Short Stories

Instincts

The wind was cold and crisp. The life that was once in the streets had disappeared and the only signs of life were the orange, unnatural glow of the street lamps.
As Sam Jones walked down these streets. No-one was out upon the streets of Birmingham. The last life-like sounds in the air were the echo of Sam's footsteps. The somehow settling noise of her footsteps.
The walk across the lifeless, intimidating streets had cleared Sam's head as she stammered across the pavement heading home. Home... Nothing about the apartment felt like home now after what had happened.
She turned a corner and immediately regretted it. This is where it happened.
It felt like a bullet had been shot through her head and destroyed the wall that kept the reality sinking in...
Sam's roommate, Alex Wright, was dead.
Alex had always been in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Maybe this was why Alex was picked. But for all anybody knew, she just happened to be at the worst place at the most horrible of times.
Sam rushed back to the apartment in a confusion of thoughts.
Why did it have to be Alex? Why not Sam? Why could it not be Sam who got killed instead?
All Sam knew was that she had to stay strong. If she did not she would collapse and never be able to get up.
Sam stumbled her way up the stairs and through the door. The door slammed behind her.
Through the living room she went and into her room. As she collapsed upon her bed the memories came back.
The glaring lifeless eyes of Alex pierced Sam's soul. The blood oozing from Alex and seeping between the cracks in the pavement. Sam had somehow managed to curl into a ball in a corner as she was taking in the sights. The way the monster moved. So quick and smooth and how it happened to disappear into the shadows.the body of Alex lay on the ground. Her arm twitched. The last sign of hope. Hope that someone, something could help her but no help came.
Sam's thoughts slowed as she slipped into a deep nightmare.
The next day was Alex's funeral.
Sam felt uncomfortable going. Sam and Alex's friendship was personal. Only going would mean sharing these personal events to every other family member and with the poisonous words of apology and depression.
Instead Sam decided to go but her mind would be elsewhere.
During the procession Sam was quiet and respectful. Afterwards Sam stay silent and waited. Everyone else went to continued with their lives. The room was empty.
Sam was prepared to leave but... no. She had to see it. She walked up to the open coffin and peered inside.
The still, lifeless body of Alex was now at peace. Although Alex had a naturally plain appearance, you could always see the life behind her self. The now white/green complection of her body froze Sam's heart.
Sam went to turn away when something grabbed her arm.
"Don't go. It's ok."
No. This could not be possible. The once pale body that Sam had in her head was now awake.
Sam looked up slowly to see her dead friend sat bolt upright.
Sam ran. She ran out through the back door and across the grounds of the cemetery to under the tree. She vomited.
It wasn't real. How could it be? Sam's eyes moved in all directions to rationalize her thoughts.
"Sam stop running I am not going to hurt you."
Sam turned around to see Alex sanding upright as if nothing had happened and hands forward as if anticipating​ Sam's irrational behaviour.
"You can't... I mean... This can't be real." Said Sam grasping the tree as if it was the last tether to reality.
"You know I'm real , Sam. This is real and I think you know why."
"No!" Sam shouted and pushed Alex away in utter disbelief.
Alex grabbed Sam's wrists and pushed them against the tree. The tree stabbed Sam in the back as if pushing her towards the monster.
It was a vampire.
The words penetrated into Sam's head and seemed to pull down on her soul. As if everything she had been trying not to believe had come back in a horrid nightmare version.
"I don't know how, or if that's exactly what it is, but it explains it well enough." Alex said in a calmer tone, clearly aware of Sam's slow realisation.
"You aren't the real Alex." Sam said in a flat, emotionless tone.
His head was bowed, and in Alex's grip it seemed Sam wasn't trying to resist any more.
"If what your saying is true, you aren't Alex, your just a beast possessing her body."
He looked up and stared into​ Alex's eyes. She didn't see the deep green pools of life as she used to. She saw emptyness. She must be right. Alex stared back at Sam, seeing her brown irises blazing with fury.​
Alex let her grip loosen for a second. Sam realised and swung a punch as hard as she could and hit Alex square in the jaw.
Alex reached towards her lip. Blood. She looked down at it in a strange way and glanced back up at Sam and almost seemed to be expecting something. Alex decided to wipe the blood on her shirt.
"I won't lie..." Alex said, rearranging her skirt. And sweeping her blond hair away from her eyes. " I feel different... Instincts. I still know who I am, what I do, what the differences are between right and wrong, and yet, something within me, something primal..."
"Shut up." Said Sam, clenching her fists. Clearly shaking with rage,"You are not my friend, and if I have to destroy his body to give him peace, do not think that I won't."

Sam spun around and grabbed the branch that was digging into her back. In one sure movent Sam snapped the branch and swung it round to hit Alex while, who an in slow motion, leant backwards, slapped the branch out of Sam's hand and grabbed her by the throat.
Sam's head hit the tree with a force that shook leaves from the branches.
Her breath was heavy.she could feel beads of sweat pouring down her face. This was fear.
She tried to move but the force that her friend was applying to her neck seemed immovable and impossible.
Alex stepped closer until their noses touched and they were staring deep into each others eyes.
"I could kill you. Every fiber of my body is telling me to tilt your head back and bite your neck ,but, I can choose not to."
"What!!?!" Sam said spitting out warmth before taking a deep breath.

"I don't want to kill you. I want you to join me."
Sam's blood pressure dropped. An overwhelming stillness came over her body and she was turned to silence.
"No. Please." She stuttered
"You don't have a choice but I do. Appreciate it." Said Alex" Think about it Sam things can continue like normal. We can tell everyone it was one of those humerical​ situations where I wasn't actually dead. We can go back to our apartment ment and continue with our normal lives. With some dietary adjustments I guess."
Sam had completely lost his ability to think. Part of it made sense. Many it would be ok if she did not have to lose her friend or her own life.
But she knew it wasn't real. Even though she was right next to her there was no breath coming out of her nose.
The only sensation she felt was the damp chill of Alex's skin against hers.
Just then Sam noticed a man who must be the grounds keeper walking by in the distance.
Sam had made her choice and she knew it was the right one.
"Help!" Sam shouted. Shaking hard to try and break free."She's trying to k..."
Then she felt it. The two sharp stabs peircing  her neck. Sam's head dropped and her knees buckled. She had lost.
Alex moved in closer, leaning Sam's body against the tree as she gulped gallons of thick blood through her teeth and down her throat. Alex almost felt herself giving in to a more powerful force within herself.
"No!" Alex shouted pulling away from Sam's body, feeling a fountain of blood rich down her collar.
Quickly he raised her wrist and pierced her own veins.
"Drink!" She shouted as she pressed her wrist against Sam's lips.
Sam, with the last moments of her fading energy tried to resist pitifully shrugging her shoulders . It wouldn't be enough.
Sam's natural urge to breath forced him to open her lips. The potent taste of iron filled her mouth and flowed across her tongue.
Sam's vision faded to black.
Blinking. Vision hazy and unclear. A yellow light. A white ceiling. After what seemed like a dreamy eternity, Sam's eyes focused and noticed the familiar patterns of her bedroom ceiling. She was home. Had it all been a dream? Sam asked herself this as she reached to touch her chest. She could still feel. Surely this meant she was still alive.
Her hand stopped, Palm lying flat on her chest she tried to force all senses to detect something, anything. No pulse.
She looked to the right to suddenly notice Alex sitting on a chair, leaning over her bed.
"How do you feel?" She asked with what seemed like a degree of confidence.
Sam's eyes darted up and down trying to decide what she made of this person, or whatever it was sitting next to her
She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Lifting her head up with a strange new assuredness that she had never felt before. She locked eyes with her friend.
"Hungry." Sam said feeling within her an instinct, a biological mission that she felt she now had to begin.
"Me too." Alex felt with a smirk, "Why don't we go find somebody to eat."