The Long Dark by B.J. Farmer (reading women .TXT) 📕

Duane motioned towards the guns. “You care to finally tell me what the world is going on?”

I told him he might want to sit down and get comfortable. He did so with a sigh, and I wasted no time explaining what had happened during the last couple of days. He sipped his tea as he listened intently; any reserve he might’ve had about anything I said wasn’t at all apparent, given the smile slowly forming on his lips.

“Is this a joke, guys? I know it’s my tenth anniversary working here, but that seems little too short a time for everyone to be putting this much effort into a goof. Shit, now, y’all.” He scooted back from the edge of his seat, apparently waiting for us to yell surprise. After seeing the looks on our faces, his smile began to fade.

“I wish ta hell it was a joke, son,” Sam said. “It ain’t, ‘ough.”

Avery walked over to Duane and showed him the phone I told him about. The phone being a tangible connection to an otherwise unbelievable tale quickly eroded whatever notion that remained that what we were saying was part of an elaborate joke.

Duane sat there, shaking his head for a good while, trying to take in what all I had told him. “I guess I knew something was wrong when our replacements didn’t show up.”

“Our?” I asked.

“I’m camp manager here. We finished our three-month rotation and were waiting for our replacements, but no one showed up to replace us. Finally, I told my people to go ahead and go home to their families. I’d stay until our replacements finally showed up. Sounds like I shouldn’t have let them go.”

Duane was a big man, older, and had impressive cornrows. He reminded me of a soft-spoken version of Ving Rhames. “No way for you to have known what was going on,” I told him.

“Have you talked ta anybody outside here?” Sam asked.

“No. The internet went down almost three days ago. Nothing since. That’s the main reason people left in the first place. They don’t like it much when they can’t call back home, you know.”

Avery glanced at me. I shook my head. I assumed he wanted me to ask specific questions about the internet, but I shook my head. I didn’t want to throw too much on at one time.

Sam looked at me before saying, “’bout the same time the power went out back at the Patch.”

I nodded in agreement.

Duane had a seat and drank the last bit of his tea. Quill asked Avery if he wanted to play a video game. I hadn’t noticed the television and gaming systems until then. Avery mad-dashed a few more quick inputs into the phone before finally asking Duane if that would be okay. Duane nodded that he didn’t mind.

I waited for Avery and Quill to get settled in before saying, “I’ve noticed you looking at Quill.”

“Yeah… Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just, well… is she okay?”

Sam looked at me, sighed, and shook his head. I assumed he was trying to let me know he thought we should keep what we knew about her under wraps.

Duane eyed us both nervously. “I take it that’s a sore subject?”

I savored the last couple of drinks of my tea as I tried to decide how I’d go about telling him about her. “Just with about everything else, there’s uncertainty in what I’m about to say. I’m pretty sure she was given the agent, but for whatever reason, she didn’t turn completely into a Gray. She’s something different…”

Duane’s eyes got huge. “What you’re trying to say without actually saying it is she’s one of the monsters?”

“No… Well, I don’t know for sure,” I said.

“Assuming I believe your story, why should I let her stay here, then? She could be dangerous.”

He was right, and I knew it. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t know. The agent affected people differently. That was obvious in both Prudhoe Bay and in Barrow. The spectrum ran a full course, from spinning idiots all the way up to Quill. Part of me even worried that she was what the prototypical Gray was supposed to be. It was terrible to think that, but I couldn’t shake it.

“I’m not going to piss on you and tell you it’s raining. She could be, but I’m hoping you’re like us where this is--”

“What, stupid like you?” Duane interrupted.

“I’m just going to lay it all out for you – make it simple. If I knew she was a threat, she wouldn’t be here right now. I’d take care of it myself.” I’ll admit that what I said wasn’t exactly true. I thought she was a threat, but I wasn’t going to override Avery and Sam on the matter.

Sam gave me a sharp glance.

“Whatever, man.,” Duane said, his arms held up in a submissive pose, “You have the guns. I don’t think it matters exactly what I think of the girl or you guys, for that matter. You got the power.”

“We’re not trying to take over this place. We just need a little while to rest. That’s it. If you want us to leave after that, we’ll get the hell out of here.”

Duane drew his hands up into steeples and nervously blew air out between pinched lips as he rocked back in forth. “Just like that, you’ll leave?”

I ventured a look at Sam. He nodded his approval. “Just like that.”

Laughter broke the uncomfortable silence. Duane turned his attention away from picking at his fingernails just in time to see Quill fall back into the sofa. She apparently died but had a hell of a lot of fun leading up until that moment. Even Avery had a smile plastered on his face. She handed him the controller, and he took off where she left off, smiling all the while.

For those brief moments, nothing shitty managed to find its way into the community center. Quill was