Blood Land, J.R. Lawson [electric book reader .txt] 📗

to her on the couch, “I think they’re mainly exerting their efforts towards helping us remaining humans survive.”

Nora sighed heavily and turned back to the TV, “Don’t say that, Will.  I don’t like thinking that way.”

Will chuckled, “I know.  That’s why you never listen to the radio.  You don’t like hearing the…you know.”

Nora continued to stare ahead at the TV.  She was watching the news anchor on screen talk, but wasn’t listening to the words any longer.  She just watched his mouth move as she thought of other things.  Tears began to well up in her eyes and she shook her head to get rid of them as she then finally looked back over at Will.

“I heard it today…in the grocery store.  I couldn’t help over hear it.  Two more people we knew from school are…dead,” she whispered.

Will touched her on the shoulder, “Try not to think about it,” he comforted.

“But, Will, we’re the only ones out of our group of friends from high school that are still here.  All of them are either dead or have left here.  This…place is bad.  It’s one of the worst and heavily vampire populated areas in the state.  Staying here is not good for us.”

“Nora, stop,” Will demanded, “I know it’s bad, but…my dad.  He doesn’t want to leave, ya know?”

Nora shifted on the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest, “I know, I know.  But…we do need to think about what we’re gonna do after…he’s…gone.”

Will sighed and looked down, but said nothing.  Nora continued, “I know you hate to think about it.  I do too.  He’s just as much a father to me as he is to you.  But he’s getting worse and he refuses to go to a hospital.  What are we going to do in the future?  Will we stay here, or what?”

Will then stood up quickly.  He didn’t even look over at Nora who was staring up at him, awaiting his reply, “I’m not going to talk about this now, o.k.?” he then began to walk out of the room.  Before he left, however, he turned to look at her, “I’m going to bed.  Have you lit all the lamps and locked the windows?”

“Yeah,” Nora answered, in a slightly cold tone, “Except for the attic,”

“Well, can you make sure to get it before you go to bed?”

“Yeah.”

Will then left the room.  Nora sighed and looked back over at the TV, it was just static now.  The news stand had closed.  All TV stations closed once it got dark, and not only that, every business closed.  No one stayed open after sunset, because that’s when they came out; the night-flyers.  Only the hospital stayed open, but it was locked up super tight.  At least, that’s how it was in the human cities.  The Blood Lands were a different story.  They were always loud and full of excitement.  Or, that’s what she had heard.  Nora didn’t really know what went on there.  She always wanted to know, but, like every other human, was too afraid to venture there.  It’s too dangerous for a human to wander into a completely vampire populated city.  There were several Blood Lands around where they lived, more than anywhere else, which is why most people had left.  If only she could convince Will that they needed to leave too.  Every time she tried to talk about it, he avoided it.

Nora finally decided to turn off the TV and get up.  She needed to get the attic prepared for the night.  She rose from the couch and ascended the stairs.  At the very end of the hallway upstairs was a small door that had a few more stairs that led to the attic, which she also climbed.  The attic wasn’t really an attic, per say.  It was more a spare room in the very tip top of the house, right under the roof that they used for some storage.  Mostly things they didn’t need.  Things her parents used to use, and Will’s mother’s things that he didn’t want to see around anymore.  Nora lit the lamp with a match that was sitting on a small table over in the corner.  The table had several stacks of papers and folders that were collecting dust.

Among them was an old newspaper clipping.  It was from the year 2012.  Nora had read it several times.  It was soft and crinkly from being handled by her so many times.  It talked about when the Hellion Virus first struck.  She liked reading it because it was like stepping back into time.  She always thought about how little they knew back then and how unprepared they were.  She would have kept the newspaper clipping in her scrapbook in her room rather than coming up here each time to read it, but she didn’t like moving it from the attic, away from the rest of her parent’s things.  It seemed…wrong to do it.  She didn’t really know why though.

Nora then suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and remembered she had to close the attic window.  She walked over to it and reached above her head to grab a metal curtain type device above it.  She pulled down on it, so as to get the metal curtain to pull down over the window pane and she can lock it at the bottom, but the mechanism was stuck.

She heaved a frustrated sigh and continued to try to tug at it.  As she did, she stopped at the sudden sight of lightening outside the window.  It was a very bright flash and it was mesmerizing.  She continued staring out into the darkness, as if she was waiting for another one, even though she didn’t know why.  Suddenly, there was another flash of lighting outside, except this time, the image of a vampire shown within the bright second of light.  Nora quickly gasped and jumped backwards as the creature burst through the glass window and into the attic with her.  It landed on top of her, shaking the attic floor.  The table that held the small lit lamp wobbled, causing the lamp to fall and smash, turning the attic into darkness.

Nora screamed and struggled as the night-flyer scratched and clawed at her, trying desperately to eat her.  It was then she suddenly remembered that there was a gun in the room.  She looked to the left of her, but it was no use.  It was pitch black in the attic now and she had no clue where it could be.  Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit the room for a couple of seconds and she spotted a shotgun resting against the wall close by, but there was no way she could reach it because she was trying to fight off the hellion on top of her.  However, her thought process was broken as the hellion beast suddenly screeched.  It dug its claws into her shoulders to pin her down so she could no longer struggle.  Another flash of lighting appeared and Nora had a glimpse at the face of the vampire.  It was the most frightening thing she’d ever seen and she had a sudden realization that this could be the end for her.  It was then that the monster lunged for her face, and, in a sudden act of quick thinking, Nora moved her head as much as she possibly could, causing the vampire to miss her and bash it’s head against the floor.  It screeched in either pain or humiliation, and put its hands to its face.  Nora could also hear its wings flapping as well and, one of them specifically, hitting some piece of furniture in the attic, possibly a chair.  The object it hit fell and knocked the gun that was resting up against the wall onto the floor.

Lighting flashed again and Nora took advantage of her sudden bit of freedom from the beast as it was crying over its hurt face.  She reached behind her, grabbing the gun, and used the stock of it to hit the vampire in the face.  It screamed again and she kicked it, also crawling out from underneath it.  She stood up.  She could smell her own blood on her as she held the gun, ready to shoot.  She waited for another flash of lighting, which eventually filled the room and she quickly aimed and shot the vampire.

It screamed again, being knocked backwards.  She shot again, it was knocked backwards further.  It was now right at the edge of the broken window; it’s back facing the outside.  Another very bright flash of lighting happened and she shot one final time, causing the vampire to fall backwards, and down onto the ground with a thud.  Nora peered out the window.  Flashes of lighting were almost one after the other now, and she looked down at the body of the vampire.  It wasn’t moving.  She was breathing heavily as the rain fell down on her head, the thunder crashing around her.  She felt relieved, but then had a sudden feeling of remorse.  She stepped back inside the attic and looked down at her hands.  They were bloody and holding the shotgun.  She quickly dropped it and a tear ran down her face.  She wasn’t sure if it was from the adrenalin she had just felt, or sorrow for the thing she had just possibly killed.  She was reminded of the newspaper article her parents had kept.  That vampire on the ground outside had once been human.  Was it really its fault it tried to eat her?  It was trying to survive, just like she was.

She then quickly went back to the window and pulled as hard as she could at the metal curtain atop the window.  It finally came loose and she pulled it down over the broken window and locked it at the bottom.  She then proceeded to stumble out of the dark attic and down the stairs.

“Nora!  Nora!” Will yelled as he rushed out of his room.  He saw Nora running down the stairs, blood all over her, “Nora, what happened?!  I heard you screaming!”

“It’s…nothing, Will, I’m fine,” Nora consoled quickly.

“Nothing?!” Will shouted again, “You’re covered in blood!  Did you get attacked?”

“Will,” Nora then spoke, “I don’t have time right now to talk about it, o.k.?  I’m fine; I just have something I gotta go do…now.”

Nora then rushed quickly past him, grabbing a kerosene lantern that was lit and sitting on an end table in the hallway.  Will, however, followed her, and as she got to the front door, he grabbed her arm before she was able to try to leave.

“What are you doing?” he asked, turning her around to face him, “You can’t go out there!”

“I have to,” Nora argued, trying to turn around again.

“Why?  What is going on, just tell me!” Will continued to hang on to her arm.

“I don’t have time to explain!  Just let me go!” Nora then yanked her arm out of Will’s grip and unlocked the door and quickly went outside.  Will proceeded to follow her out as well.

Nora raced around the side of the house to the back, where she knew the vampire had fallen.  The rain was beating down on her and the lighting and thunder were raging all around them.  She could also hear faint screeches of the hellions off in the distance that gave her a slight shiver.  Finally she made it.  She could see the body of the poor creature a few feet in front of her.  She rushed over to it and kneeled down on the ground.  The glow from the lantern in her hand had hit the vampire, and she was looking now at its human-like form.  It was a young man; he had black hair and pale skin and looked about her age.  He had no shirt, but was wearing black pants.  He was lying on his back and the bullet holes were spread out across his chest, his black blood flowing out of them.  Nora noticed his chest was moving up and down;