I woke for the day better than I had the last. Around me the women were washing in the usual silence and grogginess of dawn, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Yet I couldn't help but feel urgency, a wave of energy taking over as I filled with anticipation.
Tilly would be rolling in with the other children, frightened and uncertain but she would be here. While I dreaded the reality she would meet, I knew the depression that haunted me would be alleviated by her presence. Unlike these other children transported here like cattle, placed under the care of strangers, we would be together.
My fingers trembled as I buttoned up my dress and tied a hanky over my cropped hair. My body was practically thrumming, unable to contain the flurry of emotions. Anxiety, excitement, fear, relief- it consumed me like a catastrophe. I tried to breathe quieter, calmer, but I couldn't help it.
"NN4812!" A creature then called from outside the barracks, it's accent rolling awkwardly over the letters yet still clear.
Anyone- anything else talking like that would've pulled a giggle from between my lips but it wasn't human. It didn't deserve a human expression of humour.
A few more breaths filtered through my lungs and from my lips before I met the Vampir at the entrance. Instantly, I was struck still as it cleared the steel baton splattered with spots of red, unmistakably human blood. Had it done this now so I'd be intimidated into obedience? Or was it simply because it didn't care? Did it assume I would catch evidence of its violence and like a savage, I would think nothing?
I became almost thankful I would be there for the children, thankful they chose me over anyone else. Yes, there was Tilly, but to leave them all in the hands of the Vampirs for a moment longer was a torture.
"Morn' savage" it smirked, picking off the last trace of blood with it's sharp nail. As insignificant as the dirt beneath them.
"Good Morning" I tightly smiled, the sarcasm dripping from my tone.
"Savages are not clever, are you?", the smirk that curled one corner of it's lips morphed into a snarl at it's brow.
I wanted to deny it. Fight back verbally even if I couldn't physically. But I refused to speak, refused to threaten the chance I'd been given.
"Not so funny now" it finished off before strapping its baton to its belt and gripping my upper arm.
It marched with inhuman speed, not caring for how I stumbled or struggled to keep up. Nothing about this thing strayed from the herd, it was the mindless sheep yet the shepherd to humanity's demise. The irony made me scoff, luckily hidden between the yelps of my feet missing dents and raises in the land.
"You are quiet today", it then slowed, we were still far from the edge the Lair. "Speak savage" it then demanded.
My lips remained fastened closed but the jostle of my tender bruised arm burst the words from my lips.
"I don't get in the habit of talking to Vampirs" I bit.
"Vampirs. I have heard that, what is Vampirs?"
I didn't want to answer but a light squeeze made it clear it was never a question. Always an order. We did not have the right to choose, we only gave.
"You, you are. Bloodsucking monsters: Vampirs"
"Bloodsucking? Very funny" the monster's lips curled into a dark smile.
"You drain us of everything, Vampir is fitting"
A hum originated from deep in it's throat- acknowledging, processing. I doubted it was my words or their weight, more the literal meaning as the creature grasped the human language.
YOU ARE READING
The Ruins Of Us
Science Fiction"They needed to break me. But I wasn't to be broken." In a world ravaged by aliens, the Vampirs, Liv must fight to protect her younger sister and support her older brother. But her nightmares inevitably become reality when they are captured and sepa...
