C3 Chapter 3

A banner was hanging in front of Berkley University that said, “CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES OF 2021!”

Collin was standing underneath it, his dad proudly fixing his tie, “you made it, Collin! I am so proud of you, son,” he said while holding his shoulder. “Thanks, dad. Couldn’t have done without you and mom’s support,” he smiled and hugged his dad.

“Alright! Come on, come on! Places, everyone! Ginny! Stay put, young lady!” Martha, Collin’s mom shouted at his younger sister. Collin was looking around, smiling at his parents, his older brother congratulating him, and his little sister hugging him. They were a happy family. He can see his mom wearing that red floral dress they gave her on Mother’s Day, his dad wearing his dark blue button-down shirt with a black tie and coat, his brother, Jacob, wearing his favorite green polo shirt that was supposedly for him – a gift from their Aunt Liddy, and little Ginny wearing her pink polka dot dress with her shiny pink shoes that she begged their mom to buy for her.

One by one, Professor Ridge called the graduates. Collin happily accepted his diploma and hugged his professors. Collin was known for being smart, kind-hearted, and liked by everybody. He has friends in different courses in Berkeley. He even befriended people in cafés, bars, and even the TA’s.

After the ceremony, they drove up to Lake Tahoe where they spend their summer vacations, Christmas, New Year, 4th of July, and every other special occasion, including graduations. On their way to the lake, their dad bumped hard onto something that shook the car, waking Ginny up. Their mom placed her hand on her husband’s arm and looked over at the back to make sure Collin and his siblings are okay. Their dad got off and searched the area. Collin followed his dad, leaving his mom, sister, and older brother in the car. A few minutes have passed, Collin and his dad haven’t returned, Jacob went down and looked for a spare flashlight in the trunk.

Jacob was about to walk into the dark forest when his dad came out. He looked at his dad and the dark, hoping Collin will come out. “Jacob? Jacob what is it?” their dad frantically asking Jacob, he couldn’t get the word out. He couldn’t tell his dad that Collin followed him. From behind Jacob a voice said, “where’s Collin?”, Jacob and his dad looked at the same time and saw Martha standing by the passenger side door. Their dad looked at Jacob, “he followed you in there, dad, I was waiting for him to follow you out of the dark but he – “

“Damn it, Jacob! Why didn’t you just say so earlier?!” he angrily cut him off and walked back into the dark forest.

“Dad!”

“Stephen!”

Jacob and his mom yelled at the same time. “Mom, get back in the car. Lock the doors, I’ll look for dad and Collin,” he demanded while leading her back inside the car. His mom was trying to stop him, but he convinced her that everything is going to be fine, and they’ll find Collin.

It was quiet. The night was quiet, then they heard a scream. Martha and Ginny looked out the window, out from the dark came Stephen – his button-down ripped and blood was dripping from his arm, a deep gash can be seen, blood glistening from it. Jacob came out next, his shirt lost a sleeve, but his wounds aren’t as deep as his dad’s. They both went back in the car and drove off back to the city to find the nearest hospital. Martha was panicking, asking where Collin is but no one could tell her that they lost him in the woods. They couldn’t tell her that Collin was nowhere to be found. Ginny hugged Jacob crying because of what happened to her dad and brother, and the fact that Collin is not there.

Years have passed and the Roth family had lost a son and a brother. They let go of the thought that he may still be alive.

***

I slept late last night and woke up the next morning a little later, Collin is sleeping soundly on his bed. I silently went out to get some coffee, then my phone rang. It’s Eric.

“Hello? Eric?” I said as I answer the phone. “Hey sweet pea, listen, I’m gonna go hunt up north. I heard there was a – “

“Rugaru. Yeah, I heard,” I said cutting him off. He sounded like my dad whenever he’s about to go out to “work”. Always telling me where he’d be and what kind he’ll be hunting. He’ll be gone for hours, sometimes even days, but this is the first time he’s been gone for years. He’ll call, sometimes in the middle of hunt, to ask me to search on something. Their strengths and weaknesses, their origin, basically, anything and everything about a monster to finish them off.

“Yeah, that’s about right. I’ll call you as soon as I get there, alright? Where are you anyway? How’s that guy with you?” he asked. “Oh, uhm, we’re on our way to North Carolina. He lives around there, I think, but we’re good,” I smiled while answering him, just to make it believable. He knows I’m a bad liar, so being all happy voiced might help. “Well, alright, when you’re done go back to the house. I’ll leave the keys by the squirrel. Let yourself in. See you in a while, sweetie.”

Click.

I looked at my phone and placed it to my chest. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer for Eric and his crew. Along the way, I am sure they’ll be fighting off other monsters. I mean, it is the goddamn apocalypse. Every waking hour is a battle between species. Who will win? Nobody fucking knows.

I went back inside the room forgetting about the coffee when Collin suddenly sat up straight from his sleep and looked at me like a hurt puppy. “Dude, you okay?” I asked, slowly walking towards him. He was catching his breath and has this crazy look in his eyes, he swiftly went to the bathroom and locked himself in.

I almost ran to the door and knocked, “Collin? Are you sure you’re okay? Can I get you anything?”

Silence.

“Collin?” I asked again. “Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m fine. Just give me a sec, will ya?” he replied. He sounded…hurt. I don’t know, maybe a little bit confused? But there was something wrong. I just know it. I backed away from the door and sat on my bed. I turned my laptop on and found a few cases that I can work on after I drop Collin off to where he needed to be.

The bathroom door slowly opened, and I looked up to see Collin slowly coming back out. I closed my laptop down, placing it beside me, then he slowly sat on the foot of my bed. He looked up, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “I, uhm, I just, fuck…I dreamt of my family,” he started.

“I can’t remember where we were, but it was a nice place. Iron gates, then it shifted to a house by the lake. All-American dream, apple pie kind of life. Then, everything went dark. I wasn’t there anymore,” he paused for a bit to remember what else he dreamt about. But I know he was having some flashbacks from the time he was human.

“Collin, what else do you remember? Do you remember your dad’s name, your mom’s? Sisters or brothers? What about the time when you were turned?” I asked as I turn my laptop back on. I looked up at him and his head was down. He sniffed as silently as he could muster, but I know how that felt. I know what it’s like to be alone. I know what it’s like to cry silently even if there are people around just to cover up how fucked up I really am. I put my laptop down again and moved closer to Collin. I gave him a tight hug, “this is not a chick flick moment. Don’t you dare bring it up ever again,” I whispered to him. He laughed, “get off of me then,” he said while pushing me away. He stood up and grabbed his jacket. He helped me clean my shit up and put them in the truck while I checked us out from the motel.

The drive leading up to North Carolina was a tad quiet, so I turned my Bluetooth on and connected my Spotify. Yeah, Spotify is still alive at 2024 apocalypse. Well, some of their music are still there, at least the bearable ones. Played my playlist on shuffle when “Peaches” by Justin Bieber came on, Collin quickly looked at the screen then at me. “You listen to that crap?” he asked in disgust. “What’s wrong with this? This is the only song that the Biebs has that I like. Do you even know who he is?” I asked like I was talking to a 400-year-old vampire.

“Of course, I do. I wasn’t born in 1545,” he replied, and I looked at him, “will you keep your eyes on the road please? It’s not like I’m gonna die or something if you crash the car,” he said with a straight face then proceeded to laugh. I took my eyes back on the road, laughing at his statement. Well, he ain’t wrong about that. Only a dead man’s blood can weaken them, and beheading could kill them. Stake at the heart? Utter bullshit. Garlic? Meh.

By the time we arrived in a small town somewhere in Atlanta, it was already dark. I turned the music off and was surprised how we were greeted by warzone. We slowly drove down the road to see all the wreckage, the havoc this apocalypse has done, “what happened here?” Collin asked as he pressed down the button for the window. He placed his head out, closed his eyes, and smelled the air like a Golden Retriever. He scrunched his eyebrows and looked outside again. “Keep driving,” he said while getting out of the truck through the window.

“Collin! Damn it!” I yelled at him while trying to drive straight. “Just keep driving slow, alright? I have to do something,” he gave me a reassuring smile, like telling me that he’s gonna be okay and will not do something stupid. He lifted himself up to the roof of my truck, trying to find a comfortable position. I put the window down on my side, “you better not leave a scratch over there!” I warned him, he responded with a laugh.

We drove around the ruins that was once a small town until we reached a library or town hall. “Stop the truck,” Collin said. I parked across the building and got out of the car; Collin carefully jumped down. “Damn. This place –” I whispered.

“I know. It’s a fucking mess. It’s more than a mess,” Collin said cutting me off while taking a few steps forward. “Welcome to Stars Hollow,” I said as I walked towards the back of my truck to get my things, including my duffel bag full of extra weapons and secured medicines. Collin turned his head to me and gave me a weird look, “what? Stars Hol – that’s not even the name of the town,” he commented. “I know but this place reminded me of a TV show I used to watch as a kid,” I replied while closing my secret compartment then walked away.

Debris are everywhere. The small market was literally ran down with a fruit truck, rammed inside; the diner was almost non-existent, fire coming out from the garbage bins to potholes on the street. Our source of light is coming from a few light posts and fires coming from different places like the park, the streets, and even the post where the name of the town used to be – now all we can see is a “J” and a “P”. Praying that the town’s name isn’t Jurassic Park, ‘cause ironically, it’s starting to look like that. I was about to walk the other way when Collin turned around and grabbed my arm, “wait,” he said while looking straight ahead. I turned to look at the direction he was staring then I looked back at him, his eyes were closed but when he opened them, I swear to God, I saw his eyes glow. His blue-gray eyes turned into shining ice blue. He opened his mouth to release his fangs and at one moment, he ran and jumped at the thing hiding in the shadows, then I heard a loud yelp. I was about to run towards Collin when I heard a growl followed by a snarl coming from behind me.

I slowly turned around to see a huge werewolf with glowing yellow eyes, big and sharp teeth, and sharp nails. He was taking his time to get to me, and I was slowly backing away while cautiously reaching for the gun with silver bullets behind me, keeping myself from making any sudden moves. I grabbed it and quickly pointed the gun at the werewolf. He tackled me and we both rolled across the street, my gun flew a few feet away from me. Werewolves are extraordinarily strong creatures. They could tear me apart if they wanted to, but the thing is, this werewolf seemed like he’s “playing with his food”. I laid on the ground – my duffel bag on top of me – feeling like my bones broke in every part of me. I heard a howl as I try to stand up and the werewolf is looking straight at me, ready to attack again. I stood up straight and smiled, dropping my duffel bag to the side, “is that all you got, wolf boy?”

I know deep in my heart that I can and never will outrun him, and as stupid as it is, I saw my gun and decided to run towards it. I heard the werewolf’s heavy footsteps and then felt a burning pain on my left arm and fell to the ground. The wolf’s claws made a deep cut, screaming in pain and with adrenaline running inside my veins, I punched him as hard as I can with my good arm. There goes my knuckles, I thought. Since my silver knife is in my duffel bag, I decided on pure luck to fight this thing with bare hands – just like what my dad taught me. I fought him as hard as I can, ignoring the sharp pain on my left arm. I punched, I swerved, then the view of my gun gave me more hope in winning this fight. Before I could move, the werewolf struck me and fell back down on the ground. When I saw my gun, I crawled towards it as fast as I can, grabbed it and – BANG! – the werewolf made a loud thump when it made its way down. I lay on the ground once again, breathing heavily. I cried a little bit from the pain – the deep cut and my whole body is in pain then I stopped.

I felt like I was bleeding to death, I closed my eyes, and I can see flashbacks of my life. My mom, my dad, my grandparents, my friends – all of them. Then suddenly, there were light pats on my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes to see Collin over me, trying to wake me up. At first, he was blurry, and I couldn’t hear a word he was saying, then my vision and hearing slowly regains their abilities. Collin helped me to get up, “slowly, slowly. Come on, I got you,” he said. I turned my head to his shirt, and there was blood on it. “Oh, uh, he wasn’t alone,” he said, placing his gaze on the dead werewolf, “and you,” he said looking back at me, “you look like shit.”

We both laughed a little and he picked up my duffel bag once he found it as we make our way to the truck. He helped me up to sit on the passenger’s side, "you have any first aid kit or something?" he asked.

“Yeah, it's in the back,” I said. He nodded and disappeared to the back and returned with my first aid. He carefully set the kit down on my lap, opened it and took out a small bottle of alcohol. After opening it, he looked at me, “knock, knock?” he said.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“I said, ‘knock, knock?’”

“O-kay, uhm, who’s the-”

Without warning, without saying anything else, he poured the alcohol on my wound.

I let out a cry, “great mother of fucks! Are you crazy?!” I yelled. He smiled, "hold still," he demanded and continued cleaning my wound. He seemed like he’s used to it, I thought, and I caught myself staring at him while he stitched my wound up. “What?” he asked, stopping mid-way of stitching and bandaging. “Nothing,” I said and just looked down. When he was done, he returned the first aid at the back, and made his way to the driver’s side. He started the engine and we drove off.