The Traveling Vampire Show

“Well,” said Slim, “we’ll find out soon enough, I guess.”

Chapter Forty- five

We walked for a couple of minutes on the dirt road, but then another car came so we hid again. This time, we crouched behind a clump of bushes about twenty feet from the roadside.

“We’re never gonna get there,” Rusty said.

“Maybe we’d better cut through the woods,” Slim suggested.

“Have we gotta?” Bitsy asked.

“We’d better,” Slim said. “If we keep hiding every time a car comes by ...”

“We might as well walk up the road,” I said. “Everybody’s gonna see us when we get to the show, anyway.”

Slim looked at me. She was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. But...”

Rusty gasped out, “Holy shit!”

The rest of us looked.

The car bouncing up the road and just about to pass our hiding place was a huge old Cadillac. Slammed by fear, I ducked. Bitsy was still staring at it, so I clamped a hand on her shoulder and jerked her down.

“What’s ... ?”

“Shhh.”

Hunkered low, we waited for the Cadillac to pass.

It’s probably not even the same one, I told myself. But I knew better. Around these parts, Cadillacs weren’t nearly as common as pickup trucks. This had to be the one that had terrorized us after the drive-in.

For the past month, all the cops in the county had been looking for it.

Now, here it was.

The sounds of the Cadillac faded, but not with distance. Its engine noise decreased because someone had taken his foot off the gas pedal. Its tires no longer crunched along the dirt road because they had quit moving.

Cars stop for many reasons, but I knew why this one had stopped.

We’d been seen.

“Did they see us?” Rusty asked in a hoarse whisper.

Slim went “Shhh.”

Rusty murmured, “Jesus.”

“Who are ... ?” Bitsy started to ask. I cupped an open hand across her mouth, catching the final word, dissolving it into warm breath. Though she didn’t try to say more, I kept my hand on her mouth. She breathed into it.

I listened for the sound of a door opening.

What if they’re already open?

Through the thick foliage in front of me, I could see nothing of the Cadillac exept the glow of its headlights.

I wanted to rise and peer over the top, but I didn’t dare. Then a man’s thin voice sang out, “Weee seee youuuu.”

I felt as if I had icy snakes in my bowels.

The same voice, but without the sing-song, asked, “Want a lift?”

I was afraid Slim might answer with a wisecrack, but she remained silent.

“What’s the matter, kids? Cat got your tongues?”

A moment later, I felt Bitsy’s tongue push gently against the palm of my hand.

She’s licking me!

I jerked my hand away from her mouth.

“How about a ride to the Traveling Vampire Show?” the man asked.

I rubbed my wet hand on the leg of my jeans.

“Don’t worry,” the man said, “we won’t hurt you.” After a pause, he added, “Much.”

His passenger giggled. That’s when I remembered that they were supposed to be twins.

A matching pair of perverts.

The blast of a car horn made me jump.

“Be seeeeing you,” the guy called out. The engine revved. The tires hissed and crunched on the dirt road.

Rising slightly, I saw that a pale station wagon now stood just behind where the Cadillac had been. It must’ve been the car that honked. As the Cadillac disappeared among the trees, the station wagon started forward. After it came a little sports car.