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

“What’s going on?” she asked, marching over to where the girl had her head stuck under the bonnet. “Can you do it? Or are you just stalling?”

The girl raised her head. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, though her mouth was twisted into a look of defiance and hatred. “Max could, if he was here. We got so close the other day and…” she twisted a spanner and the engine roared into life. Eyes wide, she slammed the bonnet shut and rubbed her oily hands on her jeans.

“Come on,” Clive shouted, sticking his head out the window. “Let’s go. Now!”

Olivia opened the passenger door and started to get in. Annie moved towards the rear and stopped. No. This is all wrong.

“Wait, what are you doing?” the girl snapped sullenly. “Give me a gun. That was the deal.”

Annie turned, assessing the situation. None of them knew where they were and none of them knew much about cars. And she’ll get killed if she stays. The girl knew the area and they didn’t. She looked at Terry. He nodded, mouth set in a straight line as he jerked his head back towards the girl.

“Go on then,” the girl said, crossing her arms. “The gun.”

Annie shook her head.

“What do you mean? I’m giving you a car. The least you can do is…”

“Clive. Olivia,” she said sharply. “Get out.” She took a few steps towards the girl. “You’re coming with us. Sorry, but we need you. And you’ll be killed if you stay here by yourself.”

“What, like you care.”

Annie shrugged. “I don’t care. Why would I? You locked us in a garage and set it alight. Get in the car.”

“You ruined everything! They’re here. I need to go. I need them to tell me what happened to Max.”

Annie darted around the front of the car now than Olivia had moved into the back. She didn’t take her eyes—or her weapon—off the girl for a moment. That was a problem she hadn’t thought of. The girl had no incentive to help them. But she was the only one who could get them out. The car sounded delicate enough as it was—one wrong move in that wilderness and they could hit a rock or a pile of bricks. She was willing to bet that the whine of the old engine had already drawn those men’s attention. It was only a matter of time until they came—all they had to do was follow the noise.

She shivered. The girl said they had shotguns. They might risk climbing on top of one of the piles of car parts to get a better view of the surroundings. If they had a good shot… she winced.

Over the din of the engine, she thought she heard voices. Rough voices she didn’t recognise.

“I hear them,” she hissed.

The girl’s eyes widened. She set her jaw and shook her head. “So give me the gun.”

“No.” Annie gestured towards the car with the weapon, trying to stop her hand from shaking—or at least make it less noticeable. “Get in. I don’t want to hurt you but you’ve got to come with us.”

The girl’s hazel eyes were filled with hate. “No way. Do you think I’m that stupid?”

Annie panicked. They were running out of time—maybe they were already out of time. “Then you’re letting Max down. Get in the car. Now. And we’ll help you find him.”

“Come on!” Terry snapped.

“We need to get the hell out of here,” Clive muttered.

Annie waited by the open passenger door, reluctant to get in until the girl did.

“I don’t trust you.”

Annie swallowed. Was she wavering? It was the closest she’d come to agreeing. And they had to go now .

“Who would you rather be stuck with? Us or those men?”

The girl got in the driver’s seat.

Humiliated, scared and starving, Si admitted defeat. She didn’t think this lot would shoot her, but she knew the men who’d taken Max wouldn’t think twice about it. And now she had no time left to prepare.

She slammed the door and put the car into gear. A moment later, she was taking off across the grass. The car bounced this way and that as she tried to find a path through the overgrown grass, which hid countless piles of old tyres and construction waste. Part of her wanted to turn sharply, accelerate and just crash into one of the warehouses on the other side of the wasteland.

But she didn’t.

She had Max to think of.

She wrenched the wheel to the right a few seconds before piling straight into a heap of rubble.

“Look where you’re going!” one of them groaned.

“Shut the fuck up,” Si snapped. “One more word and I’m driving straight back to the garage.”

They shut up then. She bounced up onto the gravel path that started a few hundred yards past the scrapyard.

“It’s a road. I didn’t see this,” the woman in the front said.

Si gritted her teeth and drove on, not taking her eyes off the road. It wasn’t even a road—it was loose gravel one of the warehouse owners had put down years ago as a shortcut. It was a half-assed job—they hadn’t levelled out the ground—so the car bumped around at speed.

But she had it under control.

“What if they know where to look?” one of the men said. “They could be waiting for us.”

Si ignored him and kept her focus on the road. She drove as fast as she could, expecting someone to complain about the noise or the bumps, but none of them did. She had to stop herself several times from asking if they’d really help her find Max after they got away. Of course they wouldn’t.

They were right, she realised as she drove. She was barely aware of the loose gravel that flew up and hit the windscreen every few seconds. With her trap already up in flames, there was no way she could have gone up against those men—not without time to plan.

She’d come so close.

She slammed her hand against the wheel. “You ruined everything. Why the fuck did you have to go into the garage?”

What made it worse was she now knew her plan would have worked. They’d only been able to get out when she’d helped them.

She took a sharp right without warning them and took pleasure in sending the people in the back flying into each other. Their faces and clothes were filthy with soot.

“Take it easy.”

“Fuck off,” she spat, but there was less venom in her voice now. What if they told her to get out? How would she find him then?

She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep forever. She took another sharp turn, looking all around her. She couldn’t see another car. But that didn’t mean anything. For all she knew, those men knew the roads just as well as she did.

“The motorway’s back that way,” the old man said.

“Yeah, and where do you think they’ll go first? Do you want me to wrap you up in a bow and hand you to them?” She shook her head. Ignore them. Think. How do I find Max now my plan’s been blown?

Si tried to play out what would happen if she went back. She’d be at a disadvantage from the start. It’d be suicide—she knew that in her heart even though it was hard to admit. Maybe worse than that. She glanced in the rearview mirror. They’d threatened to shoot Max’s hands off. She shuddered. She could only imagine what they’d do to her.

So what was the alternative now? She tried to focus on driving but it was hard. By driving away it felt like she was betraying Max.

She drove on, starting to calm down a bit. There was nothing else she could have done. These people had ruined everything by turning up when they did, but she’d find a way to make it right. She glanced at the woman beside her. They all had their guard up now, but they couldn’t stay like that forever. Si would be ready the moment one of them took their eyes off their weapon.

She sighed as she pulled into the spot at the side of the road where she’d pulled up many times before to check for traffic on the motorway.