Thunder in the Mountains by Kathryn Moon & Angela Timms

Author:Kathryn Moon & Angela Timms [Moon, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00

There was a bubble of sound and the smell of the animals gave it an atmosphere of its own.

Entertainers made their way along the line of people waiting. Juggling, singing, showing magic tricks in order to be able to hold out the hat for exchangeable currency. People seemed to know each other and as they walked past they caught snippets of the conversation. It was easy to work out that people were at the Mart pretty much every day as it was more than a place to shop.

People didn’t take any notice of them. As they found their way through the crowd just about everyone smiled and stepped aside.

One or two of the farmers doffed their cap to Raven. She vaguely knew them from visits to the Mart when it had been a food store but they didn’t stop to talk back then so she didn’t know who they were. She smiled back and they carried on.

The four pushed their way through the crowd and finally got far enough down the road that they could walk together and talk. There were still people coming to join the crowd. Travellers came in carts, on foot and on bicycles. Many carried goods, others carried bags in the anticipation of buying goods. They all travelled with a purpose.

The road was filled with rubbish and debris. There was a considerable amount of dried blood staining the pavements. Some homeowners had cleaned up outside their houses, others had left the stains there because they didn’t have time or because it was their blood and they were no longer around to clean up. The cars that had littered the road the last time they had visited had been pushed out of the way and anything useful had been removed from them. There was little left of them. Anything deemed useless had been discarded on the road or pavement and added to the general mess.

The shops which had broken windows had been boarded up and most had signs hanging on the wooden boarding saying “Moved to the Mart”. The sign was a standard printed A4 piece of paper which had been laminated and nailed to the planks that protected the windows.

Groups of people hung about on the corners. They looked about nervously and waved or spoke to groups that passed them. All were armed with whatever they had found and many had makeshift body armour tied on or fastened with whatever they had managed to get hold of. They looked up as the four strangers in town passed along the pavement but stepped out of the way when it came to them actually passing by. They avoided eye contact and let the four go on their way.

An elderly man with a Westie dog passed them on the other side of the street. His long duffle coat looked bulky and he clanked slightly as he walked. He looked up, smiled and waved but he hastened on his way.

The street was unnervingly quiet when they got away from the Mart.

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