We both took some time to admire the trailers that the cinema was showing for new films.

‘Yeah, sure. Hey Trevor, we’re here! Screen six!’

Trevor walked up to me and Sharon holding a giant tub of ice cream. Hello ladies, I have enough ice cream for everyone.

I smiled at that. ‘I got the snacks and Sharon bought the drinks. Less of the try-hard attitude and more of a friendly guy would be appreciated.’

‘Apologies Sal. And Sharon.’ He nodded in her direction.

‘Better Trev, we’re not the girls that you want to impress. Anyone you fancy at the cinema tonight?’

Sharon interrupted.

‘He’s the strong, silent type.’

‘Yup. That’s you Trev.’

His face blushed a bit before he managed a smile. He held tight onto the giant tub of ice cream with both hands.

I grinned at him showing my vampire’s teeth. ‘Yes, the blood. The delicious blood is rising in his face.’

‘Sal put it away. I got those plastic fangs remember? They make eating ice cream hard though.’

I took the fangs out of my mouth and stuffed them into my denim jacket pocket. Not the most hygienic but needs a must when your friend is talking about ice cream. I’d be needing to give them a good wash later when I had the chance. Ideally not in the cinema toilets, I’d prefer not to visit those places, a bottle of water with some salt would do a better job.

Sharon just sighed at us and rolled her eyes. ‘Let’s check before the film starts. Trev got the ice cream, I got the soft drinks, and Sal got the snacks and tickets for all of us. Any romantic talk stops when the vampire night trilogy starts. Agreed? If any of us recognise someone we fancy, then we can stop and talk to them while the others wait. Oh, Sal, the perfect person for you is right over there.’

She pointed at one of the lifelike models of one of the main actors of the film trilogy. Good with a touch of class, of course. Except that the model was a zombie wearing a suit. The film promotion model had been designed as a type of zombie half-dead with bites taken out of his body, his mouth wide open and a thin line of drool frozen by his mouth.

‘Haha, very good Sharon. I think he’s dead out of my league.’

Silence came out of both of them. I knew from experience what was going to happen next.

‘No. Just…no.’

‘…’

‘You two just don’t appreciate my sense of humour.’

Sharon sighed once more.

‘Sal, please. Let’s just go to the screen room now. Which one is it?’

Trevor grinned.

‘It’s the one filled with vampires.’

He had his fake vampire teeth in his mouth this time giving us a cheeky grin.

‘You mean the blood-drained victims.’ I said in reply.

It was getting noisy around the cinema now, loads of kids our age all chatting away and buying snacks. Some of them even posing

‘Yeah, what’s with the whole setting up the cinema for this vampire event? I get it that the whole trilogy is meant to be great but for the whole school year group. Kinda off. I still love the night creatures but still…’

Sharon spoke to me directly. ‘Sal. Which. Screen. Room?’

With a quick glance at the cinema tickets I responded.

‘Screen six guys. Ok, let’s go for it. We have seat 6a, 6b, and 6c. Not too close to the screen but kinda in the middle. Pretty good seats considering.’

I began walking from the cinema lobby straight past the usher and all three searched for the right screen room.

‘Ugh, every single room is showing the same vampire film. Sharon, you don’t get odd feelings about this?’

She just stared at me and put her arm around my neck.

‘Sal. I think you’re jealous. Right Trev? Her little precious isn’t so rare now. Everyone wants to get a taste. Yum yum.’

Sharon mocked biting into my neck as I pushed her away. Trevor pointed out the screen and pushed open the doors with his feet, hands still packed with ice-cream.

‘You got the tickets Sal. Show us our seats oh Vampire Queen.’

‘Empress. Always beats Queen every time. Just don’t call me Mistress. Ah, right, just up there and on the right. Wow. this place is totally full.’

Entering we saw that the place was completely packed out with kids from school. I felt kinda surprised but at the same time not really, all the tickets had been given out for lower-than-normal prices to the school as a reward for our exams. The sponsor wasn’t named but everyone assumed that it was just a publicity stunt designed to generate more interest in the trilogy.

Once the boring pre-film adverts had been finished silence fell across the cinema. The film began with an opening scene that showed a normal city before a man appeared who was holding a cross and a modified handbow. He turned in the direction of the screen before walking into standard office building. No people around though. Kinda odd.

Uh. Vampire hunter but in modern times. Not the most original idea. I had been expecting more. At least there ought to be a half decent fight scene sometime soon.

I was thinking about what the man was doing in the office building before the sound just turned off. Not only the screen but everything around me became silent. No noise of popcorn being eaten, or drinks being slurped. I looked around me before the screen blanked off and I was left in absolute darkness and silence. My eyes closed.

[Welcome Wannabe Vampire. System tutorial initiating…]

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[Initial Character Choice automatically made according to last known preference. Searching host memories…zombie phenotype detected. Corrections are being made to the current host body.]

‘Is this part of the film then?’ I asked.

For a moment I thought that the screen had been turned down for dramatic effect before there was a sudden action scene, a pure black screen before a creature of the night appeared and gave everyone a shock.

I was wrong, a deep chill filled the insides of my body like I was made out of ice. These words…instructions echoed in my mind’s eye, inside my heart, my soul. I felt them carved into my existence. Blood, the importance of the blood.

The sun hung brightly in the sky before it slowly became darker. The light became dimmer and dimmer before only darkness shone down. Shadows formed upon the ground.

I saw the total eclipse of the sun and the moon fully moon visible in the dark blue sky.

A single figure stood there laughing with outstretched arms like they had controlled the movements of a giant rock satellite orbiting the planet through sheer force of will. A red liquid flowed into the shapes of rivers and lakes across the surface, oceans were formed until the entire surface was covered in a deep colour of blood.

Then the outline of a single figure, humanoid in shape, felt far larger than its size. A hunger, a desire to take and control. To eat and feel satisfied. His heavily toned muscles were defined and he was surprisingly topless but not in a sparkly way. Slim but strong, broad shoulders. Gah. That was a cheap try wasn’t it, to make vampires more attractive but he had something more than good looks going for him. I could feel a real presence going on.

When it became necessary the whole planet would be soaked in blood, to aid the development of a new Vampire Emperor that would only slake a deep thirst with the deaths of entire populations. Wow. I couldn’t believe the intense feeling that the actor was able to generate through gestures and special effects.

I was pretty sure that he wasn’t one that I recognised, but he could suck my blood anytime. Even being turned into a thrall would be a lot of fun.

I confess that a tiny part of me was feeling a little disappointed that they had gone for the whole Vampires being sex gods, but it was all about the passion. Feeling my cheeks redden slightly a strange voice popped up in my head but I was too into the imagery and atmosphere to take much notice.

[Initial Tutorial Mode has begun. Scanning phenotype of host body suitability for zombie class…]

‘This film is amazing. Sharon? Trevor? Are you guys getting this? I didn’t expect there to be zombies after that blood moon sequence.’ I whispered this so I wouldn’t end up ruining the film for other people.

With no response from my friends, I became a little more concerned about the situation. I didn’t want to ruin the film but still, it was a bit rude not responding to me.

‘Psst. Hey, pass the snacks at least Trev.’

though the film had stopped running and the projector hadn’t been turned off yet. I saw that the snacks on my lap had vanished as well. Standing up I became even more scared as I realised that it was only me, in an empty room. I stood up from my seat and walked down a few aisles but saw no sign of anyone else.

‘Hello?’ I called out. ‘Hey! Anyone around!’ I raised my voice this time but only got sheer silence in response.

Even the seats themselves didn’t have any snacks or other rubbish lying around. It was as though the whole place had been cleaned out at the end of the day and the screen hadn’t been turned off. At that moment I was seriously considering running to the exit doors and looking for help outside the screen room. There should be someone on duty at this time and the chance of an usher unintentionally leaving someone behind when the film had finished, and the cleaners had come in was pretty unlikely.

My ears popped next. Or it felt like they did. A switch in my brain activated and the odd voice appeared again.

[Correction made to Tutorial Mode. Active viewing correction is now in place.]

This time I didn’t hear any words echo through me; I saw them. I heard them in my mind. I could visualise the words. Not ok.

‘Guys? This isn’t a funny joke. Haha. I got it but sending me to sleep during a film during the opening scene isn’t ok.’

I was answered with pure silence.

[Welcome new participant. A full blood scan has been undertaken. Your genes are currently being modified to suit the following class. The tutorial will be beginning shortly. Please take your seat and a pre-recorded message will play on the cinema screen.]

This time it felt more like instruction or order than a friendly voice giving me an update. It was odd. A zombie? No thanks. I preferred vampires; it was only a joke when Sharon had pointed at the actor model of a zombie out of the front. The living dead didn’t look so good when they showed too many signs of decay. That was the fascinating part of vamps, you got to look amazing. For-Ever. Eternal youth and beauty? Yes, please. Ghouls? Nope.

The cinema screen began to flicker, and a soft sound emitted from the speakers. I chose to sit down in my seat again despite the complete emptiness and general weirdness of this whole situation. A soft creaking noise came as my body eased down once again and my weight settled.

A man sitting in a chair appeared on the screen. He looked boring. Wearing a smart red suit with accompanying red shoes he smiled. He wore matching dark red sunglasses and was completely bald with pointy ears. I saw the fangs sticking out of his mouth. He began to talk to me. It felt like a highly surreal situation and honestly, if this was a joke then it had gone so far past funny into scary then I would call the police and arrest whoever came up with this.

Exciting upbeat music began to play in the background, I could feel the drumbeats and acoustic sounds that built up the tension in the cinema. Goosebumps ran down my back as I felt an unknown sense of excitement. He looked human except for the length of his incisors, oh and the red suit was probably a clue. The lacking hair part and pointy ears reminded me of similarity with Count Orlock. Just not as hideous.

‘Welcome.’ The man said one word and then just smiled even brighter, as though he had been told the best news in the world that to him bought personal satisfaction and happiness.

I kept silent. Unsure if I should respond or not. To be honest, one of the scariest things that I had felt could happen in a film was that if you talked to a character then they would talk directly back to you. When the fourth wall broke it wasn’t a fun story anymore, just creepy.

‘I am talking straight to you. Said the red-suited man. ‘Does it scare you?’

I jumped up in my seat and closed my eyes. This was a bad dream, a nightmare. All the junk food in my stomach and staying up to watch the film late at night had caused this.

‘Sorry, this isn’t a nightmare.’ The man on the screen replied. ‘And no, I can’t read your thoughts. Call this an opportunity to make your dreams come true. Failure of course. Well, you can learn out for yourself exactly what sort of world we live in.’

‘Hello?’ I hesitantly called out. The man on the screen didn’t respond but paused for a moment like he had been put on hold.

[Wannabe Vampire. Please view the pre-recorded message on the screen. The system will be explained in necessary detail.]

‘Sorry, that doesn’t explain anything. I’m leaving now. The joke is over. Done. Finished.’

I stood up in the empty screening room and began walking down to the exit doors before the man on the screen unpassed and began speaking again.

‘I’d imagine that right now that you want to leave. I’m telling you that it isn’t a good idea. You need to know what you have to deal with and your role in this world. Also, your body is in the process of being prepared. Unless you have inherent protection against genetic scanning you should do three things. Sit down, shut up and listen. This introduction is only going to be played once for your safety.’

The man took his hands off his lap and crossed them. The smile disappeared from his face, and he looked more concerned than anything else.

‘Ok, I’m listening now. I do not like threats. You or anyone else do not get to tell me what to do.’ I sat down in a seat near the exit, close enough for me to run too fast if this situation got any weirder.

[Wannabe Vampire. Genes in current modification during the pre-recorded message. The Zombie class is now confirmed. Tutorial mode presently disengaged until the ending of recording and complete entrance to the world.]

‘System, you work with me or for someone else?’ I asked out loud to the voice that echoed within my heart, soul, and mind.

The memory of the man standing there controlling the moon that was covered in blood made me shiver. No way that was a normal vampire. At least no vampire that I had ever heard of could make eclipses happen through sheer willpower.

[Please view pre-recorded introduction.]

The man on the screen began talking again even though I was the only living person inside the entire cinema.