Cassie let out a whimper.
Jan waved a hand. “We’re not, I promise you. We may not be angels, by any lengths of the imagination, but we’re just lost souls right at the moment, same as you. We don’t want to become one of those things.”
“Do you know what those things are?” asked Kathryn. She sounded worried and was chewing at her fingernails.
Jan shrugged. “I don’t know what they are. I probably don’t know any more than you folks do. Your man, Nick, thinks a virus did this; I’m inclined to agree. What I can say for sure is that I’ve seen dead bodies walking around and eating people. As for what could cause such a thing, I have no idea. I’m not a praying man, usually, but I would suggest asking the old man up there to take mercy on us, because it seems like he’s pretty pissed off at the moment.”
Carl scoffed. “You think it’s the end of days?”
Jan shrugged. “Isn’t it? You think this isn’t the end of the world as we know it? Whether it was God, terrorists, or something else entirely, things have just taken one hell of a turn for the worse.”
Cassie whimpered again. “We’re all going to die. Eventually they’ll get us.”
Pauline went over and comforted the girl while the rest of the group exchanged nervous glances.
The silence was broken by Kathryn as she began to cough and splutter into her hands.
“You okay there?” Nick asked her.
She caught her breath and nodded. “I’m fine. Just got a frog in my throat.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Jan asked. “Do you folks have a destination in mind?”
“Does anywhere count?” said Nick.
“Better than nowhere, I guess.” Jan turned on the spot and pointed. “Me and the boys came from the main roads in that direction. Things are pretty bad back in the towns, so I would suggest we keep heading this way and stay in the woods.”
“This whole area is a country park apparently,” Nick said. “Maybe we’ll find help somewhere up the hill. There might be a craft centre or a farm or something.”
“Sounds good,” said Jan. “We’re happy to do whatever you folks think is best.”
Dash rolled his eyes and grumbled. Being subservient obviously did not sit well with the young criminal.
Nick confronted him about it. “That okay with you?”
Dash nodded. “Yeah, man. I’m sound.”
Kathryn let out another wracking cough. This time she seemed unable to stop.
Dash eyeballed her suspiciously. “What the fuck is wrong with this bitch?”
Jan walked up to Kathryn and put his hand beneath her chin. He forced her head up to look at him and then stared into her eyes. “She has it,” he said. “She’s infected.”
Nick hurried over. “What are you talking about? That’s not possible.” Then he saw Kathryn’s swollen, bloodshot eyes and knew that it was true.
She was infected.
“We need to put her down,” said Jan.
Kathryn managed to halt her coughing enough to stumble backwards with her hands outstretched. “No! No, I’m fine. Leave me alone, please. Just leave me alone.”
Jan stalked after her. Nick grabbed the large man by his wrist, which turned out to be as thick as a tree trunk. “Back off, buddy. No one is killing anybody. Are you insane?”
Jan looked at Nick like he was the one who was insane. “If we don’t kill her now, she’ll kill us later. I’ve seen it enough times to know.”
“He’s right,” said Dave. “We’ve seen it, too, with Jake.”
“But she can’t have it,” said Nick. “She hasn’t been bitten.”
“We don’t know that,” said Dave. “How can we be sure?”
“It was the water,” said Pauline.
Nick turned around. “What?”
“When we picked her up she had a bottle of water with her. Jake was feeling unwell so she shared it with him. Cross-contamination. Jake passed the virus onto her via his saliva on the bottle.”