When Darkness Falls, Book 3

by Ryan Casey

  But that wasn’t reality anymore. That wasn’t his present anymore. And all that mattered, at the end of the day, was the present moment. Everything else was fleeting. Everything else was false.

  As he studied this safe haven through his binoculars, he felt sadness sink to the pit of his stomach. Mostly because he knew the reality of this place. The reality that, believe it or not, not many other people actually knew. Because sure, a number of people knew about the safe haven, about the fact that there was somewhere out there that, for whatever reason, had an advantage over the other supposed safe places.

  But they didn’t know the secret.

  They didn’t know the truth.

  Ian lowered his binoculars and let out a sigh. He looked over his shoulder, over at where his people had set up camp for the night. The military trucks, all seven of them, were behind them, if needed for a quick escape. They’d stumbled upon them at the same armoury as they’d taken the rest of their weapons from. It helped that some of their group had military experience—defectors from the actual military, of course. The real military, or at least what was left of it… most of them were fractured now. Without order.

  Or they’d fallen in the battle that led to Ian and his people getting their hands on these weapons and supplies after all.

  Or at least that was what Ian and his closest followers told everyone…

  He thought back to his real memory. The pain and fear he’d felt when he walked inside those barracks, ready to hand himself in, ready to be saved and taken to whatever safe place they had ready for him.

  But he’d found something remarkable.

  The vast majority of the soldiers in that barracks were dead. Some of them looked like they’d been electrocuted. Others… they’d just fallen.

  Ian didn’t know why. He’d heard rumours of people suddenly dying when the EMP struck, and shortly after. He didn’t understand it. Not entirely. He would be surprised if anyone truly understood it.

  But he’d seen the opportunity—the godsend—that the deaths of those soldiers gave him; he’d seen the supplies it provided him and his small group, and he’d seen the strong look it gave to him and his people. And he knew he could use those weapons to seize power. To lead, once and for all.

  Ever since that day, his group had been growing.

  Ever since that day, his influence had been growing.

  But as he looked at that safe haven, he knew something different awaited there.

  He knew he could give everything up. He knew he could end his quest for total power over the people of this and the surrounding area. He knew he could walk over to that safe haven, ask for help and for sanctuary and everything would change.

  But at the same time… Ian enjoyed the new life he had forged for himself. He enjoyed that power he had over other people. He enjoyed the sense of fear he sparked in them. It gave him a sense of authority—a sense of importance—that he didn’t think he’d had at any other time in his life.

  And as much as he wanted to go over to that safe haven, an equal force was pulling him back and telling him to stay in this world, because this was the world where he was comfortable, this was a world where anything was possible.

  “We can still change our mind, you know?”

  When Ian heard the voice beside him, he spun to face the speaker so quickly that his neck almost cricked out of place.

  It was Bob.

  “What did you say?” Ian asked.

  Bob lowered his head. He rubbed the back of his neck, like he was uneasy with what he’d said and wanted to take it back. “Nothing.”

  “No. What did you say just then?”

  Bob looked up into Ian’s eyes and he saw it. That look of fear. That look of respect. And he knew with that look alone that he had what he wanted from Bob; that he didn’t have to push him any further.

  “It’s okay,” Ian said, slapping a heavy hand on Bob’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry. I mean, we all have those same concerns. We all have those same worries. We all question in what we’re doing. But think about it, Bob. What we’re doing is much bigger than what’s going on over there. What we’re doing is being the big fish in a small world rather than the small fish in a big one. And believe me, Bob. Believe me. This small world is about to get a whole lot bigger for us when we finally take this place for ourselves.”

  Bob turned to look at the safe haven. And Ian turned too.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ian said.

  Bob nodded. “Sometimes I think it’s too beautiful.”

  Ian felt a knot in his chest, then. Because he could tell that Bob was already too drawn in by the allure of the safe haven; already too far gone.

  He pulled him close. Put his hand on his knife. Slowly pulled it out of his pocket, stretched it around Bob’s back.

  “I think you’re right,” Bob said. “I think… I think it’s like, delayed gratification. We could take the easy option or we could take the hard option. And the hard option… it gives us a whole world to live in. A whole world of our own rules.”

  Ian stopped moving the knife towards Bob’s back, then. He lowered it. Slipped it back into his pocket. Because what Bob had said was enough. Enough for him now, perhaps not enough for him in the future… but again, it was the present that mattered. It was the now that mattered.

  “Go on,” he said, patting Bob on the shoulder. “You get back to the others. Dinner’s almost ready.”

  Bob nodded warily. Then he walked away, off into the distance.

  Ian took a deep breath. He looked back at that safe place, back at that safe haven. Soon, they’d have enough courage to take it. Soon, they’d have enough people to take it, and enough artillery to take it. Soon, they’d have a plan to take it.

  And when they did, it would be something to behold.

  Because this place in the distance wasn’t just any normal safe haven.

  It wasn’t a run of the mill, wool-over-eyes illusion.

  This place in the distance, with its helicopters and its military vehicles… this place was an extraction point.

  A tunnel to another world.

  A world that so, so many people didn’t even know still existed.

  And Ian was going to take it for himself.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  When Hailey—the leader of the group who had saved our lives—told me the truth about the “safe haven,” I wasn’t sure what to think, what to believe.

  It was dark. The weather was dry and still, which was good news for us because we were gathered around a fire that we’d built.

  Hailey’s group was fifteen strong. There were eight women and seven men, and all of them seemed adept at firing bows and arrows. I’d asked them whether they’d all learned since the EMP strike, and they told me that they were all members of an archery club—a club they were attending a retreat weekend away with when the disaster struck.

  There were twice as many of them at that club. Some of them had gone their own way. Others had fallen.

  But Hailey and her people were still standing, and they had some staggering news.

  “An extraction point?” I said.

  Hailey, who was sitting right at the other side of the warm, crackling fire, nodded. “Taking people out of this hellhole and to some new world.”

  “A world with electricity?”

  Hailey shrugged. “These people are flying helicopters. If they’re flying helicopters, we’ve got to assume they’ve got power elsewhere, too.”

  I felt dizzy with the news, to be honest. All these months had passed and I’d considered the power coming back a few times. I’d wondered what would happen, how society would react. Especially if some government figurehead came in and started making orders and demands. How many people would listen? And how many people would keep on going as they had been doing for the last few months? How would the looting, the violence, all of that chaos be resolved?

  But an extraction point. An extraction point suggested that people were being taken out o
f Britain, away from here, and towards somewhere else; somewhere there was power. Did that mean there’d been power elsewhere all along? Did it mean Stuart, who I’d met right at the start of the disaster, was wrong—or lying—when he’d told me the blackout was global? All of it was dizzying. All of it made my head ache.

  “How do you know all this?” I asked.

  Hailey rubbed her hands together, enjoying the warmth from the fire. She was wearing a thick white parka, so I was surprised she wasn’t warm enough in that already. “We ran into a group of people. They were making their way there. Heard some rumours about it, or something. But then they ran into trouble. We all ran into trouble. And after that… Well, I don’t know where that other group ended up. But here we are.”

  I shook my head, so many things not adding up, not making sense. “I just don’t get it.”

  “It’s mad, I know. I can forgive you for not getting it.”

  “I mean if what you’re saying is true… if there really is an extraction point… the question is, why aren’t you there? Why haven’t you been taken away from this place? What’s keeping you here?”

  Hailey smiled. “You know, when I was younger, I used to always think that everything I wanted was somewhere in the distance. Somewhere far away. When in fact, if I’d really focused, if I’d really concentrated, I would’ve realised that wasn’t totally true. That if I’d focused, I could’ve found happiness and contentment in my present circumstances and situation.”

  “So what you’re saying is… you don’t want to go to the extraction point because you’re perfectly happy living life in a world without power?”

  Hailey shrugged. “We’ve found a way to survive. We know how to hunt. We know how to work together. Sure, we don’t have some of the luxuries of the old world, but those luxuries always come with a price anyway—mentally more than anything. I think… I think living in a world like this is more simple. I know not everyone will think the same way, but it’s how I think. It’s how I feel. And call me weird, but then think about the programmes on TV you see. Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild, that kind of thing. People willingly choosing to give up their materialist, capitalist lives and begin something new, without all the distractions of the old world. There’s something in it. You have to see that.”

  I listened to what Hailey was saying and I heard her. Especially after everything that’d happened. I couldn’t deny there was truth to her words, logic in what she was saying. Because she was right. Was I really happier in the world before? Of course, there were things I had in that world that I wanted back more than anything—namely my son… but going to some new world wasn’t going to change that. It wasn’t going to bring him back.

  “There’s other reasons, too,” Hailey said, leaning in closer to the fire. “My husband, Andy. He was a part of our archery group. He didn’t make it. Not as far as we made it. And without him… I don’t know. I can never imagine living a ‘normal’ life that he isn’t a part of. So I choose to live this one instead.”

  She stoked the fire, some of the flames kicking up a little too close to my face for comfort.

  “But hey,” she said. “Don’t let me get in your way. I understand I’m a weirdo. Got to do what’s right for you.”

  I nodded as I sat there. Then I looked back at my wife, at my people, as we sat in this old abandoned car park, some of the people sheltering under the cars.

  “There is something you should know, though,” Hailey said. “Something… something I don’t want to have to tell you. Something I can’t say I’m comfortable telling you. But something I have to tell you all the same.”

  I looked back at her. Frowned. “What?”

  I saw then that, in the glow of the firelight, she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking past me. Over at Sarah.

  “What is it?”

  Her eyes met mine then. And in her gaze, I saw an expression of grief. An expression of total sympathy.

  “I don’t know how to say this,” she said. “There’s no nice way of saying it. But your wife. And your baby. There’s… there’s something you should know about what happens to pregnant people in this world. About what happens to their babies.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Four months ago…

  Kelly Parkinson felt movement inside her belly and a smile stretched across her face.

  It was morning, and a beautiful one at that. The sky was the bluest Kelly had seen it in a long time. If she stared up there into the blue enough, she could convince herself she was away on holiday, sitting on a beach, gin and tonic in hand and not a care in the world.

  But drinking was the least of her interests right now.

  Especially when she had little baby Georgina inside of her.

  She looked down at her belly and put a hand on it. There was a proper baby bump there now, which only excited her even more about the future she and her daughter had ahead. It wasn’t going to be easy, that was for sure. There were going to be challenges, which the blackout hadn’t made any easier.

  But there were always going to be challenges anyway. That was the nature of raising a child.

  People had been raising children in a world before electricity. Kelly would be damned if she allowed doing the same thing that people had been doing for centuries to scare her all over again.

  She felt a grip tighten on her hand. When she looked to her left, she saw Patrick beside her.

  She still got that same tingling feeling as she’d got when she first met Patrick eight years ago whenever she looked into his bold, brown eyes. He had short dark hair, a thick black beard, and was well-built and muscular, something the new world hadn’t done a thing to impact or change. Knowing that the pair of them had both made it, defeating the odds and that they were bringing a child into this world too… that filled her with so much optimism. So much hope.

  It made her believe that she could defeat whatever the world had to throw at her, no matter what.

  “What’s on your mind?” Patrick asked.

  Kelly smiled and lowered her head. She looked back at that baby bump, still in disbelief that she was going to have a child at all. She never used to think she wanted a baby. They always seemed so much effort, so much time, so much money. But the idea of having a baby had grown on her the moment she’d met Patrick.

  It’d taken them a few years to fully commit to the idea. They were each busy with their respective jobs—Patrick a management consultant, her a solicitor—so they’d been sure to wait until they were well and truly certain they could give up the time and everything required for this major feat.

  The EMP had changed things dramatically, sure.

  But it hadn’t changed Kelly’s desire and her commitment to having this baby girl.

  “I’m just thinking about how much better things are going to be when I get this weight out of my body.”

  Patrick smirked. “Out of your body and into your arms. Hardly a major difference.”

  Kelly widened her eyes with false shock. “Rude. I was hoping Daddy would at least volunteer to carry our baby daughter.”

  Patrick raised his hands. “Hey. I’ll do what I can. But I hate to break the bond between a mother and her baby.”

  Kelly smirked. They were always like this, her and Patrick. Always had been. None of their arguments were ever serious. They were always joking with one another, always messing around. It was perfect, really. She’d never really believed in the idea of a perfect relationship when she was younger, especially not seeing the way her parents’ relationship broke down during her teen years. But what she and Patrick had achieved changed all that. It was as close to perfect as it got.

  “We’re going to be okay, you and me,” he said, smiling at her as they walked through this overgrown country field. “We’re going to be okay, you, me and the baby. Nothing’s going to get in our—”

  There was a blast.

  A blast that Kelly couldn’t place. That she couldn’t understand.

  But it didn’t take
her long to realise the repercussions of that blast.

  Not when she saw Patrick lying on the ground.

  Dread filled her body. She staggered over to his side. “Patrick,” she said, her voice croaky and broken.

  But as she looked down at Patrick’s body, there was something amiss about it. Something she couldn’t clearly place, not right away. Probably the shock.

  But it didn’t take her long to realise.

  It didn’t take her long for it to click.

  There was a hole in Patrick’s skull.

  His eyes were wide and glassy.

  He had been shot.

  Her knees went weak. She dropped to the ground, dropped right to his side. “No, no, no. Patrick. No. Don’t go. Don’t go.”

  But as she crouched there crying, she heard footsteps. She heard voices. And she knew that those people were going to come over here and find not just her but her baby, too.

  And she couldn’t have them finding her baby.

  She couldn’t have anyone within an inch of her baby.

  She crouched down in the grass. She was frozen solid, unable to move from her dead boyfriend’s side. She thought about all the plans they had, all the things they were going to do together, all the life they had left to live… and she thought about how she wasn’t sure she could live it. Not without him.

  The footsteps were so close now. She heard another few shots. Saw movement in the grass ahead. And as she crouched there, hand tightly on her stomach, she cried. Because it was all she could do. Cry.

  She waited for the people to arrive.

  She waited for them to put her down.

  But then something else happened.

  Arrows.

  Arrows right above her, whooshing through the air.