He walked with a stagger, the bulge in his pocket evident. Clark barely understood why the citizens walked around bearing pistols with such a strong kickback it often broke their arm. Happiness was scarce in Misthallery now.

Clive almost fell into the house, tightly gripping anything he could to keep him upright. The gun was in his hand and he held it at Clark. "There can be no happiness, can there?"

"I doubt it," the elder replied. "But it isn't as if it's my fault. You know whose fault it is. Why point a gun at me to end me? I have done no wrong."

"That's a fair point," Clive said, his arm faltering. "But who to kill if not you?"

"Oh, you could kill a number of people," Clark replied without batting an eyelid. "My daughter, my son, my wife. Or maybe you should do what you want to and kill Bill Hawks. Your plan nearly took off last time. The only fault it had was calling Layton. Your big mistake. That is why I am senior and you are junior."

"But what of it in this post-apocalyptic world where one must always be armed for the inevitable? How can I find Bill Hawks, the sole needle in the giant haystack?"

"Why don't we have a logical discussion instead of this, Clive? And perhaps we can finally explain to my son what is going on?"

The last time Clive had seen Luke, he was but a little boy. Now Luke was sixteen years old and had grown up considerably. What little of his childhood he had left had been flushed down the drain. But still he sat, his back perfectly straight, hair falling into his eyes the way girls adored.

"Will one of you tell me what is going on?" he demanded, rising to his feet. The growth spurts that had pushed him up to 5'7" were becoming apparent, and Luke was still growing upwards by the day. Clive felt considerably short.

"We would like to tell you, but it is so bizarre we can hardly believe it ourselves, and we live it," Clive replied, folding his arms and stuffing the pistol back in his pocket. "You'll have a time telling your sister this one."

"Can you just get to the point already?" Luke snapped rudely.

"Alright, alright, I'll get to the point," Clive said, flinging his hands up in exasperation. "Let me give it to you straight, Luke. Vampires have overrun the world."

"Is this supposed to be some kind of sick jock?" Luke asked, his face furrowing into an angry frown.

"Nope," Clive replied. "Vampires don't need stakes or anything to be killed, we can kill them any way. But they're fast. Lightning fast. That's why I prefer guns to anything else," Clive said, tapping his pistol. "But these vampires... they're not mindless. This isn't like the zombie apocalypse. They are just humans with a lust for blood, fangs and mutant superpowers."

"So how did this come about?"

"Nobody in Misthallery knows that. We haven't had any contact with the outer cities, because all methods of contacts went zap. Postie's a vampire, computers and phones won't work, the only way to talk is by getting to one of the cities and discussing things in person. Most vehicles work, but aeroplanes are busted. Cars and motorbikes still work, but someone cut up the bikes."

"I want proof. Dad, he's joking around, isn't he?"

Clark sighed and rubbed his eyes. "No. He's telling the truth. Clive has been one of our main fighters out there, and the Black Ravens all fight additionally. Clive... I want you to take Luke out vampire hunting. Show him."

"Of course. Let's get back to the Black Market first. We'll get you all kitted out there," Clive said and the two men headed out into the dark streets. "Keep your head down and keep quiet, got it?"

The two managed to get to the Black Market without encountering any of the bloodsuckers, and Luke shakily climbed down the ladder while Clive just jumped down, landing perfectly. He walked into what had once been the exhibition hall, but now the walls were lined with weaponry and the tables were covered with grenades.

Arianna was standing by one of the tables, rolling a grenade in her palm and talking to Tony, who was looking good. He had been formerly anorexic, worried about his weight all the time. But he looked a lot better. He used to be skin and bones but now he had fattened out to an average weight.

Tony looked up at Clive and beckoned him over. Arianna held out the grenade with a smile. "Hey! I got a new one. Huge blast radius. The packs are getting annoying now, so we're seeing if we can get more." Arianna noticed Luke and perked up. "Oh! You brought him!"

"Clark asked," Clive said, taking the grenade and giving it a once-over. It was small and pocket-size. "I was on my way to kill him. He's absolutely useless."

Arianna looked up. "Oh, but Clive, he's the mayor now. I'm sure he's under a lot of stress since Greppe died."

He shook his head. "Anyway, I need to talk to Badger about recon. Kit him out, yeah?" Arianna nodded and watched Clive as he shoved open the rusty doors to the auction hall.

Arianna took Luke over to the wall of pistols and held up a hand. "Okay, Luke. Punch me." Luke stared at her as if she was insane. "I need to figure out how much kickback you can take. Punch me!" Luke drew back his arm and punched Arianna's outstretched hand as hard as he could. She didn't even grimace or flinch and plucked two pistols from the wall and strolled over to a table covered in bullets.

Luke watched as Arianna loaded up his pistols and handed them over. "Why did you have to pick them?" Luke asked as he slotted them into his pocket.

"I don't want the kickback to be too strong for you," Arianna replied. "There's a difference between everyone's strength. Clive is the strongest among us and can handle pistols with kickbacks that'll break your arm. Okay, in the supply room behind the auction hall we have some thermal clothes, bulletproof vests, so and so forth." Luke headed back with Tony, and Crow was in the supply room, folding up waterproof jackets.

To Crow and Tony's suggestions, Luke dressed in a thermal top, left him in his jeans, made him pull on a heavy waterproof jacket. Luke pushed the guns into the pockets of his waterproof coat and shoved some grenades in his pocket too.

By the time he was done, Clive was done too. He stood beneath the hole, arms folded and ready. He grinned at Luke when the other boy approached, looking uncomfortable in his heavy clothes.

"Are you ready, Luke Triton?"

"Always ready, Clive Dove."

I've been watching too many cheesy shows. Lol.

How will Luke be at vampire hunting? Will he encounter *dun dun dun* A VAMPIRE PACK?

Stay tuned to find out.

-FVKWY