by Casey, Ryan
In fast motion initially. In reverse.
And then clearly.
The man. Walking around the back of the van. Stumbling there. Blood trickling down his face. His lips muttering something unclear; something Kelly couldn’t make out.
And then she saw him opening the van door.
Saw him disappear for a moment.
Then stumble out. Her in his arms.
Bruno by his side.
She watched him lay her down on the ground. Watched him back away, just a few steps. Like he was battling with himself not to do something awful.
And then she watched him walk aimlessly off into the snow, fall to his knees, twitch, and go still.
And then the video rolled on to her awakening.
She watched that video a few more times. Kept her focus on the guy at all times.
And as she watched it again and again, she knew there was something familiar about the whole sequence of events. Something she recognised about it all.
The way the man moved.
The look to his eyes.
He looked like the infected did when Noah was inside them.
When he was doing his thing on them.
Call her mad, but that’s exactly what this looked like.
She stepped out of the van again. Looked back down the snowy road, into the silent distance.
And then she looked at that man.
“Whoever you are,” she said. “Thank you.”
She lifted Bruno, then. Climbed into the van. Shut the door. Put her belt on.
And then she sat there, fingers on the keys, hand on the wheel.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get to Liverpool. Let’s find out whether he’s done this. Once and for all.”
Chapter Forty-One
Kelly stopped the van as soon as she reached the Liverpool Docks.
It was afternoon. The snow still fell from above, but lightly now, gently dusting the ground. There were no sounds but the howling of the wind. The occasional caw of a crow, flying lonely through the sky. In all truth, there wasn’t much different about this country as there usually was. One could be forgiven for thinking it was just an ordinary day in a post-apocalyptic world.
But that wasn’t true.
Kelly had seen the helicopters just as she’d arrived. Some of them were stationary like they’d never moved. Others looked like they’d been dropped from a height, like a children’s toy, knocked from a table. One thing was clear. Something had happened here. Something big.
And it was the very same thing she’d suspected, deep in her bones, all along.
She walked towards the Liverpool Docks with Bruno by her side. There was a compound set up here. Like a huge tent type place, although a lot more hi-tech. Looked like it’d been erected pretty rapidly. The Greys, no doubt. Their base. Their temporary base while they wreaked their destruction on the rest of the nation; on the rest of the world.
Bodies lined the outskirts of the compound. Greys everywhere, their heads exploded. Brains splattered across the snow. Everywhere she looked, she saw death. One of those crows feasting on a body. The people in the helicopters, too.
This place had been massacred.
The Greys had been massacred.
Phase Three had been stopped.
She stood there in this empty, dead compound, and a smile crossed her face. Tears started to well up. A lump in her throat swelled. Because she knew what this meant. Deep down, in her bones, she knew exactly what this meant.
Noah.
He’d done it. Somehow, he’d done it. Somehow, he’d done exactly what he needed to do. He’d succeeded.
He’d stopped Phase Three in its tracks.
And she didn’t know what it meant for the future. Not really. She didn’t know what kind of road lay ahead. She didn’t know if these people had some kind of backup. She didn’t know what kind of group would rise in their place.
She just knew Noah had done exactly what he’d had to do. With the best interests of the few survivors still left in this world in mind.
She turned around. Looked at this compound opposite. She had no doubts Noah had been brought here. And she had no doubts she’d find him here, too.
In what state?
A knot formed in her stomach.
Bruno whined beside her as if he sensed it too.
In all truth, she knew already what state she’d find Noah in. The kind of range he’d shown. The way he’d infected and destroyed the Greys, even from the distance that she was away. The way he’d infected that man and influenced him into rescuing her from the van—because that’s what had surely happened.
That kind of attack didn’t come without consequences.
She’d seen it in Iqrah. And she’d seen it in Noah himself before, too, and at far shorter range.
She looked at this compound, and deep down, she already knew what she was going to find.
She stepped inside. Bruno by her side. A canteen area totally emptied of people. Dead bodies lying against the tables. All of their heads burst in that same violent way.
And then more bodies on the floor. A bittersweet smell of blood in the air. That taste of it, too, clinging to the back of her throat as she walked through this hall, towards the back of the place, desperate to just find a trace of Noah. A trace of the man who’d done this. The man who’d saved them all.
She walked through the compound. Walked over bodies. Walked past technology she hadn’t seen in years. There was an eeriness to the place. A ghostliness to it. It felt like the headless bodies could just lift their necks at any moment and spark back to life.
But it was more that lack of Noah’s presence that scared her most. That sense that he was gone. And that sense that she was alone in this world now. Utterly alone.
She reached the back of the compound and saw a door on her right.
It was ajar. She swore she could hear something inside. Movement.
And she wasn’t sure what drew her towards that door. She wasn’t sure what it was about it that lured her towards it.
But she found herself walking over there.
Found herself reaching the threshold to the dark room.
Found herself on the brink of pushing that door open. Braced herself for whatever she might find.
She stood there. Heart racing. Bruno by her side.
Looked down at him. Half-smiled.
Then looked back up at the door.
She pushed the door open.
She couldn’t make anything out properly at first. Everything was covered in dark red blood. The walls. The minters. Everything.
A man lay on the floor.
Bits of reddened skull lay across the tiles like broken shards of glass.
In his hand, some kind of iPad device, which bleeped away. His pale thumb resting beside it.
And then above him, tied to a chair, she saw him.
His eyes were closed.
Blood ran down his face from his nostrils. From his ears.
He looked pale. Totally still. Like the life had been squeezed out of him.
And when she saw him, the tears started.
Because the reality hit.
“Noah,” she said. “Noah…”
She turned around. Wiped her eye. That fearful little girl inside her sparked up. Told her to turn away. Told her she wasn’t strong enough to handle this. That she wasn’t strong enough to live alone in this world.
But then she took a deep breath.
“No,” she said. “I am strong enough.”
She walked towards Noah’s vacant, empty, still body, and prepared to say her final goodbyes, when she heard something.
A cough.
She stopped.
Frowned.
Someone else?
It had to be.
Noah was gone. He was finished. He was—
And then she saw him lift his head and look right into her eye.
“Kelly?” he said.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Kelly?�
��
Kelly stood in the entrance to this dark room. Her heart raced. She lost all sense of her surroundings. All sense of where she was. All sense of everything.
Just Noah.
Sitting there, tied to that seat. Pale-faced. Blood trickling down his chin. A distant look to his eyes like there was barely any strength left in him.
And for a moment, when she’d first come in here, she was convinced he was dead. He looked just like Iqrah had when she’d gone. That look of exhaustion pasted across his face. That world-weariness. That greyness.
But he was breathing.
He was moving.
He was alive.
“Noah,” she said. She rushed over to his side. Bruno raced along with her, panting, stopping at Noah’s feet, and sitting there. Usually, he was so lively when he saw Noah. So excitable, so jumpy.
But right now, there was something subdued about him. Like he understood there was something wrong, too. Like he knew.
Kelly crouched opposite him. She saw the cuff around his wrist. Searched the guard lying opposite him for a key, for something.
She was almost out of luck when she found one, lying there in the bloke’s top pocket.
She picked it up. Rushed back over to Noah. Uncuffed him. As she went to ease him out of the chair, she realised he was too weak. He crumpled down to the floor, fell to his knees.
“Shit. Come on, mate. Come on. You’ll be okay. I’ve got you.”
She eased him down onto his back. She could hear him groaning, see him writhing around. He clearly wasn’t happy, clearly was far from comfortable. And since he’d said her name before, he hadn’t shown any other signs of being able to speak. He looked lost. Like he was drifting. Like he was caught between two worlds, and he was losing the battle.
“Stay with me, pal. Stay with me. I’ve not come all this way to bury your ass.”
“Did it work?” he said.
It was out of nowhere. A sudden surge of strength, an instant display of energy from the depths.
“Did it work?” he asked again.
Kelly looked down into his tortured eyes, and at that moment, she wondered if she could possibly tell him it hadn’t worked even if it hadn’t. She figured right now, no matter how much she wanted to resist the thought, that these were his final moments. That unless something changed soon, he wasn’t going to pull through.
And she didn’t want him to die knowing he’d failed. His biggest fear of all.
But then she smiled. She smiled, and tears rolled down her face. “Yes,” she said. “It worked. You did it, Noah. It worked.”
A smile crossed his face. Just flashed across it, just for a moment.
He closed his eyes. Looked like he was happy. Like he was content.
Then he closed his mouth. Swallowed a lump in his throat. “Let me see.”
“What?”
“I want to see. I want... I want to see. For sure.”
Kelly frowned. “You still don’t trust me, huh?”
“Always been a bit of a... a bit of a bitch like that.”
Kelly laughed. And Noah laughed too, then.
“Charming,” she said.
“You know I don’t mean it.”
“No,” she said. “I know you definitely mean it. And that’s what I like about you. What I’ve always liked about you.”
He looked up at her, then. A bit tearful. But a smile to his face. “I’ve always... always liked you, you know.”
Kelly laughed. “Well that’s definitely a lie.”
“No. Even when... even when I was with Jasmine. Even when I was convinced you hated me. I knew you... I knew you were good for her. I knew you were a good friend. I liked that about you.”
Kelly felt strangely touched by this. But she didn’t want to say anything soppy. Anything sentimental. Because this felt like one of those moments. One of those moments from in the movies. The moments where the main characters sat with one another at the end of the world. Where both knew what was coming next and where things were going. Where both knew that they were on borrowed time. That there wasn’t long left.
And although Kelly had never been sentimental, although she’d always been so pragmatic, so practical... right now she felt that resistance. That resistance to accepting the inevitable.
And that determination to fulfil Noah’s final wishes.
“So you want to see what a fucking mess you’ve made of Phase Three, do you?” Kelly said, wiping away her tears, forcing a smile.
Noah smiled back at her. It seemed to inject some life back into him. Like he was staying alive for this one thing. Staying alive just to see what he’d done.
“Good,” she said. “It’s a good job you’re a skinny fucker. Good job you’re not packing Eddie’s weight right now. Otherwise, I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’d be able to drag you along.”
He laughed again. And that laugh was so honest. So wholesome.
And so accepting of the fate that was to follow.
She pushed back her tears and lifted him to his feet. He wasn’t heavy at all, but it still wasn’t easy manoeuvring him along. She held her arm around him. Dragged him out of the room, Bruno by Noah’s side, tracking him closely.
She watched him take every step like it was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
And she stood there. Right by his side.
Because it didn’t matter what the future held in store.
It didn’t matter what lay ahead.
It didn’t matter who arose in the ashes of Phase Three’s tattered plans.
Because he’d taken a stand.
He’d taken a stand, and he’d done everything he could possibly do.
And for that, he was a hero.
For that, he would be remembered, one way or another.
Kelly would make fucking sure of it.
She stopped when she reached the turn before the windows, looked at Noah’s drifting face, and smiled.
“You ready, buddy?” she asked.
He looked back at her.
Smiled.
And with all the energy in his body, he nodded.
“Ready,” he said.
She turned the corner with him and prepared to show him exactly what he’d done.
Chapter Forty-Three
Noah stepped around the side of the corridor and saw the scene before him.
It was a canteen. Some kind of mess hall. It looked like a lot of people had sat in here recently. Meals left at the tables. Drinks left unfinished. Mobile phones left vacant.
There were people on the floors.
People covered in blood.
Heads split open.
People slumped into the chairs. So many of them, all the same.
Person after person, all of them sitting there, all of them like this, all in the same state.
And as he looked at them, he felt two things.
First, a glimmer of relief. Because he knew what this was. He’d done this. He was responsible. He’d stopped Phase Three.
But on the other hand, there was an odd sense of guilt, too.
It was weird. Definitely wasn’t the way he should be feeling. Especially knowing what these people had done. What they’d been capable of.
But they were still people. And they were just following orders. Probably truly believed that they were doing what they were doing for a better world.
But he’d done what he had to do. He’d done what he had to do for the rest of the people still surviving in the world. The ones who were about to be subject to Phase Three. The ones who were about to suffer the same fate as the residents of Britain.
He’d done what he’d done for them.
“Look,” Kelly said. Her voice distant. Faded.
He lifted his head. Squinted. Saw the windows. Wasn’t sure what he was looking at out there. Not at first.
Not until his eyes focused properly, and he saw them.
The helicopters. So many of them.
Most of them hadn’t moved an inch.
But others were on their sides. Destroyed. Like they’d dropped out of the sky. Fallen to pieces. Flames stretching from them. Twisted metal everywhere.
He looked at this scene, and another smile stretched across his face. A sense of victory, once again.
Because he didn’t know what the future held. That was the great unknown. That was the cause of trepidation.
He didn’t know what the future held. He didn’t know what kind of groups awaited the remaining survivors of Britain. The survivors of the rest of the world. He didn’t know what kind of future lay ahead. He didn’t know if someone even worse than the Greys would rise up and take the world for themselves.
He just knew that he’d done his bit. He’d played his part.
A crippling pain, right in the middle of his chest.
So bad that he collapsed to his knees.
Fell to the floor.
“Hey,” Kelly said, her voice muffled, fading. “Come on, Noah. Not yet. Not ready to lose you yet.”
He looked around at her, and he saw Bruno standing there. And he wasn’t sure if it was his state of mind, wasn’t sure if it was just double vision or something kicking in. But beside Bruno, he swore he saw Barney standing there, tongue dangling out, wagging his tail.
Noah smiled. “My boys,” he said. “My good boys.”
He closed his eyes. Felt himself drifting. Felt himself slipping into the warmth. That inviting warmth, so tempting, so tantalising.
“No!” Kelly said.
A slap. A hard slap across his face. The very opposite of the warmth. Like cold water was being poured over his head.
“You stay with me, you bastard,” she said. Tears streaming down her pale face. “I didn’t come all this way for you to die on me. We didn’t fight so hard for you to just give up now.”
Noah wanted to fight. He wanted to keep on going.
But that pain in his chest.
That weakness within.
And that inviting warmth...
He looked up at Kelly. Wanted to tell her he wasn’t giving up. Wanted to tell her he was still fighting.
And then he saw them.
Figures.
Figures standing behind Kelly.
Scary at first. Intimidating.
And then he focused closer, and he saw them.