The Lola Chronicles (Book 2): A Day Without Dawn (4 page)

One of us was being a diva, all right. And it sure as hell wasn’t me.

Vampire apocalypse or no vampire apocalypse, this queen bee wasn’t about to give up her crown. I almost had to give her credit. It couldn’t have been easy to pull off grunge chic, but she was doing it.

Even though the white short shorts were a little overkill. Not to mention totally impractical.

“What do I want?” Her eyes narrowed. “How about starting with what the
hell
is going on?”

“Are you being serious? You are,” I decided with a sigh when her lips pursed. I guess what they said was true: you could buy beauty, but brains were never on sale. “Vampires, Hayley. The town has been overrun by vampires. Although they really prefer to be called drinkers.”

“That’s your explanation?” She rolled her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What’s
your
explanation?” Although I had been the first one to board the vampire denial train, it hadn’t taken me very long to jump off. I was genuinely curious to see who – or what – Hayley thought was responsible for the blood-bath that had soaked our entire town.

“Zombies,” she said decisively. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Zombies,” I repeated.

“Duh.” She flicked a hand through her long hair, pulling it over one shoulder. “Haven’t you seen
The Walking Dead
? This is just like that. Well, except there’s no Daryl.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could someone be so freaking oblivious? Vampires may not have been the first thing that jumped to my mind, but when you started adding everything up – silver fangs, flashing blue eyes, thirst for blood, serious allergy to sunlight – there was really only one sensible conclusion.

And it sure as hell wasn’t zombies.

“Who is Daryl?”

“Daryl? Daryl Dixon,” Hayley emphasized when I stared at her blankly. “He’s, like, the hottest guy on TV. And he kills zombies.”

“Great. Listen, Hales – can I call you Hales? – I hate to break it to you, but Daryl Dixon is a fictional character and zombies don’t really exist.”

The corners of her mouth tightened. “Oh yeah? Then what’s
your
brilliant idea?”

“Like I said, vampires.” I leaned back against a tree and crossed my arms. The cool shade felt good on my bruised skin. Now that Angelique was dead and my instant healing was gone I was capable of feeling pain again, like the scrape on my chin courtesy of Hayley’s big fat foot.

“Vampires aren’t real, Lola.”

I met her skepticism with a dark laugh. “Oh yes they are.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because I killed one.”  

I Killed a Vampire and I Liked It

“You killed a vampire.”

Hayley sounded so skeptical I was actually a little bit offended. After all, I had worked hard to earn my reputation as a bad ass. Those things didn’t just happen overnight. If there was a senior category in the yearbook for most likely to shoot a drinker I fully expected my picture to be front and center. “Yeah. What’s so hard to believe about that?”

“Oh, I don’t know…How about
everything
?”

“Remind me how you’re still alive? I’m serious,” I said when she rolled her eyes. “I killed a drinker with this gun.” Still not trusting myself around Hayley with a weapon, I just gave it a firm pat for emphasis. “All it takes is one shot to the head and one to the heart and they go poof.”

“Poof?” she repeated dubiously.

“That’s right, poof.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“The poofing part?”

“The
vampire
part, you idiot.” A fan of blond hair spilled across her cheek as she canted her head to the side. “Everyone knows vampires are nice. Haven’t you seen
Twilight
?”

“Do you ever hear yourself speak?” I wondered out loud. “Or are you just as amazed as the rest of us by all the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth? Vampires are real and I promise you that they are
not
nice.”

“How would
you
know?”

“Because I–”
Almost fell in love with one
. “Because I just know, okay?” And now I sounded exactly like Maximus. Replying to every question with a vague answer. Refusing to give out any pertinent details. Always hiding something. “You just have to trust me.”

Hayley snorted. “As if.”

“Look at the facts,” I said, my voice rising along with my exasperation. Raising my right hand, I began to tick off my fingers one after the other. “They attacked at night. They drained people of blood. They had super-human strength and super-human speed. Does that really sound like zombies to you? This isn’t the first town they’ve done this to and it isn’t going to be the last. We were a test, Hayley.”

“What do you mean we were a – a test?” For the first time Hayley actually sounded a little scared.

Good.

She should be.

Stepping out of the shadow of the tree I closed the distance between us. To her credit, Hayley didn’t move back. She met me stare for stare, her dark blue eyes unblinking. “A test to see how quickly they could slaughter an entire town. To them, Revere was nothing more than a meat-packing plant. And we were the cows.”

The color drained from her face. “How do you know that?”

“Because one of them told me.”

“One of them
spoke
to you?”

“Where have you been for the past seven days? Seriously.” I could not understand how Hayley had survived this long and not come across one of the drinkers face to face. Since this whole nightmare began I had been tripping over the bastards left and right, starting with the drinker at the Livingston’s and ending with Maximus in the basement of the Renner Hotel. 

“I’ve been with everyone else,” she replied, looking confused by my question.

My breath caught. “Everyone else? You mean you’re not the only one still alive?”

“Of course not. There are half a dozen of us. Seven if you count Rose Gordon which I totally don’t. Have you
seen
what she did to her hair? Someone needs to tell her perms went out in the nineties.”

Half a dozen
survivors? Stunned, I stumbled back a step and nearly tripped over the edge of the sidewalk. I had been convinced I was the only one left – with the exception of my dad – and to learn that
seven
other people were still alive was nothing short of mind-boggling.

“I can’t believe it,” I whispered.

“I know, right?” Hayley smirked. “And don’t even get me started on her massive break-outs. Clearasil much?”

“Where are they?” I said, ignoring her attack on poor Rose Gordon, one of the shyest girls in our class who had never done anything to anyone. Like every other bully, Hayley preferred to pick on the weak and the wounded. I was the only one of her victims who had ever fought back which was probably why she hated me so much.

She started to answer, only to pinch her lips together at the last second. “Why should I tell you?”

If we were still in high school I would have given her my best go-to-hell look and walked away. But we weren’t in high school, not anymore, which meant instead of just looking I could actually
do
something. Like grab the straps of her ribbed tank top and slam her back against a tree.

“Because if you don’t we are going to have a serious problem. Capiche?” I said sweetly.

“You are such a crazy psychotic bitch!” she cried.

“Thank you.” Holding her for a split second longer – just to let her know I could – I released my grip and feigned a yawn as I stepped to the side, as though pinning people against trees was something I did on a daily basis.

“The middle school,” Hayley bit out, glaring at me. “We barricaded ourselves in the gym.”

I toyed with the end of my braid. “Show me.”

Revere Middle School was only
four blocks away from the high school. Ten years ago the middle school and the high school had been in the same building, but when we merged with a neighboring school district they built a brand new middle school complete with a state of the art gymnasium.

I followed Hayley around to the back where the athletic fields were eerily vacant. If this was a normal school day they would have been jam packed with kids. To see them completely empty and overgrown was just another reminder of how much things had changed.

All of the doors leading in and out of the middle school were tightly closed and the generic tan shades on all the windows were drawn. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought the place was completely abandoned, which I guess was part of its appeal.

“Wait here,” Hayley instructed. “I have to tell the others about you before I bring you in.” There was a hard edge in her voice. She was still pissed at me for the whole tree thing, not that I could really blame her. Maybe I had gone a
little
overboard, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t deserved it. If there was anyone who needed to be brought down a peg or two it was Hayley Nile.

Folding my arms across my chest I waited impatiently while Hayley slipped into the school through a gray custodial door. It was almost noon and my stomach grumbled as I leaned back against the warm brick siding and tilted my face up towards the sun. I didn’t know what – or who – I was expecting to find in the middle school, but it had to be better than being by myself.

I had always considered myself a bit of a loner. I think most outcasts did. But there was a big difference between keeping people at arm’s length and being completely alone.

I missed Dad. I missed Travis. I even missed Maximus, or at least the Maximus I
thought
he was before I discovered the truth. My eyes slid closed, black lashes fanning out across the top of my sunburnt cheeks. Being back at school – even the middle school – was bringing on a tide of unwanted memories and feelings.

Sitting next to Travis in math class poking him with a pencil.

Fooling around with Everett James out behind the football bleachers.

Jostling for position in the a la carte line and nabbing the last piece of pizza.

Sneaking out of home economics (total snooze fest) to get ice cream at Chubby’s.

I should have been getting ready for my senior year, not standing outside a custodial door slowly roasting to death. Stupid vampire apocalypse. Way to ruin everything. Now instead of looking forward to senior skip day and graduation and being done with school forever I was just doing my best to stay alive.

And I thought calculus was going to be hard.

I jumped when the doorknob suddenly turned and had my gun out and the safety clicked off before the door was all the way open.

“Lola, I couldn’t believe it when – whoa! Easy.” Hunter Billings, captain of the football team and all-around golden boy extraordinaire, held up both hands when he found himself staring down the muzzle of my Beretta Elite semi-automatic double action. It was the first gun Maximus had ever given me and it did not mess around.  “Easy,” he repeated, his matching dimples emerging as his mouth stretched into a boyish grin. “It’s just me, Lola. Hunter. You remember me, don’t you?”

Did I remember him? Of course I did. I was a female, wasn’t I? Every girl – and even some guys, for that matter – had, at some point in their lives, lusted over Hunter Billings. My infatuation with him had started in the sixth grade when I was still a mousy little nobody trying to figure out her place in the pending high school hierarchy. I never acted on my crush, and by the time I was a freshman I’d shifted my sights to a more attainable goal: Everett James. Still, there was a part of me – a very embarrassing, very girly part – that had always sighed whenever I saw Hunter walk down the hall in all his broad-shouldered, green-eyed, blond-haired beauty. And I always wondered what it would be like to be the girl walking down the hall beside him, knowing every single pair of eyes were trained on me and my hot-as-hell boyfriend.

Like I said, totally embarrassing.

“Sorry.” Resetting the safety I returned the gun to my back pocket. “Reflex.”

“Can’t say I blame you.” Hunter’s grin slowly faded. Without it he was almost unrecognizable. Shoving his thumbs through the front belt loops of his jeans he rocked back on his heels. “Some pretty crazy shit going on, huh?”

“Pretty crazy,” I agreed.

“When Hayley said she found you I couldn’t believe it.” His tawny eyebrows pulled together over the bridge of his nose. “I thought we were the only ones left.”

“Ditto. How many are in there?” I said, glancing past him through the door.

“After last night?” He sighed heavily. “Eight total including myself.”

“What happened last night?” Even as I asked the question I already knew the answer. I recognized the defeat in Hunter’s eyes. It was the same defeat I’d felt in my own. 

“We’ve been sending out people in groups of two and three to scout for supplies. They’re supposed to return way before it gets dark, but they never made it back.”

“They might not be dead.”

His mouth thinned into a firm, flat line. “They are.”

“What if they just got too far out of town and had to spend the night somewhere else? They could be on their way back right now.” I wasn’t used to being the optimistic one, but
someone
had to have a little bit of hope. Otherwise what was the damn point?

“That’s not what happened.”

“But how do you
know
?” I insisted. 

“Because this morning we found their heads.”