After the Darkness: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Survive the Darkness Book 5)

by Ryan Casey

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Robert stood over Kayleigh as she lay there sleeping in his bed, and he felt a smile tug at the corners of his face.

  She looked so beautiful, lying there in the glow of the morning sun. Just like the old days. His fondest memories of all. Waking up with that unshakable sense of loneliness he always woke up with. Then realising he wasn’t alone. Feeling the warmth of the back of her hand on his. The sweet smell of her perfume. And then leaning over, kissing her, and being taken away to another place completely.

  The days before she ran.

  The days before she left him.

  He looked down at her, and he felt an emptiness inside. A hole, almost. Growing. That day she’d left him, life had changed in a big way. He had changed in a big way.

  He felt that void of emotion opening up in the middle of his chest, and he wanted to sink into it. He wanted to explore its violent depths. He wanted to make her pay for walking away from him. For how she’d made him feel.

  But then he breathed into that space.

  Today was a happy day.

  He’d got his Kayleigh back.

  The “light from the sky” had crashed down, and they’d found a man from the helicopter in there. A beacon of hope. The light he promised his people, right here.

  Today was a good day.

  And it was only just beginning.

  He looked beyond Kayleigh as she lay there in the bed, out of the window, towards his balcony, towards the sun-drenched blue sky. He was giving a speech later. A speech where he would confirm the discovery to his people. The discovery of the man from the helicopter. The significance. What it meant, in the grand scheme of his “prophecy.”

  And sure. That man from the helicopter was still unconscious. He hadn’t said a word. He knew nothing about him—where he came from, who he was. Nothing.

  But still, that man had bought him some more time.

  And he would wake, eventually. He would wake.

  And when he did…

  Well. Robert would do whatever he could to steer the narrative in the right direction for him.

  The right direction to maintain control over his people.

  No matter what it took.

  Because that’s what mattered to him, ultimately. More than anything else, maintaining this position of power. He enjoyed that he was a god to these people. He relished the fact that they’d lay down and die for him if he asked it of them.

  And that sort of thing was very hard to just give up.

  Even to the prospect of a world with power.

  Because who, when having all this authority and adoration, would willingly go back to a world where they were subservient? Where they were ants, just like everyone else?

  He saw Kayleigh twitch.

  Saw her turn over, just slightly.

  Saw her look up at him. Her eyes widening like she’d forgotten where she was. Like she’d forgotten about her reunion with him.

  And he didn’t see the love in her eyes anymore.

  He didn’t even see her faking any love anymore.

  He saw fear.

  Fear and disgust.

  And that made his stomach turn.

  Made his nostrils twitch.

  The way they always twitched when someone had let him down.

  He looked at her, took that deep breath again, and he smiled.

  “Hello, love,” he said. “How was your rest?”

  She looked back at him, her eyes widening, her face turning redder and redder. Saliva trickling down her chin. Like she was trying to open her mouth. Trying to speak. But couldn’t.

  And that power.

  That sense of power he had over her…

  He felt the hardness in his jeans and blushed.

  “I’m sorry about the medication,” Robert said. “But really, it’s for your own good. We wouldn’t want you running away again, now, would we?”

  He walked over to her side. Saw her bloodshot eyes watching his every move. He reached down. Stroked the soft skin of her face. Stroked her hair from her eyes. Felt her quivering, shaking, twitching under his touch. And part of it made him feel sad. Because he wanted her to love him. He wanted her to love him again, unconditionally.

  But if she wouldn’t love him, well. He’d have her anyway.

  In a way.

  He kept on stroking her face. “The place hasn’t been quite the same since you left. I’ve made a few… changes to our methods. But you’ll no doubt be aware of the good news. Of the helicopter. Of the light descending from the sky. A great day for our community. For our people.”

  He looked away from Kayleigh, then. Out of the window, out at the blue sky.

  “But you know things are difficult. This man. If he says the wrong thing. If somehow he goes against the prophecy… well, I’ll have to find another way. We all will.”

  He looked back at Kayleigh. Smiled.

  “But we’re in this together. And we’re a strong community because we’re together. We’ve made it this far on prophecy. We’ll make it further if we have to. Right?”

  He saw Kayleigh open her mouth, just slightly. Saw her try to speak. Twitching. Shaking. Clearly desperate.

  And then he saw blood trickle from her nostrils, her face bloodshot, strained.

  He watched her close her eyes and heard her let out a sigh.

  “Bless,” Robert said, reaching for her top lip, wiping her blood away. “You’re fighting too hard. It’s not good for you.”

  He put his bloodied thumb to his mouth. Tasted it, metallic, rusty. Sucked it.

  And he saw Kayleigh open her eyes again.

  Only this time, she didn’t look at him with fear.

  She looked at him with hate.

  He felt the bulge in his trousers getting stronger.

  The urge growing.

  The power growing.

  He put a hand back on her face.

  Then her neck.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said.

  A twinge of fear, back in her eyes.

  He leaned in to kiss her.

  Then he heard a knock on the door.

  He froze. Snapped out of the moment.

  “Well,” he said. “Rude. Who could that be?”

  He got up. Walked over to the door of his apartment. Opened it.

  Stuart, one of his people, stood there, a half-smile to his face.

  “Well? I’m kind of in the middle of something, Stuart.”

  “He’s awake,” Stuart said.

  Robert frowned. “What?”

  “The man. The man from the helicopter. He’s awake. And he—he wants to speak to the person who runs this place."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  “I can’t actually believe I’ve agreed to this shit,” Heather said.

  Aoife walked down the suburban road, Vince, Heather, and Rex all by her side. It was afternoon now, and a nice one at that. Sunny. Not stiflingly warm, just right. The storm hadn’t come to fruition, at least. The surroundings were typical of an old suburbia. Detached houses. Cars still in the drive like it was just a normal weekend day. If you really focused, you could still hear the laughter of kids playing in the streets. Kicking a football to each other. The sound of hosepipes, of water fights.

  And then you brought yourself right back to the present and realised just how quiet, just how silent it all was, all over again.

  Silent but for the crows.

  “I mean,” Heather said, “I can’t actually believe I’ve agreed to this.”

  And truth be told, Aoife couldn’t believe she’d got Vince and Heather on board, either.

  Especially when “on board” didn’t exactly amount to much of a plan.

  Heather sighed, continued to mutter, mostly to herself. “I mean… we’re sitting ducks. We’re absolute sitting ducks. Just walking back to Robert’s. What kind of a plan is that? What do we do when we get there? Just walk on in? You know what’s going to happen, Vince. You know what’ll happen the second we get to those gates. Fuc
k that, before we get to those gates.”

  “We try something,” Vince said. “We… we have to try something. We’ve hidden in the shadows for too long. Yara deserves better. As too does this bloke from the helicopter. And Aoife’s friend, here.”

  Heather shook her head like the mere mention of her sister sparked an allergic reaction. “I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve better. The bloke from the helicopter and the other woman, I couldn’t really give two shits about, to be frank. I’m only here ’cause I’m not leaving you on your own, Vince. You can’t be trusted to tie your own frigging laces on your own. I’m not walking away from my brother. If you go… if you go then I go. I’m not carrying on without you.”

  Listening to Heather right now, Aoife realised just how much the loss of Yara had affected them both in different ways. Vince had the guilt of choosing on his shoulders. Heather had the guilt of being the one who was chosen on her shoulders. She didn’t think she deserved to be alive. That much was clear to see.

  Made for an interesting dynamic, that was for sure.

  “Whatever the case,” Aoife said, more focused than ever before as they walked through this derelict, empty suburbia, “we have to get to Robert’s people. We have to find a way to get to Thomas. And we have to find a way to get to Kayleigh.”

  “Which is all well and good,” Heather said. “Like, seriously. Noble fucking intentions and all that. But how the hell do you propose getting in there? And how the hell do you propose getting those people out of there? Trust me. Vince and I, we’ve seen how they are. How they work. It’s a cult, Aoife. A fucking cult. They ain’t just gonna let us wander up to the gates and saunter right in there.”

  “My sister is right,” Vince said. “Much as I’m with you. And much as it pains me to admit it. We’ve no weapons other than a few knives between us. We’re getting nowhere near that place.”

  “Then maybe we try something different,” Aoife said.

  Heather frowned. “Sounds like you’ve got something in mind.”

  Aoife looked up ahead, over towards the suburbs, off into the distance towards the higher-rise buildings of the town. “Maybe we… maybe we lure them out, somehow.”

  “Lure them out?” Heather said, laughing. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

  “If we capture a few of their people, maybe we can work on a trade. Something like that.”

  “Again,” Heather said. “A nice idea in principle. But in practice… Robert’s group has got to be treated differently. Robert will never accept a trade. He’ll never concede any amount of power or ground. His people are devoted to him. Blindly devoted to his bullshit.”

  “Then maybe we wake them up somehow,” Aoife said.

  Heather shook her head. “I really don’t see where you’re going with this.”

  “If we can plant the seed of doubt in the head of enough of them… maybe we won’t be alone. Maybe—maybe we can intercept them somehow. It might not be immediate. It might take a while. But if we can just put enough doubt in their minds in Robert… I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be enough.”

  Vince shook his head, now. “You know… as much as I want to be on board. As much as what happened to Yara has torn me apart. As much as… as much as I’d do anything to destroy the bastard who made me choose… we need to go back to the drawing board. We need a better plan. Because—because right now, I think Heather is right.”

  “I’m getting into you saying that.”

  “Don’t get used to it, sis. But… but yeah. We’re blindly walking into a situation that’ll only get us killed. Or maybe worse. We need something better. We need a plan. A proper plan.”

  As much as Aoife wanted to argue, as much as she wanted to tell these two she was going in alone… she stopped. They were right, and she knew it. Charging into Robert’s place with no plan at all was a recipe for disaster. She was letting her urgency get in the way. She was letting her worry for Kayleigh and her determination to get to Thomas and get him out of there take over.

  She needed to take a step back. She needed to breathe.

  She needed to clear her head and think of a plan.

  A proper plan.

  She opened her mouth, went to say something, when she saw something up ahead.

  People.

  People dressed in white.

  Robert’s people.

  And as much as she felt fear, as much as the hairs on her arms stood on end… she also sensed something else.

  Opportunity.

  “Looks like we’re not alone,” Aoife said.

  Heather frowned. So too did Vince.

  Then both looked around and backed away.

  Aoife’s heart raced.

  Butterflies raced around her stomach.

  Because as much as she felt afraid… an idea came to mind.

  “Bear with me,” Aoife said. “Because it might be crazy. It might be a long shot. But I think I have a plan.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Finn Harper never liked scouting missions.

  But there was something different about today.

  Something positive about today.

  The news of the man falling from the sky. The news of Robert’s “prophecy” coming to life.

  And the long, long wait for Robert to reveal the news to them later today—about what he’d learned and about the next step.

  It was a damned gorgeous day. Seemed fitting. Most beautiful damned day all summer. He wanted to be back home, celebrating with the rest of his people. There was an excitement around the community. Electric. Absolutely buzzing. Because whispers were spreading about the man they’d brought back from the wreckage. And whispers were spreading about what it meant for them. For everyone.

  ’Cause it was just as Robert had told it. Just as he’d dreamed.

  The light falling from the sky and bringing salvation to them all.

  Almost too perfect to be true.

  But it just so happened that today, he was out on a scouting mission with three other douchebags who he didn’t really like so much. Colin, an airhead who seemed obsessed with chatting about women like he was a teenager or something. And Gemma, who was a mean bitch, to say the least. Didn’t like the pair of them. But hey, he liked the bulk of people at Robert’s place, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.

  He just really didn’t want to be in their company today.

  “I dunno what they’re even hoping we find out here anyway,” Gemma said in that false-posh she always seemed to put on. “I mean… I know what happened last night was bad. But we got Kayleigh. We got her. So what else are we looking for?”

  “I got Kayleigh,” Colin added. Really rubbing that one in lately. “And she looked pretty damned alone to me when I found her.”

  “She wasn’t alone,” Finn said.

  “Huh?”

  Finn regretted speaking right away. Didn’t like engaging with either of these pricks. “I said she wasn’t alone. Not when I saw her, anyway. There were two of them. And if she’s got a friend out there, then we have to be careful. She could be a threat.”

  Colin tutted, rolled his eyes. “What kind of a threat is one woman to us?”

  “You know how it is,” Finn said. “One outsider could bring the whole thing crashing down.”

  “Listen to him,” Gemma said. “At it again with his conspiracy theories.”

  Irritation crept up on Finn. He closed his eyes, sighed. “They’re not conspiracy theories. I’m just saying—”

  “I know, Granddad, I know,” Colin said. Clearly just trying to show off in front of Gemma. “One person could bring the whole house of cards crumbling down. I know how it is. But anyway. I think this chick was fit. I wouldn’t mind a go on her. Definitely a feisty one. So, hey. Hardly a wasted trip in the end, huh?”

  Gemma laughed. She seemed to enjoy Colin’s casual misogyny, even if it was at her gender’s expense. And it made Finn realise that sometimes, he felt out of place among his own people. He felt… different from a lot of them. Lik
e, not to get on his high horse, but he was university educated. He’d got a 2.1 in English. Which meant that he was perfectly qualified to do absolutely nothing, but still. He knew he wasn’t like the bulk of people in Robert’s community. The bulk of them, nice as they were, were different to him. They teased him for being a smartarse. They had blind faith in Robert. Total devotion.

  And truth be told…

  No. He shouldn’t think that way. Shouldn’t question anything.

  But he had to admit that deep down, right in his bones, he knew the whole prophecy crap was a lie.

  He knew it was just a facade. A way of keeping order. Of keeping hope.

  And he knew it was kind of a good thing. Like, it kept the mood positive. It kept people working together. It reduced fights to a bare minimum.

  But there was a darkness to it all, too.

  A darkness that was creeping further and further into the community.

  Making people kneel.

  Slaughtering them if they refused.

  And Robert…

  There was something about Robert. Something about him that seemed to be changing. Something that seemed to be shifting inside him.

  Finn knew he was in deep, deep shit for even having these thoughts. He knew he’d best just put them aside and crack on. Search for people. Search for that woman, specifically. The one with the dog who’d helped Kayleigh.

  Then get back home later and figure out what the hell was going on with that helicopter, and who the hell the bloke was, and how the hell Robert was going to weave him into his prophecy.

  At the end of the day, Finn cared about one thing only: survival. Right now, it paid off to be loyal to Robert. He gave them the best life he could. Better than any alternative.

  Maybe tomorrow, that’d change. Maybe tomorrow, he’d find someone else to be loyal to.

  Until they lost their value, anyway.

  Only way to survive in this world.

  He walked down this old suburban street, lost in his thoughts, when suddenly he noticed something up ahead.