Bethany shook her head. “Really. That’s okay. You’re… you’re not insured.”

  Olly smirked. “Not insured? I think the DVLA probably have bigger things on their plate right now.”

  Bethany smiled back. “I guess,” she said.

  She held out the key. Olly reached into her hand and went to take it.

  She pulled it back. “Whatever you do, don’t scratch it.”

  “Apart from the massive dent and the cracked windscreen? Yeah. I’ll do my best.”

  She moved her hand towards Olly’s, and he took the key.

  He kept his hand there, just for a second, and looked into her eyes.

  Then he took the keys away and left the room.

  There was something about Olly she hadn’t felt before.

  Something she’d never seen in his eyes before.

  If she hadn’t been so blinded by it, maybe things would’ve turned out differently.

  THIRTY-ONE

  BETHANY

  DAY TWO: 2:00 A.M

  When she heard the shouting somewhere within the depths of the house, Bethany knew something was wrong immediately.

  She opened her tired, gritty eyes right away. There was nothing but total darkness right above her. For a moment, she felt disoriented, and she had no idea where she was.

  And then it dawned on her.

  It dawned on her, and it made her stomach sink.

  She was in the Lakes.

  She was at Dan’s cottage.

  And there was shouting and banging coming from somewhere downstairs.

  Her body went numb. She thought about the man she’d hit across the face back at the shop. What if he and his friends had found their way here? What if they’d followed them here? What on Earth then?

  She swallowed a lump in her throat and felt her legs tense up even more. Her heart beat so fast that she could feel the bed underneath her moving. That happened sometimes, especially when she was nervous. Sometimes, it kept her awake at night. Most of the time, she didn’t notice it. But when she did, she couldn’t unnotice it, and sometimes it kept her up for hours at a time. Sometimes, right through to morning.

  She wanted to stay put. She didn’t want to know what was going on downstairs. If she could avoid going downstairs, avoid finding out, then that’s exactly what she would do. Bury her head in the sand, all over again. Just like she always did. That was just so typically her, wasn’t it?

  She lay there. Thought about closing her eyes. Thought about pretending she hadn’t heard that sound at all. That’s what she would have done, once upon a time. Before today.

  But not now.

  Not anymore.

  She wasn’t going to stay here. She couldn’t just lie here.

  She was going to go check regardless of how she felt.

  She was stronger now. She had to be stronger now.

  So, she took a deep breath and climbed out of bed.

  She crept across the room, eager not to make any sounds or noises with her footsteps. Her mouth was dry, and she was gasping for water. She stepped out into the landing area and thought about calling for Dan, Susan or Olly. After all, she didn’t want to tackle this alone. If there was someone down there, then she didn’t want to be the one to end up having to tackle them.

  She’d witnessed someone breaking into her house when she was younger. She heard footsteps downstairs. And something that sounded like glass, smashing. For some reason, she thought it was Dad. So she went downstairs to check he was okay. When she got down there, she realised it wasn’t Dad at all. It was a younger guy. Wearing a baggy black hoodie. His face was covered. When he saw her, he looked right at her, and he put a finger over his lip. And even though she wanted to scream, she couldn’t. She’d stood there, wee trickling down her legs, and she’d watched him take things from their home. And then he’d left.

  She’d gone back to bed.

  She’d never told Mum or Dad what happened.

  Because she was ashamed.

  Ashamed that she’d let her house be broken into, and that things had been robbed, and that she’d watched the whole thing.

  But then she heard one of the voices downstairs and she realised it was familiar.

  Dan.

  She walked down the stairs, picking up in pace. Part of her didn’t want to see what awaited at the bottom of the stairs. Part of her didn’t want to know what made Dan so angry.

  But she had to keep going.

  She reached the bottom of the stairs and recognised another voice.

  Susan.

  Her stomach turned. They were up at two a.m. having some kind of argument. But what about? What was it possibly about?

  She walked out into the hallway, towards the kitchen, opening the creaky door slowly as she squinted through the light.

  She could still hear the voices. They were coming from the garage where they’d stacked all their supplies. The ones they had managed to gather, anyway.

  Dread filled Bethany’s body then. Had someone been in here and raided them? Perhaps someone had seen their boat and followed them back. The thought of someone watching them made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. And yet it wasn’t entirely unrealistic. People had already seemed willing to go to lengths she hadn’t expected them to. And it was still early days. Hell, the actual event Dan was most worried about—this CME—hadn’t even properly hit yet.

  She made her way through the kitchen, towards the door into the garage, which was partly ajar. Light peeked through it.

  She held her breath and stepped inside.

  The first thing that struck her was the shelves. They were emptier than she remembered. Far emptier than she remembered.

  The garage door was wide open, too. The wind and breeze blew in through it.

  Dan stood there, staring out of it, hands by his side. Susan looked around at Bethany, tears in her eyes.

  “What’s happened?” Bethany asked, desperation in her voice.

  But already she was figuring it out.

  Already she was putting two and two together.

  “He’s gone,” Dan said. “Taken your car and gone.”

  Bethany narrowed her eyes. “Who’s gone? Who’s…”

  She didn’t have to ask any further. Of course she didn’t.

  “Olly. He’s taken supplies and he’s left us,” Susan said. “Olly’s left us.”

  THIRTY-TWO

  LILY

  DAY TWO: 7:00 A.M

  When Lily opened her eyes, she wished she could close them again.

  The sun had risen and shone down brightly on her now. She could feel the hard grit of the road digging into her face and her body. She was shaking all over. Her mouth was thick with phlegm, and her teeth were chattering together. She’d had an awful night’s sleep, if she could even call it a night’s sleep. But she just hadn’t been able to drag herself back to her feet and continue the search for her son.

  She knew she was pathetic and pitiful. But she was lost, and so many others would be trapped in the same situation as she was.

  She felt dehydrated and hungry. The protein shake was still in her hand, so she sipped a bit of it… which soon turned into gulping a lot of it. The taste and the consistency of this protein shake made her gag a bit. When she was at her most anxious—in her deepest hole, when Sam was still alive—she became rather reliant on shakes like this to keep her alive, basically. They had all the nutrients in there that she needed. She found eating hard when she was anxious. The smell of food turned her stomach. So she needed something easy to consume. And something healthy at that. These shakes seemed like the perfect thing. Just the thing for it.

  But drinking one now… it was a reminder. A reminder of her lowest times. A reminder she didn’t need right now. Not with all the things she had witnessed these last twenty-four hours. Not after what happened with Terrance. And after what happened on the road, too. Trying to steal that car. She felt ashamed. So ashamed.

  She looked at Beast then, who was still sitting beside her, tongue out, panting away. She felt bad that she didn’t have any food for him. So she sipped some more of the protein shake then gave the bottle to Beast for him to clean out. She wasn’t really sure she could even drink all of this protein shake herself, anyway. So she was more than happy for Beast to help her out.

  It wasn’t much, but it was something.

  He looked at her like it wasn’t much.

  She sat upright, head aching. She realised now, as she looked up at the cloudy sky, just how reliant she had been on electricity in order to keep herself well. How reliant everyone was, really. She didn’t even know what time it was, just that it was morning because the sun hadn’t long ago risen. Probably around seven.

  But who knows anymore?

  Especially when her phone was out of battery.

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it. Still no battery, of course. Her chest tightened when she thought about her son, Alex. He could be trying to contact her. He could be out there—anywhere—and trying to get in touch with her.

  But there was no way he could.

  And even if she did manage to charge her phone… it wasn’t going to last, was it? When this solar storm intensified, if Terrance was right, a lack of signal wasn’t going to be a problem. Because a blast like that was going to wipe out power completely. And then she’d have other things to think about. Everyone would.

  She thought about Alex. Her son. On his school trip.

  There was only one thing for it.

  The only thing Lily could do was go to Ambleside, search for him and find him.

  There was no alternative.

  She put her fingers on her throbbing temples. She wondered whether this was it. She was going to finally crack once and for all. She’d been on the brink a few times. A fair few times, she’d questioned her sanity. She’d ended up pretty much convinced that she was going to end up in a psychiatric hospital or something. Maybe that’s what she needed. Maybe it’d help.

  She remembered feeling so betrayed when Sam first suggested she needed help. He was right, of course. But hearing him suggest that there was something wrong with her… even though he was just looking out for her, caring for her, it opened a wound in her that she would always struggle to heal.

  What she’d give now for Sam to be back.

  But there was something weird about her predicament, too. And that was that she felt less anxious somehow. Less anxious about being out of her comfort zone than she had been in a long time.

  Hell, she’d never have dreamed of stepping out of her home for a night just a matter of hours ago. Fast-forward a little and she’d actually slept on the side of the road.

  She was changing. No doubt about that. Maybe it was for the better.

  And that reduction in anxiety made her realise something else, too. Being out of her comfort zone had actually reduced her anxiety.

  It was a positive, no doubt about that.

  But then there was only one way she could use that positive for good.

  She had about a day before the CME blacked the electrics out completely.

  She had to press on.

  She couldn’t afford to speculate or to hold back, not anymore.

  She stood up, her knees creaking, her feet sore. She heard that demonic voice in her mind telling her to give in, that she wasn’t strong enough.

  She gritted her teeth. Shut up. I am strong enough.

  Then, with Beast by her side, she started walking.

  She wasn’t sure how far they walked, totally alone, totally isolated from everyone else. She couldn’t be certain of where she even was, just that she’d been on the right track to find her son last night—she thought—and therefore she should keep on going down it.

  But then she heard something.

  Something right behind her.

  An engine.

  She turned around and saw a motorhome emerging around the corner.

  Her body went cold. After what’d happened on the road yesterday, there was only one thing she could do.

  She turned and ran into the bushes.

  She was afraid.

  Afraid of running into someone else.

  She wasn’t ready for any more human interaction.

  Her anxiety was exploding.

  She crouched there and watched as the motorhome passed. It was a big one, relatively modern. She couldn’t see who was driving, but the main thing was they didn’t seem to have seen her.

  That was a good thing. She was dealing with her problems alone.

  She waited until the motorhome had travelled out of sight before stepping out of the bushes and carrying on her walk down the road.

  And she thought she was alone. She really did.

  Until she turned the corner and saw that the motorhome had stopped.

  There was a man standing right beside it.

  He was looking right at her.

  Smiling.

  THIRTY-THREE

  LILY

  DAY TWO: 7:15 A.M

  Lily looked at the man standing outside the motorhome staring at her and her entire body went numb.

  A cool wind raced down the country lane, sending shivers up Lily’s spine. She looked to her left and to her right, but either side of her, tall hedgerows. She looked back. Nowhere to turn. She was trapped here. There was no hiding.

  She listened to the silence between them as it stretched on. She gripped tightly onto Beast’s lead. He was just sitting there, tilting his head, curious about these new guests. Lily hoped that despite his inner softness, he’d show a streak of ruthlessness for the first time in his bloody life. What would it take for him to protect his loyal owner?

  Beast was a right softie. He’d genuinely lost a fight with a Yorkshire terrier once. He went up to her on the park. Sniffed her backside. And the Yorkshire well and truly put him in his place for his curiosity. Swung around. Bit him on the nose.

  And Beast didn’t lash out. Not even slightly. He whimpered. Jumped back. Even though he was literally about ten times the size of the Yorkie.

  Wouldn’t go near it again. Remembered that moment. Genuinely made him fearful of small dogs from that point.

  So the chance of him suddenly finding some doggie version of Dutch courage and helping protect her from this bloke right now was pretty slim to say the least.

  She felt her throat tightening, her heart picking up in pace. It was only minutes ago that she’d felt a new burst of strength and energy, not to mention desire in order to push herself to find her Alex.

  But now she was actually faced with the unfamiliar like this… she couldn’t help but feel unprepared and terrified.

  But she was going to have to step up somehow. It might just keep her alive.

  Realistically… there was a chance she was over-egging the threat. It was just a bloke, after all. Just another person. But when you had social anxiety, there was no such thing as “just another person.” Everyone was a threat.

  She licked her dry lips and despite every instinct in her body telling her to stay silent, she prepared to speak.

  But the man outside the motorhome spoke before she had the chance.

  Did her a favour, stepping in like that.

  “You alright out here?”

  Lily froze then. She’d conjured up all kinds of images in her mind of how this man might speak; of how he might command her to get in the motorhome, or shout at her, or something like that.

  But he hadn’t done any of those things. He’d actually spoken to her in a pretty polite way. That took her by surprise. She’d set herself up so much for confrontation that she hadn’t actually allowed herself a moment to consider that he might not be a monster. Which lined up with what she’d just been thinking.

  Maybe he wasn’t so bad.

  People weren’t just automatically bad.

  That was something she was going to have to get past.

  Then again, with the experiences she’d witnessed so far, she couldn’t exactly be criticised for being uncertain.

  Paid to be cautious in this world, right?

  “I mean… not judging or anything, but you look a bit knackered. Like you could do with some decent grub. Your dog does to.”

  Lily’s heart beat faster. What was this? Was he actually offering her something to eat? Could she trust him? Or was that a gamble in itself?

  “No pressure if not. I just… well, we’re heading the same way. Would’ve been rude to leave you at the side of the road without at least asking. And I get it. I know it might seem a bit dodgy. Take it or leave it and all that. But the offer’s there.”

  Lily felt herself caught in two minds. Part of her—the old part, the louder part—told her that she should stay put. She couldn’t trust anyone but herself. She especially couldn’t trust this man right now.

  But the other part… that part was telling her to take a chance. That it was the louder voice that had got her into this mess in the first place. And that obviously, there were going to be more genuinely helpful people out there than people with bad intentions. She’d just been unlucky so far. After what happened with Terrance.

  She let the two sides of the coin do battle for a while.

  Then, she took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “I’ll take a ride just for a bit. If… if that’s okay.”

  The man, who had a big grey beard and bushy eyebrows, smiled. “That sounds good to me. I’m Steve, by the way. And you are?”

  Lily approached the motorhome and braced herself for whatever was inside. “Lily,” she said. “And this is Beast.”

  Steve reached down to Beast. Part of Lily wanted him to snap, to make it evident that he wasn’t a friendly dog that let anyone fuss over him.

  But of course, he was. So he wagged his tail, and then he reached up and licked at Steve’s face.

  “Good lad,” Steve said, chuckling. “Good lad. Anyway. Let me introduce you to my family.”

  Lily frowned. Family? For some reason she’d expected Steve to be on his own.

  But family?

  That was… reassuring.