Falling Darkness Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller - Books 1-3

by Kellee L. Greene

  Kate turned to Tricia. She saw her hands coming at her, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop her.

  Kate fell backward down the stairs. When she hit the bottom, just before everything went black, she saw Nikki tied to a chair.

  Chapter 28

  Kate drifted in and out of consciousness. She’d remembered hearing voices, but none of the words had made sense.

  “I didn’t want things to happen like this,” Tricia said as she paced in front of Nikki and Kate. “But you left me no choice. With time you’ll forgive me.”

  Kate winced as a pain in her back shot through her arm making her fingers feel numb. Her eyes darted over toward the stairs, and she remembered how she’d ended up in the basement.

  “Sorry,” Tricia said with a small shrug.

  Kate opened her mouth, but it felt as though it was sewn shut. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move her lips.

  After a second or two she could taste the sour glue from the tape that had been placed her mouth. Instinctively, she tried to move her hands forward, but they didn’t move. Both of her hands were tied far too tightly behind her back.

  Kate looked over at Nikki. Her eyes were wide, red, and soaked with fear.

  Kate’s eyes landed on the shelf she’d spotted earlier. The rope and duct tape were no longer there, but it didn’t take Kate long to find out where they’d been moved.

  The duct tape was on the cement floor at David’s feet and the rope, well, she knew where that was. When she looked up, David was grinning at her.

  “You better not have hurt her, mom,” David said. “I don’t want a broken one.”

  “You can’t have mine,” Scott said grinning at Nikki.

  “Stop it you two! They aren’t toys!” Tricia scolded. “You sound like fools.”

  David and Scot exchanged a glance. It was a glance they’d exchanged hundreds if not thousands of times.

  “Sorry mom,” they both said at the exact same time.

  “Now,” Tricia said resuming her pacing in front of Nikki and Kate. “There will be an adjustment period, of course, that is to be expected. But you will both be happy here. You’ll be taken care of, and you’ll be safe.”

  Kate shook her head. Her eyes were just as red and wet as Nikki’s had been.

  “I know you’ll miss your friends, but there is no other way. You know they’d never allow it.” Tricia hesitated for a moment. “Jasper has been taken care of, so now you are free to be with my son.”

  “Me,” Scott said.

  Nikki was sobbing, but the tape held it in. Her shoulders still managed to bob even with her hands tied behind her back.

  “Once we take care of the other two, Kate will be free to be with David,” Tricia said with a smile.

  Kate shook her head. She couldn’t say it, but she wanted to scream at her that she’d never be with her son.

  “It’s time,” Tricia said, and the boys nodded.

  As they started up the stairs, Kate spotted the long knives in their hands.

  Kate kicked the floor and shook herself so hard her chair almost tipped over.

  “Shh,” Tricia said stepping closer to stroke Kate’s hair. “It’ll be over soon. I really liked Garrett. He seemed like such a sweet boy. It’s too bad.”

  Kate listened as the floor above creaked with David and Scott’s every movement. She wiggled, pushed, and pulled, moving in every direction trying to get herself free. Kate wanted to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks but she couldn’t.

  They weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of frustration… anger… rage.

  When she heard the noises from upstairs making their way to her ears, she stopped moving. She could tell there was a struggle.

  Kate’s breath was stuck in her throat. It was trapped so deep it felt like she was going to choke.

  Even when the struggling noises from upstairs seemed to stop, Kate didn’t stop trying to break free. She wanted revenge. She needed revenge.

  “Oh, that’s enough of that,” Tricia said placing her hand on Kate’s shoulder. Kate winced as the woman’s long fingernails dug into her skin through her shirt. “You’ll see. Everything will be wonderful. David is such a wonderful, loving man.

  Tricia looked into Kate’s eyes. Kate’s breaths were sharp and quick, and the room started to fuzz around her.

  “The two of you will make the most beautiful grandchildren for me,” Tricia said digging her nails in deeper. Kate tried to jerk away, but it only made Tricia grab her harder.

  Kate heard the stairs squeak when someone placed their foot on the first step. Her heart raced. Sweat dripped down the side of her face.

  “Here they come!” Tricia said excitement flowing out of her eyes. She turned and placed her hands on Kate’s shoulders. When she looked into her eyes, Kate could tell the woman wasn’t even looking at her. She leaned forward and kissed Kate on the forehead.

  Kate’s eyes darted to the legs that were now in view. She twisted her hands quickly trying to get out of the ropes, but all it was doing was causing the rough rope to dig into her flesh.

  As Tricia pulled back, Kate blinked at the men coming down the stairs. It took a minute for her to realize it wasn’t David and Scott.

  Tricia turned, and the smile dripped off of her face. Her eyes darted up the stairs. “Boys? Where are my boys?”

  It took several minutes to notice what Kate saw immediately. Both Garrett and Ethan’s clothing were splattered with blood.

  “Yeah, they’re not coming,” Ethan said as the light glimmered on the blade in his hand.

  “What have you done to my boys?”

  “What they were going to do to us,” Garrett said brandishing his own weapons.

  Tricia blew out a sharp breath before she grabbed the gun off of a nearby shelf. She aimed it at Ethan and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

  “Mmmm!” Kate shouted through the duct tape.

  Ethan’s arm jerked back as he took an unsteady step to the side.

  Kate rocked her weight forward, and she slammed into Tricia knocking her off balance just as she was about to take a second shot. The side of Kate’s face hit the concrete floor, and her vision flickered. When she opened her eyes, she saw Garrett’s shoes in front of her. Seconds later, a lifeless Tricia dropped to the ground next to Kate, her dead eyes looking right through Kate.

  “Are you okay?” Garrett asked as he pulled the tape off of Kate’s mouth. “Did they hurt you?”

  “I’m okay,” Kate said trying to get free as Garrett raised her chair back up. He took the blade and sliced the rope.

  The second Kate’s hands were free she dashed over to Ethan. Blood was dripping down the side of his arm.

  “Oh my God,” Kate said feeling the cool tears running down her cheeks.

  “I’m okay,” Ethan said.

  Kate hugged him hard before kissing him. When they turned, Nikki was free, standing there staring at them.

  “Is Jasper… dead?” Nikki asked, punctuating her sentence with a hard swallow.

  Ethan and Garrett exchanged a look. Garrett turned away.

  “I’m sorry,” Ethan said.

  Nikki was still. It was like Kate could see the information moving from her brain to her heart.

  Nikki’s shoulders moved up, as she sucked in a breath. She dropped down to her knees and cried out in pain as she pounded her fists against the hard floor.

  Garrett lifted her to her feet, holding most of her weight. Nikki’s bloody-knuckled hands were shaking.

  “Let’s get our stuff and get out of here,” Ethan said still holding the wound on his arm. Kate pulled his hand back to look at his injury in the light. “It just grazed me.”

  “Maybe,” Kate said squinting at the wound. “But it’s really bleeding.”

  “I’ll be okay,” Ethan repeated.

  “Ethan, wait,” Garrett said cocking his head to the side. “Why are we leaving?”

  Ethan’s brows squeezed together.
“To get the hell out of this fucked up place.”

  “There’s only one left,” Garrett said keeping his voice low as his gaze shifted up toward the ceiling. “This could be ours.”

  Ethan opened his mouth but snapped it shut. Kate could tell he was considering Garrett’s suggestion, and to be honest, Kate was too.

  “We can’t just murder him,” Kate said.

  “Why the hell not?” Nikki said, anger mixing with the sadness in her eyes. “Did you forget what just happened?”

  Kate shook her head. “Of course not, but he didn’t have any part of it.”

  “Oh, please. Just because he couldn’t make his way down here doesn’t mean he wasn’t in on it,” Nikki said sniffing hard.

  “Maybe we should,” Ethan said. “We could be safe here for years.”

  “You want to stay here for years?” Kate said twisting her fingers together.

  Ethan took Kate’s hand into his, and she looked at his blood speckled knuckles. “We could. Who knows if there is anything better than this out there?”

  “If we go out there, we’ll just keep losing people until there is no one left,” Garrett said. “We need a rest. There are supplies here.”

  Kate sighed. She knew they were right, but for her, it wasn’t simple.

  “You don’t have to do it,” Garrett said. Kate could see just how badly he wanted to stay. “He’s sleeping… I can—”

  “I don’t want to hear it,” Kate said shaking her head. “Do what you need to do. I can’t promise I’ll stay here for years, but, I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. It’s just that… I’m sick of all this.”

  “So am I,” Garrett said. “That’s why we should stay here. We can be done with the outside world.”

  Kate knew it was just wishful thinking. Nothing was easy. But she needed a break, and there probably wasn’t anything out there except for more death.

  Her eyes shifted down at Tricia’s body, and Kate shivered. She looked at the gun laying on the ground several inches from her hand.

  Kate picked it up, and her head dropped down with a heavy exhale.

  “What is it?” Ethan asked.

  “This is my gun,” Kate said looking at Ethan’s arm.

  He shook his head. “I’m okay. I promise. Let’s go upstairs and find a band-aid.”

  “A band-aid,” Kate snorted.

  He pulled her along as he started up the stairs. Maybe things would be okay, but there was one more thing they had to deal with. Mr. Earle.

  Chapter 29

  When they got to the top of the stairs, they all froze when they saw Mr. Earle sitting at the kitchen table. This time his gun wasn’t in his lap, it was aimed at them.

  He’d lit several candles, but his face was hidden in the shadows.

  “I’m I right to assume that blood belongs to my family?” Mr. Earle said.

  “They were trying to kill us,” Garrett said defensively, his hands straight in the air.

  Mr. Earle shook his head. “She just wanted a family.”

  Kate’s insides turned. Mr. Earle had been a part of the plan. Or at least he was aware of it.

  “I told her it wouldn’t work, but she insisted,” Mr. Earle said. He exhaled slowly, but near the end of the breath, it turned into a cough. “What am I going to do without them?”

  “We’ll leave,” Ethan said. “Where is our stuff?”

  “The hell you will,” Mr. Earle said chuckling. “You’re all going to pay for what you did.”

  His whole arm shook as he lined up his shot and pulled the trigger. Kate hadn’t had time to aim her gun before the shotgun made a loud pop that echoed through the entire house.

  Kate had ducked. When she looked upward, she noticed the others had too. She didn’t miss the hole in the wall two inches away from Ethan’s head.

  “God dammit,” Mr. Earle muttered as he tried to steady the gun.

  Nikki didn’t wait for him to shoot again, she launched herself forward pulling the necklace off of her neck and slamming it against the kitchen table. The vial broke, leaving behind shards of glass coated with black liquid. Nikki plunged the covered glass into Mr. Earle’s neck.

  He tried to push her away, but Nikki was stronger. She yanked the shard out of his neck and took a step back.

  Mr. Earle’s eyes dulled as he looked up at her. “What have you done?”

  Nikki dropped the necklace, and the light hit it in such a way that Kate realized what the liquid was. Mr. Earle’s veins bulged out of his thin flesh.

  “He’s changing,” Nikki muttered.

  Garrett moved forward and ripped the shotgun out of Mr. Earle’s shaking hand. Fear washed over Mr. Earle’s face when he realized what was happening.

  A loud pop rang out, echoing through the house. Mr. Earle slid out of the chair and onto the floor. Garrett kept the gun aimed at him even though the man was dead.

  Blood poured out of the old man’s stomach and pooled around him on the perfect kitchen floor. If Tricia had been there to see it she would not have been pleased with the mess.

  The four of them stood there for several minutes in a strange state of shock. With the Earle family gone, the house was theirs. The supplies were theirs.

  “What do we do now?” Nikki asked. Her eyes widening when the floorboards overhead creaked and squeaked.

  “Shit,” Ethan said grabbing the shotgun out of Garrett’s hand.

  “I must not have finished him off,” Garrett said, his voice shaky. “I… I… dammit.”

  Ethan tried to hold the gun, but he was having difficulty because of his injury. Kate took the gun from him and let out a breath as she walked toward the living room.

  Every muscle in her body was tense, but she tried to control her breathing. Ethan and Garrett had disarmed them, and Kate knew she could do this.

  She took slow, silent steps up the stairs. The others followed close behind. Kate was only halfway up the stairs when someone stepped into view.

  She aimed her gun and opened her mouth to shout out a warning. Kate hadn’t gotten a chance before Nikki pushed the gun down and walked by them so fast she created a soft breeze.

  “Jasper!” Nikki said stretching out her arms. She stopped abruptly in front of him and started to cry.

  “I’m in bad shape,” Jasper said.

  As Kate drew nearer, she saw the blood stain on the center of his shirt. Jasper weaved to the side, and Kate dashed forward to help Nikki catch him.

  “They stabbed me,” Jasper said lifting his shirt.

  Kate was thankful she couldn’t see exactly how bad it was in the darkness. Suddenly, his body became quite heavy, but Ethan and Garrett appeared just in time to help stop him from crashing to the floor.

  “We can find the first aid kit,” Nikki said.

  “I think I’m dying,” Jasper said, reaching out his hand to Nikki. “I woke up, and I just had to make sure you were okay.”

  Nikki started sobbing. “I’m okay. We’ll help you. We’ll find something to fix this. You just need to lay down.”

  “The pain is too much,” Jasper said, his eyelids blinking rapidly.

  “Help me get him back to bed,” Ethan said, and Garrett nodded.

  Nikki and Kate stepped to the side to allow them enough room to pass by. Even with Ethan’s injury, they had Jasper back in bed in less than a minute.

  “Don’t give up,” Nikki said sitting on the bed next to him. She took his hand into hers.

  “Let’s try to find something,” Kate said backing out of the room. Even if they couldn’t find anything that would help, she wanted to give Nikki and Jasper privacy.

  The house was theirs, but as far as Kate was concerned, it was cursed. She would stay for the others, and because they all needed to recuperate from everything that had happened. All of the loss was paralyzing.

  Once they were in better spirits and had regained their strength, maybe Kate would convince them to adventure out again. Maybe her mind wouldn’t stop thinking that there was help out there.
When they’d first arrived, Mr. Earle had mentioned there might be something out there, but of course, it could have been a lie. After everything Kate learned about the family, it probably was a lie.

  For now, they’d stay. Ethan needed to heal, and Kate would tell her that’s why they were staying.

  Kate was sitting on the sofa reading a book when Nikki bounced down the stairs. It had been a rough couple of weeks, but things had gotten better.

  “What are you reading?” Nikki asked.

  “The Wizard of Oz,” Kate said flashing her the cover.

  Nikki flopped down in the recliner and started to rock herself. Kate set the book down and studied her.

  “What?” Nikki asked with a half-grin.

  “I’m glad to see you’re doing better,” Kate said.

  Nikki smiled.

  It had been three days after the incident with the Earle’s when Jasper took a turn. They’d treated his wound with what they’d been able to find around the house.

  He’d needed stitches, but there wasn’t anything they could have done about it. Maybe if Will were still with them, he would have known what to do, but Will was gone, and Kate still thought about him every day.

  Jasper started talking. He’d started drinking, and then the day he asked for some food, they were all sure he was going to pull through. Kate was sure it was some kind of miracle because it sure wasn’t because of the sad medical care they’d provided.

  “Ethan wants to see you,” Nikki said.

  “Oh?”

  “He’s up in your room.”

  Kate stuck a small piece of paper in the book and set it down on the coffee table. She ascended the stairs and stopped in the doorway of their bedroom.

  “You sent for me, my lord?” Kate said.

  Ethan chuckled as he stretched his arms over his head. As his hands came back down, he ran his fingers back and forth through his already wild hair.

  “I did,” Ethan said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He pointed at Kate and then at the spot on the bed next to him.

  She swallowed, and the smile that had been on her face washed away when she spotted the scar on his arm. The bullet that had grazed him and left him with a thick white scar that slightly made the skin bulge out just above where he’d been hit.