Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller by Ashlei Hawley Read Free Book Online Page A

itself around him, Sam slowed the Aveo and rolled down his window as the panic-stricken young woman approached the vehicle. She was carrying a small, soft-looking blanket that from the dry tip she clenched in a death grip used to be predominantly the color of butter. The rest seemed to have been dipped in brick-red paint that had dried to a tacky stiffness.
         “I-I-I…” the young woman stammered as she stopped beside the car.
         Sam took a quick inventory of her; her pale blue eyes were wide with and probably paler than their normal hue, her blond hair was disheveled, her bed clothes were wrinkled and had obviously been worn the night before. She moved jerkily and couldn’t seem to form her words into sentences. Sam recognized the symptoms of deep shock, and spoke soothingly as he checked his mirrors now and again to see if anyone was coming up behind them.
         “Calm down there, sweetheart,” Sam said. “What’s wrong? Do you need help with something?”
         “I-I…” the woman stuttered again and this time her mouth hung open after she spoke. She stared glassily through Sam, clutching that little blanket. The thing was disturbing the hell out of him.
         “Is there someone around who needs help?” Sam tried. “A family member or a child?” He hesitated to say the last, fearing the worst for the owner of that blanket.
         The young woman’s eyes cleared marginally and her gaze locked on Sam, seeing him for the first time. She whispered, “My baby…” and then quickly sank back into her state of shock.
         Sam wanted to curse. He wanted to roll up the window and drive away. He wanted to know his family was safe and, because he already felt a strong pull of attachment and responsibility for the boy, he wanted Austin safe, as well. However, responsibility was not something Sam Walker was in short supply of, and it was this that made him slide the Aveo into the driveway the woman had walked out of.
         She followed them out of the street in a daze. Sam hadn’t known for sure if she would but he was glad she wasn’t standing there waiting to get hit. Of course, there was still not a soul to be seen on the road no matter which way Sam looked.
         Rolling up the window so he couldn’t be heard, Sam spoke softly to Austin before getting out of the car.
         “Can you drive?” he first asked the teen without preamble and Austin responded, “a little.”
         “Good,” Sam said. “Good. You know my address. If I’m not out of this house in fifteen minutes, you take this car and you drive to my place. My wife’s name is Laura, my son’s name is Trevor and my daughter is Melissa. Laura, Trevor, Melissa. Knock on the front door and ask for them by name and they’ll know they can let you in. It’ll do you no good to sit here waiting for me if something happens to me, kid. Just take the car and go.”
         “You think something’s wrong in that house,” Austin said in a tone Sam would have applied to a faux psychic trying to spook gullible clients.
         “I know something is,” Sam admitted before he even knew what he was going to say. Apparently, the unease wasn’t felt by the boy alone. “But I have to go in, anyway. It’s my job to help people and someone’s hurt in there. But I won’t risk you to do my job. Fifteen minutes, then you cut and run.”
         “I got that,” Austin said, and he sounded like he was trying to convince Sam of some deeper, more important thing. “My dad’s a cop, you know. I know all about doing your job to help people. A nurse and a cop. I know all about it.”
         The admission indeed gave Sam a deeper perspective into the boy’s life, his sense of morality and his family. His parents were helpers; they were like Sam. No wonder Austin reminded Sam so damn much of his own boy. The same sense of purpose and ethics had been instilled into them both just by being around the