Free IMPACT (Book 1): A Post-Apocalyptic Tale by Matthew Eliot Page B

Catherine and immediately blushed, her milky-white Gaelic skin turning red. She quickly turned to look outside the window.
    “Europa carried the plague too though, didn’t it?” asked Moore, apparently oblivious to Cathy’s f aux pas . “I doubt the infection could have spread so rapidly to the West otherwise.”
    “I believe they all did,” said Paul. “Although I’ve heard the effects of being exposed to Nero’s area of impact are far worse than what we’ve seen here.”
    They were quiet for an instant, each silently considering the atrocity of an even more ruthless form of the affliction.
    “Here we are, people,” said Billings from the driver’s seat, jolting his passengers from haunting images of tortured souls.
    * * *
    The Southern Outpost was little more than a shed.
    As they stepped out of the vehicle, Paul thought it looked vulnerable and defenceless against the formidable view of the stormy Channel waters before it.
    The two men stationed there, Privates Jack Wallace and Tim Greene, snapped to attention as their superiors approached the cabin.
    “Bill’s really got these boys trained properly, hasn’t he?” said Catherine under her breath as she nodded towards the men.
    “At ease,” said Neeson, waving down their salutes. “All good, here?”
    “Yessir,” said Tim. “We had a pretty bad storm, earlier, but things are quieter now. Doubt we’ll see any refugees with this weather, Sir.”
    Neeson nodded, eyes on the waves below.
    “Tim, Jack, we’re going to take the Wolf. We’re headed to Ashford to try and pick up some meds. Mr. Moore here believes he can lead us to them,” explained Billings. As the four Guard members discussed the details of their expedition, Paul walked over to Edward who was standing close to the cliff’s edge, hands in his pockets, admiring the view. He reminded Paul of Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog , his silhouette dark against the elements.
    “There’s still beauty in the world, isn’t there, Father?” he asked Paul without turning towards him.
    “I believe so.”
    “Except, it’s a frightening kind of beauty, isn’t it? One that has forgotten mankind. Left it behind.”
    They breathed in the heavy sea air, pregnant with water.
    “I’m of the belief that there is no such thing as beauty without mankind, or its gods.”
    “Gods?” asked Moore, surprised by the plural, an eyebrow slightly raised.
    “Well,” said Paul with a smile, “one must at least be courteous enough to acknowledge the other attempts at describing the Almighty, wrong as they may be.”
    Moore smiled too.
    They gazed at the sea and the sky, each lashing out at the other as if in some sort of primordial elemental war. A chaotic passageway to the even greater chaos Europe had fallen in.
    They were about to turn and rejoin the others when they heard Catherine’s voice a couple of feet behind them.
    “Who’s that?”
    The two men peered down at the beach.
    And indeed there was someone.
    The three of them observed a single, solitary figure slowly making its way along the wet sand towards them.

Chapter 15
Alice and Adrian
    They were lost.
    The mist had crept in from the sea, wrapping its spectral mantle around the countryside. The two children had stumbled through it, hand in hand, sometimes not able even to see past an arm’s length in front of them. They’d looked out for sign posts and tried to find their way on the tattered map Alice carried in her rucksack, but it was impossible to pinpoint exactly where they were.
    “ Dammit ,” said Adrian. “Sorry ‘bout this, Ally.” He felt like he’d failed her. It wasn’t a good feeling.
    “It’s okay,” she said, squeezing his hand in hers, affectionately. “I’m sure we’re close, anyway.”
    “Yes, we can’t be far,” he replied. But the truth was, he had no idea how far they might be. Perhaps they’d been heading in the wrong direction for hours. If that were the case, he wondered how long