I decided to finally go down the stairs to eat dinner with the rest of the group, who just ordered Chinese.
"Hey, glad you're finally up!" Mark smiled.
"Are you feeling any better?" Amy asked.
"A little..." I responded.
I sat down on the couch. I didn't know what to eat since they ordered an entire platter. I decided to go for the white rice, it was probably the only thing that wouldn't ruin my entire digestive system if I ate it and let it sit there.
As I began eating, Mark looked over to me.
"Listen man, I'm sorry for scaring you into hunting." Mark began. "I just thought that since we both suffered the same thing, witnessing our parents die, I just thought that maybe you would be a bit more into it like I am."
I sighed, "it's alright. It's just that I'm not really the violent type."
I laughed mentally to myself. That was a lie. I devoured the living hell out of that Criminal last night.
"Yeah, I get it." Mark responded. "So are these guys."
He pointed over to Amy, Kathryn and Tyler.
"Hey we only do it because we don't want you dead." Tyler stated.
"And we feel like it's the right thing to do." Kathryn added.
I was silent for a moment. I really wanted to ask something, but my mind kept telling me not to. But for some reason, I asked anyway.
"But that Ghoul from the news supposedly killed a bad person." I said, "Wouldn't that technically consider him a good Ghoul or something?"
"A good Ghoul?" Mark asked. "I've never really heard of that before."
"Oh boy, is there such thing as an "All Ghouls Matter" thing going on here?" Tyler asked.
"No, not at all!" I responded. "It's just that, where I come from, if a ghoul is doing more good than harm, like getting rid of the bad guys, then we don't hurt them!" I lied.
"So basically the police and all of them befriend this Ghoul and have them join them or something?" Amy asked.
"No! We just leave them be!" I responded.
"I guess things are different here." Mark said. "Because there's too many ghouls around here to tell who's good and who's bad. But I think that recent Ghoul attack was just a coincidence."
I shrugged, "Maybe... but if this Ghoul were to continue to kill the bad people, would you still let them go?"
"I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens." Mark responded.
I stayed silent as I continued eating. Just then, Mark spoke again.
"You don't have to go with me tonight if you don't want to." Mark told me.
I looked down at the box of rice I was holding in my hand, as if it were telling me whether I should go or not.
If I went with him, and we came across a ghoul, not only would I be killing my own kind, but the Ghoul may know I'm one of them and my secret would be exposed and I would be the one killed next!
But if I didn't go, maybe I would be safe, but there's still the risk that slowly but surely everybody would be suspicious.
But then an idea came to me.
"I'll go." I responded. "But I'll go with Amy, Kathryn and Tyler if you need backup."
Mark smiled, "sure! That sounds fair!"
A rush of relief went right through me. Even though I still technically said yes to going out to hunt with them, there was less of a chance of me actually going hunting, which meant less of a chance possibly being exposed.
---
Later on that night, Mark went out to go hunting by himself while me and the others stayed behind. It got later and later and eventually, Kathryn, Amy and Tyler grew tired and were getting ready for bed.
"But Mark hasn't made it back yet!" I exclaimed.
"We know and he normally doesn't until after we're asleep anyways." Tyler explained. "Chica normally barks whenever he comes back."
"But I keep my ringer on in case he calls and says he needs help." Amy stated.
"Until then, goodnight guys!" Kathryn said.
The four of us then made our way up to our rooms. While I was lying in bed, I couldn't help but worry about Mark. What will happen if he doesn't come back? What will happen to Amy, Tyler and Kathryn? What will happen to me?
---
1AM
"Hey, we need to get up!" I heard Tyler's voice say as he was waking me up.
I opened my eyes, moaning and stretching, "what's going on?"
"Mark needs our help." Tyler explained. "He needs us there asap!"
"Okay, what should I put on?" I asked.
"Put on all black. And put on a black beanie too to cover your hair." Tyler recommended.
"Alright." I nodded.
As Tyler headed out, I quickly got up and got changed in all black. I took out the ninja mask that I wore last night when going hunting. I then folded it up to wear it as a beanie as I covered as much hair as possible. A few strands hung out, but other than that I was fine.
I then ran downstairs and met up with everybody downstairs. My heart raced as I saw them gathering swords, daggers and guns and packing them up.
"D-Do you need help with anything?" I asked.
"We've got everything pretty much set up." Kathryn responded. "We just need to get in the car and head to where Mark is."
"Where's he at?" I asked.
"He's just outside of the city." Amy responded. "On top of an apartment complex."
"Okay, lets go!" Tyler exclaimed.
We all went into the car and drove over to the apartment complex, which was only 10 minutes away from where we lived.
We quickly and quietly pulled up to the front of the apartment complex, quietly got out of the car, grabbed weapons and headed through the apartment complex. The person up front was startled at first, but Tyler quickly showed her a card and explained the situation and she immediately let us through.
We ran up the seven flights of stairs and finally made it up to the roof top. Tyler opened the door and we immediately saw Mark in confrontation with a ghoul. The ghoul looked nearly unscathed while Mark was all bloody and scratched up.
"Mark!" Amy cried.
"I'm... I'm fine!" Mark grunted.
We all immediately went in front of Mark, pointing all of our weapons at the ghoul. He had slick, brown hair and glasses. He looked at all of us. And then he saw me.
His face grew angry as he suddenly charged after me. I closed my eyes tightly, preparing for the worst when suddenly, I heard gunshots.
I opened my eyes finding the ghoul on the ground, grasping his chest as he had been hit.
Tyler and Amy continued to shoot at the ghoul. Mark then went over to finish the job.
I couldn't look, it was making me sick.
Kathryn went over to me and helped me up.
"Are you alright?" Kathryn asked.
"Y-Yeah I think so..." I stuttered.
Mark, Tyler and Amy met up with us.
"You ok?" Mark asked. I nodded.
I looked over at the ghoul, lying there almost lifeless. His entire body covered in blood.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"He's not dead yet..." Mark admitted. "But he's quickly bleeding out. I don't see him being able to move ever again. We just let nature take its course from here."
"Do we dispose of the body or anything like that?" I asked.
"We let the police take care of that." Tyler responded. "They'll take it to an investigation unit to study it."
I nodded. I guess that's where I'm going if I ever become exposed.
Mark then went on the phone and contacted the police. We then went back down to ground level and went back into the van. After the police arrived, we drove back to the house. I watched as Amy patched up Mark's wounds. I've never actually seen a hunter so wounded, yet still willing to fight. Where I came from, the ghouls won every time.
If me and Mark were to ever get into a fight, it looks like I wouldn't stand a chance.