In No Man's Land

Heart Beat

The light of dawn seeped into the log cabin room. John rubbed his bleary eyes and walked to the window. There was a pearly glow in the sky. Ruth has been awake before him. After the heavy rainfalls, the mud becomes so wet that it sticks to anyone’s feet if they walk over it.

John walks back to the peacock chair where Ruth is seated with her right leg resting on her left leg. She was just relaxing and enjoying the early morning fresh air that hallowed into the log cabin. “Good morning Ruth.” John greeted followed by a warm smile.

“Good morning, I trust the night was good on you?”

“It was, just that it was a bit cold last night.”

“You have to get used to it. But I swear, it won’t kill you.”

“I have not had any solid food since I found myself in this world. Will you be kind enough to show me around the kitchen to prepare a dish for us?”

“If there’s a kitchen around here, I could let you cook for your belly alone. I don’t eat solid food. I drink blood.”

On hearing this, John swallowed a lump and spoke in a quivering voice, “And you are not thinking of drinking mine, are you?”

“If my intentions were to drink your blood, I would have done it while you sleep.”

“That’s the same thing Cerberus did. He let me sleep in peace only to lead me to my death the following day.”

“You shouldn’t compare me with him. He is hellish and…”

Just before Ruth could finish her sentence, John pushed back her words, “If he’s hellish, you are what?”

He sounded rude but that doesn't mean he wants to be. He just wants to be sure no one takes advantage of him again. He never wants to see anyone as good and later that same person turns against him.

“I’m not hellish and…”

Her words were pushed back again by the rumbling sound from John’s stomach. “You see what I’m saying, I need food,” John cried out. His rumbling stomach continued that it couldn’t stop.

“What’s that sound?”

Ruth stood to her feet and started walking closer to John with curiosity written over her face. Seems like this is the first time she’s hearing a rumbling sound from someone’s stomach. Perhaps she has never experienced that in her entire vampire life.

“Please don’t eat me because of the rumbling sound. It will stop when I eat,” John cried out as he draws away from Ruth.

“I am not going to hurt you. I am curious about the sound. Can you explain what it is and why it’s coming from your stomach?”

She sounded strange. John cast a wide-eyed look of surprise at her, she has been a vampire for ages and does not know what it feels like to be human. She was sired by a vampire named Ambrogio. She was only five when she was sired and before she was sired, she has never experienced hunger. She came from a wealthy family and after her father, the Baron was killed, her mother became the new Baroness. Her father before he died was a feudal baron, a vassal holding a heritable fief called a barony, comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance. She lost everything when she was sired and taken away by the same vampire that sired her.

Her late father was eager to protect his land and rid vampires of his land. He sanctioned vampires to be executed and burn to the stake after staking a wood stake through their hearts. That same night his father began killing vampires, her only daughter Ruth was taken after his death. This happened after the gods left their dwellings to live amongst men.

Noticing John was drawing away from her, she moved faster than his eyes could see and grabbed him by the hand, “The rumbling sound has not seized, what’s that in your stomach?”

John clears his throat and began to speak in fear, “Hunger. When your stomach is empty, you're more likely to hear loud sounds because there's nothing in it to quiet the noise. Also, the force and rate of contractions in the stomach and small intestines increase after the organs have been empty for about 2 hours. Sounds associated with hunger usually echo like a growl.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” she said as she gently unhands John.

“Is there no school in this your world? Perhaps you could have learned that in school?”

She quietly lowered her head. “I did not get the chance to be schooled. I was taken from my home when I was five.”

John had compassion on her as he gently pulled her head up by her jaw, “I am sorry about that.”

“I know how you feel when away from home, that’s exactly how I felt.”

“Does it mean you will help me get back home?”

“What you asked is impossible. I can feel powerful energy coming from you. You don’t know what you carry.”

John’s mind quickly flashed back to when he met Neena. She conjured an orb that entered his body and knocked him down his ass. He never for once thought about that again or tries to figure out what it was. He glanced at Ruth, “I don’t know how I began floating.”

“Witch Neena must have left some of her powers in you and you have to learn how to use it.”

“That’s not possible… She barely knows me and I don’t see any reason she wanted to…”

“Shush…” Ruth hushed John. “We are not alone.”

“What do you mean?” John whispered as he started looking around feeling terrified.

“Vampires can hear footsteps from a great distance away and can listen to someone's heartbeat just like the one I can hear right now.”

“Perhaps it’s my heartbeat you are hearing.”

“I have been a vampire for years and I know what I am talking about.”

She started making her way to the front door of the log cabin with heightened senses such as vision and hearing to be able to trace the people whose heartbeat she believed she heard.

Just as she was closer to the door, an arrow was fired right at her but she was fast enough to move away.

She turned only to realize the arrow had pierced through the chest of John.