Gorge, a novel in progress by Michael Gullo (2026)
“So, they don’t know any more than we do.”
“In a way, Shawna, I think we know more than they do.”
“How’s that?”
“Turn right, I wanna come in on Draper.”
“Why?”
“I just do.”
“How do we know more than they do?”
“We don’t have to fake ignorance to imagine that we’re protecting the people.”
“It’s like a ghost town down here.”
“That’s why we came. Look at the driveways. Everybody’s home, and nobody is out.”
“It’s thirty-six degrees.”
“Let’s hold off the devil’s advocate. Slow down. Look. There she is.”
“Who?”
“No, I mean there’s a person in that picture window back there. It’s like – interrupted or something. Everyone just went home and froze in place.”
“What’ll it be like in a week?”
“I’m not sure. Right now there’s electricity, and if that continues, I guess not much’ll change. If the electricity stays on, the food is next. What happens here on Draper when that little old lady in the window runs out of food? Do they feed her? When do they start showing up at the hospital?”
“The animals don’t seem to care.”
“No wifi in a squirrel nest.”
“What happens when we start gathering their nuts before they do?”
“They’ll adapt. --- Pull over here for a minute.”
“What for?”
“I wanna think about this.”
“What happens when the denial wears off?”
“Violence for a while.”
“Show me the violence.”
“Random at first. Organized later. Systematic before it’s over.”
“Random?”
“Random will be the perceived desperation at first, the rush to hoard, the fear of scarcity. At first it will be self-preservation. The organized violents will be working the superfluous, the grandiose. They’re in it for the fun of the thing.”
“When’s that?”
“Some places it’s now.”
“Here.”
“Here – now – it’s parents wanna get ahead of it. They’re scared, and they’re out, and they’re trying to beat the rush, but the rush is on, and the supplies are already running low.”
“So, not denial?”
“Still denial. They think they can beat it, but they can’t, and the revelation is the violence.”
“Fine. So today.”
“Yes. It’s today. And tonight the others come out.”
“Jean Carlos.”
“He’s a little early. His people are still sacked out.”
“It’s three in the afternoon.”
“They’re a casual bunch. There’s no TV, and their internet is off. They don’t worry about food – never have. They’ll eat. They know that somehow. Tonight they come out for the fun. It’s tomorrow they come out for the food.”
“Where are the parents tonight?”
“Still a mixed bag. Some are working even as we speak – the blue collar world still has a job.”
“I don’t see that.”
“It’s there.”
“So, the late parents – what are they doing tonight?”
“Dying, some of them.”
“That’s a big jump.”
“It’s true though. They’re out trying to find that hoard they missed this afternoon – Convenience stores, vending machines. The smart ones are ransacking office buildings because the young adults are at the gas station raising hell. They’ve taken it over while the chips last and there’s a hope of stealing gas.”
“Not our little angels.”
“Oh, these little campus angels will join them soon enough, but most people are home or out spying like us.”
“What do we do?”
“We wait a little while. The power’s still with us, and as long as that’s the case, it’s still predictable.”
“Do you really wanna move to the campus?”
“Not the way you think.”
“What’s the difference?”
“You imagine walking back into room 221, setting the Jade tree back in the window and everything’s normal with the collectivist kitchen and laundry-turn rules.”
“Now you read minds.”
“Utt-oh.”
“Fair enough. Not your fault. Continue.”
“As you know, Plattsburgh State has been here a long time – throughout the entirety of the Cold War, in fact. Many of its buildings were constructed in that era.”
“Concrete smell.”
“Yes, I know, Shawna. But what you don’t know, because you read exactly zero of the administration email, is that many of those buildings share mechanicals, and those travel through the underground maintenance tunnels.”
“Did you see that?”
“What?”
“Those kids scuttling between Beaumont to Yokum.”
“I didn’t see a thing.”
“You were busy with emails.”
“What were they doing?”
“No clue.”
“There’s two – I know them.”
“Of course you do, they’re in your building.”
“I mean, it’s one year, Shawna. They’re seniors.”
“So they live in Kent?”
“They might live off campus.”
“Off campus students on campus on a day off – okay. I see you.”
“The one with the Cardinals Hockey sweater – he’s definitely from the island.”
“How do you know that?”
“The accent.”
“Kyle, more than half the campus is from downstate.”
“Lawn Guyland is deeply distinct.”
“I need some cawfee.”
“It’s your call.”
“What is?”
“We can check these yahoos out, or we can head over to Kent for my Panini.”
“If those guys are back, maybe Elizabeth is back. One vote for Kent Hall.”
“Unanimous consent.”
“Two more.”
“There’s a rock in the door.”
“Just drive by slow and make eye contact if you can. See what they do.”
“What do you think about my useful little electric car now, Kyle?”
“For now.”
“They’re definitely shuttling something back and forth.”
“Computer kids.”
“In Yokum?”
“No clue.”
“Do you want me to turn around in the library, or park and walk across the street?”
“Just drive through on the sidewalk like the campus golf carts do.”
“I’m not driving on the sidewalk.”
“Shawna, we just left the hospital where an accident has been sitting unattended since nine this morning – six hours – and you’re worried about a ticket?”
“It’s not that.”
“What?”
“We work here.”
“Not anymore.”
“Should we stop at Admin?”
“Heck no. Hook it down Sanburn and come out on Broad. I wanna park close. Shoot into the Mason Hall driveway and park in back next to the dumpsters.”
“Why not just park on Ruger?”
“I want to keep the car close. If it was up to me, we’d park under the basketball hoop so I can see it through the windows.”
“How are we getting in?”
“I don’t know that it’s locked.”
“Holiday weekend hours – I bet they’re locked.”
“Probably someone there.”
“How’d the kids get in Yokum?”
“Teaching assistants have access.”
“What’s with the rocks, then?”
“I don’t know, Shawna.”
“You’re the one reads emails.”
“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but the last email was Friday.”
“2200 students live on this campus, the majority of them right here at this intersection, and not a soul in sight.”
“There’s lights in Hood tower and Defredenberg too.”
“I hope she’s back.”
“She’s back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Take the left and find out. Hook in behind Mason and go around back to Kent.”
“It’s a little creepy.”
“I wonder what they know.”
“They’re resourceful, that’s for sure.”
“I didn’t realize how anxious I am.”
“Well, there’s a deer with her yearling – it can’t be all bad.”
“It’s my fault she’s here.”
“You can’t say it like that. You imagined a language program, and a Fulbright FLTA is as prestigious as it gets.”
“Prestige – world comes to an end, and she’s halfway around the globe.”
“Seventy-five-hundred miles isn’t half way. The globe is 24-thousand miles…”
“Don’t be literal with me.”
“Park there.”
“More rocks.”
“At least we don’t have to tromp around in the wet grass to get someone’s attention.”
“Cardinal cards must be down.”
“It’s Lenel.”
“What?”
“The access cards are on a Lenel system.”
“You gotta stop that.”
“She’s fine, honey. She speaks four languages, and she’s traveled the globe.”
“I’m the only person she knows here.”
“That’s not even remotely true. Her second week here she was already in a car heading to New York City with that girl…”
“Kirsten.”
“Kirsten.”
“And it’s Long Island.”
“I’m from Sacramento, Kyle. It’s all New York City to me.”
“My lady.”
“Thank you, sir. Gosh, it’s warm in here --- Elizabeth!”
“Shawna!”
"Tiān a, hǎo qíguài! Wǒ zhēn de shì zhuānchéng lái kàn nǐ yǒu méiyǒu shì, jiéguǒ wǒ yī jìn mén jiù kàndào nǐ le."
"Wǒmen bàn ge xiǎoshí qián cái cóng Niǔyuē huílái."
“She just got back thirty minutes ago.”
“Hi, Kyle.”
“Oh, you’re such a good hugger.”
“You are also very good.”
“You drove back today – with everything going on?”
"I don't know why everybody make it so big deal. Credit card cannot use, so what? Mine always no money anyway."
“Your English is getting so good!”
“Yours not so bad neither.”
“Okay, Kyle. Go get your panini. I want to catch up with Elizabeth.”
“Come with me.”
“I don’t want anything.”
“You two stick with me.”
“I’m hungry anyway.”
“See? TingTing is hungry.”
“How you know call me tha?”
“I listen good.”
“Maybe you learn Mandarin. You sign up my class.”
“How do you say get me out of this hallway. I hate fluorescent lights.”
"Kuài dài wǒ líkāi zhè tiáo zǒuláng. Wǒ tǎoyàn…”
“Fine, but we race.”
“Shawna!”
“Last one there waits twenty minutes for their…”
“What the hell was that?”
“What you have in your purse?”
“I hit the corner is all.”
“How you crack concrete, you hit corner your purse?”
“Come on.”
“Shawna.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“What’s in your purse, Shawna?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“You chip paint so big you can see all color they paint before, so many year."
“Shawna, what’s in your purse.”
“Whisper, Kyle. It’s the gun.”