Into the Light: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (Into the Dark Book 10)

by Ryan Casey

  Her sadness was limited to her baby.

  Her baby who had a whole life ahead of her.

  Her baby whose short life would be defined by struggle and pain.

  Her baby who she had so many hopes for, even though they were all in vain.

  Such a waste.

  Such a sad waste.

  She held Baby Holly close regardless. Because if there was one thing she could do for her in her miserable short life, it was comfort her. Make her feel warm. Make her feel as at ease as she possibly could.

  She owed her that much. Or that little.

  She looked at the sea ahead. The stars illuminating its mass of darkness. She thought about the last few days. About the helicopter crash. About going out there, getting caught by Gina. About watching Gina’s home fall, watching Gina take out Siobhan, watching her own home fall.

  Watching Mike fall.

  She thought about this long, endless day, and at least she knew one thing.

  It was going to be over soon.

  All of it was going to be finished soon.

  But then she felt another emotion inside. That drive she’d had. That determination she’d always had. The way Mike always told her she was a leader, even if she didn’t see it. That she was a fighter, and that she would fight to the end.

  And she’d never really believed him. She’d never believed anyone when they told her that, not really.

  But now she wondered if maybe he was right.

  Because she’d seen the situations in the past where she’d had a chance to give up. She’d had the option to give in, and she’d chosen not to. She’d chosen to stand up and fight. Because there was another way. There was always another way.

  She stood up, then. Stood up, her legs weak, her knees creaking. Her head banging.

  And Arya Jr stood up alongside her, too.

  Because she was going to try something.

  It might fail. It might not work out at all.

  But Mike was right.

  Siobhan was right.

  She was a fighter.

  She didn’t give up. Not for anyone. Not for anything.

  Especially not when she had a baby.

  She looked at baby Holly, and she smiled.

  “Mummy’s going to try her best to do something,” she said.

  Then she looked at Arya Jr and smiled again.

  “Come on, you. Fighters to the end, hmm?”

  She took a deep breath.

  Then she looked at the water in the distance and started to make her way down to its side.

  That’s when she heard the footsteps behind her.

  When she looked over her shoulder, she saw who it was right away.

  Gina was standing there.

  Pale skin illuminated in the moonlight.

  “Hi, Kelsie,” she said.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Eight Hours to Go…

  Kelsie saw Gina standing at the edge of the road, and she wasn’t sure how to feel.

  The morning was still dark but gradually getting lighter as the early summer sunrise approached. It was light enough that she could make out Gina’s features. That she could make out her pale face. Make out the sickness and the infection that was quite clearly racing through her bloodstream.

  She could see she wasn’t a well woman.

  But at the same time… she felt a sense of rage. The same sense of rage she’d felt so recently—when she’d found Gina trying to take her life after executing Siobhan in cold blood.

  It seemed so long ago. So abstract and distant, now. And yet it was still so fresh. So fresh and so raw. Kelsie had barely had time to process her reactions to it because so many things had happened in such a short time since.

  But Gina was here. That was the main thing.

  And she didn’t look like she was here to antagonise.

  She was silent for a while. Kelsie was silent too. Just standing there, baby Holly in her arms. Arya Jr growled, too, a sure sign she was adapting. She was learning. She was respecting Gina as the threat she’d proven herself to be—regrettably.

  But eventually, it was Gina who made the move.

  She stepped towards Kelsie. “Kelsie, I—”

  “Don’t,” Kelsie said.

  But Gina didn’t stop. She kept on walking towards Kelsie.

  And Kelsie wasn’t sure she could sustain her composure. She wasn’t sure she could keep her tension under wraps.

  “Come another step towards me, my dog and my baby, and I’ll make your last moments hell.”

  “You can say what you want,” Gina said. “But you have to hear me out.”

  “I don’t have to do a thing.”

  “The Outsiders, or whatever you want to call them. I’m not lying when I said they were talking about Heysham.”

  Kelsie shook her head. “I’ve heard it all before. Heard it too many times.”

  “I have no reason to lie.”

  “Then why did you run away?”

  “I didn’t run away,” Gina said. “I was hiding. Hiding while those Outsiders searched the house.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Believe whatever you want to believe. Fact is I heard something. Something new. And that’s why I’ve been trying to find you ever since.”

  Kelsie was sceptical. She narrowed her eyes. “So what is it?” she said. “What have you spent all this time trying to reach me to tell me?”

  Gina lowered her head. And for a moment, Kelsie sensed bad news. More bad news to pile on top of the rest. “Heysham. They were wrong about that. They were talking about something else.”

  “What?”

  “They were talking about the name of their fleet. The Heysham.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “You don’t have to believe it. But the fact stands. These people, whoever they are, however they differ from the groups in the jets. They have a way of getting out of here. A way of fleeing, right at the wire.”

  “And how’s that?”

  “Grange-over-Sands.”

  “Grange-over-Sands? That’s supposed to mean something?”

  “There’s a fleet there. A fleet of boats. Escape boats.”

  Kelsie felt something, then. A twinge of hope. Because while it might not guarantee extraction… a boat would at least result in escape.

  It might be a temporary escape. It might not last. It might still end in tragedy.

  But it was an option all the same.

  If it was true.

  “How far a walk away is Grange-over-Sands?”

  “Nine hours,” Gina said. “Thereabouts.”

  Kelsie’s stomach sank. “We don’t have nine hours.”

  “We don’t. You’re right about that.”

  “So what’s the point of any of this?”

  Gina smiled, then. “There’s another way.”

  “Another way? It either takes nine hours or it doesn’t.”

  “Did you ever hear of Cedric Robinson?”

  “What?”

  “Cedric Robinson.”

  “Who the hell is Cedric Robinson?”

  “He was a walker. Many years ago. Before your time, actually. My bad. But anyway. Cedric Robinson used to do walks.”

  “And the relevance of this is…”

  “He used to do walks across the sands.”

  Kelsie was about to speak. About to quiz Gina what she was going on about. She didn’t have the patience for her bullshit. Not anymore.

  But then she realised.

  She realised what she was talking about.

  “Wait. You’re saying there’s a way we can…”

  “If we time it right,” Gina said. “If we get a bit lucky. Or a lot lucky. We can walk across the Morecambe Bay. Cedric’s walks. I did a few when I was a kid. They used to take about four hours.”

  “Four hours,” Kelsie said. “We… we could do four hours.”

  “We could,” Gina said. “But I have to reiterate. Cedric Robinson was a professional. He had a team of professionals he w
orked with. They monitored the tide. Timed it right. Abandoned walks on a whim. Because unless you’re a professional, the sea is unpredictable. And dangerous.”

  Kelsie swallowed a lump in her throat. Looked around at the sea. Over at the hills in the distance, where she knew Grange-over-Sands awaited somewhere.

  “So what do you say?” Gina asked.

  Kelsie looked at her. Frowned. “I don’t know.”

  “Then that’s fine. But if you choose not to act… then there’s no way out. There’s literally nothing. But if you do try… then there’s a chance. A minuscule chance. A chance that’ll probably end in the same outcome. But a chance all the same. Isn’t that a chance worth taking?”

  Kelsie looked at Arya Jr. Then she looked at baby Holly.

  She looked up at the sea, some of it shallow, illuminated in the moonlight.

  Then she took a deep breath and swallowed a lump in her throat.

  “We don’t have a choice,” she said.

  Gina nodded. “So you’re willing to give it a try?”

  Kelsie took a deep breath.

  She looked ahead at the hills in the distance once again.

  And then she nodded.

  “We do what we can,” she said. “Because it’s the only option we’ve got left. We try to cross the waters.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Six Hours to Go…

  Kelsie walked through the muddy sands and kept her eyes on Grange at all times.

  The first of the morning light emerged. And that sparked sadness in Kelsie, in a sense. Because she knew what it meant. She’d seen her final night. And she’d seen her final sunrise.

  Unless they could get to Grange-over-Sands.

  Unless what Gina was saying was true.

  And if it was… that they could still find a way to escape despite all the odds being against them.

  Walking along the path where the sea should be was a daunting task. Kelsie kept aware at all times: aware of the sounds around her, aware of a sudden increase in water at her feet. But remarkably, it looked like they’d timed their walk perfectly. The coast was clear—mostly. Everywhere was quiet. The sea occasionally appeared in channels, but nothing they couldn’t make it through. Nothing they couldn’t handle.

  And the closer they got to their destination… the more the tension—and the more the excitement—grew.

  Kelsie looked around at Gina. She was lagging behind a little. Clutching her chest, where she’d been stabbed. She was clearly in a bad way. But she was still trying. She was still pushing on.

  She didn’t feel at her best herself, of course. But she seemed like she’d got a handle on her diabetes for the time being. She felt like she could make this final push.

  She knew that could change at any moment, with the click of a finger.

  But she still believed in herself.

  She was re-charged, now. Re-energised. Because she’d never been a quitter. She’d never been one to give up. Especially when she was responsible for another life—or for other lives.

  But she couldn’t say the same about Gina.

  Despite everything that had happened, she was worried about her.

  Her worries were confirmed when she heard a thump to her left.

  She turned around.

  Gina was lying flat in the sand.

  She rushed over to her. Grabbed her arm, lifted her up. And when she did, she noticed something.

  Gina was crying.

  Kelsie felt mixed emotions about seeing Gina this way. A small glimmer of satisfaction. But mostly confusion.

  “Hey,” she said. “Let’s get you back on your feet. Come on—”

  “I’m sorry, Kelsie.”

  More of a tension in her body. More of a sense of uncertainty. “It’s—”

  “It’s not okay. What I did. There’s no excuses for what I did. For what I took from you. For what I did to… to Siobhan. But I didn’t do it out of spite. I didn’t do it for any reason other than… What happened to me, Kelsie. It broke me. I won’t ever be fixed. But I just want you to know how sorry I am.”

  Kelsie felt the tears welling in her eyes as she stood there and looked at Gina. This strong woman. This leader. A leader she’d idolised in her youth. Even respected when she took a turn for the worse.

  But right now, she saw a shell of that woman.

  She saw the scared child she used to be.

  And that’s why she put a hand on her arm and smiled.

  “Remember who you are,” Kelsie said. “Remember how strong you are. How much of a leader you are. How far you’ve come, all these years. Don’t forget that, Gina. Don’t forget who you are.”

  Gina opened her mouth as if to protest, then.

  And then she nodded. As if she had been re-energised. Found a new lease of life.

  She half-smiled back. “Come on. We need to keep going. Don’t let me slow you down.”

  They walked further. Further along the sand, over a few more channels. They walked for another hour until they got to a marshy area.

  And that’s when Kelsie saw them up ahead.

  They were still a way away. Still just glimmers in the distance.

  But in the morning light, there was no denying what was ahead.

  What was right across the channel, waiting for them—and waiting for the morning tide to rise.

  Boats.

  She felt her heart race. That tension build up again. Tension mixed with hope. Optimism mixed with fear.

  She looked at Gina and smiled at her.

  And then Gina smiled back at her.

  And at that moment, Kelsie felt like she could forget everything that had happened between them.

  She felt like none of their past mattered. Only the present. Only the now.

  She felt those escape boats drawing her closer, closer… and she couldn’t feel anything but optimism. Not anymore.

  “Come on,” she said. “We need to…”

  She realised something, then.

  Gina.

  She wasn’t walking.

  She looked around. Half expected to find her on the ground again.

  But she wasn’t.

  Something was wrong.

  Gina was standing still. Totally still. Not moving.

  “Gina?” Kelsie said.

  She went to walk towards her.

  That’s when it clicked.

  Gina didn’t look as tall because she had sunk.

  She had sunk into the sand.

  And she was still sinking.

  Kelsie looked down. Saw the sand she was standing on disintegrating under her feet, too. Every step she took giving way some more.

  She looked up at Gina again. Fear in her eyes now. Tension on her face.

  “It’s okay,” Kelsie said. “We’re going to get you out of there.”

  She stumbled over towards Gina, who was moving more by the second—panicking now, growing fearful.

  And then she stopped.

  She stopped because she saw something else.

  Something that filled her with fear.

  First, she saw the water.

  The rush of the tide edging towards them. Not close yet but getting closer and closer.

  Creeping up on them.

  Getting ready to trap them, once and for all.

  But that wasn’t all. Kelsie saw something else, too.

  Something else closing in on them from behind.

  There was a group of people.

  The Outsiders.

  They were closing in on them.

  She felt her heart racing, her mouth drying, as the clock ticked down.

  They were trapped.

  They were surrounded.

  Chapter Forty

  Five Hours to Go…

  Kelsie tried to drag Gina out of the sinking sand, but she already got the sense that time was running out.

  The tide was approaching from the right. It was hard to tell how close or how far away it was. Just that it was approaching. And it would soon be upon
them.

  And the same applied for the Outsiders, who were approaching from the direction Kelsie and Gina had travelled.

  It didn’t matter.

  She had to get Gina out of this mess.

  They had to get out of here. Both of them. All of them.

  Or they weren’t going to make it to the boats.

  She pulled Gina’s arms. Pulled with all the force she had. But every time she made any sudden movements, Gina just sank further and further into the mud. It was getting worrying. Very worrying. She was down to her knees now.

  And the further she went, the harder dragging her out seemed to get.

  Gina gripped onto her arm, fingernails digging in. Kelsie could sense her desperation. She could sense her fear. And it was sad. Especially sad because so recently, Gina had been ready to throw in the towel. She’d been ready to give up. To throw it all away.

  But she didn’t want that anymore.

  She wanted to live now.

  “We’re going to get you out of this,” Kelsie said, constantly keeping an eye on the surroundings, on the forces closing in. “You’re going to be okay. We all are.”

  But there was a look on Gina’s face now.

  A look of resignation.

  A look of acceptance.

  Bitter acceptance.

  She shook her head, tears rolling down her face, and she smiled.

  “We both know that’s not true, Kelsie.”

  Hearing the words made it all more real to Kelsie. All more raw. Because as long as they could both live believing the lie that they were going to get out of this—that they were both going to be okay—then they could keep on trying. They could keep on fighting.

  But now Gina had put it out there—put the truth out there—she could never look at this situation in the same way again.

  “That doesn’t have to be true,” Kelsie said.

  “I’m stuck,” Gina said. “The tide’s approaching from one side. The Outsiders are approaching from the other. There’s only one way this goes if you stay here and try to get me out. There’s only one outcome. You know it.”

  Kelsie shook her head. Because as much as she didn’t want to sympathise, as much as she didn’t want to feel any kind of bond with Gina… she could. It was there. It would always be there. “Don’t give up.”