‘Wait.’ Ed was thinking, trying to take this in. The old women didn’t look diseased. There were none of the usual signs – boils or blisters or sores – and their clothes were clean. Their eyes showed intelligence.

They didn’t look like a threat.

But they probably weren’t alone.

He had to be careful. Mustn’t make any more mistakes. Take no risks. Driving into the sickos on the motorway had been dumb. His fault they’d ended up with one of them on the roof rack. His fault Macca was hurt.

Should he just kill these old women and be done with it?

They looked impossibly old. He’d never seen people this ancient and wrinkled. Even before the disease. Their hair was white and wispy, their skin hanging off their bones, thin and dry, blue veins showing through it, their skulls all too obvious beneath.

They came closer and stopped near the bottom of the stairs, eyes fixed on the three boys.

‘What do we do, Ed?’ asked Lewis. ‘What do we do?’

‘Kill them,’ murmured Kyle.

Ed waited, trying to read the faces of the two old women. The one with the candle looked more alert, more intelligent, her eyes glinting.

He had to do something. Say something.

‘Hello,’ he said at last, feeling foolish. ‘My name’s Ed.’

‘Hello, Ed,’ said the woman with the candle. ‘I am Amelia. Sorry about the pantomime at the door. I wanted the chance to see you up close before I spoke to you. And my sister is nervous of strangers.’

‘This is weird.’

‘I’m sure it is.’

‘I don’t know what to say,’ Ed went on. ‘Are you sick? What are you?’

‘We’re not sick,’ said Amelia. ‘We’re just old. The sickness didn’t bother with us. We weren’t worth it.’

‘How can we trust you?’ said Lewis.

‘Do we look dangerous?’ asked Amelia and she smiled at him.

‘There might be more of you.’

‘Oh, there are more of us.’

Lewis tensed. Kyle stepped forward, his axe slightly raised.

‘There’s no need for that,’ said the old woman. ‘Follow me.’

She came fully down the stairs and crossed the hall to a doorway opposite.

‘It’ll be a trap,’ Kyle muttered darkly.

Ed put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, urging him forward. ‘Then we’d better be ready for anything,’ he said.

Amelia opened the heavy door and waited there for the boys.

‘After you,’ said Lewis as they drew near and she led the way through. It wasn’t as dark in the next room. There were three large bay windows down one side that let in a lot of light. Burning logs in the fireplace added an extra glow. Ed took it all in quickly.

It wasn’t a trap.

That was clear.