After the Fall by Stephen Cross & Stephen Cross

Author:Stephen Cross & Stephen Cross [Cross, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Stephen Cross
Published: 2017-06-24T04:00:00+00:00

“Could we have saved him?” said Harriet.

Arthur shook his head. “He would have been dead in minutes with the blood loss. Better to die from that than torn apart.”

The truck bounced along the small B-road as it wound through overgrown fields. They were well into Devon. Night would soon be upon them, and they would pull over into a field, lock the doors and try to sleep.

When she looked into Arthur’s eyes she saw the same pain, the same doubt. They said nothing. She knew if she opened her mouth then her and Arthur would both work to convince themselves that what they had done was right, that it would either have been them or the soldier.

The soldier. Scott. A man who was a boy once, who had cried in the middle of the night for his mummy. Who had played and laughed in a garden. Who had giggled with delight the first time he had seen snow.

Scott. He had lost people, just like her, like Arthur, like Adam.

She wasn’t ready to let her humanity go yet. She wasn’t ready to let go of the pain and fear. She had extinguished a life. In self defence, but still, could she have done something different? Could they have saved him?

More death would follow, more pain. She would have to harden if she wanted to survive. If she wanted to keep Adam alive, and safe.

She looked at him. What use was his life, in this world? What sort of man would he become, hardened by the misery around him. Who was she to think that she could save him?

Adam leaned over and rested his head on her knee.

“My Dad says that sometimes bad things can be good things,” said Adam. “Do you think this is what he meant?”

Harriet couldn’t answer, but only looked at the young boy and smiled.

Arthur said, “Yes, Adam. I think this is one of those times.”

“Do you think we’ll find my dad?”

Tears pooled in Harriet’s eyes. She wanted to scream, to curl up in a ball and scream. “I think we’ll find him Adam.”

“Good. He’ll know what to do.”

Soon after, they pulled into a field and parked up tight to the hedge. Arthur would take first watch, but Harriet didn’t think she would sleep.

They were only forty miles from Tulloch’s Bay. She wished it was four thousand miles away, because once they got there, how would Adam survive knowing that his Father was really gone?

How would she survive without Adam?

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