"wollof tuB!"
The hallway is full of vibrations. In one classroom, I hear, "ksa uoy sa od is/in/all/they"
Do as you ask? Is he some kind of father to the Drunks? To all my horror, he escapes the closet and stands straight. Moving to the middle of the hallway. He gestures at me, "dedoolb kcalB. You're my bitch now."
Nigga.
Doors burst open, Drunks running out of rooms swollen. Red drips out their mouths as they run on all fours. Their heads bobbing up and down. I don't hesitate. I dig my toes into my shoes and sprint down the hall. They howl behind me, barking, calling out to me. I slide on the floor, the hoard behind me run into the hall.
They hop over one another to get to me. My heart is ready to fail on me. I find a set of stairs and make my way up. I have two useless bullets. My gun can't do anything for me.
I'm back on the fucking second floor, running down the hall. My brain is making ideas. I can hear their nails scrape across the floor. A shadow on the ground catches my attention.
YAMATIA
My knees are about to fucking break. I hear a screech.
Da-pole
My feet falter, something heavy against my back. My teeth dig into my bottom lip at the unbearable pain in my left shoulder. Claws in my neck, blood runs down my throat. "GET OFF ME!"
All I see is pink… I'm so fucking high!
The Drunks pull at my legs, pulling me back. Teeth sink into my foreleg; my skin is ripping. I snarl, a noise unfamiliar to me. I've never belted so deeply; my chest is so tight. "GET OFF OF ME!!"
My muscles burns and twist. A throb in my left side… I'm so fucking high. Their ripping my spine. My neck cracks to the left. One holds my head down; I hear him slobbering in my ear.
Enough
Enough
Enough
"I SAID ENOUGH!" A sting in my trap muscles send the Drunks flying into the rest of the crowd. In the corner of my eyes, black torn wings. The bones covering the hem of the wing, visible veins, and tendons. I never knew my muscles were black… I look charred. "em erad uoY!"
I float to my feet. I feel taller, what happened to me? I feel my face, was I crying? Pulling my hand away, I look at the tear stain on my fingers. Noir black tears? Reaching behind me, I can feel the inside of my back. My muscle detached and expanded into wings.
And all I can think is… I'm a maul. My nails are sharp and extended. I lick my fingertips, my back tingling towards my neck. There's a pressure behind my ears. I've never been this high.
I turn to the hoard. Ugly, grotesque, mangled beings. They bark at me, "seirrehc ekil etsat uoy," one with an eye bigger than the other. "nik era uoy"
"hctib ruoy ton m'I!" I jerk my hand in front of my groin. "But I can make you mine."
The drunk smirks, the hall is silent. But only for a minute, it leaves, thumps flood the air. That massive Drunk steps down the corridor, his trap muscles larger than ever, his biceps pulsing, his head much smaller. His muscles are so tight, they choke him. "HCTIB ELTTIL EHT BARG!" it shouts. "ssenkcalb sih fo lla tnaw I!"
I raise my brow. My back shrinks. That, was an experience. What did I do to myself? I suck my thumb, its gross. The blood is hot, bitter acid, tart and even gritty. And I smell like cherries. He steers at me; the minions lick their jaws. "MINE." He yells. "BOW"
The lockers vibrate, rings emit from his throat. I hear nothing but the echo repeating 'Bow' 'Bow'. My back tears, my wings covering me. Is it instinctive? My throat is warm, I feel the intense pressure around my eyes. Blinking doesn't help. "BOUNCE" I bellow. The rings hit my wings but launch back at the giant Drunk. The blast takes the heads and bodies of Drunken vampire, incinerating them.
My wings retract. Every time that happens my back burns. What did I do to myself? The blast took off the shoulder of the giant, he hisses. "It is not you! But him!"
Well, fuck me and call me felicia. I walk up to them. The surviving Drunks back away. They mutter, 'He's BLACKED'
"Explain to me right the fuck now, what is going on." I stand over his weak ass. "Who is Headcount?"
"aggin hctib." He's holding his shoulder. "noillim a fo daeh."
"Head of a million?"
"tnuoc eht taeB! mih ot emag a lla s'tI."
Beating the count? The count on what? "What count?"
"Bodycount." He growls. "syob ynnuF .spmI eht dnif tsuM"
Funny boys?
Hmph. I didn't get shit outta that. "Chini!" a glowing string wraps around his neck. "LET ME GO."
"Nigga fuck you, y'all bit my legs and tore off my back."
"Wings of a gangsta…"
"I don't care right now. You my dog. Now, crawl little bitch."
I feel like shit. My shoulders ache, my taste buds are broken. Everything tastes like shit and sewage. Alexis is around somewhere; she has a gargoyle at her hip. I have a giant ass Drunk. "By any chance is your name Jurgens?"
"No…"
"You got a name?" I lift the string above his head. "No…"
"Not that you can remember." Imma call him Jugs. "Plan B, first, tell me what happened inside the school."
"legna tnruB." He says. I tug on the string, "You talk English to me. I don't wanna work my voice talking backwards."
"What a nigga…"
"Hmhmm," this is going to be a pain in the ass. "You said burnt angel. What's that?"
"Mutant." He states. "The ugliest of them all. Pride is a sin, but it looks worst."
I roll my eyes. I know demons like talking gibberish but Jesus Christ. "Talk English to me." I squeeze his neck. He chokes and grips the line. "Fine! Devil Things. The hells don't want them! They just appeared."
"Does it have anything to do with vampires?"
"Yes…the body is a home." He blinks at me. It's like staring at a zombie, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
"Don't preach to me."
"He's a priest of the church. Or use to be."
"An exorcist?" Actually, as it comes out my mouth now, that's completely different. Exorcists are hounds for the church but different. You go to a church for religious freedom. But the Church under the department is different. They find unregistered vamps and turn them in.
I'm not proud of myself. At least I made money off it… I guess.
"You do realize that isn't your right mind." He chimes. "Headcount is a player. He has a bunch of unwilling inside him and making people lose themselves."
"So, you know?"
"I know what the previous knew. I told you I don't know who I am."
I squint my eyes. The Drunks don't even know who they are? "He's playing games. Does he tell you to find him?"
"He told me he was on the third floor."
"The school is a fucking castle. That doesn't make sense." I'm not going through this again. "This is the Ghytto, you have to fight to live."
"Meaning?"
"What are you after?" Just fuck my question. "I'm looking for my mother, Childhood."
"Hanielle?" his eyes get small. "You're her son?"
"Aleigha—"
"July," he tells me. "Your name is a password. That's why it's so long."
"A password to what?"
.
.
.
.
I walk back to the main office, tugging the drunk behind me. Experience is in the office at the counter shuffling papers. She looks behind her, "Did you find that ladder? I've been looking through papers, I haven't found anything."
I don't care about the riddle. Her eyes spread and she runs behind the counter. "WHAT THE FUCK!"
"It's a Drunk."
"No shit!" she trembles. "Why did you bring a Drunk in here!"
I pull him forward, he grunts. "I have questions and he has answers. He knows something."
"Maybe." He speaks. I gawk at him; he glimpses at me. "I know some things. I don't know his full name."
"Chauncey Vansant," says Experience. "He lived on Epping Street."
"Never heard of it." He shakes his head. "Ok, are you conscious? They said a bunch of conscious Drunks raided the school." Jug peers at me then Experience. He looks back at me, he lowers his head. "I am."
"You summoned the raid?" asks Experience. "A girl, red hair, no teeth though."
"No teeth?" I don't even wanna look at Alexis. "Bottom Jaw broke. Big bitch turning green."
"Name," Experience closes her arms. "I might can look her up."
"I heard it… but."
"Do you know or not?" This is frustrating. He pulls at the leash and aims at Experience, "Yaya?"
Experience blinks, "Yahoska?"
"I met her; she works at the beauty salon." I say.
"Yahoska's mama works at the salon. I have no idea if she has a job herself."
Fuck me. "Then who the hell did my hair?"
"Her mom?"
I view the Drunk. Experience goes into the vault and starts shuffling papers. She returns and goes to one of the three computers. "I found the password to one of these bitches. Let's see: 4MP19H72." She types the password into the machine. "There, I'm in Ms. Carazo's account."
"Are the computers set up by one person. Every staff member and student have a specific key?" I ask. She nods, "I know it's dumb but that's the way it is. Now, come over here and look." I go around the counter, tie the rope to my hand, and stand over Experience. "I just wanna keep you informed. Chauncey Vansant is dead."
"You know the history, souls in this tradition don't go away." But that doesn't explain what he wants. "What did Chauncey get shot for?"
"Uh…," the vampire squints and perches on his hind legs. "I don't know for sure."
"Did he get shot in the school?"
"Yeah, bullet to the head and heart." If I recall right, he said my mother messed up his body. I'm confused once again, "Did he shoot anybody?"
"He got fourteen people…" she laments. Her face is softer, her fingers relax on the keyboard. Is she dead? "Hey…" I tap her fingers. She looks at me, "Uh—oh, right, business."
She starts typing again in the school records, 'Chauncey Vansant.' It goes to the record page. "Sweet, it went right to it."
"Did you say sweet?" she turns to me. I shrug, not my fault. I get it from my mom. "So?"
"Whatever, it says Chauncey is marked as an expelled student."
"Did he get expelled first and then come back to shoot the school?"
"Uh...." she scrolls down, a picture of Chauncey shows up. I sneer, looking closely, it's a fat kid with big lips and a birthmark on the left side of his face. "That's not him."
"Well, who the fuck did I shoot?"
"What?"
She goes silent, I roll my eyes. I'm dealing with it right now, I point to the top of the screen, she scrolls up, "That's not Chauncey." The name given is not Chauncey Vansant but Chauncey James. "It gave you a similar result."
"But…"
Her fingers are shaking, I grab her hand. "He's fucking with you."
"But… I shot somebody." Her gaze is fixed on the computer, she slaps me away and scrolls frantically. "I shot somebody named Chauncey. I swear to God."
I don't know how to tell her she's a victim. This nigga is a sociopath. I can't explain what he's doing. "Experience. I don't think you did it."
"I had the damn gun in my palms!" she yells, rising from the chair. "I pulled the fucking trigger. I killed a man!"
"I don't think it was you." I every right to think it wasn't her. I look at the Drunk. "You can't remember but somebody with you body or other knows."
"Yep. Your right, it probably wasn't her. I have a vague memory but… I think I went to school here."
Experience faces the Drunk. "You think?"
It shrugs, never seen a conscious do that. He has more body movement than most. One loses a lot when they commit to cannibalism. My fingers started going numb. "Something about the pool?"
Experience's lips part, "The Pool?"
"What's the pool?"
Experience faces me, she's quite cute. A bit chubby with a round face. "We don't have a pool but it's a school rumor."
"about a pool? Is it in the gym?"
"No," says Jug. "It's under. The rumor is an explorer found his way into the Ghytto. Just like history, the tribe wasn't meant to be known. He started experimenting because Vampires where so interesting to him."
"Your very conscious." Experience points out. "You can speak and shit. That's impressive."
"So, the fucking pool is a basement?" I'm ignoring the previous conversation. "Rumor says, the man built a blood fountain and drunk from it."
"Fucking humans. E, how do we get to the basement?"
She lifts her shoulders. "It's beyond me. I know the top not the bottom." At least I know I would never fuck her. "I'll look through the files in the back."
"Anything else?" I ask Jugs. "Why are you doing this?"
"Headcount, he said find him."
"Got a text message?"
I quirk a brow, "What?"
"It's probably not the first. That's how I got here."