Dark Corner (50 page)

The makeshift barrier clattered. The desk teetered, tumbled off the table, and crashed to the floor.

"Get ready!" DeWayne said. He aimed the gun.

Beside Junior, Maria recited a prayer.

Junior tightened his hold on the makeshift bomb. His
thumb itched on the Bic lighter.

The table finally flipped over.

The quarantine doors exploded open.

The vampires stampeded outside like a herd of enraged
bulls. Moving fast, oh man, Junior could not believe how
fast they were. As soon as DeWayne squeezed off a booming
shot, hitting one of the monsters in the stomach, another
vampire jumped through the air and tackled the man, knocking him flat on his back. The vampire plunged its teeth into
his neck. DeWayne screamed.

Junior was paralyzed.

We ain't got a chance against them, there're too many,
and they're too fast and strong.

Ron and Maria lit their bombs, flung them in the general
direction of the vampires, and ran. The bottles shattered on
contact with the floor. A wall of flames whooshed in the air.
Some of the vampires caught fire, and wailed in agony. The
others scuttled away, frightened.

The fire alarm rang into life. The showers came on, spraying cold water everywhere.

No, Junior thought. It's gonna put out the fire!

Already, the water was pounding the flames into submission. Watching the dying fire cautiously, the vampires began
to come forward.

I better run before they get their nerve back, Junior
thought.

He took off.

His boots clapped across the wet floor. He ran past closets
and darkened rooms. He wondered what would happen to
the other, regular patients at the hospital. He didn't see any
of the medical staff. Had all of them run away, too?

Far ahead of him, Maria and Ron were in the lobby.

"Hurry up, Junior!" Maria said. "We're getting out of
here!"

"I'm coming!"

Ron and Maria vanished through the exit doors.

Junior heard the vampires behind him. Feet slapping
against the wet tile. Hissing. Hungry for his blood.

Don't you dare look behind you, Junior.

He finally came to the lobby. He was about to push through
the glass doors when he saw Ron and Maria. They were
sprawled on the sidewalk outside. A pack of demon dogs
swarmed over their bodies, like lions feeding on felled deer.
Those mutts that could turn you into a vampire with a
bite.

The dogs had been waiting for someone to run outside.
He saw more dogs out there, hunched over people in blue
medical uniforms.

Then Junior saw the man in black, the one from the cave.
The guy strolled across the parking lot, toward the building.
Dogs flanked him, like servants accompanying a king.

No one who ran out there would escape, period.

Drenched with water that continued to pour from the
showers, Junior scrambled past the abandoned front desk in
the lobby. There was another, shorter hallway behind the desk.
At the end of the hall, he saw an Exit sign above a door, the
blood-red letters glowing in the gloom.

The vampires' shrieks reverberated in the corridors. They
weren't far behind.

He reached the exit, whammed open the door with his
shoulder, and found himself in a pitch-black stairwell. He
thumbed the Bic lighter and held it high, like a torch. It didn't
give him much light, but he saw the door at the bottom of the
dozen or so stairs.

Keeping the lighter held high, and clutching the bottle
bomb in his other hand, he navigated down the steps. His
knees trembled so badly he was certain that he would fall
and roll down the stairs, maybe breaking his neck in the
tumble. But he made it to the bottom without stumbling.

He pushed the door open.

A duo of slavering pit bulls awaited him in the alley. They
rose from their haunches and came after him, snarling, foam
spraying from their lips.

Frantic, Junior stepped inside and pulled the door shut.

The dogs scraped against the door, growling.

Junior leaned against the wall. His heart pounded so hard
that the hammering seemed to transmit itself to the bricks
behind him, making the walls throb in unison with his heart.

He wanted to find another way to escape, but he wondered if it would be worth the try. It was like these vampires had thought of all the ways to get out. Even if he jumped out
a window, they would probably be waiting for him on the
ground below.

At the top of the stairs, the door swished open.

Junior stood rigid.

Featherlight footsteps came inside the stairwell. Then the
door was shut, closing out the chaotic sounds of the besieged
hospital.

Junior held his breath. He would have to peek around the
corner to see who was up there. But in his heart, he knew
who it was.

"I can smell you down there, Junior," Vicky Queen said.
"You've got that nice, manly scent that I've always liked."

Her sultry voice somehow managed to frighten and excite him at the same time.

Vicky's bare feet began to tap down the stairs.

"I know you've never been with a woman," she said. "I
want to be your first, honey. You've waited so long, been holding out for that special woman. That special woman's me,
Junior."

Tears pushed down Junior's cheeks. Sniffling, he flicked
on the cigarette lighter again, held it aloft.

Vicky came around the corner, into the light. Her face
was both beautiful and terrifying to Junior, both alien and
painfully familiar.

"I want to give myself to you, after all these years," she
said. "I want you to give yourself to me, too. We'll spend the
rest of our lives together. We'll never die. Don't you want
that for us, sweetie?"

She stepped closer.

Shaking his head, his face wet with tears, Junior raised
the bottle bomb.

Please, Lord, please, Mama, forgive me for doing this.

Rage twisted Vicky's face. "Junior, you put that thing
away, you hear me? You put it away right now!"

"I always loved you, Miss Queen," Junior said. "Please
forgive me"

He lit the fuse. Vicky screeched. Junior rushed toward her
and embraced her. The bomb exploded in a brilliant orb of
flames, taking them away together.

Jackson caught Hunter as everyone was rushing out of
the station to go to the hospital.

"Hunter, I can't go to the hospital with y'all," he said.

David's eyes were understanding. "It's Jahlil, isn't it?"

"I got to find him." He knotted his hands. "Damn boy, always been so headstrong. I know he thinks he's gonna be out
there in the streets hunting these suckers. I can't let him be
running around out there alone. I'm the police chief, but I'm
a daddy first"

"I understand," David said. "Be careful."

"You do the same. When I find my boy, we're gonna come
to support you. That's a promise."

They shook hands. A jarring thought struck Jackson-the
idea that he was never going to see David again. Whether it
was because David was going to die-or he was going to
die-he did not know. He didn't voice his thought, fearful
that speaking it would guarantee that it would come true.

David left. Jackson looked around the office. Now, only a
single candle glowed, leaving most of the room in shadow,
but Jackson had spent so much time there over the years that
he didn't need any light at all. This place had become more
like his home than his own house. He'd been notified of major
events in his life while sitting right over there at his desk. His
wife going into labor with their son. Jahlil's first shaky steps.
His father's death. His wife contracting cancer ...

There was a lifetime of memories here, both good and
bad.

He blew out the candle. Then he left to find his son.

Jahlil was not about to go into battle against the bloodsuckers without some kind of bomb. When he and Poke discovered that the gas can in the garage was empty, they
returned inside the house and went into the kitchen.

He found plenty of flammable stuff inside the cupboards.
While Poke shone the flashlight over him, he filled several
beer bottles with the dangerous liquids, packed strips of towels into the bottle necks, as wicks, and secured the fuses with
wire trash-bag ties.

Rumbles of thunder clinked the plates in the dish rack.
An angry wind swatted the window.

"That storm is kicking ass," Poke said. "Where we going
when we leave here?"

"We're gonna cruise around town," Jahlil said. "I know
there's gonna be shit popping everywhere. I can feel it. Can't
you?"

Poke wiped sweat from his face with his forearm. "Yeah.
That's why I'm about to piss on myself. I should've gotten
the fuck out of Dodge when I had the chance. Carloads of
niggas broke out after that meeting at the church. It was like
a caravan going to a big-ass family reunion."

"Cowards," Jahlil said. He packed a towel into the last
bottle. "How're you gonna give up your crib and everything
you have, just like that? My family's been here forever, man.
I ain't giving up my shit without a fight-"

"Hey, you hear that?" Poke whispered.

Jahlil listened. He detected a sound, underneath the
groaning thunder. It grew louder with each beat of his heart.

"Music," Jahlil said.

"Not just any music," Poke said. "That's Jacktown. I ain't
gotta tell you who's always bumpin' their shit."

No, you sure don't, Jahlil thought. His mouth was dry. He
pushed a bottle toward Poke. Poke grasped it as if for dear life.

Jahlil picked up his shotgun off the dinette table.

The music, heavy with bass, made the living room windows pulsate. Car headlights burned on the curtains.

"Follow me," Jahlil said.

He went into the living room, Poke moving close behind
him. Their bodies cast huge, jerky shadows on the walls.

At the front door, Jahlil lifted the edge of the drape that
covered the small rectangular window.

A blue Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight was parked across the
lawn, headlamps angled toward the living room. The car's
tinted windows prevented Jahlil from seeing who was inside-as if there were any doubt.

"It's T-Bone's ride," Jahlil said. After T-Bone disappeared
the other night, his mother had come by Jahlil's place to pick
up the car. Looked like T-Bone had gotten it back.

"Fuck," Poke said softly. "He's coming for us, man. He's
coming to make us one of them vampire bastards"

The bass line of T-Bone's favorite Jacktown song, "Foot
on Ya Neck," began to boom from the car stereo.

In his mind's eye, Jahlil imagined T-Bone leaning in the
driver's seat, a joint dangling from his fang-filled mouth,
eyes red and frenzied, nodding his head to the funky rhythm.

Jahlil bit his tongue to hold back an outburst of lunatic
laughter.

"What we gonna do, J?" Poke asked.

Jahlil leaned against the wall. Before, he was going to
laugh. Now, he felt nauseated.

"We're going to go out there to get him," Jahlil said.

"Fuck that, you crazy nigga-"

"Either we go out there to get him, or he's coming in here
to get us," Jahlil said. "He'll be expecting us to run and hide.
We've gotta make the first move"

"Shit" Poke spat on the floor. Ordinarily, Jahlil would've
busted him out for spitting on the carpet, but this was no
time for pettiness. "All right, cool. You go first"

"We're going out there together. I'll lead."

"Damn. I'm gonna kick your ass when this is all over. I'm
tired of you putting me through all this shit."

"Poke, we get through this, and I'll be glad to let you borrow my cleats so you can kick my ass with them," Jahlil said.
"Are you ready? Remember our plan. I'm the shooter, you're
the bomber."

"Man, I don't know if I can take out our boy." Poke gripped
the beer bottle, but his eyes were wet.

"He's not our boy anymore. He's a monster. He'll rip out
our throats if you give him the chance. We have to move on
him."

"All right, all right." Poke closed his eyes, as if speaking a
quick prayer. Then he nodded. "I'm ready."

Giving pep talks to Poke had the side benefit of quieting
Jahlil's own anxiety. If Poke had not been there for him to
motivate and direct, he would've had a hell of a time dealing
with this stuff. Acting as the brave leader for his boy helped
him feel kind of fearless.

Although he wasn't completely without fear. Before putting
his hand on the doorknob, he murmured a short prayer of his
own.

Holding the shotgun in one hand, barrel aimed at the ceiling, he opened the door. He pressed the latch on the screen
door.

Cold wind smacked him in the face and snatched open
the screen door.

In the car, Jacktown's song played on.

The porch was clear. Jahlil moved across it, stepped down
the concrete steps. Poke was close on his heels.

"Let's check out the car," Jahlil said.

"Okay, I'll cover you from back here," Poke said.