The Monster Apocalypse Read online

  Brin looked determined, breathing heavily, like she was scared or surprised, and Mr. Barker didn’t appear to be in the arguing mood. He looked back at all the passengers in the car, who didn’t seem to mind pulling over one last time before they continued on their way.

  “Which house is it?”

  “The next driveway, right here,” Brin said. Mr. Barker pulled over to the curb.

  “What is it, Brin?” Ash asked, leaning over and resting his arm on her shoulder.

  “It’s…” She stared at the big, black Dodge Ram in the driveway. “It’s my brother.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The front door creaked as it opened, like a sound effect from an old Universal monster movie. The house was dead silent, with not even a flickering lightbulb making a noise in an adjacent room. It was dark every direction she looked, and the only light Brin saw came from the staircase leading down to the basement.

  She started walking toward the staircase, when an unexpected visitor brought her down to her knees.

  “Cleo,” Brin said. She knew the group was waiting for her outside, and that she didn’t have more than a few minutes to spare—but half a minute dedicated to her gray tabby seemed not like a request, but like a necessity, especially after everything she’d been through today. “Are you all right? Are you having a boring day? I wish I was, too, Cleo.” She petted the cat on her head and neck, then rubbed her belly for a few seconds. “Have you seen your Grandma anywhere? Did you see the bad man who took Grandma?”

  “Do you still talk to your cat like it’s a two year old?” The voice came not from the basement, but from the second story. Brin’s older brother Justin appeared behind the bannister, smiling down at his sister. His black hair was disheveled, curling down past his shoulders as if he were the third female in the family. He wore a white shirt, blue exercise shorts, and a pair of old-fashioned brown sunglasses, and held a bottled water and a small white towel in his hands.

  “Justin,” Brin said. “Hey.”

  She walked to the front of the staircase, just as Justin ran down it and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I was just on my way to the gym, the one on Ghoulish Way. I’m only here for a few days, but they still let you pay by the day, right? Or do you need a membership? I forget.”

  He was already walking past her, marching toward the front door. Brin grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him back toward her.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa—you’re not going anywhere,” she said. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Justin brushed some hair out of his face and pushed Brin’s hand away. “What? Am I not allowed in my own house?”

  “No, of course you are. I’m just… did Mom tell you to come home?”

  He shook his head. “No, no. My semester as SFU doesn’t start until next week, so I thought I’d come home for a few days. Kick back, relax, hang out with you, have some deep, long conversations with Mom…” The level of his voice started quieting with each word he said. Then he smiled. “No, yeah, Mom asked me to come home. Said you’ve had a rough couple of weeks and could use some brotherly love. She said two of your friends at school were murdered? How are you handling that?”

  Brin thought for a moment. Was it still only two? “No, it’s a whole lot more than two at this point,” she blurted out.

  Justin gave her a blank expression. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. How long have you been here?”

  “About an hour,” he said, stretching out his legs. “Have you seen Mom? I tried her cell and she’s not picking up.”

  He again started backpedaling toward the door, but Brin kept a firm grip on his shirt. “Justin, I’m not going to lie to you.”

  “Uhh, OK.”

  “Things are bad.”

  “What do you mean, things are bad?”

  “As in… they’re bad.”

  “How bad?”

  “Really bad.”

  “Well, that’s good,” he said, tapping his fingers against his chest, like nothing was the matter. “I mean… that’s not good, I guess. For you, anyway. It’s good I came home. I know I haven’t been around much, Brin, but you know I care about you. If you’re having trouble dealing with anything bad that’s happened, I’m here to help you. And I want you to tell me about it. As you know, we’ve both been there. With Dad.”

  Brin pushed her palms up against her eyebrows. She felt a headache coming on. “You don’t understand,” she said. “This is a whole lot bigger than just two people I knew at school who got killed—”

  She stopped in mid-sentence when she heard the loud honk of the van outside. Brin felt like barely a minute had passed, when in actuality it had been five or more.

  “Look, I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but here’s the jist,” Brin said. “You might want to sit down.”

  He eyed her suspiciously, and shook his head. “What’s going on, Brin?”

  “OK. Mom’s not running errands right now. She’s been kidnapped by an evil vampire clan leader who wants to make her his wife. He’s taken her to Bodie Ghost Town, which is where me and six others are headed right now to try to save her. Ash and I and a few others went to Bodie two weeks ago to make a movie for our Film class. But instead of making a movie, we encountered vampires, and we barely made it out alive, while some of our friends didn’t. I brought back one of the vampires from Bodie to stay at the house, with me and Mom. He’s not like the others, certainly not like his evil dad. His name’s Paul. He’s sweet and kind and gentle—and I think he might love me. Anyway, then we all went golfing today to blow off some steam, and on the seventh hole, zombies started crawling right up out of the fairways and started chasing us! Real zombies, Justin! We had some close calls, and I watched a few more of my friends die, but we made it to Grisly High, where I hid in the basement. Ash and my Film teacher finally saved me—Ash had to go back in time to the 1800’s to save the teacher but they made it back in one piece—and we left in Mr. Barker’s car. Oh, and it turned out he’s a werewolf. And we picked up a troll along the way. There’s six in the car waiting for me right now. We’re leaving now. To go to Bodie. To fight the vampires. And to save Mom. And to save Paul. Basically to save the world. Want to come?”

  Brin’s brother didn’t put his hands out for her to stop. He didn’t shake his head and start laughing loud enough for the floor to start shaking. He didn’t brush her off and walk out the door to go for a run. He just stared at her, caressing his chin with his right index finger. He bit down on his bottom lip and nodded.

  “OK,” he said.

  More silence passed. This wasn’t the reaction Brin expected. “OK?”

  “Yeah, OK. It probably gets pretty cold in Bodie Ghost Town at night, right?”

  “Uhh, yeah.”

  Mr. Barker honked outside again. Justin glanced toward the door, then immediately ran up the stairs. “I’m just going to change into something more appropriate,” he said, and disappeared around the corner.

  She heard his bedroom door slam shut. She had poured two weeks’ worth of crazy, unbelievable stories out to her brother in one single breath—and he believed her. She didn’t know how or why. But she was grateful.

  Brin opened the door and waved to the van. “We’re coming! Just hold on!”

  “What are you doing in there?” Anaya shouted from the car. “Now’s not the time to be reminiscing with your brother, Brin! Is he coming with us or not?”

  “He is! Just one second!”

  “Not one second! Now!”

  “OK, OK!”

  Brin slammed the door and walked upstairs. Just saying out loud all the unthinkable shenanigans of the last two weeks was starting to make her feel physically ill. And Justin had had zero reaction.

  “Justin?” she asked, halfway up the staircase.

  “Yeah?” He stepped into the hallway, wearing a coat over a sweater, and black jeans pants. “Does this look all right?”

  “It looks fine. So… that’s it? You have nothin
g to say in regards to what I just told you?”

  He shrugged. “You rambled, Brin. I didn’t hear it all. What I did hear was that someone kidnapped Mom and took her to Bodie Ghost Town. And so I’m coming with you. We can’t let anything happen to her.”

  “I know. I agree.”

  “Then good. You ready?”

  “Yeah,” she said, still flabbergasted at her brother’s complacency, but willing to accept it. “Meet you at the bottom of the stairs.”

  Brin jumped away from the winding staircase and landed in front of the main door. She looked at the interior of the house one more time. She didn’t know if she’d ever see it again.

  “OK, ready,” Justin said. He walked down the staircase, a beanie on top of his head. But it wasn’t just the beanie that was new—he was carrying something large and imposing in his hands. Brin couldn’t see it at first, but when he touched the bottom step, she saw it in all its glory.

  “Is that… is that a shotgun, Justin?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “How long have you had that?”

  “I bought it a few years ago,” he said, bringing it up to his chin. He closed one eye and aimed it toward the window. “I forgot it was in my closet.”

  Brin pushed the head of the gun toward the hardwood floor. “What are you thinking? That could kill someone! Put it back!”

  “But… I thought that was the idea. Kill the man who kidnapped Mom.”

  “I don’t think it’s safe to have that in the car. Plus the man who kidnapped Mom might take it from you and start shooting at us. And, I don’t even think that bullets wound vampires.”

  Mr. Barker honked a third time, and this time, he clearly wasn’t moving his palm away from the horn. The noise didn’t cease until Brin and Justin opened the front door and walked out on the lawn.

  “Do you guys have any other weapons?” Justin asked, walking out in front of Brin, toward the van.

  “No,” she said.

  “Then I’m bringing it. What are you going to do, Brin? Punch the vampires to death?”

  “How are you so calm about this, Justin? Did you even know vampires existed?”

  Justin stopped a few feet in front of the van. “Of course I did.”

  Brin stopped in the middle of a step. “What?”

  “I live in San Francisco, Brin. Vampires are everywhere.”

  Brin wanted to ask further questions, but she figured she had a long car ride to Bodie Ghost Town to ask them. She stepped past her brother and slid open the side door.

  “Everyone, this is my brother, Justin,” Brin said, motioning toward him. “Justin, this is… well… everyone.”

  “Justin! Hey!” Ash said. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hello all,” he said. “Is there any more room for me in here?”

  “One spot left,” Mr. Barker said. “Now get in!”

  Justin got down on his knees and crawled to the back of the van. He sat next to Dylan and Brent. “Nice to meet you,” he said. “The both of you.”

  “I’m not gay,” Brent said. “We’re just good friends.”

  Justin looked at the jock, then at Dylan, in confusion. “Uhh, I didn’t ask if you were—”

  “I’m Anaya,” Anaya said. “And this is Valerie.”

  “Hi,” Justin said.

  “I didn’t even know Brin had a brother,” Anaya said. “You kind of look like Brin, but as a man. Which makes more sense, I think.”

  Brin slapped Anaya playfully on the shoulder, slammed the sliding door shut, then jumped back onto the passenger seat. She closed her door and nodded at Mr. Barker.

  “OK,” he said. “Are we ready now?”

  “I think so,” Brin said.

  “Because this is it. There’s no turning back.”

  Silence permeated the van. No one spoke. No one even breathed for a moment.

  “Let’s hit it,” Brin said.

  “All right.” Mr. Barker started up the car and drove down the road, soon making a quick right at the end of the street and exiting Diablo Shadows.

  Mr. Barker drove all the way down to Sharp Knife Way, and boarded the on-ramp to 395-South, toward Carson City, toward Bridgeport, toward Bodie Ghost Town.

  “Everyone say goodbye to Grisly,” he said.

  “Bye!” Brent and Dylan shouted in unison, waving out the back window.

  “Buh bye!” Anaya and Valerie both said.

  Brin didn’t look back until they had arrived in Carson City, and were officially out of Grisly for good. But she didn’t look out the back window. She looked back at Ash.

  He had a tear rolling down his cheek, like he knew something she didn’t—something bad.

  Brin tapped him on his knees. “It’s OK,” she said. “We’re going to make it, Ash.”

  He looked at her, an already defeated expression on his face. “Are we?”

  The van descended a large hill and disappeared into Carson City, into the valley, into the distance, with nothing left before them—but time.

  And many more monsters to come.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Paul wanted to scream again—but he didn’t know if his voice could take it. He wanted to try to move, to escape, for the fiftieth time, but he knew it was no use. His father wouldn’t let him out of his sights again.

  When the hearse started slowing, he glanced toward the front seat. “Dad?” he said.

  He didn’t see the top hat. He didn’t see his father at all.

  The hearse came to a complete stop, and Paul rolled over onto his back. After he shouted for that kid in Minden to get help, two of Droz’s minions had tossed Paul into the very back of the hearse, where he couldn’t see or interact with anyone, outside the vehicle, or inside.

  All he could do was look out the back window. He saw the small town of Bridgeport disappear, the back of the large BODIE 13 MILES AHEAD sign become fuzzy, the pavement end and the dust kick up against the vehicle so fast that in the course of ten seconds the hearse was already in need of a car wash.

  He heard the front door open and close, and then he was left in silence. He didn’t want to accept the truth: that he was probably going to be hung from a hook and drained of all the black blood still seeping through his deader-than-dead system, and that he had returned to Bodie for the final time, with no chance of ever seeing Grisly, or Brin Skar, ever again.

  He knew he only had a few more seconds of alone time before he was going to be removed from the back of the hearse and taken down into the Underground. So he took those last few seconds to think about the girl who had changed his life.

  Paul had never meant or expected to develop feelings for a human. He had developed a crush on a young Judy Garland when he took her out for a round of golf back in 1938, and he nearly got engaged to a soft-spoken pottery store owner in the 1970’s, before she mysteriously died in a hit-and-run accident. It had been decades since he had fallen for anyone, young or old, man or woman, vampire or human. He had forgotten the intensity of these feelings. He loved Brin. He was sure of it. He loved her, and he didn’t want her to be out of his life.

  Paul wanted to see her again. He hoped it’d be soon.

  “As soon as possible,” he whispered to himself.

  The back of the hearse opened, to reveal two of his father’s henchmen. They too had little top hats on their heads, like they were trying to emulate their almighty clan leader.

  “Come on,” one of them said. “Let’s go.”

  “What are you going to do to me?” Paul said, coughing a few times and blocking the early evening sun from his eyes. “I’m not going with you!”

  The second of the henchmen laughed, revealing teeth so yellow they could have been mistaken for miniature canaries. “You don’t exactly have a choice in the matter, Paul.” The vampire said his name with such disdain that Paul wanted to punch him in both his head and groin.

  “I’m not going to say it again,” the first guy said. “Come on.”

  He pulled on Paul’s oversized g
olf shirt and hoisted him up to his feet, but Paul immediately brushed the creature away.

  “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t touch me. I’ll comply—but don’t you touch me.”

  “So moody,” the second henchman said. “Jeez, I’m glad I never had kids.”

  “I know, right?” the first one said. “Kids do nothing but suck away your soul. Even if you’re a vampire and don’t even have a soul.”

  “And even if their fangs haven’t matured enough so they can suck!”

  Both of the creatures laughed. Paul yawned, loud and angrily, and continued to block the sun away with his arm, as the two hefty henchmen stomped behind him and pushed him toward the church up ahead.

  “I thought you guys didn’t like to call yourselves vampires,” Paul said.

  “It’s the twenty-first century,” the first henchman said. “We may be Liefers—those who are a hundred or younger—and your dad may be a Volga—those who are 101 and older—but we drink blood, we love the dark Underground, and loathe the sunlight. We’re vampires. I mean, let’s face it, we are—”

  “I know what Liefers and Volgas are, douchebag,” Paul said. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

  “What did you call me?”

  “It’s a twenty-first century term. You wouldn’t know.”

  The second henchman shoved Paul hard against his back. They started to ascend the staircase up to the church.

  “Why did you come back here, Paul?” the second henchman asked. “Did you really think your father was going to take you back? Pretend like everything was fine between you two?”

  “I didn’t come back. I was here for months. Just none of you knew I was here. And by the time I was ready to go, I reunited with my dad again—and he welcomed me back with open arms.”

  “Yeah? Well not this time. I’ll be damned if Droz hasn’t learned his lesson about you.”

  The first henchman approached the red wires in front of the church’s interiors—a device placed by the National Historical Society to ensure no tourists who visited Bodie Ghost Town could get inside the religious institution—and grabbed the wire farthest to the top left, pulling with all his might. The wires only budged a little, but then, with help from the other henchman, the wires opened just enough to let the trio inside.