Instant Darkness

by Mark J Russell

  Still, he ran on, tripping and falling, or sliding down a bank into a stream, soaking wet and covered in mud. He couldn’t turn back—he had no idea which direction he’d been running. The way back looked the same as the way ahead. So, he kept on, hoping beyond hope that he’d catch them. That he’d be able to save Emma and bring her home. And trying not to overthink the fact that he had no idea which direction home lay in.

  In the end, he came out of the woods onto the dirt road. There was no sign of the intruders, or Emma, in either direction, but when he’d walked a few yards up the street, he discovered fresh tire tracks in the muddy shoulder. He hadn’t heard an engine, but maybe he’d been falling down the creek bank when the engine caught. Or perhaps it was a Prius, but he wasn’t sure how it would still be working. Whichever, it was clear they had gotten away with Emma, and he hadn’t helped at all.

  He ran up the road. The drive to the farm could only be in one direction, and he moved as fast as his legs would carry him. He scanned for landmarks that might indicate he was nearing the compound, but everything seemed the same. Anonymous woods on both sides of the road. But then the far side opened up into pastureland, and he thought he remembered the land on the other side of the street from the drive being cleared. He could see it from the barn, couldn’t he? There were the woods and the driveway, but also a view of the field, and beyond that, the creek and the road. With a clear pasture on the other side.

  His spirits rose. He would be there soon.

  He pushed harder, trying to run his fastest, but his boots were waterlogged and his legs heavy with fatigue. He dropped to a walk right before he came to the drive. He turned down it, running again until he reached the gate. He pulled the chain that rang the bell, and then kept yanking it. The noise clanged around the countryside and echoed back to him. He heard the birds in the barn, which he knew was just out of sight around the bend, squawking and kicking up a racket.

  He remembered that they’d been on the way to feed the birds and the kids, and the cow with her calves, if they’d arrived. He wondered if he’d ever see Emma again, if they’d ever get to feed the animals together.

  He pulled the bell harder and faster.

  He heard voices yelling and finally feet on the drive, running up the hill. And still, he kept ringing—he couldn’t stop. Emma had been taken, and he would ring the bell until she had been rescued. He would ring the bell until the whole damn world knew she was missing. Then everyone was there all at once, and Abram slid his arm through the gate to stop him from ringing the bell.

  24

  Nick heard the bell from where he was sitting on the porch and knew at once that Joshua had ratted them out. There could be no other reason that someone would be at the gate on the day he and Gary had robbed the general store. That would be too great a coincidence, and Nick didn’t believe in coincidences. The woman behind the flashlight had seen his face; she would be able to identify him. And he didn’t want to be identified.

  But seconds later, he was running up the path to the drive and was joined by Abram running up from the direction of the lower barns. Abram glanced at Nick with eyebrows raised, but Nick shook his head. He didn’t know for sure what they would find.

  The birds in the barn were adding to the noise, croaking and clucking out their warnings, the Guineas in a flock at the fence, trumpeting at Nick and Abram as they ran by. There were footsteps behind them, and Nick swung his gaze to see Shelly, Maggie, and Gary coming up the hill, followed by a wide-eyed Rae Ann. Where were Emma and Corey?

  Nick sprinted away. The absence of Corey had created a pit of ice in his stomach. Where was his son?

  As he rounded the curve and the front gate came into sight, a wave of relief washed over Nick, and he nearly fell to his knees. He pulled himself together and finished the sprint to the gate. Corey was stuck on the far side, clinging to the fence, pulling and pulling on the bell.

  “Corey, what is it?” Nick yelled over the sound of the bell, but it was as if Corey couldn’t hear.

  Abram reached through the fence and grabbed the bell pull. The noise stopped abruptly, leaving the world in silence but their ears ringing. It was then that Nick noticed the paper attached to the middle of the gate by wide gray tape. He raced over to it and tore it from the fence as Abram unlocked the gate and pulled Corey inside.

  Give us half your food and the man who killed Ron, ALIVE. Deliver to Hammel’s Grocery in two hours, or we’ll kill the girl.

  Nick’s blood ran cold as he read the note. This was at least partly down to him. If he had refused to go with Gary, then maybe the man, Ron, would still be alive. And if Ron were alive, Emma would be here with her family, not held on pain of death.

  The world spun around him, and he reached out to thread his fingers through the fence. The wire was cold and bit into his hand, and surprisingly, that steadied him. But the last four words of the note reverberated in his brain: We’ll kill the girl.

  He couldn’t believe it; the words weren’t registering. His heart raced as he tried to think through the panic.

  “We have to save Emma,” he muttered, though nobody heard him.

  He knew they had to save Emma, and he would help. He needed to pull himself back from the edge and use reason and logic to rescue Corey’s best friend. He closed his eyes and sucked in air. He needed all his skills he used as an engineer now. He needed to do as he was trained to do and use his brain.

  “Dad?” Corey’s voice snapped him back to the present. “Dad, Emma’s gone, we have to save her.” Corey was pleading with his voice and his eyes.

  “We will, Corey. Take Rae Ann back to the house.”

  Corey turned and rushed toward Rae Ann, who stood there, confused.

  In the next moment, Abram walked up and grabbed the note from Nick’s hand, staring at it in disbelief. Nick cringed at the noise that emitted from Abram’s throat as he read the letter.

  The words on the page swam in Abram’s vision. We’ll kill the girl. His hands were trembling so hard that he could barely see the words, but their meaning was seared into Abram’s mind. They would kill Emma. His only child was in the hands of people who would see her dead. He must clear his head. He needed to think.

  His stomach heaved, and Shelly came to him and placed a cold hand on the back of his neck. She was sobbing and gulping air, but she did her best to comfort him.

  “What’s going on?” Gary asked from behind him. “What does the note say?”

  Abram spun around, rage burning through him. He lifted his arm and pointed at Gary, his hand still shaking. “You killed a man? I told you we had enough food, and you killed a man for a handful of canned goods? How could you?” The words were little more than a hiss, quiet and menacing. “You…you put my family at risk.” The world had narrowed to one person. He could hear Shelly talking to him, but the words were meaningless. This was all about Gary.

  Gary had both his hands up now. “Easy, Abram. I didn’t kill any—”

  “What happened to you?” Abram asked. “You used to be a decent man, Gary. You used to value human life. Or was that all an act? A silly game for me to believe until the world fell apart and you could kill whoever the hell you pleased.”

  “Abram, listen to me, I didn’t—”

  “The hell you didn’t,” Abram cut him off. “Nick told me all about it. How you killed a man, who was giving you the option to walk away. He wasn’t even pointing a gun at you.”

  But Gary’s attention wasn’t on Abram now. He’d turned, his eyes searching.

  “Gary killed a man, and that’s why Emma is gone?” Shelly’s voice was shaking. “He killed a man? Abram, tell me this isn’t true.”

  Abram shook his head. He wished it wasn’t true. He wished his daughter wasn’t in the hands of people bent on getting their revenge. But she was. His only child. Their only child. He turned to look at Shelly.

  “You were right, Shelly. I should never have brought him here. I’m sorry, I should have listened to you.” He reached out to t
ake her hands.

  “We need to get moving,” she said. “We only have two hours to get the food down, and him,” she sent a venomous glance toward Gary, “to the store.”

  “So that’s how it is now?” Gary growled low in his throat. “Everyone is against me?” He swung his head back and forth until his gaze rested on Nick. “This is your fault. If you’d kept your mouth shut like you were supposed to, they might have thought you were the killer. I could have talked myself out of this.”

  “It’s not his fault, Gary,” Abram said. “I made him tell me. How could you possibly think you would get away with killing a man in cold blood? What could it possibly gain you?”

  “What it should have gained us was power,” Gary said. “Fear. You want them to stop looting us? Then they need to fear us. All the razor wire in the world isn’t going to do as much as a little healthy fear.”

  “And you killed a man to achieve that?” The loathing was thick in Shelly’s voice.

  “It’s the quickest way, and I know you don’t like it, but I’m establishing dominance in the community. It’s the best way I know of to keep you all alive.”

  Shelly grunted. “That’s abhorrent,” she said and turned away to be comforted by Maggie.

  “You do see want I’m trying to do here, right?” Gary was addressing Abram now. “You see the logic in it?”

  “This is not what I’m looking for. I was hoping for a peaceful existence and harmony with my neighbors. I think that’s lost to me now, Gary. You’ve taken that away from me.” Abram could barely look at his friend. How could Gary have betrayed him so thoroughly?

  “I was protecting you! Why can’t you see that? I was protecting your family from outside threats.”

  “Well, that backfired, didn’t it?” Nick said. “You got Emma snatched, and now we have to give up half of our food. Not that I think you’ll be any loss. They can have you, and good riddance.”

  Abram saw the blow coming and tried to stop it, but he was too late. Gary launched himself at Nick, striking him in the chest with his shoulder, and driving Corey’s dad hard into the post that held the gate, smacking his head hard against it and then sending him to the ground. Gary swung a foot back as if to kick Nick and Abram grabbed his arm and swung him around.

  Corey put Rae Ann down and rushed back to his dad, yelling, and Maggie was holding Shelly, preventing her from throwing herself into the fray. Abram landed two solid blows—one to the head, the other mid-body—before Gary came at him, arms swinging like pistons. Abram gave way, moved back to avoid the maniac who had possessed his best friend, and kicked Gary in the knee to break his mad fury. Gary grunted and nearly lost his footing, allowing Abram to land a few more punches.

  But this just seemed to infuriate Gary more. He recovered his balance and came at Abram. Shelly shook Maggie off and launched herself on to Gary’s back. He swung around first one way and then the other.

  “Get the hell off me,” Gary shouted, trying to pry her fingers from where they had taken purchase on his neck.

  She was yelling and scratching the back of his neck, fiercely unaware of the damage Gary was inflicting on her fingers. Abram saw Rae Ann watching with her eyes wide, hovering next to Corey, who was trying to rouse his dad.

  “Corey,” Abram yelled, “take Rae Ann back to the house.”

  “I can’t,” Corey cried. “My dad.”

  “We can’t leave our dad,” Rae Ann echoed her brother.

  But then Gary pried Shelly’s hands from his neck and brushed her off by slamming her against the gate, and he came straight for Abram again. Abram was able to land the first blow, but Gary overwhelmed him quickly, and the blows to Abram’s head were staggering.

  He had a vague impression that Maggie was once more holding Shelly back, keeping her out of the battle, and Abram was grateful. He launched another kick at Gary’s knee, but only grazed it. Still, the man gave a grunt of pain that was satisfying to hear. But now he pushed into Abram even harder, making Abram backpedal, looking for a way to escape the punishing blows. The man was like a machine, fueled by his rage and unstoppable.

  Shelly was yelling at Gary to stop, but he showed no sign of having heard her. Abram bent low, and ignoring the blows that landed on his head, he pummeled Gary’s midsection, coming in close so that Gary couldn’t land a blow effectively. Abram thought he’d gotten Gary calmed down—he was standing still, breathing hard, but not struggling to get out of Abram’s embrace. Abram sighed in relief; it was over, and he was still standing.

  Then Gary took a quick step back and pushed Abram hard, so that he lost his balance and fell onto his back in the gravel. His vision blurred, and when it cleared again, Gary was standing above him, his gun drawn and pointing between Abram’s eyes. Shelly and Maggie were silent, eyes wide, standing stock still. Maggie had released Shelly, who had grabbed her sister’s hand when she realized what was happening.

  Nick was on the ground and Abram couldn’t see his face, but as far as he knew, Nick was still unconscious. Corey had Rae Ann in his arms, her face pressed into his chest so that she couldn’t see. Abram looked up into Gary’s eyes, and he didn’t know who he saw there, but it wasn’t his friend.

  The two things Nick realized upon regaining consciousness were that his head hurt like hell, and that there were too many people talking. Corey was calling for Nick to wake up, Shelly was screaming at Gary, and Maggie was yelling at her. All he really wanted was some quiet and for his head to stop hurting, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen.

  He opened his eyes to take in the chaos. The world spun and then righted itself. Corey was at his side, holding Rae Ann; Maggie and Shelly were huddled at the fence; and Gary was landing punches on Abram’s face and head at an alarming rate.

  Nick struggled to get up, ignoring the way the ground tilted away from him.

  “Dad, what are you doing?” Corey asked. “Stay down.”

  But, as Nick had anticipated, Gary was pulling a gun from the back of his pants and aiming it right at Abram’s head.

  The world had gone deathly quiet now, which was an improvement in Nick’s mind, but the danger level was Defcon three. If Gary killed Abram, he would take charge of the compound, and Nick and his children would have to flee. He couldn’t let that happen.

  Nick got to his feet, out of view from Gary, who had his back to him. He pulled his own pistol from his waistband, grateful he had not returned it to the weapons room that morning.

  “Gary,” Nick said. “Don’t do this.” He started forward slowly, making as little sound as possible.

  “Stay out of it, Nick,” Gary said. “You don’t belong here.”

  Nick gripped his pistol tighter. “Don’t do it, man. You’ll never forgive yourself.”

  “Shut up,” Gary said.

  Nick was close now, if he could only be sure Gary wouldn’t pull the trigger. “Just hear me out.”

  “Say another word, and I’ll kill you instead.”

  “Gary, wait a minute,” Nick said, heart slamming in his chest.

  “That’s it—” Gary began to turn around.

  Seizing the opportunity, Nick gripped his own firearm tighter, and slammed it down on Gary’s head. Hard.

  25

  Nick watched as Gary slumped to the ground, and Abram struggled upward.

  “Corey,” Abram said, “run to the barn and bring back some baling twine. It’s hanging on the wall inside the door.”

  Corey let go of his sister and ran. Nick held out a hand and helped Abram to his feet, as Shelly rushed over to see if he was okay. He brushed her off, even though his nose and lip were bleeding and his left eye was already swelling shut.

  “I’m fine. Don’t fuss,” Abram said through swollen lips. He turned to Nick. “Thank you. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “Neither did I,” Nick said, trying to catch his breath.

  Abram pursed his lips. “Okay. We don’t have much time. Someone needs to bring the handcart up to the barn so we can load i
t with food.”

  “I’ll go,” Maggie said.

  “No,” Nick said, “here comes Corey with the twine. I’ll send him and Rae Ann to get the cart so we can talk.”

  “Here, Dad.” Corey handed his dad the baling twine.

  “Go down to the garage, Corey, and bring the garden cart back to the barn, okay? Take Rae Ann with you.” Nick placed his hand on Corey’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine; you two are not to worry about me. Okay?”

  “Yeah, Dad, if you’re sure.”

  “I am. Rae Ann, go with your brother.”

  Rae Ann nodded, although she still looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. The minute they were out of sight, Nick rolled Gary onto his stomach and tied his hands securely. He considered leaving Gary’s feet free, so he could walk, but decided against it and tied them too.

  Nick and Abram dragged Gary, his feet trailing, down the drive toward the upper barn. Once inside the barn, he’d begun groaning a little, and they propped him against the wall where he could breathe without inhaling dust and hay, which Nick thought was a kindness he didn’t deserve.

  “What are we going to do?” Nick asked Abram when the adults all joined them in the barn. “Give them everything they demand?”

  “Half our food?” Shelly was incredulous. “I don’t think so.”

  “How would they even know how much food would be half?” Maggie asked.

  “No,” Abram said, “we’ll give them back what we stole, maybe a little more. We can stack empty boxes, or maybe boxes filled with dirt on the bottom level of the cart and put the food on top of that, so it looks like more than it is.”

  “What if they check it before they hand Emma over?” Shelly asked. “That could be fatal.”