Flare by Paul Grzegorzek Read Free Book Online

strike but not warned anyone, it was nothing short of criminal.  How many lives could have been saved if flights had been grounded and the national grid switched off, if such a thing were possible?
    “How much warning would they have had?”  I was angry now, the burning houses in Brighton and the wreckage of the plane across the motorway playing in my mind’s eye like a horror movie.
    “Uh, fourteen, sixteen hours maybe.  They’d know there was going to be a flare long before that, but you can only really be certain of the strength once it leaves the sun”.
    I finished my cigarette and stubbed it carefully on the concrete floor.
    “I thought you predicted it earlier than that?”
    He nodded.  “I did, but I was still wrong, it was far worse than I thought.  Maybe they realised how bad it was going to be and decided to wait it out in a bunker somewhere, then come back out and pick up the pieces once it’s over?”
    “Do you think there’ll be much left by the time they do?”
    He shrugged again.  “Maybe, who knows?  If they’ve had any time at all to plan for this, then they might have a work force that can get the infrastructure back up and running quicker than I thought.  It might not be so bad after all”.
    “Well that’s a matter of opinion”.
    The voice came out of the darkness by the door, making us both jump.  Jerry spun, scattering the plate and now cold stove across the floor with a loud ringing sound, while I all but pitched backwards off the hay bale.
    “Who’s there?”  Jerry called nervously, “show yourself”.
    A figure emerged from the darkness, little more than a silhouette at the edge of the lamp light.  It was hard to make out details at first, but the figure gradually resolved into the form of a man dressed in outdoor gear complete with a loadbearing vest, a cap, and a very large, very dangerous looking shotgun, both barrels of which were pointed directly at my chest.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
    “What I’d like to know”, the man said, his voice low and dangerous, “is what makes you think that it’s ok to break into my barn, and why I shouldn’t just shoot you on the spot and have done with it?”
    “Uh, look, about the lock”, Jerry began, but the man spoke over him as if he hadn’t uttered a word.
    “It’s not like the police’ll be interested, not if what you’re saying is right.  I could say that I caught you breaking in and I shot you in s elf-defence.  I doubt they’d worry overmuch, and that’s if they ever even found you”.
    I’d never come so close to losing control of my bladder.  As the man stepped into the pool of light from the lamp, I realised that he was older than I had first though, somewhere close to seventy.  His hands, I noticed however, didn’t so much as tremble as he kept the barrels aimed at my chest.  He had pure white hair sticking out above his ears and disappearing up under the cap, and several days-worth of stubble beneath eyes that were cold enough to belong to a serial killer.
    I raised my hands slowly, terrified that each movement might be my last.
    “Look, sir, I’m really sorry about the lock”, I began, leaving a pause to make sure he was listening, then hurrying on when he tilted his head.  “I’m injured, and we had to find somewhere safe, somewhere away from the towns.  It’s crazy out there, everything has gone to hell”.
    My arms began to shake from the strain of holding them so high, and Jerry looked like a rabbit caught in a set of headlights, his back stiff and eyes ludicrously wide.
    “Please, sir, we’ll pay you for the lock, and for your trouble”.
    The man spat on the floor, never once taking his eyes from mine.
    “And what good is money now, eh?  And how do I know you two ain’t looters or worse?  You might be escaped murderers for all I know, on the run from the law now the ‘lectric’s gone off.  Might be I’m better off putting you two in the ground