Take Me Down

To this day, my memory does not fail me. I'm still able to clearly remember the cries of terror and how a woman shrieked out for my help.

At thirteen, I stood in the front window of my home and watched as bodies were drained and how women were brutally taken. The creatures had swarmed our city, months earlier than what the government had thought. We were immensely unprepared.

Tears blurred my vision as a shape-shifter tore their animalistic teeth into the throat of my mother. I had been frozen in shock, unable to help the various people who pleaded for help. Vampires fought over my mother's body that now lay stilled in the snow. Mosquiits were feeding off bodies they had carried into the tree's, they where bug like people who preyed upon humans for blood. They were just as violent as the Vampires and Shape-shifters.

It had come to shock the nation that all three species of demons were attacking at once. They were working together to destroy the human race, but war was undoubtedly rising amongst them as well.

I had slept alone and terrified that night, curled up in the far corner of my basement. I asked myself why they had spared me, why they left me to live. I had starved my body, not wanting to move from my hide out in case of another ambush. Other children had resumed schooling or went into foster homes, but my situation was different.

A day or two after the revolt, I lay sleeping in the basement. Pounding through out the house shook me awake. I remember how my eyes widened in fear and my heart felt as if it would thump out of my chest. Heavy shoes thudding down the stairs toward me caused my body to let out a whimper.

A man, much older than I was, shined a flashlight at my face and called out, "She's down here! I found her!"

I had been confused, why were these people searching for me? What good was I to them?

The man grasped me in his arms and began carrying me into the light that came from the upstairs kitchen. I had thrashed, kicked and screamed, but the man wouldn't let go.

Stepping out of the basement door's threshold, I became aware that my kitchen was filled with men and women who stood side-by-side with their arms folded. Intimidating.

The man had sat me down in a chair, he knelt in front of me and tightly grasped my arms. His voice was deliberately slow, "Ryder, you have to remain calm for me. Can you do that, sweetheart? I promise everything will be okay, but you have to listen."

My voice had rocked and stuttered, I choked on the words. "W-Who are you?"

"I'm Max, and eventually you will learn the names of the people that stand behind me but they can wait. We're a group that works toward creature destroyment, your mother was a very important person in our family. We work, underground you could say, behind the governments back. We know you witnessed your mother's death, and that can be very traumatizing, but we need your help."

"Mine? Why?"

"I know that with proper care, you can be just like your mother. Standing by us and helping us destroy the beasts that continue to terminate our loved ones. She lead us to accomplish everything leading up until now, she created us. We live in buildings under ground, as one. We're a family, Ryder. We'll take care of you and train you to become like us. Is that something you would want?"

I kept thinking of how he said 'family'. I desperately needed a place to call home, this house was nothing but an empty reminder of how I had lost my mother. I had looked into Max's eyes, and gave a slight nod. His smile had made me feel that everything would be alright, I would be safe.

He had taken my hand and led me to a sleek black car waiting just out front. I looked around my childhood  home one last time, only to find it a monstrous mess that would never be the same. The city had done a fine job cleaning up the streets, but blood stains filled the pavement and fallen snow, with a body that had been left to hang in strings within a tree.