Justin, now in the drivers' seat, stepped on the gas pedal hard. Within a half hour, they were over the bridge and into Manhattan. They passed Union Square, where, during the day, the Farmer's Market was set up. Now, however, it was deserted except for a few skaters and skateboarders. After all, it was almost 11:00 pm.
Suddenly Diana sat up straight. She started yelling from the back seat, "Hey, I think I know that guy!"
Ren, half asleep and sitting in the trunk, groaned. "Keep your voice down!" He whined.
"Hey Justin, stop the car," Cassie said, "Diana, who are you talking about?"
"That guy over there, on the corner," Diana was pointing at a guy about 16, in Union Square, "the one with the black skull t-shirt." She got out of the car. "TOZZI?!"
"Hey, Diana!" Tozzi grinned happily, acting as if it had only been two days, rather than two years since they had seen each other. "What's up?"
Diana had known Tozzi when she was in 7th grade and he was in 8th. She had a huge crush on him then, and she still thought about him a lot.
Diana grinned back at Tozzi, accidentally exposing her fangs. "God! You've changed," said Tozzi, looking surprised. His eyes seemed to be someplace else, as if he was looking right into what little soul she had left.
"Um, Tozzi?" said Diana, "You knew I liked you... Right?"
"Of course! Everybody did! Did you know that I liked you?"
"Kind of."
Tozzi seemed transfixed upon Diana. He seemed as if he couldn't pull his eyes away. "Hey, Diana," he said, "Do you want to go steady, right here, right now? Please? I...I...I love you, Diana!"
Now, even as an evil vampire, Diana kept her feelings hidden from Tozzi. "Um...Yeah!...Only one thing."
"What? I seem to be drawn to you and can't help it."
"I'm a vampire! Will you join me and my friends?"
Tozzi seemed uneasy at this, "Only if I can be with you! It sounds cool enough."
And so, Diana bit Tozzi's neck as carefully as she could. There seemed to be almost too much love in that bite. The husky boy with the bad beard held his head in his hands as he transformed. He seemed in great pain. But in a matter of minutes he was back up, fangs and all, "Whoa! What a rush," he laughed, "Could we play Iron Maiden in the truck?"
"I don't know," said Diana.
They climbed in the back seat and the truck just sat there for a while. Every girl had her man. Every guy had a gal. This was all too perfect.
It seemed as if being a vampire made you this love magnet. Weird, no?
Diana and Tozzi took to lip locking. This was a dream come true, at least for Diana. Meanwhile, Cassie and Justin began to sing "99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall." They continued with this until Diana growled, "Do you mind? We are busy!!!" Cassie and Justin laughed and grinned at each other....
This was a true love car. You had four couples who were busy practicing 'optometry.' Meanwhile, their dear servant Ren was up on the roof, trying with all his might to catch bugs in his mouth. It actually worked!
After this brief love session, Justin started the car. Everybody just sat back and talked. "Where should we go now?" said Cassie, as they began driving out of the city.
"I know," said Luke, "let's go on a road trip! Like in From Dusk Till Dawn."
"Yeah," said Diana, "we could commit crimes, and drive all around and nobody would stop us!"
Most everybody agreed with this. All except Ren. "I want to go to an ant farm," he said, sounding very annoyed.
"No, Ren," said Luke.
"Shut up, Master Luke," said Ren, "and Masters, I would like a girl."
"What type?" asked Maggie, sarcastically.
"One that likes bugs," said Ren, "bugs. Loves bugs, Mistress Maggie. Do any of you girls like bugs?" asked Ren.
"No!" yelled all of the girls in unison.
"Thanks anyway," said Ren, "I'm missing bugs."
All of a sudden, out of the blue, they heard a siren. "Oh my god," said Tozzi, "It's the coppers! They'll never take us alive." Justin pulled over to the side of the road.
Out of the car came a young cop in shades and a helmet. He had a big top, and his legs seemed small compared to the rest of him. He had a thick brow, and a 5 o'clock shadow. "Hey kids," he said to them, "does this driver have a license? And do you realize that it is also illegal to drive with somebody on the roof of your car? Could you all step out of the vehicle, please?"
They all got out of the truck, but no sooner had they, then Tozzi had sunk his teeth into the cop's neck, draining him of all his blood. Meanwhile, Francine and Luke had taken care of the other cop. "Hey Diana," said Cassie, "now what should we do?"
"I think that we should bury the bodies," Diana said, not aware that three black tears were rolling down her cheek.
"Oh my God! We just killed two cops," said Maggie. Luke stared down at the lifeless corpses stained with blood. The road was covered with blood.
"We really should bury them," said Tozzi.
And so, with nothing said, the savage adolescents dragged the bodies of the cops into the woods where they got nothing more than a shallow grave.
On the way back to the car, nobody spoke except for Ren. He was busy hunting ants, grubs, spiders, beetles, termites, and basically any other creature with an exo-skeleton which he could get his grubby little hands on.
Once they were all in the truck, they quickly drove off. This time, though, Tozzi was in the drivers' seat. He was the oldest and looked the oldest. Also, Ren was riding in the trunk with Francine and Shawn, rather than up on the roof.
"Did you see those cops?" said Justin, "they were so...dead."
"I know," said Diana, "and the worst part is that I feel very little guilt."
"I don't feel any," said Luke.
"Me either," said Tozzi.
"I feel a bit guilty," admitted Shawn.
"Me too," said Cassie.
"I'm more worried about the cops catching us," said Maggie.
"They can't really do anything to us," said Francine, "remember we're all vampires. Technically, we're already dead." Shawn looked her back in the eyes, and they held hands. They smiled at each other.
"I thought that it was kind of funny when you and Luke went right after that cop in the car," laughed Diana, "I saw you two. You were both sucking straight from his wrists. It was so hideous, it was funny." Diana was now truly evil. The same could be said for her comrades, for they all snickered at this.
In a bit, they were all back to normal (for them, that is), laughing and joking. The sun had set, and it was dark and quiet out on the lonely roads. The only noise came from the brightly lit truck, which at this point, wasn't really going in any specific direction. At about 12:30 am, they pulled into the parking lot of a mini mall.
The truck came to a halt, and Tozzi turned off the motor. Crickets were chirping, and the night sky had set in long ago.
"Hey, there's a King Custard," said Luke. A glare went from Maggie to him.
"Do they sell bugs?" asked Ren with a watering mouth. "Are they big and crunchy with lots of feelers?"
"SHUT UP, Ren!" Everybody yelled together. He was getting so annoying!
"I'm starving," said Cassie, "I need blood. Or at least chocolate. Let's go get something to eat. Look! There's a supermarket over there."
"I think we need a place to spend the night," said Francine."I'm hungry too," said Justin, "I need blood again."
"I'm just going to keep driving," said Tozzi, who turned the motor back on and backed out of the parking lot. They continued to drive down the dark highway, with much bickering taking place. Now, things were said to certain people, and in no time at all, they were all mean and grumpy. This is not a good thing for a vampire to be. Everybody sulked, and their red eyes gleamed in the dark. Nobody spoke. In the mean time, Ren had found what was left of the vodka and was working on his fourth bottle. He was only half-conscious and was completely drunk. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there came a scream. Tozzi slammed on the brakes.
"What the hell?!" Maggie screamed from the back of the truck.
"I hit somebody, I think," said Tozzi, "Maybe they're dead? Cool! Let's go see!"
The entire crew of vampires exited from the car. They all went out to the front of the car, where they found a dark groaning figure underneath it.
"Is he alive?" asked Diana.
"Is it O.K.?" asked Cassie.
"Is he a bug?" asked Ren, who got the same chorus of "Shut up!" shouted back at him.
"Let's get him into the trunk," said Shawn, "He could very well be dinner."
The group rushed the body into the back of the truck. The light was on. Whoever it was, he was wearing a sweatshirt, some old sneakers (probably Converse), a t-shirt, and some old jeans. He also had a chain. He was rather cute. His hair, which was not too short, was sandy brown. Well, you'll never guess what happened next. Diana, who had been in love with Tozzi, fell back out of it. She now directed her attention to this new, somewhat familiar guy right in front of her.
Then, all of a sudden, he opened his eyes and shrieked. "Thank God I wasn't hurt," he said, "but...um...uh...are you all vampires?"
Maggie smiled at Cassie, who smiled at Justin, who smiled at Tozzi, who smiled at Diana. She smiled at Shawn, who smiled at Francine, who smiled at Luke, who said, "Well, then...," rather undecisively.
"You're...vampires...all you...vampires...um...hi...I was running away and...Oh God! Vampires ...you almost hit me. Oh! My name's Garth."
"Hey, Garth..." said Diana in a really Cloud-9-ish voice.
Garth looked up. "What's your name?" he asked in his own Cloud-9-ish voice.
"You can call me yours - I mean, Diana. Hey, don't I know you? Were you in my math class at Idlewild?"
"Yeah..." Everybody stared at the two of them. Meanwhile, Tozzi was perplexed.
"Um, Diana?" Tozzi turned her away from Garth. She looked upset. "What's going on?" Tozzi asked.
"Nothing..."
"Is this your boyfriend?" asked Garth in a hurt voice.
Diana looked at Tozzi. "...Sorry..." she mumbled softly. "Tozzi...something here is just perfect chemistry. I can't go out with you."
Both Garth's and Tozzi's jaws dropped. Tozzi looked furious. "Well, what am I supposed to do now?" he cried angrily. Everybody was getting back into the truck but him.
"How about staying here for...a while?" called Maggie, now in the drivers' seat. The car drove away at top speed.
"HEY!" screamed Tozzi, trying desperately, but in vain, to catch up.
Meanwhile, the whole truck was in an uproar. Most of the group was hysterically laughing, but not Ren. "I feel kind of sorry for Tozzi," he said.
"I don't," said Justin, "he was a jerk."
"Yeah," agreed Luke, "Now let's go back to that King Custard and get some ice cream!"
Maggie pressed the gas pedal as hard as she could, and within seconds, they were back at the mini mall.
"Do they have - HIC - bug-flavored ice cream?" asked Ren, who looked as if he had taken an elevator from the top of the Empire State Building to the bottom, within 30 seconds.
Garth look horrified. "What?"
"Ignore him, he's just another annoying - uh - thing," Diana laughed. Then she turned around and said to Ren, also in the trunk, "No, of course not. But they might have mint chocolate chip, which probably tastes a little like bugs."
"Okay, everyone, Luke, Francine, and I are going to go get everything. What flavors of ice cream do you want?" Maggie asked.
After discussing it for a few minutes, Justin said, "Okay, Cassie and I are going to share a chocolate, Diana's going to have a chocolate, Garth, strawberry, and Ren, a mint chocolate chip."
"Do you want to share a Cherry Garcia?" Shawn asked Francine.
"Sure, if they have it."
"Why don't we share a chocolate chip cookie dough?" said Maggie to Luke.
"All right."
So about 10 minutes later, everybody had what they wanted and the truck just sat (again) for a while, everybody eating their ice cream. Diana and Garth got out of the trunk together to watch the sun rise. Diana was turning Garth into a vampire. Ren, after wolfing down his ice cream, was running around the parking lot, trying to catch moths.
Francine and Shawn were somewhere in the mini mall, trying to catch up to Maggie and Luke, who had found a butcher shop. They had broken in and were trying to steal the basins filled with the animal blood.
Meanwhile, Cassie and Justin were alone in the truck. They were still sitting in the trunk. "Do you want to move into the actual truck?" Cassie asked. "Francine and Shawn are out of the back seat now."
Justin smiled. "Sure." They switched into the back seat. Justin lay down with his head in Cassie's lap. She began stroking his hair.
"Justin," she whispered softly, "Are you awake?"
"Barely," he mumbled, "I'm exhausted."
"Me too. We may not be nocturnal, but I know I'm going to sleep all day!"
Justin sat up and looked deep into Cassie's eyes. "Remember that day at camp when we were snuggling in the movie house?"
Cassie smiled, blushing, and nodded. "Sometimes you would look up into my eyes and just make me almost melt. I kept thinking you were going to kiss me, but you never did. I almost went ahead myself once, but I chickened out."
Justin grinned. "You have chocolate on your lips," he laughed. Cassie started to wipe it off, but Justin gently pulled her hand down. "Let me get that..." He kissed her and then pulled away.
"What?"
"You're not going to chicken out now, are you?"
"There's no chance of that!" Cassie smiled.
It was almost 7:00 am. The sun had risen and everybody was starting to go back to the car. Francine opened the car door and smiled.
"What?" asked Shawn, coming over and putting his arm around her.
"Look at Cassie and Justin," she said. Justin and Cassie were sound asleep on the back seat, arms around each other. "Isn't that sweet? We shouldn't wake them. Let's just go in the trunk."
Everyone was back by now, including Garth, who was as fully transformed into a vampire as the rest of the group. "What's that smell?" he asked, looking very alert.
"Oh, that's the basins of blood we stole," Maggie laughed, "You can have a little, but not too much. We're trying to ration it."
So he jumped into the trunk, where the 5 vats of blood were. Diana followed him, and Shawn, Francine, and Ren got in after them. Luke got in the drivers' seat.
"What do you think you're doing?" Maggie frowned.
"I want to drive now!" Luke cried. "Everybody's driven but me!"
"That's not true," said Maggie, "Garth and Shawn and Francine haven't driven. Neither has Ren, for that matter."
Cassie, who had woken at the sound of their voices, spoke up, "Ren is not driving. He's liable to stick his head out the window for insects the whole time. He wouldn't be able to keep his eyes on the road. I don't care if we're already dead. I don't want to get in an accident. Maggie, just let Luke drive so I can go back to sleep."
So they drove off in silence, everybody but Luke either asleep or close to it.
Ren was dreaming about the Amityville Horror scene where the characters came across the huge swarm of flies in the back of the old haunted house. He was smiling and drooling in his sleep.
Hours went by and the gang of teens drove on. Soon it was 11:00 am. All of a sudden, Luke made a turn and stopped. Maggie woke up.
"Where are we now?" she asked.
"We're at a gas station," said Luke, "we need to fill up the gas tank."
"Get whatever's cheap!" called Cassie from the back seat. And so Luke got the gas and paid.
Meanwhile, a state trooper, who was busy getting donuts, got a report of the killings which had taken place earlier. Cassie, who was getting a Coke, heard what the cop was saying. The report went as follows.
"We have received reports of two missing state law enforcers. Be on the lookout for a truck full of teenagers. We have a description of one of them. Young man, about 14. Husky build, 5'3"-5'6", brown hair, red hat, glasses. Over and out."
When Cassie heard this, she ran to get Luke. He was presently busy in the little bats' room. Cassie ran around back to get Luke. "Luke," she said, knocking on the door.
"Cass," yelled Luke, "What the hell? I'm busy!"
"Hurry the hell up! I heard this cop who was getting a report on us. We gotta go!"
"God! Crap! One second!"
"Luke! Hurry up!"
Luke burst out of the little bats' room and walked towards Cassie.
"Take off your hat and glasses," said Cassie.
"What for?"
"Just do it." Luke took off his glasses and his hat. They sped past the trooper, who was glaring at them. Luke jumped in the back seat, and Cassie got into the drivers' seat.
The glaring cop began to approach the pickup truck, and was about to question the group, when Cassie sped off down the highway. The trooper picked up his walkie-talkie from his belt. His sunglasses reflected the gas pumps, and his helmet shone in the sun. "Jake," he said, "I think we have a group of suspects."
Back in the car, everybody was now stirred up. "What was that all about?" asked Maggie.
"There was this officer," said Cassie, "and he got this report from some guy about the two state troopers. They gave a description of Luke, and now I think they're after us."
Garth spoke up. "What state troopers are you talking about? What the hell?"
"Oh," said Diana, pretending to be nonchalant, "Last night we killed two state troopers and buried them in a shallow grave."
Garth's jaw dropped. "Oh, don't look so shocked," Shawn scoffed, "You're a vampire now. You'll soon understand the depths to which you will sink at desperate times."
By this time, they were back on the road where the killing actually took place. "Hey..." Cassie frowned, "This looks different somehow."
"Maybe because it's earlier than it was when we almost got arrested." Diana said.
Cassie shook her head. "No - something is very wrong here." She stopped the car and got out. Justin followed her.
"I have a bad feeling about this, too," said Justin, "I'd better check out the graves. You stay here."
"I don't think so. I'm coming with you!"
"Okay, okay," Justin relented.
So the undead couple walked into the woods, holding hands.
Eventually, they got to the place where they had buried the bodies.
They both looked very nervous. "Justin, I may be a vampire myself, but this atmosphere is freaking me out."
"I'm in the same boat as you," he smiled nervously. Suddenly, he let out a cry. "Look out! - " But he was too late. Cassie disappeared from view, her scream resounding through the air. "Cassie! Where did you go?" Justin cried.
"Down here..." A small voice whimpered from the hole below. "The grave is empty!...I twisted my ankle. I can't get out of here. These things are deeper than I thought. Justin, will you help me out?"
A few minutes later, they were sitting by the barren grave, staring in shock at it. "What could have happened?" Justin cried. "The other grave is untouched."
"That's because that was the cop that Tozzi drained all the blood out of. I guess Francine and Luke didn't exactly finish the other cop. That's the disadvantage of drinking from the wrist."
"Do you mean to tell me that there could be another vampire walking around here?" Justin cried.
"...Well, yes, but I don't think he can hurt us. I mean, we're already dead - right?"
"Not exactly. Haven't you ever seen or read Interview With the Vampire? There are still plenty of ways he could kill us."
Cassie groaned. "I knew I should have finished that book last week!"
"It'll be okay. Listen, we've got to warn the others. I'm not leaving you here alone. He could return while I'm at the car." Justin looked very serious. "I'm worried about you. I'm scared something is going to happen. If that bastard cop comes within 20 feet of you, I swear, I'll kill him..."
Cassie stared at him in awe. "You really care about me like that?"
"Of course I do. I've cared about you for a long time now." They looked deep into each other's eyes and kissed.
Meanwhile, back at the car, everyone else was in a panic.
"What do you think happened?" cried Diana.
"Where could they be?" Garth asked.
"What could they be doing?" Maggie smirked.
Luke laughed, "Probably what we should be doing!" At that point, Justin and Cassie came rushing out of the forest, all out of breath. They jumped in the car, Justin getting in the drivers' seat.
"Let's get out of here!" Cassie cried. Justin turned the ignition and zoomed down the highway.
"So..." smiled Maggie, "what went on in that little escapade? ...Hmmm?"
Cassie blushed. "...That's not the point of the thing! One of the cops is alive!"
"How can he be alive?" cried Francine, "that's impossible."
"I mean he's dead. I mean...I don't know what I mean! Help me out here, Justin."
Justin was concentrating on the road so much, he looked crazy.
"Uh, Justin...we didn't actually see him, remember? Calm down. You're gripping the wheel so hard, your knuckles are turning white."
He let out a deep breath and pulled over. "Okay. By the way, I think what you were trying to say to Francine is that the cop is one of the undead."
Suddenly they heard a scream. "I know that scream," Cassie sighed, "Ren has interrupted us once again. Hey, what's wrong, Ren?"
"Uh...uh...AIIEEEE!!" He wailed at the top of his lungs, pointing a shaking finger at the back window. "Roof...thing...on...have a problem we, I mean..."
Francine, also in the trunk, let out a gasp. "Oh my god... Guys, the trooper character person is on the roof!"
Maggie screamed. "OH NO! I see him, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..."
