56Here's my first (new) chapter. I'm SO sorry it's taken me forever to get this up, I've been really busy with school and life. Thank you to everyone who kept reading!
I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution I suppose
We're painted red to fit right in
- Imagine Dragons
I curled up on the floor, shivering. Cold stone floors were normally not very comfortable to sit on, let alone sleep on, and this one certainly was no different. There were no windows in my prison, so I couldn't tell when it was morning. What seemed like a few minutes after I finally managed to doze off, the door opened and I heard footsteps.
My eyes flew open and I watched warily as three vampires stepped into the room, closing the door behind them. I didn't remember seeing any of them the day before. I pushed myself into a sitting position, feeling the familiar dizziness that signaled that my body was hungry. No, hungry was the wrong word. I was completely famished. I hadn't eaten for two days. Sure enough my stomach growled, betraying me.
"You hungry?" One of the vampires smirked at me and I glared back.
"No."
"Seems like you are." Out of nowhere he produced a bag, from which he pulled out different foods. Against my will, I could feel my mouth watering. "Here." He held out a sandwich. I hesitated, then reached for it. At the last second he pulled the sandwich just out of reach. "I'll give you this, and everything else in the bag, if you answer one little question." Instantly I was on my guard. "Where are the humans hiding out."
I kept my mouth clamped shut, thinking sadly of how delicious the sandwich would have tasted. I would never know, because I didn't plan on playing along with their little game.
The vampire's eyes sparked with annoyance. "Let's change up the rules of the game a bit. Either you tell me where they are, or we'll kill you right here and now." I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, but something told me he wasn't. He would have a hard time getting anything out of me; I was fully prepared to meet my death long before I betrayed my friends. When it became apparent that I wasn't going to talk, the vampire grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet. My head spun and I almost fell; it was only his steel grip on my arm that held me up.
One of the vampires guarding the door stepped forward and handed the vampire holding me a knife. A long, very sharp knife. I gulped. "We'll try this again. Where are the humans hiding out?" I kept my mouth stubbornly shut. The humans he was referring to made up the largest group of rebel humans still left out in the wilderness. If the vampires could find them and wipe them out, the war would be basically over. I couldn't let that happen. My life was nowhere near worth all the lives of those noble humans who lived to fight against the tyranny that had taken over our world. "Very well," the vampire sighed.
The next minute I felt sheer pain in my arm. The vampire dragged the knife tip slowly down my arm, cutting just deep enough to draw blood. I struggled and almost broke out of his grasp but the other two vampires swept forward and each grabbed an arm, pinning me in between them. I squirmed and twisted but couldn't get away from both of them. Meanwhile the knife continued its slow, agonizing journey down my arm. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore the vampire stopped.
"Would you like to try again?" I had slumped down between the two vampires, but struggled to find my feet again. I glared defiantly at him. The vampire's gaze darkened, and he raised the knife again. This time he sliced through my shirt, leaving me shivering and topless before him. Then, very gently, he brought the knife down at the base of my throat, between both of my collarbones. I shivered, knowing what was coming next. And come it did.
I couldn't stop the scream that burst out of my body as he cut into my chest, drawing a line down towards my stomach. I panicked and began fighting with all the strength I had, but it wasn't enough. I let out another scream as the knife bit into the soft, fleshy part of my stomach. Blood began gushing out.
"Damn." One of the vampires holding me recoiled a bit. "This wasn't in the plan," he growled towards the vampire with the knife.
"Shut up," the other vampire hissed, brandishing his knife at him. I wobbled and sagged towards the ground, the vampires on either side of me the only ones that kept me from hitting the floor. It was sheer agony as I hung there, suspended halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness, wanting desperately to die so that all of this pain would go away.
I barely even noticed when the vampires let go of me and made a mad dash for the doorway. I slumped to the ground onto my side, staring blankly at nothing. If this was the end, well, I welcomed it with open arms.
The door opened again and I flinched, thinking it was that vampire coming back to finish me off. I was already pretty much there, so there wasn't a lot more that he could do. Instead, I heard a horrified gasp. My vision swam as I tried to look up, but I could just make out four or five forms standing in the doorway in front of me.
"Aly, can you hear me?" One of them knelt down in front of me. I tried to make my head nod, my mouth move, anything, but my body wasn't cooperating. It was shutting down on me. Everything was so cold, made even worse by the fact that I was no longer wearing a shirt. I tried to tell them to turn the heat up or something, but I don't think they could tell what I was saying. Just before I lost consciousness, I felt myself being swung up into someone's arms, the wind swooshing past my face like we were moving quickly. Then I was gone.
I drifted in and out of consciousness. I wasn't sure how long I had been suspended in this middle stage. I hoped that death was coming to claim me, just to get me out of this pain I was in. I had no reassurances though.
Finally my eyes blinked open. Everything was white. Am I dead? I wondered. I sincerely hoped it was, since that meant I was free of the world and its cruelties forever. I realized I was lying on something, and I managed to do a bit of maneuvering to realize I was laying on a bed. Then I glanced over and saw the IV in my uninjured arm, and my spirits sunk. I wouldn't have needed an IV, had I been dead. My wishes hadn't come true; I was still stuck in this hellhole.
I realized something else at the same time; there were no vampires present in the room with me. This was the perfect opportunity for an escape. As I sat up slowly, I soon realized how impossible this was. Sharp pain shot through my stomach and I winced as I lowered myself back onto the pillows. I lifted up the thin blanket covering me and pulled my shirt up away from my stomach to reveal a long, jagged line across my abdomen, criss-crossed by small, dark stitches.
"You're awake." I hadn't noticed the door open. I watched warily as a vampire I'd never seen before closed the door softly behind him. He looked older than the majority of the vampires I'd seen, but he still didn't look old in a human sense. Maybe middle-aged would be a better way to describe him. His dark hair had streaks of gray running through it, and his blue-gray eyes looked warm and friendly. It didn't make me any less distrustful.
"Wh - who are you?" I croaked out. I hadn't realized my mouth was so dry, and without a word he handed me a glass of water. I examined it suspiciously, then gulped it down.
"I'm Dr. Clayton. You can just call me Eric." There was no way I'd be calling him anything besides bloodsucking leech. "Looks like your vitals are fine. We just have to monitor your wounds and make sure they heal properly - "
"Why did you save me? Why not just let me die?" I asked blankly. The vampire paused, taken aback by my question.
"Maybe Jace would be better suited to answer your questions." He spoke hesitantly. I closed my eyes and said no more, and after a few long seconds he finally left, shutting the door softly behind him.
As it happened, I wasn't able to ask Jace because I didn't see him in the next few days. It wasn't until almost a week later that I finally caught a glimpse of him. Or rather, heard his voice. The leech doctor was talking to somebody, and at first I couldn't tell who it was. Then I heard the familiar voice, raised above all of the others. A second later Jace stormed into the room. I flinched as he sat down on the edge of my bed.
"Eric said you had some questions for me," he said sourly.
"Wouldn't it have just been easier to let me die?" I launched right into my questions.
"We need you for questioning."
"Yeah, well, you won't be getting anything out of me," I snapped. I half expected him to raise his hand against me, and I flinched back, but he did nothing.
"You're going to have a scar there." He gestured towards my stomach. "Your arm wasn't cut as deeply, so it'll heal completely - " he was cut off by my sarcastic laugh.
"Do you honestly think I care about how I'll look with a little scar on my stomach?" I asked bitterly. I lived in a time of war, and I had long ago accepted that I would never live a normal life. I most likely would never get married, and kids were completely out of the question. There was no way I was bringing new life into this world just so that it could be harnessed and used by the vampires like everything else. It just wouldn't be fair to them.
Two days later I got the okay from the doctor, and it was back to my prison I went. The vampires had orders to take it easy on me for a while, at least until I was fully healed, but somehow I didn't think they were the type to follow directions. I was right.
"Tell us what we need to know." There was a new vampire interrogating me today, but like all the others, he hadn't gotten anything out of me. I sat stubbornly back in the chair, my arms folded across my chest. The vampire circled around me, and I could tell he was getting increasingly agitated. I kept my mouth shut. Without warning, his fist flew at me, hitting me square in the jaw and sending the chair flying backwards. I fell back with the chair and my head hit the ground with a loud crack. Dazed, I was powerless to do anything as the vampire grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet.
I wobbled unsteadily as my head cleared, then launched myself at the vampire. He wasn't expecting me to attack, and I caught him off guard. We fell backwards, me not letting go. The vampire hit the ground and I fell on top of him, knocking the air out of him. Before he could react, I grabbed his head and slammed it against the ground, and then again. I was so caught up in my revenge that I didn't notice the door open behind me. Vampires flooded in and somebody lifted me off of the now-motionless vampire lying beneath me. I fought like a crazy person, and it took three vampires to restrain me and pin me to the ground.
Jace appeared in the doorway, his face stony. He was holding a huge needle in his hand, and I gulped as he moved towards me. I began fighting even harder, knowing I had to get free before he could inject any of whatever was in the needle into me. I almost broke free, but then two more vampires came to help. Two held my legs down, two held my arms, and the last laid across my stomach, preventing me from bucking them off.
The needle flashed in the light, and then Jace's arm swung down. The silvery tip embedded itself in my arm. I struggled, but could feel my body getting weaker and weaker. It took a lot of effort to even keep my eyelids open, and finally I gave in and let them close.
I know this is a kind of short chapter, but I really wanted to get another one posted. Please read and tell me what you think of it!