The Other Life Read Online Free PDF Page A

from my view. I rocked back and forth on my seat, glancing out of the side window. There was nothing.
    Finally Dad snapped the hood shut and walked back to the driver’s side. I let out a slow breath. He slipped into the car and closed the door, then turned the key in the ignition again.
This time the engine roared to life and Dad pulled the car out of the driveway. He glanced at the fuel gauge – we were almost out of gas.
    As our home became a distant silhouette, I couldn’t shake off the growing feeling that someone – or something – was watching us.

I made my way across the beach to where the waves touched the sand.
    Wind blew my hair all over the place. Relief from the summer heat. I looked over my shoulder at the footprints I’d left behind. Another wave erased every trace of them.
    As if I’d never been there.
    The next wave rolled towards me. Cold water clawed at my skin.
    My family lounged in the shade of a parasol. Dad had the newspaper in front of him. He hadn’t put it down all day.
    I wished I could ignore the front page with its glaring headline announcing a new curfew after the latest rise in attacks. I wished this wasn’t the last day of summer.
    Closing my eyes, I brought the popsicle to my lips. The sour taste of lime exploded on my tongue and seemed to fill every part of my body with a new energy.
    It tasted like summer.

Los Angeles’ suburbs were deserted. No traffic. No smog. No people.
    The sun was shining and it was getting warmer by the minute. It should have been a beautiful day.
    Los Angeles had been full of life. Venice Beach with its bold skaters, its crazy tattoo artists, and girls in micro-bikinis. Or the Walk of Fame, with its mass of tourists stumbling over their
own feet to take a photo of every star.
    This city wasn’t Los Angeles. This city was dead, like the ghost town in the Mojave Desert we’d visited a few years back. It was like a corpse, sucked dry of any energy. A few birds
sat on the pavement, and I saw a cat scurrying through the broken window of a shop – but they were the only signs of life. Where had everyone gone? Were they still underground, starving to
death? Too afraid to leave their shelter? My breath caught in my throat.
    There were more weeds and grass peeking through the cracks in the concrete, and soot and dirt covering shop windows. Cars were parked in driveways and at the roadside, waiting for their owners.
Goosebumps rose on my skin.
    Dad was silent throughout the drive. We were heading towards the grocery store where our family used to shop. I could still remember the route and yet it was nothing like before. The silhouette
of a destroyed Los Angeles hovered in the distance. I leaned my head against the sun-warmed window.
    There wasn’t a single car on the freeway. I did a double take. A group of wild boars crossed the street in the distance. Wild boars in the city? They used to avoid humans. I wrapped my
arms around my chest. What if we were the only survivors?
    The building with huge Walmart lettering came into view and Dad pulled off the freeway. Bombs must have hit this part of the city – so many houses had collapsed and wooden boards and huge
chunks of concrete littered the streets.
    Someone had sprayed Road to perdition in huge black letters on the facade of one of the buildings. It was the only sign of human life.
    “Where are they all? Millions of people can’t have disappeared, can they?” I looked at Dad.
    He kept his eyes on the road, then glanced at me briefly. “Maybe they’re hiding. Maybe Los Angeles and its suburbs have been declared a restricted area.”
    “But why has no one told us? What if everybody’s gone? What if they’re all dead?” My voice shook and I could feel tears building.
    Dad prepared to answer, but then he closed his mouth and frowned as if he was considering his reply. He let out a sigh. “I don’t think that Los Angeles is necessarily indicative of
how the rest of the country looks. The rabies