Free Hunter of the Dead by Stephen Kozeniewski

other way to block him.
    “I’m not blaming this on you. What about that…that thing?”
    “Kid, the longer you stand here in my way jawing about it, the closer that thing is to getting to civilization. If you really care – if you really give a shit – the best thing you can do is leave me to my job and make up the best cock-and-bull story you can to explain those bodies back there.”
    Nico’s mind rushed. Jackie’s family had a right to know what happened. Didn’t they? Even Cigarette Dick, well, sure, he had been a dick but no one deserved to die like that.
    It was true there would be a lot of explaining to do. He’d have to make something up and quick, mostly involving how Carter had gone crazy, chopped off a guy’s arms, tried to eat the donut lady’s face, and then burned everything to cover it up. He’d say there’d been meth involved maybe…
    But the truth is I can’t unsee what I saw.
    “You can’t go after that thing alone, Carter. Either you take me with you or you have to kill me.”
    Price nodded.
    “Option Three,” he said.
    With a speed and strength that belied his age, Price grabbed Nico by the scruff of his polo and tossed him out of the way. The last time Nico had slid across the macadam like that he had been seven years old, trying to pick a fight with Jorge Medrano, easily four years his senior and twice his size. On the playground he had been wearing shorts and both knees had been scraped to damn near the bone. This time his elbows were pretty fucked up, but at least he had been wearing slacks.
    He rose to his knees, coughing; the old car’s revving sound already filling the air. He looked up. Price had already turned the car around and was about to peel out down the highway in search of his quarry.
    This is stupid. Really fucking stupid.
    Nico stepped in front of the car and held out his hands, as though he was going to catch it by the headlights when it came. In the driver’s seat, Price’s eyes narrowed. He revved the engine once, twice. He didn’t even bother saying anything. The message was clear: “Get out of the way, kid, or I’ll run you over.”
    Nico shook his head.
    “I’m coming with you,” he shouted.
    Price floored it. Nico gasped; his eyes wide as a deer’s.
    I should jump out of the way.
    Instead, he braced himself, turning his head away from the onrushing vehicle and lifting his leg up into his chest like a flamingo. He waited a moment and didn’t open his eyes again until he realized the hot yellow glow of the headlights in his face had disappeared. He turned.
    Price had pulled up alongside him and was furiously unrolling the passenger’s side window.
    “You’re a fucking idiot.”
    “I know.”
    “You barely even know me.”
    “Well, we’ve worked a few shifts together…”
    “Why the fuck would you want to get involved in something like this?”
    Good question.
    “I’ve never been special. Never been privy to something special. I mean, vampires are real? How do you walk away from something like that?”
    Price hung his head.
    “I remember thinking the exact same thing when I was your age.”
    He turned off the car and stepped outside, reopening the trunk with just as much trouble as it had taken him last time. Nico joined him hesitantly.
    “Can you shoot?”
    “No.”
    “Know how to use a sword?”
    “Hell no.”
    Price eyed him up and down. He suddenly felt naked in his dorky green embroidered polo, loser slacks, and unfitted ballcap with “Phillip’s Fill-Up” embroidered on the front. He was a gas station clerk and had never been good enough to do anything else in his entire life.
    Through clenched teeth Price asked, “Can you play baseball?”
    “Well…yeah. Of course. Hell yeah, I can play baseball.”
    “Good enough.”
    Price reached into his voluminous trunk and pulled out a Lousiville Slugger. Embedded deeply into the top half were long, razor sharp steel blades. Nico took the bizarre weapon and traced an arc through the