A Fanged Secret

Chapter 2

After my long, skin-burning shower, I step out and grab a towel from the metal rack that's hung on the wall. While drying off my hair with it, I wipe the steam off the mirror so I can see my pale, skeleton of a figure. Through my long strands of dark hair, I spot a small, almost invisible marking on my neck. A small diamond-shaped silhouette, it almost resembles a tattoo. I finish drying my hair and let its jet-black strands flow down, it's long enough to cover up the marking. I don't recall getting any kind of tattoo, unless I'd forgotten about it when I got struck in the head. When I'm finished with it I toss the towel in the sink and swipe the black leggings that had been set out for me. After putting them on I slip into the newer-looking dark green short-sleeved shirt and put on the pair of black shoes on the ground next to the simplistic outfit. They must have gotten my clothing size from my outfit in the alley. With another glance in the mirror at my now damp hair and ocean gaze I decide to not bother with finding a hairdryer. I just make sure the spot is concealed on my neck, then retrieve the towel and step out of the washroom with it in my arms. Cathrine is sitting on a small, worn plastic chair in the corner of the room, probably dragged in after I got in the shower. She looks up, gets a glimpse of me and smiles. "You sure know how to take your time. It's already Five o'clock." I look at her and look outside, it's still dark.

"Are we in a rush?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow.

 "I suppose not, but Shawn doesn't like it when we waste our water reserves." She and I both  snicker,

 "I wouldn't have guessed," I joke while walking to the bed.

 "How are you feeling? Shawn said you looked like you were in a great deal of pain earlier," she said as I sat down.

 "I'm alright," I continue to gaze into her soft, hazel eyes, "Now you were going to show me around weren't you?"

"Eat first, I don't want to be blamed if you pass out from a lack of nutrients." I look over at the food on the tray that is still sitting beside the bed. The same food as when I last left it, a piece of white bread, an apple, and some weird jelly mixture. No wonder I don't have an appetite.

 "I'm not hungry," I protest. She sighs, her face becoming more firm. I know she won't let up, so I pluck the apple off the tray and try to enjoy the sweet yet sour taste. After I take a bite she smiles and starts telling me everything.

"We first found you in the alley in one of the urban areas of the city, we were being chased by a vampire, but we looped into the alley and it lost us. Then we saw you, lying in the middle of the road, we didn't want to leave you because we could see that you were alive. I honestly have no idea how you got there." I place the apple core back onto the tray and look back out the window, I can make out the tall office buildings and smaller businesses that spread as far as I can see.

"That's odd," Is all I decide to respond with as I take a bite of the old white bread and begin chewing. Immediately after biting into it, I almost gag, so I toss it back onto the tray, rise from the bed, skirt around it and put a hand on the handle of the large wooden door. 

"Show me around. I'll eat more later," the apple seems to satisfy her so she stands and unlocks one of the deadbolt locks from over my shoulder. The others seemed to already be undone, so I push the door open and step out into the hallway. It took more force than I expected it to. Cathrine leads me down and continues to talk as we make our way closer to the large desk.

 "After the vampires took over Shawn and I went on a hunt, for other people. We ended up finding this hospital and all the people you see, after a consensus was made we all decided to make this our home." Cathrine was one of the first people to find this place, to round up all these survivors. I wonder how long they've all been living here. Cathrine smiles and nods at the people who are passing by us in the hallway, so I do the same. 

"How many people are here?" I ask her,

 "Around twenty-three, not very many survived the attacks," Cathrine responds as we pass the desk, turn a corner, and near a large, clearly defined fire exit door. "We need to use the stairs because we don't get electricity now that nobody's working at the city's power plant, nor do we have much running water." I look at Cathrine as we pass through the door and make our way down.

"How do you get the showers and sinks to work then? Isn't that running water?" We spiral down, pass a second fire exit door, then come across a third and enter through it.

"We have reserves, we refill them twice a week to keep up with everyone here, that's why long showers aren't ideal." I half listen and half tune her out while I scan the big lobby we've entered, a second big desk takes up the center of the room and chairs are barricading the large front doors. The ceiling is tall, and the tile floor continues. The walls are made of beige brick instead of the horrid yellow. The space looks empty with the chairs cluttered and stacked in front of the door. Shawn and another man are talking and coming out of another doorway with more chairs when they catch sight of us.

 "Hey Cath, can you tell Mister Memory Loss that I went to fill the water tanks last time?" the blonde boy sneers as they both put the chairs down and start walking towards us. Cathrine rolls her eyes and looks at Shawn. He smiles at her then comes up to me, outstretching his calloused hand.

"My name is Shawn," he says in that same soothing, deep voice I'd heard before, "Welcome to our hospital, we like to call it our lair." He laughs and I shake his hand. He then steps back and his buddy walks toward me,

"I'm Percy," he mumbles, sounding unhappy. He's quite handsome, if only he made himself look like less of a prick. We also shake hands then Cathrine puts her hand on my shoulder from where she stands beside me.

"I'm just showing her around, care to join?" she asks the boys eagerly.

"Well it's almost hitting five thirty, we should head out in about an hour to the lake, so you finish the tour and meet up with us at the main doors," I look over at the giant doors they're still adding chairs to, these aren't the main ones? Shawn continues to talk as he picks his chairs back up, "Percy and I just need to do a lap of all the entrances." Shawn gestures to Percy to collect more chairs from the doorway they originally came from. Cathrine nudges me on the shoulder and we start heading toward that same doorway.

 "I'll show her the bottom floor," Cathrine says gleefully as we make our way under the large door frame, past the chairs, and into another long hallway.