A Solar Winter

by Ryan Casey

  “No. Do I hell. Fate? Give me a break. But hey. It’s a nice soundbite, isn’t it? Reckon I could write some kind of motivational book when all this is over? ‘Mike’s Magic Words of Wisdom?’”

  Alison tutted, punched Mike on the arm. “Get caught up with your daughter. But make it quick because we seriously need to get moving.”

  Mike nodded. Smiled. Then he walked off in Holly’s direction.

  “Oh, and Mike?”

  Mike turned back.

  Alison stared at him, a different expression on her face now.

  One Mike could only describe as fear.

  “Be careful,” she said.

  Mike didn’t know what Alison was referring to. But he could guess that Alison’s time on the road with Holly had been… challenging.

  He nodded. Then he turned around.

  Holly was already right in front of him.

  She looked through him with that dead-eyed stare. Their recent reunion felt like an eternity ago. The emotion had been switched off from Holly now. There was something different about her. Someone there he didn’t recognise.

  “Holly,” he said. “If you need to talk about anyth—”

  “I saw Gina.”

  Mike frowned. “What?”

  “She was driving a van. I know it sounds crazy but… I saw her. And she was heading down this road. That’s where I was heading when I met Emma. That’s where we have to go.”

  Mike shook his head. “But Gina. She… she’s dead.”

  “She’s not dead because I saw her. And I know what I saw.”

  Mike considered Holly’s words. Kumal said Gina died in the pub. But what if she’d got out? What if?

  “She can’t be—”

  “Holly’s right,” Alison intervened.

  Mike frowned. “What?”

  Alison told him about how she’d bumped into Gina when she was on her own with Arya. They’d gone into a town. Got cornered by some military group. Alison showed a little too much resistance for their liking, so they’d taken Gina and Arya away and tied up Alison, leaving her to die.

  Mike thought about the idea that Gina was driving, and the direction she was heading in, and he could only come to one possibility. “She must be a part of this group Yuri told me about.”

  “You sure you want to trust your Russian friend if they’re the same people who left me for dead?”

  Mike considered Alison’s words. Looked at Kelsie, then at Holly. “I’m not sure we have much of a choice.”

  Holly nodded. That distance still on her face; that detachment.

  “Holly, are you sure you don’t want to talk about anything?”

  Her eyes moved like she was scanning the sky for her thoughts.

  Then she looked back at Mike. Half-smiled. “No, Dad. It’s okay. I’m okay. Well. I am now.”

  She walked past him, over to Alison. Mike watched them. It looked like they were arguing for a while. Then eventually, it looked like they came to some kind of agreement and an end to their tension.

  And then he walked back to Kelsie.

  She was sitting upright eating snow.

  “Hey,” Mike said. “You know what I told you about eating snow. Much better to let it melt before drinking it. Doesn’t use up as much energy that way.”

  She looked at Mike, snow dribbling down her chin, and she smiled the warmest smile she’d smiled for some time.

  “You’re a good dad,” she said.

  Mike felt warmth in his chest. “What—”

  He didn’t say another word.

  In the distance, he heard footsteps.

  He looked up.

  His skin crawled.

  There was a group with him.

  And they weren’t strangers.

  “Hello again, Mikey-boy,” Theo said, smile beaming across his face. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Mike saw Theo standing opposite, his four remaining friends alongside him, and the hope that had built in the last hour slipped away completely.

  The afternoon was darkening as winter’s premature night approached. The snow was falling so thickly that it was rapidly covering his feet. The wind was howling, the blizzard strong, the iciness of the air so cold that his face felt numb.

  This kind of weather, these kind of conditions, they weren’t going to make running very easy.

  Which was a nightmare because Mike knew his group needed to get away from Theo and his people.

  Fast.

  Because he’d seen what Theo was capable of already.

  Theo smirked and raised his hands. “Well, Mike. What did I tell you? I told you I’d find you. I told you that you weren’t gonna get away from me as easily as you thought. And remember what else I told you?”

  Dread intensified right in the pit of Mike’s stomach. He looked around at Holly, at Kelsie, at Alison, at Sofia, and at Emma. Then he looked back at Theo. “This doesn’t have to end the way you think it does.”

  Theo laughed, then. He laughed and started to make his way over towards Mike. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. Now, maybe, maybe I might’ve thought about letting you go. Maybe I would’ve stopped chasing you. After all, it takes a hell of a lot of energy to hunt someone like you down, you know? We’ve travelled quite some miles to find you. But hey. We’re here now. A happy reunion. And you know why it’s all the more sweet? You know why this feels so good, to me, to my people?”

  “I didn’t kill your people,” Mike said.

  Theo frowned. “You didn’t? They looked pretty dead to me.”

  “What happened in the woods. Your people were surrounding me. They were surrounding Kelsie. But someone else stepped in. A small faction of the same military group from overseas who have been terrorising our people for months. I’m not saying they’re all good. One of them turned out to be not so good at all. But at the end of the day, if you have an issue, it’s with them. Not with me. Not with a little girl.”

  Theo smiled. He looked at his people, then back at Mike. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  And then he walked over to the nearest person to him—Sofia—and he lifted her up and put a knife to her neck.

  Mike’s instinct was to stagger forward, to lunge closer to Sofia. Although he didn’t know her, she was a part of this group now. They were all together against these vicious people. So Mike would do whatever he had to in order to protect her.

  “You’re going to want to let her go,” he said.

  Theo smiled again, let out a little laugh this time. “That’s the problem with you, Mike. You’re always dishing out the orders, always giving these commands like you have a God-given right to make these calls. But you don’t. You’re nothing. You’re nobody. And you’re going to find out just how much of a nobody you are. Your people are going to find out how much of a nobody you are. I’m going to make them watch.”

  Mike’s tension grew further. He realised there was no bargaining with these people. They were the kind of savages who just wanted to watch the world collapse.

  He looked over at Sofia. Saw the rifle beside her on the ground. Way too far out of reach.

  He looked into her eyes. Tearful, as Theo’s blade pressed against her neck.

  He looked up to the sky, and he took a deep breath.

  Because he was going to try something.

  Something for the rest of his people.

  “Take me,” he said.

  Theo frowned. “What?”

  Mike edged forward. Raised his hands, made it clear he had no weapons, and that there were no catches here. “I’m the one your problem’s with. Nobody else. There’s a girl here who needs urgent medical attention. The rest of these people… your problem’s not with them. It’s me you’re trying to punish. You want revenge for something that happened to you and to your people. Something I can’t answer for, something I don’t know about… but something I’ll suffer for anyway. So take me. Punish me.”

  Theo watched as Mike stopped, just inches away fr
om him now. A smile twitched, revealing rotting teeth. He kept holding on to Sofia.

  “You still just don’t understand, do you?” he said.

  Then he pulled back the knife.

  “I want you to watch what a failure you are. Killing you would be the easy option.”

  He slammed the knife towards Sofia’s neck.

  Mike didn’t even think.

  He threw himself at Theo.

  Knocked him to the ground.

  He felt Theo’s knife hit his back. He felt it piercing his skin, once, twice, three times.

  But he kept on pushing Theo down to the ground. Kept on punching him, repeatedly, right in the face.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  He didn’t have time to look back at his people to check to see they were leaving. Because the next thing he knew, Theo’s people were onto him, dragging him up as he bled out, pulling him away from Theo.

  He looked over at his people as he stood there amidst this group. He looked at Holly, at Alison, at Emma, at Kelsie, and at Sofia.

  He looked at them all looking back at him, and he cleared his throat. “Go,” he said.

  Theo’s face turned. “No. That’s not how it works—”

  Mike broke free of the two people holding on to him. He took another swing at Theo, more laboured this time, less power to it, but still as sweet as ever.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  He felt more punches to his back. He felt his head being kicked. And as he struggled and writhed around on the snowy ground, Mike caught a glance of his daughter standing there, leading the rest of the group away, tears on her face.

  “I love you, angel,” he said, through bloodied teeth.

  He watched her fade from vision.

  “I love y—”

  Another heavy kick smacked into the side of his head.

  His vision went totally blurry.

  Then, there was nothing.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Holly couldn’t stop thinking about Dad as she ran away from the scene of the showdown.

  It was getting dark. The snow made visibility nigh-on impossible. She couldn’t hear the fighting, the kicking, or the shouting anymore, which meant she must’ve run far enough to flee the group.

  But that image.

  That image of Dad looking up at her from the ground, smile on his face, mouthing that he loved her.

  That was something she couldn’t stop replaying in her mind’s eye.

  She looked to her right. She could see the silhouettes of Alison, of Emma and of Kelsie in Alison’s arms. And as they ran together, for the first time in a long time, Holly felt a unity. She felt a bond with other people, something that had been missing for too long.

  But at the same time… she felt sadness, too. Because it wasn’t just Dad who’d been left behind. It was Sofia, too.

  She could feel herself attaching again; feel herself returning to reality.

  And that made her stop.

  It was a little while before Alison realised Holly had stopped.

  “Holly? We need to keep going. We’re not safe yet.”

  Holly swallowed a lump in her throat. “I’m not coming.”

  “You’re not coming? What do you mean you’re not coming?”

  “My dad’s back there. Sofia’s back there. They’re going to torture them. God knows what else. And I… I can’t let that happen. I just can’t sit back.”

  Alison stroked the side of Holly’s head. “Holly, I know this isn’t easy. But we have a chance here. A real chance of making it to this safe place. If we turn back, we’re stepping into the abyss. Your dad. You saw… you saw.”

  Holly nodded. “I know what I saw. That’s why I’m going to do this on my own.”

  She turned around. Looked back into the snow.

  “No,” Alison said.

  She stepped to Holly’s side. Took her hand.

  Holly stroked Alison’s hand and then pulled hers away.

  She looked into Alison’s teary eyes. Saw her shaking her head, trying to break through to Holly, trying to make her realise just how dangerous what she was proposing actually was.

  “It’s suicide, Holly,” Alison said.

  Holly half-smiled. “I know. But it’s the least I can do for my dad. For Sofia. I can’t just leave them behind. Not after everything. You know. You… you understand. More than anyone.”

  Alison lowered her head. The rest of the group had stopped now, too. Alison took Holly’s hands in hers, stroked them. Looked deep into her eyes. “You come back, Holly,” she said. “You come back.”

  Holly felt a lump bobbling in her throat. “I will.”

  And then Alison wiped a tear from her eye and stepped away.

  Then she stopped.

  “Wait,” Alison said.

  Holly frowned. “I’m not staying, Alison—”

  “I know you’re not staying. And I know you say you’re doing this alone. But… no. Just no. I’m not going to let you do this alone. Not again. Not after last time.”

  “The difference to last time is that you’ve got people to look out for now. Kelsie. Emma. They’re strong. But they’re not strong enough without you. You need to help them get to this safe place. You need to help them find Gina.”

  Alison half-smiled again, wiped her fingers through her hair. “Holly… just be safe. Be safe for me. Please.”

  Holly nodded. “I’ll try my best.”

  And she meant that sincerely. Because promising anything more was just dangerous.

  She walked past Alison, then. Walked over to Emma.

  “You stay safe, okay?”

  Emma nodded. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then she stopped.

  “That’s my girl,” Holly said.

  She walked past Alison again, faced the snow. She took a deep breath as she stared out at the blizzard.

  Then she pulled her knife out of her pocket, facing the road ahead.

  “I’ll see you soon,” she said, without turning around.

  “Good luck,” Alison said. “Come back safely. Please.”

  Holly nodded. Then she waited. She waited for the darkness to increase. Waited for the snow to grow heavier.

  When she’d waited a while, she looked back.

  She was on her own now.

  She took a deep breath.

  Then she sliced away some more of her hair, balding herself all over again.

  She lowered the bloodied knife.

  She put the ring Dad handed her back on her finger.

  It was time to get to work.

  It was time to save Sofia.

  It was time to save her dad.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Mike opened his eyes and felt the pain stretch down his back.

  He had no idea what time it was, because there was something covering his eyes, like a blindfold. He had no idea whether it was still the night he’d been attacked; the night he’d said a painful farewell to his people once again, or whether it was the following day, or whether loads of time had passed already.

  All he knew was that his back ached like mad. His side hurt worse than ever before.

  And there was something else.

  A hot, searing pain splitting through each of his wounds.

  He tried to turn, but his neck ached. He steadied his breathing. He wasn’t sure whether he was moving or not. His body was shaking all over, creating the illusion that he was being transported somewhere.

  But where was he now?

  How had he got here?

  He strained, tried to remember the circumstances that led to him waking up here. He’d fought with Theo and his people. He’d told Holly and the others to go.

  And then he’d fallen unconscious under their attack.

  He remembered a few other things. Travelling somewhere. Being dragged along, through the icy cold of the snow.

  And something else, too.

  Sofia.

  The woman. The woman who had the showdown with his daught
er. She’d been dragged along with him, too.

  Both had been captured. Both had made a sacrifice for the good of the rest of the group.

  But Mike wasn’t intending to honour that sacrifice. Not now he was awake.

  Sure, sacrificing himself to save Holly, Kelsie, Alison, and the other girl, Emma… that was enough for him.

  But the fact that Sofia was here now—past issues or not—that changed everything.

  It gave Mike someone to fight for.

  He listened for a sound; for a sign of life.

  But there was nothing.

  Nothing but the ringing in his ears.

  Nothing but silence.

  He tried to shake free, but he was tied to something. Some kind of wooden bench, it felt like. And around his wrists, cable ties, so tight that his hands felt like they were going to burst.

  He pulled against them, then realised that wasn’t going to do him any good. He knew how strong these ties were. He needed to think outside the box; to try something else.

  He leaned forward, trying to gauge how tough the wood he was attached to actually was.

  When he heard it creak… his hopes started to rise.

  He pulled some more, heard the wood creaking again. Of course, he had to be careful. He didn’t know that he was alone in here. Someone could just be teasing him; tormenting him.

  He took a few deep, steadying breaths. He had to try to get out of here, after all. Whether or not there was somebody in here, waiting here was only going to bring trouble; chaos.

  So he ground his teeth together, and he lurched forward.

  The wood creaked some more.

  He could feel it bending as he moved.

  He fell back, the pain of the movement crippling his wounds. He didn’t know what state they were in. It felt like they’d been cauterised, but at the same time, it felt like infection was kicking in.

  He had to ask the question.

  Why were these people keeping him alive?

  They could’ve just killed him, so why keep him alive?

  The thought scared him.

  He steadied his breathing, tried not to get too caught up in the pain in his back. He remembered the things he’d been taught back in military training.

  Don’t resist the pain.