Read Online Stone Rising by Gareth K Pengelly - Free Book Online

limbs at the nearness of his goal. He powered on, discarding his cannon to tumble to the ground, dead weight, useless to him now. There, across the space; the yellow-painted barrier of steel that he’d seen on the screen in the office. Behind it, the shuttered gates that barred the entrance to the car park from the outside world, the same gates which he had powered up with a turn of a switch from the office. Powered up, but couldn’t open; Marlyn had locked them with a code and not even Tanya could tell him what it was.
                  His pace slowed as he neared the gate, his run turning into a staggered walk as he passed the barrier and made his way to the control switch. For a moment, doubts began to assail him, but before they could even form coherent thoughts in his mind, Tanya spoke to him once more, coaxing, beckoning.
                  Turn the switch, Lawrence, my love. Turn it and we can all be together again.
                  My love?
                  A noise that sounded almost like a giggle and the whispers continued.
                  Yes, my love. Do you not think I noticed how you used to look at me across the bar? I’ve always felt the same way, Lawrence, but was always too shy. Open the gate and we will be together. We can run away from all of this and be together forever.
                  Doubt, fear, all slipped away in the face of these fresh promises. With no hesitation, he reached forth, grasping the round red switch that sat in a yellow box, twisting it till it clicked. A high pitched whirr, then the jerking rattle of metal as the gate began to rise, slowly, laboriously.
                  Inevitably.
                  As the metal shuttering rose higher, Marlyn walked out into the middle of the road, gazing out into the outside world, shielding his weary eyes from the bright orange glow of the lamps outside. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, shapes swam blurrily into view, coming into sharper focus with every passing second.
                  His blood froze.
                  The once-man nearest him, at the head of the huge horde, cocked its head to one side as it regarded him, its mouth ripped open by some horrific previous battle to expose a rictus grin that would never fade, teeth and gum showing through where once there should have been flesh.
                  Together, Lawrence, it spoke as the horde rushed forth into the car park with reaching arms. Together forever.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four:
     
    It was dusk. Fatigue clawed at their eyelids, but the rumble of the cart as it made its way down the roughly paved road denied any hope of snatched slumber as they travelled.
                  The Boy gazed about the dim interior of the rickety wagon at his fellow travellers. Will, to his right, eyes closed, hands hidden beneath his cloak; fingers no doubt resting on the hilts of his twin daggers. Next to Will, sat close to the entrance of the covered wagon, an old lady, face wrinkled by the lines of age; at her feet a pig, pink, freshly washed, ready for market. Opposite her, a couple, girl and boy; young, nervous-looking; eyes darting about, hands clasped tightly to each other’s. On the run, no doubt, fleeing a disapproving family, hoping to make a new life for themselves in the hustle and bustle of the town.
                  Then finally, opposite the Boy himself, the big man. Stinking, unwashed, the man loomed tall, his shoulders broad, putting him in mind of John. But where John, despite his stature, had a countenance of ease and good humour, this hulk had sat and stared at the Boy for the entire time since the man had got on the cart at the last village and squeezed his bulk on board; his eyes bloodshot and sat in a scarred face, challenging, daring him to make comment.
                  The Boy was not