This time Luther and Derek stood to either side of the ladder, guns ready, eyes skyward, while Tuck helped the Dead up the ladder and into the building, one at a time.

The twins, Matt and Mary, followed, then Tuck and Luther who went up together, hauling one of the food coolers. The box was too big to fit through the bars, so Ashley took out anything that wouldn't go bad, and the cooler was put back into the truck which was then closed and locked until they could come back for it. Luther and Tuck went up and in, and then Derek pulled the ladder up and in after him.

As soon as everyone was in and safe, they all collapsed on the floor. After allowing for ten minutes' rest, Ashley cleared her throat, and said, "Alright, let's see what we've got here. We need to get the cars and trucks inside and seal off any exits."

They explored as they went, opening doors and going down hallways to see where they went. From what they'd seen so far of the building, they couldn't tell if they were in a school, a hospital, a prison, or an office building, because they found rooms along the way that would have been at home in any of those places. Here's a cla.s.sroom across the hall from an exam room. On the bottom floor, a corner of the building housed five padded cells. If necessary, they could erect a barricade in front of the doors just using the empty desks they found.

"Welcome to The Trust," Ashley said.

"What?" Sara asked.

"Welcome to The Trust," she repeated. "That's what the sign said when we pulled up. Welcome to The Trust."

"What's The Trust?"

"No idea."

"This place is huge."

"Which should work to our advantage, I hope," Ashley said. She opened a door. Another office. "Doesn't this place have a kitchen? Some place to store the food?"

"A place this size, you'd think so."

"Yeah, you'd think."

She had sent Tuck and Derek to find a way to get the cars inside, while Luther took the twins to find a safe place for the Dead. Meanwhile Ashley and Sara explored.

The electricity was still on, and there wasn't as much dust as either had expected.

"It's almost like the place has been waiting," Sara said.

"That doesn't fill me with hope."

"Why not?"

"What if we're not what it's been waiting for. If there's someone else due here?"

It made sense. Power to all the abandoned buildings had been cut off decades ago, and the last place Ashley had been in like this had had a carpet of dust.

"Here," Sara said, bringing Ashley out of her own head. "Cafeteria."

"Sure?"

They went in and Ashley was greeted by a room longer than it was wide, and lined in five rows across from one end of the room to the other with long tables and light blue plastic chairs.

"Great," Ashley said, heading for the back of the room. "If the power's on in the rest of the building, there might be a refrigerator where we can put the food."

They found it and went to find the others and bring the food down.

The plan was to meet back where they'd split, on the second floor. When Tuck and Derek returned, they'd bring the tools to close this door off and make sure no one else entered the building, at least through there. But by the time Ashley and Sara found the way back--opening the door to make sure it was the correct room and Ashley saw one of the birds clinging to the bars, its head in the room, squawking and shrieking, but not able to force its body through--Tuck and Derek still hadn't returned.

They leaned against the wall, waiting, listening to the birds on the other side of the door trying to claw their way into the room. One squawked so loud, Sara jumped. Ashley, however, seemed too zoned out to notice. She had her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. Her eyes were closed and she was thinking about Phillip and Millie.

Tuck and Derek returned and they went to work covering the door. They took the top off one of the desks lying around the place and nailed it directly to the doorframe.

"You got the cars inside?" she asked, sliding up the wall to her feet.

"Yeah, pretty much," Derek said. Tuck handed him a nail and Derek drove it through the desktop.

"Pretty much?" Ashley asked.

"The Viewliner," Tuck said. "There were a few birds in it, so we left it out there."

"We should be able to get it later, maybe tomorrow," Derek said.

Ashley nodded.

She let them work while she wandered to the other end of the hall.

She still wasn't sure what this place was, but she'd make finding out a priority. Get everyone settled and then explore and find out where they were. Who knew what they might find lying around here, but if it was something that might help them--canned goods or extra clothes, maybe--it would be nice to find out.

She opened a door, looked in. She'd never heard of it before, The Trust.

"All done," Tuck called down to her.

Ashley closed the door and joined them again at the other end of the hall.

"Now we wait for Luther and the twins and they'll take us back to where they took the Dead. We'll set ourselves up somewhere near them and . . . " she trailed off.

"Then we'll start the wait," Sara said.

"Get comfortable, folks, and take it all in 'cause this is home for the next year."

"If we last that long," Derek said. "We don't have enough food for a year."

"If it comes down to it," Ashley said, "we'll last as long as we can then send someone out to loot a store."

"Send someone where?" Tuck asked. "There wasn't anything for miles."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not having the best time of it right now, so please, if you have a better idea, give it to me."

Tuck shook his head, kept his mouth shut.

"Then like I said," she went on, "we go as long as we can. If we don't find anything here--."

"There is a cafeteria," Sara blurted.

"Right," Ashley said. "There's a cafeteria downstairs, so I see no reason to believe we won't find something here. But if we don't, we send someone out. I'll go if I have to."

Tuck nodded. Derek looked like he was going to say something, but before he could, Luther and the twins, Matt and Mary, returned.

The group was led downstairs and Luther showed them where the Dead were staying. Then he led them down another hall, around a corner, and into another room. This one looked like a gymnasium.

"Big enough?" Luther asked.

"This is fine," Ashley said.

The doors were propped open, and Tuck and Derek took them to the vehicles. A little over an hour later, the family's belongings were stashed in the gym and they all stood back and looked at home.

DEATH SIGHT:.

A WILL CASTLETON NOVEL.

David Bain PART ONE:.

DROWNING.

1.

The dead stared at him with dark, empty, accusing sockets that formerly held their eyes.

Will's feet were rooted in a nightlit desert. A full moon. A dry, coppery odor to the air. Cacti. Rocks. Low dunes rising out of the ankle-deep water.

For the desert was also the sea.

Will and the dead stood in the ankle-deep waters of the desert, staring at each other.

One of him.

Hundreds of them.

Everyone who would now die because he was still alive.

Everyone already dead who would come into his life.

All the ghosts he would ever create, ever encounter.

He could not make out the faces of most of the throng of shadowy figures.

Those in front he recognized, however.

They were the faces of an entire SWAT team, cops from several branches of law enforcement, still in their tattered uniforms.

Horribly disfigured, all of them.

Only half their flesh still on their raw faces.

Limbs missing.

Their eyes infinite wells of unfathomable dark.

He knew the corpse, the spirit that stood at the forefront. c.u.mmings. A decent, if overbearing cop in life.

Will could see Marshal c.u.mmings' tongue through the hole in his flesh, through the gap in his teeth, his jaw.

Will could see the tongue move like a thick worm as c.u.mmings said, "Look down, Castleton."

The water wasn't water.

It was blood.

"The tide will rise," c.u.mmings said. "You'll drown in an ocean of blood before you're through."

Then Will would realize he was already covered in the stuff.

The vision would wash over him, even when he was wide awake.

Will would come out of it screaming.

Thus, the powers that be sent him to see Smith.

"The blood and the darkness," Will said. "The death. The outright evil."

"Not what you signed up for," Smith said.

"I mean, to put bad guys away, yes. To do some good in the world, yes. But a U.S. Marshal's supposed to protect federal witnesses, oversee major meth lab busts, that sort of thing. My life since the accident, thougha"

"Not what you signed up for," Smith repeated. He clicked his ballpoint pen, working his thumb, making a sound like a castanet. Maybe it was good this shrink had a nervous habit. Will had thought the whole thing about psychiatrists scribbling in a notebook while you talked was a myth, but not with this guy.

"We can't always predict the directions our lives will take."

Will straightened in his chair, frowned at the man. "Are you being funny?"

Smith laughed. Guy with silver, slick-backed hair, suspenders, red tie, blue b.u.t.ton-down shirt, his sport coat slung casually over his high-backed leather chair. A guy whose clothes were probably worth more than what Will paid for his new apartment here in the city per month: laughing at him. Will in biker boots - he'd rode his Harley here - jeans, Hold Steady concert t-shirt, black leather jacket which he'd refused to take off so he could leave faster.

"Sorry. Poor word choice." Smith clicked his pen again, reclined slightly in his chair. Smith sat behind his big faux-mahogany desk. Will hunkered in a seat to the side. Open s.p.a.ce, between them. There was indeed a couch, but Smith hadn't suggested he use it.

Smith looked at Will as if he expected Will to speak.