For a moment I hesitated. The Sire pushed as the Scav, whose blood dripped on his face as he growled, trying to get closer to sink his teeth into his flesh.

I cracked the glass bottle against wall. It broke in to sharp jagged edges. Adrenaline kicked in as I ran up to the Scav whose full concentration was on the Sire he had pinned.

Just as I got closer of swung the sharp edges of bottle against the Scav, not really aiming for a specific area but trying to inflict as much pain as I could so he would release the Sire. I had no idea if any of this was going to work but I had to try something.

The first slash at his shoulder made him howl in pain and shriek. It was enough to turn his attention to me. The next slash ripped into his neck, and blood sprayed out out the wound and across my face.

The Scav released the Sire and got to his feet. The other Sires were trying their best to take him down with the weapons they had but none of what they were inflicting stopped the Scav from moving his attention to me as I backed away, trying to figure out my next move now that I was his next target.

But there was no time to think, there was only time to react when he launched at me, knocking me over. I landed hard. The impact to the hard floor took the breath from my lungs as pain exploded down my back and in my head. The weight of the Scav on top of me made it difficult to steal a breath.

My hand hurt. The one that had held the neck of the broken bottle. The Scav gasped but he wasn’t trying to bite me. Instead I slowly watched the shimmering redness in his eyes disappear.

My mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I was disorientated. The heavy weight was lifted and I saw the makeshift weapon I had been wielding stuck in his chest. The edge I’d held had broken and blood poured from the cuts in the palm of my hand. I exhaled a painful breath and squeezed my eyes closed briefly.

I took in a breath and exhaled trying to catch my breath. It hurt to move.

The doors opened and some men dressed liked doctors with masks entered. Each Sire was taken by the arm while two with a gurney headed to me to lift me to my feet.

I moaned in pain as my legs gave way when I attempted to stand. They put me on a gurney and wheeled me out of the room behind the brush cut Sire.

Momentarily I caught Silas watching me as they moved me out of the room. There was something more in his expression than I had ever seen before. It wasn’t his usual detachment but I couldn’t decipher what it was.

I stared at the ceiling as they moved me down the passage. I didn’t know where we were going and the pain was unbearable, I just wanted it to stop.

The medical type centre they wheeled me into was unfamiliar as were the doctors who started checking me over. They are wore masks and gloves which was unusual.

The sight of one of the doctors with an injection that he squirted a clear liquid from caught my attention. He injected the substance into my arm slowly and immediately I began to feel sleepy, unable to keep my eyes open.

*********

When I awoke, I was stiff and sore. The room I was in was different. It was white but so small there was only a tiny table and a small bed with white linen. I was dressed in white shorts and a small top. It took me a while to be able to sit up and survey the room.

I already had bruises and I remembered the cuts on my hand. They wounds were closed up but still pink and sensitive.

I frowned taking in the tiny room. This wasn’t normal for injury recovery. It made me wonder why I was being treated differently this time.

Unsteadily, I got to my feet, testing my weight before I shuffled to the small door which opened into a tiny bathroom which had a toilet and shower. That was it. There wasn’t even a mirror.

I headed back to the bed and felt slightly out of breath and over exerted as I lay down again.

Time seemed to drag on. There was nothing to do but think about the fight with the Scav. The shard of glass I had embedded into his chest had been enough to end his life.

There was movement on the other side of the door. The door opened and Silas entered. I tried to sit up but it took a few attempts to pull my body up into a sitting position as Silas neared with a glass of blood.

He set it down on the side table but instead of leaving he crossed his arms, and waited.

I reached for the blood and drank it slowly. I got half way through it before I set it back down on the table.

“Where am I?” I asked Silas.

“In confinement.”

I frowned. “What for?”

“You’ve been exposed to the blood from a Scav. You need to be quarantined to ensure you haven’t been infected.”

Infected? I relived the moment the Scav’s blood splattered against my face, and how it had covered me from the wound in his chest.

“Um…uh how do you know if I’m infected?” I asked, cautiously. Unsure, if I was prepared for what he would tell me.

I didn’t feel any different than before.

“You’ll get sick.” His gaze held mine. “It starts with a temperature.”

I swallowed. That didn’t sound that bad.

“Then the pain starts.”

I didn’t want to hear anymore, but I didn’t tell him to stop.

“How bad?” I whispered. Truly fearful that I was infected purely because of the amount of blood I had been exposed to. He had literally bled out all over me.

“You will beg to die.”

Great. Just great. I clasped my fingers together and lowered my gaze to stare at my hands as I took in his solemn statement.

There was nothing good about this new life I was living. I sighed. There was only pain and suffering. There were times I missed the touch of another person. The only contact I had with others was when we were training and that usually was only when we were fighting.

Despite knowing Silas was still watching I sighed. At that point I didn’t care anymore. There was nothing about this new world that made me want to stay in it. Maybe being infected was a way out, even if it was painful.

“What happens next?” I murmured.

When he didn’t immediately answer I looked to him. He was watching me pensively.

“After three days you will die.”

I bit my lip. Three days of agony before dying sounded horrible. And if Silas said it was bad then it was definitely bad

“When will I know if I’m infected or not?”

I was torn between wanting an end to this ordeal I had woken up to and the fear of that kind of suffering death.

“Tomorrow, we will know if you’re infected or not.”

I nodded, taking in as best I could without freaking out that I would have to wait another twenty four hours before I would know.

“Can vampires get infected?” I found myself asking.

He nodded.

So Scavs had the ability to infect Sires as well as vampires.

“Is this the only way we can die?”

He didn’t answer the question.

I couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t want time to know there was another option to end this nightmare I was living if I didn’t get infected or if there was another reason for keeping it from me.

“Thanks for the blood,” I said, taking the glass with the remaining blood to drink it.

I expected him to leave while I consumed the rest of the crimson liquid but he didn’t.

When I finished the blood I put the empty glass back on the small table.

“Is there something you want?” I asked.

My bruised and battered body was already feeling the effects of the blood I had just drank.

“You fought well today.” His words soft which pulled my attention back to him.

Our eyes met.

It was the nicest thing he had ever said to me and that was saying something.

It was only then he took the glass and left the room. My eyes remained on the door for a while after while I tried to figure out why his observation had affected me to much. More than what I wanted to admit.