Straight to You Page 0,66

I'm really in the shit!'

I took off my T-shirt and wiped my sweat-covered face on it before throwing it over my shoulder and into the hedge. I lay back down on the hard, moistureless ground and stared up into the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night (now that I thought about it, I realised that I had not seen a cloud for days) and I could not help but notice how normal everything looked. The man at my side was quiet for a moment.

'It's definitely going to end,' he said, suddenly.

I turned my head to the side to look at him. He remained flat on his back with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head.

'There ain't no question about it,' he continued. 'Things don't get this bad and then get better again. This really is it.'

I knew that he was right and returned my attention to the skies above us. I thought back to the energy pulse earlier in the day and it was only then that I realised the extreme danger that we were both exposed to. Should another one of the deadly waves strike now, there would be no escape from the heat, light and wind. Should the wave be as strong or, as seemed to be more likely, stronger than the last, then neither of us could expect to escape with anything less than extensive and dangerous burns. I still carried my wide umbrella but the protection that would afford me was negligible. If the next pulse was stronger, I thought, then perhaps even shelter and shade would not be enough to prevent severe injury and damage. Walking along open roads to reach Samantha was a calculated risk that I had to take but lying here, exposed and vulnerable in the empty field, was little short of foolish and stupid.

As I lay still, I thought more about the pulses and their timing. The first and second waves had been separated by a week, there had been three or four days between the second and third, and under two days between the third pulse and the one which had struck yesterday. If the gaps between the pulses continued to reduce (and I had no reason to think that they would not) then there was a real chance of at least one more wave striking later today. As the realisation began to dawn on me, it gave me a new impetus to reach Sam quickly.

I got to my feet and shook the dust from my damp, ragged clothes. The man at my side began to snore and I wondered if I should wake him rather than leave him exposed and at the mercy of the heat and light. Although I tried to think about other things, as I readied myself to leave I could not help but wonder when the pulse would strike the planet that would have the power to burn and kill. I knew that I could waste no more time.

I gently kicked the man's side and he fidgeted on the ground at my feet. Mumbling and groaning at having been disturbed, he looked up at me through tired eyes.

'I think you'd better get yourself under some cover,' I said, genuinely concerned for my companion. 'There might be another one of those energy waves before long.'

He stared at me for a moment before closing his eyes again and smiling to himself.

'That's all right, pal,' he said as he stifled a yawn. 'If we've got to go, we've got to go.'

Although I could not help but admire the man's attitude, I almost wanted to grab his arm and pull him under cover. I had to accept, however, that staying there was his choice and his choice alone to make. Looking back, I was perhaps a little jealous of how the man was able to relax and to almost enjoy the end of the world while I seemed destined to spend the rest of my time dragging myself along endless roads.

'Well I'm going,' I said, annoyed with the man and with myself. 'If you want to stay here then you can. Hope you enjoy it.'

The man began to snore again and I left the field. I clambered over the low, prickly hedgerow and back onto the quiet road. Before hauling it onto my aching shoulders, I checked the contents of the little bag that I carried and I found that only a few scraps of food and one more bottle of water remained. There was one