Read Online Vanish by Tom Pawlik - Free Book Online Page B

strides. Conner threw the car into gear and stomped on the accelerator. Tires spun, kicking up grass and gravel as they tore down the path. He glanced in the rearview mirror but couldn’t see anything.
    The road wound an erratic course through the cemetery. Conner’s hands sweated with raw panic now. What was going on? What were those things? He gunned the accelerator, skidding around turns, sideswiping a large mausoleum and toppling a Virgin Mary.
    They had reached the main entrance when something lunged out in front of them. Conner caught a glimpse of a tall, shadowy torso, arms held out, and a head… a head with no face!
    Conner cried out as the Mercedes plowed into it. The creature bounced off the fender with a sickening thump. He swore and spun the wheel hard. Tires screaming, the car roared into the street, fishtailing as Conner fought to keep control. He glanced in the rearview mirror. A gray mass rolled across the pavement, off to the side of the road.
    Just before the creature disappeared from view, Conner thought he saw it getting back to its feet. He jammed the accelerator to the floor and headed toward the highway.
     
     
     

Chapter 14
     
     
    HELEN FELT THE COLD, hard metal of a gun against her skull. She took a breath and raised her free hand. Her other hand was jammed in the shelf, her fingertips still closed around the gun she had found there.
    “Get both your hands where I can see them!” the voice snapped.
    Helen released her grip on the gun and removed her other hand. The voice had the harsh timbre of a street thug, probably just a teenager, but that gave her no comfort. Her heart pounded as she straightened up and put both hands in the air.
    “I… I don’t have any money—”
    “Shut up!”
    A second set of footsteps approached, and Helen reflexively turned her head.
    “I said,
don’t move
!”
    A second voice let loose a string of profanity.
    “What you gonna do? You gonna shoot her?”
    “What if she’s one of
them
?”
    “She ain’t one of them.”
    “How do you know? You don’t even know what they look like for sure.”
    There was a pause.
    “Yo, lady. What’s your name?”
    Helen turned to face them.
    Two black kids stood over her. Both were tall and lanky. The first one—the one with the gun—wore a black White Sox sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. The other one wore a gray Nike T-shirt and jeans. Neither of them was older than eighteen, she guessed, twenty at the most.
    “Helen,” she said, leaving out her last name.
    “Where you live,
Helen
?” White Sox snapped.
    Helen shook her head. “I’m not giving you my address.”
    White Sox pointed his gun in her face. “Lady, I ain’t foolin’ with you. Tell me where you live!”
    “In the—in the Hudson, on—on Lake Shore! Thirty-seventh floor.”
    White Sox sneered and leaned closer. “Who won the World Series last year?”
    “What?” Helen shook her head. “I don’t know! I don’t follow baseball!”
    “Yo, man—just chill out!” The other kid pushed the gun away. White Sox shoved him back.
    Helen closed her eyes as the two argued through a barrage of expletives. She tried to concentrate on her breathing, control her emotions, and clear her head.
    The kid in the gray T-shirt argued that they should leave now and get out of the city. And though he seemed to be the older of the two, and probably the leader, White Sox was not going to be easily persuaded. He must have felt Helen had information about what had happened to everyone. They were as clueless as she was, and just as scared, if not more so.
    “Please,” Helen interrupted, doing her best to sound calm. “I don’t know what’s going on either.”
    Nike turned to her. “You seen anyone? Anyone following you?”
    Helen shook her head. “I—I haven’t seen anyone.” She decided against telling them about her encounter with Kyle. For all she knew, it had been her imagination. In either case, it would only pique their interest and extend this