Read Nightmare At 20,000 Feet for Free Online Page B

fastened itself on the other side.
    Tears ran down Jules's cheeks.
    He gritted his teeth. The blood ran across his shoulders and across his thin hairless chest.
    His body shook in fever. He staggered back toward the other side. He tripped and felt his side torn open on the sharp edge of a tin can.
    His hands went out. They clutched the bat. He placed it against his throat. He sank on his back on the cool wet earth. He sighed.
    He started to moan and clutch at his chest. His stomach heaved. The black bat on his neck silently lapped his blood.

    Jules felt his life seeping away.
    He thought of all the years past. The waiting. His parents. School. Dracula. Dreams. For this. This sudden glory.
    Jules's eyes flickered open.
    The inside of the reeking shack swam about him.
    It was hard to breathe. He opened his mouth to gasp in the air. He sucked it in. It was foul. It made him cough. His skinny body lurched on the cold ground.
    Mists crept away in his brain.
    One by one like drawn veils.
    Suddenly his mind was filled with terrible clarity.
    He felt the aching pain in his side.
    He knew he was lying half naked on garbage and letting a flying bat drink his blood.
    With a strangled cry, he reached up and tore away the furry throbbing bat. He flung it away from him. It came back, fanning his face with its vibrating wings.
    Jules staggered to his feet.
    He felt for the door. He could hardly see. He tried to stop his throat from bleeding so.
    He managed to get the door open.
    Then, lurching into the dark yard, he fell on his face in the long grass blades.
    He tried to call out for help.
    But no sounds save a bubbling mockery of words came from his lips.
    He heard the fluttering wings.
    Then, suddenly they were gone.
    Strong fingers lifted him gently. Through dying eyes Jules saw the tall dark man whose eyes shone like rubies.
    "My son," the man said.

4 – THROUGH CHANNELS
    Click
    Swish swish swish

    All set, Sergeant?
    Set.
    Okay. This recording made on January fifteenth, nineteen fifty-four, twenty-third precinct police… '

    Swish

    … in the presence of Detective James Taylor and, uh, Sergeant Louis Ferazzio.

    Swish swish

    Name, please.
    Huh?
    What's your name, son?
    My name?
    Come on, son, we're trying to help you.

    Swish

    L-Leo.
    Last name.
    I d-don't… Leo.
    What's your last name, son?
    Vo… Vo…
    All right, son. Take it easy.
    V-Vogel.
    Leo Vogel. That it?
    Yeah.
    Address?
    T-twenny two thirty, avena J.
    Age?
    I'm… almost… Where's… my ma?

    Swish swish

    Turn it off a minute, Sergeant.
    Right.

    Click
    Click

    Swish

    All right, son. Okay now?
    Y-yeah. But where…?
    You're how old?
    Fi-fifteen.
    Now, uh, where were you last night from six o'clock till you went home?
    I was… at… at the show. Ma give… give me the dough.
    How come you didn't stay home to watch television with your parents?
    'Cause. Because…
    Yes?
    The Le-Lenottis was comin' over to watch it with them.
    They came often?
    N-no. It was the first time they'd… ever come.
    Uh-huh. So your mother sent you to the movies.
    Y-yeah.

    Sergeant, give the kid some of that coffee. And see if you can him find a blanket.
    Right away, chief
    Now, uh, son. What time did you get out of the movies?
    Time? I… don't know what time.
    About nine-thirty, would you say?
    I guess. I don't know… w-what time. All I…
    Yes?
    Nothin'.
    Well, you saw the show only once, didn't you?

    Swish

    Huh?
    You saw it only once. You didn't see any picture twice, did you?
    No. No, I only seen it once.
    Okay. That would make it, uh…

    Swish

    … roughly about nine-thirty, then, that you got out of the movies. You went home right away?
    Yeah… I mean no.
    Where did you stop?
    I had a Coke at the… at the drugstore.
    I see. Then you went home.
    Ye-

    Swish.

    … yeah, then I went home.
    The house was dark?
    Yeah. But… they never used no lights when they watched TV.
    Uh-huh. You went in?
    Y-yeah.
    Take a sip of that coffee, son, before it gets cold. Take it easy, take it