Surviving The Virus | Book 9 | The Final Strain

by Casey, Ryan

  And now they were here.

  He stood there. Teeth chattering. Frozen solid. He wanted to move because he knew he had to. But he didn’t want any harsh movements either, because he knew the threat that might pose to Kelly. To Bruno.

  “Noah?” Kelly said.

  “Don’t move.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t move. Understand?”

  He stood there. Looked at Kelly. Looked right into her eye and didn’t move an inch.

  “Trust me. Okay? Trust me.”

  He knew how bold an ask that was. Especially when he had no idea what might happen next. No idea just how ruthless these people might be towards him.

  But he turned around, now. Turned to face them.

  Because as much as he knew and suspected they wanted him dead, there was something else, too.

  “If they wanted to kill us, they could’ve killed us by now.”

  “I hope you’re fucking right,” Kelly said.

  Noah lifted his hand. Slowly. So they could see. Kelly held on to the rifle. Kept her arms lowered.

  “Drop the rifle, Kel,” Noah said.

  “But—”

  “Just drop it, okay?”

  Kelly opened her mouth. Looked like she was about to protest.

  And then she just shook her head and dropped the rifle to the snow. “I hope you know what the fuck you’re doing.”

  Noah swallowed a lump in his throat. Me too.

  He looked ahead, then. Squinted through the snow, towards the source of those lasers. And although he wasn’t certain—he couldn’t be certain—he swore he saw two black silhouettes, hidden by the elements.

  He cleared his throat. Knew now was the time to take a chance, if any. No point using his abilities. Didn’t have time to sink into the void. Couldn’t risk it.

  So instead, he tried something else.

  “You’ve got us,” he shouted. “Now tell me what you want.”

  Those lasers stayed on him, on Kelly. The smallest move from each of them and they followed, closely. Like they were waiting. For what? Noah didn’t know.

  He cleared his throat again. “I’m the one you want,” he said. “Kelly here. She’s one of your survivors.”

  “Noah?” Kelly said.

  “She’s one of your survivors. One of the people who survived whatever shit you’ve dumped on the nation. I know about Phase Three. I know about what you’ve got planned next. And I want to stop you. More than anything, that’s what I want. But… but you’ve got us now. I can see that. So there’s not a lot else I can do. But please. Kelly doesn’t have to suffer here. She doesn’t have to fall because of what I am. Because of who I am. So do whatever you have to do to me. But all I ask is you’ll let her and my dog go.”

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Kelly asked.

  Noah didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He could only stand there. Watch these lasers as they settled on them both. Watch very closely.

  “Hey,” Kelly shouted. “I don’t fucking consent to this. I don’t!”

  “Will you come without resistance?” a voice said. A male voice. Sounded foreign. Crackly. Like it was digital, somehow. Not entirely present.

  “No, he fucking won’t,” Kelly said.

  “Yes,” Noah said.

  Kelly spun around. “Noah? What the—”

  “It’s how it has to be. I tried. And I’ll keep trying. But I can’t risk this. I can’t… I can’t risk you.”

  She looked at him. A tear on her face. Shook her head. Tried to say something. Tried to find the words.

  And in the end, she just turned around. Shook her head. “I can’t let you do this. Not on your own.”

  “You’re going to have to,” he said. He looked back towards the figures. “So what’s it going to be?”

  Those lasers stayed focused on him. On Kelly. Time stretched forever. The seconds felt like minutes and the minutes hours. So long that Noah wondered if there was even anyone behind those lasers, as much as he logically knew there was.

  “Well?” he shouted. “What—”

  “Five steps towards us,” that voice said again.

  “What?”

  “Five steps towards us. Just you. The woman stays.”

  “And you’ll let her go?”

  Silence.

  “I’m not stepping anywhere if you don’t promise me you’ll—”

  The laser pointed at Kelly went out.

  Just the one on Noah now.

  “Five steps towards us. Now.”

  Noah looked at Kelly. Saw her shake her head.

  He tensed his fist, then walked one step forward.

  Then a second.

  A third.

  A fourth—

  “Stop.”

  “You said five.”

  “To the left.”

  “What?”

  “One more step. To the left.”

  “What the fuck is this? The fucking cha-cha slide or something?”

  No laughter. Nothing. Just that voice. The laser still pinned on him.

  “To the left,” the voice said. “Now. Or we might have to reconsider.”

  Noah looked back. Even though she was only a few steps away, Kelly looked masked by the blanket of snow, the white noise cutting through the air.

  He turned back around, then. Looked ahead at these dark silhouettes.

  And then he lifted his left foot.

  Took one step. To the left.

  “There,” he said. “That good enough for you? That—”

  He felt the breath against his face before he realised what was happening.

  “Much better,” a voice said, right beside him.

  And then he felt pressure around his neck.

  Something stabbing him in the throat.

  Someone dragging him to the ground.

  Barking.

  Shouting.

  He heard it all as he hit the depths of the cold, thick snow, and he closed his eyes as darkness surrounded.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Noah opened his eyes.

  It was dark. Wasn’t sure whether it was the darkness of night or he was blindfolded. He felt icy cold to the bone, his teeth chattering. He had a vague sense that something had happened to him on the road. Him, Kelly, and Bruno. Walking towards Liverpool. And then…

  Shit. Ambushed. They’d been ambushed.

  He blinked a few times. Tried to squint. Clearly blindfolded at this stage. And he had the strange sense that he was moving. That someone was carrying him along.

  He tried to tense his fist, tried to focus, tried to sink into that void within…

  But he was too weak. Something was stopping him. Blocking him.

  He tried to move his arm and his legs, but they felt weak, too. Not bound. But something else. Like he’d been pumped with something, something that weakened his muscles. Probably why he felt so relaxed about everything, despite the knowledge at the pit of his stomach that he’d been captured. Him and Kelly had been intercepted by the helicopter people.

  And now they were taking him somewhere. Taking him to some place where they’d… what? Kill him? Experiment on him?

  He didn’t know. He couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t killed him already, in all truth.

  He just knew that he was in danger. The whole damned world was in danger.

  Unless he could do something about it.

  Unless—

  “He’s awake.”

  A voice. Muffled. Somewhat echoey. He heard more voices, too. Footsteps shuffling around him, kicking their way through the snow, crunching along. Still outside, then.

  “Well, what do you want to do about it?”

  “We could knock him out a little longer.”

  “Bollocks. Sooner we can speak with him, the better.”

  Speak with him? What the fuck was all this about?

  He heard a sigh. Heard a few more voices, incomprehensible at this stage.

  And then he felt his body drop to the snow.

&nb
sp; He tried to move around, but he was weak. Not as weak as before, but still pretty damned weak. He lay there a few seconds. Totally relaxed. Whatever cocktail they’d pumped into him clearly still gripping on tightly.

  And then he felt the blindfold pull away.

  He squinted. Daylight peeked down at him. It was still snowy, but the blizzard had eased somewhat.

  And he could see the people staring down at him.

  There were three of them. Two of them held rifles, much like the people he’d ran into earlier. One of them looked down at him, nothing more than a knife in his hand.

  There was something about these people. Something different about them.

  It took Noah a few seconds to realise exactly what it was.

  But when it clicked, it clicked pretty damned hard.

  Society Black.

  Not the grey of the helicopter people. Jaan’s people.

  The goddamned Society.

  “Noah,” the man with the knife said. “Before you say anything…”

  “Kelly,” Noah spat. “Kelly and Bruno—”

  “Are safe. Right where we left them. Don’t worry.”

  Noah didn’t trust them. But at the same time, weirdly, he had no reason to doubt them either. They hadn’t killed him, after all. But then, no. Of course. They were Society. They didn’t want to kill him. They wanted him alive. Very much alive. Right? “How do you know my name?”

  “We’ve known about you for a long time, buddy. We met once. You butchered our friends with your abilities. Quite the trick. Didn’t quite bump us off, though.”

  Noah frowned. What the fuck were they talking about?

  “I’m sorry,” the man continued. “For the way in which we captured you. Truth be told… we’re not quite as well equipped as we were letting on.”

  Noah narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know what this guy was referring to. Not at first.

  Not until he looked more closely at the two rifles the other guys were holding.

  They weren’t rifles. They were toy guns. Toy guns with lasers strapped to them.

  “What the fuck?” Noah said.

  “We had some of the compound left. The compound that neutralises you. But as you probably know by now, it doesn’t last long.”

  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pop your skulls the second I’m strong enough to.”

  “Because we can help you.”

  Noah frowned. “Snatch me away from Kelly and Bruno? Have you any idea what we were doing? Where we were going?”

  “Yes, actually,” the man said. “I’m going to assume you were heading to Liverpool. Over towards those helicopters. Well, good news for you, buddy. Good and bad news, anyway. We’ve had eyes on a small group of Greys for a while now. Looks like they’re heading out into the mainland. Hunting someone down. Good reason to believe that someone is you.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  “It’s pretty damned obvious,” he said. “Even said your name. Look. They want you. And they want to kill you. I know we’ve been… heavy-handed with you.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “But ultimately, we want the same thing here.”

  Noah narrowed his eyes. “You truly believe that?”

  “We know what you’re capable of. Seen it for ourselves. If we can get you to Liverpool… we know damn well that maybe you can stop this shit before it gets any worse. Those helicopters. We’ve heard the talks. The talks that they’re gonna leave this country and move on to the world. We were hearing rumours days before they arrived. And we were hearing other rumours, too.”

  “Other rumours?”

  “Rumours that perhaps we didn’t need to extract anything from you after all. That the very thing that makes you so strong is the fact you’re alive. Which means you can help us now.”

  Noah looked at these guards. He didn’t know how much they knew exactly, but their presumptions were on the right line. He didn’t trust them. Of course, he didn’t.

  But what they were saying. About getting to Liverpool.

  It made sense.

  They did want the same thing.

  For now, anyway.

  After this was done?

  They could cross that bridge when they came to it.

  “We can take those Greys out,” the man said. “But only with your help. And then we can work our way inside. We can get close. Real close. And we can intercept them. You can intercept them. And you can figure out a way to stop all this. Once and for all.”

  Noah glared up at these men. Looked at them, one by one. “How do I know I can trust you?”

  The man smiled. “Look. I’m Kev. These two? The two Harrys. Don’t speak much. Twins. Good guys, though. Loyal guys.”

  The two Harrys both glared at Noah. Grunted.

  “Now… we all had families. We all had lives we were promised. Futures we were promised. We were all betrayed. We wear the black of Society now, yes, sure. But that’s not the future we want. Neither is a future run by the dudes who just poured that shit ton of viral napalm over the whole damned country.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “We just want peace,” Kev said. “A proper reset. A proper chance to start again. For people to decide their own leaders. To run their own small communities. To make links. To grow. To stand together. Not this dictatorship of the old world. Not going back to the way things were, only far more repressive, far more suffocating.”

  Noah looked away. Looked off towards the light of the sun. “And if I say no?”

  Kev’s face dropped. “Well, I guess I’m just hoping you won’t say no at this stage, right?”

  Noah cleared his throat. He didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what to say.

  He just knew one thing.

  Kev was right. He didn’t have much of a choice.

  This might be his final chance.

  This might be his best shot.

  He thought about Kelly. Thought about Bruno.

  “Kelly,” he said. “Bruno. We can’t do this without them.”

  “Then, you’ll do it?”

  “Only if they’re with me. Or safe, at least. I can’t just leave them behind.”

  Kev’s smile widened then. “I’m glad you said that.”

  He looked at one of the Harrys then nodded.

  Harry grunted, then wandered off towards the abandoned car to their left.

  Noah frowned. “What is this?”

  “Trust me,” Kev said. “You’re gonna be very happy when you see who’s come along for the trip. I just needed to know you were on board first.”

  Noah frowned.

  Harry opened the door to the car.

  In there, he saw Kelly sitting there, tape over her mouth, around her ankles, rocking backwards and forwards. Bruno sitting on her lap like it was no big deal at all.

  “Hey, you two,” Kev said, waving. “Noah here says he’s on board. What do you say to our proposal now, huh?”

  Chapter Thirty

  “So you’re really ready to trust these fuckers with our lives now? Really?”

  Noah sat in the car beside Kelly and stared out at the snowy landscape. It was late morning, apparently. A bit of sun peeked through the snow clouds, snow which had finally eased. Everywhere was still filled with it, of course. The roads absolutely full to the brim, which was going to make the final stretch of the journey difficult.

  Up ahead, he saw the three Society—or former Society, as they claimed—guards standing there. Kev. The Two Harrys. Kept on glancing over, the two Harrys still holding on to their toy rifles. Kev gripping on to his knife. Bruno wandering around the snow, sniffing at whatever he could find.

  “They seem legit.”

  “Fucking hell,” Kelly said, shaking her head. “Whatever happened to the Noah with trust issues? The guy who didn’t trust even the friendliest fucker? Now you’re on about trusting the folks who pinned us down for years. Who tried to capture us. Who killed Iqrah.”

  The hairs on No
ah’s arms stood on end when she said that. She was right, of course. The Society was responsible for a lot of evils. Their visions for the new world weren’t exactly the most enticing.

  But right now, he had to look at all the options on the table. There was only one, really, when it boiled down to it.

  “It’s not about trusting them,” Noah said. “It’s about what we’ve got left. And the way I see it, this is it. This might be the only thing we can do now. Hell, it might already be too late. But we don’t have long. We have to get moving. The blizzard’s eased. If Phase Three hasn’t started already, it will be soon. They might try to fast track it and catch the decent weather. We just don’t know.”

  He paused, then.

  “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Kelly said.

  He looked up at her. “You should lie low with Bruno. Find somewhere safe. It’s not going to be straightforward what I’m going to do. I’ve no idea if it’s going to work. None of us have. But you should lay low, and you should stay out of this. For your own sake.”

  Kelly sighed. Shook her head. “You fucker.”

  “What?”

  “Shag and run. That all I am to you? After all these years?”

  “Whoa. I didn’t mean it like that—”

  She grabbed his hand and then leaned in and kissed him, right on the lips.

  “You stupid fucker,” she said. “I’m with you, okay? I’m with you to the very fucking end. Bruno, sure. He might be a bit harder to disguise in grey helicopter gear. But we can figure that out when we get to it. Right now? I’m with you. Don’t take that as me agreeing with this shit. Don’t take it as me endorsing it, or whatever. But… I’m with you. Right to the end. Whatever the end may be.”

  Noah wanted to argue. But in the end, he nodded. Smiled. “I appreciate that, Kel. I really do.”

  He turned around, then. Back to the Society dudes. Looked over at them.

  “Shall we get going, then?” Noah asked.

  Kelly took a deep breath. Sighed. “I’d say we’d better get a fucking move on.”

  He grabbed her hand. Squeezed it. Felt it, cold in his palm.

  Then he let go. Ruffled Bruno’s fur, who licked his fingers.

  And then he stood up.

  Walked over to the guards.

  The guards looked back at him. The Two Harrys clearly still not totally on board.