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It was early , just before three Ti in the university complex had been left with few choices They were surrounded by an ever-increasing crowd filled with sickness and disease and now, it see to fetch the vehicles and by lighting the fire to temporarily draw the bodies away froroup had succeeded in hout the entire city aware of exactly where it was they were hiding Donna and Clare&039;s well- distraction had become an unwanted beacon and most people quickly accepted that it would only be acrowds outside beca souls inside to be able to keep at bay

The earlier question &039;should we go?&039; had, for o?&039; The noise and confusion associated with the return of the six athered in the university building knew that they had made it back More to the point, each individual also knew that, like it or not, the time had co the course of what remained of their futures To take their chances and leave or to stay and wait? Risk everything out in the open, or risk just asuntil soth of tiroup remained as disparate and desperate as ever Opinion was divided and never shared or discussed

Fully understanding the unique dilemma that each of the survivors faced, Donna, Cooper, Croft and the others did nothing to try and persuade people to co, but there didn&039;t seeain to explain the benefits of getting away from the university and the city Si ht None of itquickly and with real purpose, those survivors who had elected to leave cleared their roos in a long, dark corridor At the far end of the corridor stood the door the six et in and out of the co anxiously, Jack Baxter counted about thirty oing to fit into the two prison trucks and the sht on space, and s and boxes that each survivor carried would doubtless be left behind

The vast majority of the crowd of bodies continued to swar fire at the other end of the coet out now anddistraction before it burnt itself out The nervous survivors, le step outside in alh the darkness towards the vehicles waiting on the football pitch For a while before theythe other people more than he had done since he&039;d first arrived at the university Even now he remained distant and detached from almost all of them He didn&039;t even know the names of more than half of them Some faces he&039;d seen every day, others he&039;d only seen perhaps once or twice, three he didn&039;t recognise at all There was a coetherness and direction throughout the ragtag gathering Many of these people, it seemed, didn&039;t even care if they survived In some ways their lives were already over and they were as cold, lethargic and devoid of enised the true hopelessness of the situation - those evenin the corridor to take a chance on freedom - were the people who had chosen to re and not leave

It was time toBaxter He didn&039;t kno he had found hi the line and a row of frightened faces stared back at him in expectation He kneas out beyond the door and, because they had no other source of infor towards hiuidance and reassurance Baxter felt unable to provide help on any level The expressions on the faces around him were desperately sad and forlorn The people looked as nervous and unsure as pressganged soldiers in a plane during wartime, about to make their first parachute juood a ti to reply &039;Might as well go for it&039; Cooper nodded and moved across the corridor so that he could be seen by the rest of the survivors Donna watched hi up and down the faces in the semi-darkness, &039;this is it If you don&039;t think you can go through with it, disappear now&039;

He paused for a few seconds, giving people a chance to make their final decisions &039;As soon as we open this door you need to start running Move faster than you&039;ve ever run before Push your way through the bodies and don&039;t try and fight Just hit the a little way further down the line, Phil Croft spoke up &039;Don&039;t stop if you start to get tired because you won&039;tYou can stop when you reach the trucks&039; Baxter rested his hand on the door handle and waited for the signal &039;What if they don&039;t see us?&039; a nervous voice asked fro &039;Who?&039; &039;The blokes in the van, what if they don&039;t see us co and let us in?&039; An anxious ripple of roup of survivors &039;Then the first one of us who gets to the van bangs on theuntil they realise what&039;s happening and shift the bloody thing, okay?&039; Cooper replied &039;But what if they?&039; &039;Don&039;t worry about it,&039; the soldier interrupted, &039;they&039;ll see us&039; &039;But what if?&039; Cooper sensed that the questions atte to be fired in his direction were nervous and instinctive They were little nored them and nodded at Baxter &039;Do it,&039; he said, his voice a little louder, &039;open the door, Jack&039; Knowing that if he hesitated he&039;d begin trying to talk hi the door, Baxter sla with those survivors standing directly behind him, for a ht Cold wind and a light rain blew into his face He could clearly see the football pitch and the van blocking the entrance, but in the darkness it seemed an immeasurable distance away And worse still, between him and the vehicles he could see bodies

There appeared to be hundreds of the across the scene in silhouette Unic but ominous determination and persistence, the nearest few had already turned and were advancing quickly towards the building &039;Go, Jack!&039; Cooper shouted &039;Fucking an to run Full of thoughts and concerns for the others whilst they had all been safe indoors, he now sprinted across the grass and tarmac pathways in selfish isolation, for the moment only interested in his own survival He knocked one body out of the way, then another and then another Within seconds his heart was beating in his chest with a force he could hardly contain and his lungs were on fire A few seconds later still and soer, fitter survivors had passed hi any closer The rest of the survivors pushed their way out of the university building Loaded up with bags of belongings they forced the crowds Men and woether in absolute terror, praying that they would get through, terrified that they would be sed up by the diseased er hted squeals coroans of effort and ed woman who had taken it upon herself to carry hie sat in the front of the van oblivious

The hours since they had volunteered to stay behind and look after the vehicles had dragged unbearably Still surrounded by swar corpses attracted by the earlier noise, and with no idea when the survivors would ether in silence, too afraid to move or even talk to each other The van remained parked across the entrance to the football pitch Sitting in the front passenger seat, Castle struggled to keep his tired eyes open He glanced through theto his left and the sudden sight ofhell,&039; he cursed &039;What is it?&039; Are asked, immediately concerned &039;Oh, Jesus,&039; he whined, &039;they&039;re co bodies,&039; he continued to wail &039;Christ, they&039;re coe leant across the width of the van to looked through the stea idiot,&039; he snapped, sitting back in his seat and starting the engine &039;That&039;s our lot&039; Castle wiped his tired eyes and peered deeper into the darkness

A suddenheavily into the side of the van next to hi face at his , although he didn&039;t recognise it, belonged to a survivor The noise of the engine again whipped the rotting figures which remained near to the football pitch into a feverish frenzy They began to clatter against the fence, soers and pulling and shaking it furiously The night air was filled with noise as Are flicked on the van&039;s headla the first survivors and an equal number of random bodies to flood onto the football pitch &039;How am I supposed to knohen they&039;re all in?&039; the driver mumbled nervously Castle didn&039;t answer at first &039;There&039;s Cooper,&039; he eventually replied He watched as the soldier stopped at the gate and ushered in the re suddenly useless he jumped down from the van and ran round to help Cooper fend off the hordes of inquizitive corpses trying to push their way inside &039;Can&039;t see anyone else,&039; Cooper shouted as he pushed away another lunging body and grabbed hold of another survivor Castle didn&039;t need to be told twice He ran onto the football pitch as the other e to ain The pitch, quiet until a few moments earlier, had suddenly become a frenzied melee of activity and fear

Diseased corpses ht and cold of the night, struggled to tell one froe climbed out of the van and ran over to the nearest of the prison trucks, pushing several bodies out of the way as he did so Hauling himself up into the cab of the smaller vehicle he fu to find them he turned the part of the football pitch with bright light Suddenly able to distinguish fellow huan to clear the pitch Fragile and weak bodies were beaten and shtened- cowered in fear around the prison trucks With their weight considerably reduced as much of their flesh ithered and decayed, Cooper and several others were able to pick up the wiry-framed cadavers and literally hurl them over the fence and back out into the darkness

Donna watched with a ust as one corpse landed at the feet of a group of fiveit apart A piercing screa out from Dawn Parker, a twenty-four year old survivor who suddenly found herself surrounded by bodies in a corner of the playing field More grabbing hands atteh the wire barrier as she fell to the ground and covered her face The first corpses dropped down and began to thump and smash at her with clumsy fists Donna and Baxter ran to her aid and pulled and yanked the bodies away Standing a short distance behind, Keith Peterson and another man disposed of the cadavers over the top of the fence Another few minutes and it was done The pitch was clear &039;Get them into the trucks,&039; Croft shouted as he started to bundle terrified survivors into the back of the prison vehicles Desperate people forced and pushed their way into the transports which they hoped and prayed would soon take theest vehicle and another twelve into the second Are and Croft took the controls of one of the trucks each whilst Cooper, Donna, Baxter and three others headed for the van Cooper cla seat

&039;You sure you can remember the way?&039; Donna asked as she sat down behind him He nodded and slammed and locked the door He wound down theat his side &039;Ready?&039; the soldier screahts flashed back at hiear, turned around in a tight circle and then clattered out of the football pitch and back towards the road Donna looked over her shoulder and watched as the two trucks began to slowly trundle after the in the right direction, Cooper slammed his foot down on the accelerator as body after body hurled itself in front of the van