Cometh the hour …
‘My name’s Miller, Joe Miller.’ ‘Matthew Cotter. And the boy is Billy Tullis.’ He ran his hand roughly through Billy’s hair. ‘Hello, Billy. Had a bit of an accident with your arm, then?’ ‘It got...
Category: John Christopher
The stoning
He stood looking at Matthew, and laughed. ‘You must listen to me. I was the only one saved, and now there is you and the boy. You to listen to my confession of my sins,...
In the twinkling of God’s eye, they were swept away
‘So you’ve survived, too! What part are you from?’ The man made no reply. He was not walking direct to them, but to a spot a few yards away. He stopped, gazing at the abraded...
What can I get for you this morning?
Food was the most immediate need. The little general shop at the end of the lane. He came to a place where the ground had buckled into a ridge five or six feet high, a...
Is anyone alive but me?
He went down the dip and up the other side, then climbed over a flattened hedge and headed across a ploughed field towards the airport. The field was tilted, but the landing-strip, in addition, was...
Surely help would be coming …
Further down the road, he came on the ruins of more houses. He stood and called out, listening after each call for a sound that might indicate that someone was still living. But there was...
The jumble of destruction
In the east the sky turned from black to purple and, as the stars faded, to light-flushed blue. The earth was quieter, trembling from time to time but with no great violence; almost gently. Matthew...
A terminal quiet
He had no idea how long it was before the first real lull came. He had the impression that the shocks had been going on for hours, but that was not to be relied on;...
Convulsions
Matthew felt the canes whip against his face and body, and reached out convulsively to anchor himself. The earth subsided and he began to slip down, then rocked as violently as before, throwing the stars...
A cold clear night
It was a clear, fairly cold night – no clouds, a quarter moon, and light sifting out across the sky from the great arc of the Milky Way. He heard the dog again as he...