A Haunted Face

[tq]

Ten years had passed since the apocalypse; ten long, strenuous years of chaos, uprising and death. Sofia had only been nineteen when it first began. She could still remember people running into the streets, packing their bags, clearing out the grocery stores. Though, there was one thing that she could still see clearly like it had happened not a moment ago. She’d been wandering up the street, looking for answers in the crowd when she’d heard just the littlest peep. When she’d turned she saw a tiny girl, lost and abandoned in the road.
Sofia had walked straight up to the girl and was just about to help when her mother had run up behind her and grabbed the child. The woman’s face, the horrible face, was masked with fear, anger and regret. It was the look Sofia would see for years, so many years. To make matters worse, just as the woman and her daughter entered the building; it had imploded, collapsing in on top of them. There were no survivors.

She’d learned later the little girl’s name was Melanie, Melanie Pickett. Melanie had only been eight years old when she’d died, and her mother was one of the richest women in the city. Her grave was one of the largest in the cemetery. Every once and a while, Sofia would visit Melanie Pickett, leaving one flower on top of her tombstone and one flower on top of Melanie’s mother’s.
Today had been cool, and it had a little breeze. There was a slight fog clinging in the air, dewing the leaves scattered around the unkempt cemetery. Sofia sat under one of the largest trees, thinking to herself; about the past; about the future. Lately, she’d been doing a lot of thinking; wondering of what’s to come. The Taberah had been up to trouble lately, and the city had been more active than usual, any survivors now roamed the desolated city for any supplies they could find. Now the cemetery was the only ‘safe’ place.

With a heavy sigh, Sofia closed her eyes, ignoring the rest of the world, and keeping her small knife at hand. Her breath started to slow, until finally she was asleep at the foot of the tree. At the moment, nothing else mattered except the thoughts running through her mind. The thoughts that kept her sane.

[audramya]

Often Caleb would go with the pack on their trips to the surface. Not only did he like to be a part of the excavation process, but he liked to be around if any of his people needed him. It was safer below ground in their territory, but up on the surface they weren’t alone. They had the other groups to deal with as well.

But sometimes he would leave the pack for a moment, only briefly, to pay his respects to his parents. They’d both been on the lower end of the group and he often wondered if they would be proud of him if they knew he’d managed to challenge the former leader of the pack and win. He remembered all the times his parents told him matter-of-factly he was slow and would never amount to anything, but they loved him regardless. He wasn’t slow. He just simply quiet by choice--and how often people seemed to mistake the two completely baffled him.

There was a woman sleeping a few feet yonder from where he stood giving his respects and he thought nothing of it at first. However she didn’t seem to be stirring though his senses could hear she was fine, he assumed that she might not want to stay out too much longer since it became more dangerous at night.

Walking over to her with his hands stuck in the pockets of his faded, torn jeans, he kicked his foot against the sole of her shoe. “Hey,” he said. Caleb squatted down and gently shoved her arm around with the tips of his fingers. “You might wanna finish payin’ your respects,” he told her in that southern drawl of his. “It’s getting’ dark out and it ain’t exactly a good idea to be up here after dark by yourself.”

[tq]

Once again, the little girl haunted her dreams, just as she got near, she could hear a quiet voice and feel a strange shake. She almost had her; she’d almost saved her this time. Sofia’s eyes fluttered open, only to gaze upon a strange man. Without a second’s hesitation, she jumped to her feet, keeping her hand on her sheathed knife.

She gave a small frown as she scrutinized the man, out of experience, she knew for sure that he wasn’t a vampire, but he wasn’t a normal human either. “Who are you?” She cautiously asked, still mistrusting the man.

By the look of the sun, Sofia realized she’d been sleeping for hours, instead of the mere nap she’d expected. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled incoherently as she ran her hand through her hair, but still having one on the blade. Soph examined the man once more, still trying to decide where he was from. If she was correct, she believed he was either a Jabari or a Labonita. "And where are you from?" She finished, raising one eyebrow.

[audramya]

“Who am I? Where am I from?” Caleb repeated, appearing slightly befuddled. As he stood up he ran his head along the back of his shaved head with an apparent look of discomfort on his face from her bombardment of questions. “We ain’t really gotta go through all these pleasantries now, do we, Miss?”

It was apparent that she didn’t trust him, but honestly with the way some of the people in the world today acted, he couldn’t say he blamed her. Especially since she was human--he could smell it. It was most dangerous for the humans. His eyes lingered where her hand rested on her weapon and he gave a slight frustrated sigh. Lowering his head forward, he tilted it at an angle so he looked towards her.

“Come on, now,” he said, motioning to her knife. “Ease up a bit. You were asleep. Don’t you think if I’d have wanted to kill you then I would have already done it? I know some of the pack can be a little restless, but for the most part we ain’t all that bad,” he said in an attempt to try and soothe her down.

Realizing that he’d let his race slip his tongue, he smiled to himself slightly and let out a slight chuckle. “Jabari, in case you couldn’t tell,” he informed her proudly as he straightened up and puffed out his chest. “And I know just from your smell that you’re a human. Part of the Taberah, if I ain’t mistaken.”

He held out his hand towards her in a polite fashion. “Caleb, since you asked," he told her. After peering around, he leaned in a bit closer towards her and whispered with a slight smirk as if telling her a secret, "Though it’s never a good idea to get too personal with strangers, Miss. Not in today’s world. Just some friendly advice.”

[tq]

If her cheeks were tinted red out of embarrassment, she didn’t notice, still keeping her eyes on the man. She couldn’t be too cautious, but he had a point, if he’d meant to kill her, he’d have done it already. Slowly, she let her hand slip off the knife, but kept it close. Her muscles gradually loosened, letting her relax a bit more.

“Jabari,” she repeated softly, still taking it in. At least she was right; he wasn’t a vampire, which that was a start. “Yes, I’m a Taberah, though that’s usually not something you want to mention nowadays,” Sofia acknowledged politely, trying to give an urbane smile.

She cautiously looked down at his hand, unsure for a moment, but shaking it anyways. “Yes, well, it’s better to know whose going to potentially kill you or not,” Sofie scoffed, leaning slightly back away from him. Once again, she ran her long fingers through her hair. "I'm Sofia, by the way," she almost forgot to mention.

[audramya]

“Nowadays it’s best not to mention your affiliation at all whether it’s Taberah or Jabrai. There’s always an enemy lurking about somewhere. You’d think we’d learn our lessons,” he said. Looking over his shoulder at all of the graves, Caleb gave a sigh. “I suppose people like us who grew up in the city still remember what it was like. We’re too stupid. Nostalgic for when you could just sit down at a restaurant and get to know a person over a cup of joe.” He chuckled as he added, “Or at least I am. Maybe you‘re not.”

He raised his eyebrows at her comment. “You still think I‘m gonna kill you?” Caleb wondered what he could do to convince her otherwise, but ultimately decided there was indeed little he could probably do to change her mind. So instead he took a couple of steps back with a small shrug. “You ain’t no rabbit, that’s for sure,” he said. “Honestly I prefer the gamey taste of my food. Humans, well, they jjust don’t taste good.”

Of course he was joking, but communicating mostly with the pack for so long, he wasn’t sure if she understood his sense of humor--not that he attacked humans. In fact he made a mental note to see if anyone in the pack was stirring trouble outside their territory. He didn’t want any bad blood with the groups (though he wasn’t particularly fond of the Nabila himself).

“Well, Miss Sofia, as I said before, it’s getting late. And soon the Nabila will be flooding the streets.” Caleb’s nose scrunched slightly in disgust as a gentle breeze wafted the scent of a couple of nearby Nabila to his nose. He stuffed his hands in his pockets before approaching the nearby tombstone. “Is this your family?” he asked. “You might wanna tell them goodbye for the night.“ Chuckling, he added, “I‘m sure they wouldn‘t want you getting yourself recklessly killed on their account because you were too stubborn to leave.”

[tq]

“I don’t think I ever actually got to go out and do something for myself before this happened.” Sofia gestured around, eventually resting her eyes back on Caleb. She gave a small sigh, thinking about what it was like before the apocalypse; the sun shining, lush, green grass, and people chattering away, taking their precious lives for granted. “Let alone getting to know someone over ‘a cup of joe’.”

She looked up at him, almost giving a puzzled look to his comment, she knew what he meant, and she just wasn’t sure how to take it. Sofia rubbed the back of her neck, giving a slight frown. Well, at least she knew for sure if she happened to turn her back he wouldn’t rip her throat out.

“No, they’re… never mind. You’re right. It’s getting late, and I personally forgot my stake at home.” She chuckled, brushing off his comments on the graves. “I should, um, go. Yeah. I’ll be going now,” as she mumbled she slowly took a step. “Oh and, thank you. For waking me, I mean.”

[audramya]

“No, I suppose not,” Caleb replied. “You were probably too young.” He had no idea how old the woman actually was and he never was that great in judging such things. However she seemed to be somewhere in her mid-twenties--if he had to make a guess.

He nodded his head, grinning at her awkward mumblings. “No problem at all, Miss Sophia,” he told her. “I’d want the same courtesy if it were me.” Though he wouldn’t have ever been found sleeping up on the surface unless he’d simply passed out from blood loss.

Just as he was about to leave, he caught the scent of an approaching Nabila lurking in the shadows. He growled threateningly as he whipped his head in the direction of the creature. “Go on! Get out of here,” he yelled towards Sophia as the creature lunged from the shadows gnashing it’s pointed teeth.

Caleb immediately transformed, lunging at the attacker. They slashed their nails in his fur as he bit down on the Nabila’s neck. Though he hadn’t killed it, the creature was injured enough to retreat to the shadows. He turned his head back to look at Sophia with his glowing yellow eyes in his wolf form. He gave a warning howl towards the moon, informing the rest of his pack of the dangers lurking about now, before he took off across the graveyard in order to return to them.

[tq]

When the Nabila jumped out, Sofia jumped back, grabbing at her knife. It would’ve been useless against any vampire, no matter how much she tried. “Holy shit,” she muttered when Caleb transformed, her eyes widening. Stumbling backwards, she looked up at them both as they attacked one- another. Maybe it was fear that kept her there, or surprise, but she didn’t move.

As the Nabila retreated, Sofia jumped up, gave a grateful glance at Caleb and retreated through the graves. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” She repeated as she stumbled through the graveyard. I knew it, I shouldn’t have come out. Wait. What the hell? I’m a soldier, why am I so scared? God damn. Just keep running. Making sure to avoid the trees, she stayed in the open clearings, sprinting back towards home, tripping every once and a while.

When the entrance of the underground territory was in sight, she stopped. Stooping over, she gasped to regain her breath. After she caught her breath, she stood up again, staring back in the direction of the graveyard. “You got lucky this time.” She muttered to herself.