After an uneventful day, Allie stepped off the bus and saw in the driveway a car with an advertisement on its side door that read ‘Lucient Oil Company’. Allie ran into the house, surprised to see her father at the kitchen table. “Daddy, you’re back!” She gave him a big hug.
“Alley Cat, what is the matter with you? You act as if you haven’t seen this mug in years. I’m surprised you didn’t want me gone longer.”
“Never!” She kissed and hugged him. “I have something to tell you and you won’t believe it, just like everybody else.” And so she recounted to him her story, carefully omitting the part about Brad being in her room.
“Where is the film?”
“I’ll get it.” She ran to her room and returned with the two cameras. “Here they are. Can you get the film developed today, Daddy? Please, please, please!”
“Not today, baby, but as soon as possible. Then we will take a look together.” He rose and put the film in his briefcase.
“Why were you gone so long?”
“We had a problem with workers being attacked along the pipeline. Looks like a bear got a hold of Lester Pratt and Bob Mackey; we are still sorting it out right now. I came home because there is nothing more to do until the tests results come back.”
“Well I have seen some frightening things so I am glad to have you back.”
“Me, too, Alley Cat. Me, too.”
Allie looked around. “Where’s Mom?”
“She took some things to the shelter; winter will be here before you know it and the poor need blankets and food to survive.”
“I guess so.”
“Hey, Cat, how would you like to take a ride in a helicopter this evening? I have to go to the South Ridge and I can show you what the town looks like from the air. We can drop your film off then.”
“Oh yes!” Allie filled with joy at the thought of a helicopter ride.
They left the house and dropped off Allie’s film for development at the general store. The manager said that if they waited he might be able to rush one of the rolls through the processor and she could take it with her. The whole thing took only a few minutes; because of the poor lighting, many of the photos were too dark and had to be discarded, so Allie left with only four pictures. She was so upset that she did not look at them; she counted on them to validate her story.
They arrived at the helicopter pad to meet a man of fifty years. “Honey, this is Leonardo Stone. He will be flying us today.”
“Hello, Mr. Stone,” said Allie.
“Call me Leo, everybody does.”
“All right,” said Allie.
“Are we ready to take off, Leo?”
“You bet! Right this way.”
He led them to the tiny helicopter and Allie sat in the back seat while the two men crammed together up front. It was a snug fit and their shoulders touched. The helicopter made a whirling sound as it kicked up dust around them. Allie did not see a thing until they were a few feet off the ground, when the dust began to give way to blue skies. Her father turned and pointed upward to her right and she saw a pair of headphones. She put them on and drowned out the noise. She grinned at her father to indicate they were working; he returned a thumbs-up. He flipped a switch in front of him and she heard him speaking. “Hey, Alley Cat!”
She waved to him; she did not know how to work the headset.
“On the arm of your chair is a red pushbutton at the end. Push it to talk, sweetheart.”
Allie found the button and pushed it. “Can you hear me?”
“I hear you, baby. Look to your right; that is our house below, the one with the green roof. If you follow the road as we go you will see your bus route, so imagine you are on a bus that floats instead of one that uses the road.”
Allie saw her house with no problem, then the road. She did as her father instructed and imagined her bus route. She passed by the corner store, the post office, the city hall, and then the school. They went further into the rocky area of the South Ridge and she saw a river with birds all around it.
Finally, as the sun set, they touched down. They got off the chopper and rode in a Jeep to the pipeline annex building. There Allie sat out front while her father went to the back to treat two men with medicines he picked up in town. As she waited, she retrieved her pictures and began to flick through them. The first picture was of the writings on the rock wall they had traveled alongside. The second was the same from a different angle. The third picture was of a treetop whose branches were in clear focus as they swayed in the wind. The last photo was blurry but when she looked deeply at it she believed it to be a tree – and on the very right side of the photo was the edge of a shoe. “Yes!” Allie whooped. She grinned: proof.
On the way back, the helicopter had a spotlight the pilot activated so Allie could see the town again at night. She looked down and saw buildings and houses. The pilot turned on another light next to the spotlight and Allie was able to see the town even clearer. She saw some design on the top of the school that intrigued her but because of the direction the helicopter flew she was only able to see it briefly. There were two buses on the side of the school that she passed over next and when the light shown over them she saw a shape on top of the buses that caught her attention. Peering more intently, she saw the outline of what she thought looked like the design emblazoned across the Double E Club members’ jackets. She focused sharply on the design to commit it to memory. Yet when the buses passed and she peered down through the other window, there was no marking to be seen.
As they passed over another house, a roof came into view and she clearly saw the patch this time. It was the same bird holding a crest. “Gotcha!” However, like the buses, as soon as it had passed and was lit only by moonlight, it looked like just a plain roof. Allie’s face soured. How could it be?
The image showed up again on the roof of a local store and the house near it. Allie took out a piece of paper and wrote down the information before she forgot.
Her heart pounded with anticipation as they circled her house. She wanted to see the image but prayed for it not to be there. It must be some kind of mark, she thought. Fortunately, her house was clear, and then they were back at the helicopter pad and the helicopter sat down.
“I tried to talk to you but you couldn’t hear me,” she said to her father.
“Oh, what is it?” he asked her as they got into the truck to drive to the store and get the rest of her photos.
“Did you see the image on top of the roofs?”
“What image?” He looked confused by the question.
“I saw these images like crests on some of the rooftops. It was also on the school, the store, and the buses. You saw nothing?”
“Sorry, Alley Cat, I saw nothing.”
Disappointment welled in her. Her head drooped and silence overtook her as they drove back home. The photos that Sara took were all messed up and showed nothing. She took out her photos and looked at them again. Who would believe her? She had seen so many things and no one close to her believed her. Should she try telling her mother? No. She would keep her mouth shut and tell no one anything. She would solve this mystery on her own and then everyone would believe her.
Allie had a peaceful dinner with her parents and went to her room afterward to think of a plan to solve her mystery. She needed to be in town and her friend Sara stayed in the heart of town near the school. Yes, she thought, I will spend the night with her and start unraveling this mystery.
She got a good night’s rest and was up early in the morning for school. Her father had already left when she awoke, so she had breakfast with her mother.
At lunchtime she waited for Sara, who again was talking with others before sitting to lunch.
“Hey, girl.”
“Hey, Sara, what’s up?”
“Nothing new here. Did you get your film developed?”
“Yes, but they didn’t show anything. One picture looks kind of like a shoe in a tree and the other three are the trees and the wri
tings on the wall.”
“Other three?” Sara said as she opened her milk and took a drink.
“Yeah, only four pictures came out from my camera and none of the ones you took were good.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did the flash mess them up?”
“I don’t know what happened. Some of mine and all of yours had problems; either they were too dark or too light. I should have brought a better camera; you know the ones that automatically adjust and everything?”
“Oh yeah! Those would probably work best.”
“Sara?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I sleep over at your house tonight? Do you think your folks would mind?”
“Nope, they could care less. Mom will be there but Dad is away for two weeks on the pipeline.”
Good: that meant the first part of her plan had been achieved.
The secretary in the office let her use the phone and she called and asked her mother, who reluctantly said yes. At the end of the day they rode to Sara’s house in her mother’s car.
The girls talked the night away, and when Sara and her mother went to sleep, Allie took out her flashlight and sneaked out of the house. The Johnsons lived near the school so Allie headed in that direction with her flashlight. She was not afraid to be out in the dark by herself and walked along the edge of the road to the school.
The buses were parked by a small shed outside of the school; Allie went to these first. With nearby crates, she climbed on top of the shed and jumped on top of one of the buses. Allie shined her light down on the roof, looking for the image she had seen from the helicopter. But there was nothing.
Allie’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang behind her. Startled, she turned to see Shelby at the other end of the bus. Her heart pounded. Shelby had a killer look in her eye and skulked toward her. Allie froze. Shelby stopped moving and raised her right hand: instantly her fingernails grew over an inch long. Her thin lips pursed to resemble a sadistic smile. She snarled and then began walking toward Allie. Allie looked behind her to see how far she could go before falling on the hood of the bus, then stepped back another pace.
As Shelby advanced, Allie saw a car come around the corner headed in her direction and she began to think she had hope. The car advanced slowly and Shelby kept coming. When she was almost on her, the car’s headlights beamed a bright light at them and lit up the roof of the bus. Shelby looked down and saw something and stopped. She hissed at Allie then leaped from the bus and ran down the street. Allie had enough time to look down before the car left and saw under her feet: the Double E Club crest. Then the car rounded a corner and was gone.
Allie trained her flashlight on the spot but it revealed nothing. Something about the car’s headlights and the helicopter’s lights made the image visible. Now frustrated, Allie jumped down and ran back to Sara’s house as fast as she could. She would try to get some sleep and figure it out in the morning. She would not tell her friend or anyone else – not without enough proof to choke a horse. She pumped her arms and a strange sensation shot through her. Allie tumbled to the ground, shaking. Images of what she had witnessed flashed through her mind. She had truly come close to dying. In the midst of her shaking, a new feeling struck her: ecstasy. She took a moment, then picked herself up and ran on to Sara’s house with a twinkle in her eye.
In the morning, Saturday, she had breakfast and Mrs. Johnson drove her home. Allie spent the weekend at home helping her mother. Every time she tried to leave, her mother was there with a new task. Allie was not one for patience, but this time, she showed more patience than ever before. Half of her wanted to solve the mystery, the other half was scared she might die. Brad’s words played in her head. His warning was real. Perhaps stalling was a fair tactic in the grand scheme of things.
On Monday morning, she was ready. Fear gave way to exhilaration. She had a plan and set out to put it in motion. Her first stop: the office.
“Good morning, Mrs. Braller.”
“Good morning, Allie, how are you getting along with your classes?”
“I’m doing well. Mrs. Braller, you know those new headlights that cars come with now?”
“You mean the blue ones?”
“Yeah! What do you call them?”
“Are you talking about the Halogen headlights? They look off-color and blind you.”
“Yes, them. Do they make a Halogen flashlight?”
“Yes, but they are expensive. We have one here somewhere.”
“Ooh! Could I borrow it for one night? I promise I will return it to you personally tomorrow.”
“I guess so, come back at the end of the day and you can check it out. I need it back first thing in the morning, you understand me? First thing.”
“I promise.”
Allie left the office and went to her first class happier. She avoided the cafeteria at lunch in case she saw Shelby, and so was hungry when she returned home. As she walked into the house, she clutched the Halogen flashlight. Tonight would be the night for answers.
Chapter 6 Cavers
Vampires aRe ReaL Page 14
