The Old Store: Lost Tales 1

By Peter Salisbury

This first volume of three 'Lost Tales' is published in conjunction with the twenty-six entirely different episodes already existing in 'The Old Store: A Science Fiction Anthology'. In the future, after more episodes have been published, 'The Old Store' will be re-published as an episodic novel, containing episodes from two books of Lost Tales, a number of prequel episodes and several sequel episodes. A second volume of four completely different Lost Tales is also available from the same author.

Episode 1 'Roleo's Rescue' in Lost Tales 1 is from the point of view of a member of Snake's gang and also from the points of view of the rival gang leaders Snake and Rat, showing what life may be like for those still surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. The remaining six episodes running through Lost Tales 1 and 2 return to the points of view of the members of the family group based in the Old Store. The series of episodes contained in both Lost Tales 1 and 2 in terms of the chronology and sequence of episodes in 'The Old Store' would go between 'Rat Bites Snake' and 'Ham Radio'.

Lost Tales 1 contains:
Episode 1: Roloe's Rescue
Episode 2: Ammo
Episode 3: Trapped

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Salisbury
• Release date: May 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476154022

Peter Salisbury

I am a life-long fan of science fiction, and so when I had an idea for my first story, I wasn't surprised that it was in that genre. The first book took me ten years to complete, but I've got a little quicker since. I am pleased to say that I now have over thirty books published in my name. What next? So far I haven't run short of ideas for new stories, so there are several projects in various stages of completion, and I hope to be publishing the next story before too long, so please subscribe to my alerts. My profile picture is a portrait of the author as a young man, painted by my daughter Charlotte Salisbury who has also contributed to several of my book covers. Professional background In the 1970s I studied Chemistry at university and then spent over thirty years in classrooms across England teaching almost anything but Chemistry, including Photography, Communications Skills, General Science, Computing, and Information and Communications Technology. In the 1990s I spent ten years writing abstracts of chemical patents. This was a most exacting process but very rewarding to be reading about the very latest inventions in the field, and the abstracts were distributed world-wide to research scientists by subscription. Articles of mine have been published in magazines and I have written assignments used for assessing Communications Skills for a major international Examination Board. After retiring early this century I began writing in earnest.

Book preview

The Old Store: Lost Tales 1

Copyright 2012 Peter Salisbury

Smashwords Edition

No part of this may be copied, reproduced or transmitted by any means whether printed or electronic without the prior permission of the copyright holder. Please respect the hard work of the author and ensure your purchase is for your sole use.

This is entirely a work of fiction and therefore any resemblance to any actual person or place is entirely coincidental. No part of it may be copied, duplicated or distributed in any form, whether on paper, electronically or by any other means without the express permission of the author.

Cover painting by Daphne Coleridge

With thanks for editing to Daphne and Karen

Editor's note

This first volume of three 'Lost Tales' is published in conjunction with the twenty-six entirely different episodes already existing in 'The Old Store: A Science Fiction Anthology'. In the future, after more episodes have been published, 'The Old Store' will be re-published as an episodic novel, containing episodes from two books of Lost Tales, a number of prequel episodes and several sequel episodes. A second volume of four completely different Lost Tales is also available from the same author.

Episode 1 'Roleo's Rescue' in Lost Tales 1 is from the point of view of a member of Snake's gang and also from the points of view of the rival gang leaders Snake and Rat, showing what life may be like for those still surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. The remaining six episodes running through Lost Tales 1 and 2 return to the points of view of the members of the family group based in the Old Store. The series of episodes contained in both Lost Tales 1 and 2 in terms of the chronology and sequence of episodes in 'The Old Store' would go between 'Rat Bites Snake' and 'Ham Radio'.

The Old Store: Lost Tales 1

Table of Contents

Episode 1: Roloe's Rescue

Episode 2: Ammo

Episode 3: Trapped

Appendix 1: Cast List

Appendix 2: May 2012 Sequence of Episodes

Contact

More books by Peter Salisbury

Episode 1: Roloe's Rescue

Roloe was right there the night Rat busted up Snake's party. He couldn't remember what he'd done exactly to deserve lookout duty but he usually got all the crummy jobs regardless. The rest of Snake's gang had got a stag roast going in front of an old store they'd tried to break into. If Roloe was lucky there'd be a chance of some leftovers. He never contested the fact that the others thought of him as a bit of a weed. He was. All Snake's men were tough and hard but they let Roloe tag along, simply because he'd do the stuff no-one else wanted to bother with.

The way he'd survived so long after the plague was to stay back from any action. Standing next to his seven-fifty cc trike in the maze of shrubs and spindly trees on the bank above the freeway, Roloe practically had a three-sixty view. Sitting, crouching or lying down, he was invisible. His post was directly above where the freeway went through a cutting and the off ramp branched away into the store car park behind him. There was a good view up towards the concrete bird's nest of the intersection on the orbital, and the dark stumps of the city behind it. Overlooking the southbound carriageways, he could see all the way to the horizon. Not expecting to be disturbed by anyone, he decided to take a snooze. If anything did drive past, he reasoned, its engine noise would surely wake him up.

Roloe snorted so loud in his sleep, he woke himself up. His heart thumped and his eyes bulged at the thought of giving himself away. By the time he rolled onto his stomach to peer through the grass and willed himself to perfect stillness, the threat was upon them.

Horrified, Roloe counted thirty-two bikes sweeping down the stretch from the intersection. They freewheeled until they stopped right opposite his position, the only sound being the murmur of their engines ticking over. They were a much scruffier bunch than Roloe had seen for a while. Unlike Snake's gang, there were no women, neither bikers nor what Snake called house women who looked after the kids. He could see the gang below pointing up at the smoke and glow from Snake's camp fire. They outnumbered Snake's raiding party by three to two, so they were bad news all right. And, although Roloe was trying his best to ignore it, given that all he had to eat for himself was a pack of dry rations and a water bottle, the most thrilling aroma of wood smoke and roasting stag was drifting between the trees towards the freeway. It was not something that was missed by the new gang, either.

The leader, a thin, gangly individual with spikey, black hair stood up on his foot rests and signalled his orders. He and his men puttered cautiously up the slip road.