A Vampire's Dystopia

Chapter One / An Unholy Vampiric Tale

I press my back to the wall. Leaned up to the Jarl's longhouse and I guess I'm not getting sued for destruction of property. Ahead of me, several customers stood in line for their common necessities. Food, water, utensils, etc. It's time for me to strike. One shopkeeper in particular was unaware of my thievery. He merely knelt down to put away his items when I was clearly eyeing the items he had stored behind him in shelves. Several customers were waiting on his sorry self to hurry up on his sorting. You always sort out items when you have no customers waiting on you and vice-versa.

Crouching down and focusing on my objective, I inched my way toward the side of his counters. The customers themselves were delving in common conversation  whilst a thievery was about to occur. Precious apples lay ahead of me in a basket off to the side of shopkeeper. Darted glances followed my way as I lunged a hand into the basket to grab an apple or two. The shopkeeper glanced over to my side only to go back to sorting seconds later. A customer broke away from conversation and peered right into my eyes as if she could see my very soul. She pursed her lips and darted her eyes off to the left.

I shrugged my shoulders and decided to creep away like always. Since she was eyeing me like a moth attracted to light, it was time that I wandered off to the left away from the foolery that could've happened there. The tension grew as I held my back to the stall to wander back. Quiet murmurs could be heard from where I was crouched. Those sly dogs! They thought I was going to fall into their pitfall of a plan!

Standing up to full stature, I accelerated my run into a full-blown sprinting. The distant calls of alarm could be heard within earshot. I wasn't going to be caught. Not this time..

My knees caught alight with strain and fatigue. My arms flailed aimlessly in my escape from the Jarl's clutches. I couldn't be caught this time. The alleyway was quiet. A cold dampness swathed into the open air. At least it wasn't humid like it always is in the summer months. The calls of reproach could be heard from where I stood. Disgusting citizens.. If they only knew I was in dire straits with the law. Not liked they would care. Eating away at the last apple, I threw the first apple core to the gritty dirt.

The walk down the alleyway was sure to be a quiet one thus far. The abrupt call of birds cut through the air like the annoyances from the citizens from down the alleyway. There seems to be a lot of log houses that lie between the alley itself. Of course, if I didn't pick up the pace, those sorry excuses for soldiers would capture me. The slow transition to a more of a 'fastwalk' or quickened pace bore down on my weakened legs. There's no way I'll be able to run. I'd end up tripping myself or worse- breaking a limb that prohibits me from even walking from this point onward. It's  funny how I have such a huge bounty just for thieving a few wares worth a couple silver coins and fruit to feed myself.

The walk down the alley was cut short when a guard glanced over in my direction. Dodging a second glance, I lunged my legs off to a nearby shrub. Upon further investigation, the backside of if was cut away but I could easily squeeze my way in. Providing a bit of effort, the entrance seemed to be only a bit troublesome. It only took me a few moments to realize that it was a thorn bush! The thorns pinpricked several layers of my skin that sent in bee-like stings of pain throughout my arms and legs! Even if the pain was agonizing, I couldn't allow myself to yelp aloud in succumberance to it. The soldier walked his merry way down the alleyway and across my vision. Oh, how I wanted to wring his damn neck!
Despite the temptations to kill him in a million ways possible, I decided it was best to knock him unconscious, strip him of his dignity, wear his 'dignity', and get the hell out of here.

I pushed my weight back and fell backward. Luckily, he didn't take notice and continued his patrol. Since I wanted to knock him out silly, my lucky guess would be a crouching-sort-of-position that would definitely do the trick. Unfortunately, as I crouched down, waves of pain quaked throughout my leg! It seems I'd have to shake it off and hope for the best. The pitter-patter of my feet must've seemed inaudible to this lousy chump. I slowly enclosed the distance between us and soon must make, eh, a fairly easy decision. Should I knock his legs out from underneath him or tackle him with all my strength, weight, and momentum?

A nod of confirmation follows sway and I grab hold of his legs. He awkwardly looks behind him and raises an unsure eyebrow. Before he gets the wrong idea, I lift him off the ground a couple of feet and shove him to the side.
"Auuugh!" he schreeched aloud. His head had an unfortunate fall upon a nearby stone rendering him immobile.

Clutching his hands, I dragged him over to the thorn bush. Firstly, I stripped him of his leather boots, leggings, undershirt, and tunic. One clothing item at a time, the poor  was only adorned in cloth-like underwear. Secondly, I placed the clothing items off to the side and pushed him within the bush to a thorny demise. Let's just hope that karma doesn't hit me ten times harder than it did to this man.