Black Vampire Apocalypse

"This is the End," Cain Sampson said to himself. If Cain's heart still beat, it would have been stammering. He watched the television set along with everyone in Hepburn's Bar and shook his head. The Massachusetts National Guard and various police forces were trying to contain the zombie outbreak in South Boston and they were losing. The military and the police were throwing everything they had at the flesh-eating monsters and the zombies weren't even fazed.

On TV, the dead swarmed over barricades and dragged police officers out of their squad cars, feeding at will. A tall, pretty blonde Massachusetts State Policewoman shot several zombies before she ran out of ammo and was grabbed by five of the undead. The things ate her. The creatures seemed impervious to gunfire unless shot in the head. The Undead's numbers were swelling, as everyone they bit turned into one of them in a matter of hours. Cops and soldiers got mauled by the zombies. The cameraman and the news people continued filming nonchalantly. Makes one wonder who the real monsters are

"We need to get the fuck out of Boston," said Alicia Hepburn, the bartender. The petite, curvy redhead looked worried as she watched events unfold on television. Cain nodded and then walked out of Hepburn's Bar. The quaint old bar, which once belonged to Alicia's grandfather Lincoln Hepburn, had been one of Cain's favorite watering holes for ages. Cain's instincts urged him to get the fuck out of Boston and that's precisely what he was going to do. There was a new kind of Undead in town and it had Cain spooked.

Cain left the bar and headed to his apartment, located in a townhouse on Commonwealth Avenue. At one point, the block housed the dormitories of the now defunct Bay State College. After the college closed, the real estate companies turned the dorms into apartment buildings. Cain was paying two grand a month for his swanky, two-bedroom spot and he loved it. The place was close to the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library, the Prudential Mall, and various stores. For a vampire who likes his privacy, Commonwealth Avenue was a good spot. Too bad Cain was going to have to leave.

Ever since Cain Sampson became a vampire in the summer of 1879, he'd known two things. There were interesting parallels between the life of an African American man and the existence of a vampire. Cain, a former Buffalo Soldier, had been forty when he got bitten by a vampire named Rosita while visiting a brothel in the environs of Guadalajara, Mexico. Rosita the vampire abandoned Cain shortly after teaching him how to hunt. Vampires aren't the most social of creatures and usually don't care for each other's company.

Cain has wandered the world ever since, and as far as he could tell, existence on the Planet Earth is pure hell. As a vampire, Cain possesses certain attributes such as superhuman strength, enhanced stamina, sharp senses and an accelerated healing factor. As a black man, Cain couldn't escape certain things such as the system being against himself and those who look like him. Cain survived by flying under the radar. Cain moved from place to place, getting blood from butcher shops instead of preying on humans.

From time to time, Cain met other vampires, and while they were polite enough, the breed didn't care for each other's company. There was no such thing as vampire society. Vampires lived on their own, roaming from place to place. Some fed on drifters, and the homeless, those members of society they figured that would not be missed. Cain, who figured that sooner or later, humans figured out that there were threats among them, played it smart. With a few dollars and by playing the part of an eccentric, Cain could get blood from butcher shops and satiate his hunger.

Cain entered the apartment and took a deep breath even though he didn't need to breathe. The place was nice, sparsely furnished. Cain's belongings included three tables, six chairs, a sofa, and a large TV with a Blu-Ray player. The place came with high-speed Internet access and Wi-Fi. The bedroom contained a large bed, two chairs and a table on which rested Cain's twin laptops, four monitors and two printers. Yeah, Cain was a modern vampire and kept in touch with the world.

"I hate to lose all of this," Cain said to himself as he began making preparations. The life of a vampire is one upheaval after another. Immortality only looked good from those who weren't afflicted with it. Cain recalled how he once ran into a decrepit old man who'd once been his commanding officer during the American Civil War. Lieutenant Stanley Moore, a chiseled white guy who once led a squad of black soldiers, known as Buffalo Soldiers, into battle against Confederate Forces, had been homeless and afflicted with Alzheimer's disease when Cain last saw him. Moore had been eighty years old and hadn't recognized Cain. Such is life...

Cain reached under the bed and picked his weapons. Two pistols, along with sixty rounds of ammo, a machete, a pair of heavy-duty flashlights, and U.S. Army knives. Next to the weapons cache was a suitcase containing fifty thousand American dollars, along with twelve gold rings, six golden necklaces and six identical Taiwanese rubies. The vampire existence demanded frequent travel and Cain liked to believe he was ready for anything. Was he ready for the zombie apocalypse, though?

Twenty-four hours later, Cain left the City of Boston, Massachusetts, never to return. When the U.S. Government initiated Martial Law and placed a Quarantine Zone all over New England, Cain didn't give a damn because he was already in Mexico. The vampire headed for the Mexican Desert, for he figured anyplace full of humans would soon be full of zombies. Cain returned to one of his favorite haunts, a secret underground chamber located beneath the desert. Once there, Cain slept. He figured he would wake up after the humans figured out how to beat the zombies and restored order to the world...

The Great Sleep is something all vampires know about but few ever undertake it. When a vampire stops feeding, he or she can enter a state of suspended animation. A sort of death-like sleep which can last years or even centuries. Cain has learned about this from his fellow bloodsuckers. With the zombies roaming the world and humanity at war with them, the world's most cautious vampire is choosing to avoid the conflict. Cain hopes to reawaken in a world where humanity has defeated the flesh-eating zombies. What happens to this hapless vampire if humanity loses the zombie war?