Avenge the Darkness: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Survive the Darkness Book 4)

by Ryan Casey

  Why?

  Why?

  She turned over and looked ahead when she saw it.

  The mound.

  The burned mound of a body, right up ahead.

  Right where he’d fallen.

  Right where Max had fallen.

  She didn’t want to go over there. She didn’t want to see.

  But she had to.

  She knew she had to.

  She limped over there. Dizzy. Exhausted. Sore all over and broken inside.

  The walk felt like it lasted forever.

  Like she was trudging through tar.

  Closer, closer, closer…

  The closer she got, the more she expected him to look more familiar. For him to be more recognisable in some way.

  But he just wasn’t.

  He was just a burned mess.

  A burned mass. Charred. Blackened.

  Holes where his eyes once were.

  Teeth, on show.

  The skin and the flesh all blackened, burned.

  No hair left on his head.

  She stood over him, and she looked down at him, and she wanted to cry. She wanted to cry, and she wanted to scream at him for going back in there.

  She wanted to scream at herself for letting him.

  And she wanted to tear off the face of the woman who’d done this.

  Peel her skin away.

  Gouge her fucking eyeballs out.

  She stood there, over Max’s body, and the one thing that wasn’t burned sat there in the middle of this mess.

  Sat there, between his blackened fingers.

  The motorbike present she’d got him.

  The little metal motorbike model.

  She reached down. Throat wobbling. Unable to contain the emotion inside herself.

  Picked up the motorbike model.

  And as she did, she felt his burned fingers brush against hers.

  The burned remains of the note there beside him.

  I love you.

  She went to take the motorbike away.

  Went to take it away and get away from here.

  And then she collapsed forward.

  Collapsed onto his charred corpse.

  And she cried.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Aoife had no idea how long she lay there on Max’s body.

  The rain had stopped. The air felt cooler, but maybe that was just her. She was shaking. Couldn’t stop shaking. Didn’t even think she’d be able to move because her muscles were too weak. Could barely even think.

  All she could think about was what had happened.

  The way that woman shot him.

  The way she’d burned him.

  The way she’d burned everyone in her home.

  She remembered the way she’d look at her, right in the eyes. And there was something in that look. Something… familiar.

  No.

  She couldn’t think about that.

  She couldn’t even entertain that possibility.

  Because if that were true…

  No.

  Don’t go down that road, Aoife.

  Don’t you dare let yourself down that fucking rabbit hole.

  She opened her eyes. It was dark. The flames had burned out. Overhead, she could hear birds. Crows cawing. See some of them swooping down, feasting on the dead.

  She thought about Rex, and she felt guilty right away. She’d barely even spared a thought for him since all this. She’d barely even spared a thought for anything or anyone since all this.

  Just Max.

  Just what had happened.

  Just the anger and the pain and the rage she felt.

  But she was going to have to get up eventually.

  She was going to have to get up, and she was going to have to fight.

  She felt something, then.

  Out of nowhere, movement.

  It came from her right.

  From Max.

  And even though she knew he was dead, even though she knew he was gone…

  She turned around.

  She saw something that made her feel ill.

  A crow sat on top of Max. Pecking away at his burned flesh.

  Looking at her like Max was nothing at all.

  She felt rage inside her.

  The little fucking bastard.

  She lunged for it.

  Grabbed it by its wings.

  Pushed it to the ground and lifted her fists as he cawed back at her and tried to nip at her and fly away.

  And then she let it go.

  She let it go, and she shouted. Screamed. Buried her head into Max’s body again. Let it all out. Cried.

  She just wanted this to end.

  She just wanted all this pain to end.

  She let herself cry into Max’s body, and she heard something behind.

  Movement.

  Definite movement.

  She looked around. Everything looked hazy. Dreamlike.

  And again, she found herself hoping that this was just a nightmare. A never-ending nightmare that she was just desperate to wake up from.

  She wanted to wake up back at the estate. Back within the community.

  She wanted to give Max his birthday present and watch him open it.

  She wanted to tell him she loved him.

  She wanted to spend Christmas and New Year with him.

  But as she looked around, she saw something.

  Movement.

  Movement in the trees around her.

  Right away, she felt this rage build up.

  The woman.

  The woman who’d killed him.

  The woman who’d destroyed her community.

  She might think she had the upper hand. She might think she could get away with this.

  But she wouldn’t.

  She wouldn’t fucking let her.

  She got up. Tensed her fists. And without even thinking, she limped towards the trees, towards that movement.

  “Hey,” she said.

  She reached into her pockets. Reached for any weapon she had on her. Found nothing.

  So she looked around on the ground. Looked for something she could use. Anything she could use.

  Saw a sharp shard of glass staring up at her.

  She grabbed it.

  Sliced her fingers a little in doing so.

  Then she walked on.

  Walked towards that movement in the trees.

  “Hey!” she shouted. “I can see you. I can fucking see you. Come out, and let’s finish this. Let’s fucking finish this, right now.”

  She walked faster. Walked so fast that she broke into a jog, into a run.

  She just wanted to get the pain out.

  Wanted to get the anger out.

  And there was only one way to do it.

  To stab the fucker who did this.

  To stab them and kill them and…

  She reached the woods and saw the movement.

  Saw someone emerge.

  Immediately, her body softened.

  “Rex,” she said.

  Rex stood there. Head lowered. Panting.

  The poor dog could barely look at her.

  He looked traumatised.

  She dropped the glass to the ground and walked over to him. Welling up again. Just wanting to hug him. Just wanting to hold him. Just wanting to wrap her arms around him and feel his warmth.

  But he backed away from her.

  She stopped. Why would he do that? Why would he…

  And then he barked at her.

  Barked at her, then lowered his head again.

  She stood there in the woods, shoulders slumping. She could see he was traumatised; see he was in a bad way.

  But right now, she just wanted his comfort.

  Right now, she just needed him.

  “Rex,” she said. “It’s… it’s me. It’s Aoife. It’s okay, lad. It’s just me.”

  He looked up at her. For a moment, their eyes met.

  And then he barked at her again, whimpered, lowered his he
ad, and turned away.

  She stood there. Frozen. Totally still. It felt like she’d lost everything. In the space of however fucking long, she’d lost it all.

  She didn’t know what to do.

  Didn’t know where to go.

  Didn’t know a thing anymore.

  But then she felt it.

  Clearly.

  She felt what she had to do.

  She knew what she had to do.

  The woman.

  The woman with the mask.

  The woman with the green eyes.

  She had to track her down.

  She had to find her.

  She had to know.

  She took a deep breath as she stood there, feeling exhausted, feeling weak, feeling completely broken down.

  Feeling not with it at all.

  Looked at Rex, who had his head slumped down to the ground.

  “Come on,” Aoife said. “There’s… there’s somewhere we need to go.”

  She went to turn around when she heard something behind her.

  Movement.

  And voices.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Aoife heard the voices behind her and felt that anger and that rage fill her body again.

  Rex growled. Barked a little more, standing there before her. He wasn’t barking at her now, though. He was barking at whoever was behind her.

  She had visions of turning around. Of seeing that woman standing there. Black balaclava over her face. Bright green eyes piercing through.

  And all the things she wanted to do with her, for what she’d done to Max.

  All the ways she wanted to make her suffer.

  All the ways she wanted to make her pay.

  She turned around, wishing she was still holding on to that shard of glass, and she braced herself for anything.

  When she looked around and saw who was standing there, it took her a few seconds to process it.

  “Aoife?”

  It was Hailey.

  And for the first fucking time since knowing her, she didn’t feel any resistance to Hailey.

  She didn’t feel like she hated her.

  She was just so relieved to see her.

  “Hailey,” Aoife said.

  And there was someone else here with her, too. Took her a second to realise who. But it was Geoff.

  Geoff’s face was covered in blood. His eyes were wide, and he looked traumatised. Glared at Aoife in a way he’d never looked at her before.

  She saw Hailey, and she saw Geoff, and she was just so pleased to see them.

  “Aoife…” Hailey started.

  And Aoife didn’t even think.

  She just stepped forward.

  Tumbled forward, right into Hailey’s arms.

  “It’s okay,” Hailey said. “It’s—it’s okay.”

  Holding her tight. Reluctantly, at first, but then tighter and tighter.

  “Max,” Aoife said.

  “What about him?”

  Oh fuck. She didn’t know. She didn’t fucking know.

  “Aoife?” Hailey said. Moving her back a bit, so they were looking into each other’s eyes now. “What… what happened to Max?”

  The horror of the scene played out in her mind again.

  Like it was happening all over again.

  The gunshot.

  The lighter.

  The flames.

  The screams.

  She wanted to tell Hailey exactly what happened. Exactly what they’d done to him.

  She wanted Hailey to feel her rage.

  But in the end, she could only shake her head.

  She could only cry.

  And she knew Hailey would understand from that alone.

  “Come here,” Hailey said. “Come here.”

  She hugged Aoife for a long time. And Aoife was just grateful for the warmth. Just thankful to have someone here for her. And she felt bad. Bad for ever being such a dick with her. Bad for acting like such a jealous bitch.

  Because Hailey was a good person.

  She pulled away. Sniffed. Wiped her tears. Saw Hailey was crying, too.

  “We barely got out ourselves,” Hailey said. “We were by the community centre when the explosions started. Both of us got trapped under rubble. Geoff had his ankle stuck. Had to help him free. But we got away. Somehow… somehow, we got away. That’s when they started shooting at us. Sam… he was with us. And they shot him. Shot him dead right beside us.”

  Aoife shook her head. She didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to think.

  “We kept running,” Hailey said. “Ran for our lives. I’ve no idea how we made it, but we did. We… we laid low for a while. Until we were sure they were gone. I don’t know how many of them there were. I didn’t see lots. But they… What happened here, Aoife. They must have planned this. Carefully. There’s—there’s no way this happened on a whim. There’s nothing haphazard about it. But I just… I just don’t understand. They haven’t taken anything. They haven’t even shown their faces. They just… they just did this, tried to kill everybody, then disappeared. And I just don’t get it.”

  Aoife nodded. Didn’t say anything.

  But as she looked over Hailey’s shoulder, she could see Geoff. See the way he was staring at her.

  He hadn’t said a single word yet.

  And Aoife had a feeling she knew why.

  “They wanted everyone dead,” Hailey said. “But we made it. We… we survived. I’m not sure how many others did. We saw some dogs run by. But nobody else. If this is everybody… we have to be prepared for that. We need to—to find somewhere to shelter. For the night. Then go from there.”

  “They didn’t want everyone dead,” Aoife muttered.

  “What?”

  Aoife remembered the woman’s words.

  We’ll meet again. When this has tortured you enough. I’m not ready for you to die yet. Not after everything you’ve done. Not yet.

  And she thought about the fact she was alive at all.

  The only one who wasn’t alive by chance, but for a reason.

  “Nothing,” Aoife said.

  And then she walked past Hailey. Walked past Geoff without saying a word.

  “Aoife?” Hailey said.

  “I need to find her.”

  “But—but we’re in no position to go on the attack. We don’t know who they are. Where they’ve gone. We don’t know—”

  “I don’t give a fuck,” Aoife spat. “I need to find her. I can’t just let her go. Not after what she did.”

  “Aoife,” Hailey said, walking towards her. “We need to stick together. It took us a long way to get here. We’re all that’s left. We can’t just give up on each other. Not now.”

  Aoife felt bad. She felt sorry for Hailey. Because she agreed with her. The last thing the group needed right now was to collapse entirely, especially when by some miracle, there were people left.

  But at the same time, she knew she had no other choice here.

  “I get it. And I’m sorry. But I can’t… I can’t just let her go. Not after all she did.”

  She looked at Hailey, then at Geoff, who was still quiet.

  Geoff staring at her like he had something on his chest but was suppressing it. Something uncharacteristic for him.

  “I have to find her. And I’ll make her pay. For what she…”

  She stopped speaking.

  Because she heard something.

  Voices.

  Voices, in the woods, nearby.

  And then, out of nowhere, a gunshot.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The second Aoife heard the gunshot, she didn’t feel afraid.

  She just wanted to get the fuck to the source of it so she could get hunting the bastards who’d killed Max—and destroyed her community.

  Hailey and Geoff both looked around, over towards where that gunshot came from. Rex backed off again, whining, clearly still traumatised by everything. It was just the one gunshot, still echoing through the silence. And it sounded a fair way
away, too.

  But Aoife didn’t give a damn.

  It had to be the people who’d attacked her community.

  It had to be the people who’d killed Max.

  She didn’t hesitate.

  She ran.

  Ran towards the trees.

  “Aoife!” Hailey called.

  And as much as she wanted to apologise, as much as she wanted to hold back, Aoife didn’t listen to her.

  She had her own shit to deal with now.

  She ran through the trees, leaving Hailey, Geoff—and even Rex behind. She felt guilty about that. Didn’t want to leave Rex. He meant so much to her. Meant goddamned everything to her.

  But this was more important.

  He was okay with Geoff and Hailey. They’d look after him.

  Okay, Hailey wasn’t exactly the most qualified. But Geoff knew how to fight.

  She ran further through the trees, further into the darkness. She couldn’t hear gunshots, but she could hear voices now. Sounded like talking. Laughter.

  She kept on going when suddenly she saw movement up ahead.

  She stopped.

  Dropped to the ground, in a tall patch of grass, right between some trees.

  She could see four people, men, walking through the woods. One of them was holding a pistol.

  “You shouldn’t go firing that thing in the middle of the night, Kent,” one of them said. “Only gonna draw attention to us.”

  “Stop being such a whiner. You’re worse than my bloody wife.”

  Aoife watched these people walk by, and she knew who they were. Looters. Scavengers. The kind they’d fought off a few times over the last few months. Low lives. Didn’t really have any sort of plan, just went from place to place, stealing whatever they could to survive off. Vultures.

  No doubt heading to the burning remains of the estate to find out what they could grab for themselves.

  She felt disappointed. Because they weren’t who she’d wanted to run into.

  They weren’t the woman or her people. They couldn’t be. They weren’t nearly elaborate enough to pull a trick like that at the estate.

  Nowhere near as organised.

  But they were dangerous. Scavengers had been known to kidnap people before. Women in particular were top targets, and kids, for reasons that didn’t need explaining.

  So as much as Aoife wanted to deal with them—as much as she wanted to take her anger out on them—she knew she’d be better off getting away from here right now.

  She turned around slowly when she heard another voice.