Chapter 2

It was getting late, the darkness settling down on the land, and Shawn had been walking for what seemed like hours. Randolph couldn't be lying; the U.S. government had all his personal background information and everything. He figured a background check was all it took to keep anybody in line.

Shawn peered down the edge of the hill he was on, taking note of the plentiful trees and shrubs all along the path. Seeing several houses well lit seemed to lighten his mood.

"Civilization at last. Was starting to believe I was on a nature walk..."

As he glanced away, he noticed the path he was on seemed to deviate away from town. The only way in would be through the forest. Hesitating, he reached into his pockets and loaded his Beretta. There was no way he would take any chances against an animal or -

"- or a vampire?" he thought sarcastically.

It took him another thirty minutes to navigate through the shrubbery. Strangely, there appeared to be no signs of animal life that he could see. Except for a couple of dead birds, which he found a bit unusual, no other creatures inhabited the area. Yet, he wasn't complaining. He was out and in one piece. The entrance to Blavoc was up ahead. A wooden arch with a rural type of design signified this.

"The Red Horizon."

The inn stood there in plain sight, the lights glowing from the many windows. Shawn was quite impressed by the structure.

"Looks better than the freaking train. At least they chose the right town to stay at."

The little town looked like anything you'd see on a traveling ad. A peaceful, cozy town, full of wondrous sights and interesting, hospitable people, and all the clean air. Who knew, maybe this would turn out to be some sort of vacation spot for him.

He stepped in the motel-like inn and took a look around. The lobby was a piece of work, with rugs, antique chairs, and even a chandelier hanging at the center of the room. The front register where the clerk would be seemed vacant. There wasn't a soul in sight.

"Must be taking a bathroom break or something," he thought.

Shawn started up the carpeted stairs, hoping that the note he left stating he was from the United States agency was enough for the time being. After all, he needed to report to his superiors and everything. He wasn't informed of this meeting since he departed.

He took the only room that wasn't locked. For an ordinary village out here in the Alps, things weren't so bad. The room was pretty large and well maintained, almost as if these people were specifically waiting him. After unpacking, he took out his laptop and attempted to contact someone from his platoon. There must have been some kind of discrepancy on where they were to meet or something.

"Damn it, why...?"

No matter how many times he tried, Shawn could not connect to the communication link on the computer. Something around the area must've prevented him from using it. Frustrated, he headed downstairs barefoot, hoping somebody was down there. Yet why they wouldn't have checked up on him was beyond comprehension. He even made sure his Romanian was right this time.

He entered the lobby and like he guessed, no one was there.

"Well, I guess they wouldn't mind if I use their phone."

As he picked up the phone attached to the flower designed wall, he noticed a crinkled up piece of paper laying on a small ornamental table. The handwriting was shaky...and in Romanian. Sighing, he attempted to read it. Something told him it was probably some emergency notice informing people that they'd be out for awhile.

"G-g..et..."

Shawn nearly had it. It said... "Get out of here, now..."

He squinted anxiously at the brooding message.

"Umma, get out of here, now! Something here ... right. There were screams...they killed and ate ...acted like... vampire- "

At that sudden moment, he froze. Were the rumors actually true? He held up his gun, listening carefully for any faint sounds. Nothing. Although his Romanian was horrendous, he could definitely make out the word "vampire". And by the way this person wrote this letter-

There was a creek somewhere in the large inn, the sound of a door opening very carefully. It seemed to come from behind the stairway he came down from. Tensed and ready, Shawn slowly approached the hall he'd came from. There were no other sounds; he was walking barefoot on a rug. The silence drove him to the point that he began hearing things.

"Have to stay focused..."

Shawn held the gun firmer, and his breathing became heavy. To him, there were no such things as vampires, but since that incident...

Another sound came from what looked like the kitchen. The room was a light baby blue color. The nicely decorated tile floor seemed somewhat insidious as he approached. Every step he took closer, he could hear an eerie lurching noise, like someone crawling away from that room. He was close enough to see the counters and stove tops, and that was when he noticed. There was a splatter of dried blood on the tile floor. As he leaned forward, what laid sprawling lifelessly across the cold floor told him something was incredibly wrong here.

"Oh...man..."

The body of a middle-aged man was slumped on the floor, as pale as the kitchen counters. When he got near enough, he saw the bloodied face of the man, an expression of inexplicable pain engraved on it. As expected, two red deep holes stood out from the ghostly white skin. Whatever did this must not have been so human...

Back where he came, there were suddenly light footsteps. They headed upstairs...

"What the hell...?"

Whoever, or whatever, did this, went around the other way. They were here the whole time. Shawn quickly got up and jogged lightly toward the stairs, pistol up in the air.

"Please let this be some freak accident, please..."

Despite the amount of experience and courage he had as an agent, nothing made him feel more like a kid than the supernatural, especially when they were occurring in reality.

The stairway creaked a little as he edged toward the top. Down the slim hall where the vacant rooms of visitors lined, there was a shadowy figure. Surely it was...

"You," he called out sternly, "don't move, err..." He paused, suddenly remembering that these people all spoke Romanian. Regardless, the entity turned around. Only its oval head could be seen. All details were shrouded in the darkness. Just then, Shawn noticed that the strange thing had broken one of the hanging lamps that illuminated the hall. Was it annoyed by the light?

Shawn carefully rummaged through his pockets to find the mini flashlight he used in the woods. Gun pointed at its direction, he shown the light on the hunched-over creature, and its eyes reflected back. It became startled and shrieked violently. In the light, it appeared to be a...

"...W-what on earth..."

The creature looked dead. The face was as pale as the dead man's down in the kitchen. Blood mixed with drool, which covered its mouth and teeth, dripped down on the ground as it snarled at his presence. It seemed to be male, its white bald head peeling and...rotting. His clothes were tattered and he was barefooted, no socks or anything. It moaned hungrily...

"...like those from..."

For a second, he thought of "Operation Biohazard", the mission he was sent on in a backwater town in the U.S. Those poor people, they were...

"Zombies."

This thing standing before him reminded him of that. Did the same thing happen to him?

The zombie creature approached steadily, eyes glowing inhumanly as its gaze met his perfectly. Its hands shook with excitement as it readied itself. It lunged from nearly ten feet away, surprising Shawn who shot without hesitation. The zombie was blown back. It jumped right back up, as if it were just shoved to the ground. There was a hole on its chest where he had shot it, however, there was no blood seeping out. The thin creature attempted a second time, this time trying to slash him with putrid nails. Shawn couldn't react as quick this time and had to step back to avoid the assault. He fell down the small set of stairs which led to the larger one, his back slamming painfully against one of the steps.

"Shit-"

He recovered promptly and aimed once more at it. It licked feverishly at its hand, which was covered with some blood. Once he felt the sharp pain on his left arm, he realized why. Completely oblivious to Shawn's bearings, he then took this time to train his Beretta on its repulsive head and shot away. A wet noise and a sudden cry from the monster indicated that it was effective. The creature did not move.