After the pandemic: The Blood Feud (753 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 2 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by kre8rix (View user info) at 2005-04-22 14:31:26 EDT
Karen perched silently on the edge of what used to be a thirty story high rise, scanning the streets below as the sun made its slow descent. Before the world ended, the building served as loft housing for eccentric, affluent artists and young business executives. Now it was nothing more than a shell; the scorched brick skeleton serving as nothing more than a scarred testament to a dead world.
A breeze wafted gently across the rooftops and she closed her eyes, swaying slightly from side to side as she immersed herself in the sensation of the wind across her skin. It had been almost a full year since her rebirth, and her heightened senses still overwhelmed her. Her silent dance with the wind was interrupted by a series of sounds resonating from the streets below. She suspended her movement as her gaze shifted downward. She scrutinized the seemingly empty avenue; every movement registering in her sight. Several stray cats roamed the darkening street, foraging for food in the dead city. There were still small cells of uninfected humans that kept the animals as companions, feeding them when they could; largely due to the feline's similar immunity.
Something else caught her eye; a small dirty bushel of hair peeked cautiously from behind a dumpster. She focused her attention on the young boy that slowly emerged from his hiding place. He couldn't have been more than 12 years old. He wore several layers of tattered clothing to protect him from the chilled air. He clutched protectively at a small bundle held in his arms. She could hear his breathing, slightly panicked as he looked down one end of the street and then the other. A single crimson tear rolled down her cheek as the memory of the boy from the hospital flashed through her minds eye. Since she had changed, she had killed countless people; humans and vampires alike. But the memory of the boy, Jeffrey, still weighed heavy in her mind. She looked down at her hands and cringed, never fully able to wash the blood of Jeffrey from them. She was snapped from her guilt ridden reverie by another thought.
"This doesn't make sense," She contemplated as she observed the boy, "There is no chance that this boy is alone in this city. Not at this time of day."
Her eyes flicked toward the last of the suns dying light before returning to the boy.
"Something is wrong here,"
As the thought flowed through her mind, her misgivings were realized. She saw a dark form crawling silently out into the street from a basement window; then another, and another. There were three in all, hidden from the boy's line of sight by a set of concrete stairs.
She could make out their forms in the graying light, as well as the insignias tattooed on their necks.
Bloods; it was an old gang name taken in a new context under revised circumstances. These rogue vampire gangs were the bane of the new order her and her comrades were trying to establish. They were why she became a hunter; a hunter of her own kind locked in a blood feud since the beginning of the end.
Gabriel, the first vampire she had met, had taken her under his wing. He had given her a place to stay with others of their kind; he taught her how to fight, how to feed. The group he had aligned himself with was trying to gain some order in the chaos of the new world; and while she did not agree entirely with his politics, she agreed that these gangs needed to be eradicated. So she joined with them, and quickly became one of the most elite hunters in their ranks.
It only took a couple of days for her to find out that she was immune to sunlight, unlike her companions. She and two others had been searching the city for others like them, trying to avoid the vampire gangs as they formed, and destroying the 'munchers' as they crossed their path. They had found a building that had sustained little damage during the riots that had ensued after the disease had taken hold. Unfortunately, they had not been paying attention and were caught in the first rays of dawn. She stood confused in an open window as the sun came up and her companions cowered in the corner, staring at her in awe. One of them cautiously stood, taking small step over to her as she stood in the full suns light. He extended his arm into the light and smiled; milliseconds before he screamed as his hand incinerated, instantly turning to ash. He pulled back to the corner, shrieking and blubbering incoherently as he clutched the stump of his arm to his chest. They both cast a look of utter terror at her and disappeared into the dark hallway. She saw them some time later; Blood tattoos on their necks, torturing a young girl and her father. She felt no remorse in their destruction.
She once again focused her attention on the Bloods below. She stood determinedly, grasping her sword in its scabbard. With in human speed, she leapt from her perch; descending parallel with the side of the building. She whipped the sword from its sheath and plunged it deep into the brick wall; the weapon sparking brightly as it slowed her descent. The Bloods watched her in shock as she kicked off the wall, acrobatically flipping through the air and landing in the middle of the street with her weapon pointed aggressively in their direction. The boy fell back in fear as she stood and faced her enemies. The Bloods' look of surprise was replaced with bloodlust as they faced their opponent. The boy would have to wait.
"What have we here?" one of them asked his companions, his sharp incisors glistening.
"Looks like we have a hunter," replied one of the others.
The Bloods grinned eagerly as they spread out across the street, methodically unsheathing their various weapons. Karen looked disappointedly at them, lengths of pipe and chain playing eagerly in their hands. She sighed and lowered her sword slightly; discouraged at the lack of a challenge her adversaries projected.
"What's the matter, bitch?" spat the larger one, obviously the leader, "Are you too scared to..."
His challenge was cut short as Karen's blade pierced his nasal cavity, the force of the blow sending him through the air and stapling him to the brick wall of the building behind him. He gurgled violently as he tried to free himself; his friends looking at him, and then back to Karen in shock. She slowly pulled a shorter sword from its scabbard, watching her adversaries intently.
"You'll pay for that, you fuck," snarled one of them, lunging at her with vampiric speed.
As he swung his chain he was momentarily surprised at the lack of resistance. It took him a moment to realize she was no longer standing in front of him. It took him another moment to feel Karen's blade carve up the length of his spine. She took hold of the exposed bone at the base of his skull and pulled him close to her as he choked on his own blood.
"You should have tried harder," She whispered into his ear.
She tore his spinal column from his body and spun, whipping it across the face of the remaining vampire as he tried to sneak up on her. With the completion of her rotation, her blade cleaved the now spineless vampires head from his body. Before the third vampire could hit the ground, she was on him, grasping his head firmly in her hand. She held him in the air for a moment before slamming him into the ground; his head exploding in a mixture of blood and asphalt.
She paused for a moment before using the twitching vampires' clothes to wipe the blood from her hands. She re-sheathed her sword and walked purposefully over to the leader of the three, still struggling to pull the sword from his face. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then though better of it. After months of fighting and killing these bastards, she had given up trying to reason with them. His eyes widened in horror as she grasped the hilt of her sword. She twisted the blade hard, and with an upward stroke, split his head in half and bringing the blade around to pierce his heart. The vampire's lifeless body slumped to the ground as she removed her sword; and she knelt down and wiped her blade off on his jacket.
She stood and sheathed her sword before turning and walking toward to cowering human boy. She knelt down and smiled, doing her best to make her razor sharp teeth as unthreatening as possible.
"You shouldn't be out this late," She said warmly, "Go back home."
The boy nodded wildly as he pulled his bundle closer to his chest and ran back into the alley.
She smiled again and shook her head as she stood. She turned back and looked at the remains of her opponents purposefully.
-------
"Well where the hell are they," rasped a short vampire, as he looked around nervously; his tattoo displayed proudly on his neck, "Simple snatch, get some food. We shouldn't be out looking for them like this. What if..."
He was silenced by the wave of the large vampires' outstretched arm.
"What is it, boss? What are you...?"
The short vampire emerged from behind his leader and stared in silence; the missing members had been found. Their fully dead bodies hung limply against the side of the building; impaled with pieces of rebar and old street sign posts. Above their heads, four words were scrawled hastily in the familiar bluish black blood of the kind.
'The blood feud continues'
User Reviews
Submitted by notyou (user info) at 2005-07-13 12:35:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:57:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good,
I couldn't help but picture her as Kate Beckinsdale in Underworld
Mmmmmm Kate
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Same here.
Great story.
Submitted by Jungle_Jimanee (user info) at 2005-06-21 09:31:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice!
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-05-12 17:58:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have just got done reading these all and I have enjoyed them all. Great work everyone, +2's for all!
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-05-04 20:55:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Mothafucka, you don't write anymore??
Let's go, chop chop!! You've got two dangling series that need attention! ENTERTAIN ME, DAMMIT!! THIS WEBSITE IS AN OVERFLOWING OUTHOUSE OF CRAP!!
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-28 13:37:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-04-27 16:36:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
That was awesome this was great. I was confused though as to how many swords she had. Still a great story though.
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She had two; a Katana and a Wakasashi. As far as I can recall, that was the standard for swordsman back in the day (a long sword and a short).
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-04-27 16:36:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That was awesome this was great. I was confused though as to how many swords she had. Still a great story though.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-04-26 09:41:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know what to say.
You are a great writer, and this is one of my favorite in the ATP series.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-25 15:00:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sweet, but the story is rathed cliched. That said, I haven't noticed certain people (read: myself) contributing anything whatsoever to this project, so...
Basically, you're writing, and it is Good.
FINISH YOUR OTHER SERIES, MOTHERFUCKER
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-23 18:07:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i am so glad this series is still around.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-23 18:00:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/64690
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-23 00:08:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yay! Another Pandemic post!
It was getting cold and lonely out here...
I liked it a lot, except for the "You should have tried harder" line. Not enough set up for the line to jive with me...sounded like a cheesy action movie line. Other than that, gorgeous, baby.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-04-22 23:09:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
FEUD!!!
This makes me wanna go a Feudin!!!
Submitted by garcon_fou (user info) at 2005-04-22 23:06:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fantastic
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-04-22 16:26:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent as always but I still await more of the elemental.
very well done.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-04-22 16:25:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm going to smoke a joint sunday night and read as much as I can of your stuff.
Here's a prediction--you win the next Ubermaddness.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-04-22 16:19:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i loe this series
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-22 15:12:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:57:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good,
I couldn't help but picture her as Kate Beckinsdale in Underworld
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Yeah me too, damn her and her leather pants.
Damn her right to my room.
Phinch, I haven't actually seen Sin City yet, but I'm working on it.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-04-22 15:00:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked the imagery. Are you giving tribute to sin city?
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:57:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good,
I couldn't help but picture her as Kate Beckinsdale in Underworld
Mmmmmm Kate
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:52:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks guys.
This idea was born all of 1 1/2 hours ago as I was trying to fill a strange desire to staple someone's head to a wall.
Can't wait for your next one Jack.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:43:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Not only is this some good shit, but it shows great minds think alike.
I'm just putting the finishing touches on another ATP story as well.
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:36:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-22 14:33:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Rebirth Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/61490
Rebirth Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/61747