by Casey, Ryan
She dropped the brick to the road. The dog walked up to her, staring at its owner, who grunted on the road. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t in a good way, that was for sure. Groaning. Bleeding out from a nasty crack on his head.
Max looked at the man, his head still spinning. He was lucky. Lucky to have escaped that. He would’ve hit him again with that baseball bat—and who knows what might’ve happened to him then.
He pulled himself to his feet. A little wobbly. A little dizzy.
But awake.
Awake, conscious, and alive.
He saw the woman, then. Staring wide-eyed at the fallen man, still clearly in disbelief that she’d just hit him like that.
She was young. Probably in her thirties. She looked tired. Had a few cuts and bruises, a few burn marks. Leg looked like it was bleeding.
She looked in shock.
He wanted to ask her if she was okay. If everything was fine.
But then he felt those walls erecting themselves around him again.
Like they always did.
“You should get away from here,” he said. “Get out of the city. Get to the countryside. Somewhere… somewhere way out of the way. And make sure you have enough to survive on. You’re going to need it. We all are.”
She looked at him. And for a moment, Max wondered if she was going to ask for his help. He half expected it at this point.
He wanted to say something.
But he turned around from the woman, looked at the road he’d just run down.
It was time to go home.
He swallowed a lump in his throat.
He wanted to look back at the woman once more. To ask if she was sure she was okay.
But then he took a deep breath, and he walked.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It didn’t take Seth long to realise this blackout shit was far more widespread than just the prison.
He stood on top of the bus station and took a deep breath as he looked out over the city centre. It was beautiful being up here. He used to come up here when he was a kid and just watch the world go by. Watch the buses come in and out of the station. Watch people go about their daily routines, with no idea there was somebody up there, looking down on them.
And he used to get a kick from imagining picking them up, lifting them into the sky, and squeezing them between his fingers, like ants. At pulling them out of their nice, safe lives, where they thought they were alone, where they thought they weren’t being watched, and submitting them to unspoken horrors.
Why?
Out of boredom, maybe.
Out of curiosity, perhaps.
He didn’t know. Why did he do anything at all, really?
He was wired up the way he was wired up. And whether people liked it or not, that’s just the way he was.
He stood there in his prison gear and pictured all the fun he could be having right now. The world was clearly in the shit. He didn’t know what was happening, but it didn’t look good. There were fires all over the city. Smoke rising everywhere. People kicking off, fighting.
And the lights. All out. Everywhere.
He smirked. Still not quite believing his luck. Still not quite believing this wasn’t some kind of dream. Because in the three years he’d been locked away, he’d had one main goal. One primary focus.
To finish what he started, what he was unable to finish, three years ago.
Because his plan was simple. His revenge plan against the police officer who wronged him. Who arrested his girlfriend, Sandy, the love of his life, taken her away from him.
Only for her to take her own life in prison.
He’d taken a lot from him. He’d killed his wife and his son. Watched them bleed.
And he’d seen the horror on the officer’s face.
And then, before he could enact his final part of the revenge, the police arrived and arrested him, right away.
And at the time, Seth thought that was punishment enough. He thought that was torture enough.
But in the years since, locked inside, he’d spent the time stewing away. Thinking about what else he could do. How else he could torture that police officer for what he took from him. How he could punish him.
He never thought he’d get that opportunity.
But right now, looking down on the city as it tore itself apart, he knew he had a perfect opportunity.
He took a deep breath, looked over towards Fulwood, where the officer used to live, and he smiled.
He turned away from the edge of the bus station roof, and he walked away.
A ghost in the night.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Aoife stood over the body of the man she’d knocked to the ground—the man who’d attacked her—and she wasn’t sure what to do. Wasn’t sure what to think.
It was dark. Pitch black. The night had seemed endless, and yet Aoife got the weird sense that it had only just begun. So much had happened in such a short space of time. Getting the bus home. The crash. Dragging herself out of there and hearing Harry was still alive. Trying to get him out, and then the plane hitting and…
She didn’t want to think about the plane crash.
About what had happened to Harry.
And what had happened to the girl.
And then she thought of the trek that followed. The sights she’d seen. The cars all piled up in the middle of the road. The fires. The looting. The chaos.
Enough signs already that everything was spiralling out of control—and this was only the first night. What happened if this lasted? If the power stayed out even longer?
Lawlessness.
Everything would be out of control.
But as she stood here, she could only think about now. About what she could do now.
And right now, she was standing in the middle of a street in a dodgy area over a fallen guy, a guy who she’d smacked over the head to save… whoever the man was who saved her.
She remembered the look in his eyes. That look like he was curious. Like he wanted to ask about her. Like he didn’t want to be alone.
She remembered the way he’d walked away. The way he’d turned his back and wished her luck then walked before she could even ask a thing about him.
And she understood. She got it. Because she felt the same reluctance, too. A sense that she could do things on her own. That she could deal with things herself. That it was better doing things her own way and not letting anyone else be involved, ignoring any form of outside influence.
She remembered what Kayleigh said. About her being stubborn. About her thinking she knew best.
And she wondered if the reason she felt so sore about those accusations was that she had a point.
She gritted her teeth. Took a deep breath. A part of her wanted to turn around. To walk back to the flat.
But then what was at the flat?
And the guy was right. The guy who’d saved her. His words echoed what Dad told her when she was a child.
Stay out of the city, Aoife. Don’t be drawn in by the material goods the city has to offer. Nature is the greatest store of all. Always.
And she’d strayed from that path through her life. She’d walked down the path of a lawyer until she quit her job. But like so many others, it was the city that drew her towards it, off nature’s path. A path that she wanted to return to, now.
But right now, as she looked back towards her home, just on the outskirts of the city, she could smell smoke in the air. She was shivering and cold. And she knew the bloke was right. She needed a head start.
And yet…
The thought of being alone, as much as it had appealed to her over recent years, it scared her.
She knew about survival. But knowledge wasn’t everything. Principle wasn’t practice at the end of the day.
She looked back around. Over at the man, who lay in a pool of blood.
And then at the dog, Rex, beside her, wagging his little docked tail, like the pair of them were just destined to be together.
&nb
sp; She looked up where the man who’d saved her—and who she’d saved—had disappeared to, and she took a deep breath.
“Come on, Rex,” she said. “Let’s go find that man. I think he might be worth following.”
And then she walked over the fallen body of the man on the road.
* * *
Gary opened his eyes.
Saw the woman walking away.
Saw his dog, Rex, walking away with her.
His fingers twitched.
His jaw tightened.
He was going to make them pay.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Max kept his head down and walked.
It was dark. He didn’t mind it that way. After all, it would be morning when the chaos truly took hold. When people woke up and realised the power was still out. The people who’d somehow slept through the night woke up and realised that the world had radically changed, all in a flash.
That’s when things would really start to get messy. When things would really slip out of control.
He wanted to be far away from the city of Preston when that happened.
Everyone wanted to be far away from the city when that happened.
He thought of the looting that would occur. He thought of the few police officers who’d stayed on duty, trying to maintain order. He thought about the potential for military involvement and how that would rub people the wrong way. On how an attempt to create some order would have the reverse effect.
He thought about all these potential things that would happen. He thought about the fight for the final dwindling supplies in supermarkets. He thought about the lawlessness, as the bulk of the police went home to fend for themselves, no command chain to follow. He thought about the power grabs as the military attempted to control the streets, clashes growing violent and deadly. He thought about the struggles when people realised their relatives were dead already. He thought about the wounded, about the sick. He thought about the dying in hospital beds and the people who got injured and ill but wouldn’t be able to seek out any care.
And viruses. Viruses would run rife. Disease would thrive in a world without sanitation.
He thought about it all, and he shuddered.
He wanted to be far away when that happened.
He walked down the street. He was still in the suburbs, but it wasn’t as busy here. A few people sat outside their houses, drinking beer. A few New Year’s Eve parties that had spilled out onto the lawns. And there was a weird vibe to it all. A sense that a lot of people still didn’t realise quite how serious this was. That they were just going to go to bed later and hope it was all cleared up in the morning.
Max knew for a fact that wasn’t going to happen.
And then he thought of the woman.
The woman he’d helped—or rather, the woman who’d helped him.
The way she’d whacked that dick over the head with a brick.
The shock on her face as she stood there, the dog by her side.
A part of him wished he’d asked her along. Because she looked lost. Lost, but tough.
But… no.
He couldn’t go bringing strays along.
At the end of the day, everyone had a choice to be prepared or not. And the vast majority of the population had chosen another path.
What was his was his.
He hadn’t made any mistakes.
He—
“Hey.”
He heard the voice and froze.
He didn’t want to turn around. Didn’t want to see who might be onto him. After all, the guy from the shop he’d raided didn’t look like he was the sort to give up without a fight.
And when the people from the estate he’d got into the scuffle with caught up with him… well, he didn’t want to think too much about that, either.
But when Max turned around, he realised it wasn’t who he expected.
It was the woman.
The woman with the dog. The woman who’d been in the fight not long ago.
She walked towards him. And there was something about her that reminded him of Kathryn, but when she was younger. Much younger.
She even sounded like her, too.
And there was something about that which made Max feel even weirder about turning her away.
But she wasn’t Kathryn.
He couldn’t be sentimental.
“Why are you following me?” Max asked.
The woman frowned. “Following you? How do you know I’m following you?”
“You were way behind me. Now you’re here. Right where I’m heading.”
“Could be a coincidence,” the woman said. The dog by her side.
Max grunted. “It’s like I said. You should find someplace out of the city to go. It’s not safe here.”
The woman sighed. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Do I owe you a thanks?”
“I saved your life.”
“I think you’ll find I saved your life. And doing that almost got me in deep shit. Part of why I’d rather be alone. So if you don’t mind…”
Max turned and started walking.
He heard footsteps following behind.
He looked back. Glared at her.
“Firstly, that’s definitely not how I remember things going down, but we’ll agree to disagree on that. Secondly, it’s not a crime to walk on the same road as you. Or in the same direction as you. And truth be told, I don’t really have any place to go. Not really. Nowhere outside the city, anyway. You seem like you might have somewhere.”
“And if you think you’re joining me, you’re mistaken.”
The woman shrugged. “It’s like I said. Nothing stopping me following you to somewhere safer.”
Max sighed. He appreciated that the woman had guts. But at the same time, she was annoying.
“Look,” he said. “I don’t owe you a thing. But because you did bail me out before, I’ll tell you what’s happening here. It looks to me like an EMP has—”
“An electromagnetic pulse has triggered a blackout and wiped the power out. All forms of power. The city’s going to fall into disarray in no time. And judging by the way planes fell from the sky, chances are it’s a bad one. Might even be global. We have no idea of knowing. Not right away. Yeah, yeah. I know what’s happening here. You don’t need to EMP-splain to me.”
Max gritted his teeth. Again, couldn’t deny he was a little impressed. “If you know what’s happening, then you’ll know what you need to do.”
“I know a thing or two,” she said. “My dad, he… When I was younger. He taught me things. But anyway. Probably not the time for an autobiography.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Name’s Aoife, by the way.”
Max nodded.
Aofie raised her eyebrows. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Usually when someone introduces themselves, it’s the courteous thing to introduce yourself back.”
“Oh,” Max said. “Well, it’s irrelevant anyway because you won’t need to know it. But the name’s Max.”
“Max,” Aoife said, smiling. “I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you. But I’m not sure either of us shares that sentiment.”
Max nodded. He kind of liked her, as much as it pained him to admit it.
“Look, Max,” Aoife said. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve kind of been through a shitty few hours. I’m not going to annoy you. I’m not going to get all up in your face. I’m just going to walk the way you’re walking if that’s fine with you.”
“And if it isn’t?”
Aoife smiled. “What are you going to do about it?”
Max shook his head. Sighed. What harm was her following him doing, after all?
“You can follow,” Max said. “But no talking. And especially no questions, okay? We just walk.”
Aoife opened her mouth. Then she stopped. Zipped her lips with a fake zip and smiled.
Max nodded. “Good start. You’re learning.”
The woman and the dog—who she called Rex—following closely behind.
“Still not letting you off the hook for EMPsplaining, though,” Aoife said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
He saw them in the distance—man, woman, and dog—and he tensed his fists.
He knew what he needed to do.
Chapter Thirty
Aoife walked with Max, and she stayed true to her promise of not saying a word.
This endless night was still pitch black. No signs of sunrise approaching. She was freezing. Shivering. Probably the shock, in all truth. But she wasn’t exactly going to moan about it. She didn’t want to give this Max guy the satisfaction.
He seemed like an obnoxious prick, in all truth. He seemed rude and patronising, and he hadn’t really shown many redeeming features, that was for sure.
But there was something about him. Something that reminded Aoife about her dad, for some reason. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.
But she felt safe with him. Even though she felt ridiculous admitting that in itself.
She didn’t want to be patronised.
She didn’t want to feel subservient or inferior to anyone. Let alone a miserable old bloke.
She needed to look past that sense that he was a bit like her father used to be and focus on what he was actually like.
They were well out of the city now, but the more they walked, the more signs of disarray Aoife saw. It was the same everywhere. The cars in the middle of the road. The debris from fallen aircraft smouldering away. That constant stench of smoke hanging in the air. All the lights out, and the darkness that accompanied it.
And Aoife saw strange sights. A row of houses wiped out by a fallen helicopter. People lying dead in the street, wounded by the debris, and unable to do anything about it. Unable to find any help anywhere. The lines dead, so no way of reporting any emergency. And the ambulances unable to get anywhere anyway.
She thought of the scenes at A& E right now. And at the hospital in general. She shuddered. The thought of ICU being wiped out in an instant. Of the people desperate for medication. Old people trapped in their homes. Drunk people on New Year’s Eve and the accidents they would’ve had, and how they’d be unable to find any sort of help.
