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Chapter 10
Amber stopped. ‘Ssssh!’ she hissed. We all followed her lead. Amber motioned towards a flowerbed with some low bushes. I carefully helped Ellis out of the wheelbarrow and we crawled under the bushes. We lay quietly for a while, daring not to breath too loud and then I saw a shaft of light cross the lawn in front of us. Another and then one more followed this. Three tall figures stepped out of the shadows and moved to the middle of the lawn. Soldiers. The same ones as I had seen on the truck. The outline of their weapons and gas masks stood stark in silhouette. It looked like they were looking for something. Or someone.
‘We’re saved,’ I thought. All we need to do is tell them who we are and they will take us to safety. I looked at Ellis and Amber. They both shook their heads. ‘No,’ mouthed Ellis and I knew she could read my mind. I heard the crackle of static and one of the soldiers spoke.
‘Negative, Fox Four. No sign. Proceeding to next check point.’
You’re too loud, I thought. You are far too loud. I looked at Abe. He smiled but I could see that he was nervous. We waited and watched. The soldiers were standing still and didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry. One of them removed their gas mask and I could see the face of a woman in the moonlight. She looked angry and tired. Perhaps she is not the best person to approach, I mused, and just as I was thinking this I saw the shadows behind the soldiers start to move. Figures began to form in the darkness and as I watched these figures acquired limbs and heads and more importantly, mouths. Viros.
The soldiers were slow to react and the swarm was upon them before the woman could even get her mask back on. They shouldered their machine guns and started to shoot at the viros. Gunfire lit the darkness like a strobe and this made everything look like it was happening in slow motion. The soldier got her mask back on but couldn’t fire fast enough to prevent three viros pulling her to the floor. Her colleagues were firing rapidly but the number of viros in the swarm made it hard for them to keep them at bay.
‘Should we do something?’ I whispered to the others under the rapid crack of the guns.
‘Like what?’ replied Amber sharply. ‘What do you think we should do?’ I felt embarrassed and fell silent.
As one soldier kept firing the other was trying to rescue the soldier who was struggling and fighting beneath the viros. Through a combination of brute strength and luck the soldier managed to free herself and crawl to one side as her colleague emptied his gun into the attackers. She pulled a pistol from out of her belt and started to fire as well. The three viros were torn apart by the bullets and fell to the floor.
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Chapter 9
‘Sorry, Amber,’ I said as we left the tunnel. ‘I saw the viro’s shadow as it moved but didn’t warn you in time. I guess I kind of froze.’ I felt terrible.
‘It’s fine,’ Amber said kindly. ‘This is so new and so frightening for all of us that it will take a lot of getting used to.’ Abe agreed.
‘We have a slight advantage,’ he said, ‘because the two of us have been alone for a while now.’
‘What do you mean alone?’ asked Ellis. ‘Even before the outbreak?’
‘Yes,’ said Amber. ‘Our parents were out of the country on business and we were being looked after by our neighbor but she got drunk and hit Abe one day and so we moved back into our own house without telling anyone. We naturally assumed that it would only be for a few days until our parents came back but then all this happened and it is highly likely that they are never coming back.’ Amber paused. No one said anything.
More sadness, I thought. More sadness than we should all have to bear at our young age. Normally, there would be time enough for all that later but now there is no more normally. I looked at the three new friends I had found and felt pleased that we had met, even if it was under such terrible circumstances.
‘I’m glad that we have found each other,’ I said. ‘It really means a lot to me.’ Ellis nodded.
‘Me too. I was stuck on a roof with my family gone and not knowing what to do. First Jake, then you two, I’m really lucky.’
‘I know what you mean,’ said Abe. ‘It feels better for the two of us since we met you.’ Following her very recent close encounter, Amber was understandably keen to get going again.
‘I hate to break up the party,’ she said, ‘but we have a viro-crawling town to cross and little time to do it. Once morning comes again everything is going to be twice as hard as it is now.’
Once out of the tunnel we began to make good progress and the wheelbarrow moved nicely across the pavement. We swung a right at the entrance and headed into the ornamental gardens. Built in 1872, the gardens were designed for relaxed strolls in the sunshine, stopping to smell the flowers in the carefully planted borders or sitting on a bench and watching the world go by. They were never intended for midnight dashes past members of the walking dead but there is a first time for everything and we hurried on. There is a small bridge in the middle of the gardens that marks the very centre of the site and as we crossed that we noticed a commotion in the duck pond to the right of the bridge. We slowed to a careful crawl and took a look. I gasped.
The moon was shining on the pond to reveal a writhing, churning mess of viros who were stuck in the thick mud and unable to escape. They wailed and howled as they slipped and thrashed and struggled. The water wasn’t too deep but the combination of the mud and the churning helpless viros meant that they were trapped. I watch horrified, as if I was witnessing the end of some terrible medieval battle.
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Chapter 8
When we were ready to leave Abe said that he would check to see if the swarm was still in the tunnel.
‘Take care,’ said Ellis with real concern in her voice. Abe put his arm on hers.
‘I always do,’ he said without a hint of boasting. ‘Our dad told us both that if it ever came down to it that we should take care of ourselves and each other.’ Abe looked at Amber.
‘He could never have predicted a time like this,’ she said, ‘but we owe it to him and each other to heed his advice.’ Abe looked back at Ellis.
‘I’ll be back before you know it.’
Abe came back ten minutes later. He looked very relaxed.
‘The main swarm seemed to have passed by a while ago. I waited to see if there were any stragglers and apart from a lame-looking viro with a broken leg crawling after everyone else, there was no sign of any movement.’
‘Right,’ said Amber. ‘Let’s get going. It will be easier to go back the way we all came and then head through the Ornamental Gardens.’ She looked at Ellis. ‘There will probably be some viros on the way but the paths are all concrete and we can move faster than them so we should be ok.’
I marveled at how calm and collected Amber and Abe were. It was as if they had been doing this type of thing for ages now. I hoped that I didn’t let anyone down.
It was a simple thing to carefully pass the wheelbarrow back down the shaft and place it quietly in the tunnel. Ellis was still in a lot of pain but was determined not to slow anyone down. She climbed gingerly into the wheelbarrow, loaded her catapult and nodded.
“Let’s get going,’ she said. I picked up the handles of the barrow and waited until I could get the weight balanced. It was heavy but I thought I would be alright. Amber went in front, holding the mop in front of her like a warrior. Abe followed behind, spray can at the ready. As I pushed the barrow it began to bump against the railway sleepers and each jolt was very painful for Ellis. She looked up at me as if to say don’t worry and so I started to pick up speed.
We passed the viro that Abe had spotted earlier. It was not much older than us and looked like any number of the older teenagers who always used to stand around in large groups in the town centre. Its leg was very badly broken and the bone was sticking out of its shin. It could barely move but some instinct or impulse was forcing it to keep going. Even though I knew that it would not hesitate to rip me apart if it got the chance I still felt sorry for it. As I past I thought I saw a glimpse of pain and confusion in its bloody, broken face. What must it feel like, I wondered, to suddenly wake up like this? We kept on moving.
As we approached the tunnel’s entrance I thought I saw a shadow detach itself from the wall but before I could warn the others I saw Amber knocked to the ground by a giant viro. She struggled and struggled but was pinned hard. The viro was big and tall and was trying to bite Amber’s face. Ellis fired her catapult but the stone only hit the back of the viro and nothing happened. Amber was fighting with all her might. I dropped the barrow and raced for Amber’s mop. I grabbed it and with a running charge I rammed the mop into the side of the viro’s head. The viro reared its head and Ellis fired again. This time the stone hit the viro on the temple and it roared with pain or anger or annoyance. Distracted, the giant viro turned towards us. Amber saw her chance and scrambled free.
The viro was trying to stand up when I hit it again with the mop. Luckily, I hit it hard enough for the viro to fall onto its back. Quick as a flash Abe stepped forward and sprayed it full in the face with the spray can. Enraged and now blinded, the flailing viro lay on its back and railed like an angry turtle. Amber pulled me and Abe away.
‘We’ve got to keep going,’ she said breathlessly. ‘We don’t stand a real chance if we try and fight them. We are faster than them but they are much heavier.’
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Chapter 7
As we sat and recovered from our ordeal, I described our adventures to Amber and Abe. I told them about Mr. Smith, Ellis on the roof and the soldiers in the trucks. I also told them about the battle we thought we saw taking place.
‘We saw that too,’ said Abe, ‘and were planning to head in that direction.’ Amber shook her head.
‘It seemed like a great idea at the time but the closer we got, the thicker the crowds of viros got and in the end we gave up.’
‘I know,’ said Ellis. ‘We thought about the same thing but the soldiers will likely shoot anyone who just walks up to them unannounced. If we had a vehicle then that would be another story.’
‘But none of us can drive,’ said Abe.
‘Vinnie can,’ replied Ellis. ‘Well, at least he had started his driving lessons. I bet he could drive us to the soldiers.’
‘He probably could,’ said Amber, ‘but we need to find him first.’
‘Exactly,’ said Ellis. ‘What are we waiting for?’ Amber looked at Ellis’s ankle.
‘You won’t get far with that ankle,’ she said. ‘Perhaps we should wait a while.’ Everyone fell silent again and I felt very sad for Ellis. Although I had only just met her I already knew how independent she was and the thought of slowing everyone down must be really annoying her. I looked around the dirty storeroom. I saw a pile of orange traffic cones and there was something behind that looked interesting.
‘Hang on,’ I said and walked over to the corner. I moved the cones out the way. ‘What about this!’ I said as I pulled a rusty wheelbarrow away from the wall. I turned to Ellis. ‘We could take turns to push you in this. You wouldn’t slow anyone down and you could fire your catapult if necessary.’
‘Brilliant,’ said Amber and Ellis together. I carried on looking around the room.
‘I think it would be a good idea if we all armed ourselves with something. I know that none of us are trained fighters but we have all watched enough films and played enough games to understand the need to fight back against the viros with something.’ I grabbed a mop that was minding its own business beside the sink. Underneath the sink I found a large can of red spray paint.
‘Have a look around for anything else you think we might need,’ I said. ‘Food. Medicine. A torch. Anything.’
We spent the next five minutes finding all the useful things we could. Abe found a barely-working torch but couldn’t find any spare batteries.
‘We might pick up some on the way,’ he said. I handed him the red spray paint.
‘You can spray this into the face of any viro that gets too close.’ I handed the mop to Amber. ‘You can use this like a spear if you need to.’ She grinned.
‘Put what you can carry in your rucksacks,’ I said, ‘ and the rest we can put in the wheelbarrow with Ellis.’
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VIROS (Barnaby Taylor, 2017)
Chapter 6
With the hatch in the floor bolted shut, the twins led me and Ellis down a dimly lit service corridor until we came to a large metal door in the wall. The boy pulled the door open and stepped through.
‘After you,’ said the girl to the two of us. Ellis walked slowly through and I followed.
We found ourselves in a small utility room. One wall was lined with metal shelves. There was a steel sink in the corner and above the sink was a first aid box. The girl opened the box and took out a box of bandages. She pointed to a rusty chair by the door.
‘Sit down, ‘ she said to Ellis. ‘I’ll take a look at your ankle.’ Ellis sat down. I suddenly felt very tired and slumped to the floor. The boy handed me a bottle of water. I said thank you with my eyes and took a big swig.
‘Who are you both and why were you following us?’
‘I’m Abraham,’ said the boy, ‘but everyone calls me Abe.’ Abe pointed at the girl. ‘My twin sister’s name is Amber.’
‘And I’m the eldest by three and a half minutes,’ said Amber as she expertly wound a bandage around Ellis’s ankle. ‘We were on our way back here,’ she continued, ‘when we heard the two of you making enough noise to wake the already awake dead.’ She laughed.
‘This tunnel is a favourite short-cut for the infected of this town and had you carried on much further you would have stumbled upon so many of them that you would never have escaped. We were running to warn you.’
‘And also because there was another swarm right behind us,’ laughed Abe. Ellis looked puzzled.
‘But how did you know that this place existed?’ she asked.
‘Our dad owned the construction company that was repairing this tunnel and he told about this secret room. Apparently, it was built just in case anyone got trapped in the tunnel due to a train crash, landslide or other disaster. They could make their way here and wait to be rescued.’ Abe was a cheerful boy and laughed again. ‘Clearly no-one is coming to rescue us any time soon.’
Amber finished with Ellis’s ankle and put the bandages away. Everyone was silent for a minute and then I spoke.
‘We are Jake and Ellis and we met on top of a roof. My mum is missing and we are on our way to find Ellis’s brother, Vinnie who we think is still alive and hiding at St. Dunstan’s School. We have been bumping into these viros all day.’ The twins nodded.
‘Viros,’ said Abe. ‘That’s a cool name for these things.’
‘We went past the school earlier,’ said Amber ‘and there was a group of people on the roof of the gymnasium. We couldn’t stop to help as we were being followed by a very persistent bunch of these things.’
‘We managed to lose them, ‘ continued Abe, ‘and made our way here to wait for nightfall. Once it was dark we sneaked out to try and see if there was anyone else left alive. We were just coming back when we saw the two of you ahead of us.’
‘We had no way of knowing who you were,’ said Amber, ‘so we followed you until we realised that we were being following by a swarm. That’s when we started running.’
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Chapter 5
The railway cutting was now in front of us. Trying to show how brave I was (not) feeling, I went first and dropped down over the edge. I landed softly enough in the thick undergrowth that had grown along the brickwork. I turned back up and Ellis passed me her backpack. She lowered herself over the edge.
‘Ouch!’ she hissed painfully as she landed. ‘I think I’ve just twisted my ankle.’ I looked down to see that she had landed on a broken brick. I put my arm around her shoulder and we staggered onto the track ballast. Ellis sat down and looked at her ankle.
‘It’s really sore,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s broken but my ankle doesn’t feel quite right.’ She looked sad again. ‘I’m sorry.’ I sat down next to her and wanted to put my arm around her shoulder but didn’t know whether I should.
‘Don’t say sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s not your fault.’
‘But I’m going to slow us both down,’ said Ellis disappointedly. ‘It’ll take forever to get there now.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ I said even though I knew she was right. ‘If your shortcut works then we’ll find Vinnie before you know it.’ I stood up. ‘Come on, we’d better get going.’ I leaned down and helped Ellis get to her feet.
The tunnel entrance loomed dark and dangerous ahead of us. There was absolutely no way I wanted to go in there but it was too late now. We were here and Ellis needed first aid. I really wanted to find Vinnie now and every second we waited felt like a second too long. I put my arm around Ellis and tried to support her as best I could. We set off into the darkness.
It is amazing how quickly the black of a tunnel can swallow a person and we were only a few steps before it was almost impossible to see where we were going. I kept looking back at the entrance so that I could gauge how far we had gone but it looked like were getting nowhere. Ellis struggled along beside me, limping painfully but bravely not making a noise. It was so dark and so frightening in the tunnel that we were both afraid to speak.
We shuffled forward slowly and it was then that I knew were being followed. To begin with, I thought I heard something slip on the ballast back by the entrance. Ellis felt me getting tense.
‘What’s the matter?’ she hissed in my ear.
‘There’s something following us,’ I hissed back. ‘I just heard it slip.’
‘We’d better hurry then,’ said Ellis and began to limp faster.
Ellis and I started to move a bit faster but it was hard work. Whatever was behind us seemed to be keeping up and I was starting to get really worried. I tightened my grip around Ellis’s shoulder and pulled her along the tunnel. Though I could hear the pain in her breathing she didn’t complain. We struggled on for a couple more minutes and then I could hear the sound of feet scrabbling on the ballast and whatever it was behind us started to run. This was hopeless. Ellis was going as fast she could but that wasn’t fast enough. Whatever was behind seemed to be gaining on us rapidly.
‘Ellis,’ I whispered. ‘We need to get out this tunnel.’ She nodded.
‘But how? Tunnels only have one way in and one way out.’
‘Yes and no,’ I said. ‘I once did a school project on Victorian engineering. Tunnels like this would have a series of ventilation shafts dotted along their length. If we can find an entrance to one then we might be able to get out of here.’
We both started to feel our way along the filthy brick wall of the tunnel, hoping to find a ladder or a doorway. This slowed us down and meant that our pursuers started to gain rapidly on us. My hand found a row of pipes attached horizontally to the wall.
‘Quick,’ I whispered. ‘We’ve got to follow the pipes.’
Decades of grime and dirt and dust made the pipes filthy to the touch but I kept my hand on them and let them lead us deeper into the darkness. As we moved along I could feel the pipes change direction slightly as the wall of the tunnel curved its way deeper into the hillside. It was hard going with one hand on the pipes and the other hand dragging the limping Ellis behind me. I could hear she was really suffering now.
‘I can’t keep going,’ she said between gritted teeth. My ankle is killing me. You go and find the shaft and come back for me later if you can.’
‘No way!’ I said. ‘I’m not leaving you to be eaten alive in a dark dirty tunnel. You saved my life once, now I’m going to save yours.’ I pulled her harder. ‘Now come on.’
As we followed the curve of the tunnel the unmistakable howling of another viro swarm now joined the sound of the scrabbling feet behind us. Ellis started crying with the pain as she pushed herself to run faster and faster. This is hopeless, I thought. Why couldn’t I have woken up a viro like everyone else? Why did I have to survive? I started to get a pain in my side.
‘Stitch,’ I gasped. ‘I’ve got a stitch.’
‘Keep going!’ she screamed. ‘There must be something up ahead of us.’
‘There is,’ said a voice behind us. ‘It’s just up here on the left.’ I half-turned and to my amazement saw two identical-looking children run past us. They disappeared from view and then I heard the sound of someone climbing a metal ladder followed by a clang.
‘Quick,’ said the voice. ‘Get up the ladder before they get hold of us.’
I pushed Ellis in front of me and she started to climb.
‘Too slowly,’ said the voice beside me. ‘She’s climbing too slowly.’ I put my shoulders beneath Ellis’s feet and started to boost her up the ladder. Up above her was a shaft of light and someone was leaning down to help pull her up. With a heave of my shoulder I launched Ellis up through the hole above us. I followed and then the voice behind and we all tumbled into a small circular room. The boy who had been leaning down to help Ellis slammed the metal hatch down over the hole and slid the thick-looking bolt across.
‘That should hold them for a while,’ he said with a sooty smile.
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VIROS (Barnaby Taylor, 2017)
FOUR KIDS. ONE APOCALYPSE.
Chapter 4
A loud silence finally fell upon the road. I shifted uncomfortably and Ellis let go. I carefully stood up and looked around. My legs ached badly. I had pins and needles in my feet. Ellis let go of my hand. We stood side by side and looked around. We were surrounded by piles and piles of broken, battered, bloodied bodies. Each one thrown against and on top of the next in the craziest of positions and angles. We took a moment to look around. Then Ellis spoke.
‘Did you see those soldiers and their guns? I wonder how many other people survived and where they are living?’ I shrugged.
‘I have no idea but I wish we were with them now instead of standing here.’ I really didn’t want to be out alone at night. I wanted to be safe with my mum. Ellis picked up her backpack and loaded her catapult. She put her hand on my shoulder.
‘We had better get moving while we have the chance.’ I nodded and tried to hide my fear. Ellis smiled again but I didn’t want her to see my face so I went to look for my rucksack.
This time we were far more cautious and I walked backwards as Ellis walked forwards. ‘That way,’ she said, ‘we have all angles covered and we will see another swarm of those things long before they see us.’ It was a sensible plan but was very hard for me to do. I was still feeling very anxious after our encounter with the swarms and the soldiers and didn’t fancy any further upset this evening. Everything was becoming too much.
Ellis explained that Vinnie’s school could easily be reached by heading for the railway line near the ring road. We couldn’t really get to the school via the town centre, she argued, because that is where most of the town’s viros have probably gathered. Instead, we should follow the railway line. I was so glad that Ellis had such a sensible-sounding plan that I didn’t think much more about it. I was just happy to get going. After all, she said, it should save us a good couple of hours of walking and that was fine by me.
We approached the railway line under cover of the tall trees of the copse that stood on one side of the ring road. On the far horizon we could see the orange flashes of more gunfire and the sound of the bullets occasionally reached us.
‘That must be some battle over there,’ I whispered. ‘I’m kind of glad we’re caught up in that.’
‘At least it means that someone is fighting back,’ said Ellis. ‘I would hate to think that we were the only people left who hadn’t given up.’
‘Those soldiers didn’t look like they had given up,’ I said. ‘Quite the opposite!’
‘But what if that was all there was left of them?’ continued Ellis. ‘A handful of trucks against the rest of the world.’ She fell silent and I heard doubt in her voice. I wanted to be able to answer her with something positive and encouraging but that’s really hard to do when you are creeping around at night desperately trying not to disturb a town full of bloodthirsty viros.
The railway line runs along a cutting and then into a tunnel that passes under a large hill. It was only as the cutting came into view that I realised what Ellis really meant with her plan. She was actually proposing that we save time by creeping through the tunnel. You must be joking, I said to myself. I pulled her arm.
‘We can’t go through the tunnel,’ I whispered and Ellis could now hear the fear in my voice. ‘That is the craziest idea I have ever heard.’
‘But we must,’ she replied firmly. ‘It’s the only way.’
‘It will be packed full of viros!’ I protested.
‘So is everywhere else,’ Ellis replied and I could hear her resolve once more. ‘This way might actually be viro-free.’
‘I very much doubt it,’ I replied.
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VIROS (Barnaby Taylor, 2017)
FOUR KIDS. ONE APOCALYPSE. ARE YOU READY?
Chapter 3
This was the first time in the short time that I had known her that I had seen Ellis looked scared and this of course made me feel terrified. She seemed so calm and collected, even when she talked about her parents and so I kind of assumed that she was one of those fearless-type kids you read about in comics or see in films; the ones who seem old before their time and wise beyond their years. I went to speak and she shook her head. Her eyes were wide and I thought she was going to cry. If this was how she looked then how must I have appeared to her? I would hate to think. It is hard to be cool when you are petrified but it is harder still to be petrified in front of someone you would like to impress. The swarm was stumbling noisily closer and had now blocked off the road completely, meaning there was no way we would be able to run back past them, even if we wanted to.
I looked around, desperately trying to think of something to do. The road we were on had terraced houses on both sides but all the doors I could see were shut and no –one had left their windows open just in case two kids might need to escape from a double viro swarm some time in the not-too-distant future. There was the odd tree in the front gardens but only the ornamental fir-type not the big-tall-hide-from-a-monster-type.
The viros were getting so close now that I was starting to see their faces and what they were wearing. Like those old paintings of Hell we were once shown at school by our art teacher, the swarm was twisting, howling, growling, moaning, mindless and contorted. Angry-looking men and women, as well as teenagers and kids are stumbling and bumping and getting in each other’s way and pushing each other along and generally moving towards me and Ellis in the kind of nightmarish, creeping way you normally see in those TV shows that none of us are meant to watch but all of us have seen. Fortunately, and unlike many of the other apocalyptic swarms you see in films, our viros weren’t the running kind which was handy because if they had been then it would have all been over before it had even begun.
I looked at Ellis and she still looked uncertain. I pointed at the nearest front garden and she nodded. We quickly climbed over the low wall and tried to find the thickest bush we could find to hide behind. Things didn’t look good and thinking that the end was about to begin I shut my eyes and tried to imagine exactly how it felt to be ripped to shreds by other people’s teeth. I reached out and gripped Ellis’s hand. She gripped mine hard in return. In any other situation this would have been a perfect next step in any developing relationship. Sadly, however, there was nothing perfect about any of this and so with no thought of anything else other than our rapidly approaching death, we just huddled together with only a flimsy shrub between oblivion and us.
The noise was deafening now and there seemed nothing left to do but wait for the inevitable to happen. The swarms wailed and gnashed and screamed and keened, as if angry to have been transformed into bloodthirsty monsters against their will. Contorted twisted unhappy figures raged against the circumstances of their new existence. But it wasn’t just hateful sounds that filled the night. My nostrils began to fill with the stench of the recently infected and the business that their infection has caused them to do, namely eat human flesh. I had never smelt anything like this before (thankfully). It was acrid and metallic and ripe and rotten. I gagged. With my eyes tightly closed I could feel my senses being totally overwhelmed. I felt small and weak and helpless. I felt like there was nothing I could do. Ellis crouched terrified beside me. I knew she was feeling the same way. She gripped my hand and I thought the bones were going to start shattering one by one, knuckle by knuckle, joint by joint, finger by finger.
‘This is it!’ I thought. ‘This is how it feels to die.’ I braced myself and waited for the swarm to fall upon us.
But it didn’t. Above the baleful din of the viros I suddenly heard the sounds of gunfire and engines. I opened my eyes and saw that the night was full of nozzle flashes and in the strange strobe light that these flashes created I watched in awe and wonder and shock as the swarms of angry viros were torn apart by a storm of bullets. A convoy of trucks was forcing itself through the swarms, scattering viros as it did. Each truck was carrying soldiers wearing gas masks and each soldier was firing at the viros. We crouched in stunned silence as the soldiers made short work of both swarms. Bullets flew everywhere. Dead viros began to pile up all around us and as they did so I felt the sudden urge to run towards the trucks waving my arms in a desperate bid for the soldiers to spot us and save us from the viros. I half-stood up, ready to leap over the low wall but Ellis pulled me back and held me tight and wouldn’t let me go.
‘They’ll shoot us too,’ she whispered. ‘At a time like this they won’t be able to tell the difference between the living and the dead. We’re all viros to them right now.’ She wrapped her arms tightly around me.
‘We need to stay here and not move.’
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BARNABY TAYLOR 