Life On A Blood Farm (unedited)

Chapter 11

Tree branches slapped my face and bloody scratches caked my bare feet. There was a painful stitch searing in my side. I hadn't heard anything from our vampire pursuers for an hour, and Bryce's last haunting words rang in my head as I ran. "Let the hunt begin!"

Zachary was still panting beside me. Adrenalin coursed through my body as I tried to think of a way out of this situation. I could climb a tree, see if I can get high enough that they can't get me without breaking a branch... but they would probably take down the whole tree. I glanced at Zachary. His eyes were trained on the ground. We had no choice but to continue running.

I was beginning to think that they were just going to wait till we collapsed from exhaustion when something happened. Zachary was tackled to the ground, a girl latching into his neck. he screamed as they both hit the ground. I looked behind me as I kept running, vampires were dropping from the trees, latching themselves onto different parts of Zachary. His agonized screams filled the air. I looked up, and saw they were all in the trees, hoping silently from branch to branch.

I knew it would do no good to stop for Zachary, I couldn't help him. I kept running, Zachary's screams getting quieter as I went. Suddenly my foot caught on a root and I tumbled to the ground. The breath was knocked out of me when I hit the ground.

Then the torture began.

I was flipped onto my back by a boy who then proceeded to bite into
My wrist. I screamed and went to hit him, but my hand was caught by a woman and pinned to the ground. Her eyes looked crazed as she sunk her teeth into my flesh. I tossed my head back screaming. Another pair of fangs found my neck, then my stomach, then my thigh.

Someone finally covered my mouth, drowning out my agonized screams. Every inch of me burned, as the vampires battled for my blood. Soon I couldn't see, I didn't have the effort to scream, and I passed out.

When I woke up, I first became aware of the pain in my arms. From shoulder to wrist every muscle seared with unendurable pain.

Slowly I opened my eyes. it was dark, probably nighttime, and I was in a forest. I was hanging from my wrists, my toes barely touching the ground. I felt so incredibly weak, it was hard to lift my chin off my chest. I moaned before I could stop myself.

"Bell?" It was Zachary. He was near-by but I couldn't see him.

"Zachary where are you?" I croaked.

"I'm on the other side of the tree. Are you okay?" He whispered back.
I hesitated.
"Zachary, is it you? I mean.... are you... you know..... you?"

"Yes, I'm me. I don't know where Bryce and his clan are. I woke up an hour ago and I thought I was alone." He said. I readjusted my hands so the pressure of my body was not solely on my wrists.

"Zachary," I said quietly.

"Yes?"

"I'm so scared," I said quivering. My bravery was long used up.

"I know.... I'm so sorry."

We were quiet for a while.

"We have to get out of here," he finally said quietly.

"We can't," I said hopelessly.

"Yes we can."

"No we can't."

"Yes we-"

"No Zachary! We can't. We are too weak. That's the truth of the matter is that they can do whatever the hell they want with us and there's NOTHING we can do about it because WE are human, and THEY are vampires." my voice (which had steadily and unconsciously risen) rung in the cool night air.

We stayed like that until we drifted back to sleep, a sense of hopelessness hanging in the air.

I dreamt of Ryan. He was smiling as he climbed a tree. higher and higher, no fear of what lay ahead. I grew worried.
"Ryan!" I called. He didnt slow. the branches were thinning.
"Ryan!!" I shouted. But he didn't stop... he kept climbing.

I was stirred back into consciousness by someone removing my shackles and lowering me to the floor. I moaned as i was struck with pain.

"Shut up," I winced at the voice; Bryce. I opened my eyes slowly. it was day now. Once my eyes were adjusted I looked around. Vampires were moving around the area, which, now that it was light, I could see, was a large clearing in the forest. I did a double take and realized there were children here. in fact, it didn't look so different from my own group. Just bigger really.

Most vampires lived in homes. castles even, but I had heard of Vampire clans that moved around like this. I had never seen a vampire child before. There was a young blonde boy that looked no older than 3 years old, of course he was probably closer to 18, they just age so slowly. He was just a few feet away with his mother.

Bryce finished untying Zachary and plopped him down next to me. Getting a look at Zachary showed me how I probably looked. We weren't given any vampire blood, so the bite marks all over our body were obvious and still fresh with blood. Not to mention bruises everywhere and our wrists were red and raw from the ropes. My stomach growled.

Bryce left us on the ground unguarded and unbound, knowing perfectly well that we were too weak to escape.

Zachary turned towards me and caught my eye.

"You okay?" He whispered. I just looked back at him. How did the world get so messed up. We were human beings, look at what we were being used for.

We were left alone for a nice peaceful hour, while the Bryce clan went about their business. There were slight communities set up even though there was no housing. One section was obviously a sort of school house, one a church area, and one a political area. Bryce didn't actually seem to be the leader of the clan, but by the way he was talking, he must be important. The leader seemed to be a young boy with blonde hair and eyes so green I could see them from where I sat, 20 feet away. He was handsome, of course, but he looked much too young to be a leader. Maybe I was mistaken.

Bryce pointed to me and Zachary, and the blonde leader looked at us thoughtfully. He said something to Bryce and then stood up. He made his way towards me and Zachary and as he walked I realized how much respect these vampires have for their leader. There eyes would flicker down and if they were standing they would sink ever so slightly to the floor.

When he reached us he bent down and looked at us, again, thoughtfully.

"Have they been fed?" He asked.

"No," a boy said.

"Feed them," the leader commanded.

"We weren't sure if you wanted them fed or healed first," the boy replied. The leaders eyes focused on me. Slowly he raised his wrist to his mouth and bit in. I knew what was coming and I pressed my lips together cringing. Instead of forcing his blood down my throat, he turned to Zachary and forcefully pressed his blood into his mouth. Taken by surprise and too weak to do otherwise, Zachary allowed it without struggle, but I could see the disgust in his eyes.

After a few minutes I saw the incredible effects of vampire blood. Before my very eyes Zachary's wounds began to heal, skin moving over and stitching together. it was remarkable. The leader turned to me.

"Alton, allow me," Bryce said before he could make a move towards me. The leader, Alton, turned and looked at Bryce, then nodded. Bryce approached me and a small smile crept onto his face. Oh the pleasure he took in causing me pain.

I curled myself into a ball with my hands tight over my head. Bryce easily wrapped his hands around my small wrists and removed them, quickly pressing his freshly bloody wrist to my sealed lips. The taste of rusty iron and salt seeped through my lips and onto my tongue making me gag. Bryce growled and I gave up, parting my lips and taking quick breathes from my nose.

sooner than I would have expected, Alton called Bryce off. Bryce got up and walked away without question.

I lay myself down on my leave strewn ground and closed my eyes. At some point another vampire came and brought us food. we devoured it eagerly. It had been so long since we had had real food. I couldn't imagine how Zachary felt. We laid there until sleep came and welcomed it gratefully.