Jesse

I didn't want to be in the dark.

I lay on the cot with Louis L'Amour novel open on my chest and I listened to the rain and I tried to read and I couldn't focus on a single sentence.

The footsteps came back around midnight.

Not on the roof this time.

On the ground.

Circling the station.

Slow, heavy steps, muffled by the wet ground but still audible through the concrete walls.

Around and around.

I counted twelve complete circuits.

On the thirteenth circuit, the footsteps stopped at the door.

The door was solid.

Steel frame, steel skin over a wood core, with a deadbolt that I'd thrown from the inside.

It was the most secure part of the building.

I'd told myself that many times.

Something pressed against the door.

I could hear the steel flex.

not much a fraction of an inch but i heard it creak under pressure the way a car door creaks when you lean against it then a voice jessie you need to come out there's a problem with the repeater my voice

My exact voice.

Speaking words I'd said a hundred times on the radio when reporting equipment issues.

The cadence.