‘I don’t know.’ And Ed didn’t know. At night, in the dark, on a narrow road, their options were slim. So far the sickos were ignoring them. But for how long?

They were bunching up round the car, which was creating a bottleneck in the road. Ed could hear the thump of bodies hitting it.

‘There’s some buildings over there,’ Kyle shouted, and Ed could just make out some roofs where the moonlight was shining on them. They looked like factory buildings.

‘Can you drive there?’ he said to Lewis.

‘This hulk ain’t built for off-road,’ said Lewis.

‘Then we’ve gotta get out,’ said Ed.

‘What?’ said Kyle. ‘Are you insane?’

The car was rocking now, sickos trying to push it out of the way. Lewis swore and tried to move it forward, but they hadn’t gone five metres before they were completely bogged down.

And now the sickos had noticed what was inside the car. They were pressing their faces against it, pushing from one side, and the car actually began to slide sideways across the road. It dropped into the ditch in the verge and started to tip over.

‘If we go over we’re stuck here.’ Ed was getting up out of his seat. ‘Most of our weapons are on the roof. I can’t use my sword inside the car. It’s too cramped. We have to get out now and get to those buildings.’

‘No way,’ said Brooke. ‘I ain’t going out there. Why don’t we just wait for them to go away?’

‘Do they look like they’re about to go anywhere?’ Ed shouted.

There were faces squashed against all the windows now, slathering them with gunk. The faces that had filled Ed’s nightmares for the last year. Rotten, pustulent, bloated, hideous, deranged.

Inhuman.

‘I ain’t doing it.’

‘Me and Kyle will clear a path.’ Ed was reaching for the door handle. ‘It’ll be all right. The rest of you follow and watch the sides.’

‘I’d be better up front,’ said Lewis. ‘I got the gun.’

‘You’ve only got two shells,’ Ed pointed out.

‘Yeah. Hadn’t thought of that.’

‘We can still use it.’ Ed had his hand on the handle ready. ‘When I open the door, you blast a way out. Then drop the gun and use your katana. But only once me and Kyle are out. We’ll hold them back. Brooke, you follow Lewis. Don’t get tangled in the door. Ebenezer, you last. OK?’

‘OK. My javelins are not going to be much use. I need space to throw them.’

‘Use one to stab. Leave the rest. We stay in a tight group. Understood? On my word, Brooke, pull the door back and we’re on. You all do exactly as I say and I’ll get us out of this.’