Darkness Falls (3 page)

5

Sam squinted at the market’s bright interior lights as he entered. The store wasn’t huge by outsider standards, like one of those fancy
Hannaford
supermarkets, but it was large for Refuge.

Four aisles separated the interior, each neatly stocked with canned foods, snacks and assorted beverages. The lone checkout stand sat off to the left, its counter lined with candy guaranteed to make kids whine enough to force mom or dad pay for it. The wall behind the counter had been reserved for more adult vices, with just about every form of tobacco one could imagine.

The front of the market was floor to ceiling glass, each pane holding a single carefully placed poster listing the current specials.
We have Twinkies Again! Get them before they’re gone!
read one of them. Sam had never quite understood the appeal of Twinkies, until he’d had one deep-fried up at the Scarborough Fair in Maine one summer. He could only think of one word to describe the dessert treat: dangerous.

He made his way toward the back, where he could hear the dull murmur of people talking.

“Sam!” came a call from the back. “Holy shit! Now it’s a party!”

Sam smiled. “Mr. Cram. How the hell are you?”

Dana Cram rushed up to Sam, grabbing him in a bear hug and lifting him off the floor. On a good day Dana probably stood about five-foot eight, and
maybe
dressed out at about one-hundred-twenty pounds, soaking wet. This was a guy that was a walking contradiction, lending a whole new meaning to the saying never judge a book by its cover.

Sam let out a muffled
umph
. “Easy there hoss, I’m not as young as I used to be.”

“Sorry, boss,” Dana said, releasing Sam with a grin. “You just get me all excited, don’t you know.”

At least Dana was his normal jolly self, though Sam could detect a trace of nervous energy fueling the man.

“You should hear the shit Winslow’s had to say,” Dana hung his head. “But the only thing we really know for sure is that Sheriff Rule’s dead.”

“I heard. Twice. You know what happened?”

“I don’t. I’m hoping Griffin can tell us more, now that he’s back. He’s wearing a badge now, after all.”

They walked into the stock room, and Dana moved off to the corner to talk to Winslow Herman and his wife Carol. Sam looked around just as Tess stepped out from the woman’s bathroom with the kids in tow. She bent down to tuck in his son’s shirt, and Sam couldn’t help but appreciate the fine curve Tess’s ass made in her Levi’s. God, he missed that woman, and not just her ass. His daughter, Ellie, looked up and spotted him.

“Daddy!” she cried out, running to him.

Sam bent down and caught her in his arms, picking her up. Ellie planted a big wet kiss on his cheek, her cold fingers wrapping around his neck.

“How’s the world’s sweetest li’l princess?” Sam asked, kissing the top of the head.

“I went to the bathroom with Mommy. Wyatt came too,” Ellie added, her eyes wide, as if she just discovered something new. “The
girl’s
bathroom!”

“Oh my goodness,” Sam said.

“I missed you, Daddy,” Ellie said, tucking her head against his chest.

“I missed you too, hun,” Sam said, kissing her head again.

Wyatt walked over, trying not to be embarrassed about having just left the ladies room.

“Hi Dad,” Wyatt said.

“Hey bud,” Sam said, setting Ellie down.

Sam crouched down to eye level with them both, and then brought them in for a tight group hug.

“I missed you both so much,” Sam said.

He placed his head against Wyatt’s. “How’ve you been? You still taking care of things, while your mom and I work things out, like we talked?”

“Trying,” Wyatt said, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Well that’s good, Son. It makes me proud to see you accepting responsibility. You’re going to make a mighty fine man.”

Sam hadn’t noticed Tess walk up to join them, and he was startled when she spoke.

“Sam,” Tess said, sounding slightly annoyed.

Sam stood and pulled his shirt loose in a futile attempt to hide the little beer belly he’d recently acquired. Not a big belly, just enough to be noticeable with his shirt pulled tight.

“Hello, Tess,” Sam said, clearing his throat. “You look good.”

Sam struggled against the urge to reach out and hug her. Ten years of living with a woman and all of its subliminal programming makes one behave certain ways in certain circumstances. Hugging Tess was never a thought process; it was just something he’d always done, something he’d simply taken for granted. But now there was a new rule to live by. The look on Tess’s face might as well have been a neon sign flashing ‘Hands Off.’

“Thank you,” Tess said, pulling Ellie close. “Kinda crazy outside, ya?”

“You could say that,” Sam said. “What have
you
been up to?”

“Sam, don’t start.”

“What? I simply asked a question,” Sam said, feeling his old friend, agitation, creep up on him. “No need to get defensive. I just think I have the right to know who my kids are spending time with.”

“You know what I mean, Sam.” Tess crouched down and brought the two kids close. “Why don’t you two go over and visit with Uncle Dana. Your dad and I have a few things to talk about.”

“You’re not going to fight again, are you?” Wyatt piped in. Ellie was thankfully oblivious to the tension.

“No buddy,” Sam said. “No more fighting. I promise.” Sam meant it.

“Good,” Wyatt said, giving Sam a hug. “I love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, bud.” Sam squeezed his son and reached out for Ellie. “And you too, li’l princess.”

Ellie hugged Sam’s leg tightly. She looked up and asked, “Are we going with you today?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he whispered, the words hard to speak. “I think we need to find out a little more about what’s going on first. Now go see the world’s ugliest Uncle.”

“Uncle Dana?” she giggled.

“The one and only,” Sam smiled, giving her a quick love pat. “Go bug him for a little bit. Okay?”

“Okay, Daddy,” Ellie said, running off to Dana.

“You too buddy, okay?”

Wyatt nodded and shuffled off with his hands in his pockets.

Dana wasn’t really their uncle, but between him and Jimmy, they were about the closest the kids would ever get to the real thing.

Sam couldn’t help but smile as he heard Dana’s mock cries of surprise and Ellie’s childish laughter. The smile was short lived, though. Now that the kids were out of earshot, any pretense Tess had put on that she was happy to see him was gone. “Who I spend my time with is none of your business.”

“You’re still my wife,” Sam said.

She looked at him, a mix of anger and sadness. “Sam...”

“It’s Dodge, isn’t it? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how often the car is parked at the church,” he said, and immediately regretted it. He’d accused her of cheating on him several times since she’d sprung her unhappiness on him. He just couldn’t think of any reason for the sudden reversal of her feelings. At least, it felt sudden to him. His newest accusation ended roughly the same as the others.

The slap across his cheek stung, but not nearly as much as her words. “I swear, sometimes you’re just asking me to give up and divorce you.” With that, she walked away, leaving Sam feeling like the ash falling from the sky was the least of his problems. But there was a ray of hope in her words. She hadn’t given up. Yet.

6

More people had gathered outside since Sam had stepped away. He recognized most everyone, though there were a few people—probably out-of-staters—that he didn’t. Sam wondered why they simply hadn’t packed up and driven off.

“There’s not a lot to tell,” Winslow was saying to the group, “at least not a lot that I’m sure of, anyway. But it appears that Refuge has been…” He paused and scratched at the back of his head. “…cut off.”

“Cut off? Cut off from what?” someone asked.

“Well, the rest of the world, or whatever it is out there. Like we’ve been shifted somewhere else,” Winslow said.

“Not to sound like a broken record, but what do you mean by cut off from the rest of the world?” Sam asked. “The town seems to be functioning okay.”

Winslow squinted at him. “You slept through the night.” It wasn’t a question.

“It’s
still
night,” Sam said.

“Did
all
of you sleep through the night?”

“A lot of people did,” Griffin said. He rested a hand on Winslow’s shoulder as if to say ‘thanks, but I’ll take this from here.’ People began to gather around, drawn in by the conversation.

“While some of you were sleeping last night, the church bell began to ring, just like you heard a little while ago. The air shimmered. The fireworks in Ashland disappeared. And the world outside Refuge...changed. We went to the edge of town, to the south, down past the National Guard Depot. The road ended at a desert. Sand as far as you could see. Sheriff Rule found Phillip Beaumont’s abandoned car with his wife still inside it.” Griffin took a deep breath. “Dead,” he added, making no attempt to sugar-coat it.

A woman gasped.

Griffin proceeded to tell the assembled residents a horrible tale of sand creatures, kidnappings and flying bird-things. The story ended with Sheriff Rule’s death.

Sam found all of it very hard to swallow, but he knew Griffin and Rule were as close as family. He wouldn’t sully her memory by making a mockery of her death. Plus the badge on Griffin’s chest lent credence to his outlandish tale. But others weren’t as easily convinced.

“Bullshit,” someone cried out.

Griffin replied by taking out his phone and opening an image. He turned it around to the group. It was a shot from Main Street, in broad daylight, except the sky was red, and in the distance was a desert and a towering structure. “I know many of you will find this hard to believe. You slept through it. But this was the view from Main Street—” He pointed toward the street, “—right over there, just a few hours ago. And then, this.” He swiped his finger across the phone, switching to a similar image, but instead of a desert, there was a lush jungle. “And now we’ve got darkness and falling ash.”

“So...” Sam looked Griffin in the eyes, searching for a trace of doubt. “What you’re saying is that we’re—that
Refuge
—isn’t on Earth anymore?”

“That’s the simplest way to put it,” Griffin said. “Yeah.”

“With Rule gone, who’s in charge?” Dana asked, accepting the news with surprising ease.

“Frost,” Griffin said, without hesitation. “It’s what Rule wanted, and I can’t think of any reason not to agree. She’s going to need help, and I expect nothing less from all of you.”

“Where is she?” someone asked.

“At the station,” Griffin said. She’d told him she wanted to come up with an organized response plan, and to do some research, but he’d suspected she just needed time to mourn. Griffin did too, but his military training was kicking in. He’d mourn later, when things cooled down.
If
things cooled down. “She’ll be here soon.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Sam said, volunteering Jimmy and Dana along with himself. “Where do we start?”

Winslow stepped forward. “Let’s start with what we know. Facts,” Winslow said. “Not speculation. No theories.”

“And what exactly do we know, beside bup and kiss?” Sam asked.

“Well, for starters,” Griffin said. “We know that its dark, snowing some sort of ash. So far, this world has been pretty benign, but we can’t afford to assume it will remain so. Wherever we are, it’s not home, and we need to treat it as such. Foreign and potentially hostile territory.”

“Cell phones, landlines and the Internet are all shit,” Jimmy said. “None of it works.”

“Do we have any communication at all?” Sam asked.

“The two-ways are working,” Griffin said, motioning to the device attached to his belt. “I can check in with Frost, get any spare radios the station has. That’s a start anyway.”

“I suggest we compile a list of places of interest,” Winslow said. “Locations that seem connected to what’s happening.”

“The church,” someone from the crowd called out. “Start with the church.”

Ken Dodge stepped through the crowd.

“The church bell rings each time one of these...shifts, for want of a better word, occurs. I would like to believe it’s a warning. A tool for good, but... I suggest we start there.”

No one argued the point. That Dodge was casting suspicion on his own church building was surprising to Sam. He’d had more than a few harsh thoughts about the pastor as of late, losing sleep to fantasies about kicking in the Church door, finding the pastor with his wife and then proceeding to bludgeon the man with an offering tray.

“Church it is,” Griffin said. “Pastor, you know the building. Winslow...” Winslow just nodded. If anyone could figure this mystery out, it would be him, and everyone, including him, knew it.

“For now,” Griffin said, looking at Mary, who had taken a time out from serving to listen in. “We’ll use the Market as a temporary HQ.”

Mary smiled. “You do whatever needs doing. Just promise to please be safe.”

“We will—” Griffin started.

“Hold on,” Sam said. “Phones don’t work, but the two-ways do?”

Griffin didn’t reply. He just waited for Sam to get to the point.

Sam looked to Jimmy. “You still have your HAM radio?”

“Nah, gave it to Tommy up at Piece of Shit.”

“Piece of shit?” Winslow asked.

“WPOS,” Sam explained. “The radio station.”

“You don’t suppose Tommy still has it up there?”

Jimmy shrugged. “He could. He liked to mess around with it on the weekends. Could be worth a shot.”

“How many watts does the average station put out?” Sam asked.

“Average?” Winslow thought for a second. “Probably around 15,000.”

“How far do you think 15,000 watts will get us?” Sam asked.

“On a clear night, I can usually get WXZM up in Bangor,” Dana said.

“Exactly,” Sam said. “I think we need to try for the radio station. If that’s still working then we might be able to reach help. Maybe the world beyond whatever is out there is still normal? Could be just the Lakes Region that’s affected. Or maybe just New Hampshire.”

“That’s good,” Griffin said, and looked at Winslow. “We hadn’t thought of that possibility.”

“I’m in,” Jimmy said. “We can take my truck. It’s back at the hardware store.”

“Let’s go,” Dana said.

“Be careful,” Griffin said. “I think the station is inside the border, but it’s not far. You guys want to wait for a two-way?”

“Won’t matter if we have one,” Sam said. “Once we get behind that ridge line out past the water tower, it’ll be useless. We’d be too low. Hell, nothing works there. We’ll call you from the radio station once we get there—assuming we can.”

“Any hint of trouble you turn tail and head back,” Griffin said. “Got it?”

“Got it—”

A silver Land Rover pulled into the parking lot going a little too fast. Any local would recognize the pricey vehicle as belonging to Julie Barnes. Hell, even the newcomers to town would know. It had her face, agency name and phone number plastered on the doors like a mobile billboard.

At thirty-five, five-foot eight and with the bluest eyes Sam had ever seen, it was no wonder why most of the residents had signed on for the retrofit program she’d shilled. She was easily one of the most attractive women in town—it was with a bat of an eye and the illusion of sex that she did her business—much to the chagrin of many a wife and girlfriend.

Sam watched with appreciation as Julie stepped out of the Rover, one well-toned, tanned leg at a time. She was wearing her standard attire: short, tight skirt, buttoned blouse—with just enough left undone for the imagination—and heels that looked lethal.

Julie joined the group .“Hey,” she said, brushing fallen ash off her blouse. “Am I interrupting?”

Griffin squinted at her. “I...was just leaving. I haven’t seen you since the bar. Are you okay?”

“Fine, hun,” Julie said with smile that might have been forced. Her feathers had certainly been ruffled, but she was doing a commendable job of looking composed. “Thanks for asking, and before you ask, the safest place in town, in my opinion, is by your side. So, where are we headed?”

Griffin looked about to argue, but just shook his head. “The sheriff’s station.” He started walking toward the parking lot exit. The station was a quick walk.

“Wait up,” Julie said, stumbling in her heels. “I’ll go with you.”

Sam chuckled. Everyone could see Julie was hot for Griffin, but he’d been spurning her advances. So far.

Jimmy slapped Sam’s arm and motioned to the side, where Tess approached with the kids. “Catch up.” He and Dana started across the lot to the park, and the hardware store beyond. The ash still fell from the sky like tainted snow.

“The kids wanted to see you off,” Tess said.

“We’re making a run up to the radio station, see if we can’t get some help.”

“Can I come?” Wyatt asked.

Sam mussed Wyatt’s hair. “That’s up to your mom.” He wasn’t convinced it was the best idea, but spending time with his son was a rarity these days. He wouldn’t turn down the chance, and honestly, in a situation like this, he thought the kids would be safer with him, Jimmy and Dana, rather than with their mom. He knew Tess would never agree to Ellie tagging along, so he didn’t even bring it up.

“Can I, Mom? Can I go with Dad?” Wyatt pleaded.

Tess looked at Sam. “Do you think it’s safe?”

“You let him snow plow around town with me last winter.” Sam looked up at the ashen sky. “That had to be worse than this. And we’ll be in Jimmy’s truck. Thing is a tank.”

Sam took Wyatt by the shoulder and pulled him close. “It’s just a quick trip there and back. Won’t let him out of the truck.”

“Not even once,” Tess said.

Wyatt understood that this was essentially permission and pumped his fist.

Sam gave a nod. “Not for anything.”