The town we had built for ourselves was quite fortified , it had to be , the zombies just never stopped , mindless though they may seem , determined they most definitely are.

This night something was different though … it was quiet… to quiet… we had scraped up some nightvisions gear from a tech store as we used it to scout the area around town from crude towers we built

“ look at them in the farm fields we built , why are they out there? “ the lead guardsman asked me

“ I’m not sure… but they look like they are messing with our crops…. Do they intend to starve us out? “

The next day the horde amassed around our farms , we saw zombies fried to a crisp on the fence surrounding it , seems they just kept piling on it until the generators died… the bastards … that’s our food for this month….

As night broke the horde grew emboldened and starting creeping towards the town… they had never done this before , I knew it was going to be a bloody battle , I sounded the alarm to rally everyone crude armor to protect from bites , reusable weapons , we were prepared but this horde was massive…

Suddenly we picked up several humans , atleast they looked like humans sweeping through the horde , hundreds if not thousands were downed in minutes… the figures appeared at our front gate bruised and cut , some with bites and made a perimeter

“ open the gate and let us in “ the one I could best describe as a leader shouted

“ what the hell are you , you move to fast to be people “ I shouted back

“ because we are not people! Gragh…. I can smell it… I hunger…. please you are the last human colony in miles and we need …. Sustenance “

“ sustenance? You intend to eat us? Hell to the fucking no , get lost or we will shoot you “

“ no wait, we just need blood , not to kill anyone , animal blood is to scarce now and these things make us sick if they are not fresh , we will all die without humans…. Yes…. Humans …. Delicious blood … ARGH the hunger “

“ what benefit do we get from you then for this trade huh , why should we bother “

“ isn’t it obvious ? The zombies are learning , they are driven , and they will break in eventually , you humans get one bite and your dead and one of them in a few hours , us though…. We can’t be turned…. And we are fast… and strong… we will fight them for you … we can even go gather materials from the city… “

It was an enticing offer…. The zombies did seem to grow in numbers no matter how many we destroyed …. But there would have to be rules…. And a town wide decision….

“ I will… consider it , but before I even go and talk to my people there’s some ground rules , no one sick can be taken a tithe , nor can our main guards , or any of the children or anyone who outright refuses. And absolutely under no circumstances can you turn anyone to a vampire “

“ yes we accept those terms please , the hunger gnaws at my mind “

I called a meeting of the towns leadership roles , though most were hesitant at first , we knew at this rate that we would be starving in a week … and we had some blood bags that would not be fresh much longer…. It was settled , I grabbed several bags from the makeshift care centre we had and headed back to the gate

At the top I threw the bags over to the leader “ an offering of good faith, now can I except one back from you? “

The vampires ravaged at the blood bags the leader drained one entirely on his own, he seemed to become relaxed after eating.

“ thank you humans , even if you did not agree to let us in this wolf stave off the hunger for a time… the madness of hunger… we don’t like what we become… as for our gesture of good faith… let us manage this horde of yours” with a snap of his fingers the vampires rushed through the zombies , heads and limbs were flying , after close to 30 minutes the entire horde was just a pile of corpses strewn about , the gaurds for the town walked out to see the damage to our walls and farm , the vampires started dragging the corpses away to our “compost bin” while the leader walked up to the gate again , though open he did not enter “ I hope that offering is satisfactory “

I was astonished by what I had seen but I knew we had already decided “ we came to a decision , we will let you in on those conditions mentioned, if you harm or turn anyone without their choosing you will be exiled without question “

The leader bowed and looked back up “ thank you kindly , you will not regret this, and I assure you we will behave as without you , we will sure starve to madness”

The vampires chose a small corner of the town to set up there “colony” , they were not what I expected them to be at first , friendly , easy to talk to… after time they became proper citizens , most townsfolk willingly gave a little blood when they could , our numbers stopped dwindling from zombie attacks , and things felt… peaceful almost…