Autumn The City Page 0,27
to the side of a large van.
'That's enough,' Heath protested. 'Come on, Nathan, we're never going to get all that up those stairs, are we?' Holmes wasn't listening. He was busy loading more food and drink into boxes and bags which he then stacked into shopping trollies. Shaking his head with despair Heath continued emptying a shelf of dehydrated snack meals into a cardboard box. He carried the load over to Holmes and then stopped to complain again when he realised that the other man had filled most of his boxes with cans of beer. 'Now come on,' he protested, 'we're here to collect food. We can take some drink back with us if we've got enough room but...' Holmes leant forward until he was only inches from the lecturer's face, immediately intimidating and silencing him. 'Shut up,' he hissed. 'Look, I'm the one who's put their neck on the line to come out here and get this stuff. If I want beer, I'll take beer.
And if I've forgotten anything that anyone else wants, well they can just get in the car and come and get it for themselves, can't they?' He turned his back on Heath and began pushing the first of the trolleys out of the supermarket and back towards the stairs. The older man watched for a good twenty seconds before realising that he was alone. Suddenly anxious and uncomfortable he quickly made his move, pushing one trolley ahead of him and dragging another one close behind. Holmes slammed into the first set of double doors which opened out into the short corridor between the mall and the car park stairs. He pushed his trollies in and shoved them towards the far end of the corridor, groaning with effort as he struggled with the cumbersome load. 'I'm going back for more,' Holmes said. 'I'll be a couple of minutes.' He was gone before he'd given Heath chance to answer. Tired and struggling, Heath moved his two trollies towards the car park staircase.
He stood and stared at the huge pile of supplies they had gathered. Breathless, he tried to work out how much they would actually manage to get into the car and how they were going to get any of it upstairs. Holmes was back. The sound of him crashing through the doors again startled Heath. 'Come on,' he hissed as he pushed two more trollies towards him. 'Start getting stuff up to the car.' Picking up several badly packed carrier bags and a heavy cardboard box, Heath began to climb the steep grey stairs back to the top level of the car park. Becoming increasingly annoyed by the older man's lack of speed and fitness, Holmes followed close behind. 'Get a bloody move on, will you?' he shouted. With his legs and arms heavy with effort, Heath pushed his way back out into the car park and dropped his bags and boxes on the ground. Holmes unlocked the car and they began to cram their supplies into the boot. Hiding behind the van, Clare started to get up. 'Wait,' Jack mouthed. He turned back and watched as the two men disappeared back down the stairs. 'Let them load up the car first.' A couple of minutes later and Holmes returned. He threw more goods into the boot of the blood-splattered car and then turned and ran back down again. Another couple of minutes and Heath emerged from the shadows again, closely followed by Holmes making his third trip. Jack couldn't wait any longer. 'Hey,' he said, standing up and stepping out into the light. 'Are you...?' Holmes reacted instantly to the presence of an unexpected body. The fact that this body was communicating with him didn't register.
He turned to face Jack and, giving him as little regard as he would any one of the thousands of corpses dragging themselves along the streets, he dropped his shoulder and charged into him, sending him flying across the car park. 'You stupid bloody idiot!' Clare screamed, jumping up and pushing Holmes back against the car. 'What the hell did you do that for?' Realisation dawned. Holmes stood and stared at Jack as he rolled around on the cold ground, doubled up with pain. Heath pushed past him and helped Jack to his feet. 'Get in the car,' he shouted to Clare. Stunned and in considerable pain but nevertheless relieved, Jack slowly made his way over to the car and opened the back door and collapsed onto