Prologue
It was just a vacation. A trip away from home. You would think a little vacation was harmless, but knowing my luck, even back then, our family vacation to Japan had to happen on the day of the apocalypse.
DECEMBER YEAR 20XX (EIGHT YEARS PRIOR)
The air was crisp as crowds of people walked around the plaza like a school of fish. Away from the crowds, in a plain hotel room, was a family of four. The family consisted of a mother, father, a baby and a little girl who was currently at the window of their hotel room, staring at the view from five stories up. The little nine-year-old girl had short, curly dirty blonde hair that was just above her shoulders. Her hazel eyes widened in awe as she pointed out an airplane flying in the distance.
"Mommy! Look, there's an airplane!" The girl smiled as she turned her head to look at her mother.
Her mother was a woman in her early 30's with blonde hair in a pixie cut and vibrant green eyes. She was holding a baby with fluffy brown hair in a similar style. The baby yawned and opened her pale green eyes.
"There must be an airport nearby, Maisie" Her mother explained as she rocked the baby in her arms. "You woke up Hannah"
The little girl, Maisie, walked over to the baby and smiled. "I'm sorry, Hannah" She apologized.
"I'm sure you didn't mean it, Maisie" A new voice spoke up. The bathroom door opened to reveal a man with cropped blonde hair in his mid 30's. He walked over to Maisie and ruffled her hair. "It is your first time in Japan"
"That's not true, Thomas" Her mother spoke up. "She came here when she was a baby"
"That doesn't count!"
"Yes, it does!"
"Not if she can't remember!"
"She was still here"
"Aki" Thomas sighed as he laughed at their pointless banter. Maisie's mother, Aki, laughed. Just as Maisie opened her mouth to laugh, a large crash was heard and the ground shook. Maisie ran to the window and saw the plane she had seen before had crashed into the ground, causing nearby cars and trucks to explode.
"Maisie get-" Her father shouted before he gripped his chest and fell to the ground. Her mother dropped her baby onto the bed before collapsing on the ground with blood running down her mouth.
Maisie froze as she heard an announcement on the hotel speakers and outside.
"Your attention, please. A deadly virus has been released to punish humanity for it's foolishness-"
Maisie's attention was stolen as she heard the window from the room next to her's shatter. Maisie, without thinking, grabbed her sister and gently pushed her under the hotel bed. Hannah started crying so Maisie quickly grabbed her baby blanket and wrapped it around the infant, hoping the baby would stop. Hannah stopped crying and snuggled the blanket, lulling herself to sleep. Relieved, Maisie crawled out from under the bed and scanned the room for a place to hide. Before she could act, the large window in her hotel room crashed and Maisie was sent to the ground. A trio of hooded men and one man were standing in front of her. The man was tall and had long light purple hair tied back with bangs, his eyes complimented his hair as they were red slits. The men behind him had similar hoods on so Maisie couldn't see much other than their shoes.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" The purple haired man said with a smirk, gesturing broadly. Maisie froze on the spot. The man walked forward and put a hand under her chin, lifting her head. "Such interesting coloring. Obviously foreign" Using his other hand, he stroked Maisie's hair. "Perhaps I should keep this one as a pet, such coloring is rare here in Japan"
Maisie didn't know what possessed her, but at that moment she bit the hand that had been holding her chin. The man snapped as he felt his skin break and Maisie tasted a mix of blood and vinegar. He threw Maisie with such force that she crashed against the hotel door with a smack. When she hit the door, Maisie swore she heard her bones snap as she felt blood flowing from the back of her head. Slumping against the door, Maisie felt the blood from the man's hand slowly trickle down her throat as her eyes closed. Maisie felt paralyzed, but she could still hear. Her little body was attacked with pain like she had been ripped apart and put back together poorly.
"Damn, that hurt" The man complained. "Now the livestock is dead. Let's move on before any other cattle decides to bite"
"Should we inform Krul?" one of the hooded men asked.
"No, i would prefer not. She would say I wasted valuable food." The man sighed. "Let's go"
Once the men left, Maisie sat there, trying to ignore the pain. Soon, her sister had woken up and began crying. Maisie longed to hug her sister and comfort the crying baby, but her paralyzed body refused and all she could do is sit there as her baby sister cried all night long while her parents lied feet away, dead and cold to the touch. The next morning, Hannah was still crying. Maisie felt her body be knocked forward as someone opened the door. Maisie's body screamed in agony but she couldn't say anything. Her eyes blurred as a man entered the room wearing dark clothing. The man looked under the bed and picked up a crying Hannah, still clinging to her handmade baby blanket. Maisie felt her heart skip a beat as anger boiled inside of her.
No… Let her go! Put her down!
"Sir! I found one!" The man called as he rocked the baby in his arms. A trio of men wearing a similar outfit entered the room, grouping around the man.
No! Stay away from my sister!
"How did it survive? The parents must have been dead before they could hide it" One of the men stated. One man looked at the paralyzed Maisie, who was now on the ground. From the man's point of view, Maisie was covered in blood, pale and still, with blank eyes.
"That's how" The man looking at her spoke up. All the men turned to Maisie as realization filled their eyes. "She must have hid the baby before she was killed"
"Let's search the parent's phones and see if we can get an idea of age and who that"- referring to Maisie- "is before we go any further" One of the men ordered. Two of the men began searching through her parent's phones once they were found.
"The blanket says the baby's name" The man holding Hannah stated. The baby blanket was a soft, pastel purple in color with floral fabric on the perimeter. On the lower left corner, the name "Hannah" with a butterfly was stitched in baby pink thread.
"Good work, Hisashi" One of the men said as he continued to search the room.
"I found something!" One of the men with her father's phone said as he showed the other men. "This picture was taken on November 18th of last year"
Hannah's birthday
Maisie knew the picture he was referring to; the picture taken the day Hannah was born.
"That girl is also in the photo. We can confidently say they were siblings"
"So she died to protect her baby sister…" Hisashi frowned. "She's the reason her sister's still alive"
"We better get back to base. There's no use staying here and the baby probably needs food and water"
No! Don't take her! Maisie wanted to shout. The men walked out of the room, leaving Maisie all alone. DON'T TAKE HER! I'M NOT DEAD! I'M ALIVE!
As night fell, Maisie could no longer feel any pain, as she was numb after her sister was taken. Her mouth tasted like blood as she felt herself lose consciousness. With one final gulp, Maisie felt like her time had run out. Suddenly, the sensation of her bones snapping together filled her body. Maisie heard herself scream for the first time since she had been thrown against that door. The wound in the back of her head felt like it was being pulled together by force. When the sudden pain stopped, Maisie felt her whole body throb with a painful thirst as she rose to her feet. Tears fell from Maisie's eyes.
"Why now… Where's my sister…" Maisie cried as she walked her way out of the hotel, step by step. Maisie's thirst grew as she saw all the bloodied bodies around her. Her head began to pound uncontrollably.
"I have to find someone alive" She muttered as she brushed the headache off and began running. The world outside was in ashes as burned bodies and wreckage from the fallen plane had littered the area, the smell of death still hanging in the air. Most buildings were still standing, but the crumbled building were hanging by a thread. As she ran, searching for someone alive, she was stopped as a stray dog ran up and grabbed her leg, puncturing her skin. Maisie screamed and hit the dog on the head as hard as she could. When her hand hit the dog, a loud crack was heard and the dog went limp. Maisie felt a strange pulling sensation and noticed the puncture wounds were gone. She looked at the dog, noticing a red pool around it's head. Seeing the red pool made Maisie's instincts turn against her as her eyes dilated and her teeth sunk into the dog's skin, draining it of blood til it was dry.
Her hunger was quenched after a while of draining the dog, but she still felt weak. When the girl realized what she had done, she backed away from the crime scene and burst into tears. She cried yelling apologizes to the sky until the sunset. By then, she realized what she had become.
She was a monster
PRESENT DAY
The library air was occupied by a silence that would make a mute feel uncomfortable. Very few people were in the library; only the librarian, a few students in their school uniform, and a teenage girl standing by one of the shelves. The teenager was currently reading a book from the history portion of the library, taking in the peace and quiet. Her hair, dirty blonde in color, was tied back in a pony tail. She wore headphones, that had seen better days, which covered her ears. Her Hazel colored eyes were behind a pair of thin rimmed glasses that were held in place by her black and red headphones. Unlike the other teens in the library, she didn't wear a uniform. Her outfit consisted of a loose, off shoulder shirt, light maroon in color and jean shorts with a pair of blue sneakers. Her concentration was broken as loud laughing was heard at the entrance of the small room. A group of students had entered, obviously not smart enough to see it was a library. The girl thought it was weird for them to appear since most students spent their afternoons walking down what was left of the crumbled streets to their dorms. She resumed her reading but was quickly interrupted when her headphones were smacked off her head and fell to the ground. The girl was suddenly glad her hair had pooled over her ears, despite her best efforts to tie it back earlier that same day.
"Hey cutie" A male voice said with a seductive undertone. The girl felt something be pulled out of her back pocket as she bent down to pick up her headphones. When she looked at the boy behind her, he was holding her library card. "Melissa, huh? Do you come here often, Melissa?"
"Yes, I do" The girl, Melissa, answered with an annoyed sigh.
"How come I haven't seen you before?" The boy asked as his entourage joined behind him. Melissa blinked her eyes.
"Because you don't bother picking up a book with no pictures?" Melissa said with a blank stare.
The boy was taken aback by her response as she took back her library card. She heard someone behind the boy mutter "What a bitch", which earned them a chuckle.
"It takes one to know one, dumbass" Melissa smirked as she placed her book back on the shelf and walked away.
As she left the library, she could hear girls nearby gossiping.
"Do you remember when that vampire escaped?"
"Yeah! Everyone had to evacuate, it was crazy!"
"Stupid vampire looked like she belonged in a mental asylum"
"I heard a boy in our class actually fought it!"
"No way! You're lying!"
"Honest! He had a sword and everything!"
Melissa felt herself chuckle. They wouldn't so cocky if the vampire had attacked them
Melissa headed to the very edge of the city (Where the population stayed) towards the alleyway she used to get over the protective fencing used to keep humans in and vampires out. Walking behind a line of abandoned buildings, Melissa used the broken wall pieces on one of the crumbled buildings as if she were rock climbing. Once she got high enough, she took a deep breath as she jumped over the wall separating civilization from certain death. Melissa sighed as her feet touched the ground, her body unharmed. She continued walking, keeping a careful eye out for any creatures that dared to bother her, until she reached a mostly intact building covered with vegetation, only the door spared of the leafy vines. The building appeared as if it used to be a convenience store. Melissa walked into the building without much thought, as she had for the past six years. Inside were shelves that had been knocked over and moved to one side of the building. On the other side was a queen-sized mattress with some fluffy blankets next to a desk, where a cash register would've been. Near the mattress was a back room with a semi functional bathroom. Walking into this bathroom, Melissa began stripping her body of clothing (With all the vegetation covering the building, peeping toms were a scarce, if at all, problem) as she turned on the sink. Melissa had hooked up her water supply to the local stream back when she first found the building (Though for the life of her, she couldn't fix the lights or gas despite her research) allowing this to be possible. The bathroom was simply a small room with an open closet, toilet, sink, and drain in the floor. The tile had vegetation that Melissa had been too lazy to dispose at the moment.
After untying her hair, Melissa grabbed a bowl with a broken edge from the closet and filled it with water. Placing the bowl in the sink, Melissa focused on her eyes. She kept her eyes looking up as she pulled down her lower eye lid, pinching a plastic film and removing it from her eye. She repeated this with the other eye and dropped both films in the bowl of water. Looking at the films, she saw the familiar hazel color arranged in a circle with a clear dot in the middle; her colored contacts. Blinking her eyes, she looked at herself in the mirror. As her vision cleared, bright red colored eyes stared back at her, the same color as the vital liquid that kept her alive. Seeing the color made her stomach growl.
"Time for dinner, Maisie"