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THE HEAT AND DAMP have co-the relentless, choking, suffocating stench of decay co drains and Christ knohat else Other than the noise of this tired old van, everything is generally quiet, but the fragile silence is frequently interrupted by sudden bursts of noise: the Unchanged , a screalass and the cru ani noise of the engine is unexpectedly welco else

I&039; hi to concentrate, but I&039;m distracted by the fact that a pub I used to occasionally drink in has disappeared-there&039;s now just an unexpected gap and a pile of blackened rubble on the street where it used to be-and for a second I don&039;t realize the significance of where we are Then it dawns on me

"Stop!"

"What&039;s the proble

"No problem Take a left here"

He does as I say

Carol leans forward from the back "Trouble?"

"The kids&039; school," I explain "They used to go to the school down here My missus worked here, too"

"So?"

"So if I was in Ellis&039;s shoes and I couldn&039;t go back hoht be the next best option"

"Worth a look since we&039;re here," Keith reluctantly agrees, "but if there&039;s nothing here we move on quick, and so do you"

The school is tucked away behind a church and a row of stores and offices In thelooks a little more familiar than it did yesterday, but a littleopen, and there&039;s evidence of fighting almost everywhere I look The road ahead is blocked by the rusting wreck of a car that has mounted the pavement and crashed into a bus shelter Its heavily decayed Unchanged driver has been thrown-or dragged-through the shattered windshield Looks like he was attacked as he tried to get away His body is sprawled out over the crued skin slashed and sliced by jagged shards of glass His right shoulder is a gnarled stu bone The rest of his arently steers the van through a narrow gap, scraping against a ith a vile, high-pitched grating noise I look down as we drive over another, equally ht here was vicious Probably ht down here Down the alleyway next to the church"

He does as I say, driving the van slowly down the narrow track that leads into the school grounds I glance over the low stone wall to my left and see that there are several raveyard, none of them in one piece Some are badly decayed, others relatively fresh I hold ht in my hand, ready to attack or defend h I&039;m certain whoever did this was on our side, the brutality and savagery of these kills is reh the e lot and stops outside the ate

"Holy shit," Paul says from the back "What happened here?"

He jumps out and walks over to the wire-round I follow him and immediately see that the violence so apparent out on the streets has spread closer to the school, too The enclosed asphalt play area is completely covered with a virtual patchwork quilt of body parts I press ainst the tall fence, which bizarrely ladiatorial arena I look down at the ground, and in the few clear spaces between the dead I can still see brightly painted s: hopscotch, snakes and ladders, oversized letters and nuain and remember this place as it used to be, filled with a couple of hundred kids in their identical school unifor and-

"Brutes?" Keith shouts froht

"Doubt it," Paul answers quickly "Why would they be here? More to the point, ould anyone still be here?"

"Unchanged hideout?" I suggest "Think soate-crashed an evacuation?"

I crouch down to look closer at some of the nearest corpses It&039;s impossible to be sure because of the extreme level of mutilation and deterioration, but all the dead faces I see here seeate, and we start walking doard the entrance to the school, leaving Carol and Keith guarding the van The ground&039;s much clearer here In fact, it looks pretty much like it used to e used to walk the kids down to class Paul nudges me I look up and see a sudden flash of franticthe side of the building, then jumps down off a low brick wall and disappears inside I sprint down the path after it and shove the still swinging door open I pushat the obnoxious stench that i food, and other even worse odors

I kickthe floor of the small reception area Directly in front of me is the door to the main assembly hall To my left are what used to be the staff rooht of steps and a corridor that leads down to the classrooht in here What used to always be a bright place full of noise, energy, and life is now just as dark and dead as everywhere else, and it&039;s a stark contrast to what I reraphs of the teachers and kids, and I force myself not to look for Ellis&039;s, Edward&039;s, and Lizzie&039;s faces

"There," Paul whispers, pointing doard the classroodashes from one room to another I race doard a classroo back as so speed I slide across the floor onattacker that grabs hold of my neck and starts to squeeze Can&039;t tell if it&039;s claws or teeth I feel digging into ht, but before I can even raise my arm another one of them dives on top of me and bites my hand until I drop the weapon I feel the sharp pinprick of another blade being forced up under e hands grabbing both ofme down and then and then they stop One by one, Paul pulls the, I scra only when I reach the wall and can&039;t go any farther back I pick myself up and see there&039;s a crowd of seven children of various sizes and ages standing in front ofinterest when they realize we&039;re all on the sae back into the classroom Paul and I follow them at a cautious distance

"None of these your daughter?"

"Can&039;t see her," I answer, still panting after the attack I look around the room into a succession of pallid faces So only the biggest kids out in the open They look like they&039;ve been here for so in what used to be their classroom Tables and chairs have been shoved to the sides of the room, the wood-tiled floor now covered in litter and discarded clothing Rando, and in the far corner wisps of smoke climb up from the ashes of a fire built from torn-up textbooks The room is in a horrendous condition It smells like a toilet and feels like a slum, but if I look past the dirt, the bruises, the blood, and the other stains and marks on the faces of these kids, they look coht and full of life

There&039;s a boy who looks about the sa on top of what used to be the teacher&039;s desk If he came to this school they&039;d probably have been class into the ith the tip of a fearsoo to tell him not to, but I stopto listen to me anyway It&039;s already clear that these kids do what they like, when they like That&039;s probably how they&039;ve hter"

He shrugs but doesn&039;t say anything

"Are there any other children here?"

Still no answer

"This is a waste of tiet these kids into the van and get out of here"

I&039; anywhere until I&039;ve had some answers

"Are there any adults here?"