Sari

      

 

            Breathe in. Breathe out. Steady your heartrate.

            Breathe in. Breathe out. Steady your heartrate.

            Those were the only thoughts running through Sari’s head as she crouched behind the cracked door of the abandoned warehouse. She dared to peek through the crack to see if she had been followed. So far, luck was on her side.

            Sari closed the door and prayed the noisy, time-rusted hinges would not draw attention. The latch caught, and she turned and pressed her back to the cool steel of the door. She let out a long breath, relief washing over her. For the moment, she felt safe.

            What were those things?

            In all her years of hunting, Sari had never encountered such a creature before. It looked human enough, but the unnerving glow of its eyes told a completely different story. And the howl it screamed at her? Not even werewolves sounded as chilling as that.         

            Sari crossed the small room, completely at ease and familiar with the surroundings. This used to be the office of her grandfather’s auto shop. The grease and oil still clung to the air here. Abandoned tools lay all about the shop. She always felt at peace here as a kid, watching her grandfather work his magic on old Buicks and Chevys. He always seemed a little larger than life to her. She wanted to be a mechanic and follow in his footsteps until the earthquake happened. The Earthquake That Broke the World was how it was referred to now.

            Sari went to her grandfather’s abandoned ledger books and drew a finger across the dust that had settled there. Things definitely were not the same. Most of the population had died right away in building collapses, sinkholes, or tsunami that followed The Earthquake. Then most of the remaining people died when the Supernaturals didn’t die. Vampires, Werewolves, and Shapeshifters all survived. Humans became easier prey than ever before. Sari learned how to navigate streets and take care of herself after watching her entire family parish in the house fire caused by a gas leak from The Earthquake. She was a very young 15 when she lost them. She was a very old 18 now.

            Sari took out Supernaturals every chance she got. Urban legend and trial-and-error were her learning tools. But what she saw today was something new. Something terrifying.

            There was a knock on her grandfather’s steel office door, reverberating over and over and crushing the silence that had settled.

            Sari turned and pulled the iron tipped stake from her inside jacket pocket, unsure what to expect.