The World Could End With You - Novella

Chapter 1 - At least the apocalypse doesn't need presentations

It was quiet. That was the first thing I noticed as I stepped out of the office and onto the street. An uneasy stillness that felt oddly ominous hung in the air. A shiver went down my spine as though my body recognised the wrongness and was trying to warn me.

Despite the cold and low lying fog it wasn't an entirely horrible day and at least the rain had stopped, I mused as I gazed up and down the road. This was London. The capital. A city that didn't sleep where there was always something to do or see. So where the hell was everyone?

Pulling my coat a little tighter around myself I take a few steps to the edge of the pavement. It was supposed to be lunchtime, one of the busiest times of day here but I don't think I had ever seen it this dead out.

Frowning back over my shoulder I squinted at the clock over the empty reception desk and confirmed it was one o'clock. Keeley, the receptionist, usually found cover for her breaks so seeing her desk deserted was just yet another thing that felt off.

There was no thrum of traffic rolling up the wet roads or horns tooting their displeasure at some imagined slight with other vehicles. No gentle rumble of a passing train or wail of distant emergency vehicles.

Not even the sound of laughter and chatter from the nearby primary school playground.

My eyes slowly scanned the surrounding buildings only to be met with eerie silence. Something felt very wrong.

A sudden scream split through the air and I flinched, spinning to look at the direction it had come from.

Movement by a sleek grey BMW that looked like it had been abandoned half up on the pavment caught my eye.

The sweet old lady who worked at my favourite local sandwich shop was being pinned to the car by an enormous guy who looked like he lived off a diet of protein shakes, steroids and pumping iron. Her head tilted back on the bonnet, neatly permed hair squashed by the angle as she met my eyes. Her mouth was still open and screaming but the cries beginning to fade out. I had never seen pure terror before but I felt sure this was it.

Guilt rushed through me when I realised I couldn't even remember her name. Especially as she always remembered my order and gave me the biggest slices of cake when I asked for them.

"Hey!" I shouted, stepping towards them.

I wasn't sure what I was hoping to achieve or how I thought I could stop the attack. I was five foot three on a good day and with the diet of a four year old with a sweet tooth and the motivation for activity of a sloth, I was perhaps one of the least athletic people in existence. My mother affectionately used to say I wouldn't be able to fight my way out of a wet paper bag and God rest her soul she was right.

The woman's screams cut off with a gurgling noise and her head lolled away as he wrenched his gaze up to look at me.

"What the hell!" I breathed at the blood dripping from his mouth and staining his teeth. 

The woman's body - and I had to accept she was likely dead and it was just her body now - slipped down the side of the car, disappearing from my view and hitting the pavement with a sickening thud that made me flinch.

My hand clapped over my mouth in an attempt to hold in the bubbling scream I could feel in my chest. A thick, heavy horror came over me and muddled my thoughts. I could feel my whole body beginning to freeze up in fear.

Thankfully the more logical side of me stepped in and suggested we get the hell away from the crazy man and then deal with the murder witness meltdown later.

I took a step back towards the building without taking my eyes off the guy. He mirrored my movements with a slow, jerky step of his own around the car.