Walkers Book 1- Changing

Part II - Dead To Me - Chapter 16: The new norm

We have now reached the second part of the book! Chapter twenty is almost here, are you ready for the conclusion? You've still got time to prepare.

Picture: Michelle Trachtenberg as Hayden Brooks

Song: Zombie by The Cranberries

Part II - Dead to me

 

Chapter 16: The new norm

          Walker Code 083- Any Walker experiencing strange symptoms due to an ability must report to the government otherwise be punished by law.

Tanner 

It was snowing. Great, just great, Tanner thought. He should have been expecting it of course, it was after all November, but up until now he had preferred to just avoid the thought. Like all Day Walkers, he really hated snow. One of the things he despised the most about winter was that it was too cold and it was darker outside sooner making it propitious for Night Walkers. He sighed. I miss summer already, Tanner thought, as pressed his forehead against the cold hospital window and watched as his breath appeared and faded on the glass.

This was his third time coming to the hospital in the last week. He’d attend his classes in the morning then drive an hour and a half in the dark, to come see if Hayden was doing alright. When they ate the Transferrias plant a week or so ago, he and Maria had had a short reaction; a very painful and agonizing short reaction. No one was really sure what had happened or why; but no one really wanted to know either, so the matter was quickly pushed aside. But they hadn’t been the only ones who had been affected. Hayden had had some sort of mental breakdown. What bothered Tanner the most about the situation was that no one wanted to tell him what exactly happened to her. Apparently one moment she was fine and then the next she was hysterically screaming and crying. That was all he knew; not a very pleasant thing to try and figure out on his own.

He left Maria back at school; his twin was one of the rare vampires that knew where Tanner actually went after class. She called him obsessed and crazy, but he didn’t care, Maria didn’t understand what kind of feelings he had towards the Night Walker, in fact, he barely understood them himself. Since Hayden got sent to the psychiatric part of the Walker hospital two days ago, he had felt more the need to make sure that she was doing alright. Sure, he and she would never be more than just friends, but friends cared for one another, right? He’d just lost Jonas, and for some reason losing Hayden was just something completely unthinkable and he was going to do his best to make sure that it never happened. She was going to make it through this; she had too.

“Mr. Preston?”A voice behind Tanner suddenly said, taking him out of his thoughts.

            He unglued himself from the window and turned around. A Night Walker nurse was standing not too far behind him, obviously uncomfortable with his presence in the hospital. “Yes?” He responded smiling in a flirtatious way; the nurse was a very attractive woman. Her name tag indicated that her name was Tabitha.

            “Miss Hayden requests your company.” She said to him, returning his smile.

            Instantly Tanner went rigid. Hayden wanted to see him? So far, every time that he’d come to visit, Hayden had completely ignored his requests to see her.  Was she feeling better today? Did she finally understand why he kept coming? Could he even do this? Maybe there was still time to make a run for it.