5. 4

4

Serina

T he sticky heat beat down on my throbbing head as we trekked along the narrow trail. Texas was a bitch. One moment, it could be freezing, the next, blistering hot no matter if it was the middle of January.

My steps were unsteady, and my senses were dulled by the remnants of last night's little kitchen party. I had only gotten a handful of hours of sleep before my dad woke me up for the day.

The dense foliage of the forest enveloped my dad and I, creating a cocoon of shade that provided no relief from the pounding in my head and the heavy air that came with being so close to the lake now. Heat radiated from every surface, creating a sauna-like environment that clung to my clothes and hair.

It was the kind of day where even the slightest movement induced a fresh wave of sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was from the heat or from the alcohol trying to escape my body at this point.

“What do you call a fish in a bowtie?” my dad asked, doing his absolute best to try and lift my spirits as we headed down the path to our normal fishing spot in the woods.

The dead leaves crunched under my boots on the walking trail. I groaned as I pulled the straps of my backpack further up on my shoulders.

“I have no idea,” I murmured, not impressed.

“Sofishticated,” he said, and it wasn’t the joke that made me laugh but his facial expression that he sent my way whenever he said it.

He looked just as tormented as I was.

“Oh, come on, we just started,” my dad reminded me, glancing over his shoulder.

“I knowwww,” I groaned. I could still see the car parked in the parking lot not far behind us where the trail had started. “It’s like 5 a.m., Dad. We had a nap and then you insisted on doing our fishing trip. I’m pretty sure I’m still drunk.”

“Well, it’s the best time to fish, plus it’s our little tradition. The early bird gets the fish.”

“That’s not the saying.”

“The early bird drowns the worm?”

“That’s still not it, but it's more accurate to what we’re doing,” I said, and we both chuckled as we kept moving along the trail.

My dad brought a flashlight. He now shone it on the narrow trail so we didn’t trip over any tree stumps that had grown over it.

We walked for about fifteen more minutes before finally reaching the large pond shrouded by all the thick foliage and trees. I didn’t think many people knew about this place since we always caught nice-sized fish here.

My dad lifted one leg over the large tree that had fallen over that we always used as a bench. Our initials were carved in the wood from my sixteenth birthday.

He put down his small tackle box. Having already set up our poles this morning before we left the house, he undid the hook and went for the small Styrofoam tub of worms.

I could kill monsters any day of the week, but for some reason shoving a worm onto my hook always made me squirm. Maybe the thought of being skewered alive was just something I feared for myself, and considering my profession it could be a very real reality worth having a little fear for.

My dad prepped his hook with the bait before he stood closer to the water and sent his cast out, putting a few feet between us so I could do the same.

His cast always made it a little further than mine. Soon we backed to the fallen tree and sat on it, and then it was time for the fun part.

It never took long here to get a bite. I felt a small tug before I felt the quick jerk and instantly began reeling in. My pole bent a little, and I was sure it was a nice-sized fish. The fight lasted a few minutes, but eventually I got him to shore, and I grabbed the catfish by his mouth while my dad got the hook free.

My dad beamed as we took a quick selfie with the fish before we threw him back and did it all over again.

The sky was turning the faintest purple, letting me know the sun would rise soon. We had put our fishing poles away and were planning on enjoying the sunrise before heading back to the car.

But something felt off as we sat there on the log. Not between me and my dad, but the sudden quiet that had encompassed the woods.

There was no morning song from the birds, no frogs croaking, just silence that stretched eerily around us until goosebumps rose on my neck and the feeling of eyes on me slithered down my spine no matter where I glanced around me.

We both got to our feet at the same time and shared a look. Then we pulled out our weapons and left our fishing gear behind as we carefully watched our surroundings and stepped over our sitting tree to scour the woods.

“You feel that?” I asked quietly.

“Yeah… we need to get back to the car,” my dad said. “Stay close.” He began taking the lead.

I moved on light feet behind him, glancing in every direction so often it made my head feel dizzy with all of my instincts on high alert. Something was here, and considering we could feel its presence, its nearness, I assumed it was a Vampire on the hunt.

They loved playing with their food.

The hunt for their prey always seemed to enthrall them.

I glanced up toward the sky, still slowly shifting from the dark night to a purple. The sun would be out soon, so they were definitely testing their luck.

A twig snapped to my left and I pivoted with ease, readying my pistol and running my other hand over my thigh to ensure my wooden stake was there.

I took a deep, steadying breath to calm my nerves.

Dad and I kept moving. He stayed only a few steps in front of me as we watched each other’s backs. Movement caught my eye again and again; I shifted on my feet around my dad, and then we were back-to-back.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath before a man burst through the tree line showing off his sharp fangs and black-veined eyes.

My dad shot quickly, hitting his mark through the heart with his wooden bullets before shoving me in front of him on the trail.

“Go, Serina, go!” he growled out as he urged me along.

I ran, hearing his booted steps right behind me. My vision was a blur of trees and the figures that lurked within them.

They were hunting us like a pack of wolves, but that was out of character for vampires. Two more burst through the brush and came for me only seconds later.

I skidded out of the way, shooting my gun and nailing one in the chest, causing him to fall over dead, but the other one had been too fast. In one hand I held my gun, in the other, a stake.

I felt a presence behind me probably before the vampire had even made it there. I moved, knowing that’s where they would be, and in the exact moment they tried to surprise attack me, I shoved the stake through their heart.

It was a woman; blonde hair, golden eyes lay above the dark veins, and her face looked feral and then… lost? As if she didn’t know where she was as she looked down at the stake buried in her chest.

A pained look crossed her face. Interesting.

I used my foot to push her off my stake, and she fell limp to the ground. Her body would be ash in a matter of moments when the sun rose.

“Move, move, move!” my father ordered, who I now realized was a few paces in front of me, double-triple-checking his surroundings.

We moved up the trail that was slightly inclined, and as we began to get to the top, my heart stopped in my chest.

How many were there?

One, two, three, six, eight, twelve…

I quit counting to save myself from drowning in the fear bubbling inside of me. We’d never faced so many at once with just the two of us.

My father glanced over at me with equal parts determination, horror, and love. I knew he would go down fighting, and I would too… But to stare at someone you love and know this could very well be your end was an indescribable feeling I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

They were all predator and no grace. Which seemed odd, but there wasn’t much else I could think about as they all revealed their fangs and began creeping towards us like the cornered prey we were.

“You’re a survivor, Serina. Remember that, sweetheart,” my dad said as he put a fresh mag in his gun.

I did the same, clinging to the stake in my other hand so hard my fingers tingled against its leather-banned hilt. Between one breath and the next, it was chaos; our guns shot off in every direction, hitting their marks while we would stake the ones that came to close, but the more we fought the more ravenous they became.

Everything about them seemed odd . They were acting like wild animals, not to say they weren’t monsters. But Vampires had always had a grace to them. These ones seemed to just move with little to no logic behind their movements. Almost like zombies.

I suddenly felt a presence behind me, but I was too late. I turned only to be caught in the Vampire's clutches.

He didn’t hesitate as he clamped down on my neck, and I screamed from the pain. Ripping away from him, he still had a chunk of the skin between my shoulder and neck dangling from his teeth.

Then he dropped to the ground, my dad having shot him. But the distraction was all the others needed to leap for my dad.

“No!” I screamed as two grabbed onto him while a third and fourth one assaulted both sides of his neck.

He gurgled in pain. Blood began spilling from his mouth.

“Run, Serina,” he rasped.

I blasted my bullets at them, but it was as if the bloodlust had taken over, and even though the wood should weaken them, they didn't stop. I couldn’t get a clear shot at their hearts without shooting my dad.

I rushed the monsters, already feeling faint from my own blood loss. The clothes on my left side were soaked from the leaky wound in my neck.

I readied my stake, but then I was blasted back by some invisible force, knocking me into a tree. My breath left my body as my head slammed into bark.

Everything faded in and out, and I was left defenseless on the ground listening to them ripping flesh and bone.

I begged for someone, anyone…

But the only thing that came was darkness.

I woke, finding a sleek sweat had taken over my body. I was cold and trembling, but my body was burning up with a fever.

How long had I been out?

I glanced at the sky, and it looked like… dusk? Had it been one day or multiple?

I leaned up far too fast, and my head began to pound, my neck pulsing with blood. I wiggled out of my flannel over-shirt the best I could despite the chill of the evening and left myself in only my tank top as I wrapped it around my neck.

I wasn’t sure I could stand with how dizzy I felt; swiveling my head from one direction to the other almost took me out again, and I had to take deep, slow breaths to keep myself from passing out.

I crawled across the damp forest floor. I could see the trail that led to the small parking lot and the two-way road.

But I didn’t have the keys. My dad did.

I choked on my breath, tasting the tang of blood and bile rising in my throat. I made my way to what was left of his body, but it now looked to be nothing but a tangled pile of skin and blood.

Both sides of his neck were destroyed, with large chunks missing, and it matched the rest of his body. Massive pieces had been ripped from him like he had been attacked by wild animals.

It looked nothing like a vampire attack.

Then it hit me that maybe they wanted it to look like an accident, an animal attack killed a loving father and daughter on their family weekend…

I could see the news articles now.

This attack wasn’t random, it was deliberate. Why not change him like the others? Why not drain him dry of blood?

I lowered my forehead to his empty chest… It didn’t rise and fall with life anymore; no, his body had already gone stiff with death.

“Dad…” I breathed as the shock subsided, and emptiness washed over me. My soul-shattering scream shook my chest.

A torrent of raw emotion surged through me, each wave crashing against the shores of my soul, leaving devastation in its wake. The scream that tore from the depths of my very being was a primal howl of agony, a guttural expression of the pain and rage that threatened to consume me.

It echoed through the hollow chambers of my heart, reverberating in the emptiness left behind by the death of the one person who had anchored my world.

I couldn’t breathe. My body trembled with exertion from my sorrow. I screamed, but I couldn’t hear it anymore.

No, it wasn’t screaming, it was nothing but a raspy, choked sob as I tasted the tang of blood again. The caws of the birds rang through my ears as they frightened and took off from the tops of the trees.

My neck pulsed with every shaking breath, and a warmth overtook my shirt. It was my blood. The edges of my vision began fading again. I could lay here, watch the moon and just let go… let death claim me just as easily as it took my dad.

You’re a survivor, Serina.

My father’s voice was a whisper on the wind, and for a moment I thought I was hallucinating. Maybe I was, but his words continued to swirl around me.

You’re a survivor.

You’re a survivor.

You’re. A. Survivor.

GET UP!

I gave myself a mental shake. I wouldn’t die; I couldn’t. I grabbed the car keys out of my dad’s pocket, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive in the state I was in.

I rolled to my stomach and slowly dragged my broken body through the woods.

Inch by devastating inch, I didn’t stop until I noticed the ground shift and my surroundings opened up. I kept going, rolling into the small ditch along the side of the country road.

I lay there, thinking this was the end because I couldn’t go any further. My consciousness faded, but I heard the faint sound of a vehicle, some muttered curses, and then I was weightless.