Michelle and I are coming back from a trip. We're meeting Otis at the hospital since he's visiting Marie. For some reason, we can't drive all the way down there. We try to hurry because we're approaching sundown and we need need to hide before the strigoi (a term for vampires that Robert and I heard in The Strain) come out. These aren't ordinary vampires. They're infected by a parasitic worm that leaches on to prey via appendage from the throat (again, another characteristic of the The Strain).
The hospital is miles away, but we try to jog there. We enter the glass building. I understand Otis to be our father just as in real life but he is Asian and doesn't speak English well. The first half of the hospital is the actual medical center but the rest of the tall building is a hotel for visitors. I try to explain to Otis that we have to go to our room now before the strigoi come and find us. He isn't understanding. Michelle asks him for our room number and the key, but he still isn't understanding. I tell Michelle that we'll just have to go up the floors and find a room that's unlocked and hide out until sunrise. I have to pry the elevator open. People see what we're doing and try to jump in front of us. We're all panicking. The elevator is completely full once I open it. I become concerned that maybe some of these people are infected and waiting for an opportune time to strike.
Michelle and I agree that maybe we can make it back to the car in time. We're running down the concrete sidewalk passing many sky scrapers. A woman runs out of one and stops us. She says she'll lead us to safety. I become uneasy but with the sun setting, it seems like the safest option. She leads us outside and lines us up with other women. We're on the second floor of another glass building holding onto the edges of a white balcony. A hoard of frat boys come and observe us. To make matters worse, I understand that these boys are infected.
The woman tells us that they're trying to breed hybrid strigoi so the species can survive the daylight. Michelle and I exchange glances. We want to run away but the city is only lit by sun flecks peeking between the buildings. I see people trying to run away and strigoi lurking in the shadows taking them one by one with their stingers.
The woman explains the rules of this "game." We're the prettiest women of our kind (huge complement so thank you dream me). The boys rank us and are matched based on how they rank up from each other. These boys are supposedly the fittest among the strigoi men (pretty pitiful if this is the best they can do). We have to spend a night with our match. If we survive, we have to breed with them for the rest of our days to create the perfect species. One by one each of us are taken to our respective frat boy. One woman tries to escape and is stung by her match. I try to keep my distance by staying in the last remnants of sunlight. Michelle and I are separated and dragged into the shadows.
