Jessica Forever

Exactly one hundred years ago, Vampires decimated the world and enslaved the Human race. Most people thought it was because they wanted a blood supply without the hassle of hiding, but the truth involves two factions of Vampires. One side believed that harmony for Vampires and Humans would be achieved through coexistence. But the other faction wanted dominance. Guess who won.

Through centuries of infiltration, both factions had access to the most tightly kept secrets of Humans, but it was never used against them. Over time, the two Vampires factions became hostile toward one another because of their views, and went to war. A truce could not be achieved. Nuclear weapons were deployed around the globe. Bioweapons were unleashed. When the dust settled, free Humans were few and far between. They lived in hiding wherever they could feel safe. The pro-Human faction was wiped out except for a few who were forced to join the anti-Human faction. And caught in the middle was Jessica and her heart-shaped locket.

She was a drug addict. She was an orphan. She was a mother. And then she was turned into a Vampire. At the dawn of the new Vampire era, she was turned and groomed by one of the oldest Vampires in existence, Laurence Bathory. He was the brother of noblewoman Elizabeth Bathory, and an intellectual psychopath obsessed with creating Vampires that could survive the daylight. At the precipice of her sobriety, Jessica was becoming the person she had always wanted to be. But it was undone by Laurence’s selfish need to have a partner by his side when the world fell apart, and nobody filled the void more than Jessica.

When you’ve lived over 400 years, the understanding of modern day Humans is lost. Laurence believed that a cat-and-mouse treatment of Jessica would quickly force her into becoming the woman he wanted. But she resisted. Jessica had lived a life that most Humans could not imagine, and it made her strong. It made her resilient. She was pro-Human and anti-Human. She was tired of the shit that Humans do, but it all led her to her daughter, Danika. Danika became the reason for Jessica’s existence. Jessica wanted to give her everything that she didn’t have, including a good mother. When she was born, one of the nurses was so touched by Jessica and her story, that she gave Jessica the heart-shaped locket, and before Danika was taken away, Jessica had given the heart-shaped locket to her.

“That was a hundred years ago, today.” She says as she stares into a small camp fire in an old dilapidated house.

Tetra leans in to inspect her. “You’re her. You're Jessica.”

“Jessica is dead. You can call me J.”

Her story is unbelievable, but that is the world we live in. My daughter, Sheila, and I have seen a lot, especially being some of the last free humans to walk this earth, if you could even call it that. But we’ve never seen a Vampire like J. She saved us in broad daylight from being lunch for a Mutant, thanks to a high-tech suit that entirely blocked the sun from her skin. It was as if she had been born to fight the creatures that were bred from the war, but it was an unbridled fury that pushed her to become an incredible fighter. She told me that she couldn’t defeat Laurence the first time she fought him, so she trained with whomever she could find and eventually became one of the best fighters around. 100 years later, and here we are, helping her figure out how to find Laurence.

Sheila’s curiosity is just as strong as mine, but she’s only 6, so it’s a lot less filtered. “Why would you want to be called J? It’s just a letter. I like the name Jessica. It’s pretty.” She says.

J remains silent, but that’s been a constant in the 6 hours that we’ve known her.

“Honey, she can be called whatever she wants. Let’s not push our opinions on her.”

“But she’s too pretty to just be J.”

This makes J smile. She leans into the fire, illuminating her face. “Thank you Sheila. For you, I can be Jessica.”

It’s a small breakthrough in the time that we’ve known her, and hopefully not the last. We take her to our home, which is a part of a small community hidden under an old dried-up lake. We all contribute to the success of our town, so when it comes to decisions, we decide together. I guess you could call it pseudo-Socialism. What it really comes down to is repopulating, and finding more survivors. But that becomes a lot more difficult when you are at the bottom of the food chain.

I introduce J to everyone in the community, and she’s received with mixed emotions. Some are wary of ‘good’ Vampires, others believe she is a messiah. My hope is for her to help us but all she wants to do is find out what happened to her daughter, and take her revenge on Laurence.

So we come to an agreement, in the hopes of finding Laurence, I will take her to a known Vampire hive, and in return, she will free all the Human slaves she comes across. It’s risky for me, but she saved me. I won’t let her do it alone.

I kiss Sheila, hug her tightly, and we go our separate ways. I don’t know if I will survive this, but I can’t show her my fear.

We travel at the first sign of daylight. The walk is 50 miles, so I pack light. Food, water, simple bedding, and tools. J carries nothing more than her sword. She feeds on the blood of whatever small animals she can scavenge for, but if it came down to it, I would let her feed on me.

“Why are you doing this?” She asks.

“You saved me and my daughter. I’m just hoping I can do the same. Besides, I can only take you so far.”

“Fair enough.”

We cut through 20 miles in one day, and it’s not so bad. The world’s seasons have been forever altered since the bombs dropped, so the winter is not quite the same. In the north, hot days and warm nights during mid-January would have been considered a nice reprieve. In this age, it’s a constant reminder that the extreme summer heat is coming.

We camp at the edge of the forest, high in the trees. It is no longer safe to camp on the ground at night because of the dangerous creatures that roam. People used to laugh at the idea of Werewolves, Zombies, and Vampires. But these days, they are the things that bump in the night.

I observe J while I eat my dinner. She looks out at the world as if it was just a walkway. A walkway to the next hive. But she lived through everything that led the world to this point, how could she be so cold? Didn’t she lose people that she loved besides her daughter? Doesn’t she look at the world and remember the good?

“Can I ask you a question?”

She shifts her gaze to me. “Of course.”

“What was it like watching the world fall apart?”

She gets a good laugh out of my cynical question. “It was hard. But each time I walked away from another destroyed hive, I felt a little closer to something.”

“How many hives have you destroyed?”

“12. I would show you the battle scars, but I heal pretty fast.” She says with a half-smile.

She opens up a little. I was wrong in my assumptions. She’s felt every inch of what’s happened. But she locks up her emotions, and throws away the key. I guess we all do that when it’s survival of the fittest.

The next day, we approach a small town outside of the hive. It’s the blood bank. I’ve never seen one before because they are guarded by agents of the Vampires. The weapons we have developed over the years are enough to defend ourselves, but we have never had the resources to mount a serious offense. This might be our chance.

“You stay here.” She tells me.

I watch from an embankment that overlooks the town. She doesn’t even try to sneak in, she just walks right into the middle of it. The Humans come out of their “homes” to observe the beauty of her high-tech suit. I suppose for them it’s like seeing an angel. The moment is quickly ruined by two ghastly Mutants. These are the guards, but they don’t stand a chance. Jessica’s blade cuts through them like a hot knife through butter. It’s incredibly graphic and hard to watch, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen a glimmer of hope.

I enter the town and see what I’ve only heard about. Men, women, and children that have bite marks all over their bodies, that live in the most minimal of living spaces, that feed on something I can’t even describe. But at this moment, they are free. J has given them an opening, so they take it. I give them directions to our hidden community and send them on their way. Before they go, we ask about Laurence. Have they heard the name? Only one of the villagers has heard the name. The rest are so physically and mentally impaired, that they can’t even properly form sentences. So we carry on. Maybe J can have some closure after all.

“You know that if you don’t go back now, you might not go back at all.” She says to me.

“I know.”

Up until this point, I’ve lived a life like most Humans have: surviving just to survive. What if there is something within the hive that can help us achieve more? I have to find out.

After the blood bank, we come to the edge of a ruined city. It barely resembles the cities we cherished, but that’s to be expected when a nuclear weapon is detonated right in the middle. Before nightfall we approach what appears to be the epicenter of the hive. It’s a large building that retains some of its familiar structure.

We go in, quietly, cautiously. But it’s not enough to surprise the Vampires that reside in the building. They get the jump on us. J tries to fight them off, and she takes out 3 of them, but their numbers are too great.

I awaken upside down in a large ballroom. J is bound by large chains that are bolted to the floor. There is an old Vampire standing in front of her, with a young female Vampire by his side. The girl looks no older than 13 or 14, and she is wearing a heart-shaped locket around her pale neck. Danika. My eyes flew to J’s face.

“Jessica, my dear, you might be surprised to see that I have replaced you.” Laurence says with a smirk as Danika loops her arm through his.

J’s rage is showing through her usually emotionless face. All this time she had thought that her daughter was dead, but here she is, standing by Laurence’s side. Her revenge plan was simple, kill Laurence. But revenge is never simple.

J frees herself from the chains and whips them at Laurence and Danika, knocking free her sword from Laurence’s grasp. They easily side-step the attack only to realize J has disappeared. Danika’s ear piercing scream startles me while J’s sword pierces Laurence’s heart. Danika’s anguish turns to rage as she launches herself at J. With tears in her eyes, J spins around and plunges her sword upward, directly piercing Danika’s heart. It’s over. J’s tears now fall freely while she holds her lifeless daughter in her arms, re-living the grief she already processed many years ago.