Dead Days: Season 3 (Books 13-18) by Ryan Casey

me,” Chris said. His voice didn’t sound right in the silence. Nobody had spoken much since they’d got onto the motorway. Too scared, too wary. But now Chris was speaking, maybe that was a good thing. Took their minds off this creepy shit a bit.
    Or maybe it wasn’t a good thing. Maybe it was a recipe for disaster.
    “Up this motorway whenever we fancied a trip to the Lakes,” Chris said. “Used to get so packed at every junction, especially on a bank holiday. So noisy. Reeked of exhaust fumes. But not…‌not busy like this.”
    Pedro knew what Chris was getting at. He’d done a few trips himself up north in his time in the army. This end of the M6 used to be buzzing with holidaymakers, bank holiday tourists. So annoying, but so full of life.
    But now there was nothing but silence.
    Not even death. Just silence.
    “Do we have to walk much further, Mummy?” Josh asked. His voice sounded tired, and he was pulling back at his mum’s arm.
    Pedro looked up at the sky. Looked for the sun. Afternoon. They must’ve been walking a good five, six hours now. Five, six hours of nothing but stacks of cars. Five, six hours of silence.
    Not right. When did the silence end?
    “Stopping wouldn’t be wise,” Barry snapped. He’d been the most silent of them all. Bit of a dickhead, really. Had such a sour-ass face. If it were up to Pedro, he’d have ditched him long ago. But safety in numbers and all that, that’s what it seemed to be.
    “We’ll stop in a few hours,” Chris said, a short distance ahead of the others now. He looked back at Josh, half-smiled, then carried on drifting ahead.
    Josh sighed. Sighed and covered his little face with his hands, theatrically.
    Pedro couldn’t help but smirk at his reaction.
    “Oh, Josh,” Tamara said, impatience in her voice. She shook her head, her blonde hair wafting either side. “Don’t be such a drama queen. I know you’re good at Drama, but no need to start your acting on the road.”
    “You an actor?” Pedro asked, although he wasn’t sure where the question came from. Completely out of nowhere. It dawned on him in a split second that he hadn’t even asked what these people did before the end times. For a living, all that. But he supposed that was just the way things were going now. Didn’t matter what you once were, mattered what you were today. World had no room for somebodies anymore. Only the somebodies who didn’t mind getting their hands dirty.
    “I used to do plays and pantomimes and stuff,” Josh said, removing his hands from his face. He looked at Pedro with those innocent blue eyes of his, little fixated smile on his face, and Pedro felt something like his heart melting for this little soldier. “I was Joseph in the Jesus story!”
    “Huh,” Pedro said, as their walk slowed down. “I was in a play once.”
    “Wait…‌” Tamara laughed. “ You were in a play?”
    “I was in a play, yes!” Pedro said, smiling back at a giggling Tamara. “What’s so funny about that?”
    “Let me guess. A Christmas Carol. You were Scrooge.”
    Pedro shook his head and nodded over at Barry. “Nah. Barry was busy being Scrooge, ey bruv?”
    Barry didn’t laugh, but he just about cracked a smile. That was something. Progress.
    “No, it was Aladdin actually. Only an extra in the background, but it was for my boy’s school show. Lot of the parents got up and made idiots of themselves. I wore white undies and a big turban on my bald head. ‘Cause that’s just what kids want, ey?”
    Tamara laughed some more, as did Josh. “Well I’m sure your boy enjoyed you making a fool of yourself.”
    Pedro felt a lump in his throat. But it wasn’t the usual lump that he felt when he was talking about Sam.
    It was a realisation that he’d actually been able to talk about Sam without breaking into pieces.
    “Are we going to small talk forever or are we actually going to get on with our walk?” Barry asked, shaking his head, trying not to smile. Pedro looked ahead