‘You complete idiot,’ whispered Amber as we hid in the copse and watched the viros get bored looking for us. ‘You could have got us all killed!’

I blushed. I was only trying to impress Ellis, I wanted to say but I was never going to say that out loud.

‘Hang on,’ whispered Abe. ‘We were the ones on the roof of the caravan. Jake was trying to rescue us.’

Amber snorted.

‘We were doing fine,’ she said, ‘until Mr. Marching Band here decided to do his circus thing.’ Amber jabbed me with her arm. She was very angry.

‘Don’t you ever do anything ever again like that,’ she hissed. ‘Not ever!’

‘I won’t,’ I whispered shamefaced. ‘I really promise I won’t.’

And at this moment I wished that I had jumped into the swarm of viros and not landed next to my friends. I couldn’t bear the shame. To make matters much worse, we had lost everything we had managed to scavenge up to now. We had no food, no water, and no supplies of any kind. What were we going to do? I was sinking rapidly into a hole full of hurt and shame. The way I was feeling now death would have been quite a nice alternative. Then, just when I thought that I couldn’t feel any worse, Abe noticed that Ellis was missing.

‘Where’s Ellis,’ he whispered.

‘Don’t tell me she didn’t make it?’ hissed Amber. She hit me again. ‘If she’s waking up dead somewhere because of your tomfoolery then I hope she gets the chance to eat you first.’

‘Hey!’ said Abe. ‘Don’t be so mean, Amber. Jake feels bad enough already without you making responsible him for everything.’

‘But he is responsible for everything!’

Abe put his hand on my shoulder.

‘I’m sure that I saw Ellis clear the fence,’ Abe continued. ‘She must be around here somewhere.’

We found Ellis propped up against the back of a thick tree. She was unconscious. Her ankle was all bent. It didn’t look good. She must have crawled as far as she could before she fainted from the pain. Things were just getting worse by the second. Amber looked at me and started to speak. There was fire in her eyes. Abe put his hand to her mouth.

‘Not now, Sis,’ he whispered kindly. ‘Not now.’

Abe looked at me.

‘Jake, I need you to try and find something to use as a splint. Ellis’s ankle looks broken to me.’

As I crawled away I looked over to the fence and saw a single viro leaning against it. Its head was titled to one side and I thought at first that it had seen me. I froze. The viro didn’t move. I watched and waited. After what seemed like a lifetime it was clear that it hadn’t seen me. I studied the viro in the early morning light.

The viro had once been a teenage girl and still had a ponytail. It looked exactly like the older girls l sometimes saw heading up to the secondary school on the hill; the ordinary older girls who were someone’s sister and someone’s daughter and someone’s best friend forever. The kind of ordinary older girls that fascinated me and intimidated me at the same time. The kind that excited me when I saw them standing together chatting but also made me worry that they were talking about me as I passed them on the street.

The viro’s face was angry and contorted, with bulging strips of muscle pulling its chin upwards. Its eyes were bloodshot and dangerous-looking. As it stood beside the fence the viro licked its ruined, bloodstained lips and I wondered if it was thinking about some of the people it had undoubtedly killed.

How many people had this viro attacked? I wanted to say ‘she’ but wasn’t really sure what to say. Could we still call them ‘he’ and ‘she?’ They were still alive but they weren’t still alive. They weren’t human any more. Or were they? Perhaps this was the future for the human race? There were more of them now than there was of us. That would then make me the odd one out. I was totally confused. I found a couple of thick sticks that I thought might be useful and crawled back to the others.

Ellis was awake again but in lots of pain. She was sweaty and crying. I couldn’t bear to look. I reached down to hold her hand and she tried to smile at me. I started to cry. Amber was trying to get a better look at Ellis’s ankle but every time she tried Ellis flinched and groaned. Amber stopped and looked at the two of us.

‘It’s getting light real quick and we have got to get Ellis out of here. It won’t take long for those things to find us and then we’re done for.’

Amber looked at Ellis.

‘We’re going to have to try and get you up.’

Ellis nodded. Amber looked at me and Abe.

‘You two need to get her arms and I’ll hold her legs.’

Amber grimaced.

‘Ellis, we’re going to be as careful as we can but this is really going to hurt.’

Ellis gritted her teeth.

‘I know,’ she said bravely through the pain.

It was Abe who finally broke the silence.

            ‘Look what I found,’ he said, holding up a small plastic bag.

‘Here’s some batteries for the torch and a great big bunch of keys. I bet they would get us into every single caravan on this site.’

            Amber smiled at her brother.

            ‘We haven’t got time for all that. We should grab what we can and get going again.’

            ‘You’re right,’ said Abe, ‘but we’re exhausted. We have been running and fighting for hours and we need to rest.’ He looked around. ‘This place is ideal.’

            We all looked at Amber. She frowned and then finally nodded.

            ‘If we must,’ she said kindly. ‘But we can’t stay too long. It’s three in the morning and we need to be back on the road in two hours. We have to be at the school before it gets too light.’

            ‘We will, Sis,’ said Abe. ‘I promise.

            I sat down in an office chair and found myself suddenly very tired. My arms and legs ached really badly. I was starving as well but felt too tired to eat. Abe handed me a bottle of water and I took a long swig. I passed the bottle back to him, swung my legs up onto the desk and leaned back. The chair tilted backwards. I closed my eyes.

            I woke up to find that the room was still dark. I had no idea how long I had been asleep for. I looked around and panicked. Ellis, Abe and Amber were nowhere to be seen. Where were they? The chair creaked as I stood up and I started at the noise. It sounded so loud. I went into the backroom and saw that the door was ajar. I went to close it and that’s when I saw Ellis.

            She was crouching at the foot of the door, looking out into the darkness. I knelt down beside her. She turned and put her finger on my lips. She shook her head and I nodded mine. She opened the door ever so slightly and pointed outside. I had to stand up to see what she was showing me. I gasped.

            I could see Abe and Amber standing on top of the caravan closest to us. In the moonlight it looked like quite a fun thing to do until I noticed that a large group of viros were rocking the caravan and trying to shake the twins from the roof. I looked at Ellis and could see that she was scared. I knelt down again and put my mouth tight against her ear.

            ‘Meet me by the gate,’ I whispered. ‘I’m going to distract the viros. You three must wait until they are gone and then get out of here.’ I went back to get my rucksack and put it on my back. I knelt down again. ‘Abe will have to push you until I get back.’

            Ellis shook her head but it was too late and before she could stop me, I had carefully opened the door, stepped outside and started to creep towards the caravan. The viros were too preoccupied with the twins on the roof to notice me. I had to get their attention. I looked around and saw an old metal fire bucket lying in the grass. I picked it up. If I had something metal I could hit the bucket and make a noise. Then I remembered the spoon. I pulled it from my pocket and hit the side of the bucket with it. The clang was quite a loud one. I hit it again. Clang. One of the viros heard the sound and turned around. I hit the bucket again. Amber and Abe looked down. Another viro turned round. Then another. I kept hitting the bucket and started slowly walking backwards as I did so. The viros started to follow me. Clang. Clang. Clang. The bucket rang like a rusty bell and now all of the viros had turned round and were starting to shuffle after me.

I was starting to enjoy this and beat out a marching rhythm for the viros. I know that the joke was lost on them but I still thought it was pretty funny. I looked over to the door and saw that Ellis was still watching. I felt really proud. I was saving the lives of two of my friends and Ellis was watching me do it. I was no longer the silly little baby leaving a tearful message on an answerphone. I was big and strong. I hit the bucket even harder and started to march myself, pumping my legs up and down as I did so.

            ‘Left. Right. Left. Right,’ I called out loud as I marched. ‘Left. Right. Left. Right.’ I imagined that the viros were my own private army and they were under my control. ‘Left. Right. Left. Right. Quick march!’ The viros followed, ready for my order. It was then that I tripped backwards over the low brick wall of the car park.

It had been Amber’s idea to break the window at the back of the building and let ourselves in.

            ‘No-one will mind,’ she said. ‘With everything that’s going on, the owners would want us to be safe.’ She was right, of course but I still felt a bit funny about doing it.

            The caravan park was apparently deserted and rows of white caravans stood side by side like monuments to the worst kind of summer holidays. Abe wanted to look in each caravan for supplies but as Amber reminded him, there must have been at least a hundred or more of them and that would take us too long. Ellis, who had woken up by now, agreed with Amber. So, with Ellis, Amber and me standing guard, Abe broke the window as quietly as he could, which wasn’t very quietly as he used a brick he had found. Then, after carefully putting his arm though and lifting the catch, pulled the window open, stood up on the wheelbarrow and climbed through into the darkness. A few seconds later, the backdoor opened and there stood Abe.

            The backdoor led into a small kitchen area and while me and Ellis looked through the cupboards for anything useful, Abe and Amber opened the door in front of us and carefully crept inside. The cupboards were practically bare. Ellis found a jar of very cheap coffee and two damp paper tubes of sugar. I found a rusty spoon in one of the drawers and put it in my pocket without further thought. I looked up to see Abe standing at the door.

            ‘In here,’ he whispered. ‘Come in here. We’ve found something.’ I looked at Ellis and we followed Abe into the other room.

            We entered to see Amber standing in the darkness beside a desk. She had a telephone in her hand and looked like she was listening to something. She looked up and smiled.

            ‘The line is still working,’ she said. ‘Perhaps we should call someone?’

            ‘But who could we call?’ asked Ellis. ‘My parents aren’t my parents any more. You two don’t have any. ‘Ellis looked at me. ‘That just leaves you, Jake, and you don’t even know where your mum is.’

            ‘I could try my house,’ I said unconvincingly. ‘Perhaps she’s back by now and wondering where I am.’

            Amber smiled and handed me the receiver.

            ‘Here’s your chance to find out.’

            I held the receiver in my hand and thought hard. With everything going on my mind was scrambled and I couldn’t remember my home phone number. I wracked my brains and tried to think. I started to panic. What if she was at home? What would I say to her? I couldn’t ask her to come and get us. That would be far too dangerous. I put the phone to my ear. I started to dial.

            I listened as the phone rang and rang and with every beat I imagined her picking up the phone and answering, answering as if nothing was wrong and everything was as it had always been. But she wasn’t at home and didn’t pick up and so the answer phone started.

            ‘Hi, We’re not here right now but if you leave your name and number we promise we’ll get back to you when we can.’

            I started to cry as the sound of my mum’s voice made me realize how much I loved her and missed her and needed her. She was my everything and I didn’t know where she was now. I started to speak.

            ‘Hi Mum,’ I sniffed. ‘It’s Jake. I’m alive but I’m scared and I miss you. I hope you’re alive too. If you ever hear this message you should know that I love you and I will try and find you. It’s too dangerous for you to look for me but I’m with some friends and we are going to be ok, I think. So don’t worry. We are going to find Ellis’s brother and then we are going to look for you.’

            I stopped speaking and carried on crying. Amber took the receiver from my hand and put it down. I felt Ellis put her arms around me. Amber smiled in front of me. Abe stood still and watched. No one spoke.

I once went on holiday to a caravan park with my mum but we only lasted two days because it rained non-stop and the toilets were really dirty and the caravan was tiny and we both felt really sad about the whole thing. Even an ice cream from the shop couldn’t cheer me up. Now, me, Ellis, Abe and Amber were hiding in the office of the local caravan park, too terrified to turn on a light.

            We had followed the path under the bridge and despite the fact that my arms were really aching and I was really scared we left the latest swarm a long way behind us. The river gurgled black and fast beside us and, if we weren’t fleeing for our lives, it would have sounded quite relaxing. But the fact that we were fleeing for our lives meant that that the sound was anything but relaxing. I settled into a tired-arm groove and pushed the barrow for all I was worth. Ellis didn’t move and after a while I thought she had fallen asleep. I caught up with Amber.

            ‘We’re going to need to rest,’ I said. ‘I can’t keep going much longer. My arms are killing me.’ Amber pointed into the darkness ahead of us.

            ‘The caravan park is just up there past those trees. Perhaps we can rest there?’ Abe joined us.

            ‘We might get some more supplies,’ he said. ‘I need some batteries for this torch and we could do with some water.’

            ‘Won’t it be full of viros?’ I asked, hoping that I didn’t sound too scared.

            ‘It might,’ replied Amber, ‘but it’s pretty far out the way and if its only one or two then we should be alright if we stick together.’

            ‘How come you’re both so brave?’ I asked. ‘You seem like you’ve been doing this for ages.’

            Abe looked at Amber and she nodded.

            ‘We have been doing this for ages.’

            ‘We kind-of lied to you both back there,’ said Amber. ‘We weren’t waiting for our mum and dad to come back from holiday because she murdered him four years ago and then killed herself. We’ve been living in a home ever since.’

            ‘But they treated us really badly and so we ran away,’ said Abe. We’ve been on the run ever since.’ He laughed. ‘I guess with everything else that’s happening they’ve probably given up looking for us.’ I was stunned.

            ‘But how have you survived?’ I knew that I sounded young and stupid when I asked this question but I didn’t care. I simply had to know.

            ‘We slept rough when we had to and stole when we could,’ said Abe. ‘I know it sounds bad but we only stole things that we were sure people wouldn’t miss or worry about. We didn’t want to hurt anyone.’

            ‘We also begged,’ said Amber. ‘Its awkward and uncomfortable to begin with when you ask strangers for money but eventually you get used to it.’

            I didn’t know what to say. This was all so far away from what I knew and understood as my childhood. First Ellis and her parents turning into blood-crazed creatures and then Abe and Amber and their tales of hardship and woe. Compared to them all, I had led such a very quiet and simple life. Up until now, that is. Now, everything was upside down and nothing was how I like it.

Chapter 12
The sub-station was located at the very edge of the gardens and we arrived there without any further incident. The station was a squat concrete building with a large chain-link fence all the way around it. A streetlight stood tall beside it and bathed everything with a grey hue. The soldier took a key from his pocket, unlocked the gate and then once we were all through he locked it again. He then unlocked the metal door that led into the station. ‘Hurry up,’ he said. ‘We’d best not be seen by those things.’ We all did what he said. Once inside, he locked the door. ‘I’ll take first watch,’ he said gruffly. ‘Get some rest as we’ll be moving out at first light.’
We were in a large concrete room. A table and metal chair in one corner served as a crude command post. The second soldier helped his wounded colleague to lay down on a dirty mattress beneath a boarded-up window. He removed his gas mask and put it on the floor beside him. He then carefully moved the soldier’s leg to get a closer look at her wound. The soldier looked at Abe.
‘Pass me that med kit and the penlight beside it.’
Abe did what he was told. The soldier turned the penlight on, held it between his teeth and opened the med-kit. He put on a pair of surgical gloves, took out a pair of scissors and cut the soldier’s trousers to get a better look at the wound. She grunted.
‘You know it’s no use, don’t you?’ she hissed. ‘I’m going to turn.’ The soldier shook his head.
‘Not everyone does,’ he replied. ‘Only almost everyone.’ She tried to smile but couldn’t. The soldier turned to us. ‘This is going to take a while so why don’t you sit down and grab something to eat from that box beside the desk.’ He motioned with his head. Ellis sat down straightaway. Amber sat down next to her. Abe and I went over to the box. I grabbed a handful of cereal bars. Abe came back with some ready meals.
‘Chilli con carne or all day breakfast?’ he said.
‘They come with a ration heater so you don’t need a fire,’ said the soldier. ‘My ‘favourite’ is the chicken curry but I’ve had it four times this week already.’ He grimaced. ‘I think I might stick with chocolate for now.’
We sat for a while eating the rations. I can’t say they were particularly tasty but I was starving. Occasionally, the silence was disturbed by static crackling on one of the radios but this was about the only noise. I know it sounds odd but a strange sort of peace descended up on us.
The wounded soldier dozed for a while and as I watched her I could feel my eyes closing. I woke to find the gruff soldier sitting on the floor eating. Everyone else was asleep. He looked at me in the gloom.
‘How are you doing?’ he asked and I was surprised by the kindness in his voice. “I’m impressed that you have all managed to stay alive for this long. Those things are vicious.’ I looked at my sleeping friends.
‘Thanks to them,’ I said truthfully. ‘Ellis rescued me and then Abe and Amber rescued us.’ I looked concerned. ‘I don’t think that I have been much help so far.’ The soldier shook his head.
‘You were brave enough to break cover back there and risk being shot. That took real courage, especially as we have been fighting all day until we got lost.’ The soldier laughed. ‘It was silly really but the three of us got separated from the rest of our unit by a flash swarm that suddenly appeared. The rest managed to escape on a series of trucks but we weren’t so lucky. We were forced to set up base here and then try and establish contact with other units patrolling in the area. We were just out on our last patrol of the day when we bumped into you.’ I nodded my head.
‘Ellis and me saw the trucks earlier this evening. They saved us from the viros.’ The soldier laughed.
‘Viros,’ he said. ‘Is that what you call those things?’
‘What are they?’ I asked. ‘What has happened to the world?’
‘At this moment no one is really sure. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about terrorist attacks, dirty bombs, death cults, radioactive waste, global warming and genetic warfare. All I know is that last week all the armed forces were put on high alert and we were posted here.’
‘Why here?’ I asked.
‘Dungeness,’ replied the soldier, ‘the nuclear power station just down the coast. Two brigades have been moved into the region to protect sensitive resource sites and the power station is where our main force is stationed.’ The soldier sighed. ‘The country is out of control. With each passing hour more and more people are being infected.’
‘What happens once someone is infected?’
‘I’m not totally sure. People either turn straight away, take a while to turn or don’t turn at all. The virus is some kind of pathogen which once it enters your blood stream causes you to crave warm blood.’ I shuddered. The soldier’s radio suddenly burst into life.
‘Fox Two, this is Fox Four. Standby.’ The soldier lifted the handset to his mouth. I fell silent.
‘Fox Four. Come In.’ The soldier spoke clearly and the sound of his voice woke everyone. Ellis rubbed her eyes. Abe yawned.
‘Roger Fox Two. Be advised multiple targets in your sector. Swarm pattern emerging. Over.’
‘Roger Fox Four. Request immediate casevac. Plus four children.’
‘Say Again Fox Two.’
‘Request immediate casevac. Plus four children.’
‘Negative Fox Two. Repeat. Negative. Sector compromised.’
‘Roger Fox Four. Fox Two Out.’ The soldier looked worried. ‘You need to leave,’ he said. ‘Things are going to get very sporty round here.’ The first soldier came back from outside.
‘It’s getting mighty crowded out there. We need to move.’ The second soldier looked at his colleague.
‘We’re not going anywhere. She can’t be moved and we can’t leave her here.’ The first soldier nodded and then looked at us.
‘You need to get away from here. Things are going to get nasty.’ I gulped. Ellis looked worried. Amber and Abe nodded.
‘Can’t we help?’ I asked. Both soldiers shook their heads.
‘You’re brave kids,’ the first soldier said, ‘but there will be nothing here from now on but pain. We will hold the station while you get away.’ His colleague agreed.
‘The swarm is approaching from the south of our position so you can slip out and as long as you keep this place between yourselves and the swarm you will be safe. Make your way to the power station if you can. That’s the closest safe place I can suggest. It’s twenty-odd miles from here but there isn’t anything closer.’ He went to go back outside. ‘Take what supplies you think you can carry and get going. I’ll keep watch and cover your escape.’
Abe and I picked up a box of rations and placed it in the barrow. Ellis hobbled over to the door and went out. Amber followed her. As I passed the second soldier he put his hand on my shoulder.
‘I’ve got a son just like you,’ he said. ‘Stay brave and stay together.’ I could feel my eyes start to fill with tears. ‘Good luck,’ said the soldier. ‘Stay safe and I hope you find your mum.’
We stepped outside to find that it was getting light. The first soldier was standing by the gate, ready to open it.

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.