A Solar Winter

by Ryan Casey

  It was time to move forward.

  Humanity could co-exist, sure.

  But there wasn’t always room for bonding.

  There wasn’t always room for civility.

  Sometimes, you had to be willing to kill, and unwilling to forgive.

  But sometimes you had to move on.

  He looked down at Theo’s body. Saw that he’d stopped moving. He didn’t feel any sympathy. Not a glimmer. He deserved to die. Mike didn’t feel any demons about what he’d done. Not anymore.

  He looked up at Theo’s people. Nodded. And in time, he saw them nod back at him. He sensed they detested Theo just as much as he did. They had a second chance now. A chance to do something different. A chance to be free.

  He looked at Sofia. Then he looked at Holly.

  “You ready?”

  They nodded.

  Mike turned around and faced the exit of the grounds.

  And then, together with Sofia and Holly, he walked.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “Gina?”

  Alison stared up at Gina. She was thinner. Her hair was shorter. But there was no denying that redness of her hair; there was no denying that slightly bewildered look on her face. It was her. She was here.

  And Arya was by her side.

  Arya licked Alison’s face again. She whined like she’d really missed her. And Alison held her back. She held her, and she cried because the pair of them had been so close; they’d been so close, and then she and Gina had been separated.

  Gina crouched down. She was still clearly bewildered. She put a hand on Alison’s side, a half-smile on her face. “I knew I’d see you again,” she said. “I—I never stopped believing.”

  Alison cried. She held Gina, and she cried.

  And then the urgency of the situation built up, and Alison remembered why she was going where she was going, and what she wanted help with.

  “This girl,” Alison said, nodding at the girl in her arms. “Kelsie. She—she needs help. She’s got a condition. Diabetes. She’s short on meds. She needs help.”

  Gina sighed. She stroked Kelsie’s hair out of her face. “Where I’m from. We—we can help her.”

  Alison felt relief at that. She looked at the van Gina had been driving. “Where are you from?”

  Gina smiled. Her eyes glistened. “It’s a long story. It’s better if you see this place rather than just hear about it. But Alison. I want you to know something. This place we’re going to… it’s the closest thing to the old world that we have. It’s safe. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

  Alison allowed herself to luxuriate in the fantasy of getting somewhere safe, once and for all. It seemed distant still; bordering on the impossible.

  But what if?

  What if?

  She smiled at Gina. Then she stood to her feet, Kelsie in her arms.

  “We’re not alone, though,” Gina said. “I picked someone up on the road.”

  Gina’s passenger door opened.

  A man climbed out.

  “This is Ian,” she said. “He’s been helping me with the…”

  Gina kept on talking.

  But Alison didn’t hear her words.

  Not anymore.

  Because Alison knew exactly who Ian was.

  And she could see from the look in his eyes exactly how he felt about her.

  “You,” Ian said.

  Alison felt the hairs on her arms stand on end.

  Gina looked around, frowning. “You two know each other?”

  “She killed my son.”

  “That’s not how it—”

  “Her and that girl. Holly. They killed my boy. And now, finally, there’s a chance to level things.”

  Fear built up in Alison’s chest. She saw the way Gina looked at her, concerned.

  But the first thing she said was: “Holly’s okay?”

  “Holly made a mistake,” Alison said. “She—she made a mistake, but she’s more than atoned for it.”

  “A mistake?” Ian said, anger in his voice. “Atoned for it? She’s nowhere near atoned for it. And the fact you’d even say that—”

  “She saved your wife’s life.”

  Ian frowned. “What?”

  “Sofia. I was travelling with her for a while, trying to find you. We ran into Holly and some other people. Sofia tried to kill Holly, but then Holly got the better of her. Holly gave Sofia her gun. She put that gun into Sofia’s hands and told her if she really wanted to, she should kill her. That only Sofia could make that choice. But she didn’t. She didn’t, and now…”

  She stopped talking. She didn’t want to tell Ian about the last part; about how Mike and Sofia had been dragged away.

  “You’re lying,” he said.

  “Why would I lie about this?”

  “Because—”

  “Ian,” Alison said. “I’m sorry for what happened. I’ll never be able to make it right. No one will. But right now, you have to hear me out when I say I didn’t want it to happen. And if you think Holly wanted it to happen, too… well, you’re wrong. You’re so wrong.”

  Ian’s face began to falter. His lips began to twitch. “My Tommy—”

  “What happened to your Tommy was awful. It’ll never be fair, and you’ll never get over it. But it’s done now, Ian. It’s over. It’s over, and I’m so, so sorry.”

  Ian lowered his head. He wiped his fingers through his short hair. His eyes were filled with tears.

  He looked back up at Gina, then.

  And then he looked at Alison.

  “I don’t believe you,” he said. “I don’t forgive you.”

  And then he started walking towards Alison, fists clenched.

  “It’s time you paid for what you did.”

  “Ian!” Gina shouted.

  But it was too late.

  Ian pulled back a fist.

  Alison squeezed her eyes shut.

  And then she heard a voice.

  “Stop.”

  It came from somewhere behind. She wasn’t sure where exactly, not at first. She wasn’t sure who it was, only that the voice was vaguely familiar.

  But when she opened her eyes, she saw Ian wasn’t holding his fist out at her anymore.

  He was staring behind her, eyes wide, filled with surprise.

  “Sofia?” he said.

  Alison turned around.

  When she saw the trio approaching, her stomach jumped with excitement.

  It was Mike.

  It was Holly.

  It was Sofia.

  “Mike,” she said.

  She walked towards him. Fell into his arms. She felt something warm and damp from his chest, and when she pulled away, she realised he was bleeding.

  “Your—your wounds—”

  “I’m okay,” Mike said.

  “Mike, you’re not—”

  “Gina?” he said. “Arya?”

  He squeezed Alison. Then he walked over to Gina, hugged her, then fussed over Arya.

  And all the time, Ian just stood there and stared at Sofia.

  He just stood there and watched.

  “They helped me, Ian,” Sofia said. “Holly. She helped me too.”

  She looked around at Holly. Looked right into her eyes.

  “I don’t forgive her. But she saved our lives.”

  Alison saw that possessed look cover Ian’s face again.

  She saw how he stormed towards Holly.

  And she prepared herself to get between them. Because no matter what she and Holly had been through, she wasn’t letting anything happen to her. Not again.

  She went to move between them when she saw something.

  Ian stopped.

  He stopped, just before Holly.

  His jaw clenched.

  His fists tightened even more.

  And then he looked away from her and fell into his wife’s arms.

  Alison felt relief as she stood there, as she watched Holly approach Gina and Arya, as she watched them hug one anot
her, watched them unite.

  She watched in this deathly blizzard as everything came back together. And for the first time in a long while, she started to believe again. She believed that goodness could prevail. That forgiveness could prosper.

  She believed that even in the darkest of times, the light always kept shining.

  “I need to give her something.”

  Alison looked around. Saw Mike was standing beside her. He was looking at Gina, holding something in his hands. A piece of paper with writing on, some letter, crumpled, torn.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s what… It’s what I found on Kumal’s body. He wrote it. For Gina. I… I made a promise to myself that I’d give it to her if ever I saw her again.”

  He went to take a step.

  Alison grabbed his arm.

  Rubbed her hand up it.

  “Maybe not now,” she said.

  Mike frowned. “Really?”

  Alison looked at the tears of joy on Gina’s face. She looked at her chatting with Holly, playing with Arya. She looked at Ian and Sofia, reunited, still hurting, but not broken. Not defeated.

  And then she looked at Kelsie sitting there, weak, but eyes open. Still fighting.

  “Not today,” Alison said. “Maybe tomorrow, but not today.”

  She took Mike’s hand in hers, and she walked over to Gina as she opened the van door, gestured everyone inside.

  “Are you ready?” Gina asked.

  Alison looked back at Ian, at Sofia, at Holly and Arya and at Kelsie.

  She looked at Mike by her side, squeezed his hand.

  “We’re ready,” Alison said.

  Gina smiled. “It’s time to go see your new home.”

  Mike’s eyes widened when he saw the walls of the sanctuary in the distance.

  He saw Alison’s smile.

  He felt Holly’s hand tightening around his. He knew how worried she was about Emma. He knew she wanted to go out there, to search for her.

  And he knew deep down that she probably would, as much as she was told it wasn’t safe.

  But for now, they were here.

  For now, they were together.

  He saw the way Ian and Sofia held one another… Ian never quite taking his eyes off Holly.

  And he saw Kelsie looking up from his arms, slight smile on her face.

  As the van got closer to the sanctuary, Mike allowed a smile to cross his face.

  Because whatever happened next, at least they had this.

  At least they were together.

  At least there was hope.

  For now.

  Gina leaned back, peered through the grating as she brought the van to a halt. “This is it,” she said. “Welcome home, folks.”

  And in all the chaos, amid all the uncertainty, Mike found himself smiling.

  Home.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Emma looked over her shoulder and ran as fast as she could.

  She’d heard them. She’d been on her way to find Holly and the others, but then she’d got lost. She’d ended up in this snowy town; this place she didn’t recognise.

  And at first, she’d thought she was okay. She thought she could just get out of here, find her way either to Holly or back to where Alison was going. She felt bad. Bad for leaving Alison alone with Kelsie. Bad for leaving her to lead the way.

  So she’d decided to go back there.

  And then she’d seen them.

  Just one of them at first. Standing there. Watching her.

  Then another.

  And another.

  And before she knew it, before she even knew who these people actually were… Emma had found herself running. Because she could tell from the looks on their faces that they were nasty; that they meant business.

  And she didn’t want to get stuck with them.

  She didn’t want to befall the same fate as the people she’d seen in that town.

  The memory of it made the hairs on her arms stand on end.

  The building she’d run inside to hide from those people.

  The smell that hit her.

  And then seeing them.

  The bodies.

  The dead bodies.

  Only…

  No. She shook her head, shifted the memory from her mind. She couldn’t focus on that right now. She couldn’t get caught up in the fear.

  She just had to keep running.

  She just had to get away—

  Footsteps.

  Footsteps crunching through the snow, right ahead.

  She stopped. Squinted. The snow was falling so heavily that it was impossible to see anything.

  But she’d heard something. She was sure of it.

  Unless…

  She wondered about her mind. She remembered Holly seeing things a while back and thinking she was just losing her mind.

  But maybe she was right.

  The lights.

  The torches.

  And…

  Emma’s body went totally numb.

  There was someone up ahead.

  A small light glimmering in the distance.

  She felt fear taking over. Because they were chasing her, and now they were in front of her, too.

  There was no getting away.

  There was no escape.

  But she had to try.

  She went to run to the right.

  She saw another of those lights.

  She stopped, spun around, went to turn the other way.

  A space.

  A lightless space.

  She ran that way, the snow thick, her legs aching. She felt herself gasping, heard herself trying to repress the tears. Because she’d fought off people, sure. She’d managed to survive this far.

  But this was different.

  These people were different.

  She was afraid.

  She threw herself down the alleyway. Held her breath. Then while she was sure there was nobody around, she covered herself in as much snow as she could, and she waited.

  Just as she was covering herself with the last bit of snow, she saw the movement.

  Then she saw the light.

  It stopped. Stopped and pointed right at her, just for a second.

  She held her breath, her heart racing. She could feel the snow around her melting. She just had to keep quiet. Keep still. Keep her cool.

  Then the light started to move towards her.

  Footsteps crunching through the snow.

  She held her breath longer. Closed her eyes. Because she didn’t want to see. She didn’t want to know what was next.

  She lay there as the light got closer, as the footsteps got close.

  And then they stopped.

  She kept her eyes closed. Listened to her heart racing. Held her breath so much that she felt like she was going to pass out.

  But the footsteps had stopped.

  And she couldn’t even sense the torchlight shining at her behind her eyelids.

  She didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to look. She didn’t want to see the truth.

  But in the end, she let herself breathe, and nothing happened.

  She let herself move, just a little, and still nothing happened.

  So she opened her eyes.

  At first, she didn’t see anything. The blanket of snow was just too thick.

  But then she saw them.

  The legs, standing there in front of her.

  The torch, shining at the face of this person, looking down at her, smiling.

  She went to scream.

  But then the man grabbed her, and everything went dark.

  And all Emma could think of were those lights, those torches, floating in the distance, floating all around her, as he dragged her off into the unknown…

  Want More from Ryan Casey?

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  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any reference to real locations is only for atmospheric effect, and in no way truly represents those locations.

  Copyright © 2018 by Ryan Casey

  Cover design by Damonza

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published by Higher Bank Books