The

Quiet

Robert S. Wilson

The Quiet by Robert S. Wilson is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

ISBN: 978-1-257-94254-1

For anyone who's ever been alone in that dark place.

1

The garage door rose slowly as James Benton rushed to his car on the morning after the first darkness had passed. Once in the car and backing out, he lit a cigarette. He took note that it was one of those rare days when none of his neighbors appeared to be leaving at the same time. He flipped his ashes outside the window as he pul ed out of the cul de sac. Then he leaned over and turned on the radio. The speakers crackled out white noise. He changed the station and found that anywhere he moved the dial, nothing came through but static. He shut off the radio and muttered to himself, wondering what would go wrong next with the old junker.

When he got to the main road at the entrance of the housing complex, he was blown away by the empty road. He peeled out, thinking it was one of those lucky times when he might be able to gun it the whole 1

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way and barely make it. He crossed under 465 and took the next right as he always did. This road was always empty. But as he pul ed up to the light at State Road 31 with its large grocery store, many restaurants, and other businesses he started to wonder what was going on. Had he forgotten it was a holiday? He looked at the calendar on his phone as he stopped. It was September 26th. He looked back up at the road ahead of him. To his right the exit would take him over the bridge he’d just crossed underneath. Even on Christmas Day this road wasn’t as empty as it was now.

Nobody was coming and he needed to get to work, so he zoomed out onto the road. He took the 465

West exit, looking out for oncoming cars. There were none. After a moment he saw a car up the hil .

"There," he told himself, "there's nothing weird going on, you’re just fucking crazy." He tried the radio again as he came closer to the car much faster than he expected. The radio crackled static as he came close enough to see the car well. He understood immediately. The car was sitting stil in the far left lane of the three lane highway with no one in it.

He looked in his rearview then. Stil not a single car coming. He couldn't see any up ahead either. His chest tightened. He thought about turning back and going home or maybe running off to his brother Joel's on the east side of town. Joel. He pul ed out his cel phone again and quickly scrol ed to his brother's name in the contact list and hit send. As the fourth 2

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ring sounded, he saw something moving up ahead, beyond the bridge for Mann Road. It was smoke way off in the distance. It became more clear as he came around the curve of the highway. Thick, black smoke fought its way up into the atmosphere from something on the ground. Joel's voicemail answered and James closed his phone.

The smoke was coming from the bright orange fire engulfing the 70 West exit. It must have originally been several cars, but now just looked like a burning pile of twisted metal. The flames rol ed in great waves from within the pile-up. James found himself veering over to the left, as far away from the flames as he could. He let off the gas as he tried dialing 911.

The phone rang and rang as he came alongside the burning metal sculpture. When he was past the scene, he found himself watching the fire rol up into smoke toward the sky in his rearview.

The sight was mesmerizing. The fire was far behind him when he realized the phone was stil ringing, so he closed it. He saw more and more deserted cars as he came closer to his exit. Some just sat in the middle of the road, some had veered off, and some were piled into each other. Half of the latter were on fire. He slowed down to exit, but instead passed the Sam Jones Expressway. He was pretty sure the upside down Crown Victoria would be impossible to get around.

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He continued down the road, wondering what to do.

His eyes refocused from staring at a semi jack-knifed into the East Washington Street exit with a Ford Explorer wedged underneath its trailer. Along al the exits and medians of different roads, he hadn't seen a single blade of grass. Where the grass should have been,lay rich, brown soil. He shrugged it aside as simple landscaping at first, but now that he came to the sixth or seventh exit, he knew it had to be something else. That was when he stopped the car and got out. The first thing he noticed after turning off the engine was the piercing silence. As he stepped out, the air tasted stale.

He leaned on the concrete railing of the bridge that stood over Washington Street for a long time. Other than the distant sounds of factories, there was nothing. No cars, airplanes, people. Not even birds.

He looked down at the road below him, leaning over the concrete slab to see under the bridge. At the edge of the road lay the only thing to be seen shy of road, dirt, and concrete. A single battered dol with one large, black eye, one empty gash where the other eye should be, and curly, red hair lay in the earth, looking up at him. A cool wind fluttered over and he shivered.

He got back in the car and sped on to the next exit, 10th street, and was glad to find it void of any wreckage. Going up the ramp, he saw nothing different from anywhere else. The road was mostly void of cars, he could see a few of them abandoned 4

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randomly off in the distance. Everywhere grass should be, bare land had replaced it. And then there was the tree. James slammed on the brakes, his tires screeching against the pavement. The tree stood lonely, towering over a grassless landscape. He could see the roots where they entered the ground. It was an unnatural sight, making the tree appear naked in some way. James put the car back into drive and went over the median, making a u-turn toward the exit for 465 going the other way. Once he was back on the highway he began to speed. He had a few things he needed to check before he ventured east to Joel's house.

This time, as he pul ed back into the housing edition he'd lived in for the past seven years, James took notice of the lifeless quiet that had escaped his notice earlier that morning. It was as if the life had been sucked from the place, figuratively and literal y. Not a sound or glimpse of movement caught his attention as he crept down the road. His head hung out the window, listening and looking around for some sign of something, anything alive. That was it. He couldn't remember seeing or hearing anything alive. Except the tree. The tree looked just as alive and healthy as he was. But only one.

He began looking through the bare, dirt yards for another tree. He passed his own road continuing his search, until after an hour or so he had combed the entire complex with nothing to show for it. When he got back home, he drug himself out of his car, feeling bleak and confused. He went straight into the kitchen 5

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and turned on the water. Then he wet his hands and began splashing it over his face and running it through his hair. He tried to clear his mind.

Stretching his back, his eyes closed and his head back, he let a drop of water touch his tongue. It tasted stale. No, it tasted beyond stale. He knelt down and took a gulp straight from the source. It tasted purer than any bottled water he’d ever drank.

Usual y, his water was so vile you could barely drink it. It had an odor so strong, he found himself taking shorter and shorter showers over the years. He leaned down in front of the powered stream and took a long sniff. No scent at al . A thought occurred to him, striking him dumb.

Leaving the water on, he ran up the stairs to the loft.

As soon as he was on the second floor, he found himself leaning over the banister, completely out of breath. When his lungs didn't feel like the oxygen was fil ed with razor blades, he walked underneath the entrance to the attic. Gripping the chord that hung from the door, he pul ed it, bringing the door down and revealing the enclosed ladder. He experimented with putting his weight on the decrepit ladder. It seemed to stil hold him. He went up, reaching blindly for the string hanging from the overhead light bulb.

When he felt it, he tugged, lighting up the messy attic. The light cast an eerie, yel owish hue on the room.

He knew exactly where to look for the old microscope. He hadn't used it since col ege, but it 6

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was used enough then to make up for the many years since. He took a deep breath and blew the top layer of dust from the top of the box. The word Olympus, in bright orange letters, appeared in place of the dust. The sight made James smile with nostalgia.

He was back in his kitchen 20 minutes later with the dusty old microscope set up on the counter. He cleaned off its lenses and several slides. He turned the water down until it was merely dripping. Putting the first slide under, he col ected one good drop then careful y put it in the microscope. Pul ing a smal bottle from his pocket, he took a second slide.

Opening the bottle, he let a drop of the murky liquid inside drop onto the slide. He set that one next to the other. On the third, he lightly spit and slid it into place with the other two.

He focused in on the first slide. It was more transparent than the glass itself. There wasn't a single living organism he could see. Next, he looked at the murky water, gathered from the neighborhood pond behind the housing edition. Aside from murky clouds of soil, he could see no evidence of anything that was, or had ever been, alive.

It was the third one that most interested him. He expected to see what was missing from the other two, but found nothing more than thick slimy liquid along with traces of mucus and remnants of food.

James didn't remember much from microbiology, but one thing he did remember was the human mouth 7

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was flourishing with life. But the slide with his saliva contained nothing alive at al .

8

2

Nothing seemed to have changed as James drove along the highway, avoiding the empty cars and col isions. He was grateful for the noise of the engine in place of the dreadful silence he’d endured at home for several days now. But even stil , an oppressing fear hung over him as he made his way toward his brother’s house. He stil hadn’t seen a single person, alive or dead. Who was he kidding? He hadn’t seen any form of life save for a tree and his own reflection.

Checking the Internet had only added to the number of questions swirling in his head. About half of the pages he attempted to load were gone, and those that came up hadn’t been updated since before everyone was gone.

Even the roar of the car’s engine wasn’t distracting enough from the desolation surrounding him. At first he was only nervous. He told himself whatever happened was likely localized to the south side of 9

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town. But as he made his way around the circular highway northeastward, his nerves frayed toward panic. What had real y done it was the pileup along the 65 South exit. He’d never seen so much carnage.

Hundreds of cars smashed together, more than half of them on fire and smoking profusely. He could feel the heat through the closed window even from the far side of the highway. The horizon above blurred in and out of focus from the flames. But stil he had seen no bodies. Not a single one.

The city streets weren’t much different on the east side of town. Those that weren’t desolate were fil ed with wayward cars and the remains of several explosions. One major thing was different here, though. There were house fires, a lot of them. From what James could tel , it looked like some of them had spread from one house to another. It was everything he could do to keep from breaking down as he watched the smoke rol up from those houses.

For 20 terrifying minutes, he was sure he would find his brother’s house burned to the ground, Joel’s body the first one James would find. But relief came when he turned down Hopkins Road and the entire street looked completely unscathed save for the lack of anything green or growing.

Joel’s red Corsica sat in the driveway as James pul ed up to the curb. He kil ed the engine and sat there for a long moment, studying the house. The shades were drawn and the door was closed.

Looking around, he didn’t see a single house with an empty driveway or any other signs of normal activity.

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It was just like his neighborhood. Just as deathly stil .

After a few deep breaths and a long, hard swal ow, James pul ed the keys from the ignition and got out of the car. He walked with short strides through the dirt yard, taking his time and examining the soil with his shoes.

When the front step of the porch was just a stride away he stopped stil and gazed into the front window. He could make out the outline of the dining room table and various ceramic decorations Cheryl, his sister-in-law, had put up. He kicked the dirt off his shoes and started up the porch, toward the door.

Holding his keychain up in front of his face, he stared at it, unable to find the key. He knew it was there, but he just couldn’t find it. Then he snapped himself out of it, pul ed aside the proper key, and used it to unlock the door. The door creaked and moaned as he opened it. Sebastian, the family’s golden retriever, who usual y attacked James by throwing his front paws onto James’s chest and smothering him in doggy kisses, was nowhere to be seen. James cal ed out as he stepped around the dark blue recliner.

“Joel? Cheryl? Sebastian? Here boy?”

He headed for the table he’d seen in the window.

Looking to the right into the kitchen, he saw no one there. On the floor he saw Sebastian’s food and water bowls, both partial y empty. He was about to turn to go to the bedroom, when he heard a low pitched boom from outside of the house. It went on for a moment until final y it rattled the wal s and al of 11

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the nick-knacks for several seconds and then it was gone. Even though James knew the sound had probably been a distant explosion, it stil made him jump when he heard it. He started for the hal way. On the right side, the guest room door was ajar, while on the left, Joel and Cheryl’s bedroom door was closed.

Straight ahead, the bathroom was open wide.

James tried the guest room first looking for any sign of Sebastian. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he was stal ing, but it was helping him deal with his fear, so he went along with it. Under the guest bed, he saw a sparkle of shiny metal. He tapped the object with his foot so that it rol ed out from under the bed. It was a col ar that said, “Sebastian” on it. He told himself it could’ve just been an old col ar. After making sure the guest room was empty, he went to the bathroom, flipped on the light, and looked in the mirror. He turned on the water and ran it over his hands. Then he ran his hands over his face and through his hair and took a deep breath.

He dreaded what he would find in that room and didn’t want to look anymore. If they were gone, he wondered if he could convince himself they were merely somewhere else. Worse yet, what if they were in there, frozen stiff. The different possibilities were terrorizing him. He couldn’t take it anymore. With tears streaming down his face, he burst through the bathroom, flung the bedroom door open, and looked inside. Joel’s glasses and two cel phones sat on the nightstand, one of them flashing. James walked over to them and picked up the flashing one. It was Joel’s.

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He flipped through the menu until he found the recent cal s list. His own number and no other fil ed the missed cal log.

The room was empty of people except for James.

The blanket lay ruffled on the bed as if whatever had been covered with it had simply dissipated. James walked around to the other side of the bed and was startled by a crunching sound from under his shoe.

He bent down to take a look. Little pieces of curved, pink plastic lay on the ground, some of them shattered from his footfal . He picked them up and then flung them as he realized what they were.

Fingernails.

He gagged for a moment, having to grip the dresser to keep from fal ing over. Then he realized as he took a deep breath what he’d not gathered at first. They were fingernails, al right, but not real fingernails.

They were press-on nails. Although he lost some of the queasiness, James didn’t feel any relief from this revelation. He gripped the blanket and, standing up, flung it from the bed. On the other side of the bed, a long, thin, dark rod with an adjacent screw at each end lay a third of the way up from the foot of the bed.

The nausea came back ten fold and James vomited onto the gray, carpeted floor. He was sure the rod had been in his brother’s femur before Joel’s body disappeared.

Standing outside of Joel’s shed in the backyard, James stood smoking a cigarette, his body 13

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convulsing, his face red and ful of tears. He couldn’t understand why he kept smoking but stil couldn’t bring himself to put the cigarette out. He moaned in a miserable high pitch as he leaned into the front of the shed, weeping. When the cigarette ran its course and burnt his hand, James threw the butt on the ground and went into the shed. When he found Joel’s gas can, it was empty. Kneeling on one knee, he chucked it aside and wiped his face. It had been worth a try, but now he would have to figure out how to get gas from a gas station if he was going to have enough fuel to get wherever he was going.

As he walked back to his car, he thought for a long moment about taking the Corsica. Joel obviously wouldn’t be using it. But he knew that would only remind him of his loss. He got in his car, started it, and sped off, paying little attention to where the road took him. He drove around aimlessly for a long time, just taking inventory of his surroundings. Eventual y, he came to a trashy little gas station, the only one that wasn’t crowded with cars and hadn’t exploded.

He pul ed the car into position beside one of the pumps. Without even thinking about it, he got out and swiped his card in the pump’s card machine. The smal screen said, “Approved” and the machine beeped at him. He pul ed out the nozzle and pumped gas into the car. Once the tank was ful , he put the nozzle back in its holder and tightened the gas cap back in place.

At some point, James wasn’t real y sure exactly when, he’d subconsciously decided he would head 14

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west until... well, until he found something, someone.

And if he found nothing, then he would just keep going until he couldn’t go any further. When he got on the ramp for 70 West, he slammed on the gas, swerving to avoid random col ided and burning cars.

By the time the skyscrapers of downtown were towering to his right, he was reaching 110 MPH. It didn’t feel good, exactly, but it was relieving, somehow, to drive so recklessly. But as he neared the west side of town, he quickly cut his speed.

The amount of cars and pileups were staggering. The highway ahead of him looked like a war-zone with dozens of smoke plumes racing each other for the highest point in the sky. As he swerved around a couple of overturned cars, something occurred to James. Compared to typical daytime weekday traffic there were very few cars out. Then he remembered how many cars were stil in driveways just about everywhere he had been. Every house in his housing edition had garages, but he was sure most of them were probably fil ed with automobiles. The only time there was so little traffic was in the dead of pre-dawn, before the first daily traffic rush. It was becoming clear to him that whatever was going on occurred al at once, and likely in the middle of the night. Out of habit, he looked at the time on his cel phone. It was 2:30 PM. He passed the Indianapolis Airport on his right. Nothing stirred there at al . He was used to seeing planes either landing or taking off constantly as he drove by.

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He had been worried that, once the highway slimmed down to two lanes, he would have more trouble with stray cars, but he found that not to be the case. As he came farther and farther from the city, he saw less cars and accidents. The once-lush fields, now stripped of everything but dirt, looked out of place under the clear, blue horizon. James flipped on the radio as he passed the exit for State Road 39. A high pitched squealing mixed with static shot from the speakers.

He began moving the dial up and down the frequency band. Various other pitches of screeching and static snipped in and out as he did this. He flipped it back off and tried to focus on the road ahead. Across the median, the occasional car sat waiting for the end of the world. Or had it already happened? He found himself getting drowsy from the monotony.

His eyelids were drooping heavily when out of the corner of his barely open eyes, he saw a car zoom past on the eastbound side of the highway. He slammed on his brakes and began to swerve, the car tires screeching like a banshee as the car itself started leaning. When he regained control, James blasted over the median onto the eastbound side and sped after the car he had just seen.

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3

James held his foot al the way down on the gas pedal. The car looked like a dot in the distance.

Whoever was driving was in a hurry, that much he could tel . He felt equal parts relief and fear to know he had found someone else. The dot was becoming a slightly larger blur. He could make out its red color now. Whatever it was, it looked boxy, very European like.

As he came closer he realized it was an old Volkswagen van with two things tied down to the top off it that he couldn’t quite make out. A moment more of holding the gas pedal down and he could see they were surf boards, one bright yel ow and the other a dul purple. When he was close enough that he could read the license plate, he saw the face of the woman driving the van. She looked back at him in a panic.

He had thought that anyone he might find would be just as happy as him to see another human being.

But here he had found one and she was running away.

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They were in the middle lane of the now three lane highway as they passed beside the Indianapolis Airport. The lady took another look at James and then swerved to the right just in time to get on the 465 South exit before he could fol ow suit.

Unconcerned with traffic as there was none moving, he slammed on the brakes, squealing tires louder than he could remember. Then he slammed the car into reverse, back into drive, and spun around toward the exit. When he got onto 465 South, he slammed the pedal down and drove for some time, no moving vehicles in sight. When he got to State Road 37, he took the exit and turned back the way he came from.

He drove back to where he’d entered the highway, finding no sign of the van. He pul ed off to the side of the road, put the car in park, kil ed the engine, and sat there staring into the distance for a few minutes.

He’d missed his chance, he was sure of it.

After some time sitting and feeling sorry for himself, James started the car up and drove back to I-70. He pul ed onto the ramp and headed west. The sun was setting up ahead and he tried to block out the worry in the back of his mind. He couldn’t stop wondering what it would be like in this desolate new world at night. The thought gave him goose bumps and he tried to bury it in his mind. He focused on the bril iant hues of gold and lavender. The farther away he got from the city, the more pitch black outside it became.

But the clear skies littered with stars were a wonder to James. He’d forgotten how magical the sight was.

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He had decided to spend the night driving and sleep during the day in order to quel his fears. Just the thought of closing his eyes in the dark produced images of something animated and out of focus grabbing hold of his shoulder. He shuddered. A strong wind had been pushing on the car for some time now and it was unnerving to think that al there was consisted of him, one other person, some trees here and there, strong winds, and the leftover waste of a civilization. He tried to remind himself he stil didn’t know for sure how far the effects of whatever had happened extended to.

Maintaining a steady 65 miles an hour, James watched the dotted lines of the highway blur past in single file. He’d been driving for three hours and by the clock on his radio it was now 9:47 PM. His headlights reflected off a familiar green sign. It was the State Road 46 exit for Terre Haute and Riley. He checked his gas gauge. Less than a quarter of a tank. He decided he would be better off getting gas somewhere he knew rather than trying somewhere completely unfamiliar to him. So, he swerved and took the exit.

He almost couldn’t make it due to the semi jack-knifed into the curve of the ramp, but he managed to get around by driving over the curb on the left side of the ramp. He took a right on 46 and swerved another right into the Pilot station. There were cars pul ed up to most of the pumps. He found one he could pul up to without having to paral el park and kil ed the engine. The inside of the gas station was well lit and 19

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just as empty as everything else. He tried his card again and this time the machine produced an error on the screen. He sighed and looked at the ominous building.

He walked up to the main front door and pul ed it open. Inside the place looked as though it were any other day except there were no other people at al .

Against the back wall, a single glass door hung open as if a ghost were browsing for a drink. For the first time since he woke that morning, James began to feel a deep growling in his stomach as he looked at the plastic packaged snacks covering the aisles.

Even the pork rinds looked good. He went behind the counter and scrambled around until he found the plastic bags.

He pul ed several out and started fil ing the bags with a variety of unhealthy snacks. Then he went back behind the counter and tried to figure out the controls to turn on the gas for pump 6. Seemingly by accident he hit the right button and the machine beeped at him. When he came back to the car his arms were ful between the bags of snacks, the two 24 packs of cola, the case of beer, and the large gas can he’d taken from the store. He put al the food and drinks in the passenger seat and started fil ing the gas tank.

Then he fil ed the can. He opened the air hole on the gas can and wedged it in the trunk between a tal stack of old waterlogged magazines and a spare tire.

He closed the trunk and stood watching inside the empty gas station, his hands stil sitting on the car. A 20

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gust of wind blew at him. It was strong enough that he had to grab hold of the car to keep upright. He looked at the sky above the building. Faint stars were blurred by the bright light of the gas station. In the distant sky beyond the lights of the city he could see something dark obscuring some of the stars.

Probably just a thunder cloud, he thought.

Once he was back on the highway headed west again, he looked in the rearview mirror to see the darkness spreading. He hadn’t seen any lightning yet, but he was sure it would come. Several minutes later he crossed the Il inois state line. He cracked open a bag of Doritos and loudly crunched on a handful chips. A moment of anxiety came when he realized the electricity in affected places wouldn’t last much longer. He’d seen once on a documentary show that electric plants wil eventual y need maintenance and, without people, wil shut themselves down as a safety precaution.

Two bags of chips and an apple pie later, James was nearing the I-270 junction. He stil hadn’t seen any lightning. A while later, he found the lines on the road starting to blur in the fuzzy warmth of the car heater.

He woke up swerving toward the right edge of the highway. Time for a wake up cal , he thought. He popped open one of the energy drinks and chugged the whole thing down in one gulp. Belching loudly, he crumpled the can and threw it over his shoulder. He couldn’t help giggling afterwards. Slaphappy time, he thought. He turned on the radio, hoping the noise would keep him awake. Static. He hit the seek 21

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button. The first station it went to was a high pitched

“off-the-air” tone. Next a higher-pitched static. The one after that he hadn’t been prepared for.

Strange, guttural, almost angry sounding noises fil ed his speakers, nearly stopping his heart. They weren’t voices. At least he didn’t think they were. But they certainly weren’t any kind of natural radio interference, either. After a while of listening, he realized he was holding his breath and had slowed down to 15 MPH. He stopped the car, put it in park, and continued listening. The sound reminded him of growling, if metal could growl. He sat listening, trying to make sense of the various deep pitches and rhythms. Then his cel phone rang.

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4

The air sweled as if static electricity were rising al around him. He looked at his cal er ID message on the outside of the flip phone. The screen fil ed with strange characters. After the third ring, he opened it and before he could put it to his ear, an incredibly loud and high pitched feedback pierced through his brain, causing him to drop the phone and hold both ears with his hands. Several bright flashes lit the world outside with blinding light. His skin prickled al over. He was sure whatever was happening was the same thing that made everything else disappear.

“What’s happening to me?” he screamed in chorus with the deafening feedback.

Grabbing the cel phone, James clamped it shut with a loud clack and tossed it to the floorboard. That horrible grumbling from the car radio faded back into his hearing. The flashes and the physical sensations continued. He hadn’t even noticed he was hyperventilating.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and put al his concentration into catching his own breath. Looking up, another flash occurred and he could see the 23

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darkness had spread far enough that it was visible above him through the windshield. It certainly wasn’t cloud cover. He forced himself to action.

He started the car and slammed on the gas, squealing tires as he sped forward. He tried to reconcile what he saw with the same reason that failed to shed light on al he had seen since waking up that morning. The darkness wasn’t clouds, it didn’t even look like gas, it was something solid, yet translucent, reflective.

And looking al around out the windows through the flashes, James could see that it covered most of the sky. It was heading west, covering the eastern horizon as far south and north as James could see.

He was gaining on 120 MPH, but the darkness was moving faster.

And those flashes. He could barely see between them and the phantom glow they left behind in his vision. Each time they started, there was that awful crispiness al over his skin. It was becoming clear to him, as the darkness spread further toward the western horizon, that driving, even driving west, would get him nowhere. He found an exit, not caring where it was, and sped through the off ramp.

The thought of the Volkswagen came to mind as he pul ed onto a road that probably would’ve been just as desolate before recent events. He wondered if the lady driving that van had managed to survive. He wondered if he was safe. Remembering that he had 24

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found someone brought him hope. Maybe there were more people like him, stil alive.

After a while of driving the straight, two lane, country road for a long time, seeing nothing more than fields and farm houses through the bright flashes, James looked at his car radio. The digital display kept alternating between 7:56 and the strange symbols just like on his phone. If his hunch was correct, it was showing the correct time.

He knew then whatever was covering the sky was blocking the sun. He swal owed as he feared the worst. What if it never went away? Tears streamed down his face. Al he could think about was Joel. He drove on, weeping in the eerie light of the flashes.

James woke, lying in the front seat of the car, his legs draped over the back of the seat. Sunlight came through the windshield above him. He sat up and looked outside. The darkness was gone. No flashing, no prickly sensation. The car was parked in an otherwise empty parking lot in front of a smal town store. He vaguely remembered finding it, exhausted and unable to keep his body awake. Even then the darkness was everywhere and the flashes went on stil . He wondered what time it was. The LED on the car radio was dead. It took him a while to find his cel phone. When, reaching down into the pile of trash on the floorboard, he felt its familiar smooth plastic shel , he plucked it from the mess. It was warm to the touch. Smoke puffed up from behind the blank 25

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screen when he opened it. He let out a sigh and tossed it back down.

James stepped out out of the car, the rubber soles of his shoes slapping onto the warm pavement. It was the kind of morning when you woke up to the sound of birds and running cars but now the silence seemed to go on forever. James couldn’t stop staring at the surreal, silver-lined clouds swiftly moving through blue currents of sky. He closed the door of the car and it echoed back from the store. Looking around at the empty parking spaces, he wondered why there weren’t any cars. Then it dawned on him. It must have happened in the middle of the night. Smal town stores weren’t known for 24-hour service.

He reached into his pocket and pul ed out his smooshed pack of cigarettes and opened it to find nothing inside but a pinch of tobacco at the bottom. A sort of rage overcame him. He flung the empty cigarette pack onto the ground like a mad man and stomped on it, half yel ing, half muttering. He wasn’t angry that he was out of cigarettes. He was sure he would find a way into the store and the signs of various cigarette brands with their prices listed assured him the store carried his favorite and many others. James went around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He knew his tools were buried inside, somewhere. He pul ed out the gas can and set it on the blacktop. Then he started digging through the layers of clothes and papers that had accumulated over the years.

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The cool feel of steel shocked the tips of his fingers as he dug several layers deep into the mess.

Pushing his hand in with more confidence, he gripped his fingers around the tool and felt its handle’s grainy texture. Ratchet... good enough, he thought. It took some tugging and twisting, but he pul ed the ratchet free. Closing the trunk, he took a deep breath, looking at the doors and windows of the store. He put the ratchet in his back pocket and race-walked to the automatic-sliding front doors. Obviously locked, they stood completely stil as James approached. He pressed up against the glass and raised up on his toes, looking down so he could try and make out the workings of the lock. It was a smal grey dead bolt that matched its surrounding doors.

If he busted the glass close enough and made a big enough hole, he might be able to reach in and unlock it. He took a step back, reached around his side, and pul ed out the ratchet. He lifted it above his head and aimed for a spot just above the corner of the glass, next to the dead bolt. He took a breath, counted to three in his head, and swung down with al his strength. The ratchet slammed into the glass with a hol ow clang, jolting and vibrating his arm while utterly failing to even scratch the glass. He let out a loud yelp from the pain.

“Al right, you son of a bitch. You got that one, but this next one is al mine.” He swung the ratchet again, harder this time, and the window bit back equal y hard. The glass reflected the furious look on James’s face in untarnished clarity. He bel owed a 27

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battle cry, and started slamming the ratchet into the glass over and over, letting it hit wherever it happened to land. The thick glass seemed impenetrable. But James was in a fury now, beating into the glass harder the more it mocked him with its flawless surface. His screaming had risen to a fevered pitch when he was abruptly interrupted by the blast of a rifle.

28

5

James dropped the ratchet and put his hands in the air as the metal tool jittered against the concrete. He slowly turned around, his knees buckling as he went.

A large man in worn overal s stood at the far end of the parking lot. In his hands, he clutched a shotgun at an angle, pointing towards the sky. Even at that distance, James could see the smoke floating from the barrel.

“You best get the hel away from that there store, son.” The man’s voice rose in the air and then ricocheted off the wal , behind James. I’m not alone, he thought. He had been longing to find someone for so long, he almost didn’t recognize the man’s intimidating tone.

“I just want some food and water, sir, maybe some cigarettes if it’s not too much to ask. I have to say it’s so nice to see someone else alive.” He could hear his 29

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own smal voice echo across the lot with a short delay.

The man gave no reply.

James moved forward careful y, being sure to keep his hands up high. The man seemed to stiffen.

James froze.

“I’m unarmed. I just want to meet you, sir.”

The man lowered his shotgun in James’s direction.

“You’l stay right there if you know what’s good for ya.”

James closed his eyes and swal owed. He was about to open them when he heard movement from behind him. Before he could turn to see what it was, two men grabbed him. One was dressed in brown overal s, his dark hair greased back, the other wore a white polo and khaki shorts, the sun gleaming off his bald head. The man with the shotgun was jogging toward them. His shotgun, saddled behind him, shook with the muscular motion of his body as he ran. James could feel the cold, sharp, stinging pressure of handcuffs being slapped onto his wrists.

“We’re not taking any chances, mister. You understand, right?” a young voice asked behind James. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of pul ing duct tape. He tried to get away but managed only a squirm as the cool, sticky pressure of the threaded tape enclosed his mouth.

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James groaned in reply. The jolt of what was happening severed his only remaining nerve since the shotgun blast. The men pul ed him toward the store as the man with the shotgun arrived just in time to open the sliding door.

Now that James could see him closer, the man with the shotgun looked easily well into his 50’s if not just over 60, but he was in better shape than James could ever hope to be. The man's hair was a shiny silver, greased back in the same style as the other man in overal s. James noticed both men's noses sat flat and wide on their faces. And both had high foreheads sheltering emerald green eyes. If they weren't father and son, they were definitely related, he thought.

Once in the store, it was apparent the pair knew their way around the place and the odd man out did not.

The eldest went straight to instructing the other two.

"Jimmy, did ya clear out the storage room and set up the camera like I asked ya?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good. Take our stranger here and lock ‘im up in there, but give ‘im some water and some o' these,"

he said, pointing to the beef jerky rack.

“Yes, sir.”

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"And Barger, stand watch at the door in the meantime. I'll go warn the others and get back as soon as I can."

“Yes, Mr. Flannigan.”

Mr. Flannigan turned to leave and then paused, shuffling back around. "Oh, I almost forgot. Once he's in the storage room and before ya get ‘is food, don't forget to flip on that camera. We'l need to keep an eye on 'im a couple o’ days."

Both of the younger men nodded, dragging James past the canned vegetable aisle. The man with the shotgun ran barefoot through the sliding doors. The smel of something rotten fil ed James’s nose as he was pul ed past the produce. Being carried from behind, he got a good view of the store and the way they were taking him. There was a flapping sound, and then a bump, and a change in the texture of the floor below his scraping heels.

Two tal , white, floppy doors with smal circular plastic windows seemed to just miss smacking back into him as he was dragged into the stocking area of the store. It was cold and dark compared to the rest of the store. After a few twists and turns around corners and stacked pal ets of shrink-wrapped boxes, his captors came to a stop and whispered amongst themselves. He heard metal clicking, a familiar squeal, then they were pul ing him into the storage room. James tried to struggle. Grappling onto the door jamb with the back of his left shoulder, he 32

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almost got loose from the men when a burst of sharp, solid pain shot through the right side of his head and then a plunging darkness overcame him.

When he woke, James found himself lying on a cot inside the smal storage room, his head sitting against a pile of cotton bal packages. His hands were no longer cuffed, but his head was swimming in misery. In the middle of the floor sat a mini fridge, its cable plugged into the wall behind it. James opened it and found several bottles of water and a wrapped up sandwich he couldn't identify. Pieces of jerky and cheese sticks were scattered on top of the tiny fridge.

Looking up, James could see that al the shelves in the room were cleaned out as the younger man had said. And in the corner, above the crudely painted blue door he’d come in through, sat mounted a security camera pointed down at him. Sure they were watching, James gave the camera the bird and opened a bottle of water, taking a long swig. Eager to have something with meat, James tore open the shrink-wrapped sandwich and smel ed the distinct aroma of tuna salad. His stomach growled. He began gnawing at the sandwich until there was nothing left and he was left licking the crumbs from his fingers. It had to have been the best damn tuna salad sandwich he ever had. But several minutes afterward, when the pain in his head began to make him nauseous, he thoroughly regretted eating it.

Eventual y his headache shrunk to a dul pulsing from time to time and his stomach continued balancing in 33

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that halfway point between nausea and heartburn.

He lay on the cot for a long time, remembering the last time he had a shower as if it had been ages ago, in some far off, magical land, now mostly forgotten. In a way, it had. He twirled his finger around loose, green canvas thread from the cot as he stared into the ceiling, wondering what these men would do next. He was sure they were scared of something, but of what he had no clue. He wanted to believe they weren’t capable of violence, but the pain in his skul kept him in doubt. And just what watching him in this room would prove to them baffled James more than any of it. Before long, with nowhere to go and nothing to do, he drifted off to sleep.

Two yel ow eyes peeked out from the darkness, shimmering with internal light. Whatever they belonged to made only an impression of space. A sense of detached scrutiny could be seen in them.

Then came the metal ic growling James had heard from his radio. The eyes were coming closer and James could no longer keep stil . He took off running, leaving the shimmering eyes behind him. A voice whispered in his ear with an odd, featureless accent.

“Clear a path in the desert. Make a straight road for the ...”

A loud clunk woke James. From the vibration of the door and the sound of the padlock being closed from outside, he realized someone had been in the room.

Sweat dripped down into his eye from his brow with a sting as he sat up. Getting rest had al eviated the 34

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pain in his head. In the back of his mind he could stil see those staring eyes. A shiver ran down his spine as he tried to clear them from his thoughts. Opening the fridge, he was not surprised to find another sandwich. This time he was almost disappointed to find the fresh baked bread fil ed with salami, ham, and cheese until he took a bite. These people at least had one thing going for them: they could make good sandwiches. It was so good, he almost felt guilty for wanting strangle each and every one of them. But he took solace in deciding he would give them a chance to listen to reason.

When he was finished eating, James got down to business. His head clear of distraction and his claustrophobia coming to a peak, he was ready to leave the tiny room and leave these people behind if they only wanted to cage him. He tapped his palm against the door strong enough to get someone’s attention. He heard whispering through the door, but couldn’t make it out.

“What do you want?” came a voice from beyond the door.

James leaned closer to the crack in the door. “I just want some fresh air... and to know why you guys locked me in here.”

“We’re not supposed to let you out until Mr.

Flannegan says. Just sit tight and as long as you check out, everything will be fine,” Barger said through the door. James spent the rest of the day 35

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pacing and scanning the room for anything that might help him escape.

The next morning the testing began. James woke to someone knocking on the door.

“Wel , what are you knocking for, it’s not like I can let you in,” he said as he rubbed his eyes. He heard a faint laugh from behind the door and then the sliding of paper from below and looked down to see an envelope under the door.

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6

James slid his finger along the line of adhesive, peeling the envelope open. Whatever was inside was more durable than paper, yet pliable enough to bend.

He leaned the brown paper pouch so that its contents slid out. He noticed a blur of rich glossy colors as the pictures fel from the envelope.

They were horrible. He grimaced at each one as he put it in the back of the stack. Each picture depicted a person or several people who had apparently been brutal y murdered. Not a single one had been merciful. The more he looked at them, from one to the next and so on, the more he could see a pattern.

No gunshot wounds. No stab wounds. Not a single hint of any weapon. They al appeared to have been ripped apart. He looked up at the camera bolted to the wal above the door.

"Hey! What kind of sick shit is this? Hey! Can you people hear me?" Then he looked down at the last 37

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picture. It was just like the rest except... In the far corner of the picture a hand lay, palm facing the floor, nails gripping at the crack between tiles. Just below the golden wrist watch, torn flesh and bone bordered between the hand and a black puddle of blood.

Something just inside his peripheral vision was trying to get his attention.

He let his eyes stare at the picture until it blurred into fuzzy colors. The cracks in the linoleum tiles blurred as his vision obscured. They started to line up with something. Then it was clear. The lines intersected completely with the tiles on the floor in front of him.

They had the same pattern. The exact same pattern.

Just beyond the reach of the severed hand in the picture were the blurry blue sides of the shelf that sat against the wall right in front of James. Realizing this, his heart jumped in his chest and he had to sit down.

James was sure he was going to be the next person to be photographed. His limbs were stiff and his resolve was diminishing. He needed to try and escape but he couldn't find the strength to even move. He felt the pictures slip from his hand as he leaned back against the wal .

The padlock outside the door clicked and the door swung open. James clung to the cot and raised his arms to protect himself from whatever would come next. Mr. Flannigan stood in the doorway. He entered the room and leaned down as though James were a wild animal he was trying to calm.

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"It's okay, Mr. Benton, we're not gonna hurt ya. We had to be sure ya weren't one o' them."

Mr. Flannigan reached out to put his hand on James's shoulder. James jerked, backing farther away and pushing himself even more against the wall.

"What did you do to them?" James screamed.

Mr. Flannigan's shoulders seemed to deflate. "Awe, no, Mr. Benton, we didn't do anything to them there poor souls. Some of those folks was friends o’ mine, family. It was them, Mr. Benton. The ones who make the sky turn black, the ones who’re kil in’ everything."

A chil run down James’s back. He looked at the old man before him with reservation.

"'Who are they? And how'd you know I wasn't one of them?"

Flannigan seemed to age 20 years as he looked at James with sad eyes. "Don't know, Mr. Benton...

but...” He looked down at the floor, then said, “They ain't human. Doc Barnes can attest to that. And I knew ya wasn't one o’ them 'cause last one we showed them there photographs to looked right through 'em like they was blank pieces o' paper. No sign o' ee-motion at-al . Then the first doggone chance he got when we tried to feed him, he ripped my brother Darrel apart.”

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James sat up with a shock. He knew then who was in that last picture. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Flannigan.” The old man nodded, his head stil facing the floor.

“Me too, Mr. Benton.”

“Please, sir, cal me James.”

“Wel , James, you won’t feel quite so tender when you hear the rest. I, for one, know you’re not one o’

them. But Doc Barnes, Joey Torrence, Pastor Wil iams, frankly a lot of the town folks, won’t wanna go offa just this ol’ man’s whim.”

“What? Wait a minute! Can’t the doctor just look me over?” James jumped to his feet and several things happened al at once. Flannigan jumped back in reaction, Barger seemed to come from nowhere, a wild look in his eyes, and swung the butt of his rifle, connecting it with James’s shoulder. James fel to the floor and both Barger and Flannigan Jr. dragged the elder Mr. Flannigan out the door and slammed it shut, leaving James alone in the room, the air knocked from his lungs. He tried to get up, but a weighted sharp pain in his shoulder prevented him from doing so. He let out a scream. Mr. Flannigan’s voice came muffled through the crack under the door,

“I’m sorry, James, even if Doc Barnes could give you a look over, we’d first have to get him to come in that room with you and we can’t do that. He’s our doctor.

None o’ them’l risk losin’ him.” James bit his tongue to try and quel the pain.

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He kept expecting them to come back through the door and help him, but they never came. Unable to get up, he had no choice but to lay there. He found if he didn’t breathe too deeply, he could get some semblance of comfort. At this stage, comfort was being in pain that wasn’t completely excruciating.

Eventual y, he fel asleep. Those yellow eyes were waiting for him. They cast that yellow glow over him as he lay on a hospital operating table.

“Make way the path of righteousness, Brother Benton, and we will come,” a voice said in his head.

He felt the presence of others coming closer, al around the table. That sound of growling metal rose as pairs of yellow eyes began to glow in a circle around him. Their bodies became even harder to see as the glow made everything else in the room darker.

James tried to move, but his shoulder became the center of al pain. He pushed through it and was able to lift his torso about an inch from the table when immense pressure like several hands against his chest held him down. He looked down at his chest and saw only darkness.

When he looked back up at those yel ow eyes, they were closer than they had been and moving in. The glow enveloped him and he felt a change within himself. Inside the glow, everything made sense. He had to make way the path. He had to kil them. It was the right thing to do. They were in his Father’s house.

He would make way the path. He saw a vision then.

He was strong, pul ing them apart, one at a time, his 41

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eyes glowing yel ow. He wanted so much for it to happen.

They told him then in his head, without using any words, what would happen. His body would change, he would put on incorruption. A mortal now, he would put on immortality and swal ow death in victory. Why was that familiar? In his head they told him it was familiar because it was truth. But he knew they were lying. And just like that, they were gone and he was awake, his eyes fluttering open.

It was the most hel ish pain James had ever endured, but he made himself get up from the floor. Then he sat down on the cot and stared at the wall. It was a bible verse. He remembered it from his days in the church. First Corinthians 15... 50-something. He couldn’t remember exactly which verse, but he remembered the words.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

He didn’t completely understand what was going on, but he was pretty sure the yel ow-eyed bastards in his dream were the ones responsible for everything.

They were making way the path, but to what?

Righteousness. What was righteousness?

Cleanliness. What were they cleansing?

Us, they’re cleansing us, goddamnit!

James pul ed himself up to his feet too quickly and the stabbing pain nearly knocked him back on the 42

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floor. He pushed with everything inside himself until he was leaning against the door. With his good arm, he beat on the door. “Open the door! I think I know, I know what they’re doing!” Voices grumbled at each other from the other side of the door. “I think I know what they want!” The grumbling became louder and then abruptly stopped. A good while passed and then he heard the now familiar click of the padlock.

He had to pul himself away from the door, but he managed. A man James had never seen before, dressed in scrubs, eased inside , Barger and Flannigan Jr. at each side of him.

“You’ve got five minutes.”

James told them about the dreams and about the bible verse and how it snapped him out of that glowing lunacy. He told them about the change he saw, about al they had “told” him. He had seen the change in his mind. It started like a seed, this alien presence inside you. Then it grew, replacing organs one at a time until, final y, it reached the brain.

“You mean they were human after al ?” Flannigan Jr.

asked. Before James could answer, the man he assumed was Doc Barnes leaned his head toward Jr.

and spoke.

“Possibly. I stil don’t trust him.” Then he looked back at James, “How do I know you aren’t one of them just tel ing us what we want to hear, eh Mr. Benton?”

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“I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that one.”

“A blood test would do it, just fine, but I’m not getting any closer to you, no sir.”

“Fine, give me the needle, you can watch from the goddamned camera for al I care. Just let me prove I’m stil human!” To James’s surprise, Doc Barnes not only agreed, but decided to watch from the open door. He wanted to “see the blood with his own eyes,” to make sure. Lucky for James he wasn’t as squeamish as most people when getting his blood drawn. With Barger and Flannigan Jr. standing over James, rifles pointed at his head, Doc Barnes slid the medical case across the floor, his body mostly hidden behind the door. With some minor instructions from the good doctor, James was able to fil the vial easy as pie. By that point, he was wil ing to do just about anything to get out of that room.

Doc Barnes took the medical kit and slipped out of the room. Barger and Flannigan backed away slowly and closed the door, leaving James alone. Then the lock clicked into place. James laid down on the cot and waited.

A while later there was a commotion outside. Barger and Junior were grunting just outside the room. The door flung open. James stood up, ready to final y leave the room. But he realized quickly they hadn’t opened it for him. Jr. and Barger rushed inside, dragging a tal man in a suit behind them. The man 44

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kicked and flailed as they brought him inside. James bounced over to the far wall, away from them.

The man’s screams bounced al around the walls as the two young men tried to get him to stay in the room long enough for them to get out. Eventual y, Barger was left with no choice but to knock the man out, just like they’d done to James. It was understandable, given al that James had learned, except for one thing: Barger let a hint of enjoyment show as he cracked the gun butt over the man’s head. Barger noticed James watching him and gave him an intimidating glare. James looked away. The door slammed shut and he was alone with the unconscious man. He couldn’t help thinking of those pictures of people ripped apart. He slid down to the floor and sat watching the man for any signs of movement.

When the man woke up, James backed himself into the corner, wishing they had left him some kind of something to defend himself with. He had stayed up al night watching the man and he was exhausted. It was a 50/50 chance the man was only human, but James didn’t like those odds. The man made groggy noises as he held his wounded head. James’s stomach growled. No one had brought any food nor did anything to help the man like they had with James.

The man sat up and looked at James, his expression a cross between angry and the frown of a hurt puppy.

The man attempted to get up, causing James to 45

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squeeze even closer to the wal . Noticing James’s fear, the man raised his hands in a gesture of not meaning any harm. He nearly stumbled backward as he got completely to his feet.

“What the hel is going on? Why are we locked in this fucking place? And what the hel is your problem?”

James didn’t know where to even begin, but before he had a chance, the man burst over to the door and started banging his fist against it and yelling.

“Hey, fuckers, let me out of here. I’m a citizen of the goddamn United States, I don’t have to take this shit!” He walked away from the door and then charged at it. Slam. He walked back again and repeated the attempt several more times before he wore himself out and gave up. He went over to James and reached his hand out to him.

“Hi, name’s Devon, who the fuck are you?”

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7

“James,” he said, making no effort to shake the man’s hand.

“James, eh? Okay, James, why the fuck do you keep looking at me like I’m gonna hurt you after what they just did to me?” He looked at his extended hand and let it falter.

James looked around the room until he spotted the tan envelope sitting under the cot. He pointed to it,

“Look at the pictures in that envelope and then I’l be glad to explain.”

After Devon looked at the photos and James told him what Flannigan had said, Devon sat a long time in silence looking over each picture, one at a time. He initially had nearly the same reaction to them that James had and it took some effort to calm him down.

But now that he kept looking at them, James was getting nervous. A long time passed before he final y spoke.

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“This is bul shit, has to be. You real y believe that bozo Flannigan?”

“Wel , yeah, he was pretty upset.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty upset, from what you told me about your arrival, you’ve been pretty upset. We’re al pretty fucking upset. Stil doesn’t account for locking us up like monkeys. Why do you think they didn’t let you out once they gave you that blood test?”

James stiffened. Why weren’t they letting him out?

He let the question sit in the back of his head and never answered Devon. The two men talked for several hours about their families, their lives, their jobs. Devon had been a freelance accountant in Chicago, specializing in smal businesses. He had a wife and two kids, a cat, and a goldfish, and now he had nothing. He turned bright red and crumpled as he talked about them. The tears flooded down his face and his body started to shake until James could do nothing else but hold the man. Devon pushed him away at first, but eventual y he gripped James’s shoulder in return and sobbed even harder into James’s gray polo shirt. And then James thought of Joel and started to cry himself. After a while, the two men awkwardly separated, straightened themselves out, and wiped the tears from their faces.

James let Devon sleep on the cot that night. Feeling safe enough to sleep, he curled up on the floor and let himself pass out as well. He was in the dark abyss of dreamless unconsciousness for what seemed like 48

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a long time when he found himself aware of that presence again. Then came the glow. It was only the one this time. It told him things again. Showed him things. It showed him faces of other people al over the world. Cold, dead faces. It showed him little communities, in various parts of the globe, infiltrated by some of their own people and murdered by bloody hands far too strong to be human. It showed him many groups of people, Asians, Africans, Europeans, Arabians and others, al dying, al across the world.

Then it showed him the store and the little community that had trapped him and Devon. He saw Devon and himself busting through the door and ripping the others apart until every last one was dead. In between the stil , contorted faces, James saw a flash of something else and knew he wasn’t meant to see it. In the flash, he saw and knew their biggest fears.

In that solitary second he saw the community grow and flourish into more.

He saw a strand of DNA and knew that those people and plants that had survived were different than the rest. He knew that the yel ow-eyed bastards needed the earth. They had come a long way and hadn’t taken any chances. They used the darkness to

“Make way the path,” to cleanse away the life that could infect them with disease and bacteria.

But they hadn’t counted on James and the others.

So, they sent down their own virus. Infected men with a piece of themselves. The piece grows until it becomes the man. Then the cleansing can continue.

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This community was the last, al right, that part was true. But what James had seen, him and Devon kil ing the others, that part was not. Because in that single flash, he learned the most important thing of al : they couldn’t infect the others. Something about their brains kept the yellow eyes out. And even though they had infected James, something was altogether different about him than anyone else in the human race. His body was immune to the virus.

Devon was the wildcard.

They had infected him the night before. After a few days, if the infection took, he would be the only chance they had of cleansing this last group.

After several more hours dreaming of murder, James woke up to Devon yelling and banging on the door again.

“Let us out of here, you motherfuckers!”

No reply.

James rubbed his eyes as Devon once again tried busting down the door. He sat up, holding his head in his hands. He knew there was something he was supposed to remember, but he could barely concentrate without his head threatening to explode.

When Devon final y stopped and sat down next to James, he was covered in sweat and breathing fast.

He looked at James and then laughed.

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“You just gonna sit there and watch, while I do al the work?”

James laughed then too. Devon laughed harder, causing James to fol ow suit until both men were almost to tears from laughing so hard. Then they heard the first shot ring out in the distance. They weren’t laughing anymore.

They stood stil , listening. Another shot rang out.

Then another. Before long it sounded like a war had started somewhere within a mile radius of the store.

Devon looked at James as if to confirm that he wasn’t the only one hearing the gunfire. Then a loud sound of radio static came from outside the door and then was replaced by Mr. Flannigan’s trebly voice speaking in quick, high tones, “Jimmy! Son, if you can hear me, take the truck behind the store and get the hel out of there.

“It’s Barger, I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but he’s gunned down the whole congregation,including Pastor Wil iams, I barely got out of there! But he saw me and he’s coming for me! Oh, my god he just shot Doc Barnes! Oh, my god, oh my god, oh my god, I have to find my gun, I have to--” static.

Flannigan Jr. began to squeal in misery outside the door. Devon just sat there staring at the wall. James ran to the door and started beating on it with his fists.

“Flannigan! You have to let us out of here, Flannigan.

Flannigan!”

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The boy outside only sobbed louder. James looked back at Devon. He was stil just sitting there staring.

“Devon, maybe if we both slam into this thing, we can get through!”

Devon only sat and stared in reply, oblivious to James’s very presence.

A single gunshot went off and Jr.’s sobbing sped up in near hyperventilation. James kept watching Devon, hoping he would snap out of it, but he just kept on staring. Except for Jr.’s sobbing, everything was quiet for a long while. Devon sat and stared and James stood against the far wal , waiting for one of the two, either Jr. or Devon to snap out of it, so he could get out of this place. He didn’t know who to root for more.

He didn’t want to lose his last friend in the world, but if Jr. didn’t come to, they would probably both die soon. The car engine drawing near seemed to get both of their attentions. Devon stood up vacantly and Flannigan Jr. seemed to be whimpering something.

James cal ed to his friend, “Devon? You there?”

No reply.

The engine’s pitch rose as it became louder. Devon doubled over, moaning in pain. James moved closer to console him automatical y, but when he was close enough to see Devon’s face, he backed off quick. His eyes glowed yellow and the veins in his head bulged unnatural y. The car’s brakes screeched outside as Devon turned and gazed at James in mindless fury.

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“Devon, it’s me, remember? Devon, please.” But it was too late and James knew it. The man was no longer human. Outside the door there was a crash of shattering glass and Jr. screamed. The sound seemed to distract Devon for the moment and James backed in the corner by the door. He leaned against the wal and it creaked, redirecting Devon’s attention.

James jumped when the gunshot went off and Jr.’s screaming abruptly stopped. Devon took slow deliberate steps in James’s direction. James heard the familiar click of the lock and the door flung open fol owed by another single gunshot and the thud of dead weight hitting the floor.. He knew it was his only chance. Lunging forward, James slammed into the door, knocking it into the man holding it open.

“I’m gonna enjoy kil ing you, you whiney son of a bitch,” Barger said from behind the door. A large rifle and Barger’s head peaked around the door. James pushed the door with al the strength he had, wedging Barger in the door and knocking the gun to the floor. A shot fired, ricocheting off the far wall.

James slammed into the door again, harder this time.

Barger let out a yell, his head and arms the only thing stil in the room. James pul ed away from the door and Barger col apsed in a heap. James ran forward, picked up the gun from beside Barger, and poked him in the back with it.

He let out a moan, startling James and causing him to pul the trigger. A single shot went into Barger’s 53

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back, blowing a huge hole in it. Blood and bone splattered against the wal and out the open door and his body twitched. The world tilted in James’s stomach and he fel back against the cot and sat down, Devon’s legs lying stil , underneath him.

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8

Smoking a cigarette and looking out across the parking lot in front of the store, James was not at al surprised to find his car gone. At this point, what did it matter? He was the last of his kind, he knew that beyond a doubt. He walked through the double doors and out into the empty world, the rifle gripped in his hand, its barrel resting on his shoulder. The darkness was spreading from the east again, taking up a third of the sky. They were stil trying to get the last remaining life.

He pictured the yel ow-eyed bastards up there laughing with the knowledge that they didn’t even have to kil off the last community remaining of the one species that could’ve put up a fight. Completely human, Barger had done that for them. James remembered that brief vision he had of the people thriving and bit down on the filter of his cigarette. He knew from the flash they wouldn’t risk coming down 55

The Quiet

from the sky until every speck of life was cleansed from the world.

He might be the last man on earth, but they would stil have to come and take it over his dead body.

Feeling strong and healthy, he walked out into the sunset, a look of angry determination covering his face. He wasn’t sure just how long he could survive in this barren world, but he was damn well going to find out.

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The Quiet

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert S. Wilson is the author of Shining in Crimson, the first novel in his dystopian vampire series Empire of Blood in which his vampires aren't affected by religious relics, don't become romantical y involved with humans, and neither do they sparkle. He lives with his wife, kids, dog, and a rehabilitated evil cat in Tennessee.

Check out his blog at

http://shiningincrimson.blogspot.com where you can listen to audio episodes of Shining in Crimson, compete in pop quizzes, or just read his ridiculously redundant ranting.

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