Thirteen Roses Book One: Before: An Apocalyptic Zombie Saga Read Free Page B

rail and pushed himself up. If he'd known what was going to happen, he'd have stayed with Steph. He could still be there with her, where he should be. He choked back a sob and lifted one foot over the railing.  

David Part Three

    David fell back from the railing, landing on his arse on the concrete. He lay back and screamed until his throat gave out. The sky above was clear and the stars peeked through the light pollution, mocking him with their silent regard. Maybe everyone was out there. Maybe they were all on the moon, looking down at him and pointing and laughing.  
    He rolled onto his side and put a hand over his face. The floor was cold. He slept.  

    He woke once in the night and the sound of the Thames rushing below the bridge was so loud it made him jump. It faded just as quickly as he realised there was nothing else. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his face with the heel of his palm and waited. The waiting lasted forever and every second was filled with the silence but, eventually, he went back to sleep.

    He woke to sunlight creeping over the OXO Tower and prying into his eyes. It seemed to welcome him back, as though he'd stood on the edge of death and been pulled away at the last moment.  
    He stood, feeling better than he had in days. Then the pain hit and the silence hit and he crumpled to the floor. He was pathetic. He couldn't even end it when the end was coming anyway. Why was he here?
    It was the first time he'd asked himself that and it surprised him enough that he stopped shaking and sat up. The movement sent pain through his shoulder, spasms running up and down his back. He could barely move his arm. His throat was clogged and filled with gunk, and he hawked and spat over the edge.  
    Why was he here? The flower seller had given him roses for his wife and he'd given them to Steph. That was bloody stupid. He was in hell all because some weirdo got on his high horse. The word God floated through his mind and he snorted. Weirdo with some serious mojo was nearer the truth. Actually, was there much of a difference?
    He wasn't in hell. Hell didn't exist, although he decided the guy who invented the whole fire and brimstone thing was a bit lacking in imagination. This was some kind of altered reality. Maybe there were drugs in the roses, something he smelled that made him think this was all happening. Or maybe he was strapped in, Matrix -style, to some giant computer. It was fake either way.  
    But he felt sick, there was no denying that. They could do anything with computers these days, though. He sniffed and pulled himself up the railings. It all felt so real. Well, if there was no one here, there was no one to stop him doing anything he liked. There was an Aston Martin garage in Kensington.  
    With his first smile in twenty four hours, David made his slow way over the bridge.  

    Doing ninety down Oxford Street was as much fun as he'd imagined. As was going on a shopping spree around Harrods and raiding the ice cream parlour. But every time he paused, the silence came flooding back like the tide running up the beach.  
    After a couple of days of living like a Sultan, it began to wear thin. There was no TV, no one to cook anything, no one to do anything with or to. And the silence kept coming.  
    After a week, he took to talking to himself, loudly commentating on everything he did. But his throat was hoarse and he soon ran out of words. He was supposed to be dying, but the sickness had frozen where it was, leaving him washed out and snotty all the time.  
    Everything had frozen. His beard stopped growing and his hunger soon went away. And after a couple of weeks, he found himself back before the flower stall. The flowers were still in bloom, bright and beautiful and the only things that smelled of anything anymore. He sucked in the aromas, clinging to that one small sign of his previous life.  
    His mind wandered. His thoughts became simple, images that meant nothing. He spoke out loud now