Into the Dark: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller

by Ryan Casey

  But then he looked to his left.

  He looked right to where Alison was looking.

  “Is that…”

  Mike didn’t know what it was. Not at first. Not right away.

  But then he saw it, he realised what it was, and he felt his stomach sink.

  “Oh no,” he said. “No.”

  It was a landslide. A landslide on the hill beside them, heading right towards them. The torrential rain. It’d built up and now… now they were right in the path of a real storm.

  And by the looks of it, this landslide was carrying a lot of things.

  Carrying debris.

  Debris that was hurtling down in their direction.

  He looked at this landslide.

  Then he looked ahead, into the distance, right to where the ground evened, and the hill came to an end.

  “Run!” Mike shouted.

  They ran. They ran as quickly as they could. But it wasn’t easy. The ground had grown thick with mud. Staying on his feet was a challenge. Keeping balance wasn’t easy.

  He felt something scrape against his back. It almost knocked him from his feet. And he knew what it was. Debris. Falling debris.

  He’d been close. So close.

  He might not get a second chance like that.

  He kept on running. Kept on surging forward. All of them were running. Trying to get away. Trying to free themselves from the path of this unstoppable monster.

  But as they kept going, the debris tumbling down between them, almost smacking into them, almost knocking them from their feet, Mike realised something.

  Calvin.

  He’d lost sight of Calvin.

  He went still. Totally still. Thunder crackling above.

  And even though the landslide was surging towards him, even though debris was tumbling all around him—what looked like the remains of farm equipment, not to mention some dead cattle—he saw Calvin on the ground.

  Calvin was lying there. Blood on his face. Hands tied together. He looked like he’d been hit by something.

  Part of Mike wanted to leave him there. Part of him wanted to watch him fall here. It wanted to watch him drown in the rain.

  But then he remembered their goal.

  He remembered their destination.

  He remembered the information Calvin knew, and he knew how much it could matter to the rest of his people—to Kelsie—and he knew there was only one thing he could do.

  “Shit,” he said. “Shitting shit.”

  He ran back. Ran through the falling debris. Ran as the wave of mud hurtled closer and closer to him.

  When he got to Calvin’s side, he grabbed him by the back and pulled him up. “Get up,” he said.

  “Lifesaver,” Calvin said. “I owe you my—”

  Mike didn’t hear what Calvin said next.

  He didn’t hear a word of it.

  Because he felt something smack against him.

  And as much as he tried to stay on his feet, as much as he tried to hold himself upright, he fell.

  The mud slammed into him.

  The water pooled at his side.

  The hunting rifle slipped from his grip.

  And all he could do was look up.

  All he could do was stare at Calvin as he stood there.

  All he could do was look up at Calvin as his eyes lit up.

  All he could do was scramble, try to get a grip, try to hold on.

  But there was nothing he could do to stop himself falling.

  There was nothing to hold on to.

  He lost his balance and went surging down the side of the hill.

  And all Calvin did was watch and smile.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mike tumbled down the side of the slope, mud and debris all around him.

  He tried to steady his fall as he rolled down the hill, but it was impossible. He felt like he was on a waterslide from hell, picking up speed with every passing moment. He tried to clutch at the ground, tried to hold on, but it was useless.

  He was falling.

  And he wasn’t stopping himself.

  He felt sharp shards of debris scratch him, heavier objects hurtling past him. He didn’t want to look back. He knew that all it took was a heavy or a sharp object to finish him off, once and for all.

  All he could do was stare at the path below.

  Stare at his inevitable fate.

  He couldn’t see clearly ahead at first. His eyes were covered in mud and dirt, and the lashing rain blocked his vision. And every time he went to try and look at where he was falling, something would knock him off balance, send him spinning around.

  He thought he heard voices in the distance. Shouting from somewhere. He thought about the rest of his people. They were alone now. Alone with Calvin.

  And when he thought of Calvin, his fists tensed.

  He’d seen the way Calvin’s eyes had lit up when he’d started falling. He’d seen the way he’d looked at him like this was some kind of opportunity. A chance to get Mike out of the equation without even having to do a thing.

  And Mike wondered if that had been his plan all along. Find an opportunity. An opportunity to dispatch of Mike. To get rid of him. To find a way to let the elements do his dirty work for him, to keep himself in the good graces of the rest of Mike’s people.

  He thought it was a possibility.

  And then he saw something.

  The bottom of the hill he was sliding down. The very bottom of it, where he was heading towards.

  There was something there.

  Something that filled him with fear.

  Farm equipment.

  In a normal situation, farm equipment was hardly scary territory. You didn’t hear about anyone getting nightmares over farm equipment.

  But when you were heading down a hill in a landslide at a rapidly increasing pace, the spikes of some farm harrows staring up at you, inviting you down to their clutches… yeah. It was pretty shit-inducing.

  Mike tried to clutch the ground again, but it was pointless. The mud just washed through his fingers, pulling him even further down.

  He tried to roll onto his side, to get a better grip of the ground beneath the mudslide.

  But again, even that was pointless. Even that didn’t help.

  He tried all sorts of things. All sorts of ways of flipping over. All kinds of ways of trying to slow himself. He dug in his heels. He shoved down his arms. He tried everything.

  But there was no stopping.

  He was trapped on this death-slide.

  He thought about Calvin again. Thought about the way he’d looked at him. The expression on his face. And in a way that made Mike even more determined to get himself out of this mess. Just to prove a point to Calvin that he wasn’t going anywhere. Just to prove that he was still watching him. He was still just waiting for that perfect moment, that perfect opportunity…

  And then he saw something else.

  There was something beside him. A large, loose piece of metal that looked like it’d come from a garage or something. Some kind of debris. Sharp.

  If he could grab it, he could use it.

  He could stop himself.

  He lunged to the side.

  Missed it.

  Saw it tumbling further past him.

  He felt that urgency, his slide down this hill so rapid now, yet all of it taking place within a matter of seconds.

  He felt that need.

  He couldn’t let this piece of metal slip by.

  He couldn’t let it go.

  He stretched out his arm and grabbed it.

  He felt it. Felt it right between his fingers.

  And when he felt it, he struggled. Struggled right away to adjust his grip. To grab it tightly.

  And then with a slam, he stuck it right into the ground.

  He slowed.

  Slowed down.

  Everything moving past him.

  The mudslide moving beyond him.

  And then he came to a halt.

  He l
aughed. Laughed as he looked over his shoulder, saw how close to the metal spikes he was. He laughed, drenched in water and mud, not believing his luck, not believing just how close he’d got.

  He laughed, shook his head, laughed some more. He must have nine lives. Or ten. Or frigging eleven. Because he shouldn’t have survived this. He shouldn’t have made it.

  And yet here he was.

  He let himself loose, clambered down the bottom of the hill. Looked up. The landslide was still flowing, but most of the bigger debris had reached the bottom now.

  He looked at the spikes of the farm equipment. Saw a dead bird implanted onto one of the spikes. Winced when he realised just how close that was to being him.

  But he’d escaped it. He’d managed to dodge it. Managed to get himself out of it. He was okay—

  He saw it. Just in the corner of his eye.

  He saw it hurtling down towards him.

  Saw it racing in his direction.

  He should’ve moved right away. He should’ve trusted that initial bolt of fear.

  But instead, all he could do was act on instinct.

  And instinct told him to turn around.

  Instinct told him to look.

  He saw the piece of debris flying off the landslide.

  He saw it flying at his face.

  And before he had the time to act, before he had the time to think, before he had the time to do anything… the debris smacked against his head and knocked him to the muddy ground.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alison looked over her shoulder at the remains of the landslide, and she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.

  Mike had been there. Calvin had been there, too. She’d looked over her shoulder at one point. Seen Mike going back for Calvin, who had fallen.

  And then something had happened. Something the screen of the rain had hidden. Something the mass deluge of falling water had masked.

  Mike had fallen.

  And Calvin…

  He’d disappeared.

  She stood there, looking back. Kelsie was by her side, as too were Ian, Gina, and Arya. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. Because if Calvin was gone… that meant that her ticket to this supposed extraction point was gone.

  And if Mike was gone…

  She tasted sickness right in the back of her throat. That loss that had surrounded her for so many years. She’d got close to people in the past. Her ex-boyfriend, Hassan. The guy she’d met at school. The guy she’d fallen so deeply for. The guy she’d envisaged a life with. They were on the verge of getting married. They were talking about kids. Everything was going well between them.

  And then… well, life had gone and happened, and changed things forever.

  And now Mike. She knew she should have resisted falling for him. Because she knew what happened to people she fell for. She was cursed in that respect.

  And especially in this world. Especially in a world where nothing was certain. Making any kind of major attachment… that was a recipe for disaster.

  And now she was feeling it.

  Now she could see it for herself.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Gina asked.

  Alison felt torn. Part of her wanted to go back there, to investigate. But it was dangerous. The landslide looked like it’d stopped for the most part, but it wouldn’t take much for it to start flowing again.

  They’d have to find another way round. A lower route.

  But at the same time… Alison felt something holding her back, too. That resistance. That reluctance.

  Because she didn’t want to find Mike in any kind of state.

  She couldn’t do that. Not just for her, but for Kelsie, too.

  “I think we should go back,” Ian said.

  Alison turned around. She wasn’t expecting that. She hadn’t heard Ian speak for a long time now. She’d almost forgotten he was here.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Mike. We can’t leave him down there. Not without knowing… for certain.”

  He took a deep breath in. Cleared his throat. Lucidity returned to his eyes as if he was considering something. Something radical. “And… and Calvin,” he said.

  Alison didn’t want to push any buttons. She knew how Ian felt about Calvin. “What about him?”

  He looked at her again. The fear returning to his eyes. The regret. “I think… As much as I feel the way I do about him, I think we need to find him. We need to find him, and we need to know where he’s leading us to. Where this extraction point is. Because if we don’t… if we don’t, then it’s back to square one.”

  “Well, that’s a relief.”

  The voice came from behind them. From the blur of the rain. Made her jump.

  When she turned around, she saw Calvin was standing there.

  He was a little muddy. Not too bad, though. It looked like he’d fallen. But for the most part, he was okay. He was safe.

  And he was alive.

  And most importantly, he was still cuffed.

  “Where’s Mike?” Alison asked.

  Calvin sighed. Looked back over at the landslide. “I’m sorry to break this, folks.”

  He tilted his head right towards the bottom of the landslide.

  “But he’s right at the bottom of that.”

  Alison wasn’t sure how to process the news. There was an initial bout of shock. An initial hit of regret.

  But then uncertainty followed.

  An uncertainty whether she could believe Calvin. Whether he could be trusted.

  “I don’t believe you,” Alison said.

  “You can believe whatever you like. Fact is, it’s not safe going down there. He fell. He came back for me, and he fell. I didn’t see what happened to him. But I’ll tell you one thing. It can’t be good.”

  Alison shook her head. “You probably pushed him.”

  Calvin raised his cuffed hands. “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. Fact remains. Night’s getting close. The rain’s not letting up. We should get to the cabin ASAP, or we might not get another chance.”

  He turned around. Started to walk off ahead. And Alison realised he was slipping out of their fingers. He was falling from their grip. And she couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t allow it.

  She walked over to Calvin, and she grabbed him by his shoulder.

  “Don’t you go anywhere,” she said.

  “Hey,” Calvin said, trying to wriggle free of her grip. “There’s no need for—”

  “I’ll tell you what there’s a need for. You need to start appreciating the fact you’re still alive. Because you should be dead right now. You should be rotting in the ground for the things you’ve done. But you’re here. And don’t forget why you’re here. Don’t you dare forget that if I even get the slightest suspicion that you’re bullshitting, that you’re leading us on, you’re dead.”

  She saw something different in Calvin’s eyes, then. A changed expression.

  She saw fear.

  And when she saw that fear, she knew she had him back where she wanted him. She knew they had him, and that he was going to respect them.

  Because if he didn’t, he was dead.

  “Now I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Alison said.

  “There’s no need for that.”

  Alison heard the voice, and her skin went goosy.

  She looked around. They all looked around.

  And when she saw who was standing there, she couldn’t help throwing herself at him.

  “Mike,” she said.

  She hugged him. All battered, bruised, and covered in mud. She pulled back, and then she kissed him, right on the lips, and she hugged him again.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” she said. “I’m glad you made it.”

  She held him tight.

  When she looked back, she saw Calvin looking at the pair of them—looking at Mike in particular.

  Right eyelid twitching with disappointment.

  Mike walked
over to him. Looked him in the eye. Smiled.

  “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like I made it after all,” he said.

  Then he patted Calvin on the shoulder.

  Just enough to make Calvin flinch.

  “Now we’d better get going, hadn’t we?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  It wasn’t long before the group reached the cabin Calvin had told them about.

  Unfortunately, Mike hadn’t had the pleasure of killing Calvin.

  Yet.

  It was dark. The ground was soddened to the point Mike’s feet were sinking into it with every step. The water had totally drenched his shoes. He felt battered and bruised all over, not least on his head, where that big chunk of debris smacked against it.

  But he was here. Lost the rifle in the process… but he was alive at least. He’d managed to work his way up the side of the landslide and get back to his people, just when it looked like they were on the verge of walking away.

  He didn’t know that was the case for certain. But he’d heard arguing. He’d heard debate.

  The main thing was, he was here now.

  He took a deep breath of the humid night air. The cabin smelled damp. The rain wasn’t falling as heavily, listening to it against the roof of this place. There were no lights, and the matches Mike had were all sodden and drenched now, rendered useless.

  If there was one benefit, it was that they’d been able to stock up on plenty of water for the time being. The benefits of a downpour. There were positives and negatives to everything, after all.

  The cabin itself was pretty big. Calling it a cabin was something of an understatement. There was a lounge, a kitchen, and an upstairs which had a bed and several cupboards in. Looked like somebody had been living out here once upon a time.

  He was in a living room area with the rest of the group. He’d tried to open a window, but it was jammed shut, and he wasn’t keen on smashing it. It was so sweaty and humid, that sweet smell in the air from too many people being confined to too small a space.

  He’d considered separate rooms. But mostly he wanted to keep his eyes on Calvin. Mostly he wanted to know where he was at all times. Because this could still be some kind of trap. Some kind of plan of his to get them here, only to have something up his sleeve, waiting for him.