A black Land Rover sat beside the pavement, looking like it had seen better days. Underneath the bloodstains and mud that caked the bonnet was a white spray-painted logo of a rising sun. Zach noticed Josh's questioning look as we approached.
"Sorry about the state of it..." Zach apologised, gesturing to the large dent in the left side. "We ran into a bit of trouble a few days ago." I didn't dare to question what level of trouble involves that much damage.
"Jump in the back," Liz said, pointing to the rear of the car as she moved into the driver's seat. I opened the back door and slid across the seats as Josh followed after me, pulling the door shut behind him.
I began to feel uneasy as the car rumbled to a start but I tried to put it to the back of my mind.
"How long have you been travelling anyways?" Liz asked into the rear-view mirror as we sped along the road.
"Long enough," Josh replied bluntly, staring back at her.
The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife and I couldn't let him put us on bad terms before we'd got anywhere close to Cornwall.
"Just a couple of days," I clarified. He looked over to me, unimpressed. I raised my eyebrows in his direction, be nice. "Who runs the base in Cornwall?" I asked, turning back to the front.
Liz and Zach both glanced in each other's direction, but it was Zach who spoke. "Liz here keeps us on our toes, and alive more importantly."
She chuckled modestly at the compliment.
"Not the army?" Josh interrupted before I could speak.
"Army? God no," Zach laughed as Liz swerved to avoid cars in the middle of the road. "Nobody's heard from the army in months."
"No army?" I repeated, furrowing my brows as I remembered my parent's letter. "So, there are no safe zones?"
"Not around here, I'm afraid," Liz replied. "Or anywhere for that matter."
"How many people are at the base then?" I questioned, still trying to process everything that was being said.
Zach kept his eyes on the road ahead. "We're growing every day, seems like more and more people are heading our way. I think the word's getting around."
Liz interjected as she glanced briefly in the rear-view mirror. "That's because we're the only place that has been able to hold up through all this," she sniggered.
"The only place?" Josh asked.
Liz's expression faltered. "From what we're aware of, yes," she said, her eyes narrowing towards him. "Why? Have you heard of anywhere else?"
Josh shook his head. "No... no. I just... thought there would be more groups around."
"Whatever this thing is has hit everywhere harder than anyone could have anticipated," Zach chimed in. "We're all lucky to have survived this long."
I rolled my eyes to myself at the comment I'd heard so many times from the radio. It was a broken record all over again.
The sun had begun to set, sending the sky a muted shade of grey as we pulled into a driveway of a semi-detached house. The neighbourhood looked as if it was once rural and quiet, a place new parents would have moved to raise their kids. The bricks were discoloured, and a wooden plank had been nailed across the letterbox.
"It's not much," Liz explained as she clicked off the engine and hopped out. "But it's secure."
"Well, come on then," Zach said, looking to us in the backseat before he slammed the passenger door shut.
I looked over to Josh. "I guess that's our cue," I said as I pulled on the handle.
His eyes were focused on the house and they flickered anxiously, struggling to focus.
"Come on," I nodded, stepping outside. "It'll be fine."
"This is such a bad idea," Josh muttered as he slid across the seats and stepped out in front of me.
There wasn't anything I hadn't expected from the house; a kitchen, living room and two rooms upstairs. An open archway joined the kitchen and living room which was separated only by the countertop which spread out from the wall. Two sofas that looked like they were fifty years old and a boxy TV sat in the living room with a layer of dust. The age of the people that used to live there was clear but there was no way of knowing what had happened to them.
As Josh and I dropped our bags to the floor, I caught sight of the wooden planks which had been nailed against the back door, blocking the window that could just be seen through the gaps in the wood.
"Make yourselves comfortable," Liz announced as Zach followed her to the kitchen. "Food should be ready soon."
"Don't get too excited," Zach smiled as he looked over. "It's nothing breathtaking." They both dropped their bags to the countertop and Liz placed a hand against Zach's shoulder.
"Go sit down," she said, pulling several food packets from the backpack. "I've got this."
Zach simply nodded as he walked past us and spread his legs out onto the free sofa beside us.
"So," he sighed, "how do you two know each other? You together? Brother and sister?" He questioned, craning his neck in our direction.
"No," Josh responded quickly, shaking his head. "Nothing like that."
"What happened with the storm?" I changed the subject. "On the radio," I clarified.
"The radio?" Josh repeated, his brows scrunching together.
"When I was in my flat, they used to send out updates on the radio every day, but then the day I left they said there was a storm coming and they'd have to move their equipment."
Zach chuckled uncomfortably, "I remember that."
"It was only a few days ago."
He stared blankly at me as Liz strode into the room. "Food's ready!" She interjected, clutching four packets with plastic cutlery. "Army rations," she added, handing them out.
"Army?" Josh questioned as he took a packet.
"We found a bunch of stuff abandoned," Liz clarified as she took a seat beside Zach. "We didn't steal it if that's what you were worried about."
I looked to the packet in my hand, the label read 'Roast Dinner' but the contents didn't look as convincing.
"Where'd you get that gun from?" Liz asked Josh as she took a seat, eyeing up the rifle beside him.
Josh's body tensed beside me and he moved his leg in front of it, shielding it from view. "Nowhere important."
"Number 8 rifle, isn't it?" Zach asked, raising his thick brows. "Pretty impressive, always wanted to get my hands on one of those."
"Not this one," Josh warned.
"Aye, calm down," Zach joked, "I'm not going to touch it." Josh's shoulders lowered as he looked back to the packet in his hand, picking at the lumpy substance with his fork. "We've got some ammo for that back at the base, you know?"
Josh paused, his eyes flickering with interest. "How many weapons do you have there?"
"Enough to keep us alive," he replied, smirking.
"Where did you get that?" Josh asked, gesturing to the rifle which leant next to Zach.
Zach chuckled and patted the gun next to him, "I've had this one for a while, did quite a bit of hunting back in the day. She's definitely come in handy recently."
Bits of food dropped into his beard as he spoke, and Liz shuffled herself further down the sofa trying to avoid the pieces that dropped around him.
"So, what about you two then?" I asked, flicking between the two of them.
Liz chuckled as she swallowed a mouthful of food, "we're not together if that's what you mean," she nodded towards Zach, "I prefer the term 'colleagues'."
"Not friends?" I asked curiously, taking a spoonful from the packet.
"On good days," Zach replied, pausing as he looked at the two of us. "In the state the world is now, it's not a good idea to get too close to anybody... People come and go quickly."
"Thanks for the cheery advice," Josh muttered sarcastically.
"The world?" I repeated. "So, this isn't just happening in the UK?"
Zach shook his head. "Course not, it's happening all over. Every country for themselves now," he explained. "We know it started here but it's spread all over. America, Europe, you name it, it's probably gone."
"Great," Josh muttered, leaning back against the sofa.
The door shut with a click as I flung myself down onto the bed. "God, I've never known a bed to be so comfortable," I announced as Josh hovered by the door. I sat up and watched as he fumbled with the strap of his rifle before he leant it against the pale pink flowery wallpaper. "You're thinking," I pointed out and met his eye. They swam with an emotion I hadn't seen in him before and it worried me.
"Em, we can't go with them," he spoke quietly, still hesitating at the door.
"What?" I questioned. "Why? You said we'd go. You agreed."
"I know I did," he explained, squeezing his eyes shut and reaching his fingers into his hair. His dark lashes cast shadows against his cheekbones, the ones I'd seen the day we'd met. "But I can't shake the feeling that this is a bad idea."
"We've come this far," I shrugged, trying to find better words. "I just don't think they're who they say they are," he whispered.
"It's all we've got," I said, shaking my head. "I have to know for sure."
"Em..." He breathed.
I shook my head. "No, Josh. I'm going with them. I have to... For my parents."
"What if they're not even the group your parents told you about?" He argued, trying to keep his voice down.
"Well, I'm not going to find out any other way," I replied, waving my arms in frustration. "Look, I know you don't want to go but I'm going with or without you." "That's not fair," he began.
"Why?"
"Because you know I'm not letting you leave with them by yourself."
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