Calm it, Maryam. You’ve got plenty of men as it is.

  She felt herself smiling. Not arrogantly. But she had a knack for attracting men. Probably that dark hair of hers. Probably those eyes that were slightly spaced apart too far. Funny really. She was critical of her own features. When she looked in the mirror in a morning, she heard the school bullies calling her “frog” and “wide-eye.”

  She’d had the last laugh after all.

  She’d had the last laugh.

  As the plane levelled off and the seatbelt signs flashed off, Maryam felt her thoughts softening, her muscles relaxing. Sure, the trip wasn’t ideal. Sure, it was a long journey. But people flew all the time. In fact, now air traffic wasn’t as busy, it was safer if anything. Now security had been ramped up. She should be safe. Calm.

  She was secure.

  She was secure in this metal grave hurtling through the sky.

  She heard the bump before she felt it.

  She opened her eyes. The lights dimmed. To her right, the Chinese man jolted from his seat, smacked into the top of the plane, then came flying down again. A few screams from down the cabin. A few shaky laughs. A few terrified half-glances.

  Maryam’s heart raced. The sickness welled up. The air conditioning seemed weak all of a sudden.

  A crackle over the speaker system. “I’d like to apologise in advance. We’re entering some turbulence. Please reapply your seat belts and—”

  The announcement exploded with static energy.

  Another bang.

  The lights went out.

  The plane snapped downwards.

  More screams erupted. The engines grew louder. Cabin crew rushed down the aisle with the terror that you never want to see on cabin crew’s faces.

  And as the turbulence stopped, Maryam realised something.

  Something that terrified her.

  The plane hadn’t levelled out.

  It was heading downwards.

  Sliding down a slope towards earth.

  She looked over at the Chinese guy. He was slumped across his newspaper. Blood pooled out of a wound on his head.

  The plane tumbled further and further.

  The altitude reading on the screen next to Maryam plummeted by the second.

  Her head went weak; her vision went blurry.

  She felt calmer all of a sudden. And she knew it must be something to do with the altitude. The sudden change in height. Her ears popped harder than they’d ever popped before. She tasted blood in the back of her mouth.

  Blood, as people screamed, as people cried, as the plane hurtled downwards.

  But she was okay.

  She was calm.

  She was fine.

  Maryam’s vision faded completely just eight seconds later.

  Her consciousness slipped three seconds after that.

  It was another seven minutes before the heroic pilot steered and crash-landed the plane into the earth.

  Before the inferno ravaged the cabin.

  Before permanent unconsciousness wrapped its arms around each and every member of Dubai Express Flight 8040.

  Everyone, except for one.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “We should really find somewhere to rest.”

  “We don’t need to rest.”

  “Speak for yourself. I need to rest.”

  “We’ll be there soon.”

  “Really? Because I don’t—”

  “We’ll be there soon.”

  Riley walked down the middle of the road. They were way past the buildings and the bustling nature of the city centre now. They were out in the countryside. Heading closer to Rivington. Fields all around them. Hills, and the mouths of woods.

  Riley knew they were heading in the right direction for that reason.

  Heading towards James.

  Towards Jordanna.

  Towards whatever fate lay ahead.

  “We could at least find another car,” Hassan said.

  Riley could tell from the tone of Hassan’s voice that he was struggling. He was panting, for one. Not to mention lingering behind. And it was tough. Riley couldn’t help admitting that. Didn’t help that the afternoon summer sun was out now, burning its glow down onto the earth.

  But there was silence. Total silence on this empty road. No sounds. No smells of rot.

  Just tasteless warm air and them.

  They had to make the most of that opportunity. That chance of solace, of respite.

  It wasn’t a chance they encountered very often.

  “We tried driving a few miles back,” Riley said. “There’s too many blocks. It’s too risky.”

  “So we just walk?”

  “So we just walk.”

  Hassan sighed. Tutted. Riley didn’t have to be looking him in the eye to know he was pissed off.

  He could understand. He could relate to Hassan’s pain.

  But he never asked Hassan to come along with him.

  “My fingers,” Hassan said, catching Riley up. He held out his right hand. The bandages had fallen away. The blood had clotted around the stubs, but it looked way too dark. Not a good sign. “You think they’ll get infected?”

  “Probably.”

  Hassan’s eyes widened. “Probably? Thanks for being fucking Mr Reassuring over here.”

  “You asked if I think they’ll get infected. I told you the truth.”

  “When did you become so ruthless?”

  Riley slowed a little. Up ahead, a crow swooped down, landed on the road ahead. It looked emaciated in its search for food. Its caw echoed around the silent valley, the warm breeze carrying it for miles.

  “I’m this way because this is the way that’s kept me alive all this time.”

  “So that’s why we’re heading to kill your friend. Because it kept you alive.”

  “He’s not my friend.”

  “He lost his—”

  “He took Jordanna. He left me for dead. He’s not my friend.”

  Riley didn’t stick around to listen to any retort from Hassan. He walked on, axe in hand. He didn’t like to think much about what he had to do when he reached James. Because Hassan was right. James had been his friend.

  He’d been a good person before Tamara’s death. Before the death of the baby.

  But that’s just how the world worked now. People were pushed to their limits. They didn’t stay good.

  People cracked.

  And when they cracked, they often brought other people down with them.

  “I should apologise,” Hassan said.

  Riley rolled his eyes. “For what?”

  “For Jordanna. For—”

  “Right.”

  “We were together.”

  “You can shut the fuck up now.”

  “No. No I can’t. ’Cause I’m not having this fucking millstone eating away at my neck any longer.”

  He caught up with Riley again. Put his good hand on Riley’s shoulder.

  “I slept with her. Multiple times. And I… We said things. To each other. Words we shouldn’t have said. But it’s done. It’s done and I regret it. I’m sorry.”

  Riley’s eyes watered. His skin tingled. He wanted to beat Hassan to a pulp. That was the truth. He wanted to push him to the ground and split open his chest with this fucking axe.

  But he had to learn to reel those urges in.

  He had to learn to accept. To understand.

  He forced a smile. Not a very convincing one, he didn’t think, but a smile nonetheless. “You’ve already apologised. You’ve already told me you’re—”

  “Jordanna’s pregnant.”

  The words slammed Riley with the force of a train. He physically felt himself stagger backwards. His skin went cold. His mouth dried up.

  “She’s… she’s…”

  “I found out not long after we first… you know. Which means it isn’t mine. So there’s only one person it could be.”

  “You knew this and you didn’t… she’s pregnant? She’s pregnant. Jordanna’s pregnant.”

  “I’m sorry,” Hassan said. “I wanted to tell you but I just—”

  “She’s pregnant.”

  Riley crouched down. His head spun. He stood again almost immediately. No time to waste. Jordanna was pregnant. He had to get to her. He had to reach her. He had to find her and he had to make her safe.

  “If she’s pregnant maybe she’s safe,” Riley said, rushing onwards regardless of how much it hurt his feet. “Maybe she’s told James. Maybe he’ll understand.”

  “That’s the thing,” Hassan said.

  Riley turned.

  Hassan stared at the ground.

  “Hassan?”

  He glanced up at Riley. His eyes were bloodshot, watery. “She doesn’t know.”

  Riley felt another hammer blow. “She doesn’t… how does she not know?”

  “I wanted to tell her. I really was going to. I just… I knew. When she found out, I knew it’d be over. Between us. I knew we’d be finished. I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet. And I don’t think she was either. So I… When she nipped out the bathroom, I went in and took the pregnancy test. They take a few minutes, the ones she had. And I swapped it with… with one I’d pissed on.”

  Riley’s muscles tightened. His skin ignited.

  He charged at Hassan.

  Axe tight in his grip.

  Hassan stood his ground. “Don’t do something you’ll regret. For your kid. Don’t—don’t do something you’ll regret.”

  Riley stopped. He stopped just inches away from Hassan. Sweat rolled down his cheeks, salty on his lips. His teeth chattered. His body shook.

  Hassan stared into Riley’s eyes. “You’ve got a kid on the way, Riley. You’ve got a fucking kid on the way. By all means kill me. I’m shitty. I’m a coward. I always have been a fucking coward and I’d deserve it. But please. For your own sake, think about your kid. Don’t do something you’ll regret. Please.”

  Riley stood there. He thought about all the ways he could punish Hassan. All the ways he could dismember him. All the ways he could rip him to shreds.

  And then he took a deep breath of the lukewarm air and lowered the axe.

  “We keep moving,” he said.

  THEY DIDN’T SAY anything for another half hour, maybe longer. They just walked into the afternoon. The sun kept on hiding behind the clouds, and the contrast between the heat and the cool was staggering. The road didn’t change. Only difference was the woods. They were getting closer. Thicker. And Riley knew that was a sign. A sign they were close to Jordanna. Close to James.

  Close to his child.

  “It’s okay to talk,” Hassan said. “If there’s something on your chest. I find it’s better to get it off your chest.”

  “I can see that,” Riley mumbled.

  “Ever since I was a kid, I—”

  “Seriously, now’s not the time for a back story dump. You had a shitty childhood. Something happened. It fucked you up and now you’re conquering it in this new rule-less world. Blah blah. Everyone’s the same. Every fucking conversation about the past is the same. So just give it a rest and keep walking. Please.”

  Hassan stared at Riley, wide-eyed. Pale-faced. “Actually, my childhood was perfect. It’s when I hit my twenties when things went to shit. My job. My family. My… Anyway. You don’t want to hear it.”

  Riley felt a bit of a dick for berating Hassan. He was obviously struggling. But he stood by what he said. The past was irrelevant. What mattered was the now. “There is something that’s bothering me.”

  “What?”

  “Jordanna said you acted off. Before I found you at your apartment back at the MLZ. She said she was worried. That you were one of those… those hybrids.”

  Hassan’s eyes narrowed. Then he laughed a little. “Oh, it’d be the nosebleeds that worried her. Don’t worry. I’ve been having those since I was a kid. Started back when I… Sorry. I forgot. No past. Only future.”

  “Only present,” Riley corrected.

  Hassan nodded. “Only pr—”

  A scream ripped through the silence.

  Riley turned. Looked ahead. He couldn’t see anything. Nothing on the roads. Nothing anywhere.

  “Where’s that coming from?”

  Riley looked around. Tried to get a sense of direction, of orientation. “From over the hill there. I think.”

  “Maybe we should keep going. Maybe we should—”

  “No,” Riley said.

  As much as he wanted to push on in pursuit of Jordanna, he ran up the side of the grassy hill on his left.

  The woman’s scream.

  Someone suffering. Someone in pain.

  “Riley, we don’t know if—”

  Hassan’s words were cut off by another scream. And it didn’t take Riley long to figure out where it was coming from.

  There was a car on the top of this vast, empty hill. Its windows were smashed. Its tires were flat.

  Lying underneath the car, a blonde woman.

  She was covered in blood.

  Riley couldn’t deny the goosebumps spreading up his arm as he walked over to the car, to the woman. Her screams were impossibly loud. But it didn’t make sense. Where had she come from? Why was this car up here? What’d happened to her?

  “Ssh,” Riley said, crouching by her side. “It’s—Hey. It’s okay. I’m here. Ssh. Please. You need to—you need to be quiet.”

  The woman panted. Blood dripped from her lips, down her chin. Her eyes were filled with tears.

  Tears and blood.

  Hassan looked from side to side. “I—I think I just saw someone.”

  “It’s okay,” Riley said, putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder, which was covered by a torn cream blouse. “It’s okay. We’re here now. We’re here for you.”

  The woman nodded. Shook, whimpered, but nodded. The screaming stopped. Her cries eased.

  Riley scanned under the car. Looked like the vehicle had fallen on her. Landed on her stomach. Fuck. Any further and it’d split her in two. They had to get her out of here. They had to act fast.

  Even if it killed her.

  “This won’t be easy,” Riley said, stroking the woman’s blood-soaked hair. “And it won’t be pain-free. But it’s what we have to do. To get you out of here. To get you safe. You understand?”

  “Riley, seriously, I swear there’s someone fucking watching us.”

  Riley disregarded Hassan. He put his axe to one side. Went to stand. They had to lift the car. Had to move it. Had to drag this woman away.

  But then he noticed something odd.

  The woman’s eyes rolled back into her skull.

  A smile spread across her bloodied face.

  She started to laugh.

  Her hysterics sent shivers up the back of Riley’s neck. The closest thing he could compare it to was The Exorcist. Like this woman was possessed.

  Like there was something inside her.

  Like a parasite…

  No sooner had Riley considered the hybrid option than the woman’s head burst open.

  A fleshy balloon took its place. It looked like one of those parasites he’d seen back at the MLZ only inflated, more sturdy.

  Another difference?

  This thing had teeth.

  A lot of fucking teeth.

  The hybrid grabbed Riley’s arm with impossible strength. It pulled him towards its snapping mouth. Teeth were of all sorts of shapes and sizes, sprouting out of various different locations from this inflated balloon of flesh. Blood continued to pool out of the opening.

  “Fuck!”

  Riley glanced up. Wondered why the hell Hassan wasn’t helping him out.

  He soon had his answer.

  Hassan was on his feet.

  Backed up to the car.

  Because creeping up the hill were three more of these things.

  All of their skulls split away.

  All of them with these yellow, fleshy balloons in the place of their heads.

  Covered in teeth.

  Hurtling in Riley and Hassan’s direction.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Cody’s vision was blackened even when he opened his eyes.

  He looked around. Darkness. Nothing but complete pitch black. He looked to the left. Looked to the right. Couldn’t see a thing.

  Were his eyes working?

  Was he blind?

  He tried to move. Tried to stand up. But his legs were weak. A sickening taste of blood and vomit covered his tongue, which was totally dry. There was a distinct smell in the air of… well, wherever this was. A smell of piss. Of shit.

  He thought for a minute it might just be his own.

  He cleared his throat. So sore, so dry. He wasn’t sure how he’d got here. Where even was here? He knew something happened at the MLZ. Something disrupted his existence there, put him on the road with… with Hassan.

  But then…

  The memories came flooding back. Blurry, but real.

  He’d been ambushed. A group of those people with CoY etched on their bodies.

  And then something happened. They took Hassan away. Took him back towards the MLZ after chopping his fingers off.

  They’d buried Cody. Left him submerged in the earth to die.

  He remembered the zombie. Remembered it walking towards him and not being able to do a thing about it.

  Not until someone arrived.

  He remembered her clearly now. So clearly that he could almost see her in the darkness.

  The woman. The silhouette of a woman with short hair. No. No hair.

  She’d stood over him, the moonlight shining on her, and she’d pulled him out of the earth.

  Only he’d passed out moments later.

  Something smacked into the back of his head, and he’d passed out.

  Fuck. That explained the raging headache, the lingering taste of blood. Whoever she was, whatever she wanted, it couldn’t be good. Why would anyone good knock him out? Bring him to this place?

  Why would anyone do such a thing at all?

  He tried to move forward again. No use. His hands were tied tightly behind his back, chapping at the wrists. His ankles were tied together, too. And something was holding him to this rough brick wall, keeping him upright. A chain of some kind, wrapped around his waist.