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Back Angels of Vengeance Save as PDF
Chapters (68)
  1. Blurb
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Dedication
  4. CHARACTER LIST
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. TWO MONTHS LATER
  60. ONE YEAR LATER
  61. TWO YEARS LATER
  62. FOUR YEARS LATER
  63. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  64. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  65. Also by John Birmingham
  66. ALSO BY JOHN BIRMINGHAM
  67. Copyright
  68. Cover

Sofia’s concern must’ve been obvious, because Cindy reached over and patted her on the arm. Again, the teenager didn’t flinch. Something about this older woman disarmed her, and that alone made her a bit nervous. Sofia Pieraro wasn’t a touchy-feely type of person.

‘Don’t you worry yourself about it, girl. There was another group of drivers came through here yesterday evening. We spoke to them on the radio before I got to the diner. The town’s empty. And safe.’

With the toxic effect of the nightmare still coursing through her nervous system, Sofia found the reassurance difficult to accept. But she had no choice. She was beholden to Cindy and the others in the convoy for her transport south. There was no point arguing about the details.

They drove through a ground mist thick enough to almost obscure the road surface. Even at this hour of the morning, it seemed to lie all over the town, and the bright halogen lamps of Cindy’s Kenworth were at just the right height to illuminate the fog bank without actually piercing it. The effect on the deserted town was creepy enough to have her shivering again. After her dream, she could very easily imagine the doors of all these haunted homes creaking open as the soulless, re-embodied corpses of the Disappeared shambled out into the night. Gooseflesh convulsed up and down her arms and across her shoulders.

‘Spooky, isn’t it?’ grinned Cindy. ‘I hate coming through here by myself. Almost never do it, in fact. But we should take a break, and you really need to hit the stores. This is the last secure stop we’ll be able to make before we get to the federal depot down in Wellington.’

Sofia hugged herself against the cold she could no longer feel.

She wondered if it was possible to get a gun here.

22

DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY

The recently retired smuggler and zone runner was drunk, but not ruinously so. You needed terrifying quantities of alcohol to drop three hundred pounds of dense, hard-muscled, pachyderm meat. But as he shouldered his way through a dozen or so sailors who were heading into the pub, he had reason to believe that six bottles of the Duckpond Tavern’s proprietary lager may have left him a couple of sheets into the wind.