ONE
'Something's wrong.'
Ed and the others are fighting off the horde of creatures that they stumbled into about an hour ago now; the group just keeps getting bigger and bigger around them. They had gone in the totally opposite direction of the museum, and are now heading towards St. Pauls. From what Ed can see, the cathedral had been ransacked. All of the walls have fallen down, and the glass viewing tower has no glass around anymore.
It's on fire. The sacred praying area is on fire! And as they get closer, the group start to hear screams. Ed looks toward Sam and The Kid, and they both have totally different expressions on their faces. Sam's face is scared, but determined. Whereas The Kid looks determined and absolutely ruthless, as he gives out a war cry whilst chopping heads with his machete. Sam seemed as if he hadn't slept again, and if Ed was perfectly honest with himself, neither had he.
Why didn't we stay and help the others? Ed asks himself looking ahead of him towards the battered cathedral again.
Their hideout is about a mile away now, and there is no way in hell that they're getting back there anytime soon. But, the closer they get to St. Paul's, the more and more grown-ups appear. Despite all of Ed and Kyle's training, even they couldn't take them all on. If only Green man were here to help. He could lead some of them away, somewhere far from the others.
But that could have meant The Kid having to go with him, and he gets killed or even eaten by that thing or the sickos. And, Green man couldn't be controlled anyway. One moment he would be calm, the next he would be a hungry beast. Ed wonders briefly how the others are getting on with him. Dylan's a good fighter from what he can tell, but he can't fight with his knee and shoulder. Charlotte seems a good fighter too, killing a load of the sickos the other night when they escaped from the cathedral. But, he doesn't think that she could take down that thing. Makka definitely could. He was both smart and strong enough.
'Everybody head west!' Kyle cries, killing yet another grown-up with his knife. He's right, that will take them out of the zone for sure. And back towards their temporary hideout.
They run west, Kyle taking the front and Ed bringing up the rear. As they run, there are less sickos, but more and more sentinels. Ed and the others could all hear the ticking noise that they had heard many times before on the way to the Cathedral.
Maybe going west wasn't the best idea after all.
TWO
Shadowman is sat in the torn apart recliner, keeping his eyes on Green Man. The beast and he didn't agree with each other at all. They just couldn't – and wouldn't – get along. He is half sicko, half human. There is no telling when he's going to eat you, or lead you in the right direction. From what Charlotte and Makka had already told him, he was an edgy bugger – almost lead them into a whole group of sickos the night before. Yeah, okay, they were all in a panic, but c'mon!
They had lost two of their crew last night. Tish and Brendan. One from the cathedral, and the other from the Tower. He knows what it feels like, losing friends. He was left by Jester a few weeks ago, in the middle of the railroad in the middle of the night, vulnerable and alone. And then he had lost Taz, who had been killed by sickos. He's always known not to trust anybody, that it's an every man for himself world now. But, he thought he could have trusted Jester and the others at Buckingham Palace. But no. They left him for dead.
Shadowman swallows back tears. He cried last night, killing all of those mothers and fathers for his friend. He wasn't going to cry again though. The two had sacrificed themselves the other night. Gone down fighting, and protecting their friends. He knew he could trust these guys, he had to.
He can't risk going out on his own again.
'How long do you think they're gonna be? They've been out there for more than four hours now. They said they were going to scour the area, try and get out of the Zone, and be back before sunset,' Makka says, panicking. 'Surely they'd be back by now?'
'Calm down!' Charlotte said, not in the calmest tone herself. 'They could be at the Houses of Parliament. Not Buckingham. But, they could be holding up with others for the night.'
'What if they're not? What if they're all dead? What if –?'
'Okay, that's enough!' Shadowman yelled. 'I'm sure that you guys haven't been trained to panic.'
'I know. But trainings out of the window for now!' Makka pointed to the green beast Wormwood stood in the corner. 'Didn't they train any of us not to trust or pick-up adults?!'
'Makka! Calm down! They'll be back in the morning. If they don't have Little Sam and The Kid, that's when we can start to panic. Before Ed and Kyle explain that they dropped 'em off at the Museum.' Charlotte was starting to get quite angry at her friend now.
'She's right Makka. All we can do is sit tight. If we go out looking for them, and don't find them, but they come back – well, we're all in shit 'cos the cycle will start again,' Shadowman explained.
'What do you know, Dylan?' Makka snapped.
Before he knew it, Shadowman was up and in front of Makka within a second. 'I know more than you. I've been out on my own for over three months since my friend knocked my head in, and left me for dead. Now, I know that you've lost friends, but I also know a lot more than you about those adults out there. How they behave and how they react.' He whispered to him harshly.
'So, tell me Dylan,' Makka replied, not seeming at all phased by what Shadowman had just told him. 'What's with the sentinels?'
'I don't know. What I do know, is that they're planning something big. Bigger than at the Cathedral. And, if we're not careful, we'll all be dead before winter comes!'
'But, they're brainless, diseased adults. What-?'
Shadowman took a step back, and pointed towards Wormwood. If that didn't answer his question, he didn't know what would.