THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

The passenger side door slammed shut, and everyone in the car watched with fascination as Anaya stepped out into the cold and marched forward to the large orange “Road Closed” blockade, which was big enough to obstruct the entire narrow entrance to Route 270.

There was no other sign nearby, no phone number to call for help, no list of a time or date when the road would re-open. Anaya glanced around the area for a moment, then turned her attention back to the blockade.

“Is she going to spit on it?” Lavender said.

“Spit on it?” Brin said. “She’s probably gonna try to blow it up.” She turned to Dylan, who was leaning forward, trying to either watch Anaya or take a sniff of Chace’s cologne.

“Does she have dynamite?” Dylan said. He smiled at Brin and shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I told you guys this was a bad idea,” Brin said. “We came all this way for nothing.”

Everybody watched as Anaya stepped behind the blockade and tried to see if she could lift it. She gritted her teeth, narrowed her eyes, and moaned too loud for comfort. It didn’t change a thing. She couldn’t move the blockade a single centimeter.

“Goddammit!” she shouted in the distance. “Sawyer! Get out here! Come help me!”

He acquiesced with a notable sigh and stepped outside. The black clouds were still omnipresent up top but weren’t unleashing any perilous menace yet. Anaya pointed angrily at Sawyer and gesticulated what she wanted.

The girl’s directing already, Brin thought.

“What is this?” Lavender said in a whisper. “What are they doing?”

“I’m guessing they think they have the strength of a hundred men,” Dylan said. “That, or Anaya thinks she’s the Hulk.”

“Oh, she thinks that for sure,” Brin said. “Is there any doubt?”

“This is ridiculous,” Chace said, opening the sliding door and racing over to the blockade. Lavender stayed still for a few seconds, then followed Chace. Now the only two left in the car were Brin and Dylan, still cooped up in the back.

“Should we help?” Dylan said, moving toward the sliding door.

Brin grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Hold on. I don’t believe it.”

The two watched as the other four pushed the blockade, slowly but effectively, to the left, far enough so that the van could get by.

“Is this really happening?” Brin said.

“Apparently so,” Dylan said in astonishment.

“The road’s closed.”

“Uhh, yeah.”

“So this is illegal.”

Anaya, Chace, and Lavender stayed put as Sawyer ran back to the vehicle. He got inside and slammed the door.

“Are you guys crazy?” Brin said.

Sawyer didn’t respond. He turned the car back on and slowly drove up past the blockade, avoiding it by mere inches. Once the car crept past it, Sawyer stopped, turned the car back off, and stepped outside again.

“This is nuts,” Brin said, shaking her head in frustration.

She and Dylan turned around and stared at the other four, who were now pushing the blockade back into the center of the road.