by Seth Rain
The rain tapped against the window, running in thin rivulets down the glass. The world needed rain, needed to be washed clean.
Outside, a young couple, laughing, chased one another from the hotel towards the rear of the building opposite. They stopped, held each other and kissed. After everything that had happened, after all the death, now there were only thousands of people left, and all of them in Britain, some things had remained the same: people needed other people. He thought about Eve, and about what Mathew and Samuel had told him about her. He didn’t understand what it all meant but, when he looked at Eve, he wanted to protect her. She frightened him too, what she had done to Samuel, her violet eyes shining like that. He didn't know what the future would be like for her, or for what remained of humanity.
The young couple beneath his window kissed and laughed in the rain before running towards another building. The young man prised open the door and crept inside, reaching behind him for the young woman’s hand. They were inside and gone.
Scott made his way to the dining room. They were all there, including George, Eve sitting on his lap. Scott looked down the long table, upon which were large bowls of soup and loaves of bread. He walked to the empty seat beside George, who smiled at him. Scott kissed Eve on the head, sat down and reached for the soup ladle. Tearing the bread, he dipped it in the soup. Its warmth reminded him of the meal he’d had on the narrowboat with Freya and the others, the chain of events from that moment to this mapped out in his mind. How strange it all was. Then the young couple he’d seen earlier arrived, their faces flushed, their smiles wide. Scott watched as they sat opposite each other, glancing at one another across the table now and then. Humanity survived, he thought. That’s what it did. Whatever happened, humanity survived.
Then Scott noticed June looking at him. When she saw him looking at her, she turned away, blushing. She turned to her young son, who sat beside her, encouraging him to put down his toy and eat the soup.
Scott thought back to his time at Hassness House. Of all the bodies he’d found, it was the young girl with the toy elephant he couldn’t forget. She haunted him. He’d laid her on the pyre the way he might have carried her to bed in another life, covering her with a shroud instead of tucking her duvet round her chin.
The young woman he’d seen outside offered the young man she was with a chunk of her bread. He took it and dipped it into his soup. She watched him eat.
‘So you’re leaving?’ George asked.
It caught Scott off guard.
George lowered his voice. ‘I know you’re packed and ready to go.’
Scott watched Eve, on George’s lap, gurgle and then hiccup.
‘Can’t say I think it’s the right thing to do,’ George said. ‘But she’ll be looked after. Don’t worry about that. Don’t kid yourself though,’ George went on. ‘You won’t find happiness there. On your own.’
There was laughter at the other end of the table. Eve reached out her arms for Scott and he took her from George and held her.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Scott said. He looked at George and smiled. ‘Don’t know where you got that idea.’
A look of relief came over George’s face. He turned to his bowl of soup and picked up his spoon.
Scott kissed Eve and she hiccupped again. He made a silent promise to the young couple at the other end of the table and to Eve: it wasn’t the end of the world … and, if he had anything to do with it, it wouldn’t be the end of humanity.
The end of Book Two
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Thank you!
Thank you for being a reader and taking the time to read my book, the second in the Humanity Series.
I’m a new indie writer, trying my hand at writing sci-fi and dystopian fiction. For this reason, I am very much dependent on reviews. If you could spare the time, I’d be hugely grateful if you could write a review of The Dead Horizon for me.
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For now, all the best.
And remember: It’s not the end of the world … only humanity!