Thrust & Parry: Z Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

charade of calming Rube down and letting him out as he dropped his kit by the door and laid his weapon on the dining table. He grabbed his webbing and his daysack and began packing it ready to deploy if he needed to. He needed to find someone to look after Rube. He would have to go back to Jim’s parents again while he was away.
    He had also noticed how many of the lads were sneezing and coughing tonight. This seasonal flu was spreading quickly. There was only really Ruski, Paddy and Whethers that didn’t seem affected by it. Could be fun if they get deployed. They would have to issue cold and flu tablets with the rations.
    Jim finished packing his kit, locked all the doors, picked up his weapon and went to bed. He wasn’t used to sleeping at home with a weapon but he always had his weapon at his side when training with the TA. He set his alarm, tucked the weapon in next to him and went to sleep. 

Chapter 3
     
    Jim woke with a start as his alarm buzzed. He had it set to play a slightly out of tune radio station so that it became unbearable and he had to turn it off. He rolled out bed and shuffled over to shut it off. Before he did he heard an ‘urgent announcement’ so re-tuned it to hear it properly. Jim assumed this would be about the riots. Apparently due to a shortage of drivers most buses and trains had been cancelled. Good job he was getting a lift today.  He showered and changed into his suit, let Rube out for a piss and checked his food and water levels again. He was ready 45 minutes early as he forgot to reset his alarm to account for not having to catch trains. He tried calling Dan to find out where he was. PC World was only a short walk down the road so he could wander down and meet him there. There was no answer so he left a voicemail.
    “Screw it.” He thought “I can browse the PC’s for a bit until Dan gets there.”
    He made sure his weapon was secure and out of sight, said goodbye to Rube and locked the door. He sealed the keys back up and placed them in the hole, carefully replacing the brick as he lost touch with reality once more, dropping his headphones over his ears. As he got to PC world he nearly walked into the automatic doors as they didn’t open. He checked the opening times and found that it should have opened 30 minutes ago. He looked around. It was quiet. No traffic, no pedestrians, nothing. This was weird. He was usually among dozens of commuters rushing to get to work but he saw nothing. The metaphorical tumbleweed bounced past. There was a car in the car park and the door was open.
    Jim wandered over thinking maybe it was an employee that had fallen asleep. It was empty. Something wasn’t right, why would the door be open? Keys in the ignition with no-one in sight. He checked round the immediate area to make sure he wasn’t jumping to conclusions and it was just a commuter desperate for a piss. He found nothing so he leaned in and pulled the boot lever. The boot gave a clunk and he moved round the back of the vehicle pulling open the boot lid. He checked the contents of the boot. He was looking for a weapon. A worn looking tyre-iron sufficed well and he closed the boot. He turned to see someone sprinting over the road in his direction. This wasn’t controlled sprinting though it was mad sprinting like the guy was running for his life. “You ok buddy?” Jim shouted as the guy entered the car park.
    “Was this his car? Had I pissed him off?” Jim thought weighing the guy up as he got closer.
    The guy was bald on the top of his head with a monk cut round the sides. His puffy face flapped up and down as he sprinted and his cheap shirt was stretched over his expanded gut. For his size he could run. His pants looked to be falling down as he ran but he made no attempt to pull them up. He was about 15 metres away now and wasn’t slowing down. All of a sudden his pants dropped and he went flying face first into the concrete. His head bounced several times as he came skidding to a