Dean was a trained Specialist Firearms Officer, and actually equipped with those weapons, having taken the small remaining stash from the constabulary HQ armoury. It was not much, but it was a far more potent defence than most had, and the thought of their newfound protector disappearing and leaving them to their fate caused panic among the children, and their remaining teacher.
“What if we have an incursion of the undead again?” asked Graham, pushing his spectacles up his nose while blinking rapidly. Usually, his glasses were in no need of correcting, and it was more of a nervous habit.
“This school is out in the country, five miles from the nearest town, with the closest rural houses at least a mile away,” said Dean. “There’s unlikely to be a horde coming this way, as the nearby towns are still in the process of collapsing. Crenshaw’s grounds are surrounded by four feet thick and eight feet high hedgerows that a thinking human couldn’t get through - or over - without some serious effort and problem solving. Behind those is a ten-foot fence of metal bars encompassing the whole campus. Graham, this is probably one of the most secure locations remaining. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“What about looters, or the like?”
Dean swallowed down his frustration at the comment and kept his voice low, but it hardened to emphasise his point.
“Graham, you and I are the only adults on campus right now, and I need you to pull it together. The last thing I need is you putting the frights on these kids by making up a whole bunch of ‘what ifs’, okay?”
Chastised, the middle-aged teacher had nodded.
“Of course, of course, my apologies.”
Breathing calm in again, Dean softened his tone.
“I understand your anxiety, but you’re all going to have to get used to staying here and me being off site. I’m the only one with any training and experience, which means I’m going to have to do supply runs in the future. What I need you all to do while I’m gone this first time is make an inventory of everything we have in terms of food and medicine, okay? There’s a lot of mouths to feed here, and we’re going to have to get used to eating some pretty bland meals, but first thing we need to know is exactly what we do have.”
“Are you going to get Aunt Maria?” asked Sarah.
“How can he be your uncle?” piped up one boy, who Dean now knew to be Joseph. “He’s black and you’re ginger!”
A few of the other kids laughed nervously, and Dean was about to shoot the boy down, but Sarah beat him to the punch.
“See what happens when you let cousins marry?” she shrugged nonchalantly, throwing a casual thumb Joseph’s way, and rolling her eyes. The laughter was more genuine this time as Joseph was silenced by Sarah’s wit.
“My wife and I are Sarah’s godparents,” said Dean. “Her father and I were very close friends, and we’ve been in her life since she was born.”
Sarah’s smile wobbled for a moment as Dean said “were” and he cursed himself inwardly. There was nothing he could do about it now. This was life.
“Will Aunt Maria still be at home?”
“I rang her early yesterday morning when things were starting to get difficult and told her it was best to stay put, but you know what she’s like. If she sees someone in need she won’t hesitate, it’s just her way. Once the mobile networks and landlines went down, I couldn’t get hold of her anyway, and I came here for you at John’s request. Maria’s smart and resourceful. She can hang fire for a day or two, though I’d feel better with her here.” He looked around the canteen they all sat in. “This place seems like the best option to ride out the storm, so I need to go and get her, and bring her back here.” He turned and looked pointedly at Graham. “And not just because she’s my wife. She’s also the Senior Nurse Practitioner at Vale Infirmary, and pretty much runs the place when there is no supervising consultant on site.”
The notion of having a trained medical professional on campus definitely appealed to everyone.
“Could you do a final sweep of the grounds before you go?”
Again, Dean kept his voice calm, reminding himself that these people were mostly children, and scared, which they had every right to be. He was only human though, and the longer he left going after Maria, the more frustrated he became.
“I swept the whole grounds yesterday, Graham. Every last inch, every single building, one by one, room by room. The campus is clear of any walking dead, and all the living are in this room. Where my house is, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get all the way in my vehicle because likely some of the main roads will be snarled up, so I have to account for doing the last mile or so on foot. As you can imagine, it’s not like I can just sprint. I have to move slow, and careful, and vigilant. So, I need to go now, leaving me enough time for contingencies, and so I can get back long before dark.”
The words were delivered with a tone of silk but wrapped around an iron resolve. Dean was absolute in the desire to extract his wife from their home, and there was no way any argument would move him.
As anticipated, there was no possibility of driving the SUV to his front door. The primary junction he needed to take was impassable, with accident after accident piling together to make a mangled heap of ruined flesh and twisted metal. He could take another route to loop round the far side
