THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Ash felt ready to drift to sleep as he pulled into the small town of Bridgeport, just a few miles north of Route 270. The city was comprised of four quiet, depressing blocks, with nothing substantial to or from for at least sixty miles. It was Ash’s last stop to get gas before trucking on down to Bodie, so he pulled into the desolate Shell station.

Most of the lights were off, and any Saturday night activity in town was nonexistent. Ash stepped out of his Beetle to see that only one of the four pumps was even in operation. He turned to the mini-mart. Even though it too looked dark, a faded OPEN sign was lit on the outside. 

He picked premium and swiped his dads’ Shell card—one of the beauties of driving for Ash was to get all his gas for free—before being greeted with a lovely little ERROR symbol.

“Oh come on,” he said. He swiped the card again. Another ERROR. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He turned around and glanced in the mini-mart. It was ominously dark inside. He really didn’t want to go in if he could avoid it. 

Ash tried the card one more time. “PLEASE SEE CASHIER,” it said.

“Shit,” he said, before gulping loudly.

He dropped his keys into his tight jeans pocket and strolled toward the mini-mart, hoping the employee inside would be a bored, harmless teenager and not a creepy old man with knives for earrings. 

Ash opened the door and stepped inside. It wasn’t pitch black, but it certainly didn’t look like the place was open; worse, it didn’t look like anybody was around.

He searched the counter for a bell.

“Hello?”

Ash stopped moving. He listened hard. A rumbling noise erupted from the hallway behind the counter. Then he heard screams.

Instead of running in the other direction, however, Ash stepped forward. He moseyed on down the hallway, to an office that looked even smaller than his miniscule closet. 

He peered inside to see a young man with a scraggly beard and a short stature sprawled out on a computer chair. He was watching a movie on his laptop, and not just any movie.

“Oh my God,” Ash said. “Is that the Nightmare on Elm Street remake?”

The guy turned around, his mouth stuffed with Twizzlers. “I’m sorry,” he tried to say through his chewing, “are you a customer? Do you need something?”

“As a matter of fact, I do need something,” Ash said, angrily setting his hands on his sides. “I want to know what you’re watching.”

“What?”

“What’s the name of the movie you’re watching?”

The young guy turned toward his laptop, then back to Ash, confused. “It’s… uhh… A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“It’s an abomination is what it is!” Ash screamed, jumping into the little room and slamming the guy’s laptop screen down.

“Hey! Don’t touch my shit, man! Do you want me to call the cops?”

“Are you one of Michael Bay’s minions?” Ash said loudly.

The guy didn’t look angry by his question, just perplexed.

“Did you fail the third grade?” Ash said even louder.

Again, the guy stared back bewildered.