He tried to pull back. Tried to drag himself away. But the attacker was strong. Its grip was tight. Too tight to be solely human. Too tight to be creature, even.

  And that sweetness.

  That smell of sweetness in the air.

  Riley knew what this was.

  He knew exactly what it was.

  A hybrid.

  “Riley!”

  He heard Cody’s voice. Heard more struggling behind him. Heard gunfire, wayward bullets cracking into the paintwork, blasting around him, so close to piercing his skin. The rest of the group racing towards him. Somebody trying to drag him away—Hassan, probably.

  But the hybrid was just too strong.

  Its grip was just too tight.

  He saw the face. Saw the face of the hybrid clearly through the gap in the cracked, broken wood. A man. A dark-haired man he vaguely recognised. Maybe he’d seen him at the market once upon a time. Or at the pub. Or just out and about in the streets; in these normal streets.

  There was nothing normal about him now.

  Not anymore.

  Riley tried to grab his gun from his right pocket. But the hybrid just kept holding onto him. Kept smacking him against the door.

  “Keep still, man,” Cody muttered.

  Riley heard Cody but he didn’t process his words. Not completely.

  “Keep fucking—”

  A blast. A blast of gunfire.

  Riley waited for the hybrid’s head to explode. To be covered in that rusty-tasting blood. For the smell of sweetness to grow ever stronger as more blood encrusted on his sweaty skin.

  But the hybrid’s head didn’t explode.

  The gunfire didn’t do a thing.

  Riley chanced a glance over his shoulder, doing all he could to pull back from the hybrid.

  When he saw what was happening just inches away, his body almost collapsed.

  Cody was on the floor. His gun lay by his side. Two people were on top of him. A man and a woman.

  No.

  Not two people.

  Two hybrids.

  “More of ’em,” James muttered.

  “Fuck,” Hassan said. “Fuck.”

  Riley saw movement at the end of the corridor. Saw people—hybrids—running their way.

  He heard the gunfire of Hassan, of James. Heard the gunfire and he knew. Nothing they could do for him right now. Not while they were preoccupied. Not while they were saving their own lives.

  So he looked back at the hybrid opposite.

  Held on, tight.

  And then he loosened his muscles.

  He felt more of the door give way as he hurtled through into the apartment. Splinters scratched at his face. The smell of sweetness grew stronger.

  He fell on top of the hybrid. The hybrid looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. Startled eyes.

  Eyes that were almost human.

  Riley reached into his back pocket for his gun.

  Heard more gunfire, more struggling, outside.

  The hybrid beneath him glared up with pure hate, pure contempt, and snarled.

  Riley punched it. Punched it right in its face.

  It tried to grab his hand again. Tried to stop him reaching his gun. Every time he got close, its tight hand grabbed onto his wrist.

  But Riley just kept on punching.

  Kept on smacking the hybrid in its face.

  Kept on pummelling it into the carpet.

  He reached for his gun again. Expected the hybrid’s hand to grab onto his.

  This time, he wrapped his fingers around the gun.

  Riley froze. In surprise, more than anything. Surprise that he’d actually got to his gun. Surprise that he’d actually managed to reach it.

  The hybrid’s face turned purple. Dark red blood, bordering on black, poured out from its nostrils.

  It did something resembling a smile.

  Riley pressed the gun to its forehead.

  Fired.

  Three times.

  Just to make sure.

  He looked at the mush on the cream carpet. Looked at the mess of broken skull, of mashed brain. He waited for the movement. The movement of that thing inside the hybrids.

  And then he heard more gunfire outside the room and remembered what was going on out there.

  He stood. Rushed over to the door as quickly as he could. Ignored the corpse of the woman lying on the bed, flies buzzing around her flesh-stripped bones. Ignored the empty cot.

  He just raced to the door.

  Swung it open.

  Cody, James and Hassan were all on their feet now. Cody was bleeding from a cut above his right eye. He had an arm around Hassan’s shoulder, and winced every time he applied pressure to his left foot.

  “We’ve got to go,” Hassan mumbled. He looked at Riley with wide, terrified eyes. “Out—out of this place. Away from this place. Before—”

  A scream from the bottom of the corridor.

  The sound of footsteps racing up the stairs.

  Shadows of figures hurtling towards them.

  “Quick,” Riley said. He walked over to Cody. Helped Hassan carry him. “We go through the fire door. Keep quiet.”

  “But they’re—”

  “We go through the fire door,” Riley said, a little louder this time. “We get out of this place. We deal with any we come across.”

  “And then what?” Hassan asked.

  It was a good question. A fair question. Who was left to save? Was trying to save people just going to get them killed in the process?

  “We’ll figure that out if we get out of here alive. Now come on.”

  They rushed down the corridor. Rushed towards the metal fire door right at the end. Behind, Riley heard the footsteps of the oncoming hybrids. Heard creaking floorboards above. Heard scratching below.

  They just had to get to the fire door.

  Get to the fire door before the hybrids got to their floor.

  They reached the door. Cody struggled. Shook his head every time he stepped on his left foot. “Not gonna make it.”

  “You are gonna make it.”

  “You… you should leave. Leave me behind. I can—I can find a way to—”

  Riley smacked Cody across the face. “Hey. You came back. You came back to save me. And you came this far with us. We’re not leaving you. We’re not leaving anybody. Not now.”

  He grabbed the fire door handle. Hassan kept on staring back, peering back at the staircase. “I think—I think they’re coming.”

  “They’re not coming.”

  “No, seriously, I think they’re—”

  “For a leader, you’re a real fucking soft shit, aren’t you?”

  Hassan looked at Riley. His eyes were wide.

  Riley enjoyed the sensation of laying into Hassan. He’d not done it nearly enough since they’d met. Maybe he’d do it more often.

  Just a pity about the rest of the circumstances.

  They opened the fire door. It was dark inside. Dark and dusty, damp and creaky.

  “Hassan and me will carry Cody down. James, you run ahead. Make sure we’re clear. Make sure we’re…”

  Riley looked over his shoulder.

  He saw the figures emerge from the top of the staircase.

  Saw the hybrids.

  Four of them.

  Five of them.

  Six of them.

  “That’s… that’s Beth,” Hassan muttered.

  Riley didn’t recognise the woman called Beth. He recognised a few of the others, though. A few others that were vaguely familiar from his time at the MLZ.

  Carlos.

  Jeanette.

  All of them standing at the top of the stairs.

  All of them staring.

  Waiting.

  Riley and the group didn’t say a word. Not at first. They stood in silence. Stood waiting to make a move. Waiting to make some kind of break.

  Riley’s heart pounded.

  He held his breath.

  Then he opened his mouth and said the word.

  “Now.”

  He started running. Started moving towards the stairs inside the fire door. And as he did, he heard the footsteps pounding against the corridor. Heard the snarls of the oncoming hybrids.

  He expected James to run ahead. To slam the door shut and run ahead.

  But the door didn’t slam.

  James wasn’t here yet.

  “James!” Riley called.

  He looked around. Looked around as they reached the first of the steps.

  James stood at the half-open door.

  Stood inside the corridor.

  Stared at the hybrids, which raced towards him.

  “James, quick! Don’t fucking mess around. We need you here. We fucking need you here.”

  James looked around. Looked around at Riley. His eyes were red. His stare was empty.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “James, no!”

  James grabbed the handle of the door.

  Slammed it shut.

  Riley stopped. Stopped and stared at that metal door. He heard Hassan saying things. Telling him it was too late. That there wasn’t anything they could do.

  But no. He wasn’t leaving James. He wasn’t leaving—

  He heard the thump against the metal fire door.

  The blast of gunfire.

  The tearing of flesh.

  The spraying of blood.

  And the snarling of an army of hybrids.

  “Come on,” Hassan whispered. “There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  Riley looked at that shaking door.

  Listened to the flesh being ripped away.

  Listened to the cracking bones.

  Listened to the bullets, which grew less and less frequent.

  And then he took a deep breath.

  Looked down the stairs.

  Walked.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Riley walked along the empty, death-stricken streets with Cody’s arm around his shoulder.

  The clouds had gathered overhead, easing some of that earlier mugginess. Morning was fast drifting towards afternoon. And yet it felt like they’d made no progress. Like they were going nowhere at all.

  The dead still lined the streets.

  The silence still filled the MLZ.

  Blood, flesh, guts, all of them still lined their path.

  The only sound in this silence was the buzzing of flies. Flies always found their way to the corpses. Much like the creatures themselves, in that respect. They always knew where to find fresh prey. They always honed in on the recently deceased as if drawn by magnets.

  In a way, flies were more suited to this world than humans were.

  Especially now the hybrids roamed.

  “We can’t keep going on,” Hassan muttered. He gasped. They’d been walking with Cody’s arms over their shoulders for a good hour or so now. Walking all the streets in search of people. Actual living people.

  They hadn’t found a single trace of life.

  “We’ve been walking for so fucking long—”

  “And we’ll keep walking,” Riley said.

  Hassan shook his head. Riley could smell the sweat pouring down him. “We’re going round in circles. There’s no one left.”

  “There are people left. We made it. It can’t just be us. There has to be someone else.”

  “I thought so too,” Cody winced. “Now I ain’t so sure.”

  Riley looked back into the distance towards the building they’d walked from. He looked through the tiny windows. Tried to squint and see any signs of movement, but it was too far away.

  He’d listened to James die.

  Listened to his body get torn to shreds.

  He’d lost another friend.

  “We move on down the next alley. Then we loop around to the cells. Get Jordanna out of there.”

  “Are you sure that’s—”

  “We get Jordanna out of there. Then we leave this place.”

  Neither Hassan or Cody said much to Riley in return. He understood their mixed feelings. There was something wrong with Jordanna. Something desperately wrong for her to admit to killing Tamara. Killing her unborn child.

  It was just a waiting game. A ticking time bomb until something happened.

  But then, who was to say it wasn’t the same for them?

  They’d all had funny turns. They’d all had moments of blacking out. Moments of confusion.

  Weren’t they all just playing a waiting game, too?

  “I’m sorry,” Cody winced.

  “For what?”

  “About your friend.”

  Riley nodded.

  “I know people say we’re used to loss. I know they… I know they say it gets easier. But I know that’s bullshit. It never gets easier. So I’m sorry.”

  Riley pondered Cody’s words. Something bothered him. “You’re calm.”

  “What?”

  “For someone who had to put down their daughter. You’re calm.”

  Cody stopped walking. His heavy breathing seemed to alleviate with the click of a finger.

  He stared on. Stared on, his eyes shaking. His muscles tightening.

  “I’m doing the best I can,” Cody said.

  Cody’s muscles eased. He started hopping along again.

  “When I was a kid, I lost both parents,” Cody said.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “It’s one of my first memories. The smell of the smoke. The sound of their screams. But more than anything, scarier than any-fucking-thing else, it’s that look in my mum’s eyes I can’t forget. That look in her eyes. Like she knew what was happening but couldn’t accept it. Like she realised her life was all going away but she just couldn’t…”

  Cody stopped.

  “Anyway. It happened. House fire took ’em both. Killed my dog, too. Cute little thing. Border collie. Sammy, she was called. Cute little thing.”

  Riley and Hassan kept on easing Cody along. At all times, Riley scanned for signs of movement. Signs of life.

  “I’ve got used to loss over the years,” Cody said. “Got used to loss. Got used to death. Never gets easier, like I say. Never ever gets less painful. But you’ve just gotta find your ways. You’ve just gotta be strong. You can’t crack. You just can’t crack.”

  Riley heard the shakiness to Cody’s voice now. He didn’t want to pry. Didn’t want to push him for more info. “We won’t crack. None of us will.”

  He looked at Cody. Nodded.

  Then looked Hassan in the eye.

  They stared at one another for a few seconds. Stared at one another like they never had before. Well, perhaps once. Perhaps the one time Riley thanked Hassan for stitching him up. For saving his life.

  And then Riley heard the groans.

  He swung around.

  “Fuck,” Cody said. “Where the fuck did they…”

  Riley saw the crowd of creatures up ahead.

  They were still alive.

  Their heads weren’t burst.

  “What the fuck?” Hassan said.

  He pedalled back. Walked back down the road. Back in the direction they’d come from. Fuck. They were right between his location and Jordanna’s. They needed to get through them. Needed to get around them, somehow.

  “We take the alleyway on the left,” Hassan said, running ahead. Seemed to forget Cody was injured, leaving all the lift work to Riley. “We can loop around there and—shit!”

  Riley saw the source of Hassan’s cursing right away.

  More creatures.

  More of them coming from behind.

  Stumbling over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

  Tripping onto the road.

  Heads crushed by the collective weight of their companions.

  “Quick,” Hassan said, running ahead towards the alleyway. “Don’t have much time. If they block the alley we’ve no fucking chance.”

  He fired a few shots into the distance. Picked off a couple of creatures at the front of the pack, which the others tripped over, slowing them down.

  Riley looked at Cody. “You okay?”

  Cody took a deep breath. Nodded. “I’ve got this.”

  “We’re not leaving you behind. Not leaving anyone behind.”

  “I said I’ve got this.”

  Riley nodded.

  Then he moved as quickly as he could towards the alleyway where Hassan was heading.

  They ran around the corner, Riley panted, completely out of breath. Blisters nipped at the bottom of his feet.

  “Up here,” Hassan said. He pointed at a ladder. “We can climb to the roof and divert through these apartments.”

  Riley shook his head. “A fucking ladder? Cody’s—”

  “I said I’ve got this!”

  Riley heard the groans and cries of the creatures edging ever closer.

  He didn’t have much faith in Cody’s climbing abilities. Not with his left leg as pained as it was.

  But there was no other option.

  They sped down the alleyway. Cody winced with every step. Hassan was already halfway up the ladders. Nearing the top.

  “Cheers for the fucking hand,” Riley shouted. He let go of Cody.

  Cody grabbed the ladder. Started to lift himself up.

  “Hey,” Riley said. He put a hand on Cody’s back. “I’m right here. I’m right behind you.”

  “I should go last.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right. So get climbing before I change my fucking mind.”

  Cody nodded. Half-smiled.

  And then he started to climb.

  Cody’s climb was slow and painful to watch. He barely made it up five rungs in the time it took Hassan to reach the top.

  At the end of the alleyway, Riley saw the bodies.

  Smelled the stench of fresh rot.

  Saw them blocking the route completely.

  “This really is the only way then,” he muttered under his breath.

  He watched Cody climb.

  Watched him get higher—

  Cody slipped.

  For a moment, for a split second that felt like forever, Riley thought it was over. Thought everything was over. Cody was falling. Cody was going to die.

  They were both going to die down here.

  And then Cody grabbed onto the rungs.

  Steadied himself.

  “You’ve got this,” Riley said.

  Admittedly, he had one eye on the approaching creatures.

  Pouring down the alleyway like water through a crack.