Escaping Darkness- The Complete Saga

by E S Richards

  Chase looked at Mia, shaking his head slowly and trying to come up with an alternative. “Let me and Riley go,” he suggested. “We did it before.”

  “Absolutely not. That is out of the question, Chase.”

  The teenager huffed and sat back in his seat. He hadn’t expected Mia to go for that idea, and he was still reluctant to agree to her heading out on her own. He had only just gotten his family back and even then, it was barely held together. He’d lost so many people; Chase couldn’t stand to let anyone else walk out of the door when he didn’t know for certain whether they would return.

  “Well, I don’t want you going out on your own either,” he pouted, unable to keep the teenage angst from creeping into his tone. “And I bet Grandma will agree with me.”

  “Chase, come on,” Mia pursed her lips, seeing exactly what her nephew was doing. Any other day she would be laughing. Despite how much they both wanted everyone to stay at home and be safe, it just wasn’t an option. “I know this is hard. We have to be rational about this. I know you’ve been through a lot with your sister in Houston, but I’m still your guardian and I have the final say. I don’t want to fight with you over this, but you need to accept that this is how it’s going to go. I have to go out alone.”

  “What’s this?”

  Chase and Mia both turned in unison, both so wrapped up in their conversation that they had failed to notice Linda and Riley coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. The new arrivals had both clearly heard the end of the discussion and stood with expecting expressions on their faces, waiting for the full truth to be told.

  “What’s going on?” Linda continued, wrapping the folds of her oversized cardigan around her body for warmth. “What’s this about someone going outside? I thought we’d all agreed that was out of the question in this weather.”

  Mia looked at her mother and sighed. This wasn’t a conversation she would’ve ever been able to avoid. Her chest felt heavy from the pressure of it and suddenly, she was overwhelmed with tiredness. Even though she had come back to her home and ended her journey in some respects, she still hadn’t been able to rest. Mia had been fully switched on and on-the-go from the second Yellowstone erupted and it was truly taking its toll on her body and mind. She was exhausted, and the end wasn’t even in sight yet. There was no time to slow down or to rest; she had to keep going—keep fighting—or she risked losing everything she was doing it for.

  “We need more food,” she answered bluntly, aware that there was zero point in mincing her words now. “We’re going to run out soon and someone needs to leave the house to go and gather more supplies.”

  The statement fell hard and heavy on both Linda and Riley, staring at Mia with shocked expressions. Neither of them was an idiot. They both knew in the back of their minds that this day would come eventually, but both had been trying to ignore the truth. Both had been so wrapped up in their emotions over the last few days that they had tried to live in blissful ignorance of what was really going on in the world. Now that time was over, and it was time to face reality.

  “We can’t go outside,” Riley whispered, squeezing her grandmother’s hand tightly as she spoke and reverting back to her childlike mannerisms. “And we don’t have a car anymore. How are we going to get food?”

  “I’m going to walk,” Mia stated, refusing to let her voice break on the statement. “Chase is going to stay here with you both and take care of you until I’m back—though I know you don’t really need it. I shouldn’t be more than a couple of days; there’s enough food for the three of you until then.”

  Chase bit his lip as Mia spoke, understanding that she needed him to keep quiet and be on her side now. Even though he didn’t completely agree with her and wasn’t happy about her going back out on her own, he knew that he needed to act like he was in support of it in order to comfort Linda and Riley. The most important thing now was keeping the pair of them safe and Chase knew that in order for him to play his part, he needed to make a sacrifice and not fight Mia on this. She knew how he felt, but they needed to work together for the greater good of their family.

  “Mia,” Linda pleaded softly, unsettled by what she was hearing. “You can’t go out there by yourself, surely not?”

  “I need to, Mom,” Mia replied calmly. “I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me.”

  “It’s my job to worry, sweetheart.” Linda half smiled at her daughter. “I’m your mother. That’s what I do, you know that.”

  Mia looked at her mom and nodded, understanding what she was saying. It was exactly the same way that she felt about Chase and Riley and so because of that she knew that Linda had to understand what she was doing to some extent. This wasn’t an easy decision for anyone. It was just what needed to be done and so with a great amount of courage and determination, the Clarke family accepted it and prepared for what was about to come. It was only a day later that Mia found herself standing by the kitchen door preparing to leave. The moment had come around so quickly; she almost wasn’t ready for it now. But there was no turning back. This was what she needed to do. And she had faith she would be back before long.

  “I’ll see you all soon,” she whispered tenderly to her family, unsure what to say to the three of them. She didn’t want to say goodbye or make it emotional, aware that that would just plant the seed of doubt regarding her return. Then again, she felt like she had to say something. She had missed out on saying a true farewell to her father. She didn’t want the same to happen with everyone else.

  “Take care of yourselves. I love you.”

  As Linda, Chase, and Riley all murmured back their love for Mia in return, she slid out of the doorway and closed it behind her. Once again, she was on the wrong side of the farmhouse and once again, she wanted nothing more than to go back inside. Regardless, Mia had a job to do and she wasn’t going to turn it away. She had to provide for her family, and she had to do it quickly. So, ensuring her Re-Breather was fastened tightly around her face, Mia squared her shoulders and set out into the unknown. No way of knowing if she would ever see her family again but filled with a determination to make it so.

  Epilogue

  The walk to the small hamlet where Mia was heading should only take an hour at most – in normal conditions. With the wind buffering against her body and almost causing her to lose her footing within minutes, Mia knew immediately that today it would take a lot longer. She’d passed through the area on several occasions, but only stopped by that one time when Chase and his friends orchestrated the dirt rally. The thought of finding all those ATVs still in working condition was incredibly enticing, wishful thinking pushing Mia forward into the unknown.

  Ever since she had arrived at the farmhouse with the boys from Philly, Mia had known she would need to leave again sooner rather than later. This disaster wasn’t something that was going to just fade away and be swept under the carpet, the effects of Yellowstone’s eruption had devastated the planet for years to come and humanity needed to start thinking much more long term than any of them were so far.

  It was understandable to an extent: everyone was still in the reactive frame of mind. It wasn’t like many weeks had passed and it wasn’t like the initial effects of the eruption had subsided in order to shift their focus elsewhere. Preparing for a future with barren farmlands and millions of dead animals was just another factor of the larger picture and one that people needed to start addressing before it was too late.

  That was what Mia was doing. Hopefully if she could find enough food to keep her family going for the next few months, then in that time they could figure out a way to start producing food on some level. It might mean restricting their diet to that of only limits food groups, but Mia knew in times like this whatever you could get your hands on was better than starving to death. She couldn’t imagine a worse way for your life to end; feeling yourself grow weaker and weaker by the day and knowing that gradually you would simply be unable to get to your feet, to say your own name and – finally – to take
a breath.

  It was as fate she refused to let happen to her family. The eruption had given her challenges unlike anything she could’ve anticipated, but Mia had fought through each and every one of them with the knowledge that her family was waiting for her at the end of it all. Chase and Riley were her babies and she was so proud of the people they were growing into; she wanted to see every minute of that from now on, both for herself and to fulfill the promise she had made to her brother to keep his children safe.

  Her one regret was not making it back to the farmhouse in time to see her own father one last time. But when Mia pictured Jerry’s face now, she pictured him how she was sure he would want to be remembered: strong and happy. She saw him playing with his grandchildren and wrapping a loving arm around his wife. Mia remembered her father in a positive light and was at least not haunted by the image of his death.

  Linda was though. It was obvious to Mia how much her mother had changed with Jerry’s passing. The two of them had been a picture-perfect couple, building a life so full of love and happiness that it was impossible to even try to find the tiny scars hidden within it. Now that life had been ripped apart and Linda was suffering – albeit fairly silently for the good of her grandchildren – but she was suffering nonetheless and Mia could see it. Losing her father was one thing, but Mia knew she had to help Linda through it or she risked losing her mother as well.

  Gritting her teeth as she tried not to imagine such a scenario, Mia did what she had become so accustomed to and pushed on through the darkness. It was strange, but for all the time she had spent traveling back to her family in recent weeks, this was the first time she had ever been out on her own. From Yellowstone, Jorge had always been by her side helping her through the difficult moments and reminding her that she wasn’t in it alone. That relationship may have changed – and sadly not for the better – but even without Jorge, Mia had never been left entirely to her own devices.

  She thought of everyone she had met on her journey and realized just how lucky she had been in the company she had kept. All she could wish for now was that each and every one of them was managing to survive better than she was. She was confident Jesse, Jadon and Marcus would’ve made it back to Philadelphia and hopefully, to their families. Then there was Patrick and his daughter Allie, the two of them amongst those who had stayed behind in Tanner, the bizarre ghost town their group had stumbled across. Like many other ways that the eruption had affected the planet, the people in Tanner were far from what Mia had expected to find. It was a prime example of how Yellowstone was affecting their planet in more ways than anyone could’ve ever predicted.

  Humanity was a very resilient race, but there were things that even they couldn’t overcome. Mia forced herself to believe that all of the people she had parted ways with along her journey were safe and happy, wherever they were. Now she just had to secure that fate for her family too.

  The weather wasn’t showing any signs of improving. It had been the same for several days now and left the once scenic environment that Mia knew she was walking through look instead like a barren and dying wasteland. Trees were stripped of their leaves and stood slanted by the side of the road, fighting against the wind and snow that pushed against them.

  The sky was dark and unyielding, billowing clouds hanging so low above her head, Mia almost considered reaching up to touch them. Whether they were clouds of the straightforward design was another matter; the ash cloud had covered the bulk of North America since the eruption and Mia knew from her experience that it wasn’t going to start thinning out any time soon. Particles from the ash cloud would be in the atmosphere for years to come, affecting the planet even long after all the visible effects of the eruption had finally subsided.

  The thick layer of snow on the ground made it increasingly difficult for Mia to make any steady progress. After walking for an hour, she no longer had any sensation in her toes, the icy water leaking through her boots and soaking her socks, despite the two pairs that she had pulled on that morning. Thankfully she had a small rucksack of necessary on her back which included several spare pairs of socks; she was no fool and knew that frostbite would be a vicious injury to deal with alongside everything else. In a world where everything was already against her, Mia was determined not to make any stupid mistakes.

  Wrapping her coat tighter around her body, she tried not to think about the possibility of her toes falling off. The Re-Breather at least kept the bottom half of her face moderately warm, her hot breath trapped against her skin but serving the purpose of keeping the poisonous volcanic particles out of her lungs. Losing a toe was one thing, but lacking the ability to breathe properly was something else altogether.

  By the time she reached the hamlet where Chase’s friend, Evan used to live, the main thing on her mind was getting warm again. She couldn’t recall which one had been Evan’s house, simply forcing her way through the front door of the first one she came across. The place was entirely deserted, and looked like it had been for some time. Mia hoped Chase’s friend was alright somewhere, but she had learned over the weeks that it did no good to wonder and worry about people outside of her control.

  Pushing the front door closed behind her, she hurried through into the kitchen of the house, finding a large open fire place in the room like most of the old-fashioned houses in the area sported. Though she had kindling in her rucksack, by a stroke of luck Mia found logs still sat in a basket beside the fireplace, meaning she only had to withdraw her fire starters and use them to get a blaze going. Within minutes she was holding her hands out against the heat, letting her body slowly thaw after hours trudging through the snow.

  She was just about to pull her boots off and inspect her feet when she heard a thud echo out almost from underneath her, followed by what she swore was the sound of someone cursing. She wasn’t alone. In a split second, Mia snapped from her relaxed and comfortable attitude to one of hostility and readiness. After everything she had been through so far, she was never going to trust a stranger again.

  As silently and slowly as she could both manage and deemed sensible, Mia picked up her rucksack from where she’d left it on the wooden floor and withdrew the pistol from inside. She’d fired the weapon perhaps eight or nine times in total since taking it from the men that tried to overpower them in the local store, and not once had she felt comfortable doing so. In fact, there was little doubt in her mind that if it came down to it, Mia would be unable to physically shoot someone point blank just to help herself. But then, stranger things had happened to her since Yellowstone and if she had learnt one thing, it was to always try to hold an advantage.

  So standing motionless by the blazing fire, Mia held the weapon and waited, her ears finely tuned to any sort of noise that adorned them. The sound she had heard initially seemed to have come from beneath her, which was odd considering she was in the kitchen on the ground floor. It had been like a heavy book falling off of a shelf or a chair falling over, a clumsy accident that wasn’t supposed to be heard.

  After several minutes of waiting, she determined that was exactly was it had been; but she was still nervous about the possibility of someone else being in the house with her. She didn’t trust it and she certainly didn’t feel safe. Walking across the kitchen floor with extreme caution, she cast her eyes around the room in search for what she had come there for. She needed access to a vehicle of some description and a way to load up on supplies for her family.

  Remembering the layout of the houses from the outside, Mia exited the kitchen and walked toward the door she believed led into the garage. It was with some relief that she found it open, turning as she walked through to check no one had appeared in the kitchen behind her, before closing it and standing slightly more confidently in the garage.

  “Don’t move.”

  With two quiet words, her confidence vanished again. Foolishly, Mia had been so concerned about checking that no one was following her from the kitchen, that she had walked into the garage without checking whe
ther it was entirely empty first. It was clear she was not alone in there, her eyes landing on a well-built looking man who was pointing the barrel of a shotgun directly at her chest.

  “Drop your gun.”

  Mia did as she was told, maintaining eye contact with the man as she did so. She couldn’t help but find his face oddly familiar and, considering the reason why she had walked to this specific hamlet and how bleak her situation already seemed, she found herself lacking the usual caution that one should normally feel when put in a situation like hers.

  “I’m Mia Clarke,” she blurted out, hoping that the man was in fact someone she vaguely remembered. “My nephew is Chase Clarke – he was friends with a boy who lived here, Evan? Are you his father? I feel like we have met before.”

  The man pointing the shotgun at her wrinkled his nose as he thought about Mia’s question, though the recognition in his expression when she had mentioned the name Evan was unavoidable. Evan clearly meant something to this man; he was just trying to work out if Mia did as well.

  “Chase Clarke? He’s Brogan and Lauren’s kid, right?”

  “Yes, yes,” Mia nodded, relief flooding through her body as she answered. The man’s tone of voice had changed and the shotgun in his hands lowered, no longer pointing square at her chest but instead somewhere around her kneecaps. She could tell immediately that he was no longer a threat to her, the memories of Chase and the Clarke family slowly returning to her. “He came here for a dirt rally or something, once. Long before all of this happened…”

  “Oh my days, yes!” The man dropped the shotgun to his side and then placed it down on the floor, walking toward Mia and going to shake her hand. “I do remember you, I’m sorry. Mia, right? I’m Chesney. Are you alright? How is Chase? Where is your family?”