Echoes Of The World

  On the day of the new world, Kate stirred. 

  Curled up on Varjak’s chest, she felt the sun breathe fire into her cold corpse of a body. They were outside, having been effectively kicked out of the catacombs, and were now hanging around the Eiffel Tower again.

  Camille and Tristan were equally curled up under a tree ten yards in front. 

  “Well, I haven’t heard any screams so far,” said Varjak.

  “Good,” said Kate. “Maybe we’ll have an hour or two to think of a plan.”

  “We spent all last night trying to think of one,” Varjak pointed out. “Even if we alerted the military - ”

  “Yeah yeah I know,” growled Kate. She stood up. “Camille! Tristan! Get over here, the apocalypse is nigh!”

  Varjak stood up, panicked, and stared at her.

  “Shut up!” he hissed.

  “Like it matters,” Kate snapped. “Everyone’s going to die and we can do diddly squat about it.”

  “Diddly SQUAT,” repeated Varjak, reappearing in a tree upside down. It was early morning, and no humans were around yet. 

  “You’re seriously still goofing off?” said Camille, appearing with Tristan in tow.

  “What else is there to do but look positively at one’s situation?”

  “It’s the END OF THE WORLD,” Kate reminded him in a squawk.

  “Oh for goodness sake,” muttered Varjak, appearing upright. “I have an idea. Let’s go back to Glastonbury and see what Luke and Nimue have to say about the situation. They might able to offer assistance.”

  “Got nothing better to do,” Kate said with a shrug. “Let’s go.”

  They all quickly disappeared after each other. 

  Luke and Nimue flung themselves on them as soon as they arrived.

  “What happened?” Nimue squealed.

  They explained their predicament in detail. 

  “ - even if we got to the stone, we didn’t know how to destroy it,” finished Tristan.

  To some bewilderment, Luke was smirking under his black fringe.

  “Sorry, is something AMUSING you?” snarled Varjak.

  “Don’t you see?!” cried Luke, launching at Varjak and knocking them both over. “You don’t know! None of you know because I haven’t told you, and there’s no way you could notice!”

  Kate was alarmed, and also trying not to laugh at Varjak’s look of terror.

  “What are you bubbling on about?” said Varjak, not making an effort to escape in light of the new revelation.

  “I have an ability - you’re all going to think I’m mad - but it’s something like your gravity-defying, Varjak!” He got off Varjak, sitting and shaking his head in a daze.

  Kate stared. “Well? Get on with it! What is it?”

  “I can freeze time,” he breathed, looking delighted. “I can freeze it and do whatever I want with it. Get me and Nimue to Paris and I can disarm those undead. Kill them, if you like. Then you have free pass to the stone!”

  Everyone woke up. 

  Varjak blinked, grinned, then disappeared.

  A moment later he was whooping loudly upside down on a branch. 

  “This is fantastic!” agreed Camille, who had sat bolt upright at the news.

  “But you’ve never been to Paris, have you?” Kate said, not wanting to be the one to break the mood. 

  Screams. 

  The town was a good distance from the Tor, but there were so many that it travelled to the group. 

  Everyone was staring in horror. 

  Nimue burst into tears, and Camille put an arm around her.

  “The best thing we can do to stop this is go with this plan,” she said soothingly to Nimue, but looked up at the others as well. “I’ve heard and seen worse. Come on, we need to give this world a fighting chance.”

  Varjak had appeared upright. 

  “Good call,” he said with a smile, but there were tears in his eyes. “Okay, I’m going to assume commercial flights are now out of the question, given that the world is under attack. Getting to France manually will be difficult. On top of that, we still don’t know what we’ll do with the stone when we get there, and quite likely we’ll have precious little time to sit there and try to work it out.”

  Silence fell.

  “Break off the link to the ley lines?” Luke suggested meekly.

  Varjak shook his head. 

  “How? We do that by destroying the stone, since it feeds those lines. There’s no way around it - we have to break the connection by shutting off the stone.”

  “If it’s like a normal stone you just bash the s**t out of it, right?” said Camille. “If I’d got half a chance in those catacombs I would have shot the crap out of it.”

  “Thousands, maybe millions of years of undead energy and a rifle comes along and blows s**t up?” Varjak said, brow raised. “I don’t think so. With that level of energy running through it would probably even deflect the bullets.” 

  He sat down and rubbed his temples vigorously. 

  Kate looked up, understanding growing inside of her. 

  “If Luke’s abilities can get us to the stone,” she began, with the same kind of smirk Luke had. “Then mine can break the link.”

  Immediately Varjak started bouncing. 

  “Yes yes yes! You reverse the state of living objects! The energy makes the stone alive! Yes! We’re so meant to do this!” He ran round and drummed on everyone’s heads.

  “You know, if this damned world wasn’t ending!” Camille growled at him.

  “Oh, but it’s not, dearest. Not if we have anything to do with it. YOU - ” He thrust a pointed finger at Nimue, who’d just stopped crying. “You’re British, you babe! Tell me where the nearest airport is.”

  Kate snorted at the ‘babe’ comment.

  “Er - I - I don’t know, I’m from Newcastle!” Nimue squawked. “Let’s go to London Gatwick.”

  “London Gatwick like LONDON?” Varjak said incredulously.

  “It’s an hour outside of London,” Luke put in. “But the closest airport is Bristol International.”

  “Great, let’s - ”

  “ENOUGH WITH THE ‘LET’S GO’S WHEN WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING,” Kate yelled, making everyone reel back in shock.

  Varjak sidled over to her, outstretched a hand and, tentatively, patted her head. 

  “Okay, honeybunch. Now what would YOU like to do, darling?”

  Kate growled. “For God’s sake, we can’t just waltz into Bristol International and expect a flight! People are fleeing in terror at a new humanoid species coming to suck their blood! What are we going to ACTUALLY do?”

  “Steal a plane!” came a cry from Tristan, and when they all turned to stare at him he mooched back into the undergrowth.

  “No no no,” Camille insisted, grabbing him back into existence. “That was good. Insane coming from you, but good.”

  “Yes!” cried Varjak, totally amped. “Let’s steal a plane! Woop woop!”

  “Isn’t a boat more secretive?” Nimue asked.

  “Steal a BOAT? Steal a - ” Varjak was horrified. “Steal a boat hardly has the same ring as steal a plane! No, if we’re going to save the world, we’re doing it in style. Plus it’s faster. Let’s steal a plane people!”

  “HOW THOUGH?” Kate yelled again, feeling like the only sane one.

  “WILL YOU CALM DOWN?” Varjak yelled back, careering into Kate and laughing with ecstasy. “People are running about screaming. They’re not going to notice us taking a plane, especially if we’re invisible! The authorities will be too busy dealing with the undead.”

  “Risk we’ll have to take,” grinned Camille, standing up with Tristan. At this, Kate, Luke and Nimue also stood. 

  “Right then! Tally-ho, team!” Varjak exclaimed. “Luke, lead the way champ!”

  “Yessir,” he said dryly, grinning a little himself. 

  They set off immediately, everyone bursting with vigour for the first time. 

***

  Arrival at Bristol International Airport was something they would never forget.

  It seemed quiet in the first few seconds. Then their eyes adjusted, and saw the initial quiet was because the undead were silently feasting on humans’ necks around them. 

  Muffled screaming came from within the airport. 

  The undead didn’t notice as they moved, sickened, past them. They were either too busy with their catch or assumed they were undead judging by their entrance, not bothering to check faces.

  Their order was no longer to catch Varjak Swinton, after all.

  “No need to go through the airport, that’s a death trap,” whispered Varjak, visibly stricken and looking straight ahead. “Follow me round the back and we’ll find a free plane. Turn - ” He couldn’t handle it any more, and fell onto Kate’s shoulder, crying.

  She gasped, and held onto him, grasping him tight to her. 

  “Come on, finish your instruction,” she choked out, crying because he was crying. 

  “Yeah - turn - turn invisible and follow me,” he sniffed. 

  Aware they were beginning to draw attention to themselves, Kate tugged him.

  “Come on, you can do it. Lead us back round there and take us to France.”

  “Yes,” said Varjak, moving away from Kate. His face was a little puffier but there was no redness. “Yes, come on then, invisibility, please.”

  Without argument they became invisible. Varjak instructed them quietly as they panned round the building, hearing the odd blast of shrieking through the outdoor vents.

  There was a plane on fire off the runway. Another plane had been halfway through taxiing into the airport. 

  Blood was splattered on the insides of the windows.

  “Everyone move out and check the empty planes for keys,” Camille said, quietly. “I can pilot it - I had training in the army.”

  Kate was too upset to scoff at Camille showing off, and flitted off to investigate as instructed.

  “I found one, two down, Ryanair,” said Tristan.

  “Good, is everyone back?”

  Everyone signalled their own arrival.

  “Good,” said Camille. “I’d hate to ask, Tristan, but body count on that plane?”

  “Not so many - looks like that plane was just starting to load,” said Tristan. “I removed the body of the pilot for you.”

  “Another reason why I’m marrying you,” said Camille, a smirk in her voice. “Let’s head to the Ryanair plane.”

  In less than two seconds they had flitted to the plane. They bounded up the steps and shut the door behind them.

  Distantly, screams were still heard.

  “Are these people dead or transforming?” asked Luke, looking at Varjak and gesturing for him to inspect. Only half of first class had been filled up, but there were still a good ten bodies there.

  “Dead,” said Varjak after a moment. “We don’t have time to remove the bodies. We’ll sit back in economy. Camille!”

  Her red head dipped out from the c**k pit.

  “WHAT?”

  “How’s tricks up there?”

  “Fine - I’m just adjusting a few things and I’ll get this thing on the runway.”

  “Well hurry up!”

  “I’m going as fast as I can!”

  Varjak took Kate’s hand, somehow knowing where she was, and wheedled her as quickly as possible down the corridor so she didn’t have time to linger over the bodies. 

  Varjak and Kate sat themselves down, with Luke and Nimue sat next to them. 

  “Come on Camille, seriously!” growled Varjak.

  “I’ve got her fired up!” Camille called back. “They’re going to notice as soon as we start taxiing this thing!”

  “Then taxi like you’ve never freaking taxied before!” Varjak called back, suddenly becoming enthusiastic again. “We’ve got to stop this thing before it gets any worse!”

  “I’M ON IT,” Camille yelled, and Kate felt a lightness as the plane began to glide slowly from the airport. “Keep on your guard, we’re drawing serious attention to ourselves here.”

  “Oh I wouldn’t worry Camille - Kate and I are experts at volatile airport run-ins!” 

  Kate snorted. “Can we become visible now?”

  “Not until we’re in the air,” said Varjak. “Haul a*s, Camille, you wee pixie-face!”

  “Varjak shut up I’m concentrating!” she growled back, as the plane completed a ninety degree turn. “You know, we don’t have time to get to the runway. I’m going to charge up this thing now.”

  “But that’s dangerous, isn’t it?” Kate piped up. “Must be a reason why they don’t run on grass.”

  “I don’t care, I’m taking that risk. The whole freaking world is dying.” The plane suddenly jerked, and a tremendous roaring began.

  “Here we go!” Camille yelled, but she was barely heard as the plane bumped and began to rocket off. 

  “Varjak, if we die here I have to tell you I freaking love you,” said Kate, clutching his arms. She was half-joking.

  “And I freaking love you too. Let’s hope Camille doesn’t kill us because this would be the silliest way to go.”

  A moment later the plane lifted, and weightlessness filled the atmosphere. 

  They had succeeded.

  Now for Paris and the Necrosis Stone.