Read Online The Dead by Charlie Higson - Free Book Online
Authors: Charlie Higson
Tags: General, Juvenile Fiction
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they tramped along through the drizzle in a straggly crocodile, for all the world like an unruly bunch of primary-school kids on a trip.
Problem was, nobody really knew the words.
‘I will survive … da da da daa …’
Ed wondered if they would have been better off keeping quiet and not attracting attention to themselves, but singing seemed to keep the shadows away, it gave them courage. As long as they were singing, they were invincible.
‘I will survive … da da da daa …’
They were marching south, out of the town, leaving the school and the church behind. None of them had been out of the grounds in at least the last five weeks. For a while the town had been chaos, the streets overrun with crazies. Now the boys were goggle-eyed at how deserted everywhere was. The shops that had always been busy stood open-doored and empty, ransacked of all their stock. The houses were dark, lifeless and neglected, with rubbish piled in the gardens. Offices were silent. Cars stationary. The only sign of life was when a dog ran out and barked at them. The shock had made them all jump but after a moment’s panic they’d burst out laughing and had mocked each other for what a bunch of wimps they’d been. The dog was still tagging along behind, keeping a wary distance. It was skinny and scabby, with patches of fur missing.
But so far they’d seen no other people. Living or dead. They’d made it to the outskirts of the town. The shops had mostly given way to houses and small businesses. They passed a doctor’s surgery; a dentist; the local pub, the Hop Sack, its windows blackened by fire. There was a big Tesco up ahead and, after that, beyond the common, was ‘Futures Enterprise Zone’, known by the locals as ‘The Fez’, an ugly modern retail and industrial park, whose main occupants were a carpet warehouse and a tool-hire company.
Arthur and Wiki were walking along with a boy called Stanley, who had been part of the chapel group. They were having an intense conversation about whether you got wetter walking or running.
‘Scientifically, the less time you spend in the rain, the less wet you’ll get,’ Wiki was explaining. ‘So you’re better off running. As long as you’re running towards a shelter.’
‘We had floods last year,’ said Arthur, ‘at home. It rained really hard for two days and nights and the river burst its banks, it was like the streets had become a river, you had to use boats to get anywhere, it was really fun, and I thought it would be probably the most exciting thing that was ever going to happen in my life, you know, like a disaster movie, you see them in the cinema and you think, that looks incredible, but it’s never going to happen to me, because, mostly, living in England it used to be pretty boring, not any more, though, this is more extreme than a flood, much more, it’s maybe not as cool as a flood, and it’s more, you know, terrifying, but it is like a real disaster movie, and I never thought that was going to happen.’
When they got to Tesco, they stopped to take a look, but the place had been cleaned out and set on fire. All the food and drink had been looted from the petrol station next to it as well, but there were a few useful items still on the shelves, torches, cigarette lighters, batteries and a stack of road atlases.
Bam opened one out on the counter.
‘Look,’ he said, pointing to the map with a stubby finger. ‘This is us, here, in Rowhurst. We’re going this way, south-west, past The Fez. After that there are fewer and fewer buildings and then we’ll start to be in the countryside. Not proper countryside, though, still lots of town and villages and whatnot. We’ll need to go more west to this open area here towards Sevenoaks and Maidstone. That’s proper farmland, that is. We’ll get a pretty decent idea of what to expect once we’re there. And it’s near enough to some major towns if we decide the country life isn’t for us after all.’
‘Looks
Problem was, nobody really knew the words.
‘I will survive … da da da daa …’
Ed wondered if they would have been better off keeping quiet and not attracting attention to themselves, but singing seemed to keep the shadows away, it gave them courage. As long as they were singing, they were invincible.
‘I will survive … da da da daa …’
They were marching south, out of the town, leaving the school and the church behind. None of them had been out of the grounds in at least the last five weeks. For a while the town had been chaos, the streets overrun with crazies. Now the boys were goggle-eyed at how deserted everywhere was. The shops that had always been busy stood open-doored and empty, ransacked of all their stock. The houses were dark, lifeless and neglected, with rubbish piled in the gardens. Offices were silent. Cars stationary. The only sign of life was when a dog ran out and barked at them. The shock had made them all jump but after a moment’s panic they’d burst out laughing and had mocked each other for what a bunch of wimps they’d been. The dog was still tagging along behind, keeping a wary distance. It was skinny and scabby, with patches of fur missing.
But so far they’d seen no other people. Living or dead. They’d made it to the outskirts of the town. The shops had mostly given way to houses and small businesses. They passed a doctor’s surgery; a dentist; the local pub, the Hop Sack, its windows blackened by fire. There was a big Tesco up ahead and, after that, beyond the common, was ‘Futures Enterprise Zone’, known by the locals as ‘The Fez’, an ugly modern retail and industrial park, whose main occupants were a carpet warehouse and a tool-hire company.
Arthur and Wiki were walking along with a boy called Stanley, who had been part of the chapel group. They were having an intense conversation about whether you got wetter walking or running.
‘Scientifically, the less time you spend in the rain, the less wet you’ll get,’ Wiki was explaining. ‘So you’re better off running. As long as you’re running towards a shelter.’
‘We had floods last year,’ said Arthur, ‘at home. It rained really hard for two days and nights and the river burst its banks, it was like the streets had become a river, you had to use boats to get anywhere, it was really fun, and I thought it would be probably the most exciting thing that was ever going to happen in my life, you know, like a disaster movie, you see them in the cinema and you think, that looks incredible, but it’s never going to happen to me, because, mostly, living in England it used to be pretty boring, not any more, though, this is more extreme than a flood, much more, it’s maybe not as cool as a flood, and it’s more, you know, terrifying, but it is like a real disaster movie, and I never thought that was going to happen.’
When they got to Tesco, they stopped to take a look, but the place had been cleaned out and set on fire. All the food and drink had been looted from the petrol station next to it as well, but there were a few useful items still on the shelves, torches, cigarette lighters, batteries and a stack of road atlases.
Bam opened one out on the counter.
‘Look,’ he said, pointing to the map with a stubby finger. ‘This is us, here, in Rowhurst. We’re going this way, south-west, past The Fez. After that there are fewer and fewer buildings and then we’ll start to be in the countryside. Not proper countryside, though, still lots of town and villages and whatnot. We’ll need to go more west to this open area here towards Sevenoaks and Maidstone. That’s proper farmland, that is. We’ll get a pretty decent idea of what to expect once we’re there. And it’s near enough to some major towns if we decide the country life isn’t for us after all.’
‘Looks
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