Will:

4 years after the fall of mankind.

It had been 3 days since he’d eaten a proper meal. 3 days! "Where’s a Macdonald’s drive through when you need one?" Will thought to himself. He shook his head, half to wake himself up and half to dismiss the idea from his brain. He knew that it was silly, owing to the fact that car travel was now a thing of the past since the army shut off supply of fuel to the general public 6 months ago. What remained was quickly used up in the exodus of the major populated areas out into the country. Now the best Will could hope for was to siphon off the dregs of petrol left in abandoned vehicles to keep a make shift stove going for light and warmth. It was November now, or at least he thought it was, and the chill in the night air had begun to bite.

However, like many survivors scattered through Manchester’s once bustling centre, Will had found an abandoned floor in a high rise office block. A conference room with glass panels looking out into what looked like a call centre, was now their temporary accommodation for the night. It was a good spot, away from any windows. Will had quickly learned the hard way that the soft glow could easily attract the wrong kind of company, or worse.

"The plan, remember the plan" Will whispered to himself, temporarily blocking out the nightmare images which he saw every time he closed his eyes. Each blink an eternity played out in the space of that split second movement. His eyelids the cinema screen, his brain the projector.

He looked down at the small curled up figure of Katie, her mousey blonde hair tied back in a ponytail draped down the front of her neck under her chin. The plan was to get her to safety. Several weeks ago, they had passed an elderly couple along the canal whilst foraging for supplies. It was an odd sight to see them walking hand in hand, like a pair of walkers out for Sunday stroll. "Was he Steve? Sam?". In either case, the guy had told Will about a military evacuation centre in Liverpool shipping people out to America. That’s where the couple were going and that’s where he needed to get Katie to. Will was sure the journey on foot was too dangerous without preparing but he couldn’t convince them to stay. "I wonder if they’re still alive?" Will hoped they had made it.

He checked on Katie’s soundly sleeping form again... "still breathing". There were nights when he’d wake up in a panic when he couldn’t hear or feel the slow calming rhythm as she slept. For now, they could sleep. "Remember the plan, we’re almost ready" was becoming Will’s mantra.

Sound travelled far through the ruined streets, now almost unrecognisable after the royal air force had rained hell down on what people now called the Unity Day Massacre. "Remember the plan" he repeated to himself gripping the handle of his makeshift spear. Through smashed glass door, Will could hear the distant sound of men driven mad by unimaginable horror. And the howling, always with the howling accompanied by hysterical laughter.