Lisa and Anita's experience had been tougher than that of Lee, Emma and the trio of women. However, they had had it easy compared to the father and son. Their story was as hard to hear as it was for them to tell. The son, Peter, was profoundly traumatised and his father had an air of deep sadness about him. They were rarely apart and spent most of their time alternating between bouts of weeping and efforts to comfort and console each other. There was a faraway look in their eyes that told Lisa they had been damaged, possibly irreparably, by what they had experienced. She had never heard their story directly, but Anita had told her what had happened to them, sparing none of the shocking details.
On the night of the outbreak, the father, Geoff, and his wife, had both made it safely home from work to their home in the sleepy market town of Alcester. Peter, who worked with his father in the family business in Evesham, had also made it home, collecting his small son from the child-minder, before securing the house and waiting anxiously for his wife to get back. She worked in Birmingham city centre, which had been badly affected early on.
She did make it home later that evening but was injured and seemed unwell. She had been attacked in the street on her way to her car. She had got away and managed to drive herself home, despite having been badly bitten on the shoulder. Peter had cleaned and dressed her injuries as best he could and had given her some paracetamol for her fever. He assumed that she was experiencing a simple bacterial infection. However, when her condition deteriorated a few hours later, he had taken his whole family over to his parents' home. As well as seeking help and support in dealing with his sick wife and frightened child, he had also simply wanted them all to be together as the terrible events of that first night unfolded.
After settling his wife into bed with their son, Peter joined his parents downstairs to follow events on the TV and social media. Of course, the inevitable had occurred. His wife had died and reanimated, killing both her own son and her mother-in law when she had gone up to check on them. The first that the two men knew about it was when the infected trio had made their way downstairs. What happened next was a horror that required no explanation.
The listening to, and retelling of, hundreds of different stories of survival was the main activity in the camp, as people waited to find out what the future would hold. For Lisa and Anita, a clearer picture began to emerge of how the infection had spread so far, so quickly. As they already knew, there had been multiple attacks on trains and other forms of public transport. The timing of the attack to coincide with the rush hour had meant that millions of commuters were moving about, and the infection had spread rapidly. Many people, like Peter's wife, had been bitten but had made it home and subsequently infected their families. Towns and cities fell with startling speed, emergency services were overwhelmed, and panic and confusion took over. The military were mobilised within 24 hours, and urban areas were evacuated, unwittingly carrying the infection in ever-increasing numbers into rural areas. It was a perfectly planned and executed attack. Communication channels were choked, and the lack of accurate information and advice led people to behave in ways that enabled the infection to spread rapidly.
By Day 3, the whole country was in the grip of the infection. What was left of the government and the military agreed that their first priority was to create safe zones at various locations around the country and move all survivors into these secure areas as soon as possible. In the first instance, the aim was to try and halt the spread. After that, they could begin think about what to do next.
They sent units out daily in trucks and helicopters both to find and bring back survivors, but also to distribute leaflets telling people where the safe zones were and how to get there. Most people in the camp had been picked up by one of these patrols. Very few had got there independently. Lisa and Anita instantly gained the admiration and respect of everyone who heard their story. Two young women, surviving out there on their own for so long was almost unheard of.
The airfield was the perfect location for the safe zone. It was a large flat site surrounded by countryside, with clear views in all directions and a couple of readymade watchtowers. Its perimeter was already securely fenced, due to its historic function as a military base, and latterly as a venue for outdoor events such as drag racing, car boot sales and concerts. Lisa recalled spending a wild night there with Neil at a music festival, a few years ago.
But it was barely recognisable now. At the very heart of the site was a large, triangular grassy space delineated by interconnecting runways. A wire fence had been erected around this and it was here that the main camp had been set up. The army had reinforced the pre-existing perimeter fencing around the outer edge of the runways to form a second line of defence. Powerful floodlights, powered by the generators, lit up the space between the camp and the wooded boundary of the airfield. Troops patrolled the runways 24 hours a day, ensuring that any
