Introduction
LICKING YOUR WOUNDS

By Matthew L. Cole

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1864

It all was set in motion with the explosion of a cannonball. The force of this explosion knocked me out. And separated me from my brother, Caleb. It was this that made me the most distressed. Caleb had only joined the Union, the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, at my urging. And now for all I knew he was dead. And for that matter, for all I knew I was dying too.

Once my eyes opened on the color red, I questioned if indeed I was alive. I lowered my hands and felt the stump where my right leg should have been. And abruptly I knew I was very much alive. The pain was unbelievable.

I went to release a scream, but none escaped my lungs. The taste of gun powder and smoke were strong in my mouth. I felt alone when I remembered Caleb.

“Joe…you okay?” I heard Caleb ask from somewhere in the distance. I wanted to reply.

I licked my lips and tasted blood. It made me want to vomit. I could not remember exactly where I was or what had left me this way. Then the memory of that cannonball came to me again. It had happened too fast. As my mind played the incident, I began to forget the war, my brother and my wounds. It occurred to me that I was dying. I awaited death. The pain I was in was unfathomable. And all I could do was not think about it.

Then began that which I cannot fully recollect in detail. There were these two men picking me from the mass of fallen and wounded soldiers. I wondered if they knew I was alive. I found the strength to move my left hand and touch the taller of the two men. It was then I realized my eyes were open. He smiled at me. Not long after that I blacked out.

I awoke to the smell of smoke, burning flesh, and screams. There is nothing more terrifying than hearing a grown man cry for his mother in pain. Twilight crept above the treetops and somewhere to my left I heard musket fire. The war raged on.

The wind whispered through the brooding trees, and the trees bent low to allow the breeze to blow over me. I smelled of death.

The two men who had picked me up were now moving me inside a rudimentary tent. It was then I realized it was a hospital.

“Welcome to Camp Letterman,” the taller fellow said.

I began to grow restless, and wanted to leave. Then the second man came into view. His smile revealed pointed teeth.

I wanted to leave that instant.

“Caleb…please…I need to find Caleb,” I cried.

“His brother?” the pointed tooth man asked the taller man.

“Yes.”

“He’s alive. Relax.” The man with the pointy teeth said.

I couldn’t relax.

I must have blacked out again. For when I opened my eyes once more I lay on a bed.

The sounds of screams and cries of the injured filled my ears. I wanted to sit up but strong hands kept me from doing so. Then the first man, who I saw lean over me on the battlefield, was hovering over me again.

I could see him clearer now. He was thin, gaunt, pale, short-haired, clean-shaven, and his lips were a very dark, red in color. By his uniform I could tell he was part of the Union army. This was good since I didn’t trust Confederates. The longer I looked at him the more uncomfortable I felt.

Where was Caleb? Was I going to live? And where was the man with the pointy teeth?

All of these questions and more raced through my mind.

“Where am I?” I asked afraid of the answer I would receive.

“You’re in the hospital, Camp Letterman, remember? Don’t worry, you’re safe. You’re in good hands,” the man said.

“My legs?” I asked. “I can’t feel them.”

“Your right leg is gone just above the knee,” the man explained. “Your left leg is fine.”

I wanted to look at where my leg was. As I looked at my stump the pointy teeth man stood up. Blood dripped from his chin.

“What?” I screamed.

A hand covered my mouth and nose. A few minutes later I blacked out once more.

The sounds weren’t as loud this time. I awoke around midnight as much as I could tell. A few muffled cries could be heard, faintly.

“Caleb,” I said softly.

I wanted to cry out. The only thing that kept from this was the fact that sleep to the injured was hard to come by and I wasn’t going to destroy that for my selfish reasons. I told myself I would find Caleb. All I needed was a little patience.

“Psst…buddy…you awake?” someone solicited.

I turned to my right to see. I saw a poorly bandaged Union private. His hands, most of his face and both legs were gone. I shuddered at the sight of him. I imagined he did the same at the sight of me.

I looked again at the man. He was a wreck. Then (because I couldn’t help myself) I stared at him.

“You goin’ to live?” I asked before common sense told me not to.

I continued to stare.

“That is yet to be determined. I don’t know if I want to.”

I said nothing as I continued to stare at him.

“Name’s Foley…William Foley.” I had the sense he would have offered his hand to me if he had one to offer.

I coughed, more like hacked, before nodding my head.

“I’m Joe Halloran.”

“Nice to meet you, Joe.” William said.

“I hate to ask…” I began when William answered.

“Cannon blast. I was charging and was about five yards away when it went off.”

I shuddered as I pictured the incident.

“Cannon ball explosion got me too. Lost my right leg and that’s all I remember.”

“They say I’ve lost too much blood. And my chances are slim to none. I seem to be losing more blood everyday. They really don’t know how or why. The doctors claim have stopped all visible wounds, inside and out. My wounds, though severe, are healing. Yet, it seems I’m getting weaker. Their only reasoning is blood loss. But they don’t know where I’m bleeding.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“The fact is that most of the men in here are slowly dying. And all they keep saying is that we’re losing blood.”

I remembered the pointy teeth man. Blood running down his pale chin. I said nothing. What if I was wrong about what I saw?

“I’m looking for my brother Caleb. Know how I can find him?”

William Foley shrugged his shoulders.

“These things, like finding people, aren’t easy in here. Remember, it’s a war we’re in and not everyone cares about the injured. I’ll see what I can find out. Not like I can take a stroll and ask around though. Be patient, it could take some time before we find out anything.”

I nodded then slowly drifted off into sleep.

In the morning, a fresh faced doctor stood over me. He didn’t smile. He didn’t do anything as he looked me over.

I groaned. I felt weaker.

“Nurse, it’s the same as the others.”

“Excuse me, but what is wrong with me?” I asked anxiously.

“Relax,” the doctor told me.

I hate being told to relax.

“Tell me now!” I shouted. “I want answers! Am I going to die? Where is Caleb? Tell me!”as

“Nurse, morphine!” His voice was harsh. His slim hands clawed at me. “You must relax!”

“You relax!” I screamed back. “Give me some answers!”

As the morphine raced through my veins I began to relax. The pain was subsiding. My mind was floating as if it was a leaf on water.

I cold see the doctor relax also.

He checked me over. His face still refused to show emotion.’

“Private Halloran?” He asked.

I didn’t answer.

“Private Halloran?” He asked again.

“Yes?”

“You should live. I am, however, concerned.”

“Concerned?” I managed to say feebly.

“Yes, it’s the loss of …” the doctor said when I spoke up.

“…my leg?”

“No. But the amount of blood that you have lost since arriving in the hospital.”

I was terrified. I wanted to tell him of the pointy teethed man.

Then, the darkness of sleep cam and I was gone.

It was cold in the hospital, cold, dark and frightening. I stirred uneasily in my bed and my eyes blinked open on the darkness of night. I strained to see, pushing myself into a sitting position as a chill settled in my bones.

I was weak--sluggish. I stretched and gave a yawn.

One hand went to my stump. The other to my face. My stump was feeling better, it still ached as if my leg was somehow still attached. My face was tired, but otherwise fine.

“Are you feeling better?” William asked weakly.

“Yeah, a little. I’d be doin’ much better if I knew where Caleb was.”

“Sorry you haven’t heard anything,” he replied again very weakly.

“They say I am suffering from…”

“Massive blood loss, right?”

“Exactly,” I said, grimly. “Internal bleeding they suppose.”

“Do you want the truth?” William asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Do you really want to know what is goin’ on in here?”

“Yes.”

“Vampires.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. It was the truth, I didn’t.

“Isn’t it painfully obvious, vampires are sucking out our blood. Killing us slowly.”

“And all the nurses are witches, right?”

“Laugh, if you want. The truth will become painfully clear in time to you and everyone else.”

“I’m not sure I can believe that.”

“Take a look around here. Massive blood loss, unexplainable by the doctors. Everyone of us is slowly being drained of our blood.”

“By vampires?”

“Wake up Joe. Before it’s too late for you and your brother. They’ve gotten me already. I’ll be dead soon. Don’t let them get you two.”

The sounds of screaming woke me. I sat up. Looking around I was unable to locate the source of the screaming. I could not pin it down. There were several men screaming and crying out.

Then I remembered William Foley. I turned to see him.

William’s bed was empty.

“Hello!” I shouted. A nurse came to me. I had never seen her before.

“What can I do for you private?”

“Please tell me where Private William Foley is.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. She was in her late twenties, her blond hair reeked of blood and smoke. “Private Foley died in his sleep last night.”

“No!”

“Please try to relax, our morphine supply is running low.”

“Do you know how I can find my brother, Caleb Halloran?”

“I think I may know where he is, give me some time, I’ll find him for you, okay?”

Suddenly I was filled with hope.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

She was a woman true to her word. “Your brother is in the east portion of the hospital.”

“He’s alive?”

“Yes, and doing very well. I need to see him.”

“I know. I’ll see if I can arrange it,” the nurse said.

She brought me a crude wooden crutch. I climbed out of my bed. I looked at the bed I had just vacated. Blood stains covered the mattress.

I almost threw up.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I will be.”

“Can you make it on your own? I have other patients to attend to.”

I acquiesced.

I scanned the hospital and was saddened by the maimed, sick and dying young men filling nearly every inch inside the crude hospital tent.

I found where my brother was and pulling back the curtain that surrounded him I was horrified at what I saw. The two men who had pulled me from the battlefield, including pointy teeth man, hovered over my brother’s body. The pointy teethed man licked at a wound on my brother’s stomach, after removing the bandage from it and the taller man licked at the stump where my brother’s right hand had been.

“Stop you’re killing him!” I screamed.

“No, we’re saving him.” They told me.

“No, please stop this!”

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live forever?” The pointy teethed man asked.

I heard someone crawl up behind me and tug at my crutch. I turned and saw William Foley on the floor.

“Joe, it’s okay. Join us.”

“You know you want to.” The taller man said to me. I wanted to what? “Cleanse his wounds.”

It was then I felt it. The thirst for blood.

“I can’t,” I said shaking my head. “He’s my brother.”

“You can save him, Joe. And doing so, your leg will grow back.”

“Bite his neck and bring him to us,” the taller vampire said.

Caleb was crying.

I was hungry--hungry for blood.

I was prepared for anything except the ease of which I accepted the invitation. I wasn’t pleased with what I had done. And all the next morning feasting on patient to patient.

I licked their wounds clean.

I hungered for it. The taste of blood was more like wine to me.

That night was the first of many for me. In the years that followed, my leg did grow back and Caleb and I stalked the nights.

And so a new life began a life hiding in shadows, living in seclusion.

My grave rests in the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania along side my brother’s.

If you want to test the truth of my confession, I implore to go to Evergreen and dig up my grave.

When you see that no one is in my grave, nor Caleb’s, then perhaps you’ll believe. And whenever you find yourself wounded and in an ambulance or hospital and your wounds are about to be cleaned, I suggest you check the teeth of the doctor, nurse or EMT who is helping you.

For we may meet face to face.