Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) (9 page)

9

‘What are we going to do?’ Sadie sobbed.

‘We’ll just stay inside and be prepared for the worst. We’ll all stay together in the corridor. Stay well away from windows and do not be seen.’ Enzo said. ‘Let’s move.’ He led the way to the corridor.

As they walked into the corridor, they heard explosions in the distance and felt slight tremors.

‘What’s that?’ Jerome asked.

‘Oh baby its just nasty people on the outside, we’re safe here.’ Sadie said as she patted his back. ‘Try and sleep.’

‘They won’t attack this building will they?’ Lynne asked.

The corridor was silent as the explosions got closer.

Sarah’s group on the underground listened to the explosions above.

‘Pass out the ear plugs.’ Sarah said to Ed.

Ed rummaged through a yellow box, picking out small plastic bags containing earplugs. He flicked the packs to everyone.

Sarah looked down the tunnel and saw a small ball of light. Sarah tapped Lee on the shoulder and whispered, ‘They’re coming for us. They would have heard my gunshot.’

‘Damn. What should we do?’

‘We’ll have to attack them. Can you get the fighters together to warn them to be ready?’

‘Sure. Sarah, I hate to say this but we may need to attack sooner than you would like to.’

Sarah nodded and continued to sit watching the group through the floating brick dust as Lee pottered around the group, whispering to each man and woman who could fight.

Miller walked down into the underground with Smith and Jonny.

‘Smith, can you go and get me the young boy who’s now elite?’

‘Yes sir.’ Smith said and he disappeared as he sprinted away.

‘This is fantastic, what do you think of all this Jonny?’

‘Errr well I think it’s good that we’ve somehow been given these new abilities and…’

‘We aren’t just being
given
these abilities; these abilities are innate. They have always been inside us waiting to come out. That’s what this cure does; it brings to life what your body is capable of. Some people are strong, others are intelligent and others can do more, like Laura and Smith. Laura seems to be able to control humans in some way. She also seems to have a force that she can burst from within, knocking anyone and anything to the ground. Smith is incredibly fast and strong.’

‘What’s my ability then?’ Jonny asked.

‘Well that’s something you will find out, I’m sure.’

Jonny stopped walking and he slumped to the floor.

‘Jonny?’ Miller asked as he stopped walking.

‘Ahh… help…’ Jonny said in a strained voice. He held his head and he curled up into a ball.

As he closed his eyes, he saw himself walking through rubble. He saw an overturned car scorched.  ‘Hello?’ he shouted.

As his shouts echoed in his mind, he became dizzy. He watched a blurred figure begin to rise from the rubble. A young female floated towards him like a puppet hung loose. She came face to face with him and opened her bloodshot eyes. Jonny suddenly woke up to see Miller’s eyes; he jumped up and grabbed Miller around the neck, as he touched Miller he entered another vision. He saw Miller holding a syringe in one hand and a gun in the other. Jonny watched himself cut off Miller’s head with a blade. As he detached the head, he held it for a moment. The vision ended.

Jonny let go of Miller and Miller dropped to the ground. He sprang up immediately to stand up straight again.

‘What happened?’ Miller asked.

‘I… I don’t know. It seemed like a memory or an old nightmare.’

‘Of what?’

‘I was walking through rubble and some woman rose from the debris. She was covered in blood, and she came face to face with me and as her eyes opened they were bloodshot, then when I awoke, I thought your eyes were hers and so I attacked you and when I grabbed you I saw another vision…’

‘Which was?’

‘You were in it.’

‘What happened?’

‘You… You…’ Jonny hesitated, staring hopelessly at the walls around him. He said, ‘You had a gun in your hand and a syringe, that’s it.’

‘Hmm, interesting,’ Miller said. ‘We will look into it a little more later; but first I want you to meet this child who was in my replica of London. He was not scared and did not fear the replica. Although all my other subjects thought it was reality, this one boy knew it wasn’t. He isn’t an elite human created by using my infection, this is from the old one but it changed him differently to any other person.’

Miller walked on again and Jonny followed.

Miller’s clean up process could still be heard from above Sarah’s group. The occasional screams from civilians and roars from the infected were punctuated by explosions and gunshots.

‘Take these.’ Lee said to Sarah and Ed as he dangled two handguns in front of them. ‘You’ll need these if we don’t make it back.’

‘You will make it back.’ Sarah said taking the gun. ‘Just make sure they’re dead.’

‘We will.’

Lee walked towards the tunnel and stared into it, watching the ball of light.

‘Right people, get ready.’ Lee whispered to the small group of five.

‘Don’t we need guns?’ Molly, a butch blonde female asked Lee.

‘Mollz they’re too loud and bullets won’t kill these guys; they rejuvenate too fast to have any impact. We need to take them out using force. The best way to kill them will be to remove their heads, there’s no coming back from that.’ Lee gulped as he looked down the tunnel. ‘Don’t step on the tracks. I want two on the left of the tracks behind me, and three behind Mollz. Let’s go.’

They disappeared into the darkness. Sarah looked around the group. The mothers clutched their children to their chests whilst the men walked around uneasily.

The hovercrafts dominated the skies, camouflaged in the night as they followed the patrolling army and elite groups below them.

The army patrol wore their dark camouflage colours and the suited elite humans wore their all black suits and gas mask type masks.

The patrol line moved down Belvedere Road, their guns in front of their faces, focussing on any movement in front of them.

A little girl ran out into the road in front of the patrol.

‘Freeze!’ two men shouted from the patrol.

‘Help!’ she shrieked, running backwards, pointing at the door she had just come from.

As some of the patrol looked to the door, a group of the infected stumbled out of the door, running at the patrol. Bullets penetrated the skin of the infected, knocking them to the ground. As they stumbled to the ground they continued to move, clawing at the ground and launching themselves at some of the men in the patrol.

The elite humans holstered their guns and fought the infected in hand to hand combat, breaking their necks and throwing them to the ground.

‘They’re right outside.’ Jerome whimpered.

‘They are baby, but they don’t know we’re here.’ Sadie was crying but didn’t want Jerome to see.

‘You’re safe little man don’t worry,’ Flynn said.

‘Are we though?’ Carl said, and he stood up. ‘We don’t know if they’re going to come in here. We don’t know anything, we’re fucking vulnerable here. We need to leave London.’ Carl shouted.

‘Shut ya mouth right now!’ Flynn said.

‘No I won’t, come on Sadie we’re leaving.’

‘Are you fucking serious?’ Danni said.

Carl brushed past Danni and he walked back towards their room.

As Carl clutched the door handle, Enzo moved over to him in a blur and grabbed him by his shoulder, pinning him against the wall.

‘Don’t hurt him!’ Sadie shouted.

Enzo dropped Carl back onto his feet and then punched him across the chin. Carl’s head thumped against the wall and he collapsed onto the floor.

‘I had to. He may have given away our position, I’ll go and check.’ Enzo said and he walked into the room.

Enzo snuck into the room and walked over to the window. He watched the patrol as they fought the infected. There were only a few left.

He saw the little girl hiding next to one of the abandoned cars. As he watched her, he looked around considering whether to go and save her.

‘I can’t. Not without being seen,’ he mumbled.

One last infected remained. One of the elite dug his fingers into the ribs of the infected; then the elite jerked his arms wide open, still gripping the ribs of the infected.

The patrol continued to move, stepping on the dead bodies beneath their feet.

One of the elite men strolled up to the little girl and patted her head. He pulled out his handgun discretely.

‘The instructions were to stay inside,’ he said to her as he pointed the gun to her head.

Enzo looked away and shut his eyes as he heard the gunshot. Even after the shot was heard, Enzo kept them shut. He fell to the ground. ‘NO… NO…’ He whispered over and over.

As the group got closer to the ball of light in the tunnel, they halted and knelt down on the ground.

‘Ready.’ Lee whispered.

‘Ready.’ Molly whispered back.

The light shone onto them; the two men holding the light stopped moving. As they did, Molly and Lee charged at them with their knives out.

One of the elite men tossed Molly into the wall knocking her unconscious. The other swung for Lee as Lee dropped to the ground. He slid along the gravel; he sliced the ligament behind the kneecap and the elite’s Achilles tendon, making him stumble.

‘Get him.’ Lee shouted.

The men behind Lee jumped on the elite and stabbed him.

Lee turned to the other elite who had knocked Molly out and saw he’d also killed one of the men behind her. The elite gripped the other man by his neck and lifted him off the ground. With his feet dangling, the man was helpless. The elite smashed the man’s head against the wall, completely crushing it until it was nothing more than a bloody mess.

Lee charged forwards and the elite simply tossed him to the ground. Lee stood back up to see a man in a dark suit charging at him. He grabbed Lee and launched him into the wall. Lee swung his knife at the elite and stabbed him through his hand. The elite man looked down at his hand and yanked out the knife, launching it at Lee. It missed his head by millimetres.

As the elite wandered over to Lee, the other two men in his group jumped on Lee’s attacker and stabbed the elite. He attempted to shake the men off but he stumbled to the ground. The elite elbowed one in the stomach and then broke the other’s neck. The elite stood up and then walked over to Lee.

‘You’ve made a big mistake sir,’ the elite said.

He stood above him and jerked Lee up onto his feet. As he did, he swung at Lee, hitting him on the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. The elite then stood above Lee and punched him in the head. Lee put up his guard as best he could under the onslaught of the elite’s punches. The elite’s hands felt like iron as they battered Lee’s arms, ribs and stomach. Lee took the devastating punishment without being able to fight back. Then blood spattered onto Lee’s face. The pounding ended and the elite’s body thudded to the ground. Lee wearily pushed himself up off the ground. He looked in front of himself but could see nothing in the dark.

‘Hello?’ Lee said as he reached for the dead elite’s torch.

He shone it in front of himself to see Molly holding a bloody blade in her hand. She looked up to Lee revealing her broken nose and bloody face.

Lee stood up and shone the torch onto each of the men around them.

‘Fuck, they’re all dead.’ Lee said. ‘We need to get back, come on.’

Lee pulled Molly’s arm over his shoulder, and they both limped back through the tunnel.

‘I want to introduce you to my youngest elite human yet. He’s magnificent, you’ll love his power.’ Miller said as he opened the metal door that led into a room.

Jonny stepped in on the deep-pile carpet; it was deep blue with white specks and lines across it. Jonny looked to the walls, they were decorated to depict an empty sandy beach, and the ceiling was the sky with not a single cloud.

‘This is amazing.’

‘It is isn’t it? Jonny I would like you to meet Daniel.’

‘Hi Daniel.’

‘Hi Jonny. Are you an elite?’

‘Yes, I think I am.’

‘What can you do?’

‘I… I don’t really know yet. What can you do?’

‘Well, I don’t really know, I’m just a lot cleverer now.’ Daniel said and he pulled a fake smile. Although the smile showed his baby teeth, he had dark shadows under his eyes and looked older because of them.

‘Daniel’s power is quite incredible. When the virus went into him it didn’t react the same as it did with everybody else. It mutated his brain; well, it did on his left side.’

‘Why?’ Jonny asked.

‘I’m not sure. Daniel was part of my replica. I put Daniel in the replica to see how he would cope. He was alone but his aim was to find his mother. I will show you the footage of Daniel in a moment; it’s quite amazing how a seven year old child did not fear the replica.’

‘I knew it was a replica; it was obvious.’ The boy replied.

‘Only to you Daniel, only because you’re so clever.’ Miller said with a smirk. ‘The left side of the brain controls speech and intelligence. So for Daniel this meant his brain has been enhanced. It cured his stutter. His language, logic, critical thinking and mathematics also improved dramatically; which is why when he awoke in the replica, he did not fear it. He could identify that his own home and other buildings were not the correct size. They were millimetres off, meaning he was in the replica. He also recognised that the colour of everything around him was too new.’

‘Wow. Did you not worry then at all Daniel?’ Jonny asked him.

‘I did at first, I was scared ’cause I didn’t know where mummy was, but after I could see everything was different, I knew I was safe. I thought I was dreaming at first.’

‘Daniel’s senses improved as well as his memory. If you made Daniel sniff a shoe and then you put it miles away from him, he would be able to find it. He’s an integral part of the elites.’

‘My memory enhancing isn’t good.’ Daniel said.

‘What do you mean, Daniel?’ Jonny asked.

‘Although my memory has enhanced, I now use sixty percent more of my brain than I did before; that lets me trick myself to believe a different memory.’

‘Why would you need to do that?’ Jonny asked.

‘I do it to some of my bad memories. Like when I watched my father being killed and when my mum was taken away.’

‘Daniel, I think my power may be that I am able to see the past and future.’ Jonny held his hands out in front of Daniel’s head. ‘Can I try?’

‘Yeah,’ Daniel said.

Jonny placed his hands on Daniel’s head.

As he closed his eyes, he heard a woman’s screams ring through his mind. Jonny’s mind seemed to vibrate as he saw many visions of flowers, buildings and classrooms, until he suddenly entered the body and viewpoint from Daniel’s perspective.

‘Son stay here.’ A bearded man said to Daniel as he stroked his head.

He flung the door open and stepped out of the room but was blasted back in as he was shot with a shotgun. Daniel screamed and ran over to his dad’s body. As blood gushed from the man’s stomach, Daniel placed his small hands over the wound. The blood seeped through Daniel’s fingers and created a pool of blood behind his dad.

Daniel was tugged away from the body, even as he reached out to him.

‘Daddy!’ Daniel screamed as he was dragged out of the room, still reaching for his dad.

Jonny opened his eyes and stared at Daniel’s smiling face.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Jonny said with a tear in his eye.

‘That’s okay; I like you.’ Daniel said and he hugged Jonny.

‘Right come on.’ Miller snapped and pulled at Jonny’s arm. ‘Good to see you Daniel.’

Jonny shrugged Miller’s strong grip off and continued to speak to Daniel. ‘How did you do this room?’

‘I painted it. Do you like it?’

‘You drew all this? That’s incredible Daniel; I thought it was a picture.’