The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3]

by Artinian, Christopher

  “Just keep moving,” Robyn replied as they followed the road round to the right past more offices before taking a sharp left. The music was well out of range now, but in an instant, it had been replaced by a different sound.

  Three creatures were fifty metres away, but their growls were getting louder all the time as they sprinted down the tarmac towards the two sisters. Wren dropped the handle to the holdall and slid the rucksack from her back.

  “Oh crap!” Robyn said, slipping free of her rucksack, too, and placing one foot in front of the other to get a good firm stance.

  “Crap’s right,” Wren said, as she suddenly began running towards the beasts.

  “What are you doing?!” Robyn screamed, as her sister launched the javelin through the air. The striped spear shot straight like a whistling bullet. It pierced through the torso of one of the beasts, knocking it back off its feet like it had just been hit by a cannonball.

  Wren ran back to her rucksack and dragged out the crowbar she had put there two days before. She measured the weight of it in her hand, and as the remaining two creatures approached, she ran again, but this time launched herself, feet first. At the same time, Robyn thrust her javelin forwards, missing her target’s head, but having the quickness of mind to sweep the weapon around and knock it off balance.

  Wren’s feet made contact with the other ghoul square in the chest, sending it cascading backwards. She looked back up the street to see the one she had skewered beginning to struggle to its feet. Without pause, she leapt on top of the creature she had just high kicked and brought the crowbar down on its head, hard and fast, stunning it, then brought the heavy piece of metal down again, and again. The fourth time was the charm. There was a loud crack, causing the filmy grey eyes to snap shut, and rendering the nightmarish monster motionless.

  She looked back towards Robyn, who had turned around to deal with the creature she had knocked off balance. It rose to its feet again and lurched towards her. Wren’s instinct half-pulled her towards her sister’s side, but then Robyn mimicked the move she had seen Wren make in the woods and knocked the creature’s feet from beneath it. Before it had a chance to react, Robyn thrust the javelin up under its chin. She felt it cut through layers of tissue before hitting the hard bone of the skull and coming to rest.

  Wren turned back to see the first beast gathering pace towards them once more. She began to run towards it, and as it approached, Wren did a sliding tackle, feeling the fabric of her coat rip on the tarmac. The creature, already encumbered by the spear sticking through it, toppled once again, this time onto its side. Its legs kicked out frantically trying to regain footing, but Wren flipped over and unleashed a flurry of deadly blows. Within seconds, the cavernous black pupils retreated into the milky greyness of the creature’s eyes and they became nothing but pinpricks absorbing the rising morning sun.

  Wren looked across towards her sister, who was standing over the slain creature. She remained there, awash in her own disbelief. Two days before, she would never have dreamed of doing something like this, but now, she had killed one of these things, all by herself.

  She turned to look at Wren. “We did it.” Robyn walked across and put her hand out, pulling her sister up.

  “I knew you had it in you,” Wren said.

  “You got two, though.”

  “It’s not a competition.”

  “Come on, we’d better get going, otherwise this will have been for nothing.”

  The two sisters looked at their handy work one last time. Wren pulled the javelin from the beast she had killed, wiping that and the bloodied crowbar off on its clothes. They put their rucksacks back on, picked up the holdall, and began to jog down the centre of the road once more, towards farmland, towards safety.

  chapter 14

  The two sisters picked up speed as they looked beyond the tall office building at the end of the road, to the car park and the fence. Wren cast a quick glance back to make sure they were not being followed, then allowed herself a small smile.

  “We’ve made it,” Robyn said, excitedly.

  “We haven’t made anything yet,” Wren replied, “but it’s a step in the right direction.”

  The pair of them jogged through the entrance and ducked underneath the barrier then continued down the side of the large office block and into the expansive rear car park. It was only as they reached the back fence that their spirits dampened. They slowed from a jog to a walk and eventually came to a complete stop as they dropped the holdall and stepped back. The security fencing in place was about ten feet high. Each single rail was topped off with a sharp triple point on top. It was specifically designed so people could not make it over without causing themselves serious bodily harm.

  “Is it okay if I cry now?” Robyn asked.

  “Only if I can join you.”

  Wren took the rucksack from her back and went over to the office building, where she climbed onto a small wall with a bicycle parking rack attached on both sides. From the elevated position she could see that the fence was not just in place for this building, but it appeared to stretch the entire perimeter of the trading estate complex. She jumped back down and went to stand with her sister.

  “Well?” Robyn asked.

  “It’s not good.”

  “When you say, ‘not good,’ what do you mean exactly?”

  “Erm...bad.”

  “Okay, can you be a little more specific perhaps?”

  “Devastating. Soul crushing. Mortifying.”

  “So, it’s bad then?”

  “It’s all the way around.”

  “What are our options?”

  Wren walked up to the fence and pushed against it. She wrapped her hand around one of the rails. “Shit!” she hissed. “These things are sharp. We’ll cut ourselves to ribbons if we try to climb it.” She rested her head against the cold metal and looked through the gap. It was like some cruel joke designed to torture them. There was a small embankment coated with luscious green grass, leading down to a wide drainage ditch. Just beyond was the first of many farmers’ fields and the beautiful Scottish countryside, but they could not escape this industrial nightmare.

  Wren felt a presence beside her and looked to see her sister staring through the gaps in the fence as well. They were like two prisoners looking out from their cells, knowing they would never be granted freedom.

  “Well, we’re just going to have to go back out and around,” Robyn said.

  “We can’t do that. There are two big housing estates, one on each side. That was the whole reason we came this way.”

  “Then what do we do?”

  “I don’t know, Bobbi, this has only just happened. Give me a minute to think.” Wren looked around the car park. It was empty, barring some rubbish and a single flat tyre that someone had obviously changed in a hurry and just discarded. She went up to the entrance door of the office building and tugged on it in the hope that when everybody flew out of the building realising the world had gone to hell, that they’d forgot to lock up. But the door was secure. “Dammit,” she said kicking the glass.

  She moved along to one of the windows and cupped her hands around her eyes to see in. It was a typical office, furnished with desks, chairs, filing cabinets, computers. Robyn came to join her, and the two sisters stood side by side like the Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol, looking at all the toys in the shop window that they could not afford.

  “We don’t have a choice. We either get past that fence or it’s all over,” Wren said, stepping away.

  Robyn stayed at the window a moment longer. “So what—” her words were cut short as she saw Wren hurling the flat tyre with all her strength at the neighbouring window. The glass imploded with a deafening crash.

  Wren quickly wrapped her jacket around her hand and knocked away the errant shards, before climbing in. “C’mon, Bobbi,” she said. “Give me a hand.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Just hurry.”

  Robyn climbed through the broke
n window. Her feet landed heavily on the glass littered carpet, making the same kind of crunch that they would if breaking through ice. “How is this going to help us?”

  “We’re going to build a ladder, but we need to be quick. Those things will have heard the crash; they’ll be looking for where it came from.” Wren tried to drag one of the filing cabinets away from the wall, but it was far too heavy. She flung open the bottom drawer and haphazardly threw all the green hanging files out onto the floor. “Don’t just stand there! Give me a hand.”

  Robyn ran to the next filing cabinet and began to do the same. Wren emptied the final drawer from hers then walked the sturdy metal construction over to the window, before heading out into the hallway and into the next office.

  Robyn finished emptying her cabinet and dragged that over to the window, parking it next to her sister’s. She ran into the next office and was about to start on another. “No,” Wren said as she emptied the bottom drawer of a smaller cabinet. “We only need three. Tear some curtains down, thick towels, fire blankets, anything you can find. Quick!”

  Robyn looked toward the windows, but they had Venetian blinds. “Where am I going to find curtains?”

  “Just find something Bobbi, we need to cover the spikes on top of the fence.”

  Robyn ran out of the office and went down the hall, barging through door after door until she found the staff canteen. Rather than the austere looking blinds, the windows were covered with thick, green leaf-effect curtains. She grabbed one end with both hands and dragged them from the tracks as the supporting loops ripped and tore away. Such was her urgency, she was running back out of the canteen within a minute. As she was about to head through the door, she saw a fire blanket attached to the wall. She tugged hard at the release loop and the blanket came free. Not bothering to fold it, she rushed down the hall with it waving behind her like a thick grey cape.

  Robyn reached the first office to see Wren climbing back out into the morning sun struggling with a filing cabinet half the size of the others. She rushed to the window, dropping the curtains to the ground, and pushed the top of one of the taller cabinets until it toppled with a loud clatter onto the window ledge. She bent her knees, grabbed hold of the bottom and pushed it upwards, immediately feeling Wren take the weight of it from outside. She dragged it over the ledge, and it landed with another bang, making all the drawers in it judder.

  “Okay, the other one,” Wren said. The pair of them did the same with that before Robyn threw the curtains out of the window. She climbed out herself and looked at her sister. They both knew they had made a lot of noise that was going to help the remaining creatures, who would in all likelihood have lost interest in the Queen playlist by now, track them down.

  “How do we do this?” Robyn asked.

  Wren leant one of the filing cabinets towards her and gestured for her sister to lift the other end. The two of them waddled with the heavy piece of office furniture, over the grass verge and towards the fence. “We build a tower. Two filing cabinets at the bottom and the smaller one on top.”

  Robyn suddenly lost her grip on the smooth edge of the cabinet and it hit the tarmac with a ring that made Big Ben sound muffled. “Sorry!” she cried.

  “Just pick it up! Pick it up, Bobbi,” Wren yelled.

  Robyn grabbed hold of the bottom end of the cabinet once more and the two of them carried it to the fence as fast as they could, dropped it there, then ran back to get the other. “Okay, you take the bottom end this time.”

  “Whatever,” Wren replied, “just hurry.” The two of them set off again, and this time, they made it across without any further mishaps. Wren positioned the cabinets back to back next to the fence and moved away to make sure they were level.

  “Shit!” Robyn screamed.

  “What?” Wren asked.

  “They’re coming!”

  Wren looked across the car park, over the barrier and down the causeway. The five creatures that Robyn had lured away were now heading towards them like freight trains on a downward track.

  “Shit!” Wren hissed, running back towards the office. She looked behind her and saw that Robyn was frozen to the spot, still watching the creatures. “Come on, Bobbi! Now!”

  Robyn came to her senses and ran after her sister. Wren placed the pile of curtains on top of the smaller filing cabinet and they lifted it in unison, the pair of them did not quite run, but moved faster than it should have been possible for two people to move, carrying such a load. They lifted the smaller cabinet on top of the other two, Wren pulled open the bottom drawer of one of the base cabinets and climbed up. “Pass me the curtains.”

  Without hesitation, Robyn threw the pile of curtains and the blanket up to her, keeping her eyes on the five creatures that were about to reach the car park barrier. Wren focussed. This was like the closing stages of an eight hundred metre final. You know your opponent is right on your tale, but you don’t risk a misstep by turning to look. She folded the thick fire blanket in two and placed it over four of the triple spiked rails then grabbed one of the curtains. She folded it in four, making a thick padding, placed that over the same rails, and finally took the last curtain, folded it in two and draped it over the side.

  Wren pressed down hard on top of the pad she’d created. There was no way the spikes could penetrate it. Wren turned, to see the creatures were halfway across the car park. Her sister was stood watching. “Bobbi! Quick!”

  Robyn jerked back to life and looked towards Wren. She passed her the javelins. Wren dropped one down on the other side of the fence and placed the other just behind her feet. Robyn grabbed one of the rucksacks, but a strap had got tangled with the other, so it was almost as if it was nailed to the ground. She fell to her knees to try to unravel it. “Leave it!” Wren cried, as the creatures continued to sprint towards them.

  “But—”

  “Get up here!”

  Robyn cast a glance to her left to see the beasts were mere feet away. She climbed up onto the tall filing cabinet, then carefully onto the next before lowering herself over the fence, gripping the metal frame with all her strength. She dropped the rest of the way, landing clumsily and rolling down the embankment.

  Wren dropped her javelin over the side of the fence and carefully climbed onto the top cabinet; at the same split second, two of the creatures hammered against the bottom ones. The cabinet slipped and Wren immediately lost her footing, but managed to lurch in the direction of the fence. She landed hard on the padded spikes, which did not penetrate the thick covering, but dug into her rib cage. “Arghhh!” she cried as she heard the top cabinet topple to the ground. She hung there with her legs flailing, desperate to avoid the clutch of the monsters’ hands as the rest of the beasts caught up with the pack. She looked down to see her sister gather herself at the bottom of the drainage ditch. Wren felt something bang against her boot, and that’s when she gave it one final lunge. She kicked her legs and pulled her body over the padded rails at the same time. Just as the balance tipped and it looked like she was about to plummet the nine feet head first, she grasped the curtain with her left hand, pivoting her body. She swung to the floor, fell, rolled down the hill and knocked her sister’s feet out from under her.

  The two of them lay there for a few seconds. The growls of the creatures eventually made them rally, and they climbed to their feet, looking up the embankment to the arms that were squeezing through the railings, their grey skin shredding on the sharp edges, leaving grisly strips behind. Wren put her hand up to just underneath her chest. “Are you okay?” Bobbi asked.

  “I’ll have a hell of a bruise there, but I’ll be alright.”

  “We lost all our stuff,” Robyn said, sadly.

  Wren continued to watch the five creatures, grabbing at the air as if that would pull her and her sister towards them.

  “No, we didn’t!”

  “What?”

  “I said, no we didn’t,” Wren replied, walking across to pick up her javelin.

  “We forge
our own paths in life, and I will not let these things beat me,” she said, climbing back up the incline. She stayed far enough back to keep clear of the grabbing hands but watched them for a moment. This was the first time she had been more or less face to face with these things without the fear of being grabbed or bitten. She looked into their weird grey eyes. She remembered how her gran had developed a cataract in her eye once. It had clouded over, like a marble. It looked like the eyes of these creatures, apart from the pupil. The pupil had vanished behind the cloud in her gran’s eye, but here...with these things, it was almost as if the pupils danced on the surface, expanding and contracting like some bizarre, jet black kaleidoscope.

  Wren sensed a presence next to her and looked across towards her sister. “We make our own path,” Robyn said, and the two of them raised their javelins. They took it in turns to drive the spikes through the creature’s eyes, rendering them still in a single thrust. Silence reigned once more and the two girls stood there looking down at their victims through the fence. Wren placed her javelin down.

  “Give me a leg up,” she said. Robyn cupped her hands low and Wren placed her foot in them ready. “One, two, three!” Wren jumped and Robyn pushed.

  Wren threw her arms over the top of the padded fence and shuffled her body up, dragging first one leg, then the second over, then lowering herself down onto the top of the filing cabinets. She sat down and slid off, taking a long look at the fallen beasts, making double sure they were all dead, well, deader than they had been. With a grunt, she lifted the smaller filing cabinet back on top of the others, and with no-one there to help her, it landed with a heavy clunk.

  Wren bent down and untangled the strap of the rucksack. She lumbered the heavy bag onto the top of the cabinet pile and climbed up, hoisting it over the top and lowering it down to her sister. She climbed back down and did the same with the second, and finally, the holdall. “There,” she said as her sister caught the last bag and placed it on the ground. “We’ve lost nothing.”