He crawled to a tree and sat with his back against it, hidden from the others by the shade. There didn’t seem to be any more grown-ups around out here and he didn’t have the energy to look. Let someone else be responsible. He’d had enough. He emptied his mind and let it become a blank. An empty shell of nothingness.

Smoke was drifting from the church. He watched it rise up and dissolve into the sky, like a cloud of angels escaping from the earth and returning to heaven. It was the souls of those poor dead children.

He had no idea how long he’d been sitting there when he became aware of a movement nearby. Before it had even properly registered he instinctively threw himself to the side.

A father was standing there. Tall and long-limbed. His arms were wet with blood up to the elbows. His face wasn’t too badly affected by the disease. He had a few spots and had lost most of his hair, but otherwise looked fairly normal. He was wearing a long coat and Ollie saw that he had several small animals hanging from his belt, which was tight around their necks. Cats, a rabbit and a squirrel. Some were still alive and writhing. Most were dead. One cat was bent double, its back legs up and clawing at the belt, its eyes bulging from their sockets.

Three times. Three times in one day Ollie had been caught by surprise. It wasn’t good.

The father smiled. He had something in his hand. He swung it at Ollie, who scrambled away on his back and then bumped into another tree. He used it to shuffle upright against. The father swung again and Ollie couldn’t get out of the way in time. The blow took him in the side of the head, stunning him temporarily. The next thing he knew the father’s arms were crushing him and he could feel his hot breath on his neck. Whatever happened he couldn’t let the bastard bite him. He swung round, thumping the man into the tree and then kicked at his legs with his heel. It was enough to make the man loosen his grip and Ollie was able to duck down and out of the circle of his arms.

Ollie didn’t let up. He had to go on the attack. He grabbed at the man’s throat, locked his fingers into the skin and pressed hard, at the same time pushing forwards so that the man collapsed backwards with Ollie on top of him.