The End of Everything (Book 7): The End of Everything

by Artinian, Christopher

  A big single-storey building lay ahead. There were small outbuildings to the right, all of which had been broken open. Mila parked the car directly outside the entrance to the centre. “Looks like they’ve already paid this place a visit,” Robyn said.

  “I did say,” Mila replied. “I think maybe we should just go.”

  “Now that we’re here, we should look.” Without waiting for a reply, Robyn climbed out into the torrential rain and headed inside. Mila just watched her for a moment then finally followed.

  Despite the dull day, there was enough light to see that the place had been ransacked. The shop had been emptied of all its supplies, the vending machines had been smashed and raided. The reception area told a familiar tale of destruction where the men from Loch Uig were concerned. “See. There is no point wasting time here. We should go. The roads are only going to get worse.”

  Robyn turned to look at Mila then carried on into the men’s changing rooms. A wall full of lockers faced her as the door closed behind. There was less light in here but still enough for her to see what she was doing. The lockers were not freestanding, they were fixed to the wall. Somebody had attempted to boot a couple in but to no avail. The doors were too thick. “This is what I was hoping for,” Robyn said as she heard Mila enter the room.

  “What, a load of lockers that nobody can open? Yes, this is great. Shame we couldn’t have waited a few weeks, this would have been the perfect outing for my birthday.”

  Robyn walked back out of the room and left Mila looking around, baffled as to why they were wasting time in such a place. A few minutes later, Robyn re-entered. “Oh well, I couldn’t find the keys, probably in a safe or something, but this is the next best thing,” she said, pulling a crowbar from her jacket. The rain was coming down even harder now, and a pool of water formed around where she stood.

  “There are dozens of lockers in here. Are you seriously intending to look in every one of them?”

  “We’ve got no idea what we might find. Hey, look, you like foraging in the woods for mushrooms and stuff; I like foraging in lockers.”

  “I do not believe it is called foraging when you break and enter.”

  “Meh. You say potato.” Robyn walked up to the first locker and jammed the crowbar into the gap. These were very different to the lockers at the archery club where they had found Wren’s crossbows, a higher quality altogether. After a few seconds of pulling, she began to pant. She paused, removed her jacket and started again. It took her a while to get the crowbar in the sweet spot, but eventually there was a loud clunk, and the door juddered open revealing … nothing.

  “Oh yes. Totally worth the effort.”

  “There are plenty more to go.”

  Mila sat down on a bench and folded her arms. “I wish I could buy popcorn. This is like the first time I watched Dumb and Dumber.”

  “Screw you, Fritzella. I’m trying to find something that will help us.” Robyn opened another ten lockers before throwing the crowbar down in frustration. “Damn it!”

  Mila stood up again and placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “In all likelihood, this place will mainly have been visited by holidaymakers. It is highly improbable there will be anything left in here.”

  “I suppose you’re right. I was just hoping.” Robyn flopped down onto the bench and got her breath back before picking up the crowbar and putting her jacket on. The rain continued to lash against the frosted glass windows, and now the journey ahead seemed even more foreboding. They exited the changing rooms and were about to head out into the downpour when Robyn stopped again. “Hang on a minute.”

  “What now?” Mila asked.

  Robyn walked behind the reception counter and through a door that said, “Staff Only.” It was a small room with no windows. She flicked on her torch and panned it around. There were just ten lockers against one wall. A small bench sat against another, and there was a tiny shower room and toilet to one side. Mila stepped in to join her. “It’s the staff locker room.”

  “So?”

  “So, they weren’t holidaymakers. They were the people who came here day in, day out. They might have had their own equipment. Here, hold this,” Robyn said, handing her friend the torch.

  “Robyn, this is—”

  Robyn rammed the crowbar into the first locker and pulled. “Aaarrrgggh!” There was a loud bang followed by a clink, and the entire lock mechanism crashed against the base of the locker before falling to the floor. “Result!”

  Mila shone the torch into the locker to find a thick North Face jacket and pair of waterproof trousers hanging on a rail and on the floor sat a rucksack. She pulled it out and opened it up. Inside there were two five-packs of granola bars, one working torch, a Swiss army knife, a pair of socks, a pair of gloves and an empty water bottle. “Okay. Just for the granola bars this was worth it,” Mila said, smiling.

  Robyn got to work on the next locker, then the next. Six lockers in and they had amassed a good supply of energy and protein bars, chewing gum, various knives and multi-tools, several items of waterproof clothing and two throwing axes. They grabbed two granola bars and headed out into the reception area. The rain was still falling heavily as they tucked into their sweet snacks. “I suppose it was a long shot finding a bow here,” Robyn said sadly as they both looked out of the blurry window.

  “We still have four lockers to go and what you have found we can make good use of.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Suppose nothing. This could mean the difference between going to bed with food in our bellies and not. All food is important now. You were right, I was wrong. Locker rooms are a good place to forage.”

  Robyn smiled. “I suppose those axes are pretty cool as well.”

  “Yes, they could be useful. We may need to chop wood for fires.”

  “Yeah or chop some lowlife’s hand off.”

  “We have the swords for that. No point in making the axes go blunt for no good reason.”

  Robyn giggled. “Fair point.”

  They finished their snacks and headed into the staff room again. Twenty minutes later, they were back out with more snacks and more high quality waterproof clothes but no bow. Mila saw the disappointment on Robyn’s face. “Don’t worry. I’m sure at some point we will find one. Maybe we will go to Aviemore before we head on to Inverness. There are lots of outdoor centres there.”

  “Aren’t there also a lot of people?”

  “Robyn, what are you expecting us to find in Inverness? It is not the smallest place in the world. There will be—”

  “Forty thousand. That’s what Wren told me. The population of Inverness was forty thousand.”

  “So we are heading straight into the lion’s den, but if we are going there, then why not go to Aviemore? It is much smaller, and if we can find you a bow then we will be more prepared to take on the forty thousand.” Mila laughed and shook her head.

  “You don’t have to come. I can do this by myself.”

  “Do you want to do it by yourself?”

  “No. I told you. But I need to do this, and I’m going to do it.”

  “I will not make fun anymore. I am sorry.”

  “Look, I’m not intending to go to war with the zombie population of Inverness. I’m going to figure out whether there is any chance that my grandad’s place might have survived and take it from there. If it’s surrounded by those things, then that means that Wren will have moved on to somewhere else, but if it isn’t, it’s the one chance I’ve got.”

  “I said I’m sorry. We will go to Inverness.”

  They headed back out, threw their newly-acquired booty into the back of the car and set off again. It was slow going, the rain was unrelenting, and a strong wind had picked up making it seem like they were driving into wall after wall of water. They had been travelling for over an hour when Mila brought the vehicle to a stop on the brow of a hill. Both of them squinted, doing their best to see through the curtain of rain that closed over the windscreen the instant that the
wipers had washed the previous one away.

  “Oh no!” Robyn said.

  There had been a bridge at the foot of the hill. All there was now was a wide gap with a raging river running through it. “Scheisse!” Mila spat.

  “I suppose we’ll just have to head back.”

  “Yes, and use the small amount of fuel we have left. We will head back and assuming we make it before the tank runs dry we will then have to find an alternative route, which no doubt will be a lot more dangerous.” Mila did a three-point turn and set off in the other direction. The one saving grace was that the wind was now behind them, but the mood in the car was dour. It felt like a powder keg just waiting to go off. They drove for fifteen minutes in silence. The rain still pounded on the roof of the car and there were no blue skies in the distance. They passed a sign saying, “Pine Tree Nature Reserve, Woodland Trail.” There were symbols beneath it denoting toilets, information and a picnic area. In the peak of summer, it would have been an idyllic setting for a woodland hike, but today it was hard to appreciate any of the beauty that surrounded them. They continued; all the time, the clouds seemed to be getting darker and more foreboding.

  “Oh no,” Robyn said, not with panic but with resignation. For a moment, Mila did not say anything, she just brought the car to a stop. The road in front was underwater. The rain was continuing to fall, and the nearby river had clearly broken its banks. “What now?”

  “Well, we just have to wait until the Environment Agency and the Army pump it away.”

  “Y’know, this really isn’t a time for sarcasm. It’s not helping.”

  “Oh. Then maybe you can tell me what it is a time for. We are out here in the middle of nowhere. We cannot go forward. We cannot go back. There are no houses, hotels or even roadside cafes that we can hole up in. The last building we saw was your bloody outdoor pursuits centre, and we can’t even get back to that now. We are stuck in this car; the road is flooding around us as we sit here, and our fuel gauge is dropping lower each second. All so we can go on some ridiculous quest to find your sister. It is not a needle in a haystack. It is a needle in a thousand haystacks. I think I have earned the right to be sarcastic if I choose to be.”

  “Screw this.” Robyn opened the car door and jumped out. She reached into the back, snatched one of the North Face jackets, zipped it up and pulled up the hood. Then she slipped on her rucksack and grabbed the throwing axes. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Mila, but I’m not going to drag you into something you don’t want to be involved with. I hope you have a happy life!” She slammed the door and started walking north.

  chapter 17

  Mila sat there for a moment in a state of disbelief. The redness that had begun to glow on her face due to frustration and anger washed away, and her skin became paler by the second. This was it. Her one chance at friendship and companionship blown away because of her bad temper. So what if it was a one-in-a-million shot being able to find Robyn’s sister? At least it would mean she wasn’t alone any longer. Just a few weeks before she had been on the verge of taking her own life. Robyn’s friendship had given her a purpose. How had she managed to forget so quickly?

  Panic began to rise in her as she looked into the mirror and saw the black-clad figure disappearing into the gale. Mila engaged first gear and slowly manoeuvred the car around before heading after Robyn. She drove up alongside her and lowered the window, soaking the passenger seat in seconds. “Robyn! Robyn, please get it the car.”

  “Piss off, Mila. You don’t want any part of this, that’s fine. I’ll find Wren myself.”

  “Robyn, please!”

  Robyn did not even stop. She kept on marching and even when Mila pulled up in front of her at an angle, she simply walked around and kept on going. Mila watched her. This was not an attention-seeking stunt. She was determined to carry on north regardless. Mila unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car. The force of the wind took her by surprise and knocked her back a step before she leant into it and caught up with Robyn, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her around to face her.

  “I told you. I’m—”

  “I’m sorry, Robyn. I’m sorry. Please get back in the car; otherwise, you will get ill again. You have only just recovered from a bout of pneumonia; this will do you no good.”

  “I don’t care. I don’t care what the chances are, I don’t care about anything but getting to Inverness.”

  “Okay, okay, but please, come back to the car. At least for two minutes.”

  Robyn turned to look at the Audi, sitting there in the road with its windscreen wipers still going; then she looked at the long, grey, waterlogged road ahead. Finally, she turned to Mila. She could see fear in her eyes, genuine fear, and for a moment Robyn felt a little victorious, but then she felt ashamed. This woman had saved her life, taken her in and given her a chance to find her sister that she would never have had. “Okay,” she said. They walked back to the car and climbed in.

  For a moment, they didn’t say anything, they just sat there, letting the warm air circulate around them. It was Mila who eventually broke the silence. “I’m sorry.” No response. “You have to understand, for the longest time I have just been by myself, alone in that cottage. The cottage, that place was all I had. Leaving it is a big thing for me.”

  “I told you, you don’t have to. I’ll go alone. This is too important for me not to do it.”

  “Look, I have a bad temper. I have always had a bad temper, and when things start falling out of my control, I tend to lose it. I took it out on you, and I said things that I didn’t mean. Please accept my apology and let’s move on.”

  Robyn swivelled in her seat to look at Mila. “I suppose I’m not the easiest person to get on with. I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and I want to do this with you. I want you to join me and Wren, but only if you want to, only if you’re not going to resent leaving everything behind.”

  “I forget too easily sometimes. I want to come with you.”

  “Good then,” Robyn said and smiled. She leaned across, and both women hugged tightly. When their embrace broke, there were tears running down Mila’s face. “Please don’t cry.”

  Mila wiped the streaks away and took a deep breath. “I am fine, I am fine,” she said, deliberately not looking back towards Robyn. She released the handbrake and the car slowly moved off.

  “Err … aren’t we going in the wrong direction?”

  “No. We are heading north.”

  “Yeah, but the bridge is out.”

  “I think we should head north, go to that place, that Pine Tree Nature Reserve place.”

  “What? Why?”

  “There will be a shelter of some kind. Even if it is just a cleaning cupboard for the toilets. We have food, and we can stay there until the weather breaks.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then, when the storm is over, we head back to the bridge, abandon the car, and make the rest of the journey on foot.”

  “Err … really?”

  “I know it sounds mad, but think about it. We will not have to worry about the Loch Uig men coming up behind us. We are literally in the middle of nowhere so there will also be very little chance of us running into many infected. It will be just us on the road for a few days.”

  “And we’re definitely nowhere near Loch Uig? There are no side roads or anything?” Mila stopped the car and pulled out the map. “I told you, I don’t do maps.”

  “Well, you’re about to start doing them.” Mila pointed to a thin white line surrounded by a mass of green. “See this? This is where we are.”

  “Okay.”

  “See, no other roads, surrounded all around by trees for miles and miles. We are right in the middle of the Cairngorms National Park. It is probably the safest you can be outdoors.”

  “Okay then. I just had visions of, y’know, driving into Inverness rather than walking.”

  “Maybe we can find another vehicle in one of the villages farther along.�
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  The car moved off once again. The torrential rain continued, and in places, the route looked more like a river than a road, but they eventually reached the partially covered sign advertising Pine Tree Nature Reserve. Mila slowed down and turned left, carrying on for a hundred metres then entering the car park. It had seen better days. There were big potholes in the ground. Leaves covered most of the surface as well as clogging the drains. Thankfully, due to the incline, the water simply ran off into the forest, creating its own fast-moving stream. There was a small wooden cabin at the top of the car park, and Mila pulled up directly in front of it.

  The two women stayed in the vehicle a while longer before Mila shut off the engine. “So, this is where we’re staying tonight?” Robyn asked.

  “It’s either the cabin or the car. Let’s go check it out.”

  They climbed out of the warm, comfortable Audi and walked the few feet across to the cabin. They were soaked again by the time they reached the door. To the left hand side was a sign pointing around the back to the women’s and disabled toilets, to the right were the men’s toilets. They walked into the main entrance of the cabin itself, which was about three metres by three metres. There was a small picnic bench, a metal rubbish bin and a big framed map on the wall with various hiking trails highlighted in different colours. The position of the cabin meant it was protected from the brunt of the gale, and even though they could see the rain still lashing down outside, the harsh sound was subdued.

  “This is okay. I could kip here for a night. It’s going to get bloody cold though.”

  “We have sleeping bags and a camp stove. We can stay warm.”