The Long Fall of Night: The Long Fall of Night Book 1 (18 page)

Steven heaved a big sigh, and Elliot pictured him pinching his nose in frustration. “You damn well better call me every day until you get there. I will not be left in the dark about your progress, and if I can arrange it, I will send you an escort.”

There was no point in saying if Ash was right, there weren’t enough personnel in the armed services to spare a team dedicated to seeing six people across the country. His father, for the first time in his life, was letting Elliot do what he thought was right.

“Okay. Try not to worry.”

There was a pause, then, “Your mother and I will be arriving in California later than expected. All public transportation is being carefully monitored, especially flights. Should be tomorrow. Once you’re in an area with power, and travel is easier, I’ll have someone bring you to the condo. If your friends get you that far, I will see to it they arrive at their destination, this retired marine’s home, as well. I will be in their debt.”

“Thank you.” Elliot swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Please let me speak to Brian,” Steven requested, his tone gentler than Elliot had ever heard it.

“I love you,” Elliot said by way of signing off, then passed the phone to Brian.

Not bothering to stick around and listen to Brian getting an earful about filling Elliot’s head with delusions of invincibility, he stood and walked to the far end of their campsite, looking out over the water to the other side of the river. Were they the only ones in the entire park? Was there another group of campers, just as scared, just as determined to survive as they were? Elliot sat in the grass, ignoring the damp that seeped through his clothes. The shakes hit him, and his teeth chattered until he clamped his jaw tight.

What had he done? Had his defiance ruined the balance of his relationship with his father? Did he really have the balls to back up everything he’d said? Was he strong enough to see this through, regardless of Steven Davenport’s approval or lack thereof? Everything he’d said was true, but suddenly, standing behind his decision seemed like a fool’s choice, grandstanding at a time when it was least advised.

He’s not here. He can’t see how dangerous this can be.

It was true. Unless he was in it, facing the potential destruction in panic-ridden cities, the deterioration of polite society into a morass of survival-of-the-fittest where the strongest, most selfish would come out on top, he couldn’t know. The fear, if Elliot let it, would swallow him whole, and he’d be useless.

Keep busy. Take care of our group, and maybe we can see each other through.

He returned to the semi-circle of their tents to hear the last words of Brian’s conversation with his dad.

“You have my word. Whatever happens, I won’t leave him.”

They disconnected moments later, and Elliot moved to alert Brian to his presence so as not to startle him. Brian turned and smiled, his expression almost proud.

“It’s about time.”

“What?” Elliot asked, playing dumb.

“Standing up to him.”

“Oh, well….” He shrugged and trailed off. “I just hope he doesn’t get to say I told you so when all this is said and done.”

“While I can’t discount the possibility, an ‘I told you so’ in this situation won’t matter much in the end, will it?” Brian stood and stretched. “You did the right thing, and maybe now, he’ll see you’re capable of more than good grades and give you a little credit.”

Hope filled Elliot’s chest. “Kind of stupid, wanting his approval in the face of… things.”

“Nah,” Brian said, gathering a few bits of wood strewn around the site. “His opinion matters to you. That’s not a bad thing. But you’re not letting it dictate what you think is best anymore. If ever there was a time for you to take the reins, this is it.”

The creep of a smile Elliot felt couldn’t be suppressed, so he ducked his head and helped scour for more wood, turning back to the edge of the water and sliding down a small embankment. There were several pieces of driftwood along the muddy beach, and while some of it looked too wet to burn, a few pieces were dry enough. Dragging a large branch to the edge of their little clearing, Elliot dropped it to the ground, considering the best way to get it into manageable chunks. Gripping an offshoot for leverage, he stomped on the end, using the ground to bend the limb beyond the breaking point. It was dry enough to crack loudly and splinter, so he kept working it until it was in pieces small enough to fit in the fire ring. Even if it was too warm for a fire now, they’d need something to burn for making food later.

Brian helped him stack the pieces on the growing pile of wood, then clapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s check on Russ and get some rest. We can try to catch some fish for dinner afterward.”

What they found was not encouraging at all.

Elliot hesitated at the door to Ash and Riley’s tent, not sure how to keep from disturbing the boy. It wasn’t like he could knock.

“Ash?” he rasped, settling for rattling the zipper. Ash would be enough on edge, the sound might wake him. Unless he’d passed out completely as soon as he’d lain down. “Ash, we have a problem.”

The zipper on the outside was suddenly ripped out of Elliot’s hand, and the gap in the tent flap revealed a disheveled Ash, his eyes bleary. He didn’t pause there, instead climbing out of the enclosure and zipping it behind him before Riley could be disturbed.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was rusty.

“It’s Russ,” Elliot said, wringing his hands. “I just checked. Charlotte can’t wake him.”

Ash wasted no time, barreling into the two-person tent containing his sister and her boyfriend, whether there was room for him or not. “Charlotte, get me a flashlight.”

Elliot backed out of her way as she scrambled out of the tent and rummaged in the van’s glove box, coming back with a small light and passing it in to her brother. She didn’t reenter the tent, so Elliot put a clumsy arm around her shoulders to offer comfort. He guessed when she leaned into him, she didn’t care where it came from, and considering what they’d lived through the night before, he had more right to try and reassure her than he’d had the day before.

“Shit,” Ash cursed, stepping into the open air once more. “One of his pupils is blown.”

“Oh god, what do we do?” Charlotte asked, terrified.

“Lemme think,” Ash said, knuckling his forehead and pacing. “Charlotte, you’re the one who was gonna be a nurse. What would a doctor do in this situation?”

“I only had a few classes!”

“Yeah, but you know more than I do. Think.”

“Shit, okay.” She mirrored Ash’s pacing, gnawing on a fingernail in concentration. “He’d go for a scan so they could see what happened and where.”

“So we take him to a hospital?” Elliot asked tentatively.

Ash leveled him with a look. “We can’t. Hospitals are going to be dangerous by now, overrun and understaffed, and a lot of them, especially small town hospitals, may have already run out of fuel for their generators. Gas pumps are mostly electric these days, so even if there’s plenty in the tanks at the Stop-N-Go, there won’t be any way to get to it.”

Charlotte bristled. “At least taking him to a hospital will give someone else the chance to look him over. I’m not a nurse, Ash.”

“While we’re standing here having this argument, Russ is getting worse. What do we do, Charlotte?”

Her pacing intensified, each turn becoming more emphatic. “Well, I think it’s a good bet he’s bleeding in his head. So there are a couple things they might do. Surgery to release the pressure on his brain or medicine to get it to stop.”

“We can’t perform brain surgery, Char,” Ash said gently, grabbing her elbow to stop her frantic steps. “What kind of medicine?”

“I don’t know!” she cried.

“What about one of your seizure pills, El?” Ash asked.

Elliot shook his head. “One of the side effects is reduced platelets, so that would make a bleed worse. Plus, they’re a taper drug. You have to build up and back off the dosage because drastic changes cause bigger issues. So we go to the nearest town to a pharmacy and see if we can find something better,” he suggested.

“I don’t know.” Ash hesitated. “I’m betting pharmacies are looting targets.”

“Well, get out your goddamned map and find the nearest town!” Charlotte snarled. “It’s worth a try!”

“I’ll stay here with Riley and Russ,” Brian offered. “You three can go and not worry the kid.”

“Let’s go,” Ash ordered, already striding to the van. “I don’t know what we’re walking into, but we can’t just sit here and do nothing.” There was a bit of confusion when both Elliot and Charlotte made for the front passenger seat, but Elliot acquiesced quickly, crawling into the middle.

The town of Warren, Pennsylvania, was the epitome of small, and there were no people in sight. The preternatural quiet didn’t bode well, but Elliot remained hopeful they’d find something useful.

“Grocery stores have pharmacies, too,” he reminded Ash as they passed a dark Walmart.

“First places to be raided, remember?” Ash gritted out, his eyes narrowed on the buildings in the distance. “But I see something.”

Elliot looked ahead and spied the telltale mortar and pestle sign depicting a drugstore. The large parking lot in the midst of a
U
-shaped strip of shops was deserted, but the front windows of the pharmacy looked intact as Ash pulled in and drove around back. There was a lone delivery truck with the name of the store, some mom-and-pop place that had the look of long tradition and small-town sensibilities. For being locally owned, it was large enough to hold more than a drugstore. Not a soul moved in the vicinity. Stopping the van immediately beside a heavy steel door, Ash turned off the engine and looked around.

“Coast is clear. Let’s go.”

The bright sunshine beat down on them, so incongruous with the danger they all felt. It was a beautiful day, but Elliot wasn’t comfortable until they were in the shadow of the building. Ash stared at the door’s lock as if he could will it to disappear.

“Charlotte, go get me the crowbar from the spare tire compartment.”

On a whim, Elliot reached around Ash and tried the knob. It turned easily, and he pulled, the door coming open with a loud squawk. He cringed.

“No crowbar then?” she asked.

“Guess not,” Ash said, getting the door open just enough for them to slip inside.

They followed him into a back room, concrete floor covered with pallets full of boxes of cereal, canned goods, boxes labeled pickles and salad dressing and various varieties of soup. Elliot moved to inspect some of the merchandise, but Ash stopped him.

“Russ doesn’t have time for us to raid for food, too. We get what we came for and get out.”

As a unit, they pushed through the swinging doors into the public area of the store. It was dark, save for the sun streaming in the front windows and giving enough light to see to the back counters, above which darkened signs for the meat and deli departments hung. For a pharmacy, it was a surprisingly large grocery store.

Ash stretched his tall frame to look around and pointed when he saw the sign reading
Pharmacy
, large and glaring even in the dark. They moved to the right of the grocery aisles, keeping quiet in case the store proprietor was somewhere on the premises. Elliot considered calling out. Maybe if they explained the situation, they could get some help, rather than going off Charlotte’s few nursing classes for their only medical expertise.

But if there was someone here besides them, Elliot would just as soon not find out the guy was armed and ready to protect his property. The store was in surprisingly good shape, comparatively speaking. The shelves were pretty empty, but there were no stray boxes on the floor, no tipped over displays. The aisle with water and soda was cleaned out completely, but for the most part, it was just empty, not ransacked.

“Let’s hope the drugs are as unscathed,” Ash muttered.

They rounded the last aisle before the pharmacy and noted the pulled down metal screen over the counter, and the door with a combination code on the lock. Behind the grate, the shelves containing vials and pill bottles were neatly organized. Elliot released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Should have brought the crowbar,” Charlotte groused.

“Hang on,” Elliot said, going to the grate, which kept the controlled dispensary separate from the rest of the store. It reminded him of the pull-down grates at shops all over New York City, metal mesh with rectangular holes and a key at the bottom to release it. This one, however, had a lever on the inside, which could be pulled before the last person exited the drug cage. He studied the mechanism and the tracks in which the wheels descended and ascended, then stuck his long fingers through the holes, attempting to reach the lever to release the catch. He couldn’t quite get there, but when Ash saw what he was doing, he cast about for something long and thin to stick through the fencing.

“Probably rely on the front door security to keep people out, or on-site security officers to guard it, and make sure people don’t do this,” Elliot mused to himself.

“Right,” Charlotte snorted. “Because the population of Warren, Pennsylvania, all ninety-six hundred of them, are going to be scoping out Bud’s Drugstore for the good shit. This ain’t New York, boys.” She stomped off and returned moments later with an auto glass ice scraper. Threading the flat shovel portion through the wide slats of the grate, she pushed, her lips disappearing as she tried to exert enough strength to move the metal lever. It budged, then let go with a loud clang.

Ash winced. “Announce to whoever’s in here what we’re doing, why don’t you?”

“Like you could have done it any quieter,” she snapped. “We don’t have
time
to pussyfoot around. Russ is getting worse while you two stand here fiddling with your dicks.”

Elliot coughed to cover his surprise, then moved to the other end of the counter, wormed his fingers beneath the grate, and with Ash at the other side doing the same, they both pushed. Like a garage door, the grate rolled upward. They didn’t bother opening the entire window, leaving just enough space for them to slide across the counter between the pair of cash registers standing as silent sentinels of the unguarded space.