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

by Artinian, Christopher

  There was a loud crack, but the monstrous thing in front of her continued to struggle. She brought the crowbar down a second, then a third time, stunning the beast but not killing it, as it began to rise again.

  “Why the hell won’t you die?” she said, bringing the solid piece of metal down with another loud pop.

  “Behind you!” shouted Susan.

  Wren spun around to see a smaller figure hurtling towards them out of the darkness. In life, it had been a child of no more than ten, but in death, it was as deadly and vicious as any other zombie. It launched from the doorstep and seemed to glide through the morning air towards her. Its skin was grey; this was not a freshly turned beast. They had all probably been in the house for some time. Its pupils shrunk from marbles to pin-pricks as they adjusted from the dark interior of the house to the bright morning sun.

  Wren gasped. She didn’t think there was anything left in this world that could surprise her, but she had nearly fallen victim to her own complacency. If not for Susan alerting her, Wren’s back would still be to the door. She withdrew the javelin from the first creature and brought it up as quickly as she could, but not fast enough to get a clear strike. She parried the beast’s arms, and it went tumbling to the side, crashing into the neighbouring fence. Before Wren had chance to gather herself, the monster was back on its feet and running towards Ruth and Elizabeth. They both screamed, and Elizabeth brought her spear up ready to strike, but Wren lunged towards the creature, swinging the javelin as if it was a baseball bat, caving the beast’s nose in while knocking it backwards from its feet.

  This time, it was Wren who didn’t pause. Before the beast had the chance to scramble to its feet, she plunged the already bloodied javelin through its skull, causing Ruth, Elizabeth and Melissa to scream in unison. Wren wiped her spear off and marched towards the door of the house once again, leaving the rest of them to soak up the horror of what had just happened.

  “We won’t make that mistake again,” she said to Robyn, who joined her at the entrance.

  “Wait here and duck down; make sure you’re not seen. We’ve already made far more noise than we should have done,” Robyn said, looking back at the rest of the group before she and Wren disappeared into the house.

  A moment later, they re-emerged. “It’s all clear,” Wren said, waving them in.

  Robyn handed the crowbar to Matthew as he walked through the door. “You might want to wipe that off,” she said, looking at the congealed blood and tissue still clinging to the black metal, “you’ll never know when I might need to borrow it again,” and her voice was devoid of humour.

  Matthew took it but refused to make eye contact. The longer he spent with these people, the less he liked them.

  Wren closed the door as Susan entered the house, and they all stepped out of the confines of the kitchen into the darker hallway. The air smelled rotten with death. Wren and Robyn were used to the putridly sweet stench of decay now, but for the others, it was overpowering. Melissa gagged before leaning against a wall and vomiting.

  “We’re after car keys, remember,” Wren said, heading into the dining room and looking beyond the lace curtains to the road in front. This was the end house in a terraced row, and there were no drives; it was all on-street parking. There were plenty of vehicles lining the street, and although there was one in front of the walled garden, there was no guarantee that it belonged to the owners of the house.

  Elizabeth sat on the stairs and tried to comfort Ruth while the others began their search. “There’s nothing in any of the obvious places down here,” Robyn said. “I’m heading upstairs.”

  “I’ll give you a hand,” Wren said, turning around from the window. The pair of them squeezed by Elizabeth and made their way up the stairs. They entered the main bedroom and started to search in the bedside cabinets.

  “These people are dead wood. You do realise that?” Robyn said.

  “If Susan hadn’t shouted, I’d be zombie food right now.”

  “Okay, but what about the rest of them?”

  “Lizzy’s okay.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, she was okay getting out of the monastery. And she can drive.”

  “Yeah, that’s the only good reason to keep any of them around at the moment, because they’ve been zero use since the bank,” Robyn said. “I feel like shoving lit fireworks up their arses just to get them moving.”

  “You’ve got a real way with words. Anyone ever told you that?”

  They walked up to the window and looked down onto the street. There were two creatures at the far end, waiting to pick up a cue, a sound, a flash, a smell—anything that clued them to fresh meat nearby. Thankfully, they were too far away to have heard the screams from earlier, but they could have just as easily been at this end of the street, and Wren and Robyn knew how lucky they had been. They looked at the houses across the road. Some had their curtains drawn, some did not. Despite the rain from the previous evening, bloodstains were evident on the pavements, and it was clear this road had not escaped the horror that had befallen the rest of the country, or the rest of the world.

  They did a quick sweep of the other bedrooms, but one was used for storage while the other belonged to the little boy. Robyn and Wren headed back down the stairs to see Elizabeth and Ruth had vacated the bottom steps. They re-entered the dining room, and all mutterings suddenly stopped.

  “Any joy?” Wren asked.

  “No,” Susan replied.

  “Okay, I guess we’re moving on to the next place,” Wren said, heading through the house once more and out into the garden. Robyn followed her, and they had both climbed over the fence before the rest of the group began to emerge. Wren tried the door, but with no luck this time; it was locked. Robyn immediately picked up a garden trowel that was lying on a piece of sodden newspaper by the door. Wren closed her hand around her sister’s. “Remember,” she said, “as quiet as possible, we don’t want to attract any unwanted attention.”

  “Duh!” Robyn answered, tapping on the glass panel first to see if any figures appeared behind the frosted window. A few seconds passed by, and none did, so she gave the glass a firm hit with the stainless-steel blade of the trowel. It punched a hole through the glass big enough to put her hand through and unlock the door. She pushed it inwards, and a wild, high-pitched growl greeted her as a large cat charged through her legs and disappeared over the fence. Robyn put her hand up to her heart. “Jeeesus!” she said, and she and Wren let out a little chuckle.

  “Poor thing! It must have been trapped in here for a while,” Wren said.

  “Phwoar—you’re not kidding. That smells worse than one of yours,” Robyn said walking in, and immediately being hit by the odour of the unchanged cat litter and subsequent piles and puddles that lay like landmines throughout the house.

  Wren followed her, and the two of them proceeded to sweep the house before coming back out to the garden to tell the rest of the group it was clear. They entered the kitchen diner and on a small table by the side of the door was a set of car keys.

  “Bingo,” Wren said, smiling and throwing the keys to Elizabeth. “There’s a Ford logo, so I’m going to head upstairs and see where it’s parked. With a bit of luck, it will be close by.” Wren ran up the stairs and into the nearest bedroom. There was a Ford Mondeo Estate parked in front of the gate at the end of the path, and she smiled, but the smile did not remain on her face as she noticed the two creatures that had been loitering further down the street were now much nearer. Wren felt a presence behind her and turned to see Robyn. “They probably heard the breaking glass.”

  “No biggie,” Robyn replied, “we can handle two with our hands tied behind our backs.”

  “We shouldn’t start to get cocky about dealing with these things, Bobbi. Look what happened to me earlier.”

  “You worry too much. We’re getting really good at this.”

  “Yeah, you’re really good with that,” Wren said nodding towards the bow, “it doesn’t mean you�
��re going to hit the target every single time. All I’m saying is that we need to be careful.”

  “You’re right; I’m really sorry about earlier. I screwed up. That could have been disastrous,” suddenly the cocksureness had gone, and a little insecurity crept back in.

  “Bobbi, on our best days we can make mistakes; I’m just saying we need to think. I love that you’ve got this new zeal about you, but—”

  “What’s zeal?”

  “Ultra-enthusiasm.”

  Robyn thought about it for a few moments. “I think it’s because, for the first time in my life, I’ve actually been good at something. I mean, the second the boat hit the shore, I took charge. It was weird, y’know, cos, Lizzy is the adult, but everyone looked to me because you and I have been out there and we’ve had experience with these things. I...I mean, it’s not such a big thing for you. With the athletics and the medals, you’re used to being amazing at something. You’re used to people respecting you, but for me, it’s something new. I never did anything amazing at school or in my free time. I was, like, nobody. But now, people are looking at me differently.”

  Wren threw her arms around Robyn. “You should have more confidence in yourself, Bobbi! You’re great at a lot of things.”

  “Oh yeah, like what?” she asked, pulling away to look at her sister.

  Wren thought for a second. “Well...look at when we were back at school, for example...nobody was a bigger slapper, the other girls didn’t even come close, you were like a legend.” They both giggled. “Seriously though, your head’s in a different place now. I’m proud of you.”

  “Yeah, my head’s in a different place, and all it took was the end of the world,” she said with a thin smile. “I suppose we’d better get back downstairs before Matthew pees himself and Ruth starts crying again.”

  “See, that’s something else,” Wren said as they began to walk out of the room. “You’ve become a real people person. You’re so compassionate now compared to how you were before.”

  “Eat...my…”

  “I know, I know, Grosszilla.”

  They arrived back in the dining room to silence. The faces all looked towards the two of them like they had been caught in a lie.

  “Are we ready to go then?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yeah,” Wren said with a puzzled luck. “Everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine,” Elizabeth replied. “We’re just wanting to get out of this place.”

  “I can understand that,” Wren said.

  Elizabeth unlocked the door and put her fingers on the handle, but Robyn went to stop her. “Wait a minute, there are a couple of them out there.”

  Elizabeth immediately pulled her hand back. Wren retrieved one of the crossbows from her rucksack, and pulled the cocking lever, carefully placing a bolt in position, while Robyn grabbed an arrow and loaded it up. She nodded, and Elizabeth opened the door for them. The sisters stepped out, and for the time being, they could not see the creatures beyond the hedges at the front of the garden, but the second they stepped through the gate, there they were.

  The beasts immediately locked eyes on them and started sprinting full pelt. “I’ll take the one on the right,” Wren said.

  “Your right or mine?”

  “We’re both facing the same way, you dumb bimbo.”

  “Oh yeah,” Robyn said, firing. The arrow sailed through the air as if it was being carried on the breeze. It pierced just below the beast’s eye socket. She reached around to place her fingers on the fletching of another arrow, just in case her sister’s shot went astray.

  With time to aim, and knowing she was backed up if things went wrong, Wren concentrated and squeezed the trigger. The bolt cocked the beast’s head back as it pierced the brain and smashed against the back of the skull.

  They both went back in to collect their rucksacks, and Wren picked up her javelin. “Okay, the coast’s clear,” she said, placing the crossbow inside her bag and heading out once more.

  “At least I know where I’m sitting,” Elizabeth said, hitting the unlock button and climbing in.

  “It makes sense for you to be in the front, so you’ve got room for the bow,” Wren said to Robyn. Robyn nodded and was about to climb in when Matthew stepped in front of her.

  “I’m going in the front. If anything happens, I need to be there to protect Mum.”

  Robyn smirked, “Sure, totally. I feel safer already knowing you’re her bodyguard.”

  Wren rolled her eyes. “Okay, you and I will take the two seats nearest the doors in the back,” she said, opening the rear driver side door and letting Susan in, who immediately scooted up. Wren placed her javelin as well as Susan’s and Elizabeth’s at a diagonal in the expansive boot area, and then climbed in herself.

  “I’m getting really sick of you thinking you can order us around,” Matthew said, moving close into Robyn’s face again.

  “Well, maybe we wouldn’t have to order you around if you grew a pair and actually did something other than wet your boxers every time a zombie came into view.”

  Matthew’s face turned red, and his temple began to throb. His breathing got heavier, and for a second, Robyn thought he was going to try and hit her, although she did not let anything show on her face. The stand-off lasted no more than a few seconds before Robyn smiled and went to sit in the cramped back seat next to Melissa, who had Ruth on her knee.

  “Accelerator, brake, clutch, accelerator, brake, clutch,” Elizabeth said, looking down at the pedals and her feet.

  “Erm, is everything okay, Lizzy?” Wren asked.

  “Yes...yes, fine. It’s just…”

  “Just what?”

  “It’s just a little while since I’ve driven.”

  “How long a while?”

  “Nineteen years.”

  chapter 21

  Elizabeth put the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine coughed and spluttered but did not start. “It might have been sitting here for a while,” she said, before trying it again.

  “Yeah, that’s probably it,” Wren replied.

  This time the engine caught, and the relief in the air was palpable. The car was almost nose to tail with the one in front, so Elizabeth manoeuvred the gear stick into reverse, pulled off the handbrake and gently lifted her foot from the clutch. “I suppose it’s like riding a bike,” she said as she turned to look through the back window. “You never really forg—” The Mondeo jerked forward, smashed into the metallic rear bumper of the vintage yellow Volvo parked in front, and stalled.

  “Oh shit!” Elizabeth said, and everybody’s mouth dropped open a little in surprise.

  The crunch was loud enough to gain attention from more creatures, wherever they had been lurking, as now five more began to storm towards them down the street.

  “Okay, it’s okay, Lizzy. Just relax, it’s all going to be fine,” Wren said.

  “Mum!” Matthew cried as he caught sight of the beasts charging.

  “I know,” she replied.

  “Hurry!”

  “I know,” she said again, starting the engine once more and this time, noticing the small collar beneath the knob on the gear stick. She lifted it with her index and middle finger before shifting it into position. When she brought her foot off the clutch this time, the car began to reverse. “Okay, okay, that’s good,” she said, stopping and putting it into first gear. She eased her foot from the clutch once more and turned the wheel into a virtual lock, steering around the now battered vintage Volvo. She placed her foot a little further down on the accelerator and crunched the gear into second. The beasts were in clear view to all of the car’s occupants now as they sprinted down the middle of the road.

  Ruth and Melissa began to scream, and Wren shifted in her seat, ready to grab her javelin, but Elizabeth shifted up to third gear and pressed her foot down harder still on the gas pedal, making the engine roar. The car hurtled towards the creatures, who formed an arrow as they stormed towards the car.

  “Just keep go
ing straight at them,” Wren said. “They won’t move out of the way, trust me, we’ve seen this before.”

  Elizabeth did as Wren said and carried straight on, all the time increasing the vehicle’s speed. The creatures scattered as they hit the front end of the Mondeo, other than the middle one. It sprawled over the long bonnet, its face squashing against the windscreen, causing screams to erupt from inside the car. The beast’s eye almost stuck open against the glass, swivelling to fix on Elizabeth, then Matthew before shifting towards the back seat.

  “Muuummmy!” screeched Ruth.

  Robyn and Wren had been here before. They watched the creature and were immediately transported back in time to that fateful day they had climbed into the car with Thomas Jack, and he had run over his brother, sending him into a downward spiral that ended up being the demise of his entire family.

  “Keep going!” Wren shouted as she felt the car slowing. “Speed up!”

  Elizabeth looked in the rearview mirror and then down at the speedometer. The gauge said they were already doing fifty miles per hour along the narrow, car-lined street, but she did as Wren commanded and put her foot down even farther.

  The screams from the back seat continued, and the creature on the bonnet started to reach forward as if it could bypass the windscreen. Its sleeve caught on a wiper blade, and Elizabeth instinctively hit the wash screen button, squirting a spray of soapy water at the beast and causing the wipers to shift back and forth, temporarily making the creature lift its head.

  “Our father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed…” Matthew began to mutter under his breath as Elizabeth gripped the wheel tighter.

  “Brake!” shouted Robyn.

  “What?” Elizabeth screamed.

  “Brake now!”

  “Hold on!” Elizabeth screamed as she banged her foot down on the centre peddle, and everyone jerked forward. Robyn pressed her left hand up against the front seat and stuck her right arm out to act as a barrier to stop Ruth and Melissa flying forward; it was marginally helpful. Susan and Wren pressed the soles of their feet into the back of the driving seat. Matthew and Elizabeth were the only ones with seatbelts on, and although the pressure of the strap winded them, they bounced back quickly enough to watch the zombie fly backwards through the air. The wiper it was caught on went with it, and the creature tumbled and cartwheeled, finally coming to rest on the tarmac.