Pulse

8

Central Florida, 2002

D aniel was finishing topping off the SUV’s tank at the gas pump he’d managed to get working at the storm-damaged service station. The few people who drove past glanced at him but saw nothing unusual in what he was doing. The station obviously wasn’t open, but this wasn’t an ordinary time. People did what they must in order to survive.

“Have you seen a brown and white dog?” a female voice asked, causing Daniel to jump.

“Didn’t mean to scare you, mister.”

Daniel finished replacing the nozzle and turned around to see a thin girl about fourteen standing around ten feet from him. She was wearing a thin white T-shirt with MARLINS lettered on it, cut-off Levi’s, and brown leather sandals. The T-shirt was wet and her nipples were visible as dark nubs pressing out against the fabric.

“You didn’t scare me, sweetheart,” Daniel said. “Just startled me, is all. What’s wrong, you lost your dog?”

“Candy. I haven’t seen her since…” Her eyes teared up and her breath caught in her throat. “… since me and my mom got under the bed at home.”

“Where is your mom?”

“She wasn’t moving when I left her. I’m sure she’s-”

“That’s okay, sweetheart.” Daniel went to her and hugged her. “And now you’re looking for Candy.”

“I saw her run away when the hurricane hit.”

“How far away did-do you live?”

“A good ways.” She pointed toward some wrecked houses that had been lined like soldiers on a side street.

Daniel looked at the girl more closely. “You never did tell me your name.”

“I’m Gretchen.”

“Nice name.”

“Whatever your name is, I think you get used to it.”

Daniel shrugged and smiled. “I’m Dan. Pleased to meet you.” He rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth and glanced around. “When a dog runs away in a storm, it’s usually the same way the wind was blowing. They do that to survive. You say Candy ran that way?” He pointed west.

Gretchen nodded.

“I’ll tell you what. I’m going that direction. You wanna hop in the SUV and I’ll drive you that way? Maybe up and down some of these streets where houses used to be, we can spot Candy.”

The girl didn’t hesitate. She smiled. “That’d be good.”

“Might work,” Daniel said.

He climbed in on the driver’s side and unlocked the door for Gretchen, then helped her climb up into the SUV.

“You keep a sharp eye out,” Daniel said, starting the engine. “So will I.”

He drove west, meandering some to get a closer look at a ruined building, or simply a pile of wreckage.

After about ten minutes he saw a house that was leveled, near a barn that was damaged but still standing. Nobody was in sight in any direction.

“Think I might have caught a look at a brown and white dog,” Daniel said, stopping the SUV. “Mighta gone behind that barn. Why don’t we-”

But Gretchen was out of the vehicle and running toward the barn.

Daniel drove after her, making sure he didn’t run over anything sharp. He parked the truck where it couldn’t be seen from the highway.

He was smiling.

“I don’t see her,” Gretchen said. “She mighta gone inside the barn.”

“Then let’s go in and look,” Daniel said.

He got down out of the SUV and followed Gretchen into the barn. It was dim inside, and there was nothing there but some old rusty tools and a tractor that looked as if it hadn’t run in years. And a length of rope draped over a peg in a supporting beam.

“Take a look there behind the tractor,” he told Gretchen.

While she was doing that, he went to the broad wooden door and tried to pull it shut. It wouldn’t move much, and jammed a couple of feet short of closing. That was okay, if there was a little light beyond what was leaking in through the separated wooden slats.

“How come you’re shutting the door?” Gretchen asked.

“If Candy’s in here, we wouldn’t want her running outside,” Daniel said.

Something in his voice must have alerted Gretchen. She gave him a wide-eyed look and bolted for the barn door.

Daniel tripped her, then lifted her and held her upright by her hair and marched her toward one of the stalls. She was surprisingly light and it was no effort.

He snatched the rope off the peg with his free hand along the way.

Gretchen was trembling with fear.

Daniel with anticipation.