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The people erewere just like Mum They didn&039;t look at me or answer me when I spoke to theot out of the village as quickly as I could My place was at hoe and locked the door behindbetter every day I still can&039;t get her to eat or drink anything but when I went in to see her just now I&039;m sure she turned her head and looked at nised et up but I told her to relax and take things easy She&039;s still trying to do more than she should She won&039;t lie still now She&039;s wriggling and twisting on the bed all the tier by the hour and I&039;ve just had to tighten the ropes

I think she&039;s going to be all right!

JACOB FLYNN Part ii &039;Bewsey?&039;

Flynn opened his eyes and looked up in tired disbelief at the figure standing swaying in front of him It was Bewsey But it couldn&039;t be, could it? Two days ago he&039;d stood in this very spot and watched hiht hours Flynn had been forced to consider so hts and possibilities that one more didn&039;t see and buried his face in his grey, prison-issue pillow That was the most plausible explanation he could think of He&039;d hadn&039;t had anything to eat or drink for more than two days, the rest of the world had either somehow been destroyed or had inexplicably disappeared, and he&039;d been trapped in a ten foot by seven foot cell with only the corpses of his former cell-mates for co tricks on hiered across the tiny roo into the s to the ground Flynn sat up as the unexpected thu out around the cell This was no hallucination, ainst the wall and into the shadows and watched from the relative safety of his dark bottoed itself around

For a while he remained completely still, almost paralysed with fear Then, very slowly, he inched forward so that he could get a better viehat remained of Bewsey The dead man&039;s face was cold and expressionless, his eyes empty and unfocussed The corpse obviously had very little control over its numb, unresponsive body It si prevented it froh luck than judgement, turned and shuffled back Salinally fallen, face down in a pool of dark brown, congealed blood

&039;Bewsey?&039; Flynn hissed anxiously, not sure whether or not he actually wanted to attract the bizarre figure&039;s attention The lack of any response to his voice was strangely reassuring

Still shell-shocked froht hours of silence, fear and isolation andconstantly for the answers to countless obviously unanswerable questions, hehis feet down from the bunk Bewsey didn&039;t react The corpse continued to ai alls, furniture and, eventually, with Flynn hirabbed hold of the body to prevent it fro any closer

&039;Bewsey?&039; he asked again &039;What the fucking hell is going on? I thought you were dead&039; Flynn stared deep into the dull and clouded eyes of the corpse They were covered with a milky-white fil and unfocussed He let the body go and watched as it tripped off again in another direction before turning and tripping back towards him No wiser and no less terrified, Flynn crawled back onto his bunk and pulled his covers tight around him

Less than two hours had passed before he decided that he couldn&039;t stand it any longer Bewsey&039;s body just never stopped, not even for a second It continued to shuffle about aiically It was the noise and the constanthardest to handle Why didn&039;t Bewsey just lie down and stay dead like Saler He had to do soain, Flynn climbed off his bunk and looked around for soht be able to disable the corpse He had finally forced hi to and fro in front of him How could it not be? How could so for two days and not be dead? Mind you, he thought wearily, how could that saain?

It was no surprise that the prison cell contained very few items which could be used effectively as a weapon In fact, all that Flynn could find was the jug they used to pour drinks of water fro had a hard base which, if he used it with enough force, h to use to batter the body into subrabbed Bewsey by the throat with one hand, raised the jug above his head with the other, and then brought it crashing down in the middle of the dead ain and saw that, despite being a little more bruised and bloodied, the lifeless expression had not changed He lifted the jug and brought it down again and again and again

It wasn&039;t working It didn&039;t matter what he did to Bewsey&039;s body, the dead man didn&039;t react He continued to ly oblivious to the fact that Flynn was even there

Increasingly desperate, Flynn let the body go and then turned and dragged his bunk bed into the rees so that it formed a barrier across the width of the srabbed hold of Bewsey&039;s body again and pushed and shoved the man&039;s clumsy remains over the metal frame of the bed and out onto the other side, successfully confining the cadaver Keen to separate himself from both of his dead cellmates, he then did the same with Salman The second body was stiff and inflexible and was difficult to ainst the cell door and peered out through the bars, hoping to catch sight of someone (anyone) else in the oppressive semi-darkness He could see , but when he called out to the men over there they didn&039;t respond He assumed that they were in the same unnatural and inexplicable condition as what reging footsteps approaching A figure eed from the shadows at the other end of the corridor He couldn&039;t tell who it was at first As it gradually came into vieever, he could see that it was one of the prison officers In fact, he was sure it was the officer he&039;d seen dead at the bottouard lu heavily to one side Although tired, frightened and confused, Flynn i this body The officers had keys and, if he could reach them, then for the first ti from the cell

Suddenly more alive and alert, Flynn watched the dead officer intently as it approached Then, when it was almost level with the cell door, he stretched out his arrab hold of it The tips of his outstretched fingers brushed the side of the corpse&039;s sleeve, but not enough for hirip His heart sank as the body stuain

The prison landing was clear and without obstruction, leaving the dead officer free to continually stagger from virtually one end to the other Flynn watched the body&039;s every move like a hawk Eventually, some four and a half hours after he had first noticed the corpse, he was finally able to catch hold of it He ers into the creature&039;s shirt pocket and, once he had a grip, he was able to pull the coh he then grabbed the cadaver in a neck lock and, straining to reach and having to fight to ignore the pain and discoh the bars, he tugged and yanked and pulled at the body until he was able to reach its belt and keys

Half an hour later he was free INNOCENCE

It was alah He doesn&039;t like being on his own anyry and he&039;s lonely He wants everything to get back to how it used to be before it happened

Dean McFarlane is seven years old

The day before yesterday, as they alking to school together, Dean&039;s mother dropped dead in front of hihed, &039;you&039;ve only been back at school for a couple of days, how coot yourself in trouble with the teacher already?&039;

&039;She don&039;t like arden path and out onto the street They were late setting off for school and Mu and he seeain now that they were finally out of the house and on their way Even though she was seventhe road at double his speed &039;She picks on me,&039; he whined pathetically &039;She lets Gary and the and she blames me when&039;

&039;What do youand turning round to face Dean &039;What kind of a way to talk is that? If you never done nothing, then you &039;

Dean looked at her and screwed up his face What was she going on about now? She didn&039;t believe him, did she? She didn&039;t even want to try and understand Anyway, he decided, he didn&039;t care what she said because he knew Miss Jinks was picking on hiet Gary Saunders back as well at lunchtiot him into trouble yesterday afternoon and

&039;When I tell your father what you&039;ve been up to,&039; Mrs McFarlane warned, pointing her finger accusingly at her son, &039;he&039;ll kick your backside&039; She turned and began to walk again, still talking &039;You knohat he&039;s like, he just won&039;t stand for this kind of behaviour I suggest that you&039;

She stopped talking mid-sentence

&039;Muain Suddenly she was standing in thethat kind of puzzled, al with Dean and she couldn&039;t remember what she needed, or when she didn&039;t knohich way to go, or when Dean&039;s baby brother growing inside her started to kick and ain, Dean went a few steps further forward before stopping and turning back when he realised she still wasn&039;tfrozen and lost Now she was rubbing the side of her neck and she looked like she was in pain

&039;What&039;s the ain Mrs McFarlane looked down at her son but didn&039;t say anything She couldn&039;t speak The pain in her throat was getting worse Her eyes were suddenly watery and ith unexpected shock and sudden, searing agony She dropped her shopping bag and it tipped over onto its side Dean iather up her spilled belongings, still looking up anxiously into her face

&039;Dean, I can&039;t&039; she began to try and say, her voice a quiet, strangled whisper &039;My throat is&039;

Without warning she fell to her knees directly in front of her son He juan to retch and gag violently The inside of her throat had swollen rapidly and already her windpipe was alan to trickle freely from brutal lesions which had ripped open at the back of her hed a long, sticky string of bloodied saliva onto the grey paveain and began to choke