They came out of the shadows, a dozen or more, all wearing the same looks of rage and hate on their faces. With blood-spattered clothing and grasping hands, they howled for blood and were determined to get it.

Smithy and Claire, fired their assault rifles, not holding back. Bullets peppered the bodies of those poor infected people as Sarah cowered low, hands pressed against her ears to drown out the howls and gunfire both. The acrid stench of spent gunpowder filled her senses and she fought down the urge to vomit.

“Fucking drive!” Claire snapped. “More of them coming.”

It was the third such group in the past hour as they drove through the Harehills district of Leeds. Row after row of terraced houses and an endless number of streets, side streets, ginnels and dark passages.

Entire blocks of houses had been sealed off with wire mesh fences topped with razor wire, creating something akin to a maze that needed traversing, making even the shortest journeys a test of patience. Soldiers patrolled the area with their weapons ready. While chokepoints had formed at the entrances, where the residents were being allowed through only after being tested.

Sarah had grown used to the idea of her fellow citizens being gunned down in the street. It hadn’t taken long and was likely, she thought, the moment she had seen three of the infected pull a man down to the ground and simultaneously assault him as they tore at his flesh.

That was when she had understood why the infected needed to be put down like rabid animals. And, as much as she might hate it, she knew there was nothing else to be done for them just then.

The infected had no real concept of clothing and many of them tore at their shirts and pants in an effort to free themselves of the confining cloth. She had seen more half-naked people in that first day than she had in her entire previous lifetime.

“How many more of these fucker’s we gotta put down?” Smithy yelled back. “I thought they were contained!”

“You and me both,” Claire replied grimly.

Sarah lowered her trembling hands and sucked in a deep breath as she squeezed shut her eyes. It had been a mistake to volunteer to go with the soldiers, she realised. One that she couldn’t take back.

“Where we going now?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. “I thought we were done.”

“Had a call,” Claire said, turning back to look at her. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you somewhere safe for the night, but first we need to stop off.”

“Why?” Sarah asked, reaching for the bag of supplies. She’d used a good quantity of them during the long afternoon. “What do I need to prepare for?”

“A sick kid, that’s all I know.”

Wonderful, she thought. That could mean anything from a splinter to a bite from the infected or so she had found from the many calls she had attended that day.

The jeep began to slow, and Sarah looked ahead, peering through the window, body tense. She sighed as she recognised a checkpoint and waited with little patience as they rolled to a stop and the windows were wound down.

“Can’t go this way,” a husky voice said as a soldier looked into the jeep. “Too many infected, it’s quarantined till we can get a clearance team.”

“Another?” Claire muttered. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.” The soldier looked at her, noting the chevrons on her arm. “What’s your business, Corp?”

“Medical aid,” Claire replied sourly. “Protecting this one.”

The soldier turned to look at Sarah and grunted, clearly sharing the corporal’s opinion of the task she had to perform.

“Gotta test you.”

“Go for it. No one’s been bitten.”

“Test?” Sarah asked and both the soldier and Claire looked over at her as Smithy snickered.

“Yeah. Lean forward so I can see you.”

Sarah gave a hesitant look at Claire before doing as she was told, leaning forward over the equipment and supplies so that her face was almost even with his. He didn’t so much as blink as he lifted a small penlight and shone it directly into her eyes.

“You’re good, next.”

Claire went next, letting him shine the light in her eye and then Smithy. Ron, the driver, was last and the soldier gave a sharp grunt as he put the light away.

“Good to go, folks. Head east down this road and then turn left. That will get you past the quarantine zone.”

“Cheers,” Claire said. “Watch yourselves, we had a pack of the fuckers come at us not far back.”

“We heard,” the soldier said, nodding gratefully for the advice. “The bastards are all over the place. Gonna be a long night.”

He didn’t wait for them to say more, turning away and banging on the door of their jeep with his fist, gesturing for them to move on. Ron started the jeep moving and they were away.

“What did that test do?” Sarah asked, not sure what had just happened.

“Ultraviolet. If you’re infected, it’ll show up under that light. Usually around the eyes and at the temples. No idea why that’s for the science guys to figure out.”

“Why haven’t they told everyone?”

“Why would they bother?” Claire said with a shrug. “Would just have every idiot heading to the supermarkets to buy one.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing. Civilians stay inside. Those are our orders so that’s what will happen. If that means not telling them some stuff, so be it. Bad enough that we’ve given up on half the fucking country. We need to hold on to what we can which means keeping people fucking calm.”

“What the hell do you mean you’ve given up on half the country?” Sarah asked and the other woman’s lips twisted as she realised she’d slipped up.

“Nothing.”

“It’s really not, nothing. What the hell did you mean?”

“She meant we don’t have enough personnel to cover all the cities let alone the towns and villages,” Smithy said. “They’re on their own.”

“You’re joking?”

“Wish he was,” Claire muttered, glaring at the private. “There’s only so much we can do. We have patrols heading out and supply drops. That’ll have to do for now. If people stay inside, we can get this shit under control.”

As the jeep sped past another long fence topped with razor wire, Sarah doubted the corporal’s words but judged it best not to say that.

In truth, she was horrified at the idea. True, there were only so many soldiers and police and a great many civilians, but they couldn’t just abandon people to fend for themselves. What was the plan? When the countryside was overrun, and no food being produced?

All those they were saving in the cities would simply die of starvation. It was ridiculous and she had to believe there was some plan in place to bring order back to the country.

The jeep skidded to a halt as Ron slammed on the breaks and Sarah was thrown to the side, hitting the back of Claire’s seat with bruising force. She scrambled back, waiting for the inevitable sound of gunfire and blinked when it didn’t come.

“What is it?” she asked, hesitantly peering out past the soldiers.

“Idiots,” Claire replied, watching the procession of cars as they drove past.

Fifteen in total drove past the junction where Ron, not expecting them, had a need to brake quickly to avoid running right into the small convoy. Loaded down with supplies and personal belongings, they drove with headlights off, fear-filled faces staring out at the city around them.

Where they were going, Sarah couldn’t guess, but she hoped that they would find somewhere safe because she couldn’t believe that there were many such places left.

“Should we stop them?” Smithy asked, lifting his weapon ever so slightly.

“No,” Claire said. “If they want to risk themselves, more fool them. When they come back here as infected, we’ll deal with them then.”

Sarah was shocked at the callousness of the soldiers, which was a shock in itself considering the number of infected men and women they had gunned down in that one day she had been with them.

“Shouldn’t there be refugee centres or something?” she asked, voice small, hope almost completely gone. “I mean, somewhere people can gather to be safe?”

“Asking for trouble, that,” Claire muttered. “Would only take one infected to turn the entire camp before we could do fuck all about it. No, better to stay in their homes and let us clear the streets. Once that’s done, we can move on to the next stage.”

“Which is?”

Claire turned, lifting her arm to rest it on the back of the seat as she studied the young nurse. Although older than the soldier, she didn’t have the weight of experience that Claire bore.

“Our orders are simple. We maintain order, stop panic and contain the threat. We do that by having people remain in their homes. That will stop the numbers of the infected growing and keep panicking civilians from stopping us doing our job.”

“Next,” she continued. “We divide the city into sections, with monitored routes between each section. Again, that lets us control the situation.”

“And then?” Claire asked. “When the streets are clear of infected?”

“We move to the next town, the next village, and we do the same thing.”

“What about food, water?”

“There’s plenty of that. The water and power plants are still running, and we have enough stored supplies to keep the country going for a while yet. The stuff tastes like shit, but it will keep people alive.”

“You were prepared for this, then?”

“You’re damn right we were!”

That was telling, Sarah thought without actually saying anything. If the government had so many supplies in storage then they knew this, or some other crisis was on its way. It did make her wonder just how long the contagion had been building before hitting critical mass with people being attacked in the streets.

“What about the infected?” she asked.

“They’re a cancer,” Claire said, lips twisting as though she tasted something sour. “And like cancer, there’s no cure. All you can do is cut out the disease and treat the symptoms.”

“By killing the infected.”

“Yes.”

Just that. A single answer, before she turned back and slapped one hand on Ron’s soldier. He didn’t need any further urging and the jeep started moving once more, on to the next house and the next medical aid request.

Sarah leant back in her seat, gaze distant and expression thoughtful as she wondered just how they had gotten to where they were and how far it would go before things improved.

If they improved.