Escaping Darkness- The Complete Saga

by E S Richards

  “Oh yeah,” Mia answered quickly, not wanting her mother to worry about anything unnecessarily. “I was just checking in. Can I get you anything? I was just thinking about a cup of cocoa.”

  “That would be lovely,” Linda smiled. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  “No problem, Mom,” Mia returned the smile, desperate to make her mother forget about what had happened even if just for a split second. “I’ll bring it up for you.”

  Ducking back around the door, Mia pulled it closed behind her quietly to keep the heat inside and padded downstairs. She planned to get herself a seat on that couch with her family too once she’d made them all a warm drink, yearning for some family time. In the days since her father’s death, Mia had caught up on all the details regarding Chase and Riley’s adventures around Houston, and ever since she had just wanted to wrap her arms around the pair of them and keep them safe. She was frightened about the reach the Authority seemed to have across the state and feared the day when they came knocking on their door. She knew they would have to prepare for that possibility, but before that happened, she wanted just a few days of relative peace with her loved ones.

  “Hey, Mia,” Jadon called over to her as she entered the kitchen, he, Jesse, and Marcus all sitting in the front room in front of the fire. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” Mia replied as Jadon stood up and walked over to her, leaving his friends behind. “How are you three doing?” Since arriving at the farmhouse, Mia had barely had time to speak to the three boys she had been so preoccupied with other things. They had all been so incredibly supportive and understanding of everything though, helping to fix up Riley’s bedroom, which was where the three of them had been sleeping—Mia moving into the spare room with the thirteen year old—and assisting with odd jobs around the house. They knew when to keep to themselves and give the Clarke family time to be alone though, the three of them gathering in the front room as it was too difficult for Linda to spend any time in there anymore.

  “Not bad, thanks,” Jadon nodded. “We’ve actually got something we need to talk to you about?”

  “Oh?” Mia raised her eyebrows as she finished filling the kettle with water and put the lid on, starting to walk into the front room so she could place it over the fire to boil. “What’s up?”

  “There isn’t any easy way to say this,” Jadon started, following Mia into the room to rejoin his friends.

  “And we don’t want you to take it the wrong way,” Jesse added, curling his legs under his body so Mia could walk over to the fire and place the kettle onto its makeshift stand within it.

  “We think it’s time to head back to Philly,” Marcus finally finished the sentence, dropping the information like a bombshell. “Tomorrow morning.”

  Mia looked at the three young men for a second, moving her gaze across each of them in turn. She had known they weren’t going to stay at the farmhouse together—that had never been part of their plan—but even though she was spending less time with them now, she still knew she would miss them being around a lot. She couldn’t hold it against them; they all had family to return to and now that Jesse’s shoulder was recovering nicely from the bullet wound, it made sense for them to be on their way. Marcus had an unborn child out there somewhere, and Mia didn’t want to keep him from that for any longer.

  “All right,” she sighed, “I know I can’t keep you here forever,” she added with a smile. “I’ll miss you guys though.”

  “We’ll miss you too,” Jadon announced for all of them. “Are you guys going to be all right here?”

  Mia leaned over and nudged the kettle on the fire slightly, making sure it was being properly heated by the flames. “We’ll be fine,” she nodded. “Honest. It’ll be nice to just lay low for a while and not have to worry about anything. You shouldn’t be concerned about us.”

  “What about the Authority?” Marcus pointed out, reminding them all about the mysterious organization that was trying to take control of Houston and that had kidnapped both Chase and Riley during their time in the city. “Aren’t you scared they’re going to come out here looking for you?”

  Mia paused and considered the question for a moment. She was apprehensive about the Authority, although she truly doubted whether they would be looking for them. If they came out to the farmhouse it would be completely by chance and hopefully it wouldn’t be for some time, allowing her and her family to prepare for that eventuality. “It might happen,” she shrugged, “but I’m not going to keep running. This is my home and if they want to come here, they can. That doesn’t mean they’re going to get what they came for.”

  Marcus looked to his friends and let a smile creep over his face. That was exactly what he’d expected Mia to say; she had been dead set on getting home since the day he’d met her and she hadn’t let anything stand in her way. Now even though she was home, none of that passion or determination had left her. She was still standing up for what she believed in: her family. It was a trait Marcus admired tremendously and hoped he could emulate himself when he finally became a father.

  “True,” he answered with a knowing smile, any worries he had about leaving Mia and her family behind quickly fading away. “I hope we’ll see you again one day.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Mia agreed, hoping that somehow they could find each other again once everything was over, even as she knew how unlikely it was. “So, tomorrow morning?”

  The three former college students nodded as the kettle started to whistle above the fire, signaling that the water inside had boiled and was ready to use. No one really knew what more they should say on the matter, the three boys determined to leave in the morning and Mia unable or unwilling to try and stop them. It was the right thing for everyone but that didn’t make it any less sad. So many people had already been lost, Mia couldn’t even begin to name everyone she had parted ways with since her journey home from Yellowstone began. Some had been harder to say goodbye to than others, but all of them hurt just the same. Parting ways from Jadon, Jesse, and Marcus would be no different. It was something that had to be done and something she just had to make her peace with.

  “No way,” Chase gasped as Mia told her family the news a few moments later, finding herself back upstairs in the den with four steaming mugs of cocoa. “Already?”

  “Yeah,” she replied, handing her adopted son a mug. “They have their own families they need to get back to. We can’t expect everyone to stay here forever.”

  “So it’ll just be us left?”

  “That’s right,” Mia smiled at Riley. “Just us four. Just our family again.” The sentence was labored to an extent, everyone knowing that even though it would technically just be their family left behind at the farmhouse, it wouldn’t really be complete. Without Jerry the Clarke family was very different, forced to adapt and get used to life as a four, just like they’d had to do following the deaths of Brogan and Lauren. Their family unit seemed to be shrinking by the year, the four of them all hoping that it stayed that way for a while now at least.

  “Will I still sleep in the spare room with you?”

  Mia looked over at Riley, the young girl waiting for a response to the question with wide eyes, a tiny moustache sitting on her upper lip from the cocoa she had been sipping. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Riley wanted to hear. After everything she had been through—despite how much she had tried to be an adult and act like she didn’t need taking care of—that was all she really wanted.

  “I’m afraid so,” Mia replied, making it sound like they didn’t have another choice. “It makes more sense than moving back into your room. All your stuff is in there now and besides, it’s still warmer than that room with the temporary roof. We’ll just have to be roomies for a little longer.”

  “Okay,” Riley replied with a smile, pleased to discover that she wouldn’t have to start sleeping alone again. “That’s fine.”

  “Are they going to have enough food and water and things?” Linda commented, bringing the co
nversation back to the three boys who sat downstairs in the front room, wondering about what they would need for the long journey back to Philadelphia.

  “Yes, it should be okay,” Mia nodded. “There are still plenty of canned goods in the Jeep and they’re going to take that. Riley went through the pantry again yesterday and took another inventory, so I think we’ll be all right. Nothing to worry about for the next couple of weeks at least.”

  “That’s good,” Linda smiled, choosing to ignore the comment that Mia had made about surviving for the next couple of weeks only. It was something everyone in the den decided to do. They all knew there wasn’t enough food in the farmhouse for them to live there forever, but it wasn’t a matter any of them wanted to approach then and there. Mia was more than aware that they would have to come up with some kind of solution. With Blake, Vic, and Leo taking the truck back to the city, and Jadon, Jesse, and Marcus now taking the Jeep, that left them stranded at the farmhouse without a working vehicle. The way the weather was turning outside, Mia knew that could eventually spell disaster, yet every time her head kicked into gear to do something about it, she found herself putting it off a little bit longer. It had been so long since she’d been able to feel comfortable and relax; she couldn’t blame herself for delaying the next onslaught of panic for a few days later.

  “We’ll be fine here by ourselves,” Mia declared, hoping her loved ones received the message. “There’s nothing the Clarke family can’t do—right?”

  No one replied, the weight of Mia’s question pressing heavily on each of their shoulders. It was impressive how Mia managed to maintain such a positive attitude, her love for her family overpowering any other emotions and forcing her to keep pushing on, keep fighting for what she believed in and for what she knew was right.

  “Right, guys?” she asked again, squeezing Riley’s arm and looking at Chase, giving him a glare that said he better agree with her, although in a friendly manner. A look that made him believe what she was saying; made him believe that his family would be okay.

  “Right,” Chase eventually replied with a nod. “We got this.”

  “Yeah,” Riley added, encouraged by her brother’s response. “We’re the Clarkes. We’re invincible.”

  “We are, aren’t we?” Mia said with a smile on her face and a tear in her eye, looking at her mother and hoping for Linda to join in with their enthusiasm. Mia needed her mother to join in; she couldn’t do this without her.

  Linda looked at her daughter and knew what she was waiting for. She swallowed, thinking of Jerry and Brogan—the two most important men in her life were both now gone from it forever. But she wasn’t alone. She had Chase and Riley and Mia to help her through the rest of her days and she was determined to be there for them as well. Jerry wouldn’t have wanted her to sulk and grieve for days on end, he would have wanted her to be strong and to help the family succeed where he had struggled to. Sitting up straighter on the couch, Linda nodded and looked at her daughter, empowered by Mia’s speech and determined to survive.

  “Never forgotten,” she whispered, reminding them all of the people they had lost. “We will live through this.”

  Chapter 17

  “I think that’s the last of it,” Marcus commented, slamming the trunk of the Jeep closed and turning to look at Jesse and Jadon, who stood with him in the barn. “We’re good to go.”

  The three of them all let out a long sigh, none of them sure what to say or what to do next. The Jeep was all packed up and they were ready for the drive back to Philadelphia and their hopefully awaiting families. None of them had spoken much about what they expected to find there, all hoping that things would sort of just pick up where they’d left off. Their home would’ve surely changed following the eruption, but each of them hoped that the city on the East Coast had been far enough away from Yellowstone for it to have survived without much change. That’s what they all needed to believe, the fact they were leaving somewhere safe for a place they knew nothing about already feeling like a massive risk.

  “Shall we head back into the house and eat?” Jesse suggested, delaying the inevitable just a little longer. Mia and Riley were cooking them a farewell breakfast and it was something that none of them wanted to miss out on.

  “Yeah, come on,” Marcus replied, already starting to walk toward the door. “I’m starving actually.”

  Pulling his filtration mask up over his mouth and nose, Marcus tugged open the barn door to the outside and stepped out, letting Jesse and Jadon follow behind him and close the barn back up. The weather outside was still horrendous and none of them really wanted to be out in it for long; Marcus in particular was thinking of the drive ahead and knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. Only one of the headlights on the Jeep still worked and with the hazy fog and the sideways sleet it was hard enough to see already. He wasn’t excited to get behind the wheel and tackle it head on for hours on end.

  The snow wasn’t falling as thick anymore which was the only silver lining Marcus could reach. The clouds appeared to have emptied themselves and blanketed everything in white, the snow immediately latching on to whatever it touched on the ground and freezing completely. Digging would be near impossible now, the dirt beneath the snow completely frozen solid. He just hoped the roads weren’t laden with ice, the last thing the four of them needed was to crash halfway to their final destination.

  “Ooh, that smells good! Is that steak?”

  “No way! Mia, where did you get that from?”

  As the three boys walked into the kitchen, Mia tried to give them a knowing look to stop talking about the food. Even she couldn’t deny it though—it smelled incredible. It came at a price. They were about to eat the last of the meat that Linda had been able to salvage from their beloved cows, Milk and Shake. Riley had finally come to terms with the fact that the meat from the animals needed to be eaten so as to not waste it and to keep them all fit and strong, but it hadn’t been an easy morning reaching that point. The last thing Mia needed was for the three young boys to get her all upset again; many tears had already been shed that day.

  “Where did you—” Jesse started to ask again, stopping himself short as the answer dropped into place and he noticed both Mia’s stern glare and Riley’s puffy, red eyes. “Ah,” he paused, “err, do you need any help?”

  As the others caught on to where the food had come from, the excitement quickly halted and they morphed into responsible adults once more. Mia thanked them all silently with her eyes, reminding herself once again how much she would miss the boys from the East Coast when they were gone.

  “Could one of you set the table?” Mia asked, her hands flying all over the place as she managed the various pans she had balanced on portable gas burners and battery-powered hot plates. “And call Chase and my mom down from upstairs? It’s just about ready now.”

  The boys all nodded, Jesse walking over to the stairs while Jadon and Marcus picked up mugs and cutlery to take over to the table. Mia and Riley had really pulled out all the stops for their final morning: the steak was good enough on its own, and the fact they had saved up the eggs from the last remaining chickens over the past few days so they could be fried and served alongside added a whole other element to the meal. It was a proper hearty breakfast, something that would keep them going all day and leave them almost certainly wanting more.

  “Time to season?”

  “Yep,” Mia nodded, moving to one side. “You’re up, Riley.”

  As Mia started portioning out the steak on to seven individual plates—the perfect quantity left to go around—Riley bent over the eggs and added a few generous dashes of salt, pepper, and paprika, giving the eggs her favorite flavorings just before they were served. With the sound of Chase and Linda arriving from the den, Mia carefully placed the last couple of fried eggs on top of their steaks and carried them over to the table, placing them in front of her mother and herself before taking her seat.

  “This is awesome, Mia!” Chase marveled as he saw the fea
st on the plate in front of him, the massive pile of protein just waiting to be devoured.

  “Yeah,” Jadon agreed. “Thank you so much.”

  “It’s incredible,” Marcus nodded, his mouth salivating as he waited politely for everyone to grab a mug of coffee or a glass of water.

  “It wasn’t just me,” Mia answered with a smile. “I couldn’t have done it without my little sous chef here,” she grinned at Riley, thanking her for her help. “Come on—let’s dig in before it goes cold!”

  “Wait!” Riley suddenly cut in, stopping everyone from eating as she held her hands up, desperate to say something. As all eyes turned on her, she suddenly felt shy, but was determined to say what she needed to. “We should thank Milk and Shake for this. For their sacrifice.”

  An awkward silence rippled throughout the room, no one certain of what to say. Linda looked at her granddaughter and remembered what it had been like to be the one forced to kill the two cows, putting their lives to an end so she and Jerry could survive a little bit longer. “To Milk and Shake,” Linda commented, lifting up her mug of coffee and smiling across the table at Riley. “They were the best cows we could have asked for and they’re in a better place now.”

  “Here, here,” Chase called out, also raising his mug of coffee as he realized how much this meant to his little sister. “To Milk and Shake!”

  Everyone around the table chorused it now, clinking their mugs together and showing their appreciation for the meal. It put a smile on Riley’s face and made her feel better about what they were about to do. She understood the need for the food, although she had loved the two cows dearly. She would eat, but she wouldn’t do it without thought.

  “All right,” Mia added, seeing Riley was more settled now. “Let’s eat.”

  The kitchen table then quickly fell into a different kind of silence, aside from the sound of knives and forks scraping against plates and people chewing as the meal was devoured. It really was the nicest thing any of them had eaten for some time. Linda had struggled to butcher the cows and store the meat properly, so a lot of it had been used up in stews rather than appreciated as a fine cut like it should be. In a way it was quite fitting that this was the final meal, paying homage to the animals and saying goodbye to the three boys at the same time.