The Traveling Vampire Show

Rusty led the way, and I kept an eye out for Lee’s pickup. We made good progress. Everything went okay for a while. But as we were sneaking alongside a Volkswagen, I glimpsed pale movement in its driver’s seat. Couldn’t see what it was, but I blurted, “Watch out!”

Not knowing what the problem was, Rusty stopped and twisted around to look back at me. The twisting swept his face past the open window.

“No! Get… !”

But he kept turning, luckily. His right upper arm, not his face, caught the dog’s teeth. They clamped him through his shirt. He cried out in pain and lurched away.

The dog, hanging on, flew out of the car window. Might’ve been a white poodle. What they call a “toy.” It looked like a toy, all right. Like a kid’s stuffed doggie doll. But it growled like a real dog.

It swung by its jaws as Rusty twirled. “Get it off! Get it off!”

I tried to grab it, but it swung by too fast. And then it lost its hold, sailed off, and slammed against the shut window of the Chevy that was parked beside the VW. The dog yipped, bounced off the window and fell to the ground at Rusty’s feet. He tried to kick it, but missed.

To get away from us, it scurried underneath the Chevy. About half a second later, it screamed.

If dogs can scream, that’s what this one did—as if it had run into a nameless horror on the ground beneath the car.

One quick shriek, then silence.

Rusty and I stared at each other. His mouth was drooping open. He held Slim’s knife in his right hand while his left arm was across his chest, hand clutching his wound.

We didn’t say anything, just stared at each other.

No sounds at all came from under the Chevy.

Rusty suddenly whirled around and took off. I went after him. We cut to the right, climbed over bumpers and hurried through a narrow gap.

Rusty leaped over the side of an old gray pickup truck. I didn’t, but I hung onto the side and gasped for air. Sprawled on his back in the bed of the truck, he held his chomped arm while he panted.

We were both too breathless to talk.

From where I stood, I could see that we’d made our way across most of Janks Field. There was only one more row of parked vehicles before the BEER—SNACKS—SOUVENIRS stand.

The shack was open, its door-sized flap raised and propped up at each end. It was brightly lighted inside. Julian Stryker in his shiny black shirt stood behind the counter, apparently selling tickets for the show. There must’ve been twenty people waiting in line. I recognized about half of them.

I saw no twins.

Lee wasn’t in the line, either. But why should she be? She already had her ticket. Maybe she was already in the bleachers.

Or dead in the back of the hearse.

Where is the hearse? I suddenly wondered.

The Traveling Vampire Show’s hearse, the black moving van and the bus were nowhere in sight. Maybe they’d been moved to the area on the far side of the bleachers.

Normally, I could look all the way through the stands and see whatever was over there. Normally, though, the stands were empty. Not tonight.

Tonight, the nearest bank of bleachers, about twenty-five or thirty feet high, was jammed with people. Through the spaces above and below the bench seats, I could see the backs of their legs. But I couldn’t see much of the arena or the stands on the other side.

Down on the ground, the ticket line looked no shorter but had a few different people in it. Several customers were entering the stands. Others were heading for the ticket line from the direction of the dirt road where they’d probably left their cars.

“Hey,” Rusty said.

I looked at him. He was still on his back, still clutching his arm, but now he had his knees up.

“What the hell’s goin’ on?” he asked.

“Stryker’s selling tickets….”

“The dog, man, the dog.”

“It’s a bad day for dogs,” I said.

“What happened to it?”

“How should I know? How’s your arm?”

“How the hell y’think it is?” He took his hand away. The sleeve of his shirt, dark with blood, was clinging to his upper arm.

“You’re gonna need rabies shots,” I said.

“Awww, man. Don’t say that.”

“And we’d better forget about trying to get into the Vampire Show.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t go in there. Not all bloody like that. The blood’ll bring vampires like chum brings sharks. You said so yourself.”

“Me?”

“This morning. To Slim.”

“Yeah, well…. Screw that. I’m not gonna miss the show.” He lowered his knees, sat up and took off his shirt. Then he looked at his arm. “Can’t believe it,” he muttered. “Fuckin’ dogs.”

I nodded, but he didn’t see me. He was too busy studying the holes in his arm.

“What is it,” he grumbled, “a fuckin’ conspiracy?”

I shrugged. “Just coincidences, I guess.”

“A fuckin’ dog made your dad crash.”

“Guess so.”

“Not to mention the fuckin’ one-eyed wonder.”

When he said that, I pictured that dog getting speared to death by Stryker and his gang.

Where is his gang? I wondered.

Looking around, I spotted a couple of them near the entrance to the grandstands, taking tickets. I didn’t see any others. Just those two, and Stryker in the shack.