There’s No Place Like Home - Michael Robertson Page 0,24

be nowhere near it when they do; as long as we leave now, that is. It’s perfect; it’ll distract the bad men while we make our escape.”

Michael turned back to the flames, the heat tingling against his skin as he stood hypnotized by the orange glow. Fatigue stung his eyes, and he lost focus.

When he looked around a few seconds later, Lola had gone. After another glance at the dead boy on the floor, he left too.

Stay With Me

Michael clenched his jaw against the biting cold as he walked down the street with Lola. They hadn’t spoken since leaving the library.

The only light came from the moon in the cloudless sky. Michael looked back in the direction they’d come from. “It won’t be long before the library’s lighting up the whole of London. That many books are going to make one hell of a bonfire.”

Michael stumbled to the side when Lola suddenly shoved him. “Hey, what was that for?”

She nodded at his feet. “Your ankle’s better then?”

“Yeah, it seems a lot better. It still hurts a little, but it can take my weight now.”

Her eyes narrowed and her tone sharpened. “So I carried you all that way for nothing?” She tutted at him. “You were acting like it was broken.”

Michael threw his arms up and stopped. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been bitchy since you woke up. Have you got your period or something?”

At first, Lola just stared at him, her fists clenched as she ground her jaw. Then her brow softened, and her eyes widened slightly. A twitch of her mouth and she snorted before she started to laugh.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

When Lola ruffled his shaggy hair, it took everything he had not to swing for her.

“Come on, Nearly Eleven; let’s walk. Maybe I’ll explain a thing or two to you about how to talk to women.”

Michael stared at her back as she walked away, shook his head, and then followed after her.

***

All that was left of the supermarket’s logo was the letter T. The other letters seemed to have completely vanished. It seemed odd that anyone would steal them.

As they walked across the front of the supermarket, they had to step through the once metal frame that had been the automatic door at the main entrance. At one point, it would have been glazed but not anymore. Shards of glass jutted from the frame as jagged points, but most of it littered the ground in a million shiny pieces. It crunched beneath Michael’s and Lola’s feet, popping in the still night. At least they would hear someone if they tried to come after them.

There had been little conversation between the two since leaving the library. No education in the ways of women like Lola had threatened. Not that Michael wanted to be schooled by the grouchy girl. Other than the sounds beneath their feet, the pair walked in silence and both studied the shadows in the building on their right.

It was hard to see, but all of the shelves looked empty. To be sure, Michael would have to get closer. He didn’t need to be sure. As he squinted into the darkness through unblinking eyes, Michael’s heart beat in his throat. Danger stirred in there.

Like Michael, Lola stared into the empty building. “My mum, sister, and I headed to the local church when society collapsed,” she said. “Mum didn’t think she could protect us on her own. We were nearly raped on our way there, so I’m guessing she was right.”

Shuddering, Michael focused on Lola as much as he could while shutting out the nagging memories of the warehouse at the back of his mind. The screams. The cries. The beatings. When Lola spoke again, it broke through his spiraling mood. “That was in the early days, just as everything collapsed. When the power went out, everyone knew the world had gone to shit. Everything boiled over quickly and descended into chaos. Before long the streets were coated in blood. It was almost like we were waiting for it to happen. Like all everyone wanted was an excuse to tear one another apart.”

The image of the blood pooling beneath his dad’s head returned to Michael. “I was hiding inside my house with my family. It was where we were caught in the end, but I’m glad we stayed there for as long as we did. I don’t think we would have lasted two minutes on the streets.”

Lola sighed. “I think it was the looting that saved us in