How the World Ends Read Online Free Page A

news.
    Everyone is speaking of it as we enter the train.
    “Can’t believe they did it.”
    “Only 20 litres per day of personal use.”
    “What’s that in gallons?”
    “Why didn’t they warn us?”
    “I wouldn’t have bought the Cadillac, that’s for sure.”
    “Damned government. Did you see him standing there? That two-faced bastard mayor telling us there aren’t enough supplies for the city.”
    “What do you mean, ‘for the city’?”
    “It means this ration scam is limited to only a few designated cities. Part of a rolling scheme they’ve come up with.”
    “Wankers. Every last one them.”
    I stare out the window at the driving rain as the train winds its way to the suburbs.
    To my home – my family.
    Damn you, Michael. You knew this was going to happen. You and Gabe both. How did you know?
    …
    I get off the train and onto the waiting bus just before it departs from the local terminal. The bus driver has the radio on loud with the AM news. They are discussing the gas rationing from every angle: how we should have known it was coming, how all the signs point towards more cities being rationed, how we should stay in the city to avoid being stranded on the highways.
    And then the mayor, on the line, live on the air, “ There is nothing to be alarmed about. This is a temporary measure to alleviate foreign pressure on the oil reserves, coupled with a recent fire at the major refineries in the district.
    “ I repeat, this is a temporary measure, and there is nothing to be alarmed about.
    “ Go home. Be with your families and tomorrow we can all get back to normal.”

Chapter Five – My Family is Safe
    Jonah
    The door of my house is ajar, and the place is eerily silent. Not what one expects from the home of a two year-old and a five year-old. Still – it could be they’re having a nap, or something.
    I push the door aside and step into the hallway, being as silent as possible, I’m not sure why.
    Yes I am. Gabe said to look to the safety of my family and that makes me worried.
    My mind takes me back seven years to the day we first walked into this house.
    The neighbourhood was completely new then, with no other houses around ours at all, only a field in the front and back. But that has completely changed now. Now there is no view from our house to the lake, whereas before we had only a few trees between us and the blue expanse of water. How times change.
    The place had been little less than a frame when we first saw it, but we had walked around for a few minutes and come quickly to the conclusion that this was it. It was a strange phenomenon in my life since I had met Rachel – decisions have been easy and the way has always seemed very clear to us.
    The sun that day, when we first came through this place, had been shining through the rafters in the ceiling high above, and even the pigeons roosting there hadn’t bothered us. Something had felt right and good about the place. Something just clicked.
    A few months later, after the construction was complete and the carpet flooring newly laid, we had entered again with the knowledge that out first Christmas in this house would be our last without a child; Jewel had arrived via caesarean section the next August. It was like living a dream, where nothing can go wrong and the only bad things that happen seem to happen to someone else. We both knew what it was like to be truly blessed; we had our little family, safe and happy in our house.
    When Gwyn came along, it was as if something was tugging at us, something saying ‘you can do more, just a little more.’ And lo and behold, there was Gwyn, as if he had simply appeared from Rachel’s belly. Of course, he was a little boy, and nearly drove us crazy with worry over his antics: nearly being drowned, hit by cars, and falling down the stairs several times.
    Time passes by quickly, though, and the neighbourhood has filled out. Now we are surrounded on all sides by the signs of suburbia. There are