Head Full of Ghosts

Chapter 21 - Let Doom Overtake Us

Jay kept his face turned away from Eli, not moving or reacting to hearing his name called, but instead of being discouraged, Eli only became all the more certain that he was right.

"Jay! Jay! It's me. It's Eli! I'm here, too!"

Still the other man did not turn to face him, but instead actually turned further away, if such a thing was possible. Nearly his entire body now faced away from Eli, towards the gate that served as a wall that all the people were lining up along.

"Hey! Jay? It's me." Eli reached out and grabbed his friend by the shoulder.

The reaction was so sudden and so unexpected, Eli barely had the chance to see it happening, let alone react to it. Jay spun fully around, bringing one arm swinging, his hand - closed into a fist - rocketing forward and smashing Eli upside the head.

Eli spun an almost full circle as he crashed to the ground, finally ending up on his backside, propped up by his hands, his head swimming.

"Don't you ever touch me again!" Jay was shouting, though his words only vaguely registered through the haze in Eli's brain. "You touch me again and I will kill you!"

There was barely a moment for Eli to get his orientation and stare in surprise at Jay, who he could now clearly see was, in fact, the person he had thought he was. Eli opened his mouth to say something back, to question, but suddenly there were other people there, some pushing Jay back into the line and facing him forward again, and others grabbing Eli and forcing him back up to his feet.

They shoved him further down the line a few steps, away from his friend. "Just keep walking," one of them said, quietly but firmly. Eli turned to get a good look at the newcomers. He realized he had seen them already, but had mistaken them for random people wandering around. Now it was much more evident of what he was looking at. All the people breaking up his conversation with Jay wore matching clothing. A uniform. These were guards. All the people standing with Jay in the line wore things along the lines of what had been given to Eli - mostly gray, unremarkable clothing with no visible patterns or logos. But while their clothing was all very similar, none of it was the same. Or if it was the same, it was only the same once every ten person or so, and even then something about their outfit would be different.

But the newcomers all wore the exact same clothing, matching further with others Eli saw milling about in the distance. These were guards. Human guards for their vampire masters.

The thought made Eli's stomach turn.

One of the guards shoved him again. "Get going!" he demanded. Eli stumbled, nodded his head, and turned back in the direction he had originally been told to go without sparing another glance at Jay.

What bothered him the most wasn't the guards, or even Jay's reaction. What bothered him the most was that none of the people in the line had moved to intervene, or even really seemed to react at all. It was like their spirits had been completely broken.

At the end of the line Eli found another big building, which he knew the moment he stepped inside had to be a barracks. It was like a much larger version of the living quarters at the compound they had found in Texas. Just four long lines of beds stretching across the length of the room, with no care shown for privacy or individuality. All part of the process of breaking the spirit.

"Newbie."

Eli turned toward the sound of the voice, to see someone, a prisoner, not a guard, judging from his clothes, staring at him. The stranger pointed toward the far wall and said, "You'll want to see the manager. Hurry up."

Following with his eyes to where the man was pointing, Eli could see a window set into the wall, and realized there was probably some kind of office over there. He nodded a quick thanks to the man, only to discover he had already walked away, and then headed down the lines of beds toward the office.