He didn’t like Jacob so much. He didn’t want to be the one to say it. He wasn’t one of the original friend group. They were pretty much seen as a “good group” of lads before Jacob joined their ranks. The kind who sit in the corner of the pub and nobody notices. Not really.

  But Jacob was interesting and exciting and cool in a way none of them were. He had this attitude to him that immediately made them all a bit cooler. Even though beneath that surface, there was a darkness.

  Will had seen it before. The drawings in his notepads. The pictures on his phone. He never let people round to his place, either. Was remarkably quiet about his home life.

  Some people said Jacob had been expelled from school because he’d stabbed a kid in the eye. And then apparently kicked out of college because he drowned a cat. Lots of rumours.

  His adult life so far—they were all in their twenties now—was similarly shrouded in mystery. He sometimes spoke about “being inside.” Hinted at violence. They'd all tried searching his name. But nothing came up. Wondered if he’d changed his identity. Something like that.

  One thing was for sure, though. Jacob knew how to push the boundaries in the things he said. It was funny at first. Refreshing. Exciting.

  But it’d grown gradually more troubling over time.

  So much so that Will really didn’t enjoy hanging out with him anymore.

  He was starting to get the feeling Jacob didn’t even like them so much, despite the charm he’d arrived with. It was more that he liked surrounding himself with people who enabled him. Enabled his shitty behaviour.

  Will wanted to talk with the other lads about cutting off from him. On this trip, actually. Maybe right at the end of it. Surely it wasn’t just him who had these thoughts. The others hinted at it as much. He was pretty sure Jacob wasn’t a fan of him, anyway. Maybe he could get the ball rolling.

  But here they were. Signal down. Power on the brink of collapsing.

  And right now, Jacob was speaking like someone stepping over the line again.

  And it scared him.

  “Actually. Maybe we won’t have to wait for a house at all,” Jacob said.

  Will turned around and saw what Jacob had seen.

  A motorhome. A damn decent looking motorhome.

  Jacob put a hand on Will’s shoulder, and it made Will flinch.

  “We’re in luck, lads,” he said. “Get the nails ready. Looks like this is exactly what we need.”

  Will wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The mat of nails Jacob had found. The kind that reminded him of Grand Theft Auto. And how much he wanted to use it. Not really to steal a vehicle. But… just because.

  But he thought back to his video games.

  His lust for rebellion.

  He took a deep breath.

  Swallowed a lump in his throat.

  And then he braced himself for whatever was about to follow.

  THIRTY-SIX

  LILY

  DAY TWO: 9:00 A.M

  Lily turned the pages of one of Steve’s many “prepper” books and shook her head at the sheer depth of all this information.

  She knew there were around twenty-four hours to go before the second wave of the blackout hit with full force and wiped the power out completely. If that even happened at all. She had no reason to believe it wouldn’t, mind. With Terrance, and now Steve, all signs pointed to this disaster being just as bad as they feared, and potentially worse.

  The sun shone in through the window onto the table where she was sat. The motorhome was powering on. They hadn’t run into any trouble on the road. A few people here and there, who Steve seemed awfully guilty about being unable to help out. Just an all-round good egg, it seemed.

  But he’d reiterated that time was of the essence, as were supplies. And as far as he was concerned, their children mattered more than strangers.

  And remarkably, finding Alex meant something to them, too.

  Lily lifted her head and looked across the motorhome at Steve as he sat there driving. She had no doubt there was some strange replacement syndrome going on where Alex was concerned. They were worried about what was going to happen to Aubrey’s pacemaker when the CME took out more power. They wanted Alex around so they could… well, not replace Aubrey. That was way too harsh a way of putting it. But just to make things easier.

  She thought about their son. His heart. That pacemaker. How they weren’t even sure if he was going to stay alive when that CME intensified. She wasn’t sure how she’d even be able to carry on if she knew something like that could be on the verge of happening to Alex. They were so resilient. So strong. But she figured they had no choice. They didn’t want their son’s potential final moments being moments of terror and fear. They wanted to have some more memories with him. If this really was the end, then they wanted to make sure it was precious for all of them.

  It was sad. So fucking sad.

  But she admired their determination to push on.

  And to help her find Alex.

  For whatever motivations.

  Of course, Lily had to worry about Alex herself. But she had to admit, as sceptical and uncertain as she’d been about this whole arrangement, she was starting to feel something close to secure.

  Which was an unusual feeling to say the least. She hadn’t felt secure or comfortable for a long time. Typical for it to take a cataclysmic event to pull the rug from under her feet like this.

  She looked back down at the book in front of her. She was reading a section on “bug out bags” and what they should contain. First, there was a little info on the bags themselves—making sure they aren’t a colour that stands out, a neutral black being the best bet. Then there were reams of information on the things to carry in those bags—bottles of water, filters, purifications tablets. The section on foods and food preparation materials was just as detailed—protein and energy bars were a priority, followed by dehydrated meals. There were all kinds of info on clothing, bedding, heat sources, hygiene, first aid. Lily already felt like she knew a whole lot more about survival simply from glancing through this book.

  But still there was that underlying uncertainty. Because nobody really knew how things were going to play out. Nobody really knew what was going to happen.

  Just that when the solar storm picked up, most things would go out.

  Cars.

  Helicopters.

  Planes.

  Life support machines.

  The chaos would be immediate, even though they’d already been lulled into a preview of that world with the strike of the CME. Except when the CME picked up, they wouldn’t just be without communications. They’d be without all things electric, even all things battery powered.

  Torches.

  Watches.

  All of them… gone.

  She looked at the front of the motorhome again and she wondered whether they had this under control. Whether Steve and Becky could be trusted.

  But what other choice did she have?

  Which other people did she have to choose from?

  She went to look back at the book she was reading when she felt something slam against the bottom of the motorhome.

  “Shit!” Steve shouted.

  She looked up. She saw through the front window that the motorhome had veered off the road.

  Her chest tightened.

  Her body froze.

  Then she saw the tree slam into the front of the motorhome, and her neck cracked forward, her head slamming against the table.

  She lifted herself up, head spinning, forehead throbbing. She could taste blood. Her ears were ringing, but she could just about make out the cries of Aubrey and Clarissa. At least they were crying. Crying was better than silence, especially after an accident. She remembered watching Alex at his first sports day. She was stressed enough as it was. The heat. The crowds. All those judging eyes.

  But when Alex tumbled over and banged his head hard, she’d never forget that moment’s silence. Total silence. Every mother’s worst nightmare.

  And when she heard a cry…

  She knew he was okay.

  He was awake.

  He was conscious.

  He was going to be okay.

  No one ever wants to hear their child cry, sure.

  But when the alternative is total silence… you have to make do with it.

  Comfort your kid, make sure they’re okay, and just be grateful they are awake.

  Alive.

  She looked to her right and saw Beast standing there, ears back, curious about what’d happened. He looked confused, but again, he was alive. That was a blessing in itself.

  She looked over at Steve and Becky and she felt her stomach sink.

  There were no noises from the front of the motorhome. The windscreen looked like it’d completely shattered. The front of the motorhome had caved in, and the airbags were fully deployed. It’d all happened so rapidly. So suddenly. So swiftly that she couldn’t even properly get her head around it.

  Lily stood up shakily and walked slowly towards the front of the motorhome. She didn’t want to find Steve or Becky dead. She didn’t want to find them in any kind of bad situation.

  But she would have to find them one way or another. She would have to see what kind of condition they were in.

  She edged closer to the front of the motorhome. She wanted to call out their names, but she couldn’t for fear they might not respond. She looked back, over to the bedroom area where Aubrey and Clarissa had been playing. They were at the bedroom curtain. They both looked okay. Neither of them were bleeding. There were some miracles in this world after all, then.

  Lily got so close to the front of the motorhome that she knew it was almost time. Within a matter of seconds, she’d know the fates of these people. These people who had been so kind to her, so generous to her, who had taught her so much.

  She held her breath as she stood right behind them, body shaking, mind racing.

  “Steve?” she said, her voice cracking. “Becky?”

  She waited for a response.

  Nothing.

  And then a cough.

  Right on cue, just as Steve coughed and leaned forward, blood dripping down his face, Becky turned around too. She was rubbing at the back of her neck, moaning with the pain.

  But Lily couldn’t help but feel total relief.

  They were alive.

  They were still alive.

  They all stood up and stepped out of the motorhome. Becky saw to the children, while Steve and Lily examined the damaged wreckage of the motorhome.

  “Looks like we’ll be going on foot,” he said. If he was annoyed about the trashing of his pride and joy—as well as the sure abandonment of so many good supplies—he was doing a stellar job of keeping it under control.

  Lily swallowed a lump in her throat. She nodded. As gutted as she was about what’d happened, a part of her knew she still had to count her blessings. After all, she was alive. Still in shock, still reeling from what had just happened… but alive.

  She turned around to step back into the motorhome to help Steve unload some of the supplies.

  Then, she saw the five lads standing right at the back of the van, smiles on their faces.

  “Hello, gang,” the lad in the middle said. Evil smirk across his face.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  LILY

  DAY TWO: 9:15 A.M

  Lily’s heart raced as she stared at one of the lads opposite her and she hoped that somehow they’d find a way out of this situation.

  She’d been in the motorhome. Everything seemed okay. And then something had happened. There’d been an incident. A crash. And then she’d had to get out of there, and then…

  The smashed wreckage of the motorhome was just behind her. Becky and the kids were out of the motorhome now too, standing alongside her, Beast and Steve. Nobody said anything. Not for a while.

  But one thing was pretty clear.

  These lads opposite them were vultures. And they were here to prowl the wreckage.

  “I mean, you’re all kitted out with a motorhome,” the main guy said. He was tall, with slicked-back brown hair, but he was well built. Lily didn’t want to think about any kind of confrontation with him any time soon. “Don’t tell me you don’t have stuff in there.”

  “Nothing that you guys will be interested in,” Steve said.

  “And how do you know that?” the main guy asked. “How do you know what we do and don’t want, hmm?”

  “I know what lads like you always want. And I’m telling you. There’s nothing here for you.”

  “Steve,” Becky said.

  “No. We worked hard for this stuff. I’ll be damned if I just let someone else take it from us.”

  “I thought you said you had no stuff?”

  Steve lowered his head. Lily could sense this situation getting progressively worse. She just wanted to intervene, somehow. In any way.

  Intervening meant pushing herself way out of her comfort zone.

  But sometimes you had to push yourself out of your comfort zone if you wanted to survive.

  “Please,” Lily said. “We’ve had an accident. You can see that. There’s—there’s two kids here. And we don’t have a lot of stuff. We don’t even know what we’re gonna be able to salvage after the accident.”

  “I’m sure you’ll manage,” the lead guy said.

  “Jacob,” one of his friends said. “No need to be⁠—”

  “No need to be what? If you weren’t comfortable about this, you shouldn’t have agreed to puncture the tires in the first place.” Shit. So that’s what’d happened. Somehow, these lads had been following them. They’d been waiting. And then they’d punctured the tires and sent them flying off the road. They’d planned this. It was madness. Total craziness.

  And the fact that they had a nail wire to lay a trap. Did that suggest they had some police connections?

  And how the hell were they planning on escaping with their stuff after destroying the motorhome?

  It was desperate. But it was stupid.

  She always expected people would keep it together if ever there was an incident like this. That humanity could come together and stand strong. Shoulder to shoulder. In the early days of the coronavirus lockdown, she’d seen evidence of people reacting to disaster in the most exemplary ways.

  So perhaps there’d been a naivety about her. A naivety that made her think that’s exactly how people were going to react in the case of any disaster, basically.

  But the power wasn’t even out yet, and already people were in survival mode.

  She wondered whether the government would regret the message they’d put out. Whether they’d send another out, if they had the chance. All it seemed to have done was whip people up into a desperate frenzy. It’d awoken a selfishness inside of everyone.

  And this kind of behaviour—criminal behaviour—already seemed commonplace.

  That was crazy.

  She thought back to Terrance, then. She still hadn’t quite been able to get her head around what’d happened to him. Still hadn’t quite been able to comprehend it. But… she’d watched him die. She’d watched that poor man die in a desperate scramble. And then she hadn’t even been able to bury him. To give him any kind of dignity in death.

  And if this was the sort of behaviour that was already occurring… just how much worse was it all going to get?

  Honestly, she didn’t want to think about it.

  She thought about the tires. About what this group of thugs had done. They’d tried to take out the motorhome. Tried to take it off the road. For what? Supplies? That was it? A few supplies meant more than actual lives to these people, now? Was that how it was?

  Lily couldn’t get her head around it. But one thing was clear. Abundantly, painfully clear.

  They could’ve killed her group.

  They could’ve killed Aubrey and Clarissa.

  And she got the feeling they still could.

  “I didn’t think it’d play out like this,” one of Jacob’s friends said. He was wide-eyed. He didn’t look like he wanted to be here. At all. Like he was really questioning the morality of this whole damned thing. “Like… this is fucked up, mate. It’s fucked up.”

  “Then maybe you should get on their side, eh, Will?”

  Silence followed. And after that silence, an understanding. A sense that these lads were pulling together, even if they weren’t all entirely comfortable about what was unfolding.

  Jacob turned around and looked at Lily, right into her eyes.

  “So you say you have stuff for us. What stuff?”

  Lily’s mouth went dry. She looked around at Steve, then at Becky and the kids.

  “I—”

  “We have nothing for vultures like you,” Steve said.

  He stepped up to Jacob, squared right up to him.

  “So, I suggest you take your attitude, and you piss right off.”

  Jacob’s eyes shifted. There was something about his entire demeanour that just changed, right in that second.

  He looked around at his friends and he smiled.

  “Oooh,” one of the lads—not Jacob or Will—said. “Not good that, was it, Jacob?” This guy seemed to be enjoying everything.

  Jacob looked around at him. Smiled. “No, Eric. It wasn’t, was it?”

  Then he looked back at Steve. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

  He swung a punch across Steve’s face.

  It was a solid hook. The lad looked bulky, but Lily had been confident that Steve would find a way to deal with him.

  That was until the rest of this guy’s friends joined in and started punching and kicking at Steve too.

  All except one—Will—who stood there, wide-eyed, with horror, and with amazement at what was unfolding.

  Stood there nervously, shaking his head. But doing nothing to help.

  Becky screamed at them to stop. She tried to walk over and intervene, but then ended up back with her children, holding them, making sure they weren’t looking.

  Lily just stood there, Beast by her side, growing in fear, building in total paralysis.

  She couldn’t do anything about this situation.

 

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