Desperate By Dusk

by Alexander Salkin

  Around midnight, the bar was beginning to thin out. The drunks had their wives waiting at home to yell at them. The truckers had to get back on the highway, despite their blood alcohol and the treacherous cliff roads back down below. And the waitresses took a more relaxed pace. Country music, ever lively, didn't abate for a moment except for the occasional piece of bluegrass or folk fusion being played. And there were more pool tables available, save for a handful of grizzled, retired, old men with a pack a day habit clustering around a select few.

  "Hey, did you ever tell Mr. Chang what happened?" Simon asked out of the blue. He meant well, trying desperately to get someone to talk or change the vibe. Jessie gave him a look from the very pit of his soul with a dour nod. They could imagine how that conversation went. Regardless of how it actually took place, Jessie was not looking to elaborate about it whatsoever. Simon hung his head down. Smooth.

  The boys looked tired and depressed. They were seemingly safe enough here for the moment, drowning their bad fortune in cheap domestics. But all that could change tomorrow. As Ramone said, any of them (aside from a now unemployed Jessie) could be going through their daily paces at work and wind up getting shot or attacked by some assailant. It was another form of the unknown they were dealing with. But this one was less about a thrill or excitement and more about winning the dead man's lottery. No one was looking forward to going back to their home or routines.

  "Taking hard to the drink? Thought you might've been the type to handle the beast, Ramone," came an unexpected voice. The trio slowly looked up although Ramone reacted much faster. He wasn't half as weighed down by his beer as he let on.

  His smiling eyes started from the star stitched cowboy boots at the bottom to the matching tight jeans and black vest over a blouse combination, to a silvery bead necklace around her pale neck. And finally, the oval sunglasses worn at night, and a flowing river of long ebony hair. 'Finally, something good about this god forsaken night,' he thought to himself.

  He immediately stood up, his face ringing with appreciation. "I've got reserves. Wow... I honestly didn't expect to see you here."

  "Is that a bad thing?" she asked. "Can't I come around and whet my whistle?"

  "Not at all. Just... um... things have happened. Lost sight of you after the funhouse."

  "Did you?" she said with a vague smile. "You're going to introduce me to your drinking buddies, I trust?"

  "Oh yeah, sorry. This is Simon and that's Jessie. Guys? This is that Aveirasen I was telling you about."

  Simon and Jessie exchanged a quick glance. Simon made a polite greeting although in the back of his mind, he had to agree that she was particularly nice looking. Jessie grunted and gave a nod, which was what consisted of a response from him. He was mainly surprised she even existed in the first place. Ramone's account of losing track with her sounded like something he might have edited for sake of a story. He knew from Ramone's past that he would brag about a girl, but he was discreet with what went on behind doors. 'Funhouse, indeed', Jessie thought.

  "So..." Ramone seemed short of words for once. He was just caught so off guard that this woman he almost considered to be a dream or hallucination would just happened to be here, especially on a night like this.

  "You want to talk alone? Sure. Come with me," she said, taking the words from his mouth, before he even knew of them. Ramone looked a bit surprised and shrugged at his friends, but he looked in much better spirits than he was for the last two hours. Aveirasen stepped away with her hip swaying walk and leaned against a nineteen eighties pinball machine featuring a monochrome fantasy backboard, on the other end of the bar room.

  "You lucky ass," Simon whispered to his friend with a grin, glad for the unexpected icebreaker. Ramone smiled humbly and went to meet with the girl. Meanwhile, Simon leaned back to Jessie. "Figures. He gets to meet a slender woman with beautiful hair and I got to meet a morbidly obese bald guy. Universe is having a laugh at my expense." Jessie just rolled his eyes and offered nothing. Simon didn't intend to be crass, but he realized it might've come out that way. He was rather buzzed by this point, being the least able to handle his drink compared to the other two.

  Ramone approached the dark haired girl. He couldn't lie to himself, he was intrigued by her. But it was more than catching a few flirty glances behind her sunglasses. More than he would usually have on his mind in this situation. With all that had happened, he needed clarity and closure from this woman. For once, there was more going on than simply looking for arm candy. He felt certain she knew something. She had to.

  "So, I'm curious, but what you're doing up here, Ramone? I've never seen you at this bar before," she said in her naturally quiet voice. "Didn't take you for a fan of country either."

  "Eh, truth be told?" he shrugged. "I'm not. I like my metal, rock, and so on. Of course, I would say from my first impression of you, I didn't take you for a fan of country either."

  "Well," she began with a small chuckle. "I wouldn't say that I am in the truest sense. But sometimes they play some bluegrass or the Man In Black in here and-" She stopped. His face seemed immediately uncomfortable.

  "Man in black...?" he asked, mentally elsewhere at the mention.

  "Yes... you know, Johnny Cash? What's wrong?"

  "Oh. OH. I'm... sorry. My mind went to some other place else when I heard you say that. Please, ah, continue."

  She studied him for a moment. "You want to know what happened at the funhouse," she said bluntly. Bold as ever.

  His gaze was cast at the pinball machine for a moment. But it was a thin veil of distraction. He looked back to her. "Yes. I know something strange happened. There's details missing. Too many of them. And I think you know what they are."

  She seemed to hide behind her sunglasses and ponder the situation. "I suppose I do. You saw the other side, didn't you?"

  His stature immediately straightened. "You knew...? What are you saying?"

  "You're aware of the Setting Sun?" she asked. "You didn't fall through the strainer. They were sifting for gold and they found it."

  He stared at her hard and shook his head slightly. "No. No more metaphors. Too much strange stuff has been going on. And too much of it is dangerous. What happened to me? To my friend? How does it involve you?" His voice took on a rare gruff tone. It sort of forced you to listen a little closer.

  Aveirasen sighed and wagged her boot feet. "I didn't set you up, if that's what you're thinking."

  "That's a good start," he replied. "Keep going." He was not letting up.

  "My interest in you was genuine. It- I don't have anything to do with the Setting Sun. But I was in the area and I wanted a distraction. And out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there was anyone coming through."

  "Coming through?"

  She looked a bit reticent upon being questioned. "Setting Sun targets everyday people. Divination, perhaps... gives them a feel for the ones who might see a little more down the road. And I suspect they invite normal people as well. Makes it seem more natural."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I don't have a good word to explain it. But they infected you just by bringing you there. And if it stuck and you didn't freak out, you'd go somewhere else. That's what happened, didn't it?"

  Ramone cast his glance around, thinking. "Y-yeah. Basically. There was a... Native American guy on the other side. Told us something similar."

  "Ullah, probably."

  "That's right. You know him?" Ramone asked, tightening his gaze.

  "Not personally. You and Ullah are called Drifters. But he's a certain type. He's a Guide. It's too much to explain in detail, but he's known. I've seen him before."

  "Wait... are you implying... you're one of them, er, us as well?"

  "Are you inferring it?" she slipped out a chuckle. "Yes, Ramone."

  He stared hard at her for a moment, not necessarily as amused as she was. "Did you know that I was one back at the carnival?"

  She scoffed. "No! Ramone... all I could have known is that you might'
ve had the potential to be one. And maybe I was curious to see if you were. You could have been a completely normal person or resisted it. I still would have approached you."

  "Yeah?" he began to ease up. What did that mean? Ullah never mentioned resisting anything. "What if I did resist it? How would I have done so?"

  She looked at him sadly for a time, getting slower about giving him responses. "I can't say with certainty what would have happened, but I've heard a rumor that the ones that do either go on to live normal lives or lose their sanity in the long run. It's a gamble, maybe. I don't quite know how it happens. Some people instinctually find a way. The unsuccessful ones don't really tell tales about it, I suppose."

  "Fine. And my second question?"

  'To resist it,' she repeated in her mind. She seemed to darken, hesitating on given an outright response. But she couldn't hide from him, even under her sunglasses. "You... had to have chosen not to go to the carnival. And in your particular case, you would have needed to shun me."

  "S-shun you?" Ramone said with a squint. What was she talking about? "There's two ways to get infected? But you weren't with the carnival-"

  "No, I wasn't. That was the truth. But I knew it for what it was. If you didn't see me, you would have eventually been drawn to Norbert, probably. The Setting Sun is anchored around him. If you can see the stranger stuff at the carnival, you would've found him. Or he would have found you."

  "The fat guy? Simon over there ran into Norbert when I was talking to you at the carnival. So that's what happened... but wait, what did you mean by shunning you?"

  She looked up at him slowly. "Because, specifically speaking, I infected you, Ramone. I'm almost certain of it. There was no need for Norbert then. Not that it was a competition- it's a little quirk of how it works."

  "You?" he asked, shaking his head. "Huh? What do you mean? Infected me how? Did we... do something? I don't remember."

  "No, no, no... nothing like that," she said with an uncomfortable chuckle. "You, me, and at least your friend Simon are, like I said, Drifters. But there's different kinds of us. Much like how Ullah is a 'Guide', but you're almost certainly not. I'm of a particular type known as a 'Voice'. It's not rare, but it's not common either. An existing Voice can potentially infect someone with the potential to become a new Drifter through general association. Talking, proximity, enough contact, that sort of thing. Not that everyone can become a Drifter... and I don't know what decides that sort of thing. But Norbert can tell or at least have an idea. Regardless, that's what the Setting Sun does. As long as I didn't interfere against their interests, I was welcome to attend."

  It took Ramone a minute to process this. He leaned against a wall adjacent to the pinball machine, trying to make sense of it. It was a lot to take in and he hadn't counted on her being such a part of this strange situation he was finding himself in. "Why me?" he finally asked of her.

  "Well... ask yourself this. Would you have preferred to have been initiated by a psychic bald guy with atrophied legs or someone feeling flirty such as myself?" It was a serious question, but she posed it playfully.

  He blinked. She had a point. "So, nothing happened?"

  "Nothing happened. Well, nothing serious. I certainly didn't steal your kidneys for the black market or slip you a roofie. You were angling for a kiss I think, after we made a wrong turn in the funhouse. In the long run, I wasn't about to say no, to be honest... but then you started looking feverish and suddenly slumped against the glass. I figured out what was happening so I took you back out and had you sitting around. You were running a temperature and even though I knew what was happening, I couldn't just leave you there."

  "The Setting Sun would have just left you out there in the rain if that's where they found you. So once they packed up after closing and everyone just about left, I figured the last car in the lot was yours. I found your keys in your leather jacket and so I dropped you off. I think I left the door unlocked for your friend, just in case, but I didn't see him."

  "I see. I'm surprised you were able to lug me around."

  "Well... I had some of the remaining carnies to help me for most of it. If not for a few sweet words, they might not have bothered. But I could manage if I absolutely had to, I'm sure."

  "All right. But why didn't you leave me a note or maybe a phone number? I've spent this whole time wondering what in the hell happened. I mean, if I didn't run into you at this bar in the middle of nowhere-" He paused, blinked, and then tilted his head. "You're not here on the chance they play Johnny Cash, are you? Did you know we'd be here?"

  "Hm? No, I really didn't know you were here. But let's say, I had a good feeling about showing up. And for the record, I'm not from Dresden Port," she stated with a small smile. "Black Mountain is my home." A good feeling. Yes, that was the best way to put it. "Actually, while we're on the subject... what brought you here? It's not the music and the beer is what it is, so... let me guess, the blonde eye candy?"

  Ramone laughed. It was a worthy guess. "Actually, no. My friends have run into trouble with this whole situation and... well, Jessie actually chose to come here since it's kind of out of the way. You know, they're probably wondering what's going on and I think they need to hear a lot of what you said. Why don't you come over and sit with us?" He offered his hand. In truth, he wasn't completely sure how much on the upside she was, but he didn't suspect she was immediately harmful either. And it would be nice to sit near her. She was still wearing that wonderful woodsy perfume from last time.

  "Well, since you offered so nicely," she cooed, taking his hand. She was very cool to the touch.

  CHAPTER 13

  "It's about time you came back," Jessie grumped. He noticed Aveirasen joining them and so he sighed. "Hey, great. You know, because we can talk about things with her here."

  Ramone winked. "Well, my friend, you would be more than a little surprised then. Aveir? Would you tell them what you told me?"

  And so, Aveirasen shared her story about what happened with Ramone during the time he blacked out. She made mention of Norbert, Ullah, and confirmed what she knew about the Setting Sun.

  There was something about her. Almost hypnotic in the way she drew them in to listen with her hushed voice. Even Jessie, the least likely to chase a skirt of the three, seemed to pay more attention than usual. Ramone seemed enraptured with her, as she spoke. And Simon had to admit she was pretty and had a pleasant voice, although he still liked Vikktorea's more. Being around Aveir only reminded him more of the girl by the train tracks. Ramone was always so fortunate in matters like this. Although there was something about her that made thinking about Vikktorea easier for Simon… for the life of him, he couldn't put his finger on what or how.

  However, it came to be known that Aveirasen was a Drifter and the captive audience sobered up a bit. "So... you saw Ullah at some point. And you know about Norbert," Simon summarized as he led his words into a few questions. "How did it happen for you? Did you see everyone turn red eyed?"

  She shook her head, which made them even more curious. "Setting Sun found me, too. It wasn't a carnival, though. I think they were fronting as publishing agents for a poetry compilation at the time. It took place one July at a foreign themed coffee house in Heiowah some years ago. Nothing about it seemed too out of place. Small crowd at night... people coming up on stage to read poetry... a lot of hummus and pita bread, come to think of it. Norbert was just some guy in the crowd."

  "Was he still gigantic and naked at the same time?" Simon asked, a bit dubious.

  "No, nothing like that. I mean, he was still a bald, grossly overweight guy in a fez with his eyes closed all the time, but he looked like he could have been from the general area. He was dressed in a Hawaiian t-shirt and not much taller than Ramone, really. I don't remember him in any great detail otherwise, although he told me liked my work. He seemed friendly enough."

  "I didn't have anything strange happen to me until after I returned home. I live near a lot of trees and I remember the fireflies we
re thicker than ever that night. I could hear him reciting my poem throughout the woods and lights and I sort of lost track of things. It was all very dream-like."

  "When I came to, I found myself in a cold rainy version of Black Mountain. And I mean, this was truly cold rain. I couldn't step outside without my skin stinging. Then I noticed the mist beginning to rise along the ground. It took me a little while but I realized it wasn't merely frozen rain coming down during the summer. No, it was actually raining dry ice or some equivalent everywhere, if you can imagine. Mrm, for sake of the story, just go with it."

  "Now, every time I wind up over there, I just have to sit inside my house and wait it out." Aveirasen shrugged. "I try to keep a book on me at all times, just in case."

  Simon raised a brow. "So, you do go back to the other place as a Drifter. And Black Mountain rains dry ice. Wow. Oh, but let me ask this; why didn't you take your car and go somewhere else?"

  "I don't have one, honestly. I walk everywhere. I have a canoe, but that's not extremely helpful. I could wear a rain slicker and carry an umbrella, I suppose, but I really don't want to get splashed with that rain. It feels like acid if even a drop of it touches you. But yes, as a Drifter... you will be called back to the other side of things."