Numbers 3: Infinity Read Online Free PDF

civilisation left. Enclaves. For the ones who can contribute .’
    ‘Cities?’
    He shrugs. ‘Parts of cities, some buildings, country estates, farms. Places that thought ahead. Planned. Wind turbines, solid fuel burners, solar panels. Some of them survived intact. Others have been repaired.’
    He smiles and throws his empty bottle into the fire.
    ‘It’s going to be a hard winter, Adam. Hardest since 2010.’
    I know he’s right. There are at least three people in the camp who won’t make it to the spring. I think of Marty and Luke and Mia and Sarah, of the last two years just getting by.
    Pockets of civilisation.
    The thought of being indoors, warm and dry, is almost painful.
    ‘What would I have to do?’
    Saul claps me on the back like it’s a done deal.
    ‘Play your part, my friend. Play your part. We’re laying the foundations for a different society, where intuition and science work hand in hand. The old ways and the new. People who are special, people like you, who’ve been misunderstood, we want to understand you.’
    Gifted. Misunderstood. Understand.
    I know he’s choosing his words carefully, spinning them. I can feel he’s pulling my strings and I don’t like it. But they’re warm words. They make me feel warm.
    ‘Talk to Sarah about it,’ he says, all calm. ‘Talk to her now. Come back and tell me what she says.’
    ‘She’s probably asleep by now. I don’t want to wake her.’ 
    ‘So talk to her first thing. I’ll still be here.’ 
    I picture him sitting there all night. Waiting for my answer.
    And only one answer will do.

Chapter 7: Sarah
    I hear him before I see him, the twigs snapping under his boots. 
    ‘What did they want?’
    There’s a knot of fear in the pit of my stomach. 
    ‘They want me to help them, help the government.’ 
    ‘Why you?’
    ‘Because of my … gift. I can see where trouble’s coming and get people away from it. Like I did in the Chaos.’
    ‘Adam, these are the same people that tried to stop you then. What’s changed?’
    ‘I think they just understand now that I can be useful. They see me as a leader.’
    This sounds like bullshit to me. 
    ‘I don’t trust them,’ I say.
    ‘Neither do I,’ he says, ‘but they’re saying we can go with them, go to somewhere warm and dry, where they’ve got doctors, electricity, everything we haven’t had for two years. You want to settle somewhere, Sarah. You want somewheresafe for Marty and Luke, and Mia and the baby. This could be it.’
    ‘I thought we’d found it here.’
    ‘Here’s still living in a tent in a wood, isn’t it? What Saul’s talking about is different. Back to civilisation. You can tell they’ve all had enough food. They’re well kitted out. They’ve come from somewhere that’s okay.’
    Somewhere that’s okay. In my head I’m back at my parents’ house, before the quake, before I ran away. There’s deep soft carpet under my bare toes; I’m sinking into a claw-foot bath full of bubbles; watching Hollywood blockbusters on a wall-sized screen. I’ve got everything … the sort of life people dream about. But it’s rotten to the core.
    My family was poisoned and the house was a beautiful cage in which my dad could do whatever he wanted. And he did – night after night after night.
    ‘People make a home, Adam. You said that. And that man’s a thug. You saw what he did to Mia.’
    ‘But we can save Mia and your brothers from living like animals. Think about it. Regular food, a roof over our heads.’
    ‘I don’t know. I don’t trust him.’
    ‘You haven’t heard what he’s offering. You talk to him in the morning. You’ll see.’
    I look at him closely. There’s something about him. His eyes are flicking all over the place.
    He’s not being straight with me.

Chapter 8: Adam
    A t first light, we leave the boys and Mia sleeping, and make our way to where I left Saul. He’s still sitting next to the fire, waiting, just the way he said he would. The other two