NEED: By T.A. Branom
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011My eyes opened as a man screamed.
I’d never heard a man scream before that moment. In that moment, something awoke deep inside me–like I’d been dead and was now alive. With the same suddenness, I was thirsty. A thirst as if I’d never had anything to drink before in my life.
I stopped right there in the street. I couldn’t move forward, and I couldn’t resist looking toward the shrieks of sheer terror.
Thump.
It was Gordon, my neighbor. Jim, one of my coworkers, wrestled him down to the ground only a few feet from me. Gordon’s eyes bulged from their sockets. His blood speckled my white sneakers as Jim buried his crazed face into the man’s neck. I raised a brow.
What happened to Jim? My stomach grumbled, and I patted it lightly. What is this? Another rumble and my head swooned.
Sitting up, Jim slowly turned to me and licked his lips, blood flicking into the air from his tongue. Blood dripped from his chin and his face broadened to a wicked smile. His normal gray pallor was replaced with pinkishness. Set against his dark hair, he now resembled a sausage patty. He held out his blood-covered hand to me. My head swam and I stepped back, my mind trying to consume all that I was seeing. The smile drooped from Jim, and he turned back to Gordon, diving into him as if he were a pool.
I wanted so much to join Jim. Growls and hisses from my stomach doubled me over. An overwhelming need to eat hit me.
I ran for home. I needed something.
Screams. More and more screams. They stabbed my ears and sliced at my brain.
Everywhere I looked, more people flailed on the ground, friends feasting on their blood as if to make up for lost time. Shuddering with the pangs of need, I stumbled on through the shrieks and bodies and meat and blood and…acquaintances.
I had to find Linda. She would help me. She would know what to do.
Tires squalled to my right on Main Street. Glass and crushing metal resonated behind me. People darted about like rabbits chased by wolves. I hadn’t seen this since…the epidemic.
As I staggered through the rural streets and rows of houses, I thought perhaps I could take just one bite…just to ease the need. I shook my head to rattle some sense back into myself. I was almost home–almost safe.
A girl tripped out into my path from the row of hedges next to my home. Blonde hair stuck to her face and filled her mouth as she panted. Her vitamin enriched, iron-laden blood wafted into my nostrils. I clutched her shoulder, my fingers digging between her bones. I knew her. I had admired her long legs and softly curved hips many times.
“Mary Rose,” I said. She sucked in a breath. I yanked her to me. My need overcame me. I cupped my lips over her pulsing vein. Salty sweat pasted my tongue. She still had not exhaled.
I tore into her neck, ripping away her flesh. She screamed. As I closed my eyes, all that I ever had been became a shadow. Darkness like a black, wet, velvet blanket shrouded me, and I was lost in pleasure.
“Allen.”
I blinked to the soft voice. Blurry dark shadows ebbed across block walls. I thought I recognized this place. Was I home? It was different, chilling. Smells of flesh and blood; pleas for help. Fear.
“Allen.”
“Mary Rose?” I squinted into the face above me.
“Allen.” The voice whispered a cool breath across my face.
“Linda,” I sputtered. I tried to sit up. My mind reeled and my stomach churned. I dropped back into her lap.
“You’ll be fine,” Linda said. She snuggled my head against her chest and stroked my hair, her fingers gently scraping my scalp. Her light musky scent aroused me, and I ran my hand over her arm. Her long brown hair slid over her shoulder and fell over my forehead. I sagged against her.
Linda turned my face upward. Her lips pressed against mine, her fingers entwined through my hair. The taste of salt and iron blended in our kiss. That taste of my first victim teased my tongue. An image of Mary Rose’s mortified face blinked in my mind like a subliminal suggestion.
I lifted my eyes to Linda.
“She was my gift to you,” Linda whispered. “I sent her to you, knowing your desire for her–knowing you would take her.”
“What?”
Linda’s nails dug into my shoulder, intimidating, alien. My eyebrows shot up.
“Linda?”
Her smile faded and her eyes darkened. I struggled to get to my feet. Her hand on my shoulder forced me down with a heavy thud.
“We are proud creatures, Allen.” She sighed and lowered her head. “We are reclaiming our planet. All we needed was human trust. All we needed to do was wait “
My muscles tightened and my stomach turned. Memories of Mary Rose’s warm blood made my mouth water. I realized now that by taking Mary Rose, I had sentenced myself as a two for one meal deal.
Linda poised herself over me.
“I have no choice, do I?”
“No,” she whispered. “We have come so far. We have waited so long.”
Squeezing me tight, Linda bit into my neck just over my pulsing artery. Her need rose like a fever-pitched chord.
I screamed. I’ve never screamed so loud or so long before that moment. Right then, it was as if I was falling asleep, like I needed to sleep.
As I closed my eyes, all that I ever was became a shadow. Darkness like a black, wet, velvet blanket shrouded me, and I was lost.
Words echoed softly. “All will be fine.”
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©Tammy A. Branom
Tammy A. Branom is a freelance writer living and working in the breathtaking Columbia River Gorge in Washington State and has been published in various print and online venues including Flashes In The Dark, Fictitious Magazine, and numerous Static Movement anthologies. She’s also a columnist for Unexplained Mysteries. For more, visit her website at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~branom201/.
