Free AWOL: A Character Lost by Anthony Renfro

the left, and one to the right. These rooms had no doors on them, carved and dug crudely out of the Earth.
    The room on the left contained their coffins, the thing they liked to sleep in even though they didn’t need to down here. The room on the right was their feeding chamber. The rustling was coming from that room, so the character entered it, and froze on the spot. Hanging from the ceiling, were people of all shapes, ages, and sizes. They were being kept in individual bird cages that barely fit them. These cages were at least ten feet off the ground, and stood about five feet high from top to bottom; they had cast iron bars and solid gold locks on the doors.
    “Dad?”
    The voice had come from somewhere above, pulling the character away from his surveillance. This voice was groggy and faint, like some one waking from a dream. The character shined his light up into the gloom, but couldn’t see from which cage it had come.
    “Michael.”
    How did he know his son’s name? How could he tell it was a particular child from just his voice? He didn’t know, but he did know this. He just somehow knew. Fathers always seem to know.
    “Over here dad, look up.” The voice was still groggy, but it was getting stronger.
    He followed the voice until he found Michael’s cage. He shined the light up, and it gave him just enough of a glow to see the fourteen year old face of his oldest son.
    “Hold on.” The character knew there had to be a lever or something that raised and lowered the cages. He walked around the room, flash light beam splashing around the room, desperation pounding in his chest like a giant drum.
    Somehow he managed to find what he was looking for, on the wall, just by the edge of the door. It was a metal lever sticking out of a dirty silver box, stained with dried blood. This lever, when pulled down, would lower the cages, the doors would then be opened, and each vamp would grab their victim of choice. They would then feed and gorge themselves until they were full.
    The character walked over to the lever, and traced his light over it. Something, just outside the light, caught his attention. He pulled the light off the lever, and shined it into the black. It was there and then that he saw the vampire standing in front of him, sizing him up. They were now looking eye to eye.
    The character stumbled backwards, tripped and fell, the light falling out of his hands, but not shattering, as his butt hit the floor. He started to slide backwards in the brown and bone white dirt, leaving a trail as he moved. The vampire leaped on top of him, and the character fought off the advances of this creature with one hand, while fumbling in his pocket for a wooden stake with the other. He gripped a stake just as the vamp pinned him to the floor. The character took the stake and jammed it into the vamp’s heart. The vampire fell off of him and slinked away, screeching and crying, dying in the dark, just beyond the edges of the light.
    The character got up to his feet and dusted himself off. He paused when he heard another vamp coming at him. This one wasn’t trying a sneak attack he had just decided enough was enough. It was time for this intruder to die.
    The character grabbed another stake and this time took a stance, stake like a dagger in his hand. The vampire stopped moving for a moment, sensing danger, as the other vamp stopped screeching. It was dead.
    “Come on then! I got a nice juicy neck for you!”
    The vampire stalked.
    The character circled, never leaving his spot or the light, the flashlight still lying on the floor, creating a circle of safety. While he waited for the vampire to attack, he could hear other people waking up, starting to stir just like his son.
    Out of the darkness the vampire leaped, and the character bulls-eyed the heart with his first stab. He felt the vampire’s weight on the stake for a moment as the creature started to scream, going limp as he died. The character grabbed the beast’s slimy