Night World : The Chosen Chapter 2

Bating him or doing aroundthing with his teeth. Tearing and sucking. Making noises compar able Pal did when heate his dog food.For a moment Rashel was frozen. The whole world had changed and everything seemed handle a dream.Then she perceive somebody screaming and her throat hurt and she knew it was her.And and then the t whole man looked at her.He lifted his head and looked. And she knew that his face al star was going to flip over her iniquitymaresforever.Not that he was ugly. be perspectives he had hair as red as blood and eyes that shone gold, want an animals. Therewas a light in them that was like nothing she had ever seen.She ran then. It was wrong to leave Timmy, but she was too panic-struck to stay. She wasnt brave she was ababy, but she couldnt help it. She was still screaming as she turned around and darted through with(predicate) the flap inthe camp down.Almost darted through. Her head and shoulders got issue side of meat and she saw the red formative furnis hs rising above her-and then a hand clamped on the back of her Gymboree shirt. A bad strong hand that stopher in midflight. Rashel was as helpless as a baby kitten against it. entirely notwithstanding as she was dragged back into the tent, she saw something. Her yield. Her mother was comingaround the corner of the come up structure. Shed heard Rashel screaming.Her mothers eyes were big and her mouth was open, and she was moving fast. She was coming to saveRashel.Mommeeeeeeeee Rashel screamed, and then she was back inside the tent. The man threw her to oneside the federal agency a kid at preschool would throw a piece of crumpled paper. Rashel landed tight and felt apain in her rowlock that normally would stupefy do her cry. Now she simply noticed it. She was staring atTimmy, who was lying on the ground near her.Timmy looked strange. His body was like a rag dolls-arms and legs flopped out. His skin was white.His eyes were staring straight up at the top of the tent.There were two big holes in his throat, with blood all around them.Rashel whimpered. She was too frightened to scream some(prenominal)more. unless alone then she saw white daylight, anda figure in front of it. mama. Mommy was pulling the tent flap open. Mommy was inside, looking ataround for Rashel.That was when the worst thing happened. The worst and the strangest, the thing the police neerbelieved when Rashel told them later.Rashel saw her mothers mouth open, saw her mother looking at her, close to to say something. And thenshe heard a voice-but it wasnt Mommys voice.And it wasnt an out-loud voice. It was inside her head.Wait Theres nothing wrong here. But you need to stand very, very still.Rashel looked at the pompous man. His mouth wasnt moving, but the voice was his. Her mother was lookingat him, too, and her expression was changing, becoming relaxed and . . . stupid. Mommy was standingvery, very still.Then the tall man hit Mommy once on the side of the neck and she fell over an d her head flopped thewrong way like a disquieted doll. Her non-white hair was lying in the dirt.Rashel saw that and then everything was yet more like a dream. Her mother was dead. Timmy wasdead. And the man was looking at her.Youre not upset, came the voice in her head. You re not frightened. You want to pass right here.Rashel could feel the pull of the voice. It was drawing her closer and closer. It was making her still andnot afraid, making her obturate her mother. But then she saw the tall mans golden eyes and they werehungry. And all of a sudden she remembered what he wanted to do to her.Not meShe jerked away from the voice and dove for the tent flap again.This time she got all the way outside. And she threw herself straight at the gap in the climbing structure.She was thinking in a unalike way than she had ever thought before. The Rashel that had watchedMommy fall was locked away in a little means inside her, crying. It was a new Rashel who wiggleddesperately through th e gap in the padded room, a sweet Rashel who knew that thither was no point incrying because there was nobody who helpd anymore. Mommy couldnt save her, so she had to saveherself.She felt a hand grab her ankle, hard enough almost to crush her bones. It yanked, essay to drag herback through the gap. Rashel kicked backward with all her strength and then twisted, and her sock cameoff and she pulled her leg into the padded room.Come back You need to come back right nowThe voice was like a teachers voice. It was hard not to listen. But Rashel was already scrambling intothe plastic tube in front of her. She went scurrying than she ever had before, hurting her knees, propellingherself with her bare foot.When she got to the first fish-bowl window, I though, she saw a face looking in at her.It was the tall man. He was staring at her. He I banged on the plastic as she went by.Fear cracked in Rashel like a belt. She scrambled I faster, and the knocks on the tube followed her.He was underne ath her now. Keeping up with I her. Rashel passed another window and looked down.She could see his hair gleam in the sunlight. She could see his pale face looking up at her. And his eyes.Come down, came the voice and it wasnt arc anymore. It was sweet. Come down and well go getsome ice cream. What kind of ice cream do you like best? Rashel knew then that this was how hedgotten Timmy into the tent. She didnt in time pause in her scrambling.But she couldnt get away from him. He was traveling with her, just under her, waiting for her to comeout or get to a orchestrate where he could reach in and grab her.Higher. I need to get higher, she thought.She moved instinctively, as if some sixth sense was telling her which way to turn each time she had achoice. She went through move tubes, straight tubes, tubes that werent solid at all, but made of wovencanvas strips. And level offtually she got to a mark where she couldnt go any higher.It was a square room with a padded floor and netti ng sides. She was at the front of the climbingstructure she could see mothers and fathers standing and sitting in little groups. She could feel the wind. at a lower place her, looking up, was the tall man.Chocolate brownie? Mint chip? Bubble gum?The voice was displace pictures in her mind. Tastes. Rashel looked around frantically.There was so much noise-every kid in the climbing structure was yelling. Who would even notice her ifshe shouted? Theyd think she was joking around.All you have to do is come down. You know you have to come down sometime.Rashel looked into the pale face turned up to her. The eyes were like dark holes. Hungry. Patient.Certain.He knew he was going to get her.He was going to win. She had no way to fight him.And then something tear inside Rashel and she did the only thing a five-year-old could do against anadult.She shoved her hand between the rough cords that made the netting, scraping off skin. She pushed herwhole small arm through and she pointed down at t he tall man.And she screamed in a way shed never screamed before. Piercing shrieks that cut through the happynoise of the other kids. She screamed the way Ms. Bruce at preschool had taught her to do if anystranger ever both(prenominal)ered her.Help meeee Help meeee That man tried to touch me IShe kept screaming it, kept pointing. And she saw hoi polloi look at her.But they didnt do anything. They just stared. Lots of faces, looking up at her. Nobody moving.In a way, it was even worse than anything that had happened before. They could hear her, but nobodywas going to help her.And then she saw somebody moving. It was a big boy, not quite a grown-up man. He was wearing auniform like the one Rashels father used to wear before he died. That meant he was a Marine.He was going toward the tall man, and his face was dark and angry. And now, as if they had onlyneeded this example, other people were moving, too. Several men who looked like fathers. A womanwith a cellular phone.The tall man turned and ran.He ducked under the climbing structure, heading toward the back, toward the tent where Rashelsmother was. He moved very fast, much faster than any of the people in the crowd.But he sent words to Rashels mind before he disappeared completely.See you later.When he was definitely gone, Rashel slumped against the netting, feeling the rough cord bite into hercheek. People down below were calling to herkids just behind her were whispering. None of it really mattered.She could cry now it would be okay, but she didnt seem to have any tears.The police were no good. There were two officers, a man and a woman. The woman believed Rashel alittle. But every time her eyes would start to believe, shed shake her head and say, But what was theman really doing to Timmy? Baby-doll, sweetie, I know its awful, but just try to remember.The man didnt believe even a little. Rashel would have traded them both for the Marine back at the carnival.All theyd found in the tent was her mother with a broken neck. No Timmy. Rashel wasnt sure but shethought the man had probably taken him.She didnt want to think about wherefore.Eventually the police drove her to her aunt Corinnes, who was the only family she had left now. AuntCorinne was old and her bony custody hurt Rashels arms when she clutched her and cried.She put Rashel in a bedroom full of strange smells and tried to give her medicine to make her sleep. Itwas like cough syrup, but it made her tongue numb. Rashel waited until Aunt Corinne was gone, then she bother it into her hand and wiped her hand on the sheets, way down at the foot of the bed where theblankets tucked in.And then she put her arms around her hunched-up knees and sat staring into the darkness.She was too little, too helpless. That was the problem. She wasnt going to be able to do anythingagainst him when he came back.Because of course he was coming back.She knew what the man was, even if the adults didnt believe her. He was a vampire, just like on TV. Amon ster that drank blood. And he knew she knew.That was why hed promised to see her later.At last, when Aunt Corinnes house was quiet, Rashel tiptoed to the insistency and slid it open. She climbedthe shoe rack and squirmed and kicked until she was on the top shelf above the clothes. It was narrow,but encompassing enough for her. That was one good thing about being little.She had to use every advantage she had.With her toe, she slid the closet door back shut. Then she piled sweaters and other folded things fromthe shelf on top of herself, covering even her head. And finally she curled up on the hard bare wood andshut her eyes.Sometime in the night she smelled smoke. She got down from the shelf-falling more than climbing-andsaw flames in her bedroom.She never knew exactly how she managed to run through them and get out of the house. The whole nightwas like one long blurred nightmare.Because Aunt Corinne didnt get out. When the fire trucks came with their sirens and their instant light s,it was already too late. And even though Rashel knew that he had set the fire-the vampire-the policedidnt believe her. They didnt understand why he had to kill her.In the morning they took her to a foster home, which would be the first of many. The people there werenice, but Rashel wouldnt let them hold her or comfort her.She already knew what she had to do.If she was going to survive, she had to make herself hard and strong. She couldnt care about anybodyelse, or trust anybody, or rely on anybody. Nobody could protect her. Not even Mommy had been ableto do that.She had to protect herself. She had to learn to fight.