He explained they would be useless unless they were applied directly to the vampire’s line of sight, but any measure of defense was better than nothing.
Steve, Cheryl, and Alley stood in a circle around little Bobby. Steve reached out to open the door and Walter told him to hold on. They were shocked when the old preacher dug out a shotgun from a corner and stuck a box of shells in his robe pocket.
“This will slow them down if they get too close, but it won’t kill them.” He nodded for Steve to go ahead and open the door.
The first thing Steve realized was the awful smell of decay. It stunk so bad outside that he didn’t understand why they didn’t notice it before? The vanilla candles were heaven compared to the awful stench of the outdoors. He remembered it smelling a little bad when they first arrived in town, but this was pungent and overwhelming.
They looked left, then right. Nothing. They started down the steps and Walter demanded them to start pouring water. Steve looked around curious as to why? He didn’t see anything coming after them. A shotgun blast went off and the family turned to see a demented human-looking creature falling to the ground. It had snuck out of the bushes in front of the church. A choir of high pitched squeals and growls arose shortly after. They couldn’t see anything, but by the sound of it, there was a great deal of them, and they were close.
Cheryl suggested heading to their car to see if they could get it started. Steve denied that idea when he spotted that all four tires were flat. The plan was to find a running vehicle. Walter informed them old man Henry (the now known vampire) kept an old Ford pick-up behind his hardware store. Walter had observed that he never took his keys out of it. He knew this because he had considered it as his means of escape in case the bats and vampires got strong enough to take even a holy man like himself down. The truck was a block and a half away. They couldn’t be certain that their buckets of holy water would last, but in order to make it work, they had to move slowly. If there was any break in the water circle, a vampire could swoop in and suck the life out of them.
Shuffling like prisoners in chains, they moved forward. Now the evil looking vultures were creeping out of every alleyway and hiding spot imaginable. They hissed showing razor sharp fangs. Their eyes were solid black balls of fury. It was easy to tell that when they weren’t in their vampire state, some of these heathens would seem to be nice old ladies, or respected gentlemen in business suits, but now they were just hideous blood fiends.
They kept moving forward. The vampires kept moving in and enclosing them. Walter took up the rear and informed them when they missed a spot in the holy water barrier. Whenever one of the devils lunged forward and got within a couple feet, Walter would blow a hole the size of a softball in them with his shotgun. Everytime the blast went off; Alley would scream and almost drop her bucket. Steve reached out to hold it for her until she gathered herself.
Only a block away was Henry’s hardware store, but they were heavily surrounded and their buckets were running low. They still had to make it through an alleyway to the back of the store. There was no way they were going to have enough water. Panic started to set in.
“We’re not gonna make it, Walter!” Steve screamed over the hissing vampires.
“Just keep moving!” Walter was practically pushing them forward.
They kept pouring the water around themselves. It bubbled and disappeared as soon as it hit the ground, but the streams were getting weaker. They were only a couple feet from the alleyway, but Steve’s bucket ran out. He heaved it at the closest vampire and looked to Cheryl to see how much she had left. The worried look in her eyes told him that she was about out as well. There last hope was Alley’s bucket, and to their relief, hers was still a quarter full. Steve took it from her, spinning in circles and pouring it around his family. The vampires were getting closer and closer by the minute. He could actually feel their hot raunchy breath on his skin.
The mouth of the alleyway was finally before them, but a big ugly beast blocked the path. He snarled and clenched his bulky fists. Steve was officially out of water. Cheryl had her arms wrapped tight around his shoulders while the kids screamed in unison behind them. Then with a deafening crack, they saw the monsters head explode into a million pieces.
They sprinted forward into the open alley with only their legs and Walter to protect them.
25
Walter ran behind the Starks family reloading and shooting as fast as his old hands would allow. Steve prayed that these once-humans couldn’t fly, because if that was the case, they might as well kiss their butts goodbye. Apparently they couldn’t, because he didn’t see any of them jumping off the top of Henry’s store or the building beside it. It didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be a fresh pack of demons waiting for them on the other end of the alley. And if that was the case, then it would be the end of the road. End of story jack, no happy ending, bye-bye, see ya later alligator, because no matter how good old Walter had been with his gun, there would be no way he could reload and fend off a whole herd of them.
They reached the end of the alley and spotted the beat up Ford pick-up. Without even stopping to look, they bolted for it. So far, So good. There were no vampires in sight. The POW of Walter’s gun echoed a short distance behind them. Steve reached the truck and yanked the driver’s door open. He looked around wildly for any sign of danger as he shoved his family into the front seat. He spotted a screaming lady vampire rushing toward them. He hopped in, slammed the door, and cranked the ignition. The truck sputtered to life instantly and his heart pounded with relief. He threw the truck in reverse and saw Walter jumping up and down with excitement as he backed out. For the first time in this dreadful experience, he cracked a genuine smile and waved.
He threw the truck in drive and plowed over the lady vampire without hesitation. The truck bounced as the tires rolled over her. Steve actually felt happy about that. It was his little revenge for all the hell these things put them through. He honked the horn and Walter waved them a hearty farewell in the rearview.
26
Before they knew it, they were on the highway with no danger in sight. Steve looked over to his wife’s dirt covered face and rubbed her cheek. She wanly smiled back and wrapped her arms around Bobby and Alley who were scrunched in between them, and then she looked out the window at the open desert land just like she had when they arrived. Only this time she was glad they were heading the other direction.
Steve’s eyes wandered from the road to the three most important people in his life and began to ponder on why he had been so intent on moving to this pit in the first place. Why had he been such a coward, because really, that was exactly what he was. He was planning to give up on the rare opportunity to be a professional football player just because a certain group of people talked bad about him. He knew that a real pro would fight back and make a name for himself regardless.
He decided that the first thing he was going to do when they got home was show up to training camp and play with all the heart and soul he used to in college. He was going to prove his worth in the NFL. He was going to show the reasons why he was there in the first place. Now that he had seen a lot worse than 300 pound linebackers chasing him, he felt he could take on anything.
The feeling of triump was short lived, because when he looked in the rearview and smiled at the thought, he saw his teeth had formed into sharp fangs. He blinked and looked again, only this time his once blue eyes were solid black. He looked down to the marks on his hand and knew the nightmare had just begun.
The End
10-19-12
Look for more chilling tales in the “Fast Fears” series coming soon!
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Fast Fears #1: Bats in the Attic Page 8
