“Please. Don’t leave me,” she whispered. Her voice was so soft that I had to lean close to hear her. Her dark tendrils touched my cheek, sending a shiver down my spine. It was almost erotic.
Almost.
She sighed and closed her eyes again. She’d been sleeping more and more since the illness took her. It was painful to watch. All of the things that I loved about her were fading, disappearing in the waste of this vile sickness.
Suddenly, she began to convulse. Her body was wracked with such violent pains that blood began to seep from her ears and eyes. Those beautiful dark eyes. I just stared as she shook, so lost was I. This was the third episode in four days. I was told that it wouldn’t be much longer. I was told that there was nothing that could be done. The creatures that infected her continued to multiply everywhere, taking over our beautiful city. We did everything that we could to fight them. We shot them, burned them, built barricades. But they still kept coming. And my people kept dying.
The spasms stopped just as suddenly as they had started. Blood soaked the bed and was already caking on her face, hiding that which I once found so enthralling. “You’re staring,” she smiled. She knew without even opening her eyes. She always knew what I was thinking, without my even having to say it. “I remember when you would stare with longing. Hunger. Now, it’s just with pity.” She spits out the last word as if it had left a bad taste in her mouth. She was still proud…and angry. Even lying there, covered in filth and unable to move, she still had a commanding presence. “What news is there?”
I turned and sat on the chair next to her bed, lighting a cigarette before I spoke. “Nothing good, I’m afraid. They say that the southernmost part of the city is gone. Those that weren’t changed are now dust. The north and west are just wastelands. All that’s left are a few survivors in the East End, and those of us in the city center. It’s not promising.” She opened her eyes and looked at me. “We knew that this day would come, you know that,” she said.
I nodded as she continued, “Really, I have to admit that I’m impressed with them. We had nearly wiped them out before, and I thought that I would never live long enough to see their kind again. Shit, I hate it when I’m right.” I laughed, choking on the cigarette smoke. She could still crack a joke even now when everything had gone to hell. No wonder I loved her.
Standing up, I walked over to the window and pulled back the heavy curtain, to let in some air. She winced as the outside light hit her bed, but I raised a reassuring hand. “Don’t worry, it’s just moonlight,” I told her. She relaxed, and I saw the light reflect the tears that were forming. “I wish that I could see it,” she said. Stamping the cigarette out on the floor, although in this dirty little room it made no difference, I crossed over to the bed and gathered her in my arms. As we came closer to the window, the moonlight bathed her face, and I saw just how much she had changed. Her eyes were still dark, but now that darkness was a deep blue, not black. Her once pale skin had taken on a pinkish tinge, and even her smell was different. And there was something else.
A heartbeat.
Shit, why didn’t I hear it before? I was so caught up in what was going on around us that I didn’t even sense it. How long had she had one? A few hours? A day, even?
“Only since this morning,” she answered when I spoke my query aloud. “It was weak, and your mind had been elsewhere.” This wasn’t good. I had to take her somewhere else. Away from everyone.
Away from me.
“No. Let me stay here, with you. I haven’t much longer anyway. And then…” Her words tore at my chest. We both knew what the outcome would be. I just wasn’t ready, not that I would ever be. A noise from outside tore us from our thoughts. Looking down, we saw them. Armed to the teeth with rifles, axes, UV light rods, and anything else they could carry, the invading force would soon be at the entrance to our apartment building. It wouldn’t be long now.
“Let me stand and get a look at them,” she said. I set her on her feet, supporting her around the waist, with her arms draped around my neck. I did my best to ignore the pulse that beat against me as she spoke her thoughts. “They look so small, don’t they? Yet, look at what they’ve managed to do. We, you and I, are a dying species. We’re lions brought down by a swarm of ants.”
“Even ants can be powerful, if they work in unison,” I replied.
Sighing, she nodded. “That’s where they got us. We were so sure of our own superiority, we stopped making any effort to make sure that we stayed that way. They even brought back the sun.” We looked up at the full moon.
“I heard that some of them even made deals with the Lycans,” I said.
“Filthy beasts, they can have them,” she sneered. Then she coughed again, this time so violently that I had to lower her to the floor. “Look what they’ve done to you, my love,” I said and began to weep. For her, for me, for our people. Soon, we would all be gone, and in time, all that would be left would be tales that the humans would tell to frighten their children.
She touched my face, and I could feel the warmth stir my hunger. Without another thought, I pulled her head back, snapping her neck, and fed, dark tears streaming down my face. I drank as I heard footsteps down the hall. I growled as I heard the front door kicked in and the voices yelling “Clear!” I tore her throat out as they broke down our door, shining a UV flashlight at the back of my head.
It didn’t matter now. They would kill me, and I didn’t care. As I stood up, I turned around, staring at the face of the one who held the light. I launched myself at him, but he quickly stepped aside and grabbed the back of my neck.
“No!” I screamed as I felt the syringe pierce my neck. This was a fate worse than death and they knew it. The last sight I saw before my world went dark was the humans as they chopped up her remains.
Special thanks to Martin Berman-Gorvine for his editing assistance with this story.
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