Episode Sixteen – The Quarter Bounce Bar

It had been agreed upon, after some deliberation and persuasion, that we would leave Kendrick’s SUV behind and take Sterling’s.

     For one thing, and probably most importantly, his vehicle would be expected. Kendrick’s would not; his would send warning signals the closer we got to the collective and Garth Merrick.

     And we didn’t want warning signals.

     We wanted the element of surprise.

     “I’m starving,” I said, gazing out the window, watching the night fly by, wishing I could be…

     What?

     Normal?

     I wasn’t even sure what that meant anymore.

     “And what would you suggest—we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Sterling said, working his jaw.

     “Do you have to be so damn annoying?” Patience said from the back. “I’m hungry too, you know? Maybe we should just eat you so we don’t have to listen to your jaw flap.”

     Patience still hadn’t recovered from the embarrassment of Sterling locking her in the closet, naked and doing her best to seduce him.

     Kendrick leaned back, his head against the window, eyes closed, trying to forget we were all riding together like the fucking Brady Bunch on vacation. Occasionally, I saw his hand move to the bridge of his nose between his eyes in an attempt to relax his likely throbbing brain.

     “I’m just saying, other than my hitting a deer on this nowhere road, there’s not much to do about anyone’s hunger pains,” Sterling said. “Not even yours.”

     “And just what is that supposed to mean?” Patience said, leaning close to him, her eyes flashing with rage.

     “I mean…”

     Lights appeared behind us.

     Not car lights.

     Six.

     “Looks like we have company,” Sterling said, slowing just enough to keep them in sight.

     The bikes, noticing our taillights in the dark, sped up.

     I knew it was necessary. I’d run out of my pre-packaged blood hours ago, mostly to Patience, to ease her transition from living to non-living with as little distress as possible.

     One pint lingered in my bag.

     Not for us.

     Camilla.

     The bikes suddenly erupted around us, two in front, two behind, one on each side. They were herding us like sheep to the slaughter.

     Deep, guttural screams, whooping, and laughter echoed along with the thunderous roar of their bikes’ engines.

     I glanced back at Patience.

     “Nothing to worry about. Just follow my lead,” I said.

     She nodded, caught off guard and beginning to panic. Slowly, understanding sank in, and I saw her body start to relax.

     We kept going that way for about five minutes, but I think if we had been truly terrified, it would have felt like forever.

     “Lights ahead,” Sterling said. “Looks like a dive bar.”

     Kendrick leaned forward.

     “Better than a deer,” he slid his index finger down my cheek. It was amazingly gentle, and I saw a flash of something in his eyes. “We hunt.”

     “Seems more like take-out to me,” I said. “But I won’t complain.”

     We pulled into the well-rutted dirt parking lot, lined with at least a dozen more bikes.

     Metal garbage cans burned fiercely, warming hands and melting the snow around them.

     “I didn’t think people rode their bikes in winter,” Patience said.

     “These kinds of people do,” I said. “Stick close to me when we get out. They can’t kill you, but it can still hurt like hell if someone gets hold of you.”

     “Roger that,” Patience said.

     Sterling turned off the engine, and the door was yanked open; two men pulled him out of the car.

     Kendrick looked out his window at what appeared to be a Glock. He nodded and opened the door; he was also yanked from the car.

     Patience and I waited as they moved in.

     Cold hands groped as they pulled me out of the car. Patience stumbled up beside me.

     “Watch it,” Patience said. “I don’t know where you’ve been.”

     An eruption of laughter.

     Rough hands pulled and tugged us into the swinging doors of The Quarter Bounce Bar.

     Music played on the jukebox.

     Pool balls clanked.

     I could smell a mixture of piss and booze so strong it made my nose twitch.

     “Sweet Mary,” Patience said, holding her hand over her nose. “Ever hear of bleach?”

     “I like this one,” a woman said from the back. She moved forward, full of tattoos and piercings that revealed little of her original self, even as her mother still held hopes.

     I felt sorry for her.

     She traced a finger down Patience’s arm.

     “I bet you taste like money,” she said. “Bet you have a daddy somewhere that would pay to get you back.”

     “Money’s dirty,” Patience said. “And I’ve got no daddy.”

     The woman laughed and turned to me.

     “You, on the other hand,” she circled around me. “You’re different.”

     “You have no idea,” I said.

     She whipped out the back of her hand like a cobra, striking me hard against the side of my face.

     Patience screamed.

     Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth, and I licked it.

     Canines grew.

     From the corner of my eye, I could see Kendrick and Sterling standing by the sidelines, with men on either side of them as the tension in the room shifted.

     Kendric started to laugh.

     “I slap your bitch, and you laugh?” The woman said. “Maybe I should start with you? Gut you like a pig and see if your bitch laughs.”

     Sterling joined in.

     Confusion spread across dirty faces until they eventually looked back at me.

     The change was complete. Laughter turned to fear as I reached out and grabbed her by the hair. Golden eyes flashed in the dim light of the bar.

     One quick snap and she was gone. I pulled her into me as I felt the beating of her heart settle and washed my hunger in her blood.

     Screams erupted around us.

     Bravado was replaced by fear.

     Sterling and Kendrick sent men flying in all directions. Bones snapped, cries were cut short.

     We fed.

     I pulled Patience into the far corner, settling her down next to two fresh bodies.

     “Drink,” I said. “Bite all you like, learn.”

     She nodded, uncertain at first, but as she leaned over them, her mouth filling with their blood, she settled into a rhythmic feeding, like any other girl in a bar, drinking away her worries while sad songs played on the jukebox.

     Just another Friday night at The Quarter Bounce Bar.