Hannah wished the sun would stay in place forever, never sinking behind the trees. She knew the death that the darkness would bring.
Their time was almost up.
She and Ted were in charge of… well, everything. The only other adults were Frank, Carol, and Steven, and they were keeping the kids accounted for. The last thing they needed was one of them getting caught playing outside the walls during an attack. Hannah had been unnerved when Ted had brought Nathan back inside the main camp, but even more shocked to witness the re-emergence of Vamps. Ted had encountered the man down at the cabin, and like Kamiyo, had been convinced that he was an innocent man.
Everyone in the camp wanted Vamps dealt with, but no one could agree on how. Murder was the most popular vote.
Hannah’s rifle had seven rounds left, but she’d not held it since Nathan had used it to murder Jackie. It was stowed inside the pantry, but she retained the bolt carrier assembly in her pocket. The weapon was useless without it.
The dark ages had returned where people took refuge behind wooden stakes and stone walls. They would fight, not with tanks and grenades, but spears and bows. There would be no amnesty for women and children.
Ted had been working all afternoon to dig a ditch beyond the portcullis, making it even harder for the demons to assault the gate. He was still out there now and surrounded by all the male teenagers. What on Earth was he up to?
Hannah headed down the stone steps and ducked beneath the half-open portcullis. “What’s going on, Ted? Why is everybody out here?”
Ted turned around with a slight grin on his face. “We’re just taking a piss. Want to join us?”
Hannah frowned. “Huh? I don’t understand. The latrine is on the other side of the camp.”
To her amazement, the teens whipped their dicks out and started pissing on the ground right next to the ditch Ted had been working on. Ted seemed amused by her confusion, but he didn’t explain what was going on. Instead, he put a hand on her back and moved her from the obscene scene. “How are we looking, Hannah?”
She chewed at her lip and shrugged. “As good as we’re going to get. Frank has rigged up a load of plastic bottles and tin cans in the trees as a kind of alarm system. Was a good idea actually.”
Ted chuckled. “He told you it was his idea? I told him to do that, the cheeky bugger.”
“Oh…” Hannah chuckled too. “The sod. Well, we’re all set. Just need to hunker down and get ready. Tonight is going to be the biggest night of our lives.”
“I have a few more things to do first,” said Ted. “The teenagers will need to fight, so I want to make sure they all know what to do. The attack will come at our front. Has to.”
Hannah nodded. “The hill is steep on the other three sides, obviously, but if they come from the lake, they could try to make it through the sally-port. It’s weaker.”
“They’d be sitting ducks,” said Ted. “They’d have no cover, and every time they lost their footing they’d tumble back down and have to start again. Vamps said the attack would come from the front, and it’s the only strategy that makes sense.”
“Okay, so if we’re sure the attack will come from the front, we need to get the kids back ins—”
Ted waited for her to finish, and when she didn’t, he frowned. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She shushed him. “Listen!”
Ted concentrated. There was a rattling sound—tin cans and plastic bottles.
Frank’s rudimentary alarm system.
Terror seizing him, he turned towards the teens, now doing up their flies. “Lads! Get your pricks away and get your arses behind the walls. Now!”
41
DR KAMIYO
Kamiyo had to stop for two minutes to catch his breath. The shopping bags he carried weighed a tonne, and his backpack was so heavy it threatened to tip him backwards. Philip, older and less athletic, was struggling even worse, and had to use his spear to lean on. Aymun acted as though the pack on his shoulders was full of feathers.
“I’m wondering if I can make it back,” said Philip, taking off his backpack to give his body a rest. He rotated his shoulders and winced. “Jesus.”
“It is true,” said Aymun. “I am a donkey lost in the desert, and I too must rest.”
“You look like you could do this all week,” said Philip incredulously.
“I know my body well, and it is ebbing.”
Kamiyo sighed while prodding at the weeds with his poker. “We already wasted too much time as Pritchard’s prisoners. We shouldn’t rest for too long.”
The other two men nodded their heads in agreement.
Holly and her newborn son had recovered from their ordeal with nothing worse than exhaustion. The labouring mother’s failure to progress could have been fatal to them both, but now that it was over, they should recover well. Before leaving, Kamiyo had sorted out Folic acid and other supplements from the pharmacy to keep Holly and her baby healthy, and Pritchard had been so grateful, he’d told Kamiyo and Philip they could take whatever they could carry from both the supermarket and pharmacy. His people had seemed a little perturbed by that largesse, but no one argued. He found out from Becky that demons had attacked the group on several occasions, and that Pritchard’s leadership was the only reason any of them were still alive. He had been a police officer before and had taken charge when things turned bad. Pritchard wasn’t such a bad guy.
Kamiyo, Aymun, and Philip had filled their rucksacks
