The Dark

by Jason Brant

  “Hello in there!”

  Some movement appeared in the back window. The volume of the music lowered, thankfully.

  “Someone outside?”

  “Yeah! My name’s Walter, can you come out here for a second?” His words slurred a bit as he spoke, forcing him to focus on enunciation.

  “It’s pretty late, man! I’m sleeping!”

  A head appeared in the window, hands cupping the sides of his face so that he could see outside. “It’s dark out there, man!”

  “It’s an emergency.” Walter turned his flashlight on himself, showing off all of his features. “I’m just a drunk old man – I can’t hurt you. There’s some kind of emergency out here.”

  “Emergency?”

  The door opened and a small, middle-aged man with a slight belly and shoulder-length hair stepped out. His eyes were barely more than slits, as if he stared into a bright sky, despite the fact that they stood in the dead of night.

  “Where are all the lights, man?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.” Walter could already tell that talking to this guy would be a waste of time.

  “I was asleep, man. What’s the emergency?”

  Walter nodded toward the glow in the distance. “About twenty minutes ago there was a big explosion on the post and then all of the power went out.”

  “So what do you want me to do? I smoked up awhile ago and I’m a little fuzzy, sorry.”

  Because he’d enjoyed quite a bit of herb in his day, Walter didn’t like to judge anyone for using. He’d also been drinking like a fish lately. This guy, however, seemed to have smoked himself stupid.

  “You’re the only person around.” He cast his hand in a sideways arc, showing the emptiness of the dock. “There’s no one else here.”

  The man looked at the boat beside him. “Really?”

  Walter didn’t say anything.

  “You think we should call the cops or something?”

  “I already tried that. There isn’t a signal. I’m heading to my daughter’s place to see if she’s alright. Is there anyone that you need me to check up on for you?”

  “Nah, man. I don’t have any family really.”

  Walter said a quick thank you and turned to walk away.

  “Hold up! Now that I’m awake, I’m kinda hungry. I’ll come with you for a ways.”

  “I’m in a bit of a hurry here,” Walter said.

  “Two seconds, man! Let me turn the lights off.”

  The man walked back into the cabin. A few seconds later the lights inside went off.

  Then the man screamed.

  Walter swung his flashlight around, pointing it at the door. The beam cast through the opening and into the cabin, showing him a small table with bench seating.

  “Are you OK in there?”

  The man didn’t reply.

  Walter took a few tentative steps toward the The Dude. The boat swayed slightly in the water, but otherwise was still. No movement inside.

  Changing the angle of his flashlight, Walter bent down, trying to see where the man had gone. After not spotting anything, he took a careful step across the gap between the stern and the dock, boarding The Dude.

  “I’m coming inside – don’t hit me or anything.”

  The stillness inside frightened him.

  What was this guy doing? Why had he screamed?

  He stopped at the open door, peering inside. The cramped cabin didn’t allow for many hiding places. Walter stepped across the threshold, keeping his knees bent and walking on the balls of his feet in case he had to react quickly. His drunken buzz raged on his head and he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to do anything if attacked.

  Rolling paper covered the small table. A rather full sandwich bag with marijuana in it sat on the paper. The guy must have spent half his day rolling doobies.

  Walter felt along the wall to his left, finding the light switch, flipping it up. Two lamps turned on, shining brightly in the darkness, temporarily blinding Walter. He held up his hand, covering his face, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

  The cabin was empty.

  “What?”

  Confusion settled over him.

  Two windows sat in the walls to either side of Walter, both bolted shut. There were no other doors. A blanket hung from a wire that covered the bathroom, but it was pulled open. The shower, clearly visible from where Walter stood, was also empty. Nothing hid under the table.

  The man had literally disappeared in the dark.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead.

  Chills ran up his arms.

  Walter turned and ran.

  He stumbled when he reached the back of the boat, nearly falling into the water, and landed on the wooden dock.

  His shoulder jolted in its socket, a flash of pain shooting across the left side of his torso.

  The flashlight flew from his grip, sliding across the wood planks.

  The beam shined on him as it skidded away, approaching the far edge.

  He scrambled to all fours, crawling after it as fast as his aging, wobbling limbs allowed. Splinters punched his palms, though he hardly noticed. He dove the last three feet, his right arm stretched out, fingers splayed open as he lunged.

  The flashlight reached the edge and stopped, teetering at the brink of falling off.

  Walter’s fingers pinched shut on the lip of the plastic housing around the lens. The weight of the light threatened to pull it from his tenuous grasp. He laid perfectly still, breath coming fast and hard. His palms were slick from sweat, his fingers slipping as he tried to slide the flashlight toward him.

  He inched it back, pulling it from the ledge.

  A sigh escaped him as he let it go and rolled to his back.

  He’d just went after a flashlight like a maniac, damn near injuring himself so he wouldn’t lose a thirty-dollar hunk of plastic.

  But at that moment, nothing seemed more important than keeping that light on him.

  The Dude had become a black hole the moment the man had turned its lights off. Why? How? What the hell was going on? The only thing Walter knew for certain right then was that he didn’t want to be in the dark.

  He stared up at the emptiness above him, inspecting that which couldn’t be seen. He knew that black was the absence of light and what he found himself in the middle of fit that description perfectly. All he could see was whatever he pointed his flashlight at and the spot on the post where the explosion had occurred.

  Whatever had blown up still burned.

  It looked like a pinhole in a black canvas.

  Walter grabbed the plastic handle of his torch and sat up, shining it around. Had all of the other people in these boats disappeared when the darkness descended? Had whatever happened in the cabin of The Dude taken everyone else? Had it happened beyond the docks?

  It occurred to him then that Melissa may have suffered a similar fate. His resolve set in again, forcing him to his feet, getting them moving. He didn’t understand what could be happening, but he knew that anyone without a light source was either gone, or in deep shit.

  He lifted his bag, which had fallen from his shoulder as he continued up the dock. The LED lantern jingled inside as he looped the strap over his head. He reached in and pulled the lantern out, switching it on.

  It had a thin metal handle that he held on to, letting the light hang by his thigh. The lantern put off a softer glow, but it reached in all directions, letting him see everything within fifteen feet. He switched off the flashlight, but kept it in his other hand in case he needed to see something farther away.

  His daughter lived a few miles away, toward the center of the city. The darkness would make the trip more difficult, but he felt confident he could make his way there. Fortunately, he hated using navigation systems, much preferring to go by his memory, so he knew the streets of the city like the back of his hand.

  He reached the end of the dock and stepped on to the pavement, turning left. The dock was privately owned and, unfortunately,
closer to the post than it was to his daughter’s house. If his concern for Melissa hadn’t consumed him, he would have headed straight for the burning area to see what had happened.

  The darkness had begun there. At first it looked like a simple power outage, but Walter knew better now. Seeing his daughter on the bow of his boat had felt like a hallucination at first. After seeing the man disappear on The Dude, he had no doubt that something very wrong and very unusual had happened.

  Whatever it was, he thought it had started on the military post. At least that’s what it looked like from the bay.

  Walter tried his best not to dwell on it, fearing that he would freak out. Sitting on the ground and gibbering to himself wouldn’t help his daughter.

  Cars were sporadically placed by the roads and parking lots. Some sat at intersections, their drivers waiting for the traffic signal to change.

  Except their drivers had vanished.

  Other vehicles had veered off the road, crashing into buildings, guard rails, and other cars. Some had flipped. Others had coasted to a stop on the berm of the street. It looked like a post-apocalyptic scene from a movie.

  Some of the cars were still running, their engines idling quietly.

  Headlights dotted the area, giving Walter a sense of perspective for the space he crossed. Moving in complete darkness made it impossible to gauge speed or space. Unfortunately, the event had happened in the middle of the night and traffic was sparse.

  The apocalyptic setting told Walter what he didn’t want to hear. Whatever took the man on The Dude had nabbed everyone else. His hands shook as he peered around, his mind threatening to snap. What could he do in the face of the end?

  Walter took a few deep breaths, centering himself. Though the likelihood of others surviving appeared slim, he still had to get to Melissa’s house to make sure.

  He focused his mind on little details, doing his best not to see the big picture. The drivers of the cars had disappeared, even though they were sitting in their running vehicles. How? He guessed that the lights on the dashboard weren’t bright enough to keep them safe. If they had headlights behind them, they would probably be safe, but it was so late at night that traffic was thin.

  Putting his mind on specifics helped him slow his racing heart. He got his feet moving again.

  After fifteen minutes of walking, and sweating profusely, Walter could see a sign for one of the three gates leading onto the post. He moved past it, not breaking stride, looking to his left at the fire that raged there. Though the height of its flames had diminished, the base of it looked to have widened. More buildings had been set afire.

  Ahead of him stood Route 40, a major road that ran down to Baltimore. He crossed it without a second thought, following a residential road that would lead to the center of Aberdeen if he stayed on it long enough.

  He walked down the double yellow line, focusing on it, doing his best not to stumble and stagger. From where he walked he couldn’t see the homes that passed on either side. His lantern didn’t have the power to reach them. Even if it did, he wasn’t sure that the inky black surrounding him could be penetrated beyond a certain distance without an enormous light source. Like one similar to the blaze on the post.

  The thought was weird but it felt true to Walter.

  Several times he stopped midstride, thinking he could see things on the edge of his light, hopping back just before he could get a good look. He chalked that up as something else he didn’t want to think about.

  He paused on occasion, calling out, hoping someone would answer.

  After a while, someone did.

  “Daddy.”

  Walter stumbled, his heart thundering.

  The lantern and flashlight were heavy in his hands.

  His daughter, Melissa, stood on the other side of a silver Prius to his right. She was at the very limit of the light provided from his lantern, barely visible. She wore the same expression on her face that she had on the boat.

  He took a step forward, confused, yet ecstatic to see her.

  “Melissa! Thank God you’re all right.”

  “Turn out the light, Daddy.”

  Walter stopped moving, taking in his daughter’s appearance.

  Melissa didn’t have a light of her own.

  She’d been standing in the darkness when he walked up.

  Though he didn’t know many of the rules of the hell he found himself in, he didn’t think she could do that.

  And she kept asking him to turn out his own light.

  He didn’t like the way she looked at him. It wasn’t in anger, but something else. Hunger? Walter couldn’t tell.

  “How did you get here?” he asked.

  “I’ll explain everything once we’re together.”

  “Why do you keep asking me to turn out the light?”

  “It’s so bright. Turn it out and come here. I’ve missed you so much since you bought the boat.”

  Something was wrong with his daughter. He had to help her, but the last thing he thought he should do was turn out his lantern. Walter couldn’t take care of her if he disappeared like the man on the boat.

  And he feared the things he couldn’t see in the darkness - the things that danced outside his line of sight.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  Instead, he tilted his flashlight at her and pressed the power button, the beam of light falling across her face and chest.

  Her skin crawled under the harsh rays.

  Her appearance shifted, changing before Walter, distorting.

  The lower part of her jaw dropped, her mouth growing too large, showing too many teeth; too many sharp teeth.

  An inhuman shriek escaped her distended maw, threatening to pop his eardrums.

  Smoke seeped from burning flesh.

  She dropped behind the Prius, fleeing the light.

  Walter started forward, adrenaline surging, his drunkenness shoved aside. He rounded the front of the car, shining his light on the other side.

  Whatever looked like Melissa had vanished.

  Chapter 6

  Aaron stepped into the house first, holding his gigantic flashlight in front of him.

  Stephanie came in behind him, grasping his arm.

  He tried not to think about the fact that Stephanie White wasn’t only touching him, speaking to him, but actually hanging onto him for protection. Even if he ignored the insanity going on outside, his world had still completely flipped. His dream girl in school now relied on him.

  Aaron tried to push those thoughts away, focusing on the problems at hand. Besides, no one would believe this anyway.

  He shined the flashlight across the front room of the house, seeing fancy, floral print furniture, but no parents.

  “Mom! Dad!”

  Stephanie’s anxiety grew with every tentative step they took. Her hand shook against his arm.

  The living room on their left was empty, same as the hallway. They crept forward, the hall opening to the large kitchen. Stainless steel appliances, a large island, and dozens of cabinets adorned the room. Stephanie’s mother wasn’t there.

  A backdoor sat in the middle of the far wall, locked from the inside.

  “Aaron.”

  The sound of someone calling his name startled him, making him drop the flashlight. Stephanie let out a surprised cry, the sound echoing off the hard surfaces of the kitchen.

  Aaron spun his head around, seeing his father standing at the second entrance of the room.

  “Dad?” What are you doing here?”

  “I came for you, son. Turn off the light.”

  “That’s your dad?” Stephanie asked, whispering in Aaron’s ear. “Why did he break into my house?”

  That was a great question that he didn’t have the answer to.

  “How did you know where I was?” Aaron’s profound confusion kept him from thinking clearly. He was out on a delivery – only his co-workers and the White’s should have known where he was.

  “Turn o
ut the light; I need you to come with me.”

  “But—”

  “I’m your father. Do as I say. Turn off the light.”

  Aaron’s dad stayed in the doorway, barely visible from the reflected beam of the flashlight, staring at the teenagers. Though he’d been suffering from severe knee pain for the past decade, and could hardly walk to the bathroom, he stood fully erect now, without a hint of discomfort.

  Basketball shorts and a plain white t-shirt covered him. He wore the same outfit every night when he went to bed.

  He also had the most passive-aggressive personality that Aaron had ever known. His father had only raised his voice in Aaron’s presence twice, and only when Aaron had mouthed off to his mother. Hearing him admonish his son now was almost as unexpected as his presence in Stephanie’s house.

  Startled from the chiding, Aaron picked up the light, intent on turning it off.

  Stephanie put her hand over his, shaking her head, imploring him. “Don’t.”

  Looking into her blue eyes and feeling her hands shake pulled him back, bringing his questions to the forefront of his mind.

  They looked back at his father, but he was gone.

  “Dad? Where’d you go?”

  Stephanie shivered. “What’s going on, Aaron? Where are my parents? Why is your dad here? Did he do something to my mom?”

  Aaron felt anger rise in him at the suggestion, but he swallowed it back down. “My father is half-crippled and incredibly calm. He couldn’t bring himself to kill a bee that was stinging him.”

  “He didn’t look crippled.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  Aaron had no idea what to say or do next. The appearance of his father, above all else, had him spooked.

  “Stephanie.”

  “Stephanie.”

  The two voices, the first male, the second female, came from behind them.

  They spun in unison, Aaron fighting the urge to squeal like a little girl.

  Two people stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorway behind them with the same odd look that Aaron’s father had.

  “Mom! Dad!” Stephanie started toward them, pure relief spreading across her face.

  Aaron grabbed her arm again, holding her back. His reaction had been instant and he didn’t even understand why he’d done it.