Take My Hand, and Never be Afraid Again (Part 1):
Chapter one:
In the beginning there didn't seem to be any hope that anyone would survive the rapidly spreading virus. Within two years nearly eighty percent of the population in North America had either died or been infected. The virus seemed to turn people into killing machines, whose only drive was to eat the flesh of other human beings. The infected were known as zombies and just a bite and sometimes even a scratch from one of these zombies could infect you. Once infected you would feel incredibly ill, such as a bad fever or flu and within a matter of hours you would die, just to reawaken as a zombie. Once a zombie it seemed as though the only parts of the brain that still worked were the motor functions. A person was completely reduced to animalistic instincts to kill and feed on other humans. The only way to kill a zombie for sure was to destroy the brain or spinal chord. A small population of people possessed a gene that caused them to react to the virus in a different way than other people. Instead of dying and coming back as a zombie these people, once infected, slowly rotted away until death. The process of decay usually lasted about a year. However, although it sounds gruesome, these people could not feel pain. These infected people were referred to as ghouls.
As the virus spread it started to mutate and form new and different versions of the original virus. One of these viruses caused people to turn into "psychos." Psychos had the same drive to kill other human beings as zombies did but it was a mental need instead of a physical one. Unlike zombies, psychos still retained almost all of their human traits and emotions but with the added insatiable need to kill other humans. If psychos did not kill humans their brains slowly deteriorated until they became so insane that they would kill themselves. Killing zombies could somewhat fulfill their needs but not nearly as much as killing non-infected humans. With a lot of training and experience psychos could be controlled but their need to kill never went away. In order to become infected with the psycho mutation of the virus you would have to ingest the blood of a psycho. Yet, once you ingest their blood the virus became effective almost at once. Psychos could be killed just about as easily as non-infected humans but they were faster, stronger, more agile, and had a greater pain threshold than most humans. Psychos had distinctive physical features such as jet black hair, black pupils, pale skin, and the area around their eyes were red. These features made them fairly easy to distinguish from non-infected humans.
Another mutation of the virus turned people into "vampires." Vampires lived off drinking the blood of humans. Much like psychos, vampires' brains were kept fully intact except for their new traits and instincts. Vampires had enhanced smell, eyesight (including night vision), quickened healing, and strength. Vampires also did not age. Distinctive physical features of vampires were their pale, almost translucent skin, enhanced and brightened eye color, and sharp lateral incisor teeth that come down when the vampire smelled blood. Because vampires skin was so pale, they were very sensitive to sunlight. Just an hour in direct sunlight could kill a vampire. To become infected with the vampire virus you would have to ingest their blood. Once infected you would vomit, feel incredible abdominal pains, and have a high fever until death. Several hours later you would wake back up as a vampire. The process of becoming a vampire is thought to be the most painful out of the three viruses. Like psychos the instincts of vampires could be controlled by training and experience.
When the virus first broke out people fled their towns heading in whichever direction they thought most safe, most of those people died or were infected. The majority of the twenty percent of people still alive lived in small towns far from cities. These survivors held their ground, fought off the zombies, and lived off of the supplies they could scavenge. In a small town in upstate New York, two young women, by the names Emily and Irene, took refuge in a one story mall. After having lived out the first year of the zombie pandemic in Emily's home, they moved to the nearby mall so that they could more readily have access to supplies. Emily and Irene over took the mall guns blazing, killing all of the zombies inside. Then they fortified the mall by blocking all of the doors off, making sure it was zombie-proof. The only way in or out of the mall was through a ladder to the roof that was accessed through a break room where Emily and Irene set up their main residence. Next to this break room was a security room where there were many monitors displaying what the security cameras captured. They kept the majority of the electricity in the mall on with generators powered by gas syphoned from cars abandoned in the parking lot. This mall had just about everything they needed to survive for quite some time.
Chapter 2:
Emily and Irene spent that morning like they did any other. First Emily checked the security camera's tapes and made sure they didn't have any unwanted visitors during the night. Irene checked through the supplies and made a list of what they needed to bring back to their room, such as first aid, food, and fresh water. They then ran laps around the mall and worked on their exercise routine. It was very important to their survival to stay in shape. They then stopped at the Starbucks in the mall where they brewed their coffee and ate their breakfast.
Walking over to the table where Irene sat, Emily placed the plate of breakfast on the table. "So what have you concocted for us today?" Irene asked slightly giggling. "Well ma'am today I am serving you our special of the day. The still edible shit that I found in the kitchen," Emily replied. "Aww yeah, my favorite! But seriously I'm hungry." After taking a few bites of breakfast, Irene walked over to the stereo they had set up in the Starbucks. "I found a new CD in the Newbury Comics that we haven't listened to yet, It's called I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, by My Chemical Romance," she said reading off of the CD case, "It sounds like something we'd listen to." "Yeah it does, I'm surprised we haven't listened to it yet," Emily replied, "we've listened to almost everything in that store it seems." Irene took the CD out of the case and put it in the stereo. They sat listening to the album and finished their breakfast.
After breakfast they headed to the shooting range they made to practice shooting their various guns and crossbows. They put the same CD in the stereo and practiced their shooting. "Dude, you are not going to be able to hit that," Irene said picking one of the guns off the rack. Emily aimed her crossbow at the beanie baby nailed to the post at the other side of the room. "Bitch you wait and see," Emily replied taking the shot. Emily easily hit the beanie baby straight between the eyes and it exploded into beads and fluff. "Guess who's not making dinner tonight... Me!" Emily says excitedly. "Best out of three!" Irene replies. "Fine, but your still going down," Emily remarked. Irene smirked as she set up her target, a George Bush cutout. "This album is really good for shooting," Emily said while she stood back and watched Irene aim her shot, "this might be my new favorite." Taking her shot Irene said, "Yeah, I agree," and hit the cutout right in the eye.
After about an hour of shooting Irene said, "Hey you want to go find some new clothes and put on some makeup and stuff, just for fun." Emily shrugged and replied, "Why not?" The two of them walked to one of the department stores and started looking through some clothing. Emily found some new black jeans, black leather combat boots, a blood red tank top, and a black leather jacket. Irene found a black and purple floral dress, and black knee high boots. They walked over to the cosmetic section where Emily put her newly died red hair in pig tails and applied some black eyeliner and smokey eyeshadow. Meanwhile Irene curled her brown hair, and applied black eyeliner and dark red lipstick. "I miss when dressing up actually mattered, like there was a purpose for it," Emily said while applying the finishing touches of her makeup. "Yeah I miss dressing up and going to parties and having a life. All we do now is defend ourselves. It was kind of thrilling at first but now its just kind of lonely." Just then they heard a loud bang and the sound of glass shattering. They looked at each other frightened and wide-eyed. Without saying anything they ran to the break room area as fast as they could.
Emily quickly grabbed the guns while Irene checked the security cameras. "Look!" Irene gasped. Holding both of their best guns, Emily looked over her shoulder. The small black and white monitor showed four men breaking through the lock of one of the mall doors. After they each squeezed through the door, one of the taller men wearing sunglasses and a dark hooded jacket tried to close and lock the door as zombies stuck their arms through. The man pushing against the door with his shoulder gave the door one last shove breaking the zombies' arms right off and he locked the door shut. "Who are they?" Emily asked. "I don't know, but we're going to find out." Irene responded, about to storm out of the room. "Hold on Irene," Emily said grabbing Irene's arm and keeping her from leaving the room. Emily reached over and grabbed the intercom. Holding it up to her mouth she spoke, "we know the four of you are here." The women watched the monitors as the men looked around startled, "Put your weapons down and kick them away from you. We are armed and won't hesitate to shoot. We're coming out to meet you." As they watched the monitor they saw one of the men with curly hair talking to the others and directing with his arm. The man who earlier closed the door and a man with long black hair walked back towards the door and stayed there as the curly-haired man and a short man collected their weapons and placed them on the floor.
Emily and Irene walked cautiously toward the mall doors to meet their curious visitors. As they walked closer, the two men in front looked cautious, but understanding. One of the men was tall, muscular, and had curly light brown hair. He had a certain calm and confident presence. The other man was shorter, had short dark brown hair, and was very handsome. He had a welcoming smile on his face, which seemed to lighten the mood in the room. The two men behind them were a different story. The one who had closed the door on the zombie was tall and lean. It was hard to see what he looked like because he wore so much clothing. He wore sunglasses, a hoodie pulled over his head, a bandana, a leather jacket, and even gloves. He appeared tense and uncomfortable as he stood incredibly still with one hand on the shoulder of the man standing next to him. The man standing next to him had long black messy hair, pale skin, black eyes, and dark red circles around his eyes. He looked extremely restless and had a crazed look in his eyes. Every so often he would twitch and the other man would tighten his grip on his shoulder. When seeing the two men at the back Emily stops walking and grabs Irene's arm. "What?" Irene asks. "A psycho," Emily says horrified. "Oh fuck, you're right." The two of them took a step back and aimed their guns. "We know you have a psycho with you," Emily yells over to the men. The man with the curly hair in the front puts up his hand and says, "We don't want to hurt you but I wouldn't come any closer. Gerard is a psycho and Mikey over there is a vampire but we won't let them hurt you, they are well under control, I promise. My name is Ray and this is Frank." Ray says gesturing to the man standing beside him. Frank waves with an innocent smile on his face. "We didn't know anyone was here, we were just looking for supplies," Ray says. Irene lowers her gun, being a little less defensive and looks over to Emily who does the same. "I'm Irene and this is Emily. Excuse us for being so defensive but we haven't seen anyone but zombies for as long as we can remember." She sighed a little with relief. Emily leans over to whisper to Irene, "Should we really be helping these guys out? I mean, how can we be sure that psycho isn't going to rip us apart or that the vampire won't make us his dinner?" "Well we don't really have a choice, if they are going to kill us then they will do it and we won't be able to put up much of a fight. Besides, we haven't seen other people in so long, we might as well give them a chance," Irene answered trying to be optimistic. Emily nodded in understanding. Irene then turned back toward the four men, "what do you guys need? We may be able to help you out." Right before Ray is able to speak, Emily adds, "I hope you don't mind that we keep our guns on us, but we can't quite trust you yet, especially with a psycho and a vampire." "I understand and we need alcohol," Ray answered. Emily and Irene look puzzled, "Well, that's not exactly a need..." Irene says confused. A sweet smile crept on Frank's face as he turned to look at Irene, "Well, I'm a Ghoul and I don't know if you've heard but alcohol is how I survive without decaying." "Really? Huh... Well, I can help you find that. What else do you need?" She smiled back "Well we also need food and water." Ray said, "And some soap would be great too." "Alright," Emily says, "I think we can do that for you guys. Come with us."
As Emily and Irene walk towards a restaurant with a full bar, Ray, Frank, Gerard, and Mikey followed. On the way there Emily kept looking back at the men walking behind her. She was still not convinced that she could trust these guys. Once they arrived at the bar Irene said, "help yourself we don't drink much." Frank hopped over the ledge with ease and only took a few seconds to choose a few bottles of hard liquor that he stuffed in his backpack. Then he grabbed a bottle of absolute vodka which he popped open and started drinking from. "There should be some bottled water back there somewhere too," Irene said walking around to the bar to help look. Ray hopped over the bar too and started looking for the water. Emily then noticed that the vampire and the psycho were only standing a few feet away from her now. While Irene, Frank, and Ray rummaged through the bar, Emily watched Mikey and Gerard out of the corner of her eye. Emily watched as Mikey took off his hood, pulled down his bandana, and slid off his sunglasses. He had short dark brown hair, vibrant hazel eyes, and a bone structure that seemed to be perfectly carved. Emily couldn't help but stare at him. He looked up from putting his sunglasses in his pocket and his intense eyes locked with Emily's. He inhaled deeply, then looked away quickly, clenching his jaw and swallowing hard. Emily's eyes then moved to Gerard. He seemed more calm now but still uncomfortable. Although he was a psycho, Emily noticed there was a sort of beauty to the man's soft features. He looked at Mikey and said something too quiet for Emily to hear, and Mikey nodded. "Is this enough?" Irene asked while handing Ray several bottles of water. "Yeah, thanks," Ray responded. Irene then turned to Frank, "do you have all the alcohol you need Frank?" "Yeah this should keep me from falling apart for a while, thanks," Frank responded with a smirk.
After they got Ray's food Emily and Irene showed them where they could clean up and get fresh clothes. Emily and Irene stood near the door to the bathroom and whispered to each other. "So do you think we can trust these guys?" Emily asked. "I don't know, they seem nice but I'm not sure if that means we can trust them," Irene responded. "Well if they were all just human I would say yes, but its kind of scary with a psycho and a vampire." Emily said. "The vampire, Mikey, I can't figure him out. Neither of them have said anything this whole time." "I know, but isn't he cute? I think they should stay for the night. Ray and Frank seem like they have them under control and maybe we can get to know them better." Irene said. Emily gave Irene a critical look. Irene continued, "Come on, when was the last time we saw other people, let alone guys! No offense but I'm getting pretty sick of just talking to you all the time." Emily sighed, "okay, but if I'm dead tomorrow, I'm blaming you." Irene smiled and laughed it off, she had good feelings about their new friends. When they had finished getting dressed they came out and greeted Emily and Irene. "You guys can stay the night, if you want." Irene offered. "Well that's very sweet of you, we were actually looking for a place to stay but we weren't sure if you trusted us enough." Ray said. "Well, we are willing to give you a chance," Emily replied.
On the way back to the break room, they pass a guitar store. Ray and Frank's faces lit up as they ask Irene and Emily, "hey do you guys mind if we go in here for a second?" "Sure, do you play?" Irene asked. "Yeah, for most of our lives. We were actually in a band right before the apocalypse hit" Frank said. Mikey stood staring into the window of the store looking at a bass guitar. He had his hand placed on the glass as if grabbing for the guitar. When they entered the store they all looked like kids in a candy shop. It was the first time Emily and Irene saw Mikey and Gerard look happy. Frank and Ray each started picking up guitars and Gerard was observing a mic as if he was looking at an artifact from a past life. Mikey walked to the back of the room and picked up a bass. "Can you guys play something for us?" Irene asked. "Yeah, sure. If we can remember how to, we haven't played in such a long time," Frank replied. "I'm sure it will be great, just try," Irene encouraged. Ray and Frank plugged in their guitars and started playing. "This song is called Demolition Lovers," Ray said. Mikey pulled over a bass and an amp and started playing. Sitting on an amp in the middle of the room turned away from us Gerard started singing. Gerard's voice started out soft but grew louder and more pained. The amount of emotion in his voice was beautiful. They all played as though they had been practicing this song every day. They each looked like they were in their own world, like the music was transporting them to a different time. Irene and Emily quickly realized that they recognized this song from the album they had listened to just that morning. They looked at each other with excited and amazed expressions on their faces and then watched in awe as four men played. Gerard started to dig his fingernails into the side of the amp he was sitting on, and started pulling on his hair. Right when he screamed the last words of the song he stood up quickly, breathing hard. He slowly turned his head to look at Emily and Irene, staring at them with his black eyes. Frank looks up and sees Gerard staring at Emily and Irene with a crazed expression. Just as Gerard lunges toward the two girls Frank catches him and throws him to the floor. Frank pins Gerard to the floor as he squirms and fights to get free. "Get out of here!" Frank yells as Gerard tries to bite him. Ray runs over to Emily and Irene and quickly takes them out of the store and out of Gerard's sight. "I'm so sorry," Ray says, once they are a safe distance away, "the music must have set him off, I had no idea." "It's okay," Irene says catching her breath. "How is this in any way okay, Irene!" Emily yells, frustrated and scared. "I - I'm so sorry, we can leave now if you want, you have already been so generous," Ray said. "Give us a second?" Irene asked Ray. Ray nodded and walked around the corner back toward the guitar store. "Emily, we were listening to their album this morning! That has to be some sort of sign that we should stick with them. We need to give them another chance. It's not like they let Gerard hurt us, Frank jumped at the first sign of danger. I also don't think Gerard really wants to hurt us." Emily rubbed her face with her hands, "I don't know," she said quietly. Irene continued, "Come on Emily, just let them stay the night at least and if you still don't trust them by morning then we will kick them out." "Alright, fine," Emily responded.
Meanwhile, Frank tried to hold Gerard down on the floor. "A little help here Mikey!" Frank yelled. Mikey ran over to help hold Gerard down as he thrashed and struggled to get free. Holding Gerard's face still and looking into his eyes Mikey tried to calm Gerard, "Gerard, it's me, Mikey, your brother. Calm down. You don't need to hurt anyone right now. Calm down." Gerard went limp and his expression turned from blind rage to extreme pain. Gerard looked around, his face tense and worried as he noticed what just happened. Frank and Mikey slowly loosened their grip on him. "I think he's okay now," Frank said completely releasing Gerard. They each stayed sitting on the floor. Gerard slowly propped himself up into a sitting position. "Di - did I hurt anyone?" Gerard asked. "No Gerard, everyones fine," Frank responded. Gerard sighed in relief but was still very upset, "I can't believe I let myself lose control like that, I was doing so well. Singing that song just reminded me of life before all this shit and I just lost control." "Well, no real harm done, although I think you may have scared the shit out of Irene and Emily. We might have to find a new place to spend the night," Frank said trying to be reassuring. "I'm so sorry guys, I ruined everything," Gerard said quietly. Just then Ray walked into the store. Noticing Gerard looked calm Ray asked, "You okay Gerard?" Gerard nodded. Ray continued, "Good. Well, Emily and Irene are talking, I think they are deciding whether or not to let us stay the night." Irene and Emily walked to the window of the store. "Is it okay for us to come in now?" Irene asked. "Yeah, it's safe now," Ray answered. Irene entered the store first and Emily entered more cautiously behind her. "We decided it's still okay for you guys to spend the night," Irene said, "We actually know the song you guys just played, we listened to your album about four times over this morning because we loved it so much and I think the fact that you guys came here is a little more than a coincidence." They all looked at Irene, a little baffled. "Wow, well thanks. I wasn't expecting you to let us stay after something like that. That's really understanding of you," Frank responded with a relieved smile. Gerard looked up at Emily and Irene from his position on the floor and spoke quietly, "I'm really sorry I lost control, I don't want to hurt you two but sometimes I blackout and become an animal. I can't say it will never happen again but Frank and Mikey are really quick, and they will protect you from me." This was the first time Emily and Irene heard Gerard speak and they were surprised by how coherent and logical he sounded. They stood there quietly for a few seconds then Irene broke the silence, "Don't worry about it, as long as Frank and Mikey are always there, then I guess it's alright." "And you've listened to our music?" Frank said with a look of disbelief. "It's great for shooting practice," Emily responded with a half smile. "Huh, well that is a big coincidence. Thanks for listening to it. I didn't think anyone would be listening to it anymore." Frank paused then said, "Alright well the least we could do is make you guys dinner or something. Got a kitchen?" Frank said trying to break the tension. "Umm, yeah. We still have a kitchen running in one of the restaurants," Emily said. "Cool, lets go," Frank smiled.
When they arrived at the restaurant Frank immediately started picking out different pots and pans. Ray walked over to him and took the pan out of his hand laughing under his breath, "Frank, you don't know how to cook. Let me." Ray started picking cans out of the cupboard, inspecting each one and planning what he would make out of the minimal supplies. Ray tossed cans over to Frank as he said, "Find a can-opener, and open those up." "Whatever you say master chef," Frank replied mockingly. Irene entered the kitchen, "How can I help?" she asked. "Oh no, this is our treat, its really the least we could do after our friend tried to kill you," Ray replied. Irene laughed it off and said, "Well I'd really like to help, I'll help Frank open cans. He's seeming to have difficulty in that area." Frank looked up at Irene and giggled. Frank slammed the can down on the counter, "Fine, well open this one up you jerk." Frank looked at Irene pretending to be serious and then he smiled and winked. Frank and Irene stood at the counter shoulder to shoulder opening cans. While Frank was opening one of the cans he cut himself badly with one of the old can-openers. Frank barely reacted to the cut but Irene noticed, "Oh my god, are you okay? Let me get something to wrap that up." Frank chucked, "It's fine Irene, I don't bleed and I don't really feel pain either. So, no big deal." "Woah, really? Is that because your a ghoul?" Irene asked. "Yeah, as long as I keep alcohol in me I'm pretty much invincible, which is helpful because I feel that way when I'm drunk anyway." They both laughed and Frank continued. "That's why I'm usually the one to take care of Gerard when he loses control. He can't really hurt me that bad." "Huh, can I look at it?" Irene asked. "Yeah sure, you might be kind of grossed out though, it's not pretty," Frank responded. Irene took Frank's hand and examined the wound. "Wow, that's cool. I was actually training to be a nurse before the virus broke out, so not much grosses me out. This is just fascinating." As Irene held Franks hand looking at the wound, Frank smiled as he examined Irene's face. Irene looked up at his sweet eyes and blushed. "Well, we better finnish opening these cans before the chef over there gets mad," Frank said still looking into Irene's eyes. Irene giggled a little, "Yeah, I guess we should."
The restaurant's kitchen had a big open window looking out onto the seating area where Emily and Gerard sat on either side of Mikey at the bar. Emily sat up stiff and tense in her chair. She tried to focus her attention on Irene in the kitchen instead of the two men beside her. As Gerard bit his nails, Mikey looked over at Emily and then back down at the bar trying to find something to say to her. Finally he worked up the courage and said, "Hey umm, thanks for letting us stay here, even after what happened. I know you must feel uncomfortable with us here." Emily looked at him surprised by how unsure and nervous he sounded. His voice didn't seem to match his initial appearance at all. The sweet quietness of his voice contrasted with his stern and intense appearance. "Oh, well, it's no problem. I mean, I'm just not used to strangers. I haven't talked to anyone other than Irene in forever," Emily replies, "It's actually nice to have someone new to talk to." Emily says looking up into his brilliant hazel eyes. After pausing a moment Emily asks, "Is that a vampire thing?" "What," Mikey responded looking confused. "Your eyes, they're so... bright." Mikey looked down at the bar blushing and smiled, "Yeah, it comes with being a vampire I guess." Emily laughed a little, "Sorry, I just couldn't help but notice." Emily looked passed Mikey at Gerard biting his nails. His sleeve had slipped down his arm revealing the round scars all over his wrists. Emily's smile fell when she noticed the scars were from Mikey feeding on Gerard. Mikey followed Emily's eyes and noticed what she had reacted to. Gerard lowered his arm after noticing Emily looking at his scars. Emily quickly looked away trying to act like she didn't see anything. Emily had just started to forget that Mikey was dangerous, but Gerard's scars served as a stark reminder. After a few seconds Emily broke the awkward silence, "So Irene and Frank seem to be getting along pretty well," she said looking into the kitchen. Irene and Frank were giggling together. "Heh, yeah I noticed that," Mikey chuckled, "They look like they are causing more problems for Ray then help." Emily smiled back at him, "Yeah, it seems that way." She paused for a second then continued, "Do you mind if I ask you kind of a personal question?" "Sure," Mikey said looking a little nervous. "What do you miss most about being human?" Emily asked. Mikey sighed in relief and smiled. He was happy the question didn't involve Gerard's scars. "Um," his eyebrows furrowed and he rubbled his hands together thinking. "This might sound kind of lame, but I miss coffee a lot. Before the virus broke out I was like a coffee connoisseur. I used have a million types of coffee, I had coffee makers. Tons of stuff like that. After I turned, I tried drinking it but it just didn't taste the same and I couldn't keep it down. My body just rejects anything that isn't," he paused for a second and looked down at the bar. "Blood," he said quietly. "I can understand that," Emily replied. "I'm kind of addicted to coffee myself. The Starbucks here is running low and I'm kind of freaking out. I feel like it's one of those things that keeps me sane. So, I'm sorry for your loss." "Thanks," Mikey replied. "I can't drink coffee anymore either," Gerard added, "the caffeine makes me tweak out." "Wow, I'm sorry you guys. That sucks," Emily replied with a concerned look on her face and a half smile.
"Dinner's served!" Ray yelled while bringing a big bowl of food out of the kitchen. Everyone but Mikey moved to one of the large tables. "It's not much but I didn't want to use a lot of your food, and there wasn't much left to work with," Ray said placing the bowl on the table. Emily took her seat at the table next to Irene and said, "It looks great! We haven't eaten anything other than food straight out of a can in a while. Thanks." Emily looked over at Mikey still sitting at the bar alone. "Mikey, just because you don't eat doesn't mean you can't sit with us," she said pulling out the chair next to her. Mikey walked over, sat down next to Emily, and smiled shyly at her. Irene nudged Emily with her elbow, raising her eyebrows at her and smirking as if to say, "You like him, don't you." Emily rolled her eyes and ignored her. They sat eating dinner and talking about their lives before the virus. They discussed their band, My Chemical Romance, and the tragic death of their drummer, Matt. Emily and Irene started to notice how similar they were to these men; their love for horror flicks, comic books, video games, and music. They sat there for hours just talking about their pasts.
After a few hours they decided to figure out the sleeping arrangement. "So you guys can sleep basically wherever, except for our room. You know, just in case anyone gets any urges during the night," Emily said. Ray, Frank, and Gerard looked understanding but Mikey let out a chuckle. Noticing that no one else found the comment funny, he tried to cover it up by clearing his throat. Frank leaned forward looking past Ray and at Mikey. Frank smiled at Mikey giving him a slightly disapproving face. They decide to sleep in a nearby shop. Irene and Emily said goodnight and headed back to their room. Emily entered the room after Irene and locked the door behind her as an extra precaution. While getting ready for bed Irene and Emily discussed the day and what it held for the two of them.
During the night Irene had a nightmare. She dreamt that she was walking down a long winding staircase made from cobblestone. The staircase ended with a large wooden door. The door was locked from the outside with a large rusted metal hinge. With hesitation, she lifted the hinge using both hands. When she pushed open the door the room revealed a gruesome scene. Dead mutilated bodies riddled the floor except for a straight, narrow path that lead through the middle of the room. As she stepped forward she noticed the ground had a thin puddle of blood that spread through the entire room. When she looked up she saw a man in a black suit, covered in blood holding up an unconscious, bruised, man by the hair. He brought a knife up to the man's neck and without any hesitation slit the man's neck open. Blood gushing everywhere, the killer dropped the dead body to the floor. Irene let out a gasp and the man looked up at her. Irene concentrated on the man's face and noticed through the blood that it was Gerard. His black eyes bore into her with a blank stare. As he started to walk steadily toward her, Irene started to run. Just as the footsteps behind her grew louder Irene awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Feeling nervous and shaken she got up to get a bottle of water.
It was almost pitch black in the room, except for one red security light that had been left on. Emily was laying on her mattress with one thin blanket over her looking around the room. The room looked more eery than usual. Emily heard the door on the other side of the room open and close. A faint outline of a person could be seen standing by the door. Emily sat up and looked over at Irene's bed and noticed she wasn't there. "Irene? Is that you?" she called out, but no answer. The figure slowly walked toward her and stopped just as the faint red light illuminated his face. Mikey stood just a few feet from Emily's bed looking at her with an intense expression. A devious half smile crept onto his face. "Mikey, what are you doing in here?" No answer. Emily's heart started to beat faster as she grew more nervous. He then moved faster than she thought humanly possible. He quickly bridged the few feet between him and the bed and straddled Emily, holding her down to the bed. He held her face with one hand and her hip with the other. He grasped her gently but firm. He lowered his head to her shoulder and she could feel his nose brushing up against her neck as he inhaled deeply. Emily struggled to get away, trying to push him off but he was too strong. She heard the click of his teeth as they elongated; his warm breath caressing her neck. He then bit down, slowly pressing his teeth into her skin. She let out a small whimper as she felt the blood trickling down. She new she should be screaming for help but it felt too good. Mikey let out a deep moan as he drank. Emily's hands moved from pushing against his chest to his back, pulling him closer. Mikey wrapped his arm around the small of her back, drawing her even closer and pressing his body against hers. He entangled his fingers in her hair and held her even tighter. Emily opened her mouth slightly and she let out a soft moan. Emily awoke in her and Irene's room. The sunlight leaked in through the small windows. She brought her hand up to her neck to feel for wounds but her neck was completely smooth. "It was just a dream," she said to herself relieved but slightly disappointed.