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.
