The sound of tires spinning on the worn down pavement was getting old to both men sitting in the 95 VW Golf. The sun was beating down on the metal already peeling with paint. A voice on the radio said it’d reach at least 105 that day. Toes started to tap when another country song started to play through the speakers. The day was winding down, thankfully. It would be another few hours before the sun would disappear on the edge of the flat landscape and cast a shadow of darkness on their part of the world. Maybe they’d be home by then.
“Can you drive any faster?” Aaron asked almost sarcastically. He knew Nick wanted to get home, back to their ranch hidden in the trees. The younger man also knew his brother would park the car and instantly run through the trees, down the worn out path till he reached his girlfriend’s house.
Nick let out a slight huff, his eyes going from his brother then back to the road. Their fourth annual summer drive to the west coast was coming to an end. It was both a time of sadness and joy. For Aaron that meant returning to high school and working on completing his junior year. As it goes for Nick, he was enrolled in the local community college figuring he’d do something with art but had no idea what yet. He was the type of guy who goes through the motions and college was what his mother wanted – even if it was the local two year. Neither boys were looking forward to going back to school, hitting the books or battling tests.
Looking back up at the sky, Nick saw the faint hint of twilight coming on and then took a glance at the clock above the radio. Shit, he thought. They wouldn’t be getting home till late. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, letting it fall back into his eyes as he continued to drive on down interstate 10. It wouldn’t be long before they pulled off the freeway and headed down a single lane highway to their home in the country. If it was too late to go see his girlfriend Britney, then he’d just have to stop by The Water Hole and have some drinks with his friends.
It was a little after midnight when the two boys arrived at their home. The lights were off and the house looked eerily still. Nick looked at Aaron and told him to pull out the ice chest and get the water drained out of it. The last water bottle had been used hours before and the ice was left in case either of them needed something to chew on. Aaron grumbled at the demands from his older brother but set out to get it finished so he could go to bed, sleep among the sheets he missed so much. His eyes left his brother and went back to the front yard, dragging the cooler behind him.
Grabbing his duffle bag, Nick looked back up at the house as he stuffed the car keys into his pocket and pulled out the set for the house. There was no sense in locking the car doors when you lived this far out in the middle of nowhere. Neighbors were a good five minute jog, through some trees and down a hill overgrown with berry bushes. The front steps groaned under his weight, something the man was used to. Keys jangling in his hand was the only sound aside from Aaron dropping the ice chest over and over in protest. Nick unlocked the front door, trying to be as quiet as possible. His parents hated being woken up when the kids came home, though Nick figured one of them was awake somewhere in the house, just waiting. He had told his mother that morning they’d make it home sometime that day.
The house had a funny smell to it and Nick glanced towards the kitchen door. Leslie must have been testing out another recipe that didn’t get mixed right, or wasn’t let to raise. He’d have to tease her about it in the morning. Right now, all he wanted to do was head up the stairs and slide under his sheets to pass out till dawn. Knowing the layout of the house by heart, the blonde haired man didn’t need to turn on any lights.
Taking a step away from the front walk in, Nick felt his foot shift to the right in a quick motion. He jerked it back and looked around wide eyed in the dark to see if someone was playing a joke on him. Who threw water on the floor? Reaching back, he hit the switch to turn on the light. A gasp escaped his throat when he saw thick red liquid all over the hardwood floor. He scanned the room again, his heart picking up speed.
“Mom? Dad?” He called out as he made his way around the splattered blood. Pushing past the wooden door of the kitchen, Nick’s knees started to cave at the sight of his mother laying sprawled out on the center island. In the moonlight, he could see her face frozen in fear – blood covering her beautiful blonde hair. Hitting the switch to turn on the lights, Nick turned his face away. He couldn’t stand to look at her any longer. She had been in there getting ice cream for everybody, several bowls were smashed on the ground and the freezer was wide open. An ice cream carton was sprayed against the big windows on the other side of the room. The front door slammed shut and a curse word came from Aaron’s lips. He was heading towards the kitchen but Nick stopped him just outside.
“You can’t go in there,” Nick told him sternly, his hand pressing on Aaron’s chest to keep him at bay.
“Why not?” Aaron asked immediately. He tried to push past his brother and go into the kitchen. Before Nick could come up with the reason why, Aaron pushed the swinging door open.
“What the fuck?” The teenager screamed. His hands went up to his short blonde hair, pulling on the ends. “What the fuck?” He took a step back and Nick was there to put his arm around his sibling. There weren’t any words to be said that could explain why their mother was laying on the counter, murdered.
“We have to find the others,” Nick said in a whisper, his throat dry. He was trying to keep it together – trying being the optimal word.
Both brothers nodded their heads and turned out of the kitchen. Each took a deep breath when the sight of their mother wasn’t right there in front of their eyes. Nick looked back at the floor covered in blood in the front room. His eyes searched it and realized it lead in a trail over to the living room. Being careful not to step on it, he headed around the front of the stairs and to the opening into the living room.
His three sisters were there, covered in blood. Two of them were on the couch and the third was in the recliner. They had been watching a movie, the FBI warning was blaring at Nick in a bright blue. A warning that the DVD had long since ended and nobody had been around to turn it off. Tears started to swell up in his eyes as he looked at the lost look in his baby sister’s eyes. They had to have been so scared and now there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
“What is it?” Aaron asked from his perch near the stairs. His body had halted to go any further – his young mind not able to wrap around the idea that his mother was murdered and quite possibly the rest of his family.
“The girls.” It was all Nick said, his eyes not able to leave the three young faces before him. They had so much life ahead of them, so much to give and so much talent wasted on an act of violence. A sound behind him cause Nick to turn around. Aaron’s body had dropped down onto the steps and his head was being rested in his hands. Nick could see his brother straining to keep the tears back. Walking in that direction, Nick sat down and put his hand on his brother’s back. He rubbed a moment and then reminded him that they had to find their father – he was still out there somewhere.
Aaron nodded, rubbing the back of his hand on his nose and looked up at his brother. The fear Nick saw scared him. He was feeling helpless, nothing he could do or say could bring reality to light – make his brother feel better. He stood up and told Aaron to stay where he was and headed back into the kitchen. With no blood on the stairs, Nick figured that his dad might have tried to make it out the back door. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up as he walked past his mother. Nick was scared of what he might find and as he neared the entrance to the last hallway that lead through the laundry room, he stopped in his tracks. A human leg, and Louie, the family’s black lab. Covering his mouth, Nick tried to keep his stomach contacts down. He put his back against the opposite wall and inched past the body part and made it to the laundry room. An arm hung out just enough that the fingertips could be seen under the door. Taking a deep breath, the man pushed the door opened slowly. He gave a silent prayer that his father wasn’t in there, that his father had made it out and some how found safety. He was alive, please let him be alive.
Nick’s brain didn’t register what he saw. He was bent over, trying to get his breathing back in order when his dinner emptied out onto the floor near the amputated leg and corpse of their beloved pet. His stomach heaved again and he gagged loudly, his stomach emptying once again. A choked back sob soon escaped his lips as the reality of it all sunk in. Tears streamed down his face as his body stiffened once more – attempting to purge itself.
His brother was soon there, tugging on his arm and trying to get him back into the main entrance of the house. They were soon outside, sitting on the front steps and sucking in the fresh night air as if they hadn’t had a breath of something so sweet in years. Nick’s head lifted when he heard sirens in the distance and looked at his brother. Aaron had called them. Nick nodded his head in approval and was glad one of them had the right mind to do so.
As they waited Nick realized that it was just them now. Forever. He was in charge of his brother who wasn’t yet an adult. He was also in charge of the house, the bills and everything else that was rolled up in being a homeowner. What was going to happen to his father’s business? Or his mother’s customer’s at the bakery? His head went down into his hands and he bit his lip to keep the tears back. The county sheriff would be there soon and be asking all sorts of questions. What was Nick to tell him? His family didn’t have any enemies, well none that he knew of. He hadn’t noticed anything disturbed or taken – so burglary was out of the question. He was trying to wrap his head around the idea that someone murdered his family when two patrol cars pulled up the front driveway. Nick stood to greet them.
Nearly an hour passed before the sheriff came to talk to them. The man was a friend to the family’s, as he was with a lot of families in their neck of the woods. He first told the boys how sorry he was and that the coroner would be removing the bodies soon, though the cause of death was evident.
“What do you mean?” Nick asked instantly. His interest was peaked.
The sheriff sighed as he looked at the brothers. It was a damn shame that this had to happen in his county, let alone to this family. “You boys watch the news much?”
Nick shook his head and explained how they had been on a trip. Reminding the sheriff that was the reason why they got home so late and why it was them that found their family – why they weren’t victim. The sheriff nodded his head, indicating he remembered Nick’s story.
“Boys…” He started to say, resting his hands on his hips. “John Claptin, said that the bite marks on their necks were from vampires. Fresh marks too. All the bodies have been drained.”
Aaron laughed. Nick shook his head. “You’re fucking kidding me right?” Nick stood up and was about to start pacing when he stopped in front of the sheriff. “Everybody knows that vamps are a myth.”
The sheriff laughed and shook his head. It was only a myth to those that didn’t want to believe it. Obviously the Carter boys were a pair of non-believers. “You boys missed out on a lot of local action during your joy ride to California. You boys come down to the office tomorrow and we’ll discuss everything. Till then, I suggest you find some place to sleep and worry about everything else tomorrow.”
Nick almost launched a verbal attack on the sheriff, not liking how the older man could tell them just to forget about what they’ve seen, what they’re going through but he some how held it together – with help of Aaron’s hand on his arm, squeezing tightly. They did as they were told and went to sleep in the camping trailer out back. Aaron had sprinkled garlic on the ground surrounding the fifth wheel and even some on the door handle. That night he crawled into Nick’s bunk and pressed his face tight against his brother’s body – wishing the outside world would just disappear. Both boys wondered how they would ever get through this.
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