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  After The End

  G J Stevens

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © GJ Stevens 2020

  The moral right of GJ Stevens to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1998.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright under the Berne Convention

  British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Cover Illustration Copyright © 2020 by James Norbury Cover design by James Norbury

  www.JamesNorbury.com

  ISBN: 9798698268024

  Other Books by GJ Stevens

  IN THE END Series

  IN THE END

  BEFORE THE END

  Agent Carrie Harris Series

  OPERATION DAWN WOLF

  LESSON LEARNED

  James Fisher Series

  FATE’S AMBITION

  DEDICATION

  For Jayne. You make me.

  For Sarah. My inspiration.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my friends who inspire me every day and sometimes let me work on my passion, despite being on holiday!

  To Laura Laakso, talented author and hard-nosed beta reader without whom this novel would be terrible!

  Thanks to all those who helped me along the way, be it big or small, I am grateful.

  1

  LOGAN

  On the flat roof of the hospital, Cassie and I stood, mouths agape, both of us staring at the woman in the bright red trouser suit. We watched the elegant reporter turn away with a microphone still in hand as she followed her companion, moving from the camera pointed in our direction and stepping to the white van they stood beside.

  With the ever-present stench catching in my throat, Cassie sagged, leaning heavy at my side. I shuffled her higher, my gaze moving beyond the corpses littering the hospital’s road, beyond the remains of the boundary fence and to the sea of dead making their dogged way in our direction.

  We were back to square one, fighting every moment for our lives, but despite her weakness, Cassie’s grip tightened around my waist, reminding me I wasn’t alone. She’d survived the worst.

  Her grip loosened and I felt her sag. With such little strength remaining, I had to find somewhere safe for the medicine to take its full effect. With a smile rising, I reminded myself she’d come back from a death sentence.

  It must have been the cure. There was hope for us all.

  Standing on the edge of the roof, Shadow barked, my gaze fixing on the bald patch with stitches in a pink line across his stomach. Snarling, with his lips curled, the dog stared out to the woman in red.

  “Hello,” I called, waving my hand high in the air, shouting again as the first echo died.

  The figures turned toward my voice.

  Raising my arm higher still, I waved until a shrill call stilled my movement and sent me surveying the horizon.

  The familiar piercing scream replied to its echo. Panic gripped my chest. I knew no cure could bring anyone back from being torn to shreds. We had to get away from here.

  As its own reply faded, I drew a deep breath, reasoning the call to be some way off and it would take them a while to cover the ground despite their unnatural speed we’d witnessed first-hand.

  Fear spiked again, turning my view skyward to a heavy noise vibrating the air and a sound I’d known so well from standing in a crowd waiting in anticipation for the air show to start.

  But today this could mean only one thing.

  A grey jet roared into view above us, low enough that I saw the red tips of rockets slung under its wings. Tracing its journey to the right, I caught exhaust heat, real or imagined, on my face with its fierce anger rattling my chest. Turning away from the trail, I saw two dots looming high in the otherwise clear blue sky, under no doubt they too were zeroing in on our position.

  About to raise the alarm for the approaching aircraft, glancing down I saw the reporter and her crewmate already in the moving van with the passenger’s heads craned, peering up high through the windscreen.

  I raised Cassie up despite her discomfort and guided her along the roof whilst shuffling under her weight, looking between the stairwell and the dots in the sky.

  I barged open the door with my shoulder, the breath rushed from my chest as an explosion erupted somewhere close, heat blasting across my face as I grabbed at the doorframe. At the edge of my vision a fireball erupted, sending cars alarming a moment before their electronics were consumed by the chemical inferno.

  Shadow moved past me and down the stairs with his claws tapping on the concrete. The building shook as another explosion hit, the pressure wave reverberating deep within my chest.

  Daylight shrank away with every step. We were soon down one level, with Cassie’s feet barely touching the ground as the building jolted to the right and a vast section of the concrete stairs shifted. I struggled further, heading to the ground floor and the place we thought yesterday had been our last stand.

  Despite the ground shaking around us, I forced myself not to think of how it would have turned out if Lane hadn’t gone off on his own. The children wouldn’t be safely away in the helicopter, heading for where they could wake without fear and know where their next meal would come from.

  The stale stench of death clung to the dry dust as it rained down, greeting our arrival at the sandbags staggered from the door leading to the hospital’s main corridor.

  Looking up, I watched as a great crack split the ceiling, sending a renewed shower of plaster and rubble over us.

  Fighting against the movement of the building, I tried to visualise which route to take past the door and through the darkness on the other side. Which route would take us the furthest away from the bombs, but not into the arms of the creatures rushing to encircle us? I’d travelled both ways before, each time with Cassie by my side, but the journeys seemed so long ago now.

  “Where now?” Cassie asked, her voice dry and forced.

  “Left. I think,” making my mind up to head the way we’d arrived yesterday in hope the crowds had yet to arrive that side of the building. We would retrace the journey we’d taken to seek out Doctor Lytham and what we had hoped would be the end to the nightmare.

  With the structure vibrating as rubble fell all around, I leaned Cassie against the wall and opened the door, pushing as the wood scraped along its jamb.

  “Wait there,” I said, keeping my voice low and craning my neck. Peering both ways in search of Shadow, the darkness gave no clue as to which way he’d gone, even if he could have opened the door and closed it behind him.

  In desperation, I turned around, and despite the dust raining down to sparkle in the last of the light, I saw a door to the left of the stairs. My feet fixed with fear, knowing that any decision risked leaving Shadow alone.

  “Here boy,” I called out, but another thud rocked the building. Instinct dropped us to the ground, sending my arms cradling around Cassie as I bent to shield her from the heat surging down the stairwell.

  The building complained, deep groans vibrating as concrete scraped; at that moment I couldn’t imagine any future other than the structure tumbling down around us.

  A high bark cut through my thoughts and I looked up, peering around until I saw the glint of Shadow’s eyes low from the door ajar to the left of the staircase. A great creak of metal came from above with dust falling as
the building gave a shrug. With the concrete ceiling sagging, I spread myself wide over Cassie’s body, tensing for the inevitable.

  When after two breaths the ceiling hadn’t fallen, I knew our only chance would be to follow Shadow through the door into the unknown.

  Rising with my feet slipping on the rubble, Cassie’s legs wheeled in slow motion as I dragged her under the armpits.

  “I can walk,” she said, and although she took her own weight, I felt her falling as I loosened my hold around her.

  With my arm back around her shoulders, I pushed at the door but it held firm, sticking open just enough for Shadow to have fit through. I shoved with my shoulder, but it still wouldn’t release its hold against the frame.

  Time ran out when an explosion shook the building under our feet, sending large chunks of concrete bouncing down the steps.

  With a heavy pressure at my back, I lost my grip on Cassie and collapsed into the darkness.

  2

  Blinking through the haze, my focus flashed to my empty arms and the incessant pounding in my head. Shadow’s bark forced me to sit, pushing up with my palms against the sharp debris. Coughing through the dry dust, I stared at his eyes at the gap in the doorway.

  The jagged remains moved to my side and with a painful twist, I caught Cassie’s outline spread across the rubble. An overwhelming urge gripped my stomach and I fought the uneven ground, pushing away lumps of crumbled concrete as I clambered to get my footing, knowing this would be our last moment together if I didn’t fight against my aching bones and help her to safety.

  The building shuddered a reminder I had no time to think as concrete crashed down the steps, falling from the ceiling and scattering as it landed.

  Remembering the jammed door, I turned, cursing the speed of my movement and locking eyes with Shadow panting from the gap. It was then I saw the twisted door frame had moved when the structure around us distorted.

  The building creaked as if readying for collapse.

  Pulling Cassie to her feet, I pushed away any thought of what her dead weight could mean and shoved against the door with our combined weight, closing my eyes against the dry heat.

  It gave way with a crack, closing up then pushing what remained of the wooden jamb either side and falling open in a direction never intended. Our momentum carried us forward, our gratitude short-lived as after a few short paces my feet were unable to find the floor.

  With nothing I could do to stop our tumble down the steps, I did my best to tuck Cassie’s head against my breastbone, folding around her whilst stumbling to get purchase on any step as rubble raced down the staircase at our backs.

  Landing on my side, a surge of pressure smashed at my shoulder; rubble jabbed into my arm as the chaotic fall ended in a splash of icy water, sharp stones showering down and peppering my back.

  Tremors rose through the hard floor, pushing me to ignore the pain and shove aside the growing despair for our new situation.

  Relaxing my grip from around Cassie, I slid to my back, feeling a warmth against my hand as a grip tugged at my sleeve, a pull urging me along in the pitch black. I reached out to swat away in panic, but when I touched at the fur of Shadow’s snout, my fear eased.

  Gently pulling my arm from under Cassie, I rose with care, gritting my teeth against the ache as my hand went out into the darkness, searching our surroundings.

  Finding nothing but space at my fingertips, I bent down, feeling at my feet. With my hand touching her warm skin, my muscles complained as I edged further and took Cassie by the arm. The rubble continued to fall as the building above complained and with no time to check her condition, I heaved her to her feet, delighted when she held her weight.

  “Are you hurt?” I asked, leaning in close and listening to her breath until she spoke.

  “I’m okay. I think.”

  With my arm around her shoulder, together we took tentative steps through the shallow water, heading slowly deeper into the darkness with the ever-present fear the building could crumble down at any moment.

  A great rumble radiated up through our feet, sounding as if chunks of concrete fell through the storeys above. The heavy bass of an explosion lit every nerve as if it had gone off directly above and sent us stumbling forward with the pressure wave.

  When the ceiling hadn’t fallen within a few speeding breaths, I stared into the pitch black, blinking at the hot, heavy dust. Cassie coughed at my side.

  Racked with indecision what to do next, I kept my feet planted, listening to the ringing in my ears and the low vibration of the building, hoping it would settle in its new position and not trap us underground.

  A caustic stench stung my nostrils, and along with a thick taste of burnt flesh, the pervasive odour of sewerage made the damp, dusty air seem solid with each breath.

  Water dripped from above our heads, its frequency at the right pitch to cut through the feeling of cotton wool stuffed in my ears and the high, piercing tone inside my head.

  The ringing subsided, and I heard an unfamiliar noise, soon realising it was Shadow’s bark calling me from the darkness.

  “It’s okay boy,” I said, but I barely heard my soft words, feeling a layer of grit coating my mouth, made worse as I wiped my lips on my sleeve.

  The surrounding vibrations had slowed; about to reach low to make sure Shadow stayed close, Cassie’s panting made me stop. Pulling my arms from under her shoulder, I clamped my hands around her upper arms in fear she might fall at any point.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice alien and barely heard despite the volume I’d attempted.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “What is this place?”

  I looked around, searching in vain for any light to break the darkness.

  “I don’t know. A basement maybe,” I said, leaning forward whilst taking care not to let go of her.

  “It smells like a sewer.”

  Water splashed from what I hoped were Shadow’s paws as he stopped barking.

  I found Cassie’s left hand with my right and she gripped as I clasped. Pushing out my other hand, I touched at a rough, damp wall, feeling the lines of mortar between each course of bricks.

  With my hand at the wall and with Shadow’s footsteps still echoing in the water ahead, I took comfort in the guide at my fingertips until my left knee cracked against something solid.

  Pulling up with the pain, Cassie tensed, Shadow’s footsteps stopping as I shook with the intensity whilst trying to stifle a scream.

  “What’s wrong?” Cassie asked, but I couldn’t speak.

  After a few moments the pain receded, leaving me to concentrate on my breath. Feeling cautiously at my knee, I sought what I’d hit and found a cool metal bracket rising from the ground. Its surface felt like a treat to touch, a momentary relief from the heat building around us.

  “Smashed… my knee… against something,” I said, releasing a held breath.

  “What is it?” Cassie asked, her voice still dry and pained, but rather than relaxing, I nodded in the darkness and extended my touch to feel the rounded material at ankle height.

  “It’s a pipe. A big one,” I said, standing up straight and stretching out my leg as I realised where we could be. “I think we’re in a duct. I can feel a pipe. Heating, maybe.”

  “Is that good?” she said after a moment.

  “This tunnel probably runs between the buildings. Maybe to a boiler house and somewhere we can get out. If only we could see where it leads.”

  I stepped forward, using my sleeve to wipe the sweat from my forehead, and along with the sound of my steps, I heard Shadow’s gentle padding in the water. The structure of the tunnel seemed to creak as I edged us away from the side, leading the way with tentative steps as my free hand swept out in front.

  A chorus of great thunder clattered above our heads, freezing us where we stood. The last of the buildings falling, I thought, visualising the desolate scene until light flashed ahead with what sounded like a door slamming shut soon after.

&nbs
p; With the momentary break in the darkness hurting my eyes, I tried to linger on the image now only in my mind.

  I’d seen Shadow peer forward with his head low and pipes running along both sides of the brick tunnel whose damp, stained bricks curved over our heads.

  The light seemed to have come from a bend to the right a little way off, but disappeared before I could take in any more detail.

  A heavy thud echoed from along the tunnel, followed by the high noise of breaking glass. For a moment I thought I heard voices cursing in the air, but immediately questioned the sound.

  “Hello,” I called, and its echo came back dull to my ears as if a muffled grumble had run across my parched throat.

  I held back from running, from dragging Cassie at my side, not wanting to speed and dash the hope of other survivors. Putting a tentative foot forward whilst still gripping Cassie’s hand, I listened to the echo of my steps.

  The voices had quietened.

  “Hello,” I called again. With no reply, I questioned why they weren’t calling back, whilst still overjoyed someone else had survived.

  “Sssh,” came the distinct sound from the other end of the tunnel.

  If there had been light, Cassie would have seen the delight in my face when the noise told me I’d been right, then my expression dropped as I thought of what else might make a similar sound.

  Maybe those ahead were not as alive as I hoped them to be.

  Despite the fear of being shut in with the foul creatures, I took hope that if something could get in, there must be a way of getting out.

  Shadow barked, his call rattling through me like a blast of wind. Stumbling forward with Cassie still in hand, I tried to reach out to the darkness to settle him before he frightened anyone away or drew something else towards us.