~Chapter 14: Survival~

Krystal P.O.V.

(2 Weeks Later...)

I've been held captive for two weeks straight, and to top it off I found Amber in here too. What did they want with her? Or me for that matter.

Two weeks ago, on the third day I awoke to find myself in a cage that was about the size for a bear. The room I was in was dark and damp. I could tell we were underground because I see a few tree roots above us.

I walk over to the other side and nearly tripped over something or someone and they popped up instantly.

"Hey, watch it!" A female voice yelled. I could tell it was Amber, from the cheer leading squad. She was still in her blue and white cheer uniform.

"Amber? What are you doing here?" I asked. I was glad I wasn't alone though. Hopefully we could get along. Heck I was all for that.

She scoffed and turned up her nose. "After that incident in the cafeteria a few days ago, after Princess Zoey literally tried to kill some of us, I ended up leaving. I was on my way to my car, when some guy with long dark red hair came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I screamed but no one came. I swear I heard gunshots earlier though. How about you girl?"

I sighed. "My name is Krystal." I clarified for her. " I went to the bathroom to try and get the stains out of my clothes. I was attacked and the last thing I remember is being thrown through the bathroom wall."

Amber gasped. "Whoa. Who did that to you?" She looked at my head and seen dried up blood and turned her head away. I guess she couldn't handle the sight of blood.

I was glad we were talking. "A woman with long grey hair wearing a kimono. She is very dangerous." I warned.

A door near our cage opened and in came that dark red haired man that Amber mentioned earlier. She scooted closer to me out of fear. Apparently, I was going to have to be the brave one.

He opened our cage door and roughly dragged us out by grabbing our wrists. "Try anything, and you're not going to have a happy ending." He warned us. We had to try something though!

He led us through a narrow passageway and though a second door at the end that lead up to a basement. Going up the basement steps, I noticed a few pictures of Shizuka and a male partner. They seem to be in love.

Maybe that's the guy that Zero's family killed back then. I felt horrible and sad for Zero. I hadn't known him very long, and finding out that his past was basically drenched in blood and loss was overwhelming.

I made sure to keep track of the areas we were in and the right ways to go in my head. I just hoped Amber was paying attention.

Once reaching a bed room, we were shoved to the floor at Shizuka's feet. She was staring out a window and lounging on a white love seat couch.

"Good, Desmond you may take your leave now." She said as he bowed and left. She eyed us with interest. "A cheerleader and a rookie huh?"

Was I the rookie then? "I have a job for you two. Deep in the forest is a vile, it's hidden in a cave somewhere by here. You will encounter vampires-"

"Vampire's don't exist woman." Amanda snorted. She was roughly grabbed around her neck and pull forward. Shizuka bared her fangs and her eyes changed to a blood red color.

"I can assure you that we are among you pathetic humans. I suggest you get your priorities straight before I kill you." She said letting go of Amber's neck. I could tell she believed and was scared as hell at the same time.

She snapped her fingers and big metal handcuffs appeared on our wrists. "Don." A vampire with short brown hair appeared and took us away. We ended up in an office setting and were tied to chairs.

He took out two needles that had some red glowing liquid in it. "This will only hurt for a second." Our heads were forced to stay straight as if by some kind of magic. The red stuff was already in our system and it made me feel a bit dizzy.

"As I was saying," Shizuka appeared in the doorway. "You will encounter vampires, and other kinds of horrible monsters. You do not have a time limit. I'm merely interested in seeing if you two can survive."

"What's in that vile?" I asked.

"My blood is the cure that Zero needs so desperately. You see because I'm a pureblood vampire, when I bite someone, they suffer a horrible amount of pain until they turn into Level E. They lose their minds. Zero has been fighting it since he was ten years old." She laughed. "He won't last much longer, unless you can get that vile for him."

"Why are you sending us to do this and not going yourself?" Asked Amber who suddenly found the courage to speak up.

"Like I said, it'll be more fun watching you two. There is a catch, the serum that was recently injected into you is slowly going to kill you from the inside out. Unless you drink the antidote hidden in a green vile. It's also out there." She snapped her fingers and we were instantly outside.

As far as I knew, we were somewhere in a jungle/mountainous region or we could be on an island. The tall trees in front of us swayed with the wind. The

"So, Prince Zero is going to turn into a Level E, what's that?" Amber asked as she took in her surroundings.

I shuddered at the memory of John. "It's a vampire who feeds off humans and kills anyone and anything they want. They are very ugly. We need to get moving Amber; we don't have a lot of time."

"You think I don't know that. Which way should we go? Maybe one should go find that cure and the other should go find that blood vile. But it's probably best to go together, you know safety in numbers. I don't want to be here!" She yelled the last sentence in frustration.

I squeezed her hand with my own. "Amber quiet down! We just have to work together and we may survive. You can run fast and do flips and crap. I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll do my best. First off let's get these chains off." I raked my fingers through my hair to see if I still had my bobby pins, I felt at least one thank goodness.

It took me about thirty seconds to undo my chains and then I worked on Ambers'. She rubbed her sore wrists. "Thank you." She looked down and sighed and looked back up at me. "About the lunchroom incident...I-...I'm sorry."

My eyes widened in shock to hear her apology. She sounded sincere and I could tell she was embarrassed. She shot me a look and screamed. I turned around and came face to face with a Level E vampire. It was an older woman, her face and body was messed up. Her eyes held nothing but hunger in them.

She jumped on me and we rolled down a nearby hill. It didn't help that we hit some rocks along the way. I was struggling to hold her face away from my neck as she continuously tried to claw off my skin.

"Amber!" I yelled.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" She yelled back. The level E was pushed off me by her kicking it in the head. Amber had a steel pipe in her hand and kept hitting the other woman with it. Blood splattered over all of us.

I helped her by stomping on its head. It was the only thing I could think of to make sure it died. After a few minutes it finally stopped moving and turned to dust.

"Is it dead?" Amber asked. Her voice was shaky. After all we just killed someone. But it was in pure self-defense.

"Yeah. Keep that pipe handy. I'll need to find something too." I looked around with Amber close behind me. We kept alert when Amber began coughing. I finally found something; it looked like a bow with a few arrows. The bow seemed to be in good shape.

I picked it up and looked back at Amber. "Are you alright?" I asked concerned.

"Does it look like it?" She snapped. She showed me the blood stains on her hands. Plus she had a trail going down her chin.

This isn't going to end well unless we find those cures. How much time did we really have and would we survive this hell hole?

"Can you survive on your own Amber?" I asked after a short time. The wind was coming at us faster and it started to rain.

We were huddled close to each other for warmth. We had built a small fire but that was going to die soon. Amber wrongs the rainwater out of her blond hair and replied, "Maybe. Are you saying we should split up?"

I nodded. "It's the only way to get things done faster. We have to get the hell—" I was grabbed from behind and thrown into the small but deep creek as I tried to fight off my attacker.

I could hear Amanda screaming from behind me.

"This sucks!" She yelled. I heard her using the pipe she had. She was thrown to the ground next to the creek. I pushed the vampire as hard as I could into the water and went to help out. I kicked the vampire off of her.

I helped her up and we were torn apart again. My head was shoved underwater and because I was thrashing and moving so much, the vampire fell in with me.

I quickly raised my head up for much needed air. I looked behind me to see Amanda about to get bit. I grabbed my bow off my back and fired an arrow straight at its head, but that didn't kill it.

"Run!" I said grabbing her hand and pulling her along. We ended up getting separated somewhere along the way.

All I remember is falling into a pile of mud and Amber running in a different direction. I saw two vampires go after her and I had three to deal with.

I came face to face with a cliff and below was rocks and heavy waves. My skirt and jacket were torn and I was cold. I tried to go another way but the ground below caved in as I fell in a really deep tunnel.

I screamed all the way down trying to grab anything to keep myself from falling. All I could see was pitched black, and I knew that if I fell, I would die. After rolling and landing on a rock that left a deep gash in my arm, the large cliff side came into view.

I braced myself as I jumped up and tried to land on it. I didn't make it; instead I was hanging on the side of it and doing my best to pull myself up. The three Level E's fell into the pit of death as I finally made my way over the edge.

I laid down and rested for a moment trying to get my breathing back under control when I suddenly began to cough violently and spit of blood.

Afterward, I noticed I was barefoot. My shoes and socks both gone. Crap. I stood up and looked at my surroundings. I was underground in a cave it had some light to it. I followed the passageway to the otherside.

Relief hit me at what I found. I had found the vile that contained Shizuka's blood, the cure to Zero's terrible curse. I grabbed it and placed it in my jacket pocket. It was a small thing.

"Hey there pretty girl." I gasped and back up in fright. In front of me were 2 menacing Level E's. I readied my bow and arrows as I prepared to fight back.

Was Amber having as much luck as I was?