Into the Dark (Book 8): The Next World

by Casey, Ryan

  Mike was okay.

  He’d escaped this place.

  And she knew the only place he’d go to if he had escaped.

  And when she realised that… she felt something different.

  Fear.

  Mike would’ve gone back to their place.

  He would’ve gone to their flat.

  Walked right into Graham and his people.

  She turned around. Went to make her way up the steps.

  That’s when she heard footsteps at the top of the steps.

  There was somebody here.

  Somebody coming down the steps.

  Somebody emerging into the darkness.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Mike looked around and saw someone standing in the doorway.

  For a moment, there was hope. Hope that it was an ally. Hope that it was someone on his side.

  But his face soon turned when he saw they were holding a balaclava in one hand.

  And a hammer in the other.

  “Harley,” Mike said. “Why?”

  Harley looked at Mike with… disappointment, more than anything. He was ginger, with poor skin and a pigeon chest that stuck out, visible even beneath a shirt.

  His eyes were wide, with big bags underneath. His teeth were yellow, to the point that Mike could smell his breath from here.

  But he was okay. He wasn’t someone Mike could pretend he had a significant friendship with, or anything like that.

  But he was someone that he smiled at whenever he passed when he was out and about.

  Someone that seemed like he had the best interests of this place at heart.

  And yet…

  “It’s the end of the line, Mike,” Harley said. “We’ve tried Vincent’s way for far too long, and it hasn’t been working.”

  “It hasn’t been working because Graham and people like you have been undermining it. Don’t you see that?”

  But Harley didn’t look convinced. He just stood there, shaking his head. “That’s not it, and you know it. You’ve seen it yourself. Seen what the population growth here has been doing. You’ve seen the kind of damage that has been caused by outsiders. People who pretend they want to integrate when really, they don’t.”

  “Like you?”

  Harley frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “If I remember correctly… you arrived at this place after even I did. So what does that make you if it doesn’t make you an outsider, hmm?”

  Harley looked like he was considering that. Like he was struggling to come up with a satisfactory answer.

  And Mike knew he had him. He knew he had his logic cornered.

  But the problem with people who really believed in a cause like the one Harley clearly believed in was that they’d double down to defend it when they felt like they were cornered.

  “I’m sorry, Mike. Truly. But there’s no place in this new world for you. You’ve proven that already.”

  He looked at the hammer in his hand.

  “So now’s where we put things right. I’d—I’d appreciate it if you got on your knees. If you made this easier for me. There’s no need for it to be hard on anyone.”

  Mike shook his head, smiled. “Not hard on anyone? You’re talking about killing me, Harley. Not firing me. Not disciplining me at work. You’re actually talking about killing me. Is that something you want on your conscience?”

  “Conscience doesn’t matter. Not like it did. What’s important is doing what’s right. And not just for me, but for everyone. For this entire place.”

  Mike held on to the knife he’d picked up from Trent back in the cell, and he smiled. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t roll down easily. I don’t just get on my knees and retreat. I fight. That’s what I’ve always done. And it’s what I’ll keep on doing. For the future of this place. A future without people like you. Without people like Graham.”

  Harley looked at Mike’s knife with a flicker of uncertainty.

  And Mike knew why.

  “Yeah. I’ve got experience. Military experience. So is messing with me a risk you really want to take? Or would it be better to lower that hammer of yours and wake up to what you’re actually doing here?”

  Harley looked at the hammer again. And then, he lowered it. Sighed. “You got me, Mike.”

  “Good,” Mike said, lowering his knife in turn. “At least we can come to some kind of—”

  He should’ve seen it coming.

  But it was too late already.

  Harley lifted the hammer and threw it right at him.

  It knocked him off balance. Sent him tumbling onto his back.

  And before Mike had a chance to really get back to his feet, Harley was on top of him.

  He pulled the knife from his hand. Punched Mike in the face.

  And with as much military experience as Mike might have, he still couldn’t deal with a sucker punch out of nowhere like this. Nobody could.

  He tried to punch back, but every punch was countered.

  He tried to kick out, but Harley was too slippery.

  He tried to shake free, but he was edging closer and closer to that open window.

  He reached the edge. Saw Harley looking down at him, bloodied fist pulled back.

  And then he saw Harley shake his head.

  “I’m sorry, Mike. I really am. This is just the way things go. This is just the way things are.”

  He pulled back his fist again.

  Then something happened.

  A crack.

  Only it wasn’t the crack of Harley’s fist against Mike’s face.

  It was the crack of something against Harley’s head.

  He saw Harley turn. Saw the surprise as blood trickled from the back of his head, around to his face.

  But then he was hit again.

  And again.

  And the final time he was hit, Mike heard a horrible, sickening crunch, and then Harley went still.

  He lay there for a few seconds. Heart pounding in his chest as the adrenaline of what’d just happened built up; as the reality set in.

  And then he looked up at who had saved him, and he saw her standing there.

  “Thank me later,” Gina said. “We’d better figure out exactly how we’re going to defend this place. Right now.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The second Alison heard the movement at the top of the steps, she feared the worst.

  She looked around. Listened to Arya’s growl. She looked for something she could use as a weapon down here in this cell. Something she could protect herself with; defend herself with.

  But she couldn’t see a thing.

  And time was running out.

  She was going to have to lay low. Hide.

  And then when the moment came, she had to get herself out of here.

  She had to—

  The footsteps reached the foot of the steps.

  And right at that moment, Alison knew that her time was out.

  There was no hiding.

  There was no getting away.

  Because this person—or these people—had seen her.

  They had seen her, and they were onto her.

  There was no time left.

  She held her breath, tightened her fists, braced herself for a fight for her life.

  And then she saw the figures emerge.

  The three figures.

  Except they weren’t exactly what she’d been expecting.

  There was a man. Tall. Well built.

  But by his side… there were two people.

  Smaller people.

  Children.

  She looked at this trio with a frown and then the realisation began to set in.

  “Alison?”

  She stepped further towards them, her defences dropping now. She didn’t know who to trust.

  But she knew that if she couldn’t trust this person, then things were seriously bad.

  “Romesh?” she said. “And—Kelsie. Siobhan.”

  S
he reached out for Kelsie. Hugged her. Arya ran over to them too, made a fuss of them.

  But she could see even in the darkness that there was a look on their faces. A look like something had happened. Like something had gone down.

  Like something had changed.

  “What’re you doing down here?” Romesh asked.

  “I—I came for Mike. But he’s… he’s gone. He’s already found his way out of here. You haven’t seen him?”

  Romesh shook his head. “No. We came here to let Mike go but… yeah. You’re here.”

  “How about Sarah?” Alison asked. “Is she okay?”

  She saw the way Romesh flinched when she asked the question.

  She saw the way Kelsie shook her head. Like it wasn’t a subject to broach right now.

  She didn’t know what had happened with Sarah.

  She only knew that something had gone down.

  Something big.

  And one way or another, she wasn’t with them anymore.

  “Graham’s taking this place,” Romesh said. “He’s got a band of—of pricks running around doing his dirty work. And if we’re not careful, we’re going to be the next to fall.”

  “Wait until Vincent finds out about this,” Alison said. “Wait until he knows just what Graham’s up to.”

  “That’s the thing,” Romesh said. “Vincent’s… Vincent’s already dead.”

  She tried to speak but she couldn’t. As much as she could’ve suspected something sinister had gone down, hearing it for definite was just confirmation of just how serious things were, here. Of just how deep this rebellion went.

  Because if Vincent was dead, that meant that Graham was in charge of this place.

  Which meant that he was the one giving orders now.

  The one people answered to now.

  And if they didn’t answer to him…

  “We need to get out of this place,” Romesh said. “We need to get away. Before it’s too late.”

  Alison wanted to nod. She wanted to agree. She knew that he had a point. The best thing they could do for their own safety right now was get the hell out of this place.

  But on the other hand… she felt herself standing her ground.

  “We’re not leaving this place,” she said.

  Romesh looked at her. So too did Kelsie. Siobhan.

  “What?” Romesh asked.

  Alison took a deep breath and looked around the cell. She looked at Arya. Then she looked up, out of the open door, out towards the gradually lighting sky.

  “We’re going to fight for this place. We’re going to stand up to Graham. And if it’s the last thing we do… we’re going to take this place back. Because this is our home. And nobody’s taking it away from us. Fear is not taking it away from us.”

  Romesh shook his head. Sighed. “It’s… it’s not going to be easy—”

  “Nothing worth fighting for was ever easy. But it’s all we’ve got. So are you with me? Are we going to fight for this place?”

  Romesh looked at Kelsie. He looked at Siobhan.

  Then, he looked back at Alison and he nodded.

  “We’re going to fight for this place,” he said. “We’re going to die for this place if we have to. But one thing’s for sure. We’re not going to let Vincent’s legacy die in vain.”

  Alison nodded. Smiled. Took a deep breath.

  “Good,” she said. “Because I know exactly where to start.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The sun rose on a new dawn for the Wright Green Hospital.

  Graham stood in the centre of the hospital grounds, a crowd surrounding him, and he felt more powerful than he’d even felt in his entire life.

  It was a beautiful day. Crisp. Fresh. And as cliché as it might sound, it actually felt like this was a new beginning. The start of something new. The start of something different.

  There were people gathered around him. Mostly his followers, who had been very silently backing him for months.

  But there were also others, too.

  People who used to follow Vincent.

  People who didn’t clearly follow anyone.

  He had to make his message clear to them.

  He had to make the reality of the new way of doing things clear—even if it was violent.

  There were a few people behind the crowd. They were standing on a wooden board, ropes tied around their necks. Four of them. Four who stood up to the new order. Four who decided to fight.

  Four who resisted the new way of doing things.

  “Today is a time for change,” Graham said. “It’s time we closed our doors completely. It’s time we stopped people coming in and causing chaos. And it’s time we rooted out those who aren’t with us.”

  Mumbling amongst the crowd. Some in agreement. Some in trepidation.

  But mostly in a puzzled, surprised manner.

  Like nobody—even his supporters—ever thought this day would come.

  “Vincent served this place well,” Graham said. “He built this place for us. He allowed it to grow into the wonderful home it is today. But there needs to be change. Vincent… Vincent needed defending from himself. So that’s exactly what we’ve done. That’s exactly the tough decision we’ve taken.”

  “By killing him?”

  The voice came from the middle of the crowd, somewhere. Graham wasn’t sure where exactly, not at first.

  Not until his eyes rested on a man called Philip, right in the middle.

  Philip was bald. His head was flaky, and his eyes were piercing.

  He was looking at Graham like he had no respect for him. No respect whatsoever.

  “What’re you implying, Philip?” Graham asked.

  “Don’t kid yourself. And don’t think you can kid the rest of us, either. We know what you’ve done. What you’re capable of. We know what you—”

  “I did kill Vincent, yes.”

  A shocked silence followed. More wide glances.

  Even Philip looked like he hadn’t seen that coming.

  “Vincent was growing out of control. I didn’t want to kill him. Believe me, I tried my very best to stop that happening. But if I’d allowed him to live, he would’ve brought in a law that would’ve opened the gates here entirely. And is that what we want? After everything that’s happened to us? After everything we’ve already suffered?”

  More glances to one another. More people clearly caught up between two rival forces.

  But also, the pockets of Graham’s supporters amongst the crowd.

  Holding knives and other weapons.

  And making everyone feel nervous.

  That was okay.

  It was what Graham wanted.

  A little fear never did anyone any harm.

  He looked up, over at the people with the ropes around their necks.

  “These four people tried to fight for outsiders,” Graham said. “They tried to take this place for themselves. To pollute it, just like they have been doing for so, so long. And it’s time, now I’m in charge, that the rules changed. It’s time that we started showing less forgiveness towards the resistant.”

  He looked at the four people standing there, tape around their mouths, twitching, struggling.

  Then he looked at the executioner by their side, and he nodded.

  He pulled the lever.

  The people fell down.

  Their necks cracked.

  Their legs twitched.

  And as their bodies swung from side to side… this growing crowd watched.

  “I wish this were the end of things,” Graham said. “I wish we could draw a line under things here and move forward. But the truth is, there are still people out there who wish to do us harm. Who wish to topple what we have built here. Mike. Mike and his friends.”

  More glances around the crowd. More looks of uncertainty.

  “Yes. Mike escaped. And he killed people to get out. He’s around here, somewhere. So too are his people. If you have seen any of them… you speak out. And if you
see any of them… there’s only one way about it. One way to make absolutely certain they don’t cause any more harm to this place.”

  He looked at the swinging bodies, the life drifting out of them ever more.

  “You capture them,” he said. “And you bring them to me. It’s the only way of guaranteeing our future. It’s our only way of keeping this place safe.”

  He heard the mutters around the crowd.

  Some of protest.

  But mostly of quiet acceptance.

  Mostly in fear at those people with weapons standing around them.

  Graham turned around, looked at the beautiful sunshine filling the hospital grounds, and he smiled.

  It was time to usher in a new beginning.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Are we clear?”

  “We’re clear.”

  “So let me get this straight. We raid the weapons store. We take whatever we can. And then, what? We just go melee against anyone who might be on Graham’s side now? Really?”

  “I think it’s the only way.”

  “Well, if you’d been listening just then, you’d know that it’s pretty damn hard to know who’s going to be on his side at all anymore.”

  “It’s a risk we’re going to have to take.”

  “I just wish there was another way that didn’t involve so much death.”

  Mike looked around at Gina. They were in a big industrial garbage bin. They’d spent the night there. A very quiet night at that.

  The pair of them still hadn’t really bonded again after what had happened to Harrison. And Mike knew their relationship was going to take quite some time to repair.

  But this was a chance to start.

  This was a chance to begin making a change.

  “What about Kelsie?” Gina asked. “What about Alison? Arya? About all the others?”

  Mike gulped when he looked outside the gap in the garbage bin. He saw the swinging bodies hanging there. People he’d known. Good people. Innocent people at that.

  He didn’t know exactly what they’d done to deserve the death they’d suffered. Chances were, they hadn’t done a thing.

  They’d just been plucked out at random.

  Plucked out so fear could be instilled in the people of the hospital.