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

He was a tall man with no hair, his blue and white tracksuit stained a murky brown across the front.

We watching as his eyebrows pointed towards the sky, the baseball bat slapping as it swung into his cupped left hand.

We followed his look and then his slow smiling walk, the bat slapping back and forth, but we couldn't quite see what he walked towards because our angle was obscured by the house to the left.

The racket continued as he walked out of sight, the hard slap of wood echoing as it hit over and over against something we could only guess.

He was back in view, carrying a self-satisfied grin, wiping the end of the wood against his trousers. He looked up, stopping dead in front of us.

I felt Cassie's body stiffen; her right hand sought my leg. I grabbed her cold hand and squeezed.

Something had caught his attention. We'd heard the noise too, a distinct sound coming from inside the house we were leaning against.

The guy's smile had gone and he turned in our direction, his eyes squinting, settling on the trellis and gave a great, elongated call.

“Boss.”

52

The machete-wielding driver came out first, his expression fixed with a question to our guy with no hair. His attention soon followed in the direction the baseball bat motioned.

Neither had seen us, despite his stare in our direction. At one point I was sure he'd made eye contact, but it was clear their interest lay in the house. They were welcome to the surprise on the other side of the door.

The noise came again before they'd all come out of the first house, throwing bags and high-value goods into the back of the pickup. Each followed in the footsteps of their leader, their weapons at the ready, whistles and calls of excitement running through the air.

This time they knocked with a gentle wrap of knuckles at the front door as each walked into the house's shadow and out of sight.

This was our chance and we had no choice but to take it. Cold air plumed around me once more as I pulled away from Cassie, with my hand still on the top of hers.

I led her, both of us bending over, running down the side of the garden whilst trying to keep our footsteps light. The fence stood six-foot-tall at our side and ran a long way out.

The search for safety ended too quick, the garden devoid of anywhere to hide with grass rolling out to the fence at the back. The only feature was a moss-covered wooden bench nestled to the side of the fence line, half way along.

Still we ran, Cassie behind me as I pulled her along with my hand at my back, not daring to slow or look around at the repeated smack at the front door.

I dragged her past me, pointing at the bench and motioning my instruction.

Her raised eyebrows confirmed she knew my plan but matched my fears; the bench looked as if it would collapse as we climbed.

Still there was no choice and we were upon it. I slowed. She didn't, instead leaping into the air with her foot on the arm as the wood complained.

It was too late; her hands were on the fence, legs carrying over as she disappeared the other side to a soft landing.

Not being able to match her momentum and commitment to the move, my feet slid across the moss as I climbed on the seat, resting a foot on the arm, feeling it sag under my weight.

Grabbing my hands onto the top of the fence, I looked back and saw net curtains in the windows lift. Landing on the other side, I held Cassie back, my eyes wide as I chanced a whisper.

“There's someone alive inside,” I said and, as if to confirm, we heard the definitive sound of the front door swinging wide, rattling as it hit the wall behind, followed by a woman’s shrill scream.

Cassie’s eyes grew wide, matching my concern. We'd both thought the noise was from someone long-dead roaming around where the previous inhabitants of the body had lived. One of those creatures wouldn't care to lift the curtain to see what was going on in their garden.

We held there for longer than we should, both of us deep in thought, shaking our heads.

What if it was a family, or a group of decent people like us? What if it had been us, our friends inside?

The racket from before started up again; this time there was shouting, an argument, and we ran. There was nothing we could do, but we didn't race away, instead without either of us guiding, we ran back towards the houses, diagonally along the new garden and were soon in front of the neighbouring house.

I held Cassie back and peered around, inching forward at a snail's pace. They'd left no-one out the front.

I did a quick scan, seeing only the farmer dead again in the middle of the road, only knowing who it had been from the clothes; the head caved to a pulpy mess.

Grabbing Cassie's upper arm, I ran across the front garden, leaping the small fence no taller than my knee. We ran across the road, turning only when across the opposite front garden and leaned against the wall as we looked back the way our friends were, whilst pulling deep breaths to regain control.

Cassie saw it first, nudging my arm with her elbow. I don't know whether we recognised it from before.

It didn't matter; it had seen us and veered from the bend in the road, heading in our direction.

The creature was slow and we should just have run away; should have just taken care of ourselves, but someone needed our help, even though we were in no place to give it.

Cassie was first