Avenging Autumn: Seasons Change Book 1 of 4

by Derek A. Schneider

  “Alright, what about you Jack? You look like you could use some rest.”

  Jack let out a deep sigh, “Yeah, I suppose I could.”

  He leaned over and rested his head against the win-dow. Knowing his father’s trouble with sleeping lately, he was confident he wouldn’t dose off while he was driving. Jack thought he could never sleep after the night’s events. Five seconds after that thought he was asleep.

  When he awoke it was daylight, and they were sitting in front of a large house a couple of miles south of Gary, Indi-ana, with the sun rising in the east.

  More killing was about to begin.

  7. The First Five

  Benny’s car was in the shop the night they went to the concert, and as much as he despised Jack’s friend, Marvin, he and Autumn were forced to hitch a ride with the two of them, as they were heading to the concert as well.

  The show went well. L7 was the opening act and they were alright, but nothing to write home about. Manson and his band put on an amazing show, one that Benny would praise for years to come.

  After the show, the foursome made their way back to Marvin’s Oldsmobile and pulled out of the State Fair grounds after a very prolonged wait in concert traffic, only to have a tire blow out once they got a mile down 38th street. Marvin pulled the limping car into a gas station parking space and killed the engine.

  “It’s no problem, guys,” Jack said, “I’ll just throw on the spare and we’ll be moving in no time.”

  “Uh, that’s not really an option, Jack,” Marvin stated. Marvin was a strange little guy with a hair lip, and a voice like a puppet. It was the voice that made Benny laugh uncontrollably whenever he was high, and even then he was giggling a little despite the predicament they were in. “I’m afraid the spare tire is flat as well.”

  “Alright,” Jack returned, “I’ll just call The Old Man to come out and pick us up.”

  “He’s not going to be happy,” Benny put in. “It’ll take him at least an hour to get here from Triloville.”

  “Yeah, but he’ll do it anyway.”

  Autumn wrapped her hands around Benny’s arm. “I really have to pee.”

  “Me too,” returned Benny. “Hey, Jack, we’re going to go find a bathroom.”

  “Alright, I’m going to hit that payphone over there.”

  The three of them got out of the car, leaving Marvin to twiddle his thumbs until they returned.

  Benny and Autumn walked over to the gas station bathroom only to find an out of order sign taped to it. After questioning the attendant, they were informed that the closest public bathrooms were at a small motel just down the side-walk.

  Less than a block away, the couple walked into the dim lobby of the Yellow Brick Motel and asked the balding creep behind the counter for the facilities.

  “Just down the stairs.” he said, “Women’s on the left, men’s on the right.”

  The two of them walked down the small flight of stairs and Benny couldn’t help but notice how poorly lit the entire building seemed to be.

  “Alright,” he told Autumn, “I’ll see you back out here in a few.”

  Benny pushed the door open and flicked the light switch up. The light did not come on. His need to relieve him-self far outweighed the childish fear of the dark he suddenly felt, so he let the door close and blindly made his way over to the urinal.

  He undid his pants and began to urinate and laughed out loud because he knew he wasn’t even close to hitting the urinal. He just let it flow, though, all over the wall and down to the floor.

  With a shocking suddenness, the air went cold. So much so that he could feel the moisture on his nose hairs begin to turn to ice. He looked around even though he knew there was no point. There was no light at all in the tiny bathroom.

  A whisper tickled his ear and he was sure he wasn’t alone. The whispering was immediately followed by a harsh sucking noise and Benny hastily fastened his pants and went for the door. As he cracked it open, the dim light from the hallway fell on an animalistic face hovering over a dark lump on the floor. His hand slipped off the door and the room went dark once again. He groped for the handle frantically, but couldn’t seem to get his bearings.

  The thing behind him whispered again, something intangible to his ears, possibly another language. He could hear the bare footfalls of the creature on the linoleum floor. It was coming closer.

  Finally his hand fell on the door handle and he pulled it open. Light poured in again and for the first time Benny noticed he was breathing incredibly hard. He looked back into the dark bathroom, but this time found nothing. Whatever had been in there before was gone.

  A hand fell on Benny’s shoulder, giving him a fright that threw him against the hallway wall. He let out a relieved breath when his eyes fell on Autumn.

  “Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me,” he breathed.

  “What’s wrong with you?” She giggled.

  “I just saw something really freaky in there.”

  Autumn opened the door and peered inside. Benny looked around the corner with caution and saw the bathroom was still empty.

  “Or maybe I didn’t, I don’t know.” Benny stated with confusion.

  “Come on, let’s get you home.”

  Autumn helped Benny get to his feet and the two of them made it back to the car. Twenty minutes later, Frank showed up to rescue them.

  Benny could have chalked up the strangeness of the bathroom to a bad high, but somehow he didn’t think so. He saw something that night, he just didn’t know what.

  “Are you sure this is the place?” Benny asked.

  Autumn closed her eyes as if she was trying to get a psychic reading from someone who had been long dead. “There are five of them in the house, the sixth is far away. To the west.”

  The four acres of property the house sat on was sur-rounded by a twelve foot high, brick wall. The Writemans positioned themselves in the shade of a tall apple tree on the west side of the wall. Autumn was staring up at the brightly colored leaves and the large, juicy apples.

  “Mmm, I wish I could eat one of those apples,” she said.

  Benny looked at the ripe fruit that was hanging down from the branches and knew they would be delicious. “I’m sure they’d taste terrible,” he said.

  Autumn smiled at her husband’s attempt to cheer her up. It obviously worked.

  The Saturday morning air was cold enough to see the breath escaping their mouths (with the exception of Autumn of course) so Benny and Jack now donned their pullover sweatshirts and pulled the hoods over their heads. Frank was wearing an old beat up army jacket that he picked up in a surplus store in Greenwood. They all wore swords strapped to their backs, as well as an array of guns and wooden stakes hanging from their belts.

  “Alright,” Frank started, “vampires are known to have human servants who guard their caskets during the day. I want you guys to boost me up so I can take a look over the wall.”

  Jack clasped his fingers together and gave his father a foot hold while Benny shoved his behind upward toward the top of the wall. Frank pulled himself the rest of the way up and peered at the property beyond. After a few minutes he looked down at the others.

  “I can see only two guards on this side of the lawn,” he whispered, “I’m going in, you guys circle around to the east wall and come over, we’ll meet at the front door. And remem-ber; keep it quiet.”

  Frank hefted himself over the wall and dropped quietly onto the lawn. The grass, he noticed, was nearly as high as his waist, and held a large array of fallen leaves inter-woven throughout it. As he moved in behind a tree for cover, he thought to himself; I guess vampires don’t really get into lawn care.

  Suddenly from his right came the sound of something moving quickly through the grass like a squirrel on a caffeine rush. As the thing cut a path through the yard, moving steadily closer, Frank could hear it growling and snarling angrily. He raised his left arm up just in time to block the animal’s attack. Sharp canine teeth sank into
his jacket sleeve, puncturing his skin. The creature locked its jaw onto his arm and Frank finally recognized his attacker. A pit bull terrier. He hoped the boys would be able to handle anymore that were around.

  With a swift movement of his right hand, Frank pulled a knife from his belt and jammed it into the dogs head. The pit let out a yelp, but miraculously held his grip. Frank twisted the knife hard and the dog released his arm and fell lifeless to the ground. From behind he could hear another dog moving toward him fast. As he turned, he pulled his sword from its sheath. The timing was perfect. The blade entered the pit bull’s open mouth and removed the top of its skull.

  With the sword in his hand, Frank carefully peered around the tree. The commotion had caught the attention of one of the guards and he was headed toward the tree with an M-16 held to his chest.

  Luckily, the tree’s trunk was thick enough to hide Frank from view, and as the guard came up beside it, the old man quietly moved around the opposite side with his sword held high. As the guard examined the dead dogs lying in the grass, Frank’s blade fell, decapitating the servant from behind.

  Re-sheathing his sword, The Old Man turned his at-tention back toward the rest of the property.

  The house had a balcony that wrapped all the way around the second floor, where another guard was posted. Looking up now, Frank saw that the second guard was moving toward the other side of the house, apparently not noticing the killings that had occurred below.

  Frank slowly crept in toward the front door.

  Meanwhile, on the east side of the wall, Benny, Jack, and Autumn had just found a good place to climb over.

  “Alright,” Jack said, once again clasping his hands for a foot hold, “you first, Benny.”

  Benny gave his brother a sarcastic smirk, “You should go first, you’re lighter than me.”

  “Yeah, but your taller, it would be easier for you to reach the wall with your long arms, and then reach down and pull us up.”

  “Well, I guess that makes since, I am stronger than you.”

  “Whoa, now wait a minute,” Jack said seemingly unable to believe what he had just heard, “who said anything about you being stronger?”

  Autumn let out a groan that seemed to go unnoticed.

  “Of course I’m stronger,” Benny continued. “It’s all in the weight.”

  “Bullshit, I’ll arm wrestle you right now.”

  “Would you two macho idiots shut the fuck up and get over the wall?” Autumn bellowed.

  Jack threw his hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright. Don’t get your pulse rate up.”

  Benny snorted laughter.

  “Oh, ha ha, very funny,” Autumn said, “you’re short and your scrawny, now get over the damn wall.”

  The two men gave Autumn an identical look of in-sulted hurt.

  “I’m not that short,” Jack said solemnly.

  Jack boosted Benny up to the top of the wall for a look around. He saw one guard walking toward the front of the house, yawning as he went. Once the thug was around the corner Benny pulled the rest of his body up and, positioning himself on his stomach, reached down for the others. Jack put his hands on Autumns waist and lifted her up to Benny’s out-stretched hand. Once she was over, Benny reached down for his brother. Jack jumped up for Benny’s hand, but missed it completely.

  “Autumn’s right,” Benny whispered, “you are too short.”

  “Fuck you!” Jack shot back. He backed up about ten feet and got a running start. Kicking his foot off the wall to get extra height, he was able to reach Benny.

  Once the three of them were over, they all stood mo-tionless against the wall and looked around. After seeing the seemingly deserted lawn, Jack strode forward with confidence.

  “Jack,” Autumn said quietly, “what are you doing?”

  “What?” he asked, “This is going to be easy.”

  When an angry pit bull leapt out of the tall grass, knocking Jack to the ground, the surprised look on his face was almost comical. Benny and Autumn stood motionless for a moment, staring at the dog in shocked surprise.

  “Benny,” Jack shouted, “do something.”

  Jack had his hands on the dog’s chest, holding it at bay, as it snapped and slobbered inches from his face. Benny pulled his sword out and held the blade facing downward with the intention of stabbing the hound in the back. He hesitated, wondering if he could accidentally stick Jack as well.

  “Come on, man.” Jack begged.

  Benny then turned the sword around in his hands and swung it like a golf club. He was surprised at how easily the silver blade cut through the pit’s rib cage. The bottom half fell to the ground while the top half continued to squirm and writhe in Jack’s hands.

  “Jesus!” Jack exclaimed. He threw the top part of the dog aside, looking down at his jacket as he stood up, “Shit, look at me, I’m covered with blood.”

  Just then, the sound of automatic gun fire filled the air. The Writemans dropped to the ground as the bullets hit the wall behind them spraying shards of brick in every direction. A second gun began raining bullets in their area from the bal-cony above. With no cover nearby, Benny and the others were pinned to the ground, certain death looming in the very near future.

  Suddenly, pistol fire broke out and the two rifles were silenced.

  “So much for the element of surprise,” a gruff voice shouted from across the lawn.

  Benny, Jack and Autumn all looked up in unison to see the Old Man walking toward them. They all stood up, looking awkward and ashamed.

  “You guys need to be more careful,” Frank contin-ued, “I may not always be around to pull your asses out of the fire. Is everyone okay, any bullet wounds that need tending to?”

  “I’m fine,” Benny answered.

  After running his hands over his body for a moment, taking extra special care to check his crotch, Jack finally looked up and said; “I’m cool, too.”

  “Oh no,” Autumn said casually, “I’ve been shot.”

  Benny rushed to her side, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Benny,” she gave him a sympathetic smile, “I’m the dead girl, remember?” The hole the bullet made in Autumn’s left hip was small and clean, with no blood flow at all. She kissed him on the cheek and said; “Follow me.”

  Autumn began walking toward the house with Frank following close behind. Jack paused a moment to brush off his cloths while Benny cleaned the blade of his sword on the tall grass.

  “I told you I’m stronger,” Benny teased.

  Jack held out his hands in an exasperated manner, “What are you talking about?”

  “That dog.”

  “What about it?”

  “That thing weighed like thirty pounds at the most, and it had you pinned to the ground.”

  A wave of incredulous shock washed over Jack’s face, “Are you seriously giving me shit about that? That little fucker was trying to eat my face, man.”

  “Whatever,” Benny chuckled as he began to follow the others.

  Jack stared slack jawed at Benny’s back, “He was squirming around like he had rabies or something. I couldn’t even get a good grip on him.”

  “Come on, sissy,” Benny hollered back.

  “Fuck,” Jack sighed to himself as he began walking.

  Staring up at the house, Benny thought it was pretty obvious that these so called “businessmen” had made a lot of money through his father’s bank. He didn’t think the house was quite big enough to qualify as a mansion, but it had to be damn close. Its enormous Victorian style looked familiar to him, as if he’d seen it in some old Vincent Price haunted house movie, only it wasn’t run down and shabby looking. Instead, it was in exquisite shape, as if it had been built very recently.

  As the group reached the front of the house, they found the entrance in the form of a very large and expensive looking double door.

  Frank tried the knob and was not surprised to find it locked.

  “What do we do now?” Benny asked.

 
; Frank pulled a double barreled, sawed off shotgun from a holster that was strapped to his right thigh, “Stand back,” he said, raising the gun to the doorknobs. Both barrels fired simultaneously, spraying wood in all directions and creating a gaping hole in the center of the doors.

  The Writemans entered the manor.

  Inside, the house was lavishly decorated with many high priced items. Large vases and strange sculptures lined the multitude of antique chests and dressers in the lobby area. Though Benny had taken a few Art History classes at Herron when he was younger, he didn’t recognize the sculptures. Not very surprising, considering most of them seem to feature vampires in some way or another. Directly in front of the en-trance, a double staircase split off to opposite wings of the house.

  “Should we expect more human servants in here?” Benny asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Frank replied, “vampires may employ humans to guard their coffins during the day, but they still wouldn’t trust them enough to give them access to their sleeping bodies. I imagine the men outside were locked out of the house, just as we were.”

  The three men followed Autumn up the stairs and to the center of the landing where she stopped in front of a large oak door that was trimmed with red velvet.

  “This is it,” she said, “all five of them are in this room.”

  “Alright, Benny, you take Autumn in there and stake these five in the heart,” Frank commanded, “Jack and I will finish off any others we find in the rest of the house.”

  “No!” Benny said sternly.

  Frank looked confused, “What’s the problem?”

  “We kill the five, and then we leave to find the last one.”

  “Benny, take a look around, there are quite a few more rooms in this house. There could be thirty more vam-pires sleeping helplessly, ripe for the staking. If we just take out these five (who are most likely the leaders of this group, I might add) then the rest of them will be hunting us down.”

  “That’s a chance we’re going to have to take.”

  “This is not the way vampire hunters work.”