“But what can you say that won’t scare her or make her suspicious? And what’s the first thing she’ll try to do if she thinks you might be in danger? That lady loves you, my friend, and come hell or high water she’ll try to get to you. Is that what you want?”

He brooded a moment, but finally dropped his head into his hands. “Of course not.”

“Don’t just think of Susie here. Think of the entire town. Think like Chris does. We’ve got to be cut off, Charlie—phone, road, everything. We’ve got to contain this disease. You let one word slip out that something’s going on here and we’ll have every cop and reporter in Indiana flocking to us. And come nightfall, you might as well slap ’em on a plate and stick an apple in their mouths. They’ll never know what hit ’em.”

He looked up and gave her a frustrated smile. “You’ve got this all figured out, haven’t you? When did you get so levelheaded?”

She leaned close so the boys couldn’t hear. “Are you kidding? I’m a mess. But Chris knows what he’s doing. This time I think we should trust him.”

“Chris knows, eh? Well, I’m glad of that, ’cause I don’t have a blessed clue as to what’s going on around here. All I know is I sat right here and shot a man with this shotgun, point-blank, and blew him through a second-floor window, only to have him run off down the street. Now, dammit, that ain’t supposed to happen! Somebody’s changed the rules to this game and forgot to tell me.”

“You want to know the rules, Charlie?” Bart said, flicking yet another shell into the ammo can. “I’ll tell you what I know. Those things out there, Larson and the rest, are vampires. And don’t make that face to me, ’cause you saw Dutch last night. You know it’s true. And once you accept that, you can fight them.” He pointed to the deputy’s shotgun. “If you’re gonna use that, you’d better learn how. Because what stops a normal man just won’t work here. You’ve got to cripple them, or they keep right on coming. Blind them or blow off a leg or both arms. Take their head clean off.” Billie’s expression soured; she was suddenly nauseated. “Sorry, Mom, but it’s the truth. Chris said that guns are only effective if used that way. Except against Danner, that is. He’s some kind of special vampire, like Dracula or something. He doesn’t stay crippled, he . . . rejuvenates. He grew back his face in just two nights, and Chris says he’s even stronger than that now.”