Survive the Darkness: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller

by Casey, Ryan

  And to stop him killing Aoife and Rex in the process.

  “Put the machete down,” Max said.

  Seth smiled. “I always knew you were a tough cookie. But you’re an even tougher cookie than I—”

  Max fired a bullet, which ricocheted just past Seth.

  So close to Seth he actually saw his hair flutter in the breeze of the passing bullet.

  “I’m not here to listen to your bullshit. Not a word of it. Put the machete down. And get on your knees. Right this second.”

  Seth stood there, prone, stationary.

  His eyes darted from Max to Aoife, his sister, who stared back at Max, wide-eyed.

  “Machete down. And on your knees. Now.”

  Seth shook his head.

  He lowered the machete to his side.

  “That’s the problem, Max. I won’t kneel to you. I won’t ever kneel to you. Because I don’t kneel to anyone.”

  Max saw him standing there. Saw that smug smirk on his face.

  And he knew there was no holding back anymore.

  He pulled the trigger.

  Fired right at Seth’s left kneecap.

  Seth let out a yelp.

  Fell to the ground.

  Blood spurting out from that left knee.

  He could hear Seth’s pain as he clutched his leg.

  Hear him wailing. Crying.

  And yet, as he stepped closer to him, with no concept of his surroundings anymore, with no idea of anything but what was right before him, he found himself revelling in Seth’s pain.

  “Max,” Aoife said.

  But he ignored her.

  He pushed past her.

  He stood over Seth, who sat there, bleeding out on the icy ground.

  And he wanted to look into his terrified eyes.

  He wanted to see his pain.

  But when Seth looked up at him, Max saw something else, there in his gaze.

  Seth was still smirking.

  He was still laughing.

  “Three years,” he said. “Three years and still I’m living rent-free in your head. And that’s torture enough for me. That’s satisfaction enough for me. And if this is my moment, if this is my time… at least I’ll know I drove you to this. At least I’ll know it was me who broke you. Just like you broke me. And at least I’ll know it’ll be me you think of when you go to sleep at night.”

  He heard Seth’s words; he heard no remorse, nothing of the kind.

  And it just riled him up even more.

  He pulled back his rifle and swung it across Seth’s face.

  He heard the sound of the man’s teeth cracking as the metal smacked against it.

  He heard Seth’s pained grunt and watched blood splatter from his mouth.

  He saw him lying there on the ground, and then he heard something else.

  “Don’t do it, Max,” Aoife said. “Don’t do it. Don’t do what he wants you to do. Be better than him.”

  He heard Aoife’s words. And he wanted to honour them. He wanted to hold off. He wanted to resist.

  But the pain of losing Kathryn.

  Of losing David.

  It was still just as strong today as it was back that day three years ago.

  “It won’t help you,” Kathryn said. “It won’t help anything.”

  He saw Seth staring up at him. His face was bruised and bloodied. He looked broken. Defeated.

  But still, he had that smirk on his face.

  That smile.

  “Go on,” he spat. “He peed himself, you know? Little David. He peed himself when I was holding the blade to his neck. I felt it, trickling right down his leg. Right down.”

  And then Max fired another bullet, this one in Seth’s shoulder.

  Another grunt from Seth.

  Another yelp of agony.

  But more than anything… that smirk was still there.

  He looked down at Seth. Broken. Bleeding.

  He looked down at him, and he felt there was only one option here.

  There was only one thing he could do.

  He felt it all, and then he lifted his rifle.

  Pointed it at Seth’s head.

  “You don’t say his name.”

  “David? He was so scared. So afraid. He just wanted you to help him. And you failed him.”

  Max tightened his grip on the trigger.

  “Shut up.”

  Seth laughed. In agony but laughing. “And Kathryn, too. Sweet, sweet Kathryn. I had plans for her, you know? It’s a shame you got here when you did. Because I was really, really looking forward to seeing what she looked like a little more… well. Intimately. Same with David, too, actually.”

  Max tightened the trigger even more.

  Heart racing.

  Chest tight.

  “Don’t do it,” Aoife whispered. “Max, don’t do this. Don’t listen to him. Don’t do what he wants you to do.”

  He looked into Seth’s eyes.

  Looked into Seth’s smirking gaze.

  And he felt like this was all on rails.

  He felt like he didn’t have a choice.

  “Go on. Or are you a coward? Are you going to hesitate again? Just like you did back then?”

  Max stood his ground.

  He pointed that rifle.

  Just a millimetre from pulling that trigger and finishing him, once and for all.

  “Don’t, Max,” Aoife said. “You don’t want this on your conscience. Don’t do it.”

  He looked down at Seth, and he felt a certainty about what he had to do.

  And then he heard a voice in his head.

  Kathryn’s voice.

  No.

  He lowered the rifle.

  He threw it to the ground.

  And he looked right into Seth’s eyes.

  “You’ve tortured me for years. But you won’t make me do this. I won’t give you what you want.”

  For just an instant, he saw the smug smirk drift from Seth’s face.

  Saw the smile drop.

  Saw his eyes widen.

  Like he hadn’t got what he wanted.

  And then Max turned around to Aoife.

  To Rex.

  He staggered towards them both.

  Saw Aoife looking at him with wide eyes.

  “You did the right thing,” she said, nodding.

  Then she walked past him.

  Walked over towards Seth.

  Max stood there. Facing the other way. Facing the rising smoke. Facing the flames emerging from the cabin.

  And as he stood there, he knew he couldn’t look back.

  He didn’t want to look Seth in the eyes again.

  He wanted this to be his closure.

  He wanted this to be the end of—

  He heard a blast.

  He looked around.

  Aoife stood over Seth.

  She had Max’s rifle in hand.

  She was pointing it at her brother.

  Her brother, who was missing half of his face.

  Whose brains spilled out from his cracked half skull.

  “Max might be able to walk away,” she said. “But I can’t. This was for Dad.”

  And then she dropped the rifle to the ground, and Seth fell to his side right before her.

  Max looked at Aoife.

  Looked at her as she stared down at her brother’s corpse, twitching away.

  He looked at Seth lying there, dead. The threat eliminated.

  He looked, and he saw Aoife turn around.

  Saw her look at him. A distance to her eyes.

  “You didn’t have to do what he wanted you to do,” she said. “But… but I did. I did.”

  He stared at her as she stood there, pale, haunted like she’d seen a ghost.

  And inside, he felt peace.

  He felt like it was over.

  And yet, at the same time, he felt sad.

  For Aoife.

  That she was living with this now.

  She walked away from Seth’s twitching body.

/>   Walked away and towards Max. Towards Rex.

  Seth stared up through his one eye.

  He wasn’t smirking anymore.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  “Hold still.”

  “I’m holding still.”

  “Well, hold stiller.”

  “I can do this myself.”

  “No,” Aoife said. “You’re hurt. Bad. Your hands are shaky. You can’t do it yourself. You need to trust me.”

  Max went to argue with Aoife. But in the end, he closed his mouth, and he sighed. She was right. His hands were shaky. He felt battered and bruised like he’d been through a right beating. His lungs were hoarse, and he felt exhausted.

  He knew he shouldn’t even be here. He was lucky to be alive.

  And he had to be grateful for the fact he was still here. That was a miracle in itself.

  But right now, he had to trust in Aoife.

  Even though he was worried about her.

  They were back at his house. They’d both walked back up here with Rex. Neither of them said much on the walk back. Barely exchanged a word, in fact.

  There was so much Max wanted to say. Because he’d waited for an opportunity to get his revenge on Seth for so long, and then he’d been denied it.

  And yet, strangely, he felt better for not killing Seth.

  He felt better for it because he knew that killing Seth would’ve been what Seth wanted.

  It would’ve elevated Seth in his own mind.

  And that’s not the kind of victory he wanted to grant Seth.

  But then he looked at Aoife, and he saw the haunted look on her pale face. She looked like she’d aged in the space of a day. He supposed they all had, in a way.

  But she’d just killed her brother.

  She’d just shot and killed her own brother.

  And it scared Max. Because if this was the actions of one ordinary girl on day one of the blackout, then who knows what other mini battles the rest of the country—or even the world, if that’s how big this was—were engaged in?

  Who knew just how much society had slipped already?

  And would it ever fix itself?

  How could it fix itself when so much trauma had been experienced and suffered in the first few hours?

  But now, he sat here on his sofa and watched as Aoife stitched him up with her shaking hands. He didn’t trust her, especially with his own medical experience. Doctors always made the worst patients, after all.

  But he knew he had to sit back. And he had to accept the help he needed right now.

  Besides. It would help Aoife to get her mind off what she’d done.

  He hated Seth. He despised him for what he’d done.

  And he felt an element of animosity towards Aoife, too. Because she could’ve stopped her brother doing what he’d done. She could’ve acted sooner.

  But then so could he.

  So could everyone.

  Hindsight was a wonderful thing.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, wincing as the needle pierced his flesh.

  “I’m fine,” Aoife said.

  “I just… With what happened. I figured I’d check—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s done. I’m fine. Okay?”

  He heard Aoife’s snappy voice. Saw the way she glared at him, pale, exhausted, big bags under her eyes. And he knew she was suffering. He knew she was in pain. He knew this was going to be difficult for her. A struggle for her.

  And as much as he felt uncomfortable opening up himself, as much as he found it difficult bonding and attaching with other people… he knew Aoife was going to need to talk to someone at some stage.

  “Just know I’m here,” he said. “When you need me.”

  She looked at him. Looked at him like she was going to say something else.

  And then she nodded. Half-smiled.

  She would talk.

  In her own time, she would talk.

  Just not yet.

  “Well,” she said. “I think I’m done.”

  Max investigated his stitches. “Not done a bad job, actually.”

  “Told you that you could trust me.”

  Max grunted. “We’ll get there.”

  He stood up. Walked over towards the door of the house.

  “You sure you should be walking just yet?”

  “Probably not,” Max said, wincing a little. But then he stood at the door and stared outside. At the trees. At the grass. At the sunlight.

  Aoife walked up to his side, and Rex joined them both.

  And the three of them just stood there for a while. Stood there, staring out into the unknown.

  But there was a question coming that Max knew was coming.

  A question he’d been trying to hide from.

  But a question he couldn’t run away from.

  “You… you can stay here. If you want.”

  Aoife looked around at him. Narrowed her eyes.

  “I’m just saying. There’s… there’s three bedrooms. You can take one of them. If you want to, anyway. Until… well. Let’s just see how things go, okay?”

  Aoife looked right into his eyes. And for a moment, he thought she was going to reject him. He thought she was going to tell him she wasn’t staying here. She was moving on.

  But then she smiled.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that.”

  Max nodded, his walls erecting again instantly. “You’ll have to pull your weight, though. Hunting. Gathering wood. Cooking. Those kinds of things. That’s your rent.”

  Aoife smiled. “Don’t worry. I know a thing or two about survival.”

  “Good,” Max said. “Because you’re gonna need to know it.”

  He stood there, by Aoife’s side.

  Rex between them.

  Stared out at the bright January sun.

  “Here’s to a new year,” Aoife said.

  Max took a deep breath.

  He saw those two doors in his mind.

  The one he’d gone through.

  And the one with Kathryn and David inside.

  The one that was shut—for now.

  He swallowed a lump in his throat, and he tightened his fists.

  “Here’s to a new world,” he said.

  * * *

  Max had a feeling this was going to be bad for the long haul.

  He had a feeling so many things were going to change, for good.

  He knew he was going to have to be resourceful.

  He knew he was going to have to dig as deep as he possibly could if he wanted to survive.

  But he still had no idea just how momentous the events of New Year’s Eve were going to be.

  He had no idea just how much his life was going to change.

  Nobody did.

  But they were about to find out.

  Everyone was about to find out.

  END OF BOOK 1

  Escape the Darkness, the second book in the Survive the Darkness series, is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

  CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER

  If you want to be notified when Ryan Casey’s next novel is released—and receive an exclusive post apocalyptic novel totally free—sign up for the author newsletter: ryancaseybooks.com/fanclub

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any reference to real locations is only for atmospheric effect, and in no way truly represents those locations.

  Copyright © 2021 by Ryan Casey

  Cover design by Miblart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published by Higher Bank Books

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