Crawlers

9:08pm

'What?' asked Josh as Samantha and Jasmine came out of the monitor room. 'What happened?' 

'I... don't know,' said Samantha. Her voice sounded small and strange after all her bluster from before. 'There were two police officers. Some people let them in, and...' She paused and looked wildly at Jasmine. 'That can't be all, right? Those can't be the only ones coming to help us. Everybody knows we're stuck in here! Any second now they're going to come and... and...' 

Lauren looked uncertain for a moment, then her arm went around Samantha's shoulders. She took her over to a chair and sat her down. 

Everyone else looked at Jasmine. 

She took another deep breath. 'All right, everybody,' she said, 'I'm going to tell you something. You're not going to like it, so I'll tell it to you straight: I don't think anyone's coming to help us. For now, we're on our own.' 

There was a moment of silence, then a rising hubbub of voices. 

'What do you mean?' 

'Of course they're coming to help us - why wouldn't they?' 

'When are we going to get out of here?' 

Jasmine waited for a chance to continue. She didn't get it. Until- 

'Quiet!' roared Hugo from behind her. Then there was silence. 

'Er, thank you,' said Jasmine. 

Hugo, who was standing in the doorway, didn't acknowledge the thanks; he looked at Jasmine, just like everyone else was doing - again. She had to swallow before starting to explain. 

'The two police who came to the door...' she began. 'Well, I think they just happened to be passing by. They had no idea. The fact is, right now I don't think anyone outside knows that any of this is going on.' 

'But... we'll be missed,' said Josh. 

'So will all those other people,' said Robert. 

'Not for a while yet, though,' Ben put in bleakly. 'We're all supposed to be at the theatre, remember? The play wasn't even due to finish till after ten.' 

'After that, though,' said Jasmine, wanting to soften the blow, keep people's spirits up, 'you're right: people are going to wonder where we are. Calls will get made. Someone will come and investigate. You obviously can't keep something like this a secret for ever. Besides, the police radioed in to say they were checking the doors. But' - she hesitated - 'that was before they...' 

'Before they what?' asked Ben. 

'The crawlers got them,' said Samantha dully. 

'What?' said Lauren. 

'It's true,' said Jasmine. 'Some Barbican staff, ones who'd been bitten, tricked them into coming in. Then, while their backs were turned, they-' 

'Oh God!' said Lauren, taking her arm off Samantha's shoulder. 'But if they got the police, then what chance have we got?' She blinked, and her bottom lip started to wobble again. 'We're - we're going to die in here, aren't we?' 

'Now, come on!' said Jasmine, with a firmness she didn't feel. The situation and what she'd seen were taking their toll on her too, and she was wondering how long her outward cool was going to hold. But she forced herself. 'Come on,' she repeated. 'It's all going to be all right.' Remembering that the last person who'd said this was Ms Gresham, she added: 'Listen to what I'm telling you. Help will come at some point, definitely. We've...' She shrugged helplessly. 'We've just got to sit tight and wait.' 

'But... what about the ones who've been bitten?' asked Hugo. 'The way those things attach themselves to you looks pretty nasty.' 

'Hugo...' said Josh. 

'No,' said Hugo, oblivious to how little he was helping. 'No, listen: what if, when you get one of those things on you, you die? When you walk around afterwards maybe you are some kind of zombie, like the films. Maybe the spider-things eat your brain and - yeah! - maybe the only bits of your mind that they leave behind are the bits that help you find more people, with more brains to eat. And-' 

'Hugo!' said Josh. 

'Yes, mate?' 

Josh just looked at him. 

'Oh,' said Hugo, going red. 'Um. Sorry. I'll just, ah, watch the monitors.' He stepped through the doorway again, closing the door behind him. 

There was a long silence. 

'Well,' said Josh, with obvious effort, 'the barricade with the lockers looks pretty secure, at least. And I blocked the air-vent myself. We'll be watching it: the... crawlers' - he grimaced - 'won't be able to get in, not that way, not without us noticing.' He clapped his hands loudly and gave a horribly enthusiastic grin. 'So! Since we've got some time on our hands, why don't we all have a bit of a sing-song? Come on now: who knows a good one to start with?' 

Everyone stared at him. 

'I'm joking,' he said. 

Nobody laughed.