Chapter 6: 28 Weeks Later

Tim looks out of his 25th floor window staring at the windows of the opposite high rise, Lights, electricity, happy human face. He sips on a hot cup of coffee. He had never lived in the bay of dogs before. His suburban life had made him unused to these large towers he found himself living in. Wolvo shared a room with Jon, Tim had his own bedroom. It wasn't a bad setup. The weeks living in the quarantine camp when the army showed up was hellish, bleached clean by a bunch of hands on soldiers, given some military rags to wear and told to stay in a tent with other survivors was not what they were used too.

There was a kind of freedom the three lads had when they were surviving London. At the very least they could come and go from any one spot as they pleased. All that freedom was now traded for one thing, security. The Americans seemed like they were running the show pretty tight. Jon was quieter these days, he wasn't that same boy that used to pop over and watch a film with him and laugh and talk and be himself. Was it Liv or mike that broke him in a way he could never be repaired? Maybe it was Mom and Dad deaths.

It was Ellsy though that pulled Tim back from the abyss. From that dark place he was in when he wore that mask, when he roamed London killing and trying not to be killed. Ellsy was 25, she was from Manchester, She liked to write and read. She was beautiful and my God was Tim attracted to her. They had met her in the quarantine camp; she had made a joke about that hideous mask Tim always carried around with him. Jon doesn't talk much to her, Tim knew why; Tim knew she reminded him of Liv. Wolvo liked the girl; he thought she made a good match for Tim. Tim told him to shut up when he said these kinds of things.

She lived in the room opposite him. Tim and Ellsy spoke a lot, but only ever about things that wouldn't unearth their pasts. They talked about music, but never about family, they talked about film but never about how they survived.

She was coming over tonight. Tim said they would split a bottle of wine and maybe get to know each other a little more. She said she hopes this wasn't some shit way of coming on to her, she said it with a smile and a wink. Wolvo had insisted Jon and him were to vacate the flat for a few hours. They said they would go to the (only) pub in the district.

Tim thought a little on what had happened that day. Two kids had broken quarantine, they went out as a two and came back as a three. They had found their mother in their old family house. It was all that was on everyones lips. The military seemed spooked though, whispers between the higher in command officers. You could see it in their faces. Something's amiss. A knock came at the door.

"You're looking rather sharp tonight Mr Meyer" Ellsy walked into the flat brandishing a bottle of red wine. She looked as gorgeous as always. Her blond hair in a Platt, her blue eyes as pale as the sky.

"Looks like you made quite the effort too" Tim smiled as he closed the door behind her. "Oh this" She motioned towards her floral dress , "Oh I just through this on" she winked at him. He almost melted then and there.

"Where are the boys"?

"Wolvo has taken Jon out for a night of heavy drinking; I doubt we'll see either of them alive again"

"God help your brother"

"They are both my brothers, God help me, Wine never agrees with me"

"I don't blame it, your highly disagreeable" She smiled that smile again

A few hours passed, they drank and talked. Before long, the walls began to come down, they began to allow themselves to see each other for the wounded broken people they were.

"I was under the bed when they got in the house, I heard them get to my dad first. My brother managed to get into the opposite room to me. They burst in and got him next. The house was flooded with the infected. I just curled up in a ball and prayed. Not to God, just to make it quick, when they found me, just make it quick for me. They never found me, they found my 13 year old brother and tore him to pieces, but they never found me."

Tim wiped the tears from her cheeks, she looked at him with her wet eyes.

"We have to protect what we have now, we have to look after each other, and Jon and Wolvo. That's all I care about now. I have a new family I have to protect. I won't let anything happen to you"

The two stared into each others eyes. They leaned in towards each others lips.

The sirens were piercing. Like how the old air raid sirens used to sound during the blitz. Tims stomach dropped. They just sat there for a few seconds, trying to make sense of why the hell the military were on alert. Tim looked out the window. Hundreds of people were being directed down the street. Military personnel were everywhere. Snipers lined up on the roofs, hummers moved into position.

"We have to find Wolvo and Jon" Tim pulled Ellsy by the hand

"Shouldn't we just go to the militaries assigned meeting point?"

"Us three have our own meeting point, let's get the hell out of here"

Before Tim left, he grabbed one last thing that he had hidden in a shoe box in his wardrobe.

A clown mask decorated with the British flag...