Ian looked into his wing mirror at the long procession of trucks and buses behind him. He was driving the lead float in the carnival, and for all who heard those engines, Hell was coming to town.
The End
Acknowledgements
To my wife, Tina. Thank you for everything you do. I know whatever proverbial bunker I find myself in you will always be by my side. I could not ask for a better partner in life or in business.
Thank you to the members of the fan club across on Facebook. You guys are always there when I need it the most. Your support is incredible. I will always be grateful for everything you have done, and continue to do.
And of course, the professionals. A huge thank you to Sheila Shedd. Sheila is a wonderfully insightful editor, and a joy to work with. Thank you for everything you do for me, my friend. I could not forget my pal Christian Bentulan. He just keeps producing staggering cover after staggering cover. You are a real talent mate, and it’s an honour to have your designs on my book covers.
And last, but by no means least, I want to say a huge thank you to you for reading this book. I love writing; it is my passion. I would do it even if I was the only one ever to read my work; but to share it with others who enjoy it is a feeling I will never get used to or take for granted. A thousand thanks.
The End of Everything
Book 3
Christopher Artinian
Dedication
To those who always try to see the good in people, even when there is no good to see.
To receive my book, Before and Beyond Safe Haven, absolutely free (for a limited time only) click here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/1v9xdaxx77
Chapter 1
Robyn and Wren sat on the grassy riverbank only paying the smallest amount of attention to their lines. They had managed a great haul this morning, but neither of them were looking forward to cleaning the fish. The two sisters had come a long way from when they lived in Edinburgh. In terms of time, it had not been long at all, but in terms of experience, they had travelled to a different world.
“Dad would have loved this,” Wren said.
“Don’t,” Robyn replied.
“Don’t what?”
“You always have to make me feel sad, just when I’m enjoying a moment of happiness.”
“Thinking about them shouldn’t make you feel sad; it should make you feel happy.”
“Why would it make me feel happy, Wren? Why would it make me happy to think about what I’ve lost? What we’ve lost? Two people whom I loved and will never see again. Two people who died in the most horrific way…come on, Wren! Dad was attacked by a zombie for god’s sake. Then when he turned into one, and…he attacked my mum. They were both ripped from us long before they should have been, and every time I try to forget that just for a minute, you bring one of them up and make me remember it all over again.”
There was a pause, and Wren let out a breath. “I’m sorry, but thinking about them doesn’t make me sad.”
“How can it not?”
“Well...if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. If they hadn’t made us the people we’ve become, we wouldn’t have got out of Edinburgh. We’d probably have ended up just like them.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. Look, let’s just drop this and try to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.”
“Sorry, Bobbi.”
“It’s okay.”
“I wish Jeb was with us.”
“I was enjoying spending time, just me and you…up until a couple of minutes ago, anyway.”
“Yeah me too, but when Jeb comes with us, he always offers to clean the fish.”
Robyn laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“He’s been a lot better this last week,” Wren reflected.
“I noticed that too. He’s forgotten a few things, but, I mean, he is pretty old. I suppose that’s only natural.”
“He called me Lydia again the other day.”
“Yeah, he’s done that to me a couple of times. I guess he must have really loved her. They were together a long, long time. He told me that day he came around to plant the hedge that he used to speak to her all the time after she died. It was really sad.”
“I’d love the chance to be loved that much. I suppose there’s little chance of that now,” Wren said, gazing into the rippling water.
“All this has only just happened, sis. Things won’t ever be normal, but life will be more than this.”
“It’s alright for you; I mean, you’ve…done it. I never even got a chance.”
“Okay, just for the record, just cos I’ve had sex a few times, it doesn’t mean that I’ve reached my quota. I’m seventeen years old; I would like to experience it at least once or twice more before I die,” Robyn said with a smirk.
“You know what I mean.”
“I know, but I’m serious. Things will get better...they have to.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“C’mon, these fish aren’t going to clean themselves,” Robyn said, getting to her feet and offering a hand to her sister. Wren clamped her fingers around Robyn’s wrist and allowed herself to be pulled up.
“I’ll cook them if you clean them,” Wren said with a smile.
“Oh yeah, that sounds like a great deal. Nah, you’re okay. We’ll split the duties.”
“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” Wren said.
As well as a fishing trip, the girls had been practising with their bows. Robyn had shown real skill with hers in no time at all. Wren had chosen to develop her talents with pistol crossbows, and, although nowhere near as proficient as her sister, her aim was getting better all the time. She packed the two bows and the bolts into her rucksack before throwing the bag over her shoulder. Wren picked up her javelin, which was her preferred weapon for the time being, and cast one final glance downriver.
Robyn picked up her bow and slung the three quivers onto her shoulder. The more arrows she brought, the fewer she had to retrieve repeatedly for target practice, which suited her just fine, but they could be a little cumbersome. They put the salmon in a co-op carrier bag and started to head back home, ambling through the tall grass, in no rush. They had been through so much stress in such a short time that they were intent on savouring a quiet, sunny afternoon together. They kept a watchful eye around them, but in all the times Wren had been out this far, she had yet to see a zombie.
“So...if you could have any three-course meal, what would it be?” Wren asked, smiling.
“Oh god, not this again.”
“I haven’t asked this.”
“No, but we’ve had: ‘if you could visit any place,’ ‘if you could kiss any boy,’ ‘if you could have any weapon…’ can’t we just enjoy the walk?”
“Sorry,” Wren said, looking a little hurt.
Robyn looked across at her and sighed. “Okay…I’d have the prawn cocktail Mum always used to make before Christmas dinner, a large Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pepperoni, followed by a whole tub of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough, all to myself.”
“Pig!”
“And proud of it. There are no boys around to impress anymore, so I’d eat the most unhealthy, delicious stuff I could, given a chance.”
“Mum’s prawn cocktail wasn’t unhealthy.”
“True, but it was nice, and I wouldn’t want anything too heavy for a starter, ‘cos I’d need to leave room for the Ben and Jerry’s.”
“You’re not worried that the large pizza would fill you up?”
“I could always get a doggy bag for that, but the most important thing is having enough room for the ice cream…in fact, maybe I’d just start with that. Oh, and chilled Sol or Bud with the meal, and a few Jager bombs to round it out.”
“What are Jager bombs?”
Robyn looked across to Wren. “My poor little sister. You’ve missed out on so much. It’s a drink. A totally awesome one that gets you pished in no time.”
“I wonder if there’s anything in that self-sufficiency book ab
out brewing your own Jager bombs.” Robyn burst out laughing, and Wren looked a little hurt again. “What? What have I said?”
Robyn placed her arm around Wren’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “Nothing. I just forget how young you are sometimes.”
“You’re only two years older than me, y’know.”
“Yeah, but it’s what I did with those two years. Don’t worry. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure you get to try a Jager bomb,” she said, chuckling once more.
“I want to take a little detour on the way back.”
“Why?” Robyn asked.
“There’s a lot of woodland around here, and I just thought it might be nice to have a bit of a forage, see what we can find.”
Robyn looked up at the sun. There was still plenty of daylight left, and she was not looking forward to cleaning the fish. “Yeah, okay then.” Her sister smiled and reached around into the side pocket of her rucksack, bringing out a small book called Food of the Wild. She opened it to a bookmarked page, and the faintest of smiles appeared on Wren’s face. “Wow! How you didn’t have a boyfriend is just a complete mystery to me.”
“Yeah well. Boys don’t tend to like girls who are more intelligent than them. I suppose that explains why you had so many.”
“Bitch!”
“Slag!” They both laughed. “Ooh, look!” Wren said, bending down. “Wow…this is exciting.” She plucked a giant puffball mushroom from the base of a tree.
“Hang on...did you just say, ‘wow this is exciting,’ about a big ugly mushroom?”
“Well, it is exciting.”
“It’s a mushroom.”
“Yeah, a puffball, and firstly, it’s unusual to get them at this time of year; they tend to be around in autumn. And secondly, they’re meant to taste great. Apparently, you slice them and put them into the frying pan like you would a steak.”
“You trying to tell me I’m going to enjoy a big slice of mushroom the same as I would a steak? I think not.”
“Didn’t say that. I said you cook them like a steak, not they’re like a steak. Hey, you can mock me as much as you want, but this is free food. It’s high in protein, and I’d rather be eating this than nettle soup.” Wren looked at the huge fungus and placed it in her rucksack. “Y’know, you could at least be a little grateful. I’m trying to make sure we don’t go hungry.” The pair of them carried on walking.
“I am grateful,” Robyn said after a while. “I’m just not going to orgasm over a puffbomb or whatever, that’s all.”
“Of course you’re not. If it was something useless but posealicious like a Prada bag you found at the base of a tree, you’d forget your own name for half an hour. But something that can actually feed you…that’s somebody else’s problem.”
“Get stuffed. I contribute as much as you, just in different ways.”
The two of them carried on walking but didn’t talk for a while. Wren stopped again next to a grouping of plants with bunches of creamy-white flowers. She began plucking the umbels from the green stalks and pulled another carrier bag from her rucksack to place them in. She looked towards Robyn, who clearly wanted to know what she was doing, but was still in too much of a huff to ask.
“It’s elderflower,” Wren said. “You can make all sorts of drinks with it, but elderflower cordial is really nice. I thought it would make a change from water at the dinner table.
“It would be nice to have something with a bit of flavour,” Robyn acknowledged, begrudgingly.
“You can also make wine with them,” Wren said, smiling.
“Seriously?” Robyn asked, considerably more excited now.
“You can make wine out of lots of things, Bobbi. But it’s like I’ve said before, it’s not that easy. It’s a process that takes some figuring out.”
“I’m going to ask Jeb next time we see him. I bet he’s made all kinds of stuff in the past.”
“I told you we should have held onto those last two bottles of wine, saved them for a special occasion, but you wouldn’t listen to me. And now look at you. You’re like some old alky with the DTs.”
Robyn laughed. “I don’t think I’m quite that bad, but I wouldn’t mind something to take the edge off now and again. It’s a great way to chill.”
“It was a great way to rot your liver.”
“Hey, you weren’t complaining when we had that bottle of Pinot Grigio.”
“Yeah. Like I said, special occasions.”
“Whatever. I’m just saying. It would be nice, that’s all.”
“Okay. I’ll speak to Jeb. He’ll be able to point us in the right direction. You never know; he might have some of the equipment we’ll need.”
“I have told you you’re the best sister in the world, haven’t I?”
“You’ve told me lots of things. I tune you out most of the time, if I’m honest.” Wren collected all the flower heads she thought she would need and folded the top of the bag over before placing it in her rucksack.
“I really hope you know where we are because I am completely lost,” Robyn said.
Wren pulled out her compass. “We need to head that way,” she said, pointing through the trees.
“How do you do that?”
“How do I do what?”
“Y’know...figure all that direction stuff out.”
“I have a compass; it’s easy.”
“For you, maybe. Maps and compasses and all that stuff just melt my brain.”
“We should probably keep them well away from you then. There can’t be that much more brain to melt,” Wren said with a self-satisfied smirk.
Robyn extended her middle finger. “You are such a cocky little—” she broke off as the droning of multiple engines shattered the peace of their afternoon saunter. “What the hell is that?”
They both stopped in mid-stride and listened to the sound as it carried on the breeze. “That’s a lot of engines. Do you think it could be the army?”
“The army?”
“Well, it sounds like an awful lot of vehicles. It’s not just someone out for an afternoon spin, is it?”
Robyn looked towards Wren with excitement. “Do you think there might be somewhere safe? Maybe they’re gathering people? Maybe things are going to return to normal.”
“I—”
“Come on,” Robyn said, starting to run.
Wren followed her, but it was not long before they halted again. “It sounds like they’ve stopped.”
“They could be at the house. Hurry up, we don’t want to miss them.”
“Wait!” Wren said, calling after her, but Robyn carried on. “Bobbi, wait!”
Robyn continued sprinting, and Wren went after her, dropping her javelin and sliding the rucksack from her shoulders. Robyn was only a few metres from the edge of the trees when Wren launched through the air like a rugby player trying to stop her opposite number reaching the try line. She bound her arms around her sister’s calves, and Robyn toppled forward, dropping her bow and letting out a startled scream as her body flattened against the soft earth of the woodland.
Robyn sprang back to her feet in a fury, and Wren quickly shuffled back on her buttocks, seeing the anger on her sister’s face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Robyn hissed, still a little winded, but too fuming not to respond.
“We don’t know who it is,” Wren said urgently. Robyn loomed over her sister, glaring down at her. “We don’t know who it is, Bobbi. We can’t just go running out there. We need to check first.”
“You are so paranoid. Who do you think it’s going to be?”
“That’s my point. I don’t know. You don’t know. We need to find out.”
Robyn stood there for a few seconds, looking down at her sister, realising what she said made sense.
“Where’s your stuff?” Robyn asked.
“I ditched it when I had to catch up with you. You’re pretty fast…for someone with such a fat arse,” Wren said, smiling, hoping she could break the tension.
> “Bitch!”
Wren walked back to pick up her javelin and rucksack. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and put the strap around her neck. “Listen,” she said as they started walking towards the edge of the tree line. “It probably is the army; it’s probably all going to be okay, but even if it is, it changes nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just you and me now, Bobbi. We’re the only family we’ve got left.”
“I know that.”
Wren placed the rucksack down and leaned the javelin up against one of the trees. She crouched down as she approached the edge of the meadow that led to the farmyard. Robyn stayed back, trying to control the impulse to throw caution to the wind.
Wren stared through the binoculars, slowly bringing them into focus. It was well over a minute before she brought them away from her eyes. She turned to look at Robyn. “We need to get out of here. We need to get out of here, now.”
chapter 2
Wren picked up her rucksack, situated it on her shoulders, and grabbed the javelin.
“Wait a minute,” Robyn said, pulling her sister around to face her. “What do you mean?”
Wren’s eyes were wide with alarm. “It’s not the army.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know, but they’re armed, and there are loads of them.”
“Give me the binoculars. I want to see.”
Wren took the strap from around her neck and handed them to her sister. Robyn crouched down in the same spot Wren had occupied just a moment before, and then returned to where Wren was standing with the same distraught look on her face.
“They’re taking all our stuff!” Robyn said.
“We need to get away from here. We need to make sure we stay well out of sight until they’re gone.”
The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3] Page 38
