Two more joined him and others emerged from different directions. The gruesome crowd gathered on the bridge, jostling for position, pressing against the barrier, leaning and stretching over the railing. The barrier seemed to be leaning too, crumpling beneath their weight.
"Lisa, move!" Anita called out at the same time as Lisa hit the accelerator.
But she was too slow.
The burly workman crashed onto the bonnet of the Discovery. Its head hit the windscreen in an explosion of flesh and matter.
Both women screamed in unison, as the glass shattered into tiny fragments. It stayed in place, but Lisa could see nothing through the mass of cracks and splattered body fluids. She braked sharply. She saw the workman roll off the bonnet on the driver's side, just as a second massive thud rocked the vehicle. This time it was on the roof and another body bounced onto the road behind them.
Pressing hard on the accelerator, and using only mirrors to gauge her position, Lisa drove blindly through the underpass. At the same time, she grappled for the torch in the door pocket and used it to punch a hole in the windscreen. She used the steering wheel to pull herself forward, peering through hole at the road ahead.
As they picked up speed, fragments of glass blew into the car as the windscreen crumbled. Both women flinched and ducked, trying to protect their faces. Anita pulled the cuffs of her jumper over her hands and covered her face with them.
"We have to stop and clear it." Lisa was pulling over as she spoke. "If it cuts us, we could get infected."
"Jesus! I never thought …! Stop! Hurry!" Anita glanced behind them at the silhouettes of the mangled infected dragging themselves in pursuit through the underpass.
Lisa used the torch and Anita the butt of the shotgun to knock out the rest of the loose glass. They got rid of the worst of it, just as their pursuers reached the car. She put her foot down again, leaving them open mouthed and empty handed.
But the wind that blew through the empty windscreen forced her to slow down almost immediately. Tears blurred her vision and the noise was deafening. Anita slouched in her seat and covered her face again. Lisa eased her foot off the pedal until it was bearable. They could barely move above 20 mph. The infected disappeared out of sight behind them,
They carried on down a long, straight, tree-lined lane. On the right, a neat laurel hedge marked the boundary of the Kenilworth Golf Club. There were a few cars in the car park, but otherwise the place looked deserted. A day or two before, Lisa might have thought about going in to see if they could get some help with their now badly-damaged vehicle, but she pressed on, and Anita didn't even raise an eyebrow.
They reached a junction on the outskirts of the town. Ahead of them, and on both sides, were large properties. The houses were opulent and well-maintained, and the gardens were neat and colourful.
It was bizarrely quiet for a Saturday morning. There was not a car, nor a person, in sight, living or dead. Straight ahead, a wide strip of grass dotted with mature trees sat between the main road and an access road to the properties. A sign read: "Knowle Hill".
The only indication of anything untoward, was a single, overturned, brown wheelie bin lying on the strip of grass, its contents spilling out across the road. A piece of pink, shiny cellophane was blowing silently down the street. They could hear the distant wail of a burglar alarm.
Lisa felt her anxiety levels rising again. So many houses, with so many doors and windows, so many walls and corners, so many trees and hedges. The sense of protection that the big Discovery provided, was diminished by the wide, empty space where the windscreen had been.
"Which way, Nita? I don't like it here."
Anita was poring over the map, muttering rapidly to herself.
"Erm … erm … left. No! Right! Right!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, yes! I'm sure. It should take us round the edge of the town until we join the A452 at the other side."
"Right it is then."
Lisa turned right and soon felt better as the land gradually dropped down on the right-hand side of the road. Most houses were now down at the bottom of a steep bank on their right, and the left side of the road was thickly wooded.
After a mile or so, they came to another junction, on another road lined with houses.
"Right again. Then next left," Anita almost whispered as she looked up and down at the map, all the time keeping her finger on their position.
Now, they were surrounded by houses.
"I really don't like this." Lisa clenched the steering wheel. Despite the breeze blowing in through the windscreen, she was sweating,
A flurry of movement ahead caught her eye.
Anita saw it too. "Just keep going, Lisa. Don't slow down, and don't even think about stopping." Anita's voice was low but firm.
The source of the activity was a small convenience store in the centre of a small row of shops. The storefront window was smashed and a small car, with blacked-out windows, was parked with its open boot facing into the building. A boy was hurriedly passing boxes from inside to another boy, who was loading them into the car. Two other loose-limbed youths were positioned at either end of the small parking area. One was armed
