Read Extinct for Free Online Page B

“But I think it would take a while to figure out if it is.”
    “Can you remember it?” asked Sam.
    “There’s too much. I can memorize parts of it, but I don’t think I could memorize the whole thing. At least not quickly.”
    “Well, get what you can and let’s get out of here," Sam said.
    “Dad? What was it you didn’t want me to see? Is this blood?” Robby asked.
    Sam put his hand on Robby’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “Don’t worry, Robby. Nothing important. Just see what you can figure from these pictures. Take a few minutes.”
    “Okay,” Robby said. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let his shoulders drop. He cleared his mind. It was easy to do with his dad right behind him—he felt safe. It would have been easier to do with an empty bladder, but he managed to relax. When he opened his eyes again he tried to take in the whole picture; he tried to see the whole foundation as one big image. He couldn’t make out the far edges, they weren’t well lit enough, but the center of the wall burned a picture on the backs of his eyes. He opened his eyes wider and let it all sink in.  
    Robby forgot about the storm, and the house, and the kitchen door, and Thanksgiving, and just saw the wall. His heartbeat slowed and his eyelids dropped slightly. The next thing he knew, his dad was shaking him gently by the shoulder.
    “Robby? You got it?” asked his father.
    “I think so,” Robby said.  
    “Good. Let’s go," Sam said.
    Sam backed up and led Robby over to the ladder. He shone the flashlight at the bottom rung, so Robby could place his foot. When he lifted his head to look up, Robby caught something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a big pile of rope and a bunch of sticks. He didn’t see any colors. The dim light and his peripheral vision turned the objects black and white, but they looked shiny and wet. He climbed up into the dim bathroom and saw Paulie standing in the doorway. His dad followed right behind him up the ladder.  
    Sam brushed off his pants and then replaced the floor panel and the throw rug.  
    “Can I use the bathroom first?” Robby asked.
    “Will it be quick?” asked his dad.
    “Yes.”
    “Make sure it is," Sam said.
    He set the light on the counter and stepped into the hall with Paulie. Sam left the door open and waited for Robby to start urinating before he conferred with Paulie. Robby couldn’t hear a word they said.
    “You done? Let’s go,” Sam said to Robby.
    “Okay,” Robby said. He didn’t flush or wash his hands—standard operating procedure when the power was out. Sam went first down the hall, followed by Robby and Paulie. “So there was nothing in the kitchen, Mr. Carver?” Robby asked Paulie.
    “Nothing but the wind," Paulie said. “I think it blew the back door open.”
    Sam stopped. “You didn’t say that before,” he whispered to Paulie.
    “Yeah, I did," Paulie said.
    “Was the outside door open, or just the one to the mudroom?” asked Sam.
    “Both," Paulie said. “But the outside one was just open a crack, like you left it. And there were no tracks in the new snow that blew in.”
    “Good enough then," Sam said. “Let’s get out of here.”
    Sam swept the flashlight around the living room one more time before turning it off. He opened the front door. Outside, the sky had grown darker but the snow wasn’t falling as heavily so they could see a bit better. The wind worked at filling in their tracks from earlier; the trudging was difficult.  
    Robby grabbed the back of his father’s jacket, and Paulie grabbed a handful of Robby’s. They formed a train and slogged up the hill towards the house. Their feet fell in rhythm. Robby pushed back his hood and looked to the side as they marched. He could make out the outline of their neighbor’s house.  
    They followed the picket fence of Mrs. Lane’s yard. Only the tops of pickets still poked through the snow drifts. Robby watched this house closely when he passed. He