No Day But Today

By Benji: The Vampire Confuser

This is a sequel to A Little Help From My Friends.

"There is no future, there is no past.

I live each moment as my last.

There's only us, there's only this.

Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.

No other path, no other way,

No day but today."

-Rent

Something I never told anyone, and I mean anyone, is why Rent is my favorite musical. I didn't even tell the family members who knew I was a Mutant. Not even my friends, who now knew what I was.

Ever hear of the Legacy Virus? If not, let me fill you in. It's a terminal disease that only infects Mutants, that probably was created by the government. The symptoms vary from victim to victim, so it's hard to pin down, or diagnose without a blood test. The only common elements are thus: the symptoms come and go. Sometimes they're mild, sometimes they're debilitating. Someone with the Legacy Virus can go years between symptoms. Then eventually comes the final stage. Bruises pop up all over your body. Big, small, they vary too. But they hurt like regular bruises. Then There's the cough. It's a really nasty one. And your power begins to short circuit. All this builds until your power explodes and kills you. There's never been anyone who survived the disease. Only people who haven't died yet. The government doesn't care, hell, nobody really cares, except Mutants.

As you've probably guessed, I have the Legacy Virus. I've had it since High School. How did I know? Well around the time I was getting a lot of mail from colleges, I got a brochure from Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. A school for Mutants. I was tempted, really tempted, but it didn't offer any training in my chosen profession. So I passed. I did however take them up on a blood test. They said they could tell me more about my power. So I managed to get them a sample of my blood. THAT wasn't easy. A week later I get a letter telling me the big news.

So sorry, you're gonna die and there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Can you even begin to imagine how I felt? I was a sophomore in High School. I was supposed to have my entire life ahead of me. But instead I had the Grim Reaper breathing down my neck. And I couldn't even tell anyone. Not without revealing what I was. And there was absolutely no way I was going to spend what remained of my life in a concentration camp.

So years pass, with symptoms I was able to pass off as the flue, or just a really bad cold. Which brings us back to the present. Less than a week after the Mutant Control Agency came after us the first time. Getting ready for bed one night, I noticed two small bruises on my back. With no injury to account for them.

I wonder what people will think. When the disease runs it's course it'll be painfully obvious what I was. Will my parents be disappointed? Probably, but more that I didn't tell them. Will they wonder if I'd known? Who'll come to the funeral once they know that I was a Mutant? What will they say when I'm gone? I always wondered if I'd be missed when I…you know. Looks like I'm gonna find out sooner than I wanted.

I took a death test on the net. It told me I was going to die when I was in my seventies, of a heart attack. Damn was it off.

I couldn't keep it to myself anymore. I had to tell somebody, I couldn't stand having it bottled up inside me anymore. I was going to explode before the virus had a chance to kill me if I did. There was only one person on campus I knew, who might understand. Gwen. Not only has Gwen lived with death all her life, but she's had a similar experience. Gwen had cancer. She actually had a tumor in her brain. They did surgery to remove it, but she's lived with the possibility of it coming back. So I told her. I'm not gonna divulge the details of what happened, but lets just say I felt better afterwards. Aside from the bruises, and the really nasty cough I'd developed. Oh, and for some reason, be it my natural lack of insulation, or the disease, I was always cold.

Not long after that, the MCA came after us again. And it also sparked another major turning point in my life. The fire from that spark wouldn't start for at least a week, but the spark came that night, none-the-less. Anyway, getting back to the MCA. It was the second to last night before spring break. We'd decided to play one last game of Vampire before we all left. We were gonna play at nine. I got there at about nine, with Casey and Paul arriving soon after. Complications had arisen for the others, so they were late, if they came at all.

All the better for them.

That night I felt a bit like Giles on Buffy. Because I kept getting knocked out. They had some kind of stun guns or something. Anyway, I got knocked out first. Paul and Casey got to put up a fight. Casey even made one of the wooden doors grow bark and vines to ensnare one of the agents. Paul blew the other one off it's hinges.

Even after they were cuffed and collared (I'll get to that in a minute), they still fought. Eventually though, they were caught.

Seems these weren't just any MCA agents. These were Sentinels. The MCA's elite force. They came equipped with stun guns, special suits to protect them from our powers, and inhibitor collars. The perfect accessory for any Mutant in the camps. It shut off your power. Made it so it didn't work at all.

Gwen hadn't been able to make it to the game, as she had to wait for her mom to call. Seems that complications had arisen with her transportation. Trevor had some similar reason that I still don't understand. I think her mom was his ride to the airport or something. So while she was waiting, she got this "anonymous" phone call. The caller said that they'd captured her friends and if she ever wanted to see them again, she'd have to come to the ball room.

You get the feeling that the MCA was kind of new at using trickery to accomplish it's goals?

So she didn't come to get us. Because she knew it was a trap. At least, that's what she told us, and I still believe it. Steve had to finish a paper that was due the next day. But first he had to start it. When he'd completed it, he came to the ballroom, hoping he wasn't too late to Masquerade. Instead he found an agent waiting for him.

What followed was a complicated, spectacular fight scene, but I've realized I'm no good at describing fight scenes, so I'll skip it.

Well, not completely. Steve managed to take out the Agent. Unfortunately, he had to kill him. Then he went looking for us. Which went against his natural instinct, which was to go into hiding, and move to Canada. But I guess he felt he owed me.

Meanwhile, Me, Paul and Casey were handcuffed and collared, downstairs, safely out of sight so the Sentinels could keep us out of trouble until they had the rest of us. We knew that these guys were tough, and didn't like Mutants. So we decided it would be better not to piss them off by being insolent.

"One little, two little, three little mutated guys. One little, two little, three little mutated guys. One little two little three little mutated guys, three little mutated guys!"

"You Muties shut up!"

"One with a voice box like you've never seen, one with a voice box like you've-"

Pow!

"Ouch."

We stopped singing after the guard hit Paul. I could see on Paul's face that he was mad. As a matter of fact, I was starting to get a little pissed myself. We hadn't done anything to anyone until these assholes showed up and kept trying to ruin our lives, just because we were different. And now, with an incurable terminal disease, I was going to spend the last days of my life in a concentration camp.

Like Hell.

Suddenly, I didn't care what these guys did to me. I was gonna die anyway. Probably very soon judging from the rate that the bruises were showing up. I stood up. I was NOT going to spend the last days of my life in some camp.

"Better to die on our feet then to live on our knees." Gotta love Klingon philosophy.

"Where do you think you're going Mutie?"

"I have to go to the bathroom. Don't make me piss on you."

I've never wanted to say that to anyone, but it was gratifying none the less. He shoved the gun into my stomach and tried to push me back down.

"I don't care if you piss your pants Mutie! Sit down."

At that moment, the impossible happened. My life threatening disease did some good. Ever have one of those coughing fits where you were doubled over from the force of it? Triple that, and that's how strong my coughing fits had gotten. Anyway, it provided just enough distraction for me to ram head first into the Agent, knocking him down a short flight of stairs.

Unfortunately I fell with him. With my hands cuffed behind my back.

It hurt.

It might have hurt more had I not managed to dodge Casey jumping down the stairs onto the fallen Agent. That put him out for the count.

From my vantage point on my back, at the bottom of the stairs, I could see that Paul had slammed the remaining Agent against a wall and knocked him out, after a short but fierce struggle. We were free. In a manner of speaking.

After escaping capture, Steve began a perimeter search of the Student Center. It didn't take him long to find the van being used as the MCA's center of operations that night. He watched it for a bit, formulating his plan. Then, he set it into motion.

He threw a rock at it.

"Thanks for making it sound so stupid."

You're welcome. Now where was I? Ah yes.

He succeeded in gaining the attention of one of the agents inside. Again, a fierce, complicated struggle broke out, that resulted in the Agent snapping an Inhibitor collar on Steve, and Steve snapping the Agent's neck. He now had the new high score, beating both Kevin and Trevor combined.

It wasn't hard to get our hands in front of us, once I showed Paul and Casey how. I always knew that useless skill would turn out to be good for something. Paul said he had handcuff keys in our room, so we headed there. We decided it would be better not to ask why he had handcuff keys.

We'd just reached the top of the stairs, when the Agent hiding there shot the first person who reached his position. Naturally that was me. The stun gun knocked me out, and the impact sent me backwards down the stairs into Paul.

Paul managed to keep his balance, and shoved me at the Agent, hoping to throw the Agent off balance. The Agent deftly avoided the attack, and my comatose body instead smacked into a wall face first, and slid down till I was lying on my stomach.

Paul claims he apologized, but since I was unconscious, I'll never know.

The rest of the fight didn't go so well. Suffice to say that Paul and Casey were soon out for the count once more as well. With Casey's trajectory as he fell landing him on me. Gosh I love being me.

When Steve killed the MCA Agent, his first thought was to get into the van, and get the key for the collar. That thought was quashed when he heard a low humming sound coming from the van. The kind one hears near high voltage wires. He decided to pursue an alternate course of action.

He knew that Kevin had some lock-picking tools, so he went to his room. Kevin wasn't there.

Kevin wasn't there because he'd finally shown up for the game. Unfortunately. He walked in just in time to be knocked out by the Agent. Soon, his unconscious body was lying beside ours. This was not turning out to be a good night.

Steve managed to convince Kevin' roommate to help him get the collar off. First, he tried picking the lock, and narrowly escaped getting zapped by the security device. Then they tried shorting it out with water. No go. Then Steve tried cutting it off with a knife. Still nada. He couldn't get at the hinge, so, he decided to try something desperate.

"Hey Gwen, you still have that hatchet you bought for your camping trip?"

Meanwhile, the two Agents we'd K. had come to, and joined their partner. Me and Kevin were taken to the van, with the last guy left to stand guard. It looked good for their side. Three out of six Mutants captured and rendered powerless, one collaborator taken into custody, and even though Steve had gotten away, they could track him with the collar.

As you can probably imagine, Paul and Casey were not happy when they woke up. In fact, Paul was that special kind of mad that he reserved for when he was driving. As in, "Must Kill! Paul Smash!"

"Hey Flatscan! Your grandfather serve under Hitler?"

Casey kept studiously quiet, as he was in range of Paul, while the Agent was not. He didn't want to draw attention to himself as a possible target.

"Yeah that's right Flatscan!" Paul ranted on. "The Mutie's badmouthing your ancestry! How many of your family is in the KKK?"

"All of them."

"Oh." Paul lost his momentum slightly. "And your grandfather?"

"Was in the Gestapo."

"Oh."

"And you know what Mutie? Niggers and Kikes should be locked up in the camps just like all you Muties! You all should be wiped off the face of the-"

I probably would have done the same thing that they did had I been there, and conscious. Except I might have been more violent. They kicked his legs out from under him, and sent him tumbling down the stairs like a slinky. Paul leaped up and ran down the stairs after him. Just as he came in range, the Agent flipped, like he was doing a backwards somersault, and kicked at Paul. Paul caught his legs and pulled, slamming the Agent's head into the bottom step.

"Now let's get these damn cuffs off." He said.

I woke up, this time, in the van. I love a change of scenery. My handcuffs had been replaced by some sort of weird high-tech restraints, like the kind you see in comic books. Only real. Kevin was next to me, being injected with some kind of sedative. I know it was a sedative because the guy who injected him said "That should keep him out of trouble for a while."

He might as well not have injected me. I'd given up. I'd tried escaping. I'd tried fighting. I tried to hearten myself with the knowledge that I would at least die among my own kind. My own kind. I'd begun think of myself as separate from Humanity. Just like Paul had. Even throughout my entire life as a Mutant, I'd still considered myself human. Different, yes. A freak, maybe. But Human all the same. But somewhere that night, between the constant loss of consciousness, to the verbal abuse from the MCA agents, and countless other factors, that view of myself had been lost. I wasn't human. I was a Mutant. And I was going to die.

I'd always hoped that my death would have some kind of meaning. After getting the news of my disease, I'd had many fantasies of sacrificing my life to save someone else's. But now I was going to die in a concentration camp. A slave. My death would be pointless. And unnoticed.

But little did I know that help was on the way. For Paul and Casey, free of their bonds, and sporting the weapons the stole from the Agent they took out, had just arrived on the scene. Paul hammered on the side door of the van, and as soon as it opened, he grabbed the Agent, and threw him to the ground. And stomped on his head. Ask, me, he was letting him off light.

"Drop the gun or I pump your Mutie friend here full of this lethal poison!" The Agent who'd injected Kevin had just stuck a needle in my arm, and was about to inject me as well. With his other hand, he pointed a gun at Paul and Casey.

I hoped Paul would know me well enough to interpret the look I gave him. It was meant to say "Fuck it. Shoot him."

If it was a sedative, no harm done. If it was a poison, so what? I was dead anyways. Unfortunately, either he didn't know me well enough, or he ignored the look. Either way, he put down the gun. Casey didn't though.

Lord knows how he got such good aim. Or maybe it was just a lucky shot. Either way, he shot the needle out of the Agent's hand. But not before he injected me with just enough sedative to put me in a fairly mellow mood.

Then the guy shot Paul. Good thing they were still using stun guns. He and Casey got into a brief struggle, that, well…

Okay so we were all captured again! Damnit! Now we all had the hi-tech restraints on, and he'd gotten more hypos loaded with sedative.

That's when fate finally decided to give us a break. And what a break. Remember that spark I told you about?

The Van flew apart. Pretty much literally. Our restraints and our collars were torn off of us like tissue paper, and joined the maelstrom of metal scrap that the van had been reduced to. The Agents who were on the scene were likewise jerked into the impromptu tornado, and were crushed. It was not pretty. In fact, the minute the sedative wore off, I puked.

It's a good thing I was still under the effect of the sedative, or I might have shut down like I did the previous week, when I saw who it was that had rescued us. As it was, it was refreshing to see someone else shut down instead, namely, Paul and Casey. But it was understandable. After all. It's not everyday you're confronted by one of the most powerful, and if you believe the media, dangerous Mutants ever.

"Um, hi Mr. Magneto, Sir." Casey stammered.

Paul just gaped.

Magneto said nothing at first, he just looked at Kevin, who was sleeping soundly on the ground.

"Oh," Paul said hurriedly, "Don't worry about him, he's a sympathizer."

Magneto just nodded. "It is well that he is unconscious." Then he turned his attention back to us. He must have been amused by the reaction he got from us. Every time he took a step forward, we took one back. But I supposed he might have been used to that by now.

"I have sought you out because you have shown that you are willing to fight for your freedom." He said. "I wish to know, if you are ready, and willing, to fight for the freedom of all Mutantkind."

There was a moment of silence, as Paul and Casey jump started their brains. I know the feeling.

"By fighting for the freedom of all Mutantkind," Casey said, "You mean joining you, and killing people?"

Magneto sighed. It was a sigh of genuine sorrow, and frustration. "I hope that further bloodshed will not be necessary. But unfortunately, Humans do not tend to listen to reason. But yes. I want you to join me."

"Um, not to criticize your judgment," Paul said, "But, our powers aren't really all that formidable. I don't know how much good we would be to you."

"If you joined me I would train you in the use of your powers. You would indeed become formidable. You would be with your own kind, with no need to hide what you are. You will never need fear persecution for being different again."

You have to admit, he makes it sound pretty sweet.

Paul and Casey were speechless. And I could perfectly understand. I mean, we were being offered something that would change our lives. We would belong, we'd learn to use our powers, and we'd be fighting for a cause we believed in. On the other hand, we'd have to leave our families, friends, lives, and our careers, our dreams behind. How do you answer an offer like that?

"Can we have some time to think about this?" I asked, stepping forward.

"Of course." Magneto said, giving me a smile of understanding. "It is not a decision to make lightly."

"If you ever need ginseng for your tea I can hook you up." Casey offered, with his usual smile on his face. Nice to know he'd recovered.

Magneto laughed, and floated away. As soon as he was gone, we all looked at each other, with our mouths hanging open. Paul finally broke the silence by saying what was on all our minds.

"Holy Fucking Shit!"

We called the others and filled them in on what happened. Steve said he was all for joining Magneto. Paul said the same. I said I still had to think about it. I had a huge coughing fit, and my throat started to feel weird. I can't describe it better than that.

We brought Kevin to his room, and left a note telling him to call Paul when he woke up.

The next day I went home for spring break. Originally I'd hoped to go on a road trip with some of my friends. But those plans fell through. So then I was going to go visit my little sister at her college in Florida, but I couldn't afford the fare.

In the end though, I think it was better the way it turned out. At the rate my condition was worsening, I don't think I could have handled an eventful vacation. I needed rest. And I got it. I stayed at home and read. I saw my grandparents, both sets, and talked to some other relatives that I hadn't seen for a while. I tried to get hold of some old friends, but failed. I wrote out a letter, saying goodbye to everyone, and printed out several copies. I took some comfort in knowing that maybe I would live long enough to do somebody some good before I went, as a fighter for the Mutant cause.

Though it sounds kind of corny when I put it like that.

On Thursday my power began to short circuit. I had even less time than I thought. My body was practically one big bruise now. It was warm out but I was wearing high collared, long sleeved shirts to hide my condition from the world. And now I couldn't talk for fear of uncontrollably using my powers. And practically every time I breathed in I wanted to cough up a lung. I figured I had less than a month left.

For some reason, no matter how bad things had gotten, up till then, I was able to ignore the fact that my clock was winding down. But when the final symptom showed up, the full reality of it hit me.

I didn't want my parents to think I didn't trust them. I didn't want them to know that I'd hidden something like this from them. I didn't want anyone to know. And if I died from the disease, then the autopsy would show what I was, and how I died.

That day was one of two days that I got the car. That afternoon I went driving. I went out into the country, where no one else would get hurt. I found a nice long, strait stretch of road, and floored it. I wasn't going to let fate decide for me. I was going to decide when and how I went. Not God. Not some stupid disease. Me. I was going to get going as fast as I could, and run the car off the road. Into the trees. At 90 mph.

50mph

I saw the faces of my friends. All of my friends, college, high school, even all the way back to preschool.

60mph

I saw my family. My entire extended family, even my cousins in Ireland.

70mph

I saw all the opportunities I would never have, everything the Legacy Virus had taken from me. Love. Success. A future.

80mph

I saw my entire life, my convictions, my determinations.

85mph

I took my foot off the accelerator. I couldn't do it. I was afraid. I didn't want to die. I'd always told myself that I was ready. That when my time came I'd go bravely. But I was wrong. I wasn't strong. I was even too weak to let myself go with some sort of dignity. Instead, just so I wouldn't have to face up to my death, I was going to let myself waste away.

I hadn't realized I'd had the Rent soundtrack in my stereo. But at that moment, it came through the haze in my brain.

I can't control,

My destiny!

I trust my soul,

My only goal,

Is just to be!

There's only now,

There's only here,

Give in to love.

Or live in fear.

No other path

No other way,

No day but to day!

I pulled the car over to the side of the road, and cried.

The End?