Part 50 (1/2)
A casual glance confirmed that David Hunter was not among them. Neither were Nia James or Chief Jackson.
Nevertheless, Kyle summoned his army. The time for battle was near.
Jackson and Jahlil roared across town, siren wailing.
A crackling voice on the walkie-talkie it sounded like Mac shouted that something like twenty vampires roamed outside the hospital. ”One of the head honchos is with them, too,” Mac said. ”Tall, dark-skinned fella, wearing black, looks young. You gotta hurry up and get here, Chief.” Mac's voice quavered. He sounded truly scared.
”Is Hunter there?” Jackson asked.
”We lost him on the way over,” Mac said. ”Think he stopped for something.”
”s.h.i.+t,” Jackson said. He hoped that David was okay. The last thing they needed was to lose Hunter. ”We'll be there in a few, Mac. Hold it down”
”Yes, sir.” The radio sputtered into silence.
”I'm kinda scared, Dad,” Jahlil said. Holding his shotgun on his lap, he stroked the barrel as if for rea.s.surance. ”What if... what if we can't win?”
Jackson glanced at his son. He understood the true fear that weighed on Jahlil's mind. But Jahlil was afraid to say it.
What if you die, Dad? was the fear that Jackson realized tormented his son.
”Anything like that happens, you call Hunter,” Jackson said. ”He'll know what to do”
”But I hardly know that guy, Dad. I mean, he seems cool, but...
”You can trust him. He's a good man. I talked to him earlier about backup plans, guess you'd call them”
”Oh” Jahlil wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He laughed, but it was a nervous sound. ”Forget this, man, I'm gonna start thinking positive. Didn't you used to always say, 'If you can believe it, you can achieve it'?”
”That was me”
”I'm gonna take your advice. This one time.” Jahlil chuckled again, and this time, Jackson laughed, too.
Nothing, Jackson thought, is as important as keeping up hope. Hope was like food, nouris.h.i.+ng you, making it possible to endure what seemed unbearable. A man without any hope was practically dead inside.
But sometimes, hope didn't save the day. Jackson didn't have the heart to tell his son that he had believed, and hoped, that his wife would conquer her cancer. Didn't want to crush his boy's optimism. Just as it was important to nurture hope on your own, so was it important to allow someone to hold tight to his own hope, even when his efforts might be in vain.
The hospital would be around the next corner.
David slumped against a tree, recovering from the incident with Franklin, while inside the Pathfinder, King bustled around impatiently.
He and Nia had taken the young woman upon whom Franklin had preyed inside her house, and laid her body across the living-room sofa. She remained unconscious as they moved her, purple-red puncture wounds glowing on her neck. Undoubtedly, she was already mutating into a vampire.
The thought sickened and angered David. How many other people in town had been bitten and were quietly undergoing the same terrible transformation? They didn't have much time before they lost everyone to Diallo and his bloodthirsty minions.
”We've got to go,” he said. His watch read half-past ten. ”We've got to help the team at the hospital.”
”I hate to bring this up, but what should we do about Franklin's body?” Nia asked. ”Should we come back later?”
”Yeah” He refused to look around and see Franklin's corpse. ”We'll take care of it later.”
As they shuffled back to the SUV, King flew into a frenzy, barking and pawing the windows.
What's gotten into him? David thought. King had freaked out before they'd discovered Franklin feeding on the woman, too. Did the dog have a keen nose for evil?
David looked around. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
King stood in the s.p.a.ce between the front seats, growling. David locked gazes with the canine, and it struck him, sud denly, what King was going to attempt. He had lived with the dog long enough to be able to predict its actions.
Nia opened the pa.s.senger door.
”Don't let him get out!” David said.
King bolted through the doorway in a gray-black streak, knocking Nia aside as he ran.
”King, get back here!” David scrambled after the dog. ”Stop!”
The dog did not heed his call. King galloped across a yard and disappeared in the murky shadows behind the house.
”Come back, King!” David chased him.
But King was not in the backyard. A dark alley ran behind the property, and David went to the edge and looked both ways. He did not see any sign of King. The dog could've run anywhere.
It was a dangerous night for men and dogs alike. David's worst fear was that King would be attacked by one of those h.e.l.lhounds and become a member of Diallo's murderous hordes.
Nia ran up beside David. ”Where is he?”
”The h.e.l.l if I know.” If David's hair were longer, he would've grabbed it in his fists and pulled it out in tufts. ”He's never run off like this. I don't know what's the matter with him.”
”I'm so sorry, David. I shouldn't have let him get out”
”It's not your fault. I should've left King at home in the first place. d.a.m.n” He marched to the truck and got the dog leash.
”I know we're supposed to be helping at the hospital, but I can't leave my dog out there,” he said. ”No telling what could happen to him.”
”I'll go look for him,” Nia said. ”I've lost one dog today, and I'm not losing another one if I can help it. Give me the leash”
”Are you nuts? I'm not letting you walk around alone out here”
”I'll have my piece with me ”” She patted the holstered gun on her hip. ”You can cruise around the block looking for King, and I'll look for him on foot. It makes more sense, David. I can run faster than you. Former track athlete, remember?”
”You're right, but I have a bad feeling about this.” He pressed the leash into her palm. ”Okay, whether we find King or not, we meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
”We'll find him, I promise,” she said. ”See you in fifteen.”
David watched her leave.
She can protect herself, he reminded himself. h.e.l.l, she can handle a gun better than I can, knows how to fight, and runs like a gazelle. She'll be fine.
But why did he have such an awful feeling of dread?