A/N: This is a restart to the fanfic that I was originally writing called, Bleak, before I decided not to continue doing it anymore due to lack of motivation. I felt that my original story felt like a meh-ish start and decided to rework it from scratch. I'll keep Bleak up there for audience's interest and a reference point. Hope you guys enjoy. :)

EDIT: I decided to make a couple of minor changes to keep things consistent with the upcoming second chapter.


I remember the Cleansing as if it were yesterday.

Chapter 1: Musician
November 17th, 2012, 8:31 PM
London, England
Mathieu Walker's POV

I was only sixteen at the time. I hung out with my older brother, Tim Walker, at an isolated cliffside near London. We spent our nights hanging around in and out of our BMW, smoking cigarettes, listening to Slayer on our car stereo, and talking about our days.

"Do you believe in supernatural forces?" I brought up to Tim, lighting up my cigarette.

Tim smiled. "Well, being a history major, somewhat because of ancient legends and odd coincidences and incidents around the world."

"I'm saying this because I was walking on my way to school and saw some guy fuckin' kick a hole in a building," I explained. "Just check it out." I showed him a picture of the hole in the wall that I took with my iPhone.

"Looked like something the Hulk would do," Tim commented. "You sure that this came from a human being?"

"I saw it with my own eyes," I expressed. "Not just that, but I heard in the news that five cop cars were sent to his house and arrested him for vandalism."

Just as Tim lit another cigarette, a police car showed up on the hill and stopped near us. Both of us were a bit freaked out, thinking we did something wrong, although both of us haven't done anything significant other than a couple of speeding tickets. "You two shouldn't be staying here," the officer said after getting out of the car.

"What do you mean?" Tim questioned. "We always hang out here!"

"You won't be anymore," the officer said with a stern tone. "Marital law is now in effect as of twenty minutes ago."

"Wait, martial law-?"

"I'm going to have to take you two to the police station to check on any abnormalities you two might possess." I was freaking out. Assuming that the officer was talking about that person that blew that huge hole in that building, he knows that there was something unnatural going on in both him and possibly others.

His sentence was cut off when a deranged man bit deep into his neck. Both of us shivered at the sight as the officer dropped dead; the man bore a leather coat, torn jeans, and a bloody white t-shirt. His long hair was greasy and his skin was pale. His menacing, demented look was scary, but there were two things that particularly stuck out; the glowing blue irises and the bloody, sharp fangs.

I felt like I was watching a horror film, only that Tim and I were actually characters in it rather than members of the audience. There's no doubt that there are freaks like him roaming among the population. I wondered how we were going to live our lives with them under our skin, let alone survive an attack from that monster.

He lunged toward us at a frightening speed, lusting for his blood. Tim grabbed the monster by both his right arm and chest to stop him from killing us. Thanks to his time in the SAS (Special Air Service), he was able to fend him off for at least a limited time. He knew he could not hold on for long, however, and told me to "get the gun!" from the car. I grabbed his vintage S&M Schofield Model 3 .45 revolver, but by the time I loaded the rounds, it was too late. Tim was bitten by the neck. "No!" I screamed, shooting three rounds at the monster's jaw, neck, and shoulder. He retreated into the shadows before more shots were fired.

Tim collapsed to the ground, hyperventilating from his wound; his skin becoming pale and anemic and bleeding profusely from the neck; losing consciousness. "Shit," I gasped at the sight of his almost ethereal presence. I took off my t-shirt and tied it to Tim's wound. "Brother, you're gonna be alright. You've gone through much worse than this."

And he had been, as I recalled a car accident earlier in our childhoods that killed our parents, but spared Tim despite having severe injuries. He was the only family I had and seeing him hurt like that made me very fearful of losing him.

I put him in the car and drove recklessly to the nearest hospital, much faster than what the speed limits of the roads were. While heading there, I noticed police officers and military forces rounding up and executing people who were apparently monsters either with silver or ultraviolet weaponry.

Tim regained consciousness. "Mathieu, we can't go to the hospital," he shouted.

"You'll die if we don't!" I retorted.

"Look at this!" Tim showed me his neck, which had quickly healed in a matter of minutes, despite such a wound. "I'm one of those fucking freaks! I saw some of the shit out the windows; they'll fucking kill me!"

At that point, there was no need to take Tim to the hospital after he had become one of them. "Alright, I'm gonna get us out of the city! You'll be alright!"

As we heading for the freeway, we saw a heavy blockade of military forces in the tunnel, forcing me to make an abrupt stop. "Fuck," Tim gasped. "You should've just rammed the car through! What the fuck, Mathieu?"

"The roadblock's too heavy!" I screamed back. Even if it was a lighter blockade, I would have stopped anyway from pure instinct. Part of me wished I just drove through.

"Get out of the car," one of the soldiers ordered us to do with his voice amplified by his megaphone.

We were shaking, but Tim was easily the one that was most nervous with his affliction. He knew that he was going to die that night. And he snapped. "Fuck you!" he screamed, charging at the soldiers only to get peppered by machine gun fire.

"Tim!" I screamed, rushing toward his body, now burning internally from the many ultraviolet bullets that pierced him.

"I'm not...that..." Tim murmured weakly, almost incomprehensibly before he succumbed to his injuries.

"Fuck! No! Tim!" I cried out to the lifeless, charred remains of my brother. The only family I had.

The leader of the blockade ordered his soldiers to hold their fire and approached me slowly. He sprayed silver nitrate gas at me, then shined an ultraviolet light at my face, thinking that I was one of those monsters. "Why did you do this to him?" I growled at him. "What the fuck?"

"If he continued to live, like most of these biological threats, he would have compromised your safety and turned you into one of his kind," he replied. "They are far too dangerous to be kept alive; they rely on human flesh and blood for food."

"I wanted to help him!" I shouted.

"Your brother could never be saved!" the leader shouted. "Once a non-human, always a non-human. There is no cure. These threats cannot co-exist because of their need to kill to stay alive. Since you are clear of any infection, we're going to have to take you home. Because of your naivety and how recent this outbreak occurred, we will clear you of charges of being an accomplice to a biological threat for now. It's best not to interact with any of these monsters, whether or not they are your friends or family. Consider my words a fair, but final warning."

As a lesser police officer took me home in his squad car, I wrestled with frustration over my brother's death. Even when the soldiers had a justified reason for killing him, I really didn't want him to die. At the very least, they could have restrained him and locked him up in a heavy cell.

As much as I absolutely hated what they did, I ultimately had to agree with their actions. Perhaps for the greater good of man, by cleaning out these "biological threats," that those who are not infected would be saved.

And the one that bit Tim. With every fiber of my being, I absolutely hate him for spreading his affliction to other innocent lives, including Tim. If I ever see him again, I will kill him.


October 1st, 2024, 8:00 PM
Budapest, Hungary

Following the years after the death of my brother, I decided to become a soldier in the SAS like he was to lessen the insecurities of living with these monsters (who are now labeled as vampires and Lycans, as characterized by mythology). Due to my exceptional skills three years into my time with the SAS, I was personally selected by General Albert Fisher to join SIAF (Special Immortal Activities Forces): a special operations force that is tasked for vital missions that prevent catastrophe, especially at the hands of these immortals. I served as the second-in-command of the 66th Squad under the codename, "Musician" with Larry "Reaper" Garza taking command.

In the wake of two test subjects escaping the Antigen headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, we were originally sent to extract Dr. Jacob Lane, the head of Antigen. Of course, by the time we arrived, it was too late.