Not Like the Last Ones Ethan
This place was trying to torture him. For the past hour, the generator had gone down and up, down and up, bringing with every pocket of darkness a new wave of SHRIEKS followed by a strange half-light: a gloaming of mercury vapor, the power struggling to return.
Familiar faces had appeared to Ethan in that half-light.
Shades that dissipated like smoke when the lamps hummed back up.
Once, in the half-light, Ethan had seen the man from the diner in Turner, the one in the gabardine suit, peering into the room’s wardrobe.
He’d seen Hunter stepping, stark naked, from the shower.
He’d seen the two men, both unaware of each other’s presence, as they stood side by side at the window, peering out into the night. The sight had made Ethan almost double over in grief.
Everything was ruined. Everything. This time last night, he and Hunter had been in Ellersby, playing a video game on the couch.
Upstairs, unbeknownst to them, Ethan’s brother had been loading his shotgun.
This time last night, Ethan had been happy.
He’d thought that Hunter was a tough man, a little rough around the edges, but fundamentally decent. He’d thought things could last forever.
Bang.
Mark my words. This man is going to get you into the sort of trouble you cain’t never get out of.
Here, at the Brake Inn Motel, there was a knock at Ethan’s door. The strange man, Ryan, called his name. “Ethan, can I talk to you?”
Ethan wasn’t sure he trusted Ryan Phan. When they’d spoken earlier in the office, the guy never quite met Ethan’s eye, never seemed able to sit still.
He had a shifty way of walking, a sort of scuttling quickstep—never in a straight line—that made Ethan think of a fox.
Sly, Ethan’s mother would have said. Never will give you the whole truth, no matter how many times he comes clean. Just like my daddy used to be.
“Ethan?” Ryan called from outside.
Ethan sighed. With Hunter gone and the girl Kyla in her room—Was she even still alive?—the night wasn’t exactly overflowing with friends. He rose. He unlocked the door. He found Ryan Phan standing with a fist raised, ready to knock again.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” the little man said. “But we’re in even more trouble than we thought.”