The World After (Book 3)

by Ryan Casey

  “You’re wrong.”

  B narrowed his eyes and started to turn around.

  A rock cracked down on his head.

  He fell onto the ground opposite me. And I watched as that rock came down on his head again and again and again.

  It was Holly.

  “He didn’t fail,” Holly said.

  The rock came down again as B twitched, choking blood, begging for mercy.

  “He didn’t fail because he isn’t alone.”

  The rock came down again. B’s skull cracked and changed shape, but still he fought on, eyes wide and manic.

  “He won. Because I’m here. And you’re all alone.”

  She brought the rock down one final time, and the blood splattered from his head and all over her.

  Lionel crept over to B. He started to lick the remains of his skull, like it was the hot meal he’d been waiting for a long time.

  I saw Holly, covered in blood, rock in hand. And I felt bad for her. I felt bad that she’d had to do that. That she’d felt like she had to save me. Because I just wanted her to be safe. That’s all I wanted all along.

  “You… I told you to go…”

  She came down to my side and held me, just like I’d held her so many times. “But you would never have left me alone. So I won’t ever leave you alone. I promise.”

  I felt Holly hold onto me and I wanted this moment to last forever, as the blood pooled from my stomach and my shoulders, as the pain of my hand got more and more crippling, and as Lionel slurped at the remains of B’s head.

  But I knew it wouldn’t.

  I knew my time was running out.

  But at least I had Holly and Lionel beside me.

  “You’re a special girl,” I said, every word a struggle now. “You know that, don’t you?”

  She held me tighter. I could feel her tears, the saltiness stinging my wounds, but I was so grateful for them. I was so grateful for her. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

  “I love… I love you,” I said, my voice quivering. “And you’re going to stay strong. For me. For Lionel. Aren’t you?”

  She leaned back and looked me in the eye. And I could see the question she wanted to ask on her lips. Why do you have to go, Scott? Why do you have to leave me?

  But she didn’t ask me.

  Instead, she just stroked my hair out of my face, just as I had with hers so many times.

  “Harriet would be proud,” she said. “Your daughter would be proud.”

  And when she said those words, I didn’t feel the pain anymore. I didn’t feel the sadness anymore. I didn’t feel anything but total warmth as she held on to me, and as Lionel came to my side and licked my face, whining for attention.

  I held onto Holly and I held onto Lionel and I saw myself back in my old life. I was in the garden. There was a buffet going. At the buffet was Haz. Remy. Jenny.

  Hannah was there too. She was at the back of the garden, chatting with Sue. Aiden was playing in the garden.

  But by my side was Harriet. She looked so beautiful. Just like she’d always been. I wanted this moment to last forever. And it would. I knew that now.

  I felt something move in my arms, and when I looked down, I saw a baby.

  It was my daughter. She was smiling up at me, beautiful blue eyes.

  And as young as she was, I knew who this girl was. I knew who she would grow up to be.

  “I love you, Holly,” I said.

  The baby reached out with her little hand, tightly gripped mine.

  Holly reached out in the real world, tightly gripped my good hand.

  “I love you too,” she said.

  And when she said those words, I felt the warmth totally fill my body.

  And to the beautiful sound of birdsong, images of all my friends and all our happiness strong in my mind, I took a long, deep breath that would last forever, and I let myself disappear into the light, Holly’s hand in mine.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Holly didn’t want to let go of Scott. But she knew she had to if she wanted to do what he wanted her to do. She knew she had to if she wanted to make sure he hadn’t died for nothing.

  She had to , if she wanted to survive.

  She moved away from Scott. He had gone completely still. His eyes were still open, but he didn’t look scared like some of the other dead people she’d seen. He looked happy. Like he was looking at someone that he loved very much.

  But she closed his eyelids anyway, because she wanted him to sleep now.

  “Get your rest,” she said. “So you can get strong again.”

  She stood up and saw the mess of B’s head beneath her. She felt her stomach turn a little. There was so much blood, so much mess. She couldn’t believe that she’d caused this mess. That she’d been the one to bash his head in with that rock. She hadn’t wanted to do it. But he’d been hurting Scott. He’d been hurting him, and she didn’t want him to be the last thing Scott saw. She wanted the last thing Scott saw to be someone that made him happy.

  She turned around and looked at the extraction point. The helicopters were still flying overhead. Some were arriving, others were leaving. If she focused hard enough, she swore she could hear the chatter of people, their voices carried in the breeze.

  Suddenly getting to that extraction point didn’t seem as important. Because who was in the new world for her? There was no family. There was no Scott. There was no one. Just a scary new world. And maybe that scary new world would go wrong, just like B said it would.

  But then she knew she couldn’t just stay in this world. Because it wasn’t what her mum would’ve wanted for her. It wasn’t what anyone wanted for her.

  She had to be brave.

  She had to go over there.

  And she had to hope.

  She started to walk when she realised Lionel wasn’t by her side.

  She looked around, nervous for a moment that maybe he’d got scared by the fighting and run away.

  But he hadn’t.

  Lionel was still sitting by Scott’s side. His head was resting on Scott’s chest. He licked at the knife wound, not like he enjoyed the blood—even though he had eaten some of B’s head—but like if he kept on doing it, Scott could be better again.

  And it was that more than anything that made Holly cry again. Because it was so sad that Scott had nearly died thinking he’d failed. He’d nearly died not knowing just how well he’d done to get her and Lionel this far. How much they cared for him like he cared for them.

  But in the end, he’d found out. Holly was sure of that.

  She walked slowly back to Lionel. She put a hand on his head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But Scott’s gone now. It’s time for us to go.”

  Lionel turned on the puppy-dog eyes and made a high pitched sound. He looked like he just didn’t understand. And that made Holly feel even worse.

  She stayed there with him a few seconds, stroking Lionel’s head. She didn’t want to leave him behind. He was the last friend she had left. But she would have to get moving soon. She didn’t want to risk anything happening to the extraction point. She didn’t want to risk not getting away.

  “I’m going to go now,” she said. “And I want you to come with me. But… but you’re going to have to get up. You’re going to have to follow. Can you do that?”

  Lionel barely even looked at her. He just sighed.

  Holly wiped away a tear then. She leaned over to Lionel, kissed his head. “Goodbye,” she said. “I love you.”

  Then she got up and faced the extraction point.

  It was still a way to walk. She was so tired. So exhausted. But she would make it. She had to make it.

  She took a deep breath and pushed all the bad thoughts of everything that’d happened out of her mind.

  Then, she started walking.

  It was when she was a way down the road that she heard footsteps behind her.

  When she looked around, she saw Lionel following her.

  She smiled. Sniffe
d back some more tears. “Good boy. Good boy.”

  Then, when he was by her side, they stood together on the road.

  She’d get to the extraction point.

  She’d do what everyone would want her to do, to stay safe.

  Scott had got her this far. And she was going to take the final steps. Not alone, but with Scott in her heart all the time.

  She started to walk.

  THE WALK to the extraction point took longer than expected.

  She was hurting. Her feet were sore. She fell a few times.

  But she always got back up.

  Always.

  Because that was the way Scott had taught her to be.

  It was when she was really close that she saw people. People like her, drifting towards the extraction point. Kids on their own. Men and women on their own. Families. Families of all ages, all coming together.

  And they looked at each other distrustfully. Holly knew that, covered in blood, she must stand out.

  But they’d all done bad things if they were still here. No doubt about that. They’d all done things they wished they hadn’t done.

  But that was the old world.

  It was the new world she was going to now.

  It had to be.

  It had to be.

  When she got close to the gates of this extraction point, she saw a few people in army uniform. Two women.

  They looked at her, guns in hand, and she thought for a moment they were going to shoot her.

  But they didn’t.

  Instead, they ran towards her, blanket in hands.

  And when they reached her, she let them wrap her up in that blanket. She let them carry her away, inside this extraction point, everything moving around her at lightning speed. She let them wash her, bathe her, feed her and water her.

  And she let them tell her how things were going to be.

  Where she was going.

  How different life was going to be, but how she’d have a life all the same.

  And when they put her in the helicopter, Lionel by her side, as well as so many other people, she looked back at the road she’d come down.

  She looked at where she knew Scott had died. She looked at the road after that; the road they’d come all the way down. She looked at the hills, at the clouds, at the sun.

  And she knew, deep down, feeling that warmth, that he was still out there somehow.

  He was still watching.

  She watched Britain disappear as they flew further away. As roads turned to fields. As fields turned to coasts. And as coasts turned to sea.

  But all that time, she looked back. She looked at the sunlight. And she looked to where Scott had been.

  “I’ll miss you,” she said.

  In her mind, she heard him speak back, and she smiled.

  Then, as the helicopter drifted off into a new world, she closed her eyes.

  And for the first time in six months, Holly had a proper sleep.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Six Months Later…

  HOLLY LOOKED out to sea and wondered how many people were still out there.

  It was the middle of afternoon and it was Sunday. Sundays were different in the new world. People worked a lot more. There were houses to allocate to people, new houses to be built. There were electrical systems to rebuild—entirely new, stronger apparently, to prevent an EMP blast from affecting them again.

  The truth about the EMP had come out. Apparently, it was from the sun. Some old governments thought that it was to do with a rival country, but that had proven not to be true. Everyone had suffered. And through that suffering, everyone was more together.

  There was more of a bond and an understanding in the new world. Everyone—regardless of religion, nationality, gender, sexuality—was all pulling together.

  But Holly found herself standing on the coast because she wondered whether she’d ever go back home. Britain had been particularly badly affected by the EMP, apparently. And there were a lot of people there who simply didn’t want to step into a new way of living. People like the masked men; like Phillip and Mike’s groups; like the prisoners who they’d run into right at the beginning who had killed her dad. There were people who liked what they had, and they were hard people to win over.

  But there were a lot of other people, too. And it was those people who were here now. Those people who were helping to rebuild.

  And sure. There were arguments. There were even conflicts.

  But mostly everyone wanted things to work out.

  Everyone wanted to make sure that even if something did happen again in future, they wouldn’t let it tear them apart.

  Everyone wanted to be together.

  She looked at the water and thought about Scott when she heard a panting by her side.

  She looked to her right and smiled. “Lionel. What’re you doing here?”

  Lionel just looked up at her, sitting down with his tongue dangling out, like he was waiting for a treat.

  “Figured I’d get him some sea air,” the voice said. “Just hope he doesn’t try to jump in this time.”

  When Holly looked around, she couldn’t help smiling.

  “I thought you were working,” she said.

  Haz shrugged. “I figured I’d take the day off.” He put a hand on her back. “What’re you doing out here, anyway?”

  Holly remembered the day she’d reunited with Haz. She’d thought he was dead. Even Scott had thought he was dead. And sure. He was scarred. There were scars he wouldn’t even talk about; that he’d quiver about if Holly asked how he’d got them.

  But he was alive.

  That was the main thing.

  He was alive, and he was a part of the new world, just like her.

  “Just thinking,” Holly said.

  Haz was silent for a short while. Then, “You know it’s been a year. To the day. Right?”

  Holly couldn’t believe it had only been a year since the EMP struck. Those six months of her life had been the slowest she’d ever experienced. The six since, adapting to the new world with its new schools and new homes and new people… they had been hard too. But a different kind of hard. “Wow,” she said.

  “I miss him too. You know that, right?”

  Holly looked up at Haz. She knew who he was talking about.

  Haz stared out to sea. He had a long scar down his left cheek. His hair was missing in a few places. He had gone really thin when they’d been reunited, to the point she didn’t even recognise him at first. But he was getting a belly back, something he seemed weirdly happy about. “He risked his life for me. He made me realise I was stronger than I ever believed. If it wasn’t for him…”

  He stopped, then. And Holly knew why it was. It was the same for her, too. If it weren’t for Scott, she’d be dead. They’d all be dead.

  And that’s what they had Scott to thank for.

  “It wasn’t nice,” Holly said. “What happened to him. How he died.”

  “You don’t have to talk about—”

  “But I know in his last moments he was happy. And that’s the main thing. Isn’t it? That’s what… that’s what everyone wants.”

  Haz smiled. He shook his head. “You’re way more intelligent than a girl your age should be.”

  Holly grinned, blushed a little. “That’s what the end of the world does to you.”

  They stood together in silence for a while. Even Lionel was making a point of just sitting and staring. But it was Haz who broke the silence.

  “What you had to witness. The things you had to go through. You… You should never have had to go through that. Nobody should.”

  Holly thought of the nasty things; the things that kept her awake at night. The death. The blood. And the things people would do to each other when everything was taken away from them.

  But these thoughts didn’t frighten her anymore.

  “But we’ll all be stronger for it,” she said. “’Cause… ’cause it’ll remind people to stay together and be frie
nds. Because nobody wants to go through that. Not again.”

  She looked up at Haz, and he nodded back at her. “You really are way too profound for your own good. If this is what the children of the new world are all gonna be like, I think I’d better get back to school.”

  Holly laughed. She looked back over at the sea and imagined Britain in the distance. She stared at it longingly, thinking of her old life, her old family, the way things used to be.

  “Do you miss it?” Haz asked.

  Holly took a while to answer. “Sometimes. But I… I don’t think I’d go back there. Too much bad stuff happened there. But maybe when I’m older. Maybe if I could help get things better there again. Maybe I would.”

  Holly glanced at Haz, then. “Do you miss it?”

  He was quiet. And Holly saw tears building in his red eyes.

  He looked back at her and smiled. “I’ve got everything here. Why would I miss it?”

  She walked away from the coast then. She picked up a ball and threw it across the coast, right into the distance, watching Lionel bounding after it. And as she watched him, she smiled.

  Because she saw other people.

  Other dogs.

  So many people, just like her.

  So many people, smiles on their faces.

  So many people, lost in the old world, changed in the new world.

  “Maybe it’ll make people better,” Holly said. “Everything that happened. Maybe people won’t fight again.”

  Haz laughed. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that people always fight.” He smiled. “But at least now they know where their limits are.”

  He paused a few seconds.

  Then he tapped Holly on her shoulder and went running down the beach. “Last one to the hot dog stall’s a big loser!”

  Holly ran after him. And as she ran, wind in her face, sea by her side, she felt herself smiling. Laughing. Because this was life. This was freedom. And this was the life she was going to fight for no matter what.

  And as she passed by the rest of the smiling, happy people, she knew they would fight with her too.

  Because it wasn’t going to be easy.

  There were going to be hard times.

  Her life was going to be different to every other generation that had ever lived.