Outbreak The Zombie Apocalypse (UK Edition) by Craig Jones Page B

the garden until I lost track of time. 
     I was feeling some of the pressure on the back of my neck lift when Nick returned. He could not contain the smile on his face as I walked through the house and met him at the foot of the stairs.
    ‘It’s unbelievable over there. I’ve seen loads of people I know, neighbours, friends, it’s… Oh, mate, I didn’t mean to be insensitive.’
    ‘Nick, it’s okay. Life has to go on.’
    ‘Yeah well, for some of us, life’s only going on because of you and Danny. Nobody’s going to forget that. I bumped into Alex Brown. Do you know him? He lives on Mill Street. He saw you and Danny bring the girls back. He says it was amazing. He says…’
    ‘How’s the house looking?’
    ‘Oh. Oh, sorry. Umm…it’s fine. We can go back tomorrow. They’re going to reopen the roads at some point in the morning. Look. Matt? There’s, there’s…nothing to be seen over there. They’ve cleaned it all up. Come stay with us for a few days, as long as you like. Don’t sit here alone, not with…you know?’
    ‘Thanks, but I need to be alone. I need to let all of this out. I just can’t with…’ 
    I was struggling. What excuse could I use now when I just wanted them to leave? The patter of footsteps came from upstairs, little voices that had maybe just picked up on the fact that their Dad was back. That gave me the answer I needed.
    ‘I can’t let the kids see me fall apart, Nick. You understand that, don’t you?’
    ‘Of course I do. I’ll just go and tell Jenny about the house.’
    ‘Yeah, yeah. And Nick? You can do me one favour when you do go back into town? Just ask them to respect my privacy for a little while. I don’t want to be talking through it again and again. That okay?’
    He nodded, looked like he was the one that was going to break down, and then turned and took the stairs two at a time to go to his family. I walked through the lounge and back into the kitchen. I took a seat at the table, my mind awash as I formulated my plan.
    *                            *                              *
    It was Private Hayes who brought the good news to our door at a little after one the following afternoon. The roads were now officially open and the Williams family could go back to their home. It came as no surprise. The BBC had, every fifteen minutes, launched into the headline that the epidemic was over and that all infected cases were accounted for and had been properly dealt with. They didn’t come right out and say it, but everyone watching, each and every person who had seen what had taken place across the country, knew what that meant: eliminated. 
    Nick had been out to the Citroen and started it up, let it run for a few minutes and then, under the supervision of the soldiers, had turned it around and pulled onto the driveway. The tyres had hardly stopped on the gravel before Jenny had one of the back doors open and was ushering the children into the back seat. She leant in after them and made sure their seatbelts were firmly fastened as Nick got out and made his way over to me.
    ‘Are you sure you won’t come with us?’ he asked.
    ‘Nick, just leave it be,’ Jenny called. ‘Matt’s told us he wants to be alone for a while.’
    ‘She’s right. But thank you’, I said and shook him by the hand. ‘I just need to be by myself. I need to remember Danny and let myself… You know?’
    He turned the handshake into a hug.
    ‘You know where we are, if you need anything. I mean it. Anything. We owe you everything, mate.’
    ‘Nick, you’re suffocating him.’
    He released me from the hug but held onto my hand. 
    ‘Anything.’
    I tried a smile and half slapped, half pushed him on the back as he turned to get in the car. Jenny approached me, not looking me in the eye, gave me a brief hug and, before I had chance to say a word, opened the car door and got in, waving her hand in front of her face like she was trying to get a bad smell out