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

power along with the Internet and phone services, and yes they’ve made passing comments about a big outbreak of Foot and Mouth, but other than that…”

“Wait,” I said, stepping in. “I find this very difficult to believe. What would they hope to achieve?”

“Annihilation of our country,” he said, his tone matter of fact.

I turned to Jess, hoping she wasn’t going to back up his theory and was pleased to see her shaking her head with her eyes narrowed.

“Or it could be that they don’t know their arse from their elbow and are just fucking this whole thing up,” she added.

“Or anywhere in between the two,” I added. Alex and Jess nodded as the guy looked back with his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“The point is,” Jess said, “the people don’t know. They didn’t believe me and they’re going to die.” It was my turn to agree.

I looked to the guy who still had his brow raised.

“Why did you believe the story?” I added.

“I found the full version.”

I watched as Jess’s expression lifted, and she stood up from leaning against the metal.

“I found it on the Internet.”

“Stan,” Jess breathed.

“It was so intense. It looked like CGI, like some film promo. In fact, it was so real looking, I thought for a moment you made it up and I checked the listings to see if you had a film coming out.”

“But surely mine hasn’t been the only report coming out. There must be others telling this story now? There must be millions of people displaced. Thousands missing. Hundreds dead?”

The guy shook his head. “Nothing. Have you seen the roadblocks? They go all the way back to Somerset.”

Jess, Alex and I swapped glances.

“When the commentary started, people questioned what you said and the government’s response. The authorities started talking about something going on, bigging up the Foot and Mouth thing and talking about putting the area in quarantine, using that as a reason why the power had been lost, because essential supplies can’t get in. They’ve been very vague. The news is so sparse and no radio since Yeovil.”

“But they’re telling people to get away at least? To stay indoors? Please tell me that’s what they’re saying? Are they telling people what to do if they come across the... the creatures…?”

“No. Nothing like that,” he said, slowly shaking his head.

Jess turned back to Alex with her mouth slack and gaze unfocused.

“All for nothing,” she said in barely a whisper.

“No. Not for nothing,” the guy said, stepping forward. “There are people that get this. There are people that understand and took notice. They know what’s going on.”

“But not enough people,” Alex said, turning away to look at the horizon.

The guy slowed his nod for the first time.

“I think you might be right.”

Taking a step forward and tilting my head to the side, I spoke again. “So what do you think is happening here?”

He didn’t pause. “It’s the end of civilisation as we know it. It’s the fucking zombie apocalypse.”

Dumbfounded at his words, I stared back. He’d got it. Simple. He knew the truth we’d experienced for the last week, or however long it had been. But why the hell was he grinning from ear to ear?

“The funny thing is,” he said, as he moved to look back to Jess. “If they hadn’t tried to discredit you, fewer people would have believed you. Then when they said you’d died...”

“Died?” Jess stepped back, her mouth wide.

“They said you’d died in an accident. That you were reckless.”

I turned to Jess, watching as the blood seemed to drain from her face.

“Now that was a big mistake,” she said, with the first hint of a smile rising in the corner of her mouth. “They’ve just made it easy to prove they’re lying. But Stan...”

“Stan Fraser?” the guy said, and Jess nodded, her eyes widening. “They arrested him.”

Jess turned as a thought seemed to come to mind. She stared with a great intent, first to me and then to Alex. “The helicopters over the ruins of the hospital.”

My eyes widened when I realised what she was thinking. The guy spoke before I could give my thoughts voice.

“They showed the wreckage of the hospital. They showed a destroyed and burnt out news van.”

“How did they explain that?” I said.

“The whole thing was filmed in a demolition site and she got crushed when a building collapsed.”

“No. That’s not right,” Alex added, shaking her head. “They bombed that place to get rid of the evidence of the tests.”

I watched Jess’s eyes narrow and teeth grit together.

“They wanted to make sure I’d died and I think we all know what they’d do if they found me alive.”

37

“We’ve got to do this,” Jess shouted, the words echoing out to send each of us scouring the horizon.

“What?” I said, seeing her eyes wide with the excitement.

“I need to get in front of the camera again. I need to show them I’m not dead. I need to show the country I’m alive and more of what we’ve seen. Then they’ll have to believe what’s going on.”

Alex turned to face Jess, putting her hand on her shoulder.

“Even if somehow we can get more footage, if Stan’s not there to show it...” Alex said. “And won’t they come looking for you if they find out you’re alive?”

We all turned to Mandy coming around the side of the car.

“Filming? Are you mad? We need to find somewhere safe. We need to get out of here and find the authorities,” she said, looking at each of us in turn as her voice rose.

We turned away from her, much to her annoyance.

“They’ll probably figure out where you are from the footage,” I added.

Jess nodded, her excitement still rising as she