Free Vampires in Devil Town by Wayne Hixon Page B

typical boogeyman type of stuff, you know. Sometimes they’re vampires. Sometimes they’re ghosts. Werewolves. Zombies. Just about everything. It’s said they’re older than the town itself and, through some twisted logic, have like a psychic hold on the town or something. Which explains why people don’t really leave. I mean, people move away , but no more than usual. Most people don’t even really believe they exist. They treat them like an urban legend or something. Hell, me and Jacob believe and we’re still here.
  “Almost everyone I know who lives here has some wicked bad nightmares but you don’t really know if that’s because of the Devils or if we’re all just a little paranoid, you know? And if you don’t believe , then the nightmares can’t hurt, right? Anyway, there does seem to be a higher than usual death rate in Lynchville and of course there’s talk about someone somewhere covering everything up because they benefit from the Devils in some way. Or maybe the leaders of the town are Devils themselves. You know, like some ancient council that feeds off the town’s energy. Who knows? That’s the mystery we’re trying to figure out. Mainly, we just want to find out why what happened to us happened. I know it all sounds crazy. I’ll tell you more when we meet up with Jacob.
  “Do you think I’m crazy?”
  Rain chuckled slightly. “Do you think I’m crazy?”
  “I guess it’s all relative.”
  Rachel’s body ached. The cut on her foot, after trodding over dirt and dead leaves and twigs, was now throbbing.
  She pitched her cigarette off into the woods.
   What if Bones saw the glow from the cigarette?
  No. He couldn’t have kept up with us, Rachel thought. She trusted Rain when she said he was lazy. Besides, they were lost in the woods themselves. She didn’t have any reason to believe Bones knew these woods any better than the average person.
  Rain tossed her cigarette out.
  “I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “You had something you wanted to tell me and I completely took it away from you. You just seemed so nervous. I thought it might calm you if I talked for a little bit first. Let you know we’re all a bit fucked up.”
  “No. Thanks. It did. It helped.”
  Rain pulled the jacket tightly around herself and said, “You cold?”
  “Surprisingly no. I’m just kind of glad to be alive. In a bit of pain.”
  “You sure?”
  “Sure.”
  “Okay, well, mainly, I pulled that stuff back there because I just can’t take Bones anymore. He’s a lot sicker than I thought he was. We’ve been running for almost a year now.”
  “Running from what?”
  “Well, not really running from anything. It’s more like we’re running towards something only I haven’t really been able to figure out what it is, exactly. I think only Bones knows. It gets kind of complicated. It might be the Devils you keep talking about. He says we’re gonna be fucking vampires. Anyway, like I said, it’s complicated.”
  “I think we have all the time in the world. We’re a good half hour away from any signs of civilization.”
  “Do you know where we are?”
  “I have a good idea. I think if we just stay on this trail, then we’ll end up behind the cemetery.”
  “Great. That’s just what I need. A fucking cemetery.”
  “You think Bones knows this area?”
  “Hell no. He’s fucking clueless. Spends all his time following other people and never looking out the window.”
  “Then I think we’re okay for now. We can go to Jacob’s and get cleaned up when we find our way out of this. Let him know what’s going on.”
  “All right then, since we have the time, I guess I’ll start at the beginning.”
  Rain took a deep breath and, for the next few moments, Rachel saw and heard the terrified girl that Rain truly was.
  

 
    Eight
     
    “Me and Bones went to high school together in California. He was always a pretty bad kid