Avenge the Darkness: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Survive the Darkness Book 4)

by Ryan Casey

  She handed Max something in a small piece of red tissue paper, then walked past him, Hailey, and Geoff.

  Geoff looked on. Raised his eyebrows. Opened his mouth.

  “Don’t,” Max said. “Just don’t.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Hold still.”

  “It’s hard to hold still when you’re hurting me.”

  “And it’ll hurt even more if you don’t hold still.”

  “Max. Now really isn’t the time for a fucking chicken and egg situation.”

  Aoife felt burning, stinging pain all the way down her left arm. It hurt like a bitch. To be honest, it hadn’t even been that bad when the dog attack first happened. One of the little shits dug its teeth into her, and she had to kick it off and run for her life.

  But now Max was seeing to it… yeah, amazingly, it felt a whole lot worse.

  The stinging of the alcohol.

  The pain of the stitches he’d woven through it with his remarkably steady hands.

  The feeling of the warmth of his hands on her skin and how she strangely liked it…

  No.

  Don’t even go there.

  She looked up at him. He was so focused on her, on stitching her up. She could tell he was pissed with her. Wasn’t saying as much, wasn’t admitting as much, but she could just tell. He had that serious look to his face. Okay, he always had a fucking serious look to his face. But more serious than normal. And he was quieter than usual, too. Again, silence was something Max was clearly pretty comfortable with, but this felt different.

  “So come on,” Aoife said.

  “What?”

  “Get it over with.”

  “What’re you talking about?’

  “The lambasting. You’ve clearly got something on your mind. Why not just get to it?”

  Max sighed. “Aoife… let’s not.”

  “I’d rather you did than sulked like this. Go on. Have a nice birthday rant. It’ll do you good.”

  “I almost died out there,” Max said. “I… I almost died trying to find you.”

  “You didn’t have to come find me. I was perfectly fine.”

  “You almost got yourself killed.”

  “Trust me,” Aoife said. “You’re being dramatic.”

  “Well, I almost died, and Rex almost died, too. I had to… I had to kill a bunch of dogs. Probably the same ones that attacked you. That didn’t have to happen.”

  Aoife turned away. What sort of point was he trying to make, anyway? “I didn’t ask you to come after me.”

  “Oh, don’t start that business,” Max said.

  “But it’s a fair point, right? Besides. I went out to get you a present. You like it, by the way?”

  Max lowered his head, returned his focus to stitching Aoife’s arm. “I… I haven’t opened it yet. Wanted to open it when I got back.”

  He hadn’t opened it? Really? Ungrateful bastard. He was quick to open Hailey’s present. But hers could wait? Really?

  She looked away. “Well, I hope you like it, whenever you get round to it.”

  “I saw the boat,” Max said. “I’m guessing that was your Plan A present?”

  “How did you guess?”

  “I found it in the middle of the road. Your blood next to it.”

  Aoife sighed. “Those bastard dogs. It was perfect, too. You know, that westie you brought back here was the ringleader. You want to watch that one. Pebbles. Little Flintstones shit.”

  Max smirked. And Aoife felt like the weight in the air had lifted, now. Like the awkwardness between them had gone, thank God.

  “Look,” Aoife said. She could feel her heart pounding. It felt like this was the moment. The moment she’d been waiting for. The moment everything had been building towards. “I… I’m sorry I went wandering off like that. I guess I… I don’t know why I did it. I suppose… Well. The truth is…”

  She looked at Max. Felt that confession hanging in the air. Those words.

  Tell him.

  Just tell him the truth.

  Tell him you love him.

  Then she felt the fear kicking in, swallowing those words up.

  “I’m guessing the truth is… I felt bad.”

  “Felt bad?” Max said. Almost like he wasn’t expecting those words, either. Like he was expecting something else.

  “I guess…” Aoife said. “I guess I felt bad because I l… Because I forgot to get you a present. And I suppose… I dunno. I just felt like I was a shit… a shit friend or whatever.”

  Fuck. She’d bottled it. Actually had that opportunity to tell Max how she felt, right there before her, and she’d bottled it.

  Max was quiet for a moment, too. Like, it was seriously as if even he was expecting a bigger confession, too.

  “And—and I guess I also wanted to say—”

  A bang outside, from nowhere.

  Aoife jumped.

  Max turned around.

  “The hell was that?” he said.

  He got up. And Aoife got up, too, still a bit high on the adrenaline of everything. Of coming so close to telling Max the truth, then losing the moment, just like that.

  “I don’t know,” Aoife said. “But it sounded…”

  And then she heard another one.

  And another.

  There was no mistaking what they were.

  Explosions.

  And it sounded like they were coming from all around the community.

  All around the estate.

  She got up. Rushed outside, Max alongside her. Her arm still sore, but the last thing she could think about right now.

  She could hear shouting.

  Hear gunshots.

  See people running through the streets.

  And she could hear dogs barking, too.

  And there was something else.

  Something that filled her with terror.

  Smoke.

  Smoke at the east gate.

  Then smoke at the other walls around the estate.

  The explosions going off everywhere.

  Inside.

  Outside.

  Everywhere.

  And it was only when a woman called Sheila ran past, blood all over her face, that the reality of this situation sank in.

  “We’re under attack,” she shouted. “We’re—we’re under attack!”

  Chapter Ten

  Max heard the explosions and watched the smoke rising from every corner of this community, and he knew things were bad right away.

  First, the screaming. Then, the sight of people running through the streets, covered in blood. The air growing hotter as flames started to climb the walls; as they rushed along the streets, far faster than seemed possible.

  The sound of the dogs barking. Some of them yelping in fear.

  And in the distance, the sight of blood.

  Of dismembered limbs sitting in messy, fleshy puddles.

  All over the place.

  He looked around at all these horrors, and his first flashback was to war. To Afghanistan.

  And then to that instinct, any army medic had.

  The instinct to help.

  But as he looked around, he saw the people on the ground here were mostly beyond helping.

  Missing arms.

  Missing legs.

  And the explosions kept on happening.

  Kept on thumping through the community.

  “We’re surrounded!”

  Max heard that voice beside him. Saw it was Sam, one of the older blokes, well respected in this community. Known for his calm head. For his composed demeanour. For his rationality.

  But right now, he looked shit-scared.

  “Max.”

  Max looked around. Saw Aoife beside him. Saw her wide eyes. Her pale face. That fearful expression.

  “We need to go,” she said. “We—we need to get out of here.”

  “We can’t just leave.”

  “The place is under attack, Max. It’s… it’s under attack. We can’t just stay here. We have
to go. We have to go, or we’re not going to make it.”

  He heard Aoife’s words, and he wanted to argue. Because she was wrong. There were people trapped here, and they needed saving. They needed help.

  But then he heard the next explosion, or felt the heat growing more intense, or saw another flash of blood, and he knew deep down that time was running out.

  “To the alleys on the west,” he said. “There… there has to be a way.”

  He ran. Holding Aoife’s hand. And as he ran, he found it so hard to keep going. Because he could see people lying on the streets. People covered in blood. People missing limbs. People crying out, gargling. Begging for help.

  “I can’t—”

  “We have to leave, Max,” Aoife said. Her voice was shaky, quivery. “I know… I know it’s not easy. It’s not easy for me, either. But we have to leave.”

  And Max heard her. Because the flames were getting hotter. The smoke was getting thicker.

  And the more he moved through this street, the more he realised a horrible truth.

  Time was running out.

  He went to take a left, down the alleyways, when he saw something.

  The kennels. The area where the kennels were.

  Where Rex and the other dogs were.

  He could see the dogs jumping at the metal fences. Some of them were dead. In pieces.

  But some of them were still alive.

  But that fence was still erect.

  There was no way they were escaping.

  They were going to burn alive if he didn’t get in there and help them.

  “The dogs,” Max said.

  “There’s… Fuck. Rex.”

  “We can’t leave him.”

  Aoife nodded, tears rolling down her face. “I don’t… I don’t know what else we can—”

  “We can’t just give up,” Max said. “I… I can’t just give up. I have to try, and you know it.”

  Aoife nodded. And Max felt bad for her. ’Cause in the urgency of the whole situation, he knew this was tearing her apart too. Rex was her dog before his, and she was making a very pragmatic and painful decision right now.

  “You need to go,” Max said.

  Aoife frowned. “No. No.”

  “Don’t make this about your guilt from the past,” Max said. “Don’t think of it like you’re leaving me or like you’re leaving Rex. Like you’re running away. Save yourself right now. And I’ll come back. I promise you, we’ll both come back, okay?”

  Aoife went to shake her head. He could see her wanting to argue. Wanting to fight.

  And wanting to say something more.

  “Go,” Max said. “Go.”

  “You’d better come back,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “And you’d better fucking bring my dog back with you.”

  “I will,” Max said. “I promise.”

  She nodded. And then, as the chaos and the screaming continued to erupt around the place, Max watched as Aoife stepped away.

  Eyes on him at all times.

  He watched her reach the alleyway.

  Watched her stop. Look back at him.

  Watched her shake her head, then look away.

  And then he turned around.

  Turned towards the kennels.

  He knew what he had to do.

  He knew where he needed to—

  A bang.

  A bang right in the middle of the street, right between where he and Aoife were.

  Flames erupting everywhere.

  A building flattened.

  And as he looked back, fear filling him, he knew that even if he wanted to go that way again, to find Aoife that way… his chance was gone.

  There was only one way now.

  He ran. Ran down the street. Ran towards the kennels. His ears rang. His nose was filled with smoke.

  And the heat of the flames was growing hotter, hotter…

  He ran over to the kennels, his focus on only one thing now—on getting Rex the hell out of those kennels. On getting all the dogs out of those kennels.

  He reached the fencing and saw all the dogs jumping up at him. Pebbles was there. The other dogs were covered in blood.

  But there were others lying down.

  Pieces and chunks of others, all over the place.

  He couldn’t see Rex.

  He yanked at the chains tied around the gate. Tried to pull it open, but it was stuck. Couldn’t reach the main gate ’cause of the flames and the smoke.

  And those flames were getting closer.

  “Come on,” he said. “Come on!”

  He went to pull the gate again when he noticed something.

  Rex.

  Right at the back of the kennels.

  Sitting down. Panting. Tongue out.

  Like he was in shock.

  Or suffering from smoke inhalation, he wasn’t sure.

  He pulled even harder at those gates, but they weren’t coming loose.

  They weren’t going anywhere.

  “Shit,” he said. “Shit.”

  He looked at all these dogs, barking, yelping away, and then he looked at Rex, and he found himself having to make the hardest damned decision he’d ever made.

  “I’m getting you out of there, lad. I’m getting you out of there.”

  He climbed over the fence.

  Rushed over to Rex.

  Picked him up.

  “Come on, you big lump. Let’s get you out of this mess.”

  He ran back to the fence. The rest of the dogs surrounding him. Wagging their tails. Jumping up at him like he was their saviour.

  Even though he knew there was nothing he could do for all of them.

  Even though he was only here for Rex.

  He reached the fence. Went to throw Rex over the top of it. It wasn’t a big drop, so he’d be fine.

  But then he stopped.

  The gate.

  It might be flimsier from this side.

  Flimsier from the weight of the dogs pushing against it.

  He pushed against it. Hard. Harder than he had before.

  And he saw the opening, narrow, but there.

  Big enough for a few dogs to get out of.

  “Go on,” he shouted. “Go on!”

  He watched as the dogs wormed their way out. As they ran away, through the street. Into the houses. Through gaps Max didn’t even know were there.

  And he didn’t know the fate of them all.

  He didn’t know what happened to the bulk of them.

  But he wanted to imagine they made it.

  He wanted to imagine they’d be okay out there.

  He watched the white westie, Pebbles, run off down the street.

  Look back at him.

  And he swore he saw gratitude in her eyes.

  For giving her a second chance.

  “Now for you,” he said.

  He pushed Rex through the gap. Hard, because he was too big for it.

  And the flames were getting closer.

  The smoke was getting closer.

  Time was running out.

  “Go on,” he said. “For once in your bloody life, don’t get lazy on me now.”

  He pushed Rex through. His back end sticking between the crack in the fence.

  He went to give him one final push when he collapsed forward.

  Rex was through.

  He was out.

  He went to climb over the fence to get out with him when he heard something.

  A bang.

  A huge bang, right behind him.

  A hot burst of energy.

  A rush of force as he flew forward, through the air.

  And then he cracked against the ground and felt nothing.

  Chapter Eleven

  Max opened his eyes.

  His face was sore. He could taste blood. His body felt hot, on fire. He could hear something beside him. Like breathing. Panting.

  He looked around. He could see something across the road. It looked like a body. Missing a head.


  And then it hit him.

  The explosions.

  The attack on the community.

  Saving Rex and the other dogs, and…

  A nudge. A nudge on his left side.

  He looked around and saw Rex beside him.

  He was on his feet now, which was a big relief. Clearly not in a bad way like before. And by the looks of things, trying to get Max moving.

  “Hey, lad. Hey. I’m coming. I’m…”

  He looked around, and he saw the disarray.

  He had no idea how long he’d been out, but clearly not long. The flames had totally swallowed the old dog kennels and were creeping closer to him and Rex. The street where he’d walked down, leading towards Aoife’s escape route, was totally blocked and burning.

  He hoped she was okay. Prayed she’d made it out alive.

  Whatever the case, he needed to get the hell out of this community. And fast.

  He went to stand. Felt sore all over, his knees especially. Looked all around. He could see dogs still running through the streets. A few survivors limping along, blood all over their faces, crying out. He wanted to help. Wanted to save as many people here as possible.

  But he knew he didn’t have time.

  “Where are we gonna go, Rex? Where the hell are we gonna go?”

  He looked around, trying to find the best way out, when he saw his house up ahead.

  If he got there, he could go out the back window, climb over the fence at the back. It didn’t look like anything had gone off over there. He was gonna be okay. He was gonna make it.

  Both of them were gonna make it.

  And if he didn’t make it, well… at least he could get Rex out of here. That’d be enough for him. Knowing Rex was okay. Knowing Aoife was okay.

  He ran. Ran through the streets with Rex by his side. Kept his head down now, resisting all instincts to help people, as goddamned hard as that was.

  He kept on going down the street, navigating his way around the broken glass. The burning debris.

  The entire estate looking like everywhere else in this world. Everywhere else abandoned. Like it had been battered.

  Not looking like home anymore. Because it wasn’t home anymore. This version of home was gone.

  As had everyone in it, by the looks of things.

  He reached the end of the street. Saw it was blocked. Shit. No choice now. Had to go through his house. Had to escape through the window. No other way.