by Casey, Ryan
Jack’s jaw tensed. “But?”
“But… but I’m not from there.”
Jack felt it like a punch in the gut, even if he had been expecting it. “I knew it.”
“I was miles from here. I was wounded. A—a helicopter brought me up this way. They—they nursed me back to full strength and then… and then they… Look, I can explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain,” Jack said, squaring up to him once again. “You appeared out of nowhere with your false, bullshit promises, like so many damned times in your life. You made us hope. You made us frigging believe. And then you stabbed us in the back. You stabbed us in the back like you always do.”
Pete shook his head. “I never meant to betray any of you.”
Jack couldn’t stop himself. “And how did you think it was gonna go, hmm? Did you think we weren’t going to find out? Were you even going to tell us at all?”
Pete just looked on. Tears building in his eyes. Like the pathetic kid he was.
“No,” Jack spat. “No, you weren’t. You were going to take the lie as far as you could, just like you always have, and then you were going to bend the truth to suit you. Because that’s what you are, Pete. That’s what you’ve always been. You’re a bullshitter. A venomous bullshitter. And I’m ashamed I ever had you as a friend. And Hazel… you should be ashamed you ever married this man.”
Jack turned away, then. He didn’t want to hear any more from Pete. His heart raced. Sweat trickled down his forehead. He just looked down the hill at that faint light illuminating the night and tightened his grip on his rifle. He had to be ready to use it.
“Why?”
Jack stopped then.
Looked around.
It was Hazel. She was right opposite Pete. Standing right up to his face. Tears streaming from her eyes, baggy dark circles underneath.
“Why did you lie?” she asked.
Jack wanted to go up there. He wanted to tell her to come along, to leave Pete. Because he was done with him. He was done with believing in people. He was done with trusting outsiders, as much as his people tried to convince him otherwise.
Pete had stabbed him in the back, once again.
And the most painful thing about it?
There was actually a point where he thought he could see a future where he didn’t hate Pete’s guts.
A future where he could move on from the trauma of his past.
He tightened his fists as he stood there, staring back at Pete, staring at the rest of the group.
He saw Pete look around, right into Jack’s eyes.
“I—I did it because I wanted to be a part of your group. And I worried if I didn’t have any value to you, you might not accept me.”
Hazel narrowed her eyes. “No value? You’re my husband, Pete. You’re my frigging husband.”
“I was your husband,” he said. And as he looked into her eyes, then, Jack could see it already. He could see it in the way they looked at one another. And then the way both of them glanced around at him.
Hazel and Pete. They weren’t what they once were. This world changed everyone. Sometimes the change was just too much to bear.
“Tell me one thing,” Jack shouted. “Your clothes. Your rifle. Where did you get those?”
Pete took a deep breath and sighed. “What I told you about the helicopter. It wasn’t a lie. Someone picked me up when I was at my weakest. They brought me up this way. Fed me. Looked after me. But—but before I could ask any questions, they had me out on the road again. With food, sure. And fully clothed and armed. But on the road.”
Jack shook his head. He couldn’t bear to hear another word. Whoever these people were, they’d ditched Pete. Which meant they’d ditch them, too. Was there even a safe zone at all? Would the gates even be open when they reached them?
All he knew was that he wasn’t travelling with Pete. Not anymore.
“Come on,” Jack said. “We need to keep moving. Investigate the light. Then… then keep on going towards the helicopters, whatever’s waiting for us there. Because this arsehole’s lies don’t change a thing. There’s a place in Barrow. Whether… whether they want us or not, that’s where we need to go.”
He saw Trent nod, walk up to his side. Like he was one of their people now, not a prisoner.
Candice and Susan followed. Emma wasn’t far behind.
And then it was just Hazel and Pete.
“Hazel?” Jack said.
She looked around. Torn. Conflicted.
Pete shook his head. “Don’t leave me here—”
“Whatever you do next is your call,” Jack barked. “But you are not travelling with us. You are not poisoning us with your lies. Not anymore. A woman died today. A good person. One of our… one of our family. She didn’t have to die. Maybe it could’ve been prevented. Maybe, if we hadn’t run into you, we would’ve done things differently.”
“Jack—”
“I don’t care what you have to say. I don’t want to hear it. Hazel. Come on. It’s your call. But… I want you to come with us.”
She looked around at Pete. Searched his face, wordless, betrayed.
Pete muttered things to her. She shook her head. Said things back.
And then when Pete lifted his arms and went to hold her, she backed away.
Pete’s eyes widened. “Hazel?”
She looked at him with sadness and with pity, and she shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry. But Jack’s right. You lied. You… you make your own way. And good luck to you. But—but you don’t travel with us. You stay away from us.”
Pete stood there in the darkness. Hailstones crashed onto him from above. He looked lonely. Dejected. Pitiful. “Please,” he said.
Hazel walked up to Jack’s side. She didn’t look at him. Didn’t smile. She just looked broken. Distraught.
Jack looked back at Pete as he stood there in the darkness. There was so much he wanted to say to this prick. So many things he wanted to scream at this bastard.
But in the end, he just took a deep breath of the ice-cold air.
“Good luck, Pete. You’ll need it.”
He turned around and walked down the hill.
All of his people alongside him.
Pete standing there, motionless, alone.
That light looming in the distance…
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jack walked down the hill towards the light and tried to get the Pete situation out of his head.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about his betrayal, and how much it hurt, all over again.
But at the same time… in spite of everything that had happened, in spite of everything he’d done to hurt Jack and his people… he couldn’t help feeling a small sense of guilt about leaving Pete behind.
Pete had done what he’d done for his own reasons. He’d had his motives. He was scared.
And in a way, he was right in what he feared. Hazel didn’t see him the way she used to. This new world had changed their relationship, just like it changed everything else.
And Jack wasn’t exactly going to hurry to forgive the guy.
So he’d done what he’d done in a heated moment to try and increase his value. Boost his worth.
And as soon as he’d come clean, they’d left him behind.
He took a deep breath as he descended further down that hill. He couldn’t beat himself up about it too much. It was more important to just get to that light. Find whatever was there. Whether it was something to do with the safe zone or not—if this safe zone really was a safe zone at all.
And as much as it creeped him out.
He looked over his shoulder up the hill. Pete was far behind them now, well out of sight. Icy rain stung as it hit Jack’s face. He thought about Martin’s group, wherever they were. And as much as he despised Pete, he found himself hoping he’d avoid them. He didn’t want Pete to suffer at the hands of Martin. Hazel didn’t deserve that. She’d already been through too much. All of them had.
“You alright?”
Jack looked around. It was Susan who spoke.
He took a deep breath, nodded. “We have to be. This light. We’re going to have to be cautious around it. Could be to do with the place in Barrow. But it could be something else, too.”
“I’m talking about what happened with Pete back there.”
Jack glanced at the icy ground. He knew exactly what Susan was referring to. But he didn’t really want to go into it. Not again. “It had to be done. I couldn’t have him walking with us. Not after he kept the things he did from us. And not after… not after Bella.”
Susan didn’t say anything at first. She just nodded like it was the most common-sense conclusion to come to. “Sometimes we have to cut ties with our past to progress. We can’t feel obliged to the ones who raised us or the ones we once loved. We have to do the right things for ourselves. Even if it feels so wrong.”
Jack looked at the way Susan stared into the distance. He figured she spoke from experience. Something about her dad she’d mentioned once but didn’t want to go into.
He was about to ask her about it. Wanted anything to deflect from having to talk about Pete.
But then he saw something.
Susan. She stopped dead in the middle of the road. Pointed ahead.
Jack turned around, and he didn’t know what she’d seen at first.
But then it clicked. That was exactly it.
He hadn’t seen anything because there wasn’t anything to see.
The light had gone out.
Disappeared.
Jack stopped. Everyone stopped. They all looked ahead, all stared down the dark street.
“Please someone tell me I’m not the only one who’s massively creeped out right now,” Candice said.
Jack inhaled a deep breath. Tried to ease his nerves. Candice wasn’t the only one. “We keep going. Doesn’t change anything. We still need to go down there. Still need to investigate.”
He walked further down the hill with trepidation. Headed closer towards the darkness where the light had shone so brightly so recently.
He kept his hands wrapped around his rifle. Moved slowly. Watched for any movement. The slightest shift.
The group stayed close. All of them kept their eyes on their surroundings as they headed further into that darkness. Jack had no idea how long they’d been walking, just that it felt like bloody forever.
Part of him wanted to find the trace of that light.
But another part of him was afraid.
What if it wasn’t what he expected?
What if it was something else.
Someone else?
He went to take another step when he froze.
Movement.
Movement up ahead.
The sound of footsteps running across the snow.
Jack lifted his rifle. Pointed it into the distance.
But the rain fell too heavily for him to see. It was too dark to hone in on a location.
He stayed there anyway. Stayed put. Kept that rifle pointed ahead. Heart racing. Tension growing by the second.
Candice stood by his side. Rifle of her own raised. Eyes wide, focused ahead.
“So it wasn’t just me who saw that,” Jack said.
Candice sighed. “Unfortunately not.”
They waited there a few seconds. Stood there in the darkness. Jack swore he saw more movement. He swore he saw more figures shifting in the darkness ahead.
But that could just be a trick of his imagination. A result of the uncertainty. The fear.
He took a few steps ahead, gesturing his group to follow.
It didn’t take him long to find something.
And when he did, he stopped dead.
There was a group of people right before him. Three of them. All dressed in black gear. All wearing helmets and goggles. They kind of looked like an armed police unit.
Only their weapons were missing.
And they were dead.
They lay there in the snow, throats cut, blood pooling all around them. They looked like they’d been ambushed. Like someone had sneaked up on them and taken them out without even getting the chance to put up a fight.
Susan stepped forward, studied the bodies. “This Martin’s work?”
Trent visibly swallowed a lump in his throat. “I don’t think so.”
He pointed at something.
Something Jack didn’t recognise at first.
But when it registered, when it clicked, he felt his stomach sink.
The symbol.
The pretzel-shaped symbol, etched in blood.
Jack gulped. His mouth was dry. He heard things in the wind. Whispers. Voices. Saw more movement in the corners of his eyes.
“Look at this,” Emma said.
She lifted something. Jack didn’t realise what it was at first.
Then he saw it.
A torch.
A smashed torch.
Fear intensified inside Jack. His hands sweated. The urgency to get away from this place was staggering.
“If it’s only just been smashed,” Trent said, his voice shaky, “then it must’ve happened recently.”
Jack was silent with that. Everyone was silent. He heard his pulse pounding in his skull. Fight or flight had concluded their battle, and flight had won.
He looked up from the bodies, ahead at the street, into the darkness.
“Come on,” he said. “We need to get away from here. It’s not s…”
He stopped.
Because he heard it.
Movement.
Movement right behind them.
Someone was here.
They weren’t alone.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Jack heard the footsteps behind, and his body went numb.
He spun around. Looked back into the darkness behind them.
He didn’t see a thing.
But he could still hear them.
Footsteps.
Footsteps creeping around them.
Footsteps moving in the snow.
Crunching across the ice.
“Please tell me I’m hearing things,” Jack muttered.
He looked around. Saw Hazel staring into the darkness, scanning the buildings around them. The bodies on the ground just feet away from them.
Jack could tell from Hazel’s eyes that she heard it, too.
He held his rifle. Pointed it in the direction he swore he heard the movement.
But it was sporadic. One minute it seemed like it was behind him. The next, it seemed like it was to the right. And then the left.
The thought struck him that maybe it was.
Maybe there were more of them.
The people.
The people who made the symbols.
The symbols Trent told him about. The ones he’d seen all the way back in Windermere.
The hairs on his arms stood on end. “We need to get away from here. We—we need to go. Now!”
He backed up the road. Made sure his people were in sight at all times as they followed him. Candice pointed a rifle to her left and right, trying to cover all areas. Hazel peered up ahead like she’d heard something in the direction they were heading.
Jack didn’t see a thing. He hadn’t seen a trace of anyone.
But he heard them.
And those sounds made him feel trapped.
They made him feel like people were closing in.
He didn’t know who these people were. He didn’t know what they wanted.
But he knew he had to get away.
Fast.
He powered down the street. The icy rain fell down heavier, blocking his vision. The darkness seemed thicker, somehow. Like the presence of this invisible threat was changing his surroundings completely.
He ran further down the street, staying close to his people, not wanting to stray from them, not wanting to get too far from them.
And then he saw him.
He was standing right in the middle of the road. He
couldn’t make out his face, only that he was a big guy. Well built. Dark hair. Wearing thick camo covered clothes.
And even in the darkness, Jack swore he saw something.
Something that sent shivers up his arms.
The man looked like he was smiling.
Jack didn’t even hesitate.
He lifted his rifle, and he fired.
The man moved right away. Disappeared like he was just a figment of Jack’s imagination.
And for a moment, Jack doubted himself. He questioned whether he’d actually seen anyone standing there at all, or if it was just a trick of the mind.
But then he heard the footsteps getting closer behind them.
The ice cracking all around.
And he saw more movement, then.
Movement to his left. To his right. But no movement up ahead.
He had to make the most of that.
He had to keep on going.
All of them did.
He raced further down the street. Kept his rifle raised. Ready to fire at all times. He looked over his shoulder. Saw more of those figures closing in, shifting towards him. It felt like whoever it was were just playing with him. Like they were trying to lead him towards somewhere. Push him towards somewhere he couldn’t escape from.
And the consequences would be real if this group captured him and his people.
He’d already seen what they’d done to the people in the streets.
He ran further into the dark when he saw something up ahead.
A pond.
An icy pond.
He already felt cautious about crossing water after what’d happened back in Arnside.
But right now, they had no choice.
Besides. This body of water was smaller. They could make it across. They could do this.
He stopped at the edge of the water and looked back.
In the town, he could see things again. Movement. Figures heading his way through the fog.
“We have to cross the water,” Jack said.
Hazel shook her head. “It’s not safe—”
“Staying here’s not safe. We have to do this, Hazel. Whether we like it or not. Because if we don’t, we’ll go the way of those three people back there. We can’t let that happen. I can’t let that happen.”
