The Cold

“It's not that unusual,” replied Bob, “these things go out all the time.” He flicked the switch on and off several times, then turned to the man beside him. “That's why we started carrying these,” he added, as his hand moved to the flashlight on his belt

“What causes it?” Joe sounded anxious. He couldn't help but wonder if he was just unlucky, or if every night was gonna be like this.

“Hard to say. Could be a lot of things, could be nothing. Probably something though.” Bob was mumbling as he twisted the end of his flashlight, bringing it to life. “Maybe it's the cold.”

It was cold. The man on the news had said it would be overcast, but no one had accounted for the wind. It was blowing hard, and it left Joe feeling like someone had blown the steam off his coffee.

Joe had come in to work tonight with hope in his heart. He'd hoped his coworker wouldn't be a hard ass. He'd hoped he could handle the job. He'd hoped it would be a quiet night. But he'd learned not to expect much, no matter his hope. It had been hard enough getting this job, he couldn't afford to lose it. Lucy'd probably kill him if he got fired again. So he twisted his small flashlight to life and followed Bob into the tunnel.

Bob talked all the time. He didn't seem to care if Joe was listening or not, he didn't even seem to notice, and Joe didn't care if Bob talked so he let him go on. Bob told him about the girl who worked weekends at reception. He told him about his neighbor with the cats. He complained about traffic, and politics, and the weather. He went on for a while about last night's game and whether his team was going to go the distance this year. He only stopped talking for a moment when they passed the blind man, but he started up again as they turned the corner, rushing to fill the empty space. Soon enough the reached the door leading outside.

“Alright Joe, you know what to do? First time right?” Joe nodded his head and licked the corner of his mouth. He hadn't expected to go outside his first night, but here he was.

“Remember, just stay on the path and you'll be fine. I've done this plenty, and you will too if you work here long enough. They can't hurt ya long as ya stay on the path.” They'd gone over all that in orientation, but Bob had seen more than one new guy panic outside, and he'd learned to take his own precautions. “Alright, let's go.” And with that, Bob turned his key in the lock, and the door began to swing slowly open.

It was a heavy door, and large, but soon enough light began to pour in around the edge and they could kill their flashlights. After a moment, the light was so bright it began to make Joe's eyes water.

“Is it always like this?” He asked.

“Always,” Bob sounded bored. “You get used to it. Let's get this over with.” And with that, he led the way out into the light.

Joe could hear them. Their voices. He could hear them all around, calling to him. Bob could too, but he'd learned to ignore it. Listening didn't help, didn't make it any better. No, better by far to fix the generator and go back inside where you couldn't hear them anymore. Bob had seen what could happen if a man listened, if he left the path, so Bob stayed on it and walked towards the line station. And because Bob did, Joe did too.

It was different outside. The light sure, and them, but the weather too. Inside it had been cold and windy, a gloomy kind of gray you could feel, but soon Joe was starting to sweat a little, and the light was getting poured on with a bucket. It was strange, and he was just wondering how he'd describe it to Lucy when Bob stopped.

“This is the one. You can see where the cable burned through. Looks like it was the cold. People using so much juice inside it wore the unit out.” He was pointing at some red wires coming from the small white box. “Hand me your torch Joe, this won't take long.”

Joe reached for his belt and fumbled for the small beam cutter he'd been issued. He started thinking about Lucy, and what she'd look like in all that light. He imagined her out there, standing on a hill a short distance away. He felt Bob's hand on his arm, so he turned towards him and tried to wave him away with the his beam cutter. As he moved off the path, towards that little hill so far away, he wondered where the light had gone. It wasn't long before it was so dark he couldn't see at all. He sat down and thought about Lucy as the cold began to set it.

“Goddamnsonofabitchshitlovingnewfuck!” Joe could hear Bob's voice. It began to get warmer and he could just make out hands holding his leg and dragging him back inside. After a few moments, he could even see Bob's face. It looked as though he had been badly burned, and he was putting some kind of cream on his cheek and ear. “Earplugs goddamnit! Earplugs and piss fucking sign language. Like it used to be. That's what we need. You awake yet you sonofabitch?” Bob was shaking Joe violently by his shoulders. “You in there prickass?”

“What happened?” asked Joe, confused and alarmed.

“You shot me in the goddamn face with your torch, that's what happened.” growled Bob angrily. “I told you to stay on the path. I told you not to listen. Instead you shot me in the face and damn near froze to death out there. They told you not to listen. I told you not to listen. It's not real Joe!” Bob was yelling at him now. “I told you to stay on the saint's fucked path, and you shot me!”

Bob was clearly frustrated as he began to apply the quick seal bandages they had been issued to his burns. Now that they were inside and out of danger, Joe was beginning to be more afraid of losing his job than freezing to death. He was trying to piece it all together, what had happened. They were going to fix the generator, and then,

“Jesus Bob, I'm sorry. I just had to head out there. I don't know what happened. There was something I needed out there, needed more than air to breathe, and when you tried to warn me, something told me I had to stop you. I just had to.” Joe couldn't make sense of it. He just sat there hanging his head and staring at nothing.

But Bob could make sense of it. He's seen it before. “It's them Joe. They want what we have, and they know how to get a man's attention. It's why we have to stay inside. It's why we have the path and the generators. Ya can't listen to em Joe. It only makes it worse. 'Sides, they're lyin' anyway. Aint nothin' out there for us Joe. Nothin' out there but the cold.”