This Is the End: The Post-Apocalyptic Box Set (7 Book Collection)

by Craig DiLouie

  "I'm hoping that we won't be using that path?" I said, pointing at the trail.

  "Unfortunately we will. We have to follow the same path at least most of the way. I think we might get lost otherwise."

  But something we both noticed almost at the same time changed that.

  A short distance from the entrance, a bicycle track crossed the zombie trail, and led into the third tunnel. I looked closer. The track seemed as though it had been used a lot of times.

  "We never went that way," said Rudy.

  "Do you think Adler found another route?" I asked.

  "He must have, but he never mentioned it."

  I was still nervous going in there. No open ground and not a lot of choices when it came to escaping if we came across anything, but DogThing wasn't growling and didn't seem disturbed, so I followed Rudy into the third entrance.

  I was expecting hours of wandering around, lost, but about an hour later, after following the bicycle trail, we were looking down into a gulley that ended in a sheer wall. The tracks led down to the very bottom, where another metal door was built into the rock.

  A door that was open.

  We looked at each other, puzzled.

  Leaning against the rock only a few feet away from the open door was an old, rusty bicycle.

  "The professor's bicycle," said Rudy, as we approached the door.

  There was no light coming from inside, just pitch darkness. Rudy knelt down next to the bicycle and tried to wipe away some of the dust and sand that had gathered on it. His hand went straight through.

  "Well I guess that answers where he went."

  "Yes, I suppose it does, almost."

  "He must have come here a lot if all these footprints are anything to go by," I replied, indicating all of the different footprint trails coming to and from the entrance. Most of them came from the path opposite the one we had arrived by.

  Why so many visits?

  I moved the bicycle away from the wall. Years of gathered dust and sand fell from it. It had been here so long that both the chain and the steering column had seized up. The bicycle may have been ancient even back when the professor had used it, so the cracked paint and rust weren't much of a gauge to go by.

  Rudy stood there, peering at the doorway. I could see he was reluctant to go inside.

  "I don't know whether I want to see what's in there."

  I nodded my understanding.

  "It's ok. I'll go."

  "No. No. I'll go first, safety and all that. It makes sense. Just give me a moment."

  I took my time lighting up one of my newly made chair leg torches and waited quietly by the door. I knew the torch wouldn't last as long as the others. I'd had no cloth to wrap round the top, and no petrol to soak it in; ironic really, since I'd probably burned thousands of gallons of fuel in the swamp fire. It didn't matter though; this was Rudy's friend we were expecting to find dead inside the door, unless it led somewhere else. I was hoping it did.

  After a minute or so, Rudy stepped through the doorway; his own glow filled the corridor that was revealed, casting dim shadows over the broken furniture that littered the ground and the cobwebs that hung from the ceiling. I thought that was a bit odd, having not seen a single spider the entire time I had been here.

  DogThing didn't follow us in, but he also didn't seem on edge.

  There were three doors along the left side of the corridor, all of which were open, and then a dead end with another door in it that was shut. The door at the end looked almost identical to the door in the cave near the shack.

  Rudy was standing in the corridor, not moving, so I decided it was down to me to look after all.

  The first room was no larger than a decent sized bedroom, containing little apart from a row of turned-over filing cabinets, all of which were empty. More cobwebs filled the dark corners of the room, and the floor was littered with rotten books and piles of folders. I picked up the nearest folder and opened it, but the pages inside crumbled to dust in my hands.

  The second room along was the same except the cabinets, again empty, were still standing against the far wall. There was also a stack of tables and chairs in one corner.

  We found him in the last room, sitting upright facing an aged computer screen that was still plugged into the wall. Where the hell the electricity had come from originally I don't know; the plug was hanging by one rusted wire that clung to the concrete wall. The screen of the computer had been broken in a long time ago.

  Adler had been dead for a long time. So long that there wasn't a shred of flesh left on him, just a decaying skeleton inside a smart, grey dress suit. There was a hat sitting on the side of the computer desk, caked in years of dust and grime. Yet more cobwebs covered the walls, the desk, and Adler.

  Rudy recognised the hat and suit immediately, walked over to the body, and knelt down with his head bowed.

  I didn't need to ask, but I did anyway.

  "It's him isn't it?"

  Rudy nodded.

  "I'm really sorry Rudy." It was all I could think of to say.

  After a few minutes Rudy stood and began searching the room. I joined him. I couldn't think of anything else to say that might make Rudy feel any better, so I got on with the task, finding the compass, the key.

  I was about to open the front of Adler's suit jacket, hoping to find the key dangling on a necklace round his neck, when the apparition came through the wall. A second before it appeared I heard DogThing growling down the corridor. I felt a tingling sensation run down the back of my neck and then it was there, right in front of me.

  I have never been so terrified in my life. I've probably said that a few times since starting this journal, and meant it each time, but this was the kind of fear that made me run for my life, Rudy as well.

  It came out of the wall screaming, a high-pitched screech that was ear-piercing. I couldn't understand anything that it was babbling at me, apart from "GET AWAY". It was vaguely human, or at least I thought it could be if it wasn't flailing itself in a way that made it too blurry to see. Its eyes burned with hate and madness.

  So I ran, as fast as I could, tripping twice as I dashed out of the room, down the passageway and out of the door, to the sloped opening that led up to The Warrens. It was right at my back the whole way; only I couldn't feel its touch, just the coldness that swept around me as it flailed its arms trying to grab hold of me.

  Without watching where I was going, I sprinted up the slope back towards The Warrens, straight past the two zombies that were making their way along the path towards us. I briefly stumbled sideways to avoid them and saw Rudy do the same.

  Then the most god-awful noise pierced the air. I stumbled again and fell forwards, landing on my back. I felt one of the blades hanging at my side nearly pierce my leg, and rolled over onto my back.

  About twenty feet away the apparition had stopped. It was no longer chasing us. Instead it was busy tearing apart the two zombies. It was over in seconds. The zombies lurched away from it, fearful like I was. They know fear? It didn't matter. The glowing, screaming apparition tore them both apart like they were made of paper.

  DogThing had been busy during all of this. As I got back up to my feet I could see him backing away from the apparition, leaving the remains of the other zombie on the ground. I didn't notice until afterwards that DogThing had killed three other zombies, leaving only the two standing as we came rushing out of the door.

  The apparition stopped screaming and flailing, and walked towards us, halting about ten feet away. It tried to move forward again, but appeared to be blocked in some way. It stood there watching us. I was stunned, completely unable to decide what to do.

  "Adler?" asked Rudy.

  The apparition looked up, and stared at Rudy.

  "Do I know you, thief?" it said, its voice harsh and angry.

  "Yes. It's me John. It's Rudy. Don't you remember me?"

  "Rudy. That does sound familiar. Were we friends once?"

  Rudy glanced at me, worri
edly.

  "Yes, for many years. You don't remember?"

  "Of course I remember you, you old fool. But you are dead. I saw you dead. You are gone. You are no more alive than those pathetic creatures."

  "Yes. I'm dead. Sort of."

  "Stop talking to me. You can't be here. You died."

  I stayed quiet during all of this, and took out my blades, watching the two paths for more zombies. They had followed us, surely?

  "Just as you did," said Rudy.

  "What? How ridiculous. I'm not dead."

  "But you are. Like me. You are...a ghost."

  "Maybe so, but you are a thief, Rudy Shevchenko, and there is no excuse for such rude behaviour."

  "But...how? I haven't taken anything."

  Adler glared at him.

  "You know what you were going to take though, don't you? Well no one shall have it. I will not allow that...creature to find them again."

  "We don't want CutterJack to..."

  "Don't say its name! Damn you, you fool! Don't you know it can hear you?"

  "It can?"

  "Yes. Everywhere you go. Anything you say. It can hear the living. It can read their thoughts and know what they are planning; hear their breathing, their heartbeat, everything."

  My turn to cut in.

  "So that's how the zombies are finding us?"

  Adler turned and glared at me this time.

  "Yes boy. It knows exactly what you are planning, and now it knows what you are searching for."

  "But you led us to look for them. Your diary."

  "My diary. I was a fool, forever searching for them only, trying to keep it secret and hoping for a way to escape this hell of a place. My foolishness and my hurry caused my end."

  Adler turned and walked back down to the door. We followed, but with every step I was wary of him turning on us again. I looked to DogThing, hoping to get some indication of any danger, but he was just sitting there a few feet from the entrance.

  Adler was standing staring at his own skeleton when I stepped into the room. He looked up briefly.

  Rudy was bursting with questions.

  "How did you find the door? You never mentioned it."

  "I didn't find it while you were still alive, Rudy. It was long after. I used the paths through The Warrens a lot after you died. I can't be completely sure of it, but right after I found you dead, I travelled across the plateau. He was there, it was there. I sensed him, but could not see him. He knew where I was. So after that I took to using the paths through The Warrens, hiding whenever his creations wandered past. Every time I tried to get to the trash yard, or to the bus, I could sense him. I could feel that he was there. That fear stopped me from trying to leave for weeks."

  "Zombies," said Rudy.

  "Pardon?"

  "They're called zombies. His creatures."

  "They are? Oh. Interesting. Finally a name to the abominations. Anyway, as I was saying, I used the route through The Warrens a lot, trying to find a way through that felt safe. Then one day I came upon a set of tracks that hadn't been there before, along one of the paths that the...zombies didn't use. There were many tracks. So I followed them, and found myself outside this place."

  Adler sat down on the desk next to his skeleton.

  "The entrance was closed when I got here, but the footprints led straight to it, and I knew they were not old, otherwise I would have seen them before. I set up camp in the rocks above the path, and waited for days. Nothing. So I travelled again, back to the swamp, to gather provisions. How I hated those pod things, but not as much as mushrooms."

  "You never did take to the cuisine here," said Rudy, laughing.

  Adler shot him a sour look.

  "Don't. Don't call it cuisine. The filth that grows here is anything but that."

  Adler sighed.

  "Well when I came back here, hoping maybe to try and open it again on my way to collect the keys. I was too hasty. The door was already open you see. I went in too quickly, didn't think. I was so excited, like a little boy walking into a toyshop. The door was open, and I could hear movement, voices."

  "What happened?"

  "They shot me."

  "Shot you? Who?"

  "I never found out who they were. They were armed with guns, strange guns, the likes of which I had never seen before. Their clothing, it was like something out of the future, or the past, grey armour of some kind. The door at the back was open too. I think they were leaving. The last of them turned round, and as I was calling out in welcome he levelled his weapon at me and fired. That is all I can remember. I suppose I must have dragged myself back to this room, and sat down somehow."

  "That's terrible. They didn't even stop to find out who you were?"

  "No. I think they presumed I was a zombie."

  "You found the fourth compass though?"

  "Yes. It was up near the other entrance, outside the door. That creature must have killed someone up there. What I don't understand is why the body was buried. It would never have buried the man. Someone else must have buried it."

  "The armoured people?"

  "Maybe."

  "You've seen outside? You saw it when they had the door open?"

  The professor laughed at this.

  "Oh Rudy! You've been like that, like this, longer than I have and you haven't figured some things out. Walls are no barrier to you now, my friend."

  "Yes, I do know, but..."

  "Rudy, I have been sitting outside in the sun for years now."

  "Outside in the sun?"

  "Yes, come. Come with me now."

  We went out into the passage and the professor walked towards the door at the back. He didn't stop, just went right through the door. It puzzled me. Why hadn't he walked through the wall in the room if there were no barriers, instead of going into the corridor? Habit?

  "Come on my old friend. Come and see the world outside of our dark prison."

  Rudy looked at me for a moment.

  "I will come back."

  Then he stepped through the door.

  I knelt down and peered through the gap underneath. It was almost exactly like the other door. The gap was no more than a few inches.

  I saw it.

  The fourth compass.

  It was a few feet away, lying on the rock floor. If I could reach it, all that would remain was the one in the safe.

  They came back through the door a few minutes later. Rudy looked different, and not in a healthy way. He looked sad.

  My turn for the questions.

  "What's out there?"

  Rudy shook his head.

  "Only endless desert. I hoped for something else, but at least I've seen the sun for the first time in years."

  "The key, it's out there, outside," I said.

  "Yes, again, I don't know how or when I put it there, or if it was even me. The first thing I remember after the pain of the shot was waking up, sitting outside in the sun."

  "So barren," said Rudy. "So desolate. I'd hoped that London was outside the door, or at least somewhere familiar."

  "Ah but we are not somewhere familiar are we, my old friend? This is not Earth. I figured that out a long time ago. But at least the sun shines out there."

  I wished I could have seen the sun again.

  It took me at least an hour to get the compass. I pulled apart bits of furniture and tried poking it through the gap. Eventually I managed to drag the damn thing back within reaching distance. I could hear the two of them talking in the room with the computer, but wasn't paying attention. I probably should have been; no doubt Adler had a lot of things to say that would be important.

  Adler was bound to the compass, just as Rudy was. He couldn't explain how. He had numerous ideas about trapped souls and their spirits having nowhere to go. Most of his ideas seemed like fairy tales to me. Are ghosts magnetic? Compasses don't draw things to them, do they? Surely it should have been the other way round?

  We left quickly.

  I took the professor's hat
. He insisted I keep hold of that. Not sure why, it wasn't like he was ever going to be able to wear it again. There was also a small rucksack full of his stuff. I turned it upside down and left the contents on the floor. There was nothing useful, but it was a stroke of luck to have something to put my things in again.

  One thing that was handy, though. There was a small bottle filled with oil of some kind. Adler was reluctant to leave the bicycle behind, and finally convinced me to use some of the oil on it and push it along at least for a while. I agreed, even though I didn't think there was any point. It seems that I was wrong. After a few hundred yards, most of the dust and crap that had built up simply broke off, and the wheels and chain were turning again. I still wasn't quite ready to try riding it.

  Further into The Warrens was where Adler took us, all the time chattering away. It was nice to see Rudy full of spirit again. By the way he was going on I even thought he was raring for our next encounter with the zombies. I guess I'll never understand that bit, being potential zombie food myself, but I figured that being dead didn't give you too many perks, so I couldn't begrudge his enthusiasm at discovering that he was an untouchable zombie-killer. When I think about it, it was handy. I could sleep knowing that I had a demon guard dog and two ghosts that never needed to sleep, watching over me, all three of which were utterly deadly as far as zombies were concerned.

  Adler hadn't figured out why he was so lethal to zombies.

  "I don't even feel them," he said. "There were a few of them, loitering around outside the door when I first became aware that I was still here. I was confused, staring down at my own body as it died. I walked outside, and in my frustration I tried to attack the nearest one. I don't know how or why it works, but it does. They can't touch me, but I can destroy them. I don't physically tear them apart. They sort of just fall apart at the seams."

  We found a small alcove further into The Warrens a few hours later. It was only a short climb, up some rocks. Adler said he'd used it several times. The zombies couldn't get up there.