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

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    “You’ve lost all your coolant,” Russ explained. “And the hose is busted. Even if you could go to Verona, we wouldn’t be able to fix it enough to get you that far. The coolant would just leak out again.”
    “Well, what am I supposed to do? I’ve got to get my baby to the doctor!”
    A group of people shuffled past us, giving the car a wide berth. Many of them glanced at us, but nobody stopped to help or even comment. They were heading toward the darkness. I considered telling them not to bother, but I already had my hands full with this woman. They’d find out for themselves when they got there. I wondered whose voice the darkness would speak to them with.
    I closed the hood. “Are you sure we can’t talk you out of going?”
    She shook her head.
    “It’s dangerous out there,” I told her. “You might very well be killed. Your baby, too.”
    She stared at us, as if searching for some indication that we were playing a joke. When she saw the seriousness in our expressions, she looked away.
    “If my baby stays here,” she said softly, “then he’ll die, too. He’s sick. Please. I don’t expect you to understand. But I have to get him to Verona, no matter what the risk. I’m not going to let my baby just starve to death.”
    I didn’t know what to do. I felt helpless—wanting desperately to assist her but not knowing how to go about it. She was determined to go out into the darkness, and short of dragging her away or kidnapping her child, I couldn’t see any way of stopping her. In the backseat, the baby began to cry—a high-pitched squeal that sounded more like a pterodactyl in a movie than an infant. My sense of helplessness turned into hopelessness, then a sort of desperate resignation.
    “It’s okay, sweetie,” she called softly. “Mommy’s here. It will all be okay.”
    I wondered if she was trying to assure the baby or herself. Then something strange happened. I studied the woman. I’d never seen her around before, but I knew her type. She lived on the other end of town, in one of the new cookie-cutter McMansions that had gone up in the past few years where there used to be farmland and trees. I didn’t know her because her kind didn’t come to our section of town, except maybe to check out cheap investment opportunities and become amateur slumlords. A dull sort of malaise overwhelmed me. I didn’t know where the emotion was coming from, but I felt it just the same.
    I glanced at Russ and then at our car, where Christy was leaning out the window, listening to the exchange. I wondered if they were feeling what I was feeling. Judging by her expression, Christy must have known what I was going to do even before I knew it myself. We’d been together awhile, and I guess we could read each other’s minds like any other long-term couple.Anticipate each other’s moves. In any case, she didn’t seem as surprised as I did when I walked over to our car, pulled my keys out of the ignition, and handed them to the stranded woman. Christy didn’t protest. Russ, however, seemed shocked. He gasped out loud.
    “Here,” I said to the woman. “Take our car. I really wish you’d reconsider this, but I understand why you won’t. We can’t go with you, so please don’t ask us to. We just won’t. We’ve seen what’s out there and I don’t know how to make you understand. But if we can’t change your mind, then take our car and do it.”
    She stared at me, blinking. I jingled the keys in front of her, and after a pause, she took them hesitantly, as if I were handing her a poisonous snake or a flaming bag of dog shit instead.
    “I can’t…”
    “Then don’t,” I said. “Because I’m telling you, you don’t want to go past the town limits. There’s some weird graffiti painted on the road, near the sign that says you’re leaving town. From what I’ve seen, you’ll be okay until you pass that. But beyond it…”
    “Yes?”
    “Well, I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m just