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

“I work long hours,” Josh hissed. “Because I can’t stand being in this house with you. My plan was to save enough money for a deposit and buy Mum a house.”

Whoever was at the door knocked again, more insistently this time.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” their mother shouted from somewhere upstairs.

This all got processed in some background part of Pete’s brain, because most of his attention was still on Josh. He shook his head, not even able to take in his brother’s words. Where was all this coming from? But he’d known. He’d known all along that Josh went to Uni and suddenly they weren’t good enough for him anymore. He’d been able to change himself all he wanted, but he couldn’t change his family.

Josh shook his head. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out how—”

Pete gasped. As hurtful as those words were, something else hit him then and he shook his head, scared out of his wits. His whole body broke out in goosebumps and he stumbled backwards, facing the wrong direction to the door he now desperately needed to get to. “Mum, don’t open the door; Mum, don’t…”

But it was too late. His mother had opened the front door to a grinning Harry. He stepped into the narrow hallway and was immediately followed by the big guy from the gym and another huge man Pete had never seen before.

“Pete?” his mother mumbled, staring at him with a look of fear and confusion that cut him deeper than anything Josh could have said to him.

Only a few days ago he’d have done anything to have Harry come to his house to talk to him. Now he wanted the opposite; he wished he’d never heard of him.

“Well, boy?” Harry smiled broadly as he looked around at the hall and glanced up the stairs. “You have a lovely house, Mrs Freeman.”

“Ah, um… thank… thanks, Mr Harman.”

Pete gritted his teeth and fought back the tears welling up in his eyes. It was his fault his mother was having to put up with this. Her fear was obvious. He hoped he was doing a better job of hiding his. He shook his head, not knowing what to say.

“Well? Cat got your tongue? I asked you to do something for me and I’m still waiting. Did you forget?”

“No, I—”

“Ah, there he is. The big brother.”

Pete took a deep breath, not daring to look at Josh. His brother could ruin everything. And he wouldn’t even know what he was doing.

“Josh? Pete? What’s going on?” his mother’s face was pale behind her forced smile. He’d never seen her so worried, not even when Josh went through that phase of getting beaten up every week.

“Why don’t we go into the front room boys?” Harry said. The smile never left his face for a moment; not until the big guy had closed the door behind them. Only then did his face rearrange into a menacing scowl. “Didn’t your brother tell you I wanted to see you?”

Josh cleared his throat. “Yeah. Yeah, he did.”

“And you didn’t think I meant it?”

“No, I…” Josh coughed. “I wanted to get the house secured.”

Harry smirked. “Secured? Is that what you call this? Wouldn’t be much good to you in a fire.”

Pete’s blood ran cold.

“What do you want?” Josh muttered.

“Your brother came and told me a story last night, but I’m having a hard time believing it on account of him not being the brightest star in the sky. I want to hear it from you.”

Josh looked at Pete with such hatred in his eyes he found it hard not to look away. “Did he now? Well, I’m sure he told you everything.”

“Tell me again.”

Josh paused for a few seconds, before coming to the same conclusion as Pete had. They had no option but to humour Harry and hope he was happy with what he heard. He launched into a shortened version of what he’d told Pete the day before.

Harry's eyes were wide when he finished. “And why should I believe a word of it?”

Josh got that look on his face that always appeared when he was irritated by something someone had said. He closed his eyes. “Look around. Have you seen any cars? Big supermarkets and warehouses have backup generators. None of those are working. The motorway’s like a car park. Phones aren’t working.”

“So why hasn’t it kicked off yet?”

“It will when people realise what’s happened. It’s been less than two days. If you hadn’t heard about this kind of weapon before it wouldn’t even enter your mind. But people will soon start to figure out something big has happened.”

Harry stroked his chin. “You’re sure about that? How do you even know this?”

Josh nodded. “I’m sure. I thought it was crazy too when a guy at work first told me, but I’ve been reading up on it for months now. Even then I didn’t truly believe it, but the—”

Harry held his hand up. “Enough, I get it.” He shook his head. “Un-bloody-believable. So you say the coppers are just as fucked as the rest of us?”

“I suppose so,” Josh said with a shrug. “I mean, they have late model cars and vans and sophisticated electronics. I doubt they’ve got anything old enough to fall back on. The fact that they’re not out there now confirms that.”

Harry pursed his lips. He opened his mouth to speak and stopped several times. He took a breath. “So cars is where it’s at?”

Josh shrugged. “I suppose so. They’re scarce now. Nothing built before around 1985 is going to work. I haven’t heard a car engine since the power went out.”

Harry sprung to his feet. He was like a different man compared to how he’d been just moments before. Now it seemed like he couldn’t wait to get out of there. “He’s right. I wondered why the Jag worked and nothing else would. Come on. We’ve got work to do.” One of the big guys opened the door for him and he hurried out, turning suddenly. “You’d better not be lying to me, son.”

“I’m not,” Josh said quietly. “Why would I lie?”

“Good.” Harry nodded. “You don’t want to know what I do to liars.”

The men left without another word. Pete and Josh sat in silence for several minutes.

“At least he’s gone and it’s done,” Pete said when he couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

Josh glared at him. “What?”

“It’s done. He got what he wanted.”

“Do you really believe that?” Josh shook his head. “He hasn’t got what he wanted. But he’s about to, thanks to me. What do you think he’s gone off to do? He’s sure as shit not off to help old ladies cross the road. It’s your fault, Pete. What the hell were you thinking, telling a man like that what I told you?”

“But you never said not to—”

“I told you because you’re my brother,” Josh snapped. “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough… Bloody hell. This is way worse than dealing drugs. So much worse.”

He got up and slammed the door behind him. Pete stayed where he was. he was frozen in shock and disbelief.

What have I done?

There were dozens of people lurking outside the shop. The doors had been broken. They hadn’t been shattered—they’d been removed, metal and all. They’d been thrown aside in the corner, piled under a bunch of shopping trolleys with torn bags of nappies and other rubbish tossed carelessly on top.

Terry wasn’t sure why he’d come back. The last thing he wanted was to see Charlie or set foot in that shop again. He just…

He stared at the devastation in front of him.

He’d sat in the same armchair all morning, just staring out the window and trying to make sense of what had happened. In the end, he’d had enough. He had to get out.

He hadn’t been able to think of anywhere else to go. That was why he was back at the shop.

That realisation depressed him so he started walking faster to try and silence the voices in his head. I might as well try and pick up some water while I’m here.