What is red? Is it simply a colour? Or is it more? Is it lust, love, death? Or just the colour of that common liquid which runs through all our veins? If I told you I was gushing red, would you think that I’m in love? Or would you believe I was dying?
Aren’t they the same? Can’t love be the death of someone? Ask yourself, is love an escape from all the horrors of life? Or is it just merely a distraction?
Everyone has an opinion, if you ask me, I would tell you that love or lust is the exact same as death or loss. Though I can tell you this, I can also tell you that I have no way of defining this or proving it with some life-changing Albert Einstein quote, it’s just what I believe.
In our world today, we have accepted vampires and zombies into our society, though we know of the zombies, they are still on the ‘to be avoided’ list.
Unlike the vampires, the zombies have lost all their knowledge and their willpower or even their ability to determine right from wrong and if you are simply walking down the street and run into one, your only defence is either a vampire or your ability to run.
I have no idea why they let such beastly creatures roam our beautiful city, even the vampires, with all their charm and beauty can get into some fowl moods and once temper tantrum, no matter how old the vampire is, could result in the whole city’s death.
There are more beasts out there that we know of, for example the werewolves, though due to the natural food chain, they tend to stay away from civilisation.
Let me explain, the vampires are the top monsters of the food chain, then the zombies, then the werewolves and after all the supernatural AND natural creatures on earth’s surface, us humans come in last.
If you’re lucky, you can be turned into a vampire and instantly fly to the top but if, like many, you’re unlucky then it’s doubtful you’ll live past the first four months of your life.
What scares me the most is that every day, my family in particular, live in fear of being killed. Since my mother and father’s death, it has just been me and my seven year old brother. I was only five years older than him but it felt like I was in my mid fifties due to the amount of maturity I had to build in such a small amount of time.
We remain in our old house with numerous escape plans and routes. See the thing about this once blooming city, is that any second your house could be raided by hungry vampires and zombies.
If it were up to me, I’d rather die by vampires, at least then it’s a quick and painless death. That’s how my parents died. Sure, I grieved but I was just thankful that they died quickly instead of having a zombie’s rotten teeth sink into their head and make them undergo a painful and agonizing transition into a soulless creature.
Now I won’t lie, it’s not like we humans are forever doomed. During the years, we have developed a technique of being hidden in plain sight from the zombies and even a few techniques on how to officially get rid of them, though none have been discovered for the vampires yet.
I don’t mind though, vampires were usually so sweet, so honest and lively not to mention completely captivating creatures and they hardly ever attacked a human and if they did, it was only very rarely that that human would die.
Still, there were those few idiotic humans out there who read every vampire novel and watched every vampire movie to try and kill them, though it never worked. We were told there was a way to kill them, though we were never told what exactly it was. Though we did know something for sure…wooden stakes, silver bullets and vervain didn’t do so much as make a scratch to their flawless skin.
Let me tell you about this one experience I had where I almost lost my life…I was leaving a friend’s place late, it was actually super early into the morning, about one or two am if I’m being specific. A zombie pulled me into a dark alleyway and though I couldn’t see its face, I could tell it was a zombie simply from the way it smelled and groaned.
It almost bit me until it went flying in the air and before I knew it, I was in my warm bed back at home. Now I’m not stupid, I’m not idiotic, I’m not the kind of person to tell myself it was a dream because I know it wasn’t. It was a vampire, and a hero. Being a vampire, and finding me at pitch black in the night, it could have easily killed me, drank my blood or something…but it didn’t.
Not only did it save me though, it helped me safely back to my place and gently placed me in my bed to avoid any more attacks. Most people would see that as creepy, stalker-like or in this city-they would see me as its ‘possession’ but I didn’t believe any of that. To me, it saved my life and I may never be able to thank it for that, but I hoped someday I would be able to.
Since that night, I rarely left my house. I only did to ever get more food supplies for my brother and I and I would always go in the middle of the day, where the streets were teaming with whatever humans were left but mainly vampires and a few zombies here and there.
Let me tell you one thing though, recently after my fortnightly trip to the shop, I found what could possibly be a safe-haven. A field of flowers, just outside the forest’s end, a place where no zombie had ever set foot and I knew this because those dull creatures only ever stuck to where their feet could find solid land, in other words concrete, gravel and dirt.
It was five in the afternoon and starting to get dark so I quickly made my way back to my brother, it was never safe leaving him alone in the house, especially with the amount of raids happening lately but it was safer in daylight than at night time.
Suddenly I bumped into someone and we both rapidly fell to the ground. I rubbed my head and quickly helped the stranger pick up the papers they had just dropped because of me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” I said frantically as I hurriedly picked up the papers around me.
“No worries.” The stranger smiled and I couldn’t help but stare as my eyes met his.
His hair was dark and curly, which ventured all the way down to his shoulders and it was held back from his face with nothing but a simple head scarf. His eyes were what stood out the most to me, an intriguing mixture of grey and green, truly a sight to behold. He laughed and helped me up before I dusted myself off. He looked quite a few years older than me, in his early twenties.
“Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” His voice was deep and mellow but at the same time, it had kind of a calming effect on me.
I handed the papers over to him and he smiled sweetly at me, though I didn’t return it.
“You’re a vampire, aren’t you?” I asked, curious and he simply laughed nervously and nodded.
“How did you know?” He seemed innocent and pure, like he hadn’t ever hurt a soul, seemed legit with first glance.
“Most humans are indoors at the moments and a zombie wouldn’t be able to say anything. Besides, your eyes are a dead giveaway, they’re too…too-”
“Too mystical, magical, enchanting or perhaps beastly, haunting and frightening? I’ve heard them all.” He laughed and nodded anyway.
“You’re good.” He continued
I shrugged and continued to head back to my house when I heard him call out something.
“Bring your brother here with you tomorrow, mid day. I will help you with that safe haven spot you found, Lily.”
I quickly turned around and looked at him, shocked. How could he have possibly known that? I had only just found that out not too long ago and already someone else knew about it? But not only that, they knew about my brother and me?
It wasn’t the vampire who saved me that night, I know that much. If I had run into that vampire, I would have felt it in my heart and so would he or she have. This was all going way too fast for me but all he could bring himself to do was cross his arms and laugh.
“Vampires can read thoughts, and you’re no different and you’re right you know? Zombies wouldn’t be able to reach you there, so half the threat is down. I promise this isn’t a trick, I just want to help. I don’t get to help a lot of humans since they are always dying.”
I looked down at the ground and continued walking, not giving him any eye contact or direct answer. All I planned to do was make my way home to my brother and get a good night’s rest before deciding in the morning. I had no idea what I was going to do.
He was a vampire and though I loved those creatures, I still feared them and the things they were capable of. That fact alone almost made me say no but the idea of perhaps being able to find that saviour vampire entered my mind and it made me want to say yes.
My head spun all night and it was five in the morning and I had not slept all night. I stood at the window as I watched the morning sun slowly rise.
This is it, I have to make up my mind and decide whether we should go or not. If it’s a chance at a life without fear, then that would be the best thing for my brother, wouldn’t it?
Wouldn’t it benefit him to raise him in a carefree environment, away from living in fear of death or raids, away from seeing death from vampires as an easy way out?
Perhaps there I would be able to find something to kill the man who wants to lead us there? Perhaps he is just looking for his next meal and we are it? I had made up my mind and I packed up my brother’s things as he still slept soundly on the couch beside my bed.
Now’s a new day, Jord, we are going to live in peace from zombies and vampires alike. Never again will you have nightmares of such ghastly creatures as zombies or such undecided creatures as vampires.
Never again will nightmares in both night and daylight haunt your life. You can grow up to be a strong, refined young man with a bright future ahead of you. As of today, we are official monster hunters, being brought up in a safe haven.