“No shit!”
“I’m not a monster,” said Vamps. He looked at them desperately, a man before a firing squad. “I blacked out. I don’t understand what’s happening. Please don’t take me out, yo.”
“It’s a trick,” said Jackie. “He’s wicked.”
“He’s ill,” Kamiyo argued. “I don’t know why I’m so sure of it, but I am. We can’t kill him, he’s innocent.”
“He’s dangerous,” said Jackie, her bloodied face adding impetus to her words.
“Does he need putting down or not?” Hannah asked testily. “Because I can’t be doing this all night long. We need to make a decision.”
Vamps still had his hands held up, but he dared step out of the room and into the open. “I honestly don’t know what happened. I-I was talking to the doctor and I just... I just closed my eyes for a moment. This is the next thing I know, innit? Please, don’t shoot me, yeah?”
Hannah lowered her rifle. “Okay, okay, just keep things nice and slow, yeah?”
“He’s a monster,” Jackie yelled. She pointed her finger accusingly at the sickly young man and marched towards him. “You’re a monster!”
Dr Kamiyo hurried after her. “Jackie get back! It’s not his fault.”
She snarled at the doctor. “You really think that? This thug isn’t possessed, he’s a psychopath!”
The young man who called himself ‘Vamps stood there calmly, even as Jackie stormed towards him with an obvious intent to do him harm. Then he started to laugh. His eyes turned black.
“Watch out!” Hannah aimed her rifle, but the damned woman got in her way.
Jackie tried to dodge out of the way, but she was too late. Vamps grabbed her forcefully.
“Let her go!” Ted bellowed.
Hannah continued to try to take the shot, but Dr Kamiyo lunged at her and shoved her barrel towards the floor. “No! You’ll hit Jackie. Something is going on that we don’t understa-”
“He needs putting down. Move out of the way!” She stepped closer to her target, but she still couldn’t get the shot. Jackie persisted in getting in the way, squirming to escape Vamps’ grip as he sniggered in her face. He held onto her playfully, toying with her like a cat.
But the game ended.
Vamps wrapped a hand around Jackie’s throat and squeezed. She turned bright purple, the need for Hannah to take a shot becoming even more urgent. Every time she thought she had it, Vamps would wheel around and shove Jackie in the way. She was a human shield.
Jackie made no noise, suffocating quietly.
“Damn it!” Hannah knew it was now or never. Her hands shook, fingers bruised from being crushed in the door. She had to make her shot count. If she missed, Jackie was dead.
Just do it. Pull the trigger.
Clack!
Everyone in the room yelped with fright. Vamps stumbled backwards on his heels, clutching his ribs and roaring in pain. Jackie collapsed to the ground, liberated but gagging and choking. She’d been rescued from death’s claws right at the last moment.
Hannah peered through her rifle sights, wondering if she’d pulled the trigger without realising it. But her finger still hovered in place.
Ted grabbed Jackie and hustled her out of harm’s way. Then he raised his hammer and swung it at Vamps for a second time. This time its heavy copper head struck Vamps on top of the shoulder and dropped him to the ground like a lead weight. He finished the young man off with a boot to the face. “Arsehole.”
Everyone in the room had been holding their breath, but they released it now in unison. Dr Kamiyo hurried over to Jackie and checked her over. Hannah lowered her rifle.
Crisis averted.
Ted propped his hammer over his shoulder and turned a circle, taking in the whole room with a look of fury and disgust. “Do you people ever do anything to help yourselves? No one is going to save you except yourselves, so stop standing around like a bunch of spare pricks.”
Everyone’s mouths fell open, but nobody in the room said a thing. The adults were possibly even more afraid than the children.
Ted stormed out of the cabin, cursing out loud.
Hannah pointed a throbbing finger at Vamps, unconscious on the floor. “Tie him up. Looks like we caught ourselves an enemy combatant.”
Wondering if it was hope or dread she felt, she marched out of the cabin to join Ted.
He had been right; these people were useless.
19
TED
Ted spent the night in a small boat shed beside the lake. Specifically, he bedded down inside a half-painted kayak with the number 3 on it. Sleep never came fully, dashing away whenever he was about to get ahold of it. He was glad for the silence if nothing else. He usually kipped in the flatbed of his truck, so sleeping rough was not an ordeal, but when the sun rose, and brought the merry chirping of birds, he realised how exhausted he was. Yesterday had been a shit show from the moment he’d stepped out of his truck. If he’d never encountered those dees—or Hannah—he would still be on his way north. Now he’d have to make the rest of his journey on foot. With zero supplies.
Ted meant what he had said to Hannah about expecting supplies from these people before he went on his way, but now he decided he would outright demand them. Not only had he helped save the camp from a demon attack, last night he’d also put down a crazed lunatic. What was that lad’s deal anyhow? Had a demon really got inside of him?
Hannah had followed him out of the cabin last night when he’d stormed off, but he had yelled at her to leave him alone. While he admired her ability, he held no desire to stay acquainted. All that talk last night about making camp up on the hill, living in a castle…
Jesus wept!
Hannah needed to wake up and accept that nothing made a difference. Their lives were cigarettes smoked down to the nub.
