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

“Nah. I walked ‘round outside a bit… cleaned the body parts off the windshield. I’m good.”

“Sorry you had to do that. I think we’re safe here for a while. This would be a good time for you to get a few winks.”

“You really reckon we ever gonna be safe?”

“Probably not.”

“You ain’t never ‘is lost for words.”

I tried to laugh.  “I keep hoping I’ll wake up to something different, but every short nap I get, I wake up to the same bullshit. It’ll take the long-windedness right out of you.”

“I don’t wont ta sleep ‘cause I see Tom’s damn gray face starin at me. Why would people do ‘is, William?”

“Why do people do any of the stupid shit they do? Is this really any different than going into a village and chopping everyone up because they’re a different ethnicity? Or a million or more people dying over the right to keep humans as property? We’re humans, Sam. We do all kinds of stupid shit, and we justify it in innumerable ways. This is no different. If there is a difference, it’s that we’re not reading about it in a book. We’re living it.”

“You know how ta make me feel a whole lot better.”

“You wanted me to talk more.”

That got a chuckle from him. His mirth didn’t last long, though, as he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Not really. But I’ll make it, I guess.”

Avery’s rustling through his bag alerted us that he was awake. “Did you ask Kelley how the power was knocked offline?” he asked with a yawn.

“You should be sleeping,” I told him.

“I am good. Did you ask her about the power?”

“She didn’t know about an EMP or anything like that. Kelley’s job was the Grays, and she barely knew anything about them. And Bob knew less than she did. Both were adamant about not knowing the power being knocked out.”

Avery started to speak but stopped. He then started again. “The Order’s leadership structure reminds me of Nazi Germany during WWII. There was a hierarchy--”

“No history lesson, son.”

“Especially a Nazi history lesson,” I said.

“My point was going to be everyone below the Fuhrer could not or was at the very least hesitant to make independent command decisions. That is all I was going to say.”

Sam sighed and grumbled something under his breath. Probably curse words.

Weighing in, I said, “Well, Nazis aside, there is a definite compartmentalized chain of command, and the way I see it, it was designed for one reason and one reason only: secrecy.”

Avery replied with a grunt. He had turned his focus back to the phone. Apparently, that didn’t interest him.

“What do we do ‘bout the Patch?” Sam asked.

“I’m worried about our friends,” was all I could manage. In all actuality, I was very much fearing for their safety. The Order knew they were there, and they were looking for ways to use the Grays.

“We can’t leave ‘em ‘ere. We gotta try somethin.”

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“Food, kerosene, and water will be a thang real soon.”

“Barrow is too hot to do anything at this point. I think we have to let them know we haven’t forgotten about them and maybe give them a rifle or two to defend themselves until we can figure a way to transport everyone,” I said.

“We ain’t goin ta be able ta use the ice road, you know ‘at, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “They’ll be all over it looking for us.” I finally had to yell to get Avery’s attention. “How unsafe would it be for us to drive on the unmaintained ice?”

“Huh?”

I repeated what I’d already asked him three times. Without any thought at all, he said, “Yes.”

“Really?”  I asked.

Avery groaned. “The prior weeks’ temperatures, I believe, were well below average. Even with the above average temperature for the last few days, it almost certainly is safe to cross the ice. It, however, will be a very rough ride.”

“There you have it, Sam. Should be safe…”

In the dim light I could see the disgust on Sam’s face. “Should is ‘bout all we can ‘spect at ‘is point.”

“We go, then,” I said.

Off in the distance, I swore I saw headlights. I pointed in the direction, but Sam said he didn’t see them. Avery, from the back seat, said I was, “Seeing things due to hyperarousal.”

“Damn, son, you have dick problems.”

I looked at Sam.

“It is PSTD related.”

“Well, Doctor Avery, I think I’ll be okay,” I said.

Avery huffed. “I would not place too much confidence in that.”

***

Finding a five-acre island on a sea of ice, in the dark, and without an ice road to lead us there, was going to be next to impossible. I did have one trick up my sleeve, though. I had the GPS unit Miley gave me, and, unlike the large, expensive unit in the Ripsaw, it still worked. The problem was since the Patch was man-made, it didn’t show up as a landmass on the GPS unit. Luckily for us, we had Avery.

He had, well, because he was Avery, decided it a good idea to memorize the coordinates of the Patch. When I asked him if he had any ideas on how to find the Patch, he gave me an odd look and replied, “Do you want longitude/latitude or DMS?” I didn’t know what DMS meant, so I asked for the longitude/latitude.

I found out later that DMS was the initials for degrees/minutes/seconds.

Avery was spot on. The clearing sky and the towering derrick lay just up ahead. Sam Expertly guided the Ripsaw up the side-entrance ramp and expertly wheeled us over to the open portion of the Patch. We waited for someone, friend, or foe, to be curious enough to greet us. No one came.

“What we do?” Sam asked.

“I guess we fucking check,” I said.

Sam searched my face as if it were a puzzle he was trying to solve. My outburst of anger had perplexed him. “Okay,” he replied, calmly, like he knew I was about to lose my shit and didn’t want to be the catalyst.

I saw the first body,