Stay Out of the Shadows: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

by A. P. Madden

  Naomi’s hand slipped into his, and she held on tightly as the monster drew in long shuddering breaths.

  The scraping began again, and the beast’s heavy footsteps took it further away.

  Luke allowed himself a slow, shallow breath, but neither of them moved. They waited for a long time until they couldn’t hear the noises anymore. When it was finally silent, they waited for another ten minutes.

  “I think it’s safe,” Luke said.

  “Okay,” Naomi said.

  They didn’t move for a second, and then Naomi let go of his hand and slipped out of the recess.

  “That was one of the worst experiences of my life,” she said, laughing shakily.

  “I’ve had worse,” Luke said with a smile. He realised she couldn’t see him, and he pulled the flashlight from his pocket. Light spilled out, and they both let out sounds of relief.

  “I didn’t think the inside of an old tunnel could look so good,” he said.

  “I’m never going underground ever again,” Naomi said, switching on her own light. “Let’s get out of here.”

  ***

  The tunnel curved as they walked, and when they came to an intersection of two tunnels, Naomi took the one that went right. Soon, they came to another tunnel crossing, and she took another right. The tunnel curved even more, and Luke tried to figure out what direction they were going.

  “Are we heading back towards the building?”

  “I think so,” Naomi said. “We haven’t passed any exits yet, but we should come across the exit under our building sooner or later.

  “Hopefully sooner,” Luke said. “I don’t like the idea of going back towards that mutant.”

  “We didn’t pass any other tunnels,” she said. “It shouldn’t be able to get to us unless it doubles back, and we haven’t heard anything, so I think we’re safe.”

  “If you say so.”

  Naomi glanced at him. “You sound nervous.”

  “I am. That thing was terrifying,” he added. “If I never see it again, it’ll be too soon.”

  She smiled. “Me, too. Although, I’m glad you were with me. I don’t think I would have been able to do it alone.”

  “Personally, I would have preferred if neither of us was there,” he said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I do. I’m glad you were there, too.”

  Finally, they saw it. A ladder set in an alcove in the wall. It led up to a platform, and there was a door up there.

  “Is this the right one?” Luke asked.

  “No idea, but I also don’t care. Let’s get out of here and figure out the rest once we’re on the surface.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Luke thought he saw something move in the shadows near the ladder, but when he pointed his light towards it, there was nothing there.

  “Did you see something?” Naomi asked.

  “I guess not. Let’s go. I have a bad feeling.”

  “I've had a bad feeling since we got down here,” Naomi said, but she hurried towards the ladder.

  “You have the gun. You should go first in case anyone is waiting for us,” she told him.

  Luke shook his head. “I’ll cover you down here. Go on.”

  Naomi reached for the ladder, but there was a small noise behind them. Luke spun around and lifted his gun. Something hit him in the chest and his shot went wide, cracking against the stone wall. His hands were suddenly empty and he saw his gun spinning out of reach.

  The mutant loomed over him. It was small, the size of a big cat, but it had deep, glowing red eyes and its teeth were razor-sharp and dripping with saliva. Luke fumbled for the machete, but he wouldn’t make it in time. His other arm came up and shoved at the beast. It snapped viciously at him, and he put all his strength into keeping it away from his face.

  A blade glinted above him and Naomi drove her knife into the mutant’s head. It stiffened and fell, taking her knife with it. Luke rolled onto his knees and pushed himself up, running his hands over his body to check for injuries.

  “Did it get you?”

  “No,” he said, breathing hard.

  She relaxed. “That was close.”

  A low growl was their only warning before another mutant launched itself from the darkness. Luke ducked and the creature’s claws barely missed his skin, shredding the back of his shirt. The fabric caught and Luke was tugged off balance by the mutant’s momentum.

  Two more of them rushed forward, and Naomi was forced to jump back and stumble out of their reach. Luke’s fingers wrapped around the machete handle. He drew it smoothly and turned to face the creature that tore his shirt. It pounced, but he brought the blade up and cut clean through the mutant’s neck. It hit the ground and didn’t get up again.

  He’d have to thank Caelan for keeping the blade so sharp.

  Luke turned and ran towards Naomi. Her knife was gone and she was dodging the mutants’ attacks while brandishing a scalpel. Her flashlight, like his, was lying on the ground nearby, giving them limited visibility in the pitch black tunnel while the creatures could see perfectly well in the dark.

  He ran past the ladder, praying that there wouldn’t be more of them. Were there just four or was there a dozen of them hiding the darkness?

  He could hear Caelan in his head, telling him to turn and grab the ladder and save himself while they were distracted with Naomi.

  Luke kept running. He slashed at the first mutant, drawing their focus from Naomi. It snarled and slashed at him, but its claws hit the blade of the machete and he kicked out, knocking it backwards. The other mutant rushed forward and opened its mouth wide to sink its fangs into his leg. He didn’t jump back, he stepped forward and brought his blade down, stabbing straight through its skull.

  The other creature recovered and came for him. He pulled the blade, but it didn’t budge. It was stuck. He released it and raised his fists to face the mutant.

  Naomi grabbed something from the ground and aimed it at the mutant. Luke thought it was his gun, but she fired and a bright red flare soared through the air. It hit the mutant in the chest and it was thrown through the air.

  The creature landed in the middle of the tunnel, and the burning red flare fizzled and sputtered, casting crimson light through the darkness. The walls of the tunnel were covered in hundreds of small, six-legged mutants with serrated, dripping teeth and razor-sharp claws at the end of their contorted legs. They were scuttling towards the ladder with their red eyes locked on Luke and Naomi.

  They roared in pain and fury as the light hit their skin, and then the flare died and darkness filled the tunnel.

  Luke grabbed Naomi and shoved her towards the ladder. “Run!”

  Naomi snatched up the medical bag as they ran and Luke grabbed Caelan’s machete and hauled it out of the dead mutant.

  If he was going to die down here, he was going to take some of them with him.

  Naomi rummaged through the medical bag, and she didn’t start climbing up.

  “What are you doing?” Luke demanded.

  She ignored him and pulled out the second flare gun. She fired it at the ground near the ladder, and Luke almost lost his mind.

  “Come on!” He picked her up and practically threw her onto the ladder.

  The tunnel was filled with howls and screeching and terrible, ear-piercing clicking that filled his ears and filled his head, pushing every thought to the side to make room for the deafening noise. He climbed up behind Naomi, but they weren’t going to make it. Even if she didn’t stop to fire the other flare, they wouldn’t have made it. The creatures were too fast.

  The wave of spider mutants swarmed around them.

  For some reason, they reared back before they reached the ladder. They covered the ground like an ocean of death, but there was an empty circle where the ladder was.

  No, Luke realised, glancing down at it. Not the ladder. The flare.

  Naomi reached the platform and pulled herself up. Luke ignored the last few rungs of t
he ladder and grabbed the edge. He heaved himself over it with a grunt, rolling onto his back. Naomi was already at the door, and by the time he was on his feet, it was open and he threw himself through it.

  The door slammed behind them and everything went quiet.

  “The flare,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. “That was smart.”

  “Thanks. And thanks for coming back for me. You could have left me back there.”

  “Same to you,” he said.

  “I guess we’re even.”

  “I guess so.”

  ***

  Chapter 7 - And Men

  Luke pulled her away from the door, up the small hallway until they reached a steep set of stairs. He held the machete at his side and led the way up to the small trap door at the top.

  “Careful,” he whispered. “We don’t know who’s waiting for us up there.”

  Luke opened the door slowly, trying to be silent. The room above was dark and small, but dim light came from the slats in a door beside them. It felt like they were inside a closet or a storage room.

  Luke helped Naomi up and closed the trap door behind her so they wouldn’t accidentally fall into it in the dark.

  “Thank god we’re out of there,” Naomi whispered.

  “Yeah,” Luke said. He realised his hands were trembling. “Never again.”

  “Never,” she agreed.

  The door opened suddenly. “I knew I heard something!”

  Three men rushed into the storage room before Luke or Naomi could react. Luke’s machete was knocked out of his hand and something struck him in the stomach. All the breath left his lungs and he doubled over.

  He heard Naomi yelling outside, and the man in front of him grabbed him and shoved him after her. Luke forced himself to straighten up, and he froze. One of them was holding a kitchen knife to Naomi’s throat.

  They didn’t have guns, but they were all armed with blunt weapons they had found lying around. Neither of the other men had knives, but they were all big and looked like they would happily beat him unconscious with anything they could get their hands on.

  “Let her go,” he said.

  “Shut up.” It was the man who winded him, and he lifted his baseball bat, pointing it right in Luke’s face. He grinned at Luke down the length of the bat. Luke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He had never wanted to punch someone more than right at that moment.

  “Careful now,” the man with the knife said. He pressed the blade closer to Naomi’s neck, and Luke let his hands fall to his sides.

  “Let her go, and we can talk about this.”

  “He won’t let us take his girl, Murphy,” the man with the bat said. “Let’s just kill him and get it over with.”

  Murphy was the one with the knife, and he was looking closely at Luke. “She’s not his girl. I recognise him. It’s Luke, right? You were locked up downstairs.”

  Luke frowned as he finally placed the man’s face. “You were part of the group here.”

  “Yeah, man, but not really. How do you think we got inside so easily? I pretended to join these idiots a week ago to find out what they had and what their defences were like. See if they were worth the trouble. You know how it is.”

  “You’re disgusting,” Naomi said, pulling against his hold.

  Murphy smirked at her. “Yeah, but I’m alive, right? We all do what we have to do to survive. You get that, don’t you, kid? Now leave us with the girl and walk on out of here. She’s nothing to you. You don’t owe her anything.”

  “Let her go,” he repeated.

  “We both know that’s not going to happen. If you don’t walk away right now, you’ll die, and nothing else will change. Is this really worth your life?”

  “We should keep him,” the third man said. “We need hostages to get past the survivors outside.”

  “Morgan will come for us,” the man with the bat said.

  “Morgan’s not coming back. We need them.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Murphy said, noticing Luke’s expression. “Morgan’s our boss. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s the most powerful man in the valley. Play nice and we might even introduce you. Do anything to us and you’ll put yourself on his bad side. If you don’t want to die a very painful death, you should play nice.”

  Murphy leered down at Naomi. “How about it, girl? Want to be on the winning side for once?” He sneered at Luke as he said, and Luke clenched his fists. “Once Morgan takes down that pathetic excuse for a town by the river, no one will dare to stand against him.”

  “And the farms are already starting to pay for his protection,” another said with a cruel grin.

  “Screw this,” Naomi muttered.

  She wrenched the knife away from her throat and slammed her head back against his nose. He yelled out in pain and she shoved herself away from him, then turned and kicked him between the legs.

  Murphy fell to his knees, and the other two men stared at her.

  Luke grabbed the baseball bat and shoved it. The end of the bat slammed into the man’s face, knocking out some of his teeth. He cried out and stumbled back, clutching his bleeding mouth, and Luke grabbed the bat from him.

  The third man rushed at Luke and tried to swing at him, but Luke was expecting it and he stepped in and drove his knee into his stomach. The man gasped and doubled over, just like Luke did earlier, and Luke swung the bat. It cracked against the side of his head and the man crumpled.

  Naomi used the handle of the knife to knock Murphy unconscious, and Luke took care of the man with the broken teeth.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  She didn’t look as shaky as he expected, and he watched as she smoothed out her hair and stepped over Murphy to join him.

  “That was impressive,” Luke said.

  “I’ve dealt with men like him before.”

  “Remind me not to get on your bad side,” he said with a grin.

  ***

  Chapter 8 - Home

  Someone was pounding their fist against the door, but it was locked tight. “Surrender and we won’t harm you!” someone shouted.

  “That sounds like my dad,” Naomi said, stepping towards the door. “Hello?” she called out, raising her voice.

  There was a moment of silence, and then, “Naomi?”

  “It’s me,” she said. “I’m okay.”

  The man replied and Naomi walked to the door, but Luke ignored them because one of the men on the ground moaned and twitched. Luke hurried to kick his weapon further away.

  “Just our luck to climb out of the tunnels and find ourselves in the one place in the building that hasn’t been secured yet,” Naomi said to Luke with a laugh. “I’m going to open it, okay?”

  Luke frisked all three men for weapons. “Go ahead. I’ll disarm these guys in case they wake up anytime soon.”

  She unlocked the door and it burst open.

  A tall man pulled her into a tight hug and then held her out, scanning her for injuries. “Are you okay? What happened? What did they do to you?”

  “Nothing, I’m fine,” she said. “We just got here a few minutes ago.”

  “We?” He saw Luke crouched beside one of the men. “Who’s this?”

  “Luke,” she said, and Luke waved at him. “This is my father, David.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Luke said.

  David stared at him for a moment. “I’m sorry, but who are you? I thought I knew everyone in the group.”

  “He wasn’t with the raiders,” Naomi said quickly, apparently knowing what her father was thinking. “He was in the cells when the attack happened, but it’s all a misunderstanding, really. He was innocent.”

  David’s eyes narrowed, and Luke knew that the older man didn’t trust him. He couldn’t blame him, really. Distrust kept people alive these days, and if it was Luke’s family, he would do everything he could to keep them safe from people he didn’t know.

  “What about Mom?”

 
“She’s fine,” he said. “She was with me when it happened.”

  Luke gathered the weapons and joined them at the door. Others had started streaming into the room, and they quickly surrounded the unconscious men.

  “We should probably tie them up,” Luke said, handing a weapon to Naomi and another to her father. “They could wake up at any moment.”

  “Hold on,” David said. “I need more information. How did you both end up in here? They barricaded this area hours ago. We only just broke through, and then they locked themselves in here. There was no other way in or out.”

  He spoke to Naomi, but his eyes were locked on Luke, and his gaze was full of suspicion.

  “We came up from the tunnels,” Naomi said.

  “The tunnels? Well, that would explain the dirt, I suppose,” David said.

  “Have you seen Caelan?” Luke asked. “He was with me in the cell. Big guy, about this tall-”

  “Yes, I know him,” David said, cutting him off.

  “Is he okay?”

  “He’s not hurt if that’s what you mean.”

  Luke didn’t know what else he could have meant, but he was too happy to care. He gave Naomi a wide grin. “See? I told you he’s a survivor.”

  “That’s great,” she smiled.

  Luke stepped past David, but the man stopped him. “Where are you going?”

  Luke looked down at the hand on his chest. “To find my friend. Take your hand off me.”

  David’s eyes flashed. “You don’t make demands here. You’re lucky that I haven’t already thrown you back in that cell. I know exactly what men like you will do to survive.”

  “I’m not a bandit,” Luke said, gritting his teeth.

  “Dad, let him go. He saved my life more than once today. He’s earned our trust.”

  David glared at him, but he took his hand away. “I’m watching you, Luke.”

  Luke reined in his anger before he could say anything stupid, and he walked away to find Caelan.