After the Fall (Book 1): Outside Read Online Free Page B

got our list,” said Ash. “We’ll go in the front here. Let’s stick together. Marcus, you and Jack grab one of those large trolleys. Me and Simon will cover you front and back as you load up. We’ll try and do it all in one trip.”
    They moved slowly towards the grey of the building. Jack noticed his companions constantly looking in all directions with sharp furtive glances.
    Jack took a large wooden trolley from beside the entrance to the shop.
    “I’ll stack ‘em,” said Marcus. “You keep pushing.”
    Ash and Simon pushed open the door, and they entered as a unit: Simon at the front, Jack pushing the trolley with Marcus beside him, and Ash at the rear.
    She closed the door behind them.
    To their right and left was a bank of cash tills, surrounded by special offer deals of hammers, shammy leathers, tool boxes, tiles, concrete mix.
    “Special offer,” said Marcus smiling. “We’ll have some of that.” He moved quickly and lifted a few bags of the concrete mix onto the trolley.
    Beyond the tills stood tall aisles of building goods. Their every movement echoed in the still of the cavernous building
    “Remember, we stick together,” said Ash. “And keep as quiet as you can. ”
    They passed the tills at a steady pace and into the main part of the shop. They turned left and moved slowly to the far end, aisle one.
    Jack pushed the trolley up the aisle in half darkness. The dull grey from outside did its best to penetrate the shop, but as they got further up the aisles, it seemed to give up. A murky darkness engulfed them. The goods shelves towered twenty feet above like menacing sentinels, displeased at being disturbed from their months of rest.
    Simon looked back and winked at Jack. “Doing good Jack, doing good.”
    Their footsteps echoed in the emptiness. The wheels of the trolley let out the odd squeak. Whenever they found an item from the list, the transfer from shelf to trolley sounded as loud as a car crash. Jack remembered when he was a teenager, trying to sneak into his house after a night out drinking, and how everything, from opening the front door to turning on a light switch, had seemed loud as an elephant herd.
    Jack imagined every excruciating sound calling out to all the zombies for miles around.
    But it wasn’t until the fifth aisle that something happened.

Chapter 6
     
    Annie and Tom ran laughing through the maze of chalets, pretending to be chased by the zombies, never getting caught.
    The rain became heavier, but neither child noticed. Annie hadn’t had this much fun since arriving at the holiday park - it was much better than being stuck in the chalet playing with boring jigsaws or colouring in.
    “Come on Annie, lets go near the beach,” shouted Tom.
    Annie paused. “Are we allowed? My Daddy says it’s dangerous.”
    “It’s fine, I go there all the time with my Dad.”
    Her Daddy would never take her near the beach.
    They ran past the last chalet at the edge of the holiday camp, and onto the dunes, slowing down as they clambered up the wet sand.
    “When do we have to be back?” said Annie. Now the chalets where behind her, she had that funny nervous feeling in her belly, the silly butterflies, as Mummy used to call them.
    “Mum thinks we are playing at Sam’s chalet,” said Tom. “So we should be ok for another hour or so.”
    Annie reached the top of the sand dune. The fence was at the bottom. Her silly butterflies fluttered a little harder. “You mean your mummy doesn’t know we are by the fence?”
    Tom let out a big sigh and rolled his eyes. “God, girls are so boring. I thought you said you were bored inside the chalet all the time?”
    Annie nodded. She had been bored, but something didn’t feel right.
    Tom stood a few paces ahead of her. “Are you a coward like your dad?”
    “He’s not a coward, he’s just sad.”
    Tom shrugged. “Ok then, if you don’t want to see my secret, then we can go back.”
    No one had ever shared a secret with her before,