Emily turned and looked at me. She could definitely feel it.
At that point, the world started shaking so violently that Emily could no longer keep her car between the lines. She somehow made the turn onto the old logging road and pulled over.
The shaking stopped a few seconds later.
“We should get going,” I said.
“I’m sorry I was such a dick,” Emily said. “It’s not your fault you can’t remember how amazing I am.”
I nodded. “I’m pretty sure it’s okay to be a dick when you lose the most incredible human being you’ve ever met,” I said.
Emily smiled. “Even if you’re not fortunate enough to remember how much you fucking love me, you’re still the closest thing to family that I have left. We’re family, K.”
“You’re goddamn right we’re family,” I said. “Now, let’s do whatever the hell it is we’re going to do.”
“Are you sure?”
“Even if it means dying in an accident because we were stupid enough to drive in the dark with our headlights off,” I said. “I’m no longer capable of giving half a fuck.”
Emily laughed, and then she guided the car into the middle of the road and started driving up toward the Peterman house.
It was the exact same route we’d taken all those years ago.
“One-oh-seven point three,” I said as I adjusted the frequency of the car’s radio.
“You really think this is going to work?” she asked.
“Honestly?”
Emily nodded.
“Not really,” I said.
“Fuck you.” Emily forced a laugh. “Ready?”
I nodded.
Emily turned up the radio and the sound of static filled the car.
And I was brought right back to that night in the truck.
I’d relived it so many times, it was easy to get back there now, driving along the same road in the dark with Emily. The farther we moved up the road, the more I felt like I was actually somewhere else, somewhere back in time.
Then, Emily turned off the headlights and another wave of darkness poured into the truck and passed through my body. I could feel it slide into my skull, right behind my eyes. I shook my head and pressed my palms against my eye sockets. It wouldn’t be long before the darkness coming from outside was everywhere and the entire world started shaking again.
Emily grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. I could tell she was thinking about Annie. From the light of the touchscreen on the dash, I could see the tears streaming down her face. I squeezed back.
The last time we were here, speeding along this road with the headlights off, I was terrified. This time, even though I could feel that the end of everything was approaching, I wasn’t scared. I was pretty sure Swan had been telling the truth, that our world was going to end, and if she was right about the timing, it was most likely going to happen very soon.
What did it matter if we died in an accident a minute or two early?
While Emily fought to keep the car on the road, I leaned forward and listened to the radio.
It was so quiet at first that I could barely hear it, but it was there. Music. It grew louder, eventually cutting through the static enough that I could make out the song. It was “Were You Blind That Day,” the impossible song by Steely Dan.
Of course it was.
I turned up the volume on the radio, and I remember thinking, what are the odds of that song playing on the radio in that moment?
Suddenly Emily leaned forward. “Can you see it?”
I saw it.
There was something in the middle of the road up ahead. It was thick and dark, and appeared to be moving, but I couldn’t make out any detail.
This time we didn’t swerve, and Emily didn’t turn on the lights.
We drove straight toward it.
As we sped forward, the shaking became unbearable and the darkness both inside and outside the car became something else—but maybe someplace else is more accurate. The reality of the space, or whatever it was that held the atmosphere in place, felt…thicker, almost slightly damp. It was as if we’d entered another world.
Then Emily screamed and a wild metallic buzzing, like a million wasps on a tin roof, filled the inside of the truck and burst into my head.
And then…we were definitely someplace else.
* * *
—
I was floating.
The familiar briny oily smell of wet fur and feathers filled my nose. It was peaceful, but I could still feel the powerful darkness all around me. It felt like we’d entered something like the eye of the storm. Whatever or wherever it was, the world wasn’t shaking, and I could no longer feel the wheels of the car beneath me on the road.