Hunted Predators✔️

Deleted Scence

Crouching down, Katherine pries a rock from the mud and lobs it into the darkness. All she hears from the cave is the steady patter of rain and heavy breathing echoing back at her.

Katherine wipes the rain out of her eyes, then reaches into the waist of her skirt and pulls out a camera. The flash lights up the grey rock walls, revealing a shadowed man sitting in the middle of the crook, staring right at Katherine.

Staggering back, Katherine screams when she hits something cold, solid. Her scream is cut off by a bony hand wrapping around her mouth. Another hand grips the side of her jaw, forcing her head back. As he lowers his head to the crook of her neck, Katherine claws at her attacker's hands and tries to twist away to no avail. His teeth dig into her neck.

She opens her mouth to scream but chokes on his hand instead. Red creeps into her vision and she... The girl's head slumps back against his shoulder.

Gravel crunches. The man's eyes widen in the direction of the approaching noise. He hauls Katherine's limp body into the cave just as two boys jog up to the scene. "I swear it came from here."

"It was probably just a hyena or something, dumb-ass."

They run off. For a moment, there's no sound in the cave but the man's raspy breathing.

The man looks down at the girl's face. She can't be more than sixteen... An emotion flickers over his face for a fleeting moment, then his face goes entirely blank and he lets go of the girl. Katherine drops to the mud like a rag doll.

The man brings one of his fingers to his mouth, nicking it with his fangs. He hovers the finger over Katherine until a drop of blood falls into her parted lips. He waits, watching the girl.

Her face is a perfect contrast to the moment; she's unconscious, peaceful. Almost like she's sleeping. Katherine blinks. She rubs her eyes, and as soon as she sits up, a rough hand covers her mouth. Katherine freezes, her eyes widening.

"Scream and I'll snap your neck," the man whispers. He removes his hand. Immediately, Katherine tries to stand, but her legs wobble and give out. She drops to her knees then falls, back flat against the dirt. A dull pricking sensation works its way over her body, covering every inch of her, like a thousand invisible hands pinching her skin.

"Bastard," Katherine rasps. She struggles to get the word out. Her tongue feels like sandpaper.

The vampire kneels down so they're eye to eye. His face is shadowed so only the brightest colors of his face can be seen. The whites of his eyes. His fangs.

"This is the part where I kill you." His eyes trail down, to the Mabry crest on her shirt. "But I can't have a group of students and teachers searching for the missing girl and finding me... I'm not hungry enough."

All Katherine can do is glare.

The vampire shrugs. "My dearest apologies. You would think I'd learn to pick my victims more carefully by now."

"T-take it back."

"The bite?" The vampire grabs her shaking hands, clasping them with mocking sincerity. "I'm afraid hysteria has reduced you to stupidity. There is no taking back the bite. You are vampire now." Katherine tries to pull her hands away, but he holds tighter, digging his nails into her skin. "Do you know what the Cure Act is?"

"Let go," Katherine says through gritted teeth. "You're hurting me." His nails were drawing blood.

"The Cure Act is a death sentence. It means the government can lock us up in Wellness Institutions with the only proof being our fangs. They'll say that we're experimented on for the cause of a cure. But this cure...it's not real. It's made up. It's an excuse to torture and-"

"You're hurting me!"

"Do you know what people will do if they know there's no consequences for their actions? One popular technique is to strap the subject to a table and cut off chunks of their flesh over and over again, see at what points the skin won't grow back, until they're just a miserable-"

Katherine jerks forward, headbutting him. The vampire's head whips back. Then he slowly rights himself, glaring at Katherine with a murderous look in his eyes. A drop of blood trickles from his nose. Before she can even blink, she's thrown against the wall of the cave.

Katherine groans, sitting up. Her head's pounding, the breath is knocked out of her. "Look at me," the vampire growls, getting in her face again.

Gasping, Katherine stares into the darkness, anywhere but him. "Look at me!" He grabs her jaw, yanking her to face him. "You're going back to your school friends acting like the worst thing to happen to you was getting mud on your skirt, because if you're caught, and you will be, if you start screaming vampire at the top of your lungs, the government will take you away. Trust me, you do not want that to happen. I look like Disneyland compared to Wellness Institutions."

Katherine glares at him, tears trembling down her face.

The vampire backs up. "Just some friendly advice," he says.

He stands up then retreats into the shadows of the crook. He comes back rifling with a hiking bag and throws Katherine a sweater. "To cover the stains."

Then he turns around, walking out of the cave and into the downpour.

Hit that star plz!