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

“What happened? Where are they?”

Clive grimaced. He hadn’t had a choice, but that made no difference to how he felt.

“When you were safely out of the way, I backtracked up the stairs so I was out of sight. They came flying out of the other flat and headed straight towards your place, Annie.” He cleared his throat as he recalled it. “I bloody prayed that they’d take off out the front door and run away, but they didn’t. They started working on the lock so I knew they weren’t going anywhere until they’d been through all the flats.”

“I took up position. I flattened myself against the stairs where I could still see them and chucked my shoe towards the back door to put them off guard. I had to be sure they were armed. Maybe that was foolish, but I couldn’t fire on them if they had no intention of firing at me.”

“But they did.”

“Yes, they did. Just like I suspected they would. I threw the shoe and made myself as small as possible. They shot, of course—two of them—but at the spot where my shoe had landed. I could just about make them out in the moonlight. I shot them one-by-one before they realised what was happening.”

“My god,” Annie whispered, hissing out a deep breath. “Are they dead?”

Clive nodded. He couldn’t stop thinking about how that lifeless skin had felt under his fingers, still warm but pulseless. It wasn’t the first time he’d checked a corpse for signs of life, but it was different this time. He’d killed them. “Yes.”

“You did what you had to do. They would have killed you if they could.”

“Yes, I know that,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. “I suppose it’ll take some time for that to sink in.”

“Well, they had it coming. At least we’re all safe now,” Terry said quietly. Clive, as dazed as he was, didn’t miss the note of hopefulness in the younger man’s voice.

“Well, that’s the thing,” he said. “That’s why I need to talk to you before we move the bodies.” He sighed. He was exhausted. He’d already told Olivia they were leaving, which was part of the reason she’d been so hard to calm down. “The men downstairs are dead. But that doesn’t make it safe. I can’t guarantee someone else won’t have the same idea and try to break in—especially now that the windows are broken. People are getting desperate.”

“So what do we do?”

“I think you know, Terry. Well, you can do what you want, of course—I’m not going to force you to come with us. But my wife and I are going to leave.”

“What?”

“We have no choice. You’ve met my wife. I’m sure you can understand it wasn’t an easy decision. We were lucky tonight. Those men had crude, cheap weapons they obviously weren’t trained to use. If there had been five of them with well-maintained handguns? Well, I wouldn’t fancy my chances.”

“What are you saying?” Terry whispered. “Where are you going to go? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I know that. Annie, does your offer still stand?” His heart pounded. “Wait. Before you answer, I should explain. Olivia—my wife—suffers from severe anxiety and agoraphobia. I’d be lying if I said it won’t complicate matters.”

“I… um… yes, of course.”

He shook his head. “Think about it. I won’t be offended if you decide to go it alone.”

“I don’t need to think about it. If you hadn’t been here tonight…” her voice quivered, “I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Yes, well,” he said. “It’s over now. Terry, what do you think?”

“What, you’re going with her now? You said it was too dangerous.”

“It’s been about forty-eight hours. And three armed men broke into this block. What do you think is going to happen in the next forty-eight? We’ve got to get out. We have no choice.”

“I suppose. It’s just…”

“Take your time and think about it,” Clive said. “Now, let’s go. If we sit here for much longer we might doze off. There’s a lot to do. We had better bring those bikes inside where they’re safe. And pray that no-one else decides to break in.”

It was the longest night of his life, and he’d worked a lot of night shifts. First, they secured the bikes. Then they moved the bodies to the empty flat on the ground floor. The last thing he needed was for Olivia to see them the following morning.

As worried as he was about what they faced, he was starting to feel slightly more positive about it. Neither Terry nor Annie had complained once, even when they were carrying out tasks no normal person in their right mind could ever have imagined themselves doing.

It was gruesome work and he was thankful for the darkness. They couldn’t see the state of their clothes and hands, and he wanted to keep it that way. They needed to be in a good mental state to tackle the arduous cycle ahead.

“Right. I appreciate this wasn’t the easiest of tasks. Why don’t you both take a break and change your clothes.”

“Nah, let’s keep going and then sleep for as long as we can when everyone is ready,” Annie murmured.

He pictured her falling into bed in the clothes she was wearing and waking up to see the reality of what she’d done. Even he felt nauseous at the thought of what was causing the cold, creeping sensation on his arms. He couldn’t let that happen.

“No,” he said quickly. “I really think you two should go and freshen up.”

“I’d love to, but I think a lovely bubble bath’s out of the question. Besides, my flat’s out of bounds now; we decided that.”

Clive sighed. “I wasn’t suggesting you go alone. Terry and I will wait outside the room.”

“I don’t care how I look. Isn’t it more important that we get some sleep? You still need to show us how to use the guns we took from those men.”

He bowed his head. He was exhausted. They had moved the bodies into the bathroom in the empty flat opposite Annie’s and boarded up the smashed windows in the living room as best they could. The thought that he still had to pack and give the others a crash course in handguns was almost too much.

“Annie, trust me. You’ll want to change your clothes and clean up as best you can. Come on. You first, Annie. Then you, Terry. I’m not taking no for an answer on this.”

“Right,” Terry said sometime later when they’d carried the other three bikes upstairs to Clive’s flat. “What now?”

Clive stifled a yawn. “If you two want to get some rest, I’ll take the first watch.”

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we all sleep?”

“Ideally, yes. But we don’t know what’s going to happen. Someone needs to keep watch. Like I said, we were lucky earlier. I also want to ensure we leave just as soon as it’s light. I don’t know about you two, but I know if I sleep now and there’s no-one to wake me, I won’t wake up until midday. That’s too late. We need to give ourselves enough time to get out of London.”

They murmured their agreement and he heard the springs in the couches creak as they tried to make themselves comfortable. Soon, he was able to tell from their deep, regular breathing that they had both drifted off to sleep.

Clive stood up. It was even harder to fight his exhaustion now that he had nothing to do but wait. He moved to the window and looked out. Everything looked peaceful out there, but it was hard to tell. Anyone could have been lurking in the shadows. Dawn was still a long way off.

He was glad they’d brought the bikes up, but they weren’t clear yet. What if someone had been watching them? The block behind them overlooked the little yard out the back. The bike rack was relatively well hidden just under the fence, but they’d moved them into plain sight to get in the back door.