Absolute Darkness - A CME Survival Thriller

that,” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the road.
“Mel?”
“Yeah?”
Sam cleared her throat as she set down my phone. “Do you have a sister?”
“We’re not on speaking terms,” I said.
“Why haven’t you ever mentioned you have a sister? You told us about your awful brother… why on earth would you keep your sister a secret?” I could feel Sam’s eyes on me.
I released a heavy sigh. “She’s quite a bit older than me. She left when I was a kid. Drugs were more important to her than any of us were, including mom.”
“Oh, that’s sad.”
“I wouldn’t even know what she looked like if I hadn’t seen her on social media,” I grumbled.
The phone buzzed again.
“Want me to check it?” Sam asked.
“No,” I said. “Thanks, though.”
“She sure wants her cut pretty badly,” Sam said.
My stomach twisted. “My mom didn’t put her in the will.”
Sam sucked in a breath. “So, she doesn’t know she’s not getting money for her drugs?”
“Nope. I think I should send her something when the house sells,” I said, chewing my lip.
“You can’t do that,” Sam said. “It’s not what your mom wanted. Not to mention it sounds like she’d probably just throw it away on drugs.”
“She one hundred percent would,” I said, turning the radio up a few notches. “Let’s talk about something else.”
Sam leaned her chair back and put her feet up on the dash. She watched the country scenery as it zipped by.
I was perfectly fine with not talking too. Sam and I were going to have a lot of time to talk.
I still wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about having Sam in my mom’s house. She’d been prepared about what to expect, but I don’t think anyone really understood what a moderate hoarder’s house looked like until they stepped inside.
Ever since I was young, I was embarrassed about the house. I never had friends over, and after I moved out, things got worse.
I didn’t blame my mom, though. Her life hadn’t been easy. It was like she was always trying to hold on to something.
We didn’t stop for dinner. Sam had bought more than enough food that we wouldn’t need to stop again until tomorrow. Unless, of course, I needed gas before then.
After the sun had gone down, Sam fell asleep. Her heavy breathing was hypnotic.
Each blink made my eyelids feel heavy. I yawned so big my eyes stayed closed for half a second too long, and the tires touched the gravel at the side of the road.
“Whoa,” I said, swerving slightly to get back in my lane.
“What? What happened?” Sam asked, popping up in her seat.
I yawned again. “Can you drive?”
“I don’t think I should,” Sam said, mirroring a yawn.
“Okay, keep your eyes peeled for a sign for a hotel.”
Ten minutes passed before Sam yawned and pointed at a sign. “Two more miles.”
It was a long two miles before I slowed and left the highway. At the stoplight at the end of the intersection, a blue truck approached. The bed of the truck was weighed down with so many items the vehicle sat at least six inches lower.
“What do you think they have under that tarp?” Sam asked as the truck continued down the road away from the small town.
I shook my head. “Their entire lives.”

3
The bird’s shrill chirps outside the window woke me early. We each took a quick shower and left without even bothering to turn on the TV before we got back on the road.
Sam insisted on driving first. She stopped at the nearest drive-through and ordered us breakfast before getting back on the highway.
“Do you always drive this fast?” I asked, clutching onto the armrests.
“This can’t be the first time you’ve ridden with me,” Sam said, glancing over at me. “I could go faster. We need to make up for lost time.”
My eyes were wide. I felt like I could see each tiny pebble that made up the concrete road.
“This is plenty fast,” I said.
The hours dragged. It was around seven in the evening when things started to look familiar. We still had another four hours before we’d reach my mom’s house.
“I’m hungry,” Sam said, puffing out her bottom lip. “Can we make a quick stop? Fill our bellies, stretch our legs.”
I wanted to press on, but my stomach betrayed me and rumbled loud enough to make Sam laugh. She turned to me with a big smile on her face.
“Ha! Burgers?” she asked.
My stomach rumbled again as though it thought Sam was talking directly to it.
“I guess so,” I groaned.
“How about that place,” Sam said, pointing at a blue sign with a white cursive font. “They have cheese curds!”
“Sure,” I said.
Sam rubbed her palms together. “I’ve never had Wisconsin cheese curds.”
“Your whole world is about to change,” I said with a laugh. “You’re never going to want to go back to Massachusetts.”
“Well, I have to, but if they are as great as you say, Dott and I will move here in a heartbeat,” Sam said as we climbed out of the SUV.
The sounds of an old truck rattling down the road caught my attention. It was another truck with the bed packed to the brim.
“That’s weird,” I said.
“It can’t be the same one we saw yesterday, can it?” Sam asked.
I shook my head. “It’s not. That one was a completely different color.”
The restaurant was empty except for another older couple huddled in a booth near the soda machine. They looked up at us for a long moment before turning back to their food.
Sam ordered us each a double cheeseburger and a side of cheese curds. I handed her cash, but she shook her head.
“It’s on me,” she said.
“I have money.”
“You can pay me back when the house sells.” Sam