Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) (14 page)

‘I’ll take care of him, save her.’ Jonny said as he charged out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

‘What are you doing? Why is Smith dead?’

‘I killed him.’

‘Like you killed Danni? Good work.’

Jonny screamed as he ran at Miller, swinging his right fist at his head. Miller was launched into the wall, cracking the tiles where he impacted. Miller pushed himself away from the wall and kicked Jonny in the chest, launching him into the opposite wall. As Miller ran towards the room, Jonny pulled him back and punched him, Miller covered his head and took the beating Jonny was intent on delivering. Jonny pushed Miller away from him and as he did, he swung an uppercut to Miller’s chin, knocking him off his feet to land on his back. Miller sat up, spitting out blood. As Jonny charged towards Miller again, Miller pulled out a syringe, swinging it towards Jonny who jumped backwards away from it.

‘This will kill you, this will end you.’

Miller pulled out a gun and shot Jonny in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Sarah heard the gun shot, she dropped some science equipment on the floor as her hands shook; she feared Miller might have killed Jonny - again.

Sarah injected a green liquid into Danni and then waited for a reaction.

Miller wandered over to Jonny and put the syringe to Jonny’s neck.

Before he could inject it, someone from behind Miller grabbed the syringe. Miller yanked his arm away and swung it behind him towards Enzo.

Enzo dodged the syringe and threw a punch at Miller’s already broken jaw; he tried to release Miller’s grip on the syringe. Jonny looked down to his chest at the gunshot wound, it was beginning to scab.

Jonny pushed himself up and dived into Miller, knocking Enzo to the ground.

Danni’s eyes shot open, revealing blood shot eyes. Her pupils were completely red. She looked to Sarah and tried to break free. The veins all over her head raised, her neck became rigid as she screamed. Sarah held the cure, trying to inject it into one of the veins.

Sarah hesitated as she watched one of the buckles holding her down loosen. Sarah held her breath and dived onto Danni, injecting her with the cure. The plunger sank into the syringe and Danni broke free; she tossed Sarah against the wall. Danni untied herself; she fell off the bed and onto the floor.

As she landed, her eyes locked onto Sarah and she snarled at her. As Danni and Sarah stood up, Sarah looked around for a weapon, but with nothing in sight, she looked back towards Danni. Danni grabbed her by the neck.

Jonny punched Miller’s head repeatedly, just as he had with Smith. Miller slipped away from Jonny’s grip and tried to crawl away. As Jonny stood, Enzo stayed down and pulled the syringe from his stomach.

Jonny looked over to Miller as he began to squirm away. Jonny charged at Miller, pulled him back towards Enzo and snapped his neck. Miller fell to the ground.

Jonny knelt by Enzo, he was about to speak, but Enzo pulled out his machete and handed it to Jonny.

‘Just to make sure,’ Enzo said with a smile.

Jonny took the machete and put it to the back of Miller’s neck. He lifted the blade up and then smacked it down as hard as he could.

Danni passed out, releasing her grip on Sarah.

Sarah sat on the ground hugging her knees as she waited to see if Danni would heal.

After a minute, Danni’s eyes opened.

Jonny stood above Miller’s body, holding Miller’s head in his hand, exactly how it was in his vision.

‘Look after Danni,’ Enzo said to Jonny as he began to choke on his own blood.

Jonny looked at Enzo; his chest was still and his eyes were open. Blood was oozing from his mouth, creating pools on the ground. Blood began to leak from his eyes, down his cheeks.

‘What? What’s happened?’ Danni said.

‘Danni, I’ve bought you back to life using the virus and cure.’

Danni frowned at Sarah until she began to remember Jonny. ‘Where’s Tom?’

‘He’s outside.’ Sarah said.

Danni pushed herself up and opened the door. She was presented with two bodies and Jonny, holding Miller’s detached head.

Danni stood in shock, realising Jonny had killed Miller. Finally. As she studied the second body, she knew who it was.

‘Enzo!’ she shouted as she ran over to his body. ‘No, no, no! I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you, I’m so sorry I chose to believe Flynn. I’m so…’ Danni began to cry.

Sarah emerged from the lab and stared at Jonny who was in a trance. ‘Darling?’ she said to Jonny.

As Danni looked at Enzo’s bloodied face, she continued to apologise until she realised something. ‘Can you bring him back to life as well?’ Danni said. ‘Please Sarah.’

‘Well I, I can try but I don’t know what was injected into him.’

Suddenly Jonny screamed and he hit Miller’s head against the wall. It smashed like a watermelon; blood splattered across the wall and on the floor. Jonny’s breathing sped up and he looked down the corridor. Anna and Miller stood together, both with bloodshot eyes and dark, mouldy skin.

Danni walked over to Jonny and hugged him, instantly calming him.

Jonny wrapped his arms around her as Sarah stared at all the blood and gore surrounding her. She calmly walked over to Miller’s body. Hesitating only for a second, she plucked Miller’s walkie-talkie from his pocket.

‘Release all prisoners. Withdraw standing orders from Miller. I, Sarah Williams am in charge of the recovery of London.’

Jonny picked up Enzo’s body and walked into the lab. He placed him on the bed with care.

‘I’ll go and release everyone,’ he said.

‘Thank you.’ Danni said as she kissed Jonny on the cheek. As she made contact, he saw a vision of them kissing in the country.

‘If it wasn’t for you…’

‘We did it together.’ Jonny said and smiled, patting Danni on the back as he left the room.

17

1 year later

London is now in recovery.

The virus was massively reduced in London. Dr Haetel’s cure, also known as “Haetel’s mist” was sent throughout London via the sewage works and it was also dropped from above using hovercraft. They dropped glass balls filled with Haetel’s mist from above; when they cracked, the mist escaped and was diffused into the air.

Mist hung in the air across London. It was a fine mist, kind of like fog. It covered the destruction for a few days; a kind of peace descended over London.

Although this mist did cure people, it killed a lot more. The success rate was not as high as Haetel thought; luckily we all survived.

Sarah saved Enzo and he is now living with me, Mum, Sadie and Jerome.

When he was saved, he kept his abilities, but it removed the need for him to use the counteracting drug.
 

Dr Leanna Haetel and Sarah have taken Miller’s role as the scientific representatives of the government. They are now in charge of proceedings with the virus outbreak.

The government were given the finances to build a headquarters in which the ‘senior members’ of the public, basically the fucking rich, are able to stay and be protected from these vicious streets. Instead of funding everyone, they’ve funded themselves. Typical!

Us normal people have had to re-build our homes from scraps and rubble from the destructions. We’ve all had to return to our old homes and then build something in which we can live. Luckily, me and Enzo have been working on our old basement. We live below ground for safety. We’ve built a shelter above ground but we live underground. It’s is nice to keep dad’s belongings with us to remind us of him every now and then.

Sarah took Tom to the headquarters; he tried to take us with him but she wouldn’t let us go. Tom got angry with her; his temper has flared so much.

Tom did use his new power to show me a vision of his. In this vision, we were sharing a room and in bed together. As the visions finished, he whispered ‘I’ll come back for you.’ A year later, I haven’t seen him.

The headquarters was built so quickly, a matter of months. There were many people involved in the construction, people from aboard came across to the UK and travelled all the way to London to help build it, to gain a place within the protective headquarters. We probably should have helped to get a place but people were fighting to help build it, so we didn’t want to get involved.

The headquarters was given the name, “Herstel of London” Herstel meaning ‘recovery’ in Dutch, Dr Haetel’s native language.

The outbreak is apparently worldwide. People from abroad are coming to London so they can live near Herstel.

I think Sarah loves that she is in charge of Herstel and all of London. Of course she’s not a complete psycho like Miller, but she is using all the high-tech equipment that has not been officially released. For example, she is still using the hovercraft; she’s decided to use portable CCTV that drift around London from the air. They even have a speaker and an inbuilt gun so if there’s a crime, they can sound an alarm and do what they need to do to stop the crime as it happens. Although they are armed, they are still easy to break.

There are rumours that there are mortal combat robots which are controlled by someone inside them. I am yet to see that.

No one knows what happened to Miller’s elites. No one has seen them, although we heard from our neighbours that someone captured the most powerful elite, Laura Dupry. They watched her hover above the ground as she tore London apart with her powers but she was stopped as something dragged her down onto the ground and she’s not been seen since.

Anyway, now we wait. We wait for the day that Tom comes to save us. I hope it’s soon; I miss him.

Jonny looked out through the window, comparing the inside of Herstel to the outside past the huge metal dividers.

As he looked down to the clean pavements, manicured greenery and smiling people within the Herstel community, he looked to the outside, scattered with rubble and decomposing bodies.

As Jonny turned away from the window, he came face to face with Anna’s scabbed visage. Her eyes were bloodshot with blood oozing from her eyes, nose and mouth. Jonny stared back at her and then barged his way past. As he did, he looked to the door of his room, which was open, ajar, letting in a cool breeze. As Jonny walked over and slammed the door, he heard the sound of someone scratching their nails against the wall.

Jonny turned suddenly and was shocked to see Miller standing in the corner of the room with his arms folded.

‘Miss me?’ Miller snarled.

‘You… You’re…’

‘I’m dead. I may be dead but I am in your head. You will never ever get away from me, never forget me.’ Miller said as he faded. Miller disappeared. Jonny looked around to the empty room as he still heard Miller sniggering. As Jonny turned, Miller stood face to face with him. His eyes seem to hypnotise Jonny. He couldn’t take his eyes from Miller, he couldn’t move as Miller came closer and closer.

‘You will never forget this face.’ Miller whispered.

‘Shut up!’ Jonny bellowed.

‘Never.’ Miller laughed hysterically, revealing his black gums and sharp yellow teeth. ‘Never.’ Miller barked a second time as he pushed Jonny to the floor. As Jonny fell, he felt as if the ground beneath him had disappeared. He continued to fall through the building and then underground until he stopped, landing on an uneven surface.

Jonny sat up quickly; he was on the underground train tracks. The underground station was empty, with sounds of footsteps echoing from within the tunnel. Jonny’s breathing speeded up. He watched the tunnel, the darkness beginning to swirl around in front of him as if teasing him.

Suddenly, two beady yellow eyes appear from the tunnel.

‘Hello?’ Jonny said.

As the pair of eyes bobbed up and down, Anna appeared from within the tunnel covered in blood, her body clicking and cracking as her bones begin to un-knot themselves. Then came Ken Williams; Jonny recognised him from pictures that Sarah showed him. His entire body was burnt to a crisp; the skin on his face hung loosely. His clothes had small flames patterned across the fabric. After Ken, a woman appeared, crawling from the tunnel. She’d lost one arm and both legs. She crawled quickly toward Jonny despite the loss of her limbs; she grabbed his leg and tried to pull herself up his body. Jonny’s hands were pulled down to the ground as the limbless woman crawled and sat on Jonny’s stomach, pinning him down. As Jonny lay back and looked up, he saw Miller. Miller coughed, he opened his mouth, pouring blood onto Jonny’s face. Jonny screamed louder, and Miller’s head dropped off his neck. His head landed next to Jonny and his eyes continued to move until he made eye contact with Jonny; he whispered ‘You’ll never forget this face.’