The Long Fall of Night: The Long Fall of Night Book 1 by AJ Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

the button with the side of his fist. He set the ticket on the dash and powered up the window, shifting in his seat to settle in for the long drive ahead, apparently comfortable enough despite a weapon digging into his back.
    “You have a gun in your pants,” Elliot stated stupidly.
    “We still don’t have time to fuck,” Ash said with a grin.
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    “Of course I have a gun. People aren’t civil for long in a crisis. Words won’t save us when someone pulls out a firearm. And it’s going to happen whether you want to face it or not.”
    “But that guy was fine!”
    “Turned out to be, yeah,” Ash said. “What if the looting had already started? Those booths are full of money, and anyone could have been inside, waiting for some hapless shmoe to come along with a car so they could jack it and leave us bleeding on the road. I’m not taking chances. We don’t have much, but we need what we have, and I’m not risking losing it to someone who thinks a bottleneck like a toll station is a good place for an ambush. Not that that flimsy little gate will stop people from driving through at speed when money no longer matters.”
    “You’re crazy,” Elliot said incredulously.
    “We’ll see if you’re singing that same tune the first time someone comes at us,” Ash stated.
    “Paranoid. Delusional.”
    “What are you, a closet therapist?”
    Elliot slumped, glowering. “I didn’t sign up for a cross-state crime spree.”
    “Look, we don’t know when the situation will get desperate or what people will do once it does. I’m just prepared for it. If I’m wrong, the worst is I get a backache from having this gun poking me for a five-hour car ride. What does that matter to you? If you can’t deal, you should go back after I’m at Charlotte’s. Whatever you decide, dude.”
    “The sooner this is over, the better,” Elliot grumbled noncommittally, though he knew he was too far in to get himself home on his own.
    “That’s the first thing you’ve said tonight I agree with,” Ash said grimly.

3
    CHAPTER THREE
    Day 2
    Auburn, New York
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    K nowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.
    —Carl Jung
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    T HE TINY WHITE CLAPBOARD house stood ghostly in the moonlight when Ash pulled into the driveway. He was always shocked at how small the house he grew up in seemed from his adult perspective. His eyes burned from driving for so long with very little to break up the monotony. As soon as Elliot had drifted off to sleep—which truthfully surprised Ash, given how tightly wound the guy was—slumped against the window and emitting tiny, childlike snores, Ash had switched off the iPod to preserve the battery. It wasn’t lost on him how much the music had soothed his lab partner’s agitation after learning Ash had a gun.
    The miles of dark road, encountering few cars, had left him nothing but time to think, and he’d come to the conclusion he needed to ease up on Elliot. Ash had grown up with preparedness as one of life’s lessons, thanks to a marine for a father, and after his father’s death, Uncle Marvin had stepped in. Ash wasn’t in entirely unfamiliar territory.
    Elliot, however, had obviously grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Not that that wasn’t without its own stresses, as Elliot had explained, but he wasn’t used to moving on the fly. Careful and methodical probably served him well with the heavy expectations of his family, but careful and methodical in their current situation could get them killed.
    Or he’s right, and you’re a deluded, paranoid idiot. Ash turned off the engine and shook his road trip buddy on the shoulder. Elliot snuffled and raised his head, his hair matted in the back and his glasses askew. He blinked owlishly as he righted the frames and smacked his lips. Ash had to fight a smile at how appealing Elliot was.
    “We’re here?” he asked, still fighting sleep cobwebs.
    “Yeah, and they