Tomorrows Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

safe.
    Ruben drove the
wagon with Libby strapped into the passenger seat. Ruben was
Phoenix’s father, a tall sturdy man, ex-army and Vietnam vet.
    “Do you think
there will be many people in town?” I asked.
    “I hope there
are thousands,” said Raven, “That way I can ditch this crappy life
and do something fun.”
    “The area won’t
cope with thousands, but I expect there to be some refugees, maybe
a few hundred.” Ruben thought the refugees from the city would be
heading to higher ground and eventually find Mount Misty.
    “We came into
town a couple times in the first few weeks; but most of the
arrivals had family here or were heading further west,” said
Phoenix.
    “You think
people will still be coming? It’s been so long.”
    “It depends on
how many survived and what happened on the coast and in the cities.
It’s hard to know what we will find. Maybe there will be no
one.”
    We still had no
reports of what was going on in the cities, but there was some hope
that the government had been able to scrape up the remnants of
civilisation and save society. It was unlikely, but there was still
hope.
    “Maybe it will
be good news,” I said. I was hopeful, but Mum and I drove to Mount
Misty as civilisation was crumbling. We saw the devastation and
death. It would take a miracle to fix this and even that wouldn’t
be enough.
    “Of course it
will be good news. We should have gone to town weeks ago instead of
hanging out, thinking that the world had ended.” Raven’s view
differed from everyone else in the valley; she thought it was a
massive overreaction to a power outage.
    “Either way, we
need to be careful what we say,” said Libby. “These are desperate
times and we need to be cautious. I suggest we lie.”
    “Yes, that’s
the only way to be sure. We have to protect what we’ve built,” said
Ruben. “If anyone asks, let them know that life is a real struggle,
lay it on a bit if you have to. It wouldn’t hurt to mention that
we’ve had sickness and death.”
    “But don’t let
them think we’ve had the green plague; that would be a disaster. We
might even get shot for spreading the sickness,” said Libby.
    “Raven, I want
you to be very careful what you say today,” said Ruben.
    “Whatever! What
about Phoenix and Navarre? Why don’t you tell them to keep their
mouths shut?”
    “Don’t worry
about me,” said Navarre, “I just want to check out what’s going on.
I don’t plan on tellin’ anyone anything.”
    “But if you’re
asked, you must lie,” Ruben said.
    For me, it
wasn’t really a lie. I wasn’t starving, but I was miserable most of
the time and I had lost a loved one to sickness. I knew it wasn’t
the green plague, but I wasn’t planning to talk to anyone, so it
didn’t matter.
    “We should pull
into Nell’s place,” said Libby. “No one will hear the vehicles and
we can walk to town from there. Plus, I’d like to make sure that
Nell is okay.” Libby had never mentioned Nell, but then again,
she’d never mentioned any of her friends.
    When we pulled
into Nell’s driveway, everything appeared deserted. The yard was
overgrown and the house was closed up. It appeared that Nell might
have left some time ago.
    “Perhaps she’s
gone to town,” Libby said, trying to sound hopeful, but she had a
high-pitched twang of concern in her voice. “I’d know… you know
that… I would know!”
    Nell lived in a
small cottage with an oversized yard. If she were still here, it
was likely that she had suffered greatly over the past few months.
I followed Libby to the back of the house, where the grass was
waist-high and dewy wet. The back door hung open and one of the
hinges was broken so the door hung slightly askew. The house was
cold and dark and mouldy, stale air greeted us as we entered
through the back door.
    “Stay here,
Psyche.” Libby put her hand in the middle of my chest to stop me
taking another step. I knew she was afraid of what she might find.
I was going