text: [Themes: horror, fantasy]
  
  As much as you loved your family, you weren't like them anymore. You were hungry. You promised yourself you would at least try to fight it off later, but for now, you needed blood. The increasing promise of food made you salivate, and brought some feeling back to your body. You felt stronger now.
  
  You sprung to your feet and ran for the woman. It wasn't until you almost had her that you realized you had no idea how to drink blood. The thought was slow to emerge, slower than your impulses. You seized her and threw her over your shoulder, and turned to bolt for the woods. As you took off, you could hear the woman's husband behind you, calling for help.
  
  You ignored the cries and ran into the woods, deeper into the darkness. Eventually, your energy started to drain. You dropped the woman and held her to the ground. You studied her, looking for an optimum spot to draw blood. You settled on her neck, and bit down hard. Your teeth were still dull and flat, so it took some effort to tear the skin. Once you passed the muscle tissue, blood began to spurt from the wound.
  
  You drank as much as you could. The woman flailed and struggled at first, and then slowly relaxed. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left. You wiped your mouth on your sleeve, satisfied. You weren't full, far from it, but this first official meal had helped tremendously. You studied the woman's lifeless body, wondering if it would come back to life like you did.
  
  It didn't take long for your rational thought to come back over the rush of the hunt, and the full weight of what you just did crashed onto you. You knew this woman. You knew her husband, her kid, and you just killed her. As you searched your mind for hate and guilt, you were surprised to find almost none. You understood what you'd done, but you didn't care. You looked at your own hands, now stained with blood, and wondered if you could even consider being human any longer.
  
  You sat in the darkness for awhile, before hunger made you rise again. Your quiet, timid voice of reason was being drowned out by your instinct to hunt, but the reason was still there. You had to eat, but you couldn't bring yourself to kill again. Could you?
  
  > Of Course Not
  As you stared down at the lifeless body of the woman you had just murdered, you sensed a moral switch being flipped somewhere inside you. As desperate as you were to keep feeding, you knew that if you kept killing humans, you would only help the Hunters. The doubt you previously had about them wanting to rid the earth of humans was fading. So, you made an executive decision: no more killing, for as long as you could. If it came down to survival, you would seek out lonely, suicidal humans. No more harm to anyone, if you could help it.
  
  You couldn't really put the body in a better place, so you left it behind and started off in the opposite direction of your neighborhood. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon, reminding you that the Hunters usually hid from the sun. It was another mystery, since you weren't sure if the sun harmed them, or they just didn't like the light, but you didn't want to stick around to see if you would start melting. You picked up the pace to a light jog, your weightless limbs floating through the air like paper.
  
  Eventually, you came upon a road. You didn't recognize it, and there were no buildings in sight. On the bright side, there weren't any cars on the road, so you were safe from human eyes. You considered following the road to see where it lead, but there was no telling what it would be, and stumbling onto a group of humans in your current state would definitely turn out bad for someone, most likely the humans. You decided to cross the road and keep moving in your current direction.
  
  The sun was now higher in the sky, bathing you in light. You couldn't feel the warmth of the sun anymore, a painful reminder of what you'd lost of your humanity. But, your skin wasn't peeling like old paint, and you weren't turned to dust, so at the very least you could keep searching for somewhere to stay. You kept pondering why the Hunters would avoid sunlight, and eventually chalked it up to darkness being easier to hide and sneak around in. Being in the woods with no human activity in sight, you didn't quite have to worry.
  
  Finally, your journey ended at another neighborhood. You stopped well before you were close enough for anyone to see. Not that anyone was around. The sun was up, but still low, so not many people had woken up for the day, and those who had were still in their houses, perhaps afraid of stragglers. You watched from the woods for awhile, trying to think of a way to get through the neighborhood without being seen.
  
  As you sat there, people started coming out of their houses. The first one was a man with a bell. He shook it in the air, letting it ring loudly. He announced that it was safe once again, and a few other people emerged from their houses. It was interesting to see how other communities dealt with safety in action, but the sight of all those humans made you hungry, not to mention the fact that they thought it was safe. You would have no trouble charging up, taking out the man with the bell...
  
  No. You refused, and dismissed the thought away. You couldn't waste valuable brainpower on thoughts like that. You looked away from the group of humans, who were now performing a sort of roll call, checking to see if anyone was taken. Your wandering eyes settled on a cellar door in the ground, a few feet away from the back door of the nearest house. You considered climbing down there to hide from the sun and wait until night, but it was risky. There was no telling what was down there, or if the humans frequented their cellar. You could sit and wait to see, but you didn't want to spend too much time exposed.
  
  Your slow wit was still mulling over the pros and cons when a flicker of movement brought you back to the group of humans. They were all looking directly at you. You tensed up and crouched down, waiting for a cry or for them to charge at you. They only stood there, watching you. you couldn't tell if they could even see you, as there was no discernible expressions on any faces. The group stayed together, and watched you.
  
  You sat unmoving for another few minutes. The group had seemingly dismissed you as an oddly-shaped plant, because they were splitting off and heading back to their homes. It was safe to go back to the cellar, if you dared. There was also a tingling feeling that the humans weren't staring at you for no reason. Perhaps they had seen you, and were just ignoring you?But that would be stupid. Surely they knew how dangerous you were, a beast knowing only hunger and violence. You began to entertain the idea of revealing yourself in the open, just to see how'd they'd react. You watched the inhabitants of one of the houses pile into a car and drive off, and looked at the cellar door a final time.
  
  > reveal Yourself
  The humans had mostly scattered from the road. Only a few remained, still deep in discussion. Keeping your eyes firmly locked on them, you slowly stood up out of the brush, very obviously visible. Almost immediately, the human facing you froze, making eye contact with you. The other humans turned, saw you, and began to split up.
  
  The humans began to yell commands at anyone who would listen, causing commotion. Slightly fearful, you hunched over. A group of them collected on the sidewalk several yards in front of you, armed with all manner of weapons. They stared you down defensively, apparently waiting for you make a move. You immediately regretted your decision, but there was no turning back now. You raised your hands up above your head, keeping eye contact with the mob.
  
  For a few moments, nobody made a move. Then one of the humans, wielding a handgun, slowly stepped forward. The barrel of the gun was trained on your chest. The human stared coldly at you, inching forward little by little. You could sense that he was going to shoot you, and your cloudy mind raced to find way to indicate that you were still good.
  
  As the human kept moving forward, you instinctively stepped backward. The human stopped abruptly, and so did you. One of the humans further back in the group yelled at him, asking what he was waiting for, to hurry up and shoot you. You stared into the human's eyes, and shook your head. The human's eyes widened, and he tilted his gun so that it was pointed at the ground.
  
  An argument erupted among the humans over whether to shoot you. The words were hard to follow, but nobody was aiming anything at you, so you didn't move, trying not to provoke anyone. Finally, the same human who had pointed his gun at you approached, unarmed. As moved closer to you, he slowed down and hesitated. The other humans in the group were trying to call him back, but didn't dare get close to you.
  
  Your mouth began to water, and you tensed up. The element of danger was gone, and there was a human standing right there, defenseless. Your stomach howled like a thunderstorm as you tried to suppress the urge to pounce. The human continued to get closer. The pain in your gut got worse and worse, until you couldn't handle it anymore. You stepped back and put your hands out in front of you, trying to warn the human to stay back.
  
  The movement was small and quick, but it was more than enough. A gunshot rang out, and an invisible force threw you backwards. You could see the large bullet hole through your left shoulder, and feel the tatters of your shirt brushing your skin where the bullet tore through. The approaching human leapt back.
  
  You faltered, but didn't feel much pain from the impact. After you regained your balance, you looked over at the mob. The shooter was a short, fat woman clutching a shotgun in her hands. She kept the gun pointed at you. She told you to go away, and called you a monster. You stepped back again, and the human shook her gun at you.
  
  You stood motionless, and so did the humans. Again, nobody dared move. You felt something sinking in your chest, as if your very organs were sliding down onto your stomach. Suddenly, you stumbled forward as the pain in your stomach became a white-hot piercing feeling. You fell forward, and another shot flew through you.
  
  You landed on your back, and quickly looked for where the bullet struck you. You saw a large hole in your left knee. Your leg was folded on itself, with bits of bone were visible. You looked up at the human with the shotgun, who was now approaching you. Fearing for your life, you scrambled to get up, only to find that with your new bullet wound, it was near impossible. You couldn't right yourself, and eventually gave up, rolling onto your back.
  
  The woman placed the shotgun barrel on your forehead, with her finger wrapped around the trigger. As a last-ditch effort to save yourself, you slapped the shotgun out of the way. The woman pulled the trigger again, but too late. The bullet blasted the ground next to you, showering the side of your face with dirt. Angry, the woman tossed the gun aside, and resorted to more violent means.
  
  She brought her foot up and stomped on your neck, crushing your esophagus. Not that you needed it. The woman stomped again and again on your face and neck, eventually cracking and breaking your jawbone. You couldn't feel any pain, but it was far too late to get up. Eventually, your skull gave way and your brain was crushed, putting you out of it.