EXTINCTION EVENT

chapter twenty: the same as it was

[ season 1, episode 6; the good man ]

DAY 16

Upon returning to the parking garage, Travis called out for his children. "Chris? Alicia?"

Madison was the first to point out the elephant in the room — or the lack thereof. She pointed over to where they had parked the SUV the teens were meant to be staying with, now an empty space. "Where's the car?"

"Did they leave?" Ofelia questioned from behind them.

Katie felt a sick feeling settle into her gut as she shook her head. "Something went wrong," she said, her heart beginning to race. "Look." She pointed out the dark red trails on the ground, surrounded by broken glass where the car used to be.

At that moment, something growled. The form of a soldier stepped into view behind one of the cars lined up along the wall, stripped of his jacket and weapons, with a scarlet stain across his chest. It didn't get more than one growl out before Daniel shot it cleanly in the head.

Still, she'd gotten a good look at it. It was fresh, no more than a few hours dead.

"Oh, no," Travis had come to the same conclusion she did, and shouted, his voice panicked. "Chris!"

Madison called out as well. "Alicia!"

"Heather!" Katie shouted, her voice reaching a fever pitch. "Meghan!"

As the parents continued calling, Daniel stepped in front of Travis, holding up a hand to shush him. "Shhh!" he reprimanded. "Lower your voice."

Travis didn't seem to have heard him, and continued talking. "We got to find them."

Daniel spoke again, attempting to explain as he pushed back on Travis. "The dead will hear you, and they will come-" As Daniel tried to keep the father back, Travis shoved him aside, and continued to call out for his son.

Katie could see where Daniel was coming from, but these were her daughters. If Ofelia was missing, he would be doing the same thing right now. As far as she was concerned, she didn't care if she brought the whole horde down on them — nothing mattered more than finding her kids. She called out again, "Meghan! Heather!"

Liza joined in. "Chris!"

Towards the back of the garage, a door opened, and Katie spun towards the noise. Alicia jumped out of the SUV first, which had been hidden in a darkened corner of the lot, under a broken light. "We're here!" the blue eyed girl shouted. "Mom!"

Chris followed soon after, then Meghan and Heather, and a yellow blur accompanied by four clacking paws signified the arrival of the final member of the group.

"Dad! Dad!" Chris yelled.

"Mum!" Heather shouted as she all but crashed into her mother, smushing her face in the older woman's shoulder.

Meghan stood back slightly, allowing Heather to reunite first, then came in for a hug.

Katie clutched her daughter tightly to her chest, releasing a shaky sigh. After all she'd been through that night, she was worried she might not have been able to see her family again, and was grateful she got the chance.

As the two broke apart, Katie took the chance to more closely examine her children. Heather looked fine, if a bit shaken, but Meghan's shirt and face were splattered with dried red liquid.

Katie held up a hand and rubbed at one of the dark spots on Meghan's nose. "What's this?" she asked, concerned. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, it's not mine," Meghan muttered, echoing her words from earlier that week.

Katie's brow creased. "What do you mean?"

"The soldiers, they tried to take the SUV," Heather supplied. "They attacked Chris and tried to — they tried to hurt Alicia. We stopped them."

"Are you two okay?" Katie asked, now on high alert. "Did they hurt you?"

"They didn't get the chance," Heather responded.

Katie stared at her two girls, mind trying desperately to make sense of what they were telling her. She finally took in Meghan's stained appearance, the tension in her stance.

"You killed them?" she asked finally.

"I didn't mean to," Meghan answered honestly. "They attacked first, I thought—"

"Hey," Katie caught her attention. "You made the right call. You protected your sister, just like I told you to. It'll be alright."

Meghan caught sight of the infected soldier past them dead on the ground and her brow creased. "We heard a shot," she said, looking back to Katie.

"He was infected," Katie responded. "Daniel put him down."

"No he wasn't," Heather puzzled beside her sister. "He wasn't bit."

Confused, Katie opened her mouth to question them further, but was cut off by Daniel's voice ringing out. "We must go now!" the older man shouted.

A weakened voice called out, tinged with pain and bitterness. "Salazar."

Katie heard the sound of a gun cock and twisted to face it, putting a hand out to shove her daughters behind her. It was the soldier that Daniel had tortured — Adams. His arm had been freshly bandaged, but his sallow face, beaded with sweat, and the tense grit of his jaw showed that his pain was far from forgotten as he set his sights on Daniel.

Beside them, Travis had started to step forward, while the blonde mother had stepped defensively in front of her daughter. Chris peeked out from behind Liza, who stood in defense of her son. Katie doubted that Liza would have any need to protect Chris, he wasn't who Adams was after.

There were three people in the room who were most responsible for his torture — Daniel, Madison, and herself.

"Andy?" Ofelia questioned, slowly standing from her spot by the pillar. "Andy? Hey."

Daniel held out his arm, motioning his daughter back. "Ofelia," he warned.

Ofelia ignored her father's words and stepped further towards her former flame, raising a reassuring hand to him. "Andrew," she spoke softly. "Put the gun down. You don't have to do this, okay? What are you doing? Just put the gun down." Andrew's eyes remained fixated on the girl's father, never straying from their chosen target. Ofelia sensed the same, and her voice took on a pleading tone as she faced the prospect of losing both parents. "Andrew, don't do this," she begged. "Please, please, please."

Her words seemed to have finally elicited a response, and Adams's eyes darted to Ofelia quickly.

Katie held her breath. In that moment, you could hear a pin drop.

"Andy," Ofelia started to say again, and Katie suddenly realized Adams's change of plan.

She was wrong when she had thought he would attack Madison, Daniel, or herself. There weren't only three people responsible for his torture.

There were four.

Daniel noticed as Adams gaze locked on Ofelia, and he shouted in horror, "No!"

The gun twisted faster than any of them could react, and the shot rang out. Ofelia jerked as the bullet hit her, falling to the ground with a sick thud.

From then on, it all seemed to blur together.

Travis rushed Adams, sending him sprawling to the ground and knocking the gun out of his hand as he raised his fists, unleashing a flurry of punches on the soldier.

Daniel rushed to Ofelia's side as Chris watched his father in growing panic. "Dad!"

Liza joined Daniel by Ofelia, and began to inspect the wound.

All the while, Travis continued his assault on the man. He let loose strike after strike, beating the man into a bloodied, unrecognizable pulp. Katie found it nearly impossible to reconcile the brutal actions with the soft-spoken English teacher she'd grown to know over the past week — his actions now and then were incongruent.

The only sounds echoing through the garage were the muffled, wet grunts and gurgles of Adams, the quiet mutterings of Daniel and Liza, and the bated breath of the rest of the group, watching the onslaught.

Madison finally broke apart from the group and stepped carefully towards her boyfriend. "Trav," she spoke, eliciting no response from the man. "Leave him, Trav, leave him."

Travis paused, and Katie could see the blood spit-up over the soldier's face as Adams let out a wet, gasping cough. Madison spoke again. "Leave him."

Travis stood unsteadily, backing away from the man's prone body. The blonde put her hand on him as she lead him away, whispering affirmations.

The group watched silently as the duo returned. Travis went immediately to his truck, leaning forward heavily on his hood, staring down at his hands, which had begun to smear the tan paint with red liquid.

Strand was the first to break the silence. "It's beyond time we left."

No one disagreed.

✖  ✖  ✖

Madison led the group in the SUV with their newest member, followed closely by Nick and Alicia in the Clark's car, then the Darcys in theirs. Travis brought up the rear in his truck, with Daniel, Liza, Ofelia, and Chris.

None of the Darcy girls spoke throughout the ride. Meghan stared blankly out the window, bloodied hands absently stroking through Holly's thick fur, while Heather watched the convoy of cars ahead of them as if they were the most interesting things in the world, pointedly ignoring the destruction around them.

Katie bit the inside of her cheek, and focused on following the cars ahead. They took a left, then came out to a nearly empty flood control channel. Beyond the sloping sides, smoke rose from burning buildings, and cars backed up for miles along the freeway glittered like black and grey sea-glass in the midmorning sun.

To their right, Katie's attention was caught by a flipped car, which looked like it had been pushed off one of the above freeways. Inside, a badly burned infected man was trapped, half hanging out the passenger window, which was on the top of the car. He snarled at them, mottled red arms waving and clawing at the passing cars.

Heather tensed as they passed, dark eyes tracking it until the infected disappeared in the rear view window.

Katie glanced over to her youngest daughter, and felt the need to encourage her. "We'll be safe soon," she spoke. "It's not going to be like this everywhere. LA was the biggest city in California, it was always going to be the hardest hit. We'll find someplace smaller, safer."

Heather was silent for a beat, then nodded. "Okay, Mum," she agreed softly. "That sounds good."

They followed the channel all the way to the ocean before turning out to follow the road, and didn't speak up again.

The convoy finally came to a stop, pulling down the drive of a boxy modern home, with a simple but clearly durable gate fencing off the entrance. Strand was the first to exit the cars, and made a beeline up the sandstone steps. "Come," he motioned to the group, and continued on his path.

Katie unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out of the car, glancing back to her daughters. "You heard the man," she said, and exited, Heather and Meghan following her example.

He began to punch in a code into the keypad in the outer wall as the rest of the group followed suit. Nick got out of the passenger side and leaned against the car, an arm draped across the roof of the smaller vehicle. He called over to Strand, "Grid's dead."

Strand looked back over. "Generators kick on when the power dies." He walked over to the previously closed gate and swung it open with ease, looking back to make sure they were following him before lightly slapping the top of it and continuing on.

Nick was the first to follow Strand down towards the house, his gait relaxed and confident. He exuded a complete trust in the man that Katie couldn't replicate. While he'd been nothing short of a miracle worker to them in the short time he'd known them, she knew next to nothing about him. They didn't even know his first name.

Regardless, the group followed Strand down the tan steps and into the house, each gaping upon first sight of it.

The floors were a polished, shining wood, and the inside walls were a mix between an exposed stone wall and the same tan as the outer walls, which almost reminded Katie of a Tuscan villa in color. It was sparsely decorated, and minimalistic. Despite the smaller windows, it was bright on the inside, owing largely to the spaciousness of the home and its open floor plan.

Still, it was rather empty for someone's primary residence. Either Strand had a near compulsive sense of organization and cleanliness, or it was his second home.

As if he had heard her inner monologue on him and decided to appear, Strand emerged from the kitchen. "Anyone hungry?" he questioned, not pausing in his stride past the group to listen to any answers that may be given. "Help yourself."

The group moved cautiously into the kitchen, the Clark-Manawas crowding around the counter while Daniel and Liza moved Ofelia over to the adjacent living room.

Katie noticed as Meghan's gaze flickered over to the wraparound picture window and patio attached to the living room, and took a moment to admire the crisp blue waters as they could be seen from Strand's home.

Meghan tugged at her bloodied shirt for a moment, and glanced again towards the backyard. "I think I'm gonna go outside," she said quietly. "If that's okay."

"It is," Katie confirmed, and watched with a heavy heart as her eldest barely reacted at her words, nodding vaguely before leaving out the patio.

She turned back to her youngest, checking her over to make sure she was alright. "Back there...you didn't have to...?"

Heather shook her head. "It was Meghan and Chris that ended it," she said. "Not me."

"Are you okay?" the question felt woefully inadequate faced with the grim reality of what her daughters had been through that night.

Heather was quiet for a minute, then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I don't really — I don't know, can we do this later?"

Katie bit the inside of her lip and inclined her head forward slightly in silent understanding. "I think Alicia and Chris found some popsicles in the freezer," she nodded over to the two teens. "Maybe you can enjoy some with them, and we'll catch up later, once you're ready?"

"I do love drowning my problems in high fructose corn syrup," Heather muttered. "Sounds peachy. I'll see you later, Mum, love you."

She gave Katie a quick side hug before bounding off after the other two, swiping a grape popsicle out from under Chris as Katie turned away to grab a hand towel, wetting it under the kitchen sink.

Katie found Meghan outside by the pool. Her boots and socks had been abandoned, and she was dangling her feet in the clear water, sitting silently.

She held out the towel to her as an offering, and pointed lightly at her own face as a hint.

"Thanks," Meghan said quietly, and wiped at her face, using the still water as a guide. Within a minute, most of the blood was gone. She gestured vaguely at the pool. "I thought about maybe splashing some of it on my face, washing it off, but I didn't want to tick off Daddy Warbucks, so..." she trailed off.

Katie chuckled. "That's a good call," she commented, then hesitated before speaking again. When she did, her voice was soft. "Do you want to talk about what happened? With the soldiers?"

Meghan ducked her chin. She kicked lightly at the water, sending ripples across the pool. "Not really," she said, her voice shaky. Meghan cleared her throat and spoke again quickly. "Cause it's not over yet. We're still not safe, and until we are, I can't talk about it." She drummed her fingers quickly against her thigh, and bit her lower lip. "I just know...the second I talk about it, I'm going to break down, and I can't break down yet," she took in a deep, shaky breath, and spoke again, aiming for a lighter tone. "So today's not gonna work for the mental breakdown talk, I'm gonna have to reschedule. Does that work for you?"

Katie's heart ached seeing her daughter so distraught. She could almost see the girls pain, simmering and twisting her into knots under the surface of her skin, visible in the shine at the corners of her eyes and a trembling hand. The worst part, was there was nothing she could say to take back what had happened, or to make it better. All she could do was watch as Meghan retreated inside herself — something she wished she would never have to see again.

She couldn't let her spiral over this. Katie spoke firmly, "I said it back at the garage, but I don't know if you really heard me, so I'll say it again. No matter what you're feeling right now, just know that you made the right choice. You protected your sister and your friends."

"Don't know if they're still my friends after this," Meghan muttered.

"They'll understand. Sooner or later, this world, the way it is now, they'll have to understand." Katie reached out a hand, and softly caressed her daughter's cheek, thumb swiping at once of the few specks of blood that was left until it was gone. "Once we're somewhere we can catch our breath, we'll talk. Okay?"

Meghan nodded, and took a short breath. "Okay."

Katie watched her daughter's shoulders draw in with a furrowed brow. The mother let out a sigh, staring out at the pool's clear waters, the events of the past night weighing heavy on her mind. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Meghan was supposed to be taking notes in her Psych 101 class and studying out on the quad. Heather was supposed to be back home at Longbourn Ranch, cantering around the ring and trails without a care in the world. They weren't supposed to be here. The lives they had before, the people they were, had all but died within the two weeks they'd been there. Now they were mere shells of the people they once had been, living in the shell of a city that once housed billions.

"This isn't the world I wanted you to grow up in," she said quietly.

"It's the world you raised us for," Meghan answered after a moment.

✖  ✖  ✖

Heather's hands were red, but her tongue was a vibrant purple, and that kind of felt like it evened out. Besides, she wasn't the only one sporting some ugly colors — half of Chris's face was currently a mottled blue-black from the growing bruise one of the soldiers had so kindly given him.

Heather leaned further against Strand's glass railing, allowing the sea-breeze to flutter through her hair, cooling her down.

"Hey," she got Chris's attention, pointing at his face before sticking out her tongue. "We match."

Chris scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Remind me why I tried to save you?"

"Temporary insanity," Heather suggested, breaking off part of her treat in her mouth to chew.

Alicia smiled at Heather's jibe, and stuck out her stained blue tongue to join in the teasing. Heather responded in kind as Chris scoffed out a laugh.

A shot echoed out over the rocks, and Heather froze.

Their heads turned towards the sound, previous glee melting from their faces faster than their popsicles in the LA sun.

Heather's blood ran cold. They wouldn't have shot if it was one of the dead.

Which only meant...

Chris took off first, rushing down the steps towards the craggy seaside.

She dashed down after him without a thought, previous treat forgotten as it fell out of her hands into the grass as she ran after him, chest pounding.

Please not Mum or Meghan, please not Mum or Meghan, please, please.

Chris saw the body first, descending the rocks swiftly to rush out to the outcropping where the body lay. He let out a strangled cry, and Heather's chest hurt as he dropped to his knees beside the corpse.

It wasn't her mother. It was Chris's.

Alicia followed after her, covering up her gasp as she took in the scene. The outcropping was abandoned as they arrived, gun left behind on the ground beside the prone body and Chris's shaking frame.

Liza's eyes were dull, staring blankly into the sky as Chris pleaded for her to wake, uncaring of the son she left behind. A thin trickle of blood made its way down her forehead from where the bullet entered, and on her shoulder, Heather could see a bite.

She made her way slowly beside her friend, crouching down beside him. "Chris," she said softly, unsure if he could hear her over his broken sobs. "I'm sorry — she's gone."

He didn't respond, only continuing to keen beside his lost mother, leaning forward heavily onto his elbows against the ground as he cried. "I'm sorry," she repeated, her voice breaking as she realized there was nothing else she could possibly say to make it better. Behind them, Alicia stared unflinching at the scene, most likely in shock, or numb acceptance.

Heather cautiously reached out to the boy, placing a hand against his shoulder to rest in an attempt at comfort. As she felt Chris's shoulders shake under her touch, a single thought went through Heather's mind; Things were never going to be the same as they had been.

The world they knew was dead, and something else had risen in its place.

This was humanity's extinction event. 

✖  ✖  ✖

END OF EXTINCTION EVENT

THE DARCYS WILL RETURN IN RED TIDE, COMING SOON

Hello all, this was the final chapter for Extinction Event, so I hope you all enjoyed the ride!

This is actually the first book in a series following the Darcys! So don't fear, you WILL be seeing Katie, Meghan, and Heather again 😊!

There will be a hiatus before I release the next book, which will follow the events of season 2, but once it's out it will be released weekly, as this one was. Between now and then, I'll occasionally be uploading short edits of the EE group onto my Instagram, so if you're interested, you can check those out (there will be spoilers for Book 1, so make sure you've finished before you watch!).

At this time, I can't say how long the hiatus will be. I know a lot of writers on here release chapters as they finish them, but that doesn't work with my writing style. I tend to write non-linearly, so at any given point I might have my final chapters completely polished, and my first chapter totally blank. Also, I am a full-time student, so I don't always have time to consistently write or update.

The flip side of this is that once I am finished writing, you'll get consistent chapters once a week without any delays!

Special shout-outs to: GlitzReads, GirasoleCottage, -BSHOE,  Defyingravity9,  Iden_Shelby,  MaireniGuerrero, Sydney-Cheyenne, and CrookDTD.

Thank you all so much for all your feedback, comments, and votes, they really mean a lot to me and have motivated me so much throughout this story!