“Should we split up?” offered Jay, spinning a circle to look around as if the pair might be hiding just out of sight.Aliyah shook her head. “It’s getting late. It’ll be dark soon. We need to get out of here and look for somewhere safe to stay.”Suddenly a shrill, high-pitched scream rent the air. It didn’t come from very far away, and they were quickly able to pinpoint its location.“This way!” cried Gabriel , as he took off for the woods. He could hear the others falling into step behind him but he was not in the mood to wait. He burst past tree after tree, but after only a minute of running he was forced to a halt.Through the spaces in the trees ahead of him he could see a small clearing. Gabriel and Daina were both in the clearing. Daina was on her backside on the ground as though she had just tripped and fallen backwards. A now fully dead zombie lay on the ground beside her. Gabriel stood only a couple feet away, and seemed absurdly calm for the moment. He stood completely still

They were all covered in blood.Jake gasped. Jay and Aliyah’s mouths both fell open like their hinges had been broken. Gabriel’s eyes grew wet but his face grew stern.“Daina, no…” Jake said, but knew immediately that any words were inadequate in that moment.“You need to leave me here,” said Daina, surprisingly stoically.“No,” Jake protested, shaking her head. “No. We can’t.”“You have to,” Daina said. She stepped away from Gabriel and placed her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I am a danger to you now.”“No!” Now Jake was shouting, and she backed away from the others. “No! You haven’t turned yet! We can’t just give up on you! We don’t know that you’ll turn!”“We know that she’ll turn,” Gabriel said softly, in as calming a tone as he could muster. “We just don’t know when.”“No! I don’t bGabriel eve that. I refuse to bGabriel eve that! There must be something we can do. A cure. There’s gotta be a cure. Gabriel must know a cure. Gabriel knows all this shit. He must know a cu

It didn’t take very long to reach the crash site. The vehicle had rolled down the side of a hill and was leaning almost completely sideways, and was held in place hanging over the stream by a small cluster of trees. One of the windows on the side was open, and this triggered a quick flash of memories in Gabriel . He had been sitting there, just on the other side of that window, when the SUV had come to a rest against the trees. He had come to long enough to try to escape out the window.Clearly he had made it, at least, far enough to have fallen into the stream and then let it wash him away until he had ended up on a muddy embankment a short distance away.The vehicle was on fire. Though it wasn’t really clear what had started the fire, clearly the fire had burned long enough to have ignited the spare gas canisters inside the vehicle. There was now little left of the SUV beyond a smoldering heap.Gabriel dropped to his knees, as memories of his companions, his friends, came rushing b

“Take him!” the male ordered. “Wash him until you get every trace of that blasted stuff off of him!”The woman knelt down and with surprising ease lifted Jay off the ground. She dragged him along the ground headed for the room’s exit. Jay looked dazed, but as his head bobbed around, his gaze eventually fell on Jake.“Jake!” he called. “I’ll find you! I’ll get free and I’ll find you!”The woman vampire pulled him through the door, and it slammed shut with horrible finality. Jake closed her eyes and grimaced, realizing she would likely never see Jay again.The male came around the table to be on the same side as Jake. She realized now where she recognized him from. She knew now exactly who he was, and he could see it in her face as he drew closer.“Ah, there she is,” he said. “I was wondering how long it would take.”It was so obvious now, she was surprised just how long it had taken her. But, to be fair to herself, he did look very different now that he was a vampire from how he did wh

“Gabriel ,” Jake interjected, trying to cut him off.“…and a bunch of cuts and I haven’t actually seen Gabriel yet…”“Gabriel . Gabriel !” When he finally stopped speaking she took a deep breath and then looked him directly in the eyes. “I need you to do something for me.”“Sure,” he said, nodding his head eagerly. “Anything.”She reached around behind her and then pulled forth a gun. “Here,” she said. “I found this. I need you to take it.”Gabriel held out his hand before he fully realized what he was doing and she dropped the weapon into his waiting grasp. He didn’t move, but instead just stared quizzically at the pistol for a long moment.“O… kay…” he said slowly. “And… uh… why?”“I need you to shoot me in the head.”Gabriel felt his heart stop and his jaw fall open. He continued staring at the gun, no longer out of confusion but because he couldn’t bring himself to look at her again.“Wha… what… why? Why would I do that?”Jake grabbed her shirt by the waist and slowly rolled it