The Nightmare People

5.

Exhaustion conquered frustration, and Smith slept from noon until shortly after six.

Khalil was still asleep when Smith came downstairs, and Smith didn’t disturb him.

Annie was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper and sipping tea.

“Hello,” she said. “I’d say good morning, but it’s almost time for supper.”

Smith nodded. “Yeah, hello,” he said. He sat down heavily on the nearest chair.

Annie sipped her tea.

After a moment of silence, Smith burst out, “There must be some way to get them all!”

Annie looked up from the paper. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “It took three hundred years to kill all the vampires, if I heard that one here correctly; why do you think you can get all the nightmare people in a week?”

“Because it’s still early,” he said, “They aren’t really established yet. And they aren’t vampires, anyway – they’re worse. If they can really double their numbers every month, they can take over the world in, I don’t know, a couple of years, probably. Say a hundred this month, two hundred the next, four hundred, eight, sixteen, thirty-two by January – three thousand two hundred, that’s half of Diamond Park. Six thousand in February, twelve thousand in March, a hundred thousand by next June, a million and a half by October of next year, six million by 1991 – Christ, we’re doomed if we don’t get them all now.”

“But they won’t really spread that fast,” Annie said. “After all, lots of things can breed at that rate – but they don’t. There are always limits, things that hold them back.”

“But these things… oh, I don’t know.”

“You don’t really need to kill them all right away,” she said, “Just stop them from breeding.”

“Yeah, we thought of that,” Smith agreed, “But how?”

“Well, if they breed by kissing, and only at the full moon, just keep them from kissing anybody then.”

“Fine, but how?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Annie said, flustered. “How do they get near enough to kiss anybody in the first place?”

“They just walk up, in disguise,” Smith said with disgust. “They’ll get all the friends and family of their original victims, I suppose – or maybe they’ll slip into bedrooms while people are asleep, the same as they did originally.”

Annie sipped tea again. “What if they didn’t have disguises, then? Or if nobody was asleep?”

“Sure, what if, but…” Smith’s voice trailed off, and his expression turned thoughtful.

“You know,” he said a moment later, “You might have something there.”

“Oh?”

“I think so, yes.” Smith was smiling thoughtfully.

“Would you care to explain that?” Annie asked sharply.

“Actually, Annie, no, I’d rather not,” Smith replied. “I need to think about it some more.”

She stared at him for a minute, then shrugged. “Have it your own way, Mr. Smith,” she said. She picked up the newspaper again.

“It’ll be easier if there aren’t as many of them by then, of course,” he said.

“Of course,” Annie said, without looking up. She drank down the rest of her tea.

“I’m not about to walk back into the apartment, though, where I’d be outnumbered a hundred to one.”

“Of course not.”

“I’ll need to get them alone, one by one.”

Khalil, still looking sleepy, entered at that point. He exchanged greetings with them both.

“Annie,” Smith asked, “May I use the phone?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Khalil, can you be ready to leave in ten minutes?” Smith asked. “I want to use what’s left of the daylight.”

Khalil nodded.

“Thanks,” Smith said. “Where’s the phone book?”