Blood Manipulation

Adam concentrated on the figure standing beside the car and tried to invoke the same feeling that had accompanied him when he used the Blood Manipulation before.

His brain was immediately attacked by a mild headache, and he felt the blood of his target answering his call in the next moment.

As he was doing it consciously for the first time, Adam felt overwhelmed. The connection he established with the blood of the Tainted made him feel like it was some new part of his body. A strange limb, that he could manipulate at will.

His headache was becoming stronger with each passing second, so there was no time to waste. Adam willed for all the blood in the Tainted body to gather violently in its head.

He could feel that it listened to his command.

As he observed the Tainted, he saw its veins engorging and its eyes turning red. The creature suddenly began to squirm and lash around, growling and wailing in pain. At the same time, bloody streaks rushed from its eyes, nose, and ears.

The Tainted fell to its knees, clawing at its head, and fell over lifelessly a moment later, blood bursting from its every orifice. The white mist gathered around the corpse and with Adam as it had done before.

Adam stumbled as a sudden jolt of pain flashed through his mind. It almost made him faint on the spot. He waited patiently for the pain to subside and when it did, he approached the vehicle.

It was an old green sedan in a poor condition. Nevertheless, Adam believed that in this case, the age of the car was a boon. It surely wasn't equipped with any modern electronics.

Adam approached the Tainted he had just killed. The sight was gruesome. Its head inflated, with pieces of the skull jutting through the skin, and its nose and ears became a bloody mess. Not all the blood around the car belonged to the Tainted though.

Adam noticed the corpse of a woman sitting in the passenger seat. Her face and most of her chest were missing, replaced by gaping wounds that revealed white bones and internal organs. The meat around the wounds was already turning black in the scorching sun.

The foul stench attacked his nose and Adam backed away quickly. He suddenly bent down and vomited his breakfast out.

He took a couple of deep breaths to calm his stomach and covered his face with the sleeve before approaching the woman again.

He gently unlocked her safety belt and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled at it slowly until the corpse tilted enough to fall out of the car on its own.

Adam backed away again, suppressing his gagging instinct, and circled the car to reach the driver's seat. As he looked into the car, he saw that most of the vehicle's front was soaked with blood. He concentrated again and almost instantly heard the dried blood calling to him. The headache came back, but not as strong as before. Adam issued the command and the car was clean again, all of the blood pooling outside the passenger's door.

"This is useful," Adam chuckled. "If only it didn't hurt so much every time."

The moment of truth finally came as Adam found the car key waiting for him in the ignition switch. He turned it and heard the sweet sound of an engine coming to life. He drove slowly around the corpses with a big smile on his face.

Having a car, he would need no more than two hours to reach Cracow. As he sped up, he imagined his reunion with Carol and Susie.

He couldn't wait to be with them and take them in his arms. His happiness didn't last long though, as he recalled all that happened so far.

"What were the chances that they are fine? Would they survive what had yet to come?" Adam thought about Emily, Ted, and their little son. Their family had already been torn apart by the Impact.

He recalled Mark and his wife, Donna, and finally the owners of the car he was driving. They were probably a couple too.

"Shit!" He cursed. "I have to believe they are doing just fine. Everything will be fine."

Adam saw many more victims of the Impact as he drove. There were a few Tainted here and there too. They didn't pose a threat though, because before they noticed the car, it was already gone.

As such, the journey was smooth, up until the tunnel. Dug into the slope of a hill, it was at least two hundred meters long. Adam had driven through it many times before, but he was hesitant now.

He didn't know if it was clear or filled with Tainted. Either way, he didn't have much choice. Adam turned the long lights on and entered it with turtle speed.

The tunnel seemed clear and Adam could see the exit after passing its first half.

Getting closer to the exit Adam sped up. Something suddenly banged hard at the side of the car and he lost control of it.

Adam managed to see only a set of eyes burning with green fire looking at him from the dark before he bolted to the right, scraping against the wall of the tunnel, and barely driving past the exit.

He lost control of the vehicle and left the road, driving over the railing and the drainage ditch. The car barreled through the field and entered a sparse forest growing at the side of the highway.

Adam pressed the brake as hard as he could but the car stopped only when it crashed into a tree. He lunged forward, hitting the steering wheel, and losing consciousness for a short time.

Adam shook his head slowly, dispelling the last flecks of black dancing before his eyes. He turned around in his seat and saw groups of Tainted approaching the car. Dozens of them were close enough to render any attempt of escape impossible.

To make his situation even worse, more and more Tainted appeared with every passing second from behind the trees.

"I am finished," Adam thought aghast as the mass of bodies slowly surrounded his car.

Unexpectedly, none of the Tainted seemed to notice him. Their eyes, shining with a green eerie light, were focused on the horizon.

Something suddenly banged on the hood of the vehicle, and Adam saw two pigeons looking intently at him, their small, beady eyes glowing with the same otherwordly green fire.

"So, you do follow me," Adam spoke to the pigeons with amazement. One of them skewed its head mockingly and cooed at Adam. The second pigeon was concentrated on the horde and flapped its wings from time to time as if commanding it.

Not feeling any immediate danger, Adam took his time to observe the Tainted passing his car. They were different from the ones he encountered so far. Their moves were calm and fluid, one could even say conscious.

All of them walked in the same direction, deeper into the forest. Their eyes were focused on something in the distance that Adam couldn't perceive.

After the last of the Tainted vanished in the thicket, one of the birds flew up and followed their trails. The other circled the car, cooing encouragingly.

"You want me to follow them? No way," Adam pulled the window down and replied to the bird, silently accepting the fact that he conversed with a pigeon.

He waited another fifteen minutes to make sure that the Tainted were truly gone and tried to start the car again only after he had made sure that there weren't any stragglers.

The engine didn't respond to his command this time though. It throttled for a moment and spew a puff of black smoke before going silent.

Adam decided to go back to the highway and try his luck again. Using a car allowed him to cover a significant distance in a short time. As such, he hoped to find another vehicle to hasten the journey.

He left the forest following his trails and saw the road again. He also noticed the trails and puffs of black smoke rising from the same direction that the Tainted were going.

The bird followed him for a while in the air before it cooed disappointedly and flew back into the forest.

Adam didn't have any luck on the way. He finally decided to take a break at the abandoned gas station.

He looted it for food and water and after satisfying his hunger he went to the parking behind the station. It was mostly empty, with only a few old trucks and a passenger car. Adam checked the trucks quickly but didn't find any keys to them.

As such, he focused on the car. It was occupied by a Tainted. A blonde woman clothed in a business suit stared at him hungrily and clawed at the door. She was fastened to the seat and it seemed that she couldn't get out.