12

A soft knock echoes from the door. Zadie looks to the door, just finishing getting dressed, and hurries out of the bathroom. To her surprise, she sees Blade standing on the other side of the door wearing black jeans and a plain black T-shirt.

“Hello.” Zadie greets as her heart raced at the sight of him.

“I haven’t seen you in a couple days. Is everything okay?” Blade questions as he scratches his hand, sounding a little worried.

“Yeah. Hydie just told me she and her father are busy with analyzing blood and other stuff, so was told not to go by the lab until they’re finished.” Zadie explains, mostly telling the truth.

She also had been avoiding Blade as much as possible, that being the reason she has stayed in her room binge-watching shows the last couple of days.

“Ah, okay.” Blade runs a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his bright caramel brown eyes.

Zadie shifts her weight to her other foot, holding the door open.

“I have a job today in a small town a few hours away from here.” Blade looks at the wooden door, not meeting her eyes. “Would you want to tag along?” Zadie's face lights up with surprise as he meets her gaze, “I’d love to! Let me go put some shoes on real fast; I’ll be right out.” Zadie agrees, closing the door.

She quickly slides into some black slip-on flats, grabbing her crucial card, putting it in the shorts pocket she has under her navy blue dress.

“Okay, ready,” Zadie says after she pulls the door behind her shut, all the while smiling.

There’s complete silence in the first ten minutes of the car ride, with only the noise of the traffic outside filling the awkwardness between the two passengers.

Zadie wasn’t sure if she should tell Blade about the encounter with Angie, just another reason she had been avoiding Blade these past few days. However, seeing Blade come to her and invite her along with him shocked Zadie to her core, letting her forget about the lipstick mark she had seen on Blade the other day. Maybe Blade is now open to them becoming friends.

Feeling the uncomfortable silence between them, Blade glances at Zadie. She has her hands gripped tightly around the ends of her ruffled dress as she peers out the window.

Sun rays come in through the window on her pale smooth skin, making her seem to glow, showing her true beauty, reminding Blade of a porcelain doll his mother once had. Blinking the thoughts away, unsure why he’s been having such thoughts about her lately. Perhaps it’s because of her angelic features? When he let Hydie kiss him a couple of days ago, he’d hoped to stop the unnatural feeling towards this hybrid girl. However, once Blade saw the look on her face as she ran to the elevator, all those feelings came back full force.

“So, what’s the job?” Zadie asks, breaking the silence as she continues to watch out the window, her voice snapping Blade back to the present.

“Right, we haven’t heard from a town in a week. So we’re just going out there to make sure everything is okay,” Blade replies, leaning against the door looking towards her.

Zadie meets Blade's eyes, “I’m confused; why hasn’t anyone gone there till now?”

“Well, it’s outside the city, and they usually keep to themselves, only calling if they need something. Probably just a broken communication tower, I should be able to fix easily.” Blades says with complete confidence.

“ Why exactly is there a town so far away from the city anyway?” Zadie crosses her legs.

Blade takes a breath then answers, “We have other towns around the city, but most of them are for farmland.” Blade adjusts the seatbelt strap against his chest. “Five years ago, a small group of humans and werewolves had asked if they could form a town. It was allowed as long as it was outside the city. It’s been quite a success with no crime rate besides the occasional trespasser.”

“Sounds peaceful.” Zadie wonders what it would be like to live there, not like they’d allow her to, but she can still imagine.

“Is Fantasia the only city?” Zadie brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.

“No, there are six in total. We have different treaties with each city.” Blade glances out the window noticing they are getting close to the city border.

“Of course, many cities like ours have small towns outside the city as well.”

Zadie looks out the window spotting a very tall wall ahead that seems to circle the city. She always saw something far off in the distance; she assumed it to be clouds.

“What is that?”

“Every city is surrounded by a wall, otherwise known as the Great Barrier, that marks the city border. This is where people come in and out if they have permission.”

The car begins to slow down as it turns. No other vehicles occupy the road giving it an eerie feeling. Finally, driving into a parking spot, the car stops, shutting off. Blade unbuckles, Zadie does the same.

Once the doors are firmly shut behind them, the doors click, signifying they are now locked. A Solar panel pops out of the roof of the car charging it.

Zadie raises an eyebrow in fascination.

They walk up a small building next to the gate leading outside the city.

“How may I help you?” The woman officer questioned with a friendly smile.

“Hi, I’m Blade Hunter, a Slayer. My friend and I need to go outside on a job.” Blade replies as he pulls a wallet from his back pocket, taking something out, handing it to her.

She looks at it for a few seconds before looking at her computer monitor, pushing a few keys on her keyboard.

“Alright, everything is in order here.” She hands Blade back what looks to be some kind of card.

He puts it back in his wallet.

“Thank you for your service, and have a safe trip.” The woman dismissed him as the gate opens.

Blade merely smiles and nods at her before walking on. Zadie follows beside him, walking through a dark tunnel towards the blinding light at the end. It takes at least a minute to walk through, with every step seeming to be heavier than the last.

On the other side of the tunnel holds a landscape full of greenery Zadie could've never imagined.

Another officer waved to them as the gate closed behind them. Zadie would’ve waved back but couldn’t tear her gaze away from how alluring the outside is.

“Wow, this is incredible.” Zadie looks at Blade with wonder-filled eyes.

The evergreen terrain went for miles without end, filled with bright green grass, scattered with tiny blue and yellow flowers. Maple and oak trees grew all around as far as the eye can see.

“I had a feeling you’d like it.” Blade smirks.

They made their way towards the man sitting atop a small wooden carriage, pulled by a large dark brown horse.

“Hello, sir.” Blade greets him.

“I reckon you're the lad I was told to take to town four?” The old man's voice held a broad county accent.

“Yes, I’m Blade, and this is Zadie.” The man nods to them both with a tip of his hat.

“You two go ahead and climb on

in the back.”

Blade climbs in first, offering a hand to Zadie. Smiling, she takes it,

“Thanks.” Zadie sits down across from Blade.

The carriage begins to move, horse feet clopping down the dirt road.

“Do you also live in Town four?” Zadie asks the older gentleman.

“Sure don’t. I live in town one. In my free time, I take people to and from the city when need be.” He replies without glancing back.

“I see. How do you like living outside the city?” She asks another question.

The man takes a deep breath. “I love it. You can’t get fresh air like this in the city, nor can you have farm animals.” The man's dull brown hair sways in the midsummer breeze.

“The town I live in has lots of farmland. So we grow crops and raise livestock that gets sold to the city.”

“That’s amazing. I had no idea.” Zadie crosses her legs, sitting back against the wood.

“Yeah, most towns out here are here for producing crops to send to the city.” Finally, he explains to her, there's a slight pause of silence.

“Thank you for all your hard work.” The man glances back at Zadie with a surprised expression.

She smiles sweetly. Blade continues to sit silently with his eyes closed, listening to the conversation.

“You’re a welcome young miss.” The man turns his attention back to the road.

For the rest of the ride, Zadie continues to make small talk with the kind farm worker.

“Thanks for the ride, Frank,” Zadie tells the man as she and Blade stand beside the carriage.

“No problem, it was nice talken with ya. The town is straight down this road. They usually don’t like uninvited guests; otherwise, I’d take you all the way.” He clarifies as he picks the reins up from his lap.

“That’s alright sir, thank you for taking us this far.” Blade replies.

Frank waves goodbye as the horse trots away.

They begin walking down the dirt road, just barely able to see the town ahead.

“You sure were chatty.” Blade teases with a small smile touching his lips.

Zadie blushes, embarrassed. “I thought you were asleep. I’m curious about life outside of the city.”

“I wasn’t asleep, just resting my eyes.” They lock eyes for a few moments, both smiling like fools.

“Anyway,” Blade looks down at the dusty ground, “this shouldn’t take long. We should be back by nightfall.”

Zadie nods, looking ahead at the town that is only a few feet away now. A red brick wall with an iron gate stands between them and the settlement.

“That’s strange. No one's at the gate.” Blade states as they approach “We’re from the Slayer Organization, sent here to find out why no one has reported back the past week.” Blade calls out, making sure someone heard him.

A minute goes by. Still, no one has shown up.

Blade walks up to the gate, noticing it’s ajar. “It's unlocked? What’s going on?”

Blade pushes the gate open; it screeches as it opens. Walking in and closing the gate behind them.

The town is deathly quiet without a person in sight. Looking around, it seems like everyone just stopped what they were doing and left. A blanket lays out in a yard with half-rotten food scattered atop it as if someone was leaving in a panic. Another yard has a pool set up with loads of floaties surrounding it. Juice boxes liter the grass.

“Somethings not….”

A large body pounces on Blade sending him flying to the ground. Zadie watches in shock as she realizes a werewolf has pinned Blade to the ground.

The werewolf growls, white foam dripping from its muzzle, landing on Blade's chest. Holding the werewolf back, teeth gnashing inches from his face. Blade's heart pounds heavily in his chest. He was completely caught off guard. A good thing he’s had years of training; otherwise, he’d be dead.

Zadie spots an object in the nearby yard, quickly grabbing it. Then, using all her strength, she runs, slamming the plastic rack against the werewolf’s back.

The werewolf slowly rises off Blade, setting its sights on Zadie now.

As soon as it’s off, Blade springs up, getting in a defensive stance.

“You must be why everyone’s hiding,” Blade concludes, pulling a silver dagger from his ankle.

The werewolf stands over six feet tall with dark brown fur and bloodshot eyes.

Zadie stares at the werewolf with wide fearful eyes; she's sure it can smell her terror pouring out as it stares her down with bared teeth and a growl in its throat.

“We need to find a place to hide!” Blade meets Zadie's eyes, she gives a slight frightened nod in understanding.

The werewolf lunges at her; thanks to her inhuman speed, she gets out of the way just in time. It turns around, eyes locked onto them both as they stand side by side.

“Let’s go,” Blade says, and they start running down the dirt road with the werewolf close behind them.

After a few twists and turns, they dart into a blue house that was surprisingly not locked.

“That was a close one.” Blade breaths softly.

“Is that werewolf Rabid?” Zadie asks to confirm her suspicions.

“Yes, it is. That’s probably why we haven’t heard from the town.” Blade pulls out his cell, walking away to make a call.

Zadie looks around; the curtains are closed, making the living room completely dark.

There’s a small couch with a small tv atop a table. Posters on the walls of some bands Zadie doesn’t recognize. Seemed like your typical Bachelor's house.

Blade walks back into the room from what appears to be the kitchen.

“No good. I don’t have any signal out here.” He slides the phone back in his pocket leans against the wall with his arms crossed.

“You aren’t hurt, are you?” Zadie asks, knowing how close that werewolf was to him.

Blade looks to her, “No, I’m alright.”

“So, what do we do now?” Zadie crosses the room, so she’s standing only a few feet from him.

Blade sighs as he looks away, “We have two options.” Blade runs a hand through his now messy hair, “One, we head to the nearest town from here or, two we look through every building for the communication mirror.”

“How far is the next town from here?”

“I’d say a good three hours.”

Zadie relaxes a bit. “Well, that’s not too bad then.”

Blade chuckles lightly. “It wouldn’t be normally, but the sun will be setting in a few hours, and there are most likely more infected citizens roaming the town.”

Uneasiness settles in Zadie's stomach. If only Zadie knew the way to the next town herself, she could just run there using her super speed. Yet simply doing those random tests with Hydie, Zadie has found out she can run up to two hours straight using her speed.

Zadie grabs a handful of her dress out of distress, “Wait, what's a communication mirror?”

“It’s a mirror that lets you talk to people over farther distances. It's infused with warlocks or a witch's magic.” Blade explains.

“Let's look for the magic mirror then.” Zadie decides.

Blade pushes himself off the wall. “Unfortunately, that seems to be the safer choice. We’ll have to be extremely careful and work as a team. The mirror should be small, and when you look into it won't give off any reflections. It’s colorful like a rainbow until it's activated. ”

With their minds made up, they head out to begin searching the Rabid-infested town.