52 Setting a Trap

I glance at the phone in my hand and find it's only a couple more hours before sundown. It took several hours to teach everyone the very basics of blood magic. Learning the basics of magic can be difficult, but as members of the blood race, they should have some instinctual sense of blood magic.

I enter the lobby to find that many people are now roaming about the hospital. That isn't what's surprising; though, what's surprising is that there doesn't seem to have been any decrease in the number of people here if anything there seems to be more.

'I thought a lot of people would leave and try to make their way to one of the military camps, but it seems to be quite the opposite. I guess before I leave, I should probably check and see if Terry and Aponi learned anything.'

I make sure to keep toward the edge of the rooms and to take hallways that seem mostly underutilized. Eventually, I pick up a familiar smell of blood and walk across a corner. At first, my eyes fall onto a slender bandaged hand and then turn upward to find Aponi talking to one of the doctors. The doctor's face is blushing, and he seems to be recounting a story of a surgery he did that many considered 'impossible' according to him. He uses big medical centric terms that your average person would have no chance of knowing, seemingly in a bid to impress Aponi.

I sigh and pick up a clipboard sitting nearby. I try to frisbee toss it toward Aponi's feet simply to break up there conversation, but at that moment, the doctor steps forward to leave and steps onto the clipboard. He tries to regain his footing but accidentally falls backward, hitting his head on a desk and falling unconscious.

Aponi looks at me with wide eyes, and I scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

"What the hell, Eira?!" Aponi shouts.

"It was an accident. I didn't know he would try to leave right at that moment."

Aponi checks for a pulse and sighs, "Well, did you need something? I thought you were leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm about to, but then I noticed that no one seems to have left. Do you know why that is?"

Aponi's expression turns complicated, "Yes, actually..."

Aponi went on to explain that Camp B is considered a lost cause and is set to be bombed within the next 12 hours. When they were selecting a new location, they realized that with Camp B in the North and the docks where the Moonlight originally made landfall in the West this left a lot of civilians in the center of the city vulnerable as they'd need to travel to Camp A or Camp C on foot. Thus they decided to select a new location closer to the center of the city. Apparently, that's when the military heard hundreds of people had already started to gather at this hospital.

"...So basically they are going to make this the new Camp B?" I ask.

Aponi nods, "That seems to be their plan."

"What about me? Do they know I'm here?"

"Apparently, they know that someone who matches your description seems to be here, but evidently, there have been dozens of false sighting of you across the city... and even some in other cities."

I tilt my head, "So, they aren't even going to look for me?"

"No, they'll definitely look for you, but if they don't find you, they'll probably think it was just another false sighting."

"When will they be here? Do you know?"

"Yeah. They'll be sending some soldiers by helicopter to begin organizing things tonight, but they'll be confined to the upper three floors until daybreak. The rest will be here first thing in the morning."

"Oh, well, I can work with that. By the way, how did you get all this information you weren't up here very long?"

Aponi smiles proudly, "Partially, my own experience, but I got most the information from the police chief. Ya know the one you met when we first got here."

"Police chief? That heavyset officer?"

Aponi nods.

Beneath my mask, I pout, "It's a big city, why'd the police chief have to be here?"

"I wouldn't worry about him too much. The military is the biggest problem. Anyway, are you still going to go out tonight?"

"Yeah, I know, and yes, I'm still going."

Aponi's expression changes into one of annoyance, "Why? Is there really something that important? You know if you get yourself killed after derailing my life, I'm gonna be pissed."

"Psh, you shouldn't worry about me. Worry about yourself. I'll be fine."

"Mhm, and if you aren't?"

I cross my arms and think for a moment, "...I can run really fast. Especially when I don't have anyone else with me."

Aponi's expression deepens, "Your answer is that you can run really fast?"

"Just be quiet. Saying it out loud sounds really dumb, but it's the truth. Anyways I'm going; if most of the military forces are going to be here in the morning, all the more reason I'm going tonight."

Aponi places her hand on her forehead in frustration, "Fine, just go so you can come back sooner than."

"Will do and thanks for being so worried about me" I laugh and begin to walk away Aponi yells something, but I ignore it.

I keep my head down and first try to leave through an emergency exit in the back of the hospital only to find it blocked. I glance at the windows thinking about slipping out that way, but they've all been boarded up to some extent and don't look to be made to open anyways.

'Tearing down boards and breaking a window would probably draw more attention than just leaving out the front door, so yeah... I'm just going to try to leave through the front door.'

I make my way back toward the lobby finding most people have already begun making their way back up towards the top three floors. I quickly walk out the front door and find a few officers standing around, laughing loudly. I glance over to find them standing around Terry, slapping his back cheerfully. For only a moment, I notice Terry's head glance in my direction and then quickly turn back toward the officers.

'A bit strange, but a good opening.'

Taking the opportunity, I swiftly make my way toward the road. I breathe a sigh of relief but notice the sounds of a helicopter. Glancing back, I see a military helicopter land on the roof of the hospital.

'Seems they're already here. Aponi says they'll probably stick to the upper three floors for the night and wait for backup tomorrow before searching the area. I'll trust her analysis; she would know better than me.'

In order to get where I am going quickly, I begin to run. With my current stats, my running speed is faster than the fastest humans sprinting speed. I obviously haven't checked every human's status, but if I had to guess without levels, a human's stats will likely never go beyond an eight, and even that would be surprising, the limit for some stats might be closer to a seven. Either way, that would probably put them at the top of whatever field they are in.

'If I remember humans are supposed to have the best endurance among Earth's current creatures, so maybe an eight for that is possible, but a seven for strength might be the limit? Hmm, status.'

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Level: 3 (0/50)

Health: 325/330

Mana: 118/150

Strength: 18

Endurance: 18

Agility: 19

Intellect: 15

Constitution: 33

Talents: Paranormal

Skills: Intermediate Blood Magic; Novice Scythe; Novice Shadow Magic

Titles: Heir of Blood

Essence: -90

'Well, either way, no normal human should be able to confront me alone.'

While thinking about this, I continue to move between alleys and buildings, trying to avoid the main roads. My goal is to head farther West toward where I think the Crawlers have begun to establish themselves. I continue like this while lost in thought, and I eventually turn a corner and carelessly run out from one of the alleys. I hear a noise and turn my head to find myself in the line of sight of a military convoy's camp.

"Oopsie," I mumble.

I quickly spin around and run the way I came from.

"Hey, wait!" I hear someone yell.

"No, I don't think I will," I shout back.

Luckily with no pedestrians in my way, I'm quickly out of their sight.

I stop and begin to think, 'Hmm, you know now that I think about it, I might be able to find a few interesting things back at that camp. Explosives could be particularly useful... I think I might take a closer look.'

I turn around and begin to run back. I hear something clicking down the alley I just came from, so I stop and prepare to intercept the person.

'Sounds like they are on a bike. Probably not military, I suppose.'

I extend my claws, and when I hear it just around the corner, I immediately swing my arm out and grab the person by the shirt. I move my claws quickly toward there throat only to stop abruptly.

"Are you kidding me?" I almost scream.

What I've managed to grab is a girl with golden hair and two different color eyes.

"Hello, I followed you; don't be mad," Eden says.

"Why are you here?!"

Eden's face turns flush, "Uhm, it was Terry and Aponi's idea."

"Then why aren't they here so I can beat the snot out of them?"

"Well, because they said I should go because you'll beat the hell out of them..."

"Well, they aren't wrong!" I take a deep breath and regain my composure, "Just forget it. I'll think of a punishment later."

"You aren't going to make them cut off fingers, are you?" Eden asks with panicked eyes.

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but it won't be anything like that. Also, why don't you think the punishment includes you!?" I shout.

"Because Terry and Aponi said..."

"I don't care what they said!"

Beneath the mask, a sinister smile forms, "But now that you're here, I think you can be a big help." I say with a cheerful voice.

Eden begins to struggle, "Eira, I'm really sorry!"

After that, I think some more about the practicality of trying to steal explosives from the military convoys camp and eventually decide against it. In the end, I decided to go with my original plan. Having decided this, Eden and I make our way to a gas station and fill every container we can find with gasoline. The whole time Eden doesn't speak seemingly becoming more and more nervous with the way events are proceeding.

"I'm excited. How about you?" I say jokingly to Eden.

Eden doesn't respond.