The spread book 6 annihi.., p.19
The Spread: Book 6 (Annihilation), page 19
“Here,” said Sophie, pointing. “This is the clinic Nancy and I worked at. She might still be here.”
They entered an old leisure centre, and Sophie took them through into a basketball court filled with three lines of three beds. Only two beds had patients.
Sophie turned towards the corner of the room, where a line of tables had been set up with chairs. There, a slender man in a baseball cap worked. When he turned to see them, his face lit up. “Sophie? I can’t believe it’s you!”
“Told you I’d be back. How have you been, Nathan?”
“Things are good. It’s finally over, from what I hear. The invaders are all dead.”
She nodded. “It’s true. Hey, guess who this is.” She reached out and took Ryan’s hand. Aaron chuckled as his brother blushed.
Nathan shook his head in disbelief. “Ryan? You found him? Well, good for you.”
Aaron smiled. “I take it you two worked together? Hope it was innocent.”
Sophie dug him in the ribs. “Shut up, you!”
“Good to meet you, Nathan,” said Ryan, showing no ill will. Petty emotion was a thing of the past.
Sophie suddenly grew serious, the levity leaving her face. “Is she…?”
Nathan’s expression grew sombre too. “I promised you I’d take care of her. I kept that promise.” He nodded his head to the side, to one of the beds.
Sophie gasped. Then Ryan and Aaron did the same.
“S-Sophie? Is that you?”
Ryan, Aaron, and Sophie rushed to Nancy’s side. She looked a hundred years old. Her face was a mess of wrinkles and thin black veins. Her breathing was shallow, her voice husky. She was close to death.
“It’s me,” said Sophie, brushing a hand over her forehead. “What happened to you?”
Nathan joined them and gave an answer. “It’s happened to a lot of people. The acidic air affected their breathing, mostly those with underlying conditions. We hoped to see improvement after the air cleared, but the damage was permanent. I’m sorry, Sophie, but…”
She nodded, showing she understood. Aaron understood, too, and he couldn’t keep the tears from his eyes. “Mam, I’m sorry. I tried to get to you. Things have been—”
“My beautiful boys,” she said, beaming. “You’re both here. Am I… am I dead?”
Aaron shook his head. “No, Mam. Sophie brought us here. She came and got us.”
Sophie reached out and held Aaron’s hand, while holding Ryan’s on the other side.
“She’s the bravest woman I’ve ever known,” said Nancy, and then she coughed, a trickle of blackish blood staining her lips. “I knew she would return you to me. If she says it, she does it.”
Sophie chuckled. “I didn’t dare let you down, Nancy.”
Nancy laughed and coughed at the same time, expelling more black blood. “I’m glad my boy has someone like you. Thank you.”
“She’s more than I deserve,” said Ryan, tears on his cheeks.
Nancy nodded. “Bloody right she is. Take good care of her.”
“I promise, Mam. Can we do anything for you?” He turned to Nathan. “Can’t the blues do anything?”
Nathan shook his head. “We tried. Whatever this is, it affects people on a deep level, like a disease. The blues can’t put it right. It’s just too embedded.”
Aaron groaned. He hadn’t even thought, in all his grief, about getting Helper to try to do something, but hearing that it was impossible took the wind from him.
“It’s okay,” said Nancy, and she actually sounded happy. “I have you all here. Whatever time I have left is going to be a gift.” She began to cry. “I’m going to die happy, so don’t be sad, okay? My beautiful boys.”
“I just wish we could help,” said Ryan. “Mam, we must be able to do something. After all we’ve been through to get here…”
For a moment, Nancy just looked at Ryan and Aaron. Then a twinkle filled her eyes and she said something. “Actually, there is something you can do for me. A dying wish.”
Ryan and Aaron looked at each other and frowned.
“Is that liquorice?” said Nancy with a phlegmy grunt.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss.”
Aaron beamed as he watched his brother kiss his sister-in-law before one of Edinburgh’s last remaining priests. Few people believed in God any more, but a wedding was a pleasant reminder of the things that had once been good. Not everything needed to remain in the past.
Sitting beside Aaron in a wheelchair, Nancy was also beaming. It had been four days since they had entered Edinburgh, and her strength had returned a little with the joy of seeing her sons again. Right now, she was munching on liquorice and positively glowing with happiness. No one was in any sort of denial about her chances. She had only a matter of days – weeks if lucky – but for now she was alive. Alive and fulfilling one of her life’s wishes – to see her eldest son get married.
Ryan had searched the entire city for a priest, terrified that Nancy would run out of time, but he had succeeded and now he was a happily married man. Aaron was happy, too, for so many reasons. Not least for Morgan sitting to his left and holding his hand. Their relationship was a meek one, full of slow steps and constant reassurance, but the trust between them was growing. They were a team, and together they fought off the loneliness and fear that night brought. They reminded each other that there was still a future and things to enjoy. Love would prevail.
The wedding was full of strangers who wanted to celebrate Ryan and Sophie’s joy. Any joy was worth celebrating these days.
Edinburgh was a sprawl of construction and teamwork. Shelters were being erected and farmland restored. A new nation was forming in the north and everyone wanted to be a part of its growth. Under the democratic council of the Northern Sanctuary Government, formed with a manifesto of equality, humanity, and teamwork, the city was alive with the spirit of hope. In the south, the Bristol Bulwark continued to grow under similar conditions, as did Birmingham’s Central Council. All across the world, mankind was no doubt rebuilding. What the end result would be was anyone’s guess, but most hoped for a better world than the one that had been destroyed.
Part of the reason people predicted a better world was because of the blues. Edinburgh had already accepted them as full citizens, decreeing that they had fought for Earth’s survival as much as mankind had, and had a right to call the planet home. Mankind and the blues would stand united as Earth’s guardians. Allies until the end of history. There were tens of thousands of blues in total, but mankind would have happily accepted more.
The world was yet to regain party planners and wedding venues, so Ryan and Sophie had arranged a shitload of booze and some decent food to be delivered to a grassy hill on the edge of the city. There they sat and enjoyed the company of Aaron, Fiona, Morgan, and Helper. In the spaces between, Aaron saw Boon, Brett, Sean, Tom, Coben, Cameron, Loobey, John, Liam, Gavin, Miles, and so many others. He poured a drink for all of them, as well as for his mam, resting back at the infirmary.
“Hey,” said Morgan, just as the sun set. “Isn’t the best man supposed to give a speech after the wedding?” She nudged Aaron in the ribs. “That’s you, right, babe?”
He immediately blushed at the thought of speaking in front of everyone, but then felt ridiculous. Public speaking would have mortified that sweaty teenager playing video games in his bedroom, but he was a warrior now. And warriors feared nothing. So he shrugged. “I can say a few words if everybody would like.”
“Go for it, our kid,” said Ryan, raising his bottle of beer.
Aaron stood up, brushing the grass from his jeans. He took a swig of his beer, enjoying the fuzzy feeling in his head. “Okay, here goes. To start with, I should probably say that I’ve changed a lot in the last year.”
Everyone chuckled.
“To say the least,” he continued. “But one thing that’s never changed is my brother’s love for Sophie. He literally survived the end of the world to get to her. And her to him.”
Sophie smiled and rested her head against Ryan, who put an arm around her.
“I would really like to go on about how Ryan and Sophie are the reason we all fought to survive these last months, and it’s true. Love is a reason to keep going, and it can light up any amount of darkness, but it’s not what kept me fighting. What kept me fighting was the friends I made along the way. Each person I met during this last year has made me stronger and more whole, even as I have literally lost pieces of myself. Loobey showed me courage. Miles showed me compassion. Ryan showed me responsibility. And Cameron showed me what family is.” He looked at Ryan, who flinched with a measure of pain. “I’m talking about the family we get to choose. I love you, brother, like you’d never believe. I love my new sister, too, Mrs Cartwright.”
Everyone cheered.
“But I once met a Scot who hated everything about me. He hated that I was English. He thought that I was soft. His language was foul and his manners even worse, but despite that, he saved my life repeatedly. That giant Scot put himself in danger for me time and time again.”
“Me too,” said Fiona, raising her bottle of water.
“I think he did for a lot of us,” said Ryan.
Aaron nodded. “Cameron got past his anger and hate, his resentments and guilt, and he came to accept every one of us. He fought for every one of us. To me, he showed us what it is to be human. Cameron fought to be a better man and succeeded. I hope all of us can do the same in the years to come. I hope all of us can show his compassion and bravery. There are many reasons I am here today, able to enjoy my brother’s happiness, but a big part of it is because of that big, foul-mouthed Scot who once hated me – and eventually loved me.” He raised his beer. “I love you, Cameron. And Coben, and John, and Miles, and all the people who gave their lives so that we can toast to them right now. Let’s never forget a single one of them.”
“To all of them,” said Sophie, raising her beer.
Helper raised his fan. Happy birthday.
Everyone frowned and looked at him.
Helper vibrated his fan again. Happy celebration.
Aaron smirked. “You need to work on your vocabulary, mate. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time. We love you, too, Helper.”
Helper rocked back and forth and used his own voice. “Family.”
“To family,” said Ryan.
“To family!” said everyone.
Everyone chatted and celebrated until deep into the night. Eventually, Aaron was so drunk that he needed to take a walk. He strolled over to the edge of the hill, overlooking the torch-lit city that had stood for hundreds of years and would hopefully stand for a thousand more. Morgan came to join him, wrapping an arm around his waist.
“You okay?” she asked him. “You’ve had a sadness about you tonight, mixed in with the happiness.”
He looked at her and smiled, his breath still taken by her beauty. Then he looked up at the stars. “I suppose I just feel guilty to be here, you know? Of all the people on the planet, why do I get to be part of the future? I took my life for granted. I wasted so much of it…” He let out a long sigh. “There were a lot of people much more deserving than me.”
She nodded. “I feel that, too, but maybe we have more to offer than we realise.”
“You think? You think we can earn this chance we’ve been given?”
She hugged him a little more tightly, shivering against him. “The fact you’re asking that question tells me the answer is yes. If I’d never met you, Aaron, I’d still be locked in that attic. Probably dead. You’ve done as much good as anyone. Like you said, it’s all about the future now. Forget the past.”
He was still staring up at the stars. “What if they come again? Or something worse?”
“I don’t think there is anything worse. In the meantime, all we can do is not take life for granted. Every second is precious, right?”
He turned to look at her. “More precious than I ever knew.”
She leant in and kissed him, their first truly intimate meeting of the mouths. Once she pulled away, he was breathless. “I… I’m going to fall in love with you, Morgan. Would that be okay?”
“I suppose it will have to be. Most of the good men are dead.”
He gasped and then laughed. “Shit, girl, that was cold.”
She shrugged. “If you can’t enjoy a little black humour after the world has ended, when can you?”
“Good point.”
She nudged him. “I’m going to fall in love with you, too, Aaron. I think I decided that the moment you rescued me. My very own one-armed prince in shining armour.”
He rolled his eyes and groaned. “Always with the one-armed jokes.”
“You’re tough enough to take it.”
He looked back up at the stars. “I’m softer than you think.”
“Then let me take care of you, Aaron. You deserve it.” They kissed again, and this time they didn’t break apart for a very long time.
Hey there, reader:
So there we have it. The end. It’s always sad when I have to say goodbye to a set of characters, and if I did my job right, it will be sad for you, too.
Cameron is one of my favourite characters I’ve written, so deciding his fate was tough. Ultimately, I decided he was a hero in a time of war, and would find himself at sea once that war was over. It was better for him to go out in a blaze of Scottish pride rather than try and fit into a civilised world again. Growing old and trying to put the battles behind him while rebuilding society would never have suited him. I hope you forgive me for letting him go.
To offset that sadness, I reunited Ryan, Aaron, Nancy, and Sophie. That has to get me some brownie points, right? Also, I never killed Helper. Do you know how hard that was for me! I didn’t kill the cutie.
Anyway, I truly hope you enjoyed this series. If you did, then it would be great if you could leave a review or recommend me to a friend. No problem if that’s not your thing. I’m grateful just for all the time you have already given me.
If you need something new to read, then you can get six more of my books absolutely FREE by joining my newsletter (I send emails about twice a month). Click the following link to get the FREE ebooks sent straight to your Kindle or other reading device: https://freebooks.iainrobwright.com/backmatteroffer
Thanks so much for reading,
Iain Rob Wright
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PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR
Hey, Reader. So you got to the end of my book. I hope that means you enjoyed it. Whether or not you did, I would just like to thank you for giving me your valuable time to try and entertain you. I am truly blessed to have such a fulfilling job, but I only have that job because of people like you; people kind enough to give my books a chance and spend their hard-earned money buying them. For that I am eternally grateful.
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Diary of a flummoxed father
Iain Rob Wright is one of the UK's most successful horror and suspense writers, with novels including the critically acclaimed, THE FINAL WINTER; the disturbing bestseller, ASBO; and the wicked screamfest, THE HOUSEMATES.
His work is currently being adapted for graphic novels, audio books, and foreign audiences. He is an active member of the Horror Writer Association and a massive animal lover.
www.iainrobwright.com
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