The Dracula Index - Vampire Epoch//01

14 - Mell

"Unfortunately," he said with a shrug, "we don't have any content to offer the Chronoscope in order to find out for sure. And from how it seems," he paused to reach for a small tablet that was plugged into the side of the desk, equipped with its own strip of photovoltaic paneling, "...we need content to search whatever sort of database the machine has created."

"How can you even begin to know this?" I asked, getting close enough to smell his sweaty aroma.

"I fixed the computer in the kitchen that stores all the recipes for the Cookers. Everything is on a database. It looks like the system within the Chronoscope was constructed with the same format." He pressed a few buttons on the tablet. Its small, green screen came alive with the phrase, No Content Available on Unit R-13.

"We should go back. Put down the tablet, okay?"

"I'm gonna figure out how to plug it back in. Can you check the window?" he asked, to my relief. I wanted to stay in that room, to marvel at our discovery, but I was getting suddenly anxious about being away from our encampment. Visions of what had taken place at R-13 began racing through my mind, and my fear of the unknown only increased when I walked back to the window to find General Ireath halfway to our building, running faster than I ever thought she could.

"Bryne, we have to go...something is wrong!"

Without enough time to set things back the way we found them, he stepped out, pressed his foot down on the lever, and we sprinted back to the room with the open window before the wall could seal up again. Ireath caught us climbing out from the second story, but the panic on her face showed us that she didn't care.

I can still picture that look. It chills me to my core.

"We must return to the encampment! At once! They almost didn't let me come get you," Ireath hollered, helping me down from the wall.

"I'm so sorry, we were just curious."

"Stop talking, Mell. We have to move!" she blurted breathlessly. "One of them...we spotted him...opposite Valley Hill. If we do not hurry back...I don't want to think about what could happen."

"One of them?" Bryne asked, waiting at the broken wall for a response. "One of the infected?"

"There's no time, I said! We HAVE TO RUN!" Ireath screamed, nearly tearing my arm from its socket as she pulled me onward.

Together, the three of us raced up the hill. Bryne could have left us in his wake, but he kept pace at the front. When we reached the top of the valley where our partially completed wall met with the picket boundary of R-34 and the desolate patch, I saw why Ireath was afraid. Walking in a strangely casual manner was a man at the top of the nearest hill, a worn pack over his shoulder, a hat looped to his back, and revolvers slung loosely around his waist. His garments were unlike anything I had seen before. They were dark and rough, with leathers that were bleached tan in spots from the sun. His hair was buzzed short, and he had a light growth of fuzz on his face. The sight of him stopped me in my tracks, actually. The only other person I had seen, outside of the Encampers, was Kumpan the Gypsy, who delivers holy items to the Priests.

Oscar and Felicity's brother Masen were waiting by the edge of the boundary to help us in, aiming their rifle sights at the mysterious man. Bryne reached for my hand, but I didn't take it. I was worried that Ireath would see the gesture, so I helped her inside. As Bryne laced the dried garlic heads through the fence, Ireath and I mended the wires rapidly. The man on the hill seemed unconcerned by our frantic scrambling. He regarded us for a moment, and then kept walking.

"Lower your weapon," Masen said, his voice graveled. "I've seen him before."

"You have?" Oscar asked, taking his finger off the trigger. "Who is he? An exile? Waster? Something else?"

Masen caught my eye and lowered his voice before turning back to Oscar. "Not here."

That's the last I heard before the Generals ushered us back to safety and put Bryne and I to work in the Stock Yard cutting boards for crosses. When enough time had passed, I felt safe asking Bryne about the man on the hill.

"Something else?" I whispered, while stealing a glimpse of Watchtower D. "What did Oscar mean?"

"He clearly learned more being in the Watchmen than we had from asking Deirdre questions. I'm guessing he meant the infected. They must not be like us anymore."

"But they were worried that he could be one, Bryne? Which must mean the infected still look normal. Never thought that before. Always pictured them...I don't know...bigger or something. They're just like us."

"I'm not so sure about that, Mell."

"What do you mean?"

"Before you yell at me, just know...I only forgot to leave it behind," Bryne whispered, as he reached into his back pocket. In his hand was the tablet for the Chronoscope. Not only was it powered on, but it was still connected to the system. "It says something new."

I looked down at the screen and gasped. In some unexplainable way, the device had the capability of analyzing Bryne's vital signs through the metallic surface. In bright, boxy green letters, it read:

SCAN OF USER: COMPLETED
USER VITALS: BLOOD IS CLEAN
HEART RATE: PRESENT AND REGULATED
STATUS OF USER: UNINFECTED

I read the words three or four times before we got back to work cutting boards, and yet I was still baffled by what I had seen. "What does this mean?"

Bryne waited to speak until Masen turned away from the encampment and returned his watchful gaze to the visitor on the hill. "The infected...they don't have a heartbeat."

That all took place this afternoon. There is more I could write down, but I'm tired and I know we have a long way to go before we can use this Chronoscope tablet for our benefit. Bryne and I spoke before dinner-hour, and we agree that all of the students should come together and share what we've learned from our life-jobs. Especially Luther Priest and Rufus, since they are told the most. Roof won't be back for a few weeks, from the sound of things. Hopefully, by the time he returns, everyone will be ready to meet as a group.

Because, although Bryne and I were silent for the rest of the night, twisting hardened wire to make sheets of fencing, we knew that, together, we had discovered something at R-13 that could save the rest of us.

Finally.