Free Among the Roaring Dead by Christopher Sword Page A

siphon water off with his mouth, like he did from the end of his father’s green hose in the backyard as a child. He gulped it and felt the water go down his throat in big globs. The singing went on behind him until one of those globs of water got caught in his gluttonous drinking and he started coughing, choking on the water.
    “There is a shelf above your head with about a half dozen clean glasses,” she said.
    He looked up and she was right. A simple wooden shelf supported a radio and six tall glasses. Water was dripping from his chin - he wiped it with his arm sleeve.
    “You ever check this thing?”
    “What thing?”
    “The radio up here - you ever check to see if you can get a signal?”
    “Why would I want to do that?”
    “I don’t know - to see if there are any other survivors? If there’s any news on why all of this happened?”
    “No, I don’t check it - if the Lord wanted me to meet others he would make it so. I wasn’t exactly looking for you when you crossed my path.”
    “You think God did that.”
    She didn’t say anything - just watered a few more plants until only drops came out of the watering can.
    “He is a vengeful God, isn’t he? All these people dying, but not dying. It almost feels like Hell on Earth right now - apart from this place of course but my kids aren’t here so this won’t do them a lot of good.”
    “It’s a very wicked world,” finally looking at him for a moment.
    “Well, I think we agree to disagree on that.”
    She put the watering can away - poured herself half a glass of water and drank from it slowly.
    “I should really get going,” he said. “I appreciate everything you’ve done but I really need to find my family.”
    “I can take you back to the road.” She started zipping up her jacket. “ It’s not far from here and there is something on the way I’d like to show you.”
    She locked the door to the greenhouse behind them and again went stomping off into the woods. It had darkened even more since they arrived but she did not use a flashlight or any other aid. It was apparent that she knew the route well, whereas Jess had to watch his feet and keep an eye out for logs or other tripping hazards.
    After a few minutes zig-zagging across fields and through wooded areas she started a steep climb up a hill. Jess couldn’t help but think that she chose the most confusing route back possible so that he would never be able to find the greenhouse on his own.
    Jess walked sideways up most of the hill - his knee was aching but once they got to the top he realized they were back on Broadview Avenue looking over the valley.
    Anne then walked across the bridge near their position and hoisted herself up on the railing. She looked for a moment as though she were going to dive off it. But she just stood there for several moments, all in white with her arms cast up to the skies.
    The wind was blowing at her white hair furiously and suddenly a hole appeared in the clouds above and Jess saw a patch of purple-blue sky - the first indication of a healthy atmosphere that he could remember seeing since this all happened.
    The funny thing was that hole in the sky seemed to illuminate their exact position. Twenty blocks up the road everything was still cast in shadows.
    The wild woman turned her head slowly, arms now akimbo like handles on a jug and hair whipping about and said: “Come see my children.”
    Jess walked slowly over to her side, wondering what lunacy she was up to. Was she going to say that the clouds and trees were her offspring?
    But as she looked up to the skies, Jess’s head swivelled to take in the panoramic vision before him. The valley was a wide sea of green trees sprinkled with grey ash. Deep below their current position was the snaking river and a bicycle trail. But immediately in front of them was a small fenced compound for a large electricity transformer, It was an intricate melding of steel and wire, like a maniacal playground for otherworldly