Josh Gas watches as Izzy, Jacob, and Dr. Blob finish eating their ice cream. He reaches over and puts the pea-sized diamond into the register next to a 6 oz bar of gold. He smiles. Business is always good when you’re a Gas.
Meanwhile, outside the gas station. The Finder pulls his wide-brimmed hat low. His mud-brown greatcoat with the collar popped covered most of his body. His reflective sunglasses covered his blue eyes, protecting them from the sun. If anyone had bothered to look out the front window of the gas station, they would have seen him climbing out of his white van.
He pulls open the front door. A little metal bell tinkles softly and invitingly.
The vampire reaches into his pocket and feels his heavy amulet. It’s hot to the touch but not painfully so. He stands in the doorway, the assembled group staring at him. He grins, showing his two long, thin canines. “It’s close,” he says in his low, smooth voice.
Dr. Blob shoves the sponge-shaped ice cream inside himself and looks at the man in the doorway talking to himself. “Who is that?” he asks as he blobs his way onto the counter to get a better view.
Izzy turns and looks at the vampire, her heart starting to race. “That’s the guy from the bar. He’s a vampire and very bad news.” She half whispers. Her hand searches out Jacob’s and holds it tight.
Josh turns to the Door Keeper before turning back to the front door. He puts on his standard customer service voice and says, “Welcome to Jim’s Gas.” Josh can feel the pride in every word, “What can I get you today?”
The vampire raises an eyebrow at the well-built man; even from here he can smell his vitality. “Well hello there. I was just driving through when a little trinket of mine told me you had a supernatural problem that I am here to solve.” The vampire turns and nods to Izzy. “Now, like the lady says, I’m bad news, but that doesn’t mean there has to be a problem here. I can solve your issue and be on my way.” The vampire touches the amulet in his pocket; even through his glove, it burns his skin.
‘SO CLOSE I am almost free of this torment,’ the finder screams to himself.
Izzy clenches Jacob’s hand. “Josh, give him what he wants.” She looks at Jacob. ‘I hope you have a plan because I have nothing.’ She thinks while wishing she had telepathy.
“It would give it to him if I knew what he was after,” Josh bluffs.
“Oh, come now, I am here for the door,” the vampire says, his eyes drawn down to the green blob on the counter with the red slushy on its head.
Jacob blurts out, “I have been hunting the door for the Cat. I have seen it twice. But not this far from the Ranch. I thought it was trapped in the motel.”
The vampire grins, showing teeth. “That’s great, but my amulet says it’s here, and I won’t leave here without it.” He takes a step forward. “But don’t be shy; tell me where you saw it.”
Jacob looks at the vampire; something about the way he moves tells him that this thing could tear him in half as quickly as a dollar bill. “Uh, yeah, in our motel room and once near the bathrooms at the bar.”
“Well, that’s very interesting.” The vampire looks down at Dr. Blob. “What about you? Did you see a mystery door?”
Dr. Blob, wielding the vibrator with its cord dangling behind him, grows a singular big eye and looks at the vampire hard the way only a softball-sized eye can. He wibbles, “I am new here; every door is a mystery.”
The vampire laughs, and the tension in the room plummets. He turns to Josh. “What about you, fine gas station attendant? Have you seen a mystery door?”
Josh grips the shotgun taped under the counter, a relic from his grandfather’s time in the trenches in WW1. An M97 Winchester shotgun. The metal barrel cold under his fingers, the 2-foot bayonet attached to the front. He smiles at the vampire. “It passed through here yesterday. Like all travelers, it ate a few hot dogs and hit the road.”
The vampire tips its head at Josh Gas. “Well, that’s a shame because I know you’re lying.” His voice was smooth and clear and enunciated.
The Door Keeper watches the vampire interrogate his friend. ‘Coward,’ it cries to itself, ‘first friend, and you’re a coward.’ It tries and fails to quietly lock the heavy steel door from a grain silo in South Dakota. The click of the lock sounds like a bomb going off.
The vampire turns and looks at the strange door. “I found you now.” The Finder draws a rubber duck from his pocket and begins to throw it at the door. As it travels across the room, it grows larger and larger until it’s the size of a basketball. He can hear the alien inside the door start to scream. The vampire watches as the door melts into the wall. He watches the end of his suffering leave to a location unknown; the rubber duck hits the wall harmlessly. The vampire turns to see the shotgun aimed at his head.
“Oh, really?” The vampire grins.
“I think it’s time you go,” Josh says, his muscles tensing.
The vampire looks at the shotgun and laughs. “Really, I am not sure you know what you’re dealing with here.” The vampire removes his glasses and stares into Josh’s eyes, looking deep, deeper, pushing his will into Josh.
Josh feels a tingle and glares at the vampire with the same intensity.
All of the vampires will hurtle back at him, making him look away, his brain aching,“You’re a damned member of the holy order of the truck stop.”
Josh gasps, confused. He watches the vampire whip his jacket open and reach for his gun. The world moves in slow motion for him; he can see the handle of the gun as it leaves its holster.
Josh just pulls the trigger, and the 9 pieces of lead hit the vampire in the chest; each piece penetrates but does no harm. Josh pumps the shotgun again, sending a second round, then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth. He pumps it again and pulls the trigger, but the shotgun just clicks. He looks at the vampire still grinning at him; he watches a black ichor dripping out of the holes.
The vampire looks down at his coat now with many more holes in it than he likes. He raises his gun to take out the cleric. “Not bad for a bumpkin, but they should have taught you better.”
Josh, flooded with adrenaline, grabs the only thing in reach, the slushy from on top of Dr. Blob. He throws it at the vampire, directly at the vampire’s eyes. Hoping it will buy him precious seconds to escape.
With a grin on the Finder’s face as the gun finally comes up into firing position, the vampire watches the red slushy fly in slow motion and spread across his body. “That’s your backup plan?” His words catch in his throat, and then he starts to scream.
“Who blesses a slushy?” the vampire shouts as he turns and runs from the building. Smoke rising from his skin. He is climbing back into his van.
He strips off his clothes and wipes the residue away with a towel before, half naked, he starts the car and drives away.
In the nearly quiet gas station, Dr. Blob makes a noise like clearing a throat. “So you’re going to replace that slushy, right?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever you want.” Josh, shaking with adrenaline, half sits and half falls down on the stool behind the register.
Jacob looks around, checking to see if he has holes in him. “Uh, do we call the cops?”
Josh sighs and looks up. “I need to go see Jack Herrington. We have an agreement that is as old as the Ranch. He will help; he knows what to do.” Josh grabs the keys to the store and pauses to get the blob a new slushy before moving them towards the door.
“Don’t be a stranger; come back soon,“ Josh says as he locks the doors behind himself.
Izzy, Jacob, and Dr. Blob climb into the station wagon. “That was way more exciting than I was expecting. Do you think they do this for everyone? Or just extrasolar diplomats like me?” Dr. Blob adjusts the mirror and starts the car.
“No, I don’t,” Izzy says, her heart still beating hard. On the way back to the motel, Dr. Blob takes the wrong turn, and they end up driving around the grassland roads for an hour. They manage to calm down, the tall grasses and sparse trees—a beautiful enough sight to make them begin eating snacks and have small talk. But the joviality that started this trip was over for Jacob and Izzy.
They pull into the motel, and Izzy climbs out of the car first. “It was a good ride. Thanks for having me, Dr. Blob,” Izzy says and waves as Dr. Blob drives away to park the car.
“Hey, I didn’t get out yet,” Jacob says, the door halfway open.
“Oh, I forgot you were back there.” Dr. Blob wibbles, laughing.
Izzy carries the basket from the gas station filled with her purchases back to the room. The dildo buried under the snacks, forgotten.
They lay in bed together looking at the ceiling. “Did that just happen?” Jacob says.
“Yeah, I think it did,” Izzy says, letting her eyes unfocus.
