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

“Mo,” Harry muttered. “Go after Kenan. Tell him to come back here.” He moved to the door, grumbling to himself. “Come on.”

Pete looked at Josh. “Where?” He was coming to realise that anything was possible with Harry. Where exactly did he want them to go? There was nothing around except for the cavernous warehouse across the yard where they had met with the whole crew the day before. That was it. There were a few sheds on the other side, but Pete hadn’t seen anyone enter or exit those since they’d been assigned to the little workshop.

“Relax, will you? I just want to get some air. We’ll wait for them outside.”

They moved slowly, because Pete didn’t really trust Harry's promises. He looked around. There was no sign of Mo or Kenan.

“Cars,” Harry said. “Look at the advantage they give us. If Kenan had been walking we’d still be able to see him. Now look.” He coughed and spat on the ground, causing Josh to cringe and look away. “Of course, our advantage is only good if Kenan was wrong about the army. And why would he make it up? I’m not sure he’s capable of dreaming up something like that.”

Pete turned away and looked around. He could hear car engines in the distance, distinctive because they were the only ones. It had to be Mo and Kenan. “I haven’t heard anything. If the army drove in in tanks or whatever we would have heard them, wouldn’t we?”

Harry ignored him. He was frowning up at the sky.

Two cars came screaming down the driveway. Pete recognised the second as the Ford Escort they’d been driving around in. Sure enough, they both pulled up together and Kenan jumped out of the other car. He looked accusingly from Pete to Josh.

Harry still didn’t turn around. He didn’t react even when Mo and Kenan came bounding over.

What the fuck? Pete thought, alarmed. He didn’t know why, but he felt more unsettled than ever.

And then he realised why. With the car engines off, it should have been quiet again. Except it wasn’t. A strange hum turned into a tearing roar. Their heads snapped up just in time to see three black jets zip across the patch of blue sky above them before disappearing behind the clouds.

“What the fuck is that?” Mo gasped.

“I imagine it’s the army,” Harry snapped, eyes blazing.

Josh shook his head. “No,” he said wildly. “It can’t be. That’s not possible.”

“I’ll say. According to you, no planes or cars work anymore. But I didn’t just imagine those planes up there, did I?” Harry spat on the ground again. “You can go back to work, Kenan. No point in asking you now, is there? As for you,” he turned to Josh, leaving the statement unfinished but the intention very much clear.

“Wait! Wait!” Josh marched across the yard, staring up at the sky and shielding his eyes from the sun. There was no point, of course, because the planes were long gone. “All I saw was specks of black in the sky. Who says they were British? It could be the US Airforce. Or the Australians. We don’t know. In fact, I’d say it’s likely. Our jets will never fly again; you have to believe me.”

Harry looked like he didn’t believe a word of it.

Pete’s heart slammed against his chest. This was it, he knew. This was the moment Harry finally lost his temper with Josh. It had been a long time coming. “Kenan,” he said desperately. “We wanted to ask you about the army. What did you see?”

Kenan looked at Pete and then at Harry as if the question was so obvious it should never have been asked. “I told Harry already. The army. I saw them.”

Give me strength, Pete thought. Do you always have to sound so thick? He took a breath to calm himself—there was no point in losing his temper. It’d only make the situation worse for them. “Yeah, I know that. But what did you see? How many soldiers? What were they doing? What were they carrying? Were they in vans or trucks?”

Kenan looked around helplessly. “I don’t know. I drove away as soon as I saw them. I didn’t stick around to count them, did I?”

“You must have seen something, Kenan. Think. What were you doing when you first noticed them?”

“Driving.”

Pete might have laughed if it wasn’t so serious. “Okay. And what were they doing?”

Kenan shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Where was this?”

Beside them, Harry grew more and more impatient. They didn’t have long before he exploded. He was armed and unpredictable.

“Come on, Kenan,” he said desperately. “Think.”

“At the racetrack.”

“Who was with you?”

“It was just me. Zane sent a few of us looking for tyres.”

“Did they see you?”

“No. I don’t think so. They were busy.”

“Doing what?”

He shrugged. “Carrying stuff. Boxes. That sort of thing. Setting up a big tent.”

“Was it noisy?”

Kenan shook his head. “I don’t think so. I might have had the radio on.”

Josh gritted his teeth. “The radios aren’t working.”

Kenan shrugged.

“Give me the keys.” When Mo handed them over, Pete marched over to the car and climbed inside. He turned the key. The others had followed him over. He racked the front seat back and pushed himself back against it so that they could see in. Then he made a big show of turning on the radio, turning the volume up high and then twisting the knob to cycle through the different frequencies. “See?” he said, when he’d gone all the way through and not found a single station. He climbed out of the car and slammed the door.

“I’ll go check it out, boss,” Mo said quietly.

“I don’t know what we expected,” Josh muttered. “I told him it was all just theoretical. Maybe he’ll realise I don’t have a clue about this stuff and let us go.”

Harry had left them alone and they were poring over their stolen books. Mo had popped back in to tell them he’d checked out the racetrack and seen no army vehicles. He’d parked up on the overpass and watched them for a while. They were moving people into a big tent.

They’d been relieved at first, until Mo said Harry was still pissed off that things weren’t going to plan.

Pete nodded, unable to work up the energy to say anything. If Harry didn’t trust Josh that didn’t mean he was going to let him just walk away. There was no walking away from Harry.

Kenan popped his head in the door. “Mo,” he said. “Harry wants to see you.”

“Come on,” Mo said without looking up.

Kenan turned back. “He just wants you. Not them.”

“Did he say that?”

Kenan shook his head. “No, he said get Mo.”

“He told me to keep an eye on these two. So they’re coming.”

Resentment bubbled up in Pete. Mo had given Harry no more reason to trust him than Pete had, so why was he the supervisor all of a sudden? “We can stay,” he said coldly. “You go ahead. There’s no need to babysit us.”

Mo’s eyes had none of their earlier warmth. “You’re joking, right? I’m not going to go against an order from Harry. Let’s go.”

They trouped out into the yard. Josh grumbled all the way. He’d made a breakthrough and he resented being disturbed when he’d made his first bit of progress in more than a day. Pete shook his head. How naive could he be? This was about more than the radios.

They found Harry and Zane alone in the vast warehouse where they’d met the previous day.

“What are those two doing here?” Zane demanded, springing to his feet.

Harry remained seated on a pile of cement bags. He smiled and ran his tongue over his front teeth. “They come as a package. Mo is keeping an eye on them for me.” He turned his attention to Mo. “You’re doing well, son. Too well to be cooped up here. Zane needs you.”