Cradle to Grave by Cross Amy

Author:Cross, Amy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Season Books
Published: 2017-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

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Alex's room turns out to be a dark, garbage-strewn mess with clothes all over the bed and bin bags overflowing. I knew she wasn't the tidiest of people but, as I pick my way carefully to the window and pull the curtains open, I'm already starting to notice a foul smell.

Turning, I look back across the room and see that there are pizza crusts littering the floor next to the bed, along with scores of dirty glasses that seem to have been dropped randomly all over the floor. The place is such a disgusting mess, I wouldn't be surprised to find rats or cockroaches nearby.

I wander over to the dresser, where I see ashtray after ashtray filled with cigarette butts. There are several soda bottles lined up against the wall, and it's pretty obvious that Alex is up to her old tricks and using her home-brewed set-up to extract codeine from paracetamol tablets. On a chair by the door, several dirty old pairs of underwear have been tossed aside and left to hang. There are plenty of books scattered about the room as well, and when I pick a few up I find that they're mostly philosophical works the likes of which I've never read in my life. All things considered, it's pretty clear that Alex has made herself pretty much at home here.

Heading back to the window, I pull the net curtains aside and look out at the street. There are plenty of people out there, although after a moment I hear voices yelling in the distance. I look along the street, just in time to spot a bunch of black-coated people running this way. I feel a shudder in my chest as soon as I realize that they're wearing the same masks as the people on the TV report. There's no way they could have made it all the way to Stratford so quickly, so it's obvious that this is a completely separate group of Ripper worshipers. Clearly this new little cult is growing fast.

They shout and scream at passersby, and then one of them spots me.

Before I can pull back out of the way, he sticks his fingers up and then mimes a stabbing motion with his right hand, and I can just about see a pair of eyes staring at me from behind the mask.

Then he turns and runs, quickly catching up to his friends just as they start pushing over market stalls and generally causing chaos. I hear some of the locals shouting at them, but none of the vandals seem to care. I crane my neck to get a better view, and sure enough they've started smashing a burger van. It's clear that they only care about causing as much wanton destruction as possible.

And then, as the chaos continues, I notice that one of the masked figures is coming back this way, carrying a baseball bat slung over his shoulder. He slows as he gets closer to the corner of the street, and then he stops and looks up at me.

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