Monsterland (4 page)

“Vampires are almost extinct. Werewolves have night vision,” the woman said as she scooped her bag off the counter.

“True. But vampires have dilated night vision, and they can grow in number if they want to,” he called out to her as she left the restaurant, his voice growing louder as she got farther away. “Zombies…extreme myopia. Once again, vampire wins. Even if there are just a few of them left, they are the thinking-man’s monsters. One vamp is worth a hundred zombies.” He gave a satisfied smile. The door slammed close. “It’s a shame they won’t allow them to populate anymore,” Howard said sadly. “Soon they will disappear like the dinosaurs.”

“I guess vampire wins,” Wyatt said with resignation.

“You wimp, you gonna give up just like that?” Manny Lopez shouted as he snapped his fingers under Wyatt’s nose. He was the night manager, shorter with a meaner tongue than Howard. “If you gonna give up like that, you can work the fryer tonight.”

“Ugh, the fryer.” Wyatt hated working the fryer. The oil spit, and the lamps that kept the fries hot were scorching. “I stand by my opinion, zombies are superior. When aroused, they’re unstoppable.”

“Okay, Howard Drucker, you have the fryer,” Manny informed him.

Howard shook his head. “Vampires have brains, and working opposable thumbs. They are the thinking-man’s monsters.”

“Good man. Melvin, take the fryer.”

“Why do I have to work the fryer?” Melvin whined. He blamed it for his acne. His workers comp case had been closed when they discovered that eating the fries, rather than the splattering oil, caused his condition.

“Because any moron who thinks a werewolf will win should have to do the dirtiest job in the house.”

Howard caught Wyatt’s attention and pointed to a blue Nissan pulling into the parking lot. He went in the back to work the burger assembly line. Wyatt turned, dismay written across his face as multiple car doors slammed, and a group strolled into the restaurant.

There were four of them: Nolan, the beefy captain of the football team, Theo, his best friend, and two girls. Wyatt cursed softly, taking his place behind register one.

“Put on your hat,” Manny admonished him. “Melvin, take out the trash and stop stuffing your face with the fries!”

Nolan walked up to the counter, his gait lazy, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He was tall, with wide shoulders and short-cut blond hair. “I don’t know about you,” he said loudly, “but I am
desperate
for a good burger.” He drew out the word desperate slowly.

Wyatt opened his mouth to say something snarky to the jock and then considered the nasty possibilities of Nolan’s response. Nolan was as hot-tempered as he was reactive. He was known to sucker-punch linebackers when they disagreed with his football calls. Wyatt wisely decided to keep quiet.

“Oh, look who?” Nolan acted surprised. “Wyatt Baldwin. Are you
desperate
to sell me a burger.”

Wyatt’s heart sank; he could feel the shame of the note on his back again. He wished he’d taken the fryer duty after all.

Jade and Keisha approached the counter smiling at Wyatt.

“What did Casella give you for your paper?” Keisha asked.

“I got an A.” Wyatt shrugged, his voice low, as if he were ashamed.

“Me too. It was easy,” she said confidently. She was tall, with long legs and a curly Afro held back from her pretty face with two barrettes. She had slanted dark eyes, and wide lips with a ready smile. She was head of the cheerleading squad and the smartest girl in school. Wyatt grinned when he heard the clumsy clatter of Howard dropping a metal pan. He wasn’t the only klutz in the restaurant. It was followed by a muffled curse. Keisha liked Howard, but she couldn’t get him to do anything more that stare dumbly at her.

“Is that you Howard Drucker?” Keisha called loudly. “Come out here so I can see you!”

“Who’s going to cook your burger if I come out there?” Howard grumbled.

Jade gazed at Wyatt with a sweet smile. She toyed with a hank of her brown hair, twirling it until it fell like a fat sausage on her shoulder. Nolan and Jade had been on-again-off-again since fifth grade. Wyatt looked at her and admitted wryly to himself that he was indeed quite
desperate
to catch her on the off-again loop. When he was around her, his throat turned into a noose, and words had to be painfully squeezed out. Wyatt swallowed hard, looking at her perfect teeth as she bit her lower lip. She was lightly tanned, but she glowed when she walked into a room. Keisha and Jade were dressed in tennis skirts. Keisha shoved her shoulder into Jade’s, playfully smiling.

Wyatt’s face turned crimson. Jade picked him to do a report on the containment camps this spring, and she worked with him on a community project for the homeless. They had to meet alone to write the paper. It was probably the highlight of his senior year. It was like she was finding excuses to be with him.

Wyatt opened his mouth to say something, but found his vocal cords uncooperative.

Nolan was oblivious to the interplay and pounded his chest. “Me want meat.” He came forward, wrapping one arm around Jade’s waist, picking her up. “Me want meat.”

Theo walked over to Keisha, who eyed him sideways. “Don’t even think about it,” she told him pointedly. “I could crush you like the vermin you are.” She eyed him disdainfully.

“
Ay caramba
, Mamacita,” Manny crooned. “You too tough on that boy. Maybe you need a real man.”

Keisha made a rude noise, dismissing him. “Keep that up, Manny, and I’ll have to show you what I learned in tae kwon do this week.”

“Yeah, man, she threw the instructor over her shoulder. You better watch out,” Theo said in a stage whisper.

“Howard Drucker! Make me a double double the way I like it. You know the way I like it, don’t you? You still wearing your pocket protector?” Keisha asked seductively.

“Aw, leave him alone, Keisha,” Wyatt said softly. “You’ll make him nervous.”

“What? I think it’s sexy. All loaded up with number-two pencils and his compass. His weapons of choice,” she said with a smile. “Maybe he’s got other goodies stuffed in that thing.”

This time something very big and probably expensive hit the floor. Nolan and Theo roared with laughter. Jade caught Wyatt’s flushed face again, and Manny cursed loudly, running to the back, muttering about kids.

Theo saw another car pull up and wandered to the window to investigate. He called to Nolan to see if he recognized the vehicle. He pulled Jade possessively with him to the window.
She hung backward; Nolan gave a look of warning, and she stood just to the side of him.

Wyatt leaned over the counter, swallowing hard, and then, taking a deep breath, he whispered to Keisha, “Why’d you do that to Howard Drucker? You know he likes you.”

Keisha made a rude noise. “Well,” she huffed. “When you like someone enough, you should ask them to go out to a movie or something.” She leaned over the counter so she was half on it, her long legs dangling. “Don’t you agree, Howard Drucker?” she shouted. “That goes for you too,” Keisha said in an undertone to Wyatt and then looked over her shoulder at Jade.

Wyatt looked nervously away, his fingers fidgeting with a paper bag. He looked up to find Jade’s steady gaze upon him.

Jade was back, her face intent, as if she were trying to tell him something. Or maybe that was his imagination speaking, and she was just being nice. If she was even slightly interested in him, he thought bitterly, why was she hanging around King Kong? Both girls jumped back with loud shrieks when Melvin appeared out of the darkness to stack a tray with fresh french fries. His face floated between the shelves, the light painting it with an eerie reddish glow. The green glass of his werewolf pendant winked in the steam.

Wyatt dragged his eyes from Jade and laughed. “It’s just Melvin.” He turned around and said to his friend, “Mel, you should see what you look like.”

“What? What do I look like?”

“Like the star attraction at Monsterland, that’s what,” Keisha said. “ You should make a little noise when you approach people. You’re a scary dude.”

“Me? Scary? You think so?” Melvin was impressed. “Did you hear that, Wy? I gotta go see that in the mirror. I’m taking a break,” he called out.

“He so weird,” Keisha said. “Why do you hang out with him?”

Wyatt shrugged. “Maybe I should wonder why he hangs out with me. Maybe we’re the weird ones.”

Keisha’s mouth dropped open. “I think you just blew my mind.”

“What? Who blew what?” Nolan was back rapping out an order. He sized up Wyatt. “I heard Vincent Conrad gave all the civil servants free tickets for the opening of Monsterland,” he said contemptuously.

“So?”

“Did your father score?”

“Who?”

“Carter White, your father.”

“My stepfather Carter? Um…no. He’s not interested. He—”

“Yeah?”

“He’s not happy about the park.”

“What’s that got to do with it? If you had them, I’d offer a thousand for two. Right, Jade, you want to go?”

“Hey,” Theo said. “If you were going to Monsterland, that extra ticket would be for me, bro.”

Nolan looked at Jade, who was watching Wyatt. He put his arms around her back to cup her shoulder. She tried to ease out of his grip, but he held her tight. “Don’t think so. I’d want my girl to be with me.” He gave her a slight shake. “Right, Jade?”

Jade tore her gaze from Wyatt to look at Nolan and then to the floor. Her mumbled answer was cut off when the door flew open, and the room flooded with a group of people. They were not from around here. Wyatt stared at them, not recognizing them. There were no strangers in Copper Valley—well, except for the homeless. With a population of barely twelve
hundred, a person grew up knowing everybody else in the small town. There were about ten people filing in, LA types with iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches; most were dressed in grungy black-colored clothes covered with reddish dust. They were filthy, as if they had been working in the old copper mines. A girl approached the counter. Her skin was fish-belly white, her hair an unnatural magenta. It was spiked around her small head. She asked Nolan impatiently, “Are you done ordering? I have a large order.” She turned around and said loudly, “Ryan, you wanted a bun, no meat, right? But you’ll eat cheese?”

“I’m lactose intolerant,” the only man in the group wearing a business suit whined. “A bun with tomato and lettuce.”

They settled around four tables, their heads together deep in conversation. “I want that too! I can’t look at meat anymore,” a girl on the far end of the crowd called out.

The door opened again, and a shabby man with a long khaki-colored coat slid into a dark corner. A vagrant, Wyatt surmised. Who wore a coat in the summer, Wyatt wondered, observing him. Someone who had no place to leave it, who didn’t belong anywhere, he thought, looking at the bum, who hunched himself down, his hair covering his lean face. Wyatt knew that feeling well. He watched the hungry eyes dart around the room until they settled on him. He looked familiar, but Wyatt couldn’t place him. Manny tended to be mean to them, but Wyatt felt a keen sense of responsibility. These people were the real victims of the outbreak. His mother regularly gave out meals to anyone who passed by. Carter donated old clothes. Vincent Conrad’s mission was to put them on their feet again by creating jobs. He was proactively finding solutions, he had argued with Carter. At least, unlike the polarized politicians in Washington, he was actually doing something to
help the country. Wyatt even argued in school that, if everyone did a little something to help, the problem would solve itself. He heard Manny curse when he spied the dirty-looking man.

The manager passed Wyatt and quietly said, “Tell him to leave.”

“He’s not disturbing anybody, Manny. Give the guy a break. It’s hot outside.”

“If it’s so hot, why’s he dressed like the undertaker?” With disgust, he eyed the leather duster the man wore.

Wyatt finished ringing up Nolan’s order, quickly packaging it.

“Have a heart, Manny. Maybe he’s a vet.” Carter was a veteran. His stepfather always talked about returning soldiers, friends who fell on hard times.

“If he’s a vet, he musta been one from the Crusades.”

Wyatt smiled knowing Manny was joking, so he was okay with it. He watched the old guy looking down, trying to be inconspicuous, as if he wanted to disappear. Wyatt recognized that feeling. “Let it go, Manny,” he said in a low voice.

Manny shrugged. “Okay, Wyatt, but he makes a mess, you have to clean it up.”

Nolan swiped his bag from the counter and headed for the door. Jade pulled his hand, her voice imploring, “I want to eat inside.”

Nolan gave in ungraciously, and the four of them took a booth in the rear. The restaurant was packed now—burgers were flying; stacks of fries and a dozen shakes were all carried over to the large group of newcomers. The noise level rose, the group bickering about something. They must be here for the theme park, Wyatt figured.

He turned, looking at the older man who sat drumming his fingers uncomfortably. His shoes were caked with mud,
and the coat’s hem rested on the floor. The patrons treated him as though he were invisible. Wyatt pulled out a few bucks from his pocket and placed it quietly in the register. Employees ate half price. Wyatt took a double double, a large package of fries, and a shake and brought it over to the bum.

“Where you goin’ with that?” Manny called out with exasperation, watching Wyatt place it on the table where the man sat alone. “If you feed him, he’ll keep coming back.”

“Don’t worry. I paid for it,” Wyatt told him quietly over his shoulder. The shyness he felt around his peers evaporated. He understood loneliness, the malaise of not fitting in. While he was tongue-tied with Jade or a bully like Nolan, his sense of compassion took over for someone down on their luck. It was these qualities that drew Melvin and Howard Drucker to him. He never judged, and he wanted so much to make people feel at ease around each other. “Hungry?” he asked.

The huge group grew strangely quiet. The lactose intolerant man wearing the suit stood. He had his mouth open to interrupt Wyatt, but something unseen to everyone else made him pause.