Fighting them would be foolish. I could take three of them, at a push, Justin could handle one and David was only good for standing there in shock. That left a hundred of them still left to fight.
Above us a sheet of black had covered the sky and blotted out the light so that not even the stars were shining.
I took a step forward, grabbed the handle and opened the car door. I shoved David’s shoulders down so that he didn’t bang his head and pushed him into the car. Justin followed suit and opened the passenger door, got inside and shut it as quietly as he could.
I looked at the infected getting closer, their numbers large enough to trample anything in their path, and something inside me wanted to shout out. I felt a cold panic in my chest, and my skin was tingling. I had never seen this many in my life.
“Kyle, get in,” said Justin.
I opened the driver door, sat down and tried to get my breath back.
“Now what?” asked Justin.
From the back of the car, David spoke. “Seen this lot before. They’re like a shoal of fish, they wander around and any infected they see get swept up. When I saw them there was half this many.”
“How do you know they’re the same ones?” I said.
“Recognise some of them.”
The infected got closer, so that now they were ten metres away from the car. It was clear that they were going to walk in our direction. I gripped the sides of my seat and sucked in the insides of my cheeks.
“What can we do?” I said.
David looked at my eyes in the rear view mirror. “Just wait it out.”
I shook my head. “No fucking way I’m just sitting here with a hundred of them close enough to spit on.”
He leaned forward a little. His voice was a whisper. “Nothing else you can do. You can’t run. You can’t fight. You have to trust me. Just wait it out.”
I leant my head back and banged it against my seat. Yet again I was put in a position where I had to go by someone else’s word. I never wanted any of this; I was just fine on my own. Well, not fine, but I survived.
It was the end of the frigging world and it was still impossible to avoid people.
I sighed. “Not much of a choice.”
The infected stumbled past us. It was clear now that there was way more than a hundred of them; it was possible we were even looking at a thousand. How had they all collected together? Was it a conscious decision to group up, or did they just go with the flow?
As they walked down the road some of them brushed against the car. A rotten smell drifted in and clogged up my nostrils, and I realised the driver window was still open. As quietly as I could, I wound it up. The infected let out an orchestra of moans as they passed us.
“It’s going to take an hour by the looks of it,” I said.
I remember once Clara and I were driving home from the Lake District when we got stopped in the road by a herd of roving cows. The farmer leading them apologised, but we were stuck in the road for half an hour waiting for them to pass. I remembered being pissed off at the time, but looking back I didn’t realise how lucky I was. After all, cows couldn’t eat you.
Justin leaned his head back and spoke to David. “What do you call a group of infected? Is it a pride?”
“Probably a herd,” said David.
“More like a murder,” I said.
David frowned. “That’s crows.”
“Still fits.”
“A parliament of infected,” said Justin, and laughed.
“What are you talking about?” I said.
Justin smiled. “A group of owls is called a ‘parliament’. I think it fits the infected, too.”
Soon David caught on and let out a chuckle, and even I found it hard not to smile.
I felt my calf muscles start to cramp a little, so I stuck my leg forward and stretched out the muscle. I looked to the trees in the distance and wondered if any owls were nesting in there, whether there were even any owls still living. I guessed that most of them would have been killed by stalkers.
The night wore on and the infected carried on shuffling past. We were about halfway through now, and it gave me the feeling of being in the eye of a tornado. I felt my stomach sink. Next to me, Justin was asleep. I looked at him and blinked, marvelling at how the kid had managed to sleep with hundreds of infected just feet away.
David cleared his throat, and leant forward.
“Kyle.”
I turned round. “Yeah?”
He paused for a second, as though he were trying to compose his words.
“I still need to know why.”
I let out a long sigh. I knew what he was asking me; he wanted to know why I had left him after Clara died. For years I tried to bury the memories of that night – of our group being attacked, people being ripped apart, turning round and seeing one of the infected tearing flesh from Clara’s arm. I gritted my teeth and tried to push the images back.
“What does it matter now?” I said.
David hung his head. “You know me, Kyle. Better than anyone. Like a brother.”
I nodded.
“So I need to know why you abandoned me. We were the only survivors. I needed you, and you left me to die alone.”
Outside the sky looked bloated with darkness, as though any second it was going to vomit it out on top of us. The faint moans of the infected floated into the car.
“I’d just lost my wife. No, not lost. I’d let them kill her - I couldn’t protect her. And when it was all done, and it was just me and you, I couldn’t even look at you. “ I put my hands on the steering wheel and gripped it. “I failed her, David. I failed everyone.”
For a while the only sounds were the scuffling of the feet of the infected. I sat and took in deep breaths. I could feel tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. I’d never spoken about this before. I’d barely even allowed myself to think about it.
David leaned forward and pout a hand on my shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said.
I let the words sink in. I could feel my whole body start to shake, and emotion overtook me. I felt it run through my arms and legs, like adrenaline but thicker and heavier. I blinked and put a hand to my eyes, wiping away the moisture.
I turned round and looked at David. Although they were brother and sister, he looked absolutely nothing like Clara.
“I’m sorry, David,” I said. “After it happened, I couldn’t face anyone. I didn’t trust myself to protect anyone again, because I knew that I’d only let them down and lose them.”
He nodded and squeezed my shoulder.
A weariness overtook my body and I felt the energy seep out of my arms and legs. I felt my eyelids start to drop. Then I took one look at the infected outside and I forced my eyes open. Now wasn’t the time for sleep.
“Go ahead,” said David. “Get some sleep. I’ll keep watch tonight.”
I shut my eyes, but I couldn’t let myself sleep.
***
Five hours later I watched the sun rise to the east of us, in the direction of the farm. We were only twenty-five miles away now, which was walkable in a day or so. As long as we avoided the parliament of infected, we would be okay.
I reached across and shook Justin’s shoulder. He groaned, lifted his head and rubbed his eyes.
“Jesus, what time is it?” he said.
“Time to go.”
I looked behind me. David was awake and picking at a loose thread on his coat. I stretched my arms and legs, feeling my joints crack and my muscles expand. I took a deep breath and tried to fill my lungs with air, but I spluttered.