“I want to look inside,” she said.
Jacob stopped and looked at the house. Like the others, the front door was open and all the ground floor windows were shattered. It did not appear to be anything special, not worth their time. Long, once-white curtains, now a hazy yellow, moved in the breeze. They parted just enough to allow them to see into the dark home. There was nothing there.
“Why?” Rogers asked.
“I just need to see,” she answered. Eve crossed the lawn, approaching the home with her rifle at the ready. She moved out quickly and alone.
Rogers shook his head and pointed to James. “Keep watch out here. I’ll go in with Jacob while she has a look around.” He glared back at Jacob then steeped off swiftly, trying to catch up with Eve.
She moved through the front door and into the dark interior of the home. Jacob followed her but was tugged back by Rogers as he entered the doorway. They waited in the foyer, allowing their eyes to adjust to the low light. “If she wants to rush in and get herself killed then let her.”
They could hear Eve moving from room to room, stomping over the hardwood floors. After a few moments, Rogers strayed inside. Jacob followed him as they cautiously passed through the living room on the first floor.
Even though destroyed from the outside, the house was neat and orderly within. They crossed through a large formal dining room where snow covered the floor beneath a broken picture window. Rogers stopped at a large, stone fireplace with a mahogany mantel. He leaned in, and then pointed at a row of family photos… in particular, a silver framed photo at one end. A young woman in a long evening gown stood at the end of a dock, a young man behind her. Rogers lifted the picture, examining it as Eve crept up behind them. She snatched the picture from his hand and stuffed it into her pack.
“There’s nothing here, we can go,” she said, not waiting for a response.
Rogers shrugged and followed the young woman back out onto the street. She continued walking, not waiting for James to lead the way. He stopped and looked at Jacob as the men passed him by. “What did you do to my girl?” he said.
“Don’t ask,” Jacob answered. As they moved deeper into the little town, Jacob could see that many of the buildings had burned. Several of the sidewalks and entryways were coated with streaks of blood, showing signs of struggle. This place had a violent past, and it showed through every shattered window. Cars covered with bullet holes, a shriveled, badly decomposed body lay in a gutter with an axe planted in its back. “I don’t think this is what Rockwell had in mind,” Rogers uttered.
They patrolled over a small plank bridge where they had a clear view of the water. Eve paused, allowing them to group up as they gazed at the lake’s cold water. The oily sheen was gone, replaced by a thick, black crust with the texture of roofing tar. The dry surface was scaled and flaking, bits of it broken off and floating in the lake and bunching together. Clear water escaped between the broken shards of the crust; bloated dead fish floated in the gaps. There were still no signs of The Darkness, the entire place giving off an eerie feeling of death.
“No one will ever live here again,” Jacob whispered.
Eve backed away, ignoring his statement. She pointed to an intersection in the distance. “The police station is just ahead,” she said.
The two-story, brick-covered building on a corner lot looked like a reclaimed home. It stood in the open with wide views of the lake. The front entry doors were open, a set of squad cars on flat tires blocking the main entrance. Knocked over sawhorses and police barriers lay across the road. They moved closer, spotting the bodies of uniformed officers lying near the vehicles. Spent shotgun shells covered the ground. The team roved away, skirting around to the rear of the building, following the perimeter without entering it.
At the backside, they spotted a number of National Guard trucks, two Humvees, and a larger troop transport. Several badly damaged police cruisers were in a line near an open bay garage. The only noise came from the fabric of a shredded tent as it slapped against the frame. Rows of black body bags lay organized in neat rows at the back of the tent. Rogers pointed to a tall radio tower then turned to Eve, stopping her. “That’s what we’re here for. Let’s see what’s inside.”
She turned away from the lot and led them to a back door. The glass was broken but still hung in place. James moved up first, with Duke close by his side. He knelt by the door and pulled. Feeling it give, he let it open just enough for Duke to press his nose against it. The dog scratched at the door, ready to enter. James stood and drew the door back the rest of the way. Powering on a flashlight, he patrolled in with Duke leading the way.
Jacob pushed the door open as far as it would go and slid a nearby brick into place, blocking it from closing behind him. He followed James inside, entering a small sally port—a bit of an airlock with an electronic lock on the far door and a red call button on the wall by the door. On the right was a small booth, separated from the rest of the entrance with a bulletproof window. Looking through the moisture-covered glass, they could see the
