The Group

Marcus cleaned his machete, whitening the blood away with a grim expression.

He saw the youth throw the gun away. The youth turned around kicking a headless body.

Marcus sighed, "Ray, I told you that the gun wouldn't help."

The tall youth with long brown hair that reached to his shoulders glared angrily at Marcus.

"How can you even fight against those things?" He sounded angry and frustrated.

Marcus had finished cleaning his machete, "Training." Answered Marcus plainly.

The other two girls exchanged doubtful glances.

Marcus ignored them, putting his machete on the side of his backpack.

The four of them had been traveling together for 2 week now.

Ray looked around, New York City had become a ghost city.

The streets were deserted, tons of empty cars stood on the road. The atmosphere in the city was gloomy too.

Everything started 6 years ago when the werewolves announced their existence to the world and eradicated all the evil vampires from the nation. It triggered a chain reaction.

No one knew exactly when but humans banded together against the supreme rule of the Sanguine Council. It was the first time in history that the humans attacked vampires all over the world.

The world descended into war. The vampires responded fast, killing many humans. The Fallen sided with the humans and helped them. It looked like the Sanguine Council was about to lose when something strange happened.

It first appeared in europe, it then spread quickly all over the world.

Most survivors think that it was a biological weapon that was spread through the air. People got infected with an unknown virus. It didn't take long until the virus spread all over the world. Millions of people died, and those who didn't, transformed into blood sucking monsters.

There weren't many humans that were immune to the virus.

A mysterious blood-red fog appeared not long afterwards, it only came with the night and vanished in the day.

The time of chaos and fear arrived too quickly. One country after another collapsed.

USA wasn't a exception. Most of the population perished under the virus, the survivors turned into monsters that only craved for blood and destruction.

Everything crumbled and humanity was thrown back into middle age like times. There weren't any news from the outside. But they could imagine how bad it should be if even USA was in such a state.

Ray kicked the corpse again. "We shouldn't have come here, there are too many of them lurking around."

Marcus sharp gaze observed the surroundings, "We had no choice, we need food and water."

"And we found enough for a few weeks, we should escape from here, this city creeps me out." Said the blond girl with glasses.

The other girl with dark hair nodded, "It will start to become dark in 3 hours and I definitely don't want to be here when the night arrives."

Ray agreed with her, "Julia is right, the stronger things only come out in the night, and I don't want to find out how many roam in such a huge city."

The three of them stared at Marcus. His soft green eyes stared back at them. His hand went over his messy blond-brown hair. Marcus nodded silently. He somehow became the leader of the group because he was the oldest and could fight.

"Our destination is Oregon, we should leave the city and find a good spot to hide. The blood will draw more bloodsuckers here, let's go."

The group left New York City in a hurry and headed to the west.

They found a good hiding spot on a roof of a building, with only one way up. Perfect to defend.

It was already getting darker and they took out their sleepings bags. It didn't look like it would rain.

The four were silently eating canned food. Ray looked at the three, "Why do you three want to head to Oregon? What is there?"

His question made the three glare at him.

Marcus closed his eyes, "I have my reasons, you don't need to come with us."

Lea spoke too, "We have our own reasons too."

Marcus leaned back, he too was curious why the two girls wanted to travel with him to Oregon.

He knew exactly why he needed to go there.

"It seems like we will have a full moon tonight." Commented Ray while observing the sky.

Marcus froze when he heard Ray's comment. His gaze followed where Ray was looking.

The rough image of a full moon could be seen in the darker becoming sky.

Marcus gulped and stood up, surprising the group.

"Where are you going?" Asked Julia, her eyes narrowed.

Marcus didn't look back, only taking his machete with him.

"I will go out and hunt, don't follow me I will be fine." Marcus climbed down the ladder without looking back.

The group sat there flabbergasted.

"He is crazy. A lunatic, to go out in the dark is pure suicide." Whispered Ray.

The two girls stayed silent, they only exchanged confused glances.

It wasn't fully dark and Ray, couldn't fall asleep, he turned around to the two girls.

"You both are sisters right?" Asked Ray carefully.

Lea nodded slowly.

"How did you both manage to survive until now? What did you do before the world descended into chaos?"

"We.." Lea wanted to say something but she was stopped by Julia who shook her head,

"We were just lucky." Answered Julia for her.

The mood became awkward afterwards and Ray didn't asked anymore questions.

Both girls were very careful around him and Marcus. They only gave vague answers just like Marcus. Ray felt like they all hid something. He didn't blame them, who knows what the girls went through and Marcus....well Marcus was an oddball but he could fight like no one ray has ever seen before.

The silent night was interrupted by horrifying shrieks. Ray flinched every single time he heard them. He took slowly a peek over the wall on the roof.

The blood-red fog was everywhere, shadows moved inside it. Ray knew exactly what these shadows were.

He curled himself inside his sleeping bag, hugging the sword Marcus gave him today.

'I hope Marcus comes back....'

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Marcus stood on a hill, looking down on the blood-red fog. He began to take off his old clothes.

He stood there totally naked. His gaze drifted to the full moon. Ray would be shocked if he could see his eyes right now. They weren't green anymore, there were golden ring around his black pupils instead.

Marcus smiled at the moon, revealing four sharp fangs.

'Father....I will find them!'

Soon strange cracking sounds could be heard, coming from the hill.