My name is Rayven White, but that’s not what is important. This is my story. That is what is important. My story will be short for I don’t know how much time I have to put it into writing. Someone needs to know what has happened to my town, and what could happen to the rest of the world. If you read this, you will know one of the horrors in the world. But you need to live them, as I have, to know their true worth. Words cannot convey what I have been through.

~*~

I was one of the first few out of the portable classrooms. It was right at the end of first period, on a late January morning. The weather was cold and rainy. The rain came down in an annoying drizzle and poured through the firtrees that sheltered the walkway. The holiday season was over and everything was back to normal. Who am I kidding? By the time school had resumed after Christmas break, it had spread to more than half the school. By that January morning, almost the entire school was infected.

There was only reason I had gone to school that week--find someone who was not infected. The puddle riddled, cement path that I walked was almost void of people. Just a few students that had started to trickle out of the classrooms. Most teachers out here held their students after class for the end of a lecture.

That day I wondered, why do kids even come to school anymore? They’re infected and aren’t even human. Why would they care about something like school? Outside it was calm and quiet. Nothing disturbed the air. I reached the doors that lead into the hallway.

The hall was completely different from the seemingly serene outside. The halls were already crammed with people rushing to their classes, stopping at their lockers, and chatting with friends. Behind me I saw a large number of students exiting the portables. I ran into the hall, hurrying to get to the other end, not worrying about the text books I needed in my locker. They were everywhere.

I knew they were infected by the way they looked at me and by what I saw in their eyes. They knew I was different from them. They grinned when they saw me. It was a grin of a savage, hungry animal. None tried to attack me, or showed their lethal fangs that I knew each had, as I darted between them. But I knew that sooner or later they would. In the crowded hall of students and teachers, I could not find a single person that was still human.

Halfway down the hall I came upon an impasse. In front of me a group stood. A group of the "in" crowd--or "preps" as I prefer to call them--spanned the entire hall. There was not a gap between their bodies to be found, and all of them were inhuman.

"Shit...." I whispered at the sight of them. I felt my pulse race and the adrenaline in my body rise. The heard me. They knew I was afraid. They could hear my heart. They could smell my fear. The hall fell eerily silent as each of the monsters in the hall turned their gaze on me. They knew that I was afraid of them, and they liked that I was afraid. I swallowed hard, as each of them smiled at me. This time every one of them displayed their glistening, white fangs in their malicious grins. I no longer cared about finding someone. I wanted out of that hall, and out of that school. I couldn’t risk my life to search for something that might not be there.

I turned around to retreat down the hall. But they had formed a wall behind me--quite like the one in front--blocking my escape. I was trapped! A few laughed but most just grinned insidiously at me, showing their disgustingly grotesque canines. Life as I knew it was over. I would either die--most probably slowly and painfully--or become a monster, like everyone in the school had.

Only a month ago everyone had been human, but now they were all evil creatures that lived to kill me -and all other humans- simply for that which flowed through my veins. I could feel them pressing in behind me, as I kept my eyes on the ones in front. I searched for a means of escape between them, an opening.

I thought of jumping up to grab the pipes that ran along the ceiling, to swing over the heads of the inhuman things that I faced. But I knew that it wouldn’t do anything. I couldn’t jump that high, and even if I could, I wouldn’t make it over their heads. More of them laughed at me, as I searched. Where was Buffy when you needed her?

Attempting to suppress my fear, I ran for them, trying to break through. When they grabbed at me with slashing clawed hands I turned to run the other way. No luck. Each on the other side tried to hold onto me--have me for their own. I returned to the middle of the hall. They grew steadily closer.

I noticed that more had joined "the ranks" and were still joining. All of them grinning, some drooling, and each had a pair of deadly fangs. They moved slowly toward me, taking their time. There were still more joining either side. I saw some that I recognized: friends, teachers, people from my classes. Not a single one of them was human. No escape!

My heart felt as if it were about to burst from fear. My breath was coming in quick, short gasps, and I was beginning to get light headed. Terror and lack of breath caused my knees to buckle and I fell to the floor. I curled myself into the smallest ball possible, covering my head with my arms. I could hear them getting closer, feel their foul breath on my neck. The latter, I knew, was my imagination for I knew that they did not breathe because they were dead. My mind screamed "RUN!!" But I couldn’t move. My body was frozen in terror.

The hideous creatures started grabbing at me--fighting over the first bite. I didn’t dare lift my head, to see they snarling and snapping at each other, their jaws frothing with drool. I could hear the snarls and growls, along with the snapping of their teeth. I felt their drool drip onto the exposed skin of my arms. I was a goner. When I felt an arm wrap around my waist I knew it was over.

Suddenly I was pulled through the crowd of monsters, as they cried out in protest. They tried grabbing at me, but the one that pulled me wasn’t going to let them get me. One of them got a good grip on my ankle, holding it with both hands. Keeping my eyes closed, I clawed at the arms around my waist, and frantically kicked my foot free. The one that held me around the waist was not going to give up as easily as the one that had my leg. I dared not look at the monsters, because I was not ready to face my death.

When I was sat down on the ground my eyes snapped open and I looked around. Every one of the human-looking monsters in the mob was angry and was fighting to get at me. But they were tangled with each other. I didn’t even look to see who had pulled me out, before climbing to my feet and bolting for the closest door that lead out of the school.

"Wait!" A male voice called after me. "Wait for me!" The voice sounded more urgent than anything else did. Thinking it to be a mind trick of the monsters, I didn’t look back. I ran out of the hall and into the cold, wet morning air.

I didn’t stop running until I reached my car. There I only paused long enough to fish the keys from my pocket and unlock the door. I climbed in behind the steering wheel, slamming the door behind me. I locked it, and checked all other locks. Resting my head on the steering wheel, I took a deep breath. As much as I longed to, I couldn’t relax. They were still after me. But I had escaped.

That left one question in my mind: Who had helped me? This led to other questions. Was it another human that I had left behind? Or was it just a twisted monster that wanted me to his self?

Without lifting my head, I stuck the key in the ignition and twisted it. Despite the old car’s motor problems, it leapt to life right away. I picked up my head and put the car into gear. Before I could pull out, something slammed into the passenger side. I looked, terrified that one of the monsters had followed me, to see Deter, a guy that I liked from one of my classes, beating on the window.

"OPEN THE DOOR!" He yelled. "THEY’RE AFTER ME, TOO! PLEASE!" He cried out to me.

I didn’t know if I could trust him, even thought I liked him since the first day that I saw him. I leaned over to look closer at him and pointed at my eyes, signaling for him to look into them. He paused in his frantic pounding to do so. In his eyes I saw terror, sadness and confusion. His eyes were crystal blue, not the deep, black pits of the monsters that chased me. I popped the lock, letting him in. He scrambled in, slamming and locking the door.

"I thought I’d never get out of there." He was breathing heavily and just barely gasped the words out. Hearing his voice, I realized that he was the one who has called after me in the hall, and most probably was the one who pulled me out.

After I backed out of my parking space, I asked "Were you the one who pulled me out of there?" He nodded as I pressed the gas. He looked out all the windows, searching to see if anyone had followed.

"I had come out of my class room, just before you fell. I pushed my way in, and pulled you away from them."

"Sorry about scratching you. I didn’t think there were any other humans in that hallway. I though it was one of them pulling me out."

"It’s okay. It’s good to know that you won’t give up with out a fight."

"I just can’t believe the whole--" I slammed on my brakes as a blonde girl ran out in front of my car.

She looked up at the sound of squealing brakes. It was my friend Andrea. I rolled down my window. "Get in!" I yelled. I reached behind me and popped the lock on the back door.

"You trust her, but you had to check me?" Deter asks.

"I’ve known Andrea since we started high school. I know her, okay?"

Andrea didn’t get in. She stopped by the door and peered in the open window. "It’s not even lunch yet. Where are you going?"

"Out of here!" I told her.

"Did you have any trouble in the halls?" Deter asked. I looked at him, and he simply shrugged.

"Other than the normal congestion, no. I was running out to my car to get my homework for my next class." She looked from me, to Deter, and back. She smiled as she asked, "Where were you two headed, huh?"

"Anywhere but here." I replied. "Hop in back. We’ll explain everything."

"Oh...kay..." She was a little hesitant, but got in, setting her bag beside her.

Together, Deter and I explained everything as I drove away from the school. "So you’re saying that every last person in the school has been turned into some kind of demon?" Andrea asked when we were finished.

"Yes." Deter replied, "That’s exactly it."

"But I thought evil things couldn’t be out in the day light."

"As far as we can tell, all of those myths are not true," I replied. "They’re ruthless killers, and they almost killed me. Deter pulled me out. All’s we know is that they are extremely strong, and they are blood thirsty."

Deter explained to Andrea how it spread to everyone, "It started a month ago when a couple of kids got sick and were out of school for two days. Soon, others got sick. When each of them returned to school they weren’t the same. They looked normal, but if you looked them in the eye, it was like looking into bottomless pits. It would make your blood run cold."

"The only thing that could be seen in their eyes was cold blackness, and pure evil." I added.

"More and more kids got sick," Deter continued, "And each came back with their eyes black and emotionless."

"But I’ve never seen anyone with black eyes." Andrea said.

"They’re eyes aren’t physically black," I explained. "But when you looked one of these kids in the eye, they might as well have had black eyes."

"You haven’t noticed anything wrong yet?" Deter asked Andrea. "Haven’t you thought that everyone getting sick was strange?"

"I just though it was the flu." Andrea replies. "I think there is too much imagination between the two of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Demons?! That’s a little hard to swallow."

"So you don’t believe us?" Deter asks.

"How can you say that you haven’t noticed anything strange?" I demanded.

"I’ve seen what’s happening," Andrea replied smoothly, "But it’s not strange. To me, anyway."

Deter and I looked at each other. I could see suspicion and fear in his face, which I knew to be mirrored in my own. I looked in the rear view mirror at Andrea, and asked, "What are you talking about?" I could hear the fear in my own voice.

She smiled--not her usual happy smile, but one full of malice--but did not meet my gaze in the mirror. "I know exactly what’s going on. It’s not ‘demons’ as you said, but vampires."

"A-aren’t vampires demons?" Deter asked, fear creeping into his voice.

"Not in the least. I should know first hand." Andrea met my gaze then, in the mirror.

That’s when I saw it. I slammed on my breaks in the residential neighborhood. I glanced at the panic stricken Deter, then to Andrea. She grinned at me, revealing a pair of saliva dripping fangs. Her smile did not warm her black eyes, if anything it made them more cold. Before I could reach to unlock my door, a cold, almost claw-like hand encircled my throat. I heard Deter cry out. I knew that Andrea had grabbed him as well. I tried to pry the icy fingers from my throat, but her hold was too strong.

Andrea rested her chin between us on the seat, looking from me to Deter. "You two are such fools," she laughs, "you actually thought I was human!"

I tried to squirm away as Deter said, "You’ll be found out! All of you will--" the words were cut off by a gargled gasp as I felt Andrea’s grip tighten on my throat.

"Mortals." She said, almost spitting the word out, "So nieve!" She jerked me and Deter closer to her. "If we did not need mortals for food, every last one of you would be dead!" She flexed her fingers on my throat, momentarily tightening her grip. "I have not had a meal in days. In fact, not very many vampires in this area have. And look! Two courses all for me." She laughed. "Say good bye to mortal life, Rayven and Deter. And say hello to death. Un-death, that is." She laughed again.

When I heard Deter cry out in pain I shut my eyes. I didn’t want to see him die. I knew the same death would befall me. I silently said good bye to all that I knew, and apologized to myself--more than anyone--for I had not been able to fight until the end. If I had tried, I knew I would have failed. I listened to Deter’s gasping breath grow silent, and Andrea slurping and swallowing.

When she finished, she turned to me. I didn’t dare open my eyes. "Now it’s your turn." She said, her voice in my ear.

"You’ll die soon enough!" I gasped out past the hand that held my throat.

Andrea laughed. "When you will you learn? I am dead." I felt the double sting in my throat. The burning pain stretched through my veins, as I felt her draw my blood out into her mouth.

I write this as my humanity drains away. Now I know why those kids had stayed home, and come back empty and evil. The draining of one’s humanity can make them feel crazed. I have controlled myself long enough to write my story for many to know what has happened in my school and town. I was one of the last for it to happen to in my town. Believe me or not, but this has happened. It is spreading over the state, nation and world. All it takes for someone to become a vampire is to be drained, completely, by one.

I have only hours, at most, left of all that I have known of Rayven White. I do not know what will happen when the change is complete.... JUST WATCH OUT, I MIGHT COME FOR YOU ONE DAY!

Great Stories Online 2000Ó TJ Greaton