Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (5 page)

"We can talk about it on the
way there? I know where to find Lars. This way." That got him to follow
along with her, though she didn't take his hand or anything.

"Let's get the truck, then
pull it behind the store to load up. I already wrapped them up with a few tarps
and got some machetes from the supply closet. They're in the back. Come on, we
need to hurry, since I have other things to do today."

They ran then. Only at the speed
he could go, which wasn't his best, but was faster than a quick walk. People
stared at them as they passed, but that was just silliness on their part. After
all, a girl covered with bullet holes, and a man with a bleeding puncture
wound... That was probably perfectly normal for this place.

It really didn't take long for
them to get the truck from the giant man at the power lifting place, who looked
at him, grunted a bit, and slapped him on the good arm. Hard. It wasn't meant
to be mean though, he didn't think.

"I hear you fought bravely
this day? You should come here and lift the weights with us. You are a bit
slender. Powerful though! We make you bigger. You have more strength with which
to fight, yes?" He was handed a brochure at the same time, so he got that
it wasn't a free membership, but it wasn't that bad of a plan really.

He worked out, but running and
waving his hands in the air was hardly resistance work.

"I... Can't afford it yet,
but maybe in a month or so? I just got a new job. Here, down at Hartley and
Co?"

"Most excellent! Come then,
when you can. Do not wait long."

Then, like they'd known each
other for years, the man handed him the keys to his truck.

So he and the cute girl with him
could go and kill some Vampires.

After they were loaded up, and
hit the freeway, he turned to the girl in the bucket seat next to him, and
tilted his head.

"You know, Lars is really
cool."

That got a sweet looking nod.

"Very much so. I
agree."

Then they headed toward the
forest.

It only took about an hour and
twenty minutes to get to the trailhead that Ginger wanted to use. They actually
skipped the first one, since there were four or five cars parked there. The
second one had two, and finally, the third time being the charm, they were
alone on the last one. Then it was a not so simple matter of carrying bodies
into the forest, off the beaten dirt path, while being eaten alive by flies.

Well, Ty was eaten. Ginger wasn't
bothered in the slightest.

He would have complained about
it, since the darned things actually hurt a lot and drew blood about half the
time when they bit him. Not that he bled much, but it
seemed
like it
would hurt, so it did. It was a thing that happened to him a lot. He'd get hit,
or cut, and not realize it until hours later when he saw the blood.
Then
it would hurt. Like it made any sense.

"Horse flies." The
trick, he knew, would be to keep moving. To make them follow along, trying to
catch them.

The other part of the day was
that the damned things followed him anyway. Committed to their task.

Trying not to be a complete
pussy, he took the smallest of the bodies, one of the women, and fought his way
overland with her wrapped in a blue tarp. It was harder than it sounded like it
should be, since the Pinchot, in this area at least, was nearly impassable that
way. For a regular guy. He got the idea pretty quickly, since it meant that
just heading a few hundred meters off the trail he was in a place where no
Human had probably been in decades. If not longer than that.

His new Vampire pal had made four
trips, and had the hole finished by the time he got there, and was just sitting
and waiting for him, with two sharp looking, green plastic handled, machetes
sitting next to the bodies. Even the heads were uncovered, exposing the necks.
In short, it was all ready for him.

That got him to swallow. It was a
lot different to consider killing people than it was to actually do it. The
fact was though, that it was the
right
idea. If these people woke up,
after having been fighting him that morning, they would kill him. If they
could. Yeah, maybe the others could help him hide, or even get them not to, but
the Library Vampire had told them that her kind could be unreasonable.
Especially when they were young.

One way to tell that kind of
thing was how easily they went down in the morning.

Taking a breath he looked over at
the cute Vamp girl, who was standing there, just waiting for him to do
something, her face sort of blank. It was smooth and pale, but she
looked
like the kind of person that should have had a smattering of freckles on her
nose. Her jeans and t-shirt fit her apparent age, but that was, most likely, a
trick.

"Hey. Um, you're awake. That
means you're really old and powerful, right?"

That got a smile to be directed
his way, though there was a polite headshake with it too.

"Most of the time that would
be right, but I was allowed special training, so I could stay up all the time.
In case you ever decide to pretend to be one of us, the sun burns when it's up.
Like a hot poker in your eye, only all over.
Constantly
. Basically, I
can do it because I'm a complete bad-ass. I've only been a Vampire for six
years. It isn't odd for people that are over a hundred, or even near two
hundred, to still go down part of the day."

"Ah. Cool. I'm... Going to
kill these people now. You... Might want to look away." It was going to be
gross after all. Really, he didn't want to do it. Even if it was needed to save
his life.

Still, the hole was already dug,
and unless he wanted to crawl into it himself, that would be a waste, if these
beings weren't taken out. Either he was willing to fight for his own life or
not.

Cutely enough the girl nodded
somberly and took a few steps to the side, behind the mound of dirt that was in
place.

It was worse trying to hit people
in the neck than he'd thought it would be. Tyler didn't feel sick, but he kind
of had to try and shut off thinking about what he was doing. It took longer
than he would have thought it would, and he froze when he was done with the
men.

Looking down into the dead face
of the woman he carried over, he sighed.

"Is it wrong that I think
she looks kind of hot?"

The Vampire girl shook her head,
but didn't laugh at him for stalling.

"She's okay. If you want,
you can fuck her before you take her head off? Now
that
would be wrong,
but who's going to know about it? Just me, and you."

"Sick." He laughed a
little though, not meaning it at all, and swallowed hard, then let the blade
meet the dead flesh with a thud. It was all done with his right arm, but it
still made his left ache and burn from the exertion. Again, that was part of
the mental thing he had going on with pain.

When the last one was finished,
he moved to push them all into the hole, which Ginger allowed him to do alone, but
then she took the shovel she'd brought with her and worked, nearly faster than
he could see, to get everything covered and hidden. It wasn't perfect, but that
was why they'd gone off the path like they had. Chances were really good that
no one would ever come this way again while he was alive.

"I think it should be safe.
I mean, you went deep, and no one will be around here much."

His awesome new friend giggled a
bit.

"Wait, you
do
know
that this is legal, right? The Vampire Council is
supposed
to deal with
Vampires that get out of control, and even the Human government is good with
that. We can't easily hold them in cages, and these morons attacked a Human
today, or close enough. If they'd just been going for Tara, well, they might
have died anyway, since she's a friend of Eve's, but they shouldn't have
engaged with
you
at all. Worse it was in public. On a street. They were
dead anyway, most likely. This way we can just tell everyone that they got in a
fight with a random guy on the street, and
died
from it." She waved
at the dark earth then bent to cover it with some pine needles. There was a
thick layer of that sort of thing on the ground, that had been moved into a
different pile. "Which is true, since they went down at daybreak, and
you
took their heads for them. That totally has to count."

"Oh, goody, I'm a bad-ass
now, too?" He felt weak, and like a wimp, but managed a watery smile.

"Yep. I mean, you might want
to avoid fighting gangs of Vampires, or the really cool ones like me or Eve,
but you
really
did it. Now, we should get the truck back."

That meant a jog back to the
vehicle, taking it through a gas station, and using a hand wash unit to scrub
the big blue thing. He didn't know if what they'd done was really legal or not,
but that guy Lars had lent it to them so they could go and hide the bodies. Not
washing it seemed rude.

That meant getting quarters,
which he used Eve's debit card for, her PIN rammed into his brain for all time.
Three-three-two-six. Everything went through though, and he didn't get more
than he needed for the job at hand. It wasn't snacks, but hopefully she'd be
all right with the extra ten dollars he'd gotten for it. The gas cost enough
that he blanched when he saw the tally, but again, the card handled it.

Ginger gave him a funny look when
he drove to his house. It was further away, but really, he needed to change and
probably get a shower. The house wasn't exactly nice, and it was rented, but
the neighborhood wasn't exactly a haven for crime lords, and it had a yard. One
that he cared for, by and large. That meant it was grass, and some flowers
along the walkway, but it was pretty enough that Ginger smiled on seeing it.

"Come in? I won't take long,
but I need to get ready for work. What time is it?"

That required going in for him to
find out. It was nearly noon though, so wondering if he'd be fired for being
late on his first day, he looked at the card that he was holding right under
Eve's debit, and went directly to the phone.

He hated talking on the phone. It
was part of his being shy thing. Worse, he didn't know who was on the other
side. It could be a mean person, or someone that would think he sounded mentally
impaired, what with all his stammering and weak sounding hemming and hawing.

Still, if he wasn't fired, he
needed to do it. Fifteen dollars an hour as a starting wage was enough to try
his best for. Plus, he was nearly certain that most of the time he wouldn't
have to ask anyone if they wanted fries with that. Not that there was anything
wrong with that kind of job, but Tyler had goals, which meant he needed to grow
up a bit.

"Hartley and Co. This is
Hiram, what can I get for you today?"

Rather than let himself blush, he
forced relaxation, and dropped into a deep mental state. Kind of like what he'd
done to take off those people's heads. The feeling of it, as well as the scent
of the forest, came back to him in a rush, but he didn't pause for too long.

"Hi. This is Ty Gartner? I'm
starting there today, but it looks like I might be a little late. Zack said to
call if that happened? I need to catch a quick shower, and then return a truck
to the man at the power lifting gym. I should be there in say... Forty minutes?"

He waited for the man to tell him
not to bother coming in, because being that late on his first day was too rude
to put up with, but there was just a considering sound, and then words that, if
not kind, weren't exactly rough either.

"Thanks for getting in
touch. That kind of thing can happen. Get here when you can?"

"Will do. Be right
there."

Ginger stayed in the living room,
standing there the whole time, while he rushed around, a bit panicked. He
wanted to look nice, but didn't have the world's most professional wardrobe. He
did have a plain blue button up shirt though, and some black slacks. No real
shoes to go with it, just his running ones, which he slipped back on.

His short hair looked
professional, but he shaved, using a safety razor, so he wouldn't have three
days growth on his face. It made him look a bit younger, but also like he
wasn't planning to rob anyone in a back alley. The hard part was changing the
gross bit of Vampire shirt he was using for a bandage. That required at least a
third hand, so after pulling the big first aid kit his mother had insisted on
buying, he took it out to the living room. Shirtless and oozing blood from the
uncovered wound.

The girl went red eyed instantly,
but kept her fangs held back. From the way her mouth was working it took some
work to do. She managed it though, and then, without speaking, moved over and
dressed the wound for him. It wasn't until they were all the way back out to
the truck, and driving to the other side of town that she spoke.

"I had to hold my breath.
You smell wonderful by the way. More so, being wounded. Not like a Vampire at
all. Human, more or less. It will be a lot better once you get that fixed. I
only drink animal blood, but that doesn't mean that cake doesn't sound good
too, you know?"

He thought he did. In this case Tyler
was the delicious cake.

"Hmmm. Will that be a
problem? I mean, if we become roommates?"

Rather than deny that it would,
the girl shrugged a bit, and looked at the side of his head boldly.

"Sometimes. You aren't
really that bad. It's a gentle thing, or will be if you aren't opened up like
this. That's just part of being a Vampire. It's illegal to feed off of Humans
now, or attack them, so you're safe. I can see if you were afraid. I mean, it's
weird, right? Being a Vampire?"

It was, but he also wanted to get
out of his house. Mainly so his mother could have her own life again. She
really deserved it. The woman was practically a saint after all.

"I don't think it will be a
huge issue. Not if you can ride in a car with me now like this." He was
about to explain what he meant, when she just nodded at him.

"
Exactly
what I was
thinking. This is close quarters, and you're covered in blood. Well, not
really, but I can still smell it. This is a good test that way. So, where
should we live?"

"Oohh. Cleverly changing the
topic and everything. Good plan. Um. I don't know, we should probably see
what's available first? I don't have a car, so something closer to work would
be good. I can run, of course, but going fifteen odd miles each day, both ways,
would be a bit much, if it can be avoided." As it was he was driving
carefully, and going exactly the speed limit.

He had the whole time, not
wanting to be caught with bodies in the back of the open vehicle. It hadn't
been a problem, since they hadn't seen even one police car the whole time, but
he wasn't exactly insured for the thing he was in, and didn't want to make
problems for Lars. That meant not getting into an accident if he could help it.

Ginger grinned at him.

"I can ask around at work? Honestly,
it isn't that big of a deal on my end. I just want someplace to store my clothing
and maybe bring a guy. Or girl. Depending on what I feel like that day. That...
That doesn't bother you does it?" She seemed worried about the idea.