She whipped around to face Lauren, who obviously had the same idea and was keeping watch on the large house.

  “There was a one handed guy shooting from the top window,” said Jenn.

  “I couldn’t see anything from the back of the cabin.”

  “How’s Ron?”

  “Seems to have recovered. What’s the plan?”

  The general looked back at the building. “Try and persuade whoever’s in there to stop shooting at us.”

  “Marge wants them dead.”

  Jenn climbed up on the fence. “Marge wants lots of things.” She dropped down the other side, but rather than continue to try to hide her presence she decided the opposite. “Hello!” she shouted. “Whoever’s inside! We don’t have to fight!” She held her arms up, moving around to the yard at the back of the house, trying to make out what was behind the large windows. “I’m unarmed! There’s…”

  Shadows moved inside, the rear door flying open and someone she recognised stood within it.

  “Aaron?” she said, not quite believing what she was seeing.

  He looked between the General and Lauren with a smile. “Good to see you ma’am.”

  There was a rush of footsteps as Marge, Kelly and Lucas emerged from around the corner of the building, all holding their weapons on those standing in the doorway, although Lucas appeared to also want to aim his shotgun at the colonel and Jenn as well.

  “Well, ain’t this cute!” said Marge, a little out of breath. “I might have known you all know each other!”

  Aaron moved to the side, as Greg appeared, holding his rifle by his side, behind him was Joe, doing his best to stay upright.

  “You missed!” said Marge to the old Australian.

  He frowned. “I wasn’t aiming for your head.”

  Joe hobbled past him, awkwardly walking with the help of his stick and smiled with a nod to Jenn and Lauren, then looked at Marge. “I apologise for us using your home. I’m Joe.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  JOE

  Joe sat between Liz and Baldwin, Tia, Hope, Owen and Fran at their feet. The rest of the large living room was equally as full with everyone watching the owners standing together at the other end. The woman and who was meant to be her brother appeared to be having a disagreement. Suddenly he turned away, approaching Joe and the others.

  “I understand you folks have had a difficult time, and came here because this is where the General had gone.”

  “You’re trespassing!” shouted Marge.

  “Marge!” said Ron. “Let me speak to these people!”

  She frowned but remained silent.

  “We’re planning on leaving,” said Joe.

  “And where are you going to go?” said Ron.

  “What does it matter to you?” said Greg.

  “We have a place where you can be safe. A camp, a few hundred miles from here, in the mountains.”

  Hushed conversation began amongst those in the room.

  Joe continued. “You should know, the military are looking for us.”

  Marge threw her arms up, turning away. “Gee, great!”

  “Why they looking for you?” said Ron.

  “Because we came from the U.K. They want to experiment on us. See how the virus in us, is different to the one here.”

  Ron nodded. “Yeah, I can understand how you might not want to let them do that. Well, the military hasn’t found our camp yet. And with you folks added to our ranks, we would make them think twice about trying to take you.”

  Greg nodded. “You and your people going to fight the authorities if they come for us?”

  Marge locked her eyes on him. “We got no love for the Feds. The other woman, the one that came first. Clara—”

  “Clara?” said more than one person seated opposite Marge.

  “Yeah, her. She was being held in some kind of hospital with a whole lot of other women. The government was using them to test a vaccine.”

  “Vaccine?” said Grace, looking between Marge and Jenn.

  The general nodded. “We have a lot to discuss…” She looked across those in the room, seemingly looking for someone.

  Joe knew who it was. Candace and Jacob, but this wasn’t the time for that conversation.

  “We don’t know anything for sure,” said Ron. “But she’s your people and that’s what she says. We…” He looked away slightly as his sister frowned once more. “Are planning a rescue mission for those in the facility…”

  Silence fell across the room, Joe speaking first. “We need to speak to Clara, but if she says that’s what happened then that’s what happened. For now—” He looked at Liz and then at some of the others. “I think we’re happy to accompany you to your camp, anything more… we need to discuss.” He looked at Greg, who nodded in agreement.

  Marge turned around, heading into the kitchen. “Well, no one’s going anywhere until the evening. Until then, I’m getting some supper started.”

  Maggie got to her feet. “Happy to help…”

  Marge nodded without turning around. “Good. Potatoes don’t peel themselves.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  LIZ

  Liz watched the two children chase each other around the paddock, and Maggie’s dog chase them, while Hope sat in the middle with her sketch pad, seemingly oblivious to the frivolity. Liz’s eyes slid upwards to the far tree line looking for any movement, her mind not wanting to relax despite at least three people, two of whom she did not know, patrolling the perimeter.

  She ignored the heavy footsteps coming across the soft ground behind her until they were obviously moving in her direction, and turned around to be greeted by the man who appeared to jointly own the property.

  Ron nodded. “Used to sit right where you are, and watch the horses. They your kids? A lot of folks have acquired them from people who are no longer with us.” He leaned on the opposite side of the fence.

  “The older girl is mine, the others… like you say.”

  “I guess the leg was due to an encounter with the dead?”

  “Yes, and… a bad person.”

  He bent over a little, offering his hand for her to shake, which she did. “You’re Liz, correct? Joe’s wife?”

  “That’s me. You’re Ron? Brother to Marge?”

  “Yup, two peas in a pod, us two. Both born here, grew up here, and I got married here… Doris passed some years back. Glad she wasn’t here to see how things ended up for everyone.”

  “A lot of people feel the same. Any children?”

  “Nah, not for me or Marge. Part of the reason we turned this place into a tourist attraction. No one really wanted to keep it going as an actual farm. Now… there won’t even be the tourists.”

  “It’s a beautiful spot. Seems… safe.”

  “We had some of the dead wander through here. You get a few every few days. But we’re mostly at the camp now. Heard you had a bad time of it back in your country?”

  She smiled. “That’s why we crossed an ocean to come here.”

  “Yeah, sad with the bombs being dropped and all that…” His radio crackled but he did not answer the man who was asking for him to join him in the woods. “Right, I better be getting on. Nice meeting you, Liz.”

  “Likewise.”

  He sauntered off along the fence and muddy track, disappearing down a slope and into the darkness of the woods, the fading footsteps quickly being replaced with others. She turned around to face Lauren jogging up to her. The younger woman’s eyes shifted to the forest, before she climbed over the fence and sat next to Liz.

  “What’s your take on him and the sister?”

  Liz thought for a moment, before leaning closer to the colonel. “Trust the sister more.”

  “Yeah, me too. You know where you stand with her.”

  “He’s serious about going to that island to get the vaccine?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “Are we helping with that?”

  Lauren paused, her conflicted thoughts obvious. “The General says we should.”

  “You’re not convinced?”

  “I get having the vaccine will change things for all of us, but… they’re not going to let us just walk in the and take it. And the government won’t stop looking for…” Liz nodded, before Lauren continued. “But the camp looks well run. It might work there.”

  “Have you spoken to Greg?”

  “No. Why?”

  Liz wanted to speak again, but instead her attention was caught by movement a few hundred yards away, beyond the distant fence that was bathed in sunshine. A figure was walking alongside the wooden planks out there. A person whose attire was entirely wrong for where they were.

  Lauren stood, seeing the same.

  “Is that one of theirs?”

  “I…”

  Two men, both of which Liz recognised, emerged from the trees and set upon the third, who immediately ran at them with its arms flailing in front of it, but before it got to within a few feet, one of the men hit it with a bat of some kind, knocking it to the ground where they both continued their tirade until after a few seconds, they stopped, and dragged the body back into the woods.

  Liz let out a breath, switching her attention back to the children who hadn’t stopped running around and playing. “There’s a place… a country or something… it was Alaska. They seem to not agree with who’s running the rest of the world. They are not killing the infected.”

  Lauren looked a little surprised. “Oh, okay. I didn’t know that. That’s—”

  “A long way away. I know. And that’s not the half of it. There’s an area between this country and Canada. Beyond the wall, which they call the deadzone. We would need to cross that as well…”

  “I see…”

  “Joe, Greg. Most of us, really. We are thinking of trying to get to this new place. We think it’s our best chance of being left alone to live our lives…”

  Lauren looked from Liz to the children. “I get it.”

  Liz looked at her. “But before we try, maybe we can hope Ron rescues these women and gets the vaccine. It would definitely be useful in helping us as well.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  JENN

  Jenn stood within blanketed pieces of furniture, piles of magazines and books tied with string, as well as cardboard boxes sealed with tape and names scribbled across their sides. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, which equally danced inside the shafts of light that the large arched attic window allowed to enter the space. She thought about her own house, now probably a pile of rubble, and wondered if that was the fate of all buildings. Her mind shifted to the tall doctor and the man who she had met shortly afterwards while on the Scottish island. She had decided to go her own way, to start a community within the beach caves but she respected Candace and Jacob. They seemed they wanted to do what was best for their camps, unlike the others.

  A faint knock came from the door, which opened to a gaunt face of a woman whom she had heard of, but had never met. Amanda Groves. A highly regarded civilian that was in charge of a research facility in England. Behind her was an older man, a former special forces operator, from what Baldwin told her, who was the last person to enter the room.

  “They’re busy?” Jenn said to the marine.

  “The brother is somewhere within the grounds with the others. The sister is on the ground floor with Maggie. No one can year you up here.”

  “Good. Let me know if that changes.”

  Baldwin nodded, stepped outside and closed the door, leaving the three others alone in the room with the sloped ceiling.

  “Shouldn’t the major be here?” said Groves.

  “He’s still recovering,” said the General. “And he’s not in charge of the group. I am.” She looked between both people in front of her. The older, the man, was sitting on one of the hidden pieces of furniture. “So, Nell tells me that you were both brought here by the authorities?”

  Greg looked at Groves, obviously not wanting to explain.

  She nodded. “Yes, we were brought here by the newly formed confederation of Western States. They wanted myself and Greg to help them find the girl. Hope.”

  “Whom from which, they want to try and create more of the vaccine?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you got away from them?”

  Groves looked at the Australian. “That was all Greg. He saved myself and everyone else. Otherwise, right now, the girl would be in their hands, and we would be dead. He… paid quite a price for that…”

  Jenn looked at the man whose face made him look at least ten years older than she presumed he was. “Do you think they’re going to find us out here?”

  “They probably have teams already deployed,” he replied. “Trying to do just that. Only a matter of time before they find us. What’s the camp like?”

  “It appears to be functioning well, but they’re not soldiers. I think Ron means well, but going to the facility on the island…”

  Groves’ features grew more strained. “If we had the vaccine, it would give us a shot of getting to the IFAS.” She saw the General’s confusion and continued. “Independent free state of Alaska. They are the only sane place that I know of in all of this madness. Before you arrived we were planning on trying to get the group there. But it means crossing the deadzone, a no man’s land beyond the wall. If we made it across then we still need to cross Canada, which is affiliated with the Western States. But if we had the vaccine, it would be one less problem to think about.”

  “Sounds to me,” said Greg. “They’re going to give it a shot, whether we help them or not…”

  Jenn nodded, letting out a breath. “I was thinking the same. But we can’t risk the government or whoever’s in charge, getting the girl.”

  “Agreed. I’ve run this type of op many times. A seven person squad can get this done. No need for fifty guys in trucks turning up, trying to get across the water to the island. They’ll see that coming.”

  She nodded again. “We’ll put together a small team, but the siblings are going to want their people part of it as well.”

  “You decided who you’re going to give those purple pills to?” He grinned. “Or you going to keep them all for yourself?”

  Before she could respond, the attic door opened. “Their people are returning,” said Baldwin. “I think the food’s ready.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  MATHEW

  The floor shuddered as the van continued its way north. Mathew’s eyes were closed, as supposedly were Heather’s whose head lay on his shoulder. His hands, what were left of them were gloved and on his lap. He preferred to keep them hidden, not only for others but because he wasn’t quite used to seeing them as they were. Fingerless stumps. Heather had wanted to discuss with him some ideas she had for attachments to make his life easier, but he had dismissed the idea, to her annoyance. He wasn’t ready to leave his old life behind, just yet.

  Despite his disability he had managed to keep surviving, even helping in some situations, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was dead weight. A potential reason for any of the others to make a bad decision that might get them killed. And that’s what he hated more than anything.

  His ability with computers was what saved him during his school days. A distraction from the constant bullying he would suffer daily. Instead, his mind would lose itself in a maze of code. And from that he got programming jobs, which in turn gave him a good living and everything that came with it. He hadn’t realised just how much his identity relied upon his knowledge of technology until his ability to use it was eaten.

  But he did still have one use in this ruined world. To try and keep the woman depending on him, safe. Try to keep her alive and whole. There were also the others. Joe, Liz and the kids. Including the youngest whom so many were chasing. He didn’t know or understand what was special about her. She seemed a normal, but quiet kid with a talent for drawing. Maybe what they said about her was true, maybe she was part zombie. It didn’t matter. She deserved a future like the rest of them.

  Something touched his left arm, making him open his eyes to Maggie, with her dog laying in front of her. She held out a chocolate bar, one of many the siblings had been hoarding in their numerous storage chests.

  He began to raise his arm to take it, then stopped. Old habits die hard.

  “I’ll open it,” she whispered to him, and he nodded.

  A moment later he was munching on the chocolate covered, biscuit bar, while trying not to make eye contact with those seated opposite. Lauren, the General and seated next to her the tall American, who he especially he did not want to acknowledge. Aiden was just a bit too… Mathew couldn’t quite nail down what the issue was with him. He appeared brave and helpful, and had definitely saved Joe’s life, but…

  He pushed his doubts away, as Heather sat up a little, sniffing then shaking crumbs from her hair.

  “Shit, sorry,” he said, realising he was the cause.

  “Got anymore?” she said.

  Maggie heard the request and reached into her bag again, Rain’s head following her hand in and out of the leather satchel. She handed the bar to Heather, who began unwrapping it.

  “Blackcurrant!” said the younger woman. “You got any orange flavoured?”

  Maggie’s expression hardened.

  “I’m joking…”

  Heather happily ate as the van began to slow, the others inside lifting their heavy heads, rubbing their eyes or stretching.

  “Maybe we’re here?” said Maggie.

  “Please have a computer,” Heather kept repeating under her breath. Mathew agreeing with the sentiment.

  The van stopped and the double rear doors opened to the cool night air, and people behind the glare of flashlights.