Dark New Beginnings (Into the Dark Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller Book 7) Read online

  And she had to blink a few times. She had to blink to make sure this wasn’t in her imagination. That she wasn’t just seeing things.

  But she didn’t even need her eyes open to realise that this was real.

  The sounds.

  The smells.

  Even the tastes of other people in the air.

  She thought of what Mike had been warned about by Gina’s mum, Caitlin. How the extraction point was hiding something. But then it had turned out Caitlin was bad, so maybe she was lying as Gina feared, after all.

  She held on to Alison’s hand, to Gina’s hand. Arya walked alongside them, sniffing the air, curious about her surroundings. Because this wasn’t normal for her. It wasn’t normal for any of them.

  And as good as it seemed, as right as it seemed… Kelsie still didn’t feel safe here. She didn’t feel comfortable here.

  She looked over her shoulder. Saw the gates closing. And she wanted to go back there. She wanted to go outside. She wanted to find Mike. Because she knew he was out there somewhere. As much as the others didn’t believe her, as much as they doubted he was still alive… he had to be out there.

  She’d seen him lying there. He was still breathing. Hurt, wounded, but breathing. She’d stayed by his side. And then she’d panicked. She’d panicked because she’d heard movement. And she’d got Arya and she’d stood up and she’d ran. She’d kept on running until she came across Alison, across Gina.

  And then when they’d gone back, Mike had been gone.

  Alison and Gina had tried to be logical about Mike’s disappearance. They told her it might’ve been an animal. Or maybe… maybe another person really had gone over there. Maybe somebody had taken his body. They didn’t want to tell her what they might be using it for, but she could guess. People did nasty things in this world.

  And then she heard footsteps right ahead. She turned around, and she saw somebody standing there.

  There were a group of people. Armed people, mostly.

  But then standing in front of them was a man.

  He was tall. Well built. Thinning black hair, and a smile on his face that looked like it had been drawn on. Kelsie felt unsure about it. It reminded her of Mr Morris, her old Year One teacher, who had left because apparently he’d been making girls feel uncomfortable.

  And he was smiling right at Kelsie, right in that same way.

  “Welcome,” he said. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Richard. Richard Wainwright. And I’m in charge of this place. Which makes me the watchman of purgatory, I suppose.”

  Kelsie watched Alison shake his hand, introduce herself. Then Gina followed, a little more reluctantly.

  Richard then crouched down opposite Kelsie, opposite Arya. “And who’s this we have here?”

  Kelsie glanced at the ground. She didn’t want to look back up.

  “This is Kelsie. She’s… she’s been through a lot,” Alison said.

  “We all have,” Richard said. “Anyone who claims they haven’t suffered in this world is lying or dead.”

  He stood back up, then. That smile returned to his face.

  “Alas. This place isn’t like any place you’ve been before. This place is different.”

  “That’s what we’ve been told about every place,” Gina said.

  Richard nodded. “And I understand any scepticism you might have. But really. Follow me. I’ll show you exactly what this place is.”

  The group followed Richard. They followed him past tents. They followed him past gardens. They followed him past groups of people congregated around. People who said hello, who introduced themselves, who shook hands and exchanged jokes. It all seemed too much like the old world. It all just seemed too happy.

  School-like environments. Places where people were relaxing. Places where people were working.

  A real world constructed from the ground up.

  “This place has everything you’ll need. It has food. It has education, recreation. Most importantly, it has structure. But really, it’s just a waiting room for the next step.”

  “The next step?” Alison said.

  Richard smiled. “There’s a place. A place set up by a combination of global governments just south of the UK. A sanctuary that is growing all the time. We call it Albion.”

  Gina snorted. “Sounds like something cheesy off a movie.”

  Richard chuckled. “The name wasn’t my decision. But do you know what Albion was? Albion was the first name for Britain, way back when. A new start. A new beginning. That’s what we want. That’s what we’re trying to rebuild.”

  “If you’re so keen on rebuilding and starting from scratch, why not just do it right here on British soil? It doesn’t look like resources are too much of an issue.”

  Richard smiled again. “That’s the long-term goal. But for now, we are repopulating other countries. Starting from scratch elsewhere.”

  “I was told something,” Gina said.

  Richard frowned. “Yes?”

  “I was told… I was told this place has bad intentions. That it’s taking people out of here. Women. Taking them out there to begin a process of… repopulation.”

  Richard shook his head. And he looked totally sure. Totally certain. “You can trust me when I say that’s absolutely not true.”

  “How?” Gina asked.

  Richard looked from Gina to Alison then to Kelsie. “We know the truth about the conception issues. We acknowledge it’s a problem. But the world will find its own way, one way or another. It isn’t for us to force it. And it certainly isn’t for us to imprison people in that kind of hell. I’m not telling you to blindly trust me. You can walk away right now if trusting me is an issue. But I’d like to hope that as you spend a little more time getting to know this place, you’ll develop a little more faith in us all after all.”

  He pulled something out of his pocket, then. A photograph.

  He held it out. Showed her. “We’re in regular contact with Albion. Regular contact to make sure the people there are doing just fine. This is exactly what’s coming for you if you’re willing to join the waiting list.”

  He turned the photo around, and when Kelsie saw it, she couldn’t help smiling.

  It was beautiful. Like the world before it was filled with people. Sunny. Perfect.

  And there were people.

  Smiling people.

  Happy people.

  In grassy areas. Enjoying the sun.

  Men. Women. Children.

  Perfect.

  “This is what’s coming,” Richard said. “This is what’s next.”

  And then he pulled the photo away, and he smiled again.

  “Is this the future you want?”

  Gina looked at Alison. Alison looked at Gina.

  Neither of them looked back at Kelsie.

  Neither of them asked what she thought.

  They just took deep breaths. Then they nodded. “We’ll give it a shot,” Alison said. “We’ll—we’ll give it a try.”

  Richard smiled. “Good. Then if you’d like to follow me… we’ll get the process started.”

  Kelsie felt Gina and Alison’s hands pull against her. She felt that force.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw the gates were slammed shut. Thought about Mike. Thought about the world outside. The world that seemed so far away all of a sudden.

  And then she turned to face the path ahead.

  The path where everyone was smiling.

  Everyone except one soldier, who was looking right at her.

  Something like fear in his eyes.

  Chapter Four

  Aiden looked at the new arrivals and felt that same sense of dread he always felt.

  Especially when there were young people involved.

  It was a beautiful day. A little rainy, but that was a relief because it had broken through the stormy climate. The air was a little less mild and humid. And he couldn’t deny the beauty of this place. He couldn’t deny just how perfect it was, especially for new people.
They were spellbound by it. They were drawn into its warm, welcoming arms.

  And he could see why. People had been out there fighting their way through the elements, battling against people with bad intentions. They had been through the kind of hell that nobody deserved to go through.

  So when they got to a place like this… they immediately wanted to hope. They wanted to believe.

  So that’s what they did.

  But Aiden knew something about this place.

  He knew something about this place that none of the new arrivals knew.

  And the ones who found out the truth… well.

  He watched that little girl. The one called Kelsie. He watched the way she kept turning around, kept looking at him. And he wondered if she knew. He wondered if that was a look of suspicion in her eyes. Because the way she was looking around this place… it wasn’t like other people looked at this place. It especially wasn’t like most kids looked at this place.

  They saw the schools and the games and the activities and all the other kids and they looked at it with wide-eyed joy. Because it was a new beginning for them. A new start. A chance of hope.

  But Kelsie wasn’t like the other kids.

  Kelsie looked around like she wasn’t certain. Like she wasn’t sure. About anything.

  And Aiden felt conflicted. Because on the one hand, he knew what he was doing here served a greater purpose. He knew what he was doing was for the good of the people. The good of the future. The good of humanity.

  But on the other hand…

  He swallowed a lump in his throat. Shook his head. He didn’t like to think of what he was doing. He didn’t like to think too much about what it meant—what any of it meant.

  Just that he had to stay focused.

  He had to stay focused on his job. Focused on what he was doing.

  Focused on the greater good.

  After all… this girl. She would be fine. She would be more than fine.

  But he saw just how attached to these two women she was, and he couldn’t help growing concerned.

  He wondered if it was the look of suspicion on the girl’s face that changed things. He wondered if maybe if she’d just acted naive and happy like the rest of the people who came here, things would be different. Because he could believe in the illusion. He could believe that everything was going to be okay.

  And it was. In the long run, it was.

  As they kept walking, he thought about the damage he could cause—and not only with the rifle in his hands. He thought about if he really tried, he could put a stop to all this—or change things at the very least.

  But then he thought about the bigger picture. He thought about what he was doing. Why he was doing it.

  He remembered what he’d been told. The mission he’d been given by the people in charge. The people in charge of everything. In charge of the future.

  And he took a deep breath, sucked up those nerves, and reminded himself he was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

  As long as he just stayed on track.

  Kelsie looked at him again. And for a second, he thought he saw something else to her. Another look to her. A smile to her face. Like she was falling for this place after all, like everybody did. Like she was beginning to believe in it after all.

  And that put him at ease.

  That made him feel better.

  But then…

  At the same time, that niggling fear remained in his stomach. At the same time, that concern welled up in his chest. The concern about her. The concern about everything. The concern about the future.

  The concern about the truth.

  “Do you mind showing these ladies here to their new homes?” Richard asked.

  And Aiden wanted to tell them the truth. He wanted to stop all of this before it progressed any further. He wanted to halt it in its tracks, every last bit of it.

  But then he did what he always did.

  He did the only thing he could.

  He took a deep breath.

  Swallowed a lump in his throat.

  And then he smiled.

  “Sure,” he said. “Right this way.”

  Just another bunch of people in a long line of people.

  Just another bunch of people who would discover the truth.

  Eventually.

  Chapter Five

  When Mike was absolutely certain all was quiet outside his room, he opened his eyes and sat up.

  He wasn’t sure what time of day it was, only that bright light was peeking in through the window on his left. It looked nice out there. So much so that he wanted to be out there; he longed for fresh air.

  And he was going to be back out there again, soon. He was going to get out of here.

  Because he couldn’t risk anything else happening.

  He couldn’t risk jeopardising his own safety once again.

  And there was more to it than that.

  Kelsie. Arya. The last time he’d seen them, he’d been passing out with his injury.

  He had no idea how long had passed since then. And he had no way of knowing just how far they had got either. He figured it couldn’t be all that long. A day, two days at a push.

  And then there were the others.

  Alison.

  Gina.

  Ian.

  Sonia.

  He had to get to them. He had to find them.

  He had to know what was happening.

  Especially with what Sonia had told him about that extraction point.

  Especially because he knew damn well he wasn’t going to risk the lives of the people he cared about, even if it did mean giving up the opportunity of luxury for more time out there in the deep unknown.

  But now, he only had one thing on his mind.

  He had to get out of here.

  He had to escape.

  He shuffled further upright. Every move sent pain shooting through his stomach and right through his body. His head felt dizzy. His mouth was dry as sandpaper. His chest was tight, and the slightest movement made him want to heave.

  But he was stronger than this.

  He had to be stronger than this.

  He gritted his teeth and swung his legs around the side of the bed.

  The first thing he noticed was that he touched something. Knocked something. A little stool by the side of his bed. The one that Vincent had been sitting at.

  He saw it tumbling down towards the solid floor.

  And all he could do was watch.

  All he could do was hold his breath and wait as it…

  It crashed against the floor.

  Mike held still. Heart racing. He listened for footsteps. Listened for a sign that someone was heading his way. He could take Vincent, he was sure of it. But he was weak. He’d been stabbed and then stitched up. He couldn’t pretend he had the upper ground right now.

  But he didn’t hear footsteps.

  He didn’t hear anything.

  Just that silence.

  He took a few deep breaths, steadied himself. And then he moved more slowly over the edge of the bed. He stretched out his legs. Felt his feet touch the cool floor.

  And then he steadied himself against the wall and stood upright.

  His head spun even more. He felt dizzy, shaky.

  But that was beyond the point.

  He was on his feet.

  He had a chance to get out of here.

  He had a chance to escape.

  He looked around this room. Looked for something he could use as a weapon. After all, he figured he might just need it.

  He didn’t have to look far.

  He walked over to the other side of the room. His footing was unsteady and laboured, his feet riddled with pins and needles. But even so, he felt like his motion was improving; like his movement was getting slightly more manageable with time.

  He grabbed the pair of sharp scissors from the tray. Opened them up in his hand. He knew it seemed rash. After all, these people had helped him. They’d saved his
life. They’d stitched him up.

  But he didn’t trust them.

  As far as he was concerned, they’d done what they’d done because they felt like he could be an asset. Like they could use him. Like they could control him.

  He was done trusting people. Long done.

  He walked across the floor of this private room in what was undoubtedly a hospital and stopped when he reached the door.

  He waited. Waited a few seconds and listened. Listened for some kind of motion. Some kind of life.

  He didn’t hear a thing.

  He lowered his hand and went to turn the handle.

  That’s when he heard it.

  The footsteps.

  The footsteps coming from the right and heading his way.

  He stopped. Froze. Kept his hand on the handle and kept on holding it in just the same way.

  He couldn’t move it anymore.

  He couldn’t let them know.

  He’d step out, and he’d launch himself at whoever was coming his way.

  But then something else happened.

  The footsteps.

  They didn’t stop outside his door.

  They just kept on passing by.

  Mike let go of the breath he’d been holding. He knew he’d had a close call. He couldn’t let things get that close again.

  When he was absolutely sure there was nothing but silence, he turned the handle and pushed the door open.

  He heard it creak, just a little. So he eased it even more gently. He didn’t want to alert anyone to his presence. He didn’t want anyone to know he was here.

  When he opened the door, he noticed something. He was definitely in some kind of hospital. But there were sounds. Sounds he couldn’t deny.

  Bleeping.

  Like… power.

  He stepped out of the room, slowly. Headed right, over towards the stairs, keeping his guard up at all times.

  But the closer he got to the stairs, the closer he got to that bleeping.

  He heard it on the left. And he wanted to walk past that door. He wanted to keep going. He didn’t want anything to hold him back.