DAY ZERO

  ©2026 RYAN CASEY

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  ALSO IN SERIES

  The Blackout Chronicles

  Day Zero

  Afterlight

  The Final Dawn

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  CONTENTS

  1. LILY

  2. BETHANY

  3. LILY

  4. BETHANY

  5. LILY

  6. LILY

  7. BETHANY

  8. LILY

  9. BETHANY

  10. LILY

  11. LILY

  12. MARVIN

  13. BETHANY

  14. BETHANY

  15. GAVIN

  16. LILY

  17. BETHANY

  18. LILY

  19. LILY

  20. DANIEL

  21. LILY

  22. BETHANY

  23. BETHANY

  24. BETHANY

  25. OLLY

  26. LILY

  27. BETHANY

  28. LILY

  29. BETHANY

  30. BETHANY

  31. BETHANY

  32. LILY

  33. LILY

  34. LILY

  35. WILL

  36. LILY

  37. LILY

  38. LILY

  39. BETHANY

  40. BETHANY

  41. JACOB

  42. BETHANY

  43. BETHANY

  44. LILY

  45. LILY

  46. BETHANY

  47. OLLY

  48. BETHANY

  49. BETHANY

  50. LILY

  51. BETHANY

  52. LILY

  53. BETHANY

  54. LILY

  55. BETHANY

  56. LILY

  57. BETHANY

  58. LILY

  59. BETHANY

  Thank you for reading Day Zero

  ONE

  LILY

  THE DAY BEFORE…

  Lily knew she was in big trouble the second she stepped into the supermarket.

  It was a stifling hot summer day, which in itself was a problem. Super sunny outside. Truly scorching. She was always much worse when it was boiling hot. Found it difficult. Her clothes clinging to her body, her heart racing at over 150 beats per minute. Thumping away. And that wasn’t an estimate, by the way. She wore one of these fancy smartwatches, which confirmed her sinus tachycardia to her at least a hundred times a day. She didn’t even know what “sinus tachycardia” was before she’d got this watch. Now… yep, well and truly aware of it. First freaked out about it when she went for an echocardiogram and saw those two mysterious words screaming back at her. Took another trip to the doctor to confirm that it literally just meant “elevated heartbeat.”

  He said it like it was supposed to reassure her. It did the opposite.

  But still. It was important to keep track of her health.

  At least that’s what she told herself.

  Just a pity that keeping track of her health only seemed to add to her stress…

  She looked around the supermarket—one of her personal favourites—and her stomach sank to whole new depths right away. She’d got here at two p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, hopeful and optimistic that she wouldn’t run into too many people. After all, the vast majority of people would be at work.

  Sure, two p.m. was probably cutting it a bit fine. If she didn’t get her shopping done fast, she might risk running into the post-school rush.

  She needn’t worry about that.

  Because this place was absolutely filled to the brim with parents pushing prams. Young children running amok. Screaming. Wailing. Nightmarish chaos, everywhere she looked.

  And then it dawned on her.

  It dawned on her, hard.

  Her cheeks warmed up.

  Her stomach sank even deeper.

  School holidays. Of course.

  Of fucking course.

  Alex was away on his school trip over the holidays, just outside of Ambleside. Which wasn’t exactly a million miles away from here. Could drive there in an hour. But it was far enough for it to be a problem to her. Hell, anywhere would be far enough to be a problem to her.

  Damn it. How had she been so stupid?

  All of these factors together made Lily’s chest tighten. Her heart raced even faster, to the point where she was certain she was going to have to make a rapid detour to the bathroom to run the heart rate app on her Watch. Just to make sure it was within reasonable levels. Just to make sure she was still okay.

  But no. She had to keep her cool. She’d got herself out of the house and that was an achievement in itself for a loner writer like her. She could’ve ordered an online shop. She could’ve just rotted away on her sofa, waiting until she felt a little better before finally doing a shop.

  But she was here now.

  She had to maintain those deep breaths. You’ve got this, Lily. Don’t lose your shit.

  She took a few steps. The further away she got from the main doors of the supermarket, the more her tension built. She felt like she was surrounded and that she had no escape. Her legs were like jelly. And really fucking wobbly jelly at that. She could taste vomit right at the pit of her throat, rapidly getting more acidic. Making it hard to breathe. Shit. She couldn’t throw up. If she threw up, everyone would see her and everyone would judge her and she’d never be able to come shopping again because⁠—

  “Everything okay there, miss?”

  Lily swung around immediately when she heard the voice.

  There was a man standing beside her. He was wearing a rather grubby purple jacket. He smelled of sweat. Gave off rather unwashed vibes. The fluff on his top lip told Lily that he probably hadn’t even reached the age where shaving was a regular thing yet. Either that, or he just struggled growing facial hair. Hard to tell.

  But he was looking at her. The fact that he’d actually asked her if she was okay was a problem, because it must mean she was showing signs that indeed she wasn’t okay at all.

  She swallowed a lump in her throat and cleared her tight chest. “Yeah,” she said. “Just—just doing some shopping.”

  The man smiled at her. He knew damn well she wasn’t okay. He could tell from just looking at her that she was far, far from being even nearly okay.

  But he smiled, in that robotic way that all shop assistants smiled when they knew they’d pushed their luck a little too far. A few flakes of dandruff in his greasy hair catching her eye in a way that made her feel harsh for even noticing. “You know where I am if you need any assistance. Have a wonderful day.”

  And then he walked away, out of her life.

  She walked further towards the fruit and veg aisle, going through every single item she was supposed to be buying in a mental list. Birds eye chilis. Shallots. Tomatoes. She was making an arrabbiata. She was challenging herself to find a few hobbies that didn’t involve work or feeling shit. She didn’t do a lot outside of working and feeling shit these days. Those two things were kind of her thing.

  Cooking a decent meal was the endgame. It just so happened that she was forcing herself to go out and actually buy her ingredients without relying on an online delivery. After all, one couldn’t rely on online delivery forever.

  That said, she was fast wishing she’d taken the easier route. This was hell.

  She reached the fruit and veg aisle, feet heavy, and clothes even more stuck
to her skin. When she saw the tomatoes, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a smile stretch across her cheeks. She’d made it to the tomatoes. That was something. Anxiety: eat that, bitch.

  But there was a problem. And that problem came in the form of a mother and her two hyperactive children blocking her from reaching the tomatoes.

  The worst obstacles imaginable.

  Her mind began to race. She could just move on to something else then come back to the tomatoes. Yes. That’s what she’d do. Just move onto the chilis and… and if she didn’t manage to get back round here, well then she’d just have to make do with tinned tomatoes this time round, which she already had anyway.

  She started to move towards the chilis. But there was a problem.

  There were two old women having a conversation at the end of the aisle. They were blocking her way out of the aisle, ignorant to the shoppers around them.

  She cleared her throat, and loosened the collar around her neck.

  Then she turned and walked back in the direction she’d come from.

  But there was a problem there, too. And that problem came in the form of some more bratty children, running around like they were playing some kind of tag game.

  Her temperature was rising.

  Her ears were ringing.

  She wanted to just ask them to move. After all, it was one of those incidents where their parents would just spin around and tell them to stop being such hard work as soon as they realised what a scene they were causing, right?

  But they didn’t. In fact, time seemed to stretch on even longer. And the more those old women chattered and the more these kids ran around, the more trapped Lily felt.

  It was then that she felt it building in the pit of her stomach.

  It.

  She didn’t know what to call it. She didn’t want to call it anxiety because that’d be belittling what the feeling actually was.

  But regardless, it was familiar, and it was growing, and it was creeping its way up her throat and threatening to cut off her breathing…

  She pushed, then. And when she pushed, she didn’t see the slippery patch of the shop floor beside her.

  When she was falling, it was already too late to do a thing about it.

  She clattered to the floor with a thump. She bit her lip, tasted blood right away. Her wrist was sore and her body felt tight.

  But that wasn’t even the worst thing about all this.

  The worst thing was that tightening sensation around her neck, which got even more intense when she raised her head and saw all those eyes peering down at her.

  She looked at the kids. She looked at the parents. She looked at the old women, still chattering away, and then at the shop assistant, who was rushing in her direction.

  She looked at them all and she heard voices asking if she was okay, if she needed any help.

  But all she could do right now was drop her basket.

  All she could do was climb to her feet and lower her head.

  All she could do was run.

  Real life: 1, Lily: 0.

  Looked like takeaway was on the cards again tonight, after all.

  TWO

  BETHANY

  THE DAY BEFORE…

  Bethany tried to make sense of the damned navigational arrow on the dodgy sat nav and she knew she was well and truly lost.

  And when she got well and truly lost, she really got well and truly lost.

  It was late in the afternoon. Even though it was summer, she had this irrational fear that it was going to go dark any time now and that she would be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, no nearer to the cottage she was looking for. That she’d been searching for longer than she cared to admit.

  It was hot too. Really bloody hot. And her air con had broken. Honestly, absolute nightmare. Her car, a red Honda Jazz from like 12,000 BC, was an absolute shitheap. On its last legs. Sure, she knew she should be grateful she’d even got a car at eighteen, but she couldn’t wait until she was older and earning more money so she wouldn’t have to drive this metal box of death around.

  Dad’s crappy sat nav wasn’t exactly helping matters, either. He insisted it was better than Google Maps. Said Google Maps had got him lost in the French Alps once. And this trusty sat nav had bailed him out. So she’d promised to use it whenever she went out and about. Just to shut him up, really.

  She was beginning to regret it.

  Google Maps reigned supreme.

  And sure. She shouldn’t be too mad that she was lost in the middle of the Lake District, because she was under strict orders from her parents not to venture out of Preston in her car, especially not on her own. In a heated conversation with Dad one night, she’d tried to push that to “the northwest of England.” Dad had compromised on “within the confines of Lancashire.” So she couldn’t really argue with that. She knew she shouldn’t stray too far. The Lakes were definitely beyond Dad’s threshold. Nice as they were.

  That was one of the reasons she couldn’t use Google Maps. Mum had this bloody parental control thingy on her phone, where she could see what apps she was using, when she was using them, and for how long.

  If Dad caught wind that she was on Google Maps, he’d freak the hell out immediately. He’d know something was up. He always did.

  Dads, right?

  Her parents were on holiday in Santorini. So it was safe to say she hadn’t exactly listened to them.

  But she needed them right now.

  She needed their help.

  And she hated that she had to admit that.

  She looked down the country road ahead. There wasn’t a whole lot to see in all truth. Tall trees lined the road either side of her. Thick and dense, too. A narrow road stretched ahead. She’d already had a ton of near-collisions on this bloody road already as it was. She was starting to question why she’d come up to visit Dan’s cottage at all. After all, her parents were usually right about stuff, whether she liked to admit it or not. They’d been worried about her driving in places like this on her own, yet here she was.

  And where were they?

  In Santorini beside some luxurious pool, sipping cocktails.

  She took a few deep breaths as the sat nav continued to bark irritating, impossible instructions at her, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Dad’s. He hadn’t recorded his own voice, had he?

  “Do a U-turn where possible.”

  The thing just wasn’t making sense. A few minutes ago, she’d been on the right route, apparently. What made now so different?

  “Stupid thing,” she muttered. Face growing a bit hotter.

  “Do a U-turn where possible.”

  She clenched her teeth. Then, spotting a parking place at the side of the road, she pulled into it and took a few deep breaths. She was so close to cracking. She’d been doing her best to hold her shit together for a while now, ever since the breakup. She’d lashed out at people, she knew that. She’d been all round awful with people. Irritable. Locked herself away from people. And her energy… her energy levels were borderline non-existent.

  She knew it had turned her into a bitch, the whole breakup debacle. And she knew she should be more grateful of the help the people around her were trying their damnedest to give her.

  But really she was just hurting. She just needed to have some laughs and spend some time with people she cared about. She was past the “rotting in her bed” stage. She was ready for something new, at last. Some fresh air: literal, and psychological.

  That’s why she’d come here. That’s why she’d defied her parents’ orders and visited the Lake District and headed up to Dan’s parents’ cottage. She needed a break from her own thoughts.

  And now it was clear she wasn’t even being allowed that.

  “Do a U-turn where possible.”

  “Shut up!” she shouted. She smacked the sat nav a little too hard. She knew her hit was a little hard right from the moment she’d taken the swing. But it felt good. It felt like all the tension that’d been building up inside her for so long had finally come to a head. Probably not a good sign, was it? Anger releasing her frustration. Clearly hadn’t quite curbed her irritability yet.

  When the sat nav cracked against the side window of her car, she didn’t feel so great after all.

  She reached for the sat nav and picked it up, hoping there was still life in it.