Red Dawn

10. Guilt

Anna, Georgia and I were waiting in our home for Henry to pick her up. Guilt was crawling around in my stomach as I wracked my brain for a gentle way to break the news.

The skylight opened and Henry yelled down for Georgia and Joey. Taking a deep breath, I stood up. Georgia shook her head at me before climbing up. I watched as she whispered something to him. Henry began yelling but Georgia calmed him down and dragged him away.

Anna rolled into her bunk and hugged one of Joey's shirts to her chest. I sighed before feeding the chickens and getting ready for bed.

***

I woke in a cold sweat with the remnants of my nightmare running through my mind. Groaning, I slid out of my bunk and tugged on my boots. I clambered out of the skylight and sat under the stars. Somehow Joey being taken was worse than Tommy's death. Tommy was now free of the many dangers and continuous undertone of sadness running through everything in this apocalyptic world. Joey, however, was in the vampire mansion in the square, most likely being slowly bled dry.

I lay down on the cold concrete roof and watched the stars twinkle. The moon was bright but not quite full. Crashing noises echoed in the distance. A fire flickered in the street a couple of blocks over. I curled up into a ball on my side.

***
The first sunrays peeked over the edge of the city and woke me with their startling light.

Memories flashed in my head. The horrors that had occurred in the streets when the infection first became obviously known to the public. Vampires tearing into people, spurting blood everywhere. Werewolves ripping off vampire heads and shifting between their two forms with horrifying cracking sounds. Humans rioting, smashing through shops and looting. Then later gangs formed and killed people for supplies.

The things vampires had done to people in plain sight were horrifying and imprinted on my brain. Now vampires were only allowed to hurt people that were outside the inner circle. They also had to take these humans to the houses in the square and not feed from them in the street.

Torture performed by vampires continued playing in my head. All the victims were replaced by Joey. I started sobbing desperately and rocking my body.

It wasn't fair. Humans once again ruled the Earth and we were slowly recovering from the infection. But still, there were rules that stated that vampires could take humans. Those laws can go to hell.

I had to get Joey back...