Lot Lizards by Ray Garton Read Free Book Online Page B

standing across the lot. She gave him a sly, playful smile and tilted her head forward a bit so that she was looking up at him through long eyelashes. Her frail white hand rose slowly and doubled into a fist, then her long, slender index finger extended and curled...extended and curled...beckoning.  
    Jon dropped the blind again, but only for a moment. When he peeked out, her arms were folded and her eyebrows were raised high. She mouthed silently, I'm waiting ...  
    He slapped Cece's thigh. "Move."
    "What?"
    "I wanna get out."
    "H' come?"
    "I just want to, that's all, c'mon."
    "Where are you going, Jon?"
    He turned to his Mom, still on the phone, and said, "I just don't want to sit anymore. I wanna walk around."
    "What do you want to eat?"
    "I'm not hungry."
    "Well, you better eat now, because I don't know when—"
    "A cheeseburger. Order a cheeseburger for me."
    "Where are you going?"
    "Urn, just to see what Doug's doing." When Cece moved, he scooted out of the booth, crossed the restaurant and hurried through the crowded corridor to the front entrance, then went outside into the cold...  
     
     

 
    CHAPTER 4
     
    The hunger had been growing since he'd started driving at dusk.
    So had the weakness.
    The hunger began in his throat; the very first hint that he would have to feed soon was a harsh dryness in the back of his throat. A bit later, his skin became sensitive and he began to tremble just a little. After a while, his eyes began to water and burn and he looked as if he'd been crying. Then the chill set in; his body always felt cold to the living, but if he went too long without feeding, he began to feel cold and was soon shivering. His lips swelled and cracked. His skin began to flake. He'd never gone beyond that, but he was sure that, if he did, he would lose consciousness and, eventually, die.  
    Again and forever.
    The weakness had started about four months ago. Actually, when he thought about it, he realized it had probably started before that, but he'd only noticed it four months ago. At first, he'd thought perhaps he was not feeding enough, or maybe he was doing something else wrong; his understanding of his condition was still limited. But even when he doubled his portions, the weakness persisted: a gradually growing heaviness in his arms and legs and a decrease in what had, for a while, been an amazing boost in his physical strength. Later, it had begun to show in his face. Added to the unhealthy pallor were heavy pockets of flesh that sagged beneath his deep set eyes; his cheeks sank in further and further beneath his cheekbones over time, as if his face were deflating. His hair began to fall out, just a little at first, then more and more as the months passed. A couple of his lower teeth slowly began to darken and even loosen in the gum.  
    He had what he needed for his hunger in the back, but he couldn't drive while he was feeding and he couldn't afford the time to stop; it would sate his hunger for a while, but whatever else was wrong with him would only continue to worsen, slowly, steadily...  
    His truck idled as he waited for those ahead to move into the parking lot of the Sierra Gold Pan. Once in the lot, he drove slowly up and down the aisles. Unlike the others around him, he was not looking for an empty slot; he knew he wouldn't find one. He was looking for something else.  
    A black Peterbilt.
    He knew it had to be there somewhere; the pass into Oregon was closed and no one was going past Yreka for a while.
    It had to be there. He'd been looking for too long, following it too far to hit another dead end now.  
    Up ahead and to the right, he spotted it and eased to a stop: CARSEY BROS. TRUCKING. And just beyond it, he saw what he had been afraid to hope for: another truck identical to the first.  
    He'd heard about the second black truck about a week ago. He'd been asking around about the Carsey Bros, at a truck stop near Bakersfield; a young man on the gas island told him that not one but