When the Sky Goes Dark

by Oliver C Seneca

  “Do you know where you’re parked?” Emily asked as they ran.

  Jon didn’t know. The last time he was in his car was when he drove back from visiting his parents during Easter and he parked in a different spot each time. There were no set parking spots for the students. Think.

  “Uhh. . . ” Jon tried to remember back to April. “I. . . .” The two maniacs were almost behind them now. One of them began to speak but neither Jon nor Emily saw which one it was.

  “Hey! Stop!” one of the two men said. “Don’t run from us! Come back here!”

  “It doesn’t matter, let’s just get to mine. I’m back in row G,” Emily said to Jon as she pulled out a set of keys from her front-left pocket. They took a right at the bottom of the concrete path, running a little bit faster now to add a couple more inches between them and the two lunatics. The adrenaline coursed through Jon’s body, injecting a natural painkiller to his once aching leg. Emily was frantic.

  The sign hanging from the middle of the dead light pole read ROW G in the dark. Emily clicked her car key remote and the bright, white headlights of her Nissan Ultima lit up in the middle of the row, facing out and illuminating cars as if it were a beacon of hope. The only bit of light in the darkness. Cerclink. Emily unlocked it with another click. “C’mon Jon, get in!” she said as she looked back at the two men who were now catching back up with them, still commanding them to stop.

  Emily flung the driver door open and fell into the seat. Jon jumped in the passenger side with his backpack resting on his lap. Cerclink. The doors locked and Emily pressed the key into the ignition, firing up the engine. “We’re getting the fuck out of he–” The two men ran up on Emily’s side of the car and BANGED on the window. “Fuck!” Emily shouted.

  “Open it up, you BITCH!” one of them said and then tried the door handle. The other one went over to Jon’s side and did the same. “You better open it you dumb CUNT, we’re gonna beat the shit out of you and your boyfriend!”

  “Emily, go! Drive!” Jon cried out.

  Emily brought the shift gear up to DRIVE. SKRRRR. Her foot SLAMMED down onto the pedal and the car peeled out of its parking space, almost ripping the arm off the one who had his grip on the passenger door. The wet asphalt almost spun the car. She took a left, toward the roadway they came from. That would lead them straight out onto College Hill Avenue and away from White Haven College. She turned on the windshield wipers. They made a squeaking sound as they pushed away the falling droplets. The two men chased after the car as fast as they could. Emily looked up into the rearview mirror and stopped the car. Rain droplets covered the back windshield, making the maniacs look like two, dotted figures.

  “What are you doing? They’re coming for us!” Jon shouted.

  “One second,” Emily said in a flat tone. Her eyes fixed on the rearview mirror.

  As the two men ran closer, Emily shifted the gear from DRIVE to REVERSE and SLAMMED her foot on the pedal again. Jon’s head swung forward in the motion as the car sped backwards toward the two men, PLOWING into them. BUMP. BUMP. The car drove back over the bodies like they were speed bumps.

  “Jesus Christ!” Jon shouted again, voice cracking. “What are you doing?”

  The two men lay motionless on the asphalt path. One of their heads looked crushed inwards. Blood was pooling around it.

  “Em-” Jon couldn’t finish his sentence as Emily placed the gear back into DRIVE and the tires SKRRRRED again. Jon’s head swung back this time, into the seat’s headrest. The Nissan barreled up the roadway and over the bodies once more, this time faster. BUMP. The bodies went under the two sets of tires again.

  “I HATE the word cunt!” Emily shouted. “My dad would scream it at me and my mom all the time and I swore the next time I heard that word, I’d kill whoever said it. Even if it was my own goddamn father!”

  Jon sat sunken into the passenger seat, breathing heavily. The car stunk with the smell of old cigarettes. He wanted to say something, but the words couldn’t manifest. His stomach was in his throat and his heartbeat in his ears.

  Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

  Tradition

  The cold morning air of November felt like a winter tundra to Little Jon as he could see his breath come out from his mouth. He looked like a steam engine.

  He crouched beside a cracked and leafless tree with Big Jon, who was securing a post for his bolt action Remington. .308 caliber. It would be the first time Little Jon could shoot a deer and his father wasted no time getting him geared up as both of them were wearing matching outfits of bright-orange hats and vests atop full camouflaged suits with gloves.

  Little Jon remembered seeing photographs of his father posing with his first buck. His dad was twelve years old, around the same age as Little Jon. It was an old Polaroid picture from the 70s of Big Jon sitting on the wooded ground, clutching the antlers of a freshly shot creature. The lifeless face of the deer with its tongue hanging out of its dead mouth in contrast with the beaming smile of his young father always struck Little Jon. He figured it was just part of the Barnes’ family tradition to kill wild animals and get a photo taken with them.

  All those years ago, Grandpa Jon woke up his son early during a freezing-cold morning to find an unsuspecting deer to hunt. A tradition that must’ve been passed down from generation to generation. What a life. Now, it was Little Jon’s turn.

  Chapter TWENTY-SIX

  School’s Out

  It was quiet after Emily’s stunt, except for the steady, heavy rain. There were no other maniacs coming for them that they could see. And the two on the ground behind them were not getting up after being crushed twice. The car stopped in the middle of the parking lot. It was still in DRIVE, but Emily had her foot on the brake.

  Jon began to unzip the front compartment of his backpack to retrieve his car keys. Emily clicked on the plastic overhead lights to help him. The lights also illuminated how much of a mess there was of Emily’s Nissan. Papers and bottles were scattered on stained floor mats. An empty pack of cigarettes filled one of the cup holders.

  “Emily,” Jon started, “you said you live way up north right? East Gap was it?”

  “Yep. It’s quite a hike, but–”

  “Maybe I should get my car.”

  “Are you crazy? We gotta get the fuck out of here! It would be best if we just stuck together, alright?”

  Emily took her foot off the brake pedal and pressed on the gas.

  Jon was silent. His clothes were drenched, and his heart thudded in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to stay with Emily, stay with her in her little, dirty car that smelled like smoke. It was better that way. Safer. Two minds are better than one. She was right about that. But the reality in Jon’s mind was that they had families in two places. Whether they were dead or alive, the equation remained the same. He had to go his own way.

  “It’s out of the way, Emily. I-”

  “Look,” Emily said, interrupting, “we don’t know what the hell is out there, okay? Did you not see those lunatics kill Dan? How fucked up Kevin and Mark were? The two freaks that nearly got us?” Emily grabbed at the empty pack of cigarettes and shook it around, looking for a smoke. Empty. She threw it against the dashboard. “Holy shit. We just have to go. We just have to drive and hope some other people like us are out there and will let us get back home.” She clicked off the overhead light. “You don’t even remember where you parked!”

  Jon remained silent as his eyes looked straight ahead, into the rest of the darkened lot. The headlights illuminated only a couple feet ahead.

  “I could hit the panic button. We’d find it in a second,” he said.

  “Oh yeah? And then what? Get the rest of those guys to come down and finish us?”

  “I’ll go quick!” Jon said, pulling his keys out. His thumb pressed the red speaker icon on his key remote.

  “Forget it! Forget it! Stop!” Emily shouted, trying to watch both the parking lot and Jon. But it was too late.

  The car alarm BLARED out
into the night. It sounded like it was coming from behind them, but Emily didn’t give Jon a second to turn around and look. Her foot hit the pedal harder to the floor, sending Jon’s head back into the headrest again.

  Emily sped by the trees and peeled out of the White Haven College entrance, towards the turnpike. Almost skidding out of control, she made the left turn without even looking to see if any cars were coming. The road was clear just as Dan had said before, but Jon didn’t feel safe as the night brought sinister possibilities. It won’t be an easy drive for long, Jon thought. What the hell are we gonna do?

  The Nissan flew up the roadway, passing by crashed cars. Some were slammed into each other while others were smashed into the trees and utility poles.

  The wipers were going full speed. Emily was whispering curse words under her breath as she drove around the vehicles in the middle of the road. Her headlights illuminated each scene.

  As they approached the bend that would put them on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a blue and yellow metal sign with flashing lights above it caught their eyes. It read:

  URGENT MESSAGE WHEN FLASHING

  TRAVELER INFO: TUNE RADIO TO 1640 AM

  Without saying a word, Emily turned on the dashboard radio. Little green text popped up, showing a popular radio station. No music played. She felt around the buttons, pressed AM, and turned up the volume dial. A robotic woman’s voice played a recorded message with a slight static sound behind it.

  Drivers, please be advised. The turnpike is experiencing stopped traffic and heavy delays going east and westbound. We are advising all drivers to exit the turnpike and to take alternative routes. This is the Pennsylvania Turnpike broadcasting system. Drivers, ple- Emily cut it off as the voice began to repeat itself.

  Emily turned the radio back to the FM channels. Silence. She pressed through the numbered radio presets until classical music played from one of the lower channels. It was the only station with a sound other than faint static.

  “Well,” Emily said with a sigh, “shall we take a look?”

  “Nothing else we can do but try,” he answered. “I’m sorry about what happened in the parking lot. I got scared, I guess. With everything going on, I wasn’t sure what to do.”

  “It’s alright,” Emily said, giving glances over to Jon. “I understand. I’m scared too. I’d probably have done the same thing if I were you.”

  Jon nodded and blew air from his nose. Squeak went the wipers.

  “We’re gonna get back to our homes ok? We’ll head to Springsdale first. Do you know which exit we need to take? I haven’t been that way before and we can’t afford to fuck this up.”

  “Yeah, we need to go west. It’s the Simpsonville exit. From there it’s only about ten minutes to my neighborhood off the highway.”

  “Ok.” Emily nodded and swiped the hair away from her eyes, focusing on the upcoming on-ramp to the pike. “Ok, we can do that.”

  Jon turned on the screen to his cell phone. The time read 10:41 P.M. His confidence was low, but he figured he’d try calling his family again. First, the house. Then, his parents’ cell phones. Then, grandparents. Nothing. He left new voice mails for all of them.

  “What’s your phone’s charge at?” Emily asked with her eyes fixated to the road.

  “It’s at eighty-eight percent.”

  “Good,” Emily said while clicking on the overhead light again. She drove with one hand as she reached behind her and made quick glances at the back seat. She reached. A white car adapter appeared, and she plugged it into the cigarette outlet. She lifted her butt up from the seat and pulled out her cell phone from the back-left pocket of her tight, ripped jeans. It had a white and pink plastic casing around it with flower pedals. Cute.

  “I haven’t charged mine in a while. Better get some juice in it while I still can.”

  Emily made a couple of calls to her family members.

  No one answered.

  Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN

  Road Trip

  Emily and Jon should have listened to the robotic woman’s message on the radio to take an alternative route.

  Coming around the bend to get onto the turnpike, Emily slowed the Nissan as they saw the toll booths to the turnpike were all filled with cars pushed into each other on both opposing lanes. Their headlight beams struck the booths. A couple of bodies lay outside opened car doors with their heads on the soaked road.

  One lane on their side was closed for construction as red lights flashed above the CASH ONLY sign. Cars had crashed into it with their hoods smoking. The EZ PASS lane was the worst of them all with cars lined up and scattered around one another, making it impossible to get through.

  From what they could see beyond the booths and rain, cars had pulled over to the side of the road. Two were smashed and the third was just stopped with its four-way flashers on. Beyond that, there was a car traveling alone. There wasn’t as much clutter on the other side of the booths. It seemed possible for them to travel on the turnpike if they were careful to get by the blockage.

  “Look there,” Jon said, pointing in the darkness. “There’s somebody down there.”

  Emily squinted her eyes and moved the Nissan a little closer. The headlights lit the scene up.

  It was a big-bellied man with a neon vest and flashlight. He was walking along the cars and looking inside them. The vested man was tapping on a window and saying something, but neither Jon nor Emily could make it out.

  “He must be one of the toll workers. Do you think he’s alright? I mean, normal?” Jon asked.

  Emily didn’t answer but kept inching the Nissan closer and closer until they could see the man tapping on the window of a maroon SUV, trying to get the attention of a woman whose head was lying down on the dashboard. Emily moved a little closer until the neon vest man noticed the headlights. He turned his head toward them, lifted an eyebrow, and started heading toward the Nissan. There was blood on his vest and hands. Rain bounced off his head.

  “What are you doing, Emily?” Jon asked with clear fear.

  “Hang on,” she replied. “He might be ok.”

  Jon froze. He tried to think about what he would do if things started to get worse. Would I run out of the car? Where would I go?

  The man approached Emily’s side of the Nissan before Jon could think up a good escape plan. The man motioned for her to put down her window. He didn’t pound or shout. Emily pressed the button and the window slid down, bringing in the warm breeze of burnt rubber, smoke, rain, and a hint of blood.

  “Are you two alright?” the man asked, leaning down with a shaky, frightful voice. He shined his flashlight into the car, making Emily and Jon squint. They nodded at the same time and Emily put a hand over her face to block the rays. Rain danced into the driver's side door.

  “What the hell is going on?” Emily asked, sounding like she wanted to cry. Inside, she felt relieved to find someone else who seemed to not have lost it.

  “I don’t know, Miss.” The man sniffed as if he wanted to cry himself. He lowered his flashlight. “We can’t get any police or ambulances down here. I’ve been calling 911 for the past hour. I can’t get a hold of any of my guys and we have families and children hurt and…” He stopped and looked up like he heard a noise. He pointed his flashlight at the cars behind him. Emily and Jon looked around but didn’t see or hear anything except for the quiet classical music that remained playing on the radio. Thunder maybe? “You folks might want to turn around. Where are you trying to go?”

  “We’re going west to the Simpsonville exit to get to Springsdale. She needs to get to East Gap. Up north. We need to get back to our families. They aren’t picking up their phones and this is the fastest way,” Jon said.

  The man lifted a brow and wiped his nose. “Hold on a second, guys. Stay right here.”

  He turned and began running back toward the toll booths. Emily and Jon sat, watching him go with his vest waving with every stride. They turned to each other and then back toward him. No words were spoken. They
both breathed heavily. All the two of them could see was the man’s flashlight inside one of the booths. He was rummaging around papers.

  “Did you hear that?” Emily asked, turning to Jon with questioning eyes.

  “What? What is it?”

  “Sounded like a horn or something. Maybe a person in one of those cars up there.”

  Jon shrugged. With a head full of racing thoughts, he had no room for any new stimuli. It was already too much. Plus, his shirt stuck to his back with rain and sweat. Not an inch of him was at ease.

  Suddenly, the row of the booths was lighting up more than all the headlights shining together. Something was approaching.

  The man left the booth and was walking back around the piles of cars. He was holding a giant piece of paper of some sort. As he got closer, Emily and Jon realized it was a map.

  “Hey, I think I heard it too, just now,” Jon said over to Emily. “It does sound like a horn.” But Jon couldn’t see any movement coming from the cars ahead.

  As soon as Jon spoke, the man stopped in his tracks as his fearful face looked down the road at the now fully formed bright light that was filling up the entire scene, overpowering all the other light sources. It looked as if he just walked out on stage for a play he had forgotten his lines for. Emily and Jon turned their heads around to see a white tractor-trailer with the words PREMIUM ELITE on the side, barreling toward the man.

  HONK. HONK.

  The man tried to move from the tractor-trailer’s speeding path. Too late. BOOM. It smashed into him and the surrounding cars. His body was obliterated in a second. An explosion erupted as the gigantic metal machine slammed into the gas tanks of the piled vehicles, causing each of them to ignite one by one, sending metal and debris into the air at every angle like a firework show.