In The End Box Set | Books 1-3

by Stevens, GJ

  “Russ,” she said; her name for our dog.

  Following her outstretched finger, I shook my head. The dog was black, not a gingery brown. It was the same breed, a Labrador, and she was running off, heading fast towards it.

  The dog was standing with his head down, leaning over like it was eating dinner.

  “No, Tish,” I said, running to catch her, not wanting her to see the dog covered in blood, its face buried in the side of a dead deer or something else as disgusting.

  I caught her, but only after shortening the distance between us and the animal. It was still bent over, but now I could tell from the length of the body lying on the ground that it was a man, not a deer. The dog's body blocked the view of the face as its black head bobbed up and down.

  “No,” came a call, a woman's voice.

  My gaze startled up, pulling Tish tight as she flinched.

  “Stay where you are.”

  The woman was far along the edge of the forest, had blonde hair and, apart from the dark marks on her face, it was about all I could tell. She was panting as she bent over and held her palms out toward us. It was obvious she didn't want us any closer, but Tish wasn't having any of it and wriggled free, kicking out her legs.

  I couldn't hold on, her coat slipping against mine and she was on her feet, running to the dog.

  I chased, soon seeing something else, a mound and knew it was one of them; the same smell. I tripped, stumbling over my own feet, launching my hand out to grab her leg, but I missed.

  41

  LOGAN

  Warmth lapped at my cheek and foul breath brushed my face as I woke. Somewhere close, a high-pitched voice of a child screamed a name I didn't recognise. Another distant call came, high and frantic.

  The hellhound.

  My eyes shot open to a slobbering dog, blood and sinew dripping from its jowls. I startled up, falling back as fire raged across my chest.

  Pushing away the hound, I realised it must be the same creature which saved my life, but it bore no resemblance to the crazed animal which fought the abomination intent on my neck. Blinking away my disbelief, wiping my wet face against the back of my hand, I saw a toddler. Dressed in pink, she swerved around the body of the rotting creature, not even glancing as she ran towards me. Chasing after her was a boy, a few years older, scrambling to his feet, recovering from a fall.

  What the hell was going on with the world?

  I tried to stand again, but sank back, the pain in my ribs more than I could manage right now. As the girl arrived, she petted the dog's head and he turned her way, closing his eyes as if in a heavenly place.

  “Oh, my god.”

  I recognised Cassie's voice. She was walking around the pair, not hiding her surprise at my breath.

  “I thought,” she said, looking between me and the dog enjoying the girl's rough strokes. “I thought it turned on you,” she said, falling to her knees as she helped me to bend at the waist.

  As she wrapped her arms around my chest and squeezed, stars burst across my vision.

  “So did I,” I said, my voice strained.

  She pulled back and stood, her expression falling.

  “It's not safe here,” she said, and offered a hand.

  With her help, I stood, uneasy at first.

  “No, it's not,” I replied and for the first time took in the small boy stood at the girl’s back. His hands were on her shoulder as he towered above her. “Who are these two?”

  Cassie turned away, shaking her head and looked at the pair, considering them as if she'd not noticed them either.

  “Where are your parents?” she said, looking back the way they'd come.

  The boy stood in silence while I watched him concentrate to keep tears at bay.

  “It's okay,” I said. “There's a group of us. If you've got anyone else with you, they can come too.”

  He barely moved his head as it shook. He was hedging his bets.

  “You should come with us,” I said, then turned to the dog still being patted by the little girl. “And you, too.” I tapped the dog on the head. “It's not safe here.”

  “The zombies,” the boy said, with no emotion in his voice.

  I paused for a moment, then nodded. Still, he looked unsure but I couldn't wait for a decision. We were all in danger and so were our friends. I hoped they were together, weren't scattered. Weren't alone.

  I followed the boy's gaze down to the gun and bent, nearly screaming as pain lit across my chest, but broken ribs were okay. Doctors couldn't do anything but take away the pain.

  Letting the empty magazine slip to the ground, I fished the full one and slid the loaded gun into my pocket.

  The boy's gaze followed me all the while.

  Cassie stepped toward the boy, kneeling at his feet, placing her hands on his upper arms.

  “I have a sister, too. She’s just a little older than you. I know what it means to want to look after her. To keep her safe. If you come with us,” she said, turning her head to the toddler, “we can help look after you both.”

  Cassie waited, watching the boy’s eyes as he looked up at me, then down to the pocket where the gun bulged before turning back to Cassie.

  The uncertainty hung clear in his stare until a rustle in the bushes at our backs turned each of our heads in the same direction. Spinning back around, I saw his nod was more obvious than any other movement he’d made so far.

  I walked, heading the way we'd been running. Cassie held back. I heard the dog's paws padding beside me and turned; the girl was following the dog. The boy set off after. He was slow at first, but his speed built with Cassie behind. Her head, like mine, scoured along the tree line.

  Our pace was measured, but movement in the bushes, or the sounds in my head, wouldn't let me keep it that way for long.

  I turned to Cassie and she understood. So did the boy and he went to pick up the girl, but Cassie moved her hands towards her, leaning down, hovering as she waited for his permission. He nodded and she took her in her arms. The pace picked up, the dog still trotting at my side.

  As we ran, the trees left our side as we came to the edge of the forest. Scouring the horizon, I spotted a figure running, then two. They were at the height of a hill a little way off in the distance, one in front of the other. Whoever it was, they were being chased.

  I ran faster, looking back to Cassie who'd slowed to urge the boy to stay back.

  Ignoring the pain, I ran. It was Naomi.

  I watched as she stumbled, disappearing over the brow of a hill as she fell. What chased her had been a middle-aged man with balding hair and fat collecting around his middle, tattered clothes barely left to cover. It pounced after her like an Olympic gymnast. The dog stayed at my side and, trying my best to ignore the pull of the pain, I gave it everything. Taking the gun from my pocket I was minutes away, praying she could hold off long enough for me to do what I could.

  I wasn't too late as I arrived over the hill. Her hands around its throat, its mouth snapping forward; déjà vu, but from a different perspective.

  I let a shot ring off into the air, hoping it would distract the crazed monster enough for Naomi to get the upper hand. It didn't flinch. Its humanity gone.

  The shot rang off and her grip gave way. The beast lurched forward and bit down on the side of her face.

  42

  Without command, the dog jumped at the beast and, grabbing a patch of exposed skin, he bit deep into its haunches. Still, whatever this thing was, it didn't budge as the hound shook its head with its mouth clamped down hard.

  I pushed the gun square to the creature’s temple. It only went limp as I blew what was left of its brains out the other side in an explosion of colour.

  Rolling the body off, a clump of Naomi's loose flesh fell from his mouth and hit her with a wet slap against her face. She tried to scream, but had no breath, her arms frantic, blood pumping in spurts from the fist-size hole in her face.

  Dropping to my knees I pulled off my coat, ripped open my
shirt, the buttons flying as the cold bit into my skin. I tore the sleeves off, one by one, tying each length around her face. The white cotton went red as quick as I could pad out the wound with the remains.

  “Where's Zoe?” I asked, my head darting to each of the trees, the only features on the gentle flow of hills, twitching from where we'd come, despite knowing there was nowhere to hide but the tree line and the place where we'd all been running from.

  “Where is she?” I said, before looking at my hands, thick with Naomi's blood.

  She'd settled down, her fight slowing as her skin greyed. She wouldn't answer. She was already going the same way as Chloe.

  “Ellie,” Cassie screamed, arriving at my side. She hadn't forgotten the last time we'd seen Naomi had been with Ellie fighting to get free from her arms.

  “Andrew,” I added to the call, then shook my head. “We need to move her,” I said, not looking back. I picked Naomi up in my arms and, cradling her like a baby, I pushed the makeshift bandages against my chest. Her lack of weight scared me.

  Cassie continued to call at the top of her voice, the tiny kid still in her arms. The boy said something as he picked up my coat and offered it out, high in his hands.

  I bent, wincing with pain, but I couldn't complain. I wasn't near death.

  The kid put my coat over Naomi while he still talked, his voice too quiet to understand. All I could manage was to walk, stumbling every few steps as I tried to go faster.

  We were heading down into a short valley, my eyes fixed on the brow, hoping for what we would see the other side.

  “Ellie,” Cassie screamed. Her call ripped through the air as she ran past, the dog staying by my side. The little girl was crying, her face bunching.

  The boy was talking, but I still hadn't heard what he'd said.

  “A house,” came Cassie's cry as she stood on the brow of the hill, not turning our way before disappearing over the edge.

  I was soon behind her and saw the little cottage. The boy had stopped talking. I'd seen his face light up at Cassie's words, but it fell as he'd caught sight of the squat building on its own nestled at the side of the road.

  To its front was a sparse rocky garden, with a long fence at the back surrounding a wide stretch of grass. Inside the fence was a large wooden shed, or it could have been a barn, but who really cared?

  The road was sparsely lined with trees and as I followed it into the distance I thought I saw more buildings. Cassie continued running down the hill, still calling for her sister.

  “Andrew,” I shouted. The boy said something again and I stopped, turning toward him. He was taking in the view, squinting off into the distance.

  “What is it?” I said in a hurry.

  “I think we should try to be quiet,” he said, and I watched him turn.

  “We need to find our friends,” I said, shaking my head.

  “But we don't want to find them,” he replied, his hand outstretched, pointing back to the woods.

  I turned and saw only trees, but as my gaze settled I spotted movement. The more I stared the more movement I could see. It wasn't the trees moving, but those things.

  I carried on staring, hoping to see if they were running, chasing after or ambling along as if out for a stroll. I couldn't believe the world had gone so far that I was glad when I could tell they were the undead, but only the slow ones.

  The boy was right, they were heading in our direction. I turned, picking up the pace toward the cottage.

  Cassie stood in the road as we arrived. She was facing outward from the cottage, but she'd stopped calling to the surroundings. Instead, she gently shook, rocking the girl from side to side. She must have seen them too.

  The dog ran ahead. It seemed to know the plan, his nose twitching as he moved around the building.

  My arms ached as I let Naomi down gently to the short strip of grass in front of the house. She didn't respond and I knew there was nothing I could do until I got her inside. Even then, I doubted I could help.

  My hands were tacky as I let go, my chest running with sticky blood.

  The dog was back at my side, looking up at me as if giving the all clear. I ran to the door and tried the handle. It was locked. I shoved my shoulder hard against it, but it held firm.

  The boy spoke again in a quiet voice. This time I listened.

  “We need that,” he said. Again, he was right.

  Looking back, Cassie was still staring out the same while blood had pooled in the grass around Naomi's head.

  I headed around the building, the dog and the boy following as I picked up a discarded stone from the rock garden.

  The bigger windows needed to stay too, but I found a small high pane around the side I could reach with my hand outstretched. It wasn't much bigger than a large dinner plate. The pain would be unbearable, but with a squeeze I was sure I could get inside.

  Making sure the boy and the dog were out of the way, I threw the hand-sized rock and watched as it bounced off the double glass and fell to the floor at my feet. I glanced to the front of the house and saw Cassie sobbing as she rocked the toddler back and forth.

  The boy handed me the rock and I threw again. This time, the first pane gave, then, standing on the tips of my toes, the second pane was gone, with the remains of glass soon following.

  I turned and the boy had disappeared, but before I could spin back I saw him walking toward me with my gun in his hand. My eyes went wide as he held the pistol with such confidence, the barrel pointed down towards the ground. He must have grabbed it from my jacket pocket.

  “Um,” I said. “Hand it over.”

  He looked up, his face lit with hurt.

  “But what if those things are inside?”

  A thought stumbled across my mind. Was he offering to go inside? There was no way I could let that happen.

  “I'm going in,” I said, holding out my hand.

  “Not with your injuries,” he replied. “You'll pass out before you reach the other side.”

  Again, he was right, but I couldn't ask him to do this.

  I didn't have to; he was already at the wall, waiting for me to boost him up.

  As his feet disappeared through the window, I heard glass breaking from inside and the dog barked as if he was next to be helped up.

  I couldn't stifle a chuckle as I ran around the front, wrapping my sticky arms around myself from the cold. I waited with my ear at the door, listening to the silence, broken only by Cassie's comforting, low-pitched calls.

  I couldn't look at Naomi. I had to turn away from Cassie's red eyes. Instead, I concentrated on the dog's long face, the pink of its mouth as it panted, watching it sat at my heels; its wagging tail stopping only when from behind the door came a muffled, high-pitched scream.

  43

  A dark shape arrived behind the thin rectangles of leaded glass. Fingers rattled the handle and scrabbled across the locks. The dog barked and the figure stopped. The top latch had clicked off but he had no success with the solid mortice. The figure wasn't moving.

  I kicked myself for not getting his name.

  “Kid, find the long key,” I shouted.

  The figure moved, jolting forward at my voice.

  “Oh my god,” came Cassie's call.

  I span around and saw five of the slow creatures ambling over the hill, spotting another group, double in number, rising over the crest before I turned.

  Cassie stepped back, almost tripping over Naomi's motionless form.

  “Find the long key,” I shouted again, trying to think how we could get everyone else through the small window.

  “Got it,” came the call from inside, but something was wrong. The sound was much quieter.

  The lock rattled and the boy pulled open the door. A girl stood further into the darkness. They must have swapped places when she realised the boy with the gun was with us. Still, she screamed as she saw my bloodied appearance; her eyes wide open, hands at her mouth.

  “Ellie,” I heard Cassie gasp as I
picked up Naomi. The call came again, but this time she screamed with excitement.

  With my hands sliding with her sticky blood, the putrid stench caught in the wind as I followed behind Cassie’s forward charge and slammed the door behind me with my foot.

  Placing Naomi’s limp body on the couch in the first room to the left, the boy had his arms around his sister, nodding to the gun high on a wall unit shelf.

  Cassie knelt to the floor, fussing over her sister, pulling up her clothes and examining every exposed patch of skin for injury before hugging her through heavy, joyful sobs, despite Ellie’s annoyed insistence she’d not been near any of the creatures.

  The dog had disappeared, racing room to room, his nose switching from high in the air to hovering just above the carpet.

  “Cassie,” I shouted, sharp and clear. “Pressure,” I said, pointing my hands to Naomi's face.

  After a double take in my direction, she took in the room as if for the first time. Cassie dragged her sister over by the arm, not letting her out of touching distance as she pressed her hands hard onto the wound.

  I shot out of the room, heading straight to the kitchen, ignoring the other closed doors. I rifled through the cupboards and drawers searching for a first aid kit or anything else I could use, but only finding clean dishcloths. The cupboards were bare, cleared in a hurry.

  I scrambled up the stairs to find the bedrooms rifled and disorganised. The people who had lived here had been lucky. They'd had warning, were given at least a few moments to collect up treasured things before their evacuation.

  I found the bathroom with ease, but the medicine cabinet above the sink stood empty.

  I ran down the stairs, passing the dog on the way and was kneeling to Naomi's side when a great thump hit the front door.

  We all looked at each other in disbelief, even though we knew those things had followed us. Still, we gave a collective jump as a dark shape thudded against the living room window, its shadow looming across the room.