Chapter 14
Jake
May 8, 1995
10:01am
When he awoke, he was being carried through the woods by something very large and hairy. Jake looked up into the face of something very un-human, almost ape like. A terrified scream escaped from his lips. He closed his eyes tight and when he looked, again it was just a man carrying him. A very large man, but a man. In the moonlight, Jake saw him smile. "Do not be afraid son. You are safe now."
"Vampires . . .” he said, weakly.
"Oh don't worry about them. They won't be bothering anyone ever again."
He blacked out again and when next he awoke, he smelled bacon sizzling. For a second he thought he was back at his Grandpa Cort’s. Then Jake heard someone singing the lyrics to Sweet Home Alabama that most certainly was not his grandpa. Jake sat up in bed and the world started spinning.
"Easy now." The singing man's voice said, "You had a pretty bad fall last night."
"Where am I?" Jake said, looking around the room. From the look of it, he was in a small, one room log cabin. Jake was lying on a four post bed with several old quilts covering him. Next to the bed was a massive bay window, outside all he could see were trees. Birds chirped loudly. “What time is it?”
“It’s a little after ten in the morning.” The man that looked to be in his mid thirties with jet-black hair, in a white t-shirt and blue jeans answered him. He was cooking on a black stove not far away. He stirred something around with a spatula then set it down. Wiping his hands on a rag, he came over to the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?" He asked, sitting in a wooden rocking chair next to the bed. "You had a pretty rough night last night."
Jake tried to remember exactly what had happened but it wouldn't come. "What happened? Where am I?"
"Well as to what happened, that's hard to say. I found you in the woods not far from the Riker place. You'd taken a bad fall, hit your head pretty good and broke your left arm. You were unconscious when I found you. As for where you are. Well, you're at my home about twenty miles into the woods of Southern Georgia."
Jake reached up to find a small square bandage on his forehead. His arm was wrapped tightly to his chest. It was throbbing terribly.
"I saw something," Jake said, remembering the large hairy creature. "Something big and hairy."
The man climbed out of his chair laughing. "That would be me I guess. I know I need a shave but I didn't think it had gotten that bad."
"No. It was something else. It looked like a . . . I know how crazy it sounds, but it looked like a big gorilla, but different."
He laughed again. "A big gorilla? You must have hit your head a lot harder than I thought."
"I swear I saw it! It was there one minute, the next it was you carrying me."
"You got me kid. I've lived in these woods for a long time now and I've never seen any gorillas. Maybe it was bigfoot,” he said, with a touch of humor in his voice. “They say he runs loose in these parts."
"Bigfoot? That's crazy." Jake said, shaking his head. Maybe it had been some delusion from sustaining such a hit to the head.
"So. What's your name? And what were you doing in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night?"
"My name is, Jake. Jake Griffin." He lied.
"Well Jake Griffin. I am Nathan. Nathan Bishop."
"Nathan Bishop?" Jake said, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.
"Yeah? Have we met before?"
"No. At least I don't think so."
"So what were you doing out there? Are you kin to Richard Riker?"
"Not by choice." Jake said, pulling the covers off him and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Honestly. I'm not exactly sure how I got there. One minute I was running, the next I was flying through the air."
Nathan walked over and stirred the food cooking on the stove. "You like bacon and eggs?" he said, pulling the two pans off the stove and setting it on a small wooden table.
"Yeah, that sounds great." Jake said, rubbing his hand through his messy hair.
"Well, have a seat. Let’s dig in."
With Nathan’s help, Jake managed to hobble across the room where he sat down. Nathan put half the pan's contents on a plate and set it in front of him with a napkin and fork, then poured a glass of orange juice out of a large glass pitcher. The two ate in silence for a few minutes. What are the odds that a man named Nathan Bishop just happened to rescue me from a full on vampire assault? He thought to himself. Nathaniel . . . Nathan . . . hmm, odd coincidence. But it couldn’t be the same guy. The only way he could have lived this long was if he was a vampire. But if he were a vampire, he would be frying in the sunlight. This is too weird. "So how long have you lived here?" Jake asked scraping some of the eggs onto his fork.
"A long time." Nathan said, biting into a piece of crispy bacon.
"Do you live here alone? Way out here in the woods?"
"Yeah pretty much. I have friends over every couple of weeks or so but mostly it's just me."
"You're not lonely living out here?"
"Me? Nah. You get used to it. I mean, it's not like I'm a million miles from civilization. I go into town about once every couple of weeks to pick up supplies, get a drink with some friends. It's really not that bad."
Jake had to ask him. No matter how crazy he thought it might sound. "What happened with the vampires?"
"They're dead.” He said then sipped from his orange juice. “Well, most of them are anyway. The big one called Macro and one of his friends got away but the rest are dead."
"Macro, huh? So I’m guessing you've dealt with them before?"
"I was about to ask you the same question.” Nathan said, pushing his empty plate forward and leaning back in his chair. “It's a rare thing for a kid your age to know about vampires."
"My family hunts them.” Jake nodded. “That’s what I’m going to be when I’m old enough.
“Is that right?” Nathan asked.
“Yep. So . . . I’m guessing you’re a hunter too?"
"Of sorts I suppose. I don't exactly go looking for trouble, but when they cross into our territory I usually meet them head on."
"Your territory?"
"Uh huh. They cross the Old Miss and we kick their asses back across it. Doesn't happen often, but when they do we make sure they never do it again."
"How many are in your group?"
"A few." he said, with a chuckle.
"So tell me about your family. You said they hunt vampires? How long have they been doing that?"
"For a few years." Jake said, sarcastically.
"Fair enough. I've got my secrets; it's only fair you do too."
"I'm glad you understand." Jake said, taking another sip of his orange juice. He hadn’t had food this good in over a month.
"So what do you want to do now? Should I take you back to Riker's?"
"God no!" Jake said, a lot louder than he had meant.
"That bad huh?"
"You have no idea. He basically kidnapped me and was about to sell me to those bloodsuckers. I need to call my Grandpa Cort. I tried last night but there was no answer. I hope everything is okay. Do you have a phone?"
"No I’m afraid not. But I can drive you into Hometown if you'd like. It’s the nearest town. You can call whoever you want to come pick you up from there."
"That sounds great. Thanks! Oh and by the way, thanks for the breakfast and for . . . saving my life."
"You’re welcome,” he said, with a warm smile. “It's not every day I get to entertain a future vampire hunter. Well let's get you dressed and ready to go, then I'll take you into town. By the way, who put you in those clothes? Who are you supposed to be? Richie Rich?"
Jake laughed looking down at the now very dirty sweater vest and tie he still had on. "It's a long story."
&nb
sp; "Well, I think I might have something here that will fit you. It might be a little big but it beats wearing those dirty rags. I have a shower out back if you’d like to clean up. We can wrap a plastic bag around the arm."
“Do I need to go to a hospital?”
“Yeah, but there’s no immediate danger. It wasn’t a bad break and I set it so you should be okay for now. Just try and stay off your feet for a day or two.”
Jake winced as he tried to stand. The room started spinning.
“Easy now kid, you bumped your head pretty good. Here take these.” He said, laying two aspirin on the table in front of him. “You can take a couple, now that you’ve got some food in you."
An hour later Jake was dressed in an overly large pair of jeans bunched up with a belt and a flannel shirt that was two sizes too big. They climbed into Nathan’s jeep and headed for town. Thirty minutes later, Nathan pulled into a small friendly looking town with small shops on both sides of the main street. Stopping at a small repair shop on the outskirts, Jake carefully climbed out and used a pay phone to call his grandpa collect. It rang several times before he finally answered.
"Hello?" Cort said, sounding extremely grumpy.
Jake was elated to hear his voice. "Grandpa! It's me Jake!"
"Jake!” he said, concern filling his voice. “Son, are you okay? Where are you?"
"I’m a little banged up but nothing too serious. I've got a bump on the head and a broken arm but otherwise I'm okay."
"What! What happened? Did Riker hurt you; by God I’ll kill that son of a bitch!”
“I’m okay really, I’m just . . . I really want to come home.” Jake said, his voice almost pleading.
“Where are you? Riker's lawyers said, you were going to Santa Fe but we haven't been able to get any news out of them since. It’s like they just dropped off the map!"
"I'm in a little town called Hometown, Georgia."
"Georgia? Why that slimy lying bastard. All right son, you just sit tight. I'm getting a map out right now and I will be there within twenty-four hours. You sit tight you hear me?"
"Yes sir.” Jake said, unable to control the emotion in his voice. He’d never been so happy to hear someone’s voice. “I'll see about getting a room at this motel not far from here and I'll see you soon."
"A motel? Boy, no one's going to let an eleven-year-old check into a motel? What exactly happened? Where's Riker?"
"I don’t think we need to worry about him or his lawyers anymore. He . . . well, let’s just say he made a deal with the wrong people. It's a long story Grandpa. I'll tell you when you get here. For now let’s just say I've got a friend that's helping me out."
"Alright kid. You take care of yourself you hear? What's the name of the place you'll be staying?"
"It's called,” Jake said, looking across the street. “the Tear Drop Inn."
"Okay son. I'll be there soon. I love you boy."
"I love you too Grandpa. Wait! Grandpa, is Dad okay? Is he back yet."
His Grandpa sighed loudly on the other end of the phone. “As far as I know he’s okay. Listen we’ll talk about it later okay? I promise.” With that said, they hung up. Jake walked back over to Nathan's Jeep. He was leaning against it smoking a cigarette.
"So how’d it go?" He asked dropping the cigarette to the ground and crushing it under his boot.
"I got a hold of my grandpa. Listen, you've already helped me out so much I hate to ask this but I need one more favor."
"Ask away."
"Can you get me a room at the motel across the street? I can pay you back once my grandpa gets here."
"I’ll tell you what; I've got a good friend that owns that place. And he owes me a few. I'll get you the nicest room they have, no charge."
“Are you sure? I know my grandpa would be more than happy to pay.”
“Hell no. I wouldn’t hear of it. What kind of a Christian would I be if I did something like that? No, my buddy Joe will set you up with anything you need. Just call the front desk if you need anything. Anything at all.”
Jake couldn’t argue with that. Twenty minutes later, he had a key in hand and was walking toward room number six. "Thanks Nathan. I really can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me."
"No problem at all, Jake. You just take care of yourself okay?"
"I will and you do the same." Jake said, extending his hand.
Nathan shook it and smiled. "Oh one more thing. If you or any of your hunter friends ever need a safe place to stay, you're always welcome here. Think of this place as a safe haven. Bloodsuckers don't come here. After last night they will especially think twice before crossing our borders again."
"Thank you Nathan. I'll tell the others."
"When you see your old man again don't be so hard on him. It's not easy losing the woman you love."
Jake stared at him amazed. He hadn’t told him any of that. "How did you . . .?” He asked, shaking his head.
"Take care Jake Bishop," he said, climbing into his jeep and giving him a wave.
He knows my name! Who the heck is this guy?
Chronicles of the Vampire Hunters: Creation Page 23