Read Online The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor - Free Book Online Page A

to know. But they’re going crazy right now. The storm came, some people fried and it’s—’
    An automatic door whooshed open somewhere. The atmosphere in the room altered as cool air flooded in. She looked for a place to hide. She had so much to discuss with Denis. What had happened to him? Where had he been? How did he end up here? Why wasn’t he wearing any clothes? Denis ran behind a huge computer bank but when Genie rushed there to join him he wasn’t there.
    There was nowhere to hide at all. It was impossible Denis could have hidden here. Impossible. ‘Denis?’
    She heard footsteps, turned and saw a reflection in the glass wall – a uniformed security guard creeping along the bank of computers. Her throat began to constrict, she felt sick with terror. She suddenly saw Denis was at the other end of the room, behind her now, trying to get the attention of the guard.
    ‘Run, Genie, run!’ Denis shouted as he ran the other way. The armed man spun around to follow him. Genie dashed for the double doors at the end of the room hoping
    they led somewhere. She heard a gunshot behind her.
    Glass shattered. She burst through the end doors and her feet found nothing. She began to fall, fall and fall into black nothingness. She screamed as young, scared faces stared at her from the blackness. She felt them reach out for her. Heard them call her name. Was this what death felt like, as it sucked the life out of you?
    She bounced, landed hard, all the breath knocked out of her. Then sat up gulping for air. She was feverish. It took her a moment to realize it had been a incredibly vivid dream. She was still lying on the hay bales; Rian was asleep next to her, undisturbed. The rain was falling noisily on the tin roof once more. The pig was snorting quietly down below and the gusting wind was causing a loose metal sheet to flap loudly above.
    She stared into the darkness, unnerved. The dream was too intense, too real. Denis Malone was there. Denis had been in her classes for sure. He’d gone missing, she remembered that. One of the first to go from Spurlake, there had been ‘Missing’ posters pinned up on store walls all over town. She lay back, exhausted and tried to will herself to sleep. The building she recognized was the strange glass tower she’d seen as she passed by in the floodwaters. She was sure of it. She saw it again as the lightning flashed in her mind, the men inside with their
    bright flashlights, the cars stacked up by the flood.
    Why was it there? She closed her eyes. Did she really see it? Dreams like that were always a warning, but against what? Why had she dreamt of Denis, of all people?
    She’d never spoken to him, not once. And why wasn’t he wearing any clothes?
    Rian turned in his sleep and Genie stroked his arms.
    She was safe. Rian was here, he’d saved her. But now what? Where are we gonna end up? Where can we go? How hard is it for kids to survive out here? Who can we trust?
    The last image she saw before sleep took her again was of Denis turning to run and save her. He looked hunted and scared. What on earth had happened to him? Was she meant to find out? Was that what the dream meant?

9
Marshall
    The sun streamed in from an uncanny clear sky. The yard was steaming outside in the heat and it was hard to believe there had been a deluge around the old farm.
    Marshall sat on a straw bale and contemplated the view before him. A pig, definitely not his pig – he had never owned a pig – was sound asleep where it had made a bed for itself. The pig was a handsome animal, somewhat muddy, but it had an elegant long snout and had been most likely well cared for back where it came from. There might or might not be a branding mark on its backside, hard to tell under the mud. There were two teenagers asleep at the top of the stack and he could see by the state of their feet, all bloodied under the layers of mud, that they’d been through quite a lot.
    Marshall felt for his pipe and remembered he’d