Chapter 2:
Normal POV:
Outside the geodesic dome, there was nothing but complete destruction all around. The once tall buildings once thriving with businesses and life were now nothing but left over relics of what once was. All around the destroyed buildings and streets, plant life growing out the cracks and growing up the building walls.
A lone woman ran for her life down the streets as she searched for a place to hide. Unknown to her, she was being stalked by a figure in a dark tuxedo and marching top hat, standing on top of a large building, that looked like was close to collapsing at any moment. The figure smirked menacingly as he watched the woman run into an abandoned pharmacy clinic.
"Those cowardly humans cannot hide from me!" The figure said, smiling more, at the same time more other figures began to appear from the shadows and alley ways, smiling sinisterly themselves.
The woman ran through the destroyed isles, avoiding the fallen debris from the walls and ceiling, trying to find a way out of the building. She ran behind the half destroyed counter in the far back of the store and tried find anything to use as a weapon. She managed to find a sharp broken bottle with sharp edges. Holding the bottle close, she looked around the room, and listened closely for any kind of noise. The next thing the woman knew, she found herself throw into a wall hard, her weapon falling and shattering on the floor. She didn't have time to react when she was hit over the head hard, knocking her out cold.
"Though you could escape for Sir Pentious?" The same figure as before appeared, walking over to his servant, who moved away from the unconscious human at their feet. Sir Pentious leaned down and picked the woman up by her limbed right arm, forcing her up like a lifeless puppet on strings.
"Hunting these pitiful humans is far too of an easy task. No other vampire can compare to the likes of I." He said, smiling as his henchmen around smiled at him.
"At this rate, I will seize control of the entire west side of the city by day's end! And nothing, not a single human or vampire in this land of suffering will be able to take back this empire from my constrictive grasp!" Sir Pentious said, smiling sinisterly.
"This world will be mine! And everybody will know the name of Sir Pen-"
"EDGELORD!" A completely different voice shouted, causing Sir Pentious to pause his tirade.
"Pardon?!" He shouted, and looked around in anger before he heard a small clink near his feet.
Sir Pentious and his henchmen looked to see a flash grenade painted red with a black skull laying in front of them. They didn't have enough time to react before it exploded and the flash blinded them. The vampire holding the unconscious woman, rubbed his eyes before opening them again to find her gone.
"You lookin' for something, old man?" A woman with blonde hair with red and white streaks, wearing a black off the shoulder top, black short shorts, shredded black leggings, red combat boots, a red military vest, and black leather fingerless gloves. She was holding the unconscious woman in her right arm, and holding another painted flash grenade in her left hand.
"Why don't you get your bullshit walking carcass of a body off my turf before I kill you... Again…" The woman, known as Cherri smirked.
The unconscious woman began to wake up as Sir Pentious glared at Cherri, "Oh! You wanna go, missy?! Well, I'm happy to oblige!"
He laughed, as he and his henchmen pulled out various automatic weapons and knifes from their pockets and coats. Cherri pulled the woman up, nearly ripping her arm off her body as Cherri threw the flash grenade at Sir Pentious and his henchmen before she ducked behind a wall to avoid the blast.
"Good afternoon, I'm Katie Bittermen." Katie said, smiling at the camera.
Next to Katie sat her co-host, who smiled at the camera as well,
"And I'm Tom Gregory. Chaos outside of Crismon City today as a blood war is raging on the west side! Between notable wannabe vampire lord, Sir Pentious, and newbie vampiress, Cherri Belle."
"That's right, Tom! We have exclusive body cam footage from the scene and it appears those two seem to be really going at it, huh?" Katie said, as video footage from a soldier's body cam showed the fight between Cherri and Sir Pentious.
Both were shooting at each other with their 9mm pistols and 9mm machine gun. As they moved around, ducking behind walls and doors to avoid being hit before Sir Pentious uses one of his henchmen as a human shield.
"Looks like they're fighting tooth and nail for the blood! More on this story in a bit, but for now we have an exclusive interview with the daughter of the army's own head honcho who's here to discuss her brand new passion project!" Katie said, motioning to Charlie sitting next to her, smiling nervously and waving hello to the camera.
"So, Chelsea!" Katie said, smiling sweetly as she turned to Charlie, who smiled sheepishly at her.
"Uh… It's... Charlie." Charlie replied, smiling sheepishly at the camera.
"Whatever. Tell us about this new passion project you've been insistently pestering our news station about!" Katie asked, completely waving off her words.
Charlie smiled a bit, before she looked around and Vaggie, who stood next to the video camera watching, motions her to go on, smiling at her. Charlie smiled a bit more and turned back to Katie.
"Well," She began, and cleared her throat and continued, "as most of you know, I was born here in Crimson City and growing up, I always tried to see the good in everyone around me. Crimson City is my home and-" She said before she fiddled with her seat a bit, "we are all human. We... we are doing everything we can to survive."
Charlie explained a bit and Vaggie gave her two thumbs up before both noticed Katie was looking board as she yawned.
"Um, a-as you know, we have lost so many lives already in recent years, and it breaks my heart to see humans and vampires who were also once human being attacked, changed and killed everyday. No one is even given a chance!" Charlie explained before she felt her emotions beginning to take control, her mind wondering to all the people turned against their will and later killed.
Charlie slammed her hands on the desk, startling Katie and Tom, who looked at her surprised.
"I can't stand idly by while the place I live in is subjected to such violence and tragedy! So, I've been thinking: Isn't there a different way to fix this issue that doesn't involve violence or guns?" She asked, as Katie and Tom exchanged skeptical and confused expressions.
"Perhaps we can create an alternative way to change vampires through... redemption? Well, I think yes! So that's what this project aims to achieve! Ladies and gentlemen, I'm opening the first of its kind! A hospital that rehabilitates vampires!" Charlie said, smiling into the camera.
In a mansion on the north side of the city, a very wealthy family watched the interview. The father and mother watched perplexed. The daughter watched with a board expression, absentmindedly filing her nails before turning to her brother.
"I can't believe you ever dated her, what a joke." She said, laughing to herself.
Her brother completely ignored her as he continued to watch the report.
"This ridiculous plan is never going to work Charlie…" he muttered to himself, his eyes not once moving from the screen in front of them.
In a different home, a very beautiful woman watched the report, sipping on a cup of tea set in front of her. She watched Charlie closely and smiled a small bit.
"My sweet little Charlie, I hope you know what you're saying and doing. And I hope Vaggie will keep her promise to protect you." The woman muttered before turning to stare out the pure steel bars placed on the windows and sighed.
"I hope your father is safe out there..." She muttered under her breath, before picking her tea cup up again and tool a sip.
Outside the geodesic dome, many vampires, hiding from the bright, burning sun watched the interview on the old televisions that still worked, inside old electronic stores. Many of them laughed or scoffed at the idea of them possibly being able to return to their human forms. They knew there was no real way for them to change back. Outside an abandoned and nearly demolished store, a lone figure walked up to the destroyed window display. The figure saw and watched the interview from a cracked and barely working tv as Charlie continued to talk about her idea. The figure watched the interview, a smile plastered on their face slowly growing into a wide grin as they watched Charlie smile at the camera.
"I think this hospital will be the first step to a new world. A place to work toward redemption..." she explained, the image on the old television cutting off a little before fixing itself.
The figure continued to watch as their shadow began to move on its own, watching the tv as well before it reached its shadow hand over and touched the cracked screen. The shadow stared at the picture of Charlie on the screen, a small smile appearing on its face before crimson tears began to form in the corners of its eyes. The figure's shadow sensed something and quickly disappeared as the figure continued to watch the interview, completely ignoring the footsteps approach them, before a single soldier appeared and spotted the figure standing in front of the old store.
"Sir, you really must take cover somewhere safe. Come with me—" the soldier said, approaching the figure only to pause when he noticed the figure, didn't have a reflection of any kind reflecting back from the broken glass window or tv screens.
The soldier held up his weapon up, ready to attack as the figure turned to him, his crimson eyes glaring at him, even with the big smile plastered on his face, two pointed fangs on full display.
"Good afternoon good sir, do you know any good place around here to get a bite to eat?" The figure asked, turning his full attention now on the soldier before him.
"Donovan. Donovan. Do you copy?!" A soldier spoke to his comrade, trying to contact him. Another soldier with them, looked at him confused.
"It's not like Donovan not to respond." The second soldier said, before talking into her radio system hooked on to her bullet proof vest.
"Sir, Donovan is unresponsive. Moving in to investigate." She said before both soldiers began to move in slowly in the direction their comrade went.
They stealthily moved through the deserted streets, keeping their eyes and ears opened until they neared a street intersection. The two turned to the left and paused as they spotted a body a few feet away, laying face down on the ground. Both ran over and saw the body was wearing their army uniform. The male soldier turned the body around and both gasped, the female looking away at the horrific sight.
The soldier was completely white, drained of all blood, but not only that, his throat was torn to shreds, revealing the muscle tissue and bone underneath. Their eyes wondered down further to the man's chest, to find it a giant bloody gap. His heart was missing. The two soldiers looked around to try and find the culprits but only found a trail of blood drops on the ground. They followed the trail and managed to find the missing organ. It had been placed in front of the old electronics store, the news report still playing on the television in the old display window.
I hope you all Enjoyed. Keep an eye out for the next update and please do not be afraid to comment. Stay Tuned~