The Long Dark by B.J. Farmer (important books to read .TXT) 📗

I told Aadesh to completely shut down the truck, and we were inside in short order, the howls and calls from countless Grays muted slightly as we closed the door behind us.

***

I quickly hugged Jack and made sure to check on Avery, who was asking me question after question about Quill. I finally had to tell him to be quiet. We had things to do. “Janna wasn’t lying about the scientist.”

“Okay,” Sam said, “we got bigger problems, ‘ough, like how in the hell we gettin outta here.”

The one massive bit of luck, aside from Aadesh and Jack saving our asses, was the building the Order put us in when we arrived. The thing was made from brick, had no windows, and had a thick metal door. It was meant to be hard for us to get out of, but now it was going to be even harder for someone, including the Grays, to get in. One of the two dead guards outside had the key to the door. We, for the first time in a long time, had an actual door that locked protecting us. The highly ironic thing was, we had to leave. And fast.

“We can’t leave without the scientist. She’s too damn important.”

“We cannot leave Quill,” Avery countered, his zealotry on par with mine.

I placed my hands out in a placating manner. “Wherever the scientist is on this base, Quill will be there with her. Quill is vital in all this. The scientist needs her.”

Sam shook his head. “Our best bet is ta get in ‘at truck parked out ‘ere as fast as we can and leave. They’s thousands of ‘em Grays out ‘ere.”

Avery began to speak his mind when I told him to hold on for a second. “Sam, have you seen our getaway vehicle? The windows are busted, and, in case you didn’t know, there’s six of us now. We ain’t fitting in that little Snow Trac. There might be room for four. That’s it.”

“I say we get the girl,” Duane said. He then looked at me. “I’m sorry, William. I should--”

Completely ignoring him, I said, “I’m going to get the scientist.”

“Yeah, ta hell with Quill,” Sam said. “You doin ‘is for yourself, too.”

“Jesus, Sam, Quill is with the woman. What the hell else do you want from me?”

I heard the rattled of a pill bottle. I then saw Jack pop several oblong, white pills before saying, “As much as I’d love to, we can’t stay in here. We might as well try to do something good, I guess.”

“I ain’t tryin ta run off, boys, but I ain’t runnin into ‘is stupid-like, neither. William ain’t thankin ‘is through. ‘At’s all I’m sayin.” He lingered on me for a few long seconds, before continuing. “Ain’t got no shoes on even, and he’s goin ta take off and get ‘is damn scientist, who he ain’t never seen. Jesus, Humphrey Bogart, you gonna get yourself killed. If we go with you, we dyin too.”

“For fuck’s sake, Sam, I’ve kept us alive this entire goddamn time.” I limped over to him, my face no farther away than a couple inches. “You saw what happened when we did things yours and Duane’s mother fucking way.”

Sam was about ready to throw a punch when Aadesh stepped between us. “If de sciendisd can fix dis, why would we nod find her. Dis is all I am saying. Id does nod seem wise do leave her in de hands of dese people. William could be off his rocking chair, bud he is nod as crazy as dey are.”

“Well, the only damn problem is, she part of the Order, Aadesh. You thank she goin ta help us?”

A took a couple steps back from Sam. “She’s better in our hands than Janna’s.”

“’At might be the case. I just don’t see ‘is goin anywhere but bad.”

I looked around the room. “I don’t have all the answers. I do know something, though. Our old-world way of thinking is over. I was a second away from being shot dead out there.” I switched glances between Jack and Aadesh. “Which one of you two flew that drone into Janna’s face?”

“Dad was being me,” Aadesh said.

“Did you ever think you’d have to do something like that?”

He shook his head that he did not.

“What about you, Jack? You killed those two guards, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The same,” I said. “Things have changed, and we have to change with them. Whether we like it or not, it’s kill or be killed. There can’t be another Toolik, where we assume the best. We’ll never see the end of this if we don’t change our way of thinking.”

Avery snapped his fingers and looked at the floor as he said, “You wanted to kill Quill. Intellectually, I understand why you thought that necessary.” He snapped his fingers ten times before continuing, “She posed a threat. If you had summarily killed her as you wanted, we would have never known who she really was.”

“I just gotta know you can pull it back when the time comes, son. We can’t kill everbody,” Sam interjected, a tinge of sadness in his voice. “I just can’t be part of ‘at.”

“I’ll take that under advisement. Now let’s get ready.”

Author’s note:

I really enjoyed writing this book. But as a new writer, I’m still learning the ropes, so to speak. I hope to get better and better at building a story, characterization, creating tension, and Jesus, all things writing. I’m quite sure I will fail along the way – quite sure some of what I’ve written has been kind of a freaking fail.

Some of the feedback I got from the last book was I needed more action. While I would never write something into a story where it didn’t belong – like trying to force action into a story just for the sake of action – I understand many people in this genre, including me, expect certain things.

Oh, one other thing before we go on. The cursing. Yeah,