Dominant Species Read Online Free PDF Page A

glassless window high above. Almost embarrassed he crossed himself quickly, before picking his way through the rubble and fallen pews with extreme care, trying not to disturb anything, or leave a trace.
    At the other end of the church he reached another doorway, hidden behind the Altar. As he climbed the steps up toward the altar two more figures appeared, one male one female, both with shotguns raised. Without a word they waved him through the doorway. Inside the vestibule Jake stopped in front of a small wooden door with intricate fretwork and turned the iron handle. The door swung open with an oiled ease and he looked down at the near vertical steps that descended towards the crypt below. Carefully, Jake descended into the darkness. At the bottom of the steps he paused. He could hear raised voices coming from somewhere inside the crypt, muffled by the thick wood of the crypt’s door.
    Taking a breath he knocked twice , paused then knocked three times more. There was a short delay before he heard the sound of two very large bolts sliding back. Jake pushed at the heavy door, knowing much of its weight had been added by the solid steel plates screwed to its back. On the other side of the door he found himself suddenly staring down the barrel of yet another shotgun, which was quickly lowered by the watchman who, saying nothing heaved the door shut behind him before melting back into the shadows. Jake stood with his back against the cold wall of the crypt, whilst he let his eyes time to fully adjust to the darkness.
    From within the shadowy edges of the crypt, darker even than the stairway outside, Jake watched the four men crouched around the tomb.  They continued to argue loudly, seemingly oblivious to his entrance. He stood in the shadows for a long minute, before stepping forward into the dim light cast by the two gas lamps that sucked at the stale air from the corner. Nathan and Trent looked across, Nathan spared a small smile and Jake received a brief nod from Trent. Even Lano grunted a welcome. In fact everyone acknowledged him except for Max who resolutely refused to even glance up. Jake couldn’t help but smile to himself as he walked forward with Max determined to avoid any eye contact at all, as if to do so might render him blind.
     
     
    In the makeshift school, Megan checked the thick curtains were pulled tight before she lit the kerosene lamp. The hungry wick fizzled as it gasped for life. Lifting the lamp, Megan turned to face her class. Twenty five children, thin, scared and worn looked back at her and she smiled.
                  ‘Morning children.’
                  ‘Good morning Miss Sandler,’  they chorused in unison.
                  Megan placed the lamp down on the table in front of an old black board she’d taken from one of the other rooms. It stood proudly propped against the wall.
    ‘Today’s lesson is Math,’ she smiled again at the bleak faces, ‘we’re going to look at fractions.’
    Turning to face the blackboard she began to mark up the first test, the chalk tapping and scratching across the board’s surface.
     
     
    In the crypt, Jake now sat straddling a chair as he listened to Lano.
    ‘Okay, so what about our other problems, security, for one? I know we’ve always consi dered smaller settlements safer and easier to hide, but with food supplies running low we’ve started to see an increase in attacks from some of the newer and more hostile communities, not to mention gangs from the fringes. We almost lost a month’s supply of water after last week’s attack.
    ‘ So what do you suggest?’ asked Nathan.
    ‘ Well, what about trying to join forces with some of the other more supportive groups?’
    ‘We’ve tried that before …,’ growled Max ‘…and it didn’t work.’
    ‘ That doesn’t mean it couldn’t work if we tried it again.’ It was Jake that spoke this time, leaving Max to just snort.
    ‘Make’s sense,’ growled