The Long Fall of Night: The Long Fall of Night Book 1 (4 page)

“Do you have any bottled water?” He seemed to have gotten that he’d crossed a line. Good.

“Yeah, in the fridge. Take what you want. There’s a bunch of plastic grocery bags under the sink. Might as well clean out the food before it all goes bad.”

“Now you’re thinking,” Ash said, lightly punching him on the shoulder, suddenly accommodating and complimentary.

When Elliot was sure Ash was busy in the kitchen, he slipped across the hall again, opened the medicine cabinet, and palmed a couple of pill bottles off the shelves. A few extra razors, some cotton swabs, and he was done in the bathroom. After a brief hesitation, he snatched a couple rolls of toilet paper.
Overkill, but better safe than sorry.

All packed, Elliot returned to the living room as Ash emerged from the kitchen.

“Have room for this?” He held forth Elliot’s handheld can opener.

Elliot snorted but took it and stuffed it in the bag. “Did you actually get canned food?”

Ash turned to the door. “I grabbed what you had, but it wasn’t much. Couple cans of peaches and some peeled tomatoes. We’ll stop at a store anyway.”

Elliot followed him to the stairs and down, the bobbing flashlight heaving shadows around.

“What if they’re not open?”

Ash didn’t answer. When they reached the lobby, he twirled the light in his palm like a drummer twiddling drumsticks, then held it out to Julian, grip first.

“Thank you, kind sir,” he drawled. Elliot couldn’t tell if he was making fun again, but the doorman smiled, not bothered.

“Anything else I can do for you boys?” So helpful. Realizing he may never see the man again, ice crystalized in Elliot’s belly.

“Yeah.” Julian perked up as Elliot awkwardly patted his shoulder. “If you need to, take your family and be safe. Don’t put the job above everything.” Julian stared at Elliot as though he were about to start singing… or collapse to the floor. Elliot hated that look. He jerked his hand back. “Just, you know. Don’t go down with a sinking ship.”

Silence stretched between them as they approached the door to the parking garage. Julian broke it with a coldly professional nod, and Elliot cringed. So much for one of the few friends who’d never judged him.

“You be careful, Mr. Davenport. Dark traffic lights make people drive recklessly.”

Ash looped the bag of bottled water over his wrist and held out his hand, palm up. “I’m driving, and I’m always careful. Keys, please, Davenport.”

Elliot reluctantly handed them over and led him to the garage.

“Don’t do that anymore,” Ash grumbled.

“Do what?”

“Warn people.”

Elliot actually startled in his incredulity. “Are you kidding? If you’re right, people are going to need as much of a head start as they can get.”

“Which only narrows
our
head start. All you’re doing is making the panic hit sooner.”

Anger welled in Elliot’s chest. “You warned a whole classroom full of people!”

“People smart enough to be logical about what’s going on.”

The chirp of the vehicle unlocking interrupted Elliot’s sputtering, and Ash stopped and stared at the car-shaped tarp in its spot at the end of the row, the lights blinking through the canvas.

“You ever drive it?”

“No,” Elliot said tersely, setting his bag down to fold back the cloth, revealing a gleaming black Audi sedan. Ash helped, then hit the button to pop the trunk when Elliot stood with the cover bunched in his arms.

“You probably don’t need that anymore, and it’ll take up space.”

“What, just leave it here? That’s stupid.”

“No more so than taking it with us and not using it.”

“Whatever,” he said, realizing it wasn’t worth the argument. He dumped the cover into the corner as Ash put the bags from the kitchen into the trunk, then swung his duffel bag in, slamming the lid decisively.

“Time’s wastin’. Get in.”

“I am smart,” Elliot gritted out once they were moving, picking up the thread of conversation about warning Julian. “I’m just having a hard time believing the Unabomber.”

“No one’s forcing you to be here,” Ash reminded him.

“Let’s get something clear. We’re in
my
car. You aren’t
letting
me come along. I am
letting
you
borrow
it. Letting you
drive.
We’re a package deal. You ditch me, you ditch the wheels, too. Let’s not forget who is doing the favor here.” Fucking or not, he wasn’t about to get walked on. He really hoped, however, Ash wouldn’t decide that was a deal breaker and just park and walk. Even a short drive back to the garage wasn’t wise.

“I don’t need this particular car, Elliot,” Ash said, as if reading his mind. “I’m perfectly capable of acquiring another one, so if you want to take your precious baby and go it alone, fine by me. But speak up now so I don’t waste any more time.”

Well, if that doesn’t tell me where I rate, nothing does.
Elliot sank lower in his seat, glowering out the window. “You could at least show a little gratitude that I’m saving you from committing a felony.”

The tense silence stretched until Elliot could stand it no more. He dug out his iPod and flicked the wheel to a playlist of piano songs, thankful it powered up and not caring why it worked but his phone didn’t. Beth Crowley crooned through the speakers about how things end, and Elliot settled in, prepared to sulk the whole way.

“You’re right,” Ash said, just audible over the melody. Elliot turned it down and looked at Ash’s profile, barely visible in the obsidian deep of night. “If you weren’t being so generous, I’d have to do something I really didn’t want to do. The police are probably out in much greater numbers, and the last thing I want is to end up stuck in a cell when the shit really hits the fan. So thank you.”

“Wow,” Elliot breathed. “Did that hurt?”

“Did what hurt?”

“The tiny humility in your voice.”

To Elliot’s surprise, Ash laughed. “A little bit, yeah.”

“Good,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to hide an amused grin. “So where are we going?”

“Auburn.”

“Where’s that?” Elliot asked. “I’ve never gone upstate.”

“Are you from here?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve never been upstate?” Ash asked skeptically.

“When I traveled, it was usually with my parents.”

“What, they didn’t bother with mundane trips to the Adirondacks, is that it?” Ash asked sardonically. Elliot was aware Ash knew he was well off, but it had never seemed to matter before. It stung that he threw it in Elliot’s face now.
Stress. He’s just freaked out, and so are you.

“Mostly, we went where my dad had business. Overseas,” Elliot answered, cutting Ash slack. “I didn’t really have a choice.” He refused to say anything about being groomed to take over Davenport Oil Company. He didn’t want to ruin Ash’s opinion of him. It was hard won enough as it was.

Thankfully, Ash let it drop. “Auburn is almost two hundred fifty miles, maybe a little more. It’s northeast of here, by the Finger Lakes.”

“Aside from your sister, what’s up there?”

“Well, a bunch of outdoor places for the lakes. And the prison.”

Elliot did a double take. “Wait, you were serious about the inmate comment?”

Ash smiled, the glow from the dashboard giving his expression a disturbing feral quality.

“Yeah, I need to get my sister and nephew out of Auburn before the inmates wreak havoc. The prison should have generators, but the one at the Poly Institute failed, which makes me nervous. Who knows what will happen if the prison goes without power.”

“I’m sure they have contingency plans for power outages.” Elliot tried for reassuring, but he wasn’t sure he pulled it off.

“I’m not inclined to stay long enough to find out,” Ash deadpanned.

Elliot settled in his seat and folded his long legs to put his feet, sans shoes, on the dash. He let the soothing strains of a piano lull him into a doze, trusting Ash to speak up if he needed anything. With his eyes closed, he let his mind wander for an indeterminate length of time.

His parents, out of the country on a Mediterranean cruise, bubbled to the surface. Were they aware of the outage? Was anybody? His dad was not one to be out of touch, no matter where he was, but Elliot had no way of knowing what the news was capable of reporting. Of course, there was Brian Harding, his father’s IT and Cyber Security VP, who was basically second in command of Davenport Oil since his department was responsible for running the technology that made the company capable of doing business at all. Brian lived in New York City, too, often traveling with Steven Davenport, but Elliot knew Brian wouldn’t have gone on what was supposed to be a genuine vacation. Brian would let his dad know what had happened.

How? Think he has a landline in his apartment? Doubtful. He’s got wireless everything.

Suddenly feeling the nakedness of being unable to reach people, he shifted uncomfortably, coming out of his daze. Not normally a slave to his cell the way many of his peers were—well, he was, but for emergencies, not social media, which he wasn’t terribly fond of—missing the security of being a google away from whatever he might need was foreign enough to make him anxious. He had no access to anything: his parents, money, his computer.

His doctor.

“Stop the car,” he ordered, seeing how isolated they’d become on the road while he’d drifted off. They passed a sign showing they traveled I-280, a usually busy artery between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At the moment, it was sparsely populated, a fact that made Elliot unhappier.

“What?” Ash startled.

“Stop the car!” He raised his voice, reaching for the door handle, prepared to jump if necessary. Air. He needed air.

Ash pulled over quickly, putting the hazard lights on before they came to a complete stop. “What’s wrong?”

Elliot didn’t stick around long enough to answer, darting across the shoulder and into the small field beside the highway. Great gulps whipped through his lungs as he ran, and he began to concentrate on memorized symphonies to give his brain something to chew on besides fear. He had to get himself under control, or else….

He collapsed in the grass on his back, looking up at the night sky, the damp ground seeping cold fingers through his t-shirt. With no light pollution, the stars were bright, and Elliot quit the music and began to count pinpoints. He didn’t get far before Ash dropped beside him.

“Elliot?” he asked. Elliot hated the careful tone, but he deserved it for running in panic from a perfectly functioning car.

“I’m sorry.”

“What’s going on?”

Elliot looked over; Ash was more shadow in the moonlight than an actual person. Suddenly, Elliot felt very alone. He sat up, drawing his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, pressing his forehead to his jeans-clad knees. When he spoke, his voice was muffled.

“Sometimes things get to be too much. Walls closing in. I just needed to breathe.”

“What do you mean, too much?” Ash plucked a blade of grass and began to shred it.

“I don’t expect you to get it,” Elliot said resentfully. “You don’t need anyone, and you always have a dickhead answer when someone comes at you. Some of us aren’t that quick on our feet.”

Ash was quiet for a long moment, but when he did speak, his voice was soft. “What makes you think I don’t need anyone?”

Because you’ve made it clear you don’t need me.
“Because you don’t seem to need friends, and when someone tries to be one to you—me, for instance—you’re suspicious.”

Ash sighed. “Well, we all need our armor, don’t we?”

Elliot looked up, surprised. He didn’t know what to say to that.

“What did you mean, too much?” Ash repeated.

“My parents have money,” he started.

“I’m aware, Mr. Steven Davenport, Jr.,” Ash replied drolly.

Elliot looked at him with sharp surprise. “So you know who I am.”

Ash shrugged. “Have for a while. You don’t throw your name around, though, so I figured you don’t really want people figuring it out. Safer to keep my mouth shut.”

Elliot flushed with warmth at the implied attention with that single admittance.

“With money comes certain responsibilities. I’m expected to get my engineering degree, work for my father, and eventually take over his company. I’m to drive a nice car. Meet the perfect girl. Everything I do is scrutinized in order to keep me on the path, make sure I’m worthy. To keep me from screwing up.”

“Oh,” was Ash’s only response.

“So when something spontaneous comes up, I usually either avoid it so I don’t have to explain why I did something I didn’t think through, or I think it to death, killing the spontaneity.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“But you were in such a big hurry, so convinced this is some kind of crisis, I didn’t have time to think until we got in the car, and now I realize I screwed up by coming along. What if something happens? Something I can’t explain my way out of? I can’t tell my dad I came with you because—”
I’m in love with you.
He cleared his throat. “Because I trust you, or particularly
why
I trust you. This is going to get me in so much trouble, and I don’t have… much of a safety net if that happens.” He hedged that last bit, not interested in flaying himself wide open for Ash to see his innards. His feelings for the guy already had him at a massive disadvantage in their relationship. “And you act like me asking questions is a burden, like you would rather I had stayed in chem lab, left you to steal a car and disappear. Because you don’t need anyone.”

“Why didn’t you?”

That stopped him. “What?”

“If you know I don’t need anyone, and you shouldn’t be spontaneous, why did you come?”

I want you so much my soul aches.
“Because watching you walk away was worse.”

Ash searched his face for something. Either it was too dark to see, or he didn’t want to look too closely, because he was quick to look away. Elliot wished he’d kept his mouth shut.

“Well, your parents aren’t here, baby boy,” Ash all but whispered. Elliot closed his eyes against his bluntness. “You’ve made a decision. Man up and stand by your actions, even if they turn out to be mistakes. Maybe your dad will see that a decision, even the wrong one, is better than being one of the herd.”