‘About two weeks after Mike died Brian said it and Tomasz took him out into the field. It was Tomasz who was the next to go. He was from somewhere in Eastern Europe. He had an accent. He’d been a builder of some sort, I think. Made most of the platforms in the trees and things. He was younger than the others, with fair hair, and he was very strong and fit, always showing off, doing push-ups and stuff. Never took anything very seriously. And one night he tried to kill Waggers, just suddenly turned on him, eyes red, foaming at the mouth, snarling like a beast.

‘Waggers was screaming for help and Roy couldn’t do anything because he didn’t have his gun with him. It was next to me. So I shot Tomasz. Roy had taught me how to use the gun. Wasn’t such a clean death. Not military-style at all. Took four shots, but I put him down. Waggers was quite badly hurt. I helped Roy to patch him up and bandage him, but I think his wounds weakened his immune system. He got bad real quick after that and Roy smothered him in his sleep with a pillow.

‘So now it was just me and Roy. As I said, he was my favourite. Roy Peachy. I liked that name. He was big and a bit fat, with a great red beard and a rolling, booming voice. Before his wound he must have been a really physical guy, crashing and roaring around like a bear. Now he was just a wounded bear. He reminded me of Brian Blessed.’

‘Who?’

‘Never mind. Doesn’t matter. But he was fun, and funny, and he was the one who looked after me the most, even though he had this horrible wound that wouldn’t heal. Right in his … well, his groin. He held out for a lot longer than the others. I’d help him to the river. That seemed to keep him going. Something to do. A bit like you helping me along. Under one arm, him hopping and shouting out with the pain.

‘It was late autumn. Winter was coming and he fussed all over me, telling me how hard it was going to be and making sure I was prepared. I had to do everything now, which was a good way of learning. I slaughtered the pig. I couldn’t feed it through the winter, but it could feed me. That was how Roy put it. He taught me to smoke the meat and to salt it. He went over and over what to do with the chickens, how all the traps worked, how to catch fish – that was his favourite part, he loved fishing. It was like he was the last adult and he was trying to pass on all the knowledge and information that humans had stored up.