Blood of the Damned

[Sinfulwolf]

So shortly after Twilight became a huge phenomenon I had this urge to write something where vampires weren't... well everything that's wrong with them in that series. As I started getting into it, I actually fell into a fascination with these undead creatures. The result is this little tale I've been scribbling down for the past couple months (I started in mid December I think... maybe a bit earlier) that I've really enjoyed writing. It's really only a short story, and the chapters themselves aren't too long. Anyway, I've decided to come share it with the community, so enjoy!

Blood of the Damned


Part 1​

Haley shivered against the cold, and pulled the thin blanket tighter around her form. She clamped her eyes shut and tried to drive away the moans that drifted up the walls of the apartment complex. Nothing could though. They knew she was up here, trapped like a rat. No where to run, no food, no water, no bullets. Just a rooftop with a barricaded door that wouldn't last forever.

She had seen so many die, friends... family. So very many just killed in front of her eyes like cattle, and so many more she'd lost touch with once the rules of science had been shattered and creatures of Hollywood legend began to shamble through the streets craving the flesh of those unlucky enough to be living in these times.
Life had not always been kind to her, but it had not been a bad life. She had many fond memories, memories that seemed so distant from that rooftop. Almost like they happened to another person. She couldn't even cry for herself anymore. She just curled up, listening to the moans of the dead, and the grumble of her stomach, demanding food that would never come. She considered stepping off the edge of the roof, just to tumble down into the horde below, but she didn't. Whether she was too cowardly, or simply clinging to hope that should not have been there, Haley didn't even know anymore.

Something cool and soft brushed against her cheek gently. Haley blinked and slowly opened her eyes. A pale woman knelt above her, her eyes a deep red, her hair a soft auburn. She smiled gently, her lush lips not parting as she knelt beside Haley.

"Who...," Haley started, finding it difficult to speak with such a parched throat.

"Quiet dear. I am the salvation of your species, and you will become my instrument," the woman said, kneeling closer.

"Species... has... has the virus spread... outside London," Haley muttered between smalls bursts of coughing.

"Indeed it has... and within time it will get off this island nation of yours. I offer a chance to avenge those closest to you, and to get you out of here," the stranger purred.
Haley looked up into the sky, saw the stars staring down at the Earth as if nothing had changed, and indeed in the universe nothing had. Down here, Hell had been unleashed. She focused on the pale beauty that had somehow gotten into her sanctuary, and noticed the fangs behind her lips.

"What's... the cost?"

"Damnation my dear."

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 2​

5 Years Later

Joey MacPherson ran amongst the throngs of people through the streets of the city. In the skies above helicopters swerved between the buildings, their spotlights probing through the night. Screams filled the air, as the infected emerged from buildings to attack. There was nothing but chaos, and the military had no chance here of telling zombie from friendly.

Joe felt the terror grip his mind as he made his way through the crowds, elbowing and shoving to get to Crispin Bay Harbour, where rumour said the military were evacuating citizens of Brock Island.

In between the gridlocked streets, past burning cars, and bodies left to rot. The panic of the mob filled him, the hurry to get to safety pushed him onwards. He climbed over vehicles, pushed a woman carrying a child to the ground and forgot her.

The sound of a boat’s air horn filled the air. Just down the street Joey could see the searchlights the military had put in place near the entrance. Barbed wire now lined the fences and armed soldiers stood near the gates.

The air horn was that of the last boat in the harbour, and it was pulling out.

“No!” Joey screamed, forcing himself past people that were no longer moving, through the throng that had been put to a stand still.

As he got closer to the harbour gates, Joe saw the throng thinning into three lines, each passing through a smaller gate the military had thrown together. Doctors and military medics were examining each person to go through, and for some it was taking awhile. Joey was impatient, that last boat was leaving, but he’d still be able to swim to it.

As he pushed his way towards the front of the line, screams erupted all around him, and groans of hunger. The infected were in the mob now, and the military immediately closed off their gates. The doctors ran to the comparable safety of the harbour’s interior whilst the medics strung more razor wire across the entrances. Soldiers raised their M4 carbines towards the crowd, flicking off their safeties.

“Let us through, we’re still alive,” someone yelled, before a rock was thrown, smashing a soldier’s helmeted head.

The man staggered, but quickly righted himself again. Searchlights aimed towards the crowd, as helicopters came down, picking up doctors and soldiers. The men on the gate were starting to look nervous as the crowd got angrier, and the infected moved amongst them.

The tide broke when an infected woman jumped at the gates, and a soldier let a burst of automatic rifle fire into her face. Blood spattered across the front row of the crowd, and the screams got louder. Panic set in fully and the harbour barricades were charged.

The soldiers opened fire without discrimination. Infected and human alike were shot down, their blood spattering across the street. Joe’s eyes went wide and he turned, and started to run back into the city.

One of the helicopters above opened fire, the heavy machine guns tearing the figures below to pieces. Joe could only hope to make it to some sort of haven.

An infected jumped in front of him, his instinct kicked in and Joey punched the zombie in the face. He could feel its nose break, saw its head kick back… but it didn’t go down. It lunged, tackling Joe to the ground. It snarled once, and dipped its head to bite into his neck.

Instead of the pain of his flesh being torn away, Joe instead heard the sound of metal connecting with bone, even over the gunshots. The infected fell off Joe, and the sound emanated twice more from beside him. Joe turned his head to see a lead pipe resting on the ground beside the zombie’s busted skull, bits of brain spattered on the concrete, tufts of hair stuck to the metal of the pipe.

“Hey, get up, we have to get the fuck out of here,” came a woman’s voice.

Looking up Joe saw a young woman in jeans and a t-shirt standing above him, holding out her slim hand. Joe blinked as he took in the sight, before grasping her hand and getting to his feet.

“Where to?” he asked, looking around.

“The outskirts, the edges of the island. Our best chance is to find a private boat somewhere,” she said, and started jogging towards an alley.

Joe looked back at the harbour, where the infected where running amok, pulling soldiers from their towers and tearing into them without mercy. He shuddered and followed the strange woman.

__________________________________________

Haley let the body go, and looked out from the bedroom window of the house she’d broken into. Her tongue flicked across her lips, getting some of the blood smeared there from her meal.

The harbour had fallen, the survivors of the infection would scatter across the island now. Oddly enough, she would become their final hope soon enough.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 3​

The loud boom of the double barrelled shotgun echoed in the twilight air.

“Get off my lawn you undead fucks!” Phil O’Conner yelled as he broke his weapon’s barrel.

Two of the undead were scuttling towards him, hissing. They ignored the fallen zombie, stepping over him and the brains splattered across the grass. Phil cursed, letting loose a stream of foul language as he slipped a shell into each of the chambers.

He thumbed the two hammers back into place as the creatures moved ever closer to his porch. Finger settled on the first trigger he fired, throwing one zombie away from his home. That same finger quickly fell back to the second trigger as the second zombie lurched up the steps, torn hands reaching for the lone farmer.

“fuck ya!” Phil yelled, and fired.

The zombie’s skull was shattered, just as its body tumbled down the steps, splashing gore across the grass.

Phil let out a long breath, then reloaded his gun. He walked inside his home, closing the door behind him and locking it. He wandered into the kitchen and turned on his radio. He looked at the dial to make sure that it was still set to the local station. There had been nothing from the mainland for the past week, and everyone feared the United States had finally gone dark after the virus had struck a little over three years before.

Dark just like the United Kingdom had gone five years ago. No more life came out, and no one dared go in.

Phil sighed. There was nothing but static coming over the radio. The city must have fallen completely. No one knew how the virus had gotten here. But it first showed up about two weeks ago, and everything had slowly degenerated into what it was now.

Phil looked into his pantry, checking the food stocks. Enough to last him and his daughter for a few weeks. With his wife it would have been a shorter time… but she wasn’t around any longer.

Phil choked back tears at the thought of what he had to do to her, of what she had almost done to their little girl. He let out a sigh and looked out the back window to where her grave was, the homemade cross like a beacon of loss.

__________________________________________

Joey slammed the door shut and let out a long breath before sliding down the concrete wall so he could rest.

“Those fuckers are fast… they were never that fast in the movies,” he panted while the woman checked around for other entrances to the garage, ensuring they were safe for the moment.

“Some movies had fast zombies in it,” she muttered absently as she pushed a bit on large garage door, checking its give.

“Shut up,” Joey responded as he looked around.

He noted the work bench, and the tools laying all over and the oil spills on the ground. There was a car raised up so the mechanic could work on it. He thought about taking it for a minute before he realized the engine block had been removed for repairs.

“My name’s Lila by the way,” the woman said, walking over from checking the door that led into the office. She held out her hand.

Joey got to his feet and grasped it, shaking it heartily.

“Joey,” he introduced, before walking over to the work bench.

He started going through the various tools, before pocketing a screwdriver and taking up a hefty wrench in his hands. He nodded, not as impressive as Lila’s lead pipe, but it could work quite well.

“So… I say we get some rest here, then make a run out of the city,” Lila suggested.

“Yeah. There’s that gas station just outside city limits where we can grab some food and water and stuff. There’s some farm houses before we get to the cottages we might be able to check out too,” Joey said.

“Good idea. In the mean time we should get some water into us,” Lila said, tossing a water bottle to her new companion.

“Where the hell did you get this?” Joey asked, just as he noticed the fridge behind Lila.

With a sigh he opened the water and started to drink it down. It was going to be a long night.

____________________________________________________

Haley pulled on her leather jacket before adjusting the belt that went across her torso. She ran her fingertips over her sword, admiring the oriental design before sheathing it. Wiping the blood from her mouth Haley moved out of the bedroom of her meal and went downstairs.

Passing the two zombie corpses she walked outside, under the light of the moon. The wind gusted across her pale skin. In the distance the fires of the city illuminated the sky in an orange glow.

She hoped some of them had survived. Humanity was running out of places to hide from this damn virus, and if they went extinct, so would her kind. It was going to be a long bloody night.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 4​

“Are you ready?” Lila asked; her hand on the door.

Joey nodded in response, and the door was flung open. A zombie stumbled inside, and before it even lunged for the two living human’s Joe’s wrench connected solidly with the creature’s skull. As the undead creature collapsed to the ground Lila stepped outside, swinging her lead pipe at another of the infected.

“Through the alleys, they won’t see us… hopefully,” Joey called out above the noise of chaos that had claimed the city.

Screams and gunshots still echoed between the buildings. The undead have not taken over completely just yet. Joey knew that they both still had a chance if the living were still trying to desperately fend off these avatars of death.

Lila followed Joey through the alleys, moving around dumpsters and bags of garbage, keeping an eye behind them for any zombies that might decide to come up from behind.

A scream from above caught Joey’ attention, his gaze sweeping up the walls of the buildings around him.

Someone was falling from the roof, a zombie desperately grabbing for him as they plummeted towards the concrete.

“Watch out!” Joey yelled, getting Lila to dive out of the way.

The zombie’s head hit a fire escape ladder, and it slumped down to collapse on the edge of a dumpster, its neck broken. The man who had jumped collided without pause into the ground. Blood spurted from his body and the sound of crunching bones filled the air.

“Oh God,” Lila said, moving closer to the man, while looking over at the zombie to ensure it was actually dead.

Joey knelt beside the stranger. The man’s arms were snapped, the bones of the forearms piercing through the skin, the fingers of the left hand utterly mangled. A piece of bone jutted from his left leg, and his right foot was pointed in the wrong direction.

Joey forced himself to look away from the mess.

“H-help m-me,” the man gasped weakly as blood flowed from between his lips.

Joey stood up and started walking down the alley. He couldn’t do anything, he knew that. The man was as good as dead.

He heard bones snapping, and turned around to see Lila crouched over the man, his head grasped gently in her hands. She had just snapped his neck.

“We couldn’t just leave him like that,” she explained, standing up and fetching her lead pipe.

“No… you’re right,” Joey responded, though he tried to push the scene of what just happened from his mind.

The whir of a helicopter passing overhead caught both their attentions. Looking up once more they saw the military aircraft speeding over the city. Out of nowhere, a bright object with a tail of smoke soured towards the helicopter, crashing into its tail with an explosion.

“What the fuck was that?” Joey asked, looking up as the helicopter spun out of control, its tail missing. It drifted out past the city and into the wilderness.

“I don’t know… but we have to watch our backs for humans now,” Lila replied with a frown.

__________________________________

The sound of metal breaking and folding over on itself filled Haley’s ears. Her head turned towards to the north, where a forest had been pushed back by the sprawl of the city. Smoke drifted into the night sky, and the vampire warrior frowned.

Beneath the pale moonlight she ran across farmland, rushing through fields of slaughtered cattle and stumbling zombies. She wasted no attention on them, they were nothing at the moment.

As she moved through the foliage of the forest, somehow moving like a ghost, feet making hardly a sound as they pushed off fallen logs and rocks. Each step avoided the twigs and fallen leaves that were scattered across the ground.

Gunshots echoed between the oaks and maples of the forest. Slow and steady; the shooter was a professional and still calm. However, that wouldn’t help against a horde.

Haley emerged into a clearing made by a crashed helicopter. Broken trees lay across the ground, some fallen over the twisted frame of the military chopper. Smoke poured out of the cockpit though there was no visual fire. A single soldier was sitting next to the aircraft, one hand holding an M4 carbine, whilst the other pulled a tourniquet tight around his leg.

A few zombies were stumbling out of the forest towards him, and he carefully took aim using either his arm or a nearby branch to steady his weapon.

As soon as Haley appeared, he fired a shot, the bullet tearing through her chest. Blood spurted from the wound and she instinctively ducked, biting her lower lip in pain.

“Hold your fucking fire, I’m not one of them,” Haley yelled out to the soldier.

“Jesus. Are ya hurt badly?” he shouted back, firing another shot at a zombie, the bullet tearing into its brain.

Haley looked down at her chest, the bullet having missed the leather jacket, but putting a hole clean through her undershirt and into the top of her breast. She sighed as the bullet was pushed out of her body.

“No,” she said. He must not have seen the blood spurt.

She didn’t bother watching the muscles knit themselves back together, or the veins spread like spiderwebs back into place, or the skin stretch back over what would have been a mortal wound.

“Good,” he shouted back, as Haley approached once more.

“Any more weapons in that chopper?” she asked as she knelt beside the soldier, pushing his hand away to tighten his tourniquet herself.

Something had cut his calf open pretty deep. The tourniquet would have helped but it still needed proper bandaging.

“Yeah, two M4s in the back, and everyone in there had a pistol,” the soldier informed her.

“Cover me then,” Haley said, climbing into the shattered helicopter.

She heard the soldier swear and start shooting at more of the undead that stumbled towards them from the darkness of the forest. She had to be quick, this place was still very close to the city, and the crash was like a flare to everything on the island, living or not.

She grabbed two pistols with their holsters and some extra magazines. She pulled the one M4 that hadn’t been mangled by the crash from the cold and bloodless fingers of a decapitated soldier. The head was no where to be found, and his blood covered his entire body.

Haley ignored it, using her shirt to wipe it off the carbine before pulling magazines from the dead man’s tactical vest. She didn’t say any words to the dead men sprawled across the deck of the aircraft, but grabbed a first aid kit that had slid beneath one of the seats.

“We need to get out of here now,” she told the soldier, quickly pulling some bandages from the kit. She glanced at the nametag emblazoned on his chest, reading Jaskiewicz in the digital camouflage writing.

“Yeah… well its going to be impossible for me to move through this shit,” Jaskiewicz said, wincing as Haley tightened bandages over the gash on his calf, his blood running over her pale hands.

“I’m aware. I’ll carry you,” she said, finishing her impromptu first aid, before slapping a magazine in her stolen M4 and cocking the action.

“No offense… but look at you. You don’t look like you could carry me alone, much less with all this gear on,” Jaskiewicz told her bluntly.

Haley turned slightly and shot a zombie through the head. The back of its skull broke open and its brains sprayed across the foliage behind it. Without any more words she slipped an arm underneath the soldier’s body, and hefted him over her shoulder.

“Holy fuck!” he shouted out, but Haley was already moving. She wasn’t entire sure where though.

Somewhere better than here.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 5​

The howl of wolves washed over the island. Jaskiewicz tiled his head as the mournful sound poured in through the window.

“It is beautiful no?” Haley said as she looked over the sewing kit she had borrowed from the soldier sitting against the wall before her.

“Beautiful? They’re just howling,” Jaskiewicz said as he watched the woman clean her hands off with some baby wipes he’d had stashed in his vest.

“That’s a simple way of looking at it, but the sound itself is soothing. Here’s another way of looking at it. They have survived this long, despite an outbreak of the undead, and despite humans trying to hunt them into extinction,” she said, tossing the used disinfectant wipes over her shoulder into the corner of the small shack they had found and occupied.

“Yeah sure. If you say so. Can we just this over with please?” Jaskiewicz said.

“Not a problem Jaskiewicz,” Haley said, using a pair of scissors to cut the bandages off. Blood started to ooze from the wound.

“You mispronounced it,” the soldier said, wincing as Haley ran the bandages through the wound to get most of the excess blood out.

“Well, how do you say it then?” she asked, taking up a needle and some thread.

“Ya-ski-vich,” he said, wincing at the end as the needle pierced his flesh and started to drag the thread through the small hole it had made.

“Well… I’ll just call you Jay then, not hold still or else you’ll make it worse,” Haley scolded, as she proceeded to push the needle through the skin on the other side of the wound.

It took a careful five minutes to finish up the stitching. Haley then proceeded to apply new bandages to the wound.

“Well… you won’t be running on it anytime soon, but you won’t bleed out either,” she said, grabbing the long stick she had found outside and laid it beside Jay. The soldier grasped it, and carefully got to his feet, using the stick for leverage.

“Some crutches would do better,” he muttered.

“Until we find some, walking stick is all you get,” Haley told him.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 6​

Lila pressed her back against the white picket fence and let out a slow breath. Joey peered through the slits into the next yard to see if he could spot any of the undead.

“See anything?” Lila asked him, holding her lead pipe tightly in her hands.

“Back yard is clear, but there’s a lot of blood across the back door of the house,” Joey said.

“Well… lets go.”

The two stood and jumped over the fence, and ran across the suburban back yard in a crouch to the next fence, where the repeated the look, jump, cross process. It was taking a little bit, but it was safer.

Making their way through the backyards, leaving behind the screams and chaos of the city, they said barely a word. There were thankfully very few zombies.

Then, the backyards just seemed to stop, and there was a road going out across the island into open fields. A few forests dotted the landscape, but most of it was farmland and solitary houses.

“The village at the far end of the island is probably cram full of dead folks. We should probably head to one of the cottages on the waterfront,” Joey muttered looking over the final fence.

“That was indeed my plan all along,” Lila said with a cocked eyebrow as she leaped over the white washed wooden barrier and started walking.

“Right… listen, it’s been bugging me a little… why’d you snap that guy’s neck?” Joey said catching up with her.

Lila frowned and looked at the ground for a moment, before letting out a sigh and looking forward, avoiding Joey’s face.

“Would you have preferred I bashed his head in with the lead pipe?” she asked.

“Well… no… but why kill him at all?”

“Because I couldn’t bring myself to just leave him there. He was in pain, and there was nothing we would have been able to do to save him. Save ending the pain, and preventing him from being alive when the fucking zombies show up to eat him,” Lila said sternly.

Joey let it drop, and just kept walking. They were in silence for a few moments, letting the sounds of the city die away, punctuated by the occasional howl of a wolf. Joey shivered when he heard the beasts calling out to each other.

“We should stop for food,” he said suddenly to fill in the void.

“I am hungry. I haven’t had anything since I got off my shift this morning,” Lila responded.

“That farm house… wait, are there lights on inside?” Joey said.

“There are. Lets go,”

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 7​

Lila skidded to a halt when she saw the man silhouetted in his door frame. The shotgun in his hands made her bite her lower lip in nervousness. Joey though laughed out loud and sped up.

“Oh thank God. I didn’t know if there was anyone else out there,” Joey said.

The boom of the shotgun made Joey drop to the ground, his eyes wide with fear and confusion. Lila was already ducking behind a bail of hay.

“Joey get back here,” she called to him.

A second shot went off, a few of the shotgun’s pellets digging into the flesh of Joey’s back and legs. Screaming he scrambled backwards to where Lila was crouching.

“What the fuck man?” Joey yelled back at the shotgun toting farmer.

“I will not let her kind in my house. She and her people started all this. They caused all of this. I’m telling you now rag head, you won’t get me!” the stranger yelled.

Joey cocked an eyebrow and looked over at Lila who was shaking her head.

“You dumb ass. We’re just trying to hide,” Joey yelled over the hay.

“Don’t bother. You won’t be able to reason with him. His ways are set,” she told him, putting a calming hand on his shoulder.

“Well… what do we do then?”

Lila looked down at her hands, then shrugged.
______________________________________

Jay and Haley were making their way towards a farm house not too far from the shack they had held up in. As they walked Jay slipped to the ground, grunting in pain as he hit. Haley let out a sigh and bent down to help him up, checking his leg to make sure the bandaging had held. Haley’s head shot up when she heard the shotgun blast. It wasn’t too far away.

“12 gauge,” Jay muttered.

“Indeed. It came from that farm house,” Haley responded, nodding with her head towards the very house they were moving towards.

“Well, might as well go check it out,” Jay said, struggling to his feet with his walking stick.

Haley listened. She could hear shouting in the distance, yelling between two sets of humans.

“Fuck… I’m going on ahead. Move as fast as you can,” she said, and took off at a run.

Jay watched her go and looked around him, sweeping the area with his M4.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, hobbling after the woman.

_____________________________

“Come on man. We just need somewhere to lay low,” Joey called out, sticking his head above the pile of hay ever so slightly.

As the shotgun roared once more he ducked his head again. The pellets pattered into their cover and Joey swore in frustration.

“We’re going to have to find somewhere else… first we have to figure out a way to get out of this little mess,” Lila said to her comrade.

Joey only nodded, before he heard the farmer scream in terror. Frowning, both Lila and Joe stood, and where the farmer had once been standing, there was only an open doorway.

“What the fuck just happened?” Joey asked.

“I… don’t know. Zombie got him? Now’s our chance to get out of here though,” Lila said.

She started to make her way around the hay pile, and saw a man in a military uniform moving towards the house with the aid of a walking stick. When the man saw him he lifted his assault rifle and pointed it at her.

Lila instinctually stuck her hands in the air and started to slowly pull back towards the cover. She’d had enough of getting shot at.

As soon as her hands had gone up though, the weapon drooped towards the ground once more.

“A little help please?” the soldier called out.

___________________________________

Haley dragged the farmer into his own living room, tossing his shotgun across the floor. She pushed him down into the chair and stared down at him with hunger. She could feel the anger and hatred in him, could smell the undead upstairs. She pulled her leather jacket off, letting it lay on the floor behind her, exposing the blood stained t-shirt she wore underneath.

“You… you just want to take my baby away… just like Helen did,” the man stammered.

There was no saving him, Haley knew this as she straddled him, her lips grazing over his neck as she pinned his arms to the chair. She heard his breath, the blood pumping in his veins as her body pressed against his.

Her fangs broke through his skin, tearing open the arteries within. The man’s blood gushed out into her mouth. Hot and invigorating. She drank deep, draining the man of his life to feed herself.

The gasps he let out were warm on her cheek, slowing as his heart did as his life force gushed into her mouth, running down her throat.

Until, finally, his heart stopped beating, and the blood stopped flowing. Haley got off the body, feeling the excess blood running off her lips and down her chin to dribble across her shirt.

Grasping the top of the farmer’s head and the bottom of his chin, Haley jerked her hands violently to either side. A loud crack sounded in the living room, ensuring the man would not rise again as one of the zombies outside.

Wiping her lips and chin clean with her forearm, Haley picked up her jacket and slipped it on, zipping it up to hide the fresh blood stains that would draw unneeded questions at this point.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 8​

Jay leaned on Joey, and hobbled into the house. Lila moved ahead with the rifle, cautious in case the farmer was still about. As Lila walked into what appeared to be the living room she noticed the corpse sitting in the chair.

There were two small holes torn into his neck, the skin around them smeared with blood. The man’s eyes had rolled back into his skull, and his head was sitting at an unnatural angle; someone had broken his neck.

“What the fuck happened here?” Lila asked as she looked about.

Joey helped Jay down onto the couch before looking at the body.

“What the hell? Did zombies get him?” Joey said, though Jay simply frowned.

Lila leaned forward and examined the wounds on the farmer’s neck. They were much too clean to be zombies. Besides, only one bite? That didn’t follow their behaviour in the least.

“Hey, have either of you seen a woman before finding me? Black hair, has a sword on her back. Fairly noticeable,” Jay asked looking about the room wondering where Haley had gone.

“No. Though she does sound-,”

“Shut up. You guys hear that?” Lila interrupted, stepping away from the farmer’s body and looking up.

“Hear what?” Joey asked, though Jay was looking up as well.

Then they all heard it. A slight thump, like someone was walking around on the second floor. Lila moved towards the staircase near the front door, eyes shifting about. She felt her heart pounding in her chest.

The door to the basement opened suddenly. There had been no warning and Lila shrieked as she turned and fired a burst of automatic fire into a woman’s chest. Blood sprayed across the wall behind her, but she still stood.

Lila’s eyes went wide as she realized her mistake, but before she could shift aim to the zombie’s head the woman’s hand grasped the barrel of the M4 and easily pulled it from Lila’s grasp.

“I just saved you from farmer boy over there. Some more manners would be appreciated,” the woman said, as she walked past Lila.

With each second that passed, the wounds closed a little more. Muscle and veins growing and reattaching, before the skin covered up the holes.

“Jesus Christ. I did shoot you out in the forest didn’t I,” Jay said, staring agape as the holes in Haley’s jacket and shirt, revealing pale unblemished skin.

“Yes. Here’s your rifle back,” Haley said, tossing the weapon she’d taken from Lila to Jay, who caught it and checked to make sure the safety was on.

“What… what are you?” Lila asked staring at the woman whom she should have killed.

“Isn’t it obvious! She’s a damn vampire. Look at the dead dude’s neck. Totally a vampire,” Joey pointed out, and Haley smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“No… no that can’t be. Vampires aren’t real,” Lila said, backing away, and Haley could only laugh.

“A decade ago people said the same thing about zombies. Take a look outside. Time to unlearn some of that science crap,” Haley said, as she pulled the sword from its sheath on her back.

Lila ran her hands through her dark hair as she tried to register what she’d just been told. She leaned against the wall and looked at the raven haired woman moving up the stairs.

“Where you going now?” Joey asked her.

“Cutting off some loose ends,” Haley said as she moved up the stairs to where she knew the farmer’s daughter waited.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 9​

The fires consumed the city. Flesh burned, and eaten. People turned against each other in their desperation to survive. Sins were committed as sanity fled like a bird before a great storm. Rape, murder, lies, there was nothing sacred within the damnation of the city.

John would puke if he could, but he couldn’t find it within him. He couldn’t find much in his heart these days, not even much of a reason to put one foot before the other. Except to find answers. That’s all he wanted anymore. Who was he?

Turning a corner he saw a zombie hunched over a dead woman, tearing out her intestines with its teeth. John couldn’t even tell what gender the ghoul had once been, so horrifically scarred it was. The creature lifted its head and turned, facing John. The zombie snarled, then went back to its feast, shoving glistening ropes of entrails between its eager jaws.

John lifted a hand and looked down at the pale skin of his forearm, covered in needle holes. Track marks some called the scars that pocked his skin. The other wounds…

John stared straight at the bones within his forearm. People called his other wounds rot. Something the body should only do when one was dead. Was he dead?

What was he?

___________________________________________

Jay blinked in surprise and frowned at the events that had just unfolded before him. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the woman who had just saved him was apparently a vampire.

It was impossible wasn’t it? But then again, so was the living dead. Jay watched as Haley made her way up the stairs, M4 carbine in one hand, the other pulling the sword from its scabbard on her back.

“I wonder if that means there’s werewolves and like… the gill man. Oh hell I hope we don’t have to fight mummies or something,” Joey said with a large grin.

“Shut up. That’s just getting ridiculous,” Lila told him.

“Yeah well, we thought that about vampires, but I mean, you just tried to blow her away. Fuck man, her blood is still dripping down that wall right there. And now she’s just walking upstairs like you poked her instead,” Joey said, pointing at the splashes of Crimson above the stairs that led to the darkness of the basement.

“I wonder what she was doing down there,” Jay said.

“Getting her coffin ready,” Joey said as though it were obvious.

Lila only rolled her eyes. From upstairs they heard a shriek which was suddenly cut off and followed by a solid thump on the floor boards.

“What the fuck? Did she just kill someone?” Lila asked.

“Oh right… vampire,” Joey said, suddenly no longer impressed with himself, but pale with terror, as the thought of what was standing upstairs at that moment filled his mind.

_____________________________________

Haley moved down the hallway quietly. She was annoyed at the holes in her jacket. It was a nice jacket, but sometimes there was nothing one could do.

She had slung her carbine across her back, and gripped her sword tight. Five years of being amongst the undead, but what she had seen in the basement had somehow managed to sicken her. That farmer…

Haley shook her head and approached the door from where she could hear the faint sounds of movement, and the quiet rattle of chains. There was a sign on the door that said “Amy’s Room” in big block letters.

With the sword tight in hand, Haley opened the door and stepped into the child’s room.

The floor was spattered with blood, and a few severed and partially eaten limbs were strewn about. In the centre of the mess was a little girl whose dark brown hair was falling out of her scalp, her once adorable blue dress spattered with the blood of god knows how many people that the farmer had fed to his ghoulish daughter. Heavy chains attached the zombie to a stake planted by the window in the room, a window overlooking the grave of the farmer’s wife.

Haley walked up behind the little girl and raised her sword high, tightening her grip to ensure it would swing sure. The farmer’s greatest sin was here before her, to allow his daughter to live in the hell of undeath. So Haley would redeem that sin and give Amy peace.

The girl’s head turned around, and her sunken eyes looked up at the vampire standing behind her. She let out an unholy shriek revealing her broken teeth, stained with blood and flecks of skin.

Haley brought her sword down, instantly decapitating the girl, and setting her free.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 10​

Haley’s boots made no sound as she came down the steps. She had a strip of sheet from somewhere upstairs to clean the blood off her sword, the M4 dangling from her back. The three humans watched the vampire descend, no one saying a word as this undead creature from legend stood amongst them, sliding her sword back into its scabbard.

Lila and Joey took a step away from her, and Joey seemed to lean further back into the couch. Haley’s eyes danced between them, nostrils flaring as she sniffed the air, their blood.

“You’re afraid,” Haley said, seeing the emotion raging in their eyes, eyes which seemed to avoid her.

“No shit. The world’s overrun with zombies, and to top it off we have a blood sucker standing in the room with us. What’s not to fear?” Joey said loudly.

Haley pressed a finger to her lips as her nostrils flared once again.

“Like you said, zombies have over run most of the world. It would not do to draw them hear by shouting would it?” Haley asked looking straight at Joey.

He was caught in her gaze, unable to tear his eyes away. He felt trapped, as if he were an animal in a box. Finally, Joey shook his head as a response.

“Now. I’m not hear to kill you and eat you or whatever you’re afraid of me doing. We drink blood, it only makes sense for us to keep you alive no?” Haley explained.

“Self preservation,” Lily said, and Haley flinched slightly at the harsh tone.

Jay watched her carefully, reading the undead woman’s expression as she tried to explain herself. He saw pain there behind her eyes. Pain the other two were blind to in their fear. She was a monster.

Jay looked down at his leg as the conversation shot back and forth between Haley and the two humans. His eyes just looked at the bandages that she had tied, saving his life.

“Thank you,” Jay said suddenly, and the three others in the room stopped talking to look at the wounded soldier. Joey and Lila looked surprised, but Haley smiled ever so slightly, and nodded as way of response.

Before anything else could be said Haley swept the room with her eyes, though this time she saw less fear. It was still there, simmering below the surface, but not as paralyzing as before.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked the two civilians.

Jay sat back watching the two. Lila and Joey shared a glance.

“We’re looking for a boat to get off this island,” Lila said, and Joey nodded to affirm.

“Where will you go?” Haley asked, and the two escapees looked at each other; they hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Okay. I got here by plane from Europe. Unfortunately I ran out of fuel and crashed it in the forests. I did see some large boats on the side of the island with the cottages. If we can stock them up with enough fuel we can head north,” Haley said.

“What’s north?” Joey asked.

“Some parts of Canada haven’t gone dark yet. Neither has Iceland or Greenland,” Jay explained, and Haley nodded to confirm the soldier’s memory.

“Well… lets get going then,” Joey said, inching ever closer to the door.

Haley looked out a window, and saw the light of a rising sun on the horizon. She let out a sigh.

“No. We stay here for the sunlight hours,” Haley said moving over to the dead farmer still propped in his chair. She grasped his shoulder and tossed him to the floor. She took the M4 from across her back and leaned it against the chair before sitting down herself.

“Don’t want to burn up?” Joey sneered.

“Not particularly,” Haley responded calmly.

Lila watched the vampire and shook her head, before turning her eyes to Jay.

“Okay, once the sun sets, we move out. We’ll set up shifts to keep watch, and get some sleep. We all need it,” Jay said.

“I’ll go first,” Lila said.

Haley held out her carbine to the woman.

“Take this then,” she said.

Lila gingerly reached out and took the weapon nervously. Once the carbine had left Haley’s fingertips, the vampire let her eyes flutter closed. The three humans all shared a look, before searching out somewhere for them to get rest as well.

Lila stood by one of the windows and looked out at the world she thought she had known. How things can come crumbling down oh so quickly.

______________________________

One foot in front of the other, plodding through the burning remnants of the city, with zombies skulking about searching for their next meal. There was very little people left alive, and John didn’t really care. He just kept putting one foot before the other, bare feet tearing open as he stepped over shards of glass and metal. He didn’t know where he was going, he just felt… drawn. Towards something. He wasn’t even sure what.

Glancing down at himself, noting that the only garments he wore were camouflage pants. Military issued. Why was he wearing them? Why only the pants? He had no answers, only question upon question. Wherever he was going, perhaps he would find answers there.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 11​

Lila stood above the sleeping vampire, butcher knife in hand. All the stories said she needed a wooden stake, but this was reality not a myth. Not a legend. Cold steel should be able to kill the undead creature.

But what if it didn’t? Too much of everything that happened was born of madness, what if Haley just calmly tore out Lila’s throat, with the butcher knife piercing her breast.

Lila bit her lip as she stepped away from the vampire, and turned her attention to the window in the kitchen. Sunlight poured in through the glass, crawling across the floor the higher it climbed into the sky. Lila forgot about Haley as she moved to look out the window, letting the sunlight hit her face and warm her skin.

“You weren’t sure if you get to see it again were you?” Jay’s voice cut through the silence, making Lila’s heart leap.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Jay continued, limping over beside the woman with his walking stick.

“It’s okay,” Lila said with a sheepish smile as she looked at the soldier who had shed the digital camouflage tunic and wore just a t-shirt beneath.

Jay’s eyes quickly saw the M4 that had been left on the counter top, and the knife clutched in Lila’s fist, the stainless steel glimmering in the sunlight. Jay sighed and looked back at Haley who still slept content in the chair. Or was she actually watching them and just pretending to sleep. Jay couldn’t begin to guess.

“She’s hope… on an island that seems to have lost it all,” Jay said softly, his words for Lila, but his eyes not leaving the vampire… the woman, who had saved him in the forest.

“She’s not human. She feeds off of humans. We’re a food source for her,” Lila said, pointing with her knife at Haley.

Jay sighed, and moved to the counter to look out the window. He couldn’t argue against it, couldn’t prove Lila wrong. It made sense for a vampire to protect humanity, like a farmer protecting his herd of livestock from ravenous wolves.

“But I was once human,” came a voice from the living room.

Lila and Jay turned to see Haley sitting up in her chair, now playing with something silver in her hands. Jay squinted trying to see what it was.

“I was in London. On a rooftop, just laying there waiting to die,” Haley started.

“London… that’s where it all started. That’s where it spread from,” Lila said, almost in shock.

“Yes. I was there at the start of the madness, when the switch from reality to fantasy was flipped. I saw my family butchered, my mother’s head torn from her shoulders, my brother’s stomach ripped open. All I could do was run. So I found myself on a roof, waiting to die,” Haley said quietly, a chain slipping between her fingers. She was playing with a necklace of some sort.

“On that roof I was given a choice. Wait for the zombies to get me so that I may join their ranks. Or conquer death. A woman gave me the chance to become strong enough to avenge my family, and to protect others where I had failed so miserably with those I loved,” Haley finished with a sad laugh.

She tossed the object in her hands to Lila, who caught the silver object in a clenched fist. Letting her fingers uncurl from the fist she looked down at a silver cross on a simple chain.

“It was my mother’s. It’s a reminder. I have the power to protect now, and despite the fear of what I am, I will not fail,” Haley said sternly.
_______________________

John heard screaming and swearing. With no expression he turned down an alley way to see two men wielding baseball bats to keep away the ravenous zombies. Blood flowed from multiple wounds covering their forms as they desperately fought for their lives.

A zombie’s head was smashed between wooden bat and brick wall, crushing skull and spilling brains. A man’s arm was bitten, teeth tearing through skin and muscle lifted from bone. A scream of pain filled John’s mind as he moved towards the fight. He could save these two. He had that choice.

“Keith. Oh fuck man here comes another one. He’s a big bastard too,” one of the two men said.

Keith shoved a zombie the ground after it clawed at its face, scratching his cheek. His foot slammed down repeatedly on its neck, snapping the spine and leaving the undead monstrosity paralyzed.

“Size don’t matter. They all die the same way,” Keith yelled back to his friend as he viciously swung his bat, crashing against another ghoul’s skull.

John moved up the nameless man, pushing a zombie out of his way. The man looked in confusion at the zombie now clawing at the wall as it slowly got to his feet. He looked up at John, and John wondered if the man knew that he would save him.

John grasped the man’s throat, and lifted him off the pavement, his fingers digging into his flesh, crushing his windpipe on itself. The man tried to gasp, tried to do something, but not even a wheeze escaped his throat as John simply held him there. The man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, showing the pure whites as he dropped his bat to claw desperately at John’s grasp.

“What the fuck?” Keith yelled out as he turned at the sound of the bat striking the pavement.

John looked down at him. Could this human not see that John was saving his friend? Perhaps he was simply impatient for his turn.

Keith lashed out, his bat striking John’s shoulder, making the creature shake with the impact. Indeed, John had almost dropped the man still, but just barely, struggling in his grip. So John kicked Keith in the chest. He could hear the sound of ribs cracking as the blow sent Keith smashing against the wall.

John simply watched him, trying to get up despite his pain. He felt the nameless man go limp in his grasp, and so tossed him away like a rag doll. He would arise soon enough, saved from the pain and misery of life. It was Keith’s turn, he had been so impatient.

John stood above the man, who quivered in fear. John’s fist punched down hard, smashing through into his chest cavity, and grasping his heart. Keith’s eyes went wide with pain, but John knew that he would know peace soon enough. So in one vicious movement, tore the heart from Keith’s chest.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 12​

Joey strolled through the house carefully, trying not to wake anyone. He squinted his eyes as the sun vanished below the horizon, the dark veil of night enveloping the world. Standing in the front door and looking up into the sky, Joey smiled at the oranges and purples plastered across the sky. It looked like the pastel drawings his brother used to do.

A hand settled itself calmly on his shoulder, pulling Joey from his thoughts. Looking back he saw Haley standing in the shadows.

“Wake the others up. We’re leaving soon,” she said, and Joey nodded dumbly to do as she asked.

As he moved through the house this time, he didn’t bother to try and hide his footsteps. He moved to the couch and grasped Jay’s shoulder, shaking it. The soldier’s eyes snapped open and met Joey’s.

“Night?” Jay asked simply.

“Close enough. Haley wants to go,” Joey explained.

“Good. We have a lot of ground to cover,” Jay said getting to his feet and pulling his gear on, but leaving his tunic draped across the couch. It was sweaty from the night before, and that would only chill him as the temperature dropped at night.

Joey moved over to where Lila was nestled on another chair, curled up in the cushions with her lead pipe laying on the floor. As Joey gently shook her, her eyes snapped open and her breath caught in her throat as she looked around in confusion. After blinking a few times she seemed to remember where she was, the confusion was replaced with fear and an almost heavy burden.

“We’re leaving,” Joey whispered, as if afraid anything louder would shatter the silence and beckon a horde of a thousand screaming ghouls upon him.

As Lila collected herself Joey walked back to the door where Haley still stood, her eyes darting over the land. Joey looked into her eyes and frowned. There was a hunger there, and anger. Blinking he looked down for a moment and shrugged, and followed her gaze.
_________________________________________

John moved through the throngs of undead that shuffled along with him. He didn’t have to push, or shove to move through the ranks, nor did they truly move out of his way. It would have been a strange sight to behold, for John was simply amongst them.

He didn’t lead the ghouls, nor were they following him. They simply moved, going towards whatever food they may find, whilst John moved towards the calling that tugged at him as surely if he were being pulled by a rope.

What awaited him at the source of this calling? Answers? An end? John did not know, but he would find out, even if he had to bring the world down around him.
_______________________________

The four gathered on the front porch, preparing to start their run to freedom. Or so they hoped. Before they left the farmhouse though, Haley took the pistols from their holsters, handing one to Lila, who gingerly took the weapon and looked it over, and the other to Joey.

Joey’s eyes widened as his fingers curled around the grip and he hugged the weapon to himself.

“It’s not a toy kid. Be careful,” Jay told the over excited man before straightening his shoulders, and stepping down the steps of the porch with his walking stick.

Lila couldn’t help but smile at the crack and followed Jay.

Joey frowned at the comment, but inside still felt gleeful about carrying the pistol, until he looked up and saw Haley looking at him.

“Shoot me, and I’ll fucking kill you,” the vampire said, and moved after the other two.

Joey stared at her, wondering if she meant figuratively, or that she’d make a midnight drink out of him. He decided not to test it and followed the rest of the group.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 13​

A sharp wind cut across the island, and the three humans hugged their bodies as they moved, trying to stave off the cold that cut through the skin and down to the bone. Jay gritted his teeth and kept moving, Carbine hanging from his chest as he set foot before the other. The others, not used to such hardship, shivered, their teeth clacking.

Haley didn’t seem to notice. Hands holding her own M4 as she moved ahead of the group, her eyes scanning behind for any traces of the undead, while using her nose to smell for anything coming from down wind.

“This fucking sucks,” Joey whined.

“Keep your voice down,” Jay said with an angry glance as he kept moving behind the vampire, his own senses searching for any hostiles. He couldn’t help but admit to himself that finding the enemy was easier here than Iraq. It was much easier to tell who was trying to kill you here than it was over there.

“How far to the cottages anyway?” Jay asked. During his stay on the island as the virus ravaged the world, he had only stayed in the city trying to keep order.

“At this rate, we’ll reach it a few hours before morning. However, we may have to stop again else we could get hypothermia,” Lila said from the rear.

Haley looked back at the still living companions she had gathered. It was easy for her to forget the weaknesses of being human. She sighed; she missed living.

“We’ll stop whenever we find shelter. Sleep together to keep warm,” Haley told them.

At the words, Joey raised an eyebrow, and despite himself grinned a little. Haley rolled her eyes, and the other two had missed the expression.

Still, they continued forward, hoping to find shelter before they froze.

_________________________________________

John was leaving the city finally. He had a few zombies following him, but for the most part he ignored them as he moved towards the forest outside the city.

He had come to realize his own death, and that he was like these creatures that ate the flesh of man. John was above them though. He knew this, but didn’t know in what ways. Was he a God amongst them? Was he a messenger of God? Perhaps that was his truth.

As he moved through the first bushes, feeling the thorns and sticks scratching at his dead skin, but not feeling the pain, he turned to his followers. Out of instinct he pointed at one, then pointed further into the forest.

The ghoul rasped out some kind of response as it tore through the woods. It followed John’s direction.

The knowledge filled his mind with wonder. What else could he do with this legion at his fingertips.

John soon found his experimental scout in a man made clearing. The helicopter that had smashed the trees down twisted and torn, still smoldering from whatever device had pulled it from the sky. Dead zombies lay scattered about the broken trees, and a few dead soldiers in the back, one of whom was decapitated.

The two pilots still sat in their seats. One was impaled to his seat by a large tree branch the other was slumped across the controls, his neck broken.

John moved into the cockpit and broke the tree branch, before pulling it from the pilot’s chest cavity. Frowning, John leaned forward and pulled away the pilot’s jaw, letting the dead man’s tongue flop down across his neck like a twisted necklace.

This dead man deserved to be salvaged, and John would give him this gift. He grabbed a knife and began to cut through flesh and force his way through bone up from the mouth, until the bottom of the brain was exposed.

He didn’t know how he knew this. Perhaps God had given him the knowledge, and so he would deliver the message. Cutting open his own finger to let blood seep out, John gently cut the man’s brain, and stood back.

It took only a few moments before his eyes opened, milky white like his brothers already embraced by salvation.

______________________________________

Haley thought she saw another farm house ahead. A car was smashed into a telephone pole on the road that ran in front of it, but other than that there was no sign of life.

“Maybe its got heat?” Joey said hopefully.

“Maybe,” Lila said starting to move faster.

Haley led the group, but suddenly stopped, sniffing at the air. Jay watched her, and was relieved by the smile on her face.

“What is it?” he asked.

“A friend,” Haley said, but then the smile faded almost instantly.

“Or perhaps not,” was all she said.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 14​

A chain link fence topped with razor wire sprouted from the ground before John. Signs of red with the words “Private Government Property, No Trespassing,” scrawled in white block letters. John turned his head, where a paltry dirt road that was little more than two tire ruts in the ground, led through a gate and into the small piece of so called private property. Within was a single story stone bunker and a shack presumably for guards.

No one was about, save the dead. A few soldiers whose heads were burst open lay across the ground. A jeep had crashed into the shack, the driver’s head smashed open against the steering wheel. The gate was smashed open, laying on the ground allowing John to step into the compound.

John’s eyes took in the dead soldiers, saddened that they could not be given the gift. Still, he could not dwell on their loss. Their time was over and his own was just beginning. Within this bunker was the answers he craved. His true journey would soon begin.

______________________________________

Jay watched the smile melt from Haley’s face, and felt his gut clench in fear. The vampire started to raise her M4, to her shoulder, shutting one eye to try and take aim at something.

“Behind Haley now,” Jay called to Joey and Lila as he turned to walk backwards with his heavy limp, dropping his walking stick. Something was very wrong.

A loud hiss sounded from nearby, but Jay couldn’t place it. Haley though stayed still trying to find the target, using her nose and eyes.

“What it is?” Lila demanded.

“Damien… another vampire… once,” Haley informed them.

“Once?” Jay asked, before a creature burst from no where, jumping high in the air.

It was humanoid, but its skin was a mottled brown, with yellow cat like eyes. Once long dark hair was straggly and mostly falling out leaving only a few wisps on its torn scalp. Its nose had fallen away leaving an ugly rotten hole in its wake. Its mouth yawned open wide like a snake, twin fangs protruding out in a flesh rending snarl.

“What the fuck?” Joey yelled out as the thing landed on the ground not far from him, placing the human between itself and Haley.

Joey started walking back slowly, lifting his pistol, hands shaking.

“Get out of the fucking way,” Haley yelled, but Joey wasn’t listening and she started to move, but the creature circled around to keep out of Haley sights.

Jay lifted his carbine and fired a few shots at the vampiric creature, a few of his shots bursting through its head, a mist of gray and pink spraying out the other side, but Damien only growled as the holes in skull and skin started to grow over.

Joey looked about to say something, before the demon like monstrosity jumped forward and its fangs sank deep into Joey’s neck. A scream tore through the night air as blood spurted out from the gashes rent in Joey’s neck. Haley swore and dropped her carbine and grabbed her sword, pulling it free from its sheath.

Damien looked up at her, still cradling the blood soaked Joey in its clawed hands while Haley felt a pain in her gums as her fangs extended even further. Hissing in anger and rushed forward and started to swing a kick at the creature’s head.

Damien raised his hand to block the kick, but Haley had anticipated the move and instead of her foot, her blade made contact with flesh. A monstrous hand sailed through the air, blood spurting from severed arteries, and Damien howled, before Haley’s boot crunched against his face, sending him sprawling across the ground.

Strolling over to Damien who was crawling on all threes to where his severed hand had landed in the grass. As Haley approached he turned his twisted features up towards her and snarled, swiping at her thigh and cutting through her cargo pants and flesh. As blood poured down her leg and soaked into her clothing, Haley returned the vicious snarl and brought her sword down on Damien’s forearm. The limb fell away from the elbow, spewing more infected vampire blood across the ground. Haley hastily kicked the arm away before slashing out with her sword. Damien, still scrambling on the ground on stumps, had his throat split you. A silent howl went into the air as blood bubbled out from the second mouth in his throat, more crimson spilling over his chin.

Haley’s foot pinned her former friend to the ground. She tried to think of something to say, something to help pass her friend off to the next life, but she quickly realized Damien was already dead. This was to be a gift to him.

The sword descended, tip plunging through rib and heart. Damien’s eyes bulged for a moment, before gently closing as his body settled into death. Haley shook her head softly, and twisted her sword, tearing the heart further, before pulling her sword free and bringing it down on Damien’s neck, severing his head.

She kicked it away and knelt by the body, overlooking it. Damien was topless, his torso covered in scratches and bite marks; chunks of flesh missing and exposing bone and organ underneath. The zombies had swarmed him, had infected him. That’s why he was like this. His pants though, they were military.

With a frown she began to search his pockets, eventually finding a sheet of paper. She pulled it out and unfolded it. Much of it was spattered in blood, but it appeared to be a note he wrote shortly after initial infection, but before turning.

As her eyes ran across the words on the note, Jay stood over Lila and Joey. Lila was desperately trying to save Joey’s life, shoving strips of cloth into the wound and wiping away blood.

“Enough,” Jay said to her, and Lila looked up at the soldier.

She relented, and nodded softly, standing up, and tossing away the bloodied bandages she had used on Joey. Blood didn’t spurt from the wound as his heart slowed to a crawl, death looming over him. Jay kneeled down and picked up the pistol, quickly checking to make sure a round was chambered. One was.

Aiming the pistol between Joey’s eyes, Jay’s finger settled on the trigger. He felt like the Grim Reaper was standing over his shoulder, scythe ready to cleave into Joey’s soul and drag it away. Or perhaps it was already gone. Blood vessels were popping in Joey’s eyes as the infection ran rampant through his body, and the white of his eyes disappeared beneath a haze of red.

Before the creature that was once Joey could even react, Jay fired.

Even Haley looked up from her note.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 15​

‘Haley.

If you are reading this, then I’ve failed. There is a compound in the woods, a government complex dedicated to the study of the virus. As I write this I am planning to break in. I know we were to rendezvous in cottage area, but there await the answers to everything that has happened. I’ve drawn a map on the back, find the complex, find the answers, and hopefully the end of all this madness that has claimed the world.

Damien’

Haley flipped the bloody paper over and looked over the crudely drawn map Damien had provided before his infection. The compound her friend referred to didn’t seem to be that far from the crash site where she had saved Jay. Standing she ran a hand through her hair and looked back towards the forest, before flicking her gaze towards Jay and Lila, who stood above Joey’s body, looking at her; waiting.

“I’m heading back. Best idea is for you two to continue on to safety on your own,” Haley informed them, walking towards them.

“On our own? We won’t make it,” Jay pointed out.

“What’s so important that you’re going to leave us?” Lila asked.

Haley held out the note, which Lila snatched despite the blood smeared across the page. Her eyes quickly danced across the words, and then flipping it over, took in the map. She handed it to Jay, who frowned as it took it in.

“I want to see this place,” Lila stated, and Jay offered a simple nod in acknowledgment.

“I don’t know what’ll be there. It’s going to be dangerous,” Haley said.

“So is running across half the island with a limp,” Jay shot back.

The vampire had to concede the point, and gave a slight nod of her head. She bent down and took the pistol from Joey’s limp fingers and looked back towards the forest.

“Well then. We may have a chance to end it,” Haley said, starting to walk towards the tree line.

“You actually believe that?” Lila asked incredulously.

“Damien seemed to think so. Got himself killed for it,” Haley said, gesturing with her chin towards the dead vampire laying in the blood smeared grass.

“Damien? You knew that crazy zombie vampire thinger?” Jay asked, and Haley’s eyes twitched slightly.

“Yes. Before he was infected. We were friends. We both came here to try and do what we could, we had planned to meet at our destination,” Haley explained, and Jay nodded simply; he had lost his share of friends in the service.

Lila looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself.

The trio set off in silence. Whether they walked to their doom, or to humanity’s salvation, they didn’t know. It was their only shot however.

_________________________________

John ran rotting fingers over the glass that stood between him and another carcass in military fatigues. The dead man was suspended by wires in a large tube filled with water, turned murky from blood and pus that seeped from the rends in his flesh. Was this his brother? Was this where he was born?

He walked along the short hall, blood prints left in his wake, taking in each canister, five in all. Only one was empty, the one at the end. Bold black lettering across the steel bar that wrapped around the tube read ‘SUBJECT 05’.

Tearing his eye’s away, John looked to the corner where a scientist was slumped against the wall, his head caved in, and blood pooling around his corpse. He had been one to try and play God. John laughed in his mind; it was amusing to him that those who tried to be Gods, instead awoke the messiah.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 16​

Haley flipped the soldier’s corpse over onto his back and began to go through the pouches of the vest he wore. She pulled out a few M4 magazines and tossed them to Jay, or pocketed them herself. A flashlight was laying on the ground next to him, but when he clicked the button, nothing happened; the light must have been on when the soldier died, the batteries were done. She did however manage to find a few large glow sticks which she promptly pocketed.

“Why am I suddenly regretting this?” Lila said as she stared into the dark entrance on the stone compound.

“Because it reeks of death?” Jay suggested as Haley stood from the body she searching.

The vampire glanced between her two companions before cracking the first glow stick. A green glow emanated from the plastic tube, and illuminated the darkness as she walked through the entrance, and started to descend the stairs immediately inside the doorway.

Lila sighed but followed regardless, but Jay bringing up the rear, looking behind to ensure nothing snuck up on them.

At the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in a hallway that ended in a T junction. There were no lights save the green glow in Haley’s hand, that illuminated the bullet strewn and partially eaten bodies that lay scattered about, and the blood splashed across the walls. They spent twenty minutes exploring, following hallways and turning at the splits.

Large windows in the hall let the three look into the various labs. Computers and strange equipment sat upon sleek metal desks. It looked like something out of a strange horror movie. They hadn’t come across any of the undead, but their stench filled Haley’s nose. The infection was everywhere in here, they all had to be careful, else they join the shambling hordes.

“What’s this?” Jay asked as he pressed his face against a window to try and peer within. There were computers, with large processors shoved against the wall. Desks and filing cabinets were strewn about in a precise order. Like everything else in this compound, it was neat and orderly.

“Looks like some kind of record room,” Lila said almost excitedly.

Haley raised an eyebrow and found the door that led within the room. She examined the steel portal, trying to find a way inside. She finally found a hand sized latch which she grasped and twisted.

With a hydraulic hiss, the door slide to the side, and Haley stepped inside.

“If there are no lights... how did that door open?” Lila asked.

“Back-up generators?” Jay replied.

“Yeah... but then why no lights?”

“Could have been the way the whole system was programmed. The limited power from the generators went into everything except the lighting perhaps?” Haley said with a shrug, showing she didn’t care as to the whys too much.

Lila sighed again as Haley moved to one of the computer consoles and booted it up. She couldn’t help but smirk as words began to scroll across the screen as everything loaded, small green and yellow lights in the large processors flickering as the machine came to life.

It didn’t take long for a nearly blank screen to pop up requesting login and password information. Haley leaned back and shook her head, defeated by such a thin veil.

“Here this might help,” Jay said, walking over from a cork board he found on the far wall. He held a small slip of paper between his fingers, which he handed to Haley. On it, scrawled in black pen, was someone’s username and password. Written beneath that in the same handwriting was the message: “In case the world falls, someone may gather our knowledge.”

Haley didn’t think much about the bloody thumbprint in the corner of the paper, and just put in the log in information. ‘Confirmed’ popped up in green letters as an image of a man holding a middle aged woman, and a young girl standing in front of them with a wide grin on her face, filled the screen. Files began to appear over the image as the computer finished loading. Research notes, all with dates for names. There was a lot of information there, Haley didn’t even know where to start, until the final document appeared.

“Impaler virus translated history?” Lila asked aloud.

“Check it out,” Jay said, moving over to the window and peering outside.

He leapt back as a zombie smashed its face against the thick glass, smearing blood across it. His weapon was up, finger on the trigger, but he didn’t shoot.

“We’re okay, I don’t think it knows how to open the door,” Jay said.

Haley nodded and opened the file that had piqued all their interest. Two sheets filled the screen; the original documents, and the translated version. As Haley and Lila looked over both their eyes widened.

Labeled 1943. The name Himler and Dr. Von Kessler kept appearing throughout the document. Research done in Romania, on a virus found in the ancient ruins of a castle and the village beneath it. Weeks of experiments on test subjects revealed the lethality of the virus, but also the unique property of animating dead tissue.

“It’s that old? The Nazis made it?” Lila said.

“Older, they just found it. The Nazis were fascinated by the occult and had been digging all over the world to find supernatural means of aiding them in the world,” Haley said, as she found references to some book from the middle ages they had found. It talked about not only raising the dead, but being able to control them. It also mentioned where the virus had originated from.

“Vampires? They were using vampire genetics to make zombies?” Lila said, and Haley frowned.

“It’s how they got past the barrier of death. Using the blood of something that was already dead,” she told the nurse.

The German documents abruptly ended, and were soon replaced by Russian documents. How they continued the Nazi experiments. They had managed to raise the dead, but were unable to control them as the Germans had hoped to. They killed all the subjects, washing their hands of the project.

As the dates on the documents reached the early 1950’s, the research turned to Chinese. There was a side note about how the Russians had sold the research to the enemies of NATO during the Korean War. It had bounced all over the other side of the world, and no one in the west was even aware this virus existed.

It stayed in Chinese, and then the dates became further apart. The last Chinese entry was 1961. Suddenly the next date was two weeks after the outbreak of the virus in England, and it was all in English. American and Canadian scientists had their hands on it, trying to find a cure. Over five years they realized that they couldn’t actually stop the virus, they had to do what everyone failed to. Control them.

Work had begun on what they called Project Charon. They had found two volunteers, and three corpses to work with, hoping to make some sort of Alpha Zombie that would control the undead, and stop the destruction tearing the world apart. They were so close with someone they labelled as simply Subject 05. Then everything stopped. There was nothing else.

“What was all that?” Lila asked, waving her hand at the screen.

“Our hope turned to our demise,” Haley said standing.

_____________________________________

John turned his head towards the door, looking away from those who may have been his brothers. Fellow messiahs they could have been had they awoken. Now though, the scent called to him.

The blood of Gods was in this compound amongst him and his kin. But the blood was tainted by will. This was his test; to deliver from these demons that wore the flesh of Gods.

John left the company of his brothers, as the undead followed him, shambling quietly into the darkness.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 17​

The butt of his carbine cracked against the ghoul’s face, smashing it against the glass that it had leapt at earlier. Jay brought his arms up, and without a sound smashed the undead creature again, then again, until its skull split open, it brains leaking out in a grey mush.

He smirked as he turned from the body and hobbled after Haley and Lila, both heading towards the exit of the compound, to get out of this tomb. They had their answers, it was time to get off this damn island.

Moving through the dark corridors by the illumination of the glow stick, the trio could heard creatures shambling in the darkness, following them. Jay limped as quickly as he could, regretting dropping his walking stick just outside. His hands tightened on his carbine, even as Lila slipped her finger into the trigger guard of her pistol.

Turning a corner, the green light revealed a group of zombies awaiting them. Lila let out a yelp and fired, splashing one’s brains across the wall behind it, but the ghouls didn’t move; simply stared.

There was a moment of hesitation, as Haley looked at them, pulling her sword free of its scabbard.

“And so we find one of God’s favourites, fallen from grace by defending the impure,” came a rough voice from behind them.

Haley turned to see a large zombie, military dog tags hanging around his neck, and only clad in camouflage pants. His arms were crossed across his barrel like chest as he stared at the three humans.

“What the fuck?” Lila whispered to herself.

The creature only laughed, and Haley turned to face subject 05. She smirked, and nodded to Jay.

“Let’s see your flock get over this one,” he muttered, lifting the M4 to his shoulder and flipping the selector switch to automatic. The noise from his bursts filled the cramped hallway, and the zombies before them crumpled to the ground with their brains sloshed within their skulls.

The smell of gunpowder filled the air, and Haley bared her fangs at the creature, who could only stare back in shock, before Lila fired a single shot into its head, bursting the skull open. Subject 05 collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap, and Haley stepped above him and plunged her sword down into where his heart would be.

The Alpha was made of more pure vampire genetics than the regular zombie hordes, and she had to be sure he was dead. As she twisted the blade, ensuring the heart torn within his chest cavity, the howl of zombies reached her ears, cut off from their commander.

“Well... we apparently pissed them off. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Jay said, starting to move past the creatures he killed, careful not to slip in the puddles of blood they left pooling on the floor.

As Haley pulled her sword free, she thought she heard a voice whispering to her. Frowning she looked back from where they had come. There was something else in here with them.

_____________________________________________

John looked at the empty tank of subject 04. An apostle who quickly ran off to squander his gifts against the fallen ones. The vampires would not be able to get past their pride and arrogance he knew. They would defend the impure until their hearts were torn from their bodies.

Pressing a needle into the dead skin of his neck, he hoped the virus at its purest form would take hold now. It had not worked for Subjects 01 to 03, but they were weak. John was strong now, and he would lead the revolution, and earn the love bestowed upon him.

Tossing the needle away, he walked out into the hallway, and reached out, touching the minds of his flock, beckoning them to this holy temple. Their crusade was nearly at an end, and he would be damned if these heretics escaped his wrath.

__________________________________________

Outside the compound, zombies began to filter into the dark corridors, groans escaping rotting lungs as they hunted for flesh. Their messiah called to them, and they answered.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 18​

The muzzle flashes lit the darkness for a split second, just long enough for Lila and Jay to see the creatures coming towards them, reaching out with rotting hands to consume them. Haley stood with glow stick held high, and sword flashed, taking heads from necks, keeping her lips clamped shut as blood sprayed across her face.

As they fought desperately against the encroaching ghouls, happy for the narrow corridors that kept the undead coming towards them in a narrow funnel, Haley felt the pangs of hunger in her gut. She hadn’t eaten since the night prior, where she had gorged on the farmer. Regardless, she hadn’t exactly been keeping a low profile that would have let her go a few days without food.

Hell, the Elder Coven supposedly ate once every few months.

Letting out a snarl, before forcing her mouth closed once again, Haley’s sword cut through a zombie’s arm before biting into the creature’s neck and splitting through the spine. Walking backwards, she had to be careful where she placed her feet as she began to move over the corpses that Lila and Jay left in their wake.

“Reloading... I’m running real fucking low here,” Jay called out, just a hint of panic in his voice. He was damn good at hiding his fear, but Haley could almost smell it on him. Still he pressed on after pushing one of his last magazines into his M4 carbine.

“I’m out!” Lila nearly screamed as she looked at her pistol.

“Use it as a club, it’s our only fucking chance,” Jay yelled.

“They’re getti-” Lila started, but was suddenly cut off.

Haley risked a glance over her shoulder to see Lila’s legs kicking in the air as she was pulled into a room beside them. Grabbing Jay’s shoulder she gently nudged him towards the door to help her, while she covered his back.

A single gunshot sounded behind her as she moved in through the door, her sword slashing out to behead another zombie before she reached out and hit the button that slid the door shut. As the metal came out from the wall, it crushed a outreaching arm, severing the limb. No scream of agony came from the wounded undead, another reminder of their loss of humanity.

Safe for a moment, Haley turned to see Jay helping Lila to her feet. Tears of fear streaked down her face; she had come so very close to death. Or even worse a shambling undeath. As the two humans embraced, Haley once again reflected on her own state of being. She was so close to being one of those monsters outside that were pounding on the door. Her lungs no longer drew breath, but her heart still beat within her breast. That was what set her apart, what made her, despite not being alive, still human; in a sense at least.

“Is she bitten?” Haley asked.

“No,” Lila answered for herself, and Haley nodded.

She turned back to look at the window that looked out into the hall to see the gathering of ghouls that awaited them. Standing just before the shatter proof glass however was a much larger creature.

He wore the same military pants and dog tags as the other talking zombie they had killed, but this one’s fingers stretched out into vicious claws, and fangs pushed down on his lips. Yellow eyes stared in through the window, and he shook his head, almost in sorrow.

“What the fuck is that?” Lila asked, separating from Jay and spotting the creature.

“I think it’s another of those alphas you girls were looking up,” Jay said.

“Alpha... you impure humans always try so hard to label everything, to explain everything with your science. I am John,” the creature said, and though his voice was muffled almost to the point of being inaudible through the glass, all three could hear his words clearly in their minds.

Before either of them could react, John’s hands curled into tight fists, and pounded against the glass. Cracks spread from the impact like a spider web. Lila jumped back against the other wall, crashing against an empty shelf.

John smiled as he looked at the cracks, and in the silence, the banks of computers lining the walls hummed. Haley clutched her sword tighter, already pale knuckles turning white. Jay let out a slow breath and checked his weapon.

“Lila, take this,” Haley said, tossing her the M4 she’d had slung across her back. Lila caught it while Haley handed out the few magazines she had left to her the two she had brought under her protection.

The first collided against the glass again, the cracks getting wider, spreading further. All three hearts pounded like drums, and Haley felt fear. It was an alien feeling, more akin to the woman she had left behind on that rooftop in London five years ago. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She needed to be calm, fighting whilst frightened led to mistakes. Mistakes down here in the darkness would lead to death, and Jay’s and Lila’s demise.

Another crack against the glass, chips of glass falling to the floor. It was only a matter of time now.

A fourth punch, and John’s fist went clear through the glass, making a jagged hole. As his hand pulled free Jay fired a few shots through the hole, the bullets tearing through John’s stomach and spraying blood out behind him.

John cocked a brow, an expression that looked so strange and horrific with the eyebrow missing and the skin where it had been rotted away. The creature looked down to his stomach, where the skin began to reknit itself, leaving in its wake ragged scars. John couldn’t heal as well as a vampire, but he had somehow brought himself closer to the same bloodline that birthed him.

“What the fuck are you?” Jay yelled as John began to pull at the hole in the window, the glass groaning as it strained to keep in place.

“I am the future, and I will give you the gift to join me there,” John said, as the window finally came crashing down, and the zombies waiting beside the Alpha came shambling in as two carbines began to fire.

“And you fallen angel, will be sent back to Hell,” John told Haley.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 19​

Lunging forward, Haley’s blade cleaved through a zombie’s skull, spilling gore across what should have been a clean room, though in the near darkness it was hardly seen. The glow stick was dropped to the ground, casting its glow across the room as Haley’s sword took the head from a second approaching ghoul while bullets zipped past her, striking the undead.

John stepped through the glass, and Haley slashed at him, steel slicing through the flesh of his arm, spilling his blood. A fist connected with her chest. Haley felt her feet lifted from the ground as she sailed across the room, her back colliding with the wall. The bitter taste of her own blood filled her mouth, staining her fangs, rolling over her lips.

Jay swore as he let loose a burst, the bullets tearing through John’s head, but he did not falter, only stepping forward with his broken skull, bone and flesh knitting itself in a mottled rotten covering. He held no expression as he moved towards the very frightened humans, hands at his sides.

Haley reached out for her sword, pain flaring through the cracked ribs in her chest. She winced and grasped the sword anyway, feeling the marrow slide back within the bones, feeling the torn flesh within sew itself together, the agony slowly fading to where she could stand.

“Haley hurry,” Jay yelled out as he shifted his fire from between the various zombies pouring into the room and John, who seemed to ignore the bullets tearing through his flesh.

Once again on her feet Haley leapt forward, cutting a zombie’s head off before it reached Lila, then kicking out to her side. A neck snapped beneath the heel of her boot and another corpse flopped to the floor. As Jay and Lila backed away from the ravenous undead, Haley became a flurry of movement.

Dodging outreaching hands and John’s fists, she slashed and kicked, spraying blood around her in crimson arcs.

“I’m out,” Jay called in warning his hand searching for a magazine that wasn’t there, and John turned his mutilated face towards the soldier.

Jay took a deep breath and dropped his M4, pulling his combat knife from its sheath on his hip. Holding it firm before his face he stared the large zombie down.

“Bring it on mother fucker,” Jay demanded.

“Jay no,” Lila called out, shooting a zombie in the face as it grabbed her shoulder.

Haley tried desperately to fight her way over to the alpha zombie who stormed over to who could possibly be the last living soldier on the entire island. Jay didn’t move an inch, and as the first fist swung towards his face he ducked and slashed upwards.

Blood poured out of the gash along John’s forearm, but he didn’t react as all, his wound already healing as the other fist came swinging downwards. Jay leapt to the side, and winced as pain lanced up his leg, causing him to stumble. He could feel something warm and wet spreading beneath the bandage around his calf, seeping out from underneath.

John had no expression as his foot crashed down on Jay’s leg, drawing a guttural scream of white hot pain from the depth of his soul. Bone snapped under the impact, shards piercing out of the skin. Jay tried to crawl away, but John grasped his broken leg where he had shattered it.

Jay screamed again, and Lila emptied her magazine into John’s body, to no effect. She soon found herself backing into the corner, trying to keep herself alive as zombies came after her.

John lifted his victim by his leg from the ground, the skin straining from the weight, until it tore, and Jay’s leg separated from itself and he fell to the ground, blood gushing from the stump below his knee.

“Weakness. I can end your pain,” John said as he picked Jay up once more, this time, fingers encircling around his throat.

Jay jammed his knife into the abomination’s eye, only to feel the fingers start to close, cutting off his breathing. He struggled in the creature’s grasp trying to free himself, his knife stabbing into the arm desperately.

Haley came in from the side, her blade slicing upwards and severing John’s arm at the elbow. Jay collapsed to the floor, taking deep gulps of breath after tossing the arm still clutching his throat away.

John glanced at his stump once, and Haley took full advantage as the creature tried to recalculate his attack. Her sword was a flurry, slicing long deep cuts across his torso. John’s remaining hand snapped out faster than Haley thought possible and grasped her own arm, and quickly snapped it backwards.

She held back a scream as pain flashed into her mind, and stabbed her sword through John’s bicep, severing tendons and flaying muscle from bone. Unable to control his hand while his body tried to repair itself, Haley kicked out, buckling one of his knees.

As he fell to a kneel, the vampire plunged her blade deep into John’s chest, cleaving through his heart. His eyes went wide and he let out a chocked gasp.

“So you tried to become a vampire... I know how to kill my own kind, devil,” Haley snarled, baring her fangs in John’s face, and she smirked inwardly as she saw the devastation that final word had on John. She could see it in his remaining eye, whilst the other suddenly stopped repairing itself.

With that she twisted her blade, destroyed the creature’s heart, and the semblance of consciousness within those eyes faded. Haley quickly pulled her sword out and swung around, her blade connecting and biting through John’s neck and severing the spine, before passing through more flesh. As the head fell free, hitting the floor with the solid clunk, the zombies suddenly paused and started to twitch as if having seizures.

Haley smirked as she moved towards them.

___________________________________

Lila helped the very pale Jay walk out from the forest. They didn’t know where Haley was, but they had avoided the trail of corpses that led deeper into the dark green of the forest. There were no zombies around them, just the open fields of farmland, and the road that either led towards the cottages or the city.

Turning their backs on the smoldering urban centre, the pair made their way towards what they hoped would be their salvation.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Blood of the Damned

Part 20​

Jay laid on his back, relaxing in the comfort of the bed. Another farmhouse, another dawn. After only a few days and nights they were already used to traveling under the shroud of nightfall, and taking their rest during the day.

Lila pulled the bandages off Jay’s stump, and used a clean cloth soaked in water and vodka to clean off the wound once again. She had been unable to find any proper medicine and so the booze would have to do to kill any possible infection.

“How’s it looking?” Jay asked weakly, he didn’t seem to have much strength left anymore, and Lila couldn’t really blame him. He had been through so much, and the loss of a leg was a traumatizing event.

Cauterizing it with a frying pan had not been a pleasant experience either.

“No signs of infection. It looks as clean as I can get it,” Lila said, dunking the cloth in a bowl of water beside her, turning the liquid a light pink from the blood.

“Good... I think I’m just going to rest awhile... wake me up for my shift,” he said, and laid his head back on the pillow, almost immediately falling asleep.

Lila didn’t say anything, but simply reapplied the bandages and looked back to the door, barricaded by the dresser that had been sitting in here. She took a quick peek out the solitary window and squinted against the morning sun. No zombies, no vampires. Just nothing.

She sat herself down and leaned against the wall, holding a sawed off shotgun in her lap. They had found the weapon downstairs in the hands of a man who had apparently taken his own head off. A bite mark had been visible on his upper arm. She only had a few shells tucked away in her pocket. She prayed to whoever might be listening that it would see them through to the end.

Setting her head against the wall, she let her eyes flutter closed, and sleep overtook her.

____________________________________

The moon looked down upon them as they walked together from the farmhouse and towards cottage country. Their arms wrapped around the other’s shoulder to help Jay stay on his solitary foot. Lila’s spare arm held the shotgun, Jay’s a walking stick.

They didn’t talk, wanting to keep as low a profile as possible.

For hours they walked, eventually coming upon carefully trimmed grass and perfectly planted trees. Cottages hidden within the shade leered at them, daring them to explore. Both ignored the temptation to find another place to rest, fearful of the death that could be lurking within, and simply walked along the road, not finding the strength to care anymore if a zombie found them.

They passed a tree, someone hanging from the low hanging branches. Either the birds of the undead had gotten to the ragged remains slowly shifting in the breeze. Neither could even identify gender, or age. They simply pressed on.

A few more hours slowly rolled by, until they found themselves coming to a large waterfront home, behind it a large dock and a boathouse. Out on the water, anchored off the shore, was a large sailboat, shadowy figures moving about on board.

The two exchanged glances, not daring to hope, but moved down to the dock anyway, hoping to find some way to call out or to get out there. They moved past the boathouse without checking it, and as soon as their feet hit the planks of the dock they heard something shift behind them.

They turned, to see Haley sitting on a barrel that had been hidden from their view. She wore a wry and tired smile on her features, fangs hidden beneath her lips.

“We were waiting,” she said getting to her feet, and striking a flare.

As the bright green light flared to life, Lila frowned.

“Where the fuck have you been?” she demanded.

“Clearing a path. Securing a way off this island for you two,” she said, as shouted started to come out over the water, a small rowboat starting to make its way to land.

Jay almost laughed, but simply pulled himself out of Lila’s helping hands and sat himself on the edge of the dock and looked out towards salvation, and waited. Lila flicked her gaze between vampire, human and the ship coming towards them, wondering if it was more of Haley’s kind, or more of hers.

“Thank you,” she said simply, sitting beside Jay on the dock.

Haley held the flare high for a few moments, before tossing it into the water.

“I hope they hurry,” she said dryly under her breath.

On the horizon, behind the ship, the glow of a new dawn started to light the sky.

The End​