By the time they left the church, evening was in danger of turning to night. They moved across the cemetery quickly and reached the car park without interruption. Gary unlocked the back of his blue van, retrieving a spare t-shirt for himself and a jumper for Jonathan, since both of their clothes had been burnt in Zafier’s attack.

Rain observed the van with bemusement.

“This is your transport?”

“Yes,” Gary said.

“I’ve seen better.”

“So, odd jobs, is it?” Jonathan asked, noting the gardening implements and toolbox.

“Yeah, here and there. Mostly gardening. Occasional bit of building work if it shows up.”

“That’s cool. How far away is your place?”

“About half an hour.”

Chantelle, Rain. a man and a woman climbed into the back of the van, whilst Jonathan took the passenger seat in the front. The woman with the stabbed eye, the teenager with the mace, and a young couple joined Peter.

“Okay,” Jonathan said. “Gary’s farmhouse is about half an hour away from here. There’s a service station about fifteen miles along the road. We can pull in there, if we haven’t seen anyone else, and see if there are any more supplies available. Even if its just sandwiches.”

“Is stopping off somewhere a good idea?” Peter asked. His tone was less critical than it had been earlier.

“I don’t know,” Jonathan admitted. “I’m in the same situation as all of you. We don’t know what’s out there, apart from the fact that it isn’t good. The more supplies we can get hold of now, the better.”

Everyone could see the sense in that.

“There’s a little supermarket in Bidlington,” a middle-aged woman said. “Is it worth trying there?”

“I don’t think we should risk Bidlington,” Gary said. “There were zombies heading into the village and I think its best if we get out of here altogether. Oh, Peter – try your radio. Let’s see if anyone is broadcasting. If either of us hears anything, we’ll pull over, okay?”

Peter nodded.

Gary and Jonathan climbed into the front of the van, and Gary turned the ignition and pulled out of the car park and onto the main road.

If they made good time, they could get to the farmhouse long before nightfall.

*

There was nothing but static on the radio.

Gary had half expected to switch it on and hear the comforting sounds of a Radio One Deejay. As Gary drove, Jonathan flicked through the channels, to no avail.

“Not even an emergency government broadcast,” Jonathan whistled. “That’s really bad. It’s been, what, nine hours?”

“About that, yeah. Is that all it takes for the world to shut down? Nine hours?”

He turned onto the motorway. No-one else was driving, but there were several abandoned cars as he drove on.

Gary swore, “Hopefully there're no crashes up ahead. If there are, driving won’t be an option.”

“Yeah, but it’s not as bad as I thought it might be,” Jonathan nodded.

Gary had noticed that too, and it bothered him. He’d half been expecting to see the motorway rammed with crashed cars, spun out of control when the black rain had hit. It was the only way he’d been able to account for the billion plus deaths that had occurred.

This didn’t look that bad, though. Which meant there was a discrepancy somewhere.

How did so many people die so quickly? He wondered, Or was the system just estimating that over a billion people had died?

As he drove, the radio crackled into life.

He slowed the van, reaching through the window to wave the car behind him to follow him to the layby.

“Listen,” he shouted back at the other car.

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“The radio is working!” Peter called, “We’re getting news! Radio 4!”

“... the government has declared a state of emergency following the extraordinary events of this morning, which have left people shocked and bewildered and suffering hallucinations... there are unconfirmed reports that…. have died… this has not yet been…”

“Amazing,” Gary said. “Of course, Radio 4 keeps going.”

“Right?” Jonathan said.

Everyone got out of their vehicles to crowd together around the van, listening to the news report.

“... the government is advising all residents of the United Kingdom to return to their homes and await for further instructions. The Prime Minister issued this statement.

“‘It is vital at this point that people do not panic. The government is assessing the events of the morning and is in consultation with world leaders across the globe to see what can be done. We are committed to a strong and stable United Kingdom, even in these unprecedented times. We are aware of reports of various unusual phenomena occurring across the country and are deploying the army to deal with these events as they occur. The most important thing for the British public to do right now is that we don’t panic in the face of these strange occurrences, and not to speculate or draw any sudden conclusions. Britain will stand resilient as it has done so many times in the past. Again, it is vital that we don’t panic.’”

“Is he really using a Douglas Adams quote to keep everything calm?” Gary wondered aloud.

He’d never had much time or patience for the government, no matter which political party they came from.

He was shushed into silence.

The radio reporter continued.

“Across Britain, there are claims of the dead coming back to life… this includes reports of the… that seem to have died as well as.... These reports have yet to be verified. In some cases, people claiming that the dead are on the attack and should be avoided at all costs. It is unclear at this moment if these events are what the Prime Minister was referring to when he described the unusual phenomenon, we’re just getting news now from one of our reporters in Manchester, Mark. Hi Mark, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Kaleigh. So what I’m seeing here is extraordinary. Following the events of this morning and the… the dead appear to be rising and are attacking people in horrendous scenes that are sickening. I’m currently holed up in a hotel, where we have barricaded the doors and windows, and we are surrounded by…. wait, I think... oh, no... oh god, no!”

The sound of rising screams cut off the reporter’s speech.

“Well, we seem to have lost Mark up in Manchester there, and again, all these reports are unconfirmed. For those of us just joining us: This morning at 10AM Greenwich Mean Time, the entire world was affected by a sudden meteorological phenomenon never witnessed before as black slug like creatures fell from the sky. These slug like creatures then… enter the bodies of everyone on the planet… widespread hallucinations and the deaths of… though this has… been confirmed.

“Those that have survived are reporting seeing things which resemble entering a video game.

“In addition to this, there are unconfirmed reports of the dead rising. The British Government has appealed for calm whilst declaring a state of emergency. All residents and non-essential workers are advised to return to their homes. The army has been deployed across the country to deal with the situation, although it is still not clear what the situation is.

“We are turning now to our Home Correspondent for his views on the situation...”

“Okay, so, this is all happening worldwide, as we thought.” Jonathan nodded.

“Right, except that it doesn’t sound that bad, does it?” the middle-aged woman interjected. “That’s what I think. I’m Fran, by the way, thanks everyone for asking. Anyway, to me, it sounds like the government is responding and maybe getting things under control?”

There were murmurs of agreement.

Standing in the layby, with the comforting voice of the Radio 4 reporter to soothe them and a statement from the Prime Minister, the sense of threat and urgency was receding. Even Gary felt it. Despite knowing how insane the situation was, and having just come from the horrors of the church, it was hard to not feel that things weren’t as bad as they had seemed.

“Maybe we should all do as the PM says?” Fran said, “And just, you know, go home? Is Gary’s plan the best one, now we have this new information?”

Gary was wondering the same thing. With the adrenaline and fear drained out of him, his imperative to get everyone to safety seemed less urgent than before.

“I only suggested it because it’s close,” Gary said, “And I thought being somewhere isolated was a good idea, since we didn’t know what was going on.”

“Well, we know now, don’t we?” Fran said, “The military is getting sent out, and the rest, well, its all just hallucinations, isn’t it? I mean, all these things we keep seeing, it’s just some weird drug thing. Like, I bet what’s happened is chemicals, isn’t it? That’s all this is. There were chemicals in the rain, you know, like LSD, and we all just got a dose, didn’t we?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jonathan pointed out. “We were all in the church when the black rain fell.”

“Well, it’s... fumes then. From the rain.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Gary replied. “After everything we just saw and went through, you think it’s a mass hallucination? Across the entire world?”

“Well, the woman on the radio said it,” Fran huffed, “I’m just going with what the most likely scenario is.”

Gary sighed.

It would be nice to believe that this was all just a mass hallucination, but he didn’t think it was for a second.

“Either way, I think we should do what the government tells us to do and go back to our homes. They’ve sent the military in, haven’t they? So, you know, things will get sorted out.”

“That’s rule number three of the zombie apocalypse,” Peter nodded, “The military can’t do anything.”

“Could everyone be quiet!” Chantelle said. “I’m trying to listen!”

The radio report continued, crackling in and out as reception came and went. Mass power outages across the UK were mentioned. Mobile phone networks and the internet down or barely functioning. The newscaster attempted to get in touch with various other reporters across the United Kingdom but couldn’t get through. After another crackling recap of the events so far, she turned to the Economic Correspondent, who tried to grapple with the implications of the events in terms of the effect on the jobs market.

The report crackled and then stopped.

“Okay, looks like that’s all for now,” Chantelle said.

The group discussed the next move, with their opinions splintering once again. Any cohesion they had formed earlier was disintegrating.

Gary glanced across at Rain. She was standing apart from the group, observing them with her neutral expression. Gary took her to one side.

“What do you think we should do?” he asked.