Purification

shoulders?’
    ‘We’ll find a way up.’
    ‘Forget about the buildings,’ Emma suggested, her mind suddenly racing. ‘Using the trucks was a better idea. We could do that, couldn’t we? Once they see us on top of one of the buildings we’ll have the whole bloody lot of them snapping at our feet. At least with the trucks we’ll be able to keep moving…’
    ‘But the trucks are even further away,’ whimpered Juliet.
    ‘The prison truck’s only on the other side of the runway,’ Cooper said. ‘Can’t see the personnel carrier from here.’
    ‘Still don’t know how we’re supposed to get to it,’
    snapped Armitage.
    ‘Better find a way quickly,’ Emma yelled suddenly with a new found urgency in her voice.
    ‘Why?’ demanded Armitage, worried by her sudden change in tone.
    ‘Because the helicopter’s back.’

45
    Once he was over the airfield Lawrence allowed the helicopter to drift lower, switching on the searchlight and managing to clumsily guide it around the scene. For a while all he could see were the seething bodies and it took him some time to orientate himself and properly identify the dark shapes and outlines of the observation tower and other buildings through the smoke. Conscious that the noise, light and disturbance that he had inevitably caused was again whipping the rancid crowd below into a bloody frenzy, he moved lower still, stopping only when he was level with the top of the observation tower.
    He could see survivors. The nearby office building had been destroyed, but he could definitely see other people at the top of the observation tower. He had to look twice to be sure. Could it have been bodies? Had they found a way inside? From his high position there were no signs obvious of any entrance to the building having been compromised.
    If the dead had forced their way in he would have expected hundreds of them to have pointlessly crammed themselves inside by now. There didn’t seem to be many people there, and those that he could see were moving with direction and control. It had to be survivors. But how could he hope to reach them?
    Cooper’s face appeared at the window, confirming beyond doubt to Lawrence that his return to the mainland had been worthwhile.
    ‘We have to go outside,’ Emma shouted, suddenly having to raise her voice to make herself heard over the welcome noise of the helicopter. ‘We have to get out of here.’
    ‘But there is no way out,’ Armitage yelled. ‘We’ve just been through this. We’re surrounded. They’re out the front and they’re round the back and…’
    ‘Emma’s right,’ Cooper interrupted. ‘We have to find a way out of here and we have to do it now.’
    ‘Go for the trucks,’ Juliet suggested.
    ‘I agree,’ Emma said quickly, ‘it’s the best option.
    Lawrence will see us moving. If we can get to one of the trucks we can drive through the bodies until we reach somewhere where there are fewer of them. Then he can land and pick us up.’
    ‘Do we just make a run for it?’
    ‘It’s not going to be easy,’ Emma replied, looking down at the ground immediately around the base of the building.
    ‘I think we should try and distract them and get them away from whichever door or window we decide to use to get out. Then maybe just one of us could try to get across and bring the truck back over here.’
    Cooper stood behind Emma, thinking carefully. He glanced up and looked outside and across at Lawrence. The helicopter was hovering so close that, despite the drifting smoke, the pilot’s face could clearly be seen. The distance was irrelevant. Cooper thought he might as well have been a hundred miles away for all the good it was doing them.
    Lawrence looked understandably agitated. Cooper knew he wouldn’t wait indefinitely for them to make their move.
    ‘Good God,’ mumbled Juliet. ‘Just look at that.’
    She pointed out of the window down at an area of ground which was almost directly beneath the helicopter.
    ‘What the hell are they doing?’ Armitage asked, crowding forward to try and get a better view.
    The four survivors peered down. Lawrence had angled the searchlight below the helicopter and slightly to one side. Whilst many bodies continued to react as the survivors had expected them to, others now were beginning to behave differently. A large number of them ripped and tore at those corpses closest to them, but many others did not. Instead those bodies appeared to be visibly agitated and riled by the noise,