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

As I thought on, I pushed the play button on the playback machine, used the joystick to zoom and I fast-forwarded, watching what I’d already seen out of the corner of my eye play back in quick time.

As the figure I recognised came into view, I slowed the tape down to half speed, leaning in toward the screen.

It was her. I was sure. A face of perfection, slightly alien with the thick make-up to hide the bruises, but most people wouldn’t know that.

Alex left the camera rolling as I waited for the upload to finish and I switched the screen, showing the live feed of the destruction, only turning away as the automatic reply flashed to tell me the editing team had received the footage.

Now it was up to them to do what they had to do. I had to rely on Stan to make the choice to send it out to the masses, to push out my warning as far as it would go.

I let Toni’s image play on as if letting her go from my mind.

“What now?” Alex said from the open doors of the van, her voice calming my rising beat.

“There’s a thousand, maybe more on their way here,” I said, sighing through my smile.

“So what do you want to do? You’ve done it despite everything,” she said, her eyes wide, face beaming a mirror image of mine.

“We did it. Thank you.”

I let my shoulders fall.

“Do you think they’ll use it?” she replied, her face set in a scowl as she nodded to the images still playing on the wall of screens.

“We’ll never know,” I said with a sigh.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

I nodded. “But what can I do?”

“I don’t think this story is over yet,” she said, raising a smile in the corner of her mouth.

I glanced to the gun still laid on the table at my side.

“I think you’re right,” I said.

Alex squinted and turned her head.

“Toni’s alive. She got into the helicopter.” I could feel the tears running down my cheek, but I couldn’t acknowledge them by wiping them away. I didn’t have to as Alex leant forward and wrapped her arms around me, drawing out the pain.

“We have to find out how to keep you human,” she said, whispering to my ear.

I nodded, but after a moment of relief, the pop of a gunshot came through the speakers, pulling me back to reality. Alex pulled away and together we turned to the screen, watching the wide angle as the helicopter lumbered into the air, bringing back the memory of how the wind had picked up when it happened in real time.

I closed my eyes.

“There’s two people on the roof,” Alex said moments later, turning back toward me from looking out of the back doors. “A dog, too,” she said, uncertainty in her voice. “We should go see if they’re okay.”

I closed my eyes, taking a slow breath.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” I said as I held my hand to my stomach.

Epilogue

The first I knew was the interruption to the police car chasing a joyrider ragged across the streets of London, the banner across the screen turning to words, making me sit up from the sofa.

The warning about the sensitive images made me nudge forward and turn the volume even higher.

The beauty in the centre of the screen, the red jacket and trousers seemed to be all she wore; her features radiating out towards me nearly made me fall to the floor.

The background was a blur. The helicopter with its blades rotating and the people running towards it across the roof were the only details not pixilated.

Her words weren’t censored, the emotion in her voice raw as she spoke of the children. The scrolling message along the bottom of the screen saved the need to rewind.

It had happened. It wasn’t April the first. I checked my watch twice just to be sure.

A virus raising the dead to their feet.

The end of an era, of our civilisation.

I stood, blood draining from my face, but still I punched the air, a wry smile on my lips as I shouted, “Now who’s laughing, bitches,” just as the image cut off, the colourful test card taking its place and I ran upstairs to grab my Bug Out Bag.

To be continued…

After The End

G J Stevens

our way out, if we could make it before they caught us.

Craning forward, I saw discarded stone and greenery, but otherwise the road looked clear and with a sense of relief rising, I knew the gap could be our saviour.

With a backward glance, my optimism rose even more when I saw the pack had reformed. They were slowing.

To add to my delight, as I turned ahead the grass looked so flat and already the suspension had ceased its complaint.

We would make it.

Aiming for the centre of the gap, I concentrated on the ground ahead, hoping an errant pothole wouldn’t trash our growing chance. Peering forward, I watched as two pairs of bloodied trainers pulled up, pushing me back into the seat as I took in the full height of the two tall men, their faces draped with blood, racing towards us through the gap with countless more following as they took the sharp turn from the road.

My stomach sank, realising they’d caught us in a trap I should have seen coming. To do so meant they were so much more than I had ever wanted to admit possible; engineered superhumans who could cooperate with each other. How could we ever defend ourselves from that?

To the squeals and calls from behind my seat, I had no time to weigh up