Undead at Heart by Calum Kerr Read Free Book Online

while
they loomed over her, but her man was standing over her and she felt safe. He
said nothing, just watched them walk away, but she could tell that he felt sad
for them. They had chosen to listen to the panicking woman who wanted them all
to run away, rather than listen to his sensible argument. Of course there would
be people coming to help them. Of course the police and ambulances would be
here soon. Of course they’d be okay.
    The clearing emptied
and she looked up at him. He was just staring after them, watching them leave.
He looked around and spoke to the other sensible couple who had decided to stay.
Then he looked down to her and offered his hand to help her to her feet. She
rose from the ground and stood next to him, looking up at him, and waited to
find out what his plan was now.
     
     
    It wasn’t the first time
she’d been sent to the other store to pick something up. One branch in
Winchester and one in Oxford meant they were close enough to swap stock when
necessary without having to use a courier company. But they were also far
enough apart that it was a full afternoon’s trip. Of course, stopping for a
latte and a cupcake with Sandra always made it a slightly longer journey. That
was how she’d happened to be driving back from Oxford when she’d seen the truck
fall out of the sky in front of her. As always she’d been leaving a sensible
distance in front of her. It was, after all, her boss, Ryan’s car, and there
was no way she wanted to damage it in any way. She’d pulled up about a hundred
yards from the accident and watched that loud American woman rescue the man
from the car. She watched them run from the burning car and then set off to
leave. She was disappointed when she saw him get into the car with her. She
couldn’t quite understand how they could have known each other, but she guessed
it was his lucky day. Now, having seen them arguing, she guessed that they
hadn’t known each other at all. She presumed that that woman had forced him
into her car. She wanted to run away and needed someone to protect her, Sam
guessed.
    When the cars had all
cut out, he’d taken his chance and run away from the crazy bitch, and Sam had
followed. She was aware that the trees at the side of the road had burst into
flames, but was more intent on following him.
    She caught up with him
in the woods, where for a moment he seemed to be crying. He explained that he
was just breathing heavily from being out of shape. She could understand that,
but he didn’t look out of shape to her. He looked just fine.
     
    “I’m Sam. Samantha,”
she said once she was standing again.
    “Tony,” he said, his
eyes already wandering away from her to look around the woods. She loved the
way he was taking control of the situation. She wanted to ask him what he
thought was happening. She was sure he knew but just didn’t want to show off in
front of everyone else. She did know that he was making a plan, however, and
didn’t want to interrupt, so she left him to his important thoughts and went
over to talk to the other couple who had been sensible enough to stay.
    She introduced herself
to Bob and Janet. They had been on their way to Janet’s niece’s wedding. “It’s
only a few miles. I said to Bob that we should take the back road, go through
the nice countryside. I said that if we went onto the main road all that would
happen is that there would be a traffic jam and we’d get stuck. And I was
right, wasn’t I, Bob?” Bob nodded. “Not that I knew it would be anything like
this. Trucks falling on us from the sky? Fighter planes bombing us? The car cutting
out on us? Having to run for our lives into the woods? I mean, what on
Earth is going on? And how are we going to get to Aimee’s wedding now? If our
car won’t go and the road is blocked, what exactly are we meant to do? And that
woman was all very well, but I said to Bob when she was talking, I said ‘Bob,
it’s all very well panicking and making a fuss, but I