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Michael spent the first five and a half hours of the followingto find soed to lose consciousness he only slept for forty-fiveworse than ever He&039;d been lying on the cold hard floor and every bone in his tired body ached He wished he hadn&039;t bothered

Thecold He was fully clothed and had a thick winter jacket wrapped around hi at the moment, but he quickly decided that he hated this ti shadows he thought he could see a thousand shuffling shapes where there were none Much as he tried he couldn&039;t think about anything other than what had happened to the world outside because absolutely everything had been affected He couldn&039;t bear to think about his family because he didn&039;t know if they were still alive He couldn&039;t think about his work and career because they didn&039;t exist any out with his friends at the weekend because those friends wereface down on a street corner somewhere He couldn&039;t think about his favourite television progra and no electricity He couldn&039;t even hus because it made him remember It hurt too h only gone for a few days, now seemed to be lost forever In desperation he simply stared into the darkness and tried hard to concentrate on listening to the silence He thought that by deliberately filling his head with nothing the pain would go away It didn&039;t work It didn&039;t matter which direction he stared in, all that he could see were the faces of other equally desperate survivors staring back at hih the darkness He was not alone with his painful inso sun were beginning to edge cautiously into the rooh a series of sular hich were positioned at equal distances along the longest wall of the main hall Each one of the as protected on the outside by a layer of heavy-duty wire mesh and eachhad also been covered in randoh the years Michael found it strange and unnerving to think that every single one of those vandals was almost certainly dead now

He didn&039;t want to move, but he knew that he had to He was desperate to use the toilet but had to suo there It was too cold and he didn&039;t want to wake any of the lucky few survivors ere actuallyto sleep Problem was the hall was so quiet that no le footstep he took would probably be heard by everyone And when he got there it wouldn&039;t be much better The toilets didn&039;t flush anyroup had started to use a small chemical toilet which soh it had been in use for less than a day it already stank A noxious co huer, he had to go He tried unsuccessfully tohimself that the sooner he was up the sooner it would be done and he would be back Strange that in the face of the enormity of the disaster outside, even the easiest everyday task suddenly see hold of a nearby wooden bench with his outstretched right hand, he hauled himself up onto his unsteady feet For a few seconds he did nothing except stand still and try to get his balance He shivered in the cold and then took a few tentative stuht towards the toilets He would be twenty-nine in three weeks tihty-nine

Outside the toilet he paused and took a deep breath before opening the door He glanced to his right and, through a small squareto the side of theoutside

For a moment he froze

He could definitely seepain in his bladder, Michael pressed his face hard against the dirty glass and peered out through the layers of spray paint and ain

Instantly forgetting about the te bones and his full bladder, he unlocked the door and wrenched it open He burst out into the coldat the edge of the road There, on the other side of the street, he saw asloay from the community centre

&039;What&039;s theMichael It was Stuart Jeffries He and another three survivors had heard Michael open the door and, naturally concerned, had followed him outside

&039;Over there,&039; Michael replied, pointing towards the figure in the near distance and taking a fe steps forward &039;Hey,&039; he shouted, hoping to attract his attention before he disappeared from view &039;Hey you!&039;

No response

Michael glanced at the other four survivors before turning back and running after the unknown ure wasat a very slow and deliberate pace

&039;Hey, mate,&039; he shouted cheerfully, &039;didn&039;t you hear me?&039;

Still no response

Theaway

&039;Hey,&039; Michael said again, this ti past and&039;