Nate: “Markus… wake up, sleepy head!  Time’s a wasting.”

Markus groaned and tried to turn, but found that he was once again more or less paralyzed.  He managed to open his eyes, and for a fraction of a second thought that only a few minutes had passed.  It was only his immense thirst and the extreme pressure in his bladder that told him otherwise.

Markus: “What time is it?  How long did you keep me knocked out?”

Nate: “It’s a bit after eight; you slept the whole day away!  Are you ready to cooperate now?”

Markus: “If you do this, you’re signing your own death warrant.”

Nate: “I think you’d be surprised!  I bet the guys are actually going to be really grateful for this, as I’m sure you’ll be as well.”

Markus: “Don’t count on it.”

Nate: “I’m going to do this now, so you can stop trying to waste time again.  Fool me once and all that.”

Nate was almost instantly on top of him, his weight forcing the air right out of his lungs.  Markus tried to fight him off, but succeeded only in weakly raising his arms a fraction of an inch.  Within seconds, he felt hot breath on his neck followed quickly by needle-like pain as Nate’s elongated teeth broke through his flesh with a revolting squelch. Markus tried to scream, but was incapable of drawing enough breath.  The pain was excruciating at first, but had quickly faded away as Nate continued to drink. 

After what seemed like hours, the world began to fade out, replaced by a growing center of black in the middle of Markus’s vision.  He felt tired, more tired than he’d ever felt in his life, and he was ready to let this world go.  His heart ached for Serge then, and if he’d had any energy left at all, he’d have dissolved into tears.

At the moment when the world had become entirely black, there was a violent explosion of color and light as a flood entered his mouth.  He choked on his own blood, recycled and infected through Nate’s body.  His mind reeled against the onslaught, wanting only to let this life go, while his body struggled to survive at any cost and in any form.  The virus took hold and reinforced the will to live, and soon he was drinking greedily.  The pleasure was immense, even in such dire circumstances.

After only a few short minutes, Nate was weakly pushing away from him, staggering drunkenly to his feet.

Nate: “Oh fuck… that was really stupid… shit.”

He looked down at Markus, wavering for a moment before crumbling once more to the ground. 

For a moment, Markus was unable to move, frozen in place by shock.  Slowly, he began to realize that while he was still immensely weak, he was no longer unable to move.  He rose to his feet, trembling, with his mind blazing with color and light.  He stood staring down at Nate long enough to realize he wouldn’t be getting up any time soon, then stumbled blindly out the nearest door and into the damp chill of the night.