasn't just English coming from Jack's mouth, it was perfect, flawless, accent-free English. “ You...!” He shook with unspeakable rage.

 

“ Damn,” Jack muttered. He'd been hoping to watch Chris rant and squirm in confusion for a while longer. “ ...'No I didn't'?”

 

“ You liar!”

 

“ Tsk.” Feeling an itch on his face, Jack wiped at a bloody smear on his cheek. “ Well, cat's out of the bag.” He looked over Chris's head until the curiosity became too much, and the boy stiffly turned to see what was so fascinating. A whoosh at the back of his ears spun Chris back around, heart pounding and heat rushing through his body with adrenaline.

 

Jack was gone. There were a few bloody footprints that might be heading for the stairwell. They were narrow as though someone had dropped the prints as they ran by.

 

What was going on? Chris thought his legs were shaking, but then he suddenly fell and splashed into the blood pooling about the floor. His heart rammed through his chest, causing his whole body to shudder at once, before he could shout.

 

***

 

 

“ 'Who are you?'” In-su's voice boomed throughout the empty hall, a sound that was quick to fade. Jack's low chuckle ricocheted the walls like bullets.

 

 

“ 'Does it matter who I am?'” he said. “ 'Sooner or later we're all dead. What matters is that we do what we want and enjoy it without reservation!'”

 

“ 'I suppose I will have to remove you first,'” said In-su.

 

“ 'That's right, so throw out the big players and let me have some fun before I die! It's the least you can do for me, you quack.'”

 

How annoying. In-su did not understand why Jack was here. He must have some kind of connection to Chris, however, if Jack's words could be trusted. There was a higher chance that they could not, because Jack was no different han an adolescent who shocked his parents with a love of the macabre and enjoyed it. He'd do anything and say everything to horrify them, play around with their sense of normalcy until it warped. In-su had seen that type before. Jack's loud, wild behavior exasperated him.

 

But still, how would Chris react to this? There was going to be so much blood--That is, if he let Jack run loose there would be. Clearly Jack himself was not human, which could make him a dracula or counterfeit vampire, and that made this moment a prime opportunity to compare a fake against the genuine article. In-su couldn't resist. He decided to be patient and play along.

 

“ 'You will have to let them out of the morgue,'” he said over the intercom. “ 'The drugs have lowered their coordination, among other things.'”

 

It had to be some powerful drugs to influence a dracula type. That blood disease may drive them mad, but it gave one hell of a boost to their immune system. Jack spotted the glowing sign that read 'Morgue' and followed it to the double doors that were locked for the night. For him it was simple enough to grasp the handles and yank them towards him, shattering the hidden bar of metal that kept both doors shut.

 

The electronic alarm attached to the lock was not triggered. There was no sound other than the sharp ping of the lock as it was broken.

 

Jack caught the first dracula by the head as it came out, gripping the skull while the body made sluggish, futile motions meant to free itself. He shoved the dracula back into the room, knocking down two others and a third that was about to flip over the edge of a metal slab. One glance was enough to know that several, perhaps dozens, of dracula-type vampires had been hidden inside the drawers meant to hold lifeless cadavers. The doors had not been completely shut, enabling the dull-minded creatures to get out on their own...eventually. Their senses and brains had been enormously stunted by drugs.

 

“ 'Some fun this is',” Jack grumbled. What a disappointment. But the truly enjoyable things in life were rare, so he shouldn't be surprised.

 

Jack didn't have to look as he picked up a metal tray and swung it in a shining arc. The draculas within reach stopped short as their heads were cleaved in two, stumbling to the floor as if death couldn't stop their zombie-like behavior.

 

“ 'This is all you've got!'” Jack shouted. It was pathetic in his eyes. If the draculas were off the drugs, they could at least provide the minimal amount of entertainment! A short but satisfying burst of exercise. It was impossible to get his blood boiling in a frenzy like this.

 

A groaning dracula caught his attention. The woman was making a colossal commotion, groaning from deep within her throat and swaying from side to side. She grunted in pain as she doubled over and clutched her torso with both arms. Her cries were muted to some degree by the pain that stiffened her muscles and refused to allow her full control over her own body. The sharp points of her fangs slowly broke apart as they...melted? One final moan fell into silence as though someone was turning down the volume.

 

“ 'What's wrong with you?'” Jack dared not hope that this was a interesting turn of events. He had been disappointed before and he didn't like it.

 

The female dracula grew still. The soft density of her flesh grew slack, then heavy, right before the dracula exploded into a slimy crimson flower of fresh blood. Just before a droplet was to splash against an open drawer, the flower abruptly sucked itself back in and shook a skeleton that was hard, gleaming, and stained a dark hue of red. There wasn't a speck of a mess that one would have expected, or the rattle of bones when the skeleton moved.

 

Jack had a close-up glimpse of a jack-o-lantern face, minus the sharp teeth. He knocked over a tray of sharp-bladed instruments and catapulted each one into the air. Jack caught them and threw the knives to pierce the heads and throats of the draculas slowly stumbling their way towards him. The ones that remained were still finding their way around a gurney that had been left in the morgue.

 

“ 'Now this is interesting,'” he said with a smile. The red skeleton was clumsy as well, crashing into a wheeled stand and flying over it. Movements were jerky, then calm and practiced, as the skeleton untangled itself to rise. The clumsiness was just a phase.

 

“ 'For once I can say that I haven't seen this before!'” Jack howled with a laugh. “' Come on! Let's see what you can do!'”

 

 

Small jets of blood spurted from the joints when the skeleton moved, and it moved like a whip. The bones were fluid and pliable, allowing them to stretch, contort, and lash out in every direction it wanted, able to strike at Jack through its own body without harming itself. Any damage Jack threw out snapped the bones, but the broken spaces and holes were simply filled in with blood.

 

“ 'Now this I'd love to have a doc explain how it works,'” Jack said. He could feel his veins heating with excitement. Female draculas were dropping to their knees and growing still. Not knowing what the cause was, Jack avoided the splashes of blood when they burst.

 

None of the males were transforming. When Jack struck their vital spot, the brain, the male draculas fell like puppets whose strings had been cut. They sprawled around the morgue tables and didn't move again.

 

 

An elevator down the outside hall went ding.