I feel Chetan's lips on my neck waking up. I wake to his eyes looking up at me. He kisses my cheek.
"Good morning, beautiful," he says.
I smile. " You're up before me?"
He laughs. "Unbelievable right?"
"Yeah." I chuckle.
"I am going to the market with the guys," Chetan says.
I frown. I don't want to spend these days away from Chetan.
"What's wrong?" He asks, noticing my disappointment.
"I want to spend time with you." I feel my eyes water.
"Zare, we have our whole lives to spend time together," he tells me, with a laugh.
"I know, you're right."
"You want to come with us?" He asks.
"Really?"
"I am sure we can use the extra hands," he tells me.
Chetan steps back. "So get up," he tells me.
Slowly, I get up and rub my eyes. Walking towards the other females, I see they are knitting baby hats. I definitely don't want to stay with them.
"Can't find anyone to babysit Zare?" Smoke smirks.
"Dude, shut up." Chetan rolls his eyes and chuckles.
" Cricket and Ash are staying back with the girls," Ajay says walking towards us.
"Zare is coming with us," Chetan says.
Ajay nods. "Alright."
Soon, I find myself walking through the muddy knee-high water leftover from the storm. Chetan holds my hand tightly.
"Once we get out of this water will change into werewolf form," Ajay says.
I stop walking and everyone instantly stares at me. I roll my eyes at the scent I was picking up. Vampire.
"What's wrong?" Ajay asks, eyeing me.
"Alec and AB are near."
"Great," says Chetan.
"Only them?" Ajay asks.
"I am picking up other scents."
"We can take them,'' says Smoke.
"We will try to escape without a fight," Ajay says, glaring at Smoke.
"We should be eliminating them," Smoke argues.
"Enough Smoke," Ajay says.
The further we walk, the stronger the smell gets. I am not scared to see vampires. We need to stop tiptoeing around them. Something has to be done.
I feel annoyed at the edge of the forest. I rub my eyes. The smell of blood stings them.
"Don't worry, we save the food," snickers AB. He approaches us with bloodstained clothes.
"What did you do?" yells Ajay.
"We hunted outside the forest, like good vampires," smiles Alec.
"Well, and made some new friends," AB says, looking over to a girl I had never seen before.
"You don't need to hurt innocent people," yells Ajay.
"Temper temper, great Alpha," AB says and swings his finger back and forth.
Alec walks toward me. "Come babe, join our clan."
AB laughs, "She would rather follow these mutts with the scared Alpha."
I am shocked watching Ajay step into AB's face. "Don't you ever confuse me trying to be reasonable and protect my pack as I am scared, when the time is right and it will be right soon, I will rip every last vampire apart," Ajay hisses.
AB smiles. "I'm looking forward to the effort."
Ajay motions for us to walk around them. I look at them blankly. This war is going to start between vampires and werewolves. Honestly, I'm not sure who would win.
I hold the puke in. Bloodless dead bodies lay everywhere. Children and women, the vampire showed no remorse. I couldn't help but cry. I look over at a dead little girl. I put my hand over my mouth.
"Zare, you should have stayed home." I feel Ajay's arm around me, he pulls me into his chest.
"Why is there no man?" Chetan asks.
"I guess AB found them useful," Ajay remarks.
My ears hear crying in the distance, I move from Ajay's embrace. I walk forward, following the sound.
"Zare, be careful," Chetan warns.
"Holding Zare was nothing personal, it was just an instinct, I can't imagine her seeing all this," I hear Ajay tell Chetan.
"It's cool this is a real site," Chetan remarks.
The more we walk, the more dead bodies we see. My heart breaks for all these human beings. Ajay's face is like a stone, and he is very angry. I know Ajay's reactions by now.
Stopping in my tracks, I see a little girl. She is hugging the lifeless body of a woman lying on the ground. I swallow hard. The little girl takes one look at me and screams.
"It's okay," I say, offering a smile.
Ajay walks and knees beside her. "Is that your mom?" He asks her.
She nods.
"Do you have a dad or somewhere we can take you to?" He asks.
She shakes her head.
"Okay, you can be with us, we will help you," Ajay tells her.
"She's a vampire," she points at me.
"Zare is a good vampire though, I promise," Ajay tells her.
"I don't want to leave my mom," the girl says.
"I know sweetie, but your mom is dead," Ajay tells her.
She nods with tears sliding down her face. Ajay reaches out his hand, and the little girl takes it.
"Let's make our way inside the grocery store," Ajay says.
We move toward the grocery store, not seeing another living soul. My mind is going in a million different directions. Opening the door to the grocery store, my handshake I am so nervous about what would be behind the doors.
All the food was still on the shelves, but everyone inside was dead. I feel my stomach hurting.
"I wouldn't normally do this, because I still feel it stealing, but we have children to feed, grab shopping carts and get as much food as you can," Ajay announces. Ajay means this girl and Kiara's unborn baby.