RebeccaThings are quickly heating up in ‘Salem’s Lot. The disappearances keep happening, and more and more shops are closing up around town. As the number rises, the small group continues to work on the issue at hand. With Father Callahan, they know that they can gather a little safety, as well as getting the ground consecrated so that the places that they have to hide are fewer and fewer.
When Father Callahan visits Matt in the hospital, he is interested to see the choice of reading that he has chosen to peruse through his stay. While they visit, Matt begins to feel out where Father Callahan stands on the matter, and whether or not, he might think the teacher has finally lost his mind. He is surprised, when Father Callahan agrees with him, and also agrees to work with them. Their little motley crew is quite a site. Four adult men and a boy. One a Priest, a teacher in the hospital, a doctor and a writer. They make quite the collection when it comes to working together. They make a plan to meet the next day, and while Matt stays in the hospital doing more research. While they formulate their plan and go to try and kill the main vampire, they are unsure of what they are going to find. When they get to the Marsten House, they are shocked at the quiet and the rundown nature of the place. Given the slick appearance of Mr. Straker, they expected to see more grandeur in the house. As they slowly move through each room, they are on the lookout for anything that might lead them to where Mr. Barlow is. While they do not find him, they do find a note from him, and the former Susan Norton. They know that they cannot leave her behind, so they deal with her, and then sink her in the river. After that, they break up to head home and then get ready to regroup. Father Callahan takes Mark home and tries to explain the situation to his parents. While his mother might have yielded, his father refuses to entertain the notion that anything undead might actually be roaming through the streets of ‘Salem’s Lot. While they are debating the ideas that have been thrown forward, Barlow enters the residence, and manages to do away with Mark’s parents before anyone can do anything. Father Callahan is now considered unclean, and part of the Vampire. Barlow is still upset over the loss of Straker, as he had been his personal assistant for many years. Now he needs a new one, and who better to choose than a priest!? The only thing that Father Callahan can do is flee the area, and try and put as much distance between him and that cursed town.
Mark manages to get to Ben, but now things are going to start moving a lot faster. They know they must find and destroy as many of the vampires as they can, but until they can locate all their hiding places, they are at a loss as to where to start. Using the basement in Mark’s house, they begin to make stakes, while Mark and Jimmy begin moving through the sleepy town trying to locate all the houses that have been infected. Jimmy is dismayed to see how far the reach has gone, but by marking the doors, they know where they can find some of them.
Parkin Gillespie is the law, but he knows that something is amiss, but nothing is happening. The fear that he feels is not normal, and when Nolly quits showing up to work, he knows. He is convinced, without knowing what the small misfit groups knows, but he knows. He just knows that he is done and he is ready to leave town. In fact, he tells Ben and Mark that his bags are packed and he is on his way out. He doesn’t really know what he is so scared of, but the time has come to just walk away.
When the group begins to dwindle, Ben begins to fear for the future. Jimmy dies as the result of a fall, through a clever move by Barlow and his group, and Matt suffer a fatal heart attack in the hospital. Mark is determined to see the job through. His parents have been killed and he wants revenge. Ben and Mark take off, but know that they are going to have to return to ‘Salem’s Lot to finish their job before it can spread to much farther… but just how much can they do before it all gets out of control?
This week we are reading Chapters 13-Epilogue
Questions:
- Mark really surprises everyone with his knowledge of vampires. Do you think that he had a leg up on some of the others in the group? Why or why not?
- Jimmy has a close encounter with one of the vampires, how do you think he kept from getting infected?
- Ben and Mark manage to escape the carnage that has been going on in ‘Salem’s Lot, but finally feel compelled to go back and finish what they started. Why do you think that is?
- Did you enjoy the read??
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