by Ryan Casey
And it started off well, in all truth. She’d walked into the yard and waved at Harriet Eames, who was a bit of a bitch to her last year. The first thing Harriet did was wave back, tell her how great her hair looked, and how they were all hanging out by the pond that lunch so she should come along and join them. And maybe it was young Suzy’s naivety, but something made her believe in what Harriet was offering. Something made her think that perhaps, just perhaps, things could be different this year after all. That she didn’t have to be the sensitive, unpopular kid anymore. That people really could change.
She’d made her way to the pond at lunch, which was a daring move in itself considering the pond was strictly out of bounds. She’d even brought some extra sugary sweets along, which she was hoping she could share with the other girls. Maybe Martin would be there. She’d had a crush on Martin since day one. And she swore he looked at her too, sometimes, smile on his face.
But Martin didn’t like girls like her. He liked pretty girls. Girls like Harriet.
Sometimes she saw the narrowed look on Harriet’s face when Martin smiled at her and it made the hairs on her arms stand on end.
That’s when she realised that nobody was at the pond.
She looked around. Totally silent. The pond was a mess. It was filled with rubbish, plastic bottles, all kinds of things. There were shopping trollies in there. A few ducks still floating atop the murky water, which Suzy immediately felt sorry for.
She went to turn around, to leave, trying to hold back the tears. And all the while it was that forgiving streak that ran through her. The one telling her that maybe Harriet had just forgotten. Or maybe she’d meant another pond or another day.
But it was when she went to walk away that she saw Harriet standing right opposite her.
She smiled at her. And there was that meanness in her eyes.
“Catch,” she said.
It took Suzy a moment to realise what was happening.
Harriet had something murky in her hands. Something brown.
Something from the pond…
And by that point of realisation, it was already too late to do anything about it.
The murky, slimy brown stuff slapped against Suzy’s face. She could taste it, all rotten on her lips. She staggered back, almost sliding down into the pond, but messing up all her uniform.
Then she heard the laughter.
She looked up and saw Harriet laughing. Then a few of Harriet’s friends, Betsy and Shannon.
And while they were laughing, she could feel her skin flaring up. She could feel herself turning red. Her allergies kicking up.
“Shit,” a voice said. “Have you ever seen anything so ugly?”
Suzy felt her bottom lip turning.
But it wasn’t because of the words.
It was because of who else was at the top of the hill, watching everything unfold, not doing a thing to intervene.
Martin.
She took a deep breath then, returning to the present. The memory was a horrible one. One that she never liked to revisit, but one she couldn’t help but return to every now and then, it was that ingrained on her psyche.
She held onto the gun and walked towards Jon’s camp.
Men could be shits.
That was one thing she did know for certain.
She saw the gates of Jon’s camp up ahead and her skin turned. She knew Peter and Alex were standing guard not far behind, tailing her. But at the same time, she knew the sheer danger of this situation. The risks it carried with it.
But they had her son.
These people had her son.
She’d do anything to try and save her son.
Even die.
She stopped when she was a few feet from the gates. She stood there, stared up at them in all their glory. There was no-one standing guard. There was nobody around. No sounds. No anything. And that made Suzy feel uncertain again, because it reminded her of the last time they’d been here. The time when she and the others had been ambushed, and that Jon’s group weren’t even inside the gates at all, instead standing outside, watching.
And she knew this time, there wasn’t going to be a second chance.
This had to work.
She put her gun away, not that she was comfortable doing so. But she couldn’t be seen carrying it. After all, she had to try and reach out to Jon’s people from a position of apparent weakness, not one of strength.
She took a few more steps. Everything was so silent. Not a sound anywhere. Not a sign of life anywhere.
She walked right up to the gate, heart racing. She put a hand against it. She thought about opening her mouth, calling out. At least if she got their attention it wouldn’t take them by surprise, and would give them a chance to…
Then something happened.
The gate. The gate to the caravan site.
One little push and it started to open.
Suzy frowned. She wasn’t sure how to react to this. These gates, although no longer working electronically, were solid. Or at least they were supposed to be solid.
And now they were just opening up…
She looked over her shoulder, then back at the gates. Something didn’t seem right. Something felt off. Very off.
But she kept on going.
When she pushed the gate open, she saw the inside of the campsite.
It was empty. The caravans looked unoccupied. The reception area looked deserted.
But there was one person there.
One person, lying on the ground just feet away from her.
Dead.
She didn’t recognise this person.
But she could see from the sore on his skin that he’d suffered.
She could see the flies buzzing around him.
His bloated flesh.
She started to back away. This wasn’t right. She had to let Alex and Peter know something was wrong. She had to—
As she turned, she was vaguely aware of the person opposite her, just for a split second.
But then she felt something slam against her skull, and after that, there was nothing but blackness.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The minutes passed by and I started to worry about Suzy.
I hadn’t heard anything. No gunshots. No screams. And that had to count for something.
But at the same time, I hadn’t seen anything either. And that made me concerned.
I’d been so focused on Suzy, keeping her in sight. Peter, the same.
But neither of us had seen what’d happened, where she’d gone.
We only knew one thing for sure.
Something had happened.
Suzy was gone.
And we were going to have to do something about it.
Clouds started to cover the sun. A chill carried in the breeze. The tree branches scratched against each other even louder, their conversations growing in intensity. I looked ahead at the opening gate to the caravan site and I knew I was going to have to make a push down there. We both were. Something had happened to Suzy. Someone had got to her. And we were going to have to get to her before the situation escalated any further.
I held onto the cold metal of my gun and I thought about all the things I’d do to Jon if he laid a finger on Suzy.
And then I took a sharp breath in, shook my head.
Nothing was going to happen to her.
I wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to her.
I looked at Peter. He didn’t exactly look comfortable about any of this. But then again, he never had been, not really.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Ready for what?”
“You know what. Plan B.”
“There’s a Plan B? See as far as I was aware, there was only a Plan A. And that plan looks like it’s failed.”
I shook my head, looking back down at the gun in my hand, and then at the gates of Jon’s camp. We just had to go in there. We just had to investigate. And then we had to free our people and finish Jon off. It sounded
so simple. It sounded almost too simple.
And yet… I couldn’t help but wonder, what other option did we have, now?
What else could we do?
“I’m going down there,” I said.
Peter grabbed my shoulder. “Are you insane?”
“I can’t leave Suzy. Not after all she risked to help us.”
“Think about it. She’s gone missing. Which means someone down there was probably watching her. It probably means they’re watching us, too. Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”
I knew Peter had a point. But at the same time, I knew that there wasn’t exactly a lot else we could do.
I had to go down there.
I had to fight.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just—”
It was right at that moment that I heard a blast.
I saw the wood on the tree beside me crumble away.
I looked at it, ears ringing, not knowing what’d happened, not really understanding what’d happened.
And then it clicked.
A gun.
Someone had fired at us.
With Suzy’s gun?
Another shot.
I fell to my stomach. Peter did the same.
We dragged ourselves behind the trees, the gunfire continuing to blast in our direction.
“Still so sure about heading down there now?” Peter said.
“I suppose the situation has changed a little.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
I kept down on the ground, Peter did too. We were both still. Totally still. The gunfire had stopped. Silence had returned. The ringing in my ears was beginning to subside.
I wasn’t sure how long we lay there. Only that I had to look to see what was happening.
I bit my lip, knowing full well it could be the final time I did so.
Then I lifted my head and looked down at Jon’s camp.
I couldn’t see anyone down there. Certainly no one with a gun.
But I knew I had to be careful.
I nodded at Peter.
Then I rose slightly, started making my way down that hill.
That’s when I saw them.
And that’s when I froze.
Jon was standing just outside the entrance to the camp. He’d been blocked by a tree not long ago, but now he was in full visibility.
And so too were the two people kneeling before him.
Gun between their heads.
“Hello again, Alex,” Jon said, smile on his face. “What was it about ‘don’t come back here’ you didn’t understand?”
I looked at Suzy as she kneeled in front of Jon.
I looked at Will by her side.
And I knew we were in deep shit.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I looked at Jon as he stood there, gun in hand, Suzy one side of him and Will at the other, and I felt my fists tightening.
I’d done a good job of constraining my lust for vengeance over the last day or so. I’d reined it in. Pulled it in and resisted being driven by a desire to make this man and his people pay for what they’d done to my son.
And that wasn’t an easy feat. After all, it was still so fresh in my mind, what’d happened to Bobby. It was still so recent.
I wasn’t going to get over it anytime soon. I wasn’t ever going to get over it.
But again, I heard that voice in my head telling me something I wasn’t sure whether I liked to hear.
You can make him pay.
You can put things right.
“So you disobey my request to stay away from us. And not only that, but you come along armed? Some would say you’re an incredibly brave man, Alex. And others would say you’re an incredibly stupid one. I’m seeing more of the latter at the moment.”
“What do you want?” I said.
It wasn’t the exact combination of words I’d expected to leave my mouth. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind.
But it was true.
This man had my wife. He’d killed my son, and now he had my people.
And for what?
For what?
I saw Jon’s eyes twitching as he stood in front of the entrance to his caravan site. Around him were more of his people, they too looking back up towards me and Peter.
And in Jon’s eyes I could see something. I didn’t want to label it. But it felt like I was looking into a mirror. Like somehow he was a reflection of my state of mind.
I wondered what had happened to him. I wondered what he’d been through to reach this point.
But at the same time, I didn’t exactly want to have a conversation, I didn’t want to find out.
Because finding out might humanise him.
And I couldn’t humanise him.
Not the man who had murdered my son.
His face turned to a smile. “What do I want? I’ve told you what I want already—”
“You’ve taken everything away from me,” I said. “You killed my son. And now you have my wife. My friends. Why are you doing this? All because I didn’t let you stay in our cottage that night? This can’t just be about that.”
Jon shook his head. “You know full well it’s not just about that.”
“The man. The man I killed. Yes, he was one of your people. But he wasn’t your family. He said he’d been banished. So that can’t be it either. Don’t tell me this is just revenge for what I did to him.”
Jon’s eyes were beginning to narrow and twitch. He looked around, and I sensed an air of panic about him, like his mask was peeling away.
“I won’t pretend I’m a saint,” I said. “And I won’t lie when I tell you what I want to do to you. What I want to put you through for what you’ve done to me. But… but what you’re doing. It’s only going to make me want to hurt you even more. And I won’t give up. I promise you that much. So stop this. Please. Just… If you have to, take me.”
I wasn’t sure where those words came from. But everyone looked at me as I said them. Even Peter turned his head and frowned.
“What?” Jon said.
I looked up at him, right into his eyes. “Take me. Let my people go and take me. It was me who turned you away. It was me who killed your old friend. Just don’t punish these people for something they aren’t even involved in. They’ve been through enough as it is.”
Silence followed. I heard the birds singing, the wind brushing against the branches.
Jon sighed. He lowered his gun. “You know, you have a point.”
I frowned.
Then he turned his gun and pushed it right into the back of Will’s skull.
Suzy tried to scream behind the gag on her mouth, tried to kick out and get to her son, but to no avail.
Jon pressed his gun in even further. “But you don’t get to tell me how I do things. You don’t get to tell me what I do or don’t do. And y’know, taking you would be the easy route. It’d be the easy route and I’d rather make you suffer. I want you to drop your guns and I want you to leave, okay? Because I’d rather make you suffer for what you d…”
He stopped speaking, then. Everyone was looking at him, uncertainty in their eyes.
He looked around. It was like he was realising his mask had slipped. He wiped sweat from his forehead, took in a deep breath, then pulled the gun back from Will’s head.
“Something happened to you, didn’t it?”
Jon stopped. He turned and looked up at me. “What?”
My heart pounded. My throat was dry and sore, but I knew I had to keep on speaking. “Something happened to you. Something that hurt you very much. And whatever it was… it’s making you want to carry out your revenge. No matter who it’s against, it’s making you want to do it no matter what.”
“Stop talking, drop your guns and walk away.”
But I didn’t stop. “You might think killing me and my family, and my friends, you might think that’s making things right for you.”
“I told you to—”
“But it isn’t. And it
never will. Because I’m not the one you’re really after, am I? And how many more people like me will it take before you’re finally, finally satisfied?”
“I told you to drop your guns and leave!”
He walked over to Will. Pushed the gun against his head. This time, his finger tickled the trigger. He was so close to pulling it.
I realised then there was no choice.
I dropped the guns.
I lifted my hands in the air.
Then I looked at Peter, nodded.
“We will leave,” I said. “But we’ll be back. I promise you that much. And when we are back… you’d better be ready.”
I looked into Suzy’s eyes and I nodded.
And then together, slowly, I turned away and walked, Peter by my side.
I wasn’t sure if Peter had seen it.
I wasn’t sure if anyone but me had seen it.
But I’d seen it nonetheless.
And I had a plan.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jon watched Alex and his friend disappear into the trees and he felt a knot tighten in his chest as he stood there in the wind, Suzy and Will on their knees before him.
He’d seen the way Alex had looked into his eyes and he didn’t like it. Because he’d looked at him like he knew. Like he understood.
And those things he’d said to him. Those words…
He’d told him he knew exactly what Jon was going through. He’d told him he understood that desire for revenge. That urge to put things right, even though he’d got his revenge against the person who had killed his family.
And the scary thing about those words Alex had said?
He was right.
He was so right.
He heard footsteps crunching through the grass beside him. When he looked up, he saw Paul looking at him, eyes narrowed. He was a skinny guy, big bags under his eyes. One of those people who probably already looked unhealthy as hell before the EMP struck.
New world wasn’t doing him any favours in the looks department, that was for sure.
“You okay, boss?” he said.
And when he said those words, Jon felt something deep down. Embarrassment, perhaps? Because he’d let his guard slip. For a moment, just a split second, he hadn’t seen Suzy and Will in front of him, and he hadn’t seen Alex and his friend at the top of that hill. He’d seen Eddie. And he wanted to kill Eddie. He wanted to kill him all over again.