Blood Land by J.R. Lawson (top ten ebook reader TXT) 📖

“Dad? Dad, please…” the boy spoke in a shaky voice. He hoped so much that the blood in the snow was not his father’s. He was very frightened but continued to inch forward. He had to know what was going on.

It was then that he finally turned the corner. The sight he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. His father’s body was several feet from him, lying in the snow in a pool of his own blood, and a hellion beast was standing over his father, eating him. The beast was horrifying. It was hard to make out in the blackness of the night but the thing had large bat wings and pointy fangs. The image of the thing was only viewed for an instant, because as soon as the glow of the boy’s lantern hit it, it had changed back into its other form; its human type form.

The vampire held up its hands and cringed at the sudden brightness of the lantern’s light and shrieked. From what the boy could see, the vampire seemed to be around his age. He had blonde hair, pale skin, and the bright, blood-red eyes that all of their kind seemed to have in common. His clothes and chin were stained red with the blood of the boy’s father.

The boy stood there in shock. He stared at the vampire. The hellion. The beast. A tear ran down his cheek, “D-dad…” he softly choked out.

The vampire then lowered its hands and stared at the boy standing across from him. His stare was an angry and hungry one.

“That…was my dad,” the boy said to the vampire, but he got no response from the thing, “That…WAS MY DAD!!!” he then shouted, more tears streaming down his face.

Then the vampire stood up. Its hands became fists, and then started to run towards the boy, screaming as it did. The boy was startled and stumbled backwards slightly, dropping his lantern into the snow. He then began looking around, for anything to use to fight off the monster. The vampire was still hastening towards him, but then the boy spotted it: an axe lying in the snow next to the pile of firewood his father had gone out to fetch. He quickly grabbed the axe and, as soon as the vampire approached him, swung forcefully, and chopped the blood-sucker’s head clean off. The body fell to the ground in front of him and the head landed beside it and rolled off into the darkness. The boy looked down at his feet as the vampire’s black blood spilled out of its neck and into the snow around him. He panted heavily in exhaustion and fright as he then dropped the axe to the ground beside him.

Unfortunately, he did not have time to rest, for another screech was heard coming from behind him. He slowly turned around and looked upward at the roof. There was another vampire there, crouched and staring back at him. Suddenly, the lantern that the boy had dropped into the snow earlier had gone out, and it was pitch black again. The boy panicked as he heard the screech of the vampire, this time louder. However, he could no longer see and he knew the vampire must have returned to its hellion form. Without knowing what else to do, the boy turned around and started feeling around in the snow for the axe he had dropped. He had to find it before—

THUD! The boy suddenly had the air knocked out of him as the vampire landed right on his back.

“AAAAHHH!” the boy screamed in agony as he was bitten on his left shoulder by the beast. He struggled and writhed around as he felt the night-flyer tear and scratch at his back. He clawed at the ground around him, trying to escape, but it was no use. Suddenly however he felt something hard lying in the snow. It was a piece of firewood. He grabbed it and with as much force as he could, swung it behind him and hit the beast. It shrieked and lifted off of him for a second long enough for the boy to crawl out from underneath. He was in much pain but he was able to force himself to stand and turn around. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness and he could just make out the night-flyer that was now in front of him. It spotted him and leapt forward, lunging for him. The boy held the piece of firewood in his hands and swung it again, hitting the hellion in the head, causing it to fall into the snow. It was now writhing around, clutching its face and shrieking more in pain. The boy approached it and held the firewood above his head like a spear, aiming it at the beast in the snow, and without hesitation, he slammed it down hard, right into the monster’s skull, killing it.

It was now that he fell over in brutal exhaustion. He was in so much pain and the cold snow felt good on his injuries. He started to cry now, “Dad….dad…I’m sorry…” his cry was mostly for the death of his father, but also from the release of adrenalin that a near death experience brings on. However, during this time, more screeches were being sounded around him in the darkness. Some of them were faint but some were getting closer. He needed to get back inside. He lifted himself up quickly, and stumbled into the house, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

He then proceeded to shut all the windows, locking them as well, the sounds of night-flyers echoing all around the cabin as he did so. He cried more. He was in severe pain but also he knew the remains of his father were most likely being eaten by the beasts outside. Why had he begged his father to come to the cabin this year? His dad had been right. It was too dangerous and they never should have come.

The boy searched the cabin bathroom for first aid supplies to dress his wound. Surprisingly, with all the blood he’d lost, he did not feel faint yet. He had to use this to his advantage as long as he could. Unfortunately, all he found was a wash cloth. He ran it under the cold water in the sink faucet and removed his shirt to dab his wound. He looked in the mirror above the sink as he did so. It was then that something strange caught his eye. His skin was pale, very pale, and almost white. He looked at his face, it was pale as well. Then he saw his eyes, which caused his stomach to drop. They were no longer blue as they used to be. They were sunken in and red now; red like a vampire’s.

“No….no…” he stammered in unbelief, “NO!” he shouted, dropping the wet wash cloth that was in his hand. He looked back at his bite wound. It was healed. Just like that, all that was left was a large gnarly scar. He felt his back too. No more blood, no nothing. It was healed as well. What was happening? It couldn’t be what he thought it was.

Suddenly, a very loud bang came from the living room. The boy hastened out of the bathroom to see what it was. To his amazement, the front door was open, but now lying on the ground, broken and splintered, and what was standing in the doorway was even more terrifying. It was several night-flyers. The forceful wind from the open door had blown out the lamp in the living room and it was now very dark, but to the boy’s amazement he was able to see very well in this deep blackness. He stood, paralyzed in fear at the hellions across the room. One finally opened its giant bat wings and flew directly towards him, stopping right in front of him. It stared right into his eyes. This was the first time the boy had ever really looked at a night-flyer before. No person alive has ever really seen one. It was ugly and grotesque. It’s face like a demon and its ears very bat-like. Its skin was extremely pale; its dark veins showing through. He didn’t want to look at it anymore. He wished it would just kill him and get it over with. The thing suddenly screeched into his face. The sound was ear piercing and the boy winced, lifting up his hands in defense. It was then he noticed his hands. He was horrified as he then studied them. His fingers were long and jagged, with long black nails jutting from the tips of them. He then frantically felt his face and ears. He continued looking at the other hellion as the realization that he was practically looking at a reflection hit him. He had become one. He was now, a nightmare.

The night-flyer then swiftly turned and left, just like that, with the others following it out into the snow. The boy stood there, in his cabin, in the darkness. A strange sensation soon filled his senses. He smelled the air. There was a smell there, one he couldn’t pin-point, but it smelled good, very appetizing. He could tell the smell was some distance away, but all of his will power was telling him to go to it; to take it. He then opened his mouth, that hellion scream exiting his vocal cords. His giant wings jutting from his back opened themselves as if in reflex, and he jutted forward, lifting off the floor, and flew out of the cabin and into the night.

IT IS DUSK, and the middle of October, and the leaves on the old trees are changing colors and falling all around a small two story house.  The house is in the middle of what seems like used to be a small neighborhood.  Most of the other houses are deserted or destroyed.  Several other houses, however, like this one, are still inhabited, specifically by a boy, girl, and an older, middle-aged man.

The girl, Eleanora Wells, sits in her living room, watching TV.  The news is on and she’s absorbing every bit of it.  She is a young adult, twenty one years old, and is sitting very casually on the couch, one arm rested on the arm rest and her head rested in her hand.  Her skin is fair; she has hazel eyes, and her medium length auburn colored hair is tied back into a pony-tail, that is, all except her bangs, which hang messily in her face.

“Nora, why do you keep watching that every night?  There’s never anything new on,” the boy who also shares the house, William Davis, suddenly walked in.  He is also twenty one, with messy, sandy colored hair atop his head.  He adjusts his glasses, which slide slightly down his nose as he waits for Nora’s answer.

“I just like it,” she responded, looking over at him, “Sometimes they have a scientist speak.  It’s interesting to hear if they’ve gotten closer to a cure.”

 “I don’t think there is much research being done on a cure anymore, Nor’,” Will replied, now sitting next