Surviving The Evacuation (Book 4): Unsafe Haven by Frank Tayell

to feed and backs to protect, and out of the four of them only one is a provider, and at best he’s going to only provide for them. Maybe we can change that. Maybe we can get the woman working. Maybe. But right now, they’re a liability. We need more people. Or, one way or another, a lot fewer.”
    “But if they won’t go… Wait, you’re thinking of leaving?”
    “Just you, me, and Jay. Perhaps. If I knew of somewhere safer than this, then I’d say we should leave right now. I’d even leave the food. Or some of it. But where can we go? We went through all that and ended up here.”
    “So we stay. And you’re right. If that’s going to work then we need more people. And it has to work. There’s nowhere to run to. So how do we find others?”
     
    14 th March
    They lit a bonfire. Wanting to separate the Harpers, Tracy and Mark took Sylvia to begin digging up the cricket pitch. The two children helped Jay keep the bonfire lit and fed with evergreen branches to send up a pillar of smoke. Sebastian and Nilda took Mr Harper back to the terrace to gather the last of the food.
     
    “This is your place is it?” Mr Harper said sniffily when he saw the small house. Nilda said nothing as they collected the last of the bags.
    When they got back they found a middle-aged woman, Nilda vaguely recognised, tearing away at the grass with a vengeful ferocity. She paused, leaning on her shovel just long enough to introduce herself as Marjory Stowe, someone who’d worked at the fish counter at the supermarket, before ripping into the ground once more. Nilda didn’t ask what demons she was exorcising.
    Nilda headed over to the pavilion to unload the bags.
    “Is that the lot?” Jay asked.
    “More or less. How are things here?”
    “This new woman. She’s alright. The kids are… I dunno. Scared, I suppose.”
    “We all are.” She looked around. She saw the activity, she heard the noise. “There’s a few more things I want to get from the house. Will you be all right here?”
    “You want me to come with you?” he asked, giving her a far too grown-up look.
    “No. I’ll go on my own. It’ll be easier. If I see any of the undead, I’ll just turn around and come back.”
    She headed straight to their house. She came across the undead only once. Two of them were shambling down the street towards the town. She doubled back and took a different road. When she arrived at the terrace, she checked that the street was empty and the alley clear. Only when she was sure she wouldn’t be heard did she kick down the front door. Satisfied at the way the lock had splintered, she went inside and opened all the cupboards in the kitchen, pulling out the saucepans and crockery onto the floor. She stamped on a few mugs, kicking the shards out into the living room. She opened and emptied the drawers, then went upstairs and did the same up in the bedroom. Taking one last look around her house she decided that, yes, if anyone came they would see a place that had already been looted.
    She left the house, and then searched for some more bicycles. She found two easily enough, but if - or more likely when - she left, she hoped Sebastian would be coming too. She found a third, then hid all three under a tarpaulin in a neighbour’s backyard.
    “Good enough,” she murmured. She had her escape plan. But bikes were slow.
    She glanced towards the edge of town. The smoke from their bonfire was clearly visible above the rooftops. She thought about going straight back, but there was one last place she wanted to check. The police station. And she wanted to do it without anyone else knowing. Sebastian had mentioned seeing a few police cars during his journey to the Muster Point, but he’d mostly seen Army vehicles. It had been the same in the days before the evacuation. There was a chance then, that the police vehicles would still be parked at the station and have fuel in their tanks. Not a great chance, but one worth investigating. With so many undead