Autumn The City Page 0,53

and bring them staggering back to them. And that was the quandary that split the group in two.

'I'm not going to do anything that's going to bring those bloody things back here,' snapped Bernard Heath. The sudden force and nervous energy and volume in his voice belied the fact that fear was the only reason he was opposed to the plan that had been put forward. 'For God's sake, Bernard,' Donna sighed, 'can't you see what we're saying here? We know that whatever we do will bring the bodies back, but chances are it'll bring those survivors to us as well. Do you really think we can afford to stay out here on our own for very much longer?' 'But we're not out here on our own, are we?' he argued. 'There are more than forty of us here.' 'That's as maybe,' she replied, 'but how many of them are in this room with us now? How many people do you actually see each day?' Heath looked around the assembly hall.

She was right, less than half of the total number of people in the building were in the room with them. It was rare to see more than ten of them together. Most continued to cower in silence in their individual rooms. 'We're stuck here,' Phil Croft volunteered from across the hall. 'Okay, that's not proved to be too much of a problem so far, but give it a few more weeks and this shelter we've got here could well turn into a prison.' 'No matter what we do those bodies will keep returning here,' Donna continued. 'The rest of the city is silent. We can't help but draw attention to ourselves, can we?' 'We can try,' Heath protested. 'We could...' 'We could what? Shut ourselves in a single room up high and hold our breath so they can't hear us breathing?' 'No, I just think...' 'You've seen how those things are beginning to behave, haven't you?' she asked, her voice weary. 'They're becoming more and more active every day. I know they're not particularly strong on their own but given with the numbers we're dealing with here...'

'And we're going to need to go out for supplies again soon,' said Croft. 'And as time goes on we'll need to go further and further afield to get those supplies. We're going to be spending longer out in the open.' 'We need to start getting ourselves organised,' Donna continued. 'Get some kind of routine and order to what we're doing. We need to find a way of letting those other survivors know we're here without...' Sat in the corner of the room, Nathan Holmes got up and walked towards the nearest exit. 'You're a bunch of fucking idiots,' he spat. The rest of the people in the hall turned and stared at him. 'Look at you. What are you trying to do here? Think you're going to build some brave new fucking world out of...' 'We're not trying to do anything except...' Donna began before Holmes interrupted. 'What you're trying to do is pointless. It's all pointless. You shouldn't even be wasting your time talking about it. As soon as I can I'm getting out of here and I'm going to...' 'We all know exactly what you're going to do,' Donna sighed. 'You're going to drink yourself stupid so that you can forget everything. We've heard you say it a thousand times. You don't give a damn about anyone but yourself.' 'Too right I don't,' he replied, 'why should I?' 'Can't you see how our chances will improve if we work together?' Croft asked. Holmes looked up to the ceiling in despair. 'But that's my point, what chance have we got? Everybody in this damn building has lost absolutely everything. Getting out of here and trying to forget everything is the best option for anyone who's got any degree of sense left...' 'You're confusing sense and selfishness,' Donna mumbled under her breath.

'Look,' Croft said, the patience in his voice wearing thin, 'all we're talking about doing here is setting up some kind of beacon so that if and when those others come back they'll know where we are and they'll come to us. We're not trying to make great plans for the future because we don't know if any of us have got a fucking future!' 'But your beacon will attract the bodies,' protested Heath. 'For Christ's sake, man,' Croft seethed. 'Can't you see that's a risk we're going