04

~Miranda

It had been ten years since they moved me to the secret lab.

They had been torturing me for ten good years. They took my blood and starved me beyond compare. They would make me beg and cry until I was close to death before they gave me blood and each time, I started lasting longer before I craved blood. I could go an entire month without taking blood. My body had adapted to the torture.

They would electrocute me to see how long I could withstand it and each time, my body got stronger and I lasted longer.

I could not remember how many times I cried in this place. Or how many times I dreamt of my dead parents. Or how many times I thought of that boy who came to me when I was alone.

They had tortured me beyond acceptable limits and every day I wondered why I was still alive. I should have died a long time ago but I guessed that it was just my father's strong will and my mother's love keeping me alive.

As always, I was strapped to the bed and I knew that another torture session was about to begin. I should have been used to the torture by now but I was not. As much as it broke me and built me back up, it was also tearing me apart. It was taking my humanity away from me.

I watched as the scientist walked back into the room. His men were waiting in the next room. The man smiled at me and prepared his equipment so that he would begin my painful session.

He pulled the lever to electrocution. The electricity sizzled through my body and the pain sent me screaming and vibrating.

I cried and screamed and like a miracle had finally happened for me, one of my hands came free. It broke off from the hold they had on me. The scientist turned around and I returned my hand immediately to pretend that I had not broken free.

He brought the syringe to inject me with a particular substance that would weaken me. As he was about to put it into my body, I grabbed his neck and slammed him into my bed.

Then I took the syringe from him and scanned the liquid into him. He fell to the floor with a hard thud.

I exhaled sharply and released my other hand. There was anger in my veins and I felt that I could take on anyone who tried to stand in my way to stop me from escaping this place.

I sneaked out of the lab and counted three men. I immediately launched at the closest man and gave him a hard bite. I drained as much blood as I could from him and it felt sweeter than the last time.

The men exclaimed in shock as they started at their comrade. His body went numb and he dropped dead. I smiled as I wiped the excess blood from my face. The feeling was exhilarating as I watched them closely. I immediately felt stronger than I had felt earlier.

One man charges at me and tried to shape-shift. I grabbed a wooden piece from the shelves and hit him with it. The other man pressed the alarm button to alert the others.

I fled. I broke out of the door and started running towards the exit. Men appeared behind me and were coming for me. I kept running until I reached the main door and jerked it open. I slammed the door hard behind them and found that I was in a deserted place. Thankfully, it was dark outside. So I could use the cover of the night to escape.

There were trees ahead. I immediately remembered my mother's words as she told me to run. This time, I would not freeze. I would run until I was safe.

The men soon got out and they started coming after me. I ran nonstop. I kept running even when I thought my heart was going to explode. I kept running even when my intake of breath turned into wheezing. I kept running even when I thought my legs would give way.

I could hear their voices as they searched for me through the woods. I found a cave and I hid

Inside, pending the time that the men would move away from my location.

Eventually, they did. I found water in the woods and cleaned my face from all the blood then I continued hiking through the woods until I stumbled upon a werewolf pack again. All I wanted from them was some food.

They all watched me as I went past them and all of them seemed to be getting triggered by my presence.

"Who are you?" They demanded. That was when I knew that the danger was not over.

I broke into another run again and these sets of werewolves started chasing me until I tell upon a strange man. He picked me up immediately and hid me in his house.

When they were going, he finally spoke. "Are you okay?" He asked.

I stared back at him warily. Only one question was in my head. "Why did you save me?" I demanded.

He smiled at me. "Because I know that you are just a victim of circumstances," he answered.

He outstretched his hand to me. "Let me help you. My wife will love to meet you and she can help you mask your vampire side. We can take you as our child and we will protect you. That of course is if you let us into your heart. What do you say? Will you let us help you?" He requested.

I stared at him with wide eyes. I was too shocked to speak. The plan had been to escape the werewolves and get to safety. To not stop running but I could not face the world on my own. I needed help to survive and these people wanted to help me.

So I approached him and placed my hand on his.

"Yes, I will go with you and I will let you help me."