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that thing in here with them. She had never seen her father be violent once, yet he had fought off that person, that dead thing , and killed it in front of her. Now here was this strange man standing in front of her with a knife and she didn’t know what to do.
    Tom could see that the girl wa s about to break down. He didn’t have time for tears or hysterics, much less anyone going into shock. They had to go get Laurent. “All of you, come with me. I’ve a van outside. I can get you out of here, but we must go now.” He put the knife back in his pocket and held out a hand.
    Carefully, Heidi took it, sliding her fingers into Tom’s. His hand was warm and strong and she let him lead her out of the kitchen, out of their house. Daniel and Glenda followed.
    “ Oh, my God,” said Heidi outside, looking at the carnage right at their front door. She trod carefully over to the van, not wanting to step on anything organic, and Tom pulled back the van door. He ushered Heidi and her parents inside. The street was still empty, but he didn’t know for how long.
    “We’re going to pick my friend up, okay? Then we’ll go somewhere safe.” Tom put his hand on the door to close it, but Heidi stopped him.
    “We can’t go, not yet,” she said looking at Tom. Her eyes implored Tom to listen to her and he waited.
    “Why? I already said, there’s no time to pack, we have to...” Heidi cut Tom off.
    “The old man. We can’t leave him. He’s in the garage.”
    “What? There’s someone else in there?” asked Tom.
    “Yes,” said Daniel. “There ...there was an old man in the garden. He just appeared out of nowhere and frightened Heidi. She screamed and I guess that’s what brought those things to us. I locked him in the garage. I didn’t know what else to do.”
    “Is he alive, infected? Who is he?” said Tom impatiently. He looked up and down the dark street. He still couldn’t hear anything , but trusted his senses that this was not a safe place to be hanging around right now.
    “He’s alive , but we don’t know anything about him. Like I said, he just appeared.”
    “Shit. How do I get in the garage?” asked Tom.
    “Through the kitchen,” explained Heidi. “The key’s in the door.”
    Tom thought for a moment. He really didn’t have time to go back again . Laurent was waiting for him, relying on him. But knowing there was someone back there, he couldn’t give up on them and leave them to certain death, or a fate worse than death.
    “Wait here,” said Tom and he slung the door shut leaving Heidi, Daniel and Glenda in the back of the van. He ran back inside, into the kitchen and saw the door. The candle had nearly gone out completely, but it still had a faint trace of life left in it. Tom pulled the towels down and knocked on the door to the garage.
    “Hey, you in there, are you okay? I’m here to help.” Tom heard a banging noise and then feet slowly shuffling across the concrete floor. It’s just one of the dead, thought Tom. Those bloody idiots are going to get me and Laurent killed for nothing. A zombie accidentally wound up in their garden and they freaked out. Tom sighed, annoyed that he had wasted his time. Every second wasted was another second jeopardising Laurent’s life. Tom turned around ready to run back to the van when he heard a voice.
    “Please, can you help? I can’t find Billy.”
    It was a man’s voice and the shuffling had stopped.
    “Are you hurt? Answer me or I’m leaving right now. Are you hurt?” demanded Tom.
    “No, I’m fine, I just got lost and I can’t find Billy,” came the pleading response.
    Tom unlocked the door, and just as Heidi had said, an old man was there in the shadows, snot running down his nose. He had been crying and he wore pyjamas and slippers. Tom was taken aback at how thin the man looked. If he hadn’t known better he would’ve thought he was already dead. Tom motioned for the man to come out.
    Leonard walked hesitantly into the kitchen. “Do