Autumn The City Page 0,67

floor.

Some - Jack Baxter and Bernard Heath included - instinctively ran towards the assembly hall, intending to alert the rest of the survivors there and, perhaps, to find a way of distracting the bodies outside. A handful of others led by Donna Yorke and Phil Croft continued around to the back of the building where they pushed open an inconspicuous looking door and ran out into the daylight.

Slipping and tripping up a steep and wet grassy bank, Cooper heard the door open. He anxiously looked around and caught sight of the survivors who themselves were already surrounded by bodies. He could see six of them, three of whom were armed with large sticks and other makeshift weapons which they were using to batter the shuffling figures out of the way. He stumbled and fell before picking himself up again and continuing to push forward. 'There he is,' shouted Nick Braithwaite, a man who had hardly spoken since arriving at the university.

He swung a snooker que around his head like a sword, sending another three cadavers crumbling to the ground. Croft and another survivor moved forward slightly, hoping to clear a path for the soldier. Cooper smashed the butt of his rifle into the jaw of another corpse before pushing past the survivors and disappearing inside. 'He's in,' Donna yelled from just inside the doorway. 'Shut the bloody door!' The survivors outside began to retreat, still swinging their weapons furiously, the bodies still grabbing and reaching out for them. Braithwaite was the last man in, bringing in with him two of the desperate figures which clung onto him with diseased, claw-like hands. He dragged them further along a grey corridor before hitting out at them to try and release their relentless grip. As Donna slammed the door shut and bolted it Keith Peterson grabbed the nearest corpse and lifted it up.

'Shit,' he said under his breath as he held it tightly by its spindly wrists and stared into its cold and expressionless face. The empty gaze which the creature returned chilled him to the bone. The decaying flesh around its wrists gave way under the force of his grip which nervously increased with each passing second. 'Just get rid of them,' Croft shouted nervously.

Cooper yanked the body away from Peterson and pushed it against the wall. He lifted his rifle and put a single bullet through its head, right between the eyes. As the corpse slid down the wall (leaving a trail of black-red blood and shards of splintered bone behind it) the soldier turned and did the same to the second body. The remains of a dead vicar dropped to the ground in front of him. The sound of the final gunshot echoed along the corridor and was gradually replaced by the ominous sound of body after body after body hurling itself against the door, trying desperately to reach the survivors safe inside.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

'So where the fucking hell did you come from?' Nathan Holmes spat as the exhausted soldier and the group of six survivors entered the assembly hall. There were several other people in the room. They each individually stopped what they were doing and stared at the unexpected arrival. 'We were based just outside the city. Look, is there any chance that I could get...' 'Was it you who was shooting yesterday?' Holmes interrupted. 'Not me personally, but...'

'And the engine we heard, that was you too?' Cooper nodded, exhausted. Much as he understood why it was happening, this sudden interrogation was the last thing he needed. 'That was us,' he answered. 'Us?'

'That's right.' 'So where are the others?' 'Back at the base I hope.' 'And why are you still here?' 'We got separated.' 'How come you can breathe? Are the others immune?' Cooper shook his head. 'Don't think so.

I don't know for sure. I only found out I was by chance. Look, could somebody please tell me exactly what happened here? I've been...' 'Aren't you the one who should be telling us what's happened?' asked Donna. She walked across the room to stand directly between Holmes and the weary soldier. Cooper shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't know,' he replied. 'None of us knew. We had a little information, but nothing...'

'What information?' Jack Baxter asked, moving closer. 'Like I say, no-one knew very much,' he explained. 'We were told there was a disease. We knew that it was widespread and that it had probably killed thousands but nothing