If there were any a day to pick up pickpocketingand petty thievery again, it would be today. I think Jessica could look past this infraction just this once, considering our current circumstances.
I fumbled with the key ring I had taken off of Officer Bailey’s belt earlier when trying to grab Beck in my back pocket. Jess was still pretty shaken up from watching our friend get sucked dry like a caprisun right in front of her. I couldn’t afford the luxury of freaking out because I was trying to be the glue that kept us together.
“What- what are you doing, Danny?” Jess asked as she took notice of what I was doing.
“Trying to get us the hell out of here.” I mumbled back as I showed her the key ring.
“Did I ever tell you how much I love you?” She whispered.
“You can tell me all about it after we get the hell out of dodge.”
After trying each key, I finally found the one that unlocked the door to our cell. Jess and I took a moment to celebrate our victory.
“Do you think they’re guarding the front door?” Jess asked as we silently slipped out into the hallway.
“Probably not, but I don’t want to go out there unarmed. There has to be an armory or something in this place.” I dangled the keys in Jessica’s face again,” These will get us in.”
Jess nodded her head firmly. “Let’s go.”
We continued going down the hallway to the left, which was the opposite way of where the monster cops from hell came from. We tip-toed and moved quietly so as not to divert any suspicion to our escape. There wasn’t a directory or anything, just a whole bunch of doors. There were only four keys on the ring, and one of them seemed to be the master key for all other doors in the building as I used it on a majority of the doors we came across. No armory yet just interrogation rooms, supply rooms, and offices.
I had just closed the door to yet another office and we started to make our way to the next one when Jess and I heard footsteps coming from down the hallway where the cell was. Sensing our impending doom, we made a mad dash for the closest door. The now unlocked door led into a dark room. Just as I closed the door again and locked it, angered yells echoed through the empty police station.
“God damn it, they escaped!” Bradshaw yelled out, when he no doubt came back to an empty cell.
“Fuck my keys!” Bailey shouted when he finally noticed they were missing.
“We need to find them, NOW!” Bradshaw seethed as the sound of their footsteps banging on the linoleum floor rang through the halls. Jess and I put our hands over each other’s mouths and scooted as far into the darkness as we could as a pair of slow, terrifying, foot falls approached the room we were hiding in.
Relief flooded through my veins as whoever was out there passed without a second thought. Jess and I didn’t dare to move until we didn’t hear anything coming from outside. A quick check out of the little window on the door confirmed that the coast was clear.
Jess felt her hand against the wall looking for a light switch. A few seconds later she found what she was looking for. A low hum flooded the room as the fluorescent light flickered to life, revealing the contents of the room we’d locked ourselves in.
I noticed it before Jessica and promptly covered her mouth again as she turned around. Instead of a scream, a stifled yelp escaped her mouth as she took in the sight before her. I had to refrain myself from throwing up again.
We had found the armory alright, but we also found Beck’s corpse that had been thrown on a table surrounded by gun lockers. At Least they had the decency to put what was left of him in a body bag.
Jess isolated herself to the corner of the room as I slowly inched my way to get a closer look of the body, since there was really no way of ignoring it since it was quite literally smack dab in the middle of the room.
My blood boiled as I examined my best friend’s dead body. There were two sets of puncture wounds on either side of his neck where his blood was drained. Where his skin wasn’t bruised and beat up, it was paler than its usual hue and his leg still appeared to be broken. His cheeks and eyes had sunken in as a permanent look of shocked terror was expressed on his face. His cold dead eyes were still open and I silently closed them, choking back tears. I turned my back to the body on the table and started to fumble with the keys again to figure which one opened the gun lockers.
“He’s dead Jess.” I said sticking a random key into the lock. “Those things killed Beck.”
“Danny-“ She whispered. I was too stuck in my emotions to really hear her though. I heard a faint rustling behind me and figured it was Jess coming closer to comfort me.
One of the keys finally took and I swung the metal door open. I went for the pump action shotgun. “They killed him right in front of our eyes, Jess! Tortured and drank him dry.”
“Danny.” Jessica said a bit louder. I still somewhat blocked her out as the images of Beck’s dead body flashed in my head like a sick slideshow. I grabbed a pistol for Jessica before slamming the door to the locker shut.
“I’m going to kill those blood sucking bastards, if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“Danny!” Jessica screamed.
I turned around in anger. “What!” I yelled, before my eyes went wide and my blood froze.
I slowly tip-toed around the table and got in front of Jessica, handing her the pistol, as I stared at Beck, who was now sitting up in his body bag.
“Hey guys! What’s up?” He asked, like he hadn’t been dead a second ago.
“N-nothing much…” I stammered out as I got a good grip on the hopefully already loaded shotgun.
“H-how are you feeling, Beck?” Jessica squeaked from behind me.
“A lot better actually.” He said to himself as he wiggled his once broken leg and didn’t wince with pain. He also looked up and down his arms, examining them also. “Now that I think about it-“ he said as he looked back at Jessica and me, his eyes beginning to glow red as a set of fangs grew in his mouth,” I’m pretty hungry.”
After he said that a loud hiss escaped from his mouth as he bared his fangs at the two of us. I quickly reacted and readied my gun, shooting his chest. Beck’s body flew back down on the table.
Slight relief washed over me when it looked like he had died again, but then I realized the two other vampires prowling the police station were looking for us and now knew our location.
Jess and I were about to make a run for it when Beck’s body lurched forward and he sat up on the table again. A small shriek escaped from Jess behind me.
“Did- did you just shoot me?!” Beck asked in a hurt and betrayed tone as he brought his hand to his chest, which wasn’t bleeding by the way.
“Yes?” I said back apologetically. “To be fair, you were trying to eat us.”
He shrugged his shoulders, thinking it over, before the red in his eyes appeared again along with his fangs. I tried to aim for his head, but my shaking hands caused me to miss and I ended up shooting his shoulder.
Strings of muscle and sinew were all that clung to his shoulder, barely keeping his arm from falling off.
“Dude! You just shot me again!” Beck yelled out as he looked at his injured shoulder.
The sounds of bones snapping and wet squelching filled the room as it looked like Beck’s body had begun regenerating itself.
“Oh, that- that’s not right…” Jess said from behind me, trying to hold in her puke.
“Okay.” Beck said after his arm was good as new. He then started to get to his feet and got into a prancing position. “Now I’m hungry… and mad.”
“Run!” I yelled as I yanked Jessica with me as I ran for the door. I shoved her out and locked the door behind us as we started running down the hall. A loud thump rang out as Beck smashed his body against the door. Jessica, in the excitement, lost her bearings and tripped on the floor. As I pulled her up back on her feet, another loud thump rang out from the armory’s door, this time the sound of wood splintering and breaking rang out after it as Beck crashed through the door. He looked like a rabid animal as he started to pick himself up. Suddenly, behind Beck, Bailey and Bradshaw emerged from the corner of the hallway, their eyes glowing red too.
This got our adrenaline pumping and we dashed back the way we came trying to get to the front door. I periodically shot behind us at the monsters who were quickly gaining on us with inhuman speed. Jessica screamed when she looked back and found Beck right behind her.
Thinking quickly, I opened the nearest unlocked door, threw Jessica inside, and locked the door behind us. It turns out it was an interrogation room and I shoved one of the wooden chairs under the door handle for added protection.
The bloodthirsty creatures outside quickly caught up and started pounding on the door.
“You can’t hide in there forever!” Bailey yelled out.
“You saw what I did to that door right?” Beck said in a creepily arrogant tone I’ve never heard him use before.
As the banging continued, Jess and I backed ourselves into a corner metaphorically and literally.
“W-what do we do Danny? I’m scared. I don’t wanna die.”
“You aren’t going to die! I’m just going to eat you!” Beck hissed through the door.
Bradshaw shoved his way to the front before announcing,“ Well technically you are going to die, Eaten or not. Even then, we’re still going to turn you.”
“Just grab your gun and aim. No matter what comes through that door, we need to remember that it isn’t Beck anymore.” I answered as I readied the shotgun yet again. The bullets wouldn’t kill them, but it would certainly slow them down.
“Awww Danny! Do you really think of me like that?”
I ignored the words being spoken by the monster that looked like my best friend and looked to Jessica who was trembling something fierce. “I- I don’t know how to use a gun though.”
The banging on the door got worse and I could tell the barricade between us and the things out there wasn’t going to last much longer.
“All you do is flick the safety off, cock it,” I showed Jess as she followed with her weapon, the wood groaning and creaking as it was about to give out,” aim, and shoot.”
The door burst off its hinges and the hungry beasts launched themselves inside. Gun fire rang out as both my girlfriend and I shot at the things in front of us. I managed to get a good shot on Bradshaw and his body flew out of the room. A bullet from Jess’s gun got Bailey in the abdomen but it didn’t seem to affect him too much. My secondary shot to his head did though. Beck pushed his way past the temporarily downed police bodies and jumped on top of the interrogation table. He was snarling and hissing hungrily at us.
I aimed the shotgun, but nothing came out, just a clicking sound.
“Ah shit, I’m out of ammo.” I cursed to myself.
“Me too.” Jess said as she tossed her gun to the ground, shrinking into the corner.
Beck took the opportunity and jumped off the table and went for what seemed to be the weaker of the two of us, Jessica.
She screamed bloody murder, but Beck and his new inhuman strength easily pinned her down. I used the shotgun and began to beat down on Beck’s back. This didn’t seem to hurt him one bit, instead annoying him, and he pushed me back, causing me to fly to the other end of the room.
“Wait your turn” he snarled as he got closer to shoving his fangs in Jessica’s neck. She was still screaming and crying.
“Hold still damnit!” Beck yelled out as he struggled to keep Jess steady. As he was doing this my eyes landed on the broken leg of the wooden chair I’d used to help barricade the door. Seeing no other option, I grabbed the leg and ran for the corner where my best friend was trying to eat my girlfriend. Splintered side up, with all my might, I slammed the piece of wood into Beck’s back. A loud and pained animalistic roar escaped from his mouth as he lurched back in pain. Jessica quickly pushed him off of her and ran to me.
We took the opportunity and headed for the front door. For the first time since this nightmare began, I had hope that we, at least Jessica and I, would make it out of this alive and somewhat unscathed.
“Wait!” I told her as she was about to run out the front doors. I went behind the secretary’s desk and grabbed a pair of car keys and motioned for her to continue. I almost crumbled to the ground when I breathed in the fresh night air.
I pressed the unlock button on the pair of keys I’d taken and turned my head to the cruiser that’s lights flashed and beeped after I’d done so.
“That’s not your blood, right?” I asked Jessica as she got to the passenger’s side door. There was a big blood stain on her white t-shirt and some had started to deep into the green jacket she wore on top of the shirt.
“Yep. It’s Becks, now let’s go!” She replied quickly.
Not taking the time to lock the doors or put my seatbelt on, I quickly stuck the key in the ignition and started the car. Just as I was about to peel out of the parking lot, three dark silhouettes with glowing red eyes emerged from the police station.
“Go, go, go, go GO!” Jess screamed as I pressed my foot on the accelerator.
“I am going!” I yelled back in a frenzy.
Suddenly, two loud metallic thumps came from the roof of the car. A very sharp nailed hand started banging on the glass of my window, another one managing to pry open the passenger door.
Jessica screamed as one of the creatures grabbed hold of her. I slammed my foot on the break which caused the vampire on my side to fly off the roof and land in the middle of the street. The one that had a hold on Jessica held steady and yanked her out of the car, easily since she too didn’t put on a seatbelt.
“Jess!” I yelled as I opened my door, ready to chase after her and the monster that was dragging her back into the police station.
“Go without me, Danny, Go! I’ll be fine! Get out of here, go!” She screamed, one arm outstretched towards me as she was yanked back.
I felt conflicted for a moment, but decided it’d be best to go get help then to stay and probably die anyway. I got back into the police cruiser and started the car before I could get captured again. I sped over the vampire that had been flung off my car and somewhat felt a little pleased by the bump that resulted.
I had only been driving for five minutes before a huge buck or something jumped out in front of me and quickly crossed the road. I must’ve still been jumpy as I quickly over corrected the car, causing it to spin out. The car then flipped on its side and crashed.
“Shit!” I cried to myself, still not feeling like I was a safe distance away from the blood suckers I’d left behind.
Mostly uninjured by the crash, besides some cuts and a bruised ankle, I quickly crawled out of the wrecked car and ran for the woods. If I stayed on the road that led straight, they’d be able to find me in no time. Hopefully by running in the woods I’d be able to evade them until sunrise- that is, hoping they were like vampires in the movies and stuff. The wooden chair leg gave me a little confidence in the theory, but in truth, I had no idea what I was dealing with.
I picked a direction and stayed with it. I ran despite all the pain my body was in, mentally and physically. Luckily the light from the moon was bright enough to where I could mostly see where I was going and stop me from running into a tree, but what it didn’t stop was the exhaustion that was slowly seeping into my bones. My adrenaline was running out and it was running out fast.
Eventually I misplaced my foot, the one with the hurting ankle, and tripped over a thick tree root. I breathed in heavily as my body sorta gave up and just lied there, pain radiating everywhere. I stared at my breath in the cold night air as I prayed I’d made it far enough to safety.
God laughed in my face.
Over the sound of blood rushing in my ears and my racing heartbeat, I heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance.
I thought maybe it was the buck that caused me to crash earlier but something within me just knew.
A second later a small figure had made itself known to me. I propped myself up and winced as pain shot through my ankle up to my spine. Tears welled up in my eyes as the moonlight revealed who it was.
“Jessica, no-“ I cried as she stared down at me with glowing red eyes. Her fangs glinted in the moonlight.
“My sweet little Danny.” She began as she slowly made her way towards me, her eyes going normal again.
“I’m not your Danny.” I spat as I scooted myself away from the monster that was once my loving girlfriend.
“It’s time to stop playing games. Join us Danny, when I turn you, we can be a family again. Just me, you, and Beck.”
“Never.”
“That’s funny,” Jess hissed as her eyes returned to an unnaturally bright red hue. “I don’t remember giving you an option.”
She then bared her fangs before rushing me.
At this point I should’ve given up on all hope, but I didn’t. My girlfriend and best friend were both dead and had been turned into evil monsters, my ankle went from bruised to broken in a matter of seconds, and there was no possible way I could escape this situation, yet somehow I still had some resolve left in me and I continued to fight. I scooted back as much as I could and then, no matter how much it hurt me, started to hit and punch my girlfriend as she tried to rip my throat out.
Suddenly a loud rustling came from the brush nearby. Something had then emerged from them, but it was too fast to see, just a big brown blur. Then, in an instant, the air was knocked out of me and the whistling of wind sang in my ears as cold rushing air brushed past me.
I didn’t feel it for long, though, as a deep darkness enveloped my vision and I passed out.