by Ryan Casey
All of them looked at him and waited for him to make the call.
They looked at him and waited for him to step up and show his leadership.
He wanted to shirk his responsibility. To put it to a vote.
But at the same time, he knew shirking responsibility was what got them in this mess in the first place.
He might not want to be a leader.
But he was starting to realise he might just have to be.
Lives depended on it.
He looked around at Susan and he took a deep breath.
“We’re going to attack Matthew,” he said. “We’re going to destroy him. We’re going to get our people back. And you’re going to help us.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Emma wasn’t sure how long she was waiting in this dark tent, all on her own.
But as much as she wanted to escape, as much as she wanted to break free, she knew she had to play this right.
For some reason, Matthew saw something in her. He believed she was “strong”, whatever that may mean in his twisted world.
She had to stay in line.
And then when the time came, when she’d tricked him enough, she had to take her opportunity to escape.
When he trusted her enough.
She’d sensed a weakness in him when she’d told him her name. She had to make the most of that.
She tugged at the ties around her wrists. Whatever was covering her vision was tight around her head, so close to her face she could barely breathe through it. She had no idea whether she was alone. She thought she was alone last time, but it turned out Matthew was right there in front of her, eating an apple, all along.
So she resisted the urge to try and break free.
She stayed still. Stayed put.
Like a good girl.
As hard as it was to resist trying to escape; to resist moving.
She tried to listen for things. For footsteps, for voices, for movement nearby. But it was remarkably quiet here. Every now and then, she thought she heard shouting in the distance, and it made her shiver. She thought of the survivors who had knelt beside her. She thought about the looks on their faces, and what Matthew said about being strong.
What if they weren’t strong?
What happened to them then?
She remembered what he said about “redistribution” as he called it and she felt sickness growing inside.
She wanted nothing more than to get away, to get back to Jack and the others.
But at the same time, she didn’t even know if they were still alive. She didn’t know what remained of her home anymore.
She thought of Mrs Fuzzles and she hoped wherever she was, she was okay.
That they were all okay.
She was lost in thought when she heard movement somewhere behind her.
She tilted her head back instinctively. She didn’t know there was a way in behind her. Unless she’d been turned around without realising. She felt lost. Disoriented.
She wanted to call out, to ask who was here.
But she remembered that opposing force.
The one telling her to resist.
Telling her to behave.
She’d spent enough time with Logan to learn how someone on the dark side operated. She’d spent so long with him that she actually started to believe in him.
And he did care about her. He did put her first.
But that didn’t change what he was.
And at the same time, that meant he’d taught her some important lessons.
She heard the footsteps walk towards her. She shook a little, fear making the little hairs on the back of her neck prick up.
She waited for movement. Waited for the blindfold or the bag to be dragged from her head. Waited to be hit with light.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, she felt movement around her ankles.
Then the person standing before her dragged her to her feet.
“Come on,” she said. “Hold my hand. I’ll take you where you need to go.”
Emma wasn’t sure what to think. She felt the woman dragging her along, trying to get her to leave this room.
And as much as she wanted to get away… she sensed something untoward. A trap.
Maybe this was a trick.
Maybe she was testing her loyalty.
“I can’t,” Emma said.
“What do you mean you can’t? This is your chance to get away.”
Emma wanted to agree. She wanted to go along with what this woman was suggesting. She wanted nothing more than to get away.
But she knew what she had to do.
“I… I have to stay here. To—to prove it.”
“To prove what?”
“To prove I’m strong.”
There was a pause. Silence. Everything in stasis.
And then the woman tightened her grip on Emma’s hand.
“Good,” she said. “You passed the first test. Now I need you to follow me for the next.”
Emma felt a gentle pull, then. She followed this time, part of her relieved she hadn’t fallen for the trick, the other part wondering where this all ended up, and what the woman had planned for her.
She followed her regardless. Stumbled a few times, unable to keep her footing.
She walked outside the tent she was in and into the outdoors.
She couldn’t see a thing, but she could smell the foliage in the woods. She could taste the sick in the back of her dry throat. Her legs felt weak, and her feet—bare at this point—rubbed and blistered against the uneven ground.
She kept on walking without stopping. It felt like forever, but she wasn’t sure how long she’d been moving exactly. She wondered if part of it was just because her senses were so heightened; because she was so deeply in the moment that she didn’t miss a second of consciousness.
She wondered if this was the next part of the task itself. Maybe the challenge was to drag her for as long as they could, to see how long it took for her to collapse. Maybe her task was to drain her of energy.
Which was yet another reason to keep moving. To keep going.
She was about to stumble over when she bumped into the woman before her.
The woman had stopped.
Emma caught her breath. She barely even realised she’d stopped; barely registered.
Suddenly, the blindfold was dragged from her eyes, and all around her she saw darkness.
She had no idea how many people were around, but she knew it wasn’t just her and the woman who’d walked here.
She could see trees all around. A clearing just ahead.
And then standing over to the right, she saw him.
Matthew was standing there.
He was holding a torch in one hand and a pistol in the other.
He was smiling.
Emma felt hands against her back. She felt herself being pushed towards him.
And the closer she got, the more she saw what the thing next to him was.
It was a person.
Someone she knew.
Harvey. One of the other Heathwaite’s people Matthew had captured.
Harvey was on his knees. He was gagged. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He looked up at Emma, desperation in his eyes.
Matthew uncuffed Emma.
Then he held out the pistol, placing it into Emma’s hand.
He stepped back and held a hand out to Harvey.
“Good to see you here, Emma,” he said. “Good to see you made it past stage one. Now for stage two.”
She didn’t understand what he was getting at. Not at first.
And then it clicked.
The pistol in her hand.
Harvey.
“Prove how strong you are,” he said. “And prove how loyal you are. Kill him, Emma.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jack stared at the flames of the campfire and prepared himself for the next step.
It was late. By the standards of recent nights, it was one of the
cooler ones he’d encountered lately. He heard movement in the woods from the animals. The occasional hoot of an owl, the call of a fox. He was on edge about any movement. He was even cautious about having a fire. He didn’t want to draw any attention to them.
But then they needed to eat. They needed to rest.
And then they needed to take the next step.
He glanced across the fire at Hazel and Candice. Both of them were lying on the ground under a tree. It looked like they were sleeping, but Jack knew that was probably unlikely. They’d had a taxing day, but switching off seemed like an impossibility. When you’d been through a situation such as they had, you were wired for hours.
But rest was important. Recuperation was important.
He looked over the other side of the fire and saw Bella and Susan.
Bella was wide awake. She lay on her side, staring into the flames. There was so much Jack wanted to say to her. He felt responsible, in a way. If he’d stepped up enough then the group might’ve actually listened to his concerns and maybe this could’ve been avoided. Maybe Harry would still be here.
He pushed his doubts away and walked over to Bella’s side. Villain joined him.
“Hey,” he said.
Bella glanced up at him. “Hi.”
“I would ask how you’re doing. But…”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m doing as you’d expect.”
He regretted coming over here, then. He thought maybe it was best to just let Bella grieve in her own way; go through her own emotions.
But then he knew how he’d felt when he’d suffered losses. He wanted to push people away, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more than someone to just hear him out. Someone there beside him.
“I know it’s not easy,” Jack said. “Any kind of loss. Especially when it’s someone close. Someone who makes you happy.”
Bella looked up at him like she wasn’t sure. But in the end, she just nodded. “No. You’ve got that right.”
“But one thing I’ve found helps is to be honest with yourself. Don’t bottle it up. If you need to lash out at someone, you lash out. If you need to be alone, be alone. But be honest with yourself. Don’t do what you think you should do. And let other people help you. Let them be there for you. Don’t push them away. Pushing them away causes… well. It causes more problems than solutions, let’s just put it that way.”
Bella stared into the flickering flames. “I just wish I hadn’t even got close to him. If I hadn’t got close to him, I wouldn’t be feeling what I’m feeling right now.”
Jack nodded. He knew that feeling all too well. “You know, when Wayne came back into my life, believe it or not, I actually wasn’t sure I wanted to get close to him again. I wasn’t sure I wanted to even try.”
Bella frowned. “Why?”
“Because I was afraid,” he said. “I mean, I did try, because I knew I wanted to truly get to know him again, deep down. And I was ashamed of how I’d treated him in the past. But… but there was still that reluctance. That resistance. I’d already lost before. Someone I cared about so dearly. Someone I treasured so, so much. And the thought of it happening again. The thought of having to face up to a tragedy like that, or the thought of them having to suffer the same… I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t go through it again.”
Bella was silent. The rest of the group, Susan aside, slept on.
“I regret how I went about things,” Jack said. “I was selfish. I realise that now. But I’ll tell you one thing. I lost Wayne. I lost him in the worst way possible. But I wouldn’t trade that time I spent with him for anything. It was so, so precious. And for all the pain that followed, I’m so glad I got to spend at least some time with my boy.”
Bella looked at him, then. “You’ve been through so much.”
Jack nodded. “And that’s why I am how I am. I… I saw what leadership did to me. I saw what it did to those around me. Or at least what I thought it did.”
He paused. Stoked the flames and patted Villain on his head.
“But I see now I was wrong. Whether I wanted to be a leader or not… at least I was actually doing something. And even when I stepped back, it was still there, underneath. It didn’t just go away because I decided I wasn’t leader anymore. I was still owning my decisions. I was still responsible.”
He looked around at his people. And then he looked at Susan as she sat there, alone, staring into the flames.
“I made so many mistakes,” Jack said. “I have so much to be guilty for. The way I handled the Logan situation. The things I did. They will haunt me for life.”
He gulped.
“But I’ll learn from it. I’ll grow from it. I have to.”
He looked back at Bella, and he saw something.
She was smiling.
“It’s good to have you back, Jack. For real.”
He smiled back at her.
“We’ll get through this. I promise.”
He looked over at Susan as the flames continued to flicker in the darkness.
Soon, they were going to find Emma.
They were going to get their people back.
And Jack was going to lead the way.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Emma stared at Harvey as he knelt there before her, and she didn’t know what to think or what to do.
The night was suffocating. She could see people all around her, standing in the trees, watching. Everything was silent and still apart from Harvey.
She stood there with the pistol in hand and looked at Matthew as he stared at her, that sinister smile still etched across his face.
“Go on,” he said. “This is your test. You’ve spent time with us. You haven’t tried to escape. You passed up the opportunity to escape when it was right in front of you. Now, you really prove your loyalty. You really prove you are willing to be one of us. You prove you are as strong as I believe you to be.”
She stood there and looked at Harvey. Tears streamed down his face. His face was bruised, and his eyes were red and bloodshot. He shook his head, mumbling, begging.
And all Emma could do was stand there.
All she could do was stare.
How far was she willing to go to prove her loyalty to Matthew?
Just how much was she willing to do in order to stay on the inside and eventually take him out?
She looked at the pistol in her hand. Felt it, cold and uncomfortable in her palm.
Then she looked at Harvey.
Right into his begging eyes.
“Or are you not strong enough?” Matthew asked. “Are you weaker than I suspected?”
She thought about saying yes. She was weaker than Matthew suspected.
She thought about turning the gun on him then fleeing into the woods.
She thought of all the options, all the possibilities, and tried to seek the best outcome.
But in the end, she just kept on coming back to the same one.
The pistol in her hand.
Harvey, kneeling before her.
And all that talk of the strong and the weak.
No. She had to forget that. She had to push Matthew’s words from her mind.
She had to focus on the decision right in front of her.
The pistol in her hand.
Harvey.
She shook her head. She had to try to appeal to this guy at the very least. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Remember what I told you?” Matthew said. “Or have you forgotten already?”
She held her breath. Her heart raced. Her chest tightened. She couldn’t breathe.
The fact she was entertaining carrying out what she was entertaining carrying out at all troubled her deeply.
“I—”
“You have a chance. An opportunity. Don’t listen to the voices in your head holding you back. Don’t listen to the morals of the old world dictating your actions. Listen to what feels right, right now. What you know the right thing to do is.”
She wondered whether s
he could. If she did it, she’d convince Matthew she was on side and that she was loyal.
But on the other hand… this was Harvey.
He was innocent. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t deserve this.
She lowered the pistol. Shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I… I’m not ready for this.”
Matthew actually looked disappointed. It was the first time she’d seen him this way. And it scared her, that look in his eyes. It made her feel uneasy.
He looked unpredictable. Like he could flip at any moment.
“That’s… disappointing,” Matthew said.
And then she saw people walking towards her.
Knives in hand.
She felt it, then. The fear. The opportunity slipping away. If she didn’t convince Matthew he could trust her, maybe nobody would. More people would die.
If Jack and the others were still out there, then maybe they would die, too.
She watched the people walk towards her. Saw Matthew step up to her, reach for the pistol.
And she remembered the things Logan told her.
She envisaged him in that situation she never thought she’d be in herself—a position where she held a gun and had a choice—and she understood, now. She finally understood.
An impossible decision.
An impossible choice.
But a choice she had to make.
She took a deep breath, and she looked into Harvey’s eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
Then she lifted the pistol and pulled the trigger.
She expected a blast. Expected violence. Expected a crack and a grunt. She couldn’t even look.
But she didn’t experience any of that.
She just heard a click.
She opened her eyes.
Harvey was still kneeling there.
Tears rolling down his cheeks.
Eyes wide and blank.
She looked down at the pistol. “What…”
She saw Matthew smiling, then.
He reached for the pistol. Took it from her.
Then he put a hand on her back.
“You didn’t think we’d actually give you a loaded gun, did you?”
It sunk in, then. The gun. It wasn’t loaded.
But she’d lifted it anyway.
