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

“I know. You’re telling me. We could have died.” She coughed and shook her head. “At least we’ve lost those men.”

Si didn’t react. She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Part of her had hoped for a standoff—these people had guns. That changed everything.

“Look, you’re welcome to come to the farm just like I told the others.”

“Thanks,” she said, distracted. Something was really starting to bother her but she couldn’t work out what. She cleared her throat. She’d wanted to ask so many times and stopped herself. Now she couldn’t hold back. She needed to know. “Did you mean what you said? About coming back and helping me find Max?”

She knew from the way the woman looked at her that she hadn’t. She looked away. She had the strangest sense of… what was it? Deja vu. She remembered way back when she was little. Running around her Grandma’s house in Bath, fingers stinging from making snowmen outside. It was the oddest thing. It was winter now but that was the only thing that day had in common with the happy day in her memory.

Olivia, maybe? She reminded Si a little of her Grandma.

She looked around. The street was quiet. There was still no sign of them coming back. She had no idea how much time had passed.

She took a breath and told herself to relax. The place was like something out of a movie. There were flowers and hanging baskets and the footpaths were spotless. It was the opposite of the chaos she’d seen at home.

Even so, the feeling remained, accompanied by a growing sense of panic.

It hit her then. It wasn’t what she was seeing that had set off her long-forgotten memory. It wasn’t Olivia.

It was what she was smelling .

Coal.

Burning coal.

“Annie,” she hissed. “I’ve just realised something.”

“What? What is it?”

“Coal! Can’t you smell it? Something’s wrong. This place isn’t as deserted as we thought.”

Annie frowned. “I can’t smell a thing after earlier. Are you sure?”

Si looked around. Now the net curtains and flower boxes didn’t seem innocent and old-fashioned. They were potential hiding places for people watching them. Anyone could have been behind there, waiting. She shivered.

“Just make the others hurry up, okay?”

She shook her head. “I can’t go in there. I need to keep watch.”

“I’ll keep watch. Just go. Please. We need to get out of here.”

Then the door opened and the others bustled out, cheery as if it was just a normal day and they’d been shopping. They had so many bags full of stuff that Olivia was carrying them on her forearms as well as her hands.

“Come on,” Annie cried, waving her arm. “Let’s go.”

Olivia stopped and stared and Si was sure she could see the blood draining from the older woman’s face. Clive pushed her forward.

“Come on! We can stop and put stuff in the boot later. When we’re out of here.”

Terry climbed in after the couple. “Did you get everything?”

Clive nodded. “Yes. The place was untouched. Not just antibiotics but pain medication and Livvy’s pills. Tetanus shots. Everything we could need for the next few months.” He squeezed his wife’s shoulder. “Are you alright, love?”

“Sorry,” Si said, putting the car into gear. “I shouldn’t have panicked.” Maybe the smell had come to her on the breeze. Maybe it was just the combined stress and fear of the past two days coming to a head now that she was safe.

Safe.

As much as she hated it, she felt safe with these strangers. And who cared if they wouldn’t help her find Max—she’d regroup for a day or two and go find him herself. Maybe one of the others would join her.

She pulled away from the kerb feeling almost light for the first time in days. She’d almost pulled it off before—it was just timing that had stopped her trapping the people she really wanted. She’d figure something out.

She sped up, changing up to second and third in quick succession. It was nice driving on deserted roads. Easy.

Then she turned a corner and realised what an idiot she’d been for letting herself relax.

“All I’m saying,” Josh murmured, leaning close to his brother on the pretence that he was reaching for something on the shelves underneath them. “Is maybe this will work to our advantage.” He jerked his head almost imperceptibly towards Kenan.

Pete sighed. “Nope. The only thing that’s going to work to our advantage is if you do what Harry says and come up with whatever it is he wants.”

“You don’t even know what he’s asking.”

“No, I don’t. But I’m not the one that held myself up as some sort of genius, am I?”

“I never told him that,” Josh hissed. “I never told him anything. It was you who got us into this mess by running your mouth off.”

Kenan stopped. He’d been pacing the room since they came back in, only stopping occasionally to stare out the window—not that you could see anything through it besides the chainlink fence that ran all the way around the vast property. “What are you two whispering about?”

“Fuck off, Kenan. You’re the one who almost fucked this up for us. How can you not tell the difference between someone walking and driving?”

Kenan scowled. “Harry put me in charge.”

Pete had no answer to that. It was true. As thick as he was, Harry had chosen Kenan to watch them and it pissed him off to even think about that. “We’ll talk about this later,” he snapped at Josh.

They fell silent after that. When he wasn’t frantically flicking through books, Josh was tinkering around with batteries and bits of copper wire. Pete had offered to help, but the truth was he had no idea what Josh was saying most of the time and it bored him silly. He wanted to be outside, not stuck in here where he was no help.

“Oh, fuck this,” he muttered, when he heard multiple cars roar up the driveway. He turned and stormed to the door.

“Where are you going?” Josh asked without looking up.

“To see what’s happening,” he said. “I’m sick of being stuck in here.”

Something strange flickered across Josh's eyes, but he said nothing. Still, Pete felt a stab of guilt as he closed the door.

Something was happening alright. The big warehouse was a hive of activity, and Harry didn’t even say anything when he saw Pete come in.

“What’s going on?” he muttered to Mo.

Mo ignored him.

Since the others were seating themselves in a loose circle around Harry—and since no-one had told him to get out—Pete sat down at the back of the group. There were thirty of them in all. Some were new faces he hadn’t seen around before, but thought he recognised from around the estate. New recruits, obviously. It stung that he hadn’t been asked to find people to help. He could have brought Sam. And there were others.

He looked around. The atmosphere was strange; he couldn’t pinpoint why. It was different from the last time. The others had none of their usual swagger. Zane and Mo looked almost scared. And Harry was angry as hell.

“Right lads,” Harry said. For once there wasn’t a trace of a smile on his face. “Listen up.”

No-one made a sound.

Harry cleared his throat. I sent Zane and some of the boys to do a job for me earlier. I wanted dirt on the mechanic. He’s still not budging, the stubborn bastard. Said he wouldn’t work for us if we were the last people on earth.” He rubbed his face. “Only, when they got there, the place was already up in flames. Someone got there first.” He turned to Zane, looking furious. “And you two let them get away!” He looked around at the others. “We need a mechanic. Some of you must know someone.”