Read Online Refuge Book 1 - Night of the Blood Sky by Jeremy Robinson, Jeremy Bishop - Free Book Online Page A

the Mayor. You’re going to need me to support whatever lie you tell them in the morning, so I want to know what’s really going on.”
    That surprised her. “No demons? No Devil? You’re really after the truth?”
    “I’m not barring out the supernatural, but I recognize it could be something more...mundane.”
    “Or scientific,” Winslow clarified. The two men couldn’t be further apart on the spectrum of personal beliefs. But Dodge gave a nod.
    “If that’s the case,” Dodge said. “They’ll swallow it a lot better coming from me.”
    “If you get in my way,” Rule said, “I’ll lock you in a cell for the rest of the night.”
    “You won’t even know I’m there,” Dodge said with a satisfied grin.
    “I’m coming too,” Winslow said, and when Carol began to complain, he added, “Go home. Get some rest. We’ll have it figured out by morning.”
    Carol relented, and the pair said their goodbyes before she drove away, leaving Rule in the middle of Main Street with Dodge and Winslow Herman.
    Winslow clapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth like he was about to dig into a big plate of baby-back ribs. “So, what’s the plan?”
    Rule laid it out for them, plain and simple, so they knew she wasn’t joking. “We’re going to go to the station and have a sit.”

 
     
    11
     
    Griffin Butler saw motion to his right. A rustle of leaves accompanied the shifting shadow behind a thick rhododendron, framed on either side by small white Cape Cod style homes. Standing in the shade of an oak tree, hidden from the nearby streetlight, he paused, gave the neighborhood a quick once over and said, “It’s just me. You can come out.”
    Two shapes emerged from the protective shroud of the bush. As they came into the light, Griffin stepped into the street and crossed over toward them.
    “Mr. Butler...” Radar said, his voice apologetic.
    “The Sheriff asked me to check on you,” Griffin said. “She’s the only person I’m going to report to.”
    The boy relaxed, and the transformation made Griffin angry. What had the boy’s father done to make him so afraid? There were rumors, of course. Stories about belts and fists and the hiding of bruises, but they were such stereotypes, Griffin wasn’t sure which were real and which were inspired by a Lifetime Network made-for-TV movie. Rule knew more than most, but she wasn’t sharing, which was a testament to her professionalism, but since Radar still lived at home and his father wasn’t locked up, clearly nothing had been proven.
    “Do—do you know what’s wrong with the sky?” Lisa asked. She held on to Radar’s thin arm like he was the only thing holding her to the ground.
    Griffin turned his head to the night sky. It was still cloaked in waves of translucent red. The way they moved, sliding through the sky like a sinister fog, made him nervous. Made everyone nervous. And not just because it shouldn’t be there. There was just something...off about it. Something not right. He tried to sound casual and confident. “We’ll figure it out.”
    “Do you think it could be, like a poisonous gas or something?” Radar asked. “A chemical attack?”
    “You know I was in the military, right?” Griffin asked. Both kids nodded. “I can promise you both, Refuge has absolutely no strategic value. If there were a nuclear war, this would be one of the few places left untouched on the planet. Why do you think they named it Refuge?”
    Radar half smiled. “I guess.”
    “Might want to get inside soon, though,” Griffin advised. “Won’t be long before people start driving back from Ashland.”
    “We were watching for headlights,” Lisa said, standing behind Radar. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Watching for headlights wasn’t the only thing these two were doing inside the rhododendron. But it explained how he was able to sneak up on them. He smiled without realizing it.
    “What is it?” Radar asked, sounding nervous, like