by H. T. Night
I didn’t know what to say, even though leaving school was already a given. But, as independent as I am, having that decision made without my input flew all over me like a shit storm on a plumber who just broke through a sewer line. That’s one of Papa’s favorite expressions, and it seemed very appropriate right then.
But taking it out on my mother wasn’t an option I’d consider. If anyone had tried to make sure I had a say in this decision, it would’ve been her or my grandmother. The seriousness of what was happening here, and maybe one of Grandma’s intuitions—that we all took seriously—overrode all else.
“Okay,” I replied, releasing a low sigh. I glanced over at Peter, who had been reading a John Grisham novel lying on Tyreen’s bunk bed. He paused to look up from his book, nodding at me with a concerned look on his face. “What time is the flight out of Knoxville?”
“Seven-forty-five tomorrow morning on Delta, Flight 1107,” she said, clearing her throat before going on. “I have emailed the confirmation to you so you can print out the ticket and your boarding pass. Be sure to get there early, as the news reports are saying a lot of students are leaving since classes are canceled until December.”
News travels fast, especially bad news.
“Okay…I’ll be on board that flight,” I told her, after releasing another low sigh.
“Good. Your father will be greatly relieved,” she said, the heaviness in her tone lifting. “We’ll meet you at the airport.”
“I’m coming back here,” I blurted out. “I still want to finish school at UT once this whole thing gets worked out.”
“Why, of course, Txema,” she said, chuckling again, though more from amusement this time. “But this murder spree will have to be over and done with. Do you understand me?”
“Yes…yes, I do.”
“So, I won’t need to worry about you not making the flight…. Right?”
“Yes, Momma, I promise to uphold the tenets of the Articles of Faith and be an obedient child.”
“Txema! This is not the time to get sassy with me!” Just like that, my smart mouth stripped away the thin veneer covering my mother’s worry. “We’ve already paid good money for the ticket, so please make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport on time. Okay?”
“All right…I will,” I told her, making sure my tone was respectful. “I’m sorry for giving you a hard time.”
“That’s okay. Just make sure you’re on the flight.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure I’m at the airport by six tomorrow morning.”
After we hung up, Peter closed the novel and came over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind as I stared absently out my window.
“So, it looks like you won’t be going to Atlanta after all, huh?” he said, blowing softly on the back of my ear. “Maybe I should head home to Nashville until this all gets sorted out. But let me take you to the airport in the morning.”
“Okay.”
I felt numb. Yes, I knew I’d have to go somewhere soon, but now that the decision and destination had been decided, the peace of mind I expected to experience wasn’t there. Something felt weird…out of sync. Like the decision made by my folks would somehow alter my fate.
Knowing that Tyreen and Johnny were planning to leave in the next hour or so, I went ahead and called her…to tell her the news. Of course, she told me it was ‘okay’ with her and that she was just glad I wouldn’t be staying on campus. Peter and I had already witnessed the growing exodus earlier that afternoon, and it seemed like seventy percent of the student body population had already left—at least seventy percent of Massey Hall had. The mass departure really picked up right after we came back to my dorm after breakfast. Since then, many more students had disappeared.
At the current rate, I knew by nightfall there would only be a handful of girls on the floor with me. At least Peter’s presence would raise less eyebrows from the security detail downstairs, and the few fourth floor stragglers might appreciate a friendly male presence once night returned.
The declining population escalated my roommate’s worry for my welfare, so she changed her departure plans to the next morning as well. And I could hear Johnny offering a hearty ‘Amen!’ in the background that Tyreen advised was for the fact he could now watch the Vols’ football game that evening instead of listening to the team’s final road game on the radio while she and he drove down to Georgia.
So our travel plans were all set. I looked out the window at the courtyard one more time—the last time, as it turned out, watching the dwindling stream of students and a few parents who had driven to campus to collect their most prized possessions, instead of leaving their kids’ journeys home to chance…to one of the worst college killing sprees in recent memory.
But I knew it wouldn’t deter the killers. They would continue to hunt each night until they found what they sought. Until they found me.
Chapter 11
Within each of us is a voice—and not always one that speaks with reason.
I’m not talking about conscience, the thing that nags at us if we’ve done something that falls below ours or another’s standards—like when I’ve displeased my parents in some way. Or, worse, when we’ve hurt someone else—like the recent pain I’ve caused Tyreen.
No, the voice I’m referring to is the one that supersedes reason and rarely eggs us on to do something against conscience.
Gut instinct.
A wonderful thing when we listen to it…not so much when we ignore it. Especially when ‘reason’ gets in the way.
No, let me clarify this somewhat…. I mean to say when we do something that sort of follows reason, and in the end the pursuit of whatever we thought was a reasonable thing to do proves disastrous.
Welcome to my night of erroneous judgment.
Granted, it might’ve happened anyway, and the result could’ve been far worse if everyone that had left was still there to experience the result of my fallacious line of thinking.
“What do you mean you have to go to the library? Are you insane??” Tyreen berated me, right after I told her I needed to retrieve my satchel that I left in the foyer at Hodges Library. It was foolish of me to bring it along earlier that afternoon, since other than my iPad and the latest Anne Rice novel, it had nothing else in it. “You’ll just have to leave it, Txema. Better yet, you can tell the security guards in the lobby downstairs that you left it there and they can arrange to pick it up for you.”
Reasonable. She was right… it made sense to do just that. Then she and I, along with Johnny and Peter, could finish watching the Vols pummel Vandy. But the stubbornness I’m known for suddenly kicked in.
“It will be a lot easier just to do it myself!” I whispered harshly, hoping our men didn’t hear our little argument outside our dorm room. I peered into the room, and both Peter and Johnny’s eyes were glued to the TV. The Vols were driving for another touchdown. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Oh, yeah? You must have a serious death wish, Txema!” she seethed, though thankfully she kept her voice to an irate hiss. “If you’re going, then I’m coming with you!”
I’m sure this is where ‘conscience’ was supposed to kick in—and normally it would have. I mean, why would I endanger anyone else but myself? It was one of those false assumptions based on reason, or at least reasonable facts as I understood them to be. The monsters responsible for all the death and mayhem going on were supposed to be after just me—not anyone else, and certainly not someone of heritage other than Basque. Besides, these primitive vampires seemed a bit skittish when other people were around me…or so I thought.
That was the first crack in my fragile theory. I assumed Peter had protected me in the Hodge Library parking lot on Thursday night, as my pursuers disappeared without a trace into the frigid night. I completely ignored the fact they likely were the same ones trying to attack us at Peter’s townhouse.
Looking back on that night, I see this excursion as a vain excuse to collec
t my personal property from the library. Like most Apple addicts, I can’t live for long without my I-products.
“Okay. Then grab your coat and let’s go,” I told Tyreen, hoping she’d hesitate and give me the few seconds I needed for a major head start to the elevator.
But she did grab her coat and a scarf, stating very calmly to our engrossed boyfriends that we’d be right back. I heard a grunted okay from Johnny that was echoed by Peter, confirming that neither one had any clue that we were about to step outside, where the evening’s darkness had fully engulfed our campus for the past two hours.
The only other obstacle was the police patrols still monitoring the dorms and campus grounds, which contributed to my heightened sense of urgency. All campus buildings would close by 7:00 p.m., and it was already pushing six-thirty.
“You owe me,” said Tyreen, once we stepped into the elevator and headed downstairs. “But I’m betting we don’t even make it past the cops guarding the entrance.”
“Leave that to me,” I said, just as we reached the lobby. “I’ve got a plan.”
The look she gave me confirmed it was what she feared most at the moment—that nothing would stop my determination to retrieve my cherished iPad and book. Nonetheless, I prepared myself for the likelihood she’d approach the security staff and get them to either detain me until it was too late to leave or get a couple of them to pick up my belongings for me.
A logical answer, but since when is stubbornness necessarily logical?
It certainly wasn’t that night.
I deftly guided her through the lobby right up to the guarded entrance to our building with hardly anyone noticing our presence. Maybe it was the pizza deliveries from our local Dominos outlet that kept the security staff from so much as asking to see our IDs as we slid through the tables and chairs set up to block access to the large glass doors. Regardless, Tyreen seemed stunned no one accosted us, having to run after me when I exited the building and walked briskly toward the library.
Eerily similar to the other night when I took this same route, I expected to see more security personnel on hand patrolling the grounds. But there was hardly anyone there. Instead, the unnerving sensation of being tracked and studied as we moved toward the library was much more unsettling than the past Thursday evening. And the lone patrol we came across—three Knoxville cops with a pair of large German Shepherds—had little effect on the spine tingling uneasiness we both experienced. Like a thousand eyes scrutinized our every move.
“Damn, it seems like it’s taking forever to get there!” Tyreen remarked, just as we came up on the Alumni Center.
She pulled her parka’s zipper all the way up to her chin to try and stay warm. Cold enough to see our iced breaths linger in the air in front of us, a deeper chill seemed to emanate from the shadowed archway that marked the center’s side entrance.
“The main floor’s lights inside the library should be visible in just a moment,” I assured her, peering into the darkness around us. I slowed down just enough to peer at the thick bushes near the Alumni Center’s entrance, trying to appear nonchalant though my heart raced. I pictured the hairless creature glowering at me with turquoise eyes hidden just out of view, and shuddered.
“This is really stupid!” said Tyreen, shaking her head while she picked up her pace.
She didn’t even wait for me to catch up to her, which amused me somewhat, given her stated worries about my welfare. Obviously, fear had kicked up her personal survival instincts.
“Hey, wait for me!” I called after her, picking up my pace to match hers
But she didn’t slow down. Not until she was across the street and walking up the library steps.
“I assume you remember where you left your shit?”
She said this as she stepped through the entrance, again not waiting for me to catch up. She motioned for the two night guards running up to greet us from their station that it would only take a moment, explaining tersely how her friend had left something in the lobby earlier that day. I expected my satchel to have been collected by someone, and hopefully brought to the “Lost and Found” box near the front desk. But as Tyreen spoke to the first guard to arrive, I saw my bag’s strap peering out from under an orange and white checkerboard vinyl couch across the room.
“I’ll be right back!” I announced, slipping past them before they could interfere with my agenda. I scooped up the satchel, relieved that my stuff was still safely tucked inside the bag. “Got it!”
I nodded to both guards, flashing the disarming smile I’m known for while Tyreen discarded her bitchiness long enough to offer a warm ‘thanks, guys!’ on our way out.
“I hope this was worth it,” said Tyreen once we reached the parking lot. The temperature felt like it had dropped another five degree during our brief visit inside the library. She pulled her hood on and fastened the top buttons around her face above where the front zipper to her parka stopped. She looked like a damned Eskimo—a damned scared Eskimo as she nervously looked around her. “You are ridiculously stubborn…you know? Was that really necessary?”
“You mean getting my iPad and the book I’ve been nibbling on for the past week? Hell, yeah!” I retorted, hoping she could see the playful expression on my face.
But she already moved through the parking lot, her pace even quicker than before. I should’ve known she’d try to hurry back to the dorm once her feet found level pavement, since her tone sounded irritated. Aside from the combination of the wintry chill and my forcing this unwanted excursion upon her, the eerie feeling of being watched had returned, only worse…like whoever or whatever studied us had moved closer. But I couldn’t detect anything around us—not even the canine unit patrolling the campus grounds on foot.
“Hey, wait up, Tyreen!” I called after her. “Do you have to be in such a frigging hurry?!”
“Hell, yeah!!” she replied, pausing to shoot me a perturbed and worried glance over her shoulder. “The sooner we get back into Massey Hall, the better off we’ll—”
A low menacing growl suddenly interrupted her, resounding from across the street as it emanated toward us from the deeper shadows in front of the Alumni Center. Tyreen froze, as did I.
Shit!
“What the hell was that??” she asked, her tone clearly revealing her terror. Several hulking shapes bobbed above the shadow line, moving down the sloping frost-covered lawn toward the street. A shrill shriek echoed eerily in the air from near the Alumni Center’s entrance.
“It doesn’t matter—just run!!” I urged her, fearing we only had a sliver of a chance to outrun whatever lurked in the darkness. Yes, we could’ve turned back and headed for whatever protection the library offered. But assuming the two campus guards were the only ones in the building, we’d soon be in a much worse predicament. At least there were a dozen Knoxville police officers hanging around the lobby at the dorm. With the mental images of what these creatures had wrought upon Peter’s townhouse the other night still fresh in my head, it made the choice an easy one.
If only we didn’t have to run past the bastards.
“What the hell are those things??” Tyreen murmured fearfully, not moving.
“The last ‘mo-fos’ you’ll ever see if you don’t get your ass in gear!!”
Ignoring the fact that one of the suckers had reached the sidewalk, its yellow eyes glowing like a pair of candles inside a Halloween pumpkin, I grabbed her arm and yanked her behind me, sprinting down the street toward the dorm’s long driveway.
When I heard the scrapes and clicks of sharp talons, claws, or whatever else they dragged across the pavement running alongside, I prepared myself for the worst. Peripherally, I could tell there were seven or eight of these things closing in from the lawn, and another handful had emerged from the dense brush on the other side of the road.
If it had just been me, I might’ve considered giving in and letting them take me, praying my life would end quickly and that I wouldn’t be an ongoing living meal for them. But, Tyreen’s
presence and the fact her endangerment was entirely my fault negated that option completely. I had to somehow get her to safety.
They say in the direst circumstances people can surprise themselves with superhuman feats. It certainly was the case for me. A powerful surge of adrenalin flowed through me, enabling me to increase my strides while keeping a secure grip on Tyreen. It was like I suddenly floated toward our dorm, and where up until then nary a damned cop was in sight, I felt immense gratitude for the handful mulling around the entrance.
“Hey, help us! HELP!!!” I shrieked when within fifty feet of the cops.
Unlike the B-horror movies me and my brothers devoted our spare time to watching back in high school, the police didn’t act like a bunch of donut-munching buffoons. Once they heard me scream, they quickly mobilized themselves and pointed their pistols and rifles in our direction. Obviously, they saw something following close behind us, coming up fast, like greyhounds chasing a pair of scared rabbits.
“Get over here, NOW!!!” one of them shouted, motioning for us to make a beeline to where they huddled in front of the entrance. Three other cops bearing shotguns stepped outside to join them, wearing slack-jawed expressions of stark disbelief.
“Ow-w-w!!” Tyreen cried out as I yanked her arm even harder while sprinting with all my might to the entrance. Suddenly, multiple fire flashes erupted from in front of us, causing both of us to instinctively duck. But the volley of gunfire flew above our heads and toward either side.
A blood curdling shriek, inhuman in its timbre and hair-raising in its enraged anguish, filled the air just behind us. This time I did cast a glance over my shoulder, horrified by the hideous face just behind us. In the soft glow afforded by the security lights, I saw the turquoise eyes of the thing gleaming, and its mouth full of razor-sharp, jagged teeth pulled back from deformed lips. They were covered in blood. Tyreen’s blood.
It must’ve happened in the instant I yanked her arm, as the right side of her parka glistened with crimson streaks. Her eyes began to roll up, and I could tell she was about to faint.
