Surviving the Fall: How England Died by Stephen Cross

without looking up. He sniffed, his attention seemingly caught by something back in the direction of the kitchen - Gaz’s corpse no doubt.
    Mac sighed in relief as Johnny turned and headed back the way he had come. Mac made his way back to the bedroom - no doubt his wife had heard all the noise.
    He knocked gently on his bedroom door, “Angie, it’s me, Mac.”
    It only took a few seconds before the door was opened by Ellie.
    Mac went in quickly and shut the door behind him. He bolted it. “Help me move this dresser here, against the door.”
    “Mac, what happened? We heard all sorts of noise from downstairs, some terrible screams,” said Angie as Mac and Ellie moved the dresser. “Where’s Gaz and Johnny?”
    Mac limped over to Angie, “They’re both done for.” He hugged his wife, easing himself down beside her on the bed.
    “They’re infected?”
    Mac nodded. The strain on his face showing as the pain in his ankle intensified.
    “What happened? Are you ok?” said a worried Angie, as she looked him up and down. “You’re covered in blood!”
    “Were you bit?” said Ellie, her urgency forcing the question into a shout.
    Mac shook his head. “Just pulled my ankle. The blood’s not mine. We tried to to get Johnny, but Gaz slipped and that was that. I tried to help him, but fell over too, that bloody soup. Johnny had knocked it on the floor.”
    “Oh Mac,” Angie hugged her husband again, burying her head in his neck.
    “Where are they now?” asked Ellie, calming down.
    “I think they’re in the kitchen. It’s not pretty in there… Christ on a bike. Here Angie, have a look at my ankle will you?”
    Angie eased up his trouser leg to reveal a very red and swollen ankle. She gently felt around the joint and moved his foot slowly as Mac grimaced.
    “Can you move it?”
    Mac’s foot moved slowly up and down.
    “Good. I don’t think it’s broken, maybe you just sprained it.”
    “It bloody hurts. You got any of them tablets?”
    Angie nodded, “Ellie, can you get some ibuprofen out of the dresser, top drawer.”
    Mac took the tablets and lay back on the bed. “Bloody hell. What is happening…”
    Ellie sat down on the chair by the window. “There are six now.”
    “Six what?” said Angie.
    “Six plumes of smoke. There were only four earlier this morning. And I can see a helicopter, but it’s not stopping anywhere.”
    Mac sat up, “A helicopter?” He limped over to the window. “I saw a few jets going over before, when I got back from the farm. That helicopter looks like a chinook, military.” He turned to the women, “Looks like we’re getting ourselves sorted. Knew our boys would get in action soon enough.”
    “You think the army are going to sort this out?” asked Ellie.
    “That’s what they’re there for.”
    “But that didn’t happen in the other countries.”
    Mac dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a smile. “They didn’t have the British army though, did they? This is what we’re good at. Against the odds, Battle of Britain and all that. Did you know that in 1943…”
    “What happened at the farm?” said Angie.
    Mac didn’t mind being interrupted, he knew she got tired of his war stories. “It wasn’t good.” He felt a pang of sadness. “Andy and Caroline… well, they didn’t make it.”
    “Oh no,” said Angie, tears welling up her eyes again. “This is so awful, just so awful.”
    Mac put his arm round her.
    “So what do we do?” said Ellie.
    “We wait for the army. I reckon they will be sorting out the cities first.”
    “So we just sit here? In this room?” said Ellie.
    Mac felt a shade of doubt. There was no telling how long the army would be. London, Bristol…might take some time before they headed to the smaller towns.
    “We can lock down the pub, there is plenty of canned food in the kitchen, should last us for a good while. Only problem I see is…”
    “Our resident infected,” said Ellie.
    “Aye, Johnny and Gaz. Although I guess