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Three minutes past four

The slow and laborious afternoon was drawing to a close and Carl knew that it would only be a couple of hours before the light began to fade When he&039;d handed the driving duties over to Carl, Michael (as now curled up on the e intermittently) had estimated that they should have reached the west coast in an hour or so It had now been two and a half hours since they&039;d swapped places and still there see ahead of the

It was a cool but bright afternoon The brilliance of the sun belied the low te position in a sky which was rey and white clouds The road glistened with the moisture which reh a few minutes earlier

E bolt upright, still scanning the world around the that she would find theht?&039; Carl asked suddenly,her jump

&039;What?&039; she muttered She was miles away She&039;d heard him speak but not heard what he&039;d said

&039;I asked if you were all right,&039; he repeated

&039;Oh,&039; she mumbled &039;I&039;m fine&039;

&039;Is he asleep?&039; he asked, gesturing over his shoulder at Michael Eed

&039;Don&039;t know&039;

At the mention of his name, Michael stirred

&039;What&039;s the roaned, his speech slurred with exhaustion

No-one bothered to answer hiain and tried to sleep

There was a hand-painted sign at the side of the road It had been battered by the wind and was only partially visible As they passed the sign Carl ed to make out the words &039;cafe&039;, &039;turn&039; and &039;2 miles&039; He hadn&039;t had much of an appetite all day (all week if the truth be told) but at the thought of food he suddenly felt hungry They did have some supplies with them in the van but in their rush to leave the city they had been left buried sos and boxes

&039;Either of you tant anything to eat?&039; he asked

Erunted but Michael sat up i his eyes

&039;I saw a sign for a cafe up ahead,&039; he mumbled &039;We&039;ll stop there, shall we?&039;

There were erassy fields on either side of the uninterrupted road There were no cars, buildings or wandering bodies anywhere to be seen On balance Carl thought it orth taking a chance out in the open He needed a break They all needed to stop for a while to try and get their heads together and decide what they were actually trying to achieve

Suddenly interested in the day again, Michael stretched and looked around He too noticed the lack of any obvious signs of hu up ahead Up until that nificance of seeing ani, and there had always been birds flying overhead, but the relevance of their survival had been lost on hihts running through his norant isolation today forced him to think about it further It must only have been huedy Whatever it was that had happened had left other species untouched Their sudden arrival at the cafe interrupted his train of thought

The tall white building appeared froe converted house that looked cos, it had been hidden from view by a row of bushy pine trees Carl slowed the van down and turned left into a wide gravel car park, stopping close to an inconspicuous side door He turned off the engine and closed his tired eyes After hours of driving the effect of the sudden silence was stunning It was like sitting in a vacuu been almost asleep only minutes earlier, Michael was by noide awake and alert Before Carl had even taken the keys out of the ignition he was out of the van and jogging over to the cafe door

&039;Careful,&039; warned Emma instinctively

Michael looked back over his shoulder and flashed her a brief but reassuring smile The air was cold and fresh and he suddenly felt more relaxed and sure than he had done at any other time since they&039;d left the community centre

He reached out and tried the door It wasn&039;t locked (it opened slightly inward) but it wouldn&039;t open fully He pushed against it with his shoulder

&039;What&039;s up?&039; asked Carl

&039;So it,&039; Michael replied, still pushing and shoving at the door &039;There&039;s so in the way&039;

&039;Be careful,&039; Eain It was clear from the trepidation in her voice that she was nowhere near as comfortable with the situation as her two companions seeain, and this time it opened inward another couple of inches He took a few steps back out into the car park and then ran at the door onceit with his shoulder This tih for hih into the shadowy building He looked back at the othersinside

&039;I really don&039;t like this,&039; E around anxiously The cold wind blew her hair across her face and made her eyes water She held her hand to her eyes to shield the for Michael to reappear

Inside the building he had found that the blockage preventing hi the door fully was the stiff and lifeless body of a teenage girl She had fallen on her back when she&039;d died and his brutal shoving to get inside had forced her up and over onto her side, giving hiingerly took hold of her left ared the body clear he peered through a s in the car park waiting for hiirl down out of the way and headed back outside

&039;It&039;s okay,&039; he shouted as he reappeared in the doorway He had to shout to make his voice heard over the wind &039;It was just a body I just&039;

He stopped speaking suddenly He could hear sounds offro

&039;What&039;s the matter?&039; Emma asked frantically as Michael half-ran and half-tripped back towards her

Breathlessly he answered

&039;In there,&039; he gasped &039;There&039;s so in there&039;

The three survivors stood in silence as a lone figure appeared in the dark shadows of the doorway Its progress blocked by the lifeless body on the ground that Michael had moved, it turned aardly and stumbled out into the car park

&039;Do you think it&039;s&039; Carl began

&039;Dead?&039; Michael interrupted, finishing his sentence for him

&039;It could be a survivor,&039; Eh in reality she held out very little hope of that being the case

From its stilted, uncoordinated ure which slowly e victims of the disaster As it lurched closer Michael saw that it had been a woman, perhaps in her late fifties or early sixties, dressed in a gaudy and loose-fitting green and yelloaitress unifored across her wrinkled face

&039;Can you hear me?&039; Emma asked She knew in her heart it was pointless, but she felt that she had to try and force a response fro we can do to&039;

She let her words trail away into silence as the body approached The world was silent save for the gusting wind and the relentless cluravel as she took step after painful step towards the three survivors The corpse tripped on an edging stone and fell towards Carl who instinctively jumped back out of the way Emma leant down and helped her back onto her unsteady feet The body walked slowly between them, completely oblivious to their presence, and then continued out towards the road The road curved gently to the right but the woht until she&039;d crossed the tarrowth on the other side

Michael and Eer Michael couldn&039;t help but think about whaton through the dark night, through wind and rain, and he felt a sudden and surprising sadness A poor defenceless old worandmother perhaps - who had left for work last Tuesday just as she had done on any other day, she was now destined to spend what could be an eternity wandering without direction or shelter He had hts and feelings in the city but no that they were out in wild, co deeply affected by the plight of the innocent victims of the disaster

Carl had disappeared Eestured to Michael to follow her into the building

A short passageway led thee, dark and musty room which they cautiously entered There were various bodies scattered around numerous tables and slumped aardly in comfortable chairs Michael smiled morbidly to himself as he walked past the corpses of an elderly couple They had been sitting opposite each other when they&039;d died Alice Jones (that was the name on the credit card on the table) lay back in her seat with her head lolled heavily on her shoulders, her dry eyes fixed on the ceiling unblinking Gravity had caught her husband somewhat differently He was slouched forith his face buried in the re of as ale and bacon

There was a noise froe plastic tray

&039;Found some food,&039; he said as he threaded his way over to the others through the confusion of corpses &039;Most of the stuff in there has gone bad Ito drink though&039;

Without responding Elass door at the end of the room She pushed the door open and went back outside

&039;Where the hell&039;s she going?&039; Carl muttered

Emma wasn&039;t out of earshot

&039;I&039; in there,&039; she shouted back into the building &039;You two can if you want&039;

Michael looked around at his gruesorassy area beyond the car park Carl also followed, a little slower than Michael because he was carrying the food and was having difficulty seeing his feet over the edge of the tray Two bodies sitting in a bay seat by thecaught his eye A woman and a e, had been sitting next to each other when the virus had struck Spread out over the table in front of them was a tourist map that was round, twisted around his parents&039; feet and around the legs of their table, was a young boy His exposed face was frozen with pain and fear At once all that Carl could see were the desperate faces of his oife and child, and the sudden recollection of all that he had lost was al down his cheeks he carried on out to the others, hoping that the gusting ould hide his weeping from them

Michael and Ee wooden picnic table Carl sat opposite them

&039;You okay?&039; asked Michael