The Lola Chronicles (Book 2): A Day Without Dawn (9 page)

“Hello?” I struck the garage door again, hard enough to send a tingle up both of my arms. “What are you doing in there, throwing a party?”

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Greg shouted. “We’re almost ready.”

I opened my mouth, a smart ass reply dangling on the tip of my tongue, but before I could spit it out the simultaneous roar of three engines sparking to life had me dropping the pipe and jumping to the side. Just in time too, because a second later all three garage doors rolled up and the boys flew out, grinning like idiots as they hunched low over the handlebars of their stolen four wheelers.

Arms crossed and foot tapping, I waited impatiently while they tore around Mr. Peterson’s driveway, popping wheelies and burning rubber on the dark asphalt. It was like a scene out of a bad action movie. I just hoped that in this movie the nerdy guy – who always magically transformed into a total stud once you got rid of his glasses and added a little beard stubble and blood to his face – and the hot chick weren’t the only ones who survived.

“Let’s go!” I shouted, waving my hands in the air for emphasis.

Hunter’s black four wheeler peeled off from the rest and came to a screeching halt in front of me. He tossed back his hair and grinned up at me. “Hey there sweetheart. Lookin’ for a ride?”

“I
cannot
believe you just said that.” Rolling my eyes, I climbed onto the seat behind him. I was expecting to find handrails to hold onto but the fenders over the wide back tires were smooth, leaving me little choice but to wrap my arms around Hunter’s waist.

I know what you’re thinking. Like holding onto the good looking high school quarterback is
such
a burden, right? If these were normal circumstances it wouldn’t be. Hell, if these were normal circumstances I’d shimmy my thighs up and wrap my whole body around him. But the truth was that these were anything
but
normal circumstances and the last boy I’d fallen in love with had murdered my best friend.

Not exactly a romance novel I’d recommend.

Sure, Hunter was nice to look at and sure, there was a certain chemistry between us. No use denying it. But I wasn’t about to get myself or someone else killed because I was busy making kissy faces at a boy. 

We led the way back to the middle school with Greg in the middle and Stevenson bringing up the rear. When we pulled up everyone was waiting for us in the parking lot and I knew the second I saw their faces that something was seriously wrong. Hunter sensed it too.

“What is it?” he yelled, jumping off the four wheeler while it was still running. “What happened?”

I was right behind him. Greg and Stevenson were a little slower on the uptake, but they realized something was going on when Becca buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.

“Dude,” Greg said softly.

“Dude,” Stevenson echoed.

“Someone talk to me,” Hunter demanded.

“It’s – it’s Hayley.” Livy looked like one of the people you saw on TV after a natural disaster or a terrorist bombing. Her face was pale. Her eyes glassy and unfocused.

“What about Hayley?” I asked even though I had a sinking feeling I already knew the answer.

Becca looked up. Her face blotchy with tears and her voice little more than a ragged whimper she said, “They took her. The drinkers took Hayley.”

Everything That Goes Up

“Tell them what happened, dear.
They can’t help if they don’t know what happened.”

I looked at Ms. Siegel in surprise. In the two days since we’d met it was the first time I had actually heard her talk. She had been keeping mostly to herself, which was a little strange – not to mention seriously unhelpful – given that she was the only adult, but I figured she was still in shock. Looking at her now with her arm wrapped securely around Becca’s trembling shoulders I realized she’d just needed a purpose.

“I – I can’t,” Becca cried as her blue eyes filled with more tears. “Livy, you do it. Tell them…tell them what happened.”

We all diverted out attention to Livy who didn’t look like she was in any better shape than Becca. Whatever had happened to them, it had been bad. Really bad. Despite the hot sun beating down on top of my head goosebumps broke out all up and down my arms. I crossed them tightly against my chest.

“It couldn’t have been a drinker,” I said when Livy remained silent. “Not in the middle of the day. Which means it had to be one of those other things.” We hadn’t given the creature that had attacked me and Hunter a name yet. How could we, when we didn’t even know what it was? The best I could figure it was something caught halfway between a human and a drinker. Minus most of the human.

“The history teacher,” said Hunter, glancing sideways at me. “You think something like that killed Hayley?”

I nodded. “That’s exactly what I–”

“No!” Livy burst out unexpectedly. “It – it didn’t kill her.”

“It didn’t kill her,” Becca repeated softly, long dark hair sticking to her wet cheeks as she shook her head from side to side.

“It
took
her.” Her gaze jerky and erratic, Livy gulped in a mouthful of air. “We – we were on our way back. We had everything on the list but Hayley wanted to stop at the drug store on the corner.”

“Let me guess,” I said dryly, “she needed more lipstick.”

“Not the time Lola,” Hunter warned under his breath.

Becca glared at me. “For your information she thought it would be a good idea to stock up on sunscreen and first-aid supplies in case one of us got hurt.”

Well…that…actually made sense. And now I felt like an asshole.

“It was the middle of the day so we didn’t think…” Livy trailed off and Becca took over. 

“We didn’t think we were in any danger. But then we heard a noise in the back of the store. We all ran for the front door, but it was too fast.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “It – it was
awful
.”

“There, there,” Ms. Siegel murmured, patting her shoulder. “You’re safe, dear.”

I looked at her incredulously. Safe? Was she not listening to what Becca and Livy were saying? None of us were safe, especially now. It was one thing when we only had to watch our backs at night. But now that we were in danger of being attacked 24/7? I had no idea what we were going to do.

“I know it’s hard to talk about,” Hunter said in a low, soothing voice, “but did the thing that came after you look like anyone you knew?”

Lacey gasped. “How did you know that?”

“Because the same thing happened to us, remember? We told you about Mrs. Wallace. We
warned
you. And you chose not to believe us. What about now, Livy? Do you believe us now?” Let Hunter be the gentle, understanding leader. I was done with all the bullshit. Maybe if Hayley had taken me seriously instead of being the world’s biggest bitch she wouldn’t have been taken. Maybe if she had actually
listened
when I told her about the drinkers instead of laughing in my face she would have been paying a little bit closer attention. 

Talk about karma.

“Lola, that isn’t helping.” Scowling at me as though all of this was somehow
my
fault, Hunter pulled Livy and a sniffling Becca into a hug.

“Don’t worry,” he told them, “we’ll find her.”

“We’ll do
what
?” I yelped.

“You heard me.” Stepping back, Hunter squared his shoulders and lifted his chin as though daring me to contradict him. “If Hayley was taken alive there’s a chance she’ll stay that way, at least until nightfall. That gives us…” He glanced down at his watch. “Five hours, give or take, to find out where she was taken.”

“Are you crazy?” I demanded. “We are not going after her. That would be suicide!”

“She would do the same for you.”

I snorted. “She would so
not
do the same for me. Throw a party, maybe. But plan a crazy ass rescue mission? No way in hell. This is a stupid idea, Hunter, and you know it.”

We faced off. I could feel everyone else watching us, waiting to see who would come out on top. Hunter may have been their unspoken leader, but I was the only one who had actually faced a drinker and survived.

“We’re going after her,” he said through clenched teeth. “End of story.”

“Then you’re going to die,” I said flatly, “and I’m not sticking around to watch it happen.”

Something flickered in his green eyes. Surprise? Disappointment? It was replaced too quickly with anger to tell. “Fine. If that’s the way you want it to be then you’re free to go.”

“I was always free to go. The only reason I stuck around was because I felt sorry for you.” The words bubbled out of me like lava, pouring out of my mouth and burning anyone they touched. “I feel sorry for
all
of you.” For an instant I met Rose’s bewildered gaze. She looked away first and I felt a surge of guilt, but my temper had gone past the point of no return. “I don’t know how you made it this long, but if you go after Hayley I can guarantee you’ll be dead by sunrise.”

“You just hate her!” Becca accused.

“Damn straight. But even if she was my best friend I wouldn’t be stupid enough to go chasing after her. I did that once already and you know what? It didn’t end well. For anyone.”

“Are you still going to try to find your father?” Hunter demanded.

My shoulders stiffened. “That’s none of your business.”

“Are you?” he insisted.

“Yes, okay? Yes!” I threw up my hands. “Because he’s my
family
. The only family I have left. There’s a difference!” I didn’t care that I was shouting. I didn’t even care that everyone had started to drift towards Hunter. Let them pick him over me. What did it matter? 

“We’re your friends, Lola. Doesn’t that count for something?” Hunter reached for my arm and I slapped his hand away.

“Friends? You’re not my friend. Three weeks ago you didn’t even know my name.” And because that seemed to be as good an exit line as any I could hope to come up with, I shoved past him and stormed off.

I made it to the end of the parking lot before I remembered that all of my stuff was still sitting inside the girl’s locker room. For a split second I hesitated before I decided to screw it. I would either go back later or hit up the grocery store again. There was no way I was going to show my face in the gym. Not after the way I’d acted.

When I was a kid, no more than five or six, my mom left some tomato soup boiling on the stove while she went to the bathroom. Because I was a stubborn little shit who refused to listen to rules like ‘don’t touch things you’re not supposed to’ I dragged a chair over to the stove and climbed up. The soup didn’t look hot enough, so I turned the white knob to its highest setting. Five seconds later I was covered in second degree burns and screaming at the top of my lungs. The soup had exploded all over the place, coating the stove and my face and arms in sticky red goop.    

My temper was like that soup. Simmering quietly below the surface, just waiting for someone to crank the dial all the way up to ten. In a matter of seconds I could go from calm, cool, and collected to a screaming bitch who didn’t care what she said or who she hurt.

Guilt gnawed at me as I turned away from the street and cut across a vacant overgrown lot. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I needed to keep walking until my anger subsided to a dull roar. Maybe then I’d be able to swallow my pride and go back and apologize.

Hunter hadn’t deserved the things I had said to him, and neither had anyone else. The thing was I didn’t even know
why
I had said them. If Hunter wanted to go off on a suicide mission that was his choice. I wasn’t his mom or his girlfriend or his keeper. I was his friend – or at least I had been up until five minutes ago – and it wasn’t my job to tell him what to do, it was my job to support him.

Even if he was being a stupid jackass.

I stopped when I reached a chain link fence. It wrapped around the back of the lot, dividing it from the next house over, a two-story bungalow with cheerful yellow shutters and a kid’s tire swing hanging from an oak tree out front.

My throat unexpectedly swelled and tears burned in the corners of my eyes as I stared at the empty tire swing. I didn’t want to think about the child that should have been playing on it. Didn’t want to think about their parents. Didn’t want to think about Travis or Dad or all the other people I had lost. People I had taken for granted because I assumed they would always be there. People I had never taken the opportunity to get to know because I figured there would always be time.

Time to fix old mistakes.

Time to make new friends.

Time to reinvent myself into the person I wanted to be.

I wasn’t supposed to be
this
Lola. The angry Lola. The reckless Lola. The Lola who didn’t care about anyone or anything but herself.

The chain link fence rattled as I leaned against it and sank to the ground. Drawing my legs to my chest I rested my head on my knees and stared blindly across the lot, blinking back tears.

Damnit, I should have had more time. We all should have. Travis. Dad. Hunter. The little boy whose tire swing now sat empty.

The drinkers had taken more than our friends and our families and our neighbors. They’d stolen Travis’ graduation speech. Hunter’s last football game. Hayley’s senior prom. Things we’d been looking forward to all of our lives…snatched away in the dead of the night by monsters we thought were make-believe.

It wasn’t fair.

Then again, life never was.

Dragging my fists across my eyes I rocked up to my feet and dusted off the back of my shorts. Sitting around blubbering like a baby wasn’t going to fix anything. Neither was running away. Whether I liked it or not, the only friends I had left in post-apocalyptic Revere were back at the middle school. And that included Hayley. Sure, she was a total pain in my ass and yes, we despised one another. But that didn’t make her life any less important. If she was still alive – and no matter what Becca or Livy said that was a pretty big if – then I couldn’t just turn my back on her.

Bitch, you are so going to owe me for this.

I retraced my steps with determination, keeping my chin high and my eyes up as I walked across the middle school parking lot. Heat billowed up from the cracked asphalt, causing a wave of fresh sweat to drip down my face and between my shoulder blades.

Sexy.

There was no one standing out front of the school so I went around to the back door. They must have gone into the gym to regroup. No way they had left already. Not without any weapons or any idea where Hayley was.  They couldn’t be
that
stupid. Could they?

I got my answer when I stepped into the gym.

The completely empty gym.

“Sonofabitch,” I cursed under my breath. My sneakers echoed on the wooden floor as I marched across the basketball court and looked in the locker rooms. The boy’s had been cleared out. So had the girl’s. Rose and Ms. Siegel had definitely done a good job packing everyone’s shit up. Now I just needed to find out where they’d taken it.

At least I still had my gun. Ever since the grocery store debacle with Hayley I’d carried it with me day and night. It had become as much a part of me as my own arm. I just hoped the next time I used it I wouldn’t hesitate like I had with Mrs. Wallace.

I found an empty water bottle stuck behind one of the bleachers, refilled it, took a swig, and headed out. It was almost twenty minutes past noon, which gave me little under seven hours until sunset. Not that sunset really mattered much anymore.

All of the four wheelers were gone – no big surprise there – but I found a bike leaning against the side of the school. The handlebars were rusted and weeds were growing up into the chain, but the tires were still relatively full of air. After yanking it out of the bushes I hopped on and began a slow, unsteady pedal. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ridden a bike and I almost fell off twice by the time I reached the road but after a couple of minutes I had the hang of it again. Now I just needed to decide which direction to go.

There was no reason Hunter would have headed left – there was nothing out that way except for old dairy farms – and if they’d gone right I definitely would have heard them so after a moment’s hesitation I went straight. A light breeze whipped through my hair and caught the back of my borrowed t-shirt, billowing it out in a puff of bright yellow as I rose up on my toes and pedaled faster.