The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

I pick up the CB and yell into it. "We have an officer down on 50 outside of the Golden Acres Trailer Park. I need all units." The sirens of my cruiser scream down the road with the strobe lights of red and blue bouncing off the forest that lines the road.  

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, this happens. I have to get there. I have to get there fast. Hopefully he dropped his phone and got away. Shit, this is spinning more and more out of control. I look down at the speedometer and see I'm at seventy miles per hour. I punch the gas and go up to eighty.  

Come on, Pete. Get out of the car and haul ass. Get away from that kid. How the hell am I going to explain this? I'm going to have to tell his family. His poor mother. She comes by the station and drops off brownies all the time. She's so proud that he's an officer. He would blush and try to get his mom to leave like an embarrassed teenager. I always knew Pete was a liability but I could usually keep him out of trouble by having him chase away high school kids or by using him as a glorified errand boy. If the Mayor would let me run the shifts the way I want to, I wouldn't have this problem, but he's making me put some of my better guys on the day shift forcing me to put less qualified guys at night. I feel like a Little League coach who is forced to play kids under participation rules. I went along with this like a good solider, but now I have to take a stand against it. I could have just gotten someone killed. 

I dig my hand into my pocket, fish around for a pill and realize I'm getting low on my supply. I can just fill the prescription the doctor gave me.  

I thought things would've gone better with Emily and didn't think this would happen to Pete. I toss one back and swallow. Emily's never been so cold to me. She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore and probably hasn't for a long time. I should have expected her to act that way, but somehow I fantasized that things would be different. I dreamed of some romantic reunion. I don't know what this means for us. I don't know what it means for my daughters.  

I could just give this up and leave town and go work for her Dad. I could just resign and move on. Her parents live an hour away and Lewisburg is a nice town. He told me that he'd give me a list of customers so I wouldn't be starting off with nothing. Maybe that would make Emily see that there are things more important to me than being Sheriff. In that town, I could just be some guy who makes a living, not the ex-high school quarterback. I'd get eaten alive by everyone in this town, but it's not like they've been supportive of me. This is too much for anyone to take. I wonder who they would get to replace me? Josh. He'd be the most logical, and he covers for me when I'm out. 

Shit, I couldn't do that. I can't just dump all of this at Josh's feet. I'm going to have to see this through. I have to see this to the end. I'll get a handle on this and tie it down to Glenn and close it out. I can do this. Just like when I would be down in the fourth quarter, I would move the ball and put the game away. Same thing here. Take this over, put the team on my back and drive this home.  

I drive on and get closer to the trailer park. He probably went right out of it onto 50 and was going to cut over Lincoln's Hollow to go straight into town. I pass Golden Acres, cruise over a crest and can see the destruction at the bottom of the hill. 

Pete's car is wedged into a large oak tree that sits right on the shoulder of the highway. The front of his car is wrapped around the bottom of the tree and the sirens still flash blue and red. I'm the first one here. I pull up behind the car and call in that I'm at the scene. I jump out of my seat and rush to Pete's cruiser. He is slumped over the steering wheel. His face has deep lacerations running across it and his neck has the same wound as the rest of the victims. I feel for a pulse but it comes up empty.