1. The Road Home

 " ‘Miles City: Montana's next best place.' "

Zane looked up from his book to stare at David.

"Hey, I didn't write it." David held up a travel brochure.

"What does that even mean?" Zane re-read the fine white print on the brochure cover. "What's Montana's first best place?"

"Anywhere but here?" David joked. Tasha snorted from the front seat.

"Alright guys, be nice," Mom said, though Zane could see her smile in the rearview mirror. "I know this isn't going to be like living in Phoenix but keep an open mind."

Mom had been saying that for the past sixty miles. In fact, ever since they'd set out from their former Arizona home. Their move was a sudden one.  Dad called out of the blue and told them he'd bought a house in Montana and wanted them to move there before the new school year started. Mom and Dad had argued about it for a few days, but eventually they ended up packing their house in record time and making the long drive only a month and a half later.

Zane didn't really mind moving. It was like a new adventure, and he loved road trips: stopping at small town hotels in the dead of night, eating fast food for every meal, watching the interstate scenery change with each new turnoff, and best of all, huge chunks of uninterruptable reading time.

 "What a huge waste of space," David grumbled as he looked out the rear window. "Horror movie paradise. You know, where there're aliens or escaped convicts or zombies on the loose and no one to hear you scream."

"Good thing there's no such things as aliens and the nearest prison is a few hundred miles from our house," Mom retorted. "We're almost there I think. Right on Cemetery Road and another on to Silas Trail."

"Cemetery Road?" David grimaced. "Not at all spooky."

"It was named for the Custard County Cemetery," Tasha said, flipping through another brochure. "But we don't live by it."

"Guess we can strike zombies off the list then." David slumped down in his chair.

Zane went back to his book. He was just about to discover if the hero Rill Skyline had what it took to defeat the evil black mage Foust in a duel of magic and swords when Mom hit the brakes and nearly sent him flying into the back of Tasha's chair.

"Oops," Mom apologized as she swerved towards a turn lane that led to a gravel road. "Nearly missed our turn."

A stray beam of sunshine suddenly broke through the clouds and Zane took a moment to bask in its warmth. The weather was downright freezing. They moved not only in time for the new school year, but for an infamous Montana snowfall.

"Here it is!" Mom cried.

Zane peered out the front windshield from between the seats. The house was a dull grey two story, with stark white doors and black trim. It was also in the middle of nowhere, a single light shining from an upstairs window and the front porch dimly lit by a lantern.

"Home sweet home," Mom said as she pulled up to the garage door and shut off the car. "Looks like the movers finished unloading everything."

They all piled out and stared up at the house.

"Creepy," Tasha sing-songed and Zane and David grunted in agreement. Mom was already through the front door and turning on more lights.

"Watch out for the boxes!" Mom called as she clopped her way towards the kitchen. "I'll get the furnace started."

Zane shut the door and locked it, looking around and feeling less and less at home even with their stuff piled all around. He took a deep breath. It was the start of a new adventure. Nothing to freak out about.

After starting the furnace and hooking up the telephone, Mom went out again to pick up some frozen pizzas for dinner. Tasha claimed one of the two rooms upstairs and David the other while Zane was left the room on the first floor, right across from the Master bedroom. He expected that. As the youngest he usually got the leftovers, but it wasn't a bad setup. Zane's room came equipped with a pair of built-in book cases and he was the only one in the family, besides Mom, who'd actually use them for books.

While Mom was gone, Zane and David helped Tasha put together all the beds and separate the boxes and furniture for each room. They had just finished lugging David's desk and clothing trunk upstairs when the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Zane yelled, thudding down the stairs to grab the cordless phone from its cradle near the front door. "Hello?"

"Hey buddy!" Dad's voice crackled across the line. "So what do you guys think of the new place?"

"Well, it's big," Zane chewed off a hangnail. "And totally in the middle of nowhere."

Dad was quiet for a moment. "Where's your mother?" he asked.

"She went out to get dinner. She said she'd be gone for a while." Zane heard Dad sigh. "Dad?"

"I'll call back later tonight." There was another awkward pause. "I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

The receiver clicked on the other end of the line and Zane pushed the end button.

"Who was that!?" Tasha yelled from upstairs.

"Dad!" Zane answered, returning the phone to its charger. "He'll call back when Mom gets home!"

But by the time Mom returned, Zane completely forgot about the phone call. He and David carved out a spot in the family room to set up the sofa set while Tasha hooked up the TV. Mom organized the kitchen while dinner cooked.

"Chow time guys!" Mom finally declared as she took two pizzas out of the oven: pepperoni for Zane and Tasha and supreme for her and David. "One of you go find the cups.  I think they're in the living room."

Zane trotted to the room on the other side of the kitchen, stopping to look out of the big bay windows.

"It's snowing!" Zane exclaimed, going to the closest pane to get a better look. The first white flakes of snowfall were being blown sideways across the glass, driven by the wind. He'd heard about snow but had never actually seen it. That's what he got for living in the desert most of his life.

"Man, it's coming down out there." Tasha grimaced as she joined him by the window. "We'll probably get snowed in."

"More time for family bible study!" Mom said from the kitchen and David didn't bother to disguise a belabored groan.

Zane ripped into a box labeled "kitchen cabinet #1" and dug out a stack of blue tumblers before hurrying back into the kitchen. Mom said grace and dinner commenced. Around Zane's third slice of pizza, the phone rang again.

"That's probably Dad," Zane said as Mom stood to answer. "He said he'd call back."

Mom gave Zane a strange look before hurrying out of the kitchen. All three of them exchanged suspicious glances and stopped eating, listening to the murmurs from the next room.

"No, I haven't yet," Mom was saying. "But I-"

There was a long pause.

"Mike, calm down," Mom said. "We'll do it together, okay?"

More silence.

"I know. I love you too. I will. Stay safe."

They quickly pretended to have their attention elsewhere as Mom came back into the kitchen.

"Eavesdroppers," Mom accused, smiling as she retook her chair. "Dad says hello."

"So when's he coming?" Tasha asked, taking a bite of pizza.

"Tomorrow." Mom took a sip of her cola. "His plane leaves in the morning."

Zane was glad Dad was finally coming home. They hadn't seen him in almost three months, ever since a special assignment at work transferred him to Illinois. But Mom didn't look happy. In fact, she looked anxious. And she kept glancing at Zane.

After dinner, they all went back to unpacking. David was holed away in his room, having set up his computer and currently playing one of his many online games. Tasha was organizing her clothes, all fifteen boxes of them. Mom was putting away her study books and teaching materials, one of her worship CD's blasting from the stereo in the Master bedroom. Zane shut his door and organized his own collection of books, mostly adventure and fantasy, with the occasional sci-fi and mystery and of course, comics.

Around ten o'clock Mom called for lights out, stopping in each of their rooms to wish them goodnight.

"Zane?" Mom called, stepping inside Zane's room. Zane set aside his book.

"You know your father and I love you, right?"

The question totally caught Zane off guard, but he nodded. Mom sat down on the edge of his bed, absently taking one of his hands and tracing the dark brown mark across his wrist with her thumb like she usually did. Zane couldn't recall where the mark was from. He'd had it since he was little.

"We won't let anything happen to any of you kids." Mom was looking at his wrist. "You're safe with us. No one is going to take you away."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Zane felt his heart beat a little faster. "Why would someone take us away from you? Is something happening with dad? Are we in trouble?"

"No, no." Mom chuckled and patted his hand as she stood. "Your father and I aren't in trouble, Zane. Sorry if I worried you."

And after giving him a kiss goodnight, she left.

 

______________________________________

 

 

Zane stared up at his bedroom ceiling long after lights out, listening to the wind.

Mom's strange behavior before bed was still bothering him. What did she mean, she wouldn't let anything happen to them? And what was Mom's phone call with Dad all about? For that matter, why in the world did Dad move them all to the remote back woods of Montana?

Zane turned over and closed his eyes. There wasn't any point in thinking about this right now. Dad would be home tomorrow and he'd get some answers then. He hoped.

"Karovv...lechol kore'av."

Zane sat up as he heard a voice through his closed door. Was Mom up studying again? Sometimes she did that, spent late nights buried in her books. He didn't usually mind; it was actually kind of comforting to hear her talking to herself in the next room. But tonight...tonight it sounded different.

"Lechol asher yikra'uhu ve'emet."

Zane pulled a t-shirt over his sleeping pants and peeked around his door towards the Master bedroom. The light was off and the only sound was the soft hum of a praise and worship CD. But if Mom was asleep, who was talking?

"Retzovn yere'av ya'aseh."

Again the voice came, louder, but still muttering like it was behind a door somewhere. Zane stepped into the hall, listening.

"Ve'et shav'atam yishma veyovshi'em."

Every bone in Zane's body was telling him not to investigate; to just go back to bed and ignore it completely. What if it was some homeless person? What if it was a thief? What if it was an escaped convict? Heck, what if it was a zombie? They were in the middle of nowhere, and David had already brought up the horror movie paradise comparison. And they had nothing that could defend them from a hobo-thief-convict-zombie attack. Well, maybe not nothing.  David had a baseball bat from when he'd played in middle school. That would work well enough.

David's room was at the top of the stairs. The door was open and the ethereal blue light of his computer crept into the hall. Zane wasn't surprised to find David passed out across the keyboard, still fully dressed.

"David," Zane whispered, inching into the room. David didn't stir. In fact, he was snoring.

"David!" Zane hissed, a little louder.

"Zane?" David yawned and stretched, checking the clock in the corner of his monitor. "It's three in the morning. What's wrong?"

"I need your bat."

David stared at him. "My bat. Now?"

"I heard weird voices in the house."

David went to one of the open boxes near his bed.  "Where's Mom?" he asked as he unearthed the bat and bypassed Zane into the hall.

"Still sleeping," Zane replied, glad that David decided to take the lead. "I wanted to see what it was first before I woke her."

"Good thinking," and David crept down the staircase as silently as Zane had come up. They stopped when they came to the bottom and scanned the foyer.

"I don't hear anything," David said, giving Zane a doubtful look. Zane paused, listening.

"Shema... kovli ekra."

"You hear that?" Zane whispered sarcastically.

David nodded and tightened his grip on the bat. "Stay close."

The kitchen was quiet, nothing stirring in the bizarre light coming from the snow outside as they took stock of every box and shadow. Zane glanced over at the basement door, about to keep looking around when he noticed a faint amber light coming from underneath. He nudged David and pointed.

"Is there any way to get to the basement from the outside?" David asked as he inched along the wall.

"I think so. Mom said something about having a cellar door out back."

David reached out a hand to turn the knob and used the other to grip the bat even tighter. 

"Vechanneni va'aneni."

They were both startled to hear the voice again, whispering from just on the other side of the door. Zane felt a fearsome chill run up his spine and he shivered. He couldn't explain it but he suddenly knew they shouldn't be here. They shouldn't open that door. They shouldn't go down those stairs. But he didn't say anything.  They had to go. They had to find out what was in the basement.

The door opened soundlessly and soft amber light went creeping across the kitchen floor. David took the first step, the bat held out straight in front of him. Zane followed, glad that their footsteps made no sound as they slowly descended into the basement's depths. They were about halfway to the bottom when the light suddenly faded, leaving them in total darkness.

"Va'aneni."

Someone, or something, shoved Zane and hard. So hard that he cannoned into David and they both went tumbling down the stairs. David managed to catch himself against the wall but Zane wasn't so lucky. He felt David try to grab his arm and miss before everything went dark.

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