The World's Last Breaths: Final Winter, Animal Kingdom, and The Peeling

by Iain Rob Wright

  Gretchen felt her heart beating in her chest as she peered out into the darkness and saw nothing but a velvet sheet of black. If she didn’t know otherwise she could claim that the courtyard and car park were completely deserted – but she knew that something unspeakable roamed the darkness out there, ready to extinguish them all.

  “We have to get out of here,” someone said.

  “And go where?” said David. “Stepping outside is as good as committing suicide.”

  “Well, we can’t just stay here.”

  “Nobody has been hurt staying inside. It’s going out there that has gotten people killed.”

  The front doors of the lobby smashed into a thousand pieces as a shredded body came flying through the glass. The corpse hit the ground and lay on the tiles facing up with empty sockets where its eyes had once been.

  Gretchen tried not to gag. “Jesus, Colin!”

  “Not anymore,” said David.

  Everybody in the lobby scattered in all directions, some running up the staircase and others heading into the lounge. David got caught over by the doors by something that snatched in at him from the darkness. The brief flash of scales was all that Gretchen saw and then David was gone.

  The hotel filled with the screams of terrified men and women, but Gretchen stayed rooted to the spot. The outside wall of the lobby crumpled as something huge began to force itself in. The creature was like nothing she had ever seen, nor even imagined.

  Gretchen knew right then, as she stared at the beast from a place unknown, that humanity’s days were over. There would be no last stands or intergalactic war. There would be nothing more than a frightened handful of people screaming for their lives.

  In fact, the only victory she could achieve was not to scream at all as she faced extinction; so she just closed her eyes and waited; waited for it all to be over.

  And within seconds it was.

  SHORT STORY COLLECTION

  To follow is a collection of short stories originally written for my Patrons (patreon/iainrobwright). They were written over several months in 2017. They are released for the first time in this book.

  1. EHLLF

  Chapter 1

  “You promise Santa will come, Mummy?” Mia watched her mother’s face closely, seeking out the truth in case her words lied.

  Mummy smiled and nodded as she pulled the blankets over Mia’s shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Santa will be here, I promise, but only if you go to sleep. The sooner you close your eyes, the sooner Christmas will be here.”

  From the bottom bunk, Tim cheered. Then: “Will Daddy come see us?”

  Mia saw the flicker on Mummy’s face that happened every time someone mentioned Daddy. She tried to hide it, and when she spoke she kept smiling. Mia wondered why she did that. “Daddy won’t make it this year, sweetheart. Maybe next Christmas.”

  Mia missed her daddy lots, but she somehow knew she should forget about seeing him altogether, and give all of her hugs to Mummy. She thought Daddy had done something bad. “I love you, Mummy. I hope Santa brings something nice for you too.”

  Mummy's face quivered like she might cry, but she kissed Mia on the forehead, and did the same to Tim on the bottom bunk. Then she moved over to the light switch and left her hand hovering over it. “Goodnight, my babies.”

  A flick of Mummy’s finger and the world went dark. Mia hated the dark, but her Hippo night light made most of it okay. Having Tim snoring beneath her always helped too. If there was anything nasty in the dark, it would get her little brother first. A horrible thought, but still one that gave her comfort—and anyway, she knew deep down that if something tried to hurt Tim, she'd do her best to protect him. Any monsters under the bed would have to eat them both. Then Mummy would be even sadder than she was now.

  “Mia?” Tim said in the darkness beneath her.

  “Yes?”

  “Where’s Daddy?”

  Mia didn’t have an answer. She rarely had answers to Tim's questions, and it frustrated her. He was five and she was seven, so she should know everything by now, but he always managed to find something to make her feel silly. Like now, she couldn’t tell him where their daddy was, and that seemed stupid. Most little girls and boys knew where their daddy’s were. “I don’t now,” she admitted. “I think he wanted to be on his own.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he used to get angry and upset all the time. Like when you play on Mummy’s tablet and don’t want to share. He was like that all the time.”

  “I would share with Daddy," Tim muttered. "Why doesn’t he want to share with me?”

  “I don’t know, Tim! He’s just gone.”

  “Did Mummy send him away?”

  Mia didn’t know the answer to that one either, but she had a feeling about it. “I don’t think Mummy did anything wrong. We should forget about Daddy because Mummy needs us more.”

  “I want Daddy.”

  Mia punched her pillow and tried to get comfy. “Well, boo hoo. Just go to sleep, Tim. Or do you want Santa to miss our house?”

  “No. I want toys.”

  Mia sighed. Tim was still just a little kid. She had to remember that. “You’ll get toys, I promise. Lots probably.”

  “And you will too, Mia.”

  “I’m too old for toys. I want clothes and make up.”

  Tim chuckled. “You still like toys too, Mia. I think Santa will bring you something fun to play with.”

  Mia’s tummy burst with a sudden rush of excitement. She really did love Christmas, and the thought of it made her want to get up and wee. “Okay, maybe just a few toys for me too.”

  “If not,” said Tim. “You can share mine. Goodnight, Mia.”

  “Goodnight, Tim.”

  Chapter 2

  A bump in the night.

  Mia opened her eyes. A noise.

  Tim was awake too. “Mia? What was that?”

  Mia blinked in the darkness, stretching her eyes wide and trying to see. All she saw were blotchy shapes though, black against black. She heard the ticking of the Mickey Mouse clock on the wall. At seven AM it would shout ‘O tootles!’ and Christmas would arrive, but now its rhythmic ticking was scary. She wished it would stop, but she dreaded the silence even worse. What frightened her most was that Mummy had not come rushing into their room. If something was wrong, it was Mummy's job to take care of it. So where was she?

  “Is it Santa?” Tim asked.

  Santa? Mia felt another rush of excitement, but it wasn’t enough to make her fear go away. Why was she scared? It was just a noise.

  “I want to get up and see Santa,” said Tim.

  “No!” said Mia. “Just wait.”

  So they waited. The more time that passed, the more Mia doubted they'd heard anything.

  More time passed.

  The house was quiet. Mummy didn’t come. Slowly, little by little, the darkness turned grey and Mia could make out the chest of drawers opposite her bed, and the Mickey Mouse clock on the wall above it. The mouse's white-gloved hand waved back and forth to her. It was three in the morning. Christmas was still far away. “We should go back to sleep, Tim. It was probably just the wind.”

  “There isn’t any wind.”

  “Just go to sleep.”

  “Okay.”

  Tim was snoring again almost immediately. He had a skill for instant sleeping that Mia envied. She always took forever to drop off, staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything going on in her life—like what it would be like to not have a daddy anymore.

  Cunk Cunk.

  Tim was awake again. “Mia! What was that?”

  Mia sprang up in bed, heart racing. “I don’t know! Mummy! Mummy come in!”

  Tim shouted too, and they didn’t stop, even when they heard their mother stir and get out of bed. The only thing that quieted them was the eventual sound of a door creaking open. Mummy's door always creaked. She appeared in their room a moment later, switching on the light and blinking her droopy eyelids. “Kids, what
is it? What are you shouting about?”

  “We heard a noise,” said Mia.

  “It’s Santa,” said Tim hopefully. Mia thought he was wrong.

  Mummy pulled an unhappy face and rubbed at her eyes. “Kids, it’s not Santa. You need to go back to sleep.”

  “But we heard something!” Mia protested. “There’s something downstairs.”

  “No, there’s not! You’re both worked up with excitement. It'll be Christmas soon, but not yet. Go back to sleep.”

  Tim gave in. “Okay, Mummy.”

  But Mia wasn’t about to let it go. Mummy didn’t believe her, fine, but there had definitely been a noise downstairs. “Mummy! There’s something downstairs.”

  Mummy looked irritated and tired. She only ever got irritated when she was sleepy, like first thing in the morning or when Mia got up after she'd been put to bed. “Go back to sleep now, honey. Everything is fine, okay?”

  Mia was about to argue more, but she didn't have to.

  Cunk cunk cunk.

  Mummy’s face went all funny, and she froze like a statue. Mia felt a little sick in her tummy. “Mummy, what is it?

  Mummy tilted her head like she was on the phone to Grandma. “Hold on, sweetheart. Just be quiet a sec.”

  Mia wanted to wee. She felt Tim shuffling in the bottom bunk. Having the light on in the middle of the night felt strange. Mickey Mouse’s tick-tocking sounded louder than usual.

  Tick Tock Tick Tock.

  Cunk Cunk.

  Mummy shivered like she was cold, but Mia knew it was the noise that made her do it. She was scared. “Mummy, I don’t like it.”

  “It’s just a noise, honey. I’ll go take a quick look downstairs.”

  “No! No, stay here, Mummy.”

  “I want to come with you, Mummy,” said Tim.

  “No, both of you stay here. I’ll bring you up some milk and we’ll read a book before going back to sleep.”

  “Okay, Mummy,” said Tim. He was always so happy to accept what she told him. Mia used to be that way, too, but now she needed more than words. She needed to see things for herself to accept what was real. Still, she was only a kid, and if Mummy wanted to go downstairs alone, there was no stopping her.

  Mia pulled her blankets up under her chin as she watched her mother creep towards the door. She stopped for a few moments before going out into the hall, tilting her head to listen again. There were no more sounds. Whatever had been moving around downstairs seemed to have gone still. Mia reeled off the possibilities in her head. Her friend at school, Max, once said a fox got in through their back door one night and tore open a big bag of dog food in the garage. Maybe they had a fox downstairs. Foxes were cute.

  Mummy told them to stay in their beds, and then disappeared, slipping through the doorway and entering the darkness of the landing. Mia and Tim did as they were told and sat in their beds quietly, the harsh glare of the bulb conflicting with the time of night. Mia’s body clock was trying to drag her back to sleep, but her fear was making her want to do jumping jacks. A few minutes passed before they heard anything.

  “Everything is okay, kids,” Mummy shouted up. “It’s just a lamp.”

  Tim got out of bed and Mia hissed at him. “What are you doing?”

  “I want to see.”

  “We’ll get told off.”

  “No we won’t. I want to see what happened. I want to see if Santa has come.”

  Mia was about to order her little brother back to bed, but the thought of seeing whether there were presents under the tree was too tempting. She turned sideways on her bunk and slid down the ladder, landing beside Tim. She took his hand. “Come on then, but if we get told off you get the blame.”

  “Mummy won’t tell us off. She said she would read us a book.”

  Mia pushed aside their door and stepped out onto the landing. It was dark, but the light from the lounge bled up the stairs and made it okay. All the same, Mia hurried with her brother towards the stairs, not wanting to wander the house in the middle of the night. The lounge was below, and the red tinsel attached to the skirting boards peeked up at her. She couldn’t see Mummy.

  Tim tugged at her arm and took the first step down. His fear was all gone, replaced by enthusiasm to find presents. Mummy heard them coming when the middle step creaked.

  “What are you two doing out of bed?”

  “We wanted to see what happened,” Mia explained, hoping it wouldn’t result in a telling off. Mummy didn’t usually get angry, but when she did, it was scary. Ever since daddy left.

  This time, though, Mummy just sighed and said, “Come on down then.”

  Mia’s spirit lifted and she and her brother trotted down the final steps into the lounge. Christmas met them. The tree lights were off because Mummy said it wasn’t safe to leave them on overnight, but the baubles and tinsel caught the shone all by themselves. Atop the tree sat the angel she and Tim had picked together at the supermarket. Beneath was an assortment of presents, wrapped and labeled in blues and reds—there were even a couple of green ones. Mia hopped and clapped her hands. “Santa came.”

  Mummy smiled. She was holding the lamp that lived next to the sofa. It must have fallen on the floor. “Yes, honey, but it’s still too early to get up. Let me get some milk and we’ll go up and read that story.”

  Tim moaned. “No fair. I want to stay up.”

  “Yeah,” said Mia, eyeing up the presents piled beneath the tree. “I don’t feel sleepy anymore.”

  “But Mummy does, and we’re going to have a long day ahead, so we don’t want to end up tired.”

  Mia sighed. “Okay, Mummy.”

  Mummy smiled and went into the kitchen. Tim dropped straight onto his knees and started fondling the presents. “You think I got an Xbox?”

  “No,” Mia snapped. “Mummy already told us we couldn’t have anything too expensive.”

  “Why? James next door will get one, he already saw it in his dad’s car.”

  Mia grunted. James next door got everything he asked for, but that was because his dad was a builder with lots of workers. “Mummy has to look after us all on her own, Tim. We have to be happy with what we get.”

  Tim crossed his arms and sulked. “Let’s see how you feel if you don’t get a mobile phone.”

  Mia had already eyed up a box that could have been a phone, but she dared not hope too much. She had wanted one for her birthday, but had only gotten some perfume. She'd thrown a fit and Mummy had cried, which left her feeling really bad. She didn't want the same thing to happen today, so she would smile and be thankful for whatever she got. But still, the box near the back of the tree was definitely the right size for a phone. And there was something else back there too. Something pushed right up against the skirting board next to the wires and the plug for the Christmas lights. It looked like a soft toy. Green and red…

  “Okay, you two, let’s get back up to bed.”

  Mummy's voice made Mia flinch. She turned, on her hands and knees. “Mummy, there’s something behind the tree.”

  “We’ll open the presents later, Mia, now take your glass of milk and go upstairs.”

  “No, Mummy, it’s not a present. It looks like a dolly.”

  Mummy frowned, but didn’t seem to care. “Okay, well, we’ll look when the sun’s up.”

  Mia turned back towards the tree and leant forwards. She pushed aside presents and reached out. There was definitely something back there, and it wasn’t wrapped up like everything else.

  “Mia! Do you hear me?”

  “Just wait a second, Mummy. There’s something back here.”

  “Mia!”

  “Hold on!” Mia knew she would get a telling off for shouting, but she almost had the thing in her hand now. Green and red. Her fingers wrapped around it and she was surprised by heavy it was. Not too heavy to move, but not light like a soft toy should be. It made her even more intrigued, and she was barely aware of her mother’s chiding voice behind her.

  “Mia, I’m going to cou
nt to three, young lady!”

  Mia yanked the thing out from behind the tree and spun around on her bum, facing her angry mother. “I’ve got it. Look!”

  She’d not even had a chance to look at it properly herself yet, which was why they were all equally shocked when she held the thing out in front of her.

  Tim was the first to speak. “It’s an elf!”

  Mia frowned. Her little brother was right. She held an elf in her hands, but not a fluffy Christmas decoration or soft toy. This was realistic. Its leggings were thick, red and green, and it wore a fuzzy green jacket with big white buttons.

  Mummy looked confused. “What is that thing? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Maybe Santa left it,” said Tim. “I think it’s for me.”

  Mia pulled the thing closer to her. “It’s not yours! I found it.”

  “Give it here,” said Mummy. “It’s not anybody’s.”

  It wasn’t fair. Mia had spotted the elf under the tree and that must mean it was meant for her. But the look on Mummy’s face told her it would be bad to argue. She removed the elf from against her chest and offered it out with both hands like a baby sleeping.

  It opened its eyes.

  The shock made Mia yelp, and she almost dropped the elf on the floor. She caught herself just in time and ended up lowering it clumsily to the ground. As soon as it was out of her hands, Mummy grabbed her by the arm and yanked her away.

  “Ow! You hurt me.”

  Mummy didn’t apologise. Instead, she shoved Mia and Tim behind her and stared down at the elf that was lying underneath the tree. Its eyes were once again closed, and it seemed to be sleeping. When Mia had dropped the elf, its hat had fallen off, revealing wavy brown hair and a patch at the side of his head that was covered in blood.

  “It's hurt,” said Tim.

  “Just stay back,” said Mummy. “It could be dangerous.”

  Tim giggled. “It's just a little elf. Santa must have left him behind.”