He is the Bad Wolf

SHE CAN'T BE REAL

Gideon had had nightmares every night since he dreamed of Sia. Sometimes he would run from her while he was in his wolf form and no matter how fast he was, she would always catch up with him and murder him like he had killed her. Other times she presented herself as an angel, a healing and comforting light surrounding her. He could never help it and succumbed to such beauty, such perfection; all the love he felt for her filled him with peace. That peace soon turned into excruciating, sick pain. She tortured him until he begged her to let him die right there. Gideon still couldn't decide which of the two dreams terrified him the most, yet he didn't want to continue dreaming her or else he would go crazy. Luckily for him, today they had a reconnaissance mission and as always, his entire team had voted for the powerful alpha to take care of that because everyone in the fortress was weak. Why it does not surprise me? The reality was different; they were all a lazy ball of walking meat. But well! It's okay! He would take care of that; it was a piece of cake for him. Get out, investigate, report, rescue and return. Boom! Gideon went to the garage where Charlie had installed computer equipment, servers and other nonsense that he did not understand. There were also weapons, many, many weapons in every shape and form, from simple stakes to machine guns. Gideon preferred to swing his ax and cut off the enemy's head and then use it as a trophy.

“What do you have for me today?” he asked to Charlie as he grabbed his favorite black ax with golden specs. A single red sapphire had been incrusted on the handle, just below the blade.

“Today, according to our informant, there’s survivors in a hospital.”

Gideon winced at that. He hated hospitals, their smell most of all. “Oh, jolly, what a treat.” He said full of sarcasm, letting drip all over his friend’s face.

“Yeah. I don’t know how many, but some screaming was heard inside and well… it looks like it’s going to be fun!” Charlie then handed him a radio. “Which vehicle are you taking today?”

“The mini.” Gideon deadpanned.

“Seriously? You are taking the Mini Cooper?” Charlie rolled his eyes at him. “That’s so manly of you, I bet you’ll look all mighty and powerful swinging that ax out of the window while driving a yellow car.”

“Why do we even have it?” Gideon ruffled Charlie’s har as he shuffled towards the rack and grabbed the girly car’s keys. He mostly was doing it to annoy the living crap out of his friend, he’d planned to drive it off a cliff and return on foot if he found no survivors. “I think it has some personality.”

“Th- The car?! The car has a personality?” his friend scoffed. Both were walking side by side to the yellow vehicle. It does look kinda girly. Gideon sighed. At least is not pink. “It’s a piece of junk!”

“You are being so rude, Charlie. She will hear you!”

“Oh, why don’t you drop dead somewhere.” Gee, Charlie did hate this car. Now Gideon was considering in not getting rid of it. He’d work on it once he was back from exploring the hospital. That’ll piss him off for sure.

“Alright I’ll be back.” Gideon got in the car and started the engine. In the rearview mirror he could see Charlie making obnoxious gestures at him, Gideon in turn poked his head out the window and blew him a kiss. The hospital was not far from the fortress. It would be about thirty minutes away, if Gideon took the fast route through the tunnel he would be here soon. It was strange to see how the city had fallen into ruins, how humans had been stripped of everything that mattered to them. He had heard of vampires building concentration camps and throwing them there, especially the women- they treated them as objects. Gideon nearly vomited just thinking about it.

When Gideon arrived at the hospital it took him some time to accept that such an important place as this was in ruins. The tall building lay erect, some windows were broken, there was graffiti on the walls. Nature had already begun to claim territory by wrapping the structure in vines and fungi. It seemed that now they lived in a video game and only the zombies were missing. In this case the zombies had not caused the apocalypse, but the vampires. Wanting to feel some normalcy, Gideon parked the car in the underground parking lot. "This is stupid." he said to himself as he looked around the semi-empty parking lot. Many cars were probably useless from not having been started in so long. He would examine them later, maybe there would be something useful there. He got out of the car taking his ax and placing it in the back of his pants; he pressed a button on his radio which was now strapped to the harness across his chest. “I made it, over.”

“Go ahead, over.”

After climbing a lot of stairs, Gideon finally reached the ground floor. Normally a hospital like this would be packed with people in the waiting room, doctors talking to families. Nurses making sure no one got aggressive. But everything was empty, there was no one. Crumpled, dirty papers, stained with blood, lined the marbled floor under his boots. Gideon walked over to the map by the elevator and ripped it off the wall to take with him.

The first floor was the emergency room, hospital gurneys lying on the floor, some were broken, others seemed new as they had not been used that last day. There was no one. The second floor was the maternity ward, the smell was disgusting. There were babies still there, dead. Forgotten by their parents and hospital staff. He quickly left there and began to climb floors, investigating every corner without finding absolutely nothing. The top floor was the psychiatrist wing, he didn't want to go there. He was terrified of setting foot in that place for some reason. When Gideon arrived at the reception, he found a space cleaner than the others. Apparently, there was nothing interesting in here to kill or having it being drained. "Hello?" Gideon tried but heard nothing. False alarm. "There's no one in this f*****g place, over."

“Come back, I miss you. Over.”

“Yeah, yeah. Over.” When Gideon turned to leave, he heard some rattling noise coming from the end of the hall on his left. He reached for his ax and held it right against his thigh. “Is there anyone here?”

More rattling and then… “Hello?” A female voice called out. “Please! Help!” The distress in her voice sent shivers down his spine. Gideon walked slowly, with no need to hurry, while the woman kept calling for help. Finally, he reached a door and before entering he looked out the small window. A woman wearing nothing but a hospital gown which left little to the imagination trashed on the bed. Her wrists and ankles had been bound; her face was completely covered by auburn matted hair. His heart began to race. That hair. “Please! I want to go home! I want to see my mama!” she cried earnestly now.

Slowly Gideon pushed open the door and crept inside. "It can't be real." he whispered. The woman turned her head so fast that he heard her neck bones creak. He recognized that face immediately as he had been dreaming of it for days. He had been dreaming about her. "You are not real."

“Gideon?” She breathed his name. “What is happening? What is this place?”

And then his ax fell on the floor.