at high altitude grew in
volume.
'Get inside, right inside!' Janet said.
The noise of the helicopter passed slowly overhead.
'Think they're looking for us?'
'Absolutely certain.'
'We're trapped then.'
'We need to change the van for something else, that's for
sure.'
'When the 'copter's gone, I'll take a look round, there might
be something else on this estate.'
Bill and Graham scouted around the various factory units.
There was a furniture removal van, a minibus but it was painted in
bright colours and would be seen from miles away, and an abandoned
local single-decker bus.
'This looks about the best of a bad job,' Graham
said.
'Still pretty visible, though. Let's try the next
building.
'Oh, this is perfect! Look at this.'
They found themselves standing before a medium sized army
truck, complete with camo paintwork and an intact camo net over the
back section.
'Don't get too excited, it's probably been left here because
there's something wrong with it.'
'Well, there's a key still in it,' Graham said after opening
the driver's door.
'OK, give it a whirl.'
Graham sat in the driver's seat, checked the gears were in
neutral, then gave the key a firm twist. The engine revolved half a
turn, coughed and the battery died.
'Fuel gauge is on empty.'
'We can try the battery from the van and there might be other
vehicles that have fuel left in them. If we have to we can syphon
it out.'
'That's if we can find some tubing and a can to put it
in.'
'As long as that 'copter's out of the way, we can get everyone
else looking round.'
'OK, we'll get them started, while we swap the batteries
out.'
Changing the batteries over turned out to be the easy part.
After more than an hour, the fugitives had managed to find an old
oil can, a plastic bucket, a piece of sheet metal that could be
bent to form a makeshift funnel, and a length of hosepipe. It took
another forty minutes to transfer two bucket-fulls of fuel into the
army truck's tank.
'OK,' Bill said, 'let's give it a try.'
'Better prime the pump first.' Graham reached into the engine
compartment and found the little rubber button on the top of the
fuel pump. He depressed it repeatedly, until the little glass bowl
next to it filled with fuel.
'Try it now, Bill.'
After the fourth attempt, the engine roared into life,
accompanied by clouds of smoke.
'Oh, that's like gross!' Maisie said, waving her hands and
backing away.
Janet kept a wary eye on the sky. 'Let's hope the helicopter
doesn't see that smoke.'
Fifteen minutes later, they were back on the road. Bill was
driving with the instruction that if anyone saw the helicopter, or
anything else for that matter, he must stop immediately. As long as
the truck wasn't moving when it was spotted, there was a chance it
would simply be assumed to be abandoned. The first time it was seen
at least.
They drove on for another two hours, until they reached
Stannicvale, a medium-sized town. It looked to have been abandoned,
as were many towns across the south west of the country. What they
needed was somewhere to rest up and recover, have something
uncontaminated to eat. They had flour, eggs and some of the tinned
food left from the supermarket. There was also one large pack of
bacon which had defrosted and needed to be eaten straight away, if
they could only cook it.
'I'm going to try the shopping district,' Graham said. If we
can find a café, we may be able to cook what we've got.'
'Milk, flour, eggs. Like, that means pancakes!'
'There's still a pack of bacon the army guys missed. It's got
to be eaten today.'
'Cheese and bacon omelettes.'
'Or fried eggs and bacon.'
'Will you kids stop talking about food!' Bill said, 'You've
nearly got me drooling like a zombie already.'
'Eww, Bill!'
Chapter 20: Café
Zombie
The whole street had a sorrowful air; shop signs sagged,
broken glass was everywhere, between clothing and other goods which
had been looted and later dropped in the road. They passed a
jeweller's shop,
volume.
'Get inside, right inside!' Janet said.
The noise of the helicopter passed slowly overhead.
'Think they're looking for us?'
'Absolutely certain.'
'We're trapped then.'
'We need to change the van for something else, that's for
sure.'
'When the 'copter's gone, I'll take a look round, there might
be something else on this estate.'
Bill and Graham scouted around the various factory units.
There was a furniture removal van, a minibus but it was painted in
bright colours and would be seen from miles away, and an abandoned
local single-decker bus.
'This looks about the best of a bad job,' Graham
said.
'Still pretty visible, though. Let's try the next
building.
'Oh, this is perfect! Look at this.'
They found themselves standing before a medium sized army
truck, complete with camo paintwork and an intact camo net over the
back section.
'Don't get too excited, it's probably been left here because
there's something wrong with it.'
'Well, there's a key still in it,' Graham said after opening
the driver's door.
'OK, give it a whirl.'
Graham sat in the driver's seat, checked the gears were in
neutral, then gave the key a firm twist. The engine revolved half a
turn, coughed and the battery died.
'Fuel gauge is on empty.'
'We can try the battery from the van and there might be other
vehicles that have fuel left in them. If we have to we can syphon
it out.'
'That's if we can find some tubing and a can to put it
in.'
'As long as that 'copter's out of the way, we can get everyone
else looking round.'
'OK, we'll get them started, while we swap the batteries
out.'
Changing the batteries over turned out to be the easy part.
After more than an hour, the fugitives had managed to find an old
oil can, a plastic bucket, a piece of sheet metal that could be
bent to form a makeshift funnel, and a length of hosepipe. It took
another forty minutes to transfer two bucket-fulls of fuel into the
army truck's tank.
'OK,' Bill said, 'let's give it a try.'
'Better prime the pump first.' Graham reached into the engine
compartment and found the little rubber button on the top of the
fuel pump. He depressed it repeatedly, until the little glass bowl
next to it filled with fuel.
'Try it now, Bill.'
After the fourth attempt, the engine roared into life,
accompanied by clouds of smoke.
'Oh, that's like gross!' Maisie said, waving her hands and
backing away.
Janet kept a wary eye on the sky. 'Let's hope the helicopter
doesn't see that smoke.'
Fifteen minutes later, they were back on the road. Bill was
driving with the instruction that if anyone saw the helicopter, or
anything else for that matter, he must stop immediately. As long as
the truck wasn't moving when it was spotted, there was a chance it
would simply be assumed to be abandoned. The first time it was seen
at least.
They drove on for another two hours, until they reached
Stannicvale, a medium-sized town. It looked to have been abandoned,
as were many towns across the south west of the country. What they
needed was somewhere to rest up and recover, have something
uncontaminated to eat. They had flour, eggs and some of the tinned
food left from the supermarket. There was also one large pack of
bacon which had defrosted and needed to be eaten straight away, if
they could only cook it.
'I'm going to try the shopping district,' Graham said. If we
can find a café, we may be able to cook what we've got.'
'Milk, flour, eggs. Like, that means pancakes!'
'There's still a pack of bacon the army guys missed. It's got
to be eaten today.'
'Cheese and bacon omelettes.'
'Or fried eggs and bacon.'
'Will you kids stop talking about food!' Bill said, 'You've
nearly got me drooling like a zombie already.'
'Eww, Bill!'
Chapter 20: Café
Zombie
The whole street had a sorrowful air; shop signs sagged,
broken glass was everywhere, between clothing and other goods which
had been looted and later dropped in the road. They passed a
jeweller's shop,
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