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some Advil. Would you
like something to eat? I’m starving.”
    “That would be great. You don’t have any canned soup
do you? I could heat some up,” she offered.
    “Over there in the pantry—that sounds like a great
idea.”
    Tom went over to look for the soup as Erin stood
behind him.
    “Chicken and noodle!” she exclaimed.
    “Sounds good to me,” Tom said and handed her a can.
“The pans are hanging over there. I’ll be back in a flash.”
    As he headed for the bathroom, Tom lit candles along
the way. He took a bottle of ibuprofen out of the medicine cabinet,
stopped in the living room long enough to light the fireplace, then
returned to the kitchen.
    Erin was warming her hands near the burner while the
pan of soup heated up. Tom went over to the sink and filled a glass
with water from the tap.
    “Here you go,” he said handing Erin the tablets and
water.
    “Thanks.”
    After they had wolfed down the soup along with some
saltines and water, Tom and Erin went into the living room and sat
near the fire. For a few moments, they just sat there staring into
the flickering gas logs, feeling the warmth seep in.
    Moments later, Erin removed her coat and Tom noticed
how petite she was. He realized then that she couldn’t be much
older than eighteen or so. She had long brown hair that fell a few
inches below her shoulders, fair skin and very large brown eyes.
She was wearing denim jeans, a blouse under a navy blue sweater and
loafers. Erin Myers was very pretty but not what one would call
beautiful. She possessed a girl-next-door look and an overly
serious, cautious demeanor that was somewhat disturbing,
considering her young age.
    “Is your head getting any better?” Tom asked.
    “Yes, it is. I’m finally warming up, too.”
    “It is getting toasty in here,” he said, removing his
coat. “Do you feel up to answering a few questions? I know you’re
tired—I am, too. But I can’t let it wait much longer.”
    Erin gazed at him, her eyes revealing that she too
had some questions she wanted answered.
    “I’m fine, Tom. I want to know what has happened as
much as you do. I hope you have some answers for this—because I
haven’t got a clue.”
    Tom shook his head. “I wish I had some answers, but
I’m afraid I don’t. All I know for sure is only what I’ve seen, and
not seen, since I arrived here earlier this afternoon. And none of
it is good, to say the least.”
    Erin nodded. “It’s been horrible!”
    “Why don’t you tell me what all happened to you
today. That is, from the time that things started getting
strange.”
    Erin leaned back in the chair and let out a long
sigh.
    “Well, let’s see. I was driving home from work—I got
off at five o’clock-and the snowstorm was getting really bad. I had
a hard time seeing and could barely keep my car on the road, it was
so slick out. When I finally got to my apartment building, I went
inside and noticed that the electric was off.
    “I started getting a little nervous because it was
getting dark out and I don’t do well in the dark. In fact, I can’t
even sleep without a light on. Anyway, I checked the fuse box and
saw that none of the fuses were out so I assumed it was a power
failure. I tried to call the power company but the phone wouldn’t
work. My cell phone wouldn’t work either.
    “I decided to go to my neighbor’s
apartment next door and see if she had any idea of what was going
on. I mean, it’s so weird losing the power and the phone at the same time. And I
thought it was even weirder that my cell phone wouldn’t
work—because they work off satellite antennas or whatever, don’t
they?”
    Tom nodded.
    “So I went over to Mrs. Kline’s apartment and knocked
on the door but she never answered. I tried some of the other
neighbors as well but no one was answering.
    “That’s when it dawned on me that something was
really wrong. I mean—I’ve never known everyone in that building to
be gone all at the same time. It was just too