Wright, Iain Rob - The Spread 04 - The Road by Wright Iain Rob

Author:Wright, Iain Rob [Wright, Iain Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ulcerated Press
Published: 2021-10-28T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

It had been one week since Sophie and Nancy had left Mike and Maisie in the woods. Since then, they had not met another friendly person. They had been forced, several times, to fend off attacks from strangers. The only reason they had survived was because most attackers were too weak to put up much of a fight when people fought back. The human predators sought defenceless prey, and for the time being at least, Sophie and Nancy were not defenceless.

But we will be soon. The last of our food is about to run out.

Scavenging supplies was difficult, not because everything had already been looted, but because so much of the Earth was now covered in green fuzz. Heading north had been an ordeal. They had just passed Carlisle – tantalisingly close to the Scottish border – yet, each day their available passageways narrowed. A recent attempt at passing through a town named Penrith had turned into a lost cause, forcing them to trek east, halfway towards Newcastle. They had found scraps of food along the way, but Sophie must have been two stone lighter than when they had set off over three months ago.

“I could just eat a Sunday roast,” said Nancy as they strolled along the narrow country road, “with all the trimmings. Yorkie pud, stuffing, and loads of cheesy cauliflower. I would trade anything for that.”

“Not helping,” said Sophie. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re starving, and the chance of having a Sunday roast rests right alongside meeting Jesus.”

She chuckled thinly. “Maybe we will meet Jesus. This could all be some kind of biblical end-of-the-world thing. Makes me wish I’d gone to church more.”

Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Never really thought of you as a Christian, Nance.”

“I’m as Christian as anyone else,” she said, shrugging. “Nicer to believe in something than nothing, but I can’t say I ever gave it as much thought as it deserved. Perhaps that was my mistake. Maybe the world has reached a point where we needed a reminder.”

“This isn’t God, Nancy. It’s aliens, or something cooked up in a lab somewhere. We both heard what they were saying on the news when all this started. The fungus came from the sky. Naga Munchetty threw one of her fits about it.”

“Anyway, say you’re right, and it is aliens; is that any easier to believe in than God? At least with God there’s a Heaven.”

Sophie chuckled. “So you base your beliefs on whatever comes with the best rewards?”

“Hey, you got to go where you’re most valued. Whoever wants me can pay for me.” She chuckled. “What are we even talking about? I think I’m so hungry that I’m starting to go mad.”

“You went mad long before this started, Nancy. I still remember when you heckled Roy Keane at the Arndale Centre. You’re lucky he didn’t tackle you.”

“He was a dirty bugger on the pitch and he needed to hear about it.”

“Yeah, he looked really repentant after you called him an overpaid thug.”

Nancy laughed out loud, but then she suddenly lost her balance.

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