In The End Box Set , Stevens, GJ [motivational novels .txt] 📗

biological perspective, our virus is awesome. The way it infects whilst keeping the host alive and in the process imparting so much, like the strength and enhanced senses. All we have to do…” she stopped speaking as my interruption burst out.

“I’m not a fucking host,” I said, pulling back.

“I’m sorry. It’s just the way I talk. The people. They’re people. I know.”

“And they’re all gone now?” I said when she didn’t reply.

Toni turned back, biting her bottom lip as she shook her head and stared down to the bitumen pitch of the roof.

“But everyone I’ve seen had their brains blown out or smashed against the concrete.”

“You saw one corridor,” she said, standing, pointing to the long, low building which housed my cell. Still holding her finger out, she turned me around and I took in the building shaped like a child would draw the sun.

Where we stood side by side was the ball in the middle; the cell blocks were the lines out from the central circle.

With the ground writhing between the buildings, I stopped turning as I completed the circle and finished counting the twelve cell blocks.

21

“Each one?” I said, pulling my mouth closed.

Toni nodded with her eyes almost shut.

“Full?” I added, and she continued the nod. “And human testing started when? Where did all these people come from? It's been two days since you called me.”

Toni snapped her head to the side at the echo of a distant shot.

“Not here, not now. Please.”

I barely noticed the call of the weapon; it was the sight of the birds startled into flight which caught my eye.

“All in the last forty-eight hours?” I said, my voice lowering as I fought to hold back a volley of questions.

“Not here. Please,” she insisted again, grabbing my arm.

I let her draw me to a crouch.

“You said you wouldn’t let them do it,” I said in a soft, almost childlike voice.

Toni slowly shook her head as she scoured the skyline. Another shot rang off as a blast of wind rattled through my clothes, sending a chill through my body. A memory of hunger pulled my lips tight.

She was right; there had to be better places to have this conversation. I did my best to push the thought away, joining in the search across the roof.

After twisting around, still bent at my knees, I wasn’t sure what we were looking for, but I was certain we hadn’t found it. There was no shelter on top of the roof. No stairwell rising out with a door we could open or break through.

The tallest feature was a metal tower twice higher than the building. On the top sat satellite dishes and mobile phone masts. Halfway up were thick cables running tight to a smaller version of the mast on each of the twelve outer buildings.

Across the roof were small upturned plastic boxes no larger than my head, each face slatted with a ventilation grill. None of these were our way back into the building and, anyway, the infested corridors were not where we should return to.

Toni seemed to agree, ignoring the square hatch we found at the edge of the building. Instead, I followed her on hands and knees as she crawled the perimeter.

Copying her motion as she peered over the edge, I watched as Toni flicked her head away every few moments to take a deep breath and clear away the foul sewerage stench I could taste on my tongue after only a moment staring at the writhing mass of bodies over the side.

Every area of ground swam with creatures squirming against one another. I stared at their unrelenting hunt for human protein. I watched as they walked into walls, turning without stumbling, heading in a new direction before hitting the next object in their way.

In amongst the slow tide it was easy to see those who were different, those I’d shared a cell block with such a short time ago. Their hands swung out, clearing a path wherever they headed. I could see the hunger in their eyes, the hunger I wanted only to be a memory.

If this was what it was like after forty-eight hours then what would it be like after a week?

“What?” Toni said, turning at my side.

My look must have said so much.

“This after such a short time?” I could feel hope draining as I stared on. “If it was just the original mutation,” I said, pushing down the lump in my throat, “if it was just those you didn’t create, then I guess we would have a chance. But when these creatures…” I paused, searching for the words. “Your amalgam, the ones who are still alive, when they spread their version of the virus we won’t have a chance.”

Toni shook her head.

“No,” she said, reaching her warm hand on top of mine at the edge of the roof. “Those things, the mistakes, they’re not the same. When they bite, only the original virus passes on. So it will only bring back someone once they’re dead. It’s just these we have to deal with. No more.”

Questions rose as I processed her words, but as a pair of eyes from below snapped up in my direction, the thoughts dissipated in the shared look.

Their pause was less than mine. His black-lined faced stayed fixed as he forced his way to the edge of the building, smacking aside the dead creatures in his way.

My heart raced as he pounced into the air, his feet landing to the window ledge on the first floor.

“Toni,” I squealed as it took another leap, not looking where it would land; the window above.

Leaning forward, she followed my view of the creature slapping against the second-floor pane of glass to fall backward, its landing cushioned by bodies who took no notice,