Book Two Chapter Thirteen: All That Remains

Waking up after losing the battle for humanity, he remembers his loss. Now more determined than ever, he sets out into the midst of the Kerulen apocalypse to find and kill Saja and Irene.

Chapter Thirteen All that remains: It was dark by the time I woke up. Not just a little dark, it was the middle of the night. I was outside somewhere. My head rang. Yes, my head. I was still dazed, I don't know how long it's been since I lost the battle to save humanity. How had I survived? Did Tigiti save me? I was in the middle of the street, judging by the feeling of gravel and asphalt under my hands. I forced myself up, my legs and arms (and everywhere else) still burned with pain, but not as badly as they did a while ago. How long ago was the battle for humanity? In the process of getting up, I had cut my hand open. Then I remembered how Saja had unleashed the Kerulen race unto the universe, I also remembered how I was human again. I looked up to the moon in the night sky. It was a reminder of how dangerous it was to have an open cut at night.

I tore off a portion of my left sleeve from my shirt to cover the wound up. Had the Kerulen killed everyone? Was I the last man on earth? I stood up and looked around. The world was in a state of total desolation. The road that I was on was cracked terribly, streetlights were knocked down everywhere, power lines were down, and some of them even had small fires burning on the wires. I was definitely on Earth. I didn’t even begin to wonder how. What had Saja done to the world? I guess I could go look for some survivors, maybe they would know something. After all, I was on my own now, with the exception of Kaleen, who I hadn't seen since she stormed off when I brought Saja into the house a while ago. Other than her, everyone that I knew was dead.

Great sorrow overtook me at that minute. Everyone I knew was dead. Everyone I had ever been with, on Earth, Ectoclis or Artemis. They were all dead. My throat caught and my eyes started to water. A thought then hit me. I had to get up and look around. I had to survive. I had to regain my lost ground and kill Saja. As impossible as it seemed, it was my destiny. After all, what did I have to lose? I had already cost myself everything. I had already cost the world everything.

I walked over to a rusty old pickup truck that was nearby and glanced inside. Nothing, it was empty. It suddenly dawned on me how much my entire body ached. I took quite the beating during the battle.

I looked up the road. Only a few houses were still standing, the rest were either run down and ransacked, or burnt to the ground. More sadness filled me. This is my world. I let this happen. I tried to make as little noise as possible so as not to attract any Kerulen. I walked to the nearest house, about two hundred feet away, and knocked. No one answered, so I went inside, it was unlocked. I looked around. The place was pretty much empty, including the furniture. I went outside and went to two more houses. They were much the same as the first one. On the fourth one, I opened the door, assuming it was empty because it was unlocked, but was met by a man's voice.

"Who's there?" he asked, I could tell he was trying to act brave.

I followed the source of his voice to a common area of the house. There he was, in front of his wife and two daughters, pointing a hunting rifle at the door. The man was bigger and probably heavier than me, in fact, he was a little overweight.

"Easy with that gun, mate." I said.

If he decided to pull that trigger, I probably wouldn't have cared. I had failed humanity as a whole. Nothing mattered except finding Kaleen and piecing this mess together.

"Who are you?" Asked the man. I looked at him.

"The name's Nick." I said, stepping into the dimly lit room.

The man squinted at me, seeing my beaten up condition.

"Jesus man, what happened to you?" He asked, lowering his gun.

I shook my head slowly.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I told him.

The man looked at me with sad eyes.

"Do you have any family?" He asked.

I remembered my friends, they were like family, and they were the closest thing I had to a family since I moved out of my parent's house. I shook my head, memories of my friends had brought a tear to my eye.

"Dead. They're all dead." I said grimly, almost crying.

The man's wife put her hands together as if in prayer.

"You've been through Hell, haven't you dear?" Asked the wife.

I nodded, I closed my eyes, remembering all I had been through.

"Like you wouldn't believe." I said.

The man spoke to me.

"Do you know what those things out there are? They’ve been all over the place for the last few days. They took out the military man! The freakin’ military! They bit their necks and drank their blood! No one will tell us anything about who or what they are!" The man panicked.

I looked at him, opening my eyes.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked.

I was faintly worried that the vampire council would kill me for betraying the vampire race, but I remembered that they were all dead.

The man nodded.

"Yes." He said confidently.

I then told him the story.

"You don't live in the world you think you live in. Vampires are real, that's what did this to me." I said, gesturing at my body.

"There is an evil vampire more evil than all the rest, she tried to take over the world by overthrowing the vampire council. I was their 'Chosen One,' their last hope, and I failed to kill her. Those things out there are called Kerulen, they cannot be killed by stakes, only a silver sword, and the only silver sword that I know of is in possession of the very vampire who created these things, her name is Saja." I explained.

The family looked blown away.

"No way." Said the man.

I nodded.

“Yes way.” I said.

“Daddy, is the weird man lying?” Asked one of his little daughters.

The man shook his head.

“I don’t think so, honey.” He said.

“You won’t let anything bad hurt us, will you daddy?” Asked the other daughter.

“Of course not.” The man said.

"I'd better get going. I am going to look for the one person who I think can help me." I said.

The man nodded in understanding.

"Alright, thanks for the information, and please, take this." Said the man.

I looked back into the room. He held out his hunting rifle. I shook my head, holding my hand out to stop the rifle.

"No. You have a family to protect." I told him.

The man smiled.

"I have handguns in my closet, it doesn't matter. I'm always glad to help a stranger." He said. Gratitude filled me.

"Thank you." I said.

He nodded, and with that I took the rifle, and I left.

I found out where I was shortly after I met the family, I was a few blocks away from my house. I stuck to the shadows. I crouched and walked at the same time through the black shadows cast by the streetlights. I found my house, and tried the door, it was locked and wouldn't budge. I forced it open by ramming the butt stock of the rifle into it a few times, I peeked inside.

"Kaleen? It's me, Nick, I don't know how long it's been, but I'm here and I need your help to find Saja!" I called in a whisper.

No answer. I looked all around the house. Empty. While I had the time, I ejected all of the cartridges from the rifle. They wouldn't be of much use. They were narrow bullets, and very pointy at the end. I stuck them in my pocket, there were five bullets. After confirming that the house was empty, I left. I went to the road that lead to my school, hoping to scavenge some supplies.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!