The thrall had stopped pounding on the walls of the Burger Place but the silence wasn’t pleasant. Erik stood near the front of the restaurant. Crude plywood covered large plate-glass windows.

He looked outside, peeking from a crack in the wooden barrier. The glass, covered in handprints and grime made visibility poor, but he could make out non-movable human shapes.

The thrall stood motionless like a horrific army at attention. The taller Collectors walked between the haphazard rows the thrall had created.

Erik’s stomach twisted. He knew something was wrong but he couldn’t put together just what that was. The thrall didn’t stand around on a whim. They fell asleep after some inactivity but now they stood motionless, like they were waiting for a command.

He pulled back from the barrier and turned. He ran into Rebecca.

“What is wrong with you,” she said. “This is not good…”

“Have you seen them do this before?” Erik asked as Rebecca pulled on his arm.

“ I have,” she responded panic in her voice.“They’re organizing a breach of the Station 5. They don’t normally do this unless they want one of us very badly.” Rebecca replied.

“That’s you, they want you for what you are.” Erik said loud enough to make her stop and everyone in the room to turn.

“I know what you are,” Erik continued. “You’re a vampire.”

A few of the newer prisoners gasp but most didn’t and the room got quiet. Erik took a moment to regroup. He looked around to see every human-like pair of eyes stare at him.

“You’re an asshole, you know. No wonder no one likes you. That pair there…” She said pointing to Sean and Andrew. “The Outlaw Baker brothers know who you are… they were outside with you. They know you have some sob story about your family but they don’t care because you are miserable. You were a sign that says kill me now!”

Rebecca was screaming. She’d had enough.

“I shouldn’t have saved you. Go sit down with the other Transient Residents. Sit down and shut up.”

Erik could clearly see the fangs now as she spat angrily. He was intimidated by the thoughts, brought to mind by the movies and books of yester-years. Rebecca though, to her credit, pointed toward a group clustered behind the counter. Erik followed her order and headed that direction.

Erik began moved toward the group. He felt the weight of the groups eyes upon him. 

Something felt off and he immediately recognized it. A sudden sinking feeling.

His stomach tightened. 

Erik looked back at Rebecca. 

She stood still.

Not a breath. Not a twitch.

He glanced at the others. Their expressions were tight, unreadable. They weren’t looking at her. They were looking at him.

The realization slammed into him like a fist to the ribs.

She’s not real.

His jaw clenched. His hands curled into fists.

He swore under his breath, anger burning through him—not at Rebecca, not even at the others.

At himself.

He should have recognized it sooner. But they always felt so damn real.

It was never the mirages that terrified him, it wasn’t their fault.

It was the way the normals reacted when they saw him talking to nothing.

He was ready to fight. He waited. He stared at the group of men playing cards — the other group? 

Sean Garrison shook his head. His brother stepped forward. A man from the other side of the room broke the uncomfortable silence by shouting. 

“Who you talking too?”

Erik swallowed hard. He could lie or he could just admit it. 

“I have a condition. I’m managing it. Can we figure out what those monsters are doing outside please? Do we have an escape plan?”

He looked to the group and they stood quiet. 

“Can we do something!?”

This prompted Sean to walk toward him. The other man also started toward him.

THUD

The walls shuddered. Something crashed outside. A scream burst forward, like a battle charge, then a cacophony of punches struck from every direction. The plywood-covered windows struggled to stay upon the walls as the mob of thrall all struck at once.

The group of survivors inside gasp.

The card table was upended. 

Some ran and disappeared behind the thin rows that used to prepare fast food. Others stood and watched, frozen in fear or curiosity. 

Erik wasn’t going to wait and he ran to the very rear of the store. At the rear was a red metal door upon the door was letters that spelled

EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY

Alarm will sound

He shoved the door but it didn’t budge. 

“What are we going to do, hide in the walk-in freezer!” Erik shouts. His breathing increases and he begins to panic.

A man, dressed in black fatigues approaches Erik carefully. 

“I think we can handle this a little better,” he says trying to reassure Erik. 

“Handle something better? You’re asking me if I can handle something better, black shirt!” Erik growls and steps forward. 

Marcus steps back to counter. He grabs a nightstick hanging from a utility belt.

“You going to use that on me?” Erik said as he stared through the hefty man. Behind him stood a vision of his daughter, which made him shiver. He closed his eyes and opened them to see she was gone. 

He took a breath. Seeing Anne always took his breath away. He always knew she was a mirage but it was always a shock.

“You need to calm down man,” the man shouted, interrupting the moment.

Erik was ready to snap back but the mirage took a moment from him. After that moment a loud CRACK draws attention as on of the sheets of plywood comes crashing down.

A second large piece of plywood crashed to the floor, the sound echoed through the small building like a gunshot. Cracks spidered out across the laminated glass. Some sections bowed inward, ready to collapse. 

Outside hundreds of thrall stand waiting. Some sway like reeds near a pond. Others stand, no movement at all, sleeping.

The humans within the Burger Place gasp. Overwhelmed by the numbers. 

“Why are you not helping these people!” Rebecca screamed. Erik jumped. She stood beside him. “The thrall are coming in here, obviously. The window, hell the building will not stand this abuse,” she continued.

“Why are you haunting me?” Erik snapped, voice rising with panic.

He turned and found himself face to face with Marcus.

“You’re a crazy spook,” Marcus spat. But instead of swinging, he just turned and walked away.

Erik swallowed hard, closed his eyes and tried to reset. 

He opened his eyes. 

Something thumped hard against the laminated glass. The cracks creaked angrily and spread. 

Erik turned toward the glass to see a full-grown, thrall man rolling down the glass. He landed upon the outstretched arms of other thrall, who quickly dropped him to the ground. 

The thrall pushed forward. The laminated window groaned. 

Erik watched the mob outside as they shoved each other in an organized effort to push the glass from its frame. A Collector, larger than the other thrall, stood in the center of the mob. The thrall crowded around it. Erik watched as the steroid-laden monster snatched a thrall up and toss it into the building.

The entire building shuttered. 

“We need to get out of here,” Erik said to Sean, Andrew stood beside him. The other two men, Marcus and a wiry, tattooed man stood in the kitchen with him. 

“Is it only the five of us?” Erik asked.

“Six with the one you have been talking too,” growled Marcus.

“Right six with Rebecca,” Erik knew she was a figment, a made-up adviser, but he also knew that everyone else already had a reason to not like him so why not embrace it. 

“Rebecca says she was a Guide and there was an escape tunnel.

“He talks like she right here. There is no one here!” Marcus screams. 

“Black shirt scum,” Erik lost it. He step forward and shoved the former MARS prison guard. Marcus fell backward into the wiry man, who shoved him back. Fists fly. Erik ducked the first. Struck with the second and tumbled over the card table. He got to his feet as fast as his middle-aged body would. He prepared to be overwhelmed. The men in the restaurant seemed ready to turn him into paste. 

The glass from the window shattered, pieces sprayed everywhere. 

Erik stood. He ran to the back of the restaurant. 

The thrall seemed to be cheering but the chatter was largely unintelligible. The group has near seconds to find the escape hatch and leave.

Erik searched the walls. He searched fallen racks of long expired food for clues. 

Erik listened as the thrall stumbled over each other. The human men cursed and paced, trying to plan their escape. 

A large metal door, that used to be the exit, sat to Erik’s left but it wasn’t budging. He had tried it a bit earlier. The others slammed into the door but it didn’t move. 

“Why doesn’t the door open?”

The answer came to him in seconds.

“It’s a Harrowed door!” He said loudly. 

“They blocked the door so no thrall could come in. This means that the escape hatch is the same thing. It’s hidden behind a wall.”

“Help me throw all this crap in the way of the thrall coming in,” he commanded. 

Sean was first to help, then his brother. They began to build a metal pile of shelves, stoves and anything that could be moved. Erik didn’t even want to know what the thrall were doing but he could hear them closing in. 

He ran his hands along the plaster outside wall then a metal wall. The metal was cold— “Insulated… it’s in the cooler. There has to be a door here, somewhere.”

Shots rang out. The sound overwhelmed all the other sounds and he winced for a moment. He opened his eyes and saw it. A rectangular ledge that didn’t belong. He swiped down and it busted open to reveal a long, slender handle. He pulled and the thick door opened. Inside was dark, smelled like mold but he saw an entrance. Inside the entrance was a faint light. 

“In here, let’s go… now!” 

Sean, Andrew were first followed by Marcus. Erik waited for the wiry man but once he saw the first thrall he pulled the door shut. A metal post stood beside the door. He set it carefully within welded straps to secure the door.