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Dracula: World of War- Part 15
🕑 Added 2022-09-25 03:43:29 +0000 UTCI injected some extra venom into the three dead bodies of the German soldiers before bounding over the wall and injecting venom into the nearest guard. He was standing by a metal building urinating when I quickly slammed my fangs into his neck and pumped venom in. He fell to the ground frozen but continued urinating for another few seconds. I fought off the urge to feed and instead let him live. He remained still, ten minutes passed, then twenty, then forty, until finally he stated to move again. Slowly he curled up into a ball and started clawing at his head. I watched as he hissed and rolled in pain for several minutes until finally stopping and lurched from side to side until he stood up in a hunched position. He stood, no longer a man, but a mindless beast, growling and snarling. Foaming at the mouth he turned to me and lunged like a rabid dog.
I let the power flow through me and raised a hand, “Halte.” *Stop* He fell to his knees and his face plowed into the dirt and gravel. Slowly he stood up, calm, just like the three men from earlier. Aside from his pants around his ankles, a new set of fangs, and blood red eyes, he seemed like any other fellow. “Mach dich anständig.” I commanded. *Make yourself decent* His head tilted to the side, as if to think about my order, then he reached down and pulled his pants up as well as fixing his belt and tucking in his shirt. This time I spoke in English, “Raise your right hand.” He did nothing. “Hebe deine rechte hand,” this time he followed orders.
“So, you follow my orders, but you have to understand them.” I said to him, even though he had no idea what I was saying. “Kannst du sprechen?” I asked. *Can you speak?*
In a low growl, the creature’s voice strained and twisted out a single reply, “Ja.” *Yes.* His cognitive abilities were limited but still there. In this state, thinking must have been rather difficult for it. It would never be a scholar, but it might make a fine warrior. Its muscles pulsated with every movement, but I heard no heartbeat.
“Ich möchte sehen, wie geschickt Sie als Krieger sind, gehen Sie und töten Sie so viele Leute wie möglich in diesem Lager.” I told it. *I want to see how skilled of a warrior you are, go and kill as many people in that camp as you can.* In a flash, it turned and ran towards the nearest group to us. It was not a quiet ordeal, it snarled and howled as it tore into their bodies with it hands and fangs. It didn’t fight like a soldier, with skill and trained techniques; it attacked like an animal. I heard their screams, and the confused shouts of others who witnessed the carnage, but they were quickly silenced too. Gun shots and yells polluted the air, until a few minutes later an eerie calm settled on the camp. A lucky shot had caught the beast in the heart, but the damage was already done. I counted thirty-three mangled remains. “A single monster is worth over thirty men.”
I left the camp and found the three dead men I had injected with venom fighting with one another as if they were rabid dogs. “Genug davon,” I used my power on them. *Enough of that.* They froze, one’s mouth was around another’s neck and black blood dripped from it. I looked them over, they were so different from the other one that someone could have honestly questioned if they were ever even human in the first place. They were shriveled up, like the creature in the morgue. Their greyish skin had become dried and cracked. Their eyes were a pale grey, with narrowed pupils, even though it was dark. I reasoned that they were either currently blind or hypersensitive to light. Their clothes had been torn to shreds from the fighting. One by one they let go of one another and faced me. “Kann einer von euch sprechen?” *Can any of you speak?* They all growled, but none said a word; like they understood what speaking was but were unable to actually do it. They truly were different from a living specimen. I looked at their bodies, each was covered in wounds, but none of them was healing like I would.
“Time for a test. Geh ins Lager und töte alle.” *Go into the camp and kill everyone.* Unlike the living one, these three were slow. They didn’t move anything like it did; instead, they scrabbled around on all fours like some kind of demonic dogs. Their fangs bared, they charged into the camp.
By the time the sun rose, I had performed several tests of this nature and had fifteen total creatures, seven created from the dead and eight from the living. The camp was in ruins, parts destroyed from battle, other parts were aflame. What was left was covered in blood and severed appendages; these creatures were viciously thorough. I could see unbridled malicious behind each of their eyes, so much so that it unnerved even me. They had my unsatiable hunger, but also a roaring fury. I don’t know how to describe myself, maybe as broken or vile, I know I’ve certainly been called worse, but them… they were evil. I knew they wanted to kill everything they saw, even me, but my abilities kept them in check. I couldn’t help but wonder… if I was a monster, what did that make them? “How many beasts like you have I unknowingly released on this world?” I thought aloud. I decided that once the war was over, I would need to search everywhere I had been throughout my life and make sure I didn’t leave any behind. I may be long lived but I try to stay in the same ten countries; those are the countries whose languages I understand and speak. Which would be Romanian, Spanish, English, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Polish, and French.
I watched the sun just begin to peak over the mountainside and took shelter in what remained of one of the barracks. “Only one test left to perform.” I had given orders to all of the beasts, in fact I gave them all the same order… not to move, no matter what. The sun crested over the top of the mountain’s snow-capped peak and the light bathed the creatures. At first, smoke rose from their exposed flesh, then blisters formed, then each and every single one burst into flames. To my surprise, none of them moved, or even reacted to the fire and burns. I began to question if they could feel pain. The ones made from the living held out the longest, twice as long as the dead in fact, but within minutes all of the monsters were ash, not even the bones remained. A part of me was mortified at such a violent reaction to sunlight, another part of me was fascinated. I had spent time in sunlight before, it definitely has an effect, but nothing like that. I become weak, too weak to move if I stay in it uncovered long enough. Once during a test of my endurance, I even suffered blistering, but nothing like what I had just witnessed. “I must remember to run tests on this.” I told myself.
I turned my attention away from the ashes and corpses and towards my current situation. I was days overdue to meet up with the rest of the team, my partner was dead and rotting in the forest, and I have to explain how I managed to singlehandedly wipe out an entire German army encampment. I had at least half a day to think of a lie to tell that would be believable; that’s how long it would take me to rendezvous with the others. Since I was in the barracks, the was plenty of materials to wrap myself in, although some of it was burned it was still better than what I had now; a bloodied and bullet hole ridden German army uniform. I found a spare beige shirt and some light grey trousers; I traded the boots I had for a nicer pair of black, officer’s boots that had a much better fit. I also found gloves that went about halfway up to my elbow to protect my hands. For good measure I also put on a black button-up trench-coat and an old patched grey cloth hat; it reminded me of the type a newspaper delivery boy would wear.
Once I was as covered as I could manage, I set out and began my trek up the mountain to my comrade’s position. With blazing speed, I ran up the cliff, leaping over boulders and going in as straight a line as possible. I stopped only twice. Once to feed on a passing moose and again on a deer. By nightfall, I had the meet up location within sight. We had agreed on a signal that let them know that we were coming. If they were still there, they would see it. I was hopeful I had moved fast enough to meet the original deadline, but I was fairly certain I was still at least a day late. I pulled out a small square mirror from my pocket and aimed it towards their position. I placed my hand in an L shape and flicked the mirror up and down three times, then paused before repeating it twice; that was the signal that it was me and not an enemy. A few seconds passed and I saw a flash repeat the pattern from their position; that was the return signal. I walked slowly now, or at least at a normal human speed, and arrived at the campsite an hour later.
As I approached the camp, I smelt Reynolds and Baker before I saw them, one was in the camp and the other was behind me. I heard the chambering of a bullet into a rifle then, “hands up, and turn around.” It was Reynolds’s voice. I did as he instructed. As soon as he saw me, he lowered his gun and sighed. “Dang it, Alucard; you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you wearing, and where is Akerman?”
“It was this or a German officer’s uniform that was a size too small.”
“Okay but where is Akerman?”
“He didn’t make it; he was shot in our escape. He’s dead.” I explained.
He lowered his head, “dang, that’s too bad. Was the mission a success at least?”
“More than expected, we took out the entire place, not just the artillery.”
“Whose there?” Baker called from the camp and poked his head around the entrance to the small cave.
“It’s Alucard,” Reynolds told him then slung the strap his rifle over his shoulder.
“Just Alucard?” Baker wondered.
“Yeah, Akerman didn’t make it.” Reynolds explained. Baker shook his head and performed a catholic cross, then pulled a cross neckless from inside his shirt and kissed it. “Alucard, you mentioned that the whole camp was destroyed, but how?” Reynolds asked as we walked over to Baker.
“I’ll explain while we pack up, let’s get out of here.”
