Night Land

The Laurel Street subway station was one of the last stops for the City Express. It was a silly name for a subway system that ran thirty-five minutes behind schedule on average. Dreams of big city planners rarely translate into something successful though, especially in the short term. Unfortunately the City Express was about to make its move from dream, to reality, to nightmare... In Nightland.

     There were only two survivors. As far as shipwrecks go, that was probably twice as many as there usually were. You would think the chances would be pretty slim that the only two survivors from the cargo ship would have problems getting along, but that's exactly what was happening. There was little doubt that if things continued on as they were, there would only end up being one survivor soon enough... In Nightland.

     "As long as you stay the hell away from me we'll be fine. This is a big island, find your own patch of sandy beach to live on, this piece is mine!"

     I was a cab driver in Horseheads, a small city in the lower middle portion of New York state, not far from the Pennsylvania border. It's a nice town I guess, nestled in the middle of Chemung valley. At least I thought it was, even though I've never lived anywhere else to compare it to. I'm still living there in any case, even after what happened. I quit driving the cab though, I just don't feel comfortable alone with strangers anymore. Specially at night.

     I was sitting on the deck out by the apple tree. It's right on the side of the hill behind the house. The hill is covered with heavy brush, scrawny pine trees and other various saplings. I thought I could hear something coming through the woods, but I couldn't see anything. At least not until it burst out of the bushes and into the yard... 

     They say you can actually see the curvature of the earth on the great oceans of the world. Well I've got news for you! You can see it on the desert highways too. Actually, you can see just about anything you can imagine in the desert. The oppressive heat and blinding sun will fry your brain if you give it a chance. Maybe that’s what happened to me...

Allen Rossen liked things neat and tidy. He stacked his books alphabetically by the authors name, and then by their size, each author with it's own set of bookends. His car was neat, his office was neat and his home was neat. And if he had anything to say about it, his son was going to grow up just like him, even if it killed him. And he didn't care what it took to accomplish it.

Well folks, I wonder what might happen to Allen if he happens to push a little to hard. Let's just see how Mr. neat and tidy makes out, in NightLand...

I yelled a lot at first. I needn't have bothered. No one could possibly hear me. That's why I bought this old farm in the first place. If I wanted to take a leak off my back porch by god, or the front porch for that matter, I didn't need some damn nosey neighbor complaining about me exposing myself...I was clearing some overgrown brush from around the back of what was left of the barn. I planned on fixing it up and using it for a wood shop. The old farm having a barn was half the reason I choose this place. It didn't matter that it was badly in need of repair.