Cody climbed another few rungs. Enough that Riley could get on himself. Start to climb. Start to get himself away from the ground. Away from the undead.

  “Come on, Cody,” he shouted. “Come on!”

  Cody reached for the top rung.

  Riley heard the creatures snapping their teeth just inches below him.

  Needed to be a rung higher.

  Needed to be a fucking rung higher.

  “You can do this! You can fucking do this!”

  Cody groaned with pain as he dragged his left leg onto the next rung.

  Riley felt the fingers against his right boot.

  Felt the creatures dragging him down.

  And then he kicked them away.

  Climbed a rung.

  “You’ve done it,” he said. “You’ve—you’ve fucking done it!”

  Cody dragged himself onto the roof of the building.

  Riley’s heart raced. Adrenaline made his body shake. He needed to concentrate. Needed to stay focused. Stay composed.

  But he’d done it.

  All of them had done it.

  All of them had made it…

  Well. All of them except James.

  He reached the top of the roof. Pulled himself to level ground.

  Hassan was staring over the side of the building.

  Cody was by his side.

  Riley frowned. “Guys?”

  He moved closer to them. Moved closer to them as the cries of the creatures echoed below, as the wind blew strongly against them.

  “What’s…”

  Riley didn’t have to finish his question.

  His answer was right in front of him.

  “What… what do we do?” Hassan asked.

  Riley swallowed the bitter taste down his throat. Swallowed it and kept on staring ahead. Kept on taking those deep breaths.

  Kept himself together, just like Cody said.

  ’Cause he couldn’t crack.

  None of them could crack.

  Hassan and Cody both stayed silent. Both stared over into the distance.

  The streets beneath them were filled with undead.

  And they were all on their feet.

  Walking.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Jordanna leaned back against the cell wall and thought of nothing.

  It was comforting, somewhat. Comforting just sitting there, mind blank, no thoughts about anything whatsoever. The light of the sun peeked through the frosted window above her. Illuminated the dusty floor of the cell. The bars of the cell were like pillars in front of her. Pillars she couldn’t escape. Pillars she couldn’t sneak past, no matter how much she wanted to.

  But in a way, Jordanna wasn’t even sure she wanted to escape.

  Because she was safe here.

  She was okay here.

  She listened to the noises outside. The sounds of footsteps well into the distance. She wondered if maybe anyone would come in here. Find her. Let her out. And she wondered if she’d take that opportunity if it came her way. If she’d escape. Break free of this place.

  But she knew she shouldn’t. Because she was dangerous.

  She’d killed Tamara.

  Killed her…

  Fuck.

  A lump swelled in Jordanna’s throat as she thought of what she’d done.

  The memories were so vivid now. So lucid.

  She’d walked down that alleyway in the glow of the blood moon.

  She’d watched fellow citizens—all of whom she hadn’t seen alive since the attack on the MLZ last night—push Tamara to the ground. Stare on at her with distant eyes.

  And then she’d crouched over her and burst the knife through her spongy flesh.

  Again and again and again.

  The hairs on Jordanna’s arms crept up. The musty smell in this cell block made her feel sick. Reminded her of some of the brothels she used to work in. In a way, they were just like cells. Rooms she couldn’t escape from, because fuck, it was financially contracted that she didn’t. Places where people spectated. Watched her dance. Made her suck their cocks. Amongst other things.

  She used to live in a prison of finance. A prison of capitalism. A prison of where the wealthy released repressed urges.

  But she’d been comfortable there, too.

  She’d known her place.

  It was only when the apocalypse broke out that she realised just how fucking stupid she’d been all those years.

  She felt her cheeks burn as she stared beyond the bars, over at the door leading away from the cell area. Whenever she thought of the changes she’d been through in this new world, it was Chloë that always came into her mind.

  She remembered when she’d first met Chloë. Remembered that little girl being thrown into imprisonment at the Warburtons factory in the Lakes. Remembered being amazed by her, right from the start. ’Cause Chloë seemed stronger than most people. She seemed like she had her head screwed on.

  Okay. Maybe that proved not to be completely true.

  But she was tough.

  She was made for this world.

  Jordanna wiped a tear from her eye. She hoped Chloë was okay out there. She hoped wherever she was, she’d found her place. She sometimes had nightmares. Nightmares about being out on runs. Finding Chloë hanging. Only this time, the undead were chomping down on her legs.

  Chloë was still awake. Still alive.

  Laughing.

  Crying.

  Swearing.

  Jordanna took a deep breath. She knew she couldn’t dwell on Chloë’s current situation. It’d been months since the attack on the MLZ by Mr Fletch, after all. A hell of a long time to be apart in this world.

  Wherever Chloë was, Jordanna hoped she was okay. She hoped she was safe.

  Whatever the hell “safe” was anymore.

  She closed her eyes. Leaned back against the wall. Stared into the darkness of her thoughts. She’d allowed herself to think again. Allowed her mind to drift. That wasn’t a good thing. Made her feel anxious. Didn’t want to face the reality. Didn’t want to face the truth.

  She thought about those things Riley and Cody spoke about. The little worm-like beings they’d seen erupting from one of the angry-fuckers’ heads. And she wondered if she had one inside her. Just come the fuck out. Come the fuck out and show your face. Come the fuck out while I’m locked in here and put me out of my misery.

  She waited for a sign.

  Waited for any indication that one of those little creepy crawlies was inside her.

  Nothing.

  She sighed.

  Then she heard something rattle against the window above.

  She opened her eyes. Stared right up.

  There was a shadow. A shadow blocking the light.

  And then another rattle.

  Someone was at the window.

  Jordanna’s stomach tensed. She stood up. Stared up at the window. It was just out of her reach. She could probably jump up and take a look, but…

  Well, she didn’t feel good about that.

  Somehow, she didn’t feel good about that.

  “Hello?”

  Nothing. Complete silence.

  The shadow still there.

  She thought back to Cody. To the way he’d been. And her skin started to tingle.

  What if one of the Angries were up there?

  What if they were about to break inside?

  She waited. Looked up. Didn’t say another word.

  She just stared at that glass.

  Stared at that—

  A groan.

  Not from the window.

  From behind.

  She turned around. Heart racing. No. There couldn’t be any more. They’d all died. The flow had stopped. They couldn’t…

  She saw the undead tumbling down the stairs towards her.

  Three of them.

  Four of them.

  Five of them.

  All of them in various stages of decomposition.

  All of them walking towards her cell.

  She smelled the air thicken with decay. She walked away from the cell bars. Walked back towards the window, back to where she’d been standing before.

  The undead stuck their arms through the bars. Pressed their rotting faces between the gaps. Their teeth snapped at the air, at the metal.

  Jordanna put her hands against the back wall. Looked at the undead. Her heart raced. She just had to stay cool. Keep her cool and this would be okay. She was behind bars. She’d be fine. She’d be—

  A smash from above.

  Then a weight on her head.

  Knocking her body to the ground.

  She struggled. Struggled with the mass of weight. She smelled that sweetness. That sweetness juxtaposing the rot like flowers in a graveyard.

  The sweetness of the Angries.

  She struggled onto her back. But this fucker had both of her hands. Gripping them so tightly she wondered if they might just burst.

  She got a good luck at the fucker’s face. Ginger hair. Chubby. Blood dripping out from his eyes. Beard all matted with blood. Smiling. Smiling and laughing as he pressed Jordanna’s wrists to the floor.

  Eyes rolled back inside his head.

  Jordanna kicked out. She tried to roll away.

  But this guy—a guy she recognised as Thomas—just kept on holding on. Just took every kick she had.

  She had no weapon.

  She was trapped in here.

  Trapped between an angry fucker and a mass of…

  She looked back. Looked at the creatures pressed up against the bars of the cell. If she could roll this fucker over her, maybe she could push him into the undead. Maybe she could feed this Angry to them.

  She lifted her right leg. Stuck it into Thomas’ tensed abdomen, who just kept pressing her down, smiling, laughing.

  She remembered a few tricks she’d learned. A few self-defence tricks back from when she needed them.

  She lifted her knees.

  Forced them into Thomas’ stomach.

  And then she put all his flabby weight onto her knees and pushed him over her head.

  The guy started to move out of her way. Gave Jordanna breathing space. A chance to escape.

  And then something happened.

  He stuck his hands on the floor.

  Stopped, right there.

  Nothing Jordanna could do to move him.

  Nothing she could do to budge him.

  His next move was quick. Swift. So much so that Jordanna didn’t even realise what was happening until it was actually happening.

  He kneed her in the face.

  Knocked her head back against the solid floor.

  And then he picked her up.

  Dragged her over to the bars of the cell.

  Dragged her over to the undead.

  Jordanna tried to dig her heels into the floor. She tried to stop the advance.

  But she couldn’t.

  There was no stopping.

  Six feet from the undead.

  Five feet.

  Four feet.

  Decomposing hands tickling her skin.

  And all the while, as death stared her in the face, the angry fucker laughed.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Riley jumped across another roof and counted his blessings.

  The sky was thickening with cloud. The early sun was gone, black sky threatening an impending storm. There was a word for this kind of scene in fiction, on television. Pathetic fallacy. He’d learned it back at college. A supposed cliche where the weather matched the turn of events.

  Funny thing. Might’ve been a cliche, but it was certainly holding strong right now.

  “You keeping up?”

  Riley looked to his side. Saw Hassan readying to jump across another roof. Sweat poured down from his head. Riley knew the feeling. He was clammy in the heat and could taste sweat on his own lips.

  Didn’t help that a wailing crowd of creatures shuffled along the alleyway beneath them.

  Riley nodded. Looked ahead at the next roof. “Nothing we haven’t done seventeen times already.”

  Hassan smiled. Seemed like he was enjoying this. Which was good, because he’d done nothing but fucking moan the rest of the day. “Oh, I dunno. This jump looks a little further to me.”

  “Then you go first. Be my guest.”

  Hassan tilted his head to one side. Backed up. Started his run up.

  And then he hurtled across the roof.

  Landed on both feet.

  Turned around. Dusted himself down. Smiled. “Your turn.”

  Riley shook his head. “It’s not the fucking Matrix, you know?”

  “Just enjoy yourself, Riley. It’s the end of the world.”

  Riley bit his tongue. He wanted to pull Hassan up for that. Because how could he enjoy himself? The MLZ was collapsing. More creatures were inside the walls. Cody was back on the first roof, his twisted ankle halting his progress. Jordanna was locked away in a cell.

  At least she was locked away. At least she was safe from the creatures.

  That was something.

  Until the bars broke.

  The locks snapped…

  No. He didn’t want to think about that. Couldn’t think about that.

  “You coming or what?”

  “Oh, fuck off.”

  Riley took a few steps back.

  Lined up his run up.

  Then he ran and jumped.

  On the last seventeen jumps, Riley made it a rule of thumb to avoid looking down. ’Cause looking down was a bad idea. Looking down meant staring at an awful potential fate.

  A certain fate.

  This time, he couldn’t help but look down.

  He regretted it right away when he saw the creatures staring right up at him.

  And in the middle of them, slap-bang in the middle of them, a blonde woman.

  She was still. Looking right into Riley’s eyes. There was something about her. Something not quite… well, creature about her.

  All the creatures were just strolling past her.

  Like she wasn’t even there.

  Like she was one of them.

  Before Riley got a better chance to look at her, he landed on the next roof.

  His fall was much less gracious than Hassan’s. Much more painful.

  He stood. Wiped the dust from his jacket.

  “Yeah, you’re right about not being at Matrix level just yet,” Hassan said.

  Riley shook his head. Felt a burning in his chest. This man who’d fucked his girlfriend was laughing and joking with him. No—he was laughing and joking at him.

  “Just walk,” Riley said.

  Hassan nodded. “Yes, boss.”

  They crossed a few more buildings on their way to the breach in the wall. Figured they’d better head over there and close it off before another swarm of creatures reached Manchester. They could just about manage with the current numbers. Barely, but just about.

  Any more?

  They might as well give up on Cody and Jordanna right this second.

  They might as well throw themselves into the hungry masses below.

  The stormy clouds above receded. Riley hoped pathetic fallacy was in play again. He hoped it was a sign of things to come.

  Just had to get to the wall to find out.

  Just had to seal the crack in the makeshift fencing.

  Like a plaster over a wound.

  They reached the final building. So close that they were within touching distance of one of the few remaining sections of the wall.

  “You think she’ll be okay?” Hassan asked.

  Riley froze. “Who?” He knew exactly who. But fuck. He wasn’t expecting that question.

  Hassan tutted. “You know exactly who. Jordanna.”

  Her name made the hairs on Riley’s arms stand. He looked back over the MLZ. Looked back at the building they’d locked her in. The road in front of it was covered with creatures now. Live creatures. “She should be. But it wasn’t my call.”

  Hassan reached for the ladder. Climbed the side of the wall. “No. No it wasn’t. And it wasn’t mine either.”

  He went quiet for a few seconds. Quiet, as he climbed, as Riley followed.

  And then when he reached the top, he looked down at Riley.

  “I am sorry. For getting you wrong. For doubting you. Really.”

  Riley saw the sincerity in Hassan’s eyes. And he didn’t know what it was, but he believed him. He felt what he was saying.

  This was a different world. A new world. And Riley hadn’t been there for Jordanna.

  Who could blame Hassan for stepping in? For looking out for her?

  “If… if I could go back, I would. If I could roll back the clocks, I—”

  Hassan might’ve stopped speaking. He might’ve carried on.

  Didn’t matter.

  Riley didn’t hear either way.

  A crashing noise blasted through the MLZ. An eruption of steel, of metal scraping against itself.

  “What the fuck was…”

  Again, Hassan didn’t need to finish.

  The section of the wall to the left was falling.

  A section that’d been propped up by makeshift fences after Mr Fletch’s attack. A section that’d held for so long.

  Falling.

  Crumbling away.

  Riley and Hassan stared on. Stared on as dust filled the streets. As creatures splattered under the force of the fall.

  But it wasn’t the falling wall Riley and Hassan kept their focus on.

  Not when they saw what was beyond it.

  Outside the walls of the MLZ, stretching on through the derelict city of Manchester, alongside the canals, inside the shops and on top of the cars, creatures.

  Thousands of creatures.

  All of them walking, running, towards the MLZ.

  All of them pouring through the new, larger hole in the wall.

  All of them unstoppable.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jordanna pressed her feet into the floor as strongly as she could as the Angry pushed her closer and closer to the mass of undead.

  She heard the groans of the undead getting louder. Felt their cold fingers tickling her back. Their fingernails scratched at her, as their decaying bodies stretched and writhed to get inside the cell, to get to her.

  She knew she was going to die. She knew this would likely be the moment. Sure, she’d had moments like this many times before. Moments where the end looked certain.

  So many that she shouldn’t be afraid of death. Not now.