The Long Fall of Night: The Long Fall of Night Book 1 (17 page)

“No,” Elliot agreed quickly, stifling a yawn. He was still fatigued from his seizure, but a full day of lying around sleeping had helped, even though his stress level wasn’t ideal. “I’ll just tell him that. He’s not here. He can’t see what’s going on.”

Ash seemed content to let the conversation die, so Elliot left him to concentrate on the road. Taking a few deep breaths, he held up his iPod questioningly, and Ash pointed to an auxiliary cable plugged in next to the stereo on the dash. Before Elliot could follow the cable to the end and plug in, Ash took the plug from the dash and blew on it, then reinserted it.

“Wait,” Elliot said, pulling the plug out again. “This looks modified.” He ran his finger over the jack and felt the ragged edge of the stereo surface around the drilled hole. “How did you do this?”

Ash shrugged. “Five dollar stereo jack from Radio Shack and the plug for the CD changer. I cut the audio wires on the changer and spliced them to the harness for the jack, added a ground, and drilled the hole in the dash plate. A little solder, and voila, auxiliary jack added. Charlotte wanted to listen to her music, not the radio, and CDs are a pain in the ass.”

Impressed, Elliot plugged in and the soothing strains of piano filled the van, low enough not to disturb the sleepers.

“In the glove box, there’s a car charger for your iPod. I picked it up before we left, since music helps you so much.”

Elliot dug through the glove box to find the charger, touched by Ash’s concern. It warmed him to the point where he didn’t trust himself to speak. Thankfully, the darkness was still deep outside, so with his battery charging, he concentrated on the black line of the horizon.

“Thank you. That was kind of you,” he said when he knew his voice wouldn’t crack.

“Well, you don’t get to scare me with a seizure again, so it was really pretty selfish on my part,” Ash replied with a chuckle.

Elliot’s smile ghosted at him in his faint reflection on the window. He didn’t know what to say to that. Instead, he let himself get lost in the music, and the intense night coupled with the crash after an adrenaline rush soon had him drifting off.

He awoke a few hours later when the van speed slowed and the rhythm of the road changed. Music still played through the speakers, and Elliot blinked to rid himself of the cobwebs of sleep, looking around. It was overcast daylight, and they were nearing a large brown sign which pronounced they were entering Allegheny National Forest.

Pennsylvania, then,
Elliot noted.

“Have we left already?” Russ asked. Elliot studied him for a bit, wondering how much the man remembered.

“Yeah, about—” he checked his watch, “—five hours ago, give or take,” Elliot answered.

“God, I have a headache. Anyone got any Advil or something?” Russ rubbed his temple and winced, pulling his fingers away as if to look for blood, though there was none.

“You’ve already had some. We gave you a dose half an hour ago,” Ash said through gritted teeth.

Elliot glanced at Ash sharply, surprised he was so impatient with Russ. Ash’s eyes had dark circles under them, and he gripped the wheel tighter than necessary. Elliot assumed he was exhausted and holding on long enough to get them somewhere they could switch drivers. Russ’s request for medication, however, reminded Elliot he needed to take his pills, too. Cracking into a bottle of water, he swallowed his medicine and murmured to Ash they could share the bottle.

“If you need to let someone else drive, you should.”

Ash shook his head. “I think we need to get somewhere to hunker down for the rest of the day.”

“Wait, are you serious?”

Ash nodded.

“Shouldn’t we be trying to get west as fast as possible? I mean, it won’t be ideal, but we’ve only got a few days’ worth of food.” Elliot kept his voice low in case Ash didn’t want the others to hear.

Ash’s answer chilled his bones. “Russ has been repeating himself.”

He knew from experience repetition after a knock to the head was bad news.

“We left Auburn already?” Russ piped up, looking out the windows. “Where are we?”

“We’re looking for a place we can set up camp for the day, okay, buddy?” Ash said, having somehow found another reserve of patience.

“Anybody got any Advil? I have a splitting headache.”

“You just had some,” Brian said gently. “It should kick in shortly and ease some of the pain.”

“Oh good,” Russ said, leaning back and closing his eyes. “Seriously hurts. Like I went a couple rounds with Mike Tyson.”

Brian made sympathetic noises, but didn’t clarify.

Ash made it to one of the state park’s official entrances, but there was no one manning the entry station. A handwritten sign taped to the window read:

Allegheny National Forest and all Allegheny campgrounds and hiking trails are closed until further notice, by order of the Pennsylvania National Guard. This area not thru, and trespassing is prohibited by federal law. Violators will be prosecuted.

Brian whistled. “If no one’s here, how are they going to prosecute violators?”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” Ash swung the van around the arm of the gate blocking the entrance and left the little hut behind, trespassing without a second’s hesitation. They wended through the park for a good while, and Ash ignored the entrances to several campgrounds.

“Waiting for one with your name on it?” Elliot asked with a smile.

“I’m looking for one of the sections closer to the river. Figured we could top up the water supply while we can.”

“Already?” Brian asked.

“No harm in being prepared if we’ve got the room to spare, right?” Ash pointed out.

“We left Auburn?” Russ chimed in.

“We’re going to find you a place to rest, okay, Russ?” Ash asked. “Somewhere you can lie down properly and let the Advil you’ve taken get on top of that headache.”

“How’d you know I had a headache?” Russ asked, relief in his tone.

“It’s written all over your face, buddy,” Ash said, eyeing the rearview mirror.

“Russ, baby, you’re going to be okay,” Charlotte said behind him, the first words she’d spoken since Elliot had awoken. “We’ll find you somewhere to lie down.”

He frowned at her. “Are… you okay, Char? Why do I get the feeling you need to lie down, too?”

She attempted a smile for his benefit, patting his arm and urging him to face forward. “It’s been a crap night, so we could all use a good rest.”

They found a cluster of campsites beside the river that satisfied Ash, and once they chose a site, one of the large ones nearest the water, Ash showed Elliot and Brian how to erect their tents. They were said to assemble in three minutes, though it took the group considerably longer to get them up, this being their first time. Still, with sleeping bags unrolled and the promise of sleep for much of the group, it wasn’t long before it was just Elliot and Brian sitting at the picnic table beside the cold ring of stones delineating the fire pit. Ash had taken a still-groggy Riley into his tent after getting his sister and her boyfriend bedded down.

“We’ll have to wake Russ in an hour,” Elliot murmured, resting his chin on his forearms on the table.

“Yeah, that’s not a good situation.” Brian looked off through the trees toward the water, which, thanks to the cloudy sky, wasn’t glistening brightly. The morning was chilly, but not unbearably so, and Elliot wondered if he and Brian shouldn’t try for some shuteye, too. Ash had consulted with Charlotte once they’d gotten Russ settled, and from what Elliot overheard, they knew what was going on. Russ’s head injury was potentially more serious than first suspected.

“Ash said Charlotte had taken nursing classes, so she might know what to look for to help him. Perhaps just a little bit of TLC and time will be all he needs.” Elliot was hopeful, mainly because he didn’t want to consider the alternative. Out here in the woods with no access to medical help, it wasn’t promising if Russ had bigger issues. Not that it would be promising if they’d been on the doorstep of the best hospital in all of Pennsylvania. Elliot could only imagine the state of those places with the injured and sick.

“Let’s hope. How are you doing? Totally freaked out? Because I am.”

Elliot shrugged. “I guess I’m still expecting someone to jump out and yell April Fools. Wishful thinking, huh?” He traced the wood grain of the picnic table, not wanting to voice his next words, but knowing he couldn’t put it off. “You know, now would be a good time to call my dad.”

Brian frowned. “You want me to grab the sat phone? Or you want to sit here in peace a little longer?”

Elliot lifted his head and leveled Brian with a look. “Better to rip off the Band-Aid. Let’s get this over with.”

Brian disappeared into the remaining tent for the pack he’d tossed on his sleeping bag and came back with the heavy duty phone, the number for Steven Davenport already called up. All that remained was for Elliot to press send and open his mouth.

“Elliot?” his father’s voice cut through the chirp of birds and quiet.

“Hello, Dad.”

“Are you safe? How is McGinn treating you?”

Elliot gulped. “We, uh, haven’t called him. Something happ—”

“What?” Steven barked. “Son, I specifically told you where to go and who to contact. Why in the world would you ignore that?”

His cheeks heated, and he pointlessly turned away from Brian. “Because there was an intruder, Dad. Charlotte was—”

“Are you all right?” Steven cut in, his worry clear.

“Yes, we’re all, er, I’m fine. Brian’s fine, too. But there wasn’t time to consider every angle, and—”

“What’s to consider?” Steven interrupted again. “I gave you the contact information for someone in charge of the disaster plans, someone who could keep you safe and see to your needs, and you just, what, blew me off? And what time did you need? A phone call takes minutes at most. Enough time to tell Deputy Commander McGinn who you are and where to find you. And wait.”

“Dad, I didn’t want to go to a military base.”

There was a beat of silence, though if disapproval had a frequency, this call transmitted it. “Didn’t want to,” Steven repeated.

“It’s not what’s best for me right now,” Elliot said, finally swallowing his nerves. He was pleased at how steady he sounded. “I am with a very knowledgeable group of people who have a good shot at getting us across the country and into the West, where they know someone who will take us in and let us stay for however long it takes to resolve this crisis.”

“Let me tell you what I ‘don’t want,’” Steven said, tone heavy with censure. “I don’t want to hear my only son and the successor to Davenport Oil has become a casualty of a nationwide crisis the likes of which we’ve never seen in the entire history of the United States. I don’t want to tell your mother you aren’t exactly where I know to find you. I don’t want you to have another seizure without access to immediate medical care should you need it. Now, you hang up this phone, dial the number I gave you, and get yourself to safety, Elliot.”

“Or what?” Elliot asked defiantly while his insides rattled around like a skyscraper in an earthquake. “You have told me all my life to stand by my decisions. ‘Be decisive, Elliot. People don’t follow the weak.’”

“No, they don’t,” Steven bit out. “They also don’t follow the dead.”

Something in Elliot disconnected, and knowledge the likes of which he’d never experienced before when it came to his father spilled through his brain like thick paint. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he’d never be someone his father respected if he didn’t make his position known in this moment.

“I’m doing as I see fit.” He sat straighter and turned, his gaze connecting with Brian’s, who nodded his encouragement. “The military will be dealing with more than two hundred million displaced people. They are not prepared for the numbers requiring their help. They will be overwhelmed and reliant on temporary housing for survivors. They will be facing
years
of instability, and there are no guarantees the shelter you want me to find is safer than where I’m planning to go with Ash and his family.” He softened his tone, but only just. “You aren’t here, Dad. You can’t see the signs of desperation as people realize this is bigger than a few days without Google and cold beer. If I have
any
chance whatsoever of living safely, it has to be somewhere with access to neurologists in a fully functioning medical facility, not some field hospital in upstate New York. That is stress I don’t need. So I’m going to risk a few days on the road, with a van full of food and shelter and other emergency supplies, so I can get somewhere where I can let go of the fear the next riot is going to be the one that puts me in a grave.”

There was silence on the line, though Elliot could hear his father breathing. It went on so long, he feared he’d given the man reason to turn him out for good, the last disappointment in twenty years of disappointment in his son. Brian grabbed his hand and held on when his doubt got too big to conceal, and just as he opened his mouth to apologize and try to mitigate whatever damage he might have caused, his dad spoke.

“Is Brian with you?”

“He’s right here.”

“And he’s in agreement with your course of action?”

Elliot nodded as though Steven could see it, then said, “He is.”

“What of this Ash boy? How can I trust he’ll take proper responsibility for your safety?”

Elliot swallowed, lowering his eyes so Brian wouldn’t see too much. “He has survival skills learned from his father, who was a marine. We are going to the home of a retired marine, who has given Ash coordinates to follow. We are well stocked with food and water, medical supplies, protection, and shelter. We have everything we need to reach Seattle in a few days, and we have more of a head start going west than anyone else. Of everyone I know, I trust Ash most to get us there in one piece.”

“But how can you be—”

“Dad, either you trust me now, or you never will. But,” he swallowed audibly. “I don’t exactly need your blessing to do this my way. I’m not going to some army base somewhere to sleep on a cot and hope they don’t run out of food or my medicine. I’m going to Seattle, and I’ll call you when I get there.”