The New Night Novels (Book 1): Rippers: A New Night Novel

by Hawley, Ashlei D.

  “Jeff Bardwell, and this is Lita.” The introductions were offered in a quick, out-of-habit fashion. Jeff didn’t even look at Phoebe as he spoke, but kept scanning their surroundings for danger. “If you and I push, Lita can steer this heap out of the ditch. What do you say?”

  Phoebe felt the offer was even better than she could have hoped for. Not only were there adults around, they were willing to help her with the mess she’d gotten herself and the kids in. Relief weakened her entire body. She couldn’t find the strength to speak, so she nodded.

  Lita sprinted around the side of the van and hopped into the driver seat. She gave Phoebe and Jeff a thumb up as she shifted the van into neutral and gripped the steering wheel.

  Phoebe wasn’t strong, but she offered enough help to Jeff as they both grunted and pushed. The van had angled itself nose-down into the ditch, with more than half of the vehicle well off the road.

  The walkers approached faster, as though they sensed their food had figured out a way to get themselves out of the danger they presented.

  “Little bit more,” Jeff encouraged. Phoebe puffed out a breath and dug her feet into the grassy side of the ditch. The rain had made the ground beneath squishy, slippery mud. Her feet slid, but the van inched backward.

  Lita turned the key and started the vehicle. She switched the gear to reverse and pressed the accelerator down. The van shot out of the ditch and onto the road.

  The walkers were ten feet away.

  “Come on, get in!” Lita screamed through the window after she’d rolled it down.

  Jeff darted forward. Before he got out of the ditch, he pushed Phoebe as hard as he could. He didn’t even mutter an apology as he raced for the vehicle.

  Lita reached over in order to fling the door open for Jeff. He leapt into the passenger seat and jerked the door closed as the first of the group of insane people surrounded the van.

  The sun abandoned them, and the world went truly mad.

  Chapter Nine – The First New Night – Phoebe

  Flashes of lightning illuminated the chaos as Phoebe drew the children away from the van she’d already labeled a loss. Her hip hurt from where she’d landed on the ground. She trembled with rage. Jeff thought to steal the vehicle from them. He’d probably planned it as soon as he saw her crash into the ditch. What kind of asshole would do that to a group of kids? How could they not want to work together whenever possible in this crazy new world?

  Phoebe didn’t want to fight them. She couldn’t take out a kid her own age. Chances were the adults who’d stolen her mother’s van would do much worse than push her down if she tried to strike out against them. She watched mutely as they prepared to drive away.

  Phoebe saw their plans were about to be interrupted by the group of transformed people. The turned group had become a nightmare assembly. Though the walkers had only moments before seemed like a mindless and uncoordinated mass as they approached, they were now fast-moving and focused. They sprang at the van, immobilizing the vehicle and its occupants as they swarmed around it.

  Though Lita pressed down hard on the accelerator, she only got a couple of feet through the mass of bodies before they stopped the van. One of the crazy people drove his fist through the hood of the car with a roar of rage and brought it out with engine parts clenched in his hand. The van stuttered to a stop.

  Lita shrieked from within as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal multiple times. Her panicked face imploded under the impact of flesh and glass when another one of the assailants sent her arms through the driver’s window. Her screeching stopped. Jeff picked up on the sounds of panic as he pressed himself into the passenger door.

  “Run,” Phoebe whispered to the kids. They only had the one chance to get out of there while the crazy people were distracted. “Run as fast as you can.”

  One of the attackers tore into the passenger tire as two others went through the windshield. Phoebe didn’t stick around to watch as Jeff succumbed to them. Her only thoughts were to get the kids away.

  The rain reflected moonlight that filtered through the thick clouds as Phoebe and the kids crept between trees and houses. This part of town was sparsely populated, but Phoebe could see the roof of an apartment building across the tree tops. She steered the kids toward it.

  Carmen, who hadn’t been moving nearly fast enough, was in Phoebe’s arms. Phoebe’s limbs burned under the strain of carrying the child, but Carmen seemed not to care about the fact that they’d be ripped to shreds if they didn’t move. Phoebe panted as she ran. She didn’t know how much stamina or strength she had left.

  When they reached the door of the apartment complex, Phoebe found the door was locked and required a key code pressed into a metallic pad in order to gain entrance. She began pressing buttons to activate speakers in apartments within the building.

  “Help us, please,” she whispered into the speaker near the locked door. “Please, someone let us in!”

  Though no one responded through the speakers, the door buzzed loudly. Phoebe heard the click of the lock unlatching. With one hand, she grabbed the door and swung it open.

  None of the insane saw her as she got the kids inside. Because she didn’t know which apartment had responded to her calls for help, Phoebe froze at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to go knocking door to door in order to find someone who could help them. What if there were other crazy people behind closed doors, sitting docile until they were activated by noise or interaction of some sort?

  Phoebe decided she would climb the stairs. She wanted to be higher than ground level. If any of the deranged ones came inside looking for people, she reasoned, they would search the first floor before they climbed the stairs seeking additional prey.

  Their footsteps pounded on the cement stairs. The sounds of their footfalls bounced back at them from the cream-colored walls as they reached the second floor. Phoebe heard pounding sounds from above them. She decided the second floor was where they would try to find a place to hide.

  She didn’t want to direct the kids to knock on any of the doors. If there were crazy people inside the apartments and they riled them, she doubted the doors would hold. She began turning handles, hoping she would find one left unlocked as the owners fled in panic.

  The third handle she gripped turned easily in her hand. Phoebe pushed the door open and waited for sounds of someone within the apartment. She held her breath, hoping that she hadn’t made a terrible mistake by bringing the kids to the apartment building.

  When nothing rushed out at them from inside the small space, Phoebe leaned her head in through the doorway.

  “Hello,” she called softly. “Is anyone here?”

  No one answered. No one attacked them. The pounding from above got louder, but that was the only response Phoebe received.

  “Okay,” she told the kids, “go inside.”

  She ushered Eli and Hannah through the door before she carried Carmen inside. Once beyond the threshold, she closed the door as quietly as she could and twisted the locks into place. She put Carmen down on one of the two couches in the living room and waited for her arms to stop shaking before she gathered the kids to her and sat them down next to the catatonic younger girl.

  Phoebe put one finger to her lips and made her eyes go as wide as they could to exaggerate the need for silence. Eli nodded. Hannah took Carmen’s hand, but that was the extent of her agreement. Phoebe focused on Eli, because he was still her greatest ally.

  She gestured to the three doors in the hallway. She was sure two of them led to bedrooms and one was for a bathroom. With her gestures, she indicated the kids should stay put while she checked them out.

  Eli nodded once more. He understood her silent directions. Phoebe leaned down next to him and cupped his head close to her mouth.

  “If anyone comes out of those rooms besides me, run for the door. Close it behind you. Get the girls out and hide in the hallway as long as you can. You understand?”

  Big tears trembled
on Eli’s eyes, but he gave her a third nod. Phoebe hated to put so much responsibility on the small boy, but they were all in this together.

  She made her way to the rooms.

  The first room she hit was the bathroom. She flicked the switch on the wall beside the door and sallow yellow light flooded the windowless room. The shower curtain was clear and revealed no threat behind it. Room one was empty.

  The second door was not a bedroom or bathroom, but a closet. Within it was a vacuum, several coats, several pairs of shoes, and miscellaneous cleaning supplies. It wasn’t even deep enough for anyone to hide in. Phoebe moved onto the final door.

  The only bedroom in the apartment was empty except for a bed, a vanity, a dresser with a TV on top of it, and piles of clothes on the floor. Phoebe wrinkled her nose at the smell of the room as she entered it fully. There was still another closet to check.

  She approached the closet door and let her hand rest on the handle to open it for a moment. Though she told herself her arm shook because carrying Carmen had exhausted her, fear clutched at her throat with icy fingers. She didn’t want to find anyone in the closet. She didn’t want to find anything in the closet.

  With a quick jerk, Phoebe exposed the contents of the closet. Men’s and women’s clothing were mixed together. More shoes littered the floor of the space and boxes occupied the top. Though Phoebe moved some clothing around, she didn’t find a space where anyone could be hiding. She gave a sigh of relief and closed the closet back up.

  The last place she checked was beneath the bed. It sat so low to the floor she couldn’t even squeeze her slim body underneath it. If anyone was hiding under there, she thought, they would have to be an anorexic child.

  Satisfied that they were alone in the apartment, Phoebe returned to the children.

  Chapter Ten – Vanity – Leland and Jameson

  The sounds of movement in the parking lot of the convenience store caught Jameson’s attention long before Leland realized they had company.

  “Someone’s out there.” Jameson tipped his head toward the parking lot.

  Female, he thought. He could smell an overwhelming amount of perfume even through the thick walls of the building. Even though he couldn’t see her, he could hear her stumbling on the uneven pavement. She would be near the door soon.

  “Do you see them?” Leland asked as he turned to look out the door.

  “I caught a glimpse,” Jameson lied. He didn’t like the way Leland’s pulse began to accelerate as he thought about the potential for others-crazy or not-to be near their temporary safe place.

  Rising adrenaline gave the scent of Leland’s blood a spicy kick and made Jameson’s mouth flood with saliva. His gums tingled, and his fangs pressed against the flesh, making it burn. He couldn’t feed from Leland because he doubted he could stop himself. He liked the boy; he didn’t want to drain his life. But if he didn’t take blood soon, he was going to go completely insane with hunger.

  The woman approached the door quickly. High heels clacked on the sidewalk in front of the entrance. Her heavily-made up face peered through the dirty glass as she tried to pull the door open. Her lips, lined in black around lipstick red as blood, turned down into a pissed-off pout. She kicked the door frame with one open-toed heel and hissed in pain as she stubbed her toe.

  “We can let her in,” Leland suggested as he made his way to the door. “We’re leaving anyway, right?”

  Jameson nodded. He didn’t want to speak because he feared his voice would come out in a monstrous, ravenous growl. Instead, he gestured Leland forward. The woman didn’t seem insane. Stupid for running around in heels perhaps, but not crazy like the others.

  Leland threw the lock on the door and ushered the woman inside. Her mouth became an ‘o’ of surprise before she came to her senses and tripped over her tall heels to get through the door.

  “I didn’t think,” she drawled as she righted herself and adjusted her flimsy tank top around her obviously fake breasts. “I mean, I didn’t think no one was here.”

  She sent a flirtatious smile Jameson’s way as he approached.

  “Heya, handsome,” she purred. “How can a girl get a drink around here?” She looked over the counter and her eyes lit on the cigarette racks. “And maybe some smokes, yeah?”

  “Store’s not mine,” Jameson said in an affable tone. “You’re welcome to what you want.”

  The woman pouted once more, but the look was a carefully measured combination of sulk and sexy. Jameson would bet it got response from plenty of customers, but he wasn’t buying. Even as a human, he’d never had an interest in that kind of woman.

  High-heels sashayed over to the counter and leaned herself fully over it. Her short skirt revealed little beneath. Though Leland’s eyes bugged out at the view, Jameson’s rolled around in their sockets. She should have had ‘obvious’ printed across that surgically-altered ass.

  She turned from her place on the counter and smirked at them. “My name’s Vanity Flores. How about you?”

  Leland cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, but Jameson put a hand on the kid’s shoulder. Names weren’t necessary. They were ready to leave.

  “Well, Vanity, you’re welcome to whatever’s here except our bags,” Jameson told her. “We were just heading out.”

  “Wait,” Leland protested. He directed an inquiry to Vanity, “Do you know anything about what’s going on? Do you know what’s wrong with the crazy people?”

  Vanity shrugged as she snagged a pack of unfiltered reds and a candy bar from the counter display. She stood and liberated one of the lighters from a nearby rack. She flicked it with her thumb once, then twice before it lit for her.

  Vanity smacked the pack of cigs against her open palm a few times and then tore it open with her long magenta nails. The glittery gems glued to the surfaces sparkled in the dim light of the store.

  “Dunno,” she said. Her pout had come back to those heavily-painted lips. “Shit’s gone whack, right? It’s all fucked up.” She slid one of the cigarettes between her lips and stained it red.

  “We’ll figure it out on our own,” Jameson told Leland in a low voice. “Come on.”

  Vanity clattered over to them in her heels as they waved to her and began to exit the store.

  “Wait,” she whined.

  Jameson shook his head at the door she’d forgotten to lock. He pushed it open and warned, “You’re going to want to keep this locked if you’re going to stay here for a while.”

  “Fuck, I just wanted some smokes,” Vanity mewled as she dangled the pack of reds and shook them in Jameson’s direction.

  “Can I go with you?” she pleaded. “I need to find my boyfriend, Camden. He called me from work a little bit ago. He works at some shithole like this, too, ya know? But I don’t want to go find him alone. You guys could use the company, right?”

  She moved between the two of them and played her long nails around the collar of Jameson’s shirt. The stench of her perfume made him feel as though he was about to vomit in her face.

  “Come on, I can be good company,” Vanity insisted. “Cam doesn’t mind when I’m good company for other cool guys like you.”

  Jameson removed Vanity’s hands from his shirt and tried not to grimace at the touch. She was so unattractive to him he didn’t even want to feed from her.

  “Miss, you don’t know us from the crazy people out there,” he explained to her in the same tone he would use for a child. “For all you know, we could turn on you at any minute. I think you’re safer trying to get to Camden on your own.”

  “You could turn on me,” Vanity agreed as she leaned closer to Jameson. “Or you could take turns on me,” she whispered in what Jameson supposed passed for her attempt at a seductive voice. The woman really didn’t quit.

  “Not interested.” Jameson squeezed Vanity’s wrists with more force than he needed to as he pushed her away. His strength was still something he had to work on getting used to.

  Vanity cried out a
s he pushed her. She acted as though he’d ripped her arms off instead of giving her an innocent little display of strength to make her back off.

  Jameson grabbed Leland and hauled him out of the door. The boy still felt some negative effects of his ill-advised drinking, he was sure, but they needed to move. Vanity was an inconvenience he didn’t want hanging around his neck or any other body part.

  “You fucking asshole!” Vanity screeched as she stumbled out into the parking lot after them. “I hope one of them fuckers finds you and beats the shit out of you!” She bent down to scoop up a rock in her manicured hand and flung it at them.

  Jameson pulled Leland slightly to the right to avoid the hit. Vanity wouldn’t be able to follow them far in her wobbly heels. She wouldn’t even be able to keep up if their pace went above a walk.

  “Pricks!” Vanity hollered as she threw another rock. It fell far short of its mark. “Losers! Assholes!”

  Jameson heard the stomping of feet before he saw the threat.

  “Get down,” he whispered to Leland. He pulled the kid around the side of a house and looked back toward Vanity. Her screeches had brought her some negative attention. Jameson didn’t want it to extend to him and Leland.

  A morbid curiosity and a drive to learn about his potential enemies kept Jameson silent and immobile.

  Vanity fled back toward the store as soon as she saw the mob of infected thundering down the street, drawn by her voice. She pulled the door open, slammed it shut, and locked it.

  Jameson saw that Vanity had decided to pull snack racks and tall shelves to the door in a frantic attempt to make a barricade. She leaned against it once she’d packed as much as she could against the entryway.

  The group of howling insane people hit the parking lot. Leland gulped a breath and hunkered down closer to Jameson. If he’d thought his family party was a freak occurrence, this group crushed that small hope. They were a fair distance away from his aunt’s home and none of the people in the mob were the original assailants who had killed or infected his family. The problem was obviously more widespread.