NaNoWriMo Novel: Extract

...

Millie Battle fastened the last of the mismatched oversized buttons on her patchwork swing overcoat, and turned her face into the rain as the sound of a car motor breathing its exhaust fumes into the cool night air approached from somewhere in the dark.

The grey tarmac sparkled black under the spitter and spatter of the autumnal downpour; high gentle sprays of water casting thick over the pavements and pedestrians at every approach, and every passing, of vehicles on the road. Darkened shop window displays and worn painted bricks lined both sides of the street, humming out into the twilight with an odd sense of abandonment. This was the high-street after closing hours, with lofty metal streetlamps hanging their heavy orange haze, and casting the run of the street in a yawning glow.

Some of those passing would be on their way into town, Millie mused, back to the drone and hub where they would be reunited with loving homes and families; back to the burl and comfort of a thick carpet and a wallpapered living room, where greetings came in the form of a child's happy laughter, or the warm embrace of a lover's hug.

...