Title: Lost Hope
Fandom: The Strain (books)
Characters: Ephraim Goodweather
Rating: PG13
Length: 615 words
Written for Amnesty 231 - Challenge Mythology
Summary: Ephramin (Eff) Goodweather still hopes for a good ending though he knows better


Sometimes, when the air was just too sticky, and he couldn't find any rest during the long hours of the night, Eff let his thoughts wander and wondered if what had happened had been inevitable. The apocalypse, the downfall of the humankind.

The vampires had been on earth long before humans had excited, and the ancient had controlled their fate from the beginning. Maybe there would have been a chance once for a friendly co-existence. But the chance got wasted, the ancient stayed in the darkness for ages, only a myth for the human race of the 21. Century.

Until one of the ancient, the youngest, Sariel, started to crave for more: more power, more wealth, more freedom. He wasn't willing to stay in the darkness for longer; he wanted to rule the world, to enslave the humans. Patiently he developed a plan, over the course of decades. Most of the humans didn't understand what was going on, and the handful of people who did were much too weak to stand up against him. The ancient would have been able to stop him, but he knew to fool them. When they finally find out the truth about his plans it was much too late for both of them: the humans and the ancients.

Eff grabbed for the bottle of whiskey beside his bed, almost empty; tonight there would be no escape from the thoughts who tormented him. The ancients annihilated without any chance to come back. The last remains of the human race, forced to live in a ruined world, most parts uninhabitable after uncountable atomic bombs, no sun, no food, no fresh water. They depended on the mercy of Sariel, the Master; he gave them life when they were willing to be his slaves, or he caged them on farms like heads of cattle; food for his vampire army.

Kelly. The thought at her still hurt; they had been divorced for a while already when everything had started, they had often fought, and Eff had blamed her for inciting their son to turn against him. Today he had realized how irrelevant this had been and he would have given all, even his own life, for the knowledge that Kelly and Zack were alive and safe.

But he knew better. The Master had turned Kelly into a vampire a long time ago, had made her one of his closest followers. Eff had tried all to save at least Zack, but the motherly instinct in Kelly was still alive; she had found them and had taken Zack with her. Even after more than two years he was still human, only some days ago Eff had seen him. But this knowledge was not a relief. Because under the influence of the Master he had changed, he was not his little boy anymore, so curious, so smart, with a mischievous smile on his face; he wasn't turned into a vampire, but he had started to think and to feel like one.

Eff squeezes his eyes shut to get the pictures out of his head. 'He is still human. He is still human,' he whispered to himself again and again. 'As long as he is human, there is hope.'

The words finally accompanied him into a light sleep and for a short while he was able to forget what he deep inside knew. That he only fooled himself, to have a reason to move on. The others counted on him; they needed his help to bring it to an end. The final death of the Master, the end of the vampire area, a new chance for the remaining humans.

But no chance for Kelly. And Zack. And himself.

THE END