The Hungry Earth by Nicholas Kaufmann

Author:Nicholas Kaufmann [Kaufmann, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, science fiction
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2021-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

16.

Ralph got home late from the police station to find Debra watching the news in the living room. The worries hit him instantly: What had he missed while he was gone today? Had Darius rolled over on his own? Strung together new sounds? Finally laughed out loud? It was a daily ritual, torturing himself with these thoughts. They stuck in his mind no matter how hard he tried to shrug them off, stubborn as sticky burdock seed pods.

“Hi, baby,” he said, kissing Debra hello.

“Darius is down for the night if you want to say goodnight,” she said.

“I do.” He went into the nursery and stood over the crib. Darius was sleeping on his back, his tiny mouth open, his hands in loose fists up by his ears. Ralph smiled. He’d give anything to sleep that soundly again.

In the bedroom, he took off his uniform and placed his brass police chief’s badge in its box on top of the dresser. His sidearm went in the pistol safe next to it. When Debra got pregnant that first time, she’d insisted they get a safe for his gun, pressing the point that she didn’t want to raise a child in a house where he might accidentally come across a loaded weapon. It was clear she had the whole speech prepared, citing statistics and news stories. He didn’t have the heart to interrupt and tell her he’d ordered one already. Had ordered it, in fact, the very same day her pregnancy test came back positive.

Ralph changed into jeans and the threadbare old New York Rangers t-shirt he’d owned since college. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and joined Debra in the living room in front of the TV. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Did you eat already?” she asked. “I can heat something up.”

“I’m good. I got takeout earlier.”

“Long day?”

“You have no idea,” he said. “We took in five people today, and every one of them was acting crazy. Entering homes without permission. Chasing after folks. It’s like everyone’s lost their damned minds.”

“Five?” Debra sat up and pushed a long black braid behind one ear. “You don’t usually take in that many people in a month.”

“Don’t I know it,” he said. “Remember Walter Monahan, the green grocer?”

“Sure. I bought that bok choy from him last week.”

“He was one of them.” Ralph took a swig from the bottle, still trying to make sense of the day he’d had. “We got a call that he was wandering on Foxglove, trying people’s doors, rapping on their windows, talking crazy. Mrs. Brewer said he had a handful of dirt or dust or something that he threw right in her face. When we caught up to him, Walter wasn’t in his right mind. I’ve never seen him like that. Delirious, laughing at everything. He got violent when we tried to restrain him. He kept saying we should join him. Join us, he said. Be one with us.”

He took another drink of his beer and found he’d drunk the whole bottle without realizing it.

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