She started across the street when a Harley riding vampire screeched around the corner, driving like Hell was on his tail and gaining fast. Izzy jumped back to avoid being run over, tripped and, on the way down, threw her hands out in front of herself to break her fall, skinning them on the pavement.
Down the street the Harley rumbled on. The driver either hadn’t seen Izzy or hadn’t cared. She didn’t know which was worse. She struggled to her feet, palms bloody, feeling like they were on fire. The walk home was going to be agony, but she’d become used to hurting. Thankfully, tonight she’d been freed from the cancer’s pain. It came and it went. She wanted to be home before it came again.
At Sierra she saw a couple more vampires. They were out in force tonight. This couple was crossing Sierra, heading toward her. He was tall, with longish black hair. It almost looked real, but Izzy had become quite the authority on spotting wigs.
The girl was wearing a wig too, but her face wasn’t made up as his was and she wasn’t wearing the fangs. Even in this light Izzy could see the sort of natural beauty that surrounds pregnant women. She looked happy. Probably was.
The sound of screeching tires pierced the night and for an instant Izzy thought the Hog riding vampire was back, but then an older yellow Volkswagon came careening out of the Silver Legacy’s garage.
“ Look out!” Izzy screamed, but she wasn’t in time, the car plowed into the couple, knocking them aside, then it sped around the corner and was out of sight. It happened too fast for her to get the license number.
“ Marlan are you alright?” Izzy heard the man say.
“ Kissan, the baby!” the woman said. She was in distress.
The man called Kissan got up, helped the woman to her feet.
“ We have to get out of the street.” He guided her to the sidewalk and to Izzy.
“ You shouldn’t move,” Izzy said.
“ It’s done,” the man said.
“ Kissan, she’s coming!”
“ You’re sure?” he said.
“ She’s sure,” Izzy said. “I’m going to need your help. Come on, take off your coat, we’re going to need it.”
“ You’ve done this before?”
“ No, never, but I’ve seen it done. I can do it.” She took the coat, spread it on the sidewalk, then to the woman. “It’s going to be okay, Marlan. Lay down, I’ll help you.”
“ You know her name?”
“ I heard you, just now.” She helped Marlan down onto the coat, leaving bloody patches on the woman’s sleeves where she’d gripped her.
“ You’re hurt,” Kissan said.
“ It’s minor.” She looked up at Kissan, he had a serious gash on his left cheek and blood was pouring from under his wig. “Take the wig off.”
He did. Underneath it he had a blue scarf wrapped around his head, almost like a turban. He had a gash on his forehead, too, right above his left eyebrow.
“ You’re going to need stitches, but they can wait, your wife comes first.” Izzy started to examine the woman.
“ You can do this?” Kissan said.
“ I’m a doctor.”
“ I thought you said you’d never done this before.” He had a slight accent, but she couldn’t place it.
“ I’m not that kind of doctor.”
“ What kind then?”
“ I was a heart surgeon. I’m retired.”
“ Because of the cancer?”
“ How did you-”
“ Kissan,” Marlan shouted. “She’s coming now.”
“ It can’t be,” Kissan said, “her water hasn’t broken,”
“ Sometimes the baby’s head plugs the cervix. Sometimes it doesn’t break till active labor.”
“ But she’s not due for two weeks.”
“ Kissan, quiet,” Marlan said. “She’s coming now!” She had the same strange accent as her husband. Their names too suggested that they were foreigners. She wondered where they were from.
“ You ran those people down.” Amy screamed when they’d hit the people, then sort of went into shock, but it didn’t last long.
“ Yeah, pretty scary.”
“ We should go back.” They were several blocks away now.
“ There was someone on the sidewalk,” Alicia said. “I’m sure they’ve already called 911.”
“ But we hit them.” They were on the freeway now.
“ Yeah, but we can’t go back. We’re trying to get away from someone who wants to kill you, remember?”
“ But-”
“ No buts. There was someone there. Besides, we weren’t going fast enough to hurt anyone.”
“ Yes we were.”
“ No we weren’t,” Alicia said. “I’m sure they’re okay. Besides, even if we go back, there’s nothing we can do, except get ourselves arrested for being stoned, not to mention the hit and run or the fact that someone’s trying to permanently put out your lights.”
“ I guess you’re right,” Amy said. Then she tried to put it out of her mind, but it didn’t want to go.
“ Is this your first baby?” Izzy said.
“ Yes.” Marlan was breathing hard, almost out of control. “First one.”
“ You’re going to have to slow your breathing down. Can you do that?”
“ Yes, yes, okay.” She took in a breath, held it, let it out.
“ No, not like that, breathe evenly, don’t hold it in.”
“ Alright, I can do that.” She did.
“ How far apart are your contractions?”
“ There is no apart.” Marlan was speaking through gritted teeth. “It’s just one long pain.”
“ Is she going to have the baby now?” A new voice. Izzy turned toward it. A small crowd had gathered, some were in costume, some were not.
“ I need some of you to take off your jackets, shirts too. I need to make a pillow to slip under her hips.”
“ I can help.” A man pulled off his sweatshirt. “Come on, people,” he said. “Let’s fill it up.”
Other’s took off, pulled off or shucked out of their jackets, sweaters and sweatshirts. The man gathered enough clothing to make two pillows. Izzy slid one under Marlan’s hips and the other under her head.
“ Can someone call 911?”
“ Already did,” the pillow man said.
Izzy hoped they’d get here in time.
“ I feel like I have to go to the bathroom,” Marlan said.
“ Shit or pee,” Izzy said.
“ The first one,” Marlan said. “I really have to shit.”
“ I thought we might get lucky and the paramedics would get here in time. But it’s not happening. What you’re feeling is the baby moving through the birth canal. She’s creating pressure on your rectum. She’s on the way, Marlan and there’s no stopping her now.”
“ Really?”
“ I’m going to have to undress you.”
“ It’s okay, I’m not shy.”
She was wearing a black dress, specially made for the occasion, Izzy supposed. She was going to have to cut it away.
