“Hey! Kid, are you alright?” Arthur spoke as he consoled Danny by touching him on his shoulder, “you probably shouldn’t look….”

Kiran interrupted Arthur and said, “can I get some help over here?” Arthur walked towards him, looked at his wound. He noticed the bite marks were deep, making him worry for Kiran’s health. “Well, you going to move me to the sofa or am I moving myself?!” Arthur gave a sigh and lifted him up underneath the armpits and dragged him to the sofa.

“Right - with that done - I’m going to check on your family.” Kiran didn’t even hear his condescending tone; he was asleep as soon as he hit the sofa.

Arthur seen that Danny was on the floor with his head in his hands, Arthur felt for the kid; he’d been through enough, never mind being attacked by a bloodsucker. He thought, he’d check on the mother first, she looked lifeless. As he got close, he seen her pale face with blue eyes that was shining with passion. Her lips were curved to a point where it looked inhuman. Arthur noticed her back was trickling blood, with moving his head closer, he seen that her shoulder blades were showing, it nearly made him throw up, but he remembered his time in the army and focused on the mission at hand. He checked for a pulse and was thankful but when he placed his hand on her heart, it was insanely fast, too fast even. The body smelled awful as he went to carry her. He cradled her in his arms, she was light as if she had no blood in her body. The wound on her shoulders worried him to the core, how was she to survive such a wound, it seemed impossible. Then his mind flickered like a lightbulb, he thought that if he went to the hospital then he could grab supplies, medicine and even weapons. He walked to the living room and placed her on the opposite sofa. Then his head turned to Danny. He wondered what he might say to the poor boy, if there was anything to say to the poor boy. Life was crumbling around everyone, nothing but despair and tremendous fear with no care from anything but the blood-fuckers. Arthur looked around his surroundings, dread was everywhere. A burning corpse that smelt like a steak until a scent hit his nose like no other, Arthur guessed the smell was coming from the hair. The horror burned his eyes and took him to a place he would not want to go, not ever again.

He took a deep breathe. After every breathe he would say, “and again.” Until it was a rhythm. He went to his knees and pleaded until he felt okay but the time wouldn’t come. He thought himself a coward for the way he responded to the situation. He thought of the young boy and hoped it would bring himself courage. Then he thought about getting up off the floor. Until he did. His legs were heavy when walking over to Danny, it felt like demons grabbing on to his ankles and making sure he didn’t walk, or at least make him slower.

As he gets to Danny, Arthur notices that he’s daydreaming. Arthur spoke to Danny in a tone that he hoped would give him solace. But he doubted it, “hey, Danny. I’m Arthur if you remember.” Arthur paused for a moment with no words on his mind. “Look, I know this isn’t the best time for me to leave but I need to… to go to the hospital and collect some medicine and I need you to be as brave as you can, can you promise that?” Arthur waited for an answer, but he got nothing. “Okay, I really should go, okay?” He stood up and took a glance at Elizbeth and Kiran and back at Danny and with words of sorrow, he said, “I’m sorry, boy. Good luck.” He walked towards the kitchen where the backdoor was, he thought it was better if he went through the back, less chance of being seen, he hoped. He opened the door and ran for it.

The stench of garlic around the house, the steam of smoke coming from the burnt corpse, causing Danny’s stomach to twist into knots. He felt he had hit rock bottom, but it had been like that the other day, had it become bottomless? He couldn’t move, see or hear. Everything was a blur, like a brightened room that was unseeable. Nothing but sporadic days, nights which seemed that they would last forever, until the end of his days.

Danny was just starting to make out the face he was looking at. No skin, it had all burned away, sept from the sticky leftovers on his cheek bone. He awoke properly and he wished he hadn’t, the smell of the burning vampire left Danny nearly fainting, but he stayed strong until he seen the bony eye holes. He stood up and ran to the playroom. Though, as he got to the entrance, he threw his guts up.

Danny walked through the opened sliding door and stumbled but caught himself on the wall. Everything was spinning, his heart was like a sports car engine, panicking from wall to wall, until he collapsed on the floor.

A noise freaked him out. He hid behind a large, vile, and smelly bin. He turned around the corner and seen a pack of dogs tucking into a meal which was a person. He hoped it was a vampire they were eating but he doubted it. As he turned away from them, he leaned all his weight onto the bin, and it moved slightly. The sudden silence of the dogs freaked him out and if they did stop eating then that would mean trouble. He heard footsteps, growling and snaps of the canines bouncing on one another. He took in the surroundings and planed his escape. The dogs were getting closer and closer and closer. Until he bolted up the bin, used his legs to boost himself up the bin and jumped for the ladders of an exterior exit stairs and pulled himself up with all the strength he had. The dogs were left there barking. He worried about the noise and what it would bring. He broke the window leading to an apartment and climbed through it. As he entered darkness, he pulled out a flashlight. The panic wasn’t as bad when he had light, the walls were bloody, though no human was in sight, not even dead ones. He exited the empty apartment and walked down the hallway of the apartment complex. He went down to the last floor and could hear pattering. He didn’t dare go down the last couple of steps before he seen who it was. It sounded like a few dogs but hoped it wasn’t the same ones. He didn’t take any chances, so he moved back upstairs and tried to find a window to climb out off. He carried on walking through the hallway and found a window, but bars were on the outside. Barking came from behind him, so he moved to the door and tried to bash it down. The door was strong, and he struggled to break it, until he glanced back round to the dogs and seen the opposite door was open slightly. He ran for it, opened it by kicking it with his foot and slammed the door on his way inside. As the door closed, he fell to his arse and lent back against the door. Arthur was knackered with his deranged day.

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He sat there, pondering on whether he would get out of this situation and what it would take to get out of it. He used his brain, experience and hours of studying to find the perfect escape.

The dogs were barking and banging on the door, he thought the door would come off any second. He stood up and looked around for a weapon, anything, anything he could use. His eyes matched with a big metal statue, it was black, made of steel and it was a massive owl.

But as he went to run towards it, the door broke open. Just as he thought he was in the clear, he runs towards his hope and picks it up, side stepping out of the way from the dog’s bite. He continued running for the window.

He got close to the window and in the corner of his eye, he seen a dog, which had foam at his mouth, it was about to bite him. So, he takes the steel statue and whacks the dog in its stomach as hard as he can. The red eyed dog dropped hard to the floor. He remained running. Until he found himself at the window, throwing the statue at it, it smashed sounding like a clash of swords. He jumped through it taking the rest of glass with him.

Danny woke with nothing but pain, his eyes was hardly opening due to tiredness, legs that felt weak and hammered. He felt better as he gave his body time and wiped his eyes with his hands.

he walked out of the playroom and walked over to his parents who were sleeping in peace, though his mum was bleeding from her back. Danny worried for her. He tried to her wake her up. But she didn’t respond. She was pale as the grey moon, and her and the moon did the same job; brighten the darkness.

He moved her eyelids, which were huge, the dopamine was running through her, Danny thought. He shouted, “Mummy! Mummy, can you hear me? It’s time to wake up! Please mum, I… I need you, please?!” His tears became a river. The sight of his mother’s eyes, blood on her and around her made Danny feel distraught. He could feel his heart palpitations which freaked him out and he knew he had to calm down if he was to survive.

He turned to his dad, blaming him for what happened with the dog-killer. Danny thought about how they didn’t believe him, especially how cruel his dad was, at least his mum had his back; not for the first time but so did that man. Danny realised that the man named Arthur believed him, he did, Danny thought. Danny felt despair in every thought that crossed his mind. He knew death was waiting around the corner, but he wanted someone to disagree with him, especially his mother. He felt like a dog against a pack of wolfs.

His train of thought was interrupted by mummering. He turned his head and saw it was his mother, he couldn’t quite hear her, so he moved closer. And as he did, her voice grown and said, “yes! Yes! I am the future of us. I will bring us further in this new age of blood. I will become the bloody god!”

Danny heard nothing but weird words that didn’t make sense to him. He figured, she was in a bad way and he continued to wonder what to do. He wondered where Arthur had gone. He wondered how he’d help his mum and put a stop to this nightmare that faced them. He got up from his knees and moved away from his mum to go to the window and ponder. As he moved the curtain, he had forgotten about the windows being boarded up, so he proceeded to go out to the garden. The red ambient sky doomed his thoughts, nothing made sense, even the physics of the sky, he wondered if chemistry was the same. Then it came to him, if he was to prepare for what was to come, then he’d have to fight with his brain, chemistry tools and all the might he had.

Then he doubted himself as he spoke to himself, “am I really cut out to beat them, someone who cannot even beat his bullies.” His thoughts grew longer to prolong the planning of the traps. And as he did, he thought about his dog and wondered where he had gone to. Although Danny knew they had no food for him, so he guessed it was that. He thought about the dog leaving him and how devastated he would be, he only had him for a day, and he’d leave already Danny thought.

Danny just wanted the awful thoughts to leave him forever and ever and never come back. He dreamed to be back in the past where it was safe, warm, and comfortable. A place where he could live peacefully and not with never ending stress. But it was a pipedream that was never coming true. He thought about times where he and his mother would play at the park, he loved the swing that would go so exceedingly high, especially if his dad would come but that was a rarity, “dad never went to the park.” Danny said to himself as sadness struck. The tears came down his cheek like no one was watching. He felt like he was in a trap, and he can’t walk out. He wanted his mum to be awake and by his side, but she wouldn’t be.

The red, devilish sky was looking upon Danny, he felt like it had eyes and a soul but a dark soul. The howling was loud and intimidating. Danny couldn’t recognise any of the noises. He thought they sounded a lot like wolfs but it was more defined and like they were speaking. He seen dingy bats that were flying high and sprightly, which freaked him out due to his encounter with them earlier. He ran inside the house.

His parents were lying there as he looked over them, shaking from the fear of losing them, it was too much for him. The situation with the freaks, his mum looking like death itself; he just couldn’t handle it any further. He wanted life to stop, the new world but most of all he wanted the suffering to stop. Danny thought if he lost his mum than life would not be worth living, nothing could be good again if he felt that suffering for the rest of his life, he could never live through that. He looked back at his past to see any brightness which could carry him through this. He sees himself doing an experiment and as blue smoke covers his face, his mum walks in and freaks out. Danny laughs at the memory. He remembers another one that brings the best one smile. He sees green grass, clouds that are covering most of the sky, leaving gaps of blue in the sky. The mountains in the backdrop were big, curved and gave Danny a great expression on his face that day. His mum is walking beside him giving him the best company he could have asked for. He sat out of his daydream, wishing that his mother stood beside him now.

Danny grits his teeth, stands up, walks to the stairs and heads to his room. He grows the courage and decides to prepare for what’s to come.