Absolute Darkness - A CME Survival Thriller Read online

  It was bad enough Erik and Dorian had seen me start to lose it back in the town. Neither of them needed to see me get swallowed by fear and panic when there was no reason to be. I didn’t want them to see how bad things could be for me.

  I never wanted anyone to know. If I could have kept it a secret for the rest of my life, I would have.

  Ever since Sam and Olivia found out, they treated me differently. I didn’t blame them. And after everything with Elijah, I was different.

  When we got back to the house, I went straight for the coffee table to get my medicine. I twisted and turned. Dropped to my knees, swiping my hand all over the floor and under the couch.

  “Sam?” I said.

  “Hmm?” She locked the door and walked over to me.

  I stared at her shoes for a long moment, trying to remember the last time I’d seen my medicine. As far as I could remember, I’d set them down on the coffee table.

  “Where is my medicine?” I asked, sitting on my knees.

  “Um?” Sam said, looking at the kitchen table, then into the kitchen. “Did you bring them with you?”

  I shook my head.

  “Bathroom?” she asked.

  “I always kept them here,” I said, tapping the corner of the coffee table with my fingers. “How can they just be gone?”

  “We’ll find them,” Sam said, giving me a smile. “They couldn’t have gone far. I’m sure you just misplaced them.”

  I knew that I hadn’t, but that didn’t stop me from looking everywhere. We checked every possible place multiple times.

  “Maybe the mouse took them?” Sam joked.

  “I guess maybe it did,” I said with my hands on my hips. “We should move the couch.”

  “Are you serious?” Sam asked, wiping sweat from her brow.

  My eyebrows squished together, and my eyes were wide. “Kind of.”

  “Fine,” Sam said, walking around to the other side of the couch. “Where should we put this stuff?”

  “Our fire pit?”

  “Even the blankets?”

  I shook my head. “Not the blankets.”

  I wanted to keep them because I didn’t know how long we’d be at my mom’s house. Sure, it was warm now, but it wouldn’t stay that way. Winter would come, and I didn’t know if power would be restored by then.

  Of course, I wasn’t going to tell Sam why I wanted to keep them. She probably thought they had some sentimental value, but I didn’t even know where they’d come from.

  We moved the coffee table and then wiggled the couch away from the wall. There was a lot of junk and dust under the couch that had likely been there since the beginning of time, but my pills weren’t there.

  “Shit,” I said, flopping down on the couch after we moved it back into place.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to remember exactly what I’d done with my medicine. There was no doubt in my mind I’d set them on the coffee table.

  “Let’s take a trip,” Sam said.

  “Yeah?”

  “We’ll check out the pharmacy you mentioned,” Sam said, pulling her shoulders back. “You’ll bring your bat. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  My brow wrinkled. “You just had to ask that.”

  “It’ll be quick. We’ll get what we need and leave. In and out.” Sam’s eyes scanned the area. “Think your brother had two bats? Or maybe he played golf for a while?”

  “I’m sure we could find something,” I said, chewing my cheek.

  Sam’s head bobbed, and her lips curled into a mischievous grin. “Then let’s go.”

  16

  Sam took a dull steak knife from the kitchen, and I took the bat. During the entire walk, I wondered if I’d actually be able to use it if it came down to it.

  If I would have had a bat when Elijah locked me up, I would have definitely tried to use it. But that was different.

  We were the ones going to the pharmacy to steal. This time, I was the bad guy.

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I said, remembering how things had gone when we went with Erik to the other town.

  “You need your medicine,” Sam said. “Things have probably settled down now. It’s not like you can go without your medicine.”

  My shoulders dropped. “I’ll be fine as long as nothing happens.”

  “We can’t stay in the house forever. At least I’m not going to,” Sam said, keeping her eyes forward. Her mind was on the day we left to make our trip back to Massachusetts.

  “No, I guess we can’t,” I said, coughing. “That reminds me, Erik told me how we can get back to Dott.”

  “Oh?” Sam asked, her eyes glimmering in the sunlight.

  I let out a long breath. “It probably won’t work, but he said older vehicles might still work. If we could find something without a computer.”

  “How do we do that?” Sam asked.

  “I haven’t figured that part out yet,” I said, my face stretching as it contorted. “But I’m sure someone must have an old truck in the area.”

  “That’s not a bad idea if it works,” Sam said, looking at the knife in her hand. “How would we get gas?”

  I pressed my lips together. “There are kinks to figure out.”

  “Even if we could ride part of the way, that would help tremendously,” Sam said, bumping her elbow into me. “Tell Erik thanks.”

  “You could tell him,” I said with a shrug.

  “He likes you better,” Sam said, raising her brows up and down.

  I rolled my eyes. “Even if that were true, it doesn’t really matter.”

  “He’d probably come with us if you asked,” Sam said.

  “That is not something I will do!” I said, my eyes bugging out of my head.

  “Wouldn’t it be nice for all of us to be out there watching each other’s backs? Is that what he wants?”

  I shook my head. “No way. What Erik wants is to stay safe in his home for as long as he can.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “Essentially, yes.” I clenched my hands into tight fists. “I wouldn’t ever ask either of them to do something so foolish.”

  Sam frowned. “So, you think going to get my daughter is foolish?”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”

  “You should just stay here with Erik and Dorian where it’s safe,” Sam said. She walked faster, staying ten feet in front of me at all times.

  If I picked up my pace, she walked faster.

  “Come on, Sam,” I groaned. “It’s not like I’ll let you go….”

  My words faded as we approached the town. The swirling in my stomach sent acid racing up to the back of my throat.

  Most of the buildings had been burned to the ground. What remained of the streets were empty. It was a ghost town.

  “What happened here?” Sam asked, her voice a scratchy whisper.

  “I have no idea,” I said, swallowing hard. “It looks like fires spread through town.”

  Sam shook her head. “No one could stop it. No fire trucks. Maybe something like what happened with your microwave.”

  “Could be.”

  “Which building would have been the pharmacy?” Sam asked. “Maybe we can find what we need in the rubble.”

  “We’ll have to take that street for a bit,” I said, leading Sam around a mound of smoking debris that was likely once a house. “Then take a right on the highway.”

  Sam rubbed her lower back. “Is it far?”

  “Another mile, give or take.”

  “I hope it’s take.” Sam grimaced. “Why did your mom live so far from civilization?”

  I pressed my lips together to stop them from quivering. It felt like I was going to burst into tears, but I suffocated the sadness, replacing it with anger.

  “If she hadn’t, maybe she’d still be alive,” I said.

  “Oh, Mel!” Sam said, squeezing me.

  “It’s fine. I just shouldn’t have left her,” I said, sniffing as
I looked away. “I shouldn’t have gone to the furthest college that would take me.”

  Sam squeezed me harder. “It’s not your fault.”

  “My sister left. My brother left. And then, I had to rub salt in the wound and leave too,” I said, biting down on my cheek so I wouldn’t cry. “I took my hatred of the house out on my mom. I could have lived closer.”

  “You can’t blame yourself. Moving away is normal,” Sam said.

  “Yeah, but this is different,” I said with a sigh.

  Sam shook her head. “Not really. You didn’t know this would happen. Your mom wasn’t even sick. Heart stuff happens sometimes, even to young people.”

  “I could have gotten her to the doctor earlier or called 911,” I said. “My mom didn’t have anyone except for Erik, apparently. She never even mentioned anyone coming by to mow her lawn.”

  “That was nice of him,” Sam said, scrunching up her nose. “What is that smell?”

  “I’m not sure?” I said, covering my nose with the back of my hand.

  We didn’t take more than five steps when I spotted the source of the stench. My fingers dug into my clenching stomach.

  “Oh, my God,” I said before turning to the side and dry heaving.

  “Holy shit!” Sam said, grabbing my arm as she hopped backward.

  Three dead bodies were on the ground, side by side, as if someone had put them there. Their faces all turned to the right.

  “Let’s move,” Sam said.

  “How long do you think they were lying there like that?” I asked, tempted to look back. It was like a car accident—I couldn’t look away.

  Sam covered her mouth. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. Let’s just get the medicine and get out of this hell hole.”

  It was hard to believe that people would flock to the town every summer to fish, shop, eat, and drink. Before the solar storm, people would have been in the town. Where were they all now?

  “The smell is just getting worse,” Sam said.

  I sucked in a breath and pointed. The front lawn of another nearby home was decorated with two people, face down on the ground.

  “I don’t like this,” I said.

  There was movement in the corner of my eyes. I twisted my neck so sharply a stinging pain shot down my right arm.

  The men's and women’s brown and tan camouflage blended in with the burned wood. I grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her back.

  A short, beefy woman holding a shotgun raised it up. Her lip curled as she aimed it at my head.

  The man next to her rubbed his palms together and chuckled.

  Her head turned slowly, and she flicked him a look that showed her utter annoyance. “This area has been claimed. I reckon you should turn back.”

  17

  We didn’t need to be told twice. I pulled on Sam’s arm, taking ten steps backward before bolting back on the same path.

  Our knife and gun wouldn’t have done us any good. I glanced back several times to make sure we weren’t being followed.

  My vision started to close around me as my breaths quickened. I couldn’t get enough oxygen.

  “Sam,” I said in a gasp.

  “No, Mel. You can’t,” Sam said, her words begging me to hold on to whatever I could just to make it into the trees and out of sight. “You can do it, okay? I know you can.”

  My breath pinched my lungs. “Sam. I. Can’t.”

  “You can. It’s not much further,” Sam encouraged.

  She slowed her pace slightly to run beside me. Sam had always been faster. A faster walker, a faster runner, a faster typer, everything was faster with Sam.

  “We’ll get back, and we’ll go to Erik’s. He’ll know what to do,” Sam said. “We’re almost there. Just keep going a little more.”

  I glanced back again. The top of my head was completely numb from the lack of oxygen I was taking in. Panic was trying to encapsulate me.

  They weren’t chasing after us. The group was small dots as we sprinted to put distance between us.

  It was foolish. The peninsula wasn’t large. If the group wanted to find us, it likely wouldn’t take them long.

  “Okay,” Sam said, slowing her pace to a jog. “I think we’re okay for now.” She turned to me and studied me. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, but my breaths were still too fast. The numbness was spreading down my neck. If it went any further, I’d collapse.

  “Take a deep breath,” Sam said, noticing my frantic breaths. “In and out as slow as you can. It’s okay. Nothing happened. They just wanted to scare us.”

  “They. Did. A. Really. Good…,” I said, my exhale slowing, “job.”

  “I wonder if they killed all those people,” Sam said. “And if they did, why did they let us go?”

  I pulled in a slow breath as my vision widened. My shoulders tingled as the numbing in my head subsided.

  Sam gasped. “Maybe they were the ones snooping around that night.” Her eyes popped out. “Maybe they took your medicine!”

  “Why would they take only my medicine?” I asked rhetorically. “They’d leave the water and food but take the medicine and lock up after they left?”

  “Perhaps they were just messing with us,” Sam said with a shrug.

  “I guess it’s possible, but they didn’t really seem like they were the type to just go around messing with people.” I pressed my hand hard against my forehead in an attempt to push what had happened further away. “Did you see how they were all dressed? Like a uniform.”

  Sam nodded. “And with guns. Like, do you think that’s necessary?”

  “I don’t know. What if they know something we don’t? What if things are even worse than we know?”

  “Maybe Erik will know,” Sam said.

  “I’m sure he told us everything he knows,” I said, gripping the bat tighter.

  “And maybe he didn’t,” Sam said.

  We walked together in silence for a long time, taking turns looking over our shoulders. It felt like our trip back home was taking twice as long as the trip to the town had taken.

  “What if someone really did get in the house and take the medicine?” Sam said, her brow wrinkling. “Is that even possible? We locked up.”

  “Are you trying to freak me out?” I asked.

  “No, I was just thinking that maybe we should put finding a vehicle that works higher on our to-do list,” Sam said, flashing me a quick look as if she were trying to read my mind.

  “Maybe. But to be honest, if the world was falling apart, and you had a vehicle that still worked, how well would you protect that vehicle?”

  Sam frowned. She quickly wiped a tear that leaked out of the corner of her eye.

  “How am I going to get back to her?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Do you think he’s keeping her safe?” Sam asked, clasping her shaking hands together.

  I looked into her eyes. “I do. He’d do anything for her. You know that.”

  “I should be with her,” Sam said, turning away from me. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have left her. It was selfish. Stupid. Careless.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She didn’t intend to make me feel bad, but still, it was my fault she was here. I could have done more to discourage her from coming with me to help clean my mom’s house. But I was the one that had been selfish, stupid, and careless.

  “I’ll figure something out,” I said, knowing that I had to make it up to her.

  I had to fix the problem to get her back to her daughter. If it hadn’t been for me, they would be together and probably far more safe than Sam, and I were.

  I didn’t feel any relief when I could see my mom’s house through the trees. The deteriorating siding blended in with the trees, but not enough that the house would be invisible to those in the area. Not to mention the simple fact that anyone could see it from the road.

  We didn’t stop at the house, even though I was thirsty. I also wanted to take another look f
or my medicine in case I’d just somehow overlooked it. Of course, I knew that wasn’t possible.

  When we got to Erik’s house, Sam banged the side of her hand against the door. Erik would have sensed the urgency.

  The clouds in the sky had increased, blocking out the sun. A slight chill in the air from the breeze coming off the bay made me shiver.

  “What’s taking him so long?” Sam mumbled as she pounded again. “Hey!” she shouted. “Anyone home?”

  I walked up to the window and peeked inside. Mister Cat was prancing across the floor. He didn’t look my way, but it almost seemed as though he knew I was watching him.

  “I don’t think they’re home,” I said.

  “Great,” Sam said.

  “Guess we should have checked for the boat before walking here,” I said, tightening my arms around my body and rubbing my palms up and down my arms.

  Sam dropped down in a chair and rested her chin on his fists. “They could be gone for hours.”

  “They won’t mind if we stay here,” I said, looking down the road, hoping to see them walking toward us. “At least I don’t think they would.”

  “Just wish we could wait inside,” Sam said, pulling her legs to her chest. “It feels like we’re being watched.”

  I leaned back against the house. “I know what you mean.”

  Sam rocked her foot, shaking not just her chair but the entire patio. I placed my hands on my stomach, feeling a little sick from the motion.

  “You okay?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah.” I forced a smile. “Nerves or hunger… I’m not even sure.”

  “Tell me if you need anything. I’m here for you. Always,” Sam said, popping to her feet. She ducked and bobbed to the side as she squinted at two figures coming toward us. “Looks like they’re back.”

  I held still, watching the two blurry figures as they came into focus. It was the first time feeling any amount of relief since what happened in the town to the north. It wasn’t enough, though.

  “Hey, hey!” Dorian said with a big smile. He held up the bucket he was carrying. “Back for more?”