The Darkness After by Scott B. Williams

Author:Scott B. Williams [Williams, Scott B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612432090
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Published: 2013-06-17T05:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Mitch seemed almost elated as they shoved off from the sandbar under the bridge in an aluminum rental canoe, a ticket back to his home that would be so much easier than walking. But April knew that every positive thought he had must have been dampened by concern for Lisa. All this time, he had been sure that she was safe at the Burns’ house, but now she could be out on the road some-where—the same treacherous road that the two of them had just come from. Lisa could be in real and immediate danger. Anything could have happened if she’d attempted that trip with Jason and Stacy in the old truck, and Mitch was sure that she would have gone with them, as they would not have left her there alone.

Mitch dug his paddle in with strong strokes, determined to get home as fast as possible, and April did her best to help him. Although she had never been in a canoe before, she picked up the paddling technique quickly after Mitch gave her a few pointers. From her position in the bow, all she really had to do was provide extra power, while he maneuvered the slender, seventeen-foot craft through the logjams, snags, and gravel shoals of the stream. Running the creek in the silent canoe, Mitch said he felt much more at ease than on any part of the route they had taken so far, including the isolated pipeline. Black Creek flowed for dozens of miles through remote national forestlands, and aside from a few access points, it was far removed from roads. They rounded bend after bend, seeing no signs of people but lots of wildlife, including herons, kingfishers, wood ducks, and at one point even a deer drinking from the edge of the water.

April couldn’t help but notice the beauty of her surroundings: mile after mile of magnificent old pines and hardwoods and the clear, whiskey-colored waters of the swift-running creek that swept their canoe past contrasting white sandbars like a magic carpet.

“This is an incredible place,” April said, looking around her as they slipped beneath high clay banks topped with towering pines that seemed to rake the sky above.

“It is that,” Mitch said. “Most of our land looks just like this, except our creek isn’t big enough to canoe.”

“I can see why you said it was a good place to be after what’s happened. I can’t imagine the refugees finding their way here anytime soon.”

“We can hope not,” Mitch said.

Though the natural beauty awed her, she almost felt guilty for enjoying it. Here she was on the fourth day after leaving New Orleans, still not in Hattiesburg with her child, and at the moment traveling in the wrong direction to get there. She trusted that Mitch was doing the best he could to help her, but there had been so many setbacks. None of them were his fault, but even so, she had to remind herself that she was not his priority, despite the

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