Escaping Darkness (Book 6): The Shadows

by Richards, E. S.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Ollie started to slow, dropping into a quick walk rather than a jog in order to make their footsteps quieter. Jackson looked around now, trying to get his bearings on the city again.

  “I think I know where we are,” he murmured, peering up at a road sign above his head. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Vic’s store is just around the corner. That must’ve been where they were heading.”

  “Well, all right then,” Ollie approved, “let’s go and get ’em.”

  Before Jackson could stop the enthusiastic scout, Ollie was striding through the dirty sludge toward the corner store, no regard for who might be watching or what could be lying within. He opened his mouth to stop him except Ollie was already rapping on the front door, alerting whoever was inside to their arrival. Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

  “Vic!” Jackson shouted as he jogged over to stand beside Ollie, shooting the younger man a vaguely disappointed look. He couldn’t be too upset by how the scout had acted considering he’d managed to find the two men in the first place and track them to the store, but he had expected better from the young man. “Blake!” Jackson continued, banging on the door again for good measure. People knew they were there now; it couldn’t hurt to get everything over as quickly as possible. “Let us in, will you? It’s Jackson. We need your help.”

  The response was exactly what Jackson himself would’ve done if the roles were reversed. Instead of a friendly welcome and a warm embrace, the door to Vic’s store swung open to reveal the Ukrainian man pointing a rifle in their faces. It was only there for a second, Vic’s lightning reflexes realizing that there was no threat waiting for him and lowering the weapon immediately. “Inside, quick,” he ushered them. “Did anyone see you?”

  “No,” Jackson replied as he moved past the store owner, respecting the protocol that Vic carried out. The two men were very similar in their ways, Vic just preferring to keep to himself more than Jackson did, hence which one of them had found themselves in charge of the rebel faction. “It’s good to see you, though. When did you get back?”

  “Couple hours ago,” Vic replied simply. “Through here,” he directed them to the back room. “Blake had a bit of a crash when we arrived.”

  Leading Jackson and Ollie through into the back room of his store where Blake was slowly getting his bearings again while Leo plied him with sugary drinks and made sure he wasn’t concussed, Vic explained what had happened to the rebel leader. He kept things short and sweet, reporting a successful mission back to the farmhouse but leaving out the details of what had happened there. Vic was more interested in getting information from Jackson about how Houston was surviving, the city he had returned to save seeming darker and more closed off than it had been before.

  As Jackson explained his plan, Vic nodded along, asking questions where appropriate. They brushed over the matter of the office building being compromised and the truck later crashing into it. As both men were well versed in that sort of affair, they didn’t nitpick the details and waste time talking. Both were aware there was a lot still to be done and they didn’t want to sit on their heels and just pass time. They were ready to act, so they planned to act immediately.

  “Let’s clear these walls then, my friend,” Vic announced, indicating to his store and the hordes of weaponry that filled the store. “We’ve got a city to liberate.”

  Over the next two days, the five men worked painstakingly alongside countless others from the rebel faction to empty Vic’s store of everything they could use and prepare for the final assault on the Authority. Like they had done for the first raid on the pit, people worked in different teams all with different goals and tasks to accomplish. Jackson got word from his son, Mike, that things were going well inside and that they should be ready for the breaking point very soon. He was relieved to receive such positive news from inside, a weight lifting from him to discover his eldest son was safe and surviving on his own.

  By the time the two days came to an end, Jackson was confident things were going to go his way. He crouched behind a low wall with his hands clutching a remote detonator, his youngest son next to him as they counted down. Vic, Blake, and Leo were with them as well, alongside Ollie and several others from the rebel faction. The groups had split up and spread themselves throughout the city, focusing on the key areas: the theater district where most of the Authority still congregated, and the checkpoints they had recently set up in and out of the city.

  The weather was suitably dark and dreary for the challenge ahead of them. The phrase pathetic fallacy screamed through Jackson’s head as he checked his watch again, waiting for the moment when he would set off the explosives. It was something his wife had uttered every time it rained on a bad day, or bad weather ruined their plans. Apparently, it had something to do with the weather reflecting the mood of the day and that was an incredibly accurate representation for the day ahead of Jackson. It was early and the sun should be rising soon, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. He hadn’t seen sunlight for weeks now and he wasn’t expecting it back any time soon.

  Houston was a changed city. The winds howled and whistled through the streets like a derailed train, constantly turning corners and searching for its final destination. The freeze that it brought with it was monumental, too. Every time a gust caught Jackson by surprise he shivered right down to his bones. Despite the many layers he wore and the full-face mask that was suctioned to his skin, the wind still managed to find a way in and turn his blood cold.

  Like his wife would’ve said, it was pathetic fallacy. The sights of Houston weren’t much better, either. Remembering how the city had been no more than a couple of months ago, it was hard to believe how much it had changed. Nothing was the same. Even the buildings that had originally been unaffected by the eruption were damaged now. Disuse coupled with the damning weather gave them all a slightly crumpled look, a number of them toppling at random intervals due to the density of the ash that had built up on their structures. On top of that, everything was a horrible black color. Like charred coal, the city was a stain on the environment, high-rise buildings that poked out of the ground like burnt-out matchsticks just waiting to be tossed to the side and disposed of forever.

  Unless Jackson did something about it. He knew he couldn’t clean up the city’s buildings or fill the streets with flowers, but he could do something about the people within it and the sort of lives they lived. He could make sure that people walked the streets without fear and that children were able to be with their families, not trapped in cells like animals and forced to do unthinkable things.

  Jackson thought of Mike, his very own son that he had sent back into those cells. Even if everything else failed, he had to at least get his boy back. Rylan watched on with bated breath as he too knew this could make or break his family. It was about more than just the city itself. It was about people’s futures; people’s lives.

  “Here goes nothing,” Jackson whispered to whoever was listening when the countdown finally reached zero. Jackson flicked up the cover on the remote detonator and looked at his son. This was it. This was the moment Houston was either saved or ruined. It was either the start of their new lives or the end of their current ones. There was no way of guessing what it would be. Unable to wait any longer, Jackson simply closed his eyes and pressed the button, the city reacting immediately as a massive boom rocked Houston to its foundations and changed everything forever.

  Chapter 20

  The drive had been long and arduous. Jadon, Marcus, and Jesse had been traveling across the country for days, different things slowing them down and causing them to take detours on their route home. The latest had been a massive roadblock just before Washington, DC that had forced them up and into Pennsylvania an alternative way. And finally, they were in their home state and Marcus was tearing down Route 76 on their way back to Philadelphia.

  “Man, I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when we rock back up,” Jesse smiled as they passed the final exit f
or Harrisburg, meaning they were only a couple of hours away from home. “Mom is not going to believe everything we’ve been through.”

  “It is nuts,” Jadon agreed from the backseat, leaning forward with his arms resting on both of the front seats. “Like, they probably all just assumed we’ve been dead this whole time.”

  “Yeah,” Jesse shook his head. “We’re basically being reincarnated.”

  Jadon laughed, appreciating his friend’s humor, but Marcus was slightly more solemn. He knew the others only meant it in a lighthearted manner—both excited about getting back home—whereas he imagined what it would’ve been like for him to be in Harper’s position and he didn’t see the funny side of things. Imagining his girlfriend and family dead was the worst thing Marcus could think of. As incredible as it was going to be to see their faces again, he knew they would’ve all been through an equally hard time as the three of them. They couldn’t just expect things to return to normal and everything to be fine again. There was going to be a grieving process that needed to be overturned and he knew it wouldn’t be easy.

  The landscape was familiar now, at least. Marcus had family in Harrisburg, so he had done the drive between there and Philly on many occasions. He was familiar with these roads and knew that if he floored it, he would be home before too long. Once he saw Harper again, he would know exactly what to do and what to say to make everything better. Once he saw her again, they could start planning how to become a family. His son or daughter was waiting for him and he was determined to be the father that child deserved, disaster or not.

  “You okay, dude?” Jesse asked, noticing that Marcus wasn’t joining in with the banter in the car. They had been forced to leave the Jeep behind in Atlanta, the engine giving out but thankfully leaving them in a place that seemed to have many working replacement vehicles. Atlanta was doing surprisingly well, all things considered. The city was badly damaged from fires, although people were surviving and trying to rebuild as best they could. The freeze was also diminishing the farther east they drove, so a huge effort in Atlanta was being made to dig deep into the ground, searching for a clean and reliable water source. Seeing the city surviving like that gave the boys hope for Philadelphia. They had asked around, but no one had known what it was like farther east; still, they remained hopeful and refused to let negative thoughts ruin their journey.

  “Yeah,” Marcus replied, wiping a hand across his face and rubbing his eyes. “Just tired, I guess. I can’t wait for all of this to be over.”

  “Me neither,” Jesse agreed. “It’s been an adventure.”

  Now Marcus laughed. “You can say that again, bro. It’s been crazy.”

  “Insane,” Jadon echoed again from the backseat. “It’ll be worth it, though. When we get home and see their faces. That’s going to be incredible.”

  Marcus sighed and nodded. Jadon was right. He needed to keep his chin up. They were nearly home now. Soon it was going to be all worth it. “Hang on a sec,” he slowed the car and narrowed his eyes, peering forward at the road ahead of them. “What is that?”

  Jesse and Jadon stopped talking and focused forward as well, both noticing what Marcus had seen and concentrating hard as they tried to figure it out. Something had happened to the road ahead, and beyond that the landscape looked different somewhat. None of them could figure out exactly what had happened just yet, though they were all certain of one thing. It didn’t look good.

  Marcus continued to drive toward the incident at a slower pace than usual, still extremely confused about what he was heading toward. It was like the road just disappeared. The pavement was crumpled and torn apart, giving way to rubble and dirt, and ahead of that, nothingness. There wasn’t much to look at on the drive from Harrisburg to Philly, but there was normally more than this. Everything appeared to be wiped out, the landscape stripped bare and coated with a dusty layer of ash.

  “What happened on here?” Jadon wondered out loud, leaning forward into the front half of the car. “Where’s the road?”

  “I have no idea.” Marcus shook his head, pulling the vehicle over to the side somewhat and slowing to a halt. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

  Pulling on filtration masks, all three boys cautiously got out of the car and walked over to where the road just disappeared. The asphalt was cracked and splintered and then sort of just torn away, like a piece of paper ripped in half and discarded in the wind. Except it wasn’t paper. Reaching down and picking up a chunk of the damaged road, even Jadon struggled to lift it. The material weighed a ton; whatever had done this must have been incredibly powerful.

  “I don’t get it,” Jadon huffed, dropping the lump of pavement in a cloud of dust. “How has this happened? What do we do now?”

  “Do you think a bomb was dropped or something?” Jesse asked, grasping at straws to try and come up with an explanation for the ruined road. After everything they had seen so far, he didn’t think anything sounded too farfetched to be reality.

  Marcus shook his head in response, looking around where they stood a bit further. “There isn’t like a crater or anything,” he commented. “Wouldn’t a bomb leave that behind?”

  “I guess,” Jesse murmured. “What else could it be? How could the volcano have caused this?”

  “I bet Mia would know,” Jadon sighed, missing the woman and wishing that she was still with them on their journey. He knew it had never been an option, but ever since they had left the farmhouse it had sort of felt like their group was incomplete. It was the not knowing that made it more difficult to deal with. Jadon couldn’t know whether he would ever see the volcanologist again. After spending so much time with her and laying his life practically in her hands, knowing he might never see her again was a very strange thing to feel.

  “Do you think it’s like this all the way into Philly?” Jesse piped up again, questions still thick in his mind.

  “No idea,” Marcus shrugged. “We’ll find out though. Haven’t really got another choice—we need to keep going.”

  Jesse and Jadon both half nodded in agreement, aware that Marcus was right. There wasn’t anything more the three of them could achieve by standing by the end of the broken road, staring down at it and wondering what could’ve caused such a thing. They were all aware there had been many side effects of the eruption, but they had all been explained away in some sense, through the fracking or the ash cloud or the particles that were blocking out the sun. This incident just didn’t compute and like most things, the fact it was unknown made it even more frightening.

  Still, they were forced to drive on. Marcus got back behind the wheel and the other two climbed in silently, all holding their breath as they rolled off of the paved road and onto the gravelly dirt that left in its wake. They didn’t talk because none of them knew what to talk about. Their situation had very quickly become a lot more dangerous, each of them now questioning what they were going to find around the next bend and whether things would return to normal.

  The farther Marcus drove, the less he believed that normal was ever going to be seen again. He had never driven through a desert before; he imagined it was exactly like where he was now. There was just nothing to look at. No road, no trees, no buildings, and no wildlife. There weren’t even birds in the sky or the sound of insects on the ground. As his car kicked up dust and left tire tracks in the rubble, it created the only signs of life for as far as the eye could see. The state of Pennsylvania had become a wasteland, destroyed by some unknown force.

  Reality started to hit even harder for the three young men as they entered what should’ve been the suburbs of the city, streets normally lined with houses and people going about their daily business. Instead, the only thing that made the three of them aware of where they should have been was how long they’d been driving for. There wasn’t a single street to identify, nor a standing house. A few rocks and the occasional pile of rubble told them something had been there in the past, but nothing more. For how developed the area had once been, there should’
ve been more signs. They found instead of a clearly ruined street there was just a continuation of the wasteland; a terrifying lack of evidence.

  “Dude, this is freaky,” Jesse muttered, breaking the silence that encapsulated the car as all three of them looked around with wide eyes, searching for some kind of explanation. “What has happened here?”

  “I don’t get it,” Marcus shook his head. “Where has everything gone?”

  They were questions that no one had an answer for, the boys unable to do anything except keep driving, waiting for something to appear and tell them that they were home. Marcus’s mouth grew dry and his lips started to crack from his constant licking of them. It was a nervous tic that he often did when studying or before a big game. As his eyes darted from side to side it got worse and worse, fear wrapping itself firmly around his thoughts as the wasteland continued.

  Looking down at the speedometer in the car and calculating how long he’d been driving for, Marcus felt a lump form in his throat. “We should be in Philly by now,” he whispered, going over the math once more in his head. For the speed he’d been driving at and the amount of time since Harrisburg, he knew he was correct. The city should be right in front of them, but instead there was nothing. No landmarks, no buildings, no people. Nothing save for the open expanse of the country, gray matter giving way to more gray matter.

  “Keep driving,” Jadon urged from the backseat, not ready for Marcus to stop the car just yet. When he did, they would all have to accept that their home was gone. If they kept driving, they could still believe they just hadn’t made it yet. He could make himself believe that they’d taken a wrong turn somehow and weren’t in the right place. He needed to believe that. This couldn’t be what his home had become.