“Give them to me,” Wren said, reaching forward.
“No it’s—”
“Thomas, I know what it looked like when we left. I know what to look for, and I’m fast.”
Thomas paused for a moment, looking at the binoculars in his hand. He handed them over to Wren.
Wren took them and climbed out of the back seat. She walked slowly towards the final bend then crouched down and shuffled, making sure she was concealed by the tall grass and bushes at the side of the road. She let out a small gasp as she brought the binoculars into focus. The main street in the village looked like old photos she had seen of London after bombs had dropped in World War II. Sections of roof had fallen into the road making it impassable to vehicles. Most of the buildings were just blackened husks, rendering the once beautiful village to nothing more than a hellish after-image of its former self. But more disturbing than all of that, the street was swimming with movement. Creatures shifted amongst the ruins, looking for anything living, looking for anything that could feed their insatiable hunger.
“Oh no!” was all Wren could say as she remained, belly down on the road, just viewing the horrific scene. Eventually, she shuffled backwards and when she was completely out of the line of site of the creatures, she stood up and walked back to the driver side of the car, handing the binoculars to Thomas.
“What did you see?” he asked.
“Erm...nothing good.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re not getting through that way.”
“Have the buildings collapsed?”
“Among other things.”
“I’ve lived here all my life Wren. What’s happened to Tolsta?”
“It’s gone, Thomas. The buildings are burnt out, and those things are everywhere,” Wren replied sadly.
“I thought you’d locked them all in the surgery,” Kayleigh said, leaning forward.
“We did,” Wren replied. “I think these must have been attracted by the smoke. I saw one of them in a supermarket uniform, and one looked like a paramedic.”
Thomas climbed out of the car, “I’d like to see this for myself,” he said, starting to head towards the bend.
Wren caught his arm, and Thomas looked back at her. “I don’t think you should. You should remember it as the place you knew, not what it is now.”
He pulled his arm away. As he approached the bend, he got down on his knees and finally onto his belly and shuffled forward like he had seen Wren do. Thomas remained there for several minutes. Wren kept looking at the occupants of the Land Rover, and they kept looking back. She was about to go and join Thomas, when the big man finally began to retreat. He climbed to his feet and walked towards Wren. His eyes were red with tears.
“You did that?” he asked.
“Not deliberately. It was a pretty village. We just needed a diversion. Those things…”
“Ah well. I suppose you didn’t have a lot of choices. You’re right, though. We’re not getting through that way.”
“So, what do we do?”
Thomas brushed one of his giant hands over his face. “We need to go further west...which is something I was hoping to avoid,” he said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
“Why?” Wren asked.
“The only other merchant I know is just on this side of Stirling, but it’s pretty built up.”
“Built up isn’t good,” she replied.
“No. No, I dare say it isn’t.” The two of them climbed back into the car, and the Land Rover retraced its tracks. They drove back past the farm, and all five of them cast longing looks towards its safety as the wheels turned towards the unknown.
After a few more minutes, the car came to a screeching stop, and everyone jolted forward in their seats.
“What do we do?” Brendan shouted as his fingers dug into the dashboard.
“I don’t know, boy,” Thomas replied.
Robyn and Wren saw the two creatures hurtling towards the Land Rover, but what scared them more was seeing the fear in Thomas’s eyes as they looked in the rearview mirror.
“Put your foot down, Thomas,” Robyn commanded, and almost as if his body was waiting for an instruction, that’s what he did. The engine roared as he changed up through the gears and they were doing forty miles per hour when the front of the Land Rover smashed into the two creatures. One went flying into the hedgerow like a broken mannequin, the other was smashed from its feet and sprawled on the bonnet. Its face battered against the windscreen, and although is broken legs were now useless, it clung there, maintaining the same resolve, the same insatiable thirst.
Thomas, Brendan and Kayleigh all screamed as the beast remained glued to the windscreen. Its face pressed against the glass, its grey eyes and demonic pupils bored holes into them. It moved its mouth up and down almost as if it was imagining feasting on their flesh. Thomas was frozen in a hypnotic horror, and Brendan began to cry while Kayleigh grabbed a tight hold of Robyn’s hand.
“Stop!” Wren shouted. “Stop the car!”
Thomas smashed his foot down on the brake and all the occupants jolted forward against their seatbelts once more. The creature was catapulted backwards, and somersaulted down the lane. For a moment it just stayed there, until its hands and arms began to drag it towards the Land Rover once again.
“Oh dear God! How can this be happening?” Thomas asked.
“Drive. Drive, Thomas. Hit it again,” Wren said, but Thomas just sat there. He turned towards his son in the passenger seat. He saw Brendan’s tears and so wanted to tell him it was going to be okay, that his father would look after him, but right then and there, he knew he couldn’t. He turned back to look at the beast as it continued its futile pursuit. He became deaf to everything but the voice in his head, which kept saying over and over: This is the end.
Wren looked towards her sister then back at Thomas. If there were two beasts on this road there may well be more, and sitting with the engine idling did nothing but harm. She needed to do something to break their morbid trance. She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car, closing the door behind her. She grabbed her javelin from the trailer and marched towards the creature, stopping about a metre away from it. Its legs were broken in several places and the progress it made dragging itself with its hands and arms was painfully slow. Out of all the beasts she had faced, this was by far the least intimidating, and yet it had Thomas and his family caught in the throes of terror.
Wren waited until the creature’s hand was almost touching her boot, then she drove the javelin into its temple, hard and fast. The beast’s head immediately fell face down on the tarmac. She put her javelin on the ground and rolled the body to the side of the road. Wren looked further down the windy country lane. She knew that beyond lay the archery club where she and her sister had been just the day before. She knew beyond that lay a small village, and if just two of these broken creatures had terrified Thomas and his family, there is no way they would be able to face a whole settlement.
Wren walked to the car, threw her javelin in the trailer, and climbed into the back seat. “The coast seems clear for the time being,” she said, but there was no response. “Thomas!”
Thomas said nothing, but looked at her in the mirror. His blue eyes, eyes that had scared her so much the first time she had seen them, looked almost grey now, as if they had aged in those few moments. Brendan’s crying eventually came to a stop, and they stayed there for several more minutes in stunned silence.
“Dad, I think we’d better move now,” Kayleigh said, softly.
Thomas took a deep, shuddering breath and turned in his seat as he began to reverse the Land Rover and trailer down the lane.
“Where are we going?” Wren asked, but there was no response. The trailer and Land Rover reversed onto a track leading to another farmer’s field, before Thomas turned the wheel right and back the way they had come.
“Dad. Are you okay?” Kayleigh asked, but Thomas did not respond, he just kept on driving.
&nb
sp; Not a word was spoken for the rest of the journey. The Land Rover turned onto the road to the farm and within a few seconds the tyres were crackling over the stone chips. Isabel came out of the kitchen with a potato in one hand and a peeler in the other. There was a look of confusion on her face. Thomas climbed out of the car, looked towards her, then went straight into the kitchen. Wren opened her door and climbed out too, as did Robyn and Kayleigh. Brendan stayed in the passenger seat, refusing to move.
“What happened?” Isabel asked.
Robyn and Wren looked at each other, but it was Kayleigh who spoke. “We…”
“What?” Isabel was becoming increasingly concerned.
“We ran into a couple of those things,” she said, eventually. Kayleigh flung her arms around her mother. “One of them was Uncle John, Mum.” Kayleigh burst out crying.
“Oh dear Lord,” Isabel said, taking a tight hold of her daughter and stroking her head. “There, my love. You’re back home now. It’s all over.”
Kayleigh pulled away. Her eyes were red. “No Mum. It’s not all over. But it will be soon,” she said, running into the house.
Isabel looked at Robyn and Wren. “Are you two okay?”
“I didn’t know it was a relative…I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Wren said.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about,” Isabel replied.
“I do. I...I killed it.”
Isabel let out a deep sigh. “John and Thomas had a very complicated relationship,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on Wren’s arm before heading over to the car.
She opened the door, and Brendan immediately closed it again. “No!” he screamed with tears still in his eyes.
Isabel’s brow creased in puzzlement, but then she noticed the dark wet patch on his jeans and realised her son had obviously lost control of his bladder. She turned around, by which time the girls had retrieved the javelins from the trailer. She guided them away from the vehicle. “Look. You two have the day off today. We’ll see you at six tomorrow, eh?”
“I’m really sorry,” Wren said.
“Don’t worry, it will all be okay,” she said, giving them both a hug. She watched the two sisters make their way out of the yard before returning to the car.
“That went well,” Robyn said as soon as she knew they were out of hearing range.
“Don’t! I feel terrible.”
“You’ve got nothing to feel terrible about. You killed one of those things, that’s all. It wasn’t a person. Let’s face it, everybody knows everybody in these rural communities.”
“Yeah, but running into your brother first time out. That’s pretty crappy luck.”
“Thing is, Wren, I don’t think it would have mattered if he’d known him or not. He was hesitating right from the beginning. He’s a nice man, Thomas, maybe too nice for this world.”
“What are you saying?” Wren asked, looking towards her sister as they strolled down the lane back towards their home.
“I’m saying, I like the Jacks. It was incredible that they took us in. It was amazing that they gave us a place to live, but…”
“But what?”
“But if it came to making a choice between saving you and me, or saving them, I wouldn’t hesitate. They’re weak. It might cost them their lives, but I’m not going to let it cost us ours.”
chapter 4
Thomas was not a big drinker. He would have a dram at Christmas, New Year, other special occasions, but never during the day. For him to reach to the back of the kitchen cabinet where all the spirits were stored, mainly for guests, was uncharacteristic, and more than a little unnerving for Isabel. He pulled the almost full bottle of Blair Athol twelve-year-old whisky, from its resting place near the back. He grabbed a glass then sat down at the kitchen table and poured himself a measure.
He drank the amber liquid like it was water, slammed the glass down, and poured himself another one. Isabel sat down beside him and placed a gentle hand over his.
“Don’t come apart on me, Thomas.”
“I just need...to forget,” he said, taking another drink and refilling the glass again. “I was going to reach out. I was going to head up there…now it’s too late.”
“Thomas, families are complicated. Families fall out. It doesn’t mean they stop loving each other. It doesn’t mean that deep inside they still don’t know. You were brothers. Nothing breaks that bond,” Isabel said, running her thumb over the back of his hand.
“Death breaks it. And now I can never put things right.” He poured more whisky into his glass and took another gulp.
“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. We won’t know that until we step over to the other side, will we? But what I do know is you’ve got a family here who’s depending on you more than ever, and you’re going to have to be strong.”
Thomas glared at Isabel. It was the same glare she used to see in her father’s eyes before a beating. Whisky. It did strange things to some men. She pulled her hand away, like the look itself was a slap across her face. Thomas stood, picking up the bottle and the glass at the same time. “I want two minutes of peace to mourn my brother. I don’t think that’s much to ask.”
Isabel watched as he left the kitchen and walked over to one of the equipment sheds. In all the time she had known him, he had never spoken to her like that. He had never given her a look like that. Fear began to rise inside her, and suddenly, the sound of the kitchen clock became deafening. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
✽ ✽ ✽
The two girls got back home and, despite the warm weather, threw a log into the large living room stove. The cooker in the kitchen was electric, but the stove had a special top that allowed them to put pans or a kettle on it. The day before, Isabel had given them a small jar of coffee, and Robyn desperately needed a caffeine jolt.
“So, we’ve got the day to ourselves. What are we going to do?” Wren asked.
“I know what I’m going to do,” Robyn replied.
“What?”
“I’m taking my bow and heading into the woods to practice.”
Wren looked surprised. “My sister, Robyn Hood,” she said with a smile.
“You and I were the only ones who didn’t go to pieces today.”
“You’ve got to remember, it was the first time they’d ever seen those things up close, and not just that, but it was his brother. Their uncle, for god’s sake, Bobbi.”
“I know what you’re saying, but I just feel like I need to do something.”
“I understand. I’ll come with you. I’ve not even fired my crossbows yet.”
“Okay, but before we do anything, I need coffee, and lots of it.”
The girls got changed out of their workwear and rubbed insect repellant all over their exposed skin. It was another warm day and in a small forest, so close to fresh water, the midges would be vicious. Within half an hour they were heading through the trees with kitchen knives in their belts rather than the cumbersome javelins, and it was not long before they found the perfect place to start practicing. After the previous day, Robyn was eager to see if her performance had just been beginner’s luck, but as she placed the nock of the arrow against the string and drew it back, she immediately felt the same ease. She lined up the trunk of an ancient oak and fired. The arrow glided through the air, making a cracking sound as it pierced the bark and entered the wood.
“You really do have a knack for this,” Wren said.
“Seriously, if I’d have known how cool this was, I would have taken it up a long time ago. Okay, now you,” she said, nodding towards the pistol crossbow.
Wren had read the instructions repeatedly, but had yet to fire the bow. She pulled the lever, cocking the weapon, then gingerly placed the bolt into it. She clasped her right hand firmly around the handle while bringing her left up to support it. Wren looked across at her sister and closed one eye to line up the shot before squeezing the trigger. Nothing happened. Then she remembered: there was a safety that she needed to disengage. She laughed
nervously, then tried again. The bolt left the shaft so quickly and smoothly it startled her. It whistled through the air and landed about a foot lower than her sister’s arrow and a little to the left.
Wren brought the weapon down and let out a breath. She had been aiming to get as close to the arrow as she could and she was disappointed with the resulting shot.
“That’s great, Wren, well done!”
“It’s not where I was aiming.”
“That will come with practice, but it’s a really good start. Do it again.”
Wren reloaded the weapon, lined up the sight and fired. Readier this time, the bolt landed a little higher up. “I suppose that’s a bit better than the first one.”
“Some nerdy little kid once told me that practice makes perfect,” Robyn said, smiling. Wren put her middle finger up. “Yeah, and you.”
The pair of them remained there for well over an hour, taking it in turns to shoot. With each moment that passed, they became a little more confident, with each shot, they felt more at ease with their respective weapons.
“Shall we head back and have an early lunch?” Wren asked.
“Sounds good.”
They hadn’t been walking in the direction of their home for more than a minute when a distant boom travelled through the air. They looked at each other in panic and surprise before starting to run. Although it was virtually impossible to get a fix on where the sound had come from, their guts told them it was the farm. Were they under attack from the creatures?
They continued to sprint through the trees. Wren developed a big lead and was the first to burst through the door of the house. She grabbed their javelins and was already heading back out, as Robyn appeared from the woods. Robyn leant her bow up against the wall and without missing a beat, the two of them headed towards the farmhouse. They heard the sound again, and slowed down to a walk. Now they were out of the woods, the origin of the noise was a little clearer.
“That came from behind us,” Wren said. The two of them stopped and turned, looking down the road to the direction they had travelled earlier in the day with Thomas. “What do you suppose it is?”
The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3] Page 22
