Free Bleak City by Marisa Taylor Page B

pretty big, but most of them live outside Christchurch,’ Alice said. ‘Until a few years ago, it was just me and Mum a lot of the time, and I found it hard getting used to her getting married again, and then them having kids.’
    ‘And now you have four more,’ Michelle said. ‘But at least they aren’t all moving in with you.’
    Alice didn’t know how to reply. It was the most open Michelle had ever been with her, and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing and end up shutting her down. ‘I like them,’ she said. ‘Mattie reminds me of my sister Olivia. Olivia’s a bit older, but this age is great.’
    ‘She’s taken a real shine to you,’ Michelle said. ‘I hope you’ll be okay seeing more of them, because Mattie will need all the help she can get against those three.’ She smiled at Alice, and for the first time, Alice felt welcome in Andrew’s second family.
    They had rounded the last bend and reached the final leg up towards the top of the hill. Andrew was ahead of them, just reaching the top, Mattie clinging on to his shoulders. They could hear the three boys, yelling and whooping, and found them at the top running around, chasing each other up and down the slopes, into and out of the scrub that lined the hill. Andrew was yelling at them to come back, but they weren’t listening, they were off, like hounds after a rabbit. Andrew had put Mattie down and she ran towards Michelle and Alice. Michelle scooped her up into her arms and gave her a kiss. Alice walked over to where Andrew was surveying the view to the west, out over the lake and the mountains. He pointed out Mt Aspiring and asked if she skied. School trips only, she said, but she liked it.
    ‘We do a family trip every winter, you’ll have to come along. There’s great skifields down here.’
    Michelle came over and handed Mattie to Andrew. ‘She’s getting cranky,’ she said. ‘We’d better get back down and get these kids some lunch.’ The boys’ sharp hearing picked up the mention of food and they roared up the hillside and clustered around their parents, throwing out suggestions.
    ‘We’re going to go broke once all of these are in their teens,’ Andrew said, and Michelle and Alice exchanged a look. Yes, there it was, money once again.
    ‘I’ll start down with Mattie,’ Alice said. Andrew handed her the keys and Mattie climbed onto her back.
    As she started off, she heard yelling, much louder than the boys had been a few minutes ago, mixed in with crying. She turned and looked back up the hill, where Andrew was trying to keep the two oldest boys apart as they flailed their arms at one another. The youngest had tucked himself up against Michelle and was crying. Whatever had gone on didn’t matter, it had happened before and it would happen again. She turned and continued down the hill. There were definite advantages to having siblings you didn’t live with.

12:51
February 2011
    Alice had just crossed the road and was walking along the river towards Andrew’s office when it started. The sound of the quake began only a moment before the shaking. Alice crouched down gracelessly, her bottom hitting the ground hard, and she put her arms over her head. Later she wasn’t sure if she had gone down out of instinct or if she had been pushed down by the force of the shaking. It was violent, up and down, up and down, the roar overwhelming, and she couldn’t hear anything but the quake and the sounds of buildings being shaken apart, the street breaking up. The cars parked on the road beside where she crouched were rocking back and forth, side-to-side.
    The quake passed, the sound of it replaced with sirens and people shouting, some crying. The river roiled as silt started rising up from the force of the quake, and Alice stood up, her legs barely holding her up. She looked up to a nearby building, where people were starting to pour out, some crying, most desperately tapping at their phones or making calls, trying to get ahold of