by Ryan Casey
“I went in there. Looked these guys in the eye; the guys stopping me getting to my friends. I wanted to punish them for what they’d done. I wanted to kill them. But I never got the chance. They blew themselves up before I could do a thing.
“I remembered wanting to do something. I remembered wanting to fight for my friends, to make sure they survived. But the flames… they were too hot. Everything was too intense. All of them died in there. All of them except me.
“I didn’t go on tour again after that. Left the army soon after. Clearly wasn’t for me. But that rage. That guilt. That feeling that justice hadn’t been served… that lived with me for a long time. And clearly it’s lived with me ’til today.”
Alison was silent. She looked like she was mulling over Mike’s words, really considering what he’d said.
Then she reached over and grabbed her bowl of instant noodles.
“What you did to John. That isn’t excusable by shit from your past. And you do realise when this all blows over… I’m going to have to take you in for murder. You understand that, right?”
Mike felt relief hit him. He smiled. Nodded. “I understand.”
He didn’t tell Alison what he was really thinking.
That this wasn’t blowing over anytime soon.
This was the new reality.
As much as she wanted to deny it, this was just the way things were now.
She chewed down on her noodles. Arya looked like she’d made easy work of her share already.
“After this, we keep moving. If we get a move on, I’m pretty sure we can be at the Rocky Cliffs before dark.”
“And you’re sure the Rocky Cliffs is where we should be heading?”
A sickening pain, right in Mike’s stomach. He stopped chewing his noodles for just a moment, then sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, it is. I…”
He stopped talking.
He stopped because he’d seen something.
Movement between the trees.
“What is it?” Alison asked.
But Mike was already on his feet.
Because this wasn’t just any old movement.
“There’s someone there,” he said. “Someone in the woods. Someone watching.”
Holly
Holly saw the armed man look right into her eyes and she knew right away that something here was desperately wrong.
The group of armed people up ahead, for one. They weren’t dressed in any kind of military gear. They just looked like normal people. And yet… they were armed.
“How do they have guns like that?” Kumal said.
His words echoed exactly what Holly was thinking.
There were eight of these people. All male, all in their early forties, by the looks of things. And as one of them turned, the rest of them turned. They started to mutter something to each other. Started all of them to pay attention to Holly, to her friends.
And as they did, a sense of dread crept inside Holly’s body. She took a few steps back. Started to move away. Slowly.
“What do we do?” Harriet asked.
Holly swallowed a lump in her throat. “We get the hell away from here.”
“But what if they’re military?” Gina said. “What—what if they can help us?”
Right on cue, one of them pointed their rifles at the group.
Fear took a grip. Holly froze, right away. “Do they look like military to you?”
“Fair point,” Gina said.
The military walked further towards Holly and her group. The closer they got, the more they raised their guns, and the more certain Holly became that they weren’t just here to make friends.
“I’m going to repeat my question, for luck,” Harriet said. “What the hell do we do here?”
Holly’s heart pounded. Her hands tightened. But in her mind, she only had one answer.
She looked around. Saw the hedge beside her, thick but not impenetrable.
Then she looked back at the armed men and took a deep breath.
“We run,” she said.
Right on cue, Holly threw herself at the hedge.
She heard gunfire rattle past her right away. Felt shards of concrete kicking up beside her and her friends.
But she just kept on going, flying into the hedge, no matter what.
The branches scratched her as she pushed against it. Every instinct in her body was telling her to back away because this was scratching her, this was doing her damage. Thorns were sticking into her fingertips, scratching her face.
But still she kept on going.
“Argh!”
She heard the cry and it made her stomach sink. She swung around.
And when she did, she saw her.
Gina was tangled up in the hedge. She was bleeding right the way down her arms. She didn’t look in great shape.
Holly reached a hand out to her, noting that everyone else seemed to be doing okay. “Come on, Gina. You can do this.”
Gina shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I just… I just want to go home.”
“You won’t get to go anywhere if you don’t grab my hand right now. Come on.”
Gina closed her eyes. Took in a sharp breath. Behind her, Holly heard more shots, footsteps approaching. She knew they needed to get away fast.
“Think about your parents, Gina,” Holly said. It was all she could think of right now. “Think about how much they’ll miss you if you don’t make it here. Do it for them, okay? Just push a little further. You’re almost there.”
Gina’s eyes met Holly’s. And at that moment, she thought she saw the strength. She thought she saw the desire to fight. To crack on.
Gina nodded. Half-smile on her face. “I am strong enough,” she said. “I can do this.”
Holly smiled back. “Yes. You can. You…”
She stopped, then.
Because one second, Gina was there.
The next, one of the men grabbed hold of her by her long, ginger hair and dragged her out of the hedges.
Holly went numb. Then she threw herself back through the hedge.
But she didn’t get far.
Kumal grabbed her hand.
He had a hand over her mouth.
“It’s too late,” he said. “It’s… it’s too late.”
Holly tried to kick free. She tried to fight. She tried to break free of Kumal’s grip.
But her efforts were waning.
Her urgency was depleting.
And she knew, deep down, in her heart of hearts, that there was nothing she could do.
The men dragged Gina out into the road. One of them got her on her knees, pointed the gun to her head. He had a big, sinister smile on his face. “You don’t have to worry, chuck,” he said. “We’re not like the military. Not one bit. And you don’t have to worry about the military either. Something happened down there. Nasty electrical accident when the blackout struck. Let’s just say there isn’t much of an army presence in Preston anymore.”
He moved the gun close to her mouth. Tears rolled down her bruised, bloodied face.
“But we’ve got the guns now. We’ve got the rifles. We’ve been waiting for a moment like this for a long time. For a domino to fall. For the government to lose their grip, just for a second. Well, now they have. And when that power comes back on, they’re going to have a revolution on their hands. ’Cause we’ve tasted freedom. And nobody who tastes freedom is untasting it anytime soon. Ain’t that right, boys?”
“Hell yeah,” a few of them said.
“So come on,” the man said. “On your feet. It’s about time we took a trip far away from here. We’ve got places to go. People to recruit. And we’re gonna make the most of it while we damned well can.”
Holly tried to struggle free of Kumal again, as the men escorted Gina away. She tried to fight from his grip.
But all the time, all she could do was watch.
All she could do was feel guilt stretch through her body.
And all she could do was feel
ashamed that this was what the world was coming to already. That this was what humanity was sinking to, already.
Gina looked back at her, gun to her back. And for a moment, Holly thought she might call out to her. That she might give her any reason to step out there, to try to fight.
But then the man pressed the gun harder against her back.
Forced her to keep walking.
And just moments later, as the specks of rain began to fall, Gina was gone.
Mike
The second Mike saw the person watching him and Alison turn away, he knew he had to chase them.
He stood up and started running through the trees. Somewhere behind, he heard Alison calling out, telling him to come back. But there was no stopping him now. Someone had been watching them. They could be keeping an eye on them, checking out what supplies they had, planning to rob them.
It might only be the start of the blackout. But already the supermarket shelves would be running low and people would be running desperate. It was amazing just how quickly humanity could descend into its ordinary animalistic chaos after just a matter of hours of uncertainty. Combine the lack of order and electricity with the shock of the amount of people who had died already, and it was a cocktail for disaster.
Mike looked through the trees. He couldn’t see anyone there anymore. He didn’t want to lose sense of where he’d run from, losing Alison and Arya in the process. But this… this was important. There could be no room for error, not anymore. And sure, as much as he’d opened up to Alison about his past, as much as he’d bore the scars of his time in the army, he still felt that urgency to make sure nobody got away. Especially when they could be a threat down the road.
And then he saw them.
It was a man. No doubt about that. He wasn’t far ahead now, which made Mike realise he wasn’t such a great runner after all. Not as quick as he needed to be to get away from him, that was for sure.
He heard Alison call out his name. Got a bit guilty at leaving her behind with Arya. After all, he dreaded to think about what might happen if something happened to her.
But then…
That bond.
That bond with another human being, and with a dog.
He’d allowed that bond to grow, dangerous as it was.
He had to be careful.
Up ahead, he saw a wall that marked the end of the woods. A wall that would lead to the residential estates; places where Mike really didn’t want to go right now. He didn’t want to see the issues people were having first-hand. He didn’t want to get drawn into some conflict or other. He just wanted to get to the Rocky Cliffs and find his daughter. That was his priority. That was his goal.
He saw the man look over his shoulder. And at that instant, Mike realised this wasn’t just a man at all. It was a boy. A teenage boy. Skinny. Narrow cheekbones. Bags under his eyes. Long, greasy hair.
The boy looked at Mike, fear in his eyes.
Then he turned back ahead.
At that point, it was already too late.
He went flying into a tree and fell back onto the ground.
Mike stopped when he reached him. He threw him onto his back, grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The lad looked up at Mike, fresh fear in his eyes. “I—I wasn’t doing anything. Please.”
“You were watching us. Why were you watching us?”
“I—I—”
“Mike!”
The shout came from right behind him. And when it struck, the first thing Mike was surprised about was that Alison had kept up with him.
But when he heard her voice, it felt like something was cutting through him this time. Something different to the last time, when he’d had his arms around John’s neck back on the road.
“Stop,” she said. “Right now.”
Mike held on tightly to the lad’s shirt. He felt his hands shaking, as the lad lay there in the dirt. He started to smell something, and realised the kid was pissing himself.
“You tell me who you are. You tell me what you were doing. Right this second. And there doesn’t need to be any trouble.”
The lad closed his eyes and let out a few heavy, forced breaths. “My name’s Richard,” he said. “I… I’ve been on my own since all this crap started. I was trying to make my way to—to a log cabin. A log cabin a friend of mine lives at. He has it all decked out for this kind of event. He’s—he’s one of those preppers, or whatever they call them. And I just saw you. I saw you, nothing else. Nothing dodgy at play. Please.”
Distrust coursed through Mike’s veins. He kept hold of Richard. “This friend of yours. Where is his cabin?”
“It’s—it’s over on Beacon Fell,” he said. “Right near the Rocky Cliffs.”
Recognition sparked inside Mike. His grip loosened, almost instinctively. “The Rocky Cliffs?”
“They’re a pretty low key place. Somewhere my friends and me like going. But seriously, I think it’ll be better up there. Away from the madness down here, anyway. You… you should come with me. I don’t mean any trouble. Please.”
Mike thought about what Richard had said. The Rocky Cliffs. He was heading there too. Which meant even if his daughter did get there, she wasn’t going to be alone.
That might not necessarily be a good thing. But it might not necessarily be a bad thing, either.
This log cabin. This talk of a decked-out, prepper place. It was intriguing.
“Your friend,” Mike said. “Is he open to guests?”
Richard shot a nervous glance between Mike, Alison, and Arya, then back at Mike again. “I guess we’re going to find out, right?”
Mike would be lying if he said he trusted Richard. But at the same time, he heard the desperation in his voice and sensed the honesty in his words… and he felt like he didn’t have much of a choice.
He loosened his grip on Richard’s shirt. Backed away. Then he stood by Alison and Arya’s sides.
“You take us to this place,” he said.
Richard brushed himself down, stood back up. “Absolutely.”
“But if you even think about messing us around…”
Richard raised his hands. “No messing. Seriously.”
Mike nodded. “Good.”
He looked over his shoulder. Then he looked at Alison, and he half-smiled.
“Ready?” he asked.
Alison nodded. “Ready.”
It was time to go to the Rocky Cliffs.
It was time to face reality.
It was time to find out whether his daughter was there after all.
Holly
Holly didn’t talk much on the next stretch of the journey.
All she could think about was the last time Gina had looked at her… then the way she’d disappeared from view.
The afternoon was getting later. Before they knew it, it would be night again, and they’d be forced to set up camp somewhere. Holly knew ways to make the night easier—traps she could set up to catch animals, if she had to. She knew methods of starting fires that her dad had taught her. She even knew a few different edible berries from the nasty, poisonous ones.
But her plans had stalled. And it was all because of what had happened to Gina.
Kumal kept trying to say things, kept trying to start conversation. But Holly wasn’t saying anything back to him. Because deep down, she felt like he was responsible for what had happened to Gina. He’d been the one who had stopped Holly from helping her. He was the one who’d kept her quiet.
He kept looking at Holly every now and then, like he was scanning for a change in her resolve; in her demeanour.
He wasn’t going to get one. Not anytime soon.
They were approaching the final stretch of their journey. They were well outside the city now, into the countryside. Beacon Fell was visible from where they were. She could see the cliff face up ahead, which sparked a sense of nostalgia within. Only it was tinged with sadness, now she knew Mum wouldn’t be there
with her to enjoy it. Every now and then, Holly saw other people walking down this country lane. And it struck her that not everybody was as ill-prepared as she’d expected. Plenty of people realised the value of getting out of the city. It wasn’t going to be an easy fight, but it was going to leave more of a fighting chance than sticking around in a concrete jungle and just hoping for the best.
Still, that deep, inherent sense that this couldn’t be a permanent outcome chipped away at her. But the more she saw things like this—people leaving the city—the more she started to believe that perhaps, just perhaps, it was a possibility after all.
“My feet are killing,” Harriet said. She hadn’t complained much. Hadn’t said a lot herself, in all truth. Holly wondered where she stood on all this. Gina was her best friend, after all. But she was keeping remarkably measured about it all. Scarily so.
Gordon put a hand on her back, patted it. “We’ll be there soon.”
“You’ve been saying that way, way beyond the realms of what I consider ‘soon’ to be.”
“Well… you’ll just have to keep going a little further. If we don’t we—”
“Why are we even going this way anyway?”
Holly frowned when Harriet said the words. They’d seemed to come out of nowhere. “Harriet?”
“I mean, we follow you blindly. But why? Why should we? Why—why shouldn’t we just go back home? Why shouldn’t we just wait for this to blow over?”
“Harriet,” Holly said. “We’ve had this discussion.”
“But it’s not good enough,” she said. “I mean, this is mad. All of it, it’s mad. We’re basing everything on—on speculation. We’re basing it all on this bullshit idea that the power isn’t going to come back. But it has to. It…”
She stopped, then. And for the first time since knowing her, Holly saw Harriet do something unexpected.