Wild Strawberry: Book 3 Ascent Read Online Free Page A

replied, “lots of axes.”
                  “We’re already going to the hardware shop,” said Siobhan with a wink, “we’ll pick up an axe for everybody along the way.”
     
    *   *   *
     
    They decided not to put all their eggs in one basket.  Danniella would return to her laboratory in Central London, along with Tina.  The lab was fully equipped for a lockdown (albeit one designed for keeping a contagion inside, rather than keeping monsters out).  There was emergency power and food for weeks of quarantine, which would last months if rationed.  They would need to pick up more food along the way.  However Danniella and Tina were not aiming to live in the lab forever.  They would find a cure or they would die in the attempt.
                  “Tina,” Danniella was trying to dissuade her friend from joining her, “this is little better than a suicide mission.”
                  “Well, Dan,” Tina smiled without humour, “I admire what the gang here are trying to do, but I really don’t want to live like this forever.”  Her voice sank to a whisper, “…I’d rather die.”

Chapter Five
    Services
     
    The network of motorway service stations provided several shelters for the last survivors of the Apocalypse.  They were often located in the middle of nowhere, and were well stocked with food.
                  One such place on the M1 provided everything Helena and Rob needed for post-Apocalypse life.  It was their near perfect home, offering shelter to themselves but also for around forty hungry zombies.
                  There was a lot of food in the shop and a very well stocked food court, the only problem was that the undead lived on the ground floor.  Helena and Rob were forced to live in the metal rafters of the ceiling.
                  “Time to go fishing,” Helena announced with a grin.  Helena was a middle-aged woman, with a shock of peroxide blonde hair.  She had always been slim, but the diet of milk shakes and burgers she had been eating since they’d set up home in the service station had taken their toll.
                  Rob was similar in age to Helena, but they made an odd couple.  Helena was glamorous; since the End of the World she had worn more make-up, regularly collecting anti-ageing creams, lipsticks and foundation from the chemist in the service station.  Her eyebrows had been plucked to within a millimetre of their life, and she prided herself on smooth legs and a perfect bikini line.  Rob had a stubbly beard and could have been described as ‘chunky’ before the Rising, but afterwards had become seriously overweight and had let his facial hair grow into a luxuriant beard.  He was aiming for something of ‘Gandalf-like’ proportions, but his beard was patchy, not uniform grey, so unfortunately he looked like he had been living on the streets for months.
                  They had salvaged a small solar powered battery charger and some rechargeable batteries.  With this equipment Helena was delighted to be able to power a ‘ladyshave’ whereas Rob continued to try and tune the cheap service station radios to receive any signal.
                  Despite their differences they muddled along together, and when surrounded by madness they kept each other sane.  They were not a couple, but behaved as though they had been married for years.  They had only met once or twice before the Apocalypse; they had been going to an amateur dramatic performance put on by mutual friends when the world fell apart.  Their other travelling companions had joined the crowd of the undead on the ground floor.
                  The service station was a large open plan hall, with a communal eating area in the middle, and an array of shops to the sides.
                  Luckily for Helena and Rob lights hung from a low ceiling that gave them a sizeable roof