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That had definitely been afarther away, but definitely not dripping water More ghosts? She i endless bos she had found down here were at odds with that ie Ghosts did not eat biscuits, drink milk, or listen to Metallica

Jazz scanned the shelter by the poor light of the hanging bulbs

Keep your wits about you, her mother had once said That's the best weapon you can have

"See?" she said "Richard Ki hiitive is just a fils tucked up beneath her, eating strawberry ice creaht froain, but although her eyes glittered and her face was flushed, her words were as clear and concise as ever

"But you can learn a lot from a film Why shouldn't you learn from fiction? It's a vast array of ideas, and you can take what you need fro in everyhe does He knows not to stop running He knows to lose hiain after that"

"But he's just an actor, Mum Not flesh and blood"

"Flesh and blood?" herso much farther away

"Mum?"

"Flesh and blood," she repeated, words quieter than ever "Not everything real is flesh and blood, Jazz Not everything at all"

Those ghosts were not real, Jazz thought, running low and fast toward the other end of the shelter

She wanted to get as far fro soainst the end wall Perhaps there she would find cover fro

She could hear the footsteps now, a single set descend-ing with confidence

Whoever it is, they're not expecting anyone to be down here It gave her a moment's hope, but still she was terrified

She al her index finger through the handle If she lost that, she really would be in trouble

If whoever caht, then run for the stairs It wasn't so far to the surface A hundred feet, maybe? A bit less, a bit more?

She reached the end of the shelter, paused, and heard those footsteps still descending She should have been count-ing steps, she knew Should have been trying to work out how long she had, how close they were, how fast they were de-scending

There were a dozen cabinets here, stacked against the cru brickwork, and oods She started panicking again She could lie down on one of the mattresses and pull a blanket across her, but how effective would that be? She had to hide, and now she was starting to wish she'd just gone to wait at the en-trance tunnel, ready to clout the visitor over the head with the torch and run for her life

She found a cupboard that was only half full, coats and jackets piled flat on its floor She could fit in there

The footsteps echoed so loudly that she was sure they were right behind her

She glanced back, stepped into the cupboard, pulled the h which to see, and the person stepped into view

He paused for a while at the end of the entrance tunnel, looking around the shelter, nose raised

He knows I'm here Oh fuck, he knows I'm here He can smell me, see me, sense me!

The ht She thought he was older than his appearance sug-gested He had long black hair that was tied in a loose pony-tail and wore a trench coat that had seen better days Its material was ripped in several places, and there seeh he kept so in there that leaked From this distance, Jazz could not , only the chin and cheeks darkened by stubble

He held one hand out before hi the air

Jazz knew for sure that he was no ghost

She tried to breathe slow and deep, but she was out of breath fro the shelter

The torch was held between her knees; if it slipped and banged the cabinet, she would be found out

The ain What can he see? she thought She shifted slightly and looked at the array of cupboards and shelving, trying to pic-ture what it had been like when she arrived and ed Soin with The fridges were closed, the cabinets housing them shut Some of the blankets on the mattresses were messed up --had she done that as she ran?-- and

She could just make out the biscuit packet, still half full but discarded carelessly on the floor

Jazz shifted again until she could see thein the direction of the biscuit cup-board Indeed, he now seeh s the air of the place

"You can come on do, racefully into the shelter, and then Jazz heard the whisper ofthe spiral staircase Froers druuous

Thefroue, and placed the so around when the first shape appeared behind hi into the shelter and dash-ing across the concrete floor Jazz tried to keep track, but the poor lighting defeated her It was as though this shape --who-ever or whatever it was--knew just where the lighting levels were lowest and took advantage of that

Another shape came from the entrance tunnel, then an-other, all of thehter than the tallaround thearound a rock

Jazz counted four, six, per-haps nine shapes flowing froht of their faces, she saw only pale skin and dark eyes; the light was too poor, and they weretoo fast to trulyon their backs

What aer to what? So worse?

The man raised his arms and turned slowly around, and then all the shapes stopped and turned to look at hier Pale, scruffy, yet most of them with a sht joy