Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) (16 page)

20

Jonny stood outside the door to Sarah’s office and heard a man’s voice. Jonny knocked on the door seven times, creating a tune. Sarah interrupted on the fifth knock. ‘Come on in darling.’

As Jonny walked in, he saw a man sitting on a chair to the side of Sarah’s desk. Sarah smiled at Jonny and nodded to the chair in front of her desk.

‘I have someone for you to meet. Do you recognise him?’

‘No, I don’t.’ Jonny said as he stared at the man.

The man had wavy, hazel brown hair with grey strands flecked throughout; he had brown eyes and was clean-shaven. The man smiled at Jonny, but Jonny didn’t return it.

‘Well, you remember in your vision you saw a man holding a baby and you didn’t know who he was? Well, this is him.’ The room was silent for a moment. Jonny stared back and forth between the man and Sarah, confused. His sight homed in on Sarah’s lips; he saw the smudged lipstick. He looked at the man’s lips; he noticed the smudged lipstick on his lips too.

Jonny stood up, his fists clenched.

‘Darling no, sit down.’ Sarah said. ‘Now!’ Sarah shouted.

Enzo and another guard burst into the room. ‘It’s fine, we’re ok here; you may leave,’ Sarah said to them, they hesitantly left the room and closed the door.

Jonny remained standing and he clenched his fists harder and harder. He moved over to the man and grabbed him tightly by his arm, entering a vision of the past.

From the view of the man, he walked down the stairs in a small house. The location was not in London. Through the window he could see other houses, cars parked and trees.

As the man turned and walked into the kitchen he saw a letter and a baby shoe on top of it. Opening the letter warily, the man stroked the baby shoe. He read the letter.

Ken,

I’m sorry, but the time has come. I have to leave with baby Tommy.

We both knew this time was coming and that work would need me, this is a big project that will have huge consequences. I don’t want you to be hurt or worse. I love you too much for that.

I will look after Tommy the best I can. One day I will tell him the truth, I will tell him you are his real father…

The vision began to blur, Jonny felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He returned to the present. His grip on the man’s arm was so tight that when he pulled away, his hand left a bruise.

‘Darling, he’s your real father. The man you thought was your father was not; he was simply part of the experiment. He had the role of playing Ken Williams, my husband, your father.’

‘Why would you do that to me?’

‘I didn’t have much choice. Miller was evil; he threatened to kill me and your dad and to take you anyway.’

‘So how was I cured before? Dad… I mean that man took me and cured me, I thought I was cured because we had the same blood type?’

‘You were cured by me. We just had to let you believe that man was your father. It was all part of a sick experiment. I regret it Tom, I really do. I really regret it and for the rest of my life I will regret it. I am so sorry.’ Sarah began to cry.

Jonny looked to the man and then paced to the door and back to Sarah’s desk.

‘I know this is a lot to take in…’ she said.

‘It is.’ Jonny sighed.

The man stood up and walked towards Jonny. As he approached, they stared at each other. Ken put his hand out. ‘It’s good to meet you Jonny.’ Ken said.

Jonny hesitated for a moment, letting Ken’s hand hang without shaking it. Then Jonny grabbed Ken’s hand and entered another vision of the past.

He saw the letter Sarah wrote burning on the desk beside him. The flames curled the corners of the page.

Ken pulled on the rope hanging from the ceiling; he steadied a chair beneath the rope. As he stood on it, he looped the rope around his neck.

Jonny returned to the present. He stared at the faded scars on Ken’s neck. He then stared into his brown eyes. It was almost like Jonny was staring into a mirror.

‘Please, Dad, call me Tom.’ Tom said as he hugged Ken.

The End

ENDURANCE: RECOVERY

1

Danni walked along the corridors holding her MP5 machine gun. Her guard duty was to walk the lower grounds of Herstel; the storage areas.

As Danni walked along the dimly lit corridors she heard a scream up ahead. She pulled her gun and jogged towards the screams. As she reached the end, the screaming stopped. She looked around but was only surrounded by boxes, wrapping and the walls.

She calmly placed her weapon by her side and tracked back from where she came. As she moved further away, she heard more screams.

As she walked back towards the walls, the screaming continued from behind the wall.

‘I can’t stop thinking about it Mum. My visions are becoming my dreams and my thoughts. I constantly see Danni dying. I see Anna killing her and Miller killing her and I can’t stop them.’

‘It will get better Tom, I’ll help you.’

‘We’ve been saying this for…’

‘We will both help you. We’ve tried to help by using science and will continue that, but we will also support you as your parents.’ Ken said as he patted Tom’s back.

‘I’m scared for her. I can’t be with her all the time when she’s on guard and…’

‘She’s safe here in Herstel. She’s well trained, she’s ok, there’s no threat within Herstel; it’s a safe haven.’ Sarah said proudly.

Danni knocked across the face of the wall. She came to a place where the sound changed; a hollow knock. She pushed forward, swinging a door open that was camouflaged on the wall.

Stepping inside, she was hit with a boiling heat. A light was coming from within, and so Danni followed the circular corridor.

Ken left the room, leaving Tom and Sarah.

‘I saw a vision where three scientists were experimenting on a girl. This girl was injected with three different liquids and as it injected into her she broke free and was really strong, powerful. Are you experimenting on people in Herstel?’

‘Darling we…’

‘I want the truth, Mum.’ Tom said.

‘We are experimenting but only to help us understand the virus and the cure. Miller covered a lot of ground but his motives were all negative and power driven.’

‘And yours aren’t?’

‘Not at all, mine
and
Dr Haetel’s work is strictly professional and beneficial to help cure the world, Tom.’

‘My visions beg to differ, Mum.’

Sarah shook her head at Tom as she walked over to the window and looked out onto London.

Danni came to a huge opening. The room was the size of a football field, completely open; there were many people inside.

Danni was disgusted by what she saw. It was where the elites had been taken. They were being experimented on, being forced to test their abilities and they were being made stronger.

Danni looked to her left to see flames being directed at a middle-aged woman. As her skin burned and peeled away from her bones and muscles, she turned scabby. For a moment, her skin looked slimy and brown, and then turned into normal skin instantly. Danni looked ahead to the other elites. She spotted Laura Dupry. She was in a cage, suspended by her arms and shoulders. Her entire body was surrounded by a pulsating laser.

Danni looked to other elites being beaten with shovels, police batons or being sliced by swords.

Danni turned away in revulsion. She saw dead bodies though to the right. Bodies piled over bodies. She quickly redirected herself and walked over towards them.

All the bodies were either severely burnt or beaten. As she knelt down to a small boy’s body closest to her, she saw a piece of string hanging from his ear. She looked across the pile of bodies and saw they all had nametags attached to their ear lobes.

As she pulled the nametag around, she read, “Daniel Gregor.” Danni knew the name, Tom always spoke about the time he met Daniel. He always wondered where Daniel disappeared. He was so attached to him, even though he only met him a couple of times.

Danni stepped back.
I need to warn Tom.

‘I am doing what I have to do to protect our city. It’s my responsibility to protect everyone. I could change the world, Tom.’

‘You could, but whatever you’re up to, stop. I don’t want to hate you again.’

‘You won’t need to hate me darling; the government is working with every governing official worldwide to deal with this virus. We will defeat it and…’

Danni burst into the office, short of breath.

‘You bitch!’ she shouted. ‘You absolute fucking bitch!’ Danni threw her gun down and ran at Sarah. Tom grabbed hold of her, pulling her away from his mother.

‘Danni, what’s wrong?’ he said.

‘You’re right Tom; she’s got something going on. I just found some secret area where the elites are being kept. They’re being tortured and killed. I went in there and…’

‘She’s lying Tom, there’s no such thing.’ Sarah snapped back, glaring at Danni.

‘Tom I found Daniel, Daniel Gregor. He’s dead.’

Tom took a deep breath to speak but words failed him. He stayed silent for a moment as he realised what Danni had just said.

‘I saw his body. The elites are being experimented on. On the bottom floor behind the wall on the north end, there’s a secret…’

‘This is ridiculous.’ Sarah interrupted.

‘Shut up!’ Tom shouted as he turned slowly to Sarah. ‘Shut up, right now.’ He stared at her, his fists clenched harder and harder, beginning to draw blood. As Tom glared at her, Sarah jumped back a little.

‘Oh my god darling, you…’

‘Shut up.’ Tom shouted, his voice sounded different to normal. He looked down to his hands to see that they were veiny and pale. He turned to Danni who also jumped back.

‘My god Tom, your eyes have gone really red and bloodshot.’

Tom launched himself across the desk and dragged Sarah back across it, knocking everything off.

He pushed her to the floor and began to strangle her.

Danni did not attempt to intervene as Tom shouted at her. ‘Are you experimenting on the elites? No more lies!’

Sarah hesitated as she tried to release Tom’s grip.

‘Answer me!’

‘We have some going on…’ Sarah stutters as the grip on her neck tightened. ‘We need to experiment on them to test their abilities.’

‘Why? What for?’

Sarah struggled, trying to escape his grip. Tom lost his temper and picked her up off the floor and slammed her back down.

‘What are you planning?’

‘The elites… they’re useful. To experiment on… and to help us interrogate.’

‘Why would you need to interrogate?’

‘People who… don’t obey the rules.’ Sarah continued to squirm, her face a deep red colour. ‘Herstel was for recovery, but no one within Herstel can ever leave. Everyone inside
will
become an elite.’

Tom glared into her eyes, her mouth gaping open, gasping for air. Tom struggled to let go as he watched her visions.

‘Tom let her go, we need her help.’ Danni said.

‘We are at war… We need the elites.’ Sarah spat.

‘Let her go!’ Danni shouted.

Tom stared into Sarah’s eyes. As he blinked, he saw Miller’s smarmy face looking back at him.