for any length of time. The world was full of so much uncertainty and fear that nothing could be taken for granted.
As more screams echoed through the building Clare sat down on a hard plastic chair by the window in her room and held her head in her hands. She felt ready to burst into tears but her emotions were not forthcoming. The relentless pressure of their bizarre situation seemed to be acting as a kind of stopper, preventing her from outwardly showing how she was really feeling. The room was cold and clinical and her sense of bewilderment and unfamiliarity was overpowering. It was only when she thought about her parents and everything else she had lost that she finally began to cry freely.
After just over ten minutes had passed Jack left his room and walked across the corridor to the room directly opposite. The panoramic view over the city from the window was, for a few seconds at least, impressive. But then, as his curiosity took hold, he allowed his eyes to wander down to street level. An massive crowd of diseased, staggering bodies surrounded the front of the building. And with the rest of the city appearing to be completely lifeless, he could see more and more of them dragging themselves out of the shadows continually.
13
By the time the city was bathed in darkness again Donna and Paul had decided what they were going to do. They planned to distract the bodies on the landing as they’d discussed earlier and then make a break for it. They hoped that their comparative strength and control would be enough to get them through the crowd outside the office doors. As the afternoon and early evening had worn on their simple plan had slowly gained more purpose and direction. There was no question that they were doing the right thing. For the first time in days both of them could see a reason to try and do something positive, and they were both acutely aware of the fact that they had to do it quickly.
In the gloom of the dying day Donna had gathered her few belongings together and put on as much of the clothing she’d collected as was comfortable. The evening was bitterly cold.
Even indoors her breath condensed in cool, billowing clouds around her mouth and nose. Across the room, still keeping low and out of sight, Paul had done the same with his things. The lamps around the office floor remained dull and unlit, the survivors electing to remain in darkness until they were completely ready to make their move.
‘We need to stir them up at the other end of the room,’ she whispered. ‘We’ll use the lamps and we’ll make enough of a disturbance so that they try and get in through those doors.’
‘And then we come back to this end?’ Paul asked anxiously.
He knew full well what they were going to do. They’d been planning it for hours. Going over the plan again and again seemed to help both of them.
Donna nodded.
‘We’ll prop the doors open up there and let them get inside.
We’ll get ourselves back down here and wait for a couple of minutes until the bulk of them are in. Then we’ll get out. They’ll follow each other like sheep.’
‘You
sure?’
‘Sure as I can be. Only one way of finding out for certain though, isn’t there?’
Paul nodded nervously. He knew exactly what she meant. He also knew that it wouldn’t be long now before they left the comparative safety of the office and stepped out into the unknown. He continued to go over the plan again and again in his head. It seemed to make sense and he couldn’t think of any alternative. He knew in his heart that it was going to work, but as the minutes slowly ticked by and the inevitable approached he began to doubt himself.
‘Make yourself useful,’ Donna said, snapping him out of his daydream. ‘Let’s start getting the lamps together.’
She turned and walked out of the training room, leaving Paul sitting alone in the darkness. For a few seconds he stayed exactly where he was, suddenly too afraid to move. It didn’t matter how long they’d talked about doing this, now that the time to act had actually arrived he wanted to curl up again and hide. Sensing that he hadn’t followed her, Donna turned back.
‘What’s the problem?’ she hissed.
His mouth was dry and he couldn’t answer.
‘I…’ he began, not knowing what he was trying to say.
‘Get off your backside and fucking move!’ Donna cursed.
She waited for a second but still he didn’t move. ‘Now!’ she yelled.
Paul scrambled to his feet, suddenly feeling pathetic and ashamed but no less frightened and unsure than he had been.
Donna’s voice also provoked frantic activity out on the landing as the bodies again began to batter against the doors, trying hopelessly to force their way inside.
The two survivors quickly made their way around the perimeter of the office, collecting the torches and lamps which Donna had placed there the previous evening. They then assembled them on a single desk in the furthest corner of the room, in full sight of the bodies behind the door.
‘Got everything?’ she asked.
Paul swallowed hard.
‘Think so,’ he mumbled nervously, realising that they would be making their move within minutes.
‘Good,’ she replied. She started to light the lamps and torches but stopped after only lighting four. The creatures outside were banging on the door again with even more force. Their simple, basic interests already aroused by the sound of Donna’s voice moments earlier, the bright light in the corner of the room now seemed to be enough to drive them into a frenzy. She glanced over her shoulder at the movement outside.
‘Bloody hell,’ Paul moaned. ‘Christ, what the hell are we doing?’
‘What we have to do,’ Donna grunted, returning her attention to the lamps. ‘Now shut up and get on with it.’
With his hands shaking with nerves Paul lit a match and began to light the gas lamps. The room was quickly filled with more light and with the faintly acidic smell and dull roar of burning jets of gas. The noise on the landing became even louder.
‘Shit,’ Paul cursed, ‘listen to them. All we’ve done is light a few lamps and the bloody things are going mad.’
‘Good, that’s exactly what we want.’
‘Is
it?’
‘Of course it is. The more fired up they are, the better a distraction this is going to be.’
Paul wasn’t convinced. He returned his attention to lighting the remaining lamps, trying unsuccessfully to blank out the noise coming from outside.
A couple of minutes later and it was done. The far right corner of the office was filled with bright light and a sudden warmth.
‘Okay,’ Donna whispered, stepping back into the shadows again, ‘let’s go.’
Paul instinctively began to backtrack.
‘You’re completely sure about this?’ he mumbled, his mouth dry. ‘But what happens if we get out there and…?’
She turned and stared at him, her face harshly illuminated from the right. The anger in her face was blindingly apparent.
‘Just stop your damn whining and move,’ she seethed. ‘It’s too late to back out now. Get back to the other end and get the bags ready.’
Relieved to be away from the revealing light he walked quickly away to the far end of the office.
‘And keep out of sight,’ she shouted after him. ‘Don’t let them see you. You screw this up and we’re trapped.’
He didn’t need her to tell him that, it was painfully obvious.
Their actions were geared around the basic fact that there was only one way for them to get out of the
