The Lola Chronicles (Book 2): A Day Without Dawn (8 page)

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This isn’t real
, I chanted silently as I pinched my eyes shut.

This isn’t real.

This isn’t real.

This isn’t real.

When I heard a long suffering sigh followed by an extra hard
snap
of gum, I opened my eyes to find Angelique still standing in front of me with one hand perched on her hip and a bored expression on her face.

So much for wishing bad things away.

“What do you want?” I repeated. The floodlight above our heads continued to buzz, filling the air with electricity. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Not that it would do me much good. If Angelique was in the light I shuddered to think of what nightmares waited for me in the shadows.

Her shoulders lifted and dipped in an absent shrug. “Not much. At least not yet. I don’t know what it means to really
want
yet.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Shocker.” She rolled her eyes. For the first time I noticed they were soft brown instead of the bright, sadistic blue that I remembered. “You never were that bright, were you? Always one step behind.”

“I managed to kill you, didn’t I?” My hands curled into fists. I may not have had a weapon, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t ready to fight. Dream or no dream I wasn’t about to roll over and play dead. “Guess I was bright enough to do that. Or else you were just extra stupid.”

Her brown eyes flashed. “
Maximus
killed me. And he’ll pay for that. Just you wait.”

“I don’t care what happens to him.”

“Oh really?” One of her hoop earrings swung in a circle as her head canted to the side. “That’s rather interesting. What made you –
what was that
?” she hissed, spinning around to stare out into the darkness. After a moment her shoulders relaxed and she turned back to me. “Have you ever been roller skating? I just
love
it. I met Bobby Givens here, you know. No. That’s not right.” A flicker of uncertainty passed over her face. “I was supposed to meet him. Tonight. Yes. That’s it. We were going to hold hands and skate side by side and maybe even kiss. Have you ever kissed a boy, Lola? I bet you have. I bet you’ve kissed dozens and dozens.” 

Why was Angelique talking to me about boys? Almost like we were…friends. There was something different about her. Something off.

Something almost human.

“Bobby was so handsome,” she continued with a dreamy little smile. Her eyes were unfocused, as though she was recalling a memory from a long time ago. “All the girls wanted him, but he was going to choose me. He was going to skate with me. He was going to kiss
me.
” Her voice became agitated as her smile slipped away. “But he was late and Fi and I got in a silly fight and I came out here to be by myself.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“I sat right there,” she whispered as though I hadn’t said a word, pointing to the bottom of the concrete steps leading up to the entrance of the skating rink. “And I waited for Bobby to come. I waited and I waited and I waited. All I wanted was a kiss. I just wanted my first real high school kiss.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And then He came.”

“Bobby?” I ventured.

“No!” Her nostrils flared. “Not
Bobby
.”

“Okay then… Well, this has been a nice chat but I think I’m going to wake up now.”

“And miss the best part? I don’t think so.” Moving with deceptive quickness Angelique grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the steps. I put up a struggle, but I might has well have been fighting against a stone statue. “Sit,” she demanded. “I said
sit
.”

My knees buckled when she put her hands on my shoulder and pushed. I fell back, scraping my elbows on the concrete. Angelique sank down beside me and drew her knees to her chest.

“I heard him in the darkness,” she said softly. “He whispered my name.”

“
Who
whispered your name?”

“It won’t be long now. He always comes when the sun has set.” Reaching up, she drew her hair to one side, exposing the slender column of her pale throat.

I jumped when I heard the rich hum of masculine laughter coming from the shadows. I could feel something watching me. Something watching
us
. Something dark and dangerous far more evil than Angelique. Because I was no longer talking to Angelique the cold-blooded murderer. I was talking to Angie, the girl she had been before a monster dragged her down into hell.

“We need to move.” I tugged on her wrist and tried to get her to stand but she flicked me off as though I were a pesky fly. Her eyes were pinned on the slithering shadows just beyond the circle of light.

“It doesn’t matter now.” A sad smile tugged at one side of her mouth as she turned her head to look at me. “There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing anyone can do. There’s nothing anyone can do,” she repeated quietly, “but bleed.”

It wasn’t until her tears turned red with blood and her lips parted in a silent, endless scream that I realized the horrific truth.

I wasn’t trapped in
my
nightmare.

I was trapped in Angelique’s.

Rose

“Shake her again.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Hit her with your pillow.”

“You hit her with
your
pillow!”

I woke up to four faces crowded around mine. Still half asleep and caught up in the dregs of Angelique’s nightmare I struck out instinctively, delivering a glancing blow to Hayley’s chin with my right hand and a punch to Becca’s gut with the left. With identical cries of pain both girls went reeling back and I shot up out of my sleeping bag as though it had suddenly caught fire. I crouched low, ready to attack again, but unless the drinkers had started wearing pajama bottoms with big pink hearts of them it looked the only thing I was in danger of was being hit in the head with a pillow.

“Put it down Lacey,” I ordered.

She slowly lowered her pillow. “My name is
Livy
.”

Tomato, tomatoe.

“What is
wrong
with you?” Hayley cried, clutching her chin as though I’d given her a knockout punch Mike Tyson style instead of a little wrap with my knuckles. “If this bruises I am going to kill you. I don’t have any concealer left!”

“The horror,” I said sarcastically. “What were you doing, anyways? In case you haven’t noticed I don’t want to be part of your little sorority so please keep your weird initiation rituals to yourselves from now on.”

“Whatever, Lola.” Giving me a dismissive glare Hayley turned on her heel and stalked to the other side of the locker room to inspect her face. Livy and Becca followed right on her heels like two obedient puppies. At some point I had a feeling the three of them were going to cause some serious trouble, but I had more pressing things to worry about. Like how the hell I had gotten sucked in one of Angelique’s nightmares.

Maximus had told me – or at least led me to assume – that once Angelique was dead any ties between us would be broken. I definitely didn’t have her healing powers anymore and she couldn’t exactly track me from beyond the grave, so why was I suddenly dreaming about the night she’d been turned into a drinker?

“You were screaming.”

I automatically tensed, only to relax when I saw it was just Rose. Dressed in a loose-fitting green shirt and a pair of shorts with her frizzy hair swept up in a high ponytail she looked more like a fresh-faced middle schooler than a high school senior on the brink of graduation, but I would have gladly taken a dozen Roses over one Hayley any day. Her darting gaze and propensity for blushing reminded me a lot of Travis. I think he’d even had a crush on her once upon a time, although I’d generally tuned him out whenever he brought up the subject of girls and dating. Imagining Travis mashing face with a girl was just too much for my brain to handle.

“I was what?” I said.

“Screaming.” Rose bit her lip. “You were screaming really loud. It woke everyone up. It was…kind of scary.”

“Sorry. Bad dream, I guess.” Needing something to do with my hands I bent down and started rolling up my sleeping bag. Rose lingered by the wall, watching me struggle to line up the edges.

“I get them too sometimes,” she confessed in a whisper, as though a nightmare was something to be ashamed of. “Mostly of…you know…that night. I was here when it started. Helping Mrs. Evansburg with the set for the middle school play. It was supposed to be the first big production of the year but we still had a lot of painting to do and some of the props were delayed and…well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

“What was the play going to be called?” Holding the sleeping bag in place with my knee, I glanced up at Rose. She looked so sad and so lost I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. In the new little survivor clique we’d formed I wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a place to fit in.

“
Mixed Nuts
. It’s a comedy about a group of very different people who live in one apartment building together.”

“Sounds familiar,” I said dryly.

Rose offered me a hesitant smile. “You were friends with Travis, right? Travis Henderson.”

My gaze dropped back down to the sleeping bag. Pulling on the rope ties a little bit harder than necessary I finished bundling it together and stood up. “Yeah. I was.”

“I liked him. He was – he was always really nice to me. A lot of people aren’t. I don’t think they are trying to be mean, but when they always look right past you as though you don’t exist…well…that’s its own special type of meanness, I think.”

I blinked at her. In one awkward, beautiful sentence she had summed up Travis perfectly. Not to mention the high school condition. I was beginning to suspect there was a lot more to Rose than met the eye. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to put on your play.”

She tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “I’m sorry Travis died.”

And that was it. That was how Rose Gordon and I became friends.

“I guess we should get dressed and stuff. Do you mind if I borrow another shirt? I’ll wear the same shorts I had on yesterday but the shirt kind of stinks.” My nose wrinkled. “And by kind of I mean a lot.”

“Sure, no problem.” Leading me over to her little corner of the locker room that she shared with the older woman whose name I still didn’t know Rose rummaged through a green backpack for a few seconds before pulling out a black and yellow striped shirt. “Does this work?”

Sure, if I was twelve and wanted to be called Bumblebee.

“It’s perfect,” I lied. “Thanks.”

She blushed. “You’re welcome. Lola, I… Um…”

“Yeah?” Since modesty wasn’t one of my strong suits I stripped without bothering to turn around – I mean, I still had my bra on – and yanked the bee shirt over my head. It was a little tight in the chest but otherwise it wasn’t a bad fit. Although I was really looking forward to getting my own crap back. Turtle t-shirt notwithstanding, I preferred to stay away from bright colors that screamed, ‘Here I am! Over here! The chick in the neon yellow! Attack me! Attack me!’. 

“I’m really glad you’re here. Hayley and her friends…”

“Are bitches?” I suggested.

“I don’t know if I’d call them that–”

“Spoiled brats?”

Her blush intensified. “Anyways, I’m glad I have someone I can talk to.”

“What about the teacher lady? You two seem pretty close.”

“You mean Ms. Siegel?”

“Sure…Ms. Siegel.” I really needed to start learning everyone’s name. It shouldn’t have been that hard considering there were only seven of us left.

“She’s nice and all, but she kind of keeps to herself a lot.” Rose’s voice lowered to a whisper even though we were the only ones still in the locker room. Hayley and her minions had flounced out a few minutes ago and I hadn’t seen Ms. Siegel since I’d woken up. “She was a special education teacher here at the middle school. All of her students were killed by…you know.”

Were we really going to give the drinkers the you-know-who-treatment? I mean, don’t get me wrong. They were total assholes. But were they Voldemort level assholes?

I didn’t think so.

“Drinkers, Rose. They’re called drinkers.”

I hadn’t thought it was physically possible, but Rose’s face turned even redder. “I know what they’re called and I – I believe you, Lola. I really do. About everything. But calling them by name makes it all seem so real.”

“It
is
real,” I pointed out. “And not calling them by name just gives them more power.”

She bit her lip. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Now come on.” Looping an arm around Rose’s shoulders I propelled her towards the door. “Let’s go find some food. I’m starving.”  

After breakfast Hunter cornered me
outside on the playground. Still trying to make sense of my dream from last night I was swinging by myself while the jocks and the Barbie Squad passed the time by kicking around a soccer ball. Correction: the
jocks
were kicking around a soccer ball and the Barbie Squad was doing a lot of squealing and arm flailing.

Stereotypes were so depressing when they ended up being true.

“We need to come up with a plan,” Hunter said as he took the empty swing next to mine and pushed off the ground. “If there are more of those things out there like Mrs. Wallace then it means we’re not safe during the day anymore.”

No shit, Sherlock.

“What we need to do is find a way out of Revere.” My sneakers forged two uneven lines in the dirt as I dragged my feet. “If the drinkers haven’t figured out where we’re hiding out by now they will soon. We’re sitting ducks, Hunter.”

“There’s no way out by car. They blew up all the access roads.”

I nodded in silent agreement. Using a car wasn’t the way to go and there was no way we could make it out on foot. The drinkers would pick us off one by one. But what about something smaller than a car? Something that was just as fast and could be driven off road. Something I’d always secretly wanted to try.

“What about those dirt bike things? The ones with four wheels. I see kids doing wheelies with them all the time in the old baseball field. We’d need to get our hands on a bunch of them, but they might work.”

Hunter stopped so suddenly his sneakers kicked up a spray of dirt. “Lola, you’re a genius.”

“Watch it,” I complained, brushing dirt off my thighs.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. ATVs would be perfect.” Jumping off his swing with a loud whoop of exhilaration Hunter pumped his fist in the air. I hadn’t seen him look so happy since the football team made playoffs sophomore year. I’d watched the game from detention. Running people over and bashing helmets wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but the teams and the crowd had seemed to enjoy it.

“They’re rugged enough so we can get around all the blockades,” Hunter continued, “and they’re big enough to carry two people plus supplies.”

“Only one problem.” Kicking myself back to pick up momentum, I tucked my feet up and sailed effortlessly off the swing as it came forward again. Landing on the grass in a low crouch, I slowly straightened back up and stretched my neck from side to side, working out the kinks. “Where are we going to get six or seven ATVs?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Hunter said. When I shook my head, his green eyes took on a mischievous glint I’d never seen before. “We steal them.”

As I stood outside an
oversized three bay garage and waited for Hunter, Greg, and Stevenson to jimmy the doors open from the inside, I couldn’t help but think about the irony of my current situation. A few weeks ago this had all started when I’d talked Travis into stealing a car and now here I was, playing lookout while my new partner-in-crime broke in through a window and tried to hotwire a couple of four wheelers.

Go figure.

I had to hand it to Hunter. I was pretty sure he’d never so much as cheated on a test before and yet he’d been the one to put this whole plan together. I would never admit it to his face, but I was actually a little bit impressed.

We’d scored the first two ATVs from Greg’s house. They had belonged to his stepdad and although they were old and smelled like gasoline, they’d started right up. Now we had our eyes on a couple of newer models stowed away in the private garage of Mr. Peterson, the owner of a Tractor Supply on the edge of town and one of Revere’s wealthier residents. Not that his money had done him much good when the drinkers attacked. Cash could buy a lot, but it couldn’t buy you a new neck when a vampire snapped yours like a toothpick.

Just something to think about.

I could hear the guys rummaging around inside, their voices muffled as they searched for keys. Picking up a metal pipe leaning against the side of the garage I banged it against the door, leaving a big black indent in the creamy white finish.

My bad.

“Hurry up!” I yelled. “We don’t have all day.”

Hunter’s plan may have been simple, but it was definitely time-sensitive. While we were busy looting and pillaging the Barbie Squad were gathering supplies in town. Rose and Ms. Siegel were at the middle school packing up what we already had and stuffing it into compact plastic containers which we would then tie to the back of the four wheelers. Depending on when everyone finished up their given task we would either leave this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning. Spending one more night in the gym was a gamble, but so was trying to split town with only a few hours of daylight left. Either way, there was a significant degree of risk involved.

Especially since I wouldn’t be going with them.

I hadn’t said anything to Hunter yet, but this was where we were going to part ways. Now that I knew exactly what the drinkers were capable of it was time to make some tough decisions. I couldn’t afford to leave Revere without Dad, and Hunter couldn’t afford to stay. Our motley little group needed a leader and Hunter was hands down the best candidate for the job. If I found Dad, then I would plan on joining up with them again. They were going to head north, towards the Poconos. It was a four hour trip by car, five or six by ATV. If they left in the next two hours they’d make it by nightfall. If not…