The Night the Vampires Came

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Anyone in the mood for partially defrosted pizza?" Jack asked after we were done barricading the front doors with lawn furniture.

We weren't the only ones who had the bright idea of taking refuge in an abandoned Walmart. There was a family of four here, pitching a tent in the cereal aisle. There was another young couple who had been stranded down here on their honeymoon. They had claimed the far back corner, by the bedding and rug aisle.

The young couple was far more social than the family. I supposed when you have two young kids in tow during the vampire apocalypse; you would probably be too stressed to socialize. The guy's name was Michael, and the girl was Jessica. They joined us with some candles from the stationary aisle to barter for some juice from our aisle. We didn't have much. This entire place had been looted clean during the day. The thing about looters was, they weren't exactly detail-orientated.

We found plenty of useful things left behind. Holly armed herself with a pointed fireplace poker, and I found some stray bananas in the produce department.

Jack set out some rugs on the floor and a lone precious flashlight. I laid down and shoved the remains of a banana in my mouth while Jack tried to convince us all to nibble on his gross, long-since-defrosted pizza.

"So you all from around here?" Michael asked us. He had a mild accent. I guessed he was from one of the Carolinas.

"Holly works at a high-end mall in Miami," I told him. "I'm, I was, going to school in Windflower Springs."

"Your family get out in time?" Michael asked. "We don't know anything about what's going on back home. Can't wait to get to the evacuation site tomorrow."

"Honey-bee," the girl purred and tucked her bare feet under herself as though she was embarrassed to have abandoned her cork wedges. "We promised not to think of the worst. No sense in letting our imaginations run wild."

"Yes, Jessica always sees the bright side of things," Michael said with a laugh. He offered me a pretzel from his bag of Snyder's Honey Mustard and Onion pretzels. I guessed the looters left that behind because no one likes honey mustard. I shook my head because I felt guilty about sitting there, stuffing my face with snacks as Holly and Jack paced about looking for more weapons. "She hasn't strangled me yet for booking the Gansevoort in Miami for our honeymoon. I'm sure this isn't happening in Hawaii."

"I've never been outside of Windflower," I lamented. "I would have liked to see the world before I died."

"If we ever get out of this alive, you have to come to visit us in Charleston," Michael offered. "That's if the army gets this entire weather situation under control. Our buttermilk biscuits alone are worth the trip and our peaches — they're just heaven on your tongue."

"The world is a pile of shit," Holly said as she plopped down on the rug beside me. "I sold jewelry to rich women for years; they were all vain, empty-headed, thots, who traveled to every corner of the earth. What did they learn from doing all that? To save the world by collecting more toy dogs?"

I brought my knees up to my chest and chuckled. Holly always knew how to make me laugh with her crude sense of humor. Sitting there, around our candles and our lone flashlight, it was easy to imagine we were around a campfire.

"When I was six, I had to go back to the hospital for another heart surgery. I had craziest dreams when they put me under. I think I traveled all around the world — in my head."

"Sounds trippy," Michael offered politely and yawned. He and Jessica exchanged glances signifying that they were considering an Irish exit. Was it that obvious that Holly and I wanted an intimate moment alone? Oh, wait, Holly had just placed her hand on my knee. I supposed it didn't take a genius to figure out we were a little more than friends.

"I remember dreaming of this beautiful garden full of blooming Chrysanthemums," I said as my eyes drifted to the plastic flowers that had fallen out of a smashed vase down aisle twelve. I'll never forget. I'll come back, I promise. I thought back to my words from that dream. I'll come back for the memories I buried here.

I remember because after I woke up from my surgery; I drew endless pictures of wilted Chrysanthemums. They had to have me evaluated by the hospital psychiatrist, who diagnosed me with a spectrum disorder because I refused to talk to anyone. I just wanted to draw thousands and thousands of round Chrysanthemums with spiraling petals. I filled every inch of every piece of paper in my room with those drawings.

"Sounds like a very romantic dream," Jessica offered while Holly took back her hand and scoffed.

"Who were you meeting in the flower garden?" Holly asked teasingly. "Was it a boy?"

What was that I sensed in her voice? Jealousy?

I smirked at that. Wow, I couldn't believe I made Ms. Invincible Holly Xu feel insecure.

"Maybe," I replied. "My mom said maybe I was haunted by a You Hun Ye Gui, or a wandering soul. She even went to the temple to burn incense to rid me of my ghosts."

"Creepy," Holly said. "Hopefully, that means you're ready to bust out some moves when we're attacked by these Jiangshi that are waiting for us outside."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I chuckled at Holly's joke. Jiangshi were demons that hopped everywhere like rabbits. From what I remembered from the Chinese my mom used to watch, they feed on the Qi of the living. They were usually dressed in period costumes and were not very intelligent. The only way to defeat one of them was to stick a piece of paper on their foreheads with something written in chicken blood.

I didn't think we had anything like that at Walmart.

"I don't think it was a romantic dream," I said. "It was a sad one. Like I broke a promise to someone very important to me. But when I think back — there's also a side of me that doesn't want to remember — if that makes any sense."

"You must want to remember if you drew thousands of mums," Holly offered.

"After I stopped drawing the Chrysanthemum, I started drawing clouds," I said as the candle flickered out. "At least my parents were glad the flowers were gone. That's my dad's nickname for me —little 云, his cloud weaver."

"I like that better."

"What Jack said the other night creeped me out. I always wondered if I foresaw the Blight Rain with my cloud obsession. I don't like it," I muttered. "I'm starting to see Chrysanthemums everywhere I go again."

"It's nothing chica," Holly said with a yawn. By then, Michael and Jessica had long picked up their candles and gone back to their aisle. "You know what you need?"

"No."

"You need a kiss."

"How will that help anything?"

"That's the cure. Kiss and forget about all the things you can't remember."