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

between the seats, and Alex alongside peering down, we stared to the harbour in the distance with its water empty of boats and a lengthy line of cars jamming the approaching roads. The excitement of escaping by sea drained before taking root.

As we sat back in our seats, I let the pickup freewheel down the hill, only slipping into gear when I first saw the litter of belongings discarded across the road and I guided the wheels to slalom around the open suitcases, their contents spread amongst the pools of dried blood.

On seeing a spray of scarlet against a white wall to the side and the centre of the mess potted with what I guessed to be a bullet hole, I sped us away.

Concentrating back on the road, we descended further into the town, passing guest houses and B&Bs blocking the view of the sea as we reached the centre. A darkened chip shop marked the corner of a T junction where the road widened to the right with white signs and black letters pointing along a disorderly line of abandoned cars toward the seafront and harbour.

I built speed in the opposite direction, blinkering myself from the buildings on either side; the pubs, the shops, the restaurants and trinket store with smashed windows whose glass covered the paths and bodies at rest.

Relenting, I looked to each door standing ajar and the flames rising from the roofs from what seemed like every other. The wind must have changed, filling the cab with smoke and covering our path as we fiddled with the air vents. Hacking at the fumes, we wound down our windows to find the smoke across the road gone with a gust, leaving the sight of a pub ablaze to the left and a school with flames climbing high and black smoke billowing from every window opposite. An explosion sent glass across the road.

I stomped on the accelerator and charged through the heat radiating from both sides. Cassie moaned from the back until we were out the other side as cool air flooded in, leaving just the stench of smoke.

We raced through darkened traffic lights with the buildings thinning. Without talking, I slowed, searching out the road signs for our direction, but the adrenaline faded when I saw our route ahead clogged with abandoned cars right through it.

38

Not slowing, I tensed to the sound of the body panels squealing with branches scratching down our right and metal scraping away the paint on the other side. Pushing us on despite the pickup’s complaint, we squeezed between the cars and the hedgerow at the side of the roundabout with a hope I could keep this up all the way beyond the horizon and to the main road.

I remembered travelling from the other direction with the road clear a few days before. It had seemed so much wider when were excited to head to the secluded destination near the sea.

Squeezing through the corner, the road stretched out ahead filled with three jumbled lanes of cars, vans, minibuses and so much more; each had jostled for position before they’d had to give up, leaving doors wide and possessions littering the gaps. To the right I steered us along a short grass verge lined with thick bushes before trees took over to block the view of what could be on the other side.

“Where are all the people?” I said, watching as everyone in the back shook their heads.

Cassie opened her eyes. “There’s not even any bodies,” she added.

“Let’s hope they all made it away,” Alex added and all but Mandy nodded.

“At least it looks like the creatures have moved on,” I said, but no one replied as if afraid to tempt fate.

I pushed us on and after a few seconds more, the left-wing mirror ripped clean off and disappeared below the view with an impact against a plumber’s van. Moving us as far to the right as I dared, I’d take the scrape of wooden fingers over the scratch of metal any day.

Searching ahead, I peered at a lamppost standing tall in the middle of the space we needed to get through. I thought of ramming it down, but I ignored the temptation as visions of head wounds and steam rising from the engine sprung to mind.

Instead, I trusted the ground didn’t fall away beyond the thick foliage of the hedge to the right so we wouldn’t slide and roll to a more terrifying end.

Despite the violent clawing at our thin metal skin, I edged us further into the undergrowth as the lamppost grew closer. By the time we’d reached the tall pole, we hadn’t rolled away and out of sight.

Back on the verge and past the post, we drove on like that for a little while longer, having to divert from the safety of the grass every so often, each time fearing a fall into the unknown. But still we hadn’t disappeared, and I tried to ignore the chaos of cars, the debris and the dark patchwork of dried blood sprayed to the paintwork. The white cars were the worst.

As we passed car after car, I tried not to imagine the time when panic came, sending everyone running, chased in fear for their lives or at the thought of missing their last hope.

I remembered back to the dark hospital corridor when we’d interrupted the creature dragging the bodies away and tried not to think of a pile of rotting flesh beyond where we could see.

We were making excellent progress; roundabouts came and went with the same scene to our left. Not able to judge how far we’d travelled, I eventually spotted the road clear ahead. Each of the vehicles stopped in a neat line up against one of the six concrete blocks across the entire width of the road, including on the verge.

I didn’t pause. As soon as I