by Ryan Casey
Ending this.
She turned around.
Looked ahead, into the distance—into the darkness of her blindness.
And she took a deep breath.
She was going to make this.
Or she was going to die trying.
She went to take her first step when she heard footsteps behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kelly looked off into the distance and wondered how Noah was doing.
She was at the industrial estate. She’d been there for a good while now. Two years, perhaps. Things were good here. Quiet. Rarely ran into any Society bother. And if they did, they were nicely armed, which meant they had a fair shot at defending this place, even against those thugs.
But things were stable here. Steady as could be. People had jobs. Some worked in construction, others in teaching, others in hunting and policing, that kind of thing. It was a proper working community, and Kelly was proud to be a part of it.
But as she looked out through her one damned eye at the empty landscape in the distance, she couldn’t get Noah out of her mind.
They say life’s stranger than fiction. Well, talk about strange. Running into Noah of all fucking people, abandoned in the sewers, just a couple of weeks ago. Bruno and some girl, Iqrah, by his side.
He’d stayed here a week. Recovered from his gunshots, as best as anyone could recover from a goddamned gunshot. Lucky bastard, the hits weren’t as bad as they could’ve been. Always was a lucky bastard.
And as much as Kelly wanted him to stay longer, he’d had to move on. She got it. He was Important with a capital I. And this Iqrah girl, even more so, apparently.
But a selfish part of her wanted him to put all that aside and just join her damned people.
She had a fondness for Noah. She always had, as much as he’d protest otherwise. She always thought Jasmine was a bitch for dumping him. He thought the world of her, treated her like a princess—in his own way, anyway. More importantly, he was patient with her. Jasmine required that kind of patience. Her old best friend needed her space, needed her own time.
In the end, the relationship just got too much for her, and there was no doubt Jas sacrificed a big element of her happiness in order to protect herself; threw herself headfirst into her career to distract herself from a growing unhappiness within.
But that was the past. They’d rekindled. They’d made up. And it was sad that they’d been torn apart again, after everything. Fucking tragic.
Noah was a good guy. An ordinary guy. Not the kind of guy she ever imagined would be so damned important in the grand scheme of things.
But did anyone ever feel they were important, really?
Or did everyone always feel like an outsider?
Everyone was normal. Nobody ever thought anything was going to happen to them.
“Kelly?”
Kelly looked around. Saw Sammy standing there, smile on her face.
“Hey, Sammy.”
“You okay, love?”
Kelly nodded. Sammy was a sweet woman. Late sixties, very much the mother hen of the community. “Just having a bit of peace and quiet.”
“No fooling me. It’s that bloke, isn’t it?”
Kelly frowned. “That bloke?”
Sammy smirked. “I know you were sad to see him go. You had to be. Went out there and risked your goddamned life to save him. Seen you here a lot lately. Staring out there. Like you’re waiting for somebody. Waiting for him.”
Kelly blushed. “It’s not like that. Noah… Noah and me, we had a connection. ’Cause of our pasts. But it’s not like you want it to be. Sorry to say.”
Sammy shrugged. “Well, that’s a shame. About time you focused a little on yourself a bit more. Your job’s become your life. Which when you’re working with the chickens like me, is totally fine. But when you’re security like you, on patrol out there… hell, you can lose yourself in this world.”
Kelly swallowed a lump in her throat. Nodded. Truth was, she did bury herself into her work. She did lose herself into it. Because it was the only way she could distract from the pain of her past.
The pain of losing her son.
“Well,” Sammy said. “I’ll leave you to it. Got some eggs to collect. Ever thought about a change of profession? We could do with an extra hand on the farm.”
Kelly looked at Sammy and smiled. Funny how life worked. She’d always been pretty lazy and melodramatic when it came to work, back in the day. Never took work seriously. She was happy to just work in the most steady, stable job, not bothered about standing out, or progression, or anything like that.
But since the world had ended, she’d been a police officer back at Westfield, and now a security guard, monitoring the immediate outside of No Man’s Land in search of any threats or positive finds.
“I’m not sure the farm life is for me,” Kelly said.
Sammy winked. “You never know until you try it, love.”
She turned around. Walked away, off towards the industrial estates. Towards the bustle of life.
And as she watched her leave, Kelly wondered if in fact she could settle down to that kind of life. If one day, when all was said and done, she could retire. Process her trauma.
And then move forward.
She took a deep breath.
Looked back over her shoulder, not expecting to see a soul.
But when she looked, she saw a figure.
No. Two figures.
Both of them in the distance.
Both walking this way.
Kelly frowned. Lifted her rifle and looked through the scope.
The first person she saw was a woman. Short-haired. Looked rough. Scruffy. In fact, Kelly thought she recognised her from the road. In a shootout with her once upon a time.
She steadied her grip on the rifle and prepared to fire a warning shot when she saw the man beside her.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
Her entire body froze.
She lowered her rifle and felt a smile stretch across her face.
“Noah,” she said.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Johnny Burch stared into the distance and smiled.
It was early morning. They’d been walking all goddamned night. At first, he wasn’t sure why he’d been sent on a bullshit mission like this. Something about a girl, a guy, how special they both were.
But then he’d heard rumours. Whispers. Talks that this man and this girl were the answer; that they were the key. They were the ones they were looking for.
He’d been sceptical at first. Sounded like some Society bullshit, not the kind of crap Reds like him were supposed to buy into. Too corny. Too far-fetched.
But then he’d seen the bodies. He’d seen the exploded heads. How they matched up with the reports of what this girl and this dude were capable of.
He’d stayed back. Watched the alleyway from afar.
Watched his friends shake and writhe and…
Yeah. They popped. Popped like a fucking firework display in the middle of November.
And then he’d stood there and waited a little longer. ’Cause he needed to know. He needed to see for himself.
He was waiting a good goddamned while before there was any movement. Any sound at all.
But eventually, out of nowhere, he saw her.
She staggered out of the alleyway. Looked like she was trying to crawl along the wall like she couldn’t see a damned thing. And that’s when he realised she couldn’t see a damned thing. She looked around. Looked right at him. But her eyes were all glazed. Looked right goddamned through him.
There was this mutt with her, too. Limping away. Whining. Little shit. Johnny never liked dogs. Crushed as many dog skulls as he could since the world went to shit—and a few before then, too.
Really wanted to get his boots all into this one’s brains, too.
But shit. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.
He stared into the distance. Smiled. Saw the industrial
site up ahead. Well populated. Plenty of people here. No bother. Not yet, anyway.
Sad to say, he was about to bring a whole world of shit onto the doorstep of this place.
He thought back to the moment he’d found the girl.
She turned around. Walked in the opposite direction to him. Even the dog didn’t seem interested in him either.
Not until he stood up.
Shuffled around to get a good sight on her.
And as much as he wanted to put a bullet in her… he knew how “important” she apparently was. The boss would never fucking forgive him.
So he’d switched to the darts.
After that, it all happened so goddamned fast.
The girl turned around.
So too did the dog.
Johnny fired three of those darts into her chest for good measure.
Went to fire a couple at the dog, too, only for it to limp off and disappear into nowhere.
“Fucker,” he shouted.
He ran over to the girl, who slumped to the road. A little blood rolling from her nose. Looked around for the dog, but with no luck.
“Fucker. I’ll crush your fucking skull eventually, you little shit.”
He looked down at the girl. Her eyes closed. Her body shaking, just a little, with these weird vibrations of energy. Like she was gonna be hot to the touch.
He shook his head. Lifted her up. Threw her over his shoulder.
No girl or woman was getting the better of him. Never had, never would. Just the way in his life.
He looked off into the distance and saw a derelict old bus. Shivers crept up his back. He remembered what he’d seen earlier that day. Those bodies. The ones with the weird slime all over them.
And then the whispers.
The talk of helicopters.
The talk of something coming. Someone coming.
Someone far, far bigger than Society.
He spat on the ground.
Turned around, Iqrah on his shoulder.
Then he walked back towards his friend.
Johnny Burch took a deep breath as he stood there, staring at this industrial estate.
Two people walking towards it.
A woman. Short bitch.
And a man.
One arm.
He looked down at the girl’s sleeping, unconscious face beside him, and he smiled.
It was time to get to work.
It was time to end this.
Once and for all.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Noah saw Kelly in the distance, and a smile crossed his face right away.
It was getting late. The sun was setting over the industrial estate, casting an orange glow. It felt strange being back here so soon. The last time he’d seen Kelly, he was pretty much convinced he’d never see her again. Seeing her again would be dangerous—for her.
But Iqrah was gone. Bruno was gone. Kirsty was gone.
And he knew exactly where they were going to end up if they weren’t careful.
Which meant he had to try something different.
He had to open himself up. He had to let someone else in.
He had to believe in Kelly when she said she wanted to help him, even if helping him might put her in grave danger.
“This the place?” Shel asked. “Really?”
Noah rolled his eyes. “It’s a better suggestion than fucking Renault’s place, surely?”
She tilted her head. “Fair point. If us two just rocked up at Renault’s, it’d be bye-bye. If there’s a few more folks… Hell. Maybe we’ll actually be able to speak a little sense into him.”
“That’s the plan,” he said.
He looked ahead at Kelly. Couldn’t actually believe she was standing right there, waiting for him. Some would say it was fucking cheesy. Or contrived. He was beginning to learn that life worked in weird ways, and one of its weirdest ways was the way it seemed dead set on bringing people back together.
He hoped the same was true for Iqrah. For Kirsty. For Bruno.
He had to believe it would be.
“And this chick,” Shel said. “You really think she’s gonna just agree to what you’re suggesting?”
Noah swallowed a lump in his throat. “It’s not gonna be easy. But if anyone can win people over to her way of thinking, it’s Kelly.”
“You really trust her, huh?”
Noah looked around at Shel. As hard as it was to do, he nodded. “Yeah. She’s probably the last person left who I actually do trust.”
Shel puffed out her lips. Raised her eyebrows. “Braver man than I am.”
“Yeah, well. Sometimes we just get lucky in life like that.”
They walked further along this empty wasteland. The dusty ground crunched underfoot. Empty shells clinked as they passed by from bullets long ago fired. Crows swooped down, and the sun got lower and redder. And as Noah walked further, he got that shiver up his arm. A shiver that he was close to some kind of resolution. Close to some kind of hope. Even if this was only the beginning in the conflict. Even if it wasn’t even a banker that Kelly would be able to convince her people to join them in the fight against the Reds—this fight against an unknown enemy that Noah only knew from hearsay so far.
But it was the beginning. And it felt like it was the beginning of something else, too. The beginning of the end.
Protect Iqrah from the Reds.
Hide away from the Society forever.
If that’s what they had to do, it’s what Noah was willing to do.
He got closer. Saw that blindfold over one of Kelly’s eyes, the one that was missing. Saw her trying to stifle her smile. And he got an urge to run. An urge to head over there, to wrap his arm around her back and hold her tight.
But he kept his cool, too. He kept his composure.
That was always the way with Kelly. This game of wills. This battle to see who could contain their cool the most.
He wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to be able to contain this.
“Just remember something, bud,” Shel said.
Noah looked around. Saw Shel looking at him with a rare… was that concern in her eyes.
“Huh?”
“Never put your eggs all in one basket. It’s a recipe for heartache.”
He frowned. He didn’t know what to think of her words. But they sent a shiver down his spine. Or maybe that was just the night, creeping further in. The darkness getting closer.
A sense someone was close.
A sense something was coming.
He walked further until he was right at the entrance to the industrial site. Until Kelly was just metres away. Until only a metal railing separated them.
And then he stopped.
Stood there.
Stared at Kelly as she stared back at him.
Each waiting for the other to talk. Each waiting for the other to break the silence.
“Just couldn’t keep yourself away, could you?” Kelly said.
Noah smiled. He opened his mouth. “I—”
A bang.
A bang somewhere behind him.
He spun around, instinctively stepped in front of Kelly, in front of Shel.
He couldn’t figure it out. Not at first.
Not until he saw them.
There was a group of them. Eight of them.
All wearing Society black.
Except…
A red mark.
A red marking across their chests.
The one in the middle raised a megaphone to his unmasked mouth.
“I believe you’re the one we’re looking for, one-arm,” he said.
And then he stepped aside and placed his rifle at something on the ground.
“So why don’t you get on your knees, right this goddamned second, or you can say goodbye to your princess here.”
He froze.
He couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t think.
All he saw was this man.
Rifle pointed at someone.
; Iqrah.
They had her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Noah stared into the distance at the Red holding his rifle against the head of an unconscious Iqrah, and he wondered why things could never be frigging straightforward.
The light was fading. The sun setting lower and lower, casting a reddish glow over the industrial estate. Shel stood behind him. Kelly stood behind him. All he could do was stand there, shaking. Wanting to tap into that place inside him. Unsure if he could. Especially with Iqrah in the position she was.
He didn’t want to think they’d put a bullet into her. He didn’t believe they would. After all, if they did that, they jeopardised everything.
But from the tales he’d heard about the Reds so far, it was all or nothing with them.
“Come on, Noah,” the leader said, speaking through the megaphone. “No need to make a scene here. Just come over here, and we can get this done with. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
A shiver crept up his spine. He didn’t want to go over there. Didn’t trust these people.
But Iqrah...
He didn’t want to leave her there, either. He didn’t want to risk anything happening to her. He didn’t trust these Reds with her or with him.
“Don’t do it, Noah,” Kelly said.
He looked around. He’d been so lost in the moment he’d lost all sense of who was surrounding him, who was in his presence.
He looked at Kelly. Saw the horror in her wide eye. The realisation of the severity of this situation.
And then he looked at Shel, too.
Up to now, he hadn’t seen much from Shel other than a smugness. But right now, he saw something else. A concern. A fear, too.
“She’s right, buddy,” Shel said. “Goin’ over there is the last thing you wanna do. But I have a feeling you’re gonna ignore us and do it anyway.”
Noah took a deep breath. Sighed. “I have to—”
“Noah,” the man said, speaking through the megaphone. “None of us are violent people. You know how this ends. You know the only way this goes. Only us, we’re not as lenient as the Society shills. It’s all or nothing with us. So come the hell over here, right this goddamned second. Do the right thing.”