by Casey, Ryan
Riley went still.
He tried to step back.
But that’s when he felt it.
The cracking against his skull.
The dizziness and haziness to his vision.
And then falling to the ground and the birdsong growing louder and louder and…
Chapter Twelve
Riley sat back against the wall of the cell and smiled.
It was pitch black down here. Stank of piss. His hands were tied behind his back, cuffs around his ankles, too. It felt like he was back in that cell on Island 47.
Only he couldn’t stop smiling.
He knew smiling wasn’t a normal reaction. He was trapped, after all. He’d left the basement and found himself walking past body after body. The creatures, they hadn’t arrived on thirty-eight minutes. And that was three days, now.
He saw them. Saw them lying on the ground.
And then he turned around and saw the small group of them standing there.
Withered.
Weak.
On their last legs.
And that was what he was smiling at. That’s what filled him with joy. Because as much danger as he knew he was in—as immediate as it was—he could see that the creatures were falling. Their reign was ending. There were only a few left standing.
The Dead Days were dying.
He thought of Kesha, then, as he sat back against this cold, hard, damp wall. He’d told her to stay in the basement until he got back. And although he worried about her… he trusted her.
He trusted her to stay down there for as long as she felt she could.
He trusted her not to leave until she ran out of supplies.
And when that day came, Riley was certain that the creatures would have fallen for good.
He heard something, then. Footsteps. Movement heading towards his cell. He knew he should be nervous. Knew he should be tense.
But there was another feeling, too.
Another overriding, stronger feeling.
A feeling of equanimity.
Because this was their last stand.
This was their desperate final stand.
Whatever they were attempting… they were about to throw everything they had at him.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
He didn’t care anymore.
Just as long as Kesha was safe.
The door to the cell opened, and light shone in.
He recognised her right away. Recognised her silhouette. And although it surprised him briefly, nothing was surprising in the end. He’d seen so much, been through so much, that it would take a lot to truly surprise him.
“I wondered when our paths would cross again,” she said.
Riley watched her step into the light.
He saw her look at him. Smile on her face.
“Hi, Alison,” he said.
She stopped right before him. Wiped the blood from his head. He could see the gaping knife wound on her neck. The paleness to her face. She was long gone.
“How’ve you been keeping?” Alison asked.
Riley sighed. Shrugged. He figured he had to humour the beast inside Alison’s body. “Getting by, I guess.”
“That beard,” she said, brushing her fingers against it. “It doesn’t suit you. Could do with getting it trimmed.”
Riley smiled back at her. “I dunno,” he said. “I kind of like it. It screams ‘desperate survivor at the end of the world’. Sort of fits with the vibe I’ve been going for. And besides. I remember when I grew a beard once. Alison kind of liked it.”
Alison—or rather the beast inside Alison—scanned his face. Something alien to their eyes. The facade slipping. The illusion faltering.
Riley realised he was looking at Narcissus itself.
The virus itself.
He was staring into the eyes of an advanced form that had taken so, so much away from him.
And was on the verge of taking the last thing he cared about in this world from him, too.
She sighed. “You know what this is now, Riley. No games. No lies. You know what we want. You know what we need. And you need to know how beautiful this world can be if only you allow it.”
Riley didn’t say anything. Just looked back into her eyes.
“The virus,” she said. “It’s dying. You’ve seen it for yourself.”
“And that’s a good thing,” Riley said. “It means the end of it. The end of all of this.”
“That’s the thing,” she said. “Think of how many people are infected in this world. Sure, there are a few remaining. But not enough. And think about something else. Our son. He’s out there, Riley. And if you let the virus die… he dies too. Everything dies.”
Riley heard the words and his dread—and guilt—began to grow. “It’s a chance I have to take. Because if he’s already infected. If… if Riley Junior is already infected. Then it’s already too late.”
Riley let the words sink in. He thought of the people he’d known. The people he’d drifted away from. The people he loved. Friends. Parents. And biological son. He always wondered how they were doing out there. How they were getting on.
He lived with the hope that they might still be out there, surviving, like him.
But that hope died if Alison’s words were true.
“Then what’s the choice?” Riley asked.
Alison put a hand on the back of his. “I can’t… I can’t promise anything for you. Because you are a flaw. You don’t turn. You are immune. Resistant to this strain. And you’ve tortured my kind for so, so long. Stood against us. So you need to be made an example of. I hope you understand.”
Riley gulped. Nodded. “And Kesha?”
“Kesha… Kesha needs to join us, Riley. We need her blood and her flesh in its purest form. It’s the only option we have l—”
“Then I’d rather humanity fell,” he said.
Alison frowned. “What?”
“If… if that’s what it takes. If giving up Kesha is what I need to do to ensure everyone doesn’t just pass away. Then maybe… maybe it should. Because this isn’t humanity anymore anyway. This is the virus. If what you’re telling me is true… humanity is already gone anyway.”
Alison moved away, then. She shook her head. Sighed. “I hoped you wouldn’t say that.”
“Well you’d better get used to it—”
“The virus, as you call it. It’s… it’s a different way of living, sure. By submitting to it… humanity can be better. It can be stronger. Your kind… you can be improved if you just let us. Don’t you see it? Don’t you see?”
Riley shook his head. “You just don’t get it, do you?”
Alison’s eyes shifted.
For a moment, Riley swore he saw them cloud.
He leaned towards her, and he detached himself from the idea that Alison was anywhere to be found here. “I don’t know what you are. I don’t know what your plans are. I don’t care what you think you can do for humanity. I don’t even care that you could stop the virus in its tracks once upon a time, too. Because you’re… you’re not Alison. You’re not my ex. You’re not the mother of my son. You’re the virus. You’re—you’re Narcissus. And you’re fucking desperate. I can see it in your eyes. You’re dying. And you’re going to. I’ll make sure of it.”
He felt a tear roll down his face. Looked away. Imagined it was Alison standing opposite again now.
“And if you are in there… if there’s still a trace of you in there somewhere, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I did in the past. I’m sorry for letting you go. I’m sorry for leaving our son. I’m sorry I drew you back. I’m sorry for so much, Alison. But you… you’re gone now. And so is everyone else. It’s too late. It’s already far too late.”
He sat back. Right against the wall. Equanimity restored. Confidence surging.
“I see how desperate you are. I see how eager you are to break me. But you won’t. Because you’ll never get to her. You’ll die before you get to her.”
Alison
’s jaw twitched, now. The glimmer of the virus moving behind her eyes. A virus threatened. Desperate. Weak.
“How can you be so sure?” she asked.
Riley took a deep breath and went to a place he didn’t want to go to.
A place he didn’t want to visit.
“Because…”
The resistance.
The push-back.
Everything screaming at him not to say another word.
“Riley?” Alison said.
And that’s when he smiled.
Tears rolling down his cheeks.
Pain splitting through his body.
“Because Kesha’s already dead.”
Chapter Thirteen
Riley stood over the grave in the woods and watched as they dug her up.
The afternoon sun was low. The remains of the house stood behind them. There was a chill to the air. A chill that brought it all back. Took him right back to the day he’d done this. The day he hoped he’d never had to face.
The remaining creatures stood around him. They were growing anxious; panicked. He could see even Alison—the de-facto voice of Narcissus, it seemed—was growing edgy. She stepped from side to side, pacing. He didn’t really understand what she was, but it seemed like she’d slipped into a leadership role. Like the virus had identified her strengths and infested her completely.
But all Riley could do was stand there. Bitter taste in his mouth.
All he could do was watch them dig up her grave in these woods.
And all he could do was feel a sense of emptiness pervading through.
“This is what you are capable of, bruv. A hard-ass motherfucker, that’s what you are. Knew it from the first day I saw you.”
“When?” Alison asked.
Riley looked around at her. Frowned. “What?”
She walked up to him. Anger in her eyes. Grabbed him by the throat. But her strength wasn’t as impressive anymore. Her grip was loose. Her fingers were shaking. “When did she die?”
Riley closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “It was six months ago,” he said.
“Impossible.”
“I… I woke up one morning. Found she’d gone. Passed away in her sleep. Malnutrition. Something like that. I don’t know. Nobody knows. But I… I had a chance. A chance to get outside. To give her a proper burial, right near the house we were living at. And then I came back home and locked myself in that basement and tried to tell myself she was still here. Tried to convince myself she was still alive. And hell. At times… at times I really started to believe it.”
Alison searched his face. Looked at it, trying to seek out any kind of breaks in his expression. Any kind of cracks.
He heard the creatures searching the remains of the house. Heard them looking through the rubble, seeking out the trap door. He knew they’d struggle to find it. But they would find it, eventually.
They’d find it, and they’d see there was nobody in there.
Nobody inside.
“Why didn’t you just… why didn’t you just tell us this? From the start?”
He took a deep breath.
And then, he smiled.
“Because I wanted you to believe you had a chance. I wanted you to think there was still hope. And then I wanted to see the look on your faces when you realised there was no hope. I wanted to see the look in your eyes when you realised you’re doomed. That you’re going to die. Just like you’ve done to us, so many times.”
Alison gritted her teeth.
And then she punched Riley across the face.
Knocked him to the ground.
He lay there, and he smiled, taste of blood strong in his mouth. Because he knew what this meant to them. He knew what it meant for him. He knew what it meant for everything.
“You’ll regret this,” she said. “You’ll regret the day you stood against us. The day you had the chance to take us up on what we were offering. The day you refused.”
She went to dig a boot into Riley’s side.
He smiled. “That’s something you just don’t realise about humanity. That’s something you haven’t cracked, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about love,” Riley said.
Alison looked angrier. The other creatures were growing more frantic.
Somewhere over his shoulder, he heard a trap door crack open, and he knew it was time.
“You’ve tried to conquer us. You’ve tried to win. But I don’t care how small a population humanity is anymore. I don’t care where we have to start from. The fact is… there are people out there. And they’ll find a way. Wherever they are, they’ll come together, and they’ll rise again. But you’ll just be a memory. A footnote. A reminder of what happens when things go wrong.”
Alison’s cheeks flushed.
“Stop,” she said.
“What happened is sad,” he said. “But it’s already done. And you’re lying if you pretend it can ever be fixed. But if you think I’ll hand the keys over to you… you’re mistaken. So mistaken. Because you’re not humanity. You’re a virus. And viruses deserve to die.”
She pulled back her boot, kicked him in the ribs.
He winced with the pain. Laughed, again. “You’ll never win.”
Movement.
Movement over by the grave.
“Stop!” she shouted.
“You’ll never find what you want to find.”
And Alison understood.
She looked over at the house, where the creatures were gathered.
Then over at the grave.
The package they dug up. Lifted out.
“Stop!” she shouted.
Only she wasn’t shouting at Riley anymore.
She was shouting at her people.
Riley looked at Alison, and he smiled.
“You’ll never find Kesha.”
The creatures unfolded the package from the grave.
The trap door smashed open.
Fear covered Alison’s face. “No—”
There was a blast.
A huge blast just ahead of Riley.
He watched the limbs of the creatures splatter everywhere.
Smelled the cold, rotten blood in the air.
And behind, too.
The trap door.
The bang that erupted.
The flames that kicked them back and swallowed them up.
He kneeled there as Alison looked behind her. Looked at the broken, fallen limbs of her companions.
Then over at the house.
Not his house, of course.
But a house he’d put a lot of effort into.
A plan he’d put a lot of effort into, just in case.
He looked at Alison standing there, all alone.
Desperation across her face as her fallen comrades surrounded her.
And then he smiled and closed his eyes and waited for whatever followed.
Keep Kesha safe.
He knew he’d played his part.
Chapter Fourteen
Kesha remembered what Riley told her about the bang.
She lay in the box. She didn’t like the box, but it kept her safe, and she knew she could trust it ’cause Riley said she could.
Even though he said she didn’t have to get in it this time, she was scared and sad ’cause he’d been gone a long time.
But she wanted to be on the outside because they hadn’t come and Riley looked excited, he looked like he was happy—happier than usual ’cause he wasn’t drinking and he wasn’t crying.
But the bang. The two bangs from the other house. The one that looked just like this one. What Riley said about the bangs. That they were a good and bad thing. Good because it meant she could go outside. Bad because They were still out there.
But this place wasn’t safe anymore.
She had to go outside.
She climbed out of the box. It wasn’t locked. She was pleased. She didn’t like it when it was locked. It made her sad and upset, b
ut she trusted Riley because Riley fed her and loved her and read her stories about things she didn’t understand.
She walked across the cold floor. Past the colouring books she’d never had any “crayons” to draw with.
Then past her bed. Her comfy bed on the floor.
And then she saw Henry, and she smiled.
Henry was in his web. He had a few crumbs in there. Crumbs he looked like he was enjoying.
She reached over to Henry. Went to stroke him; to pat him on his little spider back.
“Go time, Henry,” she said. “Not safe. Go time.”
But Henry backed away. He didn’t look happy. Didn’t look like he wanted to go even though she knew they had to.
And then Kesha felt sad because she didn’t want to be alone, but she didn’t want Henry to be alone either.
But then she thought about Henry, and she knew he would be safe here.
They didn’t mind Henry. They liked him.
Which sometimes made Kesha wonder how bad They were after all.
She patted his web, just a little. Moved a crumb closer to him.
“Okay,” she said. “You stay. Look after home. Be good boy.”
Then she leaned in and kissed his web which was sticky and gooey.
And then she turned and walked over to the steps.
She looked up at the steps. Up at the door. And she wondered maybe she was wrong. Maybe the bang was made up. She made up stuff sometimes.
Or if the bang wasn’t the bang Riley wanted her to hear. They were other bangs. Something else.
She didn’t want to make Riley upset because he worried about her.
And it was nice that he worried about her.
But now was time to go outside.
Now was time to do what he’d told her to do.
She packed her bag. Took water. Food. Some food she didn’t even like but Riley told her was good for her.
Then she climbed the steps.
Reached the top of the trap door.
Held her breath.
She listened. Listened outside for a sound. Some kind of sign of life.
She didn’t hear anything.
Just the birds.
She thought she could remember the birds. Remember what they looked like.