Night Shift

The story unfolds in timestamped segments taking place over a six-day period, from Friday to the following Thursday. Told in limited third-person narration, “Graveyard Shift” focuses on Hall, a “solitary” man who has drifted from job to job after graduating from college. He works the overnight shift in a decaying textile mill in Gates Falls, Maine, where he has little personal connection. He passes the time at work by pegging stray rats with crushed up aluminum cans. Hall has little patience for both people and pests. His manager, Warwick, a petty and abusive man who constantly calls Hall “college boy” (41), enlists him as part of a crew tasked with clearing out the colossal rat infestation in the ancient basement under the mill.

On the first day of the cleanup, Hall is partnered with Harry Wisconsky, whom Hall derisively regards as a “fat Pole.” The two are tasked with using a high-pressure hose to disperse the rats and clear out the detritus that has lain down there for years. It is a hard, smelly job, and disgust wears on the cleaning crews immediately. Over their break times, the crews exchange stories of being attacked by bizarre rats. The rats, locked away for so many years, have evolved into strange and distorted forms; some fly on bat-like wings, others are albino and burrow though the ground, and large armored rats viciously attack anyone they come across. The crews want to quit. Hall advocates for their safety, but an increasingly frustrated Warwick only pushes them deeper into the dark of the basement.

When Hall discovers the entrance to a sub-basement he suspected existed, Warwick attempts to force Hall down to clean it. Hall protests, citing zoning ordinances, and Warwick fires him. Unmoved, Hall continues his rant about health violations and threatens to reveal to the local health board the extent of the rat infestation. Warwick quickly rehires Hall and assigns Wisconsky as his cleanup partner. Hall cunningly announces that he’ll need three flashlights, and Warwick allows Hall to select the third worker. Hall smugly remarks that a manager should also be present and chooses Warwick. Warwick, determined to maintain his authority, acquiesces. Hall, Wisconsky, and Warwick descend into the sub-basement. Hall, determined to “break” Warwick, forces the men forward despite hearing the scuffling of thousands of rats. When Warwick tries to retreat, Hall grabs him by the neck and says, “You’re not going anywhere, Mr. Foreman” (52). Frightened, Wisconsky relinquishes the hose to Hall and scrambles back to the trapdoor, leaving Hall and Warwick alone.

The two men encounter more varieties of horrifically evolved rats, and Warwick pleads with Hall for them to turn back. Hall coolly counters, “The rats have business with you, I think” (53). The rats have begun gnawing through the hose, and Warwick tries to reason with Hall, explaining that they will not be able leave. Hall responds, “I know” and turns the hose on Warwick as he tries to run, pushing him out of sight.

Hall hears the snapping of Warwick’s bones and approaches the gulley. He sees a huge rat, the size of a calf, eating Warwick. Hall dubs the monstrosity “their queen [...] the magna mater. […] It was a huge and pulsating gray, eyeless, totally without legs” (55). Hall says “goodbye” to Warwick and makes his hasty retreat. Unable to fend off the mutant rats, Hall does not escape the sub-basement. He falls to his knees and laughs as the rats devour him.

In the basement, the workers nervously await the return of Hall and Warwick. Wisconsky refuses to join the search party, and the men mock him. After some time has passed, the crew descends into the wet darkness.

“Night Surf” focuses on a small group of six survivors: Bernie, Susie, Kelly, Joan, Corey, and Needles. Due to a deadly pandemic, the group is sheltering at Anson Beach, New Hampshire. The pandemic was caused by the Captain Trips virus, a virus later utilized by King as the apocalyptic mechanism for his novel The Stand.

The story is narrated in the first person by Bernie, a twenties-something man who visited Anson Beach during his teens. Bernie and the other survivors nonchalantly immolate Alvin Sackheim, a man they find dying of the plague, after Corey suggests the man serve as a “sacrifice to the dark gods” (60). They build a pyre and burn the man alive. The group half-heartedly believes a human sacrifice will prevent them from contracting A6, the most recent and deadliest wave of Captain Trips. In the delirium that follows, the tensions in the group become obvious. Bernie survives with his girlfriend, Susie, but his distaste for her grows. He berates her in front of the others and fat-shames her in his thoughts. When Susie asks Bernie if he loves her, he says “No” and thinks: “She was getting fat, and if she lived long enough, which wasn’t likely, she would get really flabby” (57). Throughout the story, Bernie equates Susie to a horse, dog, and pig.

After the fire, the group disperses. Bernie and Needles smoke cigarettes and watch the surf. Needles reveals that he has contracted Captain Trips. Needles’s revelation surprises Bernie because the group is believed to be immune to A6 due to their previous contraction of A2. Needles’s admission forces Bernie to reckon with the reality of the pandemic rather than the nostalgic beach vacation the survivors sought. Bernie admits to himself that their belief in A2 providing immunity to A6 may be wishful thinking. He imagines that they will all be “dead by Christmas” (62). He walks around and observes the remnants of beach life before the pandemic—gaudy jewelry, beach towels, Fourth of July sparklers. He thinks about Maureen, his high school girlfriend, and their trips to Anson Beach. That night, he dreams about Alvin Sackheim: “He was nothing but a bloated, blackened head and a charred skull” (63). He grabs a warm beer and heads outside to the landing.

Susie wakes up and sits with Bernie. He tells her that Needles has A6. She too realizes that they all may contract A6 and die. Rather than confirm his own fear that they are just as vulnerable as others, Bernie mollifies her by suggesting that Needles simply lied to them about having A2. Susie rationalizes that Needles lied: “I would have lied if it had been me. Nobody likes to be alone, do they?” (64). She goes back to bed.

Bernie remains outside alone and watches the lulling night surf. He reminisces of his old summers in Anson Beach right after high school, seven years before A6.

“I Am the Doorway” is a first-person account of Arthur, a former astronaut who is paraplegic after the calamitous landing of his space module. Arthur relates the details of the space expedition, in which he and another astronaut transited the backside of Venus before crash-landing back on Earth. Arthur suspects that in this transit, an alien entity invaded his body. Over the course of his recovery from the crash-landing, Arthur’s hands itch increasingly. One evening, to his horror, several eyes start appearing through the split flesh on his palms and fingers. Even with his own eyes closed, Arthur can see through those in his hands. He is immediately aware that he is not the only one perceiving his world. Arthur describes an alien perspective that abhors the grotesque proportions of humans and despises the civilization they built.

Arthur persuades his friend Richard to help him search for the unmarked grave of a young boy Arthur suspects he might have killed. Richard questions whether Arthur simply dreamed the murder, but Arthur is insistent. Arthur keeps his hands bandaged and out of Richard’s view; he complains that they itch. As he and Richard drive a dune-buggy through the sand dunes around the Gulf of Mexico, Arthur indicates where the boy is buried. While he watches Richard dig into the sand, Arthur realizes that the alien entity—which is powerful enough to move his body despite his paralysis—would have come back while Arthur slept and moved the child’s corpse. This escalation of the entity’s strength unsettles Arthur, and he admits, “They’re forcing their doorway open” (74). He suddenly recalls several past incidents of the entity using his body to examine the world and then remembers the night before, when the entity used his body to kill the boy.

Distraught, Arthur strips the bandages from his hands and reveals the eyes to Richard. When Richard flees, the entity summons a lightning bolt that kills him. Arthur awakens in his home, horrified by what he has done. He douses his hands in kerosene and plunges them into a fire.

Seven years later, Arthur notices the entity has returned. There is a circle of 12 golden eyes on his chest. He plans to shoot himself with a shotgun before they grow any stronger.