Trembling With Fear 07/04/21

The Chasm Between Us by Eric S. Fomley

I crouch in a dark corner of the old Moscow Metro and watch as Anatoly sates his thirst on fresh human blood. Crimson stains my lover’s face and the marble around the corpse. The disease took him from me. His body is a mess of grey hair, claws protrude from fingertips, and fangs from curled lips. 

Memories return when I see him, a painful flood. Anatoly and I laughing in the lab as we developed the serum, the armor we stole from the lunar military, our mission to save the people abandoned to the disease. The moment when too many creatures attacked and his suit breached. 

“They need us, Nikita,” Anatoly had assured me when I shared my doubts. 

Now he needs me.

I double check the integrity of my nanofiber armor and swallow hard, desperate to forget. In one hand I clutch a syringe with purple serum, in the other a modified magnum. I stalk toward Anatoly. Dread settles in my stomach. I love Anatoly, but if I fail, I can’t let him live like this. 

My footfalls echo through the tunnel.

Anatoly’s head swivels from his feast to me, red eyes locking mine with feral hatred. He hisses, drops to all fours, and springs. 

I don’t have time to react.

“Ana–”A gasp escapes my lips as he hits me and I grunt when I hit the ground. He climbs on top of me, tears at me with claws and fangs, and strikes my gun. My magnum clatters on the floor across the room. 

His hisses turn into a sinister laugh. 

I try not to scream as red prompts flood my visor. The suit locks up and my body stiffens as the nanofiber suit tightens. It takes several minutes for Anatoly’s attacks to come to a halt. When he does, he just sits there, eyes abundant with cold, calculating fury.

The suit has done its work–I’m alive, unharmed. 

He’s still staring into my eyes when I sink the syringe into his neck, draining the reservoir. He falls to the floor, eyes wide as the serum gives him temporary paralysis, a symptom as the cure does its work.  

I stand and retrieve my magnum, then return to look into my lover’s eyes. 

It’s him. I can see the change. The animalistic glare is gone, replaced with recognition. 

“Nikita,” he whispers.

Relief flutters my stomach and excitement lifts my spirits. I drop to my knees and put my head on his chest. I remember us, the night we met on moon base. Dinner at the Columbus Cafe, under the lunar stars. Our first kiss. 

Tears well up and I feel the stress leave my shoulders. I’ve never loved for real. Not before him. He stirs and I lift my head, expecting to find his face restored. Instead, there’s hatred. 

The serum didn’t take, it failed to overtake the disease at the highest dosage I could give. He’s too far gone.

“No!”   

I scramble to my feet and point the gun between those demon eyes as he sits up. I pull back the hammer and rest my finger on the trigger. My heart feels as though it’s broken in half and all I want to do is scream and cry or smash my fist into a wall. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to kill him. 

My finger tightens on the trigger and I look away. Hot tears streak my face as I sob. 

I lower the gun.

I’m human, and he a monster. Two cliffs with a chasm between us. There’s no chance at a life together with our differences. 

Anatoly starts to rise, the paralysis is almost gone. It’s now or never. 

Life without him flashes through my mind, the loneliness splashes over me like a tidal wave. I throw the gun across the room, unable to pull the trigger. The chasm won’t separate us any longer.

I prompt my suit and the nanofibers relax enough for me to pull back a sleeve and expose my flesh.

In the months away, I modified the serum and made it possible to keep it in my bloodstream. There’s enough cure in me for the disease to never take. I’ll die when he drinks my blood, but the amount of serum in my body will stop his heart.

“We’ll be together again, my love.” A smile tugs at my lips as I close my eyes and wait for the sharp twinge of vampiric lust to bring us together forever.