‘I’ve just seen you around,’ he said. ‘That’s all.’
Bill suddenly looked startled. ‘Hey! She’s the one in the yearbook!’
‘She is not! Shut up!’
‘Oh, wow.’
‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,’ Harris said, his bloody face grimacing. ‘Come on. We’ve gotta get going.’ He didn’t wait for the others. Forgetting his zombie walk, he hurried past Abilene with his face turned away.
‘Geez, Harris!’ Bill called, and rushed after him.
As the other two followed, Chuck the baseball player grinned at Abilene. ‘That guy’s got a major-league crash on you.’
‘No kidding,’ she muttered.
She looked back in time to see Harris throw a punch into Bill’s shoulder.
‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ Finley said.
‘Maybe you oughta go after him,’ Cora said.
‘Give me a break.’
‘He was pretty cute under all that blood,’ Vivian said.
‘Yeah, sure thing.’ 'He must’ve gotten your name from the yearbook,’ Helen said.
‘Freshmen don’t even have yearbooks yet.’
‘Wouldn’t be hard to get your hands on one,’ Cora told her.
‘I’d be flattered,’ Helen said.
‘Well, I’m not.’
She looked over her shoulder. The boys were half a block away. They weren’t walking like zombies. Harris seemed to be the center of attention. He’d taken the meat cleaver off his head. He was shaking it at the others, who shoved him and slapped his back and pointed toward Abilene.
Really giving him the business, she thought.
The poor guy was probably embarrassed half to death.
Serves him right.
He looks at pictures of me in the yearbook?
Turning away, she muttered, ‘What a creep.’
‘Just in love,’ Finley said.
‘Take a leap.’
‘Cut it out,’ Cora said. ‘Here come some more kids.’
Abilene felt hot and shaky inside. In spite of the chilly wind, her skin seemed to be on fire. Sweat dribbled down her sides.
A major-league crush.
A freshman, no less.
A moron going around wearing a toy meat cleaver like a hat and fake blood all over his face.
He had nice eyes, though.
A woman and two kids - another Freddie Krueger and a pirate - distracted Abilene from her thoughts about the zombie. Cora handed out candy bars. After the mother led her children away, Cora folded her empty bag and shoved it into Vivian’s. ‘That’s it for me,’ she said. ‘Your turn to do the honors.’
‘Oh, okay.’
‘How long are we planning to keep at this?’ Abilene asked.
‘Aren’t you having fun?’ Finley asked. ‘Not every night you bump into a secret admirer.’
‘Don’t remind me.’
‘Maybe they’ll come back,’ Helen said.
‘Oh, please.’
Abilene found herself keeping watch, half-expecting the zombies to show up again, hoping they wouldn’t, but surprised and annoyed at herself when, some time later, she glimpsed a group of guys in the distance and felt a tremor of excitement. Which turned into disappointment when they approached and she saw they were a vampire, a hobo, a soldier and a Frankenstein monster. They were also younger than the zombies. And creeps. They blocked the sidewalk. The soldier raised his M-16 and ordered, ‘Halt.’
‘Oh, this is terrific,’ Finley said. Ignoring the soldier’s command, she stepped onto a neatly trimmed lawn, shouldered her video camera, and began to tape the episode by the light of the full moon and streedamps.
‘What’s she doing?’ asked the hobo.
‘Forget her,’ said the Frankenstein monster. ‘Look at these babes.’
‘I vahnt to suck your blood,’ said the vampire, leaning close to Vivian and wiggling his eyebrows.
‘Have a Three Musketeers bar,’ Vivian said. She reached into her bag.
‘Zee blood is zee life.’ His head darted toward the side of Vivian’s neck. She shoved him away. The soldier opened up, his M-16 clacking, spitting out bursts of water that splashed Vivian’s face.
‘Cut it out,’ Cora warned.
‘Oh yeah?’ He swung the muzzle of the automatic squirtgun toward her.
‘You shoot me with that, I’ll shove it up your wahzoo.’
‘Oooo, I’m trembling. I’m shaking.’
Cora took,a step toward him, and he backed away.
The Frankenstein monster, meanwhile, had wandered over to
Helen’s side. ‘Look at this,’ he said. ‘This babe’s dressed up as a sheet.’
‘I’m a ghost,’ Helen said.
‘No such thing as ghosts.’ He lifted the sheet. ‘It’s not a ghost, it’s a blimp!’
Abilene muttered, ‘Fuck you, Charlie,’ and shoved him off the sidewalk. He staggered backward, tripped on a lawn sprinkler and fell on his rump. The soldier opened fire on Abilene. Cold spurts of water hit her forehead, her eyes, her cheeks. Then the kid squirted her bare armpit and swept his weapon sideways. Her sweatshirt went cold and wet against her breasts.
She heard laughter.
Cora lunged forward. She ripped the M-16 out of the soldier’s hands and shoved its muzzle against his crotch.
‘Ow!’
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
The vampire rushed Cora. Vivian slipped the broom handle between his feet. He yelped, stumbled past Cora and slammed the lawn at Finley’s feet.
The hobo whirled and ran.
The Frankenstein monster scurried up and went after him.
The soldier swatted the plastic gun barrel away. Clutching his sodden crotch, he staggered backward, blurting, ‘Leave me alone,’ as Cora pursued him. ‘Leave me… She stuck the muzzle into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He coughed as water flooded his mouth.
The vampire fled, his black cape fluttering behind him.
Cora shoved the M-16 into the hands of the choking, spluttering soldier. ‘Next time,’ she said, ‘be nice to people.’
The soldier twisted around and raced after his friends.
‘Good show!’ Finley called out. ‘Bravo!’ Lowering her camera, she came back to the sidewalk.
‘You were sure a lot of help,’ Abilene said.
‘Didn’t look to me as if you guys needed any assistance. Sure gave them a Halloween to remember.’
‘Dirty rats,’ Helen muttered.
‘Kind of fun, actually,’ Cora said.
‘He didn’t shoot you,' Vivian pointed out.
‘I sure shot him, though.’ She laughed. ‘Poor kid.’
