As the Light Dies (31 page)

Dean held on tight to Sa
m’
s lead as Sam guided him along the canal towpath, he was walking blind now. When they left the house Dean had been able to see reasonably well, maybe up to twenty feet ahead at times, and he made good progress as he and Sam descended to the canal.

Most of the houses they passed were obviously lit by candles, the soft yellow light flickered round the edge of blinds or curtains, while other houses flickered frantically as the power still surged.

Dean wondered how they could put up with it, it would drive him mad. In other houses he saw the distinctive beam from torches waving around in the darkness
.“
Clearly see who listened to the news huh boy
,”
he said to Sam as they walked. Sam responded with
a
WOO
F
, and then they passed a house with the TV blearing at full volume. Dean smiled
,
Been there, done that
,
he thought.

They left the residential area behind and passed down between the playing fields towards the canal and as they dropped down to the cana
l’
s level, any view they might have had of Inverness as they dropped down level with the city disappeared. The ash grew thicker and darker and hid Inverness completely. Sam carried on ahead without slowing, guiding them as they approached the canal blind. Even with his swimming goggles on protecting his eyes Dean could barely look up in to the oncoming ash as it blasted passed him grating his skin, not that he could see much of anything anyway. The dirty snow closed in around him until his own outstretched hand holding Sa
m’
s lead kept disappearing in front of him. He decided to keep his head down and put his faith in Sam, he knew Sam would
n’
t lead them in to danger, so he settled in for the ride.

Progress through the thick snow and blinding ash was slow and laborious but with no option but to just keep slogging away they did so, knowing the
y’
d get there in the end.

As they walked for what was starting to feel like forever a thought began to occur to Dean and he started to wonder if the
y’
d actually managed to cross the road by the swing bridge without realising it and continued along the canal towpath on the other side. It would
n’
t be too hard to do he thought, especially in these conditions
.
No! Don’t be stupid
,
he thought to himself
,
that’s just doubt kicking in, that’s all
.
But the thought stuck with him and ran round and round in his head, bringing on that sinking feeling of self doubt with it every time the thought stuck with him and he wondered, would I be able to tell?

The snow was deep and the drifts were growing.

The road could be completely hidden, disguised by their constant rising up and down tall drifts
,
he thought
.
No, damn it
,
he told himself
.
Sam wouldn’t miss the road, we’ll get there soon enough.
“I’
m just letting my mind take ove
r”
, he said aloud. They pushed on but it was no use the worry had already set in and it clung to him like a bad smell.

*****

A short while later and a little further on Dean thought
,
We’ve been walking for an awful long time
.
And every snowdrift he came to he wondered if this was the start of the incline leading up on to the road. He peered desperately ahead in to the dirty snow trying to see anything that might give away their position, but he saw nothing, it almost made him feel dizzy if he looked at it for too long, the constant flurry gave Dean the impression that he was moving in all directions without a solid fixture to focus on.

“SHIT
!
We could be out in this all night
,”
he told himself as they crested yet another drift that was a potential incline up to the road but turned out to be just another drift.

Visions of them going too far and not being able to make it back again ran through his mind, he knew how many people got lost in fog up in the mountains and faltered just metres from safety.

It happens far too often in normal bad conditions, never mind this weird shit
!
he thought, and then without warning Sa
m’
s lead pulled at a perfect right angle to Deans left.

Dea
n’
s heart missed a beat and he tugged the lead, scared that Sam had slipped in to the canal.

Sam tugged back and barked playfully
.
Oh, God
,
he thought
,
is this it
?

Tentatively Dean reached out with his left hand, and relief fell over him as his hand touched the wall that ran across the bridge.

“
Oh. Good boy Sam
.
GOOD BO
Y
. W
e’
re nearly there boy, just a few more minutes
,”
Dean called along to Sam, and Sam replied with a confiden
t
Grrrrwoof, Woof
,
and Dean was overcome with soppy emotion and pride for his dog, he felt tears welling up behind his eyes.

“
God! Pull it together you big dope
,”
he whispered to himself as they crossed the bridge picking up the pace a little.

As they crossed the road Dean searched for vehicle tracks and found none. Sam led on with ease and guided Dean neatly through the narrow gap in the rustic stone wall at the back of the leisure centr
e’
s car park and they approached the giant building.

Dean dared to look up and was able to make out the outline of the leisure centre looming large in front of them. A collection of sharp angles and straight lines emerged through the dark snow reminding him of giant Lego blocks. The large building looked bleak without its lights on lighting up the leisure pools and the diving platforms and the water slides behind the tall glass wall that stretched the length of the leisure pools. The water slides were black with ash where they left the top of the building and looped and twirled around each other as they dropped down and re entered the building where they spewed their riders out in to the run off pools, they looked like serpents wrapping themselves around the building in the ashy darkness.

Dean fished out his keys as they approached the main doors assuming that the place would be locked up seeing it in utter darkness and a little surprised not to see any sign of life.

As he got closer he saw that one of the doors, the one that he had struggled to open for Brian in the morning was sitting ajar
.
Strange
,
he thought wondering why it was
n’
t bolted shut
.
Must be someone in
,
he thought.

Dean and Sam walked up the wide aces ramp to the front entrance and entered the reception through the open door.

Sam shook himself down vigorously then trotted over to the base of the reception desk and sat down while Dean pulled the open door closed and checked all the others, they were all locked.

He wandered back to Sam brushing himself down
.“
Good boy
,”
he said
.“
Now le
t’
s clean you up and get your mask off
.
”

Sam turned to face Dean and attempted to nod his muzzle up and down and he let out a low whine
.“
Just let me get some of that ash off first boy, ok
,”
he said, and he slid off his rucksack and pulled out a towel h
e’
d packed for this very purpose and set to thoroughly rubbing him down before removing the makeshift muzzle come dust mask.

Sam immediately set to licking his lips and stretching his jaw opening his mouth as wide as he could several times before he licked Dean across his face
.“
Oh boy tha
t’
s better eh
,”
said Dean with a chuckle. Sam wagged his tail and let out a triumphan
t
WOOF
.

Dean looked around the darkened reception, there was no sign of life at all, there was no fresh paperwork on the desks behind the high desk, no till receipts, no returned equipment, nothing.

He looked down towards the pool area. From reception the building opened out in the direction of the pools allowing a half decent view of the leisure pools below and of the Relaxation Suite above
.“
HELLO
,”
he called out
.
“HELLO. IT’S DEAN. IS ANYONE THERE?”

He got no answer. He walked across to the other side of reception to the double doors that lead through to the gym and sports halls and pushed it open. He listened at first but there was nothing to hear apart from the weather. He called out again
.
“HELLO IS ANYONE THERE? IT’S DEAN.”

Still no answer!

Puzzled and frowning he walked back to the reception desk and quickly re packed his bag and shouldered it
.“C’
mon boy lets go for a look around
,”
he said and Sam joined him as he started walking up the ramp towards the Relaxation Suite and the offices. He wanted to check the clocking- in station to see who was still clocked in, then go and find them.

Sam trotted along beside him quite happily as they walked up the ramp.

Dean looked down at the flat calm leisure pools reflecting the dirty swirling snow outside through the wall of windows, the pools looked like they were full of swirling black quicksand. It looked alive
!
Eerie
,
he thought. Then he looked up and out through the giant glass wall at the ash.

“
Wow
,”
he said. Every square inch of window was filled with swimming black ash swirling and dancing around on the wind outside, that dizzy feeling threatened to come back making him hold on to the banister for a moment. Still looking out he realised he could
n’
t see any white snow anymore even though he could tell that it was still snowing. It was black!

It’s all black
,
he thought
,
black snow
!

Fierce electric blue lightning flashed across the sky, it made Dean squint it was so bright, even through the black snow. It was a thick, solid looking and it split in to multiple forks that were bigger and thicker than any lightning h
e’
d ever seen. He watched in wonder at the sheer power being unleashed from the friction in the ash. Sam stood up from where h
e’
d just sat down beside Dea
n’
s feet and let out a low growl. Dean saw that his ears were flat against the side of his head, slick almost as he stared back down at the main doors.

“
Hey boy. Easy! Le
t’
s see what w
e’
ve got first shall we
,”
said Dean.

Sa
m’
s posture loosened slightly but not by much as Dean drew in a deep breath ready to call out again when there was a loud crunch from the main doors. Dean felt Sam tighten up again beside him. He growled again.

“
Easy boy, easy
,”
said Dean letting out his breath, and they stood perfectly still and waited.

One of the locked doors shook for a moment and then stopped for a second or two before shaking again, this time with more force. A loud bang came from the other side as someone kicked the door. Sam growled again letting out a low rumble; his body was sleek and tense ready for action. Sam and the banging, shaking doors were drowned out by an explosion of thunder. Dean flinched and looked out through the window wall half expecting to see something there. Dean rested a hand on Sa
m’
s back, just as the open door burst open letting in a swirl of black snow on a gust of icy air, and two people stumbled in and nearly fell over each other.

Dean crouched down holding Sam by the collar telling him in a whisper to be quiet as he watched the two people. It did
n’
t take long for Dean to realise they were
n’
t a threat. The two over-dressed people were so completely engulfed under layers of clothing that it restricted their movements and they both walked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. One of them turned back clumsily being restricted by the clothing and closed the door behind them. As Dean watched them he saw their obvious familiarisation with the place, they were both at ease with the place and he relaxed. He felt Sam loosen up with him
.“
They know the place boy, the
y’
re ok
,”
Dean whispered to Sam.