people she’d never see again.
Chapter 18
Sally woke still dog-tired in the morning and stumbled into the kitchen to get her tea. She’d had to stand guard half the night.
“Nothing happen the rest of the night?” she asked.
“No,” Mama said. “Now that it’s light, we should be pretty near safe, I reckon.”
After breakfast Sally went out to the shed to check on the bloodsucker and see if anybody still sat guard. Her uncle sprawled in the rocking chair, passed out cold. The bloodsucker lay on the floor with his back to the small window. The hair she’d thought looked real soft and feathery when it came out of its hood was matted with blood and stuck to the floor. She had a little twinge of pity for the man. But he weren’t a man, was he? He was a thing. A gross, bloodsucking monster. He might even be the same one that killed Angela. Maybe he’d come back for Sally, colored his hair dark as a disguise. Angela had said hers was real nice looking.
Sally went on back to the house.
“You coming out for the viewing tonight?” Daddy asked, a big grin on his face.
“I reckon I got to.”
“I bet you’d get into the spirit of it. First one’s the hardest. I know my girls is squeamish about bloody stuff, but you get used to it. And I want you there for sure for the killing part.”
“Alright, Daddy. How come Mama don’t have to go?”
“She been to enough to make up her mind objectively, that’s how come. You go see five or six of ‘em get killed, and you can make up your own mind.”
“Alright then. We need to do anything to get ready?”
“Why don’t you go round to the neighbors with your uncle, just in case there’s another one lurking around. We got reason to believe there is.”
“Why’s that?”
“We went through them two backpacks you done found, and one of them is full of girl clothes. There was some canned food in there, too. We think they was gonna try and entice us out with food. Maybe has something to drug or poison us in it. The important thing is, the female one must’ve got away. So y’all be on the lookout and be real careful. She’s probably madder’n hell we got her mate. Probably be coming after us come dark tonight.”
Sally went with her uncle later, and they went to all the other houses. Sally got to tell the story of catching the bloodsucker, and that just about made up for having to spend time with her uncle. She just knew her brother would be steaming mad that she got to tell everyone while he had to stay home with Daddy getting ready for the night’s festivities. It would eat him up to let her take all the glory for finding the sucker. But she’d been the one who wanted to follow the tracks. It seemed only fair she got to tell the story. Every single one of the neighboring families promised to come right at sundown. They didn’t want to miss the thing waking up.
All the neighbors excepting one had caught a bloodsucker at least once. The Henson family had caught four, but only on account of catching two at a time. They had five boys under thirty at home, all of them mean as snakes and dumb as rocks. But they were sure good at sharpening stakes, and using them, too, from what Sally heard. One of them had even staked another family’s bloodsucker first. That was just plain bad manners.
As one of the capturers, Sally would get to stake her bloodsucker first. She weren’t too sure she wanted to. She’d thought the sucker would be vicious and wild, but instead it was just pathetic. It hadn’t fought at all. It only begged for its life and then got the crap beat out of it. Well, not literally. Bloodsuckers didn’t take craps, did they? If they did, the shed would smell pretty nasty come this evening.
When Sally and Tom got back from their neighboring, everyone was busy. Mama and Sissy had started up the cooking for the guests that night, and Daddy was out in the shed constructing some sort of getup to strap the bloodsucker to. Sally found
Chapter 18
Sally woke still dog-tired in the morning and stumbled into the kitchen to get her tea. She’d had to stand guard half the night.
“Nothing happen the rest of the night?” she asked.
“No,” Mama said. “Now that it’s light, we should be pretty near safe, I reckon.”
After breakfast Sally went out to the shed to check on the bloodsucker and see if anybody still sat guard. Her uncle sprawled in the rocking chair, passed out cold. The bloodsucker lay on the floor with his back to the small window. The hair she’d thought looked real soft and feathery when it came out of its hood was matted with blood and stuck to the floor. She had a little twinge of pity for the man. But he weren’t a man, was he? He was a thing. A gross, bloodsucking monster. He might even be the same one that killed Angela. Maybe he’d come back for Sally, colored his hair dark as a disguise. Angela had said hers was real nice looking.
Sally went on back to the house.
“You coming out for the viewing tonight?” Daddy asked, a big grin on his face.
“I reckon I got to.”
“I bet you’d get into the spirit of it. First one’s the hardest. I know my girls is squeamish about bloody stuff, but you get used to it. And I want you there for sure for the killing part.”
“Alright, Daddy. How come Mama don’t have to go?”
“She been to enough to make up her mind objectively, that’s how come. You go see five or six of ‘em get killed, and you can make up your own mind.”
“Alright then. We need to do anything to get ready?”
“Why don’t you go round to the neighbors with your uncle, just in case there’s another one lurking around. We got reason to believe there is.”
“Why’s that?”
“We went through them two backpacks you done found, and one of them is full of girl clothes. There was some canned food in there, too. We think they was gonna try and entice us out with food. Maybe has something to drug or poison us in it. The important thing is, the female one must’ve got away. So y’all be on the lookout and be real careful. She’s probably madder’n hell we got her mate. Probably be coming after us come dark tonight.”
Sally went with her uncle later, and they went to all the other houses. Sally got to tell the story of catching the bloodsucker, and that just about made up for having to spend time with her uncle. She just knew her brother would be steaming mad that she got to tell everyone while he had to stay home with Daddy getting ready for the night’s festivities. It would eat him up to let her take all the glory for finding the sucker. But she’d been the one who wanted to follow the tracks. It seemed only fair she got to tell the story. Every single one of the neighboring families promised to come right at sundown. They didn’t want to miss the thing waking up.
All the neighbors excepting one had caught a bloodsucker at least once. The Henson family had caught four, but only on account of catching two at a time. They had five boys under thirty at home, all of them mean as snakes and dumb as rocks. But they were sure good at sharpening stakes, and using them, too, from what Sally heard. One of them had even staked another family’s bloodsucker first. That was just plain bad manners.
As one of the capturers, Sally would get to stake her bloodsucker first. She weren’t too sure she wanted to. She’d thought the sucker would be vicious and wild, but instead it was just pathetic. It hadn’t fought at all. It only begged for its life and then got the crap beat out of it. Well, not literally. Bloodsuckers didn’t take craps, did they? If they did, the shed would smell pretty nasty come this evening.
When Sally and Tom got back from their neighboring, everyone was busy. Mama and Sissy had started up the cooking for the guests that night, and Daddy was out in the shed constructing some sort of getup to strap the bloodsucker to. Sally found
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