Mind over Matterless: Fallen Gods Saga, #3

By T.W. Malpass

THE FINAL WAR BEGINS

Divided and leaderless, the first-born must fight through the ruined landscape of the Urker invasion to reunite, enlisting human allies along the way.

Meanwhile, Charles Cradleworth searches for his home and his identity under a cloud of amnesia.

New loyalties are forged and armies are assembled on both sides for the final confrontation. In this dramatic conclusion to the Fallen Gods Saga, the first-born must triumph or become part of Cradleworth’s sadistic collection of souls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sericia
• Release date: May 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516382231

Book preview

Prologue

The Long and Silent Walk

All of the fires had finally gone out. The ominous red cloud had dispersed from the skies. Humankind’s resistance had been futile and short-lived. The earth lay silent, the red glow replaced by patrols of Urker Warboats and the unrepentant smog of battle. Even without the cloud, it seemed the sun’s rays would never return to the earth again.

The world’s military did attempt to unite and globalise, but it was too little, too late. The Warboats tracked radar signals to locate the major military targets. Next, they took out the main power-grids and factories. America was the only country to launch a nuclear attack against the bulk of Urker forces in New York and Los Angeles. A Trident 2 ballistic missile fired from a stealth submarine in the Atlantic Ocean; 3.8 megatons of destructive power, potentially the most devastating military attack in history. The explosions had the desired effect on the enemy, but they also flattened four miles within ground zero, destroying 98% of the city’s populations.

Forces retreated when they were overwhelmed, told by their commanding officers to take what supplies they could and disappear. The earth’s main communication hubs called for mass evacuation of all populated areas. People turned on each other. It became a desperate fight for resources. Mobs formed, looting and killing everyone in their path. Survivors fled the cities to head for forested areas, or better still, underground in the sewer systems and subway tunnels.

The Urkers patrolled night and day, mopping up the small pockets of stragglers with their huge prisoner transports. They were under orders to search for the first-born, to keep them alive for their master.

Chapter 1

Ashes We Call Home

1

Yorkshire Dales, Cumbria

Evelyn stared into the dying flames of the campfire. The fact it was the only source of light for miles made it even more hypnotic. When night fell after the first attack, little moonlight could penetrate the thick layer of smog that had replaced the red cloud; the remnants of a desperate, all-consuming exchange of firepower had created a real fire in the sky. She glanced to her right. Stuart lay on a blanket at the foot of his wheelchair, struggling to stay awake.

Josie sat in silence with her back turned. Evelyn and Stuart were lucky if they could squeeze more than a few words out of her in a day since escaping the fires of Weepington Woods. They had all lost Kaleb, but it was only Josie who witnessed his end, felt his despair as his life melted away. During the long route to Harrogate, through the remaining woodland, Evelyn had noticed Josie becoming ever more distant. Evelyn’s one comfort was their guide, Azakiel. The only carrier who returned to her after the attack managed to steer them from danger long enough to complete their trek deep into the Yorkshire Dales.

They encountered a few survivors on the road, and the one persistent rumour suggested that a last minute broadcast from a northern television station instructed people to head for the military base at Menwith Hill: from there they would be directed to the shelters.

For all of Stuart’s talk of scavenging the military base for supplies, when they eventually saw the smoke from its ravaged antenna on the horizon, all they wanted to do was keep their distance and skirt around it. Even from a half mile away, it was clear that the base was devoid of life, but not of death. They could make out the scatterings of burnt out bodies and vehicles from outside the facilities’ perimeter.

They were now less than a day from their destination. They had discovered the markers left by the armed forces to direct everyone to the shelters. Azakiel stayed close to ensure they did not deviate from their path. Although they were near, darkness crept in unannounced, and they were tired, dizzy from lack of sleep, undernourished.

‘Why don’t you move closer to the fire?’ Evelyn shifted around to face Josie.

‘I’m not hungry,’ she replied.

‘Hungry?’

‘Sorry, what?’ Josie pushed her fringe from her forehead, realising she hadn’t been listening to the question.

Evelyn smiled. ‘Aren’t you cold?’ she said.

‘I don’t feel anything.’

The dead tone in Josie’s voice was enough to make Stuart lift his head from his blanket.

‘We miss him too,’ Evelyn said, aware of how patronising that could sound.

Josie sniffed, never turning her head. ‘It’s hard to think of it as missing someone when you know they have been erased from existence. When you know they are more than dead.’

Her statement sent an uncomfortable chill through the other two. Stuart placed his head back down, hiding his face behind his hand.

Evelyn wanted to move to her side and embrace her, but she was conscious that smothering her might cause her to distance herself further. ‘The only thing left to do is what we’ve been doing‌—‌trying to survive‌—‌so we have a chance to stop him.’

‘Stop referring to it as a person. It’s not human. It doesn’t have a species. It doesn’t belong to anything,’ Josie said.

‘It’s also weakened,’ Stuart added. ‘Kaleb must have wounded Cradleworth. You saw it yourself.’

‘All I saw in my vision was pain,’ Josie snapped. ‘All I ever see.’ She jumped to her feet and started to walk away from camp.

‘Don’t stray too far, dear,’ Evelyn pleaded.

‘Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m going to be fumbling around in the dark. I’ll be back in five minutes.’ Josie disappeared into the shadow of the trees.

‘Think she’ll be okay?’ Stuart said.

Evelyn adjusted her slouching beanie hat and shuffled down to a sleeping position. ‘I think we have to stop worrying about whether we’re going to be okay.’

Stuart nodded in agreement. ‘Shall we give it some more fuel so it burns through the night?’

‘Why not? Let’s live a little.’

Stuart focussed on the pile of wood they had gathered earlier. Collecting two branches in his telekinetic grip, he moved them closer, placing them criss-cross over the glowing embers of the camp fire. ‘Close your eyes, Evelyn. You’ve had the least sleep out of the three of us.’

‘We oldies can cope with that.’

‘Humour me then. I’ll stay awake until Josie gets back.’

‘If you’re sure, I’ll just have a couple of hours.’

Stuart smiled. As soon as the last word left her lips, he could tell she was out like a light.

2

The next morning, Josie was already waiting, backpack over her shoulder, as Stuart and Evelyn shook themselves awake next to the spent fire. Her eyes were cold and steely, a changed woman.

They hiked through the Dales for the next couple of hours, skirting the woods. Although only weeks had passed since the invasion, it was as if they were learning to be Indian trackers. Evelyn always led, Josie occupied the middle and Stuart brought up the rear. Azakiel patrolled the skies, ready to send a warning to Evelyn if he could see danger coming. They never stayed in the same place for more than eight hours, burying their campfires and anything else that would give away their movements.

Stuart caught the look in Josie’s eyes again. Fear gripped his stomach. He had a fleeting idea that if he didn’t know better, Josie might not be herself after all. They had discussed the Ceron four days ago, wondering whether it would reappear, maybe in the skin of one of their lost comrades. They would welcome the returning first-born with open arms, one more back in the fold to make them stronger. The Ceron would not take its time like Cradleworth. Josie smiled in his direction. It was the first instance since the attack he could remember her showing any glimpse of positivity. He wasn’t sure if he felt comforted because she still clung to an old part of herself, or because he felt reassured she was not an imposter. He smiled back. He wished to dwell on the moment, but something else bugged him. It had been bugging him all morning, and he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

‘I suppose you two have noticed there are no patrols in the air. There haven’t been any for two days now. That’s a bad sign,’ he said.

‘What are you getting at?’ Evelyn had to stop. Her back ached and Stuart’s remark was an excuse to take five.

‘If they’re not out looking for us, there must be a reason.’ Word for word, Josie said what was in Stuart’s head.

‘Perhaps Kaleb did destroy Cradleworth and they are leaderless,’ Evelyn replied through heavy breaths.

‘You honestly think that?’ Josie hung her head, traces of anger in her voice.

‘Guys?’ Stuart pointed out through the trees. Approximately two hundred yards ahead of them was a bullet grey perimeter fence.

‘The shelters?’ Josie said.

‘Could be,’ Stuart said, adjusting his glasses.

Evelyn pushed her hands against the sides of her head, jolted from her rest by the telepathic update from their aerial scout. ‘Azakiel says it’s safe.’

‘What are we waiting for?’ Josie ploughed on ahead, breaking into a jog as she abandoned their daily tracking formation.

Evelyn gave Stuart a look of concern, and they both tried to catch up with her. Even though Azakiel had given the all clear, Evelyn and Stuart approached with caution, mindful that they were beyond the shelter of the woodland. Josie had no such apprehension, and was already scaling the high fencing.

‘Be careful,’ Evelyn reached up to assist her in getting her legs over the other side.

‘Stop fretting.’

‘Where the hell is the facility?’ Stuart peered through the metal mesh and could see only a small storage hut and an empty helicopter landing pad.

‘Maybe this isn’t the place,’ Evelyn said, starting to climb.

‘I think we should check it out‌—‌come back for Stuart if we find anything,’ Josie said. She set off, feeling her way to the storage building before Evelyn could get to ground again.

‘It’s about two hundred yards to your right,’ Evelyn said.

The doors of the hut were bolted, the single window fitted with bars. Evelyn struggled to look through the gaps and the dusty glass. She could make out some kind of machinery within the shadows, but it wasn’t clear enough to recognise. ‘I very much doubt there’s life in there,’ she said.

They both heard the squawking behind them. Evelyn climbed down from the window. Azakiel had perched himself on a mound, situated on an otherwise flat section of land at the centre of the facility. On closer inspection, Evelyn noticed her raven had come to rest on the decaying rib cage of a human corpse. Azakiel continued to make as much noise as possible until they reached him.

‘What is it, dear?’ The first thing that caught Evelyn’s eye was the tattered uniform, a US forces uniform. The body’s name tag read, Corporal Brad Murphy. The Corporal had begun to shrink, retreating further into his gear. The blue-grey skin on his face was covered in large blisters that had already burst because of the pressure generated by the escaping tissue and the breakdown of the skin itself. Azakiel wrapped his talons around a protruding rib bone as if it were a stand in a birdcage. Evelyn grimaced. The stench from the rotting soldier slapped her in the face.

‘Who is it?’ Josie asked, close behind her.

‘I’m not sure, but there must be something relevant here. Azakiel senses something.’ Evelyn glanced to the soldier’s fingernails. They seemed so loose that they could fall away at any moment.

Azakiel stayed silent, safe in the knowledge Evelyn’s attention had been suitably drawn. It wasn’t the fingernails and withered hands, but what was cradled within them‌—‌a hand box controller. The grey-coloured device had two push buttons, one green and one red. A cable, insulated with rubber coil, trailed from the box and into a slot in the metal beneath them.

‘About those shelters,’ Evelyn said, noticing the fixed controls sitting next to a small opening. They had been smashed, ripped open and destroyed. The circuit boards spewed out from the front of it, held in mid-air by shredded wiring. ‘I think we’re standing on them.’

Azakiel squawked once more before launching himself from the necrotic body.

‘Let’s go get Stuart,’ Josie said.

As they made their way back, a tree fell from the edge of the forest and the weight of its sturdy trunk brought down a small section of the perimeter fence. It seemed that Stuart had got tired of waiting and found his own way in.

Stuart turned up his nose in disgust when he saw the rotten corpse on the lift platform. Rigor mortis had well and truly set in, making it difficult for Evelyn to prize the hand box from the soldier’s dead grasp.

‘Everyone ready?’ she asked, as she covered the green button with her thumb. Josie nodded and Stuart ensured the Jollybird’s wheels were clear of the outer edges of the platform. ‘I hope this works.’

‘It will,’ Stuart said. ‘If it’s been used by the military, the power will be coming from an internal generator, independent of the main grid.’

Evelyn pushed the button. An immediate shudder caused them to stumble a little as the hydraulics moaned into action. The lift moved, and the jarring noise of the warning siren accompanied their descent into the darkness. Although relatively short, the journey to the base of the underground cavern seemed to take forever. There was nothing to see, not even a hand in front of their face, nothing but the suffocating blanket of dark.

The rows of bare bulbs hanging in a line across the roof revealed the tunnel system that lay ahead at the bottom. As the lift reached ground its gears whined, blowing away the dust from the lime stone.

Josie slung her bag over her shoulder again and stepped down from the lift without a second thought. Evelyn braced herself, half-expecting her friend to fall flat on her face. Josie, however, never faltered, slipping between the uneven, rocky ground with ease.

‘It’s times like this when I wish I’d brought my spotlight fixture,’ Stuart said, edging forward.

‘For the Jollybird?’ Evelyn said.

‘I made one for when I used to sneak out for a ride at night. Left it at home in my dad’s shed, I’m afraid.’ He shuddered with a longing for his parents, pushing his glasses back against the bridge of his nose.

Evelyn smiled. ‘Maybe they made it to the shelters.’

‘Your family, too.’

‘Are you two coming?’ Josie shifted her feet impatiently. When they reached her, she stood in front of a map layout of the complex, set against the cave wall in a glass frame. It looked like a map of the London Underground, featuring a colour key for the tunnel system and rooms intersecting it. Josie traced around the edges of the frame with two fingers.

‘It's a map, Josie,’ Stuart said, squinting up to try and read the small lettering.

Evelyn pointed to a circular room connected to the channel they currently occupied. ‘The control room is the first place we should come to. I’m not sure how far down we have to go. There’s no sense of scale to this map.’

‘We’ll see where it takes us,’ Josie said.

‘Should we smash the glass and take it with us?’ Evelyn asked.

‘Nah. Places like this have maps all over,’ Stuart said.

If the journey into the cavern seemed interminable, the tunnel and the endless line of hanging bulbs were worse. ‘What is that horrible smell?’ Stuart rubbed at his nose in an attempt to block out the air’s impurities.

‘Mould,’ Josie said.

The deeper they went, the colder it became. They noticed how much more their voices echoed around the rock face. The air got thicker too, as dust from the lime stone walls began to collect in their nose and throat. It took twenty minutes of walking to reach the central hub. The door had some kind of sensor scanner built into it, but it was already open. Dull, energy-conserving strip lights cut through the darkness around the edges of the room. The rest of the existing light came from the bank of computer monitors and close circuit TV screens set into a large panel behind a desk in the room’s centre.

Josie entered first, feeling her way around the jagged walls.

Stuart made a beeline for the computer monitors. They seemed quite dated for a military facility. Even their outer design looked retro. He was pretty knowledgeable about tech stuff.

‘This doesn’t look too good,’ Evelyn said, still out of breath from their journey.

‘If this place isn’t manned, I doubt anywhere else in the facility is. Someone must have been here though. Otherwise these things wouldn’t be powered up.’ Stuart fiddled with the CCTV controls.

‘They’re here‌—‌the refugees.’ Josie’s voice crept from the darkness, startling the other two.

‘How do you know that?’

‘Same way you discovered the way in‌—‌our wonderful gifts.’

An awkward silence followed. Josie seemed so brittle. It wasn’t that they feared she would break down, but that her hope might shatter if they encountered another setback.

‘I say we take a walk.’ She moved back into the light, bouncing on her toes.

‘Even if we just find supplies, we need to look around,’ Stuart said. ‘Someone should stay here though, so they can track us on the monitors. With all the information in here, they can make sure the other two don’t get lost. Looks like a maze of tunnels out there.’

‘I’ll volunteer,’ Evelyn replied. ‘I’m finding it hard going, and that leather chair looks like heaven right now.’ She gestured to the black, three-cushioned swivel chair at the desk next to Stuart.

He nodded. He’d been so concerned about Josie, he’d failed to realise how much Evelyn was struggling. ‘It’s decided then. Come over here and take a seat and I’ll show you how to operate the monitors.’

Josie waited for Stuart to finish giving Evelyn her crash course in voyeurism. She reached down to unzip her rucksack, producing a handful of knitted sweater. The moment she breathed it in, Kaleb’s smell filled her senses. His scent was sweet with a hint of clay, at least that’s how she remembered it.

‘You ready, Josie?’

She felt Stuart’s stare and turned away to brush the dampness from the corner of her eye. ‘Let’s go.’ She stuffed the sweater back and zipped up her bag.

Stuart eased past her to confront another framed map of the facility bolted to the wall. ‘So, there are two possible routes, straight on, and to the left.’

‘Does it look like the map is showing a comparative scale of the facility?’

‘Looks like, yeah.’

‘Which one has the most room, places to keep large numbers of people?’ Josie wiped the build up of lime dust from her face and once again slung the backpack over her shoulder.

‘Straight ahead looks like the best option.’

‘That route is the only place where the cameras are out,’ Evelyn shouted from the control desk as she gazed at the blank images for each camera in that area.

‘Does it have a name?’ Stuart asked.

‘Looks like it was used as a security vault according to the zone signature, but for what, it doesn’t say.’

‘Maybe it’s storing something more valuable than it did before,’ Stuart said.

‘I think Cradleworth would disagree with you on that. Come on. We’re wasting too much time. We don’t want to be stuck down here when a patrol ship comes to check this place out,’ Josie said, setting off down the tunnel.

Before Stuart followed, he secured his intercom headset in place and looked back to Evelyn, who did the same. ‘We’ll be as quick as we can,’ he said.

‘Be quicker.’ Evelyn winked at him, looking over to their comrade disappearing into the shadows. ‘Watch her.’

Stuart nodded and started down the tunnel.

Another long walk lay ahead. Bulb after bulb of dwindling light hung from the cavern ceiling. The air got thicker as they went, it was like wading through a cold wall of invisible mud. The cavern eventually opened out, and the wider space brought a chill. Its icy grasp clung to their clothing, weighing them down. There was a great deal of damp in the atmosphere too.

Josie shuddered, trying to wrap herself in her cardigan. Since their escape from the manor, they were barely dressed for the outdoors.

‘Good God. I can see my breath.’ Stuart stopped the Jollybird to watch the condensing vapour swirl from his lips.

‘Shh.’ Josie held a finger to her mouth as she shifted to her right, stopping suddenly.

Stuart forgot the cold and moved over to her side. He could see that she was thinking hard, searching for an answer to a question. Looking up, he thought the jagged ceiling of the cavern was moving. It held a familiar pattern of motion, one not of rock.

‘It’s water,’ Josie whispered. ‘Over there.’ She pointed off to the west.

Stuart strained into the darkness and could make out the shape of a sizable lake. The jet black ripples occasionally caught the light from the bulbs and carried it into its mass, throwing reflections of its dark soul onto the limestone. ‘How did that get down here?’ Stuart asked. They could hear the disturbance on the surface echoing around the walls. Although cloaked and sinister, it was the first sign of life they had found. Stuart was close enough for his liking. After all of the nightmarish creatures and the abominable evil revealed to him over the past month, water still remained a very real threat. Since the accident and the intense physiotherapy, he’d not dared dip his toe in a swimming pool. In his chair he felt in control of things, even out of it to a certain extent, but in the water he had nothing. For some with similar disabilities, water presented empowerment, giving them freedom and a sense of support. Stuart went rigid whenever his feet breached the surface, and for some reason, his telekinetic ability did not work with water. He’d tried enough times, searching for a scientific explanation as to why a particular element would not obey his mental commands. He couldn’t come up with a single logical reason. Josie started to move away, and it forced him to suck in his fears. As he caught her up a sneeze came from nowhere. He stopped the Jollybird and cupped his hands right above one of the strongest bulbs.

‘Aww gross,’ he said, turning from the black splatter mark staining his palms.

‘What?’

‘The limestone. Just don’t look into your tissue next time you blow your nose.’

‘I don’t think there’s much chance of that, unless you’re gonna get up and do some tap dancing,’ Josie replied.

Stuart’s laughter bounced around in the gloom, alleviating the oppressive atmosphere. ‘I wasn’t thinking.’ He lifted his glasses to rub his sore eyes.

Josie smiled at him. He could see the light creeping back into her face. It seemed like forever since he’d seen it.

‘What’s the matter?’ Josie asked.

‘I’m just looking at you.’

‘I’m way too old for you.’

‘You look like you used to.’

Josie shook her head. ‘I’m glad I got stuck with you when all of us were separated. Evelyn too.’

‘Crap. I forgot.’ Stuart switched on the intercom clinging to the side of his head and spoke into the mic. ‘Do you read me?’

‘Loud and clear. I thought your headset was broken. I’ve been watching you pretty much the whole way.’ Evelyn’s voice hissed through his ear-piece.

The path in front of them narrowed out once more, directing them to a small tunnel. It branched off to the right and led into another large space. This compartment did not possess the same emptiness as the lake, because it was filled with what people had left behind. Stuart thought it must have been used as a storage room. All manner of industrial machinery flanked them on both sides, motor homes with layers of black dust cloaking their windows, box upon box of documents. Josie discovered a case of old movie reels piled up in one of the many crates.

‘There’s a whole town’s worth of stuff stored in here,’ Stuart said.

‘And I bet it has no value to anyone anymore. The people who are still alive will not remember it once belonged to them,’ Evelyn replied over the intercom. They had stumbled upon a place for discarded memories‌—‌memories of a life that used to carry significance.

Stuart shivered. The chill that ran through him matched the deadness that shrouded them. ‘Maybe there’s something of use to us,’ he said, trying to peer through a tiny gap in the sludge coating one of the caravan windows. ‘Some of this stuff has been down here for a long time, way before the attack.’

‘I’m guessing it’s not been used by the military for years.’ Josie took her hands away from the crates and moved back to the middle. ‘Until now…‌I think we should keep moving.’

‘Hmm.’ Only half-listening, Stuart slipped the Jollybird into reverse, still trying to make out what lay behind the window of the murky-looking motor home.

Once they had passed the final array of rusted vehicles, the shape of the underground facility changed again. A fresh tunnel formed within the rock, gradually curving off to the right. The lighting was much more staggered than before. Huge sections were engulfed by shadow. Josie and Stuart sensed warmth in the air, a wind blowing from the direction they were heading. It felt oddly artificial as it blew against their faces, sweeping back their hair, reminiscent of standing in the path of a vent to a central heating system.

‘This is weird,’ Stuart said.

‘What?’ Evelyn enquired.

‘There’s a warm draft coming from up ahead.’

‘Nothing on the cameras that I can see. Nothing at all.’

‘Well, maybe it’s not—’ Stuart stopped when he felt Josie grip his shoulder.

‘Listen,’ she said.

He gazed into the darkness and tried to still his breathing. ‘I can’t hear anything.’

‘Keep listening.’

‘What am I supposed to be listening for?’ Before she answered he heard it. It was distant, but it was moving closer. It sounded like a huge torrent of water about to roar through the tunnel to engulf them, smashing them against the face of the rock. There was nowhere to run, too late to turn back for the storage area. They could only wait for the ominous sound to get louder.

‘Evelyn, talk to me.’ Stuart shuddered as he spoke.

‘I can just about hear it from your mic, but I can’t see anything on the cameras ahead of you.’

A few more seconds and the sound was on top of them. They expected the cruel wave to burst from around the bend in the tunnel at any moment.

‘Evelyn!’ Josie said, still clinging to Stuart’s shoulder.

‘I told you. I can’t see anything.’

Josie’s heart beat slowed when she understood what they were about to face. She threw her full weight backwards, pulling the Jollybird with her and tipping Stuart out of his chair. As soon as they hit the cold rock face, an agitated black wave swirled through the space between the ceiling and their cowering bodies.

Stuart had fallen flat on his back. He opened his eyes to try to understand why he wasn’t fighting to hold his breath. He saw a seemingly endless rotating helix of wings and fur passing over them, seeking one purpose, to escape. In the time it took for the tail end of this exodus to disappear around the tunnel’s curve, the sound of the bats’ flapping wings had fallen to nothing more than a whisper.

Josie felt for the handles of the Jollybird as she picked herself up. She pulled the chair upright before helping Stuart back into the seat.

Stuart dusted himself down. His hand was shaking as he took off his glasses to clean the lenses. ‘They seemed to be in a hurry,’ he remarked.

Josie shrugged.

‘Evelyn, you there?’ Stuart waited, and then removed the headset from his ear. ‘Damn. Must have busted it when I hit the deck.’

‘We’re cut off?’ Josie said.

‘The mic seems okay, so Evelyn should be able to hear us.’

‘We’ve come too far to turn back now.’

‘Agreed. I just hope we don’t encounter anything else coming in the opposite direction,’ Stuart said.

3

Relieved that her friends were unscathed by their encounter, Evelyn slung the headset on to the control desk. She readjusted her beanie hat and worked the stiffness from her neck. She glanced back to the monitor. She watched Josie and Stuart move out of the camera’s gaze. Reaching forward with a groan, she switched to the next camera, waiting impatiently for her friends to drift back into view. As soon as they appeared, she slumped back into her chair, slipping a couple of inches down into the leather. She imagined lying in a steaming bath tub on Alton Farm, and the aches started to shrink away into her muscles. She heard knuckles gently wrapping on her bathroom door.

The hair standing to attention on the back of her neck woke her. Someone shifted about behind her, creeping lightly on their feet. This wasn’t part of the daydream. She tried to call with her mind to Azakiel, but the imminent stalking presence she sensed blocked her ability to raise the alarm. She did the only other thing she could do. She stood up and spun around, falling back to sit on the edge of the control desk, holding her hands up as the figure emerged with an outstretched arm. It was a man, wide-eyed in a cold sweat. He was wearing an army uniform‌—‌Corporal Ballard, his name tag read. He pointed an army issue Sig Sauer right at Evelyn’s face, finger easing down on the trigger.

‘What the hell are you doing here, lady?’ The man coughed and then cleared his throat‌—‌obviously the first time he’d spoken for a while.

Evelyn failed to notice the difference in uniform, but as soon as she heard him speak she knew he was American. ‘Me, me and my friends, we came looking for survivors. We wanted to see if anyone was alive down here,’ she said.

The man glanced past her and saw Josie and Stuart heading further into the caverns. His eyes widened like they were about to burst out from their sockets. ‘What do they think they’re gonna find down there?’ The soldier’s lip quivered, his stance wilted. He lowered his weapon in stages, bringing his hand up to hold firm his jaw.

Evelyn stayed silent to allow Ballard to gather his wits. She felt calm all of a sudden, perhaps because she realised that he had taken the greater fright.

‘If you’re searching for survivors, you’re looking at him. You can tell your friends to call off the search.’

When he lifted his head again, Evelyn noticed how young he looked, no more than twenty-five. Under the sweat and dirt she could tell his skin was fresh, except for around his eyes. ‘We heard a rumour about shelters set up here,’ she said.

‘That’s kinda right.’ Ballard shook his head, spraying perspiration on to his shoulders. ‘But there ain't no shelter here‌—‌hell no.’ Suitably recovered from his panic, he sat himself down opposite Evelyn, perching on one of the empty shelves.

‘How did you come to be down here on your own?’

Ballard sniggered. ‘I was stationed at Menwith Hill. I mean me and my regiment. Artillery Division‌—‌Cannon Cockers.’ Ballard smiled again. ‘We got the heads up about two days before the attack that they were guiding a large group of civilians here, so we could relocate them to this facility. It hadn’t been used by the military for years, but it was underground and it had enough space. Didn’t have much time to make it nice for them. Just enough time to stack beds and get down the supplies that we needed.’

Evelyn noticed Ballard’s attention had been drawn by the monitors behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see her friends wandering towards a door deeper into the caverns.

‘The first ones arrived and they just kept coming. Truckload after truckload‌—‌thousands of them.’ Ballard again shook his head. ‘We made four or five trips ferrying them to the facility, made extra beds out of whatever we could find. Then we got word from the CO. They had evaluated the supplies and estimated they would only last six months with the amount of people we’d got down here already.

‘They left the others outside Menwith‌—‌didn’t even tell them we weren’t coming back. In the end, some of them tried to get into Menwith instead. Shots were fired…‌I don’t know what the fuck happened after that. I was here, trying to get families settled and securing the facility. General Jordan and the Deputy Prime minister arrived shortly after. We didn’t see much of them. They created an office from one of the rooms your friends are searching right now.’ Ballard pointed behind her to the monitors. ‘They might find some documents left behind, but nothing else. The big wigs split as soon as the shit hit the fan.’

‘The attack,’ Evelyn said.

‘No.’ Ballard reached into the breast pocket of his combat jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, a brand Evelyn did not recognise. ‘That was just the icing on the cake.’ He lit the cigarette with a match card and took a long drag. ‘Not long after we got the refugees bedded down, all the kids started acting weird.’

‘Weird how?’ As soon as Ballard mentioned it, she knew what he would say next, but she asked anyway.

‘They all fell into this trance-like state, started singing this French nursery rhyme or whatever it is‌—‌creepiest damn thing I ever saw, up till then anyway.’

Evelyn noticed his hand shook when he brought the cigarette back to his lips.

‘Not long after the kids got sick, they started to change‌—‌all the refugees did. They went into the same trance. We tried to give them medical attention, but they fucking attacked us, ripped one marine’s throat right out of him.’ Tears welled up in Ballard’s eyes and his jaw began to rattle. ‘In the end we had no choice. We had to open fire and retreat. We sealed the remaining refugees in the living quarters at the far end of the facility. As soon as the officers and government officials got wind of it, they decided to evacuate. They ordered me and Corporal Murphy to stay behind and man this place, in case anyone tried to get inside.’

Evelyn recalled the name tag on the corpse they had found at the entrance and realised Ballard had been alone for some time.

‘After the first wave of the attack, we lost all communication with the outside world; even the secret military channels were dead. Murphy couldn’t take it, kept saying he was going to go and find his family. One morning, I woke and he was gone. I don’t know how far he got, but at least he got to go outside again‌—‌braver than me.’ Ballard let the half-spent cigarette fall through his fingers, squashing it under his boot. Then he smiled to himself. ‘Turns out that on my own, I got more supplies than I know what to do with.’

‘How long were you planning to stay down here?’ Evelyn glanced back to the monitors to check on Josie and Stuart. They had moved to the end of the corridor and were about to take another right turn.

‘Not sure. Maybe a couple more weeks.’ Ballard stared at the weapon in his hand.

Evelyn was certain it wasn’t the first time he’d contemplated using it on himself. ‘What about other places like this, where the military would have directed people looking for shelter?’ she asked.

‘There was talk of shelters being set up at Coulport in Scotland, using the underground atom bomb vaults, but they were just rumours. I didn’t get access to high ranking information, lady. I was essentially