Anna woke up Sunday morning, sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window. Stretching, she looked over at her alarm clock – 9:45. Anna was surprised; she rarely slept in past six.
She could feel that today was going to be a lazy day. Her big plans included reading the paper, and maybe watching her now rarely-used TV. After lying peacefully in bed a few minutes longer, she walked over to the front door to retrieve her morning paper.
Her hopes of having a nice, restful day were shattered the moment she looked down at the floor and saw the ugly black headline staring up at her:
Five Attacks in Four Days!
Anna's blood ran cold; she knew instantly what attacks the paper was referring to. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was curl up in her warm, safe bed. She snatched the paper up off of the ground, unfolding it as she walked back towards her room. As she walked, she began to read the article:
What has previously been dismissed as a strange rash of illnesses, or – even worse! – mere coincidence, has started to take a more sinister turn.
As our avid readers know, we at The Chronicle have been following the story of these mysterious occurrences for well over twelve weeks now, and have faithfully recorded these incidences since the beginning.
It started out with people – mostly teens who were alone – passing out unexpectedly throughout the city, with some of the more recent victims claiming to remember a mysterious figure being present. However, even the insistence on the presence of some strange being in the shadows by these unfortunate victims was not enough to say that these were anything other than some strange form of illness. Until now.
Within the past four days, five new victims have joined the ever-increasing tally brought on by this mysterious plague that has befallen our city. What's so different about these victims, you ask? The answer: all have been found with various cuts and bruises, indicative of a struggle before they lost consciousness.
Wednesday night, Amy Anderson was walking home from the grocery store near her house on McAnnely Drive when she was attacked. Like the others before her, she suffered a tremendous and inexplicable loss of blood. More important, however, is the fact that she distinctly remembers seeing someone out of the corner of her eye. Unfortunately for us, however, she did not get a good enough look to provide an accurate description.
Less than 24 hours later, Marcus Labrutto met a similar fate while reading a book on the other side of town. While he also was unable to provide a description of the person he saw, his story lends credibility to Ms. Anderson's claim that she had not been alone.
Friday night, however, marked a turning point in the attacks. This time, there was not one victim, but two. Annette Tanko and Jason Green were attacked around 9:30 p.m. Both sustained numerous scratches, although they cannot say exactly how this occurred. Like Anderson and Labrutto, Tanko and Green both remember seeing someone before the attack. However, Tanko claims the figure she saw was that of a woman, while Green insists it was a man. Police have put this discrepancy down to confusion brought on by blood loss.
The fifth and most recent victim, a 33-year-old woman named Claire Jenkins, was found in an alleyway near the very well-known Bar None night club. This attack was by far the worst, with the victim suffering numerous deep cuts and landing in the hospital. What's most notable about this victim, however, is the severe lack of blood found at the scene. She was missing approximately 20% of her blood, a particularly dangerous situation when one considers the fact that the loss of approximately 33% can be fatal. Fortunately, this brave young woman is in stable condition at Mercy General, and is expected to make a full recovery.
And it seems things are destined to only get worse. Attacks have gone from one or two people passing out a week, to numerous victims being attacked in a single day. Victims have gone from waking up relatively unharmed to suffering numerous injuries that have resulted in at least one hospitalization. How long will it be until someone ends up dead?
Anna finished reading the article, a knot in the pit of her stomach. She'd been so engrossed in what she was reading that she'd stopped walking towards the bed; she now stood in the bedroom doorway. Slowly, she walked the rest of the way to the bed and sat down, setting the paper on the nightstand next to her.
She sat for a long time, trying to comprehend. How had she missed this? Sure, she'd known things were going on in this town – many more attacks were being reported than she'd ever been involved in. But she'd ignored the growing sense of worry that had been lingering around the school – she'd managed to put most of that down to the fact that she was now closer to people than she'd been in centuries. She'd convinced herself that it was just because she was talking to people that she'd sensed more panic – not because there was actually more to worry about.
But now, Anna could no longer ignore the feelings of uneasiness that had been stirring around her. This article would simply add fuel to the fire. But what could she do about it? She couldn't simply resolve to be more careful – these attacks hadn't been done by her. Anna caught herself wondering – could it be Mia?
No, not Mia. Like Anna, Mia was too careful to get caught like this – Mia had a family to worry about. Besides, it seemed to be two people involved in these attacks, and didn't the article say that one victim saw a man? With a sinking feeling, Anna realized exactly who must be responsible.
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