The Road to Port Cressida
Sophie Reese
The road climbed up and along a steep ridge. The distant glow of the city could be seen above the pine tree tops that lined the road.
I peeked through gaps in the trees, trying to spy a glimpse of the city that I had heard so much about. I was curious about what the city would look like and the people who lived in it. With a population of several million, the city had to be massive. How did so many vampires survive in one big urban area, like this? How were they all able to feed? No way was there enough humans in the area for a couple of million vampires to feed upon. Blood had to be brought into the city to sustain everyone.
The road climbed upwards to an exposed cliff edge. The wind was now howling around me and I could smell the ocean. The city was a port, so we had to be travelling towards the sea. The road climbed a little higher until we were finally riding along the top of the cliff. I turned my head and looked out over the cliff edge and took my first good look at the vampire city. The sight was familiar, yet strange. The city looked like any other city at night, but some of the buildings and streets looked out of place. The city appeared to be built in a natural cradle between a bay and crescent of mountains that separated the bay from the mainland. The mountains offered protection and secrecy from the human world, but limited building space. The centre of the city appeared to beautifully laid out with crescents of townhouses and fine detached mansions surrounded by gardens. However, the edge of the city was tightly packed with hundreds of narrow winding streets that backed right up the slope of the mountain.
The motorbike slowed as the road became uneven and the wind grew even stronger. A dull orange glowing light appeared in the distance. Jacques reduced his speed as we slowly passed a woman and four children huddled around the burning trash can. The woman, a tall thin gaunt-looking thing, barely lifted her head to acknowledge us as we passed. Her children, on the other hand, stared at us with large sad eyes that tore at my heart.
Were they homeless?
I tapped on Jacques' shoulder, urging him to stop, but he shook his head continuing. At first, I didn't understand, why he didn't want to help, but a few seconds later we were passing dozens of people huddled around burning heaps of trash. Behind them, was a jumble of tents and makeshift shelters.
Jacques stopped the bike and dismounted. "We'll need to walk from here," he said.
"Is this the Spit?" I asked getting off the bike.
"Yeah, this is the shame of Port Cressida," he replied.
At that moment, an elderly couple walked past pushing a shopping cart filled with bags of stuff. The old man had his arm draped around the old woman as she cried into his chest. "How are we going survive now? We've lost everything," she sobbed.
The old man shook his head gravely, "We should have moved sooner. I thought we had more time."
"What will we do now?" She choked.
"I don't know," he murmured.
As they pushed the cart past me, I examined what was inside. Clothes, pictures, a lamp and an assortment of household items lay inside.
Had they been evicted from their home?
I caught up with Jacques and glanced back at the couple, "What do you think happened?"
He shrugged, "The same thing that happened to everyone on this road - they built their home too close to the cliff edge."
"The cliff edge?"
"Yes, people come here to build their homes on the cliff as there is no space left in the city. This is all fine and dandy until a winter storm comes along and washes part of the cliff away."
I stared around at the sullen-looking faces and felt my heartache. I knew what it was like to be homeless. I had lost my home too after my Grandparents had died. I remember how vulnerable and powerless I had felt, knowing I did not have a safe place to sleep.
"What is Casper doing about it?" I asked.
"Look, this isn't Casper's fault. He inherited this mess from his father. Port Cressida is built in a natural basin which means there is limited land to build on and we simply don't have enough space for everyone."
"So why not build elsewhere and create a new town or settlement?"
Jacques opened his mouth to reply, but instead yelled, "Watch out!"
A large ginger ball of fur shot out from the shadows and crawled up Jacques' pants. Jacques stiffened as a large fat tabby cat climbed up his torso and onto his shoulder. The poor cat was terrified and dug his claws into Jacques' shoulder as a gang of small boys came running out between two tents yelling, "Where'd it go?"
Jacques folded his arms across his chest and looked sternly at the boys.
"Are you tormenting this poor cat?" He asked.
"That's our dinner, Mister!" One of the small boys replied. "We've been fattening it up."
I shook my head in disbelief, "You can't seriously be thinking about eating a cat."
"We don't want to eat it, we want to drink its blood," the boy explained eyeing the cat like a four-course dinner.
"Why would you want to drink blood from a cat?"
"Cos' we can't afford to drink anything else."
"What do you mean?"
"Blood costs money. When you ain't got no money, you ain't got no blood."
"Okay, so how about we buy the cat from you?" I bargained.
The boys paused for a second and exchanged glances with one another. Whispers were exchanged and eventually, one of the boys said, "Fine, it will cost you seven hundred black crowns."
"Seven hundred black crowns! For this old fleabag!" Jacques bellowed.
"That's the price. If you don't want to pay it, then hand over the cat," the boy snapped.
The cat let out a pitiful mew and stared at Jacques with big sad eyes.
Jacques, unable to resist, let out a long groan as he pulled out his wallet.
"This is robbery," he grumbled as he handed a wad of cash over to the boys.
The boys snatched the money and scarpered back into the maze of shadows and makeshift dwellings. Jacques stared into his empty wallet and sighed, "I can't believe we got scammed."
"I disagree," I said, gently lifting the cat off Jacques' shoulder. "I think we found a new friend."