After the Darkness: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Survive the Darkness Book 5)

by Ryan Casey

  She crouched there in the dirt, stared out through the trees, and watched her walk across the field.

  And she knew she couldn’t just let her walk the way she was walking.

  She knew she had to go after her.

  She knew she couldn’t just leave her.

  But… something was holding her back. Something she couldn’t explain. Something she couldn’t describe.

  She held her breath as she crouched there, heart racing, thumping through her body.

  Watching her get further and further away.

  And then when she could finally bring herself to move… she stood up, and she walked.

  She knew she couldn’t hide anymore.

  It was time.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Aoife followed the footprints into the night and couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching her.

  She kept stopping. Kept looking over her shoulder into the darkness. She didn’t want to stop for too long. Didn’t want to stay put. Didn’t want to let these people—Robert’s people, whoever they were—get any further away from her.

  Even though, deep down, she knew she was walking right into a hell of a shitty situation.

  She had a bow and a few arrows she’d grabbed from Kyle’s group, and a knife. And seeing how easily they’d dispatched with Kyle’s group, she didn’t exactly fancy her chances against them. Even though she’d back herself in a fight against anyone, there was just an ominous feeling about these people. About Robert, whoever he was. The cult of personality that seemed to circle around him, from everything she’d heard.

  But what other choice did she have?

  She had to keep walking.

  She had to stay on their trail.

  She at least had to figure out who the hell these people were and what the hell she was up against.

  For a moment, just a split second, she questioned why she was doing any of this. Why she was going after these people so relentlessly. Sure, they had Thomas. But even if she got to him, what sort of information would he be able to offer? What sort of secrets was he hiding? What could she hope to learn from him?

  After all, even if he had loads to tell her, what use was that information anyway? They were stuck here. There wasn’t another helicopter. The chances of the bloke even surviving were slim, that was for sure.

  And besides. The pain in her right shoulder, getting stronger. Still bleeding. She needed to get that bandaged up. Needed to get it seen to—ASAP.

  So why send herself on a journey she knew was likely fruitless?

  Because she didn’t have any other choice.

  She’d seen nothing like the helicopter. Nobody had.

  And she’d be damned if she let that survivor get dragged away by… well, by whoever the hell these people were.

  She was finding him, no matter what.

  She could figure out the rest when she got there.

  She followed the tracks. There were quite a lot of them; that’s the first thing that really struck her. At least ten.

  And specks of blood.

  She looked ahead. Whoever these people were, they had to be close. And whoever they were, she figured she would find out very soon.

  She followed the tracks further until suddenly, they stopped.

  She froze. Stared at the ground. They seemed to have stopped, completely out of nowhere. And yet, there was no real reason why that’d be the case.

  Unless…

  The hairs on Aoife’s neck stood on end.

  The sound of movement behind her.

  Of shuffling.

  Then, the predictable sound of Rex growling.

  They’d led her down a trap. They’d led her there, and they were going to ambush her.

  She’d been stupid. Really fucking stupid. These people, whoever they were, they weren’t idiots.

  How had she let herself fall into this trap so easily?

  She didn’t want to turn around. Didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to see what she already knew was inevitable.

  But she clutched onto her knife and turned around slowly.

  She didn’t see anyone. Not at first. Just the field she’d walked through. The trees, far in the distance.

  And as she stood there, heart racing, she wondered if she was imagining things. If maybe she hadn’t heard what she thought she’d heard all along.

  She went to turn around again, to keep moving, when suddenly she saw it.

  Barely visible at first. So camouflaged by the darkness that she almost missed it.

  But when she saw it, goosebumps spread across her arms.

  There was somebody there.

  In the grass. Crouched down. Totally still. Staring at her.

  And then someone else beside them.

  And then another.

  All standing there. All watching.

  All in white.

  Aoife stood there. Totally still. Still, but for the pounding of her heart, which made her body shake.

  She couldn’t let them know she’d seen them.

  She had to pretend she hadn’t noticed them.

  She had to keep moving.

  And then she had to find somewhere to lay low, and then ambush them.

  Or at least get away from them.

  She lowered her head. Turned around, slowly, like she’d seen nothing.

  But as she turned, she felt something whoosh past her face.

  Felt it scratch her cheek. Sharp. Like an arrowhead.

  She stood there and felt another arrow whizz past her, and she knew there was no more waiting around.

  They were onto her.

  She had to get away.

  Fast.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Aoife didn’t have any time to wait around.

  She ran.

  Turned and ran as fast as she could, Rex trailing along with her. No idea where she was heading anymore. Only one thing on her mind.

  Getting away from these people.

  Getting away from them and not frigging dying after how far she’d come.

  She could worry about Thomas Suzuki later. Right now, survival was her priority.

  She ran faster. Harder. Felt more arrows whooshing past her. Saw them passing by. And she found it strange. There were so many of them. But none of them were hitting her. They were coming close, but they weren’t hitting her.

  And it made her wonder if they were trying to lead her somewhere.

  If they were trying to make her go somewhere.

  Trying to lead her down a path she couldn’t return from.

  She looked back. Over her shoulder. Saw three of them, quite visible now, in the moonlight. Bows in hand. All focused on her.

  She looked ahead and saw a little alleyway leading towards some suburban houses. A new-build kind of place. The sort of place there’d be plenty of houses and gardens to hide.

  But…

  She got the feeling that’s exactly where they were leading her. Exactly where they wanted her to go.

  She reached the entrance to that alleyway, and she knew that taking a wrong turn, heading towards where the arrows were firing, could well be suicide.

  But she was done playing by their rules.

  She looked down at Rex. Saw him watching her lead, so, so closely.

  “This way, Rex. This way.”

  She turned. Ran alongside the fences at the back of the houses.

  Felt a few of those arrows brush against her, then shift in different directions. Like they weren’t expecting that turn. Like it wasn’t a part of their plan.

  And that made her even more certain that she’d made the right call.

  She kept on running alongside the fences. And she heard more voices behind her, now. Voices from the end of the alleyway. So there was someone waiting to ambush her. Fuckers. She wasn’t going to play their game. She was getting out of this. Both her and Rex were getting out of this.

  She reached the end of the fences and saw the woods up ahead. She knew she had to be careful in there. I
t looked like there was a slope, and it could lead to a brook or something like that. Didn’t want to slip now. Didn’t want to break an ankle. Didn’t want to break anything right now.

  But she couldn’t stop herself.

  She only had one choice.

  She slid down the grass into the woods. Tumbled down, lost her footing, and landed in water. So it was a brook. She was right.

  But now she was down here, and now Rex was down here with her, she had a moment.

  She had a chance.

  She looked left. Over in the direction she’d been heading.

  Then right. Back towards the way she’d come.

  They wouldn’t be expecting that.

  Wouldn’t be expecting her to run back the way she’d come from.

  She kept low, walked through the water. Heard footsteps above. Heard voices. Whispers. They sounded like they were heading the other way. Like they were passing by. And she had to take that as a victory. She had to see that as a positive. It had to give her a chance.

  She kept on walking when suddenly she saw someone at the edge of the brook, looking down.

  She froze. Went totally still.

  A man, standing there. Bow and arrow in hand.

  Aoife kept still. Nothing moving but her raging pulse. She had her bow over her shoulder. If she could reach for it, she could fire at him. She could take him out.

  But no. She didn’t have time.

  And it was too risky.

  She held her breath and stood there, totally still, waiting for the inevitable.

  Then, she heard a whistle somewhere in the distance, and the man looked up and ran away from the brook.

  She exhaled. Rubbed her burning eyes. She just wanted to get away. She just wanted a chance to breathe.

  She took a deep breath, fully realising she couldn’t stick around here much longer.

  “Let’s get away from here, Rex,” she said. “Let’s…”

  “Not so fast,” a voice said.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Not another move. You or the dog.”

  Aoife heard those words, and she knew she was fucked. She stood there in the middle of the brook, cold water creeping through into her boots, between her toes. She thought she’d got away from these people. Thought she’d done enough.

  But now, this bloke on the edge of the brook was onto her.

  He’d seen her.

  And she was trapped.

  She lowered her head, shaking. She should’ve fired an arrow at him when she’d had the chance. Shouldn’t have been lenient. Shouldn’t have tried to be all stealthy with him. She knew there was a good chance he’d seen her, and she was an idiot for thinking otherwise.

  “I’m going to tell you exactly how this is going to go,” the man said. He was short, stumpy, and dressed in white. “I’ve got an arrow pointed right at your dog. If you try to run, I’ll fire. If you keep running, I’ll fire one at you. Either way, it’s useless resisting. It’s over for you. So the best thing you can do for yourself and your dog is to just drop your weapons and come up here, right now. Then we can think about what happens next.”

  Aoife held her ground, not moving a muscle. Kept on staring down the stream. It was dark, so she could still get away; she was sure of it. The bloke might have a bow and arrow, but she was quick, and if she made a dash for it, she had full confidence in her ability to get the hell out of this mess.

  But then…

  Rex.

  He said he had the arrow pointed at Rex.

  He said he’d fire at him the second she moved.

  That wasn’t a risk she was willing to make. A chance she was willing to take.

  She stood there. Bow in one hand. Knife in the other.

  “Let it go,” the man said. “Let it go, right this second. Or I fire anyway.”

  She looked down at Rex. Saw him tilt his head, saw those big brown eyes staring up at her. She didn’t know what kind of road lay ahead for him, especially without her. Because one thing was for sure. She’d seen what these people did to Kyle and his people. They didn’t look like the kind who knew much about restraint.

  Unless that was because Kyle’s group had Thomas. Unless their standards were different.

  She had to fucking hope so.

  “I’ve waited around long enough, now,” the man said. “Weapons on the ground in the next five seconds, or the dog gets it. And I’m not messing around. Always been more of a cat person.”

  “Okay,” Aoife said. “Okay.”

  She didn’t want to let go. Didn’t want to let her only forms of defence go. Not down here, standing in the stream. No escape route.

  But then she knew she had no other choice.

  She dropped the bow to the floor.

  “And the arrows.”

  She sighed. Dropped those too.

  “Good,” the man said. “And the knife.”

  Aoife looked at the knife. Wanted to keep hold of it. Didn’t want to let it go.

  But then she closed her burning eyes, and as much as she wanted to fight… it was Rex she thought of.

  She dropped the knife.

  Heard it splash in the water.

  “Good,” the man said. “Very good. Now get up here. Bring your dog if you want to. Leave it if you don’t. I don’t care either way. But I do get allergies. So it better not be a malter.”

  Aoife looked at Rex. She wanted him to stay. Didn’t want him to follow her. Because she felt like he had more chance of surviving if he wasn’t with her.

  But she could tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t leaving her.

  She shook her head. Sighed. Half-smiled. “You’re a good lad. Loyal to a fault.”

  “What was that?” the bloke shouted.

  “Nothing,” Aoife said.

  She turned around. Looked up to the side of the brook, up at the man. Standing there. That bow and arrow pointed at her now.

  “Now come on,” he said. “Up here. And don’t waste any time. I’m getting impatient.”

  Aoife climbed slowly up the side of the brook on her hands and knees. Too steep to walk up. And for another reason, too.

  She was trying to find something she could use.

  A stone. Or a sharp stick.

  Just anything she could use to fight back against this man.

  She searched the ground as she climbed, higher and higher up the slope.

  No luck at all.

  “Get a move on,” the man said. “We don’t have all night.”

  She went to grab the next stretch of ground when she felt something in her hand.

  A stone. Large. Heavy.

  Enough?

  She wasn’t sure.

  But it was something.

  She grabbed the stone. Held it in her hand, tight. Climbed further and further up the slope until she reached the top of the hill.

  And then she stood there, opposite the man, stone in hand.

  He kept the bow and arrow pointed at her for a few seconds. Scanned her, head to toe.

  Then he lowered the bow and arrow.

  “Well,” he said. “Glad you’ve been so cooperative. It stands you in good…”

  It all happened so fast.

  Aoife swung the stone towards his face.

  He snatched her wrist.

  The stone tumbled out of her hand, hit the ground.

  He looked at her. Holding her wrist tightly.

  Rage in his eyes.

  “Bad idea,” he said. “Really, really bad idea.”

  And then he pushed her back to the ground.

  She hit the ground with her bleeding shoulder, hard. Felt a sickening punch to her gut. But she couldn’t just lay down. She couldn’t just accept her fate. She had to…

  She looked up.

  The man lifted his bow.

  Pulled back an arrow.

  Pointed it at Rex.

  “You’re going to regret that,” he said.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Aoife saw the man pointing the arrow
at Rex.

  She saw him pulling back the string of the bow.

  She saw the anger in his eyes, as she lay there on the ground, just desperate to get back on her feet. Desperate to save Rex. Desperate to stop the inevitable from happening.

  She wanted so much to do something, to help… but she was helpless.

  There was nothing she could do.

  She went to throw herself back to her feet, to stop this, to stop this man in his tracks, when she saw something out the corner of her eye.

  Someone appeared. Out of nowhere. Completely out of the darkness.

  They barged into the man.

  Pushed him from his feet.

  Sent him tumbling down the slope into the brook below.

  Before he could even let out a cry.

  Aoife heard a thump.

  Heard something crack.

  Then, silence.

  She lay there on the ground. Rex by her side. Her heart raced. She still had no idea what’d just happened. What she’d just witnessed.

  Only the man was gone.

  And there was somebody here.

  Someone who looked like she might be on Aoife’s side.

  Aoife lay there a few seconds. Looked up at this dark silhouette. Hard to make out a face, now the moon was behind the clouds.

  “So it is you,” the woman said. “It… it really is you.”

  Aoife frowned. What? Did this woman recognise her or something? She couldn’t see her face for the darkness. But she sensed an air of familiarity between them. She recognised this woman’s voice from somewhere. Somewhere in her past.

  “Who—”

  A shout.

  A shout from the brook, down below.

  A shout from the man this woman had rugby tackled into the stream.

  A blood-curdling, animalistic wail of someone in pain.

  “Shit,” the woman said. “We… we can save the grand reunion for when we’ve got the hell out of here. If we get the hell out of here.”

  “I don’t… I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Trust me, Aoife. The only reason I’m not telling you right now is I don’t want you to freak out. But trust me. Okay? I just saved your dog’s life.”

  Aoife didn’t even have a chance to ask the woman how she knew her because she was already running down the side of the brook, off into the darkness.