As the Light Dies (22 page)

Andy could tell Thom was still having some kind of difficulty, he could hear him scuffing around in the dark. Andy stepped towards Thom
,“
I
t’
s me
,”
he told him and he grabbed Tho
m’
s waist and ran his hands around his belt until he found the radio and tried to pull it off but it did
n’
t budge. He tugged harder. It still did
n’
t unclip, so he clicked it off and turned his own one back on just as Maggie was calling for them again, and he jumped in
.“
Hi Maggie, yes we can hear you. We had a brief problem with the radios, tha
t’
s all. Can you hear me ok
?
”

“
Yes Andy, loud and clear
.
”

“
Ok
,”
he said
.“
Well we just finished searching the stores, i
t’
s...
.
”

“
And
?”
Maggie butted in.

Andy rolled his eyes, he hated these just talk radios when he was talking to Maggie, o
r
Mad Maggi
e
as the other staff called her.

He continued
,“
I
t’
s a real mess over here, and I mean
a
rea
l
mess! I
t’
s bad. All the glass around the kiosk has been smashed, and inside, the kiosk has been turned upside down and looted
.
”

Maggie took a sharp intake of breath on the other end.

“
The staffroo
m’
s a wrec
k
.
Fuck knows what happened over here, and ther
e’
s no sign of anyone either
!
”

“
WHAT!”
she blurted
,
“There must be
!
I checked at the rota and Lara Simpso
n’
s marked down to be over there, she must be there
,
she must be Andy
!
She definitely has
n’
t come back here.
I’
ve checked. What about anyone else? Is there anyone else over there? Collin said he heard shouting and he saw car lights. Wher
e’
s everybody gone
?
”

“
Not a sole
,”
said Andy
,“
and the way the place looks
I’
m glad no on
e’
s home. There were people rummaging when we got here but they were
n’
t the friendly kind. They swore and threw broken glass at us as they legged it
.
”

“
Hmm
,”
said Maggie and she thought for a moment, and then said
,“
Ok, probably just as well that you did
n’
t get tangled up with them. Keep looking for Lara though, sh
e
ha
s
to be over there somewhere, she must be Andy.
I’
m going to call the police. I have my radio with me, let me know as soon as you find anything ok, double check everywhere ok, the stores, the staffroom and even the kiosk. Turn the place upside down Andy. Poor Lara has to be there somewhere
.
She must be Andy!”
“
Ok Maggie w
e’
ll do our best.
I’
ll be in touch, over
.
”

Andy hooked the radio back on to his belt
.“
Right guys le
t’
s go and find Lara
.
”

“
Maybe she ran off
,”
said Thom.

“
Maybe
,”
said Andy
,“
but why did
n’
t she make her way back to the shop? W
e’
ll think about other scenarios if we have
n’
t found her after our double check ok
.
”

The three men searched the back stage area of the petrol station again, calling repeatedly for Lara, but got no reply. Before long they found themselves back in the vandalised staffroom. Their eyes had finally adjusted to the absolute darkness and with the small window shedding a tiny amount of light in to the room they all saw the full extent of the damage.

“
They sure did do a number on this place eh
,”
said Thom.

“
Yep
,”
said Andy, and Collin nodded unnoticed behind them as he walked carefully through the debris. Smashed cups and plates crunched under foot as his guilt smothered him, it spread out from his stomach.

If only I’d ran to the petrol station as soon as I heard the scream like Maggie said, then maybe this Lara whoever she was would be ok. This is all my fault
,
he told himself
,
IT’S ALL MY FAULT
!

Andy spoke waking Collin from his thoughts
.“
Guys, check out the window
.
”

He was pointing towards the little letterbox shaped window at the back of the room.

“
I think someone climbed through it
.
”

Collin looked up at the window high up on the back wall as butterflies flapped their wings in his guilt heavy stomach.

The little frame was hinged from the ceiling and the glass was missing.

None of them had noticed that earlier. Their eyes had
n’
t adjusted enough for them by then.

“
Tha
t’
s not big enough for anyone to climb through
.”
said Thom.

Andy shook his head
.“
Yo
u’
re wrong
,”
he said
.“
Look at the stool lying on the counter. I
t’
s directly under the window. Someone used that to climb through
.
”

He started making his way across to the back of the room, the others followed.

“
It can only be ten inches deep and about thirty along
,”
said Thom
.“
I do
n’
t know, it looks pretty tight to me, and ther
e’
s a decent drop on the other side of seven feet or more
.
”

Andy was nodding
.“
Yea I know but a person can do things when they need to, like when they really need to you know
.
”

Collin was nodding hopefully behind them. Andy climbed up on to the counter and pushed the stool out of the way so he could stand directly in front of the window. He had to stand up on the balls of his feet to get a close look at the broken window.

Only tiny pieces of glass remained in the frame all around the very edge of the frame.

“
I definitely think w
e’
re on to a winner guys
,”
said Andy.

“
Really
!”
blurted Collin.

“
Wh
y’
s that
?”
asked Thom.

“
Well
,”
said Andy climbing back down
,“
practically all the glass has been knocke
d
ou
t
of the frame and ther
e’s
non
e
on the counter top. A mindless vandal would
n’
t do that. The
y’
d just lob something through it, and then look for the next thing to smash. But if you were going t
o
clim
b
through it then yo
u’
d make sure that you got as much of the glass out of the frame as you could before you did would
n’
t you? Especially a window like this one where you know you wo
n’
t be able to help but touch the sides
.
”

Collin was nodding his head quickly, he understood where Andy was coming from and was getting excited.

“
So wha
t’
s next
?”
asked Thom.

“
Were going outside
,”
said Andy
.“C’
mon
,”
he said and he headed for the door.

They made their way out back through the vandalised petrol station on to the forecourt.

Outside the deserted cars faced them in the eerie dark grey haze watching them. Collin felt uneasy, exposed even, he did
n’
t like it.

Thom felt it to
.“
This is
n’
t right
,”
he said staring at the gaping hole in the Range Rove
r’
s windscreen. Andy ignored them and unclipped his radio and asked for Maggie, she answered straight away.

“I’
m here Andy, have you found Lara yet
?
”

The radio was breaking up badly.

“
No we have
n’
t
,”
said Andy
,“
but we might be on to something...
.
”

“
WHAT
?”
she blurted.

“
It might be a long shot but I think that she might have made a break for it and climbed out through the staffroom window
.
”

“
No way
,
it’s tiny!”
said Maggie.

“
Well, w
e’
re just going to check around the back just in case
.
”

“
God I hope yo
u’
re right Andy. The first sign of anything let me know straight away ok
?
”

“
Yep, will do
,”
said Andy, then Maggie continued
,“
I called the police, they said the
y’
d get here as fast as they could but all their teams are out, apparently ther
e’
s been disturbances and violence all over Inverness. The policeman said that people have gone daft since the ash got here. He said that everythin
g’
s falling apart, and i
t’
s getting worse with the power fluctuating and failing
.
”

“
Ok
,”
said Andy
.“
W
e’
ll get going;
I’
ll let you know how we get on ok
.
”

“
Please find Lara an...
.
”

The radio crackled and cut off before Maggie had the chance to finish saying And
y’
s name.

Andy tried the radio a couple of times with no luck, he glanced at the others, the radio was dead, it did
n’
t even crackle. Clipping the radio back on his belt he asked Thom to try his radio, it was just as dead as And
y’
s.

“
Well, there go the radios
,”
said Andy
.“C’
mon le
t’
s check round the back
.
”

They passed along in front of the staring cars crunching as they walked over the glass; Collin stared down at the shards beneath his feet as lightning reflected back up at him as it arced across the angry sky over head. As the lightning seemed to appear under him he imagined he was walking across the deck of a mechanised flying blimp from a steam punk story h
e’
d read recently. He imagined he was walking across its glass deck looking down, as it floated high above a mega storm in some far off land. To Thom it looked like the lightning was in the ground, almost as if it was trapped inside the dirty snow.