The long trial of people made their way down the path, past beach homes to where the road widened and buildings became more numerous and closer together. Clara found herself walking alongside Grace. “So they took the vaccine?”

  “Hm?”

  “The vaccine? Aaron said it had already been taken.”

  “They knew we were coming. Probably moved it to a safer location, just in case.” Grace took another look at the woman next to her. “I have no idea how the vaccine is working in your body, but there’s a chance that it’s manufacturing more of it, naturally. That would explain why you’re still immune. And if that’s the case, then your blood might help others…”

  “How much we talking?”

  “More the merrier…”

  Clara frowned. “Not so merry for me.”

  “I’m just speculating here. It might not work, and obviously we can only try it with people that are the same blood type as you, unless you’re a universal donor?”

  “I am a universal donor… they used to call on me at the local hospital in London.”

  Grace stood a little more erect, an idea hitting her. “Could that be the reason the vaccine worked in you and not the other women? Could it be that simple?”

  “I… don’t know. You’re the doctor.”

  Grace sighed. “We need Grace.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  LIZ

  Liz washed the mug and placed it with the others on the counter of the impressively wooden kitchen with its modern appliances, most of which were working, apart from the stove, which was currently boiling some water for the instant coffee she had found. The scene outside the window was of a dry mud track then fence, then a field of lush grass that had already become unruly and would only get worse, being reclaimed by nature. It was one of many buildings she had stayed in since the nightmare started, that she would have been happy to live in and call home. But just like the others, it was only a temporary solution to a problem they couldn’t shake. They needed to get across the country, then whatever the ‘deadzone’ was.

  Her thoughts drifted to those that had gone to the island. The idea that they were all dead, she couldn’t quite accept, even though she knew it was probably true. If the apocalypse had taught her one thing, it was that people were more resilient, than she had always thought. Humanity has a way of surviving, like cockroaches or fungus.

  Would she survive?

  On the mountain there was a part of her that had decided it wouldn’t matter if she did, that only the children making it, mattered, and she wasn’t going to harm their chances. The cold, the circumstances, another spark of hope being shattered, together with her body being exhausted, had pushed her mind to a dark place. Strangely, even learning her leg had been taken did not make her as depressed as she had been the night before. But as the smell of coffee wafted past her, bringing with it memories of the past, of a normal life, she vowed not to let it happen again.

  A creak of floorboards made her set about pouring the water into the first mug. “Instant better than nothing, right?” she said to whoever was behind her. She hid the disappointment on seeing it was Swanson.

  He remained silent, moving to her side, picking up the first mug and sat at the large table in the middle of the room the kitchen flowed into.

  She paused before she poured another mug. “I’m sorry for your loss. I liked your wife. She—”

  The sound of a mug being slammed down on the table made her jump. She continued to pour the next coffee out, being glad to hear another set of footsteps entering the ground floor from upstairs.

  Ember had her baby in her arms, wrapped in some blankets, whom she placed on the table. Rain had come with her. “Got one for me?” Ember said to Liz.

  Liz turned around with a smile, ignoring the pool of spilt coffee around Swanson’s mug, and placed a fresh mug where Ember was sitting.

  “The smell is what woke me… that and—” She looked at Rain. “This one being more of a nuisance than Amaya.”

  “Are you okay, looking after him?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Tia and Owen will help out with that.”

  Ember smiled. “How are they?”

  “Still sleeping. They’re dealing with everything… better than I am.” Liz forced a smile and Ember placed her hand briefly on Liz’s, then nodded to the cupboards. “Anything to eat in those?”

  “I haven’t had a—”

  Again, Swanson’s mug hit the hardwood surface, causing what was left of his beverage to dance across it. They both looked at him, shocked.

  “You know we’re all dead, right? I mean, not like those poor bastards, walking around outside, but forever dead.”

  Ember’s expression hardened. “No one’s stopping you from leaving, Saul.”

  He slowly stood while his hands become fists. Rain began to growl and for a moment, Liz was sure the three of them were about to be in a brawl, but the stairs creaked, and she couldn’t hide her relief at seeing Joe come down them.

  He walked past all of them, to the counter collecting the final mug, turning around while sipping some. “Me and Aiden have been talking and we’ve got a plan.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  LAUREN

  Lauren awoke with a start.

  Groves was standing at the bedroom window, looking out to the streets of the small port town. She looked back at the woman in the single bed behind her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. This room’s got the best view.”

  “Oh…” Lauren sat up, blinking, trying to reattach her consciousness to the world around her.

  “Aaron and Baldwin are out looking for vehicles. They’ve been gone about forty-minutes. I found a map downstairs. It’s not a large place, so it shouldn’t take them long to search all the residences.”

  Lauren laid her head back on the headboard. “How long have I—”

  “Five hours.”

  “You get any sleep?”

  “A bit.” She gestured towards a nightstand. “Found some packets of crisps downstairs.”

  Lauren was thankful and tore into one of the blue-silver packets. “Who else is awake? How are the women?”

  Groves looked across the road to the similar sized house opposite. “Sleeping I presume. Haven’t seen anyone come out since they went in there. Greg’s awake. He’s downstairs looking at maps with Heather. Everyone else’s asleep.”

  There was a moment of silence before Lauren spoke again. “Just like old times.”

  Groves snorted. “Yup. Just different country…” she sighed. “Shame what happened to the General. She seemed a good leader.”

  “She was… Now I guess that’s your job?”

  Groves looked back outside. “Nobody wants me to take that role. Anyway, Greg seems happy to take the reins.”

  “He’s a soldier. All tactics. We need someone who can see the bigger picture… if we’re going to get out this alive.”

  “I don’t think any of us have the power to make that happen. It’s all going to come down to luck.”

  Lauren threw her legs out of the bed, placing her feet on the floor. “You make your own luck. I’m sure you told me that back at the castle. Or I heard it on a TV show years ago. Either way, it’s true.” She stood up, stepping into her clothes then boots. “I’m going to go check on the women. Maybe they need something.”

  “Yes, someone should keep them informed.”

  Lauren paused at the door to the landing, looking back. “Think about what I said.” Not giving Groves a chance to reply, she moved downstairs, moving to the front door.

  “Where you going?” shouted Greg at her as she opened the door.

  “Seeing if the women want anything.”

  Greg looked back at the map, which lay across a glass coffee table. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

  Closing the front door behind her, she moved across the street. The house she was heading towards, was of an old style but was clearly a modern construction, which also had a boat on a trailer in a driveway and a basketball hoop a little further back against the wall of an outbuilding. She walked up onto the deck which surrounded the front and right side of the property and knocked gently.

  There was no reaction, other than the wind picking up and an American flag above the door being disturbed. It wasn’t a surprise if they were all sleeping, and she thought about walking away, but something about the wooden planks and windows of the large home required extra investigation. Rather than knocking again, she decided to go around back and see if she could enter at the rear.

  She moved down the side of the house, between more windows, trying and failing to see inside, due to them being a few feet above her, and walked onto a large well kept lawn which had children’s toys scattered across it.

  Walking up some stone steps, she pulled open a screen door then an internal one, and peered into an impressive kitchen, with multiple appliances and cupboards, most of which were open, their contents sprawled across a series of countertops. She wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but all the items were household cleaning goods, including what looked like…

  A body of a woman lay at the other end of the long hallway, on the other side of the front door she had just knocked it. A knife was clearly sticking out of the woman’s chest. Lauren ran to her, ready to scream for help, but the sound stuck in her throat when she saw that the blade had impaled a piece of paper to the woman. The words ‘Michael Forgives you,’ were scribbled across it.

  A floorboard creaked on one of the floors above.

  Lauren looked up the stairs which were devoid of life. “Hello?” She wasn’t sure why she was being so timid. There was a dead woman on the floor.

  Another creak echoed around the house, followed by another. She placed her hand on the banister, immediately pulling it back and examined the blood across her fingers, then moved herself onto the first step. She tried to see past the shadows at the top, then vaguely remembered all of the first and second floor drapes being closed. But that was normal. The women had needed to rest.

  “Is there anyone here?” Again, another comment that made no sense as it left her lips. Of course there were people there. At least twenty-five were asleep in the four or five bedrooms on the two floors above. As she slowly climbed higher, making it halfway up, a strange thought shouted from somewhere deep in her, an idea she did not want to fully acknowledge.

  They’re all dead.

  It was such an absurd idea with no basis in reality that she cast it away, instead concentrating on the most likely reason for why the house was deathly silent. They were sleeping…

  She got to the top and looked along the wide landing. All the doors were closed, but there was definitely some kind of noise coming from one of them, the second to her left. It was also dark.

  “Is anyone awake?” she questioned into the gloom.

  The door nearby, rattled, but it was one directly ahead of her which got her attention, for it was clearly ajar, with the faintest of shafts of light coming from the gap. Ignoring the shuddering door she walked slowly along the landing, and reached out to place her hand on the other door’s handle.

  A loud creak of floorboards made her whirl around. A woman was standing in the shadows at the top of the next set of stairs, which ran up to the third floor.

  “Hello?” Lauren questioned, moving to the first step, trying to get a clear view of who was up there.

  The woman fell forward, making Lauren lunge in the same direction to try to catch the unfortunate soul but in that moment Lauren’s mind switched from a desperate attempt to stop the woman from seriously injuring herself to terror at the face that was coming at her. She pulled back but wasn’t fast enough to stop the middle-aged woman crash into her, sending both of them to the floor at the bottom of the stairs where the manic creature bit down hard on Lauren’s clothed upper arm.

  Lauren grabbed the woman by her neck, not wanting to accept what was happening, and kicked her onto the landing, while scrambling backwards against the wall. Like a cat, the woman landed on all fours and unnaturally stood upright, then surged at Lauren again. Ignoring the pain in her arm, she pulled her knife from her belt and drove it into the woman’s neck when she was in range, but the effort was insufficient to stop her head from straining to get closer. With each snap of the woman’s mouth, a frothy white liquid was ejected then continued to dribble down her jaw.

  As Lauren struggled to hold the woman back with one hand, while slashing with the other, the rattling from the door to her right was now so loud to not be ignored, and tears began to run from her eyes, for she knew what was behind it. Just as she knew what was behind all the doors in the house. Reanimated death and she had to get out.

  Giving up on trying to cut deeper into the zombie’s neck, she went with the movement, allowing the woman push towards her but instead pivoted, throwing the woman against the open door behind, which flew open, revealing writhing bodies in a small room, bathed in a pale blue light from the curtains. The undead were waking up.

  She tore down the landing as there was a crunching sound from the side door, and hands appeared through the planks. Hoping against hope there was none of them on the ground floor she got to the top of the stairs and jumped down the steps, half expecting the woman at the bottom to be standing there, blocking her way to the front door, but she was still there.

  Lauren leaped over the body as a chorus of breaking boards rang out from upstairs, and she hastily picked the latch free on the door, but then stopped and leaned over, ripping the note from the dead woman’s chest, and pulled the front door open, running out into the early morning sun.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  JOE

  “And that will take us to Canada, bypassing the deadzone,” said Joe. He leaned back a little from the map on the large wooden table, that was in the centre of a number of sofas arranged around it, that most of the group were seated on.

  Ember frowned. “I was kind of hoping there would be no more traveling on the water.”

  He leaned towards the map again, tracing his finger across it. “That won’t be the last of it. We head north, across Canada, and then find a boat to take us further north into Hudson Bay. From there we can go west along the coast, and we should be in IFSA territory.”

  “It’s the shortest way to get there,” said Aiden, standing against one of the counters in the kitchen.

  Mathew who was seated next to Ember and her baby, remained looking at the map. He had avoided eye contact with the American since they both came downstairs.

  “Easy peasy,” said Swanson, seated on a sofa opposite Joe. He had a small bottle in one hand, which he took a swig from.

  Everyone else remained silent, each one contemplating what the journey would mean for themselves and the others. Each had learned what it might cost.

  Joe continued. “We figure it should take us around a week to get to Alaskan waters.”

  Aiden came in from the kitchen and stood behind Mathew. “The journey to the border will take a day. We’re not that far from it. We find a boat and get across the river to Canada. We’ll need to scope it out before we go, though. We don’t know what their wall is going to be like, we only know they have one.”

  “Yes,” said Joe. “So we leave at sunset. We get close to the border, then lie low again until the following night and use that time to find a vessel. Anything that gets us to the other side. We work out the best place to cross and we go. Once we’re on the other side, we see what the situation is. If we can travel north, we do so, otherwise we find a place to hide out. We have no idea what the conditions will be up there. Maybe the government is still in control, or maybe it’s like here.”

  “Um…”

  Everyone looked at Fran.

  “My grandfather said that the big cities were bad, but the smaller ones were surviving. They built their wall before the American one. But… he told me that a week ago…”

  “She’s right,” said Aiden. “A lot can change in a week.” He moved away from the back of the sofa. Mathew did his best to hide his relief.

  Joe stood. “We got eight hours before we leave, so myself and Aiden are going to explore the other lodges. There’s also a store not far from here.”

  “Hey, I’ll go with ya,” said Swanson. “Need to stretch my legs.”

  Liz gestured towards the kitchen then looked at Tia and the other kids. “There’s food in those cupboards. Everyone want to see what we can make with it?”

  Tia nodded but her frown remained.

  “I’ll help,” said Ember. “I’m going stir crazy, just sitting in my room. Couldn’t sleep much either.”

  Aiden looked at Mathew, who hadn’t said a word. “You should come with us as well. More people will speed up finding things. What you say, buddy?”

  Mathew silently nodded.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  GREG

  Greg balanced a nail on his stump, then starting with small hits, drove the final piece of metal into a plank which rattled in response. Not from the impact of the hammer but from what hit it from the other side. He backed away from the rear door of the property, making sure the message written on the plank could be clearly read.

  ‘Undead inside’ was written across with a marker matching other planks over the windows and other exits. The words were not sufficient for what the house truly contained. But the world had left behind that kind of sentiment long ago.

  Aaron came around the corner with a bag over his shoulder and another hammer in his hand. “All done?”

  “Yup.”

  “Um… the others are not taking this well. Especially Clara…”

  “If they didn’t die here, it would have happened piece by piece on the journey south. Shame it happened by their own hand, though.”

  “From what Lauren said of what she saw in the kitchen, they downed every household chemical they could find… Not a good way to go.”