The Blood Rite

Chapter Three

All she heard was the high keening sound of metal twisting and screams. So much screaming. Ruby's body was hit and shoved this way and that before she slammed into something hard. Rocks dug into her skin. Then something was sliding into her gut. She cried out, a choked and pitched sound as it tore through flesh, bone, and organ. She didn't stop screaming even as the blade stopped moving and blood filled her throat.

Ruby blacked out.

***

When she woke, the screaming had stopped. All was quiet. The faint glow of headlights revealed the treetops to her. She took a deep, wheezing breath and coughed. Blood splattered on her face, gushing over her lips. The pain she'd felt was now, at most, a memory. Her legs shook, her right slightly bouncing off of the ground. Her body was in shock.

    Talon, she thought, where's Talon?

Her mind was a mess. All she wanted to do was fall into the deep darkness tugging at her. But now that that single name had crossed her thoughts, she couldn't fall asleep. She had to find him. To find him and Lexi and Rex and Beau.

She lifted her head and saw, with sobering horror that a large chunk of metal cut halfway through her gut. A choked sob escaped her. There was so much blood. It coated her entire body and the road around her. She saw the bodies then.

The dixie chick was mere feet from her, lying face down and motionless. The upper half of Catgirl's body was slung over the hood of the car, through the windshield. Blood covered her face. Beau lay directly in front of the car. Lexi and Rex were thrown like dolls in the front seats. Dead. All of them. The car itself was twisted and folded in impossible ways with some of the doors open wide. Chunks of metal were strewn around them.

Another sob slipped from her and her trembling arms gave out. She fell back against the cement. She hadn't seen Talon anywhere.

"Talon," she wheezed, coughing. No answer came.

Suddenly Ruby's thoughts cut off and she stared up at the night sky with blank eyes. She couldn't think, couldn't feel. It was all too much. Dead. All of her friends.

She saw Lexi standing behind her, winding her slender fingers through Ruby's hair as music blared in the background. They'd been having sleepovers since they were twelve, laughing and dancing. Fighting over stupid things but eventually, always, coming back together.

Ruby and Lexi had met Rex after Talon made friends with him junior year. The four of them had been by the lake, jumping over rocks and messing around. Lexi and Rex begun dating not too long after.

And Beau. Ruby had known him nearly as long as she had Talon, it was only because of track that they'd gotten to know each other better. He was impulsive, wild, and hilarious. Had always been a weird one. But still, he'd been her friend.

However, it was Talon who was closest to her heart. Known around school as the womanizer, the player. But to her he was just Talon, the kid with chubby cheeks who always somehow knew the moment she was home and would run out to play with her. The kid who'd grown into a man who charmed everyone he met. Extroverted and popular. His status had inevitably helped her status as well. Although, Ruby wouldn't care if he'd never been popular. If he'd never grown out of his baby fat. She still would have loved him. She would have continued spending nights with him as they watched their favorite shows and argued about the stupidest things. She still would have let him make her laugh and fall deeper for him even if she couldn't have him.

Warm tears fell over her cheeks. He isn't dead. She refused to believe it. Science could work miracles. Maybe she'd be able to hear Lexi's laugh, have Rex help with her homework, to curse Beau out for being an idiot. And maybe she'd be able to get to know Catgirl and Dixie chick. After all of that, maybe she'd be able to hold Talon in her arms and cry.

Voices rose on the edge of her awareness. Shadows were growing in her vision. Her body growing numb, as if she felt it from a distance.

". . .looks like they were here," an unfamiliar voice said from somewhere down the road.

"We were too late," said another.

"Wait," one said, "two hearts are beating."

Two?

Talon. Warm relief rushed through her. She had no idea who these people were or how they knew that their hearts were beating. But Ruby was delirious and ready to believe anything if it meant Talon lived.

A man's face appeared above her. Impassively he called to his companions, "Here's one."

"The other is here, through the windshield."

What? No. Talon wasn't through the windshield. They had it wrong.

The man leaned down closer to her and said, "I'm going to give you two choices," this time he was talking to her, "One, I will make sure you die quick and painlessly. Or two, you live as one of the undead."

Ruby's brows furrowed and she tried to speak but ended up choking on more blood. "I can't save you as you are. Your injuries are too deep. Your life as a human is over either way you choose but this way, the end won't be painful."

She didn't understand anything of what he was saying except for the basics. Live or die. Ruby knew she'd die soon. She could feel the tug of the darkness growing. If she followed it, where would she go? Would a girl like her find peace?

Later, Ruby would regret her decision. A choice made in a state of such delirium and desperation it deprived her of all rational thought. Survive, she thought, survive and save Talon.

This man, maybe he was a miracle worker. Right now a miracle was exactly what she needed.

Her wet lips parted and, with a breathy croak, she answered, "Live."

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I don't think I would answer any different! Would you?

Comment your answer below and don't forget to give this chapter a big VOTE!