The End of Everything (Book 7): The End of Everything

by Artinian, Christopher

  For a moment, Robyn and Mila just sat there not fully believing what was happening. Just a few minutes before, they were convinced they were going to die. They turned their heads, looking at the caved hatchback with the motionless beast stuck through it. All the gory smudges over the glass and the partially caved windscreen were a testament to the chilling fate that awaited them, but by some miracle they had been given another chance.

  They stayed there a little longer until the sound of the second motorbike was barely audible, then finally Robyn came to her senses. “Probably an idea to move before they come back this way.” She pushed open the rear door and climbed out. Mila joined her. They quickly placed their swords and rucksacks back on their shoulders and were about to head in the opposite direction to the bikes when a white van appeared at the top of the street.

  Both women froze. The van sped towards them and screeched to a halt. The passenger side window lowered, revealing a woman in sunglasses. She looked over the top of the lenses towards Mila and Robyn. “So, are you just going to stand there or are you going to get in?”

  The two women slid their backpacks and swords off once more and dived into the cab of the transit van. No sooner had they slammed the door closed than the van was on its way.

  “Thank you,” Robyn said tentatively.

  The woman did not answer. She reached into the side pocket for a handheld radio and brought it up to her mouth. “That’s it, got ’em. Now get out of there.”

  The van did a three-point turn in the road and began to move off slowly. Within a minute, one then two motorbikes came up beside it. Mila and Robyn looked into the rearview mirror to see a mass of creatures charging after them, but for the moment they were safe. The three vehicles accelerated away, joined the main road out of the village and, before long, Braemar was just a memory.

  “If you hadn’t have come by, we would have died,” Mila said.

  “No doubt,” the woman replied. “It was kind of our fault that you were in that situation, so we thought it was only the right thing to do.”

  “Your fault. How was it your fault?”

  “Well, we go on regular scavenging trips there. We’ve got it off to a fine art now. There aren’t anything like the amount of infected there that there used to be, but there are enough to cause problems. We use the bikes to lure them away. One of us will stand in plain sight on the street then run into a house, lock the door and head out the back. Those things aren’t that bright. They’ll just keep hammering until they get in and by then we’ll be long gone. We’ll stock up from a few houses at once then head back home. When that car alarm went off, those things weren’t much more than a street away from you. We felt we owed you.”

  “Well, thank you anyway. We’d have been dead for sure if you hadn’t come,” Robyn said.

  “I’m Deb.”

  “I’m Robyn, this is Mila.”

  “Nice to meet you. So where are you girls heading?”

  “We’re going to Inverness,” Robyn replied.

  Deb turned to look at her. “Why the hell do you want to go there?”

  “My sister. She was going there.”

  “Let me tell you something. If your sister got within five miles of that place she’d have turned around and gone the other way. It’s hell; completely overrun with the infected. The only people who head in there are ones with a death wish.” In that instant, Mila could actually feel Robyn’s heart break. She reached out and took her young friend’s hand. Deb raised an eyebrow. “So, what’s the story with you two? You together?”

  “We’re friends,” Mila said.

  “Everybody needs friends these days,” Deb replied.

  “Who were the people on the bikes?”

  “They’re my sisters.”

  “Is it just the three of you?” Robyn asked.

  “No. I’ve got another two sisters back home.”

  “Big family,” Robyn said. “Where do you live?”

  “You’re going to find out quite soon, but we’re well off the beaten track.”

  The journey took forty-five minutes. They passed through two more villages that had suffered a similar fate to Braemar and then pulled onto a road to the right. They came to a gate and a big sign that had been badly damaged, so the only word that could be read was Inverness-shire. One of the women climbed off her bike and opened the gate. There was a tall chain-link fence with barbed wire around the top on either side, which disappeared with the curvature of the woodland within.

  “So, what is this place?”

  “It was a private hospital. It’s miles away from anywhere, it’s surrounded by tall fences, has its own furnace as well as a couple of polytunnels and vegetable patches.”

  “Wow! That really is perfect,” Mila said as they drove through the gates and continued along the tree-lined road until it reached a grand looking building.

  Deb brought the van to a stop outside, and two women appeared at the large double doors. They walked down the three wide steps and warmly embraced the two motorcyclists, then, as Deb climbed out of the cab, hugged her tightly too.

  “Close family,” Mila said.

  “Yeah,” Robyn replied before Deb turned towards the van and signalled for them to meet the others. They grabbed their rucksacks and swords from the footwell and climbed down.

  One of the younger women who had come out of the house walked up to greet them. “I’m Sabina,” she said with a warm smile lighting up her pale complexion.”

  Mila returned the smile, “I’m—”

  “You don’t need to tell me who you are. We don’t get guests too often. Come on, help us get the van unloaded, then we’ll eat and find you a bed for the night. But before that, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the family.” She guided the pair across to where the others were standing. “This is Brie, Krissy and Raminder.” Each one nodded and smiled as they were introduced.

  Brie’s eyes lingered on Robyn for a while before she realised that she was staring. “Nice trousers,” she said. “Real leather?”

  “Yeah! I’ve got the jacket to go with it in my rucksack.”

  “Sweet,” Brie replied as something like a smirk appeared on her face.

  Sabina led Robyn and Mila into the staff living quarters at the rear of the building where they dumped their weapons and rucksacks. They headed back out, and the seven of them got to work unloading the boxes onto trolleys that were parked just behind the entrance doors. When they were done, the sun was close to disappearing.

  “Right,” Deb said, closing the door on the back of the van. “Good work. We’ll eat, then you girls can bed down for the night. Sabina, take Robyn and Mila; myself, Raminder, Krissy and Brie will go prepare a couple of rooms.”

  “We don’t want to put you out,” Mila said. “We are more than happy to share.”

  “It’s not putting us out. We’ve got plenty of room,” Deb replied.

  The four sisters disappeared, leaving Robyn, Mila and Sabina alone in the big foyer. “Come on then,” Sabina said, leading them back down the corridor.

  “Are you nuns or something?” Robyn asked.

  Sabina stopped and burst out laughing. “No. Why?”

  “’Cause Deb said you were sisters.”

  “We are.”

  “But—”

  “But we don’t look anything like each other?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, we challenge a lot of the old ways of thinking,” she said, smiling.

  They entered the large living room with the wood-burning stove flickering away in the corner. “How do you mean?” Robyn asked.

  “Right. Say you and Mila were orphaned at birth and adopted by the same family. You might not be blood relatives, but you'd be sisters, right?”

  “Well … yeah, I suppose so.”

  “Well, we decided to adopt each other. When the disaster struck, we knew we had to be together. We knew we would keep each other safe and get through this.”

  “You seem to be doing pretty well,” Rob
yn said.

  “We’re doing a lot better than pretty well. We’ve managed to find a few friendly settlements on the east coast to trade with.”

  “What do you trade?”

  “We mainly trade our produce. We get whatever we can from them in return; fuel, farming supplies, all sorts.”

  “Produce? What produce?”

  “Produce from our animals.”

  “I though the government seized all the livestock. You’re saying you’ve got a fresh meat supply?” Mila asked.

  “Yeah, we’re a regular cottage industry.”

  There was a sudden loud bang. “What the hell was that?” Robyn cried.

  “It’s okay, don’t panic,” Sabina replied.

  A rumble began as heavy feet pounded across a wooden floor. Robyn and Mila looked at one another then dived towards their weapons. They had heard that sound too many times before not to be prepared.

  The internal door from the kitchen burst open with hurricane force.

  “Aaarrrggghhh!”

  chapter 22

  “What the hell?” Mila screamed as two giant pigs barged into the living room.

  Sabina laughed. “It’s like they’ve got built-in alarm clocks that tell them when it’s our dinner time.”

  “You have pigs in the house?” Robyn said, still not keen on the idea of relinquishing her swords.

  “Robyn, Mila, I’d like you to meet Napoleon and Snowball.”

  “Err … okay,” Robyn replied. The fattest of the pigs trundled across to where the two shocked women stood. The floorboards bounced as it walked. It sniffed around them loudly then oinked before heading back to its friend.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but pigs are actually very intelligent and very clean creatures. It’s only because they have been subjugated and made to live in filth that they have the reputation of being dirty,” Sabina said, crouching down and stroking the animals as if they were family dogs.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Robyn said. “But won’t it make it harder when the time comes to… I don’t want to say it in front of them.”

  Sabina chuckled again. “Kill them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’ve had a few animals in our home that we’ve ended up killing, but we’ll never lay a finger on these two. Now please, put your weapons down and come and join us.” Sabina sat down in one of the armchairs and the two huge pigs laid down, one on either side.

  Robyn glared at Mila, but eventually they placed their swords back in their scabbards and walked over to the sofa. A few minutes later, the other four women reappeared.

  “It’s getting dark in here,” Krissy said. “We trying to save on our lighting bills or something?” She opened a drawer and brought out a box of matches then carefully lit four lanterns. “I see you’ve met Snowball and Napoleon.”

  “Err … yeah. First time I’ve ever come across house pigs before,” Robyn replied.

  “I suppose we’re not your typical family,” Krissy said, and all four of her sisters let out a small laugh as if it was some kind of in-joke.

  “Come on,” Sabina said. “Let’s go eat.”

  Three of the sisters picked up lanterns and led Robyn and Mila into the dining room while Sabina and Raminder disappeared into the kitchen.

  “Sit wherever you want,” Deb said as she plonked herself down at the head of the table. Five minutes later, Raminder and Sabina reappeared pushing a small serving trolley. They placed the full plates onto the table and finally sat down themselves.

  “Tuck in everyone,” Sabina said, picking up her fork and spearing a piece of gnocchi.

  “Smells delicious,” Robyn said politely.

  “It is,” Deb replied. “Sabina is an amazing chef. Don’t worry if you can’t finish it all, Snowball and Napoleon are on standby.” Polite laughter rippled around the table.

  “This is very good,” Mila said, “but I thought we may be eating sausages or ham from what Sabina was telling us.”

  Deb looked towards Sabina and then back at Mila. “You like sausages and ham?”

  “I am German,” she said, smiling.

  Robyn smiled politely but suddenly noticed the atmosphere around the table had changed a little. “Well,” began Brie, “we make all sorts here, but we use it for trade. You’ve no idea how much fuel you can get for a dozen black puddings or white puddings for that matter. And sausages, they’re like bitcoin. We get flour, meds, all sorts of stuff for our produce. So, we prefer to trade it rather than eat it.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” Mila conceded.

  “Funny isn’t it?” Deb began. “We used to kill over sixty billion animals every year. They were just something throwaway. Nobody used to think about the living, breathing thing that used to exist before they got cellophaned and placed on a refrigerated shelf. They were just a cheap, easily attainable product. Now, though, they’re worth a fortune. We’ve even had a few people following us back here trying to get to our livestock.”

  “What did you do?” Robyn asked.

  Deb placed her fork down. “What would you do if someone attacked you in your home? What would you do if someone threatened your family, threatened your livelihood?”

  “Nothing good,” Robyn replied.

  “Exactly.”

  The seven women finished their meals in relative silence. When they were done, Krissy and Brie took the trays back into the kitchen while the rest of them adjourned to the living room. “Well, this has been really nice, but it’s been a pretty long day for us and—”

  “Come on, Robyn,” interrupted Deb. “Surely you can stay up for a couple of glasses of wine.”

  “Wine? Err … okay.”

  Several minutes later, Brie and Krissy returned from the kitchen. The sound of Napoleon and Snowball chowing down on leftovers made the five sisters chuckle. Deb walked over to a small sideboard and placed seven glasses on a tray then proceeded to pour wine into each. She carried them across and handed them out. “This is our own label,” she said, smiling. “Hope you like it.”

  Robyn and Mila both sniffed the contents of the glass then carefully sipped. “Holy cow! That’s strong,” said Robyn, and the five sisters laughed.

  “So, Robyn, tell me about your leather fetish,” Brie said.

  “Brie, leave it alone,” Deb replied.

  “I’m just curious.”

  Robyn took another sip of her wine. “It’s hardly a fetish. It’s just a look, y’know. A kind of rock chick look.”

  “Aha!” Brie said, smiling before taking another drink from her glass. “It suits you. Makes you look hot.”

  “Err … thanks,” Robyn said, glugging a couple more mouthfuls.

  “It looks so much better on you than the cow.”

  “Huh?” Robyn said.

  “Stop it!” Deb cast a glare towards Brie.

  “I’m just joking.”

  Mila quietly sipped her wine, staring into the flames of the fire, as an uneasy feeling began to cloak her. A few more minutes passed in silence before Robyn climbed to her feet. “Well, this has bleen hovely but…” She flopped back down onto the sofa. “What? What’s?”

  “Has it gone straight to your head?” Head, head. “Robyn?” Robyn, Robyn. Deb placed her glass down on the table and stood up. She walked across to the sofa and crouched down in front of Robyn and Mila. “Maybe we should get you to bed.” Bed, bed.

  Robyn tried to focus on Deb’s face, but in the lantern light, it was nothing but a glowing blur. She turned towards Mila who had slumped forward. “Meeelar!” The word didn’t sound right as it came out of her mouth. “Whas happ…” She couldn’t talk anymore. Deb and Brie lifted her off the sofa while Sabina picked up a powerful torch.

  She felt herself being carried, to where she had no idea. The torchlight occasionally flashed in her direction as they climbed a flight of stairs and headed down a long corridor.

  “Don’t eat the meat!” Don’t eat the meat. Don’t eat the meat. Children’s voices surrounded h
er. What the hell is happening? “Don’t eat the meat.” Don’t eat the meat. Don’t eat the meat.

  A door creaked open, and they entered a room. Suddenly she felt springs beneath her as she was laid onto a bed. “Where are you putting the other one?” Other one, other one. It was Deb’s voice.

  Krissy replied, “The room opposite.” Opposite, opposite.

  Robyn could only just make out shadows above her now as she fought with everything she had not to fall asleep.

  Deb, Brie and Sabina all walked to the door while the echoing shouts continued down the hallway. “Don’t eat the meat!” Don’t eat the meat! Don’t eat the meat!

  “All of you, shut the hell up! Otherwise there’ll be a carving tomorrow.” Carving tomorrow, carving tomorrow.

  The hallway immediately fell silent, and the door slammed shut. Darkness.

  chapter 23

  Robyn’s eyes scratched open. For a few minutes she didn’t move, she just lay there on the bed. This was a hangover to end all hangovers. How much had she drunk last night? She only remembered sitting down for one glass of wine, then everything went black. I wonder what time breakfast is.

  She swivelled her feet over the side of the bed and placed them on the floor. A bout of dizziness overcame her, and she sat there a moment longer before walking over to the curtains and throwing them open.

  What the hell? Painted white metal bars covered the windows. What kind of hospital was this? It was a grey day outside. The sun did its best to peek through the dark clouds, but it was struggling. Robyn slowly turned. To her left, there was a toilet with a small partition in between it and the sink. A chest of drawers stood over in one corner, and a small pile of books sat on top of it. Still a little unsteady on her feet, she staggered across to the door. Locked.

  “Hey! Hey!” she shouted, banging against the thick wood. “Hey. Let me out of here.”

  “Robyn? Robyn is that you?” It was Mila’s voice.