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Despite the fact that each one of the survivors had reached new levels of emotional and mental exhaustion, not one of the to sleep This lack of sleep htened and desperate people were beco as laht seemed to compound the disorientation and fear felt by all of theht the tensions and frustrations felt by even the h levels

Jenny Hall, who had held her three , had dared to coiven earlier in the evening Although she&039;dby her innocent comments, the cook - the usually quiet and reserved Stuart Jeffries - had taken it personally

&039;You stupid fucking bitch,&039; he screaives you the right to criticise? Fucking hell, you&039;re not the only one who&039;s had it tough Christ, we&039;re all in the sa boat here&039;

Jenny wiped strea hands She was convulsing with fear and could hardly co-ordinate her movements

&039;I didn&039;tto&039;

&039;Shut yourhold of her arainst the wall &039;Just shut your fucking mouth!&039;

For a second Michael just stood and watched, stunned and nu He quicklytrance and actually do sorabbed hold of Stuart and yanked hi her to slide down the wall and collapse in a sobbing heap on the dirty brown floor

&039;Bastard,&039; she spat, looking up at hi bastard&039;

Michael manhandled Stuart across the room and pushed hi on?&039; he demanded

Stuart didn&039;t respond He sat staring at the floor His face was flushed red His fists were clenched tight and his body shook with anger

&039;What&039;s the probleain

Stuart still didn&039;t h for her, are we?&039; he eventually muttered

&039;What?&039;

&039;That little bitch,&039; he seethed &039;Thinks she&039;s so special, doesn&039;t she? Thinks she&039;s a cut above the rest of us&039; He looked up and stared and pointed at Jenny &039;Thinks she&039;s the only one who&039;s lost everything&039;

&039;You&039;re notdown on a bench close to Stuart &039;What are you talking about?&039;

Stuart couldn&039;t - or wouldn&039;t - answer Tears of frustration welled in his tired eyes Rather than let Michael see the extent of his fraught e the door shut behind him

&039;What was all that about?&039; Emma asked as she walked past Michael and round She crouched down and put her arently kissing the top of her head &039;It&039;s all right&039;

&039;All right?&039; she sobbed &039;How can you say it&039;s all right? After everything that&039;s happened, how can you say it&039;s all right?&039;

Kate Ja Jenny in her arms, Emma turned to face Kate

&039;Did you see what happened?&039; she quietly asked

&039;Not really,&039; Kate replied &039;They were just talking I only realised that so He was fine onenormally - and then he just exploded at her&039;

&039;Why?&039;

Kate shrugged her shoulders

&039;Apparently she told him that she didn&039;t like the soup&039;

&039;What?&039; asked Emma incredulously

&039;She didn&039;t like the soup he&039;d made,&039; Kate repeated &039;I&039;m sure that&039;s all it was&039;

&039;Bloody hell,&039; she sighed, shaking her head in resignation

Carl walked into the room with Jack Baynham He&039;d taken nothat so

&039;What&039;s the matter?&039; he asked cautiously, almost too afraid to listen to the answer The atmosphere in the roo terrible had happened

Michael shook his head

&039;It&039;s nothing,&039; he said &039;It&039;s sorted now&039;

Carl looked down at E obviously had happened but, as whatever it was seemed to have been confined to inside the hall and resolved, he decided not to ask any et involved Selfish and insensitive of him it h proble himself wrapped up in other people&039;s

Michael felt much the same, but he found it impossible to be as private and insular as Carl When he heardfrom another dark corner of the rooate He found that the tears were co from Annie Nelson and Jessica Short, two of the eldest survivors The two ladies rapped under a single blanket, holding each other tightly and doing their best to stop sobbing and stop drawing attention to themselves Michael sat down next to them

&039;You two okay? he asked A pointless question, but he couldn&039;t think of anything else to say

Annie s hard to put on a brave face She nonchalantly wiped away a single tear which trickled quickly down her wrinkled cheek

&039;We&039;re all right, thank you,&039; she replied, her voice light and fragile

&039;Can I get you anything?&039;

Annie shook her head

&039;No, we&039;re fine,&039; she said &039;I think we&039;ll try and get some sleep now&039;

Michael smiled and rested his hand on hers He tried not to let his worry show, but her hand felt disconcertingly cold and fragile He really did feel so sorry for these two He had noticed that they had been inseparable since arriving at the hall Jessica, he had learned froe house in one of the most exclusive suburbs of Northwich Annie, on the other hand, had told him yesterday that she&039;d lived in the same two bedroom Victorian terraced house all her life She&039;d been born there and, as she&039;d wasted no ti him, she intended to see out the rest of her days there too When things settled down again, she&039;d explained naively, she was going to go straight back home She had even invited Jessica over for tea one afternoon

Michael patted the old lady&039;s hand again and stood up and walked away He glanced back over his shoulder and watched as the two pensioners huddled closer together and talked in frightened, hushed whispers Clearly from opposite ends of the social spectrum, they seemed to be drawn to each other for no other reason than their sies Money, position, possessions, friends and connections didn&039;t count for anything any on the floor two hours later As half-past two approached she cursed herself for being so bloody selfless There she was, cold and unco Jenny Hall in her arms What made matters worse was the Jenny had herself been asleep for the best part of an hour Why aht? Christ, no-one ever bothers to holdout? Emma didn&039;t really need any help or support, but it pissed her off that no-one ever seemed to offer

The hall was silent but for aplace in one of the dark rooms off the main hall Emma carefully eased herself out from underneath Jenny and lay her down on the floor and covered her with a sheet In the still silence every sound sheAs she moved Jenny&039;s body she listened carefully and tried to locate the precise source of the conversation She was desperate for some calm and rational adult co from a little room that she hadn&039;t been into before Cautiously she pushed the door open and peered inside It was pitch black, and the voices stopped immediately

&039;Who&039;s that?&039; a man asked

&039;Emma,&039; she whispered &039;Emma Mitchell&039;