Chapter 49: CHAPTER FORTY NINE
The whole city was in total uproar, everyone had the talk of the vampire on their lips, the people who were aware told the people that were unaware, the media had carried the news of the new vampire into every media house and they warned the public of the presence of a beast in town, another media had called her an evil witch who sleeps backward, another media had called her a monster and this went on till everyone knew her as an impending danger. Everyone was careful so they did not come in contact with the vampire.
The government urged everyone to stay calm as the hunt for the vampire was ongoing, they released a search party for the capturing of the vampire and it was all over the news, it was totally a trying time for Sarah, after she struggled to get out of the bar, there was no else for her to go to, she knew the world was looking for her to hunt her down and kill her. She had been running for hours and she was slowly losing breath. The only thing that held her down was the rat she smelled along the road, she had followed it and before it could run for help, she had dragged it by its tail, brought it to her mouth and devoured it, leaving the blood to trail down her mouth, she felt satisfied and hoped the meal would last her till she got shelter.
She had been walking for close to three hours nonstop, she couldn’t believe the reason she was in this mess was because the nosy woman opened the door and found her, she was sure she would have still being in the bar staying there at least having a place to sleep but the woman just had to scream while the others made videos of her, the last lap of her life was finally here but she couldn’t die, nothing could kill her yet not even the poison Xana used on her food could kill her, the thought of Xana made her more angry.
She planned the whole murder, Sarah thought knowing she had no hand in Selena’s death and since she was the only vampire in the house as at that time unless another entered without anyone noticing, she was sure Xana had killed Selena punctured her face and framed her for it since it looked like a vampire bite. She knew sooner or later she would be found out and captured because she didn’t know where she was going.
The more she pressed further into the road, the more the road became wider and different. She hated the way she had to struggle and fend for herself without anyone. Nothing made sense again she thought as she thought of going back to the mansion but she knew they would stone her to death if she ever stepped her feet there again, a part of her felt hatred for Adam because he had not bothered to look for her and here she was suffering in this unknown road.
She was beginning to get scared of the road, it was getting dark, her eyesight was sharp but she couldn’t see the road mainly because she didn’t know the pathway, there was something about her that was different now, nothing mattered to her except survival, the only survival she wanted was getting what to feed on for the number of days she would remain there.
Sarah walked further into the dark into what seemed like a jungle, she was utterly surprised seeing a jungle in her face, it was thick, full of birds, insects, and reptiles. The evening birds were chirping loudly, the flowers and leaves tangled with the rhythm of the wind and the lush evergreen leaves stood firm, she saw waterfall and became tasty again, the waterfall cuts through the middle of the jungle and diverted into another lane, she could see a grape tree just at the side of the waterfall, she reached for it and snatched it violently to please her buds, her dry saliva mixed with the flavor of the grapefruit as she crushed it with her teeth.
She could smell the aroma of the vegetation till she became engulfed in the sight before her. She took a deep breath before surveying round once more, she was glad she would have a place to lay her head, it was a perfect place to stay and lay low till the search party got tired of their search, the initial plan was to get a hold of anyone she found lurking around because she was getting hungry again, her stomach was wobbling and she could smell blood everywhere.
She wanted blood as the craving struck harder. As she reached for a little rock, she sat on the rock, examined her clothes, it was a mess. She needed to change into another clothes but there was nothing she could do than manage the one on her body for the next few days, the part of her wanted to yell at life for putting her in such a sad position but there was nothing she could do that stay hidden in the jungle, it was a good thing her feet walked into the jungle.
As she sat on the rock thinking, she wished she could go back to her life, back to her world without pain or stress, where she lived life like she wanted to, she wished it would make up for these times she spent suffering, she wished the hands of the clock would turn back and would be the previous Sarah who enjoyed life to the fullest, the one who rebelled against so many men and torn out their flesh when necessary, she wished she could go back to being in the mansion while all the maid at her beck and call.
She was all alone now, left to fend for herself, left to suffer alone. Her strength was gradually leaving her, she heard a rattling of noise and found a squirrel, as she slowly approached it, she grabbed the squirrel as it struggled for freedom, just immediately, she moved it slowly to her mouth and sank her fangs deep into its flesh, digging its flesh out, she eats the entire squirrel down to its tail and felt relieved once more, then ears on her ears straighten and she could see bush rats running around, she needed to have her fill but she had to dig deep into the dark to find them, as she scanned around, she tries to find them with her sharp eyes but they run out and she loses sight of them.
She traced their sounds to where they were packed, skimmed through the grasses searching for them intently, she crossed the other edge of the tree stumbling on something, they all scattered around looking for refuge. The only way out was to wait for them to reassemble, she sat down, and waited for them to return back to the spot as it appeared they were feeding on the remains of the grapefruits she ate for a few minutes and spat out.
Darkness was slowly approaching and there was no way except to stay low, as she waited desperately for them return back to the spot, she imagined what Adam would say of her if he saw her state but she waved off his thoughts from her head and focused on getting good food into her mouth, the only thing stopping her from hunting deep into the jungle looking for other large animals was because a hunter might see her, thinking she is an animal, may aim for her and she didn’t want distractions to her place of refuge.
As she settled, she watched the bush rats come back gently, they came back in pairs and got back to the business of completing meal for their night while Sarah hoped she was able to eat them so they’d be the meal of her night, they ends of her head was rolling and rotating in different motions, she walking and watching them eagerly for them to make a move to run but her footsteps were almost like she wasn’t walking.
She got close enough and grabbed the life from two of them while the others scampered into different directions, all through she thought of the blood of each of them as she opened her mouth, with all the energy she possessed sank deep into the very life of them and eats them slowly on their neck, draining their blood before going back to her chair, singing and thinking herself to sleep would be the best thing to do now, she thought as she hoped she would fall asleep easily but it wasn’t easy lying on the rock as her mind roamed round the jungle, it was difficult for her to lie on the rock considering the hardness of it, she managed to look for a soft spot around the rock area but she found none, she went a little bit farther from where she had just left and found a spot that looked better than the other spot, settling, she lay down and pressed her ears to the ground.
The ground was cool as the coolness filled her head, she was absolutely happy that she wasn’t dead. Another part of her wanted her to roam round the jungle looking for clothes to put on but it would get her into trouble as she waited for sleep to take her round on a journey but sleep was on leave as she forced herself to keep her eyes shut against the evil world she had come to know. She knew there was no turning back because she was part of the world now. She finally fell asleep.
Days went by as Sarah continued staying in the jungle, away from the face of onlookers and media houses. She fed on anything that came her way as long as it had blood, she was exceptionally satisfied with it.
***
One of the hunters stopped in his tracks as he saw the sight of a dead squirrel before him. He motioned for the others to come.
“Man, I just found this now, a dead squirrel,” the one who had found it said.
“I was just about to send a signal to you all now, I just found a dead bush rat at the other end,” the second man exclaimed.
“It slipped my mind to tell you, the other day while hunting too, I saw a dead skull too, I was wondering about its death today when I came and found this one dead too,” the first man spoke.
“I feel like it’s the same as eating them,” the third man spoke, sounding angry.
“But what could that be?” They moved closer to inspect the dead squirrel. As they bent to watch the squirrel, the first man gasped, “Every animal has a bite mark on its neck.”
“Really?” the second man asked in shock. They went over the animal inspecting it thoroughly while the animal stays dead and bare. The first man inspected the animals, “Here, have a close look at this mark!” he said.
“Can you get the other animals from the other end? Let's compare the bites?” the first man said, since he was the one who made the first observation, he had to show them what he meant by the marks he saw on the animals. They all exclaimed at the sight of it, a lot running through their minds, the only thing they wanted was to fully understand the mystery behind the bites.
“We have to report this recurrence to the media before it gets terrible," the second man said while the rest agreed with him with a nod of agreement, the rest of the hunting was over as each of them pondered what could be the cause of the general bites.
“Wait!” the first man said with his eyes perfectly wide with expression.
“Could it be the vampire who has been roaming around the city?” he added, seeming to make sense, the rest of the hunters had a look of fear written on their faces as they thought of being killed by a blood sucking vampire. What they couldn’t understand was why the woman vampire killed their source of livelihood, they had just come to start hunting before they found the animals dead on the spot without any natural reasons attached to their death except a vampire bite that seemed to have eaten deep into their lives cutting them short of their lifespan. His question was left unanswered as it was obvious he had just solved the puzzle, as they walked out of the jungle, they knew where the media’s search for her would begin.
The hunters reported the case to the media house, they called the search party to redirect their search to the jungle, immediately, and the search party began hunting for her in the jungle, due to the news. The public was notified of the major happenings, most of them were glad of the progress they were making to find the vampire and they hoped that she would be found and killed.
“Have you checked the other side of the tree?” the first man said, sounding desperate to get a hold of the vampire.
“No, I haven't,” the second man replied, seeming a little distracted by the call to order of their leader.
“Please let's keep digging till we find her, we can't risk having her roam around the city. She might kill our kind if she is not properly captured. If you find her, press the buttons just beside the equipment given and we will come to your end. I repeat we will come to your end” The leader commanded, screaming at the top of his voice so he could be heard. They were about to enter the deeper part of the jungle, which seemed dangerous as they had prepared their armor and artillery ready for the task ahead.
They search deeper into the jungle searching aiming for anything that looked like the human body, they dug deep into the deepest part searching, when night came, they flashed torches on the trees and huge trees, it could be her hiding there, they thought as they pressed further into the jungle, the wind was howling everywhere seemed to have taken another shape, the search parties were scattered round the jungle in several parts, the brave ones got into the innermost part of the jungle without fear while the feeble ones stood behind them or follow the route that leads to just the outer surface area because they weren't ready to risk their lives at the expense of a vampire they would still claim their lives if they were not careful. Unknown to Sarah, she was already surrounded by the search party but she was deep asleep.