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Carl drove the van while Michael and E they could think they ht need It had been a conscious move by Michael to hand the keys over to the otherthis e at the moment, but his position seemed more precarious than that of the other two There was an undeniable air of uncertainty and fear in his voice every ti hi him a definite role to concentrate on, his mind would be occupied and any problems could be temporarily avoided He could sympathise with the poor bastard entirely He knew that he personally could just about handle as going on around hi else happened he wasn&039;t so sure that he&039;d be able to cope

Less than twoto draw up the list and the two survivors stopped, both of the that it was a waste of their precious time and that they couldn&039;t afford to even try and be specific any to find the things they thought they ht need, instead they had no option but to fill the van hatever they could lay their hands on and only stop when there wasn&039;t space for anything else

Carl drove towards the village of Byster at a phenomenal speed Michael silently wished that he would slon but he knew that he wouldn&039;t He&039;d found hi at a si was deceptively difficult because although silent, every road was streith hundreds upon hundreds of random obstacles - crashed and abandoned cars, burnt out wrecks and the res There were scattered,bodies everywhere When Michael had driven he&039;d found that a nervous pressure had forced hi that same clammy, noxious fear too

Before they reached the village they passed a vast, warehouse-like superhtly painted and coreen countryside which surrounded it Carl slammed his foot on the brake, quickly turned the van around and drove back towards the large building It was a crucial find They guessed that prettythey needed would be inside More i the van with supplies there et any closer to the centre of the village More to the point, it meant that they could keep their distance from the sick and diseased remains of the local population

&039;Brilliant,&039; Carl said under his breath as he pulled into the car park and slowed the van down &039;This is fucking brilliant&039;

He gently turned the steering wheel and guided their vehicle round in a wide and careful arc Other than four stationary cars (two e three le body which tripped and stumbled towards theet as close as you can to the main doors,&039; Michael advised from his position behind Carl &039;We want to be out in the open as little as possible&039;

Carl&039;s i for a couple of seconds he put the van into first gear and pulled away again He turned away frolass entrance doors were directly behind hi?&039; E to reverse back,&039; Michael replied, his voice equally low &039;It&039;s what I&039;d do If I was driving I&039;d try and get us al the doors so that&039;

He stopped speaking suddenly when Carl jaear and slammed his foot down on the accelerator pedal The force of the sudden and unexpected movement threw Emma and Michael forward in their seats

&039;Jesus Christ!&039; Michael screa across the car park &039;What the hell are you doing?&039;

The otherback over his shoulder, looking past Eine whined as the van hurtled back towards the silent building

&039;Carl!&039; Emma protested uselessly She turned to look behind her and then crouched doith her hands over her head as she braced herself for ilass doors and then stopped suddenly - the ear splitting noise of the engine ilass and the oroan of metal on metal Carl pressed hard on the brake and Michael looked out of theto his side The van had stopped a third inside the building and two thirds out in the car park They were virtually wedged in the doorway

&039;You stupid fucking idiot!&039; E her, Carl turned off the engine, opened the tailgate using a control lever by his right foot, took the keys fronition and then clambered out over the back seats He stepped out into the superlass into the marble floor

&039;Good move,&039; Michael mumbled under his breath as he watched Carl He quietly acknowledged that the otherthe exterior of their van, had ot theed to block the entrance at the same time, and the entrance would stay blocked until they decided to leave He was impressed, but he didn&039;t want Carl to know that he approved Michael felt sure that he was having real difficulty in coht it was iround If he boosted his confidence by applauding his risky and very direct actions ould he do next?

Michael followed Carl out into the supermarket and Emma followed a few seconds later

&039;Bloody hell,&039; she scowled, screwing up her face in disgust

&039;Stinks, doesn&039;t it?&039; Carl said, turning back to look at the others

Michael covered his nose and took a few cautious steps further forward The air was heavy with the sickening stench of rotting food and rotting flesh More than just unpleasant, the obnoxious s heavy in the air and he could feel it coating his throat and dirtying his clothes and hair It was ht to control the rising bile in her stoet a ested &039;We don&039;t want to be here any longer than we need to be&039;

&039;I agree,&039; Emma said &039;I can&039;t stand much of this&039;

Her words were viciously truncated as she was knocked off balance by a lurching, staggering figure which appeared froed itself along an aisle of rapidly deco food Emma screaround Michael stood and watched as the reaunt, mousy-haired shop-assistant lay still for a second before its withered arain as it desperately tried to haul itself back up onto its unsteady feet Before it could get up he kicked it in the face and it dropped back down again

&039;We should have a look around,&039; he said, anxiously looking from side to side &039;There&039;s bound to be ht The deafening crash of the van as it ploughed through the glass doors had attracted the unwelcoed cadavers which had been trapped inside the building The clumsy remains of four shop staff and one delivery driver slowly advanced towards the three survivors The battered body on the floor reached out a bony hand and grabbed hold of Michael&039;s leg He shook it free and kicked the creature in the head again

&039;Fuck this,&039; he spat &039;We&039;ve got to shift theain and spied a set of double doors behind a bakery display piled high with stale,else he took hold of the body at his feet by its shoulders and dragged it across the floor He kicked open the doors and threw the remains of thehis way back towards Eht hold of the next closest corpse (a check-out operator) and disposed of it in exactly the same way

&039;Carl,&039; he yelled as he made his way towards the third creature &039;Grab hold of another one, will you? If you&039;re quick they don&039;t have tirabbed hold of the nearest corpse in a tight headlock With its thrashing linant air he hauled it over to the bakery and pushed it through the double doors It collided with the body of the dead check-out operator which, a fraction of a second earlier, had ed to lift itself back up onto its feet

Sensing that quick action was needed, Eh the doors the remains of an elderly cleaner who, unbeknownst to Carl, had been staggering dangerously near She dropped her shoulder and charged at the pitiful figure The unexpected force of the iht and resistance of a li into the bakery

In less than three minutes the survivors had cleared the main area of corpses Once the last one had been safely pushed through the double-doors Michael wheeled a line of twenty or so shopping trolleys in front to prevent theet a move on,&039; he said breathlessly as he wiped his dirty hands on the back of his jeans He stood up straight and rested his hands on his hips &039;Just get whatever you can Load it into boxes and pile it up by the van&039;

In silence they began to work

As Michael packed tins of beans, soup and spaghetti into cardboard boxes he nervously looked around The cold, emotionless faces of the bodies in the bakery stared back at hilass s in the doors They were still et out but didn&039;t have the strength to force the his aould they have attacked them in the same way that the lone body in the field had attacked him earlier?

&039;Jesus Christ,&039; Carl said suddenly

He was standing at the opposite end of the building to Michael and Eh the entrance doors His voice echoed eerily around the vast and cavernous room

&039;What is it?&039; Emma asked, immediately concerned

&039;You don&039;t want to knohat&039;s going on outside,&039; he replied ominously

Emma and Michael looked at each other for a fraction of a second before dropping what they were doing and running over to where Carl was standing