“Unless there’s something she hasn’t told us.”
He mulled this over. “Even so, I think it’s better if we wait until morning.”
“You can’t be serious,” Dan said. “You’ve just got back.”
“I’m afraid I am serious. I don’t see that I have a choice. I promised her. I wish to god I’d tried harder to make her see that it might be too late. If anything happens to her… I’m leaving first thing.”
“But you can’t! You just riled up the neighbours.” Dan turned to Annie. “Make him see why he can’t go!”
“I…” she couldn’t look at him. “Dan, I can’t. I can’t just let her go alone.”
“She’s an adult. She made her own choice to go.”
“I promised her, Dan. I’m going. I’ve got to. I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t.”
“But what about us?” He pulled his hand away. “What will I do if something happens to you? I’ve only just got you back, Annie. I can’t lose you again.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. Her throat stung. She wanted all this to stop, for life to go back to normal. What she wouldn’t give for the days when a rubbish day meant a delayed train or just one line on a pregnancy test instead of the two she’d craved.
“Dan,” Clive said sharply. “We’ve made up our minds. I have a good idea of where to start looking, so with a bit of luck we’ll get to her before it’s too late. I need you to be calm. Can you do that? We’ve got to prepare. There are a few things I’ll need before we set off.”
“Fine,” Dan said, getting up. “Just don’t be long. And come back safe, alright?”
Pete
“Pass me the pliers, will you?”
Pete looked up from the book he’d been reading and shook his head. Reading was the wrong word. He barely understood a thing in the now-vast collection of textbooks they’d nicked from the uni library. He’d never been much of a reader.
Pete’s brother Josh had told him the most unbelievable story about why the power and phones were down. Pete had gone straight to the top of the ladder, to Harry Harman, giddy at the thought of the rewards he was going to get for being the one to tip him off. Instead, Harry had wanted to talk to Josh, thinking he was some sort of mad scientist. The two of them had been locked up in this horrible shed for the past week. Well, Pete had had a short break a few days ago when he was sent to work with Ian, but he must have screwed up somehow because he found himself right back in here that night after they’d driven around for hours looking at big rambling old houses.
It was mind-numbing.
He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.
“Pete! Did you hear me?” Josh slammed the screwdriver he’d been holding down on the rotting wooden bench. “It’s fine. I’ll get it myself.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Josh what’s the point? We’ve been at this for days and we’ve still not gotten anywhere. Harry’s gonna kill us. You know that, right? So instead of prattling on about pliers or whatever, maybe we should think about how we’re going to get the hell out of here.”
Josh said nothing.
“Just admit it, Josh. You’re no closer to getting a radio working than you were when they first locked us in here.”
“I’m not an engineer,” Josh hissed. “I studied chemistry. They’re two completely different areas.”
“But you have all these books! You’re smart—you can figure it out!”
“I can’t! It’s not some magical thing where I look at a book and all of a sudden know what to do. You try!”
“What?” Pete looked at the book Josh was pointing at and sniffed. “No. You’re the clever clogs. What am I supposed to do?”
“See that’s the thing,” Josh yelled. “I’m not. I’m no smarter than you. I just knew I had to study if I ever wanted to make a decent life for myself.” He spun around. “And take a look where that got me. Nowhere, that’s where. I shouldn’t have even bothered.”
Pete watched him for a while without saying anything. They’d almost come to blows several times since being cooped up in here.
“Okay. Then let’s figure out a way to get out. There has to be a way. They send Kenan with our food. He’s weak as fuck.”
“Yeah, he is. Because Harry knows we can’t do anything. He has us by the balls, Pete.”
Pete turned away and sighed. His brother was right. As usual. They were locked in here. And even if they managed to get out when Kenan came with their food, they had nowhere to go.
“Shit,” Pete hissed as he became aware of the drone of an engine. “Someone’s coming.” It wouldn’t have been remarkable a few days ago, but there’d been a lot less activity around there in the last couple of days.
Josh shrugged.
Pete listened. The engine stopped and a car door slammed after a few seconds. There was the slightest crunch of gravel. Then another. “Shit, what are we going to tell them? We can’t keep bullshitting them forever.”
“Shut up,” Josh whispered as a key rattled in the lock. “I can’t think.”
The door swung open and Kenan stepped inside warily.
Pete scowled. Of all the people Harry could have chosen to keep an eye on them, he’d gone with Kenan, who didn’t have two brain cells to rub together. It was an insult—that’s what it was.
“Alright lads.”
Pete stared at his former friend. “What’s going on? You’ve been here already today.” He swallowed. “Are we getting dessert?” He didn’t feel like joking, but that was better than letting Kenan see how scared he was.
“No. Harry wants to see you. Come on.”
“What? We’re going to him?”
He couldn’t help but feel excited. Maybe Harry had had a change of heart; realised that he needed them after all.
Pete sighed and looked out the window. It was hard to believe only a week had gone by since the power went off and their lives changed. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Can we go by Crosby Road?”
“Sorry, mate,” Kenan said. “It’s in the opposite direction. Harry said I wasn’t to mess about.”
“Oh come on. I want to see my mum. Harry’s not going to know.”
“Of course he’ll know. Don’t be stupid, Pete.”
Pete stared at his old friend in astonishment.
Kenan didn’t even flinch. “I’m just doing what I need to do to get by. Don’t look at me like that. You’d do the same.”
He snapped his head away. Kenan was right. He would do whatever it took. Except for some reason Pete couldn’t work out, he’d lost Harry’s trust. Just when he needed it most.
It didn’t matter that the man was an animal and Pete hated the sight of him now. You didn’t spend your teenage years desperately wanting someone to notice you and then just walk away unhurt when they suddenly decided you were no longer to be trusted.
“Hey,” Josh muttered behind him. “Stop daydreaming and watch where we’re going.”
Pete turned and looked out the window. The industrial sprawl had given way to green fields and narrow country roads. There was something familiar about all of it. He must have covered hundreds of miles of narrow country roads with Ian on Friday. Had they come this way?
They soon pulled into a long tree-lined driveway and Pete realised he’d been right: he had been here before. This was one of the places he and Ian had scoped out. He felt a stab of something like jealousy as he ran back over the events of Friday in his mind. He’d kept asking Ian what he thought, but Ian hadn’t really said anything. Then he’d driven Pete back to the shed and left him there.
It was like all the others were in on the secret but he wasn’t. Why? He was no different to them and yet Harry kept pushing him away from all of the really important stuff.
He turned back and looked at his brother. Was it because of Josh? It had to be—Pete couldn’t think of anything else that marked him as different from Kenan and Mo and the others.
Kenan stopped the car right in front of the huge spr
awling building that was more like a castle than a house. “Come on, then.”
They followed Kenan up the stone steps and in through the open front doors. Pete refused to be impressed by the double high ceiling or the sweeping wooden staircase. This whole place was just another reminder that nothing he could do would ever be enough for Harry.
Kenan opened the door nearest the one they’d just walked through. “Wait in here.”
“What?” This wasn’t what he’d been expecting. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls and there was no furniture in the room except for a tatty old couch and a few old fashioned chairs dotted around the place. It smelled weird.
“I could have found better than this,” Pete snapped as soon as Kenan closed the door on them. “This place is a dive. I told Ian we should be checking inside the houses too.”
Josh sighed.
“What?” He was spoiling for a fight now.
“Why does this matter so much to you? You’re worried about missing out on the action. They probably killed some nice old lady to get this place.”
Pete scowled. “That’s not the point.”
“It is the point, though. Your priorities are all screwed up.”
The door opened before Pete could respond. Harry appeared. “Boys. Come with me.”
The place was huge. Upstairs wasn’t like Pete’s mum’s house with a tiny landing and the bedrooms all packed close to each other. This was a hallway. There were at least ten or twelve doors on this level. That he could see. Who needed a house this big? And why hadn’t they looked after the place?
Harry opened one of the first ones. “Come on then.”
The smell of disinfectant hit him before he’d even walked through the door. It was almost overpowering, like in a hospital. His stomach lurched. He was about to ask what it was, but he thought better of it. The room was dark and dingy. Someone had hung blankets over the curtains to block out as much light as possible.
He looked around. The smell of the disinfectant had alarmed him into thinking this was some sort of slaughterhouse, but now that his eyes had adjusted he saw that it was just an ordinary bedroom with an old fashioned wardrobe, a chair and a single bed shoved against the wall. There was no headboard…
“Jesus,” Pete hissed when he realised there was a figure lying in the bed. He swallowed. He knew he shouldn’t have reacted like that, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself.
He moved closer, drawn by a horrible fascination to see who was in that bed; to see what Harry had done. Was this a test? Or a threat? Pete knew one thing: nothing good was going to come of this.
A man Pete didn’t know bustled into the room, followed closely by another, one of Harry’s heavies from the gym. When he saw the little group of them he stopped and shot them a filthy look.
“I thought I told you he needed to be isolated,” he said to Harry.
“Relax, Doctor. He wanted to see these two.”
“Doctor?” Pete repeated, staring at the man.
No-one answered him. The doctor watched Harry with a look of fear and anger that Pete recognised.
“You dragged me here to care for him. I told you. You need to follow my instructions if I’m going to be able to do that.”
Harry waved his hand. “I need to speak to him for a minute.”
“Just be careful! Don’t get too close.” The man’s eyes were narrowed, his mouth a tight line.
“Relax, man.”
“How can I relax? You tell me I have to keep him alive or you’ll kill me. I’m doing my best here, but you lot coming in here from outside without taking basic precautions isn’t going to help him.” The man’s fists clenched at his sides.
“Hurry up, lads. Before the good doctor here gives himself a hernia.”
Harry stepped closer to the bed. Pete followed cautiously. Part of him wanted to see who it was. The other part wanted to run the hell out of there and never find out.
His mouth went dry. He wanted to run away, but his legs had turned to jelly.
He was close enough to see the person’s face now. It was a man, but he was so badly bruised it could have been anyone.
When Pete did recognise him, it was like a sucker punch to the gut.
“Zane.”
The man’s eyes flickered open and Pete took a step backwards, alarmed by the look in his eyes. They bulged slightly as always, but the rage in them was even more intense than ever. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, a horrible croaking noise came out.
“Stop trying to speak,” the doctor pleaded. “Please. I’ve asked you a thousand times. It’s not going to help you get better.”
Zane’s focus turned to the man and Pete couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The poor fucker was in a worse position than he or Josh had ever been. This was never going to end well for him, Pete wanted to tell him, but he didn’t dare say anything.
“What the hell happened?”
Zane’s eyes bored into him. He tried to speak again, but Pete couldn’t make out what he was saying. He turned to Harry, not knowing what to do.
Harry chuckled. “How about I fill them in, Zane? Looks like you’re struggling.”
The figure in the bed gave a slight nod and winced, as if even that moment was too much for him.
It was an effort for Pete to make his legs work and follow Harry out of the room. He couldn’t believe this. Zane was the hardest, cruellest person he’d ever met. Part of him felt relieved, though Zane was probably still as dangerous as ever.
Harry closed the door.
“What happened? Who did that to him?”
“Gunshot,” Harry said. “He’s lucky Davy found him in time.” He sighed heavily. “He was barely alive when they dragged him in here. There was only one doctor left at the hospital. We were very lucky to find him.”
Josh flinched. “You took the doctor away from—”
Pete elbowed his brother as hard as he could. “Who did this? What happened?”
“That bloody girl,” Harry hissed. “Her and some others.”
All the blood left Pete’s face as he remembered the last time he’d seen Zane. It had been at the warehouse when Harry had told him to go help Ian. He’d sent Zane after the girl. Mo had gone with him. “Mo…”
“Yes,” Harry said impatiently. “Him too.”
“What? He’s dead?” Pete shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. Since the power cut, Pete had been more and more distrustful of Mo, but there was so much more to their relationship than that. They’d known each other since they were little more than babies. Yes, there had been a rivalry between them, but at the same time they’d been close. He couldn’t understand this. It made no sense.
“Dry your eyes, kid. You’ve got work to do.”
“What?”
“Oh come on. I know there was no love lost between you and Mo.”
“What? No, it wasn’t like that. We had…” He trailed off. There was no point in arguing.
“This is your chance to prove yourselves. I want that girl. Zane wants that girl. Her name is Si and she has purple hair.” He narrowed his eyes. “Now, I could choose any of the others, but I know they’d probably mess it up. I want her alive, do you hear me? The others too. They have an old Renault and they took Zane’s Jag. I’m not sure if they’ll be stupid enough to still be driving around in them, but that’s all I’ve got.”
Pete nodded, thinking furiously. This was their chance to get out of that shed for good. They couldn’t screw this up. “She’s the mechanic’s girl, right?” he said, trying to remember as much as he could about that day even though all he could picture was Mo’s face. “Maybe he’ll tell me more if I go talk to him.”
“No!” Harry snapped. “Don’t go anywhere near him. He thinks I’ve already got her. If you fuck this up, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Okay,” Pete said shakily. “We’ll get them.”
Harry slapped two hands on his shoulders. That the man had to fully extend his arms to reach did nothin
g to dampen how intimidated Pete felt. “You better. This is eating Zane up. Not surprising, given the circumstances. And make sure they’re alive. That’s the whole reason we picked you and not any of those other psychos. They’re no use to him dead.”
Si
Si couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t even expected to get out the gate onto the road, but now she was fast approaching the motorway—well, she thought she was, anyway. She’d had to take a different route than the way they’d come before. She hadn’t wanted to, but what choice did she have when Clive and Annie were walking on the road?
She’d made sure to hang around the yard when she knew Annie or Clive could look down and see her. As soon as they’d come back down and headed to the neighbour’s house, she’d taken her chance. Luckily Terry and Olivia hadn’t noticed her filling up water bottles from the bucket in the sink and stuffing breakfast bars and cans of food into her backpack. It was amazing what you could get away with if you did it slowly and casually instead of rushing.
She gritted her teeth. She had a good sense of direction, but even that wasn’t much help in this rabbit warren of little roads. Most of the junctions weren’t signposted. She’d kept a mental log of all the turns she’d taken, but she wasn’t able to account for the twists and gradual curves in the road.
Calm down, she thought.
It was hard. She’d been on the road for almost an hour now and she still hadn’t reached the motorway. That might have been alright if she’d left first thing in the morning, but she hadn’t. It was late afternoon and the light was already starting to fade. All these roads looked the same—narrow and winding with high hedgerows on either side.
To take her mind off it and calm her nerves, she played back everything that had happened since she’d filled her bag and snuck out of the house, around the side to the front where the Renault was parked.
Fighting Darkness: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (Fighting to Survive Book 2) Page 6