Alex Knightly - Sudden Darkness - A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller

The army.

Safety.

Annie was surprised to feel tears welling up in her eyes. It didn’t solve her immediate problem, but she supposed her journey would be a lot easier once law and order were restored.

She jumped off her bike and hurried towards the main group of soldiers. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” she gasped. “I came along on the off chance that the trains were running, and by the time I got here I knew they couldn’t possibly be. People are throwing petrol bombs and setting cars on fire just down the road.”

Two of the soldiers looked up from what they were doing. They looked bone tired. “Make your way into the shelter, madam. You’ll need to be processed in before you’ll be given food and a camp bed. Are you alone?”

She waved her hand, embarrassed and alarmed that they had mistaken her for one of the homeless people around the station. “Oh no, I’m not homeless. I came here to check if the trains were running. I wanted to tell you how glad I am to see you. I was worried. Things have gone crazy since the power cut.”

The two men exchanged glances. “The trains are down until further notice. Now, please move inside.”

Annie frowned “I’m not homeless. I just wanted to…”

“This has nothing to do with you being homeless. Please go inside. The army has commandeered this building as an emergency shelter and everyone’s being moved in for their own safety.”

“But I have a flat,” she said, looking around with increasing bewilderment. Slowly, it began to dawn on her. These people weren’t destitute. They’d just looked like rough sleepers because they’d been stranded here with no open hotels to go to. Her eyes had skimmed over the smart suitcases and briefcases that sat at their feet.

“Jesus,” she whispered.

“Come on,” one of the soldiers said, reaching for her arm.

A commotion broke out behind them before Annie could react. A dirty man had jumped to his feet and tried to get away from the two soldiers who’d just approached him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” As he moved, Annie saw a flash of metal in the weak sunlight.

“What’s he playing at?” one of the soldiers muttered to the other. “Don’t they realise we’re trying to help them?”

“Get away from me!” the man was shrieking. “You can’t just lock me up! I’m an accountant, not a criminal. How dare you?”

“Then what’s he doing with a knife?” one of the soldiers beside her speculated.

The other one nodded his agreement.

Annie’s blood ran cold. Would they say the same thing about her? There was a briefcase lying on the ground near where the man had been sitting and he was dressed in a long black overcoat that looked slightly shabby but was clearly expensive. Who was he? Just a normal bloke who’d been in London for the day on business and found himself trapped here?

“Drop the knife!”

“No! I need it to protect myself! I’m a professional. This isn’t right!”

“Wants to be treated special,” one of the soldiers beside Annie muttered. “They all do. No-one gets it. They’re all the same now until this mess gets fixed.”

She baulked. It would be dark soon. She had to get out of there before they locked her up. She took a step backwards, praying they wouldn’t move and see the knife in the pocket of her backpack. She wished she’d never gotten off her bike. She wished she’d never gone to the station.

“Drop the knife, sir, now!”

“No! Just walk away. I wouldn’t hurt you. But I’m not bloody going in there!”

“It’s for your own protection!”

“You’re herding people in there like animals. I’ve seen you! You’re not letting them out. You can’t do that. You have no right.”

Annie looked around. Everyone in the square was watching the confrontation.

“You can’t just take people against their will,” she hissed, turning back to the two soldiers.

“Move inside. I’m not going to ask you again. Martial law has been enacted. We have orders to establish a shelter and secure the area for everyone’s protection. We don’t have the manpower to patrol. That’s why we need everyone together where we can keep you safe and fed. It’s for your own good.”

“For how long?”

“For as long as it takes to restore order and get the power running again.”

Annie’s blood froze in her veins. “But you realise it’s an EMP; an…” she stopped herself just before she said the word ‘attack’. “This could go on for years, you know that, right? Whatever this thing is it’s knocked out everything with a circuit. We’ll have to start again from scratch.”

“Come on now, madam,” the other soldier said, grabbing her arm. He hadn’t listened to a word she said, she realised. His eyes were glazed over.

She watched as the man in the overcoat was led towards the station between the two soldiers who had confronted him, his arms twisted up behind his back in a way that looked extremely painful.

Disarmed.

Defeated.

She wouldn’t spend months or years locked up in that hellhole.

Did these people even know how long this would last?

No.

No, she had to get away from this. Now. She couldn’t bear the thought of being stuck here when the farm was established enough to keep her fed for as long as she needed.

The man fell to the ground with a desperate cry. The soldiers dragged him back to his feet just as the second soldier moved forward to take Annie’s bike away.

Panic flashed through her. They were armed. All of them.

But what choice did she have?

She took advantage of the fact that they were only half-focused on her as they watched that poor man get taken inside. Knowing she had no time to lose, she pulled away from the soldier’s grasp and half-threw herself onto the bike. She pedalled as fast as she could back the way she had come.

The soldiers shouted after her but she kept on going without daring to turn back. She turned into the first alley she saw even though it was going in the wrong direction, away from the flat and possibly straight into the hands of more soldiers. It was a risk she had to take—she had to get away.

She peddled as fast as she could, looping around until she got back in the right direction. Suddenly the blazing cars weren’t so intimidating now. They were a weird sign of freedom. But for how long?

Her legs ached as she pedalled, going in the same direction as the groups of walkers now. She had assumed they were moving north to escape London. Now she wasn’t so sure. Was it London or the army they were fleeing?

She thought about asking someone, but they were all so dead-eyed and hopeless that she didn’t. Nor did she want to risk stopping. For all she knew, there were more soldiers coming in. The road arched right at a junction with a main road north. Most of the walkers headed that way.

She sped up again when the road straightened and she passed the inferno she’d seen earlier. The middle of the street appeared to be in flames and youths were clustered around the side of the blaze jumping around and cheering.

Annie’s stomach lurched as she turned off onto a side street she’d never been on before and prayed it didn’t lead to a dead end. Her legs were aching now because she was riding faster than she’d ever gone before—she was cycling for her life.

It was dark. Terry had grown up in London and he couldn’t remember ever seeing darkness like this. Maybe that time his parents had taken them on a caravan holiday in Wales. It had rained the whole time and the roof of his father’s rickety old car wasn’t watertight. They hadn’t gone on holidays again after that.

He reached for the whisky bottle and stopped. He was already four or five down and far from helping him sleep, it was making his head buzz with the strangest thoughts. Like what if all of this wasn’t just a power cut?