In The End Box Set | Books 1-3

by Stevens, GJ

  She turned, her face solemn, a grin rising in the corner of her mouth as she looked me up and down. I did the same, taking in her dishevelled hair, her face lined with darkening blood smudged together with a sheen of perspiration. My gaze fell to her chest and the rip in her t-shirt at the arm. The white of her left cup showed through.

  The corner of my mouth wanted to rise, but I forced it down.

  I watched as she grinned my way, the way my Toni had done in the good times. The way that used to wind back the clock. I watched as her smile grew and she shook her head until her gaze fell on the pistol I’d forgotten I gripped in my hand. The grin lessened as she pushed out her hand, her eyelids narrowing with the crumple of her face as she reached for the gun.

  Despite all that had happened, I felt no hesitation but I understood why my arm was so reluctant to offer the weapon.

  Her head turned sideways, her eyes now a pinch as she stepped forward. Her smile was back, but the glow had vanished.

  I wanted to pull the gun away. I wanted to release the clip and empty the chamber to the ground, running away so I could keep the promise I’d made to myself before coming to her rescue.

  Taking another step closer, her unforgettable scent pulled hard on a chaos of snatched memories. I closed my eyes as her fingers ran light down my arm. My tight tendons relaxed as she gripped the barrel of the pistol and my hand emptied.

  Opening my eyes, my gaze fell on the red bloodless teeth marks embedded in the knuckle of my index finger.

  She hadn’t stepped far and looked sideways to the sky. For a moment she turned her head until she found the low sun halfway around its journey.

  I knew the words before they came out.

  “We have to get back to the van,” she whispered.

  I nodded.

  “The cameras,” I said, whilst still tilting my head, but she raised her eyebrows, turned to the side, righting after a moment.

  “Your medicine,” she said, her voice lowering. “We need to get it before night fall.”

  She smiled, bunching her cheeks in my direction. I felt the need to be close to her. A need to feel her warmth, whilst hating myself for how easily she’d undone a year of repair within less than a day.

  I stepped closer as she peered in the direction we’d been running before snapping her gaze back my way as I touched her forearm. She flinched away before I could explore her warmth. Her eyes flared wide and brow shot low, curling her features up in disgust as she moved backwards with a jolt.

  Unsure at why she’d reacted so strongly, I watched with intent as her features quickly settled as if remembering how she was meant to act. She still couldn’t hide the shadow looming behind her eyes and I let the question that had been playing on my mind slip before I had a chance to call it back.

  “Why did you call me?” I said with my stomach churning.

  Before our last time together, before the time I drew a line, I had always been the one to reconcile. I had always been the one to bring us back together, but a year had passed since that day. It had been a year of self-control and of understanding that we couldn’t be together, knowing how it would turn out if I didn’t stay away.

  Why after so long was I the one she picked the phone up to in her hour of need? Surely she must have understood we just weren’t right for each other, no matter how much it hurt?

  Toni turned her head to the side, staring back as if she didn’t understand the question.

  “Why did you call me? Why now?” I said, the strain pulling at my voice.

  She shook her head and took a step back, alarm rising on her face.

  “I wanted to be with you forever,” she said with a sadness in her eyes.

  For a moment I stared on, numb, shaking my head, waiting breathless for her to say more and open up. Only when she looked back towards the field did I hear the panting snarl of the dogs again, pushing the rest of the questions to the side.

  Together we turned as I backed away and stood transfixed to the Alsatian running across the field. Puffs of vapour poured from its mouth like a steam engine. Its eyes were wide, jaw hanging open. Its tooth-laden mouth gritted and fixed in our direction.

  41

  “We can’t outrun it,” Toni said, her voice calm as she stepped back from the tree. With her stare fixed forward, only glancing behind for a moment, her gaze never caught mine.

  I watched the dog as its legs pumped hard, its shape getting bigger as each moment passed.

  “Run,” she said, her voice raising with the weight of the gun towards the field, edging back to get the tree from her field of vision. “If we get split up, meet at the van,” she said, her voice sounding only half committed to the words.

  I glanced away, looking out to the horizon filled with fields sprawling until they vanished. The countryside rolled up and down as I tried to fix my view, tried to imagine where I’d parked the van. We’d run further than I’d first thought and with only one crumbling building high on the horizon to fix on, I made my first slow steps in its direction.

  “I’m not leaving you,” I shouted, stopping as her earlier words sunk in.

  “Don’t be a fucking child,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m the one with the gun. You need to run.”

  “What about you?” I said, exasperated.

  “They’re trained to go after the hosts. I mean, the subjects. They’re part of the plan if it gets out of control.”

  A numbness came over me as I realised the implications of her words. The dog had been trained to go after people like me. A host. Was I even a person anymore?

  With the sound of the dog’s heaving breath, my teeth gritted tight and I planted my feet firm.

  After a few moments of deep breath, I looked over my shoulder and saw Toni’s back. Turning, I watched her arms raise and stretch out. Her head twitched as she checked the view and repeated.

  I took one final glance before the hedge lining the long field obscured the dog’s race towards us. At least I couldn’t see anything following behind the creature.

  Only the rise in its pounding breath forewarned its sharp-toothed chase. I wanted to take control. I wanted so much to run, to outrun, leaving the creature alone; dragging Toni with me and overpowering her protests.

  All I could manage was a slow pace backwards whilst shaking my head. I was a passenger.

  Toni took small steps towards me, her stare facing forward, never leaving the direction of her outstretched arms.

  Putting my hands to my face, the dog appeared, taking the corner wide with a speed much greater than I could have imagined. Toni let off a shot without delay.

  The explosion shook through me. As did the next when it was clear the first had missed. The second, too.

  The dog took a course neither of us had predicted as it continued to ignore Toni and the gunshots altogether, instead making a wide arc around her, its legs pumping, pushing hard in my direction. Its heavy pant turned to a snarl, glaring its long teeth as it sped unrelenting to fill the space between Toni and I.

  The third shot exploded with the gun pointed in my direction. The dog’s teeth barrelled into me, pushing me to the ground and sending my head spinning as the world turned over, Toni’s scream the only sound.

  42

  I felt the pressure of the explosion through my body as the ground rose to smash against my shoulder. The shock wave forced the pain from elsewhere, but only for a moment.

  I tensed, made for the fight and I was ready as I ever would be to take the pain. To kick and scream until it gave up. Or I had to.

  As the echo of her voice died away in my numb ears, I forced my eyes wide with the pain subsiding.

  Toni’s hand filled my view. Air sucked through my lips as it felt like blades sliced down my shoulder with her pull from the ground.

  The dog lay lifeless, its long teeth hidden over hanging lips. A spray of red cursed the grass. On my legs were long scratches falling down to my ankles and new elongated splashes of blood criss-crossed my skin.

/>   Turning my gaze away when I saw the wound to its head, I looked to the ground with a heaviness in my chest. A sore shoulder was a small price to pay, but the dog didn’t ask to join the military or the police, or whoever sent it chasing after us. This was something else Toni’s mother would have on her conscience. I would make sure it sat heavy.

  I looked up to see Toni already making her way across the field, the barrel of the gun tucked into her waistband. I stood waiting for her to twist around and check I was okay. To make sure I had followed.

  Sucking up the pain, I twisted back the way we’d come, slowing my breath as I listened, my gaze hanging on the horizon, not able to stop wondering what played out beyond the view.

  Would life ever be normal again?

  To the sound of distant gunfire I could only just hear, I turned and followed in Toni’s path. She continued to trudge ahead as if she had no doubt I would be there in her wake.

  With her pace slow and easy to catch, I hung a few steps behind and she knew, her legs speeding as I joined.

  Nothing followed. Nothing tracked behind, despite the noise we’d made in our defence. Still, we didn’t rest and had soon climbed up to the building, a ramshackle shed whose roof had caved many years before.

  Looking through where a fourth wall had once been, inside lay a long-dead animal. A sheep perhaps. Its bleached white skeleton the only remains.

  The building marked the edge of the village which started over the crest, twenty or so houses arranged around a tee junction. The road headed across our view. The point of the tee ran almost to the shed, but finished with tarmac only halfway, the rest running to gravel.

  Crowded around the junction, a post office bunched up tight to a local shop with bright orange signage. The shop sat alongside a public house. A lion roared out from the red board hanging on the side. My gaze fixed on the tall steeple just slightly removed from the rest of the village to the side.

  Toni gave a sharp look in reply as I pointed out our destination. My growing anger at her scowl dissipated at the sound of a pack of ferocious barking dogs. We both took a step closer to each other, sharing the concern on our features. Toni's hand reached around for the pistol, but before she took hold, the fearful sounds lost their strength, echoing into the distance.

  With my heart calming and about to set foot to make our way, a scream cut through the air and the unmistakable boom of a gunshot followed.

  The calls became a chorus with a second soon joining. We tried to find the source, tried to peer around the building. Only as two women rounded the corner of the T-junction in the distance, coming from the right and running down in our direction, did we know where it came from.

  But it wasn’t just these women making the terrible noise.

  The women were joggers, if their tight shorts and figure-hugging bright tops were anything to go by, and sprinting as if their life depended on their hobby. Their view twisted backwards, issuing screams to echo out each time they saw what we still couldn’t make out.

  Doors of a few of the houses opened as the background of screams grew more feral, not abating.

  We looked to each other, knowing opening their doors was the worst thing they could do; knowing some wouldn’t live long enough to regret their actions.

  The cause of the terror could only be one thing. We stood in silence, watching on with a fascination we had no time to take, but neither of us could pull away from the view.

  Something must have nagged unconsciously, as we started a slow walk down the side of the hill, sidestepping the crunch of the gravel and walking toward the danger the two joggers were about to know all too well.

  Watching, we stopped again. By now half of the houses had their doors open. People stood on their doorsteps looking around, glancing to each other and at the two women. None could figure out why they were making such a din.

  It wasn't long before they got their first sign of what should have told them to get behind their doors and hide away. None of them reacted to prevent their deaths. All continued watching on with hands at their faces, wide-eyed at the ear-piercing shriek that told us we couldn’t outrun what chased. We knew our only chance was to find sanctuary, but that meant racing toward the noise.

  We ran, gazes fixed on the first house. A middle-aged man stood at the door with a woman of a similar age at his back. Both wore dark Christmas jumpers with festive patterns inappropriate for the peril.

  As we ran, they saw us, but took little notice, looking back towards the jogger’s screams which were now so high, looking to each other, neither sure what to make of the situation.

  Their glances hung as the feral shriek lit the air again. Their faces turned wide. Mouths hung open, fixed as we ran, not waiting to see, but already knowing one jogger would be flat on her face with something resembling a human dog tucking into her flesh.

  Neither of us were wrong as we caught a glance just before we pushed past the couple and ran into their house.

  43

  “Close the door,” I heard Toni’s sharp command and watched the guy’s eyes follow as she led the charge with his face indignant to the invasion.

  “Mary, ring the police,” came the man’s voice, his gaze snapping to mine as I followed behind.

  “Shut the door,” I said through heavy breath, trying my best to keep my voice level. “Is your phone working?” I quickly added.

  “Close the door,” the woman begged as I passed, her hands grabbing the man’s upper arm as she sunk at the knees.

  A chorus of screams lit the air outside and I ran past Toni as she stopped in the hallway, peering back and letting her breath settle. I stopped only when I came to the kitchen and ran out of space.

  “Close the door,” Toni repeated, her voice even sharper than before.

  The screams dulled as the door slammed shut and the locks clicked into place. I turned to the back door and the empty mortice lock, noise flashing high as I pulled it open, slamming out the blast of cold air blowing off the rolling fields beyond the garden fence.

  “Where’s the key?” I shouted, my voice racing away.

  Toni arrived first, joining my search of the room before heading back through to the hallway.

  “Toni,” I snapped, and she turned, looking to my hands gesturing to her waistband at her back. She untucked her t-shirt to cover the gun.

  I continued to search the kitchen, pulling open drawers, rooting around for the key while listening to the man’s bluster in the hallway.

  “It’s not working,” I heard him say.

  “Mobile?” came Toni’s reply.

  “Not out here,” he said, his voice growing in volume.

  The woman, Mary, marched from the hallway, projecting her hand out whilst the other clamped firm to the side of her pale, white face.

  I took the key and turned it in the lock, testing the handle twice before I moved away.

  “What was that?” she said with a tremble in her voice as I drew at her side. Her eyes held wide, dropping while her head twisted and eyebrows fell. “Are you from the telly?” she said, taking a step back.

  I gave a shallow nod, no time for the usual smile everyone expected to be in my company.

  “What is that thing?” she said, her voice trembling.

  Toni arrived at her back just in time. The man followed. Both the couples’ pale white expressions were ridiculous in their Christmas finery.

  I didn’t reply; instead looked to Toni for answers.

  The man asked the same unanswered question, but before he finished, Toni walked back into the hall. I followed her into the living room.

  A great tree blocked the view through the front window, the light on to compensate. I caught sight of the TV news. My colleague of two years addressed the camera, dressed casual and wrapped in a warm woollen coat with his back to frost-covered parked cars. The millennium wheel loomed in the background as he presented the annual stock piece, giving out advice for the night’s celebrations. Not once in those few moments did a body cross the
screen with his hands raised and a fractured jaw hanging wide.

  The picture soon swapped to a roadblock across the entry ramp to a motorway. A double line of cones and red signs blocked the path as a pair of stern-looking police officers surveyed the view from behind the line, looking everywhere but at the camera.

  My heart raced even further as I blotted out the hurried voice of the man at my side, the conversation he was having with Toni or his wife. I peered forward, concentrating on the words of the reporter I couldn’t recognise from the voice, or their business-like face as the camera panned to take in their view. He talked about the worst outbreak of foot and mouth disease. He talked about the strictest prohibitions enforced in decades.

  The story was still mine. For now. A double-edged sword. For the one who broke the news, their career would go into orbit, but any more delay and it could be too late to save anyone.

  Toni shot past me as I watched. The husband made noises of complaint and followed her up the stairs, his tone changing halfway as he stopped.

  “What’s that?” he said, the words tailing off. “Mary, no don’t,” he said to stop her following. “Lock yourself in the downstairs toilet.”

  “What?” was her only reply.

  Both moved swiftly out of my way as I bounded up the stairs to catch up with Toni in what appeared to be the master bedroom. My gaze soon turned away from the chintz velvet wallpaper, dark gaudy flowers on a light background, then from the black silk sheets, my corner-mouth smile dropping as I stared into the distance and the dish on top of the van right where I’d left it.

  Toni swept the net curtains aside as I joined her, leaving the window open to let the wind rush over us, ignoring the sharp cold air, our focus fixed on the scene before us.

  The fallen runner lay motionless on the ground, her bright orange top split in half with a great round wound to her back, welts of skin ripped off. The white of her spine and ribs exposed. Great chunks of flesh were no longer where they had grown.