Who: Katherine Pierce; narrative Where: The Tomb under the old church then into the city When: A week after the beating Why: She is finally healed and strong enough to get out of the tomb on her own What: leaving the tomb, feeding on a human, and being scared by a car
It took days before Katherine was healed. It took one day before she was able to snatch rats and begin to feed again, two days before she was able to sit up and feel her body starting to heal, and three days before she was even able to stand. Katherine stood up and as she went to take a step, her hand met the wall. She held onto the stone to steady herself, her free hand on her stomach as she started toward the entrance. No one was left down there, she was alone and for the first time in her long life, she was glad for it. Walking hurt a bit as she did so, her injuries from the other night not fully healed. She had never survived on animals before and rats did nothing for her. She was slow moving as she made it to the mouth of the tomb, walking out into the circular space. She looked around at the dirt before looking for the way out. She saw she could go up and frowned, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to jump up but she wanted out. At that moment her determination was stronger than anything. She let go of the wall and moved to the center and sprang. She barely cleared the dirt as she landed and collapsed on the ground. She dug her fingers into the dirt as she breathed in the fresh night air.
Katherine stayed still for what seemed like hours, when in fact it was mere minutes. She looked around as she focused on the night, feeling the air on her bare skin. She looked at her clothing, the corset and skirt from the last night she had been free was tatters barely even covering her body anymore. She didn’t know what women wore these days, but she had a feeling how little she had on would not be ok. She slowly stood up and staggered as she looked around, she needed more blood something bigger. In the distance she caught movement, a deer. She started toward it, silently as she moved. She mustered up enough energy and sprang taking the animal down. She didn’t like the idea of deer, she preferred human, but this would be better than the rats. She could find an animal later. She was done before she even realized she had started. The crimson life filled her more solidly than the blood of the rats. She dropped the body of the deer as she stood up and looked around. She brought her hand up and wiped off her face as she started out of the woods. She wanted to find places that were familiar; she hoped the boarding house would be there, maybe the apothecary, anything that she remembered.
When she found the street she stilled and looked at the ground. Dirt roads, cobble stones but this was different. It was solid but not stones. She frowned, “Odd” she spoke to herself as she walked across and heard the loud noise. She turned toward the lights and looked at the giant thing barreling toward her. She tilted her head as she looked at the lights, not sure what it was. She could hear the skidding as the contraption came to a stop, looking at it, she watched the person come out of the metallic object.
“Are you crazy!? What are you doing just standing in the street like that?!” the man who had been behind the wheel yelled at her. He was clearly angry but Katherine didn’t care.
“What do you call this?” she asked walking toward him. She caught his eyes as she neared him, “Tell me now, what do you call this time you came out of and what year are we in?” The man went still as his eyes were caught by hers. He looked at her, “A car, it’s 2010” he answered her, not aware they would be his last words.
“2010,” she mulled over, “how curious, over 145 years I was under the ground and now they have cars. So much like a carriage without the need of horses,” she looked at the man, “your help has been wonderful, and one last thing you will do for me,” she said as she reached up and with her fingers around his neck she pulled him down to her, her fangs extending as she latched onto his neck, drinking like she had never had such an amazing meal before. She tangled her fingers in his hair as she drank his blood down, even with as sated as she was from the deer, she needed this, she could feel the blood filling her, fixing her as only warm human blood could. Once she was at her fill she pushed him away and tilted her head some as she saw into the car. She found a jacket, something to put over her bare arms as she walked through town. She didn’t want to be as bare as she was, but she wanted to find what women wore these days. She didn’t wish to stand out.