Endurance: Apocalypse (The Endurance Series Book 2) Read online

  ‘Move to the far left, I’ll go right. If you can see the shooter, point to the building and we’ll close in.’ Flynn whispered.

  Danni rolled on the ground, across to the next car and pulled out her gun. She knelt down for a moment and then continued to move.

  She went by another three cars and looked at the building tops; she saw a figure with a sniper rifle.

  She looked over to Flynn and pointed. Flynn nodded to her and moved towards the line of buildings. As he did, he was shot at; not by a sniper rifle but an automatic weapon. The bullets followed the path he ran, flicking up dust and pieces of concrete.

  Danni stood up from behind the car and shot her handgun at the black-hooded man. His sweatshirt sleeves were cut off, revealing his muscular arms. He wore armour over the top of his hoody. The sniper ducked away from Danni’s bullets as they hit his gun and the edge of the building itself.

  She ran onto the pavement and stood in front of the building.

  Flynn walked over to Danni and to the building where the sniper was shooting from.

  ‘I’ll go first.’ Flynn said.

  ‘Be my guest, this guy is skilled.’

  ‘Yeah, be careful.’

  Flynn pulled out his handgun and Danni grabbed her shotgun but Flynn stopped her.

  ‘Save that, use the handgun.’

  ‘Sure.’ Danni said as she pulled her handgun from her belt.

  Flynn walked in first and Danni followed, Flynn aimed left and Danni right.

  The building was an old formal hotel. As they walked in, they saw the front desk and stairs to their right.

  They went further in, stepping on the groaning laminate flooring. Flynn saw a door straight ahead. He turned to Danni. ‘Cover me,’ he said as he put his hand on the door. He turned the handle slowly and opened the door. It creaked the more it opened. He leaned in and pointed his gun around in the room.

  ‘It’s just a food court,’ he said.

  Flynn looked to the stairs whilst Danni went behind the desk. The computer was still on and its cameras still working. All the hallways in the building were empty except one. The image showed a body dressed like a cleaner; it was on the ground, blood splattered the walls around it.

  As Danni looked at the cameras, the image changed; each screen was showing nothing but interference. All the top floor cameras turned off one at a time, at intervals of around three seconds.

  The cameras on the second floor turned off, leaving just the bottom floor cameras on. Danni looked at the camera that faced her and Flynn. She looked to the food court camera; that continued to work. Danni came from behind the desk and walked towards Flynn.

  Flynn looked behind Danni and shouted, ‘Behind you!’

  Danni turned and as she did, she swung her right leg. She felt her left leg as it was kicked from under her, knocking her to the floor. Time paused for Danni as she looked up at a hooded ebony-skinned man.

  Flynn fired his gun but missed, as the sniper dodged the bullets he became a blur, and then charged towards Flynn at a tremendous speed.

  Flynn swung for him but the sniper dodged his punch and launched his fist into Flynn’s stomach and then his throat. Flynn swung for the sniper again and missed. The sniper launched a fast punch at Flynn again; Flynn knocked it away and kicked at the sniper’s chest but had no effect.

  Danni launched herself at the sniper, but he turned and elbowed Danni in the face. Flynn counteracted the sniper’s punches and kicks. Danni punched the sniper too. The sniper moved away from Danni and Flynn and then launched himself back at them, knocking them both off their feet. He picked Flynn up off the floor and threw him at the front desk, completely destroying the desk and computer behind it.

  Danni grabbed the fire extinguisher and swung it at the sniper, hitting him across his head and knocking him to the floor.

  Danni moved her shotgun to her front and aimed it at the sniper and as she did so, the sniper pulled out a small knife from under his jacket. Flynn stood up from behind the wrecked desk and pulled out his gun and pointed it at the sniper.

  ‘Drop the blade and don’t move.’ Danni said.

  ‘We don’t want to hurt you mate.’ Flynn added.

  The sniper didn’t say anything. He slowly put the blade back into his jacket and stood up. He put up his hands in surrender.

  ‘If we put our guns down, will you just speak to us?’ Danni said.

  The sniper nodded. Flynn warily stared at Danni as she swung the shotgun back behind her back and Flynn slowly placed his handgun back into his belt.

  ‘Okay so why did you shoot at us?’ Danni asked.

  ‘Because you were coming into my territory and you’re probably working with Michael Miller.’

  ‘What gave you tha’ idea?’ Flynn said.

  ‘You’re armed and killers.’

  ‘Why do you think we’re killers?’

  ‘You’re covered in blood and you both have that army veteran swagger,’ the sniper said; he seemed to be loosening up.

  ‘Well we’ve got experience, that’s for sure,’ Flynn said.

  ‘We’re trying to kill Miller, I’m guessing you are too,’ Danni said.

  ‘I’m trying to stop everything,’ he said.

  ‘Well you can’t do it on your own.’

  ‘I am quite capable.’

  ‘Well you couldn’t take us both on so what makes you think you’ll stop Miller and his people?’ Flynn said.

  ‘I could kill you right now if I wanted to; you have no idea what I am capable of.’

  ‘Try me,’ Flynn said as he walked towards the sniper.

  As Flynn walked up to the sniper, the sniper pulled out the blade again. His movements were so fast they could barely be followed. Neither Danni nor Flynn saw the blade until the point was a millimetre from Flynn’s neck.

  ‘We need you then, and you need us,’ Danni said.

  The sniper pulled the blade away from Flynn’s neck and said, ‘I don’t need anyone.’

  ‘You do,’ Danni said.

  ‘I don’t,’ the sniper said.

  ‘Right, well we need you then. I’m Danni and this is Flynn. Outside is my mum Lynne, my sister Sadie, her husband Carl and their son Jerome. We need somewhere to stay; can we stay here with you?’

  The sniper stared at Danni in silence, put down his hands and walked upstairs.

  ‘Can we?’ Danni pleaded.

  ‘Get them in,’ the sniper said. ‘I’m Enzo by the way,’ he added as he disappeared up the stairs.

  Danni brought the rest of the group into the building and they went into the lift.

  ‘Which floor?’ Jerome asked.

  ‘Top floor buddy,’ Flynn said.

  They crammed into the lift and patiently waited for the doors to close. The lift slowly moved up the four floors to the top. The ding announcing they were at their floor ended the silence and the doors open on the top floor. Enzo stood in front of the door with his arms folded.

  ‘Hi,’ he said with his deep, gruff voice.

  ‘Hello,’ Jerome said.

  Enzo nodded down to Jerome and then quickly looked around at everyone else.

  ‘This is the floor I stay on; we’re safe up here. The stairs are set with traps so don’t go down there, only use the lifts. I’m in room 205, that’s where all my personal stuff is so don’t go in there. The rooms at the front of the building, facing towards Waterloo are equipped with guns fixed to the windows and only to be used if we’re under attack. You can pick whatever rooms you like to stay in whilst you’re here except 205. Clear?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Danni said.

  ‘Good,’ Enzo said as he walked down the corridor.

  Everyone stepped out of the lift and the lift doors closed behind them.

  ‘You guys go pick your rooms, I need to talk with Enzo,’ Danni said as she jogged towards Enzo. ‘Enzo, Enzo wait.’

  Enzo stood and waited. His body stiffened and his sloped shoulders shrugged. He turned around and folded his arms, tensing his biceps.


  ‘I just want to talk to you about you,’ Danni said.

  ‘Why?’ Enzo asked.

  ‘Well I want to know if we’re safe with you.’

  ‘What do you wanna know?’ Enzo muttered.

  ‘I just want to know why you’re here and why you aren’t with everyone and how you can do the things you can do,’ Danni said.

  ‘Well I’m here to survive, I am not with anyone because they’ve all been taken from me and I can do the things I do from training and experience.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter how much training you get; you could never, ever do what you do. You’re like some mutant or something.’

  Enzo smiled. ‘I suppose I am a mutant.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘It’s complicated and if I told you, you may be wary of me.’

  ‘Try me.’

  Enzo frowned at Danni and turned to his door, the gold plated door number had black ink writing on it.

  ‘Enzo, to me you’re one of us; we’re all in this together. You shouldn’t feel ashamed or shy of me or the others, you’re one of us now; we’re in this together.’

  ‘We’re fighting for the same reasons, but we’re not together.’

  ‘Why can’t we be? We should be open to each other; we could be a force that could actually stop Miller.’

  ‘I don’t want more people to look after,’ Enzo snapped.

  ‘You wouldn’t have to look after us, we can help you; I can help you.’

  ‘Because I always lose you!’ Enzo shouted.

  There was silence in the corridor for a moment, until Enzo stuttered.

  ‘I… I mean… I…’

  ‘Enzo please, just be open with me. Just think about it okay? I’ll come by later and we can talk properly, or one of the others can, it’s up to you,’ Danni said as she turned away and walked down the corridor.

  ‘Danni,’ Enzo said, causing Danni to stop. ‘You come by when it gets dark, and… then we’ll talk. Just you though.’

  ‘Sure,’ Danni said as she continued to walk.

  5

  ‘Come on, wake up. Wake up subject 1, you bastard!’ Miller said as he stood over a dead body. ‘This drug, has the potential to bring the dead back from the afterlife. Subject 1 is perfect for this. A healthy male, who at one point was infected but then cured; meaning his blood returned to its natural form. This subject however died in no relation to the outbreak.’

  Miller turned the body over onto its front, to reveal a stitched cut down the middle of his back in line with the spine. Miller filmed the line and continued to speak. ‘The body needed a new spine so I created an artificial one, giving this body a new nervous system.’ Miller placed his camera on the side and dug his hands underneath the body to flip the body onto it’s back. He picked up his camera again. ‘The skin on this body had decayed and had a deficiency so the old skin was stripped away and the skin that was remaining was left to mutate from the infection, which then formed a new pigment, changing subject 1’s complexion. Since all of this happened, the body has been kept in a freezer and the brain in a glass bowl. I studied it and the results are immaculate. It has developed in a way that when subject 1 feeds off the brain to live once again, he will use all of the brain, advancing his intelligence and, interestingly, his sight. Subject 1 will be superior to anything in this world, let alone humans.’

  Miller brought a machine to a table next to the bed where the body lay. He connected the wires of the machine onto pads and then placed the pads onto the body’s dark veins on both the sides and the middle of the forehead; then on the neck, wrists and chest. Miller switched the machine on and turned a knob and the machine started humming.

  ‘This machine is sending electric pulses through the body, this will hopefully bring subject 1 to life.’ Miller said as he tied the arms and legs of the body down. Miller stepped back and looked at everything in place.

  ‘Let’s begin.’ Miller said as he began resuscitation. He pressed down on subject 1’s chest repeatedly whilst the humming of the machine increased in volume. Miller increased the pressure he applied to the chest and whispered to himself. Subject 1 jolted. The pads from the machine came unstuck and a bolt of electricity shot from the pads to the skin of subject 1. The machine banged, fell off the table and smashed onto the floor. Bolts of electricity hit Miller in the chest, launching him into the wall of the small laboratory.

  Miller sat against the wall, dazed but watching subject 1 tossing and turning. He turned his head to Miller, his mouth wide open, his neck straining; blood pouring from his eyes. The blood trickled across his face in uneven lines. His pupils enlarged, making his eye entirely black.

  Miller stood up and dragged his body to the bed. As he did, subject 1 stopped moving and lay on his back. Miller pulled the camera up and filmed him.

  ‘This is incredible. I have bought this male back from the afterlife. Although he’s non-responsive, he is still alive.’

  Miller felt the subject’s neck for a pulse.

  ‘It has a weak…’ Miller paused as he continued to feel the pulse. ‘It’s… It’s getting faster by the second… My god its so…’

  Subject 1 suddenly stiffened all over; his arm broke loose from the restraint and he knocked Miller’s camera from his hand.

  Miller stepped back in surprise but the subject grabbed the scruff of his neck. The subject freed his other arm and then his legs. He got off the bed, still holding Miller.

  ‘Subject 1, I am your creator. I bought you back to life. Do you have any memory of your previous life?’

  The subject stared at Miller; his dark eyes became lighter. The whites of the eyes returned but the iris remained black.

  ‘Answer me,’ Miller said. ‘Answer me.’

  ‘I have a name.’ The subject’s voice was deep and rough; it sounded as if his throat was clogged with phlegm.

  ‘Which is?’ Miller asked.

  The subject released his grip and stepped back to the bed. His black eyes studied the room and then looked to Miller.

  ‘My name… My name is…’ The subject stared at Miller.

  ‘What do you remember?’

  ‘Smoke… ash… blood… friendship… love, hate and… and heartbreak.’

  ‘Do you not remember any details? Faces or names or what you did before you died?’

  The subject paused and stared at Miller. ‘No.’

  ‘Well I can tell you your name is Jonny.’

  ‘Was that my name before?’

  ‘No, but your life before was not great, you can live a better life now, working with me.’

  ‘Working?’

  ‘Yes, there is a war here in London. Do you remember anything about that?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Okay, well let me start from the beginning, Jonny.’ Miller said patting Jonny’s shaven head.

  6

  21:00

  Daylight was taken prisoner by the night. Fighting continued with sounds of screaming and glass smashing; explosions echoed in the distance, creating the only source of light.

  Danni walked down the corridor to room 205. She stood outside the room putting her ear to the door. She slowly placed her palms to the door and as she did, the door opened slightly. Danni stepped back and then pushed the door open slowly. She took a step from the corridor into the room. The room was in complete darkness.

  Is he even here?

  Danni continued in and saw a bed with an array of guns lying on top of the duvet. She pushed the door to and noticed another door; that must be the toilet.

  It’s the same layout as our room.

  She stepped forward again and a glint of light shone on the carpet. Danni paused; she looked down and saw a thin line across the floor.

  ‘Well done.’ Enzo whispered from behind her, his clammy breath brushed her skin.

  Fuck I shit myself. How did he get so close to me?

  ‘How did you do that?’ Danni whispered.

  ‘Training,’ Enzo said. ‘And experience.’


  A lamp in the corner of the room switched on and as it did, Danni turned around and Enzo had disappeared.

  ‘Enzo?’

  ‘Over here.’

  Danni looked around but couldn’t see him anywhere. After turning 360 degrees a number of times, she eventually stopped when Enzo’s face was nose to nose with hers.

  He smiled and then moved away and sat down on the end of the bed.

  ‘Sorry about the mess.’

  Danni walked over to Enzo,

  ‘So… Where to begin?’ Danni said.

  ‘There’s a chair behind you,’ Enzo said.

  Danni sat clenching her hands together.

  ‘I have a much greater strength than any human; my senses are advanced. I can do things not many others can.’

  ‘Like what?’ Danni said.

  ‘Well I can move around without being heard or seen like I just did.’

  ‘Is that why you did that? To prove a point?’

  ‘It was a test to see if you were worth having with me and… I think you are. But, I have advanced abilities because of the mutated virus. It infected me and very nearly killed me. I had the most vicious virus; I was in hospital for a long time. I was told I would die and I only had weeks to live, until my friend saved me.’

  ‘He saved you?’ Danni said.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘How did he do that?’

  ‘He used a counteracting drug; it saved my life but didn’t cure me.’

  ‘How did he get the drug?’

  ‘He worked with the government; he was some sort of assistant. He sat in on a presentation on the drug given by a scientist. Supposedly it hadn’t been tested, but the scientist needed the nod from the government to make it work. The government said no.’

  ‘Why would they say no to it?’

  ‘Because of Michael Miller, he’s in charge of everything. My mate got hold of one of the cure drugs and came to the hospital and injected it into me. It stabilised me for a short time until I went into shock again. My mate had made loads of the stuff; I still have some he made for me. We worked out that it prevents me going into shock and dying or turning into one of those fucked up people. A doctor told me that he thinks my infected DNA reacted with the drug so that it wouldn’t cure me at all. It would keep me sane, it would prevent me turning but allowing me to keep my enhanced abilities.’