The Monster Apocalypse

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

After the unexpected madness in Bridgeport, the souls inside Vice Principal Hallow's suburban stayed pretty quiet on the thirteen-mile journey on paved road, toward the bumpy dirt road that would be taking them into the heart of Bodie Ghost Town.

That is, until they started seeing ghosts.

"I see a third one, a fourth one," Ash said, pointing out the left window. "It looks like a little girl. She's waving to us."

"I see an old man, tall, black," Valerie said. "He's digging with a shovel. But he can't touch the dirt."

Justin was looking out the back window. "There's a car that just went the other way. But it wasn't real. It's like a hologram. There's a family of four inside."

Brin, however, wasn't busy checking out all the ghosts on the side of the road. Her eyes were closed. She'd wanted to see a ghost since the day her dad showed her The Sixth Sense, but right now, she seemed to be the only one reeling from the near death attack by the three giant demons.

"Brin, come on," Ash said, tugging on her arm and pointing outside the window. "Check these out. There's dozens of them. It's like they all knew we were coming."

"No, I'm good," she said. "Those demons, Ash.... oh God... they almost killed us..."

"Trust me, I know. That was scary. But check out these ghosts, Brin. They're the first monsters all day that have no intention of hurting us."

Brin opened her eyes. But she didn't look outside. She just looked at Ash. "Of course they won't hurt us. They're ghosts."

"Maybe they can touch us. We can't know for sure."

"Isn't the definition of a ghost, dead people who can't touch the living?"

"I don't think so," Ash said. "Haven't you seen Ghost? Patrick Swazye? Demi Moore?"

"I know what the movie Ghost is, Ash."

"Whoopi won the Academy Award, but Patrick was so good in it. Such a shame. I miss that man. Anyway, he was able to work up the positive—or was it negative?—energy to touch objects, even people—"

"But that's a movie!" Brin screamed, so loud everyone but the driver turned to her. "This isn't fiction, Ash. This isn't some stupid author wannabe's words on a page in a book somewhere. This is real life, do you understand? This is really happening."

Ash paused and gave her a knowing smile. "You think I don't know that?" He leaned forward against the back of his seat and took Brin's hand in his. "We're minutes away from Bodie. We're minutes away from the scariest rescue mission any humans in all of history have ever attempted. Take a moment, Brin—and look out your window."

He rubbed her hands tenderly, his skin warm and comforting. She thought he might try to kiss her, until he pulled her toward her side window, toward the fierce cold wind that started blowing into her red-and-black hair. She finally looked out of the vehicle, not believing, despite the awesome and terrifying and remarkable sights of the day, that she would see a ghost; trolls and aliens maybe, but not a ghost.

But Brin looked out into the vast silence etched in blackness to see at least three human apparitions, and to her left, five more.

Brin's eyes welled up with tears as all the ghostly figures waved back at her.

"Oh God," Brin said. She swallowed loudly, then said, "This can't be real anymore. None of this."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"I just don't know where we go from here. We've seen every monster, every supernatural spook, in the entire canon. Say we survive this night. What, do we just go back to our regular lives? Graduate from Grisly High, go to college? We're passing by ghosts right now, Ash. Dozens of them. And we're not even on a Disneyland ride."

Ash stayed quiet for a moment. Then: "I don't know about you, Brin, but as long as we stay alive, as long as none of these supernatural creatures actually kill us, this adventure is going to enrich our lives. It's going to make us stronger."

Brin looked at her friend, let out a half smile, and shook her head. "You've seen too many movies."

He shrugged. "What else is new?"

"Hey! Guys! Look at this!" Justin tugged on Brin's shirt and pulled her toward the center of the seat. He had been staring out the back window at all the brightly lit ghosts on both sides of the road, but now he was hunched over the back seat, and digging his hands through a noisy bag.

"What is it?" Brin asked, leaning over the back seat. She looked down and tried to make sense of what Justin's fingers were wading through. The items looked large—large and deadly. "Oh, whoa."

It was ammo. Lots and lots of ammo.

She turned around and nearly crushed Ash's head as she leaned up against his seat. "Mrs. Hallow... what is all this in the back?"

The old woman chuckled. "Did you find my secret stash?"

"What are you doing with all that... that... ammunition?"

The vice principal looked at Brin in the rearview mirror. "What, I'm not allowed to follow our second amendment just because I'm a school administrator? Trust me, Brin. Every principal and vice principal in the entire district has a gun. Lots of them."

"I hesitate in asking why," Brin said.

"You guys are grossly naive if you think you were going to complete a rescue mission without any form of weaponry. Trust me, once you get there, once you get started, and once these so-called vampires I keep hearing about come up out of their shelters and look for necks to feed on, you're going to thank me!"

"She's right," Ash said, slapping his palm against Brin's shoulder, playfully. "We're going to need these guns."

"But guns don't kill vampires. They don't even wound them!"

"If we get close enough to their faces and blast a shotgun at full power, I'm sure we'll be able to take at least some of them down."

"Have you ever shot a gun, Ash?"

"Well... no. But I see them a lot in the... you know..."

"I know," Brin finished.

"I've shot a gun," Anaya said, crossing her arms, keeping her attention forward.

"Really?" asked Brin. "How'd that go?"

"Oh, it was no problem. My dad taught me." Then Anaya looked at Brin. "I can handle any weapon you put in my hand. I promise you that."

"That's good to hear," Brin said. She turned back to her brother, who was still examining all the weapons in the back of the suburban. She slammed her chest back against the seat and looked down. Justin had laid out all the guns from left to right, the smallest handgun on the left, to the biggest shotgun on the right. All that remained leaning up against the back window were a pair of tennis shoes, two binders, a wad of crumpled up papers, and a broomstick.

"Mrs. Hallow is a bit messy, isn't she?" Brin said.

"I heard that!" the old lady said loud and clear from the front of the vehicle.

Brin sighed and said, "Sorry."

She looked out the back window again, in hopes that she would see more of the ghosts—but she didn't see a thing. She turned around and glanced at her shattered side window, but still nothing, and no one.

"Are the ghosts gone?" she asked.

"Looks like it," Ash said. "You know what that means?"

Ash loved throwing riddles at Brin, but this was one time she wanted him to be totally straight with her. "I don't, Ash. No."

"It means..."

"For God's sake, Ash. What?"

Ash sighed. "We're here."