A Just Cause

Am I here to take something?

Thoughts gathered around Jacobs consciousness like birds lighting on a tree. At first, just a few.

I hurt. There is sawdust. I can taste it.

Then more.

No. I am here to stop something. But I am also here to hide.

With this thought, Jacob became aware of time and how very important it was. It was then that he realized his eyes were open. The slanting blades of tired yellow light had something to do with time and his current predicament.

It's the sun. The sun is setting.

With a start, he jerked into full consciousness and sat up. Dust wafted around him in lazy pinwheels through shafts of light.

I'm in a tool shed.

An angry throb in his skull reminded Jacob he had struck his head when diving into the coffin sized shack that was now his sanctuary. Though the picture was coming together, his memory seemed to be functioning on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis. Nothing was known to him; answers must be sought.

What am I doing here?

You came with Martin.

Why?

To stop them.

Who are they?

His stomach turned. Despite how far he had come and what he was willing to do, Jacob could not bring himself to call them what they were. But as the light in the shack slowly sank from yellow to orange he could no longer ignore the truth.

They were vampires. They knew where he was. And the sun was going down.

Jacob felt a sudden rage towards Martin for getting him into this. After all it was Martin who had learned what they were and where they slept. It was Martin who had guilt tripped Jacob into helping stop them. Was it the right thing to do? So what if it was. It was Martins burden. Jacob wished him dead which he probably was.

Jacob stumbled against the side of the shed as he rose to his feet. An arsenal of garden tools mounted on the wall clattered and his head gave another sharp protest. The court yard was visible through chinks in the shed and the sun was just beginning to slip behind the dilapidated house thirty yards away.

Jacob noticed with growing dismay that a shadow was forming on the lawn before him. It was perhaps an eighth of the way between the house and shed. Each second brought it closer. He couldn't yet see them but they were near.

Jacob had raced out of the house when things went south. He and Martin had been ambushed as if they had been laying in wait. Martin had the car keys and he was missing in action.

The shadow crept forward several more feet and then Jacob did see them. A row of hatefully ghostly faces, lined up against the house, waiting for the darkness to escort them to their meal.

Jacob felt feverish. His hands were shaking when he reached out and took a rake from the wall. He wedged it against the rickety wooden door.

Another look through the cracks. The shadow was a quarter of the way across and they were coming forward with it.

He snatched a rusted shovel from the wall and told himself he just needed to hold them off long enough...

Long enough for what?

That was when he remembered the drums of fertilizer planted around the house, the one Martin had managed to get into the front hall before they had attacked.

"Take this." Martin had said when he tried to hand off the watch.

"What for?"

Jacob now felt like an idiot for declining. He looked through the cracks again.

Half way down, now.

Martin said it was synchronized with the detonation.

"Those drums are going to explode in thirty minutes whether I take the watch or not"

There had been 18 minutes left on the timer whey they got overrun and were forced to fall back. Had it taken 60 seconds to reach the shed? Jacob tried desperately to determine how long he had been out.

For that matter, how long have I been up?

Three quarters of the way. They were close enough to make out their teeth. They looked sharp.

Why didn't I take the watch.

What does it matter? Martins voice mocked, maybe from his subconscious, maybe from the grave. Darkness is coming whether you have it or not.

The edge of the shadow was less than ten feet away. Jacob could smell them now. Blood and mildew. They were laughing.

The shed seemed to shrink as it darkened and cooled. The sun was gone. A bruise colored sky was all it left behind.