Into the Light: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (Into the Dark Book 10) Page 3

  The day was dragging on. The rain had stopped, and a late bout of intense sunshine had reared its head. It should’ve been nice. It should’ve been optimistic. Hopeful. Promising.

  But all Kelsie could do was hold onto baby Holly and walk.

  All she could do was think about how important it was to get her to some kind of safety.

  To get out of this world before time ran out completely.

  There was urgency to their every step. A sense that one wrong foot could hamper the progress of their entire journey.

  Because this journey was still a gamble, at the end of the day. It was still a risk. They had learned something about an extraction point at Blackpool. Something Tate seemed sure of. And something that Mike had corroborated in his final moments, it seemed.

  And granted, it still seemed like the Outsiders were wiping people out here for whatever reason. It still seemed like they were going ahead with their genocide, their executions.

  Kelsie had no idea how many people were going to be taken out of this country. She had no idea how many people were going to be allowed to leave. She was highly sceptical about it, as was natural, really. She’d seen far too many extraction promises go awry over the years.

  But it was her last shot.

  Her final chance.

  If she sat back and allowed herself to mope in the trauma of what had happened… she was going to die. Baby Holly was going to die. Everyone else with her was going to die.

  And sure. They could help themselves. They could find their own way.

  But Kelsie wasn’t willing to sit back and let herself fall.

  “You should slow down if you need to,” a voice said. “Time’s of the essence, sure. But if you need to take a breather…”

  Kelsie turned around. She saw Tate looking at her. She could tell from the way he was staring at her that there was concern in his eyes. Sincere concern for her well-being. But also for her baby’s well-being, too.

  She wasn’t sure what to make of Tate anymore. Not totally. After all, she got the sense that he was hiding things. He’d hidden the amount of time running out. And he seemed pretty vague about where they were heading and what was waiting for them there.

  But at the end of the day… he was still here.

  He was still by her side.

  “I’m fine,” Kelsie said. “It’s like you said. The sooner we get to where we’re going, the better—”

  “You’ve just lost so much close to you, Kelsie,” Tate said. “And I… as much as I recognise the importance of getting out of this place and of getting away from here… I know also that you’re going to need to process a lot of emotions. And if you don’t—”

  “So this home of yours we’re going to. This place we’re going to be whizzed across the shore to when all this is over. It’s just going to let us walk right in, is it?”

  Tate frowned. His cheeks flushed a little. “Well, yeah.”

  “Even though we’re being hunted down here?”

  “Like I said. I can’t account for the rogue forces here.”

  “Rogue forces. You told me yourself that the place we’re going to is getting overpopulated. That the people in charge aren’t happy about just inviting swathes of people from a disorderly place like Britain along. So what is it? What’s true?”

  Tate sighed. “What’s true is that we’re going to a good place. We’re going to a place that will welcome us. Regardless of what is happening here. And regardless of what is going to happen. But I really think you should consider taking a rest because…”

  A sharp pain. Just like that. Right in the middle of Kelsie’s chest.

  Grief.

  Anger.

  Loss.

  Emptiness.

  She couldn’t describe it. Couldn’t pinpoint it. It all just happened too quickly for her to even pin down.

  And just as quickly as it had happened it was gone.

  “Kelsie?” Tate said.

  “We need to keep walking.”

  “You—”

  “Do you want to live or not?”

  She realised she’d shouted. Realised she’d snapped. Manuel, Rachel and Gregg, they’d all stopped too. Even Arya Jr looked up at her, a glimpse of concern about her.

  Tate nodded. “Of course I want to live. I’m just thinking about your best interests.”

  “Then think about getting us to this extraction point so we at least have a chance of getting out of Britain. So we at least have a chance of surviving. Then we can worry about my frigging unprocessed emotions, or whatever. Then we can worry about my frigging grief.”

  She saw the way Tate opened his mouth. Went to say something else. Went to continue.

  And then she saw the way he sighed and nodded. “Very well,” he said. “Just… just looking out for you. That’s all.”

  She saw the way he turned around, and she wanted to apologise to him. She wanted to tell him she was sorry. That she understood he was only looking out for her. That she understood he was only trying to do the best by her.

  But she wasn’t thinking rationally. Wasn’t thinking straight.

  Honesty was the hardest thing right now.

  Just single-pointed focus.

  Single-pointed focus on one end-goal.

  Getting to Blackpool.

  Getting out of here.

  And if it didn’t work out for whatever reason, physical or mental, then she’d face that when the moment came.

  She looked at the baby in her arms again, and she felt warmth. Through all the chaos, she felt warmth. Through all the pain, she felt stillness. Through everything she was suffering, she felt hope.

  “We’re going to be okay, you and me,” she said. “No matter what. We’re going to be okay. I’m going to make sure of it. We both are.”

  She saw baby Holly look up at her with those glistening eyes, and she felt pure, unwavering love.

  A beam bursting into her body. Filling her with optimism. Filling her with hope.

  She took a deep breath and lifted her head, seeing clarity, seeing only the path forward, the road ahead.

  That’s when she heard it.

  First, the footsteps.

  And then she saw it.

  The movement.

  The movement up ahead.

  Coming in their direction.

  “Wait,” Kelsie said.

  Manuel stopped. Frowned. “What?”

  “Just… Just wait.”

  They stopped. All of them stopped.

  And it was then that Kelsie realised the horrifying truth.

  The movement wasn’t in her head.

  It wasn’t a figment of her imagination.

  It was happening.

  There was someone here.

  Someone walking in their direction.

  And they were closing in fast.

  Chapter Seven

  Gina saw the leader of the group approaching her—Tony—staring down at her with those wide, mean eyes, and she couldn’t deny the pervasive sense of fear splitting through her right at that moment.

  The sunlight was shining brightly again now. Her heart was racing. She felt sweaty, cold, clammy, a whole host of feelings. But mostly she felt in pain. Pain in her stomach. Pain in her chest. Pain where the knife had split through her. Pain where Kelsie’s knife had pierced through her body.

  But nothing compared to the pain of the knowledge of what would be coming next.

  “Remember me?” Tony asked. “Come on,” he said. “Don’t be shy. Course you remember me. Might be a couple of years, but nobody forgets a face like mine. Ain’t that right, Gina?”

  And Gina wanted to get up and fight. She wanted to stand her ground. She wasn’t a quitter. She’d never been someone who just rolled over and accepted her fate.

  But she was too weak right now. She just wasn’t strong enough. She didn’t have any fight left in her.

  Even though she knew what was coming next.

  She’d considered giving up. Dying. And that’s what she wante
d, now.

  Because she knew she was finally going to meet her maker.

  She was finally going to suffer for her crimes.

  The suffering hadn’t even begun.

  “No?” Tony said, leaning in to her, still smirking. “Well. Seeing as you don’t seem too cooperative, how about I jog your memory a little?”

  “Please.”

  “What’s that?” Tony said. “Is that the sound of you begging?”

  “I just… I—”

  “Because Maeve. She begged, too, if you remember. How about you, folks? Do you remember the amount of people who begged poor innocent Gina here to spare their lives?”

  “All too well,” a voice said.

  The angry looks of the surrounding people. All of whom hated Gina.

  And rightly so.

  “Because that’s what you did, didn’t you?” Tony said. “You befriended me and my people. You got close to us. And then when you had us right where you wanted us… you betrayed us. You double-crossed us. And you slaughtered us.”

  Gina squeezed her eyes shut as the memories flickered in front of her. She wasn’t in denial. She knew what she’d done—exactly what she’d done. She’d used the Novichok supplies she’d found to attack the group led by Tony. They had useful supplies, after all.

  But it hadn’t quite worked out. There had been survivors. Too many survivors.

  So when Gina and her people had got there, they’d been forced to finish them off by hand.

  It was messy. There were few survivors. But there were survivors, and that was the problem. People who’d got away.

  And Gina just assumed that they’d be gone by now. That they would be long gone. It was years ago, after all.

  But one of them was staring down at her right now, while she was in her weakest moment. No. Not just one of them. Several of them. Several of them staring down at her.

  She knew there was no bargaining.

  She knew there was no getting out of this mess easily.

  Hell, she knew there was probably no getting out of this mess at all.

  “Nothing you have to say for yourself?” Tony asked. “Nothing at all?”

  Gina looked at him and his people, and she sensed something. An opportunity. A chance. A chance to tell him about the destructive wave heading their way at some stage. A chance to tell him about the world out there. A way out. A way to move on. To put their differences aside.

  She looked at him, and she hoped he’d find it in himself somewhere to move on from their past; to move on from their history.

  She opened her mouth and prepared to tell him about what she knew.

  And then she felt a fist crack against her.

  Pain. An explosion in her mouth, amping up the tension inside her. She felt something go loose; tasted hot, sharp metal.

  And as she turned around, she saw Tony wasn’t happy anymore. He wasn’t gloating.

  He was playing with her, sure. Toying with her.

  But he was deadly serious.

  Underneath, he meant harm against Gina.

  Sincere, severe harm.

  And there was very little she could do about it.

  She saw that now.

  All she could do was try.

  “Thirty-six of them,” Tony said, standing up and walking back. “Thirty-six. Men. Women. Children. And you didn’t discriminate, did you?”

  “Tony—”

  “You didn’t hold back. You didn’t show any mercy. Did you?”

  “I—”

  Another smack to her face, this time from Tony’s weathered Dr Martens boot. She fell back. Hit the mud with her head, her ginger hair getting coated in it. And as she looked up at the people surrounding her, double vision setting in, she wanted to say so much. She wanted to beg.

  But then that voice in her head told her to just accept this. Just take it.

  Because it was what she deserved.

  “You made our people suffer so much. And now you’re just expecting mercy because we’ve caught you like this? Really?”

  “There’s—there’s a place.”

  Tony leaned down. Grabbed the back of Gina’s head. Pressed a knife to her throat. “I don’t care whether there’s a place or not. I don’t care what there is or isn’t. You can say as much as you want. Talk as much bullshit as you like. It doesn’t matter to me. If anything, it just makes it all the more better. Because I want to see you hope. I want to keep giving you that hope. That hope my people must’ve felt before you took it away from them. And then I’m going to take it away from you, too. Time and time again.”

  She looked into Tony’s eyes, and she waited. Waited for him to pull back his fist. Waited for him to finish her off. To send her spiralling into unconsciousness.

  She waited for all of it, and then she closed her eyes.

  Then she heard laughter.

  She opened her eyes. Looked around. Felt cautious. Uncertain. Why were they laughing? What were they laughing at?

  “You dumb shit,” Tony said.

  Gina frowned. “What—”

  “We’ve waited so, so long for an opportunity. For a chance to get our revenge. You really think we’re going to let you die so easily? Really?”

  Horror slipped in. Guilt. Pain. Everything.

  And then she felt Tony’s arms wrap around her as he went to lift her pain-wracked body up.

  “Come on,” he said. “It’s about time you learned a lesson about what happens to people like you. Again. And again. And again.”

  Chapter Eight

  Forty-Three Hours to Go…

  Kelsie heard the people racing towards her—towards her baby—and she felt her body turn to stone.

  The light of the day was fading rapidly, but it was still bright enough to keep Kelsie and her group from being hidden. They were standing there in the middle of an open section of the woods. Her baby was being remarkably quiet, sleeping, bless her.

  But the closer those footsteps got, the more Kelsie’s tension grew. The more she started to fear what might happen.

  And the more she knew the urgency of her situation was developing.

  She had to get away.

  She had to hide.

  She didn’t wait for anyone else before making her decision to turn and make a break for the trees. She didn’t know where she was heading, not exactly. Just that she had to hide. She couldn’t risk anything happening to her or her child. She couldn’t make that kind of gamble.

  Even though making a break was a gamble in itself.

  She heard something, then. Calling. Shouting out. And as she held still behind a thin tree—too thin to hide her completely, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to look. She didn’t want to see. She didn’t want to know who had been caught or what exactly had happened to them.

  But then she felt the weight of responsibility falling heavily on her shoulders once again.

  She thought about Mike. The things he’d taught her about leadership. And Siobhan, too. The way she’d led this place, but how she’d always told Kelsie that she was the natural leader of the pair of them. That really, it should’ve been her running the Wright Green Hospital.

  And she hadn’t seen the truth in those words at the time. In a way, she hadn’t wanted to believe them.

  But now she was standing here, she couldn’t help fighting the urge telling her to lay low. To back away.

  Because her people were in danger.

  And it didn’t matter how long she’d known Tate. It didn’t matter if these other people were Gina’s, technically.

  Things had changed now.

  And Kelsie had to make sure she acknowledged that change.

  That she accepted it.

  She opened her eyes. Looked down at baby Holly, who stared back up at her.

  At Arya Jr, standing by her side, ears tilting and ready for orders.

  And then Kelsie went to step around the trees.

  She didn’t see anyone. Not at first. Not her people. And not the people that she’d see
n walking towards them, either. And she was curious about it. For a moment, she wasn’t sure how it could be the case. How it could be happening quite like this.

  But then she caught a glimpse of someone. Manuel, hiding behind a tree, just like her, finger to his lips.

  And that’s when she saw them.

  The dread filled her body when they came into view. Because there was no denying who they were.

  The Outsiders.

  They were here.

  They were walking through the trees. Rifles in hands. Turning their heads, looking in every direction. And Kelsie felt more vulnerable than ever. Because she felt like they could see through the trees, somehow. Like they could see right through them and right into her soul.

  She turned away, though. Turned and held baby Holly close and tried not to think of all the awful possibilities that could unfold; all the terrible things that might happen. Manuel. Tate. Arya Jr. They couldn’t fall too. They couldn’t die.

  She couldn’t be the only one left.

  You already are.

  No!

  She heard those footsteps moving through the trees, and then she heard something else. A radio. Crystal clear signal. A voice on the other end.

  And it was strange, hearing that voice. Hearing that electronic device. That powered device.

  But it was more what she heard coming from that device that caught her attention.

  She listened to those words. Heard what they said. And she hoped someone else heard them too because they could confirm it. They could confirm it, and then they could move forward.

  She was so excited about the possibilities that she barely even registered when she heard baby Holly let out a little cry.

  She froze. A horrible cascade of images fell through her mind again.

  Then she did all she could.

  Held Baby Holly’s mouth.

  Held her and prayed.

  Hoped and prayed that the Outsiders hadn’t heard her.

  Because if they had, they’d kill her. They’d kill her, and they wouldn’t show any mercy because that’s the kind of people they were.

  She heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, and she braced herself to do whatever she had to do. To fight. To scrap. To die, if that’s what it came to.