Lisa interrupted her. "There is, but there's also one ahead. In the retail park. A big one."
"How far?"
"A mile … maybe two? Not far."
"Far enough. Can you make it?"
"I have to."
The road was clear, and they pedalled freely for a couple of miles. They passed the college where Lisa had taken night classes in photography, the leisure centre where she played squash, and her dentist's surgery. Her vision blurred again, but this time it was due to the tears that filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Everything was so familiar but at the same time changed forever. The streets and buildings were scarred and deserted. Where were all the people she knew that lived and worked here? What had happened to them and their families?
They reached the retail park. It, too, had witnessed violence and destruction and was trashed and desolate. Lisa stopped at the entrance. Anita pulled alongside her.
"Where's the chemist?"
"Over there." Lisa pointed to the other side of the car park. "Boots."
"Got it. Let's go."
"Hang on!" Lisa was hesitant.
"What's wrong? D'you see something?"
"No … I'm just thinking. We're only a couple of miles away from home now. It's a straight road. I've got plenty of inhalers back there. I …"
"Lisa! No! Just look at what happened back there. You need an inhaler. Jesus knows what could happen between here and there. What if we don't get there before you have another attack. It's not up for discussion. Come on!"
Anita pushed off and cycled across the car park.
Lisa took one last, long and wistful, look down the road ahead, then followed her.
They saw movement inside the store from about 50 metres away. They stopped and watched for a while from the cover of a car. The front window of the shop was smashed. Several infected wandered around inside as if they were browsing the aisles in search of their favourite brand of shampoo.
"How many?" Anita whispered.
"Can't get a good view. At least six. Maybe more."
"What d'you think? Too risky?"
"Maybe. It's impossible to tell from here."
"Where's the pharmacy section?" Anita asked.
Lisa grinned. "You genius! At the back! There's a delivery area behind the shop."
They gave the shopfronts a wide berth as they cycled round to the delivery area. Conveniently, a Boots delivery truck signposted them to the right building. It had evidently been interrupted halfway through a delivery. A few broken cartons of toothpaste and mouthwash lay on the ground, and the back doors to the shop were open. They left their bikes propped up against a railing and crept inside.
They entered a large storage area. Rows of shelving piled high with boxes lined the room. Ahead, another set of double doors that led into the shop was also open. Lisa could see the aisles at the back of the shop where the baby care section was. She knew the pharmacy was just beyond it. They crouched down and crawled through the doors into the shop.
The light inside was blinding. It took their eyes a few minutes to adjust to it after the semi-darkness of the storeroom. Lisa pointed to the Pharmacy sign over to the right. Anita nodded and cast her eyes towards the infected at the front of the shop. They seemed undisturbed. She pointed to them, then to herself, and then at the floor. Lisa interpreted her signing to mean that she would stay where she was, to keep watch on them. She nodded her agreement.
With Anita focused on the infected, she crept over to the pharmacy area. She crawled beneath a gap in the counter and, still crouching out of sight, started to search the shelves. The inhalers were all located towards the far end of the section, a few shelves up. She could see the familiar blue colour of the row of Ventolin boxes about shoulder height. She was going to have to stand up to get them.
She could hear the shuffling of the infected. They sounded close. She looked up at the Ventolin. She might as well grab a few while she was here. Who knew how long it would be until she could get any more? Trembling, she slowly and silently got to her feet until she was standing at her full height. The Ventolin was right in front of her.
She could sense, more than see, movement on her left. She slowly turned her head. An infected was standing just a few feet away with its back to her. She reached over and began to ease the boxes of Ventolin off the shelf.
One. She stuffed it inside her jacket.
Two. She tucked it in beside the other one.
Three.
The infected snuffled.
Lisa jumped. The box fell from her fingers and clattered onto the floor.
The infected snapped its head round.
For a split second, Lisa met its glassy stare.
It opened its mouth to moan.
Lisa didn't wait. She straddled the counter and ran, weaving between the aisles towards the back door.
"Anita! Anita! Move! Move!" she shouted.
Behind her there was crashing and banging and a frenzy of moaning, but she kept running.
The door was wide open, and Anita was frantically gesturing her in.
She crashed through and it slammed behind her.
She turned to see Anita slide her crowbar between the door handles. On the other side, the infected slammed into it, but it stayed shut. They ran outside, jumped onto their bikes and pedalled without looking back.
When they reached the main Stratford Road, they stopped again so that she could unpack the inhalers. She opened one and took a puff, for comfort more than necessity. Her breathing actually felt better than it had all day.
They had started the last leg of their journey.
