Kieran’s tone was almost accusatory now, and Jackson reeled him in quickly.
“Take it easy, mate. Driver here’s had a tough day.”
“They’re all tough days now,ustifieran said, unimpressed. “So what happened? Where are they?”
“We left the flats when the bodies got too close.”
“How many of you?”
Driver paused as he tried to remember. Picturing the faces of each of the people he’d been at the flats with stretched the pause out a little longer still.
“Eight.”
“And you’re all that’s left?”
“So where did you go?” Jackson asked, quickly taking over the questioning. “You said something about a hotel?”
“That’s right. Over in Bromwell. We found more people there.”
“How many more?”
Another endless pause. Jackson rocked back in his chair as he waited for Driver to answer. He was having trouble remembering. Christ, Jackson thought, we’ve all been through a lot, but this is like getting blood out of a stone.
“Five,” he answered, finally. “And a dog.”
“So that’s thirteen of you altogether.”
“And a dog,” Kieran added sarcastically. Jackson shot him a withering glance.
“So where are they all?”
“Don’t know for sure about all of them,” Driver replied. “Things were getting bad, same as they always do. I knew the situation was most likely about to go shit-shaped, so I shut myself away in one of the rooms. Kept my distance from the rest of them.”
“You hid?”
“If you like. You could say that. Thing is, sometimes it’s better just to keep yourself to yourself, don’t you think?”
That comment caught Jackson off-guard momentarily. He happened to agree.
“Okay, cut to the chase,” he said, his patience wearing thin. “Just tell us what happened. What happened to all the others?”
“I’m not entirely sure. They’d been keeping the bodies out of the way for a while, distracting them with music.”
“Smart move.”
“But you probably know what it’s been like. The bloody things started to get smarter and were working out what was what. Someone lost their nerve and screwed up and properly let the cat out of the bag, and the whole place was surrounded.”
“So you just did a runner?” Kieran interrupted. He couldn’t help himself.
“What else wasI supposed to do? It didn’t take a genius to work out what was going to happen next. All the escape routes were blocked. If I hadn’t gone, no one would have got away.”
“So you were just looking out for yourself,” Kieran sneered. “Fuck the rest of them.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I swear, I was planning to go back. I still am.”
“Like hell.”
“Go easy,” Jackson warned. “Give the guy a break.”
“You’d have done the same,” Driver continued, sounding close to tears. “If I’d have stopped there with them, we’d have all been buggered. I thought I’d leave it a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, then try and get back and get them out. I know how it looks, but I swear I was going back.”
The awkward conversation faltered. Although neither Kieran nor Jackson said as much, they both remained unsure about this strange little man.
“So let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Jackson said. “Back at this hotel, there are potentially as many as twelve people stranded?”
“That’s right.”
“And this is in Bromwell.”
“Yep.”
“I know the place. It’s not too far from here.”
The other people in the room had been eavesdropping.
“Come on, Jackson,” Bob protested, “we agreed. Surely you’re not suggesting we should leave here and—”
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” Jackson said, cutting across him. “We said we’d help other folks if we came across them. I’m not saying we should go today or tomorrow or even next week, but as soon as possible we should do all we can to try and reach those people. We can’t afford not to. You know as well as I do, numbers are important now.”
“Well I think it’s a risk too far,” Bob grumbled.
“Bob Hawkins,” Sue Preston sighed. “Sometimes getting out of bed in the morning is a risk too far for you.”
A few laughs punctuated the silence. Driver enjoyed the banter and soaked up the relaxed atmosphere. It had been a long time since he’d seen people getting on with each other like this. He watched Sue as she leaned against the window and sipped her drink.
“For what it’s worth,” she said to him, “I think Jackson’s right. We should try and help your friends. You’ll not find a better place than this, lover. We’ve got food, we’re safe, there’s room for everyone…”
“Well, I’m sold,” Driver said, “but I do want to go back. I meant what I said, I didn’t want to walk out on them like that. I just didn’t have any choice.”
“We understand,” Jackson told him. “And like I said, the more people we have here, the better. Another twelve will take us up to almost thirty folks. As soon as the time’s right we’ll head on out to Bromwell and see what we can find.”
Seventy-Six Days Since Infection
9
Driver had settled quickly into the routine—what little routine there was—of life within the crumbling walls of Cheetham Castle. In comparison to everywhere else he’d been recently, this was bliss. Okay, so he was having to work harder than he was used to, and sometimes Jackson’s “all for the common good” ethos felt a little forced and hard to stomach, but he was safe and his mind was kept occupied and it was a small price to pay. He generally busied himself around the group’s vehicles, particularly the comfortable backseat of his replacement bus. He was tasked with keeping them all in good working order but, as no one had ventured beyond the castle walls in all the time he’d been there, that hadn’t required a huge amount of effort. But, Driver being Driver, he’d done all he could to make a little work last as long as possible. He always managed to make himself look busy when, in fact, none of them actually had very much to do at all.
He’d taken to living on the bus. It was as good a place as any: better than most parts of the castle itself—windproof and relatively warm—and as spacious as most of the caravans the others used (less crowded, too). This morning, however, it was particularly cold. Driver opened one eye, then quickly closed it. It was still dark, and he was nowhere near ready to start another day just yet. He snuggled down deeper into his sleeping bag and wrapped his arms around himself to try and retain as much precious heat as possible. He was on the verge of drifting off again when something slammed against the back end of the bus, close to where he was lying. He sat upright in an instant, heart pounding, expecting to see bodies surrounding him. He relaxed when he saw that it was just Jackson, wrapped up like an Arctic explorer. He gestured for Driver to let him in. Still in his sleeping bag, he grudgingly shuffled, jumped, and tripped the length of the bus to open the door.
“Bloody hell,” he said, “do you know what time it is?”
“Do I look like I care what time it is?” Jackson replied, irritated. “Get yourself ready, Driver, we’re going out.”
“Out? Where?”
“Bromwell.”
* * *
Within the hour, Driver found himself standing inside the prefabricated museum with a small team of volunteers. He looked around at them. Most people (himself included, if he was honest about it) did as little as they could to get by, content to leave the much of the work to the minority of folks. And here they were: the usual suspects—the same faces which tended to appear whenever anything important needed doing. Bob Wilkins was there, despite his frequent protestations about staying inside the castle walls and not taking risks, and next to him, wearing a grubby hazmat suit, was Steve Morecombe, another man who seemed to talk a lot but who said very little worth listening to.