Gone

  The horizon was a singed glow by the time Kate found the river. 

  It’s light silhouetted the forest and hills in a green-black blanket of protection. 

  Kate sat at the riverbank and sighed as she waited, staring down at the peacefully trickling French water. 

  She wished she could sit in it and just be taken off back to Paris - to California, even. 

  That would be even better. 

  She hoped that her poor parents never had to suffer anything like this in their lives. She let her fingers tread the water for a while, staring into the serenity. 

  A moment later its clear blue flow had been interrupted by a patch of yellow and green, rippled like water colour paint. 

  It took the disconnected Kate a few moments to fully understand what had caused this sudden colour change. 

  Her head snapped up and instantly tears of joy filled her eyes. 

  “Kate!” cried Varjak, appearing across the stream in a flash and scooping her up into his arms.

  “Varjak! It's you!” Kate cried back, too happy to feel the pain the hard hug caused her wounds. 

  He dropped her gently onto her feet, not realizing that his hand was still on her shoulder as he studied her appearance.

  “You look like you've been dragged through a bush, stung by bees, kidnapped by hillbillies, been hit by a tsunami, became a Red Indian for a day and got run over by a lorry,” Varjak informed her, in his usual blunt manner. 

  Kate couldn't help but grin. 

  “So, I get tortured and you make fun of my appearance? That's nice of you Varjak.”

  Varjak raised his eyebrows. 

  “They tortured you? Just like that? But you're a woman, for God's sake.”

  “You said yourself that they're relentless,” she reminded him.

  “You know there's wolves in this forest?” he informed her suddenly. “I'm lucky they didn't bite me. My stupid invisibility has been stupidly switched off due to the stupid injection that the stupid undead gave me.”

  “Delightful,” said Kate. “Hang on, you don’t suppose those were Ben’s injections?”

  “Almost definitely. How did the Hell did you guys escape any road? And where’s your b*****s?”

  “Here,” said two voices in unison. 

  James and Ben approached from the shade from separate areas, both exchanging pleased glances that the other had made it.

  “Even speaking in unison. Why, what well-trained soldiers you have here Kate.”

  “Your blonde girlfriend said you had a plan,” said James.

  Varjak stopped. “Blonde? Girlfriend? Heh, I should be so lucky. And what plan? I don’t have one right now.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t know her Varjak?” asked Kate. “She was blonde, and pregnant.”

  “What are you trying to say, you lot? I just go around knocking people up? Blonde pregnant girlfriends? Heh. Oh yes a plan. A plan. Well we’re here now, right guys? No undead have spotted us yet- all we have to do is make sure it stays that way.”

  “Kate and I had a close call,” said James. “If it wasn’t for the shade we’d have been seen. And it’s only a matter of time now. I suggest we hide in the dark forest until full nightfall, then make our move.”

  “Hm.” Varjak was thoughtful. “Yes I guess you’re right. But then my vision’s crap. And we all know how much you wee dumplings rely on me.”

  “I’m getting scared,” said Kate. “I feel too over-exposed here. We need to do something soon or we will get caught.”

  “Doesn’t help that they can turn invisible,” said Ben quietly.

  “Mm, but they don’t just walk around like that unless they’re attacking,” said Varjak. “I’ll probably know if they’re here. And we seem safe, for now.”

  “And we don’t know how long ‘now’ will last. So kindly think of something quickly,” said James.

  “Well, we’re in the outskirts of undead territory. South of here are the Pyrenees where I was held captive. If we kept going north we’d probably end up walking in forest for days. East is obviously the heart of the undead territory. Our best bet is to keep going west, but I don’t know how easy that’s going to be.”

  “What do you mean? If we’re moving away from undead territory then surely the more we move the farther we’ll get?” Kate said.

  “Yes, but they’ll be searching for you lot any minute now. Meaning any reasonably safe passage through the forest has been well and truly screwed. Really, such silly blonde women should confide in me first.”

  “Then we’ll have to construct a real plan,” James sighed, leaning against a nearby rowan tree. “Not just keeping low and moving through the forest with the hope of being undetected.”

  “Exactly my dear ginger,” said Varjak. “Come on, we’re pretty exposed here. Let’s at least get into the shade a bit more.”

  They moved swiftly into the din of the trees. 

  “Now, I do have a plan, but I’m not sure you people are going to like it,” said Varjak. “And it’s totally risky and we have a limited time to do a vast amount.” He inhaled. “Firstly, I’m going to have to find the medicine hut to find your chemicals, Ben. Did you label them or anything?”

  “Chlorozymethone,” replied Ben. “Why did you pluralise it?”

  “The undead injected Varjak with a drug that prevented him teleporting or flitting,” said Kate. “It’s probably your dad’s one, so we need to know the name of that to get it back.”

  “I think that was dimetholone,” said Ben. “I hope it was.”

  “I’ll wing it,” said Varjak. “And that’s not even the hard part. Once I’ve got the stuff I’ll meet you guys back here and we’ll have an advantage. Then, we’ll move through the forest, me with the chemicals and invisible, and you three try to be stealthy. If we’re attacked I’ll swoop in and save your butts, hopefully. If not we’re screwed. Does anyone object to this plan?”

  “Do we have a choice?” moaned James. “Let’s just get this done quickly so we can get to a f*****g hospital.”

  “Ooh I love it when you’re angry,” Varjak preened, then vanished. 

  Then flickered back into visibility. 

  Then shimmered into transparency. 

  Then at last, solid.

  “I still can’t teleport or flit,” he groaned. “I’ll have to go invisible and on foot. Great.”

  “Ha,” sneered James. “Now you’re just like one of us.”

  “Can you do this?” Varjak asked, disappearing. “Thought not. So shut up. See you guys in an hour. Since you won’t see me. Ha!”

  “Hurry up!” Kate hissed. 

  There was no response - Varjak had already left. 

                                                                ***

  “Now, if I were a medicine hut, where would I be?” Varjak whispered to himself. 

  He’d left the others around twenty minutes ago, and had no idea of where to go. 

  Not that Varjak liked to admit that to himself. 

  He’d seen the odd hut in passing, and even the occasional undead, but so far he remained undetected. 

  But it would only be a matter of time before they did find him, invisible or not. 

  So he had to hurry his a*s and find the hut soon. 

  “Hm.” He pondered quietly, turning ninety degrees and leaning on a tree. “I could always ask - No.” He rejected the first idea to float into his mind. “Don’t even know where she is for a start. Not like I can flit!” He kept his voice low. “Well, I certainly can’t hang around this shindig forever. I have to do something.”

  He paused to consider.

  “I could always ditch the medicine and we could all just go it alone- but I just can’t risk it. If we got into a fight we could benefit from the advantage…Oh what the Hell am I meant to do?” 

  He slumped against the tree, darkness beginning to close on him. 

  “It won’t be long until my vision goes either,” Varjak sighed, then stood up again. “Well, if I was a stash of deadly chemicals and weapons, I’d probably be near the central area of camp where I could be kept an eye on…Ah crap.” 

  Well, at least he had a fairly good idea of where it was going to be. 

  The tricky part was getting so deep into their territory unnoticed. 

  Time to try and flit again. 

  In his mind he focused on the place where they’d been dragged to days before. 

  He felt the usual, once nauseating tug in the direction of the camp fire, but something held his feet to the ground. 

  No, he just had to push a bit more, the drug was beginning to wear off. 

  He solidified suddenly, and stopped immediately as he did, disappearing again. 

  The concentration required to flit with the drug was knocking him out of invisibility. 

  But he had to try - the camp fire was a good way off from here, and he just didn’t have the time to blunder around in the dark searching for it.

  He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.  

  He could feel his brain slowing down with every exhale.  

  If he could clear his mind apart from the camp fire he could have enough power to overcome the drug. 

  And in, and out. 

  The glow, heat, and crackle of the fire, hot must of the undead, grass tickling his leg through the rip in his jeans. 

  He allowed the memory to become sensory. 

  Then he left the ground, gliding through the air, before being smashed in the face with a tree.   

  Varjak dropped to the ground with the impact, grabbing his nose and mouth and just resisting the urge to yell. 

  In the corner of his eye glowed an amber light. 

  He scrambled out of it and behind a tree, hopefully just managing to avoid being seen. 

  “What was that bang?” one of the men asked. 

  Varjak shifted into invisibility. 

  “I do not know, I will check,” said another. 

  There was a rhythmic crunching building in a crescendo towards Varjak. 

  He desperately wanted to scramble further out of reach, but couldn’t risk the noise it would make. 

  Besides, his invisibility should be enough. 

  And the undead would find it hard to distinguish his presence amongst the others. 

  The undead, a towering, heavily built man with dark skin, paused to the left of him. 

  Varjak stared at him. 

  The slightest sound would give him away - these guys were trained to hunt. 

  “Probably an animal,” he called back to camp. 

  Then, to Varjak’s relief, he turned and walked back down the small slope to camp. 

  Varjak shifted into a kneeling position and began to scan the vast camp area below. 

  Four huts surrounded the main camp fire. 

  The residential huts began around ten metres back. 

  There were a number of undead around the fire, most of them men. 

  None of the huts were especially guarded, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be caught if he tried. 

  But it did give him more scope to get past unnoticed. 

  He had sussed out his plan of action quickly, but Varjak’s eyes still lingered over the camp.  

  Gwennyth wasn’t there, but he wanted to make sure she wasn’t. 

  He rose slowly from the earth, straightening up. 

  This needed to be done silently, and therefore his pace was crucial. 

  If he could flit properly, he could have been in and out of each hut in a second. 

  As it was, he was going to have to go a little James Bond for this. 

  He decided not to risk the noise of sliding down the hill, so Varjak jumped. 

  He managed to hover for a second above the ground, before the drug once again kicked in and he lowered himself quickly to the grass. 

  It had been soundless. 

  He would have been so useful in the FBI if they wouldn’t have locked him up and dissected him. 

  He began to creep towards the nearest hut on his left. 

  An undead suddenly came at him, pace quick and brisk, and he had to toss himself out of the way before they crashed into him. 

  He curled up behind the hut before moving again, making sure no one noticed. 

  The numerous conversations carried on as normal - no one had noticed. 

  Varjak swelled with relief as he slid through the wall of the hut.

  It was a domestic scene. 

  Piles of blankets, nappies and teddies sat in organised stacks on the floor. 

  Other than that, the hut was just wood. 

  It was something you might see in a nursery cupboard. 

  Varjak’s mood soured. He felt a heave rise in his chest at the sight of it, and his eyes hurt.  

  These people were cold-blooded killers, saw cannibalism as a revenge act against humans.   

  What he saw before him was the signs of people who cared, people with real paternal instincts, whether human or otherwise. 

  How different were they to the undead, really? 

  Humans had evil people just as the undead had good, even if the good only consisted of him and Gwen. 

  The teddy bear at the top of the pile seemed to stare at Varjak with sad eyes, the reflection of the fire dimmed in its black pebbles. 

  He couldn’t help but to pick it up. 

  Varjak began to cry silently. 

  This was what he and Gwen were meant to have. 

  A family. Kids who could have as many teddies as they wanted. 

  He shook his head as his thoughts began to deepen. 

  He put the teddy back on the pile, then slid out through the wall. 

  He shifted quickly to the next hut. He had to duck quickly as a blade dangled in his face upon entering. 

  This had to be the weapons hut. Which meant that the drugs would be around here, too.   

  There was a mini fridge on top of a work surface. 

  Varjak went to it. It was lit with an aqua blue glow, revealing multiple small tubes full of liquid. 

  Varjak saw it was locked. 

  It was a basic padlock, burnt gold and rusted - the undead were far too reliant on their own capabilities to invest much on human inventions. 

  While it may have been basic, Varjak summarised quickly that there was no way to get the padlock off without causing noise. 

  If he’d whacked it off with a weapon, it would clatter to the floor. 

  If he smashed the glass of the door, well that’s obvious. 

  He’d have to find something sharp, and fast. 

  He turned to the weapons hanging over head. 

  A few hunting knifes, rifles, a particularly sharp looking meat cleaver. 

  Varjak sucked in a breath as it gleamed in the firelight. 

  Then, he disengaged one of the knifes from it’s hook and turned back to the fridge. 

  Working quickly, he pushed the thin tip of the blade into the zigzagged hole, and wiggled. 

  Then, the door vibrated. 

  Someone was unlocking the outside padlock. 

  Varjak was able to react quickly - he forced the knife out of the lock and stepped back into the wall, where he was half outside, half inside the hut. 

  The door opened. 

  Varjak was shuddering with intensity, attempting to stay as still as possible. In such a tight space, it wouldn’t surprise him if the undead noticed he was there. 

  “Not in there! It is the next hut!” yelled another from the fire. 

  “Oh yes,” said the young female undead, and the door closed again. 

  Varjak removed himself from the wall. 

  That couldn’t have gone more in his favour. 

  He took it as a sign to hurry up - he had to get back to his friends. 

  One thing he could be sure of, given the behaviour in the camp, was that the undead didn’t know they’d gone yet. 

  They had to take advantage of that. 

  He flew back at the lock, still invisible, and began to pick at it. 

  Eventually, it twisted - the padlock fell into his palm. He took out each candy coloured tube and studied the small print writing. 

  “Hexamethyldisilisane, hydrogen peroxide, auronal, chlorozymethone…Oh!” He took it. It was a clouded, silvery blue. “Aaaaand…dimetholone!” 

  At the back of the fridge, he picked up the milky pink solution. 

  He wasted no time. 

  He didn’t have the key to the padlock - unfortunately he would have to take it with him. 

  Then, he vanished.

                                                                      ***

  “Back, b*****s!” cried a voice from nowhere. 

  Kate yelped and recoiled into a nearby Ben, who clutched to her arm. 

  “I crapped myself!” Kate growled, as Varjak solidified. 

  “You got it?” queried a surprised looking James.

  “Of course I got it, Ginger. You’re speaking to me, after all.” Varjak held the liquid tubes in the air. “That’s the right stuff, isn’t it Ben?”

  “Uh, yes, it is. Did you get a syringe?”

  “Huh?”

  “For the dimetholone. A tranquilizer gun would have been preferred but I doubt we could get hold of that now.”

  “Er, no, sorry.” Varjak laughed tentatively. “Well, I’ll find something to do with it if we get caught. Come on, we need to move right this second. As soon as they notice the padlock’s gone they’ll be on our tail.”

  “Oh, such an expert,” Kate groaned. “You took the padlock with you?”

  “What was I meant to do? Waste more time getting the key?”

  “Guess he’s got a point,” said James as he walked past them. “Come on, let’s move. Varjak, do what you said you would and get yourself up in the trees.”

  “Roger that - hey! Get your own minions, Ginger! I don’t take any orders from you.” 

  He disappeared regardless. 

  James sighed, then began to move forwards. 

  Ben and Kate shuffled in his wake, then began to pick up speed as the tension ceased. 

  It was beginning to get impossible to see - darkness was a thick soup around them. 

  For half an hour there had been no noise other than footsteps. 

  As they began to lose their sight in the din, Kate began to wonder how exactly they were meant to defend themselves. 

  Kate stopped short as she bounced off something in front. 

  She stumbled back and yelped. 

  Then a hand was around her wrist - it was ice cold, and her first reaction was to scream.

  “Shut the f**k up!” hissed James, picking her up and jumping five feet down into a ditch. “Ben, get down here!”

  Ben hopped down, then sat in a crouch next to them. James had an arm tight around Kate’s shoulders, which at that moment she wasn’t going to object to. 

  “Varjak,” Ben whispered upwards. “You there?”

  “There’s movement in the west,” said a quiet, bodiless Californian twang above them. “Dunno how you managed to see that James.”

  He shrugged. “I just got a feeling. How far are they? Are they searching for us?”

  “I didn’t get too close,” whispered Varjak. “I don’t know what they’re up to, but they’re approaching. We’re going to have to continue down this way, and quickly.”

  “How far until we’re out of their territory?” asked Kate.

  “There’s not much to go. If we - ” Varjak’s voice cut off. 

  “Varjak?” hissed Kate. “Varjak?”

  “Well, look what we have just found,” said a sneering, male teenage voice. 

  All three humans turned their heads slowly to the ridge from where they’d jumped. 

  On it were two teenage undead who had just flitted there.

  Before they could question them, more undead appeared. 

  There were around a dozen, all of them male. 

  “Get them.” One of the them ordered. 

  The sound of a bottle breaking was heard, then suddenly the area filled with thick baby pink smoke. 

  Coughing erupted all around them.

  “Move!” A voice instructed in Kate’s ear. 

  She didn’t have to be told - James was already scooping her into his arms and carrying her off, Ben close behind. 

  “They have the dimetholone!” yelled one of the undead, their voice a jungle echo behind them. “Just run! Run!”

  “F**k, now they’ve cottoned on,” James hissed down to Kate. 

  “Put me down you twat!” she barked. 

  James quickly lowered her to the ground. 

  The three were running in time with each other. 

  Kate couldn’t look behind her, she was too scared of slowing down, and she didn’t know how far they were behind them. 

  They were soundless. 

  Expert hunters. 

  How would they stand a chance?

  “Wait - a minute!” Kate breathed as they ran. “I think we should split up!”

  “Are you stupid?” James snarled.

  “No - if we split up, they’ll have no direction to go in - and the darkness will confuse them further,” panted Ben. “I - can’t last much longer anyway - we have to split up now - ”

  “Do it!” hissed a voice from up above. “I’m going to drop an invisibility bomb now, and I’m going to have to get out of the way before that crap touches me. In fact, here!” 

  A cylinder of ice blue dropped on James’ head, which Kate caught. “Throw it! I’ll be hovering over head and keeping an eye on things!”

  “Wait, no!” yelled Kate. “Varjak!”

  But he’d already gone. 

  “Pass it here, I’ll do it!” said James.

  “F**k - off James, I’m not a little - girl!” 

  Then she stopped, turned, twisted and threw the cylinder into the sparse onslaught. 

  There was another volcano of smoke. 

  “That’s - some powerful s**t you’ve got there Ben!” said James triumphantly. 

  “Stop - messing - let’s - split up!” Ben suddenly jumped up onto a ridge and disappeared into the forest. 

  “I don’t - want to leave you Kate!” said James.

  “You’re - going to have to! I can’t last - I can’t last - ” She was slowing down. 

  The weight of her muscles were forcing gravity on her limbs. 

  “F**k!” cried James, picking her up again. “You - and me will get to a safe place - together!” He bounded up onto large boulders until they were on the opposite side of the ridge from Ben.   

  The darkness was black oil around them as they entered the trees. 

  The rhythmic thudding of James’ footsteps echoed in the night air. 

  Then, he stopped. 

  Kate felt him lower himself and her very quietly to the ground. 

  If the undead had a problem with night time visuals, there was no way they would be able to see them in the blackness they were in now. 

  And now they could not flit or become invisible, they stood half a chance of escaping if they were found. 

  “And now, we wait,” said James softly into her ear. 

  The world began to slow at last. 

  The dark was their safety blanket, a surrounding comfort. 

  She was lying into James, eyes closing against his wet chest. 

  She wanted him then. 

  She wanted him to draw her in, kiss her sweetly, to hold her tightly. 

  It felt like it was all she’d ever wanted. She may not have had real feelings for James but at that moment, she would have given anything to be close and intimate with him. 

  He wouldn’t have seen it, but in the din Kate was raising herself to kiss him. 

  She knew it was wrong, but she needed him. 

  She needed the pre-teen, squirming feeling of a kiss to normalize herself. 

  To pretend this wasn’t happening. 

  Then, they heard footsteps. James locked Kate into his chest protectively, and she obliged.

  “They've - given - up on us - ” Ben panted, suddenly appearing by their side. 

  “What?”

  “They gave up - the chase - ten minutes ago - ” Ben replied, pressing his back into a nearby tree.

  “How?” said Kate.

  “I don't know - but I am suspicious about it,” Ben said, voice evening as he recovered.

  “It’s going to be hard to find us in this dark. You sure they’re not waiting, ready to pounce when we go into the moonlight?” whispered Kate.

  “No, they’re more calculated than that,” Ben said adamantly. “Their defences are down, they know they’re at a disadvantage. By the time they run back to camp and get more unaffected recruits, we’ll be gone. In my estimation they’ve totally retreated.”

  “You don't think they'll jump on us now?” asked James.

  “No, I do not. They will be too concerned with their sudden mortality to form an attack structure right this instant,” replied Ben. “No doubt they’ll feel utterly lost without their undead privileges.”  

  “Where is Varjak?” she asked the general crowd, although she knew they didn't know.

  “He will be alright,” said Ben, looking off into the forest as though he could possibly see him flitting by. “By now his abilities will be coming back, so that will make him a harder target to catch.”

  “Provided they haven't caught him by now.”

  “And use him as bait to get us back,” added Kate miserably.

  The three stared off solemnly into the deep and black forest, hoping that their blond-haired companion would survive.

Reviews

[tynamite]

ack should be back. If I was writing this book, I would have made it twice as long doubling the chapters. I feel that this novel spends more time explaining things, than it does having things happen in it. The story leaves no time to waste, which I hoped would happen as all novels have fluff in it that don't mean anything. Fantasy books have more than their fair share of filler chapters before the storyline actually drops in it, and during it too. I'm finding it hard to enjoy reading something that changes drastically all the time, without any clear progression as to why it ends up that way.

[w2de35657u687y4324rf]

I don't entirely see why Varjak had to completely ditch them. It seems a bit odd that Ben would find them after running in almost the opposite direction. The undead are progressing as a race, good job with that. I didn't know Varjak picked up an 'Invisibility Bomb'. Shouldn't Varjak have detected the teens before they were close enough to talk to the mortals? This was a frantic chapter. You had me panicking over Kate xD. I still don't trust James.