Black Sun by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 43

By the time Abby recovered fully, the sun had surrendered itself to the rising moon. Ryan and Abby now lay next to each other, their skin beginning to cool with the oncoming night. “Jesus Christ,” Abby began. “Why the hell is it so warm in here?” The mall seemed to be constructed of brick, steel, and should retain some degree of warmth.

“I know,” Ryan replied. “I wish there was something I could do about it. I don't want you frying to death.”

An affectionate smile came over Abigail's face as she reached out and gently stroked Ryan's face.

“You'll think of something,” she said. Ryan focused intently on discovering a solution, but the cold had numbed his mind and an answer was not forthcoming.

Ryan refused to give up, but what he needed was rest. He was with the understanding that a tired body makes a tired mind, and that the opposite was true as well. His mind began to drift into sleep as his head dropped forward as his brain tried to shut itself off for the night. Seeing his exhaustion, Abby invited him to continue lying next to her, urging him to get some sleep. They would be in the mall for the night as well as the following day and as the night air blackened, they would be on their way – after, of course, they searched the mall for anything they required. And water was always on the top of the list. Realizing there was nothing that could be done about the cold, Ryan focused on whether there might be another place in the mall that might be a bit cooler. He expected the warm air would be everywhere. But his mind had other ideas, and his exhausted brain soon became overwhelmed with the need for sleep. Ryan closed his eyes, intending to rest for only a few minutes, but when he opened them again he was surprised to find the hallway illuminated with the morning's light. Sitting up, he took a deep breath as his consciousness rose from the depths of a well-needed sleep. Searching his surroundings, he tried to orient himself to what had become a space filled with daylight. But looking to his right, he noticed an empty place where Abby had been sleeping. In a state of panic, he hurriedly stumbled to his feet, dressed himself and ran out into the hallway. With his eyes piercing the morning light, Ryan studied the length of the hallway for movement. Even a shadow might tell him where Abigail had gone. He remembered her reaction the last time they slept in a mall and how she resented being left alone. “And she doesn't like to be alone, huh?” he said. Walking a short distance, Ryan looked in several nearby stores. Most were filled with women's clothing and nightwear. Certainly, these would not be worth exploring, as lingerie was not on their list of survival resources.

The silence was deafening, but there was still no sign of Abigail. Ryan considered calling out to her, but if there were others in the mall, he might end up drawing the wrong kind of attention. Wandering the hallway further, he was startled by a crashing sound that seemed to have come from a nearby drug store. With the store's entrance in view, Ryan ran in and found a metal display lying on its side and concluding that it could have only happened one way, he walked in and quietly called out for Abigail. “Abby, stop fuckin' around,” he said. Slowly scanning the store's interior, he caught a glimpse of movement near its back wall. There was no response. “Abby, stop playing games!”

Ryan understood that she may want to help gather supplies, but he also knew that, given their situation, communication was critical.

With his eyes trained on the place where he thought he saw something move, Ryan again noticed a rounded shape slowly rise above the top of a shelf. It was Abigail. She had always been afraid of being alone and would never have wandered off. Ryan was more than a bit surprised, but was left wondering why she would do something so daring. Perhaps the heat had an unexpected effect on her. Maybe she had become disoriented and therefore might be a danger to herself. He called to her again. This time, she walked out from the back of the store eating a chocolate bar. Confounded, Ryan put a hand to her forehead, feeling for a fever. In its absence, he asked her why she left.

“I really wanted some chocolate,” she said. Ryan was dumbfounded. It seems that Abby managed to ignore her worse fear solely for the procurement of chocolate. “Chocolate,” he replied. “You wanted chocolate. Couldn’t you have woken me up, so I could go with you?” Abigail’s eyes teared up as she was overcome with guilt.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” she said. “I just wanted some chocolate.”

Ryan couldn’t help notice how childlike her response was and walking up to her, he put his arms around her as she broke into tears. This was not just about chocolate, and they had become close enough that he sensed how afraid she was. Although he understood, she needed to know that the world was no longer as safe as it once was and wandering off was always a bad idea. Looking into her tear-filled eyes, Ryan tried to comfort her, but at the same time made a request.

“Promise me you will never do that again,” he said. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened at the book store, right?” The guilt she felt, paired with the experience of being assaulted, brought on an outpouring of emotion as her tears began to soak the shoulder of Ryan’s shirt.

“It’s okay,” he said. “But I was really worried. You can’t do that again, okay?”

Abby nodded her understanding, realizing how bad things could have been if she had been discovered by anyone wandering through the mall. Under the circumstances, the absence of authority and government likely left any survivors with the opportunity to regress back to their animal nature. These people were especially dangerous, and Ryan wanted the two of them to remain unseen for as long as possible.