Sea Sick (Ravaged World Trilogy, #1)
Author: Iain Rob Wright
Date: 2012-08-30 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror; Zombies; Fiction; Mystery; Thriller; Paranormal; Fantasy; Mystery Thriller; Science Fiction; Suspense
Description: IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE RELAXING… Police Officer Jack Wardsley’s life ended the moment his partner died, stabbed to death by a deranged druggie. Now, years later, Jack is a changed man, with a head full of secrets driving him insane. His recent record of police brutality and a reputation for not following the rules has prompted his seniors to give him an ultimatum: take a few weeks off, relax, and find some way to let go of all the anger – or else find another job. That’s why Jack is about to board The Spirit of Kirkpatrick, a cruise liner built for relaxation and fun. Pretty soon, however, Jack
Publisher: SalGad Publishing Group

Book Summary

First people got sick.  Then they got really sick.

Nick Adams is just a normal guy.  He loves his family, appreciates his home, and covets his car.  But he absolutely hates his job.  Which is what makes is so difficult when not a single customer comes by his store that day.  It seems as though there’s a bug going around, something that has come out of nowhere and is keeping people at home.  Still, it’s probably nothing to worry about.  People get sick all the time.

And besides, things are finally starting to look up.  Nick’s first customer of the day has just stumbled through the door…

His day is about to get worse.

It won’t be long before Nick’s entire life is turned upside down, sending him on a frantic journey through a ravaged world that will ultimately lead him 500 feet upwards to a hilltop amusement park.  Is it the last safe place on Earth, or are the monsters at the top of the hill even worse than the ones below?

Welcome to Ripley Heights.  Where the fun never starts.

RAVAGE

(Special Edition)

BY

Iain Rob Wright

Dedicated to my Father-in-Law, Roger.  I miss you.

With thanks to:

Barton Glenn

Vix Kirkpatrick

Vince Early

Barbara Rochester

Barb Higgins

Paul Blanchfield

Caroline Doyle

Nicola Rees

Erimozqueda

Lee Nelson

Alison Coombes

Julie Nice

Andy Smith

Hotstuffsteph

Stephen Bryant

Faith Kauwe

(Sorry if I forgot anyone.  IRW)

“Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk.  It is walking towards me, without hurrying.”

- Jean Cocteau

“We are living on the brink of the apocalypse, but the world is asleep.”

- Joel C. Rosenberg

“He’s got an arm off!”

- Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead, 2004

NEWS REPORT: SEPTEMBER 29th 2012

Terrorist attack suspected of killing up to 1500 people as commercial cruise liner, SPIRIT OF KIRKPATRICK, sinks due to massive explosion.

Joint relief efforts are underway in the Mediterranean Sea, where the tragedy occurred, by several nations including France, Italy, UK, and Egypt, but so far no survivors have been found.  It is thought that the explosion, which caused the entire 33,000 tonne vessel to sink below the waves within minutes, occurred inside the engine compartment.

No group has yet come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, but owners of the doomed cruise liner, Black Remedy Corporation, have claimed that, with the stringent safety measures present on all of their public passenger ships, there is no possible cause for the disaster other than an act of terrorism.

The company has previously been targeted by eco-terrorists and religious groups because of its reputation for operating unethically in the 3rd world and for allegations of corruption and sabotage.  While the vast, multi-national corporation has made great efforts in the last decade to conduct its affairs to a better moral standard, it is thought that there may still be groups and individuals who wish to target it.

NATO Secretary, General Able Rasmussen, condemned the suspected suicide attack as ‘despicable’.

Part One: LIFE

Chapter One

“The whole town is dead,” said Paul, re-entering the phone shop with a bored shuffling of his feet.

Nick gazed out at the shopping centre’s vacant seating areas and deserted walkways, and saw that his co-worker’s statement was correct.  The Boots megastore directly opposite – usually teeming with customers – was devoid of a single shopper.  Its typically vibrant team of staff were pottering around aimlessly, re-jigging shelf displays and chatting to one another for lack of anything else to do.

Likewise, the small mobile phone shop that Nick managed was also unbearably quiet.  It’d been more than two hours since the last customer stepped through the open metal shutter that fronted the store.  Every minute had begun to feel like hours.

“I wonder why it’s so quiet,” Nick mused out loud, directing the question to his colleague.  “Is England playing football today or something?”

Paul shrugged, shook his bald head.  “Hey, I’m Sikh.  I only know when there’s cricket on.”

Nick chuckled, but still felt worried.  With no customers, how on earth were they going to get any sales.  He needed to earn his bonus this month, to cover the deposit he had already paid, and yet didn’t really have, on a new car.

“All the other shops were just as quiet as us when you checked?” he asked.

“Yeah.  I spoke to Chris at Game Traders and he said they haven’t had a customer since eleven.  They’ve been dossing around, playing Fifa all day.”

Nick’s watch told him it was just after three.  The daily sales target was a nigh-on-impossible feat to achieve now.  Paul had set up a two-year iPhone contract for an overweight teenager first thing that morning, but hadn’t sold a thing since.  Nick himself hadn’t taken much more than a few quid through the tills.  Nothing but credit top-ups and bill payments.

Actually, I sold that SpongeBob phone sock, too.  Whoop-de-do.

Nick rubbed at the dull, black stubble on his chin and stifled a yawn.  Area manager’s going to have my balls in a vice if we don’t get more sales on the board.

What can I do, though?  Can’t force people to come to town and buy overpriced gadgets that they don’t really need.  Hell, even I can’t tell the difference between the new iPhone and the last one.

This is bad, though.  We need to get one more sale at least.

Slow days weren’t uncommon in Nick’s line of business, especially with a recession in full swing, but this was one of the worst footfalls he could remember.  There was barely any point to being open, in fact.  With the cost of electricity and wages, the store would probably be losing money just by them being there.

The store’s head salesman, Paul, strolled over to the laptop area and started browsing the Internet.  It was against company regulations to use the computers for personal use but Nick wasn’t about to be a jobsworth just for the sake of it.  He was an easy-going manager at the best of times, and today there really was nothing else for his staff to do.

He let out a sigh and looked over at Paul.  “Check and see if something’s going on today that we don’t know about.  Find me an excuse to give the area manager.  An outbreak of plague would be ideal.”

“No problem, governor.”  Paul typed away with his gold-ringed fingers.

Just then, Chelsea re-joined them, having finished her lunch in the back.  She looked at the empty shop floor and then over at Nick, before pulling a face.

“I know, I know” he said to her.  “If it stays like this much longer, I’ll probably send you home.  No point the three of us being here.”

No point even one of us being here at this rate.

If it was up to him they all would have left already; he would’ve closed up shop and called it a day.  But Head Office didn’t allow him to make such judgement calls.  They paid him to be there ten hours a day and that’s exactly how long they expected him to stay, whether there was any need for it or not.  There was no requirement for Paul and Chelsea to suffer, though.

I think they might slip into a coma if things get any more boring.

Oh, to hell with it.  I can manage things here on my own for a couple of hours.

Nick was just about to tell both Paul and Chelsea to go home when, finally, a customer entered the store.

“Hallelujah,” Nick said under his breath, before prodding a member of his staff gently on the arm.  “Go get him, Chels.  We need to get a contract out of this guy or I’m screwed on the conference call tonight.”

“No sweat,” said Chelsea, flicking her long blonde hair behind her back.  “Watch a sales-ninja at work.”

She swaggered over to the customer, her trademark fake smile switched on full beam.  The customer didn’t seem to notice her approach, though.  He slumped up against the central display where the live demo-phones were lined up on painted-steel pedestals.  The man hunched over a Nokia smartphone so closely that he was probably smelling the lithium in the battery.

Great, Nick thought to himself.  Our first customer in hours is a pisshead.

Nick decided to shadow Chelsea, just in case she got into problems.  The girl had a short fuse with difficult customers, and a drunk would certainly qualify as a potential trigger for her teenaged temper.

“Are you okay there, sir?” Chelsea asked the man.

He remained hunched over, almost like he didn’t even hear her.

“I said, are you okay there, mate?”  Chelsea was already beginning to look irritable, and her tone had changed.  She turned to Nick and shook her head.

Nick eased her aside with his hand and stepped up beside the customer.  It was best for a manager to deal with anyone who was going to be a problem.

Sales people should be free to sell.  Managers should be free to deal with all the headaches.

“Sir, are you okay?” he asked politely.  “I’m afraid you can’t sleep it off here.”

Still no response from the hunched-over man.

Nick reached out a hand.  He was quickly getting impatient.  “Sir, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go someplace else.”

The man shot upright like an uncoiling spring.  He turned to Nick with swollen, bloodshot eyes.  A thin strand of saliva hung pendulously from his lower lip, ready to make a break for the floor at any moment.  The man’s entire expression was vacant and faraway.

Yikes!

Nick took a step backwards, his stomach flipping over like a wet pancake.  “What the heck is wrong with you, man?”

The customer swayed on his feet and groaned unintelligibly.  If he had been drinking, then he must have drunk a shitload.

“I…I’m not feeling well,” said the man.  His voice was thick, as though he had spoken with a swollen tongue.

“No shit,” said Paul from over by the laptops.  “You look rough, mate.”

The groaning man wobbled for a moment, then managed to speak again.  “I…I don’t think I can make it home.  W-will you call my wife for me, please?”

Nick found himself staring for a moment, speechless.  The stink coming off the other man was foul, even worse than the sickly sight of him.

Maybe he’s diabetic or something.  Don’t they have a funny smell right before a coma?

Nick managed to find his voice.  “Yes, yes, of course,” he said.  “Chelsea, will you grab my mobile, please?”

Chelsea hurried over to the sales desk and procured Nick’s phone for him.  She handed it over gingerly, almost as if he was contagious of something merely for talking with the smelly man in the store.

“What’s the number for your wife?” Nick asked.

The man’s eyes rolled in his skull and it seemed like he might pass out for a moment.  Eventually, he managed to give a reply.  “It’s…it’s – one moment.  It’s 07…0798…07985…”

It took about a minute in total before the man gave out his full phone number.  When Nick dialled it a woman picked up on the other end and asked who was calling.

“Oh, hi.  This is Nick Adams.  I’m calling from Touch Pad, one of the phone shops in town.  I have your husband here with me.  I’m…I’m afraid he’s not feeling very well.  He needs someone to come and collect him.  Would you be able to make it into town?”

Nick clutched the phone tightly to his ear and listened while the woman informed him that she could be at the store in twenty minutes.  The thought of having to babysit the sick man during that time wasn’t something he was relishing, but what worried him even more was that the man’s wife also sounded pretty sick.  The voice on the other end of the phone was disorientated and thick with mucus.

“Okay,” Nick uttered into his mobile as the conversation neared its end.  He swallowed a spongy lump halfway down his throat.  “S-see you soon.”  He slid the phone into his pocket and smiled at his sickly guest, who was standing unsteadily beside him.  “Your wife is on her way.  She won’t be long.  Perhaps you should take a seat while you wait.”

“I’ll make the poor sod a cuppa,” said Paul, already wandering off towards the back.  “Looks like he could use one.”

Nick led the sick man over to the carpeted sales area where there were several places to sit.  The reason that part of the floor was carpeted was to make people feel at home, relaxed and more inclined to buy.  Nick thought the theory was rubbish, but what did he know?

As the sick man took a seat on one of the area’s plush, cubed sofas, Nick was forced to arc his head away as malignant body odour threatened to make his eyes water.  The stench seemed to drift off the other man in hot, humid waves.  Nick made sure to sit on the opposite side of the desk.  But even that was too close.

“Should I do anything?” Chelsea asked him.  She looked sick to her stomach and was fidgeting with her hair.

Nick waved a hand at her.  “Just go, Chelsea.  Paul and I will be okay to hold down the fort.”

The young girl’s shoulders loosened with relief.  “You sure, boss?”

“Yeah, just get out of here.  I’ll see you when you’re next in.”

She skipped off to the staffroom to get her things while Paul returned with three mugs of piping hot tea.  He placed them down on the desk and slid the cleanest one towards their poorly guest.  “Here ya go, fella.  Drink up.”

“Thank you,” the man replied weakly.  He seemed to have gotten a little better since sitting down, but was still looked decidedly unwell.  “I’m sorry to put you all out like this,” he said.  “I just felt as though I was going to pass out.  I just…I just headed into the nearest shop.”

“So you’re not interested in getting yourself a shiny new phone then?” Paul joked.

The man didn’t laugh.  His head kept falling towards the desk as if he was having trouble holding it up.

“So what’s wrong with you?” Nick asked.

The man shook his head and spattered the vinyl surface of the desk with bubbling drops of spittle.  “I-I don’t know.  I’ve been feeling under the weather since yesterday morning.  It got really bad this afternoon, though.  I think I must have the flu or something.”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah, probably.  Might be worth getting yourself down to see the quack.  People underestimate the flu and how bad it can make you feel.”

The man nodded.  “Soon as my wife picks me up, I’ll be heading straight to my local doctor, don’t you worry.”

“Your wife sounded pretty poorly, too,” Nick mentioned.

“She has whatever I have, but she only started feeling ill this morning.  Must have caught it from me.”

Nick sipped his tea and tried to ignore the smell of wet fart drifting continuously over from the other side of the table.  “Well, I hope you get well soon, buddy, because you look like death warmed up.”

The man’s head slumped to the desk with a thud!

Paul and Nick exchanged worried glances.

***

Fifteen minutes later when his wife arrived, the man was still face down on the sales desk.

His wife tottered into the shop looking almost as bad as he did.  Her eyes were bulging and bloodshot, just like her husbands, but they seemed a little more lucid and less dazed.  Her mousy brown hair, still kept neat in a tight ponytail, gave her the look of a woman that just soldiered on, no matter the weather.

“Hi,” Nick said to her, keeping his distance.

“I’m here to take George home,” she said, before sneezing three times in quick succession.  “Is he…is he here?”

“Yes,” Nick pointed to him, “but I think he’s napping.”

The woman staggered towards the sales area at the back of the store.  Her steps were uncoordinated and clumsy.  Her husband – George – managed to lift his head and look at her as she came over to him.  He seemed unable to do anything more than that, though, and remained seated.

Nick shook his head.  Wow.  I really hope I don’t catch what they have.

Paul headed over and placed one of his thick hands on George’s shoulder.  “The missus will get you to the doctor now, fella.  You’ll be right as rain.”

Like a thrashing animal, George snapped his teeth at Paul’s hand, clamping down his jaws like a salivating pit bull.  Paul yelled out, yanking back his hand back and wrenching it free.  He clutched it to his chest and cursed in his native Punjab.  “Haram Jada!”

George looked completely startled, as if he had no idea what he had just done.  “I…I’m so sorry.  I…”

“George!” his wife cried.  “What the bloody hell are you playing at?”

He looked tiny and afraid; a scolded man.  “I’m so sorry,” he gushed at Paul.  “I…I don’t know what came over me.”

Paul shook his injured hand and seemed totally bewildered by what had just happened.  “N-no problem, fella,” he said.  “I’ll just put it down to the fever.”

Nick frowned at George’s wife.  “Maybe you should get him to a doctor, right away.”

She nodded, embarrassed.  Then quickly ushered her husband away, chastising him all the way out of the shop.

When it was just Nick and Paul left alone in the store again, they looked at each other in confusion.

“The fuck just happened?” said Paul.

Nick shrugged.  “Hell if I know.  How’s your hand?”

“Hurts like a mother.  That gandoo broke the skin.  I probably got rabies or something.”

“Then you best stay away from me.  I don’t want to start frothing at the mouth and biting people.  That guy was a mess.”

“You’re telling me.”

Nick shook his head and rubbed at his temples.  He felt a huge headache coming on, vibrating like an approaching passenger train.  “Screw it,” he said.  “I’ve had enough of today.  Let’s just cash up and get out of here.  I’ll do the conference call at home and pretend I’m still here.”

Paul nodded, rubbing at his hand and wincing.  “Sounds good to me, governor.  I’m sure things will be better tomorrow.”

Nick huffed.  “They couldn’t be any worse.”

Chapter two

The roads home were quiet.  Nick and Paul had managed to leave work at quarter-past-four, before the rush hour traffic was due to begin.  One or two cars still dotted the lanes of the duel carriageway – and at one point he’d needed to slow down to let a rushing ambulance pass by – but for the most part he hadn’t had to drop his Alfa Romeo below seventy the whole way home.  By ten-to-five he was parked on the curb and walking into his house.

It was nice to be home a couple hours early and, as he put his key into the front door, he began to think about what he could do with the extra time.  Perhaps he would take Deana and James out for a nice meal someplace.  It’d been a while since they’d had treated themselves and it would be a nice way to put the dreary and exhausting day behind him.  Maybe he would forget that tomorrow he would have to endure it all over again.

And the day after that.  And the day after that.  And every other day until I die of a stroke or just plain boredom.

Deana was standing barefoot in the hallway when he stepped inside the porch.  She was obviously surprised to see him home so early.  “What are you doing back?” she asked; her dark Moroccan eyes suspicious beneath her choppy black fringe.  “Everything okay?”

“Don’t get me started,” said Nick, hooking his woollen coat onto one of the porch hangers.  “We had about three customers all day long and then some weirdo came in and attacked Paul – he’s okay, by the way, so don’t worry.  In the end I decided it wasn’t even worth being open, so I closed up early.”

“Won’t you get in trouble?”

“I couldn’t care less at this point.  I’ll take the conference call in the bedroom later, but I’m sure no one will even know.  You fancy going out for dinner tonight, oh dear wife of mine?”

Surprisingly, Deana didn’t seem enthused by the suggestion.  “I don’t know, honey,” she said.  “James is feeling a bit under the weather.  I don’t know if it’s wise taking him out.  And I don’t want to get a babysitter.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.  “What is it with people getting sick today?  I swear something must be going around.  What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s just a little bunged-up, and a headache.  Probably just needs an early night.  He’s in the living room watching Family Guy DVDs.”

Nick sighed.  “I told you not to let him watch that show, Deana.  It’s not like The Simpsons.”

“It’s alright.  He doesn’t understand the adult jokes.  Go check on him.  He’ll be glad to see you.”

“Okay,” he said, sighing in defeat of her argument.  He gave her a peck on the cheek and moved past her.  He took the door on the left, which led to the living room.  Inside, his mop-haired little angel lay curled-up on the beige corner sofa.  He was peering at the television screen, but seemed unable to focus very well.  He was squinting and blinking his eyes as if something was irritating them.”

“You okay, little dude?  Mommy says you’re not feeling very well.”

“I have a headache,” James said pitifully.

Nick went and sat on the end of the sofa.  He pulled his son’s socked feet up onto his lap.  “Oh dear.  I’ll get Mommy to cook you something nice and then you can get an early night.  You’ll feel all better.”

“Do I have to go to school?”

Nick laughed and tickled his son’s foot.  But James didn’t react, which was strange because he was usually very sensitive to tickle-torture.  He must really have been feeling ill.  Nick tussled his hair instead.   “We’ll see how you’re feeling tonight, buddy, and then decide.  So, what’s happening in Family Guy?”

“Brian and Stewie are trapped inside a bank and Brian just ate Stewie’s nappy.”

Nick screwed his face up in disgust.  “Lovely.  Well, you can carry on watching until dinner, but then it’s going off, okay?”

He was about to get back up again, to go find Deana, but he paused when he spotted the thick Beano plaster on his son’s finger.

“Hey, buddy.  What happened to your finger?”

“Jordan bit me at school.  I didn’t even call him a name or nothing.  He got in lots of trouble with Mrs Tanner, though, so it’s okay.  Mommy had to kiss it better for me and put a Dennis the Menace on it.”

Nick didn’t like the coincidence.  Paul had been bitten, too.  But what did that mean?  Surely an unruly child biting his son was nothing to worry about?  It was the type of thing that happened at first school all the time.

Still, it was weird.

“Jordan bit you?  Were you feeling ill before that, or afterwards?”

James shook his head.  “I didn’t feel poorly until Mommy picked me up.  I started to feel sick in the car and got a headache.”

Nick patted his son on the leg and gave him the reassuring smile of a worried parent.  “Okay,” he said.  “You just rest here and I’ll call you when dinner is ready.  Anything in particular you’d like?”

“Fish fingers.”

“Anything else?”

“Fish fingers.”

“Okay, fish fingers it is.”

Nick got up from the sofa and headed out into the hallway.  Deana was in the kitchen, already starting on dinner.

“His lord requires fish fingers,” he said to her as he approached from behind and squeezed at her hips.

“Right-o,” she said.  She was already rummaging around the fridge freezer so it was easy for her to come out with a large cardboard box full of Cod sticks.  She set them down on the IKEA breakfast table, next to a basket of laundry, and brushed off a layer of frost.  “Did he ask for anything else?  Or just fish fingers?”

“Just fish fingers with a side of fish fingers.  I suppose you could force him to accept some chips and beans with them.”

“That wouldn’t be because you want chips and beans, would it?  You’ve got fillet steak in the fridge, you numpty.”

“I know, I have.”  He perched back against the table.  “But I’m too tired to eat it tonight.  It would just be wasted on me.  I’ll just have whatever James is having.”

Deana moved up close to him, tiptoed on the tiles, and gave him a kiss on the mouth.  “You’re not coming down with something as well, are you, babe?  Because I can’t be doing with nursing you both back to health.  I am in no mood for man-flu.”

Nick shook his head.  “I’m fine.  Just tired.  Really, really, really tired.  I don’t know how much longer I can take working at that bloody place.”

“Find something else, then.  I don’t want you to be miserable all the time.”

“I’m not miserable.  Just…unfulfilled.  Anyway, don’t worry about it for now.  I’m just glad to be home early for a change.  Shame we can’t go out, but never mind.”

“James show you his battle wound?” Deana asked him.

“His finger?  Yeah.  What happened?”

“Another kid bit him about an hour before I picked him up.  It wasn’t too bad.  Still bleeding a little when he got home, so I put a new plaster on it.”

“And kissed it better?”

“Of course!  What kind of mother do you think I am?”

Nick giggled and then checked his watch.  It was almost half-five.  “I need to get ready for the conference call,” he said, giving his wife a quick peck on the lips.  “I’ll try to get away as quick as I can.”

“Okay, I’ll bring you a coffee up.”

He thanked her and then quickly headed upstairs to use the phone in the bedroom where it would be quieter.  The last thing he needed was to be on the conference call and have his son and wife’s voices giving it away that he was at home instead of at the store where he was supposed to be.

He opened the door to the bedroom and lay himself down on the freshly made Queen-size bed, dumping down his keys and wallet on the glass side-table next to the phone.  The duvet cover was the blue Egyptian cotton one that he liked so much.  The soft thread immediately relaxed him.

The conference call would commence at five-thirty sharp, but the managers of the other stores would usually get on early to check the lay of the land.  How did your store do today?  What was footfall like?  Did you meet your insurance quota?  Is the area manager in a good or bad mood today?

He picked up the phone and dialled in the number he knew by heart.  Then he tapped in the login pin number.  There was a brief silence while the automated service connected him.

When he heard the static of the open line, Nick introduced himself.  “Nick Adams, Solihull, Touchwood.”

There were no replies.  He must have been the first one there.  Great, he thought to himself.  Everyone else has had such busy days that they’re struggling to even get away and jump on the call.

I’m so dead.

Nick took a deep breath and released it slowly, letting it echo in the receiver.  He rubbed at his forehead with his free hand and closed his eyes while he waited for someone else to arrive.  He really hated conference calls.  Why there had to be one every single evening he did not know; just like he did not know why he had to be in store for 8AM when it only took twenty minutes to get ready for a 9AM opening.  It seemed that Head Office was unaware that Branch Managers had lives outside of work.

There was nothing he could do, though.  He wouldn’t get paid as much anywhere else in retail.  Most people in the country – the world, in fact – hated their jobs just as much as he did, but for less pay, so in some ways he was lucky.  At least his family was secure; even if it did mean he was miserable fifty hours a week.

Nick checked his watch and saw that it was now 5:32.  “Hello,” he said into the receiver.  “Hello, is anyone else here?”

A second later, the line crackled and another voice appeared on the line.

“Hey,” said Nick.  “Who’s that?”

“It’s Paul.”

“Paul, what are you doing on the call?”

“I figured you’d need backup after the day we had.”

Nick smiled.  It was good of Paul to go down in flames with him.  “Thanks, man.  I appreciate it.  It’s just me and you so far, though.”

“Yeah, I think there’re a couple managers who are reluctant to get on here.  I phoned around on the way home and found out that a few other stores were deserted as well.  Evesham only did two contracts and Tewkesbury did none, so don’t worry too much.”

Nick sighed relief.  “That’s good to know.  Least I won’t be the only one getting torn a new one.”

Paul started coughing and hacking into the phone.

“You okay, buddy?”

“Just a cold coming on, I think.  Probably from that doodi that bit me earlier.”

“You best not be calling in sick on me tomorrow, dude!”

“Course not.  Can’t leave all the sales to Chelsea, can I?  There’s only room for one top salesman in our store, and it’s me.”

A crackle on the line and another voice appeared.  It was the distinctive Australian twang of the area manager.  It grated at Nick’s nerves every time he heard it.  It wasn’t the accent he hated, it was the man.

“Who is on the call?” the area manager asked in his usual pissy tone.

“Just me and Paul,” answered Nick.

“Who might me and Paul be?”

“Nick Adams and Paul Patel from Solihull.  No one else is on the call yet.”

“Yes, I know.”  The area manager spoke as if he were a fool.  “I’ve had a lot of managers call in sick today, so there will be no call tonight.”

The line clicked and the area manager was gone.

“Prick,” said Paul.

Nick laughed into the line.  “I’d wet myself if he hadn’t actually gone yet.”

Paul tutted.  “Guy don’t scare me.”

“You find it weird?” asked Nick.  “I mean, what he said?”

“About managers calling in sick?  I guess so.  Maybe they all went on a bender and planned a mass sickie.  You know we’re never in the loop about those things, just because we’re both married and past the age of thirty.  This is a young man’s game, fella.”

“Yeah, maybe.  I just find it weird with how town was so quiet today.  And that guy who came in at the end of the day was a total mess.  There must be a right horrible bug going around.”

“Yeah, the bloody lergy, and I have it,” said Paul, before clearing his throat of phlegm.  “I got to go, governor.  Think a night in the pub is in order if I’m going to be feeling rough all night.”

Nick rolled his eyes.  “Just don’t come in with a hangover.”

“Ha!  I’m Sikh.  We don’t get drunk.  There’s no beer in the world strong enough.”

Nick laughed and both men exited the call.

He went downstairs to spend the evening with his family, hoping that whatever was going around, he wouldn’t catch it.

Chapter three

The evening had gone by quickly.  A dinner of fish fingers followed by a few hours of innocuous reality television and it was soon everybody’s bedtime.  Nick had intended to put James to bed right after dinner, but ended up changing his mind.  He had become so feverish and fitful that Nick decided to let him stay up just so he could keep an eye on him.  Deana had started to feel grim, too.  She’d spent the evening reaching for the tissue box every few minutes.  By the end of the night the living room had started to feel more like an infirmary than a place to relax.  Nick assumed it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to the dreaded ‘lergy’ himself.

Just after ten O’ clock, Deana had carried James upstairs – he remained asleep in her arms – and then joined Nick in bed a few minutes later.  She took a handful of flu capsules from the bedside drawer and dry swallowed them with a brief gagging sound.  Then she dragged herself into her no-sex ‘frumpy’ pyjamas and was snoring loudly before even ten minutes had passed.

Nick had then been left staring at the ceiling and struggling to find sleep himself.  He was dreading another workday like the one he’d just had.  The minutes had seemed like hours and the stress of not meeting target had been constantly on his mind.

He was nothing but a glorified salesman, really, but sometimes Head Office made his job as stressful as being a brain surgeon.  Targets for this, targets for that, working weekends, opening evenings; they expected him to live, breathe, and eat the phone industry.  But the truth was that he didn’t give two shits about the company he worked for.  It was a paycheque, nothing more, and he hated every minute he spent there.

It’s my life, though.  Nobody else to blame.

Dropping out of University of Birmingham was perhaps his biggest mistake – his parents would certainly say so – but he had little faith that it would have resulted in anything different if he had graduated.  He would still be the same, unambitious dropout that he’d always been; always taking the path of least resistance.  He could have been a teacher or a journalist by now, but instead he had allowed himself to fall short and become a middle manager in retail.  It was a comfortable, respectable living, but deeply unfulfilling.  But it was totally his own fault.

He’d always told himself that one day he would do something different, that one day he would start a career he enjoyed but, before he knew it, he was thirty-years old with a wife and child.  Now there was never going to be a one day.

He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the beastly snores of his slumbering wife.  God, he loved her, but sometimes she sounded like an asthmatic camel – especially when she was ill.  He tried his best to ignore the rhythmic grumbling, to get at least a little sleep.  And thankfully, before long, slumber finally approached him.

***

When Nick opened his eyes again the bedside LED alarm clock read 5:03AM.

And there were noises downstairs.

He glanced at Deana, checking to see if the sounds had awoken her also, but she was silent and still, no longer even snoring.

Nick rubbed at his eyes.  I must have fallen asleep finally.

The noises downstairs continued, consistent and regular – almost like a rhythm.  Someone was shuffling around, possibly in the kitchen.  He was sure he heard the wooden chairs of the breakfast table scuffing against the granite floor tiles.

Goddamn it.  This is all I need.  I have to be up in a couple hours and some git is trying to rob me.

He slid out from beneath the bed covers and headed for the door in his boxer shorts.  The noises continued, almost as if whoever was downstairs didn’t even care if they were heard.  If it was indeed a burglar then he was the most negligent criminal ever.

Or someone who just doesn’t give a fuck.

The thought filled Nick with dread.  What if the person downstairs was a lunatic, ready to hack him up into bloody cutlets?

Stop being stupid.  You’re just freaking yourself out.

He crept barefoot across the landing, wishing he had a baseball bat or some other weapon stashed upstairs, but it had never occurred to him before now to need such things.  He’d never worried about being burgled.

So much for living in a nice area.

He started down the carpeted steps at the end of the landing and made sure to take each one carefully.  The darkness of the downstairs hallway seemed to shift and swirl before him, almost as if it was warning him away.  He had to remind himself that it was just his eyes adjusting to the lack of light.

He reached the bottom step and padded into the hallway.  From there, it became clear that the stranger in his home was indeed inside the kitchen.  Not only could Nick hear them shuffling around in there, but he could also see a hint of light coming from beneath the door at the end of the hallway.

What the hell are they playing at?  Do they want me to catch them?

Nick started to plan his actions.  Was he just going to burst in, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, hoping to frighten the intruder away?  Would that even work?  What if the intruder was armed?  He decided that he would rather prevent a confrontation than create one, so he decided to give the burglar a chance to flee.  He rapped his knuckles against the kitchen door as hard as he could and spoke in his sternest voice.  “Hey, whoever you are, get the hell out of my house!  Right now!”

Silence.

“I’ve already called the police, so just get out of here.”

Silence.

I knew it!  There’s a loon in my kitchen, what am I going to do.

Nick didn’t know what to do.  Opening the door and stepping inside the kitchen was probably the stupidest thing, but it was what he found himself doing anyway.  Despite his fear, Nick was angry that someone felt they could root around his kitchen in the middle of the night.

He pushed open the door, ready for action.

The kitchen was dark.  The light he had seen creeping beneath the door was coming from the open fridge-freezer.  In front of the glowing appliance stood the intruder.  Their body was a featureless silhouette against the backdrop of frozen ready meals and French fries.

“Hey,” said Nick.  “What the hell are you playing at?  Get the fuck out of my house.”

No answer.  Not even a reaction.

As his eyesight continued to adjust, Nick could see that the figure was facing away from him, peering into the fridge-freezer.  But slowly…gradually…the stranger was beginning to turn around.  They were small…too small to be an adult…

Nick’s breath caught in his chest.

What the…?

He stared at his son with shock.  “J-James, what are you doing down…”

His words trailed off as he saw what his son was doing.  Hanging from James’s tiny mouth was a large hunk of fillet steak, still raw and dripping.

Jesus…

Nick didn’t understand what he was looking at.  What was James doing down here in the middle of the night, tearing into raw meat like a feral dog?

He doesn’t know what he’s doing.  He’s not well.

Nick raised a hand toward his son.  “James, put the meat down.  It will make your tummy bad.”

James lowered his head, animal eyes trained on his father.  His thin lips trembled in a snarl.

And then, with what sounded like a growl, James lunged at Nick.  His delicate hands were outstretched like cat claws.  His sallow, naked chest was soaked with the blood of the dripping steak.  As James collided with Nick, the hunk of meat fell from his mouth and hit the tiles with a splat!

Nick wrapped his arms around his son and spun him around.  From behind, he wrestled to keep his thrashing child under control.

“James!  James, what has gotten into you?  It’s your father.  You have a fever and you need to calm down.”

James continued to thrash and was now letting out a high-pitched scream like an old-fashioned kettle.  The noise forced its way into Nick’s head and made his skull throb.

“Calm down!” he yelled at his son.  “Just stop fighting me.”

But it was no good.  James continued to screech and yell; clawing and punching, fighting to get free of Nick’s restraining arms.  His bloodstained milk-teeth snapped wildly at the air.

Nick assumed his son was hallucinating from fever.  If he could just get to the light switch and illuminate the room, perhaps James would be less confused.  Maybe then he would calm down.

He squeezed his arms tight around his son’s waist and began to sidestep towards the light switch.  James’s relentless thrashing made every step a battle of will and determination.  He did not understand how his young son could suddenly become so strong and wild.

What has gotten into him?  He’s like a feral cat.  I can’t believe-

Nick’s bare foot came down on something soft and slippery.  He quickly realised that it was the raw fillet steak, dropped from his son’s jaws.  But it was too late to react in time.  Nick’s leg went out from under him as his foot slipped on the wet meat.  He fell sideways with the full weight of his son still in his grasping arms.  His head hit the tiles with a crack and a galaxy of stars burst through his vision.  There was also another sound.  A sound that was both meaty and wet.

He was too dazed to sit up.  His vision spun and a roiling wave of sickness crashed against the rocks of his stomach.  So, he just lay there for a while, totally confused by what was happening.

Am I missing something?  Because this all seems a little crazy to me.

After a few stretched-out seconds, Nick finally pushed himself up onto his elbows and glanced around.

James was lying nearby, his small body unmoving.

“Oh, Jesus!” He scurried across the tiles on his hands and knees.  He placed a hand behind James’s head and tried to lift it up, but withdrew his fingers when they touched something hot and tacky.  Even in the dim light provided by the open fridge, Nick could see the dark blood on his hands.  It was warm and sticky like drying glue.

No, no, no!

Nick looked to his left and saw the matted clump of hair that covered the sharp corner of one of the kitchen’s wooden chairs.  As he had fallen he had taken his son down with him, smashing his young skull against the unforgiving furniture.

Nick shot to his feet and leapt for the light switch.  “Oh my God!  James!  James!  No!  I’m sorry.  No!  Help me!  Somebody help!”

He flicked on the lights, flooding the kitchen with an artificial glow that stopped just short of the darkness outside the windows.  He dropped back down to his knees and placed his hands either side of James’s face.  Blood pooled on the tiles and his son’s staring eyes were glazed and puffy.  He felt for a pulse, but there was none.

His son was not breathing.

He can’t be dead.  No!

Nick slunk backwards on the tiles, his mind skewing at the edges and threatening to shatter into a thousand frantic pieces.

God help me, what have I done?  I’ve killed my own son.  I’ve killed my own son.

No, no, no.  He’s not dead.  He can’t be.  I just…I just need to get help.  That’s all.

Nick leapt up off the floor, so panicked that he almost took flight.  For a brief moment his mind was blank, numb with panic, but then he got moving, sprinting into the hallway and leaping up the stairs.  He could use the phone beside the bed and wake up Deana at the same time.  She could go check on James while he spoke to the emergency services.

And tell them what I’ve done.

He burst into the bedroom, shouting at the top of his lungs for his wife to wake up.  Her body shifted beneath the sheets, but she didn’t respond.  Nick cursed under his breath and grabbed for the phone.  He dialled 999 and waited.

And waited.

In his ear: Emergency Services are currently dealing with a very high number of calls.  Please leave your name, address, and situation, and help will arrive with you shortly.  Please remain calm while waiting for assistance.  Leave your details after the beep.

Beep!

Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  999 were too busy to answer his call?

What is going on?

He turned to Deana and knelt on the bed, shoving her hard with both hands.  “Deana, wake up!  I need your help.  Something terrible has happened.”

She began to stir.

Finally!  She’ll know what to do.

With a low moan, Deana rolled out of bed and placed both feet on the carpet with a soft thump.  Then she began to straighten up.

Nick switched on the bedside lamp and started redialling 999.  He looked up at his wife as he did so.  “Deana!  James is hurt.  He was in the kitchen and I…I…”

Deana’s glaring eyes were wide; the lower lids hanging slack while bloodshot orbs rattled around their sockets.  A slick trail of blood covered her chin and trickles of fluid sweated from her nipples beneath her nightshirt.

Nick’s jaw dropped open as he tried to understand what he was seeing.  But, before he had chance to think, Deana leapt across the bed at him.  He dodged sideways, just in time, and stumbled against the end of the bed.  He almost fell down, but managed to remain on his feet.

“Deana, what are you doing?” he shouted.

She clambered over the bed towards him, leaving bloody handprints on the Egyptian sheets and snarling at him like a wolf.

Nick edged backwards against the wall.  Deana glared at him balefully, her jaws grinding back and forth like saw blades.  Then she let out a high-pitched screech and pounced.

Nick put his arms out to defend himself and managed to shove Deana off-balance as she landed.  She stumbled sideways and tripped, colliding with the mahogany chest of drawers that her mother had bought them both as a wedding gift.  The one he’d always hated.

Instinctively, he went to help his wife, mortified that he might have hurt her, but Deana was right back on her feet.  This time he ran away from her.  It was the only thing he could think to do.  Deana seemed dead-set on hurting him and he knew in his heart that he could never intentionally injure her – not even in self-defence.  His only option was to get the hell away from her until she got a hold of herself.

He rushed out of the bedroom and slammed the door closed behind him.  Deana crashed against the other side, shaking the wood on its hinges.  She banged her fists against it and let out another ear-piercing shriek.  Nick didn’t know why she didn’t just use the door handle and continue coming after him, but he wasn’t about to complain about her lack of common sense.  He used the opportunity to flee.

He needed to get help, call 999 again and again until someone finally answered him – but he couldn’t afford to just wait around for them to pick up the phone.  His son and wife needed help right this instant.

It might already be too late for James.

Jesus save me!

Deana continued battering the bedroom door.  All Nick could do to get away from the torturous sound was to go downstairs.  He reached the ground floor hallway and realised he was naked but for his boxer shorts.  Bloodstains covered his chest in murky smears.  He headed through the kitchen, pausing at the threshold as he saw the body of his son lying on the tiles.

I’m in Hell.  This is the Abyss.

Looking down at James’s tiny body, Nick knew that his son was dead.  No ambulance or doctor would change that.

This can’t be happening.

He stumbled over to the kitchen sink and immediately vomited; mashed-up fish fingers and undigested baked beans.  He twisted on the taps and watched the mess rinse into the plug hole.  Then he splashed the cold water onto his face and chest, wiping away some of the blood.  By the time he was finished, he was freezing and numb.

“I need to put some clothes on,” he said out loud.  Hearing his own voice calmed him slightly, made him feel a little more in control of the situation.

Deana was still banging on the door upstairs and screeching like a banshee.  There was no chance he was going to go into the bedroom to get clothes, so instead he headed across the kitchen.

He rummaged through the laundry basket on the breakfast table and pulled out a crinkled, grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans.  He threw them on quickly, along with a pair of mismatched socks.

Then he began to sob.

And then wail.

And then scream.

He didn’t allow himself the luxury of crying for much more than a couple of minute.  He could not condone sitting there and weeping while his son lay dead at his feet, and his wife was upstairs, flinging herself against the bedroom door like a mental patient.

I need to help her.

He had to get out of the house.  It seemed like the only way to ensure help came was to go out and find it.  James was dead, but Deana was not.  She needed a doctor.

He got up and left the kitchen behind him, entering into the hallway.  As he did so, an almighty crash came from the bedroom.  He stopped at the bottom of the staircase in the hallway, staring up at the landing.

Deana appeared at the top, half-naked and snarling.

“Deana, just stay right where you are, okay?”

She hurtled down the steps towards him.

Nick wasted no time in sprinting inside the front porch and slamming the double-glazed interior door behind him.  Deana’s face immediately smashed up against the glass panel, splitting the delicate flesh of her tanned cheeks and smearing blood everywhere.  Nick was confident the PVC door would hold against the onslaught, but seeing his wife’s mangled face through the glass was more than he could bear.  He slid his feet into the first pair of trainers he could find and pulled his long woollen overcoat from the wall pegs.

It was then that he realised the worst.

His wallet was in the bedroom.

And so were his car keys.

Damn it!

There was no point leaving the house without his keys.  He wouldn’t get anywhere without a car.  But how could he get back to the bedroom without Deana tearing him to shreds?

He turned back around to face the interior door.  The glass panels were soaked with bloody chunks of flesh.

But Deana was gone.

Nick crept up to the glass and peered through.  The hallway was dim and shadowy, but there seemed to be no sign of his wife anywhere.

Can I make it upstairs before she spots me?  Maybe she’s gone to the kitchen.  She may have seen James’s body and come to her senses.

Nick placed his hand on the door handle and began to turn it slowly.  With every inch that the door opened, he paused and waited, seeing if Deana was hiding in the hallway.

He looked left.

He looked right.

It was all clear.

Where the hell did you go, Deana?

He pushed open the door and slid through the gap.  The end of the hallway was illuminated by light coming from the kitchen, but the stairway and the upstairs hallway were shrouded in shadow.  He placed a foot on the first step and paused, listening out for any warning signs.  Then he took the second step.  The third.  The fourth.

He entered the hallway upstairs and all was still clear.

Darkness seemed to close around him like a blanket.  The bedroom was just up ahead, the door hanging wide open.  Nick picked up his pace and hurried towards it.

Out of habit, he went for the light switch as soon as he entered the room, but this time he stopped himself before pushing it.

Better to remain hidden in the dark.

He crept across the carpet and headed over to his bedside table where he knew he had left his wallet and keys.  Sure enough, even in the dark, he found them.  He picked them up and shoved them into his coat pocket.

That went easier than expected.

Nick turned around to leave.

Deana was right in front of him.

His wife was standing so close that he could smell her fetid saliva.  Her hands immediately went for his throat, choking him with a strength he didn’t know she possessed.  He tried to fight her off, to force her backwards as she tried to bite at his face, but she was unrelenting.  Each snap of her jaws sent hot dribbles of bloody phlegm down his neck.  His vision began to crackle with spots and stars as his oxygen supply was suddenly cut off.  He twisted in the vice-like grip of her hands and lifted up his knee to create space between them.  Just when he was sure he was about to lose consciousness, Nick threaded both of his arms between his wife’s elbows and forced them out and away from him.  He succeeded in breaking Deana’s hold, but the sudden intake of desperate breath left him momentarily paralysed.

Deana was back on him before he even had chance to move.  All Nick had time to do was deliver a swift kick that caught his wife just above the knees.  She fell to the floor, snarling.  He took his chance and made a run for it.

Heading down the corridor at full pelt, Nick could hear his crazed wife right behind him, chasing him down like a predator.  He took the steps downwards, three at a time, half-running, half-tumbling.  Deana gained on him as she leapt down the stairs behind him without any fear for her own safety.

She collided with him at the bottom, clinging to his shoulders like a piggybacking child.  Nick felt her teeth clamp down and grab a hold of him.  He anticipated the sharp burn of his skin being shorn away, but was relieved to find that Deana had only sunk her teeth into the thick woollen collar of his coat.

He barrelled into the wall, crushing Deana like the meat in a sandwich.  Her jaws tore loose from his collar and he was suddenly free of her weight.  He made for the porch again, so quickly that his foot struck the lip of the doorway and he went crashing to the stone floor.

Wind knocked out of him, Nick looked up to see Deana coming at him like a hungry vulture.  She let out another one of those high-pitched screeches and leapt into the porch.  Nick kicked out with both legs, catching her in the stomach and forcing her back into the hallway.

Before Deana had chance to regain her balance and come at him again, he leapt up and slammed the porch’s interior door shut.  Just like before, Deana crashed into the other side and shoved her face up against the glass, snarling like a demon.  Nick stared back at her in horror, gasping for breath, and barely recognising the woman he had married.  No longer was she his beautiful, exotic wife of seven years.  She was a flesh-craving ghoul.

“I’m sorry, my love,” he said to her through the blood-smeared glass.  “I’m going to find help right now.  I’ll sort this all out, I promise.  I love you.”

Nick’s world was falling apart, his nightmares becoming real. He unlocked the front door to his house and stepped out into the cold, grey, approaching dawn.

Chapter four

The first thing Nick noticed when he stepped out of his front door was the orange glow on the horizon.  The sun was beginning its journey past the horizon and the darkened houses of the street were slowly being coloured-in by the muted pastels of dawn.

The start of another autumn morning on the worst day of my life.

The second thing he noticed was that the quiet cul-de-sac in which he lived was unusually active for so early in the morning.  Several of his neighbour’s houses were lit up bright, their windows glowing.  Silhouetted figures flitted back and forth inside, moving in and out of sight.

There was also a lot of noise.

Nick wasted no time in heading past his wife’s compact, blue Peugeot parked on the driveway and making for his own car parked on the curb.  He pressed the fob on his keychain and the lights flashed, the locks disengaged.  He was just about to head around to the driver’s side when he heard a commotion across the road.

“Help me!  Somebody, please!”

Nick glanced across the road to see a woman racing across one of the lawns.  He recognised her as the middle-aged blonde that lived opposite.  He’d rarely spoken to her, but he was pretty certain her name was Lara.

Now she was running towards him with the looming spectre of a man – possibly her husband – close behind her.

Nick stood still and watched in confusion.  “What’s wrong, Lara?” he asked her once she got close enough.  “Are you okay?”

But it was clear the woman was not okay.  Her eyes were wide and bloated with fear.  A ragged gash ruined the left side of her face.  It looked like a bite mark.

“My…my husband.  He’s trying to kill me.  Please, you have to help m-”

Lara’s husband barrelled into the back of her, crushing her up against Nick’s car.  From across the roof of the vehicle, Nick watched in stunned silence as a domestic disturbance commenced right in front of him.

He’s going to bloody well kill her if he’s not careful.

Nick had seen enough and raced around the car, ready to intervene.  Lara’s husband had pinned her to the floor and was clawing at her neck and face.  She screamed and writhed, batting away the attacks as best she could.  But it was a battle she was losing.  He husband was twice the size.

Nick thrust out both his arms and managed to shove Lara’s husband off of her.  “What the hell are you playing at?” he demanded of the man.  “You ought to be bleedin’ locked up.”

The man came at Nick without a word, squashing him against his car.  The bodywork crumpled under the impact.  Nick shook his head and tried to get to grips with the situation.  The man was bigger than him by about half a foot and the extra leverage was all it took for his arms to give way.  With each passing second, the crazed man managed to bring his snarling face a little bit closer.

The nutter’s trying to bite me.

Just like Deana.

Nick thought about the bite mark on Lara’s face and realised that her husband had obviously been the one to bite her.  He looked down at her now and saw that she was scurrying away on her rump.  He shouted for her to help, but she shook her head and continued backing away.

Thanks for nothing.

With no other obvious option, Nick performed, for the first time in his life, a head butt.  His forehead connected firmly with his attacker’s nose and something stiff cracked and became soft, but the bigger man did not release his grip.  Nick’s arms continued to grow weak as his attacker’s jaws got closer and closer.

After the head butt, the bigger man’s features had become a mashed-up canvas of blood and pus.  It was then that Nick realised that whatever had taken a hold of the man’s senses was the same thing that had seized Deana and James.  The man was beyond reason or retreat.  The man was suffering with the same sickness as Nick’s family.

“Let go of me,” Nick pleaded, knowing it would do no good as his arms began to bend at the elbows.  Jagged teeth snapped shut mere inches from his face.  The smell of rancid breath became nauseating.  But, just when he expected to feel the agonising crunch of being bitten, the weight in his arms fell away.  He was once again free.

“You can’t mess around with these people,” someone said.  It was the cankerous old man that lived in the detached bungalow at the end of the road.  The one who was always complaining about people parking on the curb in front of his house.  “You got to beat ‘em down, right away, before they get their teeth into you.”

Nick was doubled over and gasping for breath.  He noticed the blood-soaked golf club clutched in the old man’s gnarled fists.  The wood was clumped with hair and what might have been brain matter.

“You…you can’t just cave people’s skulls in like that.  That man was sick.  He needed our help.”

“You’re a naïve fool.  These people aren’t sick.  Don’t you understand?  They’re goddamn zomb-”

The elderly man lurched forward, the golf club falling from his hands and clattering on the tarmac.  Nick hopped out of the way just in time to see that two more of his neighbours had appeared out of the dawn shadows.  The two of them were snarling and spitting like a pair of wolves and they took the old man down like a winded fox.

Nick stepped back, unable to take his eyes off what was happening.  How is this possible?  How has everybody gone insane?

He looked down at his elderly neighbour and saw that it was already too late to help him.  The old man’s throat had been torn free of his neck and the tubular mass of his windpipe was hanging to one side like a loose tie.  The two neighbours that had attacked him were now crouched over the body and doing the unthinkable.

Christ, they’re eating him.

Nick fought to keep his stomach under control.  His mind turned to action.  He grabbed the driver’s side door of his car and swung it open as hard as he could.  It caught the nearest neighbour square in their face and sent him reeling backwards.

Nick wasted no time and leapt in behind the steering wheel, slammed shut the door, and engaged the central locking.

Click!  It was the sound of safety.

His neighbours rose to their feet, discarding the remains of the old man and beating their bloody fists against the car’s windows.  The vehicle rocked back and forth.  Nick keyed the ignition and put the engine in gear.  The automatic headlights flicked on and bathed the road in their harsh glare.  It was then that he saw the full scale of horror taking hold of his neighbourhood.

This can’t be real.  I’m in a twisted nightmare and any second Deana is going to wake me up with a nice cup of tea and let me know that it’s time for work.  This has to be a dream.  It has to be…

Ten feet ahead, a woman lay dead and mangled in the centre of the road while, several feet beyond her, was a desperate man battling with a group of attackers.  They seemed to be eating him alive, tearing chunks of flesh from his flailing arms and wrists as he wearily fought them off.

The whole neighbourhood is under attack.  It’s like bloody Sarajevo.

One of the houses on Nick’s right was billowing thick black smoke from some unseen fire taking hold.  Muffled screams came from inside and joined the ones that were already filling the air with their collective buzz.

People were fighting and dying all around him.

Nick sat in his car, staring through the windscreen, frozen by what he was witnessing.  There was just too much to take in.  So much horror.  It filled his eyes and ears.

Stumbling down the road towards him was a young boy, not much older than James.  He wasn’t quite like the other sick people, though; he was slower and clumsier then they were, almost like he was drunk.  When the boy stepped into the cone of the car’s headlights, Nick saw that his intestines were hanging out and dragging on the ground behind him.  Every couple of steps the boy would tread on them and stumble.

How is that kid still walking?  His guts are on the floor, hanging out like kebab meat.

Nick couldn’t take any more.  He gear-changed into reverse and shot the car backwards.  He kept going, until the shadows reclaimed the nightmarish child and the chaos of his street.  Once there was nothing left to see, he stamped on the brake and stopped the car.

He sat there for a few seconds, hyperventilating.  For a brief moment he almost convinced himself that it was all over and that he was the one who had been sick all along, hallucinating with fever.

There’s nothing happening here.  When I head back to the front of my house I’ll see that I was just imagining it all.  Maybe I’m the one with fever.

But he knew that wasn’t true.  People were dying and he needed to get help.  Help for Deana.

Nick shifted back into first gear and rolled the car forwards, picking up speed as quickly as the 2-litre engine would allow.  The sooner he found help, the better things would be.  Somewhere there would be people dealing with the situation.  Somewhere there would be answers and-

Nick stamped on the brake again.

“Goddamn it!” he shouted, more out of fright than anger.

It was Lara.

She banged on the windscreen with her palms.  “Let me in, please!”

Nick shook his head.  He didn’t have time for this, nor did he owe the woman anything after she had left him alone to fend off her husband.

He brought the clutch up, ready to take off.

“Please,” she begged him.

Nick sighed.  He flipped the toggle on the dashboard to disengage the locks.  “Get in the back.  Quickly!”

She nodded gratefully and made for the rear passenger door but, before she managed to open it, someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her back into the shadows.  Nick heard her screams, but he could not see what was happening.  He waited a few seconds, unsure how to proceed, before finally deciding that Lara was a lost cause and that he should just drive off.

But then the woman reappeared out of the shadows and leapt for the car.  She yanked open the door and sprawled onto the back seat.  She was bleeding badly, but it was impossible to tell from where.

“Go,” she spluttered at him, pulling the door closed behind her.  “G-g-get the fuck out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”  Nick gunned the engine and took off as quickly as the car could accelerate.  He had to steer erratically to avoid knocking over his various wandering neighbours, including the disembowelled young boy, but he managed to make it to the end of the road without running into any further trouble.  There was a war being waged in his neighbourhood and he was retreating.  The screams filled the air behind him.

Steering the car onto the main road, leaving the chaotic nightmare behind him, Nick let loose a sigh of relief.  It felt good to be on the road and moving fast.

I’m just dreading having to stop again.

A few moments later, once his breathing was back under control, he turned and checked on his passenger.  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

Lara nodded, but her skin had lost all colour.  Her clothing was soaked with dark blood.  She was an absolute mess.  Hardly surprising considering the shock she had been through and the attack she had endured.

She’s lucky to be alive.

Nick focused on the road.  The sun had now risen fully above the horizon and the shadows were shrinking away.  The world seemed to be coming alive.

But it had awoken in a panic.

Travelling in the opposite direction on the main road was a police car.  It was going full pelt; its sirens blaring, its lights flashing.  A fire truck headed along right behind it.

“This is nuts,” Nick said.  “What in Christ’s name is happening?  Did I miss a terrorist attack or something?”

“M…my husband.  He just went crazy.”

“It’s not just him, Lara.  Everyone is acting the same.  I don’t know why.”

“He…he’s never ever tried to hurt me before.”

Nick sighed.  She wasn’t listening.  “Your husband is sick.  He wasn’t in control of himself.”

Other cars entered the main road from multiple side streets, creating a steady stream of increasing traffic.  All of the drivers were exceeding the speed limit, some outrageously so.  Nick had only been on the road ten minutes when he witnesses a turquoise Vauxhall Astra hurtle into a ditch at ninety miles an hour.  The vehicle crunched up like an accordion.  The chances of surviving such an accident seemed pretty unlikely and Nick wasn’t about to try and help someone so reckless.  He drove on.

One thing had become very clear: what had happened in Nick’s neighbourhood was not an isolated incident; people everywhere were fleeing.  To where exactly, Nick did not know, but his own destination was clearer.  He had to make it to the hospital; talk to a doctor and find out if Deana could be helped; at least find out if they understood what was happening.  Then, once he finally had some answers, he would start to face up to what he had done; start processing the fact that he had killed his own son.  How he would ever come to terms with that, if at all, he did not know.

A pile-up up ahead caused Nick to slow down.  A motorcyclist took it as an opportunity to overtake, but was quickly forced to decelerate as well.  The entrance to the duel carriageway was choked by an overturned lorry and a crumpled police car.  There was no room for another vehicle to get past and the road was a bust, but the guy on the motorbike had other ideas.  The leather-clad rider obviously thought he could squeeze his chopper through the gaps and keep heading forward.

Nick stopped the car and put on the handbrake.  He watched the biker trundle along at a snail’s pace, kicking the bike along manually and trying to manoeuvre it through the twisted wreckage.  Just when it looked like he might actually get clear onto the highway, a female police officer ran at him from behind the lorry.  She tackled him clean off his bike and dragged him to the ground.  Seconds later the motorcyclist was screaming as more people appeared from the wreckage and started tearing him apart.

Nick took a breath and tried to keep his focus despite the fact that his heart felt as if it was about to beat out of his chest.  He backed up the car as much as possible before coming up against the other vehicles queued up behind him.  Then he performed a U-turn into the opposite lane and began heading the other way.  The duel carriageway was the quickest way to the hospital by far, but he had no choice now but to take the back roads.  The main roads and highways were quickly becoming too dangerous, littered with pile-ups and bewildered pedestrians.

Not to mention the other people trying to rip them apart.

He pulled off the main road onto a country lane that he knew would eventually bring him out near the hospital.  The housing estates and shops gave way to woodland and private cottages.  These properties seemed undisturbed compared to the chaos of Nick’s own neighbourhood.  The middle-class families that lived here were likely still sleeping soundly, while everywhere else had spun into madness.

The lane became clear up ahead and Nick stamped on the accelerator to pick up speed.  He kept the car close to the verge, not wanting to collide with anybody coming the other way.  Overhanging branches whipped against his wing mirrors.

Nick took the opportunity to check on Lara.  He glanced back.  “I’m heading for the hospital, okay?  I need to get help for my wife.  Your husband will need help, too.  Not to mention you could probably use a doctor yourself.”

Lara did not answer him.  She just moaned something that could have been an affirmative response.  Blood leaked from all over her body and she slumped on the back seat.

A van pulled out of a nearby brickyard and Nick had to slow down to avoid crashing into it.  Unbelievably, the driver nodded a polite ‘thank you’ as he passed by.  The man would get the shock of his life when he entered the main roads and saw all the chaos and bloodshed.  Part of Nick thought about warning the man but, by that time, the van had already driven too far in the opposite direction.

Up ahead, the country road widened into a crossroad intersection.  Nick slowed down again as he spotted a pair of crunched-up saloons.  The two vehicles appeared to have smashed into each other head-on at speed, reducing them to shattered wrecks of jagged metal and torn rubber, rather than the luxury automobiles they were designed to be.  The two cars were blocking the centre of the road, but there was still room to get around them if care was taken.

Nick pulled the engine down into second gear and kept his speed below twenty.  The last thing he needed was to add his own vehicle to the wreckage and having to walk to the hospital.

A shuffling behind him made him look around at the backseat.  Lara was lying face down now and having some kind of seizure.  Her blood coated everything and the smell of it filled the car.  He was pretty sure she was dying.

He brought the car to a crawl and swivelled around.  “Hey,” he shouted back to her.  “Hey, Lara, are you okay?  I’m going to get you some help, but you need to stay with me until I get there.  You need to stay awake a little while longer.”

Lara managed to lift her head slowly and glance at him.  Her seizures stopped.

Satisfied that his passenger was still conscious for the time being, Nick turned back to face the road.  He got the car moving faster again, picking up speed cautiously as he approached the wreckage ahead.  The two smashed-up saloons were close enough now to see that both were unoccupied.  Seemingly the drivers involved had managed to walk away from the accident in better shape than their vehicles – luckily for them.

A groan made Nick turn around again.  “Everything is going to be alright,” he told Lara.  “Just hold-”

Lara lunged forward, diving through the gap between the front passenger seat and the driver’s seat.  Nick was taken by surprise and both of his feet slipped from the pedals as he found himself shoved forward against the steering wheel.  Lara climbed onto his back.  She clawed at his coat and yanked at the wool of his collar with her teeth.

In the close-confines of the car, Nick was unable to fight back.  He could not turn around and shove Lara off of him.  The car was still moving forward, but losing speed as the engine idled.  Nick was grateful he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt as he would have been held in place, helpless.  It also made leaning down and shoving open the driver’s side door that much easier.  It was his only chance of escape.

The road zipped by as Nick leaned down, the rough gravel only inches from his face.  Against all instinct, he kicked out with his legs and managed to launch himself out of the car.  He hit the road clumsily, cracking his elbow and grazing his face against the unforgiving surface. He tumbled and rolled for what seemed like forever, every split-second filled with agony.

Eventually, he came to a stop by the side of the road.  He lay there, disorientated and staring up at the sky.  His vision was muddled, but as he craned his neck he watched his car carry on without him.  It was doing no more than fifteen miles an hour now, but it had been fast enough that the fall had hurt him badly.

The near-new Alfa Romeo collided with the smashed-up saloons in the middle of the road and seemed to hop slightly upon impact.  It came to a sudden stop, letting out one last grumbling whine as the bonnet popped free and exposed the turbo-charged engine.

Nick blinked his eyes, trying to clear away the dizziness and flecks of gravel.  There goes my No Claims bonus.

Wearily, he rose to his feet.  His right cheek felt like it was on fire and, as he prodded his face, he discovered that a patch of skin the size of his palm had been shorn clean off.  The wound stung ferociously and was accompanied by a tingling throb in his elbow.  If he hadn’t been wearing his thick woollen coat, things might have been even worse.

Nick looked around with no clue what to do next.  His car was banged-up, but probably still drivable.  Most of the damage was to the bodywork.  The problem, though, was that he felt so shaken-up that he didn’t feel safe getting back behind the wheel.  At least, not just yet.

Not to mention my sick neighbour in the back seat who was trying to bite me.

He needed to find a place to sit while his nerves calmed down.  The hollow feeling in his legs and stomach was most likely the cumulative shock of the morning’s events finally catching up with him, mixed with the most current event of being in a car accident.  The urge to vomit and the overwhelming desire to faint fought an ongoing tug-of-war over his existence.  If he didn’t do something soon, the likelihood of both happening at once would be a good bet.

The country road was deserted, surrounded on both sides by fields.  There was, however, a small garden centre fifty yards ahead.  There was a good chance someone might be there – someone who could sit Nick down and help him make sense of everything.

He started to drag his feet forward, the loose gravel of the road crunching with every step he took.  To get to where he was going, he would have to pass by the three wrecked vehicles in the centre of the road.  It was then that he started to worry about Lara.  Would she come at him again as he passed by?

Is she one of them now?

Them?  Who are them?

Nick was in a constant state of confusion as to whether people needed help or if they were totally beyond it.  Every time he tried to assist someone they ended up attacking him.  Even his own wife and child had seemingly wanted him dead.  It hurt his head to even think about.

Is their condition reversible, temporary, or what?

Why was Lara okay at first, but then ended up trying to attack me, too?

He stepped carefully as he approached his car.  He could see that Lara was still inside and still moving about.  She was hanging, partially, out of the driver’s side door.  The airbags had deployed and were squashing her torso up against the seat.  She was scrabbling at the gravel road and reaching out towards Nick with a hungry expression, but seemed unable to free herself completely from the car.

Once he got closer he could see the reason why.  Lara’s legs were tangled up in the seatbelt.  The more she tried to crawl away, the tighter the strap became around her ankles.  She wasn’t going anywhere.  Still, Nick trod carefully, steering clear of her clawed fingernails and bleeding jaws.

She looks like an animal.

Before he was totally away from the wreckage, Nick stopped and examined his injured neighbour closely.  He wasn’t sure why he said it, but he asked, “Can you hear me, Lara?” followed by, “Are you okay?”  Both were stupid questions, he knew, but he just couldn’t fathom that a woman he was speaking to only half-an-hour before was now completely out of her mind.

But, of course, Lara gave no response to his questions.  She just kept trying to get at him like a dog pawing for a morsel of meat lost beneath the fridge.

Nick shook his head, wishing he could understand what was happening; wishing he could do something.

What is making you want to attack me?  It makes no sense.  I tried to help you.

He decided to leave his concerns behind for the moment.  His primary focus was finding somewhere safe to rest up for a while.  Lara would have to stay where she was for the time being.

The garden centre up ahead seemed deserted, but there were a couple of cars sat on its pebbled car park.  Nick wondered if they belonged to the owners, or perhaps the cleaners.  Either way, when they saw the state of him, they would surely take pity and offer assistance.  They could try and phone for help, too; 999 might be back up and running by now.

He climbed a nearby embankment and crossed over onto the pebbled parking area.  The main entrance was up ahead: a pair of automatic glass doors with pot plants on either side.  He was surprised when the doors opened for him.  Considering the early hour – 7:15 according to his watch – Nick had assumed the centre would be closed.  He wasn’t about to complain, though, so he stepped through the doors gratefully and looked around.

The first part of the garden centre seemed to consist of indoor planting, incense burners, and wind chimes.  Nick almost jumped out of his skin when he brushed past a set of aluminium pipes that immediately began tinkling.

Jesus!

The smell inside the building was one of musky perfumes mixed with the assorted earthen scents of soil and plants.  In contrast to the many heady odours picked up by his nose, his ears detected nothing except the fading clinks of the aluminium wind chime.

“Hello,” he called out.  “Hello, is anybody here?”

Nick considered that someone must be there as the electric doors had allowed him access.  It would be crazy to leave a place like this unlocked and unmanned.

Up ahead was an alcove with a banner above that read: AQUARIUM.  Nick headed inside and looked around.  The space was full of wall-to-wall blue-lit fish tanks, all of them containing either exotic or mundane species.  Nick had once kept tropical fish himself and instantly recognised the tiny plecs that inhabited one particular tank.  He also knew that they would eventually grow a dozen-times larger in the right environment.  There were also brightly-coloured bettas, fat-bellied mollies, and a playful batch of weather loaches mixed with African dwarf frogs.  Then he spotted the girl in the corner, peeking out from a storage closet beside a large tank of Discus fish.  As soon as he set eyes on her, she fled back into the cupboard, pulling the door closed behind her.

“Hey,” he shouted after her.  “I need help.  I’ve been in an accident.”

The girl said nothing.  The door remained closed.

“Please,” he said.  “I’ve been through hell and I just need some help.”

“Go away!”

“Why?” he asked.  “What’s wrong?”

“Go away,” the girl repeated from inside the cupboard.  “Before they hear you.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.  “Before who hears me?”

“The owners.  They’ve gone…mad.”

Nick shook his head.  Not here as well.

“There’s no one around,” he said.  “They’ve gone.  You can come out.”

“No.  They’re out there somewhere and I’m not coming out.  No way.”

Nick contemplated going over to the cupboard and yanking the girl out by force, but decided that would be an unkind thing to do and counterproductive to his situation.  No, his only option was to keep speaking and try to reason with her.

There was breathing.  Nearby.

Nick sensed a presence behind him.  He heard the panting breaths of a stranger right at his back.  Before he even had chance to turn around someone pummelled him in the spine and sent him reeling forward onto his hands and knees.  He twisted around onto his rump and saw a hunched-over old man in an olive-coloured cardigan.  The woollen garment was covered by flakes of scalp and grey dandruff.

The old man was insane, just like all the others.

Nick scampered back to his feet just in time to dodge an attack from the old man.  He quickly ran to the corner of the aquarium and tried to find an escape.  But there was none.  He found himself cornered between an opened-top terrarium of Musk turtles and a tank of blue lobsters.

The old man’s eyes went unnaturally wide as they stared at Nick, almost as if they were going to pop out of their sockets and land on his shoes.

With nowhere to run, Nick stepped forward to meet the old man’s charge, grabbing a fistful of his cardigan and holding on tight.  He used the old man’s momentum as a weapon and twisted sideways, flinging him headfirst into the tiers of fish tanks.  Water flooded out onto the carpet as the glass frontages shattered.

The old man’s head had impacted a tank full of neon tetras and was now lodged between the jagged edges of the glass.  The vicious crags bit and tore at the soft flesh of his wrinkled neck and his attempts to get free only opened up the wounds wider.

Nick staggered away, dizzy from exertion.

I can’t take much more of this.

Blood mixed with the remaining water at the bottom of the broken fish tanks and turned the liquid a murky red.  The poor neon tetras inside did their best to keep swimming in their suddenly shallow tank.  The old man continued twisting and squirming and the gash in his neck opened up even further.  Eventually it began to spout thick arterial blood.  His sandaled feet twitched and kicked for a few moments as he continued trying to get free.

Then he went still.

Nick sat down on the floor and took some deep breaths.  Being on such high alert, so full of adrenaline, was beginning to take its toll on him.  The urge to scream at the top of his lungs and yank out his hair was beginning to take over.  Nick just wanted it all to stop.  It was too much to deal with any longer.

“What’s happening?”  It was the girl in the closet.  “What’s going on out there?”

“I think I just met the owner,” he said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.  “I wouldn’t recommend his customer service.  Are you going to come out now?  I could really use some help.”

“No.”

“Stop hiding out in a cupboard like a goddamn child.  You need to get a grip.”  There was more silence, but he was sure the girl was thinking things through in there.  “Come on,” he said.  “I’m not looking to hurt you.”

Slowly the cupboard door began to open.  From behind it the girl peered out.  “Fine,” she said irritably.  “But the first sign of danger and I am back in the closet.”

Nick nodded wearily.  He tried to smile.  The girl was still just a teenager – possibly early twenties.  She was a dark-featured brunette with lighter streaks in her chocolate-coloured hair.  Her big brown eyes were full of trepidation and she viewed Nick with suspicion.  The look suggested that maybe her morning hadn’t been much better than his had been.

“What happened here?” he asked her.

“I’m still waiting for someone to tell me,” she said.  “I got here early because Mr Curtis wanted to set up a new display for some ornamental scent burners he got on consignment.  I let myself in as usual but the place was deserted.  So I went around the back to the cottage – that’s where Mr Curtis and his wife live – and I found the front door wide open.  Next thing I know, Mr Curtis and his wife are running at me like lunatics, screeching like animals.  I ran back into the store but I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up in the closet with the two of them outside waiting to get me.  After a while they went away, but I stayed inside anyway.  That’s when you came along.”  She looked at Mr Curtis, his head still trapped inside the fish tank, his body limp and lifeless.  “I don’t get it,” she said.  “He was a nice old man.  I don’t know why he would want to hurt me.”

“It’s not just him,” Nick explained.  “People have been losing their shit all over town.  My wife, too, and my…my son.”  He didn’t want to think about James.  He turned his mind to more proactive endeavours.  “We should try to get some help.  Do you have a phone here?  Or Internet access?”

The girl nodded.  “Yeah, we have both in the office, but there’s a problem.”

“What?”

The girl nodded toward Mr Curtis.  “Well, I’m looking at Mr Curtis, but where’s his wife?”

As if to punctuate her point, a far-off crash caused them both to turn towards the aquarium’s exit.

“Close by, would be my guess,” said Nick.  The young girl started back towards the cupboard.  He went after her.  “Hey, you’re not going back into hiding.  We need to deal with the situation.”

“You deal with it.  I’m going to sit down on the vacuum cleaner with the door closed.”

Nick grabbed a hold of the girl, a little harder than he meant to.  Fortunately, the show of force seemed to steel her nerves.

She sighed and shook her head resignedly.  “Fine,” she said.  “But can we at least get something to defend ourselves with?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Nick.

***

They found what they needed in the storage closet where the girl had been hiding.  Nick removed the head from a broom handle to turn it into a weapon and the girl found herself a hammer.

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked her.

“Eve.”

“Nice to meet you, Eve.  My name is Nick.”

“What’s with your face?”

“I had a car accident.  Hurts like hell.  My car is in worse shape than I am, though.  It was brand new.  An Alfa Romeo.”

“Whoop-de-frikking-do.  Can we just get this over with?”

They headed out of the aquarium and re-entered the rest of the store.  Past the wind chime display and indoor plants was a greeting card stand.  Beyond that was a maze of swinging benches and assorted garden furniture.  Past all of it was a bottleneck leading to a totally new area.

“What’s through that archway?” Nick asked.

“The café and checkouts.”

Nick nodded and crept forwards, broom handle raised over his shoulder like a baseball bat.  The area ahead was cloaked in shadow, lit only by the weak morning sunshine filtering in through the skylights.  Through the archway, and to Nick’s left, was a quaint café – more of a cosy tearoom really.  To his immediate right was the store’s checkout area.

He looked back at Eve and raised an eyebrow of concern.  “Be careful,” he told her.  “She could be hiding anywhere.  These sick people have a habit of blindsiding you.”

Eve didn’t reply.  She hung back and kept her distance.

The cash-tills up ahead were set into a booth with two long desks about four feet off the ground.  Behind the booth was the store’s exit, leading back out to the parking lot.

“Hello,” Nick said in a raised voice, deciding it would be better to alert Mrs Curtis and see her coming than to have her sneak up on them.  “Mrs Curtis, are you here?”

“What are you doing, dumbass?” Eve hissed.

“Trying to flush her out.  Better that than she gets the drop on us.

Sure enough, Nick’s calls were met by the sounds of someone shuffling behind the tills.  A woman sprang up from inside the booth and faced them over the counter.  A stringy ribbon of flesh hung from her lower teeth like a strand of rancid dental floss.

“That her?” Nick asked.

“No,” said Eve.

Nick frowned at her.  “No?  Then who the hell is she?”

“I have no fucking idea.”

A hungry growl spun them both around.  There was an old lady in a blue frilly dress glaring at them from inside the café.  Her face was pressed up against the glass as she growled at them.  Apparently the café had not been so empty after all.

“That’s her,” said Eve.  “That’s Mrs Curtis.”

The old woman threw herself through the partition window of the café and rose to her feet on the other side.  It was like something out of The Terminator.

Now the two women flanked Nick and Eve from both sides.  The lady inside the till booth leapt the counter and sprinted towards them.  At the same time Mrs Curtis came at them from behind.

“Run,” Nick shouted, dropping the broom handle to the floor, realising it was useless.

Eve hurried after Nick and the two of them ran back through the garden centre’s main floor.  Nick clattered into a chiminea a hundred yards on and almost tumbled to the ground.  He only just managed to keep his balance and keep running.  As he reached the automatic doors where he had first entered, he realised that they were not going to open.  He and Eve were on the wrong side of the sensor.

“Damn it,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder at the two women clambering through the store after him.

“This way,” Eve shouted, dragging him by one of his coat cuffs.  “There’s a fire exit.”

Nick followed Eve into the depths of the store.  The two feral women were only a few steps behind them.  The only thing keeping them back was their clumsiness.  They bashed and stumbled into the various displays like drunks in a marathon.

Up ahead, Eve skidded to a halt.  Nick almost went right into the back of her.

“What the hell are you doing?” he said.  “Keep moving.”

“Look,” she said, pointing.

Nick looked to his right, towards the aquarium, and could not believe what he saw.  Mr Curtis was back on his feet.  His neck wound was so deep that his head hung unnaturally to one side.  He was slower now, stumbling along like a new-born calf, and moaning hungrily.

Nick shook his head.  “There’s no way he could still be alive.”

“I don’t think he is,” said Eve.

Nick didn’t have time to ask what she meant by that, because Mrs Curtis came crashing through a display of garden shovels, sending them clattering to the ground.  Eve got moving.  A split-second later, so did he.

At the far end of the garden centre was a heavy glass door with a green FIRE EXIT sign flickering above it.  Eve threw herself against the push-bar and shoved the door open, stumbling out into the car park.  Nick leapt through right after her.  They quickly put their backs against the other side of the door to shove it closed.  It was slow progress, though; the fire door built to move slowly to prevent causing drafts.

Come on, come on.  Close goddamnit!

Two inches before the door was shut, both Mrs Curtis and the other woman threw themselves against the other side.  A struggle ensued and Nick and Eve fought back against the unexpected strength of their pursuers.

“How are they so strong?” asked Eve.  “Mrs Curtis is almost eighty.”

“I don’t know,” Nick said.  “But we need to get this door closed, right now.  Look!”

In the parking lot a bleeding man stumbled in their direction.  His head craned like a bird when he spotted them and he let out a moan.  Nick was grateful the guy wasn’t a sprinter like the two women inside, or else they would already be done for.

He must have been one of the drivers of the crashed saloons.  He’s covered in broken glass.

Eve began to groan under the stress of pushing the door closed.  “I’m slipping,” she cried out.  “I can’t hold it much longer.”

“I can’t either,” Nick admitted.  “We’re going to have to make a run for it.  After three, you ready?”

“No.”

“Okay,” said Nick.  “One, two…

“…three.”

They made a dash across the car park, stone chips flying up behind them as their trainers crunched down on the uneven gravel.  They cut a wide arc around the man ambling in front of them and headed for the road.  There was a chance that Lara might have got free and was now waiting somewhere up ahead.  That would also mean that it was safe to get back inside his car and drive away.  But, as Nick leapt the embankment, he saw that Lara was still tangled up in the seatbelts and was going nowhere.  His car was off limits.

“Shit!” he said.  “Where do we go?”

“Anywhere, but here,” Eve said.

They both tumbled down the embankment and into the road.  Eve pointed to one of the intersections that led to a sharp bend in the road.  “Maybe we can lose them around there!”

Nick glanced behind him.  The two women from the garden centre were stumbling around the car park with the glass-covered man, but so far they seemed unaware of Nick and Eve’s location.  They were glancing around, moving in circles and sniffing the air; like any other predator hunting prey.

“Okay,” said Nick.  “Let’s just get out of here.”

They pounded the road towards the bend, their breaths ragged and painful.  Just as Nick thought they might be home free, a piercing screech from the parking lot made it clear they had been spotted.

Eve’s eyes went wide.  “They’re coming.”

“I know,” said Nick.  “Just keep runni-”

Something caught Nick’s attention.  He spun around urgently and managed to fling himself to the ground just in time to avoid getting hit by a skidding bus.  Eve hit the dirt right beside him.  There was a never-ending moment where he closed his eyes and waited for death, expecting to feel the crush of wheels over his body, but the moment eventually passed, leaving behind nothing but a tense silence.

The bus had come to a sliding stop, a protesting squeal echoing from its brakes.  Its bulky rear tyres rested less than a metre from Nick’s outstretched legs.  He rolled onto his back and looked up in confusion as the vehicle’s pneumatic doors hissed open.

“Get in!” screamed the driver.

chapter five

Nick yanked Eve off the ground and bundled her up the steps onto the bus.  Then he flung himself in after her, twisting around to make sure that the doors were closing behind him.  He sighed with relief when they hissed shut.

The bus started moving and Nick stumbled sideways into the aisle. He had to grab hold of one of the support rails overhead to keep from falling down.  Eve dragged herself over to the nearest vacant seat and sat down, clutching her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

It was then that he noticed the other people on the bus.  He nodded at them all politely, but decided to turn to face his saviour, the bus driver.

If he hadn’t come along when he did…

The driver was a rotund man with thinning hair, grey at the sides.  Both his of narrow, unblinking eyes were glued to the road.  The steering wheel was gripped tightly between his pudgy hands.

“There’s a car wreck up ahead,” Nick warned him.  “You’ll have to drive carefully to get around it.

The driver nodded and kept the bus at a low speed.  Up ahead, Mrs Curtis and the other two infected people from the garden centre were coming up the middle of the road.  They looked like a pack of roving hyenas.

“Friends of yours?” asked the driver.

“More like acquaintances,” said Nick.

The driver steered around them carefully and then decided to introduce himself.  “I’m Dave, by the way.”

Mrs Curtis leapt at the side of the moving bus but rebounded futilely to the road in a crumpled heap.  The people onboard whimpered with fright but seemed to realise that they were safe.

“Really good to meet you, Dave.  I’m Nick, and the girl with me is named Eve.  What made you pick us up?”

The bus reached the crossroad intersection and started to manoeuvre around the three wrecked cars, which included Nick’s Alfa Romeo.  It felt wrong to abandon it.

I bloody loved that motor.

Dave cleared his throat.  “You looked like you needed a lift, way you was running down the road like a bat out of hell.  Seems quite a few people are in need at the moment.  But I can only pick up so many.”

Nick glanced back at the other passengers.  All of them wore their own individual expressions of fear and pain.  Some were stony-faced and silent, while others wept quietly.

“You rescued all these people?”

Dave shrugged one shoulder.  “Some of them, I did.  I’d already picked up a few on my normal run.  Things didn’t get crazy till about thirty minutes later.  After all hell broke loose I managed to collect a few people, here and there – dropped ‘em off near their homes whenever I could – but most people were beyond saving.  People have gone bad in the head; like wild animals.”

Nick nodded.  “I know what you mean.  Something is making people insane.  I think it’s some kind of…sickness.”

“I was pretty much thinking the same.  Seen a lot of sick people these last few days on my morning runs.  Flu, colds, fevers; people sneezing and coughing from the moment I picked ‘em up till the moment I dropped ‘em off.  Something bad has got itself inside people.”

“Well,” Nick said.  “I’m pretty sure I owe you my life.  Thank you.”

Dave huffed and put his foot down on the accelerator.  “We’re not out of the woods yet, I’m afraid.  I got no clear destination and only half a tank of petrol.”

“We should go the hospital.  Find help.”

Dave took his eyes off the road for the moment and looked Nick in the eyes.  There was something approaching regret in his expression, as if he didn’t want to say what he was about to.  “Hospital was the first place I checked.”

Nick raised both eyebrows.  “And?”

“No good.  There were sick people everywhere; bleeding and half-naked, making those terrible screeching sounds they make.  It was a blood bath.  I turned around and left no more than five seconds after getting there – was a complete death trap.  In fact, there’s a gal named Pauline I picked up from near the hospital just in time.  She had a group of maybe a dozen crazies right on her heels.  Lucky I got to her when I did.  She’s still with us, couple rows from the front.  She’ll tell you herself that the hospital is a no go.”

Nick felt defeated.  People were sick and even the hospital couldn’t help, apparently.  How was the situation ever going to get better when there was nowhere to go, no one to take control or offer assistance?

“How about a police station?” Nick asked.

Dave shook his head.  “The cop shop is in the town centre and the main roads to town are all blocked up with traffic.”

“Then where?”

“Well,” Dave began.  “One of the folks I picked up earlier had the idea of finding an Army base or something.  They tend to be out in the countryside where things might not be so bad.”

Nick nodded.  “If anyone can deal with a shit storm like this it’s the military.  Where is the nearest base?”

“That’s the problem.  No one has any idea and the guy who originally suggested it took off on his own to find his family.  So keep an eye out for any road signs that might help us.  I’m going to head towards Nottingham.  See if we can find the Sherwood Foresters or, at the very least, a petrol station that isn’t overrun.  The Foresters are a pretty big regiment, right?”

Nick shrugged.  He had no idea.  He looked out at the road ahead and was glad to see that it was clear for the time being.  There might finally be time to take a breather.  Although the chance to sit and think things through in detail, to reflect on the day’s terrible events, was not something he was looking forward to.

James…

Deana…

“You mind if I take a seat, Dave?  I’m dead on my feet.”

“Take a load off, my friend.  If I need something, I’ll let you know.”

He went over and took a seat beside Eve.  The girl was currently leant up against the window, examining the scenery as it rushed by.

“I’m filthy,” she said without turning away from the window.

Nick stared at her.  “What?”

She stretched out her legs to show the mud that covered her jeans from the ankles to the knees.  “Look at me.  I need a shower.  Need to wash my hair.  It’s disgusting.”

“Big picture, Eve.  People are dead, or at least in much worse shape than you.  You can clean yourself up later.”

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re my fucking dad, or something.”

Nick felt himself snarl.  “I’m not your fucking dad.  My only child died this morning on my goddamn kitchen floor, and all you can do is moan about some dirt under your nails.”

Eve folded her arms grumpily and grunted.  It was obvious she had no interest in speaking to him unless he was ready to indulge her complaints.

Fair enough.  Guess there’s no reason for us to be bosom buddies now that our life-and-death experience is over.  She can go back to being a stroppy teenager and I can go back to being an adult.

Nick rose up from his seat and switched over to the other side of the bus, taking a seat just in front of a middle-aged woman in the tattered remnants of a grey blouse.  A colourful scarf lay on the seat beside her.  It was covered in blood that seemed to merge with the floral pattern.  He smiled at the woman as he settled into the threadbare cushion in front of her.

“Hey,” she said to him wearily.  “Welcome to the hell bus.”

Nick chuckled, but it contained no mirth; it was a mere social instinct.  “Well, I for one am glad to be a passenger.  Beats being where I was before Dave picked me up.”

The woman nodded.  “It’s not the bus that’s hell.  It’s everything outside the windows.”

Nick looked out of those windows and saw nothing but trees and fields.  It was a pleasant view, but he could imagine the things the woman had witnessed on the main roads and in the towns.  He understood what she was saying.

“Seen some nasty stuff, huh?” he said.  “Me too.”

“I was at the hospital,” she said, staring out of the window blankly, “to pick up my sister.  We live together and her car isn’t running.  She was working the night shift – she’s a nurse…was a nurse.  I was supposed to pick her up this morning.”

Nick could see from her faraway gaze that she was remembering something ghastly.  It was a fair guess that it involved the fate of her sibling.

“I’m sorry,” he said, remembering the sight of James dead on the kitchen floor.  “I’ve lost people, too.  I think a lot of people have.  It’s all…very wrong.”

“She was always a bit of a mess, you know, my sister.  Never could seem to get her life in order; always sponging off me and wasting her life.  I always figured she would find her way eventually, once she had grown up a little more.  Now she won’t ever get the chance.”

Nick nodded.  “Dave told me he picked someone up from near the hospital.  Is your name Pauline?”

“Yes.  Pauline Ross.  Wish I could say it’s a pleasure, but…well, you know?”

Nick nodded and tried to smile.  He knew how the she was feeling.  While he had been running on adrenaline for the past couple hours, too panicked to properly grieve his losses, this woman had been sitting on this bus, alone with her grief.  The reality of the situation was crushing her and Nick knew that once he took the time to slow down and think, his grief would crush him also.

Just the thought of thinking about it is making me afraid.

He looked around the bus at some of the other passengers, trying not to dwell on things that could wait for later.  There was a grimy-looking man in navy-blue work overalls at the rear of the bus.  He had thick dreadlocks and was staring at the floor while picking at callouses on his hands.  In front of him, a couple rows ahead, was a teenaged boy in a bulbous, yellow jacket.  Like Eve, he was gazing out of the window and watching the world whiz by.

Lastly, there were two older ladies, sitting together in the middle rows and nattering to one another as if they were on an ordinary journey on an ordinary day.  Acting that way was probably their way of staying calm; the stiff upper lip of the older generation.  Nick did not blame them at all.

Better to fake sanity than to accept insanity.

The vibrations of the bus’s diesel engine started to lull Nick into a restful daze.  Now that he was finally safe his entire body began to throb.  His blood felt like crude oil in his veins, pooling at his feet and making them swell.  Through the window, he watched the countryside break apart as they passed by a small industrial estate.  The various factories and workshops were all dormant, their workers not managing to make it in today.

“Looks like things are going to get a tad rough up ahead,” Dave shouted back from the front of the bus.  “Everybody hold on to their arses.”

Nick got up from his seat and stumbled his way to the front.  When he got there, Dave’s expression was impassive, staring dead ahead.  Nick peered through the windscreen to see what was up ahead.

More car wrecks littered the road and there were pedestrians everywhere.  There was a motorway service station, just off the upcoming island, that was currently ablaze.  Nick could only assume what had happened there.  An outbreak – of whatever was making people crazy – must have occurred at the rest stop, and the weary travellers trying to grab a quick burger or make use of the restrooms would have been taken by surprise.  Those who had managed to flee had found their way back onto the roads, which only caused cars to swerve and crash around them, or mow them down completely.  The whole scene was a disaster-zone as the healthy fought desperately against the sick and burning husks of automobiles continued to pile up like twisted sculptures.

“Think we can make it through?” Nick asked Dave.

“I don’t know.  The motorway entrance is totally blocked, but I might be able to stay on the island and get round onto the A road.”

“Do your best.  If we get stalled then we won’t be able to get moving again.  Those crazies will be all over us.”

Dave took a deep breath and held it.  He stamped down on the accelerator, choosing speed over caution.  If any of the people out there on the road managed to get caught up in the bus’s wheels they would grind to a halt and have no escape.  Speed was their best option.

Dave steered to the right as a body flew out in front of them, arms flailing in the air.  Nick could not tell if it was one of the crazies or someone normal pleading to be picked up.  They couldn’t afford to slow down and find out.

A woman clutched her bloody arm against her chest, up ahead; it was missing a hand.  She screamed at the bus to help her as it sped by, but there was no way to do anything for her.  Nick looked back helplessly as a mob of crazy people engulfed her.

“Holy shit!” said Eve, who had silently joined them at the front of the bus.  “They’re like packs of piranha.”

Dave steered the bus through a gap between an overturned people carrier and a gold and black Mini Cooper.  They scraped against the Mini and exchanged paintwork.  Nick figured it was the least of anybody’s concerns right now.

The bus jolted as the tyres crunched over something and swerved slightly.  Fortunately, Dave kept a tight grip on the steering wheel and held them straight.

“What was that?” Nick asked.  “What did we run over?”

“You don’t want to know.”

They got halfway around the roundabout and the roads seemed to clear a little.  Mangled bodies littered the verges, but there was no one walking around there.  The car wrecks were also at a minimum.

“I think we’re through the worst of it,” said Nick.

“Yeah,” Eve agreed beside him.  She sounded relieved.

Dave put his foot down in reply and the bus lurched on its axels.  While Nick couldn’t be sure, he had a feeling that the guy’s unflappable manner was actually masking a great deal of fear; fear that was currently manifesting as a heavy right foot.

“Hey, buddy.  Slow down a little.”

“It’s fine, we’re clear.”

“I know,” Nick said, “but we don’t know what’s around the next bend.”

“Hey, this is my bus.  I picked you up, remember?”

“I just don’t want us to have an accident.”

“We won’t.  I know how to drive.”

Something collided with the front of the bus.  Dave slammed on the brakes.  The bus fishtailed, its tyres slipping.  The left side of the vehicle rose up off the road, making Nick feel weightless and tossing him to the other side of the aisle.  Eve screamed and then landed right on top of him.  For a few terrifying seconds, the swaying interior of the bus was silent as the passengers held their breath and waited.  Nick was sure that the vehicle was about to tip over onto its side and end up in the ditch.

But it didn’t happen.

Thank God.

The bus came to a stop with a pained screech of its tyres.  Nick climbed to his feet and headed back to the front of the aisle.  Dave was staring ahead in a trance.  He had gone deathly pale.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked.

Dave continued to stare forwards.  “I-I’m fine.  W-what did we hit?”

“I don’t think it matters,” said Nick, pointing.  “Look!”

In front of them was a group of maybe ten or twelve infected people.  They glared at the bus and let out a single, collective screech.

As a single entity, they rushed forward.

The first body to collide with the bus was that of a child.  The small girl had blood-soaked pigtails tied with two bright-orange bows.  She leapt onto the windscreen and clawed at the glass.  The rest of the mob hit the bus a heartbeat-of-a-second later from every direction.  From inside, it sounded like a hailstorm was underway, but the view from the windows betrayed the true horror of the situation.  Blood-shot eyes peered in at them from all sides.  Swollen and smashed faces smeared themselves against the glass.  Nick felt like a zoo exhibit, except in this case it was the spectators who were dangerous and not the animals in the cage.

The bus’s interior went dark as all sunlight was blotted out from the windows by the writhing bodies.  The weak strip lighting above the aisle flickered as the vehicle rocked to-and-fro.  Nick looked back to see the terrified faces of the other passengers and knew right away that none of them had any ideas what to do.

He turned to Dave.  “Can we still move?”  When there was no answer, he shook the driver by the shoulder.  “I said can we move?”

Dave snapped out of his daze and then blinked his eyes rapidly.  “I-I don’t know.”  He reached shakily for the ignition key.  “Let me try.”

The engine grumbled back to life at the first try.  Nick sighed relief.  Dave worked the clutch, kicked the accelerator, and the bus lurched forward.

“We’re moving,” said Dave, “but I can’t see a damn thing.”

Nick patted his shoulder with encouragement.  “Just keep her moving.  Maybe they’ll lose their grip.”

The little girl was still clinging to the windscreen.  She stared in at them with unblinking eyes.  Bloody tears leaked down her cheeks and Nick watched in horror as she began beating her forehead against the glass like some sort of mental patient in a padded room.

Again and again and again.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The little girl’s face broke apart, flesh splitting open with every head butt against the glass.  After a while she barely even resembled a child any longer.  She was just a gore-soaked skull with pigtails.

The bus sped up.

But the little girl held on.

Crack!

The windscreen began to give way.

“Shit!” said Dave.  “What do we do?”

Nick shook his head.  “I don’t know.  Just keep moving.  If we stop now, we’ll never get going again.”

The little girl continued smashing her skull against the glass and the cracks in the glass began to spread outwards in thick cobwebs.  At the sides of the bus, more infected people began bashing at the other windows as they, too, clung on tightly.  It was only a matter of time before they all smashed their way inside.

“Step on it,” Nick said.

“But I can’t see where I’m going.”

The little girl struck her skull against the glass again and the windscreen finally gave way.  It fell out in a single cracked sheet and landed in the aisle.  The girl came tumbling in after it, but as the bus picked up speed the other bodies on the side of the bus slipped free.  Some fell beneath the wheels, becoming morbid speed bumps.  Nick lost his balance as the floor lurched beneath him.

The little girl thrashed on the floor at the front of the bus.  She was attempting to claw her way up onto her feet.

“What do I do?” Dave cried.

“Just keep driving,” Nick said.  “And step on it.”

The bus sped up, Dave now able to see through the missing windscreen.

Nick braced himself as the little girl rose to her feet and faced him.  As soon as she was up she launched an immediate attack, barrelling into him with so much force that it felt like her bones were made of bricks.  Staggering backwards, Nick’s ankle clipped the bolted-down leg of one of the passenger benches.  He went stumbling into the aisle and landed beside the teenager in the padded yellow coat.  The lad was startled but quickly reached down to help Nick back to his feet.  As he did so the young girl pounced, sinking her sharp little teeth into his hand.  He cried out in agony and pushed her away.

The little girl fell backwards but immediately came at them again.  Nick tried desperately to get back to his feet, but she bundled into him, knocking him sideways onto one of the benches.  The teenaged boy got involved again and grabbed the girl around her waist before she could leap on top of Nick.  He began wrestling with her from behind, even as blood dripped from his wounded hand.

“What should I do?” he cried out in the high-pitched tone of panic.  He was struggling to restrain the little girl, despite her diminutive size.  “She’s gonna take another chunk out of me in a minute.”

Nick looked around for inspiration and quickly found it.  “Pauline!” he shouted.  The woman was already staring in his direction, a terrified expression contorting her face.  He clicked his fingers at her. “Pauline, throw me your scarf.”

For a split second she looked at him as if she didn’t understand, but then she reached down and picked up the colourful piece of material from the bench beside her and balled it up.  She threw it in Nick’s direction.

It fell a foot short and landed on the grubby floor.

Nick huffed and quickly reached to pick it up.  Once the scarf was in his hand he turned to the teenaged boy, who was still struggling to restrain the thrashing girl in his arms.

“Hold her as still as you can,” Nick said as he unfurled the scarf and pulled it out wide.

The teenager nodded, but the beads of sweat on his forehead made it clear he was beginning to tire.  “Whatever you’re doing, mate, you better do it quick.”

Nick thrust the scarf over the girl’s mangled face and quickly began wrapping it around her head, trying to cover her bleeding eyes and ruined mouth.  After wrapping it as tightly as he could, he then tied a double knot at the back with the frayed ends of the scarf.

The little girl stopped thrashing.

The teenager stared at Nick with astonishment.  “She’s stopped fighting me.”

Nick shrugged.  It was bizarre, but it was as if the little girl had shut down.  Her attack mode had been switched off.  His intention had only been to disorientate her, but it seemed the result was even better.

Nick waved a hand in front of the girl’s face, trying to tempt a reaction.  There was none.  After thinking for a few moments, he came up with a suggestion.  “Try letting her go.”

The teenager balked.  “What?  No way.”

“It’s okay.  I’m ready to grab her again if she tries anything.  Go on, just let go of her, slowly.”

The teenager didn’t seem happy about it, but he obliged anyway.  He slowly pulled his arms away from the little girl.

She stood there motionless.  Everyone on the bus seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief.  Nick took the moment to examine the child.  Her hands hung limply at her sides, fingernails caked in blood.  One of those fingers pointed outward at an unnatural angle that suggested a break or dislocation.  She was also missing a shoe; dirt and stones were imbedded in her bare foot.

Looking at the girl, one thing in particular was clear to Nick.  She needed help they could not provide her.

“How we looking, Dave?” he shouted over to the front of the bus.”

“I got us back onto the main road, but there are pile-ups everywhere.  It’s like the whole country started trying to get somewhere in a hurry but forgot how to drive.  I can’t say how long until we get into difficulty again.”

“Is it safe to stop for a second?”

“Safer than it was earlier.”

Nick looked at the little girl with sadness. “Okay,” he said.  “Stop the bus.  We’re dropping off a passenger.”

The bus began slowing down.  Nick took a hold of the little girl’s arm and began pulling her towards the front of the bus.

“What are you going to do?” Pauline asked him as he passed.

“Taking her outside.”

“We can’t leave her.  She’s just a little girl.”

Pauline was right of course, but Nick had the feeling it would be a bad idea to let the little girl stay with them.  “It’s not safe,” he said.  “She’s…infected, for want of a better word.  We can’t risk having her near us.”

“We can’t just leave her outside on her own, blindfolded.  She’ll get hit by a car.  She’s just a little girl.”

“A little girl that almost took my bastard thumb off,” said the teenager from the rear of the bus.

Pauline could see she was fighting a losing battle, but pleaded anyway.  “Still…”

“I’ll take off her blindfold,” Nick conceded.

The teenager shook his head.  “What?  No way.  She’ll come right at you again.”

“I’ll do it outside.  I’ll do it quick.”

“Your funeral, mate.”

Nick took the girl to the front of the bus and then guided her down the steps to the road.  She was completely docile, completely willing to go wherever he guided her.

“I’m sorry to do this,” Nick whispered to the girl.  “Whatever is happening to you, I hope it isn’t permanent.”

He manoeuvred her into the treeline, hoping she would wonder off into the countryside rather than onto the motorway.  He faced her away from him, towards the trees, and then glanced back at the bus.  The door was hanging wide open for him to run back on board.  Hopefully he could do so before the little girl launched another attack.

He took a deep breath and began to shove the blindfold up and over the girl’s head.  A vein in the side of her head seemed to pulse like a drumbeat as the scarf began to fall away.

A bead of sweat rolled down the small of Nick’s back.

Once he’d yanked the blindfold completely clear, he spun on his heel and legged it back to the bus.  He performed a running leap up the steps and skidded in the aisle.  He told Dave to “step on it.”

Dave didn’t argue.

The doors closed and Nick watched the young girl turn around and scream at them.  But by that time they were already well on their way.

The bus picked up speed and the cold autumn air swept in through the broken windscreen.  It gave Nick a chill.  He leant up against Dave’s driver compartment and watched the road go by, eventually losing count of the numerous wrecked cars and fallen bodies that seemed to pop up around every bend.

“We need a new plan,” he said to Dave.  “Driving around like this is just going to get us killed.”

“No argument here.  We’re running out of petrol, too.  So what should we do?”

Nick thought for a second before giving his answer.  The plan was simple.  “Stop at the first safe place that will take us.”

chapter six

One hour passed.  The view from the bus’s windows only got worse.  On the outskirts of Cannock, they witnessed an overturned petrol tanker and a dozen charred bodies.  It was unclear what had happened but it seemed that the tanker’s operator decided to try and run right through a police barricade, disregarding a group of people gathered there.  The explosion probably killed them all instantly.  Then, only minutes later, the bus entered a village called Alrewas only to find every resident there dead.  Their limbs and guts lined the concrete paths like Christmas decorations.  A group of infected people milled around the middle of the village’s roads, eating the remains of the dead.  Eve had almost vomited and had been crying ever since.  After everything they had all witnessed, the bus passengers were slowly realising that they weren’t just having a bad day.  The situation wasn’t going to be dealt with by the Ten O’ Clock News.  Things had fallen apart.  Totally and irreversibly.  The country – maybe even the world – was under siege.

But all I really care about is that my son is dead.

Does that make me a terrible person?

The bus’s current heading was north on the A38, just past Derby.  Nick still held onto a slither of hope that they might chance upon a local army regiment or police force, but the current plan was simply to keep their eyes peeled for any sign of authority at all.  What form that would take, none of them knew.  None of them cared.

The current road was one of the few that still flowed with traffic.  The various remaining drivers were now mostly careful and things were moving along in an orderly fashion.  The only problem was that most people didn’t seem to know where they were going.  Many cars were parked off on the verge, their petrol tanks dry after miles of aimless driving.  Some people wandered the side of the road in small groups, trying to hitch a lift.  Dave stopped for a couple of people whenever he could, but had no choice but to ignore most of them.  Those he did pick up were eternally grateful.  Those he ignored screamed obscenities.

In addition to the passengers they had started with, the bus now held Cassie, a twenty-something nail technician from Tamworth; Carl, a factory worker they had picked up on the outskirts of blood-soaked Alrewas; and five minutes ago they had picked up Kathryn, a supermarket manager from Birmingham – she had been on her way to a company meeting in Matlock when a frenzied driver had sideswiped her car at a set of traffic lights.  She had kept mostly to herself, but had been kind enough to share her bottle of water with the teenaged boy in the yellow coat when he started to feel unwell.  His hand had not yet stopped bleeding.

It turned out that the teenager’s name was Jake.  He was a Creative Writing student from Wolverhampton University.  His hand was a mess from where the girl had bitten him; tough to even look at, in fact.  It had blistered up and was leaking a kind of mustardy pus along with all the blood.  He was currently lying on the bus’s back seat, applying a bandage that Dave had given him from the vehicle’s first aid kit.

The guy in the overalls with the calloused hands and dreadlocks was named Mark.  He was a Jamaican-born mechanic currently living in Smethwick.  The reason he had remained so quiet throughout previous events was that he had a broken leg.  Nick hadn’t noticed it when he’d first gotten on the bus, but the man’s left leg was set in a grubby white cast with a West Brom FC sticker on it and a crude drawing of a throstle.  The man had told Nick he’d wanted to intervene during the incident involving the little girl, but had expected only to make things worse with his cumbersome leg.  He seemed genuinely upset about it.  Nick wasn’t holding a grudge.

The two old ladies were Ethel and Margaret.  They had become sullen and voiceless in the last hour or so; a stark contrast to their earlier natterings.  It seemed they had only been able to take so much before losing their ability to persevere.

“We’re running on fumes,” Dave said from the front of the bus.  “Every time we pass a petrol station, it’s totally blocked up with car wrecks or swimming with sick people.  We’re going to have to pick somewhere to turn-in or we’re going to come to a stop in the middle of the road.”

“Okay,” Nick said.  “Let’s get off this road as soon as we can.  Maybe park off in the woods somewhere?”

“Will do.”

Dave took the next slip road and headed west into a residential area full of Victorian semis and dusty shops.  Nick eyed-up every road sign as they passed.  After a few minutes, he pointed.  “There,” he said.  “Head for that.”

Dave glanced at him.  “Head for what?”

“The Ripley Heights Country Park.  I bet we can hole up there.  I just saw a sign for it, saying to head left.”

Dave flicked on the turn indicator despite the total lack of traffic behind him.  The bus entered onto a steep incline with woodland on either side.  Nick was immediately pleased by the lack of buildings.  If they found a rural enough area, they may just be able to sit tight somewhere until they could figure out what to do next.

Or until help arrives.

While the bus continued to climb, Nick decided to take a seat and attempt a conversation with Eve again.  For some reason he felt an attachment to her – perhaps because their relationship stretched back to before their presence on the bus.  Perhaps because she was there because of him.

I feel responsible for her.  Fuck knows why.

“Hey,” she said to him as he took a seat beside her.  “Any idea where we’re going?”

“We’re heading for a country park,” he said.  “We’re hoping it will be deserted enough that we can stop for a while and catch our breath.  We’re running low on petrol, so it’s not like we have a choice either way.”

Eve stared out of the window thoughtfully.  “I wonder if my family are okay.”

Nick thought about Deana and James.  They certainly were not okay, but there could still be hope for other people.  He knew he should care about that, regardless of how hard it was to think beyond his own losses.  “I guess it will be a while before any of us find out how bad things really are,” he said.  “I think Jake has a mobile phone if you want to try and call your parents.”

“Already tried,” she said.  “My call wouldn’t go through.  That Kathryn has a phone, too, and it wouldn’t connect either.  No calls are getting through to anyone.”

“Well, just assume that they’re okay, then.  Anything else and you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Eve looked him in the eye.  “I’m scared, Nick.”

He went to put his arm around her, the same way he would whenever Deana was anxious, but he stopped himself, remembering that he barely knew the girl.  “I’m scared, too,” he said, keeping his hands in his lap.  “I’m scared that even if we get through this, things will never be the same for any of us.  We’ve all lost too much.”

“Do you think terrorists did this?”

Nick hadn’t thought much about it, but he considered it a possibility.  It could also be a dozen other things.  “I don’t think it’s worth thinking about why this has happened, for now.  Leave that to the experts. All we need to focus on right now is sticking together and getting through the rest of the day in one piece.”

“You think we’ll manage to?”

He nodded.  “Yeah, I think we’re through the worst of it.  This day can’t get any worse.”

At least I hope so, Nick thought to himself as he looked out the window at the passing trees.  “Just try not to worry,” he said.

***

The bus came to a stop in a grassy picnic area that was surrounded by woods on all sides.  No other vehicles were parked there.

“Well done,” Nick told Dave.  “This place looks pretty deserted.”

Dave switched off the engine and leant back in his chair.  He rubbed at his eyeballs with two meaty fists and then blinked them a few times.  “I’m just glad to take a break from driving.  I would have gone cross-eyed after much longer.”

“I’ll bet,” said Nick.  “We all owe you for keeping us safe.  I think we can stretch our legs for a little while now and take a breather.  Then perhaps we can check out the surrounding area.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Dave pressed a button on the dashboard and the bus’s pneumatic doors opened.  Everyone got to their feet and started piling out.  There were multiple sighs of relief as they each stretched their muscles and took deep breaths of the crisp country air.  The temperature was a little low for comfort, so Nick fastened his coat around himself before joining them outside.  He winced as the garment brushed his various injuries.

“You okay?” Eve asked him.  “Your face still looks pretty bad.”

“Just a little sore.”  He prodding at the slick wound on his cheek.  “But I’ll live.”

Mark limped off the bus behind Nick, his cast sinking into the mud as he landed awkwardly.  “Hey,” he said.  “Do we have any water or snack food?  I’m starting to feel lightheaded, man.”

“Me too,” added one of the old ladies.

“We’ll just have to make do for now,” said Dave, taking on an air of authority that he probably felt was rightfully his as driver of the bus.  “We can look to see if there are any shops around here later, once we’ve all had a rest.”

“Bad idea,” said Pauline.  “We’re safer to just stay put.”

Mark hopped on his one good leg over to the side of the bus and leant up against a wheel arch.  “We’ll need to eat something eventually, lady.  So how long do we plan on staying here?”

“I don’t know,” said Dave.

“Well, don’t you think we should have a plan?” asked Pauline.

Dave huffed.  “If you have one, then I’m all ears.  Until then, just keep quiet.”

“Look,” said Nick.  “For now, let’s just enjoy doing nothing.  We don’t know enough to make any sort of plan, which is why we just need to take things one moment at a time.  Let’s just be glad that we’re off the road.”

Everyone seemed to grumble in agreement, before breaking off into their own little patches of space.  The supermarket manager, Kathryn, went and sat on a nearby picnic table and began shaping her long red fingernails with a file from her handbag.  The two elderly women sat on another bench just a few feet away.  Eve stood around aimlessly next to Dave, who had decided to check the oil level of the bus.  Nick thought it was pointless seeing as they were out of petrol anyway.  Jake stayed on the bus, still feeling unwell.  Carl chatted to Cassie nearby, and Mark remained leaning against the bus, taking the weight off his cast.

Nick chose to approach Cassie and Carl.  He hadn’t spoken to them much yet and thought it was wise to know everybody he was with.  “You folks okay?” he asked them both.

Carl laughed.  “As well as can be expected.  Can’t say I’m a big fan of sticking here indefinitely, though.  We’ve all got families to get home to.”

“I know,” Nick agreed, but deep down he knew that it was no longer true for him.  “Ideally we’ll be able to find some help soon, but for now we just need to be safe.  We all saw what’s happening to people.”

“It’s like they’ve all gone crazy,” Cassie said meekly.  She seemed like a shy girl.

Nick nodded.  “I think it’s a virus or something.  My son was feeling ill last night and then this morning…”  He didn’t need or want to finish the sentence.  Everyone had been through their own personal torments and that meant that they understood each other’s losses without having to hear them explained.  It was almost like being part of a club.

“I don’t know if it’s something that can be cured,” Nick said.  “Right now, our best bet is to just stick together.”

“Safety in numbers, huh?” said Carl.

“I’m glad you people found me,” Cassie said.  “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t.  I watched my best friend get ripped to shreds by her own father – gutted like an animal.  Then she got up and came after me.”

Nick scratched his chin.  “She got up and came after you?”

Cassie nodded.  “Like five minutes after her dad attacked her.  We managed to hole up in the bathroom, but Michelle was hurt bad.  I mean real bad.  Her neck and stomach were gushing and the floor tiles were covered in blood.  Then she just stopped breathing and I knew she was dead.  But two minutes later she was back on her feet again, coming after me just like her dad did.  Only she was different than him, she was-”

“Slower,” said Nick, remembering how Mr Curtis had first been fast and agile until his throat got cut on the fish tanks, and then afterwards had moved very slow and drunkenly.

“People don’t come back from the dead,” Carl scoffed, wiping his hands on his jeans.  “It’s crazy.”

Nick shrugged.  “I think crazy got invited to the party today.  Whatever virus is turning people insane is doing something else to them when they get badly injured.  It still makes them want to kill us, but they get clumsy and slow.”

“Like walking corpses?” Carl scoffed, still unwilling to grasp such a concept.

“Maybe it’s something in their blood,” Cassie suggested.  “Maybe when they get injured and lose enough blood, the virus leaks out and makes them weaker.”  She shook her head and sighed.  “Or maybe they really are just dead and this is the end of the world.”

“You’ve been watching too many horror films,” Carl said.  “We should just stay calm and wait for this whole thing to blow over.  I guarantee this time next week we will all be back at home, watching the news about whatever this is.  And it won’t be that the dead are coming back to life to eat the living.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Nick, moving away.  “I really do.”

He headed over towards Mark and nodded at the man as he neared him at the side of the bus.

“You doing okay, pal?” the man asked Nick.

“As well as can be expected.  How’s the leg?”

“Mostly healed.  Hurt it few weeks ago at me old man’s garage.  Me own stupid fault, ya know?  Tripped down one of them pits.  Isn’t hurting too much now, though.   Just make me a clumsy devil, ya know?”

Nick laughed.  “I wouldn’t want to have to make a getaway with that thing.”

“For sure.  I’m just blessed Dave picked me up.  A right calamity we is in right now, ya know?”

“Putting it mildly.”

“Well, if we all stick together, we will get through this, I is certain.”

Nick patted the man on the shoulder.  “I think so, too, Mark.  It’s good to meet you.”

“Likewise.  Think I’ll go back on the bus now.  Take the weight off me leg.  See how the lad is doing.”

Nick nodded as the towering Jamaican hobbled off.  “I’ll let you know if anything transpires,” he shouted after him.

“You part of the morale squad or something?” said Eve, standing nearby.  She had a frown on her face.  “Who made it your job to check up on everybody?”

Nick turned around to face her.  The sour look on her face, mixed with smudged makeup, gave her the look of a sad clown.  “What’s the problem?” he said.  “I’m just trying to keep myself busy.”

She shrugged.  “No problem.  Just wonder why you bother, that’s all.  We’re all fucked, but you keep going around like everything is going to be fine.  We’ve got a bus with no petrol, a guy with a broken leg, and a pair of geriatric bingo warriors.”

Nick huffed at her.  “Well, being negative isn’t going to do anybody any favours, is it?  Should I have just left you in that closet?”

“Yeah, probably.  It was safer than standing in the middle of a field, or letting that crazy little girl attack us.”

“No one exactly let her do it, Eve.  And the girl was sick, not crazy.”

Eve flapped her arms.  “Are you kidding me?  The people we’ve seen don’t just need an aspirin.  They’re totally screwed.  They’re monsters.”

“My son is not a monster.  My wife is not a monster.  You’re as bad as Cassie.”

“I know,” she said.  “I was listening to what she was saying and she’s right.  Soon as you put one of those crazies down, they get right back up and stumble after you all over again – only this time they’re dead.”

“Sorry, I have trouble believing that – even with all that I’ve seen.  Dead people don’t walk around.  There must be some other explanation that makes sense.”

Eve flapped her arms.  “Viruses don’t usually turn people into bloodthirsty psychopaths, either, but hey, you know what, it happened anyway.  Someone came and turned the fucked-up factor all the way up to eleven.”

Nick pointed his finger.  “Just calm down, Eve.  You’re getting worked up.”

“Get your goddamn finger out of my face.  Who made you so important that you think you can manage everyone?”

“Eve!  I’m just trying to help.  What’s gotten into you?”

“I just don’t want to be here with you people.  I don’t feel safe.”

A scream from the bus cut the conversation short.  Nick looked around to witness one of the bus’s side windows cracking.  It looked like someone’s head had been pushed through it and then pulled back inside.

Eve looked up.  “What the hell?”

Nick sprinted over to the bus doors and jumped up the steps.  When he looked down the aisle, he was confused by what he saw.

The teenager, Jake, had shoved Mark up against the side of the bus, forcing the man’s head back against the broken window as he tried to bite a chunk out of his face.  Mark tried to resist, but his bulbous cast was wedged beneath the seats.

Nick fell forward as Dave ran into the back of him.  When he, too, saw what was happening he swore loudly.  “Shite!  Jake is one of them.”

Nick shook his head.  “How?  What happened?”  Then it occurred to him.  “Jake’s hand!  The little girl bit him.  She infected him.”

“Then it must be a virus,” Dave said.  “We have to get away from the kid before we catch it, too.”

“We can’t just leave Mark.  He needs our help.”

The Jamaican mechanic’s screams were suddenly cut short as Jake’s teeth sank deep into the man’s windpipe.  Nick watched in horror as veins and cartilage were torn away like wet spaghetti.

Dave grabbed a hold of Nick’s woollen coat.  “We’re already too late.  Come on!”

He hated to run, to just abandon Mark as Jake ripped his face and neck into bloody shreds, but he had to face it that Dave was right.  It was too late.

We have to get the hell away from Jake.

Dave was already off the bus.  He shouted at Nick to hurry up.

But Nick was frozen.

Jake turned his head and spotted him still standing there at the front of the bus.  He hissed with bloodstained teeth.

Nick finally managed to get himself moving.  He spun around and leapt off the bus as quickly as his feet would carry him.  Dave punched a big red button beside the bus’s door and it clamped shut with a hiss.  A second later Jake crashed up against the glass, glaring at them with swollen, bloodshot eyes.  Gory chunks of flesh hung from his teeth and he spat and snarled.

And he let out a screech.

Everybody outside the bus gathered together.  Dave motioned for them all to get moving.  “Everybody run!” he shouted.  “Jake is infected.  We have to get away from him or he’ll pass the disease on to us.”

There was a brief smattering of anxious mumblings, but then everybody took off like it was the start of a race.  Nick held up at the back, trying to keep everybody moving in the same direction.  The two old ladies were clearly the slowest and needed help to make it across the uneven and muddy terrain.

He glanced back behind him to see the bus shrinking away into the distance as the group put distance between themselves and it.

Then he saw Jake emerging from the front of the bus, climbing through the hole where the windscreen used to be.

“Shit!”  Nick started pushing the two old ladies to move faster.  “Come on, come on,” he shouted.  “Move!”

Behind them, Jake let out another piercing scream.  The fleeing passengers picked up speed, finding energy reserves that only the fear of death could liberate from a person’s muscles.  Eve and Cassie were at the front of the pack now, heading for the treeline at the edge of the wide picnic area.  Carl and Dave were right behind them, their rotund figures betraying their respectable sprinting abilities.  Then was Pauline and Kathryn, barefoot after taking off their heels and keeping up a decent pace.  Finally, at the back, the two old ladies ran their hardest.  Nick was close behind them, urging them to go faster.

Nick glanced back.  It wasn’t good.

Jake would be on them long before they all made it to the treeline.  Even if they did all make it, they wouldn’t be safe.  Jake would just follow them into the woods.

Game over, man.  What the hell do we do now?

Suddenly, one of the old ladies stopped dead.  She doubled over, clutching at her chest.  Her friend stopped, too, putting an arm around her.  “Ethel! Ethel,” she shouted.  “We have to keep moving.”

Nick slid to a stop beside them both.  “Come on,” he urged.  “He’ll be on us any minute.  We have to keep moving.”

Ethel fell to her knees, wheezing.  “M-my heart.  I can’t.  I need to stop.”

“No,” said Margaret.  “I won’t leave you here.”

Nick grabbed Margaret’s brittle forearm and tried to pull her away.  “Come on, we have to go, or else we’re all dead.”

“Then you go,” Margaret urged, pulling back her arm, surprisingly strong.  “But I’m not leaving Ethel to face that monster alone.”

Jake was getting closer; would be on them any second.

Ethel rose up on one knee.  She grabbed Margaret’s hand, squeezed it tight.  “I’m not letting you get hurt because of me.  If you don’t get moving right now, Margaret Skinner, I will come back to haunt you.  I swear I will.”

Margaret looked ready to burst into tears.  Nick stared down the field.  Jake was only metres away now, lolloping across the grass like a deranged ape.

Ethel fell back down onto the floor, rolling onto her side and clutching at her chest.  She looked up at her friend and hissed the word, “Go.”

Nick grabbed Margaret’s arm and this time she didn’t resist.  The two of them got moving, leaving behind Ethel as she suffered a heart attack on the floor.  Nick hoped it was that which would claim her and not Jake’s savage teeth.

But it was not to be.

The last thing he heard before Ethel’s screams pierced the air was the old lady shouting at Jake, “I’ve taken shits harder than you, you pussy.”

Nick couldn’t help but chuckle as he and the others passed into the shadows of the treeline.  The only thing that wiped the smile from his face was when he looked back and saw the feisty old dame being ripped apart like a tough old steak.  Jake’s yellow coat had suddenly become very red.

chapter seven

Nick and the others eventually came to a stop in a clearing about half a mile into the woods.  Everyone was sweating, having run uphill most of the way.  At least they had managed to leave Jake behind as he chowed down on poor old Ethel.  Nick could still hear the infected teenager’s animalistic shrieks sounding off in the distance.

Dave slumped up against a gnarled oak tree.  Perspiration soaked his dirty brown and grey hair and matted it against his forehead.  “I pray we never have to do that again,” he said, panting.  “I think I left one of my lungs back there.”

“Tell me about it,” said Nick.  He knelt down on the floor and tried to catch his breath.  “Has anyone else been bitten since this morning?”

“Why?” Cassie asked.

“Because that’s what happened to Jake.  That little girl bit him on the hand.  Now he’s infected.  That’s how this thing is spreading.  One infected person bites a healthy person and that person becomes infected, bites the next person and repeats the cycle.  I feel dumb for not understanding it until now, but it makes sense.  I just can’t believe how quick it happens.”

Carl spat a wad of saliva into the mud and wiped the moisture from his face.  “So we could all end up like one of those things?”

“If you get bitten, yes,” said Nick.  “Has anybody been bitten?”

Everyone shook their head.

“Okay,” said Dave, seeming to relax a little.  “We all better be real careful from now on.  We come across someone infected and we do our best to run for it.  No trying to fight with them like we did that little girl.”

“That was unavoidable,” said Nick, feeling bad about Jake’s fate and how it had involved him trying to help with the little girl.

“Unavoidable or not,” said Eve.  “We have to be more careful.  I’m not ending up like one of those monsters.”

“They’re still people,” Nick shouted.  “My wife and son were infected, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you keep calling them monsters.”

“I’m sorry,” Eve said, folding her arms, “but as nice as people might once have been, if they’ve caught whatever this thing is then they’re monsters now – plain and simple.”

Nick clenched his fists.

Before anything else was said, Dave shushed the both of them.  “There’s no point arguing over it.  I think we all know, deep down, that these people are sick – infected – or whatever.  But they’re also dangerous and we cannot forget that.”

“I think some of them are dead,” said Cassie.

The group went silent.

“This nonsense again,” Carl muttered.

“I think she’s right,” said Eve.  “Nick killed an infected old man back at the garden centre where he rescued me.  The guy came right back to life and came after us again.  He was all messed up and slow and everything, but he was still moving around, even with most of his neck missing.”

Nick shook his head.  He couldn’t contain his grief any longer.  It had been building in the pit of his stomach like an ulcer and now felt like a leaden weight in his guts.  He had to let it out.  “I…I killed my son.  He was infected, too, but he didn’t come back to life after I killed him.  He stayed dead.  He is dead.”

“Well, that shoots Cassie’s theory right out of the water,” said Carl.  “The dead are not getting up and walking around.”

Nobody said anything.

The full weight of the confession suddenly dawned on Nick and he didn’t like the way so many sets of eyes were suddenly staring at him.  He didn’t want their judgment – not about what had happened to James.  They could never understand his loss, or what had occurred in that kitchen.  Nick wished he hadn’t spoken, but the words had exploded from him like pus from an infected wound.  He hadn’t been able to stem it once it began flowing.

And now they all know.  They know what I did.

Nick stood up and tromped his way deeper into the woods, wanting to escape their stares and judgments.

And my own guilt.

A few minutes later he slumped down against an old spruce tree that came up out of the ground at a weird angle.  He leant back against its trunk and started bashing his head against the bark, again and again, harder and harder.  Eventually he saw stars.

He burst into tears, crying so hard that he thought he might suffocate as the sobs seized his chest and cramped his diaphragm.

James, Deana…I miss you both so much.  You’re my world, and you’re not here.  I’m alone and going through hell.

What do I do?

How do I go on without you?

As Nick’s grief took hold of him, he wanted to die.  He wanted it all to be over.

I can’t go on.

Eventually his body became so weak from sobbing that he could no longer even sustain his own weight.  He slid sideways down the spruce’s bark and fell onto his back.  He found himself staring up at the grey sky, wondering if it might rain.  Covered in dirt and blood, the thought of being cleansed by Mother Nature was comforting.  Perhaps the heaven’s themselves would open and drown him in a downpour.  He hoped so.

A twig snapped nearby.

Nick rolled onto his chest and looked up in the direction of the noise.

“Hey,” said Eve, stepping over the undergrowth and hiking towards him.  She came and knelt down on the ground nearby, stretched out her legs and then lay down right next to him.

Nick sighed.  “Hey.”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Just…getting some stuff out of my system.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“For the things I said earlier.  Well, pretty much for everything I’ve said to you since we met.  I know I’ve been a bit up and down.  I’m hormonal at the best of times and this situation certainly isn’t helping.”

“You said I rescued you.”  Nick recalled the words she had used.

“Yeah, well…that’s because you did.  I just don’t like feeling like I owe anybody anything.  It’s a flaw I have.  I’m sorry I called your family monsters.”

“It’s okay,” Nick said.  “I just don’t want to think of my family as being beyond help.  I keep trying to convince myself that this will all blow over and that Deana and James will be waiting for me as soon as I get back home.”

“James is your son?”

“He was my son.  I’m pretty sure he’s gone.”

“What happened?”

“He was sick, just like Jake was, and the little girl – and everybody else, I guess.  He came running at me in the kitchen like a wild animal, and I-I….I slipped.  We both fell down and his head hit the chair.”

“He didn’t come back, like Mr Curtis?”

“No.  I was in the house for another ten minutes after that and he stayed…still.  Mr Curtis was back on his feet almost right away.”

“Maybe it has something to do with their injuries,” said Eve.

Nick shrugged.  “Dead is dead, isn’t it?  Why would it matter how they die?”

Another twig snapped.

“You have to go for the head,” said the deep voice of a stranger.

Chapter eight

Nick leapt to his feet.  So did Eve.  Standing several feet away, beside a large conifer bush, were three large men: two black and one white.  One of the black men was bald with a pointed goatee, while the other was well-groomed with short cropped hair and stubble.  The white man was huge – six-and-a-half-feet, at least – and heavily bearded.  He looked like one of those American bikers you often saw on television with names like Axel or Bones.  All three of them were wearing the same grey tracksuits and white trainers.

“Who are you?” Nick asked them.

“Could ask you the same question,” said the black guy with the pointed goatee.

The large white man put his hand up to silence his associate and then smiled at Nick.  “My name is Jan.  Janwin Banks.  This man on my right is Renee.  The charmer on my left with the Fu Manchu is Dash.  Don’t ask what his real name is, though, because he won’t tell you.”

“You’re prisoners,” Nick surmised from their matching attire.  He backed away slowly, pulling Eve with him.

Jan held his hands up.  “Hey, brother, there’s no need to fear us.  We’re stuck in the same shit puddle that you are.  We’re just trying to make it somewhere safe.”

“How did you get free?” Eve asked.

“The fuck it gotta do wid you, sweetheart?” said the one named Dash.

Jan sighed and shook his head.  He took a step forward, his large hands still out in front of him.  “Let’s just say that we’re victims of circumstance.  The guards that were relocating us to a prison in Nottingham are all dead.”

Nick and Eve backed away more rapidly.

Jan laughed and shook his head.  “No, not because of us.  There was an accident.  Some silly bollocks driving a Land Rover went right into our minibus.  Next thing I know, there’s a bunch of lunatics tearing apart our P.O.s.  We weren’t cuffed or anything, so we did a runner.  It was either that, or suffer the same fate as the guards.  There were five of us to begin with, but we didn’t all make it.  It appears the world has become quite dangerous as of late.  In fact, I preferred it on the inside.”

“There’s some sort of virus infecting people,” said Eve, “making everyone crazy.”

The man nodded and scratched at his impressive beard.  “Makes sense.  People don’t act like savages for no reason, not even in prison.”

Nick asked a question.  “You said something about needing to go for the head?”

Dash spoke up in reply.  “Yeah, it’s the only sure way to put ‘em down for good, you dig?”

Jan shrugged in agreement.  “Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but when one of these ‘infected’ people dies they have a tendency to come back.”

“You know that for sure?” Nick asked.

Jan nodded solemnly.

“Told you,” said Eve.

“When they come back,” said Jan.  “They come back different.  Slower and easier to deal with, but they tend to group together and come after you in a pack.  You can only stop them for good with a good blow to the head.”

Eve gave Nick a look and he understood what she was thinking.  James had not come back because he had struck his head on the chair.  He had been spared the fate of coming back as a ghoul.  There was a certain amount of relief in that, but not much.

“How do you know all this?” Nick asked.

“Because we saw that shit,” said Dash.  “We’ve been hiking it all the way from Nottingham.  Seen some seriously wacky shenanigans since then, blud.”

“It wasn’t too bad at first,” said Jan.  “But the last couple hours things have gotten much worse.  I don’t even know the name of the last town we passed through, but there was no one there left alive.  They were all infected or dead.  We managed to lay low and avoid them, but if they’d spotted us then there would have been no chance to escape them all.  That’s why we made for the countryside and these woods.  I suppose you two had the same idea?”

“There’re half a dozen of us actually,” said Nick.  He wanted to let the three men know that he wasn’t without backup if they tried anything.  “We came here in a bus.”

“Mind if we join up with you?” Jan asked.

Dash pulled a face.  “You serious?  We don’t need to team up with this honky and his bitch.”

Nick clenched his fist and took a step forwards.  “I think you might want to learn to keep your mouth shut, blud.”

Dash stepped forward to meet him.  “You want a piece of me, honky?”

Jan stepped between them both.  “Look, with all that’s going on, I think safety in numbers is the only thing that is going to help any of us.  If we join up then we can try to figure something out, together.”

“No way are we joining up with you guys,” said Nick.  “We don’t know anything about you.”

Jan sighed.  “What if I said, please?  I promise to keep Dash on a tight leash.  To tell you the truth, I’m beat, and pretty darn terrified.  I just want to be around other people, you know?  If you allow us to come with you and your group, then I promise we won’t be a burden.  We’ll pull our weight.”

Nick didn’t know what to do.  Was it really a good idea to team up with bunch of criminals?  Could he turn his back on somebody asking for help?

“What were you in for?” Eve asked.

“I tried to rob a bank,” Jan replied bluntly.

Nick cleared his throat.  “And what about your friends?”

“I’m innocent,” said Dash.

“Sure you are,” Jan said, frowning at his companion.  “Dash, here, was done for dealing.  As for Renee, I don’t honestly know.  Fella doesn’t talk none.  Only reason I know his name is because I heard the guards use it before they bit the dust.  He’s a bit of a strange one, to be honest; but no harm that I can tell.”

Nick stared at Renee and found himself agreeing.  The man was a picture of gentle calmness.  He was almost smiling, but not quite.  The blinking of his eyes was a slow and careful affair, like that of a dozing cat.  For some reason Nick felt no sense of danger from the man – it was his two colleagues that were the bigger worry.

But what could he do?  It was a free country and he couldn’t exactly stop the prisoners from following him.  It would be better to extend the hand of friendship than to make an enemy.  Nick didn’t like the thought of a bunch of angry criminals hunting them through the woods.

“Okay,” he said finally.  “But you keep yourselves to yourselves and don’t upset anyone.  These people have been through a lot.”

Jan smiled.  “I understand.  Lead the way, brother.”

***

Nick emerged back into the clearing.  Everybody was standing around waiting for him.  Eve had told them to stay put when she’d followed after him.  When they saw the three newcomers they grew immediately apprehensive.

“Who are they?” Dave demanded.

Nick introduced the three men.  “This is Jan, Renee, and Dash.  They’ve had a similar day to the rest of us.”

“Why are they all wearing matching tracksuits?” Cassie asked.

Nick decided that honesty was the best policy.  “Because they’re prisoners,” he said.  “They’re going to tag along with us for a while.”

“Are you shitting me?” said Dave.  “They’re supposed to be locked up, not roaming free.  No way are they coming with us.”

Dash sucked at his teeth and tugged at his long beard, but didn’t say anything.

Perhaps he really is going to behave himself.

Jan, as was becoming the pattern, was the one to speak on behalf of the prisoners.  “Look,” he said.  “We are indeed supposed to be locked up, but right now there isn’t really a lot in the way of authority.  We were sprung free by pure accident, and ever since then we’ve just been trying to survive.  We didn’t escape by force; it was just a fluke of circumstance.  What would you have us do?”

Dave sighed.  “You better not be rapists or murderers.”

Cassie let out a whimper.

Jan waved a hand.  “We’re not, I promise you.  We may not be angels, by any lengths of the imagination, but we’re just lost souls right at the moment, same as you.  We don’t want to become one of those things.”

“Do you know what those things are?” asked Kathryn.  She sounded worried and was chewing at her fingernails.

Jan shrugged.  “I don’t know what they are.  I probably don’t know any more than you folks do.  Your man, Nick, thinks a virus did this; I’m inclined to agree.  What I can say for sure is that I’ve seen dead bodies walking around and eating people.  As for what could cause such a thing, I have no idea.  I’m not a praying man, usually, but I would suggest asking the old man up there to take mercy on us, because it seems like he’s pretty pissed off at the moment.”

Carl scoffed.  “You think it’s the end of days?”

Jan shrugged.  “Isn’t it?  You think this isn’t the end of the world as we know it?  Whether it was God, terrorists, or something else entirely, things have just taken one hell of a turn for the worse.”

Cassie whimpered again.  “We’re all going to die.  Eventually they’ll get us.”

Pauline went over and comforted the girl while the rest of the group exchanged nervous glances.

The silence was broken by Kathryn as she began to cough and splutter into her hands.

“You okay there?” Nick asked her.

She caught her breath and nodded.  “I’m fine.  Just got a frog in my throat.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Jan asked.  “Do you folks have a destination in mind?”

“Does anywhere count?” said Nick.

“Better than nowhere, I guess.”  Jan turned on the spot and pointed.  “Me and the boys came from the main roads in that direction.  Things are pretty bad back in the towns, so I would suggest we keep heading this way and stay in the woods.”

“This whole area is a country park apparently,” Nick said.  “Maybe we’ll find help somewhere up the hill.  There might be a craft centre or a farm or something.”

“Sounds good,” said Jan.  “We’re happy to do whatever you folks think is best.”

Dash rolled his eyes and grumbled.  Being subservient obviously did not sit well with the young criminal.

Nick confronted him about it.  “That okay with you?”

Dash nodded.  “Yeah, man.  I’m sound.”

Kathryn let out another wracking cough.  This time she seemed unable to stop.

Dash eyeballed her suspiciously.  “What the fuck is wrong with this bitch?”

Jan walked up to Kathryn and put his hand beneath her chin.  He forced her head up to look at him and then stared into her eyes.  “She has it,” he said.  “She’s infected.”

Nick hurried over.  “What are you talking about?  That’s not possible.”  Then he saw Kathryn’s swollen, bloodshot eyes and knew that it was true.

She was infected.

“We need to put her down,” said Jan.

Kathryn managed to halt her coughing enough to stumble backwards with her hands outstretched.  “No! No, I’m fine.  Leave me alone, please.  Just leave me alone.”

Jan stalked after her.  Nick grabbed the large man by his wrist, which turned out to be as thick as a tree trunk.  “Back off, buddy.  No one is killing anybody.  Are you insane?”

Jan looked at Nick like he was the one who was insane.  “If we don’t kill her now, she’ll kill us later.  I’ve seen it enough times to know.”

“He’s right,” said Dave.  “We’ve seen it, too, with Jake.”

“But she can’t have it,” said Nick.  “She hasn’t been bitten.”

“We don’t know that,” said Dave.  “How can we be sure?”

“It was the water,” said Pauline.

Nick turned around.  “What?”

“When we picked her up she had a bottle of water with her.  Jake was feeling unwell so she shared it with him.  Cross-contamination.  Jake passed the virus onto her via his saliva on the bottle.”

“Are you kidding me?” said Carl.  “What virus acts that fast?  What virus gets to someone just by swigging from the same bottle?”

Nick thought about Deana and how she had kissed James’s wounded finger before putting a Beano plaster on it.  Had that been all it had taken for her to catch it from her son?  And, for that matter, was the kid at school that bit James’s finger the one that passed it on to him?

“It can’t be…” said Nick.  “It can’t be that contagious.”

“It is what it is,” said Jan.  “We need to put her out of her misery before she loses it and comes after us.  It’s a kindness, believe me.”

“Fuck you,” Kathryn screamed.  “You’re all fucking insane.  You can’t kill me.  I’m fin-” More wracking coughs caught a hold of her.  She dropped to her knees, wheezing.

Dash brought over a large, fist-sized rock and handed it to Jan.  “Turn her lights out.”

Jan took the rock and moved towards Kathryn.

Nick stood in his way.  “Not going to happen.”

“Move out the man’s way,” Dave ordered.  “We have no choice about this.”

“Yeah,” added Carl.  “We have to think about ourselves.”

Nick shook his head in disbelief.  “Do you all think this is the right way to behave?  You think we should just kill an innocent woman like it’s nothing?  You think this is okay?”

“I don’t think it’s okay,” said Eve, standing next to Nick.

“Me either,” Pauline agreed.  “It’s barbaric.”

“It’s cowardly, is what it is,” said Margaret.  “This is not the way people in Britain behave.  We’re not French.”

“What about you, Cassie?” Nick asked, trying to gain consensus.  “What do you think?”

She looked down at her feet and shrugged.  “I don’t want anyone to die.”

“Thank you,” Nick said.

“But I don’t want to be attacked again, either.  I think…I think Kathryn is already dead if she has the virus.”

Nick had to blink to believe it.  Of all the people to advocate mob violence, shy and quiet Cassie had seemed the least likely.

“You can’t do this,” Nick said, exasperated yet holding firm in front of Jan’s towering frame.

Jan stared down at Nick, his crystal-blue eyes set between twisting crags of crow’s feet and wrinkles.  It was a hard expression from a hard man, but it somehow seemed to soften slightly as Nick stood his ground.

Eventually Jan nodded and let the rock fall from his hands to the ground.  “It’s bad judgment, brother, but I promised to play things your way, so that’s what I’m going to do.  How do you want to proceed?”

Nick sighed and let his shoulders deflate.  “We just send her in the opposite direction,” he said.  “By the time she turns – loses it, or whatever – we’ll be a mile and half in the other direction.  We don’t need to kill-”

A loud wet thud!

Nick spun around and was shocked by what he saw.

Another wet thud!

“Dave, what the hell are you doing?”

Dave was sat astride Kathryn and had just bludgeoned her with two meaty blows from a mean-looking rock.  Nick watched in horror as the bus driver prepared to smash the rock down a third time into the terrified woman’s face.  She struggled beneath him.  The pungent smell of urine wafted through the air and a dark stain appeared on the crotch of her work trousers.  Dave was going to kill her.

But, before he had chance to deliver the final blow, Nick tackled the man to the ground and batted the bloody rock aside.

“What the hell are you doing, Nick?  We have to do this.  Get off me.  GET OFF ME!”

Kathryn crawled away on her hands and knees, weeping and moaning as bruising swelled her bleeding face like a balloon.

Nick held Dave down by his wrists and shouted after the woman.  “Run, Kathryn.  Get out of here now and find some place safe.”

She looked at him like a rabbit in the headlights, her face a crimson mask of blood and gore.  She managed to scramble to her feet and, a moment later, she was sprinting through the trees and disappearing into the distance.

Once she was gone, Nick finally let go of Dave.

The bus driver hopped up, brushing twigs and dry leaves from of his knees.  “You fool!  I was doing what needed to be done.  I wasn’t going to let her take a bite out of me or anyone else.  Now she’s running around in the wilderness, ready to become a monster.  The people she kills will be on your hands.”

“You’re out of your freaking mind,” Eve shouted at him.

Pauline was shaking her head.  She looked disgusted.  “This isn’t how people behave.  We don’t murder people just because they show signs of a cold.”

“We do now,” said Dave, spitting at the ground furiously.  “If we want to stay alive.”

There was silence as that last sentence seemed to hang in the air between them all.  It was quite possibly true; but that didn’t mean it was a truth any of them wanted to accept.

Eventually, Jan shrugged his shoulders and gave Nick a look which suggested they all just get over it.  “Can’t change it now, brother.  For better or worse, we should just get going.”

“What?  And just leave her out here alone?” said Pauline.

“We’ll alert the authorities when we can,” Dave said.  “You can even tell them what I did.  I’ll stand by it, don’t you worry.”

There was more silence.  You could almost bump into the atmosphere, it was so thick.  Nick was utterly shocked by Dave’s actions and by the rage that had suddenly taken over the man.  He had read him all wrong.  He thought Dave was a rescuer, but he wasn’t.  The man was something else entirely.

Nick crossed his arms and started walking.  “Fine, let’s just get moving, then.  Quicker we find help, the quicker we can contact Kathryn’s family and tell them you just tried to smash her brains in.”

“It was more like he was trying to bash them out to be honest,” said Dash, giggling.

Nick ignored the bad joke and picked up speed, leaving the rest of the group several yards behind.  After a couple dozen paces Eve appeared beside him and kept pace.  He wasn’t about to admit it, but he was glad she was with him.

chapter nine

“So what do you think we’re going to find?” Eve asked Nick as they trudged through the woods together.  The rest of the group were trailing a few steps behind them.  They all seemed to be following Dave’s lead for the most part, sticking close to him.  Regardless of whether or not they condoned the man’s actions, his willingness to take charge had seemingly cemented his place of authority.  Nick didn’t care about that; he just didn’t want to see anybody else get hurt.  He hated to think of poor Kathryn out there in the woods, alone, injured, and afraid.

“I don’t know what we’re going to find,” he said honestly.  “I hope we can find somewhere with a nice big gate and a police sniper on the roof, but I’m not sure we’ll get it.”

Eve laughed.  “I’m just wishing for some place with a shower.”

Nick looked at her.  “You’re not still bothered about being mucky, are you?  Not after what happened to Kath-”

“Hey,” Eve cut him off.  “Don’t give me grief.  I’m just trying to focus my mind on the small things.  Creature comforts, you know?”

“Sorry.  I’m just angry about what happened back there.”

“Me too.  But none of us know each other, at the end of the day.  We should just give each other a wide berth until we get through this.  We have no power over the actions of other.  Nobody here is boss.”

Nick huffed.  “I’m not sure Dave would agree with you, there.  I would have stopped him if I knew what he was going to do.”

“I know you would have.  But you didn’t and you can’t, so forgive yourself.  At least Kathryn’s still alive.  She wouldn’t be if you hadn’t stepped in.”

Nick remained silent, but he took what Eve said on board.  There was no point ruminating on things he couldn’t change.  It would just distract him.  And, right now, a lapse in concentration could mean a death sentence.

***

“We’ve been walking through these woods for more than two hours,” Margaret moaned.  “I need to rest my plates.”

Nick was still a little further in front of the others, but he stopped when he heard the old lady begging for a rest.  He didn’t know how long they’d been trudging through the woods, but two hours sounded about right.

“We keep moving,” said Dave.  “We can’t afford to stop.”

“Why not?” Eve asked.  “What’s the harm?”

Dave’s eyes narrowed.  “We need to find help.  Or have you forgotten that?  The longer we stay in these woods, the bigger the risk we get attacked again.”

Eve turned a slow circle, taking in their surroundings, and then shrugged.  “I think we’ll be okay to take a fifteen minute break,” she said.  “We’re totally alone.”

Dave shook his head.  “We’re not stopping.”

“Who the hell put you in charge, anyway?” Nick intervened.  “Margaret needs to rest, so we let her.  There’s no argument to be had.  She’s an old lady.  Show some compassion.”

Margaret looked at Dave pleadingly.  She seemed embarrassed that her age and weakness was causing a spat.

“Fine!”  He huffed.  “She can have ten minutes, but then we’re not stopping again until we find help.  We can’t afford to be stuck in these woods once it gets dark.”

Nick checked his watch.  It was just after two.  It wouldn’t get dark till about 7PM, but Dave did have a point: they didn’t want to be wondering through the woods in the dark.

Margaret crouched down and eased herself onto a fallen log.  Pauline sat down beside the old lady and rubbed her back.  Dave, Cassie, Carl, and the three prisoners huddled together between the trees and began chatting.

“That Dave is starting to get on my tits,” said Eve in a whisper to Nick.  “Talk about a power trip.  He thinks he’s head boy scout or something.”

“I know,” Nick said.  “I can’t believe how quickly his attitude has changed.  To think he was driving around, picking people up and rescuing them, and then to just attack Kathryn the way he did.”

Eve knelt down and picked up a fallen pinecone.  She ran her fingers over it for a couple of seconds, before placing it beneath her nostrils and taking in its scent.  “I think that when we parked up the bus, the reality of the situation finally dawned on everybody.  It was a bit like being in a cocoon when we were driving around; just watching all the chaos but not really being a part of it.  Now that we’re on foot, I think we’ve all realised just how vulnerable we are, and how much the normal rules don’t apply anymore.  Dave is just doing what he thinks is right, in a screwed up way.”

She tossed the pinecone into the distance.

Nick backed up against a towering poplar tree and looked up at the sky through its leaves.  Birds fluttered overhead.  “Are you doing okay?” he asked her.

“Who? Me?  Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Just checking.  You’re a young girl.  This whole thing must be pretty frightening.”

“Yeah, to everybody, though, not just me.  I’m an adult, same as the rest of you.  Twenty-two doesn’t make me a child.  It just makes me better looking than the rest of you.”

Nick laughed.  “You think so?”

“Absolutely.  Me and Margaret are the hottest people here.”

Nick laughed harder.  “Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but the old dear does have something about her.”

Margaret peered over at them then and seemed confused by their stifled giggling.  Perhaps she knew they were talking about her.

“Stop,” he said.  “We shouldn’t chat about people behind their backs.  Especially not a nice old lady like her.”

“I agree.  We should look after her; she reminds me of my gran.  Except my gran didn’t swear as much.”

They said no more as they enjoyed their ten minute rest.  Nearby, Dave checked his watch every thirty seconds, keeping exact time of how long the group had left.  He wore a constant look of irritation on his jowly face.  The three prisoners stuck close to him; the trio of men seeming to move as one.  Dash was constantly cracking crude jokes and laughing, while Jan wore an endless expression of disapproval.  The third prisoner, Renee, stood completely still, watching all around him with a look of quiet interest.

That guy’s a mystery.

“Okay,” Dave said, checking his watch one last time.  “Time to get moving.  I think if we carry on in this direction it’ll only be a matter of time before we come out somewhere.”

“And then what?” Pauline asked.  “What if there are more of those things?”

“We’ll remain in the treeline and check stuff out before we make any decisions.  We can send a scout if need be.”

A scout, Nick thought to himself.  Guy thinks he’s a field general or something.

There were no arguments, so everyone got moving.  This time, however, instead of moving on ahead, Nick stayed back amongst the group; mainly so he could keep an eye on Margaret.  The old lady had recently witnessed her friend being ripped apart and deserved their compassion, but right now she wasn’t getting it from the likes of Dave.  Nick would have to make sure she was looked after.

***

Another half-hour went by before the woods thinned out.  The dim sunlight started to slash the horizon, instead of just coming down through the tree canopy.  The group slowed down as it became clear that the woods were coming to an end.

Dave hurried to the front of the group and put his hand up to stop them all.  “We have to be careful,” he said.  “We don’t know what lies up ahead.  It’s quiet, so I don’t think it’s a motorway or anything, but it could still be dangerous.”

“We should send one person up ahead to check it out,” Jan suggested.

“Good idea,” said Dave.  “Nick!  Go see what we’re dealing with.”

Nick was surprised to hear his name.  “Me?”

“Yeah, what’s the problem?  Just stay low and keep out of sight.”

“And why don’t you do it?”

Dave huffed and pinched a roll of fat on his belly.  “Because I’m not as light on my feet as you are.”

Nick sighed.  He didn’t have a problem with going – it made sense.  What he had a problem with was Dave thinking he had any right to give him orders.

Still, someone needs to do it.  It might as well be me.

“Fine,” he said, already moving towards the clearing.  “Everyone wait here.”

The ground ahead was free of the roots and undergrowth that had made their progress so laborious over the last few hours.  It was a relief not having to step so carefully.  He crouched down low as he headed towards the clearing, squinting to make out what was lurking beyond the distant treeline.  As he crept, he concentrated on what he could hear as well as well as what he could see, but, aside from the various bird calls and wind-rustling bushes, there was total silence.  He could only consider that as being positive; the last thing he wanted to hear was the bloodthirsty screech of an infected person.

It’s almost like an alarm they have.  They see prey and go off like a siren.

Beyond the treeline was something large and grey – something manmade.  As Nick crept closer, it became clear what he was looking at.

Well, I’ll be damned.

The car park on the edge of the woods was vast and empty.  Its several hundred white-lined parking spaces were vacant; the whole area a barren field of weathered concrete.  At the near end was a long, single-story building backing up against the base of a steep hill.

What is this place?

He knelt down in the grass and kept low as he headed down the embankment.  He stepped cautiously onto the car park.  In addition to the single-story building was something else; it looked like a cable car system.  Its thick steel cords stretched up from the base of the hill all the way to the lofty summit.  The cables seemed old, yet functional.  The dozen or so carriage-cars were antiquated, small and rickety, with bright-red, peeling paintwork.  But they were also intact and seemingly operational.

A ticket office and embarkation platform had been erected at the foot of the hill, backing up against one end of the single-story building.  A large, suspended sign read: RIPLEY HEIGHTS AMUSEMENT PARK AND ZOO.

It’s some kind of tourist trap.

Nick scratched his chin and took another scan of the landscape.  The whole area was deserted.  Safe.

This could be interesting, he told himself, before heading back up the embankment and re-entering the woods.    He needed to go and get the others.

Maybe one of them will know what this place is.

The group was waiting patiently when Nick returned to them in the woods.  He immediately motioned for them to join him.  Cautiously, they did so.

“What have we got?” Dave asked him.

“Not exactly sure.  There’s a car park and a building.  Looks like a café or a fast food place.  There’s an amusement park nearby, I think.  Up a massive hill.  I haven’t seen a single soul and it looks pretty safe.  There’s not even any cars in the car park.”

“Good work,” said Dave, patting him on the back like an old buddy.  “Okay, people, let’s be cautious and keep our eyes peeled.  We may be able to find a phone inside this café, so we might finally be able to get a call through to our loved ones and the authorities.”

There was a muted cheer from the group.

“Let’s move,” he said, leading the group in a slow moving charge, heading through the same gap in the trees that Nick had.

They all stepped carefully down the embankment and onto the cracked pavement of the car park.  Then they took in their surroundings.

“Ripley Heights,” said Eve with an element of surprise in her voice.  “I haven’t been here since I was a kid.”

“You know this place?” Nick asked her.

“Yeah, it’s a kiddie park.  You take the cable car up to the top and there’s a petting zoo and some rides.  It’s all pretty lame, but as a kid I loved it.  Surprised the place is still going.  It was falling apart ten years ago.”

“What’s this building up ahead?”

She let out a giggle.  “It’s the Rainforest Café.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  My dad used to drag us out the car and then we’d all have go to the toilet while he paid for our tickets.  Then he would make us all wait inside the café while he and mom had a coffee before we could ride to the top.  Me and my sister hated that part.  Kind of miss it now, though.  My dad passed away a few years later; heart disease.”  She let out a wistful sigh and Nick could tell she was thinking about her family and whether or not they were okay.

“Come on,” he told her, trying to keep her mind from exploring dark alleyways.  “Let’s go and take a look around, before Dave takes over.”

She nodded and the two of them got going.

Up ahead, the long, single-story building was indeed called the Rainforest Café.  The wooden sign had become weathered and frayed, but it only made it more befitting to its jungle theme.  Through the grimy glass windows, Nick could see two dozen fibreboard tables surrounded by plastic chairs.  At one end was a fast food counter with pictures of burgers and hot dogs above it.

“There’s no way for us to get inside,” he said.  “And there’s no one in there to let us in.”

“We’ll break in,” said Dave.

It felt wrong to suggest such an act, but Nick couldn’t find a reason to object.  With all the damage and destruction they had witnessed on the road, adding a little more seemed like spitting in the ocean.

“What can we use?” asked Jan as he looked around.  “The whole place is pretty barren.”

“Does anybody have anything hard on them?” Dave asked the group.

Dash grabbed at his crotch.  “I do, but I don’t think you can break glass with it.”

“That’s gross,” said Cassie, holding a hand to her mouth.

Dash sucked at his teeth.  “Oh, come on, girl, quit playing coy.  A fine piece of ass like you must have had her fair share of crotch rockets.  If not, then allow me to be the first.”

Jan put one of his meaty palms against his fellow-prisoner’s chest.  “Take a cold shower,” he said.  “Or someone will cut it off.”

Dash just snickered.

“Okay,” said Dave, clapping his hands together to get everyone’s full attention.  “Everybody, spread out and check the sides of the building.  We’re looking for a brick or anything else that could help us get inside.”

Everybody set off at once.  Nick went to check over by the cable car station with Pauline, who seemed like she could use the company.  She looked exhausted.

“How you holding up?” he asked her.

“Well, the only thing keeping me going is the chance that there might be food inside this building.  I’m hoping something to eat might stop my stomach from churning so much.”

Nick hadn’t considered the possibility of food, but he realised that he, too, was famished.  “I guess we could all do with an energy boost,” he said.  “What’s your favourite food?”

Pauline looked at him.  “Really?”

“Yeah, why not?  Just making conversation.  I can’t stand silence.  It’s so tense between us all that I feel like somebody might spontaneously combust.”

Her lips cracked a smile for the first time since he had met her.  It made her look younger.  “I know what you mean,” she said.  “Well, I don’t really have a favourite meal, but if I did, I could guarantee you that I wouldn’t find it inside that little burger bar.  I like French food; cheese and red wine.  Delicious.”

Nick pulled a face.  “No thank you.  I like a big hunk of meat.  Nice fat steak or a pork chop.  Caveman-style.”

He suddenly thought about the steak he was supposed to have eaten the night before and felt his stomach roil.  The sight of that bloody hunk of meat between his son’s teeth…

Stay focused, Nick.  No time to-

Something caught his eye.  “Hey, what’s that over there?”  He pointed to a pile of debris up ahead.  It seemed like it might have what they needed.  He and Pauline hurried over and began sifting through the mess.

“They do a really bad job of looking after this place,” Pauline commented as she kicked aside some rotten cardboard.

“I’d guess this place is making a loss.  Most places are nowadays.”  Nick bent over and moved aside an old wooden pallet, rotten to its core.  Spiders and woodlice scurried out from underneath it.

Gross!

But amongst all the insects was exactly what they needed.

Nick picked up the grubby rock and examined it.  It was heavy in his hand, but light enough to throw with a decent amount of force.  “Perfect,” he said, holding it out so that Pauline could see it.

She nodded and agreed that it was perfect, so they headed back round to the car park.  They caught up with Jan and the other two prisoners outside the café’s front entrance.  Nick held the rock out to them and smiled.

“Perfect,” said Jan.  “Give it here and I’ll get us in.”

Nick handed over the rock and they all stepped away from the windows.  Jan wound up like a pitcher and let the rock fly like a baseball.

One of the window panes shattered instantly, showering the ground with shards of glass.

They all cringed as the alarm went off.

It was loud.

Really loud.

Dave and the others came sprinting from around the side of the building.  “You stupid shits!” he shouted.  “Who told you to do that?  You should have waited until I gave the okay.”

Nick bristled and clenched his jaw.  “Piss off, Dave.”

Dave fronted up to him.  “Piss off?  Who the hell do you think you are?  You’d still be on the side of the road if it weren’t for me.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Pauline shouted.  “We have to get that alarm off before any infected people hear us.”

“She’s right,” said Jan.  “Back in one of the towns we passed through, I saw a whole bunch of infected people head right for a church when its bell started ringing.  Attracted every one of them in the area.  We need to cut the noise, right now, or they’ll be here.”

“Don’t worry.  I got this,” said Dash, leaping up onto the ledge of the broken window and disappearing into the shadows inside.  Everyone else stood around anxiously, eyeing the treeline.  They were all dreading the sudden rush of infected people hammering over the concrete towards them.

The alarm was loud enough to travel for miles.

“This is not good,” said Cassie.

Carl put an arm around her.  “It will be okay.”

Dave stomped back and forth furiously, clenching his fists and heaving his gut in and out.  Jan and Renee were the calmest, standing beside the broken window and staring patiently inside.

Margaret, Eve, and Pauline stood beside Nick, huddled together, as if merely doing so was enough to keep them safe.  He patted Margaret on her back and gave her a reassuring smile.

“What a racket,” she muttered.

The shrill call of the alarm set all of their nerves on edge – everyone was visibly close to panic.  If what Jan had said was right, it could spell big trouble for them all.

We’re sitting ducks…

The alarm stopped suddenly.

There was total silence.

A moment later, Dash appeared at the broken window.  He held what looked like a frying pan in his hand.  He used the hard metal edge to knock loose the remaining shards of glass from the frame, making it safe to climb through.  “Come on in, gangsters,” he said.

“Something tells me you’ve done this before,” Nick commented.

“I don’t know what you mean, blud.  I’m just a man that knows a few things.”

“Well, you did good,” said Dave.  “Is there any way you can get the doors open as well?”

Dash shook his head.  “No can do.  Any keys would be in the safe and my skills don’t go that far.”

“Okay,” said Dave.  “Then pass us out one of those plastic chairs to help us climb over.

Dash disappeared back inside and then reappeared at the window with a chair.  He passed it out to Dave who set it down on the pavement.

“Okay,” Dave said.  “Ladies first.”

They sent in Margaret to start; Nick helping her up and then Dash helping her down onto his shoulder from the other side.  Eve was next and hopped through relatively easily, followed by Pauline who stumbled and half-fell inside.  Cassie went next and then the men followed.  Nick went in after Carl, who went in after Renee.  Dave and Jan came in last.  Jan was so tall he could have stepped over without the chair.

Inside, the room was shadowy, but not completely dark.  The chairs and tables were neatly stacked and the floors were mostly clear.  The café was still operational by the looks of things.

“Wonder why there’s no one here,” said Pauline.

“Makes sense,” said Nick, “when you think about the time this all started.  My wife and son were sick before dawn.  I’d imagine some people probably took longer, but it’s safe to assume that the situation was pretty bad everywhere by 8AM.  This café probably doesn’t open until nine or ten, so the staff wouldn’t have even started their commute by the time the shit hit the fan.  I think most people were either getting up for work or already on their way when they got attacked.  We all saw the roads this morning.  It happened all at once.  It caught everybody by surprise.”

“I think we can all count ourselves pretty lucky,” said Dave.  “All of us managed to escape the situation before it got real bad.”

“We owe you big time,” Carl said to Dave.  “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t picked me up.”

Dave puffed up his chest proudly.  “Don’t mention it.”

“Do you think the power is still on?” Cassie asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders.  “No reason it shouldn’t be.”   He headed over to the wall and followed it along until he reached a door reading: STAFF ONLY.  Beside it was a little incision in the wall.  He sighed.  “The lights are operated by one of those little fish key thingies.”

“Anybody got a hair clip?” Jan asked.

Pauline pulled one from her hair and handed it over.  Jan took it to where Nick was standing and jammed it into the small hole.  He fiddled the piece of plastic-coated steel for a few seconds and then…

An audible click!

The lights came on and everybody cheered.

“Excellent,” said Dave.  “Now, let’s hunt down a phone.”

“There’s one through that door,” said Dash.  “It leads to an office and a staffroom.  I saw it when I broke in.”

“Excellent,” Dave said again.  “I’ll go see if I can reach somebody.”

Nick plonked himself down at one of the small restaurant tables and slouched forward on his elbows.  His left arm cried out in pain from his wounds, but it still felt good to be sitting indoors again.  He had been beginning to feel like a nomad, trekking through the woods without direction.  It was good to finally stop for a while and take stock of things.

Pauline took a seat next to him.  “Hope that alarm didn’t bring any attention to us.  I don’t think I can face being attacked again.”

Nick looked out across the empty car park.  “It doesn’t seem to have brought anything.  We should be okay.  We might even be able to stay here until the authorities get a handle of things.”

“You think they will?”

Nick wanted to be optimistic, but couldn’t find the energy to kid himself.  “I don’t know,” he admitted.  “I don’t know what there is for them to get a handle on.  If those sick people can’t be helped…well, let’s just say that would be a lot of funerals to arrange.  I have some of my own to attend to as soon as this is over.”

Pauline had an expression that suggested she was trying to hold back tears.  “How could something like this happen, Nick?”

“Aliens,” said Carl from nearby.

Nick frowned.  “Huh?”

“Maybe it was aliens,” Carl repeated.  “As good a theory as any.  I read once on the Internet that they have this big hole in the desert in America that’s filled with all sorts of things we don’t know about.  I bet it was aliens.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.  “Think I’d prefer to hear something else as a reason.”

Carl shrugged.  “Terrorists, laboratory accident, evil corporations, Mother Nature fighting back.  Meteor.  God punishing us.”

“Are those all film plots or something?” asked Pauline.

“Maybe,” said Carl.  “My point is that something this big doesn’t just happen.  It’s an insane scenario, which means it make senses that there’s an insane cause for it all.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Nick.  “But I’d rather keep my feet on the ground and my mind focused for now.”

“I know what you mean,” Carl nodded sagely.  Then he looked at Pauline.  “You fancy helping me get the grills on, darlin’?  I think everyone could do with some grub.  The power’s on so there should be no reason we can’t get some chow on the go.”

Pauline shot up from her seat.  “Sounds good to me.  I’m bleedin’ starving.”

Nick laughed and watched them wander off to the kitchens.  Then his smile faded as he remembered all of the reasons not to be happy.

How can I even manage to smile with what’s happened?  I should be ashamed of myself.  My son died only hours ago.

The staff door flew open with what sounded like a kick and Dave re-entered the restaurant.  He was shaking his head and seemed pretty pissed off.

“What is it?” Nick asked him.

“The phones are completely dead.  There’s not even a dial tone.”

Nick sighed and rubbed at his forehead.  “I’m beginning to think no help’s coming.”

“Nonsense!  The police must be dealing with this.  Probably the army, too.  They’ll come eventually.”

Nick considered it.  It was a possibility, but really they had no way of knowing.  “Maybe they will come, but what do you plan on doing in the meantime?”

“We can stay here, keep trying the phones.”

“Alright.  Then we should get that broken window covered up or we’re all going to freeze tonight.”

Dave nodded.  His jowls wobbled as he did so.  “Good idea.  Please get right on that.”  Then he turned around on his heel and marched away.

Nick snapped off a petulant salute.  “Right, away, sir.”  Then he got up and headed through the ‘STAFF ONLY’ door to begin his search for materials.

The tiled hallway inside smelt faintly of lemony bleach.  The chemical odour tickled his sinuses.  On his right was an open door leading to a small staffroom and sofa.  Straight ahead was a door marked ‘MANAGER’S OFFICE’.  Nick entered the room and looked around the interior.  An old computer perched on a desk and a heavy safe lay underneath it on the worn blue carpet.  Beside the computer’s monitor was a telephone.  Nick picked it up and held it to his ear.  Like Dave had said, the line was completely dead.  He didn’t know why he had even felt the need to double-check, but it was nice to know that the man hadn’t been lying about it.

I don’t trust that guy.  He’s got an ego the size of the bus he was driving.

Nick looked around himself for something useful to block up the restaurant’s window with and was glad when he was able to find something right away.

On the wall was a large corkboard, more than big enough to cover the broken window.  He pulled at it and it came away from the plasterboard easily; it was only held in place by a couple of loose nails.

He walked sideways with the corkboard, down the corridor, and took it back out onto the restaurant floor.  Two minutes later, with the help of Jan and Renee, Nick had gotten it positioned over the broken window and held in place by a couple of stacked tables shoved up against it.

“That should keep the wind out,” said Jan.

“Hopefully,” Nick said.  “Isn’t the wind that worries me, though.”

Jan patted him on the back with a meaty slap.  “Long as we lay low, I can’t see any danger.”

“Long as nobody makes the mistake of sneezing or coughing, else you and Dave will probably smash their skull in.”

Jan glared at Nick.  He suddenly felt threatened by the larger man.

“Listen, brother,” said Jan.  “I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a killer.  That lady was already dead.  She’s probably wandering around those woods right now, out of her mind.  There was nothing any of us could do for her.  Dave was trying to do her a favour.”

“Funny, because it seemed to me like she was begging for her life.”

Jan shoved Nick aside.  “You seem to be forgetting that in the end I came around to your way of thinking.  Maybe next time I’ll just go with my gut, whether you like it or not.”

Jan walked away and Nick sighed.  It was true Jan had not been the one who had tried to kill Kathryn, but he was the one who had suggested it.  The man was a criminal when all was said and done.

None of us should forget that.  We don’t know how dangerous these prisoners are.  They were locked up like animals before any of this started.

One thing was for sure, Nick’s main concern was not about the wind getting in.

***

It turned out that Carl and Pauline were able to rustle up quite the feast.  A large freezer in the kitchen contained burger patties, hot dogs, mini-pizzas, and bags and bags of frying chips.  With a little bit of fiddling they had managed to switch on the fat fryers and griddles, and within one hour everyone was sitting in the restaurant eating more than they needed.

Nick felt bloated and overly-full already, but found that the act of eating helped take away some of his stresses; allowed him to blank his mind of its troubles while he focused on a basic human need.

Guess there’s a reason they call it comfort eating.

At his table were Eve, Margaret, and Pauline.  Carl, Cassie, and Renee sat at another table, while Jan, Dash, and Dave sat at a third.  The women at Nick’s table all looked very satisfied as they finished off their French fries.  They also had a variety of soft drinks in front of them, which they slurped readily, except for Margaret who was drinking piping hot tea.

“Nothing seems as bad after a good brew,” said Margaret.  “It can get you through anything.”

Eve wiped her mouth with a napkin.  “I bet you’ve seen some stuff in your lifetime, Margaret.”

“I have at that.  Not anything like this, though.  This is hell on earth.  A right bloody shambles.”

“You think it’s the same everywhere?” Pauline asked, rubbing at her eyes and smudging her make-up.

“I do,” said Margaret.  “There seems to be something very deliberate about all this.  How could things degenerate so completely without being planned?  Should we believe that there weren’t any doctors who picked this up early?  That the Government had no warning at all?  If that’s the case then this is either the work of very powerful enemies or a very angry God.  And neither of those would release something this destructive solely on a little island like Britain.”

“So you think it’s happening in other countries, too?” Nick asked.  He held a cardboard beer mat in his hands and was absentmindedly peeling away the label.

Margaret nodded.  “I’d say this is happening at least in the Western world.  If it was terrorists, for example, they would have far more to gain by releasing this in America or mainland Europe.  It would be a waste to focus it only on us.  The spread of the disease would halt at our natural barriers – the coastline.

“Maybe someone just wants to set an example.  Hold the world to ransom by showing what they can do.  Maybe we’re being used to send a message.”

The old lady shrugged.  “Only time will tell.”

Nick nodded his head slowly as he thought about it.

I wonder how much time any of us have left.

While Nick’s mind was wandering, Dave decided to stand up and address the group.  He cleared his throat and began.  “Perhaps now would be a good opportunity for us to get some rest; see what tomorrow brings.”  Nobody argued, so he continued.  “We can turn off the lights and bed down wherever we can.  Margaret, you can have the sofa in the staffroom.”

“Thank you.”

“Then we can hold a meeting in the morning to figure out what our next move will be, although I would suggest staying here until help finds us.  Agreed?”

With no one taking exception, the group began shuffling around as they each tried to find somewhere soft to lie down amongst the various hard surfaces.  Margaret headed off for the staffroom to claim her sofa while Dave claimed the tall-backed leather chair in the manager’s office.  Nick decided to roll up his coat as a pillow and just bed down on the restaurant floor.  There would be nowhere else that was comfortable, so why waste time looking?  Eve and Pauline did the same, lying down a few feet from him.  The three prisoners huddled up in the corner of the restaurant, making a bed from some aprons they’d found hanging up on the kitchen wall.  Carl and Cassie separated off to sleep in the kitchen.  Nick wondered if the two of them had formed a relationship throughout the day’s events as they had become inseparable.

Good for them.  Glad something positive came out of today.

Nick laid his head back on his rolled-up coat and stared up at the suspended ceiling hanging above them all.  The lights in the building had now been switched off and moonlight spilled in through the surrounding windows.  If it wasn’t for all the bloodshed, one might even have described the night as beautiful.

Deana would have found this romantic, bedding down on the floor under the moonlight.

I miss you…

He closed his eyes and listened to the silence for what seemed like hours until, finally, the silence was replaced by the dozing snores of his companions.  The last thing he heard before sleep claimed him, too, was a soft whimpering coming from Eve as she struggled with the unseen terrors of her dreams.

chapter ten

When Nick opened his eyes he was back at home, standing in his kitchen.  Deana stood at the sink, washing dishes with her back to him.  James lay on the cold tiles, staring up at the ceiling as if he was paralysed.

James, what are you doing on the floor?

Nick stepped forward and looked down at his son.  He tried to speak to him, to tell him to get up, but no sound escaped his lips.  When he pressed his fingers to his face he realised that it was because he had no lips.  There was only coarse scar tissue where his mouth should have been.

Oh God…

Deana turned around to face Nick.  Her face was mouth-less, too.  Her eyes were wet with blood and crimson tears stained her cheeks.  In her hand she held a claw hammer.  She offered it to him.  For some reason he could not stop himself from taking it.  He held the heavy hammer in his hand and spun around as if he were suspended by invisible wires.  He was powerless to take control of his own body as he took two strides across the kitchen floor and knelt beside his son’s paralysed body.

James continued staring up at the ceiling, blinking occasionally, but never moving.

Nick raised the hammer above his head – he stared into his son’s eyes – then brought it down with all of his strength.  It struck James right between the eyebrows, caving in part of his skull and filling his eye sockets with blood.

Nick felt sick, horrified by what he had done.

He raised the hammer again.

This time he struck his son in the mouth, shattering his small teeth into tiny shards.  James choked and spluttered as he struck with the hammer again, shattering his jaw completely and sending it sideways.

Nick wanted to die, to stop existing, and escape the abominable fate of destroying his son’s beautiful face.

He raised the hammer again.

Nick swung the hammer downwards, again and again, spraying blood and bone fragments into the air and coating everything with gore as he split apart flesh and mashed up brain matter.  By the time he was through, there was nothing left of James but a lumpy, red residue on the grimy kitchen tiles.

He had just killed his son.

Again.

And Nick knew that he would keep on doing the exact same thing every night when he closed his eyes.  Sleep would never again come easy.

In his dreams, he looked over at his wife pleadingly.  This time Deana was facing him.  She held a chef’s knife in her hand.  Again, Nick was powerless as he took it from her.

When he turned back around, James’s face was back to how it had been, untouched by the vicious blows of the hammer; once again innocent and beautiful.

Nick knelt down and got back to work.

He raised the knife.

***

Nick’s eyes snapped open.  His breathing was wet and ragged, hurting his chest as it forced its way from his lungs.  He was surrounded by darkness, not full black but more of a floating gloom.  When he saw the moon through the windows, he remembered where he was – he remembered everything.

Oh God.  James, Deana.  What the hell happened to my life?  It just went away in the blink of an eye.

He sat up a little too quickly and thought he was going to throw up.  The taste of cheap burger meat rose up and filled his gullet.  Then he heard something and spotted that the lights were on in the kitchen area behind the counters.

In the darkness, he could see the fuzzy shapes of Eve and Pauline sleeping nearby.  Whoever was in the kitchen, it wasn’t them.

Then who?

He rolled onto his knees and rose slowly to his feet.  After what everybody had been through, he did not want to wake anybody up unjustly.

The sounds continued.  As he headed over to the gap in the service counter, it seemed like somebody was weeping.

What the hell?

Is somebody crying?

Nick kept his footsteps slow and careful.  He slid between the various cookers and countertops and tried not to make a sound.  For some reason he felt compelled to creep, to keep his approach clandestine.

At the far end of the kitchen was an L-shaped corridor where the fridges were located.  Peeking out from around that corner was a pair of legs.  The feet sported heavy work boots that Nick thought he recognised.

I know whose boots those are.

Nick rounded the corner to see Carl lying face down on the floor.  There was no blood and it was not immediately apparent what had happened to him.  He could even have been sleeping, but somehow Nick knew it wasn’t true.  He knew it for sure when he spotted Jan standing over Cassie while the girl cowered on the floor without her shirt.

Jan’s eyes immediately went wide when he noticed Nick’s presence.  He quickly put his hands up in submission, holding them high above his head.  “This isn’t what it looks like, brother,” he said.

“You have no idea what this fucking looks like,” Nick growled.  He looked down at Cassie, who was visibly stricken by whatever event had just transpired, and then shook his head in disgust.  “Cassie, it’s okay.  Come over here, to me.”

For a second it looked like she might refuse, but then she clambered to her feet shakily and scuttled over to him.  Nick placed her behind him.

Jan stared Cassie hard in the eye as she cowered behind Nick.  “You remember what we spoke about, sweetheart, okay?”

“You don’t talk to her,” Nick said.  “You don’t say a word to her, you understand me?”

Jan shook his head.  “You got this all wrong, brother.”

“The only thing I got wrong was letting a bunch of criminals tag along with us.  Soon as the sun is up, you’re gone.  When the others hear about this they’re going to lynch you.”

Jan laughed, his barrel chest heaving in and out.  “Who?  You and Dave?  Don’t make me shit myself!”

Nick shoved out at Jan angrily, but found himself swatted aside like a measly fly.  The larger man punched him in the ribs and then shoved him aside with ease.  Nick flopped to his knees, clutching his abdomen.  His lungs felt like they might explode as he fought desperately to catch a breath.

Jan strode forwards and shoved him backwards with a large right foot.  He glared down at Nick as though he were a child.  “We’ll talk about this in the morning,” he said, “and we’ll see who gets lynched.”

Then the large man turned and walked away.  As he did so, he looked Cassie in the eye again.  “You just keep quiet and things will sort themselves out, sweetheart.  Trust me.”

Nick managed to catch a strangled breath and roll onto his side.  He shuddered in pain.  Cassie came up beside him and helped him to his feet.  Her shirt was rolled up on the floor and she hastily picked it up and put it back on over her white, satin bra.  Then it was as if she had suddenly remembered that Carl was unconscious.  She dropped to her knees beside him and patted his cheeks.  “Wake up,” she pleaded.

Carl began to moan.  His eyes fluttered open slowly.  “W-what happened?  My head feels like a Skoda parked on it.”

“I think you got struck from behind,” Nick explained.  “By Jan.”

“Motherfu-“

“Don’t worry about it for now,” said Cassie in a soothing voice.  “We can talk about it tomorrow.  Let’s just go and get some sleep.”

Together they picked Carl up off the floor and started dragging him towards the restaurant floor.  He was still pretty much out of it, but was gradually regaining his senses.

“What the hell happened?” Nick asked Cassie.

She shook her head.  “Nothing.  Don’t worry about it.”

“Jesus, Cassie.  Don’t listen to what that son of a bitch told you.  It’s okay now, you’re safe.  You can tell me what happened.”

Cassie huffed as they got Carl down onto the floor beside the service counter.  “None of us is safe anymore.  We’re all screwed.”

Nick didn’t want to argue with the girl and Cassie obviously didn’t want to talk about what had happened; at least not right now.  There was no point prodding her.

“Okay,” he whispered to her.  “Get some sleep and we’ll talk in the morning.  Don’t go wandering off anywhere, okay?  Stay close.”

Nick headed back towards his spot between Eve and Pauline.  He looked around for Jan and the other prisoners as he went.  The three of them were huddled together on the floor by the restaurant’s exit doors.  Jan seemed to be having a heated discussion with Dash, but both lowered their voices when they noticed Nick’s presence.

What are they talking about?  Are they plotting something?

Nick settled back onto his spot on the floor and took a deep breath.  His breathing was still laboured after the punch Jan had delivered to his ribs.  The guy was big – huge – no doubt about it, and if it came down to violence Nick wasn’t confident what the outcome would be.

“Hey,” said Eve in a whisper.  “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he lied to her.  “I’ll tell you about it in the morning.  Just make sure you and Pauline don’t go anywhere in the night without letting me know first.”

Eve shuffled across the floor so that she was only inches away from him.  “Okay,” she said.  “Same goes for you.  No sneaking off again without telling me first.”

“Deal.”

Nick stared up at the ceiling and wondered what the morning would bring.

Chapter Eleven

The alarm woke everyone.

Nick leapt to his feet in an instant.  His heart beat like the footsteps of a thousand sprinters.  He spun around on the spot, disorientated and confused.

“What’s happening?” Eve cried out from the floor.

“I don’t know.  Something tripped the alarms.”  Nick grabbed his coat up of the floor and put it on quickly.

“But I thought Dash turned them off,” said Pauline, hurrying to her feet along with Eve.

Nick looked over and saw that Dash, Jan, and Renee were still huddled in the corner by the doors.  They seemed just as confused as everybody else.  But that didn’t mean they knew nothing.  He marched over to the prisoners and pointed his finger at them.  “Did you do this?”

Dash shook his head.  “Do what, man?  Why would we set off the alarms?”

“I can’t imagine why you do most of the things you do.  Why is it going off again?  I thought you disconnected it?”

“Nah, man.  I just smashed up the console and shut off the intruder alert.  The alarm is still intact.  I just cut the link between the broken window and the siren.  It was an ancient piece of shit.  Piece of cake.”

Nick shook his head in despair.  “So what set it off again?”

Dave came storming out of the ‘STAFF ONLY’ door, shouting and cursing.  “What’s going on?  Why is the alarm going off again?  And why is all the power off?”

“There’s your answer,” Dash said to Nick.  “If the power went out then the security system probably went over to a battery system or something.  It tripped the alarm all over again.”

“So what do we do?” Nick demanded.

“Disconnect the battery power and the whole system will be dead.”

“Well, we need to do it quickly before any infected people find their way to us.”

“Nick?”  Eve tapped him on the shoulder.

“Not now, Eve.”

“Nick!”

He shot her an irritated glance.  “What?”

“I think that ship might have sailed.”

Nick spun around to see what she was talking about.  It soon became very clear.

Standing at the many windows of the café, peering in with their bloodshot, swollen eyes were dozens and dozens of infected people.

Carl shook his head frantically.  “We…are…screwed.”

All at once, the infected mob burst in through the windows.  Their bodies hit the ground clumsily, embedding themselves with shards of glass.  But they got back to their feet quickly.

It felt like the room was closing in.

“Everybody get out of here!” Nick screamed at the top of his lungs.  “Run for it.”

Everybody bolted, but there was no way out of the restaurant – all the doors and windows were blocked by the infected – so they made instinctively for the only barrier they could find: the fast food service counter.

“Into the kitchen,” yelled Carl.  “There’s a fire exit at the back.”

The infected screeched as they gave chase, clambering up and over the counter in a flood of limbs.  Nick and the others rounded the L-shaped corridor of the kitchen and wasted no time in gathering up against the fire exit that Carl had promised them was there.  Jan leapt into the air and kicked the push-bar that crossed the door’s centre and it flew open with a clatter.  The air rushed in from outside; it was crisp and cold.

“Everyone outside,” Dave ordered.

Jan stood in the doorway, holding it open and ushering everyone out.  Nick waited whilst the women funnelled through, ready to shoot out right after them.

But it was then that he realised someone was missing.

“Shit!” he said.  “I have to go get Margaret.  She’ll still be in the staffroom.”

“Leave her,” Dave said.  “You’ve got no way to reach her.”

Nick stood still, tempted to fight his way back through the kitchen and into the restaurant.  But the infected were everywhere.  In fact, they were rounding the corner right now and closing in on the fire exit.

Jan grabbed a hold of Nick and pulled him through the doorway.  Dave immediately slammed the door shut behind them.  The infected mob clattered against the other side, beating at it furiously.

It had been close, but they had all made it out, with only milliseconds to spare.  Nick let his shoulders drop as he looked back at the locked door.  Everyone except Margaret.  We left the poor woman to die.

I’m sorry.

Everyone was huddled at the back of the steep hill, behind the café.  They were currently hidden from the car park, and from the lethal monsters that were loitering there.

“We have to go,” said Dave, “before they realise that we’re back here.”

Nick shook his head.  “We can’t just leave Margaret behind.  She might still be alive in there.”

Dave shrugged.  “You do whatever you have to, but the rest of us are getting out of here.”

Eve gave Nick a pleading look.  “We have to get out of here before they find us.  You can’t help her.”

“You go with everyone else,” he told her.  “I’ll catch up with you.”

Eve shook her head vigorously.  “No way.  You have to come with us.”

“I will.  Just get going.”  She went to argue with him but he didn’t let her.  “Just go!”

Everyone clambered up the hill, struggling through the undergrowth and heading back towards the woods they’d arrived from yesterday.  Nick watched them go, but was surprised to see that Jan was still standing there beside him.

“What the hell are you doing?  Get out of here.”

“I figured you could use a hand.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Well, maybe the old dear inside does.  You selfish enough to turn me away when a woman’s life is at stake?”

Nick huffed.  “Fine, let’s just do this.”

He pressed his back against the building.  There was no way inside the fire exit, but he knew that the staffroom had a window.  If he could find it, he might be able to get Margaret out.

Jan followed Nick as he moved cautiously around the building.  The keening pitch of the security alarm was deafening, which made it impossible to hear what was around the next corner.

I could be walking right into a whole bunch of them.

He stopped at the edge of the building’s rear wall and prepared himself to peek around the corner.

“Be careful,” said Jan.  “Those things see you and they come at you like heat-seeking missiles.”

“I know.  I’ve seen enough of them.”

Slowly, inch-by-inch, he leaned around the corner, searching for the nearest threat.  He soon pulled his head back and cursed.  “Damn it!  There must be at least a dozen of them around there.”

Jan scratched his beard.  “I have an idea.”

Nick sighed.  “What?”

Jan looked upwards at the building’s roof.  “It’s a single story.  With a boost I should be able to get up there; create a distraction for you.”

“But, then, how do you get down again without them getting you?”

He shrugged.  “One thing at a time, brother.  You in?”

Nick thought about it and then nodded.  “Okay.  Let’s do it.”  He threaded his fingers together and made a platform for Jan to step on, before hoisting the large man upwards.  “Jesus Christ, you weigh the same as an elephant.”

Jan dangled for a second and then heaved himself up in a finely executed pull-up.  At the top, he straightened up and brushed the dust from his knees.  “Only two things to do in prison,” he said, looking down at Nick from the roof.  “Educate one’s mind and exercise one’s body.  You ready?  I’ll try and get them to follow me around to the other end of the building so that you can get the old dear free and clear.”

Nick nodded, but kept a serious look on his face.  “You know we’re still going to have that conversation about what happened to Cassie?”

“Looking forward it,” said Jan as he raced off to the opposite side of the roof.

Nick waited and listened for the distraction.

“COME ON, YOU STINKING ARSEHOLES.  COME GET IT!”

Nick decided that was his cue.  He peeked back around the corner to see that the infected gathered there had turned around and were now racing to the other side of the building.  The coast was clear.

He hurried around the next wall, peering inside each window as he passed.  After looking into the kitchen, and then into the manager’s office, he found the window that led to the staffroom.

There was no sign of Margaret.

Damn it.

He tapped on the glass lightly.  “Margaret!  Margaret, are you in there?”

She appeared from her hiding place behind the room’s sofa and Nick sighed relief.  She trotted up to the window and seemed glad to see him.

“They’re inside,” she said to him through the glass.  “I can hear them.”

“I know.  Just open the window and I’ll get you out of here.”

The old lady was white as a sheet, but she did as she was told.  She fiddled with the window latch and managed to get her gnarled fingertips beneath the window frame.  She slid it upwards.

Nick put his arms out to her.  “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

It was clearly a struggle for Margaret to get herself up and over the window ledge but, given the gravity of the situation, she managed to bundle herself over into his waiting arms.  He set her down on the ground and examined her.  She seemed okay.

Jan continued to heckle the infected from the rooftop.  The coast was still clear.

Nick grabbed Margaret’s arm and hurried her around to the back of the building.  It was still clear of infected, although he could hear them banging on the fire escape from inside the kitchen.  Not wanting to stick around, he headed for the woods at the base of the hill and slid between the trees.

When they were sufficiently away from the café and the car park, Nick brought them both to a stop to catch their breath.

Jan was still shouting and cajoling from the rooftops and keeping the danger contained to the front of the restaurant. Nick wasn’t sure he would’ve gotten Margaret out without the prisoner’s help, but after what Jan may have done to Cassie last night, he still considered just leaving him there to meet his fate.  It would have been wrong, though.  Jan had helped rescue Margaret.  They owed him now.

He placed a hand on Margaret’s shoulder.  “I need to find a way to get Jan off the roof in one piece.  Can you wait here?”

“Of course, just make sure you come back in one piece.”

Nick patted her shoulder gently and then headed back through the trees.  The building came back into view quickly.  He could still see Jan standing on top of the roof, waving his meaty arms above his head and hollering at the baying mob below.  Jan probably didn’t even know that Nick and Margaret had gotten clear.

With the alarm still wailing, Nick could think of no subtle way to get the other man’s attention, so he just put two fingers in his mouth and wolf-whistled.  Luckily, Jan heard it and turned around.

Nick crouched in the bushes and waved.  Jan gave him a thumbs-up, along with a questioning look.  Nick gave a thumbs-up back to let him know that Margaret was safe.

Now we just have to find a way to get you down from there.

Jan shrugged and peered around the roof.  The expression on his face was an obvious, now what?  Nick had to admit to himself that he had no clue.  Getting the man off the roof safely was not going to be easy.

He crept forward out of the bushes and headed back to the rear of the building.  He thought about climbing onto the roof and joining Jan up there, but there was no way he could make it up on his own.  The only way he could help Jan get down was if he distracted the mob of infected people the same way Jan had for him.

But how do I do that and not die?

He headed around the side of the building, back to the open staffroom window.  He checked to see that no infected people had found their way inside and then climbed through.

The only weapon inside was an abandoned umbrella propped up beside a dusty television.  It was not even worth taking.  He would have to remain unarmed.

Great!  Maybe I can box my way out of this.

The alarm was muffled from inside the staffroom and Nick could just about make out the shuffling of infected people in the corridor beyond.  It was apparent that if he opened the door, he would be face-to-face with a whole bunch of them.

So what the hell do I do?

Suddenly, he had an idea.

He looked up at the suspended ceiling.

Maybe if I can get up there…

Nick hopped up on the sofa and balanced on the backrest.  From there he was able to reach up and push against one of the ceiling tiles.  It was made of fragile fibreboard and was light enough to push aside with just one hand.  The tiles would not be strong enough to hold his weight, but the metal railings holding them in place might be.

Either that or I’ll fall to my death.

He leapt up and grabbed at one of the rails.  It bent beneath his weight but held firm after a couple of inches.  Kicking at the wall for leverage, he managed to clamber his way up into the ceiling space.  Fortunately, the staffroom and offices were made from cheap partition walls and the space above allowed unrestricted access from one end of the building to the other.

It was a struggle to move along the railings, and the exertion quickly made him huff and puff, but he kept going.  Inch by inch, he shuffled through the crawlspace.

After several feet, he pulled aside a tile and peeked through the gap.  In the corridor below were half a dozen infected people.  They milled about like birds searching for insects, all twitchy movements and sudden flinches.  They barely even resembled human beings any more.

Maybe they really have become monsters.

Nick carefully replaced the ceiling tile and continued on along the railings.  He had to keep his face pointed downwards, chin to his chest, as age-old insulation and dust swirled around him; disturbed, most likely, for the first time in years.

If the infected don’t get me, asbestos poisoning will.

He eventually stopped where he imagined the restaurant floor to be and carefully positioned himself astride two parallel rails.  He pushed on them to test their strength.  They groaned a little but kept their shape.  Above him, Jan’s muffled shouting continued to keep the infected herded together in one place.

Nick took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do.  Here goes nothing.

He smashed his fist into one of the flimsy ceiling tiles and sent it plummeting to the floor.  A couple of infected people directly below stared up at him and instantly let out one of their high-pitched screeches.  Nick held his breath, terrified, but was glad to see that his plan was going as expected.  He hung his head out of the hole, making sure he was easily visible to the rest of the infected below.

“Hey!  Come and get it, silly bollocks!”

The screech of the infected brought others near.  They funnelled in from the corridors and kitchen areas, and even more started pouring in from outside, dragging themselves in through the broken windows.

It wasn’t long before the restaurant floor was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with infected.  There was even one or two of the slower ones amongst them.

The ones that might be dead.

Now’s not the time to think about that.

“Come on,” Nick shouted down at them.  “Let’s have you!”

Infected people continued to pile in and fill the floor of the restaurant.  They reached up at him futilely, like worshippers praising God.  Eventually he was satisfied that nearly all of them were gathered inside the building.  Their collective screeching was so loud now that it was hard to hear the alarm siren.

Time to get out of here.

Nick pulled himself back up from the hole in the ceiling and swivelled around on the railings.

Suddenly he fell.

The rail had bent and lowered by about six inches.  Nick froze, closing his eyes and praying that the rail did not give any more.  The sounds of the infected below him seemed to get even more ravenous as he hung perilously above them.

After a few seconds had gone by, he slowly lifted his hand and grabbed the rail further along.  Then he moved his knee.

The railing groaned.

Nick kept moving.

He headed back the way he had come, being mindful to make as little noise as possible.  His intention was for the infected to remain in the restaurant, looking up at the hole in the ceiling where they had last set eyes on him.  He would escape the building through the staffroom window without being spotted.  He just had to be quick, and quiet.

And that’s just what he did.  He travelled back through the crawlspace and dropped down onto the staffroom’s sofa.  He wasted no time in hopping back through the open window and heading outside.  As soon as his feet hit the ground, he turned around and shouted up to Jan on the roof.

“Hey!  The back of the building is clear.  Can you get down?”

After a few seconds Jan appeared at the edge of the roof.  “What’s happening?” he asked.  “They all went inside the restaurant.”

“I know.  I lured them in.  Get down from there quick and we can make a break for the trees and try to find the others.”

Jan was visibly relieved, his chest losing a full inch as he let out a whistling breath.  He crouched down and lowered himself onto the lip of the roof, before letting himself go.  He hit the ground with a thud and Nick had to steady the man as he landed.

“Come on,” he said, yanking Jan towards the woods.  “Margaret is waiting for us.”

The two of them raced into the trees, fighting to keep their speed as the headed up the growing incline of the hill.

“Do you think the others will have waited?” Jan asked as they huffed and puffed.

“I doubt it.  In fact, Dave pretty much said that they wouldn’t.”

“What’s the smart thing to do, then?  They could have gone in a hundred different directions.”

Nick stopped running and stamped his foot.  “Damn it!”

Jan looked worried.  “What is it?”

“Margaret.  I told her to wait for me.  She was right here in this spot, I’m sure.”

“Calm down.  I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”

Nick turned a circle, scanning the trees that surrounded them on all sides, but there was no sign of Margaret.  His heart beat rapidly in his chest.

Crack!

A far off snapping of twigs.

“Do you hear that?”  Nick set off towards the sound.  Jan was right behind him.  After passing through several yards of thick trees and thorny shrubs, a figure became visible in the distance.  Nick spotted the coloured-flash of their clothing.

He and Jan picked up speed, aiming for the stranger up ahead.  Nick almost tripped over a half-buried tangle of roots at one point, but Jan managed to reach out and keep him on his feet.  Less than a minute later they had caught up with the unidentified person.

“Eve!” he said, doubling over and wheezing once he knew it was her.  “What…are you doing…out here on your own?”

“I came to find you.  The others are going to move on if you’re not back in ten minutes.”

“That was dumb of you,” Nick admonished her.  He straightened back up and tried to control his breathing.  “Where’s the group now?  Do they have…Margaret?”

“Dave took everyone down to the bottom of the hill, by where we first found this place.  And, yes, Margaret found us.  She’s with them.”

“They should have gone up the hill not down,” Jan said.  “Less likely to be infected people up high, I reckon.”

Eve shrugged.  “Dave said that it would be a waste of energy climbing up the hill.  He wanted to go back the way we came in.  He said it was the only place we knew was safe.”

Nick shrugged.  “Whatever.  Up, down.  I don’t care.  Let’s just catch up with them before they leave us high and dry.”

Eve led the way, taking them horizontally across the hill, and then slightly downwards towards the bottom.  The screeches and wails of the infected had stopped now as the restaurant’s security alarm finally died out.  Now the only sounds left was the pounding of their feet and the snapping of twigs and autumn leaves.

“They’re down here,” said Eve, pointing.

At the bottom of the hill, Dave and the others were gathered in a tight bunch.  Margaret waved at Nick as they approached.  “Thank Heaven’s you’re okay,” she said.

Nick went and gave the old lady a quick hug.

Dave had his arms folded impatiently.  “We were just about to give up on you.”

“Thanks for waiting,” Jan said.  “What’s the plan?”

“We head back into the woods we started in.  We know it’s clear of infected because it was clear when we came through.”

“So was the car park,” Carl remarked.  “But it’s certainly had a few visitors since then.”

“That was the alarm,” Dave said.  “It brought them to us overnight.  They obviously heard it from in the distance.”

“But Dash managed to turn the alarm off after only a couple of minutes,” Eve said.

Dave shrugged.  “They must have just headed for it when it was going off and carried on in that direction when it stopped.  When they hear something they must set off in that direction until they come across something else to distract them otherwise.”

“You mean someone to chow down on,” said Dash.  He looked over at Jan.  “What were you doing, anyway? Risking your life for this honky?”

“Let’s just get out of here,” said Jan.  “I’m not in the mood for being hunted by those things; and it’s only a matter of time before one of them stumbles upon us.”

Carl screamed.

Nick stumbled backwards in shock as Carl crashed to the muddy ground.  Someone had attacked him from behind and was now clinging to his back, arms wrapped around his neck.

“Damn it!” Dave shouted.  “It’s that bitch.”

Nick looked down and could not believe it.  The attacker was Kathryn.  She was struggling with Carl on the ground and trying to sink her teeth into him.  Her face was still swollen with the bruises Dave had inflicted on her, but her eyes were now bulbous white orbs leaking blood.  Blood also poured from her mouth, so thickly that it was like her insides were melting.

“Help me!” Carl cried out.  “Somebody get her off m-“

His words were cut short.  Kathryn’s teeth sunk deep into his throat.  She ripped away his carotid artery and chewed on it like a length of sausage.  Carl writhed in agony as he struggled to take a breath through a throat that was filling with fluid.

A wailing screech from the group’s right-hand side made them all spin around as one.  Several metres away, coming towards them like an Olympic sprinter, was Jake.

“They must have heard the alarms, too,” Nick shouted.  “It brought them in this direction.”

“Everybody run,” Dave bellowed.

No one needed convincing.  They all sprinted back the other way, towards the car park.  When they burst back out of the treeline, hitting the unforgiving concrete, the group skidded to a halt.  Several of the infected had now poured back out of the Rainforest Café and were outside again.  Jake’s screeching had alerted them and they were now staring toward the treeline with their swollen eyeballs.

“There’s nowhere to run,” Eve said as she shuffled up beside Nick.  “We’re surrounded.”

Nick knew she was right.  Jake and Kathryn hunted them from the woods behind, while dozens of infected had started to fill up the car park ahead.  He looked around desperately for an option.

“There!” he pointed.  “Head for the cable cars.”

The group did as he said and sprinted across the car park.  The infected outside the café spotted them immediately and filled the air with their collective screeching.  Then they stampeded as one, clattering across the pavement like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves.

With every step Nick and the others took towards the cable cars, the mob of infected got closer.  Nick didn’t know if they had any chance of making it, but the air was filled with the echoes of their hurried footfalls as he and the others ran as quickly as they could.  They were running for their lives.

They ran so fast that Nick worried his legs might fail at any second.  None of them could quit, though.  They had to keep running.  “Quickly,” he shouted.  “Into the cars.”

On the raised cement platform, only two cable cars were accessible.  All of the others were hanging at spaced intervals up the hill.  The cars were too small to accommodate everyone individually, so the group were forced to split into two.  Nick leapt into the nearest car, followed by Cassie and the three prisoners.  Cassie seemed immediately uncomfortable in the presence of the men, but there was no time to comfort her.  The rest of the group were lagging further behind and barely managed to make their way inside the remaining cable car before the infected reached the platform.

But they did make it.

Are we safe?

Nick pulled his car’s sliding door shut and watched through the plastic windows as Dave did the same in his.  Both groups were now inside a protective cocoon.

But Nick realised something terrible.

Looking across at the other cable car and then checking out the occupants of his own, he noticed that someone was missing.

Margaret wasn’t inside either car.

“No, no, no!”  Nick looked out at the car park and spotted the old woman stumbling across the pavement, too old to sprint as quickly as the rest of them.

He made for the door, but Jan stopped him.  “You won’t make it in time, brother.  Her nine lives are up.”

“I have to get her.  We only just saved her.”

But it was too late.  The infected mob engulfed Margaret like a swarm of flesh-eating locusts.  They pulled her arms at weird angles, snapping her fragile bones and sinking their teeth into her tissue-paper skin.  It took only seconds for the mob to strip her flesh like a pack of ravenous piranha, leaving nothing but a wet mess on the floor that stained the concrete like spilled red paint.

Oh, Margaret.

The rest of the infected hit the cable cars hard, rocking them on their moorings and sending everyone inside against the steel walls like beans in a maraca.

“There’s no way these cars are going to hold,” Jan said.

“We be screwed, honky,” said Dash, glaring at Nick.  “Good plan, Einstein.”

The infected bashed their fists against the plastic windows, making them rattle and loosen in their frames.  One of the infected – a large Asian man that reminded Nick of his co-worker, Paul – got his fingers inside the sliding door and started to work it back and forth on its hinges.

Nick looked across at the other cable car and saw that its occupants were equally as doomed.  Eve stared across over at him with fear in her eyes.  There were only moments left before the infected would get inside and pluck them all out like tasty pilchards from a can.

We’re totally screwed.  There’s nothing we can do.

Nick glanced around, taking in the sight of the infected up close from behind the windows.  Their snarling expressions spoke of unbridled fury.  It was as if rage had become their sole function.  The infected were unable to do anything except kill.  The only reason they lived was so that others would not.

What will they do when there’s no one left?

Turn on each other?

Nick took one last, regretful look at Eve and began to wish that he had left her in the cupboard he had found her in.  He had not rescued her.  He had doomed her.  She looked back at him, terrified, and seemed to be doing some last chance reflection herself.

Then she began to move.

In fact, Eve’s entire cable car had started to move.  As Nick steadied himself against the walls of his own cabin, he realised that he was moving, too.  The cable cars were working, moving up the suspension lines and scaling the hill.

“What’s happening?” Cassie asked.  Tears streamed down her cheeks.  “Why are we moving?”

“Someone has switched on the cable cars.”  It was the only thing that made sense.

One of the cable car’s windows was pressed in and about to come lose completely, but it would all be okay now.  They were moving away, rising up in the air where the mob could not reach them.

All, except one.

The large Asian man was hanging from the door and had managed to get one of his arms through the gap.  He was clawing at them and trying to make his way inside as his legs dangled in mid-air.

The car continued climbing upwards, but their passenger held on.

Nick kicked at the Asian man’s arm, but the blow did not seem to register.  He just snarled and clawed even more furiously as he tried to get at the passengers inside the car.

“Screw this,” said Jan.  He took two steps backwards, against the opposite wall, and then leapt forward, delivering a hefty kick to the centre of the cabin’s metal door.  Its rusty hinges gave way and the entire sheet of metal, along with its infected hanger-on, went plummeting to the ground below.  Nick peered out the gap.  The Asian man hit the muddy ground fifty feet below them and shattered.  It looked as though every bone in his body had snapped off in the wrong direction.  Despite that, the man was still moving around and trying to get up.

“They don’t give up, do they?” Nick commented, more to himself than the others.  “It’s like they don’t feel pain.”

“Everything feels pain, man,” said Dash, standing up beside him.

Nick shook his head.  For some reason, the infected did not.  They didn’t feel anything except rage and hunger.  They were animals, monsters.  Demons.  Nick finally accepted that the infected were beyond saving and that life was now purely about survival.  He knew that understanding that would lead to a big change for all of them.  No one would make it through the days ahead intact as the people they were before.  They would be forced to adapt.  Or they would die.

Nick finally accepted that James and Deana were gone.

And his entire life along with them.

I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Guess I’m going to find out.

Nick gazed down at the treetops passing by beneath the cable car as they ascended the hill.  The woods were getting thicker the higher up they got.  Once the snarling mob at the bottom of the hill was out of sight, the view was actually quite breathtaking.  The woods seemed to go on forever; their autumn-coloured leaves were never-ending swirls of orange and red.  One hundred feet above the ground and things were once again peaceful.

Nick was yanked backwards and thrown violently to the floor of the cable car.  He shook his head, dazed and confused.  “What the hell?”

Jan and Dash were standing over him.

I knew I couldn’t trust them.  Now I’m going to pay for it.

Jan smashed Dash in the ribs with his fist, like a heavyweight boxer, knocking the wind out of the smaller man and doubling him over.  Then he shoved Dash backwards, right through the open doorway.

Hundreds of feet in the air.

Nick leapt to his feet as Dash’s screams faded towards the ground below.  The sound of him hitting the treetops and smashing through the branches was sickening.  It wasn’t even clear if the snapping sounds were from tree limbs or Dash’s bones.

“What the hell did you just do?” Nick cried out.

“Saved your life,” said Jan calmly.  “Dash was just about to send you on your merry way, before I decided that he was the one who ought to go.  Just ask Cassie.”

Nick stared at Cassie, who was sitting nervously on the cabin’s bench.  She nodded to him.  “He’s telling the truth.  Dash gave Jan a wink behind your back.  He was about to push you out until Jan pulled you out of the way.”

“What?  But why?  Why would he want to kill me?”

Jan huffed, as if the answer were obvious.  “Because he tried to take liberties with Cassie last night and you weren’t going to let it go.  In fact, he was planning to get rid of Dave, too – Carl as well, if need be, but that kind of resolved itself when Kathryn reappeared.”

Nick sat down on the bench beside Cassie, feeling unsafe to be anywhere near the open door after what had just happened.  “I don’t understand,” he said.  “Weren’t you his friend?”

“Dash?  That gangbanging piece of shit?”  Jan shook his head.  “No way.  I just got stuck with him when the prison guards were killed and our transport was sprung.”  He pointed at Renee who was silent as always.  “Renee’s not a problem, but Dash was a degenerate.  I seen him do some real nasty shit the last forty-eight hours.  Me and Renee were already looking to ditch him when we ran into you and Eve in the woods.”

Nick looked at Cassie and frowned.  “So, Jan didn’t, you know…hurt you?”

She shook her head solemnly.  “No.  Carl and I were fooling around in the kitchen.  He was on top of me when something hit him from behind.  It was Dash.  He came at me and tore off my shirt.  Then Jan came and stopped him.”

Jan shrugged.  “Renee saw Dash get up in the night and go into the kitchen.  He shook me awake.  We knew he’d be up to no good, so I went after him.  Turns out I was right.  I caught him red-handed and told him to go back to the restaurant before I beat the hell out of him.  Usually he’s not the type of guy to back down, but I think he understood I wasn’t playing around.  Then you turned up, brother, and got the wrong idea.”

Nick looked at Cassie.  “Why didn’t you tell me at the time?”

“Jan told me he would deal with Dash, but I had to keep quiet, otherwise Dash would hurt more people.”

“If everyone found out about it, Dash would have kicked-off.  He’s a loose cannon.  When I got back after my conversation with you, he wanted to know what was up and why you had got involved.  I told him that you wanted answers.  Dash wasn’t happy being told what he could and couldn’t do, so he told me he was going to take you out, along with Dave and Carl, then hole up with all the women at the restaurant.”

“You told him you’d help,” Nick surmised, flabbergasted by what he was hearing.

Jan nodded.  “I did, yeah, but I planned to take him out first, or at least try to ditch him.  Then the alarm woke everyone up and things kind of took on a life of their own.  It wasn’t until we stated climbing this hill that an opportunity presented itself.  Dash gave me a wink, letting me know he was about to take you out.  So I took him out first.  You can thank me later.”

“I’ll thank you now,” said Nick.  “I owe you.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

“No,” said Nick.  “I judged you wrong.  I treated you like a criminal and that was unfair.”

“Not really.  I am a criminal.  In fact I was a pretty rotten piece of shit for a long time.  Even my own son, Damien, didn’t want to know me after a while.  He headed up north to set up a furniture business with a guy he met in a pub.  Not seen him in years.  I think losing the respect of my son was what made me want to sort myself out - and that’s exactly what I did.  One day I’ll find my boy and make things better.  Tell him I’m proud of him for finding his own way and not ending up like his old man.”  For a second, Jan seemed to get teary, but he scratched at his beard, blinked, and then seemed okay again.  “No, brother, I can honestly say that after eight years inside, my intentions have been pure for at least the last five.  I’m not the same man I was when they put me inside.  But that’s a story for a different day.”

“Well, I hope one day you get to tell me all about it,” said Nick, standing up and moving over to the open door again.  He kept safely to one side and peered out at the tree canopy below.  It was so thick now that it was like a bed of leaves beneath them.  Whatever fate had befallen Dash had been obscured by the thick foliage, and that was probably for the best.  Nick had seen enough death for one morning.

The cable car reached the final third of its ascent and he squinted up at the approaching summit and the concrete platform that topped it.  It was hard to be sure, but he thought he could see someone standing there, ready to receive them.  That person must have been the one who had started the cable cars.

That person was their saviour.

But who the hell are they? he thought as the cable car neared the top of the hill.

Part Two: Top of the world

Chapter Twelve

28 hours earlier…

Annaliese washed her hands in the steel sink and watched the blood drain away with the cold water.  The birth had been a success.  Rita, one of the zoo’s Clydesdale horses, had delivered a healthy 80lb foal and seemed to be recovering well.  Annaliese had provided very little assistance and had only been there to oversee the pregnancy and guide the birth.  Now that it was over she was looking forward to getting back home and resuming the sleep she had been woken from at 3AM.

“That went really well, I thought,” said Bradley, Ripley Height’s resident veterinary nurse.  It was he who had called Annaliese at home when Rita had gone into labour.  Despite the lack of complications with the delivery, the young man had gone very pale.  It was likely his first delivery.  Everyone felt woozy the first time.

Annaliese smiled at Bradley, while also stifling a yawn.  “Yes, it was completely by the book.  Good stuff.  You just need to make sure that Rita allows her foal to suckle, but other than that, nature should take care of itself.”

Bradley back at her – in fact he was beaming.  He looked cute, like a boy with a new bike.  “It was pretty bloody amazing, to tell the truth,” he said enthusiastically.  “I’ve…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You’ll see many more births, trust me,” she said.  “In fact, assisting a birth is one of the few parts of the job that never gets old.  Bringing new life into the world is a gift; something that should never be taken for granted.”

Bradley nodded thoughtfully.  “A gift, yeah.  I know exactly what you mean.  So, are you off back home now?”

She pulled her green woollen cardigan from a nearby clothes peg and wrapped it around herself.  “Too blooming right I am.  I’m exhausted.  I’d only been in bed a few hours when I got your call.”

“One of the downsides of being a vet on call, huh?”

“The worst one,” she said.  “I need my sleep.  Always have.”

“Sorry I had to wake you.  I couldn’t have done it without you, though.  You were amazing.”

“It’s no problem.”  She gave her hands one last rinse in the sink and wiped them dry on a towel.  “I’ll be back here on Wednesday to do my monthly check-ups.  Will you be here?”

“I’ll be around.  As usual.”

Annaliese nodded.  She respected the fact that Bradley lived on the park grounds and pretty much worked seven days a week – he was young, eager to gain experience, and truly loved his work – but she thought he’d be better off having some semblance of a life, too.  He was a young, average-looking bloke with a good job.  There was more to the world than a modest zoo on top of a hill.

“You should get out more,” she said.  “You’ll end up working yourself to death before you’re thirty.  You need to find a balance between work and life.  Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”

Bradley raised any eyebrow.  “Did you come up with that yourself?”

“No, John Lennon did, but if you can’t trust the Beatles, who can you trust?  Just don’t work yourself to death.”

He shrugged.  “I enjoy it.  Tell you the truth, I sometimes like spending time with the animals more than I do people.  Sad, huh?”

“A little bit; but I know what you mean.”  She really did understand the peaceful tranquillity that being around animals brought, and how it was the total opposite of the stress and anxiety that being around people caused.  “But that’s a dangerous road,” she added.  “You’ll end up a hermit.  Get yourself out on the town.  Grab a drink and a girl, and be irresponsible for a night.”

“You fancy going with me?” he asked.

Annaliese spluttered at the unexpected question.  “Me?  I’m almost ten years older than you are.  You can find far better company than me.”

“I don’t think so.  I’d like to get to know you better.”

Annaliese was surprised.  She had no idea that Bradley thought of her in such a way.  She didn’t know what to say, or even how she felt about the suggestion.  It had been years since she’d dated anybody.

For good reason.

I’m damaged goods.

“I…I’ll think about it, Bradley,” she said.  “See you Wednesday.”

He seemed a little disappointed, but not devoid of all hope.  In all honesty, she was not turning him down, just stalling for time while she considered her options.  She never did anything without weighing up the pros and cons first.  It was too easy in life to make mistakes and fill your head with regrets.  She often thought fast, but she always thought smart.

She headed out of the stable’s washroom and stepped into the concrete corridor which led past the four stalls housing the zoo’s Clydesdales.  The reek of oiled leather and musky smells filled the air.

Rita was lain down in the first stall, cleaning her mewing foal with her coarse tongue.  The stallion, Cassius, was in the booth next to her, sniffing at the air with interest.

The proud father.

At the end of the corridor, she turned the deadbolt on the block’s exit door and stepped outside.  The cold atmosphere of dawn pinched at her cheeks and slapped away some of her tiredness.  It didn’t stop her from letting out a long, drawn-out yawn, or rubbing at the fuzziness behind her eyelids.

She glanced at her watch: it was 6AM.  The birth had been a long one, even if not particularly complicated.  She hoped she wasn’t too tired to drive.  Rush hour would be approaching soon and she was feeling like a zombie, dead on her feet.

Let’s just be honest.  I’m hungover.

What Annaliese had not told Bradley was the reason she had gotten so little sleep in the first place.  She had passed out drunk at 1AM, alone in her flat, not even making it to her bed from the couch.  It was the same way she ended most evenings, but they didn’t usually result in her being called out two hours later to attend a birth.

Why am I such a mess?

Huh, like I don’t know the answer to that question.

Still, it’s been three years…

It was her own fault.  Annaliese had been a vet for seven years now and should have been used to being on call.  It was part of her vocation.  No different to a plumber getting shit on his hands.  Just one of the downsides.  All jobs had them.

She gave her shoulders a vigorous rub and got going.  The sun was balancing on the horizon, chasing away the darkness with its amber glow.  The various enclosures of the petting zoo were filled with sleeping animals that would soon awaken, or nocturnal species that were preparing for slumber.  The silence of the night would soon give way to the snuffling of pigs and the bleating of goats.  Not to mention the motorised whirring of the fairground rides that littered the park and would be operating soon.

Up ahead were the zoo’s only truly exotic inhabitants: a small family of orang-utans that had been donated to the park several years ago by a failing Scottish zoo.  It was a mystery why the owners had ever accepted to house the pair of primates when all they were prepared for at the time were the various domestic animals at the petting zoo.  Annaliese imagined they saw it as a lucrative tourist attraction to compliment the park’s various rides and amusements.  It was an immoral way to view such magnificent creatures, but at least time and money had been spent ensuring the orang-utans were given a suitable habitat.  Their half-acre plot at Ripley Heights put their former Scottish habitat to shame.  Eventually the two primates had even been content enough to breed.  They had a one-year old infant male with them now.

They’re a little family, she thought with a degree of melancholy that could even have been jealousy.

Jealous of an orang-utan.  That’s a new low.

She decided to stop for a moment and take in the beauty of the animals before she reached her car and headed home.  The female, Lily, was currently awake.  She was cradling her sleeping infant on the large, grassy mound that sloped down on all sides into a dug-out moat.  It was landscaped in such a way as to prevent escape.  The walls around the moat were a good fifteen feet high from inside the enclosure.  At the rear of the space was a green-painted bungalow that offered the primates a warmer refuge during winter and was also an ingress point for the zoo’s staff to enter the enclosure.

Annaliese waved at Lily and was moved when the female orang-utan waved right back at her.  It wasn’t so much a surprise, as Lily was often receptive to humans, happy to interact, but it was still a heart-warming experience to be looked upon and acknowledged by such a magnificent being.

She scanned the enclosure for Lily’s mate, Brick, and found him sprawled out in the habitat’s mangrove tree.  He was sleeping soundly and every few seconds one of his limp legs would flinch and jump.  His snores filled the air.

Lily gave Annaliese a bemused look as she held her baby that seemed to suggest she was thinking, men, huh?

Annalise grinned.  I hear ya.

Her Prius was located in the staff car park that was up top, rather than the public one down below by the Rainforest Café.  She hated the narrow, two mile road that would take her down the hill and back to the lower altitudes of the nearby villages.  She wanted to get going sooner rather than later to tackle it.  The longer she waited the more tired she would become.

As she headed towards the upper car park, which was located behind the park’s Jacobean manor house, Ripley Hall, Annaliese spotted a pair of young lovers amongst the sycamore trees on the lawn.  They had obviously spilled out of the manor after some boozy function or wedding party.

Half the money that the park made was from hiring out the many rooms and facilities of Ripley Hall and its grounds.  There was a lot of profit to be made by supplying yuppies with ample amounts of booze and a warm bed for the night.  From what Annaliese gathered from members of the house-staff, most of the bosses who hired the property out for their functions were only interested in playing away from home with whatever colleague had been catching their eye most recently.  Most of the snooty soirees eventually devolved into the kind of drunken debauchery that would have been right at home in ancient Rome.  It made Annaliese feel embarrassed.  Embarrassed for those people and their lack of priorities.

People like these two, snogging each other’s faces off in the freezing cold.

Annaliese cleared her throat loudly as she neared the two lovers on the lawn.  There was no way to avoid them on her way to her car, and she was damned if she was going to be the one who felt uncomfortable.  Let them be the ones to feel awkward.

But the young lovers ignored Annaliese’s approach.  The male of the pair was really going for it; nuzzling at the woman’s neck with animalistic passion.  She could hear the wet, slopping sounds from several feet away.

Charming.  I’d say go get a room, but you already have one.  So maybe you should go use it!

Annaliese had seen quite enough.  She didn’t mind a bit of passion, but she wasn’t about to accept their rudeness of ignoring her presence.

“Excuse me,” she said.  “Perhaps you should take that back inside.  The park will be opening up soon.  You should probably call it a night.”

The couple continued necking.

Annaliese spoke louder.  “Hey!  Time to wrap it up, you two.  Party’s over.”

Finally, she got a response.  The male ceased his fevered nuzzling of the woman’s neck and turned sideways to look at her.

Annaliese went weak from the knees upwards.  The sudden fright sent a shockwave of adrenaline though her veins.

What the hell?

The man’s face was smeared with blood.  A sliver of what looked like flesh hung from his cracked and splintered teeth.  The young woman he was with slumped to the ground as he released her, her neck torn open and gushing fluids.

Holy shit!

Annaliese took a step backwards, shaking her head and fighting the urge to vomit.  Vet or no vet, she had never seen such a horrific sight in all her life.  It was like a scene from a Clive Barker novel.

“Back the hell away,” she shouted at the approaching man.  “Stay back.”

The man kept coming.

She was forced backwards as he came at her with outstretched arms.  Her heel caught on a root and she went stumbling down onto her rump.  Shooting pains ran up her spine, emanating from her coccyx.

She saw stars.

The man was on her immediately.  He fell down on top of her and started clawing at her shirt.  She fought back with her arms and knees, trying to push herself free.  But the man was too heavy; all her effort was focused just on keeping his jaws away from her neck.  It was crazy, but it seemed like the man was trying to bite her, just like he had the dead woman lying on the ground.

Annaliese was trapped.

She let loose a scream, crying out for help.  Her arms began to ache and the man on top of her seemed to get heavier and heavier.  She pushed with all her might, but it was no use.  The man was too strong.

“Jesus, somebody help me!  Help!”

“Anna?”

Annaliese craned her neck back and saw Bradley racing towards her.

“Bradley, help me.  Get this psycho off.”

Bradley tackled the man and threw him to the ground.  Annaliese clambered back to her feet, panting and whining with fright.  Bradley cradled her in his arms.

The crazy man rose back to his feet, undeterred by being thrown to the floor.  Bloody tears poured from his eyes and coloured his cheeks red.

Bradley placed himself in front of Annaliese protectively.  “What the hell is with this guy?”

“I don’t know.  But that woman over there is dead.  He ripped her goddamn throat out with his teeth.”

“Pissing hell!”

The man stumbled towards them, quick and determined.  Blood continued pouring from his eyes as though a faucet had been turned on in his brain.

Bradley wound up a punch and let fly.  His fist connected hard with the man’s jaw and made a sickening thup sound.

But the man kept coming.

Annaliese was pretty sure the punch would have floored all but a professional boxer, but the man in front of them was still undeterred.  He lurched forward and managed to grab a hold of Bradley’s collar.  The two of them collapsed to the floor in a heap.

“Argh!”

Bradley yelled out in agony as the psychopathic man clamped his teeth down on his hand, grinding and sawing at his middle and ring fingers.

“Help me,” he screamed.

Annaliese had to act fast.  She hunted around for something to use.  Her eyes fell upon a small picket sign.  The rectangle of cardboard read KEEP OFF THE GRASS and was set into the ground by a short metal spike.  She yanked it free from the ground and pulled the cardboard away from the spike.

Bradley continued to yell out as he struggled with his attacker, blood pouring from his trapped and ruined hand.

She pointed the spike at the crazy man.  Her hands were shaking like loose leaves in the wind.  “Let go of him right now,” she said, “or I’ll drive this right through your goddamn eyeball!  You’ll get one hell of a lobotomy.”

The man ignored her and continued ripping and tearing at Bradley’s fingers, almost seeming to moan in ecstasy as more and more blood spilled from the wound.

“I’m warning you!” she said.

“Just get him off me,” Bradley yelled.  “Stab him!”

Annaliese saw no other option.  The man had received his warning and wasn’t going to stop.  It was as if some wild fever had taken over him, removing any powers of rationality.  The man was a vicious animal.

I warned you!

She leapt forward with the metal spike and drove it into the man’s shoulder.  It sunk easily into the soft flesh and sinewy muscle between the trapezius muscle and collarbone, causing what should have been agonising pain.

But the man did not flinch.

Impossible.  No one can ignore that amount of trauma.

Annaliese could not believe what was happening.  She stood there, stunned and disbelieving.  Bradley’s screams became a faraway echo in her mind as she thought back to all of the emotional horror she had endured the last few years and how it had all led up to this final surreal nightmare that topped them all in one fell swoop.

Maybe I finally found my way to Hell.

Then she was back again, her moment of panic gone as quickly as it had arrived.  Fear was just a response.  It could be contained, even utilised.

Make it work for you, Anna.

She rushed forward and yanked free the spike from the man’s shoulder, releasing a jet of blood into the air as the wound unplugged.  At that same moment Bradley’s fingers finally came free, the gristle and cartilage finally giving up their battle to stay connected to his body.  Bradley wailed like a clowder of cats as his two fingers disappeared and were devoured by his tormentor.

Annaliese took her opportunity.  The crazy man had lifted his head as he came away with Bradley’s severed digits in his jaws.  He was chewing the severed fingers ecstatically, even as she lifted the spike in the air and pointed it at his face.

I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

But he’s left me no choice.

She brought the spike down hard, driving it vertically into the man’s skull.  The sharp metal fought against thick skull bone but quickly delved deep into the soft tissue beyond.

I just stabbed a guy in the brain…

The man’s body went stiff.  His chewing stopped.  Then he toppled sideways and lay still; a bloody mess on the dew-soaked grass.

Bradley shuffled away on his back, clambering as quickly as he could from his now-dead attacker.  He held his injured hand out in front of him as he stumbled to his feet and went deathly pale at the sight of his missing appendages.

“Come on,” she said to him.  “We need to get you some help.”

The two of them took off down the lawns towards Ripley Hall.  There were several phone lines inside the manor where they could call for help.  There was also plenty of comfortable space to get Bradley settled down while they waited.  It would also give Annaliese the chance to find out who the hell the man she just killed was and why he had gone so completely berserk.

The manor house was lit up like a beacon in the grey haze of the early morning.  Its numerous leaded windows glinted in the light of dawn and several silhouetted figures danced and shifted behind them.

Have people been partying all night?  No wonder that guy was crazy.  Twelve hours partying and drinking is enough to drive anybody nuts.

Annaliese had to almost drag Bradley up the steps to the front doors.  He was weak from shock and leaning on her for support.  “Come on,” she encouraged him.  “We just need to get you inside and then you can sit down.”

She reached out with her free arm and grasped one of the door’s wrought iron handles.  She pushed down on it hard and shouldered open one of the two heavy wooden doors.

The foyer inside was brightly lit by a crystal chandelier and several wall sconces but, despite all the lights, the reception area was deserted.

To Annaliese’s immediate right was Ripley Hall’s grand dining room and the kitchens beyond.  To her left were the function suites and bar.  Straight ahead was the winding staircase that led to the two upper floors and bedrooms.

She headed for the vacant reception desk.  Behind it was the door to the front office.  She tried the handle and was disheartened to find it locked.

Where is everybody?

Bradley flopped himself down on a nearby swivel chair and closed his eyes as he fought against the pain he was in.  His finger stumps dripped slick trails of blood onto the floor and began forming a sticky pool on the tiles.

Annaliese banged on the office door.  “Hello?  Is anybody in there?”

No answer.

She turned around and put her hand on Bradley’s shoulder.  “Just hold in there,” she told him.

“N-no…problem.”

She edged around the reception desk until she was back in front of it.  The place seemed deserted, but she had seen people from outside through the windows.

Where the hell is Shawcross?

Shawcross was the manager of Ripley Hall.  He would never allow the front desk to go unattended like this.  It was always manned twenty-four hours a day.

She palmed the service bell on the reception desk and waited as its chime echoed off the walls and high ceilings.

Nobody came.  Even after ringing the bell several more times.

“This is ridiculous,” she said.  “Somebody always mans the front desk.  Where the hell is Shawcross?”

Bradley tried to focus on her, but his eyes were red and irritated, almost like he had a bad case of hay fever.  “He must be somewhere.  The guy never leaves.”

“Bit like you,” Annaliese said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.  Bradley looked awful and she didn’t want him going into panic.

There were noises from nearby.  The sound of shuffling feet.

Annaliese peered left and right, looking at both the entrance to the function suites and the doorway leading to the dining room.  “Hello?” she shouted.  “Hey, we need help here.”

“I…I don’t like this,” said Bradley in a voice thick with phlegm.  Annaliese examined him for a second and worried about his condition.  He was losing blood, but he still seemed far worse than he should have.

The shock must really be getting to him.

Someone appeared in the arched entrance of the function suites.  It was one of the maids.  Annaliese could tell by the woman’s green tabard.

“Finally,” she said, stomping towards the woman.  “I need to call an ambulance and get my colleague somewhere comfortable.  Do you have a key to the office?  I need to perform first aid immediately.”

The maid said nothing.  She just stood in the doorway and stared at Annaliese.

“Hey,” she shouted.  “Can you answer me, please?  I’m not kidding around here.  Bradley is hurt.”

Still no reply.

The maid continued to stand, staring at Annaliese curiously.

“Look, if you can’t help me, can you at least go and get Shawcross?”

The woman stepped forward and Annaliese saw the blood in her eyes.

Just like the man outside that attacked me.

The maid screeched at Annaliese and raced across the tiles.

Annaliese was rooted to the spot for a second, not understanding what was happening, but survival instinct quickly took over and she leapt behind the reception desk, placing a barrier between her and the charging woman.

Bradley screamed out from his chair.  “She’s like that guy outside.  She’s crazy.”

Annaliese could make no sense of it, but she knew Bradley was right.  The maid leapt over the desk and reached out to grab a hold of her.  Without even thinking about it, Annaliese picked up the keyboard from the desk’s computer station and smashed it over the woman’s head.  Several keys came loose and a bloody wound opened up on the back of the woman’s skull but, as Annaliese was now getting used to, the blow seemed to have no effect at all.

It’s like fighting a brick wall.

Time to try a different tactic.

She grabbed a handful of the maid’s tabard and pulled her across the desk, beaching the woman on her belly.  Then she yanked the keyboard on its cord, releasing some slack.  She quickly wound it around the woman’s neck and pulled the wire as tight as she could.  Then she stepped away.

The maid tumbled from the desk and tried to straighten up, but she was held back by the tangled wire around her throat.  The more she pulled, the tighter the bonds became, and she was unable to move more than a foot from the desk.

Annaliese grabbed the back of Bradley’s chair and started rolling him across the foyer.  “What the hell is going on here?” she said.  “Where the hell is everyone?  And why are people acting like maniacs?”

Several more bodies appeared in the entrance of the function suites.  Annaliese could tell right away that the strangers were all dangerous – all like the man outside on the lawn.  They snarled and hissed like cobras ready to strike.

Guess that answers my question about where everybody is.

The mob was a mixture of both staff and guests.  A waiter was amongst them, his crisp white shirt stained dark with blood and other fluids.  Most of the rest of the group were young revellers, no doubt having come to Ripley Hall for a good time at their company’s expense.  Somehow they had gotten more than they had bargained for.  They were all now covered in blood and hanging chunks of their own flesh, and the flesh of others.

All at once, like a demonic choir, the mob screeched at the top of their lungs.  Annaliese became immediately aware of more people behind her, at the top of the stairs.  She peeked over her shoulder and saw that they, too, were covered in blood and snarling.

Bradley was weeping and cradling his head in his hands.  “We are so screwed.”

They were rushed from both sides; one mob of crazy people coming from the function suites; another from atop the staircase.  Annaliese grabbed Bradley’s chair and raced him across the tiles towards the only place she had left to run – the grand dining room.  She hurried through the archway on her left.

The cavernous dining room was empty.  Its huge mahogany tables and ornate chairs lay crooked and disturbed as if some great battle had been waged there.  Blood coated everything.  Annaliese almost slipped in a puddle of it as she sprinted across the room.  If not for Bradley’s chair offering a handhold, she may have gone down on her face.

The mob was coming up fast behind her.  They screeched and wailed inhumanely as they leapt over chairs in their pursuit of her.  If not for their wild lack of coordination, Annaliese would already have been captured.

And that’s still exactly what will happen if I don’t find somewhere fast.

Ripley Hall’s kitchens were up ahead, accessed via a pair of swinging oak doors.  Annaliese raced towards them desperately, but the effort of pushing Bradley in his chair was gradually slowing her down.  The mad rush of bodies behind her was gaining.

They’re going to eat me alive.  I’m going to die without ever having a clue why.

Suddenly the doors ahead of her opened.

A face popped out from the gap, leaning out from inside the kitchen.

“Come on,” said the stranger; a woman.  “Quickly!  They’re right behind you.”

Annaliese summoned a final burst of strength and leant forward against Bradley’s chair.  She managed to pick up speed, but her attackers gained distance on her with every step.

I’m not going to make it.  These psychopaths are going to kill me.

I’m not going to make it.

Annaliese hit the kitchen doors at speed, using Bradley as an unwilling battering ram.  The doors spilled open and the chair she was pushing tipped over onto the floor.  Bradley went sprawling onto the tiles and let out a moan.  Annaliese’s legs gave out and she went tumbling to her knees right beside him.  The next thing she was aware of was people scurrying around behind her, shouting at one another and pushing around heavy objects.

“Come on,” said one of the strangers.  “Get the table back up against the doors.”

“I’m doing it, I’m doing it,” said another.

“Damn, they’re at the door.  They’re going to get in.”

“No, no.  We’re fine.  Just keep pushing.”

Together, the group of strangers managed to get the kitchen doors reclosed and barricaded them with a heavy wooden table and one of the room’s industrial fridges.  The bloodthirsty mob outside beat their fists against the oak doors, but the ancient wood held firm, designed to stand the test of time.

Annaliese peeled herself off the tiles and crawled over to Bradley who was lying on his side and wheezing.  His skin had become alabaster-pale and his finger stumps continued bleeding onto the floor.

“Is he bitten?” asked a voice that she recognised.  It was Shawcross, the manager of Ripley Hall.

She stared up at the man, surprised by his wild ginger hair that was usually so neatly combed, and his flush red face that was usually so pale.  She shook her head in confusion.  “What?”

Shawcross huffed.  “Bradley,” he said.  “Did one of those things bite him?”

“Things?  What are you talking about?”

Shawcross smashed his fist against the wall.  “Fuck sake, will you just answer the question, you dumb bitch.”

Annaliese was on her feet in a flash.  How dare anyone speak to her that way; especially a wretch like Shawcross.  “Who the hell do you think-”

“Yes, I’m bitten,” Bradley uttered from the floor.  He held up the mangled stumps where his fingers used to be.  “I need help.”

Shawcross shook his head and marched across the room, over to one of the aluminium work counters.  “You’re way beyond help,” he said, and then yanked a wooden meat tenderiser from a set of hooks on the wall.  He started back towards Bradley and the strangers in the room spread out to the sides of the kitchen, as though they wanted to give him space.

Annaliese watched Shawcross cross the tiles with the mallet clutched tightly in his bony fists.  “What the hell are you doing?” she asked him incredulously.

“What does it bloody well look like?  We have to kill him.”

Bradley’s eyes went wide and he started trying to get up.  He couldn’t manage it, though, and flopped down onto his side again.

Annaliese stood over her colleague protectively.  “Are you insane?” she said.  “You’re not killing anybody, you lunatic.”

“He’s serious,” said a nearby woman.  It was the one who had opened up the doors for Annaliese and let her inside the kitchen.  She seemed anxious, but there was also a steely determination in her misty blue eyes.  “Have you not seen what happens when someone gets bitten?”

Annaliese shook her head and held out a hand to Shawcross to keep him from advancing any further.  “No, I haven’t.  I have no clue what is going on here.  All I know is that there’s a dead woman in the gardens and people keep attacking me.  Can somebody here explain that to me, please?”

Shawcross sighed and leant himself up against one of the kitchen counters.  He lowered the meat tenderiser so that it hung less-threateningly down by his thigh.  “It started in the middle of the night,” he said.  “Everything went to hell.”

Chapter Thirteen

Annaliese managed to get Bradley back onto the swivel chair and fetched him a glass of water.  He was unable to take more than a couple of sips.  She couldn’t help but notice the way everybody in the room kept eyeballing him suspiciously, like he was a bomb ready to go off.  There was only a handful of people in the room, but they all looked terrified.

What happened to these people?

“Okay,” she said to Shawcross, moving over to the aluminium counter in the centre of the room.  “Let’s hear it, then.  I want to know exactly what is going on.”

Shawcross shrugged.  “Well, I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you there.  None of us can tell you exactly what is going on.  We can only tell you what we know.”

“Good enough,” she said.

“Firstly, though, how come you’re even here, Anna?”

“I was on call.  Bradley needed assistance with a birth.”

Shawcross nodded but seemed uninterested.  The zoo and amusement park outside were never any of his concern; he was only in charge of the manor and its use as a private venue and hotel.  He didn’t care about anything else.  The guy was a tool.

“Everything went okay, by the way,” she told him, on the off chance he was interested.  “I was just heading for my car to go home when I encountered a pair of strangers in the gardens.”

Shawcross seemed interested again.  He leaned forward.  “Oh? What happened?”

“It was a man and a woman.  The woman was dead – ripped apart by the man.  The guy came at me like a lunatic.  If it wasn’t for Bradley coming to my rescue, I would be a goner.”

“And Bradley got bit?”

Annaliese nodded.  “Yes.  But I thought you were going to be the one explaining things, so why am I the one doing all the talking?”

Shawcross sighed.  “Okay, fine.  It started out as a night like any other.  I was hosting a corporate function just like I have a million times before.  Drinks were flowing, bar tabs were rising, and not a single person had started a fight.  It was as smooth as ever.  But a few people were under the weather.”

Annaliese frowned.  “Under the weather?”

“Not everyone was ill,” added the woman who had let her into the kitchen.  “Just a couple people.  Jeff Danks and Bob Foster from the Southampton branch were the worst-off.”

“Yes,” Shawcross agreed.  “Just a couple of people were sick at first.  I assumed they just had the sniffles.  There were about three or four of them in total, all sneezing and sweating.  None of them were getting involved with the rest of the party.  They didn’t dance; they barely drank.  They just sat there looking like death warmed up.”

Annaliese shrugged.  She didn’t know where this was going.  “How is that connected to what is happening now?”

“Because they were the first to turn…nasty – for want of a better word.  I checked on them throughout the evening, of course – asking if they needed assistance or even just some Paracetamol – but they were barely responsive.  By about 1AM they looked like they were on death’s door.  One of them even had a nosebleed.  The last thing I decided, before everything turned upside down, was to ask Stephen and Antoine to help the sick guests up to their rooms.  They were bringing down the mood of the other guests.”

Annaliese knew the two bus boys Shawcross was referring to.  Antoine was a student from French Guyana and had an interest in animals.  He had come and spoken with Annaliese many times.  A gentle boy.  Stephen was a typical English teenager, earning a bit of pocket money while he decided on what he really wanted to do with the rest of his life.

“Where are Stephen and Antoine now?” she asked.

“The sick guests attacked them.  They…they just sprung to life like wild animals and took the poor boys down to the ground.”

Annaliese remembered the man who had attacked her outside and nodded.  Wild animals was as good a description as any.

“They tore out poor Stephen’s throat before he even knew what was happening.  I have no idea what I will tell his family.”

Annaliese turned around and examined the barricaded doors at the front of the kitchen – the oak panels shook with each blow of a fist behind them – and then she glanced at Bradley.  The young veterinary assistant was barely conscious, but at least his hand had finally stopped bleeding.

“They just…attacked?” she said.  “But that makes no sense.”

“Must be a virus or something,” somebody muttered.  “I bet terrorists did it.  Like that attack on the Cruise Ship last week.”

“Or it could be some new kind of drug,” added another.  “Like that bath salts thing in America.”

“Next thing we knew,” Shawcross continued, ignoring the various conspiracy theories that had begun to bandy themselves around the room, “half the guests were injured and bleeding.  Or dead.  Thirty guests ripped to pieces in minutes.”

Annaliese placed a hand over her mouth.  She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

“That’s not the worst part,” Shawcross added.  “Those that were left of us eventually managed to get the sick guests under control.  We grabbed a hold of them and locked them in the wine cellar beneath the bar.  Some of us got bitten or scratched in the process, but together we managed to succeed.  We thought we were safe, that the whole thing was over….”  He wiped the back of his hand against his clammy forehead and ran his fingers through his damp ginger hair.  “I put through a call to emergency services and those of us left standing set about trying to help those who were not.”  He looked at Bradley and shook his head.  “We have to deal with him right now, before it’s too late.”

Annaliese put her hand out to keep him in place.  “Nobody is doing anything until I understand what it is you’re all afraid of.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”  Shawcross almost shouted in her face.  “He’s going to become one of them.”

She stood up straight and grabbed a glass from beside the sink.  She filled it to the top with water and then swigged it down in one gulp.  She shook her head and stared down at the floor.  It was only then that she noticed all the dried blood on the kitchen tiles.

“What the hell happened in here?”

Shawcross let out a long breath that seemed to lower his gangly height by a full two inches.  He was acting nothing like the organised and confident man she was used to.

“Follow me,” he said to her.  “The rest of you stay here.  Be vigilant.  Find something to tie Bradley up.”

Annaliese followed the man to the back of the kitchen.  He led her to an industrial chiller and placed a hand on its long aluminium handle.

“You ready for this?” he asked her.

“I don’t even know what this is.”

“Well, you’re about to find out.”  He yanked open the door and a mist of cold air immediately escaped and invaded Annaliese’s lungs.

It took a few moments for the mist to clear.

She could not believe what was inside.

If this is a nightmare then please let me wake up.

“These people were all merely injured when we holed up in here.  Just cuts and bruises mostly.  But by the time we locked ourselves inside the kitchen, we knew what would become of them.  We had already seen it happen at the bar.”

Annaliese stared at all the people tied up in the freezer.  They thrashed about, spitting and hissing, some of them screeching at the sight of her.  Ragged wounds covered many of them while some appeared almost uninjured.  All of them had the sickness, though.  Blood smeared each of their orifices and their skin was puffy and red.  Annaliese stared at each one of them in turn, daring not to blink for fear that something terrible would happen while she was not watching.

“What happened in the bar?” she asked.  She needed to know more.  She needed to make some sense of what she was seeing.

“Like I said, we were helping the wounded.  Some people were dead, their throats and stomachs ripped open.  But others just had minor bites and scratches.  We tried to patch up their wounds, but they seemed to deteriorate fast.  One woman only had a bite on her wrist and she passed out unconscious and wouldn’t wake back up again.  We assumed that it was the shock.  I was feeling pretty weak myself.  But then the others began to rise.”

“Rise?”

Shawcross nodded.  “The wounded were unconscious when the people we could have sworn were dead started getting up and coming after us.  Young Stephen’s neck had been ripped to shreds, but he was back on his feet, stumbling around like some kind of drunk.  All of the people who we were positive were dead got back to their feet.  We assumed that we had gotten it wrong, that the people had not been dead at all, but then one of us got too near...

The dead came after us like something out of a horror movie.  But then, just when we couldn’t dream of things getting worse, all of the unconscious people snapped awake and came after us as well.  They were quick as lightning, not like the dead ones, and outnumbered us three to one.  We were lucky that any of us made it out alive.  A group of us ended up in this kitchen, but half our number was badly injured and bleeding.  It was too late for them, we already knew.”

Annaliese pointed at the people in the freezer.  “You mean these people?”

“Yes.  We had all seen what had happened to those who’d been injured in the bar lounge.  They got very sick very fast, passed out unconscious, and then woke up again, with whatever it is that’s driving people insane.  When one of the injured guests started feeling weak from his injuries, he volunteered to be restrained in case he became violent like the others.  We attached him to the refrigeration racks in the freezer and turned up the thermostat so he wouldn’t freeze.  Then, slowly, one-by-one, all of the people with injuries – no matter how small – started to come down with the sickness.  Eventually, we had no choice but to secure everyone in the freezer for safety – theirs and ours.”  He let out a small laugh that was more of an exasperated huff than anything else.  “You know, it’s funny,” he said, “but not a single one of them protested as we locked them up inside this fridge.  It’s as though they knew they were doomed; resigned to their fates.”

“They’re not doomed,” said Annaliese.  “They’re just ill.  We need to call for help.”

“You’re forgetting that I already did.  I placed the call about…” he looked at his watch, “eight hours ago.  Nobody has arrived yet.  We’ve been waiting in here all night, listening to those monsters outside tear the place apart.”  He seemed almost close to tears at the thought of the manor being out of his control.  “Then we heard you shouting,” he said.  “To be quite frank, Anna, I thought it was a bad idea opening up the doors for you, but Kimberly didn’t feel it was right to leave you out there to die.  It was her that opened the doors for you.”

Annaliese patted him on the arm.  Her usual opinion of Shawcross was that he was a stuffy, pedantic asshole, but she could tell that he was genuinely shaken by everything that had happened.  He seemed fragile to the point of breaking.  “It’s okay,” she said to him.  “You were just being pragmatic, and that’s good.”

He seemed relieved to hear her say that.

Annaliese took another glance at the prisoners – volunteers – in the fridge again.  All of them were glaring at her and reaching out with their hands.  They were all making that wretched screeching sound.

“They only make that noise when they can see you,” Shawcross said.  “I think it’s how they let each other know when they find someone to attack.  Fresh meat or whatever.”

Annaliese cringed at the description.  She didn’t like to think of herself as meat in any scenario.  “This is all impossible,” she said.  “There is no known condition that could cause this kind of behaviour.  Cannibalistic rage?  It’s…it’s insane.  The stuff of fiction.”

Shawcross slammed the freezer door shut.  The screeching immediately stopped.

“I can’t make any more sense of this than you, but I have one last thing to show you that might make you accept what we’re up against.”

Annaliese took in a breath and fought against the rising sickness in her stomach.  How much more could there be to see?

At the very back of the vast industrial kitchen was a door, which Shawcross now stood in front of.  Annaliese assumed it was the pantry.

“What’s inside there?” she asked.

“See for yourself.”  He twisted the door handles and pulled it wide open.

Annaliese shook her head.  “Just when I think things are screwed up enough.”

Inside the pantry, hanging from a light fixture by what appeared to be a bright red tie was a body.  It was kicking and wriggling as it hung by its neck.

“When I said everybody went willingly into the freezer I wasn’t entirely truthful,” Shawcross explained.  “James was one of the company managers at the function last night.  He never owned up to having been bitten; none of us knew.  He covered it up with his sleeve.  While we were all distracted with moving the injured people into the freezer he must have snuck off on his own.  I found him hanging like this a few hours ago.  I haven’t told the others.”

“He’s been like this for hours?  That can’t be.  Nobody could-”

“Survive being hanged by their neck all that time?”  He finished the sentence for her.  “No, they could not.  This man is categorically dead.  Check his pulse if you don’t believe me, but I would probably advise against getting that close.”

Annaliese watched the businessman swinging back and forth by his tie.  The purple ligature marks around his neck were proof enough that the blood supply and oxygen had been cut off to his brain.  There was no way the man could still be alive.  What she was looking at was an animated corpse.

Impossible.

“We need to get out of here,” she said.  “We need to get every Doctor and Scientist in the country out here working this thing out.  Whatever is happening must have some explanation.”

Shawcross stared at her.  “We can’t leave.  There’s no way.”

“What?  Of course there is.  There’s a door marked fire escape over there.”

“It’s locked.  I know it shouldn’t be, but I don’t like the thought of leaving the kitchen unsecured during the night, so I always lock it once the cooks go home.”

She shook her head and cursed.  “Great idea.  So how on earth do we get out of this bloody kitchen?”

Shawcross looked over his shoulder towards the other end of the kitchen.  “The only way out,” he said, “is to go back through the house.”

Before Annaliese had time to reply, a scream echoed through the kitchen.

Chapter Fourteen

The screams came from Kimberly, the woman who had let Annaliese inside the kitchen.  The woman’s misty blue eyes were now stretched wide as she fought desperately with Bradley.  He had her up against the wall and was fighting to get at her with his chomping teeth.  Slobber fell from his mouth and plastered his chin.  His eyes were bleeding.

Shawcross was right.  Bradley is one of them.

No one in the room was helping Kimberly.  They all stood back, frozen in fear.

Annaliese ran over and shouted at Bradley to stop, but it was no good.  He wasn’t listening anymore, and Kimberly was weakening.  She needed help.

But it was too late.

Bradley slipped free of Kimberly’s grasp, swatting aside her arms with ease.  Like a starving animal, he sunk his teeth into her windpipe, cutting dead her screams and reducing them to a pained gargle.  A gout of blood expelled from between her lips and her eyes flickered, as if trying to comprehend what they were seeing.  The others still stood by and did nothing.

Why is nobody helping her?

“I told you,” Shawcross shouted.  “I told you this would happen, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Annaliese fought against a growing lump in her throat.  She spluttered as she spoke.  “I-I’m sorry.”

Shawcross still held the meat tenderiser in his hand.  He rushed up to Bradley with it raised over his head.  He swung the wooden mallet in a wild arc.

The first blow opened a wide divot in Bradley’s skull, but it didn’t stop him from chewing on Kimberly’s neck.  The second blow dropped him like a switch had been flipped in his brain.  His legs folded and he hit the floor in a crumpled heap.

Kimberly looked at Shawcross like he was her saviour.  She even managed to smile amid the thick, dark blood that spilled from between her lips.  Shawcross smiled back at her, almost pityingly.

Then he smashed the mallet into the side of her skull, cracking open her temple and sending her to the floor.

Annaliese threw up on the tiles.  The sight of Shawcross bludgeoning Bradley, and then that innocent woman to death was the final straw.  She should have been shocked, but somehow she knew he was just doing what was necessary.  Kimberly had been infected the moment Bradley had bitten her.  There was no place for mercy.  If Annaliese had understood that earlier, perhaps Kimberly would still be alive.

“S-she let me inside,” Annaliese spluttered.  “She saved me and now she’s dead.”

Shawcross stared at her with bulging eyes.  Blood spattered his face and streaked his ginger hair.  With the mallet in his hand he looked like some kind of Scandinavian berserker.  “I told you this would happen, but I let you have your own way.  I should have dealt with Bradley the moment you brought him in.  A woman is now dead because of my mistake.”

Annaliese shook her head.  “This wasn’t your fault.”

“No,” he said, thrusting the bloody meat tenderiser in her face.  “You’re right.  It’s your fault.”

Annaliese looked down at Kimberly and Bradley.  Was it really her fault that this had happened?  Was a kindly, courageous woman dead because of her?

“I want to get out of here,” somebody said.  “I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t get some air.”

Annaliese took a deep breath through her nose and noticed a cloying odour hanging in the air.  She didn’t know how she had missed the smell to begin with, but it was unmistakable.  It was the stench of death.

Shawcross was still irate.  The others in the room kept their distance as he raged and gesticulated angrily.  “We can’t leave,” he said.  “Those things are out there.  As soon as we step foot outside they’ll be on us like a pack of bloody hyenas.”

“But we can’t stay in here forever,” someone said.

“I’m leaving,” said somebody else.

Shawcross huffed.  “You’d rather die a horrible death than stay here a while until help arrives?”

Annaliese thought about the call to emergency services that Shawcross had made hours ago, and how help was still yet to arrive.  She didn’t like any plan that involved waiting around to be rescued because she wasn’t sure any help was coming.  They needed a better plan.

“How about causing a distraction?” she said.

Shawcross glared at her irritably, but his silence suggested he was willing to listen to suggestions.

“Those things seem to operate on sight and sound more than anything else.  Maybe if we could lead them away from this part of the house, we could all sneak out without them seeing us.”

Shawcross shrugged.  “And go where?  You said you were attacked in the gardens, so those things have obviously gotten outside, too.”

Annaliese shrugged.  “I only saw one.  I think the park and zoo would be a safe place to go.  We could even make a break for our cars.”

“Well, none of that makes any sense without a plan to get us there.  How on earth do we distract them?”

Annaliese stared down at Kimberly’s dead body.  Then she looked at the frightened faces of the various strangers in the kitchen.  “I’ll go out,” she said.  “I’ll try and lead them away so the rest of you can escape.”

Shawcross frowned at her, but a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested that he might actually be impressed by her suggestion.  “That’s insane,” he said.  “They’ll rip you apart.”

“Maybe.  But these things have chased me once already.  They’re fast, yes, but they’re also clumsy.  If I know exactly where I’m going, I think I can stay ahead of them.”

“That’s all very well, but what do you do once you’ve led them away?  You can’t run forever.  Eventually you’ll have to shake them off.”

Annaliese thought for a moment before offering a suggestion.  “Can’t I slip inside one of the bedrooms and lock the door behind me?  I could climb through a window and re-join you all outside.”

“You’ll never make it,” Shawcross said.  “Besides, I don’t have my keys.  I was cashing-up the bar when the first attacks happened.  My keys are still in the till.”

“I have my room card,” said a young guy over by the room’s industrial ovens.  He had a bloody handprint on his light blue shirt but seemed in good shape otherwise.  She put his age at about thirty by the style of his gelled black hair.  “You can take it to get into my room.”

Annaliese took the card from the man and thanked him.  “What number is your room?”

“Seven.  It’s just up the stairs on the right.  It’s not far.”

“Great.  I’m sure I’ll be able to get there, no problems.

“You really want to do this?” Shawcross asked her.

She nodded.  “A woman is dead because of me.  Least I can do is try and get you people out of here.”

“Then, you should take a weapon.”  He offered her the bloody meat tenderiser.

She waved it away.  “It’ll just slow me down.  Plus, I still think these people are just sick.  I’m not about to bash somebody’s skull in unless there’s no other choice.”

“Sometimes there isn’t,” he said.

“Wait,” said the young man whose key card she had taken.  “How will we know when the coast is clear?”

“You won’t,” she said.  “Just come out five minutes after I leave and pray that they’ve all followed me.”

“The first sign of danger and we will return back here,” said Shawcross.  “If everything is all clear, then we head out the front doors and regroup at the zoo.  Hopefully Annaliese is correct when she says it’s safe out there.”

“It is,” she reconfirmed.  “Like I said, there was just the man who attacked Bradley.  I didn’t see anybody else.”

“Just be careful,” said the guy from room seven.

Annaliese smiled at him.  “Thanks.  What’s your name?”

“Mike.”

“Good to meet you, Mike.  I’m Anna.  I’ll see you outside, okay?  Anything you want from your room?”

“There is actually.  My wallet is on the bedside table.  It would mean a lot to me if you could get it for me.”

Annaliese was confused, but shrugged in agreement.  “Okay.  I don’t think there’s going to be much need for your credit cards, but I’ll grab it if I see it.”

“Shall we get this over with?” Shawcross asked.  He was standing next to the barricaded exit, leaning close to the doors and listening.  “I think they’ve wandered off.  I can’t hear them anymore, but who knows when they will wander back.”

Annaliese rubbed at her eyes and blinked.  “Okay, I’m ready.  I’ve had three hours sleep in the last thirty-six hours and I’m stuck in a low-budget horror movie, but I’m ready.”

Shawcross started sliding the fridge away from the doors, shuffling it a little bit at a time so as not to make a noise.  Mike went and lent a hand and the two of them eventually moved it out of the way.  They slid away a heavy table and flipped the latch on the door.

Shawcross looked at Annaliese.  “You ready?  Things get too dangerous, you come right back here and we’ll think of another way.”

“There is no other way,” she said.  “We don’t know when help will get here or how long we can stay safe inside this kitchen.  We have to get outside.”

Shawcross opened the door a crack and peered through the gap.  “It seems all clear,” he whispered.  “I think that when they lose sight of people they wander off and disperse.  Then, if they find someone again, they screech.  It’s almost like a rolling net.  Spreading out till they find someone and then closing in when they do.  At least for now the coast is clear.”

“They’re still out there somewhere, though,” said Mike.  “So be alert.”

“Will do,” she said.  Then she slipped through the kitchen doors and was in the dining room again.  Blood still caked everything and the smell had become a sharp metallic haze in the air.  Bloody streaks and dirty handprints covered the back of the kitchen’s doors where the mob had previously been battering to get inside.

But they’ve gone now.  Where?

Annaliese bent her knees and kept low.  It was an instinctual movement and she instantly felt less exposed as she ducked down beside the room’s large mahogany table.

While she could not see anybody else in the dining room, her ears picked up the slightest sound of movement.  It would not quite register what it was exactly, but it was regular, almost rhythmic.

She crept onwards, heading for the foyer, her wellington boots sticking to the tacky bloodstains on the stone floor as she moved.  As a vet, she was no stranger to blood, but so much of it, and spilled so unceremoniously, was a little hard to handle.  She had to take deep breaths in order to keep her stomach and bladder under control.

As she crossed the dining room, staying close to the table, the mysterious rhythmic sound became louder.  Either that or she was closer to the source.

Tap, tap.

Tap, tap.

Annaliese rounded the corner of the table and stepped out into the open.  There was an overturned chair in front of her, but it was too small to provide cover.  She would have to just hope and pray that none of the sick people were in a position to see her.

Tap, tap.

The noise seemed to be coming from her right, over in the far corner of the dining room.  As she looked over, she saw movement amongst the overturned furniture.  She couldn’t help herself but take a couple of steps closer.  Her curiosity demanded to know more.

Tap, tap.

She took a moment to check behind her as she took another step.  The last thing she needed was to be jumped from behind.  When she turned back around, she finally spotted the source of the noise.  It was a sight she wished she could un-see.

She put a hand to her mouth and felt her eyes water.  “My God.”

Ten feet away, lying amongst a pile of broken chairs was an infected person.  It was one of the slower ones – one of the dead ones?  It was lying on its back.  Perhaps a male, but it was hard to know for sure.  His face was a half-eaten mess, only the chomping jaws still left intact.  The tapping sound was coming from the man’s thrashing legs.  They had been stripped clean of flesh from above the knees downwards.  The exposed bones of the foot and ankle were clicking against the stone floor as the decimated figure tried to move.  With each attempt to get up, his withered legs folded uselessly beneath him.

Tap, tap.

Tap.

The torn-apart man finally spotted Annaliese and let out a pained moan in her direction.  It was almost like a plea for help, but she knew what would happen if she got too close.  The body dragged and clawed itself across the floor, trying to get at her, but its progress was snail-like.  As long as Annaliese kept moving, the body would pose no risk.

She crept onwards, trying to shake the disturbing images from her mind.  The doorway to the reception hall was just up ahead.  She could see the front doors of the foyer that led outside to the grounds.  A voice in her mind urged her to just make a break for it; get outside on her own and run for help.  But then she remembered that the others would be coming out in five minutes.  They were counting on her to clear the way.

I have to do this.

Okay, here goes nothing.

Annaliese straightened up and stepped out into the foyer.  She prayed with every ounce of her spirit that the space would be empty, just like it had been when she’d first entered with Bradley.

That was not the case, though.

When she stepped into the reception area, there were at least a dozen infected people staring directly at her.  All as one, they let out a scream.

And then they came for her.

Chapter Fifteen

Annaliese was surrounded on all sides.  Infected people came at her from behind the reception desk, from inside the function suite’s entrance, and from atop the staircase.  The only place left to run was back towards the kitchen, but she knew she wouldn’t make it.  They had the jump on her.

A stocky man in a navy blue jumper came at Annaliese from her left.  He snarled and growled like a pit-bull.  He collided with her so hard that she went hurtling back into the dining room.  Her foot struck something and suddenly she found herself off-balance.  She looked down to see that the body with the skeletal legs had managed to crawl across the stone floor and reach her.  She’d stumbled right into its grasp.  The decimated man was now clawing at her leg, trying to bite down on her ankle.  If not for her thick wellington boots, he might have succeeded.

The stocky man in the blue jumper came at her again.  She managed to kick her leg free from her attacker on the floor and hop aside just in time.  The stocky man went crashing into the dining room table and tumbled to the floor.

More were coming.

Annaliese looked up to see the horde of infected rushing into the room.  Seeking the nearest barrier to protect herself, she leapt up onto the mahogany dining table and clambered down its length.  She was counting on the erratic, uncoordinated movements of her pursuers to buy her some time.  Sure enough, as they reached the table themselves, they struggled to gain purchase and lift themselves up onto its polished surface to come after her.

Annaliese dodged candelabras and centrepieces as she made her way down the table.  She peered back over her shoulder to see that only a couple of infected people had managed to clamber up onto the table after her – they slid and skittered about as they tried to keep their balance – but most of the remaining mob pursued her from the ground.  They reached up at her as they kept pace alongside her.

Pure survival instinct urged her onwards, but it soon became apparent that she was running out of table, like a plane nearing the end of a runway.  She had to think fast.

I have to clear a way through to the reception area.

She put on the brakes, skidding on her heels and turning around.  An infected girl sprinted towards her from further down the table.  Annaliese ran towards her, meeting the charge head on.  They ran at each other like fighting bulls.

Oh God, oh God.  What the hell am I doing?

At the last moment, she ducked down and skidded sideways on her knees.  The highly-polished surface of the table allowed her to slide easily.  She collided with the girl charging towards her and knocked her aside like a skittle.  The woman tumbled off the table and into the baying mob that surrounded them.

Annaliese’s rubber wellington’s sapped the last of her momentum and brought her to a stop.  She hopped back up to her feet and continued running, heading back the way she had originally come from, back towards the foyer.  There was one more infected person on the table: a large man with an ample gut.  She threw herself at his large belly, tucking in her shoulder and turning herself into a battering ram.

The man rocked and staggered, lost his footing and slipped off the table, leaving her free to sprint down what was left of the mahogany runway.  Within seconds she had reached the end and leapt off into the air.  As she landed, she looked over at the mob to see that they had changed direction and were coming right after her again.

But this time she had options.

Looking left and right, Annaliese realised she now had a chance to make it back to the safety of the kitchen.  But she also realised that, with the gang of infected now behind her and leaving the foyer clear, she had the opportunity she needed to create a distraction.

The safety of the kitchen called to her, but somehow she found her feet travelling towards the reception foyer.  Once she’d decided on her destination, she picked up speed.  The screeching mob of murderers at her back pushed her onwards at a level of effort she didn’t know she had.

She fled into the foyer and saw that the only infected person present was the woman she’d tied up earlier with the keyboard cord.  Annaliese wasted no time in rushing around her for the staircase, hoping that there would be no dangers lying ahead of her on the second floor.  She didn’t need to look back to know that the entire mob was chasing after her.  She could hear their screams and frantic footfalls across the tiles.

Her heart revved up and threatened to burst through her chest.  Her feet throbbed as they struck the cold stone steps.  But she couldn’t afford to stop, because the death that pursued her was relentless.

She reached the top of the staircase and turned right.  Her stomach threatened to purge itself as her flight reflexes kicked in and sought ways to make her body lighter and faster.  Her inner cavewoman took over and sent her racing across the landing at a speed that would leave her bedridden with muscle soreness tomorrow.  But the pain would be worth it if it meant getting out of this situation alive.

Her destination was Room 7 and she hurtled past the lower numbers on either side of her: 1…2…3…4.

The mob was still behind her, crashing into the walls of the hallway like drunken pinballs, smashing into potted plants and side tables.

Keep running.  Don’t stop.  Ignore the pain.

Just as she passed room 5, someone jumped out at her.  Her instincts almost made her stop, but her brain took control and reminded her that stopping would mean death.

The two people in front of her were both young and attractive.  They had slipped out of room 6 and were clearly not infected.  They stared at Annaliese with wide, terrified eyes as they quickly realised that she was in no position to help them.  If they had been hoping for rescue, she was going to have to disappoint them.

The youngsters turned back around to re-enter their room, but the door had already closed behind them, locking them out in the hallway.  The panic on their face was all-consuming.

“Run,” Annaliese shouted, pulling the Room 7 key card from her jean pocket.

The youngsters spun on their heels and hurried after her.  The infected were right behind them.

Annaliese threw herself against the door to Room 7 and immediately slid the card into the magnetic reader.  As she did so, the plastic card bent and the reader flashed red.  An irritated buzz sounded.

“Shit! Shit! Come on.”

She looked left and saw two dozen monsters hammering down the corridor towards her, a tidal wave of death bearing down.  The two youngsters beside her sobbed, waiting for either death or salvation.

Annaliese removed the key card from the slot and reinserted it again.  Her hands were shaking.

The card reader flashed red and buzzed again.

Please God.  Just open this door.

She removed the key card again, knowing there would only be time left for one more attempt.

She took a deep breath.

Slid the card into the slot carefully.

The reader flashed green.

The door handle clicked.

The infected pounced.

Annaliese pushed down the handle and collapsed through the door.  The two youngsters fell in after her.  She managed to kick out and close the door with her foot once they were all clear of it.  Less than a second later, the wood began to rattle on its hinges as dozens of infected maniacs crashed against the other side.

“W-what the hell are you doing up here?” Annaliese asked the two young strangers, between heaving breaths.

The male of the pair stood up.  He was shaking visibly and his smart black shirt was crumpled and sweat-stained.  “We’ve been up here for hours,” he said.  “We snuck away from the party last night to – well, you know – and then we heard everything going crazy downstairs.  We stepped out of the room and there were people being ripped apart and killed.  People I’ve worked with for months had gone insane and were biting each other, tearing each other to bits.  Me and Charlotte locked ourselves inside my room and stayed there.”

The girl stood up and joined him.  Her blonde hair was a tangled mess and her cherry lipstick and black mascara were smudged.  “We thought help was coming when we heard someone coming down the hall.  When we looked out and saw you there we were sure of it, but then we realised you were being chased.  What is going on?”

Annaliese climbed back to her feet and checked the room’s door.  It was much weaker than the ones downstairs in the main house.  It wouldn’t hold forever.  Even now it bulged and rattled with every blow against its outer side.  She put a finger to her lips to keep the young couple quiet.  Then she whispered to them.  “If we keep quiet, they should go away.  They seem to operate on sight and sound.”

“They?” asked Charlotte.  “Who are they?”

“I don’t exactly know.  Something bad has happened to a lot of people.  Pretty much your entire company came down with some kind of sickness last night.  It’s infected them with some kind of bloodlust.”

“Paris Hilton’s balls,” said the lad.  “That’s crazy.”

“Crazy is a pretty good word for it,” she said, “but this is no joke.  People are dead.  Things are really screwed up.”

“So what do we do?” asked the girl.  She turned to the lad and grabbed his wrist.  “Clark, I’m scared.”

He hugged her close.  “I know, baby.  Everything is going to be okay, I promise.”

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Casanova.

“We need to get outside,” she said.  “There are people downstairs – uninfected people – that are relying on me.  I came up here to lead the sick people away.  Now that I have, we need to get outside and join back up with the group and get somewhere safe.”

“Okay,” said Clark.  “We’re ready to do whatever you need.”

Annaliese hurried across the room, dodging around the bed and heading towards the window.  Dawn sunlight flooded in and painted a golden rectangle against the room’s olive carpet.  Birds chirped outside as if all was ordinary.  The ground outside, beneath the window, was grassy and probably soft, but the drop was still a good twelve feet or more.

“Strip the bed,” she said.

Charlotte and Clark looked at her confused but did as they were told.  They got to work quickly, throwing aside the pillows and duvet from the room’s double bed.  In the meantime, Annaliese examined the room’s window.  She located the catch and flicked it free, releasing the window from its frame.  It was old fashioned leaded glass that opened outwards to one side.  It wasn’t the widest gap, but should be big enough for her purposes.

If it’s not, then we’re in a lot of trouble.

When Annaliese turned back around, she saw that the young lovers had finished stripping the bed for her and were now standing by anxiously.  Each of them stole furtive glances at the door as it continued to shake on its hinges.

“Concentrate,” Annaliese told them, snapping her fingers several times.  “We’ll be out of here before they get inside.  Now, bring me the mattress.”

Fortunately, the mattress had handles and wasn’t too heavy.  Charlie and Clark slid it over to the window and propped it up against the frame.

“Right,” Annaliese said.  “It will be a squeeze, but I think we can get this through the window.  We can use it as a crash mat.  Let’s get it up through the gap.”

“Okay dokey,” said Clark in a voice that sounded nervous.

Together the three of them worked the mattress up onto the window ledge and began shoving it through the opening.  The mattress was too wide to fit perfectly but as they pushed, squeezed, and folded, it began to go through a little bit at a time.

Crack!

Behind them there was the sound of splintering wood.

Crack!

“Oh, no,” cried Charlotte.  “They’re going to get in.”

“Just keep pushing,” said Annaliese.  “Focus on what we’re doing, not on them.”

They shoved as hard as they could, but the mattress seemed to be getting heavier.  Annaliese knew it was just her muscles getting tired.  Sweat began to bead on her forehead as she shoved at what was beginning to feel like an immovable object.

The door continued to splinter and rattle on its loosening hinges.

Crack!

Annaliese shoved harder, gritting her teeth.

Suddenly there was movement and, all at once, the mattress seemed to take on a life of its own, slipping through the window frame and tumbling over the ledge.  It almost dragged Annaliese right out after it as it plummeted to the ground below.

“Right,” she shouted.  “Charlotte, you go first.  Quickly!”

Charlotte stared out the window and then looked back at Annaliese.  She shook her head.  “I can’t just jump out of the window.”

“It’s either that or stay here and get ripped apart.”

“You go,” she said, pointing at Clark.

Clark shrugged.  “Fine.”  He put a foot on the windowsill and then hopped up into the window frame.  He steeled himself for a moment, and then took a step forward.  Without a sound he disappeared from view, sinking down below the window ledge.  Annaliese glanced out to see that the lad had landed face down on the mattress.  He seemed a little disorientated at first, but was soon on his feet again and waving at them to say he was okay.

“Now you,” said Annaliese to Charlotte.

Crack!

Charlotte looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights.  She looked around at the room’s door and started hyperventilating.  There was a jagged hole at the top of the door where a probing arm hung through, groping and clawing at the air with its bloody fingernails and trying to get inside.  There was only moments left before the door would give way completely.

“Just go,” Annaliese urged her.  “Before it’s too late.”

Charlotte climbed up onto the ledge tentatively.  Annaliese placed a hand on the girl’s back to steady her.

Then, without pause, Charlotte jumped.  It seemed that, once the girl had made up her mind, she wanted to get it over and done with.  Annaliese watched her hit the mattress and rebound off into the grass.  She stood up quickly and made it clear she was alright.

Crack!

My turn, Annaliese thought as she placed one of her wellington boots onto the ledge.  Her hamstrings were painfully tight from her desperate sprint through the hallway and it was a real struggle to push herself up onto the ledge.  Every time she tried to climb up, her legs went numb and she fell back down.  It took a couple of attempts before she was finally able to get up onto the ledge.  Then she found herself looking down at the mattress below, suddenly feeling that the drop was more like twenty feet than twelve.  She knew it was just her imagination – a built-in safety device that every person had to keep them from taking risky falls – but the thought of jumping was still terrifying.  The hardest part of the jump would be fighting her instincts and stepping out into nothing but thin air.

Crack!

The room’s door continued to splinter and come away as the infected threw themselves at it.

Right, Annaliese told herself.  Let’s do this.

I’ll count to three.

One…

Two…

Thr-

She stopped herself just as her body was about to take flight.  She quickly realised that she had forgotten something.

Mike’s wallet.

She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t leave without even having looked for it.  She hopped back down off the window ledge and glance frantically around the room.  The wallet was in clear sight; right on the bedside table where Mike had said it would be.

I can grab it.  There’s time.

She eyed the brown leather wallet and then the room’s battered door.  The hole at the top was now the size of a person’s head and several of the infected peered through at her with their swollen eyes.

I can make it.  I can get the wallet.

She made up her mind.  She dodged back around the bedframe and headed over to the bedside cabinet.  She placed her hand around the wallet and was surprised by how heavy it was.  She just about managed to force it into her pocket when-

There was an almighty crash!  The cracking of wood and the sound of a door being busted wide open.

Annaliese hurried back to the end of the bedframe, but was cut off by a large man with a torn cheek and a flap of skin hanging loose.

She let out a scream, and so did the man, screeching at the top of his lungs.

She leapt onto the exposed box springs of the bedframe and used it as a springboard to hop towards the window.  More infected people flooded into the room and headed right for her, all of them screeching like banshees.

With a fresh surge of adrenaline, she was able to leap up onto the window frame with a single attempt.  She stared down at Clark and Charlotte below.  Both of them stared back at her anxiously.

Annaliese prepared to jump.

Before she had chance to step forward and plummet to the mattress, something hit her from behind, grabbing her around the waist and shoving her off-balance.  She fell forward, grabbing out but finding nothing but air.  Then, suddenly, she was falling.  She fell fast and she fell awkwardly, as the weight on her back bore down on top of her.  She hit the mattress hard and felt something snap.  The fabric covered springs were less forgiving than she had anticipated.

The next thing she knew, besides the stars floating through her vision, was someone clawing at her back.  Company had followed her through the window.

And now it was trying to kill her.

Chapter Sixteen

Annaliese struggled on her stomach as her attacker clung to her back.  A flash of white hot pain stabbed through her right hand but she had no time to investigate the cause.  If the infected man, who had followed her out of the window, managed to bite her then she was doomed.  Just like Bradley had been.

Clark and Charlotte were nearby and quickly offered their assistance.  Clark managed to wrap an arm around the infected man’s throat and prevented him from taking a bite out of Annaliese.  Charlotte grabbed her arms and began pulling her away.  The pain in her hand exploded once again, but she focused only on getting away from the infected man.  She kicked out with her legs and sent her attacker sprawling backwards.  Clark, still clutching the man around the throat, twisted and threw him to the ground.  Together the three of them backed away from the mattress.

“What do we do?” said Clark in a voice so thick with fear that it sounded like he might run screaming at any moment.

Before Annaliese could answer him, another body landed on the mattress and bounced off onto the grass.

And then another.

The infected guests continued falling from the bedroom’s open window, hitting the ground below.  As soon as they jumped, another infected person would take their place, forming a line like a bunch of ungodly lemmings.

There were now four infected people on the ground and they were getting to their feet quickly.  One of them limped on a broken ankle caused by the awkward fall, while another had a slashed face, lower lip hanging like rancid sausage meat.

Annaliese looked up to see more infected people ready to leap.  She looked at Clark and Charlotte.  “We need to get out of here, now.”

“No shit,” said Clark.

The three of them took off across the rear gardens of Ripley Manor.  Annaliese led them around the building to the front, hoping that Shawcross and the others had managed to make it out safely.

Behind them, the infected screeched and gave chase.

“They’re coming after us,” Charlotte said.

“Just keep moving.  The longer we’re in sight, the more of those things that will come through the window.”

They rounded the corner of Ripley Hall and entered the front lawns.  Annaliese could see the park and zoo buildings in the distance.  The orange sun was rising up behind them and casting long shadows.

They stuck close to the building and headed for the front entrance.  “This way,” she said.  “We need to meet up with the others.”

“Oh, shitmack and fries,” Clark shouted.  “They’re gaining on us.  How are they so fast?”

Annaliese looked back.  Three of the four infected that had fallen through the window were gaining ground quickly.  The one with the broken ankle was nowhere to be seen, obviously unable to keep up.

Annaliese turned the corner and sprinted across the lawn, ducking between trees and hopping over bushes.  She skipped over the body of the man who had attacked and bitten Bradley – the man who had started this whole nightmare for her.

Ripley Hall’s front doors were hanging wide open, light spilling out from the foyer.  Annaliese glanced around while still running.  “Where are they?  Where the hell are they?”

“We should run back inside,” said Charlotte.

“No.  The house is full of infected people.  We need to find someplace safer.  The others should be out here waiting for us.  Where are they?”

She looked behind her.  The three infected would be on them any second.  There was no place to run that offered absolute safety.  But standing and fighting would be suicide.

“Anna!”

She spun around to see Shawcross and the others.  They were fifty yards away, shouting over from the doorway of one the zoo’s buildings.

“Come on,” Annaliese shouted and pointed.  “They’re over there.”

With safety in sight, Charlotte and Clark seemed to find additional strength.  They picked up speed and managed to overtake Annaliese, leaving her at the rear.  The infected seemed to pick up speed, too.  Their screams were incessant and beginning to drive her insane.

“Quickly,” Shawcross shouted as he held the doorway open for them.

Charlie and Clark rounded a concrete statue of a chameleon on a log and sprinted the final thirty yards to the building.  Shawcross ushered them inside to safety.  He motioned urgently for Annaliese to hurry up and get in after them.

I’m coming, I’m coming.

She was going as fast as she could, but the infected almost had her.  She could feel them right behind her.  Her thighs were burning and she just could not keep up the pace.  There were still ten yards left to run when she felt fingertips at her back.

Up ahead, Shawcross’s eyes suddenly went wide.  He slammed the door closed, locking her out.

That bastard.

The fingertips at her back turned into palms and progressed to grabbing hands.  The infected had caught her.  She was done for.

I’m going to end up as one of them.

Suddenly, the door to the zoo building sprung open again.  Somebody emerged from it.

It was Mike.

He ran towards Annaliese with a length of broom handle raised above his head.  Just as she was grappled from behind, taken down to her knees, Mike swung for the cheap seats and batted her attacker around the side of the head.  The broom handle snapped in two and the infected man went down.

Annaliese staggered back to her feet.  Tremors wracked her knees and tried to bring her back down, but she fought.

There were still two more infected people to deal with.

Mike grabbed Annaliese by her lapels and yanked her towards him.  Then he took another swing with the broken broom handle, striking the nearest attacker – a dark-skinned man – under the chin.  Then he kicked out fiercely, knocking the man to the ground.

“Look out,” Annaliese shouted just as the remaining infected person – an overweight woman in a ripped blouse – launched her attack.

Mike used the broken broom handle as a spear, ramming it upwards into the woman’s nose.  He gritted his teeth as he forced the wooden shaft upwards, through the soft nasal canal and into the brain cavity.

The woman’s entire body went into seizure and her hungry screams immediately stopped.  Mike let go of the broom handle and she slumped backwards, dead.

“Come on,” Annaliese shouted as the infected man Mike had kicked to the floor began to rise up again.

The two of them galloped the last twenty yards to the zoo building, huffing and panting under the strain of fighting for their lives.  Shawcross was back at the door now, a look of worry and aggravation on his face.  At least this time he was holding it open instead of leaving her out in the cold.

Annaliese barged past Shawcross angrily and made her way inside the building with Mike right behind her.  The door slammed shut and finally she was safe again.  But for how long, she did not know.

Chapter Seventeen

“You were just going to leave me out there to die!” Annaliese shouted in Shawcross’s face.  The building they were now standing in was the zoo’s reptile house.  The atmosphere was humid and the only lighting was from flickering lengths of weak strip-bulbs.

“I have to look out for the group,” he rebuked.  “I thought you were done for.  They had you.  You were never going to make it.”

“And yet here I am, alive and well.  Thanks to Mike.”  She turned to the man that had saved her life and bowed her head to him.  “I owe you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said.  “We never would have gotten out of that damned kitchen without you, so we can call it even.  Looks like you ran a little rescue mission, too.”  He motioned to Clark and Charlotte.

Annaliese nodded.  “Yes, this is Ch-”

“Charlotte and Clark.  Yeah, I know,” said Mike.  “We work together at the Tamworth branch.”

“It’s good to see you’re okay, Mike,” Charlotte muttered.

“You too.  I was beginning to think no one else made it.”

“Where did those infected come from?” Shawcross demanded.  He was leant up against a tank full of corn snakes.  The reptiles were pressing their triangular faces up against the glass in a vain attempt to inspect him further.

Annaliese shrugged.  “We had to jump from an upstairs window.  The infected followed us out.”

“Damn it!”  Shawcross banged a fist against the corn snake’s terrarium, making them hiss and flick their tongues.  “Then we’re trapped in here no better than we were in the kitchen.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” she said.  “We have multiple exits now and open space inside and out if we have to make a run for it.  Besides, Mike took two of them out.  There’s not many out there now – just a couple.”

“What if they keep coming through the window?” Charlotte asked.  “There could be dozens and dozens of them.”

Annaliese shook her head.  “If they can’t see you, they just tend to mill about aimlessly.  I don’t think they’ll jump out the window unless they spot someone to chase.  They should all be secure inside the house as long as we don’t get close enough for them to see us.”

“So they’re all locked up safe?” Charlotte asked, obviously looking for reassurance.

Annaliese nodded.  “As long as we lay low, everything should be-”

She stopped mid-sentence.

“What?” Mike asked.  “What is it?”

“The doors.  You left the front doors of the house wide open.  There’s nothing to stop them just wandering out into the grounds.”

Mike stamped his foot.  “Shit!  You’re right.  We were in such a panic that we all just ran outside without even thinking.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said.  “It’s done.  But we need to get those doors shut before they gather back in the foyer and leak out onto the lawns.  We won’t be safe otherwise.  We don’t know how long it will be until help arrives.  I’ll have to go back outside.”

“No way,” said Mike.  “You’ve already risked your neck enough times already.  Look at you, you’re exhausted.”

“Then who?  Is anybody else willing to volunteer?”

There was silence amongst the group.

Annaliese tutted.  Their lack of courage didn’t surprise her.  People were selfish.  Test them and they would always look out for number one.  Her ex-husband had taught her that lesson.  “I’m going back out in five minutes,” she said.  “I just need to catch my breath first.”

“Then, I’m coming with you,” said Mike.

She shrugged.  “Fine.  The more the merrier.”

Least one of you has some balls.

“I’ll see if I can find you something to defend yourself with,” said Shawcross, wandering off into the darkness of the reptile house.  Annaliese had the feeling that he just wanted to be away from her.

He probably feels more at home with the snakes.

Mike took Annaliese to one side.  “I’m really sorry to ask, but did you-”

“Find your wallet?  Yes, I have it.  Almost died trying to get it, but I got it.”  She slid her hand into her jean pocket and hissed as a bolt of agony shot through her knuckles.

“What is it?” Mike asked.

Annaliese held her hand out in front of her.  Her little finger was bent back at an unnatural angle.

Mike looked as though he might heave.  “Bloody hell.  It looks broken.”

She examined her twisted digit and then shook her head.  “No.  It’ just dislocated.  I must have done it when I fell out the window onto the mattress.”

“What do we do?”

She grabbed her little finger with her other hand and took a deep breath.  “We don’t do anything,” she said.  Then she snapped the finger back into place, yelling out against the worst agony she had ever felt in her life besides childbirth.

Then the pain was gone, replaced by a cold numbness.

Mike looked at her, astonished.  “That was pretty hardcore,” he said.

“No point being a vet if I can’t even fix myself.  Now, let’s get the doors to Ripley Hall closed so we can finally catch our breaths and sort this whole thing out.  Here’s your wallet.”

Mike took it from her and nodded.  His stare was slightly dazed, no doubt due to the horrors he had witnessed.  Annaliese knew that the more time passed, the more Mike and the others would start to struggle with the emotional trauma of what had happened to them.  She just hoped she could keep herself together long enough to help some of them.

Mike started to unbutton his bloodstained shirt, exposing a gleaming white vest beneath.

She put a hand out to stop him.  “You sure that’s the best thing?  Going out there in just a vest?  What if one of those things bite you?  Not to mention the fact that you’ll probably freeze your tits off.”

Mike started fastening the shirt back up again.  “Good point.  I’m just starting to freak out at the feeling of all this blood on me, you know?”

“Whose is it?” Annaliese asked.  She could see it wasn’t his, but from the pained expression that flashed across his face, she was sorry for asking the question so bluntly.  “Sorry,” she added.

He waved his hand.  “No, it’s okay.  It wasn’t anyone I was close to, just a co-worker, James Craddock.  But he had two sons and a wife, you know?  He was a happy guy.  Deserved better than to be ripped apart like...”  His words trailed off and he seemed to lose himself for a moment, staring off into space.

Annaliese placed a hand on his shoulder and was surprised by how tense his muscles were.  The guy was on edge, even if he hid it well with courage and an amiable personality.  “Hey, we’re going to get to bottom of this, okay?  You’re doing really great.  You’re my hero, in fact.”

He smiled at her and straightened up.  He could have been dashing if not for the circumstances, and the fact that he was covered in blood.  “Thanks,” he said, and then let out a deep sigh.  He cleared his throat, ran a hand through his messy black hair, and seemed to ready himself for whatever came next.  After a few moments, he smiled at Annaliese.  “Let’s do this,” he said.

Chapter Eighteen

Annaliese didn’t get going right away.  She and Mike took Shawcross up on his offer of finding them weapons first.  The man was at the rear of the building, rooting around the staff access that ran behind the exhibits.

“Here, take this,” he said, handing Annaliese a long metal pole with a kink at the end.  It was a pole used for dealing with the exhibit’s many snakes.  Mike found himself a shovel and weighted it up in his hands.

“So what’s your plan?” Shawcross asked.  “You know, eventually your luck is going to run out, taking all these risks?”

She glared at him.  He seemed perfectly happy to let her take all those risks when they benefited him.  “If nobody does anything, then we’re up shit creek with only half a paddle.  I don’t want to go out there, but somebody has to.  If you’re worried about me so much, why don’t you go out and close the doors?”

Shawcross gave her a thin-lipped smile.  “I’m needed here.  Guest welfare is still my responsibility.”

“I don’t think so,” said Mike.  “I think you’re officially off-duty, mate.”

“I’m never off-duty.  Ripley Hall is my building and these are my guests.”

Annaliese looked at the gathering of shell-shocked survivors.  There was less than a dozen of them in total, an even mix of men and women.  Their faces were starkly pale in the dim light of the reptile house.

“Fine,” she said.  “Then you carry on playing host while we go and risk our necks.”  She turned to Mike.  “You ready?”

He nodded.  The two of them headed back over to the building’s exit.

“Should we try heading out through a different door?” he asked her.  “They could still be right outside where we came in.”

Annaliese thought about it.  “To be honest, I don’t think we’re going to be safe coming out of any door.  At least we know what to expect by heading out of this one.  There’s the one that attacked us right outside and then I know there’s at least one more – a guy with a busted ankle.”

Mike hefted the shovel up and held it in front of him.  “Okay, I’m ready when you are.”

“Just remember,” said Annaliese.  “Don’t let them bite you.”

“Hey, I stopped getting hickeys at fifteen.  Not about to start again now.”

Annaliese stepped up to the doorway and grasped the handle.  She held the steel pole tightly in her right hand, reassured by its balanced weight.  Shawcross and the others were stood several meters back, hushed in anticipation.

“Here goes,” she said, then eased open the door, peering outside carefully.  Once she felt safe enough, she opened it wider and stepped through.

In just the last fifteen minutes, dawn had turned fully into day.  The autumn sunshine painted everything with shades of orange and the moist green grass of the park’s numerous embankments seemed to glisten and sparkle.  To her right, multi-coloured macaws had awoken in an aviary.

“It looks all clear,” said Mike, stepping out ahead of her and looking around.  “Wonder where he went?”

“He’ll be around here somewhere.  Stay alert.  We need to get to the house.”

Annaliese took cover behind the concrete chameleon statue and checked up ahead.  Past the trees of the lawn, Ripley Hall was silent.  Its doors remained open and its lights were still on, but all was quiet.

“Come on,” she said, ushering Mike to follow.

They kept low and raced towards the lawn, cutting a path through the sycamore trees.  The man that had attacked Bradley, and the woman he had killed, were still lying in the grass.  Annaliese barely even noticed them now – they were just another part of the landscaping.

Garden gnomes from Hell.

Through the open doorway up ahead, Ripley Hall’s foyer was now overly-lit, what with the sun now fully risen and reflecting off the tiles.  It made it hard to see anything inside in detail.

Mike moved up beside her.  “What do you see?” he whispered.

“Nothing.  I think it’s safe.  I’m going to head up and close the doors.”

“I’ll watch your back.”

Annaliese gripped her steel pole tightly and made her way forward.  She listened out intently as she took each step, ready for the first sign of danger.  As she got closer, the odour of blood wafted over her.  The stench of rot and open gut-wounds had taken over the building.  She was grateful she didn’t have to go inside.

She placed a foot onto the front steps of the house and put herself in the open doorway.  She could hear the infected milling about in the depths of the building, but the foyer seemed empty.

They must all be upstairs where I led them.

Good.

She reached forward for the door handle.  She imagined a spark of electricity as she wrapped her hand around it, but there was none.  She had the handle in her grasp and now all she had to do was close the door.

“Look out,” Mike shouted.

Annaliese stumbled backwards off the steps as a woman lurched out of the foyer and collapsed on top of her.  It was the maid.  The one she had tied up with the keyboard at the reception desk.  Now the keyboard swung from the woman’s neck, banging against her hip like a weird purse.  The cord wrapped around her neck was frayed from where it had snapped free of the desk.

Annaliese forced herself to stay calm.  The maid was no longer erratic and wild; she was slow and clumsy.  The cord around her neck had throttled the life out of her and now she had become one of the stumbling dead.  Her flesh was grey and mottled, just like the hanging businessman that Shawcross had shown her in the kitchen pantry.

She shrugged loose of the maid’s uncoordinated grasp and stepped backwards.

“Get away from her,” Mike urged.

“I got this.”  She gripped her steel pole with both hands.  Her injured pinkie finger cried out in pain.

As the maid stumbled towards her, moaning and grasping at thin air, Annaliese brought the pole up over her shoulder.  Then she shoved it forward like a pike.  The tip entered over the dead maid’s heart and sent her reeling backwards on her heels.  Annaliese put her weight behind the pole and shoved harder.  She cringed at the wet, sucking sound it made, but was surprised by how easily the steel passed through flesh – dead flesh.

The woman didn’t go down.  She clawed and grasped at Annaliese, even with the steel pole through her chest.  It was as if the eviscerating wound failed to even register.

Annaliese yanked on the pole and tried to retrieve it, but it was stuck.  The blood and leaking organs must have caused an airtight seal.  It was clear that the chest wound was not sufficient to put an end to the maid.  Now she had no weapon to inflict an additional killing blow.  She did have control over the woman, though, via the steel pole jutting out of her chest like a lever.

As the dead woman struggled and writhed on the end of the pole, unable to get free, Annaliese had an idea.  Mike rushed up to help her, but she put a hand up to tell him to stay back.  Then she returned both hands to the pole and shoved it upwards sharply.  The maid went staggering backwards.  Then she shoved the pole downwards, towards the ground.

The spike hit the mud and broke the surface, delving into the turgid soil beneath.  Annaliese bore down on the pole, shoving it deeper and deeper into the earth.  The maid fell onto her back, the metal shaft running right through her chest and into the ground.  With one last push, Annaliese forced the pole deep enough into the mud to anchor the woman down permanently.  The pole still jutted out the maid’s chest by a good two feet, long enough to prevent her from pulling herself free.

Annaliese stepped away, huffing and puffing.  Her palms flared in pain, a layer of skin shorn away by her struggle with the pole.  The maid lay pinned to the ground, reaching up at her and snatching at the air.  Her moans were distorted by the steel passing through her lungs and came out as a tinny vibrato.

Mike stepped up to the woman and raised his shovel above his head.

“Don’t,” said Annaliese.  “I’m seen enough blood spilt for one day.  Just leave her there.  She isn’t going anywhere.”

Mike looked at Annaliese for a moment, as if he didn’t understand, but then, slowly, he lowered the shovel and shoved it down into the dirt, deep enough that he was able to leave it standing up on its own.

Annaliese headed back up the steps to Ripley Hall and carefully closed the front doors.  The sound of the lock catching was like an audible victory, one that had been quite easily achieved if she was honest.  She had expected worse.

Am I getting used to this?

The thought worried her; that she might no longer be frightened of monsters, and was now ready to face them in a calm and pragmatic manner.  She wondered if it meant she was becoming a monster herself.  If she had adapted this quickly in a matter of hours, she dreaded to think what would become of her if the situation continued for an extended length of time.  A Nietzsche quote from her college reading days popped into her head.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

“I don’t see any more of them around,” Mike said.  “Not even the one we were looking out for.  Where did he go?

As if to answer his question, a beastly cry erupted from within the zoo.  The one thing Annaliese recognised immediately was that the sounds were not human.

Chapter Nineteen

“What is that?” Mike asked Annaliese as he spun around on the spot.

“It’s coming from deeper in the zoo,” she said.  “Over there.”  She pointed.

“Well, should we go check it out?”

Annaliese looked back at Ripley Hall.  The doors were closed and a majority of the windows were obscured by curtains.  With the additional cover of the sycamore trees on the lawn, the infected people in the house should not be able to see outside.  If everyone kept their distance, then the infected people in the house should pose no risk.  But there were still infected people outside the house, wandering the grounds of the zoo and park.  As long as they were around, it still wasn’t safe – they would all be forced to hole up inside the reptile house and would be no better off than they had been in the kitchen.

With adrenaline still coursing through her veins, Annaliese made a decision.  “Let’s go find out what it is.  We need to know what we’re up against.”

Mike seemed to be in a similar state of mind as she was.  He nodded grimly, a look of determined resolution etched across his increasingly handsome features.

She honed in on the direction of the commotion – which was getting louder and more frenzied – and headed towards the far side of the zoo.

“What do you think it is?” Mike asked.  “That sound.  It’s like a monster or something.”

“It’s not a monster,” she said, recognising the noises.

Mike asked her what she meant, but she ignored him.  She picked up speed and headed deeper into the zoo.  Once she knew exactly where the noises were coming from, she made a beeline for the source.  The various animals in their exhibits were awake, disturbed by the commotion and making sounds of their own.  A sty full of pigs squealed as she passed by.

But there were no infected people anywhere.

“Where are we heading?” Mike asked her as he struggled to keep up.

She didn’t need to answer his question because they were already there.  She stumbled against a nearby bin as she looked on at the carnage in front of her.

“Yikes,” said Mike.

Half-a-dozen infected, including the one that had attacked her earlier, had scaled the walls of the orang-utan enclosure.  They were attacking the primates inside.

Annaliese watched in horror as Lily placed her baby in the elevated safety of the habitat’s mangrove tree.  She swiped and hissed at the infected as they closed in on her and her child.  The male orang-utan, Brick, was rushing back and forth, clubbing the invaders whenever they got close enough.  He let out an ear-splitting screech with every blow, his animalistic rage overcoming him as he fought to protect his family.  As Annaliese stared harder, she noticed that the male primate held a fist-sized rock in his palm and was using it to bludgeon his attackers.

“How do we help?” Mike asked her.

Annaliese shrugged.  It hurt her heart to say so, but there was nothing they could do.  “We can’t do anything,” she said.  “The drop over those walls is fifteen foot to the moat on the other side.  We’ll break our legs.  Just look at the people inside.”

All of the infected in the enclosure sported broken legs, arms or ribs, depending on how they’d landed.  Bones jutted from broken skin and bled profusely.  Of course, the injuries were ignored by them – their ability to feel pain completely absent – and they attacked regardless.

“Do you think that’s all of them?” Mike asked.

“I think so.  This must be all of the ones that followed me through the window, or maybe one or two that wondered out the house before we closed the doors.  It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“They must have stumbled past a dozen different animal enclosures on their way here, but they only chose this one to invade.  They ignored the pigs, the birds, the horses.”

“Maybe they only attack people.  Maybe orang-utans are close enough to confuse them.”

Annaliese thought about it.  “Maybe.”

The battle inside the primate habitat continued.  Lily continued to swipe and claw at anyone that got too near but, for the most part, Brick was the one keeping them at bay.  He stood tall in front of Lily and bludgeoned the skull of any infected person that came within range.  A couple already lay dead, their brains spilling out onto the grass like glistening pools of lumpy soup.

But Brick was coming off badly, too.  A jagged wound had been opened beneath the fur of his left shoulder, torn open by vicious teeth.  Annaliese held her breath as an infected girl, in a torn cocktail dress and broken stilettos, leapt up onto the male orang-utan’s back and began chomping at his neck.

Brick wailed.  He managed to drag the infected woman off his back and slam her to the floor like a rag doll.  Her dress rode up, exposing her lack of underwear.  Brick raised the bloody rock in his hand and brought it down so hard that it spilt the woman’s face clean in two.

There were only three infected people left now, the one’s most injured from their fall over the barriers and therefore the slowest to join the attack.  One sported a broken femur that stuck out like a spear.  Another had two snapped arms that hung limply at his sides.  Brick wasted no time in engaging them.

He smashed in the skull of the nearest one and then tossed the man with the broken femur to the ground.  Finally he leapt at the infected man with two broken arms and pinned him to the ground.  He clutched at the man’s head and began wrenching and pulling.  In an unbelievable display of strength, Brick pulled the infected man’s head clear from his shoulders, yanking and twisting it until it snapped free of the spine.  Then the mighty orang-utan tossed the head aside like a punctured football.

The chaos that had filled the zoo finally ceased.  A quiet stillness gradually grew and expanded.  Annaliese stood by and stared into the enclosure with a mixture of both awe and horror spiralling through her guts.  She felt sick.

Lily began to make a sobbing noise as Brick fell to the floor, panting and wheezing.  Blood spilled from his various wounds and, now that the fight was over, his body had finally given in.  Lily cradled him in her arms and stroked at his face.  His mighty chest heaved up and down in great gasps of air.  From the nearby mangrove tree, Lily’s infant made frightened squeals.

Annaliese knew that Brick was dying.  He had only minutes left as blood leaked from a severed artery in his neck.  As a vet, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by what she had just witnessed.  Brick had protected Lily and her infant bravely, like any human father would.  Now that he was mortally wounded, Lily held him in her long arms like a loving partner.  Her pained hoots and wails made her grief plain to see.

I guess tragedy isn’t exclusive to the human race.

The infant orang-utan began to climb down the tree, hanging from a branch and then swinging to a lower one, before dropping the last few feet to the ground.  Lily craned her neck and hooted at her baby.  It sounded like a warning to be cautious, but the infant started towards its mother anyway, bounding along on its tiny fists.

Annaliese was the first to notice the danger, even before Lily did.  “Look out,” she cried, trying to communicate across species.  But it was no good.

It was too late.

The infected man with the broken femur was still moving, crawling along on his belly.  He lay right in the path of the approaching infant.  By the time the baby orang-utan realised the danger it was already beyond escape.  The infected man reached up and caught a hold of the squealing infant, pinning it down and sinking his teeth into its belly.

The baby ape squealed in terror and agony.

Lily let go of Brick and bellowed like a bass drum.  She leapt the distance between herself and her baby in one urgent leap.  She landed beside the infected man and twisted his head around, breaking the neck with a single vicious flick.  The man went still, face down in the grass.

Lily picked up her bleeding infant and rocked it desperately, patted its head and swung it to and fro.

But the baby was dead.

The pain on Lily’s face was human in every way.  Her whimpers pierced the air like a siren.

Annaliese felt tears stream down her face as she watched the female orang-utan lollop back over to Brick with her dead baby held tightly in her arms.  When it became clear that he, too, was dead, Lily let free a deep and endless wail.

When it finally stopped, Annaliese wiped the tears from her face and left Lily alone.  There was nothing that could be done.  Death was everywhere.

Chapter Twenty

Annaliese knocked on the door to the Reptile House and spoke her name.  A few seconds later, Shawcross opened it.  The people inside were all now armed with various rudimentary weapons: mops, bits of wood, and other salvaged materials.  They looked like a lynch mob; all that was lacking were the torches.

Shawcross faced her down.  “Is it safe?  Are the doors of the house closed?  What was all that noise?”

“The house is secure,” she told him.  “As long as we all stay back from the grounds then all of the infected people should stay locked up inside.”

“What about the zoo, the park?”

“I think it’s safe.  There were some infected people wondering around outside, but they’re dead now – dead dead.”

Shawcross raised an eyebrow.  “You killed them?”

“Not exactly, but they’ve been dealt with, trust me.”

He seemed irritated by the lack of concrete facts but, after a moment’s thought, he seemed to be satisfied with what he’d been told.

“Then we should leave,” he said.  “Go and find help; someone who can clear this whole mess up.”

Annaliese shrugged.  “If that’s what everybody wants to do.”

Mike spoke up.  “We don’t know that it’s any safer elsewhere.  No one has been able to contact help.  Back in the kitchen nobody could get a call through on their mobiles.  And you,” he nodded towards Shawcross, “put a call through on the landline when things first went bad.  Nobody came.  I have a bad feeling.”

Shawcross rubbed at his chin and stared at Mike for a moment.  “So what are you saying?  That we’re doomed?  That nowhere is safe?”

“I’m just saying that I don’t think we should take safety for granted.  It might be a luxury right now.”

“You’re saying we should stay here?” Annaliese asked.  She wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea or not.

Mike nodded.  “We’re five-hundred feet above the ground, on top of a hill surrounded by woodland on all sides.  The only thing we don’t have is a castle and a garrison of archers.  If this thing – whatever it is – has spread, then I feel much safer up here than down there.”

“Nonsense,” said Shawcross.  “These people have families to get back to.  We need to report all this to the police.”

“Not if it means us dying,” Mike said.  “And I’m not sure there is any police to report things to.  You already called them, remember?”

Shawcross folded his arms.  “We’re leaving.”

Annaliese put her hand up.  “Hold on a minute, Shawcross.  You don’t speak for everyone.  Perhaps it would be better if we tried to find out what the situation down below is first, before we get in our cars and set off into the unknown.”

Shawcross growled, an audible noise in his throat.  Annaliese noticed then that the man’s slick, ginger hair was now back in place, re-styled and orderly.

Back in control.

One of the strangers in the group spoke up.  “I’m not going anywhere unless I know it’s safe.”

“Me either,” said another.

“I want to go home,” someone else disagreed.

“It seems we are not agreed,” said Annaliese, realising how smug she sounded but not caring anyway.

Shawcross huffed.  “Fine!”

“We should try and get some news,” said Mike.  “Does anywhere in the zoo have a television, or a computer with Internet access?”

Annaliese nodded.  “There’s a small office block and a warehouse at the rear of the zoo.  There are computers there and a staffroom with a television.  We may be able to get something to eat as well.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Mike.  I’m dead on my feet.  I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep, so a bit of grub sounds like a good compromise.

There were murmurings of agreement amongst the others in the group at the sound of food being mentioned, and their anxious looks softened slightly.  The thought of fulfilling a basic need was enough to re-motivate most people.

“Well, if we’re all decided, then I will lead the way,” said Shawcross.  He brandished a thick branch that he had probably taken out of one of the reptile exhibits.  The way he was holding it made him look like a scout master.

“It’s your rodeo,” said Annaliese.  “Just try not to leave anybody to die.”

Shawcross shot her a scathing look, but quickly readjusted it to a smile.  “Of course not, Anna.  It’s important that we all stick together.”

Yeah, right!  Wish you’d felt that way earlier when you were closing the door on me.

Shawcross headed up to the exit door and stood beneath the fire exit sign.  He looked at the assembled group to make sure they were all ready and then gave them a quick nod.

He opened the door.

The day had become bright and clear.  The air was crisp and invigorating.  Annaliese stepped out behind Shawcross and looked around at the landscape.  Visibility was now much increased with the sun higher in the sky.  The zoo’s many exhibits were all easy to spot and the theme park’s rollercoaster, The Hood, towered into the sky at the far end.

Shawcross pointed.  “The offices are over there.”

Everyone kept in a tight formation and glanced nervously left and right, ready to run at the first sign of danger, but as they headed past a cage full of lemurs, all seemed to be clear.

Annaliese craned her neck to look over at the eastern side of the zoo as she followed on after everybody else.  She tried to make out what was happening inside the orang-utan’s exhibit, but it was too far away.  Her heart still ached for Lily.

The group passed by the various animal enclosures, peering into each one as if they were on a tour.  Many of the more intelligent animals, the pigs, cows, and birds, were rattled by the recent commotion, but the smaller, less aware animals all seemed oblivious.

“Okay,” said Shawcross, slowing the group down.  “These are the offices, just here.”

Annaliese had been inside the boxy, cement office block a few times in the past.  She had, on occasion, needed to fill out paperwork for the zoo and had often done so inside the admin office.  She had also spent time inside the staffroom once or twice.  Bradley would often buy her a coffee.

Poor Bradley.

Shawcross headed up to the front doors and pulled on the handles.  They were locked.  He tutted and sighed.  “We’re going to have to break in.  I suspected as much.”

Annaliese raised an eyebrow.  “Break in?  And how do you propose we do that?”

Shawcross scoffed at her.  “I’m sure we can manage to break a window without too much trouble.”

She looked around.  The windows of the rectangular building were all thick, double-glazed.  She knew breaking a window looked easy in the movies, but she suspected it would be quite the task in real life.

“What you reckon?” Mike asked her.

She shrugged and folded her arms around herself.  It was a little chilly.  “Don’t know.  It would be nice to get inside, so it’s worth a try.  I just worry about making too much noise.”

“As long as we put the window out in with a single blow, it should be okay,” Shawcross assuaged her.  “We just need to find something that will work well enough.”

“How about that?” said Clark, pointing to a nearby vehicle.

Annaliese recognised the large flatbed truck as being Bradley’s.  He had used the sturdy vehicle to ferry animal feed and other materials between the exhibits.  It was parked next to a small warehouse that sat beside the office block.  But the truck wasn’t what Clark was pointing at.  It was what was in the flatbed that was important.

Shawcross clicked his fingers.  “Perfect.  Just what we need.  It’s going to be heavy, though, so could I have a volunteer to help me, please?”

Mike volunteered and he and Shawcross headed over to the truck.  The stack of breeze blocks on the flatbed offered the perfect solution for putting through a window and Annaliese let out an exhausted sigh at the thought of getting inside the offices and finally getting to sit still.

Shawcross dragged one of the blocks to the edge of the truck and Mike put his hands under it.  Together they managed to shuffle with it over to the front of the building.

“We could use a third pair of hands for this,” said Shawcross.

Annaliese hurried up to the two men and placed her hands underneath the breeze block.  The cement was cold to the touch and gritty.

“After three,” Shawcross said.  “We all shove it towards this window here.

“One…two…

“Three!”

They heaved the block up into the air and watched it tumble towards the double-paned window.  The glass cracked and then gave way.  The way the panes were tempered led to them falling out of the frame in a few solid sheets rather than shattering into many shards.  It worked out well, because once the window pane had fallen, the aluminium frame was clear and safe to climb over.

“Come on,” said Mike.  “Let’s get inside.”

The group formed a line and began to funnel through the open window.  Shawcross went first, feeling it his duty to lead the way.  Annaliese was the last to go inside.  She wouldn’t have felt right leaving people outside where she couldn’t see them.  For some reason she felt responsible for them.  She didn’t want to see anybody else get hurt.

The room they had entered into was a typical office, with cluttered desks and coffee-stained keyboards.  Annaliese picked up a photo frame from the nearest desk and examined it.  There was a woman in the photo with two young boys.  Annaliese wondered if they were all okay.

She glanced at a clock on the wall.

“Hey, I just had a thought,” said Annaliese.  “If everything is okay elsewhere then people should start arriving for work soon.  It’s gone eight.”

Mike shrugged.  “I really hope so.  I’ll give a kiss to the first person I see, but…”

Annaliese nodded.  “I know, it’s a pretty big hope.”

“I just think that there’s no way that this thing isn’t happening elsewhere.”

“We should find a television.  Then we’ll know.”

Shawcross opened up the door that led into the outdoor corridor.  He raised a hand to keep everyone back while he checked that the coast was clear.  After a few seconds, he beckoned to them all and the group got moving.

The hallways were unlit and eerie.  Whenever Annaliese had visited the building previously, the various corridors and offices had always been bustling.  It wasn’t that the zoo employed a lot of people, particularly; it was more that the corridors were narrow and the rooms small.

Shawcross halted beside a door on the right.  “This is the staffroom,” he said.  “Let’s get inside.”

He opened the door and reached in for the light switch.  The room became bright, illuminated by the light Shawcross had switched on and also by several windows that overlooked the woods at the edge of the park.  The room gave Annaliese a strange feeling of normality as she looked around it.  The pool table in the centre was still littered with balls and cues where a game had been abandoned mid-session.  An empty crisp packet adorned a small side cabinet.  A forgotten coat hung from a wall peg.  The room’s plush sofa seemed inviting.  Somebody had left a paperback on one of its cushions, The Final Winter.  The room had a lived-in feel and spoke not of the horrors that had occurred so close by.

“Thank the heavens,” said Mike as he ran over to a snack vending machine at the far side of the room.  He pulled some change out of his pocket and began pushing numbers into the keypad.

“Is there a phone in here?” Charlotte asked.  “I want to try and call my mom.  The one in the hotel room didn’t get a dial tone.”

“There’s no phone,” Shawcross told her.  “But there’s something even more important.”  He headed over to the cabinet beside the pool table and swept aside the empty crisp packet.  He plucked up a TV remote that had been hiding underneath it.  The old-fashioned CRT screen, fixed to one of the room’s corners by brackets, flickered to life as Shawcross pointed the remote at it and pressed a button.

The picture was dim for a moment, but slowly faded in.  The news came on, loud and blaring.

Mike moved up besides Annaliese, a chocolate bar half-raised to his mouth.  “Holy cow,” he said before taking a bite.  His face wore an expression of utter shock as he chewed robotically.

Annaliese watched the news report with utter horror.  Banners at both the bottom and top of the screen read, NATIONAL EMERGENCY.  The anchor-man providing the report looked mortified; not at all like the unflappable journalists the BBC usually placed in front of their cameras.

“We are getting word from France that Paris has now been declared a quarantine zone.  Armed forces are forming a perimeter around the city and are preventing anybody from leaving.  There are suggestions from local sources that the UK Government is preparing similar measures for London and other major cities.”

Shawcross was shaking his head.  “This cannot be.”

“We take you now to scenes outside Westminster, where an emergency government assembly is holding crisis meetings.”

The newsfeed switched to a camera on location.  It showed the full scope of the nightmare they were now living in.  There was total silence in the staffroom as they all realised just how much trouble they were in.

The camera feed was from a helicopter a hundred feet above the Thames.  The lens was focused on the spiny structure of the Houses of Parliament.  Unbelievably, the face of Big Ben was dented and scorched as if some airborne vehicle – perhaps another helicopter – had collided with it.

Gathered in the thousands, laying siege to the parliament buildings, were ranks and ranks of infected people.  It was obvious that the mob was infected because of their animal-like movements and the collective pitch of their screams.  They covered the streets of Westminster like the legions of Hell.

The camera-feed cut back to the studio and the anchor-man continued reporting.  “The Prime Minister, as well as the leader of the opposition, is currently under siege, but he has assured us, through sporadic communications, that the Government is working hard on a solution.  Armed forces have been deployed nationwide and all military personnel stationed abroad have been recalled with immediate effect.  However, with allied nations also under attack, it remains to be seen whether or not our servicemen will make it home safely.”

Shawcross collapsed backwards, but managed to save himself by putting his hands against the pool table.  He had gone deathly pale and seemed ready to throw up.

Annaliese rubbed the back of his neck.  “Take deep breaths.”

“Again, these scenes are real.  They are happening now.  Most of you will have already encountered this devastating attack on our nation, which seems to have emanated from the Southern coastline.  We have seen our loved ones, our neighbours, our teachers, our doctors, and even our police officers succumb to this deadly sickness that has sprung upon us overnight.  But, if there are people out there still unaware, particularly in the North where the virus is still partially contained, then we urge you to remain indoors.  Construct whatever barricades you can to keep your property secure and defend yourselves in whatever way you can.  Armed forces are working urgently to regain control of the situation, but the death toll is already in the hundreds of thousands and the number of infected, well…  The number of infected has become countless.  Great Britain, and perhaps the world, has come under attack by the greatest threat of its history.  It is what some religiou groups are calling ‘The End of Days’.  We ask you to pray for one another and to remain strong in the way that the people of this great nation always have.  Ration your food, defend yourselves, and wait for help to arrive.  In the meantime…” the news reporter stared into the camera with tears brimming in his eyes.  “God be with us all.”

The program switched to more scenes of devastation; some were from other countries.  The Eiffel tower burned as thousands of writhing bodies moved down the Champs Elysees.  German forces flattened the streets of Munich with their mighty tanks.  Pictures from the American countryside showed roving bands of militia fighting side by side with Marines.  The various scenes made one thing clear: the battle was gradually being lost.  The number of infected people in the video footage were countless.  Their relentless pursuit of survivors was abundantly clear.

Mankind was being exterminated.

By itself.

Charlotte began freaking out.  Clark tried to get a hold of her, but she pushed him away.  “I need to find a phone.  I need to call my parents.  They’ll be worrying about me.  What if they’re in danger?”

“Calm down, sweetie,” Annaliese told her, but the girl wasn’t listening.  She was in a full-blown panic.

Charlotte ran towards the door they had come in through and yanked it open.  “I need to get out of here.  I need…  I need-”

The bald and bearded man was on Charlotte immediately, having been standing the other side of the door when she opened it.  Before she even had chance to cry out, the man was tearing apart her neck and opening up her veins.

“It’s Tom,” Shawcross yelled.  “The night watchman.”

Tom threw Charlotte’s limp and bleeding body to the ground and snarled.  He turned his focus to the others in the room and headed for Clark first.  The young lad quickly leapt behind the pool table.  Tom readjusted his focus and stalked after Shawcross instead.

“Get back,” Shawcross shouted as he swung the thick branch he’d brought from the reptile house.  He struck Tom on his bald head and sent the rotund man backwards.

But Tom would not be deterred.   Blood dripping down his chin and staining his greying beard, he snarled at Shawcross and kept coming.

Annaliese could see that Shawcross’s feeble attacks with the branch were not working.  She looked around for something better and grabbed one of the pool cues from the table.  She held it upside down so that the thick end was furthest away from her.  Then she ran up to Tom and took a shot.

The pool cue snapped as it fractured the man’s skull with an audible crack!  The blow would have put a normal human in the hospital, but all it did to Tom was disorientate him.  Annaliese had expected the pool cue to break and she readjusted her grip on it.  Wielding it like a makeshift dagger, she thrust the cue forward, ramming the tip into Tom’s temple.  She cringed as the man’s soft cranium give way.

This is getting way too easy.

Tom fell to the floor with the broken pool cue jutting out the side of his head.  Annaliese wiped the blood from the back of her hand onto her shirt.  It was cold, not warm like fresh human blood should be.

“Charlotte!”  Clark ran across the room and sprawled down beside his already dead girlfriend.  “Oh, shit, Charlotte.  Don’t worry, babe, we’ll get help.”

Mike moved up to the lad and pulled him back to his feet.  “She’s dead.  I’m sorry.”

Clark shook his head.  He seemed to partially accept it, but took on a blank stare that seemed worryingly close to traumatic shock.  Annaliese went over and took the lad by his hand and led him over to the room’s sofa.

“Just take a seat, Clark,” she said to him, “and someone will fetch you a drink.”  She nodded to Mike, who took the hint and headed over to the vending machines.

Shawcross busied himself by dragging Mick’s body along the carpet and then kicking and rolling him through the door back out into the corridor.

“Is there likely to be anybody else hiding in this building?” Annaliese asked him.

Shawcross looked around at her and straightened up.  “I…don’t know.  I would suppose not.  Tom was the night guard, but as far as I know he’s the only one that works during the AM.  And Bradley, of course, when needed.”

Annaliese sighed.  Both now dead.  Is this place really so safe?

Mike returned with a bottle of water and handed it to Clark, who took it with trembling hands.  He looked up at Annaliese and then over at Shawcross.  “This is so messed up.  Charlotte can’t be dead.  None of this can be real.”

Annaliese rubbed his back.  “We’re all in this together.  It’s not your fault.”

“We should be safe now,” said Shawcross.  “Forgetting about Tom was a lapse in judgement, but there should be no one else.  We’re safe, I’m sure of it.”

Annaliese nodded and then looked around at what was left of their group.  “Okay, well in that case, I think it’s about time I finally got to know everybody.”

“This is Michelle from HR,” said Mike, pointing to a pretty blonde in a blazer and skirt.  He then indicated to a skinny man in a tailored short-sleeved shirt.  “And this is Greg from Sales.”

Annaliese nodded to the two of them and both of them nodded back.  Then a middle-aged man with a greying moustache stood forward and took the floor.  “My name is Alan, but could I just bring something to the group’s attention before we get too relaxed?”

Annaliese shrugged.  “Pleased to meet you, Alan.  What is it you want to say?”

“Well, it’s more of a question, really.  What I want to ask,” he turned around and pointed to Charlotte’s dead body, “is what we’re going to do about her?”

“What do you mean?”

Mike’s eyes suddenly went wide.  “He means she’s going to come back.”

Annaliese realised it was true.  Based on what they had seen, Charlotte was going to come back.

And then she’ll try to eat us.

Chapter Twenty-One

“How should we do it?” Mike asked as he stared down at Charlotte’s body.  Her neck had stopped bleeding and her flesh was starting to take on a bluish tinge.

“Why do we have to do anything to her?” Clark asked, still sitting on the sofa.  He was staring into space.

“We have to,” said Mike.  “She’ll get back up as one of them.  Believe me, we’ve all seen it.  You would have, too, if you’d been with us last night.”

“I was with Charlotte,” Clark muttered.  “And now she’s dead.

Annaliese shot Mike a worried glance.  She didn’t like where Clark’s mental state was heading.

We need everyone functional and sane if we have any chance of getting through this.

“Let’s just break another pool cue and ram it in her head,” said Shawcross crassly.  “Seemed to do the trick with Tom.”

“It’s not about doing the trick,” said Annaliese.  “It’s about being humane.”

“There’s nothing humane about any of this,” said Mike. “Maybe Shawcross is right.  The pool cue was effective on Tom.”

Annaliese shrugged her shoulders.  “Fine.  Should I do it?”

“I don’t mind,” said Mike.  “Do you want me to?”

Clark leapt up off the sofa.  “Listen to you all.  You sound like you’re haggling over the last beer in the fridge.  You’re about to crack somebody’s skull open; and that somebody was my friend.  I should have protected her.”

“None of this is your fault, Clark,” Annaliese told him again.  “Lots of people are dead and none of us are to blame.  We didn’t do this.”

Clark stood beside the pool table and picked up the remaining cue.  He rolled the length of wood in his hands, examining it intently.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked him.

Clark smashed the cue over the edge of the table, making the rest of the group flinch.  The thick end went hurtling across the room and left a dent in the far wall.

“Let me do it,” Clark said.  “I owe her that much.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Annaliese.

“No offence,” said Clark.  “But fuck you.  She was my friend.  You didn’t even know her.”

Annaliese nodded and stood aside.  Her opinion was that performing such a deed could make Clark’s emotional condition worse, but there was also a chance it could bring him closure.  You never could tell when it came to people’s minds.  They fractured in different ways.

Clark knelt down beside Charlotte and placed the jagged cue against her forehead.

“Turn her head to the side,” Annaliese told him.  “The temple is softer.  It’ll be…cleaner.”

Clark did as she suggested and turned Charlotte’s head sideways.  The wound on her neck opened up wider and a fine spray of blood released itself.  Clark didn’t seem to notice.  He raised the cue high above his head.

Everyone in the room turned away, not wishing to see the grizzly deed performed so clinically and yet so brutally at the same time.  Annaliese made herself watch, though.  She didn’t want to ignore the things that were happening all around her.  She needed to retain her humanity.  The best way to do that was to witness and absorb it all; not turn away.  Charlotte seemed like a sweet girl, and now her boyfriend was about to stab her through the skull.

The cue in Clark’s hands trembled for a second.

Then he did it.  He brought the spike down hard and pierced through Charlotte’s skull.  Annaliese was glad the lad didn’t have to give it a second go.  It would have gotten messy.

She went up to him and placed a hand on his back.  His whole body trembled as sobs began to take over him.  He was covered in his girlfriend’s blood.

After a little while, they all decided to leave him alone with his grief.  The remainder of the group gathered over in the far corner of the room, over by the television.

“So what’s our next move?” asked Alan, twiddling with his moustache and looking grim.

Annaliese looked at the older man and shook her head.  “I have no clue.  Does anybody have a suggestion?”

Faces were blank, shoulders shrugged.

“Then I suggest we just keep our heads down here for a while.  Once we’ve rested up, maybe things will be a little clearer.  We can find a phone and keep the TV on.  I’m sure we’ll know more soon.”

To her surprise, even Shawcross was nodding his head and agreeing with her.  It was clear that everyone was exhausted, and that none of them had slept for ages.  Right now, all anybody really cared about was getting off their feet and maybe catching some shuteye.  Sleep would probably feel impossible at first, but Annaliese knew how easily it would come once everyone closed their eyes.

Shock is the body’s way of protecting itself from trauma, and right now what everyone needs is sleep.

Alan cleared his throat.  “I would like to make sure that this place is really safe, before we all settle in for the long haul.  We should check out the rest of the building.”

“I agree,” said Mike.  “We also need to move Tom and Charlotte somewhere else.  We can’t have them so close by.”

Annaliese nodded.  “You’re right, it’s a health hazard.

“I’ll organise everybody,” Shawcross said, running a hand through his slick ginger hair.  “Things will go more smoothly if we split into groups.”

She shrugged.  “Fair enough.  I’ll help Clark with Charlotte’s body.  Then we should be able to move Tom as well.  We’ll place them in the office we came in through.  It’s the least safe room for us to be in now, with the window being broken, so it makes sense to use it as storage.”

“You mean a morgue,” said Mike, shaking his head as though he could not believe it.

“Call it what you will, but it’s something that has to be done.”

“Just be careful,” said Mike.  “I don’t want to have to put your body in there.”

Annaliese smiled.  His concern was flattering.  It had been a while since anybody cared whether she lived or died.

Funny how it took a biological disaster to find a friend.

A buzzing sound from the television caused them all to look up.  The news reporter from before was back on and this time he looked even more ashen-faced than before.

“While it has long been suspected, reports from the World Health Organization have now confirmed that the dead are indeed coming back to life.  While the initial infection causes high fever and uncontrollable rage, it is not until the infected are rendered deceased that the true horror of the situation becomes apparent.  When an infected person dies, against all the rules of nature, they come back.  The reason some of the infected are slower and less ambulatory than others is because they are no longer living.  The only way to prevent an infected person coming back, it seems, is to inflict massive head trauma.  Damaging the brain is the only confirmed way to dispatch an infected person permanently.

The reporter stopped for a few seconds, taking a sip of water and gulping loudly.  Weariness seemed to hang over the man like a shroud.

“As I report these words to you, it may all seem like some kind of sick joke, but the reports are real.  This is happening.  If you have loved ones with you, enjoy them while you can.  If you have a safe place to go, then I suggest you go there.  This very well might be the end as we know it.  Do whatever you have to do to survive.”  The reporter placed a finger to his ear, as if getting a message from an earpiece.  “I’m about to be cut off, folks, for saying things that I shouldn’t have.  It doesn’t really matter, anyway, because we’re about to go off air with immediate effect.  An emergency message will be left to play, but there will be nobody here broadcasting.  Reports have come in that small enclaves of military, police and civilian resistance are gaining footholds in certain areas north of Sheffield and that rescue might still be a possibility for some of you, but, for the most part, rescue will not be forthcoming.  I hope that some of us make it through this.  My name is Ben Hutchinson and this is-”

The feed went dead, replaced by a placeholder image and a beeping tone.  The words on the screen simply read: STATE OF EMERGENCY.  FURTHER NEWS TO FOLLOW.  STAY TUNED.

“Is anybody else getting the impression that this isn’t going to just blow over?” Mike asked.

Annaliese stared at the television screen and held her breath.  Then she made a statement that she couldn’t believe was coming out of her mouth.  “I think this might be the end of the world.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

It took more than thirty minutes for Annaliese to help Clark carry Charlotte’s body into the ground floor office.  What made it more difficult was that blood spilled from the girl’s body whenever they tilted her slightly.  It had been a challenge not to get covered in it.

Is the blood infected?

Now she and Clark were in the middle of disposing of Tom’s body.  The security guard was far heavier than Charlotte had been and both Annaliese and Clark were sweating buckets.

“Did you know him?” Clark asked, nodding to Tom as he hugged the man around the waist.

Annaliese shook her head.  “Never met him.  I wonder what happened to him, though.  I wonder how he got infected inside here all alone.”

“Maybe he came to work already infected.”

Annaliese reaffirmed her grip on Tom’s legs as she felt him slipping.  They were almost back at the office with the corpse now and it was going to be a relief to finally set it down.  “I don’t know how it’s even possible for a virus to infect the entire world over night.  It should be impossible.”

Clark kicked a chair out of his path and shuffled backwards into the office.  He began to pivot around to find a space to set Tom’s body down.  “Maybe whoever is to blame coordinated several outbreaks of the virus at once.  Maybe a bunch of terrorists synchronised their watches before tipping the biological motherload into the local water supplies.”

Annaliese bent her knees.  She and Clark set Tom down on the ground beside a large photocopying unit.  She thought about the theory that terrorists were responsible.  “You know, that sounds pretty plausible.  If this was terrorists then it would make sense to release it simultaneously in multiple locations.  I just can’t believe that anyone would be so insane.  Surely no one is that much of a monster.”

Clark huffed.  “The only difference between Adolf Hitler and an ordinary lowlife on the street is power.  When people get the power to destroy their enemies and further their own agendas, then that’s exactly what they do.  If any terrorists had the ability to wipe out the western world then I bet all of them would press that little red button in a heartbeat.”

“We don’t know that this is exclusive to the western world.”

“No, we don’t.  But maybe time will tell.”

“You’re quite the theorist for such a young guy.”

Clark sighed.  “I’m studying History part-time – not that I expect to go to classes ever again.  You can learn a lot about mankind from its past.  People aren’t that different now than they’ve ever been.  Same nature, same behaviour; it’s just the technology that changes.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said.  “I’ve always been more of an animal person than a people person.”

“Well, then you’re in luck, because it looks like the human race has been turned into a bunch of animals.”

She looked at Clark and tried to figure out his condition.  He seemed to have snapped out of his shocked daze and was now more than happy to have an engaging conversation with her; but he was being very negative.

“How are you doing, Clark?” she asked him.

“How do you think?”

“I know, I know.  We’re all doing shit.  But do you need anything?  Are you going to be okay?”

Clark turned away, as if unable to look at her.  “I really loved her.  She didn’t know that, but I did.  She was way too beautiful for me.  I felt lucky when we were together.”

“You’re going to get through this, Clark.  We’re all going to stick together and come though the other side, okay?”

Clark turned back around and nodded at her.  “Thanks.  I’ll be alright.  I think I just need to be on my own for a while.  Would you mind leaving me alone?  I want to say goodbye to her in private.”

Annaliese looked down at Charlotte’s body where they had positioned her under a desk.  It almost looked like she was playing hide and seek with them.  “Okay,” she said.  “I’ll leave you to it.  Just stay back from the window in case there’re any infected people that have made it out from the manor.”

“Will do.  And thanks again, Anna.  Me and Charlotte would still be cooped up in that hotel room if you hadn’t rescued us.”

“No problem.”  She stepped out of the office and closed the door behind her.  Mike was in the corridor and approached her as she headed back to the staffroom.

“Hey,” he said.  “I was just coming to find you.  Everything okay?”

Annaliese nodded.  “As well as can be expected.  I’ve left Clark to himself for a while.  He’s not doing well, but I think he’ll be okay.  He’s still talking and that’s the main thing, but he’s in a lot of pain right now.”

Mike nodded.  “Not surprised.  He’s what, twenty maybe?  That’s pretty young to be stuck in a situation like this.  Losing Charlotte probably left him feeling pretty alone.   But, hey, what can you do?”

“Nothing, I guess.  We’re all lucky just to be alive.  I suppose we should try and find the positive in that.”

Mike held open the door to the staffroom and let Annaliese pass by in front of him.  The pool table was now home to a modest collection of snack food and some bottled water.

“I’ve been checking around for rations,” Mike explained.  “Found some odds and ends in people’s desks upstairs, but that’s pretty much it right there.  We’ve got the vending machines in here to go through as well, so we should be good for a day or two.”

Shawcross entered the room.  He was carrying a fan heater in his hands.  “I found this in one of the offices upstairs.  I’m thinking it might get pretty cold during the night so it might help to keep us all nice and snug.”

“Good idea,” she admitted.  “But if things are as bad as they seemed on the news, then I figure it isn’t long before the power goes out.”

“Shit, I never thought of that,” said Mike.  “How long do we have, you think?”

“There’s a backup generator,” said Shawcross.  “They built it to keep the heated exhibits like the reptile house functioning even during a power cut.  I don’t know how much juice they keep in the batteries, but I think we’ll get at least a couple days.”

“How do you know about that?”  Annaliese asked him.  “I didn’t think you had anything to do with the zoo.”

“I was here when they installed it.  It’s buried in the woods behind the zoo where guests can’t see it.  Thing makes a terrible racket up close, but thankfully it’s only been put to use once before.”

“Well, at least we have a little bit of additional grace if the electrical grid fails,” said Mike.

“Or we’ll be lit up like a beacon.  The only place with power for miles.”

“A beacon to whom?” asked Shawcross.

Annaliese shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I just think our biggest asset right now is anonymity.”

“I think the opposite.  The news said there are still rescue operations in place in some places.  Tomorrow we should light a signal fire and let people know we’re here.  Smoke from all the way up here would be seen for miles around.  We have a better chance than anybody at being rescued.”

“I think that would be a totally dumb idea.  We have something that everybody in the world will be looking for: a defensible position.  The last thing we want to do is advertise what we have to a desperate population.”

“She’s right,” said Mike.  “What if we light a fire and a hundred people turn up on this hill.  What food we have left would be gone in an hour.  And what if some of them are bitten on their way here?  We could be crawling with infected before the day is through.”

Shawcross thought about things for a moment, but then shook his head adamantly.  “If we still had access to Ripley Hall then I might be inclined to lay low, but we’re all doomed if we try to stay here indefinitely.  We’re too exposed.  Rescue is our only priority, and tomorrow that is what we must work towards.”

Annaliese went to argue, but stopped herself.  She didn’t have the energy.  She put her hands on her hips.  “Fine, whatever you say.  I’m going to get some rest.  If the world stops ending then you have permission to wake me.”

Without waiting for a reply, she ambled over to the staffroom sofa and collapsed onto it face first.  The slumberous feeling that immediately washed over her was heavenly.  The blood in her body seemed to stop moving and settle in her veins.  Her muscles turned to jelly.  Within seconds, she felt sleep coming to snatch her away.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Every time Annaliese went to sleep without having drank alcohol first, she dreamt about her baby.  She dreamt about the baby she never knew.  The little boy that never was.  She dreamt about Baby.

She saw her son’s face.  His closed eyes and tiny nose.  Eyes that would never see and a nose that would never take a breath.  She only got to hold her baby boy once, and he had been dead.

Once upon a time, Annaliese had given birth to a baby boy with no name.  Every time he crossed her mind she thought of him as Baby.  She thought about what Baby would have looked like now, ife he had lived to see four years of age.  She wondered if Baby would have looked like his dad.  She wondered if Baby’s dad would still be around.

Then she would wake up in tears.  Every night the same.

Until she found alcohol.

Then the dreams stopped.  But the headaches and nausea started.

Tonight, though, she could not escape her dreams.  They kept a hold of her and twisted and tore at her soul.  Tonight she dreamt of Baby as a ghoul, back from the dead to come and drag her down to Hell where she belonged.  Baby had died in childbirth, murdered by his mother who was too weak, too inhospitable to bring him to term.  He was denied the most basic gift of life, while his wicked mother lived on.  Now Baby was back.  His tiny teeth were bloody, and coming for Annaliese’s flesh.  They would tear her apart, chew her up slowly until there was nothing left but her disembodied screaming.

And as she screamed, so too did Baby.

Baby screeched like the infected people.  It hurt her ears and she begged for it to stop.

Stop, she cried.

Please, Baby, stop.

I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.

I wish it was me who had died.

I wish you were alive and I was dead.

Please, Baby, stop screaming.  I’m begging you to stop.

Annaliese woke up in darkness.  Something covered her face.  She shot bolt-upright and clawed at her neck, trying to get free of whatever clung to her.

It was a coat.  Someone must have covered her with it.

Annaliese’s kicked out with her legs and found the floor.  Then she remembered that she had fallen asleep on the sofa in the staffroom.  Then she remembered, with oily sickness in her belly, all of the other things that had happened.

All of the death.

Everywhere, death.

The room was dark and Annaliese could hear snores from several sources.  She also heard something else; something she was sure was the reason she had woken up.

Wailing?

The muffled sound of someone – or something – in pain floated into the staffroom like a ghostly visitation.  It seemed to echo off the walls and entwine with the darkness.  Moonlight shone in through the gaps in the room’s now-closed curtains and made things seem even more ethereal.

Am I imagining it?

She straightened up and went over to the nearest window.  She ducked her head beneath the curtain and peered through the glass.  There was nothing outside but the narrow silhouettes of the trees outside.

But the wailing continued.  It was a weak, pining sound.

Eventually, she realised what the sound was, and where it was coming from.

Lily.

The female orang-utan was still pining the loss of her family.

She’s lost everything.  She’s all alone now, not even watched over by her keepers.

Suddenly the thought of such a noble creature being totally alone and in such pain was more than Annaliese could bear.  Pain bloomed in her chest cavity like a growing fist.  It was a pain she only ever felt when she thought about Baby.

She fiddled with the bottom of the window and searched for a catch.  She eventually found it, not at the bottom but at the top.  It slid open with ease, letting in the cold air with a frosty hiss.

Against all of her common sense, she lifted her leg up onto the windowsill.  She tried to keep her movements quiet, to avoid waking the others.  She heard the soft whirring of Shawcross’s fan heater and was glad for the audible cover it provided for her own soft noises.

She lifted her other leg and slid out through the window.  Her wellington boots came down on soft grass outside.

Lily’s wailing continued, full of anguish, full of pain.  Annaliese prayed for it to stop.  But it didn’t.

She rounded the corner of the building and headed for where she thought the orang-utan habitat was.  It was disorientating to walk around the park in the dark.  Bradley had always been there to guide her around.

Poor Bradley.

She missed her colleague.  She wished she had had the chance to take him up on his offer of eating a lovely meal someplace in town, instead of being in the nightmare she was in now.  There were many things she regretted.

But do any of them even matter anymore?

Up ahead, the wailing got louder.  The ghostly silhouette of a mangrove tree came slowly into view.  Annaliese found Lily sitting at the base of the tall tree, staring down at the ground and weeping loudly.  The body of Brick and the infant were lying in the centre of the enclosure, placed together in a small huddle that resembled a cuddle between father and son.  Lily was not looking at them.  Perhaps it was too painful.

“You poor, poor thing,” Annaliese said softly as she observed the heartbroken creature.

In the silence of night, and with keen animal hearing, Lily heard her voice.  The orang-utan slowly raised her head up and scanned left and right until she spotted Annaliese standing there outside the enclosure.

“I’m sorry,” Annaliese said.  “I didn’t mean to creep up on you.  I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

Lily stared at Annaliese for what seemed like forever, but during that time her weeping had stopped.  Then the orang-utan did something that took Annaliese by utter surprise.  Lily raised up one of her arms and waved.  It was a sad wave, a weak wave, but the fact that she now had ceased whimpering made it clear that the animal did not want to be alone.  She was glad Annaliese had appeared.  Lily was glad not to be on her own.

Amazing.

Annaliese had an extremely stupid idea, but she was determined to try it out anyway.  It was something she needed to do, but also maybe something that the broken soul inside this enclosure needed even more.

She headed around to the enclosure’s bungalow and approached the entrance door.  It could be opened by a magnetic keypad for which she knew the code.  While she had not examined the orang-utan herself in the past, Bradley had once allowed her access to show her around.  She remembered the number.

1235

She keyed it in and let herself into the bungalow.  Inside was a cement prep area and a small office cubicle.  There was also a wire mesh enclosure that housed an indoor sleeping area for the orang-utans.  It led right out into the enclosure.

To Annaliese’s dismay, the caged area was locked with a padlock.  She let out a sigh, but didn’t let it defeat her.  She pushed on the office door and was happy when it opened.

The room inside was dingy, but the glow from a computer monitor gave her pupils enough light to make out a few details.  Her attention was immediately drawn to a small metal closet, the size of a house brick, on the wall.  She went over and fumbled with its edges.

Please be unlocked.

She found a small catch and managed to slide it.  The small metal closet fell open without any effort at all.

And inside was a single brass key.

She snatched it up and headed out the office.  She took the padlock in her one hand and prodded the key into its base with her other.  It slid in perfectly.

When the cage unlocked, she took a deep breath.  Was she really about to do this?

Yes.  Absolutely.

With her mind made up, Annaliese slid inside the cage and entered the small paddock.  Set into the concrete wall was a four foot hole.  It led out to the mangrove enclosure.

She crawled through it and went outside.

The smell of death hung around the enclosure, but so did the natural musk of the orang-utans.  It was a strange mixture, one which she put out of her mind as she crept towards the Mangrove tree ahead.

Lily was still sitting in the same position, leaning back against the base of the tree and staring down at the ground.  When Annaliese got closer, Lily turned her head and snorted, and for a second the whole thing seemed like a really bad idea.  The last time humans had been in this enclosure there had been bloodshed.  Annaliese wondered if Lily could distinguish the difference between her and the infected people that had attacked her mate and infant.

If not then I’ve made a horrible mistake.

Despite her fears, Annaliese kept moving forwards towards Lily.  The animal eyeballed her suspiciously.

“Hey, there,” she said softly.  “I’m not here to hurt you.  I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

She was now within a few feet of the orang-utan and nothing had happened so far.  The atmosphere was tense, but the primate seemed to tolerate her proximity.

“There you go,” she said, reaching out her hand.  “It’s okay, Lily.”

Unbelievably, Annaliese found herself within a single foot of the great ape now and was beginning to bend her knees and sit down.

Letting out another billowing snort from her nostrils, Lily extended one of her long arms.  Her huge fist struck Annaliese and made her cry out.  But she quickly realised that the orang-utan was not seeking to hurt her.  She was just being curious.  Lily’s fingers caressed the fabric of Annaliese’s shirt.

“I’m usually a little cleaner than this,” she explained without knowing why.  She sat down on the ground beside the animal.

Lily stared at Annaliese and hooted.  It was a curious sound, but not aggressive in the least.  Annaliese shuffled up next to the animal so that their shoulders were touching.

Is this actually happening? she asked herself.  Amidst all the horror and bloodshed, there was still joy to found in life.  There were still connections to be made between kindred spirits.  Nature was still beautiful, even if man had become so terribly ugly.  In that moment, she remembered why she had become a vet.

To help amazing creatures like this.

Lily’s hand moved further up Annaliese’s shirt, rough fingers probing at her face and fondling her hair.  The gentleness of the gesture made her close her eyes.  It wasn’t long before she felt sleepy in Lily’s protective arms.

Before Annaliese passed out, she thought she could hear an alarm going off somewhere in the distance.  But she felt too safe to worry.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Annaliese awoke with an aching jaw.  It quickly became apparent why, when she realised that she was lying face down on the ground.  She was shivering because of the cold, but she was also very cosy beneath a soft woollen blanket.  Despite its softness, the blanket smelt musky and foul.  She threw it aside and looked around.  The sun was beginning to rise.

She leapt to her feet in shock.

Oh, wow! I’m in the orang-utan enclosure.  Did that really happen last night?

She turned a circle on the spot.  A mound in the centre of the enclosure was covered with a blanket the same as the one that had been covering her.  She knew that Brick’s body lay underneath it, along with the infant.

Did Lily cover us all up with the blankets?

Annaliese looked around for the female orang-utan but could see no sign of her.  The mangrove tree was undisturbed.  Maybe the ape had gone inside where it was warmer.  It would make sense if everyone else had her blankets.

Annaliese headed for the enclosure’s bungalow and stooped down through the hatch.  She re-entered the cage inside and saw that Lily was still nowhere to be seen.

The reason was right in front of her.

The wire mesh door to the cage was hanging wide open, its padlock still unclasped.  She put both of her hands to her face as she realised she hadn’t relocked it after coming inside.

Shit.  What have I done?

She couldn’t believe that she’d let a wild and potentially dangerous animal loose from its enclosure.  It was reckless and irresponsible.  But, the more she actually thought about it, the more she was glad.  With things the way they were, there was no one left to take care of Lily.  It was better that she was free than locked up and neglected.  At least this way, the animal had a chance.

I hope you find somewhere safe, Lily.

She stepped out of the cage and headed for the bungalow’s exit.  She needed to re-join the others in the office block.  They could be wondering where she was.

Exiting the bungalow, she rubbed at her shoulders and fought against the cold.  The park was bathed in a coppery glow as the sun continued to rise in the sky.  The park was quite beautiful at this time of day, without the hustle and bustle of people ruining things.

“Anna!”

Up ahead, Shawcross was hurrying towards her.  “For heaven’s sake,” he said.  “What are you doing out here?”

“I went for a walk last night.  Trying to clear my head.”

“Well, it was very irresponsible of you.  How do we have a hope of getting through this if people start doing their own thing?”

“Sorry, I just lost track of time, I guess.”  She didn’t want to tell him about where she had slept last night.  He wouldn’t believe her and would more likely just get furious that she had released one of the park’s animals.

Not that I give two shits about what he thinks.  I just can’t be doing with the lecture.

Shawcross frowned at her for what seemed like a full minute-and-a-half before he finally let the issue go.  He turned around with a huff, speaking with his back turned to her.  “There’s lots to be done, Anna, so go and join back up with the others.  If Clark is with you then tell him the same thing.”

“Wait, what?  I haven’t seen Clark.  How long has he been gone?”

Shawcross turned back around.  “I’m not sure.  Everyone pretty much fell asleep once things were settled.  I don’t recall seeing him for quite a while now.”

Annaliese closed the distance between them.  “Well, didn’t you think to look for him?”

“That’s what I’m doing now, isn’t it?  I found you and I’ll no doubt find Clark just as easily.”

Annaliese stared over at the office block.  In the light of day it was grey and depressing.  “How did you get out of the building?  Did you come through the broken window?”

Shawcross shook his head.  “We were able to unlock the front entrance from the inside.  It was on a latch.  We can come and go as we please now, so we’ll probably get that broken window boarded up today.”

Annaliese had a bad feeling in her tummy.  Something wasn’t right.  She pushed Shawcross aside and headed for the building.

“What’s wrong?” he shouted after her.  But she didn’t answer him.  She didn’t want to voice out loud what she was thinking, not without being sure.

I hope I’m wrong.

She made it over to the building entrance and pulled open the door.  As she stepped inside she was aware that Shawcross was right behind her.  Despite her dislike of the man, she was glad for the company at that moment.  If she found what she expected to then she didn’t want to be alone.

To the right, at the end of the corridor, was a door she assumed led to the office they were using to store Tom and Charlotte’s bodies.  It turned out that she was right.  The door led to the room where they had first broken in.

The stench of dead bodies descended upon Annaliese, scraping at the inside of her nostrils.  Tom and Charlotte had already started to decay.

And so had Clark.

“Oh no,” said Shawcross from behind her.  “What did that silly boy do?”

Annaliese stepped into the room.  Clark hung from the light fixtures by several electrical flex cords tied together.  He must have pulled them from the room’s computers and made a rudimentary noose.  He’d probably hanged himself shortly after she’d left him alone.  He’d been there a while.

Damn it!  I should have known.  I knew he was unstable.  This should never have been able to happen.

“I could have prevented this,” she said.  “I’m the one that left him alone.  It was my mistake.”

Shawcross let out a long sigh that whistled in his nose.  “Suicide is a selfish act.  There’s no one to blame but Clark.  We can’t let it distract us from what needs to be done.”

Annaliese turned and stared at him.  “Are you really this much of an asshole or do you have to try?”

“I’m just not willing to waste time worrying about things that can’t be changed.  I suggest you do the same and give yourself a break.  This wasn’t you fault.”

With that he left the room.  Annaliese didn’t know if she wanted to thump the man or thank him.  He had a way of dividing her opinion like that.

He’s definitely a total douchebag, but sometimes I don’t know if he’s just trying to do his best; trying to make the tough decisions.  Maybe if I acted more like Shawcross, Clark would still be alive.

Mike entered the room then and placed a hand on her back.  She flinched at first but then settled down and enjoyed the warmth of his contact.

“I just passed Shawcross in the hall,” he said, staring up at Clark’s swinging body.  “I can’t believe it.”

She looked up at the lad’s dead, bulging face and sighed.  “I know.  It’s not right.”

“Should we cut him down?”

“What’s the point?  There’s death everywhere.  It would just be a waste of time for us to try and clean up after it.”

Mike rubbed at her back again and pulled her a little closer.  “Don’t give up.  You’re the only one of us with their head on straight.  We’d all be lost without you.”

Annaliese huffed.  “Bullshit!  All I’ve done since this whole thing started is get people killed.  Bradley, Kimberly, Charlotte, Clark.  You’d all have been better off in the kitchen where I found you.”

Mike fixed his dark brown eyes on her and gave her a look that sat halfway between pity and sympathy.  “Hey, if we were still in that kitchen, we’d all just be waiting to die.  I’d rather earn my death than just let it happen.”

“Wouldn’t you rather just give up?”

He scratched at his chin thoughtfully, but kept his gaze on her.  “You’re a vet, right?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“You know a lot about animals, so answer me this: what do animals do when humans invade their habitats?”

“They die out.  Or end up in zoos like this one.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that some do.  But what about all the other animals that don’t die out or end up in zoos?”

“I’m not following,” she said.  Mike’s constant gaze was beginning to make her feel hot.  She felt her cheeks throbbing and wondered when he was going to look away.

As if sensing her discomfort, he broke his stare momentarily before continuing with the point he was trying to make.  “I mean animals like rats, birds, cats, rabbits, even bears.  They are all around us, aren’t they?  You can’t go anywhere in the city without a pigeon eyeing you up for food.  In America, bears and racoons come right out into the streets and raid people’s bins; so do foxes in this country.”

Annaliese cleared her throat irritably.  “What’s your point?”

“My point is that animals adapt.  When things change for them, they don’t feel sorry for themselves, they just deal with it.”

“So you’re saying that we need to, what, just deal with it?  Like rabbits?”

“Exactly.  Are we so arrogant that when our cushy way of life is threatened we’d rather just give up then have to adapt and survive.  Every other species on earth has had to do it, because of us, so why can’t we.”  Mike cleared his throat and rubbed at his face.  “Look, I don’t know what lies ahead of us.  I’m guessing it’s not going to be nice, or easy in any way, but I’m not about to lie down and take it without a fight.  Whatever has happened is bad – really bad – but it’s only the end of the world if we let it be.  People have died, yes, but as long as there’s a few of us left then we owe it to the human race to survive.  If we don’t, then there is no more human race.”

Annaliese frowned at him.  “You’re not going to shout FREEDOM at me, are you?”

Mike laughed.  “I haven’t gone all Braveheart yet, but that’s the mentality we need.  And that film just proves my point that when people are up against it, they fight.  Maybe this thing isn’t as big as we fear, but we need to prepare ourselves in case it is.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she said.  “Can we just get out of here for now, though?  I don’t want to look at a dead body again for at least the rest of the day.”

“Fair enough.  Come on, everyone is still in the staffroom.  We were going to start planning what to do next.”

In the staffroom, everyone was gathered around the pool table.  Shawcross was starting a meeting.  From the way he was gesticulating, the man thought he was Winston Churchill.

Or Hitler.

“The phones are still not working,” he said.  “All of the computers in this office are security protected and nobody knows the passwords.  Ripley Hall is off limits and we have no idea what the situation is in nearby towns.  To say the situation is perilous is an understatement.  Our only hope at this point is to secure rescue.”

“How?” Greg asked.

“By following my suggestion of starting a signal fire.”

“Bad idea,” said Annaliese.  “I already told you that.  What if the fire attracts the infected?  Or people that want to take what we have?”

“You may be correct,” Shawcross admitted.  “But what other choice do we have, really?  We have no food beyond what lies on this table and I’m sure it is only a matter of time until we lose power and perhaps even water.  If you don’t agree with a signal fire, then we could head for the staff car park behind the manor house, or even head down the hill via the cable cars.  We can cut through the woods right into the nearest town.”

“The towns won’t be safe,” she said.

“Neither is here.  We have to leave.”

“Wait a minute,” said Mike.  “Isn’t this a theme park?”

“What?”

“This place is a theme park and zoo, right?”

Shawcross shrugged.  “What’s your point?”

“My point is that there must be a burger bar or restaurant with supplies to last us a little while longer.”

Annaliese nodded.  “He’s right.  In fact, I think there’s a couple of them.  There’s a burger place in the zoo and a pub and eatery in the theme park.  We should explore what we have before we start looking elsewhere.”

“Now, now,” said Shawcross, raising a hand.  “Regardless of how many supplies we can find, we will, at some point, run out.  We need rescue.”

“What if we don’t run out?” said Annaliese.

Mike folded his arms and looked curious.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean that the zoo is partly self-sustaining.  Bradley was telling me about how the produce much of the animal’s feed in a greenhouse in the woods and that they also have a small plot of vegetable gardens.  If we find where those are then we might be able to grow our own food.”

“And we can eat the animals,” said Alan.

Annaliese didn’t like the thought of that, but she knew it made sense.  “If things get that desperate then, yes, I suppose so.  But even better, the petting zoo has chickens and a pair of cows.  We can get eggs and milk.”

“This is absurd,” said Shawcross.  “We need rescue, not a bloody community project.”

“Yes, we do need rescue,” Annaliese admitted.  “But we won’t get it by throwing our lives away.  We can keep a look out for help – we’re five hundred feet in the air – but if help is a far ways off then we need to make preparations now rather than later.  We need to prepare for the worst.”

Shawcross shook his head.  “You’re wrong.  I think-”

Annaliese cut him off.  “Maybe I am wrong.  But maybe so are you.  You’re not in charge here, Shawcross.  Not anymore.  These people can make their own decisions.”

“Of course they can.  We’re just talking here, Anna.  No need to get upset.  I’m sure we’ll come up with the best decision available.”

Annaliese rolled her eyes at his patronising tone.  “I’m not upset, so don’t worry yourself.  As for coming up with a plan, I think the best option would be to vote.”

“Well, I’m not sure that-”

“I’m happy to vote,” said Mike.

“Me too,” said Alan.

Greg and Michelle also both agreed.

“There we have it,” Annaliese said.  “Our first vote is to vote.  The second is whether or not we light a signal fire, or whether we dig in and make sure we’re set up to survive here.”

“I vote we stay and prepare,” said Mike.

“All those in favour?” Annaliese asked.

“Everyone’s hands went up, except for Shawcross’s.”

Annaliese grinned.  “Motion carried.”

“Fine,” said Shawcross, stomping across the room.  “You all just made a very bad decision, but it was yours to make.  Just remember that I was against it.”  Then he slammed the door and was gone.

“He going to be alright, you think?” Mike asked her.

Annaliese shrugged her shoulders.  “I’m sure he will.  He just needs to get used to the fact that he’s not the manager of anything anymore.  Like you said, we all need to adapt.”

Mike put his fist in the air.  “FREEDOM!”

She laughed and punched him on the arm.

Then they all heard something that made their blood freeze.  The frenzied screeching of the infected.  It sounded like hundreds of them.

And they were close.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Annaliese and the others funnelled out through the building’s entrance and spread out into the courtyard.  The screeching of the infected was not coming from the park, that much was clear, but it was nearby.

“Come on,” she said, rushing off towards the edge of the park, to the area near the cable car station that led to the Rainforest Café below.  “I think it’s coming from over there.”

“Then we should probably run the opposite way,” said Greg.  His sleeves were rolled up, showing how skinny his arms were.

“We need to know if we’re in danger,” said Mike.  “We need to check it out.”

Nobody seemed to like the idea, but nor did anybody argue.  If they had to make a run for it, their chances would be better knowing what they were running from.

Annaliese started making her way through the zoo.  Everybody else followed.  It became clearer and clearer that the infected were nearby, but it was also recognisable that they were not within the grounds of the park.

“It’s coming from down the hill,” said Shawcross.

Annaliese nodded in agreement.  She altered her course slightly so that she was heading for the cable car station directly.  From there she would be able to look down at the guest parking area and the Rainforest Café.

Sure enough, when she reached the station and looked down the hill, she saw hundreds upon hundreds of infected people.  But, amidst them all, she saw something else that she could barely believe.

No way!

“There’re uninfected people down there.  Look, there’s a man standing on top of the café…and there, look, another!”

Annaliese watched as a man in a long black coat crept around the building below with an old lady in tow.  The man on the roof seemed to be running some kind of distraction for them by screaming, shouting, and waving his arms like a maniac.

“They’re screwed,” said Greg.  “There’s no way they’ll be able to escape all of those infected.  They’re going to get totally surrounded and torn apart.”

She waved a hand dismissively.  “Just wait,” she said.  “They’re running some kind of plan.  The man on the roof has them all corralled at the front of the building, while the other two are running around the back into the woods.”

“Well, how are they going to get the man down off the roof?” Greg asked.  “There’s no way.”

Annaliese had no idea, but Greg’s eagerness to count the strangers out was beginning to get on her nerves.  The only thing that was clear was that the strangers down below were working together and watching each other’s back.

Probably the only reason they’re still alive.

“Maybe, we can run a distraction of our own,” Mike suggested, a couple feet to her left.  “Try and draw the infected away from them.”

“No way!” Shawcross objected from a few feet away.  “You’ll get us killed.”

Mike shrugged and looked to Annaliese for her opinion.

He respects my opinion more than Shawcross’s.

Unfortunately, she had to agree with Shawcross, however much she did not want to.  “We can’t risk it,” she told Mike.  “We’ll just end up bringing the infected up here.”

He didn’t put up any argument.  He just sighed and let his gaze drift back down to the struggling survivors.  “Man…that sucks.”

Annaliese watched the stranger in the long black coat enter the woods with the old woman.  He reappeared a moment later without her.  He seemed to exchange a few words with the man on the roof, and then climbed through a window at the side of the building.  The man on the roof continued keeping the infected bunched together at the front.

Time went by and nothing happened.  Annaliese stood silently by, gazing down at the scene below.  Her skin felt tight around her bones and her heart beat too fast.

Then something began to happen.

“The infected people are heading into the café,” she said.  “Look!”

The infected were shuffling into the café, clambering through the broken windows.  After a while, the man stranded on the roof was able to head to the back of the building without any of the infected paying attention.  Annaliese watched in amazement as the other man, the one in the black coat, exited the building from a side window and then raced around the back to join his colleague, who was now jumping down off the roof to join him.  Within seconds, both men had disappeared into the treeline.

“They did it,” said Mike.  “Good for them!”

“But where are they heading next?” Shawcross enquired.

“Hopefully, they’ll make it up here,” said Alan, rubbing a hand against his moustache.  “They’ll be safe with us.”

“If they don’t end up leading all of those infected up the hill with them,” said Annaliese.  “We discussed this and I’m not sure having people joining us is a good idea.”

There was silence in the group as they digested the possibilities.  The truth was that none of them could know for sure what was best.  The other group of survivors could have knowledge they didn’t, medical supplies, weapons.  But they could also be dangerous, insane, or infected.  One thing was certain, though: if the other survivors tried to make it up the hill, no one could exactly stop them.

“You know what this means?” said Greg.

“What?”

“It means that we’re surrounded.  There’re infected people down there in the hundreds.  There’s another few dozen trapped inside Ripley Hall.  It’s pretty clear that there’s no rescue out there to be had.  If there was, then what are those people down there doing running for their lives?”

It was a grim realisation, made even grimmer when Annaliese spotted another group of survivors running out of the woods below, like ants disturbed from cracks in the mud.  This new group of people, running frantically across the car park, contained the two men and the old lady from the café.  They were all being chased by two infected people that came out the woods right behind them.  The horde from inside the café also spotted them running and had now piled back outside.  The group of survivors had nowhere to run.  They had no hope.

No hope at all.

But then the group below seemed to have an idea.  They altered the angle of their run and began heading for the base of the hill.  They seemed to have a destination in mind.

The cable cars.

They sprinted for the station at the foot of the hill and actually seemed like they were going to make it.  The only problem was that they were leaving the old woman behind.  As they leapt inside two of the cable cars, sliding the doors shut, the old woman fell beneath the tide of infected people and disappeared.

“Jesus!” said Mike.  “Poor old girl.”

Annaliese shook her head in horror as she watched the horde of infected surround the two cable cars and begin to rock them violently.

“They’re going to get ripped apart,” Greg said.  “Those cable cars won’t hold for long.”

Annaliese glanced around.  The upper cable car station was several meters in front of her, adjacent to a large cement platform.  The control booth was a small shed, made from concrete and sporting a long glass window.  Without telling the others what she was doing, she ran towards it.

Mike was the only one who followed her.  All of the others stood, staring down the hill in astonishment at what they were seeing.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked, entering the station behind her.  There were two dormant cable cars, the opposite numbers to the ones at the bottom of the hill.  There was also a small console set into a steel podium at the far side of the platform.  She hurried over to it.

“The park still has power,” she said to Mike.  “If we switch on the cable cars then those people will climb to the top of the hill.”

“To safety,” said Mike.

“Exactly.”  Annaliese eyed a small silver key that was inserted into the console.  Next to it was a green, circular button that said START.

“You said it would be a bad idea to let people up here.”

Annaliese nodded.  “I did say that, didn’t I?”

She turned the key and the cable motors came to life.   The carriages began to rattle on their moorings.

“You sure about this?” Mike asked her.  “These people could be dangerous.  They could bring the monsters up here with them.”

Annaliese looked Mike in the eyes.  “If we leave them down there to die, then we become the monsters.”

She pressed the green button on the console that said START.

PART THREE: DEATH

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nick craned his neck, trying to get the best look possible at the figure atop the hill.  Ominously, the silhouetted stranger stood rooted to the spot, staring down at them as they got closer and closer.

“What do you see?” Jan asked him.

“Not sure.  There’s someone waiting at the top for us, but I can’t make them out.  The sun is in my eyes.”

“I hope they’re friendly,” Cassie said, staring down at her feet as she sat on the cable car’s bench.

“Me too.  But, given what we’ve been through, they can’t be any less friendly than we’re used to.  They saved us by turning on the cables.”

The car continued to climb.  The one with Dave and the others inside was right behind.  Nick suddenly started to feel like a fish on a hook.  If the people on the hill meant harm, then there was nothing they could do to escape.  They were being reeled in; five hundred feet above the ground and about to encounter a group of strangers in a world that had become very unfamiliar, very dangerous.

“We’re almost there,” Jan said.  He was wrenching his large hands nervously.

Nick didn’t say anything.  He was too tense.  In the world that existed only a few days ago, meeting a stranger was no big deal.  Now it was monumental.

The cable car levelled out at the top of the hill and entered the upper station.  There was a man and woman standing there on the platform, anticipating their approach.  They seemed cautious.

Nick’s cable car rounded the apex and began heading back on itself.  For a moment, it felt like their hosts were going to send them all the way back down again, but then he realised that they were just waiting for Dave’s cable car to ascend onto the platform, too.  When both cars were in the station, the motors stopped abruptly.

“Stay where you are,” said the woman on the platform.  Nick saw that she was rugged, yet attractive; probably in her thirties.  She wore a thick shirt and wellington boots, and was appraising them from behind some sort of control column.

He put his hands in the air and stood in the open doorway of the cable car.  “We’re not dangerous.”

“Nor are we,” said the man who stood beside the woman.  “Unless we have to be.”

Nick knew the man wasn’t making a threat.  He was just being cautious and making it clear that the newcomers were expected to play nice.

And I intend to play nice.  I just want to find somewhere safe and think about my son and wife.

The door to the other cable car opened.  Dave stepped out.

“Hey,” said the woman on the platform.  “Stay where you are.”

Dave carried on approaching, despite the order not to.  He waved a hand and laughed heartily.  “Don’t be afraid, sweetheart.  We’re grateful for your rescue.  My name is Dave and-”

“I said stay where you are!”

Dave took the hint this time and stayed still.  He placed his hands out in front of him.  “Alright, luv, whatever you say.”

The woman placed her hands on her hips.  “I’m nobody’s luv.  And you haven’t been rescued, yet.  That will be decided in the next thirty seconds.”

Dave is going to ruin this for us all, Nick thought as he watched the woman bristle and take offence.

Several other people appeared on the platform and Nick counted that their hosts numbered at least six.  All of the strangers carried makeshift weapons.

About the same size as our group.

A ginger-haired man approached the woman in wellington boots and seemed furious with her.  “What the hell have you done, Anna?” he shouted.  “We have no idea who these people are.”

“We’re not dangerous,” Nick assured them.

“Be quiet!” ordered the ginger man.

“There’s no need for rudeness,” Dave said.

The ginger man stepped forwards, getting up close to Dave.  There was a brief stare-off between them.  “I don’t think you’re in any position to discuss etiquette with me, sir.  You have arrived on my property and I will decide how things proceed from here.”

“You own this place?” Dave asked, seemingly impressed.

“I am Mr Shawcross, the manager of Ripley Hall.”

Dave huffed.  “You’re just an employee.  You don’t own this place any more than I do.”

Jan leaned close to Nick.  “What is he doing?  He’s going to get us all kicked right back down this hill.”

Nick stepped out of the cable car and took a few steps forward.  “Look,” he said.  “My companion is being a little rude, but I promise you that we will respect whatever you say.  We just want to find somewhere safe.  Things have gotten really bad down below.  Everywhere is in chaos.”

The woman in wellingtons stared at him.  “You’ve seen the towns?  Is there any order left at all?”

“None.  People are infected with some disease and there’s nothing but chaos everywhere.  That’s not the worst of it, though.  The dead-”

“Are walking,” the woman finished.  “We know.  We’ve had our fair share of encounters.”

Nick deflated.  He hadn’t wanted to hear that.  “So it’s not safe here, either?”

The woman shrugged.  “It’s…secure, for now.”

“Great,” said Dave, rubbing his hands together.  “Then we’re lucky to have found you.”

The woman glowered at Dave and took a few, measured breaths.  “You seem to have a problem controlling your mouth, sweetheart!  Now, I want you to take a long look at what you’re facing.  All of my people have weapons and know how to use them.  None of your people have anything except a bad attitude.  I’m going to give you one last chance to make a good impression on me, or we’re going to send you back down that hill before you have chance to open your mouths again.”

Dave’s face scrunched up in a scowl.  He went to speak, but Nick cut him off.

“We apologise,” he said.  “My name is Nick Adams.  I was a phone salesman a few days ago.  I had a wife and a son and a mortgage.  Now, all I have are the people I’m with, and my faith in human nature.  We’re all desperate and afraid, but I promise you that we’re good people.  Even Dave here, once you get to know him.”

The woman studied Dave and then took a long, appraising look at Nick.  Eventually, she said, “My name is Annaliese.  You can call me Anna.”

“What are you doing?” the ginger man shouted.

“Making the best of a bad situation,” she replied.  “They’re here now.  We can’t exactly send them back down the hill, can we?”

“Thank you,” Nick said.

“Just don’t make me regret saving your arses,” she told him.  “I don’t make a habit of trusting people.”

“Me either, but I’m glad you’ve made an exception.  Is it okay if we all get out now?”

She nodded.

Everyone got out of the cable cars and formed a huddle on the platform.  As soon as they did, the ginger man spotted Jan and Renee.

“Those two are convicts!” he shouted.

“Easy there, brother,” Jan said.  “Me and Renee are cool.”

“Like hell you are!  You need to leave.”

“Where exactly do you expect us to go?”

“I don’t care, but you’re not staying here.”

Nick stood in front of Jan and Renee and shook his head.  “They’re good people.  They were sprung loose when things got crazy and they’ve more than proven their courage since they joined up with us.  In fact, Jan has already risked his life for other people and saved my life personally.”

“None of that means anything to us,” said the ginger man.  “Criminals are not to be trusted.”

“Come on,” Nick pleaded.  “Have some mercy.”  He stared at Annaliese, hoping that she would continue to show compassion.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I won’t feel safe with a couple of criminals amongst us.”

Nick couldn’t believe it.  “Then what are you suggesting?”

“Lock us up,” Jan interrupted.

Annaliese frowned.  “What do you mean, lock you up?”

“I mean, that if you feel criminals should be locked up, then put Renee and me somewhere secure and we’ll stay there and behave, as long as you feed us.  But please don’t turn everyone away because of mistakes I made years ago.”

Annaliese seemed to consider things.  “Okay,” she eventually said.  “We’ll find some place to put you.  But if you try anything, we’ll put you down like dogs.”

Jan raised an eyebrow.  “Damn, lady.  You sure you’ve never spent time inside, yourself?”

She shook her head.  “Nope.  I’m just a pissed-off vet with no more fucks left to give.”

“Then I think we understand one another,” said Nick.

“This is a bad idea,” said the ginger man.  “They could all be criminals for all we know.”

“Perhaps,” she admitted.  “But, right now, we’re all trying to stay alive against the same threat.  I think it’s in our best interests to trust one another.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Jan.

She nodded.  “But sometimes friends become enemies, too, so don’t cross me.”

“Well, then,” Dave said, obviously feeling confident to start speaking again.  “Are you going to show us around? Now that it’s been decided we’re staying.”

The ginger man sighed.  “Fine.  I’ll give you all a tour and find somewhere for your illicit companions to stay.”

Annaliese shrugged her shoulders apologetically towards Nick.  “This friendly soul is Shawcross, by the way.”

Shawcross raised an eyebrow at them all.  “I wish I could say the pleasure was all mine.  Welcome to Ripley Heights.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Eve was turning on the spot and taking the whole place in.  “I can’t believe I’m here again,” she said.  “God, the memories…”  She pointed at a nearby carousel that had dragons instead of horses.  “That’s the Magic Circle.  My sister and I used to go on that all the time.  And look, there,” she pointed at a rollercoaster at the edge of the park.  “I think that’s The Hood, if I remember correctly.”

“You do,” said Shawcross.  “It’s been repainted recently, but it’s the same old ride.  I take it you visited here as a child?”

“Lots of times,” Eve gushed.  Nick liked her excitement.  It was the first positive emotion any of them had felt for days and it was infectious.

“We need to be careful,” said Annaliese.  “We’re pretty sure the zoo is safe, but we haven’t explored the amusement park yet.”

“Thank you again for helping us,” Nick said.  “We were doomed otherwise.”

“I just hope you haven’t brought all those infected up the hill with you.”

“I don’t think so.  They seem to lose interest when they can’t see you.”

Annaliese nodded.  “You noticed that too, huh?  So how did you survive the last couple days?”

“Dave picked us up in his bus.  We drove around for a while and then ran out of petrol in the nearby woods.  I think luck has more to do with it than anything else.”

“Dave, the guy that doesn’t know when to shut his mouth?”

Nick nodded.  “That’s him.  He was pretty much our saviour to begin with, but I’ve been beginning to change my mind about him since.”

Annaliese stopped and looked at him.  “He’s not going to be a problem, is he?”

“No, no, of course not.  At least…I don’t think so.”

She shook her head and started walking again.  “Great, what have I let myself in for?”

“I promise he’ll behave,” Nick said, but wondered if he could even control such a thing.

Annaliese smiled and folded her arms like a stern, yet fair teacher.  “I’ll just have to trust you then, Nick.”

He smiled at her.  The group came to a stop up ahead.  They were standing in a midway games area.  There were several prize huts, like basketball, hook a duck, and an Arabian Derby skeet ball booth.  There was also one of those laser-target shooting gallery with animated props.  It was strange being at a place of fun in such dire circumstances.

“Right,” said Shawcross, clapping his hands together and getting everyone’s attention.  “The Big Dog restaurant and pub is just up ahead.  We need to start stockpiling supplies and looking for anything of use.  I’d say that with the soft furnishings inside Big Dog, and the fact that it has cooking facilities, it would make an ideal place for us to situate ourselves while we ride this thing out.  I believe there is also a cellar where we can accommodate our…less desirable guests.”

Jan shook his head and huffed.  “Guess, I should be used to being in a cell by now.”

“Is that absolutely necessary?” Nick asked.  “They really aren’t any danger.”

“We had a deal,” Annaliese said.

Jan cleared his throat.  “Don’t sweat it, brother.  I agreed to the terms.  I’m not backing out.”

“It may only be temporary,” Annaliese suggested.  “Just while we get used to one another.”

“Or we may keep you locked up until the police arrive,” Shawcross added.

“Come on,” said Annaliese.  “Let’s go inside.  Then we can all introduce ourselves properly.”

The two assembled groups headed over to the Big Dog restaurant and climbed a short flight of steps.  The door was locked when they got there, but it seemed like something the other group were used to by now.  Shawcross put through the window with a metal pole and cleared away the jagged shards from the edges of the frame.

“Hope nobody minds climbing,” he said.  “Doors aren’t getting as much use these days.”

Everyone hopped up onto the window ledge, one after another, and funnelled through into the restaurant.  It was very similar to how the Rainforest Café had been at the bottom of the hill, but a little better maintained.

“Now, I haven’t been in here for a while,” Shawcross said.  “The amusement park and zoo is separate to the manor house of which I am in charge, but, if memory serves me, there should be a soda fountain somewhere inside that we can use while there’s still power.  We should also gather as much water from the kitchen as we can.”

“Now that you mention it,” said Nick.  “How come you guys still have power?  It went off down below.”

“A generator,” Annaliese explained.  Shawcross said there’s one that can power the park for a couple of days if the grid goes off.  Tell you the truth, I didn’t even know it had kicked in.  The power’s out everywhere else, then, I take it?”

Nick shrugged.  “Not sure.  It certainly went off down below.  It set the alarms off.”

“So that’s what that was.  I thought I heard something last night.”

Shawcross went and leant up against the bar.  “Shall we get the introductions out of the way?  Then we can get on to more important matters.”

“Okay,” Nick said.  “I’ve already introduced myself, but this big guy here is Jan, who, like I said, has already saved my life once.  His companion is Renee, but he doesn’t talk.  This is Pauline…” Nick continued to point around the group.  “Cassie, Eve, and-”

“Dave,” the man answered for himself.  “I’m the one that got us all together in the first place.”

“Well done,” Shawcross said.  “I am responsible for our own little group.  You already know myself and Anna, but may I introduce you to Mike, Michelle, Greg and Alan.  There were more of us at one point but, well…”

Everybody waved hello.

“Should we be asking if anybody has any skills?” Eve asked.  “That’s what they do in the movies, right?”

Shawcross scratched his chin.  “I suppose so.  Annaliese would be our medic, for want of a better word.”

“I’m a vet,” she said, “but I know my way around human tackle, too, more or less.”

“I’m a builder,” said the moustached man called Alan.  “Retired.”

“I’m an accountant,” said Michelle, an attractive blonde woman.  “So none of you need to worry about your tax returns.”

Everyone giggled.

“Anybody else do anything useful?” Shawcross asked.

There was silence.

“Well, it doesn’t seem that we’re in a great position to restart civilisation, so let’s just hope things improve.”

Some hope, thought Nick as he took in his new surroundings.  He wondered how long the dingy restaurant would end up being his new home.

Don’t think I’ll get the sport channels here.

Shawcross pushed off from the bar and headed for Jan and Renee.  “The cellar is this way,” he said.  “Are you both ready to settle in?”

Jan shrugged.  “After you, Warden.”

Nick felt wrong as he watched Jan and Renee get lead away to their imprisonment.  He understood where the other group were coming from – he’d felt the same way about the prisoners not long ago – but he now felt like he owed the men.

They were watching our backs the whole time from Dash.

“Can we bring them food and water every day?” Nick asked.

“Of course,” said Annaliese.  “It’s just a precaution.  We’re not going to treat them like animals.”

“I think that’s the soda machine, over there.”  Cassie was pointing across the room.  Sure enough, there was a wide vending machine with a line of taps.

“Okay, great,” Annaliese said.  “Cassie, is it?  Do you want to start filling up all the cups with soft drinks and water?  That’s unless you can find a way into the back of the machine.  I imagine it’s locked, though.”

Cassie headed off, seemingly glad for something to do.

“I’ll help her,” said Pauline, heading off after her.

“And what are we going to be doing?” Dave asked.  There was an irritated tone to his voice that suggested he wanted to be the one giving orders.

Annaliese sighed.  “I don’t know, Dave.  What would you like to do?”

“How bouts me and Nick go take a root around the kitchen?  See what food we can rustle up.”

Nick shrugged.  It seemed like a reasonable idea.  He turned to Annaliese.  “Would that be okay, Anna?”

“I suppose so.”

“Great.  I’ll get to work then.”

Nick and Dave slid through a hinged entryway cut into the bar and headed through a staff door at the back.  Inside was a woefully-kept kitchen that had grime on the floor and grease on the walls.”

“Glad I never ate here,” said Nick.

“Nothing wrong with it,” Dave argued.  “Dirtier the kitchen, the better it is.  Bit of grease never hurt nobody.”

“Think we’ll have to just disagree there.”

Dave laughed and trotted forward.  He reached out and grabbed a long bread knife from a wall hook.  He let out a whistle.  “Think I just found my weapon for the time being.  You should grab something, too.”

“Maybe later.  I’m more interested in settling in with the new group first.  I don’t think arming ourselves to the teeth is going to put them at ease.”

“Arming ourselves is exactly what we need to do.  That ginger tosser and the mouthy vet are going to be on our balls about everything, if we let them.  I’m not going to spend the whole time here being treated like a guest.  This place doesn’t belong to them, so why are they acting like it does?”

“Because they were here first, and we would be dead if they hadn’t brought us up.  I think we just need to take it easy and get along.  They seem like nice people.”

“Yeah, maybe.  I just don’t fancy being defenceless if they decide to lock us up with the convicts.  What the hell happened to Dash by the way?”

“Long story.  Now’s not the time.”

“Well, like I said.  I want to be ready if these new people start trying to strong-arm us.  We’re outnumbered once they lock up Jan and Renee.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen,” said Nick, still hoping that Jan and Renee would only be locked up temporarily.  “They’re just being sensible until they know us better.”

Dave huffed.  “You sure ‘bout that?  Because all I know is that the world has changed.  It’s every man for himself now and I see a return to tribalism.”

“Tribalism?”

“Yeah, tribalism.  People are going to start looking out for their own.  The strong will take what the weak have.  The only question is, which side you going to be on when the tribes begin to form?”

Nick didn’t like the sound of it.  He didn’t like the thought of people turning on one another after so much had happened.  But maybe that was the exact type of scenario when people were the most likely to stand for themselves.

“I’m not picking sides,” he said.  “I think we should all just stick together.  If we don’t then we may as well feed ourselves to those monsters at the bottom of the hill.”

“Those monsters at the bottom of the hill are the reason why I’m right about us turning on each other.  What are we going to do if there’s a falling out or a disagreement, or frustration when we all begin to starve?  Nobody can go anywhere, so the only option left is to fight for your point of view.  We’re all going to be stuck on this hill together and there’s no longer the option for disagreement.”

Nick blew air into his cheeks and then let it out in one big huff.  “God, you’re negative.  You don’t have a lot of faith in people, do you?”

“When you’ve been a bus driver for twenty years, the one thing you start to know well is people.  Especially desperate people with nothing to lose.”

“Okay, well, let’s just play things by ear for now.”

“Of course.  I’m just being prepared.  Now, how bout’s we go take a look in those fridges?”

Nick glanced over at the refrigerator units and nodded.  “Sounds good.”

Inside, he was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Annaliese didn’t know what to make of the newcomers.  Two of them were prisoners and one of them was a complete arsehole, but Nick seemed to be on the level, and the women in the group seemed to trust him.  Still, she had a bad feeling that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

She hadn’t objected to Nick and Dave heading into the kitchen alone, but now she wondered if it had been such a good idea.  She decided it would probably be wise if she went and joined them.

Keep any eye on them.

Before heading off, she glanced at Eve, Michelle, Greg, and Alan.  They were all standing around aimlessly.  They needed something to do.

“Maybe you lot can gather up the furniture and make some sort of living space.  It might be worth us having a barricade as well, just in case, you know?”

The four of them nodded and got to work.  Annaliese headed behind the bar and entered through the kitchen door.  Nick and Dave were at the far end with their head in the fridges.

“Found anything?” she asked them.

Both of them spun around.  Nick answered, “There’s not much we can use.  Just some condensed milk and big jars of mayonnaise.  Most of the food here is probably frozen.”

Annaliese headed deeper into the room and pulled open a metal door against the far wall.  She thought about the last time she had opened a freezer unit, and shuddered.

Hopefully this one won’t be full of sick people.

Inside was plenty of food to keep them going.  Mostly burger patties, fries, and frozen hotdogs, but also boxes of artificial cheese and other odds and ends.

“Well,” said Nick.  “It’s not Michelin star, but it will do.”

Annaliese closed the door again and turned around.  “Best leaving it where it is for now.  We’ll have to make a list of it all and plan out rations.”

“I agree,” said Dave.  “You’re a clever girl, you.  I can tell.”

“Thanks,” she said.  “Must have been all those years at university.”

“So, what’s next on the to-do list?” Nick asked her.

“We’ll have to check with Shawcross.  No doubt he’ll have an opinion on what to do next, but to be honest there’s not a lot we can do other than wait.  When everyone is feeling up to it, we should start making a perimeter around the park, in case any infected people arrive.”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah, I like the sound of having fences between us and them.  We should maybe look around for stuff to keep us warm as well.  If the power goes off, it’s going to get cold.”

“Good point.  I’m not sure we’re going to come across any blankets, though.”

“Let’s get to it, then,” said Dave.  “No point hanging around.”

The three of them exited the kitchen and re-entered the restaurant.  Michelle, Alan, Greg, and Eve were moving the tables and chairs up against the windows and doors.  They had also turned some sideways, creating private berths for people to lie down in.  All in all, it was a job well done.

Over at the far side, Cassie and Pauline were diligently filling up plastic cups with cola and placing them on the floor in rows.  With a bit of luck, the machine would keep spitting out liquids for a while.  People seemed a lot less tense when they were busy.

“Our guests are secure and comfortable downstairs,” said Shawcross, who was marching towards them with Mike by his side.  “Fortunately, the key to the cellar was still in the lock.  You’ll also be glad to know that there are several barrels of both soft drinks and beer down there.  We will need to bring those up, of course.  Can’t leave them with the prisoners, lest they have themselves a party.”

“Jan and Renee aren’t like that,” Nick protested.

Annaliese was glad that the prisoners were secure, but she did wish that Shawcross would show a little more tactfulness in how he spoke about them.  They were obviously well respected by Nick, and the man bristled every time his companion’s morals were called in to question.

Guess the big bearded guy really did save his life.

“We were planning to check out the perimeter,” Annaliese told Shawcross.  “See if we can reinforce our position.”

Mike laughed.  “We sound like bloody soldiers.”

“Sooner we accept that we are, the better,” said Dave.  “I’m ready to go and check things out.  Anybody want to join me?”

Annaliese didn’t want the man to wander off alone, but she didn’t want to be stuck with him either.  “Mike,” she said.  “Could you get Greg and Michelle and go with him?  I think more heads would be better.”

He nodded.  “Sure thing.  I’ll get them now.”

“I will start making an inventory of what we have,” said Shawcross.

“Excellent,” Annaliese said.  It was a job she was hoping he would volunteer for.  It would keep him busy and out of the way.  She turned to Nick.  “Should you and I go look for bedding material?”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.  “Let me just check in with Eve and the others, so they know what’s happening.”

Annaliese stood and waited while everyone separated.  She watched Nick go over to each of the women in turn.  He seemed to take responsibility for their welfare.  She had a feeling, though, that he was just working hard to mask a deeper concern.  Clearly something was eating at him, and he was trying to make it go away by remaining busy.

Maybe he needs to talk to someone.

After a few moments, Nick returned to her.  He was holding a pint of coke and took a sip.  Then he offered it to her.  “Hope you don’t mind, but with all the excitement it feels like I might faint if I don’t take a drink.”

She waved a hand.  “Hey, you’re very welcome.  We need to be tight with our supplies from now on, but you folks are more than entitled to a drink.”

He lifted his arm in the direction of the window.  “Shall we?”

Annaliese nodded and they both headed for the broken window that would take them back outside.

“So,” said Nick.  “What’s the deal here?  Does all of your group work here?”

“No, actually.  Just Shawcross.  I’m a vet that was on call here.  Everyone else was staying in Ripley Hall for a company function.”

“Really?  Wow.  Do you think you would be alive if you hadn’t been called out here?”

“I doubt it.  Being here is probably the only reason I’m alive, if the news is anything to go by.”

Nick’s eyes went wide.  He helped her through the window quickly.  “You’ve seen the news?  What did it say?”

“Not a lot.  It went off soon after, but it was pretty clear that this is happening everywhere, all over the world.”

Nick jumped out of the window after her and let his gaze drop to the floor.  “Well, guess that’s that, then.  This is the goddamn apocalypse, isn’t it?”

Annaliese shook her head.  It was crazy to use that word in a literal sense, but… “Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the end of the world as we know it.  The news did say there was military in some places, but didn’t say where, other than up north.  Maybe if we hold out long enough, things will change.”

“Let’s hope so.”

There was a brief silence as they walked along and Annaliese took the opportunity to probe her new companion.  “I guess for some of us, it already feels like the world has ended.”

Nick nodded and seemed to stare off into the distance.  “Pretty much.”

“You said you had a wife and child?”

Nick looked away from her.  “Yeah.  Deana and James.  They were both infected.  I left Deana alive, but James…”

Annaliese put a hand on his back.  “It’s okay.  I get it.  You don’t have to say.  I can’t imagine what you went through.

Although, I pretty much can.  I know what it’s like to lose a child.

“But,” she continued.  “The people in your group seem pretty glad to have you around.  Most people are infected or gone, so I guess we should try and count ourselves lucky that we’re still here at all.  Least that’s what I keep telling myself.  Only thing that’s keeping me from going crazy, to be honest.”

Nick glanced at her.  “So, did you lose anybody?”

“Yeah, I lost someone.  But not because of all this.  Guess I’m lucky that none of this horror has directly affected me like it has other people.”

“I don’t think anybody is lucky anymore.  I’m sorry for your loss, whenever it may have been.”

Annaliese smiled glumly.  “Thank you.”

They came back to the midway games area and Nick came up with a suggestion.  “We could use the plush toy prizes as pillows – some of them are pretty big and they look soft.”

Following the same train of thought, Annaliese had an additional suggestion.  “I think they sell wet weather ponchos in the gift shop, too.  They could be good for bedding.”

“Looks like we’re on our way, then.  Let’s get started.”

Nick vaulted the basketball midway game and begun pulling stuffed dinosaurs down off the shelves.  He threw them out so that they landed in a loose pile on the pavement.

Annaliese entered through the back of the Arabian Derby and started grabbing the biggest plush toys she could find.  There would be more than enough to use as pillows.

“We’re going to need a bag or something to carry this stuff back,” he shouted over to her.  “Any ideas?”

“The gift shop.  It might sell tote bags.”

“Let’s go check it out.  We can look for the ponchos at the same time.”

Nick vaulted back out of the basketball game and joined Annaliese on the pavement.  She led him towards the gift shop and was grateful that she had once visited the park with her husband back when they were courting.  It was useful knowing her way around the theme park area of Ripley Heights.

The gift shop was up ahead and themed like a fairytale cottage.  Nick picked up a rock from a nearby flowerbed and let fly with it.  It smashed out a window of the shop.

“That’s how you guys do this, right?”

Annaliese laughed.  “Nowadays we do.  Got to tell you, though, I really miss using doors.”

“I miss a lot of things,” said Nick.  “I miss crap television and pop music.”

“Huh!”

Nick looked at her.  “What?”

“Nothing.  It’s just that those are the things I miss, too.  Aren’t you supposed to missing football and the pub?”

“Hey!  Way to stereotype me.  I’m not really that kind of guy.  I’m more wine and a movie at home with the wife.  At least…I used to be.”

“Come on,” she said, changing the subject.  “Let’s get inside.”

They climbed through the broken window of the gift shop and headed inside.

“Fantastic,” she said, heading straight for a hanger full of souvenir hoodies.  “These should keep us all warm.”

“And here are the ponchos,” said Nick, thumbing through a folded-up pile of plastic sheets.  “They’ve got souvenir towels over there as well.”

“And here are the tote bags.”

Nick laughed.  “Well, that was easy.  Makes me wonder when something’s going to go wrong.”

There was an explosion.

It shook the floor beneath them.

But it came from far away.

Both of Nick’s eyebrows were stretched high and Annaliese thought he looked a little like a shocked clown.  “What the hell was that?” he asked her.

She shook her head and chewed at the side of her mouth.  “I don’t know.  We should go check it out.”

She hopped back out through the window and told Nick to hurry after her.  There were still aftershocks coming from whatever had exploded in the distance and several continuing mini-explosions made it quite easy to pinpoint the direction.  She headed towards the edge of the park, back to where the cable car station was located.

“What are you going to do?” Nick shouted after her.  It’s not like we can go down the hill to investigate.”

Annaliese skidded on her heels as she headed around the park’s Magic Carpet carousel and arrived at the cable car station.  From there she had an unobstructed view from the top of the hill to the landscape below.

Nick bumped into the back of her.  His jaw dropped open.  “Hell’s bloody bells.”

Hell is a good word for it.

Annaliese was holding her breath and she suddenly let it out as the pressure in her lungs increased.  In the distance, past the woods and forests that surrounded Ripley Heights was a nearby village.  Annaliese could just about make out the spire of a church there.  The whole place was in flames, for at least a square mile.  The fires blazed from a hundred different sources.  Some licked at the sky for hundreds of feet.  As she scanned the horizon she saw other distant villages ablaze also.  It was as if the earth was burning.

“It’s all over,” said Nick.  “Totally over.”

Annaliese couldn’t argue.  Civilisation was burning.  For all she knew they were the last human beings still left alive.

And they were stuck on a hill with nothing to do but await their own deaths.

“What do you think is happening down there?” Annaliese asked Nick in a whisper.  Shock would allow her to speak no louder.

“I guess a petrol station went up or something.  This whole area is pretty wooded.  One place probably went up in flames and set the whole area on fire.”

“What if the fire makes it over here?”

Nick sighed.  “Then I guess that’ll be the end of the last safe place on Earth.”

Annaliese felt herself crying.  Doesn’t feel so safe to me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Looking out at the blazing remains of civilisation was a surreal experience.  Common sense suggested that Nick should be on his knees, weeping and crying out in desperation, but all he found himself doing was staring.  The level of horror was so high that something inside his brain kicked in; a defence mechanism designed to keep his mind calm…keep him sane amongst the insanity.

Annaliese stood next to him and was staring with the same numb expression.  Suddenly, she pointed something out.  “Look,” she said.  “They’re moving away.”

Nick looked down the hill at the car park.  Like a herd of grazing buffalo, the massive horde of infected people had begun to turn around and face the direction of the flaming village on the horizon.  A factory in the distance ignited and went up in a gulf of orange flame and obsidian smoke.

“It’s the explosions,” Nick said.  “It’s leading them away.”

“That makes sense.  They operate off sight and sound.  They’re heading for all the noise.  We might actually be about to catch a break here.”

Nick took one last look at the infected, funnelling away into the distance, and then turned to look at Annaliese.  “Let’s get what we need and tell the others.”

“Okay, let’s head back to the gift shop and load up the tote bags.”

“Ready when you are.”

They headed back to the gift shop and got to work.  They loaded up the tote bags with the plastic ponchos and hoodies.  There was so much stock that they ended up looking like pack mules as they struggled to carry all of the tote bags.  The last thing they gathered up were the plush toys from the midway games that they could use as pillows.

“This should be more than enough,” said Nick, peering over the top of his load.

Annaliese agreed and they started to make their way back towards the restaurant.  With tote bags wrapped around both of his arms and a pile of plush toys balanced in front of him, Nick was having a tough time seeing.  It made him think about how Deana used to make fun of the way he would always be so determined to get all the shopping bags from the boot of the car to the house in one single trip.

Guess I haven’t changed completely.

Up ahead, he heard rustling.  It sounded like Annaliese was heading into the hedges that ringed the park’s outer pathways.  He was just about to ask her what she was doing when he heard her cry out.

Nick dropped the bags he was carrying and looked around frantically.  As he did so, he ended up treading on a stuffed dolphin.  His ankle twisted and he cried out in pain.

Annaliese was struggling on her back with an infected on top of her.  There was a second infected person coming out of the bushes; a Chinese guy with broken spectacles.

Shit!  What do I do?

Nick knew that if the infected Chinese man made it over to Annaliese he would have no problem sinking his teeth into her as she struggled with the woman.  Nick would have to take the man down first.

Here goes nothing.

With a rapidly swelling ankle, he lolloped towards the Chinese man and leapt into the air.  He planted a sloppy flying kick in the best impression of Bruce Lee that he could manage.  The man went stumbling backwards into the bushes and Nick landed and hissed out in pain.  He spun around to see that Annaliese had the infected woman around the throat and was trying to bring up her knees as a barrier between them.

Nick went to help her.

He grabbed the infected woman around the waist and tugged her backwards.  At the same time, Annaliese kicked out her legs and struck the woman’s abdomen.  The extra momentum sent Nick reeling backwards to the floor with his arms still wrapped around the woman’s waist.  He held on tightly as Annaliese hurried to her feet.

“Keep her there,” she shouted.

“Yeah, no problem,” said Nick, sarcastically.

Annaliese disappeared out of sight.  The infected woman thrashed about in Nick’s arms.  He suddenly felt alone…abandoned.

Then Annaliese reappeared and dove at the infected woman in his arms.  She swung her arm and cracked the woman across the face.  Nick felt the body go limp and quickly dumped it to the side.  He scurried back to his feet and saw that Annaliese held a jagged rock in her hand.  It dripped with blood.

“Very effective,” he said.  “Think you can-”

Annaliese’s eyes went wide.

Nick was tackled from behind by the infected Chinese man.  He fell to the floor face down and struck his head on the pavement.  Immediately his vision dimmed and his hearing buzzed as though his ears were full of flies.

He was hardly aware of what happened next as he lay on the floor impotently.  Sounds of a desperate struggle ensued, but he was unable to do anything.

I need to help, Anna.

Or she needs to help me.

There was a wet sound.

And then silence.

Nick was still dazed when the struggling stopped.  He wanted to roll onto his back and see what was happening, but every time he tried to move, a wave of nausea flooded over him.  His head clanged like a kettle drum.

I think I’m going to puke.

A hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed.  The breath caught in his chest as he lay there, still powerless.

“Come on,” Annaliese told him.  “I handled it.”

Nick blinked and tried to stop his vision from tilting.  He took a few deep breaths before he was able to place his palms on the pavement and push himself up.  Annaliese helped him to his knees and then, slowly, onto his feet.

He wobbled a bit and she grabbed a hold of him.  “Whoa, you okay?  You took a pretty big bang on the head, there.  I can already see the swelling coming up.”

“I don’t feel right, I…”  His words trailed off as he saw the blood pouring from Annaliese’s neck.  He reached out a hand, but then stopped himself.

Her blood could be infected.  Don’t touch it!

Annaliese stepped away from his grasp and frowned.  She followed his gaze and looked down at her shoulder.  She saw the blood there and her mouth dropped open.

“Oh, no,” she said.  “No, no, no.”

Nick stepped forward and put his hands on both her shoulders.  Suddenly his headache was gone, replaced by trepidation and fear.  He caught Annaliese’s gaze and looked her dead in the eye.  “Are you bit?” he asked her.  But she didn’t seem to hear the question and stared into space.  “I said, are you bitten?

“I…I don’t know.”

Nick shook his head.  “Damn it!”

Annaliese began unclasping the buttons of her shirt and tugged the material away from her neck and shoulder.  Nick leant forward to examine her wound.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

There was a lot of blood.  It was bright red and already clotting.  It wasn’t from a deep wound, but that wouldn’t matter if it was from a bite.  Nick followed the bleeding to its source, until it became clear what they were dealing with.

I can’t believe it.

He stepped away from her and let out a sigh.

Annaliese eyes went impossibly wide.  “What?” she pleaded.  “Am I bitten?”

Nick shook his head and stepped closer to her.  He reached a hand around her neck and plucked something from a gash he had discovered on the back of her shoulder.

Annaliese flinched.  “Shit!  What was that?”

Nick held the sharp twig out in front of her and watched the relief take over her.  He couldn’t help but laugh with relief.  “It was sticking right out of you.  It was in pretty deep, but there’s no bite.”

Annaliese put a hand to her forehead and rubbed.  “Thank God!  I must have landed on it when the infected woman took me down to the ground.  Jeez, that was close.”

“What were they doing up here anyway?” he asked her, hoping she would have an answer.

“They must have followed you up in the cable car,” she said.  “Climbed up the hill after you.”

Nick looked around anxiously, eyeing the treeline that surrounded the park and led down the hill.  “You think there are more?”

Annaliese shrugged.  “I bet there are more in the trees, but if we get out of sight they should all head back down towards the village with the others.  These two must have been nearby when the explosions happened.  They probably already had us in their sights.”

Nick looked down at the scattered items they had been carrying back to the restaurant.  Then he looked back up at Annaliese.  “I think that once we get all this stuff back, our only priority for now should be getting this place secure.  The infected may be heading away for now, but I’m sure more will come by eventually.”

Annaliese nodded her head, staring at the ground as she thought about things.  “We need to make this place a fortress.”

“Either that,” said Nick.  “Or we need to start watching our backs every second.”

Chapter Thirty

Almost three weeks had passed since the decision was made to dig in five-hundred feet above the ground.  Nick was grateful for stumbling upon the survivors at Ripley Heights.  He knew he would be dead if he hadn’t.

Several more infected people had found their way into the park grounds over the days that followed.  They quickly lost Greg to one of them.  He had been checking out the woods when an infected man dressed in a Royal Mail uniform jumped out at him and took him to the ground.  He was dead before anybody could get to him.

The group had mourned Greg’s loss and had shared a common regret that nobody knew him well.  It just made everyone feel even luckier to still be alive.

Dave had hunted down most of the infected in the nearby woods after that, by himself.  He took them out with his chef’s knife and came back every night covered in blood.  The man now kept the blade constantly strapped to his waist like Rambo.

It had now been more than four days since any infected had been spotted inside the park.  Things had finally begun to feel a little safer.  The makeshift walls, fences, and barriers that they had erected in key areas also added to that feeling of security.

Still, it was far from ideal living.  The power had finally failed and the water pressure was getting lower each day.  They no longer used any of the park’s toilets and had taken to finding their own individual spots in the woods.  It was a degrading devolution of their once civil habits.  They now had to go shit in the woods like any other animal.  Human superiority had been reduced to nothing.

Now that everyone had time to think and rest up a little, a dark mood had fallen over the group.  They each began to mourn the losses of both their previous life and their all of their friends and loved ones.  Nick, too, had become morose as the full weight of what had happened finally washed over him.  He would often wander off on his own, just to cry.  Never again would he see his wife and son.  He would never even get to see a photograph of them.  All he had were the rapidly fading images in his mind.  He would never get to play football with James or make love to Deana.  They were both gone.  Forever.  The burden of that loss had tarnished his soul.  He was no longer the man he used to be.

No longer a man at all.

In the last few days, the group had formed a ‘camp’ around the Big Dog restaurant.  They had erected a waist-high wire fence around a large portion of the grounds, separating the steep decline of the surrounding hill from the level pathways of the park.  It was not high enough to stop any infected entering, but it would at least slow them down.  The least secured place in the whole park was the access road that led down the hill to the nearby villages.  It was located by Ripley Hall.  Nick and Alan had done their best to block it off with a portable candy floss stand and a ride-on lawnmower they had found in the warehouse, but it wasn’t ideal.

But, as things went, they were in as good a position as they could be.  The burning villages in the distance made clear that any remnant or morsel of safety was a true privilege.  To still be alive after all that had happened was a lottery win.

“Hey, man, you’re never going to believe this,” said Mike.

Nick shook his head and frowned.  “Believe what?”

Mike grinned.  “Just come.”

Nick followed him towards the zoo.  The group had not spent much time amongst the animals, but Anna had been making sure they were all fed and watered.  Nobody said it, but they all knew that the animals would probably end up as food eventually; none of them wanted to get too attached.

Much harder to eat a pig with a name.

Mike led Nick past the pig stys and up to a large enclosure with a big fat tree in its centre, then he stopped and looked at him as though there was supposed to be something obvious he was seeing.

Nick shrugged his shoulders.  “What?”

Mike sighed and pointed.  “You blind, or what?”

When Nick finally saw it, his mouth dropped open.  “Wow!  Is that real?”

“Course it’s real.”

Nick stared up at the Orang-utan perched in the trees and could barely believe it.  It was hanging around as if it were no different than a common grey squirrel.  Nick supposed that the animal belonged to the zoo and had somehow gotten loose?”

“Is it…dangerous?” Nick asked.

“Beats me,” said Mike.  “Alan has run off to get Anna.  She’ll know what to do.”

Nick eased himself down onto the floor and sat on a patch of grass.  He propped his head up on his hands and gazed at the copper-coloured creature in the treetops.

Amazing.

The orang-utan stared down at the assembled group with something approaching disinterest.  It seemed completely at home in the trees and was no doubt satisfied to have such freedom after having been enclosed in the zoo for what may have been its entire lifetime.

Good for you.  Hope you’re enjoying yourself.

For some reason, seeing an animal so wild and free lifted Nick’s spirits.  It brought him back slightly from the deep melancholy which had encased his soul for so many days.  When Annaliese finally arrived at the scene, he had not taken his eyes off the animal once in several minutes.

“Lily!”  Annaliese put a hand on her mouth.  “Wow!”

Nick stood up off the ground and patted the dirt from his woollen coat.  “Lily?  Is that the monkey’s name?”

“She’s not a monkey.  She’s an ape.”

Nick nodded.  “Okay.  So, where did Lily come from?”

“This enclosure you’re standing right in front of.  This was her habitat.”

“How did she get out?”

“I let her out,” said Annaliese.  “Sort of.”

“Is she dangerous?”

Annaliese chewed at her lower lip for a second then said, “Could she be dangerous if she wanted to be?  Sure.  She could crush our skulls with a single swipe, but do I think we need to be worried?  No.  From what I know about her, she is very intelligent and sensitive.  She’s lost her family just like the rest of us.”

Nick glanced at her.  “What do you mean?”

“There was a mate in the pen with her, and an infant.  You can see them, there, under the blankets.  When the first infected people appeared, they flooded into the enclosure and attacked Lily and her family.  She was the only one that made it.”

“So, the infected attack animals as well?” Nick asked, his eyebrows raised.

Annaliese shook her head.  “They walked right past the other animals as if they weren’t even there.  I’m guessing that a primate is enough like a human being to pass for a target.  They must get confused.”

Mike walked up to the both of them and looked up at Lily in the trees, like they were.  “Why is she hanging around here?”

“Only she knows that,” Annaliese said.  “But I think it’s because she doesn’t want to be alone.  The infected are as much a threat to her as they are to us.  Maybe she’s been down the hill and realised that this is the safest place to be.”

“She doesn’t seem to mind people,” Mike commented.

“No, she doesn’t,” said Annaliese.  She waved a hand in the air.  Lily shocked everyone by waving right back.  “She probably misses the safety of her enclosure.  That’s why she’s stuck to being nearby.”

“Should we feed her?” Nick asked.

“I don’t think Shawcross would like that,” said Mike.  “He and Dave are already kicking up a fuss about the daily rations being too high.”

“Screw them,” Annaliese said.  “We feed her what we can.  Lily’s a part of this group, too.  A survivor.  Anybody has a problem with that, they can talk to me.”

“Fine by me,” said Nick.  “I think I’d like having her around, and feeding her is one way to ensure that.”

Annaliese smiled at him.  “How’s your head.  Along with your various other wounds.”

Nick felt the faint bump on his forehead.  “It’s better.  I still feel a bit sick when I first wake up, but the headaches have stopped.  I’ve just been trying to rest as much as possible.”

“I think you probably had a mild concussion,” she said.  “Just keep resting up and you’ll soon be on the mend.”

“I’m just lucky to have such a small brain.  Otherwise I could really have been hurt.”

Annaliese frowned at him.  “Don’t be so silly.  You and Mike are the only people I can talk any sense to.  You’re both just the right amount of insane.”

Nick looked at Mike who was giggling.  It was ironic; Nick had never been a big valuer of friendships in his previous life, but it was comforting to have the trust of Mike and Annaliese.  They were his comrades in arms.  His buddies.  It was nowhere near a replacement for the family he had lost, but it was something at least.

“So, where are Shawcross and Dave?” Nick asked.  Both men had been in a constant battle for authority over the last few days, trying to be the one that made all the decisions.  The pathetic thing was that neither man had noticed how little the rest of the group cared who was in charge.  It was a thankless job which no one else wanted.

Like two bulls fighting over a marble.

Annaliese answered the question.  “They’re both back at the restaurant with Pauline and Eve.  They’re working on a map of the park and marking it out with emergency weapon drops and food stashes.  Dave doesn’t think it’s a good idea to have all our supplies in one place, in case something happens.  Shawcross agreed with him, for once.”

“Probably a good idea,” said Mike.  “At the moment, we’re screwed if we lose the restaurant.”

“So what are Alan and Michelle doing?”

Mike answered this one.  “Before Lily made an appearance they were rooting through the warehouse next to the office building.  Alan told me they found a bunch of fireworks in there!”

“Don’t think there’s going to be much chance for a display,” said Nick.

“No,” Mike agreed.  “But they would be a perfect way to signal help if it ever arrives.”

Nick didn’t think it was a possibility, but he could see the reasoning.  “Anything else in there?”

“Yeah, some gardening equipment; shovels and stuff.  Alan suggested digging some pits around the edge of the park.  Like booby traps, you know?”

Nick nodded.  “I like that idea.  Over time we could probably dig quite a few.”

“So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?”  Annaliese asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders and then looked up at Lily in the trees.  “I guess I’ll fill in where I’m needed.  First thing I’m going to do, though, is go and tell Eve about the newest member of our group.  She’s been pretty low the last few days – we all have – so maybe it will cheer her up a bit.”

“Okay,” said Annaliese.  Then she and Mike waved Nick off as he headed back for the amusement park area and the Big Dog restaurant.

The restaurant was near the centre of the park and was now fronted by a minefield of plates, pans, and cutlery.  The theory being that it would create noise if any infected people were to walk across it.  The windows had also been boarded up permanently with table tops and chairs.  Only a single window was left clear to act as an access in and out.

Our very own Fort Knox.

Heading up the few steps to the building, Nick could already hear the bickering voices of Dave and Shawcross inside.  It sounded like they were discussing Jan and Renee, who were still imprisoned in the cellar.  Nick had been popping down to see them a couple times a day, bringing them food, beers, and a pack of cards from the gift shop.  But their good nature about the situation was beginning to sour and Jan had now expressed a growing desire to be let out.  Nick didn’t blame the man at all.  It must be mind-numbing having spent so long in that cellar.

“They can help with the jobs around here,” said Dave.  “They’re two strong men.”

“They could kill us all in our sleep,” Shawcross rebutted.

“They’re not murders,” said Dave.

“What, because they told you so?  You have no way of knowing what they were in prison for.  The big one looks like a sodding serial killer.”

Nick hopped in through the window and immediately joined in the conversation.  “His name is Jan, and he’s a reformed bank robber.  He told me how much he regrets his past and I believe him.”

“Of course, he said that.”  Shawcross folded his arms and sighed.  “He probably had it rehearsed from all of his failed probation hearings.”

Nick rolled his eyes and decided not to say anything more.  There was no point getting caught up in the ceaseless bickering between the two men.  Dave probably didn’t even care if Jan and Renee were released or not; he just liked undermining Shawcross at every corner.

Eve and Pauline were sitting at a table nearby, sharing a cup of lemonade between them.  Eve rolled her eyes as Nick approached them.  “We were supposed to be working out our defences,” she said, “but then they just started arguing.”

“Yeah,” said Pauline.  “It’s been about twenty minutes so far.”

“Best to just let them get on with it.”  Nick took a seat and started telling them about Lily.  It seemed to get a positive reaction, just like he hoped it would.

“So, she’s just sitting there in the trees?” said Eve.

Nick nodded.  “Go see for yourself.  She seems friendly; even waved to Anna.”

“No shit?  Soon as I’m done here, I’m heading straight to the zoo.”

“What’s this supply map, I’ve been hearing about then?” Nick asked.

“Dave’s idea,” replied Pauline.  “We’re going to choose a few places around the park and drop off food and weapons, so that if something happens we can resupply.  Good idea, I suppose.  They’re just trying to work out whether or not to let Jan and Renee out to help.  I think Shawcross has taken it far enough now.  We should let those poor men out.  Cassie told us about what they did to save you in the cable car.”

Nick nodded.  “Would be dead if not for them.  Hey, come to think of it, where is Cassie?”

The two women shrugged.  “I haven’t seen her since this morning when we all woke up,” said Pauline.

“Me either,” said Eve.

Nick had a bad feeling.  “I think maybe we should go find her.  Nobody should be on their own.”

Both women nodded.  Nick could tell they were getting the same bad feeling that he was.  All three of them stood up and moved away from the table.

“Hey, you two,” Nick addressed both Shawcross and Dave.  “We’re just going to go find Cassie and then we’ll be right back, okay?”

Both men were so busy arguing that they barely seemed to notice.  Nick shrugged, and he and the women each crept through the window and passed back outside.  They were careful not to step on any plates as they headed into the park.

“You don’t think she’d try to hurt herself do you?” Eve asked.

“I don’t know,” Nick admitted.  “But after all that has happened, I wouldn’t blame anybody for wanting to take their own life.”

Nobody said anything for a while.  The tense silence made it clear what they were all thinking.

Up ahead was the office building.  Annaliese had explained that there were bodies inside one of the rooms.  It was the unofficial morgue, and not somewhere to visit otherwise.  Beside the offices was an open warehouse with a large truck parked outside.  Alan and Michelle were both milling about inside.

“Hey,” Nick said to them as he entered the warehouse.  He looked around at the various things piled up.  Like Mike had said, there was a large stockpile of crated-up fireworks.  There were also several cans of petrol, which seemed a little unsafe to be stored next to commercial explosives.

Alan noticed Nick staring at the fireworks and grinned.  His greying moustache pointed up at the corners.  “Quite the collection, isn’t it?  And with all this petrol we might be able to get the generator juiced back up if we need it.”

“What were all these fireworks meant for?” Eve asked, picking up a blue and orange rocket and reading the label.

“I don’t know,” Alan said.  “Shawcross said the park used to hold firework displays at Halloween, and New Year, et cetera.  I guess they brought in bulk.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” said Nick.  “I hear there’s been talk of using them as a signal if rescue arrives?”

Alan nodded.  “That’s what I’m doing now.  Michelle and I are going to set up a crate of rockets at the edge of the hill so we can set them off if we spot anyone in the villages.  We’ll cover them up with some tarps I found to keep them dry.”

“Sounds good,” Nick said, then suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing.  “Hey, have you two seen Cassie anywhere?  Nobody has seen her for a while.”

A look of concern crossed Michelle’s face.  “No, I haven’t seen her.  She’s okay, isn’t she?”

“I’m sure she is,” said Nick.  “Just need to check in with her, that’s all.”

“Wish I could help you,” said Alan.  “But I can’t say that I’ve seen her all day.”

“Okay, then we’ll leave you to it.”

That’s not good.  Nobody has seen her since this morning.  Where would she have gone for so long?

On their way back out of the warehouse, Pauline made a suggestion.  “Maybe, we’re overreacting.  She might just need some alone time.”

Nick thought about the possibility.  Cassie had been fragile from the beginning, and even more so after what Dash had tried to do to her at The Rainforest Café.  He didn’t see her as the type of person that would willingly seek solitude.  She would be far too nervous to be alone.

“I don’t think she would wonder off without telling anybody,” said Eve, echoing what Nick was thinking.  “But I’m not sure she’d try to hurt herself, either.”

Nick stopped walking and looked at Eve.  “Really?  What makes you so sure?”

Eve shrugged.  “I don’t know.  The way she’s been talking the last few days, I suppose.  She told me how glad she was that we were all safe and that she hoped rescue would arrive eventually.  She was looking forwards, you know?”

“Then where is she?” Pauline asked.

“That’s what we need to find out,” said Nick.

They carried on walking and explored the zoo area of Ripley Heights.  The various animals all went about their enclosures in the same way they no doubt had before things went bad.  For them life was still the same.  The rabbits were still just rabbits and the chickens were still just chickens.  Life was no more complicated for them than it ever had been.  Nick envied them.

Oh but to be a lowly badger.

Up ahead, they were coming back around to the orang-utan enclosure.  Nick looked up at the treeline and was disappointed to see that Lily was no longer there.  He hoped it wasn’t the last he’d see of her.

“This is where the orang-utan was,” Nick said.

“Where is she now?” Eve asked excitedly.

“Looks like she’s gone.  Sorry.”

“That sucks.”

Pauline sighed.  “Isn’t Cassie our main concern right now?”

Nick nodded.  “Yes, of course.”

Suddenly, Mike came speeding around the corner, right towards them.

Instantly, Nick assumed the worst.  “You’ve found Cassie, haven’t you?”

Mike nodded.  “Yeah, she’s at the restaurant.  I came to come and get you.”

“At the restaurant?”  Pauline frowned.  “But we just came from there.”

“She was in the cellar,” Mike explained.

Nick sighed.  He suddenly felt very weak.  “How did she kill herself?”

Mike frowned in confusion.  “Kill herself?  She’s not dead.”

“Then why have you come to get us?”

“Because she’s broken Jan and Renee out.  Your prisoner friends have escaped.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“Cassie, what are you doing?”  Nick had climbed through the window back into the restaurant and was surprised to find Cassie with Renee and Jan.  All three of them were brandishing knives.  Standing opposite, and also armed, were Dave and Shawcross.  Mike, Eve, and Pauline decided to stay outside, not wanting to make a tense situation even worse.

Cassie stared at Nick.  She was shaking like a leaf, but seemed firm in her actions.  “We can’t keep Jan and Renee locked up like animals anymore.  They deserve better.  Jan saved me.  He saved you, too, Nick.  I’d feel safer with them both free.”

Nick nodded.  “I agree.  I never thought they needed to be locked up in the first place.”

“Well, it’s not your decision,” said Shawcross.  “You made a deal when we let you stay.”

“Bullshit,” Jan spat.  “We showed you good faith.  We could have forced you to take us in, but we trusted in you being good people.  But enough is enough.  Me and Renee aren’t staying locked up a moment longer.  It’s been weeks.”

Shawcross shrugged his shoulders.  “Then you’ll have to leave.”

Jan shook his head.  Renee stood unwaveringly beside him.  “Leave?  Are you crazy?  There is no leaving here.  We’re all stuck.”

“You’re not a part of this group,” said Shawcross.

“Yes, they are,” Cassie argued.

“Just put the knives down, Jan,” Dave said.  “This isn’t how we do things.”

“Really,” said Jan.  “Is that what you were thinking when you were trying to bash Kathryn’s skull in?  Seemed like you were pretty willing to use force then.”

“If you’d let me then Carl would probably still be alive.”

Nick stepped forward, his hands out in front of him.  “Come on, everyone.  Let’s just calm down. We’ve been together a long time now.  We can discuss this calmly like adults.”

Shawcross shook his head.  “We discussed it already.  The prisoners stay locked up or they leave.”

“I think the jury is still out on that one,” said Dave.  “You know I think we should let them out.”

“Who cares what you think?” Shawcross spat.

Dave turned sideways, no longer pointing his knife at Jan and Renee, but at Shawcross.  “You know something?  I’ve had about enough of your attitude, you pompous sod.  I don’t know why I’m even arguing with you.”  Dave turned back to look at Jan and Renee.  “You two are free to join the rest of us.  Lower your knife, Jan, and relax.  We’re done taking orders from this dickhead.”

Shawcross’s face went bright red and twisted in a furious scowl.  He pointed his finger in Dave’s smug face.  “How dare you!  I am in charge here.  I am the manager of Ripley Hall.”

Dave turned his back on Shawcross and walked away, laughing.  “You ain’t shit, mate.  Just a sad no mark who thinks he’s important.”

“Do not speak to me that way.  You have no right!  No right!”

Nick watched in detached bewilderment as Shawcross raised his knife in the air and rushed at Dave.  Dave had his back turned and didn’t see the danger.

“Look out,” Nick screamed.

Dave acknowledged the warning just in time.  He half-turned and managed to sidestep the attack by a hair’s breadth.

Shawcross raised the knife again, prepared for a second attempt.  This time Nick managed to unglue himself from the spot and do something.  He leapt forward and caught Shawcross on the point of the chin with a swinging haymaker.  The smaller man went twirling to the floor, his elbow bumping a table on the way down and spilling two pints of lemonade all over him.

Nick shook his fist and tried to ward off the crunching agony in his knuckles.  It was the first time he had given someone a smack like that and he was surprised by how much it hurt.

Dave grinned at Nick and patted him on the back.  “Way to go, slugger.  I owe you one, mate.”

“Don’t mention it.  This is all a big mess, though.  We have to live together.  We can’t go around thrusting knives at one another and throwing punches.  I already have enough wounds, thank you.”

Dave looked persecuted.  “Hey, don’t tell me.  It was that bloody muppet that tried to get all stabby.”

“What the hell is going on in here?”  It was Annaliese.  She was climbing through the window.  As soon as she was inside, her eyes fell upon Shawcross, lying on the floor, and then moved over to Jan and Renee, who were both clutching knives.

“It’s okay,” Nick said, still rubbing his fist.

“Like hell it is.  What happened to Shawcross?”

“I punched him.”

Annaliese stared hard at him.  Eventually she said.  “It’s about time somebody did, but you better have had a good reason for doing it.”

“Look, I know this looks bad.  There was a standoff over whether or not to let Jan and Renee free…”

“I know,” Annaliese said.  “Mike filled me in.”  She glared at Cassie.  “Wasn’t very diplomatic the way you went about things, darlin’.  We can do without troublemakers.”

Cassie stared down at the floor sheepishly.

“She was just doing what she thought was right,” said Jan.  “Trying to help me.  I made a promise to protect her the day all this started.  She probably feels she owes me.”

Annaliese sighed.  “I’m sure she did just do what she thought was right.  The problem with that, though, is that people have differing opinions on what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“We tried to talk it out,” said Dave.  “But that loon came at me with a knife.”

Annaliese looked at Nick for verification.  He shrugged at her.  “It’s true.  Shawcross was the one who got violent.  He could have really hurt someone.”

“Well,” she said.  “I doubt he would have done so unprovoked, but what’s done is done.”

“So what do you want to do?” Nick asked her.  “Can we let Jan and Renee out?”

“Looks like the decision’s already been made.  I don’t trust either of them, I’m not going to lie, but I trust you, Nick.  If you think they should be free, then so be it.  Just don’t make me regret it.”

“You won’t,” said Jan.  “I promise.”

Annaliese looked at Jan and rolled her eyes.  Then, without saying anything else, she exited the building through the window she came in by.

Shawcross stirred on the floor, moaning.

“What should we do with him?” Nick asked.

“Lock him in the cellar,” said Dave.

“No,” Jan objected.  “Nobody else is being locked up.  I think it’s time for a fresh start.  An equal one.  No more prisoners.”

“But he tried to stab me,” Dave cried out.

“And he got his clock cleaned for it,” said Jan.  “He might have learned his lesson.  If not, then he only gets this one chance.”

Dave huffed.  “Fine, you just keep him the hell away from me.”

“I’ll personally guarantee it,” said Jan.  “I appreciate you going to bat for me, brother.”

Dave nodded.  “You’re welcome.  Just be sure to make yourself useful.”

Eve climbed in through the window at that point.  She headed over to Nick and placed a hand on his arm.  “Anna just told me things were all sorted in here now.”

Nick sniffed.  “Yeah, kind of…sort of…mostly.  My hand is swollen from punching Shawcross, who tried to murder Dave, but other than that, everything is hunky dory.”

Shawcross continued moaning on the floor.  He started to drag himself up.

Eve looked down at Nick’s injured hand and winced.  “Wow, you must really have hit him hard.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.  It’s fine, I’m sure; just bruised.  Hopefully Shawcross will be okay, too.”

Eve grinned at him as though he was a misbehaving, yet amusing child.  “Come on, let’s go back to the kitchen and bath it in some cold water.”

Nick felt the fuss was unnecessary, but it seemed important to Eve so he went with her.  They headed behind the bar and went into the kitchen.  The room was now filled with pots and pans full of water, intended to sustain them once the water stopped coming from the taps.  Even now, it came only in tiny trickles.  There had been a lot of discussion recently about using some of the water to wash with, but Shawcross and Dave had not been able to agree on the issue.  Perhaps, now that Shawcross had been brought down a peg or two, Dave would start making decisions for the group unopposed.  The thought sent a shiver down Nick’s spine.

Not sure I can figure the guy out.  Having him as dictator may not be such a good idea.

“Over here,” Eve said.  She stopped next to one of the kitchen sinks.  “It’s not ice-cold, but it should be cool enough to stop some of the swelling.”

“You’re quite the nurse,” he said.

“I used to look after my little brother sometimes.  He was always getting into scrapes.”

Nick saw a glint of sadness that appeared briefly in Eve’s eyes.  He hadn’t known she’d had a little brother.  In fact, he’d never really asked her much at all about who she was or what she had lost.  There were certain questions that everybody in the group seemed to avoid asking each other.  The less they all thought about their old lives, the better.

He dipped his swollen fist beneath the water and used his other hand to pull Eve into a hug.  He gave her a quick squeeze and kissed the top of her head.  “I’m sorry,” he said.  “I haven’t checked in with you much the last few days.  Are you doing okay?”

Eve hugged him back.  Then she broke away so that she could look him in the eyes.  “I think we’re all doing about the same.  Personally, I’m just feeling a little shell-shocked, like this is all just a dream or something.  I mean, I can’t really be stuck up on a hill with a bunch of strangers, while monsters devour the earth, can I?  That’s not real, is it?”

Nick looked down at his hand in the water and moved it around, creating soft swirls on the surface.  “I guess the difference between nightmares and reality has become pretty thin recently.”

“You’re telling me.  I keep expecting to wake up.”

“Me too.  Every morning I wake up wishing that my wife is beside me.  Then I remember everything that’s happened and I realise that I’ll never see her again.  It takes everything I have just to face another day.”

“I know what you mean.  I don’t know if I can keep doing it anymore.  Not sure how much longer I can keep it up.”

“By getting up every morning and just getting on with it,” Nick said to her.  He clenched his fist in the water and winced at the ensuing pain.  “All of us left here are survivors.  We’re all strong in our own ways.  We just have to concentrate on doing what we can with whatever the day brings us.  You stuck by me at the beginning.  I don’t know if I would ever have made it this far without you.  For that I’m grateful.  I should have told you sooner.  If you ever find that things are getting too much, then you come find me, because I owe you my life.  I’m here for you, so just ask.”

Eve moved closer to him and looked up into his eyes.  “Things are getting too much for me,” she whispered.  “I need you to be here for me now.”  She went to place her lips against his.

Nick moved away.  He placed his hands out between them.  “Eve, I’m married.”

Eve frowned in confusion.  “You were married.”

The comment hurt Nick, even if it was technically true.  To him, marriage wasn’t something that ended a few weeks after your spouse’s death.  James and Deana were still in his heart, and while they were there, he was still committed to them.

Tears had appeared in Eve’s eyes and she struggled to look at him.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “That was a really shitty thing to say.”

Nick shook it off.  He didn’t want to let such a silly little thing come between them.  “It’s okay.  No harm done.”

Eve made herself look at him.  “It’s just…It’s just that I’m so frightened and I feel…I feel so alone.”

Nick held her close.  “You’re not alone, Eve.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Nick.  You’re the only person that makes me feel safe.  The only person I have any sort of bond with.  I just want to hold onto that, because it’s the only thing that makes me feel like I still have anything human in my life.”

“I understand.  But you don’t have to be with me in that way just to keep me close.  We started this thing together.  We’re friends and I care about you more than anyone here.  When I dragged you out of that broom closet you became my responsibility, so don’t worry about me going anywhere.  I’ll always have your back.”  Eve’s face scrunched up and she started sobbing.  Nick held her tightly in both arms.  “I’ll keep you safe,” he said.  “Don’t be afraid anymore, okay?  Things are going to be alright, I promise.”

“You can’t promise that,” she said.

“Maybe not, but I’d rather live in a world where we can still make promises to one another, than one where we’re all too afraid to.  I promise to keep you safe, no matter how impossible the odds, okay?”

Eve sobbed and then said, “Okay.”

After a while Eve managed to get a hold of herself.  She looked up at him again with clammy cheeks and watery eyes.  Nick thought she looked beautiful – human and innocent.  It was at that point that he decided in his heart he would keep his promise to protect her.  He needed to be responsible for her and keep her safe.  He had failed Deana and he had failed James, but he would not fail Eve.  He could not.

I need to do something right.

Setting himself a mission and giving himself a responsibility made Nick feel stronger.  It gave him back the purpose he had lost when he stopped being a father and a husband.  It was the part of him that had been missing.  Now that it was back, he felt complete again.

He kissed the top of Eve’s head.  “Come on.  I think it’s about time we all had a little fun.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Annaliese knew things were going to get tense.  When she’d entered the restaurant and found Shawcross half-conscious on the floor and the two prisoners holding knives, she had known the best reaction would be to stay calm and not take sides.  If she’d taken a hostile attitude then things might have become volatile.

As it stood, she had decided to trust Nick’s judgement, for now.  She knew that his inclination was towards peace rather than confrontation.  He wouldn’t have used violence unless it had been necessary.  Loud mouthed Dave, on the other hand, was a different kind of man altogether.  He was a small man with large ambitions, just like Shawcross.  In Annaliese’s experience, men like Dave and Shawcross were trouble; like bullies who became police officers or politicians, abusers of power.

I just hope he doesn’t become a problem.

Mike caught up with Annaliese just as she was entering the zoo.  The animals were due their feeding and she wanted something to do.

“I heard Shawcross went at Dave with a knife,” Mike said.

“Apparently.  I wasn’t there.  I wouldn’t put it past him, though.  He’s a petty man with a bad temper.”

“You’re not a fan then?”

Annaliese shrugged.  “Not a fan of most people, but I’ve seen Shawcross treat his staff like dirt in the past, enough times to know that he views other people as commodities.  He won’t like not being in charge.”

“You think there’ll be more trouble?”

“I’d almost bet on it.  The only thing more dangerous than the infected people down the bottom of this hill are the people still alive on top of it.  It takes a lot to survive.  People will do anything.”

“You included?”

Annaliese nodded.  “If it comes to it, yeah, of course.”

“Well, I’m glad I came prepared then.”  Mike lifted up his shirt and showed her a crude vest of armour.  “Made it out of some binders from the offices,” he said.  “I don’t want to be the next one to get stabbed.”

She laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

Annaliese shrugged her shoulders.  “It’s just that before all this happened, I hated my life.  I spent every night trying to drink myself to death.  I suppose I was committing slow suicide, not brave enough to do it the hard way.  It took the end of the world to make me realise how much I actually want to live and how much people could still make me smile.”

Mike stopped and stared at her.  “You wanted to die?”

She nodded.  It felt good to admit such weakness to him.  It was like unloading a burden from her soul.  “I was just done with things.  Tired, you know?”

“Why?”

“Because one day I was pregnant and married, living in a three bed semi, and the next I was giving birth to a stillborn baby, divorced, and alone in a cramped flat.”

Mike was silent.  His shoulders seemed to rise up and scrunch together like somebody had pinched his neck.

“Sorry,” she said, sensing his discomfort.  “I doubt you’re very interested in my life story.  Especially when it’s so depressing.”

Mike remained silent.  He reached behind his back and plucked something from his back pocket.  It was the wallet she had retrieved for him weeks ago in the hotel room.  He opened it up and showed her what was inside.  Amongst the useless money and credit cards was a photograph.  Annaliese studied the picture with interest.  It was obvious that the girl in the frame had Down’s syndrome.

“Who is she?” Annaliese asked.

“My six year old daughter, Lucy.  Dead now, I suppose.”

“That’s why you wanted your wallet?”

Mike put the wallet back in his pocket and lowered his head so that his chin was against his chest.  “I guess I sensed early on that things were pretty bad.  I didn’t want to not ever see her face again.  This is the only picture I had.”

Annaliese looked at Mike and realised, for the first time, how much sadness the man carried with him.  He seemed to wear it around his neck like a lead-weight.  “You’ve been so brave,” she said.  “I never would have guessed you had a daughter.”

Mike cleared his throat and looked away.  “Not talking about her doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about her.  It’s just the way I deal with things, I guess.  I had to be brave from the moment she was born.  The best way to cope with her condition was to be positive all the time.  I guess it’s a habit that stayed with me.”

Annaliese grabbed Mike’s hand.  It was clammy.  “It’s a good habit to have.  You’re very courageous.”

“So are you, Anna.  What you went through…”  He let out a sigh.  “At least I got to know my child, if only for a little while.”

Annaliese didn’t know which was worst.  Her having never known her child, or what Mike had gone through, losing a child after raising her for six years.

“What about Lucy’s mother?” she asked.  “Do you know what happened to her?”

Mike shook his head.  “We were separated, long time ago.  All I know is that they would have been together at the end.  I hold on to that.”  It seemed, for a moment, that he might cry, but he didn’t.  Instead, he said, “Thank you for giving her back to me.  The photo, I mean.”

She patted him on the back.  “My pleasure.  She was a beautiful girl.”

He leant down and kissed her.

To her surprise, she let him.

They broke away after several seconds and Annaliese felt her cheeks growing red.  She cleared her throat and tried to speak.  “Wh-what was that for?”

Mike stroked her face with the back of his hand.  “Life has become very short; no point spending all of it just trying to survive.  There’s got to be a little time, here and there, for actually living our lives.”

Annaliese felt her cheeks burning, but she couldn’t help but laugh.  “I’m sure there was a big philosophical point there somewhere.”

Mike smiled and kissed her again.  Annaliese’s stomach fluttered as though it were full of leaves and wind.  She held on tightly as they continued to embrace for what felt like an eternity and, yet, as short as the briefest heartbeat at the same time.

I feel like I’m lost, but I never want to be found.

When they finally broke away there was the sound of laughter.  It wasn’t coming from either of them.

Mike glanced around.  “Do you hear that?”

Annaliese nodded.  “Sounds like people having fun.  Almost forgot what that sounded like.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

“Okay, but then I need to go feed the animals.”  She found herself blushing as she asked, “Would you like to come along?”

Mike gave her a squeeze around the waist.  “Where you go, I go.”

Annaliese wrapped her arm around him and the two of them headed towards the laughter.  It was strange how much a single kiss could change a relationship, but it had.  She hadn’t been thinking of Mike in a romantic capacity, not at all, but now she held onto him with a deep familiarity that actually managed to bring her comfort amongst all the darkness of the new and frightening world.

She realised how much his existence made hers better and felt embarrassed that she hadn’t seen him for what he was earlier.  He was the only good thing in her life, and she had been oblivious of him.

I’m such an idiot.

After walking hand in hand for a few minutes, they discovered Nick and Eve up ahead.  Pauline, Cassie, Alan, and Michelle were also there.  It was quite the gathering.  Earlier events had apparently been forgotten as all of them wore smiles on their faces and laughed amongst themselves gleefully.

“What are you all up to?”  Annaliese asked as she walked between them.

Nick was holding a basketball and tossed it to her.  She flinched and caught it, then held it in her hands feeling confused.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” he said.  “Throw it in.”

Annaliese looked up at the row of nets inside one of the stalls.  She didn’t see the harm, so she reared back and thrust the ball into the air, just like she had as a twelve year old girl on the middle-school netball team.

The basketball hit the backboard and bounced away.  Eve leant over the shelf and retrieved it from the floor.  “Good try,” she said.

Annaliese grinned.  Throwing the ball had been fun and she wanted to try again until she at least made a successful basket.  “What’s this all about?” she said.

“It’s about fun,” said Nick.  “I think we all need a break from supplies and defences and rations.  Time to kick back for an afternoon and try to remember what life is all about.”

Mike walked forward and motioned to receive the ball.  “I’ve just been saying the exact same thing.  How bout we get into teams to make this a bit more interesting?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Nick.

Everyone else agreed.

Annaliese and Mike joined up with Alan and Michelle in a team against Nick, Eve, Cassie, and Pauline.  They took turns making baskets, but it wasn’t long before Nick’s team were several points ahead.

“Were you a professional basketball player in your old life?” Annaliese asked Nick.  “You never miss a basket.”

“I used to play a lot as a teenager,” he said.  “It’s like riding a bike.”

Mike wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.  “Well, I think we should remix the teams.  You lot are whipping our arses.”

“What is going on here?”

Annaliese looked up to see Dave marching towards them with Jan and Renee right behind him.

“Nothing,” Nick said.  “We’re just having a bit of fun.”

“Fun?  Fun?  We have things to do.  We all need to be working?”

Eve picked up the ball and looked at him.  “Says who?”

“Says me!”

She rolled her eyes.  “And who the hell are you?”

Dave bristled.  “Apparently, I am the only one looking out for this group.”

Nick spoke next and was immediately met with a glare from Dave.  “Look, you’re not in charge of everyone, Dave, and neither was Shawcross.  You had your little coup d’état in the restaurant, but the rest of us are going to do what we want to do, not what you tell us to.”

“We’ll end up dead with that kind of attitude.  There is danger all around us and you’re playing…basketball!”

Annaliese sighed.  She knew Dave had a point, but Nick was right as well.  They all needed to let off steam or they were going to end up having nervous breakdowns.  “We’re just taking a break,” she said.  “We’ll be back to work soon.”

“Now!” said Dave.  “You all need to do the jobs assigned to you now.”

Everyone just stood and stared at Dave.  Annaliese couldn’t believe the gall of the man.  What made him think he had any right to order them about?

I’m sure he’s just doing what he thinks is right, but jeez, take a chill-pill.

After a while, Dave shook his head and almost spat at the floor with rage.  He was bright red.  “Nick, are you going to back me up here?  You know, that since I picked you all up, I have only had this group’s interests at heart.”

Nick sighed and stared down at the ground.  Then he began shaking his head.  “You know what?  I don’t know what your motivation is, Dave, but I do know that we are all getting pretty sick and tired of you assuming that you have any right over the rest of us.”

“Nick, you need to understand-”

“We’re playing basketball, Dave.  Either join us, or go away.”

Dave’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Nick as though he was trying to burn a hole through his forehead.  Then he spun around in a huff and marched away.

Annaliese took a deep breath and let it out through her nostrils.  “I think you just made an enemy there,” she said to Nick.

Nick grabbed the basketball and began bouncing it.  “I’m a big boy,” he said.  “I can handle Dave.”

He threw the ball through the air and made another perfect basket.  Nobody picked it up again, though.  Suddenly, they didn’t feel like playing games anymore.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The evening was tense, particularly between Dave and Nick.  Nick had felt the man’s angry gaze fall upon him several times throughout the night, and he was getting quite sick of it.

Guy needs to let it go.

The whole group were now in the restaurant, including Jan and Renee.  They were all eating burgers and fries that Pauline and Michelle had prepared in the kitchen.  They had done so by lighting a fire in a large pan and using an improvised spit to roast the meat.  They boiled water for the fries.  The food was horrible, but made everybody’s hunger go away.  Seeing how much food they had consumed for just one meal made it dauntingly obvious that their supplies would not last forever.  The bleak knowledge seemed to add to the tension already in the air.

Shawcross sat alone in a corner, eating his meal with his head down.  He was a broken man, obviously unused to violence, and the ease with which it had stripped him of his self-respect.  Nick felt guilty for having been the one to punch the man, but Shawcross had certainly brought it on himself.

He would have killed Dave if I hadn’t done something.  The more time that goes by, the closer we become to those things at the bottom of the hill.

After they had finished playing basketball earlier, everyone had got back to work with their various tasks.  Nick had returned to the restaurant to clear the air with Shawcross, but the man had been nowhere in sight.  He’d only reappeared an hour ago.  He told no one where he had been.

Probably just moping about somewhere.

To Nick’s great surprise, Jan and Renee had chosen to sit with Dave while they ate.  They even shared a few beers.  Perhaps they appreciated his lobbying to get them out of the cellar; although they should have been thanking Cassie more.

Maybe they just want to be with the guy who makes the decisions.

Nick finished the last of his lukewarm burger and stood up from the table.  He felt a headache coming on and the growing darkness inside the restaurant was making his mood low.

“Where are you going?” Eve asked him, a concerned look on his face.

“I just fancy a walk and some air.”

“You want me to come with?”

Nick shook his head.  As much as he enjoyed Eve’s company, right now all he wanted was a bit of solitude.  “I won’t be long,” he said.  “You just stay here with Pauline.”

Eve seemed a little unsettled that he was leaving on his own, but she didn’t complain and agreed to stay put.

Nick headed out through the restaurant window and entered the shadows of the park.  The moon was full and everything seemed to glow with a silvery edge sharp enough to cut flesh.  The park’s rollercoaster, The Hood, towered in the distance like a giant stick insect.  A Lovecraftian monolith blending with the shadows.

Nick headed for the zoo.  The animals had a calming effect on him and he liked seeing them go about their peaceful existence.  It was almost enough to make him forget about everything else.

But, as soon as his eyes caught sight of the smouldering fires in distant villages, reality always came crashing back.

Coming up on his left was the empty orang-utan enclosure.  It was a serene landscape of shadows and dark angles, so he decided to settle there.  He leant up against the enclosure’s barrier and let his head drop.  Beneath him were the rotting bodies of the infected that Annaliese said had attacked Lily and her family.  It spoiled the peacefulness, somewhat, so he looked around for a more suitable place to enjoy the small circle of enclosed nature.

The bungalow at the edge of the habitat was sloped; low on the side that faced the footpaths and taller on the side that faced the enclosure.  A drainage pipe ran up one side of the building.

Nick didn’t know why, but the thought of climbing up on the roof was appealing.  Something childish inside of him desired the feeling of being up high where it was safe.  Five-hundred feet above the ground and he still had the need to go higher.

Maybe the closer I can get to Heaven, the closer I will be to James.

He stepped closer to the bungalow and took a running leap onto the drainpipe.  It creaked under his weight and felt as though it might come away from the wall, but then it caught on its brackets and held firm.  He shimmied the seven or eight feet up to the roof and then hoisted himself over the edge.  He headed to the highest point of the sloped surface and eased himself down, letting his legs dangle free above the enclosure.

From up high, he had a better view of Ripley Heights.  Ripley Hall rose in the shadows at the back of the park; its many rooms full of shrieking horrors that could be released at any moment.  Nick shuddered as he thought about what would happen if the doors were ever opened.  He chose to turn his head and instead look over at the amusement park, but even that had taken on a sinister façade.  Its unused carousel, its abandoned pirate ship, and its dormant big wheel had all taken on a ghostly visage as they seemed to shimmer beneath the moon’s penetrating glow.  The whole place looked haunted, echoing a past of children giggling and parents kissing.  Things the old park would never see again.

Thud!

Something hit the roof right behind Nick and he cried out in fright.  He twisted around and almost lost his balance on the roof.  He grabbed the edge with both hands and managed to steady himself just when he had been sure he would fall.

“Jesus Christ!” he said when he realised what was behind him.  His first instinct was to flee, but as the seconds went by, the orang-utan made no attempt to grab out at him or hurt him in any way.

Lily examined Nick curiously, tilting her head left and right.  Slowly, she raised her left arm and inched it towards him.  He let one of his own hands come away from the roof’s edge and gradually raised it to meet hers.

This is nuts.

Their hands touched.  Lily’s rough fingertips slid over the cold flesh on the back of Nick’s hand.  She let out a soft hoot.

“I heard you and me have something in common,” Nick said to her softly.  “I lost my family, too.  At least your man did his job and protected you, though.  I let my family down.”

Lily’s breath was audible as it escaped through her deep nostrils.  It was almost like she knew what he was talking about but didn’t like the subject.  The smell of her being so close was intoxicating.  It was an unpleasant smell yet, in some ways, comforting.  It was the smell of a creature uninterested in personal hygiene or any of the numerous other stresses that mankind placed upon itself.  It was a reminder of what man really was deep down: just an ape – egotistical and self-involved, but really nothing more than an ape.

Maybe we would all be happier if we just accepted that.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Lily,” he said.

At the sound of her name, Lily hooted again.  Then she took off into the night as quickly as she had arrived.  Nick missed her already as she leapt into the treeline and disappeared.  Now that she was gone, his thoughts would resume their torment of him.  He had sought out solitude – needed it, in fact – but now that he had it, he was afraid.  His memories had talons and they were poised to rip him apart.

He was almost glad when he heard someone cry out in the night, but quickly realised what it meant.  The scream had been short, abrupt, but unmistakable.  It was a scream of sudden terror, and it had come from a man.

Who was that?  I thought everybody was back at the restaurant.

Nick slid down from the top of the roof, via the drainpipe, and landed back on the pavement.  He winced as a shooting pain went from his ankles to his knees, but managed to walk it off within a couple of steps.  When the pain went away, he picked up speed and started jogging in the direction he thought he’d heard the scream.  He estimated it was about half way between the orang-utan enclosure and the restaurant, near to where the midway games were.

It took him a few minutes to get there, but when he arrived he quickly found out who had been screaming.

What the…?

His first thought was that an infected person had found their way past the fences, but when he saw the knife jutting out of Dave’s chest, he knew that an old-fashioned murder had just been committed.

Someone’s stabbed him.

Shawcross!  That bastard.

It had to be Shawcross.  He had tried to stab Dave earlier, unsuccessfully.  He obviously decided to have another go.

He’ll pay for this, that rat.

Annaliese came running out of the darkness.  “We heard screaming,” she said and skidded to a stop when she saw what had happened.

“Shawcross did it,” Nick said, shaking his head and clenching his fists in anger.

How could he kill Dave over such a minor disagreement?

Annaliese was shaking her head.  The rest of the group appeared behind her, Shawcross included.  “Shawcross is with us,” she said.

Nick shook his head.  “That’s impossible.  Dave was just this minute killed.  I heard him scream.  The blood is still coming out of him.”

“He was on his way to see you,” said Jan.  “He said he didn’t want to hold grudges and that we all needed to work together even in spite of personality differences.”

Beside Jan, Renee nodded in confirmation.

“It’s true,” Eve said.  “Dave asked me if I knew where you’d gone.  Said he wanted to apologise for being so overbearing.  He said it was just his way of dealing with how scared he was, but that he was realising it wasn’t helping anybody.”

Nick shook his head.  “That doesn’t sound like Dave.”

“No shit,” said Eve.  “Surprised me, too.  But I guess we don’t know each other well enough to predict how we’re going to react to things.  He seemed pretty genuine.”

“He was glaring at me all night.  Didn’t seem regretful at all.”

Eve shrugged.

“It’s a tragedy that you took his approach as a threat rather than the apology it was meant to be,” said Shawcross.  The man almost sounded smug.  “Seems as though you may have gotten the wrong end of the stick.”

Nick lowered his eyebrows.  “What?  I didn’t do this.”

“Nobody else could have,” Annaliese said.  “Every one of us was together in the restaurant.  You left, and then five minutes later Dave went right after you.  We all came when we heard the screams.”

Nick looked at Eve for help, but she just looked back at him, confused.

“I didn’t do this,” he shouted at them all.

“We need to lock him up,” said Shawcross.  “Until we decide what to do with him.”

To his utter disbelief, Jan and Alan came forward to grab a hold of him.  He shoved them away, swinging his fists and kicking his legs.  “Get the fuck away from me.  I didn’t do this.”

He managed to land a punch on Alan’s cheek, but became aware of Shawcross approaching from his side.  It was too late to react when the man took a swing at him, clubbing him under the chin in the exact reverse of what had happened earlier in the day.

The force of the blow made it obvious that Shawcross had hit with something harder than just his fist.  The blow was so fierce that, by the time Nick fell to the ground, he was already unconscious.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Nick couldn’t open his eyes immediately.  He had to flutter them for a few seconds before he could see properly.  His head hurt badly, specifically his jaw.  He tried to open his mouth but found the pain too much.

“I’d try not to speak if I were you,” Jan said.  He was sitting in a wooden chair against the wall.  Renee was right beside him.  Candles lit the corners of the room.

Nick looked around and saw that he was in the cellar of the restaurant.  The prison.  It was musky and damp and a chill crept in through a steel hatchway at the back of the room, up a small flight of stairs.

“What am I…?” Nick winced as the pain exploded in his jaw, but fought past it.  “What am I doing here?”

“I think you know,” said Jan.  “You did a stupid thing, brother.”

Nick rubbed at his jaw and cleared a wad of phlegm from his throat.  He had to think for a second before he was fully caught up on the situation he had just woken up into.  “Dave…?  I had nothing to do with that.”

Jan huffed.  “Really?  How much chance do you think there is of that plea being accepted?  We were all together in the restaurant; everyone except for Dave and you.”

Nick sighed and let his head drop.  “I can’t explain it, but it’s true.

“Look,” said Jan.  “I hope there is another explanation.  You seemed like an alright guy up until this point but, if you did kill Dave, then you deserve everything you get.”

Nick spat on the floor and began laughing.  He was already tired of being accused of something he didn’t do.  “Am I really being judged by a bank robber?”

Jan smiled.  “Attempted bank robber.  I never was any good at it.  It’s a whole lot different than murder, anyway.  I may have been guilty of a lot of things, but you’ve committed a mortal sin.”

Nick hissed.  “Just fuck off, Jan.  I can do without your bullshit.  I’m innocent.”

Jan stood up, his tall frame stretching almost to the low ceilings of the dim cellar.  “Like I said, I hope that’s true, brother.  Perhaps time will tell.”

“I’ll be ready and waiting for your apology,” said Nick.  I was big enough to give you one when I judged you wrong.”

Jan nodded, but didn’t say anything.  At the stairs leading upwards he turned back and looked at Renee.  “You coming, brother?”

Renee shook his head.

Jan shrugged.  “Fair enough.  Come find me when you’re done.  Wouldn’t feel right without you following me around everywhere.”

Renee nodded to Jan and then let his gaze fall on Nick.

Jan left the room.

“So, what the hell do you want?” Nick demanded of Renee.  “It’s not like you’re here for the conversation.  You don’t even talk.”

“Don’t talk is not the same as can’t talk, Nick.”

Nick almost fell off his chair.  “Jeez!  You can speak.  What…why?”

“People take speech for granted, Nick.  It is what separates us from the animals, and yet we treat our words with disinterest.  We ignore their power.”

Hearing Renee talk was surreal.  The man had a softly spoken Nigerian accent.

“I don’t get it,” Nick said.  “You’ve been able to talk all along but you haven’t.  Why?”

“Because more can be learned from listening, my friend.  God told this to me.”

“God did?”

“Yes.  I was once a very bad man, Nick.  I was a charlatan, a trickster.  I would use my words to fool people into giving me their money.  I took people’s savings, I took people’s lives.  And then I went to prison and my life changed.”

“You found God?”

“No, Nick.  God found me.”

Nick grunted.  Religion wasn’t his thing, but he played along.  “How did he find you?”

“An old lady came to visit me in prison.  I had taken her life savings by pretending to be from the gas board.  After checking her home, I convinced her that her boiler was dangerous and that she needed a new one immediately.  She handed over her cheque book and I emptied her account.  When she came to see me, she asked me why I did what I did.  I said, I did not know.  But she told me the reason why.  She told me that I was afraid.  I was afraid of how hard life could be, so I took the easy way to avoid having to ever be responsible for anything.  She told me that deep down I felt worthless and that she felt sorry for me.  Then she told me that she forgave me.”

Nick sighed.  “More fool her.”

Renee carried on, undeterred.  “I asked this lady how she could forgive such a wicked man as I.  Her reply was that God had given me great weakness so that I might one day find great strength.  She told me to seek him out and find my place.  Only then would I stop being afraid.  And so I did as the old lady asked.  I sought out the Lord.”

I learned of his ways, read his many teachings.  I soon realised that words were precious and that I must use them no longer if I was to make my penance – if I was to find my great strength.”

“But why not speak?”

Renee smiled at Nick.  “For many reasons, my friend.  So that I could listen, learn, but mostly as punishment.  Punishment for my sins so that I might learn about suffering and understand it.  Only then could I defeat my fears.  I decided that the next time I spoke it must be with purpose and a desire to do good.  Only then could I hope to redeem myself.”

“You sound crazy,” Nick said.  “Like one of those Southern Baptist Evangelists in America.”

“Perhaps.  But this is a crazy world we are living in, no?  Is it not crazier to be sane with all that we have seen?”

Nick shrugged his shoulders.  Philosophy wasn’t of great interest to him.  “So why are you talking to me now?  What good can you do me?”

“I can tell you that I believe you did not kill that man, Dave.”

Nick sighed.  It was actually a relief to hear that at least one person believed him, even if it was Renee.

“Deep down, I do not believe that Jan condemns you either.  But he is afraid.  He values his place here and would not want to lose it.  He will go along with the group consensus…up to a point.”

“Why not you?” Nick asked, shifting in his seat.

“Because my mind is clear.  I have sat and observed for many days.  While the rest of you have bickered, I have watched.  I see a man’s intentions better than most, and yours are not of murder.”

“No, they’re not,” Nick agreed.  “But then who is responsible?  Everyone was together.”

Renee shook his head and then got up off his chair.  “I do not know.  Whoever it is, they are benefitting from you being blamed, and by Dave being dead.”

Nick closed his eyes to think, but found a blank sheet.  “There’s nothing to gain.  We’re all in the same messed up situation.”

Renee smiled at Nick.  “You are naïve, my friend.  There is always power to be gained, and there are always men who wish to take it.”

Nick’s eyes opened wider.  “Shawcross.”

Renee nodded thoughtfully.  He rolled at a wedding band on his finger that Nick had not noticed before.  “Shawcross is a weak man with selfish intentions.  I have seen this with my own eyes.  Now that the man, Dave, is gone and the most popular male of the group is out of the way, he will be able to assume authority easily.”

“Most popular?  You mean me?”

“Indeed.  People respect you, Nick.  You have a level head, no?  But the thought of you committing murder has damaged the group badly, made them feel lost and insecure.  This is the time to establish a permanent hierarchy – while the populace is desperate and weak.”

Nick shook his head and cracked his knuckles.  “I don’t see the point.  What is there to be in control of?”

Renee smiled knowingly.  “At the moment, nothing.  Later, however, there will be life itself at stake.  To be the man who controls who gets food and who doesn’t is an envious position.  To decide who lives and dies is to be God.  The one true Lord does not look kindly on such ambitions.  That is why he has told me to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yes.  I will remain here with you.  Whoever killed Dave will likely prefer you out of the way, too.  I will make sure that does not happen.”

Nick thought the whole thing ridiculous, but Renee seemed deeply serious.  But, with all that had happened, it was probably better to be overly cautious than foolhardy.

“Okay,” Nick finally said.  “Thank you.”

“You are a good man, Nick.  I hope that is proven.”

“Me too.  But what if it’s not?”

Renee tilted his head.  “Then you and I should get comfortable here as we may never leave.”

Suddenly the door at the top of the stairs opened.  Eve came down, holding a plastic tray in front of her.

“I brought you some food,” she said.  She sounded upset, close to tears.

Nick walked over to her.  “I didn’t do it, Eve.  You know me.”

She handed him the tray.  There was a pint of coke on it along with the browning leaves of a salad.  “Do I?  I thought I did.”

Nick put the tray on the floor and looked her dead in the eyes.  “Yes, you do, Eve.  You know me better than anybody else left on Earth.  I didn’t do this.”

Eve stared down at the floor.  “I don’t know what to think, right now.  Dave was a pig, but he didn’t deserve to die.”

Nick nodded.  “I agree.”

Eve turned around and started back up the stairs.

“Eve,” he shouted after her, but she ignored him and exited through the door.  He listened to the lock turn behind her.

He went and sat back down, looked over at Renee.  “I guess you really are all I have.”

Renee nodded solemnly.  “Things change, my friend.  You just need to be patient.  God will shine his light of truth on those who are guilty.”

Nick stared down at the wilting salad on the floor and wrinkled his nose.  “I just hope the truth comes out before I starve to death.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

It had been almost a week since Dave’s death.  Anna had dragged the man to the morgue herself.  She still couldn’t get over the fact that Nick had murdered him.  In fact, there was a part of her that didn’t believe it all.  He just didn’t seem the type.  She was a person of logic, however, and the only logic available said that Nick had murdered Dave in cold blood.

“You okay, Anna?” Mike asked her as they fed the Clydesdale horses.  The new born foal she’d delivered at the start of everything was healthy and doing well.  The mother seemed to enjoy nursing.

“I’m just thinking,” she said.  “Not about anything important, so never mind.”

Mike rubbed his hands together, clearing them of food particles.  “I’m out of food.  Do we have any more nearby?”

Annaliese nodded.  “There’s one of Shawcross’s emergency stashes over there.  I’ve been using it for feed and veterinary drugs.  It won’t be long until we have to go trekking through the woods to find that greenhouse, though.  What we have won’t last forever.”

Mike nodded.  “I’ll go see what we have.  I’d rather feed mommy horse here a little more to keep her strength up.”

“Good idea.  The stash is inside that green bin.”  She pointed to a large, round receptacle made from plastic.  She had helped Shawcross empty it, before storing additional supplies in there.  There were dozens of similar stashes all over Ripley Heights.

Mike went over and pulled the lid off the bin.  He reached down inside, but ended up pulling his hand away empty, with a confused look on his face.  “Um, Anna?”

Anna was already looking at him so she frowned.  “What is it?”

“You sure this is the stash?”

“Positive.  I used it just yesterday.  It was full.”

“Not anymore, it’s not,” Mike said.  “Come look.”

Annaliese hurried over to the bin and looked inside.  There was nothing, other than a few discarded medical supplies; bandages and a spare feeding bottle for the foal.

“What the?  This was chock-a-block with stuff yesterday.  There were weapons and water bottles.”

Mike chewed the inside of his cheek making his face look lopsided.  “So, what then?  Did somebody move it?”

Annaliese thought about it.  “Or perhaps somebody stole it.”

“Who would be that much of an arsehole?”

Annaliese scratched at her chin and stared down at the empty space where the supplies should have been.  “I’m not about to start accusing people just yet.  It could be anyone.  Let’s just go tell the others.”

Mike sighed.  “Shawcross is going to flip his lid.”

“I know.  Can’t say I’d blame him, if it turns out that we have a thief.”

Mike took Annaliese by her hand and began walking her away from the zoo.  “Well, the only person I trust for sure is you.”

Annaliese laughed.  “You don’t know it wasn’t me.  I could be the thief.”

Mike shook his head.  “You care too much about other people.”

“Me?  I don’t care.  People do nothing but disappoint me.”

“And yet you never stop trying to help.  That’s why I know it wasn’t you.  That’s why I’ve fallen in love with you the last couple weeks.”

Annaliese stopped and looked at him.  She found it difficult to look him in the eye, but she made herself do it anyway.  “You love me?  Don’t be so silly.”

“I’m not being silly.  This last week you and I have barely been apart.  I’ve gotten to know you well.  There’s no point hiding how I feel about you.  Like I said, life’s too short.”

“You don’t know me well.  None of us are really ourselves with all that’s happened.”

“I think the opposite.  I think it takes a situation like this to show who people truly are.  All of our bullshit – the vanity, the ego – is stripped away.  The only thing left is who we really are deep down.”

Annaliese stared at Mike for a while, trying to find the right words.  “Mike, I…”

“Can’t say you love me back.  That’s okay,” he said.  “I have time.  Not much, maybe, but a little bit at least.”

Annaliese shook her head and giggled.  “You’re always so dramatic.  Come on, let’s go find Shawcross and give him the bad news.”

They headed out of the zoo and found Shawcross over by the cable car station.  He had his hands cupped above his eyes and was staring down at the car park below.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked.

Shawcross spun around and studied them.  “They’re back,” he said grimly.  “Look.”

Annaliese peered down the side of the hill and saw that a few dozen infected people had found their way back to the car park that surrounded the Rainforest Cafe.  More were wandering in from the distance.

“Oh, shit!” Mike said.  “There’s almost a hundred of them down there.”

Shawcross put a finger to his lips and shushed him.  “I’m sure if we keep a low profile, we’ll be quite safe.  We’re prepared to deal with the odd one that finds its way up here.  We just have to make sure that we do not attract them in large groups.  Being quiet is key.”

Annaliese looked further into the distance.  The fires that had been burning in the nearby villages for weeks had finally died out.  It somehow made things feel even more final.  Like the candle of civilisation had finally blown out.  It was a lonely thought.

“They must have wandered back from the towns,” Annaliese said.

“Probably,” Shawcross agreed.  “There’s obviously nothing left to keep them there so they’ve dispersed.  A depressing thought indeed.”

“They’re all dead,” Mike commented.

Annaliese turned to look at him.  “What?”

“Look, they’re all slow and clumsy.  None of the fast ones are with them.  Where are they?”

Annaliese saw that he was right.  “Perhaps the infection has killed them all.  Now all that is left is the dead ones.”

“It certainly smells like it,” said Mike, wrinkling his nose.  “So, if there are only the dead ones left, maybe, eventually, they will die-off, too?”

“Perhaps,” said Shawcross.  “But we still need to be careful.  The dead are slower than the infected, but they don’t give up.  I would like to think that we can liberate Ripley Hall at some point, but I think it would be best that we continue to lay low for now.  No unnecessary risks.  No commotion.”

Annaliese nodded.  “If we’re smart, we may just make it through this.”

Eve came running up from the direction of the amusement park.  She was panting by the time she reached them.

Shawcross looked at the girl and ran a hand through his slick ginger hair.  “Eve, sweetheart.  Whatever is the matter?”

“The supplies,” she said, gasping.  “I’ve checked half a dozen places and they’re all gone.”

“Gone?”

Annaliese exchanged a knowing glance with Mike.

“You must be mistaken,” Shawcross told Eve.

Eve shook her head.  “We have no food.”

“Actually,” Annaliese said.  “The reason Mike and I have just come from the zoo is that we’ve discovered supplies missing there, too.  I think we might have a thief.”

Shawcross’s eyes narrowed and his lips went thin.  “Get everyone together,” he ordered.  Now!”

***

It took less than ten minutes to get everybody together; not including Renee and Nick who had been locked in the cellar for the last several days.

“We have one very serious problem here, people,” Shawcross said, standing in front of the basketball midway game that was now being used to store firewood for the approaching months of winter.

The group stared at one another blankly, some of them wondering what was going on; some of them, like Eve and Mike, already knowing.

“There is a thief amongst us,” Shawcross almost shouted the word thief.  “A dirty scoundrel.”

The group were silent, concerned.

“Who is it?” Shawcross demanded.

More silence.

“Own up now, or so help me God.”

“Well, don’t look at me,” said Alan.

Michelle folded her arms.  “Me, either.”

“Well, somebody is responsible.”

“Maybe it’s the monkey,” Cassie said.

Shawcross looked at the girl and cocked his head.  “What?”

“The monkey,” she repeated.  “Maybe it’s been raiding our supplies at night, trying to survive.”

“Makes sense,” Jan said, rubbing at his beard.

Annaliese objected.  “Lily isn’t taking our supplies.”

“How can you be so sure?” Shawcross asked.

“Well, firstly because an orang-utan would have no need for the weapons and medicines that we stashed along with the food and blankets.  She could potentially take things she could eat, but I don’t see her taking the lengths of pipe and rope we put in the bins.  But that’s not the main reason I know it’s not her.”

Shawcross raised an eyebrow.

“I know, because I have been leaving food out for her at night and by morning it’s all been gone.  She’s living somewhere in the woods nearby.”

Shawcross went bright red.  “You’ve been giving our supplies away to a goddamn monkey?”

“No,” Annaliese said calmly.  “I’ve been giving a few supplies to an intelligent primate; a Sumatran Orang-utan to be precise.  One of very few left alive – even before the world went to shit.  She has as much right to survive as the rest of us.”

“Nonsense!  You’re a thief.”

“Hey!” Mike shouted.  “Let’s take it down a notch with the witch hunt, yeah?  Annaliese is a vet and took an oath to help animals in need”

“Actually, vets don’t take an oath,” Annaliese whispered to him.  “But thanks.”

“Furthermore,” Mike continued.  “Annaliese is pretty much the only person who can help any of us if we get sick or injured, so I’d say that we best be nice to her, or else we’re all screwed.”

Shawcross folded his arms.  “So we should just let her do whatever the hell she likes, regardless of the rest of us?”

“Hell yes, because, may I remind you, we were all stuck in a kitchen when she found us.  Without her we might still be stuck there or, most likely, dead.  She risked her life for us on more than one occasion, so how dare you attack her like this.”

“I don’t mind feeding the monkey,” said Cassie.

Mike shrugged.  “Me either.  I couldn’t watch it suffer and starve.”

“She’s an ape,” Annaliese corrected.  “But I’m glad you don’t mind feeding her because I would carry on doing it anyway.”

“I mind,” said Michelle.  “What if we end up starving?  It’s just an animal.  We’re people.”

“Exactly,” said Shawcross.  “We’ll be using animals for meat soon enough, so what’s the point in feeding them?”

Annaliese shook her head.  This was pointless.  If they were happy letting a rare species die then why even bother wasting the breath to argue.  If that was how they felt then the world would eventually become a bleak and meaningless landscape, devoid of any beauty.  Annaliese would rather die than live in a world like that.  She turned around to leave the group, not wanting to discuss it further.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Shawcross shouted after her.

“To find your thief,” she said.  “Then maybe you’ll stop blaming an innocent animal.”

“If I find out that you’re behind this, Anna…”

“You’ll what?” Mike finished for him.  Then he turned around and followed after her.  The feeling of having someone on her side, ready to fight for her, was unfamiliar.  It warmed her belly.  It’d been a long time since somebody had supported her like that.  She just hoped that Mike wouldn’t go down in flames by trying to protect her.  She would rather him save his own life than risk it by trying to save hers.

Why am I worrying about life and death?  I should listen to Mike and concentrate on living.

“So, you’re really sure that Lily didn’t take the supplies?” Mike asked as he caught up with her by the Magic Carpet carousel.

“Yes.  She’s been taking the scraps I’ve been leaving her and can probably live off some of the local vegetation, too.  There’s no way she could have carried off all the supplies we left, anyway; not in a single night.  No, whoever is responsible for the missing supplies is much more calculating than an orang-utan.”

“You’re right.  Whoever is taking the extra food is making a conscious decision to screw the rest of us over.”

Annaliese went and took a seat on one of the park benches.  In front of them was the cable car station.  Far off, the sun had begun to dip beneath the horizon.  Evening would be upon them soon.

Another night in the dark with nothing to do but think.

“You know what’s crazy?” Annaliese said.

Mike sat down beside her, put his hand on her knee.  “What?”

“That people scare me more than the undead do.”

“The undead?  Are we actually calling them that now?”

“May as well call a spade a spade.”

Mike chuckled.  “I suppose so.  I know what you mean, though.  I can’t believe that Dave was murdered and now someone is stealing.  You’d think that with all that’s happened, people would finally want to stick together.”

Annaliese let out a sigh.  “Looks like the opposite is happening.  Life is still about survival of the fittest – everyone out for themselves.”

“So…who do you think took the supplies?”

Annaliese chewed her lip and thought about it.

Do I really have any idea?  The only person I really trust is the man sitting beside me.  Until recently I may have included Nick in the list of people I could count on, but…

“Do you really think that Nick killed Dave?” she asked.

Mike shrugged.  “Couldn’t have been anybody else.  Trust the evidence.  Didn’t they use to say that on some TV show?”

Annaliese huffed and tapped her fingers together on her lap.  “I don’t know.  I’ve forgotten what watching television is like.”  She leant back on the bench and felt her spine creak.  “So, you think Nick did it, then?”

“I guess.  Wouldn’t have pegged him as the killing kind before it happened, but I suppose none of us are in any position to trust one another.”

“Don’t you trust me?” Annaliese asked, surprised by the fact she was actually hurt by the comment.

Mike blushed.  His angular cheeks bloomed with colour.  “Of course I trust you.  You’re the exception.”

Annaliese smiled at him.  “Good!  Because one of the only things keeping me sane is knowing that I have you.”

Mike leant towards her and they kissed.  When they broke apart a minute later the world had gone dark.  It took a couple of seconds before Annaliese realised that the shadow was coming from a person standing behind them.  Before she could look up and see who it was, something heavy struck her head and things got darker still.

Chapter Thirty-Six

It was night time when Annaliese opened her eyes again.  She had a bizarre feeling of being both inside and outside at the same time.  When she realised she was sitting inside a greenhouse, the feeling made sense.

Where is this place?

She lifted her head and winced as a lump throbbed at the back of her skull.  She was tied up, bound to a chair by her wrists.  Mike was beside her.  He was unconscious.

“Mike,” she whispered.  “Mike, wake up.”

Mike didn’t move.

“I think he may be asleep a little while longer,” said a voice she knew.   Shawcross emerged from the shadows at the back of the greenhouse, wearing a wide smile across his face.  “He received quite the blow to the back of his head.  Might not wake up at all.”

Annaliese spat at him.  Just seeing the man made her skin crawl.  He was obviously the one behind her current predicament and it made her furious that he felt he had any right to tie her up.  “Shawcross, you fucking weasel.  Get me out of this chair now.”

Shawcross grinned even wider.  Moonlight glinted off his gappy teeth and greasy hair.  “Now, now,” he purred.  “There’s no need for such hostility.  I’ve let you in on my little secret.  You should be honoured.”

Annaliese looked at him with disgust.  “What secret?”

Shawcross stretched his arms wide and gestured to his surroundings.  “What do you think?  I found the greenhouse.  There are enough plants in here and crops outside to sustain a small group of us indefinitely.  A small group.”

“When did you find it?”

“After you all turned on me and put that brute Dave in charge.  I was going to leave, try and make it on my own someplace, but on my trek through the woods I found this place.  Besides, I couldn’t leave Ripley Hall to you peasants.  I need to be nearby for when it’s reopened someday.  I am its manager after all.”

Annaliese looked around at the greenhouse interior.  There were long shelves, three tiers high, which brimmed with tomato plants, cucumbers, and a whole host of other fruit and vegetables.  She spotted something else, too.  Stacked up in the corner of the building was all of the group’s missing supplies.

“You took the supplies?” she said.  “All the shit you gave me, and it was you!”

Shawcross laughed.  “Not exactly, but close enough.  Like I said, there’s enough here for a small group to survive indefinitely.  Our current group, however, is slightly too large.”

Annaliese’s stomach rolled as she absorbed the comment and thought about what he meant.  “What are you playing at, Shawcross?” she demanded, rocking back and forth.  “Untie me from this goddamn chair.”

Shawcross gazed at her sadly.  “I’m afraid I cannot do that, Anna.  I’m sorry that things have ended up like this, because I always liked you.”

“I always thought you were a stuck-up prick.”

Shawcross growled.  “Well, then I thank you for making this easier for me.”

“You can’t seriously be planning to kill me?”

Shawcross slapped a palm against his forehead.  “Have you listened to a word I’ve said?  That’s exactly what I plan on doing.  The whole group of us won’t make it through with the food we have.  We’ll eat ourselves to death in a matter of months.  But, with a few less mouths to feed, we’ll be just fine.  Nick is locked up with that imbecile, Renee, and you and Mike are here with me, about to be disposed of.  To my knowledge that is all of the troublemakers dealt with.”

“Troublemakers?”

Shawcross nodded.  “Yes.  You and Mike have been quite outspoken in your defiance of me.  Today it became unfortunately clear that neither of you were going to come around to my way of thinking.  You don’t respect my authority.”

“That’s because you have none.”

Shawcross’s lip turned downwards in a scowl.  “Don’t I?  Just look at the position you’re in.  Look at what happened to Nick after he attacked me.  Look what happened to Dave for going up against me.”  Shawcross seemed to try and stop himself before he finished the sentence, but it was too late.  His scowl turned into a frown and then a smirk.  “Oops!  Whatever have I said?”

“You killed Dave!” Annaliese spat.

“Of course I didn’t.  I was with you the whole time.”

“Then how?”

“Not for you to worry about, Anna.  You know, it really is such a pity that you couldn’t respect my authority.  If civilisation is over as we know it, then you and I would have made a great match for a repopulation effort.”

Annaliese felt revulsion.  “I’d rather fuck a pig.”

Shawcross scowled at her again.  The look on his face became almost inhuman; so full of hate and malice, twisted insecurities.  He pointed a finger in her face.  “What?  You think I’m not good enough for you?  You pick a pathetic dogsbody like Mike – a man with zero ambition, zero intelligence, zero-”

Mike flew out of his chair, ropes hanging loose around his wrists.  He tumbled forwards into Shawcross and tackled the man to the ground.

“I’m intelligent enough to get the drop on you, you greasy-haired motherfucker,” he said, as he straddled Shawcross and let fly with his fists.

While this was going on, Annaliese began struggling with her own bonds.  The ropes were strong, but the chair was not.  As she pulled and wiggled, she felt the joints of the old wooden chair begin to loosen.  The armrests began to rotate back and forth.

Just a little bit more.

Mike continued pummelling Shawcross on the floor.  Annaliese shouted for his attention.  “Mike!  Come help me.”

He looked around and saw her struggling to get free of the chair.  He got up off Shawcross and ran over to help her.

“One sec,” he said, grabbing at the ropes around her arms.  Annaliese twisted her wrists and started to pull.  It hurt badly, but she managed to drag her hands out through the knots inch by inch.

Almost there…

The ropes slipped away and she was free.  She held her hands out in front of her and rubbed at her stinging flesh.  A layer of skin had been grazed away and had left a red ring around each of her wrists.

“Come on,” said Mike, grabbing her.  “Let’s get out of here.  We need to tell the others about what this piece of shit has done.  Then we can all decide what to do with him.  I vote for lynching.”

That would be too good for him.

Annaliese jumped up from the chair and looked down at Shawcross on the floor.  He had rolled onto his side and was looking up at her with hazy eyes that were slowly regaining their focus.

“You son of a bitch.”  She skipped forward and kicked him in the ribs.  The wind exploded out of him with a pained gasp.  She kicked him again.

When she was done, she turned back to Mike and the two of them headed for the exit at the rear end of the greenhouse.  She had no idea where they were and hoped it would be easy to find their way back to the park.

I’m too weary to be getting lost in the woods.

As they hurried, Annaliese had a sudden, random thought.

How did Shawcross have time to drag both me and Mike out here to the woods?  And how did he kill Dave while he was with us the whole time?  He couldn’t have done it alone.

“I can’t believe this,” said Mike.  “Was he always this much of an asshole or was it-”

Mike stopped mid-sentence.  He stumbled back against a rack of root vegetables and placed his hands on his stomach as if he’d had a sudden, agonising case of cramp.

Slowly, Mike turned to face her.  A long knife stuck out of his stomach.

A stranger stepped out of the shadows.

Before Annaliese had time to act, Mike threw himself at the stranger, wrapping both his arms around their waist like a dying octopus.  He managed to turn his head and shout one last thing at her.

“Run!” he screamed.  “Run!”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Annaliese burst through the greenhouse’s exit and found herself in an open field.  Deep woods surrounded it on all sides.

Which way do I go?

Behind her, the sound of a struggle as Mike fought to keep the unknown attacker restrained.  It would not be long before he weakened and the man became free to chase after her.  There was no choice left but to just pick a direction and get moving.

God, I hope this is the right way.

She shot off across the field as fast as her legs would carry her.  Roots and unearthed vegetables tripped her as she fought desperately to stay upright.  Several times she stumbled onto her hands and knees, but each time, she clambered back to her feet and kept on moving.

Can’t let him catch me.

She pierced the treeline of the woods at the edge of the field.  Darkness enveloped her completely.  The moon battled to get through the leafy canopy and succeeded only with a few thin shafts of light.  It was like running with her eyes closed.  The only sounds were that of the snapping twigs beneath her boots.

Am I being followed?  Is Mike dead?

Annaliese panted and gasped as panic took over her.  She realised that the sounds of her heavy breathing would give her away if she did not get it under control.  She slowed down to a cautious jog and, as she took each deep breath, she held it for a few seconds, before letting it out slowly.

Got to stay calm.  Fear will just lead to bad decisions.

“Here pussy, pussy, pussy.”

The voice was far off, but still near enough to stoke her panic anew.  She didn’t recognise the voice, and she hadn’t recognised the man back at the greenhouse.

If he’s coming after me now, then that must mean…

Annaliese prayed to God that Mike was okay.  She prayed because it was the only thing she could think to do.

I have to get out of these woods.  If I don’t then it’s only a matter of time until he finds me.

Who the hell is he?

Has there been another survivor amongst us this whole time?  Someone only Shawcross knew about?

Annaliese headed off in a random direction, hoping it would lead her towards the park and away from the stranger hunting her.  Her eyes adjusted to the dark and the oily blackness became a fuzzy grey.  The shapes of the trees gradually made themselves visible and she could dodge between them.  But she still had no idea where she was going.  She was lost in the woods.

Like Little Red Riding Hood.

“Just stop running, girl.  I’ll be gentle, I promise.”

Annaliese jinked around a bush full of nettles and headed for a tight cropping of trees.  Her feet collided with several hard objects on the ground.  She looked down and saw that they were apples.  She had entered some kind of orchard.

I don’t recognise any of this.

“Bitch, you’re winding me up now.  Just stop running.  Give it up.”

Fuck you!  Annaliese almost shouted it out, but quickly stopped herself.  The last thing she wanted to do was give away her position.

She ran through a copse of apple tree and headed for a clearing at the end.  Her pursuer continued shouting and threating behind her, but that only made it clear that he did not know where she was.

As long as he’s getting frustrated, I still have a chance.

Annaliese broke out of the orchard and entered an area that was much more open.  It wasn’t a great place to be and lacked any kind of cover.  A couple of hundred metres into the clearing, the woods renewed once more.  She would have to make it over there before her pursuer made it out into the open and spotted her.

She ran, jumping over ruts and dodging dips.  It looked like an area that had seen the regular use of vehicles, if the bare patches of mud and wide divots were anything to go by.  It was an encouraging sign as it might mean she’d find a path or dirt road leading back to the park.

“Bitch, I gonna find you.  Then I gonna party wid you.”

The voice was getting closer.  She might have only seconds before he found the clearing and put eyes on her.

Got to make it back into the trees.

He’ll be here any second.

Got to run faster...

Annaliese felt as if her knees were turning to jelly as she thudded across the hard mud.  The treeline was tantalisingly close, and yet she just couldn’t seem to make it.

Seconds went by.  She continued to run.

The treeline got closer and closer.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are?”

Annaliese broke through the treeline, just as she heard her attacker’s voice echo in the clearing.  She had made it with no seconds to spare.

Then something moved up ahead of her and she screamed.

Oh no!

Her pursuer heard her cries.

“I hear you, bitch.  Now you in big trouble.”

Shit, shit, shit!

Annaliese looked forward, trying to see what had startled her.  When she looked up at the trees, she realised it was Lily.  The orang-utan looked down at her and hooted.  Then she waved a hand.

Bizarrely, Annaliese found herself waving back, but she quickly got moving again; her life in the balance.  She was running out of breath.  The stitch in her side was enough to drop an elephant.  She had to keep going, but she knew she didn’t have much more left in the tank.

I’m going to collapse.

Lily swung from the tree branch on which she was perched and leapt to the next tree over.  Then she crouched down and stared at Annaliese.

Annaliese stared back.  “What?”

Lily hooted.

“You want me to follow?”

Lily hooted again and then swung to the next tree.

Annaliese followed.

As soon as she caught up with Lily, the orang-utan swung to the next tree, and then the next and the next, sometimes altering direction slightly, but mainly keeping a straight course.  Annaliese used the last of her reserves to keep running.

I hope you know where you’re going, Lily.

“I see you, bitch,” shouted the stranger behind her.  “Time to give it up for Daddy.”

“Oh God.”  Annaliese let out a scream.  Lily continued swinging from tree to tree.  She followed the orang-utan as fast as she could.

I can’t keep going.  I can’t…

Up ahead, the gap between the trees widened.  The moonlight there was brighter.

Please, please, please, let this be the park.

She reached the edge of the woods and leapt out into the moonlight.  Her legs gave way and she fell, face first, onto the hard, unforgiving ground.

Pavement?  This is the park.  I made it!

“Now you’re fucked, sweetheart.”

She spun around onto her back, but she didn’t have the energy to get up.  She was done for.

The stranger exited the woods and stood over her.  It was too dark to make the man out; to even see his basic details.

Who the hell are you?

She started crawling away on her hands and knees, dragging herself along.  She screamed out as loud as she could.  Pleaded for help.  Pleaded for the others to come and rescue her.

There’s nobody here.  They’re not going to hear me.

“Anna, what’s wrong?”

Alan was standing over her and giving her a quizzical look.  Seeing him gave her the tiny boost needed to scramble to her feet.

“Alan!” she said.  “Thank God.  You have to help me.”  She spun around to face her attacker, and saw now that it was a young black man.  His left eye was bloody, completely gouged out, but looked to be healing.  His clothing was torn and muddy; a grey tracksuit, like the ones Jan and Renee wore, covered in dry blood.

Another prisoner?

Annaliese threw herself into Alan’s arms and squeezed him desperately.  “He’s trying to kill me, Alan.  He killed Mike.  Shawcross…”

“Where is Shawcross?” Alan asked her calmly.

“He’s in the greenhouse.  He found the zoo’s agriculture plot.”

“Yes,” I know,” he said.

Annaliese pushed him away.  “You know?”

Alan nodded.  “Yes.  Shawcross showed a handful of us yesterday.  Explained the food situation.”

“What situation?”

“That too many greedy mouths to feed is going to mean big problems,” said the unknown black man.  He had moved to the edge of the treeline and was standing there without any kind of urgency.

Annaliese stared at Alan and realised, then, that the two men already knew each other.  “Alan,” she said, swallowing deeply as she asked the question.  “Who is this man?”

Alan shrugged.  “Calls himself Dash.  Shawcross bumped into him a few days back.  He’s been staying at the greenhouse this whole time.”

She shook her head and started backing away.  “He’s a murderer.  He killed Mike.”

Alan sighed.  “I liked Mike, but there’s not enough food for all of us.  Tough decisions had to be made.”

“Decisions made by who?”

“By me?” said Shawcross, emerging from the treeline.  His face was matted with blood and one of his eyes was swollen shut.  Mike had really done a number on him.

Good.  I just wish Mike had had the chance to finish you off.

“You’re a psychopath,” she spat at Shawcross.  “What gives you the right?”

“Taking it, gives me the right.  Some of us recognise what the world has become.  If the human race is going to survive, some of us need to be pragmatic.  Until things are more stable, we can support only the core group.”

Annaliese took a step backwards as he approached her.  She shook her head at him.  “Core group?  What are you talking about?”

“Well,” Shawcross grinned, “you could say the people that respect my forward thinking are the core group and the rest of you are…disposable.”

Annaliese went to make a break for it, but Alan grabbed a hold of her.  “I’m sorry, Anna,” he said.  “I really am.”

He seemed sorry as well.  The jerk.  There was no pleasure in Alan’s eyes at all.  It was obvious that the only reason he was even going along with Shawcross at all was weakness.  The guy just wanted to live, and would hitch his wagon to whichever was the strongest horse.

“Let me go, Alan.”

“I can’t do that.”

She shrugged and tried to escape his grasp.  When she couldn’t, she opted to knee him between the legs.

Take that, you spineless piece of shit.

Alan doubled over in pain, but manage to keep hold of her as he went down.  She still couldn’t get away.

Dash lunged forward and planted a right hook on her cheek.  Her vision spun and the floor came up to meet her.

“You right, Shawcross.  She is a feisty bitch.”

The next thing Annaliese knew, something descended from the trees and clubbed Dash in the back.  He went sprawling forward and landed on his face, unconscious.

What’s happening?

Alan screamed and rushed off out of view.  Shawcross backed away slowly.  Someone had come to her rescue.

Lily stood over Annaliese protectively and let out a low, guttural huffing sound.  A clear warning.

Annaliese lay on her side in shock, unable to move.  One of Lily’s hands grasped at her shirt and tugged it.  Get up, she was communicating.  Get up now.

Annaliese pushed herself up onto her feet and started backing away.  Shawcross made a move to grab her, but Lily rose up and hooted aggressively.  He backed away.

Annaliese took a few unsteady steps, before realising that no one was going to risk following her.  Dash was still dazed on the ground and Alan was nowhere to be seen.  She looked around and got her bearings.  She was in the zoo, not far from the cable car station.  From there, she could make it to the Big Dog restaurant and find the others.

Can I even trust them?  How many of them were in on Shawcross’s plan?  I might still be done for.

But not yet.

Annaliese had no options but to find the others and hope that they would help her.  She took off in the direction of the amusement park.  She had to make it to the restaurant.

“You’ll regret this,” Shawcross shouted after her.  “You and your goddamn monkey.”

Annaliese gritted her teeth as she made her getaway.  She’s an ape, you idiot.  For the last time, she’s an ape!

And she just saved my life.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Up ahead, the Big Dog restaurant came into view.  The flickering candle light shining through the single un-barricaded window made it clear that somebody was inside.

Thank God.

I hope.

With nobody pursuing her, Annaliese allowed herself to slow down and take it easier on her legs.  She felt like she was going to collapse again at any moment.  As soon as she knew that she was safe, that was exactly what she was going to do.

She hobbled up the steps to the restaurant and approached the open window.  Peering in through the gap, she could see only the glare of a half-dozen candles.

Out of energy, and almost out of fight, she pushed herself up onto the ledge and tumbled through the gap and onto the floor.  If those inside were hostile then they would just have to finish her off, there and then.  There was nothing else she could do but lie there and give in.

“Anna?  What the bloody hell’s happened to you?”  It was Eve.  She hurried over and helped her up off the floor.  “Are you okay?”

Annaliese shoved her away.  “Are you with them?  Are you with Shawcross?”

Eve looked confused.  “What do you mean?

“Shawcross, Alan, and…and some other guy.  They killed Mike.  They’re trying to kill me.  Are you with them?”  Eve stood there awkwardly, staring at her like she was mad.  But Annaliese was not mad.  She lashed out and grabbed Eve by the throat, surprised by her own ferocity.  “Are.  You.  Fucking.  With.  Them?”

Eve shook her head, frightened.  “No!  Hell, no.  I don’t even know what you’re talking about.  Let me go.  We’ll sort this out.”

Annaliese sighed and let the girl go.

Eve went to rush off, but turned back around and smiled at her reassuringly.  “You’re safe now, Anna.  Okay?”

Annaliese did not reply.  She slumped against the wall and slid to floor, trying to catch her breath as Eve rushed off into the shadows of the restaurant.  Moments later, the girl returned with Cassie and Pauline in tow.  Cassie held out a drink to Annaliese, which she took gratefully.

She swigged the lemonade down in one gulp and let out a gasp.  “T-thanks.  I needed that.”

“So, what the flipping hell is going on?” Pauline asked her.

“Shawcross is a fucking psychopath, that’s what.  He kidnapped me and Mike.  Now Mike is dead.”

Pauline put a hand to her mouth.  “No!”

Annaliese got back to her feet, her body feeling renewed after only a short rest.  “Yes, and he’ll be coming after me any minute, so I need to find out who is on his side and who is still fucking sane.”

“Well, I had nothing to do with it, Anna,” said Eve.

Pauline shook her head.  “Me either.”

They all looked at Cassie.  “What?” she said.  “I didn’t know, either.  I swear.”

“Okay,” Annaliese said.  “So the only people I don’t know about are Michelle and Jan.  Where are they?”

Blank faces.

Eve shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I thought Michelle was with Alan.”

“I think it’s safe to say that Michelle will be on whichever side Alan is,” Pauline explained.  “They’ve been sticking together for weeks.  He’s become a bit like a father to her.”

Annaliese sighed.  “Great.  That makes us outnumbered, then.  Especially if Jan is with them.”

“I reckon he is,” said Eve.  “He’s been pretty close to Shawcross these last few days – think he sees him as the boss.”

Annaliese slumped back against the wall and felt some of her newfound energy slip away.  “Great.  Last thing we need is having to go up against a hardened criminal the size of the Hulk.”  She scratched the tip of her nose and suddenly thought of something.  “That reminds me.  This new guy with Shawcross.  He was wearing prison clothing.”

Cassie whimpered.  “W-was he black?”

Annaliese nodded.  “Yeah, so what?  Wait, do you know him?”

Cassie nodded and became ghostly white against the shadows.

“No way,” said Eve.  “It can’t be Dash…can it?”

“Who the hell is Dash?”

“A degenerate we picked up along with Jan and Renee.  We thought…well, we thought he was out of the picture.”

“Well, now he’s back in the picture, and he seems pretty psychotic.”

Cassie whimpered again.

“You okay?” Annaliese asked her.

Cassie nodded.  “Dash just makes me nervous.”

Eve and Pauline placed an arm around the girl and tried to comfort her.  Annaliese got the impression there were things they weren’t telling her, but there was no time to demand answers at the moment.

“We need to arm up,” she said.  “Let’s get whatever we can.”

“But we can’t fight them off,” said Cassie.  “There are more of them than us, and they’re men.”

Annaliese spun around and scowled at Cassie.  “Mike was a man.  These are just little boys trying to have all the toys.  They may have the advantage, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lie down and get fucked.  They want to recreate Lord of the Flies, then let’s make sure it’s one of them that ends up being Piggie.”

“I don’t know what that means,” said Cassie.

“Never mind.  Let’s just get ready.”

“I’ll go get some things to defend ourselves with,” said Eve, rushing off into the dark corners of the restaurant.

“Okay, make sure mine is something long and sharp.  I need something to shove up Shawcross’s arse.”

Pauline stepped up to Annaliese and looked her dead in the eye.  The woman seemed anxious, but resolute at the same time.  “You think we have any chance of holding them off on our own?”

Annaliese thought for a second and then gave Pauline a smile.  An idea had just brewed in her head.  “We’re not going to be doing it on our own.  We have reinforcements.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re going to free Nick and Renee.  Nick didn’t kill Dave.  It was Shawcross; he admitted it to me.  He must have had Dash do it.”

“I knew it,” said Pauline.  “I knew Nick wouldn’t do something like that.  Let’s get him out of that damn cellar.”

Annaliese nodded and marched across the restaurant.  There was a door at the back of the bar which opened to the cellar staircase.  She grabbed the brass handle and twisted.

It was stuck.  Locked.

“Bollocks.  Does anybody know how to get this door open?”

“Shawcross has the key,” Cassie said.  “It was in the door when we arrived.”

Annaliese booted the door in its centre, and then again next to its hinges.  It wasn’t going to give.  There were no weak points.

“We’ll never get it open in time,” said Pauline.  “They’ll be here.”

Annaliese leant up against the door and sighed.  If they had any chance at all of fighting back against Shawcross’s bloodthirsty cabal, they needed Nick.  The other women trusted him.  They would crumble without him.

She banged her fists against the door.  “Nick!”  She banged harder.  “Nick, we need to get you out of there.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Nick opened his eyes and sat up on the floor.  He was hot and threw his itchy, woollen blanket to one side.

Renee was already up.  The man seemed hardly to ever sleep.  He was standing over Nick patiently, as if he had been waiting for him to awake.

“W-what’s going on?” Nick asked.  “Was that banging I just heard?”

Renee nodded and motioned to the door at the top of the stairs.  The man had gone back to not speaking after their brief conversation, but he was surprisingly effective at communicating without words.

“Nick, can you hear me?”  Someone was shouting from inside the restaurant.  It sounded like Annaliese.

He jumped to his feet and hurried to the foot of the stairs.  “Anna, is that you?  What is it?  What’s wrong?”

“It’s Shawcross.  He’s lost the plot.  Mike is dead and there’s some thug called Dash running around doing Shawcross’s dirty work.  They set you up over Dave’s murder.”

Nick wondered if he’d just heard her correctly.  “Did you say Dash?”

“Yes, Dash.  As in the third prisoner you picked up with Jan and Renee.”

Nick looked around at Renee who was staring back at him with wide eyes.  He obviously did not believe it either.  There was no way Dash could be alive.  Not after the fall Nick had seen him take.

Nick climbed the stairs and stood outside the door.  “Okay.  Open up and I’ll come help you.”

“We can’t.  Shawcross has the key.”

Nick grunted and punched his fist against the concrete wall of the cellar.  The pain woke him up a little.  “Damn it!”

Renee came forward and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.  “Shawcross does not have the only key, my friend.”  From within the pocket of his tracksuit, Renee pulled out a long brass key that was attached to several others via a Ripley Heights key ring.  “Perhaps he should have checked beneath the bar, too, no?”

Nick stared at Renee with disbelief.  “You mean you could have let me out of here at any time?”

Renee tilted his head and wore a sagely expression.  “Escaping your cell would not have restored the other’s trust in you.  Escaping would have just made things worse for you, my friend.  I had this key only for emergencies…such as this.”

Nick shook his head, still not understanding, but glad anyway to have a way out.  He took the key from Renee and slotted it into the lock, giving it a solid twist.  The lock clicked and the handle released.

God, I can’t wait to get some fresh air.

Annaliese wore a puzzled expression when he opened the door to meet her.  “What?” she said.  “How did you?”

“It’s not important.”  He moved past her so that he was fully away from the stuffy cellar which had been his prison for the past several days.  Up ahead, he spotted Eve and immediately headed towards her.

“Eve,” he said.  “I’ve missed you.”

To his surprise, she wrapped both arms around him and squeezed him tightly.  She kissed him on the cheek.  “I’m so sorry,” she said.  “I should have believed you.  Shawcross is responsible for Dave’s death.  We should never have blamed you.”

Nick eased her away.  There wasn’t time for apologies, or any need of them either.  “It’s okay,” he said.  “No harm done.  Just promise to trust me from now on.”

“I promise.”

He cleared his throat and looked around.  He was accompanied by Renee, Annaliese, Cassie, Eve, and Pauline.  A table in the middle of the room was piled with makeshift weapons.  He picked up a replica hunting rifle that had been cut loose from the laser shooting gallery at the midway area.  It would make a good club and had also received the modification of a nine-inch nail wedged into the barrel; an excellent bayonet in tight circumstances.

Good thing one of the weapon stashes is here in the restaurant.

The rest of the group armed up, too.  Then they all stood in a loose huddle, staring at one another apprehensively.  Cassie looked the most nervous and was clutching a sharp blade against her chest.

“So, just fill me in one last time,” said Nick.  “Shawcross has Dash with him and they are going around killing people?”

“Alan is with them, too,” said Pauline.  “Maybe Jan and Michelle as well.”

“Shawcross has this crazy idea,” Annaliese explained.  “That the group’s chance of survival will be better if there are fewer of us.  He’s found the park’s greenhouse facility and has stockpiled all of our supplies there.  Apparently there is not enough to sustain us all.”

“So the crazy sonofabitch is trying to…what?  Cull us?  Jesus!”

Crunch!

The group turned towards the open window as the sound of cracking glass and shattering plates came from outside.  Someone had breached the minefield.

“They’re here,” said Annaliese, holding up the butcher’s knife she clutched tightly in her hand.

“Everyone, keep quiet,” said Nick.  “And get down.”

The group took cover behind the bar and the various tables lying around.  Then they waited.

Minutes passed.

Nothing.

Nick peered over the top of the bar and made eye contact with Annaliese, who was perched behind an upturned table.  It was clear from her expression that she was as tense as he was.

What are they doing out there, he asked himself.  Why are they not trying to come inside?

They’re planning something.

Something came flying through the open window and thudded on the floor.  Whatever it was rolled a few metres and then came to a stop in the middle of the restaurant.

It was a head.

But it was not human.

Annaliese moaned out loud as she looked down at the severed head.  “Lily!  You bastards.”

Nick looked down at the orang-utan head and could not believe it.  Was Shawcross really that twisted?

“We’ve killed your precious friend, Anna,” came Shawcross’s nasally voice from outside.  “And if you don’t surrender now, we will systematically kill every animal in the petting zoo.”

Annaliese shook her head and began crying.  Nick could see that the threat would not work on her, would not make her give up, but it was upsetting her a great deal.  It upset him, too.

“You’ll kill them anyway,” she shouted back.  “So don’t take me for a fool.”

“That’s the last thing I take you for,” said Shawcross.  “You’re a smart, rational person, so if you come out peacefully, I will rethink things and let you live.”

“Whether I live or die is not your choice, Shawcross.  You are not God.”

There was laughter from outside.  “No, you’re right.  I am not God.  God is impotent.  God is idle.  God is inaction.  I am better than Him.  I am ambition.  I am leadership.  I am survival.  I am-”

“You are batshit crazy,” Nick shouted.  “That’s what you are.  Nothing but a run-of-the-mill nutcase with delusions of grandeur and a messiah complex.  You’re a fucking cliché, mate.”

“Ah, Nick.  Is that you?  I take it that our darling, sweet Anna has released you from your penance?  Just another transgression that she will later come to regret.”

He’s talking like a raving lunatic.  I must have damaged his brain when I punched him.

“Just give this up, Shawcross,” Nick shouted over the bar.  “You’re not hurting anybody else tonight.”

“I beg to differ.”

There was silence for a while.  Nick again made eye contact with Annaliese as the two of them tried to figure out what was happening outside.

I don’t like this.  We need to see what’s going on.

Eve moved away from her position by the soda fountain and came and joined him at the bar.  “Do you smell that?” she said.

Nick could indeed smell it.  Petrol had begun pouring through the open window, pooling on the wooden floor of the restaurant.

Pauline and Cassie realised what was happening and looked at Nick with fear in their eyes.

“Come out,” Shawcross demanded.  “Or I’ll burn you out.”

“No,” said Nick.  “You won’t.”

“Do not test my resolve.”

“You won’t do it,” said Nick.  “Because if you do, you’ll be as screwed as we are.”

“And why is that?” Shawcross shouted from outside.

“Because you’ve seen as well as I have that fire attracts them.  You set fire to this restaurant and you bring a shitload of death up that hill.  The dead and infected would be up here within the hour.  Not to mention the fact you could end up incinerating the whole park.”

There was silence outside.  Nick knew that, of all things, Shawcross was a careful man.  He was a planner above all else.  He was not about to set fire to one of his biggest assets.

“I think you need to find a plan b,” said Nick.  “And if it involves you coming anywhere near us, I’m going to kill you.  Understood?”

“You’ll regret this, Nick.”

“Not before you do.”

There were sounds of discussion coming from outside, heated and irritable.  It was obvious that they had been forced to rethink.

“What do you think they’re doing?” Eve asked him.

He shrugged.  “I don’t know, but we’re sitting ducks in here.  Sooner or later they’ll come up with a plan to get us out, or kill us where we stand.”

“What do you suggest?”

Nick thought about it for a moment.  “I think we should leave here.  But on our terms, not theirs.”

Annaliese headed over and Cassie and Pauline took suit and followed after her.  They all huddled behind the bar.

“What do you mean we should leave?” Annaliese said.  “Aren’t we safe in here?”

“Yeah, for now.  But eventually they’ll come up with something smarter.  All we’re doing at the moment is giving them time to think.  I say we hit back now when they least expect it.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” said Pauline.  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Me either,” said Cassie.

“And you’re right not to like the sound of it.  It’s dangerous and could get us killed.  But what choice do we have?  They put us in this position.  Are we going to let them win?  After surviving for this long, after all that we’ve been through, are we really going to let an arrogant pig like Shawcross determine out fate?”

“Hell fucking no,” said Eve.

“Maybe we should just surrender,” said Cassie.  “They haven’t tried to hurt me or Pauline.  Eve might be safe as well.”

Nick shook his head.  “You can do whatever you want Cassie.  No one is forcing you to do anything.  But Dash might do if you join up with them.  Remember when Dash tried to force you to do things that you didn’t want to do?”

Cassie’s eyes brimmed with tears in the candlelight.  “That’s not fair.”

“No it’s not, and neither is you refusing to pick a side.  It’s time for you to shit or get off the pot, Cassie.  You have to pick a side, right now: go out and join them or stay here with us.  Once you pick, though, that’s it.  No more playing it safe.  This is about survival – not just about tonight, but for whatever comes next.  It’s time to evolve, people.”

Cassie wavered for a moment, turning towards the window and then back towards Nick.  Eventually she sighed, her shoulders dropping.  “Okay, I’m with you guys.”

“Glad to have you,” said Nick.

“So how do we get out there without them seeing us?” Annaliese asked.  “If we try to funnel out the window they’ll pick us off easy.”

Nick rubbed his forehead and formulated a plan quickly.  “We deal with Shawcross the same way we dealt with those brain dead zombies at the bottom of the hill,” he said.  “We distract him.”

Chapter Forty

Twenty minutes later, Nick watched Annaliese stroll over to the middle of the room and crouch down beside the severed orang-utan head.  It was a tragic thing that even the park’s animals had been dragged into Shawcross’s megalomania.

“We’ll make him pay for Lily,” Nick said as he knelt down beside Annaliese.  He rubbed her shoulders.

“No need,” Annaliese told him.  “This isn’t Lily.”

“What?  It’s an orang-utan, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s not her.  This is Brick.”

Nick frowned.  “Brick?”

“Lily’s mate.  He died when all this started.  “They obviously cut off his head to mess with me; make me think it was Lily.”

Nick straightened up and sighed.  “Shawcross has lost his mind.  What is he even fighting for?”

“The self-esteem he’s always lacked,” Annaliese said, straightening up beside him.  “He was a worthless little wretch before all this.  This is his chance to finally be somebody.  He’s starting as he means to go on.  Power is not given, it is taken.  That’s truer now than it’s ever been.”

“Then I guess it’s time to go to war,” said Nick.  “We’re all clear on the plan?  Does anybody need to go over it again?”

Everybody said, “No.”  Renee just shook his head.

Nick got a good grip on the replica rifle with the nail in the end and took a deep breath.  “Let’s do this, then.”

Renee handed Nick the bundle of keys he had found days ago beneath the bar.  Nick was counting on one of the keys unlocking the hatch in the cellar.  The rear of the building led out into a fenced-off yard that had not been barricaded or even paid much mind.  It had been secure when the group arrived so there had been no need to alter it; which was why Nick was sure that it would offer a clear route out of the building without Shawcross seeing.

He bid the others goodbye and headed back down into the cellar.  Draped over a two-wheeled keg trolley was his black woollen jacket.  He tugged it on and pulled it over his shoulders.  It would help him blend in with the night.  Heart beating fast, he climbed up the rear stairs and came up against the horizontal hatch.  He examined the steel lock that fixed the door to the frame and then looked at the keys in his hand.  There was a medium-length key that seemed to be made of a similar tarnished-grey metal as the hatch.  He singled it out and inserted it into the lock.  It was a relief when it turned easily.

Let’s hope the rest of the plan goes as easily.

Nick moved his hands about the hatch, trying to figure out it’s workings without making too much noise.  He discovered that it slid upwards on railings and he gently eased it back on its moorings.

The hatch was open.  He climbed through.

The night seemed to flood over Nick like a living creature, a cold black mollusc clinging to his skin.

Glad I remembered my jacket, he thought as he climbed out into the fenced-off yard of the restaurant.  He searched around and located a large, industrial wheelie bin.  It was the perfect height for helping him over the fence.  He quickly climbed on top of it, then eased himself up and over the top of the nearest fence.  He dropped down on the other side and winced as his feet struck the unforgiving pavement.

I’m going to need a new pair of ankles after all this.

He was at the side of the restaurant towards the rear.  He could hear Shawcross and his cronies conspiring nearby, but they were out of sight, which hopefully meant that so was he.

Got to keep it down.

He crept away from the voices and headed around the back of the building.  If his plan was going to work then he needed to put some distance between him and Shawcross before things played out.

Coming up on his left was the park’s rollercoaster, the Hood.  Its walled-off surroundings would provide good cover for what he was about to do.  There was a heavy bin nearby and Nick ran towards it.  He hefted his foot in the air and knocked it clean over.  The lid came loose and spun across the pavement.  It made an almighty clatter.

“Shit!” Nick shouted.  “Come on, they’ll hear us.  Run!”

He quickly hopped over the waist high fence that surrounded the queuing area for the Hood and then crouched down beneath the elevated steel tracks.

“They’ve escaped,” Shawcross shouted in the distance.  “Come on, I hear them over there.”

Nick hid behind a support pillar and listened to the footfalls of his pursuers get nearer.

“You’re a dead man,” Dash shouted.  It really was him.  Somehow he had survived being pushed out of a cable car hundreds of feet above the ground.

“You’re supposed to be the dead man,” Nick shouted back.  “I watched you die, blud.”

“Can’t kill me, gangster.  I took that fall like it was nothing.  Hit a dozen branches on the way down, but I walked that shit off.  I lost my eye, though, and somebody needs to pay for that.  You tell Jan he’s got it coming, too.”

Jan isn’t with them?  Then where the hell is he?

“He’s inside the rollercoaster enclosure,” Shawcross said.  “The others must be with him somewhere.”

Nick grinned.  That’s right, you arrogant fool.  That’s what I want you to think.  Keep looking forward while a speeding truck comes up behind you.

He had to keep them distracted.

“Hey, Dash.  When I’m through with you this time, you’ll stay dead.”

Dash sucked his teeth, the sound cutting through the air.  “Come on down, then, hard man.  Let’s see what you got?”

Nick laughed.  “While I’m outnumbered?  Don’t think so.  When I take you down, it’s going to be just you and me.”

“What do you mean…outnumbered?” Shawcross asked.

Nick bit on his fist.  Shit!  I think I just blew it.

There was a moment of silence and then Shawcross started shouting.  “He’s not with the others.  He’s just distracting us.  Come on, back to the restaurant.”

Nick had to do something; had to make up for his mistake.  He shot out from behind the support pillar and scrambled back towards the queue barricade.  He hopped over it mid-run and made a beeline for Shawcross.  Dash was standing right beside him and so was Alan.  The mystery of whether or not Michelle was with them was also solved.  She most certainly was.

Stupid cow.

Michelle saw Nick running at them and shouted out a warning to her cohorts.  Alan leapt out to block him, but Nick was having none of it.  He swung his rifle like a bat and clubbed Alan around the top of his head.  The older man staggered backwards and hit the ground in a daze.

One down!

Before Nick had time to prepare his next swing, Dash smacked him around the head with a shovel.  Everything went black for a moment and then he found himself on the floor, staring up at the stars.

Dash loomed into view, looking down on him.  “I’m not impressed, blud.  I thought you was gonna take me out?”

Nick turned his head to the side and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.  He felt a tooth come loose.  “If not in this life then the next, I promise you that, blud”

Dash laughed and raised the shovel up above Nick’s neck, ready to take his head off.  Nick closed his eyes and waited.

“Get it over with,” Shawcross said.  “Kill him.”

Dash nodded and then looked down at Nick with a smirk on his face.  “Say night, night, Honky.”

Thump!

Dash staggered sideways and tripped over Nick’s prone body.  Just when he had expected to feel the bite of the sharp edge of the shovel, something had happened.  Something had stopped Dash from delivering his killing blow.

Somebody saved me?

Nick sat up in a daze to find Jan holding out a hand to him.  “Get up, brother.  Looks like you’re having a party, but no one invited me to dance.”

Nick took Jan’s hand and leapt to his feet.  He was dizzy from the blow to the head, but he was ready for a fight.

Bring it the fuck on.

Dash scrambled to his feet.  There was a screwdriver sticking out of his left arm and he had dropped his shovel to the ground.

“Are my eyes deceiving me?” Jan asked.  “Or is that ugly, one-eyed motherfucker Dash?”

“It’s him,” said Nick.  “He survived the fall.”

“Survived so I could take you gangsters out,” Dash said making a grab for the shovel.

Nick tried to stop him, but was too late.  Dash picked up the weapon and raised it over his head.  He didn’t come at them, though.  Instead he made a run for it, heading straight past Shawcross and into the shadows.

Alan had gotten up of the floor, too, and was backed up against Shawcross and Michelle. The three of them stood together in a triangle, clutching weapons – shovels, spades, and pitchforks – as they waited for Nick and Jan to attack them.

Nick picked up his replica rifle from the floor, but didn’t point it at them.  Instead he held up his hand.  “Just give it up, guys.  It’s over.”

“Nothing is over,” said Shawcross.  “There are three of us and only two of you.”

“Maybe,” said Nick, his words slightly slurred as his mouth started to swell.  “But I think Jan counts as two, so we’re evenly matched.  No one else needs to get hurt here.”

“I beg to differ.  Give up now while you still have the chance.  We outnumber you.”

“Actually you don’t,” said Annaliese, coming up from the direction of the restaurant.  Pauline, Cassie, and Eve were with her.  And so was Renee.  They all carried weapons and were clearly ready to use them.  “I think you’ll find that you’re the ones who are outnumbered and, after the day I’ve had, I’m quite happy to kill you all on the spot.”

“That’s right,” said Nick.  “I don’t think the Geneva Convention exists anymore, so if you want to be treated like human beings, I suggest that you put down your weapons and start behaving like one.”

There was a standoff for a moment, the air tense and vibrating.  Then Michelle and Alan threw down their weapons and put their hands above their head.  Shawcross, however, kept a firm grip on his pitchfork.

“Give it up, Shawcross,” Annaliese said.  “Michelle, Alan, grab a hold of him, will you?”

Michelle and Alan turned around anxiously and looked at their former leader.  “Come on, mate,” said Alan, reaching for the pitchfork.  “Just give up.”

“Get off me,” Shawcross growled.  He shoved the pitchfork at Alan and buried it in his belly.

Nick’s mouth opened but no words came out.

Alan rocked backwards, clutching his torso as it begun to bleed.  Michelle screamed as her friend’s bodily fluids spurted out onto the pavement.  She reached for the pitchfork and yanked it free, but that only seemed to make the bleeding worse.  Alan fell down onto his side and let out a gurgling moan.

Shawcross took off like a lightning bolt, taking advantage of the chaos he had caused.  Nick gave chase, along with Jan and Renee.  Annaliese and the others stayed put, tended to Alan.

We can’t let that weasel get away.

Shawcross headed off towards the front of the park.  Nick did his best to keep up.  The wishy-washy feeling inside his skull prevented him from running full speed and Jan, being the size he was, wasn’t the greatest sprinter.  If they were not careful they were going to lose Shawcross into the night.

Then they’ll be no hope of catching him.

“Bleeder’s fast,” said Jan, sweating despite the cold.

“You’re telling me.  Probably because he’s been eating better than all the rest of us.”

He’s probably been controlling the supplies and rations secretly for months.

They chased Shawcross around the front of the park’s office block and past the open doors of the warehouse.  Beyond was Ripley Hall.

“He’s heading for the house,” said Nick.

“Isn’t it full of infected?”

Nick slowed down.  “Yeah, it is.  Who knows what he’s up to.”

Jan slowed down to a jog and then a lolloping walk.  “He’s got no place else to go then.  Let’s not corner him into doing anything stupid.”

Nick didn’t like increasing Shawcross’s chances of running away, but he was too out of breath to keep running so fast anyway.  Against his better judgement, he allowed himself to slow down.  “Where were you, anyway, man?” Nick asked Jan.  “You saved my ass back there in the nick of time.”

“A man spends long enough in a prison, he starts to appreciate solitude.  I was just walking in the woods, enjoying the quiet.”

“I understand what you mean,” said Renee.

Jan looked at his fellow prisoner, dumbfounded.  “You…you talk?”

Renee shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Long story,” said Nick.  “I’ll fill you in later.

“Fair enough.”

Shawcross was out of breath, too, and had slowed down to a panicked stagger.  In front of him was the dark spectre of Ripley Hall.

“What are we going to do with him if we catch him?” Jan asked.

“When we catch him,” Nick said.  “And I don’t know.  I’ll figure it out once we have him.”

They entered onto the lawns of the grand old house and stuck close to the rows of trees that towered over the lawns.  Shawcross kept glancing back over his shoulder at them, but made no effort to increase his speed.  He seemed broken and unable to run from them any faster.

Nick cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.  “It’s over, Shawcross.  You’re done.”

Shawcross turned around to face them.  He was panting heavily.  “It…would…appear so…wouldn’t it?”

“No one else needs to get hurt, buddy,” Jan said.  “Just surrender.”

Shawcross shook his head and gave them an icy stare.  “You really think I’m stupid enough to do that?  You’d just kill me.  You have no choice after what I’ve done.”

“No more killing,” said Nick.

“Then what?  What do you plan to do with me?”

Nick was silent.  He had no answer.

Shawcross nodded slowly.  “Exactly.”  He took a step backwards, towards the house.  Then he took another.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked.  “Get away from there.”

“I’ve looked after this house like it was my own for ten years, did you know that?”

Nick shook his head.  He quickened his steps, hoping to get close enough to grab Shawcross without him making a bolt for it.  There was some distance to close before that could happen though.  They still had to shout to be heard.

“I was in charge of a piece of history.  Lords have lived here; cousins to kings and queens.  Powerful men with royal blood running through their veins.  My job was to walk in their footsteps and respect their past.”

“Where are you going with this, Shawcross?  What’s your point?”

“My point is that you all fucked it up!  You brought death to Ripley Hall.  You tarnished its legacy and now you scuttle around like rodents, disrespecting the history of where you are; disrespecting my position as guardian of this place.  I was in charge here and you knocked me down, you violated me, and you reduced me to your level.  You took away my integrity and the integrity of this place.  You have no respect, for anything.”

“It’s just a house and a shitty amusement park, Shawcross.  A cash cow.  The integrity of this place was lost long before we arrived here.”

Shawcross took several more steps backwards.  He moved up onto the front steps of Ripley Hall.  “Hold your tongue, for you know not the nonsense you speak.”

Nick put his hand up and increased his pace to a jog.  Renee and Jan kept close behind him.  “Hey, man, get away from there and stop acting crazy.  The whole place is full of infected people.”

Shawcross shrugged.  His eyes were droopy and tired.  He looked like a mad man and spoke in a faraway, dreamy tone.  “It is full of my guests and I would be grateful if you referred to them as such.  I should go tend to them, make sure things are in order.  Heaven knows what state the house will be in.  It’s time to clean up.”

Shawcross turned around and headed up the few final steps to the house.  He stood in front of the doors.

Nick ran as fast as he could, closing the distance, hoping to get there before…  “Shawcross, just get back from there, please.”

But Shawcross did not turn around.  “Do you know what I think, Nicholas?”

“No,” said Nick, skidding on his heels and stopping just feet away from the front doors to the house.  He now walked slowly, his hand out in front of him.  He did not want to make any sudden moves.  “No, Shawcross, I don’t know what you think, but we can talk about it.”

Shawcross shook his head and smiled.  He was no longer listening or even looking at them.  He was talking to himself.  “What I think, is that we are all fucked.  And, if that’s the case, I think I’d like to be with my house.  It’s where I belong.  I’m the manager, you see.  Ripley Hall needs its manager.”

Shawcross turned around, inserted his keys, and opened the doors.

“NO!” Nick shouted, sprinting forward to stop the man even though it was already too late.

The dead flooded out like pus from a wound.

They sprawled on top of Shawcross, pinning him to the ground beneath a pile of bodies three-deep.  His flesh was mercilessly torn away by a dozen hungry mouths, but Nick did not hear the man scream.  Shawcross remained silent as they tore him to pieces, but the look in his eyes was one of sheer terror.  It looked like he was afraid of whatever came next.

Hell would be too good for you, Nick thought, before Jan grabbed his collar and shouted, “Run!”

Chapter Forty-One

“He’s dead,” Annaliese said to Michelle.  “I’m sorry.”

Alan had bled out pretty quickly.  Annaliese suspected that his celiac artery had been severed.  Michelle was distraught.

“Help me get her up,” Annaliese said to Pauline.  “We need to go help Nick.  Who knows what Shawcross will try next.”

Pauline grabbed one of Michelle’s arms, while Annaliese grabbed the other.  Eve and Cassie stood nearby.

“Just leave me with him,” Michelle begged.

“No, we’re going to look after you, Michelle.”

She and Pauline half-dragged, half-carried Michelle along as they headed away from the rollercoaster and back towards the restaurant.  They could decide how to clean up the mess they were all in later.

If that’s even possible.

There were noises coming from somewhere in the park.  The sounds were familiar.

“What is that?” Eve asked.

“I know what it is,” said Cassie.  She sounded close to tears and was clutching her knife close to her chest like a talisman.  “I know what it is.”

Two seconds later, Annaliese made sense of it, too.  It was the moans of the undead.

“The infected are here,” Eve said, terror in her eyes.

“No,” said Cassie.  “The infected scream.  The dead moan.”

“Who gives a shit?” said Eve.  “If they’re here then we’re screwed.”

Annaliese struggled to hold on to Michelle, who had fallen into a catatonic state of shock.  “Not necessarily,” she said.  “The dead are slow; we might be able to cope with them as long as there’s not too many.”

“We need to find Nick,” said Eve.  “He might be in trouble.”

Annaliese nodded and reaffirmed her grip on Michelle.  Pauline did the same on the other side.  “Okay, let’s get a move on, then.”

They all headed on over to the restaurant, calling out for Nick and Jan along the way; but they found neither and continued onwards, hoping to find them somewhere in the park.  The moans of the dead continued in the distance.

“They sound closer,” Cassie said.

Annaliese nodded.  They did sound closer.  The dead were obviously on the move in their direction.  She lifted her chin and angled in on where she thought the moaning was coming from.  She’d already suspected the source, but now she was more or less certain.  “It’s coming from the house,” she said.  “Somebody’s let them out of Ripley Hall.”

“Shawcross,” Eve said, almost spitting the word out of her mouth.

“Probably,” Annaliese said.  “He’s crazy enough.”

Up ahead was the park’s office building and the warehouse beside it.  The doors to the warehouse were wide open and sounds came from inside.

“Is that one of them?” Pauline asked.

Annaliese wasn’t sure.  It could have been Nick inside, shuffling about, so she called out for him.

There was no answer, but the noises from inside the warehouse abruptly stopped.  Bradley’s truck was parked right in front and prevented Annaliese from getting a clear view inside.

“Hold on to Michelle,” she told Eve, then headed around the truck and towards the warehouse.  The first thing she noticed was that the crates of fireworks, and some of the petrol, had been moved to the front of the storage building, by the entrance.  The second thing she noticed was…

“Dash!”

Dash was bleeding from his left arm and the stains on his tracksuit looked black in the moonlight.  The half-healed wound of his blinded eye glistened in the dark.

“Hey, baby,” he said.  “You’s just in time for the show.”

Annaliese stared down at the fireworks and then back up at Dash.  “What are you doing?” she said.  “Just come out of there.”

“No can do, sweetheart.  You fuckers blind me and then stab me in my arm!  There’s gonna be payback.”

Dash pulled a lighter from his pocket and flicked it.

The flame seemed to hang in the air, flickering in the darkness and lighting up the shadows in a vibrating cone of light.

“You light those fireworks and every monster at the bottom of this hill is going to start making its way towards us.  They’ll come from miles around.”

Dash grinned at her.  “That’s the idea.  If I can’t have this place, then neither can you.”

Dash dropped the lighter.

Annaliese stood in stunned silence as split-seconds seemed to pass like minutes.  Eve and Pauline screamed from somewhere behind her.

The lit flame tumbled through the air, landing inside one of the crates.

There were a couple of second where nothing happened.

Then all hell broke loose.

Dash dived down onto the floor just as the first firework exploded.  A split second later, a hundred more went off; some flying upwards and lighting up the starry sky and others whizzing around the warehouse like flies in a jar.

Beneath the sounds of exploding gun powder and igniting petrol, Dash cackled like a hyena.  He sounded ready to die, so long as he took others with him.

Without realising it, Annaliese had hit the ground.  Now she lay face down on the floor, her nose mere inches from the pavement.  She daren’t move.

After what seemed like forever, the final fireworks hit the sky and fizzled out.  Then there was near silence, but for the soft crackling of flames that began to take hold of the warehouse.

Annaliese was shaking, her stomach hot, her heart aching.  She waited for the inevitable.

Hungry moans filled the air; not just from Ripley Hall, but from what seemed like everywhere.  The collective sound carried on the wind from miles around, from all directions.

The dead were coming.

All of them.

Annaliese leapt to her feet and spun a circle.  Pauline and Eve were climbing back up off the floor as well.  Michelle remained slumped in a foetal position on the ground.

Dash made a run for it.

Annaliese headed straight after him.  With the loss of blood and the reduced vision, Dash was easy prey.  She clattered into him from behind and took him painfully to the ground.  She grabbed a hold of his injured arm and made him scream in agony, but he managed to surprise her by striking back with his elbow and catching her in the eye socket.  The blow rocked her and Dash used the opportunity to transition off his back and climb on top of her.  He smashed her in the mouth with his fist.

“Told you I was gonna get you, bitch.”

He hit her again, splitting her lip from corner to corner.  The blood in her mouth was hot and sweet.  Dash raised his fist again, ready to hit break her face.

“Get off her, you son of a bitch,” Cassie screamed.

Dash turned his head just in time to see the knife coming.  It went in under his chin and slid up into his skull.  He was dead before he could even make a sound.

Annaliese kicked Dash off of her and watched him slump onto his side.  Cassie had left the knife embedded in his jaw and didn’t seem to want it back.

“Are you okay?” Annaliese asked her.

Cassie was trembling, her arms shaking in great tremors.  Annaliese got up and put an arm around her, tried to console her, but was quickly pushed away.  “I-I killed him,” she said, almost as if she couldn’t believe it.

“It was him or me, Cassie.  And I’m glad you chose me.”

“We all are,” Eve added.  “You did nothing wrong.”

Cassie shook her head and sobbed.  “I-I stabbed him in the face.”  She bent over and vomited, but before anyone had time to get close enough to help her, she straightened back up and suddenly ran away.

“Cassie, come back,” Annaliese shouted.  She went to give chase, but Pauline stopped her by grabbing a hold of her arm.  She was about to argue and shrug herself free, but then she saw why Pauline had stopped her.

Eve shouted a warning.  “Cassie, look out!”

In all her despair, Cassie had run headlong into an approaching group of the dead.  They fell over her like a moving wall, their rancid, sticky bodies moving shoulder to shoulder.  When Cassie collided with a tall brunette woman, who was stumbling along on a broken red stiletto, she fell to the ground and screamed.

The dead woman fell on her immediately, biting into her face like a cantaloupe.  Blood spurted into the air as Cassie’s nose was chewed right off her face.

Annaliese couldn’t help herself.  She started forwards to help the girl.  This time, both Pauline and Eve grabbed a hold of her.  “She’s already dead,” said Eve.  “You know that.  We have to get out of here.”

Annaliese closed her eyes as the dead continued ripping Cassie apart.  She gave her fear one more moment to take hold, and then shook it away.  She opened her eyes and took a breath.  “Okay,” she said resolutely.  “Let’s get our arses off this bloody hill while there’s still chance.”

Eve gawped at her.  “What?  How?”

Annaliese reached into her pocket and pulled out Bradley’s keys.  She pointed in front of her.  “We take that truck,” she said.  “And drive over anything that gets in our way.”

The dead were currently occupied with Cassie’s half-eaten corpse, but there were more coming from the direction of the house.  They would have to move fast.

“Pick up, Michelle, we have to go now.”

The three of them grabbed Michelle and attempted to carry her.  Pauline and Eve held the girl’s legs while Annaliese grasped her body.  They waddled sideways as they sought to get her over to the truck.

“Dump her in the back,” Annaliese said.  “We don’t have time to make her comfortable.

There was no argument and the three of them hoisted Michelle up and over the side of the vehicle’s cargo shelf.  She flopped onto the wooden panelling and just lay there, staring off into space.

Annaliese hurried around to the driver’s side door and put the key in the lock.  The central locking engaged and the doors were unlocked.  “Eve, Pauline, squeeze in the passenger side.”

The two women did as they were told and Annaliese started the engine.  The moment the vehicle came to life, she instantly felt safer.  The thought of being on the road after being cooped up on this hill for so long felt exhilarating.  She reversed the truck and pulled it around to face the other way.

Thank God the battery didn’t run flat.

The dead from the house were coming in their droves now and Annaliese could already hear more of them coming up the hill from the distant car park below.  Soon, they would be surrounded.

“What about Nick and the others?” Eve said.  “We can’t leave without them.”

“They’re already dead,” said Pauline.

“They have to be,” said Annaliese.

But then she saw them.

“Jesus,” said Eve.  “Is that Jan?”

Up ahead, surrounded on all sides by the dead, Jan fought for his life.  He battled the dead bare fisted, clocking them with right hooks and snapping the necks of any that got too close.  Fighting side-by-side with him were Nick and Renee.  All three of them were unarmed and desperately trying to survive.

“They’re going to get ripped apart,” said Pauline.

Annaliese gunned the engine and shifted into gear.  “Not if I can help it.”

The truck shot forward, accelerating quicker than she expected.  She steered the bonnet towards the thick lines of the dead and sped up as much as she could.

The first body she hit went clean over the bonnet and landed behind them.  Blood splattered the windscreen, which somehow had remained intact.  The second body went down rather than up, falling beneath the big wheels of the utility truck.

Annaliese stamped on the brake and turned the wheel sideways, sending the vehicle into a skid.  More bodies went down as the truck slid along like a plough.  The windscreen finally cracked and glass shards fell onto the bonnet.

The truck came to a stop.  The dead were all around.

Annaliese rolled down her side window and screamed through the one inch-gap.  “Nick! Jan!  Renee!”

In the distance, amidst the shadows of rotting bodies, the three men turned around.  They saw the truck and seemed relieved by its presence.  Immediately the three of them started making their way towards it.  They pushed and punched at the dead, dodging their grasps and avoiding their bites.  The truck was their salvation, and they were so near…

But there were just too many of the dead.  Their reaching, clawing hands made a net impossible to escape.

Annaliese watched in horror, praying for her friends to make it.  But there seemed to be no way.

A dead waiter knocked Jan sideways with an elbow, which led to the man losing his footing.  His ankle twisted and he fell down to one knee.  It was all it took for the dead to take him.  Probing hands dragged Jan to the floor and wrestled him into submission.  He kicked out and caught a dead man in the chin, managed to snap the neck of another that knelt down beside him, but as soon as one body fell away, two others joined it.  He could not fight them all.

Nick saw that the big man was down and stopped his journey towards the truck.  “Jan!” he shouted out, trying to push his way through the dead.  Renee fought to help, too.  But the dead were all over them.  Jan disappeared under a blanket of bodies and then was gone from sight.  His angry shouting was the last thing they would know of him.

Annaliese shouted through the window.  “Nick, Renee, come on.  Come on!”

Nick shook his head in despair at the loss of Jan, but he seemed to find the resolve he needed to continue.  He and Renee made a last-ditch effort to get to the truck.

Come on, guys.  You can make it.

Just as Nick and Renee were getting close, a scream startled everyone inside the truck.  Annaliese craned her neck and saw through the rear window that Michelle had snapped out of her daze and was now standing up and screaming hysterically at the dead all around her.  As soon as they spotted her they turned and headed for the truck.

“Damn it,” said Eve.  “They’re coming this way.”

The first of the dead reached into the truck and grabbed at Michelle’s ankles.  Annaliese watched, powerless, as she was dragged kicking and screaming into the crowd.  She disappeared so fast that it was as if she were sinking into a sea.  One minute she was there, the next she was just another part of the ever-moving mob.

Nick and Renee made it to the truck, slumping up against its side with exhaustion.

“In the back,” Annaliese shouted to them.  “Get in the back.”

The truck bounced on its suspension as the two men leapt onto the cargo shelf.  The dead clawed at them, trying to drag them back out again.

Time to go.

Annaliese stepped on the accelerator.  The truck bolted forward.

Stalled.

A body leapt onto the bonnet and thumped at the broken windscreen.  Annaliese cursed out loud and got the engine back in gear.  She tried to pull off again and was relieved when the vehicle shot forward and picked up speed.

Glad I still know how to drive.

More bodies fell beneath the wheels and the truck whined unhappily under the additional stress.  It was never designed to drive over bodies.

“Where do we go?” Eve asked.  “They’re everywhere.”

The dead were indeed everywhere, and that was just the ones from the house.  When the ones from the bottom of the hill arrived, there would be zero chance of escape.

“We need to head for the access road just past the house,” Annaliese told her passengers.  “It leads down the hill and into the towns.  It’s how the staff and delivery drivers used to come and go.”

Eve took a breath and nodded.  Annaliese could feel the younger woman shaking beside her.  In the rear view mirror she could see Nick and Renee fighting to hold on.  Despite not wanting to, she slowed down.  She didn’t want to lose the two men off the back.

“Wait!” said Eve.

Annaliese turned to her.  “What?  What is it?”

“We need supplies or we won’t last the week.”

“We have to go.  We have no choice.”

“What if we can’t find food…or water?”

Something occurred to Annaliese.  Something that made her point the truck towards the woods.  “Hold on,” she said.  “I know where we can get supplies, but we’ll have to be quick.”

She took the truck off into the treeline at the edge of the park.  It was hard work steering the truck through the woods in the dark, but there was no choice to drive slowly.  She knew the dead would be everywhere within the hour.  Eve was right, though: they needed supplies if they had any chance of surviving on the road.

She had to concentrate hard to try and remember the way she had come when she fled the greenhouse.  When the truck broke through the trees and entered into the open area of the crop field, she knew her memory had served her correctly.

We might just do this.

Something jumped out in front of the truck and Annaliese turned sharply to avoid it.  The tires skidded in the muddy ruts and came to a violent stop.

“What the hell was that?” Eve asked.

“I don’t know,” said Annaliese, peering out of her side window.  “There was somebody in the road, but I can’t see anything.”

A man jumped up against the glass.

“It’s one of them,” Pauline cried.

Annaliese stared out of her window felt her heart turn to stone.  She recognised the man outside.

“It’s Mike,” she said, feeling sick to her tummy.

Everyone in the truck was silent.  They had all liked Mike.

“Oh, thank God.  Anna!”

Annaliese’s eyes went wide and her breath caught in her lungs.  She stared at Mike with disbelief.  “You’re alive?”

Mike nodded.  “Of course I am.  I could use a doctor, though, or maybe a good vet.  Do you know any?”

Annaliese opened up her door and fell out on top of him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.  “I thought you were one of them.”

Mike winced.  “Ow, ow.  Easy.”

Annaliese back away and looked down at Mike stomach wound.  “How did you…”

Mike pulled up his shirt to show a layer of blood-soaked magazines.  “He still got me pretty good, but the armour took most of the damage.  That guy who jumped us gave me a right beating before he left, though.  It wasn’t until I saw the fireworks that I even found the strength to move or even know where to go.  I take it the dead are coming?”

She nodded.  Mike looked an absolute mess, but should be alright with rest.  “Get in the back with Nick and Renee,” she said.  “We’re getting supplies and then getting the hell out of here.”

Mike headed around to the back of the truck and the other men helped him up.  Annaliese hopped back in the driver’s seat and got them all moving again.  The greenhouse would be just up ahead.

Chapter Forty-Two

The truck pulled into an area Nick didn’t recognise.  There was a large, rectangular greenhouse in the centre of the clearing and rows and rows of planters either side of it.  Even from outside he could see the glass building was piled high with supplies.

The truck stopped and Annaliese got out.  “Okay everyone,” she said.  “Grab as much as you can as quickly as you can.  Who knows when we’ll have a chance to get more.”

They all hopped out the truck and got to work.  Nick went into the greenhouse before Annaliese, and together the entire group formed a line, passing out boxes and moving them down towards the flatbed.  There was plenty of bottled soft drinks and water, along with bags and bags of dried seeds and nuts meant for the animals.  What they didn’t have much of was time.  Nick had least of all.

Seconds ticking away.

Within ten minutes the back of the truck was fully loaded with supplies and there were several more boxes on the front seats ready to go on passenger’s laps.

Nick stood beside the truck and waited for everybody to gather.  All of them now had weapons again; various gardening implements they had found in the greenhouse.  He himself had armed up with a shovel.  Not that he needed it.

“Okay,” Annaliese said, opening up the driver’s side door and readying herself to get in.  “This is it.  Time to go see what’s left of the world.  I can’t say we have much chance of making it, but we’re going to do our best.  The people in front of me right now are the people I am glad are here; the people I trust.  No matter what happens, I just want to thank you all for reminding me what family is.”

Everybody stood in silence and seemed to think about that.  In some perverted way they were all family.

I’m going to miss them.

Nick took the opportunity to say goodbye.  He cleared his throat and moved to the centre of the group.  “I just want to thank you all as well,” he said.  “You gave me something to live for after everything else I had was gone.”  He looked at Eve.  “You especially, Eve.  If I hadn’t met you I probably would have given up before the first night was through.  My son would have liked you.” He chuckled.  “My wife….not so much.”

Eve laughed.  “Come on, that’s enough sappiness for one day.  We have to get going.”

“Not me,” said Nick.

Eve frowned at him.  “What are you talking about?”

“I just can’t go with you.”

“Why not?”

Renee came and stood in front of Nick and looked him in the eyes suspiciously.  Something obviously dawned on the other man because his eyebrows went high on his forehead.  “He is bitten.”

“No he isn’t,” Eve said, rolling her eyes and scoffing.

Nick rolled up the sleeve of his woollen jacket and showed revealed the ragged bite wound on his wrist.  “They got me back at the house, just before we lost Jan.”

Renee looked down at the ground for a moment and then back up at Nick.  He had tears in his eyes.  “I am sorry, my friend.”

Nick sighed.  “Yeah, me too.”

Eve started crying, too.  She went up to Nick and hugged him tightly.  “I don’t think I can leave without you.”

Nick hugged her back.  “Yes, you can.  You have no choice.  You’re a survivor, Eve.  That’s why you’re still here.  You just keep on surviving, okay?”

Eve backed away from him and nodded.  She was clearly trying to hold herself together.  Her lips were pursed tightly together as she fought away her emotions.

Nick took off his woollen jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.  “You take this,” he said.  “It’s going to get cold soon.”

Eve smiled at him, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks.  “It smells like you.”

Nick waved a hand.  “Now go on.  Get out of here before I try to eat you all.”

Teary-eyed, but knowing what must be done, everyone started climbing back into the truck.  Nick took the time to say his goodbyes to Anna.

“Sorry it went down this way,” she said to him.

“Me too, but somebody has to stay behind to let the animals free anyway.  Can’t leave them caged up to starve to death, can we?”

Annaliese smiled.  “I feel better knowing they’ll be free.  Thank you.”

“You just look after everyone, you hear me?”

Annaliese snapped off a salute.  “I promise.”  Then she got into the truck and started the engine.

Nick turned around to look for Pauline.  He couldn’t let her leave without saying goodbye.  She and Eve had been with him since the beginning.

He spotted her over at the edge of the woods, pulling up some carrots from a plot and dumping them into a sack.  Nick saw the danger before she did.

But it was too late.

Two dead men came out of the bushes and grabbed Pauline by her arms.  The one on her left took a deep bite from her neck.

“Nooo!”  Nick sprinted towards her, holding up the shovel he had armed himself with.  He reached the edge of the clearing and smashed the shovel against the two dead men’s skulls, one after the other.  Both of them fell to the ground dead.  Pauline fell to the floor beside them.  Blood pumped from her neck and soaked the grass.  Her eyes were still open and staring at Nick.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She smiled and then went still.  Nick was glad it was the expression she died with.

I’m sorry I didn’t turn around faster.

Nick looked back at the truck.  The others were all staring in horror.  He waved a hand at them.  “Go!  Get out of here,” he shouted.  “More will be coming and you won’t get another chance to leave.”

They all stared sadly for a moment, but then Annaliese faced front and got the truck moving.  She took it slowly at first, but eventually sped up and headed into the woods.  Nick sat down on the grass and watched the truck disappear into the trees.  He really was going to miss them all, but he wouldn’t trade things for the world.  Soon he would be back with his wife and son.

He lay back on the grass, looked up at the stars, and wondered what Heaven would be like.  And if he would ever get there.

Epilogue

Nick had needed to work fast to get all of the animals free in time.  A moment longer and the dead would have swarmed over him, having finally made their way from the grounds around Ripley Hall.

The various animals had run wild as soon as he’d let them loose.  The dead just ignored them.  It was as if anything other than a human being was invisible to them.  Hopefully, the animals would find a way to survive.  The world was now free of men hunting them and using them for food.  Maybe, if anything, the world would at least be better for the animals.

Once he had finished opening up all the enclosures, Nick had climbed up onto the roof of the orang-utan exhibit.  The zoo now teemed with the dead and the rooftop was one of the only safe places left.  Now he just sat peacefully, watching the dead wander about aimlessly while he waited for the end.

Nick could already feel himself changing.  A deep exhaustion had fallen over him and his vision had taken on an unnatural orange tint, almost like he was seeing everything through a sepia filter.  His internal organs felt heavy, like all movement inside of him had ground to a halt.  He felt as though he was dead already, but that his mind was just a little slow in catching on.

Above all else, however, he felt at peace.  He could finally stop running, stop fighting, stop surviving.  Really, his life had ended the moment his son had died.  Now he could finally move on, to whatever fate had lined up for him next.

Thud!

Nick turned around.  He did not flinch or even worry.  Nothing could frighten him anymore.  Fear only existed with the possibility of loss.  He had already lost all he could

Sitting on the roof behind him was Lily.  She had leapt from a nearby tree.  She hooted at him as she shuffled nearer.  Nick saw that she held a carrot in her hand.  It looked suspiciously like the ones he had seen at the greenhouse.

Lily reached out and offered the vegetable.  Nick laughed but shook his head.  “No, thanks.  It would just be wasted on me.  You eat it, Lily.”

As if understanding, Lily sat down beside him and took a hefty bite out of the carrot.  Nick reached over and patted her fur.

“You can’t stay here for long, Lily.  I’m sick, and eventually I’ll become dangerous.  I think you understand that.  For now, though, I’m glad you’re here.  I hope you make it out of this mess better than me.”

There was silence for a while and Nick stared of into the distance.  The sun was beginning to rise above the horizon like a ball on a string.  It was his last morning on Earth and he was feeling pretty damn good.  The very notion was absurd, but it was true.

“You think they’ll be okay out there?” he asked Lily.  He was thinking about Eve and the others.  Their chance of finding safety seemed pretty slim, but at least there was a chance.  He could still hope for them.  “You think they’ll keep on surviving?”

Lily hooted.

“Yeah.”  Nick nodded and smile.  “That’s what I think, too.”

With a smile on his face, Nick lay back and watched the sun rise.  A few minutes later, he rose with it.

The End

Path of Infection

SEA SICK

Daniel Houser staggered into Southampton General hospital and found his way to reception.  A weary-looking nurse peered back at him from behind an ancient CRT monitor.  Her spectacles were lopsided, which may have been because her ears were not level.

“Can I help you?” she asked, quite obviously forcing a smile.

Houser cleared the fiery gravel from the back of his throat and nodded.  “Something’s wrong with me.  I think I have the flu or something…but worse.”

The nurse gave him a curious look, as if silently pitying him for assuming he could possibly make a correct diagnosis of himself.  “Okay,” she said.  “Fill out this form and I will have someone come see you shortly.”

Houser took the form and selected a seat in the waiting area.  He was glad to see that the form was only a single page long, but even the thought of filling that out felt like too much.  He was so…weak.

What on earth did I catch?

He plucked the stubby pencil from the top of the clipboard and began filling out the questionnaire.  His hand was frustratingly unsteady.

NAME: Daniel Houser

DOB: 05/12/198

RACE: White British

Houser filled out the rest of his details, including his parent’s address where he could be reached, and then got down to a box marked: SYMPTOMS.  With blunt pencil marks, he wrote: headache, blocked nose, sneezing, itchy eyes, aching joints, stomach pain, throbbing ears, dizziness…

Before Houser had chance to write down more of his symptoms, a slender woman in a doctor’s coat entered the waiting room.  He struggled to his feet to catch up to her before she left.  She turned and smiled when she spotted him approaching.  The name on her badge read: Clark.

“Hello, sir.  Can I help you?”

“I…I need to see someone.”

The doctor looked past Houser, at the chairs behind him.  No one else seemed to be waiting for the moment, so she nodded.  “Okay.  Is that your information?”

Houser handed over the clipboard.

“Come this way.”  Dr Clark led Houser into a nearby examination room.  She pointed to a treatment table in the centre.  It was lined with recycled paper from a roller at one end.  “Hop on up,” she said.  “Let’s take a look at you.”

Houser failed to get himself up the few inches onto the table and it took him a second attempt to climb up onto its surface.

So weak.

The doctor headed over to a cluttered desk in the corner of the room and examined the clipboard he had given to her.  After a few moments of checking his information, she turned to face him and tutted.  “We are feeling quite under the weather, aren’t we?”

Houser nodded.  “I’ve never felt this bad in my life.  I feel rough as hell.”

“Well, my name is Dr Clark.  Let me see what I can do for you.”  She pulled the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the receiver against his chest by going up under his t-shirt.  “Hmm,” she said.  “Your heart rate is a little fast.  Have you taken any drugs or alcohol in the last twenty-four hours?”

“I…smoked a bit of weed to take the edge of my headache.”

She nodded.  The admission of guilt was obviously uninteresting in her line of work.  “That could explain it,” she said.  “When did you start feeling ill?”

“Couple days ago.  Some of the guys I work with started feeling bad, too.  We assumed it was a bug going round.  You get sick a lot living on a boat.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at him.  “You live on a boat?”

Houser nodded.  “I’m a merchant sailor.  We just docked in Southampton after a salvage operation in the Med.”

“You…you weren’t involved with that cruise liner, were you?”

Houser nodded.  “Yeah, we were one of the boats involved in the rescue attempts.  There was no one to be saved, though.  We spent a day running nets and picking up debris, but eventually we were ordered back to the mainland.  It was all a bit strange, if you ask me.”

Dr Clark was shaking her head and pursing her lips.  “It’s terrible what happened there.  More than a thousand dead, I heard.”

Houser nodded.  “Nobody has any idea what happened.  They’re saying it could have been a terrorist attack.  A suicide bomber in the engine compartment or something.”

“I don’t understand this world sometimes,” said the doctor.  Then she seemed to refocus on what she was doing.  “So, you say you and your colleagues started feeling ill back on the boat, in the Mediterranean Sea?  Were you docked anywhere prior to that?”

Houser shook his head.  “We made a drop off in Civitavecchia the day before, but no one left the boat.  We just dropped off some shipping containers with the crane and then set off again.  I suppose one of the officers could have stepped off briefly to fill out some paperwork.”

Dr Clark nodded her head and seemed to run a few things through her mind.  “Well, there hasn’t been any health warnings.  It’s probably safe to assume that you just have a nasty case of flu.  Not a lot I can do for you, unfortunately.  I’ll give you something to help the headaches, but you just need to get a lot of rest.  You’ll feel better in a day or two.”

Houser nodded weakly.  “I really hope so.  I can’t take much more of this.”

The doctor patted him on the back.  “Just get some sleep and try your best to battle through it.  I’ll be back in a minute with your prescription.”

“Thank you, Dr Clark.”

Houser waited on the table while the doctor headed out of the room.  He was relieved to hear he just had the flu.  He’d suspected as much, but had also been supressing a gloomy concern that it could be something worse.  He knew flu was bad, but he didn’t know it could be this bad.

Feels like my whole body is turning to lead.

Houser felt his nose run for the hundredth time that day and wiped at it with back of his hand.  He blinked his eyes a couple of times as they began to itch.

Dr Clark re-entered the room with a prescription in her hand.

“Take this to the pharmacy on the ground floor and-” Her words trailed off.  She gawped at him.

“What?” Houser said.  “What is it?”

“Your nose!”  She hurried over to the corner desk and pulled some tissues from a box in the drawer.  She handed several to him in a clump.

Houser took the tissues from her and noticed the blood which covered the back of his hand.  It was almost black it was so dark.  “Wh-what the hell?”

A wracking cough exploded in his chest and blood spurted from his mouth, covering Dr Clark from her face all the way down the front of her jacket.  She seemed shocked by it, but wasted no time in leaning him forward and placing the stethoscope against his back.

Houser continued to hack and splutter and more blood leaked from his mouth and nose.  Through the sounds of his own agonised heaving, he heard the doctor’s panicked voice.

“You’re lungs are filling with blood,” she said frantically.  “We need to get you into surgery.”

Houser tried to catch his breath and make sense of the situation, but his mind was a raging blur.  Surgery?  But I just have the flu.

Then he collapsed off the table and landed on the floor.

DOCTORS AND NURSES

Dr Clark sat in her office and examined the patient’s preliminary test results.  Daniel Houser was currently in surgery where efforts were being made to control his internal bleeding.  She couldn’t deny that she was worried.  The blood coming from the patient’s mouth had been thick and arterial.  Most of it still stained her coat.

From some sort of internal injury or…

I don’t know.  Something crazy, like Ebola or Lassa?

That’s insane.  If the patient had just gotten back from third-world Africa, perhaps there could be the remotest chance of him having haemorrhagic fever, but he said he’d just gotten back from the Mediterranean.  The worst he should have been exposed to there is sunstroke and dysentery.

She had a growing desire to contact the disease control unit which covered her district, but she forced herself to hold off until the blood results came back.  Medicine had to be practised on a factual basis.  She wasn’t about to make assumptions with so little information at her fingertips.

He could be a nut, for all I know.  Swallowed a bunch of nails as a way to kill himself.  God knows it’s more likely than someone bringing Ebola into the hospital.

There was a knock at the door and she immediately said, “Come in.”

It was one of the nurses from diagnostics.  She was carrying a folder.

“Do you have the haematology reports?” Dr Clark asked the woman.

The nurse handed over the folder.  “Just partial results so far.  The blood tests seemed to be contaminated by a foreign substance.  We’ve compared the markers we could find against the database of diseases, but nothing came up.  Dr Besser is getting more samples now and will be working on them as a priority.”

Dr Clark looked over the blood report that was inside the folder.  She scanned the page quickly and located what she was looking for.  “It’s not Ebola.”

“No,” said the nurse.  “Nor Lassa, or anything similar.”

Dr Clark sighed.  “Then, if not for this foreign body you mentioned, I would assume internal injuries.  Maybe the first blood sample was compromised.  Maybe Dr Besser will find the new tests to be normal.”

“Maybe so,” said the nurse.  “I will let you know if anything changes, Doctor.”

“Thank you, nurse.”

The nurse departed.  Dr Clark continued looking through the blood reports.

Foreign substance?  What on earth could that be?  Did he poison himself with something?

She let her eyes scan the numerous lines of data, looking for anything out of the ordinary.  Nothing seemed to jump out at her, until…

Silicon?

Why on Earth would there be silicon in Houser’s blood?

She examined the rest of the results and located several unknown proteins.  There was a chance that those proteins belonged to some kind of virus.  She wouldn’t know for sure until Besser did a full workup.

But the silicon…

Silicon was a substance used mainly in electronics, and also for some cosmetic procedures.  Daniel Houser did not seem like the type to get breast implants.

So what?  He has computer chips running through his blood stream?

Dr Clark knew experiments were being done that would produce machines and computers made from silicon that would be small enough to exist on a cellular level, but the technology was still in its infancy.  Even getting something down to the size of a pinhead was a vast challenge to most of the scientific community.  Nanotechnology was still closer to a pipedream than a reality, but for some reason it was the thing she was thinking of now.

Aren’t they looking at ways of bonding silicon-based machines with bacteria?  Trying to find a way to combine biology with technology to make self-replicating, self-sustaining robots that can fight cancer cells and seek out infection?

Science fiction.

But Daniel Houser had silicon in his veins.

Dr Clark scratched her chin.  She wasn’t about to believe in nanotechnology just yet, but the presence of silicon in her patient’s bloodstream, along with the unknown proteins, made her wonder if it was something manmade that had caused his condition.  The patient had mentioned a possible terrorist attack, after all.  It might be time to get someone else involved.  She picked up the phone on her desk and dialled in the number for Disease Control.

Someone on the other end answered immediately.

“Oh, hello,” said Dr Clark.  “My name is Dr Clark.  I am calling from Southampton General Hospital.  I have a patient that was complaining of flu-like symptoms about ninety minutes ago, but his condition has suddenly progressed to internal haemorrhaging.”

“Did you run blood tests?”

“Yes.  Negative for Ebola and other conditions that would present similar symptoms.”

“Then what is your primary concern?”

“I found silicon in his blood.”

“Silicon?”

“And some unknown proteins.”

The voice on the other end of the line suddenly seemed more interested.  “Has the patient been exposed to anything?”

Dr Clark thought about things and then nodded into the phone as she replied.  “The patient is a merchant sailor.  He was involved with the rescue operation for that cruise ship which sunk in the Mediterranean last week.  He also said that some of his colleagues-”

“Isolate the patient and anybody who has been in contact with them.”

Dr Clark rocked back in her chair as if the person on the other end of the phone had punched her.  “What?”

“We’ll have a team on site within the hour.  You must enforce emergency protocols immediately.”

“What is going on?  Who is this man?  What does he have?”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, then… “Dr Clark, there have been dozens of cases in the last few hours of people who were involved in the Mediterranean clean up operation becoming very sick.  We have quarantined several ships already and the French Navy have currently closed all shipping lanes in the area.  Your patient must have fallen under the radar somehow.”

Dr Clark felt the blood leaving her cheeks and making her face pale.  “What does he have?”

“We…don’t know.  The attack on the cruise ship may have been down to terrorists.  They may have released something.”

Dr Clark’s mouth fell open.  “I…”

“Just isolate that patient, Doctor, and stand by for our arrival.”

The line went dead.  Dr Clark just sat there, holding the phone against her ear in stunned silence.

Then she leapt to her feet and raced for the door.  She had to get the situation contained.  God only knew what Daniel Houser had brought into the hospital, but she had a duty to contain it.  She quickly headed towards the emergency department and made her way to the operating theatre.

We need to quarantine the patient.

Oh God, oh God. What does he have?  His blood is all over me.

Houser was still in surgery.  Dr Clark pushed through the heavy double doors and entered the theatre.  The attending surgeon, Dr Bryce, looked up at her from behind his mask.  Both of his gloved hands were covered in blood.

He looked at her over the top of his surgical mask.  “Dr Clark?  Can I help you?”

She nodded.  “I just got off the phone to Disease Control.  We need to isolate this patient immediately.”

Dr Bryce and his two attending nurses all shook their heads simultaneously and sighed.  It seemed like something they had been prepared to hear.  “Great,” said Bryce.  “What are we exposed to?”

“I don’t know.  They just said to isolate him and ourselves until a team arrives.”

Bryce wiped some sweat from his wrinkled forehead with the back of his arm.  “Okay,” he said.  “Let me get him sown up.  He should remain stable for now, but I don’t see him recovering from whatever has gotten inside him.”

Dr Clark frowned.  “What did you find?”

“His organs have liquefied.  I knew there would be a story with this man.  Let’s just hope we don’t end up in the same condition.”

“I’m sure we won’t,” Dr Clark said hopefully.  “He might have been the victim of a terrorist attack.  He may not even be contagious.”

“Guess we’ll find out,” said Dr Bryce.  “I’ll let you know when I’m done here.  You’ll be in your office?”

She nodded.  “I’ll stay there until you’re ready to enact quarantine procedures.”

Dr Bryce nodded and got back to work.

Dr Clark headed out of the operating room and back towards her office.  Along the way she bumped into Brad, the floor’s security officer.

“Brad,” she said.  “We need to lock down this floor.  Can you secure all the exits?”

Brad raised an eyebrow.  “Sure I can, but why?”

“No time to explain.  There may be an infectious disease in the hospital.  Disease Control are on their way.”

Brad seemed worried.  His lower lip was quivering.  “Infectious?  How infectious?”

Dr Clark sneezed.

She blinked tears from her eyes and then sneezed again.  Brad’s face was drenched with her mucus.  She tried to stay calm as she spoke to him, but was already losing herself to panic.  “I think it’s pretty damn contagious,” she said.  Then sneezed again.  “We have to get this place locked up now.”

She ran off to lock all the doors herself.

Brad, however, snuck out quietly while nobody was looking.  He was still wiping the doctor’s mucus from his face as he headed across the car park.

FAMILY MAN

Brad hurried across the hospital car park while trying not to cause suspicion.  His instinct was to run as fast as he could, but he didn’t know if people would be looking for him.

There’s no way I’m staying in that cess pit with a disease on the loose.  They don’t pay me enough for that.

Brad knew he would probably lose his job, but when he’d heard that there was something loose in the hospital, a primal instinct had demanded he flee.  His stomach ached, even now, at the thought of Dr Clark sneezing all over him.

Dirty bitch.

Brad wanted to go straight home, see his wife, but he didn’t know if the hospital would try to contact him there.  He also needed to work out a way to tell his wife that he had just walked out on his job.

He had a better idea and headed for the bus stop, hopped onto the 26 as soon as it pulled up.  It was packed full of people and he was forced to stand up and hold onto an overhead rail.  Luckily it would only be a short trip.

While he was waiting, he smiled at a little girl with pigtails and bright orange bows.  She smiled back at him for a while but then turned to talk to her mommy.

Cute kid.

Sometimes Brad wished he’d had a child, but he’d never earned much money and the thought of having to spend the little he did have on another mouth to feed was too much for him to consider.  Deep down, though, it was probably because he knew he would make a lousy father.  He didn’t want to ruin a kid like his father had him.

The bus came to Brad’s stop and he leapt out onto the pavement.  He was in a rough part of town; a housing estate full of low income housing and a dilapidated shopping centre.  It would be frightening to most people, but not to Brad.  He visited the area frequently.

He headed into a small corner shop and nodded to the owner, who nodded right back at him, giving him the permission he sought.  At the back of the store was a door.  Behind it was a flight of stairs.  Brad headed up and went through the door at the top.

A familiar musky scent filled the air.

Sandy was behind the desk as always.  She seemed to work all hours.  Brad headed up to her and smiled.

“Mr Brad,” she said in her Nigerian twang.  “What would you like today?”

Brad took out his wallet and paid her £150 for the full works.  He needed to de-stress in a big way.  “Everything, please.”

Sandy took the money and nodded subserviently.  “You want Michelle?”

Brad chuckled.  “Of course.”

“Second door on left.”

Brad headed into Michelle’s room and was instantly aroused to find her lying on the bed in a black and red negligee.  Her petit Chinese figure was as alluring as ever.  The thought of penetrating her orifices was enough to make Brad forget all of his worries.

“Hello, Brad,” she said seductively.  “It has been a long time.  More than a week, no?”

“I’ve been busy, sweetheart.  Never stopped thinking about you for a minute, though.”

Michelle slunk down the bed towards him on her hands and knees.  “You want my ass?”

Brad laughed.  “Let’s just start with a blowjob.”

Michelle got to work.  By the time Brad came, his semen was already infected.

WET WORK

Michelle had slept with seven men by the time her twelve hour shift had ended.  She hurt all over.

At least now her shift was finished.  She intended never to have another one.

I’ve finally taken as much as I can.  No more sweaty men and their limp dicks.

Michelle had been brought to England against her will and made to do terrible things.  She had spent the last six years being treated like a possession, leant out for money like a power tool or lawnmower.  She could take no more.

At first she had resisted her situation, bit and clawed at the men until they beat her unconscious.  But eventually she had broken, succumbed to their demands.  The last couple of years she had behaved well enough that she had been allowed to live alone in a flat and go about her own business in the rare hours she was not working.  That was why she would be able to do what she was planning to do.  Nobody would know she was missing until tomorrow.

And by then it would be too late to stop her.

She went into the small kitchenette of her flat and switched on the kettle.  A mug of black tea would help calm her nerves whilst she waited for what was to come.  It might also get rid of her splitting headache and clear her blocked sinuses.

Any minute now, I’ll take that last step and there’ll be no going back.  It will all be over.

There was a knock at the door.  Michelle gripped the edge of the kitchen counter and took a deep breath.

Here goes.

She went and opened the door and let the man inside.  He was tall and dark.  Not what she had imagined.  He was also wearing a suit, which she also had not expected.

“Michelle Lin?”

Michelle nodded.  “Yes, please take a seat, Detective.”

The tall man did as he was asked and took a seat on the worn, leather sofa in the centre of the room.  Michelle went back into the kitchen again and made a second cup of tea.  She brought it, along with her own, over to the coffee table.

Her guest smelt strongly of aftershave.

She took a seat on the recliner opposite the sofa.  “You can protect me when all this is done, yes?”

The man nodded.  “Yes, we will keep you safe.  We’ll set you up with a new life and you can forget about this entire chapter of your life.”

Michelle grinned.  The feeling of warm relief running through her stomach almost made her forget about her headache.  “I am very grateful to you, Detective Marsh.  You are my last hope.”

“And you are ours.  Can you really help us bring down the Kahn prostitution ring?  You have evidence?”

“Not evidence, but I can tell you everything.  Not just about prostitution, but drugs, too.  Mr Kahn is into everything.  I know exactly what and where; all of his movements, all of his clients.  I can even tell you where his shipments come in.”

Detective Marsh grinned.  “With all that, Mr Kahn will ruined.  You could expose his clients, humiliate them.  The police could catch him red-handed with enough drugs to put him in jail for the rest of his life.  You are positive you are prepared for all of that?”

“Yes.  I want to destroy Mr Kahn, and all of the sick, perverted men that make him rich.”

Detective Marsh leant forward and took a sip from his tea.  Then he just sat there on the sofa for several seconds.  He seemed to be mulling something over.

Michelle was feeling anxious.  Her headache was getting worse.  “I can tell you everything,” she said.  “Just tell me when to get started.  I know everything.”

Detective Marsh stood up and let out a sigh.  “No, Michelle.  I’m afraid you do not know everything; but you do know too much.”

Detective Marsh took out the black-market pistol that Mr Kahn had given to him and fired it three times into Michelle’s chest.  The blood spatter that found its way onto his shirt was teeming with a virus that had made its way all the way from the Mediterranean Sea.

LONG ARMS

Detective Marsh took a shower at home and then headed right back to work.  The police station was unusually abuzz and several of his colleagues were frustrated that they had not been able to get a hold of him in the last few hours.  He’d simply told them he was busy.

Busy killing a hooker.

Marsh felt beads of sweat running down his spine.  It was not a hot day and he wondered why his skin was so clammy.  He put it down to the stress of committing a murder – his first and hopefully his last.  But if Kahn had anything to do with it…

Why the hell did I ever get into drugs and hookers?  I’m the world’s biggest fucking idiot.

The dispatch floor was teeming with bodies as the telephone staff patched calls through to the relevant departments.  It seemed like something was going on.  Too many calls.

Something’s obviously hit the fan.

Marsh stomped over to the offices and headed for the Briefing Room.  He’d had a feeling he would find several of his colleagues there, but he was surprised to find that half the officers on staff were standing inside.

“Marsh!  Where the hell have you been?”  It was DI Winters, and she did not look happy.

“Sorry, Ma’am.  I was…otherwise engaged.  What’s going on?”

DI Winters shook her head and cursed.  “Chris, will you take him away and brief him, please.  We need to get moving.”

Detective Chris Cox left the assembly and took Marsh out into the corridor.  The first thing he said was, “You look like shit.”

Marsh shrugged the comment off.  “I’m fine – just a cold or something.  What’s going on?”

Chris shook his head and cleared his throat.  “Nobody knows, really.  Southampton General has been quarantined because of some super-bug.  We’ve been hearing that people have gotten really sick, and that they’ve been attacking each other, as well.”

“Attacking each other?”

“Yeah.  No one can make much sense of it, but some calls got through from within the hospital about an hour ago.  There’s a group locked up inside that are claiming some of the infected people have gone mad and are trying to kill them.  Winter is trying to figure out a way to respond without breaking the quarantine around the hospital.”

Marsh was shocked.  It had never been an ordinary day at the office, but it was getting even weirder.  “Do we know what the cause is?”

Chris nodded.  “The World Health Organization have got involved.  They’re saying something about that terrorist attack in the Med is responsible.  They think some kind of virus got loose.”

“Shit!  How the hell did it make it over here?”

Chris shrugged.  “I don’t have all the details.  We’ve been responding to so many calls that nobody really knows what’s going on.”

“Why so many?  Are the cases not contained to the hospital?”

“Mostly, but there have been some strange calls from all over the place.  We’ve been asked to help the NHS locate and detain any suspected locations of the virus outside of the hospital.”

“What?  What locations?”

Chris sighed.  “Whatever this virus is…it’s spreading.”

Marsh flopped back against the wall.  “I don’t want to get involved with any nasty diseases.  That’s not my fucking job.”

Christ, I just want to go home and get high.  Smoke this day away into oblivion.

Chris shrugged.  “Our job is to follow orders, and right now it’s all hands on deck.  I was about to help set up a checkpoint at the train station.  Winters wants us looking out for signs of sickness in high traffic areas.”

Marsh bit his lip and breathed out through his nose.  “Goddamn it!  Okay, I’ll tag along, but I swear if I catch smallpox, I’m going straight to the union for damages.”

“You’re not going to catch smallpox,” Chris said, chuckling.

But Marsh had already caught something far worse.

WHISTLE-STOP

Chris didn’t like the way his partner looked.  Marsh was a hard-living kind of guy and would often come in with the tell-tale signs of a hangover, but today was different.  No hangover could have made him look like the heavy-breathing bag of shit he looked like today, though.

“You feeling okay?”

Marsh looked over from the passenger seat and sniffed.  “I’m fine.  Must have been something I ate.  Just stop gawping at me.”

“Okay.  Just let me know if you need to take off.  You’ll be no use to me, sick.”

Chris brought the unmarked police car into the train station car park and pulled it into one of the spaces.  It was the middle of a weekday so the station wasn’t as busy as it could have been, which would make life easier.

Especially if we have to lock the place down.

“So what are we looking for?” Marsh asked.

Chris turned off the engine and answered the question.  “Sneezing, bleeding, sweating.  Flu-like symptoms that progress to haemorrhaging and aggression.”

“Christ almighty,” said Marsh.  “What kind of maniac unleashes something like that on purpose?”

“We don’t know anything right now.  We just need to be vigilant.   Better safe than sorry.”  Chris opened his door.  “Come on, there should be a couple of uniforms inside waiting for us.”

Marsh started coughing, but he opened his own door and stepped out with Chris.  The sun was beginning to go down, which gave everything a dull orange tint.  Chris always found dusk to be a depressing time of day, neither light nor dark.  It was the day’s limbo and easy to get lost in.

Chris had to usher Marsh across the car park and towards the main building that housed the station.  It was a medium-sized hub, consisting of six platforms, ticket office, and a row of shops and fast food restaurants.  There was probably less than a hundred passengers waiting on the platforms.  It would not be impossible to survey them all.

Up ahead, two uniformed officers stood in their fluorescent yellow jackets.  They recognised Detective Cox when he approached them.

“Everything been okay here?”

The larger of the two officers nodded.  “So far so good.  Haven’t seen anything alarming.  The staff here have all been asked to watch out for anyone suspicious.”

“Good,” said Chris.  “We’ll take it from here.”

The two police officers nodded and left them to it.  Chris decided to get himself set up with a coffee before he got to work.  “You want a drink, Marsh?”

Marsh glanced at him.  His eyes were red and bulging.  His nose was running.  “Yeah, cheers.  Get us a tea; white, two sugars.”

“Coming right up.”  Chris headed off to the small coffee shop that served the station.  There was no one else inside except for an acne-ridden barista.  He placed his order, stood and waited.  A radio hissed away from a nearby counter.

Reports…mass sickness…Southampton General…police cordon…

Chris shook his head.  Things were obviously no better.  His radio had remained silent for the last hour and he knew that it was likely because everyone was so busy.  Nobody had time to check in with anybody else.

Hopefully whatever it is has been contained to the hospital.  If this thing spreads then the terrorists will have giant smiles on their goat faces.

Chris had lost a distant cousin in the 9/11 attacks.  He could not claim any great loss, but the loss of a family member – however distant – gave him a connection to the atrocity that perhaps others in the UK did not have.  To them it had been a horror movie unfolding on the news.  For him it had been real.  Punishing evil people for their torment of others had been his driving force ever since.  Drug dealers, abusive husbands…nothing was too big or small to elicit his concern.  His role in life was to stop the bad guys, but right now it seemed like they had scored a victory.  It made Chris feel sick.

The barista came back with his order.  He paid the young man and asked him a question.  “Has anybody called in sick today?”

“Nope.  We don’t need many staff on during the week.  Just me and the manager at the moment.  He’s in the back.”

Chris nodded.  “Okay, just wondering.  Thanks.”  He took the hot beverages and headed back to where he’d left Marsh standing.  His partner was still in the same position, but he was slouched like a bag of potatoes, letting all his weight hang downwards.

“Marsh!”

His partner did not reply.

“Hey, Marsh.  Get your head in the game, man.”

Still no reply.  Chris huffed and stepped around in front of him.  He didn’t expect to see what he did.

“You’re bleeding.”

Marsh snapped out of his daze and looked at Chris.  His nose was leaking blood all the way down onto the tip of his chin.  “W…what you talking about?”

“Your nose!  Here…”  Chris pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it to his partner’s nose.  The blood was coming thick and fast.

Marsh crumpled at the knees.  Chris tried to hold him up but was only able to ease him to the ground slowly.  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Marsh wasn’t responding.  His body was rigid and he was going into some sort of seizure.  Chris placed his hands gently behind his partner’s head and cried out for assistance.  A moment later, the barista from the coffee shop and several nearby commuters had come to help.

Chris shouted at them as they stood around gawping.  “Call an ambulance.”

One of the passengers took out their phone and begun dialling.  The coffee shop employee dropped down onto his knees beside Chris and went to grab a hold of Marsh’s flailing body.

Chris shot out his hand.  “No!  Don’t restrict him.  Just let the seizure end on its own.”

The young barista stared down at Chris’s hand clamped around his wrist.  The stained handkerchief was scrunched between his fingers and blood had smeared all over his forearm.  “Dude!  You got blood on me.”

Chris withdrew his hand.  “I’m sorry.  Go get yourself cleaned up.”

The barista hurried back into the coffee shop, while Chris held onto his partner.  Marsh’s seizure was coming to an end, but blood continued leaking from his nose.  It had also began to seep from the edges of his eye sockets.  The gathered spectators held their mouths and gasped.

It was then that Chris had a realisation.  He has it.  He’s caught the virus we’ve been sent here to look for.  Shit, Marsh, what the hell have you been up to?

Then he had another, more frightening thought.  He’s infectious.  I need to close this whole place down.  God knows how many people he’s passed this onto already.

Chris let go of Marsh, letting his body slump to the ground.  He shot to his feet and pulled out his radio.  It crackled as he spoke into it.  The panic in his voice was obvious.  “Dispatch.  This is Detective Cox.  The virus has spread.”

BEANS

“I can’t believe I got that dude’s blood on me,” Danny said to himself as he marched across the car park.  His shift had ended at the coffee shop and he’d been heading out.  He didn’t even know why he’d stopped to help that guy.

What else could I do?  He was flipping the fuck out.

Danny had cleaned himself up in the coffee shop’s kitchen and then headed out the back door to the car park.  He didn’t want to get drawn in to any of the commotion that was happening out on the station’s platform.  There seemed to be some sort of panic going on, which was hardly surprising given the state of the dude having the seizure.

What the hell was wrong with that guy?  Epilepsy?

Who gives a shit?  I gots to gets my party on.

Danny had been looking forward to seven-o-clock all day.  The time where he could finally skip out of work and catch his ride to Birmingham, where Joey would be throwing the party of the century.  Joey was one of his best buddies and grew up in a house the size of a supermarket.  It had tennis courts, a swimming pool, snooker tables, and everything else his millionaire parents could think to buy.  And for the next week, the house was in Joey’s care while his parents were on a cruise.  It was going to be the best few days of Danny’s life.  A whirlwind of booze, drugs, laughs, and clunge.

Nirvana baby!

Danny picked up his pace and headed up the hill towards the bus station.  Coming down the road, in the opposite direction, was a police car.  Its sirens were on and its driver eyeballed Danny as he passed.

What you looking at, pig?

Danny rounded the corner and stopped just outside the bus station.  He wasn’t due to catch a bus; Joey would be picking him up in his parent’s Audi.  It was a sweet ride and if it was warmer they could have had the top down all the way up the motorway.

Oh well, can’t have everything.

Sure enough, Danny spotted Joey idling in the sleek black Audi and quickly dashed towards him.  He slung open the door and hopped in.

“Hey, D-Man, how’s it going?”

“Yeah, good.  Except some dude just bled all over me.”

Joey looked at him.  “For real?”

Danny shook his head.  “Don’t worry about it.  Let’s just get this party started.”

“Hell yes!”  Joey gunned the engine and the two of them got going.  They sped right past a row of police cars heading towards the train station.

“You know what all these pigs are doing?” Joey asked him.

Danny shook his head and looked out of the window.  “No.  Maybe it had something to do with the dude that collapsed on the platform.”

“A guy collapsed?”

“Yeah, was bleeding everywhere like a stuck pig.”

“Gross.”

Danny let out a long breath as he thought about getting the guy’s blood on him.  “Yeah, gross.”

“Well, I’ll be doing some pretty gross things with Stephanie later tonight.  If I can get it up, that is, with all of the booze I’m gonna drink.”

Danny smiled.  “Tonight is going to be hardcore.”

Joey bashed the car’s horn three times.  “Hard-fuckin’-core!”

Danny sneezed.

Joey opened the electric windows on both sides.  “Dude, I can’t be doing with getting sick.  You gonna start sneezing and shit, do it out the window.  I can’t be driving three hours with Mr Sniffles.”

Danny wiped his nose with the back of his forearm.  “Sorry, man.  I don’t think I’m getting sick.  I feel fine.”

Then he sneezed again.

PARASITES

Stephanie had just given Joey the shag of his life and he felt epic.  His friends were having fun all around and it was all because of him.  He would go down as a legend for this.

The motherfucking party master.

Joey slid off his bed and got dressed while Stephanie used the shower in the en suite.  The thought of her all wet and naked was enough to get him aroused all over again.  But there would be time for that later.  He had to play host; make sure his guests were having a time they would never forget.

He checked his watch.  It was two-thirty in the morning.  The night was still young.

He headed out onto the landing, passing by necking couples and chatting friends.  They all gave Joey the thumbs-up as he passed them.  Someone handed him a beer and he broke the tab merrily.  He had never felt so good.

Except for the headache.

And a sore throat.

That git, Danny.  I knew his sneezing was gonna get me sick.

Joey headed down the stairs, shoving people back against the wall if they dared get in his way.  He knew it was stupid to blame his friend for passing on a harmless bug, but it was the worst timing.  So much planning had gone into this party that he would kick off big style if he wasn’t able to enjoy it.

I’ll wring his bleedin’ neck.

He knew he would find Danny in the billiards room.  The guy was a whiz with a cue and would no doubt be hustling the other guys out of their money.

Someone was coughing nearby.  Somebody else sneezed.

Goddamn it.  Did Danny catch the lergy or something?

The billiards room was just up ahead, off from the main lounge.  Joey headed inside and spotted Danny on a stool behind the bar.  He was chewing on some girl’s neck.

“Danny!” Joey shouted.

Danny moved the girl aside and looked over at him.  “Hey, dude.  How’s it going?”

Joey marched across the room.  The girl that had been with Danny left, sporting a huge hickey on her neck.

Classy.

Danny headed behind the bar and stood in front of his friend, who was teetering unsteadily on the stool.

“What’s up?” Danny asked him.

Joey examined his buddy.  He looked like hell.  His eyes were swollen and red.  His nose was dripping snot.  Even his lips seemed sore.

Great, what the hell has he passed onto me?

“You don’t look good, man.”

Joey laughed.  “I’m sound, mate.  I’ve done so much coke tonight that I could shake off a stab wound like it was a mosquito bite.”

“Well, you passed whatever you have to me, you dirty little shit.  I can’t be doing with feeling rough, man.”

Danny leant forward on his stool and almost fell off it.  He put his hand on Joey’s shoulder.  “I have the cure, dude.  Don’t you worry.”  He held up a small baggie of white powder.

Joey snatched the baggie and grinned.  “Don’t go thinking this means I’ve forgiven you.”

He tipped the baggie upside down and emptied the powder onto the bar.  Immediately, others in the billiards room drew in closer.

Coke parasites.  Flash a bit of powder and they come out of the woodwork like lice.

Joey was pleased to find that there was enough in the bag for half-a-dozen lines.  Enough to share and still get a buzz on.  When he accidently sneezed on the powder and reduced the amount by one line, he was pretty pissed off.  The anger only lasted a moment, though, as he and five others took a hit.

All of them got more than they bargained for.

DAWN OF THE DEAD TIRED

Gaz was exhausted.  The coke he’d done at Joey’s had worn off and now he felt like shit.  In fact, everyone at the party was generally feeling like shit.  When he’d finally left, people had been puking all over the place or lying on the floor with a bad case of the sniffles.

Gaz had a headache and a sharp pain in his chest.  His vision was also a little blurry.  The thing he wanted now more than anything else in the world was his bed.  But getting there might not be so easy.

At the back door to his house, Gaz checked the time on his phone: 06:00.  The sun was just rising.  He used his key to unlock the door and gently clasped the handle to go inside.  When he stepped through into the kitchen, his mother was there waiting for him.

“Where the hell have you been?” she demanded.

He rolled his eyes and let the door close behind him.  “At a friend’s.”

“All night long?  Doing what?”

“Nothing.  Just watching movies.”

She stood in front of him and stared into his eyes.  “You’ve been doing drugs, haven’t you?”

“Mom, just give it a rest.  What’s your problem?”

“My problem,” her voice began to break into sobs, “is that my fifteen year old son is out all night doing God knows what.  I can’t cope with you anymore.  You’re going to have to go live with your dad.”

Gaz went to the fridge and pulled out a pint of milk.  “I’d rather live on the street.”

“Then do that, then.  You can’t stay here if you’re not going to do what I tell you.”

Gaz swigged the milk and enjoyed the way it felt against his sore throat.  It did nothing for his aching stomach, though.

“Look, mom, I-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, covering her mouth and starting to cry.  “Just go to bed.”

Gaz nodded.  He was too tired to argue with her.  She never gave up with the nagging.

Annoying cow.

Gaz left his mother crying in the kitchen and headed upstairs.  He took the milk with him.  If he didn’t get at least twelve hours sleep then he was going to be absolutely lagging.  The only way to get through the down effects of coke and booze was to sleep through them and that was exactly what he intended to do.

He stomped up the stairs feeling heavier and heavier as he ascended.  For a moment, he wondered if he could even make it to the top.  He had to heave and push himself just to keep his knees working.

The light on the landing was switched on and the first door on the left was ajar; a black rectangle of shadow between the door and the frame.  A small white face peered out at Gaz.

“Jordan, what are you doing up?”

Gaz’s little brother had a sleepy glaze over his eyes but seemed happy to see him.  “Where have you been?”

“Not you, too,” Gaz said.  “Why is everybody so interested in my life?”

“Sorry.”

Gaz gave his brother a pat on the head.  “I’ve just been at Joey’s.  I’m going to bed now.  You should get another couple hours as well or you’ll be tired at school.”

Jordan nodded his head dreamily.  “Okay.”

Gaz patted his little brother on the head again and headed to his own room.  Before he got there, Jordan called out to him.

“Hey, can I have the rest of that milk, Gaz?  I’m thirsty.”

Gaz turned around.  He took one short swig and then handed the rest of the milk over.  “Sure thing, bro.  Drink it and then go back to bed.  Have a good day at school.”

“I will,” said Jordan, swigging from the milk and gasping.  “See you later.”

But he never would see his brother again.

THE CIRCLE OF DEATH

Jordan wanted to go home.  He felt sick in his tummy and his eyes were itchy.  He wanted to lie on the sofa with mommy and watch cartoons, but the teacher wouldn’t believe him when he said he was sick.  It was because he was always fibbing and trying to go home.  He hated school and missed his mommy.  Today, though, he wasn’t lying.  He really was poorly.

It was the last break of the day and there was only English class to sit through before he could go home.  He didn’t mind English – it was much better than Math.  Maybe, if he wasn’t feeling better later, mommy would let him have tomorrow off.

His friend, James, was nearby, playing games on his mobile phone.  James’s dad worked in a phone shop so James always had the latest ones that were out.

“Can I have a go, please?” he asked.

James smiled and handed the phone right over.  James was a good friend.

“You still feeling poorly?”

Jordan tapped at the touchscreen and nodded.  “Yeah.  I want to go home, but the teacher won’t let me.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”  Jordan started a puzzle game with fruits.  The flashing colours hurt his eyes slightly but he didn’t mind.  He wanted to play.

“What lesson do you have next?” James asked.

Jordan didn’t reply.  He was too engrossed with the flashing fruit.  Usually he found games like this boring, but somehow the movement held him captive.  His hearing went dull.

“Hey, Jordan, did you hear me?”

Jordan was busy.  He moved the fruit about, matching colours and winning points.  Time seemed to slip away as a headache took over the small spaces inside his skull.

The movement.  I like the movement.  I like things that move.

When the lesson bell sounded, Jordan didn’t hear it.  Neither did he hear James ask for his phone back.  When the other boy snatched at the phone, to take back what was his, Jordan was surprised by the rage that filled him.  He leapt at James and managed to catch his finger between his teeth.  James pulled his hand back and immediately started crying.

I’ll kill you…

What…what am I doing?

Jordan put his hand out in desperation as his friend ran off to tell the teacher.  He didn’t know what had happened.  He had just felt so…mad.  Something inside of him had made him bite his friend and now that it had happened he felt dizzy.  His headache had suddenly gone, leaving behind an all over numbness.  His vision had gone a funny colour, too, and it was hard to catch a breath.  Most of all, though, Jordan just felt scared.

He curled up on the floor and started to cry.  He didn’t know what was happening to him as he waited for the teacher to come and tell him off for biting James.  He just wanted his mommy to make it all better.

But she never would.

CLOSURE

Treadwell examined the bank of television monitors displaying news feeds from all four corners of the Earth.  The explosion of the Spirit of Kirkpatrick in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea was an unforeseen complication.  The spread of the nano-virus throughout mainland Europe had been vastly hindered by the ship’s failure to reach land – but the Easter-Virus had managed to get out anyway.  Its eventual spread would be unstoppable.  The ominous news reports flashing on the television screens made this clear.

It will be unstoppable.

Most of the news station were reporting early occurrences of the virus, but they were yet to understand the full ramifications of what it could do.  They had no idea what the Easter-Virus was designed for – what it was engineered for.  The self-replicating nano-delivery system was working perfectly, making sure that every single victim got a massive and immediate dose.  Symptoms would occur in less than one hour in most cases.  Full presentation of symptoms would take up to a full twenty-four hours, though.  That was when the virus would become truly unstoppable.  That was when patients would start to actively hunt down anyone healthy and deliberately infect them.  The virus would become less infectious in itself at that stage, but its carriers would become far, far more deadly.  Even killing them would not stop them – the nano-virus was programmed to maintain a clumsy, yet effective control over the carrier’s motor functions even after death.

It is a true marvel.  Man’s greatest inventions.

Treadwell smiled and rubbed at the coarse black stubble on his chin.  The death toll had not even started yet, but once it did it would rise and rise until the world population dwindled.  Then New Dynasty could begin its real work.  Rebuilding the world as a utopia.  A world without famine, war, greed, and laziness.  It would be a productive world full of marvels, instead of the corporate mess the current one was.  Gluttonous companies like Black Remedy, TBD PharmaTech, and Christoil would have no place in the new world.  Their death grip on the international economy and its Governments was about to come to an end.  New Dynasty were poised to take over.

But before that could happen there would be a period of slumber.  Beneath the Earth, the members of New Dynasty would lie in wait while the virus did its work above.  Soon every nation on Earth would be cleansed, while the future leaders of the new world lay safely in bunkers that had been three decades in the making.

In less than one year the world’s population would total just ninety thousand – and all of those people would eventually rise from their bunkers like phoenix from the ashes.  Treadwell felt honoured to be amongst that small number.

His legacy of software engineering, along with his unrivalled fortune and his willingness to share it with the needy, had bought him a place in the Scottish bunker, buried deep beneath the Highlands.  He commanded the five thousand personnel that would go on to represent the British Republic.  When the virus was confirmed in America, Africa, and Asia, members of the Dynasty in those countries would also go into hiding.  In just the last ten minutes, Treadwell had received word that their American payload had been released in Texas inside a convention centre.  Soon the greatest nation on Earth would begin to fall.  Soon, everywhere else would fall, too.  New nations would rise, led by the Dynastic Council.

A true democracy.

Treadwell watched the television screens for another twenty minutes before getting up.  There was a lot of work to be done, lots of preparations to be made.  He had a part to play in the greatest event in human history.  Mankind was about to enter a new dynasty.

The old one was about to die.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author’s Note

Ripley Heights was based on the Heights of Abraham and Gulliver’s Kingdom in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, UK, a place I used to love as a kid.  To my knowledge the park is still there, so if you’re ever in the area give it a visit.  I promise there’s no zombies.

http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/matlock-bath

PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR

Hey, Reader.  So you got to the end of my book.  I hope that means that you enjoyed it.  Whether or not you did, I would just like to thank you for giving me your valuable time to try and entertain you.   I am truly blessed to have such a fulfilling job, but I only have that job because of people like you; people kind enough to give my books a chance and spend their hard-earned money buying them.  For that I am eternally grateful, my friend.

If you would like to find out more about my other books then please visit my website for full details.  You can find it at: www.iainrobwright.com.  Also feel free to contact me on Facebook, Twitter, or email (all details on the website) as I would love to hear from you.

If you enjoyed this book and would like to help, then you could think about leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or anywhere else that readers visit.  The most important part of how well a book sells is how many positive reviews it has, so if you leave me one then you are directly helping me to continue on this journey as a fulltime writer.  Thank you in advance to anyone who does.

Buy more Books by Iain Rob Wright

THE FINAL WINTER:  UK  US

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ASBO:  UK  US

Innocent family man is targeted by a gang of sadistic youths

ANIMAL KINGDOM:  UK  US

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SEA SICK:  UK  US

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SAM:  UK  US

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About The Author

Published author, Iain Rob Wright, was born in 1984 and lives in Redditch, a small town in the West Midlands, UK, with his loopy cocker spaniel, Oscar, his fat old cat, Jess, his many tropical fish, and the love of his life, Sally. Writing is the passion that fills his life during the small periods of time when he isn't cleaning up after his pets.

He is the author of several novels, including the critically acclaimed, The Final Winter, and the deeply disturbing thriller, ASBO.

Check out his official website for freebies, news, and updates at:

http://www.iainrobwright.com

Copyright

***AN SG HORROR RELEASE***

Part of the SALGAD PUBLISHING GROUP

Redditch

UK, Worcestershire
www.SALGADPUBLISHING.com

ISBN-10: 149031119X

ISBN-13: 978-1490311197

RAVAGE copyright 2013 by Iain Rob Wright
www.IAINROBWRIGHT.com

Cover Art Copyright 2013 Stephen Bryant
www.SRBPRODUCTIONS.net

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Contents

Book Summary

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Epilogue

PATH OF INFECTION (Short Stories)

SEA SICK

DOCTORS AND NURSES

FAMILY MAN

WET WORK

LONG ARMS

WHISTLE-STOP

BEANS

PARASITES

DAWN OF THE DEAD TIRED

THE CIRCLE OF DEATH

CLOSURE

PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR

Buy more Books by Iain Rob Wright

About The Author

Copyright