Page 1 of Marked By Him

PROLOGUE

The Journal of David Alexander

I’m writingthis and placing it within the pages of the Holy Bible. God knows we could all use a little faith right now. Hopefully, one day, I’ll open this book and reflect on these words, knowing that we were able to find hope in the midst of destruction.

Theworld is chaos. A virus is spreading with no sign of a cure. Humans are behaving like animals, hungry for flesh, thirsty for blood and acting like savages. Buildings are burning. Neighbors are turning on neighbors. Nowhere is safe.

The military tried to intervene, but they were no match against these demons. They walk the earth like regular humans, but the devil’s DNA runs through their veins. Their thirst for power is only outweighed by their thirst for blood. Politicians, bankers, CEOs—they’re all among the infected. It’s like an elite club for sinners and the world has become their playground.

We have taken our family and closest friends to a place we know well. It’s a small community of cottages by the mountains. It’s gated for security. There’s a playground for the little ones and a stream for fishing. It's quiet. Solitary. Away from the madness.

I just pray we can survive.

Should something happen to me and someone else find this journal, heed the words of the book you found it in. I don’t know what your world looks like now, but this book promises it won’t always be this way. There is a paradise, a perfect world free from the monsters and sin that surround you. Read the Bible. Abide by its words. Stay vigilant.

Paradise awaits.

1

Eve

I was cursed.Cursed with a body that never knew the virus that destroyed an entire world. Cursed to live my life in hiding because of a treasure that ran through my veins.Liquid gold.That was what my parents called it.

I called it blood.

Wars were fought over it. Humans were taken to places and farmed like animals for it. Those who had it were desperate to keep it and those who needed it would do anything to take it.

There were two types of beings in our world—the hunter and the prey. Because of my curse, I was the prey. Vampires were the hunters, and darkness was the kingdom that they dwelled in. The only safe place was the light, and there were even some who could withstand that.

They were faster, stronger, and viler than we were. So, we had to be smarter. We had to be fearless.

They needed to reign.

We needed to survive.

We were humans in a vampire world. We didn’t have all the luxuries of the big cities. No cars. No big houses with swimming pools in the backyard. Nothing had changed for them. Everything had changed for us.

There were no sources for food or clothing. We didn’t have modern technology.

We only had each other.

We survived by staying out of the way. We didn’t bring attention to ourselves. We moved from place to place. We made our camps near the mountains, along the border of two vampire territories. And no matter what, we never went into the forest that divided the two clans. There were things in those woods, ancient stories of beings that also worshiped blood. Only these beings weren’t vampires. They couldn’t have been human, either. They had to be something in between.

We traded goods with other camps like ours, small camps along the same border.

I walked one of those camps now with my parents. We’d been here a dozen times before. Stories said it was once a prison, hundreds of years ago. Now, it was nothing more than a burned-out husk, a testament of pain and destruction. Doors hung loosely on hinges and the outside gardens were overgrown with weeds. All that remained was broken glass and scattered debris. Inside this camp, we’d once found a kinship that gave us all hope.

Too bad it wasn’t hope that kept us alive.

It was fear.

Heavy silence fell around me as I looked around. It wasn’t the type of silence that offered comfort. It was foreboding. Eerie. Like an omen.

Anytime we left our camp to do any kind of trade, there were three rules:

Cover as much ground as possible in the least amount of time.

Get in and get out.

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