The Nightmare People

3.

About ninety minutes later they stopped at the Roy Rogers on Route 124 to eat and plan. Their purchases stayed in Smith’s car. So did the freshly-cut two-foot length of oak, one end sharpened and the other blunt.

“We need to get one of them alone,” Smith said, putting down his burger. “We can’t take on all of them at once.”

“Which one? Where?” Elias asked. “How do we do that?”

“The one that got Mary,” Sandy said. “The one that’s pretending to be her – that’s the one we start with.”

Smith was momentarily unsettled by the idea of driving a stake through a woman’s heart, but then he reconsidered.

The things weren’t human. It wasn’t a woman, it was a monster in a woman’s shape. He nodded. “All right,” he said, “One’s as good as another, as far as I’m concerned. But how do we get her alone?”

“That’s easy,” Sandy said. “I call her up and ask her to meet me somewhere. She’s still pretending to be Mary; she doesn’t know I’m onto her. So she comes, and we grab her, and we do it.”

“Where?” Smith asked.

“Where I’m staying, of course,” Sandy said. “My roommate’s out for the weekend.”

“What if she screams, and the neighbors hear?”

Sandy looked annoyed. “Yeah,” he said, “That could be a problem.” He looked at Elias.

Elias shook his head. “My folks are home.”

Smith said, “And I’m living in a motel.”

“There’s the woods along Barrett Road,” Sandy said. “So long as we don’t give her a chance to get away.”

“We can surround her,” Smith said.

Elias chewed slowly for a moment, then said, “Vampires were supposed to have the strength of ten men. There’s only three of us.”

“Ten men, hah!” Sandy said. “Mary was only five-one. If the three of us can’t handle a five-one broad, we’re in pretty piss-poor shape.”

“But it’s not really a woman,” Smith said.

“It’s still only five-one and ninety pounds,” Sandy replied.

Smith looked at Elias; Elias shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” he said, “But I wish there were more of us.”

“What do you expect from a bunch of women?” Sandy said.

“There’s Khalil,” Smith said.

Sandy just stared, and Smith decided not to argue.

“We could call them,” he said, “And see if any have changed their minds.”

“Okay,” Sandy said. “But if any of them call the cops, it ain’t my fault.”

Smith nodded; Elias shrugged.

“Let’s do it, then,” Sandy said.