down the stairs and waited next to the door as Maximus had instructed. He went the opposite way, sprinting silently up the steps and out of sight. I waited anxiously in the dark, twisting a lock of hair around and around my finger as I strained to hear even the smallest noise.
I did not have to wait long. There was a muffled bang, like a door slamming, followed by a high pitched yelp that sounded suspiciously like…
“TRAVIS?” I shouted up the stairs. “TRAVIS, IS THAT YOU?”
“Lola,” came the answering wail. “Lola, get him off me!”
Grasping the railing I took the stairs two at a time and was well out of breath by the time I reached the second level. A flashlight knocked into one corner of the landing supplied enough light to see Travis’s terrified face as he laid on his stomach with Maximus crouched on top of him, pulling his head back with one hand and using the other to hold his arms pinned behind his back in a position that looked downright uncomfortable.
“Let him go,” I wheezed out. I seriously needed to get in better shape. “Maximus, that’s my friend Travis. Let him go, you’re hurting him.”
Reluctantly Maximus released his death grip on Travis and stood up. “Your
I gazed at Travis with new appreciation. “Really?”
Looking embarrassed, he hunched his shoulders and said, “Yeah. I heard you scream so I came out and when I saw him coming up the stairs I thought he was, you know, one of them. Who is he, anyway?”
“He’s the guy I told you about before. The one who knows about the Drinkers.”
Maximus scowled. “You told him about me?”
I nodded.
“Don’t tell people about me,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
“Is he always like this?” Travis whispered.
“Pretty much.”
“I can
“Where’s my dad?” I asked.
Travis shifted from foot to foot and scratched the side of his head. “In the room we picked out. Sleeping. He, uh, found an old bottle of wine downstairs in the restaurant.”
Travis didn’t have to say anymore. Leaning down, I picked up the flashlight and pointed it directly into Maximus’s eyes. He cursed and backed away, but I tracked him relentlessly until I had him pinned in the corner. That was it. No more nice girl. No more vague answers. I was ready for some facts, and I knew just the guy to give them to me. “We’re going into one of those rooms and we’re not leaving until you tell me every single thing you know about what is going on. You got that?”
“All right,” he said quietly.
“And if you don’t Travis is going to take that baseball bat and -”
“Uh, Lola?” Travis interrupted.
“What?” I snapped.
“Maximus said okay. Plus he kind of, uh, broke the bat.”
I swung the flashlight towards Travis who squinted and threw both hands up in front of his face. “Hey, watch it,” he complained.
“Sorry.” I pointed the flashlight at the ground. “Travis, you can come too if you want.”
“Gee, thanks,” he muttered.
“Well?” I said when he just stood there.
“What?”
“Lead the way, Travis!” Did I have to spell everything out?
Maximus crossed his arms. “Are you two always like this?”
“Shut up,” Travis and I said in unison. We exchanged a quick grin and for a second, just one fleeting, wonderful second, it felt like nothing had changed. And then I remembered that everyone in the town was dead or dying and the world was ending and I was being hunted by a psychopath vampire chick and I suddenly didn’t feel like grinning anymore.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Travis led us to the room next to Dad’s. It was sparsely decorated with a bed that had been stripped of its linens and a bureau shoved up against the back wall. The window blinds were still intact and Maximus double checked to make sure they were closed tight. I hopped up on the bureau and slouched against the wall. I was, I realized as I stifled a yawn, absolutely exhausted. When was the last time I had slept? Last night? Barely. An hour or so at most and before that? I couldn’t remember.
“Does the water work?” I asked when Travis reappeared from the bathroom.
He nodded. “It’s cold, though.”
From across the room Maximus released a bitter laugh. “They’ll cut the water lines soon. Take a shower while you can.”
“We’ll get cleaned up in the morning,” I said. I didn’t relish the idea of going to sleep covered in dried up sweat, but I couldn’t think of a more vulnerable position than being naked in the shower. What would I do if a Drinker attacked? Hit him with a loofah?
I set the flashlight down and clicked it off. I needed – we all needed – to get in the habit of conserving what we had. The room went dark and I heard Travis’s muffled intake of breath, then the squeak of rusty bedsprings as he sat on the mattress. Bringing my legs up to my chest I rested my head on my knees and looked to where I thought Maximus was standing. “So tell us everything,” I said.
There was a very faint
“We want to know,” Travis answered for me.
“Fine. What is happening out there, what has happened out there, is not a random act of violence. It was planned and executed down to the tiniest detail.”
“But why?” I wanted to know.
“If you are going to interrupt me every three seconds this is going to be a very long night.”
“Yeah, Lola, be quiet,” said Travis.
“It was just a simple question,” I defended.
I couldn’t see Maximus’s face, but I was almost certain he was rolling his eyes at me. “I am not a psychologist,” he said. “I can’t see inside their heads. I don’t know why they do what they do, only that they’re doing it. You want to know, go ask one of them.”
That shut me up.
“They’re fast,” Maximus continued. “Faster than any other living thing on earth.”
“Faster than a peregrine falcon?” Travis interrupted skeptically. “Because, you know, in a hunting dive they can reach speeds upwards of two hundred miles per hour.”
I couldn’t help it. I snickered. I felt a slight whoosh of air as Maximus stalked past and then the door slammed shut.
“What?” Travis asked. “What did I say?”
