The End of Everything | Book 9 | The End of Everything Read online

  “Hey, don’t knock it, it beats going hungry.”

  “Only just.”

  “Wren is right. Food is food. We should be grateful for anything. It beats human bacon, yes?”

  “I suppose, but … wait a minute. Do you hear that?”

  “It sounds like engines,” Mila said. All three of them came to a stop as they looked towards the far end of the bridge. They could just make out the white van that Robyn and Wren had abandoned earlier in the day, but the sound was coming from beyond that.

  “We need to get off this bridge, quick,” Wren said.

  “It might be Izzy or that dick Marcus coming to look for us,” Robyn replied.

  “That’s not a bloody Vauxhall Astra, Bobbi. That’s a convoy.” They listened for a few more seconds, and their eyes gradually widened. “Run!”

  All three of them turned in unison and began to sprint back the way they had come. They cast hurried glances over their shoulders as the sound got louder until, finally, the first vehicle came into view, quickly followed by a second, third, fourth and fifth. None of them were interested in seeing how many came after that. Five minibuses were more than enough to tell them that they needed to get the hell out of there. They heard the engines rev harder as they began their pursuit.

  The wind picked up even more and the first droplets of rain pattered against their faces as they continued to run. “Where the hell are we going?” Robyn demanded.

  “We’ve only got one option. We need to get back into the city. It’s the only place we can lose them.”

  “The burning city? The one with thousands of zombies just waiting for their next meal?”

  “Unless you’ve got a better plan.”

  Robyn looked over her shoulder again. “Nope. Your idea sounds good.”

  They turned right off the bridge as the first truck in the convoy reached the far end of it. They followed the road down, and for the moment they were out of sight, but none of them felt like celebrating.

  “Scheisse. We’re not going to make it. They will catch us.”

  “Trust me; I’ve got a place we can hide,” Wren said, taking a sharp turn off the road and heading down an embankment.

  “Please don’t tell me it involves swimming in the bloody Beauly Firth,” Robyn replied.

  The rain started coming down harder and the wind picked up a little more. The firth stretched out in front of them as they reached the bottom of the bank and Wren took a sharp left, carrying on for twenty metres or so before ducking down behind a rotting, upturned rowboat.

  “Here. Get down.”

  Mila and Robyn looked at each other then crouched down beside her. “This is it? This is your plan?” Robyn asked.

  “Trust me. You can’t see this from the road.”

  Robyn raised her head a little to see that the bushes and small trees on the narrow strip of land blocked her sight of the road above. “And what if they come down here looking for us?”

  “My guess is that they’re not going to want to get out of their vehicles given a choice. They’ll carry on along the road and check out the side streets.”

  “That’s a big hunch you’re playing.”

  “Not really. It’s a steep bank. It looks like it leads straight down to the water from the road and, let’s face it, you wouldn’t want to be in that, would you?”

  Robyn looked towards the water, which was becoming choppier by the minute as the wind picked up further. She looked back along the bank at the narrow stretch of gravel they had traversed to reach the battered remains of the upturned rowboat. Her sister was right. From the road, it looked like the bank led straight down into the firth. “I really hope you’re right, Sis.”

  “Trust me.”

  They crouched down further still as they heard the sounds of the engines slowing to take the turn into the city. Robyn pressed her face and body against the chipped pastel-blue paint. The rain drummed steadily against the wood, and she held her breath in anticipation of the convoy passing, but instead of driving by, handbrakes were pulled on. The doors of two vehicles opened and slammed shut and Robyn turned to look at her sister.

  “Where the hell’s Wren?”

  Mila spun around too, and both girls shared the same look of panic. “She was here a second ago.”

  “Oh God.” Robyn stayed low but edged along the boat before finally peeking around the corner. She turned back to look at Mila. “There’s no sign of her,” she whispered. She pulled the bow from her shoulder and grabbed an arrow. “I just need to—”

  “Nein!” Mila hissed. “She brought us to this place for a reason. We shall stay here until the vehicles move away at least; then, if she is not back, we will look. Your sister is a smart biscuit; she will not do anything stupid.”

  “It’s smart cookie, and what the hell do you call this?”

  “I call it shut up and wait, Robyn.”

  Robyn kept hold of the bow but slouched back down against the boat. The minutes dragged on and on. The engines continued to idle, and the rain and wind picked up even more. “Something’s wrong. It’s been ages.”

  Mila let out a sigh. “Look, if we break cover, there is only one way that this will end.”

  A vehicle door suddenly slammed shut, closely followed by another. A few seconds later, they heard the engines begin to labour again as the convoy moved away. A full minute passed before the sounds faded completely.

  “We’re in trouble!”

  “Bloody hell, Wren, don’t sneak up on people like that. And where the hell did you go? You had us worried sick,” Robyn said as she and Mila climbed to their feet.

  “I went further up the bank.”

  “You climbed up the bank? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

  “Err … yeah. It was me doing it.”

  “Don’t get smart with me, Wren, otherwise I’m really gonna kick off.”

  “Listen. Never mind all that. We’re in real trouble. I pretty much heard everything.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t need to hear a word ’cause I’d already figured out we were in big trouble. I guess you’re not that smart after all.”

  “Bobbi, shut up a minute and listen.”

  Robyn placed her bow over her shoulder and folded her arms sulkily as the rain continued to soak them. “Well?”

  “That place where they had you,” Wren began, turning to look at Mila. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. They’ve taken other towns up and down the coast. They were the ones who cleared the bridge. There isn’t one army; there are multiple armies.” She turned to look at her sister. “This isn’t some lunatic like Fry. This is something a thousand times worse.”

  chapter 3

  Robyn just stared at her sister for several seconds. “What do you mean? How did you find all this out from a few minutes of conversation?”

  “There were two men. The first one said that the last time he was in effing Inverness, he led a team to be effing decoys to a load of effing zombies while a bunch of other lucky effers got to stay on the bridge and play clean-up.”

  “Err, y’know, we’re not with Mum and Dad anymore. You can actually use the word; you don’t need to give us the Disney version.”

  “Sorry. Force of habit. Grandad doesn't like me swearing. He says it’s not lady-like.”

  “I’m screwed then. Okay, so what else?”

  “He said that the chopper had dropped the cargo off and gone back to Helmsdale. He said the head honchos were on their way down from Wick and they’d be arriving soon. He said there was no point heading into the city to look for us, that we could be anywhere, and the chances are that if we spend the night in here, we won’t be getting out anyway.”

  “Okay. I’ve heard of those places, but I don’t know if I could pinpoint them on a map. What does that mean?”

  “It means that they’ve got bases up and down the coast, and if they’re anything like what was in Andrew’s Bay, that’s going to be a lot of manpower. The fact that they’ve got drones and a hel
icopter tells me that we haven’t even skimmed the surface of who these people are and what they’re capable of.”

  The wind howled ominously as the rain continued to pelt them. “So, we get back to the farm and get the hell out of here.”

  “Well, one, we can’t do that. They said they were going to position a lookout vehicle at the far end of the bridge until morning just in case, and two, you don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?”

  “Bobbi, they’re taking over the coastline one town at a time. It won’t be long until they reach Safe Haven.”

  “So you’re saying this place that you’ve been selling to me for the last day as where we’re going to happily spend the rest of our lives is going to get turned into another Andrew’s bay.” Wren gulped and did her best to hold back the tears that she desperately wanted to cry. “Well, today’s just getting better and better, isn’t it?”

  “Look. We’ll head back into the city. We’ll regroup and figure out our next move.”

  “Regroup? Regroup? What the hell are you talking about? There are three of us. How the hell do we regroup?”

  “It’s just an expression, I mean—”

  “You mean there’s no chance of us getting out of here, so let’s head back into the city, out of the rain, and figure out whether we’d prefer to get eaten by zombies or enslaved by these bastards.”

  “Look. I know it’s not ideal but—”

  “Not ideal. Oh man, this left the realms of not ideal some time ago. Not ideal is the rubber dinghy with a puncture slowly sinking in a sea of shit. We bailed out of that dinghy way back. We’re swimming further out to sea every second, and the waves are just getting bigger and browner.”

  “Stille! Bickering and bockering will not get us out of this. Wren is right. We should find shelter until morning,” Mila said, stepping in between the two sisters.

  “Okay. We need to get to the other side of the road. We can stay out of sight right into the city,” Wren said.

  “Gut. You lead the way, Wren.”

  Wren began to scramble back up the bank, and the other two girls followed. Ten minutes later, they were climbing down the steps to the bar where Robyn had dressed her sister’s wound earlier in the day. They wedged the door shut with a table as the wind continued to howl outside.

  “At least we can’t get any wetter in here,” Wren said.

  “We can’t get any wetter anywhere. If I was standing at the bottom of a loch, I couldn’t be any wetter.”

  “I wish you were standing at the bottom of a loch.”

  “Enough! Enough from both of you. Our problem is not each other. Our problem is out there,” Mila said.

  Robyn let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just … I just want one thing to go right for us.”

  “I’m sorry too,” Wren said then suddenly burst out crying.

  “Hey. I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just letting off steam,” Robyn said, wrapping her arms around her younger sister.

  “It’s not that. I’m scared that I won’t see Wolf again … that we won’t get out of here to warn Grandad and my friends.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look, like you said, we’re regrouping.” Wren buried her head into her sister’s shoulder and shivered suddenly. “How’s your wound?”

  Wren had almost forgotten about it with everything else that was happening. “It’s okay. To be honest, the whole running for my life through a city of flesh-eating monsters thing took my mind off it a bit.”

  Robyn let out a little laugh. “Yeah, it makes the day fly by, doesn’t it?”

  They heard a noise behind them, and they both turned suddenly to see Mila placing a bottle of vodka and three glasses down on the table. There wasn’t much light in the small bar, but there was enough for them to see that the measures she poured into the glasses would have cost a fortune if they’d had to pick up the bill.

  “Do you really think we should be drinking?” Wren asked.

  “We are not going anywhere this afternoon. We are soaked to the skin and need warming. Vodka will help put fire in us.”

  “Maybe later. I know where I can get us dry clothes and some food.”

  “I’m not having you going out there again,” Robyn said.

  “Bobbi, the rain won’t have put the fire out. The infected will all still be in one area. Remember, I lived a long time by myself. I won’t take any risks.”

  “Everything is a risk.”

  “Including catching pneumonia. If we stay in these clothes, we’re going to get a chill at the very least. That’s the last thing we need with what we’ve got lying ahead of us.”

  “Wren is right. It is not good that we are sitting in cold, wet clothes with no means to warm ourselves or dry them.”

  “I promise. I’ll be like ten minutes … fifteen tops. It would have been a lot easier if the city wasn’t on fire. I used to have a hideout just a little way from that street. I dare say that will be up in flames now, but I know where to look.”

  “We’ll all go,” Robyn said.

  “I don’t mean this to sound ungrateful or cruel, but you’ll slow me down.”

  “Why would you think that would sound ungrateful or cruel? Bitch.”

  “There are towels here, we can dry ourselves off. There’s no need to take chances out there.”

  “So we just sit around wrapped in towels drinking vodka all day? Then what happens? We put our cold, wet clothes back on and have the same problem again. And what about food? I’m hungry already, which probably means you’re practically passing out.”

  “It’s stupid to go anywhere by yourself. Especially when all you’ve got is a bloody pointy stick. No. We stay here, we dry ourselves off, we’ll warm ourselves the best we can.”

  Wren let out a long sigh and leaned her makeshift spear up against a wall. “Okay, but I want to go on record as saying I think this is a bad idea.”

  “Duly noted.” Robyn removed the bow and quivers from her shoulder then shuffled off the rucksack. She removed the torch and flicked it on. “Right, I’ll go get us some towels, you two see if you can find any old bags of nuts or crisps or something.”

  “I told you. They had the last supply of tomato ketchup flavoured crisps in the city. I cleaned them out.”

  “There are other flavours.”

  “I know. Trust me. I got everything from this place.”

  “You’re not indelible, just look, will you?” Robyn replied before disappearing into the back.

  “Indelible?” Mila asked, looking at Wren quizzically. “I have used indelible inks, what is this to do with you?”

  “She means infallible. My sister and correct vocabulary have an off-on relationship.”

  “Aha! Well, I suppose there is no harm in looking. There is just enough light for us to check.”

  “I’m just going to adjust my bandage,” Wren replied.

  “Ja, ja, ja. Take your time, I hardly think this is a job for two,” she replied, heading over to the bar.

  “I won’t be a minute.”

  Mila looked longingly at the point of sale posters advertising bar meals before beginning her search of every nook and cranny behind the serving counter. There was a clatter somewhere in the back, followed by a loud string of expletives and Mila let out a laugh. “It sounds like your sister is having a wrestling match with the towels,” she said, crouching down further. “I don’t suppose there is another torch in Robyn’s rucksack is there, Wren?” There was no response, and Mila jumped to her feet. “Wren?” She looked towards the rucksack on the table then towards the door. The table they had put in place to wedge it shut had been moved, and there was no sign of her friend’s little sister. “Scheisse!”

  chapter 4

  It was twenty minutes before Wren appeared back in the doorway to the bar. “You selfish BITCH! What the hell did I say to you?”

  “Newsflash, Bobbi. I haven’t taken orders from anyone in a long time.”

  “What did I say? You agreed. You a
greed, and you leaned your spear against the wall. Were you intending to sneak out all along?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “How would you feel if I went out there? How would you feel if I took stupid risks?”

  “You were out there, and you did take stupid risks. Look. It’s over with now,” she said, throwing two large shopping bags down on the ground and pulling a full rucksack from her shoulder. “I used to do this all the time. Hit and run—get what I need, get out, and nobody living or dead was any the wiser.”

  Some of the bluster left Robyn as she looked towards the bags. “I still say it was dangerous.”

  “And I say it was something that was worth doing. I’ve got us clothes, food and some useful supplies. Now, how about we get out of these soaking clothes and try to warm ourselves up?”

  Robyn gestured towards the towels on the table. “We can dry ourselves, warming ourselves up is something else entirely.”

  “Well, it’s a good job I got the looks and the brains, isn’t it?” Wren said, shuffling the rucksack from her shoulders and removing six disposable barbecues. “Not exactly a wood-burning stove, but it’ll give us a bit of heat.”

  “Where on earth did you find these?” Mila asked, dumbfounded.

  “I told you I spent a lot of time in this city. There was a newsagent that had job lots of all the weirdest stuff you can imagine. I decided to leave the cricket sets. Why someone would think they could sell cricket sets in Inverness is beyond me, but at least they had these little beauties … and these,” she said, reaching into a side pocket of her newly acquired rucksack and retrieving a handful of lighters.

  “Okay. That’s pretty cool. What else?” Robyn asked.

  Wren proceeded to remove crisps, nuts, chocolate bars, and several bags of dog treats with big red 99p stickers on them then moved on to the first of the giant shopping bags. “I got us some new togs as well. I guessed your size, hope they’re okay,” she said, looking at Mila as she passed her a stylish black coat, a pair of jeans, a multipack of knickers, one of socks and one of T-shirts. She handed a similar assortment to Robyn and kept the rest for herself.