Promise Me Darkness (15 page)

“So why do we need to leave?” Eva asked.

“Because chaos is going to break out. I don’t want to be here when that happens,” Ryder said.

My mind went numb. This seemed too surreal, like something out of a sci–fi movie. I thought of my friends, so far away from home, and of my dad, alone in the country. I prayed each of them was safe but especially my dad.

“Are you sure we have to go? Maybe we should wait it out,” I said.

“No, we go home. We hunker down and we wait this out,” Ryder said, firmly.

“But, Ryder…”

He shook his head, glancing down at me. “I’m taking you home, Maddie, if I have to drag you kicking and screaming.”

That had me silent for a moment.

“What if the government can have the power up and running in a day or two?” I asked, obstinately. I was starting to feel like myself for the first time that night, thanks to the pain medication working quickly in my system. But Ryder could always get me riled up and he was doing a good job of it now.

“It might take weeks or months to get the power grid back up and running. I’m not waiting around for the government to fix it. They’ll have food rations and curfews set up in days. I’m getting you out of Dodge, Maddie,” Ryder said, sternly.

“I’m not surprised this shit happened. These guys have been threatening us with nuclear weapons and bombs for weeks,” Brody said, furious at the unknown enemy. “This weakens us. Just what they want. Next thing you know, they’ll try landing on our soil.”

We were just jumping to conclusions
, I reassured myself.
Everything will be okay.

Minutes later we were pulling into Brody’s apartment complex. It was quiet. Too quiet.
Yeah, something was definitely wrong.

The beams of the truck cut a narrow path through the parking lot, highlighting the cars and trucks that were now just big pieces of scrap metal.

Ryder pulled to a stop near Brody’s apartment. “Remember, pack what you can carry and make it quick — ten minutes top."

Brody and Eva started to climb out of the truck when Ryder spoke again. "And Brody, you got any weapons, get them."

His words sent a shiver up my spine.

As Eva and Brody ran to his apartment, Ryder kept watch out the window, ignoring me for the most part. As we waited, I expected to see a raging mob storming us, demanding to have the truck. Obviously, I had watched too many movies.

Sitting up straighter, I tried to take some pressure off of my cracked rib and at the same time force myself to stay awake. The need to close my eyes and sleep was overwhelming me, thanks to the pain pill.

“You doing okay?” Ryder asked as he watched the parking lot.

“I’ll survive,” I said, touching my fingers. The pain that shot up my arm was excruciating. It wasn’t the first time I broke a bone. When I was ten, I had been climbing a tree, trying to go as high as possible, when it happened. Ryder had been standing at the bottom, yelling at me to get down before I broke my neck. I broke my arm in two places instead. But the pain this time was different, made worse by my other injuries.

I felt the gash on my forehead. It was about an inch and a half long and not very deep. A scab seemed to be already forming. Yes, I would survive but maybe with a new scar.

A few tense moments of silence stretched between us. Despite my pain, I remembered what happened between us before the blackout and what he had said since.

“Ryder, I know this is not the time but we still need to talk about us.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

A tiny bit of hurt wove around my heart.

“So are we just going to play like nothing happened?”

Ryder sighed deeply with resignation then turned to look down at me. His eyes were bleak.

“Your dad made me promise to bring you home if something happened. He told me to take care of you and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“He called you?”

The light from the dashboard made shadows play across his features.

“Yeah, you were in the shower. Hard talking to him after having mind–blowing sex with you.”

My pain was forgotten.
He thought it was mind–blowing?
I didn’t know how to respond.

“And my father threatened me within an inch of my life if I didn’t get home in one piece with you,” he said with a gruff laugh that held no humor.

“I hope my dad’s safe,” I said, troubled to think otherwise.

Ryder scanned the parking lot carefully. “He knows my parents are prepared for disasters. When he realizes what happened, he’ll head to their place. I’m sure he’s more worried about you right now, anyway," he said, distracted. Leaning forward, he stared across the parking lot. “Oh, crap!”

“What?” Terror spread through me quickly.

“Two guys walking toward us. Shit!”

My heart threatened to jump out of my chest. I remembered Ryder’s father saying that if society fell, it would be man against man. Survival of the fittest. Were these two the beginning of that struggle?

Ryder laid his arm across my lap, urging me closer to him. His hand rested on my bare knee, reminding me of how short my skirt was.

“Just relax, Maddie. I’ve got you,” Ryder whispered as the men passed in front of the truck and over to the driver’s side window. One of the men rapped on the glass with large, meaty knuckles.

Ryder cranked down the window but never removed his hand from me.

“Help you?” he asked in a friendly, Texas drawl.

“You know what’s going on around here?” the guy asked. He was beefy with flat brown eyes void of life. He leaned his large arm against the door as the guy behind him sniffed loudly and stared at me with a glassy, faraway look.

“No clue, man. My girlfriend and I were driving home when the electricity kicked off. Must be a problem with the transformer or something,” Ryder said, casually.

The leader turned those empty eyes on me. He glanced at Ryder’s hand in my lap then slowly ran his eyes up my body. Ryder gripped my knee tighter, warning me to stay silent.

“She okay?” the man asked, motioning to the blood on my dress.

“Yeah. She had too much to drink and tripped over her own feet. She’s a clumsy drunk,” Ryder smirked, like it was funny.

“Hell, dude, can’t complain about a drunk girlfriend,” the guy said with a chuckle. "They don’t put up a fight, if you get my meaning."

Ryder’s body tensed with animosity.

"She may not but I do," he snarled.

A minute ticked by while Ryder and the man stared at each other, both unwilling to back down.

My heart pounded. My hands were shaking. Any second, I expected the man to jerk the truck door open and haul us out.

The guy must have recognized the deathly threat on Ryder’s face because he finally backed down.

“So…my damn car ain’t running either,” the man said suspiciously as he glanced around the cab of the truck.

“Bad luck, man,” Ryder said with a cutting edge in his voice. "Hope nothing else shitty happens to you tonight."

The threat was there, just beneath the surface of Ryder’s words, challenging the man to push him further. The stranger heard it too. I thought I saw a tiny flicker of fear in his eyes.

"Hey, let’s go," the second guy said nervously, yanking on his friend’s arm.

With one more hostile look, they walked away, dismissing us without a backward glance.

Ryder watched them until they disappeared in an apartment.

I let out a breath that I didn’t know I had been holding. I knew then that we were sitting ducks in this truck. People would figure out soon that cars were useless. A running truck would be a great commodity when the only other form of transportation was walking. Since we had no way to defend ourselves, fighting off would–be carjackers might be a problem.
And without the truck, how would we get home?

Ryder removed his arm from my lap to grip the steering wheel tightly. I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, but I wanted to pull his arm back to me. It gave me a sense of security. Always had. I just needed it now more than ever.

“Come on. Come on,” he muttered, scanning the darkness for any other threats.

A few more tension filled minutes passed. I held my breath.
What if something had happened to Eva and Brody?

Suddenly the passenger door flew open, making me jump in fright. Eva and Brody climbed inside quickly, hauling a backpack with them.

Before Brody could close the truck door, we were driving away. The tires squealed in the silence of the night as the truck took off.

“I got all the food and water that I could carry and some clothes. I also have this. A hunting knife,” Brody said. A large steel knife gleamed in his hand. It was around seven inches in length, black, and looked razor sharp.

“Keep it handy,” Ryder said, keeping his eyes on the road.

The streets were still quiet when we pulled into our apartment complex ten minutes later. The parking lot was dark but there were a few people lingering outside. They looked at us briefly before turning away, rejoining their conversations.

I wondered how long it would take before the reality of the situation set in with the public. I had to agree with Ryder. I didn’t want to be in a large city when that occurred.

We pulled into an empty parking spot and Ryder turned off the ignition. Eva and Brody immediately jumped out and ran up the cement steps to our third floor apartment.

Ryder studied me under the moonlight. “Can you walk?”

“I’m fine. Let’s do this,” I answered with more strength in my voice than I really felt.

I placed my good hand in his and tried to hold back a wince as he helped me out of the truck. My hand throbbed and my ribs ached. Each step sent pain radiating through my skull and body but I had to do it on my own.

Brody handed Ryder a small flashlight as soon as we walked into the dark apartment. Thank goodness our fathers had insisted we have flashlights when we moved to college. At the time, Eva and I rolled our eyes at their overprotectiveness. Now I was thankful.

Seeing my home in utter darkness was upsetting. A few hours without electricity was not a foreign concept for me. In the country, electricity was spotty during storms but this was different. If Ryder was correct, this was an evil set upon us by an enemy.

“Let’s get you bandaged up, Maddie,” Eva said as she walked out of the kitchen carrying a flickering candle.

“I’ll start gathering supplies,” Ryder said from behind me.

I followed Eva to her room, the candlelight guiding our way. I gingerly sat on the edge of her unmade bed and watched as she rummaged around in her closet.

The heat was already unbearable in the apartment. After a few hours in here without air conditioning, I think we would all be ready to leave.

I picked the sticky fabric of my dress away from my chest and watched as Eva retrieved a large container from the top of her closet. She placed it on the bed beside me with a grunt.

“Practice equipment,” she said, explaining the wide assortment of bandages, ointments, and antiseptic wipes.

“If someone had told us we would be using them for the end of the world, we would have laughed,” I said, sadly.

Now that I was in my home, surrounded by my things, my tears started. They flowed down my face, unchecked, running from my eyes like a faucet turned on. The horror of the night was pressing down on me. I felt helpless, afraid, and desperate to forget it all.

“Oh, Maddie, it will be okay! We’re safe,” Eva said when she saw me crying. Sitting beside me on the bed, she threw an arm around my shoulders and hugged me against her side. “We’ll get home.”

“And what about school?” I sniffed. “We only have one year left of nursing school! How do we walk away from that?”

“I don’t know. Let’s take it one day at a time,” she said, letting go of me to wrap my injured hand in a bandage.

I brushed the tears away but they kept coming. Things were not going as planned. I was supposed to graduate in one year, not be on the run. Ben and I were supposed to stay together. And Ryder.
God, Ryder.
I loved him but we were supposed to remain friends, never to go into that forbidden zone of love and lust.

“I’ll check your fingers later when we have more light but for now, keep them wrapped," Eva said, laying my bandaged hand gently down. "Your head wound will have to wait too.”

She eyed me under the candlelight. “Take off your dress, Maddie. It’s covered in blood. Then I’ll wrap your ribs.”

I unbuttoned my dress with one hand and slipped it off. Eva started to feel along my ribcage, gently pushing each rib and running her fingers along the bones. Tears rolled down my cheeks from the pain.

“You’re going to be sore and have tons of bruises,” Eva said, searching the container for another roll of gauze. “Now where is that bandage? I know I have a large one,” Eva muttered to herself as she searched her container.

Sitting on her bed, wearing only my bra and panties, I felt the darkness descend on me, suffocating me in its grasp. I felt as if I was falling and unable to grab something to hold on to.

“I can’t do this, Eva,” I cried.

“Yes, you can, Maddie. You’re the bravest person I know. Don’t prove me wrong now,” she said.

But I couldn’t hold back the tears.

As if he knew I needed him, Ryder was suddenly standing in the doorway, his tall frame outlined in the candlelight. With two strides, he was kneeling on the floor in front of me.

“I can’t do this, Ryder,” I hiccuped.

His blue eyes studied my face before skimming over my bra and panties. Through my tears, I saw him swallow hard.

“Maddie, listen to me. I thought I had lost you in that club. When I couldn’t find you, I went berserk. Then to find out you were hurt…” He stopped and glanced away as pain crossed his face. “Hell, I can’t handle it.”

Moving closer, he pushed my legs apart to kneel between them, bringing him closer. His large hands cupped my face.

“Look at me, Maddie.”

When I did, I saw the blue warmth in his eyes, the candlelight reflected off of them.

“After sleeping with you, I vowed not to touch you again but when I thought I lost you tonight…my world collapsed,” he said, his voice husky. “All I wanted was to be able to kiss you one more time. And I did but I’m greedy. I want more.”