Read Online Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough - Free Book Online
Authors: Sarah Pinborough
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Helena. Maybe the new methods of conversation were blocking the old, all-inclusive ones. I sighed. There were too many maybes filling this morning, and I didn’t have a concrete answer to any of them.
59
Perhaps if I went home I could find one or two, but the pain in my heart told me that there was no going back there. Shock was numbing my feeling of loss over Chloe, but I knew that what I was feeling was grief. Chloe was gone. I knew it in my soul. My Chloe was not coming back. Eventually, if no one started to emerge, I was going to have to break into a flat or house to face whatever was happening, but I wasn’t ready for that.
Stepping back out onto the pavement, suddenly aware of the rumbling emptiness of my stomach, I realised that what I was ready for was breakfast. In fact, I was ravenous. Food hadn’t been on the agenda yesterday, and any scraps lingering in my system had been vomited up down by the river.
I jogged across the road and through the small parade of shops until I got to Budgen’s, but frustratingly the double doors to the small supermarket were locked and the shutters down, someone obviously taking their responsibilities very seriously before the world went mad. Cursing under my breath, I kicked the steel and turned outward, venting my anger at everything in that one blow. God, it felt good. I lashed out with my foot again. And then again, the noise echoing loudly, satisfying me that I was alive. Alive and angry and goddamned hungry.
If a shooting pain through the side of my foot hadn’t paused my assault, then I probably wouldn’t have heard the quiet running footsteps pattering away from me. Spinning around, I scanned the surrounding area for any sign or shadow of human life.
“Hello?”
I ignored both the creepiness of hearing my voice aloud and the warning voice in my head that advised
60
quiet caution. Who knew what drawing attention to myself would bring out of the silent dwellings that surrounded me?
“Hello?” I called out louder this time, but there was no answer from the hushed walls and bushes. I waited, breath held, but no figure appeared or called back from their hiding place.
Still, unlike the vague hint of music on the radio, this was a sound I definitely knew I’d heard, and my spirits lifted. There was someone else out here other than me, and the fact that they were obviously scared of coming too close went in their favour. It certainly pushed up the odds of them being normal, at any rate. Only an insane person wouldn’t be scared; not if they’d been through anything like I had with Chloe and then stepped out into this empty world. Fear was a healthy emotion and I was quickly learning to live with it.
Feeling buoyed by the almost-contact with another living being, I headed into St. Swythen’s Court, tucked away behind the hairdresser’s and bookshop. There was a little cafe there, and if I was lucky, maybe I’d be able to get my muchneeded breakfast.
In the sunshine the tiny courtyard was picture postcard perfect, more so for the lack of people cluttering it and distracting from its peaceful charm. The small cobbles sparkled, the smooth stones reflecting the bright natural light as if they were glistening with moisture, and for a moment it could have been early on a perfect summer morning. There were even sparrows singing in the trees around me. They weren’t too bothered about the lack of human company. Perhaps
61
the whole of nature was heaving a sigh of relief at the respite.
My rumbling stomach threw any more philosophical wanderings out of my mind as I eyed the glass door and chintzy bay window of the small, whitewashed Old World cafe and smiled. This was going to be easier than Morris’s Menswear; even my inexperienced burglar’s eye could tell that. Unlike that thick plated window, the glass here was thin, and turning my face away I jabbed the pane immediately above the wrought iron handle with my elbow, relishing the sweet
59
Perhaps if I went home I could find one or two, but the pain in my heart told me that there was no going back there. Shock was numbing my feeling of loss over Chloe, but I knew that what I was feeling was grief. Chloe was gone. I knew it in my soul. My Chloe was not coming back. Eventually, if no one started to emerge, I was going to have to break into a flat or house to face whatever was happening, but I wasn’t ready for that.
Stepping back out onto the pavement, suddenly aware of the rumbling emptiness of my stomach, I realised that what I was ready for was breakfast. In fact, I was ravenous. Food hadn’t been on the agenda yesterday, and any scraps lingering in my system had been vomited up down by the river.
I jogged across the road and through the small parade of shops until I got to Budgen’s, but frustratingly the double doors to the small supermarket were locked and the shutters down, someone obviously taking their responsibilities very seriously before the world went mad. Cursing under my breath, I kicked the steel and turned outward, venting my anger at everything in that one blow. God, it felt good. I lashed out with my foot again. And then again, the noise echoing loudly, satisfying me that I was alive. Alive and angry and goddamned hungry.
If a shooting pain through the side of my foot hadn’t paused my assault, then I probably wouldn’t have heard the quiet running footsteps pattering away from me. Spinning around, I scanned the surrounding area for any sign or shadow of human life.
“Hello?”
I ignored both the creepiness of hearing my voice aloud and the warning voice in my head that advised
60
quiet caution. Who knew what drawing attention to myself would bring out of the silent dwellings that surrounded me?
“Hello?” I called out louder this time, but there was no answer from the hushed walls and bushes. I waited, breath held, but no figure appeared or called back from their hiding place.
Still, unlike the vague hint of music on the radio, this was a sound I definitely knew I’d heard, and my spirits lifted. There was someone else out here other than me, and the fact that they were obviously scared of coming too close went in their favour. It certainly pushed up the odds of them being normal, at any rate. Only an insane person wouldn’t be scared; not if they’d been through anything like I had with Chloe and then stepped out into this empty world. Fear was a healthy emotion and I was quickly learning to live with it.
Feeling buoyed by the almost-contact with another living being, I headed into St. Swythen’s Court, tucked away behind the hairdresser’s and bookshop. There was a little cafe there, and if I was lucky, maybe I’d be able to get my muchneeded breakfast.
In the sunshine the tiny courtyard was picture postcard perfect, more so for the lack of people cluttering it and distracting from its peaceful charm. The small cobbles sparkled, the smooth stones reflecting the bright natural light as if they were glistening with moisture, and for a moment it could have been early on a perfect summer morning. There were even sparrows singing in the trees around me. They weren’t too bothered about the lack of human company. Perhaps
61
the whole of nature was heaving a sigh of relief at the respite.
My rumbling stomach threw any more philosophical wanderings out of my mind as I eyed the glass door and chintzy bay window of the small, whitewashed Old World cafe and smiled. This was going to be easier than Morris’s Menswear; even my inexperienced burglar’s eye could tell that. Unlike that thick plated window, the glass here was thin, and turning my face away I jabbed the pane immediately above the wrought iron handle with my elbow, relishing the sweet
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