by Seth Rain
‘It’s real easy. Saul isn’t coming back. He’ll never know. Go back to the house – go on. Search through Saul’s things and see for yourself what he’s taken. If you look, and you’re still convinced he’s coming back, then I promise I won’t say another word about it.’
‘And what do I do then?’
‘You have time left, Luke. Spend it doing good. Come with me.’
‘To London? Where Saul’s going?’
Scott opened his eyes wide and nodded. ‘To London.’
Luke paced back and forth, looking deep in thought, before walking quickly towards the house.
Scott tried again to loosen the restraints, but the more he struggled, the more painful it was.
Above the house, the sky was dark, the stars out in full. A flock of birds rose from the field to his right, swept upwards, turned and fell back into the silhouetted trees.
The door to the house slammed shut. Luke was walking towards him.
Scott didn’t say anything, only watched as Luke untied the restraints. Slowly he brought his hands round in front and massaged his wrists. His back ached.
Luke backed away, looking wary.
‘Thank you,’ Scott said. ‘We still have time to do the right thing.’ He got to his feet. Dizziness made him stumble against the pillar he’d been tied to. ‘Do you have another car?’ he asked, rubbing his face.
Luke pointed across the fields. ‘I know where there is one.’
Twenty-One
The man pulled Dawn from the 4x4, her hands tied behind her back. A sign on the wall said Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. The man held her arm, tugging her the way he wanted her to go. He stank of tobacco and whisky, making her nauseous.
‘I need to use the bathroom,’ she said.
The man ignored her, opened a door and ushered her inside the building. It was night, and much of the hospital was in darkness. In places, however, corridors were lit by faint fluorescent lighting.
‘I need to use the bathroom,’ she said again.
The man stopped and looked around.
Dawn nodded at a door.
The man checked along the corridor and let go of her arm. ‘Hurry,’ he said, opening the door.
Dawn raised an eyebrow.
The man huffed and turned her around so he could untie her.
She sighed with relief and rubbed her sore wrists, then went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, lit by moonlight that streamed through the narrow window behind her, she saw her mother looking back at her. Her dead mother, staring.
The man knocked on the door. ‘Hurry up!’
Dawn looked around the small room for a weapon.
More knocking.
Maybe she could stay in there, locked in the bathroom until her date. But he’d shoot his way in and she’d make him angrier than he already was. She opened the door. The man looked surprised, as though he was expecting someone else.
‘What are we doing here?’ she asked.
He walked towards her with the rope.
‘Wait,’ she said. ‘No. Don’t. Please. I’m not going anywhere. You have a gun.’
He paused, the rope in his hands.
‘Please,’ she said again.
He threw the rope to the ground, nudged the rifle higher on his shoulder, and held her arm again.
‘Don’t get trying nothing,’ he said. ‘I ain’t going to hurt you. This ain’t like that.’
‘What’s your name?’
‘We don’t need to be exchanging names.’
‘Didn’t the other man call you Saul?’
He glanced at her blankly.
Dawn, holding her stomach and wincing with pain, had to jog to keep up with him, and stumbled. They weaved along corridors, following the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling.
‘You don’t know where we’re going, do you?’ she asked.
They stood in the centre of a corridor, Saul looking one way, then the other. He grabbed her arm.
‘What are we doing here?’ she asked again.
Just as Saul was about to speak, there was another voice.
‘This way,’ a man said to them from the end of the corridor, beckoning.
Saul let go of her arm and placed a hand on her back, pushing her to follow the other man as he disappeared down the corridor.
Dawn and Saul turned a corner and walked along a narrow passageway with many doors. At the end of the passage were double doors that swung gently backwards and forwards. Saul paused before pushing them open.
Three men with shaven heads stared back at her. One of them, the shortest of the three, dressed all in black, walked towards her.
Dawn crossed her arms defensively.
Beside her, Saul shifted from foot to foot.
‘Hello,’ the man in black said. ‘My name is Blake. What’s your name?’
Dawn tried to make eye contact. ‘Dawn.’
‘And what can we do for you, Dawn?’
‘I brought her here,’ Saul said. ‘The name’s Saul.’
Still looking into Dawn’s eyes, Blake said, ‘Why bring her here?’
‘Eternity,’ Saul said. ‘I was told you were looking for young women.’
Dawn recognised hesitancy, maybe even fear, in Saul’s voice.
Blake raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that so?’
‘I was told you had some,’ Saul said. ‘Eternity.’
Finally, Blake walked over to Saul. ‘And who told you that?’
Saul looked uncomfortable and took a step backwards, again fidgeting with his rifle. ‘There’s a group of men … in Glasgow. They told me you … that you exchange it for …’ Saul looked to steel himself. ‘Do you have it or not?’
Blake looked surprised. ‘You don’t know, do you?’
‘Know what?’ Saul asked.
Blake smirked and laughed softly. ‘She’s pregnant.’
‘What?’
‘She’s pregnant,’ Blake said, pointing to Dawn’s stomach. ‘And pretty far gone, I’d say.’
Saul stared at Dawn’s stomach and shook his head. ‘But she’s a kid.’
Dawn rolled her hands into fists and closed her eyes.
‘And I guess,’ Blake said to her, ‘by the look on your face, your date is soon.’
Dawn bit her bottom lip before nodding.
‘How long?’ Blake asked.
‘Twelve days,’ she said.
Blake’s face softened. His sympathy seemed genuine. ‘I’m sorry.’
The room was silent for several long seconds. Dawn could no longer hold Blake’s stare.
Finally, Blake asked, ‘Do you know how many people are left?’
Dawn shook her head.
‘No more than twenty thousand. Pretty much all of them here in Britain.’
‘How did they survive?’
Blake shrugged and offered the palms of his hands. ‘That, we don’t know. Not yet.’ He appeared to think carefully for a moment. ‘Do you know how many of the survivors are women?’
‘Not enough,’ Saul said.
Blake stared at Saul. ‘Less than a quarter.’ He sauntered over to Dawn until they were face to face. ‘Why do you think that is, Dawn?’
Dawn looked at each of the men in the room. ‘I don’t know.’
‘And of that small number, an even smaller number are fertile.’
Dawn shifted her weight from one leg to the other. The fact that she was pregnant took on more importance. Her hands clammy, and with a sickness in her stomach, she wanted to run. She turned one way and then the other, her legs trembling.
‘Saul,’ Blake said. ‘Do you know what we’re trying to do here?’
Saul shook his head.
Blake glanced at the other two men in the room. ‘We’re trying to keep humanity alive. Whatever the cost to those who are alive today.’
Saul nodded.
Dawn closed her eyes and made an effort to control her breathing. She needed to think. ‘Do you
believe that it was the Rapture?’ Dawn asked Blake.
Blake intertwined his fingers. ‘No, Dawn. I…’ He gestured to the other two men. ‘We … do not believe any of this is the Rapture. This was not God’s doing.’
‘I can stop it,’ she said. Again she composed herself, not wanting to sound as desperate as she felt. ‘The AI. I can stop it. I know someone who can.’
Blake’s smile was cruel.
‘No, really,’ Dawn said. ‘We know how to stop it.’
‘Mathew’s a megalomaniacal tyrant and will not stop until he kills every last person on Earth.’
‘He’s sending us home,’ Saul said. ‘To Heaven.’
The three men and Dawn stared at him.
‘He is!’ Saul said, looking from one to the next.
Blake ignored him.
‘You have days remaining,’ Blake said to Dawn. ‘I can help you.’
Dawn stared back at him.
‘I will give you the drug. Your days will stretch out into eternity – an eternity and a life that you choose.’
‘But only if I let you take my baby?’ Dawn asked.
‘Without our help, you, and most likely the child, will die. This way, you have the chance to save your baby. We’re doing everything we can to help humanity survive.’
‘No,’ Dawn said. ‘I won’t do it. I won’t give up my baby to you.’
Blake sighed. ‘You really don’t have a choice. This is your only option. The alternative is unthinkable. We have the means to deliver the baby before your date.’
‘What if my date is wrong?’
Blake turned away. ‘The AI is never wrong.’
Twenty-Two
Scott reached into his coat pockets and gripped the revolvers.
‘You leave one chamber empty?’ Jack asked, winking.
Scott didn’t know how Jack could make jokes but tried smiling anyway.
‘Are they ready?’ Scott asked.
Jack’s expression hardened. ‘Don’t worry about them. They’re ready, kid. They have enough explosives to take down the Houses of Parliament.’
Scott wasn’t sure if that was another joke so ignored it.
‘Are you ready?’ he asked Freya.
She looked as nervous as he felt, but nodded.
On the floor, lined up in the corner of the room, were three drones, captured and reprogrammed by Jack’s men.
‘They’ll keep Mathew’s drones busy for a while,’ Jack said.
‘If we can do enough damage,’ Scott said, ‘it’ll show the world we can stop the Rapture.’ He took the binoculars from the table and looked through the window, down onto Ennismore Gardens. Watchers surrounded it, and drones patrolled in a pattern that Scott had begun to recognise.
‘I hate this place,’ Jack said. ‘London. I’ll be annoyed as hell if I die in this hole.’
Scott shook his head. ‘You won’t die here. We can stop Mathew once and for all.’
‘I love your positivity, kid.’
Scott put down the binoculars and checked his watch. ‘It’s time.’
Jack nodded, reached for his walkie-talkie and pressed the button to speak. ‘It’s time.’
The drones shivered into life and rose, one at a time, then flew out through the open window.
Scott and Freya followed Jack out of the room, down the stairs, across the street towards Ennismore Gardens and the row of houses where Scott knew the AI was hidden. Above, the drones opened fire on Mathew’s drones, shooting them out of the sky.
‘Go, go!’ Jack shouted into the walkie-talkie.
On the far side of Ennismore Gardens, there was shouting and gunfire. Scott, in front of Freya, headed towards it. He wanted to stop, turn and run. It was insane to run towards the noise. More drones fell from the sky, crashing into the ground, exploding into fireballs.
They hid behind a wall.
An explosion echoed to the east, but not close enough to the AI to damage it. Above a row of houses, a plume of smoke rose into the clear sky.
More gunfire.
Scott, huddled beside Freya and Jack, pushed hard against the wall behind him. The street and square they were in would at one time have been an expensive part of London. Now it was a battlefield. Several Watchers ran across a roof close to Mathew’s houses. Then he spotted three groups of Jack’s men hiding behind buildings, waiting for the next advance.
‘On my signal,’ Jack said into his walkie-talkie, looking all around.
The rat-a-tat of guns repeated in bursts, echoing around the houses. More drones hovered, then descended on Jack’s men. They had to move fast before more drones arrived.
Jack shouted into the walkie-talkie, ‘Go, go!’
Shots rang out. Louder explosions, this time closer to the AI and Scott. His head throbbed. Jack was shouting something unintelligible into the walkie-talkie. Twenty, maybe thirty of Jack’s men were converging on Mathew’s house.
They’d be close enough to do enough damage to the AI. It was working.
Scott ran faster towards the house and the AI, checking Freya was still with him.
Another explosion and Scott stumbled.
‘We’re nearly there!’ Jack shouted, his revolvers held out in front of him, ready to fire.
Scott recognised the row of houses up ahead. From the left and right, Jack’s men converged on Mathew’s building.
Everything had gone to plan. They’d be inside the building in seconds. It had been far easier than Scott had imagined. And then he realised. It had been far too easy … something was wrong.
Ahead of him, Jack tripped and fell. Then the group to Scott’s left did the same, falling headlong to the ground.
Scott stopped running and held Freya back.
‘Wait!’ he told her.
‘Keep going!’ she said.
‘Look,’ Scott said, pointing to a group of Jack’s men to the right. One by one, they staggered and fell.
‘What’s happening?’ Freya asked, gasping for air.
Silence had fallen. The only sound was the hum of Mathew’s drones outside the row of houses.
‘I don’t understand,’ Freya said. She stooped to check Jack, but he was dead. ‘What’s happening?’
A door opened. Scott raised his revolvers.
Several Watchers walked towards him.
He backed away. ‘Freya!’
Freya straightened, took out her revolvers and aimed them at the Watchers.
Then there were more behind Scott.
‘Drop them,’ one Watcher said. ‘It’s no use.’
‘What have you done?’ Scott asked. ‘How…?’ He looked from one body to the next, stretched out on the ground, completely still. It was impossible. They had died instantly.
The Watcher strode towards Scott. ‘I said drop them!’
Scott didn’t lower his revolvers, but continued to scan the ground for bodies.
‘What have you done to them?’ Freya asked.
The Watcher stared at Scott, who was now staring back. The Watcher shook his head and closed his eyes, his lips moving with what Scott thought might be a prayer.
‘How did you do that?’ Scott asked again.
The Watcher opened his eyes. ‘All will become clear in time. But if these men had acknowledged the dates they were given, they would have known it was today. I guess it’s interesting to consider, if they had known their dates, would they still have tried? We’ll never know.’
‘How did you do it?’ Scott asked again. ‘Are they dead? All of them?’
The Watcher nodded slowly. ‘It is a mercy.’
‘Why not us?’ Scott asked.
The Watcher stared at Scott, frowning, his head tilting as though this was a foolish question. ‘It’s not your time, Scott. You know this.’
Scott felt a hand, from behind, grip his arm.
‘Come with me,’ a Watcher said.
‘Let go of me!’ Freya shouted, shrugging off another Watcher’s hands.
‘Leave her alone,’ Scott said
, pushing the Watcher away from her.
Then he was wrestled to the ground and held there until he stopped struggling.
Twenty-Three
Scott closed his eyes. Luke, who was driving, had stopped talking to concentrate as he steered the car through the vehicles littering the motorway. Scott thought it looked like the place he was attacked on the way to Scotland with Mick. Luke held the steering wheel with both hands, not taking his eyes off the road.
‘Six million,’ Luke said. ‘I have six million pounds saved up. Could be more. I stopped counting it. After that day, I went around collecting it all. Couldn’t stop.’
‘After the Rapture?’
Luke swallowed the last of his water and threw the empty bottle out of the window. ‘Yeah. But no one cares about money no more. What’s the point? It’s not worth nothing – there’s no one to buy things from.’
‘Time,’ Scott said. ‘Time is the new money.’
Luke glanced at him, then returned to watching the road. ‘How so?’
Scott stroked his chin. ‘That drug your friend—’
‘He’s not my friend,’ Luke interrupted.
‘Sorry. The drug Saul is after – that’s all about time. All about finding more time. It’s the only thing we have left that’s of any value.’
‘What about the girl?’
‘That’s time too. Only in a different form. It’s a way of prolonging our species. Time.’
Luke’s forehead creased and he shook his head slowly. ‘Six million, though. You think money will ever be worth anything again?’
‘I can’t see how.’
Luke blew out his cheeks. ‘How much time do you have?’ He pointed at Scott’s hand and his date. ‘There’s no year.’
‘I was one of the 144,000. They didn’t tell us the year.’
‘So you still don’t know?’
‘I do now. It’s next year. I have just over a year left.’
‘Seems like a long time now … a year. A whole year.’
Scott glanced out of the window. ‘Yeah. I guess it does. These days.’
‘With Eternity, you could turn one year into thousands and thousands.’
‘I’m not sure I’d like that.’
Luke did a double take. ‘You wouldn’t do it?’
