by Casey, Ryan
Kev smiled. Knife tight in his hand. “Well? You folks ready to get a move on?”
Noah looked over at Kelly. He wanted her to stay. Wanted her to protect herself.
But he wanted her by his side, too.
He took a deep breath, and he nodded.
“Let’s go murder some Grey fuckers,” Noah said.
Chapter Thirty-One
Anton saw the figures in the distance, and he smiled.
The three men in black. Society, they called themselves. Old news, really. Apparently, they used to run this place. Had some contacts with his people, but they’d become pretty fucking surplus to requirements in the grand scheme of things. They’d served a useful purpose while order was required in this country. And hell, they’d made their job a lot easier. Got everyone gathered in specific places. Made the helicopters runs a lot more accurate. Anton hoped that the rest of the world was just as orderly and organised as Britain. Typical Brits. Bootlickers. All stepping in line. So many years of being stamped down that in the end, they’d just opened up their arses and taken a damned good fucking from whoever was willing to give them one.
He sounded harsh; he knew. He didn’t have any disdain for people. After all, the people who’d fallen were innocent. They hadn’t chosen to catch the virus. If there were truly a better way, another way, Anton would be all for it. Especially a way that guaranteed the survival of those who had so sadly fallen.
But there wasn’t another way. They’d tried everything.
Even this Noah guy.
He was intrigued by him. Apparently, the Society tested on him, and people they suspected were like him, trying to find ways they could use the virus to defeat the virus.
But this Noah. He was different, apparently. He was stronger. Far stronger than the rest.
Which meant he was a threat to Phase Three.
He was a threat to their plans for the new world. An ordered world. Global government.
He was a threat to the very destruction of this virus.
As long as he lived, the virus did too.
It was harsh. Again, Anton wished there were another way.
But there wasn’t. Facts were facts. Noah, decent guy as he may be, was a problem.
And problems needed stamping out.
He looked down the slope at the three guards in their Society black.
He looked at the dog. At the woman with one eye.
And at the man with one arm.
The man matching all descriptions.
Noah.
And then a smile stretched across his face.
If the dumb bastards really thought a group of his people would be wandering out here like sitting ducks, they were mistaken. Very fucking mistaken.
He tightened his grip on the rifle and watched as they started walking, right into Anton’s perfectly laid trap.
It was time to stamp this threat out.
Once and for all.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Noah peered down the snowy hill, and right away, he got the sense something wasn’t quite right.
It was early afternoon. They’d been tracking the footprints of the Greys for a couple of hours now. Him, Kev, the two Harrys, Kelly, and Bruno. But it was weird. They seemed to be heading back towards Liverpool rather than searching the wider area.
Maybe they had given up on trying to track Noah down. He wasn’t sure. Couldn’t know for definite. Seemed pretty clear that’s what they’d been sent out here to do, though.
But Noah knew one thing.
Just that they had to get to them and take them out.
And then they had to disguise as them in order to intercept them. It might be the best shot they had at glory here.
“How long ago was it you say you saw these fuckers?” Kelly asked.
Kev sighed. He looked a little concerned, in all truth, as they walked past derelict old shops. The streets were totally filled with snow, snow unlike any Noah had ever seen before. It looked practically Siberian here. Weird as shit, that was for sure.
“They can’t be too far ahead,” Kev said. “They just can’t be.”
“Don’t sound too convincing to me,” Noah said.
“Yeah, well, I’m not trying to fuck with you here, buddy. We saw ’em. They can’t be too far away. Can’t’ve got much further.”
Noah looked over his shoulder. The blizzard was starting to pick up again, starting to cloud his vision, blur his surroundings. “Yeah, well, I hope not. Or we might have to just skip back to Plan A.”
“Plan A?”
“I go to Liverpool before those fuckers get the chance to start Phase Three. We’re wasting time here.”
“Trust me,” Kev said. “It ain’t wasting time. If we’re disguised as them, we can intercept ’em. We can get closer—”
“Why are you doing this?” Noah spat.
“What?”
“This. Helping me. Why are you doing this? Really?”
Kev opened his mouth. He looked like he was going to say something. Looked like he was going to try putting across this front again; this facade of control.
But in the end, he closed his mouth and sighed. “Look. These Grey bastards. They killed a lot of my people. Now I know how you see us. We ain’t saints. But… but there were good people with us. People I cared about. People I… people I loved.”
He turned away, then. Like he didn’t want to keep going down this path; keep talking about this.
“So this isn’t just about you, buddy,” Kev said. “This ain’t just about stopping Phase Three. It’s about payback. It’s about revenge. It’s about justice.”
“Revenge can be dangerous,” Noah said. “It can be blinding.”
“Yeah, well, call me fucking blind. We ain’t surviving this either way. None of us. If you think we are, you’re mistaken. Surely you know that now, huh?”
Noah suspected as much. But it still felt strange. Admitting this was a death march, even though he knew damn well that’s exactly what it was. More so for him than anyone else, perhaps.
He looked at Kelly. Felt that urge to protect her kick in. That temptation to tell her to just turn around. Just walk away. Seek some sort of shelter. Because all that they were walking towards was death.
But then he saw the way she looked at him. Like she understood. Like she knew.
And like there was no fucking way in hell she was turning her back on him at this stage.
“Truth is,” Kev said, “I don’t care too much about living anymore. Like, life is nice. Life is good. But what matters more to me is that the people here? The ones who’re left? They don’t have to bend the knee to a bunch of lunatics who just massacred the bulk of everyone left.
“And hell, it might not work. Might all be in vain. But you know what? Might sound cheesy but walking alongside someone like you. Walking with someone who can do what you can do. Hell, I feel a lot more confident. Like I’m in the goddamned right place. The best fucking place on earth. Exactly where I should be.”
Kelly puffed her lips. “Jeez. Don’t flatter him too much. He has a way of getting big-headed when someone tickles his ego.”
Noah looked at Kev. Looked at the Two Harrys. And then he looked at Kelly and Bruno.
And at that moment, he knew he was in the right place, too.
He didn’t know what the road ahead had on offer.
He just knew they had to keep on—
“Shit,” Kev said.
Collapsed to the road.
The Two Harrys falling beside him.
Noah didn’t realise. Didn’t understand. Not at first.
Not until he looked up the road, into the snow, and he saw them.
Five Greys.
All walking away from them.
All with their backs to them.
Noah took a deep breath, tensed his fist, and smiled.
He knew exactly what he needed to do.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Noah saw the Greys in the distance and smiled.
&n
bsp; The afternoon sun beamed through the snow clouds. The snow only sprinkled down, now. Everything was so quiet. No birdsong. Not even the slightest breeze.
Just the footsteps of those Greys, up ahead, right in the distance.
Noah watched them, and he felt the power inside him. He felt it, right at his fingertips. These people. The way he could intercept them in a moment. The way he could sink into them. Destroy them.
But he had to play this carefully. He had to time this right.
There was no room for error. Not anymore.
He glanced aside as he crouched beside the old, abandoned Renault Clio. Looked like it was Green, once upon a time, but the body had since rusted away, worn to the elements. He saw Kelly peering over at the Greys, eyes wide. He saw Bruno sitting there on his paws, panting away, tongue dangling out. He saw the Two Harrys, silent as ever, eyes narrowed.
And then he saw Kev looking right at him.
He looked at Noah. A half-smile across his face. “You ready?”
Noah nodded back. Adrenaline surging through his system. Excitement. Tension. Nerves. The whole cacophony of emotional experience, all in this one moment.
He looked ahead at the Greys, and he closed his eyes.
Right away, he felt that void. He felt it so close, so intense. He felt himself falling towards it, faster than usual. Sinking into it. It was strange. Never usually this intense. Never usually this accessible. This readily available.
But the more he sank into it, the closer he felt those around him getting to him.
Their energy.
Channelling their energy.
Sinking into it.
Directing it—
A bolt of agony, right through his skull.
He let out a scream. Fell face flat against the snow. Started shaking, seizing up, unable to stop himself twisting and writhing around, moving.
What the fuck?
He shook and vibrated on the ground. He’d never felt less in control of his body before. He could hear things, just about. Bruno barking somewhere near him but sounding so distant, so far away. And then there was shouting, too. Shouting and shooting and—
He managed to twist his neck, just slightly, when he saw something.
Kev lay beside him.
Blood drooled out of his skull, tainted the bright white snow.
His tongue dangled out the side of his mouth like a slippery purple slug.
He could see commotion above him. Hear Kelly saying his name. Hear her barking things at him. Up ahead, he could hear something else. The Greys. Shouting back. Firing.
He could hear more gunshots, more grunts.
And then he saw the Two Harrys lying there in a pool of blood.
“Noah?” Kelly said. “Stay with me. Stay the fuck with me.”
He wanted to sink back into that void.
He wanted to help.
He wanted—
A bang.
A cry.
Blood spurting from Kelly’s shoulder.
“Kelly!” Noah shouted.
He wasn’t sure how he’d managed it. Didn’t know how or where he’d found the strength. Only that he had, which meant he could find it again. He could go further. He could…
He closed his eyes as much as he didn’t want to, as much as he didn’t want to turn his back on Kelly.
And then he found himself on the brink of that void again.
There was something painful about it.
The Greys. The ones running his way.
They were hard to reach. Inaccessible. Like they were shielded somehow.
And then there was another.
One behind them.
The one who’d shot Kev. He knew it right away.
He tried to break past all the resistance inside him when he felt a hard stomp against his head.
He opened his eyes. Rolled onto his back. Looked up.
A man stood over him. Grey outfit. Beaming green eyes.
Pointing a rifle to his head.
“Leave him!” Kelly shouted. Bruno barked alongside her. “Leave him the fuck alone!”
She threw himself at him.
Instinctively, he turned around and cracked her across the head with his rifle, knocking her to the ground in a clump.
It was like Bruno knew he was in danger. Because he stopped, right then. Saw the danger before him. Stopped barking and just stared up at this man. Then at Kelly, who lay in a heap on the ground. Then back up at the man again.
He looked down at Noah. There was something to his eyes. Not the aggression he expected. Not the venom or the anger. Almost like there was sadness there. Regret about this.
“I am sorry, buddy,” he said. “Truly. But orders are orders. And I’ve got orders to eliminate threats. You’re a threat. Maybe even the biggest.”
Noah looked over at Kelly. He felt weak. Neutralised. Totally useless.
But then he found that resistance within.
Found that void.
One final try.
One final—
A ring.
A phone. Blaring him out of the moment.
Sounded like a phone, anyway.
Coming from the man above him.
The man narrowed his eyes as he held on to that rifle.
And then he moved it away, just slightly, keeping his gaze on Noah.
Pressed a button on his arm and lifted a device to his mouth. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m with him. Yeah, I… Wait. Are you sure?”
Noah’s heart raced. He wanted to stand up. Wanted to fight.
But he didn’t know he had the energy or strength left to keep going any longer.
“Sure,” he said. “No, that’s… No. No problem.”
The man hit the button on his arm.
Then he lowered his rifle and looked back into Noah’s eyes.
“Well,” he said. “Looks like today’s your lucky day.”
Noah frowned. “What—”
He didn’t say anything else.
The man cracked the butt of the rifle right against his skull.
His ears rang.
His head felt like it might burst.
And then, not for the first fucking time in his life—but maybe for the last—he felt his vision fading, his senses dulling, and a cold blanket of darkness surrounded him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Noah opened his eyes.
Bright light shone in, making him squint. His head split with pain. He could taste blood, metallic at the back of his throat. His heart raced. His chest felt tight. His body felt weak. He had no sense of where he was. Of how he’d got here.
Only…
Wait.
Kev. The two Harrys.
Kelly.
Bruno.
He tried to open his eyes again, tried to peer into that light, tried to grin and bear it. He tried to sink into that void, too, but he was just too distant, just to weak.
He cleared his throat. Tried to move his hand and his arms, but they were stuck. Same with his ankles. He looked around, tried to see beyond this beaming light, but with no luck.
“Don’t fret, Noah,” a voice said. “You’re not going to be harmed.”
That voice. Soft. Echoey. He couldn’t work out whether it was ahead or behind him; it felt like it surrounded him.
He kept on squinting into that bright light, which burned against his retina. A spotlight of some kind. Painful. Intense.
And in the brightness of the light, he swore he saw someone standing there. Watching.
It took a moment, but eventually, they stepped in front of it. Blocked it.
A tall man. Grey-haired. Muscular build. Noah couldn’t see his face, but he just got the feeling he wasn’t the most happy chappy.
“Your head sore?” he asked.
Noah squinted. “What the fuck do you care?”
“It looks nasty, is all. Quite a bump you’ve got there. I’m sorry about that. Really.”
Noah spat onto the white tiled floor. He was in some kind of small echoey ro
om. No idea where, but outside, he could hear voices. Some kind of commotion. He swore he could hear engines, too. The engines of helicopters. “Where am I?”
“You’re in Liverpool. Which is where you were heading all along, I’d imagine?”
Noah frowned. He was here. He could tap into that void. He could use his powers. He could—
“Don’t even think about trying to use that wacky voodoo shit of yours, by the way. Seriously. That wouldn’t be a good idea. Not if you really care about those friends of yours.”
Noah frowned. “Kelly? Bruno? What have you—”
“They’re safe. My friend, Anton. I’ve made sure he’s picked them up. Transferring them to Manchester. They’ll live a comfortable life in the new world. As soon as it is ushered in. I’ve made sure of that personally.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. He could make this man’s face out a bit more clearly now. Weathered features. Long, greying hair. And a weird air of confidence about him. A commanding authority about him.
“Who are you?”
“My name is George Plemons. My people here call me the captain. I’m in charge of the operation we have going on here in Liverpool. Or as it may be otherwise known to you, the initiation of Phase Three.”
A bitter taste filled Noah’s mouth. “So you’re in charge of purging the world?”
George smiled. “I worked as a scientist for so many years, Noah. I watched colleagues die grappling with the guilt they felt over the path we had to take. But that was before we knew about people like you. Or at least, before we safely got our hands on somebody like you, anyway.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. “I thought you’d want people like me dead?”
George’s smile widened. “Perhaps so, at first. But now? No. No, I can see a very positive case for your survival. I just want to know we’ve got you on board. I just want to know you’ll co-operate.”
“Co-operate about what?”
George sighed. “We want you to act as a deterrent.”
“A deterrent?”
“The New World Order will be a one-world. But that might not last so long. It’ll only be so long before new factions rise. Before people start getting ideas above their station again, just like in the old world. What we want you to do is to act as a deterrent. Because as long as you are on side… we have the most powerful weapon in anybody’s arsenal. Especially when we learn to truly harbour what you’ve got. To truly aid you in fulfilling your potential.”