Wren placed the javelins down on the ground and walked up to Robyn, who stood up and immediately slapped her younger sister across the face. “Never do that to me again.”
It was more shock than pain that rendered Wren silent, and her mouth dropped open, lost for words, while her hand went up to her cheek. She almost snarled as her hand flew through the air and slapped Robyn, who let out a small shriek. Wren immediately realised the foolishness of what they were doing and gestured with her hands for Robyn to calm down. It was too late though, and Robyn leapt towards her sister, grabbing her by her jacket. She brought her hand up again, ready to hit her, but Wren took a tight hold of Robyn’s upper arms, extended her right leg behind her sister’s and pushed. Robyn fell with her arms still flailing. She landed heavily on the dew-soaked grass, and let out another, louder shriek. Wren leapt on top of her, pinning her hands and arms to the ground. “Shut up!” she hissed. “Something will hear us.”
“Get off me. Get off me now, you little shit!”
“I said, keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, I swear, I will leave you here. I’ll make my own way to Inverness.”
Something changed in Robyn’s eyes, and suddenly, the fight left her. She went limp beneath Wren, and feeling this, Wren released her and climbed to her feet, offering her sister a hand.
Robyn ignored it and struggled to her feet, wiping the dew from her leather trousers. “I hate you. I wish it was you who’d been bitten instead of mum and dad.” Robyn struggled with her rucksack, but eventually got it onto her shoulders, then turned to walk off.
Wren just stood there watching her. “Hey!” Robyn did not reply, she just carried on walking. “Hey, bitch! Don’t forget your javelin. Your breath might kill humans, I don’t know if it will work on those things.”
Robyn stopped. She looked down at the javelins and without looking back, or acknowledging Wren in any way, picked one up and carried on walking.
“You’re welcome,” Wren said to herself before swinging her own rucksack onto her back and collecting the other javelin. She caught up to her sister and put her hand on Robyn’s shoulder. There were tears in her sister’s eyes. Up until this moment, Wren had not realised she had actually applied a small amount of mascara and it had run. She could not help it; the sight of it made her laugh, and Robyn began to cry even more. She dropped the javelin and slumped to the ground, crossing her legs and holding her head in her hands like a small child.
Wren knelt down in front of her. “Leave me if you want to leave me,” Robyn said. Wren reached out and gently dabbed the black streaks away with her thumb. They did not disappear, but they were better than they were, and the action itself was an act of conciliation.
“We have to stick together. It’s the only way we stand a chance.”
“Why? What good am I?”
“Listen, these things are quick. If we get stuck in a tight spot and we have to run, I’m a lot faster than you, so you’ll be a good diversion while I get away.”
Robyn began to laugh through the last of her tears. “Bitch!”
“Takes one to know one.”
“I’m sorry for what I said. That was horrible.”
“You didn’t mean it.”
“No, I did, I just shouldn’t have said it to your face.”
“Bitch,” Wren said, beginning to giggle.
“Takes one to know one.”
Wren stood up and offered a hand to her sister, who took it this time. They both picked up their weapons and continued their journey. Rather than leaving the park, they continued to the north wall, which bordered a large wooded area. Wren threw her rucksack over the six-foot, red brick divide, followed by Robyn’s rucksack and the two javelins. She looked at Robyn. “Jump, get a grip on the top, and then I’ll help push you up.”
Robyn looked a little embarrassed that she needed help. “Okay….” She frowned, jumped, caught hold of the top, and her feet began to flail against the side of the wall.
“Stop kicking!” Wren growled.
Robyn felt Wren’s hands shove her buttocks hard. “Aaarghhh!” The shove took her by surprise, but she managed to mount the top of the wall before clumsily lowering herself on the other side. “Aaarghhh!” she screamed again.
“Keep your voice down,” hissed Wren.
“Wren! Help!” This scream was not one of getting caught on a branch or landing awkwardly. This scream was something much more.
Wren did not miss a beat. She jumped up and vaulted the wall, landing neatly on the other side, immediately seeing the creature running up the weed-covered embankment towards them. The javelins had slid down the incline, the rucksacks half-way down. Wren pulled out the straight edge screwdriver from the back of her jeans and held it in front of herself, ready. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye as Robyn bent down to pick up a heavy branch.
The clumsy creature stumbled twice, but the malevolence and intent never left its face as its eyes fixed on the two girls. At the top of the embankment, they had the advantage of height, and the second it came within distance, Wren kicked out hard, making contact with it square in the chest. Almost in slow motion, it toppled backwards, reverse somersaulting down the hill in a cascading jumble of arms and legs. Wren wasted no time, running down the hill after it. In one swooping movement, she grabbed a javelin and, as the writhing body of the beast came to a stop on the flat ground at the bottom of the hill, Wren drove the javelin straight through its heart with all her strength. She felt it go through. She felt it dig deep into the earth on the other side. The creature remained pinned there, desperately reaching towards her, but unable to move. She stepped back just in case and looked up to the top of the embankment where her sister still stood, frozen in terror.
Wren was hypnotised as she watched it struggle like a giant beetle caught on its back, trying to right itself. “The head,” called Robyn, as she broke her pose and slowly began to negotiate the wooded embankment.
“What?”
“I heard someone say at school that their dad’s brother had been down in Portsmouth when they had the outbreak. They were in the army and they had been told that the only way to kill them was to shoot them in the head.
“That’s handy. Got a gun?”
“Well, y’know, anything in the head. A bullet...a spear…big rock?”
Wren walked over to the other javelin, picked it up and handed it to Robyn. “Be my guest.”
The pair of them looked down at the struggling beast. They looked at its ferocious eyes and snarling mouth, baring dirty yellow teeth. It wore filthy jeans, a beige pullover that looked two sizes too big; a threadbare coat and trainers with one hole in the toe. He was most certainly a street dweller, in life, who had probably camped somewhere within the grove. Now, he had joined the multitudes who were no longer divided by social position. There were only two classes: alive, or dead.
“It smells terrible,” Robyn said as her eyes followed the beast’s thrashing hands.
Both girls stood there in morbid fascination. Then the beast began to jerk even harder and the javelin slowly started moving, in a greater arc. Robyn and Wren jumped back. The more the javelin loosened in the ground, the more agitated the creature became, and the more it wriggled and writhed until finally, the soft earth gave way, and it rolled onto its side. The javelin whipped down and both girls jumped back farther to get out of its way.
The beast scrambled to its feet with the javelin still sticking out of its back. Wren looked across at Robyn, who was just stood there, her mouth agog, staring. “Kill it!” Wren shouted.
The beast headed towards them, and Robyn just watched in horror as it lunged for Wren. Wren grabbed the end of the Javelin, but the creature kept advancing, sliding its body further onto the shaft, like some rancid piece of meat slopping down a skewer. She felt scared, revulsed and physically sick all at the same time as the growls, the smell and the monstrous sight hammered her senses like a battering ram of toxic sludge.
Each second, the creature’s grabbing h
ands moved closer. She glanced towards Robyn, but she was still paralysed with fear. Realising she had to do something or she would be joining the ranks of the dead herself, she extended her foot once more and booted the creature hard. It shot backwards, losing its footing and sliding right off the end of the javelin before falling into a heap on the ground. It scrambled to its feet once more and ran towards Wren again. It was too close for her to stab it with the end of the long javelin, so instead, she battered the side of its head, using the javelin like a Bojutsu staff. The creature did not lose its footing, but veered off course, stumbling past Wren, before it regained its balance. It turned again and lurched for her once more, but this time, she was not encumbered by the large oak tree at her back and she thrust the point of the javelin in the direction of the creature’s head, closing her eyes and turning away at the same time. She felt something dense and heard a popping sound, then the growls came to an instant stop and a dead weight on the end of the javelin ripped it out of her hands as it dropped. She opened her eyes and looked towards her sister who was stood, mouth gaping for a half-second before a jet of semi-digested food jettisoned from it.
Eventually, Wren turned her head around to look towards the creature. The bloody end of the javelin had slipped out as it collapsed to the ground. She looked in the general direction of its face, but she already felt queasy, and seeing anything in graphic detail would not help her in any way, so she cleaned off the end of the javelin on the beast’s clothes and went to collect their rucksacks while Robyn threw up a second time.
“Are you okay?” Wren asked, gently rubbing her sister’s back after placing the rucksack down beside her.
“Are you trying to be funny?” She was bent over and had her hands on her knees. Her eyes were red with retching, but nothing was coming out.
“I mean, y’know.”
“I’ll live. Well for the next few minutes anyway,” she said, wiping her mouth and standing up straight. “That’s the grossest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
“Stop looking at it then.”
Robyn went across to pick up the other javelin, slid her own rucksack onto her shoulders and kicked some dirt and twigs over where she’d been sick, almost as if she was ashamed. The two sisters began walking again, each throwing glances back at the gruesome scene until they were finally out of sight.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to do what you did,” Robyn said.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to kill one of them. I nearly peed myself just watching you.”
“Hey, it was luck. I held out the javelin in the direction, I closed my eyes and hoped for the best. I was just as scared as you.”
“But that’s the difference. I froze. You were scared, and you still managed to save us.”
“Like I said. It was luck. The more of them we face, the easier it will get. It might be an idea for us to practice a little bit, though.”
“Practice?”
“Yeah. I mean, nothing comes without practice. Even just the basics.”
“No thanks. Next time, I think I’ll just try not to freeze, and run like hell or climb a tree or something.”
“Great,” Wren replied. “That’ll get us a long way.”
chapter 5
The two of them slowed as they approached the end of the wooded area. Wren signalled for Robyn to crouch down, so they had cover in the shrubbery, long grass, and last remaining trees, while they looked over the road. There was an industrial estate. To the left and right was nothing but long stretches of concrete and cement. It was a vast trading estate bordered by council housing estates. To the north of the industrial estate was the start of miles of rolling fields of farmland. But to get through the trading estate meant they would have to abandon the shelter of the trees.
Wren looked at her watch. “It’s seven-fifteen. All things considered, we’ve made pretty good time. Once we get through that bit, we’re through to farmland.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“Well, I don’t see anybody. Do you?”
“We might get lucky. We might not run into any of them. We deserve some luck, don’t we?”
Robyn ignored the question. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Do you think you can run with the rucksack on your back?”
“I can barely walk with it on my back.”
“Okay, then we walk. If we run into anything, drop the rucksack so we can put up a fight, or run if we need to.”
“What about all the supplies? You said we needed so much.”
“Not going to do us much good if we’re dead. If it comes to it, we can always find more supplies. We won’t get a second chance if we come face to face with one of those things and it gets hold of us. Okay, do you need a drink? Do you need to pee? Because when we start this, we’re not stopping until we’re on the other side of that estate.”
“Don’t treat me like a child. I know when I need to pee, thanks very much.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s go,” Wren said, stepping out from the safety of the woods.
“Wait!” Robyn hissed. “Wait, please,” she said in a whisper.
“What is it?”
“I don’t want to do this.”
“No shit,” Wren replied. “Do you think I do? But if we don’t get across the fields, the only other option is going through housing estates.”
“No. I mean, I want to go back home, Wren.” Robyn flopped onto her behind and crossed her legs.
Wren stepped back through the shrubbery and crouched down. “We’ve been through this. Things are only going to get worse. We can’t afford to be in a city the size of Edinburgh; it’s suicide.”
“Who are we fooling, Wren? I’m not going to be able to fight those things. I froze back there. You didn’t, I did.”
“I can’t do this by myself. I can’t get there by myself. I wouldn’t want to.”
“The army could get all this back under control. Maybe we should head back home, make it as secure as we can, and just wait it out.”
“No. We’re wasting time. We need to go now.”
“Aren’t you listening?”
“I hear you, but it’s you who’s not listening,” Wren replied, dragging Robyn to her feet.
“Get off me...get off me,” she protested, like an angry child.
“This is what’s going to happen. We’re heading out there now. If any of those things come and we can’t outrun them, I’m going to deal with them. We’re going to get to the other side, we’re going to find somewhere quiet and safe, and then we’re going to start training. You and me. We’re going to start training together.”
“What do you mean, training?” Robyn asked.
“We’re going to learn how to fight. Properly, I mean.”
“How? What do either of us know about fighting?”
“Not much, but I know a lot about training, and the first thing you need to identify when you come up with a training plan are a list of objectives. You work back from there. I know we can become better equipped to deal with these things, I know it. Let’s just get this next hurdle out of the way. Deal?”
Robyn looked across the road to the large industrial estate and let out a sigh. “Deal.”
They made sure their rucksacks were comfortable on their shoulders, before collecting their javelins and setting off. Instinctively, they stayed low as they headed out of the thick shrubbery, almost as if they thought that would keep them hidden as they darted across the empty dual carriageway in front of them. Their heads shot from side to side, constantly checking the roads and pathways for any movement, but it was clear. They got to the other side and Wren signalled for Robyn to follow her over to the side of one of the large industrial buildings. There was a narrow path all the way around it, bordered by the odd bush. Nothing significant. But some cover was better than none.
They remained low as they skirted the building, Wren leading and looking back regularly to make sure Robyn was following
. The screaming engine of a motorbike shot by on the dual carriageway, freezing them in their tracks. The almost deafening echoes ricocheted off the side of the buildings in the vast trading estate, and that’s when they began to hear the ghoulish chorus of growls rise into the air around them.
“Ohhh shiiittt!” Wren said as the first of the creatures began to emerge up ahead. “Ruuunnn!”
“Run where?!” Robyn asked, panicking.
“Home. Back home,” Wren replied, throwing the rucksack off her shoulders and shoving it underneath one of the leafy bushes. Robyn did the same, and the two of them began to sprint with their spears as fast as they could.
“I can’t run that far,” Robyn said.
Wren looked back as they darted across the dual carriageway. Dozens of creatures were pouring from the side streets of the industrial estate, originally roused by the sound of the racing bike, but now, transfixed by the figures sprinting away from them. “Don’t look back. Whatever you do, don’t look back.”
Robyn immediately looked back. “Oh...my...God!” she said in between sucking in huge lungfuls of air. “There’s no way I can keep this up ‘til home.”
“Don’t speak. Just run. You won’t need to. We just need to get to the wall to the park.”
They reached the verge on the other side of the carriageway then ran up the shallow embankment, into the tall grass, and finally past the shrubs and into the trees. Wren looked back again. All the creatures were still heading in their direction, but the cover of the woods would help lose some of them at least. “Try and weave, Bobbi. Let’s see if we can use the cover of the trees to confuse them.”
They ran for another few seconds, but then Robyn began to slow down. “I can’t carry on. I can’t carry on running.”
Wren put a firm hand on her back. “We don’t have a choice. Not much farther now, just keep going.” Wren looked back again, the two sisters were weaving in and out of the trees as well as they could, nevertheless, Wren could still make out some of the creatures clumsily making their way through the woods. She pressed harder against her sister’s back.
The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3] Page 4
