“ Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

Norman Cousins

Chapter 24: Fallen Soldier

Two weeks later:

A light drizzle fell from the grey skies, like a fine ocean mist in the face of the funeral procession. Small as they were—seven in number—they huddled together for comfort against the autumn wind. Soon it would be snowing heavily, and the winter frost would seize the soft earth, and the world would be coated in sugary white.

But not now. Now it would rain.

Jack Krebus had his arm wrapped around his wife’s shoulders. She had her hands clasped around over Rogan’s shoulders, hugging him tightly with an inexplicably motherly affection. The boy didn’t seem to mind; his eyes stared ahead, at the Catholic priest who was giving the final blessing.

“Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts,” the priest murmured. “ Shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal.”

Rogan sank back into the woman’s arms, his body aching for a touch of affection, a gesture of love. He’d been shown so little in this world. There had been Layla, briefly. And then Kapnov, briefly. Both of them had loved him.

There had been Sicello. But Rogan didn’t know—and probably would never know—what had been genuine love, and what had been cunning manipulation. The wily vampire had played him, as a master would play his puppets, and turned him against Humanity itself. Sicello had wanted him to forego forgiveness and compassion, to be utterly consumed by lust, power, and desire.

The priest now cast a handful of dirt on the coffin before him, saying, “ For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to receive unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed: we therefore commit hisbody to the ground.”

The coffin was lowered by a single pallbearer. The two Vampex soldiers posted behind Krebus made no efforts to help.

It had irritated the doctor that Vampex had sent an escort with them. As if they were going to grab the kid and make a run for the border. They knew that Rogan was in his custody and was his responsibility—anything the boy did would directly be reflected on his career. The deal had been to let Rogan be temporarily adopted by Doc Krebus, in exchange for the boy’s agreement to undergo the experimental treatment for vampirism. An armed escort would follow Rogan at all times; he was never to be let out of side. A GPS tracking device had been embedded in his shoulder during a vaccination shot. He did not know this, but he was aware that Vampex could pinpoint him at any time.

Not that it mattered. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere soon.

“ Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life…”

A firm hand squeezed his shoulder, and Krebus leaned down. “ He’s got a wife and a kid waiting for him.”

Rogan nodded. “ I know.”

“ Let’s hope,” the doctor said with a sigh, “ that he’s right about it all. That man deserves more than what he got in this life.”

“ He’s right,” Rogan said. “ He has to be.”

“ …that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Amen.”

A chorus rang, “Amen.”

Then it was over. Kapnov was gone forever, all traces of him returned to the earth. He was resting forever, only feet away from his wife and his daughter.

A whole family, laid to eternal rest.

“ Come on, Rogan,” the doctor said. “ There’s still some work to be done back at the lab.”

“ Give him a moment,” his wife murmured.

Rogan shook his head. “ No, it’s alright. There’s nothing more that needs to be done here.”

They began to walk together towards the gate of the cemetery. Father Palno’s chapel stood abandoned at the end of a gravel lot; the priest’s body had been taken into the hands of his sister.

As they left the sight of the grave behind them, Krebus said, “You know, I’ll be damned that no one showed up. You’d think the man was a leper, the way they talk about him back at the labs.” His voice was angry.

“ Jack,” his wife answered, “ you can’t let that get to you. You aren’t in any position to challenge them. I don’t want you to wind up in jail.”

The doctor shuffled towards the car, his head low. “ You’re right. Forget about it. Lies and backtalk, that’s all those asshole bureaucrats have ever known. Everything is black and white, good and evil. That’s all they can see.”

“ They’re blind,” Rogan said.

“ Yeah, you can say that again,” Krebus replied.

He paused at the edge of the car, opening the passenger door for his wife. Once she was inside, and the escort soldiers drifted away to their own vehicle, he took Rogan by the arm.

“ Look,” he said. “ You do realize that a lot of the treatment we’re giving you is experimental, don’t you? You understand that there will come a point when you’ll have a decision whether or not to continue.”

Rogan nodded, slowly.

“ The serum we’re developing may not work on you,” Krebus continued. “ In fact, from what I understand, you have a radically different strain of the disease. Something far more evolved. Possibly from before the Nazi experiments.”

Rogan understood what was being implied.

“ They’ll do everything they can to get you to agree for the treatment,” Krebus warned. “ Because once you do, you’ll be in their pocket. They’ll want to use you, somehow. I’m not sure how, or when, but I’ve heard rumors that the folks in Sector X are cooking up some top-secret hocus-pocus bullshit. Something big and bad is looming in the nearby future, and I can’t shake the feeling that you’re going to be involved.”

The boy shrugged. “ If it happens, it happens.”

The doctor said, “ Just remember, the choice is yours. It has always been yours.”

With that, he let Rogan into the backseat of the car, and then climbed in behind the wheel. The vehicle kicked to life and headed off from the parking lot, the church, and the cemetery. Behind it, the escort closely followed.