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of eerie pitch black you see in horror movies before someone is about to killed.  Slowing to a stop, he picked up his phone from the cup holder next to him.  No service.  That wasn’t necessarily surprising, they were in the mountains- cell phone service was notoriously hit or miss up here.  It did add to his impending feeling of doom though.
    Opening his door, he got out quietly to stretch his legs.  Somewhere about fifty miles back Katy had finally fallen asleep and he was going to attempt to keep it that way.  If she saw where they were, she’d probably start asking questions about how long they’d be staying here and whine about the conditions of the nearby buildings.  Cort thought the area was charming, rustic even, but Katy was used to a higher standard.  No, it was definitely better to let Katy sleep through this part of the trip.
    Closing the door as softly as he opened it, he walked back to Jake’s jeep which had come to a stop behind his.  His shoes crunched on the snow and frost that were normal in the area this time of year.  He really wished they had been able to find a place which had gear in case there was a blizzard.  Unfortunately, it was looking like he would have to rely on Annalise to bring that kind of equipment.  
    Jake leaned his head out of the window.  “You gettin’ any service here?” he asked, fiddling with his phone in front of the steering wheel.
    “No, but that’s not unusual,” Cort responded, leaning against the Jeep and reaching in his pockets to pull out his pack of Marlboro Milds and lighting one up.  “Everyone should be here soon.  Last time I talked to Annalise she was about 2 hours out and that was about,” he looked at his watch, “two hours ago.”
    Jake put his phone down, reaching towards his center console for his own cigarettes. “I talked to Jenna and Kevin and they were about twenty minutes behind us when we were at the Walmart.  What’s the plan from here?”
    Cort exhaled his cigarette smoke into the cool night air.  This was the one area of the plan that was a little hazy.  Cort was supposed to have bought a house out here by now, but it had never seemed like a priority.  Instead, he had stopped saving and spent his money on things that he was sure he didn’t even have with him at this point.  It seemed like a gross oversight and he was mentally chiding himself for not being better prepared.  The back up plan was to commandeer an empty vacation home near Deep Creek Lake.  Deep Creek was about 40 miles to the south west and was in a valley which provided it’s own type of protection from the elements, as well as having beautiful scenery.  If the current power outage that was gripping Cumberland was effecting houses there, it might be an easier task than originally thought.  At least he hoped there wouldn’t be any alarm systems that were functioning.  “We find a house at Deep Creek that’s unlocked and crash there for awhile until we figure out what’s going on.”
    “So we’re squatting in someones vacation home,” Jake said with a laugh.  “I like it.”
    Taking another drag, Cort responded, “There are worse fates.” From the exit ramp behind them, he saw lights from what looked like a truck.  The truck began to slow to a stop behind the Jeep, and Cort recognized the license plates and smiled to himself.  Kevin and Jenna.  Kevin and Cort had been friends since grade school and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Kevin knew Cort better than most of his family.  In fact, when Cort’s own family had decided not to come to the rendezvous spot in Cumberland, Cort had been somewhat okay with that knowing Kevin would be there.  
    In college, Kevin had started dating Jenna and there wasn’t a moment that Cort had ever thought of making her feel uncomfortable or trying to remove her from Kevin’s life.  They were perfect together, and Cort had immediately accepted her into his family too.  Because of this, they had