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Extracts from the start of Fallen World - The Second Season of Fallen Warriors

All the Time in the World

~ Chapter One ~

The second Chinook had barely touched down when soldiers immediately began jogging out and down the rear ramp. Danny held himself upright against the down draft from the rotors and tried to concentrate on what Carstairs was saying.

‘…priority. Captain, after you’ve secured those, we’ll direct your men from the command post. Chief Inspector, I’ll need you to co-ordinate your men to work with the soldiers. Chief Inspector?’

Danny realised Carstairs was addressing him. Chief Inspector? ‘Sir, yes, of course.’

Carstairs nodded and then waited while the Chinook took off once more. Above the ungainly helicopter, Danny saw the two Apaches continue to circle, their sleek bodies bristling with guns and missiles.

‘Captain,’ Carstairs continued. ‘You have your orders.’

‘Yes Sir!’ The Captain and his assistant turned away and Danny saw them gather a group around them.

‘Chief Inspector, lead us on to the CCTV Control Centre.’

Danny looked away to where Mary and the others had been kneeling by the girl’s body only to see they had moved. He couldn’t worry about them now, had to trust they would be safe.

‘Is there a problem, Chief Inspector?’

‘Yes, my city is under attack,’ Danny snapped back. ‘Let’s go.’

‘I’m not the enemy here,’ said Carstairs as he kept pace with Danny.

‘Of course not, sir.’

‘But rest assured, I will do everything in my power to crush these extremists.’

Danny nodded his agreement, conscious that he couldn’t afford to lose it now. They had achieved some minor victories, but he still had no idea how many men they were facing, or how they would defeat them. He’d been running on adrenaline on their way into York, but seeing the girl, having a few minutes to stand still, he’d lost his focus and with it, whatever energy had been sustaining him. He had almost walked past the group of MPs, when he felt his arm grabbed. Carstairs was holding onto his arm, looking curiously at him.

‘Sir?’ He knew his tone was just short of insolent, but he didn’t care.

Carstairs face was a mask. ‘These men were trying to get your attention.’

Danny looked, but didn’t recognise the men standing next to Carstairs. ‘What is it?’

‘Sir, one of the terrorists is alive.’

~~~

He woke to a throbbing in his left arm, tried to reach with his right to feel it, but was held back. He pulled harder, but felt something cold cutting his skin. Opening his eyes, he blinked against the light, then scuffled backwards when he saw the soldier standing there, a hand gun pointed at the floor.

Everything hit him at once. He was naked apart from his underwear. His right arm was handcuffed to a radiator and his left wrapped in a bandage. Najwa! The memory of her being thrown backwards chilled him. Why had Kadar shot her?

The soldier opened a door and Zafar heard him tell someone that the prisoner was awake.

I’m a prisoner? How? How had the army been in York? Where had they come from?

The soldier stepped back into the room. He was too far away for Zafar to reach him, not that Zafar had received any training in unarmed combat. They had focused on shooting practice, on tactics and strategy. The only experience he had of hand to hand combat had been as a child, boxing, wrestling…

Zafar looked round the room, trying to get a sense of where he was. The walls were plain, an off white colour. The floor a speckled grey lino. The radiator was old fashioned iron, painted green. He moved his handcuffed arm as if trying to scratch, but really testing how secure the radiator was to the wall. It didn’t move. If the soldier left, he could try again…

Above, dirty grey tiles were suspended on a metal grid. If he could get up there then maybe there would be a way out. If he could get free from the radiator…

~~~

Gloria’s mobile was still engaged when he tried her half an hour later. Sure, she might be on the phone to a friend for a while if she was home, but not if she was still at her parent’s. He decided to call her parent’s house, check if she was still there, but that number was engaged too. He sent Gloria another text: Where are you? Getting a little worried. Love, Saul.

Okay, no need to panic. He tried her number again, then her parent’s house. Then he called her Dad’s mobile. It was also engaged, as was her Mum’s. That was… No. There wasn’t a good reason he could think of why all of the phones would be engaged at the same time.

He stood, flustered, unsure what to do. Gloria would probably walk through the door any minute, Emily laughing and shouting and he’d feel a fool for worrying. He looked at the clock. It was approaching seven o’clock. He switched off the oven and went upstairs to his small home office. Tapped his fingers on the keyboard in irritation as he waited for the computer to boot up.

Opening up a browser, Saul typed in traffic news, waited for the search engine to return options and then selected Highways England. The page loaded.

Right at the top of the list of Latest Traffic Incidents Saul saw A64 Severe. Location: The A64 eastbound between the junctions with the A1(M) and the B1428 Malton. Reason: Police incident. Status: Currently Active. Time To Clear: Unknown. Lanes Closed: All lanes are closed.

Below this a similar notice for the A64 westbound. Saul clicked on the link for more details. A map loaded with a long thick red line tracing most of the length of the A64. A little window box popped up, but it only gave the same information that had been on the previous page.

Was Gloria stuck on the dual carriageway, unable to move? Was that why her mobile was engaged? Had she been calling home? Saul tapped the keyboard again, wondering what best to do. He opened a new browser tab and brought up the BBC’s home page.

Terror Attack on York was the banner headline.

Saul pushed back from the desk. Outside the window white clouds could be seen against a blue sky. Had they had any customers in that afternoon? Saul couldn’t recall any coming in. The quiet streets as he’d walked home now took on a sinister view in his memory. Again he tried calling Gloria. He got an engaged tone again. Instead of calling her parents he tried Arthur, his longest serving employee and main printer. Engaged. He tried each staff member in turn, all engaged.

This wasn’t just about Gloria, maybe all the phone lines were busy with people trying to reach loved ones.

He clicked on the BBC headline and read hurriedly down the article. Unconfirmed reports of multiple shootings around York. Government have issued a warning to authorities around the country to be on their highest state of alert. Police in York not responding to calls for information. Initial reports that attacks began along…

Saul felt everything telescope inwards on itself. ‘No,’ he heard a voice say. ‘No, no, no!’

They’re okay, he told himself. They’re going to be okay. ‘Father, protect them,’ he prayed. ‘Bring them home to me.’

He forced himself to keep reading. The attacks may have begun along the A64 around York. Survivors reported being shot at from the overpass, multiple collisions, but no emergency services in attendance.

A clip had been uploaded from someone’s mobile with the A1237 overpass clearly visible in the preview image. Saul didn’t know if he wanted to watch it, but eventually clicked play. The camera panned around showing cars and a lorry on their sides under the overpass. To the East, a long queue of traffic could be seen. There was no sound with the clip. Saul breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t seen Gloria’s car.

But why were there no ambulances or fire engines? If the roads weren’t cleared, Gloria couldn’t get home. She’d be stuck on the A64 with Emily all evening. Should he walk or cycle there and try and find them? Maybe even offer to help? Saul tried to think through what might be happening. If the police were too busy trying to deal with the terrorists, they might be unable to help the people affected on the roads. But the terrorists couldn’t be there now, otherwise that person wouldn’t have been able to take that clip.

Gloria would have used that junction on her way home, if she could have reached it. If she had, then she would probably have made it home so she must be stuck in the traffic jam. Saul took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. It was a horrible situation, but the junction wasn’t too far away, only four or five miles. He could walk there, or cycle, and it wouldn’t take long and maybe then he could find her. That was it, that’s what he should do. There was no point in sitting at home worried. Having decided, he felt better. He wrote a note explaining what he was doing in case Gloria somehow made it home before him and went to get his bike out of the shed.

~~~

It was going to happen soon; he could feel it building up inside him. Rick checked his watch again. Where were they? He tapped the side of his pint glass but resisted taking a drink. Maybe he should have ordered a coke, though then he’d have been tempted to drink that and he was wired enough already.

He looked up to the TV next to the bar and saw the ticker was still on loop: City of York under attack. Prime Minister attending meeting of COBRA. Reports of casualties. All citizens advised to remain indoors until police have resolved the situation.

The situation… That was what they were calling it. Rick had seen some of the clips that had been uploaded to YouTube. Street battles throughout the city, masked men with ugly looking machine guns stalking the walls of York, cars in pile ups on the roads in and out of York.

The news channel had finally got a camera in place looking over the city. Columns of black smoke could be seen from multiple locations. It could almost be an image taken from the Middle East if it wasn’t for the green trees and the tall towers of York Minster dominating the scene.

‘Rick! Have you been watching this?’

He turned to see Aileen and John walking up to his table, their expressions dazed. Did he look the same to them? He shook his head. ‘Awful. Do you guys want a drink?’ He remembered to ask.

‘Just a diet Irn-Bru,’ Aileen said.

‘Tennant’s for me,’ said John as he slid into a chair opposite Rick.

Rick stood then had to pause as the room seemed to sway.

‘You all right?’ Aileen asked.

‘Fine, just some head light…’

‘You mean light-headed?’ John laughed.

‘I’ll get the drinks,’ Aileen said, placing a hand on Rick’s shoulder.

Rick dug out his wallet and handed over a tenner. ‘Maybe a good idea.’ He sat back down and watched Aileen as she walked up to the bar.

‘When are you going to ask her out, mate?’

Rick ran his hands over his face. ‘Never a good time.’

‘So just do it already. What did you call us over for anyway?’

‘In a minute.’

‘Suit yourself.’ John turned to face the TV. ‘You going to tell me your God’s in control of all this…’

Rick saw John give him a quick glance before turning back to the TV. He didn’t know how to respond. Never did. And no matter what he said, John would always find a way to turn his words against him or rebut whatever answer he gave.

‘Here you go…’ Aileen placed a pint glass in front of John, some froth spilling over as she did.

‘Thanks. Cheers,’ John said, raising his glass to Rick and taking a long pull. He frowned when Rick didn’t follow suit. ‘What’s up?’

Rick shook his head. The sensation was growing stronger inside him. He knew he didn’t have long.

‘Are you okay?’ Aileen said with a look of concern.

‘I’m fine, really,’ Rick said, trying to look reassuring. It didn’t seem to be working as John leaned in, studying him.

‘Seriously, mate, what’s up?’ John asked.

‘I needed to show you something,’ Rick managed to say. He’d planned a speech, almost. Something daring and mysterious that he couldn’t for the life of him remember.

‘Okay…’ Aileen looked worried. He hated that he was scaring her.

‘You know I’ve skipped some lectures…’ They nodded. ‘I didn’t know what was going on at first, thought I was going crazy…’

‘Yeah, you’re not freaking us out at all, Rick.’ John took another long pull from his glass.

‘I wanted to tell you,’ he said looking at Aileen. ‘I didn’t know how.’

‘And this is certainly the day to do it,’ John snorted. ‘Taking tips from our government. Always release the bad news when people are distracted…’

‘Shut up, John!’ Aileen glared at John until he put his hands up in mock surrender.

‘It’s okay,’ Rick said. It was almost time. ‘I don’t want you to panic.’

‘Really, Rick, you are doing a bang-up job of this.’ John leaned back as if Aileen was about to hit him.

He didn’t know what to say, how to tell them without John twisting his words. He looked from John to Aileen, grabbed hold of his pint and then stood. ‘Aileen, I love…’

And the world turned…

~~~

Beside her, John swore. Then he kept on swearing in a torrent of words until something snapped inside her and Aileen slapped him.

‘What did you do that for!’ He almost shouted at her.

‘Hey, lady, is everything all right over there?’

Aileen turned to see the bar man looking at them with concern. She looked round at John, then at the empty space where Rick had been standing only a few seconds ago. Is everything all right? ‘Where did he go, John?’ She whispered.

‘I didn’t know he was a magician.’

‘He’s not a magician.’ She turned back to the bar man and nodded. He didn’t look convinced.

‘Well, he obviously is,’ John said with a half laugh and then drained the rest of his pint in one go. ‘I mean… How do you explain…’

‘I can’t.’ Aileen said, Rick’s last words echoing round in her head. She didn’t know which shocked her more: his starting to tell her he loved her—that was what he was going to say, right—or his disappearance before he managed to finish saying it.

Beside her, John stood and walked round to where Rick had been standing. He waved his arms over the space. ‘He was here, wasn’t he? He gave you money, it wasn’t just a trick with mirrors…’ John put his hands out in front of himself, like a blind man, feeling his way.

‘Sit down, John. People are looking,’ she said.

John looked around the pub, then turned back to her. ‘Are they?’

Feeling her face flush, Aileen slunk down in her seat.

‘Did you see him?’ John called over to the bar man. ‘Our friend…’ John walked over to the bar.

Aileen turned to keep an eye on him.

‘He was sitting right there,’ John continued, the bar man warily looking over at Aileen. ‘He had a pint when we arrived, did you serve him?’

‘What’s this about?’ The bar man asked.

‘Did you see him?’

‘Obviously I must have seen him if I served him.’

‘Okay, but did you see him go?’

The bar man shook his head.

‘Seriously, didn’t you see him disappear, he was just standing there one minute and the next…’

‘Have you checked the toilets? They’re through…’ He pointed.

John turned away and walked up to another table where two students were sitting. Both had been watching the TV, but Aileen realised she and John were now more interesting viewing.

‘Did you see him?’ John asked them.

‘Hey, mate,’ the bar man shouted across to John.

Aileen stood. ‘John!’

‘Whatever is going on, you can take it outside,’ the bar man started to make his way round.

‘I just want to ask…’ John protested.

‘Let’s go,’ Aileen insisted.

‘Someone else must have seen him.’

Aileen reached John before the bar man did and grabbed his arm. ‘We’re leaving,’ she told the bar man.

‘Do you feel safe with him?’

‘Hey!’ John protested.

‘Not helping, John!’ She looked back at the bar man. ‘We don’t want any trouble, it’s just our friend left in a hurry…’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t explain…’ She half dragged John out of the bar as he continued to protest. ‘What is wrong with you!’ She exclaimed as they reached the street.

‘Wrong with me? How did he do it? We’ve got to find out. Maybe a trapdoor… Yeah, he’s probably in the cellar right now, drinking what’s left of that pint.’

‘He didn’t fall down a trapdoor. We were both looking straight at him. We’d have noticed if he’d pulled any stunts like that.’

‘It was seamless. Whatever he did, however he did it, he’s going to give David Blaine a run for his money.’

Aileen shook her head. Whatever had happened to Rick, she was sure it wasn’t just some cheap magic trick…

Fallen World will be serialized on this blog, two chapters weekly for paying subscribers from 10th April 2026

(Look out for a brand new free story on Good Friday!)