by Ryan Casey
She burst into tears.
“I just wish Gina was here.”
Holly walked over to Harriet. She approached her slowly, knowing full well what an erratic character Harriet could be. “Harriet?”
“I just—I just wish we could’ve done more. I wish we could’ve helped her. But now she’s… she’s with those people and it’s not fair. It’s just not fair.”
Holly felt her sympathy for Harriet growing. She put an arm around her, held her close. “I wish she was here too.”
“She was my first ever friend. Right back when I was a kid. I was a nervous kid. Found it hard to make friends. People bullied me, too. But Gina, she… she was just so kind. I found it hard to trust her at first. I’ve always found it hard to trust people. But Gina was different. Gina was special.”
Holly felt guilty. Guilty for judging the way Harriet sometimes acted with her. Because every action was a result of some past issue. Every problem had its roots.
“I… I can’t pretend I know what’s going to happen to Gina,” Holly said. It wasn’t easy to say the words. But she felt she had to. “But deep down… deep down I get the feeling that we have to keep hoping. We just have to. Because the second we lose hope, we give up. And we can’t give up.”
She held Harriet tightly.
And then she saw Kumal looking at them both.
He had a look in his eyes that Holly recognised right away as guilt. And as much as Holly held some disdain towards him after stopping her rushing after Gina… she knew he was in the right. Because rushing after Gina would only have got more of them in trouble.
At least, here, there was a chance—slim as it was—that one day they could help Gina. That one day they could find her again, somehow.
She opened her arms and gestured for Kumal to join them. “Come on,” she said.
And then the three of them stood there, deep in embrace.
Holly felt the warmth between them. And she started to realise something. She wasn’t afraid anymore. She wanted to know her dad was okay, sure. But she didn’t need him to be complete.
She was her own person.
She was a fighter.
And she was the fighter he’d brought her up to be.
She held her friends a while longer before hearing Gordon clear his throat.
She looked around. Saw him standing there.
Only there was someone else beside him.
“Don’t mean to interrupt,” he said, smiling. “But this here’s Callum, my brother. Now how about we go take a look at his log cabin I’ve been telling you about?”
Mike
Before heading to the Rocky Cliffs, there was one final detour to be made.
And that was to Fulshaw’s Cycles, right on the path of their journey.
The clouds were thickening as afternoon progressed. Mike was grateful for it, in all truth. He was relieved for a bit of cool from the sun, which had been beaming down so strongly for the rest of the day.
Besides. Cycling in the sun was nice, but cycling in the shade was a whole lot nicer. Didn’t get in your eyes, didn’t mess with your vision.
The main street of Hesketh Village was always quiet, but today it felt empty. There were a few cars abandoned on the road. The pub, usually bustling with life, had closed its doors to punters. Mike always used to like this place. He’d cycle through it on his own bike—which he knew by now he should’ve picked up when he’d headed back home. Alas, he’d panicked. It could be excused, of course. He was under pretty big time pressure.
But now he knew of this log cabin that Richard had told him about. Now he knew about this log cabin, which was supposedly prepped out to the max.
It was time to get there as quickly as they could.
And the way Mike saw it, bikes were a damned good option.
“So,” Alison said, as she stood by Mike’s side. “Don’t mean to put a dampener on things, but what sort of a bike are we supposed to get for Arya?”
Mike smiled as he started walking towards the bike shop. It looked closed and empty, but there were plenty of bikes around. He’d be sure to leave some cash, if ever it came in handy. “I’m thinking one of those things you can tie to the side of the bike. Little Wallace and Gromit type thing.”
Richard tutted. “She’s a husky. She’s supposed to love running.”
“Fair point. Sorry, Arya. Looks like you’ve got a jog on your hands.”
The closer they got to the bike shop, the creepier this quiet village felt.
“Usually bustling with life, this place,” Richard said. “It’s mad. One day into the event and already society’s changing.”
Mike scanned his surroundings, feeling a sense of unease. “I’d say it’s already changed for good.”
They stepped up to the bike shop door. Mike tried to push it open, but as expected, it was locked.
“No chance they keep a key under the doormat?” Alison said, sarcasm in her voice.
Mike looked around. But not for a key—for something else. “Not exactly. But… hey. I guess we do what we have to do, right?”
He picked up a brick and went to throw it at the glass.
“Whoa,” Alison said. “Are you sure you should be doing that?”
“Don’t see that I have a choice.”
“How does that make us any different to the looters?”
Richard snorted. “What makes us different to the looters? Alison, we’re all looters now.”
Alison sighed. But then she looked back at Mike and nodded. “Just try not to damage any of the bikes in the process.”
Mike steadied his grip. Took a step back. And then he threw the brick at the glass.
The glass shattered on contact. Smashed all over the place. Before today, alarms would’ve sounded. People would’ve come to investigate.
But today was different.
Today, nobody emerged. Because times had changed. People had changed.
They were more interested in themselves now. Their own safety.
For better or for worse, village clickiness seemed to have gone out of the window in the face of disaster.
Alison lifted a hand. “After you,” she said.
“Whatever happened to ‘ladies first’?” Mike asked.
“We’ve already had this discussion. Now are you walking through that glass or am I going to get dibs on the best bike?”
Mike smiled. Then, he took a deep breath and he stepped into the bike shop.
If you’re into biking, this place is pretty much heaven. That fresh smell of tires filled the room. Brand new bikes hung from the walls. Apparently this place was a favourite of Bradley Wiggins, although Mike wasn’t sure whether that was true or just a myth. Usually places like this pinned up photographs of celebrities when they’d visited, and Mike didn’t see any in sight, which he found suspicious.
He felt a spark of excitement build up inside. He could sense himself well on his way to the Rocky Cliffs now, well on his way to his daughter, and by extension, well on his way to the log cabin that Richard told them about. “Okay,” he said. “Pick a good one. A mountain one, preferably. We might need to do a fair bit of off-road biking.”
Alison and Richard began their search right away. To be honest, Mike wasn’t all that fussy. He looked from one bike to the next. But as he walked, he found himself smiling. He was reminded of the holiday in France he’d taken with Caitlin a few years back. The last time they’d been abroad. Holly trailing behind and screaming at them to slow down, even though they were already going at a snail’s pace.
And then they’d biked their way down the Champs Elysees, and bedlam ensued.
They’d laughed about it afterwards. It was a stupid idea of Mike’s. But it was one of those memories that he’d hold dear forever.
He stopped when he reached a red mountain bike that looked perfect.
“Think I’ve got mine,” Mike called.
But when he lifted it down, tested it out, he realised something.
Alison and Richard.
&n
bsp; They’d gone silent.
Tension built. Mike staggered away from the back of the bike shop. “Guys?”
But when he got near to the front of the bike shop, he saw it.
He saw Richard and Alison.
Totally still.
Fingers in front of their mouths.
And he saw why they seemed so unhappy.
There was a group outside.
They were approaching.
It looked like they had a girl hostage.
But that wasn’t even the starkest thing about this group.
The biggest problem was that they were armed.
And they were walking right towards the bike shop.
Holly
As Holly watched the sun descend, she started to feel the first sense of calm she’d felt in a long while.
It was late afternoon. She sat on the Rocky Cliffs, feeling the warmth of the sun. The view was beautiful, and it was one she’d always loved, as long as she’d been alive. The green of the fields lighting up with the sun’s beaming glow. Farms for miles, and then in the distance, another town, the Blackpool tower, then the view out to sea. On most days, paragliders flew off these cliffs. But of course, today wasn’t “most days.”
She tried not to look at the fallen microlights on the ground below. The more she could detach herself from that, the more she could convince herself everything was well.
She held this place dear in her heart. It was Dad’s favourite place. Mum used to love it too. As she’d got older, Holly had tired of it a little bit. She rolled her eyes whenever her parents told her they were going, and asked if she wanted to join them. But she saw now that she shouldn’t have reacted in that way. Because the truth was, she loved it just as much as they did. It was as much a part of her make-up as it was theirs.
It was home away from home.
Her stomach sank. Because she’d been hoping she’d run into Dad up here. After all, she’d left the note for him, to find when he got home. She started to wonder whether she should’ve just stayed at home and waited after all… but no. She’d seen what it’d been like in the city. People were already acting in crazy ways. It was mad what a few hours without electricity could do to people. Mostly it was that sense of the unknown that did the most damage. Nobody knew what was going on, so they were acting in rash ways. They were stealing. Looting. Destroying.
All Holly could do was wait here, near this log cabin, for things to pass.
She had to believe they would pass, in time.
She just had to believe that.
She heard voices over her shoulder. She looked around. The homestead wasn’t quite as grand as Gordon and his friends had made out, but she’d already been prepared for that anyway. The log cabin was a little wooden house with barely enough room for four people to live, let alone the lot of them. But there was plenty of land around it.
She’d met Callum, Gordon’s brother. He seemed a nice guy, quite welcoming. He told her about his plans to gather some livestock, to start living off the “fat of the land”. He also spoke about trading things like meat and dairy. If anything, he seemed rather excited by all of this. But then, Holly did suppose a lot of people had been longing for a simple life for quite some time.
She went to stand up. But then she found herself turning again, looking back down the hill.
She thought of Gina. And she couldn’t shake the guilt she felt for losing her from her group. Wherever she was… she just hoped she was being treated okay.
But that niggling dread made her doubt that.
Then there was Benny, too. Thinking about him made an even bigger lump well up in her throat. Benny had liked her. And she supposed she’d liked Benny too. He’d let her into the group. He’d taken her under his wing. He’d looked out for her when everything else at home was just rubbish.
She thought it was her ballet that gave her life meaning. But really, when she looked closely, she saw it was her friends.
And no matter what anyone thought about them, these were the best friends she’d ever had.
“Hey.”
Holly jumped. Turned around. “You scared me.”
Kumal walked towards her. He sat down by her side. He looked tired, with big bags under his eyes. “Enjoying the view?”
“Something like that.”
“Listen… what happened. With Gina.”
“No,” Holly said. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. I mean, I feel guilty as hell for it. But I was only worrying about the rest of us. Those people. They had guns. They weren’t messing around. And I guess… I guess I just figured if that’s what the world’s come to already, then shit. We’re in for a rough ride.”
Holly felt her stomach sink every time the realisation of the world they lived in now built up. “I guess so,” she said.
Kumal took a deep breath, stepped back up. “Anyway. You should come to the garage and see what Callum’s been working on.”
“Let me guess. Some kooky device or other?”
Kumal smiled. “Even better.”
She followed Kumal back towards the log cabin. She remembered how she’d felt when she’d first reached it—the overload of information when she’d arrived. Stuff that proved Callum knew what he was talking about when it came to survival in this world.
But what she was looking at now, inside this garage… this was different. Unexpected.
It was an old Land Rover.
Callum looked up at her when she stepped inside. He was lanky, dark-haired, but otherwise looked a lot like his younger brother. “Hey, Holly,” he said. “Come to watch the fireworks?”
“You aren’t actually going to even bother trying to start that thing, are you?”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, ye of little faith.” He climbed inside the Land Rover. “This old thing was built before 1980. Older vehicles don’t make use of the same electrical systems, so technically, with a few tweaks, it should’ve survived the EMP blast.”
Holly frowned. “Wait. What?”
Callum smiled. “A working car in this world. You know what kind of value that’d bring? You know what sort of an advantage that’d put us above everyone else?”
Harriet sighed. “Only when the power does come back, you’ll just look like an idiot driving this thing.”
“Oh, forget the speculation, kiddo,” Callum said. “The power isn’t coming back anytime soon. The sooner you accept that, the better.”
Holly watched with trepidation as Callum messed around inside the car. She really didn’t think he knew what he was doing in there. And she thought he was definitely too excited by this EMP blast than he should be.
“Okay,” he said. “That should be it. Anyone want to do the honours?”
Holly’s frown extended. “You’re saying it’s actually working right now?”
“Yeah,” Gordon said. “I… I know you’re a bit of a nerd. But this. The power’s out. It’s not coming back to life anytime soon. It’s not…”
The second Gordon stopped speaking, Holly knew why.
It was because of the revving of the engine.
The Land Rover coming to life.
“Woo hoo!” Callum shouted, as he drove it around in a circle. And with that, a smile stretched across Holly’s face. A laugh. And then they were all laughing, all cheering, all celebrating.
This was their first victory.
This was their first glimpse of hope.
And they were going to savour it while they could.
Harry Wisdom pushed the gun into the whimpering girl’s back and felt pretty fucking powerful, if he could say so himself.
Just a day had passed and so much had changed. Yesterday, he’d been locked up in Preston prison with his good friends. Assault and robbery, apparently, although everyone who knew him knew that was bullshit. He was a peaceful man. Violent days were behind him.
Well. Sort of.
And then something had happened. The doors of the prison had swung open and he’d been free.<
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It’d been a tough battle between the prisoners and the guards. But it was clear that something was different. The way the lights had gone out. The way there were no alarms. And the way that the security doors wouldn’t shut, no matter what.
Whatever had happened, Harry knew one thing.
It was a game changer. And things weren’t ever going to be the same ever again.
They’d been walking for some time now. When they’d first escaped the prison, they’d come across an army barracks right nearby which had been wiped out. He didn’t know what’d happened exactly. Some kind of mass electrical fault.
But something had blown a hole in the side of those barracks.
And Harry saw it as a gift from God that he’d been able to walk in there, to grab the rifles, to strengthen himself and his friends.
He looked at the countryside around him. Took a deep breath of that fresh air. He hadn’t been outside like this for years now. And it was safe to say he had a taste for it. Course he didn’t understand what was going on, not truly. But one thing was for sure.
If the bastards who’d locked him away wanted him back inside, they had a fight on their hands.
The order had changed. And he was going to make-damned-sure he made the most of it.
The girl in front of him was taped at the mouth now. She was a pretty thing. Slim. Light skinned. Ginger hair. Of course, he wasn’t going to hurt her in any way. None of his men were—and he’d put a bullet through their skulls if they tried. That wasn’t their way of doing things.
But it sent a message out to people. A message not to mess. Sometimes all you had to do was plant fear in the minds of others. That’s all you needed to do to create fear.
The government would know. They’d been doing it for years.
Until now.
He went to push her forward again when he heard laughter somewhere ahead.
He stopped. Froze still.
“Did you hear that?” Gav asked.
Harry just kept quiet. Because he was sure he’d heard something.
But why would anyone be laughing in these circumstances?
Why would anyone be joyful?