The Long Night Box Set

by Kevin Partner

  The sky was beginning to darken as they approached Arbroath. Luna's sobbing episodes had decreased in frequency and she had told Paulie what had happened after the Long Night. Alejandro had, at first, insisted on them staying in his apartment. He had good stocks of food and had seen the riots breaking out in the streets below and, in any case, he knew that Paulie would look there first when she came to find them.

  But then their food had run out. He went scavenging and, on the final occasion, returned with a knife slash to his thigh. He decided that LA wasn't safe for her any longer, so they walked to the outskirts and he found a car. Luna cried when she said he'd put a blanket over the seat where the dead woman had been for Luna to sit on. They had intended to go to Arbroath, but Alejandro became sick and so, when they found Johnson Green's community, they stopped there, and he'd been in bed ever since. Sepsis, the doctor had said. And not enough antibiotics to kill it off.

  Despite the tears that cascaded down both their cheeks—Paulie's a mixture of grief and shame—she was relieved that Luna was at least talking about things now.

  Suddenly, as they crested a low hill, Paulie saw the light glint off something metallic ahead and slammed on the brakes, pulling in between two abandoned cars. She got out of the car, crouching low and creeping along the row of rotting metal to the front and peering over the hood. They were above Arbroath here and this road led to the bridge that crossed the river before arriving at the rear barricade into the town.

  Halfway down the hill sat a group of military vehicles facing toward Arbroath, as if to prevent anyone heading south from it. She didn't need the layabout attitude of the men standing around the vehicles to know that they belonged to the militia from Seattle. Could they have followed the pastor and the others when they returned to Arbroath? Could they have been captured and forced to reveal where they'd come from?

  How was she to get into town now? She was willing to bet that the main road along the river would also be blockaded which left only one option.

  She reversed the car until they found a side road that took them to the west. They turned north and shadowed the highway, hoping that the militia were too lazy to scan the neighboring roads, until they reached the intersection that took them back onto the interstate as it went over the bridge.

  "You need to get down, Luna," Paulie said. "There might be guards up there and I intend to drive straight through them."

  Luna's face was a mix of terror and excitement as she folded herself into the foot well, her hand reaching back to hold the dog's head down.

  "Ready?"

  The little girl nodded. Paulie drew in a deep breath and stabbed her foot on the gas.

  The car lurched up the final rise and flew out onto the highway, skidding round and, in one perfectly executed arc, straightening. Two men struggled to get onto their feet, kicking over the little fire where they'd been sharing a cigarette. By the time they'd brought their rifles to bear, Paulie was past them and half way across the bridge.

  Pellets of glass blew over Paulie's shoulders as the rear window exploded, and then they were off and away, heading into the deserted suburbs of Arbroath.

  "Are you alright?" she called over the sound of rushing wind.

  Luna looked up, brushing the shattered glass from her clothes and face, and nodded.

  Dany barked from the back seat and tried to climb over into the front.

  "Get back, girl," Luna said as she hugged the dog's head.

  The direct route to the enclave was to the right where another bridge took them over the Wishkah River, but she was certain she'd find more militia there, so she drove north through the suburbs to a small crossing of the river as it bent westwards. She was then able to loop around to the east and approach the enclave from above.

  She parked and walked to the lookout point, Luna and Dany tagging along beside her.

  "There it is," Paulie said, pointing down to where the barricade stood, with its makeshift gate in the center. She looked to the left and cursed. A tank, two military trucks and an olive green jeep were parked to one side. It looked as though they'd only just arrived because the militia were busy setting up what looked like gun emplacements and mortar positions. It was an obvious show of strength intended to intimidate.

  She watched as a familiar figure climbed down from the jeep and walked toward the gate. Almost immediately, it opened to admit a lone man. It was Scott Lee, still impersonating a Pastor judging by the Bible shaped object he held clutched to his chest.

  So, he'd made it back safely which meant that Marvin and Jon had also returned, with any luck. But she could see no way out of this—they'd failed in their mission to scavenge heavier armament and five minutes under the hail of bullets from the machine guns now trained on the barricade and it would burst asunder.

  Smith held out his hand and, with obvious reluctance, the man he'd said was called Lad Melua, head of security for the Lee Corporation, shook it. After no more than a moment or two, he withdrew and began talking animatedly to Smith. Dany growled softly but stopped at a word from Luna.

  Through all of this, the pastor remained impassively listening and then, as Melua paused awaiting a response, he opened the Bible. Paulie half expected the idiot to draw out a handgun, shoot his opponent, and then die in a hail of bullets. In that instant, she was surprised to note that she didn't want that to happen.

  Instead of that, he drew out something too small for Paulie to see. It must have been no larger than a credit card and Melua took it instantly, before suddenly bringing it close to his face as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He seemed to be looking back and forth from the object to the pastor before he started speaking, the words tumbling out, a mixture of surprise and, unless Paulie was quite mistaken, pleasure. For an instant, he moved as if to embrace Smith, but he stopped himself, returned the card, turned on his heels and left.

  He spoke to his men and, after much shaking of heads, they piled into their trucks and headed away. Within ten minutes, the way was clear of vehicles and a cheer went up from inside Arbroath. If that wasn't inexplicable enough, she looked back to the road to see that they'd left the machine guns in place and a group of deputies, led by Jon Graf, were striding out to retrieve them. Unable to hold back her curiosity any longer, Paulie straightened up, went back to the car and drove down to the riverside road that led to the barricade.

  It took a while to get anyone's attention as she parked the car at the entrance to Arbroath. She was forced, in the end, to stab down on the horn repeatedly until a head popped up, followed by a leveled shotgun.

  It was Marvin, so she got out especially carefully until he could see her face clearly.

  "Sheriff!" he called with unmistakable joy. "Well, I'll be. Come on over!"

  He called to someone behind him and a ladder was lowered as Paulie went around and got her pack and Luna's from the trunk. She sent her daughter up first, then passed up the luggage. She was forced to put her shoulder under Dany's backside to get her up the ladder, before finally following her over the top.

  Nothing had changed, on the surface at least, since they'd departed on their ill fated mission to Seattle the previous week. As she stood on the barricade, people who'd been gathered around the market square detached themselves and began moving, some of them running. Paulie, delighted by the welcome, saw that they'd been looking at the machine guns. Smith remained beside the new weapons, watching the crowd before looking up at her.

  She climbed down and was engulfed. "Where have you been?" was the most common question among the greetings and the back slapping. Mayor Vogelbach pushed through to the front and grabbed her hand.

  "I'm so pleased you've returned to us, just as the pastor has delivered us from our enemies" she said. "And I see you've brought some new residents."

  Paulie pulled Luna forward. "This is my daughter. Luna, this is Mayor Vogelbach."

  Luna took the mayor's offered hand briefly. "My uncle's dead."

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Vogelbach said. "
You're safe now."

  "This is Dany. She protects us. Uncle Jon!" Luna shrieked as Deputy Graf forced his way through. She jumped into his arms and Paulie was overwhelmed by the joy and love the two exchanged. He was twirling around, tears flowing down his face, and she knew that he was crying for joy and for grief at the same time. What a twisted world they were living in.

  Paulie extricated herself from the crowd and strode across to Smith.

  "I'm glad you made it back," he said, with every sign of meaning it.

  She looked around to make sure they couldn't be overheard.

  "What happened at the gate?" she said, watching his expression closely. "And don't play dumb; I was watching from the lookout point. I saw you hand something over."

  He considered this for a moment before responding, "It was my Bible."

  "Is that what you told them," she said, gesturing at the crowds still chattering by the barricade. "Did you say it was a miracle?"

  Smith shrugged. "Does it matter? The end result is the same. The enemy has gone, and we are now armed to defend ourselves. One machine gun emplacement at each entrance and no one can approach us without permission.”

  "Let me see your Bible," she said, holding out her hand.

  He reached into his pocket and retrieved a black book with gold lettering. "Here."

  She flicked through the pages. "This isn't the same one. I saw you pull something out of it and show it to Melua. I want to know what it was, and why it made him turn on his heels and leave. Anyone would think you were on the same side."

  "I persuaded him that he would find softer targets elsewhere."

  Paulie shook her head. "I don't buy it. He had machine guns, mortars and a tank, for heaven's sake. What do we have? A few shotguns. No way. Now tell the truth or I'll have you arrested."

  "That would be a mistake," Smith said.

  She spotted Deputies Friedman and Fessel. "Nicky, Mike, come over here will you?" she called.

  "I want you to arrest the pastor and throw him in the holding cell."

  Friedman looked from one to the other. "This a joke, right?"

  "I'm giving you a direct order," Paulie said, wondering just how deep this man's influence on the town now reached.

  The two deputies shared a glance and stepped back. "Sorry, Sheriff," Fessel said. "The pastor's just saved us and I reckon we might get lynched if we arrest him."

  "Now you listen to me," Paulie hissed. "You either take my orders or lose your badges"

  "I'd rather lose my badge than my neck. You might want to hightail it back to wherever you've been if you don't like the pastor; folks here won't tolerate it, I'm tellin' you," Fessel said.

  Paulie couldn't believe her ears. "I'll deal with you two later," she snapped, before drawing her weapon and pointing it at Smith. "Come with me, Pastor."

  Smith's forehead creased into a frown as the crowd slowly went silent. "I'm so sorry, Paulie. You really should have thought about this a little. Mike, will you please escort the sheriff to the cell."

  "What's going on?"

  Paulie turned to see Jon Graf hurrying toward her, Luna running along beside him.

  "She's fixin' to arrest the pastor," Fessel said.

  "What?"

  "I can't explain, Jon, not in front of everyone. Now, will you please take him into custody."

  "He's just saved the town!" Graf said, disbelief obvious.

  "Jon, please."

  He held her gaze for a few moments, then shook his head and stepped back.

  "Mommy, what's happening?" Luna called.

  "I wish I knew."

  The pastor pushed the weapon she was pointing away from him. "I think we all need time to calm down. Please go with the deputies."

  She had no choice, especially with Luna watching. "You stay with Uncle Jon," she said, while treating Graf to a venom laced glance. "I'll see you soon enough." She began moving toward the Sheriff's Office.

  Suddenly, Dany began barking and baring her teeth at Fessel. She jumped up and pushed him sideways with her front paws.

  "Get down, Dany," Paulie said. "Go with Luna, protect her."

  "What's goin' on?" Melvin Tucker burst out of the crowd and barged into Friedman. "Put your weapons down you damn fools. What are you doin' pointin' them at the sheriff?"

  "Stand down, Melvin," Jon called, "the sheriff's under arrest."

  "Like hell I will," he responded, standing between the two deputies and Paulie. "You should be ashamed'a yourselves after all she's done for this town!"

  Graf drew his sidearm and the crowd that had gathered retreated a little. "Hand over your weapon, deputy. You can share a cell with the sheriff."

  Paulie looked at Marvin and nodded. The last thing she wanted was a firefight to break out in the middle of a crowd with her daughter looking on.

  Paulie walked through a disbelieving mob that was filled with hostility. So, after all her work to bring stability and safety to the town, this was how she was rewarded? Treachery from those she most trusted and loyalty from the person she least expected to be on her side.

  She'd lost the one place she considered safe, the place she'd brought her child to, the place she'd have given her life to protect. The world was truly, utterly, messed up.

  Chapter 18

  Bella did her best impression of an infantryman crawling stealthily through the detritus. In truth, she knew she'd have looked ridiculous to anyone who happened to be watching but she didn't care. After much squeezing, rolling and pushing, she found a vantage point over the intersection where her father had been taken hostage.

  The days since she'd left the airbase had been the loneliest of her life. Guilt, shame and powerless rage took turns to be the dominant emotion as, with every mile, she felt more and more as though she was abandoning her children. She'd seen neither since Nathan had slipped her that pass and her mind had settled on the one remaining mission, the thing she could do—find out what had happened to her father.

  She expected to find that he was dead, dispatched once that thug Skulls realized that the old man couldn't repair the wind turbine. One way or another, she needed to know, so she squinted through the sights of the hunting rifle. That had been one piece of luck; she'd found the rifle in a remote cabin where she'd sought shelter the previous night. She'd also been lucky to slip by the guards at the TLX border. As Nathan had suggested, she'd shadowed the main interstate, but she hadn't wanted to stray too far as she had no idea where she was and didn't want to lose sight of the arterial road. It was only when she'd passed the border that she realized she'd been in full view of the checkpoint as it was on an elevated section of the highway. If a guard had been looking, they'd have had no difficulty in spotting her.

  Bella saw Skulls almost immediately as he moved back and forth chatting to his confederates and giving orders. The man's swagger hadn't lessened, though now he wore a blue cap on his bald head which, with his yellow beard, gave him the look of a cartoon seaman. All he needed was a pipe.

  She watched for an hour, seeing many people, but never her father. Finally, she had to accept that he wasn't going to appear and that her worst fears had been realized. She focused on Skulls, imagining what it would be like to gently squeeze the trigger and take revenge for Al's death. If it hadn't been for the fact that Maddie was being held captive in TLX, Bella would have done it even if it had meant every other scumbag descended upon her.

  But she had to survive for her daughter's sake, she was the child's only hope. So, she relaxed her grip and went to put the rifle down, but it slipped forward a little on the damp ground. Reflexively, she grabbed at it, accidentally squeezing the trigger. With a crack, the gun kicked back and landed on the ground. Bella cursed as she scrambled away on all fours before getting to her feet and running. She'd been sure the safety was on—what sort of idiot leaves it off in their gun cabinet?

  The car was just there, and she drew in deep breaths as she went to open the front door.

  "Hold it right there, lady," said a drawl
ing voice. "I want a word with you."

  Skulls grabbed her arm and propelled her down the bank toward the intersection. She struggled against his iron grip as the others laughed at her discomfort.

  "Looks like we're gonna have ourselves a little entertainment, boys," Skulls cried as Bella stumbled down to the road where they'd been hijacked.

  "What are you going to do with me?" she said.

  Skulls gave an evil chuckle. "Well, you're just gonna have to wait to find out, aren't ya? You nearly took off my head."

  "I didn't mean to, I was putting the gun down!"

  "Maybe that's right, maybe it ain't," Skulls said.

  "Believe me, if I'd intended to kill you, you'd be dead right now," Bella spat, anger overcoming fear for a moment.

  Skulls laughed again and pushed her toward a streetlamp that had a chair at its base and a noose hanging down.

  "No!" Bella cried, tears welling in her eyes.

  But Skulls pushed her past the makeshift gallows and into the parking lot of a car dealership then in through the front doors.

  "Hey boss!" he called out as he maneuvered her toward the former manager's office. "Look what the cat caught."

  Skulls pulled her to a halt and waited.

  Bella stood, panting as she waited for judgement to be pronounced.

  A figure appeared in the doorway, silhouetted by the sun coming in through the office window. A familiar figure.

  "Thank God!"

  "Dad!"

  She threw herself into his arms and wept until she felt as though she'd run dry. He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes red with tears. Then he looked behind her. "Isabella, where are the kids?"

  Al wouldn't tell her his story until she'd told him hers and she watched his old and wrinkled face turn pale as she described what had happened to Maddie.