-The Vampire Apocalypse-
(End of the World as we know it)
Dear, well, whoever's reading this, its January 1st 2012 yeah, that whole, "end of the world thing", didn't really happen. But I have this gut-wrenching feeling that something is going to happen, or something has started. Something that very well, could lead to the end of society, and the world as we know it. See, there's this unknown group of people in Missouri that have claimed to have discovered, or well, created a new strand of genetics from the human race. This group, (Some call them scientists others consider them a cult), said they have yet to test this "theory strand". I can only imaging the effects of what will happen when they finally do.
January 21st
I was right, 2012 was only a warning, a sign of what was to come. That group of people actually did it; they created something not humanly possible. Genetically enhanced beings, naïve people called them super humans, though; from the start there was nothing even remotely human about them. Children had compared them to the well-known super hero's, like batman and superman, but I knew what they really were, what they are. I saw it the moment I watched that national broadcast. What ever those mad scientists did, the result was those enhanced humanoid things. I couldn't even consider them human. They were fast, strong, and had so many unknown abilities. Rumor had it they could in trance people. They were ruthless and amazing in combat, but there was price for all those new abilities.
Blood, yes our government's out-cased and rejected scientists had created real life, vampires, and these "vampires" were no Edward Cullen, not by a long shot. They walked in the daylight, free to take the lives of anyone they pleased, and at night, they were unbeatable. For reasons I couldn't explain not even for the life of me, when the sun went down, theses vampires' powers almost tripled. To the point where they could rip a house to pieces in mere seconds. I should know, I watched one do just that. In that terrifying moment, I knew what had to be done; Rin the vampire slayer had been born, along with my friends. The vampire elimination process had begun. The only huge problem, besides the fact that vampires were almost impossible to kill, they could change any normal human into a slightly less threatening version of themselves, just completely stripped of their own will. Great right?
February 12th
At first the vampires went took over slowly, but as the month progressed, more people started to go missing, then more and more. Until eventually, whatever was left of the senate put out a global warming? Everyone was in danger. There was nowhere the vampires couldn't reach. In the beginning our group considered of just us, Lena, Tess, Julie, Todd, and myself. In the first two weeks, we lost Todd, but in doing so we gained valuable new members. Selena, age 21, daughter of a politician; or a once was politician, he died in the beginning; had access to any army or marine base in the state. That was going to be really useful. Selenas' younger brother, James, age 18, was training to join the army, he was an excellent sniper and knew how to fight, and he was also currently our base operator and led most of the raids we went on. Then finally, Cass, age 19, he was quiet, but one hell of a fighter, and so much braver than anyone I'd ever met. The kid would load himself to his fingertips with weapons; explosives and hunting gear, then launch right into a nest of vampires. He had good reasons though; his little sister and mother were gone. Please do remember this, for us; the meaning of gone for us is no longer death. Death would be welcomed. No, gone meant turned, that we would most likely be seeing our once loved ones again. No, death was definitely most welcomed, because with death, we wouldn't have to kill them again.
February 28th
Today I watched a new member get torn to pieces by a bloodthirsty vampire. The only thing that bugs me, is the fact it doesn't bug me. In the last few months, we've seen so much bloodshed and death that it doesn't affect us the same. Were all changing, pain wasn't the same as it'd been before, life now depended on our strength, our ability to predict out teams' movements and act off them accordingly. We now ran together like a pack of wolves, us, the once carefree, defenseless, lazy group of high-schoolers, were now, basically killers, we were on the fast track to being lethal weapons. That was the only way to survive in our new world. The entire group pf scientists that contributed to making the vampires were dead now. Those who hadn't died by the hand of their creations, died from suicide. I was sure most were killed by the monsters they'd created. It ironically fit though, and it was something I thought they deserved. It was retribution for creating the monsters that the innocent now had to hide from.
March 5th
To my own horror, we discovered the vampires are much more organized than I'd imagined. They are smart, and deceiving. They had to die. They formed into different groups and have started to spread out, making it harder to locate and annihilate them. They had to die, before our race did.
Rin-
Sighing I slipped my pen and notebook into my bag. Lena and Julie were waiting for me on the roof; I liked to call it the watchtower; it was our turn to be lookouts. Grabbing my step-dads shot gun, I made my way to the stairs.
"All I'm sayin is, if we caught one of them, we could get So much information on them! Like, I don't know, weaknesses!" Julies voice sounded strained an angry.
"Julie, how on earth are we going to trap one of them?" I paused listening to her take a breath, I knew what was coming, and I knew Julie did too.
"It's too dangerous! We just got two more members, that's what? Only twelve people, not including the three kids. We cannot afford any losses right now!"
I tried not to notice how cold Lenas' voice had become in the past two months, and pulled myself up onto the roof.
"Rin! Tell her! Tell her it'll give us the advantage!".
Looking out at the sunset I considered it.
"It would, but we can't, Lena's right, we can't risk it, if an opportunity like that presents itself, we'll definitely take it"- taking a breath I continued-"but we can't go search for one and try, it'd be suicide"
Lena nodded and went to her post, "Exactly, now Juls, We've got people to watch over, and I can't stand to loose someone else". Patting each on the shoulder, I took my position. Glancing at the empty seat beside me, I sighed, Tess would have been up here too, but in the last raid, she'd been accidentally shot by a newbie, she was fine of course, a bullet to the shoulder didn't take all that long to recover from. She'd be off the inactive list for a couple more weeks, four tops. When it was fully dark the night vision goggles came out, and the little talking that passed between the three of us ended completely. Nighttime meant we had to be on full alert. No distractions.
March 16th
Our numbers haven't decreased, but they hadn't increased either. Julies arm had been fractured in last nights attack. We'd been two hours away from daybreak; I regret to say it could possibly be my fault she'd gotten injured. If I would of spotted the female vamp just moments before I had, Julies arm wouldn't of been grabbed by the monster. She assures me that it was just a mistake, but she knows as well as I do that mistakes can kill someone. Recently I've been wondering about the whole "God" concept. If there is a God; which I doubt there is; did he think we humans, were so terrible that we deserved this? Or was He simply so deranged that this seemed like a fitting end for our kind?
March 20th
Today we decided to move into our second base of operations. Now don't laugh, but we've relocated to Wal-Mart. Now that were completely restocked, on clothing, food and weapons, we've all been feeling more secure. We've even had some music playing over the intercom. Owen and Rachel; the groups two youngest members; seem to be enjoying the mass quantity of toys at their disposal. What I'd give to have a moment of blissful pleasure like that again. Tomorrow James recommends that we burn the nearest nest of vampires, everyone is for it but, I just have a weird feeling about it. I just can't seem to figure it out. Tess has been acting strange lately, I wonder if she's feeling it to?
April 3rd
Over the last of March, our scouting team discovered another group of survivors. I couldn't believe who all was in it. When Selena and James came home followed by Chad, Eli and Charlie a small piece of hope restored itself in my heart. They had made it! With them came renewed hope that we'd find others we had grown up with. Its' been a month since I lost contact with Claire and her group of people. I can't help but worry that the vampires have them, that they're dead, or gone. Recently though James has been reaching out to the other group we'd contacted right on the boarder of Ohio. Its not big but we plan to meet up and strengthen out numbers. I'd even heard a rumor that there were three people I knew there. Dillon, Trey and Kevin, that's right, our Ohio boys had somehow managed to stay alive, just like we had. Then again, in the time that's gone by, none of us are what we used to be. Is that what surviving does to someone? Changes them in so many ways?
April 17th
The plan to meet up with the Ohio group was successful. We're now up to twenty-seven capable people and five kids. Rachel and Owen were delighted to have more kids their age. However, everyone else are worried, we can't help but think of how dangerous it is to have people so young in a group of people training to kill vampires. My greatest fear is that we won't be able to protect them.
Rin-
Sitting up I listened to James explain his plan. I couldn't help but notice how it was lacking something important.
"James, that can't work, your relying purely on chance! We can't just guess what the vampires are going to do! Its impossible! This is the second biggest nest in the tri counties!"
Most people cowered away from James when he looked at them the way he was at me now, but we'd been fighting together for a while, I, Juls and Tess were immune to it now, though he never looked at Lena that way.
"When you're the leader, you can make the decisions", my jaw dropped, he crossed a major line. He was the leader of some things, but it wasn't him that formed a skillful surviving group. It all started with my friends and me. He'd be dead if we hadn't found him and his sister cornered in that library.
Standing up I slammed my hands on the table looking over at Tess, who in turn stood with me, seconds later Julie and Lena joined.
"No James, you are not the leader, WE, formed this team, WE started it", I stopped to look around at the people with us. Finally letting the satisfaction of what we'd done sink in. When I opened my mouth to finish Tess spoke up.
"We are the leaders of this, not you James, WE saved YOU", Tess's bluntness at shocked James into silence.
"James, we need more time to plan, more people, and we need more information". His eyes shut in defeat when his sister agreed with me.
"Very well, we'll send out several scouts to gather more information, would that make you happy?" I bite my lip at his crude tone but nodded looking at the others.
"Yes James, Thank you", something in my voice had him look over at me. That's when Rachel came crashing into the room and grabbed my legs.
"Rin! Justin made Owen go outside!"
As her words sunk in I looked up at James, but before I could even talk he was moving.
"Nick! Selena! Charlie! Come on we've got 3 hours until sunset, he couldn't of gotten far". We searched and searched, but apparently James had been wrong. Owen could get far, but unless Owen had suddenly grown a second set of legs, he had help in his speed. I must of looked horrible, because every couple minutes James would walk beside me, half hug me and say we'd find him, that it'd be fine, but I knew the truth. Owen was with a vampire; he was either dead or gone.
Suddenly James's arm held me back. "Sh, Their not to much father ahead".
My heart stopped the moment they landed on the male vamp, how he was bent over Owens body. The moments those fangs sunk into Owens neck my lungs collapsed. Moving on pure instinct I lunged out of my hiding spot, pulling my gun up to aim. In a shot I had the thing off Owen, in another I had his head off, the last fire and he was limp on the ground. Dropping to my knees I scooped the limp child into my arms.
James was already pouring gasoline on the vampires' remains. Somehow, vampires regenerated completely when nightfall came. So we needed to destroy the body ASAP.
"Owen, Owen please open your eyes!" A moment of pure relief flooded through me when he moved in my arms, but the feeling was short lived. James pulled me from the ground and had his pistol aimed right at Owens head.
"James! What the hell are you doing?" I struggled to get out of his grip but failed.
"Rin, look at him, look at his eyes!" I didn't stop struggling.
"He's just a kid James!" I choked when his grip crushed me against him.
"Damnit Rin, he's been turned!". I turned and my heart stopped. Innocent little Owen was standing there, staring at us with pure red eyes. James whispered an apology before firing. Dropping to the ground I cried, watching Owens tiny body burn ripped at a part of me that I hadn't felt since the 1st month of vampires.
"He was so young", my crying hindered my ability to talk. "He didn't deserve this!"
When the bodies were completely gone everyone moved closer to me, but only James actually approached me.
"Rin, come on, we've got half an hour to get back". I didn't move and when it was clear I wasn't going to, he picked me up cradling me like I was a kid.
"We'll start watches on the kids the moment were back, I'll never have this accident reoccur". Nodding I buried my face in his shirt.
"James, we couldn't protect him, we failed, Oh god, I don't want to face Rachel"
April 29th
Ever since we returned without Owen, Rachel hasn't been the same. She now knows that the world didn't go easy on someone just because they were young. She also didn't trust me anymore, I'd failed her, and she wasn't going to forget it. On the bright side James figured out that there's another group of people right Kentucky. The plan is to get to them as quickly as possible, then head up to a near by base to plan for our journey to Pennsylvania. Where we'll hopefully be able to combine our forces with Claires' group. Most of our people were excellent fighters now, and everyone knew how to handle a gun for protection. My idea now is to learn archery, possibly even take on swords; any weapon would do us good. Even Cass and Nick agreed on that. Juls still hasn't given up on her plan to trap a vampire; I'm not going to stop her. If she can come up with a doable plan to capture a vamp, I'll make sure James and gets every member to know it by heart. We need something to tip the odds in our favor.
May 5th
We're running dangerously low on food. Tess thinks we should scout out another Wal-Mart or something. I agree, but were stuck right in the center of a vampire haven. So instead of risking any deaths, we've decided to push on. Its only another three day walk to where we're headed. I'm sure there's a place we can use to restock along the way. Lately I've had this feeling. Like someone's watching us. Every move we make. Thinking I was being paranoid, or going crazy I confronted Lena about it, but she told me her and the others had been feeling it to. I hope its nothing.
May 27th
Today we finally found Claires group. I can't believe how much better I feel having my sister with me again. I'm glad she's finally met my friends. I just wish it didn't have to be this way, for these reasons. If it had been last year, we could have gone to Kings Island or something. Claire showed me a calendar she'd been carrying; making me realize we'd missed everyone's birthday. So today we had a mini celebration. Tess had turned 20 only fourteen days ago; I gave her my reliable dagger. Lenas' birthday was completely missed, so her present from me was a new handgun I'd gotten from the last raid, she had turned 19. Juls, who was also 19, got a twin gun of Lenas'. My birthday was still a month off. I can only hope that I'll survive to my 20th birthday.
Rin-
I stared down at the firm hands on my shoulders. "Rin, since losing Owen you've been different. Stop acting like its your fault, its not. There's no way you can go the way you have been, your whole team is worried" he paused meeting my eyes, "just do us all a favor, stay in tonight, get some rest, heaven knows you and the girls need it".
So hours later, here I was, here we were. Laying down along with a couple others from our group, trying to get some rest. Chasing a night of sleep that wouldn't come. At least for me it wouldn't. I focused on all the noise around us, people talking, radios cutting in and out, the shots being fired in the practice field. All the noises that were now normal to us. Sighing I tried to remember what it was like to sleep in peace, not worrying that someone I knew might be on the brink of death; To fall asleep listening to the rain, or crickets. It was slightly ironic to me now; then I hated the loud chirping of crickets, now I dreamed of the night's noises being that simple again. I moved to lean against the wall, staring out at the sky my eyes stung with upcoming tears. What I would give to have the world back to how it was, anything would be better than this. I stopped; then again, could things have been worse off? Would zombies of been easier or harder to fight off? There were thousands of books on how to kill the undead, but nothing on how to kill the dead. As I looked back up at the sky my eyes widened, finally after 19 years of my life I saw my first shooting star. To bad I was beyond being able to wish. After all, wishes didn't come true. Closing my eyes I let all my memories flash through my mind. Moving to Indiana when I was 10, learning how to ride my bike, being scared out of my mind to enter high school alone, being in my first tornado at school, my grandmother dieing of cancer, crashing my step-dads car into the neighbor's truck, breaking my arm. All those things now seemed like paper cuts, small, and just slightly irritating, compared to the gigantic gash life now was. I'd been selfish then, not seeing how truly blessed I was, how special those times really were. Unfortunately, there wasn't a chance for me to go back, no one could reverse time. No matter how much they wanted to.
June 10th
Tess just reminded me that my 20th birthday is soon. The subject that once brought excitement and joy now brought nothing. I'd be another year older; it meant nothing to me now. Your age now was determined by skill and experience. That meant our original group of seven were the oldest among our people. We now have almost forty people. Of the forty, over half knew how to fight. The others were more like Medics, tending to the injured, and prepared food for everyone. We even had a doctor in our ranks now, and he made a point to check on each of us regularly. I usually tried to evade him, but he was good at capturing his patients for their check ups, I was no acceptation. It was for the best though; we couldn't afford to have warriors that weren't prime for battle. The vampires have officially declared us a major threat of the night race. Unlike the previous months, we were now being hunted. Staying in one place for to long brought a serious threat to our survival.
June 28th
Happy birthday me, your present is? A vampire attack, Splend-Fucking-Did.
July 2nd
Today there's a feeling of happiness among us. For the first time since 2012, there's going to be a wedding. Melissa, our missions' operator for team 2, has accepted Anthony, our newly acquired sniper, as her husband. We had a quick ceremony with our priest, they even wrote short vows to read to each other. Anthony's struck me hard.
"And even though our world is ending, I wouldn't want to be with anyone but you, I'll fight by your side until my last day" he paused to look out at the people around them, "I'll kick vampire asses with you until I die". That had got a laugh out of everyone, including myself. I only hope that their joy will go on for a long while. Claires' birthday is coming up, she'll be turning 19. I'm planning on teaching her and her new team how to shoot arrows.
July 13th
Claires' training went surprisingly well; her entire team picked up on the concept quite fast. To show how quickly she learned, she ended up taking down six vamps, saving me from one that was trying to sneak up on me. I couldn't be more grateful to my sister. I'm proud to know she's capable of anything she sets her mind to. Even if her saving me was a shot to my pride.
July 21st
We've finally made it to the strong hold in Tennessee. Our supplies seem to be in good order, and spirits are high. To our knowledge, Tennessee is virtually vamp free, which meant we'd be able to stay here longer than four weeks. The extra time is just what our people needed, everyone's tired, and we need the time to regain our strength.
July 26th
Today I'm sure I saw a vampire watching us. When I turned back to though, nothing was there. I've convinced myself it was my eyes playing tricks on me. It had been a good 48 hours since I'd slept well.
August 1st
I can't believe it. Julies plan to capture a vampire finally played through. Right now, as I write, there's a vampire locked and chained up in our bases basement. So far things have gone smoothly. During the day we have guards placed at all the entrances. At night, no one goes in or out of that department. The vampire hasn't attempted to escape, he barely even speaks unless either myself, Tess or Juls are in the room, but so far, he's given us a lot of information. Especially vampire weaknesses, I can only hope he isn't lying.
Rin-
Pulling my jacket around me I headed for the vampires cell. The sun would set soon, and my team; excluding Selena and James; had vamp guard duty. At first it terrified me to be in the same room with a vampire, but now I was comfortable with it, which was probably bad. Julie was laying on her stomach outside the cell drawling when I walked in. She turned to smile at me before returning to her work. It was nice that she still drew when things were slow. It made me feel like things weren't as bad as they seemed. Tess and Lena were fixing up their equipment at the table, both said hi but didn't look up from their mess of gun parts, our vampire was sprawled out on the bunker as if he didn't have a care in the world, then again, maybe he didn't.
"Rin, its always nice to see you, how's the training going?". Biting my lip I ignored him. James had said it'd be dangerous if I continued to talk to him like I had been.
"So are you going to ignore m, all night? Your going to listen to someone who's below you?" Looking up I met his ember eyes; every time I looked at him something seemed odd, something about his eyes.
"Yes"
He sat up, but slumped against the wall, he almost looked disappointed. "is it that dangerous to talk to the vampire, the vampire that hasn't complained, or tired to escape, the vampire that's given you information you've desperately needed". Dropping my knife on the table I turned back to him.
"Exactl-"I stopped, why had he been so willing to help, why hadn't he tried to escape? "What's your name?" the moment I asked his eyes widened in surprise.
"Reagon".
Just then something crashed against the door, making us all jump. Seconds later it flew in crashing against the iron bars that held Reagon prisoner. When the dust had cleared from the entryway, we could see what broke it. A large male vampire stood before us. Sizing each of us up until his gaze finally ended on me. Smiling wickedly he moved, before I knew it I was pinned against him.
Julie and Lena had been covered by part of the roof and Tess laid unconscious only inches from us. The last thing I saw was Reagon breaking free from his cell.
August 2nd (Tess)
Last night Rin was abducted. Shortly after, Reagon had pulled Lena and Juls out from under the collapsed roof. After doing so he stopped to make sure I was okay. I can't help but think, he isn't like the other vampires. After putting more thought into, I was sure he was going after Rin and the huge male vampire. I can only pray that he brings her back alive. Tomorrow, as Rins' second in command, I'll confront James. We have to find her, and if she's gone, we're going to have to put her out.
Rin-
My mind reeled when I came to. A vampire had broken into our base; he had set Reagon free, and now I'd been taken as a hostage. Sitting up my head pounded, I felt like a bus had hit me, if you can consider a vampire a bus that is. Taking in my surroundings a feeling of dread uncurled in my chest. I was in a windowless room, and the door was undoubtedly locked from the other side. I had to be in a vampire nest, weighing my options I decided to fight my way out. Well, I was, until I looked up and saw the vent above the door. With a new course of action planned, I hauled myself up into the vent and placed the cover back on. I'd show them it wasn't easy to keep a warrior trapped.
August 3rd (Later that evening)
James helped me organize a small search party for tomorrow. He said we couldn't go until morning, but it was nice to know we were semi prepared. Also, I told James about how Reagon had helped us before running out after Rin. He didn't think much of it, but Lena and Juls are with me, Reagon wasn't anything like the vampires we fought everyday, nor the vampire that stole Rin.
Rin-
It took me forever to find a way out of the air system, and even when I'd managed to get out, I found I was still in the center of the building. I had no way out, at least, none I was aware of. Sneaking around a vampire nest was not making it on my list of fun things to do. Hell it wasn't even on my list of things I didn't want to do but would probably try later on. Every turn I thought I'd be caught; my skin crawled with the knowledge that I was surrounded by the enemy. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I hid myself between a plant and the wall. That's when the door closest to me flew open. I dove into the nearest hallway. Panting I peeked out around the wall. If the door had opened from the opposite direction, I would have been caught. Thanking whatever force was at work I backed away from the previous hall. I counted my steps as I went, until I heard the vampires getting closer. Giving up on my quiet stealth I ran. I'd made it 6 lunging steps until someone pulled me into a dark corridor. Their hand snaked around me and covered my mouth. Fighting back was getting me nowhere, damned vampire strength. Their mouth moved down to my neck, and at that moment I knew I was done for.
August 4th 12:30am
There were a little more than four hours until sunrise, but I was inpatient. I wanted my partner back, and I wanted her back now. Even with only a couple days gone, things with out Rin were difficult; one of our team always had to stay behind. It was forbidden to go out with an uneven amount of people. An odd number meant someone didn't have their back, and that was dangerous, for everyone. I was also worried about Claire; since Rin was taken she's been getting distant. James said if she got any worse, she was getting put on the inactive list.
Rin-
In a split second I'd made amends with everything in my life. I was ready to die.
"Rin stay still, I'm getting you out of here". I stopped struggling and went still against him. "R-Reagon?" I felt him nod. Wait, how did I know he wasn't with them? The vampire that abducted me had made it possible for him to escape. Renewed with a new fear I started to struggle again. His grip tightened around me, not hard enough to hurt, but definitely enough to finish off all attempts on moving. I bit his hand and tried to get free again, when I went to scream I found I couldn't. His lips crushed down on mine, the only noise I was capable of making was a hushed squeak of surprise, when he pulled away I was speechless. I'd just kissed a vampire, and I... Liked it?
"Rin, I'm not with them, now please, let me get you out of here". Finally finding my voice I nodded, "but first, why would he take me? The way it happened-"he cut me off.
"To make it seem like they were getting me, and to eliminate the possibility of my people and yours teaming up". That made sense; I just wasn't sure what he meant by "My people". I planned to question him farther, but I stopped when he scooped me up.
"Stay quiet until I say, okay?" I nodded in his chest "Close your eyes". I obeyed, I didn't know how he was going to get us out, but I was sure I didn't want to know. The next thing I knew there was cold air passing by us, once it stopped I opened my eyes and gasped. We were standing outside my base. We'd covered I don't know how much distance, in seconds.
"You need to get in there, your team is getting ready to go search for you".
Nodding I grabbed his hand and pulled him along. When I pushed the door open and stepped in I heard several gasps. There were about twenty people scattered around the room standing and sitting. Hyatt, one of our newer teams' gunman was the first to point out Reagon.
"Vampire!" Reagon's hand tightened on mine.
"Hyatt, sit down", he didn't listen. Instead he moved forward pulling out his dagger.
"Hyatt! I TOLD YOU TO BE SEATED!" Okay I was going to be calm and nice about it, at first, but that was impossible when I had a sharp dagger walking closer to me.
"But he's a vampire" Grounding my teeth I lashed out knocking the dagger from his hand.
"He saved my life!" Hyatt stopped and stared pass me. "Why would he do that?"
Reagon snorted behind me "You could ask me, if your nice about it, I just might tell you". Stopping myself from smiling I pulled Reagon with me until we were with my team.
"Now Reagon, explain?" We all listened intently through his speech of how all vampires weren't the same. There were "good" and insane power hungry vamps.
"The vampires who are both of our enemy are greedy, power hungry, maniacs. They've fed off of another vampire, and once that happens, their eyes turn red, and the blood that flows through them turns black, their more demon than anything, so my people and me are forced to hide and fight, just as you have".
My stomach was in a knot. There were vampires going through what we were? Had we killed innocents?
"O-out of all the nests we've. We've taken, were any of them", I couldn't even finish the sentence, but he knew.
"Yes, there were, several"
Now my stomach couldn't take it any more. Jumping up I ran to a garbage can just in time. Wiping my mouth I pushed myself back up and smiled slightly to Hyatt when he handed me a glass of water.
"Reagon, the others. They don't want us to team up, why?"
This time a sly smile spread across his face, "Because it'll be their down fall, your people and you have mastered how to kill us, and well, us, the people who can train you to prefect your techniques, we'd be unstoppable, we'd finally be able to win"
Now winning I was all for.
August 21st
Reagon was true to his word. He'd had several vampires come into our groups. I'd asked him why he didn't bring in all of his people, but he said it'd be easier to slowly combine our forces, seeing as how both sides were cautious of each other. It was a smart move; after all, he'd be bringing his people to a place that was loaded with those who trained to kill their kind. He taught us points on a vampire to hit that would temporarily paralyze a vampire, steps that would kill them quicker, and how to fight in close combat. I'm glad to say, almost all of our people trust Reagon, and those who didn't had great respect for him. I'm beginning to believe we actually have a chance.
September 1st
With the cold weather came anticipation. Tomorrow I plan to go out and extend an invitation to Reagons' people, on my own. Tess was adamant on coming with me, but this was something that I had to do alone. Reagon wasn't going to let anything happen to me; he'd assured the entire camp that I'd be safe. We all believed him, every day he proved himself to us. He'd even saved James, after that we assigned at least one vampire to every team. Casualties have cut down dramatically. Our numbers have almost tripled in humans, and vampires. All we needed now was the last and most important vampire group. Without their aid, Reagon had said most of the other vampires would drop out. Putting it lightly, we needed that group of vampires to survive. Our revolution would end without them.
Rin-
Taking a deep breath I walked into the forest. Reagon told me to wait until he returned to go meet the others, but this wasn't something that could wait. My people needed to survive, and we needed that group of vampires to do so. Looking around I searched for the landmarks that I needed, finding the boulder that signed my turn I continued into the darker part of the woods. Once an hour had gone by I stopped to rest, then headed for the creek that Reagon said would lead me straight to the clearing, and that's where he said the vampires were. Swallowing my fear I moved on, taking my last tree steps I was in the open and in seconds I was surrounded by very unhappy looking vampires. Immediately I moved to grab my gun but stopped myself and dropped my hands to my side. What I guessed was the lead vampire looked over to the huge man at her side and nodded; in a flash he had my hands were pinned behind my back. Biting the inside of my cheek I stood completely still, the idea of being restrained didn't fit well with me. My instinct screamed at me to move, to fight, and to kill all that threatened me. Breathing deeply I made myself calm down. Getting all worked up was not going to help me win these people over.
"I'm not here to cause you or your people harm", going against every molecule in my body I met the leaders silver blue eyes.
"You've killed our kind since this all began, you expect me to believe that?" Not taking my eyes away from hers I nodded and held my head up high.
"We need your help; it's the only way all of us, my people and yours will survive. We never knew that there were different vampires, if we had-". Her eyes flashed red so fast I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it, or if it really happened.
"Your so bold, or stupid to come here, claiming that your kind never thought there were others in your situation? There's blood of innocents on your hands, tell me why we should believe you".
Straightening up I made my voice sincere and strong, "Because it's the truth". Something flashed behind her eyes before she turned towards the bushes behind her. I froze I knew that sound. Looking around frantically I took in all the vampires around me and stopped on a small child, standing near the edge of the clearing, where the enemy was coming from.
With a cry I broke out of my distracted captives' grip just as the first batch of vampires came crashing out towards the vampire child, but before he could grab the wide-eyed child, he fell. Reloading my gun I threw the kid behind me and commanded him to stay put.
"Do not move" I could only hope he would listen. Looking at him reminded me so much of Owen. Turning back towards the sound of on coming vampires I prepared myself. It didn't sound like there were a lot, but that didn't mean I could relax. The second wave of vampires that came was small, so it didn't take long to finish them off. It was weird, fighting with vampires, who were killing other vampires, but watching them against the demon bloods made it apparent, we could win with them. Once the last vampire was killed I pulled out a canister of silver nitrate; Reagon told us the effects it had on vampires, and it worked with deadly force on the demon vamps. If it wasn't removed from their skin the moment of contact, it'd combust engulfing them in a deadly green flame. Kneeling in front of the little boy I smiled.
"Are you okay?" he nodded quietly and followed me to the others.
"We need to dispose of the bodies quickly" Nodding I held out the canister to the leader. Looking at it for a second she nodded and took it from me. I watched as she carefully poured some over the pile of vampires. That's when Reagon was beside me.
"I TOLD YOU TO WAIT!"
I grinning sheepishly, I glanced over at him before turning to face him, "and?"
Moaning he turned to he leader, "Lauren, this is Rin, she's the one I told you about, her and her friends, are planning on rebelling against the demon bloods, we'd like you join us" he motioned to the now burning bodies- "As you can tell, their perfectly capable of killing the enemies just as we are".
Lauren looked me over and just stood there. For a god-awful moment I thought she was going to say no, but she nodded and smiled.
"We'll join you, any chance to rid ourselves of those, things, we'll take it". Letting out my held breath I smiled back.
"Thank you"
Nodding she turned to her people, "Go to the base and gather the others, tonight we move in with our allies". Stunned I blinked and stared at Lauren who turned to me and offered her hand.
"There is safety in numbers is there not?"
Taking her hand I couldn't help but grin, "Yes, yes there is. More groups of in the surrounding areas are moving in as well, will all of your people do the same?"
She didn't even pause to consider it. "We'll need as many fighters as we can get, the enemy is strong, and there side is growing".
That wasn't a thought I wanted to linger on. Knowing the demon bloods' side was growing made me uneasy. Just how many people had they taken and turned over the time that had passed? Exactly how many of our lost loved ones would we have to face again?
Tess-
"Lena! Get your stuff, we're going out!" Stopping I glared down at the still seated Lena.
"No, Tess she's fine she's got Reagon remember? He isn't going to let anyone touch her". That fact still didn't help how worried I was, it was dark and both sides of vampires would be on the prowl.
"But Lena"
She shook her head and continued to inspect the new weapons Claire had brought in, with my own quick scan I saw only one thing Rin would have been sincerely interested in, "Set the claws aside, I'm sure Rin will wanna have a look at em".
Claire grinned devilishly back up at me, "Who do you think I made em for". Smiling back I plopped down on the floor, it was hard to believe only nine months ago this all started. I couldn't help but wonder, would things of gone differently if the vampires hadn't been created? Instead of this would have had to deal with zombies, a new plague? Could things of gone worse? Pushing those thoughts aside I pulled out the dagger Rin gave me and started to sharpen it. If things had continued the way they had the previous year, we'd be getting out of high school by now, probably getting jobs. Our new life was exciting and dangerous, was it actually better things happened this way?
Rin-
As we approached our base I froze, looking at it now, with the sun barely peeking over the trees and hills, it looked amazing. Small and large buildings were scattered around, tents were pitched in groups around some of the buildings, and others were farther off in their own small groups. Putting it mildly, it was huge. I hadn't even noticed the size until now. The small amount of Laurens vampires looked around in amazement.
"You call this a group?" Boris; The vampire who'd restrained me earlier and hadn't left my side since we departed; looked down at me with wide eyes, "A group is five or six people. Dear, you have an army on your hands".
Turning back I couldn't help but smile. He was right, there were people walking everywhere. Warriors along side those who didn't or couldn't fight, vampires walked along side them, everyone seemed to be talking to everyone. If I hadn't known that there were vampires living among us I wouldn't have noticed, they were so well blended, they fit in perfectly. In nine months, my group and I, my friends and I, had pulled together an army of people. Our people, people who wanted to survive as much as we did.
September 19th
After Lauren and her clans arrival, vampires seemed to flood out of hiding. Everyday groups of two to twenty would join us, and with them, other human survivors. The vampires had been saving people, they had actually thought of saving our kind, and in return, we had unfairly killed theirs. Reagon says its understandable, that its not so bad since we hadn't known they were different, but it still made me sick thinking about it.
Julie-
Scouting the area around our base was getting increasingly easier. Since we didn't need to constantly run anymore, we knew the terrain, and we continued to learn all of its secrets. I almost jumped at the chance to do perimeter patrol when James had offered, and of course, I had my partner and best friend Lena at my side and not to my surprise, it was hard to make James let her come with me. For a second I thought I'd have to go round up Tess or Rin, but one puppy dog look from Lena had him cave immediately. Rin said it was obvious the guy liked her, it made sense though, she had been the one to find him and his sister. We'd only made it just in time to fight off the vampires that had cornered them, and after all this time fighting along side every day. We were all bounded, brothers and sisters-in-arms, James just bounded more so with Lena than the rest of us, and for heavens sake, those two made a good couple.
Smiling over at Lena I nodded for us to move on. Seeing as how this area was clear, all we had to do now was head back to base, report, and our job tonight was don't. Though, I was terribly concerned with the amount of good luck we were having, after all, luck always wore out.
-Rin
It was unimaginably good to have a room again, since we'd hauled down in this small town; and when I say small down I mean it could take you minutes to walk in one side and out the other; Everyone had rights to a building. It was amazing to be able to get dressed and bath in enclosed areas again. As I pulled my shirt down over my head I heard shouting outside my door. Tugging my pants up I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.
"I'm telling you, I DON'T CARE THAT SHES GETTING DRESSED, I NEED TO TALK TO HER NOW!". Pulling the door open I paused. Julie was red faced and breathless in front of Boris's mammoth body.
"Juls, what's wrong?".
The moment she met my eyes, tears came pouring down her face. "Rin on our way back.. Lena.. We got attacked.. I.. I can't believe I left her, I turned back but, I can't.. I can't f-find her"
Swaying a little I caught myself on the door frame. "Do you think they got her?"
She franticly shook her head, "No, I don't. I-I think she's still out there, hiding, god I shouldn't of listened to her, I should have stayed"
Hugging Juls I patted her back.
"Its fine, we'll find her, go tell James and Tess to get a couple teams together and out, I'll go get Reagon and a few other vampires to help".
Barely taking the time to nod back she bolted down the hall towards James's room, once she was out of sight I dropped to the floor smacking my head against the wall and rested my hands against it. I barely even felt Boris place his hand on my shoulder.
"Fuck"
Lena-
Dropping to my stomach I froze. Hopefully, this tall grass was enough to hide me. Figures, with all this luck, all the false peace that was hanging around that we'd get careless, thinking things would run smoothly the whole time. I should have been paying more attention. Then maybe we would have heard the four demon bloods coming in on us, but before we had a chance to catch it, they had us surrounded. Luckily thought, I'd managed to help Juls escape. Now, she was my only hope, I knew she'd go to the base and tell the others, and I knew for a fact that Rin and James would round up several teams to find me. Now it was just a matter of my lasting long enough for them to save me. Demon bloods were gathering in the clearing in front of me, it was only a matter of time before one of them finally scented me. Grabbing my twin pistols I prepared myself, I just had to hold them off for a little while, and then I'd be saved….. Hopefully.
Rin-
Running along side James I prayed. I prayed Lena would make it, that she could hold her own for 15 more minutes. Glancing beside me my heart twisted, Julie looked horrible, she just wouldn't stop beating herself up for leaving her. If Lena didn't make it, well, I wasn't sure Juls could take it. We'd loose two people instead of just one. Glancing over at Reagon my heart did something else entirely, every time I looked at him I saw him leaning down to kiss me. Thinking about it made my mind go on over drive, I didn't know why he did it, but I did know that if it happened again that I'd be in trouble. Suddenly Boris was in front of me,
"We're close"
Pulling out my weapons I nodded, this had to be fast. There was a charge in the air that only happened when there were a large number of demon bloods in the area. Looking over at James I motioned for us to go.
There was a whole mass of Demonic Vampires standing in the clearing ahead of us. Once we charged forward the vampires, who were almost completely immobile lurched towards our teams. That's when shot rang out from behind them. Listening to the sound of the guns I smiled. She was alright, Lena had kept herself safe.
After a while all thirty vampires that had gathered in the clearing were dead. Boris had taken charge of gathering up the bodies and torching them the moment the last one hit the ground.
Julie tackle hugged Lena the second she was within grabbing distance.
"Oh Lena! I'm sorry!"
Patting Juls on the back she turned to me, "Rin, we've got a big problem"
September 20th
Last night, while Lena had been trapped near the demon bloods, she'd found out something disturbing. The demon bloods were planning on a full force attack out our base. With this knowledge, James and Reagon started to train everyone in camp. Even if they weren't fighting they made sure they knew how to defend themselves properly. Every day more people seemed to join us. We've actually had to start making more make-shift shelters for people to stay in. Lauren says that another large group of vampires are on their way, and with the, were even more humans. Everyone agreed, if we were going to have a full on attack from the enemy, we needed more people.
Julie-
Opening Rins' room door I peeked inside, "Rin?". A figure, I guessed was Rin sat up from the couch.
"Yeah?" Closing the door behind me I went over to her. "Rin, I've got to talk to you" She nodded an okay and pushed herself completely off the couch.
"Whatchya need Juls?" Taking a breath I grabbed her fore arms.
"I'm worried" when she nodded I continued, "I'm worried, about you" Even in the darkness of her room I could see the confusion on her face.
"It may be my imagination, but, Reagon. When he looks at you, its just, that look. I think he likes you, well, I'm sure he likes you"
She froze looking at me with wide eyes, eyes that were trying to hide something.
"Rin, did something happen?" Recovering she shook her head.
"No not at all" . Crossing my arms I glared at her. "Tell me". I watched her look over at the door before biting her lip in defeat.
"W-when he came to get me out of the demon bloods base, he sort of, kissed me"
This time it was my turn to be shocked, "He what?"
She shook her hands back n forth violently looking at the door as if he would walk though it at any moment.
"Ssh! Juls, not so loud". Scowling at her I gripped my forearms tightly.
"And when were you planning on telling us!"
Looking at the ground she sighed. "I. I wasn't, I mean, it was nothing so I didn't even think to tell you", Giving up on being mad I hugged her.
"Well it certainly wasn't and isn't nothing" Hugging me back she sighed again sounding completely defeated.
"Juls, can vampires even, love?"
That I didn't know how to answer, "I don't know Rin, I really don't know".