บท 50: Morgue and a Chat

We enter the morgue, and I glance around the room. From what I can tell, the room we are in now is for washing the bodies, autopsies, and other such ventures. I look toward the rear of the room, and there seems to be another door leading to a separate part of the morgue in the back. I move around the morgue quickly, looking for any sign of the morticians or anyone else, but I find no one. I next make my way to the backroom and discover the sliding tables and racks where the bodies are kept.

'There seems to be around twenty-five of these refrigeration racks for storing dead bodies. If these things have an actual name, I don't know it, so I'll just keep calling them racks.'

I motion for Eden to take the kids away and then begin opening the doors one at a time. Eventually, I find five of them contain bodies, but judging by the injures, none of them were killed by Crawlers.

I take one last look around the room and begin to ponder, "Hmm, no one is here. I expected a few morticians to be down here, and I thought there would be more bodies as well."

Terry looks at me and begins to speak, "I doubt they'd be bringing bodies here. If I had to guess, they aren't completely sure about the limits of the 'virus'. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they were immediately cremating bodies to avoid any of them unexpectedly turning into Crawlers."

I nod, "Ah. I guess that makes sense. Well, one less thing to worry about. We'll probably stay here a while, so we'll eventually need to dump these bodies somewhere."

"Just dump them?" Terry asks.

I wave my hand indifferently, "Of course. What did you guys do with those bodies I gave you earlier?"

The three men awkwardly glance between one another while making no attempt at answering my question.

Under the mask, I smirk, "Mhmm, just left them there, did you? That's what I thought."

"Yeah, well, there wasn't exactly much we could do. You rushed us out of there." Sam says.

"I did because it was only a matter of time before they came looking for us there, and I never heard any of you complain about leaving the bodies there."

Sam continues, "Ye-yeah. Wait, what do you mean us? Don't you mean you?"

I place my hands on my hips and begin speaking in a rude tone, "Nope, just like me, if they ever get ahold of any of you, they'll never trust you. I know you are all well aware, but I'll remind you." I give the three men a serious stare. "None of you are human any longer. I'm sure you've all felt it...the connection we have and your way of thinking have changed, has it not?"

"..."

The three men say nothing, but their answers are obvious.

"Anyway, as I said, this is where we'll be staying for a while, so let's make it cozy, shall we?"

Aponi looks around the room, "...Where are we going to sleep?"

"Hmm, well, I honestly recommend the racks."

"No! No! I am not sleeping there. Why would you even suggest that?" Aponi yells.

"Simple, vampires tend to like confined and dark places."

Something seems to click in Sam's mind, and he looks excited, "You mean like coffins!"

"Of course not. No vampire slept in a coffin, well, not ordinarily. Again like I said, dark and confined places were just what vampires tended to like."

"Oh, well, either way, I'm doing it! I'm gonna test out my vampire instincts!"

I shake my head, "I don't really know if I'd call it an instinct, but whatever, I don't care where or how you sleep; let's just get something set up."

After that slowly, but surely the rooms are set up. I send Sam to get blankets and anything else he can find. I decided not to go myself as I am drawing more attention than I expected.

'If I'm to be honest, excluding Eden and Aponi, I trust Sam the most. I think this guy would have chosen to be a vampire, even without coaxing. Plus, he's a bit stupid.'

We manage to turn off the refrigeration racks for all, but the five that have bodies in it and by turn off, I mean, I yanked the wires out. I personally have no intention of sleeping on the racks, mostly because they have latches. I am not willing to run the risk of trapping myself within one of the racks, even if I would get more rest within them.

Some more time passes, and at this point, the night should have already fallen outside.

Sam returns and begins talking loudly to Terry, "Come on, man! I don't want to be the only one who sleeps on one of the racks. I'm telling you my instincts are screaming that its gonna be awesome."

I shake my head and set up a mat toward the edge of the room. Eden places her own mat and sheets next to me, and Aponi follows suit. Finally, Annie makes her way over nervously.

I look between the three, "You all know there is plenty of room elsewhere, right? This is a big room."

"Yeah, but I want to sleep here," Eden says.

"And I don't want to sleep next to the guys," Aponi says.

Annie just stares at the ground and doesn't say anything, but continues to set up her mat.

"It doesn't matter." I take out my phone and glance at the time. "Almost midnight." I murmur.

"Eira, are you about to go somewhere?" Eden asks.

I look at Eden and scratch the back of my head, "Yes, I'm going to the bathroom for a bit."

Eden stares at me, doubtfully, "Okay, I'll come with you."

"...Why? I'm not going to fall in."

"I'm coming with you." Eden insists.

Eden grabs my arm and begins to drag more toward the restrooms. We enter a hallway that leads to the elevator and a stairwell. This floor of the hospital seems to be nothing more than this hallway, the two rooms of the morgue, and the restrooms. There is also a storage room, but it's locked, and I don't currently feel like exploring it.

"So, what are you actually doing?" Eden asks.

I blink at Eden innocently, "What do you mean?"

"Eira, please just tell me."

"...I'm going to talk to the Congressman."

"I want to participate. I've said this before, but you keep trying to do everything on your own. I want to carry some of your burdens."

With my face hidden beneath the mask, I smile, but I continue to push back, "Yeah, that's because the things I need to do are generally considered very evil things by, well, pretty much all of humanity."

Eden nods with a conflicted expression, "I-I know, but you do them for the blood race...I'm also blood race now too you know?"

I sigh, "I'm heading for the roof. Come if you want."

"The roof is that safe?"

I shrug and begin walking away, "Who knows? I guess we'll see when we get there."

Together with Eden, we gradually make our way up the stairwell toward the roof. The roof door is designed to open from the inside, but not from the outside. Knowing this, I prop the door open and make my way to the ledge of the hospital roof. I take a seat and stare out over the city of Anchorage, the sounds of gunfire and explosions ring out through the night. In the distance, one of the larger buildings is engulfed in flames with no one to put the fire out the fire will likely continue to burn.

Eden sits next to me, and I take out Jerrold's phone. I already tossed Aponi's phone back on the Moonlight, and I'll likely toss Jerrold's phone after this conversation.

I dial the number and the phone rings. I place it on speakerphone, so Eden can hear and, in less than two rings, the Congressman answers.

"Where are my son and daughter?" the Congressman asks immediately.

"Mister Congressman, there's no need to be so hasty. You didn't even say hello." I say mockingly.

The Congressman speaks with obvious anger, "Cut the crap! Tell me where they are or tell me what you want!"

"You don't seem like a very good politician letting your emotions get to you like this."

"..."

"Anyways, if you're so eager. Let's go ahead and talk about what you can do for me."

"..."

"I'm just going to assume you're listening. What I want are more people."

"What does that mean?" the Congressman asks with confusion.

"I want you to introduce me to some people or bring them nearby, at least."

"What people?"

"Special people," I reply.

"Girl! Be more specific."

"Hmm, let's see geniuses, billionaires, or high up politicians I could use them if you know any, but what I really want are people with special...abilities like myself."

"As far as I'm aware, there isn't anyone else like you."

"Please, Mister Congressman, I highly doubt there isn't anyone out there who has been displaying special abilities recently...or perhaps you simply aren't high enough in the chain to be privy to such information."

"..." the Congressman again goes quiet.

"If that's the case, just bring me some of the others first. Eventually, I'll catch the right fish."

"Goddamnit! I'll see what I can do!"

"Good. That's very good. Ah, one more thing, there's someone else here who wants your help."

"Please, don't tell me there is more than one of you?"

"Sorry, Mister Congressman. There's more of me now."

On the other side of the phone, I swear I hear someone start crying.

I mute the phone and look at Eden, "The Goddess told me you wanted revenge on the man who killed your mother. This is your chance to bring him here."

Eden looks shocked but takes the phone. I see Eden begin to shake, and she begins to speak, "H-Hello. I was told I could make a request of you...I'm looking to bring a man to Anchorage. His name is Jacob Groth."