Chapter Three (Part One): New Alliances

Owen folded the newspaper and slipped it under his arm as he sprinted back towards the room. As he entered the parking lot, he dodged the large potholes with finesse only a kid could achieve. He fished into his pocket for the room key, and after several seconds of fumbling around, he managed to pull it out and unlock the door to the motel room. Owen opened the door just enough for him to discretely enter.

Owen slipped into the motel room and closed the door behind him quickly. After having found a newspaper with the headline MASSACRE AT LOS ALAMOS POOL, Owen was extremely anxious. It took his brain a second to process what was going on. As he turned towards the room, he could see a body face down on the ground in front of the bed with its arms stretched out directly in front of it. Although completely unnecessary, a motionless body was being pinned down by what Owen quickly recognized to be Abby's tiny frame. As Abby held the body's head firmly in her iron grasp, Owen dropped the newspaper and bag of food he had been carrying as he noticed Abby's pair of small dirty white fangs poised to penetrate the neck. She looked up in surprise towards Owen as he entered the room.

“Abby don't!” Owen exclaimed as he stepped back pressing himself against the door, his mouth wide in sheer terror. He remained perfectly still as he looked at her, but even though she was right in front of him, he could not find her. Her pupils were almost entirely dilated, two black voids that seemed to swallow all traces of the light around them. Abby's once beautiful face had been replaced by a look of feral hunger. Owen could see the well-pronounced veins beneath her skin. Her thirst was palpable. Even Owen could feel it.

Abby snapped her head in his direction and lowered it slightly, her eyes focused on Owen as if poised to strike. Almost immediately, the gaping maw that was her mouth closed concealing the deadly vampiric implements within. Her pupils quickly became smaller until they returned to normal, her skin once again became lily white and almost picture perfect with the once protruding veins safely concealed within. Abby dropped the body's head and quickly buried her face in her hands. Owen could see her taking very slow, deep breaths.

Owen slowly stepped towards her and took her hand. She shuddered slightly at first at his touch, but offered no resistance. He tugged on her hand gently and guided her off the prone body. As she stepped away from the motionless human, Owen quickly grabbed her and wrapped his arms tightly around her trembling body. Abby stood there for a moment before slowly lowering her head onto his shoulder. After several moments, she began to calm down as she slipped her arms around his waist.

“You okay?” Owen asked.

“He startled me. I thought he had hurt you.”

“What happened?”

“He came into the room and found me in the trunk. I got scared,” Abby paused a moment, ”Then you were there.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yeah,” she momentarily paused, ” Owen?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm glad you're here.”

“Me too,” Owen said as he released her from his arms. Abby lifted her head from his shoulders and looked to him. As their gazes met, Owen once again recognized the person before him. Abby. His best friend, his girlfriend. For a moment, the world melted away leaving only the two of them. Owen forgot everything else. For just a moment.

**********

The adrenalin surged through his veins and the palpitations of his heart were as audible as large bass drums. He slapped the steering wheel in frustration and began to tap his foot repeatedly on the accelerator. The car responded with a definite VROOM. He began to hum a tune, the beats matching the patterns of his hands as they assaulted the steering wheel. He nervously looked all around.

Damnit. Where the hell are they?

Another night of drunken fun, except this time, he had agreed to a special task. Although he was not completely inebriated, he knew he'd regret this buzz in the morning. His eyes continued to dart around in all directions as he sat there as jittery as could be. He glanced down at his watch, an expensive silver Rolex his father had given him on his 18'th birthday, and tried to read the time. Not a chance this time.

Moments later, two young men began to walk towards the car. Although he could not see them clearly, he could tell by their brisk pace it was his friends. It was time to leave. After what seemed like an eternity, the back door to his car opened and the two men piled quickly into the car.

“Drive! Drive!” One of the men exclaimed, the other began to laugh vigorously at the same time.

He shifted the vehicle into gear and pressed harder on the accelerator than he had anticipated. He was caught off guard as the car lurched forward sending a garbage can soaring through the air. As the car lunged forward, he barely managed to roughly cut the wheel to avoid slamming into another vehicle as he entered the street. The car soared down the road gaining speed. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“How much you got, Josh?” One of the men stammered out between his chuckles.

“Lots,” responded the other man, his voice booming with pride.

The others were silent, the smirks on their faces growing larger and larger. An eerie silence loomed in the car. The silence was soon replaced with the sound of skidding tires. Although several minutes had passed, for Jonathan, time lurched forward with great speed. It all happened so fast leaving his mind reeling in a futile attempt to catch up. In the end, the world slowly faded away into darkness. Around him, he could hear faint voices …

“Because when I do them, I get hungry faster.”

“What”

**********

“You dropped your food,” Abby said as she walked over to the McDonalds bag. As she reached the spot where it was, she noticed the newspaper beside it, “What's this?”

“I forgot about that,” he sighed before looking straight at her, ”We can't stay here, Abby.”

Abby turned the paper over to view the front page. She stood there quietly for a moment as she read the words. After she had finished, she folded the newspaper up and tossed it into the corner of the room, “We need to go away, we need to go far away from Los Alamos.”

“Where?”

Abby sighed deeply as she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, “I don't know. We can get a cab and just drive.”

Owen lowered his voice to the same level as Abby, “What are we going to do with,” he gestured to the body that laid in front of their bed, “his body?”

“Owen,” Abby paused for just a moment, a small smile overtaking her features, “I didn't,” her voice trailed off as she nodded at Owen.

Owen sighed deeply.

“Isn't that guy from the train station? Maybe he can help us?”

Abby shrugged.

Owen looked over at the unconscious man for a moment considering Abby's words. After a moment, he turned back towards Abby and whispered, “Do you think he'll try anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, try to rob us, or call the police?” Owen asked as he sniffed at the air.

“I don't know. But I don't think he would.”

“We can offer him money to help us. Here,” Owen walked over to the bed, reached under the pillow, and withdrew a stack of bills, “this is from earlier. We can pay him with this.”

“Okay! We have more in the trunk too if we need it.”

“Great! Maybe if we offer him enough, he'll come with us and get us another place like this.”

Abby smiled softly and nodded her head. She knew that many men were motivated by money, and money was likely to never become an issue for her and Owen. Unfortunately, Abby was also painfully aware that not all men are motivated by money. She hoped with every fiber of her being that the drunk laying before them would demand a price that she and Owen could indeed pay.

“Everything okay? You changed your hair?” asked Owen, a look of curiosity forming over his features.

“What do you mean?”

“Um,” Owen blushed and stuttered a moment as he reached over and gingerly ran his fingertips along the tips of Abby's hair. He pointed out the beginnings of small white streaks that had formed.

Abby looked down at her hair for a moment and nodded her head slightly as she whispered, “I'll be okay,” she paused for a moment, “after I eat.”

“Oh,” Owen's voice trailed off, “I thought you ate a lot,” he moved his pointer finger in a circle, “the other night?”

“Sometimes, “Abby began slowly, “I do things,” she paused for a moment, trying to understand how to put her thoughts into words, “like, um,” she continued to think for just a moment, “like that night I slept over at your place. Remember that night?”

Owen's cheeks became bright, bright red, “Yeah. I never had a girl sleep over before.”

A soft smile formed over Abby's features, “You asked me how I got in, and I said I flew. Remember?”

Owen thought about it for just a moment and remembered the intense scent of gasoline. He had been extremely tired that night and thought the entire visit with Abby was only a dream. At least until he found her note the next morning. “Yeah! I thought it was all a dream!”

“Do you believe me now? That I flew?”

Owen simply swallowed hard. A month ago, he would have laughed in her face, but now, Owen had begun to understand that not everything he thought he knew applied. A look of genuine curiosity suddenly took over his expressions, “How,” he paused a moment, “how'd you do it?”

“Owen,” Abby looked down a moment, “I don't like to do special things.”

“Why not?”

“Because when I do them, I get hungry faster.”

“What,” Owen stopped mid sentence and pointed over at the body of the man that had began to stir about. Owen lowered his voice to just above a whisper, “Is he awake?”

Abby turned around and looked down at the man who was obviously beginning to move again. She quickly turned her head away and took a deep breath, obviously bothered by something. After several seconds, she turned back to the man whose eyes were slowly opening. She watched him.

Owen took a step forward to stand beside Abby. He looked down at the man and asked, “You okay?”

The man groaned loudly for a second before responding sarcastically, “No.”

Abby smirked as she knelt down closer to the man and asked, “What's your name?”

The man reached one hand behind his head and delicately rubbed it. As his hand crossed the wounds on the back of his neck, he winced and closed his eyes, an expression of great pain overtaking his features. Today certainly did not turn out as he had planned. Moving his hand away from the back of his head, he mumbled, “Jonathan.”

“Ok Jonathan. Why did you come in our room?” Abby asked inquisitively.

Jonathan slowly opened his again to see the little girl kneeling down in front of him. He sighed deeply as he stammered out, “Money. I was robbed. I needed more.”

Owen looked down to Abby for a second, then back to Jonathan as he asked, “So you need money?”

Jonathan nodded his head.

Abby smiled sarcastically at Jonathan, “We have money. Wanna trade?”

“Trade what?” Jonathan asked as he pushed himself over onto his side, trying to look in the direction of the two children.

Abby stood back up on her feet. “We need your help.”

“With what?”

“We can't stay here,” Abby began, her expression suddenly growing extremely serious, “we need to leave. Tomorrow night.”

Owen nodded his head.

“What does that have to do with me? Where are you going?”

“As far from here as you can get in one night time.”

“Wait. Why are you leaving at night?”

Owen swallowed hard and turned towards Abby.

Abby reached down and slipped her hand into Owen's as she frantically try to invent a plausible reason. “You can go faster.” Not very plausible.

Owen tapped his foot nervously on the ground as he blurted out, “And there's less people!”

Jonathan managed to push himself upwards to a sitting position using the wall behind him to support his back. He looked over at the two, his eyes studying each in turn, “Fun? Bullshit, kid. Are you runaways?”

Owen sighed heavily, “Yes.”

Abby snapped her head in Owen's direction for just a moment, then back to Jonathan. “You can't tell anyone about us.”

Jonathan painfully managed a grin as he cleared his throat. “Well, that depends. How much money do you have?”

“Jonathan,” Abby sighed softly, “you really can't tell anyone about us.”

“Oh yes I can.”

“No you can't.” Abby released Owen's hand from hers and took a step closer towards Jonathan and gazed deeply into his eyes. There was a new sincerity in her voice, almost pleading as she whispered, “Please...”

**********

“Oh yes I can.”

Damn kid. Think she can push me around?

Jonathan looked up as the girl had stepped closer to him.

What is she doing?

A look of curiosity flooded his features as the girl gazed into his eyes. In an instant, her facial expressions became different. Jonathan continued to watch the girl, but moments later, he became aware of the fact that something was just not right. Instead of gazing upon her pretty face, Jonathan found himself looking into a ghost of what stood before him only moments before.

What the hell?

The girl was sad. Jonathan could see that child's face, one an icon of perfection, had gone from devoid of all expression to something else. Although Jonathan wanted to look away, he found himself unable to take his eyes off of the child. He suddenly felt alone, trapped, as if he were forced into a room so dark you couldn't see your own hands.

The sensation of loneliness quickly became worse. Although he was in a motel room with two children standing directly in front of him, Jonathan felt as if he were trapped and alone. As the loneliness washed over him in seemingly endless waves, another sensation entered his mind. Hopelessness. In his mind, the world suddenly became much more of a cold, unforgiving place promising only infinite sadness and sorrow. A tear managed to escape from his eyes which were still locked on the girl standing in front of him. All aspirations he once had, all of his dreams were pointless and void.

After a few moments, Jonathan began to slowly calm himself as he climbed out of the dark abyss within his mind. He looked up to meet the gaze of the girl whose eyes were still fixed on him. He could see a tear had slid from her eye. He looked at her for a moment and again saw the prettiest thing that once again embodied perfection standing before him. He blinked his eyes as the strange sensations slowly drifted away from him. Life was again worth living.

What the hell is going on?

“What,” he stuttered, “What are you?”

The girl remained completely quiet as she turned away from his gaze and stepped back closer to the boy. She stopped next to the him, and with her back still facing Jonathan, she lowered her head slightly as she softly whispered, “I'm nothing.”

Jonathan watched in silence as the girl turned away from him and moved closer to the other child. He continued to wonder exactly what had just happened.

“What,” he paused for a moment, overcome by a sense of genuine curiosity that he had not felt in quite awhile, “What do you need?”