Beheaded (Vampin Book Series #8), Page 2

  Chapter 2

  Over the next few days, Misaki came around and took Starr on walks along the bank. She’d even practiced Tai Chi – tuishou with her.

  “Why did you never tell me? You know I’m miserable because I don’t have anyone to practice martial arts with!”

  “Because I didn’t want to practice with you, silly.” She laughed. “You’d kill me! But I think it’s good for your recovery. I was teaching Lily before she ran off with Lucenzo, but she just got bored. She has this crazy idea that she wants to be a warrior of some sort, but she doesn’t have the patience to properly learn.”

  Starr laughed and nodded her head. What she said about Lily was true: she was all romantic notions with not an ounce of discipline or perseverance.

  With each stretch, she felt tugs and pulls on certain tendons and muscles. Sometimes, the exercises made her cry out, but with each repetition came a bit more ease.

  By the end of the week, she was able to stay awake for hours, as opposed to minutes, without passing out.

  Both Michael and Chanler kept a watchful eye on her, helping whenever they could. After a while, they became unbearable to be around. When Michael tried to take over feeding her, as her arms were still too weak to hold things for extended time, Chanler punched him in the face, sending him clear through the wall into the next room.

  Misaki ordered them to stay out of Starr’s room, permanently.

  Her parents still slept in the den. They flat out refused to leave. A couple times, Starr caught them staring at her.

  Her mother was the most irritating. She was perfectly skilled at acting like there was nothing wrong in the world. She could be found, going about mothering all the kids until they were rolling their eyes and cursing under their breath.

  Despite the situation with her parents, and everything wrong in the world, Starr couldn’t help but be extremely chipper when, one morning, she woke up on her own. Up until that point, she’d slept like she was in a coma, and only woke when someone decided they wanted to talk to her. To wake up on her own was a sign that her brain was returning to a normal state.

  Happily, she decided to take a shower on her own, too, though Misaki checked in on her, periodically.

  Down in the kitchen, she was greeted by all the kids who clapped and cheered for her obvious healing improvement.

  “Health improvement seems like kind of the wrong words,” Misaki said, “especially considering you’re not, technically, alive.

  “Are you gonna have breakfast with us?” Lucas asked.

  She smiled and said, “Yeah, I think so. The sausages smell really good.”

  Like a gentlemen, he stood up and pulled the closest chair, to her, out. She leaned on his shoulder as she settled down into the seat, and he gently pushed the chair inward.

  “Coffee?” he offered.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “I’ll get it,” said her mother.

  Lucas sat back down and tried to serve her food.

  “No, I’ll do it.” She leaned forward and pulled the plate of sausages toward her.

  “Your speech is much better,” said her mother, as she set a white, hot mug in front of her. “I didn’t know you drink coffee.”

  Starr opened her mouth to say something spiteful, but Chanler put his hand on her lap and squeezed, gently.

  “Wanna go for a walk after breakfast?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said, eyeing Michael as she said this.

  He smiled and shook his head.

  As they finished breakfast, a loud rumbling rattled the windows of the kitchen and vibrated up through the floors, shaking the table.

  Then, through the window over the sink, they watched a black helicopter settle down onto the bald patch that Lucenzo and the others cleared of trees, weeks ago.

  Starr recognized the helicopter at once.

  She and the others went outside. The door slid open and out came a couple members of the Fleet: Alin, Saul and Michelle.

  Starr felt like the coffee in her stomach had turned to acid, and was burning through her stomach lining.

  “Hey, Starr,” said Alin. “I hope you’re doing better. I’m so sorry about what happened.”

  “Hi, Starr,” said Saul.

  Michelle, who paid no attention to Starr, walked up to Chanler and kissed him on lips.

  The acid in her stomach burned up into her esophagus.

  “What are you guys doing here?” asked Starr, slightly annoyed.

  “We told Chanler that we’d meet him back here,” Alin replied, sounding shocked at Starr’s disdain.

  “We can’t stay,” said Michelle, looking at Chanler. “We need to go to Georgia, immediately.”

  “Why now? What’s the rush?” he asked.

  “Vampires stormed the Parliament’s Chamber.”

  “Which chamber?”

  “Romania’s,” Saul said “We think Lucenzo and Amir have, somehow, organized these new vampires to march together.”

  “What do you mean by march? They’re crazy, mindless zombies, like rabid dogs.” Chanler said.

  “We’re not sure,” Alin answered. “We were having a meeting with the prime minister and his secretary when we were attacked by at least a thousand of them.”

  Starr heard the others gasp and make sounds of shock.

  “How many survived?” asked Starr.

  “Everyone is dead. We think there may be a plan to try and pull off something similar here,” said Saul. “We need you to come with us, now, to the CDC.”

  “I can’t. You guys have to go without me.”

  “What?” Michelle shouted. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t leave everyone, here, unprotected.”

  She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him back over to the helicopter where they argued, ferociously.

  “Okay,” said Alin, rolling his eyes. “We need to go, and we need you to come with us, too, Starr.”

  “Absolutely not!” said Starr’s mother.

  “Mother, shut up!”

  “Starr, don’t talk to your mother that way!”

  “Dad, shut up!”

  Chanler stormed back up to the group.

  “Alin, there is no way that Starr can go anywhere. She’s still recovering.”

  “We can’t leave her behind; Credenza’s orders.”

  “Credenza’s orders were to protect Starr, and so I’m staying. Besides, where’s Credenza? When’s the last time we heard from her? Not since before the virus broke out. We don’t even know if she’s alive.”

  “Well, then, I’m staying too,” said Michelle hotly.

  “Michelle, you can’t stay,” said Saul adamantly.

  “Michelle!” said Alin through clenched teeth. “Get your ass on the helicopter.”

  She walked away without another word.

  “I swear she is driving me cr-r-r-azy,” Alin rolled his r harshly. “I don’t know how you put up with it,” he shot at Chanler.

  “I expect Starr should be capable of a mission in a week or so,” said Chanler.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that, but I expect you all to be ready to leave when we come back. No excuses!” said Alin.

  They walked back to the helicopter. One by one, they leapt in and closed the door, but then, they just sat there.

  Everyone stood, watching in silence and wondering what the heck they were doing.

  Finally, the door slid back open and Saul leapt out, followed by the others. They huddled around the engine.

  Chanler walked down to them.

  After a few moments, he returned.

  “They’ll have to stay here until it’s working again.”

  “They’ll have to sleep in the attic,” said Shane.

  So Michelle and Chanler spent the day cleaning out the attic while Alin and Saul worked on the helicopter. Every so often, Alin would run off down the road to other people’s cabins and look for parts.

  Starr managed to stay awake for most of the day, though the feeli
ng of acid in her stomach was what motivated her.

  That day, the kids spent more time outside. Starr supposed they felt safer with the Fleet members around; either that or the screaming and shouting that came from the attic was driving them crazy.

  She sat on the dock watching as they fished planters out of the water and jumped off the dock, just like before they were attacked by the vampire mob and Starr was reduced to nearly a quadriplegic.

  Misaki walked past the helicopter, down the dock and sat next to her.

  “Michelle and Chanler are still fighting,” she said with a slight smirk. “Why doesn’t he just break up with her? She’s a major you-know-what.”

  “I don’t know,” said Starr, pretending not to care, yet using her mind to probe the house and see what they were arguing about.

  “Because when people make promises to each other, they should keep them,” said Shane, sounding irritated.

  “What’s up, Shane? What’s your problem, now?”

  “Well, for one, it just seems that trouble follows you wherever you go. Now, instead of these so called Fleet members going off and taking care of business, they’re stuck here because of you.”

  “How can you blame Starr for a helicopter breaking down? For all you know, if they hadn’t stopped, the helicopter would have stopped midair, and they’d have all died in a crash,” said Misaki angrily.

  To her surprise, Misty came to her defense, too. “If it wasn’t for Starr, none of us would be here right now. We’d still be stuck in the city, smelling burning bodies and risking being blown to pieces by the government. I’d say we’re pretty lucky.”

  “What about everything I’ve done for you and for this group, but all you ever do is criticize and guilt-trip me. I don’t know what your problem is, but whatever it is, you need to deal with it and stop putting your issues on me. If you don’t like the situation, then leave. No one is keeping you here.”

  She looked at them all, rolled her eyes and walked off.

  “Don’t worry, Starr. She’s just scared. She wants this nightmare to be over with, and for everything to go back to the way it was before,” said Misaki.

  “I know, but I’m sick of her always blaming me for things. I don’t understand why she doesn’t pick on someone else.”

  “You take on the responsibility for the group. We all look to you, which makes you an easy target for blame and anger.”

  “Yeah, well, tell her to get some therapy,” said Kay, as she reeled in a halibut. “She’s driving us all crazy.”

  The Fleet members were there for several more days. Alin and Saul went to town to search the general store for more parts.

  Chanler stopped coming to visit Starr. Michael noticed and looked after Starr when Misaki couldn’t.

  “I don’t know what you see in that backstabber,” he said to her. “He needs to make a choice and stop stringing you along. Look how he treated me, out of jealousy, yet he has a girlfriend. Oh come on, let me kick his ass for you?”

  “Haha,” she laughed. “No don’t. It’s not worth it.”

  Michelle rarely stayed in the same room with Starr, and was hardly seen at meal times.

  “That’s because she knows she’s in the enemy’s house,” Marla said smartly.

  Chanler didn’t talk to Starr again, until one evening when she sat on the dock, alone, watching yellow and gold rays expand across the sky and turn to violent shades of orange. Birds flew to their resting places in the trees.

  “Hey, Starr,” he said.

  She started, and blood rushed in her head.

  More quickly than she’d moved in days, her hands flew to her head to put pressure on the back, where it pulsated, painfully.

  “Oh my, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you, or cause you pain.”

  She propped her elbows on her knees, rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes: it was all she could do when her head pained her.

  “I’m sorry about Michelle and how she’s been behaving.”

  She said nothing and continued to rub her scalp.

  “She senses that there is something between us.”

  She re opened her eyes and sat up.

  “Did you tell her that there wasn’t?”

  “Yes, but I think she can tell that I wish there was.” He moved closer to her.

  He reached out for her hand, but she pulled back quickly.

  “Wow, your reflexes are certainly bouncing back.”

  “Look, Chanler, just go back to your girlfriend and stay away from me.”

  He reached out for her hand again, and said, “Starr…” She pulled back once more, stood and walked to the end of the dock.

  “Starr, I like you but I’m seventy years older than you. Michelle, well, she’s been there for me, for a very long time. It’s just not that simple.”

  Looking at the water, she said, “I know it’s not, which is why I’m making it simple for you. When the helicopter is fixed, go to Georgia, to the CDC, and don’t come back. Stop leading me to believe that you care about me.”

  He walked up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders, but she didn’t want to talk anymore. She turned and said, “Eventually, even the closest of friends need to part ways.”

  And then she made her way back up to the house. As she neared the back door, from her left, beyond the garden, she heard a rustling in the trees.

  “Hello?” she said timidly. “Who’s there?”

  When no one answered, she went to inspect.

  She walked through the garden, past the roses and the peach tree.

  The trees rustled once more. She tried to pick up a scent but got nothing. Since being beheaded, that sense had gone to hell, too.

  Unsure if she’d be able to kill a vampire, Starr went back to the house.

  Mica was helping her mother make dinner. She stood over a mound of potatoes, raking them at the speed of light with a peeler. Her mother watched her, looking extremely pleased. The scene reminded Starr of how much she hated peeling potatoes, and how Mom always made her do it anyway.

  She asked Mica into the garden.

  Together, they walked outside as Starr explained what she’d seen and heard. Mica picked up the spare machete that hung on a nail to the side of house and disappeared into the trees.

  When she came back, she was empty handed. “I didn’t see anything,” she said.

  Departures