The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3]

by Artinian, Christopher

  Wren began to climb over, taking tight hold of the top curtain’s fabric. There was a loud tearing sound and, almost as if it was happening in slow motion, the curtain shifted beneath her and Wren lost her balance, sliding off to the side. She felt a sharp pain and heard a ripping sound as something dug into her stomach. Wren screamed.

  “What is it? what’s wrong?” Robyn asked.

  Wren was in too much pain to speak, and put all her efforts into lifting herself off whatever had impaled her before plummeting to the ground. Robyn caught her as best as she could, and they both fell to the ground. Wren lay cringing in Robyn’s arms as the two of them looked down at the bloody wound to the left of Wren’s stomach.

  “Ow!”

  “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” Robyn almost screamed.

  “I think I—” Everything suddenly went black.

  chapter 15

  Robyn worked in a supermarket at weekends and during holidays. The work was mundane, but the money was useful for a seventeen-year-old. Now, she thanked her lucky stars as she realised it was going to be one of the best decisions she ever made. The supermarket held regular courses on first aid training. Robyn always said yes, because it meant a day where she could go to college on the company’s dime and not have to do a lick of work.

  Today, some of that knowledge that she had buried at the back of her head was going to prove useful. When Wren shut her eyes, the first thing Robyn did was check for a pulse. When she felt the steady beat, a wave of relief swept over her.

  “I don’t know if you can hear me Wren, but I think you’re in shock. I’m going to lie you down flat.” She placed her sister carefully on her back. “Okay. I’m going to take a look at your wound.” Robyn unzipped the bloody coat and lifted Wren’s t-shirt. She wasn’t able to see much, as the area was covered in blood. Robyn grabbed the holdall; she knew there were a lot more medical supplies in the rucksacks, but she would have quicker access to the ones in the holdall. She reached in, pulling a wad of gauze, bandages, tape and antiseptic cream to the top. Robyn grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the top and slowly poured some of it in the area of the wound, washing away some of the excess blood. She could see there was still a significant amount coming out in regular bursts.

  “Wren, I’m going to have to apply some pressure to this to see if I can slow the bleeding, okay?” She remembered the woman who had done the first aid demonstration had told her to constantly talk to her patient in a calm and reassuring manner. She reached for one of the packets of gauze and suddenly saw a sealed pair of surgical gloves. “Is there anything you don’t think of, sis?” she said, as a loving smile warmed her worried face. She slipped on the gloves and opened two packets of gauze, placing them over the wound and pressing down, firmly. She kept her hands there for a couple of minutes, then threw the bloody gauze to the side and tore open two more, applying the same pressure. Then she remembered. Her tutor had told her it took ten minutes for blood to clot.

  “Idiot,” Robyn said to herself. She kept one hand on the wound and angled Wren’s watch around so she could see the face. “Okay...okay, ten minutes.” Robyn kept an even pressure and noticed that after three minutes, already the gauze had not absorbed as much blood as before. “It’s slowing, it’s slowing,” she said to herself more than to Wren. At eight minutes, Wren began to rouse. Her eyes blinked open and the first look that crossed her face was fear.

  “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” she asked, her eyes wide in her head.

  “It’s alright. You got caught on one of the spikes. The bleeding’s slowing down.”

  Wren looked down and saw the discarded red gauze; she saw the bloodied remains of the left side of her jacket and her eyes widened even more.

  "I—”

  “Don’t try to lift your head or speak,” interrupted Robyn. “Lie flat and stay still.” After eleven minutes, Robyn lifted the gauze. The bleeding had slowed down substantially. “It’s looking a lot better than it was. I’m going to put some antiseptic cream on some gauze, and tape over it. Listen, when you were on your hunt for meds, did you find any antibiotics?”

  “No. There are some painkillers and ibuprofen.”

  “Right. We’ll give you some of those, but you’ll have to have something to eat first.” Wren smiled. “What are you smiling at?”

  “My sister, Florence Nightingale.”

  Robyn laughed. “Eat farts, Trophy Girl.”

  Wren laughed this time. “Ow.”

  “Serves you right,” she said, hunting in the bag for food. She pulled out a tangerine, peeled it and gave it to her sister. “Eat this while I find something else, and watch out for pips.” Wren did as she was told. Robyn took out a packet of boiled ham and a small tin of pineapple rings. “Here we go, breakfast of champions,” she said, peeling open the packet and handing Wren a slice of ham.

  The two sisters ate in silence, occasionally looking around them. Despite the dire nature of their situation, both of them felt remarkably lucky to be there. It was hardly a picnic, but they devoured the ham and the pineapple chunks before taking it in turns to drink the sweet juice from the tin. By the end of the meal, a little colour had returned to Wren’s cheeks.

  “Thanks, Bobbi.”

  “For what?”

  “You saved my life.”

  “Hardly. It wasn’t that deep.”

  “Yeah, but if you hadn’t been here, I’d have bled out.”

  “I was just repaying the favour. How many times have you saved mine since yesterday morning?”

  “This isn’t about who does what; it’s about both of us getting to safety. You and me...as a family.”

  Robyn gently brushed the hair from her sister’s brow. “Let’s get you those tablets sorted out,” she said, reaching back into the holdall. She gave her sister the bottle of water and lifted her head slightly so she could take the four tablets. “We’ll give it a few more minutes, then do you want to try standing?”

  “I’ll stand now,” Wren replied, eager to get off her back.

  Robyn placed a hand on her shoulder. “No!”

  “We wait a few minutes, then we’ll give it a try.”

  After a few minutes, Robyn carefully helped Wren to her feet, Wren stumbled a little at first, but quickly righted herself, putting her arm around Robyn for stability.

  “I’m alright,” she said, eventually letting go of her sister.”

  “Here, take this,” Robyn said, handing Wren a javelin. “I think we’re going to have to dump one of the rucksacks. There’s no way you can carry it in your state.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Wren. No you won’t.”

  “We can’t dump a whole rucksack, not out here. That could be the difference between life and death.”

  “And what would you call it if your wound opened up due to the strain of too much weight and I couldn’t stop it next time?”

  “Which is the one with the best supplies in?”

  “They’ve both got different things in. Look, maybe we could get rid of a bit of the stuff, redistribute it, then I could still carry some. How would that be?”

  Robyn thought about it for a while. “Okay, but I’m serious, you can’t take too much strain.”

  “Okay, give me a minute.”

  They placed the two rucksacks and the holdall on the floor and Wren spent the next ten minutes repacking. She discarded some t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a map book and various other items, putting a few more into Robyn’s rucksack. She tested the weight and offered it to Robyn. “Right, fair enough, but if you feel anything we stop straight away, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her sister helped Wren get the much lighter rucksack onto her back before she placed her own, much heavier rucksack onto her shoulders and picked up the holdall too. They began their journey across the field, slowly at first, as Wren got used to walking with her injury.

  “So, have you had any more ideas on where we’re heading?” Robyn asked.

 
; “Not yet, but the more distance we put between ourselves and this place, the happier I’ll be.”

  “Me too.”

  The two sisters walked side by side, stopping regularly for water and toilet breaks. The countryside was quiet. They walked through fields rather than followed roads and Wren kept checking the compass to make sure they were keeping to a westerly course. They kept looking back to see the huge trading estate disappearing to nothing on the horizon. The sun was high in the sky when they stopped for lunch.

  Robyn checked the gauze on Wren’s wound to see if they had absorbed much blood, but it seemed the worst of it was over. They ate an orange each, shared a tin of cold baked beans, and finished it off with two Oreos a piece.

  “Lunch of champions,” Robyn said.

  “You’re not going to say that after every meal, are you?”

  “Dunno. Might do.”

  “We need to start looking for a place.”

  “What do you mean? It’s only early afternoon.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t want to pass by a decent place only to find ourselves trapped outside when it gets dark. It’s not like we can call a cab or something is it? Especially with me the way I am.”

  “What sort of place?”

  “I don’t know, anywhere that looks safe where we can get a night’s sleep without being worried about being attacked if one of those things wanders past us.”

  The two of them sat in silent contemplation for a while looking off into the distance where huge plumes of smoke decorated the Edinburgh skyline.

  “Well, I suppose we’d better get going then,” Robyn said. They picked up their javelins and their rucksacks. Robyn flung the strap of the holdall over her shoulder, and they set off once again. They passed through another gate, and then Wren caught sight of something. She stopped.

  “That’s a steeple.”

  “Huh?” Robyn replied.

  “Over there,” Wren said pointing just above the tree line.

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “Well, if there’s a church, there’s going to be a village or something nearby. We might be able to find somewhere to bed down for the night. We’ll carry on a bit then we’ll check it out. Do a bit of covert surveillance.”

  “Oh yeah, with me carrying a rucksack and a holdall, and you with a big hole in your stomach? We’ll practically be camouflaged.”

  “Arse!”

  “Bitch!”

  “Cow!”

  “Fart-face!”

  The two sisters laughed, but they both knew it was just bravado. When people were turning into flesh-eating monsters left right and centre, the last place anybody should think about going is where there were more people. But right then, right there, they realised that the well containing all their options had run dry.

  chapter 16

  Robyn and Wren had dumped their rucksacks behind a dry-stone wall before settling down for a long vigil in the tall grass. The sun was beating down, but the oak trees lining each side of the lane provided them with enough shelter from its rays. The midges, though, were another matter. Robyn applied a second layer of repellant spray.

  “I’d forgotten what these little shits were like.”

  “They’re always worse out here,” Wren replied.

  Robyn put the canister back in her jacket pocket and nestled back down into the grass. They had been watching the church for over twenty minutes and not seen a sign of anyone. They could just make out a small village street beyond the walls of the churchyard. The church itself looked steeped in history, with its black stone walls and tall, proud steeple. It was from another time, and from what they could make out of the street beyond it, that was too.

  “How long are we going to wait before we go take a look?”

  “I suppose we’ve waited long enough. There hasn’t been a single soul. Come on,” Wren said, rising carefully to make sure her wound did not stretch.

  “Shall we leave our stuff here, just in case?”

  “I don’t think so. I think we should take it with us. If we run into trouble, we might get cut off. We might have to head another way.”

  “I suppose,” Robyn replied, climbing back over the wall and pulling the heavy rucksack onto her shoulders. She passed Wren the other one, as well as one of the javelins, before picking up her weapon and the holdall.

  “I wish you’d let me help with that.”

  “Hopefully we’re going to find somewhere to hole up for the night. We can get some rest, redress your wound, and maybe tomorrow you’ll be in a better state to carry a little more.”

  “I’m okay to carry more now.”

  “Stop being so stubborn, Wren. We can’t risk your wound opening up again, or we’re back to square one.” Robyn climbed back over the wall and the two sisters headed up the road towards the church. Any other day, and this would have been like a holiday. A gentle breeze blew warm air against their backs, guiding them towards the serene village up ahead.

  They reached the stone wall surrounding the churchyard, and saw there was a large cemetery which ran all the way up one side, and disappeared around the back.

  “That’s a big cemetery for a small village,” Wren said.

  “What you’ve got to remember is when you start getting into the country, the churches are like the schools. They serve a big area.”

  “I suppose.”

  The two of them walked alongside the wall, constantly looking around for movement. They could see more of the street beyond now. There were a few buildings lining either side of a narrow road. They could make out the sign on the first of them, it said: “General Store.” Robyn unlatched the black wrought iron gate that led into the church grounds.

  “Let’s see if anyone’s at home.”

  “Why? Don’t we want to just find somewhere to bunk down for the night?”

  “Well, yeah, but this place is as good as any.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “It’s quiet, there’s a wall all the way around it, and if it turns out the minister is still alive, he’s not going to turn away two of God’s children in their time of need, is he?”

  “I suppose,” Wren said, as the two of them walked through the gate and headed up the pavement towards the church entrance.

  Robyn was about to open the heavy, dark oak door when Wren caught sight of something. It was a figure running towards them from the street.

  “Quick,” Wren said. “There’s one of those things coming.”

  “So much for it being a quiet village,” Robyn replied, pulling down the ornate handle. As she opened the door a scream ripped through the air.

  “Nooo!”

  A look of confusion swept across Wren’s face; the call had come from the creature sprinting towards them, which had now stopped dead in its tracks on seeing that the door was swinging open. Wren turned to look as the gap widened and her face turned as pale as Robyn’s when they saw the throng of creatures that had once been the congregation storming towards them.

  Robyn was frozen, but Wren pushed the door shut again as hard and as fast as she could just as the first of the beasts battered their bodies against it. Even through the thick wood, her hands jumped with the force. The two sisters backed away from the door, keeping their eyes firmly fixed on it, making sure nothing escaped the confines of the church. They continued down the path in reverse for several metres before turning and running. They left the churchyard and closed the gate behind them, giving one final look towards the entrance, before heading towards the man who had tried to warn them.

  The figure remained there in the street, his head going back and forth like he was at a tennis match. He looked towards the girls, then back to the church, then at the girls, then back at the church again. As Wren and Robyn reached him, they saw he was dishevelled looking, in his forties, with thin black greasy hair and a belly that protruded from underneath the stained, grey tank top he was wearing. “I tried to warn you,” he said.

  “Thanks,” Robyn replied.
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  “What are you doing here?” he asked, looking at the javelins the girls were carrying.

  “We were looking for somewhere to rest. My sister got hurt.”

  The stranger looked towards Wren and back to Robyn. “Two pretty young girls shouldn’t be out alone with this sickness infecting people.”

  “Erm, I think it’s a bit more than a sickness,” Wren replied.

  “Hmm,” he said, scratching his chin. “Well, I suppose you could come to my place to rest.”

  “That’s really kind, but we don’t want to trouble you; you’ve already helped us enough,” Robyn said.

  “It’s no trouble. I...I insist.”

  Robyn looked towards Wren, who had her hand over her wound and was looking down at it. “Are you okay?” Robyn asked.

  “I think it might have opened up again,” Wren replied apologetically. “When I pushed the door, I felt something tear a little.”

  The man looked down at Wren’s bloody coat. What happened? Were you bitten?”

  “No, I got caught on some fencing.”

  “I don’t have much in the way of medical supplies, but it looks like you could do with some time off your feet.”

  Robyn looked again at Wren, then back at the stranger. “Okay…thank you. If it’s no trouble.”

  “No, it’s no trouble.” The man smiled revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth, “It will be nice to have company. Let me take that for you, you’re carrying enough,” he said, reaching for the holdall.

  “Where’s everybody else?” Robyn asked, as the three of them started walking down the centre of the street.

  “Everybody else?” the man asked. He shook his head sadly. “They’re all in the church.”

  “How come you weren’t there?” Wren asked.

  “I was...late. When I got there, I saw what you saw. The minister wanted a village meeting,” he said, pointing to a small poster in the window of an accountant’s office.

  “You were lucky then, Wren said.”

  “You could say that.”

  They continued down the street in silence and Robyn kept looking at Wren, who seemed to be holding her wound tighter.