The Nocturnals

Chapter Four: Happy Birthday

Joshua looks at her with curious eyes, "Couldn't you see the symbol?"

"No. Only the vampires and Shifters can see it," Eliora puts two and two together, "Are you a Shifter?!"

"No! Of course not!" Joshua's eyes widen with fear, "I don't know, but I think that's weird. I've never been able to see those before."

Eliora shakes her head, "Okay, I have a question," Joshua groans, "Don't you groan at me. I need to know, you saw the lady I was talking to, did you see everything that happened?" Eliora asks while twiddling her thumbs guiltily.

At that, Joshua's eyes narrow, "Yeah and I don't appreciate. being left for dead."

"But you were neurolized! What could I have done! And anyways, that saved your butt because they thought another Gambler lived here. See? All okay!" Eliora rushes her words to hide her guilt.

Joshua mumbles a 'whatever' and then looks at Eliora with his intent blue eyes, "You never told me your name, not like I could trust you to."

"It's Eliora," she smiles.

"I'm gonna call you Ellie."

Eliora rests her head on her hand, her elbow digging into the rotting wood, "Then I'm going to call you Joshie," he grimaces, "See? Don't like nicknames either, do you?"

"You can call me Josh, but not Joshie," Josh stretches and yawns, his shirt and grey jacket barely rising up to reveal his abs. Like any teen, Eliora almost drools, but recovers herself like she's learned to do.

Eliora smirks as he sprawls out his limbs on the couch. Suddenly, his stomach growls loudly like a lion, Eliora notices, "Well, Josh, I have to ask you to go hunting if you want food for lunch or tonight, cause I'm not going to be your mommy and bring your meal on a silver platter."

Josh's smile disappears and seriousness takes its place, "Fine. Do you have a bow?"

"Yeah, you hunt with bows? That reminds me of a movie I saw when I was eight. What was it... The Thirsty Games?" Eliora slides the bow from the slot in her backpack, handing it to Josh. Josh stands up, looking a lot taller than Eliora thought when he was neurolized.

"That movie was from Eleven years ago... Damn. It's been ten years since the whole invasion. That reminds me, happy tenth anniversary of the Tyranny's Beginning!" Josh says sarcastically.

Eliora pauses for a moment and then looks up at Josh, "You know, it's my birthday, too."

Josh's expression turns sympathetic, but turns into a genuinely friendly smile, "Happy Birthday, Ellie." He turns away, running into the park's forest.

She stops him suddenly, shiv in her hand and snarl on her face, "Don't you steal that bow."

He looks over his shoulder, "If I wanted to steal it, I would've already," he walks away, into the dense forest.

She eyes where Josh had been a little bit ago, then turns to her pool lounger. She smiles inwardly. It may be the beginning of the end of the world's anniversary, but it is also Eliora's birthday. She grabs her backpack, doing inventory.

One Pistol,

One Rifle

A missing bow (in Josh's hands)

Spare arrows

One can of easy access chicken soup

Spare clothes

One shiv

One pocket knife

One shard of glass

Her eyes scan the bag with suspicion, "I thought I had way more supplies than that..." Suddenly, her gaze falls on the body of Jake, a large crossbow under his body. Cussing, she walks over to him, lifting up his bloody body, getting it all over herself. She vomits in her mouth as the flies reposition themselves over his body. A thought crosses her mind as she picks up the crossbow, "We can't stay here, tonight... The blood will attract the vampires... For the daytime, I can put their bodies on posts to ward off trespassers."

She pulls the guy up, her decently large muscles bulging from the weight. She grabs one of the gazebo's posts that had fallen off from termite damage and walks at least twenty feet away from the gazebo, stabbing the ground with it and taking off the guy's shirt. She pulls it around his shaped stomach and around the pole, his ratty blonde hair falling over his face. She pushes him up the post, tying the shirt's sleeves together with a large amount of force, double-knotting it. She goes back to the gazebo, pulling her pistol from her back pocket. She searches around the gazebo, staying cautious as always.

After the perimeter was confirmed clear, Eliora walks up the gazebo steps when suddenly, she falls through the step making a large cracking sound. She bites her lip, pulling her leg up to her chest and lying on the ground, a large wooden chip wedged inside her calf.

"Shit! Ugh..." she forces her eyes away from her bleeding leg and up to the sky. In a way she felt as this is life's way of saying, 'Karma!' from hanging the man on the post.

A rustling in the trees makes Eliora almost squeal. She jumps up, dragging her left leg behind her. She limps behind the side of the gazebo with the subtlety of an elephant. She presses her back against the wall, staring at the wood with a silent scream. She pulls off her second jacket, not daring to touch the wood. If it stays in there, the bleeding may stop, but she might get an infection which has no cure, it used to, but drugs are scarce now.

To her relief, Josh steps up onto the gazebo with three cottontail bunnies strapped onto his quiver, "Ellie?"

A pang of pain jolts through her whole body as she makes a bad movement making her squeak, "Josh! Help..." She gets out through gritted teeth.

"Eliora!" he drops his bow and hunt to race forward towards her. His mouth drops as he inspects the wood in her leg. "What do I do? Should I take it out?"

Eliora nods her head as her nails dig into the ground, pulling out large lumps if dirt and grass. Josh looks at her, grabs one of her hands, then rips out the wood.

The cry that escaped Eliora's mouth made her regret her decision.

Josh looks at her apologetically. He hands her the wood as she writhes in pain, "Um... Happy birthday?"