"I didn't mean what I said about making girls pay on a first date," Jack explained triumphantly as we drove away. "I was trying to distract those military dudes from taking us all to the quarantine cells. You gals know that, right?"

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. We were safe for now. Finally, we were beyond the borders of the towns affected by the Blight. Holly was right. I needed a good night's sleep if I was going to go back for Grace. This day was beyond exhausting, even for a girl in the best of health. For someone with my health problems, it was practically fatal. People like me were not meant to survive in harsh times like these.

I leaned my forehead against the window. It felt cold to the touch. At least I was still a warm-blooded mammal. That was all I had left in this post-apocalyptic world; the red, hot blood flowing through my veins. That was all that separated the three of us from the monsters that pursued us. It wasn't wealth, skin color, religion, or culture as it had been in the wars of the olden days. Now, it was a vital difference of several degrees Celsius.

"Seriously, I want you to know I would totally split the cost of the coffee! Right down the middle!" Jack whined. "Down to the last penny."

"Oh, just shut up," Holly mumbled. "No matter how many coffee dates you go dutch on, no one is going to want to jump on your Cheeto-dusted ass. I don't think you can find a girl to touch your pee-pee even if you were the last man on earth."

I knew the two of them were bantering to lighten up the mood, but after everything that had happened, I found the mindless chatter irritating. Then again, being left alone with the silence of our own thoughts could be far worse. We might start wondering what had happened to our families, our friends, to everyone we ever knew. Perhaps the ones who had died in the Blight were the lucky ones. The survivors had to live with our memories of those that were lost.

As Jack opened his mouth to retort, we heard gunfire erupt behind us. All three of us instinctively ducked. The dreadful silence that followed was worse than the noise that could come from a gun. We were all breathing hard as we listened for an alarm to go off, signaling a vampire attack.

No alarm came on.

Nothing, just silence.

It was the eye of the hurricane. I stared into the rearview mirror. The military-grade high beam lights from the checkpoint had gone out.

All that was left behind us was darkness.

It was the end of humanity, as we knew it. I felt a sickening feeling creep into my stomach as I stared at the emptiness behind us. It was a dark woodiness that was utterly devoid of human life. I thought back to the glitzy neon lights of South Beach and wondered if somewhere out there, the calming presence of other people still existed.

Even then, how long could South Beach hang onto normalcy? How long could Manna City? When the last light went out, it will be the end of our kind.

"Go!" Jack screamed and patted the back of Holly's driver seat with the intensity of a man who was about to crap in his pants. "Go, go, go! Dammit, Holly!"

Holly floored the gas pedal, and I heard the aging engine of my dad's Honda roar in rage. It made a bigger show of huffing and puffing with activity than providing actual speed.

My body was pressed against the back of my seat as we sped up. I heard Holly whisper, "Shit shit shit," under her breath. In the rearview mirror, I saw a silhouette appear against the darkness of the twilight forest. It was hard to see because the glare from the setting sun blinded us. The shadow was dodging in and out of the darkness of the woods.

"We need to find the sunlight," I whispered. "They won't follow us into the sun."

"Not all the Blight Vampires are afraid of sunlight," Jack said. "Hey, look over there!"

There was a group of stopped cars on the side of the road. One of the vehicles had stalled, and some good samaritans had stopped to help jump-start it. I saw a little boy wander over to peer out onto the open road. The last rays of sunlight seemed to drift over him, covering his gold curls with angelic light.

"Woohoo! We're saved!" Jack said and patted Holly on the back.

"What do you mean, saved?" I asked. These people were just civilians who had stopped to help someone. They were beyond defenseless.

"You don't have to be the fastest runner to escape the bear," Holly mumbled, in agreement with Jack. "You just have to be faster than the next guy."

Oh, it was beyond obvious what the two of them meant. If the vampires were busy eating this group of innocent people, we might just get away.

"You guys are disgusting," I snapped. I reached into the backseat and grabbed Jack's knife. "Stop the car. Let me out!"

"Are you serious?" Jack protested. Just to show him how serious I was, I opened my passenger side door and slid one foot out of the car. Holly sighed and brought the vehicle to a screeching halt just beyond the gathering of cars along the road.

"Get out! See if we care!" Holly hollered.

I leaped out of the car and ran for the stray little boy. I didn't even bother to close the door behind me. Let the two of those selfish idiots figure it out.

The vampire who had been chasing us wandered into the dappling sunlight. The other adults were running about and screaming. I saw the little boy turn around and start to run.

My eyes were fixed on the misshapen jaw that barely hung onto the monster's mouth with stringy tendons. I think, judging by the few strands of black hair the creature had left — the thing had once been female. Its head was twisted to one side, and one of its arms was missing. It reached out for the little boy and caught him by his right foot.

All I heard at that second was the pounding of my heart inside my chest. I leaped for the monster and shoved my knife into its neck. Deep down, I knew the blade wouldn't be enough to kill it. I pushed the creature directly into the middle of the ray of sunshine and sat down on its chest.

I shoved my knife into its cold chest again and again until blood the color of ashes pooled around us. It wasn't like stabbing a human — no. The black blood bubbled up from the vampire's misshapen chest and pooled between my fingers — cold blood, not human blood, unnatural. The thick, gelatinous substance was oil flowing from the rivers of hell.

"Ailith, watch out!" I heard Holly yell. A shovel was driven clean through the vampire's neck as the creature tried to bite me. I swallowed hard, barely able to piece together what happened. I knew that shovel. It had a chipped corner where my sister had broken it years ago when she tried to shovel leaves out of the gutter. That was my dad's snow shovel.

Holly must have found it in the trunk of my car. Now it had been used to deal a final blow to this vampire that was human only a few hours ago before the storm hit. I could tell by its open salivating mouth and long mangled tongue that it would have happily made a meal of me. That meant we didn't commit murder. It was only self-defense.

I stood up. My legs were shaking so hard, I could barely keep my balance. Jack came over with our car, rolled down the window, and honked.

"Are you okay?" He yelled from the driver's seat.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said and reached for the car door after wiping my bloody hands on my jeans. I just wanted to sit down and take the weight off my trembling knees.

"The first time is the hardest," Jack quipped as Holly approached the passenger side seat. "Isn't that what James Bond says, girls?"