i nodded,knowing that this was a good deal,considering what i had tried to do.im sure he knew that i had set those rules for myself already,but i knew that he had needed to speak them.i looked at the picture.when i saw the subject of it,i smiled.i walked quietly out of the room,and wandered around.i decided to watch what went on around here,as i had not been around humans for a long time,and i had never had the chance to observe the goings-on in a military camp.i watched from a safe distance as hemora did his job,and as i watched i became aware of a disturbingly familiar scent coming from that direction."what on earth? why in seven living hells would he be here?" i asked myself quietly.i went a bit closer,in order to hear the conversation taking place.

After I had engulfed as much soup as my stomach could hold, Kenneth re-bandaged my wounds, then I had lain down in the bedroom. I was still very exhausted, even though I had slept throughout the night the previous day. But I wouldn't allow my conscious to rest. I finally had a vague sense of peace, even though I was still in danger. I was comforted by the fact that Elsa was perfectly content and safe at this point. I was finally at rest, but I wouldn't allow my grotesque dreams to ruin that for me. I just laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. My mind wandered aimlessly, but was soon clouded with the memories of my best friend, Cyrus. I tried to push the thoughts away, but my regrets and sorrows always came to me whenever I laid down to rest. I knew that trying not to think would only strengthen the very need to think of it.
Scattered memories came and went. They seemed so unreal now... as if they were all part of some dream. I tried to think of the good times, but only the bad times seemed to rule over. The arguments, the disrespect, the lies, the betrayal... As I reminisced, I realized that throughout the years that Cyrus and I had been together, I had never really shown any gratitude towards his support. He was a commander who took a fondness toward a rookie in training. He was very protective over me, and I treated him like a burden most of the time. Cyrus acted more like a parent than a friend, but he only did it for my sake. I was reckless and moronic, and he would reprimand me for my stupidity. He did this for my sake, because he cared about me. And I never thanked him for it. Cyrus was the whole reason why I survived. Without him, I would've been dead long before it.
It was then that the tears came. I thrust my body around on the bed and clawed at my face. If I showed half the care and loyalty that Cyrus gave to me, he would still be alive! He was strict and harsh, but only because he was tried to protect me. Cyrus loved me! And I never gave him the credit he deserved. Now that he is dead and gone, I am an empty shell filled with remorse and pity. I trembled as I wept, trying to be as quiet as possible.
"Cyrus," I gasped through my sobs. "I'm sorry..."

"We never gave up looking for you, not one minute did we stop. What could some mangy dog save you from when you are with your own kind!? I'm protecting you. I was trying to protect you. Didn't you ever see that? I love you like a sister Emmy." I cry out.
All my feelings seemed all jumbled up. Anger, frustration, sadness, hurt. I was angry at myself for letting ember out of my sight when i knew that she could be in danger, i was frustrated because i didn't know what to do, saddened because i knew that i had let everyone down, and hurt beause it seemed like even though i cared about everyone with all my heart they never seemed to care.

When ember mentions felix I dry my eyes as best as i could.
"He should have been back by now. I'll go look for him. Stay here. Please Ember, stay here." I plead, afraid that she would go missing again. "there are guns in that sack over there. If anything tries to get in past these walls shoot it. You can stay in that shelter over there until i get back. I'm going to get felix."

With that I leave, but not without glancing back at Ember one last time.

I run back to the lycan camp as fast as I could. There were a few zombies still wandering around. Most of the Lycans were awake and roaming around killing the remainder of the zombies. I searched for felix's scent. It was harder to pick out his distinct smell but I did manage to find and follow it.
Laying outside the camp was his body. torn from multiple lycans it seemed, yet still in one piece. I almost screamed at the sight as i shrunk away.

I had failed yet again. I hoped that he would still be alive. I slowly moved closer to him to check his vitals. He was still breating, but slowly. He seemed to be in a type of comma. I sigh as a single tear rolls down my cheek as i go to pick him up. I had to get him back to our camp. I had to get him back to the medical camp.

I rush back frantically, with felix in my arms, to the clearing where I left Ember

i could feel eli's shock and other jumbled emotions.she stopped for a moment.eli? is everything ok? whats going on? if someone is hurt,i could help heal them...whats going on? i thought to her,trying to keep the distress at my current situation out of my thoughts.

I heard gemini talking to me through her thoughts and i answer back.
"Gemi! Felix and I managed to get Ember back but then he got attacked by the lycans. He's hurt really bad and I need to get him help!" I cry out to gemini through my thoughts. "I'm getting Ember and then we will be there soon. Can you have everything ready for us when we get there? Felix seems to be in a comma..."

I walked up to the convoy. The Lieutenant in charge walked out to me and was about to salute me when he saw my rank.
"Where is Major McCoy? I thought that he was the commander of this unit out here?" I was just starting to realize what this would look like, a staff sergeant in charge of a unit, when there were a few officers still in the unit.
"Major McCoy is in pretty bad condition. He is almost dead. He put me in charge of the unit. Are you gonna underestimate the Major's decision?" At this point I was getting angry, I had to control my anger. "I am the commander of this unit, if you have problems with that, get over it! Now, can we continue?" The Lieutenant nodded, a little afraid of me.
"Were there any problems coming up here?"
"Yes Sergeant there was actually. We were doing good when we came to a bottleneck in the road. My lead driver stopped and said that he could see something off to the side of the road. So we had a squad dismount and see what it was. When they got to the front, we found a man, alive, on the side of the road. We did some looking around and it seemed that there was an IED put into the middle of the road, and the wire led right to him. We're not completely sure if he really was the one that set the trap, but it seemed like he did. We took him in for questioning. He's back here in the fifth truck." He led me back to the truck. He waved off the guards that were standing around the truck. He opened the back tarp of the LMTV and there on the side bench.
"Escort him to that tent there, when you enter there is a hall to the left that leads back to an office. Take him in there. DO NOT let him out of your sight." I said, I pointed at the medical tent. The guards looked a little confused. A Specialist stepped forward, I could tell this wasn't going to end well.
"Sergent Hemora is it? Yea, we are not going to follow your orders, you do NOT outrank our commander and you are not even in our unit. Why should we listen to you?" I looked at the Lieutenant and raised my eyebrows a little bit. He nodded, He knew what was about to happen.
"You know Specialist Woods is it? Umm, Yea, well, here's the thing. Technically, I outrank your commander." I was getting closer and closer to the Specialist as I spoke. He back hit the tailgate of the truck. I started to raise my voice at him. "SO, are you still not going to listen to my orders? I would hope not! As for me not being in your unit, if the General of the army told you to do something, would you tell him, 'but you're not in my unit? NO! So, do as your told Specialist!" He nodded and rounded up his squad to do what he was told. I watched as they pulled the man off the truck and walked him to the tent. What was this guy thinking? Was he really the one that put that IED in the road? Well, we will see soon

i replied to eli as i ran forward.sure,ill have something ready for him.ive got to go! that man,the one they were escorting...it was him! i recognized the pitch black hair,long and thick,tied in a low ponytail at his neck,and his eyes,completely black,with only the iris showing blood red.not to mention,the extremely pale complexion..."Sergeant hemora! sir,that man,what is he doing here?" i called,getting there in seconds."why is he being trated like a criminal? please,if he has done anything wrong,let me speak with him,ill fix it!" i spoke with tears in my eyes.Kaleb..i hadnt seen him since i left ireland...

"We are only taking precautions. He was found on the side of the road and it seemed like he was trying to take out the convoy. We are just going to make sure that he is ok and that he was not really the one that put it there. He will not be harmed. If he is in fact guilty, then he will be put into the holding cell like you were when you first came here. We are just being safe." I head off towards the medical tent.

I sat down and curled up in a ball, Why had I allowed myself to beleive Roberts lie? Did I really have no trust in my own kind anymore? Eli was gone for almost an hour but when she got back Felix was in her arms. He was bloody and looked more like a broken doll then the strong man I knew. "Is he okay? What happened?" I asked running to them.

Ember was curled up when i got back to the camp. I was glad that she was still there and hadn't left.

"They did this to him. I found his body laying outside their camp like it was garbage. We have to go back to the camp and get him medical attention immediately. Gemini will have everything ready for us when we get there. Let's go." I explain to Ember.

"Gemini, I have Ember and Felix with me now. We will be heading for camp soon." I think to Gemini. "Let Hemora know that we are comming as well, just so that we won't surprise or frighten anybody."

"Are you ready to go, Ember?"

We questioned the subject throughly and eventually decided to let him go. We let him know that if he tried to pull anything stupid we would have him killed. The specialist that I had yelled at earlier took him and lead him outside and took his handcuffs off.
"So Sergeant, do you think that we can trust him? I mean, he was laying on top of the wire, and even though he told us that he didn't do anything he could be leading us on." The Lieutenant said to me, this is a good point.
"Have everyone keep an eye on him, and I don't mean that you need to have him followed, just have people watch him whenever he is near them. If he does anything wrong or suspicious, then take him down and he is to be brought to you and I. That work for you?" He nodded and walked out. I sat there thinking about what had just happened. The young man had seemed extremely nervous, but I would be too if I was in a strange area and I was in a room completely surrounded by military men, all holding a rifle. I looked at the picture of Eli and me. I missed the days when it was just her and me, laying together either in bed, or on the couch watching TV. Maybe some day we would get out of this mess and move back east. I would just have to wait and see. I miss her more than anything though.

(wow... I'm sort of in a boring situation... to die, or not to die lolz?)

Blackness. Nothing. Then I saw a faint light, like a fire that was about to go out, but hasnt quite gone out yet. But then I realized, that's exactly what it was. I saw someone sitting on a log near it. I sighed under my breath, knowing what had happened. I walked over to the man.

"hello father..."

It wasn't long before I heard someone else's voice interrupt my breathy weeping. I recognized it as Elsa's, and quieted myself. She was screaming, and that was all that I needed to realize before leaping out of my bed and bolting out the door. I skidded down the hallway and turned into the entrance of the living room. In the corner across the room was Elsa, trembling and staring at me with frightened, wide eyes. She looked at Kenneth, who was right in front of her. His back was facing towards me and was closing in on Elsa.
"What's going on here?" I asked firmly, glowering at Kenneth. His back seemed to arch at the sound of my voice and he slowly turned his head, then his whole body. My eyes flickered at his hands, and I stared at a syringe in his left hand. "What are you doing?" I growled. Kenneth gave me a sheepish smile and kicked at his heels.
"My, this must be an interesting sight for you," he said, chuckling. "My apologies, I thought you were sleeping..." My brow furrowed even more as my glare turned even colder.
"I asked you what you were doing to Elsa..." Sighing, he lowered his eyes, saying, "I'm sorry, Leon, but there's going to be a price to pay for staying at my place." I frowned.
"And what is that?" I murmured, barely moving my lips from the scowl I was giving him. Kenneth let out another sigh and indicated the needle in his hand, "Elsa is going to be my test subject." Elsa whimpered and tried to scuttle away, but I held out my hand to halt her. My face was stricken with anger and shock, but also signs of fear. The virus was in his hand, and with one injection, one of us could become infected.
"Fine then," I said, trying to keep my voice strong and fearless. "We'll just leave." Kenneth shook his head, his black eyes intense and lips in a firm frown. A dead serious expression.
"I need Elsa," he said, "to further my studies. The DNA of animals and humans are different. I need a human specimen to test my antivirals on." I shook my head and said, "Then take me then! Just let her go."
"If I inject you with the virus, you could overpower me easily. I need a weak, vulnerable human to do this. But I'll keep you..." A flicker of a smile played on his lips. "... for food." I stared at him in horror, but I could barely make words come out of my mouth. "My meat that you two so dearly like is actually the meat of humans. This is not the first time. I have another human subject downstairs." Kenneth took out a cap from his pocket and placed it over the needle of the syringe, then placed it in his pocket.
"I thought you wanted to save people's lives," I said, almost as a yell. "You're going to kill us!"
"Some sacrifices have to be made," spoke Kenneth, "before lives can be saved." He raised his arms and voiced, "Don't you see? You two could be the very things that can help me find this antivirus! Elsa could save the world by giving me the solution and you will keep me alive. You should be honored to die for a cause like this. You two could save the world by giving up your lives!"
"It's not that simple," I snarled. "This cure will take years to find. You are only one person. You don't even know whether you are even qualified to do something like this. The closest you've gotten is killing the subject! I won't let you do that to Elsa!" Kenneth lowered his eyes and sighed. He side-stepped a few feet and picked up a shotgun behind him on a table.
"I will use force," he said, holding the gun in a ready position, "if it is needed."

ok,ill have everything ready i thought to eli,while running over to hemora."sir,eli is on her way back,with felix in terrible danger.thay have ember,they need medical attention as soon as they get here.also,may i talk to kal-i,i mean,the boy that was brought in?"

"Lets go." She said standing up.
((Sorry so short Baby crying))

I laughed a little bit.
" Yes you can take him Gemini. But for next time, it's sergeant, not Sir." I let her go and I still sat there. Watching as she went and caught up to the boy.

((just so its clear,caleb is a pureblood vampire,he was born that way,and we were friends back in ireland,all through our childhood.our mothers had been friends as children,and intoduced us at a young age.he is a year older than me.))
i found him standing at the edge of the camp.obviously he had been waiting for me."kaleb!" i cried,running straight into his arms."what are you doing here? i thought you had stayed in ireland!" yes,well,i wanted to come see you,but i couldnt get ahold of you,so i came over on my uncle's boat.but,when i got here,everything went crazy.seems like they dont like my kind around here. "well,you must know about the infection? i mean,the whole place is overrun! there are vamps,werewolves,and even zombies! i got infected shortly after coming here,and some boys did this to my face..." yes,you wrote all that in a letter,didnt you? i must have forgotten.so,how did you end up here? "ill tell you,if you tell me why YOU get escorted here by a convoy!" fine.i was going to test a trap.see,its been hard to catch food lately,so i set up an explosive.i was waiting for some animal to come by,and i guess i fainted.next thing i know,these military guys are hauling me in for trying to take them out. "oh,kaleb! you know that kind of thing ALWAYS gets you into trouble! im so glad you're here,ive wished for your company for so long! you have to stay with us,please!" why dont you come along with me? "i-i cant...ive made friends here,and...its almost like having a family.please stay,kaleb!" ill stay,for you.but,i dont know that they'll let me.that guy i saw you talking to,he didnt seem to like me much "thats just his way.its his job,you know.sergeant hemora is really very nice,he'll understand if we explain the situation.im sure of it." fine,then.we'll talk to him,and if its ok,ill stay with you.but first,tell me how YOU got here. "ok,sure.i dont want to bug him anymore,anyway.ive been a bit of a pest to him since i got here,so i might as well leave him alone for a bit." so we stood there,and i told my dearest and only childhood friend about my little adventure up to that point.

Ember and I take Felix back to the medical camp as quickly as we could and I place him in a bed Gemini had made ready for us.
There were bandages, cloths, and a pitcher of water next to a bowl. That was really all our kind needed. Clean the wounded area and wrap a clean bandage around it and it healed on its own. But only if we were strong enough.
I doubted that Felix had enough energy for his body to take care of itself. He would need food, blood, in order to gain that streingth back. and even then we wouldn't know if he would come out of the comma.
I pour the water into the bowl, dampen a cloth, and start to clean the dried blood from the wounds.

As I work I start humming a song without realizing it, and soon my humming turned into singing. I used to love to sing before the outbreak, but after I became infected I gave up everything. The song I was singing was the song that Ken and I used to call our own.

i finished telling my storyand saw that eli was back."we have to go.well,i have to.i promised to heelp eli tend to felix." i said before running off and helping in every way i could.kaleb followed me.i can save him,if you want.all he has to do is drink my blood.the blood of a pureblood will save him.it would save the man in charge around here,too.ive heard that he's dying. i looked up at him.:are you serious? wont he get infected?" the human? no.hed be fine.and it wouldnt do anything to this guy.exept save his life. i looked at eli."what do you think? can he help? please,i trust him.kaleb is an old friend of mine." i waited for her reply,knowing that each second counted.

Gemini walks in with a man, no a male vampire, and asks me if he could help.
they had been talking about using a pureblood's blood to save the General.

"I don't think that would go over well with Hemora or anybode else in the camp. Humans have their medicines." I tell gemini and the new vampire.
"My name is Eli, and yours?" I hold out my hand to the male vampire and wait for his name.

i am kaleb.pleased to make yor aquaintence. he took her hand and kissed it,making me fume with jealousy."kaleb...what have i told you about charming women?" its nothing,gemini.im just being nice. he chucled. "ooh,kaleb! if i didnt love you,you would be so dead!" i know.and i love you,too. he smiled at her."oh,all right,forgiven.just stop,alright?" i said,blushing.we had started dating just before i had left ireland.i was glad i was still his only girl.yes dear. he said sarcastically. "oh shut up! so,can he at least help felix?"

I watched as Eli cleaned Felix. It was strange that after we became infected we gave up everything. I gave up my writing, Eli had given up singing, who knew what everyone else had given up. Robert had told me he lost his wife and two kids to the zombies....I grabbed my stomach again. I remembered the rumors that when Vampires were pregnant it only lasted a few weeks compared to a human pregnancy that lasted 10 months. "You think he'll be okay?" I asked grabbing the wrap.

I could hear Eli and her friends outside in the main part of the tent. I almost walked out to talk to them, but i figured that I should let them all talk for a while. I was sure that the new guy that we had just brought in would not be too happy to see a military guy already, especially one of the ones that had just interrogated him. Sky walked in after a little bit.
"Isn't that the guy that they picked up on the side of the road coming up here?" She asked me as she sat down.
"Yes it is. We decided that he didn't mean to attack the convoy and we let him go. Then Gemini came in and said that she would take him. Why do you ask?" She shrugged.
"I think that they just told each other that they loved each other. So i take it that they must have known each other before the outbreak."
"Well, as long as nothing happens I don't care. As long as someone has the one that they love, it makes life barable. Trust me, I know what it's like to think that you've lost the one that you cant live without. I've done it before, and I don't ever want to do it again." I think back to what it was like before Eli showed up again, my life was miserable. 12 hour of guard duty, 12 hours of nothing but sleeping or eating. It had been that way for months. Then that day come around when she showed up. I had not felt that kind of happy since the day before i lost her.
"I'll leave now Sergeant, you seem to be deep in thought." I nodded and waved her out. I hope that I never lose her again. I would probably lose my mind if I did, and I really would this time. Last time I lost her would be nothing compared to what it would be like this time.

I smile as Gemini and Kaleb argue.
"The two of you almost sound like a married couple." I giggle.

Ember asked me if Felix will be alright.
"I don't know Emmy... He is weak right now. He needs blood in order to gain his streingth back but I don't know what we can do about that." I had just finished cleaning off the blood and I get up. "Do you want to wrap the bandage around him?" I ask Ember when I see that she had the bandage in her hands.

After talking to my father awhile, asking him if it was true, i felt a wave of pain going through me every now and then. "It's all right son. Don't fear. You have a high chance of making it through. I just happened to be unlucky. Don't give up, and you'll live. Give up, it's through." So now i knew how to get past the pain. Give up. A simple thought and i was considering it. Was it worth it

Or was it?