Vintage Misery: Part Five (rough draft)

How many times was I going to sit in this diner under duress? I could only think that as I sat there staring at my coffee, rather than Neil using Mercy’s body to shovel food into his mouth like a hungry, hungry hippo eats marbles. It was kind of unnerving to see.

“That’s not even your body,” I grunted. “You should be respectful.”

“It’s just food.” Neil had one hand on a fork with hashbrowns on the end while the other clutched a spoon full of cheesy grits.

“I don’t have enough time or strength to get into just how wrong this is and how many levels of wrong it actually is.” I rubbed at my forehead where the beginnings of a throbbing headache were taking root. “We need to think of a plan. If Officer Pitbull wakes up, he’ll be after us during the day. And who knows how many the Harvey sisters have under their control here. Then at night, they’re going to come back out again.”

“Let’s just go and burn the place down like you said before. This guy isn’t in there anymore, it’s fine.” Neil patted his chest then went on with eating.

“But what if he’s under control when he comes to?” I ask. “He may try and go back to the house, or worse yet, try and take me back to the house.”

“What about the Alpha Sigma Alpha house?” Neil asked. “Let’s just go burn it down, open up that whole cavern for the world to see.”

“Maybe-” I huffed. “I just wish I could think for five minutes.”

Neil set down the fork and spoon and leaned over the table towards me. “Let’s go find some pot.”

“No. Holy shit. Just stop,” I snapped at him. “We are not smoking pot at a time like this. Get that out of your head.”

Neil pouted and picked up the fork again. “This guy feels like what I think shredded wheat must taste like. He must eat nothing but wheat bread.” He went in on some bacon.

I leaned back in the booth. “If I just knew some way to fight these vampires, maybe I’d have a chance. I just get the gnawing feeling fire would only piss them off.”

“Why not call your parents?” Neil looked up at me. “Maybe they know something.”

I gave him a deep frown. “I can’t call my parents. Do you know what sort of apocalypse that will set off?”

“You’re in danger,” Neil laid it out. “They will set aside their issues for five seconds or longer to make sure you’re safe. I’m sure they know something, even an inkling of what vampires really are. I’m telling you, call them right now.” He pointed to the phone booth outside.

“Okay. But look up from your eggs every once in a while to make sure I’m still alive out there.” I got up from the booth and went outside. The phone booth was hot, making the receiver feel like lava when I held it. I slid in the coins then hovered my finger over the numbers. I hesitated, thinking how hard it would be to hear one of my parents’ voices right now. I dialed, pressing the numbers in firmly so I didn’t get it wrong.

The phone rang once, twice, three times, a fourth, one more ring and it would go to the answering machine. I braced myself for that tone, and then. “Good afternoon, Young Paranormal Research. How may I help you?”

I stood there, terrified. Last night, I had prayed for him to show up, now his voice was right inside my ear. I took a breath and held it there as I tried once against to work up the nerve to speak to him.

“Hello?” He said.

“Hi,” I finally let it out. “It’s me.”

“Alice,” he was breathless. “We got your message the other day. I didn’t expect you to call back so soon. Is everything all right?”

No. “Somewhat,” I swallowed. “I just have a really odd question for you?”

He chuckled, sounding relieved. “A question? Is that all? Are you sure there’s not something foul afoot?”

There was, but I could never tell him. There’d be no point in making him worry more than he usually did. “Yeah, uh, it’s weird, but I’m just trying to win a bet.” I cleared my throat. “I know we-you mostly dealt with ghosts. But have you ever heard anything about vampires?”

“Vampire, huh?” He chuckled. “Well, it’s not what Hollywood would make you think. It’s not all crosses and garlic and weird European accents. It’s a lot more scary.”

“Dad, I get it. I’m not in your lecture hall,” I scoffed. “What do you know about actually killing vampires?”

“Well, it's a bit grotesque, but the best way to deal with any reanimated corpse really is to behead it and then burn it.” He stated it so simply.

“That’s it? Decapitate and burn?” I asked.

“Decapitate and burn,” he confirmed. “Why do you ask?”

“Stake through the heart won’t work?” I asked. “I mean, is there anyway to kill it without getting anywhere near it?”

He stopped to think for a moment. “Not to my knowledge.”

“Damn,” I grumped.

“Is there a reason you’re asking this, Alice?” He repeated. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

I frowned. Yeah, there was a lot I needed to tell him. “No. Just curious after seeing a movie. I’ve gotta go, though,” I murmured. “Once I’m done here, I think I’ll try and come home for a bit.”

“You don’t need to be afraid to come home, Alice,” my dad said softly. “Your mom and I would love to see you soon.”

“Hopefully,” I swallowed. “Well, I’ll talk to you later. Okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll see you soon, Alice. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and stood there for a moment, hand still clutched onto the receiver. It was daylight, so I suppose now was as good a time as any to go back to that house. I went back into the diner, finding Neil half asleep in the booth.

“Hey,” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Get up and atom. We’ve gotta go.”

“Can’t we just linger here a bit?” He whined.

I grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the booth. “No. We’re back to the burning plan. We just gotta do something else first.”

“Oh, really?” Neil yawned as he followed behind me. “And what would that be?”

“We gotta go inside and chop their heads off,” I answered.

Neil ran into the glass door, thinking he could still pass through it. “Are you crazy? We can’t just go into that house!”

“With any luck, since it’s daytime, they will be asleep. We can go in, chop their heads off, then leave and set the place on fire.” We got back into Officer Pitbull’s car and drove back to the Harvey house in silence. Once there, I parked the car away from the house and we got out to approach on foot. I saw some people patrolling around outside, including Officer Pitbull himself.

“We aren’t getting in there,” I murmured. “What do we do now?”

Neil snapped his fingers. “Okay, hear me out, we could start digging and-”

“No, Neil. Not the plan of a five year old.” I sat down on the grass. “Okay, last night while you were looking for Mercy. Did you notice anything in the house? Secret entrance? Cellar doors? Anything.”

He pondered for a second, rubbing his chin. He then started petting Mercy’s mustache and began to giggle.

“Focus, Neil!” I snapped at him.

“Sorry,” he cleared his throat. “Well, I found Mercy in the cellar. I didn’t see any doors. But I did see a big drain and a ladder leading down into it.”

“A big drain?” I asked. “Like one that would lead into those underground caverns?”

Neil glared at me. “We can’t go in there again, Al! It was scary enough the first time, and that first time, I was still dead. I’m not going walking around in some underground labyrinth of death and decay to find a ladder maybe.”

“It’s all we’ve got. We try going in through the front door, Officer Pitbull and the other vampire slaves are going to rip me to shreds.”

“I thought they wanted you alive?” Neil said.

“I don’t fucking know anymore. I just know we need to kill them.” I scoffed as I turned back to the car.

“You know, I keep thinking about it, and now that this Mercy guy is safe. Why does it matter to you?” Neil asked.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Why does it matter if these vampires are dead or what happens to this place?” Neil went on, sounding exhausted. “You have a car now, granted it’s a stolen cop car, but I’ve done that before in the past,” he chuckled. “You can leave. There is nothing keeping you here. You can run away. Forget this place, let it go back to how it’s always been. You don’t have to think about it. You can pretend it doesn’t exist for all you care. Why are you and you alone trying to kill four damn vampires?”

Why was I still here? In a way, Neil was right. This wasn’t my fight. Mercy was safe, once he came to, he’d be able to get himself out of here. Why should I stay and fight for a town where I know only three people tops? Two of them I hate. I turned and looked back at Neil, and I knew what the answer was.

“Because, okay?” I scoffed, flopping my arms out. “Now move, I need you to carry stuff. We’re just going to leave the car here.”

“Because,” he grumbled under his breath as he followed along beside me. “Fine. You get killed. But when you do, I’m the boss! Your ghost boss.”

I filled a duffle bag full of the things I bought last night. The gas, the newspapers, the hairspray and lighters. I put the flare gun in my pocket, as well as a few extra canisters. There was a flashlight in the glove box, as well as a gun.

“Unregistered, I assume,” I said as I pocketed it as well.

“Why are we leaving the car here?” Neil pouted.

I stood up and closed the door quietly. “So that way, when we light this tinder box, we can run and have our getaway right there.”

Neil got a look of surprise and awe. “That makes a whole lot of sense.”

The overpass was roped off, and cop cars were parked there, but no one was around. We climbed down to the water, finding there was caution tape everywhere. The grate was locked up as well chained and featuring a rather nasty looking padlock.

“We should have bought a bolt cutter,” Neil clicked his tongue.

I took Officer Pitbull’s keys from my pocket and started trying keys on a whim. The third key unlocked the padlock.

“How’d you do that?” Neil said in awe.

“Never mind that, let’s go.” I clicked on the flashlight, pleased to see how high powered it was. I started going over a map in my head, thinking about where the cavern would go to reach the Harvey house. There was blood everywhere along the walls, huge splatters of it, viscera and chunks of bone too.

Neil heaved. “Oh god.”

“You’re gonna throw up, aren’t you?” I snapped.

Neil turned away from me and hunkered over, shaking his head. “No,” he dry heaved again, holding his mouth then bending at the knees.

“All that food! You waste more food than anyone dead should! Just hurry up, okay.” I kept walking on, hearing Neil vomit and spew behind me.

I walked into the cavern, feeling those same uneasy chills I had before. The strong flashlight showed me the area, revealing it wasn’t as big as it was in my mind. There was blood in the water, bits of flesh floating on top. I felt gut bubbles, if I wasn’t careful, I’d throw up like Neil. I had to steady myself, prepare myself. I kept the map in my mind’s eye. Okay, the Harvey house was behind and to the left. So if I wanted to find the way in there, I would go the opposite of where I had fallen before. I moved the flashlight, peering down a narrow corridor between the rocky walls. I frowned, really uncomfortable with having to inch down such a passageway.

“He’s back,” Neil floated in front of me.

I turned around, accidentally shining the flashlight in Mercy’s eyes. He yelled, I nearly dropped it and he wiped at his sweaty face. “What happened?”

I went up to him. “How are you feeling?”

“Not sure,” he grumbled. “One second I was talking to that girl, and then, I woke up vomiting,” he turned and spit. “When did I get here?”

“It’s hard to explain, in fact this may even sound completely crazy. But I’m just glad you’re okay. I was worried.” I smiled unsurely at him. There could be a small chance he was under Beth’s control like Officer Pitbull.

“After meeting you, nothing seems too crazy these days. So tell me, what’s going on?”

“Vampires,” I stated simply.

His eyes widened then narrowed. “Vampires?”

“The Harvey sisters. In fact, I think Beth, the girl I asked you to check on, is their leader. They also may be the Herve sisters that you researched about. In fact, I’m almost certain about that. I met Louis in the jail cell. He all but confirmed it.” I then fidgeted, wondering if I should go in further. “Oh, and your boss is being mind controlled by them.”

Mercy frowned and rubbed the back of his head. “That actually explains a lot. A lot of the closed missing cases start answering themselves.” He took in a deep breath. “Alright then. What do I need to do?”

I was relieved, but at the same time, I was still scared for him. “The house is surrounded, but there’s a way to get into the Harvey house from here. We need to get into the house before nightfall, chop off their heads and burn the place to the ground.”

That’s when he turned apprehensive. “I’ve uh...I’ve never had to kill anyone before.”

I take hold of his shoulder and squeeze. “These aren’t exactly anyone, Mercy. These are vampires who have killed thousands of people in this town since the nineteenth century. They’re predators. Actual monsters. They killed those two girls and they killed two officers last night, maybe more. This isn’t a moral decision right now.”

“Maybe,” he looked gray around the gills.

“Just follow me, I’ll do the beheading.” I turned the flashlight back on and pointed to the corridor. “I think we have to go that way.” I then took out the flare gun. “Maybe we should shoot this out and see what we’re dealing with ahead.”

“No!” Mercy took the gun from my hand, which was the actual gun. “How’d you mix that up?” He put the gun into his own back pocket.

“Sorry.” I took out the flare and handed it to him. Letting him aim. It hit against the roof, but it illuminated the entire cavern. There was a fresh arm dead ahead which made Mercy throw up the rest of Neil’s breakfast.

“I see what you’re saying now,” Neil said. “That really is a waste.”

“No shit.” I waited until Mercy was done and we continued on ahead.

We had to get into the water in order to go through the corridor, which was wide enough for just one person. I sent Neil ahead, despite his protests, just to keep an eye out should anything be waiting for us. The further in we went, the deeper the water became. It rose up along my legs to my knees. Further in it creeped up my thighs, going towards the waistband of my pants. Surely it couldn’t be much farther now. It must’ve been straight ahead.

“Wait, stop,” Mercy grabbed my arm from behind. “Do you hear that?”

The sound of water had been almost all I could hear. But I stopped, and paid attention. I heard a sort of raspy, nasaling breathing around us.

“What is that?” Mercy whispered.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I looked ahead where Neil hadn’t noticed we had stopped. I shined the flashlight around then aimed at the ceiling. What I saw there almost made me drop the flashlight into the water.

All along the ceiling were these huge, grotesque bat looking creatures. They were sleeping, wrapped up in leathery wings and had slightly human pig-like faces. They were twitching and stirring, obviously bothered by the light shining on them. Possibly even from the flare we shot earlier.

“Oh my god.” Mercy pulled my arm, making me move the flashlight away. They looked to be the size of humans, but from the brief, terrifying glimpse I got of them, I couldn’t not tell what was real and what my mind was exaggerating.

“That explains why they drop the bodies down here. Those things must dispose of them,” I rasped.

“What are they?” Mercy hissed low.

“Children, maybe? How should I know?” I grabbed his hand, pulling him along. “Let’s just hope none of them wake up.”

“What if there are more up ahead?” Mercy trembled.

“Then I guess we’ll die.” I gave his hand a hard squeeze. “But hopefully that won’t happen.”

We came out of the corridor, wading waist deep in the water. I shined the flashlight ahead, too afraid to point it at the ceiling to find out what was up there.

“There’s a ladder up ahead,” I heard Neil call to me. “I think this is it.”

“Just a little bit further,” I said to Mercy. “I think we’re almost there.”

There was a chittering sound behind us. The sound grew from one to many. It became a cacophony of sound, screeching, squealing. The rustle of wings and bodies moving followed. I shined the light on the corridor, seeing the entrance had grown black with all the bodies of the bat-like creatures crawling out. I grabbed Mercy, pulling him under the water with me as they began to fly.