This silence did not last long as it was slowly broken by the gradual increase in sounds approaching him. His eyes barely could open but with the brief vision he was able to grasp he saw some of the blurs around him moving quickly in his direction. With every pass being accompanied by a loud scream of terror. Soon he heard growling like that of an escaped animal, but it didn’t sound like any animal he could reasonably make sense of. It wasn’t a dog or a cat, not even a strange animal like a pet wolf, yet it was familiar enough that it blended into the screams of the blurs as if it was one of them. What animal could make that inhuman sound he thought.  

It was only when someone screamed vampire that Alistar’s eyes instinctively shot open to take in their surroundings. The first thing that flashed into his vision was an object landing at his feet with a loud thud accompanied by a few wet drops landing on his cheek. At his feet was a sight that left his stunted mind nothing but disgust when it realized what was below. Lying face down in a pool of crimson essence rested a severed torso with a trail of intestines laying exposed and dripped drops into the red pool. The tears it had all over were deep and irregular, its left war was broken and had its bone penetrating torn blossoming flesh.

The crimson river snaked backwards to its now missing downstream, leaving a trail that stooped at the man’s missing lower half which was having its meat savagely predated on by a pair of creatures that were acting like wild beasts in the shape of man.  

They lapped up the blood like dehydrated dogs and slashed into the legs to drain more of that person’s once pulsating essence. These two men, looking no older than their early twenties, whose fangs and teeth were stained by the blood, whose eyes were bloodshot and held a single obsidian iris that was a slit like a cat’s eyes. Their hands were as black as charcoal whose tint ran from their fingers to their elbows. The pigmentation of black ink was cracked by red glowing lines that zigzagged like burning veins. Their clothes were mangled as if they were damaged in a fight but with how pointed their nails had become it wasn’t unbelievable to think they did it to themselves in their crazed states of minds.

These were not vampires that stood before him, not as he would describe them, a vampire would be more civilized with its food, a vampire would rarely kill so brutally their food as they’d keep them breathing as long as possible to feed more. Alistar couldn’t call them anything more than feral. A feral attack that revealed its horrific display as the curtain’s rose at this terrible time. He was unprepared, with no communicator phone or Sentries, and fighting disoriented would not end well.

Even if anyone had called the emergency services, they would need time to arrive since there were no nearby Foundation branch facilities or field headquarters. Time that these two primal beasts could use to invade the dining hall behind him called a hospital and eat their fill of people. What was he to do? He could barely keep himself standing. 

NO! He thought to himself and slapped his face with both hands simultaneously. He was a Slayer like his parents, he’s a Cromwell, even if it meant facing death without a gun, it was his duty to protect these people as a Foundation soldier. He shouted his rank as loud as he possibly could to catch the attention of the panicked and scattered persons still outside and instructed them to take shelter inside of the hospital building with the others.

This bold declaration also got the attention of both vampires that paused their feeding to lock their sights onto him. Alistar slowly knelt while carefully observing the twos’ actions, never taking his eyes off them for a second and nor did they to him. His dizziness was slowly being subdued by his survival instincts, offering him a brief reprieve even if merely for a short time. He could taste his heart on his tongue even as it pounded like a drum in his chest. In that moment time seemed to have slowed all around him as not even the slightest sound escaped his ears, or the slightest motion evaded his eyes.

When the vampires eventually pounced with their claws extended Alistar was narrowly able to avoid them. However, his right leg betrayed him, and he was forced to roll to regain his footing. The displeasure from missing him was heard in a loud roar they both shouted. The speed at which they now came at him made a dodge like before no longer an option. Their wild swipes placed him on a defensive where all he could do was watch their hands and try to avoid them.

His dizziness now became his advantage since it made movements so erratic that he was hard to pin down. Only being lightly grazed from the strikes that could not be fully predicted. He scooped up two handfuls of dirt during their three-way dance and flung it directly into both the vampires’ eyes, causing the two to break off their attacks.

 They both wailed while quickly trying to clean their eyes but with how dirty their claws were they only made their situation worse. This brief pause gave Alistar time to take shelter behind one of the blood vans and slowly brought his breathing under control so he wouldn’t be discovered. The adrenaline pumping through his veins was certainly doing its job to keep him awake. He could hear the two still crying out and knew it meant they were still too disoriented to look for him, so he didn’t waste these fading minutes and quickly unlocked his cellphone.

He did not dare make a phone call as his voice would give away his location. They may be blinded but they still had their superior hearing. Instead, he decided to text his location to Miss Undin along with a message requesting help.