The Dark Rift: Redemption (31 page)

EPILOGUE

Tommy Masterson sat in the backseat of the pickup, waiting for his mother to bring him a blue moon ice cream cone. He watched her in the store, right in front of him, talking to the teenage boy in the white paper hat, who nodded and headed over to one of the coolers. A frosty cloud wafted out as the boy opened the glass lid. Tommy smiled as his mother turned around and waved to him. He waved back.

Looking out the darkly tinted side windows, Tommy saw a van pull up to the office building next to the ice cream store. A man jumped out of the van and looked around, like he was trying to see if anyone was watching. Tommy knew he couldn’t be seen through the tinted windows of the pickup and stared at the man, who slid open the side door of the van.

One after another, six armed men in black outfits and heavy-looking boots jumped out of the van and ran into the office building. Tommy jerked as his mother knocked on the window on the other side of her pickup truck, startling him. She opened the door, holding out the big blue cone.

“Here’s your ice cream,” she said, wrapping his cone in a napkin, like she always did.

Tommy took the cone and licked it. His mother sat down in the front seat and buckled her seatbelt. “Mommy, who are those people?” he asked.

“What people?” she said, looking around the parking lot.

“Over there,” he pointed toward the white panel van. "They were scary. They had black suits on and guns,” Tommy said, unable to contain the excitement he felt over what he’d seen.

“Oh, Tommy,” his mother laughed. “You have such an imagination. They’re probably just a cleaning crew. Now, eat your ice cream.”

Tommy didn’t know how cleaning crews dressed or if they carried guns, but he trusted his mother. “Okay, Mom,” he said, biting into the cone.

“Time to go home,” his mom said. “Don’t worry. We're safe here. After all, there's an Air Force base right down the road, sweetie. They'll protect us.”

R.M. Brewer is the author of the
Dark Rift
series, which she developed in homage to a life-long fascination with science fiction, space travel, and alien folklore. R.M. Brewer lives in Wisconsin, where the night skies are always filled with wonder.

The Dark Rift: Ascension
(Book One)

and Short Stories:

To Protect and Serve: Chuck's Story

The Long Ride Home