Chapter 6: Chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE

In the space of an hour, things began to get more and more hectic.

Where the roads had been jam packed before, in the space of ten minutes it worsened as cars began to flood even into the sidewalk; it was completely manic. Car horns were blaring, sirens screaming along with people, and pedestrians lined the streets with banners and billboards in protests, some in groups and some alone. The signs all showed the same basic message, but one message scrawled on a piece of cardboard was etched in my mind. The sign was held by a scruffy looking man who sported torn clothes and a worn out expression, clearly homeless.

‘What do I have to lose?’ The words screamed from the cardboard, right into my heart. How right he was.

I dared not ask where we were heading in the car, I wasn’t totally sure I wanted to know. We could go as far North as the UK would take us, the land had to end sometime. Then what? Would there be more of those creatures on the other side of the UK, were they rearing their heads in other countries? Dad had mentioned earlier than flights had been cancelled, what about boats? What if they were cancelled too?

Was I just having a bad dream?

Please, please be a dream.

‘Lucas, be a good lad and pull out the yellow bag from under the seats’ Dad broke the hour long tension with the command to my brother who’d been muttering quietly to Keith. In the blink of an eye, he was holding a yellow sports bag which was brimming with food, bags of crisps spilling out the top.

‘There should be some sandwiches in there somewhere, grab a few and pass them around, I think we’re all starving’.

Even though I was terrified my stomach would violently reject any food I swallowed, I took a ham sandwich and spent the next twenty minutes mindlessly eating  till all that remained in my hand was a useless plastic bag. It was funny but I couldn’t taste a thing, like I’d been biting my way through cardboard.

‘Everybody’s scared’ Joel piped up, his voice faltering a little, ‘but I’m going to be a brave boy’.

‘Mummy’s soldier’ Mum smiled, ruffling his hair, ‘You’re braver than all of us. Do you want to read a book? I think I have a few in my bag’ she began to rifle through her own bag while I leaned my head back on the seat, wondering how my six year old brother could be braver than me. I wasn’t the picture of a soldier, with long brunette hair falling below my shoulders framing my large blue eyes and pale skin. Lucas and I looked very similar, almost like twins we were always told. Joel was the exception, he took after Mum with his shaggy blonde hair while we took after our Dad.

Looking towards my level headed father made my fists unclench; he had all of our fear on his shoulders at the moment. He was driving, making plans, keeping us all sane and informed whereas I was quietly content that I wasn’t screaming and crying, launching myself from the backseat of this car. Pushing a stray hair away from my face, I looked out the window and wondered if anything could ever be the same again.

‘Oh shit’ Keith muttered to Lucas, eyes narrowed as though he’d come to some kind of realisation.

‘Language’ Dad scolded, ‘Kids present’ he gestured to Joel who pointed to himself with a grin.

‘Sorry sir’ Keith bowed his head, looking sheepish, ‘But those people out there, all I can think of are those cheap blockbuster movies with all the stage make up, the zombie ones. Have you ever seen 28 days later?’

‘I did’ Lucas and I said in unison. We’d watched it together actually, I’d been terrified and fascinated at the same time – it was those movies which pulled me into the horror genre, it was so captivating in such a weird way.

‘Then tell me you don’t see it, honestly’. Keith studied our reactions, waiting for something, anything. After a breath, I snorted with laughter causing everyone to glance at me in surprise. I hadn’t actually meant to laugh, it was probably blind fear, but the fact there was a complete stranger sat in our car who claimed we were running away from rampaging zombies eating their way through our town struck me as funny.

‘You can’t be serious’ I gasped through laughs which sounded more and more ridiculous and forced by the second.

‘How can you not be serious?’ he countered quietly, silencing me.

‘Oh, I’m serious’ I argued, ‘I’m terrified. But I’m not going to start throwing around theories that a disease or something, whatever this is, has to be linked to some fairy-tale creature who by the way, is ‘dead’. These people aren’t dead, they’re diseased’.

‘Did you not see the thing that was running towards us, breaking through the car? It was fucking snarling, Harley!’ Lucas cried.

‘Language’ Dad boomed again, ‘and no more talk of zombies. I’ve dealt with disease my whole life, it’s my career for goodness sake, and ‘zombies’ are not scientifically or realistically possible. If somebody dies then their body goes with them, may they rest in peace. Now I know as much as you do but my bet is that a vicious, contagious disease is raging down south, maybe it is triggering a rage response in the brain, maybe these infected people are simply relying on natural instincts, eat, survive. Either way, they are not zombies and we are getting as far away from whatever is happening as possible because I love my family and I want them safe’.

‘I understand, sir’ Keith nodded once again, seeming a little taken aback. I was too, something my father said had triggered something within me.

This was real, we were running for our lives.

I just hoped everybody was safer than I felt.

We were driving at a complete snails pace and had been for a few hours; I was completely restless in the back of the car. Roads were packed with cars, ambulances, vans, lorries and even people flooding the streets. Honestly, I couldn’t even imagine seeing or being near one of those infected people again, but I knew if it happened now, we would be absolutely stuck. We were compressed, the combined body heat of everyone in the car becoming almost unbearable, even in the wintery weather. Rain had started  to lightly fall on the roof, looking more beautiful than usual, delicately slapping on the car which we’d been stuck in for so many hours on end it felt as though it was a new home.

‘Can I open my window?’ my voice croaked; I hadn’t spoken in a fair while, nobody had.

‘Yeah, sweetheart’ my Mum smiled, catching my eye in the mirror, ‘You guys feeling alright back there?’

I turned to Lucas, Keith and now Joel, covering my hand with my mouth hurriedly so I didn’t laugh. They were all asleep:  Lucas’ head balanced on Keith’s shoulder and Joel laying over both of them with his head buried within Lucas’ stomach. It was completely comical, Keith and Lucas looked like an old married couple. After their uneasy start, they’d clicked almost instantly, realising their interests were almost identical along with their sense of humour. For the last hour before they’d obviously crashed out, they’d been trading stories, laughing in the backseat, seeming to become friends in such a short time. It kind of made me happy, realising there could still be some good in this mess. I’d chatted with Keith properly too,clicking with him instantly in a way I rarely did with anyone; usually I was gripped by fear when meeting new people but for whatever reason, this boy put me at ease. He was a guy, just surviving like us. I liked him; I genuinely hoped we could stay close when this was over.

If it was ever over.

How long would this take to be over? It felt like it hadn’t even started, I still knew nothing, naivety was the scariest part. With a shudder, I began to reach for my window to open it with the tiny button.

‘Don’t’ Dad called. I stopped immediately with my arm hanging in mid-air.

‘Erm?’ I mumbled in a question.

‘Sorry honey, but for all we know this thing could be airborne. Until we know more, we’re gonna have to stay cooped up. Sorry’.

‘I guess you’re right’ I sighed, wishing I could just stretch my legs, ‘Where are we anyway?’

‘The last sign I passed said we were in Alnwick’.

‘Never heard of it’ I frowned, wishing I’d paid more attention in Geography.

‘A long way from home’ Dad chuckled, the look in his eyes sad.

‘We’ll be back soon’ I smiled at him through the mirror, full well knowing it wasn’t quite reaching my eyes.

‘I know, wouldn’t want my best girls getting homesick. We’re heading up the route for Edinburgh, so I was thinking we could stay there tonight, somewhere which isn’t the car’.

I couldn’t supress my gasp, ‘Edinburgh?!’

‘We’ve been on the road for a very long time, chook. Traffic’s getting worse though, and it’ll start getting late soon’.

‘Can’t we stay here for a while? We’re at a standstill’.

‘She’s right, Chris’ Mum cut in, ‘I feel awful about the kids sleeping in a damn car, they need a bed’.

‘I know’ he sighed, ‘we need to buy some decent food as well’. Suddenly, I felt bad, I couldn’t even imagine how hard it must feel, looking after three kids in some kind of disaster. Lucas was an adult and so was I practically, we could easily take care of things.

‘Well, Lucas and I could take Keith and pay for a hotel while you guys find a room somewhere else’ I suggested, ‘It means we can split the cost and I doubt anywhere will have enough rooms for all of us’.

‘No’ Mum and Dad both said in unison, ‘We’re not leaving you’ Mum said firmly.

‘Yeah, you can’ Lucas mumbled, making me jump.

‘How long have you been awake for?’

‘Long enough to know I’ve been sleeping on a guy’ he whined, shifting his body so he was no longer dependant on Keith, ‘Harley’s right, I can take care of things and nowhere is gonna have five beds including a double; two places might be easier. We could meet in the morning’.

‘No’ Dad said again, sounding slightly more unsure, ‘Besides, we couldn’t sleep not knowing you were safe. I can’t rationally explain what we saw at that petrol station. If that is the disease we’re running from, we need to stick together all the more than before’.

‘I get that’ Lucas sighed, ‘But we’re hours and hours from where we were when that happened, for all we know they could have just been crazy costume people’.

‘Oh, don’t be stupid’ I narrowed my eyes, ‘What happened was real as day and you know it’.

‘I do’ he muttered, ‘I just can’t explain it. No matter how many times I replay it in my head, it still doesn’t seem like it actually happened’.

‘There could be an explanation’ my Mum spoke frankly, ‘There probably is one. You’re right though, we need a hotel with a TV, if we don’t know what we’re up against, we can’t fight it’.

‘But you saw what it was like in Sunderland, there were barely any beds going, let alone five’ I said, ‘Although I’d happily sleep on the floor’ I mumbled the last part.

‘She’s right’ Lucas spoke to the front of the car, rubbing his eyes, ‘I know it’s not practical but we’ll have to split, and you know I’ll take care of Harley’.

‘We know’ Dad muttered, massaging the lines on his forehead, ‘We’re going to check for places first, but if there are no rooms spare, and that is only ‘if’, we’ll split. But keep your damn  phone on’.

‘Okay’ I sighed in relief, the idea of a bed seeming like pure heaven to my mind, ‘What time is it anyway?’

‘Five o clock, it’ll take about an hour to get out of this traffic I reckon so sit tight guys. You hungry?’

‘Starving’ we chorused, genuinely smiling at each other for the first time in what seemed like weeks. It felt strange, smiling when there was a huge time bomb heading for us, a time bomb which would explode the second it touched the ground.

I’d never thought too much about death, it always seemed so foreign and distant from me. I’d had virtually no experience with it before, my life was sheltered to say the least. The closest I ever got was losing a distant great aunt whom I met once in my life; she was somewhat a black sheep of the family but I still cried all night, suddenly terrified that my mother or father would be next, or perhaps my brother and best friend, maybe even our pet fish. Either way, it suddenly seemed as though the world was a much scarier place and I began to notice deaths in the news, in the papers, even through hearsay. But still, I never imagined I could be facing it like this. In the space of a day, I was suddenly wading through this new world, in which I didn’t know how many people I loved were safe, I didn’t know how to run and I still didn’t know how to protect my family. The scary thing was, in a way, not much had changed.

******

‘Oh god, a bed’ I cried dramatically, falling back through the air till my back hit the sheets which were soon enveloping me. I couldn’t shed the feeling we were doing the wrong thing, taking a break. If this thing was chasing us up the country, halting our escape, in my mind, was the worst thing we could possibly do, but I really didn’t have the energy to argue.

‘Tell me about it’ Lucas mumbled, walking from the en suite bathroom, towel drying his hair, ‘This place is no palace but it has a shower, so it’s alright in my books’.

‘Damn straight’ I stretched by arms out, my tiredness suddenly catching up with me, ‘Where’d Keith go?’

‘The lady wants me?’ Keith waltzed into the room, his grin infectious, ‘Because I hate to be a bother, but your brother has become my chum and I’m not gonna b-‘

‘Don’t finish that sentence’ Lucas growled, ‘My sister is off limits’.

‘As you wish, sir’ Keith saluted, sending me a wink. I rolled my eyes as let them fall closed, praying for a good nights sleep where I’d wake up in my own bed, in my own town and with a smile on my face.

Our parents and Joel were off at a B&B while we got lucky with the only room left in a small hotel; it was cramped but I wasn’t ready to complain about the conditions, they could be so much worse.

‘Don’t sleep yet’ Lucas scolded, his voice close.

‘Oh bugger off’ I mumbled, my mind already foggy with delayed exhaustion.

‘No, Dad said he’d call to check we’re alright which means if I’m staying up then so are you’.

‘I hate you’ I muttered as I forced my eyelids open, the room blearily coming into view, ‘Can’t you just wake me?’

‘Let the girl sleep, you monster’ Keith called from the en suite. He wasn’t a bad guy.

‘Oh, fine’ Lucas grumpily agreed, ‘Layabout, lazy cow, bloody female, cheeky..’

It was to his curses that I fell asleep, the terrifying eyes of the people from the petrol station invading my dreams.

The wails from my nightmare seemed to still ring in my ears when I woke up. After a few seconds of bleary confusion though, I realised that the screams were in fact outside my dreams and alarmingly close to me.

‘Lucas?’ I called, scrambling from the bed, goosebumps rising on my arms, ‘Keith?’

Silence.

‘Where are you?’ My voice rose, unsteadily calling for the people I so desperately needed. The room was empty, the shouts and yells outside seeming to get closer and closer until I found the strength to sprint to the en suite bathroom and slam it shut behind me, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

‘Shit’ I muttered, dragging my hands through my already tousled hair. Where the hell were they? My instinct had been to run but inside the strange security of the bathroom, I just wanted to leave and find my brother.

What if he was hurt? What if those things from the petrol station had reappeared?

Why didn’t he stay put?

‘He wouldn’t just leave me’ I whispered to myself, my own voice soothing my racing heart, ‘Reasonable explanation. Reasonable explana-‘

A load and heavy thump rocked the door I was leaning against, sending me sprawling forwards. In the seconds I had to recover, dazed and alarmed, the door was forced slightly open to reveal a bloody hand clawing through the small gap. Without thought, I slammed my weight back against the door with a cry, till the hand retracted and an angry wail echoed through the room, an inhuman shriek like the one I’d heard while we were running for our lives only hours ago.

That was not my brother. That was not Keith.

‘Help me!’ I screamed in the moment, not caring what was going on, just needing to see Lucas, know he was okay. He’d know what was going on, he always did. Always.

‘Lucas! Keith!’ My voice seemed to travel for miles, the loudest I’d ever heard it with my own ears. It sounded haunting, terrified. Like a person who was surely about to die.

Once again, the door rocked me forward but this time I was more prepared, grinding my teeth with the effort of pushing backwards. It seemed like thousands of hands were drumming on the wood behind me, sending miniature shockwaves through my body.

‘Lucas!’ I shrieked, slamming my foor to the ground, a sob escaping my lips as the hopelessness of the situation dawned on me. Why did I run in here, why had I trapped myself? What the hell was going on?

‘Mum?’ tears began to stream down my face as I longed for my mother to wade in and wrap me in her arms, whisper that I was still dreaming, that I wasn’t about to die at the hands of something I didn’t even know. I prayed she was okay, that my Dad and Joel were safe as well, fast asleep. I prayed for Lucas too, and even Keith, using my depleting strength to clench my fists, wishing and praying as intensely as I could for everyone but myself.

What was the point? I was so painfully trapped.

God wasn’t real. I always knew it.

Nobody was saving me.

I was just a girl who’d taken kickboxing lessons once, karate twice. My strength was in my personality; positivity calamity. Except now, I didn’t know quite how to be calm - I needed the kickboxing, the karate. I needed the strength which I’d never used, relying on a sense of humour and common sense to get me through. Something was fighting me, and I’d never learned how to fight back. Never had it crossed my mind that I’d need to fight back; I’d always been the girl with the quick wit, the smile. The clumsy brunette with an array of close friends, the girl most likely to be the only sober one at a party but the first to jump into the pool; Impulsive but sensible. The one who wanted to grow up with a family, make something of herself, maybe become a doctor like her Dad.

All of my dreams, the things that make myself me gone. Only when the anger that would surely burst through the door got to me, which it would.

Everything, gone so quickly.

‘Harley?’

‘Lucas!’ My eyes widened, fresh tears brimming at my eyes, ‘Lucas!’

‘Harley, thank god’ My brother’s voice was muffled, but it was there.

‘Harley, Open the goddamn curtains!’

Curtains?

My eyes scanned the small room, connecting with a pair of deep scarlet curtains covering what would surely be the window Lucas was outside of.  I didn’t understand how he could be there seeing as the hotel was raised from the ground but I wasn’t ready to call it impossible, nothing seemed impossible anymore.

‘I can’t’ I called frantically, ‘I’m holding the door closed, something is try to  get in!’

‘Shit’ I heard him curse, ‘Stay back, I’m breaking through’

‘Where were you?’ my voice possessed an angry undertone that I wasn’t even aware I was feeling – although I figured it would be easy to understand why I was upset, it seemed as though he’d just left me for dead.

‘Keith and I heard noises’ he panted, thumping heavily on the window, ‘We went out to check and saw a bunch of those.. things coming towards us. All I could think of was making sure to protect you, so I locked us out and we tried to fend them off’.

There was a crash behind me as I felt the door beginning to splinter, angry growls rising from the other side of the door.

‘Oh’ I said quietly, breathless from the effort of holding the door back. He was trying to save me, in his own weird way, ‘Thank you’.

‘Don’t thank me’ I could hear the glass beginning to crack, ‘We got trapped, had to run outside. It’s awful out here sis, I prayed you were safe in that room, I just needed time to come get you. The guttering of this place is pretty solid, apparently’. Against the odds, I laughed loudly, biting my lip to prevent myself crying again. I had to stop and be braver than I was being at the moment.

‘There’ Lucas cried as an almighty smash sounded and he tumbled through the window, falling awkwardly and ungracefully to the floor. His eyes were wild as he dove towards me, backing up against the door and enveloping me in a hug which I returned without thought; my brother had come to save me.

‘Where’s Keith?’ I asked, terrified for the answer.

‘Just perching by the window’ Lucas chuckled quietly, shaking his head, ‘Theres a little ledge outside, thick enough to sit on. I have no plan, Harley. When we get out this window, I need you to be brave and don’t think about what you see. As for now, just run, okay?’

‘But what ab-‘

‘Harley’ He snapped, sending me a warning glare, his eyebrows knitted as he pushed his full weight against the rapidly shaking door.

‘Just run’ I repeated, his eyes softening at my words.

‘I just can’t lose you’.

‘I know’ I whispered, ‘Mum and Dad. Joel?’

‘I tried calling but there was no answer’. At my horrified expression, Lucas shook his head quickly and continued, ‘It’s early, Harley, only about three in the morning, they’ll be asleep. I just hope this disease, whatever it is, is still just on this side of town. We don’t have much time to get to them’.

‘Right’.

‘Ready?’

Escaping from the bathroom took longer than we’d planned. Whenever Lucas removed his weight from the door, I’d buckle from the strain and the growling would seem louder and closer until he had to dive back to support me but he could barely take the weight on his own; by the minute more and more growls accompanied eachother from the main room and with it came more anger, more weight to hold back. We had no time, and so Lucas told me to dive for the window which he would quickly follow me to. The plan was to be as agile and fast as I could which is difficult when you are a living, breathing, walking disaster. However, for once I was able to actually stay upright as I held my breath, darted across the small space and knocked enough glass out of the window pane to climb through where the icy air hit me like a thousand knives. Lucas was right, there was a small ledge which I could just about sit on, ready to crane my neck to see if Lucas was right behind me as he promised, he’d warned me not to look back and to keep shouting so he could hear me.

‘Harley’ Keith appeared next to me, shimmying along the ledge towards me as he breathed out slowly.

‘Keith’ I wanted to hug him, but I simply said ‘Lucas is still in there’ before I pushed my head back through the window just in time to see Lucas sprinting across the small space and hurling himself towards me, expertly flicking his body out the window with more grace than he’d fallen in with. It quickly became clear that speed saved his life though, as mere milliseconds after he made it through the window and moved sideways next to Keith and I, a gathering of only what I could describe to be ‘creatures’ stormed into the bathroom, snarling and clawing at the air. It was all I could do not to scream, as through my limited view into the bathroom I could make out people in a state identical to those at the petrol station.

This was the disease we were fighting; it had to be.

It was impossible, made no sense. They were like zombies, like Keith had said. People in horror films always seemed so brave, but just looking into their empty eyes made me want to scream and cry in a corner.

‘Quiet’ Keith mouthed silently to Lucas and I, as I realised the vulnerable position we were in. Just on the other side of the wall, there were enraged humans with ripped flesh, deadly eyes and an anger towards us which I could not fathom. One wrong move, and we could find out exactly how deadly this was. It was then that I realised I hadn’t even looked down towards the floor which was a whole storey below us, our lives suspended in mid air along with our bodies.

I honestly wish I hadn’t looked down, as the sight which greeted me was something Lucas could never have prepared me for, despite his trying. I had obviously managed to sufficiently block out the screams from below, because now I was aware of it, distraught yells were all I could hear. People were running around frantically, weaving cars around the sidewalk in haste and trampling over one another to run to safety. The cause of this was clear: surrounding terrified groups of people, poised and deadly were more people – what I could only assume were ‘infected’ people. I could tell from their stance. All I had learned in the last couple of days was that we were running from infected, these people were simply not who they used to be, they looked as though they were dead on their feet and from the video I had watched and from what I could see with my own eyes, their mission was to kill us.

Not just kill though.

My eyes were trained upon an infected man who was growling ferociously at a young woman as he dived on top of her, ripping apart her stomach with his teeth till she was lying alone in a pool of blood, her strangled screams fading into nothing. Still, he did not stop as he continued to bite and swallow, bite and swallow, ripping through her as though she was a piece of meat and I did not realise I was screaming until I felt a hand wrap around my mouth and Keith’s voice soothingly whispered into my ear.

It was too late though.

My scream attracted the attention of everything below us and all the infected in the bathroom.

‘Shit!’ Keith cried as the snarling around us seemed to amplify by hundreds, the noise filling my ears so ferociously I wanted just to curl up into a ball and wake up when all this was over.

‘Can they climb?’ Keith almost lost his balance as he frantically gestured towards the hordes gathering below us. It seemed my scream had saved lives though, as people much like us suddenly found the opportunity to sprint away to their freedom.

‘I don’t know’ Lucas sounded just as panicked which was unnerving, he was my rock. ‘Why couldn’t they? They’re humans with a disease, humans can climb’.

‘But they’re not climbing’.

It was true. They were gathered no more than five metres below us yet they had made no real attempt to climb to our level and drag us down. It wasn’t as though they weren’t interested in us, their arms were moving wildly as they growled and scratched the walls beneath us, yet we were just out of their grasp.

‘I don’t understand’ my whispers cracked till I could barely understand my own voice.

‘I should be in sainsburys’ Keith’s eyes were sad, angry, ‘I should be stacking shelves, doing what I hate all night and all day. I should be in my apartment making ready-meals and microwave pizzas, watching Two and a half men and painting shitty masterpieces’.

‘You paint?’ I asked, dumbfounded. It suddenly made sense, Keith holed up in his apartment, paint stained on his face, expertly flicking a paintbrush over a blank canvas. Picturesque.

‘Jesus, Harley!’ Lucas cried, ‘Look around! I don’t care if he’s Picasso, we’ll talk later about our goddamn hobbies, we need to get out of here!’

‘Sorry’ I replied instantly, fighting back tears. Somehow they managed to stay put, it seemed I was becoming stronger already.

‘Shit, I’m sorry Harley’ now Lucas looked as though he was near tears as he flinched at the mess beneath us, ‘I’m just scared for us, I’m scared for you. I’m meant to be looking after you and I just have no clue. We’re stuck’.

Before I could respond, a crash from beside me sounded as glass shattered and sailed past us, falling below into the street. Following it came at least seven people, tumbling from the window we’d narrowly escaped from landing with a sickening thud on the concrete.

I stared towards the empty window, knowing full well that the people who’d just fallen to their deaths were those who’d been hammering on the door, screaming and snarling towards us. Were they even people any more? I hoped not, because with the most horrific guilt, I felt absolute relief as they sailed past us, dying in mere seconds.

They used to be people, like us.

Maybe there was a cure, maybe they could have become healthy once again, they could have lived. Was it my fault? It felt like my fault.

‘Let’s go’ Lucas suddenly said, authority in his tone, ‘Through the window, we’ll run through the hotel room, down and out the door and keep running till we can get help’.

‘The place will be crawling with them’ Keith argued, ‘You’re seeing what’s happening, right? Zombies man, I told you, zombies’.

‘Zombies are dead, these people are alive’ I bit back, repeating my words from earlier, not quite believing them now.

‘Barely!’ Keith responded, frustration lacing his voice, ‘Look at them, Harley, just take a fucking look. They’re not themselves anymore! For all we know, this virus could be airborne and we’re all getting it right now. Then we’ll be one of them, running round, killing other, ripping them to pieces. I mean, they could even be dead! Maybe that’s why they so deforme--‘

‘I get it, I get it’ I interjected, ‘I just don’t know what to believe right now’. Keith nodded and looked like he wanted to continue but Lucas opened his mouth first. ‘Believe this; the disease could be airborne, Keith is right. If it is, we need to leave. I have no idea how it’s spreading, but it’s spreading quickly and easily so we need to go before we become zombie food’.

‘They’re. Not. Zombies’ I sounded the words out slowly.

‘Yes they are!’ The boys spoke in unison, glaring at me before both of their expressions softened simultaneously.

‘We each know nothing. Lets get out of here and find something’.

Slowly I nodded, and lifted my body slightly, hoping this wasn’t the biggest mistake I would ever make.

By some miracle, our death wish of a plan somehow came through. After we all almost silently piled through the bathroom window back into our hotel room, we managed to tiptoe through the corridors, finding it almost empty on our arrival. The noise was radiating from beneath us through the floorboards, screams and the sound of smashing glass clearly coming from the ground level of the building, a pretty clear indication that it would be less than safe to go through that way. Clearly Keith had the same idea.

‘I think we could find a window and jump’ he mused quietly, looking around for exactly that.

‘Really?’ I asked, unsure, ‘We’re still pretty high’.

‘I could go first and catch you, you can’t weigh anything’ he smiled, gesturing towards my slender frame.

‘Quit it’ Lucas snapped half heartedly, walking towards a door with the number ‘21’ attached to it with golden letters, ‘You’re right though man, this room sounds quiet and I’m pretty sure it backs out on an alleyway’.

‘Should we knock?’ I was unsure, what if the room was swarming with infected people? Noise levels could be deceptive. Plus, what if people were hiding out in there?

‘No point, everybody else had the good sense to leave’.

With that, Lucas and Keith shared a nod before they both barged into the door several times, making an insane amount of noise but wearing down the screws and badly carved wood at the same time. To feel like I was being helpful, I slammed my bodyweight against the door in between their bodies to which they both guffawed at me, pushing me away. In mere second, a shattering noise rang around our heads and we were inside.

In my defence, the cry that rang from my lips was not planned and I did not realise the shriek which was bouncing off of the walls actually belonged to me. The sight was horrible; something straight out of a horror movie which I had once been so in awe of, wishing I was brave enough to sit alone in a room and watch the film.

Here I was.

The walls were a canvas, splattered so carelessly with blood which dripped from almost every surface, even the ceiling. As a stream of single drops ran down my forehead and onto my shoulder, it took every inch of willpower I possessed not to jump into my brothers’ arms, sob into the fabric of his jumper and tell him I wasn’t ever going outside again.

All my willpower.

The carpet itself was also stained with red and shards of glass which were obviously from the smashed in window. With a small stroke of luck, we stood alone in the room, but I could not help but wonder who had once been in this room before us. A family, on a holiday together? Maybe a young couple, newlyweds even. A young woman who only wanted to protect her child. The possibilities were endless, none of which would make me feel any better than the last. I could only hope the blood was that of a creature and not a person, that somewhere in this mayhem whoever had been in this room had escaped unscathed and would be safe.

Safe like my parents had to be, my brother.

‘We need to go find Mum and Dad’ I whispered to no-one but myself, though the silence around me only meant that Lucas and Keith would hear.

‘We’ll find your family’ Keith promised, taking a moment to stop pulling away furniture which had been overturned to blockade the window to look me in the eye. In a second he was by my side, and had my hand clasped in his own. I jumped at the sudden motion, wondering how a simple touch from this boy who no longer was a stranger could feel so much like home when we were just so far away.

‘I promise you that we will do everything in our power to find them’ he nodded towards me, his eyes full of only sincerity. I believed him, completely. Lucas was staring intently at Keith, though he seemed completely unaware.

‘You’re a good guy’ Lucas slapped Keith on the back and he returned the gesture with a half smile and a nod, a silent unity.

‘Now lets get out of here’.