by Ryan Casey
He smirked. “It won’t be a paradise,” he said. “It’s just… well. If I do allow myself to imagine it… it’s what I imagine the world used to feel like. Before all of this.”
She looked away, then. “I don’t really remember. I was too young.”
“Hey. I’m hardly ancient. I was a teenager when all this started.”
“What brought you here on your own anyway?”
“The same thing that takes all of us anywhere. Loss. Impermanence. I had a home. I had a life. Shit happened, and it went away.” He took in a breath like it was a sore topic. “But hey. Like I say. We’re here now. We’ve got something to be… reservedly hopeful about.”
Kelsie nodded. “Here’s to reserved hopefulness.”
“I can drink to that.”
She looked away again. And this time, she found herself full of speculation, her mind racing. She found herself wanting to discover so much about this new world. Imagining people sitting back. Relaxing. Watching televisions. Playing video games, if they were even a thing.
She imagined the world getting back on its feet, and she found herself unable to contain the excitement—as dangerous as she knew it was to speculate.
She imagined all this, and then she noticed something.
It was subtle. Very fast.
But it was alarming.
Because something was wrong.
She stopped.
Tate and Manuel looked around.
Jack looked at her too. “Kelsie?”
But she didn’t take any of her surroundings in.
She didn’t process a thing.
All she could focus on was baby Holly.
Because she hadn’t just stopped crying.
She’d stopped breathing.
Baby Holly wasn’t breathing.
Chapter Seventeen
Thirty-Five Hours to Go…
Kelsie looked at baby Holly as she lay there in her arms, every single one of her worst fears coming true.
The night was still intense, and it didn’t seem to be letting up. She’d lost all sense of her surroundings, all concepts of time and space.
Because the only thing that mattered to her was lying in her arms.
And she wasn’t breathing.
She heard the voices around her. Saw people approaching her. Asking her what was happening. Asking what was going on.
But she couldn’t process a word they were saying. She couldn’t process a thing.
All she could process was the sense of loss cutting through her right now.
And the sense that if she didn’t figure this out—if she didn’t find some way to get to the bottom of this—then the whole journey she was making wouldn’t even be worth it after all.
“Kelsie, you need to—”
“Don’t tell me what I need to do,” she said. “I know what I need to do. I need to get her breathing again.”
“I know that,” Manuel said, right by her side now. “But—but as tempting as it is to lose it, you’ve got to keep calm.”
“Keep calm?” Kelsie spat. “My daughter’s just stopped breathing. She’s stopped breathing in my arms.”
“I know,” Manuel said, sternness to his voice now. “Which is all the more reason to try and stay composed right now.”
“But what do I do?” Kelsie said. She was struggling to keep it together. Struggling to keep all her scurrying emotions in check.
“I can take a look at her,” Jack said.
Kelsie looked around at him. “What?”
He stood there, uncertainty to his face. “I’ve dealt with situations like this before. If you… if you can trust me, I might be able to help.”
Kelsie felt torn in two directions. On the one hand, she didn’t trust anyone with her baby. After everything she’d gone through, she didn’t want to risk losing anyone else. And she especially didn’t trust this guy. Even though his story added up, even though it seemed like he was on board, she still found trusting him just too much of a leap of faith.
But then what other choice did she have?
She didn’t have any experience. She didn’t have any knowledge of what to do. And it felt like if she didn’t do something right now, she was going to lose baby Holly.
She took a deep breath. Then she walked over to Jack. Put baby Holly into his arms. “Bring her back,” she said. “Make sure she’s okay. Please.”
He didn’t say anything. He just nodded.
And as hard as it was to take, Kelsie knew Jack was in no position to be making any promises where the life of her child was concerned.
She turned away as he tried to resuscitate her. She thought she’d be hooked, thought she’d have no choice but to watch, but it wasn’t as simple as that. She couldn’t look. She couldn’t see what was happening to her baby right now.
She couldn’t bear the thought of turning around and seeing that glance of inevitability on the face of Jack. The wave of sadness crashing across the rest of them.
She couldn’t see that. She couldn’t face it. She couldn’t take it, not anymore.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, then. A hand that made her jump. She looked around.
She saw Tate by her side.
He looked sweaty. Big bags under his eyes. Clearly exhausted. In the background, Kelsie could hear Jack struggling. She could hear him trying to do something for baby Holly.
But she still hadn’t heard her baby cry.
“Things are going to be okay,” Tate said. “No matter what. We’re… we’re here for you. We’re going to stay by your side. No matter what, okay?”
Kelsie felt the tension building up inside. Her lips began to shake. “I just… I need my baby to be okay.”
“And she will be. She will be.”
But he didn’t sound convinced.
And he didn’t sound all that convincing to her, either.
“You came to my aid when I needed it. You could’ve just killed me. Finished me off. But you didn’t. You believed in me. You had faith. And for that… for that you deserve for things to work out here.”
Kelsie wiped the tears from her eyes. “But you know how it works.”
“And how’s that?”
“The people who deserve things to happen to them. That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t count for anything. Surely you’ve seen that by now?”
Tate half-smiled like he understood. Like she was right. Then he opened his mouth, went to say something else.
But that’s when Kelsie heard it.
The sigh.
The movement.
She looked up. Looked beyond Tate.
That’s when she saw it.
Jack was standing there. Baby Holly was in his arms.
There was a forlorn look across his face. A look of sadness. A look of loss.
And Kelsie knew what was coming now.
She knew what was ahead.
She stumbled forward, tears rolling down her cheeks. “No. Please.”
And then she heard it.
The cry.
The little cry from baby Holly.
The way she wriggled in Jack’s arms.
Kelsie gasped. Almost fell to her knees. Then stumbled back up, rushed over to Jack, rushed over to baby Holly.
“She’s okay,” Jack said. “She’s… she’s okay.”
Holly took her from his arms. She held her close. Hugged her. Cried with her.
And then she looked up at Jack, and she nodded. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He looked back at her. Saluted. Half-smiled. “These conditions… they’re not ideal for a newborn. But she’s going to be okay. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
“I’ll never stop worrying,” Kelsie said.
“Fair enough.”
They stood together, then, in the darkness. And as Kelsie held Baby Holly, she felt like there was hope. In this darkness, she felt like there was light.
She felt like she’d been given another chance, and that she had to take it—with both hands.
She t
ook a deep breath and looked at the road ahead.
“Thirty-something hours to go. We’ve got to make some more progress before morning.”
Tate puffed out his lips. “I’d rather take a rest. But hey. Whatever the boss lady decides.”
She smiled at that. And then she took a deep breath and started to walk.
Time was running out.
Chapter Eighteen
Thirty Hours to Go…
The morning sky was filled with light, and Kelsie and her group were closing in on the Empress Ballroom.
It was a crisp day for the summer. Dew on the ground. Freshness to the air that hinted at a turn in the weather. And it was sad, in a way. Because Kelsie knew that there was only going to be one more sunrise after this. One final sunrise, and then the world as they knew it would end.
But at least they had a full day and night to press on to the Empress Ballroom.
They had a couple of hours to go now. They’d been walking right through the night. Kelsie had gone beyond the point of exhaustion. She knew there would be plenty of time to rest when she got to where she wanted to go.
The most important thing was that baby Holly was resting. She was relaxed.
And she was alive.
She looked down at her in her arms. She had a little content look on her face, eyes closed. Sometimes, she felt panicked when she noticed her go still, but every time she checked, she turned out being okay.
She was bound to be paranoid and worried, especially after what had happened a few hours ago. She still didn’t know why that had really happened, in all truth.
She just knew that she’d be extra protective of her from now on. Hell, she’d probably always be extra protective. It was the nature of this world. The nature of the world she’d grown up in.
She’d spent the majority of her life behind walls. And now she’d been thrust out into the wild again, she was being forced to adapt in the most abrupt and startling of ways.
Tate was walking up ahead, Arya Jr by his side. After him, Jack, alone with his rifle. Further back and by Kelsie was Manuel. He seemed to like talking with Kelsie. And as much as the circumstances weren’t ideal, she had to admit she quite liked talking with him, too.
“Reckon we’d’ve made friends if we’d met in the old world?” Manuel asked, clearly making small talk more than anything.
“When I was in Wright Green and you were with Gina? Not a chance.”
“No, no. I mean the world before.”
Kelsie thought back to her vague, fuzzy memories of the world before. Of going to school. Of the feeling like she was in a dreamy haze.
“Well you’re a little older than me,” she said. “Probably would’ve been frowned upon.”
Manuel laughed. “Maybe so. But I dunno. I get the feeling we’d have got along pretty w—”
“Just to clarify, before you start getting ideas. I’ve just lost the love of my life. Besides. You’re far too old for me.”
Manuel’s face dropped. He lifted his hands up. “Hey. I wasn’t—”
“You sure you weren’t?”
He sighed. “Look. I like you. You seem nice. Nicer than Gina made you out to be anyway. But honestly. I’m just… I’m here for you. That’s all I’ll say. I’m here for you and the baby. Because nobody should bring a child up on their own.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
Manuel sighed. “My mum left when I was young. Lost the plot. Alcohol, all that. It was Dad who brought me up. But it was hard for him, you know? He wasn’t a natural. Tried his best, but yeah. Not ideal.”
“Tell me about it,” Kelsie said.
“Similar problems?”
“I can’t remember what happened to my mum. But I know I lost my dad to a man I ended up idolising.”
Manuel frowned.
“Yeah. It’s a complex one.”
She looked at baby Holly again, checked she was still okay. Then she looked up, looked ahead. “I’m going to be perfectly capable of bringing this girl up on my own. I’m going to teach her everything. I appreciate the offer, though.”
Manuel half-smiled. “Whatever I can do to…”
He stopped, then. His eyes were focused on something behind Kelsie. His face had dropped.
Kelsie looked around, and then back at him. “What is it?”
“I think I…”
She looked again. Didn’t see anything.
Then back at Manuel. “Manuel. What’s wrong?”
He kept his focus ahead. “I saw something.”
Tate and Jack stopped. “You what?”
Manuel lifted a hand. Pointed at the woods. “Over there. I… I saw something. Movement.”
They came to Manuel’s side. Kelsie looked into the trees, too. Tried to see if she could see what he was on about, what he was so worried about.
“I don’t see anything,” she said.
Manuel nodded. But he didn’t seem convinced. “Come on. Let’s get walking. We’re too close to fall at the final hurdle now.”
Kelsie followed. But she was concerned, now. Any whisper of a threat, and it was enough to get her protectiveness into overdrive.
She clutched baby Holly closer, instinctively more than anything. Kept her eyes on those trees by her side. On the woods alongside her.
And then she heard Tate whistle. “There it is. The Empress Ballroom. In all its… well. Blackpool glory.”
She looked ahead, and she saw it. The coast in the distance. The old Pleasure Beach theme park, roller coasters towering above. Blackpool Tower. The rows of hotels that lined the promenade and the pier stretching off into the distance. If she squinted, she could convince herself, as she listened to the seagulls swooping down, that Blackpool was still how it used to be. Still that trashy little seaside town that somehow carried such charm.
And then there was the Empress Ballroom. That relatively nondescript building. Only there was something very notable about it.
There were a number of helicopters sitting atop it.
Kelsie felt the tension build inside her. The urgency to just be there, right now.
She squeezed her fist. “It looks…”
“Like it’s still safe,” Tate said, smile on his face. “Like they’re waiting for people.”
Kelsie looked ahead and allowed herself a smile too. She allowed herself to believe. She knew it was dangerous, but the possibility was becoming a reality now.
She was too close to the reality to let it slip. Too close after how far she’d come.
She took a deep breath and started to walk towards it, along with the rest of the group.
But that’s when she heard the movement in the woods.
And that’s when she saw it in the corner of her eye.
She looked into the woods.
And then she felt her stomach sink.
There was a group of people in the woods.
Three of them.
Armed.
Watching their every footstep.
Chapter Nineteen
Twenty-Nine Hours to Go…
Kelsie looked at the armed group emerging from the woods, and she felt her stomach sink.
The morning was in full force now. Sunlight shining brightly, its warmth making the clammy sensations on Kelsie’s skin feel even more intense. In the distance, the Empress Ballroom loomed, their supposed sanctuary just waiting for them to arrive. The place they were hedging all their bets on.
But as close as it was—as close as they’d got to it with plenty of time to spare—it couldn’t be further away.
Not now this armed group had arrived.
Not now they were here.
Kelsie turned and looked at them. Her heart was racing, and her stomach was lurching. Her chest felt like it was about to explode, as she held on to baby Holly. Arya Jr stood by her side, growling. Because the second she saw those rifles, she could only think of the Outsiders. She could only think about what they’d done to her home. What they’d done to Mike.
But then as she stood there, her people by her side—including Jack, who was armed for that matter—she noticed something different about these people. Something off about them.
Something that differentiated them from the Outsiders.
They weren’t masked.
And they weren’t in that black uniform.
They were in T-shirts. Shorts. Ordinary clothes that looked like they’d been worn for a long time.
The people didn’t look particularly well groomed or healthy, either. They looked unhealthy if anything. Missing teeth. Patches of baldness on their heads. A sense that they weren’t exactly being looked after.
And it was that which made Kelsie wonder whether these were Outsiders at all.
The three people lifted their rifles. “Stop right there.”
It was a man who spoke. Mousy brown hair. Bearded. Probably one of the healthier and well-built looking amongst this group.
Kelsie felt caught in two minds. Wanting to protect herself and her people for the sake of her baby for one. But on the other hand, she wanted to keep things peaceful here. She wanted to keep things calm. She didn’t want to risk some kind of conflict if there was a way she could avoid it at all.
“We don’t want any trouble,” a voice said. It wasn’t Kelsie. It was Manuel.
“We’ll be the judge of that,” the man said. “Especially when you’re travelling with one of them. Lower your weapon. Now.”
Kelsie wasn’t sure what this man was talking about. Not at first.
Not until she looked around and saw that Jack had his rifle raised.
She felt strangely reassured seeing that. Mostly because it meant that he was just as uncertain about these people as Kelsie was. But then at the same time… she knew how this would look to someone not in their group. She knew how it would look to her if she wasn’t here right now.
So she knew what they had to do.
“Lower it, Jack,” she said.
Jack looked at her. Wide-eyed. He didn’t say a thing. Just kept his rifle raised. Kept in focus.