Become the Night

Highway to Hell Part 2

We get out of the car and walk towards the barn. I'm a bit apprehensive as we approach the doors, which are hanging precariously by the top hinges.

"Perfect."

"Perfect? This thing looks like it can't withstand a light breeze. Never mind a new changeling wrecking up the place."

"This type of old barn should..." He pokes his head inside and scans the place. "Ah ha. Yep. See there," He points to the center left of the floor. There's a metal door embedded in the floor. "That's gotta be an old bomb shelter or tornado cellar."

He muscles the door aside and disappears through the gloom. I reluctantly follow him from the sun-drenched outside into the eerie entryway. I look around at the inside of the barn. Dust floats lazily through the air, highlighted as it hits the sunlight filtering down through the broken roof. To my right is discarded farm equipment. I can see a tractor and what looks like part of a plow. There're also tons of hand tools such as pitch forks, hoes, and shovels.

"Over here, man." Garrett is surveying the metal door I saw a few moments ago. I jog over to give him a hand.

"We gotta move this thing. Sad to say, but I'm not strong enough on my own. Together, we should be able to move it." He waves a hand at a large crate with mysterious, yet incredibly heavy, items in it. We go over to the side of the crate that is on the corner of the metal door. We each put a shoulder to the crate and shove. It takes more strength than I thought it would take with a vampire and a changeling pushing, but we're able to inch it off the door.

Garrett turns and lifts the door up. Just inside, there is a ladder going down. He doesn't hesitate; he just clambers down the ladder.

"Well? You coming?" He calls up to me from the darkness. I swallow the lump in my throat. I'm not really looking forward to the reason we need the bomb shelter or storm cellar or whatever the hell this thing is.

"Yeah, I guess." I heave a sigh as I descend the ladder down into the dark, dank room below. "Not like I have much of a choice." I mutter under my breath.

A light appears from the bottom of the ladder. Garrett shines a flashlight up towards me, then he sweeps the light to look around. As far as shelters are concerned, this one is pretty barren. There're a few wooden crates stacked in the far corner, what looks like some giant canned foods, and a rusty cot with a threadbare mattress that looks like it was from World War I.

"Hmmm, yeah. I think this will do just fine." Garrett remarks. I notice that the walls are solid concrete and the only way in or out is the ladder we just came down. He looks at his watch. "Well, we only have about an hour till the moon rises. Why don't we have some food and then you can get settled down here."

"Food?" I ask as my stomach grumbles. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Cool. Be right back." With that, he zooms out of the shelter so fast he's nothing but a blur. Before I have to contemplate where he's getting food from out here, he's back beside me in the shelter.

"Here. Hope you don't have any allergies. I got you a burger and fries. With a large chocolate shake, because who doesn't love chocolate." He says with a grin as he hands me a bag with a familiar yellow logo on it stained with grease and a large drink. I smell the meat in the burger, and my mouth waters. I sit on the sad excuse for a bunk and dig it. The burger is gone in three gigantic bites. I slow down a little as I munch on fries and notice that Garrett hasn't gotten himself something to eat.

"What are you eating?"

"Oh, you mean, what do vampires eat?" I blush when I realize how that sounds.