Chapter 5 as it appeared

A searchlight illuminated the rotting hordes momentarily, dazzling the Musketeers. Gabby squinted skywards, looking for a helicopter. Instead, he spotted some sort of triangle soaring overhead. A smoke trail spat from under the triangle, flaming towards the horde, swiftly followed by two more. The ensuing explosions illuminated the triangle. Jim Extreme threw himself off of his paraglider, plummeting to the ground with an assault rifle in each hand. He landed right in front of Gabby and opened fire, mopping up the charred remainder of the horde with an exhilarated grin. The others stood dumbstruck watching the performance.

"You called for a bicycle courier?" Jim demanded.

"No? Why on Earth would we call for a bicycle courier here?" Danny said exasperatedly.

"It's great to have you here, Jimbo." Gabby wrapped the ex-Delta in a bear hug.

"Oh, morning Vicky," Sam said casually as Vicky staggered into the kitchen, yawning. She had taken to sleeping in a T-shirt and briefs, and Sam took advantage of this, leaning back on his chair and admiring the view.

"Eyes up, Sam," she yawned, grabbing a few slices of bread.

"You sleep OK?"

"Yeah," Vicky said slowly, staring suspiciously at him.

"No visitors?"

"No. Sam, what are you getting at?"

"Just wondering if Gabby ended up in your bed last night - he does that to girls."

"Oh leave him alone, Sam!"

"Why? You in love with him too?" Sam snapped.

"No," Vicky said, but she had hesitated for a moment.

"Fucking wonderful! Yet another notch on the great Gabby's bedpost!"

"What the fuck are you on about, Sam?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's had Cat, now he wants you - and as soon as he asks, you'll give it all up!"

"Oh, because I have no self-control!"

"Do you? If Gabby came in now and started coming on to you, what would you say?"

"'Good morning, Gabby' for a start. And what the fuck do you care? We're over, remember!"

"I'll take that as a yes, then!"

"Why are you doing this, Sam? Why now?"

"Danny told me about Cat. And I've seen Gabby looking at you - I know him. You're next."

"And what's it to you?"

"I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Like you give a shit! You just don't want to share me!" Vicky thundered.

"That's a load of bollocks!" Sam snarled, slamming his chair back and towering over Vicky.

"Yeah fucking right. You're jealous, admit it!"

"And so what if I am?"

"We've been through this, Sam! We're over! We were a horrible couple. We didn't work. I've learnt to accept that, why can't you?"

"Because I still care about you!" Sam roared. As the words left his mouth, he sunk into his chair. Vicky stood in a stunned silence.

"Really?" she said quietly, a few moments later.

"Fuck off, I think Gabby's calling you," he snapped stubbornly.

"It's good you came," said Kate. She was looting a food store for tins, while Jim kept watch.

Jim shrugged. "They tried to arrest me and I lost my bicycle running away. That left me foot loose and fancy free. I decided to try out this lifestyle of international terrorism you guys had espoused."

Kate snorted as she tried to decide between corned beef and hot dog sausages for Christmas dinner. "I'm not sure hiding from zombies in the depths of Alaska normally counts as terrorism."

Jim grinned. "I figured you were starting small. Today Soldotna, tomorrow Alaska, next week the World."

Kate laughed in spite of herself. "How did you find us anyway?"

Jim backed hurriedly into the shop. "Zombies on the way. Let's get out of the back."

Kate hastily dumped both tins into her pack and put it on. She scrambled through the back door, feet crunching in the snow. Jim on her heels.

"Damn!" she murmured. A throng of zombies blocked the way out to the main street.

"Fire escape! Down the end!" said Jim.

She raced to the bottom of the street, slowed by the ankle deep snow that had lain undisturbed since it fell the previous week. Jim backed up behind her, firing with a pistol in each hand.

The fire escape had been raised and Kate had to pile a couple of crates up before she could reach the bottom rung. Once on the first platform she pulled her shotgun from its holster and began firing on the zombies below as Jim struggled up next to her. He kicked the top crate away with his foot and then they began the climb away from the zombies and up onto the roof.

"So how did you find us?" Kate asked once they reached the top. The chill wind gusted around them, now they were out of the shelter of the streets, and she had to shout.

"I knew Vicky had been out here before she was reported missing. Where else would you guys go? Let's face it, it's almost coming home."

"I hope no one else figures that out."

"You've been here what? 6 months? It's obviously not the first place anyone else thought of. They'll figure it out eventually though and I don't see much sign of a Plan B."

"I hadn't really thought about it. We've just been surviving from day to day really."

"I don't blame you for not thinking about much beyond survival. You've had enough on your plate. But someone should have been doing some thinking. Danny, at least, knows a bit about tactical planning."

"He's..."

"She died over five years ago Cat. He's wallowing, is what he's doing. You're shell-shocked, if you don't mind my saying so. Sam and Vicky are too wrapped up in the fall out from their divorce and Gabby," Jim glanced sideways at Kate, "well I'm not quite sure what Gabby's problem is exactly, but none of you are thinking much beyond the next meal and the next safehouse. It's just as well I turned up really."

Malton +46

" 'cades!" shouted Vicky.

"Damn!" Gabby grabbed a gun and headed towards the entrance.

The building they were hiding in had once been a factory in the city's industrial area. Sam was on one of the upper levels. Gabby could see him looking out of a window into the darkness beyond. "Shit!" he shouted. "Looks like a horde! Can't really see in this light."

"Had to happen again sooner or later," shouted Vicky. "I'm surprised it wasn't sooner actually. This warehouse is lit up like a christmas tree."

"Six of us aren't holding them off. Time to bail," said Gabby.

"Cat! Danny! Jim!" Sam was shouting. "Wake up, we need to move - How long have we got, Vicky?"

Vicky had her back to the barricades. "Not long, I don't think."

Gabby grabbed one of the planks that had fallen away and started to hammer it back into place, while Vicky held the door shut.

"Fire escape's clear!" shouted Sam.

Gabby spared a look upwards. Cat and Danny were on the balcony, wrapped in parkas. They had their packs on, ready to go. Jim was emerging from his room, a courier's satchel slung over one arm and an inflatable parrot under the other.

"Get down the fire escape you three," Gabby shouted. "Vicky and I will follow. We meet at that general store, three blocks along."

He watched them disappear while he hammered in more nails. There was a sound of breaking wood and one of the planks by Vicky's leg broke away. A rotting arm flailed through the gap.

"Get moving Vicky!" muttered Gabe.

"Fuck you. We move together. That way we both stand a chance." Vicky unholstered two pistols, holding one in each hand.

"Whatever you say," said Gabby, aware she was right but unwilling to admit it.

"On three," said Vicky. "One, two, three!"

They both stepped back and raced for the stairwell. Gabby risked a look behind. The door smashed off its hinges and a cold wind gusted through the building. Vicky reached the staircase ahead of him and began vaulting up it, two steps at a time. Gabby followed but missed his footing and fell face down on the steps. He scrambled to his feet but felt a chill of fear as a hand grasped his leg.

"Shit! Gabby!" it was Vicky, up above him. She began shooting over the balcony rail.

"Watch where you point that thing!" Gabby shouted in alarm. He swung Slasher round and fired at the zombie. Another came up behind it as he struggled backwards up the stairs firing. "So much for the cold slowing them down," he muttered.

"Not this lot," said Vicky. "Different strain."

Once on the walkway he bolted after Vicky for the fire escape. There wasn't time to grab outer clothing or their packs. They'd have to loot new stuff from the store. The window was open, left that way by the others. Vicky climbed through and disappeared. Gabby scrambled after her. A hand grabbed his arm. He slipped through the window, bringing Slasher up to blast the thing away, just at its teeth clamped down. He fired anyway and its head disintegrated, leaving him free to stagger down the iron ladder to the ground.

"Gabby? Are you OK?" asked Vicky.

"Got bitten," he mumbled.

She turned pale. "The bite will carry the new form of the virus."

"I know that. Let's hope the immortality will fight it off, OK."

"Gabby..."

"C'mon, let's get out of here, we can worry about it when we stop running."

They were in a bar in Mogadishu when Ant spotted the newspaper. It was among a pile of books and magazines in a box in the corner. It only caught his eye because he recognised Kate's face. He pulled it out of the box and his heart froze as he read the headline printed above a Brankin family photo: Kate and Simon surrounded by their blonde-haired blue-eyed children.

"Andy!" he shouted across the room, "Andy."

BD looked up from where he was drinking with a bunch of fellow mercenaries. Ant strode over with the paper and dropped it in front of him.

"What the?" BD began and then he too saw the headline. "Fuck!" he ended anyway.

He snatched up the paper and Ant watched him skim read the story. "This is a year out of date!" exclaimed BD. "Why hadn't we heard about this?"

Ant shrugged. "You checked your email this year? I know I haven't. Too much garbage, everything of use censored out by the filters, downlink too slow even when it isn't being blocked out by goodness knows what black ops technology. And look at the date, that was Black Friday. We spent two weeks in the ruins of Nairobi just trying to survive. Kate getting kidnapped was small news. She was probably back home and safe by the time we managed to get out and contact anyone."

"She's my sister, Ant. I have to make sure. I've got to get to a satellite phone. We need to get to Beijing if she's still missing."

"It'll take months, BD."

"No it won't, my brother-in-law is the fucking Emperor of the world and my sister has been kidnapped by fucking Gabriel Mallows. We'll be in Beijing within 48 hours."

Ant sighed. "I had a date with Sheva."

"Sorry Ant. Make it up to her when we get back."

Vicky's expression was tight and pinched as she bound up Gabby's arm.

"Hey! I'm immune to infection," he said, reassuringly.

She put a hand against his forehead. "You're running a temperature."

Gabby looked around the room. Cat was sat on the floor by an over-turned display. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and she was biting her lip. Jim sat next to her, talking in a low voice. Sam and Danny stood by the doorway, watching out for the horde. Gabby had to admit he didn't feel so good.

"The hospital's next to a Necrotech lab," said Vicky, uncertainly.

"It'll be ransacked by now. Nothing much of use there," said Gabby.

"I'm not sure." Cat spoke up. "Firstly, there aren't any survivors in Soldotna, not that we've seen. Hardly anywhere's been looted. Secondly, remember how the zombies in Malton only learned to really ransack places slowly? I don't think these one's have got there yet. There could easily be a lot of equipment still in working order."

"I'd like to get Gabby wired up to some antivirals," said Vicky. "And I'd like Sam to look at some blood samples, see what he can turn up." She looked across at Sam nervously. "I know you didn't work directly on this strain, but you might spot something."

"You're all over-reacting!" said Gabby.

Danny took two steps towards him and whacked him round the back of the head. "No we're not."

Sam wandered back into the hospital and up to the second floor. They'd picked an intensive care ward and blacked out the windows. Cat had managed to wire up a generator. She was sitting on a bench outside the ward when he reached them.

"How is he?" asked Sam.

Cat shook her head. "He lost consciousness about two hours ago. Vicky has him on all sorts of drips. I didn't follow really. She's given up on anti-virals though. She's just trying to keep him alive and hoping he'll fight it off under his own steam."

"Why are you out here?"

"I kept getting panic attacks watching the heart monitor. Vicky threw me out."

Sam frowned, digesting that information. Then sat down next to her. "He'll be all right, you know."

Cat nodded, but she stared fixedly at her hands and wouldn't meet his eye. "How's the science?" she asked.

Sam shrugged. "There's not a lot I can do in the time available. We all have a lot of strong antibodies from the first virus and those regenerative nanites. But it's the usual story, if the new virus can damage him faster than he can be fixed..."

"And does that seem likely?"

"I don't know. We need a lot of energy to keep the systems working. It's why immortals don't put on weight. Vicky needs to make sure he has plenty of sugar and that will keep all the systems running. Hopefully those are the drips she has him on. Beyond that I can't say. I've played around with both viruses in the labs, our one wins out about 60% of the time. The odds are in Gabby's favour, but only just."

"Vicky's with him," said Cat. "She won't let him die without a fight."

Sam sighed. "No, that she won't."

Of the thirty men that left to hijack the train to Charlottesville, seventeen made it back to base. They should have known something was up when the populace arrayed themselves in neat, orderly rows in the snow to collect the stolen foodstuff. Usually it was a mob. Kulko liked it better that way, he had to admit - there was something satisfying, almost messianic, about standing atop a boxcar throwing sacks of grain to the impoverished masses. It was certainly more recognition than the DHPD ever got in Malton.

When the first shots rang out, the soldiers were nowhere in sight. Geoff, standing to Kulko's right, took the sniper's round in his forehead, his face a mask of confusion born in the half second between the crack of the rifle and the bullet's impact. The crowd - soldiers, masquerading as starving civilians - drew their weapons and leveled them at the Real DHPD. An officer stepped forward, putting on a field cap bearing the insignia of the World Government and chambering a round in his pistol. "Freeze!" he called out, his upper lip curling into a sneer. "You rebel scum."

The rest of his men looked to Kulko, who took a moment to ponder the situation, scratching his beard. He slid down the side of the train, landing roughly and walking up to the officer; the rebels followed his lead. Kulko drew his own pistol, holding it gingerly by two fingers as if to signal surrender. He dropped the magazine, and ejected the chambered round, gripping it by the barrel.

The captain nodded once, and extended a hand to accept the firearm. As the man's eyes looked to his own, hand in expectation, Kulko broke into a grin. He swung the weapon sharply, breaking the captain's jaw, before barreling into the nearest soldier and 'appropriating' his rifle. On full auto he sprayed the entire clip, sending the troops - most of whom had only ever dealt with a broken and cowed populace - scattering for cover. "Head for the hills!" called Kulko with manic glee, expending the magazine and bolting for the nearest vehicle. His men scattered every which way. For Kulko's ragtag group of terrorists, it was the beginning of the end, but for Stephen it was the end of the beginning.

"This is a nice restaurant." BD looked around the place. He was puzzled. Tim had insisted the three of them go out to dinner, tramping through the slush on the streets of Beijing, but he hadn't expected somewhere quite this small or pokey.

Tim smiled. "It may not look like much but the food is good."

Ant shrugged. "We appreciate it. We were just kicking our heels this evening, waiting for that security clearance to go through."

BD nodded. "Believe me. Once we get our hands on the secret service files we'll find some clue that will lead us to your Mum. She'll be back in no time."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You both need to get out of Beijing, soon as possible."

BD looked at him, but Tim's face was quite serious. "What?"

"I can't think of anything that will bring Mum out of the woodwork quicker than thinking you are in danger. I'm amazed there hasn't been a high profile arrest already. I can only imagine they think they are going to get even juicier charges down against you if they wait a little longer."

"Tim, are you suggesting Kate wasn't kidnapped?" asked Ant. "We've seen the security footage. Her injuries..."

"Were almost certainly caused by Dad. You know Gabriel Mallows and the others better than I do. Do you really think they would hurt her like that?"

"But your father..."

"My father had been beating her for years. Not as badly as that but it was bound to happen sooner or later."

BD stared hard at Tim who stared back at him with icily blue eyes, looking uncannily like his father. "I'll kill him," said BD.

"People have tried. Most of them are dead. Look, I'm fairly sure Mum is safe out there. I get messages from time to time which I believe are from her. If you get yourself captured she'll come back and then things will be worse. Uncle Andy, you have to believe me."

"What about your sisters?"

Tim shook his head. "They'd left home before the beatings started. I don't think they knew anything. Carol also gets messages from time to time, she's told me about them. I guess Janine does too, but she's not mentioned it."

"What do we do?" asked Ant.

"The proprietor of this restaurant has a delivery van out the back. He's passed messages to Mum for me in the past. He says he can hand you on to the next person in the chain. You need to go now though."

Gabby had been stable for several hours, but somehow Vicky couldn't quite bring herself to step away and ask one of the others to watch. She judged that he was sleeping naturally now. Gently, she stroked the hair away from his face and sighed over his youthful features. Nearly seventy years old and he still looked, and acted, like a teenager a lot of the time but there was an edge to him, when awake, a self-confidence he hadn't had when they were younger. When he was asleep that all fell away and she could still believe he was the over-eager, anxious kid she had first met. His eyes flickered open.

"Good morning," she said and smiled.

"Where am I?"

"The hospital. You've been unconscious for five days. Gave us all a bit of a fright."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you do care for me, after all."

"Course I do Gabs. We went through enough together. You, me, Sam, Danny, we grew up together in Malton. There aren't many people I share that with."

He stared glumly at the ceiling. "Certainly not many people who live as long as us." He reached out and caught her hand.

"No," she agreed. She wondered whether to confess that sometimes, in the depths of the night, she regretted her decision to leave Sam. The betrayal still hurt, but deep inside her was the fear that there was no one else who would ever understand or, worse, who wouldn't vanish long before her own death.

"It's tough on Danny," said Gabby. "He got married before we all knew and he's still cut up about her death. If it had been one of us, she'd have survived."

He held onto her hand, rubbing it gently with his fingers. A light bulb went on somewhere in Vicky's head. "Gabriel Mallows I do not believe you. You've been conscious less than five minutes and already you are trying to get in my knickers."

Gabby smirked. "A man's got to try. You can't deny you considered it."

Vicky snatched back her hand. "I'll tell the others you've woken up and are back to your normal self."

Ant was watching the Necrotech facility through night-vision binoculars. "Why are we doing this again?" he asked. They had been there an hour and Ant was grateful it was an unseasonably warm spring. However he was still doubtful about the whole enterprise.

"Because sooner or later Simon will work out that threatening Bryn is another quick and easy way to bring Kate out of the woodwork."

"And you?"

"And me, possibly. I don't want to get put in that position."

"Well the security guy has just finished his rounds." Ant looked at his watch. "The wrestling match starts in five minutes. If that information of yours is good then his attention will be focused on the media screens in quarter of an hour."

"The information had better be good, I paid enough for it."

"Why isn't this place more secure?"

"Its a storage facility, not a lab. They gave up working on the incurable years ago."

"I didn't know that."

"Kate told me in a letter. If I'd paid more attention, I'd have realised she was as pissed off about it as I was."

"Quit beating yourself up about her BD. Kate's always been an expert at concealing what she feels."

"OK! Let's see if this baby can crack the biometrics."

BD attached the thumb print cracker to the storage room door. The two of them watched its lights flashing.

"Uh oh!" murmered Ant. "We've triggered an alarm. The perimeter sensors have picked it up."

"Fuck! OK might as well blow the lock."

BD began sticking explosive around the mechanism. Ant checked the corridor. "At least we're jamming the security cams. The guard won't know how many intruders are here. If we're lucky he'll wait for back up."

"He's an ex-marine. He won't wait. 'K, here we go."

There was a bang as the lock blew out. BD kicked open the door. Beyond, the room looked like nothing so much as a morgue.

"3B," muttered BD hurrying over to the drawers on the far wall. He found the one he was looking for and pulled it open. Bryn lay inside, as freshly dead as she had been when the zombie had ripped out her throat all those years ago, mere hours before Necrotech began shelling the cure over the wall and onto the streets of Malton. The wound had never healed and it was possible to see the torn muscles and bone beneath. Her arms and legs were chained to the drawer and a thick gag was strapped across her mouth. A drip was attached to one arm.

BD ran a hand gently through her auburn hair. "Bolt cutters," he said.

"Are we sure about this? As soon as she starts to warm up, she'll wake and then we'll have a zombie on our hands."

"Bolt cutters! If we get her to the refrigerated van quickly enough, we'll be fine."

Ant shook his head and passed over the bolt cutters, letting BD free Bryn from her chains. Ant returned to his position by the door. Just as BD hoisted Bryn into his arms, Ant spotted movement at the end of the corridor. "Company!" he shouted, and let off a burst of fire.

BD dumped Bryn unceremoniously on a gurney and wheeled it to the door. "Cover us," he said.

Ant popped out into the corridor, laying down a covering fire, aware of BD rushing out behind him and down the corridor away from the security guard. Ant backed up. As they rounded a corner he tossed a grenade behind them and hoped it would make the guard think twice about following.

They had just about reached the door of the storage facility when Bryn sat up suddenly, eyes wide open. Her hands came up with surprising speed and gripped BD by the throat. "Honey!" he managed to choke, "this is not the time."

"Shit! BD, I warned you!" Ant pulled out Rough Justice and shot her twice through the heart. She fell back.

"Thanks!" gasped BD.

"Let's hurry, those wounds won't keep her down for long."

They raced across the grounds to the chain link fence and the hole they had cut in it earlier. BD swung Bryn over his shoulders in a fireman's lift as they scrambled through and towards the truck they had ready. Ant checked his watch again. "Still five minutes until the reinforcements get here," he murmured.

There was the sound of shooting behind them. As far as Ant could tell the guard was armed with a pistol and no night sights. Now they were out of the flood-lit grounds of the storage facility, he doubted they had much to fear from that quarter.

Bryn was beginning to stir as they staggered to the van.

"You drive," shouted BD. "I'll deal with her."

Ant shook his head, but scrambled into the driver's seat. As he started the engine he could hear sounds of banging coming from the back. He switched the refrigeration dial to high as he drove off and hoped the temperature back there would drop fast enough to prevent BD becoming zombie chow.

He stopped at the first lay-by to let out a shivvering Andrew Clark. "She asleep again?" he asked.

BD nodded. "Nearly got the fucking gag off first."

Ant shook his head. "It's going to get pretty difficult from now on. Refridgeration facilities aren't that easy to come by, you know."

"We'll manage. At least she's safe. All we have to do now is find Kate."

"How did they find us?" There was a note of desperation in Amy's voice. She had wedged herself in the corner of one of the log cabin's boarded up windows. She was shooting through a small gap.

Kulko didn't bother to answer. They must have found them the same way they always did. Threatening the family of a captured Real DHPD member. Bribing some starving soul with an increased food ration. Who cared? He had lost the Appalachians. At some point in the last six months a population among whom he had been able to hide had become a population of enemies. Simon's ruthless deployment of the carrot and stick had seen a return to public executions and an increased flow of food, not only to a favoured few officials but to whole communities, provided they handed over the rebels in their midst. Stephen wondered how long those extra rations would continue to flow once he and Amy were gone.

He squinted through his own make-shift gun slot and shot at a soldier who was crossing the open space between two trees.

There was a sudden explosion. The cabin filled with dust, and smoke. Kulko cursed. It had been inevitable though. It had been impossible for the two of them to cover all the approaches.

One more day was all he had needed. It had been obvious that the end would come with the spring thaw. Kulko had forseen that and made preparations, but spring had come early and he wasn't ready. Hali would have had passes ready for them by tomorrow, to get them to New York and then heading out west. It was one more day he obviously wasn't going to get.

He coughed in the smoke and groped over to where Amy was. If they could get under the cabin and then out somehow, they might yet make it while the army sifted through the rubble.

His hand closed on hers and he pulled silently to where there was a trapdoor leading down. She was unresponsive. The smoke cleared slightly and he saw the heavy wooden beam across her head. Blood pooling on the window sill told him her skull had been crushed.

There was the sound of a shot and a sudden pain in his chest. He fell to the floor, still holding her hand.

"Careful," warned a voice. "They say he's an immortal."

"I know but a shot through the heart always takes them down."

"You sure about that?"

There were footsteps and a second shot, another pain in his chest. "Am now," said the voice.

"Come on. Let's radio for the medical team. They can shift the bodies."

The footsteps receded outside where Kulko could hear orders being barked.

Painfully he forced himself to let go of Amy's hand and then crawl to the trap door.

2nd Lieutenant Tarrok sat glumly in the interrogation room. This was the fourth time in a year he had been hauled in for questioning. A year which had seen his rank dropped from Brigadier General down to 2nd Lieutenant. On good days he just tried to be grateful he hadn't been court martialed - a circumstance he owed to the intervention of a handful of influential generals who had been prepared to play politics on his behalf. Something which put their careers and, it was increasingly becoming clear, their own freedom, if not their lives, on the line.

A thin-lipped man in a suit walked into the room carrying a dossier which he put on the table. "What do you know about Braunwyn Cleanslate?"

No preliminaries then. "Texan. DHPD Operations Chief. One of the Malton incurable. She was Andrew Clark's girlfriend in Malton. I think she got special treatment once we got out, but I couldn't be certain." Tarrok looked his questioner in the eye and fought to keep any suggestion of irritation from his voice.

"Do you have any reason to suppose Andrew Clark is still interested in her?"

"I've not thought about it." Tarrok caught the expression in the man's eyes and knew he didn't have the luxury of playing for time while he thought of a way out. "I've never known him mention girlfriends much since. So, yes, I guess he could still be holding out for a cure."

"So if we were to ask you to list people and places Andrew Clark might go on being declared an outlaw. You'd put Ms. Cleanslate on the list."

"Yes." It had been eight weeks since BD had vanished. Tarrok prayed he had already taken care of Bryn.

"Anyone else?"

"He'll be looking for his sister. He'd trust most of the DHPD upper ranks but all the likely ones are either in hiding or under arrest."

"Do you have any idea where Mrs. Brankin might be?"

And they were now back on the well-worn track of the questions. "No sir. I've been over this before. Mr. Mallows worked in my squad in Malton but he was always unpredictable and hard to control."

The man looked at his file. "You gave us a list of likely associates. Do you wish to revise it?"

Tarrok glanced at the list, Sam, Danny, Vicky, most of Delta squad, a smattering of other DHPD members. Tarrok shook his head. "No sir. I still think they are the people he would be most likely to contact."

"Any idea where these people might go?" Again this was a well worn line of questioning. They began running through the list. Sam... Danny... Vicky...

"She was working with MSF last I heard. One of the new Maltons."

"That must have been difficult for her," commented the man.

"Well she's used to zombies, sir. All of us were. I imagine it seemed less alarming to her than it would have done to most doctors."

For the first time Tarrok saw a flicker in the man's face. "Less alarming?" the man said.

"I think so. We survived in a zombie infested town for years. They're a threat like any other. There are lots of threats in any combat zone - there's nothing particularly frightening about zombies once you view them in those terms. She's a doctor sure, but the DHPD was essentially a militia group and we had a lot of ex-military. We worked quite hard on ensuring our members viewed the zombies in terms of military threats and objectives rather than anything mystical."

"So, in your opinion, no ex-DHPD officer would have any particular fear of zombies."

"You'd be stupid not to have a healthy respect for them. But they're only a threat at close-quarters, even the brightest zombie isn't that bright. I'd rather face five zombies than five trained and fully-armed insurgents any day."

"Interesting. Thank you for your assistance Lieutenant."

"Gabby! Gabby! I hear jets, bombers - this is not fucking good!" Danny yelled, tearing up the stairs, a shotgun cradled in his arms.

"No need for panic!" shouted Jim. "We're ready for this remember!"

"Up packs everyone!" added Gabby.

"Shit, the new supplies!" Vicky moaned, heading to push food into a hold-all. Cat rushed to help her.

"No time for that!" Sam yelled. The first bombs hit the outskirts of the town, rattling their apartment.

"Fucking hell," Gabby murmured as the fireballs lit up the sky - weapons technology had clearly come a long way. "Guys - no time to grab shit. Get your guns and let's move!"

"That's mental, Gabby - who knows when we'll next get a chance to stop? We need that food," Vicky argued, blocking Gabby's route to the door. Another wave of bombs roared down onto the streets of Soldotna, this one landing closer to their apartments.

"Vick - we won't make it out of this city alive if we don't move now!" Gabby towered over the blue-haired medic, but she held her ground.

"Done!" said Cat suddenly. "Well mostly anyway. We'll have to manage without crisps and cereal." Bulky boxes of food still littered the table, but the hold-all was full.

"Fine! Everyone, I want you to stuff one of these energy bars down you now, and take these sugar tablets! Can't have any of your nanites collapsing while we escape!" Vicky ordered, throwing out small orange packages.

"Eat them as we go!" shouted Jim. "We need to get to the Humvee!"

They munched frantically as they ran. More and more bombs fell upon Soldotna as they did so. Gabby almost swallowed his whole, glaring at Vicky the whole time. "If one of us chokes, I'm blaming you!" he muttered.

The Humvee was stashed in a lock up down the street. It had been a lucky find and Cat, Danny and Sam had spent odd moments all spring souping it up. It was their planned escape route from Soldotna.

As the five Musketeers leapt into the Humvee, a bomb landed a few blocks away. The resulting explosion levelled their block of flats, and sent the Humvee flying forwards.

"Step on it, Gabby!" Daniel yelled, clutching at the headrest of the seat in front of him.

"Will do!" answered Gabby, gunning the Humvee's powerful engines and roaring through the charred streets of Soldotna, going out of his way to flatten the occasional shambling zombies he came across.

Cat was frantically working the media centre in the back. "Signal's being blocked," she shouted. "We'll need to get to somewhere populated, then I can activate those false identities Hali's been cooking up."

"Probably just as well," said Vicky. "Don't want the military decrypting the signal."

The bulky military vehicle burst through the shattered concrete wall that surrounded Soldotna and disappeared into the Alaskan tundra. Under the cover of the bombardment no one even noticed it leave.

"We're away, and we're invisible," Gabby said triumphantly. He grinned and put on his sunglasses.

"Assuming the vaunted stealth coating works!" grumbled Danny. "I've never trusted it myself."

"And assuming we disabled all the tracking technology properly," said Sam glumly. He kicked the side of the vehicle suspiciously.

"They don't seem to be following," said Jim. "Slow down though Gabby. We'll be less obvious. Don't want them to pick us up by eye, having avoided the electronic surveillance."

The last bombs fell on Soldotna. Cat glanced in the rear-view mirror - the town that had sheltered them for the past year had been replaced by a smoking pile of rubble. It was midsummer's eve and they were on the run in the outside world once more.