AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Why did things always go wrong for me? It's been mere days since the last disaster, yet here I am, running through a forest with a man who hates me.
Or wants to hate me. I haven't missed the protective glances he's been sending my way since we left the weird metal cage. I refuse to call it a box any longer. More like a holding pen anyway. Seems like an accurate description considering they're hunting us now. And they're not being quiet about it.
My now sensitive ears can pick up the rustling of the hunters about forty feet behind us. Which is forty feet too close if you ask me. But there's nothing we can do about it yet. Not with sun rise quite so close.
"Is there anywhere we can go?" I ask through my pants. I'm fit, there's no way I wouldn't be after all my guild training, but this is beyond a joke. I think it might be the lack of blood in my system.
Yes, I was going to go with that.
"How the fuck should I know," Bram replies, slightly less out of breath than I am.
The bastard.
"Wishful thinking?" I try. I mean, it's that or burn effectively, and after the first time, I'm not so keen on that option. It was rather painful to say the least.
"Not going to save us."
"No shit."
We run in silence. Probably for the best, otherwise the hunters won't have a job left when they get to us. We'll have killed each other.
The air around us is lightening by the second. Worrying. The sun really isn't very far off now. We need to get somewhere dark. We need to get somewhere safe.
"This way." Despite my better instincts, I tug on Bram's sleeves as I say it, and pull him off towards the side. I hope he listens to me, because now we're further in the trees, it is starting to look a little familiar. And if I'm right, then there's a bunker just down here and to the left.
To my surprise, he actually follows me, and the soft crunch of twigs under feet fills the air. I hope the hunters can't hear it. Probably not. They're still human after all, even if they are highly trained.
Wait, when did I start thinking of them as them and not as us? Am I really so far gone into vampirism?
Do I care?
I suppose not. If we're going by sheer numbers, less vampires have tried to kill me than hunters. The odds maybe weren't in their favour for having me on side.
I almost stumble as I spot the gnarled tree. The one that I know marked the entrance to the bunker. I just need to hope those following us weren't told about this particular one. I don't think so. I found out about it when I was a child, and it hadn't been mentioned since, so I doubt they tell anyone about it now.
"Here," I whisper, now more conscious than ever that we could get caught. And if they find us here...we'd be trapped in the bunker. There's so much that could go wrong with this. They could open the bunker. Or just lay in wait until we emerge tomorrow night.
At least that death is less imminent than death by sunlight. That is mere minutes away, if I'm calculating correctly.
"Get in." I push him downwards, into the small space that I know will be cramped, but also know will save our lives. There isn't much choice in whether we use it or not then.
It only takes Bram a few moments to respond. Thank the non-existent God for small mercies. I climb in after him, already feeling cramped.
How am I going to survive the next eight to ten hours with my body pressed against his? This is going to be torture.
Chapter 2
