Hello, everyone! Yes, this is my third story update so far. Warning, I only update three stories at a time, so for a while, there won't be any new stories. But hey, you get to see the other fanfics get update semi-regularly (depending on my schedule and laziness).
So, this is way different than what I usually write. I usually write more modern themes, so an apocalyptic one will be … interesting.
Let's get on with it, shall we?
If there was anything Benny hated more than vampires, it was being held in the throat by a vampire. Oh, what a wonderful first day outside of his home. Struggling for breath, he slowly reached into his jacket's pocket and got out his blade.
The vampire backed away, recognizing it as silver, but unlucky for the vampire, Benny wasn't inexperienced with killing their kind. Before the vampire could run away, he stabbed the creature in the chest, and he turned into ashes.
Benny put his blade back to its hiding spot, and let himself breathe. Oh, he hated vampires so much. Not that any sane human liked them since they've taken over this town, but Benny felt a burning sensation whenever he thought of them. Not for any particular reason. It's just that they sucked. Quite literally.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, but not for too long. He needed to be aware of his surroundings, and perhaps to be sneakier. His clumsiness almost got him killed. Simply tripping over his loose shoe laces was guaranteed to get vampires' attention.
Feeling like he was safe, he took the time to look around at the empty street. It was so sad. When he was just five, the town was normal. Humans were in charge. At that time, children would go outside and play, cars would regularly be seen in the streets, and people actually smiled then. Now, people were so scared to get out of the house, except for work and school, and even that was dangerous. Whitechapel, Benny's home, felt so empty.
At least Benny's grandma was able to defend herself from vampires. She was the one who taught Benny how to use a blades and stakes. Needless to say, she was awesome. He could leave her alone at home, and she would be fine. But others, sadly, don't usually make it. Lots of people have been killed by those monsters, and families were ripped apart. On top of that, a huge number of good people were turned into horrible, merciless vampires. What a shame. Humanity was lost.
Benny walked around quietly, afraid there were vampires nearby. To make himself less obvious in the street, he went between buildings and houses, occasionally looking at the main road to check if there was any living, or undead, soul. But mostly, his attention was on the houses. He knew his neighbors fairly well because now, more than ever, they needed each other. Here was the Davids' house. The father of the family was turned, and because of his insistence to stick to his morals and the vampires' intolerance of good people, he was killed. Now the mother is struggling to feed the children with her job as a waitress. And here were the Kumars. Only the two eldest daughters were left. They continued to live in this house in fear, praying for this nightmare to end. And the Morgans – they have abandoned their house a long time ago. He didn't know whether any of them were alive or not. Last time he's seen them, he was six. They were supposed to have a second child. Did they? Or did they die? The Pecks were also miserable, with one of the guys in the house having turned into a monster, never to return to the home he despised ever again. Everything was so gloomy. So depressing.
Continuing his journey, Benny wanted a place to stay in for the night. He couldn't stay in a house. And definitely not his. Why? He wanted to destroy the vampires, and if he wanted to do that, he couldn't be in the most obvious place so he could be hunted down. Finally, he came across an abandoned building in one of the backstreets. If there were beds, or even empty rooms, he was fine. He could just sleep with his head on his backpack if he didn't have a soft surface to lie on.
He opened the creaky back door, and was met with stale air and cracked wall paint. He walked up the narrow stairs quietly, still worried about the presence of vampires. If they were here, at least he wanted to be prepared enough to fight. He reached the second floor, and had slowly opened the door leading to the main section of the building, but he heard a noise from the inside. His heart started to beat faster, and he reached for his blade, ready to attack if need be. He hesitated, but he walked in with short steps. Please let there be no vampires. He didn't know where else to go if this place wasn't safe.
When he took another step, a person suddenly appeared in front of him, a knife sticking to Benny's throat. They must have come from behind the door. Benny froze for a second, staring at the tip of the stake before realizing what this meant. What kind of vampire would use a stake? No evil one. Mostly humans would do so for self-defense, fear, or protection. He looked at the person who had tried to attack him. Indeed, it seemed like a human. Through the moonlight, he could tell that it was a guy around his age with dark hair, and dark eyes. His skin seemed light, but he couldn't tell if he was vampire pale or not. And there was a bead of sweat in his forehead. Yeah, he definitely was a human. Though a serious looking one. His eyes were piercing through Benny, studying him, before he lowered the stake. As he went to hide it in his clothes again, he still kept his eyes on Benny, creeping him out a bit. His lips were tight, and he didn't seem like he had ever smiled in the past few years. Or maybe in his eternity.
"Sorry," Benny mumbled. Even though he was speaking quietly, the emptiness of the building made his voice sound ten times louder.
The guy looked away, and shook his head. "You've got nothing to apologize for. But next time, try not to be so loud when you walk up. I though you might be one of them."
"I was loud?" Benny asked, just realizing how loud his voice had gotten. "Okay, point taken." He saw the guy open a door, and was going to step inside the room, when Benny introduced himself, saying, "I'm Benny, by the way."
The guy looked at him. "Okay." He said nothing else, and kept looking at Benny.
What was up with this guy? "No 'nice to meet you'? Or 'my name is' I don't know, Steve?" Benny asked.
The guy scoffed. "And why would it be nice to have met you? That was a horrible encounter. Plus, I don't want to give out my name to anyone. But here's a hint: it's not Steve."
Benny couldn't believe this guy. He didn't even have to courtesy to at least say something nice. But whatever. He wasn't the one responsible for the guy's manners. He was concerned about the last part of his statement, about the name. "And why not?" he asked.
The guy smiled in amusement. Oh, so he did smile. At least he had emotions. "For a guy I just met, you ask a lot of questions." The smile was off his face in a few seconds. He met Benny's eyes, and said, "The vampires want me dead. If they ever ask you about having met me, at least you won't be able to answer with lies since you don't technically know my name." Oh, yeah. Benny almost forgot that vampires have the ability to sense pulses and heart rates, which meant they could tell if someone was lying.
Most importantly, they wanted this guy dead? Not a surprise. Benny himself wanted to kill him. "At least give me a nickname to call you," Benny said, kind of sick of this dude by now.
The guy thought about it before finally saying, "Call me E."
Benny was glad he chose this place. It seemed to be a hotel, and old hotel, but not very old. The room he was in, which was a broken lock, had beds, a desk, an old, small refrigerator that didn't work because of the lack of electricity, and a few other stuff. He took out his smartphone, and used the flashlight to look around. The place was definitely rotting away, but it was fine. This was better than nothing. Problem was, he needed his phone to talk to his grandma, but he didn't know how frequently he was going to get power, so his battery might run out of juice. But as of now, he didn't have any source of electricity, so he sent his grandma a text message telling her briefly about his situation, and she seemed relieved he was fine. Now he could save his battery life a bit since he didn't need to update his grandmother. Another thing he was happy with was that least vampires had no control over technology. They didn't own the world. Yet.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" said Benny.
E entered the room. There was something in his hand, but Benny couldn't tell what it was in this darkness. "You have a phone?" E asked.
"You don't?" Benny asked.
He could see E shaking his head. "I'm homeless. I don't own anything." Oh. Benny felt bad all of a sudden. It was just that the guy didn't seem homeless. He looked clean, and his clothes were fine. Yet again, he shouldn't generalize how homeless people should look. "Anyway, screw the sob story. Do you have food?"
Benny looked at his backpack. He had some sort of food. But they weren't really enough sources of nutrition. "Ummm, a bit," he said.
"Well," E said, coming closer to the bed. "I got burgers."
"What?" Benny asked. "How'd you get burgers?"
"I went to the back of a fast food restaurant and stole two," he casually said.
"You stole them?" Benny asked in shock. "I don't want them."
"I guess I'll have them both," E said. "Oh, don't give me that look! I can see your disapproval even through this darkness." He gave Benny the burger nonetheless, and stepped away. "I have to steal, okay? I'll starve if I don't."
"There are other ways to do this," Benny said.
E chuckled. "Okay, then. Tell me those ways. Because I can't find any. I try to be nice to people so I can be fed, but they either stay away from me, afraid of they'll get involved with what I do, or they're either killed for conspiring with me, as the vamps put it. I can't get a job. I don't have an ID, or any documents on hand. Please tell me how I can get fed, o wise Benny."
Benny didn't know how to reply. Maybe he was being too rude to E. He didn't know how things worked in the street. "Sorry," Benny said. "I didn't mean anything by that."
E said nothing, and got out of the room, closing the door behind. Oh, Benny did not want to paint a target on his back when it came to E. He made a mistake, a horrible mistake. And he felt like an asshole because of it. He stared at the burger, which was still warm, and decided eating it was best. He wanted to thank E, but he guessed things wouldn't go well if he even decided to see E's face tonight.
In the morning, Benny woke up feeling like shit. Not just because of what he did to the poor guy, but also because he didn't get enough sleep. Yes, blame him for thinking about himself, but if anything, he was going to be forever around himself, and not E. He should start taking care of himself more.
He got up, and the first thing that he saw was his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit, too. He fixed his hair, and had wanted to wash his face, but in a few seconds, not surprisingly, he discovered that the bathroom had no water. Great. Benny took out his protein bar, and ate it for breakfast. He drank his water, but only managed to get a bit of it. He was out of water. At least he had money, so he could get a few bottles from the tiny markets around the corner.
He got up, took his backpack, and headed out of the room. He saw E doing the same, so without wanting to, he had looked at the guy for a brief moment. In the brightness of the day, he could see the guy's features well. His hair and eyes were brown. He seemed skinny. Very skinny. He was pale, but not vampire pale. At the same time, he didn't seem that unhealthy, perhaps merely malnourished.
And he was, admittedly, beautiful. But Benny wasn't about to say that. He didn't have any doubt that E would kill him if he wanted to.
The two left the building without another word, and parted ways. He hoped E would get some kind of aid. Especially since he said that vampires wanted to kill him. Maybe he should go help him. He had money, and he could fight off vampires, too.
He started walking towards the direction E had headed, but again, he realized how stupid and loud he was because in an instant, two vampires were on him. One was holding him against the wall, and the other was smirking at him. Oh, he forgot that vampires didn't get burned in the sun. They just got irritated.
The female who was smirking said, "This is a healthy one." She crossed her arms. "You'd be a great addition to us." She winked at him.
He just tightened his lips before saying, "Fuck off."
She chuckled. "Cute," she said. He tried to reach for his weapons, but his hands being pinned against the wall left him with no way of getting anything. Was this how he was going to die? Or worse, get turned? The vampire bared her fangs at him, and she grew nearer.
Benny did not want to see this happen, so he closed his eyes, waiting for this to be over. And it was over soon, because nothing happened. His arms were let go of, and he opened his eyes. He saw a pile of ashes with the male vampire who had held him stepping back, his eyes wide. E was standing there, the stake in his hand barely close to the vampire. "Do you really want to mess with me?" E asked.
The vampire started to step back, and shook his head. The he was off in the blink of an eye. E put his stake away, and looked at Benny with a stern look on his face. "Stop being so careless." He shook his head. "I swear to God, you would die in three seconds if you were left alone."
Benny blinked once, and then twice. He couldn't believe what just happened. "W-Why are they afraid of you so much?" he asked.
E just continued walking. "Come with me. I don't think you'd want to die, do you?" he asked in a low voice.
"Why aren't you answering my question?" Benny asked, following along, now making sure to be quiet.
E just looked at Benny, a smile forming in his face. "I'm their worst nightmare."
Despite Benny's constant stream of questions, E answered none of them, and just walked with a stone face. Benny sighed, giving up at this point.
But he did quite enjoy E's company. And that day, it might have been the most exciting in his life. After getting some food from a tiny shop nearby, Benny and E had eaten, had a small, meaningless chat, and went on to find some vampires. E had taught Benny so much about vampire hunting, and how he did it.
Frankly, E might be a bit too straightforward, but his personality was great. On top of that, he was merciful. He would only kill vampires that attacked him, aware of the presence of kind ones out there.
And E was efficient in his kills. His reflexes weren't perfect, but they were beyond what Benny had. And he knew how to handle a knife properly. It was so amazing watching him swing it at the vampires.
At the end of the day, they had found a small place to stay in. Benny lied down, looking at E who was too busy taking off his jacket to make a pillow out of it, and Benny smiled. He looked so innocent and soft at the moment, unlike how harsh and brutal he was out there. It was … strange.
E looked at Benny, frowning. "Why are you looking at me?" he asked, confused.
Benny shook his head. "It's nothing."
E seemed satisfied with the answer, which was also strange. No one was ever satisfied with the answer 'it's nothing'. E was certainly a weird person.
"How did you learn how to fight? Vampires, I mean," Benny asked.
E turned towards him, the jacket pillow seeming to cause some trouble for him. "I learned."
"From someone?" he asked.
E shook his head. "Myself. I've been practically doing this my whole life." Wow. Was life for him really that brutal? That he had to learn by himself this whole time?
Benny bit his lower lip, and looked at E with concern. "How old are you?" He mostly asked this because he was concerned about how many years he had to fight off these beasts. Because Benny himself was twenty-one, but he hadn't faced what E had, apparently.
E shrugged. "Heck would I know," he said.
Again, wow. At least Benny was lucky enough to have known his parents, to live with his grandmother in a nice home, and to at least continue high school despite all the fear they were living in.
"I could be in my twenties, I could be a teenager," E continued. "I don't really care. I just wanna kill Jesse Black."
Benny raised an eyebrow. Jesse Black was the leader of the vampires in this town, and he was the one that made this whole vampire takeover a thing. Besides that, he was also the strongest and most feared vampire in Whitechapel. "You're crazy."
E chuckled. "I've scared him before. I can do much worse to him." He did? Huh. There was much more to E than he was letting on. "Go to sleep," the other guy said. "We have long days ahead. I need to teach you how to be less stupid."
"Hey!" Benny said, pouting. E just smiled, and turned his back to Benny. There was no 'goodnight' said, though. They both knew there was no such thing in a world like this.
So there you go!
There were times where I didn't know what to write, but I managed to pull through. Just a note, in this world, there is no such thing as a seer, a spellcaster and such. The humans really are humans. Also, yes, obviously that's Ethan. I'm being obvious on purpose. I'm vague when I want to be. I have plans.
Get ready for more 'cause when I procrastinate, I do wonders.
Until next time!