I tried to push open the door on my side, but it was jammed. The only way out, then, was through the open window next to me. I pulled myself up and out of the SUV, crouching on top of the door so I could take a look around. I glanced towards the huge chunk of masonry, and then moved my gaze up, until I saw nearly a dozen figures milling around on top of a neighbouring building.

Had the creatures been deliberately aiming at us, I wondered, when they pushed that huge chunk of concrete and rebar off the roof and on top of us? For creatures that were supposedly brain-dead, it struck me as pretty smart.

I leaned back in through the window. ‘Get up here,’ I shouted down at the others. ‘We have to get the hell away from here before they overrun us.’

Oskar stood upright inside the SUV and managed to crawl out beside me before helping Lucky scramble up onto the side of the car. The hound dropped down onto the road with a low growl. I reached back inside and grabbed hold of Nadia’s hand, ignoring the throbbing pain in my shoulders and back as I helped her climb out.

Oskar dropped down next to Lucky, and whistled sharply. Lucky responded by settling onto her haunches and regarding her master attentively. Under any other circumstances, I’d have been impressed.

‘The car,’ said Nadia, her voice scratchy. ‘Need to get it upright.’

‘The damn thing’s trashed,’ said Oskar, his voice terse. ‘Besides, look over there.’

I followed the direction of his gaze, to where a number of bee-brains had come stumbling around the far corner of the street, attracted, perhaps, by the noise and commotion. I realized with a terrible sinking sensation that we had little choice but to abandon our vehicle.

Oskar rested his rifle on top of the SUV and began firing towards the bee-brains. Nadia, despite the blood on her forehead and what may have well been an incipient concussion, did the same – as did I, steadying my breathing before picking a target and pulling the trigger.

Bodies fell as the bullets slammed into the heads and chests of the approaching bee-brains. I hastily reloaded and started firing again.

A dark brown shape shot past me and towards the creatures. Oskar’s hound leaped towards a bee-brain, her enormous jaws clamping around the creature’s throat. The bee-brain collapsed to its knees, blood pumping from its neck. Lucky had already moved on to savage another of the creatures.

‘Stop,’ said Nadia, sounding breathless. More than a dozen bodies lay scattered. ‘Let’s get the hell out of here before any more come.’

‘What about our supplies?’ I asked, nodding at the SUV. ‘Shouldn’t we get them out of there?’

‘No,’ said Nadia. ‘There isn’t time.’