After The Rising by T.D Jackson (free novel reading sites .txt) 📕

We hung round in the car park for a while, we had plenty of near death experiences between us last yearJon had broken his arm after he had been thrown out of a 2nd storey window by some nut job on a scavenging operation, I had to drag him out. But it is not like he had never returned the favour numerous times we had run in to bandits and Jon was  far superior at fighting the living than me being larger and stronger. not that I was a slouch. The dead were starting to show an interest in us so we got in the car and pulled back on to Tonbridge High Street, the dead from London flowed down here during the first couple of days the dead started to rise many still remained, I pulled out the first aid kit from the glove compartment and procedded to sew up the cut on my temple I swear Jon aimed for every pot hole to make my task more difficult. After almost poking my out 4 times I was done "The guards are gonna want to do a full check on you now Jon smiled "You are with me you will get the same he stopped smiling. Coming back through the checkpoint was a major pain in the arse if the guard saw any wound they would spend 2 hours checking every path of skin and an extra 20 mins hoseing down with ice cold water, annoying and paranod yes but in this world paranoid is a good thing.

After being almost violated with the scrub brush shower I got changed and we headed to the outpost Commander's office. I didn't bother knocking, I almost got killed I was not going to hang around. The Commander was reading through a thick file as I stormed in he jumped and reached for his gun before seeing it was me. Book cases lined three of the four walls many of the book's had been recovered by me and Jon and then confiscated by him saying they were crucial to public safety "Jesus" He clutched his chest "No just Tom is fine" He was a young man but the stress of this hob had aged him well before his time, dark brown hair already starting to grey heavily, I threw myself on to his sofa and put my feet up "I assume you are back?" He said sighing and putting down the file "Oh yeah I'm back some one tried to kill me again" "Who?" "Dunno he wore a balaclava" "Bandit?" "Maybe" The Commander didn't know about Kane's investigation, hell the Commander himself could be involved "Did you find Stokes?" I sat up serious now "Yeah he was dead when we got there" "Did they get him?" They implied the dead "No someone cut their throats and shot them" The Commander drummed his fingers on the table "Did you get the part's?" He aked softly "Yeah" "O.K" I felt orry for him but I gave him a full run down of what happened leaving out certain parts that Kane would want kept on a need to know basis. He sat silently when I finished "O.K Tom thank you" "You need anything else boss?" "Stokes was meant to be doing an escort for a farm transport tommorow don't suppose you would do it?" Normally we would yell at each other before I stormed out, but Stokes was a good friend of the Commander's I let him off the hook "Yeah sure what time?" "Be at Appledon by 10 you will have a trainee with you to make up the numbers for you and Jon" I tried my hardest to keep the annoyance off my face, I hated taking trainees so many times we had taken them out it was like baby sitting, don't touch that, don't do that, dont wander off in the end they all most got themelves or me and Jon killed we had never lost one but we had come close. But we could keep the trainee in the car me and Jon would do the work. I turned to leave, I put my hand on the door knob stopped and turned the commander had pulled out a small bottle of whiskey and poured himself a drink "Boss" He looked up at me "I'm sorry" He nodded and I left to speak to Kane.   

Kane did not say much just muttered mmhm said he would look in to it though I dont see the point as the fire station is probably still burning, he hung up. Jon was waiting outside for me by the car and got in "I'll be back in a bit" Jon raised an eyebrow "Where you going?" "For a walk" He nodded and headed off. I didn't need to walk for long until I got to my destination. St Barnabus Parish was a large red bricked church that enjoyed a large share of the local congregation. There were at least 5 churches in the area though a few had now been converted to store houses and barracks for soldiers. After the outpost was established religion had enjoyed a massive surge in popularity services were held every day multiple times a day, when things start going wrong for humans they run screaming to the God's they neglected and forgot about, many believed the rising dead were a punishment from God for our sins I did not believe this. The service was already well underway I sat in an empty seat at the back the elderly lady next to me looked and smiled "God be with you" I smiled back "And also with you" I don't know why I come here I'm not sure if I believe, before all this happened I wanted to believe but 2 years of not just seeing the dead rise but the evil humans are willing to do to each other, I wondered if we were beyond saving. I sat and listened to the whole service rising and singing for hymns all though my singing voice is awful.

When the service ended I stayed to stack the chairs whilst others moved to the kitchen for refreshment the Vicar walked towards me "Good afternoon young man" He held out his hand and I shook it, he had a good grip for someone in his early 60's "I have seen you a few times but you  always seem to dissapear and I don't get a chance to speak with you" I stacked another chair on the pile "Yeah sorry about that the world of scavenging is a demanding one" He nodded "And a dangerous one you'r faith must give you strength and courage to do such a job to help your fellow men" I sighed as I pulled the stack of chairs over to the side and started another pile "Actually Sir these day's with what I see I find my faith severely lacking" He smiled, not a pitying smile or a smug superior smile but one that showed undertanding, I appreciated it and especialy the fact he did not lecture me "Our faith faces many trials these day's we all have our crosses to bear some see and suffer more than others, but that builds strong faith" I thought about telling him that maybe God was taking the test a bit to far with flesh eating monters but I held my tounge "Would you like a blessing?" The offer suprised me but I nodde, we sat on a couple of chair's, I bowed my head and he placed his hand on me. He said a brief prayer and we shook hands, I stayed a little while longer talking with the congregation before leaving. As I stepped out in to the sun I felt some of the weight lift off my shoulders, maybe I was starting to have faith.   

"No don't" "Why?" "This is why" Jon walked over to the side of the road next to Dave the trainee kicked a few pieces of junk off the pile, a hand reached out Jon pulled out his machete and chopped it off it fell to the ground. Jon glared at Dave he seemed to shrink under the gaze "Idiot" Jon sheathed the machete and walked away, Dave looked at the ground where the arm lay his blonde hair falling in to his face "Dave get it in gear" I called over to him shocking him out of his day dream. He looked up from the arm and wandered back over to the car and got in. We had escorted the convoy with no issues but Dave had wanted to go adventuring. He was 20 years old a little shorter than me and Jon dressed in a leather jacket and tight jeans, this was his first time out of the outpost since his family had arrived "So where to next?" "Home" I replied as Jon got behind the wheel "Already?" Jon turned round in his seat "We said we would stay out if you didn't do anything stupid, that includes reaching under big piles of shit with no idea what is under it" It took Dave a second to respond to that "Please just a bit longer? I want to go to one more place" "No" Jon said and he started the engine "Please I I I just want to see my house one last time we had to leave so quickly I just want to see it I don't want to go in just pull up outside and have a look" Me and Jon both looked at him in the rear view mirror, poor kid was about to cry. I was the first to give in Jon  had always been more resistant to sob stories than me, he turned saw the look on my face sighed "Where is it?" Dave's face immediatley brightened up "Thank you thank you it's just outside of Tonbridge near Hadlow close to the Bishoops Oak pub" "Yeah O'K but we stay in the car you got it?" Dave raised his hand as if making a solemn vow.

We arrived at the house an hour later, it was a one storey semi detached house a flower bed ran