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

by Artinian, Christopher

  “What about them?”

  “They’re back on the dock at the monastery,” she replied.

  “Mine isn’t,” Susan said. “It went overboard shortly before Ruth. I didn’t think I’d need it again.”

  “Brilliant!” said Robyn.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  It was still early, but the sun was strong, and Wren could feel the warmth begin to radiate as she continued her vigil at the window. The boat had made it to land, and intermittently she could see figures heading her way, sometimes disappearing behind dunes and sandbanks. Once they finally got to the pebbles, she would lose sight of them completely, but for the time being, her heart was beating a happy rhythm.

  Wren had an idea, and, grabbing the hammer, she ran into the bathroom. She tapped it against the mirror on the wall, and a dozen pieces fell into the sink. Ruth let out a scream from the other room.

  “It’s okay, Ruth,” Wren said as she walked back through. Your mum and my sister have found us.

  “Mummy’s found us?” Ruth said with eyes wider than a child on Christmas morning.

  “Yes, they’re heading towards us now.”

  “But those things…”

  “Don’t worry, my sister will come up with a plan.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like...maybe she’ll start a fire or make a big noise or something to make sure the coast is clear for us to escape. We’ve had to deal with these things a few times now. Don’t be scared.”

  Ruth sat up in bed. “Where are my clothes?”

  “They’re drying, but I think we’re going to have to put them back on wet. Sorry.” Wren took the piece of mirror she had in her hand and began to angle it to try and catch the eye of one of the group as they made their way along the shoreline, but they soon disappeared out of sight. “Damn!”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The group walked beneath the old pier, looking up at the rotting wood as they went. It stopped abruptly, and there was no way of telling just how far it had once extended into the sea. They continued, and the sand became littered with pebbles until it disappeared completely beneath them. They stayed close to the wall, making sure to keep their visibility to an absolute minimum.

  Elizabeth was carrying Wren’s javelin, while Matthew had the crowbar. Susan had Wren’s rucksack on her back and held a screwdriver tightly in one hand. Robyn led them, having an arrow already resting against the nocking point in her bowstring.

  “Remember,” she said just above a whisper. “Keep your voices down and your ears open. If just one of these things hears you or sees you, the whole lot will come down on us.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “What’s that sound?” Ruth asked.

  Wren continued to peer out of the window, all but ignoring the little girl. “What sound?” she asked distantly, hoping any second she would see her sister emerge from somewhere.

  “It sounds like...sirens.”

  “I don’t hear anyth—” but suddenly she did hear something. “Oh crap,” she said, placing the piece of broken mirror on the dressing table and running out of the room dressed only in the white towel. As she reached the corridor, she could hear it a little better. It sounded just like the smoke alarms that had been screeching their warning back at the monastery. She ran to the staircase, losing her towel along the way, but modesty and cold were the last of her worries now. She burst through the fire door, and now Wren could hear the alarms more clearly, she could feel fear rising, and she could smell smoke. “Shiiit!” she said as she headed back out of the stairwell and sprinted along the corridor. She burst into the room and almost pulled down the shower rail as she dragged their clothes off. She threw Ruth’s onto the bed.

  “They’re still wet,” said the little girl.

  “Yeah, I’m aware of that Ruth, and I really couldn’t give a shit right now. We need to get out of here.”

  “Why?” said the little girl, her eyes immediately filling with tears once again.

  “Look,” she said, pulling on her jeans. “I need you to be brave, no more crying. We’re in trouble. The building’s on fire, and we have to get out asap.” She finished getting dressed, then went across to help Ruth with her still sodden clothes.

  “Ow!” that’s too tight, Ruth said as Wren tied her shoes for her.

  Wren brought her index finger up in front of Ruth’s face. “You’re really starting to get on my ti— just stop complaining and follow me,” Wren said, throwing the bag with the newly acquired booty from downstairs over her shoulder and leading Ruth out of the room.

  They ran down the corridor and burst through the stairwell doors. As well as the heat, smoke was visibly drifting up now. Wren led Ruth down the stairs, and the grey, acrid clouds became thicker and thicker. Ruth started to cough, and it was not long before Wren did too.

  “It’s hot!” Ruth said, in between splutters.

  “Yeah, no sh—. Just wait here, I want to see if we can get down.”

  “Don’t leave me,” squealed Ruth.

  “Just wait. I won’t be a minute,” Wren said, running down the next flight.

  With each step she took, Wren could hear the sirens getting louder, and the temperature increasing, until it was too much to stand. She had not even reached the fourth floor, and she started to make her way back up. She was coughing badly by the time she reached Ruth, who was crying once again. She took the young girl’s hand, and they ran back up to the top floor, and quickly into the room they had been using.

  Wren went to the window, placing the bag down on the floor and pulling the bottle of Pepsi from it. She took a big drink before handing it to Ruth. Wren looked out, and now, she could see plumes of black smoke rising from beneath them. “Oh well, this is one way to dry our clothes I suppose,” she said, coughing more smoke from her lungs.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The group slowed down as they reached the steep staircase that led from the pebble beach to the seafront road above.

  “Stay here,” Robyn said as she climbed the stairs. She came to a stop five steps from the top and slowly craned her neck above ground level. There were at least a hundred beasts in front of the building; flames and smoke were swirling from the windows of the lower floors. All the creatures were transfixed by the fire, desperate to catch sight of live prey somewhere amid the flames, and Robyn knew that unless she did something stupid, that’s the way it would stay. She looked up and down the road, she saw the wooden dock, and wondered briefly if Wren would have nestled herself and Ruth onto one of the boats before bringing her eyes back to the main road. There was a bingo hall and car park next door to the hotel, with a large glass front. No way would Wren hide there. Diagonally to the back of the hotel was a slightly smaller building, maybe one or two storeys lower, that looked like offices. Further up the road, there were— something caught Robyn’s eye, a sharp glint. There it was again. She started looking around, and finally homed in on the blinding slip of a reflective surface. It was coming from the top floor of the hotel.

  “Ohhh Shiiit!” she whispered to herself just as two windows on the second floor exploded, showering the undead crowd with broken glass. Robyn had never been known for her quick thinking, but suddenly her entire life came down to this one moment, and she knew exactly what she needed to do. She motioned with her finger for Wren to head up to the roof, and saw a flurry of activity from the behind the glass before she turned and bound down the stairs.

  “Have you seen them?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yeah, and they’re in a lot of trouble. We need to move fast.”

  “What’s happening?” Elizabeth asked.

  “They’re in a burning building that’s surrounded by an awful lot of hungry zombies,” Robyn replied.

  “Oh dear God!” Elizabeth said.

  “I thought your sister was going to keep them safe,” Matthew said.

  Robyn dropped her bow and grabbed him hard, dragging Matthew to within an inch of her face. “Don’t piss me off god-boy or I will feed you to those fucking thing
s.”

  Matthew turned pale as he saw the ferocity in Robyn’s gaze. “What are we going to do?” Elizabeth demanded.

  “We need to act quickly. There’s a building at the back of the hotel they’re in. If we can get a rope across to them, we might be able to get them to safety,” Robyn replied.

  “Where one earth are we going to get a rope from?”

  “There’s a dock on the other side,” she said, pointing to the steps. We’ll have to swim around to it, but we’ll find rope in the boats,” Robyn said, taking her jacket off and heading towards the water.

  “Wait,” Matthew said, handing the crowbar to Melissa. “I’m a good swimmer, and it makes sense for you to stay here with that,” he said, nodding towards the bow. “Just in case any of those things come.”

  Without anyone having the chance to argue, he took off his top, his trousers, and his shoes and ran into the water. Within a few seconds, he had disappeared around the tall stone wall that separated the beach from the dock area.

  “We’ll have to double back quite a way. We need to go up and around, so none of those things see us; otherwise, that’s the whole plan gone up in flames,” Robyn said.

  There was the sound of another loud whoosh followed by a lot of breaking glass above, and Elizabeth shot Robyn an urgent glance. The clock was ticking.

  chapter 16

  Wren and Ruth bounded up the last few steps before they came to the solid wooden door. Wren pushed hard against the panic bar, but the door opened less than an inch before wedging against something. “Oh crap!” she shouted as the sounds of the smoke alarms and increasingly strong smell of smoke cloaked them.

  “What is it?” Ruth squealed.

  “I don’t know,” Wren said, barging against the door a second time. She looked down to see the rounded edge of a satellite dish caught underneath it. She pulled the door closed, before smashing against the panic bar again, and this time the door shifted further. She repeated the action a third time, and now there was enough of a gap for them to just squeeze through.

  They each breathed the fresh air before Wren turned and slammed the door shut, hearing the locking mechanism engage. This was it now. The roof would either be their salvation or their damnation. Time would tell, and Wren knew they would not have long to wait.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Robyn brought the bow up as she heard sloshing in the water. She kept the string taut until Matthew emerged from around the side of the black stone dividing wall. He ran towards them, throwing the length of rope and a ball of string down on the ground while he quickly put his clothes on.

  “What’s the string for?” Robyn asked.

  “I...I thought the rope might be a bit thick to attach to one of your arrows. If we tie the end of the string to your arrow and fire that across, Wren can pull the rope across,” Matthew said.

  Robyn raised an eyebrow. “Good thinking.”

  Matthew slipped his pumps back on. “Okay, ready!” he said, and the five of them frantically retraced their steps back up the beach.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Wren walked across to the back of the hotel and looked over the side of the safety railing. Instantly, everything made sense as she saw the reddened, black remains of dozens of creatures. The odd one still moved, but most were burnt to a crisp. She watched as flames climbed the side of the building, and errant wisps of burning material rose on the upstream.

  “I’m scared,” Ruth whimpered as she crept up behind her.

  “Yeah, you and me both. But look. My sister and your mum are on the way to help us. We’ll be back with them soon, okay?” Ruth nodded, and Wren knelt down in front of her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “And then we’ll get out of this town and find somewhere safe.”

  “I need to pee,” Ruth said.

  Wren looked around. The stairwell was the only raised part of the flat roof. “Go behind there,” she said, pointing. Nobody’s going to see you.

  The little girl walked away, and Wren stood again. She turned full circle watching as more and more smoke appeared from below. The fire was rising. Wren just hoped whatever plan her sister had could be played out before the flames reached them.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The sound of another small explosion from further up the road startled the group as they ran across the street to the cover of buildings.

  “What was that?” Susan asked.

  “Could have been anything. Cleaning materials, gas canister; there’ll be all sorts in there,” Elizabeth said as they continued, eventually joining the street that ran parallel with the beachfront road.

  They looked up and down to see it was deserted. But for the odd piece of rubbish rocking from side to side in the breeze, there was no movement. The pops and whooshes of the fire could be heard even from so far away, and although the growling creatures continued their dirge, the accompanying smoke alarms began to diminish as floor by floor the flames found them and melted their circuitry.

  “Come on,” Robyn said, sprinting down the street. She may not have possessed her sister’s athletic credentials, but there was a horse length between her and the rest of them as her drive to save Wren intensified with each passing stride.

  They finally reached the building that Robyn had seen. Most of the ground floor was taken up by a bank while the floors above advertised everything in their windows from financial advisors to divorce lawyers. Robyn cupped her hands around her eyes. The glass double doors led into a small foyer where one could turn left and enter the bank, or carry straight on to the lifts and staircase to the floors above.

  Robyn took the crowbar from Matthew and stood back before unleashing a powerful blow on the glass door. A chip appeared, the type you get on a car windscreen when a small stone from the road meets it at sixty miles per hour. “Crap!” she said, dropping the tool as the shudder ran up her hand and arm.

  “Let me try,” Matthew said, picking up the crowbar. He hammered at the glass again, and the same thing happened. “I’m going to see if there’s another way in,” he said, disappearing up the small alleyway at the side of the building.

  “I don’t want you to go alone,” Melissa called, running after him.

  The smell of the smoke was strong from where they were standing, and the three remaining women looked at each other as yet another painful reminder of the ticking clock attacked their senses. They stood looking at the door, willing the glass to cave in, until the sound of running feet made them bring their heads up sharply.

  “Come quickly,” Matthew said as he reappeared around the corner. The three women followed him down the alleyway and into the walled car park. Robyn and Elizabeth went weak at the knees as, for the first time, they got a clear view of the hotel beyond the walls. The flames were lashing against the sides of the building, and it seemed like it would be no time before they found their way to the roof.

  “Oh no,” Robyn croaked. She felt a hand close around the one she held her bow in, and she looked to see Elizabeth. Her face was staring up towards the rooftop of the hotel. Robyn could tell she was thinking the same thing.

  “I found this,” Matthew said, breaking the two women from their melancholy thoughts.

  Robyn and Elizabeth looked down to see a concrete bollard. A number of them lined the back like they did the pavement at the front—to stop attempted ram raids. But here was this one. Had it been toppled in just such an instance? Or was it the result of a careless delivery driver applying the brake too late? Either way, it lay there on the ground with a rusted iron strut protruding from its base.

  “It’s a bollard,” Susan said.

  “Yes. Me and Melissa tried to move it, but it’s way too heavy. I thought we could try and use it as a battering ram.”

  “Erm...actually, that’s a pretty good idea,” Robyn said as she leaned her bow against the wall, ready to take one end.

  “No!” Elizabeth said. Let us. If any of those things appear, we need you ready with that,” she said nodding towards the weapon.

&
nbsp; “Those things are preoccupied with their barbecue at the moment,” she replied, but picked up her bow again, nevertheless.

  Matthew grabbed the front of the bollard; Elizabeth handed the javelin to Robyn before taking the back end, and as soon as they managed to raise it a few inches from the ground, Susan and Melissa went either side and supported it in the middle as best they could.

  “This thing weighs a ton,” Melissa said as they made their way back down the alley.

  “That’s a good thing,” Elizabeth replied. “It might break through the glass.”

  Robyn went ahead, checking that the coast was still clear out in the street as the group re-emerged carrying the heavy construction. They rounded the corner and headed up to the door.

  “So what’s the best way to do this?” Susan asked.

  “I think if we start swinging it slowly back and forth like a pendulum, we’ll be able to use the momentum to smash the door,” Elizabeth said.

  “Okay, here goes,” Matthew said, as he guided the bollard back before letting it swing forward, four, five times, and then, crunch. The force of the hit rocked the burdensome concrete post out of their hands, and all four of them jumped back as it hit the pavement with a grinding thud.

  Their hearts jumped into their mouths as they saw a crack appear across the centre of the bollard, fearful that it would disintegrate, but the iron core held it together for the time being. They looked towards the door; a spider’s web of shattered glass had spread from the point of impact.

  “It’s working,” Elizabeth cried with a smile as she bent down to pick up the concrete battering ram once again. The rest of them joined her and began the pendulum motion, this time when the post made contact with the glass, they did not lose their grip but instead became more determined as they watched the integrity of their target disintegrate.

  After less than a minute, enough of the bottom half of the door had disintegrated to be levered out onto the pavement, creating an opening in the frame big enough for them to duck through one by one. They lowered the battering ram back down to the floor and instinctively stretched their backs and hands, grateful to be free of the burden.