The End of Everything | Book 9 | The End of Everything

by Artinian, Christopher

  Robyn continued to stare through the sight window as Wren and Wolf approached. Then her blood turned to ice as she saw what her sister had seen. They moved as a flock, and the second they reached the corner and set eyes on her too, their pace seemed to increase further. “Oh shit! If we get out of this, we’re really going to have to teach Chuck and the others how to count.”

  The horde seemed to glide across the ground. They just charged en masse. “Why aren’t you firing?” Wren asked.

  Robyn aimed towards one then another. “It’s hopeless,” she said, finally releasing her bowstring anyway. The arrow flew through the air and split through the forehead of a creature. The beast collapsed to the ground. Three more stumbled and fell behind it, but others leapfrogged and sidestepped, their pace not faltering for a moment.

  Wren peeked over her shoulder and wished she hadn’t. She understood what her sister meant. It was hopeless. It was like a wall of the dead heading for them at freight train speed. She turned back to her sister, who fired another arrow. “Just run, Bobbi. Never mind that, just run.”

  Robyn hesitated for a second until her sister reached her, then she turned and started to sprint too. They charged across the car park with the pounding feet of the small army behind them, driving them forward. The volume of the growls became so loud that Robyn was forced to look back to see if the creatures were nearly upon them. The small glimmer of relief she felt when she realised it was just a trick of sound lasted less than a heartbeat. There was nothing good about this situation, and any cocksureness that she or her sister had felt about dealing with a few zombies was well and truly gone.

  Wren, Robyn and Wolf stormed through the open gates and immediately turned right onto the narrow road. Only a few seconds passed before they felt the giant wave of sound vibrating behind them. “We need to buy more time,” Robyn shouted, snatching an arrow from one of her quivers.

  “Forget it. Just run, Bobbi. We need to get to that church.”

  Robyn twisted around as she continued to run. Beasts were still flooding out onto the road, but because it was so narrow it meant that a real advantage could be bought if any of the frontrunners were brought down. No way can I get a headshot without stopping to aim, but maybe, just maybe, I can get a lucky shot. She released the bowstring, deliberately aiming low. The arrow disappeared into the throng of moving bodies with no effect. “Damn it!”

  “Bobbi, just run,” Wren ordered once more.

  Robyn grabbed another arrow and this time brought the bow up a little higher. Twang! Please … please. The arrow lodged in the thigh of a creature who in the past may have been on the athletics team. He was tall, slender, lithe, and probably no more than sixteen years old. In that broken shard of a moment, she was convinced that it was another wasted shot as he continued on for a split second. Suddenly, his leg folded beneath him, and he fell to his left, smashing into others and causing a mini-pileup. “Yes!” Robyn cried excitedly before turning her full attention to the road ahead once more.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Mila was the first to step out from her hiding place. She looked down the narrow lane as the last of the rampaging horde navigated the bend and disappeared from view. “Come, we must not waste time,” she called to the others.

  Josh and Chuck emerged from the hedges and stared down the road too, but now all there was to see was road. They could hear plenty though. They could still hear the pounding feet and, indeed, feel the vibration under their own. The growls of the creatures also swam back down the lane towards them as a chilling reminder of what Wren and Robyn were facing.

  They headed across to the entrance and cautiously made their way in. There, staggering towards them, was one of the infected. Chuck let out a small gasp of surprise, but there was no surprise for Mila or Josh. Anyone who had dealt with these creatures on a regular basis knew that there were always stragglers—beasts who were either injured in life or in their current incarnation and couldn’t quite keep up with the crowd but still possessed the same resolve.

  Mila whipped the swords from the crisscrossed scabbards on her back. It reached out to her as she approached, the gurgling growls in the back of its throat rising in anticipation. It had been a full-grown woman, a pretty one too. Now it was just a limping, struggling monstrosity. Mila thrust a single sword forward, plunging through the beast’s eye. It remained upright briefly; then Mila withdrew the blade and the monster collapsed forward to the ground, its head cracking loudly on the tarmac. Mila wiped the weapon clean on the creature's clothing and placed both swords back in their sheaths as she stared down at the body.

  Just like the single beast they had encountered on the road on the way in, this one had suffered some kind of burns. The denim from its jeans was missing in several places revealing dark red splotches. The worst area was around the calf muscles, where big chunks of tissue had seemingly dissolved.

  “What do you think it is?” asked Josh.

  “I think acid of some kind, like the other one,” Mila replied.

  “Weird.”

  She looked at Josh then to Chuck. “Keep your eyes open, we might run into more.”

  “That’s a happy thought,” Chuck replied.

  “You would prefer to be with Robyn and Wren, yes?”

  “Err … no.”

  “Come on,” Josh said, holding the shotgun in both hands. “The sooner I get out of this place the better.”

  “Remember, that is a last resort, yes? That is why Chuck gave you the hatchet. It is why my friends have just gone to extreme lengths to ensure our safety.”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing,” Josh replied.

  Mila stared at him until something in his eyes forced her to look away. “I hope you do.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Running as fast as they were, it was impossible for Robyn and Wren to breathe a sigh of relief, but as the black wrought iron railings of the cemetery came into view, they realised the first part of their mission was almost complete. Wren looked down at Wolf, whose tongue lolled out of the right-hand side of his mouth as he bounded along with them. They could see the break in the railings up ahead where the road led into the graveyard and up to the front of the church.

  Robyn looked back over her shoulder. The nearest creatures were about forty metres behind, her lucky arrow had caused more trouble than she had anticipated and for the first time since the chase had begun she started to feel a little more confident.

  The three of them veered right into the church grounds. The building that loomed in front of them was small compared to a lot of the churches they had seen, but it was nevertheless impressive. The same black stone that had been used for the school gave the place a sense of history, and that too reassured them. It had lived through pandemics and wars, and once they were inside, surely it could protect them long enough to begin phase two of the plan.

  The three of them bounded up the steps to the thick wooden doors, and the two sisters grasped the black ring handles, tugging back hard. Their eyes widened in horror as they both felt their shoulders pull. “Shiiit!” Robyn hissed as the realisation that the doors were locked struck her and Wren at the same time.

  “QUICK!”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “The door is locked,” Mila said as she pushed hard against the side entrance to the kitchen.

  “Yeah. Barricaded as well. When those things came out of nowhere, we threw everything we could find up against it. Doesn't matter though; we’d practically emptied the place by that time.”

  Mila turned to Josh who was looking in the back of the two open Luton vans. One was piled with trays of tins and boxes of dried food; the other was full of theatre props and costumes. “I bet these are handy in the apocalypse,” he sniped.

  Chuck and Mila walked across to join him. “We didn’t know how much stuff we’d find in there, so we had this ready for any overflow.”

  “Come; let us get the engines started. It will not be long before Wren and Robyn are back with us.”

/>   Chuck slammed the door of the food truck shut and walked across to the other. “Where are the keys?” Josh asked.

  “Both of them will still be in the ignition. Like I say, we had no plans to leave the vehicles, it just happened.”

  Josh nodded. “Good to know.” He pumped the fore-end of the shotgun and aimed it at Mila. “Over there with him. Drop your weapons and both of you in the back of the truck—now.”

  “Come on, lad, this isn’t a time for jokes.”

  “I’m not your lad, and this isn’t a joke. Now do as I say,” Josh said, stepping far enough back to make sure he could not be reached by one of Mila’s swords.

  “Josh, what is this?” Mila asked as shock and confusion painted her face.

  “This is life. The strong survive and the weak get crushed. It’s the way it is now; it’s the way it’s always been. Both of you drop your weapons and get inside the truck, I won’t ask again.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Wren and Robyn leapt from the steps over the decorative stone planting troughs to the left of the door. They had lost valuable seconds, and now the leading creatures were just fifteen metres from them as they continued their pursuit.

  “What do we do?”

  “We’ll have to run around the church, hope they follow us and head back out to see if we can find somewhere else to hole up while the others get the vans.”

  “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

  “Me neither, Bobbi, but it’s our only choice.”

  They each shot frightened looks back as the horde rounded the corner they had navigated just seconds before. Wolf let out a concerned bark as he ran alongside his mistress. They turned right again, the sound of the beasts’ feet making the air around them rumble. The path around the church was narrow, but there was plenty of grass for the creatures to spread out over. The three of them made their next turn just as the horde rounded the corner. Suddenly, a bijou replica of one of the arched wooden entrance doors swung open in front of them.

  “In here, quick!” shouted a young girl wearing thick glasses. Wren and Wolf bolted through the entrance first; the girl followed, and Robyn glanced one final time towards the corner to see the first of the horde before diving through the opening herself. She slammed the door shut behind her and slid the thick bolt across. A second later, the girl dropped to her knees and did the same with another sturdy bolt at the bottom of the door just as the first of the creatures smashed against the thick wood. The young girl gasped, jumped to her feet and sprang back, terrified that the door would not hold, but Wren and Robyn knew better.

  A circular stained-glass window the size of a beach ball rested above the arch casting enough light for them to see what was going on. “Thanks, it was getting tricky out there,” Wren said.

  The girl pushed her glasses further up her nose. “I thought it was those things at first … when you tried the door. Then I heard you shouting and I knew it wasn’t.”

  A loud bang sounded against the wood, and the girl let out a small whimper. “Don’t worry; it’s a pretty sturdy door, it should hold,” Wren said.

  “If you say so. Maybe we should head further into the church, though, just in case.” She flicked on a small torch and led them down a short, dark corridor. To the right was a tiny cloakroom, barely the size of a two-seater sofa. They went up three steps and walked through another door into the chapel. The girl closed the second door firmly behind them and dragged a pew across to block it. Wren and Robyn looked to the main doors to see that a number of pews had been pushed against those.

  “Err … you do know those doors open out, don’t you?” Robyn said.

  “Yes. I just thought that if they got in, a few obstacles might give me enough time to get out the back way.”

  “What’s your name?” Wren asked.

  “Rosie,” the girl replied.

  “How old are you, Rosie?”

  “Eleven.”

  “I’m Wren, this is my sister, Robyn, and that’s my boy, Wolf. What happened here?”

  “It fell soon after the infection. A few of us holed up at the school. We had everything there. There was a teacher with us then, Mr Brand. He was like superhuman or something; he killed loads of those things. He cleared the entire place.”

  “Doesn’t look very clear to me.”

  “No … no, it’s not anymore. There was a moor fire close by a few weeks ago, and it took a couple of the houses with it. Well, the smoke brought loads of those things. It wasn’t safe to go out after that. We stayed in the school for days. Food wasn’t the problem, it was water. We’d been getting our supply from a nearby stream. Well, Mr Brand went to get water one day, and he didn’t come back. Then, one by one, the rest went too. I’m the last one. I’d been living on whatever I could – rainwater, juice from cans – but I decided to risk going to the stream last week and they spotted me. I got chased to a house, and I spent two nights in the loft space.”

  “How did you get out?” Wren asked.

  “There were engines. I heard engines and gradually the house got quieter. When I was sure it was clear, I slipped out. There was noise coming from the direction of the school. Whoever it was, I feel sorry for them because I’m pretty sure that’s where the infected would have headed.”

  “So you’ve been in here ever since?”

  “Other than going out to collect rainwater, yes. It’s the safest place. All the windows are too high to gain access, and the doors are sturdy.” Right on cue, a loud bang sounded from behind her, and the girl looked back nervously in the direction of the noise.

  “What have you eaten?”

  The young girl walked over to her rucksack and produced a few tins. “I knew when I went out for water there was always a risk I might not be able to get back, so I packed some supplies in case.”

  “All you’ve had is rainwater?” Robyn asked.

  The girl pushed her glasses up her nose once more. “Yes.” Robyn reached into her backpack and handed the girl a can of pop. She opened it eagerly and, undeterred by the bubbles that frothed over her hand, chugged it down in one go. The girl let out a loud burp and wiped her mouth. “Thank you. So, who are you three?” she asked, looking down at Wolf.

  “It’s a long story, and one I’d be happy to tell you, but we need to get back to the school,” Wren said.

  “The school? Why do you want to go back there?”

  “We came here with some people. We’ve got transport. We can get you out of here. Get you to safety.”

  “Well, safety might be a bit of a stretch,” Robyn said under her breath.

  “That’s my sister, don’t listen to her.”

  “You mean you’d take me with you?” Rosie said, almost in tears at the prospect of being with other living, breathing human beings again.

  “Well, we’re not going to leave you here by yourself, are we?” Wren replied.

  A single tear trickled down Rosie’s cheek. “I thought I was going to die in this place like the others. It was just a matter of when.”

  “Well, we’re not out of the woods yet, but in a few minutes, we should be in a van on our way to somewhere safe,” Wren said with a warm smile, just as another crashing noise sounded against the back door.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Listen; don’t even think about trying anything smart. I’m doing you a big favour. I could kill you right now and just head out of here,” Josh said, aiming the shotgun directly at Mila, then Chuck, then back again.

  “I don’t understand, Josh. Why? We rescued you from that army,” Mila said, utterly confused.

  “I said get in.” Mila and Chuck climbed into the back of the van as instructed. “Now go to the back.”

  They both navigated the stage props and chests of costumes to walk to the back of the van compartment. “Some big favour this is. You little twat.” Chuck almost spat the words out, and a smile broke on Josh’s face.

  “You have no idea. Listen to me. Go back to your little camp in the woods. Forget about
Safe Haven. Forget about any town or village. Just stay there. Stay in the woods. No one will come looking for you there. If you learn how to survive the winters you should be safe.”

  “I don’t understand,” Mila said again.

  “Chancellor Olsen saw this coming. She predicted an event like this long before it happened. She planned; she prepared; she recruited. She had armies of men and women ready to take up arms long before this. When news of the infection broke, she knew it was the opportunity she had been waiting for. When the conscription came in, it was like destiny was calling us. Imagine hundreds … thousands of people all working from within … a uniform here, a box of bullets there, all the time adding to the supplies and arsenal she’d already had the vision to secure. We were preparing for a war with what was left of the ones who thought they were in charge. By that time, though, the country was in such a mess we didn’t need to take them on. As soon as there was that outbreak in Portsmouth, it was all over. Olsen knew it. She knew that the government wouldn’t give a damn about mass desertions. She knew what we needed to do. We needed to retreat to safety and watch the world burn. We’ve lived on the waves these past months. Oil rigs, cruise liners, you name it.” A look of pride became more and more ingrained on his face as he spoke.

  A chill ran down Mila’s spine. “I don’t understand. To what end?”

  “To rebuild. The world before was flawed. It was weak. It was sick and disturbed. That’s why this plague was sent.”

  “Uh-oh,” Mila muttered under her breath.

  “He sent this plague to rid us of the weak, of the flotsam and the jetsam, and our new army, Chancellor Olsen’s army, is going to start over the way it should have been from the beginning. We’ll build back better … build back stronger. There will be no more half breeds; no more aberrations; no more mistakes.”