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

“Fall back. We need a gap, but hold your aim. We stop them here,” Thompson called, already taking steps out into the open and widening the space between him and the front of the van, then stopping and crouching to the floor to reset his aim. The other soldiers moved to follow whilst keeping their sights fixed at the van.

Cassie, with Shadow at her heel, had already moved away and didn’t stop as they walked along the road.

Jess had gone when I peered up and I couldn’t shake the feeling we wouldn’t see her again.

We had to go; the terrifying calls were so close. We had to at least get out from between the soldiers and those that would reach us at any minute.

As the screams called again, I gripped Alex by the shoulder and ran past the soldiers and into the open, despite knowing if they got through the soldiers there would be no hope.

I stopped at what sounded like a fierce battle cry from the other side of the van and another, but in a distinct tone as if in reply.

The chorus of shouts cut off in their prime, turning to calls of effort and bodies slumping to the ground.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, but as I spoke, I realised there could be only one answer as to what had miraculously saved us a second time from the attack.

Jess.

Together we waited for a sign as if we all knew the danger had passed. We waited for some indication of what had happened the other side of the minivan. It hadn’t come after a brief time and I went to pull Alex along when the door at the bottom of the building opened, each of our heads and the guns swinging its way.

Jess stood in the doorway, her hair matted to her head, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve but not able to clear the dripping red mess from her lips. She’d saved us, but could she stop herself from carrying on the frenzy?

Cassie hadn’t stopped, but the rest of us just stared back.

Alex was the first to move, stepping toward Jess, nodding and I didn’t need to see her face to know she wore a smile as she delved into her pockets as if searching for a handkerchief.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” she said, guiding Jess back through the door.

“We have our orders,” Thompson said, staring hard to the soldiers. None of them spoke, their brows low as if contemplating the consequences of their next move. “Have you got a problem with that?” he asked, staring back at his men. When no one replied, he moved off.

I looked on as he followed in Cassie’s wake, the other soldiers stepping after, muttering under their breath.

No one talked as we slowly walked along the street which opened out from the alley, the road soon widening out to two lanes with the soldiers separating, each taking a flank with Thompson issuing commands to look out for suitable vehicles. The pace increased when Jess and Alex caught up at the back. Cassie stayed at the front with Shadow at her side as her lead opened up with every step.

I jogged to catch up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, the words sounding so lame, so weak, but it was all I thought to say. Was anyone okay in this mess?

Cassie nodded, and I tried to remember the last time we’d really spoken. I thought back to the village when some of my friends had still been alive and the morning when I’d woken to find everyone eating around the table. The calm before the storm. Then the night we’d laid in bed. The dream, but it wasn’t a dream. Despite everything, I’d slept so well with her near.

I’d known her for only a few days. We had a connection, but now I was so damn scared I’d lose her, but to what I wasn’t sure. Was it the bite or the cure that had made her this way? Or her worry for her sister and the rest of the children? Were they what had made her so focused? Or was her anger directed at me for delivering us, delivering them, to the doctor? Or was she turning, like Jess, into a version of those terrifying creatures?

And Jess. I’d had no time to process. I stopped, turning back, peering past the others. Thompson took the rear, a few steps behind Alex with Jess walking by her side. Her face at least resembled one of us, her jacket dark enough so the marks weren’t so obvious. If someone had come along now, they wouldn’t know what she’d done. Wouldn’t know she’d flicked a switch in our moment of need and turned into a wild beast to save us.

The other three soldiers spread out amongst us, occasionally turning in circles to search for danger or transport to take us to the doctor.

Then realisation came so strong it felt like a weight on my chest, my breathing growing shallow.

She was a test subject. She’d become what the doctors had wanted all along and now they were returning her home. Jess had said as much; they’d made her in the hope she would have the power of the creatures but could control the urges. Was Jess, and people like her, our hope for the future? Would they and their kind be the ones who could save the country?

We needed Jess to make it to where they wanted her to go. The world needed her to get there, but did it mean Cassie would become the same and I would lose any hope of a life with her?

With Thompson in earshot, I spoke. “Where in the island are you taking her?”

He considered me for a moment