Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) (3 page)

‘Not yet Jerome, maybe when you’re a little older.’

They sat in silence whilst Lynne bandaged Danni up again.

Danni patted her arm and winced. ‘Right, mum can you get dad’s guns out please?’

Lynne went over to an old battered box. She pulled out her house keys and unlocked the padlock and threw back the lid of the box.

‘Why did Graham have guns?’ Carl said.

‘For protection,’ Danni snapped at Carl.

‘But surely it’s illegal for him to have guns? We aren’t in America.’ Carl said.

‘Well if he didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have any now when we need them most.’

Carl paused and sighed.

‘Just keep your stupid thoughts to yourself next time yeah?’ Danni said to Carl.

Carl glared at Danni and said nothing.

Danni walked over to the box and pulled out three handguns and handed them out to Lynne, Sadie and Carl. Danni turned to Jerome. ‘No touching these guns Jerome, okay?’

‘Yeah.’ Jerome said.

‘Good boy. Right, obviously before doing anything, the gun needs to be loaded and before you plan to shoot anything, the safety must be off.’ Danni showed them how to load a gun and where the safety button was. ‘Okay, now you have to be able to aim and shoot. Point the gun to the floor and I’ll mark a point on the wall where I want you to aim for. You need to aim to hit the circle I’ll scratch into the wall with my knife. You get three shots. This way it will give you an idea of the weight of the gun and the feeling of the gun’s recoil when you shoot.’

Danni went to the wall and marked out three circles using her knife. ‘Right so this is how you do it.’

Danni pulled out her gun from its pouch on her trousers. She raised the gun up to her eye line with both hands and she pulled the trigger. She hit the circle and brick dust floated from the wall, instantly fading into the air.

‘It’s that easy, it’s like riding a bike, the more you practice the better you’ll get.’

‘Yeah but we don’t have bullets to waste.’ Carl said.

‘I would slap you in the face and tell you to shut up, but you’re right.’ Danni said.

‘I know.’ Carl said bitterly as he pulled the trigger.

‘Well, that was some way off and a waste of a bullet.’ Danni said. ‘Practise makes perfect.’

Carl sighed and aimed again.

The three of them used all their practice bullets up. Their first bullet completely missed the target, their second the same and their third was slightly closer.

‘For your first shots they aren’t bad and they will have to do. We’ll leave in a minute so get your stuff together and we’ll try and get out of here and go to Flynn’s. Hopefully he’ll have some ammo.’ Danni said.

As everyone packed up and checked they had what they needed, Danni pulled out a green weaponry bag and packed Graham’s handguns and machine guns. As she packed them, she found her shotgun. She clipped a brown leather strap to it. She loaded it and pulled the fore-end back making a chunk-chunk sound.

Danni put it over her shoulder and carried on packing the bag. She stopped to listen when the floor vibrated. She used her fingertips to touch the concrete dusted floor.

‘Shush.’ Danni said, raising her hand.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and held their breath.

The droning sound came closer and closer, the vibrations got stronger and stronger and the sweat on Danni’s forehead shone in the limited light.

‘We need to move after this hovercraft has gone.’ Danni whispered.

Jerome cried as the drone of the hovercraft could be heard above the house wreckage, making dust fall through the cracked floorboards above them. The dust made the atmosphere smoky. Everyone wanted to cough; Jerome wanted to burst into tears but they couldn’t. As Jerome’s eyes filled up with water, Danni watched the tears begin to slither down his cheeks. She looked at him and put her finger to her lip, Jerome nodded.

Carl’s eyes began to fill up with water and his nose twitched as a puff of dust was inhaled. Carl held his nostrils; the tip of his nose became a dark red.

Danni mouthed hold it for one second.

Carl nodded and continued to hold his nose.

The hovercraft drone disappeared.

‘I think it’s gone.’ Danni whispered.

To the relief of Carl, he let out a sneeze.

‘Thank god for…’ Carl was interrupted by a loud bang from above.

‘Shit,’ Danni said as she looked up through the floorboards.

‘What’s that?’ Lynne asked.

‘Shush,’ Danni said as she pulled out her knife.

Danni motioned to the others to move back against the wall and keep calm and quiet.

The footsteps from above stepped around, scraping away pieces of debris on the floor. As Danni looked up through the gaps in the floorboards, she saw a male figure wearing an all-black kind of suit with a gas mask over his face.

‘The Taint’s house is destroyed.’ The figure said; his voice was rough and deep. ‘There are no bodies. I’ll keep searching.’

He continued to walk amongst the debris, pulling at the collapsed entrance to the basement.

Danni grabbed her bag, pulled out her machete and ran back to the wall by the stairs leading up to the house.

The figure pulled away the debris covering the stairs leading down into the basement. Eventually he revealed the stairs fully by throwing the wreckage aside. The dim summer sunlight shone down the steps and into part of the basement. Pieces of rubble rolled down the stairs and tapped onto the basement floor. The light soon became partially blocked and the shadow of the figure appeared on the basement floor.

He stomped down the stairs, his heels dragging on the steps. As he reached the bottom few steps, he stared at Lynne, Carl, Sadie and Jerome and asked, ‘Where’s Danni Taint?’

He stepped down the last steps and onto the concrete. He walked past Danni without realising and up to the others.

‘Ms Taint is wanted by Doctor Michael Miller. If you prevent me from finding her, I will have to take you all to Waterloo station, where you will face a court hearing and could be looking at a sentence of death.’

Danni took silent steps towards the figure and held the machete with both hands.

‘I will give you five seconds to answer me. If you wish to ignore my question, you will be under arrest on Miller’s law and instruction and I will escort you all to Waterloo station.’

Danni tensed her arm and swung the machete up to the figure’s head.

As the machete blade almost reached the figure’s neck, he turned and ducked to avoid the blade. He grabbed hold of Danni’s forearm and twisted it, forcing her to drop the blade. He kicked the blade away and kneed Danni in the side, pushing her against the wall.

‘Look after Jerome, Mum.’ Sadie said and she ran at the man and jumped on him. She slapped his head until he grabbed her and threw her onto the floor. Carl charged up to him and kicked the figure in the chest. Both the figure and Carl fell to the floor. The figure elbowed the floor and was straight back onto his feet. He saw Carl getting back onto his feet but kicked Carl’s chest to force him back onto the floor. The figure stood over Carl and as he lifted his leg in preparation to stamp on Carl’s head, Danni kicked the figure and punched him.

The figure didn’t seem to feel her attack and instead attempted to punch Danni. His arms swung and his fist thumped into Danni’s guard. Each time he hit her, the more off-balanced she became. He swung his right arm as hard as he could, catching Danni off-balance. As she stumbled, he swung his legs across her feet, knocking her to the floor.

Carl eventually pushed himself off the floor and ran up to the figure. He charged into him and pushed the figure against the wall. Carl swung his fists at the figure’s face. The figure deflected Carl’s hand and forced him to hit the wall. Carl screamed and the figure punched Carl in the stomach.

Danni got back up and barged the figure into the wall. The figure stumbled. Still grasping Carl’s fist, he uses it to punch Danni in the face. He threw Carl into Danni knocking them both to the ground. As the figure pushed himself off the wall, Sadie ran up to him screaming and swinging the machete. The figure put his arm out to grab her, but Sadie sliced through his arm, taking it clean off.

The figure screamed. He looked at his stub and elbow. It was spouting blood like a tap on full blast as the blood spurted from his arm and splattered onto the floor soaking his detached arm.

Danni pulled the shotgun from behind her back around to her front. She held it steady under her arm and shot him. The figure’s legs buckled; he stumbled backwards and fell against the bloody wall. Danni made the shotgun clunk. She stood up and aimed it at his head but stopped herself.

She slung the shotgun over her shoulder again and watched the figure slide down the wall leaving a trail of blood.

She knelt down to him and removed his mask. His breathing slowed. His face looked lumpy; as if he had been burnt. She looked at his hair, there were bald patches.

‘Stay with me.’ Danni said to him.

‘No.’ he said as he shut his eyes.

‘Why did Miller send you?’ Danni asked.

‘He wants you dead.’ The man mumbled. His voice had returned to normal.

‘Why are you working for him?’

‘Cause he made us stronger.’

‘Us?’

‘Yes, us.’

‘Who’s us?’

‘We were special but now we’re gifted.’

Danni frowned at him and continued to ask questions.

‘What did you mean earlier?’

The figure looked at her confused.

‘You said Miller’s law and there would be a court or something at Waterloo station?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well Waterloo station is very big and it’s a train station, it’s not a court.’

‘It is now.’

‘It’s not a court, I was there today.’

‘It’s Miller’s court now. Miller has stopped all trains from coming into London to prevent further threat to us. Like you.’

‘Like me?’ Danni asked.

‘A threat like you.’

‘Why am I a threat?’

‘You are one of the names, you’re on the list. You are a threat to Doctor Miller’s life.’

‘How is Sarah Williams involved in all of this?’

‘She is a threat also. She lost the debate and the power to cure the virus outbreak.’

‘She’s working with Miller though?’

The figure didn’t respond. Blood dribbled from the inner corners of his eyes. His bloodshot eyes overflowed with blood. Danni felt his pulse. Nothing.

‘Sadie, give me the blade.’ Sadie handed Danni the blade and then she ran to the corner of the basement and threw up; vomit spattered against the wall.

Danni grabbed the partially-bald head of the man and sawed his neck until his head came off.

Danni placed his head in his lap and looked back to Lynne.

‘It’s the best way to know that they’re dead and they won’t be coming back. We’ve got to move right now, before it gets dark.’

Danni went over to Carl; he was still curled up on the floor holding his stomach.

‘Come on get up.’ Danni said and she put her hand out to him. She pulled him up and he ran over to Jerome.

‘What’s going on Daddy?’ Jerome asked.

‘Nothing buddy, just don’t look at the evil man who came down.’

‘Is he dead?’ Jerome said.

Carl looked into Jerome’s eyes, nodded and then put Jerome’s head onto his shoulder.

‘Come on let’s go.’ Danni laid her hand gently on Sadie’s back as she continued to vomit.

3

Miller slouched on a wooden stage under the Waterloo station clock. His feet faced inwards, his suit was covered in blood. His eyes were bloodshot and the pupils were pitch-black.

He went down the steps at the side of the stage and walked past the people who were boarding up the exits and underground services below.

‘Doctor Miller.’ A voice shouted.

Miller turned around to a young boy in an oversized suit. ‘Yes.’ Miller snarled.

The boy hesitated as he stared into Miller’s eyes. ‘So the plan for Waterloo is to board up all the escalators going down to the underground services and up to here. You also want the underground lines to be boarded up in a way to create a number of rooms… science facilities?’