The Dracula Index - Vampire Epoch//01

16 - Mell

Oscar, Masen, and two other Watchmen came racing out of their bunkhouse, pulling their vests on and readying their weapons. A man from Watchtower C called out to the Scavers. Felicity was there too, but only to hold back Trigger, the crazed old man in her charge, from trying to escape.

"Tell us what happened! Why are you bleeding?" Masen called out.

"Help!" One of them hollered.

"Come out here and help us!"

Then I heard Roof's voice. "Hurry! They've attacked him."

Oscar went for the door, but the other Watchmen held him back, looking carefully at the three men approaching the desolate patch. Bryne was there a moment later, shoving the Watchmen aside. Punches were thrown by both parties, until Luther stepped in, his legs getting tangled under the brown robe he's forced to wear.

"Let them go, I can offer protection," he commanded in that new, deep voice of his. The other Watchmen, respectful of the cloth on Luther's back, stepped away. Together, the three of them dragged the Scaver's entrance open.

I watched Bryne, Oscar and Luther Priest as they ran out to meet Rufus and the other Scavengers. When he reached Roof, Bryne looked back at me with his eyes blinking. There was so much blood, and none of them seemed to know how many of the Scavers were injured.

When they came through, I was standing at the entrance, one Encamper among fifty. The moment Rufus made it safely past the pickets, his eyes shot to my direction and he slumped uncertainly toward me.

"Mell, you're a General, right? I need water...a drink of water."

The Helpers checked Rufus for wounds before allowing the two of us to leave. He shoved me out of the group. The other Generals were too occupied with the chaos of the bloodied man to care about where I was taking Roof. Before we got to the Inventory Post, I spotted the Elders taking the Scaver to a rusty door that I thought was unusable at the back of Hospital House.

I closed the door and rushed him to the rain basins. Since I had worked a day with Lane and the other Traders, I knew it was the purest water. But when I unlocked the cage around the first basin, Rufus didn't move. And then I felt something blunt jabbing into my waist.

"Take it. Quickly," Rufus said in a heated whisper. "Bryne told me to get it to you. They'll be checking our packs. Always do when we come back from a Roadshow."

"A what?" I asked, looking down at where he poked me.

"A scavenge trip. Whatever. I found this out there. Take it."

There was a flat object in his hands, wrapped in bloodied leathers. There was hardly enough time to process what I was seeing before Rufus fired off the rest of what had happened to them.

"There was some kind of traveling apparatus, made of wood. It had wheels, six of them. Three times the size of the garden cart. And there were horses attached, if you could believe it. Horses! There was a whole bunch of fancy stuff inside the thing. I only got a chance to take this before the screaming started and we had to yank her off of him. We had garlic...holy water...but it was only enough for us to get away. Our damn guns jammed. We got back here alright, but I don't think she wanted to part with this."

"Roof, slow down. A woman attacked you?"

"Just take the stupid thing and put it in the machine."

"The machine? How do you know about that?" I asked, pulling back the fabric to see the rough material underneath. "You've been gone this whole time."

"Bryne sent me one of those Carrier Birds. You don't know this, but we've been messing with them for years. Captured one on the roof of Bunkhouse Boys. There's a cage up there now. Bryne always tried to make contact with other encampments, but it never seemed to work," Rufus said, using his hand to gulp down a scoop of clean water. "It followed me, though...the bird. I sent it here with a note for Bryne and it came back. He told me about the Chronoscope. So when I found this I...I thought it could help. It's a book, Mell. Like a Notes Book, actually. And after all we went through, with Ficcin getting attacked, I know whatever's inside has to be important. That woman...whoever she was...she cared about this book because it was hiding in a special trunk. I think she's one of them."

"Infected? Wait...are you infected?" I croaked, backing away from him and the water basin, dropping the musty Notes Book.

"No, that's not how it works. They have to..." Rufus paused, after pointing to his teeth. "I can't. You're not allowed to know."

"Why not?"

"I've been told so much. I wish I hadn't been. Trust me, you're better off. But...I think Ficcin was just infected. And it could have been me. I have to go. They're gonna start getting suspicious."

"Roof! Wait!"

He snatched a cup from the shelf, dipped it into the rain basin, and left Inventory Post. I caught a glimpse of the pandemonium outside before Rufus closed the main doors. Everyone was shouting at one another, demanding Ficcin's exile. I stuffed the book into the back of my jeans and slipped out through the side exit.

Bryne was waiting for me behind the pipe heap.

"It's a book, right? He found a book?"

I nodded. "What should we do?"

"The Chronoscope. Now, while we have the chance. They're too overwhelmed by what happened to notice us."

"Do you know what Roof told me?" I cried, following Bryne toward the spot along the fence where the wires were loose and manageable. "Someone attacked them. A woman. She might have infected one of the Scavers. What if she's still out there?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."