"Everyone remembers where they were when news first broke out about the Zombies, and they've got some fancy stories, me, I don't bother with making stuff up, I will admit that I was on the crapper," Khalid Mubarak said, and the tall, burly and broad-shouldered Afro-Egyptian Vampire threw his head back and laughed. His companions did not appear to be sharing in his mirth, which was fine, since it was well known that nobody laughed at Khalid's jokes quite like the man himself.
"Me? I was in Al Qahirah, acting as a guide for some tourists in those fancy neighborhoods near the American Embassy," mused Nagla Chafik, and the young-looking female Vampire sighed, her shoulders sagging. Although she still had the appearance of a twenty-something, tall and curvy, bronze-skinned and raven-haired Middle-Eastern woman, Nagla was quite a few centuries old. Older than even Khalid, which was saying something.
"Chin up, habibti," Khalid replied, and Nagla shot him a look. Once upon a time, they were lovers and shared everything. Not anymore. Khalid nevertheless felt a great deal of concern for his former paramour, who hadn't been the same since even before the Zombie Plague became a thing. Depression wasn't just a mortal ailment, ancient Vampires like Nagla were prone to it, apparently.
Nagla Chafik had been born in the fading days of the Fatimid dynasty, which ruled Egypt around the time of the Crusades. As a young woman, Nagla had taken up arms to defend her family and her countrymen from the European invaders who sought to take over Egypt to strengthen the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After ascending to the throne in 1163, King Almaric I of Jerusalem sent legions of his best soldiers against the Fatimid Caliphate, and could not conquer them.
Nagla's beloved Egypt has been through a lot in these eight centuries that she'd roamed the planet earth, but the ancient Vampire had never seen anything quite like the Zombie Plague. The hordes of mindless, shambling dead were everywhere, devouring all living things they came in contact with. They infected numerous humans, who died, reanimated and came back as flesh-eating monsters. Mankind was slowly losing the war against the Zombies, and Nagla knew it didn't bode well for the Vampire species either...
"I miss Al Qahirah, the place was beautiful, and there was always plenty to eat, I really think I should have stayed there," lamented Alan Burke. Khalid looked at the former American expatriate, originally from Oregon, who was made into a Vampire while visiting Giza some sixty years ago. Tall and slender, with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, Burke still had the appearance and mannerisms of the middle-aged university professor he'd once been.
"Tough luck, old man, the place is crawling with Zombies now," Khalid said flatly, and he looked from Burke to Nagla, making sure they heard him right. They sat by a warm, cozy fire on the soft sands of the river, right on the shores of Assouan. It was one of a few Egyptian towns that hadn't yet fallen to the Plague. A contingent of Egyptian soldiers had taken over Assouan and created a massive containing grid around the city proper, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. The place was secure...for the moment.
Khalid, who'd been everything from a soldier to a fry cook, a mercenary and a pirate over the course of several lifetimes, had mixed feelings about the military takeover of metropolitan Assouan, but he couldn't argue with the results. The Egyptian Army had always been reliable in the country's time of need, dealing with internal and external threats as best they could.
When Colonel Ahmed Ali of the Egyptian Armed Forces and his soldiers took over, they exterminated the Zombies within the city limits, securing it...for the moment. Still, experience told Khalid that it was only a question of time until all of Egypt, and the world, fell to the Zombie Plague. Instead of a call to arms, the humans allowed themselves to be divided over petty reasons like race, religion and nationality.
The Zombie Plague originated in the Middle East, and then spread to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean regions. To everyone's surprise, the people of the West African nation of Nigeria had proven most swift and capable in their response to the Zombie Plague. When the Zombie hordes descended upon the City of Kano, in northern Nigeria, the Nigerian Government firebombed the Plague-filled metropolis with low-yield nukes purchased from its ally, Russia. As far as Khalid knew, the Plague was curtailed in that part of West Africa.
Last anyone heard, the Zombie Plague had somehow made its way to Europe and the Americas, and even now, police and soldiers were duking it out with the flesh-eating dead in the streets of Paris, New York, Manaus, and Toronto. That's all anyone knew before the worldwide media blackout. No more CNN or RDI or Facebook or Instagram. Man's technology had failed, as would man himself. The humans won't be able to stop this thing and then we'll all be doomed, Khalid thought, and the feeling of helplessness which gripped him caused anger to swell in his chest.
Khalid closed his eyes and warmed his hands over the fire, sighing deeply. Born in 1897 in the City of Cairo, Egypt, to a Sudanese Muslim father, Mustafa Mubarak, and an Egyptian Christian mother, Caroline Dessouki, Khalid Mubarak was no stranger to adversity. As the son of an interracial couple, he had to walk a fine line early on in this life. In Egypt, a land where racism was naked and open, Khalid's family drew many Egyptians ire due to their uniqueness.
To the Sudanese people, Khalid wasn't African enough, and to the Egyptian Arabs, he certainly wasn't Arab enough. Nevertheless, Khalid set out to prove that he was just as good as anyone else. Getting taunted by young Egyptian men for his skin color and kinky hair toughened him up, and he learned how to fight viciously. Khalid graduated with honors from the prestigious Royal Military Academy in Cairo. After that, he joined the Egyptian Army.
By the time Khalid was thirty two, he'd impressed the top brass enough to have risen to the rank of Corporal in the Egyptian Army. One night, he and his regiment were posted near the Sudanese Border, to take care of the nighttime bandits who'd been preying on the locals. As it turns out, it wasn't bandits or highwaymen who were preying on Egyptian citizens living near the Sudanese Border, but a far more nefarious threat.
The Vampires had been living in Egypt for untold thousands of years, and they were woven into the fabric of Egyptian society. They were in every major city or town, disguised as ordinary men and women. Most of the Vampires were peaceful, they kept to themselves and limited their feedings to animals. In exchange for that, the Powers That Be in Egypt left them alone. A rogue element upset the delicate balance of power in Egypt, and that rogue element happened to be a Vampire named Mahsoub...
"Prepare to die, foolish mortal," Mahsoub said to Khalid, as he gripped the flailing Corporal by the neck and lifted him off the ground. When Khalid and a detachment of Egyptian soldiers stormed the Vampires lair, thinking them nothing more than ordinary brigands, the Vampires made short work of them. Khalid was the last man standing, and he'd been the one to confront the leader of the rogue Vampires.
"You first," Khalid croaked, and he pulled a dagger out of his waist sash and thrust it into Mahsoub's chest, just as Mahsoub sank his fangs into him. The Vampire's fangs pierced Khalid's flesh, drawing blood and infecting him with poison. Mahsoub gasped in shock and let go of Khalid, who fell on the ground. The Vampire leader looked at the blade protruding from his chest, and tried to pull it out. Crying out in pain, Mahsoub fell, and lay still. Dead for good at last.
"You've killed Mahsoub," came a female voice, and Khalid looked up to see a tall, curvy, attractive Arabian female Vampire step toward him. It was Nagla, and she'd been part of Mahsoub's band, until they had something of a falling out. When she knelt beside the fatally wounded Khalid, flashing him a fanged smile, the young man thought she was going to be the death of him. Instead, Nagla gathered Khalid into her arms, as the other Vampires looked on.
