The Dead

The Dead by Charlie Higson Page B

Book: The Dead by Charlie Higson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Charlie Higson
Tags: General, Juvenile Fiction
Ads: Link
aim to keep it that way. You want to go and see if there’s any kids need rescuing, Batman, you can get out and walk.’
    The coach was too long to turn round here. Greg put it into reverse and started to laboriously manoeuvre it backwards along the road. The warning system was giving out an insistent, irritating beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
    Jack stayed silent, staring ahead. After a while he saw figures emerging from the smoke, limping, lurching, stumbling, swaying from side to side, but moving fast.
    ‘You need to go quicker,’ he said.
    ‘Oh, listen to Jeremy Clarkson,’ said Greg.
    ‘They look sick, but they can run …’
    ‘Shut it,’ Greg snapped. ‘I’m trying to concentrate here. I’m not a professional bleeding coach driver, am I? These things are a bugger to keep in a straight line.’
    The running figures were getting nearer and nearer.
    They were close enough now for Jack to see that they were definitely diseased. They were a mess, their skin blistered, their clothes hanging off them, smoke-blackened and blood-spattered.
    Greg managed to reverse past a turning before the first of the attackers reached them. A lanky young man of about twenty. He hurled himself at the windscreen and tried to get a grip. He tore off one of the wipers and Greg cursed. Then the rest of them arrived, some scrabbling at the door, others jumping up and banging their fists on the windscreen. A shrill high-pitched scream came from somewhere towards the back of the bus. Jack watched helplessly as the other wiper was ripped off.
    ‘Right,’ said Greg, wrenching the gear lever into first. ‘You asked for it.’
    He floored the accelerator and the coach juddered forward, quickly picking up speed and shaking off the first wave of attackers, who slithered out of the way and ran alongside, spitting with fury. Two stragglers were batted to the ground as the coach smashed into them and Greg spun the wheel, veering off on to the side-road.
    ‘It’s been like this all the way,’ he said. ‘Every time I pick a route I have to change it. And now we’ve lost them wipers we’re gonna be screwed if it rains much worse than this.’
    Ed came up to join Jack.
    ‘Everything all right?’
    ‘Can’t you lot stay sat down?’ Greg shouted.
    ‘Is the road blocked?’
    ‘We’ll find another way.’
    ‘Looks like we can make a left about a mile ahead,’ said the boy who was sitting in the seat behind Greg. He was studying a road map, squinting through his wire-framed spectacles.
    ‘Thanks, son,’ said Greg, and he turned to grin at Jack and Ed. ‘That’s what I need, practical help. Not you bunch of toffs flapping about.’
    ‘Tell us what you need us to do and we’ll do it,’ said Ed.
    ‘I need you to sit down and shut up.’ Greg glanced back over his shoulder at his son. ‘We’re coping just fine, ain’t we, Liam?’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Liam quietly. He was a miniature of Greg in every way except that where his dad was loud and aggressive he looked slightly shy, almost embarrassed by him.
    ‘Good lad,’ said Greg. ‘He don’t say much, but he’s a bright one. Ain’t you, Liam? All his teachers say so.’
    ‘Nice to meet you, Liam,’ said Ed. ‘I’m Ed and this is Jack.’
    Liam looked down at the floor and mumbled something.
    ‘We could have done with you earlier,’ said Ed kindly. ‘We needed a map reader and you look like a pretty good navigator.’
    ‘And he didn’t learn none of that at school, neither,’ said Greg. ‘Everything he knows I’ve learned him.’
    ‘Where were you all going when we picked you up?’ Liam asked softly.
    ‘We were trying to get to the countryside,’ said Ed. ‘Thought it might be easier there.’
    ‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’ scoffed Greg. ‘Where d’you think we just come from? You don’t want to go to the countryside, pal, not unless you want to end up as dinner for some bunch of spotty Herberts.’
    ‘Can’t be any worse than the towns,’ said

Similar Books

Secrets

Nick Sharratt

The Mistletoe Inn

Richard Paul Evans

The Peddler

Richard S Prather

One Fat Summer

Robert Lipsyte