Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

fragile crates, lots of things that could pin us down here. It’s too risky to pull at the beams.”

Restlessly, Mac shook his head, “No, no! I got us into this mess, Cora, I’ll get us out of it!” He was desperate to save the pair of them, not willing to be his own ally’s cause of death.

“Mac? What are you doing?” Cora asked in alarm as she watched Mac run over to the narrow water stream.

He glanced over at her. “This!” He declared before leaping and pulling down mightily on the creakiest wooden beam, causing it to creak and squeal even more.

“Wait, Mac! No!” Cora jumped to her feet with her arms, hurrying to pull Mac away from his reckless idea.

‘CRACK! SNAP! THUMP!’

The beam was already weak, and Mac using all his bodyweight on it had successfully brought it down.

The hole had become slightly larger, though it was still not large enough that either of them would have fit through it. But this did not matter now anyway, as, exactly as Cora had once again predicted, a large wooden crate had now gotten stuck in the whole, the sharp and splintery corner of which pointing down into the basement beneath.

“No, no! Fuck!” Mac cried out dismayingly as he slammed his clenched fist against the wall.

“Mac, it’s alright—” Cora tried to grab and comfort him.

“No, Cora! It’s not alright!” He refuted and looked up at the crate shamefully; a scattered stream of water continued to leak through around the edges of the crate, and now, he effectively had indeed trapped the pair of them down in that foreboding pit…

Chapter 10: Natural Causes

Within the safe zone there were several cars scattered along the disused roads. Due to how heavy they were, none of the survivors had even attempted to shift them from the locations in which they were now rusting in.

As the thunder continued to rumble out through the dark and foreboding London sky, the wind increased in strength as well.

One of the old cars within the safe zone was a sports coupe. Back in the old days, it would have been worth a fortune. Now, it was nothing more than a heap of junk.

For a countless number of years, the passenger door had been left wide open. As time went on, and harsh weather repeatedly beat down on it, the hinges of the door had come lose.

As such, now, with an almighty hurricane ravaging the streets of London, the door stood no chance of remaining connected to its’ vehicle.

One cold, dark, and fateful afternoon, the door finally gave away as the wind snapped it clean off of its’ rusty hinges. Then, due to how light the door itself was, the fierce gale blew it an alarmingly high speed down the road which the coupe had been ditched on…

“I’m telling you! I heard a voice on the radio!” Valorie insisted to Richard.

“It was just the static, Val.” He refuted, not believing his lover in the slightest.

“Richard, somebody needs our help out there. Somebody is caught up in that!” Valorie pointed to the storm outside. With perfect timing, there was a great rumble of thunder at the exact moment that she proclaimed these words.

“I agree with her.” Petra, who had quickly bonded with these two ‘older’ survivors, defended Valorie. “People may need help. I want to help people.” Her English had not improved that greatly in the months which had passed since the attack on the Czechian town.

“And what about you two?” Richard looked over to Rubin and Nikola, who were keeping to themselves in front of the lit fireplace, warming and rubbing their hands together as they did so.

“Who, us?” Rubin asked, so caught up in his own little world that he had not even realised what the ongoing conversation was about.

Richard sighed and shook his head in dismay.

“We’re wasting time!” Valorie put her foot down. “If we waste any more time, someone could get hurt—Or worse!”

“And if you go out there and find that nobody is in danger, you risk yourself getting hurt.” Richard justified his defiant stance.

“I will go!” Using her broken English, Petra tried to assert the fact that there was nothing Richard could do to stop her; however, he was primarily concerned on keeping Valorie inside, and was nowhere near as concerned about Petra.

“Right behind you Petra!” Valorie called on after her as she looked Richard dead in the eyes.

“Val don’t go out there. Please.” Richard stepped in Valorie’s way to plead with her; he had allowed Petra to pass however, and as such, she was already putting her coat on in preparation to brave the adverse weather outside.

“So, you’ll let Petra go out there on her own?” Valorie noted the double standards in her lover’s reasoning. “How does that wash?”

Richard sighed, “If I go with her… Do you promise to stay here?” Although he did not want to go outside, he was willing to put his own life on the line if it meant Valorie would not have to do so with her own.

Valorie halted her tongue, stuck to think of an answer that would not make herself hypocritical. “How about we both go?” She suggested.

“…I won’t move out of your way until your firmly sat down on that chair.” Richard nodded to the old and torn up armchair that was riddled with rips all over it.

Realising that Richard was not going to back down, Valorie sighed. “Alright, you win.” Humbly accepting defeat, she took a seat on the armchair. Leaning over, she held her hands out in front of the fire, effectively joining Nikola and Rubin in keeping warm.

‘CRASH!’

There was a lightning strike nearby. The flash lit up the entire room, though nobody had seen where exactly it struck.

“Be safe!” Valorie shouted back to him without turning around,