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Jack Baxter left his room and walked to the end of the corridor He wasn&039;t planning on going anywhere in particular, he just needed a change of surroundings Likein the university, the relative quiet and lack of distractions in the building had left hi to do but dwell on the inexplicable hell that his life had beco on the end of his bed just thinking He couldn&039;t even re about

At the far end of the corridor was a narrow square landing leading onto a staircase Floor to ceiling length s let the grey autuht seep inside

Jack stood a short distance away from the nearestand peered down into thedraards the university and, in particular, the accommodation block

Why did they stay, he wondered? He took a few cautious steps forward His position was too far and too high for him to be seen by any of the bodies but he still took care to stay to the side and try and keep out of sight He was terrified that one of the corpses ined the effect of that single reaction running through the entire crowd He&039;d seen it happen several tie gathering would spread across the i like a shock wave It had happened when the woman had jumped to her death from theearlier

He could just about see her froht He couldn&039;t help thinking that she was better off where she was now &039;Bloody mess, isn&039;t it?&039; a sudden and unexpected voice said from close behind him Jack quickly turned around to see that it was Bernard Heath He&039;d noticed that Heath see on his own He could often be seen walking around the building in search of someone to be with

&039;Sorry, Jack,&039; Heath continued, &039;I didn&039;there and I thought I&039;d check that you were&039; &039;I&039; his concerns and truncating his sentence Heath took a few steps forward and peered down into the rotting crowd &039;I reckon this lot will start to disappear sooner or later,&039; he said with a tone of unexpected opti happens somewhere else to attract their attention, they&039;ll be off&039; &039;Like what?&039; Jack asked &039;There&039;s not really veryon out there, is there?&039; Heath didn&039;t answer

&039;I&039;ll tell you what&039;s getting to me,&039; he said instead, his voice quiet and tired and unexpectedly candid, &039;it&039;s holy everything see downstairs with the rest of theet distracted Next ties later but only a couple of one by&039; &039;That&039;s why I&039; into the dark crowd below &039;I was just sitting inout of ?&039; &039;No, have you?&039;

&039;I did,&039; he said, scratching the side of his bearded face &039;I used to lecture here I went back to o and picked up a few books Brought them back with me and sat down to read one but&039; &039;But what?&039; &039;Couldn&039;t do it&039; &039;Why?&039; He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his eyes For a moment Jack looked up from the bodies and stared into the other man&039;s drawn and weary face &039;Don&039;t know,&039; he answered slowly

&039;I just couldn&039;t do it I started to read a novel I got through a few pages before I had to stop All it did was remind me of what&039;s happened and what I&039;ve lost and&039; He stopped talking, feeling suddenly aard and sos show so readily again &039;So what happens next then?&039; wondered Jack, sensing Heath&039;s pain and e the focus of the conversation fro to look forward Heath went through thecarefully for a few moments It was pointless really - he&039;d spentendless variations on the question he&039;d just been asked and in all that tied to find any answers &039;Sit and wait,&039; he said eventually &039;Is that it?&039; &039;I can&039;t see that there&039;s anything else we can do&039;

For a while the two men stood side by side in silence and looked out over the remains of the diseased, battered world Several minutes later Heath walked away, soon followed by Jack who dejectedly made his way back to his room

He lay down on the bed and tried to sleep Sleep was just about the only way he knew to block out the nightmare for a while