Finding Darkness

Episode 2

After what feels like an eternity, "Finally," I breathe out, spotting the unmistakable, boxy outline of a grocery mart, its sign long since faded.

I peer through the grimy window, my heart giving a small, hopeful thump. "Thank the gods." The store doesn't look ransacked; no broken shelves, no scattered debris. Pushing through the swinging door, I'm immediately hit with a foul, cloying odor, likely from rancid food that’s been sitting for months, maybe years. I pray it’s just the food. I suck it up, clamping my jaw, and move forward, bypassing the spoiled produce. My focus is singular: water. I find a stack of dusty bottled water cases and quickly start gathering as much as I can carry, the plastic cool beneath my fingers. Then, canned goods, dried fruits, anything non-perishable. I find food and other provisions, packing them quickly into my old, worn pack. A small, foolish part of me wishes we could stay here for a while, just sleep in a bed, but we need to keep moving, get to the base as fast as possible.

When I’m finished at the grocery mart, my pack bulging and heavy, I search for a clinic or doctor's office. A clinic would have better supplies. I stumble upon one a few blocks away, its windows shattered, but the interior relatively intact. I slip inside, heading straight for the medication shelves. My heart rate picks up. I stock up on antibiotics—they’re gold now—and whatever else seems useful: painkillers, bandages, antiseptics. Satisfied with the haul, I head back toward Elpis and my mother, the weight of the pack a familiar ache on my shoulders.

I'm walking back, my steps quickening with every meter, when I see them: bright, intrusive lights cutting through the darkness, shining directly toward the tree line where I left them. Then, the distinct, menacing silhouettes of two transport trucks, their engines rumbling faintly in the still night.

"Dammit!" The word rips from my throat. I drop everything—my precious supplies scattering—and break into a frantic sprint, a primal fear searing through my veins.

I reach the trucks, sliding into the meager cover behind one of them. I can hear the sounds of a desperate struggle, muffled shouts, grunts. My blood turns to ice. A quick glance confirms my worst fear: my mother is fighting two hulking men, her small frame surprisingly agile, while another, even larger man, holds Elpis, his hand clamps over her mouth. Rage, cold and sharp, eclipses everything else. I pull the knife from my boot, its blade gleaming faintly in the moonlight, and launch myself at the man holding my daughter. He sees me, his eyes widening in shock, but it's too late. I yank Elpis away, her small body trembling against mine, then grab the man by his hair and slit his throat in one swift, practiced motion. His body slumps to the ground.

"Run, hide in the trees!" I hiss at Elpis, shoving her towards the darkness. "Don't make a sound! Don't come out!" Then, I spin, turning my attention to the men fighting my mother.

I dive into the fray, a whirlwind of motion. My knife flashes. I take one man down, his scream cut short, then pivot, about to go after the other when four more NWE soldiers emerge from the shadows, their weapons glinting.

"Shit." My breath hitches. Seven of them now. I adjust my stance, my muscles tensing, preparing to take them all on. I'm ready to kick off, to move, when I hear a sharp pop—a gunshot. Searing pain explodes in my shoulder, fire running through my arm. An NWE coward, he snuck up from behind. I feel the warm blood instantly soaking my back, a sickening trickle. They’re cowards for shooting me, and shooting me in the back. I pivot, ignoring the pain, taking out the man who just shot me with a brutal strike, when another shot rings out. I drop to one knee—this one grazed my leg, a hot, searing line. It’s just a graze, but it burns like hell, stealing some of my balance.

"You all suck! Two shots and you still haven’t managed to take me down!" I laugh, a harsh, ragged sound that’s more a cough, pushing myself back up. My vision starts to blur, the edges of the world darkening. I must be losing too much blood from my shoulder. I can barely focus on the men, their forms shimmering. I got sloppy. I should have taken them all out without a scratch. Am I losing my edge?

You’ve gone soft.

Really? She wants to make a smart remark now? I hear my mother yelling, a desperate, raw sound that cuts through the haze, as I struggle to stay upright. This isn't good. I don’t know how much longer I can stay in this fight, how much longer my body can hold out. The answer comes faster than I would have liked, because the world begins to spin, a dizzying vortex, and I feel myself hit the ground with a sickening thud. The last thing I remember seeing is a large, shadowy figure, an NWE soldier, scooping Elpis from the trees, carrying her away, her small face terrified, and then nothing. Nothing but consuming darkness.

In the absolute darkness, a void, I can barely discern a hooded figure. It slowly walks toward me, its form indistinct, yet menacing. "You cannot keep me locked up forever," it says, its voice a chilling whisper that echoes inside my skull.

I instantly recognize the voice, the oppressive presence. It's her. "I sure as hell can try!" I snarl, my own voice ragged and weak. "I’m not letting you out, ever! I don’t need you!"

"Really? So, you, lying on the ground, bleeding out, with your daughter taken, is 'not needing me'?" The hooded figure chuckles, a dry, rustling sound like dead leaves. "You are weak, Mina. So incredibly weak. You need me. You will not be able to save your precious daughter without me." It mocks me, its voice laced with sinister, gleeful amusement.

"What’s this got to do with my daughter?" I demand, my mind reeling, the image of Elpis's face searing behind my eyelids. The hooded figure throws its head back, letting out a maniacal, piercing laugh that seems to shatter the darkness.

"More than you can ever imagine," it replies, its voice dropping to a seductive whisper, pulling me closer to the abyss.

"EL!" I scream, jolting upright from the darkness. A searing, white-hot pain shoots through my shoulder, but I ignore it, gasping, frantically looking around. My eyes snap open to the dim predawn light, the trees around me. The trucks are gone. The men are gone. Leda… Elpis… everyone is gone.

"No, no, no, no! This can’t be happening!" My voice is a choked sob. They’re gone, ripped away, and it’s all my fault. I couldn’t protect them. I’m the one person who could keep them safe, who was meant to, and I failed.

I force myself to slow my ragged breathing, to push down the rising tide of despair. "Snap out of it, Mina!" I tell myself, my voice a harsh whisper. No time for self-pity, no time for regret. I need to figure out my next move. I finally manage to stand, my legs trembling, my body screaming in protest. My gaze sweeps the ground, spotting fresh tire tracks heading northwest, distinct ruts in the dusty earth. Good. I have a trail to follow. I take a step forward, a wave of dizziness washing over me, and drop to one knee. I need to take care of these wounds first. I can’t chase them down if I bleed out in the dust.

I crawl back to where I dropped the bags, my fingers scrabbling for the medical supplies. I tear open my shirt, assessing the damage. The bullet went clean through my shoulder; it doesn’t look that bad, thank god, no shattered bone, but it’s still an open wound. I clean it with the last of the antiseptic wipes and stitch it up as best I can with shaking hands, biting back a grunt of pain. Once I finish bandaging my shoulder, a crude but effective job, I move on to my leg. It’s a shallow graze, but it needs stitches as well to prevent infection. When I’m done at the clinic, my pack lightened from scattering its contents, I find a clothing store, ripping open a dusty pack of men's cargo pants and a dark, long-sleeved shirt—more practical, less noticeable than my old clothes. At a sporting goods store, remarkably untouched, I find a better pack, a hiking pack with a sturdy frame, and transfer everything from my old one to it, making sure my knife is easily accessible. I’ve wasted too much time already. Every second they’re out of my sight is another second Elpis is in danger. I need to track down those trucks. Now.