THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Brin couldn’t help chuckling to herself forty minutes later as Chace, the star football, basketball, and baseball player, kept lagging behind as the two marched toward the paved road that would take them back to the 395 freeway.

“Come on, dude!” Brin shouted. “Hurry up!”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” he said. “You’ve got better shoes.”

He was right about that. While Brin was sporting a fairly new pair of comfortable boots, Chace had a pair of rundown tennis shoes that prevented him from keeping up a fast pace.

Brin stopped and waited a minute for Chace to catch up. She looked out at the dirt road before them. It was now officially nighttime, and five times harder to see the road—the sun had disappeared behind the mountains ten minutes ago. Brin and Chace were sitting ducks in a large open valley of nothingness, surrounded by the tallest and scariest of mountains that seemed to suggest the two of them weren’t alone.

At least there’s somebody with me, she thought. At least I’m not totally alone.

“OK, which way now?” Chace said.

“Did you check your phone?”

“Yeah, for like the hundredth time. Still no signal.”

“Damn it. Maybe we’ll get a signal when we reach the paved road.”

“Where is that?”

“Up ahead,” Brin said. “We should be there any minute.”

“Do you think the rest of the group will be OK?” Chace started shaking from the cold. Brin could tell he wanted to stop and rest. She wouldn’t let him.    

“They’ll be OK. We have to keep moving. Come on.”

They started climbing another hill. Brin turned to her right, sensing this was the spot from earlier that she had seen the mysterious figure by the frozen lake.

“What is it?” Chace said. “Do you see something over there?”

“No,” she said. “No. It’s nothing.”

“There’s not any wolves or bears or coyotes in this part of the country, are there?”

‘You’re asking me? I have no idea.”

“I mean, we’re safe out here, right?”

Brin chuckled to herself again, trying to stay positive in such an unfortunate situation. “Is the star quarterback scared?”

“I’m not scared.”

“It sounds like you are.”

Chace finally moved ahead of Brin, changing his pace from a leisurely walk to a jog as he climbed to the top of the hill. Brin followed behind him as fast as she could. The adrenaline kept her going. It would keep her going all the way to the freeway.

“Chace! Slow down!”

“What’s that up ahead?”

As they reached the top of the hill, Chace pointed forward at a sign in the distance.

“Yes,” Brin said. “I think that’s the three-mile sign. We’re almost to the paved road.”

“That means…”

“We’re three miles in. Thirteen more to go.”

“Thirteen? That’s not so bad.”

“We need to get to Bridgeport. That’s the only town near here. We’ll get help. We’ll get someone to save the others.”