Kingdom Of The Nanosaurs (trilogy)

Kingdom Of The Nanosaurs - chapter 8

PART TWO

8. Traitors and treachery 

The crunch of marching feet and the angry roar of hoarse voices boiling with desperation and fear baying for vengeance reverberated from the buildings and along the streets and alleyways. The mob was stomping in unison; driven along by the heavy thump, thump of drums and the blare of trumpets, car horns, rattles, whistles and anything that would make a loud noise.

Morgan and Lin had cycled into Cambridge. They were now on their way back from a particular university building where they could still obtain flour, eggs and other basic foodstuffs. Morgan’s father had a degree of influence there and contacts in the catering department. But they had to be careful. Anyone seen with baskets of food was likely to be attacked or worse. To get home they would have to use a network of alleys and back streets to avoid being spotted with their panniers. They were about to slip around the side of the town hall when they heard the roar of the marchers and saw that a knot of curious passers-by was blocking their way.

Morgan and Lin pulled over close to the building and stood in front of their bicycles obscuring their panniers from view. Traffic had stopped, pedestrians were running for cover and people were leaning out of windows to watch the expected confrontation.

About twenty police officers had formed a barrier in front of a couple of squad cars with flashing lights and a number of riot support vehicles had been positioned outside the local government building. Gathered on the steps a group of nervous local council officials huddled together hopefully, confident of the protection the police would provide.

“What are we going to do?” whispered Lin. “We can’t stay around here.”

“I don’t know,” said Morgan.

A small man with a pointed nose wrapped in a duffle coat despite the warm weather was trotting by in front of them.

“What’s happening?” Morgan asked him. The man looked Morgan up and down with a slimy expression.

“Where’ve you been then, son, on Mars?” he said in a chortling tone. “The people are on the march. All the bigwigs on the council and the toffs at the university are filling their bellies with stockpiled food while we go without most of the time.”

A large, florid woman, sweating in the summer heat, chipped in. “I don’t believe what they’re telling us. It’s been three months now since the Vanishing and them politicians are using it as an excuse to bring in rationing. Last time we had that was during the second world war.”

“I can’t see how every animal on the bleedin’ planet has vanished,” replied pointy nose spluttering with indignation. “There must be some of ‘em about somewhere. All I knows is you can’t get a piece of meat for love nor money these days. Unless you’re one of them.” The man jerked his head savagely pointing his nose in the direction of the local councillors.

A young woman with lank red hair and a haunted expression looked at them nervously. “It’s God’s will, I hope you realize,” she said in an undertone. “He brought the flood that destroyed the world in the old days and now he’s taken all the animals away because of how we treat them. There are still some vegetables to eat and they’ve promised us this new food the astronauts used to live on. Eating animals is wrong. It’s against God’s divine will. Now we will all have to become vegetarians. It’s spiritual justice balancing the books.”

“It’s not just us though, is it?” grunted the florid woman. “What about them countries that can’t grow vegetables? All they have are their animals and now they’ve been and gone. And the soil is going to wear out now they tell us. If you believe in God, darlin’, you better start praying for a miracle.”