The Hunter

Chapter 1 - A "Controlled" Experiment

This should have never happened. At least, that's what I've been told. This is the only life I've ever known; running, fighting, and worrying about your life every second. Though I've heard life before this was better. After The Fall, everything just did what the name implies. It fell.

That's why I have to live the life I live.  Before The Fall, and before the disease was spread, the scientist created hybrids; people with the disease, but still were human.  It gave them everything: the ability to run faster, be stronger, every kind of upgrade, except for the blood lust. The scientist created them as a back up plan, and it's a good thing they did. It's a blessing, but I always think it's cursed me in some ways.

We're called Hunters, and it's because we hunt the infected.  I've been called a savior, a protector, all types of things, but I'm just an orphan who happens to hybrid blood in him. I'm not some Jesus Christ; I'm just Martin. Martin the Hunter. My mentor, Adam, used to tell my stories about life before The Fall when I was younger. He was about ten at the time, and has seen how the world has changed over thirty years. Though now, on the few nights like this, when I can actually sleep, I like to dream about those times.

Adam told me about a time when the disease hadn't been introduced into our society. Everyone had a car to drive, and they had lights that ran on this thing called electricity. Food was plentiful, and there were more than seven billion people alive. They had these flying things called planes, but I don't believe Adam. How could something so big fly in the air? Kids back then went to school, and could be whatever they wanted. People also didn't have to worry about getting their blood drained out of them. 

However, that's a time lost long ago.  Now, Adam and I sleep in hammocks.  For some reason, the infected, called vampires since they drink human blood, don't like heights.  That's why any surviving humans fled to the mountains, and that's where the remaining people live. Adam said it has something to do with the thinning atmosphere, but no one really knows. We have to use a special spray comprised of some herbs to keep vampires from smelling us. Bright colors attract them since they have bright eye sight, so we can't wear those. Cars are rare because they make too much noise, and electricity hasn't worked for thirty-five years. Some kids go to school, but most don't. Adam has taught me some things I might have learned in school, but only stuff that was important.

The thing he focused most on was history. When he wasn't training me on how to kill vampires, I was in school. Adam taught me how to read, write, add, subtract, multiply, and divide, but the most important thing he taught me was human history. He said that history repeats itself, and the best way to survive was to repeat history. If we could rebuild ourselves by starting from scratch, and learning how ancient humans lived, we can learn to survive like they did. We also talked a lot about what scientifically makes vampires, hybrids, and humans different.

Based on estimates, there are about 2.6 billion humans alive somewhere on Earth. There are about 45 million people living somewhere in North America, and it's believed that there's somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 vampires, and those numbers keep getting larger. Sure, there are more humans to vampires, but vampires still reproduce. They aren't immortal, but they can also turn humans by biting them, and then bleeding some of their blood onto a human.  Once a human turns, they don't turn back. 

There are about 1,000 surviving hybrids in what was once the United States.  We're pretty much scattered everywhere.  Half live in permanent establishments to keep them safe.  Some wander, looking to kill vampires.  Adam and I do a bit of both; half the year, we live in a town, and then the other half is spent doing other things.  Most of the time, we're going to other places to get things, sometimes we're going out to kill vampires. 

We had just spent the past seven months trekking the US, checking up on smaller towns we come across along the way, and following some vampire clans and exterminating them.  There was also a hybrid vampire we had to take care of.  He was a fellow hunter who had turned, which made him more dangerous than a regular vampire.  Every now and then, a hunter is lost, and we have to kill them.  It's sad, especially if you knew them, but once you see their pale skin, and the loss of life in their eyes, it makes it a bit easier.  Only a little, though.