“Go! Go! Go!” Robyn screamed, clicking her seatbelt on as bullets pinged off the bodywork. For the time being, the minibus was out of view as they sped along another farm track with a hedgerow border. The van, though, was gaining ground. The shots were desperate attempts to slow the car’s progress. If they hit a tyre or anything vital, it would be down to luck more than skill.
The Audi flew over bumps and plunged into dips. It was more like a rodeo ride than a car journey. Robyn held on to the grab handle above the passenger side window as she glared into the wing mirror to see their pursuers’ progress. “We are getting good distance, yes?” Mila said, smiling excitedly.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure all our problems are over now,” Robyn replied as they launched over another dirt ramp, crashing down a few metres further on. “If we carry on at this speed, we’re not going to have a car left.”
Mila checked the mirror again to see the van entering the field. “I should slow down, yes?”
“Err … no. Can we go faster?”
Mila did not answer, and the car speeded up a little more. “Scheisse!” she hissed.
“What? What is it?” Robyn asked.
“No exit.”
Robyn followed Mila’s eyes. The track they were on was blocked by a fence separating the neighbouring field. “Oh crap! What kind of idiot has a track to nowhere?”
“I think maybe this was one giant field that they turned into two.”
“Oh, well, as long as they had a good reason, that makes it all okay. What the hell are we going to do?”
Mila looked in the mirror again. She could just make out the minibus behind the box van. “We have to risk it?”
“Hang on. I’ve missed a conversation somewhere. Risk what?”
“We have to drive through the fence.”
“Err … hello, it’s a fence. You climb over fences; you don’t drive through them.”
“Today we drive through them. Hold on!”
Mila put her foot down ever further just as the Audi hit another small rise. It left the ground like a stunt car in an action movie. “Oh shiiittt!” Robyn screamed as the front end ploughed into the thick stock wire fencing. A metal on metal shriek split through the air followed by a bone-rattling crunch as the front bumper ripped from the chassis and got dragged beneath the car. Both girls screamed as the terrifying sounds of thick wire lashing against bodywork and pinging bullets resonated around them. The car slowed to a virtual stop as earth piled up around the dragging debris.
“Nein! Nein! Nein!” Mila jammed the gear stick into first and put her foot down again. For a moment it felt like they were travelling on shattered rail tracks, making virtually no headway; but then there was a popping sound and what remained of the bumper jettisoned, the rear tyres spitting it out like a piece of indigestible gristle. The car jerked forward, veering wildly for a moment until Mila took control of the steering once again.
“We did it,” Robyn cried loudly. “Did we do it?” she then questioned, realising her wing mirror had been ripped from the door and turning around as much as the seat belt would allow her. As they sped away, she saw the detritus they left in their wake. The various bits of the shattered bumper, the wing mirrors, fencing and posts. A single figure leaned out of the passenger side window of the box van and fired multiple times, but the bullets went astray. Neither the laden van nor the minibus had been able to keep up with anything like the pace of the saloon car, and they slowed down even more as they reached the devastation of the broken fence.
Mila looked in the rearview mirror and continued to move up the gears. The pair of them were acclimatised to the bump and grind of the surface now and were more than happy to suffer the rollercoaster peaks and troughs to gain further ground on their pursuers. The track to this side of the massive field ran parallel to a wooded area, and low, overgrown branches whipped the roof of the car as they sped by. “Get ready!” Mila said.
“Get ready for what?”
“We just about got through that fence, but there’s no way we’re going to break down that,” she replied nodding towards the looming obstacle.
Robyn looked towards the end of the track and the looming wide metal gate. “Okay.” They carried on, not slowing until the very end, then Mila jammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a skidding halt in a whirlwind of dry dust.
“Hurry!” Mila ordered.
Robyn leapt out of the car, slamming the door behind her. She pulled the gate open and waved Mila through. Mila paused halfway to let Robyn back in. “No, keep going.”
Mila’s confusion was only momentary as she saw the stainless-steel barrier slam shut behind her. Robyn dived back into the passenger seat, and they were on their way once more. The occasional pothole aside, the journey was much smoother and quicker. The road weaved and turned, and they lost sight of the entrance long before there was any sign of the van or the minibus. Mila looked down at the speedometer. “Maybe I should ease up a little. Eighty is nothing on a motorway; on these roads it is too much.”
They carried on until they reached a T-junction. “Which way? Right is the most direct route, but it sends us back in the direction of where we first ran into them. I prefer we go left. We use more fuel, but I think it’s the better option.”
“Yeah. Definitely. The last thing we want is to meet up with those pricks again.”
Mila checked in both directions, steered the wheel around the corner and began to accelerate once more.
✽ ✽ ✽
“It was them; it was definitely them,” cried Snape as the van finally reached the road.
“How the hell can you be so sure?” Dalton demanded.
“I saw them. Jesus, it’s not like two chicks dressed in leather are that hard to miss, is it?”
“Well, we’ve lost them well and truly now. No way will we find them again in this hunk of junk,” Dalton said, punching the side of the van. The men in the minibus behind didn’t climb out. Even without hearing Dalton’s words, they could see what frame of mind he was in, and they knew he was not someone to be messed with.
“So, what now?” Snape asked.
“I’m thinking, aren’t I?”
“Thought I heard something rattling,” he replied with a slack-jawed grin sweeping over his face.
“What did you say?”
“I … I was only joking.”
Dalton pinned Snape to the side of the box van. His thumb and index finger closed around the younger man’s throat, and a terrifying malevolence bubbled behind his eyes. Snape began to splutter as it gradually became more difficult for him to breathe. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” Dalton released his iron grip, and Snape doubled over coughing violently, holding his throat, checking to see if there was any permanent damage.
“Fetch me the map,” Dalton said, turning away from the wheezing figure and staring in the direction the car had disappeared. Despite the pain he was in, Snape climbed into the van and retrieved the map, handing it to his superior without a word. “What have we learnt this morning?”
“I don’t understand,” Snape said, coughing.
“I learnt that you don’t understand a long time ago. No, what we’ve learnt today is those girls got hold of a nice car that obviously had fuel in it since the point they got away yesterday and now. That tells me that there’s somewhere in this area that we haven’t come across yet, and that tells me that today doesn’t need to be a total waste. They found a car and fuel. I bet there’s a lot more waiting for us.”
“Yeah, but what about what you said yesterday? What about taking those girls back? Y’know, as justice for Cullen.”
“Well, I’ve done everything I can. Looks like you’re on your own when it comes to explaining it to the big boss man,” Dalton said with a wicked smile on his face. He walked back around to the driver’s side of the cab and climbed in. Snape stood there for a moment still trying to get his breath back. The day had started badly, and it was only going t
o get worse from here on in.
✽ ✽ ✽
The countryside blurred as the Audi sped along the narrow lanes. “How much farther?” Robyn asked.
“Not far now. We will pack quickly when we get back and get out straight away.”
“Why? You think they’re still after us?” she asked nervously, turning in her seat to look out of the rear window.
“No, but I am not taking any risks. We can vanish into a forest. Not so with a car. I will be parking on the track, and the less time it is sitting out in the open, the better.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
They arrived at another junction and Mila turned left. The landscape gradually became more familiar. Mila looked across towards Robyn. “You are sure you still want to do this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Here we can hide. They have already been to East Crovie. Provided there is nothing that rouses their suspicions, it is very unlikely that they would ever find my cottage. We could live here in peace and safety. Out there, we are by ourselves. There will be no fortress to protect us. All our surroundings will be unfamiliar. We will be lucky if we can make the journey to Inverness without running into men like them again.”
“I’ve got to go. Don’t you understand? It’s my sister. I’ve got to find her.” Mila was about to say something then stopped herself. “And before you say anything, I know all the risks. I know the chances of what might and might not be. But I’ve got a feeling. I’ve got a feeling inside that she’s out there somewhere and she’s waiting for me.”
Mila nodded. “Very good. I just wanted to make sure you still wanted to do this.”
The car took a bend, and a half-covered road sign for East Crovie announced that they were almost home. Mila slowed down and pulled onto the track before finally easing on the handbrake. They exited the vehicle and walked back up the incline to the cottage.
“The first time I made this journey it nearly killed me,” Robyn said.
“You have come a long way in a short time.”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“You are strong, Robyn. It is thanks to that strength you are back to health.”
“No. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. We both know that.”
“Pah! Enough. You are here. That is all that counts.”
They entered the small house, knowing it would probably be the last time either of them saw it. Mila headed down the short hallway towards her room and Robyn was about to do the same when she stopped. On the bottom shelf of the small bookcase, she noticed an old Yellow Pages. She walked across, picked it up, and immediately began looking through the pages. Please! There were no entries under Archery Centres. She let out a sigh and was about to place it back when she stopped and flicked through the pages again.
She went past it at first but then excitedly shuffled the leaves back. OUTDOOR ACTIVITY CENTRES. Her heart began to race as she looked through the list of pursuits detailed in the big display ad. White water rafting, canoeing, rock climbing, orienteering, survival skills, axe throwing, archery. ARCHERY!
“Mila! Mila!” Robyn shouted.
Mila came running into the room. “What? What is it?”
“Where’s B-a-l-l-i-n-t-u-i-m?”
“My God, Robyn,” she replied, holding her hand up to her chest. “I thought something was wrong then.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. But where is it?”
“Why?”
“It’s important.”
“It is not a place I have heard of.” Mila walked over to a bureau and rummaged in the bottom drawer until she found a road atlas. “How is it spelt again?”
Robyn walked over and showed Mila the page. “What do you want with an outdoor pursuits centre?”
“A bow. I might find another bow.”
“You are being serious?”
“I’ve got two quivers full of arrows, and we’re heading out into the unknown. How you are with the swords, that’s how I am with the bow, and there might be times when we don’t want to get into a close combat situation.”
Mila stared at Robyn then looked back towards the atlas. She found the page reference for Ballintuim and traced a careful line with her finger. “It is not a million miles from the route that I intended to take.”
“That’s brilliant. We can go then?”
“You do realise it has probably been raided like everywhere else?”
“There’s no harm in looking, though, is there?”
“I suppose not.”
An excited smile lit up Robyn’s face. “Cool.”
“About the route to Inverness—”
“I’ll leave all that to you, I’m crap with directions,” Robyn replied, starting to walk out of the room
“No, this is important.”
Robyn stopped and turned back. “What is it?”
“We cannot go the most direct route up the A9. We would be spotted and captured almost for sure.”
“Okay.”
“I intend to take us through the Cairngorms.”
“Okay.”
“If we break down or anything happens, we will not find another car. We will be in the middle of nowhere. Forests and mountains for miles and miles in every direction. It is a big risk.”
“If you think that’s our best option, then it’s our best option. I trust you,” Robyn said, turning once again and leaving.
Mila watched as her friend walked down the hallway. She was hoping that painting a realistic picture of the danger might have made Robyn just think again, but she was fixed on leaving. “Scheisse!”
chapter 16
Robyn and Mila kept a keen eye on the roads and their surroundings as they travelled along the twisting country lanes. Approaching every bend, they expected to see trouble in the form of the men they had encountered or at least some like them, but around each corner they breathed a sigh of relief. The longer they drove without a sighting of anything disconcerting, the more they relaxed until eventually Mila pulled into a layby and reached into the back of the car for her rucksack.
“What are you doing?” Robyn asked.
Mila retrieved her phone. “May as well have some sounds while we’re travelling.”
“Wicked. I bet this thing has an awesome set of speakers.”
“Remember, not too loud. We don’t want to wake up every zombie in a ten-mile radius.”
They set off again, and within a minute they were both headbanging away to Iron Maiden. “This was Wren’s favourite band,” Robyn shouted over the noise.
“Wren had good taste. I saw them live a few times.”
“When you meet her, tell her that. You’ll become her best friend straight away.”
Mila smiled politely. The quest they were on was a fool’s errand. The chances of them finding Wren were a million to one, but Robyn was so convinced, and she really didn’t want to break her friend’s heart. “I will.”
The sun had disappeared behind some big dark clouds, and suddenly the temperature had dropped too. Mila reached down and turned on the heater. “Looks like a storm’s coming,” Robyn said.
Mila looked up at the sky. “Autumn is on our doorstep. The weather will only get worse from now.”
“That’s a cheery thought.”
Almost as if it was choreographed, a drop of rain splattered on the windscreen followed by another, then an entire deluge. Mila slowed down as suddenly the windscreen wipers could not clear the glass fast enough. “Welcome to Scotland.”
“Yeah.” Robyn turned the music up as the rain hammered louder and louder on the roof.
Mila looked down at the speedometer, they were travelling at just over twenty miles per hour. “This is bad. It will take us forever to get to Ballintuim at this speed.”
“It will break soon. Can’t stay like this all afternoon.”
They carried on for several minutes but then came to a sudden stop as they entered a small village. “Oh no!” Mila cried.
The rain continued to fal
l, but if it carried on for a thousand years, it would not wash away the horror they witnessed. “Who … who could do something like this?” She asked the question, but a big part of her already knew.
Some buildings had been burnt to the ground. The small village pub had no windows left; a man – or at least the remains of a man – hung by his neck from the same wrought iron bracket that held the pub sign. The bodies of fourteen more men had been piled beneath a small cenotaph commemorating the brave ones from the village and surrounding area who had given their lives in the First and Second World Wars. Rats had torn at the rotting flesh and crows had pecked at their eyes.
“This has been like this for some time. It wasn’t just done yesterday. I don’t think it is a good sign for Ballintuim. Are you sure you still want to go?”
Robyn did not answer. She was lost in her own world. The infected weren’t the only terrifying monsters out there. “There aren’t any women.”
“What?” Mila asked.
“There aren’t any women. All the bodies, they’re men.”
Mila’s eyes flashed around the hellish scene, hoping she could tell Robyn she was wrong, but she couldn’t. “They…”
“They’ve taken them. They’ve taken them back to that hellhole.” Robyn turned in her seat to look at Mila. “Yes, I still want to go. If we come up against these people again, I’m going to fight with everything I’ve got. Swords are good against the zombies, but if it comes to a shootout, we’re screwed. At least with a bow, we’d have some sort of chance.”
She turned back around, and the two women surveyed the scene one last time before Mila released the handbrake. Robyn turned the music off, somehow it didn’t seem appropriate after what they had just seen. They drove listening only to the pounding rain. It was half an hour before either of them spoke again. “This is it,” Mila said. “We’re coming up to Ballintuim now.”
It soon became clear that this village had suffered the same fate as the other one. “These men are scum.”
“Worse.” Mila kept the car moving slowly as they took in the devastation around them. The rain was still pouring but not as heavily as it had been. “This is what we are looking for, I think,” Mila said, nodding towards a big colourful sign advertising Ballintuim Outdoor Pursuits Centre. They carried on past the sign, out of the small village, and turned right onto a long winding road. For a while, it didn’t look as though it was going to lead anywhere; then they crossed a bridge with a fast-moving river below, and finally the road widened into a large parking area.
The End of Everything (Book 7): The End of Everything Page 11
