by Ryan Casey
DEAD DAYS: SEASON FIVE
RYAN CASEY
Contents
Bonus Content
DEAD DAYS: SEASON FIVE
Episode Twenty-Five
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Episode Twenty-Six
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Episode Twenty-Seven
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Episode Twenty-Eight
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Episode Twenty-Nine
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Episode Thirty
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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About the Author
About This Book
Copyright
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DEAD DAYS: SEASON FIVE
EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE
…TO HELL
(FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON FIVE)
Blood oozed from the corpses of the fallen.
He waded through them. Waded through the death, the destruction, the chaos. And he had a sense of his surroundings. He had a sense of where he was; of who he was. He saw the burning around him. Smelled the smoke. Felt the heat of the flames.
But what was happening to him was impossible.
It went against everything he’d believed in.
Everything he’d researched.
It perpetuated everything he’d feared.
He tried to look around at the fallen dead, at the mangled bodies, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t look at them because looking at them brought too many realisations home. Looking at them reminded him of what he knew. The secret that lived inside him—the secret that would forever live inside him.
The same secret that lived inside so many others.
He walked on through the scene of destruction. Stumbled over upturned rocks, felt metal penetrating the soles of his shoes. And he didn’t care. He didn’t feel anything about what was happening to him because it was irrelevant now. Painful, agonising, but irrelevant.
The only thing relevant was the truth.
The truth he now knew.
The truth that lived inside him.
He tasted blood on his lips. Blood and tears. And he wondered if he’d ever cry again. He wondered if he could ever let the emotions bottled inside pour out, or whether this was it—this was life now, simply because he couldn’t reveal the secret. Simply because he had to keep his cool.
Simply because there was no other choice.
He wanted to turn around and look at the source of the smoke, the flames. He wanted to look back at the destruction. The destruction of a living zone he’d been a part of. The destruction of the very place that was supposed to be the start of a new world; a place that was supposed to mark the beginning of civilisation all over again.
But he couldn’t look back.
He could smell the burning, the decay, the warmth of fired guns.
Taste blood and sweat and tears.
No, he couldn’t look back.
He could only walk on.
Walk on to whatever lay ahead.
Because it was impossible to predict what lay ahead now. For him, for the entire human race.
He felt something roll down his cheek as he stared into the distance at the long, endless road stacked with bodies, flames scorching the shops that lined the street. And he wanted to believe it was a tear. He wanted to believe it was emotion. That he was finally letting his bottled emotions out.
But when he saw them walking in his direction, groaning, growling, he knew now wasn’t the time to release any emotions.
Now was the time to keep on walking.
To keep on walking towards the hungry dead.
To walk towards his own death and hope. Pray.
He felt the rocky, broken concrete pierce his foot.
Felt his knee buckle under his uneven weight.
But on he walked.
Towards the undead.
Towards his own death.
In hope that the secret would be unveiled, someday.
In hope that the secret didn’t die with him.
He heard the groans getting louder.
Watched their distorted, disfigured, burning bodies move faster towards him.
He wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t even do that.
So he just watched.
Waited.
Walked.
Behind him, smoke rose from the living zone.
Hope died.
And still he walked.
Eyes wide open.
CHAPTER ONE
RILEY
It wasn’t the first time Riley Jameson awoke at death’s door.
He tried to scream at the top of his voice but he was so, so weak. He tasted blood in his mouth, and every inch of his body was loose and flimsy like he’d been sleeping for a million years and hadn’t used a muscle in all that time.
He blinked. A bright light shone above him. A bright light was a good thing. It meant he was alive.
Or maybe it wasn’t such a good thing. Maybe it just meant he’d woken up. Woken up
to the same nightmare that Mr Fletch had foreshadowed.
Riley’s “modification” into an Orion.
His new journey. His new purpose.
Cleanse the infected creatures from the face of the planet.
Abandon any hope of curing them.
Release a new apex predator and hope for the best.
He saw its dangers. Saw the flaws in Mr Fletch’s delusion. Because these Orions—these tall, tar-skinned monsters with impossibly sharp teeth and beaming eyes—were unpredictable. They were based on humans themselves.
So what was stopping the Orions from changing their mind about hunting the creatures?
What was stopping a switch from flicking? A decision to attack humans clicking inside of them?
What was stopping them from destroying the very little that was left of the world completely?
“You’re not dead. If that’s what you’re wondering.”
The voice above him was muffled, came gradually into focus as it spoke.
He turned his neck, realising at that moment he was lying flat on some kind of metal table. But his wrists and ankles weren’t tied, not anymore.
He was in a surgery-like room, and he was lying on a slab.
Mr Fletch was standing over him.
Behind Mr Fletch, two beefy looking men holding guns.
Guards.
“You’ve … you’ve got some nerve keeping me untied like this,” Riley said.
“You’ve got some nerve speaking to me like that,” Mr Fletch said. “I could’ve taken your life. I could’ve initiated the transformation. Just like I’ve initiated the transformation on your friends—”
“Don’t fucking say that,” Riley said. He thought back to his last memory of Tamara and James, lying on those tables fast asleep.
And then Jordanna.
Jordanna being dragged away into the room where the Orion waited.
Hungrily.
“I’m sorry about your friends,” Mr Fletch said, walking around the right side of Riley. He wore a long white coat, rubbing his hands together like they were covered in some kind of antibacterial foam. “Truly.”
“Let’s not bullshit one another.”
“I’m not bull … I’m not being sarcastic. I’m being honest. Nobody wanted any of this for the world. Nobody wanted any of this death, any of this destruction. Given the option of the world, how it used to be and how it is now, do you really think I’d have chosen the world in its current state?”
Riley narrowed his eyes. Tried to get a read on Mr Fletch. “I’m not sure. I’m really not sure.”
Mr Fletch smiled. He didn’t elaborate.
He walked away from the table and back towards the guards.
“My friends,” Riley said, lifting his aching weight forward. The guards raised their guns, pointed them towards him. One of them had a knife poking out of his top right pocket.
“It’s okay, boys,” Mr Fletch said. “It’s in Mr Jameson’s best interests to behave here—”
“You haven’t killed them. I can’t accept you’ve fucking killed them.”
Mr Fletch smiled. A smile that Riley wanted to rip apart. A smile he wanted to punch the teeth out of. “It’s funny.”
“What’s fucking funny—”
“Usually when I have people in this room, they’re more concerned about their own safety. Their own survival. And rightly so. But you … you seem more worried about the others.”
“They’re my family,” Riley said.
“Cute,” Mr Fletch said. And he smiled some more. “That really is quite cute.”
He lowered his head, walked a few steps back towards Riley.
“Thing is, I’m giving you an opportunity. Giving all of you an opportunity. An opportunity to be part of a new family, of sorts.”
“I don’t want anything to do with your family. Not after seeing that … that thing …”
“That thing is the greatest scientific creation of all time. That thing is going to change the face of the planet for years to come. That thing is going to call in the start of a new era. An era where we can finally live in peace without the Influenza B/H3N4 terrorising our every move.”
“And what then?”
“What when?”
Riley had to take a few breaths to stop himself passing out. He was still so tired, so woozy. “When the Influenza … when the creatures are gone. When your ‘inventions’ have wiped them out. What then? What happens when they decide they want to own this world for themselves?”
“You speak about them like they’re reckless.”
“I speak about them like they’re humans. ’Cause that’s all they are. Supercharged, modified maybe. But still humans.”
Mr Fletch waved dismissively at Riley. “You don’t need to concern yourself with that. We have a failsafe. Much like the one we’ve tested before. A frequency we emit from the wealth of technology stored in this place. A recall button, of sorts. It’s just how they’re programmed.”
Riley sat up at the edge of the metal slab. “And what happens when you recall them?”
Mr Fletch’s smile widened some more. “Then everyone truly can live in peace.”
“Everyone who’s not one of them,” Riley said.
“Again, you speak of the Orions like they’re a majority. When, in fact, they are very much a minority. A powerful minority, but a minority nonetheless. And you have an opportunity to be a part of that minority. You and your friends have a chance to start the new world. To join the higher echelons of post-human existence and … well, in layman’s terms, to secure humanity’s future.”
Riley shook his head. His neck and shoulder, where he’d been bit by the Orion, seared with pain. “You’re full of it, aren’t you? So pent up behind these walls, behind your fucking lab computers that it’s easy for you to make decisions like this. Except you don’t get to see the people out there. The people who’re surviving. People like my friends. Like me.”
“The way I see it, Mr Jameson, you’re just being selfish. Anyone with the best interests of their country—of the future of the planet—at heart would leap at the opportunity to save it, even if it meant sacrificing themselves to do so.”
“Maybe I am selfish. But I’m also a realist. And I’ve seen the world out there. I’ve seen what it’s like now. I’ve seen how it’s gone to shit. How we’re never gonna come back from that. Ever. But if you build this … this fucked up army of whatever. If you build it and seriously think you can control it, just take a look at what happened with the creatures. With the flu virus. The governments thought they could control that. They thought they were the ones in power, the ones who decided what to do with it. But now they’re gone. They’re dead. And all that’s left of them is the dying whimper of their old world thinkers trying to force things back to the way they were. People like you.”
Riley lifted himself off the edge of the bed. Stood up on jelly knees with all the strength he could muster.
“So you can take your Orions and you can fuck off. Because I’m surviving. My friends are surviving. The only thing that’s dying here is you. You and your people.”
Mr Fletch’s smile quivered. He folded his arms. Stood there in the flickering glow of the bright medical lights.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Mr Fletch asked.
“Get what?”
“Why you’re here. Why I kept you alive.”
“I …”
“You have the cure inside you, Mr Jameson. You told me that yourself. You were cured. By my friends at the MLZ. You are a survivor.”
Riley’s heart picked up as Mr Fletch stepped towards him, as the eyes of the guards focused more closely on him. “I don’t get what you’re—”
“We don’t want to turn you into a bog-standard Orion, Mr Jameson. Because that would be a waste. Such a waste.”
He yanked out Riley’s arm. The old man had a tighter grip than appeared possible.
“We want you to be part of a new experiment. The first in a long a
nd arduous trial. You say you want to find a cure? Well, you might just have your chance.”
He snapped some cuffs around Riley’s wrists. The guards grabbed Riley’s shoulders. Riley tried to fight back but their grip was heavy, his body too weak.
“Killing the Apocálypsis-infected is one thing, you’re right. But making sure nobody can ever catch the virus ever again is a different thing entirely. And that’s where you come in. Let’s take a walk.”
CHAPTER TWO
JORDANNA
“Get off me! Get your fucking hands off me!”
Jordanna had felt afraid plenty of times since the beginning of the end. Being left for dead by Riley and his idiot mate Ted on the road. Fending for herself for weeks. Finding her own food, surviving alone. Convincing herself not to pull the trigger on life time and time again.
She’d felt afraid plenty of times before then, too. Times when she used to work the streets at night. Times when people were bumping off hookers in Preston. And times when she woke up from a heroin-induced stupor wondering what the hell she’d done, how the hell she’d let herself fall so low once again. Convincing herself not to pull that trigger.
But nothing compared to the pure fear she felt right now.
As the men in white coats dragged her out of the dark room she’d been stuffed inside for God knows how long.
As they dragged her down sparkling white corridors.
Dragged her towards her death.
“Please. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to do any of this.”
But the men in white coats were clear in their silence. They did have to do this. And this was feed it. Feed the beast that had watched her from behind the glass earlier.
Licking its lips.
Preparing to sink its teeth into her flesh.
To fuel itself.
Her head pounded. The searing light and her recent dizziness got to her. Not to mention the disorientation. Disorientation of travelling on the road to the BLZ—the place that was supposed to help out the MLZ, help distribute the cure. And the contrast with this place. The BLZ itself. A chamber of horrors. A cacophony of nightmares.
And the real nightmares hadn’t even begun.
Jordanna dug her black boots into the squeaky clean floor as the two men pushed her closer and closer to the wide metal door. She knew what was behind it. She was disoriented, sure, but she knew exactly where they were taking her. Taking her to be sacrificed to the “Orion.” The beast that Mr Fletch had spoken about before dosing her up with a general anaesthetic. The experience that he’d promised was for the “greater good,” and that she wouldn’t be conscious for a moment.