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  The End of Everything

  Book 8

  Christopher Artinian

  The End of Everything: Book 8 Copyright © 2020 by Christopher Artinian. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by Christian Bentulan

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Christopher Artinian

  Visit my website at www.christopherartinian.com

  Dedication

  To Daisy, Humph, Hollie, Fred, Wilma, Lola and Rio. You’ll always be with us; when not in body, in spirit.

  To receive my book, Before and Beyond Safe Haven, absolutely free (for a limited time only) click here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/1v9xdaxx77

  Prologue

  It was a grey morning, and the clouds threatened to burst open any moment, but the weather was the last thing the men and women of Line One were thinking about. For some, this was their maiden outing, others were battle-hardened now, but all of them shared the same doubts, anxiety and hopelessness.

  A grizzled middle-aged man with piercing blue eyes raised his hand-carved spear. They were called spears to give the bearer some misplaced sense of security, but, in essence, they were just long, pointy sticks, hurriedly constructed and prone to snapping, because rarely did the spear-maker take the time to select the right branch or bough. “Get ready, they’re coming,” he called and immediately there was a jingle of chains as the rest of Line One climbed to their feet.

  Suddenly, forty pounding feet began to charge along the street towards them. Blue Eyes looked down the line. He was the longest-serving soldier, and he knew that the slightest lapse in concentration, the slightest hesitation could mean death for them all. The dark-haired woman next to him began to sob uncontrollably. She turned to look behind her to Line Two then to the lone biker beyond them who was donning a military uniform and a motorcycle helmet and carrying an assault rifle, which he readied just in case.

  “Please! Please!” the woman screamed. “I don’t belong here. Please, I’ll do whatever you want, but I don’t belong here.”

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Blue Eyes growled, gripping her upper arm tightly and forcing her to face the front.

  “I don’t belong here,” she protested as the rest of the line raised their spears.

  “None of us belongs here, but if you don’t get your shit together, and I mean right this minute, you’re not just signing your own death warrant; you’re going to kill all of us. Now, raise your weapon.”

  The woman reluctantly brought up her weapon. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and a sour smell wafted into the air. Blue Eyes looked down to see she’d lost control of her bladder. Her whimpering intensified, and her feet shuffled out of the way of the expanding yellow puddle, causing the manacle around her right ankle to clink. He looked at the others, they were all feeling the same dread; some of their faces expressed it, others buried it deep inside.

  There were six of them on Line One, more often than not, it would just be the odd creature that found them; they’d never had to deal with a horde. A horde would mean mass casualties and as the chain they were bound to extended across the street and was padlocked on either side to an immovable object, there was no chance to escape, only to fight.

  Their left legs remained free to kick and thrust, but rarely did anyone have the speed or the strength to use anything but their spears against the creatures. If Line One fell, there was Line Two, and failing that, it was time for the gang of raiders who enslaved them to be involuntary guardsmen and women to get the hell out. There was an identical formation at the other end of the street guarding that entrance. Their captors irreverently referred to them as zombie fodder, which was shortened to Z Fs, then eventually zefs.

  Names didn’t matter now though. Nothing mattered but the job at hand, and that job looked and felt impossible. This is going to be bad, really, really bad, thought Blue Eyes as the fear hung in the air around them like swamp mist.

  Thirty metres—Blue Eyes had a sinking feeling as the charging army of beasts got closer. They were spread out, which was a good thing, but the odds were certainly not in Line One’s favour. The woman next to him would be all but useless, and with at least another three newbies in their ranks it was going to be a miracle if they got out of the attack unscathed.

  Twenty metres—a shell-shocked new arrival further down the line dropped her spear and threw her hands up in front of her face, subscribing to the idea that if she couldn’t see it, it wasn’t happening. The growls of the creatures filled the air, even drowning out the cries and whimpers from up and down the line.

  Ten metres—the smell of death hit them like a wall of stink as the horde approached striking distance. Their hands reached out and their mouths opened in unhallowed snarls in anticipation of sinking their nails and teeth into the fresh pink flesh of the livestock that had been so considerately lined up for them.

  “Aaarrrggghhh!” It was not a scream of aggression from the far end of the line; it was a scream of pain as one leaping beast parried the spear and dived on an ill-prepared young woman, knocking not just her but her neighbour to the ground too.

  More terrified cries erupted as the scene quickly descended into chaos. Blue Eyes brought his spear up, stabbing the beast heading towards the woman beside him in the eye before withdrawing it just as quickly and battering it against the side of the head of the creature attacking him. The monster veered off course, smashing face first into the lamppost Blue Eyes was chained to. Another monster sprang towards the woman who had dropped her spear and was holding her hands up, screaming.

  Blue Eyes aborted his plan to finish off the creature gathering itself from its collision and once again turned to the aid of his partner in chains. He brought the weapon up but mistimed the thrust, and it lodged in the gullet of the next attacking beast. Oh shit! The lamppost creature was now climbing to its feet once again, ready for phase two of its attack. Its nose was flattened in a gory mess on its face, and it was missing two of its front teeth but none of its resolve.

  It pounced, and Blue Eyes instinctively kicked out hard with his left foot, sending it flying backwards. He returned his attention to the beast stuck on the end of his spear as it frantically stretched towards him. He thrust hard then withdrew the weapon quickly before plunging the point into the monster’s eye socket, causing it to flop to the ground like a sack of rotten meat. No time to pause, he brought the spear around once more as his own assailant lunged. This time, he drew the spear-shaped branch back to give him enough swing then drove it up fast. There was a satisfying thud as the wooden point disappeared through the flattened nose area and into the thing’s brain, eventually knocking hard on the back of its skull.

  Blue Eyes did not linger on his victory; he pulled the spear free and raised it, ready for the next potential attacker. For the time being, he and the woman next to him were safe as battles ensued further down the line and, due to the chains, he was unable to run to anyone’s help.

  The first woman who fell had now turned. He had seen this before, and his heart started pounding even faster if that was possible. It was shortly after he had been captured and placed on a line; the terrifyi
ng memories came flooding back to him. First one would turn then they would attack their neighbour and so on and so on. It was like a game of zombie tag—bite you’re it.

  Suddenly, though, there was a blur of activity. A small pile of dead creatures lay at the feet of two figures at the opposite end of the line and as the turned woman began to scramble to her feet to take a bite out of the woman next to her, a spear drove straight through her left eye socket before being withdrawn speedily and forced through the temple of a beast frantically being fended off by an older man.

  The woman next to Blue Eyes finally found her resolve and started working with her neighbour on the other side. Beast after beast fell in the chaotic flurry. Shouts, screams and growls reverberated around the street, and then … then everything fell quiet.

  Sweat was pouring down Blue Eyes’ back as he looked down the line. Somehow, they had survived the assault losing just one person. Considering the odds, that was not just good, it was a miracle. The woman next to him started to weep once again.

  The whole of Line One gradually became desensitised to the smell of rotting flesh and they stood there, staring up at the far end of the street waiting nervously.

  A rusted and dirty white lorry came to a stop behind Line Two, and another man in a military uniform climbed out. “Put your weapons down,” he ordered, and both lines threw their spears to the ground. The guard on the motorbike kept his rifle trained on the zefs while his colleague removed the manacle from the one who had died in the attack. The padlocks around the lampposts were unfastened, and an almost identical lorry pulled up beside the first. The rear doors to the first lorry opened and a ramp was lowered before the zefs were ushered in.

  They had been able to sit down on their journey out here, but the return trip would not be so comfortable. Half the compartment was loaded with booty from the village that the raiders had just plundered while they had stood guard. There was another truck, just like these. The raiders had a system, one street at a time, making sure their men were always safe, while it was the zefs that remained in harm’s way.

  Their right legs remained chained, but at least they could move a little more freely than when they were padlocked to the posts. The lorry set off with a jerk, and a few people let out gasps as they nearly lost balance.

  Blue Eyes looked across to the woman who had almost single-handedly defended the opposite side of Line One. “Nice work today,” he said with as much of a smile as he could muster. She looked at him but didn’t respond. “My name’s Rod.”

  She carried on staring at him for a little while then finally relinquished her icy gaze. After all, he was not one of the enemy; he was just like her. “Mila. My name is Mila.”

  chapter 1

  Robyn sat on the windowsill looking out over the sprawling hotel car park. For a girl who loved her sleep, it was a foreign feeling to be so wracked with guilt and inner conflict that she couldn’t even catch a wink. She had talked with Wren and her grandad into the early hours, catching up on all they had done and in return giving them a potted history of her time away from them.

  “Bobbi?”

  No! This is the last thing I need right now. I’ve got to get my thoughts together before I discuss them with anyone. “Go back to sleep, Wren, it’s still the middle of the night.”

  “I woke up, and you weren’t there.”

  “Yeah, well, I was here.”

  “Duh! I can see that,” Wren replied, rubbing her eyes and walking up behind her sister. “What are you looking at?”

  “Nothing… I told you, go back to sleep.”

  There was a pause before Wren spoke again. “This is about that girl, isn’t it? It’s about Mila.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Wren looked out of the window as well. Two figures were sitting next to each other on the wall at the front, keeping a lookout. The moon cast a blue-white blanket over the whole scene. So much had happened in the course of the last twenty-four hours, it was a lot for anyone to take in, but this was more than just being overwhelmed, this was something else. “We’re alone now. You can talk to me.” Robyn turned and Wren saw a telltale silver streak running down her face. “You’ve been crying.”

  “I’m begging you. Please just leave me alone.”

  Wren placed a gentle hand on her sister’s arm. “You want to go back for her.”

  “No.”

  “Bobbi. It’s me you’re talking to.”

  “No, I don’t want to go back. I’ve only just found you and Grandad again. I don’t want to do anything but be with you.”

  “Okay. You have to go back for her.”

  Robyn looked at Wren long and hard. “She saved my life. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t be here now; I wouldn’t have seen you again. I’d have died on that riverbank.”

  Wren sat down on the opposite end of the windowsill. Her sister had changed a lot since she had last seen her. They had parted girls, and now they were both women … kind of.

  “You do realise there’s a good chance she’s dead?”

  It was Robyn’s turn to pause this time. “Yes.”

  “But you need to know one way or the other, don’t you?”

  Another pause. “Yes,” replied Robyn before they fell into a long silence. Eventually, it was Robyn who broke it. “Do you think your people would help?”

  “I’m pretty certain they would, but not any time soon. We only just scraped through yesterday alive, but reclaiming Safe Haven is going to take a long time, and time isn’t really on our side, is it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said your friend had thought about taking her own life before. If she thinks there’s no chance of you coming back and if she’s in a really bad situation, she’ll probably try again.”

  “Oh God, I didn’t even think about that.” Robyn started crying, and Wren slid along the sill to comfort her.

  “There’s only one way to do this.”

  “I don’t understand what you mean. What way?”

  “You and I leave here, now. No goodbyes, nothing. We get in that car and go.”

  “What? What are you talking about? That’s mental. I’m not going to put you in danger.”

  “It’s not your choice to make, it’s mine.”

  “No.”

  “Oh, so what’s your plan? You’re going to slope off by yourself and I’ll never see you again?”

  Robyn let out a long breath. “I … I don’t know.”

  “Listen to me. I never gave up hope. I knew that one day we’d find each other again, and now we have, I’m not going to let you out of my sight. If you’re going to look for Mila, I’m going too.”

  “What about Grandad?”

  “We’ll leave a note. We’ll explain everything. It’s not like we’ll be gone forever, Bobbi.”

  “You say that, but what if the same thing happens to us as happened to Mila?”

  “Right. Mila walked down a road and didn’t come back. That’s all we know. Yes, she could have run into a group like in Loch Uig. But at the same time, she might have hurt herself and not been able to get back in time. Or she might have had to hide and breaking cover would have given her away. She might have—”

  “Okay, I get it, I get it.”

  “We go look. We figure out what the situation is. If it’s a Loch Uig scenario, we come back here, and we just have to hope that Mila is still around when my people can help us. But if we get there and we find out it’s something we can deal with, it might just be the difference between saving her life and not.”

  They both heard movement and spun around. It was Wren’s German Shepherd dog, Wolf, sleepily walking towards them up the corridor.

  “Jesus,” Robyn said, holding her hand up to her chest. “I forgot for a second that you had a frikkin’ werewolf for a pet.”

  Wren crouched down and kissed the muscular dog, ruffling his fur lovingly. “Don’t you listen to her. Who’s my handsome boy? Who?” She kissed him again and straighten
ed up.

  “Well, I suppose I should be happy for you. At least you found a man that could put up with you.”

  “Ha ... ha,” Wren replied, sticking her middle finger up before perching back down on the windowsill.

  “Going for a look-see or not, it’s still really dangerous.”

  “There’s danger everywhere, Bobbi.”

  “What about your friends? What about helping them to get Safe Haven back?”

  “Well, as I say, hopefully, we’re not going to be too long, and we’ll be back here with another soldier to help with the fight. Reclaiming the town won’t be a quick thing. They can’t just go in all guns blazing, as much as Mike would like to. The chances are good that the pair of us would just be given babysitting duties anyway. We can do this, Bobbi. You and me. I’ll be honest with you if I think it’s too dangerous. We’re just going to go for a look.”

  Robyn looked out of the window once again. “And what do we say to them exactly?” she asked, nodding towards the two lookouts.

  “Don’t worry about them. So, are we doing this?”

  Robyn turned towards her sister in the cold glow of the moon. “Yeah. We’re doing this.”

  chapter 2

  Robyn took the hurriedly scrawled note from Wren and flicked on her torch to read it.

  Dear Grandad,

  We couldn’t say this to your face because we knew you’d never let us go. Bobbi and I have gone to find Mila.

  Please don’t worry; we’re not going to take any stupid risks. We’ll be back soon, hopefully with Mila, and we’ll be starting our lives afresh as one big happy family in Safe Haven.

  Love,

  Wren and Robyn

  “You’re serious? That’s the note we’re leaving?” she asked.

  Wren removed the penlight from between her teeth and angled it down so she could reread the letter. “What’s wrong with it?”