Darkness upon the Land
Chapter 9

When Reuben awakened he realized that during the night both he and Alexia had rolled over, so her back was now spooned against his stomach. When they settled in to sleep last night, he had her lie behind him on the seat while they faced the front of the truck. It was a tight fit for two people, and he figured he should be the one endangered with slipping off the front edge during the night.

As he took a minute or so to recall his dreams, he also contemplated how good a full night of sleep felt. In fact, this hard bench seat wasn’t so bad with her warm, firm body nestled in a perfect fit against his.

The impulsive notion that hit him caught Reuben off guard because he’d never thought of her in that way before. He immediately decided it was time to go outside even though it was still dark, and check on the weather conditions, among other things. He gingerly slipped out from under the blanket, but Alexia stirred before he even made it to the front of the cab.

“Something wrong?”

He wasn’t about to make a confession, but the chill of the cab increased another biological necessity. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

He pulled on his sandals and jacket, and crept outside.

The chill factor quadrupled. He guessed it was probably in the low forties, about ten or fifteen degrees cooler than normal. At least the rain had stopped a few hours ago, but the damp darkness combined with the breeze made him think twice about lingering outside. After scouting around to be sure the coast was clear, he stepped behind the truck to see to the business his bladder had become insistent about. He did contemplate moving to the front after this task in order to get out of the wind long enough to offer his morning prayer and psalm. But then he shivered, so he ditched that idea and stole back into the cab.

Reuben stopped behind the steering wheel and curled up to allow his body heat to reestablish. The blanket rustled again as Alexia sat up and pulled on her tattered jacket.

“What time is it?” She asked.

“Too cloudy to tell.”

“Well, my kidneys are floating, so I’m going out.” She began climbing between the two seats in the front.

“You’ll be sorry.”

“You’ll be sorry if I don’t.” She pulled on her sandals.

“Try to keep the screaming to a minimum.” He got the last comment as she hopped out the passenger door.

Reuben used the quiet opportunity to mutter his invocations in Hebrew. The combination of a brisk exertion with redirecting his attention helped to alleviate his earlier ardor. Last night his survival instincts had usurped his usual code of conduct, so he supposed that drive to continue the species had decided to have a shot as well, despite the fact he regarded her as the tender ward he needed to safeguard.

For some reason she seemed to resent his role of guardian. But once her mom Liana explained the situation to him, Reuben realized he’d inadvertently maneuvered himself into that task when he discovered Alexia’s ability and blabbed that fact to the girl.

He considered again how they had been fortunate enough to replace this truck unsecured. It was an older vehicle, although new enough to be dependent on the traffic control satellites to move. These manual locks had stopped being manufactured almost a decade ago, about a couple of years after the automotive industry began turning out vehicles that were solely satellite guided. Yet the truck apparently had some items of value, considering he had to move tool boxes and other gear out of the way last night to give them room in the back seat.

Somebody had been hauling this load of logs when the truck stalled, and then for some reason when that person left, he or she left the truck unlocked. Were they planning on returning shortly? And if so, why didn’t they?

He had a hunch, and didn’t relish his conclusion. Just as he realized Alexia seemed to be taking longer than usual, and he might have to figure out how to discreetly check on her, the passenger door opened and she scrambled back into the cab.

She also curled into the fetal position and wrapped her arms around her knees to clasp them to her chest. “The only advantage of in here versus out there is that it’s not windy.”

“Yeah, I’m actually rather fond of breaking wind.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He smirked. “That jacket do you any good?”

“It’s better than nothing. The clouds are breaking up. Can you see enough to figure out if we’re close to daybreak?”

“What are you in such a hurry for?” He leaned forward and gazed at the patterns of stars that could be seen through the patches of clouds. “Orion is nearing the horizon. It should be sunup within the hour.”

“I don’t see the northern lights.”

“Not right now, at least.”

“Does that mean the solar storm has stopped?”

“It means enough time has passed since the last outburst we aren’t seeing the lights right now. Whether or not that was the last outburst remains to be seen.”

A few seconds elapsed before she replied. “Outburst. There’s a word I’ve taken a disliking to.”

Reuben didn’t respond. He stared out the windshield but his mind wandered back to that evening over three years ago when he discovered what her condition was. One day this girl turned up in the residence hall, and she was also a subject of Dr. Vaughn’s. Over the first few weeks they occasionally saw each other in passing, and he sometimes casually struck up a quick conversation just to be neighborly. Neither ever volunteered what their work was with the researcher, but he noticed that her residency seemed to be long-term like his.

And then that fateful evening he happened to stand next to Alexia as they stood in line in the cafeteria. She already seemed perturbed before the cornbread muffin on her tray suddenly tumbled off and bounced against the glass display case of the serving counter.

The pane filled with spider web lines just before she dropped the tray and spun around to face the other direction. For a brief second during her pivot, while she was facing him, Reuben felt an odd, vibrational sensation. As she stood with her back to the counter, her shoulders hunched and arms crossed over her chest, Alexia was visibly flustered.

One of the servers demanded to know what she’d done to break the glass, and she was unable to answer with any cohesive responses. He added up everything that just happened and reached a conclusion of extraordinary proportions. It was easy to comprehend why she wouldn’t want to tell them the truth, so he insisted her falling tray had caused the damage. The staff accepted his explanation which was more plausible than the truth.

Afterwards, when they returned to their rooms and reached hers first, she thanked him for telling the servers how the glass broke.

“Except we know that’s not what really happened,” he replied. “But I don’t blame you a bit for wanting to keep a trick like that under your hat.”

If Reuben had kept his mouth shut, would things have turned out differently? Would he and Alexia have remained casual acquaintances? Would he instead be heading to Missouri right now, possibly in Jodi’s company initially?

For the past three years he was grateful to develop such a close relationship with Alexia’s family – well, with Liana at least. Before, he had been frustrated that in a state that touted itself as a sportsman’s paradise, his status as a minor kept him confined to the campus. And while he was keenly interested in the new terrain that was so tantalizingly close – the swamp – he was limited to media instead of getting to experience it firsthand.

But thanks to Liana’s determination that her daughter’s condition must remain a strict secret, she grilled Reuben when she was informed of his discovery. One thing led to another, and he couldn’t have been happier that he became a regular guest at Alexia’s family home out in the swamp. It was true he sometimes had to put up with her stepfather’s company, but it was because Benedict was a wealthy man that he owned all that acreage in the Atchafalaya basin.

Reuben finally had room to roam, and he did so as much as possible. Alexia started claiming that he was trying to become a “swamp-billy.”

It did seem odd to him how Liana, who was usually quite astute, wound up with Ben. Her husband took her for granted and lacked any paternal overtones toward Alexia, whose biological father had died in a car wreck before she was born.

Now he was heading south instead of north, adding around a couple of weeks to his own journey back home, but he would never trade in the past three years. His gear bag was well stocked precisely because of his hunting and fishing forays at Alexia’s home. Liana kept the pantry well stocked for her daughter’s needs, so he would be able to resupply and get even better prepared for the trek ahead of him. And besides, he had a .223 rifle at their house that he never would have been able to smuggle onto campus, and he distinctly preferred the opportunity to carry more firepower than just a slingshot.

He finally replied to her comment. “Look at the bright side.”

“What bright side?”

“We aren’t stuck out in bad weather, up to our hips in mud … oh, wait a minute.”

“You’re such a ray of sunshine.”

For over half an hour they sat, mostly in silence, and waited for the windows to their right to finally take on a gray glow tinged slightly in red. Although some warm sage tea sipped beside a crackling fire would have been quite cheerful, they settled with dried berries and cold water for breakfast. Reuben was getting heavier use from his filter straw than he had planned, since both of them had to use the same bottle now and they couldn’t boil water this morning. But hopefully they would get to Alexia’s within the next day or two and he could give the filter a proper backwash.

When she took her duffel bag outside to reorganize it and refill the water bottle, he decided to check if there was anything useful for them in the truck since it was finally light enough to see. He opened the glove box first, and found some official looking papers, a few tools, and a bottle used for prescription medicine. Reuben shook the bottle and discovered there were pills in it. He had no idea what kind of medicine it was, but figured it could prove to have some bartering value later, so he added it to his gear bag.

The chests that had been on the back seat initially didn’t seem to offer much. There were some standard wrenches and screwdrivers and the like, and a few diagnostic devices for reading and transmitting data. He suddenly realized the batteries inside those devices might still be good, and there would probably be a high demand for those. He opened them and dumped out the power cells.

He was still rummaging through the boxes when Alexia climbed back into the cab.

“Rube.” There was a tone of disapproval in her voice. “You’re pillaging.”

“Nope,” he replied while setting aside a small drill. “I’m plundering.”

“Seems to me this would still qualify as stealing.”

He thought about the conclusion he’d reached why the truck had been left unlocked. “I reckon there’s some mitigating circumstances that would exonerate me.”

“Don’t think you can lead me up the garden path with your fancy talk. Unless you leave some money or something, this still seems like stealing.”

He turned to look at her. “Money? You mean like cash?”

“Well, PIT phones don’t work anymore.”

“Yeah, cash is probably still good for tinder and toilet paper now.”

She stared back at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“No, you’re right.” Reuben closed the tool box and grabbed the handful of items he’d decided to keep. Too late he realized that in his distraction of looking for goods, he’d spoken a little too freely. “I’ll leave some cash.”

He was aware of Alexia watching him as he placed the prizes in his bag before pulling out a few bills that he tossed into the glove box.

“Oh, I get it.” She frowned slightly. “It’s easy for you now that you don’t think it has any value.”

He gazed back at her. Over the years he had observed the waning of her naivety, which was supposed to be a good thing because she had to be prepared to face the harsh realities of the world. But Reuben suspected he had contributed more than his fair share to that development.

“I didn’t say it was completely worthless.” He sensed he was about to dig himself in deeper again.

She almost glared, and he considered the possibility this truck might lose all its windows. If so, he’d better be prepared to duck.

“Yes you did, in your own words.” She swept her right arm toward the glove box. “Now you’re just trying to appease me. The only reason you’re leaving that money is because you figure it will get me to leave you alone.”

Well, in a way she nailed that one, but he didn’t see what was so wrong with his actions. “You have a point. But there’s very little we can afford to give up, and maybe I jumped to conclusions about the money.”

“The only reason you’re leaving anything at all is to pacify me. You think you can pull a fast one on me and deny what we both know you’re doing. I can’t be fooled so easily, Rube. I’m not that dumb.”

Okay, he was starting to see the light, but he kept in mind the caution about an oncoming train. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything about the money.”

“You shouldn’t have said?” Alexia stiffened, and the window of the passenger door she was standing next to made a pop sound as it shifted in its track. She shot a glare at the pane, which with a higher pop sent threatening spider web lines trailing along one side. She drew a deep breath and returned her gaze, eyes smoldering, to Reuben. Without making it obvious, he prepared to leap out the cab.

“Just because you don’t say anything about the money,” she growled, “doesn’t change the fact about what you’re doing.”

He’d better get off this track, and fast. “I’m sorry. All I can say is I’m sorry.”

Alexia continued to glare at him, but then she inhaled another deep breath and her expression softened slightly. “Then again, who can really blame you when I have these ... outbursts?” She turned away and hopped out, and slammed the door shut. The window collapsed with a ringing clatter into hundreds of tiny fragments.

He nearly made that leap for safety. The thought did occur she now owed for a broken window, but he wasn’t about to make that suggestion.

Reuben could identify with her frustration, but it didn’t help that each saw the other as being the more “normal” one. Alexia could cause objects to shake, rattle and roll while watching what she ate, but he’d trade a lifetime of junk food and scary movies to have the ability to read any form of writing he picked up. At least they were both still socially functional, which was often not the case with nonconformities as dramatic as theirs.

They finished preparing to leave, and he made it a point not to ask her if she needed anything to eat. It had been a small outburst, anyway. The breeze was stiff and still chilly, which motivated them even more to keep up a brisk pace. They had gone only about a mile down the road when the subtle whiff of something absolutely rancid occurred on the wind.

Alexia wrinkled her nose. “Is that something dead?”

He didn’t respond right away. The stench was tenuous, as though the remains of something, or somebody, had been discovered by an alligator or two that moseyed by and reduced the mound of flesh to some overlooked bite-size pieces that could be floating in the water around and underneath them. Although the odor was fleeting, it reeked beyond simple corruption.

He’d always heard that a human corpse smelled much worse than an animal carcass.

Whatever happened to the driver wasn’t caused by a human, or it would have ransacked the truck. Maybe it could have been an animal attack. Or a heart attack. Reuben wondered if the pills he’d taken from the glove box could provide an explanation.

At the risk of trying to placate Alexia, he finally replied, “It must be. But I’m not gonna spend any time trying to figure out just what it is.”