by Casey, Ryan
Noah glanced around the room again, but there was no sign of the rifle. It was too late. There was nothing he could do.
Well.
There was one thing he could do.
But it wasn’t something he was willing to do.
He got down onto his knees.
Watched as Renault stood there.
Knife to Kelly’s throat.
“Good,” Renault said. “Good lad. Now…”
He didn’t hear what Renault said.
The words just blended together.
Faded.
Because he saw the way Kelly looked at him.
The way she stared at him.
The look in her eye.
Do it. Do it.
He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to do anything that put her in danger.
But at the same time… the rest of humanity might just depend on it.
He shook his head. Tears welling up.
But that energy within growing, as Kelly stared back at him.
Do it. That’s what her eye said. Do it.
He looked up at Renault.
Looked at his moving mouth. Unable to make out the words.
Watched his smirk widening. Spit splattering down his face.
Then he looked at Kelly once more.
Saw a stray tear roll down her cheek.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
And then he took a deep breath, and he closed his eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Noah closed his eyes, clenched his fist, and knew what he had to do.
That void.
He had to get there. He had to fall into it.
And he had to do it before Renault harmed Kelly. Before he hurt her. Slit her throat.
And maybe even that wouldn’t be enough. Maybe she’d die in the process.
But he still had to do this. He’d seen the look in Kelly’s eye. Seen the way she’d told him to do it.
He went to sink into the void when he heard a sudden bang.
He opened his eyes. At first, he thought it might be something to do with his abilities. He’d heard a bang before when he’d tapped into them.
But this… no.
It was something different.
It was…
His vision refocused.
He saw Renault standing there. Only his arms had dropped. The knife hit the floor. Kelly was free.
Blood pooled out of his head. A gaping, bloody wound on his forehead. Bits of skull sticking out, jagged and sharp.
He lifted a shaking hand. Touched the back of his head. Pulled his hand away, with thick chunks of brain against his fingers.
Then he opened his mouth. Went to say something.
Blood trickled down his chin.
This enormous man, this beast, he took a step towards Kelly, one desperate, strained step.
And then he dropped to the floor with a thud.
Noah stood there. Heart racing. Staring at Renault. Wondering what’d happened. What’d gone down.
And then he looked up and saw Jaan standing there, rifle in hand.
Jaan’s eyes were wide. His face was pale. The rifle in his hand shook.
“What the…” Noah started.
That’s when he saw it.
The blood.
The blood on Jaan’s neck.
His neck sliced, too.
Not as deep as Shel. Clearly not as fatal—not yet.
But bad.
He stumbled forward and dropped to his knees, the rifle falling from his hands in the process.
“Jaan,” Noah said.
He rushed over to him. He wanted to grab Kelly. Wanted to hold her. Wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay now.
But Jaan. He was in a bad way. Bleeding out. Clearly in deep, deep shit.
“Jaan?” Noah said, grabbing his shoulder. The wound didn’t look good. Blood poured out, but not heavily. Steady. Slow. But he had no idea how long he’d been in this way at all. He looked like he’d already lost a lot of blood. Renault must’ve cut his throat and pushed him out the way, into the darkness.
But he was alive. He’d saved Noah. Fuck.
“Stay with me, buddy. Stay with me.”
He couldn’t believe how quickly he’d changed opinion on Jaan. But he couldn’t be blamed for that, really. He’d found Shel with her throat slit. Found blood everywhere. No sign of the rifle. No sign of Jaan. Could hardly be blamed for suspecting him.
But right now, it was clear to see the truth. Jaan wasn’t the problem. Renault was the problem.
And it looked like Jaan had just saved both his and Kelly’s lives.
“Liverpool,” Jaan said, spluttering blood. “You have… you have to go there. You have to keep going.”
“We’ll go there,” Noah said. “Don’t you worry about that. We’ll keep on going. We won’t give up.”
Jaan reached a hand up, then. Put it on Noah’s shoulder. “It has to work. You… you have to stop this. For everyone. Please.”
Noah felt the responsibility weighing down on his shoulders. He didn’t like it when he felt so responsible, so relied on. Especially considering he’d felt that way in the past, and he’d always let others down.
But right now, looking into Jaan’s eyes, hearing the desperation in his voice, he felt a confidence. He felt a certainty.
“We’ll do this. We’ll stop it. Don’t worry. We’ll do it.”
A smile stretched across Jaan’s bloodied mouth, then. Tears sparkled in his dark green eyes. “My wife. She… she always said you could tell truth from a lie by the tone of… of the person’s voice. I know that was… I know that was the truth. I know you will do your best. I…”
He coughed. Blood splattered down his body. More of it seeped out from the wound in his neck.
“I’m sorry I can’t go further with you. But I hope… I hope I have taken you far enough, my friend.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t know you for longer. And in better circumstances.”
“You saved my life. You gave me a second chance. I’m glad I could do the same. But now we’re… we’re even. We’re…”
His eyes widened.
He opened his mouth to say something else.
And then, just like that, the spark in Jaan’s body went out.
Noah crouched there. Heard the blizzard and the wind battering against the window. Felt the ice-cold air howling in from outside. Heard Bruno whining.
He stood up. Looked at Kelly who stood there, staring at Shel, wide-eyed.
And then he put an arm around her. Pulled her close.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Kelly said.
“Nobody deserves this.”
They stood there in the middle of the lounge. Shel dead. Jaan dead.
“Just us now,” he said.
“Just like it began,” Kelly said.
Noah thought back to the day of the outbreak, the first person he’d run into. How different things were between them then. How things had changed.
He took a deep breath. “Time for another journey, you reckon?”
Kelly looked away from Shel. Looked at Noah. “Time for another journey.”
They stood together as the wind howled, and the snow pummelled down outside.
They were on their own now.
It was time to finish this.
Together.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Anton stared at the mass of helicopters as the snow powered down, and he knew it was almost time.
They were supposed to begin tomorrow, 6 p.m. local time. They had their orders, and all there was to follow was the beginning of Phase Three. Fully fuelling up the helicopters. Readying people to depart from these docks, then on to the rest of the world, one by one.
But the blizzard. The storm. They hadn’t accounted for that.
Anton looked at the mass of people inside their makeshift base. There was a nervousness to the place. A weird excitement, like kids back at school after a long summer off. Some laughed with
this nervous energy. Others cried. Some spoke to each other. Others kept themselves to themselves, out of the way.
Anton was one of those people. He sat at the long, wide dining table and tucked into the mush they called food. Chicken and rice, apparently. But there was no chance there was any real chicken in here, and he’d be forgiven for not knowing there was any rice, too.
But regardless. It was food. It was something. He wasn’t particularly hungry, but he knew it was important to get food down him, to eat. Didn’t know when the next meal was coming or where it was coming from.
But boy, would it taste delicious. The first taste of the new world. That was something to savour.
He listened to the chatter of voices. The footsteps against the wooden floor they’d put down. Looked out of the plastic windows at the snow melting and dripping down it. Truth be told, he wanted to get to it right away. He didn’t like this waiting game. He’d waited long enough at this stage. All of them had.
It wasn’t that he was looking forward to the mass slaughter ahead. Some psychos here were, sure. But he wasn’t like that. No. He just wanted to get the job done. To usher in this new world as quickly as possible.
But there was word of a problem.
They were just rumours. Just murmurings. Just mutterings of a problem. But it sounded like there was an issue. An issue with one of their own. An issue with somebody out there. Somebody who was a threat. Hard to believe, sure. But he’d heard the stories. Tales of people who could warp the virus for their own means. And bizarrely, they were resistant to the cull.
But as long as they were alive, they were a threat. Nobody really knew whether they would still be able to do what they did when the virus was totally eradicated or whether it existed within them to a degree, still.
But the truth was, nobody wanted to gamble with the future like that.
So things had changed. The plan had changed.
Some of them were staying behind. Some of them were going out there. Searching for this new threat.
And then eliminating this man at all costs.
They just didn’t know who was going out there yet. Still waiting. The tension stretching on.
So it should’ve come as no surprise when Anton felt a hand against his shoulder.
He looked around. Saw the captain, George, standing there, his big bushy moustache like a caterpillar crawling along his top lip.
“Anton,” he said. “You got a moment?”
Anton knew what it was about right away. He put down his fork, left the last few scraps of mush, and sighed. “Yes, boss.”
He followed the captain across the hall. Saw the eyes turn and look at him. Kept his head up. He could see them muttering. See them whispering. Really, these fuckers were just jealous. He was efficient. He knew how to get the job done. And most important of all, he was compassionate and not a nutter, basically. That’s what set him aside from the rest.
Envious pricks.
He reached the back of the tent. A few men and women stood there, armed up and dressed in grey.
“I’ve already briefed the team,” the captain said. “But we have a problem. I’m wondering if you could lead the way and help us figure it out?”
A smile crossed Anton’s face right away. He took a deep breath. Nodded.
“Tell me where I need to go, and I’ll get it done, Captain.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Noah and Kelly waded through the thick snow, but the journey wasn’t getting any easier.
Light was breaking. Morning was coming. The snow was still falling heavily, heavier than it was before, if anything. He couldn’t see a thing around him for the white noise of the blizzard before him. The howling wind masked any neighbouring sounds. His skin felt dry and chapped, his lips like ice blocks. One of the rare times he felt grateful for only having one fucking hand because it meant he only had one set of fingers to bear the brunt of that iciness.
They had to push on to Liverpool. They were getting closer. But it felt like they were wading through tar. The hopes of reaching Liverpool before Phase Three commenced felt slim. There was a slight bit of hope, however. Hope that the storm would affect things. That it would scupper any plans Jaan’s old people might have of leaving any time soon. Maybe there’d be a delay. Maybe the beginning of this next phase would be pushed back.
He didn’t know. And he didn’t want to play around with speculation.
All that mattered was getting there. As fast as they possibly could.
He looked back in the general direction of the house where they’d come from. Again, saw nothing but roads laden with a metre of snow. Specks of snow hammering down, blizzard-like. Everywhere looked the same, which made this whole journey a disorienting exercise.
But he was pretty sure they were on the right track. They’d followed the long, empty road all night, ever since leaving the house. Ever since leaving Shel. They should be there by afternoon. At least that was the hope. Unless the storm got even worse. That would slow them down even more.
He thought back to Shel. The way she’d sat there in that chair, throat slit. He wasn’t sure about her when he first met her—with reason, of course. But she’d proven herself loyal. Proven herself a good person who just lost her way in a world that had a knack of fucking you over, morally especially.
And then there was Jaan.
Another man who Noah hadn’t trusted, not at first. A man who he thought was special, except he wasn’t, not really. Noah was the special one, apparently. The one with the real abilities. It just so happened that there were people like Jaan who could give him his energy a lot easier.
Fuck it. It was complicated. He didn’t really understand it.
But he didn’t have to understand its intricacies. Its complexities.
It was what it was. And now he had a chance. A slim chance. A chance that felt like it was fading by the second.
But a chance he had to take.
“You okay, slow-coach?”
Noah looked around. Saw Kelly. Bruno walking alongside her, panting. Clearly not enjoying the snow either, now its novelty had worn off.
Noah nodded at her. Half-smiled. There was a weird new feeling between them now, ever since they’d slept together last night. Felt like the final barrier between them had shattered. It didn’t make sense to define what they were. To get all lovey-dovey. It just felt… right. What happened had to happen. And he’d enjoyed it. They’d both enjoyed it.
There was no sense of betrayal about it. No sense of guilt towards Jasmine. Towards Eddie.
It was the most normal, acceptable thing in the world.
The most normal, acceptable thing in a world that might not have long left in its current form.
“This snow is a real fucker on the knees,” Noah said.
“Yeah. Figured you might have an excuse or two for why you’re so slow.”
“I’m going as quick as I can.”
“We both know by now ‘quick as you can’ isn’t quite up to my standards, huh?”
“Wait. Was that a dig about me in bed?”
“You can interpret it however you like, little pea.”
Noah shook his head. For all the coldness, for all the struggling, for all the hell they’d been through, he smiled. Because him and Kelly had a way of cutting through all the drama. They had a way of making light of even the shittiest situations. And wasn’t that what life was about, really? What was the point in taking it so seriously, even in the most serious of moments? Why not just kick back and have a fucking laugh every once in a while?
No time better than a death march to the end of the world than to have a laugh.
“I was thinking,” Kelly said. “Quite a disgusting thought. But bear with me a second.”
“Go on.”
“What if I end up with your sprog inside me? You reckon the little one might have what you have?”
Noah frowned. “Well, that’s not going to happen, so we’ll never find out.”
“It might happe
n.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, I dunno if you ever skipped biology classes or something. But you definitely fucked me last night. And unless I’m very mistaken, you’d definitely came inside me before you had a chance to pull away.”
“Matter of fact as ever. So what, you’re saying you might be pregnant?”
“I might be. There’s always a chance. Only took one pop with Eddie, right?”
“Right.”
Kelly sighed. Shook her head. “I dunno. Sometimes, I… sometimes I think it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Having another baby. Raising a kid the best I can. Making up for…”
She stopped. Lowered her head.
“Hey,” Noah said.
Kelly looked around.
“What happened with Edward. It… it wasn’t preventable. It took me a long time to believe that myself. To accept it. But we did what we could. We couldn’t have stopped it. Neither of us.”
She looked into his eyes. Her eye glassing over a little, frosting in the snowy haze.
“I keep trying to tell myself that,” she said. “As much as I’ve forgiven myself… I still feel like I need a second chance. To try again. To…”
She stopped talking. Noah didn’t know why. Not for a moment.
Not until he saw the red laser cut through the thick, blizzard snow.
The laser pointed right at Kelly’s forehead.
And in the distance, in the haze, more of those lasers.
“They found us,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Noah saw the red dot on Kelly’s head, saw that red laser pointing over towards him, and his entire body went numb.
He stood still. Frozen, as if the snow had iced over and stuck him to the ground. The blizzard was still thick, intense. He couldn’t see ahead. Couldn’t see who those lasers were from, how far away they were.
Only that didn’t matter really.
They were here for him. Just as Jaan feared. They’d sent someone out here. Cottoned on to his abilities and to the threat he posed. Fuckers.
