Frank looked around the fields. He imagined the infected coming out of the dark to kill him and his mates. He shivered and looked at the cold grey sky.
One mile later they rounded a bend in the road and stopped. They stared down the road, none of them saying a word. There was thunder in the distance. Frank felt it inside his head. When the sky roared, his skull trembled. He rubbed his eyes.
“What the fuck?” said Magnus. His voice was a tired whine.
“Kids,” said Joel.
The children were standing in the centre of a crossroads twenty yards away, their faces turned towards the sky.
Frank expected to see some great shadow looming above the children. Grey clouds that were almost black, but there was no shadow and no discernible threat.
He could almost reach up and push his hand into the clouds. But would he still have had his hand when he pulled it out?
The children didn’t move. Necks craned towards the sky. Eyes open, mouths shut tight like they were keeping a secret only they should know. Six boys and three girls. None of them were over ten years old. Dirty clothes and blood on their skin. Red around their mouths. Most of them were barefoot. One of the boys wore only a pair of pants and socks soiled with dirt.
Ralph said, “They’re infected.”
“Are you sure?” asked Joel.
“Look at them.”
“Why haven’t they attacked us yet, then?”
“Something else has their attention.”
Magnus ran a hand over his face. “Oh for Christ’s sake.”
Frank took a few steps forward. He had a horrible feeling that Florence was among them. He looked for her unmistakeable mane of red hair. She wasn’t there. He looked at their hands. The children were twiddling their fingers by their sides. The closer he got to them the more the air thickened. Almost electric, like the silent moments before a thunderstorm.
The others stopped behind him.
“Be careful, lads,” said Ralph.
“What’re they doing?” Joel said. “What are they looking at?”
“The things in the sky,” said Magnus. “Like what we saw back in Horsham. The thing that drifted over the school.”
“You can’t be sure of that. How do you know?”
“What else could it be?” said Ralph. “Look at them.”
Joel looked. His face seemed to droop. He swallowed, took a deep breath and looked ready to be sick again.
“I remember,” said Joel, “when we were little and we used to go on walks across the fields. When we used to stop and sit down to eat our packed lunches, I would lie on the grass and look up at the sky when there were no clouds and there was just blue. It used to make me feel weird. Dizzy, almost. And small. I used to think the world would suddenly turn upside down and I would drop into that blue sky and keep on falling.”
“I remember you freaking out once,” said Ralph. “Crying because you were worried you’d fall into space. I took the piss out of you for weeks afterwards.”
“Yeah,” said Joel, with a scowl. “I was only eight years old. Thanks for being so understanding, mate.”
Magnus shifted his feet. “Will they attack us if we get too close?”
“Let’s just go through them,” said Ralph.
“What?” Magnus said. “Are you mental?”
Ralph shrugged, looked puzzled. “Why not? They’ll either ignore us or they won’t.”
“What if they don’t ignore us?”
Ralph tapped the flare gun against his leg. “Then we’ll sort it out.”
“Ralph is right, unfortunately” said Frank. “What choice do we have, lads?”
“Are you prepared to kill a child?” said Joel. “Even if it’s infected? Could any of you live with that?”
“Could you?” said Ralph. “You might have to before we get home.”
“Not if I can help it.”
Ralph shook his head. “If you want to stay alive, you will.”
“Stop arguing,” said Magnus. “This isn’t the time.”
Joel and Ralph glared at each other. Joel looked away.
“Do you hear that?” said Magnus.
“Hear what?” Joel said.
“Vehicles. Engines.”
On one of the roads approaching the crossroads, several trucks were heading their way.
“Looks like a convoy,” said Ralph.
A jeep headed the convoy. Armoured cars with mounted machine guns.
“Hide,” said Ralph.
Frank turned to him. “Why hide from the army? They can help us.”
Ralph grabbed Frank, pushed him to the roadside. Magnus and Joel followed. They hid in a soggy ditch overgrown with grass and stinging nettles, and stinking of stagnant water.
“I’ve got a bad feeling,” said Ralph. “Keep your heads down.”
“This is insane,” said Frank.
Ralph glared at him. “Just wait.”
Frank peered over the top of the ditch, wincing as a nettle stung his hand. The army convoy stopped near the children. His heart went a little faster. A squad of soldiers jumped down from one of the trucks.
The children didn’t react. They stared at the sky.
“Maybe the soldiers will put them in one of the trucks,” said Magnus. He chewed on the inside of his mouth. “Maybe they’ll take the kids to some sort of sanctuary.”
No one answered. Frank watched the soldiers gather in a line behind the children. One of the soldiers was shouting, but Frank couldn’t tell what he was saying.
The children were content to look at the sky, lost in the clouds.
“Don’t look,” said Ralph.
But Frank looked. So did the others.
Frank’s eyes felt hot and stinging. He didn’t want to watch but couldn’t stop himself.
The soldiers raised their rifles and took aim.
The children stared at the sky.
The soldiers opened fire.
The children fell.
And they would never look at the sky again.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Joel said, “I need to stop.”
“Come on, mate,” said Ralph. “We’re almost at the village. It’s getting dark.”
“Darker than it should be,” said Magnus.
Joel darted to the side of the road, bent over and vomited onto the grass. Magnus went to him and patted between his shoulder blades.
“Take it easy, Joel. Take it easy.”
Ralph shook his head and snorted.
After Joel finished vomiting he stepped back on to the road. He ignored Ralph. There were globs of spit and mucus in his facial hair. He wiped them away, coughing and spitting.
“You okay, Joel?” said Frank.
“They killed those children,” he said.
“The children were infected,” said Ralph. “The soldiers didn’t have a choice.”
“Why did you make us hide?”
Frank remembered walking past the pile of children’s bodies that the soldiers had made. He had felt voyeuristic and disrespectful looking at the small corpses.
“How do you think the soldiers would’ve reacted to us witnessing them kill a bunch of kids? Do you think they would have let us go on our merry fucking way? They would’ve shot us.”
“Shot us?” said Joel. “Our own army wouldn’t shoot us. We’re not infected. They’re on our side. They’re supposed to help us.”
“Take your head out of your arse for a minute, Joel. They wouldn’t have let us get away. They wouldn’t let that sort of thing get out. They would’ve shot us and dumped our bodies with the children. No one would ever have found out.”
“Don’t insult me,” said Joel. “Fuck off.”
Ralph stepped towards him.
Frank and Magnus moved between them and Frank put his hands on Ralph’s shoulders. “Calm down, mate. Count to ten or something. There’s no need for this.”
Ralph glared at Frank, cracking his knuckles. Then his face cleared, his body loosened, and he nodded, suddenly ashamed.