Dead by Dawn by Bret Wellman

her.
    They met halfway, directly behind his car. He fell into her, wrapping his hands around her waist. She felt like hard ice, but he didn’t care. He wanted her so bad he couldn’t control it.
    Their lips met and he closed his eyes. She tasted sweet. His entire body felt alive.
    She pulled away and seconds later he heard his name being called. When he opened his eyes she was gone.
    A feeling of loss washed over him.
    “Hello, Matt?” One of his coworkers, a man named John, walked up and snapped his fingers.
    Matt felt dazed and did his best to pull himself back together. “What?” he half slurred.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Oh, yeah. No, I’m fine.” He bent down and picked up his car keys.
    How had they gotten on the ground?
    “You have a good night,” said Matt. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    The rest of his team was coming out of the building. Matt climbed into his car, where he could sit in peace and try to catch his breath.
     
    Juicy King, NC - July 9th
                   Only two hours into his shift at the fast food joint and Sam was already growing sick of people. He didn’t know why it was so hard for anyone to pick up after themselves. Almost once every half hour there would be another pile of trash and it was up to him to pick it up.
    The day shift didn’t have to put up with that crap. It was only at night when the high school kids needed a place to hang out.
    “Well grow up!” he just wanted to shout at them all. “I’m not your maid!”
    He supposed it wasn’t too bad tonight. On a normal night he would have to go around once every ten minutes. Business was slow, which was weird for a weekend. Probably everybody was at home avoiding the disease going around.
    Well at twenty years old and paying his own way through college, he couldn’t afford that luxury.
    Bring on the disease! Or the vampires , if he was to believe all the crazies running around.
    “Sure is slow,” said Jessica, one of his coworkers. “I haven’t seen a single person in twenty minutes.”
    “It’s kind of nice,” said Sam.
    “Yea, unless they decide to fire one of us because they didn't bring in enough money.”
    “Well, as the manager I think I can safely say it will be you and not me.”
    Jessica scowled. “How nice of you Sam.”
    He smiled and hopped up on one of the counters in the back. Jessica leaned her back against the cash register so she was facing him.
    The Juicy Burger uniform wasn't flattering, a purple polo shirt, loose dress pants and a black sun visor. Somehow Jessica still pulled it off. She was nineteen and Sam had always been attracted to her.
    “When’re you going to let me take you out?” he asked.
    “When you stop being such a dick all the time.”
    “So never?”
    Sam saw the silhouette of a person walking in the parking lot. He hopped off the counter and walked up to stand by Jessica at the cash register.
    A man came up and opened the front entrance, but didn’t step inside. His clothes were tattered and he stood still as a statue. His skin was so pale that he looked like a walking corpse.
    Judging by his appearance, Sam would guess he was homeless.
    If anyone was a vampire, it was this guy, he thought.
    “Welcome to Juicy Burger,” he said. He waved to the man, though he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. His anxiety was beginning to flare and he felt a strong urge to get away.
    The man gave a bloody smile, flashing two large fangs. “Thank you,” he hissed, stepping inside.
    Jessica went rigid and Sam took a step back.
    “What the hell is this,” Sam demanded. “Some kind of prank? Because it’s not funny.”
    The man charged forward, taking three large bounds and diving over the counter. He landed on top of Jessica.
    She screamed and there was a loud “SNAP!” as they hit the ground. Jessica stopped moving.
    The man rose to his feet, leaving Jessica on the ground. He flashed those bloody fangs.
    Sam backed all the way up to the drive-thru window. He