Rebirth: Chapter 63: Skinner

Friday 1 June 2007

Chapter 63: Skinner

Another soldier finishing the night shift, another mobile phone taped to the back of his desk drawer.

Another vampire infiltrator at the regional headquarters of The Brotherhood.

Private Skinner had been working in the communications room and heard all the details of the attack on Hartley House. Private Lambert had done a good job but unfortunately the mission had not been completed. He had taken out one of the gunships and allowed a large squad of his brothers and sisters to almost completely wipe out an outpost.

But the primary target had escaped. The attack was all for nothing. His brothers and sisters had died for nothing. Private Skinner knew that now would be his time to join the fight.

Private Skinner called Roxy and she barked at him before he had the chance to say anything.

‘Where is the target?’ she asked, her voice laced with anger and pain.

‘On his way here. The helicopter is about twenty minutes away,’ he replied.

‘You know what you need to do. Our cause depends on you now.’

‘I understand. Is everything okay?’ he asked, but didn’t receive an answer. The line clicked and she was gone. Private Skinner turned his phone off and returned it to its hiding place.

Our cause depends on you.

Skinner was nervous and excited. He had trained for this moment for a long time. He was going to come face to face with the doctor. The primary target. He must not fail.

He already had his orders from The Brotherhood. He was part of the disposal team who took care of bodies that had been bitten or infected. The recovered bodies provided Private Skinner with all the human blood he needed to keep him going. He had never killed a human or fed on the blood of the living.

After a twelve hour shift, he felt the familiar pain in his stomach. He grabbed his stomach with both hands and sat down. His face contorted with agony and he fought against the hunger. The almost uncontrollable desire to feed on human flesh and blood.

The door opened and his room-mate, Private O’Brien, ran into the room, wiping shaving foam off his face with a towel. ‘Damn it, I’m late again!’ he cursed.

Skinner had got to know Private O’Brien well over the last two years. They worked opposite shifts and rarely saw each other, but when they did they got on like a house on fire.

O’Brien looked at his room-mate, who was still doubled over on the side of his bed. ‘Hey bud, are you okay?’

‘Just a bit of indigestion.’

‘Too right. It was that dinner last night. I’ve had dodgy guts all day.’

‘Yes, that must be it,’ said Private Skinner as he struggled to his feet.