one of the caravans, trying to keep warm and arguing about what they were going to do next. Jas, who seemed to rapidly be losing touch with the rest of them, was trying to lay down the law and tell them exactly how things were going to be—how they were going to leave the castle before morning and track Kieran and the rest of those fuckers down. Bayliss had had enough. Who the hell did Jas think he was? About twenty minutes ago he’d used the excuse of going for a piss to get out of the caravan for a while. He’d have stayed out longer if it hadn’t been so bloody cold.
He was about to go back inside, but the glimpse of movement over the way had stopped him in his tracks. That was them, it had to be. The dumb bastards hadn’t seen him either. He slipped back into the caravan.
“Where’ve you been?” Mel asked. Bayliss ignored her.
“Found them, Jas,” he said, grinning. “They’re in the gift shop.”
* * *
The five of them crept slowly around the perimeter wall, two coming from one side, three from the other.
“Stupid fuckers,” Jas said. “What were they thinking? Why go to all that effort, then just hide in the bloody gift shop? Fucking morons.”
Ainsworth crept along behind him. He desperately wanted to see her again. There were just a handful of people left alive now, and all he wanted was to see just one of them. He wanted to tell Lorna how sorry he was and how he’d understood why she’d done what she had.
Jas stopped just short of the gift shop door, and gestured for Bayliss, Field, and Melanie to stop on the other side. He had one of the rifles with him, and by God, this time he thought he might actually use it. He rushed forward, pumped full of adrenaline, and kicked the door open.
Then he stopped.
Corpses began lurching toward him, and he backed away in horror as they spilled out of the open door and flooded into the courtyard. Even in the pitifully low light the full extent of their danger was immediately apparent. These creatures were stronger than all the others he’d seen on the other side of the castle wall, less decayed and more controlled. Had they been hiding? Waiting for him?
“The dead!” he screamed. “The dead are inside!”
Ainsworth tried to drag him away. “Let’s get out of here.”
Jas remained rooted to the spot, the corpses drawing ever closer. Ainsworth looked up and saw the other three running for cover. Were they heading back to the caravans? No, it looked like they had other plans. They were heading for the van which had been parked across the gate to block the entrance. And now someone was opening the gate …
“Wait!” he yelled, but they ignored him. He started to run, but then looked back at Jas, who had hardly moved. The nearest of the dead had lifted their arms and were almost upon him now, ready to attack. He looked back again when he heard an engine starting. The van moved with sudden speed, skidding around in a tight circle, then driving straight out through the open gate and into the decay outside. It was impossible to see what was happening from here, but Ainsworth knew the dead would no doubt be pouring in through the gate too. After standing strong for so long, the castle was about to be overthrown.
He grabbed Jas by the arm and pulled him away. Jas was terrified. Ainsworth couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone look so scared. “Come on, Jas. We have to get out of here.”
46
Freezing cold and disorientated, Michael, Lorna, Harte, and the others were struggling to keep moving.
“Where now?” Howard asked, teeth chattering.
“We need to find somewhere to shelter and get some fresh clothes. We’re going to get hypothermia if we don’t,” Kieran said.
“You know the area better than the rest of us,” Harte said. “Where do you suggest?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied unhelpfully. “I need to work out where we’ve come out in relation to the front of the castle. There are a couple of villages nearby. A few other places, maybe. But we don’t want to be walking all night in the wrong direction and…”
Kieran’s voice trailed away. Michael was immediately concerned. “Problem?”
“Shh…” he said. “Listen.”
Everyone became completely silent. In the near distance they could hear an engine.
“Who’s that?” Caron asked.
“More of your lot coming back for us?” Lorna suggested.
“I doubt it,” Michael replied, wishing he could be more positive. “Even if it is, fat lot of good it’s going to do us. They’ll check out the castle, but they won’t bother searching the area, will they? It’ll be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If I know Harry, he’ll be doing exactly what he said he’d do, and that’s getting those people over to Cormansey.”
“What if it’s Jas?” Caron asked anxiously.
“Do you really think he’ll still be interested in us?”
“I don’t know. But what if he is?”
“Then we’ll deal with it. Right now we’ve got a more pressing problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Getting back across a mile or so of dead bodies.”
47
When Harry arrived back in Chadwick, he was relieved to see the silhouette of the helicopter perched on top of the multistory car park. He drove the truck along increasingly familiar roads toward the marina. His passengers remained almost completely silent.
Zoe, sitting up front between Harry and Bob, stared in disbelief at the dead world they were traveling through, a stream of tears rolling down her cheeks. She knew Chadwick well—she’d had digs in the town since starting at university—and she could make out more than enough of it tonight to be able to appreciate the full extent of its remarkable deterioration. Being back in Chadwick hurt.
She hadn’t left the confines of the castle since the rescue of the others from the hotel near Bromwell. On that first morning when everyone else had died, she’d been stopping at the house of a friend who’d lived a couple of miles from the castle, and this was the first time she’d been back anywhere near home since her nightmare had begun. She’d been too scared to try getting back to her flat back then, and so had remained in her friend Sally’s house, with only Sally’s corpse for company. She’d tried phoning family and other friends tirelessly, but no one had answered and then the line had stopped connecting, and then her mobile signal had died. She’d stayed where she was for a while—unaware that there were other survivors so close—until she’d woken up one morning and found dead Sally standing over her. She’d thrown the body of her dead friend out of her own home and barricaded herself in for weeks until she’d heard Kieran and Jackson out looting and tracked them back to the castle.
It had been obvious from the very beginning that there would have been no point trying to get home because all that Zoe would have found would have been the bodies of her loved ones, but that didn’t stop her suddenly feeling as guilty as hell today.
Zoe remembered back to the Saturday before all of this had begun. She’d been to the gym first thing, and had then met up with Sally and Trish, a friend from uni. Sally had picked her up in her cool little red ugeot, and they’d parked in the multistory where the helicopter had landed today. The three of them had walked through town together to the marina where they’d had lunch in one of the waterfront cafes. They’d spent the whole afternoon talking about nothing—stuff so trivial and inconsequential that she couldn’t even begin to remember any of it now. Nothing had mattered back then. The biggest stresses in her life had been getting her assignments finished, turning up to lectures on time, and trying to make her overdraft last until the next installment of her student loan came in.
The truck turned a familiar corner. On the opposite side of the road to them now was a billboard advertising
