Charlie pulled to the side of the track as an ambulance came the other way. There were four cop cars and a pair of police drones in the sky.

Have they busted my lab? But it’s Nye County cars, not FBI or GMEA. Who was in the ambulance? Should I turn and run? But I won’t get far and it’s been on the news that there’s a big gang of zombies robbing … Oh shit. I bet that’s what it is.

A police SUV blocked the gate, so Charlie pulled off track and saw Harry and a police officer come striding down to meet her.

Charlie recognised Officer Martinez. He’d gone to school with Rosie and Vern’s kids and she’d met him at their Christmas party. He was the local patrol officer, though out here local meant eight thousand square miles of desert.

‘What happened?’ Charlie asked. ‘Who was in that ambulance?’

‘Zombie attack,’ Harry said. ‘We held ’em off at the gate, mostly thanks to Rosie’s sniper skills. Ed’s badly shaken. Vern started having chest pains after it happened. He wanted to go check on his cows, but the medic insisted on taking him to hospital to run tests.’

‘We’ve seen this in a couple of places recently,’ Martinez explained. ‘Packs of thirty or forty zombies. They’re well armed and coerced by superheroes.’

‘Christ,’ Charlie said tearfully. She moved closer to Harry and gave him a hug.

‘The zombies attacked the Sanchez place up the hill at the same time,’ Harry said as he engulfed her. ‘Nobody was home, but their truck was stolen and the place is trashed.’

‘We’ve got drones up looking for them,’ Martinez said. ‘We’re doing all we can, but it’s a big old desert and this rocky terrain makes it easy to hide.’

‘The cops will stay here overnight, but they don’t have the manpower to guard us after that,’ Harry told Charlie. ‘I’ve already spoken with the neighbours. Officer Martinez says he knows a reliable security company. They put up guard drones and patrol the area twenty-four/seven. It won’t be cheap, but the cost will be split five ways and I don’t think we have much choice …’

‘At least until this gang is caught,’ Martinez added.

• • •

Ed grew more childlike when something spooked him. While Rosie helped Harry make dinner, Charlie sat on the living room sofa with Ed’s head in her lap, gently stroking his hair.

The phone company wouldn’t repair the landline and internet until morning, but a young cop guarding the gate relayed a radio message, saying that Vern showed signs of a minor heart attack and would be kept in hospital overnight.