by Blou Bryant
Teri gripped his hand with both of hers and refused to let go, edging behind him. With two clicks, she leaned into him for protection.
“Click, click, is that all it can say?” asked the pimple faced girl.
“What the hell?” he said and shuffled thoughts of the virus aside. “All of you are so angry, what makes someone push a little girl to the ground? What’s so bad in your life that you need to insult her?” As he said it, he thought to himself with dismay that he’d done the same, just not out loud.
“Look at her,” she said. “Even in the dark, she’s ugly. Vampires love beauty and despise the filth of humanity. When we finally transform, we’ll all be beautiful, higher beings.”
Wyatt could see, even in the faint light thrown off by the kitchen light, that she wasn’t attractive. He remembered from earlier, her pimpled face, the eyes set too far apart and the nose that was a bit too small and off-center. “And right now, you’re what?” he asked.
The implied insult stopped her in her tracks and he could see her face set in anger. “I’m prepared for transformation,” she said. “The rest of you can just live your mundane lives, at least I’m doing something.”
Wyatt was sick of the insults from these posers. She was revolting to look at, a scrawny little woman with a face that nobody would ever consider attractive. Her vampire dream was just an escape from reality. In fact, all of the posers were just looking to escape. He considered insults, there were so many to choose from. He could pick on her pimples, her small chest, or her weak face, all of which marked her as unattractive.
As he opened his mouth to reply, Teri squeezed his hand. Wyatt looked down at her, into those eyes. The green wasn’t visible, but the white flecks glinted in the faint light. She blinked twice and squeezed his hand again and Wyatt understood, she doesn’t want me to reply, she’s telling me to not insult this girl.
“Are you kidding me?”
Teri shook her head.
“But…”
Teri clicked again and squeezed his hand.
Wyatt knew that he’d been a jerk to her all day, he’d avoided her because of how she looked. He’d talked to her father and to Hannah instead of her, so that he didn’t have to look at her face. He’d been just like the pimply faced vampire. He suddenly realized that any comment he made to the vampire would be one additional scar on a psyche that likely already suffered from a lifetime of cuts. It was good that it was dark and neither girl could see his face redden in shame.
He gave in. “Girl,” he said to the vampire. “Fine, you’re going to be a higher being, but right now, can you just be nice enough to leave us lower beings alone and go to bed?”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“I’m actually not,” he said, honestly.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she protested, but the anger was gone.
“Outside, or… here? We were invited by Linkin, we’re guests.”
His refusal to engage in insults had disarmed her and she shrugged. “Whatever,” she said and walked back into the house.
“Well, that worked out better than I expected. Thanks, Teri,” he said. An electrical twinge moved from him to her again, this time stronger.
Wyatt could feel a pressure building in him, the fever was lighter than the previous night but the urge was the same. Still holding her hand, he led her to the swing. He took a seat and she, comfortably, sat down on his lap. She let go of his hand and took hold of the chains and they gently swung back and forth.
They sat quietly, alone together in the dark for a time and he dialed back his suspicions about her. They weren’t about her, they were about her father. Wyatt knew that he was being paranoid, after all, she was just a kid, so small he couldn’t hear her breathing even though she was right there in front of him. She didn’t have a game.
Despite his pretense of being better than others, he was just like everyone else, all those people who had always told him that he’d needed to change, who said he should take pills to make him better, more controlled and more focused, to stop his crazy thoughts. This was different though. Teri’s father didn’t want to make her into someone else, he just wanted to give her a chance to be who she really was.
Wyatt was angry at himself, remembering how he’d looked at Teri and had seen her only as broken. He berated himself for being focused on what he thought she should be rather than what she was, a human. He stopped their swinging and she turned back to look at him, her lightning bolt eyes searching his. “It’s OK, Teri,” he said.
With his injured left hand, he gripped hers tight. In the darkness, he closed his eyes and focused on her, on his hand and the heat and electricity that had been building up in him for the last day. As he concentrated, breathing in and out, an urgency grew in him. Teri gasped and Wyatt opened his eyes to see sparks fly from their joined hands. This, strangely, didn’t surprise him.
“Shh,” he said and grasped her little hand hard in his, pressing their flesh together. The electricity grew and illuminated the night with little flashing blue sparks that looked like fireflies dancing around them. Wyatt could feel heat building between their palms, and a shiver went up his spine. He thought about what he wanted, which was to heal her, to let her be who she was meant to be. He focused on this and the surge of energy increased.
Teri’s eyes were wide open, only inches from his and their hands stayed joined as if they were two magnets. It didn’t matter, neither tried to separate. Rather than try to pull away, Teri leaned against him, wrapping her free arm tightly around him. Wyatt responded by pulling her shaking body against his and hugged her tight in return.
With a large flash, the virus surged from him to her through their grasped hands. The electricity and sparks stopped, and the night went dark again.
They sat in the swing, both gasping for breath for at least fifteen minutes until he felt stable enough to go back inside. He took one last long look at the moon, high in the sky, took her in his arms and got off the swing.
He walked back through the house with her, this time without incident. He tiptoed up the stairs, unseen by the vampires still hanging out in the living room. The door creaked a little when he opened it, but Hannah was still sound asleep. She moved a little when he placed Teri in bed next to her, but didn’t wake. Wearily, he took off his shoes and joined them.
As he pulled himself under the sheets, he pushed himself up against Teri and put an arm around her.
He wasn’t able to get to sleep right away, but he was relaxed and lay there, cradling Teri, thinking about what had just happened, what was happening and what might happen next. He was covered in sweat, but the fever was gone, the transfer had cured him, at least momentarily.
Wyatt closed his eyes and, despite or because of what had just happened, he fell asleep.
Chapter 18
When he next woke, he started thinking about Hannah before he was even fully awake. Could he trust her? As far as he could tell, she had nothing to gain from him and was, perhaps just what she seemed to be. He’d already decided to trust Teri and was now bound to her by whatever it was that he’d done. The three of them had a connection now, and he decided that it was time to talk to Hannah about his plans.
Wyatt moved a bit on the bed, but she didn’t wake. He leaned across Teri and gave Hannah a soft poke in the side which elicited no more than a faint protest and continued deep breathing. When that failed, he got up on an elbow and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hannah,” he said in a whisper. When she didn’t respond, he did it again, with more urgency.
A deep, quick breath showed that she’d woken. “Huh, what?” she said.
“Hey, it’s Wyatt.”
“Ugh,” she replied, and the bed moved as she stirred. “What?” she asked.
“I was awake.”
“And you figured I should be too?” she asked, and he felt her stir. “Hey?” she said as she noticed Teri.
“Teri’s here,” he said. “She came in last night.” He considered what to
say and went with, “You need to watch out for her, if anything happens.”
“What do you mean? Why do I have to look out for her?” Hannah asked, and he could sense her stand up. Seconds later the light flicked on.
Wyatt stared at her as his eyes got used to the brightness, she was a beautiful woman, full of curves, red hair and attitude. In different circumstances… he abandoned that line of thought. “I’m going to try to escape, draw everyone away from you. When I do, can you keep an eye on Teri?”
“You’re leaving?”
“I have to, it’s the right thing to do,” he replied and sat up in bed. “It’ll keep you two safe.”
“Is that what you tell yourself? Oh, you’re the big strong man, gotta do everything alone, don’t you?”
Wyatt didn’t reply.
Hannah scowled. “Don’t think for a minute you’ll leave me behind,” she said in a whisper that sounded like a shout.
“It’s my blood they’re after,” he said.
“Did you see the news at Taco-Bell? I’m wanted for murder, just like you. I’m not spending the rest of my life in jail.”
Wyatt had seen more video than her and was well aware of their situation. Still, he was convinced that she was better off without him. Once they were separated, Golde would follow him, not her. And she was rich, people like her didn’t go to jail. “We’ll see,” he said.
Hannah laughed loud enough to make Teri stir. “I’m not twelve. My parents have been using, ‘we’ll see’ on me for years.” She walked over and sat down next to him, and put a hand on his leg, which had the effect of making him quite uncomfortable. “We’re in this together, isn’t that clear to you yet?”
Wyatt was confused by the closeness and the contact and didn’t understand why she wanted to stay with him. From his perspective, the two of them had a better chance of escaping if they were apart than together. “Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why stay in this together? Why would you want to be on the run? You have everything a person could ask for in life, you’re good looking, smart and, most important, your parents are super rich.”
“Are you kidding me? Don’t be one of those idiots who thinks that every girl wants a nice career, a princess wedding, and two perfect kids. I’d rather drill a hole from one ear to the other.”
“But this,” he said, waving a hand around the small, empty room they were stuck in, “Is this really the best choice? Why would you want to be on the run with me?” He avoided looking at her as he said this.
She rolled her eyes as she guessed at what he was getting at. “Are you worried that I’m hitting on you?” she asked and then laughed. “Don’t hold back. Do you imagine, in that crazy little brain of yours, that I’m doing this, going on the run, so that I can stay with you?”
When she said it that way, it sounded rather dumb. They’d just met. But she’d said things that made him wonder. Did she like him?
“Just because I’m a flirt doesn’t mean I’m a stupid little girl waiting for you to sweep her off her feet. I flirt because it’s fun. I want to stay with you because we’re the only two people in the world who know and will say what really happened. We’re both wanted for murder. We’re both hunted by Golde and his psychopath daughter. Oh, and your crazy one-armed friend.”
Wyatt pretended he wasn’t disappointed that she wasn’t interested in him, not that he was interested in her. He wanted to be what his father had taught him, the strong, stand-alone male. He’d planned to run off and in doing so, draw all the people chasing them away from her and allow her to go back to her life. Why wasn’t she thankful?
Despite his silence, she replied. “You have no clue, do you? Men are idiots, in every possible way. I don’t have any idea how men aren’t extinct. You should all be dead, you’re so stupid. I’m going with you.”
He remained quiet, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. It seemed a wise choice.
Hannah glared at him for a moment, daring him to disagree, and then moved on to another topic. “What about Teri,” she asked. “Why did you say I had to look after her?”
Wyatt wondered if he should share and decided without hesitation he needed to, if he wanted Hannah to watch her, it was the only way she’d help. “I did something to her last night like I did to you yesterday.”
She looked at Teri, still sleeping between them, with wide eyes. “Tell me what happened,” she said.
After a moment, Wyatt said, “I will, but we can’t tell the Dogs, I don’t trust them.” He said. “Hannah, I don’t want to end up in a lab like one of Esaf’s experiments.”
“I understand. Trust me instead. I’ll keep the secret.”
He did, and they talked for a while as Wyatt described what had happened and how it’d felt to him as best he could. He still had trouble believing it himself, it still seemed like a dream. Still, she could read him better than he expected, noted when he looked away and when he hesitated. She slowly pulled the entire story out of him.
When he got to his suspicions about Joe and his plan, Wyatt expected her to laugh or call him a liar but instead she accepted every word he had said. Still, belief didn’t lead to agreement, “Are you crazy?” she asked.
He wondered, perhaps he was. He’d shot electricity out of his hand into a small disabled child. “My plan is the only option I can think of, the only one that doesn’t involve jail or getting myself killed. If you got a better one, let me know.”
“I understand that, I’d like to be in charge too, but we’re not, we’re like balloons in the middle of the ocean, just bobbing along in whatever direction the waves are headed.”
“So, this is my way of taking control.”
“But, breaking into a military base? It’d be better if we ran off into the woods. And you don’t know if you’re right about Joe. You can’t trust him.”
“I don’t, not at all.”
“So, why include him? Aren’t there enough people looking to use us, arrest us or just kill us?”
“Because we can’t beat these guys. Even the Vampires, as much as they’re losers, outnumber us. The Dogs are armed, we can’t fight them. Crazy Jessica and her corrupt father have every police officer in the country looking for us. Now that we’re on TV, everyone will get in line to turn us in for the reward money.”
“So how does Joe play into this?”
“He’s a wild card. The deck is stacked against us, there isn’t any way we can win with things as they are, so I’m putting more cards in the deck.”
Hannah didn’t look like she was buying it, which fed into his own insecurity. She said, “And the military base?”
“Better than a prison cell,” he said. “I figure it’s a place Golde, the Dogs and everyone else can’t go.”
“For a reason!”
“I’m not sure it’s as dangerous as you think. Joe is a hacker, but not a government type hacker. There’s no way he’s controlled by the military.”
“Why?”
Wyatt talked about each of the times he’d talked to Joe and all the times Joe had helped them, explaining his suspicions about Joe’s motives. Each call had made him more suspicious, and each had given him clues as to why Joe was inserting himself in their lives.
Hannah listened and, to his surprise, said. “It’s possible.” She then said, “I still think that you’re crazy.”
“Do you have any other options or suggestions?”
She gave his thigh a squeeze, “None. Sometimes, crazy is the only way to go. I’m with you, but man…”
Wyatt took her hand, “I know,” he said, looking at her, seeing someone different than he’d expected. “Are you sure you don’t want that princess wedding?”
“Will there be cake?”
He laughed quietly, still very aware of Teri in bed behind them. “Oh yes, lots of cake. Stick with me and I’ll get you cake.”
She squeezed his hand, “In that case, I’m in, but we need a plan for once we get there. A way to get out, we can’t just hide on
a military base for the rest of our lives.”
Wyatt winked. “A plan is exactly what I’m working on,” he said and described what he wanted to do. She listened, not interrupting except to nod and agree. Both of them had accepted crazy as their option, it was no longer a matter of if, but how.
Before they could finish, there were two quick knocks on the door which opened before they answered. It was Vasca. Esaf was standing behind him.
Vasca let out a deep breath when he saw Teri. “I hoped she was with you. Get ready, put your shoes on. We’re dumping this joint.”
Wyatt’s heart leapt, he’d expected something to happen as a result of his call to Joe, but not so quickly. “Why? What about the lab?”
Esaf’s voice floated through the doorway. “I have the results.”
Wyatt wondered what this meant for him. He already knew what the results would say, what he worried was, what Vasca would do with him now. “And, what did you find out,” he asked.
Vasca put up a hand, “Not now. It’s not safe here. We can discuss later.” He walked to the bed and gently shook Teri. To Wyatt’s relief, she woke and seemed none the worse for wear. The two of them looked at each-other briefly and he could see the slightest of nods in his direction. Vasca picked her up with one broad arm and beckoned to the rest with the other. “Let’s go.”
Wyatt put his foot down. “I’m not going anywhere; I need to know what you found out. What did you learn?”
Esaf didn’t reply and remained in the hallway. Vasca said, “Not here, not now. You’re infected, so yes, you told the truth. That’s enough. Put on your shoes.”
He considered asking for more. He already knew he was infected, but he could see that Vasca wasn’t in the mood for questions and decided to wait until they were in the car. He found his stained Brookes and put them on.
The group walked down the staircase to see Linkin at the door. “You’re up early for normals,” he said. “We Vampires like the night, it’s our time, but I’m surprised to see you moving about. Do you want to go, already? Perchance you can remain and entertain us for the morning, perhaps break bread before you leave?”