Instant Darkness Read online

  Inside the station, a clerk behind a glass partition glanced at them as they came in. Her hair was gray for three or four inches from her roots to the bright red that she’d presumably been dying before she’d changed her mind about the color. Her eyes were just as red as the ends of her hair, perhaps from a lack of sleep, and Nick wrinkled his nose at the old-coffee smell that lingered in the stale air.

  “You’re lucky,” she said as they approached. “We aren’t usually open on a Sunday, but it’s so crazy out there that my boss asked me to come in. Are you the gentleman whose car was stolen at the gas station?”

  “Yes.” Nick set down his suitcase and leaned on the counter. “Do you have paperwork for me to fill out?”

  “Usually an officer fills out the paperwork,” she said, bouncing her head back and forth, “but I guess, as things are so busy, I can give it to you. What are you going to do with these children and no car? It’s just awful how people have gone wild in anticipation of this solar storm that’s coming.”

  She didn’t appear to need an answer from him, so he took the paperwork and began to fill it out. Corey and Rae Ann rested in two of the three orange chairs that were set against the wall. Rae Ann clutched Louise, kicked her feet, and hummed. Corey had his earbuds in, probably listening to music. Just as well, as it was going to take a few minutes to finish these forms.

  He’d been working on them for five minutes or so when he realized the woman was trying to get his attention.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  She put a finger to her lips and pointed to a jar of candy on her desk, and then to Corey and Rae Ann.

  He frowned at her.

  She made the motion again.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ve just had my vehicle stolen after spending four hours on what should have been a one-hour drive. I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me.”

  “I was trying to ask if it’s okay for your kids to have a piece of candy,” she whispered, but the sound carried through the room. “But I didn’t want to say it out loud in case the answer was no.”

  Corey’s gaze was fixed to the floor, head bobbing to the music piping through his earbuds, but Rae Ann perked up immediately.

  “That would be fine,” Nick said.

  The woman gestured to Rae Ann to come to the window, and she slid the jar of candy out in front of the girl.

  “One for you, and one for your brother,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Rae Ann said, and reached into the jar for two pieces.

  Just then, the door slammed open, a woman rushed in, and Rae Ann jumped, knocking the jar to the floor and spilling candy everywhere. Rae Ann hid behind her father as the woman from outside rushed forward to the desk, stepping on the candy and rolling her ankle. She gasped with pain and grabbed the counter to keep from falling. Nick moved over to steady her, kicking the jar, which impacted the ankle she’d just injured.

  She shook off Nick’s helping hand. “Never mind about me, there’s a robbery at the McDonald’s. They’re armed with guns.”

  The clerk turned and began to speak into the radio on her desk, then glanced back to the woman. “Any shots fired?”

  “Yeah. They shot up the interior of the restaurant before they demanded money and all the food that was ready to eat.”

  Nick figured if he were going to rob a restaurant, it wouldn’t be a McD’s, but then they were probably mostly after the money, and the food was just an afterthought.

  The clerk turned to the radio and requested all cars respond to the robbery.

  Nick returned to his paperwork, and when the woman who reported the robbery left, he handed his paperwork in.

  “I’ve filled it out to the best of my ability,” he said. “An officer can call me if they need more information.”

  “If we have any communications after the power goes out,” the clerk said. “Feel free to check back in.”

  He nodded and took a seat next to his kids. “I think we should try to get home,” he said to Corey.

  “We can’t,” Corey started.

  Nick raised his hand to stop him. “Corey, I’m sorry, but we’re expecting a major disaster to hit any time. We have no way to get anywhere, but at least we know where home is. We aren’t even halfway to Vermont yet. I’m taking us home.

  “But—”

  “Please don’t argue with me. I tried to get to Vermont, I did. I just don’t see how we can get there without a car. But with all the traffic going toward the city, maybe we can find a ride home. Come on.” He stood up. “Let’s get moving.”

  They went outside and crossed the grass to the road. The cars that had been rushing by them earlier were now at a standstill, as a roadblock had been erected around the McDonald’s. They walked to where an officer stood on the bike lane.

  “Will we be allowed to go by?” Nick asked.

  “We wouldn’t want to put your children at risk, would we, sir?” the officer asked. “We have a hostage situation, so I suggest you find a different route.”

  Nick turned away. He didn’t know the area well enough to find a different route. As far as he knew, it was ten miles to the nearest freeway exit and he had no idea how to get there.

  “Let’s go back and ask the clerk if there’s another way to go,” he said to the kids.

  But back in the police station the clerk just shook her head. “If you are walking,” she said, “you might as well just stay put until they open the road. You’d have to go ten miles or more in the wrong direction before you could get straight again.”

  Nick thanked her, and they went out to stand on the grassy spot again.

  “Dad,” Corey said, “this street, what’s it called?” He scanned for a sign. “N Road.”

  “N Road? Who names these roads around here?”

  “I don’t know, but look, Dad, it runs alongside the interstate going north.”

  “We need to wait, Corey.”

  “But we could get to Vermont this way, and maybe catch a ride at the next freeway entrance. It would be better than just waiting here for hours.”

  Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling a slight breeze pick up. He pondered the situation for a moment, then focused his gaze on his son. Sure, they could return back home and hole up for a while, like he wanted to do, but if society fell apart, he realized they wouldn’t last long. With no way to defend themselves, they would be at the mercy of those with looser morals. Making the journey to Abram’s was vital, and he knew Corey was right to make a push for it.

  Nick pursed his lips, not wanting to speak the words on his mind, but then gave in. “Okay, Corey, we’ll do it your way. It doesn’t look like we’d be any worse off. It could be hours before they let us through.” Nick grabbed the handle of his suitcase. “This way, kids. We’re walking to Vermont.”

  7

  Abram was happy with the time they were making. In another fifteen minutes, they’d be in Vermont and only an hour or so from their destination. Emma hadn’t made any comments from the back in quite a while, and he was hoping she’d given up on her vendetta against him. He knew she would miss Corey, but it was time for her to branch out and make other friends. After the emergency, the two of them would have had a clean break, and maybe it would be easier for her. After all, he figured it would be at least several years before civilization was up and running again.

  Not that he disliked the boy, but Abram was afraid of what the friendship might develop into if it was left unchecked. It would be a mistake for Emma to get involved with the boy. She’d spent her entire childhood with him, and she needed to spread her wings and experience the world.

  They were still on the interstate, almost at the bridge across the Connecticut River, when the car in front of them screeched to a halt as a transformer on a powerline next to the freeway exploded and set the pole on fire. Abram and his family came to a stop right at the West Lebanon exit, and the stop light at the end of the off-ramp went dark. There was a collision in the intersection. Ne
wer cars, like the one in front of them, stopped running. Some restarted, but others did not, and people began abandoning their vehicles where they stood, causing the cars that would still run to have to wind around them.

  Shelly gasped as two cars collided.

  “What’s happening?” Maggie asked.

  “I think the first waves from the coronal mass ejection just hit,” Abram said.

  “They need help,” Emma cried from the back seat. “Dad, those people need help!” She pointed to a family with children who were trapped between two dead vehicles, with two more trying to pass between the cars in the space the people occupied. Luckily, the two moving vehicles stopped before they crushed the family.

  “We can’t help them,” Abram said.

  “Why not?”

  “If we go down there, we become part of the problem. It’s not our fault that they are unprepared.”

  Abram swung his Land Cruiser out and around the car stalled in front of them. The Toyota was old enough that it didn’t have electronic ignition or any computerized components. The electromagnetic pulse couldn’t affect it.

  There were people and cars on the roads below, chaos without the aid of stoplights.

  They crossed the river into Vermont and left the mess behind. There wasn’t a stop light to be found between their current location and their destination. The backwoods of Vermont didn’t have traffic lights; it was one of the things that made it perfect as a bug out location.

  “I can’t believe we didn’t try to help those people,” Emma said.

  Abram glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Her face was mutinous. Well, that was just too bad. They couldn’t let anyone slow them down now.

  “The problem is too big for the four of us to solve,” he said. “We’d just compound the problem if we tried.”

  Emma crossed her arms, shifting her steely gaze toward the passing trees out the window.

  Abram glanced in the rearview. He felt like her behavior was a failure of their parenting, this affinity for the sulks and speaking her mind. His sister would never have dared talk back to their father, nor would he. His siblings knew who was in charge of their household, and it wasn’t the children.

  He pursed his lips.

  There was still more traffic headed south than north, but after they passed the junction with I-91 at White River Junction, traffic picked up.

  Abram wondered where people were going. Could it be that they assumed there’d be power if they crossed the border into Canada? Surely, they weren’t headed to Burlington…

  Burlington was the largest city in Vermont, but at just over forty-two thousand people, it wasn’t huge. The city of Boston’s population was higher than that of the entire state of Vermont. If you were looking for help, Vermont wouldn’t be the first place he’d think of. Unless, of course, they were bugging out to Vermont, the way he was. If you were looking to get away from the hoards, then Vermont was the perfect place to be.

  Abram pulled off the interstate at exit two, nearly twenty miles from the border. Freeway off-ramps in Vermont tended to be ten miles or more apart, unlike other places where they seemed to come one after the other. He figured this was because so many states were built up and contained countless miles of urban areas. The two Vermont interstate freeways were instead surrounded by miles and miles of trees. If you wanted to find the towns, you had to get off the interstate and drive the state routes.

  And there, at the junction of Routes 110 and 14, was the quaint town of Sharon. There was a huddle of maybe twenty-five people on the green, and Abram pulled over and let Emma and Maggie from the back so they could stretch their legs.

  They stood next to the car and Abram excused himself and walked across the green to a smaller knot of people standing in front of an old church.

  “Power’s out?” Abram asked as he approached.

  “Yep, I guess what they’ve been saying on the radio is true.” This, from a tall man in Bean boots, jeans, and a flannel shirt. “Half our vehicles won’t start anymore.”

  “What you need is a seventies vehicle like mine,” Abram said. “No electronic parts.”

  “A little late for that now,” the man said. “But, luckily, some of our cars restarted when we disconnected then reconnected the batteries. And Norm here has an old pickup that’ll run, but it’s well past its prime.” He indicated the man standing next to him.

  Norm stuck out his hand, and Abram shook it, saying, “Abram.”

  There were introductions all around at that point, the man Abram had spoken to first being Tom, then there was Jim, Geo, and of course, Norm.

  “What are you all doing out here on the green?” Abram asked.

  “If we thought this was just a normal power outage,” Tom said, “we wouldn’t be out here. It would be life in Vermont. Power outages are business as usual. But the word is that this could last a very long time. We’re trying to formulate a plan. Food is going to be an issue, even for those of us who farm. We need fuel to bring in the crops and take them to market. And who knows if money will be any good after today.”

  Jim spoke up: “I’ve got a cousin up near Randolph who uses horses to bring in his crops, but there’s only him and the one set of nags—what are the majority of us going to do? Bring them in by hand?”

  “And how do the dairy farmers run their milking machines or refrigerate their milk?” Geo asked. “Some of us have backup generators, but the fuel won’t hold out forever.”

  “A return to community harvesting?” Abram asked.

  “Possibly,” Geo said. “Or perhaps a different way of buying into a farm share using labor instead of money. The problem is, even though we’re used to living without electricity—we get power outages at least a couple times a year—our vehicles have never stopped running before. And we’ve always had access to engine fuel. It’s going to take some doing to work these problems through.” Geo shrugged.

  “Yeah, I’ll say,” Abram said, pursing his lips. “Well, it’s time for me to move along. Good luck. I’m sure you’ll work it out.”

  Abram said his goodbyes to the men and stepped back toward his vehicle. Once they were all inside, he pulled out of the town and continued on, heading closer and closer to the safety of his compound.

  Corey shouldered his backpack and followed his dad and sister down N Road, going northeast. The tree-lined road was filled with meandering cracks—as a road that ran parallel to the interstate, it was sure in disrepair. Power lines crisscrossed over the neglected road, delivering electricity to the few homes they walked past. Soon, the power would cease to flow, and the occupants of those homes would be in trouble.

  A few minutes later, they reached a section of road that featured no buildings at all. A few distant horns honked off to their left, and Corey swung his head to see, but the highway was still cloaked by the dense forest. Corey figured there was probably a traffic jam on the highway—more people were growing wise to the looming threat.

  As they walked, anger stewed in Corey’s belly at the thought of the man who stole their car. He’d needed the car for his kids, he’d said. But what about Corey and Rae? They were kids, and the man’s actions had endangered them. He hoped the man who stole their car was stuck in traffic, where the cops would find him. That would serve him right.

  For a moment, he wished his father owned a gun. In truth, what he really wanted was his own gun. He’d have been able to keep the car from being stolen. He could have opened the window and blown a hole in the guy’s leg. That would have stopped him from taking their car. They would have been on the interstate and almost to Vermont by now. If he ever got the opportunity to learn how to shoot, he’d take it.

  Anger burned within him at the man who stole their car, but not just at him…at his father, too, who let it happen. And then at himself. He should have shoved the car door into the car thief. If he’d been thinking clearly, that’s just what he would have done.

  The thought he could have prevented this disaster shamed him, which jus
t angered him more. All he would have had to do was to slam that door into the man’s legs, and he hadn’t thought of it. What was the point of being angry at his father when he hadn’t done any better himself?

  He groaned inwardly. This was his fault as much as it was his father’s. And now it would take them days to reach Emma.

  Somehow, thinking of Emma also made him think of high school. He wondered if they’d ever finish the year, or if they’d have to do the second semester over again. He hoped not. It would be better if they never had to go back to school at all, except that he wanted to do things with his life, and he’d have to go to college or get some kind of specialist education. Would they waive the need for high school since the power had gone out and made school impossible?

  “My feet hurt,” Rae Ann said, breaking his thoughts. She was hugging Louise to her chest with one arm as she pulled her rolling bag with the other.

  Corey dropped his gaze to her feet. She was wearing a pair of princess shoes.

  “Of course, your feet hurt,” he said, “you’re wearing dress up shoes.”

  Their father stopped and looked at her feet. “Rae Ann, you can’t walk in those shoes.” He glanced at the suitcase she was pulling. “Do you have a better pair in your suitcase?”

  She stepped in front of her bag. “No. They are in the car,” she said. “I changed my shoes in the car.”

  “Let me see,” their dad said and grabbed the suitcase from behind Rae Ann.

  “No,” she cried and reached out to try and grab the bag from her father.

  But he was already crouched down, unzipping the case. She grabbed Corey’s arm and hid behind him.

  “What are you doing, Rae?” Corey asked, trying to turn and look at her.

  But she kept avoiding him by stepping behind him as he moved. His father gasped, and he looked to see what was up. His dad was staring into Rae Ann’s case, which a doll and a stuffed elephant had fallen out of, and not a pair of shoes to be seen. Or any other items of clothing, for that matter.

  “Rae!” Corey exclaimed.