Blood Cult by Edwin Page Read Free Book Online Page B

was a sad sight in
the context of what had happened to the world at large.
    ‘Next she’ll be trying to catch butterflies in jars or building a raft
for the lake,’ commented Bob in an attempt to lighten the mood. ‘We’ll have to
start calling her Huckleberry Williams.’
    I didn’t smile. ‘Are you still planning to head out tonight?’ I asked,
looking up at the bank of cloud coming in from the south, an unnatural brown
taint to their darkness.
    ‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘It won’t take long.’
    I nodded.
    He took hold of my arm and turned me to him, looking into my eyes. ‘You
know it’s the right thing to do, don’t you? We’ve got no chance of fitting even
half of what we need into the Interceptor.’
    ‘And you’re certain there’s no way we can stay?’
    ‘There’s no reason to stay.’
    My eyebrows rose in response to his answer. ‘What about our life here?
What about our daughter and our friends?’ I asked, glancing at the lakeside
photo of the three of us that rested on the sill, the image of Bob teaching
Chrissie to skim stones coming to mind.
    ‘We don’t have a life here anymore, Leah. It’s over. It may not feel like
it. Heck, even I have to take a moment now and then to remind myself what’s
happened, but it has happened. You only have to try turning on the lights to
know it’s true.’
    ‘But it can’t be over. I mean…’ I shook my head, finding it hard to
comprehend what had happened. There was no damage outside, no noticeable effect
of the bomb other than the electricity being off, and without some visible
evidence it was almost impossible for me to grasp the situation. ‘…Surely the
government will step in. There’ll be help on its way.’
    ‘From where?’ asked Bob pointedly. ‘New York won’t be the only place
where the bomb dropped. There’ll be dozens maybe even hundreds more. Even if
some remnants of the National Guard or army still remain, there’s little chance
they’ll be on their way here.’
    I turned to look over my right shoulder, gaze settling on Chrissie as she
continued to skip merrily in the back yard. ‘There has to be a way we can
stay.’
    ‘I wish there were, but I can’t see any other option. There’s going to be
a lot of people realising the same thing very soon, or at least getting to
grips with what’s happened and what they need to do in order to survive. We
stay and we’ll be fighting off looters, or worse. We need to get out while we
still have the chance.’
    ‘The police?’ I looked back at him.
    ‘From the lack of sirens I’d say they’re with their families and probably
having similar discussions to ours.’
    He held my gaze. ‘There’s something else,’ he said, his expression
tightening.
    ‘What?’ I asked, my tension rising in response to the strain evident in
his face.
    ‘I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to worry you even
more.’
    ‘What is it, Bob?’
    ‘There’s a good chance we’ll be overrun. Where do you think all the
survivors from New York will head?’
    ‘You think they’ll come north?’
    He nodded. ‘Maybe not all of them, but imagine a few hundred thousand
sick and injured coming through here. They’ll pick us clean and we’d be lucky
to escape with our lives.’
    My pulse became elevated as I imagined hordes of refugees pouring into Burlington,
ransacking the houses and taking everything they could, willing to kill for the
chance to prolong their survival. My gaze returned to our daughter and a hot
flush came upon me.
    She glanced up at the window and saw my look of concern, her rhythm being
disturbed and the rope becoming caught about her ankles. ‘What’s wrong, Mommy?’
she called through the glass.
    I shook my. ‘Nothing for you to worry about, Honey,’ I replied, forcing a
smile.
    Chrissie glanced at the sky, taking the jump rope handles in one hand and
holding the other out with the palm up. ‘It’s starting to rain,’ she commented
with a frown.
    A quick,