Halfway Out of the Dark

Wild Darkness Calls

Humanity decimated itself in a global war with over six billion dead. The survivors mostly gather into gleaming megacities. Mark Jennings chooses to stay away from the jungle of metal and glass, and instead lives a life of farming in a rustic cabin outside the ruins of Billings.

One dark, snowy, December night, Shawn Templeton, lost and freezing, stumbles into Mark’s life. The two men have a passionate few days, but Shawn decides to continue on his journey. He pleads with Mark to look him up in New Bismarck when he comes to trade his crops.

At the end of the following summer, Mark takes his produce to the megacity. He decides to look Shawn up, but when he goes to visit, Shawn’s young roommate, wrapped only in a towel, answers the door.

Heartbroken, Mark returns to his cabin, but winter has a surprise for him as he trudges home through the snow with his Christmas tree.