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Michael Collins was the last to arrive at the hall but the first to get his head together More than his head, perhaps, it was his stomach that forced hi, slow and painful , he decided it was time to eat In the main storeroo equip to the 4th Whitchurch Scout Group In a large as burners and, next to the chest itself, four half-full gas bottles In minutes he&039;d set the burners up on a table and was keeping hietable soup and a similar sized can of baked beans which he&039;d found Obviously left over froone, the food was an unexpected and welco the food was a distraction So to take his mind off what had happened outside the flimsy walls of the Whitchurch Community Hall

The rest of the survivors sat in silence in the main hall Some lay flat on the cold brown linoleum floor while others sat on chairs with their heads held in their hands No-one spoke Other than Michael no-one moved No-one even dared to make eye contact with anyone else Twenty-six people who may as well have been in twenty-six different rooms Twenty-six people who couldn&039;t believe what had happened to the world around theht happen next In the last day each one of them had experienced more pain, confusion and loss than they would normally have expected to suffer in their entire lifetime What made these emotions even more unbearable today, however, was the complete lack of explanation The lack of reason Coupled with that was the fact that everything had happened so suddenly and without warning And now that it had happened, there was no-one they could look to for answers Each cold, lonely and frightened person knew as little as the cold, lonely and frightened person next to the watched Out of the corner of his eye he could see that a girl sitting nearby was staring at hi him intently It made him feel uncomfortable Much as he wanted someone to break the silence and talk to hi He had a million questions to ask, but he didn&039;t knohere to start and it seemed that the irl got up out of her chair and tentatively walked towards him She stood there for aa final step closer and clearing her throat

&039;I&039;m Emma,&039; she said quietly, &039;Eed half a sain

&039;Is there anything I can do?&039; she asked &039;Do you want any help?&039;

Michael shook his head and stared into the soup he was stirring He watched the chunks of vegetable spinning around and wished that she&039;d go away He didn&039;t want to talk He didn&039;t want to start a conversation because a conversation would inevitably lead to talking about what had happened to the rest of the world outside and at thathe wanted to think about Problem was, it was all that he could think about

&039;Shall I try and find sooing to talk He was the only person in the rooic and reason dictated that he was the person it would bea conversation with E, so ot up and left the hall

Sensing that she wasn&039;t going to go away, Michael looked up again

&039;I found sos in the stores,&039; he muttered &039;Thanks anyway&039;

&039;No problem,&039; she replied

After another few seconds of silence, Michael spoke again

&039;I&039;m Michael,&039; he said &039;Look, I&039; because he didn&039;t really knohat it was he trying to say Emma understood, nodded dejectedly and was about to turn and walk away The thought of the stunted conversation ending before it had really started was enough to force Michael to s to say that would keep her at the table with him It was involuntary at first, but within seconds he&039;d realised that he really didn&039;t want her to go

&039;I&039;ain &039;It&039;s just with everything that&039;s I mean I don&039;t knohy I&039;

&039;I hate soup,&039; E the conversation into safer, neutral waters &039;Especially vegetable Christ, I can&039;t stand bloody vegetable soup&039;

&039;Nor h There&039;s four tins of it in there&039;

As quickly as it had began the brief dialogue ended There just wasn&039;t anything to say Small talk seemed unnecessary and inappropriate Neither of them wanted to talk about what had happened but both knew that they couldn&039;t avoid it Eain

&039;Were you far from here when it&039;

Michael shook his head

&039;A couple ofaround I&039;ve been all over town but my house is only twenty ain and then felt obliged to ask her the same question back

&039;My place is just the other side of the park&039; She replied &039;I spent yesterday in bed&039;

&039;In bed?&039;

She nodded and leant against the nearest wall

&039;Didn&039;t seem to be much else to do I just puthad happened Until I heard the music, that was&039;

&039;Bloodythatof beans into a dish and handed it to Emma She picked up a plastic spoon from the table and poked at the hot food for a couple of seconds before tentatively tasting aShe hadn&039;t even thought about food since her aborted shopping trip yesterday

A couple of the other survivors were looking their way Michael didn&039;t knohether it was the food that was attracting their attention or the fact that he and E Before she&039;d co It see had acted like a release valve of sorts As he watched ns of life

Half an hour later and the food had been eaten There were noo or three conversations taking place around the hall Sether while others remained alone Some people talked (and the relief on their faces was obvious) while others cried The sound of sobbing could clearly be heard over the muted discussions

Eether They had talked sporadically and had learnt a little about each other Michael had learnt that Emma was a medical student and Emma learnt that Michael worked with computers Michael, she discovered, lived alone His parents had recently er brothers She had told him that she&039;d chosen to study in Northwich and that her fae on the east coast Neither of the themselves to talk much about their families in any detail as neither knew if the people they loved were still alive

&039;What did this?&039; Michael asked He&039;d tried to ask the question a couple of tied to force the words out He knew that Emma couldn&039;t answer, but it helped just to have asked

She shrugged her shoulders

&039;Don&039;t know, some kind of virus perhaps?&039;