by Ryan Casey
“I do,” Spud said. “Believe me, I do.”
“So you want to kill a fucking baby girl? You want to—”
“Be quiet,” Spud said, more calmly. “Or I’ll do it.”
Riley felt more energy slip from his body. He saw deadness in Spud’s eyes. It was a look that told him he wasn’t going to talk his way out of this one anytime soon. Something had happened to Spud. Something had happened in his life to make him this way—cold.
Upstairs, the banging continued.
“So this is how you want things to be, is it?” Riley asked.
“Stop talking.”
“This is how you want things to be. A baby-killer.”
“Just—shut up!”
“No,” Riley said. He took a few steps closer to Spud. He knew it was a risk, but he had to take a risk right now. If he didn’t take a risk, then he was certain something was going to happen to Chloë upstairs. That whoever was up there with her didn’t have good plans for her. “I don’t buy that you want to go ahead with this. I… I don’t buy that you’d want to take a little girl’s life.”
Spud’s eyes drifted to the floor. His grip on the machete stayed firm, but it wobbled a little at Kesha’s neck. “Please. Just—”
A scream caught Riley off-guard. And when he turned around, he saw Jordanna on her feet, awake, racing towards Spud.
He saw Spud’s eyes widen.
He pressed the machete further to Kesha’s neck.
“Wait!” Riley called.
He grabbed Jordanna. Stopped her progressing.
“Just—just wait,” he said. “We’ve got this under control. We’ve got this—”
“What the fuck have you done to Chloë? And what the fuck are you doing to her?”
“Please,” Riley said. “All of us just need to calm down.” He felt Jordanna’s muscles loosening in his arms. And he saw Spud’s grip loosening again, too. “We can discuss this. We can be adult about this. We can—”
“He won’t let you get away. Even… even when you think you’ve got away from him, he won’t let you.”
The way Spud spoke made the hairs on Riley’s arms stand on end. “Who won’t let us get away?
Spud’s eyes went watery and glassy. He looked into Riley’s eyes, and Riley saw pain in them.
But he also saw an opportunity.
An opportunity to make Spud trust him.
He lowered his hands. Took another step towards Spud.
“We’ve been through shit. And I’ve no doubt you’ve been through shit too—”
“Stop talking or I’ll kill her.”
“You don’t want to do that,” Riley said. “And I’m not just saying that.” He realised how much of a gamble he was making by opening up, but opening up was all he had in his locker right now. “The girl. The girl in your arms. You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
Spud looked down at Kesha like she was alien. Like she was a doll rather than a human being. “You’re lying.”
“She can cure the infection,” Riley said. And as he spoke, he felt a whole world of trust opening up. “That girl’s blood can stop someone from turning into a creature. Or undead. Or zombie. Or whatever you call them.”
Spud’s eyes twitched. The machete was very loose now, barely pressed against Kesha’s neck at all.
Riley took another step.
“But even if she wasn’t special, I know you don’t want to do this, Spud. I know something must’ve happened to you. Something bad. ’Cause something bad’s happened to us all. But we can all come back from the bad things. I have. Jordanna here has. And the girl upstairs. Chloë. My friend. My… my family. She’s come back from more than anyone I know.”
More thumping and shouting upstairs. More struggling.
“Just let Kesha go. Give her back to us. And if… hell, if you need to kill us, then kill us. Just not Kesha. Because Kesha’s more important than you or me. She’s more important than any of us.”
There was a pause between them. A silent pause. The only sound Riley heard now was Jordanna’s heavy breathing, the stress clearly taking its toll.
Upstairs, there was no more banging. No more struggling.
Nothing.
“Just give me the machete.”
“I don’t—I don’t want—”
“Just put down the machete and come away with us. You don’t have to do whatever it is whoever it is wants you to do.”
“But Kane will—”
“We’ll deal with Kane. Don’t you worry about that.”
Spud didn’t look too convinced. He looked up the staircase. For a moment, Riley saw a flash of total fear in Spud’s eyes.
“Just come away with us,” Riley said. “Come away with all of us. We can forget this. We can put it behind us. We can… we can trust each other.”
Spud’s bottom lip shook. He kept hold of Kesha, who wriggled a little now.
“Put her down,” Riley said.
“I don’t want to kill her.”
“Then put her down. Right now.”
Spud closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
And then he put Kesha down on the floor.
“And the machete,” Riley said.
Spud kept the machete in his hand.
“The machete, Spud.”
“I’m sorry,” Spud said.
He pulled the machete over his head.
Over Kesha.
Time froze.
Riley didn’t even have to think then.
He threw himself at Spud. Knocked him right back against the cabin wall.
He grabbed the machete. Pulled it from his hand with ease.
And without thinking, without considering what he was doing, what was happening, Riley looked right into Spud’s terrified eyes, and he held the machete in his hand.
“I’m sorry too,” Riley said.
He pulled back the machete and split it through Spud’s skull.
Jordanna screamed. Spud moved his mouth, tried to make words as the machete wedged into his head. Blood pooled down his face.
“Kane!” he cried.
Riley backed away. He moved away from Spud, the machete still resting there in his skull. He should be dead by now. He didn’t want him to suffer. That wasn’t the plan. He’d just wanted to kill him because he’d tried to kill Kesha—
“Kane!”
Riley picked up Kesha and held her. He felt his skin go cold as he stared at Spud’s struggling little body battling for life even though certain death awaited.
He’d tried to kill Kesha.
He’d tried to kill them all.
So he couldn’t be trusted.
He stood there and watched as Spud’s eyes squeezed shut, his face red with thick blood. Spud had stopped struggling. It was all over. Everything was all—
“Mum,” Spud whispered, through bloody lips. “Love you… love you…”
Riley felt vomit creep up his throat. He felt completely cold inside.
Mum…
Spud fell to the left.
Blood spilled down the wooden floorboards of the cabin floor.
Spud was still.
CHAPTER FOUR
Cody watched the blood pour from Gav’s fallen body and he knew there was only one thing he could do.
“Run!” he shouted.
The remaining members of the group all turned on Cody’s shout and ran with him. They ran towards the trees, away from the spray of gunfire from the oncoming group. Cody didn’t want to look back at them, didn’t want to do anything that would hinder his disappearance away. But he knew from the sound of that gun that they had some kind of heavy artillery. He longed for a return to the world where Britain didn’t have so many guns in open circulation, even though guns had kept him alive many times by now.
He raced past trees. Either side of him, he heard the footsteps of his fellow group members crunching through the leaves. He looked over his shoulder. Saw Steve trailing behind slightly. He couldn’t let anything hap
pen to Steve. As important as keeping everyone alive here was, he knew—and everyone knew—that Steve was their priority.
“Still not in the mood to tell us where the hell your extraction point is?” Matt shouted, looking back at Steve.
Steve didn’t respond. He just kept on running. Kept on powering through the woods, off the road and away from the attacking group. There was a look on his face. A look that Cody didn’t like.
“Let’s just focus on getting away from here right now,” Cody said. “That’s our priority.”
Cody’s ears rang with the sounds of the gunfire. He could see silhouettes behind, chasing them, but they were so far away that he couldn’t make out their faces.
“We should turn,” Cody said. “Divert their trail.”
Matt nodded. “Good plan.”
They stopped, then ran to the right. They headed further into the overgrown woods.
“Maybe we should stay put,” Matt said.
“And what would that achieve?” Cody asked.
“They won’t be expecting it. If we stay put, they might just run on past us.”
“Or they might capture us,” Steve said. “Imprison us. Kill us.”
Again, there was something off about the way Steve was speaking. Something… unsettling.
“You seem het up like I’ve never seen you before,” Cody said.
Steve took a few seconds to realise Cody was speaking to him. “What?”
“These people. These people we’re running from. The ones who killed Gav. You seem… I dunno. Like you know something.”
Steve opened his mouth like he was going to protest.
Then he closed it. Looked to the ground. Sighed. “I know these people very well.”
Cody felt knotting in his stomach. “How?”
“They attacked our group on the road. They—they killed some of the people we were with. Some of the people I was travelling with when I was on my way to meet you.”
“And why’d they do that?” Matt asked.
Again, more hesitation from Steve. But it seemed like progressively, his defences were slipping. “We… we didn’t let them in.”
“Let them in?”
“To the extraction point. We decided not to persevere with them.”
“So you made the choice whether another group had a future or not?” Cody asked.
Steve pointed in the direction of the chasing crowd. “You saw what they did. What they’re capable of. People like that, they… Some people can’t come back from the things they’ve done.”
Cody’s mouth went dry. “I’m not sure I believe that.”
“You don’t have to. It’s a fact that you’re going to see for yourself up close and personal real soon. And if you don’t… well, I fear for you.”
Cody looked into Steve’s eyes and Steve looked back at him.
“Umm, guys?”
It was only when Matt’s voice broke the silence that it dawned on Cody just how silent it really had been up to now.
The footsteps had stopped. The gunshots, the shouts, all of them had stopped.
The only noise was the breathing of the group. Of Cody’s heavy heartbeat racing, pulsating in his ears.
“Where’d they go?” Matt asked.
The group stood totally still in a circle. They all looked around. Cody swore he saw movement behind the trees. He swore he saw figures coming towards him; heard whispers surrounding him.
But the longer he stood there in silence, the more convinced he became. The more certain of the unlikely truth he grew.
The group had gone. Somehow, they’d shaken it off.
“We need to loop our way back around to the road while we can,” Cody said.
“Are you sure that’s safe?” Steve asked.
“I don’t know. You’re supposed to be the one fucking leading us here.”
“Okay, okay,” Steve said, lifting his hands. “No need to snap. We work our way back around to the road. We stay low and we stay quiet, just in case.”
“These people,” Cody said. “You say you didn’t let them into the extraction point. So that means they know where the extraction point is. Right?”
Steve tilted his head to one side. His mouth moved, but no words came out. “They don’t know exactly—”
“But they could get in our way? They could cause us more problems down the road?”
“I… I find it unlikely. But the chance is there.”
“Then maybe it really is time to start thinking about sharing your secret,” Matt said.
He walked around to the front of Steve. Half-smiled.
“You’ve travelled with us for days now. You’ve seen we’re not bad people. Sure, Gav wasn’t an angel, but he’s… he’s gone now.”
Images of Gav’s death flashed across Cody’s mind.
The smile he’d given Cody when he finally agreed to back his plan.
The bullets splattering into his body.
Blood spraying out of everywhere.
“He’s gone,” Matt continued. “And you’ve seen what we’re willing to do. You’ve seen what we are. We’re people. We’re people just trying to survive in this world. Just—just trying to get to the next world.”
Steve looked down at the ground, then back up at Matt. His eyes shot past Matt then and landed on Cody.
“I just… My family. My—”
“Matt’s right,” Cody said. “You know us enough now to know what we’re like. You know us enough to make a judgement on us. To make a verdict. So you’ve got to make that decision. But just know that if you are at risk, then so are all of us. And how do you plan on keeping your family safe if we don’t know where to go to save them?”
There was a spark in Steve’s eyes then, as if he understood what Cody was saying. As if for the first time, he was seeing the benefits of not keeping the location of the extraction point a secret.
“You can trust us,” Matt said. He reached out. Put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. The rest of the group gathered behind.
“He’s right. We ain’t gonna do anything to hurt your family.”
“We just want to get off this rock. To somewhere safe.”
All of the remnants of Maryam’s group stood together, then.
Cody felt the hope inside building when he saw Steve scan the people around him again.
He saw Steve’s lips open. He prepared to tell them. Prepared to speak the truth.
“It’s—”
And then Cody saw it.
He saw it, and his entire world paused.
Right at the side of Matt and Steve, standing in the trees, a man with a gun.
“Matt!”
Matt looked around at Cody. “What—”
A gunshot blasted through the silence.
One second, Matt was looking into Cody’s eyes, confusion and puzzlement on his face.
The next, half of his head had blown away.
His skull smashed on one side. His brain tumbled out, fell to the ground.
But for one moment, for one split second, as Matt stayed on his feet, Cody swore he was still looking into his eyes.
Looking into his eyes like he knew what just happened.
Matt fell to the ground and the rival group emerged from the trees.
“You fucking—”
Another group member, Sarah, fell then. And another. All of them sprayed with gunfire. All of them splattered with bullets.
All of them except Cody. Except Steve. The last two standing.
And then one of them turned their gun on Cody.
“Wait,” Cody said, lifting his hands.
“Shut the fuck up,” the man said. He had long, dark hair, and he was skinnier than any man Cody had seen, lanky as hell.
“We can take you. To the extraction point. We can take you there.”
The man narrowed his eyes. More of his friends surrounded him. They stepped up either side of him. He saw smiles on their faces. He heard laughter. And he didn’t understand it. All he understood was t
hat he was about to die. All that he understood was that everything—every inch of hope he had—was on the verge of collapse.
“You ain’t going to no extraction point. Tell ’em why he ain’t going to no extraction point, Michael?”
Cody didn’t realise who this man was looking at or addressing. Not at first.
Not until he saw the entire group looking at Steve.
“Steve?” Cody asked. He felt his chest tightening. He felt his hope slipping away.
“Steve?” the man with the machine gun said. “Hell, that’s a new one, Michael. So go on. Tell the poor man the truth. Put him out of his misery.”
Steve—now Michael—lifted his head. He looked at Cody. And Cody saw the tears in his eyes. He saw the pain of what was about to come. The answer he knew was coming, but he didn’t want to hear.
“Alright then,” the main guy said. He walked over to Cody. Pressed the gun to the front of his head. “We ain’t going to no extraction point because there ain’t no extraction point.”
The words floored Cody. They knocked the life out of him.
The look in Michael’s eyes—his traitorous eyes—sent anger filling Cody’s bloodstream. Anger at all the trust he’d placed in him; at all the people he’d lost because of him.
“You fucking shit.”
Cody threw himself at Michael. But before he could reach him, two of the other group grabbed his arms, pulled them behind his back, stopped him moving any further.
“You liar!” Cody shouted. “You fucking liar!”
“I just wanted to—to get back to my family,” Michael snivelled. And with that, Cody saw his whole front falling away; his whole mask slipping. “I just—Please. I just wanted to get back to my family.”
Cody kept on pulling. Kept on trying to get to Michael. Kept on trying to throw himself at him to take him down.
“There’ll be a time for fighting,” the man with the gun said. “Just not yet. I think we’ll have a bit more fun with you first.”
Cody kept on dragging, trying to force his way from their grip.
And then someone pulled a bag over his head, covered his vision, and all he saw was blackness.
Blackness, and all the people he’d lost—all because he’d trusted.
All the people he’d failed, all because he’d trusted.
CHAPTER FIVE
Riley stood over Spud’s dead body.