Autumn Page 0,18

second's thought Carl nodded and made his way to stand next to Michael, closely followed by Emma and Kate. Michael took a deep breath, pushed the door open and stepped out into the bright September sunlight.

It was surprisingly warm. Carl (the only one who had been outside for any length of time recently) noticed that last night's bitter wind had dropped. He shielded his eyes from the light and watched as Michael cautiously retraced the steps that he had taken earlier, walking away from the dilapidated wooden building and towards the road. When the first moving body staggered into view he instinctively stopped and turned back to face the others.

'What's the matter?' asked Emma, immediately concerned.

'Nothing,' he mumbled, feeling nervous and unsure.

The three other survivors walked towards him and stood close. Carl noticed that a crowd had gathered to watch them in the shadows of the doorway of the community hall.

'So what are we going to do now?' Kate James wondered. She was a quiet, short and round woman with a usually flushed red face which had suddenly lost much of its colour.

Michael looked around for inspiration.

'Don't know,' he admitted. 'Anyone got any ideas?'

Three faces returned three blank expressions. A few seconds later Emma cleared her throat and spoke.

'We need to have a good look at one of them,' she whispered.

'What do you mean?' Kate asked, her voice also quiet. 'What are we supposed to be looking at?'

'Let's try and see how responsive they are. We should see if they can tell us anything.'

While she had been speaking Michael had taken a few steps further forward.

'What about her?' he asked, pointing at one of the nearest moving bodies. 'What about that one there?'

The group stood together in silence and watched the painful progress of the pitiful creature. The woman's movements were tired and stilted. Her arms hung listlessly at her sides. She seemed almost to be dragging her feet behind her.

'What are we going to do with her?' Kate wondered nervously.

'Do you want to get closer and just have a look?' Carl asked.

Michael shook his head.

'No,' he said, 'let's get her inside.'

'What, back in there?' he gasped, gesturing at the building behind them.

'Yes, in there,' Michael replied. His voice still remained calm and unflustered and it was beginning to annoy Carl who silently hoped that the others shared his mounting fear and unease because he certainly wasn't as together and as sure as Michael appeared. 'Is that a problem?'

'Not to me,' said Emma. 'Try convincing the others though.'

He obviously wasn't concerned.

'I think we should get her indoors and try and make her comfortable. We'll get more out of her if we can get her to relax.'

'Are you sure about this?' muttered Kate. Her nerves were obviously beginning to fray.

Michael thought for a moment before nodding his head.

'I'm sure,' he said, sounding confident. 'What about the rest of you?'

Silence.

After a few awkward seconds had passed Carl spoke.

'Bloody hell, let's just do it. We're never going to achieve anything just standing out here like this, are we?'

That was all that Michael needed to hear. With that he strode up behind the woman, reached out and rested his hands on her shoulders. She stopped moving instantly.

Emma jogged the last few steps and moved round to stand in front of the body. She looked up into her glazed eyes and saw that they seemed unfocussed and vacant. Her skin was pale and taut, as if it had been stretched tight across her skull. Although she was sure that the body couldn't see her (she didn't even seem to know she was there) Emma respectfully tried to hide her mounting revulsion. There was a deep gash on the woman's right temple. Dark blood had been flowing freely from the wound for some time and had drenched her once smart white blouse and grey business suit.

'We want to help you,' she said softly.

Still no reaction.

Michael gripped the woman's shoulders a little tighter and shuffled closer.

'Come on,' he whispered, 'let's get you inside.'

Carl and Kate watched the others with a morbid fascination.

'What the hell is happening?' Kate asked, her voice gradually becoming noticeably weaker and more unsteady each time she spoke.

'No idea,' Carl admitted. 'Bloody hell, I wish I knew.'

He surveyed the desperate scene around them. Not all of the bodies had moved. The majority still lay where they had fallen.

'Carl,' Michael shouted.

'What?' he mumbled nervously, turning back to face the others.

'Give us a hand, mate. Could you get hold of her legs?'

Carl nodded and walked over