Deep Shadows Read online

  Instead of arguing, he bumped his shoulder against hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you and Carter.”

  “We’re fine.” She pushed her hair back out of her face. “I appreciate it. I do. But we’re fine.”

  Max allowed her words to fade into the darkness, and then he said, “Let’s check out the other directions.”

  They followed the platform to the north, east, and south. In each case it was the same, near total darkness broken by the occasional light from a home with a generator.

  “We can tell Perkins exactly how widespread this is at tomorrow’s meeting,” he said.

  “A meeting we weren’t invited to.”

  “Most everything is out as far as we can see, which from this vantage is a complete 360. Bryant’s men might have driven farther, but they wouldn’t have been able to confirm what was happening in every direction.”

  “How does that help us?”

  “We know we’re not in this alone.” He glanced at Shelby and as usual decided to be brutally honest with her. “With everyone in the same boat, there are going to be some people who try to take what few supplies we have.”

  “You mean—”

  “I mean that we need to start thinking about defense, because I don’t see the US government sending in reinforcements anytime soon. Do you?”

  They both glanced toward the military base to the east. It was too far away to see, but it was there. Were they also in the dark? Or were they better prepared? And what was their priority—ensuring the safety of the towns around them or protecting their country from outsiders? The dozens of questions Max had held at bay crashed over him in waves. He needed to check on his parents, but first he had to make sure that Shelby and Carter were going to be okay. He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but sometime in the last five years he’d decided that he was personally responsible for their welfare. Shelby might insist they were fine alone, but Max wasn’t going anywhere until he was sure that was true.

  She stared up at him, a question on her lips and concern coloring her expression, when a blast shattered the quiet of the night, followed immediately by the roar and rumbling of fire.

  They leaped to their feet, ran around the platform, and stopped on the south side.

  “It’s near the high school,” Shelby whispered.

  “There’s an electrical substation a quarter mile past the football field.”

  “There was.”

  As they watched, an Abney fire truck raced toward the blazing inferno, lights flashing and siren screaming.

  “How do I do this?” Her voice was forlorn, and she turned away from him. “How do I protect Carter in a world that no longer makes sense?”

  “I don’t know. I honestly don’t.” He reached for her hand and held on even when she tried to pull away. “But I do know you’re not in this alone. We’ll find a way, Shelby. Together, we will find a way.”

  ELEVEN

  The sound of Max’s truck pulling into the driveway woke Carter from a deep sleep. He was surprised to see sunshine pouring in his window, and then he remembered he’d opened the blinds the night before to better see the aurora.

  The aurora.

  He grabbed his phone off the nightstand, touched the power button, and waited.

  No service.

  Of course there wasn’t. For a few minutes before falling asleep, he’d allowed himself to pretend that by morning everything would be back to normal. Clearly that wasn’t the case. With a groan of frustration, he powered off the phone.

  Rolling out of bed, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and then hurried from his room. His mom was still asleep. The sight of her curled into a ball on top of her bed calmed something in Carter’s heart. She must have come home late, as she hadn’t bothered to change her clothes or pull down the covers. But she was home, which probably meant the world hadn’t ended yet. She would never sleep through such an event. She’d probably take notes.

  He made a pit stop by the bathroom, wondering if he should use water to flush the toilet or even brush his teeth. He decided no to the first and yes to the second. Glancing out the kitchen window, he saw Max in his backyard fiddling with something on his picnic table. He grabbed a box of whole grain cereal, the last of the milk from the fridge, a spoon, and a bowl.

  He stepped outside with his breakfast and walked toward Max. “Hungry?” he asked, opening the chain-link fence that separated Max’s yard from theirs.

  “Actually, I am.” A box of Pop-Tarts sat on the picnic table beside an old camping stove.

  “That sweet stuff will kill you.” Carter filled his bowl with cereal, sniffed the milk, and poured it up to the rim. He devoured three bites before he looked up. “What?”

  “I’m remembering what it was like to be seventeen and starving.”

  “You joke, but in a week we might all be starving.”

  Max didn’t argue with him, which Carter appreciated. His mom still tended to treat him like a kid, as if she could protect him from bad news. But he wasn’t a kid, and the bad news was pretty obvious.

  Max filled an old tin pot with water and set it on the stove, but he didn’t turn on the flame.

  “Bet you’re wishing you didn’t buy that fancy electric stove now.”

  “You bring up a good point. Gas is still working, so you and your mom should be able to cook on yours—at least for now.”

  “Want to take the coffee inside?”

  “Nah. It’s cooler out here.” Max sat down and tore open a package of the Pop-Tarts. He put half a pastry in his mouth, chewed for a few moments, and then swallowed it down with a swig of orange juice straight from the carton.

  “I’d get a lecture for that.”

  “One of the perks of being a bachelor.”

  They ate in silence for a few moments. When Carter was done with the cereal, he pulled out his phone and checked it again.

  “That’s not going to work.”

  “I know, but it’s just—”

  “A habit.”

  “Yeah.” Carter frowned, feeling a strong desire to pitch the thing across the yard. He still hoped they were wrong about the flare. As long as there was hope, he’d keep it.

  “So what did you and my mom find out last night?”

  “Your government is at work doing the best they can.”

  “Meaning nothing.”

  Max laughed. “Basically you’re right, but I’m not going to encourage your cynicism.”

  “I learned it from you.”

  “Probably, and if it prepares you for something like this, I suppose I’m not sorry.”

  “Why aren’t they doing anything?”

  “They’re trying, but no one has ever dealt with a massive solar flare before. It wasn’t one of the scenarios in their handbook.”

  “But a Russian invasion was?”

  “You must have had Mr. Johnstone for government.”

  “Guilty.”

  “Yeah. He always did like to pull out the city documents and share them with his class.”

  “And now I know why. Couldn’t they prepare for something logical, like a virus or an IED or a solar flare?”

  “Sometimes it takes a while for our emergency plans to catch up with reality.”

  “We’re sunk.”

  “Not exactly.” Max was facing Carter’s house, and Carter turned to see who he was waving at. His mom was standing in the kitchen window, waving back at them both. Max stood and picked up a package of matches, lit the burner, adjusted the flame, and centered the pot of water over it.

  “Your mom was pretty tired last night.”

  “I never heard her come in, and for the record, I’m the one who is supposed to be staying out late.”

  “For the record, thanks for filling all of my containers, sinks, and tub with water.”

  “No problem.” At the time it had seemed like a lame thing to do, but now he was starting to think it was pretty smart.

  His mom wore the same clothes she’d slept in, and her
hair had that Medusa look where her curls poked out in all directions. Carter usually teased her about it, but one look told him that they had more important things to talk about.

  In that moment, he felt a deep anger well up inside him. He was supposed to go to the Market and work his shift today. He worked fifteen hours a week for minimum wage. The job provided enough money to put a little gas in his car, cruise the burger joint with Jason, and maybe stop to flirt with some girls at the park. It was the summer after senior year, and he was supposed to be enjoying himself before beginning the grueling work of college. Now all of that had been stolen from him. For all he knew, there would be no college by the time September rolled around.

  It wasn’t fair.

  Why did it have to happen to him, to his generation? Why didn’t the adults, the people who were supposed to know everything, prepare better?

  “Stop frowning. We haven’t even told you the bad news yet.” His mom leaned her elbows on the picnic table and rested her head in her palms.

  Carter shrugged.

  Max stood, took the boiling water, and poured it into a tall glass pitcher with a metal top. Then he added several scoops of coffee.

  “Three minutes and we’ll have you that important first cup.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yup. That’s one promise I’m sure I can keep.”

  While the coffee brewed, they told Carter the details of the mayor’s meeting and how they had seen the substation blow up.

  “And you came home and went to sleep? We all could have died in our beds.”

  “Not likely,” Shelby said, stifling a yawn with her hand. “There’s a creek between us and the power station.”

  Max looked from Carter to his mom. “I went to city hall for the six o’clock meeting.”

  “And?” Shelby and Carter asked at the same time.

  “Mayor Perkins already knew about the substation, of course. As far as telling her what we saw from the top of the water tower—”

  “You climbed the water tower?” Carter turned to stare at his mother.

  Max waved away his concern. “Your mom’s still quite athletic.”

  “Seriously?” Carter turned to Max. “She trips on cracks in the sidewalk. I’ve seen her do that more than once.”

  “I’m sitting right here.” His mom started to run her hands through her hair, but settled for trying to pat it down into some sort of order.

  “As for the mayor, she wasn’t surprised, but she was glad to have it confirmed.”

  “Have what confirmed?” Out of habit, Carter put his hand in his pocket, checking to see if his phone was still there. Already it seemed like a lifeline to a way of life that no longer existed.

  “That we’re not alone. Every town for as far as we could see was blacked out.”

  “This is terrible. I can’t believe this is happening to me.” Carter saw a look pass between his mom and Max, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even care that he sounded like a child. He wanted to go back to bed, sleep, and wake up to a normal world.

  Max had other ideas. “I need to get inside the Market, Carter. Would you mind changing into your work shirt and meeting me back out here in twenty minutes?”

  “My shift is cancelled.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “And the store is closed!”

  “Let’s deal with that when we get there.”

  Carter shook his head. He wasn’t in the mood for Max’s save-the-world ideas. Why couldn’t they let him have just one day off, even when the world was ending?

  “Fine.” He grabbed his bowl and spoon and trudged toward the house. The urge to check his phone again was almost overwhelming, but he knew it was useless. Every time he turned it on, he used up a tiny bit of its power. Soon it wouldn’t turn on at all.

  He checked his insulin levels, measured a dose from the bottle he was currently using, and injected it into his stomach. Though he barely felt the prick anymore, today the vial of insulin irritated him. It wasn’t enough that he had some dread disease. Now he had it in a world that was coming undone.

  The phone weighed heavy in his back pocket. As he walked to his room and looked around for a clean work shirt, he realized that his cell phone was about as useful as a rock. All the same, he’d keep it with him. Maybe today something would change for the better.

  TWELVE

  Shelby watched as Max pushed down a plunger and poured her a cup of coffee.

  “What is that thing?” She sniffed the coffee suspiciously.

  “A French press. It comes in handy when you’re camping.”

  Grimacing, she tentatively took a sip, followed quickly by another. The familiar rich taste of coffee immediately brightened her day. The world might be ending, but at least she would be properly caffeinated for it.

  Raising her eyes to Max, she said, “Marry me.”

  “Right now? Right here?”

  “Sure, Berkman. But let me finish my coffee first.”

  That earned her a smile. Good thing he knew she was kidding, as they were not exactly prime dating material. They had been when they were teenagers, but this wasn’t high school anymore. Shelby had learned to be quite happy on her own—or if not always happy, then content. As for Max, what she’d once felt for him was gone. At least mostly gone. On the rare occasions when her feelings for him reared their stubborn little head, she only had to pull out her high school yearbook to remember how he’d broken her heart. It was a wonder they were friends once again, but life was full of such little miracles.

  She’d entertained the idea of dating once Carter went off to college. Maybe she could find someone completely different from Max. Someone safe. Someone more her type. She had no idea what her type was, and it seemed now she’d probably never find out.

  Social media—gone.

  Dating sites—gone.

  Anonymous emails from creepy guys she didn’t know—gone.

  Possibly there would be advantages to being catapulted back to the Stone Age.

  “Are you worried about Carter?” Max asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “It makes sense for him to be angry.”

  “Angry? Surly is a better word, and it’s his go-to morning mood.”

  “Possibly. Don’t you remember graduating from high school, though? No more boring classes in subjects that didn’t interest you, knowing the people you didn’t like wouldn’t be following you to college…”

  “This coming from the high school football star.”

  “The best was around the corner. College and freedom.”

  “You were going to Baylor. Carter’s going to Angelo State. Huge difference.”

  “No more being under your parent’s thumb—”

  “Hey!”

  Max smiled at her and wiggled his eyebrows. “What I’m trying to say is that the future as he imagined it has changed.”

  “That’s true for all of us.”

  “But we’re adults. We’re supposed to be able to handle a crisis.”

  “Even the end of the world?”

  “I doubt it’s the end, but things have certainly changed.”

  Her tone softened. “Tell me what else you learned at the mayor’s meeting this morning.”

  “Eugene Stone wants to invade our neighboring towns, especially Croghan.”

  Coffee spewed from her mouth. She nearly dropped the cup, but Max caught it.

  “Why would he want to do that?”

  “He says they have resources we need, and…” Max held up two fingers on both hands, making virtual quotation marks. “We’d be doing them a favor.”

  “Eugene Stone said that?”

  “Heard it myself. Apparently, he saw this coming.”

  “Oh, he did?”

  “Unfortunately, no one ever listens to him, which is how we find ourselves in this mess.”

  Shelby chewed on that for a minute. Finally she asked, “Did he?”

  “See this coming? Not that I know of. I try to keep current on city business in case I’m
called in when Calvin Green is out sick.”

  “Looked pretty healthy last night.”

  “Yeah, Calvin might outlive us all. But Eugene Stone and Bob Bryant could die of stress in the first week if they don’t calm down.”

  “Some people.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What other good news do you have?”

  “As we saw from the water tower, power is out in surrounding towns as well as here. There’s already been looting in Killeen.”

  “I can’t say I’m surprised about that.”

  “Neither am I.” Max hesitated, and then he added, “We’re not immune to the same thing.”

  “Looting?”

  “Look, we have a nice small town here. Good neighbors and dedicated leadership—Eugene Stone notwithstanding. But Abney is far from perfect. We’ll have our share of crime before this is over.”

  Shelby didn’t have an answer for that. Instead, she focused on refilling her mug.

  “I’d hoped there wouldn’t be panic for at least forty-eight hours.” Max swallowed the rest of his coffee. “Reports over the ham radio are that things are worse in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. So far there’s no information from out of state—apparently the aurora is messing with our ability to send or receive radio waves consistently or for any great distance.”

  Shelby nodded, her heart racing with the scenario he was painting. “And the military base?”

  “Locked up tight. The team that went to Killeen had to pass right by Fort Hood’s entrance. In fact, they drove up to the gate, but they couldn’t get any information and certainly couldn’t get in.”

  Shelby wrapped her hands around her coffee cup to still their trembling. Finally she admitted, “What worries me most is not the water or the electricity. It’s Carter’s insulin.”

  “Which is why I want you to go to the pharmacy first thing.”

  “Do you think they’ll be open?”

  “Maybe. It’s worth a try.”

  “Bianca and Patrick—they’re supposed to be here at ten.”

  “It’s not quite eight.” Max glanced at his watch.

  Suddenly Shelby regretted that she didn’t own a watch. She’d quit wearing one years ago. Who needed them? She could always check her phone for the time. Only now the phones were useless.