Escaping Darkness- The Complete Saga

by E S Richards

  “Everything ready?” Mia asked, brushing over the question. “Is this everyone that’s coming?”

  “Yeah,” Patrick nodded. “I thought there’d be more.”

  Looking around their small group, Mia noticed there were hardly any new faces. Everyone from the airport aside from Angelica and Michael were there, the original group anxious to get going. Stuart and Deb were accompanying them too, Deb’s cocker spaniel yapping at her ankles amid all the excitement. Ethan and his son Miles were coming too, but as far as Mia could see, that was it. She turned in search of a familiar face, picking Jorge out in an instant. He stood with Lizzie and her son Billy—both of whom Mia hoped would be joining them as well.

  “All good?” She asked Jorge as she walked toward him, her colleague standing beside Lizzie, as he had been pretty much ever since they’d arrived in the small village. “You ready to leave?”

  “Si,” Jorge replied, earning a look of sadness from Lizzie. “All good.”

  Jorge tried to force a smile onto his face, but Mia could see he wasn’t really feeling it. Things seemed awkward between the two adults, but after everything she had been through with Jorge, Mia knew she had to ask.

  “Are you coming too, Lizzie?”

  “No,” the woman pouted, crossing her arms in front of her body as she spoke. “I need to stay behind. Billy is going to come with you though. Please make sure you look after him.”

  Mia was shocked. Billy was coming, but his mother was staying behind. She looked to Jorge in surprise but her friend did nothing more than shake his head, not giving anything away.

  “You know you’ll die here,” Mia replied, unable to stop herself from trying to save people, even when they apparently didn’t want to be saved. “You should join us.”

  “I know,” Lizzie replied despondently, “but this is my home. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Mia,” Jorge interrupted, telling his friend through his tone of voice not to push the matter any further. Reluctantly Mia obliged, holding her hands up in surrender and turning away, her eyes scouting out someone she could hopefully have a rational conversation with. Lizzie confused her. Why was the woman so willing to send her son away, but didn’t want to save herself? Lizzie seemed to comprehend that she would die if she stayed behind, but was still determined to do so. It didn’t make any sense to Mia, but she knew she couldn’t waste any more time worrying about it. Her time in the small village below the airport had come to an end; it was time for them all to leave.

  Just over thirty minutes later, the whole group was ready to move out. Tom and Brady came out to wave them off, though Mia immediately noticed that neither Michael, Angelica, nor Lizzie were among them. It was a shame. So many people were going to die that could have been saved so easily. Shaking her head, Mia gave up on the idea. She had to keep walking forward now and just focus on the people around her. That was something at least, and as Michael’s mother had said, it was something she should be proud of. Through it all, she was doing her part and that wasn’t something she was ever going to apologize for trying to do.

  Chapter 13

  “Absolutely not.” Linda was on her feet, her hands positioned on her hips as she looked down at her granddaughter, refusing to comply with what Riley had just suggested. “You are not going.”

  “But Grandma,” Riley replied, her voice level and calm rather than the whiney tone that had been expected. “Chase will need someone to help him. He can’t get everything by himself and if I go with him, we’ll probably be back even quicker.”

  “I’m sorry, Riley,” Linda replied with a shake of her head. “That’s out of the question. I won’t have both of you going out in all of this. It’s bad enough that Chase has to, but that is enough. You’re too young. I won’t allow it.”

  “Chase,” Riley continued to speak, doing an excellent job of keeping her voice sounding professional and rational. “Tell her. You need me out there to watch your back. What if something happens to you and you’re out there all alone? We’d never know. If I’m there, there’s safety in numbers. You need me.”

  Chase looked at his little sister and then at his grandmother. Both were incredibly strong women when they needed to be, and both were absolutely dead set in their opinions. Mulling it over in his head, Chase weighed up the pros and cons of having Riley with him on the journey. He would be increasingly on edge with her around, worrying about having to take care of her as well as look after himself. But he knew that would also mean he would take less risks and ultimately be safer. Both Riley and Linda had made good points and he couldn’t make his mind up about whom he should side with.

  “It’s not up to Chase,” Linda cut in, not letting her grandson answer and saving him from having to make a decision. “You’re not going, Riley, and that is final.”

  With a clap of her hands, Linda ended the discussion and walked out of the den, her temper flaring after what Riley had suggested. She wasn’t really angry; she just couldn’t bear to watch both her grandchildren leave the farmhouse. She had been beside herself with worry when Chase and Jerry had just been out at the old milking station, having her grandchildren out somewhere on the highway was almost impossible to comprehend.

  “Pop,” Riley spoke up once her grandma had stormed out of the room, hoping he would be more rational in his response. “You get it, don’t you? It’s better if we pair off and tackle this problem, and let’s be honest, you or Grandma can’t go with Chase, can you?”

  “I understand what you’re saying, Riley,” Pop started to reply, “but…”

  “But nothing!” She interrupted, a faint smile threatening to creep onto her face as Riley began to sense victory in the conversation with her grandfather. “That’s all there is to say. We need to fix this house and we need to do it quickly. There’s no point messing around arguing over who goes out and gets the supplies. The safest option is for me and Chase to go, and I think you know that.”

  Jerry smiled at his granddaughter, enjoying the fire that rose inside Riley as she debated her corner. He couldn’t deny that he could see the logic behind what she was saying, but he knew he could never outright agree with her or Linda would have his head for it. Because he also agreed with his wife. He didn’t want to see both his grandchildren drive out into the unknown with no sure-fire way of reaching them again if something went wrong.

  “Whether you think I know that or not,” Jerry began, “you know you’re never going to be allowed to go if your grandma doesn’t say okay. I’m not the one you need to argue with, kiddo, and I think you know that.”

  Riley bit her lip and rolled her eyes slightly. This was ridiculous. She was getting irritated with her brother for not backing her up too. She knew this was the right thing to do and she was only trying to do it in order to help everyone else. Sure, there was a tiny bit of Riley that wanted to go out with Chase so she could see everything for herself firsthand. But she also wanted to help her family. She was fed up of being ignored and sidelined, given the easy or simple tasks just because she was the youngest or because she was a girl. She was much more capable than both of her grandparents now and deep down, she really just wanted a chance to prove that.

  “Whatever,” Riley huffed, tired of trying to remain mature throughout the discussion. “I’m going and I don’t think you can stop me.” With that, the thirteen-year-old stormed out of the den and down the hall to the bedroom she was sleeping in now. She was disappointed with herself as she felt like she’d just lost the argument somehow, but she was still resolute in her decision. She was going with Chase and eventually her grandma would just have to deal with it.

  “Aw, man.” Chase rubbed a hand across the back of his neck anxiously, now just he and his grandpop left in the den. “Do you think she should come with me?”

  “I don’t know,” Jerry sighed in reply, slumping back in his seat on the couch. Chase collapsed next to him, letting out an equally loud sigh and allowing his head to rest back against the comfortable cushioning.


  “It will be easier if she helps me, I guess,” Chase thought out loud, knowing he could discuss this freely with his grandfather without getting into any trouble. “But she’s just a kid.”

  “That’s the thing,” Jerry replied. “I agree that it’d be better if you could have someone with you and in an ideal world that would be me. I’m just not up to it,” Jerry closed his eyes in shame, disappointed that he couldn’t be the one to help his grandson. “I’m just not sure whether she’s the next best option.”

  “Do you think Grandma could come?”

  “No,” Jerry shook his head, his eyes still closed. “I need Linda here with me in case…” Jerry trailed off slightly, ashamed of himself and all the trouble he was causing. He blamed himself. If he were fit enough, he would go with Chase and none of this would be happening. He hated the old man he was turning into.

  “It can’t be me or your grandma,” Jerry continued after a brief pause, knowing this wasn’t the time to start feeling sorry for himself. “It should be Riley, but I just don’t want her to have to do this. I don’t want you to have to either,” he quickly added, “but I’m sure you can handle it. Riley, I just don’t know.”

  “She is strong,” Chase answered, thinking more positively about having his sister with him. “And I can trust her. I do trust her. Ugh!” He threw his hands up in the air and brought them back down again, slapping his palms against the couch in frustration. “I can’t make this decision.”

  “Well luckily we don’t have to,” Jerry joked. “We both know that once your grandma has made her mind up about something, it’s rare that she changes it. I think this is one that Riley is going to have to battle out with her, whether she wants to or not.”

  Chase sighed. “Oh jeez. This isn’t going to be fun.”

  “Nope,” Jerry agreed. “I think we’ll probably do well to stay out of it. Why don’t we go and have another look in Riley’s room at what we’re dealing with? See if we can make a proper list of what’s needed to fix it all up?”

  “Yeah all right,” Chase smiled, happy to have something else to focus on. He pushed himself up from the couch with ease and offered a hand to his grandfather, tugging the old man up beside him. “I think that’s definitely an easier problem to tackle.”

  The two of them laughed, exiting the den and padding the short walk down the hallway to Riley’s bedroom. The young teenage girl, meanwhile, was sitting with her back against the wall in the old back bedroom. She’d left the door open just wide enough for the sound from Chase and Pop’s conversation to travel down to her, Riley listening to every word.

  By the end of it, there was a satisfied smile etched across her face. Riley felt pretty confident that both her brother and her grandfather thought she should go. She was also positive that the more the two of them thought it over, the surer they would find themselves becoming of that decision. Now the only matter at hand appeared to be convincing her grandmother. Linda was a hard nut to crack, but Riley had her ways. Now that she was so set on it, nothing was going to stop her from accompanying her brother to the hardware store.

  Linda didn’t know what to do. She sat in the front room tending to her plants, several of the crops from her garden that had been too young to harvest moved inside as best they could. They never really used the front room anymore, the décor too fancy and the carpets too white and pristine. Not that they looked like that anymore. Everything was covered in soil and muddy footprints had been stamped into the floor. It was a room much like the dining room in the old farmhouse. One that had entertained many people over the years, but now that it was normally only Linda and Jerry in the house, was left to gather dust and grow cold and less homey. Linda didn’t care too much that the front room was now effectively a greenhouse; she was glad to have somewhere to herself where she could think.

  It was extremely difficult not to think of Mia when she looked at Riley like that. Linda missed her daughter so much and thought about her almost every minute. Unlike her son, Brogan, Linda could tell that Mia wasn’t dead. She had felt it inside of her when her son died and she hadn’t had that feeling yet with Mia. Linda was certain she was still alive, but where she was and how she was coping was a completely different question. All she wanted was a sign. Something to tell her that Mia was okay.

  Losing Brogan had been a total and utter heartbreak for Linda. The crash had come as such a surprise, just a normal day turned completely upside down in no more than a few seconds. At first, Linda had desperately tried to find someone to blame. Anyone and everyone who had been present had been on her list. Blaming someone else somehow made it easier for her to accept that her son was gone.

  In time, she had come to accept that it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. It was a freak accident that no one could have stopped, even if they’d known it was coming. Understanding that there wasn’t anyone to blame didn’t make it any easier though, and after the blame stage came extreme grief and with a blink of her eyes Linda was back in that dark room, sobbing into a pillow for days on end. She had been inconsolable. Many had tried, but for a mother to lose her son was something no one would understand unless they had experienced it for themselves.

  Linda had watched Brogan grow up. She had been by his side for his first tooth, his first day at school, his first break up, first job, first love, and so much more. She’d seen the look on his face when her son finally became a parent and she became a grandmother. That was something she’d wanted to see as well, her son watching his own child have a baby of their own, and understanding how much the love you held inside yourself could only grow and grow with each new addition to the family. That was just one of the moments that had been snatched from her and Linda mourned each and every one of them every day.

  She missed her children—both Brogan and Mia—so incredibly dearly. Not seeing them every day hurt more than she ever could have imagined. But Linda had Chase and Riley in her life now. Their smiling faces made everything seem better, even when the world was in turmoil outside. Her house had nearly fallen down and Linda had still managed to smile, because both her grandchildren had still been safe. The thought of losing them was just too much for her to deal with.

  Shaking her head as tears began to slide down her cheeks onto the leaves of her plants below her, Linda knew that no matter how much sense it made or how hard Riley tried to convince her, she would never let her granddaughter go. In reality, she didn’t want Chase to have to leave either, but she could reassure herself just enough that he would be safe. For Riley, she couldn’t. Linda still saw the three-day-old baby that she had first laid eyes on when she looked at her granddaughter and there was no chance she was letting that precious little girl go outside in the storm.

  As much as she loved her grandmother, none of that mattered to Riley. Even if she’d heard Linda’s explanation, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Upstairs, Riley packed her rucksack and prepared herself for the journey she was about to make. She was going with her brother and just as she’d told her grandpop earlier, no one was going to stop her.

  Chapter 14

  Blake had been entombed in silence in the store for two whole minutes before he heard the sound of someone scuttling back down the emergency escape hatch. In an instant he was below it, the shotgun clutched in his hand as he waited to see who was going to appear. Vic hadn’t been gone long, but Blake had been alone for long enough to fear the worst. All he’d heard was one gunshot and he had no idea who it had come from.

  “Blake, my friend. Find a chair or something will you?”

  The large stuntman found that he exhaled so deeply with relief, that he went a little lightheaded. Vic was back. Never in his life had he felt so comforted by an Eastern European accent, dashing across the back room and placing a chair underneath the hatch so Vic could lower himself back down with ease.

  “What happened?” Blake questioned before Vic’s feet were both even on the ground, the rifle he had taken with him nowhere to be seen. “Where’s your gun? I heard a shot
fired. Was that you?”

  “Slow down, my friend,” Vic replied, catching his breath slightly from his rapid descent. “Yes, that was me. Our friend Jenson is no longer with us.”

  Blake was puzzled. “But how? Surely you didn’t make it all the way up to the roof in that time?”

  “No,” Vic shook his head. “I didn’t. I popped through a vent into an empty apartment and took the shot from there. It was much closer range and luckily Jenson didn’t see it coming.”

  “Oh,” Blake answered, relieved to discover there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for what had happened. The fact that a man had just been killed somehow didn’t seem too serious to him—certainly not as much as he’d thought it would’ve. Blake’s overwhelming feeling was relief. He was going to survive, at least for the immediate future.

  “Were you worried, my friend?” Vic asked with a smile, noticing the shotgun that Blake had moved from the counter to where it now lay on the floor next to him. “Did you think it was I who had been hurt?”

  “I didn’t know.” Blake shook his head. “I’m just glad it wasn’t.”

  “Me too,” Vic laughed. “That would’ve made the rest of the day a lot less enjoyable.”

  Blake cracked half a smile, his mind still preoccupied. Jenson had only been the first—he was sure more people would come and find them if they knew that treasures lay inside Vic’s store. Jenson himself had spoken about returning with his boys; what if somehow, he’d already gotten word to them about what he was doing? No matter how safe Blake had previously believed he and Vic were inside the store, he was now very, very on edge.

  “What did you do with the body?” Blake asked, already no longer thinking of Jenson as a human being, but just something they had to get rid of. “Do you think we should move it?”