Lifers 43

They’d told him about the vampires, Jill told him about her friend being brutally murdered just across the street, and about the six mutilated young girls over there also. So what could it be that was so special about Gregg’s shoulder wound that they couldn’t, or wouldn’t tell him?

‘So, do you have any idea where these girls are being held at least?’ asked Nick, turning back to face the heater.

‘If the information we gained from one of them is to be believed,’ Gregg said. ‘They’re also in the town hall, locked in an upstairs room.’

Nick’s glasses slid down the length of his nose as his eyes widened. ‘You’ve actually spoken with them?’

‘Yes, and we’ve also killed four of them, but like Jill said, we’re pretty sure there’s at least one more out here. And we have to deal with him before he tries to deal with us. After that, we can hopefully get to the girls.’

Nick turned his back to the heater before removing his glasses to wipe away the mist. ‘So what happens when the rain stops? Do they all come out?’

‘Eventually they will, and with four of them missing, they must already know something’s gone wrong.’
‘And they’ll have a good idea we had something to do with it,’ added Jill.

Gregg saw Nick snap his head up in the direction of the open hatch. ‘What is it, Nick?’

Nick looked a little unsure. ‘Don't know, I thought I heard something,’ he said, pointing. ‘Over there.’

Gregg could only see the outer surface of the hatch. ‘Don’t move, and stay quiet,’ he whispered, before disappearing around the the oil truck.

On reaching his vantage point, Gregg saw someone from the waist up and assumed it could only be Sheldon. He also noticed a gun in each of his hands. If he shouted “FREEZE” his best asset was gone, and the guy might turn and get at least one shot off. Deciding on a different tactic, Gregg took the initiative. One shot hitting Sheldon in the centre of his back, the other just below his left shoulder, the two guns fell to the garage floor and Sheldon crumpled on the upper steps of the shaft, still moving, but barely.

‘Hey, Nick. Give me a hand here would you?’ he shouted. ‘Jill, bring that over for me?’ He pointed to a mechanic’s gurney under the oil truck.

Jill reached under the truck, pulling free the gurney, she then shoved it with her foot to where it stopped between the heater and the roller-shutter. Gregg and Nick laid Sheldon face up on it and Gregg checked the new supply of guns for ammunition, two Colt 45s, and both fully-loaded. Passing one to Nick, he emptied the other and tossed it down the shaft, telling Nick to pocket the extra ammo.

Sheldon was in a bad way, both bullets had passed clean through, leaving two gaping exit wounds and bubbles of bloody air pumping from his chest.

Nick looked down on the man lying at his feet. ‘He doesn’t look that much like a vampire!’ he said, sounding a little disappointed.

‘No?’ questioned Jill. ‘What does one look like, Nick?’

‘Well, there kinda ... I mean like they have these ... these long, and their ... with ... hell you’ve seen em’ on TV, haven’t you?’

Gregg crouched before the dying man. ‘A little bird told me about you, just before he flew through the ceiling of the schoolhouse. Now I need you to tell me something too, are there any more of you out here?’

‘Fuck you!’ Sheldon said, coughing blood.

Gregg walked over to the roller-shutter and pushed the up button, he then walked back around the gurney putting his foot between Sheldon’s legs. ‘Last chance, Fuck Face, are there any more of you out here ... yes, or no?’

Sheldon twisted his head back to look at the rising door. The gap was a foot, and slowly increasing. ‘I said ... fuck you!’

Gregg shook his head and tutted. ‘Wrong answer, Asshole.’

He kicked out with his foot, shoving the gurney under the shutter and into the street. Sheldon screamed as he rolled into the heavy rain, at the same time, trying his best to slow his momentum with the palms of his hands, but his strength had deserted him. Gregg pushed the stop button then the down button and the shutter closed, drowning out Sheldon’s screams.

Nick ran to the office to look from the window. He stood watching as Sheldon unseuccessfully tried to pull himself up from the gurney. Less than a minute later, he was silent and still. His almost fleshless skull, showing a jaw full of sharp, pointed, yellow teeth, slipped sideways as though looking directly at Nick. Now he really had to get his camera. He just had to. Nobody at the convention would believe him if he didn’t.

‘Jesus, you weren’t shittin’ me about that rain man,’ he said, returning to the heater. ‘That guy’s a pile of mush out there!’

‘Like we said, Nick,’ said Gregg. ‘They don’t like getting wet.’

‘So, as long as it’s raining, you’re saying we’re safe?’

‘Yes.’

‘And when the rain does eventually stop,’ added Jill. ‘We hope to be far away from this place.’

A sudden realisation dawned on Nick, he became concerned that these two had no idea what they’d stumbled across. That much was blatantly obvious. This was bigger than NASA claiming they’d actually made it to the moon, but all they were concerned about was finding some missing girls and getting the hell out of there. Girls who, for all they knew, might already be dead. Hunting for them could leave little time for him to get to his van and collect his camera, and even less time for him to get some worthwhile photographs. There must be some way to convince them that a record needs to be taken, that proof of their existance alone should be documented in some way. And not only that, his convention buddy-list could do with the boost a handful of photographs of these guys would bring. Not to mention the press coverage he’d get.

‘What is it, Nick?’ asked Gregg.

‘What?’

‘You looked a little distracted there.’

‘Distracted? Are you kidding? What I’ve just seen out there,’ he said, pointing, ‘was enough to wipe the smile from the Mona Lisa, never mind that guy’s face. That ain’t the kind of thing you see every day.’

‘Look, if you want to leave, you have at least twenty miles to the next town. This lot don’t know about you, so they won’t come looking. Jill and I have a score to settle, you don’t!’

Nick wasn’t going anywhere, just yet. ‘No,’ he said. ‘If there’s a chance of finding and rescuing those young girls, I’d like to help in what ever way I can.’

‘You’re sure about that?’

‘No, I’m not sure, but I’m here, so we’ll go with that, okay?’’

‘Okay, but before we can move on we need to be certain Sheldon out there was the last one running free.’ Gregg pulled the map from his back pocket and rested it on the oil drum. ‘At the bottom of this shaft, is the tunnel for the cinema, if our friend out there didn’t come from the town hall, that’s the only other place he could have come from. And according to this, the stores don’t have tunnels, so we won’t need to check them out.’

Nick saw his chance, no way could he let it pass by. ‘I think if we … oh, nevermind.’

‘What, Nick?’ asked Jill.

‘Well this road,’ he said, pointing to the map, ‘seems to be the only way out of this place.’

‘It is,’ confirmed Gregg.

‘So what if we succeed in freeing the girls, and then, when we’re on our way out of town, a sniper secluded in one of those stores starts taking pot-shots at us?’ he pulled the 45 from his jacket pocket. ‘I don’t mind going out there to check they’re empty,’ he said, seeing a look of doubt in Gregg’s eyes. Come on man, bite. Take the bait. ‘If you two want to stay here I’ll do it by myself,’ he added.

‘Okay,’ said Gregg. ‘But you’re not going alone, you and Jill can check the stores, while I’ll check the cinema. If you get back before I do, stay away from the tunnels, or I might mistake you for one of them.’

Jill nodded hitting the up button. ‘Well come on, Nick. After all ... it was your idea.’

When they’d gone under the rising shutter, Gregg pushed the stop and down buttons leaving about a three foot gap in case they returned before he did. Then he raised it another foot, for Nick’s sake. He put the hat on, entered the shaft, and when he reached the bottom, he turned left heading for the cinema.