© Google – October 2016
“Anton Vladimirescu Naga. I haven’t seen you since I was a little boy. Why are you here in Talnakh?”
“I am called Antonie now. It was kind of you to invite me into your home, Gennadi. Your generosity is like your father’s.”
“So is my stupidity for staying in this frozen hell, but the pay is good for mining engineers. Come back for old time’s sake, Antonie?”
“The climate.”
“Climate or the fact that the sun won’t rise here until the end of January? Yes, my father told me what you were when I became a man. You feasted on the denizens of the Norilsk Gulag every winter from before I was born until Khrushchev died.”
“Your Father was my friend. I hope you are too. I need a place to hide.”
“The hunter is now the hunted. Fear not. The Kosygin family has long been allies with the undead.”
I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw writing challenge. The idea is to take a Google maps image and location and use it as the inspiration for writing a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. My word count is 150.
Today the Pegman takes us to Talnakh, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The Wikipedia entry for Talnakh is fairly sparse but it is only 16 miles (25 kilometers) north of Norilsk which has a broader history, both in terms of mining and as a former Gulag labor camp.
I’m obviously leveraging one of the characters from my Sean Becker Undead series, which I’ve done previously for a different flash fiction challenge. However, it is set in the present day, January 2018 to be exact, but referencing Antonie’s previous visits to the area during the winters between 1946 and 1964.
The sun doesn’t rise at all there from mid-December to the end of January so a perfect place for a vampire to hide, especially one being hunted by vampire slayers.
I wasn’t planning on writing another vampire-related tale, but the characteristics and history of the location lended themselves to such a story very nicely. To find out how Antonie got into this mess, read Incendiary.
To read other missives based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
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Great story, James. I read that one of the members of Pussy Riot is from Norilsk. It’s an intriguing place.
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I must have missed that one in my research. Yes, it is fascinating, but there’s a sense of evil about it, perhaps from its history as a labor camp under Stalin. Thanks.
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Dear James,
Bleak and rather frightening story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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The place itself is very bleak, particularly and winter, and vampire stories are meant to be frightening. Thanks, Rochelle.
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The coldness shines through, James, along with the frigidness of those old family ties.
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A friendship with the undead is forged in ice, Kelvin. Thanks.
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I barely didn’t recognise your photograph, too – I thought we had a new writer come to play.
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No, I took that “selfie” about a year ago whilst shoveling snow out front. It seems to fit my current winter.
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Ahhh… there’s nothing like a year old selfie to confuse this reader.
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Interesting read James. Two thumbs up.
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Thanks, Bojana.
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Your vampire is perfectly cast in this setting–I can see him waiting in the bluish shadows of the snow canyoned streets as the miners make their way home. A rich night for him there.
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I’ve never seen it, but there’s a 2007 movie called 30 Days of Night in which a gang of vampires invades a town in Alaska where it will be “night” for a month. I imagine Anton (Antonie) will enjoy a similar experience.
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I like your choice of surname for the family helping Antonie. The idea of Premier Kosygin having undead friends is rather delightfully satirical. I note from Wikipedia that he spent time as a manager in Siberia in his early career.
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I just hope the actual Kosygin family doesn’t take exception to my suggestion, but then again, the possibility of any of them reading my blog is pretty slim, Penny. Thanks.
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Awesome. The far north is a perfect place for a vampire. I just wonder how tasty the blood is when it’s been poisoned by the nickel mines. Great story!
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Good question. I remember reading a Dracula comic book (Marvel) in the 1970s when the vampire drinks the blood of a heroin addict. The vampire went through drug withdrawals.
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Very cool! Mine was about a vampire too, although she presents no danger to humans. Livestock, On the other hand, hate her.
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Cool. I notice you put in a link to Facebook and not your blog, though. I’d love to read your story. Thanks.
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A perfect setting for the undead! But where will Antonie find refuge once the sun returns? I like the dialogue, the setting, the edge between the characters Nicely done James
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Gennadi will probably arrange for alternate shelter. Besides, even when the sun does return, days will still be very short for a while. Thanks, Lynn.
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Very true. You must always think ahead when you’re undead!
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Indeed.
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