Surviving the EMP (Book 5): Powerless Winter

by Casey, Ryan

  “Trent, I said not now.”

  Trent went to say something else.

  And then he stopped. Shook his head. Turned away. “This is messed up. It’s messed up, and I’m sick of it.”

  Iain looked back at Martin. He looked at the kids. Looked at Harry crouched there. Blood trickling down his neck. Crying.

  “It’s okay, Harry. Lara, it’s going to be okay—”

  “One more chance,” Martin said. “Did they tell you where they were heading? And if they did, where?”

  Iain looked at Harry and Lara.

  He looked at Shania’s body.

  He looked back into Martin’s eyes, and he wished he could stand up for himself. Because he didn’t want to do this.

  But Harry and Lara’s lives were at stake.

  And that changed things.

  It changed everything.

  He looked down at Shania’s still body, and he took a deep breath.

  “Barrow,” he said.

  Martin frowned. “Barrow?”

  Iain nodded. “Barrow. That’s where the helicopters were going. That’s where this supposed safe place is. Now, please. My children. Just… just let them go. Please.”

  Martin stared into Iain’s eyes for a few seconds. Really studied his gaze.

  And then he smiled again.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  He turned around. Walked over to Harry and Lara. Stood right behind them both, gesturing his two friends to lower their knives and walk away.

  He looked back at Iain as he stood there. “Your kids will be okay. As long as you aren’t lying to us. Because if you are…”

  He lifted his rifle. Pointed it at the back of Lara’s head.

  “No!” Iain shouted. “I’m—I’m telling the truth. Please.”

  Martin smiled. “Good. Because we’re going to take your children here. And we’re going to go on a nice little road trip to Barrow together. And if you’re lying to me… well. You don’t want to know what I’ll do to you. To all of you.”

  He walked back towards Iain again. Looked right into his eyes.

  “Now come on,” Martin said. “We’d better get moving.”

  He looked over Iain’s shoulder.

  Nodded.

  And before Iain could do anything about it, he felt someone grab his head.

  He felt someone kick his calves, knock him to the ground.

  He felt a few boots in the side of his chest as someone struggled to wrap something around his head, to block his eyesight.

  And as he lay there on the ground, unable to fight, all he could do was stare at Lara and Harry as they had sacks dragged over their heads, too.

  All he could do was stare into Shania’s lifeless eyes as blood trickled from her head towards his lips.

  “I’m sorry, love,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  And then the sack wrapped around his eyes, and everything went black.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jack walked through the seaside town of Arnside and couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder.

  It was late afternoon. They’d been walking a good few hours now. Still no snow today. Bright sun beaming down, clear blue skies as far as the eye could see. No sounds other than the seagulls, and the whooshing of the breeze through the streets, past the abandoned antique shops, fish and chip restaurants, seaside pubs. Jack could almost taste the sharpness of vinegar in the air; smell the chip fat pumping out from the many seafront pubs. It brought back good memories. Memories of visiting places like this with Hazel, Wayne, and India. Happy memories.

  But he couldn’t enjoy those happy memories. Not while they were in a town like this.

  Because Jack felt exposed.

  He looked at the shops and the houses. It was the same sight he saw in every town: boarded-up windows, smashed glass. Cars abandoned and buried under piles of snow. Every now and then, seagulls swooped down, desperate for the scraps that used to be a part of their everyday lives. But they didn’t find anything. Every scrap was of value, now. Nothing went to waste.

  He looked to his left, over at the stretch of water between Arnside and Grange. Frozen solid. Probably solid enough to walk on. Not that he wanted to risk it.

  In the distance, Jack saw a railway line. A train still sat right in the middle of it. It was like walking through a museum of the moment ordinary life stopped. The moment life changed—forever.

  He wondered how many people from that train were still alive now.

  “You going to spend this whole journey giving us the silent treatment?”

  Jack looked around, past Villain.

  Candice was by his side.

  It was the first time she’d spoken to him since their argument before running into Iain’s group. To be honest, he was surprised she was speaking to him at all. Especially with what she’d pretty much accused him of.

  “I figured the less we talk, the more progress we can make.”

  Candice nodded. “Right. And it’s nothing to do with what happened at Heathwaite’s at all.”

  Jack’s jaw tensed. “Candice, I don’t want to go through this again—”

  “You made the wrong call, Jack. Why can’t you just accept it? It was a shitty thing to do, not sharing the rumour about Barrow with us. And I know… I know there’s never any predicting the future. There’s never any knowing how things are gonna go. But deaths could’ve been prevented. Lives could’ve been saved. You have to consider that.”

  Jack slowed down and stared into the snow as his boots crunched through them. “Don’t think I don’t feel guilty. Please. But… but as much as I get what you’re saying, there’s no knowing we’d have left Heathwaite’s right away. There’s no knowing whether we’d have run into Martin’s group on the road or not.”

  “But—”

  “I did what was right in the moment, Candice. I did what I thought was the right thing to do for the good of our people. And I’m sorry about what happened. Truly. I have to live with it. But… but don’t act like you’ve never made a decision that put someone you cared about in jeopardy.”

  Candice’s face dropped. “What’re you trying to say?”

  Jack regretted his words right away. “Nothing. I didn’t mean—”

  “You’re talking about Wayne, aren’t you?”

  “Candice, just—”

  “You’re trying to say I was involved in his death in some way.”

  Jack stopped. Looked right at Candice. “I’m not doing this anymore, okay? Wayne… Wayne came to you. You had a choice not to escape with him. You had a choice to go ahead with the deal like Emma and I agreed. But you didn’t.”

  “I did what I thought was right.”

  “Exactly,” Jack shouted. “Exactly. You did what you thought was right. In the moment. Just like when I pulled that trigger and accidentally hit Jean. You couldn’t have known what would happen. I couldn’t have known what would happen. None of us could. But we make these decisions because they’re right, in the moment. And I’ll always make the decisions that seem best for my people. Because the second I lose sight of that… the second any of us lose sight of that…”

  He looked at Candice, walking slowly now. She wasn’t shouting at him anymore. Wasn’t arguing. She was just so quiet.

  “I get why you did what you did,” Candice said. “I get… I get why you do the things you do. Why we all do the things we do. Right or wrong. But we can’t forget what got us this far.”

  “And what got us this far?”

  She looked at him. Half-smiled. “Working together.”

  He looked back into her eyes. And as much as he doubted it was as simple as that, he smiled back at her.

  He turned around and looked ahead.

  His stomach sank.

  There was a bridge up ahead. The road they were on led right under it. But there was a problem. A huge mound of snow and ice stacked right up to the top of it, blocking their path through it.

  Jack walked to the bottom of this icy hill. Looked up
it. He tried to climb it, but it was too slippery.

  “We can’t go this way,” he said.

  The rest of his people looked back at him, concern on their faces. Hazel wrapped her arms around her body. Mrs Fuzzles walked by her side now. “So which way do we go?”

  Jack looked to his right, down at the water. Ice covered the top of it. Thick ice.

  “Wait,” Bella said. “You’re not seriously going to suggest what I think you’re gonna suggest, are you?”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Jack said. “Not if we want to get around here. It won’t be far, anyway. Just around the outside of this bridge, then back onto land. Should be easy. Ish.”

  Nobody looked convinced.

  He walked down to the side of the water, Candice and Emma by his side.

  He put a foot on the ice.

  It felt pretty solid.

  But he still felt uneasy about this.

  He still felt like this was a risk he could do with avoiding.

  “We can take our time,” Hazel said. “No need to rush anything.”

  Bella nodded. “As long as we just take it a step at a time, we’ll be okay.”

  Jack went to nod and agree.

  Then he saw something.

  Movement from afar.

  People.

  The rest of the group turned around. All of them looked at these figures as they appeared in the street.

  And as they got closer, Jack saw something that confirmed his worst fears.

  The guns.

  The knives.

  And the man leading them.

  Moustache across his smiling upper lip.

  Rifle in hand.

  “Martin,” Susan said.

  “Yeah, about taking our time,” Jack said, the slippery ice beneath his feet. “I think we’re going to have to have a rethink.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Jack looked back as Martin’s people approached, and he knew he only had one choice.

  He stood at the edge of the frozen water. Around the corner, he saw the hill of ice blocking their straightforward route under the bridge. He thought about running back into Arnside. Hiding in one of the houses. Laying low.

  But then he saw Martin’s group racing towards him and his people, rifle in hand, and he knew he had no time to waste.

  “That bastard,” Bella said. “How the hell did he find us?”

  Jack gulped. He didn’t want to think about just how close Martin’s people had been to him all this time. He didn’t want to think about the time they’d spent resting at Iain’s camp, and how much ground Martin might’ve gained while they were there.

  He could only think about right now.

  And right now, he had a move to make.

  A dangerous move.

  But a move that couldn’t be avoided.

  He looked at the icy water, and he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. But we’ve no time to waste. We’ve got to get across it. We’ve got to get away. Now!”

  He eased Candice, Bella, and Susan past him and onto the ice. He kept on looking back, checking how far Martin and his people were away. Still some distance away. They still had time.

  But not a lot of time.

  He helped Emma onto the ice, then. “Head around the bridge, to the other side. Minimise the amount of time you spend on the ice. Be light-footed. It might seem solid, but you don’t want to go taking any chances. Okay?”

  Candice nodded back at him. She didn’t look happy about this. Nobody did.

  But what other choice did they have?

  Martin’s group got closer. He could hear their footsteps, now. Hear their shouting.

  Hazel reached his side.

  “Are you sure about this, Jack?”

  Jack looked back at Martin.

  Looked at his people.

  “I’ve got to be.”

  Hazel walked past him, then. Followed the rest of the group as they waded across the ice. He saw Candice slipping around up ahead. He saw Bella taking her time, carefully placing every footstep.

  And as he stood there at the back of the group with Villain at his side, he knew they needed to keep moving.

  They couldn’t afford to wait around.

  “Quick!” Jack shouted. “There’s no time. Get around the side of the bridge. Then—then run. Run as fast as you can.”

  He turned around. Pointed his rifle towards Martin. But he was still too far away to get a clear shot.

  He heard a cry up ahead. A crack.

  When he looked around, he froze.

  Emma lay on her side.

  Her foot was wedged in the ice.

  The ice had cracked beneath her.

  “Shit,” Jack said.

  He rushed over towards her. Lifted her, pulled her foot from the icy water.

  “You okay?”

  She looked at him, pushed his hand away. “I’m… I’m fine.”

  But he could tell she was in pain. She walked with a limp. Probably not just from the fall, but from the bitter cold of the water, too. He dreaded to imagine how cold it was down there.

  “Right,” Jack said, as he stood there in the middle of his people. The ice below him suddenly felt fragile. Unstable. “We’re almost there. We just have to keep going, just a few more steps. And then we…”

  He heard something.

  A peppering of gunfire.

  When he looked around, he saw Martin firing towards him.

  Only…

  “Oh shit,” Jack said.

  Martin fired bullets at the ice.

  “He’s trying to crack the ice,” Hazel said. “That bastard’s trying to crack the ice.”

  Jack looked back at Martin, rifle in hand, and he wished he’d dealt with this bastard when he’d had the chance. He wished he’d stayed in Heathwaite’s, sneaked up on him and shot him.

  But he had to work with the situation he was in.

  “Come on,” he said. “There’s no more time to waste. We’ve got to run. Now!”

  The ice behind them cracked as the bullets hit it. And those bullets got closer and closer to Jack and his people.

  He spun around, grabbed hold of Emma’s hand, and he ran.

  “Keep going! We’re almost there!”

  He watched Candice lead the way. Saw her slipping and sliding as Bella and Susan followed. He saw the edge of the water getting closer. Heard the gunfire continue to hit the ice behind them.

  He gritted his teeth and ran as quickly as he could as the solid ice cracked beneath his feet.

  And then he heard something that made his whole life freeze.

  A yelp.

  He looked around.

  A punch of nausea hit him square between the ribs.

  Villain had fallen into the water.

  And he couldn’t get out.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jack watched Villain struggle around the icy cold water, and his whole world stood still.

  Martin’s group looked on from the shore. Jack stood in the middle of the ice. He could hear people shouting him; people calling for him to hurry up.

  But he couldn’t focus on what they were saying.

  He couldn’t focus on a thing.

  Not while Villain was in the water like this.

  Not while he was struggling.

  Villain splashed around the icy water. Kept on yelping, whining. Every time he tried to clamber out of the water and back onto the ice, the ice just cracked away, and he tumbled back in again.

  “Villain,” Jack said, as he stood there, frozen. Jaw shaking. Teeth chattering.

  He knew what the outcome was here.

  He knew that if he waited any longer, there was only one way this went.

  “Jack, hurry up! We need to go!”

  He looked around. Saw Hazel standing by the side of the water. Saw all of his group standing by the side of the water. And that comforted him a little. That made him feel more at ease.

  They’d made it.

  And he knew they were strong.


  As much as they told him he was overprotective and too mistrusting of others… he knew they could make it without him if they had to.

  There was somewhere else he had to be right now.

  Someone else he had to see to.

  He turned back around. Martin’s group had stopped firing. They stood right by the side of the icy water. Even from this far, Jack could see the smirk on Martin’s psychopathic face. Like he was actually enjoying watching events play out.

  Jack tightened his fists around the rifle. Lifted it. Pointed it at Martin’s group.

  He held it there a few seconds.

  Villain still splashing around in that water.

  Barking.

  Growling.

  Yelping.

  He felt a tear roll down his face as he stood there, rifle raised.

  And then he dropped the rifle.

  “Jack!” Hazel shouted. “No!”

  He looked back at her. Saw the horror in her eyes. Saw her trying to get back onto the crumbling ice, Candice holding on to her, pulling her back.

  He half-smiled at her. Nodded. “You’ve got this.”

  And then he turned around and ran across the ice, back towards Villain.

  Every step was unsteady. He felt like he was going to slip all the time. And the ice, it wasn’t as solid as it was earlier, not after the bullets it’d taken. There were more fragile sections; some that just gave way the second his feet hit them.

  But he had to do this.

  He had to do this for his dog.

  For his friend.

  His best friend.

  “It’s okay, Villain. It’s okay. I’m coming. I’ve got you.”

  He got closer to Villain and saw him bob under the water, just for a second.

  He lifted his head back up. Looked right at Jack, ears pressed right back to the sides of his head. Glanced into his eyes with such sadness to his face.

  “Villain!” Jack shouted.

  And then Villain stopped struggling.

  He stopped kicking out.

  He sank under the water, bubbles rising above him.

  “Villain! No!”

  He didn’t even think, then. He didn’t even consider how much danger he was putting himself in. Because this was his best friend, and he’d do anything for him. He’d die for him if he had to.