You Were What You Eat

30. The Horror Show

"What do I need?" he asked, shifting his weight slightly, moving closer to her. As he gently reached out and touched her upper arm, his eyes became cold and filled with malice. His charming smile changed into a cruel leer, exposing his long, sharp fangs. "I need...you."

He said it with wicked delight, as if the only purpose of the statement was to terrify the girl. It worked. She started backing up, a look of panic on her face. But Fredrick's gentle touch on her shoulder had morphed into a vice-like grip, keeping her in place. She opened her mouth, but before she could even scream for help, Fredrick leapt at her.

The attack was as quick as it was brutal. He lunged down at her with lightning speed, closing the small distance between them almost instantly. He didn't even bother to put the girl into a trance first, and even from this distance, Anna could see the horror on her face. She would be awake for every gruesome moment until the lack of blood finally got to her. She struggled in vain to get away, but Fredrick's iron grasp was too tight. The more she struggled, the tighter his grip became. His knuckles turned white, and Anna was afraid he was going to break the girl's arm.

While she was still trying to get away, Fredrick causally reached up with his free hand and grabbed her head. Her delicate muscles were no match for the brute force he possessed, and he was easily able to pull her neck back and to the side. Expertly, Fredrick bent the girl backwards at the waist and leaned down in kind, as if he was taking the lead in some macabre dance.

The angle they were now at allowed Anna to see the young girl's face – and all the fear in it – quite clearly. Fortunately for Anna, the girl would have been unable to see her through the leafy plumage even if she had been looking that far away. Instead, she was looking down as best she could at Fredrick, straining desperately to see what he was doing.

The girl screamed, and Anna was unsure if it was from seeing Fredrick's malicious fangs so close to her, or if it was from the force with which he ripped them into her neck. She fought as hard as she could, the punctures in her neck giving rise to fresh panic. After several seconds of useless fighting, the girl's eyes slowly started to glaze over from lack of blood. And when they did, her movements slowed, becoming a mere shadow of the valiant effort she'd put up earlier. Finally, her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp in his arms.

Fredrick stayed for several minutes, drinking his fill. When he was finished, he pulled his head away from the girl's slender neck, a satisfied smirk on his face. Even across all this distance, Anna could hear his cold snicker, and a chill ran down her spine.

Blood dripped out of Fredrick's mouth, a few drops landing on the ground. The girl was now ghostly pale, but it didn't seem to concern Fredrick in the least. He didn't drop her, but he didn't let her down gently, either. It was more like he discarded her. He leaned down with her as far as he could without bending his knees. When she was as close to the ground as he could get her without the inconvenience of having to actually set her there, he dropped her, allowing her unconscious body to fall to the pavement. Fredrick looked down at the girl laying at his feet and smiled coldly.

"Thank you." he said evenly. "That's all."

And with that, he stepped lightly over her limp form and walked casually through the parking lot towards his car, whistling a carefree tune as he went. He never even looked back.

***

Anna was shocked by what she'd just seen. Fredrick's attack was unnecessarily brutal, and watching it had been exceptionally difficult. Her mouth hanging open, she looked first at Mia and then, almost dreading what she'd see, turned towards Carmine. Mia was sitting there, her jaw clenched, rage filling her eyes. Carmine, on the other hand, looked a little sick. She closed her eyes and turned away from the other two.

Anna darted out of the bushes, away from the fence. As quickly as she could, she sprinted along the sidewalk, back towards the bikes laying in a heap on the grass. With one graceful leap, she flew over the pile of pipes and gears, never slowing down. She continued until she reached the end of the parking lot where the fence stopped. Quickly rounding the hedge, Anna hurried towards the unconscious figure still laying crumpled on the pavement. Her mind was racing almost as fast as her feet; she just had to know that the girl was alright. It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like the longest run of her life. Slowly, she knelt down next to the poor girl and felt for her pulse.

Anna looked back at her friends, who were now themselves running across the parking lot, each girl's look of worry mirroring Anna's own feelings. As they approached, Anna looked at them solemnly.

"Her pulse is weak." she told them. "I think we need to get her to a hospital – soon."

Mia and Carmine both looked upset at the news, clearly hoping it looked worse than it really was.

"How are we going to get her there?" Carmine asked flatly, as if in shock.

"Do either of you even know where the hospital is from here?" Mia wanted to know. "'Cause I don't."

Both Anna and Carmine shook their heads slowly.

Suddenly, a look of realization flashed dully across Carmine's face. "Oh." she said, and fumbled absentmindedly with something in her pocket. Carmine got whatever it was out held it up to her ear. A cell phone. After a moment of silence, Carmine spoke dazedly into the phone.

"I think we need an ambulance at the Lakeside movie theater...A girl's here – unconscious. She's really pale."

Carmine hung up the phone, assuring her friends that someone would be there within ten minutes.

It was the longest ten minutes of Anna's life. She sat there on the cold, hard pavement next to the unconscious girl's body. Mia, who was standing beside Anna, reached down and put a hand on her shoulder in an awkward attempt to reassure her.

Carmine stood somewhat back from them, staring off in the direction that Fredrick had gone. None of them spoke. No one knew what to say. What could they say after something like this? So they sat there in silence, each alone with their own dark thoughts.