The Aching Darkness_A Dark Fantasy Anthology

by Parker Sinclair

  Rye slapped Blaze on the back, a nice brotherly kind of gesture more than a violent hit. “Join us, even if Lianna doesn’t make it. We need a break from all this crazy.” He waved his hand out toward the distant flashing lights.

  Blaze had to admit that his cousin had a valid point.

  CHAPTER 3

  Rye peered at his subordinate, William Davis, who didn’t know his left foot from his right. He held out the key to the generator room, hoping for the best.

  “What the hell do you want me to do with this?” William asked.

  “What do you think I want you to do with it? I want you to go down to the basement and shut down the generator. It’s easy stuff. Do I have to repeat myself, airman?” He drilled his stare into the fresh recruit, who was still wet behind the ears. He doubted the kid was more than a few months past his eighteenth birthday. Stars remained in his eyes, and he still had a stupor of a smile plastered to his face, yet to be broken and molded into what the Air Force wanted him to be.

  He watched the kid walk away, heading toward the stairs to the basement. “Aim high, right?” Rye muttered. Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his dark brown hair.

  “I give him a week before he’s bawling on the floor for his momma. Definitely not the video game he was thinking this was.” Blaze leaned on a workbench, frowning as he sifted through a toolbox.

  “You think so? Nah, I got this. He’s my responsibility.” Rye smiled, flashing a mouthful of white teeth. He was meticulous with his teeth and proud to show them off whenever he could. His Type A personality showed in all his work. His workspace was pristine while Blaze’s was always a chaotic mess.

  “You got your work cut out for you. I wouldn’t want that kind of problem to deal with when he fucks things up. And you know it’s bound to happen. Trust me.”

  “It doesn’t bother me none. Well… not usually.” Rye’s smile dropped just a little.

  “Are you coming or you going to stay here all night?” Blaze waved toward the other side of the hangar, where the locker rooms were.

  “Yeah, I’m right behind you.” Rye scrambled to catch up to his cousin.

  Blaze chuckled as they headed toward the locker room. It echoed throughout the hangar, joining the sound of metal doors slamming and their comrades’ chatter as they made their way downstairs.

  “Okay, I think I got it done right this time.” Will came walking around the corner from the basement stairs, wiping grease from his fingers. The black tarry stuff was smeared all up his coveralls and on both of his cheeks as though he’d frequently, subconsciously scratched his face while thinking.

  “Hey, Will.” Rye motioned him over. “Did you ever get that one girl from the bar to go out with you? We’re heading there after this. You want to join us?” Rye smiled widely, throwing a sidelong glance toward his cousin, who was listening with a knowing but curious look. Will had it bad for a waitress working at a local bar off Nellis Boulevard called Dog ’Ems. The waitresses wore miniscule, tight outfits even though they weren’t the main attraction. No, the half-naked girls prancing around on stage, swinging on poles, kept the patrons coming back, all locals because the booze was dirt cheap, not watered down, and the sights were glorious. It was a favorite haunt for many of the airmen. Home away from home, if you asked any of them.

  “Not quite. Her name is Bridget. I was going to ask her to go out this weekend.”

  “Bridget. That’s right.” Rye let the name slide off his tongue, trying it out for size. He was missing Angela with every cell of his body.

  “Yeah, well, we’re heading up there after work, in an hour,” Blaze said. “You’re welcome to join us, but you’re on your own with that broad.” He winked and put his arm around Rye’s shoulders after he sent Will back downstairs to the generator room once more to double-check his work.

  “You sure about inviting Will? I thought you said hanging out with a newbie is the last thing you wanted to do. You can barely stand the guy as it is.”

  “I don’t know. You’re right. Damn me and my big mouth. No taking it back now.” Rye sighed.

  Blaze smirked. He would help keep William out of Rye’s hair. They were family, and if anyone got obnoxious, they had each other’s backs. It was funny how they took care of each other no matter what. It was good to have someone you could count on.

  After four years, their time in the Air Force was almost up, and there was nothing either of them looked forward to more than settling down with their wives. Soon their dreams of a stable civilian life would be coming true. Soon enough, they’d be leaving the base forever.

  Rye wondered if Blaze was looking forward to civilian life. He hadn’t mentioned the future much, but he was willing to bet that his wife, Lianna, was a huge factor in what happened once their time was up. His cousin would follow her to the ends of the earth, even to some remote research facility, if it kept her happy. Rye hoped Blaze wouldn’t agree to a far-off place anytime soon. Separating after so long together would suck. In the meantime, no news was good news.

  “You’re still coming, right?” Blaze lifted his eyebrows in Rye’s direction as he finished tying his shoe laces.

  “Yeah.” Rye glanced at the stairwell where William had disappeared. “Will! We’re heading out to the bar. Meet you there!” he called out, turned back toward his cousin, and nodded. “Right behind you, dude.”

  Slamming his locker shut and donning his hoodie, he zipped it up with one smooth swipe. Vegas weather was unpredictable, but the late September air could get cool toward evening.

  “Lead the way.”

  CHAPTER 4

  “Hey, stranger. Need a top off?”

  The bartender didn’t wait for Rye to acknowledge her before she slapped another shot on the bar.

  “Um, thanks. Bridget, right?” He grinned at her, but all he got was a flash of a wink before she’d already moved on to chat with the next patron. Bridget was here, but Will was nowhere to be seen. Poor girl. Too bad the guy wasn’t dependable.

  Rye tossed back another shot and sighed, scanning the bar for his wife, Angela. He hadn’t seen her in days, but she was in town today and was going to meet him tonight. He was glad to have Blaze at his back, but he really missed her. She was the rock that kept him steady and not counting the days until his enlistment with the Air Force was over. She hated living in Vegas and had remained at her managerial job back in Tucson, Arizona, but there were several stores she oversaw in Vegas. She swore up and down she’d move to Vegas if he wanted her to, but he had never asked.

  Something had kept him from asking her. His stomach tightened as he tossed back another shot and waved the bartender down for a beer.

  “Whoa, already overdoing it?” Blaze slapped him on the back, taking the seat next to him. “The night is still young, Cousin. No rush.” Funny how Blaze knew where Rye’s mind was at.

  “Keeping him warm for me, big guy?” Angela appeared to his left, and he turned and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against his chest.

  “Hey, babe,” Rye whispered, inhaling her heavenly scent. “Nah, this is just my second shot.”

  “Right.” She eyed him curiously. “Listen, sorry I was late. Work was a killer this week. I swear the local stores can’t function when I’m in Arizona and vice-versa. They have me managing another newly opened branch here in town, and Barney, the acting assistant and software specialist, had to update the computer software. Took forever and drove me nuts. Literally would’ve been here like half an hour ago if it wasn’t for technology. They’re archaic computers with software that bogs them down. So over it.”

  “No problem. We’ve been crazy busy too and have been left mostly to our own devices for a bit.”

  “No way. Nothing happened, right?” She lifted an eyebrow and studied his face.

  “The place is still standing. I’m not worried.”

  “You sure?”

  “We’re alive, aren’t we?” He cracked a smile and winked, something she found sexy. Her tig
ht features relaxed as she leaned in for a kiss.

  “I know. Just wondering how it’s going. I heard a few rumors that things are getting worse with the violence on the streets. I avoid the Strip and downtown like the plague as it is.”

  Rye cleared his throat as she leaned in, her mouth soft and velvety, plump and warm. He’d dreamt of those lips often, and the simple gesture made his insides run amok, warming in anticipation. Her proximity turned his mind to mush, especially with the alcohol fogging it all up already.

  “Listen, babe. I’m so sorry.” Angela bit her bottom lip, looking like she was going to deliver the worst news.

  He perked up. The searing buzz from a moment ago grew cold. “Sorry for what?”

  “I have to return to work tonight. The upgrades were taking so long that we didn’t get to finish anything else. I have to go back and do the real work once the computers are updated, which Barney said would take an hour or two. It’s been an hour already.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Rye frowned, his eyes narrowing. Another excuse to return to work? She’d been having far too many of them lately. “Who else has to stay late? Because if it’s just you, I’m calling upper management to bitch them out.”

  “You’ll get me fired.”

  “I don’t care. You can stay with me all the time then.” His hooded eyes relaxed, the buzz returning as her presence continued to warm him up.

  “Oh, stop. No, it’s not just me working tonight, the whole administrative staff has to be there. For all four stores. It’ll be Barney, me, Andy, and Chloe. You know that. It’s just the four of us. We’re desperately understaffed.”

  Groaning, Rye looked away, his eyes finding Blaze dancing on the pathetically small wooden dance floor with his wife, Lianna, who’d just waltzed in and had comfortably inserted herself in his arms. He was probably whispering sweet nothings into her ear already. They stood so close to each other that he couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. They were so in love, the way he and Angela used to be.

  “All right. But when can you come back? I got leave coming up next month, but if you could get yourself transferred up here sooner rather than later, it would help that much more.”

  “We’ll see; there’s tons of inventory to move over to the new system. I swear I’ll put in for a transfer next month.” She leaned over and placed a peck of a kiss on the tip of his nose.

  “Well, tell them I haven’t seen you in weeks, and I’m going through some severe withdrawals, so they’ve got to let you out sometime soon or fear my wrath.” He smiled as she hugged him and giggled.

  “I’ll be sure to tell them that, my love.” She squeezed him harder before letting go and disappearing swiftly down the bar and out the door. His skin felt cold at the loss of her touch and his heart as empty as the shot glass on the bar, leaving watermarks on the old wood.

  If there was something he hated more than anything else, it was the times when she had to leave and he had to stay behind. It happened far too often. At least Lianna’s work sounded more critical than coffee shop management. Lianna was a civilian scientist working for the government and had been going around to secret research facilities in several countries, packing and shipping back special specimens they’d discovered. Now that she was back, the specimens had to be unpacked, defrosted, documented, and then tested.

  Rye would never admit it, but he hated Angela’s job. It kept her away from him far too long, and now it was eating into the little time they did get. How could she drive here from Tucson just to hop back into her car and go to work at the local stores? No downtime whatsoever. How hard would one day off have been for her?

  His abdomen twisted in silent fury as he threw back another drink to swipe the runaway thoughts from his head. Glancing back at Blaze, who was neck deep in kissing Lianna, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy screaming through him. Oddly enough, it didn’t last long, for she hightailed it out of there ten minutes later, heading back to the research lab at the base.

  He bet Lianna would never cheat on Blaze. He trusted her with his life. So why did it feel so strange and odd that she’d rushed out of there faster than a firework shooting into the sky? Her coworker Paul had his eyes on her. Blaze knew that, but he also trusted her beyond doubt. If Paul wanted her, he was going to have to be a spectacular catch. Blaze was a good guy. He was one of the few good guys left, and luckily Lianna saw that in him.

  Rye closed his eyes as Blaze returned and ordered another round of beers for them. He wished he could bid adieu to Angela just as easily as Blaze had to Lianna, but deep down, he knew something was off with his wife. If only he could figure out what it was.

  CHAPTER 5

  The various strange things going on before all hell broke loose weren’t enough for anyone to put it all together. The evening news reported some of the incidents but was chalking them up to drug overdoses, just like Blaze had speculated. None of it was enough for Rye or Blaze to realize that chaos was about to descend. It would take days before anyone knew what had really happened, and in the end, there was nothing that could have been done. Things had been set in motion weeks before anyone could even fathom what was to come.

  Blaze and Rye were back in their hangar the next day, working on machines that needed repair. Fighter jets and transport helicopters sat waiting their turn to get their innards tuned and greased by the group of mechanics the two belonged to. There was always work to do.

  “Hey, have you seen William?” Rye asked. “I haven’t seen him all day long, and he didn’t show up for morning PT.”

  Blaze shook his head. “Wasn’t he supposed to meet up with us at Dog ’Em’s last night?”

  Rye nodded. “Yeah, but he never came, and I have no idea where the guy is now. He won’t answer his cell phone.”

  Blaze shifted some tools out of one of the toolboxes and to another, sifting for a specific one. “He’ll show up. Probably got laid and had a rough night, and now he’s hung over like hell.”

  “If you see him, send him my way. He’s going to have to suffer the consequences for his little escapade, hung over or not.”

  “Don’t be so hard on him. Remember when we first started? Major screwups. Look how far we’ve come now.”

  Rye couldn’t disagree, but he didn’t like the idea that William was nowhere to be found. He was responsible for the young airman, and it irked him to no end that the guy had overlooked the importance of this position. He’d make sure he would regret being late.

  “You’re right. I’ll give him another call just to be sure. Maybe he just slept in.”

  Something in the pit of Rye’s stomach told him otherwise. Try as he might, brushing it off was harder than he thought it should be. He tried distracting himself with work and thoughts of Angela, who had met him at home last night, deciding at last minute to not drive back to Tucson after checking the local stores but to instead hang out with him for one night. Though she’d snuck out early in the morning without saying goodbye, he wished the night had lasted longer. At least the note she’d left told him she was still in town and would check up on local stores today instead of returning to Tucson.

  Something about today felt off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He wondered if things had calmed down outside the Air Force base. He sniffed the air, filled with a smear of smoke and barbeque-like scents, but it was unusually stronger than normal, and he peered around the tarmac, wondering if the eerie feeling would shake off as the day went by.

  “You know, half the crew is missing today. Did you notice?” Rye mentioned. Blaze peered up from the engine he was taking apart and glanced down the tarmac as he wiped his brow.

  “Yeah, I saw that too. Did everyone go out last night? Plus, every ten minutes I hear a siren going off. The cops must have some festival going on that they are having to police nearby. Why else would we be getting so much activity?”

  “Yeah, that sounds feasible. But what festival?”

  Blaze shrugged. “Beats me. If i
t’s not on base, I don’t usually know what’s going on.”

  “I’m going to go call Angela and make sure she made it to her store okay. You should call Lianna. Today feels really off, and I’m not liking how it sits in my gut.”

  “Go for it, man. I’ll call my gal too.” Blaze waved him away as Rye headed off toward the hangar’s office, where the landline was. As he wiped his hands off, he noted that none of the office workers were present. This wasn’t too unusual, but there was usually at least one person there. Ike hated missing work and could be counted on to be poised at his desk, fielding calls five days a week. The phone line was ringing off the hook, but no one was answering. It automatically sent the calls to voicemail, but the voicemail was full, so the calls went nowhere.

  Where was Ike? And Barbara? And Hugh? The three office workers were nowhere to be seen, nor were any of their personal items sitting at their desks. It was as if they had disappeared or had never existed.

  He picked up a piece of paper on the desk. It was a message from Ike’s wife to call him. He guessed one of the mechanics had heard the phone ringing and had stopped for a second to take down the message. It seemed Rye wasn’t the only one missing the office crew. He stood in the middle of the room while an odd sensation sent chills up his spine. He crushed the paper he’d been holding in his hand and threw it back down onto the desk.

  “Hey, Cuz?” Rye called out over his shoulder while continuing to scan the office for any signs someone had been there recently.

  “What’s up, man?” Blaze answered, his voice a little farther down the hangar than before.

  “Any idea where the office crew went? Some mandatory meeting we missed?”

  He waited until Blaze came strolling into the office, wiping his greasy fingers on a ruined rag from the stack they kept in the hangar.

  “No way, man. I never miss a memo. That’s weird. I never saw them come in today, now that I think about it.”