Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene Read Free Book Online Page A

were doing when the darkness came. The chief did a good job of hiding it, but I could see that he was getting annoyed. In truth, I was too. Then Russ broke the tension. He raised his hand, and the chief wearily motioned to him.
    “Yes, sir? You have a question?”
    “Yeah,” Russ called. “Where’s these refreshments you said you were gonna have?”
    That earned a boisterous round of laughter from both the firemen and the crowd. A few people even applauded.
    “Glad you asked,” the chief said. “We’ve got a buffet set up inside the firehouse. It’s not much, I’m afraid. Hot coffee, tea, bottled water, fruit, and some boxes ofdoughnuts. But with the power out, I imagine most of you could use a good cup of java. Brewed it myself. It’s dark and bitter, but it will definitely keep you awake. Help yourselves. We only ask that you keep things orderly. You are welcome to stay here for a while, if you like, though I imagine it will get pretty crowded. As I said before, the best thing you can do is return to your homes and remain calm. We’re all in this together, and we’ll get through it together.”
    The chief turned off the public address system and clambered down from the fire truck. People gathered around him with more questions or just wanting to shake his hand. A few people headed home. Much of the crowd proceeded into the firehouse, but it was slow going and the line jammed up at the doors and spread out into the parking lot. Cranston took a spot in the procession.
    “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he said. “I could use some coffee and I never turn down free doughnuts.”
    Russ glanced at Christy and me. “You guys feel like standing in that line?”
    “I’ve got a better idea,” I said.
    “What?”
    “Let’s head to the edge of town. I’d like to see for myself what’s going on.”
    Christy paled but said nothing. Russ shook his head.
    “I don’t know, Robbie. You heard what the chief said, same as the rest of us. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
    “No,” I replied. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything at this point. But with everything that’s going on, I’d much rather see what we’re up against than stand around drinking coffee and making small talk with a bunch of neighbors I don’t know.”
    Russ frowned. “Why? Chief Peters said that they’regonna send a few firemen out and they’ll let us know what’s happening.”
    “Yeah, but I’d rather get a head start on that. If it’s as bad as I think it is—and let’s be honest, guys, this is some bad fucking shit—then these people are gonna find out soon enough that there might not be any more coffee and doughnuts for a while. I’d rather stock up on things we need before that happens.”
    Christy appeared shocked. “You think people are going to start looting?”
    I shrugged. “They’re scared. The chief’s speech will keep them calm for a while. Hot coffee and doughnuts make things seem almost normal. But eventually, they’re going to walk back outside and see the sky, and those fears are gonna come back. And who knows what will happen then? Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this will all pass. But I think we need to start thinking about ourselves, just in case.”
    It took a little more convincing, but both of them agreed to go to the edge of town with me. Our plan was to check things out for ourselves. If it looked as bad as we feared, then we’d come back and figure out what to do next. I hoped that wouldn’t mean stealing what we needed to survive, but if it did, then we wanted to do it before everyone else had the same idea.
    We walked back home and piled into our beat-up old Pontiac, which was parked alongside the curb. Russ sat in the back. I turned the key and the engine sputtered to life. The headlights beat back the murky shadows. On a whim, I tried the radio. Maybe everybody was wrong. Maybe we’d hear something after all. Maybe we’d come across something—some broadcast from one of the