CHAPTER 11: TAKE ME!

Trisha and the Sergeant Major have a first real conversation

TAKE ME!


He cleaned up and knocked on the bedroom door.

“Trisha, can I come in?”

“Yes, come-in.”

“Chris…I mean Trisha, I know you are not ready to talk yet, but I want you to know you can take your time, and you can stay as long as you want. I’m going to the store, I’ll be back soon. Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’ll be alright, but hurry back… I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

“I’ll be back soon, you’re safe here.” Ryan said, pulling the door shut.

He drove to the mall, and picked up something’s for Trisha, female items, a toothbrush, clean clothes, and a hair dryer. He was gone about an hour. Ryan pulled into the driveway, and carried the bags of groceries and clothes upstairs.

“Trisha, I’m back, I picked up some things from the…Trisha?” The Sgt. Maj. walked to the back bedroom as he noticed the flicker of candles and the faint smell of incense. “Trisha, are you alright?”

“I’m alright, come here, Ryan.”

Ryan made it to the door and slowly opened it. Trisha lay on the bed, completely naked except for the maroon sheet that partially covered her. Her long blonde hair up, her hazel eyes beckoning, the candlelight bathed her in a warm glow.

“Trisha, what…what are you doing?”

“Nothing, come on in.”

“That’s not going to happen, get dressed, I have some things for you, and movies from Blockbuster.”

“What kind of man are you anyway, what, I’m not pretty enough for you?”

The Sgt. Maj. stopped and slowly turned around walking back into the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed.

“Well, I’m not the kind of man that would take advantage of a fifteen year old girl, in her time of need. Is that how you define a man?”

“Well…you saved my life, and you didn’t have to, and I just wanted to….”

“How could I have done anything else? See that picture on my nightstand? That’s Christina, my daughter. She would be seventeen years old now, she was fifteen when she was taken from me, your age…I was unable to help her. Now get dressed and come out and watch a movie…I picked up some things for you. Oh, I got popcorn, too.”

Trisha walked out into the living room wearing a pair of Ryan’s Army sweat suits, carrying a blanket with her.

“Ryan, I’m so sorry, I’ll leave tomorrow!”

Ryan looked towards the young girl.

“Trisha, is that what you want? I mean, where would you go?” he asked, as the young girl just stared at the floor.

“Listen to me, let me help you! I mean… Christina, she would want me to, and you can stay here as long as you want. I may have to tell people that you are my niece or something, but we will worry about that later.”

“Thank you, Ryan for… you know,” the young girl started to cry.

“Don’t worry about it, and you have nothing to be sorry about!” Ryan said as he pulled her to his shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Trisha. Tomorrow I’ll find out what happened to your family.”

“I can come too,” Trisha stated.

“Trisha, are you sure they…I mean your family may…”

“Still be there? Yeah, I thought about that, maybe you should go first. And Ryan, could you do me a favor? Find out where they buried my family, and if their vampires took care of it,” the young girl laid her head on his shoulder and started to cry.

“No problem…I don’t want you thinking about things like that, I’ll take care of everything.”

Ryan didn’t think she should watch a violent movie right now, so he had picked out some Disney movies. The two of them ate spaghetti, popcorn, and watched movies until it was starting to get late.

“Ryan, I’m ready to talk now. Who are you? I know you’re military, and you weren’t just walking by last night.”

“I’m retired… about a year ago I came home and found my wife and daughter dead, slaughtered by werewolves. Then I found out that this whole city is filled with them, they’re fighting the vampires and the humans are stuck in the middle.”

“So, you fight them, I guess you were not a cook in the service.”

“No, Infantry Battalion Sgt Major.”

“So, werewolves…that’s a little freaky.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

After a long pause, she said, “I want to stay here…with you, Ryan I want to help.”

“No way…no frekin way! I mean sorry, you can stay here, but Trisha I fight alone.”

“Ryan, you can’t do it alone, you need someone to watch your back, I wanna help.”

She left him alone as he stepped out onto the balcony. After what seemed a long time, Ryan walked back inside and pulled a chair up close to Trisha.

“Trisha, less than twelve hours ago your family was murdered, and you were almost raped and probably killed later. Why would you want to risk that again?”

“Because you do and I have no one, and for some reason we were brought together, someone or something led you to me! I don’t think I was the only one in that building, I heard others, and I want to help them, I want to try and stop the ones who did this to me.”

“If I say yes, I give the orders. If I feel that something is too dangerous, you stay home, no questions.”

“Deal, but you train me on everything, I don’t want you to hold back because I’m a girl, alright?”

“I won’t, your life depends on it.”

“Yeah, starting to get that.”

“Trisha, do you know how to use a computer?”

“Since I was a little kid, what do you want to know?”

“Everything about the area I found you in, subway sewer systems, missing children reports, police reports, even tabloids.”

“You got it! See, I can help! Big fraddy cat,” Trisha stuck her tongue out.

Ryan just smiled as he laid a towel out and started to check his gear. He removed the twin .50 Desert Eagle’s, laid the shotgun down in front of him and pulled a cleaning kit out of his rucksack.

“Save me some,” Trisha said as she started to pull up data.

“What your doing is much more important, Trisha.”

“I know, but you said you were going to show me everything.”

“You’re right, work on that for about an hour, and I’ll save you one of the magnums and the shotgun. Trisha, you do know we have to see the Police eventually.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because unless I’m your legal guardian, they can take you from me, you’re a minor.”

“Are you saying…that you want to adopt me?”

“Well, legal guardian first, so you can live here, and when you decide, yes.”

“I don’t know what to say; except, you’re probably the nicest man I have ever met. You do realize how sexy that is?”

“You won’t think so when we start your training!”

“Which part, the nice or the sexy?”

“Both,” Ryan stated.
“Can we start in the morning?”

“Alright, I don’t want you up any later then eleven o’clock, we start at zero six. We will stretch out, and go on a three-mile run. You’re not going to have a problem with starting your martial arts training tomorrow, after breakfast?”

“Seven years of gymnastics, I’ll kick your ass,” Trisha said with a smile. “Oh, where do you want me to sleep?”

“You can have my bed tonight, and tomorrow we will move the treadmill, indoor bike, and weights out of your room, and we can pick up some furniture and clothes.”

“Oh, my gosh! There are over six hundred missing children reports since the start of the year, mostly female between the ages of eleven to seventeen. A large number of park rangers are also missing.”

“Park Rangers, you mean like Cuyahoga National Park?”

“Yes, Cuyahoga and Rocky River Reservation. It seems they just vanished.”

“Werewolf food!”

“Ryan, Cuyahoga National Park and Rocky River Reservation ring the whole city, and neither one of them was always a park, it seems that during World War II they were a military complex; common knowledge now, but highly Top Secret Experimental back then.”

“What was it?”

“A secret weapons lab.”

“That’s good, real good work! Project time, here, take this map and place a push pin, red for missing children, blue for park incidents, the missing Park Rangers and wild dog attacks,” Ryan tacked the map to the wall next to her.

“Oh, printing out map of the city’s sewer system, now.”

The two worked diligently for another hour then went to sleep.