0 comments/ 23630 views/ 3 favorites Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 01 By: Cactus Jack 01 Note: This series is my tribute and homage to all the movies that inspired me as a kid and which I love to this day. Films like Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, Carpenter's classic chillers Halloween, The Fog and The Thing, Romero's Dead trilogy, Dario Argento's brace of Italian giallo masterpieces Suspiria and Inferno, Hammer films, The Twilight Zone and many more. My intention is to release a new chapter on the first Sunday of each month, with each preceeding chapter being left on a cliffhanger ending. Hopefully this will make it more exciting for the reader and also give me a deadline to work for, as I always perform better under pressure. Anyway, that's the deal and I'll do my best to keep my end of the bargain. Like much of my stuff this series is more based in plot than sex. Of course there are sexual situations (I've been around long enough to know the CSSA rules) but if you're looking for a quick fix then this is the wrong story to read. There are plenty of fine authors doing that stuff better than I ever could. But thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy it - RW. Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 01 'So that's why you're in Woodford Bridge?' said Natalie. She now had her legs tucked up on the chair and was hugging her knees to her chest as she listened to me. 'Our apartment was sold and I had some money, not much but just a little. I needed to get away from everything that had gone before me so I moved out here. My intention was to stay maybe six months, perhaps a year at most, and then make a break for the West Coast. But I fell in love with the house, and the place, and here I am.' I finished my beer and wished that I had another. 'Anyway, I'm talking too much.' 'That's okay. I'm a pretty good listener.' 'You are. But what about you? It's great to have someone round for dinner, especially a girl.' She smiled at that, warm and genuine, and it felt good to see it. 'But if I was going on vacation I'd be heading for the ocean and a beach, not a sleepy hollow like this.' 'I suppose. But it's like I told you before, I just need to relax and unwind. My life has been pretty crazy over the last twelve months, it's good to be able to breathe for a while.' 'Must be difficult to get any privacy, being a famous actress.' She grinned and looked up quizzically. 'I didn't think you'd recognized me?' I returned the grin. 'I didn't, not at first. Your face was familiar but I didn't truthfully guess who you were until we were eating.' And that was the truth, I hadn't worked out that the beautiful girl sitting at my table and eating my salad was Natalie Portman until just a few minutes ago. I think if I had recognized her as soon as we'd met I'd probably felt awkward and embarrassed, well at least more than usual anyway. But in the last hour or so I'd got to know her, and really like her, it didn't seem a problem. 'I thought you appreciate it if I didn't make a big deal out of it.' 'I do,' she replied, and put her hand on my forearm. Her touch was soft. 'You ever wish you could just go someplace where no-one knew you, and for a little while you could be whatever you wanted to be?' 'I'm sorry I ruined that for you.' 'You didn't. You actually made it better.' She gave my arm a gentle squeeze, and didn't move her hand away as we continued to talk on while the sun began it's slow summer decent towards the horizon and the shadows lengthened around us. I talked a little more about myself and my family, and Natalie told me about her friends in New York and gave me some brief details about a relationship that had finished in the spring with an actor I had only vaguely heard of. She didn't talk about her work or fame and I never asked, not that I wasn't interested, because I was, but because it was obvious she needed a break from that part of her life. I found myself relaxing back into my chair, and I was laughing and making her laugh, and that was something I thought I'd forgotten I could do. Once her hand left my arm for her beer, but she returned it and this time I felt her fingers wrap themselves around my own. I brushed my thumb in her palm as we casually held hands. Natalie asked if she could use the bathroom, and after I'd shown her where it was I took the chance to clear the dishes from outside and dump them in the sink, then took the bottle of wine from the fridge and two glasses back to the table. It was still humid and not yet dark, and I was surprised when I saw the time was after Nine. We'd been talking for hours yet it had seemed like minutes. The music had long since finished and I flipped the tape for side B and got David Bowie. Ziggy was playing guitar and telling me about the Spiders From Mars when Natalie reappeared. When she got to the table she didn't sit down but stretched her arms above her head and yawned, then apologized. 'You okay?' I said. 'Tired?' She stifled another yawn with the back of her hand. 'Yeah, pretty much.' 'Do you want to go home?' 'Not really, unless you want me to?' 'No, of course I don't' She smiled. 'Good. I won't have anything else to drink though, or you'll be carrying me home,' she said, pointing at the bottle on the table. 'Wine knocks me out faster than anything. Save it for another day.' 'Take it back with you. I hate drinking on my own.' I shrugged. 'Well, at least nowadays I do.' Natalie reached down and grabbed my hand, pulled me out of the chair and to my feet. 'You won't have to,' she replied. I wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that but it sounded pretty good. Before I had a chance to ask she spoke again. 'Show me the rest of your place.' The lawn was cool on my bare feet as we crossed the grass and headed for the far end of the garden. A long hedge ran down the right hand side, the side separating me from the Edgecombe house, and the left had a long line of pines and willows like the one I'd been sleeping under that afternoon. The garden was well-maintained when I'd arrived, which was just as well as groundwork was the last thing I was interested in. A lush green lawn and mature trees meant I was happy and had no reason to change it. We reached the fence at the bottom of the garden and looked out over the fields that lay beyond. I was in a good position where no other properties overlooked me, just acres of pasture land that got no busier than a tractor working them. A main road was perhaps a mile away across the valley, but it was far enough that you had to strain to hear traffic, even in the day. 'This is really beautiful you know,' Natalie said. 'You're lucky to live here.' She still had her hand in mine, just as it had been as we'd wandered down to the fence. 'I know I am,' I said, and meant it. The sky was now a deep purple with the sun a golden memory behind the far-off hills, and a light wind tickled my skin and played with the foliage of the trees. Away to my right a dog let out a quick volley of barks and then was silent. I could still just make out the music playing back up towards the house. We stood and watched the world in silence for a couple of minutes, but my attention was diverted from a sight I'd seen many times to one that I'd only recently discovered. I looked at Natalie out of the corner of my eye; at the edge of her jawline, her slender neck, ringlets of hair around a small ear. A tiny mole on her cheek. For the second time that day she caught me looking at her, and turned to face me fully. 'I'm glad you decided to take a trip here, and nowhere else,' I said. My heart was beating just that little bit faster in my chest. She didn't answer, just continued to look up at me, her mouth slightly parted, her fingers gripping my own. 'I really want to kiss you,' I continued, 'but I'm just not sure how you'd feel about it.' Her hand slid up to my forearm, and even though her face was in shadow I saw her delicately bite her lip. 'I think I feel okay about it,' she whispered. I leant down, feeling my eyes close automatically as I did so, felt the edge of my nose graze against hers, then my mouth touch against her. A small pressure, her mouth slightly open as our lips came together. Her sweet taste and her freshness on me as we kissed slowly and carefully with the excitement and trepidation that a first kiss brings. And then we were apart again, and when I opened my eyes Natalie was looking back at me. She hadn't moved away and I took that as I sign that what we'd just done could be repeated. God, she was beautiful. For the next few minutes we continued to kiss and to touch and hold one another. I slid my hands across the small of her back while she rested her fingers on my hips, then lifted her arms and placed them around my neck. I leant back slightly and pulled her close, and her body felt soft and warm against me. When I kissed her ear she shuddered, and her breasts pushed against me. She moved her mouth against my throat and spotted little kisses against my adam's apple, up over my chin and then back to my lips, and this time I felt her tongue on mine as our kiss became more stronger, more intimate. And then I felt her shudder again, only this time it wasn't just from my touch. A sharp blast of wind, a rarity in the last few weeks, chose to hit us, and I felt Natalie shiver under my hands. It broke the small spell we'd just created, and also broke our kiss. 'You alright?' I said. 'Yeah, just gone cold that's all.' She shivered again, and hugged herself against me. 'I'm not really wearing all that much.' 'Do you want to go inside?' She kissed my cheek and nodded, and I took her hand and we walked back down towards the house. The wind blew again, this time strong enough to move the branches on the trees and toss a strand of Natalie's hair across her face. I took a look back over my shoulder at the horizon, wondering if we were finally about to get the storm that would break the heat, but the dark skies were still free of cloud and littered with stars. Inside the house was still warm, and we moved into my small and simply decorated living room. My furniture was shapes in the gloom, illuminated only by the streetlight that stood at the end of my driveway and shone a weak and hazy yellow light through the window. I reached for the lamp near the TV but Natalie stopped me, took my arm and pulled me down onto the couch. We sank into the cushions and she hugged herself up against me. Her skin felt cold and I wrapped my arms around her, buried my face in her sweet hair and then moved to kiss her once more. She responded, moving with me as slouched down on the couch and half-pulled her onto me. Her hand rubbed against the cotton on my shirt and tickled bare skin on my stomach, in return I traced my fingers down her back and over the swell of her butt and back up over her ribs as our lips stayed locked together. Natalie rubbed her leg up over my thigh and in the dark I could imagine her legs parted and me pushing between them. I felt myself grow quickly hard and didn't make an attempt to disguise it. Lying on my chest I could feel her breasts against me, nipples stiff, and from the smooth feel of her back I knew she wasn't wearing a bra. I moved my hand around to her side, felt the gentle swell of her breasts, then her body shift slightly to allow my thumb to stroke her. I moved it in circles, felt it catch against a hard bump and tasted her hot breath in my mouth as she gasped. I pressed harder, kissed her deeper, my erection a solid lump in my pants and her hand still on my abdomen, not far away. I wanted to touch and kiss every part of her, lose myself in her, make love to her. And then her kissing stopped. 'Just give me a minute,' She whispered with no hint of anger in her voice. Her face was a dark shadow above me, and then at that moment there was the purr of a passing vehicle and an arc of light swept across the room, and for a second Natalie was in brightness, and I saw her brown eyes shining and a smile on her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and I wondered if I looked the same. Or though to be honest, I don't think anything had ever looked as good as she did in that moment. 'Is everything okay?' I said, running my hand along her jawline. 'Something I've done?' 'No, of course not.' She was back in darkness now, but I knew she was still smiling. 'Nothing you've done at all. I just can't... I can't go this fast with you.' She paused but made no attempt to move off me, still had her hand on my skin, her legs wrapped around mine. 'It's not that I don't want to do this, I do. You believe me don't you?' 'Yes, of course I do.' 'But if we sleep together tonight, I'll regret it. I rushed into something once before and it went so horribly wrong. I don't want that to happen with us.' She giggled quietly. 'What would you think if I jumped your bones on our first date?' I had to mull that over in my mind for a second. 'If I'm honest with you, part of me thinks that would be amazing.' She laughed again, and brushed the hair from around my face. 'Although I feel so nervous that another part of me would probably only disappoint you.' She turned and looked down at my body, and although we were in the gloom my erection must still have been visible. 'I think you'd have been all right,' she said, and then I was thankful for the darkness as my face was flushing red. 'I just wouldn't want you to think I was all about some sex.' 'I wouldn't. I don't.' 'Truth is Dave I came here to be alone and relax. I've got stress in my life at the moment and I want to get away from it. I need to get away from it. The last thing I planned on was some kind of holiday romance.' 'Well, look. If you want to stop this right now I'll-' She interrupted me with a kiss that was long and lingering. 'I don't. I said I didn't plan a romance, but that doesn't mean I don't want one. I like you a lot. You're funny and sweet and slightly strange and I can tell you've got some deep sadness about something that I'd like to know about, maybe help with if I can. But if we're going to do it, I want to do it properly. D'you understand?' I raised my head and kissed her, hoped that she would be able to realize that I was into more than quick sex too, no matter how good it would have been. 'We can just take it slow,' I said. 'It'll be good just to spend some time together over the next few days. If that's want you want?' 'It is, I'd like that very much,' she replied, and we kissed again. This time I kept my hands in all the neutral places as we spent the next few minutes making out on the couch. Eventually our kissing slowed and we held each other close, started talking quietly. After a while that too slowed, until we were virtually laying there silently in the warm darkness of the summer night. I was just starting to think how sleepy I was feeling when Natalie yawned. I stroked her hair. 'You tired?' She lifted her head from my chest and nodded. 'Exhausted. It's been a long day.' 'Me too. Come on, I'll take you home. Otherwise we'll both wake up here in the morning.' We stood up and I turned the lamp on. In the light Natalie looked incredible, even with her hair slightly messed up and her dress a little creased, and the way she watched me as I pulled on my old sneakers made me feel lightheaded. We left my house by the front door and with her arm through mine we walked down my driveway to the street and around to her rental house. As we walked I promised to show her around the little village that was Woodford Bridge the next day, not that it would take that long. 'That's a deal,' she said, as we stood on her front porch under a bell-shaped night light that I could remember Jim Edgecome fixing up two winters ago. 'As long as you let me cook you breakfast first.' 'How can I refuse that. What time do you want me?' 'Say around eight-thirty.' She kissed me on the tip of my nose. 'Give me time for a lie in.' 'Okay. Thanks for a great day, Natalie.' 'No, I should thankyou. For everything.' Our hands slipped apart as I started to step of the porch and she moved into the house. We said goodnight and I started to turn away down the whitewashed front steps. 'David?' I turned back and she was right by me, her hands on my face and her lips pressed to mine. Her breath was as fresh as the ocean as she kissed me, before spinning around and going back through the open front door, closing it behind her without looking back. I watched her shadowy figure move through the frosted glass, saw it move up the staircase, and then the hallway was in darkness as she killed the light. I walked slowly back to my house, stopping and looking up and down the mainstreet that my place was built. At the best of times the road was quiet, but at eleven-thirty on a Tuesday night it was deserted. A cat ran from behind the huge oak that dominated the far side of the street and dashed across the blacktop, safe in the knowledge that nothing was coming. I could hear crickets, and the dog that had barked earlier gave it another go, but without much meaning. High in the sky away to the East the moon hung like a silver medallion. When it was quiet the world was a beautiful place to be, although I suspected that my sudden inner peace and harmony had a lot to do with the girl who I had just said goodnight to. Back indoors I shut the lights off and fetched the things that Natalie and I had left outside on the table, dumped the dishes in the sink and then locked the backdoor and drew the blinds. I threw my keys into a little china dish that I kept ontop of the fridge and went upstairs, yawning loudly as I did so. I debated a shower and couldn't be bothered, just brushed my teeth, threw my clothes into the washbasket and climbed between the cool sheets. I lay on my back looking up at the ceiling, but in reality I was looking into the memories of my mind, and all I kept seeing was Natalie, and how she looked the first time I'd seen her that afternoon, walking without a care through the garden and smiling at me when she knew I was staring at her. My life hadn't been that good for the last couple of years. It wasn't a disaster zone, but nothing had really happened that I'd remember for a long time. But now, who knew? Although the thought was already in the back of my mind that in two weeks she'd be back in New York, the next few days held real promise with someone who I already knew I had feelings for. It was exciting, and I wanted to lay awake for as long as possible to enjoy it. And with that, I promptly fell into a deep sleep. Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 01 Downstairs the tiles below the front door held no mail, which was annoying as I'd been expecting an invoice from a slow-paying company for the last few days, and after a agitated call yesterday I'd been assured that I would have it for the morning. Post was always early, usually before seven, so it looked as if I'd be calling again later in the day. The kitchen was hot and stale, and I pulled the blinds and opened the windows wide. Freak heat continuing yet again, the weather was almost getting dull now with it's constant regularity. I found the juice from the fridge and poured a generous glassful, and leant with my back against the sink and looked up at the framed photograph of myself and my Father, a picture that had been taken the previous summer on a fishing trip. My Dad was grinning and holding a large fish up for the camera; I couldn't even tell you what breed it was. I was smiling too, not because I love fishing, which is something I couldn't really care less about, not that I'd tell that to my Father. I was smiling because I was spending time with him, which is something that we rarely got to do these days. For three days we ate barbecue, drank a few beers, slept under canvas and caught up on each other's lives. Catching the fish was just a bonus. Not that I actually caught any, I just held the net. We were due to go again in a month and I was looking forward to it. But thinking about time made my thoughts inevitably turn to Natalie. I'd thought my dreams would have been filled with her during the night but if they were I remembered nothing. I couldn't believe I'd woken up feeling like hell when I was due to meet the first girl I'd gotten close to in a long time. I needed to get on if I was going to make breakfast at half-eight. The stereo I'd bought in from outside the night before sat on the shelf and I grabbed it to take to the bathroom with me, hear the news while I was in the shower. I snapped the on button and was met with nothing but a burst of static. I stopped in the doorway to the living room and twisted the tuning dial. It was possible that the weather had interfered with the reception. I worked the dial watched as the needle moved slowly up through the FM bandwidth, but all I heard was raw, harsh static occasionally interspersed with a crackle or a squelch. It was possible that the batteries were running low, but when I started the tape and heard a wailing guitar solo I knew that wasn't the case. Anyway, I'd only just bought new ones. I went back to the radio but still nothing. Nothing intelligible of any kind. I dropped the radio on the worktop and went into the front, found the remote for the television and turned on. Nothing. After a couple of attempts I threw the remote onto the couch and tried the manual control on the side of the set, and nothing happened to the twenty-five inches of blackness infront of me. The box was dead. A thought struck me, and I returned to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Inside remained in gray shadow as I swung the door wide, no light came on to flood the contents. Indeed, the only thing that was flooding was a small pool of water at the base of the fridge, a couple of small onions lying uselessly in the pool. I could already smell some of the foodstuffs starting to perish, and I closed the door quickly to keep heat out and any remaining cold in. I hadn't noticed it before, but then there was no reason that I would. Opening the fridge door was an action that I performed on autopilot. As if to confirm what I already knew I moved to the light switch and flipped it up and down several times and watched disappointedly as the bulbs failed to illuminate. So, the power was obviously off, but what about the radio. The thing was battery powered, and I couldn't work out why I wasn't getting a reception, especially as there was a decent sweep of local stations around us that broadcast clear as crystal. Even in the worse depths of winter I can get a good signal, and although the weather was unnaturally hot I had never heard of radio waves being upset by heat. I turned the set on again and was greeted with the static, then pushed the volume as high as possible, the kitchen filling with white noise as I listened for even the faintest signal. Again, nothing. It was only when I had returned the room to silence that I noticed it. I hadn't picked up on it at first, probably because I'm so used to my early morning peace. But this wasn't early morning, my watch said 8.10am. Even when I stood by the open window, hot air baking my face, it still wasn't there. I leant against the frame and strained my ears, but try as I might I couldn't hear. Outside, there wasn't a sound. I opened the backdoor and stepped out into the yard, slabs warm against the souls of my feet. The sky was the colour of blue neon used in a barsign, there was the usual lack of cloud cover, and the sun blazed it's path of brilliant destruction high and proud on the horizon. This was the same view that had greeted me and everyone else for the past few weeks. Except on this morning something was different. There really was no sound, and I mean it was real silence, not just that it was quiet. I couldn't hear any distant traffic, or a farm vehicle in a far-off field, or the humming of an aircraft in that relentless sky. There wasn't a wind, so no rustling of branches or leaves, but I couldn't hear any birds, or even the barking of the dog I'd heard a couple of times last night. And I couldn't hear people, even though at this time of day folks were heading off for work, or taking the kids to school. Woodford was a gentle place, and as I've said it was quiet at the best of times, but silent? No. There wasn't one single sound in the air. I walked quickly to the end of my garden, past the pines and the willows to the same spot where I'd stood with Natalie last night, overlooking the fields. I looked towards the main road that was away across the valley, I road which I struggled to hear but could see clearly, especially on clear mornings. It's a highway that connects two of the larger towns which span my small community. At any time the road remains busy, but in the morning it's heavy with commuters and truck-drivers. I get a good view of it from my office window and I can look out and always see a vehicle on it of some kind. But although I stood for longer than a minute, my hands gripping the fence and my eyes unblinking, I never saw anything move on the road at all. Just then a sharp and unwanted stab of panic hit me in the gut and I returned quickly back towards the house in a half-jog, picked up pace as I went through the kitchen and living room and almost burst through my front door. Everything seemed to be in order. My motorcycle was parked at the top of the driveway and the front lawn was a deep green rectangle surrounded with bushes. The front wall, carefully built from reconditioned bricks that I had paid a good sum of money for stood separating my garden from the sidewalk and the street. A street in which no traffic passed and no one moved. I ran down the drive and into the middle of the street, sweating now and not just from the heat, my sweatpants sticky against my legs. I shielded my eyes from the glare and looked left and right along the main road that ran through Woodford Bridge. I looked at the other houses that stood just like my own; neat, tidy, an almost perfect picture of suburban calm that I occasionally felt out of place in but that you can see in small towns and villages across the entire country. Everything was in place, except that I could neither see nor hear anyone. It was only as I was knocking sharply on the front door of the Edgecome house that I realized I was half-naked and frankly looked like shit, but I didn't care. I just needed to see that Natalie was okay, and then I could wake up from this confusing and scary dream and have a good day with her. There was no reply, and I twisted the doorhandle but it was locked. Of course it was, Natalie was in a strange place and a strange house, and a girl from New York City knew better than to leave her doors open. They had double locks on everything back there. Doing my best to keep calm I walked quickly around the house, sharp gravel digging into my feet, and tried the back door. That too was locked, and there wasn't any sign of her when I looked through the windows into the kitchen. The room was neat, there were some dry groceries on the table that I guessed she must have bought, and some wildflowers in a vase on the windowsill that probably came from the garden. The house hadn't been lived in for a long time, and now it had signs of life. That confirmed that at least I hadn't imagined a beautiful actress moving in next door to me and kissing me on my couch last night. Except where the hell was she now? She'd said breakfast at 8.30, at that time was fast approaching. She'd at least be up, and probably in the kitchen. But it seemed that just like everyone else in the idyllic place where I lived she had disappeared, Everyone was gone, except for me. What the in the name of God was going on? I returned to the main street, which was still silent. If a dozen or so of my neighbours were to suddenly look up I was going to feel like the world's biggest fool, but I didn't care anymore. If I had to move from embarrassment I would, but I had to do it. The panic had now risen to my throat and a headache was pounding in my temples. So I shouted, loudly, and my voice sounded hollow and dead in the silence and the stillness of the air. I waited for a reply. Nothing. Still I waited, holding my breath and feeling the blood pound in my veins. I opened my mouth to shout again. 'David!' My breath shot out of me in a strangled cry as I jumped at the voice to the right of me, a voice that sounded as scared as mine but one I still recognized. 'Holy Christ,' I gasped. Natalie threw herself into my arms and I swear that I have never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life. She gripped me tightly as we hugged and a trail of sweat ran down into my eyes. Her hands were hot against the bare skin on my back. 'I'm glad to see you,' I said, shocked at how my voice trembled so badly as I spoke. 'You are?' She said against my chest, and then looked up at me. I could see the fear in her eyes and that scared me too. Up until that moment I would have been able to convince myself that this was a dream, but seeing Natalie confirmed that this was really happening. At least I wasn't alone anymore. 'Where have you been?' she said 'I came to your house to find you, and when you weren't there I was so worried.' 'I've been there. Just in the backyard and then I was looking for you at your place. When did you come around?' 'About an hour ago. I banged on your door, even shouted your name a few times.' She reached up and kissed me softly. 'I thought I was going out of my mind.' I frowned. 'I was in bed, I overslept. Can't believe you didn't wake me up.' 'I thought you'd gone, just like everyone else.' She moved out of our embrace but still held tightly to my hand. I could feel her fingers trembling slightly, and my heart went out to her as I realized just how scared she must have been. 'No, I'm right here,' I said. This morning she now wore jeans and a white vest-shirt, and even though she looked angry and confused she was still gorgeous. 'It's going to be okay.' 'The phone is dead in the house,' she said, 'and there's no signal or connection on my cellphone.' I hadn't thought to check the phone but I could guess the situation. 'The power is down as well. I haven't got a clue what's going on, Natalie. Something is very wrong.' She laughed, nervous and without humour. 'No shit. It's not everyday I wake up thinking I'm the last person on Earth.' She looked along the length of the deserted street. 'I'm scared, Dave. Really scared.' 'I know, so am I. This was not the kind of morning I was expecting to have.' We both wandered out into the middle of the road. An avenue of trees lined the hot blacktop to the right, leading away and into the centre of the village. To the left the houses on either side filtered out as Woodford came to an end, and the road disappeared around a long, sweeping curve. We strained our eyes in the direction of the village, and although I saw the same houses and parked cars as I always did, I saw no sign of life. 'I've taken a walk up there, and there's nothing,' Natalie said. 'I went as far as the store and then turned around and came back, and that's when I found you.' 'And you saw no-one, no life at all?' She shook her head. 'There's nothing there,' she answered, her voice sounding very small. 'So what do we do now?' 'I don't know. I feel like we're on one of those home video shows. You know, the kind where a trick is played on someone and just as they're losing their temper someone leaps from behind a tree to surprise them.' 'Great, let someone leap,' she said, 'and as soon as I see them I'm gonna punch them in the mouth.' I stared at her for a second, and she smiled at me. 'Sorry, I'm not usually overcome with violent intentions. It's just that I'm hot and confused and scared and I want to know what's going on.' 'It's all right,' I said, and kissed her forehead. 'Believe me, I'm feeling the same way.' We both stood silently for a few moments and I continued to look around, peering at houses to see if a face would appear at a window, a dog would run across the street, even a bird land on a tree branch. I saw nothing, only a regular street that happened to be completely deserted except for me and Natalie. 'We just can't be the only two people here,' I whispered. 'It's impossible.' 'Is it? There's no-one down there.' She pointed to the street. 'No adults, children, nothing. It's quarter to Nine. This place should be alive with people now, shouldn't it? And it's not just people you live with. Have you seen a paperboy? Or even a single car passing through on it's way to-' 'Okay, I get it,' I snapped, panic rising once again. This time it took longer to control. I swallowed, feeling a lump in my throat like a pebble in a shoe. 'I'm sorry, honey. It's just I'm the kind of person that needs logical answers to logical questions, and right now I can't come up with anything.' 'So what now?' 'Well, if you've been down to the store then you've walked pretty much the whole length of this place,' I said. 'So if no-one will come to us we'll just have to go to someone.' I led her by the hand up my drive towards the house. 'Just let me get something better on and we'll take a trip along the road until we find something. The nearest town is Shelby, and it's only five miles away.' I ran inside the house and upstairs, and found jeans and a shirt plus a pair of oilskin boots. Within a minute I was closing the front door behind me and walking back towards Natalie, where she stood looking small and beautiful against my Bike. 'You don't mind riding pillion?' I said. She shook her head. 'No. I've been on a motorcycle a couple of times. In the desert out in Israel.' 'Sounds like good fun.' She shook her head slightly, as if to clear her thoughts, and looked at me. 'It is. More fun than I'm having at the moment.' 'I'm sure there's some logical explanation,' I said gently, 'and after we've found it I'm going to bring you back here and cook you the best breakfast you've ever had.' She kissed me, her mouth open and her tongue between my lips. 'When we get back here I'm taking your shirt back off and I'm getting naked with you for the rest of the day,' she whispered. 'You can forget breakfast.' I eased my leg across the Harley and slid into the warm leather of the seat. The motor rumbled into life on the first turn of the key, the deep throb of valves and cylinders making a noise that was comforting. It was something I was used to, and the way things had been shaping up since I'd been awake I needed all the normality I could get. 'Get on,' I motioned with a nod, 'and let's go find some answers.' Natalie straddled the bike behind me and settled into the seat. Her thighs gripped against me and her chest pushed into my back, her hands slid around my waist. She kissed the back of my neck, and the thought of us making love later that day was a thought I needed to hang on to. I took a deep breath and kicked the bike off the stand, balanced the weight and slotted the machine into first gear. I eased out of the drive onto the deserted street and turned left, headed East as we had agreed, out of the village into the open countryside that separated Woodford Bridge from Shelby. We'd find something this way, it was inevitable. We did find something. And to this day I still can't really believe it. To be continued next month... Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 02 Part II - The End Of The Road The wind was cool against my face as I gave the engine gas and we accelerated away from my house. Natalie had a tight hold around my waist and I kept the speed down to thirty, knowing how powerful and fast the bike was and not wanting to scare her. I also stayed slow so I could see everything that was around me. I'd ridden this stretch of road thousands of times and yet on that morning it seemed like it was my first time. It seemed like I was looking at Woodford for the first time as well. I'd never seen the place I called home deserted, and yet that's exactly what it was. There wasn't a soul. It was less than a quarter mile to when properties ended and the open country began, and the road dipped down a long, gradual decline, a strip of perfect black tarmac stretching out before us with a white broken line running the centre. Away to the right was the Mackenzie farm which virtually marked the boundary of this end of the village. The three-story farm building was Dutch-colonial, whitewashed timber almost luminous in the morning light, with a collection of barns and outbuildings spread around it. I slowed as we passed but saw no-one working in the yard or moving around the sheds, thought about going up to the house and then picked up speed again. The next time I saw people I needed it to be a lot of them, and Shelby would be able to offer that. I noted that the fields were empty as we hit the bottom of the incline and started back up the other side. Crops were still wilting in the heat, acres of corn were ready for harvesting and the pasture land was as lush as the summer allowed, but nothing grazed in the meadows. Pete Mackenzie kept five hundred-plus milking cattle, but not one of them was to be seen. I took a look back over my shoulder to see if Natalie was okay. Her hair whipped around her face and she gave me an unconvincing smile, gripped on to me even harder, and like me continued to scan the surrounding area for anything moving. Out of the small valley we'd descended the road rose sharply, and I gunned the throttle, picking up momentum as the exhaust of the bike chugged behind us. At the top of the bank was a small wood, really nothing more than thick groups of trees for a few hundred yards, but the sun was blotted out behind the canopies as we approached and first the road and then we were smothered in shadows. Just before the road plunged through the natural tunnel of foliage I drew the Harley to a stop, swung it off the road onto the dusty earth at the edge and turned ninety degrees so we were across the tarmac. If a car had come speeding out over the crest of the hill we'd have been sitting in the firing line, but I didn't really care. I'd be more than happy to dive for safety if someone decided to pay us a visit. I balanced the bike and looked back along where we'd just come from. At the few houses, the many fields, the single main road that led into and through Woodford Bridge. I could even see the meadow that bordered the back of my house. Above the rooftops peeked the spire of the church that was at the centre of the village. 'There's no one there,' said Natalie, her voice in my ear. 'We've only seen one side of it,' I replied. 'We can only see one side of it from here. There must be eighty, maybe a hundred houses in total, plus the store and the little school.' I looked over my shoulder directly at her. 'We're here. Others will be too.' I tried to sound convincing and probably failed, judging by the look on her face. 'Why hasn't a car come past us, Dave?' she asked, although I don't really think she was looking for or even expecting an answer. Just as well, because I had no idea. But I did know that as every minute passed I started to feel an increasing swell of dread spiraling in my stomach. 'Let's keep going,' I said, and she held me tightly once more as I wheeled the bike back onto the road and headed into the trees. The sun left us completely as we passed under the canopies of tightly knit branches, although here and there shafts of light burst through like golden fountains and dappled the road like torch beams. The gloom of the wood seemed to be a little disconcerting, probably for no other reason than it matched the mood I was in, and I hit the throttle, eager to be back in the brightness of the morning. I also knew that when we emerged the country opened up before us, and on a day like this the view could be seen for many miles. The open road, farmland, a gas station a mile or so on, and then clearly in view, the town of Shelby. Few thousand population, a handful of bars, a rundown bowling alley and a cinema with one screen run by a manager who still wore a dinner jacket and dicky bow. Small town USA, to be sure. But surely filled with people. The light increased as the trees thinned and the tunnel-like wood came to an end. I squinted as the sun hit me full in the face as we emerged, and wish I'd had the sense to wear shades. My vision adjusted as I blinked, and then I thought that the light was playing tricks on me. I blinked again, rapidly trying to clear the mist that must have been clouding my sight, but when nothing happened I realized I was actually seeing what was there. I backed-off on the throttle instantly and applied the brakes, perhaps a little harder than I meant to, and I felt Natalie's fingers dig into me as she held on while the back wheel drifted away from us. And then we were stopped, and her hands continued to hold me, and I knew that she was seeing exactly what I was. 'What is that?' Said Natalie, her breath fast on the back of my neck. We should have easily been able to see Shelby from our vantage point. It was close, just a few miles away as I've said. At night from the crest of this bank the town lights looked like a hundred stars had dropped from the sky and settled on the earth. Now though, it wasn't there. Well, that wasn't strictly true. I couldn't swear that it wasn't there, because I couldn't see it. I Couldn't see past the shimmering haze that filled the view. It looked like a bank of mist had settled across the land in a line, from as far left to right as I could see, blocking land, road, everything. 'What is that?' Natalie repeated. 'I don't know. It looks like Fog, or a heat haze.' That was more than possible. The weather had been scorching hot for the last few weeks, and I'd often seen the air wobble and distort as the heat affected the atmospheric pressure. It's the kind of effect that at extreme conditions causes a mirage in the desert. You read old stories of explorers running towards a lake in the middle of the Sahara and diving into nothing more than sand. But this was no desert, this was middle-America, and I'd never heard of a haze that was so big, or that blocked whatever was behind it. I got the bike moving again but this time kept the speed well below twenty, the engine virtually ticking over in first gear. The shimmering air was at least two miles in front of us, and didn't appear to be getting closer, but I still wanted to be cautious. We passed a field of yellow rapeseed, the flowers in full bloom, brilliant and heavy with pollen, and then we came upon the gas station. A typical country place, independently owned and proud of it, fighting off the global corporations that would have loved to replace it's ramshackled old pumps and workshop with a modern overhaul. It was run by one family and Jim Callan and his son Jeff still worked there everyday, and they were good people. Jim suffered with arthritis and mostly kept himself behind the counter in the little store, selling brake fluid and passing the time with whoever was passing, and Jeff pumped gas and worked on whatever was up on ramps in the shop. Last year I'd had a problem with the bike and Jeff had fixed it within hours, got her purring better than ever, and the charge was very reasonable. He had a lopsided grin and a string of bad jokes, and everyone instantly took a liking to him. This time of the morning the station would have been alive with activity, a radio blaring out across the dirt forecourt, Jeff wandering around in his faded overalls. But the place was deserted, even though the workshop doors were open and I could see tools scattered around the back wheels of a Ford pickup that had seen better days. Through the dusty windows of the store I could see shelves, coffee machine, even a calendar on the back wall, but no Jim. I stopped the bike and looked for a minute, then called both of their names, but neither of them appeared around a corner or stepped from the shadows. I sighed, pulled back onto the road and kept going. I glanced back over my shoulder, and Natalie gave me the sweetest smile, full of hope and sadness, and I yearned to find someone just to make her feel better, let alone myself. The thought of- 'Car!' I jumped as she shouted in my ear. 'Where? I don't-' 'There, look! Infront of us.' And she was right. The road was flat and straight before us, leading directly to the shimmering air, and I'd been so preoccupied with thoughts about what it could be that I hadn't seen the vehicle that was parked at an angle in the middle of the road. I looked harder and saw another one, a four-by-four, again parked at a weird angle. And then, although I had no idea who it was, I saw someone. A figure moved around the car. I didn't know if it was man or woman, and I didn't care. I heard Natalie's breath quicken against me and I knew she had seen it as well. 'Hold on,' I said, and twisted the throttle back towards me. The bike roared and leapt forward, eating up the road markings like a hungry wolf, and Natalie's hands clutched against my stomach. The vehicles quickly enlarged themselves in my vision, and I saw a third car, and then mercifully a couple more people. I'd had this horrible, doom-laden feeling that the two of us were the only people left on Earth, but now that wasn't true. Everything was going to be all right. Except, even as I thought it, I knew it wasn't true. Because although there were people, living and breathing, there was also that huge bank of heat haze. I slowed the bike as we approached, and it was obvious even from the initial view that this was no mirage, no hot air. I didn't have a clue what it was. Infact I don't think I'd ever seen anything like it before in my life. We were close to the three cars and what looked like five people who stood solidly in the middle of the road, and at the sound of the bike's engine first one and then all of them looked around at us. There was Marcia, a middle-aged, plumpish woman who lived up the street from me and who I never usually saw out without a crowd of small dogs around her stocky ankles. Two guys both wearing shirts and ties stood next to each other. One was Steve Marsellus, around my age but with hair buzzed short against his scalp which made him look about eighteen. The other guy I didn't recognize, but his tie was pulled loose against his open collar and he was the colour of rain clouds. Jeff from the garage was there, wearing his usual trademark overalls. His permanent grin was nowhere to be seen, but he raised his hand as I pulled the bike to a stop behind the four-by-four. The fifth member of the group, Jessie Phillips, a nice kid in her late teens who lived almost opposite my house, saw me and gave a small wave. She was leaning on the hood of the car. Her arms were folded around herself in some form of thin embrace and her hair was tied back and away from her pretty face. Her eyes were as brown and wet as riverbed stones, and I could see streaks of tears against her cheeks. I kicked the Harley up onto the stand and climbed off quickly, feeling the shaking in my legs as I did so, before helping Natalie off. She kept her grip on my hand as she stood next to me. 'You okay?' I said. She shook her head. 'No, I'm not. What is that?' Her voice was trembling. Together we took a few slow steps towards what was blocking the road and then stopped. Jeff watched us for a moment, possibly to gauge our reaction, and then he turned back to look at it. Trouble was, I didn't really know what I was looking at. It looked almost like a waterfall that had been put into reverse. It rippled as it rose up straight from the Earth, a huge wall that went up towards the ultramarine sky. It was clear yet you couldn't really see through it, looked a little like clear paste or gelatine in a bowl. I could make out shapes behind it, but they were so blurred I couldn't see what they were. The best way I can describe it is a bank of Energy that rippled and wobbled. I say a waterfall, because it looked like flowing water, and yet there wasn't any dampness over the road before it, and there was no sound. That was probably the most disconcerting thing. Something on this scale, curving away from us as far as the eye could see and reaching perhaps a height of one hundred feet, the noise should have been tremendous. The power used to push this thing skywards should have been deafening. Yet as the seven of us stood looking at it you could have heard a pin drop. Natalie's hand gripped mine tightly, and I could feel a layer of sweat between our palms. I took a couple of steps forward until I was standing beside Jeff, and I looked at his deeply tanned face. His cap was pushed back on his head as he leant back and stared at the wall. When he spoke he didn't look at me. 'Any ideas?' I shook my head. 'No. I've never-' my voice faltered and I stopped. 'I don't know what I'm even looking at. How long have you been here?' 'About a half-hour. Steve and his buddy where here when I pulled up. Then Marcia, Jessie, now you.' 'Seen anyone else?' 'No. No-one else.' 'What about your Dad?' He looked directly at me, and I saw fear in his eyes. 'No. I don't know where he is. Excuse me a minute.' He span quickly on his heel and walked back to his truck, his head down. I watched him for a moment and then turned back to Natalie. Light was flickering across her face and I realized that it was coming directly from the energy infront of us, and I thought of rippling water again. 'Hey.' 'What,' she answered in no more than a whisper. 'It's going to be all right, I swear.' I kissed her ear. 'I'm going to take a closer look.' 'Don't. Stay here.' I pointed at Steve Marsellus and the guy I didn't know, who were no more than a few feet from the wall. 'Look, they're okay. I just want to see what it is. I'll be careful, I promise.' I kissed her ear again and she reluctantly let go of my hand. My heart was thudding as I took one slow step after another towards the wall. As I got closer I expected to feel heat, but with the exception of the sun it was cool. The energy, plasma, whatever the hell it was still rippled and shook, but it was impossible to tell how thick it was, or what was on the other side. I thought I saw a shape move until I realized that it was nothing more than my own image in some form of murky refection. So strange, and as I said to Jeff, like nothing I'd ever seen before. Now I was only five or six feet away, and I could see that the wall itself rose directly out of a split in the ground. It was as if a huge knife had carved a groove across the road and the land beyond and released this phenomena from the bowels of the earth. I'd seen footage on TV of the aftermath of earthquakes where the earth had been ripped apart in great jagged lines, but this was totally different. This was a neat, deep cut, like a surgeon slicing through skin. I followed it's path away to my left, saw it run through a fence that separated the road from a field, the fencing wire disappearing neatly into the wall, and looked as it curved away across the land. The energy continued to rise powerfully upwards along it's length, never faltering, and without a break. I turned around. Jeff was sitting in his truck, a CB radio mike in his hand but nothing more than Static coming out. Natalie was looking small and lonely, her eyes on me. Jessie had started to cry again, her gentle weeping echoing exactly how I felt. 'Okay,' I said. 'Does anybody have any idea what is going on?' As soon as I said it I knew it was a pointless question. Of course they didn't. They had no more idea than I did. Steve loosened his tie fully, balled it up and stuffed it in the pocket of his slacks. 'All I know is I woke up this morning with no power and no-one around except Jack here.' At the mention of his name Jack raised a hand but kept quiet. He was still a distinct shade of gray and looked as if he was about to collapse at any time. 'We got in the car and started to drive, and ended up at the end of this road.' For the first time Marcia spoke, her voice shrill and full of panic. 'Where is everyone though? Is this it?' 'It can't be,' replied Steve, and he looked at me hopefully. 'You seen anyone else?' 'No.' I shook my head and swallowed hard. 'We thought it was just the two of us.' 'Have you tried the other way out of Woodford?' 'Not yet. We came straight here. But Natalie walked from my place as far as the store, and she didn't see anyone.' At that point Jack threw up, gasping as cramps hit his stomach and whatever he had eaten in the last few hours splattering onto the hot tarmac of the road. I felt bile rise in my throat and turned away, closing my eyes and rubbing my damp palm across my forehead. When I looked again Jack was wiping his face with a large off-white handkerchief. 'Sorry about that,' he said apologetically, trying to smile at all of us at once. No one smiled back, and Jessie's sobbing became louder. I started towards her but Natalie laid a hand on my arm and stopped me, then quickly walked over to the hood of the car where she leant and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and hugging her close. Jessie cried against her, and when Natalie looked back at me, rocking the girl she didn't know in her arms and with tears in her own eyes, my heart went to her. And I knew that standing around here would achieve nothing. Jeff came back from the cab of his truck, loudly cursing that he could find nothing on his radio, either on the short or longwave bands. The seven of us got together in a tight group, Natalie still comforting Jessie, and Steve passed around a bottle of water that had been heating up rapidly in the front seat of his car. We were all hot and scared and the water didn't last long, and after Jeff had finished it he twisted the plastic container around in his calloused hands he looked up once more at the energy wall. 'This thing, whatever it is, goes up high. But there is a top to it.' He pointed and we all looked. The shaking plasma rose for perhaps eighty, maybe ninety feet, several stories in height, but then above it was the blue sky, clear and unchallenged by any force. 'So something can get over it. A plane or helicopter. Something to rescue us.' 'What if there is no-one?' Marcia's hands were trembling as she held the lapels of her cardigan around herself. I wondered how she could stand wearing something like that in this weather. 'Shut up,' said Jeff, but there was no malice in his tone. 'Of course there's someone. People always get rescued.' 'Sure,' said Jack, still wiping his face with his handkerchief. 'I'm sure the army will be coming any minute now. Heard a plane have you?' 'No, but that doesn't mean a damn thing.' 'Like hell. I mean, we're like the only people left. Perhaps anywhere.' 'You can't just jump to conclusions straight away.' Jack snorted. 'Here's a my conclusion. We're fucked. Look at this thing.' He waved a hand at the silent wall that held us trapped. I held my hands up between the two of them. 'All right, shut up. This isn't helping us, guys. Jessie doesn't need this, she terrified.' The girl still rested her head on Natalie's shoulder, and she looked at me with eyes that were raw and swollen. 'Christ, I'm terrified. We all are. But arguing or making rash assumptions won't do us any good. Okay Jack?' I put a hand on his thin shoulder, felt bone and sweat beneath the cotton of his shirt. 'There's a lot we can do before we start to panic.' Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 02 'We don't know it's just us here,' said Steve. 'People might have gone the other route. That way may even be clear.' 'It probably is,' I said, 'and we need to check. Need to check Woodford and find everyone that we can. For all we know people might have seen this and gone home hiding, think they're completely alone. We need to let them know that we're alive.' 'And just because this road is blocked, doesn't mean they all are,' Natalie said. 'That's right,' I replied, giving her a smile. 'Unless this, whatever it is all around the village, then we can find a way out. That also means someone can find a way in.' Jessie had finally stopped crying, although her voice still shook with tears when she spoke. 'My parents are gone, my Brother has gone. Even Chuckie's disappeared.' 'Who's Chuckie?' Natalie said. 'My dog. My little dog. All my family has gone.' She coughed against the back of her hand. 'Does that mean they're dead, Dave?' The thought of death had been trying to push it's way into my mind, and I in turn had been trying to push it back again. But now the word was out in the air, and it couldn't be ignored. Was everyone except for us dead? Every human, every animal, everything? They couldn't be, it wasn't possible. Wasn't possible that I had gone to bed late at night and woken up the next morning alone in the world except for a beautiful girl that I had just met and the five other people around me. Couldn't be dead. But then, where were they?' 'Jessie, I don't know,' I said truthfully. 'You know as much about what's happening as I do. But we'll try and find out, okay?' She shook her head and Natalie squeezed her hand. Steve had turned away from the group and was concentrating once more on the energy wall. 'This might sound like an obvious thing to say, but why don't we just try and get through this?' he said. 'I mean, we haven't a clue what it is, but it's not harming us.' 'So far,' Jeff said. 'I don't trust something I don't know.' 'I'll accept that. But does anyone else think this looks like water? Like thick water?' 'It does,' Natalie said, and pushed herself up from the hood of the car. 'But it obviously isn't.' Steve turned around and looked at her, let his eyes travel up and down the length of her, and I didn't like the way he did it. If Natalie saw she ignored it. 'I think we should try and find another way out before we do anything rash.' 'She's right, Steve,' I said. 'It looks dangerous. Look at what it's done to the earth.' He took another step towards the shaking wall, and now was only a few feet away. 'Yes, but there's no heat, nothing. It's not like this is volcanic lava, is it? This is the opposite, clear and cool. We're scared there's no way out of here, but we might just be able to go through it.' 'I don't know about you, but I'm more frightened about the fact that nearly everyone in this place has vanished,' Natalie said. 'This thing has obviously got something to do with that. As far as I'm concerned that makes it very dangerous.' There was a mutter of agreement from Marcia, who appeared as if she was about ready to collapse at any moment. I looked at Jeff, and although he remained silent I could see the concern about the whereabouts of his Father written all over his face. Once more Steve looked Natalie's lean figure up and down. 'I'm sorry, but who are you?' Natalie's eyes flickered and she looked down at her feet for a moment. 'I'm a friend of David's,' she said softly. 'I've moved here for just a couple of weeks, and-' 'Well I've lived here for nine years, honey.' Jeff chuckled and shook his head. 'What the heck difference does that make?' 'I think it gives me more say about what happens than some newcomer.' 'Perhaps if we were debating ways to raise funds for the church,' Jeff said. 'Maybe you've noticed that this isn't a normal kind of morning, Steve? Or a normal kind of situation.' I could see the anger flush across Steve's face. 'I just want to do something, that's all,' he said. 'Standing around here isn't achieving anything.' 'We all do,' I said. 'But let's just take it easy, come up with a plan, and go from there. Okay man?' He let out a deep breath, as if he'd been holding it for several minutes, and looked at me with a hollow expression. 'All right. I'm cool.' He once more looked at Natalie, this time apologetically. 'I'm sorry.' She smiled. 'It's fine.' I turned to look at her, and she looked back at me through a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. I thought of the first time I'd seen her walking through her back yard yesterday afternoon. If I'd known that I'd wake up to this nightmare I would have been happy to stay locked in the previous day forever. Our first kiss now seemed like it came from another decade. I was about to say something when I saw her eyes widen. Her shout was loud in the still air. 'No, wait!' I looked around at her cry and saw Jack mere inches away from the wall, the reflections from it playing shadows across his body, his hand raised before him. He looked back at us over his shoulder, red patches of colour on his hollow cheeks. 'It's okay guys. I think this is pretty harmless.' Steve tensed himself but before he could move Jack pushed his finger against the wall of silent energy. Jack froze as he touched it, and so did we, as if we were a still photograph taken from some cheap action movie. And then everything seemed to happen very quickly. Jack's finger pushed into the wall like it was spongy rubber, and in return the wall spat out a shard of energy which covered his hand. I see his body go rigid, almost into a spasm, and then his fingers started to disintegrate, started to melt like soft wax held over a hot flame. He let out a terrible high pitched wail which split the silence and made us all jump, and then his body was lifted and thrown backwards to the ground, his head cracking sharply against the road. And his hand was still melting. Jessie screamed and her hands flew over her mouth as Jeff leaped towards him, skidding down on his knees next to Jack's twitching body. He put his hands over his chest and held him down, shouted for us to help him. I got on the other side of him and felt my stomach churn as I looked at Jack's hand, which was now almost gone. There was white stump of bone and blood flowed out in a rapidly spreading pool of crimson on the tarmac. And still the limb continued to melt, that's the only way I can describe it. It looked like acid was eating away flesh and muscle. Now his wrist was gone and his forearm was starting to go. 'A belt. Use your belt,' Jeff shouted hoarsely, and I scrabbled with the buckle and pulled my belt free from my jeans. 'Get it round his bicep, quickly,' he added, and I twisted the leather around Jack's shirt between his shoulder and elbow and pulled hard, cinching the belt as tight as I could. His muscle bulged out on either sides of the tourniquet, and I tugged it until there was no slack at all. I allowed myself to look again at the destroyed limb, and there were spots infront of my eyes as I watched a tattoo of a bird on Jack's arm disappear as the flesh fell away. His body stopped convulsing as his head slumped against the road, unconscious with the pain. Steve dropped to his haunches by me, his face ashen. 'Is it stopping? Jesus Christ, what the fuck is that thing?' His breath came in harsh gasps. 'Is it stopping?' He repeated, and laid a hand on my forearm. I shook it off, still gripping the belt tight. 'Christ. If I hadn't had the idea to-' 'Yeah, it's stopping,' Jeff said, cutting him off quickly. 'Shut up, Steve. Blaming yourself won't help.' He bent his head to Jack's face and paused, his hand on his chest. 'He's in shock, but he's breathing. We need to get him inside right now. If he-' This time is was Jeff's turn to be interrupted as what sounded like a heavy sack hit the floor. Natalie called my name and I looked around to see Marcia twisted awkwardly on the road, one of the single white lines on the tarmac running out from under her back. I grabbed Steve's hands and put them on the tourniquet, pushed myself up and ran over to Marcia on shaking legs. Natalie was already on her knees, pushing the hair away from Marcia's eyes as she held her head in her hands. 'She just fainted I think,' I said, as I noticed her eyelids flutter, and then lazily open. She looked up at me, and then Natalie, who smiled down at her. 'It's okay, you just passed out for a moment,' Natalie said, still stroking her fingers across Marcia's brow. 'Take it easy for a while.' She looked up at me, dark eyes wide and full of fear. 'This is horrible, Dave. I'm so frightened.' 'Me too.' I squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek, then turned to Jeff. 'How is he?' 'The bleeding's stopped, but he's in a bad way.' 'We need to get away from here, Jeff, get inside.' 'Let's get back to the garage. I got some first-aid stuff in the workshop. Not much though.' 'Better than nothing.' Marcia had sat up and was looking more together. Natalie asked her if she was all right and she shook her head slowly, and between us we helped her to her feet. I left Natalie holding her while I went back to Jack's unconscious body. Between us we lifted him carefully, his ruined arm laying across his chest, the sun glinting off a knuckle of bone that poked out of the tattered flesh below his elbow, and carried him to the flatbed of Jeff's pickup, laying him carefully on an old tarpaulin. Steve jumped up in the back and supported his head, then looked back at the wall with unblinking, hollow eyes. Natalie walked Marcia over to the truck and sat her in the passenger seat, and Jessie climbed onto the tailgate of the pickup, her legs hanging over the edge. I asked her if she was all right, and she nodded, wiped her sleeve across her eyes, gray and pretty despite her streaked makeup and tears. I slapped the back of the truck and Jeff fired the engine, swung around in quick U-turn and started back towards his garage. He gave me a raised thumb as he left and I returned it, pointed to my bike to indicate that we'd be right along behind them. I ran my hands through my hair as I crossed back towards the bike, feeling hot and trying to fight the sickness in my guts. Natalie stood next to the Harley, and as I reached her she threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I held her close and breathed in the scent of her hair and felt her heart beating against my own. 'We're in real trouble, aren't we,' she whispered. 'Yeah, I think we are.' 'How could that thing do that to his arm?' 'I don't know.' Still holding each other, we both looked at the huge, ominous wall of plasma energy that ripped itself up from the earth in silence. It towered above us, mocking us with it's power and even more terrifying now we knew what it could do. I felt Natalie shudder, despite the heat. 'C'mon, lets get back to the others,' I said, and brushed a finger over the exposed skin on her shoulder. 'You're gonna get burnt if you're not careful.' 'That's the least of my worries.' I dropped my head and kissed the reddening skin. 'We're going to figure this out,' I said, unconvinced even as I said the words. 'And you were planning on ripping my shirt off later, remember?' She turned her brown eyes back to mine and smiled sadly. 'That seems like a long time ago.' 'Yeah. It sure does, baby,' I sighed. 'Lets get out of here.' The bike started on the first kick and Natalie slid into the seat behind me. The other two cars that less than a quarter-hour before we'd been so glad to see were still angled across the road. The passenger door on Steve's Ford was still open, but that didn't matter. I had a feeling that vehicle security was going to be the last of our concerns for a while. I took one last look at the plasma wall, at the way it curved away to our left and right, and wondered if it completely surrounded Woodford Bridge, if we really were trapped like mice in a cage. I also wondered if this was happening anywhere else, if other people were missing in other communities. And then I thought of my Father, retired and living alone, becoming an old man, struggling with high blood pressure, and Josie's question asking me if everyone was dead rang clear in my mind. An icy hand gripped my heart, and when I looked at my fingers resting on the brake lever they were shaking. I gunned the throttle and got moving, away from the end of the road and back towards the garage, and as we picked up speed I could convince myself that it was simply the wind in my eyes that was the source of my tears. Darkness Comes to Woodford Bridge Ch. 02 'And also keep an eye on what's going on at this end of the road,' Jeff said, as if he was uncomfortable with the idea of just nursing Jack while all this was going on, and needed to make his role more important. 'I can see that... Well, whatever the hell it is, and if something happens I'll be the first to know.' I nodded. 'And the rest of us need to get back into Woodford, see if we can find anyone else, see if we can find a way out of here, and just try and come up with some answers about what has happened.' Everyone looked at me, and no one answered. I raised my palms out flat. 'Just shout out if anyone thinks we should do something else?' 'Have we tried to call everyone that we can?' Said Jessie. 'Phones are all dead, Electric is down.' Jeff shook his head. 'I think we're on our own at the moment.' 'What about the water, anyone checked that?' Natalie said. 'So what?' Steve answered. 'We're not going to swim our way out of here, sweetheart.' I saw a frown cross Natalie's face and just for a moment I was positive she was going to give him a mouthful back, but instead she just shook her head, and I knew that she'd weighed Steve up straight away. Accurately too, if she was thinking the same as me. 'Yes, I know that,' she said calmly, 'but if the water is off we need to think about collecting some. It's pretty damn hot out there.' 'That's right.' Jeff pointed at the can in Steve's hand. 'You can't live on Soda and beer my friend.' 'And what about when it gets dark,' said Jessie. 'No power means we've got no light.' 'Let's hope we can get this sorted out by then,' I said, trying to reassure her with a smile I wasn't too sure of myself. 'If we don't we've got a couple of generators back in the workshop,' Jeff said. 'They're old and noisy, but they still work. Run on gas, and that's something we've got plenty of. We can hook 'em up and have light at least.' 'Okay, it's starting to sound like a plan.' I said. 'I just wish we could all keep in touch. Don't suppose you've got any walkie-talkies in all this lot have you, Jeff?' I swept my hand in the direction of the store. He grinned. 'No. I had a couple of my own last year, but I threw them out with my G.I.Joes. Sorry.' 'What about cell-phones?' Natalie was pulling a little silver mobile out of her pocket and flipping the screen open. 'Phones are down,' said Steve flatly. 'Yeah, well when I tried to call home this morning there was nothing, but we might be able to call between us,' she said. 'Even if we can't call past that wall, doesn't mean we can't-' she stopped and looked up at me with the spark in her eyes that I'd seen yesterday. 'I've actually got a pretty good signal.' Jessie took out her own phone and asked Natalie for her number, then dialed it quickly. The store was dead silence for a moment, and then a quiet, three note melody began to beep from Natalie's phone. She activated it, held it to her ear and Jessie said hello. 'I can hear her fine,' she said. 'Looks like that's working.' The smile on her face remained. Jeff reached for the garage phone on a shelf behind the cash register, held the receiver to his ear and tapped the connect button several times, before slamming it back down into the cradle. 'Well, there's still nothing from this. Phone lines must run out through that wall, or whatever it is, and it's just dead. But at least we can still keep in touch in the village.' In addition to Natalie and Jessie, both myself and Steve had cell-phones. Jeff didn't, and he joked that modern technology had passed him by. He'd only just moved to CD from Eight-Track, he said. We all fed our numbers into the phones, and I gave mine to Jeff, which he placed carefully on top of the register as if it was a miniature bomb. 'What about Marsha?' Said Jessie. As we'd been talking Marsha had just sat silently, not moving, not even looking at us, just staring out of the dusty windows towards the deserted highway. Truthfully I'd forgotten all about her, I think we all had. Before I could move Natalie crossed over to her table and squatted down by her, placed a hand on her knee. After a moment Marsha looked down at her with a weak smile. 'Are you okay, Ma'am?' Natalie said gently. 'No, not really.' She patted the back of Natalie's hand and looked up at all of us. 'I'm really having a hard time with all of this,' she said. 'We all are, Marsha,' I said. 'We're all frightened, but we're going to try and sort it out. You with us?' She looked at me with tired eyes. 'I don't think I can stand. I just feel so sick.' Natalie gripped her hand. 'Don't worry about it. You can stay here where it's cool.' She looked around at Jeff. 'Can't she?' 'Yes, of course.' 'So just stay here,' she continued, 'and we'll go back to the village, find out what we can, and then come back here and tell you all about it. All right?' It was at that moment I saw the kind of girl Natalie was, and I fell for her there and then. She was sweet and kind, tough enough to shrug of the couple of wiseass comments Steve had thrown at her, and smart enough to be strong with all that had happened this morning. Despite everything my heart still beat that little faster when I looked at her or heard her voice. I just wish that our time together had been like the day before, and not the nightmare we now found ourselves in. Marcia nodded, and Natalie returned to the where we all stood. Quickly we decided what we were going to do. Steve and Jessie would ride in Jeff's pickup and Natalie and myself would take the bike. The two of us would check out houses, look for any other signs of life, and Jessie and Steve would head through the village and see if the other road led anywhere, or if that too was blocked by the wall. We'd meet back at my place, then come back to the garage. 'Keep the phones on at all times,' Jeff said, as he followed the four of us out into the relentless sun. My boots kicked up little storms of dust as I walked. 'Let's not lose any more of us.' 'We'll let you know anything that happens,' said Steve. 'And we'll be back soon.' 'Call if you need us, Jeff,' I said, as I fired the Harley into life. He nodded and Natalie gave him a small wave as she slid into the seat behind me. She held me tightly as I found first gear and pulled out onto the road, still checking for traffic out of habit, although the highway was as deserted as it had been all day. I felt Natalie's chin on my shoulder as I accelerated, and I looked in my right view-mirror and saw Jeff's beaten old truck rattle onto the road behind us, Steve gripping the wheel tightly and Jessie looking small in the passenger seat. Jeff stood on the dirt shoulder and raised his arm to us as we left him behind, and I kept watching him until he was nothing more than a dot in my mirror. Then we went over the crest of a hill and into the small wood, and he disappeared, and I had the terrible feeling that I was never going to see him again.