Free Surviving The Evacuation (Book 5): Reunion by Frank Tayell Page A

and the others agreed, was that we could get out, but the animals couldn’t. So, for the time being, we were stuck in the station. We moved the livestock and started padding the walls with everything we could find. That must have worked, because a few days later the zombies started to drift off. That was when I went back to Westminster. The buildings were wrecked. There were holes in the barricade, and the undead seemed to be everywhere, completely surrounding whoever was left inside. I couldn’t believe our luck.”
    “Luck?”
    “Well, it seemed to me that McInery and I were in the clear. Quigley and Cannock’s plan to keep a foothold in London was in smouldering ruins. As far as any of these others knew, we were just two ordinary citizens, and it seemed like we had the city to ourselves.”
     
     
    19 th March - Farringdon Station
    London
     
    Chester dropped the bag on the table, then himself into the nearest chair. A cloud of dust erupted around him, and for a moment he was too weary to wipe it from his eyes.
    “Is that it?” McInery asked.
    Chester took out the folded piece of paper from his pocket. There were thirty addresses written on it.
    “We didn’t make it to any of them,” he said. “Couldn’t get further than King’s Cross. Too many undead. This came from one of those baby and infant shops. You know, the kind filled with pushchairs and romper suits.”
    Kendra unzipped the bag and took out a soft pouch of fruit puree.
    “Three hundred and fourteen calories,” she read. “That’s less than a burger.”
    “There were a couple of boxes in the back office. There was a letter, too. They’d come in with a delivery of teething rings and were to be sent back because the shop didn’t sell comestibles. And don’t mention burgers,” he added, forcing a smile. “Not if you don’t want some of those piglets disappearing.”
    “You said there were a couple of boxes?” McInery asked.
    “Richard’s got the other. But he’s washing the zombie brains out of his hair.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kendra flinch at the comment.
    “There’s getting to be too many undead around here,” she said.
    “Yes. Yes there are,” McInery said. “But Dev did well today.”
    It took a moment for the words to sink in. Chester opened his eyes properly and looked at the items covering the table. He picked up a small sachet.
    “Ketchup?”
    “From Liverpool Street,” Dev said. Chester hadn’t noticed the young man sitting by the corner window of the station manager’s office, a radio in his hand, a headphone in one ear. “There’s a storeroom,” he continued. “I suppose it was for all the coffee shops and restaurants. There’s lots of cages, I think each shop had one, and each is nearly full up.”
    “With food?” Chester asked.
    “Most of it’s gone off,” Dev said. “But there’s sugar, ketchup, mustard, that sort of thing.”
    “And that counts as a good haul?” Chester’s question was directed at McInery.
    “Look at the ingredients,” she said. “Sugar, tomato, cornflour. It’s carbohydrates in vinegar.”
    “So it won’t go off, right.” Chester leaned back in the chair. He was thinking of burgers again. It was better than thinking of ketchup and baby food. The problem was that Dev’s find really did count as a good haul. He’d found lots of calories all in one easy to collect place. “And what are we going to do when it’s gone?” He hadn’t meant to speak out loud.
    “I guess that’s when we start eating the pigs,” Dev said. “So maybe you want to keep a couple of those sachets back.”
    Chester bit back a retort. It was funny really, a kid like Dev wouldn’t have dared to even look at him a few months back, and now he was making jokes. Bad jokes, but still… Chester let his eyes fall closed again. Food wasn’t the problem. At least not food for the people, but pigs couldn’t live on ketchup. Of course, they could eat the pigs, and once they ran out of