by Casey, Ryan
He looked at the flames burning.
Then he felt for the matches in his pocket.
If he had one last duty… he knew what it was now.
Exactly what it was.
He lifted his hands. Smiled.
“You got me,” he said.
Then he turned around and ran away, back in the direction of the cells.
Matches in hand.
If he couldn’t have this place… then Mike certainly couldn’t.
If it was the last thing he did… he was going to make sure that he burned it to the ground.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Mike and the rest of the people in this room—all twenty-three of them, he and Gina included—were already standing up, bracing themselves and waiting for Graham’s return when Mike first noticed the smoke.
It was subtle, at first. It seemed to sneak up on them out of nowhere, and before Mike knew it, people were choking, coughing.
And it was only then that Mike understood what was happening here.
“He’s trying to smoke us out,” Mike said. “He… he knows what’s going on down here. He knows we’ll be making a stand, and he’s trying to smoke us out.”
He couldn’t see much in the darkness. But he could make out the horror on Gina’s face. The realisation setting in.
Because they were trapped down here.
They were locked down here.
And Graham wasn’t going to stop trying to gas them.
“What’re we supposed to do?”
“Help. We need—we need to get out of here.”
Mike heard the panicked voices, and he looked around at the people. He heard the coughing, the spluttering, and he knew things were only going to get worse before they got better.
He felt that tension. The tension that came with being forced into a position of leadership that he hadn’t totally volunteered for.
He felt it, and then he pushed those feelings aside.
Because he’d chosen to be here.
He’d chosen to try and save Romesh, and to try and win back his home.
Whether he felt like it or not… he was the one who was going to have to pick up the pieces, now.
He was the one who was going to have to rally everyone together.
“Everyone listen,” he shouted.
The nervousness cracking through his voice.
The smoke beginning to tickle the back of his throat.
The anticipation of the stand he had to make weighing down on him.
“We can’t give in here. Because that’s what he wants.”
“We’re trapped!” a voice shouted.
“We’re not trapped,” Mike said. “We’re… we’re together. We have strength. Strength in numbers. So here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to fight our way out of that door. We’re going to use all the strength we have. Because there’s twenty-three of us. There’s twenty-three of us, and we’re fighters. All of us are fighters. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t still be here. We wouldn’t still be standing together. So what do you say? Are you ready to take a stand? Are you ready to fight?”
Mike looked around, and despite the coughing, despite the spluttering, despite the fear… Mike felt the hope in the room.
The hope beginning to rise.
Because they had a chance to get out of here.
A slim chance.
An impossible chance.
But it was a chance all the same.
He turned around to the door and raced towards it, shoulder first.
“We’re going to get out of here.”
He slammed into it.
And then he felt the force of the people behind him pushing against him too, pressing him forward, crushing him to the point he couldn’t breathe.
But he didn’t let the fear take over him.
He let the crowd push against him.
He pushed, too.
And he heard the hinges of the door creaking, just a little.
The coughing was beginning to rise. The smoke was getting thicker. Mike could feel himself growing hazy, running out of time.
But still he pushed against that door.
Again, he charged against it.
“Ag—again!”
He slammed against it.
And this time he felt his head crack against the door.
This time, he felt even more dizzy. Even more woozy.
But he kept on going.
He kept on pushing.
He kept on leading.
Because that’s who he was.
Like it or not… that’s who these people saw him as.
And that’s who he had to be.
He pulled away for a third time. And this time, he felt it might just happen.
Because the door hinges were creaking more strongly.
They were creaking stronger than he’d heard the last time.
But one more push might just be enough to knock him unconscious.
One more push might just be enough to send him to his knees.
He held his breath. Looked at that door. Felt the people behind him waiting for his call. Some of them falling down. Some of them drifting off into unconsciousness as the smoke got even thicker.
He looked at that door ahead, and he knew it was time.
“Now,” he wheezed. “Now.”
He flew against the door. The crowd pushing behind him.
But this push… it was more laboured.
The door didn’t creak as much as last time.
He felt like the energy was drifting from the crowd. Like they were losing numbers. Like they’d peaked.
He fell back, and he started to drift from consciousness…
And then he saw something.
The door.
The door, right ahead of him.
A crack of light through its sides.
The smoke losing its thickness.
Air seeping in.
“It’s working,” he said.
More coughing. More wheezing.
“It’s—it’s working. One more time. One more time!”
He threw himself at the door.
Slammed against it.
And this time, he felt something else.
This time, he felt the door come free.
This time, he landed outside.
He hit the ground. Felt people clambering over him. Rushing to get outside. Stepping on him.
And as he felt like his consciousness was fading… he still felt proud. Because at least he’d done what he came to do. At least he’d saved these people.
His people.
But then they started to lift him. Started to help him to his feet.
“You’re going to be okay, Mike,” someone’s voice said. “We’ve got you.”
“Not so fast.”
When he was back on his feet, he saw someone.
Someone ahead.
The source of the voice.
Graham.
He was standing right there.
There were guards behind him.
But they didn’t look like they were on his side.
They didn’t look like they were standing up for him. Not this time.
But they weren’t doing a thing.
Because of the person he was holding.
“Kelsie,” Mike wheezed.
Graham was holding Kelsie.
And in a flashback to so many situations he’d seen already—so much he’d been through before—he was holding a knife to her neck.
“Bad move, Mike.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Mike looked at Graham as he held the knife to Kelsie’s neck, and he felt a million flashbacks replaying in his mind all over again.
He was weak after breaking out of the cell, the twenty-two others behind him. His lungs were scarred by the smoke he’d inhaled. His eyes were stinging like mad.
But he was here. He was out here, and he was on his feet.
And Graham was holding Kelsie right opposite him.
; He looked beyond Graham. Looked at the shocked faces of his guards. And he knew what had happened, then. He felt a glimmer of pride because he knew what it meant. This place. It had turned. The explosion at the wall had been enough to flip what was already a tensely contested situation on its head.
And Graham was the one who was outnumbered now.
“You know it was foolish coming back here,” Graham said. “I told you I’d make you realise exactly why it was a bad idea coming back. And now you’re about to find out. When I’m done with this little brat, you’ll know exactly why you should’ve stayed away.”
Mike saw Alison in his mind’s eye. He saw Holly, too. He couldn’t lose Kelsie in the same way. He couldn’t watch her fall right before him while there was nothing he could do about it.
“Please,” Mike said, standing, staggering towards Graham, edging closer.
He saw the smile on Graham’s face, then. The tilted corners of his mouth. “You always were a dumb bastard,” Graham said. “I knew it from the moment I first met you that you weren’t to be trusted. Maybe if Vincent hadn’t trusted you, things would’ve worked out very differently indeed.”
“You shouldn’t even say his name,” Mike said, staggering closer and closer towards Graham.
Graham frowned. Kelsie under his knife. “What was that? Speak up. I can’t hear through all that smoke.”
“I said… you shouldn’t even say his name. Because he was so much more than what you are. He always will be so much more than what you are. His legacy. It’ll live on. And yours… yours will too. A memory of you, anyway. A memory of what happens when people fall for the lies of people who shouldn’t be trusted.”
He looked around at the people who’d fallen in line with Graham. The people with regret on their faces now, who were beginning to understand exactly what they’d given up.
“But everyone deserves a second chance,” Mike said. “Everyone… everyone deserves a chance to try again.”
Graham laughed, clearly bewildered. “I don’t think you’re really in a position to be giving orders like that right now. I’m sorry, Mike. But if this place is going anywhere, it’s certainly not going to fall into your hands. I’ll die before I let that happen.”
“This isn’t about this place falling into anyone’s hands. It never has been. It’s about you. A power-hungry maniac who thinks they should lead. But when it actually comes to it—when all is said and done—you’re powerless. You’re incapable.”
Mike saw the knife twitching around Kelsie’s neck.
“So drop that knife. Drop it, right this second. Or you’ll never lead again. You’ll never lead anywhere again. And I know… I know that’s not something you want. I know you just want to be respected. I know you were cheated in your past, and you just want the chance to take control of your destiny. To make things right.”
He saw Graham’s face turning, then. Like he’d said something he really didn’t expect to hear.
“I’m not sure I understand—”
“You were hurt by someone,” Mike said. “You told me yourself. And as much as you want to believe you can lead by taking control—as much as you want everything to be in your own hands—it doesn’t work like that, Graham.”
He walked closer to Graham. Right up to him.
“I know… I know despite everything, you’re not an evil man. You’re a killer. You’ve done bad things. But so have all of us. I know you want the same thing I want for this place. You just have a different way of going about it. And that’s why…”
He took a deep breath, then, and did something he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to accept fully.
He got on his knees before Graham.
“Lead this place. Take back your people. Take me out to make an example if you have to. But please. Spare Kelsie. She’s never done a thing to harm you. And if you kill her… you kill your chance of ever being respected by any of these people again. You have a chance, Graham. A chance to do things differently. A chance to change. Please.”
He saw the way Graham looked at him. Then at his people. And then at the knife again, and at Kelsie. “You’re lying.”
“I’m on my knees telling you to kill me if that’s what you have to do. We’ve… we’ve reached a disagreement. But what good leadership doesn’t have its struggles from time to time? Use this. Use it as an opportunity. Use it as a chance.”
He saw Graham’s knife twitching.
Everyone looking on in silence.
Kelsie’s heartbeat Mike could see bouncing in her chest right from here.
“Be better, Graham. Lower the knife and be better. We have a chance right here. A chance to start again. And you have a chance to lead.”
He saw the way Graham looked at him when he said that word.
He saw the way his eyes faltered, just for a second.
And then he saw the way the knife lowered.
Just a little.
“Wendy,” he said. “I… I lost her.”
“You can do this, Graham.
“I lost her and…”
His eyes regained focus, then. He started to lift his knife like the trance he was in was breaking.
“I don’t think I can—”
But it was already too late.
Mike threw himself towards Graham the second that knife lowered just a little.
He pushed Kelsie out of the way and fought Graham to the floor.
Knife of his own to Graham’s neck.
He looked down at him. Heart racing.
And then he put the knife to his neck even harder and waited for the blood to show. Waited for his gargling to give way to choking.
But then he felt something else.
A rival force pulling him back.
He went to push the knife down.
Sliced Graham’s neck.
But only skin deep.
“That was for Alison,” Mike said.
And then he put the knife right against Graham’s forehead.
“Now I’m going to show you how we do things, now.”
He looked up. Mostly at Graham’s allies. The people surrounding.
“The public executions end. The imprisonment of innocent people ends. This medieval structure, it ends. This isn’t what Vincent wanted. It isn’t what he built. And it isn’t what got us this far.”
He looked down at Graham.
“This isn’t his legacy.”
Graham laughed, then. Spluttered a little and then laughed. “And what about your legacy, oh dear leader? Are you going to kick off your tenure with a murder? An execution of your own to see in the new world?”
Mike’s heart raced. That knife still so close to Graham. Still so near to piercing his neck.
“Are you going to usher in a new era? Because I admire you if you do. But these people… they’ll only fear you. They’ll fear the consequences. And then everything that has happened with me will happen to you, all over again.”
Mike looked away. Knife still pressed to Graham’s neck.
“Do it,” a few voices shouted.
He looked back at Graham.
Saw his defeated smile. “Do it, Mike.”
Mike looked away.
He looked at Siobhan.
At Kelsie.
At the crowds of people.
He looked at them all, and he pulled back the knife.
Then he tossed it away and hit Graham as hard as he could across his face.
He stood up. Dragged Graham to his feet. “Up. Come on. On your feet.”
“What’s—”
“I’m no leader of this place,” Mike said. “Because a leader is elected democratically. But right now, I can tell you what Vincent would want. I can tell you what this place needs. The only option.”
He dragged him further and further towards the main exit.
“What’re you doing, Mike?” Graham asked. “Not got it in you?”
Mike smacked him back against the wall. “I have it in me. Believe you me, I have it in me. And if y
ou show your face around here again, I’ll kill you. If you show your face at any of the other communities we trade with, I’ll have them slaughter you and bring your body parts back here for display. But right now, you’re going to go out there. Right now, you’re going to walk. And maybe you will find somewhere new. Maybe you will find a new place where you can start again. And I hope they give you a chance. Really, I do. And I hope you take that chance, too.”
He looked around at Gina. Looked at the guards. Nodded. “Hold him.”
Graham frowned. “Wait. What—”
Mike lifted his knife. He gestured for the guards to hold his head still as he writhed and struggled.
“But just in case you think about making any kind of move, I think it’s only fair these new people know exactly who you are,” Mike said.
“No!” Graham said as Mike moved his knife closer to his forehead. “No—No. Please. Please!”
Mike looked Graham in his begging eyes.
He looked at him and heard the fear in his voice. Saw the specks of saliva dripping down his chin desperately.
Then he smiled.
Pulled the knife away without doing anything.
“On your way,” Mike said. “But you’d better walk fast. I don’t want to see you within five miles of here by sundown. Which means you’d better get cracking. Understand?”
Graham looked back, desperation and shock in his eyes, now.
He looked at his former guards. Looked at his people. Looked at everyone.
And he opened his mouth like he was going to say something. Like he was going to beg.
And in the end, he just looked at Mike, and he shook his head. “You’ll bring this place to the ground. You’ll bring it to its knees. I promise you.”
Mike smiled. Nodded. “Thanks for that, Graham. I’ll be sure to bear it in mind. On your way.”
Graham looked again. Looked at his people. Looked all around.
And Mike wanted to kill him.
He wanted to slaughter him for what he’d done to Vincent. To this entire place. Too Alison.
But in the end, he let Graham turn.
He let him curse under his breath.
And as he stood there, the hospital residents by his side… he let Graham walk.
He watched Graham disappear into the trees. And part of him wanted to go out there to make sure he was going far away.