by Ryan Casey
“A safe place. A good place. A place where people can be trusted.”
“Bullshit. I’ve heard of enough safe places over the years. They all have one thing in common. They’re never safe.”
“This place is different,” Kirsty said.
“So different that you came back here?”
“We discovered this place while we were on the road. Me. Khaled. Dina. Iqrah’s parents. They both made it. I was tasked with heading back here to let the others know. But I ran into trouble. And here I am.”
The hairs on Noah’s neck stood on end, and he knew for a fact it wasn’t just from the wind chill. Something wasn’t right about this. He didn’t trust Kirsty one bit. Something just felt off about her story. About her.
“Bertie,” Iqrah said.
Kirsty’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Looked at the ground. “Gone,” she said.
Iqrah sighed. And Noah felt it, too. The pain of losing a kid. It must be the worst thing to handle.
“I’m sorry,” Noah said.
She nodded. Eyes glassy, clouded over. “It’s okay. I… We’ve all lost. But I’m getting by. In my own way.”
He nodded. Wanted to believe her. Wanted to trust her.
But something still didn’t feel right.
“Where is this place?”
“Up towards Morecambe. About twenty miles north of here, up the coast.”
“And why are we expected just to believe you?”
For the first time since meeting her, a smile crossed Kirsty’s face.
A smile that Noah was sure was intended as friendly, as trusting.
But a smile that unnerved him even more.
“What other choice do you have?” she asked.
She held on to Iqrah.
Overhead, storm clouds rumbled.
By his side, Bruno stood his ground, stared at Kirsty, and he growled.
What other choice do you have?
Chapter Ten
“So what do you think?” Noah asked.
Iqrah sat by the side of the promenade on a bench. Her eyes were wide, but Noah could tell she still couldn’t see. Sunlight peeked through the clouds. The breeze blew strong waves against the coast. Silence filled the streets, as the dead remains of old arcades and funfairs stared back at them, ghostly, haunting.
Kirsty stood at the other side of the street. Bruno sat by her side, the little traitor. She had her arms folded. She said she’d give Noah and Iqrah a minute but said she didn’t feel comfortable with Iqrah being with Noah on her own—something Noah found vaguely insulting considering how much time he’d spent on the road with her. But at the same time, reassuring. At least Kirsty seemed to have the girl’s best interests at heart.
Iqrah shrugged. Sighed. “I mean… I know what I want.”
“I know you want to find your family. I know Kirsty says your parents are there. But…”
“But?”
“Do you really trust her?”
Iqrah stared out down the promenade into the darkness of her blinded eyes, which she still seemed to be coming to terms with, still caught in shock about. “I can’t see. I’m useless. And I don’t… I don’t know where else we’d go. Even without my parents.”
“But do you trust Kirsty?” Noah asked.
“Yes,” Iqrah said. “She was always kind. She… she was one of the later people here. But she was like a family to the kids right away. She used to be a teacher in the old world or something. Said it was important kids stayed educated, ’cause they were the future. And without education… there is no future.”
“Sounds like something a cult leader would say.”
“What?”
“Nothing. I just…”
Noah looked across the road. Caught Kirsty glancing over. Their eyes met. She half-smiled at him, then looked away, sensing his gaze.
“I just want to know this is the right call, Iqrah. I worry we’re going to get to this place, and it won’t be what we’re looking for. Or the people who kidnapped Kirsty. What if they catch us?”
“I’m sure we can rely on our Society friends coming to rescue us, right?” Iqrah said.
Noah sighed. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Why? It’s true. No point denying it. The Society isn’t going to stop chasing us. And now I’m blind, and if I lose you, I…”
She stopped.
“Is that what this is about?” Noah asked. “Your blindness?”
“It’s something I have to think about. I still… I don’t know how long it’s going to last. If it’s ever going to go away. I haven’t even had time to feel sad about it yet. But if something happens to you, and we’re out on the road… you’ve got to remember, Noah. That’s it for me. I can’t survive like this. So I need to find somewhere. We both do. Fast. And if Kirsty says there’s somewhere safe twenty miles from here—somewhere my parents went over near Morecambe—then I have to believe her.”
Noah took a deep breath. Swallowed a lump in his throat. He didn’t like giving up so much control. He didn’t like putting his faith in strangers’ hands. Especially when he’d been so screwed so many times in the past.
But Iqrah was right, and he knew it. If this blindness was a thing, then every second alone with him out here was lethal. They needed to find somewhere safe. They had the location of somewhere safe. Somewhere Iqrah’s parents supposedly were, nonetheless.
They had everything they needed on a plate.
But why did it feel so wrong?
Why did it feel so… off?
“Besides,” Iqrah said. “What if something happens to me?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“But if it does. What then?”
Noah looked at her. Mouth ajar. He didn’t want to think about the possibility that something might happen to her. That she might fall into some kind of danger.
But it was a possibility he had to face up to. A very real threat.
What would he do if something happened to Iqrah?
“I’ll worry about that if it comes to it. Which it won’t. But for now… we’ve gotta focus on this. On what we’re gonna do next.”
“What do you think?” Iqrah asked.
Noah looked around. He wasn’t expecting to be asked what he thought. The question threw him. Disoriented him a little.
He wanted to tell Iqrah what she wanted to hear.
But instead, he just levelled with her. Told her the truth.
“I don’t like it. One bit. But I know you’re right. And Kirsty’s right, too. What other choice do we have?”
Iqrah didn’t say anything. Not for a while.
Then she reached over. Fumbled, and placed her hand on Noah’s.
“One final push,” she said. “One final journey. Then we get there. We make it.”
He looked into Iqrah’s glazed eyes and wanted to tell her it was never going to be ‘one final journey’. Not with the Society after them. Not with their abilities. This was their life now.
And he knew deep down Iqrah realised that anyway.
But he put his thumb on the back of her hand. Squeezed a little.
And this time, he did tell her what she needed to hear right now.
“One final journey,” he said.
He saw Iqrah nod. Saw a slight reassured smile to her face.
Then he looked around at Kirsty sitting there on the other side of the road.
“One thing, though,” Noah said.
“Go on.”
“Our… abilities. I think it would be better if maybe we didn’t tell Kirsty about them.”
Iqrah was quiet for a few moments. Like she was really weighing things up. And Noah felt conflicted about it. Because simply being in their presence was dangerous for Kirsty.
But at the same time, he didn’t want Kirsty knowing everything about him and Iqrah. Not yet.
“Unless she already knows, with you going missing.”
“She doesn’t know,” Iqrah said.
<
br /> “We keep it that way?”
Iqrah took a deep breath. Sighed. “I guess. But she’ll find out eventually, one way or another.”
Noah nodded. It wasn’t ideal. But it was about as much of a commitment as he was going to get.
“Come on then,” Noah said. “Let’s get moving. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”
And then, hand in hand, they walked towards Kirsty; towards a new beginning; towards a final journey.
One final journey.
That was the lie he’d tell himself today.
“You guys ready?” Kirsty asked.
Noah looked at Iqrah. At Bruno. He wanted to say no. He wanted to resist. Wanted to go his own way. Giving up control, it didn’t sit easy with him. Made him cautious. Nervous.
But he knew he had to, now.
He looked back at Kirsty, then he nodded.
“We’re ready,” he said.
Kirsty smiled. “Good,” she said. “Then let’s get going.”
Chapter Eleven
Colin Hendrickson saw Blackpool Tower up ahead, and he smiled.
He’d always liked Blackpool. Ever since his old stepdad used to bring him up here as a kid. Loved the lights. Loved the candy floss. Loved the arcades. It was like heaven to him. Didn’t understand how anyone could hate it, not really.
Sure, he got it was a bit tacky. But what damned sissy ass kid cared about “tacky” anyhow?
All that should matter to a kid was fun. Real good fun.
And Blackpool ticked all those damned boxes.
He stepped onto the promenade and took a deep breath of that fresh sea air. Well. Not exactly “fresh” anymore. Bit of a sourness to things like everywhere else. But it was fresher than some places, anyway. Could always count on frigging Blackpool to bring a bit of freshness to the world in these shitty times.
He stood there with his rifle in his hands. Wrapped head to toe in this tight black gear, mask over his face. He hated the damned masks. It was just pseudoscientific bullshit at the end of the day. Truth was, no mask could save you from the virus if it were gonna get you. He’d seen it himself, so many times.
Besides. There were bigger threats than the virus out there these days. Those Red bastards, those old Society fuckers who’d defected. They were the real danger.
But he kept his mask on today. ’Cause he’d heard stuff. Talk. Rumours about shit going down here in Blackpool.
Shit he and three others had been tasked with investigating.
He looked at the road ahead. There’d been a small group stationed here for a good couple of years now. Tents and stuff. Might be deep into No Man’s Land, but they allowed ’em to exist here ’cause they didn’t cause any trouble. Had a few conflicts and scraps early on and whatever, sure. But most of these No Man’s Land lot weren’t all that bad once you got to know them. Some nutters amongst them, sure. But for the most part, they were just folks trying to make their own ways in life.
But Colin and his gang were here today from District 16 for two reasons. Not just because of the weird shit going doing—the radios scrambling, the sightings of helicopters at the coast. That shit was one thing they were investigating, sure, but it wasn’t everything.
Because the main reason he was here?
A sighting. A sighting of the girl, Iqrah. And the dude, Noah.
The ones who’d escaped the labs. The special ones. The ones who had these “abilities,” apparently. Abilities the Society were desperate to get their hands on to try and reverse the virus. Humanity’s greatest hope, that’s what they said.
Truth be told, Colin thought it was all bullshit. Humanity’s greatest hope was locking itself down and staying as goddamned-far away from the virus as it possibly could.
But the Society seemed pretty serious about these folks.
And looking at the mass of bodies on the promenade before him—infected bodies, no damned doubt—Colin started to wonder if the things they said about these people might actually be true after all.
“You gonna stand there gawking all day, Col?” Jessica asked. “Or are we actually gonna get investigating here?”
Colin snapped out of the moment. Looked around and saw Jessica glaring at him through her visor. She was a tough old cookie. Real mean type, always went with the logical and the pragmatic over the emotional.
And Colin got that. He liked that.
But there was something cruel about it. Something mean about it that scared him too.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s get investigating this place. Seeing what we can find.”
He walked along the promenade. Over towards these old trams, rusting away, left derelict for years. The smell was even worse here. If these masks were supposed to keep the stench out, then they weren’t doing a damned good job of that, that was for sure.
“Shit,” Jessica said. “Look at the state of their heads.”
Colin looked down at the bodies on the road. The flies buzzing around them. The blood staining the promenade, smeared across it. He’d heard about what happened at those creepy old labs. The folks there, skulls burst open. Didn’t believe in spooky shit like that, not really.
But now, looking right at it, staring back at him, he started to wonder whether the Society had a point about this Noah and Iqrah duo.
“Shitting hell,” Jessica said.
Colin looked up. Expected her to be staring at the bodies, just like him.
But she was looking somewhere else.
Inside one of the tram carriages.
He walked over to her. Half-expected her to be looking at a similar scene to the one out here.
But when Colin got there, he realised this was something very different altogether.
“What the hell?” he said.
The tram carriage was filled with bodies.
Some of them sat down. Others looked like they’d just slumped to the floor.
A sourness filled the air. Almost like a chemical sourness. Not something he was used to.
He looked at these bodies, and he just got a bad feeling about them.
There was this shininess to them. This brightness to their skin.
Something felt off.
Something felt rotten.
He looked at these bodies, and a shiver went right up his spine. It was their faces. The way their eyes boggled out their skulls like they’d seen something awful before they died. Something truly horrible.
“Well, lookie here,” Jessica said.
Colin frowned. She was standing by the far opening to the carriage.
When he walked over there, he saw bloodied footprints.
Two pairs of bloodied footprints.
And a dog’s paw prints, too.
A lightbulb flashed in his head. Apparently, the kid and the bloke travelled with a dog.
And there was this other set of prints, too. A third one. Small. Woman or kid.
Another one to focus on.
He followed those prints out of the carriage, back out onto the promenade, and saw them fade away up the nearest high street, outside of Blackpool.
Jessica looked at Colin. He could tell from her eyes she was smiling.
“Looks like they’re not gonna be so hard to follow after all,” she said.
Colin smiled back at her.
Nodded.
Tightened his grip on his rifle.
It was time to close in on Iqrah and Noah.
It was time to end this, once and for goddamned all.
But he couldn’t get the bodies in the tram out of his mind.
Chapter Twelve
Noah barely said anything on the road towards Morecambe.
The afternoon was growing late. Those thick grey clouds had cleared, and the impending, looming storm seemed to have settled. But darkness was approaching. Night was setting in. And the thought of spending the night out here—in the company of a woman he barely knew, and with Iqrah still in her state of blindness… it scared him.
He didn’t trust Kirsty. As much as I
qrah insisted she was good when she lived back at the Blackpool community. As much as she seemed a reasonable enough woman.
There was just something about her that set Noah’s insecurities on edge. He didn’t feel at ease. Not one bit.
But what could he do?
She’d promised a new home. A place where Iqrah’s parents had headed. Somewhere safe.
Did they really have a better option, especially now Iqrah desperately needed an extra level of care—a level of care he wasn’t sure even he could provide anymore?
They walked along the coast. Waves crashed against the shore. The sea looked uninviting, gunmetal grey and cold. Seagulls called overhead, swooping down into the water. A cold breeze cut through the summer air, making his teeth chatter.
“You sure you’re okay carrying her?”
Noah looked around. Saw Kirsty looking at him. She had these big blue eyes that pierced right through him, that felt like they could see right into his soul.
He nodded as Bruno panted alongside. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?” Kirsty said. “If you want a rest, I can—”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“I can hear you two, you know?” Iqrah said.
Noah rolled his eyes and sighed. Truth be told, it was easy to forget Iqrah was still present in any conversation, mostly because she couldn’t see a thing. He didn’t know how long that blindness was going to last. Didn’t know whether it was a temporary thing, a permanent thing. Didn’t know anything right now.
Only that the longer she was out here, the more danger she was in.
The more danger they were all in.
“I’m fine,” Noah said. “Seriously. But I… Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Kirsty nodded, then turned around slowly. “Any time.”
Kirsty wasn’t a woman of many words. Noah appreciated that. He was hardly interested in any major conversations himself. His sole focus was just reaching the Morecambe community, regardless of his doubts. He didn’t need to make friends along the way. He just needed to get there.
And when he did get there… what then?
A bitter taste filled his mouth. He was beginning to realise it was dangerous for him and Iqrah to be together. Together, they were just one target. Sitting ducks for the Society. They had everything they needed once they had both of them.