Desolation Boulevard by Mark Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

making a short detour from her main
route, as parked cars blocked her path, but she made good time, and
eventually felt that the fire was going to be no threat to her. She
could see some smoke in the distance and guessed that the inferno
was burning itself out, or had changed direction on the breeze. If
she could find a high enough vantage point, she would be able get a
clear view and make sure that she was out of danger. It was now
late in the afternoon and she really needed to find somewhere to
stay for the night. By now she was resigned to the fact that she
wouldn’t be going home any time soon, and that the fire would have
consumed her house. She wondered what had happened to her mother
and if she would ever see her again, but when she felt as if she
was about to cry, she forced her eyes shut hard and did her best to
put it out of her mind, until she was safe, and could analyse the
whole situation less emotionally.
    With around thirty minutes of daylight left,
Sally spotted a three-storey block of flats that was bounded by
smaller homes, which would give her a decent vantage point if she
could get inside. The roof of the apartment block looked flat and
she could see a clothesline up there, so she knew that access was a
possibility. She walked over to the building and found that her
first potential barrier, the communal front door, was no problem -
it was closed but not locked. She went inside. Security had
obviously not been a big concern for the residents of this
building, because she found the roof access door was also unlocked.
She went quickly up the dark staircase and stepped through another
unlocked door and out into a huge expanse of clear blue sky. From
the edge of the roof she had an unobstructed view across the
rooftops, back in the direction she had travelled from. In the
distance, an oily, black column of smoke rose into the sky, but it
had lost most of its ferocity. She had put enough distance between
herself and the fire to relax from that particular threat. Now her
immediate concern was to find somewhere to hole up for the night,
but after being inside the house where she had found the bike, she
knew that staying in someone’s home was too creepy to contemplate,
and she felt that she wouldn’t be safe outdoors. She knew what was
desired - an unoccupied motel room. She went downstairs, climbed on
her bike and began her search.

Chapter 12
     
    Matt spent the morning searching the homes
of his parents’ friends, hoping to find them lying unconscious
under a bed like the Thompsons. He didn’t find them, but he did
find lots of other “hiders”. He found them under beds, in
wardrobes, in garages and even one in the trunk of a partly
restored ‘66 Mustang. Every single person in Millfield was in a
state of suspended animation and looked perfectly comfortable to
Matt, in a bizarre kind of way. Earlier in the day, in Mr and Mrs
Cleary’s house, Matt decided to poke one of the bodies to see what
would happen. He found a golf club in the garage, and gently
prodded Mr Cleary in his ample beer belly, but there was no
reaction.
    Around midday he paused his searching and
forced himself to eat something. While looking for his parents was
not physically demanding, he could tell that it was taking an
emotional toll. He felt lethargic and was beginning to get a
headache. After his lunch, he continued the grim quest in more
unlikely places such as restaurants and shops, but he had no luck
there either. Wherever his parents were hiding, they certainly did
not want to be found. As the sun began to set, Matt started for
home. He had not found one single person who was conscious, yet
logic compelled him to believe there must be others like him
somewhere, who had not been affected by this event. Tomorrow he
would take his search for survivors further afield. The nearest
town was only thirty minutes away and almost twice as big as
Millfield. Surely somebody there would be conscious? As he thought
about the hiders, Matt