Page 2

Several shapes moved slowly amidst the remains, their profiles slow and shambling. The girl, whose eyes were already brimming with tears, doubted they were trying to book a room.

A few foot-falls behind her made the girl turn round slowly as Kidd advanced towards her, his demenour aggitated and nervous.

"Look, if you've got a fucking problem then fine, you've got a problem, but let me know about it when we're safe and away from this shit-hole alright Cl..."

To the surprise of everyone watching, and to the surprise of Claire herself, her right arm curved into a wide arc before it slapped the boy sharply around the face, Kidd's head swinging to the side at the force of the blow but not losing his footing as his head snapped back, his face stinging and eyes burning with sudden anger.

"You fucking bastard!" Claire screamed at him, grabbing hold of the collar of his white t-shirt and shaking him as hard as she could. "You left her behind, you fucking left her behind!"

Kidd's superior size enabled him to brush Claire off after hearing her outburst as he turned away and ran a hand through his short blonde hair, his usually cool demeanour ruffled and shaken by her sudden out-burst before he turned back to the girl, an authorative look on his defined face.

"I made a calculated decision!" He snapped back sharply, his voice arrogant which angered Claire even more, "we had to leave her behind. If we'd have been stopped then we would have been slaughtered, I was acting in the best interests of this group!"

"It was just four fucking men!" Claire replied with a half-cry. "They would have ran if we'd have shown some guts!"

"Four men with very big fucking guns!" Kidd shouted loudly, his element of superiority fading as his temper took control. "Besides, maybe they might have had more of them that we couldn't see, hiding in the tree's by the road or something. We could have been cut to fucking peices, then who the hell would you blame?"

Claire laughed sarcastically as she again turned her back on the boy, this time the tears flowing freely. Jan had been her friend, the two girls having known each other since nursery. They had a close bond and now that was gone all because of the others cowardice to fight for each other. With many survivors it was everyone for themselves, drawn together in a singular group for survival rather than friendship. Maybe Claire had expected to much.

One of the others stepped forward.

Howey looked like a biker version of Marilyn Manson, his cut-off sleeved Nice Inch Nails t-shirt was oversized and ill-fitting against his lanky, scrawny physique. Claire had known him since they were fifteen, the pair having gone to school together, but she wouldn't describe him as a close friend. When he spoke he sounded stoned, his accent decidedly northern and clumsy.

"We just panicked alright? No shame in that, if we'd have stayed we'd all have been buggered. Jan would have understood that."

Claire turned and looked at Howey for a split second. She wasn't so much looking at him, more the SA80 assault rifle that hung casually from his shoulder.

"Your armed," she said flatly, "all of you, your all fucking armed yet you chose to leave her and not to fight. You chose to run like a bunch of gutless bitches!"

"We're armed for our protection from those creatures Claire," Amy said, the goth-Queen princess girlfriend of Howey, her jet-black hair long and sweat stained. Claire regarded the girl as an irritation, her voice high pitched and her demenour excitable. "Those men were proffessionals, hard case's, we didn't stand a chance against men like that."

Claire closed her eyes and walked further away, stopping as the tears came relentlessly. Jan had been her only true friend left and now she was gone. Instead she was left with the others, the knowledge that her friend had been abandoned hurting the most.

She felt alone.

"That's not right," she said coldly, head down, "it's just not right..."

The dark figure that sat leaned up against his motorcycle clicked the Zippo closed and looked over at Claire, the girl with his back turned to him as cigarette smoke trickled skywards. The crumpled burning hot stick lay motionless between his lips for a few seconds before he removed it and spoke.

"You want to go back?"

Claire lifted her head slowly before turning round, her cool eyes now red and stained with silently shed tears as she looked at the tall, dark haired boy rested up against his machine, the pair making eye contact for a few brief moments before Kidd intervened, walking forward between them as he spoke.

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