Fighting Darkness: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (Fighting to Survive Book 2)

by Alex Knightly

  “Annie?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to leave them here. Another says they might be useful. They’re tall lads. They might come in useful around the farm. They know Harry. They know Sanderson. And they seem… I don’t know, terrified. But then it’s a risk. What if it’s a trap? What do you think, Clive?”

  He sighed, wishing she hadn’t asked him. He was still trying to figure out what he thought. “It’s obvious to me they’re not worth much in a fight, but they could be useful in other ways. Certainly if we leave them here they’ll be a loose end in that they can tell Harry all about us.”

  “They don’t know where we live.”

  “True. They don’t. But they know we’re at a farm. That’s not much, but it’s more than Harry knew about us before.” He looked at Si. “Si, you’ve got to tell me now if this is a problem. You’re the one they chased here.”

  “I don’t care,” she whispered. “We found Max. He’s safe. That’s all that matters.”

  “That lad, Josh, might be useful. He seems smart.”

  “Let’s bring them then. Two more people would be useful if the neighbours kick off. Is there a way to get them back without them knowing exactly where we’re going? That’s my main worry. That we’ll lead Harry straight to us.”

  He nodded. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

  He must have looked especially sullen when he went back into the bedroom, because the first thing that happened was Josh felt to his knees in front of them. “Please. You can do what you want, but please don’t leave us here for Harry and Zane. He’s a psycho. He’ll kill us when he finds out we’ve failed. And he won’t do it quickly.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “So please just kill us. I know you don’t owe us anything, but if you have any little bit of humanity left in you…”

  “He’s right,” Max said quietly. “Zane’s not a pleasant character at all.”

  “He’s dead,” Si snapped.

  “He’s not. They dragged him back. Kidnapped a doctor to keep an eye on him.”

  “Where?”

  “At the house.”

  “The country house, you mean?” Clive said thoughtfully. “So that woman was right. How many people does he have?”

  “Dozens.” Josh frowned. “You’re not thinking of going after him, are you? Seriously. Don’t underestimate him.”

  “Nobody’s underestimating him.”

  “Aren’t they? Sounds like it to me. Look, can you please just make a decision one way or another? He’s going to come here when we don’t show.”

  Clive looked at the two young men. Was it madness to even consider bringing them? He just didn’t know anymore. Wasn’t it madder not to try and grow their numbers when the neighbours had more people? “You’re coming with us. No, don’t celebrate. The slightest hint of disobedience or unruly behaviour and you’re out. I’ll bring you back to Harry myself.”

  “Thank you. Thank you. You have nothing to worry about. I’d have killed Harry myself if I’d had the opportunity.”

  “Yes, well, actions speak a whole lot louder than words. Come on. We’ve got to get going.”

  “One thing,” Josh said as they hurried downstairs. “Our mother. We can’t just leave her at home. That’s the first place he’ll look.”

  Clive sighed. There was always something, some little complication that meant life had to be more difficult than it should have been. “You haven’t mentioned her before now.”

  “That’s because I thought you were going to kill us. Why would I tell you about her?”

  Clive pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to ease the throbbing in his head.

  “Where is she?”

  “Hadstow. Please. You don’t even have to come. We’ll go get her ourselves.”

  Annie snorted. “Yeah right. You’re not going anywhere by yourselves.”

  “You don’t understand. We’re not leaving here without her. If we do, Harry’ll find her.”

  “We can’t,” Annie snapped. “We don’t have time for this. We agreed that they might be useful, but going on a wild goose chase to find their mother? No. We need to leave now.”

  Clive nodded. It was a lot to take in. “I’m sorry. We almost got killed once in Hadstow. I can’t risk our lives on this.”

  “Then let us go! We’ll follow you once we’ve got mum. We’ll take the risk.”

  Clive shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. That’s putting us at risk too. Who’s to say you won’t turn on us and lead Harry straight to us?”

  “We won’t. You have my word.”

  “That’s not enough for me to go on, I’m afraid.”

  He sighed and turned away. It had all seemed resolved and now they’d reached an impasse. They were all exhausted. It had been inadvisable to go into that estate before, but he’d done it to find Si. They had no reason to trust these young men.

  They all looked at each other. Time was racing by and there was no easy answer.

  Si cleared her throat. “I think I have an idea.”

  Si

  Si wished she’d said nothing. Maybe if she’d stayed quiet, they’d have left those lads behind and gone straight back to the farm.

  “Stop pacing,” Max grunted. “You’re making me wish I was still locked up in that warehouse.”

  She spun around, horrified. “What?”

  He grinned. “Not really. Got you to relax for half a second, though, didn’t I?”

  She turned away. Maybe he had jolted her out of her thoughts for half a second, but that was all. She was soon back to mulling over whether she’d made the worst decision of her life.

  She should hate them. They’d tried to trick her. Who knew what would have happened if she’d fallen for the lie and opened the door.

  But it hadn’t worked in the end. She’d seen through it and she’d managed to trap them. And Annie seemed to think they might be useful. What if she was wrong, though?

  “Si. You’re supposed to be keeping watch.”

  She looked back at him. He was sprawled flat on the roof of the old Renault, shotgun in hand. “I am.”

  “Yeah, but you’re distracted. I can tell. Your brain is working overtime. You need to calm down and focus.”

  She rolled her eyes, hating the way he could read her so easily.

  What was taking them so long? She should have felt safe here, high up over the motorway, hidden from view by trees and thick brambles. It was much the same over on the other side, where Clive and Annie were hiding. No-one driving on either side of the carriageway below would have any idea they were up there.

  But as time passed, she’d started to doubt that. They were only five exits north of Hadstow. What if this hadn’t been such a clever idea at all? What if Harry’s people thought to look up here?

  She couldn’t take it anymore. “What if I messed up? What if this plan is a terrible one?”

  “It’s not your fault. We all made the decision together.”

  “It was my idea.”

  He scoffed. “Do you think if your idea was to throw ourselves off bridges that we’d all have gone along with it? Calm down. I think it’s a good plan.”

  “But they haven’t come yet. They were supposed to go pick her up and leave straight away. That was what we agreed on. We’ve been up here for ages. It has to have been more than an hour by now.”

  “Calm down. We’ve been here half an hour,” he said. “Roughly. I’ve been keeping count as best I can, but I’ve been distracted by your fretting.”

  As she moved, the old set of binoculars that hung from her neck slapped against her chest. It wasn’t sore at first but it was starting to grate on her. She’d found them in the attic of her mother’s house. She had no idea whose they were. An ex-boyfriend of her mother’s, she assumed, though she couldn’t remember a man with an interest in birdwatching or whatever the hell they were used for.

  She stared straight ahead, resisting the urge to pace in case she distracted him agai
n. A new thought entered her mind. It was getting late. What if Harry wasn’t the only one they needed to worry about? She remembered the feeling she’d gotten in Thorndale, that deserted town where they’d found two pharmacies all locked up and untouched. What if they didn’t have to worry about Harry at all but a different enemy somewhere nearby?

  She closed her eyes. Perhaps they should have all stuck together. At least then they’d have strength in numbers if they were ambushed. The others weren’t that far away, but it would still take them a few minutes to get here if they had to.

  “Si…”

  “What?”

  “Stop freaking out. It’s not helping you.”

  “I’m not… I didn’t…”

  “I can see it in the way you’re standing.”

  She sighed. There was no point in arguing with him when he was right.

  Where the hell are they? The wind had picked up. She’d grabbed an old coat before they left her house, but even that wasn’t much use against the cold. She was starting to stiffen up. She stamped her feet.

  It did make listening out for the sound of a car engine any easier either.

  “We’ll soon be back at the farm.”

  “Do you think?”

  “I don’t think. I know. I have a shotgun and you have a handgun. We have a car. Now, I’m not used to using guns, but that doesn’t worry me. Unless they’re rally drivers, they’re not going to beat me in a race no matter how powerful their car is.”

  She smiled. That made her feel a little better, even though she still had an overall sense of doom hanging over her.

  Then she heard it.

  “Max. I think I hear something.”

  He didn’t say anything. She grabbed the binoculars and moved into position.

  From this spot, she had a good view of the northbound carriageway except for a stretch of about fifty yards that was blocked by the trees.

  The faint drone was slowly getting louder. She wished the wind would die down so she could hear it better.

  “Settle down. You have a minute or two yet. Don’t forget to breathe.”

  She nodded. She’d been holding her breath to try and hear better. She lowered the binoculars from her eyes. Her forearms were starting to strain and she didn’t need to see yet anyway. She’d be able to see the car when it came into view. From there, she’d have a few seconds to lock onto them with the binoculars.

  She couldn’t see Annie and Clive on the other side. They’d be watching too. It had been risky to separate, but Clive had insisted. He thought it was isolated enough that they could separate and still be close enough to get to each other if they needed to. Different vantage points. One might see something the other missed. They only had three signals. Nobody had the brain power to remember any more, and they didn’t need that level of finesse anyway. Three short sharp bursts meant danger-abort. Two slightly longer bursts meant come and assist. One long whistle meant everything had gone to plan and it was time to go. They’d practised them endlessly so there’d be no confusion when the time came to use them. Si prayed she’d only ever hear that one long whistle.

  She stared at the road hoping that when the car appeared it would be the white Ford Escort the two boys were driving. Of course, that still didn’t mean they were safe. There was always the possibility that Harry had ambushed them and taken their place.

  Which was exactly the logic behind this plan.

  Finally, a white car appeared in the distance, dodging around the cars stopped on the motorway. She wished they weren’t there: they were a distraction. It would have been easier to follow a lone car along a clear road. She held her breath and raised the binoculars to her eyes. It was too early yet, but she wanted to make sure of getting them in her sighs.

  “I see them. It’s definitely white.” Her eyes slowly focused.

  “A white Escort?”

  She forced herself to exhale as steadily as possible to prevent jerking and losing sight of them. At this magnification, it hadn’t been easy to get them in view, but it was necessary. “Yes,” she said, when she’d finally identified the car she’d seen earlier at the house.

  “Okay.” She could hear the tension in his voice. “Let me know when you can see it’s them.”

  She waited. Impatient. Tracking them as they moved. It seemed too slow. She hoped they wouldn’t suddenly speed up in case she lost them. They didn’t know about this place. Clive had given them directions to the service station they’d led Harry’s men to. He’d told them to drive straight there. They knew nothing about this checkpoint.

  “Well?”

  “Still too far away.”

  She stared. It felt like far too much responsibility. Her safety and that of the others depended on her getting this right.

  She forced herself to breathe as she tracked their movement. The plan was by no means perfect. It relied on her being able to turn and quickly pick them up again before they got too far away to see. She had to make sure it was just the two lads and their mother. If there was a fourth or fifth person in the car, or a third man, they’d call the whole thing off.

  “Don’t stress too much. The others are watching too. You can only see what you can see.”

  “Yeah.” She didn’t want to talk or get distracted now. She tried to guess from the angle of the binoculars how much more time she had. She’d tested it before but it was still hard to tell. The last thing she wanted was to find herself staring at giant green leaves when she still hadn’t confirmed who was in the car.

  She coughed all of a sudden and cursed. The movement had jerked the binoculars up and now all she could see was grey sky. No. No! She couldn’t mess this up. She tracked back down, finding bushes. Then road. Where were they?

  She pulled the binoculars away and found them. Tilting her head forward and staring at the spot they’d be in in a few seconds, she moved the binoculars back in front of her again.

  Yes!

  There it was.

  Bigger than ever. She could see their faces now. She blinked, wanting to make absolutely sure. “It’s them. The two lads.”

  “And? Anyone with them?”

  “Can’t see.” She blinked a few times. There was no-one in the gap between the two seats. Why couldn’t she just lean forward so Si could see her? It would make things so much easier.

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “Lost them.” Her vision had filled with blurry greenness. The trees. She took a deep breath and turned, just like she’d practised. Waiting.

  She pulled the binoculars away and waited.

  Waited.

  There! There they were.

  She swallowed. It wasn’t as easy to see from this angle. There was a head in the back, she thought. Yes. But of course she couldn’t see from here who it was. All she knew was it was blonde hair. She squinted and followed them for as long as she could until the car slowly disappeared from view.

  “Well?”

  She sighed. She wished she could be more certain. “One person in the back. Blonde hair.”

  “So it’s them. With their mother.”

  “Wait,” she whispered, terrified he was going to whistle over to Clive and set events in motion. “I don’t know for sure. All I saw was that it was a person with blonde hair. I didn’t see their face.”

  “Okay. Well what do you think? What does your gut tell you?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. It feels like there’s too much riding on this. What if they’re on to us? What if it’s someone in disguise.”

  “Si,” he said. “Calm down.”

  She nodded, her heart hammering. It had seemed so straightforward when they talked about it before. Now there was so much room for confusion and error. There was only one person in the back of that car. She was sure of that much.

  She started when she heard a long, low whistle.

  Clive.

  “There. See? The others think we’re good to go.” He watched her, waiting. “But we o
nly move if you agree. That was the plan.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I’m pretty sure.”

  Max jumped down from the roof, steadied himself, then whistled loudly.

  Clive

  Clive looked at Annie. There it was. The signal that all was clear with Max and Si. They jumped in the car and raced back down the narrow road, impatient to get to the slip road that led to the motorway.

  His heart pounded. This was it. The long drive before they could know for sure. Anything could happen on the road. It was hard to keep that in mind when he already felt an overwhelming sense of victory and relief.

  But they weren’t there yet. Far from it.

  The white Escort was waiting for them when they pulled into the familiar petrol station forecourt. They’d deliberately stayed behind it. What else were they going to do? The plan was to meet here and they’d chosen it so as not to give anything away in the event they were being double-crossed. Harry already knew about this place. They weren’t going to lead him to the farm. They’d never be able to rest easy again if that happened, because they’d never know how many people knew their location.

  Clive drove to the right and glanced over to see that Max had disappeared behind the shops, just as they’d planned.

  No, he thought. We mustn’t pat ourselves on the back just yet. We can only judge the plan to have been a good one once we’re safely back at the farm.

  “The two lads,” Annie muttered, though he could see them himself. “And a woman in her forties or fifties.” She rolled down the window on her side as Clive reversed the car back ten feet until he could see the number plate at the back.

  The little Renault emerged at the other end of the shops and accelerated over to the other side of the Escort.

  Clive pulled up the handbrake and Annie got out of the car, gun in her right hand. Clive had mixed feelings about Si being the one to search the car and not him, but it made sense from a logistical point of view. He was ready to take off at a moment’s notice if something unexpected happened and he was the best bet if they needed to make a fast getaway. It was the same with Max in the other car.