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Kirby’s eyes went wide. “You almost got eaten over a freaking bag. What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“It was worth it,” I said as Luke came back into the room. He gave me a curious look but said nothing.

I held onto my broken bag and checked every dark corner, every blind spot. The place felt empty, but we couldn’t assume anything anymore. “We’re good here,” I said, breathing slower.

Luke slung one backpack over his shoulder and carried the other. “Better clear every room before we think about resting.”

He went over to the main door and eased it open, leaning out and checking the hallway.

As he stepped from the room, Kirby looked my way.

“I didn’t mean anything by that,” she said. “I’m just getting used to this shit. Trying to figure it out. You scared me, that’s all.”

I forced a smile, still on edge. “You’re good.”

We turned on the lights when we needed them, then switched them off again, hoping it would be enough to stay off other people’s radars.

Four rooms for different age groups branched off the main corridor, each with a bathroom and a storage cupboard. The central commercial kitchen had some dry goods left in the pantry that we could take with us in the morning.

By the time we reached the staffroom, it was obvious we were the only ones here. The building had a stale, empty smell in place of decomposing flesh.

“They’ll have sleeping mats stored in the older kids’ rooms,” I said. “No blankets—but at least we won’t have to sleep on the floor.”

“Good enough for me.” Kirby stretched her arms above her head and let out a loud yawn. “Who wants to eat before we pass out for the night?”

Four

luke

“All right, let’s talk.” Kirby had commandeered the couch in the staffroom, head on one end, booted feet on the other. With a bag of dried apricots in her lap, she popped the first one into her mouth.

“About what?” Ava sat opposite me at the table, the overhead light casting shadows over her face.

“Where you both flew here from.” Kirby chewed as she reached for the bottled water we’d found in the storeroom. “You first,” she said to Ava.

Tyres screeched outside and shouting came from a house backing onto the childcare centre.

Ava bit into a salted cracker and flicked a crumb from her lower lip. “Atlanta. I was over there visiting filming locations from my favourite TV shows,” she said around a mouthful. “I’m a nerd for anything supernatural, so it was a dream trip—until the virus took off.”

As if to remind us of their presence, a distant clang came from the infected at the fence.

I leaned back in my chair, angling a box of cornflakes to get to the pieces at the bottom. “Did you see everything you wanted to before it all went to shit?”

She brushed her salty fingers on her jeans. “Pretty much. The virus didn’t feel like a big deal at first, but it was spreading faster near the end of my trip.”

“It was the same in England.” I grabbed another handful of cereal. “Everyone acted like it would blow over in no time.”

Kirby shifted, resting one foot on the opposite knee. Her phone sat beside her, hooked up to my charger and plugged into the wall socket. Communication was still down and websites weren’t loading. We’d turned on the central heating at one point, then flicked it off again as soon as we heard the loud rumble it made outside.

“It was like that everywhere.” Kirby screwed the cap back on her water bottle and set it on the floor. “Nobody thought we’d see anything as bad as COVID again, and then Ultimus came along and said hold my beer. Why were you in England?”

“My nan lived in Manchester,” I said, opening a door I wanted to keep closed. “She got dementia a couple of years ago and Mum moved over there to help out. I was visiting for a month when it all started.”

“And that month turned into… what, a year?” Kirby guessed, her brows raised.

“You know better than anyone how it went.”

Ava looked up. “Wait. Your family’s in England—and you came back here?”