Gone

Darkness had not taught them how to lie or bluff.
    “The Darkness says you teach,” Pack Leader said, falling back on familiar territory.
    “Fine,” Lana said, her brain buzzing, trying to decide where to lead this conversation. Looking for the advantage. “You leave my dog alone. And you get me some decent food. Some food that humans eat, not filthy half-chewed rabbits. And then I’ll teach.”
    “No human food here.”
    That’s right, you filthy, mangy animal, Lana thought as the next move fell into place. No human food here.
    “I noticed,” she said, tamping down the triumph in her voice, keeping her face carefully neutral, giving nothing away. “So take me to the place where the grass grows. You know what I’m talking about. The place where the patch of green grows in the desert. Take me there, or take me back to the Darkness and tell the Darkness you cannot control me.”
    Pack Leader didn’t like that, and he expressed his frustration not in human speech but in a series of angry yipping sounds that reduced the rest of the pack to anxious skulking.
    He twisted away from her in a pantomime of frustration, unable to control or hide his simple emotions.
    “See, Mom,” Lana whispered as she pressed healing hands on her ankle. “Sometimes defiance is a good thing.”
    Finally, without a word, Pack Leader trotted off toward the northeast. He moved, and the pack followed, but slowly, at a pace that Lana could match.
    Patrick fell into step beside his master.
    “They’re smarter than you, boy,” Lana whispered to her dog. “But they’re not smarter than me.”

    “Wake up, Jack.”
    Computer Jack had fallen asleep at the keyboard. He was spending nights in the town hall, working to deliver on his promise of assembling a primitive cell phone system. It wasn’t easy. But it was fun.
    And it took his mind off other things.
    It was Diana who had awakened him, shaking his shoulder.
    “Oh, hi,” Computer Jack said.
    “That computer keyboard face? It’s not a great look for you.”
    Jack felt his face and blushed. There were imprints of the square keys on his cheek.
    “Big day today,” Diana said, moving across the room to the small refrigerator. She pulled out a soda, popped it open, raised the window shade, and drank while looking down at the plaza.
    Computer Jack adjusted his glasses. One side was a little askew. “It’s a big day? Why?”
    Diana laughed in her knowing way. “We’re going home for a visit.”
    “Home?” It took Jack a few seconds to click. “You mean to Coates?”
    “Come on, Jack, say it like you’re excited.”
    “Why are we going to Coates?”
    Diana came to him and put her hand against his cheek. “So smart. And yet, so slow sometimes. Don’t you ever read that list Caine has you keep? You remember Andrew? It’s his happy fifteenth. We have to get up there before the hour of doom.”
    “Do I have to go? I have all this work to do….”
    “Fearless Leader has a plan that includes you,” Diana said. She spread her hands, dramatic, like she was a magician revealing the payoff of an illusion. “We’re going to film the big moment.”
    Jack was both frightened and excited by the idea. He lovedanything involving technology, especially when it gave him an opportunity to show off his technical knowledge. But, like everyone, he’d heard what happened to the twins, Anna and Emma. He did not want to see anyone die, or disappear, or whatever it was they did.
    Yet…it would be fascinating.
    “The more cameras the better,” Jack mused aloud, already working on the problem, already picturing the layout. “If it happens in a flash, we’ll have to get lucky to get a shot at the precise second…. Digital video, not stills. As expensive and high end as Drake can find. Each one has to have a tripod. And we’ll need lots of light. It would be best if we had a simple background, you know, like a white wall or something. No, wait, maybe not white, maybe green, that way I can chroma key. Also…” He stopped himself, embarrassed that he’d gotten carried away, and not liking what he was about to say.
    “Also what?”
    “Look, I don’t want Andrew to get hurt.”
    “Also what, Jack?” Diana pressed.
    “Well, what if Andrew doesn’t want to just stand there? What if he moves? Or tries to run away?”
    Diana’s expression was hard to read. “You want him tied down, Jack?”
    Jack looked away. He hadn’t meant to say that. Not exactly. Andrew was nice enough…for