Surviving The Virus | Book 9 | The Final Strain

by Casey, Ryan

  Jasmine. Eddie. Baby Edward in his arms.

  And then he saw others, too.

  Zelda.

  Iqrah.

  Jane.

  Kirsty.

  Even people like Callum.

  People he’d stood against.

  His foes.

  All of them standing there.

  All of them smiling at him.

  “Come on, mate,” Eddie said. “You’ve done your bit here. Why don’t you come see what things are like on our side?”

  He saw Eddie, and he wanted so badly to go over there. He wanted so desperately to cross over. Because it was so warm. It was so inviting.

  It was so—

  “No!” Kelly said.

  She had hold of both sides of his face now. Bruno stood beside her, staring down at him, drooling onto his face.

  And as he looked up at her, right into that one eye of hers, he saw the loneliness. He saw the fear. He saw those worries.

  “Don’t leave me, Noah. Please. Don’t leave me.”

  He didn’t have the strength to do anything.

  But he lifted a shaking hand.

  Placed it on the back of Kelly’s head.

  Twirled her hair around his fingertips.

  “You’ve always been... been strong. Stronger than me.”

  “Noah—”

  “I’ve done my bit. Now it’s your turn. For you. And for...”

  He closed his eyes and stopped.

  “For who?” she asked.

  He opened his eyes, and he saw it then, just for a moment. Just for a flash.

  A baby.

  Not Baby Edward. Another baby. Right there in her arms.

  He looked at this baby, staring down at him, and he smiled.

  “For him,” he said.

  And then he closed his eyes.

  “Noah?” Kelly said. “Please. Please!”

  He opened his eyes again. Saw her. That fear still there. That desperation.

  Saw the figures behind her.

  The faces of the people he loved.

  “You need to let me go,” Noah said.

  “I can’t.”

  “You need to. Please. I’m tired. And I’m... I’m ready now. I’m ready.”

  He heard Kelly crying. Heard Bruno whining. And he expected her to fight some more. Expected her to put up a fight.

  And then he felt her hand on his chest.

  He opened his eyes.

  Saw her looking down at him. Tear-soaked.

  But something different to her face now.

  A softness.

  An acceptance.

  She visibly swallowed a lump in her throat, and she nodded.

  “Go on then. Do what you have to do.”

  She leaned in. Kissed him on the cheek.

  “But don’t you forget something.”

  Noah nodded.

  “You still owe me a new fucking car.”

  She kissed him again. And Noah watched her back away. Watched her blend into the delight. Watched her grow blurrier. More distant.

  And then he saw them again.

  Jasmine.

  Eddie.

  All of them.

  All standing there.

  All watching him.

  A light in the middle of them.

  “Come on,” Jasmine said. Holding out a hand. “It’s okay now. It’s okay.”

  Noah took a deep breath.

  He felt a warm tear roll down his cheek.

  And then he reached out a hand—a hand he thought he’d long ago lost—and he felt Jasmine’s fingertips brush against his.

  And then he stepped into the light.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Twelve Months Later…

  Kelly stared out at sea and felt a smile stretch across her face.

  It was autumn. The first signs of winter were beginning to surface once more. Not quite any snow yet, but snow would come. And in a weird way, she wanted that. In a weird way, for the first time in so many years, she actually looked forward to a good, traditional winter.

  She looked out at the sea, over at the waves. In the distance, she could see several boats. It was always a joyous moment, seeing more boats come in. Because more boats meant more people.

  And more people meant more members of their new society.

  She heard the chattering behind her. Heard the dogs barking. Heard the children playing. And it made her smile even wider. Filled her with this soft, warm glow. It still didn’t seem real. Especially the summer months that had just passed. The barbecues. The bouncy castles. And most of all, the happiness. The sense of normality that pervaded every moment.

  And sure. Things would never be normal again.

  But for the children who’d lost their childhoods in this last decade. For the teens who’d grown into adults. For people like her, who had missed the most valuable, exciting years of her adult life.

  They would remember. And they would raise their new children into this new world.

  They would raise them to be grateful.

  They would raise them to be different.

  Because the old world. It couldn’t repeat itself. They couldn’t make the same mistakes of the past. Not again.

  They had to teach their children to come together.

  They had to teach them to build bridges instead of burning them.

  And that’s exactly what they were doing here.

  She looked over her shoulder. Saw the camps set up. It was six months now since this initially mysterious group arrived on British shores and told of an opportunity to start again on an island just off the coast. Their goals long-term were to expand. To reclaim lost territory. To build alliances with those who made their own groups in their own corners of the world. There was no centralisation anymore: they were just made up of the ashes of a group like the Society, although one who clearly had more noble motives than any of the psychopathic groups Kelly had come across.

  And there was cause for trepidation initially. There was cause for concern. Naturally.

  But here they were. Six months on. Happy. A community of over a thousand now.

  And growing every single week.

  But then she thought of the ones she’d lost.

  She thought of the sacrifices she’d had to make along the way.

  And she thought of all the loss she had suffered and witnessed to get to this point.

  She looked back out at sea, tears welling. Thought about that final day. The day of Phase Three. She thought about that day a lot. More than any other day, unbelievably.

  Because that was the day things shifted.

  How different things could have been if they hadn’t succeeded.

  If Noah hadn’t succeeded.

  She remembered him staring up at her. Remembered his pale, weak face smiling at her. Totally content. Blood trickling down his mouth. So fragile. So shaky.

  He’d looked up at her, and as much as she didn’t want to let go, she’d seen the face of a man who was ready.

  Ready for the next step.

  A man who had finished what he’d started.

  She thought of the day nine months after that. Or rather, the days after. When she realised she was pregnant.

  The cramps at first. The missed periods.

  And then the sickness, and the memory of what things were like with Edward, all those years before.

  She looked down into her arms and saw the little bundle of life staring up at her, smile on her face.

  She looked back down at him. “Hello, you. You awake, angel? You wide awake?”

  She looked up at her with these blue eyes. These bright blue eyes. And as she stood here, looking out at sea, she felt a constant sense of deja vu. A sense that this was some kind of dream. Because she’d pictured this. She’d had a feeling about it. A feeling about it all along.

  She knew it could be something to do with Noah’s abilities. Their extent was never truly revealed to her.

  And they didn’t matter. Not anymore. Not anyway.r />
  She looked down at her daughter—at Jasmine.

  And then she heard the footsteps behind her.

  She looked around.

  Bruno wandered along, tongue dangling out. Wagging his tail.

  And behind him, she saw him.

  Tall.

  Thin. But more muscular than he had been. Certainly healthier in the face, anyway.

  That contented smile on his face.

  And their other child in his arms.

  Jasmine’s twin.

  Eddie.

  “Hey,” Kelly said.

  Noah walked up to her. Eddie kept on wriggling around, crying out. “Looks like you drew the long straw on which baby to look after today.”

  “As long as you don’t drop him with that one arm of yours, we’re all good.”

  “That’s the threshold for being a caring father? Really?”

  She laughed. Noah laughed, too. The pair of them stood there, their children in each of their arms.

  It was still surreal. Not only the fact Noah had survived. But the fact they had twins. The fact Kelly had a sense that she was pregnant, right after that one night between them.

  The fact they were here. Here, in a new world, together.

  “What’re you thinking?” Noah asked.

  Kelly looked up into his eyes.

  Then at her child. Her dog. Her son.

  And at Noah.

  Then she looked out at sea.

  “Just how lucky we are. How grateful I am. For everything.”

  Noah stood closer to her side. She could feel his warmth beside her. And she got the sense there was something on his mind, too.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You only ever ask what I’m thinking when you’re thinking something.”

  Noah opened his mouth like he was going to protest.

  Then he just sighed.

  Lowered his head.

  “It’s been a year.”

  “Right? Cause to celebrate.”

  “Their research. Research on the virus. Do you not think I could—”

  “No,” Kelly said.

  She said it with no softness. No sincerity. Because she knew what Noah was going to say. What he was going to suggest.

  They’d agreed to keep his abilities a secret. His identity a secret. His work was done. He’d stopped Phase Three. He’d secured a new world for her—for everyone else alive.

  “It’s not your job to fix things,” Kelly said. “You’re going to live a normal life again. We’ve talked about this. A normal life, just like you used to. Boring old Noah.”

  “Charming,” Noah said.

  The pair of them stood there. Silent. Their children in their arms.

  “I just can’t stop thinking if maybe I should help. If maybe there’s more I could do.”

  Kelly took a deep breath.

  She stepped closer to him, then.

  “You’ve helped,” she said. “Now it’s time you let everyone else do their part. It’s time for you to start being normal again. Just like I said. Okay?”

  She looked around at him.

  Looked right into his eyes.

  “Besides,” she said. “The virus. It’s contained.”

  “But it’s still out there,” Noah said.

  Kelly’s stomach sank. There was bitterness about the subject. Because he was right. The virus was still out there. Phase Two hadn’t even worked, not even in its Britain-only form. There were still traces of the infected showing up. Still evidence that it was a part of society.

  And she understood Noah’s trauma. He thought maybe he was linked. He thought maybe if something happened to him, just maybe he could do something about it.

  She reached out. Put a hand on his back.

  “You’re not the saviour anymore,” she said. “You’re a dad. You’re a… shit, a partner.”

  “’Partner’?”

  “Well, whatever you want to call me.”

  “Wow. Are you actually allowing me to label this right now?”

  “Make the most of it while you can,” she said. “Might be the only chance you get to label me.”

  She smirked at him. And he smirked back.

  And just like that, all the seriousness was cut through.

  Just like that, all the uncertainty was cut through.

  In a moment. In a flash.

  Because that’s how they had to live.

  “We don’t know what the future holds,” Kelly said. “We can never know. Not for certain. But we can live for now. For each other. For our children. And that’s what we have to do.”

  She looked around at Noah again.

  Saw him open his mouth. Go to say something. Like he was about to argue.

  And then he just nodded.

  “Besides,” she said. “You still need to get me a new fucking car.”

  Noah smiled.

  THE END

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  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any reference to real locations is only for atmospheric effect, and in no way truly represents those locations.

  Copyright © 2020 by Ryan Casey

  Cover design by MibLart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published by Higher Bank Books