RESURRECTED by Morgan Rice Page B

blood-red sun—but this time it looked different. It didn’t seem like sunset, but rather sunrise. She was confused. Had she slept the whole night? Had Scarlet come home? And where had everyone gone?
    Caitlin headed towards the front door. For some reason she sensed that maybe Scarlet was there, waiting for her.
    She slowly pulled open the heavy door, looking out. But the world was absolutely still. There wasn’t a single person on the streets, or even a single car in sight. All she could hear was the sound of a lone morning bird chirping. She looked up and saw it was a raven.
    Caitlin heard a sudden noise, and turned and walked back through the house. She walked into the kitchen, looking for signs of anyone. She heard another clanging, and made her way to the window against the back wall. The drapes were drawn tightly here, too, which was odd, because Caitlin always kept them open. She reached for the drapes, and pulled the cord.
    As she did, she jumped back in fright. Standing outside, its face to the window, was the pale, white face of a vampire, completely bald, fangs extended and right up against the glass. It snarled and hissed as it reached up with its hands and placed its palms against the glass. Caitlin could see its long, yellow fingernails.
    There was another sudden noise, and Caitlin turned and saw the face of another vampire at the side window.
    There was the sound of breaking glass, and she turned and in the other direction saw yet another face. This one smashed his head right to the glass, sneering at her.
    Suddenly, her house was filled with the sound of breaking glass. Caitlin ran through the house, and everywhere she looked, the walls were different than she remembered. Now they were all made of glass windows, and everywhere she looked, drapes were being pulled back and windows shattered, as vampire after vampire stuck its head through.
    Caitlin ran from room to room, to the front door, trying to get away, as more and more windows shattered.
    She reached the front door and yanked it open—and stopped in her tracks.
    Standing there, facing her, a deadly look in her eyes, was Scarlet. She glared back at Caitlin, looking more dead than alive, stark white, and with a fierce look that wanted to kill. Even more shocking, behind her stood an army of vampires—thousands of them. All waiting to follow her, to rush into Caitlin’s house.
    “Scarlet?” she asked, hearing the fear in her own voice.
    But before she could react, Scarlet grimaced, leaned back, and pounced on Caitlin, her fangs aiming right for her throat.
    Caitlin woke screaming, sitting up in her chair. She reached for her throat, rubbing it with one hand, while with her other hand, she tried to push Scarlet off.
    “Caitlin? You OK?”
    After several seconds, Caitlin calmed down and looked up and realized it wasn’t Scarlet. It was Sam. At first, she was confused. Then she realized, with tremendous relief, that she had been sleeping. It was just a nightmare.
    Caitlin sat there, breathing hard. Standing over her were Sam, one hand on her shoulder, looking concerned, and Polly. The lamps were on, and she saw it was dark out. She glanced at the grandfather clock and saw it was after midnight. She must have fallen asleep in the chair.
    “You okay?” Sam asked again.
    Now Caitlin was embarrassed. She sat up, wiping her forehead.
    “Sorry to wake you, but it seemed like you were having a bad dream,” Polly added.

    Caitlin slowly stood, pacing, trying to shake off the awful vision of the dream. It had felt so real, she could almost still feel the pain in her throat where she had been bitten by her own daughter.
    But it was just a dream. She had to keep telling herself that. Just a dream.
    “Where’s Caleb?” she asked, remembering. “Have you heard anything? How did the calls go?” The expressions on Sam’s and Polly’s faces told her all she needed to know.
    “Caleb’s still out there looking,” Sam said. “I called it quits about an