A Better Tomorrow

Chapter 2 – From your sleep

Sookie was asleep in a locked room of an apartment in Shreveport. Cuddling with her shotgun, she was whispering in her dream; whispers of hope that one day things would be back to normal. She had long stopped having nightmares as slowly she adapted to her new life, a life of survival.

Bon temps had somewhat survived a lot of the contagion as it was populated with a larger than normal crowd of supernatural. Werewolves were the first one who had been alerted of the plague that was slowly making its way to the village. It didn't take long and a lot of explanation on their part to convince the witches and the shifters of the danger everyone was facing.

When the TVs and radios went silent, most humans in Bon Temps were already packing their things ready to leave for a better place. Most of them left going further south where the last reports stated that there was no plague. Through voyagers, the rest of Bon Temps kept tab on the plague and its advancement. To ensure safety, the community had decided to block the main roads so no intruder would join them having learned through unfortunate events that not only they would have to protect their town from dead corpses but also from strangers that wanted their food and their supplies.

As quickly as they could, over a few weeks, the town built walls made out of anything they could find, either furniture, wood or rocks around the perimeter of the entire city. They knew these walls wouldn't stop strangers but they would stop the deads from penetrating the city. Meanwhile, witches worked on wards around the main street of Bon Temps. As these types of wards were difficult to maintain, they had manage to include only the street and a couple of building behind it. These wards were invisible but were design to protect anyone who entered it from creatures and people with bad intentions. Many times the wards proved to be invaluable and overtime everyone had left their home with their most prized possession to all live on the main street where they kept their food, their guns and their medical supplies. Little by little, the town rebuilt a life they could get accustom to, setting up routines while the world around them fell apart.

Sometimes travellers would pass by and from the wall; they could see the main street. Some approached it not knowing that their intentions would determine whether or not they could pass. From the good travellers, the villagers learn the situation outside the wall; other communities had built themselves over the months and the world was now diminished to a couple of millions scattered around. Most lived in communities like Bon temps, living off hunting, fishing, picking and if they were lucky, sometimes of crops left behind by farmers.

Sookie was one of the human who had stayed in Bon Temps and who had helped not only build the wall but also contribute to the community. Most of her days entailed of scavenging for food and helping prepare a meal for the night where the entire town gathered to enjoy their only food for the day. Once a month, a small group would go to a nearby town to scavenge for supplies. Of course, most supplies were gone by now but it was a good exercise to also find travellers with news; having information was invaluable in these times.

Sookie had left with Tara, Sam and Alcide to Shreveport three days ago but this time, they were not there to scavenge.

...

It was on a cold night that Tara had first seen him. The tall and slim shadow was slowly making its way to the main street. He was not walking like a corpse although slower than most human. Tara had first spotted him from the main tower on the main street. She alerted 2 of the guards that were facing her. It was custom for them to not let strangers to come too close to the main street but instead, meeting the intruder half way to assess intentions. They walked very fast towards the shadow armed with their AR15. When they reached, now what looked like a man, they stopped and pointed their riffle at him.

"Identify yourself" had blurred one of them

The shadow kept walking and did not respond. The other man grew impatient and repeated the question still not receiving any response.

"One more step and we shoot"

The shadow, ignoring them, kept walking slowly towards them. The past years had been hard for the 2 men and they had learnt the hard way that the only way to survive in this world was to have no mercy. When in doubt, shoot. So did one of them, one bullet in the man's leg knowing that if this was a mistake, they would be able to fix him up.

The shadow stopped right in its track when the bullet entered the leg. The 2 men did not hear any sound of pain, just the sound of the bullet entering the flesh and the silence that followed. They were left standing in front of the now still shadow wondering why the man was not yelping in pain or expressing any discomfort at all. Instead, they saw his head come up slowly, his pale skin catching a little bit of the moonlight. His lips were dark red; his eyes darker. They saw the fangs slowly coming down and, by instinct, one of them made a step back. They had heard rumors about vampires in the area but no one in Bon Temps had ever seen one.

In a flash, Bill grabbed the throat of the shooter and plunged his fangs onto the jugular; draining the body in less than a minute. The other man, screaming, started running to the main street knowing the ward would protect him. Unfortunately, he knew very little about vampires and their incredible speed. Tara witnessed the vampire killing the second man while she alerted the werewolves of the attack.

Alcide took only a minute to reach the vampire and threw a silver net he had made in case of an attack. Bill had collapsed on the ground screaming in pain from the silver burning his flesh while Alcide was growling and showing teeth. The vampire was brought to a small building just outside the ward where he was made prisoner. Although it seemed that staking the vampire would have been the better choice, Alcide knew that vampires were the only one that were immune to the disease and he knew that the only hope they had resided in their race. Bill was the very first vampire for Bon Temps and Alcide had every intention of having him interrogated.

It took several weeks of starvation for Alcide to receive any information from Bill. It's the hunger that took Bill over and made him struck a deal with Alcide and the community; in exchange for human blood, Bill agreed to give them precious information and protection.

Alcide had accepted the first part of the agreement right away. Tara and another small group of women had volunteered to donate blood which was brought daily in mason jar in exchange of information. The second part of the agreement was left unspoken for as Alcide did not yet trust the vampire.

Over time, Alcide and Bill built a business relationship, which remained platonic. Alcide hated the man just as much as he needed him. Through Bill, the community had learned about vampires and their ways; their structural system and the decision of going underground with the exception of a few who was not only looking for a cure but also protecting their kind. After months of business deals, Alcide had agreed to let Bill walk the ward to see of his intentions, fully knowing that the ward had its limits and it was possible it would not detect Bill's true intentions. But Alcide had judged that Bill would be an addition to the community for the night watch but also night hunting and providing to the humans. He had grown to somewhat trust Bill.

The community didn't take long to appreciate Bill and see the value of having a vampire around. The information he had was invaluable and the cost of blood was worth it. Bill never touched anyone and never fed from them. He would just accept the Mason jar as a token of hard work.

One other vampire had eventually joined the community. It is Pam that had explained to Bon Temps about True Blood, a synthetic blood that was perfected before the plague but had not made the market yet. She explained to them the intention of vampires to go public and that the true blood could sustain vampires for a while although they would always missed real blood. She helped the community obtain true blood which allowed Pam and Bill to live peacefully with Bon Temps despite the hunger always lingering in the back of their head.

As the months past, the dead corpse's population increased and the threat to the community was imminent. Alcide had decided that they would require more help and that vampire were the solution. Through discussion with Pam, he knew that there were more vampires in Shreveport and although she refused to tell him where they were, he started sending groups of people to find them, to revive them. He knew it was a dangerous plan but it was their only hope in protecting the community

...

Sookie could see him in her dream. The shadow, the pale skin, the red lips, the long blond hair tied in the back by a leather string. She could see flashes of blood and feel the hunger taking over her body. His piercing blue eyes were staring into her very soul and Sookie shivered holding her shotgun tighter. She woke in silence having trained to never scream anymore. She looked at the door of the apartment and listened for a sound, a noise but could only hear her own breathing. She closed her eyes and reached out for other minds in the area but instead was greeted by a void. She knew the only time she could hear a void was when a vampire was close.

She calmed her breathing down wondering where the vampire was and if he or she knew where she was. Sookie knew she was vulnerable in the little apartment but being separated from her group she had no other choice but to hide in the building to wait until Alcide Tara and Sam find her.

On the other side of the door, Eric was standing tall is nostril flaring at the exciting smell. Whatever was on the other side of the door smelled sweet and delicious and he had smelled it a mile away. He was debating whether he should try the door knob or simply kicked the door in. He wasn't sure what or who he would find behind it but the smell was intoxicating. He listened carefully at the breathing which was now much slower. Somehow, it had slowed down its breathing to almost an inaudible sound.

In a flash, Eric decided to kick the door in, which he did at vampire speed. Sookie didn't have time to react; Eric was already behind her sinking his fangs into her neck.

Review please. It's really appreciated! :)

xox

Z