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

down through skylights after every few steps. It felt like we were in a different place, like a weight lifted, despite the heaviness of the dog.

Led into an anti-room, much like the one downstairs, I watched each of the two separate doorways. Without the need to wait, the left opened and through came Doctor Lytham.

“Who?” I asked, turning back to Cassie, but the words tailed off.

“You look like you've seen a ghost,” the doctor said, but she didn't keep her gaze on me long enough for a reply.

Instead, her lids widened as they fell on Jack then squinted small as she scanned the room, settling on Andrew sitting on the floor, his back leaning heavy against the wall.

The second of the two doors opened and out stepped a man with messy, ginger hair. With a nod from the doctor, he rounded up the children, but before he could be led through the door, Jack turned, wide-eyed, for my approval.

“Go,” I said, tapping his shoulder as they passed.

The doctor nodded. “He'll be fine,” she said.

I nodded a slow reply.

“They'll be safe with us,” she added.

“We'll make sure,” I replied, and moved to follow.

The soldier stepped in my path.

“You have been injured,” Doctor Lytham said, and turned with me towards Cassie and Andrew.

As the door swung closed at my back, I was sure I heard a key turn and a lock snap into place.

The doctor took a step. Lane backed away and she examined Cassie's grey, dirty bandage and swept her long blonde hair to the side as she pushed her hand to Cassie’s forehead, then gripped her wrist between her thumb and forefinger, staring out to the wall as if it wasn't there.

Letting go, the doctor seemed satisfied and ushered her to stand beside me. With Cassie out of the way, she knelt down to Andrew, but didn't touch him or take his pulse. She did nothing but look over his paling skin and the dark red stains soaking through the bandage at his arm.

Another man in a lab coat came through the right-hand door, his coat splashed dark with blood.

The doctor pointed Cassie out and he opened the right-hand door, holding it open. Cassie turned, staring back at me the same way Jack had, willing me to answer her unvoiced question. Is it going to be okay?

I nodded without pause. I wanted to go with her, but Andrew's need was more pressing.

Lane followed Cassie through the door, but when I didn't go with them, Doctor Lytham dismissed her colleague with a nod and he let the door close as he followed behind.

“He needs stitches,” I said, looking down at the dog.

Doctor Lytham turned sharply in my direction, glancing towards Shadow, but soon her gaze fell on Andrew again.

I saw the look in her eyes, saw her give an unvoiced order; watched as the taller of the soldiers took a step towards me as the doctor tried not to catch my eye, walking through the left door and holding it open.

I took a step, turning back to ask a question, but my voice dried up as I looked at Andrew.

His eyes were wide open and, instead of the soldier lifting him under the armpits, he held a gun at his temple.

My view became blocked by the other soldier, his arms grabbing around me in a bear hug. I bucked as the bang echoed.

Shadow struggled, squeezed tight against my chest, my arms pinned at my side.

90

I'd been out cold for a while, but for how long I could only guess. The drugs they'd stabbed in my neck felt like they still swirled around my head. They'd been enough to calm my grief, to close my eyes, to get me behind the unbreakable glass door.

With my vision only just becoming clear, I stared out past the glass, watching technicians in white coats hurry around the laboratory as it stretched out, their excitement so clear in their energetic expressions while they busied between the benches. In their hands, many held long pipettes, loading colourful liquids from vial to vial.

I'd woken laying down on a bed to the hum of a generator somewhere close by. Shadow sat at my feet, the hair around his middle shaven, while a line of stitches highlighted the wound. I pushed my hand to his head, making sure they hadn't just given me his body back.

Pulling at the long metal door handle, none of the heads on the other side looked up as my fist hammered hard when I found it locked.

I stopped only as Shadow woke, lifting his head as if complaining about the noise. The room had nothing I could force against the window. Shiny, thick bolts held the metal bed frame to the floor. The blanket was no use, nor was the bucket sitting in the corner.

I sat close to Shadow and let the pressure in my veins drop, hoping my vision would settle as I stroked across his back. I kept my gaze from the short hair and watched as he nuzzled his head tight against his back legs.

Watching out through the glass, I set about planning my next move. They would have to give me food; when the door opened I would strike forward. I would take the opportunity to launch my revenge for Andrew's death.

Lytham would be the first. I'd look her in the eye and wait for her to tell me he hadn't had a chance, so why give him one? I would tell her she had no chance either, count to three, then blow her out of existence.

Somehow, I would find Cassie and Lane, would find the kids and we'd go. We'd take our chances on the outside. We'd live whatever time we had left hidden away. Hidden from the creatures. Hidden from the looters. Hidden