TWO HOURS AGO—
I woke up being grabbed by my shoulders hard. I woke up groggy, then my eyes turned to see my best friend looking worried. "What's wrong?"
My best friend wore a frown on his face. "Hurry. Getting up, they discovered the tunnel. We need to leave now!"
His words brought alarm through my veins, and I shot up straight, and I asked, getting down from the bed, "What do you mean, found this place? It's far away from the city."
I grab my shirt to slide over my body and reach to grab my small dagger under my pillow. You can never be too careful in a world where vampires rule everything.
"I don't have to explain; we need to leave."
He grabbed me by my arm, and we ran with urgency in our steps and left the room, my body thrumming with nerves. I turned to my friend, Jake, "What about the others?"
"It's too late. We can't save them!"
Jaked, he said with an annoyed shout. James holds some truth to his words in a world where vampires rule, meaning human lives are treated worse than dirt. I've seen where compassion gets you killed, and we ran out to the front where we could get out of the tunnel.
I looked around me and saw people hiding under their beds, trembling. They are afraid, and most of them are women or children hiding with their moms. Some of the men who trained are out in the front, fighting for their lives and their families.
Jake pulled me to a stop when we heard a scream. I turned toward the screaming direction, and my body flinched when I saw multiple dead bodies on the ground, their heads rolled like a ball.
Large, skilled men carrying weapons thrust their daggers into people's chests or cut off their heads with plain ease, and many people tried to run in many directions. They screamed, cried, and shouted. It was plain chaos.
My lungs caught in my chest, and my hands trembled.
The skilled men wore a black protective suit over their chests, and their eyes caught my attention.
Red glowing eyes.
They entered the tunnel like a wave of darkness, and they went toward everyone, even toward the children. They didn't show any mercy, none at all. They slashed and killed like my people aren't human beings.
More bodies fell to the ground.
Although this isn't the first time I've witnessed this, my hands couldn't stop trembling. I reached to grab my dagger in my hands, a tiny comfort in the chaos.
One of the soldier vampires looked in our direction and headed towards Jake, and the sword was raised high in the air—
Without warning, Jake moved to the side, and I threw my sword in his direction, and Jake caught it.
Jake swiftly turned the sword to the vampire and thrust it into his chest. The vampire widened his eyes in surprise, and we watched his body fall to the ground, and his body turned to ash.
He was no longer.
We knew inevitably that we couldn't run. We're surrounded. I glanced toward Jake, our hearts pounding with certainty that we were going to die.
I looked ahead and saw a man different from the others. A large man in a white robe, and his eye gleamed red underneath his golden mask.
He didn't do anything; he stood there with an unnerving stillness. He watched us—like we were nothing more than ants.
Scattering around, he raised his hand when more vampires behind him came into the area, but they didn't kill. They captured many of the younger ones who didn't fight and forced them to the ground.
The children cried with terror, and tears rolled down their cheeks. The children tried to reach for their mothers, but the vampires hit them on the head, forcing them to be obedient.
I was filled with raw rage when I saw this. I knew the golden-masked vampire was responsible for all of this. Just looking at his body and his mask, his eyes icy cold, raw strength radiated from him.
I grabbed the sword from the dead vampire Jake killed, and it felt heavy in my hands. My hands trembled with fear and rage, and I ran toward the golden-masked monster.
The man turned to him, his red eyes bored into me with intensity, as if he was looking at my battered soul.
I raised the sword and hit his face, but he did nothing. He didn't protect his face, and yet the golden mask didn't fall. It remained on his face, and I was stunned, but I didn't let that stop me.
I used the sword to thrust into his chest, but he disappeared from the spot like the wind. I gasped when I heard his voice behind me: "Young one, you are the first one who dared to attack me openly."
His voice was low and menacing, and it sent a shudder through my spine. I swiftly turned around and tried to raise the sword again, but his hands reached out like lightning and grabbed my neck.
His smile became sinister, and he threw me to the ground with a painful thud to my spine, and his words brought a chill to my heart, but it didn't erase the hate in me.
Despite trembling with fear, I did something bold and outrageous.
I spat in his face.
His golden mask had spit on his left cheek, and he froze in his spot. His eyes turned dark, if that's possible. Clear fury surged in his eyes, and before I knew it, he kicked me in my side.
I rolled across the ground as my sides throbbed with agony, and I hissed sharply with tears burning my eyes. I sneer at the masked man, "Is that all you got?"
The vampire walked toward me like a menacing predator, and he bent his knees, grabbing my neck up in the air like I was nothing.
I gasped sharply when my lungs burned from the lack of air, and I put my hands around his wrist.
My chest thudded like a trapped bird in my chest, and I heard him whisper near my ears, "Clean up the mess."