The Dracula Index - Vampire Epoch//01

36 - Mell

They heard a rustling in the next room as Elder Hemaris brought plates out to the table, humming a tune we had never heard. Oscar put a finger to his lips and approached the doorway. Acting in a way that matched his uniform, he kept watch through the gap in the double doors. When Hemaris returned to the kitchen, Oscar looked back to Bryne and spoke his mind in a hushed and gravely voice.

"So, Rufus brought you a book from the wasteland. And this...device...that was meant to discover a pattern through our communications in search of a cure, brought you to the beginning of the knowable timeline so you can best understand how to defeat whatever is out there. Is that where we're at with this?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then I say read it. Read the whole damn thing. When you're done, come and find us...if we're still alive. Then tell us if there's anything we can do that we aren't already doing."

"We would, but I think we're missing some of the story," Bryne said, to my surprise. "I'm sorry, Mell. I skipped to the end to check the dates. That's why I wanted to talk to you all."

I tried to just listen and not picture the dates Bryne had seen, but it was difficult.

"I thought you wanted to know what each of us learned when we started our jobs," Roz replied, raising her eyebrows. "So you don't need that anymore?"

"Honestly, no. All the answers are in the Chrono-tablet. It's just not complete." Bryne turned to look across the room at Roof. He stared at him, waiting, a whole conversation taking place between glances. Eventually, Rufus spoke.

"You want the Scavers to go back there."

"Not the Scavers. Us," Bryne said, looking to me.

"Yeah, we need to go," I agreed, with a flush of excitement. "If Bryne thinks it's a good move, then it's the right decision."

Lane was suddenly concerned. "Go where?"

"Beyond the picket boundary and into the wasteland. There are more books out there that belong in the Chronoscope. We can leave through the expansion fence when everyone is sleeping. The guard towers aren't built yet."

"No, it's not safe enough. We should find a different way," Oscar suggested.

Roz laughed. "We're not going anywhere. Look at Roof's leathers. They're still stained with Scaver blood. Not for me, sister. Shouldn't be for you, either."

"I hate to agree with Roz, of all people," Rufus said tiredly, "...and I know what we found is amazing, but you really don't know what's out there. None of you can know what the Scavers do. If we pooled all our knowledge, there would be more shockers than your nightmares could handle. At least Lenny has the peace of being in the Priesthood. Not me."

When I thought the discussion was coming to an unfortunate end, Edie spoke. With much effort, she rose from the couch and joined Oscar at the doors to the dining room. She peeked through the gap and spoke, her voice weak.

"If there is no life cycle to the infection, then this is never going to end. Every day, every month...the years will pass by and nothing will change, until one day we reach the Neverdowns and finally have freedom. But what of the children?" she said, turning away from the door to look at Crevan and Felicity. "And their children? We breed them, we bear them, we guard them...and for what? If only to keep the encampment running until one day the infected have destroyed everything that ever was? What Mell and Bryne found at R-13 is hope. Hope that was abandoned decades ago. I don't care what dangers wait for us in the darkness beyond the valley. Time will carry on here, but those books might already be moving to a new territory. There is no telling where they'll be a day from now, a week from now. Don't you realize? We may be the only ones who know any of this! We may be the last surviving chance against the infection! Each of you knows something unique about our life here at camp, that's evident. And while I have no interest in hearing what you've been told, I'd like to know if any of you can say with certainty that we are not the only ones left in the world?"

Silence filled the room. None of us even breathed, until eventually, Lenny turned to Crevan, who nodded in agreement. "So, what do you propose?"

I looked to Bryne, and then Rufus. "We need the Scaver maps. Out there, without them, we're lost."

Roof shook his head. "Do you know how many maps we have? And my job-head, Scaver Primo, locks them up when we return. I don't even know where."

"Trigger knows," Felicity answered.

"Who?"

"The old man I guard. He talks about us all the time, actually. Trigger used to be the job-head for the Scavers, before he...uh..."

"Went mad," Crevan finished.

Felicity ignored him. "Trigger will know where the maps are kept. I can ask him."

All of us were considering the extent of what we were planning. Then Lenny whispered what I was about to say. "There's more we'll need to do. Retrieving the maps will take manipulation. It will require effort from each person in this room."

Bryne joined Edie at the door and, with Oscar's help, eased her down to one of the chairs. Then he stood and focused on each of us, his strong shoulders glowing in the light from the bulbs overhead, revealing the power I always knew he had in him.

"Are we all in?"

I looked excitedly around the room as each of them considered the risk and nodded. Then he looked at me.

"We have work to do," I said.

At that, a delicate bell chimed from the next room, and we joined Elder Hemaris in eating the roasted chicken and vegetables he prepared for the table. The plates were garnished in cloves of garlic, which ruined the whole experience for me. I hate garlic.

Each question the High Elder asked was more pointless than the last. Even Crevan, who was usually on point with his praise, seemed more focused on his role in our effort to find books for the Chronoscope index that I didn't even know was incomplete.

When it was time for dessert and admonishment, Hemaris brought us to the next sitting room, which was larger and surprisingly more comfortable than the first. There, I took out the Chronoscope and read them the first letters from Ezzelin von Klatka.

As my classmates left that night while Bryne and I stayed behind to clean, which is our duty as Generals, each member of our group told me in private to continue reading. And that's what I'm about to do. Really, I'm looking forward to catching up to where Bryne had read, and I'm nervous about what's to come with Ezzelin. As Bryne explained to me, Vlad the Impaler had been released from his imprisonment after a twelve-year sentence. Something tells me this is going to be gruesome.