Teru noticed they avoided any major paths and old cement roads. He was told vampires took those routes when traveling through here. Over the years, humans made their own secret paths by marking the trail with bottles, rusty cans, or plastic ribbons on the trees.

The group was hyped up. The older members were wary because they'd seen crap go down south while the younger members looked around and enjoyed the new scenery. When they stopped for lunch, the jerky was more tasty than usual. Despite sunset approaching, he wasn't tired at all.

Teru has never been this far before! He took in the sights of new creeks, unfamiliar hilly views, and Nolan approaching the group from the back.

Wait.

Why was Nolan here?

No one else seemed to have noticed their pack leader. Teru stopped with trembling legs after seeing Nolan's furious expression, knowing he was in deep trouble. The others around him noticed his bitter pheromone smell from fear. Similar to how alphas emit musky pheromones when angry, omegas give off a bitter scent when scared. They followed Teru's gaze and became confused at Nolan's presence.

Josy spoke up, "Leader! Why are you here?"

"Shut up," he ordered with his alpha tone. It was sharp, full of authority, and reeked of alpha musk to subdue the others into submission. The smell was gross to Teru. It made the others look down, a submissive gesture. Teru held his head up high in defiance, making sure to hold eye contact with Nolan. This ruffled the leader's feathers by showing his teeth.

"Let's go," Nolan growled. "There's not a lot of time."

No one knew what he meant by that. No time for what?

Who freaking cares.

"No."

"I. Said. Go." The command was strong. His inner omega wanted to listen and follow like a good puppy for the dominant alpha. It wanted to please him.

Teru clenched his jaw together. "N-no." Denying the alpha was physically painful to his instincts.

Nolan lurched forward and pulled at Teru's throat with his teeth. The move made him fall to the ground, belly upward. Another submissive gesture. Lucas tried to pull him off the omega, but Nolan snapped at him to back off.

Their leader let go of his throat. Teru coughed. Nolan grabbed onto his nape roughly and forced him up. He started to drag him away from the scavengers.

Teru whimpered for help. Thankfully, his best friend heard. Lucas jumped on Nolan and tried to bite his jugular - not to kill him but as a challenge. His neck was released and he sank to the ground.

Nolan was about to accept the challenge when he noted everyone watching him with hesitant and fearful faces. Not wanting to cause a scene, he stood up and straightened his clothes. "So you're doing this useless trip?" he seethed.

Teru nodded 'yes.'

"Expect you and Lucas to face consequences upon your return." He headed back in the direction of the caves. Once he was out of sight, everyone let loose and talked quietly to each other. What the heck was that? Why was he so violent towards Teru? They concluded it must be an alpha wanting to protect his mate.

We're not even mates..., Teru wanted to scream.

Lucas helped Teru to his feet. He eyed the teeth marks on his Adam's apple. "I can lick those for you."

Licking wounds was an alpha thing. It helped heal minor wounds faster.

He put on his inner mask which cracked more after the encounter of being manhandled like a weak omega. "I'm totally fine. It'll heal in no time," he smiled.

What a first day.

There was nothing dramatic on the second day. They came across some building ruins from Before. Josy told the newbies it used to be a house, where each human family had their own building to eat, sleep, and enjoy each other's company.

The thought of having your own private place was unfathomable.

While trying to sleep under the clear night sky, Teru wondered what his mom was doing. What she was thinking. "Hey," he whispered.

"Hmm?" Lucas hummed drowsily.

"I'm worried about Mom."

His friend opened an eye at him. "Don't be. She was in the wrong for not letting you go. You're not a pup anymore. Besides, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I would've done the same thing if my parents were here."

This shut Teru up. Lucas rarely mentioned his parents, who died from a measles outbreak ten years back. During that extra cold winter, they didn't have vaccines and not a lot of food. It was a tragic year after losing 76 members.

Teru eventually fell asleep.

The journey was wearing him out. It was steeper, and the hills became more mountainous. He gunned down a large buck that he luckily saw through the trees. The group said their thanks for the meat since it was a delightful break from jerky and fruit.

Halfway through this day, Lucas carried Teru on his back without complaint. The inside of Teru's chest softly purred.

Walking, eating, rest, walking, eating, sleep.

Teru loved nature-gazing, but dang, the bloody sores on his heels hurt.

Were they almost there?

It was after lunchtime when Josy stopped them.

"Alright yeh pussywillows, we will be approaching the neighborhood soon. Ransack the houses in pairs or bigger groups; never alone. Before entering each house, don't go in right away. Listen and determine if there are any animals inside. The last thing yeh need is a mama bear eatin' yeh. Take what yeh want. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

They left the small path and onto a broken, grey road. Weeds and bushes grew out of the cement cracks. Barely, just barely, you could see rows of houses beneath the heavy trees and thick vines. It was obvious as to why it went undetected this whole time. If you weren't looking for houses, you'd easily miss this place.

The group broke up into pairs of two or three. Lucas and Teru were clearly together. Scavengers broke the doorknobs with crowbars, listening for any dangerous sounds, and then entering the structures. It was all fascinating to see how it worked.

The two walked to the seventh house. They followed the instructions - Lucas broke off the doorknob, creaked the door open, watched for any signs of animals, and went inside.

It smelled of mildew and mold. Some of the windows were broken. The squishy bed thing was nothing but rusty springs. Ah. That was a couch.

Most of the items were covered in dust and dirt. There were weird-shaped rectangular items; what they were used for, Teru couldn't only speculate. The buttons suggested it was technology. His father told him stories of human houses being warm in the winter and cold in the summer. They had entertainment boxes called TVs to watch the lives of other humans, and they could research anything through a piece of thin metal called a laptop. It was all so foreign.

But Teru always wanted to see a refrigerator. The idea of storing food without it spoiling in days was appealing. He went to the kitchen saw the big box with doors. He opened it excitedly...

...and promptly threw up once the smell hit him.

Black mold caked the shelves. Mouse bones piled in the corners. There were old bottles with grey matter inside them. Lucas patted his back as he vomited his jerky lunch. "Here's some water. Let's go to the second floor before moving on. I don't see anything worth taking here."

His stomach hurt when they went up the stairs. The wood threatened to snap under their weight. There was nothing in the main bedroom. He inspected the faint photographs on the walls. The pictures were almost white from time, but he could tell there were two adults and three children.

The last room he looked at was the kids' room. Some of the toys still had color to them. The stiff bed covers were pulled off as if someone had just woken up. Since the window wasn't broken, it was mostly dusty.

Teru wiped the dust off the bookshelf and grabbed a random book. He couldn't read it, but the cover had the omega symbol on the front. Were the children who lived here omegas?

He opened it which had cartoony graphics of postures and body parts. The bite mark on the nape must be an alpha mark. Next were two people holding hands with a red heart. Courting maybe? Another was a pregnant male character. He looked at the swollen belly for a while before turning the page. The other things he did not know. Why was this character in a pile of clothes and blankets? And why the HECK was this one on all fours with her butt in the air?!

Ugh. If only he could read and understand omega stuff. Teru took it with him. Lucas saw it with a raised eyebrow. "Interesting book?"

"It's about omegas. Maybe I could decipher it somehow."

"Good idea."

Time to go to the next one. The experienced scavengers were doing a good job at finding useful items quickly. On the carts, there were cans of food, knives, hammers, some guns, radios, and other things.

They stood in front of the 13th house which was the last one on this street. It was bigger than the others with a wrap-around porch. This one seemed a little...off. Teru couldn't exactly say what. Lucas didn't notice. He broke the doorknob and pushed the door open to reveal the blackness inside.

His friend started to go in.

"Wait."

He froze at Teru's hesitancy. "What?"

It was probably nothing. He went to Lucas and brushed the dust off his hair. "You're dirty."

Lucas smiled seductively and swished his hips back and forth. "Dirty for you."

"Ha, nasty boy."

The stairs were to the right and the hallway leading to the living room was to the left. "I take upstairs, you take downstairs?" Lucas asked.

"Sure."

Before Teru went, Lucas grabbed his hand. "When we're done with scavenging today, I have something to tell you."

"Really? Is it something you can say now?"

Lucas looked unsure. "Um, I feel this isn't the right place and time. I'd rather wait until we're comfortable and under the stars. I don't know what'll happen once we return to the caves. Nolan might confine me."

"O-okay."

The alpha looked away embarrassed and went upstairs.

Teru walked down the hallway, wondering what he wanted to say.

This house was messy, whatever happened long ago. Objects were strewn about. There were some mummified animal carcasses. The spider webs were abandoned because bugs didn't come to this desolate place.

He went to the kitchen and found a large silver knife. It would be perfect for skinning meat. It was pure silver, too!

Nothing else seemed useful. He returned to the living room and waited for Lucas to come down. Teru looked around again at the chaotic room. The dust was unsettled on some of the items. That was weird. Did Teru look through there?

Then, he noted the claw marks on the walls. Wallpaper fell down from the scratches. Goosebumps formed on his arms.

That's when he saw a man's face emerging from the neighboring, pitch-black room.

It had fangs.

It looked at him with murderous intent.

It was a vampire.

His pack members' screams filled the air outside.

They were being ambushed.