With my knife in my hand, I don’t look back as I glide myself into their world. I land in the mud head first, but I’m on my feet without missing a beat.  I’ve actually startled them and for a moment, they look lost, like they’re not quite sure what to do with someone who offers themselves up so easily.

But the blood in their eyes washes the look away and they all swarm for me, the gaping holes in their skin getting filled with mud and rain.

I run, letting my legs be the weapon and they rise to the challenge, chasing after me. Vampires are fast. The very first time I went out on a raid, I was warned about this, but I didn’t realize how fast until the first time I was chased. But I also realized just how inhumanly fast I was.

My legs carry me through the mud and puddles, the rain refusing to let up. Every now and then I glance behind my shoulder, making sure they’re still following me. Like the hungry beasts they are, they seek blood. And I’ve got a body full of it.

Their fangs snap out as we move deeper into the sand hills. I launch myself over a rock, but fall back when I spot a mob of vampires down at the bottom.

“Dammit.” I swing to my right, only to spot more—they seem to be multiplying. I try my left, but it’s blocked. And they're all moving for me, fangs trembling to eat me alive. One nips at my ankles and I jump, barely missing getting bit. I think of how the two left me, but I guess my luck has finally worn off.

They pile toward me and I turn in a circle, searching for an escape, but their bodies scatter the land even farther than I can see.

I have no choice. There’s nowhere to go and I refuse to become infected and turn into one of them. I raise my knife for my chest and shut my eyes. “Goodbye,” I whisper in the wind.

But my voice is overlapped by a, “No!”

And then the sound echoes with a hundred more. The sound of a stampede encloses me and I dare a peek. They’re all running away from me, into the night. I stand motionless, watching them disappear into the blackness, realizing I might be the one and only person the vampires don’t want to touch.

But why?