Strays Page 4

  “Kota.” Curly pressed his forehead to Dakota’s. “Stay with me.”

  “What’s happening to him?” Max whispered.

  “You serious?” Curly’s friend said. “This is where Strays come from, Princess. Vampires who refuse to feed. This is how they’re made.”

  Max’s breath caught. “What?” For so many years she had asked herself that question, the question no one could figure out. Then it suddenly came to her in the form of Dakota, a rude vampire… who was becoming Stray. She didn’t know what to think.

  “For a long time vampires tried to be human. They tried to change because that’s what humans wanted, but in the end, ultimately they found that it was impossible. If you’re not vampire, you’re Stray. Period. And once you’re Stray, well instinct takes over from there. You no longer have control over what you do, or who you hurt or kill, you know. Tragic.”

  “Kota!” Curly shouted again.

  Dakota blinked his eyes several times, mint green, but then red immediately after.

  “What’re you thinking?” Curly said. “You can’t go that long without feeding. What the hell were you thinking?” He turned his head and exposed his neck.

  Dakota didn’t answer him. He snatched his brother’s head close to him and sunk his sharp teeth into his flesh. The crunching sound of it made Max flinch. She stepped awkwardly back, accidentally stepping on Reagan’s foot. She hadn’t even seen her standing there. Max looked at her quickly, but her eyes were on Dakota again and the way that he drunk his blood so greedily and unapologetically. She couldn’t stand to watch it anymore. It wasn’t right. “Excuse me.” She turned and rushed from the room. She felt hot-headed and was eager to get some air.

  “Wait a minute.” Reagan chased her. She followed her halfway down the hall and grabbed her arm.

  Max snatched away from her. She spun, wanting nothing more than to get away.

  “Just wait! Where’re you going?”

  Anxiously, somewhat overwhelmed, Max faced her. “I’ve never seen that before.”

  “Seen what?”

  “A vampire… feed.”

  “Dante is Dakota’s brother. This is normal.”

  It just didn’t seem right to her. “He’ll become a vampire!”

  “Who?”

  “Curly? He’s been bitten.”

  “It doesn’t work like that. Dakota isn’t releasing any venom and Dante would have to be dying.”

  Max still didn’t understand. The only way to become a vampire was if one was dying? And what was this stuff about venom, like Dakota was some poisonous toxic snake? “But he’ll turn. He’ll become Stray? Dakota?”

  “No, of course not!”

  “That isn’t what it looked like in there.”

  “Listen.” Reagan sighed. “You need to calm down. Do you want some water?”

  “No, I want to get out of here.”

  Can you see me daddy?

  “Vampires only become Strays when they don’t feed. It takes a while.”

  “How long’s a while?”

  “I don’t know, about a week?”

  She considered that a while? A while was a few months. A while was a couple years. One week wasn’t even in the same category as a while. Max sucked in the cool, stale air. “I’m not comfortable with this.”

  “Max, listen. The vampires that weren’t permitted to live among humans were kicked out. They chose to become Stray.”

  And that was the whole reason the world was the way it was now.

  “Dakota isn’t like that.”

  Who was she trying to convince? Max stepped away. “I don’t care.” She wasn’t going to stay there anymore. She had no time to worry about Dakota or Curly or Reagan or anyone else in that place. The only person who needed to be on her mind was her brother. She had learned something, though. Since the beginning of all of this, she had never known where Strays had come from. Now she did. “It was nice meeting you. Thanks for helping me out.” She held her hand out.

  “At least let Curly go with you.”

  “I’d rather go alone.”

  Reagan stared at her for a long time, hoping that she would change her mind. When she saw that she wouldn’t, she took her hand. “Be careful out there.”

  Max needed to be more than careful. She needed to be smart. Without another thought, she headed out. She couldn’t stand to be around any vampires or anyone who couldn’t help her get to her brother. She needed to find her group soon.

  Seven

  Max

  ●

  I’ve felt three real pains in my life: losing my parents, breaking my ankle, and losing my virginity. I’ve never been in love. I’ve never been so depressed that I’ve wanted to hurt myself. Up until the Strays, I lived a pretty normal life. I miss my life. Sometimes I miss it so much that I don’t want to wake up in the morning. I don’t want to move. I have to move because Eric deserves it. He deserves more than me… but I’m all he has now. Sometimes I like to imagine I’m dancing. I can feel the pressure in my toes as I twirl. Pirouette En Pointe. Again. Again. I want to do this until I’m dizzy. Triple Pirouette En Pointe. Again. Until I’m dizzy. Until I can’t think…

  Max couldn’t stop thinking about Eric as she walked quietly through the destructed and abandoned streets. A thin coat of snow blanketed the ground, already melting away. What had happened to this world? She already knew the answer to that question. Vampires. She couldn’t remember a world without them so there was never a reason to be afraid of them, but now that she knew the truth—that vampires became Strays, who fed off of both human and vampire flesh—she couldn’t help but feel afraid. Dakota’s face… the way it had changed… the way he hadn’t hesitated to sink his teeth into Curly’s neck. Sighing, she shoved the memory far away.

  The streets were deserted. Miscellaneous objects, once precious, had become garbage, rubble on the ground. It sheathed the ground like a sheet so Max was careful where she stepped. Cars had been abandoned, left open, emptied of gas. She caught her reflection in a hand-crafted vintage mirror. Its black exterior was chipping. The glass was cracked perfectly down the center. It had been a long time since she saw her own reflection. She pushed aside an old book, too water damaged to recognize, and picked up the mirror. She wiped the dirt away with the sleeve of her sweater and stared at her reflection.

  Until I’m dizzy…

  She counted five seconds of staring in the mirror before she couldn’t take it anymore. Her black hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. Bags had started to form under her eyes, and there was a small cut under her right eyebrow. She had no clue where it came from. She turned the mirror over only to look at the hand-crafted angel on the back.

  Can you see me daddy?

  She turned the mirror to look at herself again, but something in black clothes caught her eye and she dropped it. She whipped around fast enough that she could defend herself against a Stray. Thankfully, it wasn’t a Stray she was greeted by. It was Curly.

  “Scared?” he said, walking quickly to her, out of breath. “Strays don’t mess with the daylight. Damn, girl. You’re fast.”

  As if she had a choice. “You’re following me?”

  “For about an hour, yeah.”

  “That’s borderline pedophilic.” She turned on her heels and carried on. She didn’t care what Curly thought he was doing, but she couldn’t stop now. Nothing he said or did would make her stop.

  “Well, we humans got to look out for each other.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be looking out for Dakota?”

  “He’s around here somewhere.”

  “You brought him with you?” Could she not escape them? She knew it was Reagan’s whole idea to have them follow her, but she wished Reagan would mind her own business. She wanted Curly and Dakota both to go back to where they had come from.

  “He’s my brother.”

  “Yeah, and I can see that you two have such a close blood bond.”

  “Hey!” Curly snatched her arm and j
erked her around. “There you go sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong again.”

  “Get off me.”

  “I’m not going to apologize for letting my brother feed from me. I don’t know you and you don’t know anything about us!”

  Then why on earth was he following her? She stared into his eyes. She saw now that he had the same temper Dakota had. He had better control over his, but it was there nonetheless. Now she knew it wasn’t just a vampire thing. She snatched his wrist, pulled it from her arm and twisted it. He snatched away from her before she could do any real damage, and before she could slap him for thinking he had the right to put his hands on her, she was lifted off the ground. For a few seconds, she was suspended in the air and then she was back on her feet, facing the opposite direction, strands of her hair pasted to her lips. Dakota. He moved so fast that she could never tell what he had done to her. It took her several seconds, like the first time he had done it, to regain her composure. He had simply grabbed the hand she had been prepared to slap Curly with and spun her around him like some professional figure skater performing a vital trick. How she had ended up with her back to his was unknown to her.

  He stepped in front of her. “Don’t be stupid.”

  Max glared at him wide-eyed. He wasn’t scary. He was a five-foot eleven lump of a man, who had been human before and looked human now. She wanted to slap him the way she had planned to slap Curly. She wanted to slap the shit out of them both. She pushed him, instead, as hard as her strength would allow. She managed to move him a little, but not much. So she pushed him again.

  Again. Until I’m dizzy…

  “Stop,” Dakota said, squinting at her, half smiling. “Stop pushing me.”

  She pushed him again. “Stop following me.”

  “We’re trying to help,” Curly said from behind Dakota.

  She pushed him a final time and then turned and walked away. “I’ll find my brother on my own.”

  “How well at that you’re doing.” Dakota laughed.

  “Why don’t you go suck down some more of your brother’s blood.”

  “I’ve got something you can suck down.”

  Without any warning to him, Max spun around and slapped him so hard that she felt the sting in her own hand. It gave her instant relief to slap him. She wished she was fast enough to slap Curly too, but Dakota had his hands on her shoulders in a second. He squeezed so hard that she felt his nails biting into her through her jacket. He lifted her up onto her toes and then off her feet altogether.

  “Dakota,” Curly said, shaking his head. “You started it. Put her down.”

  He was rude and malicious and if he killed her right now, she didn’t regret slapping some sense into him.

  “Dakota Joseph Reagan!” Curly shouted. “Now!”

  Kota dropped her to her feet, but Max staggered before she caught her balance. Then he grabbed her ponytail and jerked her head back. “Next time, I’ll skip my brother and go straight to you.” He shoved her so roughly that she stumbled and tripped over her own boots. She slammed into the ground, hitting her elbow. Dakota walked past her without the thought of helping her up.

  Curly, holding his rifle with one hand, held his other hand out to her. She smacked it away and stood up on her own. She wiped her clothes off. “Leave me alone!” she said, between buckled teeth.

  Curly laughed. “So goddamn rude! Look, we’re coming with you whether you like it or not, so you might as well try to be friendly.”

  “Drop dead,” Max said, breathing hard. She picked up the mirror she had dropped, wiped it again and then stormed off. She didn’t see Dakota anymore, but she knew he was lurking somewhere, watching her. As fast as he was and as much as he liked the dark, he might as well had been Stray. It didn’t make her any difference. It would be better if he was just out of her way and out of her life.

  ● ● ●

  They walked until daylight burned away. Then they found an old house to sleep in for the night. From the outside the place looked unsanitary. Someone had written illegibly on the white siding with what looked like mud, but might have been blood. Max couldn’t tell. She waited outside, watching the sky closely as it faded from day to night, while Dakota and Curly checked inside. She heard them calling to each other that the rooms were clear. Curly had more military training than Dakota did. He didn’t try as hard. Max stepped inside the house before they were all done clearing it, because she didn’t want to be outside when the sun was gone. She closed and locked the door after her.

  She turned slowly, expecting a disaster, but the house was surprisingly clean. It had been left the way the owner had left it, though it looked as if they had left in a panic. The foyer was dusty and smelled like mold. The royal blue carpet was moist. Her boots pressed into the soft spots. There was a duffel bag of unfolded clothes on the wooden stairs. She heard Dakota’s boots pounding on the floor upstairs. They were incapable of walking quietly.

  Max found the living room, small and equipped with maroon furniture, which did nothing to compliment the gray walls. Whoever had been staying there before them had left a pile of old blankets on the floor in front of a flat screen T.V. Max kicked them away. A silver-framed photo of two young women caught her attention. It laid back-down on an end table. Max picked it up to look at the two women, who were no doubt sisters. The blond-haired female was thinner and younger than the red-headed one. She wondered if they were still alive, if one had died before the other.

  “Don’t go in the upstairs bathroom,” Dakota said, on his way down the stairs. He had his hand cupped over his nose. “Two chicks offed themselves in the shower.”

  Well, that answered Max’s question. She replaced the picture face down on the table and vowed to never touch or look at it again. It was tragic. It was all too tragic… that there wasn’t another option for the two women. She imagined them as younger versions, playing outside together, polishing each other’s nails, fussing over material things… making the decision to live together. She would never look at their faces again.

  “Well, there’s no running water.” Curly came from the kitchen. “But somebody left a bunch of food behind.”

  “Neither of you thought to grab food from Lincoln?” Max asked, with shrunken, questioning eyes.

  Dakota laughed. “For you? Why would we do that?”

  “A lot of it expired,” Curly continued. “But some of it’s still good. No electricity.”

  “Candles?” Max said, still unable to look at either of them. She wasn’t going to pretend that she was pleased that they were with her, but she wasn’t going to act like she didn’t need the help either. Plus, they had made it clear—and probably because Reagan had threatened them—that they would take care of her whether or not she wanted that.

  “Haven’t checked the basement yet.” Curly went back in the direction of the kitchen.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “No, you won’t.” Dakota grabbed her arm. “Wait here.”

  Max bit her bottom lip to hold in the snide comment she had for him. He said something on his way out, but she couldn’t hear what it was. All she heard was Curly laughing at whatever he had said. She went to the kitchen and listened to them fumble around in the basement. Curly had taken all the food from the cabinet and placed it on the circular table. The defrosted refrigerator had left a nasty stench in the air, like dirty water from a swimming pool. She wouldn’t dare open it.

  She grabbed an old box of Saltines from the table, which had expired five months ago. She set it down just as Dakota and Curly were coming back up the stairs. This time Dakota was laughing. He set a handful of skinny, thick candles on the table.

  “Your candles, Majesty.” He pulled matches from his pocket. He always seemed to have some handy.

  “No running water, hm?” Max wanted to wash up so that she would feel comfortable enough to sleep. On those days when she had danced so much that she was covered in sweat, she would take a hot shower as soon as she got home and it had usually been eno
ugh to put her right to sleep. “I’m a little hungry.”

  Curly jumped around to the other side of the table and snatched up a can of mixed fruit. “Then you’re in luck! We’ve got fruit cocktail, tropical fruit… and that’s pretty much it for the fruit.” He picked up another can. “There’re some mixed veggies and then there’s this… um… chili.”

  Max shrugged. It didn’t matter to her. She didn’t have the pleasure of being particular these days. “I don’t care.”

  “She doesn’t care.” Dakota snatched the can of chili and placed it on top of her head. “Enjoy.” He walked out of the kitchen, grinning.

  She grabbed the can from her head. “How is that your brother is a complete asshole and you’re not?”

  “He’s had more time to himself to practice. Plus, I was an asshole earlier. I’ve used up my quota for today. Eat.”

  Max didn’t want to get comfortable. After an hour of pacing back and forth around the house, she decided to go to the living room where Curly and Dakota had lit the candles and taken up space. Curly sat on the floor where the old blankets had once been and sifted through a load of papers he had pulled from the bag he had carried with him. Dakota had gone to sleep on the sofa, a gray, scratchy-looking blanket over him. His hearing aid was placed on the table. Max’s first thought was to flick it off and watch him search frantically for it in the morning. But she wouldn’t. Morning wasn’t promised and if in any case he might need it immediately, she wanted it to be right there. She pulled off her jacket and set it on the table, too. She didn’t want to take off her boots, but she hated sleeping with them on.