Them or Us

Seven Minutes Later

THEY DRAGGED THE BODIES they could find from the surf beneath the collapsed pier, most of them dead, some injured, one of them dying. They carried the dying man to safety and hid him in an empty building along with the others who’d managed to get back to shore. They made him as comfortable and warm as they could. There was nothing more they could do for him than that.

They stayed there for more than half a day.

When they were finally ready to move, Danny McCoyne briefly regained consciousness but quickly slipped away again. He drifted in and out of darkness for a couple of minutes longer, enough time to know that the Unchanged were carrying him. He could hear the snow crunching beneath their feet. Or was it shingle? He looked up, and between flashes of brightness, he saw a face he recognized. The man put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and spoke to him.

“Not long now, Danny. Almost there.”