In The End Box Set | Books 1-3 Stevens, GJ (story books to read TXT) 📖

forced a smile, but my lips tensed as I pushed all my energy to my grip. The smile fell as the tower bent with my journey less than half complete.

The cable sagged as if another weight had added, the movement so great I had to tuck my legs under to stop my feet hitting the roof as I went over the edge. At least I’d picked up speed and the creatures wouldn’t get close.

Only just over the side of the building, there was nothing I could do as the cable gave out, snapping with a pop greater than the distant shots.

With its length retreating through my arms, I plummeted through the air, my view filling with the building coming toward me faster than I knew my bones could take.

23

My vision filled with clay bricks, concentration fixing on their symmetry as I raced toward them. Without thought I traced the neat white lines between each course, but the view changed, the world spinning as the top of the chain-link caught at my feet.

I heard the rattle of the thin metal links, feeling weightless for a breath until pressure slammed at my side and I paused, hanging upside down.

With what seemed like just enough energy left inside me, I curled into a ball, rolling as the air pushed out when I hit the concrete. The smash of the chain-link came again, and I looked through blurring vision to see Toni at the foot of the other fence, still swaying, sprawled on the floor, motionless with a hundred eyes on her as she lay between the two rows.

I ignored the aches, the pain shooting up my legs as I climbed to my feet, gaze tracking the thick cable slapping to rest on the hard floor, its weight bearing down on top of each fence.

She’d jumped on the cable as I descended.

She’d had no choice with those creatures so close. The inner chain-link fence had caught my feet, slowed me down. Turned me over and I survived the fall.

She’d fallen much further, hit the other side of the fence and bounced into the perimeter.

We’d succeeded in getting down from the rooftop, but were being followed. The air filled with the piercing calls as the creatures jumped from the tall roof, pulling through the sea of stench and would be on us again any minute. We had to go, but first I had to get to her.

Hooking my fingers between the links, jabbing my toes into the space between the thin metal, the fence swaying forward and back as I climbed. Pain shot up my spine as I lurched in my attempt to keep steady.

Toni still hadn’t moved. I pulled myself away from the sight, turning to the sea of bruised faces staring with white eyes.

The dead were cast to the side, thrown out of the way by the creature I knew I would see; a version of what could so easily have been me.

Turning away, I was over the top and with one last grip to slow my fall, I landed. Pain electrified the sole of my foot, stealing my breath as I reached for my pocket.

With the burning sensation subsiding, I remembered the lab coat in tatters, my gun lost as I climbed the side of the building. No sign of Toni’s pistol or the rifle either, cast aside in the panic.

Around me were hundreds of guns. A pistol at each soldier’s side. A rifle slung over every other’s shoulder, as they scraped and clawed, rattling, chattering on the other side of the thin linked metal.

The only weapons I had were my hands. I had to think quickly. The creature hung prone and slow as it climbed the fence, but it would be here, the first of many, any moment.

I ripped open the rucksack, ignoring Toni’s lack of movement, ignoring the thin red liquid swimming inside the bag. I felt no gun, only thin broken glass and I pulled my hand back, a river of panic washing over me as I launched my rage towards the creature gaining height on the fence.

Pushing hard, I screamed my own terrifying call as I raced toward it. Making contact in a blur, I sent it sprawling and slapping to the ground somewhere in the sea of death. Choking back the surprise at what I’d achieved, I ran with the realisation I’d bought myself no time at all.

I scooped Toni’s light body up in my arms. She’d always been so dainty, but I had to push away the building thoughts.

I ran as fast as I could around the perimeter between the two fences, ignoring the snarls of the dead and didn’t look back.

Toni’s tiny movements urged me on. She wasn’t dead, despite the new bruise spreading out across her head.

The relief fell when I realised movement was no longer a good sign. A heavy weight closed around me like thick curtains. Lost in her pain as she moaned in my arms, the pad of feet slapping to the concrete wouldn’t give me time to check if she was still alive.

The race was on, but I knew I would lose. There was no way I could outrun what was chasing us down. No way I could climb quick enough. No way I would leave Toni behind.

I felt what I thought was its breath on my neck and stopped, laid Toni at my feet and turned, letting out a deep breath, locking with its eyes, its clawed fingers swiping at my face as its teeth bared down.

24

Stunned by the sharp explosions of a gun at my side, I watched like a passenger in my body with the creature lurching forward, its black-veined face smashing against my chest and sending me tumbling backward. Despite using all of my reserves fighting to stay upright, its weight overcame me, pushing me to the