The Long Night Begins

Times Square was so crowded that most people were bumping into each other as they moved around. The two boys were walking together several steps behind Aunt Claire and Tess. Archibald suddenly stopped and exclaimed, “Wow, Jockabeb! Look at all those weird masks in that store window.”

Sure enough, as Jockabeb followed his brother over to the window of the small shop, he saw a collection of strange masks of every type—famous people, ghosts, animals, and a few creepy creatures that you’d never want to meet alone in a dark alley.

The boys had been staring at the masks for less than a minute when Jockabeb looked back for his aunt and sister. The instant he realized they were nowhere to be seen, he felt his chest tighten. When he stammered, “Archibald, they’re gone!” he instinctively knew they were in trouble.

As the boys started to run forward, a nightmarish figure from the past suddenly walked out of the crowd and blocked their progress—Tommy Nat!

Smirking, with arms folded across his chest, and an inverted pentagram medallion hanging from his neck, the murderer who’d almost snuffed out their lives in Haiti stood squarely between them and the direction Aunt Claire and Tess had been walking. A pair of dark skinned giants dressed all in black now replaced the seven Haitian henchmen who’d been with him at Mer Diable Café.

The two massive goons standing behind Tommy Nat wore their ebony hair in long dreadlocks, and when they took a wooden-like step forward, their faces came into better view. Looking into their large, bulging eyes and seeing the lifeless, blank stares that were returned, one word flashed into Jockabeb’s frazzled mind—zombies!

Archibald knew they had to move fast, so he grabbed his brother’s arm, turned in the other direction, and shouted, “Follow me.”

Sprinting as fast as they could, the boys bounced off startled pedestrians as they wove their way through the tightly packed crowd. When Archibald looked up and saw a subway entrance sign, he made a split-second decision and yelled, “This way.”

Jockabeb was right on his brother’s tail as they started bounding down the concrete stairs, taking two at a time and almost falling more than once. With no idea how to pay at the turnstile that led to the subway platform—and hopefully to a train that would allow them to escape Tommy Nat and his henchmen—Archibald catapulted himself over the metal gate. Seconds later, Jockabeb was airborne, landing a few steps behind his brother’s flying heels.

The moment they ran onto the empty subway platform, their hearts sank as they watched the last car of a departing subway train disappear into a dark tunnel to their left. Even worse, when the boys looked back and saw that only Tommy Nat and the two mammoth thugs were coming through the turnstiles, they both realized that there was no one to help them.

“Come on,” Archibald shouted out as he leaped onto the subway tracks and headed into the dark tunnel to his right. Scared that another train may soon come barreling through the tunnel his brother had just entered, but even more terrified of what would happen if they were caught by Tommy Nat, Jockabeb jumped down and began to run.

Even though the dim yellow lights that dotted the tunnel walls every twenty yards made it next to impossible to see, Jockabeb was able to catch a glimpse Archibald’s back racing down the tracks. As he sprinted toward his brother, he looked back over his shoulder and saw three shadowy shapes closing rapidly.

Then Jockabeb saw it—a flickering white light! Although the light was well off in the distance, it was getting brighter with each stride he took. Now certain that his nightmare was coming true, and remembering that in it there was a door up ahead, he screamed, “Archibald, stop!”

The moment he heard his brother’s frantic cry, Archibald pulled up and looked back. Jockabeb arrived within seconds, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. “A train’s coming,” he panted, gasping for air. “We have to get out of this tunnel.”

Hearing the unmistakable screeching sound of the approaching subway train from one direction, and seeing the outlines of Tommy Nat and his men rapidly running toward them from the other, Archibald shot back, “And how are we going to do that?” Then he spied a long iron spike lying by the side of the tracks.

As he bent down to pick up what he thought might be his only weapon in the life-and-death fight that was sure to come, he heard his brother yell, “Up ahead, there’s a door leading outta here.”

Wondering how Jockabeb could possibly be certain of what he’d just said, but with no better alternative in mind, Archibald shouted back, “Okay, but I hope you know what you’re doing, because we’re dead if you don’t!” He then raced after his brother who’d just ducked into a small alcove ten yards ahead.

With the ground shaking and only seconds to spare, Jockabeb stared at the large metal door built into the tunnel wall. The loud roar and the bright headlight of the oncoming train told him that it was now or never. He took a deep breath and pulled down the door’s levered handle, pushing forward with all his might.

The heavy door creaked on its hinges and slowly swung inward. It didn’t take long for the boys to move out of the tunnel—a tunnel that was now filled with blinding light. Once inside, Jockabeb slammed the door shut and slid the deadbolt into a locked position.

Within seconds, a frantic pounding began on the other side of the vibrating metal door. It wasn’t long before another muffled sound was heard from the tunnel, and then the pounding stopped.

Standing in total darkness, Jockabeb asked, “Do you think the train hit them?”