In the 1980s, a new “cancer” made its way through the outcasts from mainstream society. Queer folks (specifically gay men to start with) and needle sharing drug users showed the preliminary signs. Two of these were Quinton Booker and his partner Frankie, the latter of whom ultimately contracted AIDS and did not survive. Quinton’s condition did not deteriorate half as fast, resulting in a depressed survivor lasting well into the nineties when treatments became available that would ensure him a long life … providing he continued to take them. He chose then to remove himself from the world, self-isolating in a remote cabin. That spared him from being in ground zero of the next stage of outbreak that ushered in the real end of the world.
Years later, with society itself in ruins, Quinton still keeps to his cabin. However, when someone comes knocking at his front door, he has an aggressive response ready. Unfortunately, Quinton is not prepared for the visiting bastard to have as many friends as he does and winds up overwhelmed by men in search of food and sundries. When he does not divulge the hidden location for these, Todd and his brutes begin to trash Quinton’s life. It’s only a matter of time before they kill him, so he will have to act fast.
Raw survival will demand Quinton take steps that will threaten every bit of stability he’s eked out in this postapocalyptic nightmare world. One of the main victims in the intruders arrival and expulsion is the stash of Combivir, the treatment necessary for him to stay alive. So, Quinton takes to the road in search of pharmacies to loot for the stuff. He soon encounters Billy, another gay man in search of a similar fix. Billy knows of a manufacturing facility in Connecticut that should have as much of the drug as they need. They only have to make the three hundred miles to get there and then divide it up. At first, Quinton is reluctant, but in time he will soon discover a bond with Billy that’s deeper than anything he’s felt since before this whole mess began. Can that bond survive a journey across land peopled with survivalist brutes and the Afflicted? And what really waits for them at journey’s end—the promised land of more meds than they will ever need or something less welcome?
Warren Wagner’s novella The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark is a queer positive tale of survival, redemption, and romance in the middle of a doomed setting. It is a terrific, cinematic journey from a place of safety to a place of real heart and through some incredibly dark realms of the human spirit. Wagner’s gift is to find intriguing twists to explore in this world struggling to survive a relentless plague of violence and despair. So, while we have familiar sights of roaming marauders and even rage zombies, they do not behave quite like what we may have seen on the page or on the screen thus far.
The marauders include some homophobic jackasses who deserve to die, but there are more sympathetic sorts mixed in as well. An entrenched religious society the pair encounters on their way does not preach hatred, though they also do not divulge too much information to the flock and tend to keep a large number of armed guards around to keep their secrets …
One of the best innovations here is in the Afflicted. Sure, we’ve seen zombies and zombie-like rage monsters in plenty of outlets since George A. Romero pretty much invented the subgenre in 1968. However, these diseased and highly violent people have a new twist to make them even more nightmarish:
Quinton grabs his pistol and a claw hammer off the table as he bolts towards the back door. A large man greets him and tries to enter the cabin, but Quinton swings the peen of his hammer, practically tearing the man’s head in half as it rips down.
Another man jumps our in front of Quinton, and is thrown to the ground as Quinton raises his hammer towards the sky, then brings it down and hits him again and again and again, so many times the head of the hammer breaks off. When another man grabs Quinton, he turns around and begins stabbing him with the broken end of the handle.
After that, Quinton runs into the darkness of the forest. The forest, by this point, is fucking screaming. They’re coming. The Afflicted. Todd and his men are done.
***
In the October 10, 1997 edition of the Washington Post, there was an article on page one entitled “NEW STRAIN OF RABIES-LIKE VIRUS FOUND IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA.” In it, author Dylan Bernbaum noted the “strain is unlike any found before. It seems to take control of the central nervous system, but does not kill the host.” The article continued: “It is unclear whether this is actually a parasite or a virus. But it appears to spread through blood and saliva mostly by bite and its effects are almost immediate.”
The now-dead Bernbaum wrote, “It is equally devastating to both men and women alike of all races and classes.” This was the first mention of the disease that would eventually take out 75% of human life on earth. It never got a name, because there wasn’t time to name it before everyone was gone. No cure or treatment was coming.
Just like poor Frankie all those years ago, all they had was skin to hold their bones. With their tissue slowly rotting away, every movement threatened to tear them open. Creating a gash that would never heal. Their hopes, their dreams, their memories, all of those were still there.
They aren’t dead yet, but they aren’t alive either. The Afflicted are still conscious. They can feel, and they can scream. They can beg for death. But they can’t move their own bodies anymore. That job belongs to the virus now.
***
“Please kill me!” one of the Afflicted begs as Quinton picks up his axe and plants it into the poor bastard’s skull. As Quinton works his way through Todd’s men, and the Afflicted, and Todd’s men who have turned into the Afflicted, he’s keeping his eyes on the prize— his toothless friend running deeper into the forest, screaming and crying.
Quinton’s not done with him yet. Todd has Frankie, and Quinton wants him back. One of the Afflicted jumps out in front of him and screams, “I’m sorry!” Quinton grabs it by the hair, but its scalp rips off as its body falls to the ground. He slams his foot down and its skull shatters almost immediately into a stew. Its last word is, “Yes!” (The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark, Locations 141-164)
Even though the Afflicted still attack, maul, and kill those unafflicted survivors who happen to fall in their path, they are completely aware of what their bodies are doing and beg for forgiveness and even plead for destruction. At least 2021’s The Sadness kept its rage zombies from showing us the people trapped inside. There’s something downright disturbing when they apologize as they attack or them thank slayers for ending their existence. Really hammers home the unsettling state.
The narrative often slips between present day and the past—the latter either Quinton’s own memories of the last days of his lover’s life or some world building as shown above.
The author’s writing style is good at delivering striking visuals. The piece nests both a road story and a buddy story/romance in the midst of its violence and horrors. The emotions are authentic and portrayed with care and beauty. The characters are engaging (though not always likeable) and the mistakes they make grow organically from what we’ve seen before. As we get into the final act of the thing, there is hope that we will skirt a tragic ending but the possibility of the latter nevertheless remains. That’s a solid example of giving readers characters worth investing our hearts in while also raising the stakes.
Some readers will wish for more, of course. The novella length is almost perfect for delivering this kind of story (a horror movie for the mind’s eye), keeping us dreading while turning the pages. The writing is propulsive. And yet, there is always room for tangents not taken or more encounters to flesh out the journey. Readers looking for something immersive (that is, offering up the satisfaction found in a three- or four-hundred-page book) will find this one a tad on the lighter side. The story has a terrific sense for working from a beginning to a satisfying conclusion, but this is a world that has legs for another entry.
Even if the author never builds on the world, The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark tells quite a harrowing and engaging story. Quinton is not an easy person to like at first—the pain he carries and his isolation makes him a challenge to empathize with. But as we get to know him over time, and as his relationship with Billy shifts into something more beautiful over the course of the book, we can see how the character is growing not only on us but as a person. It is not an easy arc to pull off, but Wagner does it. I look forward to future works from this author.
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The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark is available in paperback and eBook editions thanks to the fine folks at Ghoulish Books.
Next, we will take a look at an urban fantasy in which a bisexual Mexican woman who can pass for white tries to survive long enough to start up her own gin joint in Prohibition era 1920s. Desideria Mesa’s Bindle Punk Bruja is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook editions.
“Three Hundred Miles of Rough Road: Warren Wagner’s The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud. Quote and cover image taken from the Ghoulish Books eBook edition, released in 2023.
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