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

  ‘That’s amazing. Where’s your friend now?’

  ‘I don’t know, probably killed.’

  The room fell silent. Enzo leaned down the side of the bed and picked up a hard black case. As he opened it, he pulled out a syringe containing a clear fluid. He tensed his arm producing a vein and then injected it into his arm. He tightened his lips and closed his eyes as his entire body stiffened. Letting out a deep grunt, Enzo opened his eyes; they had a tint of green in them. He blinked them again and looked at Danni. They were normal again.

  ‘You’re safe here Danni. I trust you and I will protect you and your family.’

  ‘Thanks Enzo, I’ll help you as much as I can.’

  ‘That means a lot Danni. Good to meet you.’ Enzo said, holding his hand out.

  They shook hands. Danni smiled as Enzo flashed her a grin.

  ‘I was just wondering, who are the two guys with you?’

  ‘The white guy is Carl and he’s my sister Sadie’s husband and Flynn is a friend of mine.’

  ‘Ok. What’s the deal with this Carl guy?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You don’t like him. I’d go so far as to say you hate him.’

  Danni looked at Enzo, clasping her hands together tighter.

  ‘We have a past that was ugly.’

  ‘How was it ugly?’

  Danni cracked her knuckles. She breathed out, standing up quickly.

  ‘Thanks for speaking to me Enzo I really appreciate it.’

  ‘Danni you can talk to me. I know what guys like him are like and you have to remember, my senses are advanced so I can see things that others can’t.’

  Danni stared at Enzo and slowly sat back down. ‘We used to see each other just for some fun but… It just wasn’t working out, he used to drink and get violent…

  Six years before

  ‘Carl please stop,’ Danni shouted as she leaned against the wall.

  ‘Stop what? Trying to have sex with my fucking girlfriend? Why don’t you want to?’

  ‘Carl please, you’re drunk, leave me alone.’

  ‘I’m drunk? I’m having a good time you fucking bitch. You can never be happy for me.’ Carl shouted as he threw his bottle across the room. Danni pushed herself away from the wall and pushed Carl away.

  ‘You get so angry when you’re drunk that you decide to fucking rape your girlfriend, but not anymore. Get out my way!’

  Carl grabbed Danni by the throat and pushed her against the wall.

  ‘You told me that your dad used to beat you when he was drunk. You’re exactly like him when you’re drunk. A worthless piece of shit that could never actually beat up a real man so he beats his children or girlfriend, whoever’s nearest.’

  Carl punched Danni on the nose and then the stomach.

  ‘You stupid fucking bitch! You fucking nigger!’ Carl shouted and he pushed Danni to the ground. He knelt above her, clutching her throat as hard as he could. ‘Die you fucking nigger.’ Danni kicked her legs, trying to knee Carl but she didn’t have the strength.

  ‘I’m nothing like my dad. I just fucking hate you. You mean nothing to me but a quick fuck.’ Carl spat in Danni’s face. Danni’s hearing muted and her eyelids drooped. She could no longer feel his hands around her throat; she couldn’t feel anything anymore until Carl fell to the side of her, losing his grip on her neck. Danni choked on the floor but quickly stood up. Dazed and light-headed, she walked over to the sofa and collapsed onto it. She looked back to Carl who has passed out on the floor.

  Present day

  ‘What an arsehole.’ Enzo said.

  ‘He would have killed me if he hadn’t passed out.’ Danni sniffled.

  ‘Didn’t you tell anyone about him?’

  ‘No I didn’t think I’d ever see him again. I didn’t try to contact him and he didn’t try to contact me.’ Danni paused and clenched her fists. ‘The next time I saw him he was in a park. I was walking along the footpath going to see Sadie and meet her new boyfriend. I saw Sadie sitting on a bench so I ran over to her. We hugged and then sat down to have a catch up. As I was talking, I saw him walking towards me, staring at me. He was smirking; he looked so happy and proud of himself. I stopped talking and he came right up to me. I stood up to punch the shit out of him but then Sadie introduced him as her “lovely boyfriend”. That pissed me off, I mean, what could I have said? She looked so happy.’

  ‘I get you. You care about your family and you didn’t wanna hurt her.’

  ‘Exactly, so instead, I just never spoke to him directly and even to this day I don’t ever really talk to him unless I have to. He has a glint in his eye; it’s disturbing. When I look into his eyes I can see the monster he really is.’

  ‘Has he done anything horrible to you since he’s been with your sister?’

  ‘No, but he likes to annoy me and prove me wrong all the time. He spends his whole time trying to make me angry.’

  ‘He’s a lowlife. I can teach him a little lesson if you like?’

  ‘No, don’t worry Enzo, I’ll get my revenge one day.’

  ‘Good, I hope you do.’

  The room fell silent again.

  ‘I haven’t told anybody that so please don’t repeat it.’

  ‘I won’t Danni. I’ll see you in the morning, have a good sleep.’

  ‘You too, night Enzo,’ Danni said as she left the room.

  Danni returned to her room, Carl was still awake, sitting in an armchair.

  ‘Have fun?’ Carl said.

  ‘Yep.’ Danni said as she walked to the bedroom.

  ‘I’m trying to make conversation here.’ Carl said and he stood up.

  ‘I know you are; night,’ Danni said as she opened the bedroom door.

  ‘What have I done wrong?’

  Danni paused and pulled the bedroom door to. She turned around and walked up to Carl. ‘What have you done wrong?’

  ‘Yeah I’ve done nothing.’

  Carl smiled and let out a quiet chuckle.

  ‘You bastard, you fucking bastard you know exactly what you did to me.’

  ‘Well yeah but no one else does, do they?’

  ‘They will, in time.’ Danni said as she turned away. Carl grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him.

  ‘You won’t be telling anyone about us. It makes me feel sick to think that we were together. I was in a desperate place then.’

  ‘Well I wasn’t with you voluntarily was I?’ Danni said as she punched him in the stomach. Carl collapsed on the floor, grunting quietly.

  ‘Don’t ever touch me again or I’ll kill you,’ Danni said as she walked towards the bedroom.

  ‘You better watch yourself. I’d hate for you to be killed as a hero out there against Miller.’

  Danni paused but instead ignored his threat, as she shut the door she heard his muffled ‘Night’.

  Fucking prick.

  7

  ‘I am making my elite humans undergo experiments to test their mental state, ability and their assessment of situations. The situations will test their mental ability and physical strengths. Only few humans can become one of these elite humans and Jonny has been the strongest one yet.’

  Miller clicked his hand-held microphone and turned back to Jonny who sat upright on his bed.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Miller asked.

  ‘Do you know any details of my life?’

  ‘Nothing that is important. Jonny I need you to concentrate. Like I told you, we are the most powerful men in the world. We are genetically superior, we are a scientific breakthrough; we are the elite humans. Humans need us to restore normality in London. Once we do that in London, then we can branch out, we can go across the country; then Europe and then the world.’

  ‘How can just two of us have that power?’

  ‘We are the most powerful but soon we will have a specialised army of elite humans. I’m giving you the opportunity to live a better life. A second chance in life is rare, you should take this opportunity, rule with me;
you can be my assistant.’

  Jonny stared at Miller’s smirk. ‘What about my old life?’

  ‘Forget it. I need your full concentration. Will you help me?’

  ‘I want to know about my old life. I will do this for you but I want to know everything about my old life.’

  Miller folded his arms and watched Jonny’s pulsating lime-green eyes.

  ‘Sure. After we have restored London, I will tell you everything you want to know. Will you help me?’

  ‘Yes.’ Jonny sighed.

  ‘Excellent, we’ll make a fantastic force.’ Miller put his hand out to Jonny and he gripped Miller’s hand tightly. ‘That’s a firm grip there Jonny.’ Miller squeezed Jonny’s hand just as hard, cracking his knuckles, making them both laugh. ‘I have done enough experiments on you, you’re free to leave.’

  Jonny pushed himself off the bed and looked towards the door.

  ‘One more thing, Jonny; I need to tell you your role within this organisation.’ Miller took a deep breath and opened the door for Jonny. They both left to go onto the underground platform. ‘You may remember this before everything happened. This is an underground platform at Waterloo station. This station is our base now, whilst we battle against the infected. These rooms that have been created on each platform are to test people like you, people who want to be part of the elite group. I’ll let you look into a room.’ Miller walked along the platform, stopping at one of the doors. ‘Look in here; this is one of the experiments. It will test if this person is compatible to be an elite human. The results have varied. People are either advanced mentally or physically.’

  ‘Why?’ Jonny asked abruptly.

  ‘Well, in my opinion, I believe that when this specific mutated virus enters the brain, it will kill it or enhance either the left, right or entire brain. I have many different types of elite humans, you and I are the most physical enhancements, but there are others who have adapted differently. Some have adapted to mind reading, seeing the future or becoming intellectually stronger. This virus outbreak isn’t infecting just humans, it’s the animals too. Animals are growing bigger now. Birds are growing to the size of eagles and dogs are becoming more like bears. It has got out of hand and we need a cure for everyone and everything.’ Miller paused, waiting for a reply from Jonny, but he didn’t respond. ‘This is why I need your help, we can do a good thing; we can save everyone.’

  ‘But you’ve created something that can make humans stronger.’

  ‘Yes indeed, but I… We need to save everyone. Once we have the cure, we can put this on the market. It would be sold for millions, we are the first ones to be successful with this, and we will be looked up to by everyone.’

  ‘So what is with this experiment?’

  ‘If you look in, you’ll see what’s going on.’ Miller said with a leer, clasping his hands together eagerly.

  A young brunette woman sat naked in a metal chair. As she opened her eyes, she tried to move. She felt pain in her hands. She looked down at them and noticed a blade impaling each of her hands to the metal chair. She groaned as she came round and looked at her surroundings. Staring at the metal walls, she saw two dead men hanging either side of her; one strung from his feet and the other by his neck. Letting out a shriek, she cried for help. Shuffling in her chair, she slid her hands up the blades. As she did, blood trickled down the blade and splattered on the arms of the chair. The woman stopped moving her hands and threw up beside the seat. She stared at her vomit and leaned back in the chair, looking above her. She screamed at the face that was positioned above her.

  ‘Gavin?’ the woman whispered.

  ‘Laura? What’s… oh my god your hands.’

  ‘It’s okay, let’s get out.’ Laura said.

  Laura took a deep breath, tensed her arms and yanked her hands up and over the blades. Letting her hands flop aside, she let out a small cry.

  ‘Laura?’ Gavin said.

  Laura stared at her hands, they were covered in blood but there were no wounds.

  ‘What the fuck?’ Gavin said.

  Laura kicked her ankles away from the chair and attempted to stand but collapsed to the floor. As she did, Gavin fell head first onto the metal chair and sprawled out on the ground.

  Laura watched her wound disappear and her ankle return to its normal shape.

  ‘Gav are you okay?’

  ‘Yeah, what the fuck is going on?’ Gavin said as he pulled himself up using the bloody chair.

  Laura and Gavin grabbed each other and hugged. As they touched, Miller’s voice boomed from speakers set within the room.

  ‘Laura and Gavin, you are part of an experiment. There is no need to be afraid; you are safe here. I am Michael Miller and I am here to cure the virus outbreak within London. You are both infected with the virus. The other two men in the room with you died from the virus but you survived and only one of you can leave this room alive to join our elite army.’

  The room remained silent. Gavin’s breathing grew rapid. ‘What does he mean only one of us can leave?’

  ‘He means that only one of us can live. Survival of the fittest.’ Laura said and she punched Gavin in the chest, launching him against the wall. She looked down to her hands and smiled. She walked over to the metal chair and gripped one of the blades, pulling it away from the chair. As she pulled at the metal, it sliced the skin on her hands to ribbons, which hung from her hand and dripped blood onto the floor. She used her strength to stretch and bend the metal, eventually pulling the blade from the chair and holding it in her hand.

  ‘Sorry Gavin.’ Laura said as she walked over to Gavin.

  She grabbed him by his hair and pulled him to his feet. She stabbed the blade into his stomach repeatedly. He managed to push her away, launching her across to the other side of the room. Gavin looked down to his hands and then his arms; he punched the wall and dented it.

  ‘I’m really strong.’

  Laura stood up and picked up her blade again.

  ‘So am I, but only one of us can live,’ Laura said as she charged at Gavin.

  Gavin stood with his shoulders sloped and his right arm arched ready to swing. As Laura launched herself into the air at him, he punched her across the face. Laura lost her grip on the blade as she clattered into the chair. She reached across to the blade but Gavin kicked it away. He grabbed Laura, pushed her on the floor and sat on her back, holding her arms down.

  ‘Laura stop this, we can get out of her together; don’t you see?’

  ‘Only one of us can.’

  ‘We are both strong, why should just one of us be in the elite group? If there is such a group, this may just be a sick fucker messing with us.’

  ‘Yes I suppose.’

  ‘Look, we’re strong, we’ve healed.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Right, let’s get out of here.’

  Gavin turned to the door, Laura looked to the blade that lay across the room. She looked back to Gavin and grabbed him by his arm. She dragged him across her leg. As he stumbled, she grabbed his head and pushed it onto the blade still attached to the chair and pushed it through his head. She fell backwards as she watched him twitch and groan. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he pushed himself off the blade.

  Laura ran across the room and picked up the other blade. She swiped at his neck with the blade, cutting through his skin as easy as scissors through paper. Blood poured onto the floor and Gavin’s head became more detached from his neck with each swipe of the blade. Laura screamed as she cut his throat and eventually his head came away from his body and it slumped to the ground. Laura dropped the blade as she stared at Gavin’s head. She knelt down next to his body, her face in her bloody hands.

  ‘She killed him.’

  ‘Yes but it had to be done, it was part of the experiment.’ Miller said.

  ‘Why did that need to be the experiment?’

  ‘I need elite humans, humans that will not fear to kill a child that is infected and dangerous. I need someone who
will kill their family if they are a danger. When you watched that, did you feel disgusted by the blood?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And that’s what I need. The mind is a funny thing; humans fear blood and death, the brain tells them to fear it. We do not though, we are not afraid to kill a child who’s infected, because we are superior. You were not scared of the possibility that one of them would die, and that’s a good thing Jonny.’

  Jonny stared blankly at Miller.

  ‘Right. Well let’s move on, we have to free Laura and one of my assistants will brief her on what her role is now.’ Miller pulled out a walkie-talkie, ‘Laura Dupry needs briefing. Clear up experiment room eight. Gavin Dupry failed the test. Line up the next subjects.’ Miller put the walkie-talkie back into his jacket pocket. ‘Shall we?’ Miller said as he walked towards the stairs that led to Waterloo station. ‘There are more kinds of people to meet.’ Miller said placing his arm around Jonny’s shoulders.

  8

  ‘Where are we?’ a middle-aged man bellowed as he and a group of people walked through the underground tunnel. His shout echoed through the tunnel and as it did, the group stopped walking. The echo of a woman’s grunt was heard. She turned around and approached the man.

  ‘You fucking idiot; shut up. We need to get into Waterloo and stop Miller.’

  The middle-aged man looked down to the tracks and shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘We have a better chance to cure London if we stop him. If you keep on shouting they’ll hear us and come and kill us, then we’re all screwed, do you understand me?’ she said.

  ‘Sorry Mrs Williams,’ the man said.

  ‘Please, call me Sarah.’

  ‘Whilst we’ve stopped can I ask you something?’ Another man said.

  Sarah rolled her eyes and turned to him. ‘Yes, what?’

  ‘Miller got more votes than you in the election…’