Free Suspended In Dusk by Ramsey Campbell, John Everson, Wendy Hammer

breakfast I made some for you.”
    I smiled. She always took care of me. “A man could get used to this.”
     
    * * *
     
    For four days I puttered around the house, taking the sleeping pills and wearing my mask and wondering how I’d ever slept without them before. I was refreshed and felt like I was ten years younger. I finally got around to fixing the motor on the John Deere and getting the slats in the back fence nailed back up. When I announced I was going into town to get gasoline she frowned.
    “I’ll go get it. You stay here and relax.”
    “Honey, as much as I love being around you all day and working on some projects that have sat, I need to go into town and stretch my legs. I’m getting antsy. I’ve never been away from the action for this long.”
    “What action? You aren’t missing anything. Besides, I like having you all to myself,” she said. “These last few days have been nice, haven’t they? I like us just spending time together like we did when we first met.”
    “Who can remember that far ago? Heck, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast,” I said but I had to smile. These last few days had been great. We’d spend time in the late afternoon in the living room, her reading a book and me finally finishing the lighthouse carving I’d started years ago. My fingers made it slow going but I had all the time in the world. “We could go into town together.”
    Sandra shook her head. “Or we can stay right here and enjoy another peaceful day.”
    I was mad and I didn’t really know why. “What’s going on? I’m starting to feel like something is afoot. You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
    “What could I possibly hide?”
    I rubbed at my stubbly chin and sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just getting antsy is all.”
    “You said that already. You want pork chops for dinner tonight?”
    “Yeah, that sounds fine. I’ll be back in a bit,” I said.
    She turned to me and pursed her lips like she did when she was really mad. Then she dropped her look and gave me a fake smile. I’d seen it a million times and I knew what was going to come out of her mouth. “Fine. Have fun. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You never listen. And you better be home before dusk.”
     
    * * *
     
    Boyette’s Diner was closed, even though they shoulda been open for business. I peeked through the dusty windows. Nothing. I decided to take a walk down Main Street but after four steps my knee was acting up so I climbed back into my pickup truck and took it for a ride.
    I stopped at the intersection in the middle of town and looked around. There was no one in sight. I laid on the horn, the blast echoing up and down the streets, bouncing off the shuttered stores. What was going on?
    As I went past the police station I saw Chuck’s patrol car parked outside. The windows were rolled down and it was still running. I pulled up next to it and could smell something rotting. I didn’t need to look to know what I was gonna find.
    I drove back to the trailer park, not passing or seeing another soul as I did twenty miles over the speed limit. It wasn’t like Chuck was gonna pull me over.
    When I got into the park I slowed down. There were always kids running around and it was habit to do no more than ten miles an hour. Only, right now I didn’t see or hear any kids. Or anyone for that matter. Every trailer looked quiet, like the dead staring back at me.
    I was just getting around the turn to my own trailer when Mabel stepped out onto the road with a wild look in her eyes. I pulled up next to her but kept it in drive. The woman was scared but scary-looking, too. “Hey,” I managed.
    “You’re alive?”
    “I guess for now,” I said, trying to make her relax. I really didn’t know her except from the diner. Heck, I didn’t even know she lived in the trailer park until the other morning. “What’s going on?”
    Mabel threw her hands in the air. I could see by the mascara streaks on her face she’d been