Rejection

"Vampire!"

"No!!" 

"Another vampire!" 

"Jesus Christ, please protect your humble servant--"

"--Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me--"

Screams and prayers came from every direction, enveloping Luo Yi. She stood up and faced the prisoners when she had found a set of keys on this dead raider. She did a headcount as she surveyed the humans inside.

Fifteen people. 

Holding the set of keys, Luo Yi took a step towards the cage on the right. By the time she did, a series of gasps and screams rose in the air. The people inside all backed away from her, screaming in fear. 

"Dear Lord!" 

"We are all going to die!"

"W-- wait…!" Luo Yi stuttered, holding both of her hands up in a surrender way, one hand flashing the keys at the prisoner. 

"I'm just trying to save you, I came to get you out of here!" 

Silence. 

That was the only response she got. 

The sentence suddenly felt taboo in her mouth. 

"A vampire? Trying to save us, humans? Who are you trying to fool, vampire?" 

A man, in his mid-fifties, spoke from the cage in the middle. He wore a dirty-looking shirt and a pair of torn pants. Everyone inside immediately parted ways for him. Despite what he was wearing, It seemed that he was once a respected person. 

There were murmurs of agreement after what he said. Luo Yi glupped, for some reason, there was this vague sense of familiarity that washed over Luo Yi. Deja-Vu. 

"Why don't you take a look at yourself first before deciding to save us, vampire?" 

She realized that she must have looked horrible right now, with blood dripping all over her face and clothes. She knew her guess was right when she saw the intense hatred glinting in the crowd's eyes, stabbing at her with invisible knives. Hatred, disgust, and fear, all of those were combined and directed at her. 

She tightened her fist and tried to persuade the crowd. 

"I swear… I came here to get you all out," Luo Yi persuaded-- no, she actually pleaded. 

"Lies, I wouldn't go anywhere with you, devil, even if I could, I would rather be dead than saved by a vampire," the man said, his tone was cold, filled with hate and disgust. 

[["Ah, it's you, vampire girl. Why are you here?" 

"Are you here to finish me off? Revenge comes so easily for your kind, huh?" a cold voice sneered, filled with hatred.

"Lies. A vampire trying to save another kind now? How absurd," the voice scoffed, coughing up slightly.]] 

She recalled all those words said to her before. Her heart sank. Why wouldn't anyone believe her? The ones that did just had to die in vain. She had held her hopes too high, she should have known, not everyone was like Joo Won. 

"No! Big Sis never lied!" A high pitched voice shouted out. 

Startled, Luo Yi snapped her head to look at U-Ju. He had gripped the metal bars tightly, shoving his head in between them. His eyes were filled with big droplets of tears, streaming down his cheek. 

"If Big Sis said she is here to save us, then she is!" He continued shouting. Ae-Ri was holding U-Ju by his waist, trying to pull him off. 

"Silence!" The man ordered. 

"Naive little child, doesn't know how truly evil the world is," the man spoke. He turned and walked to the side of the cage, looking directly at U-Ju's tear-streaked face. 

"Never ever trust a vampire, boy," he stared emotionlessly at U-Ju, making him backed away from the cage and hid in his mom's embrace.

"But I trust Big Sis…" U-Ju whimpered softly, however, the man heard it clearly. 

"Stupid boy!" he scolded.

"Stop it! He is just a child!" Ae-Ri finally spoke up, hugging U-Ju tightly to her. 

"Fruit never falls far from the tree, like mother, like son, so ignorant of the world," the man continued. "May Lord cleanse their tainted souls."

The man intertwined his fingers and prayed. Turned out he was a pastor. 

Luo Yi was glad that someone still defended in her favor, and as the repayment, she would still free these prisoners. 

Ignoring the screams and gasps of fear, she stalked forward, gripping the keys tightly in her hand. Reaching the cage on the right, she pried the door open, doing the same to the cage in the middle and the one on the left, yet no one came out. 

They were all still wary of her. 

It hurt. Was this the feeling of being rejected? It felt so…uncomfortable. 

"Go." 

The man told her. He was the only one brave to confront her. 

"Get out of here, or are you waiting for a thank you from us?"

"Are you waiting for us to offer our blood to you?" he asked, tone cold and steel. 

"Mommy… I want to go with Big S--" before U-Ju could finish his sentence, Ae-Ri had brought her palm towards his mouth, cutting him off. 

"Control your son, woman!" The man warned. "What have you been teaching him?!" 

Immediately, the crowd moved like a multi-headed beast that shared only one brain. They whispered among themselves and pointed at Ae-Ri, discussing how corrupted her son was for believing in a vampire, about how undisciplined he was. 

"N-- No…" She stuttered, shrinking away. Tears streamed down her face as she trembled. Her eyes were wide open, looking frantically at all the crowd that surrounded her with an accusing gaze. 

All of it made Ae-Ri shrunk even more, hunching her shoulders in. She hugged U-Ju closed to her and kept her head down. 

'Coward,' Luo Yi thought, she clenched her fists tightly. Ae-Ri hadn't changed at all. She could never stand for herself. 

Luo Yi slowly bent down to pick her fallen katana. When her hand grabbed hold of the hilt, everyone was on edge. The pastor even took the dropped gun and trained it on her. 

"Leave." 

He raised the gun, pressing his lips together. 

Luo Yi eased a step, away from them, toward the exit. She half turned, bracing herself, waiting for the pop of gunfire, for the explosion of pain in any parts of her body. 

"Don't think just because you freed us, we owe you anything."

With that said, Luo Yi turned and left.