Melanie continued to run in the forest, which was moderately dark. The only sound that she could hear was her feet moving as fast as it could against the ground and the sounds of gunshots. Her heart was thumping loudly, and she could barely keep it quiet with the turn of events.

  Her parents must not have realized that something so severe was going to happen, which was why they had brought her and Conner here for the very first time. A few of them had already died, and the remaining people were trying hard not to be killed and instead kill the vampires.

  When she had gone as far as she could, she slowed down, pulling out her phone and wondering if it was alright to ask for help from the police. Surely the government could get involved in it and help in removing all these infected humans who had turned into vampires, thought Melanie to herself.

  Looking around, she unlocked her phone with her thumb before calling for help. The other side of the phone was answered, and the person responded with, "Hello? How can I help you?"

  Melanie's eyes looked left and right, keeping her attention around her as she said, "Ah, there's a slight situation here in the forest. My family and I are being attacked by vampires."

  "……"

  There was a long silence from the other side, and Melanie pulled her phone away from her face to check if her network was still working before she said, "Hello?"

  "Miss, it has been many days since Halloween passed. I think you should keep the joke for next year," said the man and Melanie gritted her teeth.

  "No no! This has nothing to do with Halloween," Melanie quickly spoke so that they wouldn't think she was making a prank call. "This is serious. The vampires here are real and they have killed people. Do you hear the gunshots?!"

  "I am sorry, miss but all I hear is your voice. If there's nothing else, I will receive other calls now. Thank you."

  "No, wait-" but the call had ended, and Melanie ground her teeth. "The hell. Why is it so hard for them to believe when I said people are dead here," she cursed at her situation.

  Pulling her phone to the front, Melanie decided to call once again, deciding to be a little more graceful in relaying the information that people were dying here. Maybe leaving the word vampires out of the context would be right. Her battery had gone to seven percent, and she narrowed her eyes. Why was it draining that quickly!?

  Quickly calling the number, she waited for the person to pick up while she looked at each of the trees that surrounded where she stood. This time when the person picked the phone up, Melanie started speaking,

  "Hello, I need immediate help, there's a situation in the forest—"

  "Vampire prank again?" asked the person, and Melanie couldn't believe she had got the same person.

  "Listen to me, this is urgent. I need you to send backup right this instant—"

  "You can cry all you want, dear…… but you won't be getting any help here," her words were cut short by someone speaking behind her. When she spun around, she saw it was the vampire whom she had tried to get away from earlier.

  "You know, you children watch a lot of TV or get on the internet too much to believe in these kinds of things," said the person on the other side of the phone. "I will send an officer to take a look at the place, but backup, seriously? And if you need any personal help, I would be more than happy to assist you with it. Do you have a pen and paper near you, I will give you the number……"

  Melanie could barely respond to the person on the phone, and she stared hard at the vampire, who had been standing there without her realizing and watching her closely.

  "What do you want?" asked Melanie.

  And the person on the phone who heard her asked, "Weren't you the one who called me for help? I am asking you to pick a pen and paper so that you can write down the number. But the voice died down as Melanie lowered her hand to her side, and the phone eventually disconnected.

  "So fresh. I can smell the scent of your blood, it smells sweet and warm, and would definitely be sticky but tasty."

  Hearing those words from the vampire, Melanie glared at the person while trying to see if there was anything that she could use when it came to defending herself. Unlike Conner's father, her parents had not trusted her with any weapon to protect herself and had only asked her to run. How the hell was she going to escape from this condition!?

  "My parents won't be happy if they were to find me dead. You and your little groupie will be dead," pointed Melanie, keeping a safe distance by walking backwards every time the vampire took one step closer to her.

  "You don't seem like a hunter. What are you doing here?" asked the vampire, as if he was trying to disarm her thoughts before sinking his teeth.

  "I am asking the same question to myself," whispered Melanie before she darted and dashed out. This time even though she tried to run as quick as she could, she heard the wind like footsteps coming behind her, and before she knew it, the vampire had caught her.

  The night creature's hand moved to Melanie's throat, and he pushed her against the rough surface of a nearby tree. Melanie used anything she could to survive right now, scratching the vampire's face and kicking the vampire in between his legs. But that wasn't enough, and she felt herself feeling suffocated due to lack of air.

  The vampire moved his head towards one side of her neck, taking a deep sniff of her skin before he opened his mouth wide.

  Melanie's vision was turning blurry, and her hands and legs slowly stopped struggling. Before the vampire could take a bite from her, the person froze, and his hand around her neck started to loosen with the earlier grip. She coughed when the hand slid down, and she quickly pushed the person in front of her, catching hold of a wooden stake that now stuck from his front.

  Behind the vampire stood the red-headed senior, whose hand held the other end of the stake, and he twisted his hand such that the heart moved.

  Melanie's mouth hung open on seeing Simon turn his hand counterclockwise, and he then moved his hand back before pushing it again into the vampire's chest. The rogue vampire fell on the ground, and her heart made a thud sound similar to the way the person fell.

  "W-what are you doing here?" asked Melanie with her eyes wide.

  "I was taking a quick stroll and thinking about camping when I saw you were being choked to death," replied Simon, his green eyes looking coolly at her and the smile on his lips missing on his face.

  Both of them stared at each other for a long time, as if they had nothing but time for each other, which was false. For Simon to be able to stake the vampire that easily, she wondered if he was a vampire hunter too, and she asked,

  "How do you know how to kill a vampire?"

  "I learned it," came the simple answer from Simon. He turned to look behind her and asked, "What are you doing here?"

  "I came with my parents and Conner," replied Melanie, and Simon nodded.

  "Family outing with your future family? Bonding is it? But isn't it a little too late to be doing this at this hour of the night?" questioned Simon, and Melanie frowned. She didn't know if he was being serious or his usual smug self now. "Where are the other people in your family? Don't you know a sheep shouldn't leave its herd lest it wants to be someone's dinner?"

  Melanie gritted her teeth, and she slightly glared at him before realizing that he had saved her from this blood-sucking monster that had tried to sink its teeth in her neck.

  She said, "Thank you for saving me," A subtle smile graced Simon's lips at her words.