James Moore - Blood Red

“Hey! You okay, kid?”

She swam closer and he put down his fishing pole. He didn’t like kids, but he wasn’t an asshole about it. She obviously needed help and he wasn’t about to let her drown.

He reached out a hand and she took it. When he pulled, she came out of the water, her clothes stuck to her developing body like a second skin. He was embarrassed to notice that she had breasts.

While he was looking, she bit into his weathered neck and pulled him closer. He tried to fight, but she was too strong for him. Their struggles wound up knocking them both into the water.

She took her food with her and went back to the cave. It was scary in the waters and she had always been a poor swimmer, but it was easier now that she didn’t have to breathe.

The fire at O’Malley’s brought three engines worth of firefighters. They worked hard to put out the blaze and in the end they succeeded. The Tripp family thanked them for their efforts by killing them. The hunger had grown overwhelming and they needed sustenance.

Alan Tripp was the one that suggested taking them back to the cave. Meghan agreed and Avery too, just as soon as Alan told him he could drive one of the fire trucks.

The resulting accident left several cars mutilated beyond repair and caused another fire. No engines responded to the frantic phone calls.

Maggie and Ben got back to the apartment complex as quickly as they could. Ben had held up pretty well, all things considered, but he was having a little trouble handling the frat boys from hell.

“I can’t believe this shit. I knew those guys.” He was a little obsessive about it. He didn’t say much, but he said it several times. Jason had told her they were taken care of, and she thought that meant he’d destroyed the bodies.

Her mistake; she’d trusted him. It would not happen again.

Ben was looking a little off, his face was almost too loose for his skull and he was staring a lot. Staring at nothing, but definitely looking at it intently.

“Ben?”

“Hmm?” He shook himself out of it. “Yeah?”

“I think we should stay in tonight.”

He chuckled. “I’m not going out there again.”

She pulled off her wig and looked him over. He was still in the clown outfit, and he looked lost inside of it.

“Good.” He wanted to drift again she could tell and so she kissed him. It wasn’t long before he was fully focused on her. When she broke the kiss, he was looking into her eyes again, seeing whatever it was inside of her that fascinated him.

“Remember what you said before about us working everything out?”

“Yeah, of course I do.” He shrugged.

“Did you mean it?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m being goofy, I know that, Maggie. It’s just a lot to take in.” He stepped back from her, suddenly self-conscious again.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You always back away from me.”

“I don’t…”

“Yeah, you do.”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t know how to say it.”

“Say what? Tell me.”

She reached out and took the nose off his face. Then she pulled the wig away. His short hair was plastered to his scalp.

“It’s stupid.”

“What is, Ben?”

“I love you, Maggie. Okay? Satisfied? Ready to have your laugh?” He was bitter, expecting her to knock him down and kick him once he had fallen.

“Am I laughing?”

Ben shook his head, refusing to look at her again. She took his hand and brought it up to her lips, kissing his fingers. “I like you, Ben. I like you a lot. But I’ve been having a few complications in my life.”

That brought a small laugh from him.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t think of you as a friend, okay? Maybe my only friend in the world. I don’t think I could have made it through the last few days without you.”

He nodded slowly, still not looking at her. She moved closer and kissed the side of his face. “Stay with me tonight, Ben? Just be here and stay with me?”

“Yeah, of course.” Like it was the easiest thing in the world dealing with what he knew was a monster that had killed before and would again. She still couldn’t believe that part of it. He trusted her even with all that had happened.

She took off the oversized shoes still on her feet and Ben laughed suddenly. “Oh my God, you carried me halfway here wearing those stupid things… we must have made one hell of a sight.”

“Two-headed clown monster from hell.” She nodded her agreement. It was funny, but nothing seemed worth laughing at anymore. “How do you know you love me, Ben?”

“I just do.” He shrugged as he pulled off his shoes. Then he sat down to peel off the ridiculous pants he’d been wearing for the entire night. He had jeans on under them. Of course he would, it was the way he was.

“Well, try to explain it because I can’t quite get that part.”

“I’m happier when you’re around. Even with all the weirdness, I would rather be with you than have you gone.”

“Are you sure about that? Really sure?”

“Yeah, of course.” He said it like there was no doubt in his mind. “Maggie, I know all about the fangs and the people you killed and all about what you do for a living and what you did with Jason and Tom and everything, and I don’t care about any of it. I can fix whatever goes wrong whenever I can and I can cover for you and help you work out all of the shit that’s coming down around us, and it doesn’t bother me.” He stared hard at her, his eyes still looking into hers for whatever it was. “I can do all of that and I’m fine. But I can’t stand the idea of not having you around in my life. If that isn’t love then it’s close enough for me.”

She moved to where he sat and settled in next to him. Did she feel the same way? She didn’t know. She’d have to think about it, because just lately she wasn’t feeling much of anything. She’d been putting everything on hold for so long she didn’t know if the lack of emotions was just a natural reflex or something else that Jason had done to her.

Maggie pulled his head closer to her, and rested his head on her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested; his breathing soft and rhythmic against her skin.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s close enough for me, too.”

The fog was a joke. They couldn’t see ten feet in front of them when they hit the woods, but they kept walking. Danny was back to his normal self, which meant he wasn’t looking like he wanted to puke anymore. Boyd was sort of feeling like himself now, but only sort of. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the whole dead-people-who-weren’t-dead thing, but at least he knew they could be hurt. They could be stopped. He’d worry about how to dispose of the crawling body parts later.

“You hear something, Richie?”

“I hear you breathing like you’re gonna take a crap in your pants.”

“Yeah? Smells like you already did.”

“That would explain the wet all over my ass.”

“Seriously, though, I can hear something.”

“So check it out.” He took the shotgun and aimed it. “You got something ugly, I’ll blow its head off.”

“Yeah? What if it’s something pretty?”

“Then we can take pictures and maybe get an autograph.”

Danny crouched lower to the ground and craned his head, listening intently. Finally he reached out and grabbed at a tree base, pulling out a heavy coat. From behind it a little girl let out a squeal and tried to crawl deeper into the knothole she’d been hiding in.

Danny looked at the girl. She flinched, and shivered in her hole. “Come on, sweetie, come on out of there, we’re here to help.”