Werewolf Suspense (Book 1): Outage (3 page)

Stop it, Abby.

She tried to calm herself, but her thoughts were running rampant.
 

The house felt colder than ever.
 

"Rob?"

Abby hadn't heard her husband in several minutes. She dropped the shade and listened, certain he'd have returned by now. There were no sounds save the occasional creak of the floors. The wind quaked.

"Rob, where the hell are you?"
 

She tried to compose herself, but her voice was shaking. The house seemed cold and menacing and
uninhabitable
, and she stared at the ceiling, certain a branch would come crashing through the plaster at any moment.

Don't be silly
.
You'll be fine. The Morgans and the Hamiltons are still here, and so is the new neighbor at the end of the street.

Abby sucked in a slow breath, doing her best to calm herself down. If worse came to worst, she'd walk to the Hamiltons'. It was possible they had a generator. The power would be restored soon. They weren't going to be stranded in the middle of the storm without help. There were plenty of options.

Get ahold of yourself, Abby.

She was overreacting, as usual. Her vivid imagination had gotten the best of her.
Calm down and stop worrying so much
.
She felt her pulse start to decelerate, and she even cracked a smile.

Her smiled faded when another car started up outside.

Abby watched the Morgans' silver Chevy Blazer roll down the street, the somber light of the sky glinting off the hubcaps. The driver and passenger were staring straight ahead, two silhouettes forged in shadow. Neither of them gave Abby's house a glance.
 

"Rob? Where are you, Goddammit?"

There was no answer from the other room.

She moved toward the doorway, hands tucked under her armpits. Her lungs felt like ice. If the lights had been on, Abby swore she would've been able to see her breath. When she reached the edge of the bedroom, she heard noises from the other end of the house.

"Rob?"

She choked back a sob. She was scared now, really scared, and if her husband didn't answer her soon—

"In here!" Rob called.
 

His voice was still hoarse, as if he was in the process of waking up.
Either that or he's freezing to death
.
She stepped out into the hallway, trading the plush of carpet for the smooth gloss of hardwood. Across from the bedroom was a door leading to an office. Eventually Abby and Rob had hoped to use it as a nursery, but they hadn't settled on a timeline.

There'd be plenty of time for that later, Rob had said.
 

Now she was starting to wonder if she'd die of frostbite first.

She continued down the hall, passing the open bathroom door on her left. About ten feet farther on, the house opened up into the living and dining areas. She navigated her way by the light of the cellphone. The windows in the adjacent room were uncovered, and the pale light of the sky glinted through the windows.

Rob was kneeling by the large bay window in the living room. His nose was pressed to the glass.

"Why didn't you answer?" Abby demanded.

"I was just messing with you." Rob grinned, and he punched her arm. "This is some storm, huh?"
 

His words were more of a statement than a question.

"You can say that again," she said.
 

"You didn't hear anything on the news today, did you?"

"Nope. Not a thing. I didn't even know it could snow in October."

Rob turned to look at her, his unkempt hair sticking out at odd angles. She'd told him he needed a haircut, but he'd insisted on letting it grow.

She often teased him about his appearance, but his non-conventional looks were one of the things that had drawn her to him in the first place. Rob was a graphic designer, and his artistic nature extended from his trade to his appearance.

She walked over and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Did you get ahold of the power company?" he asked.

"No. The Internet is crawling. I'm going to use the phone book."

"I think we have an old electric bill in the kitchen drawer. It should have the phone number on it."

"OK. Thanks."

She started to walk away and then hesitated.

"Did you see the Pierces and the Morgans pulling out? I think we should leave."

"I saw them. They're a bunch of wussies. We'll be fine."

Abby shook her head. Instead of being comforted, she was worried. The two of them were from Georgia, and this was their first winter in New England. She'd seen plenty of snowstorms, but all of them had been from the safe, warm confines of a Vermont ski lodge.

None of them had been like this.

Sensing her unease, her husband waved her back to the window.

"Come here, baby," he said.
 

She walked over and bent down next to him, letting him pull her in for a kiss.

"We'll be fine."

"I'm worried, Rob. Every time I hear something snap I think a tree's going to fall on top of us."

"That's what we have homeowner's insurance for, right?"

"What if one of them comes through the roof and hits us? What if a branch falls on the car?"

"You need stop worrying so much," he said. "Think of it as an adventure. It'll be romantic. We'll have the whole street to ourselves. We can cuddle in bed and get warm."

She forced a smile. "Famous last words. They'll find our frozen bodies stuck together in the spring when the snow thaws."

"Would that be so bad? At least we'd be together."

She squeezed him tight and then stood up again. Rob reached for her, but she avoided his hands.

"Where are you going?" he asked, feigning hurt feelings.

"I have to call the power company. No one else is going to do it." She smiled into the darkness. "I'll be right back."

Abby stepped away from her husband's crouched figure and headed into the kitchen. When she reached the counter next to the stove, she slid open the top drawer and sifted through the papers inside using the light of her cellphone.
Checkbook. Mortgage statement. Stamp book.
She finally found the latest electric bill on the bottom of the pile, and she pulled it out, searching for the number. She located it on the bottom of the statement.

"Got it," she muttered to no one in particular.

She tapped a few buttons on her phone and started dialing. While she waited for the number to connect, she walked over to the sink and peered out onto the deck. The porch, which was normally gray in color, now shone a glossy white. She flicked on one of the nearby light switches, but the backyard remained dark.

After a few rings, the phone connected. She followed the automated prompts until she'd reached the reporting line.
 

"Please enter the phone number for the location in which you are reporting an outage."

She punched in her home number.

"Is the property without power located at 5 Jameson Street in Plainfield?"

She confirmed that it was.

"The outage in your area has already been reported. At this time, there is no estimated time of restoration
.
Updates will be posted as soon as they are available."

Abby held the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief. After a few seconds, she hit the number again, listening to the message repeat.
 

"Well, that's just great."

A few hours ago, she hadn't even been aware there was a storm. Now they were stuck without heat and power, with no way of knowing when it would return.

She held her hands to her face to capture the warmth from her cheeks. The house contained a fireplace, but they hadn't gotten it cleaned yet. Even if they had, they didn't have any firewood.
 

Welcome to New England, Abby.

"Honey?" she called, trying to keep her composure. "I have bad news."

She sucked in a cold breath and stuffed the phone back into her pocket, then returned to the living room. Rob was still kneeling at the window, staring intently at the storm. She shared the news with him.

"We need to leave. I don't want to stay here anymore. This house is just going to get colder and colder."

Rob kept his nose pressed to the glass. Outside, a gust of wind spattered snow across the pane. After a few seconds, he sighed.

"You know what, Abs? I think you're right."
 

"Where should we go?" Rob asked.

"I don't know. A motel? Anything would be better than this icebox."

Rob continued to rifle through the cabinets. After a few more seconds, he held up the flashlight in triumph. There was a
click
, and then he illuminated Abby's face in a bright white beam. She squinted through the glare.
 

"Really, Rob?"

"Sorry." Rob laughed and lowered the flashlight. "Where do you think everyone else went?"

"Probably to stay with family."

Her husband lowered his eyes. She could tell he was trying to avoid an argument. It'd been Rob's idea to move to Connecticut. He'd been offered a job at a design firm, and they'd chosen to follow his career rather than stay in Georgia.

Although she'd agreed to move, it was times like this that made her wish they'd stayed close to relatives.

Rob pulled out a handful of candles and placed them on the counter next to the stove.
 

"What are those for?"

"Backup."

"Backup for what?"

"In case the car won't start."

Abby's face grew pale.

"Don't even joke like that," she said.

"I'm sorry, honey. I'm sure we'll be fine. I'll go fire up the car. Why don't you start packing?"

Rob handed her the flashlight, then kissed her on the forehead.

"Relax. Everything will work out just fine."

"You really think so?"

"It's a winter storm, Abby. I'm sure we'll get a lot more of them before the end of the season. We'll survive. We'll just have to be better prepared next time."
 

Abby remained doubtful, but she followed her husband through the kitchen anyway. Cold or not, at least she was with the man she loved
.
 

And that was all that counted, right?

She heaved a sigh, her socks sliding across the hardwood.
 

Till death do us part, Abby.
 

If they couldn't get the car started, maybe death would come sooner than she thought.

Abby laid two duffel bags on the bed. Using the flashlight, she trekked to the bureau and picked out several sets of thick winter clothing.

The cold air nipped at her hands and cheeks.

Thank God we don't have any children.
 

If they did, her worries would have been amplified. But she
did
want them. Someday.

After packing her things, she made her way over to Rob's bureau. It was difficult to prepare when they didn't know how long they'd be gone. Would it be one day? Two?
 

She had no idea how long they'd have to wait for the power to return. In all likelihood, the electric company wouldn't send out trucks until the storm had subsided, and who knew how long that'd be. She'd seen how slippery the roads were when the neighbors left. She doubted the plows were even out yet. She stowed a few of Rob's clothing items and zipped up the bags.

They'd have to make do.

She hefted the luggage over her shoulder and made her way to the kitchen. In the pantry were several of her prescriptions—her Lexapro and her Xanax. She'd be a basket case without them. She needed to grab them.

While in the kitchen, she paused at the refrigerator. Should she grab food and water, as well? She wrestled with the decision, but thought better of it. With the power out, it'd be best to leave the refrigerator closed. She didn't want the food to spoil.

There'd be plenty of amenities at the hotel.

She finished packing and returned to the living room. The bay window, formerly dim, now cast an eerie glow over the hardwood floor, as if the moon was piercing through the clouds. Through the pane, she could make out Rob clearing off the vehicle.

The fear she'd felt before suddenly returned, slithering inside her like an animal burrowing for winter. Her heart began to race, and she scurried down the hallway and headed for the closet.
 

Get your coat and get out of here.

The thought filled her with urgency, and she rifled through the closet, shining the light of the flashlight over an assortment of jackets and coats. Why was she so afraid? The cold and the storm were enough to make anyone feel uneasy, but Abby felt something deeper than that. Ever since waking up, the world had seemed foreign and out of control, and she was hard-pressed to find comfort in anything.
 

It must be the new house.

They'd only lived here for two months. She'd done her best to settle into her new life, but things were still unfamiliar, and she was still getting adjusted. It didn't help that she had yet to find a job.