The Wastelands
Chapter 3
He began to make his way over to the buried girl. His friends were laughing hystrerically in the backround.
"We got her good!" J.P. yelled.
"Which one of us gets to finish her off?" Kouichi wondered.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The figure bellowed. He emerged from the shadows.
"Oh, come on, Takuya. We were just having some fun," Kouji replied.
Takuya glared at them. "Just get out of here. NOW!"
The four of them, still laughing, left the building through one of the windows that had been busted open. Takuya watched them leave, then made his way over to Zoe. He quickly threw the boards off of her until they were no longer burying her. Zoe had a layer of dust covering her skin, and he could see several cuts and bruises forming on her back. Takuya swept her into his arms and carried her through the building, to the next room. Contrary to the one they had just been in, this one was much nicer and had been redone recently. Thick red carpets covered the floors and crimson drapes were wrapped around concrete pillars holding the ceiling up.
It's been so long, he thought. The pretty girl he had remembered as an eleven year-old had grown into a beautiful young woman.
He softly brushed his fingers over her face, wiping the dust away. Zoe stirred, but did not awake. Takuya looked at her shoulder and noticed that it didn't look right. He gently popped it back into its socket. Zoe whimpered and inadvertantly buried her face in his chest. Takuya looked at her bare neck and swallowed. It looked so smooth, and delicate. He could almost taste her blood just by looking at it. Immediately he pushed those thoughts out of his head.
Zoe coughed and began to wake up. Her eyes opened and, although it had been nine years, she recognized Takuya's face. She threw herself off him, wincing in pain.
"Takuya?" She almost didn't believe it.
He looked a little similar from when he had been eleven but was now older and had become breath-takingly handsome.
"Hello Zoe." A small smile played on his lips.
Zoe looked around. "Where am I? How the hell did I get here?"
Takuya smirked. "I brought you here. Figured you'd be a little more grateful that I didn't let my buddies finish you off."
She glared at him. "Okay. Thank you for not letting them kill me. There. I'm going now."
He quickly moved in her way. "Why are you going so soon?"
"I told you I appreciate that you saved me. But I don't need you. Now get out of my way," she replied angrily.
"But I want you to stay for a little while. You know, catch up a bit." He refused to move.
Zoe gave him a look. "You want me to stay for awhile? Good one. I don't have time for this. Move."
Takuya looked her in the eye. "No."
"You can either get out of my way or I can do it for you. Take your pick."
He snickered. "Try me."
"You're unbelievable. Why do you want me to stay? What would be the point of that?" She snapped.
"Oh, come on Zoe. It's been nine years. I just wanted to see what you were up to."
"What I've been up to is none of your business. I stayed the hell away from you and that's all you need to know."
Takuya felt a tug in his heart. "Dammit. It's been almost a decade and you're still crying about that?"
Zoe suddenly slapped him across the face. "Shut up! You have no idea what I've been through all this time. And you stand there, so smug with yourself, like you own the world."
He barely felt the blow to his face and began to laugh. "Wow. That's the first time anyone's dared to hit me in a long time."
"And there'll be more if you don't get the hell out of my way. I don't want anything to do with you. I've done it for nine years and I'll do it for the rest of my life, however long that may be."
A look of regret came across Takuya's face. "Look, Zoe. About what I said-"
"I don't want to talk about it," she cut him off. He thought he saw a tear in her eye. "I'm still mad how it all happened. But I've also gotten over it since then."
"I didn't mean to hurt you Zoe. It had to be done." He looked apologetic.
Zoe turned around so she wasn't facing him. She didn't want him to see her wipe a tear away. "What's done is done. It doesn't matter now. Nothing does nowadays."
"As you can tell I've changed. You have too apparently, only a different way." He couldn't help but smirk. "Going to try to slay me now? I mean, that is what you are, right? A vampire slayer?"
Zoe whirled around, her face full of anger. "For your information, no, I'm not a vampire slayer." She paused for a moment.
"Oh? What are you then?"
She glared at him. "You're right about one thing. I do kill vampires........but I kill humans as well."
Takuya raised his eyebrows in shock. "What?! Why would you kill humans? That doesn't make any sense."
"Nothing makes sense in this world,"she said coldly. "I have my reasons."
He shook his head in disbelief. "I just figured you saw us all as monsters and wanted us all dead."
"Then you know me even less than you thought. You would assume that." She rotated her injured shoulder. "The average person would think that way. And, as you can see, I'm not like everyone else."
Takuya laughed. "I mean, I've heard of some blond chick going around killing vampires and humans. I just had no idea it was you."
Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess. You thought I probably died a long time ago."
"The thought came to mind, yes. I hoped it wasn't true, but I could never find proof otherwise." He looked upset, but at the same time relieved.
"Well as you can see, I'm very much alive and kicking." Her expression darkened. "Besides, why would you care anyway?"
"Zoe, I've never stopped caring about you," Takuya said.
"Sorry, but I don't believe you. After all, I was only good for annoying you," Zoe said mockingly. She looked angry and looked like she was trying to keep herself from ripping his head off.
"I didn't mean any of that!" Takuya retorted. "I broke up with you because I turned into a friggen vampire a few days before and I kept getting the urge to kill! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever hurt you......or worse."
She stared at him in shock. While she was relieved that he had only tried to protect her, she still felt furious.
"Why didn't you tell me?! I thought out of all people you would at least tell me."
Takuya looked down. "I wanted to, but I was afraid of what you would think of me."
Zoe couldn't believe what she was hearing. "This is ridiculous. I've got to go and think about some things." She pushed past him and went through the door.
"Will you come back so we can talk about this more?" He shouted after her.
She bent down to pick up her discarded coat. Shrugging it on, she answered without looking back at him. "Tomorrow."
Takuya swallowed and watched her go, the heavy doors banging shut behind her.
well that wraps up chapter 3. hopefully chapter 4 will help to explain things a little better. let me know how you like it. :D
