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The isolation and desperation of the situation affected all of the survivors, some(unsuccessfully) to catch up onthat was happening outside Ti at an unbearable and painfully slow rate An hour now felt like five and five hours an to sink back below the horizon he clambered out of the community hall once more and stood alone on the small area of flat roof he&039;d discovered the previous evening

For aand he sed several deep, cal breaths before the now fas quickly returned, bloards hi wind There was a sudden unexpected noise behind hih the tiny skylight

&039;Did I ed himself out onto the roof &039;Sorry,for you and I saw you disappear up here and&039;

Carl shook his head and looked away, disappointed that his little sanctuary had been discovered In the community centre private space was at a premium and they had all been limited to just a few square feet each Almost every move that every person made indoors could be seen by everyone else Carl hated it and he&039;d been looking forward to getting out onto the roof and spending some time alone The small square roof had been the only place so far where he&039;d been able to stretch, scratch, sta that he had to hold back on how he truly felt because of the effect it ht have on the others Stupid that almost everyone else was dead and yet he still instinctively found hiht think of hi honest and true to hi by society were going to take more than a few days to fade away

&039;You&039;re okay,&039; he sighed as the other et away for a while&039;

&039;Do you wantthat he was in the way &039;If you want o then I&039;ll&039;

Carl slowly shook his head again

&039;No, it&039;s okay&039;

Glad to hear that he wasn&039;t intruding (although not entirely convinced that he really elcoe of the roof

&039;What the bloody hell is happening?&039; he asked, his voice so low that Carl could hardly hear what he&039;d said

&039;Don&039;t know,&039; he mumbled in reply, equally quietly

&039;Christ, it&039;s just the speed of it all,&039; Michaelwas normal, but now&039;

&039;I know,&039; Carl sighed &039;I know&039;

The two men stood in silence for a while and surveyed the devastation around the and how hard either of theht of countless bodies lying face down on the cold ground Even more difficult to accept were those pitiful corpses that were now ?

&039;Almost makes you envy them, doesn&039;t it?&039; Carl muttered

&039;Who?&039;

&039;The bodies still lying on the ground The ones that haven&039;thow much easier it would have been to be&039;

&039;That&039;s a fucking stupid way to talk, isn&039;t it?&039; Michael spat

&039;Is it?&039; he snapped back angrily

In the heavy silence that followed Carl thought about his words Bloody hell, ho and defeatist he suddenly sounded But why not, he thought? Why shouldn&039;t he be? His life had been turned upside down and inside out and he&039;d lost everything Not just his possessions and his property, he&039;d lost absolutely everything And when he thought about poor Sarah and Geether in their bed at home, the pain he felt became immeasurably worse But were they still there? Had they been affected by this new change? The thought of his beautiful little girl walking aih the dark streets alone was too much to bear He tried unsuccessfully to hide the tears which streamed freely down his tired face

&039;Co to reassure hih he already knew that there was no way he could)

&039;I&039;m okay,&039; Carl sniffed It was patently obvious that he was not

&039;Sure?&039; the other man pressed

Carl looked into his face and forced himself to smile for a fraction of a second He was about to reply with the standard &039;yes, I&039;ht,&039; when he stopped There was no point in hiding the truth anymore

&039;No,&039; he adht&039;

Suddenly unable to say another word, he found hi helplessly

&039;Me neither,&039; Michael ad tears of desperation and pain froe of the roof, their feet dangling freely over the side of the building Michael stretched, yawned, and then ran his fingers through his matted hair He felt dirty He&039;d have paid any price to have been able to relax in a hot bath or shower and follow it up with a night spent in a co better than a hard wooden bench in a cold wooden building

&039;You knoe need?&039; he asked

&039;I can think of about a s that I need,&039; Carl answered

&039;Forget about all the practical stuff for a s that we should have like warmth, safety, security, answers to a million questions and the like, do you knohat I need ed his shoulders

&039;No, what?&039;

Michael paused, lay back on the asphalt and put his hands behind his head

&039;I need to get absolutely fucking plastered I need to drink sobeer that I can&039;t re else&039;

&039;There&039;s an off-licence over there,&039; Carl said, half-s across the lanced down at Michael as shaking his head furiously

&039;No,&039; he replied abruptly

Another long silence followed

&039;Christ, look at him would you,&039; Carl said, minutes later Michael sat up

&039;Who?&039; he asked

&039;That one over there,&039; he said, nodding at a solitary figure in the distance which tripped and stue of the main road The shadowy shell had once been a ed between twenty-five and thirty It alking aardly with one foot on the kerb and the other dragging behind in the gutter

&039;What about hied his shoulders

&039;Don&039;t know,&039; he sighed &039;Just look at the state of him That could be you or me, that could&039;

&039;Yes but it isn&039;t,&039; Michael yawned, about to lie back down again

&039;And there&039;s another See that one in the newsagents?&039;