Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) (12 page)

‘I would, but I don’t want Missy fighting or getting hurt. But please kill that little bald twat Miller for us will ya?’ The man grunted.

‘We will. We’ll come back for you when it’s done.’ Lee said.

‘Oh don’t worry about us; we’ll be all right. Come on Missy,’ he said as he walked back through the tunnel.

The group were relieved and some giggled at the unpredictability of Missy and her owner.

‘Right everybody, let’s go.’ Sarah said.

‘Danni. Danni.’ Flynn said as he shook her. ‘Lucky you’ve got a vest on.’ Flynn said as he tapped her chest.

‘They’ve got them. They took Mum, Sadie and Jerome.’ Danni said as Flynn pulled her up. ‘Where’s Enzo?’

‘Here,’ he mumbled.

Danni stormed over to Enzo and pushed him into the wall.

‘Was it you? Are you working with them?’ Danni shouted.

‘What?’ Flynn asked.

‘How would they know we’re here? Out of all of London they come here and find us. Someone told them where we were.’

‘It wasn’t me.’ Enzo said.

‘Well who else would it be?’

Enzo stared blankly at her.

‘Flynn let’s go, we need to go and get them.’

‘Us two against all of them? We won’t survive.’

‘I will…’ Enzo started speaking.

‘We don’t need you.’ Danni interrupted Enzo. ‘You’ve done enough. I would kill you right now if I had the time.’ Danni said as she walked out of the room.

As she walked past Carl, he grabbed her leg, tripping her and making her jump.

‘Help,’ Carl whispered.

Danni pushed herself up and looked down on Carl. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at his head. ‘Was it you?’ She asked.

Carl used his bloody hand to reach out to the gun and whispered, ‘Kill me quickly please.’

‘Are you working with Miller?’

Carl shook his head and whispered, ‘No.’

Enzo and Flynn stood in the doorway of the room staring at Danni’s gun. Her finger flicked as it rested on the trigger.

‘Let him die slowly.’ Danni grunted.

‘Danni…’ Flynn said.

‘He’s a wanker. Enzo if you respect me at all you will let him die slowly, after everything I told you.’

Enzo nodded and said, ‘I am not working with Miller.’

Danni screamed out loud, placed her gun back onto her belt and then kicked Carl in the stomach. As she did, Flynn pulled her away, her legs still flying.

‘Calm down Danni.’ Flynn said.

‘Go fucking die you bastard,’ Danni spat at Carl. ‘Let’s go,’ Danni said as she walked down the stairs.

As Flynn and Danni walked outside to survey the destruction, they heard hovercraft approaching, they ran into the opposite building and watched the hovercraft glide in front of the hotel and begin to fire at it again. They fired rockets, which disintegrated the building with ease. A different kind of rocket was fired which didn’t explode.

‘What was that?’ Flynn asked.

After three seconds, the building began to implode and then explode; the hotel was completely blown to smithereens.

‘What the hell was that?’ Flynn asked.

‘I don’t know; some kind of imploding bomb. Never seen a bomb like that before.’

‘It’s their new weapons they’re making; like the hovercraft. Makes you wonder what more they have.’ Flynn said with a sigh.

All that remained were flames and rubble, with no sign of Enzo.

13

‘This is an execution that will be taking place. The child has been removed so that he doesn’t have to see his mother, Sadie Taint and his grandmother, Lynne Taint die. Their charges are…’ Miller stopped speaking as he watched Danni and Flynn enter from the far side of the station.

‘Welcome Danni Taint, have you come to face your charges?’

‘I’ve come to finish you. Let them go now and we’ll leave without any killings.’

‘Well you’ve killed enough people Danni. Cuff her.’

Danni stared ahead at the elites, neither of them moved. All of a sudden, she felt the cuffs placed on her from behind. As she looked around, she realised it was Flynn dragging her towards the stage.

‘You?’ Danni said. ‘You bastard, you absolute fucking arsehole!’ Danni screamed and shouted as Flynn dragged her. He pushed her to the floor and kicked her a few times and then picked her up like a doll. A number of people gasped as they watched from around the station.

‘Leave her there,’ Miller said, pointing to the ground in front of the stage.

Flynn pushed her down onto her knees a couple of feet away from the stage. Flynn walked onto the stage and stood next to Miller.

‘You have no one now Danni; no one to help you, no one to save you. No one.’

‘Know how we found you? Well Flynn, my volunteer here put a perfume on you so that we could keep track of you. The scent was picked up by one of my creations, a little boy called Daniel. He has enhanced senses. He could literally see a trail of where the scent has been and was. The hotel was surrounded with the scent.’

Miller pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Lynne’s head. Lynne whimpered and slumped to the ground.

‘I’m not going to shoot you yet Mrs Taint… Flynn.’

Flynn turned to Miller and as he did, Miller shot him in the head. The back of Flynn’s head exploded. Segments of skin, skull and brain splattered on the floor. Flynn collapsed on stage and blood leaked from his head. Smith kicked the body off the side, as if it was a plate of unwanted food.

‘He’s a grass. No one likes a grass.’ Miller laughed as he pointed the gun back to Lynne. ‘Right, let the execution begin. This is a warning to you who go against me. If you break my laws, you will be punished; it’s as simple as that. I…’ Gunshots interrupted Miller and he stumbled. A number of gunshots were heard as Sarah and her group ran from the underground.

Miller jerked from left to right as his body was riddled with bullets. His macabre dance was only halted when a red circle appeared on his forehead. His head jerked back and Miller collapsed on stage. The elites charged towards Sarah’s army. Danni was knocked to the ground. As she rolled onto her back, she saw a masked elite staring down at her. He lifted his foot and stamped on her head, knocking her unconscious.

14

Silence. Nothing but the sound of Danni’s breathing. No more gunshots, no more screaming.

As she slowly opened her eyes, she was shocked by what she saw. Instead of a Waterloo station decorated with blood splatters, it was draped with weapons. Guns, grenades, rocket launchers; even a bow and arrow and swords, all placed on the ground.

She clutched the side of her head where she was stamped on and balanced on her knees, looking around.

As she looked, she noticed that Waterloo looked completely different to before. To the right, where the trains came in, it didn’t exist. It was in darkness.

Looking to the rest of the dimly lit station, there was no more than ten feet of it in sight, both in front and behind her. She looked to the upper ground of the station; it was only partly complete.

As she stood up, she heard footsteps ahead.

‘Hello?’ Danni shouted, with no reply except for her echo. Danni moved towards a gun on the ground. ‘What’s going on? Why am I here?’ No reply. ‘I know this isn’t real; this isn’t Waterloo. Is this one of Miller’s replicas?’

As she stared ahead, she saw the masked elite step into the light.

‘Well, well, this is going to be fantastic.’ Miller’s voice sounded out on the station’s tannoy.

Danni stared straight at the elite, waiting for him to move.

‘Danni I would like you to meet my best creation, Jonny… Jon. He was brought back from the afterlife. He doesn’t remember anything about his life before. Until now, I haven’t told him anything about it but I feel this is the right time. Jon here has replenished flesh, an artificial spine and a new nervous system. He also has a prosthetic leg from his past life and…’

‘What?’ Danni bellowed. She knew Jonny. She knew who Jonny used to be; Tom Williams. Her eyes welled up; her bottom lip trembled. ‘Tom?’ She whispered.

Miller laughed hysterically. ‘I knew that prosthetic leg would give it away. Oh well, he doesn’t remember you, or Anna, or Ken or his flat mates. He knows nothing. The only thing he does know is that you killed him. Only one leaves here alive!’ Miller laughed as he finished his sentence. Jonny picked up a machine gun from the ground and aimed at Danni.

‘I didn’t kill you Tom, I didn’t do it; please believe me.’ Jonny shot at Danni, just missing her, she collapsed to the ground. She stared at Jonny as he removed his black mask. She bolted to her left and slid along the ground, snatching a grenade and stuffing it into her pocket. She grabbed two handguns and clipped them onto her belt. She lay behind a hefty green metal container and opened it up. As she did, Jonny shot at it; none of the bullets penetrated it. Danni looked inside to see bullets for her handgun and shoved some into her pocket.

‘Why did you do it to me?’ Jonny shouted. ‘What did I ever do to you?’

‘I didn’t do it Tom, Miller is lying to you I… I loved you.’

Jonny stopped walking. He tried hard to think of his recent dreams. He kept seeing a bloody brunette woman, a woman he didn’t recognise but had so much love for. ‘I must be seeing… Anna is it?’ Jonny asked Danni.

‘What do you mean “seeing”?’ Danni asked.

‘I… I keep seeing this brunette woman. She stared at me, her eyes so bloody, her body looked completely broken; her bones all facing the wrong way. In my dreams I see her. I see her when I’m awake. I see her… now.’

Jonny looked straight ahead into the eyes of Anna. Her eyes dark, the veins on her face were raised. Her eerie sneer revealed her yellow teeth. Her breath smelled stale.

Blood welled up in her eyes and dribbled down her face like tears. As she opened her mouth, blood oozed from it.

‘Why does she hate me so much?’ Jonny whispered, fighting back tears. ‘Why does she haunt me? Is it my fault she’s dead?’ Jonny clenched his eyes shut for a moment.

‘Tom?’ Danni shouted as she looked over the canister.

Jonny opened his eyes; there was nothing but anger in them. Anna disappeared. He pulled up his gun and aimed at Danni’s peering head.

‘My name is not Tom!’ He shouted as he fired again. The bullets created sparks as they hit the metal. Danni dropped down behind the container, waiting for Jonny to run out of bullets. As his gun clicked, Danni jumped up and shot at the machine gun, knocking it out of Jonny’s hands.

‘If you loved me why can’t I remember you?’

Danni ran up to the upper floor. She reached the top and looked down at Jonny as he picked up another machine gun. ‘We lived together; you were my friend. We became so close. I only knew I loved you after I lost you.’

‘Liar!’ Jonny shouted as he shot again. Danni sprinted towards the escalator. As she rolled down, the elevator detached and fell to the ground. Danni winced in pain as she brushed the broken pieces of glass off her clothes.

Jonny wandered towards her. She stumbled out of the elevator and saw him walking towards her. She looked around at the weapons surrounding her, deciding to pick up a sword.

As she swung it in front of her she shouted, ‘Back off!’ Then she paused. Looking into Jonny’s deep, brown eyes, she saw that it was Tom. The same eyes she fell in love with.

‘You… Your eyes are…’ she stuttered in disbelief.

Jonny slapped the sword out of her hand and knocked her to the ground.

She lay back, dazed. He knelt down beside her and clutched her throat tightly. As he did, he entered another vision; Danni’s.

Jonny watched Danni and her dad, Graham on the underground. They heard running footsteps approach the gaping tunnel. Emerging from the tunnel, they watched a man sprinting away from a scruffy-looking tramp that seemed possessed with violence. As the tramp caught and stamped on the man, Danni approached with her gun and shot the tramp.