October 23rd, 1994
The screaming alarm clock woke Abigail, her head pounding with the rhythm that seemed to shout directly at her. She rubbed her eyes, fumbling with her other hand to smash the alarm clock, promptly shutting it up. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Abigail looked at the time, the red numbers staring back at her, telling her it was still so early in the morning. She shook her head and groaned, falling back onto the bed. Throwing her arm over her eyes, she tried to muster the strength she needed in order to get herself out of bed. ""4:20am, why did I decide on this ungodly hour?"" Abigail knew she had to go do her morning run, or she'd be dead during her classes. She just couldn't seem to get up yet; shaking herself awake, she launched herself out of the bed. Standing before she could think about it, her night shift pressing against her body, the silk of it seemed stuck on the sweat that had been produced over the sleepless night of nightmares and over thinking. Abigail's slender hand shot out, her nails, crimson peaks, curled around her yoga jogging pants, and her tank top. She ran to the bathroom, attempting to be as quiet as she could, since she didn't want to wake her dorm mates, closing the door she stripped in one fluid motion. Quickly she jumped into her jogging pants, pulling them up just slightly above the curve of her hips, and then slid her tank top over her head. She smiled slightly in the mirror, her hair looking an abysmal mess as usual. Reaching for her hair brush she blinked, realizing it wasn't actually there. ""What the…."" She couldn't think of any other place she had her hair brush besides the bathroom. A small sigh escaping her ruby lips before she pursed them, grabbing Amelia's brush and raking it through her hair, she hoped the other girl wouldn't mind, since she didn't use her own hair brush anyways. Silently setting Amelia's hair brush back in the same place, and hoping it wouldn't be noticed that it had been moved that morning, Abigail opened the door, promptly sliding past the intruder that stood waiting, she laughed softly, realizing she'd been in the bathroom a little too long.
Quietly, Abigail bounced down the stairs, stopping just before the door at the shoe cubby that the dorms had put in. She smiled at her sneakers, the black and blue cloth of them ragged and old, yet, still in working condition. She grabbed them from her cubby quickly, sitting on the last step of the stair well; she pulled them on over her multi-colored socks, and laced them up the rest of the way, tying them in a knot before shoving the laces into the side of her shoe. She bounced up, grabbing her fanny pack from the door hang, and throwing it around her slender waist. She threw open the door, and stepped out into the dark morning, there was barely any light, save for the street lamps that shown overhead, and the purple tinted sky off in the distance, telling her that she still had a few hours before sunrise came into full effect. Closing the door behind her, Abigail jumped down the two steps that lead to the sidewalk, breathing in the crisp morning air. Stretching her arms over her head, and then leaning side to side, stretching her muscles out, she got ready to run. As minutes passed, she felt that she was ready; her bodies warmed up and limber. Taking off down the sidewalk, Abigail's arms pumped with the jogging pace, her legs moving quickly, and her feet slapping the ground; the dark brown tendrils of hair curling around her arms and shoulders as she ran. The wind slapped her face, her breath began to come in shallow gasps, her body feeling the burn. She knew she had to go at the very least a mile before stopping. She blinked, seeing another female runner just up ahead of her; she smiled, recognizing who it was.
"Vie!" She shouted as she picked up her speed in order catch the other girl, Abigail beamed, adoring the fact she had someone else to run with. Vie, continuing to jog smiled as she waved Abigail up, then turned back ground when the two girls were finally shoulder to shoulder with each other, and both slowed their paces a small big.
"Hey Abby, I can't believe you're going on your morning runs again, you're going to be the flash by the time you're done." Vie's smile was brilliantly white and perfect, just as Abigail had remembered, she grinned, nodding at the same time. Wiggling slightly to the side, Abigail shoulder checked Vie, not hard, but enough to knock her to the side a bit.
"What about you Vie? You usually hate running, at any point of the day, but here you are, running in the morning, which you hate too." Abigail laughed; the teasing tone wouldn't make Vie mad, she knew this, and continued to tease her sporadically throughout their run together. Vie really did hate running, and even more, she hated mornings, so seeing Vie on this morning run, was amusing to say the very least.
"Well, we're both applying for the Academy, aren't we? Can you imagine it? Both of us getting to Geoffrey's Academy of High Students, taking classes together, getting into mischief, and the like?" Vie's voice radiated honesty and excitement, the same excitement that Abigail had been feeling earlier that day when she'd been talking to the girls in her dorm about the Academy. She was certain that they were sick of hearing about it, actually, they'd said so when she tried talking about the lush campus and the higher learning classes, the advanced classes, and the type of students that really went there, just the other night. She smiled sheepishly as she looked at Vie.
"Have you put in your application already? Or are you going to wait like Deadrie? She said she was going to be waiting almost until the last minute though, which we both know is a bad idea." Abigail smiled, stumbling on the sidewalk as her foot caught on a giant crack in the pavement. She and Vie both laughed as Abigail got her balance again, and then shook her head, her brown tendrils snaking out around her. Sighing, her bright green hues locked on Vie's brilliant blue ones.
"Oh, I've already sent my application in! What about you?" Vie's brilliant blue eyes beamed with excitement and hope as she jogged, her breath coming in shorter gasps now, just like Abigail's from the run they'd been on, both having lost track of the time and the distance that they'd gone at this point. Stopping both the girls put their hands on their hips, and then Abigail raised her arms above her head, stretching, but at the same point, attempting to make sure that she didn't get cramps in her sides or ribs. She grinned widely as she nodded.
"I sent mine in a while back ago, honestly. I can't believe I even waited that long, I wanted to send it in at the beginning of the deadline, but I couldn't figure out how to answer the last question on the application I got." Abigail smiled and clapped her hands together as she noticed her own breathing deepen into a rolling breathing, both her and Vie's chests raising and falling with ease now from the rest. Vie clapped her hands, bouncing up and down as she giggled and squealed.
"Shall we go then? We have to be in top shape for the entrance exam for the Academy, or we won't get in, you know that." Vie motioned her slender, blue tipped finger nails towards the side walk as she grinned. Abigail nodded, both girls taking off this time. She wriggled her headphones free of their hold on her neck, pulling them out of her cell phone, and turned the music up. Stars in Stereos began to blare from the speaker as they ran. Laughing, Vie clapped her hands and began to sing along with the song. Abigail smiled brightly, her green hues beaming at her friend, then she moved her mouth to the song, but wouldn't sing it, knowing she needed the breath to run, and didn't want to run out of fuel so fast. The girls quickly picked up the pace as they rounded the corner, stopping dead in their tracks. Vie reached up, snapping the music off so fast, that it had barely gotten to the chorus before it died. The girls stood stark still, seeing the scene before them. A lifeless mass of flesh lay on the ground, barely breathing, there were no gashes or marks signifying what actually hurt this person. Their red mass of hair was stuck to their head, sweat plastered to their ghostly face. Abigail held her hand out to Vie, stopping her from stepping forward, just as a small figure stepped out of the shadow. The little girl's face was remorseless, frighteningly so. Vie sucked in an audible breath, shaking her head, then looked at Abigail.
"Go get someone from the dorm." Abigail's voice was quiet, almost too quiet for Vie to hear, but she'd heard her. She turned and sprinted off in the direction that they had come. Abigail glared at the little girl, reaching behind her to the waist band of her pants, she knew how to deal with this little girl; this UnDead child. The little girl tilted her head, her snow white hair falling against her slender white shoulder. She smiled creepily, the curl of her lips looking almost animalistic in essence. She moved to the side, attempting to get behind Abigail, who wouldn't let that happen. Quickly Abigail jumped to the side, putting her back against the wall, and grabbing the blade from its sheath hidden in the waist of her pants. She held it down next to her thigh, hoping that Vie would hurry up and find someone to bring. Abigail's hues were transfixed on the little girl, glowering as she thought back to her training; she knew what this thing was trying to do; steal her soul. They'd caught it in the middle of feeding on the soul of the woman on the ground, an older woman, maybe late 20's who would fall for the lost child routine; but Abigail was smarter, and younger, she'd been training to kill these things her entire life. A low growl emanated from the little girl as she lunged for Abigail, who swiftly brought up her leg, catching the little girl in the side of the head and throwing her out of her planned trajectory and into the wall down the sidewalk; though a small line of blood appeared on the little girl's forehead, Abigail knew it was going to take more to kill the UnDead.
Thinking back on her training Abigail went over everything that she knew about what the little girl was; ""An UnDead Child. An UnDead child is one that has died before the age of 18, their bodies become reanimated by some strong urge to continue walking this earth, and they are revived, but without a soul. This lack of soul makes them into animalistic monsters who prey on normal humans to steal their souls through the ability of a kiss, the soul slips from the normal person's lips during the kiss and into the UnDead Child, satisfying them only for a short amount of time."" Abigail blinked quickly, hearing the animalistic growls again from the child, who was now on all fours, and hell bent on harming Abigail to steal her soul at this point. Abigail backed up slightly; the child launched itself at Abigail, who feinted left, gripping the handle of the blade in her right hand, and swinging down as the child flew past her. The Child's clawed fingers ripped into Abigail's leg as the blade slammed true, straight in the heart. The Child dropped, the souls of those she'd stolen from released from the tiny body, floating up into the air. Abigail smiled as she stepped on the Child's shoulder, ripping her blade out. She swiftly swung the blade once more, severing the head of the Child from its shoulders. The head rolled down the sidewalk, stopping at Vie's feet, who'd just then returned with the help that Abigail had sent her for. Blood pooled on the ground, touching Abigail's sneakers and soaking the bottom of them. She raised an eyebrow at Vie and the Elders of the Dorms, tilting her head; she swung the blade up in her hand, wiping the blood from the blade onto her pants, it wouldn't show anyways, since they were black. She smiled at the Elders and began to limp towards them.
"Very good Abigail, you have slayed your first rouge UnDead, and just in time, this is a representative from Geoffrey's Academy, they've come to talk to you and Vie." The Elder waved his hand at an older man, grey wisps of hair covering an almost bald head, his suit and tie pristine and perfect, but Abigail knew that he hide many weapons in there, just as Vie and Abigail hid their weapons on their own bodies, within their own clothing. Vie shot a sideways glance at Abigail, then smirked.
"Yeah, that's all well and good, but would y'all mind getting her cleaned up? The Dorms will complain if she smells like death again." Abigail let out a loud laugh as Vie grinned, then with one arm around Abigail's waist and Abigail's arm over Vie's shoulder they began to make their way back to the dorms to clean Abigail up. Abigail leaned her head onto Vie's shoulder and smiled, looking up at the other girl, since Vie was significantly taller than Abigail.
"How'd I do? I only got the scratch on the leg." Abigail's voice held a hint of teasing, but also a tremor of adrenaline, knowing she very well couldn't have beaten more than that particular one, it was still young, having just been reanimated from its dead shell, and hadn't been found by the authorities, which was unusual as it was hard to deal with at the moment. The searing pain worked its way across Abigail's thigh, encompassing the entire area of her right thigh. Grimacing, Vie got her into the dorm, sitting her on the stairs as she went in search of the First Aid kit that every dorm kept. The older man, a representative of the Academy followed them in, the Elders close behind him. Abigail looked up at him, raising a slender brown eyebrow as she waited for him to speak.
"That was a mighty fine kill that you did, Ms. Austin. The Academy is offering you a place in its resident student body." The representative spoke in a condescending way, almost as if he thought he could have done better; which he probably could have. He was older, and had been dealing with the UnDead for many years at this point, Abigail was still a novice, but she knew the Academy could mold her into the best of the best, one of the top hunters of this time. She nodded, blinking slowly as the pain continued to spread from her thigh down to her knee.
"I accept the invitation, sir, with honor." Abigail smiled as Vie came back with the first aid kit, taking the vial that Vie held out to her, Abigail pinched her nose and down the entire green colored liquid in one swig, instantly feeling better as the antidote worked to disperse the point from the UnDead's claws. Vie began to work on Abigail's leg, disinfecting it first, then noticing she couldn't get to the wound with Abigail's pants on.
"Don't hate me Abby, but it's got to happen for me to treat you." Vie's hands ripped a gaping hole in the black pants that Abigail had been wearing. Sighing, Abigail frowned, and then shook her head, wincing as Vie began to put on the disinfecting ointment and began to clean the wound. The Representative stood watching, and then nodded.
"Ms. Underling, for your impeccable healing capabilities, herbal expertise, and calmness in situations of duress, the Academy also wishes to offer you a spot within it's student body." His voice, once again, held the underlying condescending tone that Abigail hated. Frowning at the representative, Abigail gripped the edge of the stair she sat on until her knuckles were a solid white.
"Thank you, and I accept, of course, with honor." Vie's voice was monotonous at this point, she was concentrating on Abigail's wound, and didn't give a flying rat about anything else at this point. Once Vie had disinfected the wound and cleaned the area around it, she began to bandage it, nodding as she spoke to Abigail.
"You don't need stitches this time, but I'd keep an eye on it for now, once it heals there will be a scar, which I can't help, but hey, what's one more battle wound." Vie smiled up at Abigail as she joked around with her. Abigail laughed in a slightly forced way, through the pain thst Vie's masterful hands caused as she pulled the bandages tight against the wound, which was now dying down. The girls both stood, looking at the representative, and the elders. Abigail lifted her shoulders in a quick shrug, and then went into the kitchen quickly; her thigh wound not holding her back. Pulling the fridge open she grabbed out two water bottles, throwing one at Vie, who swiftly caught it and nodded her thanks. Abigail leaned against the counter, opening her bottle and drinking it halfway down as the representative and the Elders walked in behind Vie, who took a place as the long oak table that was situated in the middle of the room. As Abigail considered the representative, his high collar white shirt, with this buttoned up smooth jacket over it, the representative smiled, clapping his hands together.
"Good, you should both get plenty of rest. You leave for the Academy in two days."
To Be Continued in Chapter Two.