by Ryan Casey
“That’s convenient,” Aoife said. “Because that’s exactly how it is.”
“Take me to the supply place half an hour west of here. I’ll go the last stretch alone. You can hang back. You can wait. Hell, if you don’t trust me, you can run the hell away if you want. But… all I ask is you hear what I’m saying, and you give me a chance. I had a family. I had a family, and I lost my family. Robert… Robert gave me a reason to live for a while. But I see it’s bullshit now. I see it’s all a lie. So let me help. Please. Please.”
Aoife stared at him. Then she looked up into Heather’s eyes.
Vince stepped forward, cleared his throat. “Heather,” he said. “I think—”
“Frankly, I don’t give a shit what you think,” she said. “If you’d kept hold of that bastard, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.”
Vince lowered his head. Nodded, like he was accepting his punishment like a chastised child.
Heather looked at the ground, too. Knife in hand. “I want to believe him. Really, I do. But I can’t. Not after everything I’ve seen already. Not after everything these people have done already.”
Aoife braced herself. Braced herself to do whatever was necessary to stop Heather killing this man. Because she didn’t see where that would get them. She didn’t see how that would help matters—at all.
But then Heather looked up at her, right into her eyes, and shook her head.
“I’ll allow it. We… we go to the supply place. We let him take us there.”
A weight lifted from Aoife’s shoulders. A sense of relief all over her body.
“But believe me,” Heather said, pointing her knife right in Aoife’s face. “If anything goes wrong… anything… you’re dead, Aoife. You’re dead.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“So this is the place?” Aoife asked.
The man—Finn, he was called—nodded. “This is it.”
“And we can trust you?”
Finn laughed a little at that.
“What’s so funny?”
“Asking if you can trust me. I mean, of course I’m gonna say ‘yes’, ain’t I?”
Aoife gritted her teeth. “Don’t get cocky. Last time I checked, you were still our hostage.”
Finn sighed, shook his head. “Gonna take a lot convincing you, ain’t it?”
“Just shut up,” Heather interrupted, stepping forward. “This is really the place?”
Aoife thought what Heather was thinking. This place? It didn’t look much. An old storage unit, right on the edge of a larger industrial unit.
“And you just happened to stumble across a bunch of weapons here?” Aoife said.
Finn shrugged. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it. But yeah. We found this place. Keep our weapons and stuff off-site, just in case anything kicks off, y’know.”
“And it’s definitely clear?” Vince asked. His voice always so shaky, so quivery.
“What?” Finn asked.
“There’s nobody guarding it, or anything like that?”
Again, Finn shrugged. “Like I said. Can’t make any promises. But it should be good. It usually is. Come on. Not so keen on being out here for long. Especially now Colin’ll be well and truly home and well and truly singing his lungs out to Robert. They’ll be heading back to where we were in no time. And when they find Grace…”
“Then let’s get down there. It’s like you say. The sooner we get some supplies, the better.”
Finn nodded. “Want me to go alone, or…”
Part of Aoife had to admit she wanted Finn to go alone. After all, this felt ominous. Felt like they were walking into a trap.
But on the other hand…
“I’ll come with you,” Aoife said. “Vince and Heather, you keep watch. And you look after Rex, too. I don’t want anything happening to him. Understand?”
Heather looked surprised. “Are you… are you sure?”
“Bless. Suddenly care about me?”
“I just mean… No. Right. We’ll keep a lookout.”
“You hear anything, you run, okay? You two just get the hell away from here. And you go with Rex. Give me that much, at least.”
Vince nodded, too. Stroked Rex, patted his head. “We’ll do everything we can. Right, Heather?”
Heather looked a little more reluctant about the whole arrangement. But then she sighed, nodded. “Sure. We’ll do what we can. As long as he doesn’t shit himself and isn’t too greedy.”
“I can’t make promises like that,” Aoife said.
She stepped over to Rex. Stroked him. Hugged him. Felt his warmth.
“You’ll be alright, lad. You’ll be alright.”
She kissed his head, felt him nudge her.
Then she turned to Finn. Saw him staring at her with those wide eyes.
“What’re we waiting for?” she asked.
Finn nodded. “Right. Seems a fair arrangement. Probably woulda done the same myself—”
“Just walk, okay?”
“Right. Right.”
She looked back at Vince. At Heather. And at Rex.
Then she looked at Finn, who was already walking down the slope, towards this industrial building.
She took a deep breath.
Then, she walked.
“Be careful,” Heather muttered.
Aoife stopped. Looked back.
Smiled at her.
“I’ll do my best.”
Then she turned and followed Finn into the unknown.
The second Finn opened the large metal door to the industrial unit, Aoife got a bad feeling about this whole plan right away.
He stood there, holding out a hand, gesturing into the darkness. “You sure you don’t want to do the whole ‘ladies first’ thing?”
Aoife narrowed her eyes. “Don’t push your luck. Lead the way.”
Finn smirked a little, then sighed theatrically. “Just trying to be a gentleman.”
And then he walked through the door, into the darkness.
Aoife looked back. Looked up towards the hill where Vince and Heather were keeping watch. At least Rex wasn’t barking. At least he was staying quiet. Good lad. He could behave when she really needed him to.
She turned around. Looked at that doorway. Looked at the darkness within.
“Well,” she said. “Here goes nothing.”
She stepped inside.
The moment she walked inside, the air cooled. There was a damp smell to the place. The sound of water dripping somewhere. Finn’s footsteps echoing up ahead.
“Hardly seems the sort of place where a load of supplies would be stored,” Aoife said.
Finn laughed. “Which makes it the perfect place for a load of supplies to be stored, huh?”
“Fair point,” Aoife said.
She followed him through this old industrial unit. It was so dark. Pitch black. Cold, too. But Finn seemed to know where he was going. He was leading the way, anyway.
And the good thing was it seemed like they were on their own.
Seemed that way.
Again, that had to count for something.
“How long have you been with Robert?” Aoife asked.
“Oh, about a year now,” Finn said.
“And you’ve only now decided to make a break?”
“You know how it is when you’re in a functioning group,” Finn said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to see when you’re in the right and when you’re in the wrong. Especially when Robert’s so… well. He’s good with words; let’s put it that way. Knows how to get into your head. Or into most people’s heads, anyway.”
“But not yours?”
“Look,” Finn said, continuing to walk the length of this cold, dark unit. “I won’t pretend I wasn’t on board for a time. Like I said. Lost my family in the chaos. Wife Sheila had a heart attack. Very ill for those first few months. Tried my best to keep her alive, but it was too much at the end of the day. Not been without her for years. Met in university and never looked back. Didn’t kn
ow what it was like to be alone. Then along comes Robert when I’m at my weakest. Offers me a hand. Helps me back on my feet. And like the rest of his people… offers ’um hope.”
“He sounds like a charming guy.”
“He can be,” Finn said. “Til you see through it. Now come on. Supplies are just up here.”
He walked over to a door at the back of the unit. Started fiddling about with the handle, whistling as he did. Like he was confident about this. Almost too confident.
“The man from the helicopter,” Aoife said. “Thomas.”
“Don’t know a thing about who he is or where he’s from,” Finn said, almost reading her mind. “He was unconscious still, last I heard. But Robert’s doing a speech tonight. Expect that might be put on hold or changed a little, with all that’s gone on.”
“And my friend,” Aoife said. “Kayleigh.”
Finn stopped.
He looked around at her.
“Ah. Yeah. How do you two even know each other, anyway?”
Aoife thought back to the beginning. To the first time they’d met. Moving into that house share and Kayleigh being the friendliest of the lot of them from the very off.
And then finding her again.
Finding her a different person.
A woman who’d lost hope.
“It’s a long story,” Aoife said. “We go some way back.”
“Huh,” Finn said. “Well, so too do Robert and her, as luck would have it.”
He turned back to the door, started fiddling with the handle again, like he was struggling with it, somehow.
“Robert and her go back?”
“Wait. You don’t know?”
“Don’t know what?”
Finn opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, Aoife heard something that cut through the silence.
Something that cut through everything else.
Rex.
Barking.
And then shouting.
Vince and Heather.
She looked at Finn.
Then she turned around and went to run.
That’s when she heard something clicking, right behind her.
Her stomach sank.
She looked back.
Finn stood there, pointing a pistol at her.
“I am sorry, chick. Really. I am. But I wouldn’t move another muscle. Not if I were you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Aoife stared at Finn as he stood there, gun in hand, pointed right at her.
The darkness in here suddenly seemed a whole lot darker. It didn’t feel cold anymore, though. It felt hot. But then that was probably just Aoife. She felt like the darkness was closing in. Like she was suffocating on it.
And outside, up the slope, she could hear Rex barking.
She could hear shouting.
“If any of your fucker friends lay a finger on any of them—”
“You’ll do what, exactly?” Finn said.
Aoife opened her mouth. Then closed it. “I’ll kill you.”
Finn smiled. Shook his head, sighed. “Look. I am sorry. Believe me when I say that. You seem a decent person. You spared my life, and I owe you one for that. And truth be told, I really did want to help you out here, somehow.”
“Bullshit. This was a fucking trap all along, and you know it.”
Finn sighed. “Be cynical like that if you want. I really did want to help. But right now… well. It sounds like Robert’s here. So I’ve gotta do what I can to survive. You know how it is.”
Aoife shook her head. She could hardly believe this prick. “All that crap about how you’ve seen the error of his ways? How you’ve wanted out for years?”
“It’s not a lie,” Finn said. “I’m not saying shit’s perfect back at camp. And I know damn well it ain’t gonna last forever. People can’t live off hope for a lifetime. But for now… well. It’ll do. And that hope’s gonna last a little bit longer now the man from the helicopter’s here.
“And now Kayleigh’s back home… Robert’s little family’s complete.”
Aoife frowned. “What… what do you mean?”
“You really don’t know, do you? Kayleigh was Robert’s woman. Love of his god-damned life. Then she disappeared. Disappeared in the night out of nowhere. Robert’s never been the same since then. Part of why he’s gone so… violent, I’d say. But she’s back now. And with her back, his prophecy—bullshit or not—is complete.”
Aoife couldn’t actually believe what she was hearing. “Kayleigh… Kayleigh was with Robert?”
“More than just with him, love. They were inseparable. She was fully on board with his story. His absolute rock. The day she left… Hell, I’ve never seen Robert cry before that day. But it’s like I said. She’s back now. So maybe there’s goodness in the world after all. Now get a move on. Outside. It’s about time we finished this shit.”
Aoife shook her head. Still couldn’t get her head around everything. Robert and Kayleigh? She hadn’t said anything about that. No wonder she was so reluctant to go back there.
And now she was back there…
Fuck.
Aoife had to get her out of there.
“No more dicking around,” Finn said. “Your game’s up. The best thing you can do for your own survival is get the hell out of that door right now, with me beside you. It might just be the best thing for you. Who knows? If all collapses one day, you might just need me on your side.”
Aoife shook her head. She didn’t have any more words for this piece of shit. He was a snake, and she didn’t trust him one bit. “Heather was right about you. I should’ve slit your throat when I had the chance.”
Finn smiled. Chuckled. “But you didn’t. And I won’t forget that. And believe you me, I promise it’ll stand you in good stead in future. Now go on. Don’t have any more time to waste here.”
Aoife wanted to stand up against this fucker. She wanted to fight him.
But all she had was her knife.
And he had his pistol pointed at her.
“Now!” he shouted.
She knew she had no choice anymore.
She turned around. Walked towards the doorway. On her way, she scanned everywhere. Scanned for something she could use to fight back with—something other than the knife that could give her a head start, somehow. Because she couldn’t just walk out here. Not with Rex barking away. Not with the shouting outside. If she walked out of here without at least fighting, then this was over. It was all over.
She looked into the darkness, tried to find something to use, anything, when she felt something press into her back.
The cold, hard metal of Finn’s pistol.
“Walk,” he said.
Her stomach sank. Because it felt like her fate was decided now. It felt like she had no choice. There was nothing she could fight with. She had her knife, but it wasn’t enough. She wouldn’t be able to turn quickly enough. He’d shoot her before she got the chance to do anything.
And that’s when she realised that she was fucked either way. Finn would shoot her before she had the chance to do anything.
She saw the light outside. Heard Rex still barking away. No shouting anymore. No cries.
And as she stood at that doorway, she knew there was only one option here. There was only one inevitable solution.
She had to go outside.
She had to face whatever was out there.
She had to change her approach.
“Be polite,” Finn said. “And one word of advice. If he asks you to kneel… just kneel, okay? It’ll be less painful on all of you if you do that.”
She looked back at him. Then looked ahead, into the light.
Heart racing.
Chest tight.
She clenched her fists.
Took a deep breath.
And she stepped out into the light.
It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light.
But when she saw what was ahead of her… her stomach sank completely.
Vince
and Heather were both on their knees. Beaten and bloodied.
Rex was on a long lead, the collar so tight around his neck.
And there was someone else here, too.
“Kayleigh,” Aoife said.
She crouched there, on her knees. Eyes drifting. Looked drugged. Completely out of it.
Behind them all, there were eight people.
Eight people, all dressed in white, except for one.
All in black.
He stepped forward.
Smile on his face.
“Hello there,” the man said. “The name’s Robert. I believe we have a bit of a problem.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Aoife saw Robert standing there before her, and she knew deep down that this was the moment everything had been building towards.
The late afternoon sun shone into her eyes, casting a glow over the people before her. Eight of them, Robert included. One of them with Vince on his knees before them, knife to his throat. Another with Heather before him. Another clinging on to Rex’s lead, as he yanked at it, barking like mad, barking so much Aoife wanted to scream at him to quieten down, to stop, because this was only going to lead to trouble for him.
But it was Kayleigh who caught Aoife’s eye more than anyone else.
She knelt there. Swaying from side to side slightly. Her eyes looked distant. Vacant. Like there was nobody home. She looked spaced out. Completely spaced out. Drugged up to her eyeballs. Occasionally, she looked in Aoife’s general direction, but there was no recognition there. There was absolutely nothing behind those eyes.
Robert had done something to her. This bastard had done something to her.
She looked up, then. At Robert himself. Standing there, with his dark, curly hair. His piercing green eyes. And that smile on his face. That calm, comforting smile.
Something reassuring about it. Creepy, sure, but reassuring too.
She could see why a man who looked like he did could be so convincing. So charismatic. So charming.
She tasted vomit in the back of her dry throat, the way she always did when she was cripplingly nervous. The same way she’d felt before her lawyer exams.