The Bitter End Read Online Free Page A

The Bitter End
Book: The Bitter End Read Online Free
Author: James Loscombe
Tags: Horror/Dystopian
Pages:
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her children gone, their beds neatly made. She could hear them laughing and joking outside.

    4

    The river had flooded the Oracle shopping centre. It lapped against a deflated bouncy castle, the blue plastic had faded and turned yellow in places. Little waterfalls had formed running down the bricked hills. The McDonalds on one side was beneath a foot of water, on the other side the tables outside Starbucks had been turned over and lay half submerged.
    Hannah steered the boat. Dennis jumped off holding a length of rope and looped it around the metal safety barrier that ran along the length of the the river. He pulled the boat towards him and then tied the rope. Ben threw another rope from the back and he tied that off as well.
    She stopped the engine and the silence was like being punched in the stomach. The Oracle wasn't as big as some shopping centres but it had always been noisy. The sound of a thousand people talking, laughing and joking, their only worry being whether the dress they liked would be available in their size. There had been music and the sound of children. Now there was nothing.
    "All ashore that's coming ashore," said Dennis.
    She turned and saw him helping the children down. They soaked their shoes and trousers in a foot of water that had once been dry land. She wondered if it was safe for them to be doing this, whether it made more sense for her and the kids to stay on the boat while Dennis went looking for weapons. She didn't much like the idea of Ben and Cora handling guns but what other choice did they have? They needed more than just guns if they were going to keep going.
    Dennis helped her down and she winced as the cold water climbed up her trousers. The children were already standing at the top in front of another coffee shop. She let Dennis take her hand and lead her up the wet steps.
    The automatic doors were stuck on open. The floor was slippery with about an inch of water running down into House of Frasier and to the escalators. Which weren't working. Hannah reached for Cora's hand - she knew that Ben wouldn't let her take his - as they passed the cash machines which might as well have been spitting out fifties for all the good they could do them now.
    At the top of the stairs they passed Thornton's which was one of the few shops to have its shutters pulled down. She would have liked to take some chocolate with them but supposed it was all beginning to rot now.
    The floor was dry at the top and their shoes squeaked as they walked. The lights were off but there was a dirty glass ceiling that let in enough light for them to see by. They walked slowly around the corner and then out the other side, across the bridge and up to John Lewis.
    She and Dennis had been discussing the plan for the last three days. She knew exactly what they were there to do. But she hadn't accounted for an increasing desire to look around the shops she used to buy clothes from and maybe pick herself up a nice outfit. She thought it would make her feel better. She kept quiet and followed Dennis through the narrow passageway and onto the high street.
    This was where the damage had been done. The air still smelled faintly of smoke. The brick ground was carpeted in glass from the windows that had been broken, overturned army vehicles lay in ruin. An old book shop must have been hit with a bomb or something, the buildings on either side of it leaned towards each other like drunks at a party. Hannah hadn't realised how much she would have liked to take away a few books but all that was left were charred pages and empty covers laying in the rubble.
    They found what they wanted laying in the middle of the street, casually discarded like coffee cups. Dennis walked towards a gun, some sort of pistol and looked around. She stood a little way back with Cora and Ben, whose arm she had grabbed to hold him in place.
    Dennis looked around but she could tell they were alone there. Then cautiously he bent down and touched the pistol briefly,
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