Coldbrook

eventually, in the garage.

‘Moira’s leading the kids,’ Drake said to Marc. ‘You need to come with us.’

Marc nodded, looking around the room as if he’d forgotten something important. He’s scared, Holly realised. She held his arms, catching his stare.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ she said. Marc offered a brief smile.

‘You’re not coming?’ Drake asked.

‘I need to close the breach for a while, until we’re. .’ She trailed off, pointed at the screens. ‘Make sure Vic picks up Jayne on his way.’

Drake nodded, and behind him Moira stared at Holly. Smiled. Holly smiled back.

They left Secondary, and Holly closed the door behind them and locked it. Then she returned to the desk and sat back, placing her pistol beside her laptop. She tapped a few keys and brought up the program she needed. Deep down by the core, an electronic switch the size of her thumb waited to trip.

On the screens she saw more zombies forcing their way through into the common room, and the defenders had fallen back from the frenzied things. One corpse crawled, peppered with bullets and bolts, reaching beyond the camera’s view before staying still. Others rolled down the pile of bodies, stood, and stumbled out of sight.

Holly flicked the image to a corridor view, just in time to see Vic and his family disappearing around a corner towards Jonah’s room. She wanted to call Vic, tell him to get a fucking move on, but that might distract him and slow him. So she switched cameras again, flipping through several before she saw Vic, Olivia and Lucy outside Jonah’s door.

Vic reached for the handle and pushed the door open.

On another screen, she saw zombies flooding into the common room.

Holly’s hand hovered over her laptop. She offered up a prayer, knowing that with a few keystrokes she would change this world. Marc will be safe soon, he has the knowledge, he has Mannan, and if I have to sacrifice Vic and his family and even Jayne. . if I have to kill them. .

There was still time for them to reach the breach. Minutes. Maybe seconds.

But time.

8

He’s going to fucking shoot me! Vic thought, and then Sean lowered the gun.

‘We have to go,’ Vic said.

‘Where?’

‘Through the breach. Now!’

The gunfire had ceased, and from the direction of the common room two junctions away he heard an ominous rumbling.

‘Daddy?’ Olivia said, and Lucy was calming her, shushing her. I should have sent them on! Vic thought, but it was too late now. Much too late.

‘Where’s-?’

‘I’m here,’ Jayne said from behind Sean. She sounded weak and looked so slight, and Vic could barely credit that the future of their world might lie within her.

‘Footsteps,’ Sean said.

‘Come on.’ Vic ushered his wife and daughter towards the staircase, touching his pocket to make sure he had the spare magazines for his pistol. One in the gun, three in his pocket, thirty-two bullets, and Holly had said there were hundreds of zombies.

Sean and Jayne were following.

‘Ammo?’ Vic asked.

‘Not much.’

Jayne was slow. She groaned as she tried to run, crying, cursing, and when Vic caught her eye he saw the desperation there, and how hard she was trying. She didn’t want anyone’s death on her conscience.

Shapes moved behind them, and Vic paused, ushering Jayne and Sean past him. For a second he thought these were fellow survivors fleeing the zombies, because they were running so hard, arms pumping and feet pounding the corridor’s floor. Then he saw the blood.

He braced, leaned forward, aimed and fired. The first man’s head flipped back and he fell, tripping those behind him. They stood quickly and ran on, less than twenty feet away. Vic fired again, and again. A biker went down, face shattered, his arms bleeding from bites. The gunfire was deafening, but Vic could still hear his daughter’s screams.

Sean was by his side, firing five times in five seconds, and now there were ten bodies down, twelve.

One woman jumped, and Sean shot her in the eye in mid-air. She landed and slid almost to their feet.

‘Ammo!’ Vic said, and he changed magazines while Sean continued shooting.

‘Go!’ Sean said.

‘Fuck that.’ Another shot, another. Fifteen down. The others had to slow now, climb, step over dead people who’d been made dead again.

‘Your family!’

Vic glanced back and Lucy, Olivia and Jayne had gone, towards Control and the breach. But he wanted them with him. He’d vowed never to leave them again.

‘We’ve got time,’ he said. He grabbed Sean’s arm and pulled, and Sean saw the sense. He’d made his own vows, Vic realised. He’d rescued this special young woman, and in doing so had attached himself to her for ever. If a sacrifice was needed, Sean would make it without a second thought.

As they ran, someone screamed. Vic couldn’t tell which direction the sound had come from and he put on a burst of speed, slamming through a set of double doors and gasping with relief when he saw Lucy and the others beyond.

‘Block these!’ Sean said. The doors swung both ways, making them difficult to barricade.

‘Daddy!’ Olivia pulled the belt from her jeans — pink with the word Angel written in glitter — and handed it to Vic.

‘Clever girl,’ Jayne whispered.

The scream came again, much quieter now. Back the way they’d come.

‘Who’s left back there?’ Sean asked.

Vic was looping the belt through the doors’ handles. ‘Holly’s in Secondary.’ He paused, knowing that if he tied it too tightly-

The zombies crashed into the doors, shoving them back. The belt halted their movement, and three arms reached through the narrow opening. Vic and Sean leaned hard against the doors and Vic pulled the belt tighter, slipping his own through the handles as well.

‘Daddy,’ Olivia said, tears breaking her voice.

‘Come on, sweetie.’ Vic held her hand and ushered Lucy and Jayne ahead of him. Not far now, he thought. Thirty seconds down to Control, then through the breach, then-

The belts snapped and the doors burst open. Behind him, gunshots.

‘Go!’ Vic shouted, shoving Olivia after Lucy, turning, firing three quick shots. Five bodies fell, others were trampled. The zombies’ numbers were slowing them down. But Vic knew he might not be that lucky again.

‘Not far,’ he said to Sean.

‘I’ll stay and give you time.’

‘Fuck you will.’ He grasped Sean’s arm, pinching skin, eliciting a brief yelp. Vic laughed, high-pitched and crazy-sounding.

They ran, entering the staircase and securing the doors behind them. These were stronger; they might last longer. Down the staircase, veering around the slow bend towards Control, and when he saw the glass wall Vic put on a burst of speed, glancing through, terrified that he’d see the dead staring back. But Marc was there, standing defiantly just outside the breach containment and arguing with Drake. Several more of Drake’s people stood poised,