Shan, Darren - Cirque Du Freak 02 - The Vampire's Assistant

R.V. shook his head sadly. "These are crazy times, man," he said. "The things we're doing to this planet … In the future — assuming there is one — people will look back on what we've done and call us idiotic barbarians."

He was very passionate about the environment, and after listening to him for a while, so were Sam, Evra and me. I hadn't thought about it much before, but after a couple of hours with R.V., I realized I should have. As R.V. said, those who don't think and act now can't complain when the world crumbles around their ears later.

His campsite was an interesting place. The people — twenty or so — slept in handmade huts that had been built out of branches and leaves and shrubs. Most were as dirty and smelly as R.V., but they were also cheerful and kind and generous.

"How did you stop the road from being built?" Sam asked.

"We dug tunnels under the land," R.V. said. "And we sabotaged the machines they sent in. And we alerted the media. Rich dudes hate having cameras pointed at them. One TV news crew is as good as twenty active warriors."

Evra asked R.V. if they ever fought hand to hand. R.V. said NOP didn't believe in violent confrontation, but we could see from the look on his face that he wasn't happy about that. "If I had my way," he said, "we'd give as good as we got. We're too nice sometimes. Man, if I was in charge, we'd give those turkeys a taste of hell!"

R.V. invited us to stay for lunch. It wasn't very good food — there was no meat, just a bunch of vegetables and rice and fruit — but we ate a lot to be polite.

They had lots of mushrooms as well — big and oddly colored — but R.V. wouldn't let us eat any of those.

"When you're older, man," he said with a laugh.

We left soon after lunch. The members of NOP had duties and jobs they had to do, and we didn't want to be in the way.

R.V. told us we could come back any time, but that they'd probably be moving on in a couple of days.

"We've almost won the fight here," he said. "Another few days and it'll be time to strike out for new pastures. Battles come and go, man, but the war is never-ending."

We waved good-bye and headed for home.

"That R.V.'s weird," Sam said after a while. "Can you imagine giving up everything to go off and fight for animals and the countryside?"

"He's doing what he believes in," Evra said.

"I know," Sam said. "I think it's cool that he's doing it. We need people like him. It's too bad there aren't more of them. Still, it's a weird way to live, don't you think? You'd have to be pretty dedicated. I don't thinkI could become an environmental warrior."

"Me neither," I agreed.

"I could," Evra said.

"You could not," I scoffed.

"Why not?" he asked. "I could take my snake and live with them and fight with them."

"You just couldn't," I insisted.

"Why not?"

"Because you're not smelly enough!" I laughed.

Evra made a face. "Theywere a little on the crunchy-granola side, weren't they?" he admitted.

"They smell worse than my feet when I haven't changed my socks for a week!" Sam exclaimed.

"Still," Evra said, "I can think of lots of worst-ways to spend my time when I grow up. I'd kind of like to be like R.V."

"Me, too," Sam said.

I shrugged. "I guess I could get used to it."

We were in a good mood and talked about NOP and R.V. the whole way back to camp. None of us had any idea of the trouble the nice ecowarrior would soon create … or the tragedy he would unintentionally cause.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The next few days went by lazily. Evra and me were kept busy with our chores and with feeding the Little People. I'd tried talking to a couple of the silent blue-hooded creatures, but none of them looked at me when I spoke.

It was impossible to tell them apart. One stood out because he — or she (or it) — was taller than the others, and one was shorter, and another limped on his left leg. But the rest looked exactly alike.

Sam was helping out more and more around the camp. We didn't take him with us when we went hunting, but we let him pitch in with most of our other jobs. He was a hard worker, determined to impress us and earn himself a full-time position with the Cirque.

I didn't see much of Mr. Crepsley. He knew I had to be up early to hunt for the Little People's food, so he left me alone most of the time. I was happy that way; I didn't want him bugging me about drinking human blood.

Then Cormac Limbs arrived early one morning, which caused great excitement.

"You've got to see this guy," Evra said, dragging me behind him. "He's the most amazing performer who ever lived."

There was already a large crowd around Cormac when we arrived at Mr. Tall's van (where he reported in to). People were slapping him on the back and asking what he'd been up to and where he'd been. He smiled at everybody, shook hands, and answered questions. He might have been a star, but he wasn't big-headed.

"Evra Von!" he shouted when he saw the snake-boy. He reached over and gave Evra a hug. "How's my favorite two-legged reptile?"

"Fine," Evra said.

"Have you shed your skin lately?" Cormac asked.