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&039;So what do we do now?&039; Proctor asked, his face suddenly ashen grey and emotionless &039;Do we just sit and wait?&039;

&039;You ht as well,&039; a voice suddenly said from behind him, &039;but I&039;m not ready to Not yet, anyway&039; The survivors turned around For the first tied froain, coh-heeled boots He storht confidence, completely at odds with the others who sat around dejectedly, each conte the decisions that they would soon have to make and the horrors they were about to face

&039;So what are you planning?&039; Elizabeth asked, looking Bushell up and down and ad else

&039;I did a lot of thinking last night,&039; he explained

&039;And?&039; Jones pressed

&039;I tried to see if I rong I wanted to knohether I&039;ve been looking at everything the wrong way&039;

&039;And?&039; he pressed again

&039;And I think I&039;hed &039;And the more I think about it, the more I realise that it&039;s hopeless We&039;re really up against it and I can&039;t see a way out I&039; about what&039;s left of our lives in general&039;

&039;What do you ht carefully for a o, we&039;re fucked&039;

&039;Nice&039;

&039;Seriously, just stop and think about it I&039; honest Whatever we decide to do, it&039;s going to be a struggle We&039;re going to have to fight for absolutely everything, and that&039;s bloody stupid when you think there&039;s probably only a few people left The world&039;s our oyster, but I don&039;t think we can take any of it What does that say to you?&039;

Blank, confused looks Silence

&039;Like you said,&039; Elizabeth mumbled, &039;we&039;re fucked&039;

&039;Exactly The end&039;s co we can do about it The only thing we have any control over is e do with the time we have left&039;

&039;But we don&039;t kno long that is,&039; Proctor protested

&039;We never have done,&039; Bushell argued &039;See in the shadows out there, starving to death, running fro out every time someone farts&039;

&039;Or?&039;

&039;Or we can just stop trying so hard to survive and just let things happen naturally Go out with a little dignity&039;

&039;You&039;re talking crap,&039; Wilcox protested &039;Am I? Am I really? Do you really think you&039;re supposed to survive all of this? Don&039;t you think there are soer than us?&039;

&039;Please don&039;t start talking about God and divine retribution and all that crap,&039; Proctor sighed &039;I&039;ve given all of that up It&039;s taken me until now to finally see what a load of old shite all that really was&039;

Bushell shook his head and s, blond hair

&039;That&039;s not what I&039; is that whatever happened here was the twenty-first century equivalent of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs&039;

&039;What?&039; Jones exclaimed &039;Now you&039;ve really lost e This is our apocalypse This is the end We should just accept it and let nature take its course&039; Bushell&039;s comments were met with an oain &039;Our problehtfully, &039;we&039;ve all fallen foul of the programme We think we&039;re bloody superior We think the planet can&039;t go on without us It&039;s part and parcel of the hu to thrive without us here to screw it up&039;

&039;The human condition?&039; Wilcox sneered &039;What the hell are you talking about?&039;

Bushell shrugged his shoulders

&039;I can&039;t think of another na birds flying fro hell,&039; Jones interrupted, &039;he&039;s lost it I&039;ve long had my doubts about him but I think he&039;s finally lost it&039;

&039;I atching the birds,&039; Bushell continued, ignoring hi about the difference between us and the anie difference that doesn&039;t often get talked about&039; He paused to give the others opportunity to make a cheap joke or to throw another insult in his direction Unusually they were silent &039;The difference is,&039; he explained, &039;that we knoe&039;re eventually going to die and they don&039;t Anio on forever, we spend our lives worrying about how they&039;re going to end That&039;s what I mean when I talk about the hu about death to enjoy life&039;

There followed an unusually long moment of contemplation and reflection which was only disturbed when Proctor remembered the bodies on the stairs

&039;That&039;s all well and good,&039; he said anxiously, &039;but what are you going to do now? Are you going to wait for the bodies to get in here, or are you going to kill yourself and get it over with?&039;

&039;Neither&039;

&039;What then?&039;

&039;Get rid of a few bodies if I can and try and slow them down a little Then sit here and drink myself stupid hat&039;s left of the bottles Paul and Elizabeth kindly fetched for us last night&039;

&039;And how do you propose to slow the about that too We&039;ve already established that they&039;ll keep ht?&039; &039;Right?&039; Elizabeth agreed