The Walls of Lemuria by Sam Sisavath Page B

himself with duct-taping the flashlight to one side of his Remington’s barrel. When he was done, he tossed the roll over to Norris, who did the same to his weapon.
    “I used to love the fact that it got dark so fast this time of year,” Gillian said after a while.
    “Night owl?” Keo said.
    “No, it wasn’t that. I just liked the quiet. Of course, I didn’t know what real quiet was until now.” She surprised him by leaning her head against his shoulder. “Do you mind?”
    “No. But let me know when my breathing becomes too annoying.”
    She smiled. “Deal.”
    “Remember,” Norris said, his voice practically booming in the quiet of the lobby. “We turn off the lamps in thirty minutes. We might be the only people left in this town, so let’s not draw attention to ourselves.”
    Keo felt Gillian shivering involuntarily against him.
    “We shouldn’t be here,” Aaron said.
    It had been such a long time since he had said anything that the sound of his voice prompted Keo to look around for the source. Aaron sat on the floor next to one of the vending machines that covered up a window. He hadn’t moved from the spot even though he couldn’t look outside anymore. Keo wondered who (or what) he was looking for all those other times.
    “Where else would we be?” Henry said from the front doors, where he sat on the floor with his shotgun resting between his legs.
    “We shouldn’t be here,” Aaron repeated. His eyes seemed to be focused on a patch of wall across the room. There was nothing there that Keo could see. “In this place. This building. This town. We should have left when we had the chance.”
    “We couldn’t,” Norris said. “Not with that monsoon earlier.”
    “We should have tried. Don’t you see? They left for a reason. We should have left, too.”
    “Who’s he talking about?” Rachel asked.
    “The deputies,” Norris said. “The ones who were here before us last night.”
    “Did we ever find out why they left?”
    Norris shook his head.
    “They had a reason,” Aaron said. His voice cracked a bit and his eyes drifted down to the floor. “We should have left when we had the chance. We shouldn’t be here…”
    All eyes had turned to Aaron, not that the young man seemed to notice. He looked lost in his own world, staring at a wet spot on the floor.
    “We looked everywhere,” Norris said. “Every room. Every nook and cranny. There aren’t any other ways in here.”
    “He’s right,” Keo said. He wasn’t sure if Norris actually believed what he was saying, but he had said it with just enough conviction that Keo could see the others almost buying into it. He thought he’d help out. “There aren’t any other ways in except through the windows and doors, and we covered those up. We’re good in here, guys. They’re not getting in.”
    Daebak. I almost convinced myself that time.
    “Just remember,” Norris said, “lights out in—” he glanced at his watch “—twenty minutes. We don’t make a peep and they won’t know we’re here.”
    *
    The unmistakable sounds of doors opening and closing could be heard up and down the street outside the police station. It was followed by the growing cacophony of bare feet against hard concrete and splashing puddles from this afternoon’s rain. All of it flooded across the silent town of Bentley without any resistance.
    They’re coming.
    If the noise outside was impossible to ignore, the quiet inside was deafening. Keo wasn’t sure if Gillian was even breathing next to him. Or Norris nearby. Or anyone else. Even little Christine was clutching her mother’s waist, the two of them sitting next to Lotte’s wheelchair. Rachel was holding the teenager’s hand, though Keo couldn’t make out who had the tighter grip in the pitch-black darkness.
    It didn’t take very long for all of them to accept that the creatures knew exactly where they were. Keo realized it right away when the stampede of footsteps grew louder and louder as they