Free Darkness Falls by Jeremy Bishop, Daniel S. Boucher Page B

Kyle’s own six-foot height.
    “Hey man, take it easy,” Kyle said, taking a step back. He raised his hands as a gesture of submission. “There was nothing I could do for him. We’ve seen this happen to a few other people already.”
    Jimmy took another strong step forward, halving the distance between him and Kyle.
    Cash stepped forward and rested a hand on Jimmy’s chest. “Jimmy, he’s telling the tru—”
    “Oh, fuck!” Sam said, trying to backpedal away from Dana, his boots slick with puss and blood.
    Dana sat upright and stared straight ahead with jet black eyes. He looked around the room like he was confused and in pain. He jumped up to a standing position, something he could have never done before. He was a skinny guy, but he wasn’t an athlete. Everyone took a step back, including Jimmy.
    “The light,” Dana said in a voice that sounded like many, layers of it echoing softly. “It hurts. It hurts my eyes!”
    Sam watched with a mix of fear and loss, as the skin on Dana’s arms started to blacken like paper towel laid in a puddle of ink. He pushed himself back further.
    That’s not Dana anymore.
    The Dana-thing raised an arm to shield its eyes from the light. It spotted Sam and realized it was not alone. It looked around the room and started to growl when it saw the others.
    “Dana?” Jimmy said, taking a step forward.
    The Dana-thing lunged at Jimmy and struck him in the chest, tossing him across the diner. It then grabbed one of the diner tables and ripped it from the bolts that held it to the floor. The Dana-thing looked at Sam and shrieked in anger, lifting the table over its head.
    Sam raised his arms in defense, waiting for the blow, but the table never dropped. Instead there was a loud crash and the sound of glass shattering, as the table smashed through one of the front diner windows.
    The Dana-thing let out another angry shriek and then jumped through the broken window. It screamed and lashed out at the overhead lights as it ran under the filling-station carport. Flecks of black skin peeled away from its body and floated to the ground like ash.
    Ash .
    It was everywhere. Beneath their feet. In the air. In their lungs .
    Are we breathing in these fuckers’ bodies?
    The Dana-thing continued to shriek, until it finally disappeared into the woods.

 
     
    17
     
    Griffin stopped halfway up his front steps. He turned to Julie and asked, “You sure you don’t have someplace you’d rather be?”
    “Rather be?” It was clear that to Julie Barnes, the question of where she’d prefer to be, and with whom, was ridiculous. “I did my research on every home owner in town. You were a military man before you took up the brush. If things get dangerous, I’d rather be with you.”
    “See, that’s just the thing,” Griffin said. “If things get dangerous, I’m going to rush right into the middle of it.”
    Julie frowned.
    Hadn’t thought of that, had you ? Griffin smiled. Julie was charming, and ruthless in a real-estate agent kind of way, but she clearly hadn’t thought things through. Being with the strongest warrior often meant becoming a larger target yourself.
    Regardless, she stepped up next to him and said, “You know I’ve got no one in town to go see. It’s just...the idea of being alone...”
    Griffin sighed. “I understand.” He headed for the front door and opened the screen. “Mi casa es su casa. Unless you want to buy it, then you can screw off.”
    Julie laughed and slapped his shoulder as he opened the door. He let her enter first, but she stopped short and said, “Umm.”
    Griffin took her shoulders, moved her to the side and stepped in. Avalon was in the kitchen at the end of the hall, sitting in a chair.
    Tied to a chair.
    Radar stumbled into view, looking sheepish. “Uh, Mr. Butler. I—she...”
    Hearing nothing beyond normal worry in Radar’s voice, Griffin had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Even more so when Avalon called out, “It’s okay,