Free Requiem for Blood by Alexandra Hope

of colorful mats. The recreation center looked like it had been undergoing some renovations that hadn't made its way to the entrance, which looked filthy and charmless compared to the rooms. It looked like it could be put to great use for the colony and Olivia had no doubts in her mind that her mother had already thought about it and was probably putting the plan in motion at that very moment.
    “We will be in the basketball court, it's just down the hall,” her mother said to her.
    Olivia nodded as they walked off. She continued to scan the building, awed at the multitude of rooms, lights glowing and shining brightly against the equipment. She had found herself in a hollow room, benches lining the entrance to it and chlorine stinging her nose as she walked in further. She felt a splash underneath her feet, the puddle of water rippling as she stepped out of it and opened a second door, the scent even stronger. The water was still, its blue color reflecting serenely off the light. She had never been in a pool or near one but the scent of it was unmistakable. She took slow steps toward it until she was at the water's edge and peering into but unable to see her reflection. A familiar scent masked the smell of chlorine as she dangled on the edge:, intoxicating as it began to build up in her nose. She recalled the scent of the guy and knew instantly that he was somewhere close. She tried to reel back from the pool but her eye's caught something in the water. Red rose to the top, soiling the water a dark crimson and in the sea of blood before her she saw a hand rise to the surface. Just a hand. As the blood spread across the water, the guy's scent grew stronger. The hand hadn't moved but neither had Olivia as she continued to watch on, paralyzed by her own thoughts. A voice of unsettling calm echoed in her head, what is a human life worth?
    She repeated those words under her breath and shut her eyes. When she opened them, the pool had returned to its normal color. She dumped the images out of her mind, writing them off as a trick of sleep deprivation, but couldn't help but recall the nightmares she had earlier. Still, she thought, a human life was so insignificant that its value—it's worth—could not be measured. She had begun learning that lesson early on.
    As she re-entered the halls of the recreation center, she noticed the scent of the boy's blood was practically beckoning her to find it—to drink it and be satiated by it. There was something building up in her, a thirst for blood that as a human, she never completely experienced. She toyed with the thought that she wasn't in fact human anymore, but a hand to her chest reminded her that her heart was still beating and she was still human, at least physically. However, her humanity, the reminder of her mortality and the thing that bound her to other humans and made her feel, was fleeting. She thought that maybe his blood brought something out in her, but it was probably unlikely. Putting a hand over her nose, she rushed to the other side of the building, hoping the scent would fade away. At the end of the first floor of the building, she found a door that read Supply Room—Authorized Users Only, but turned as footsteps came from behind her.
    “Hey, I thought that was you. Girl from the beach, right?”
    His hair was drenched with water, dark blonde strands sticking to his face, and a stench of chlorine radiating from him. A bead of liquid traced his eyebrows before dripping in his eye, stinging it before he blinked it away and scrunched water out of his hair and onto the floor. He was dressed in blue jeans, darkened where the water soaked them and held his brand new shoes in his hand.
    Olivia cleared her throat as she narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Can I help you?”
    “Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not stalking you or anything. My names Troy, I saw you when I was in the pool...”
    “Why are you here?” a growl slipped out from within her but he didn't notice.
    He shrugged his