~Until Your Heart Stops Beating~
I could feel my wrists chaffing from the metal cuffs that restrained my arms behind my back. It had been nearly an hour now since they had, quite literally, been slapped on me. My feet hurt too from being forced to walk all the way to where they were taking me. These things didn't tire as we did.
They weren't human anymore.
"Do you have anything to say, Miss Carter?" I ignored the voice for a moment and continued to look around the large meeting room I had been brought to. I had recognized the building as the Bromley Marks as soon as we had arrived. I had only ever seen it once and it was from a photograph. I didn't dare step foot into a city such as this. It was too easy to get caught in. When we had gotten to the building the soldiers had quickly guided me through the long hallways and up the many flights of stairs. They did, however, make sure I passed by and got a good look at the main 'harvesting' facility. Several thousand humans all line up in neat rows and columns.
It made me sick… and sad to think of all the people in those contraptions, having the life sucked right out of them until there was nothing left but skin and bones. That's all we were to them now; a food source.
"Miss Carter?" The voice called out to me again and I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as I tried to think of what I was going to do. I really didn't care if they were getting irritated by my actions. There was nothing they could do to me except end my life and I knew they wouldn't. They couldn't. I was too valuable to them at the moment.
I look back at the man across the room, standing at the other end of the long dark table. The other seats were filled with other important men; Army generals, senators, doctors, etc. Each one of them stared back at me with their glowing golden eyes. When the outbreak had first ravaged the land, I had found their eyes entrancing; beautiful. Now they were terrible reminders of the life I once had.
"Are the cuffs really necessary?" I ask softly, shrugging my shoulders a little. I saw no point in having my arms tied together. They were stronger and faster than me… and immortal. What could I possibly do to them? What threat did I pose? And besides, I wasn't planning on trying to pick a fight.
"Of course not." Charles Bromley, owner of Bromley Marks, gave a small laugh and nodded his head to the soldiers at my sides, "Gentlemen, if you'd please?"
The soldiers reluctantly removed the cuffs and took a step back, remaining on guard. So, I wasn't completely 'non-threatening'. I had some moves and the soldiers at my sides had witnessed them first hand when they had come to retrieve me. I knew I couldn't have escaped, but that didn't mean I was going down without a fight.
I look around the table at the men sitting there, watching me carefully. It bugged me a little. It wasn't because they were all vampires and the country was suffering from a blood shortage, but the fact that anyone staring at me the way they were, made me uncomfortable.
"The way everyone is staring at me, I'd swear I have a bomb strapped to my chest." I mumbled out and subconsciously rubbed one of my aching red wrists. I looked back at Charles, who had given another polite laugh.
"We're not going to hurt you." Charles speaks up after a long moment. I give my own little sarcastic laugh.
"I seriously doubt that." I counter immediately. I had been around long enough to know that whenever someone like Charles Bromley said they weren't going to hurt you it meant the opposite. He might not hurt me now or even next week, but at some point he was going to. I know he would.
"Do you know why we've brought you here?" Charles asks and moves around the table. He walks closer to me, hands in his suit pockets.
"No." I shake my head and keep my eyes on him, waiting for him to stop, but he continues on his stroll. He walks around me slowly, his eyes burning a hole in me.
"You're special." Charles stops beside me and leans back on the table. I chew on the inside of my lip. My breathing was slow and I was trying to keep myself steady, but I was scared and I knew he could just smell it.
"How so?" I ask slowly, trying to act ignorant. Charles's polite smile falls and his eyes turn hard.
"Do not play games with me, Miss Carter. You won't win." Charles stands up straight and fixes his suit jacket, "Have you ever been bitten?"
"…yes." I answer carefully. I didn't like where this 'meeting' was going. I had figured that he knew about me, about my defect, but I had really hoped he didn't.
"And yet you haven't changed into one of us." Charles surmises and narrows his eyes at me. He shakes his head subconsciously and then takes a deep breath of air he doesn't need, "Why?"
I stare at him dumbfound. I was stuck, not by the actual question, but by whether or not he really wanted me to answer. I look around the room as I debate with myself and then land my eyes back on him.
"I don't know…" My reply sounds more like a question, but I couldn't help it. I was nervous and he was in no way making me feel safer then when I had been cuffed.
"We will soon find out." Charles's face lights up with a smug smirk as he rocks back and forth on his heels, "Doctor Caruso!"
A man sitting in one of the chairs around the table jumps slightly and looks towards Charles.
"Yes sir?"
"Would you mind escorting Miss Carter to her accommodations?" Charles's eyes never leave me as he asks his question. I spot the doctor stand from his seat and mumble something, but can't make out what it is, "I'll be seeing you very soon Miss Carter."
Doctor Caruso walks to my side and nods his head to Charles. He looks at me, expecting me to walk away first.
"You're leading because I don't know where I'm going in this place... Doctor Caruso." I snap softly at him and turn away from Charles. Caruso looks back at Charles again, his eyes asking a question.
"She won't be any trouble. Now leave." Charles barks and turns around to the rest of the men sitting around the long table. I look to Caruso and give a sarcastic smile.
"Yeah, I won't be any trouble." I mock softly and wave a hand in front of me, trying to get him to start walking. He gives me an uneasy look and then takes off towards the doors of the room. I follow behind him, trying to keep up with his pace.
We walk down the halls and an ominous glow catches my eye. I follow it, despite Doctor Caruso calling out to me. I continue to follow the glow and stop dead at the window in the wall.
"Until your heart stops beating…" I whisper softly as I stare at each of the unconscious humans, wasting away in the vampires' harvesting contraptions. That's all we had left. Once our hearts stopped beating there would be no more blood and no more blood made us disposable like a napkin.
I look to Caruso, who had walked up beside me and shake my head.
"What happens when you run out?" I ask rhetorically and turn back to the window. I clench my jaw and shake my head again, "Can vampires even starve like us?"