Blood Bound

Chapter 4: Her undead origin

Sophie

I was in the car with my mom, Sheila, and my stepdad, Robert and we were driving home from Robert's cabin in upstate Canada. Mom and Robert were arguing in the front seat; Mom wasn't pleased that we had to cut our vacation short because Robert's boss had called him and told him to cover someone else's shift at the construction site. It had been several months since Robert had started his job as a contracter and he didn't want to be on his boss' bad side right away so he obliged and on the road we were, in the middle of the night.

I tuned out their arguments by plugging the headphones into my ears and putting the music on full blast. My mom and Robert got along fine and I guess he was alright, I mean, he took good care of my mom and deep down I wanted her to be happy (she hasn't been very lucky with guys since she was twenty one...) but I absolutely hated it when they argued. I mean, couldn't they do it when I'm not around?

"I just don't see why someone else can't do it," complained mom. "We were having a good bonding time at the cabin, Bob."

Robert sighed. "I don't want to be fired, Sheila," he responded. "My boss has basically been breathing down my neck since day one and I don't want to give him any more incentive." He smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry, honey."

Mom huffed, pulled down the visor and checked her own reflection to see whether her makeup was on point or not. Looking good meant everything to her, but she made sure that she didn't look too slutty. Those days were behind her, now that she had a family to take care of.

Robert cracked a smile.  "Missed something?" he joked and mom made a face.

"Only our good time together," mom replied and Robert groaned internally. She was never going to let that go now.

"I'll try to make it up to us later," he said.

"You better," mom pressed on. "I just want Sophie to get along better with you."

Robert let out a small grunt. So far it had been going just okay but it wasn't like he had expected me to accept him immediately. My real father has been out of the picture since I was born and it had just been the two of us for 14 years until he came along. Mom had told him that I was a troublemaker at school and that she suspected I was doing it for attention. He found it difficult to associate with me and Robert wanted to scold me for all the bad things I had pulled, like shoplifting and smoking, but he probably realized he really had no right to do so. I would just yell at him and therefore shatter all other possible opportunities to get along with me.

This trip had been his own idea to kindle our relationship. Mom had been thrilled but I was less enthusiastic. I complained that I had plans for something else already but after some convincing from mom, I grudgingly complied. So Robert was just as miffed as mom that we had to cut our efforts so short.

"Bob, watch out!!" mom's sudden scream pulled Robert out of his mind and he saw something in the middle of the road. He thrust his foot down on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt a couple of meters in front of the heap on the road.

"Oh my god," gasped mom, covering her mouth with her hand. "I-is that a person?"

The headlights from the car shone down on a big man, sprawled face down on the asphalt ground. He wasn't moving.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked annoyed, having slit down on the car floor in the abrupted stop. "Are we there yet?" I gazed through the windshield, spotting the man and eyes widening. "Is he dead?"

Mom glanced at me with worried eyes and then back at Robert. "Should we call 911?" she asked.

Robert shook his head slightly. "Wait here," he said as he opened the door and slipped out from his seat. "I'm gonna see if he's alright."