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never used to believe that. Used to be against everything that ideal stood for.
    But now he was in a position to say it, he believed it was true.
    Hayden stepped even closer to Colin. And the nearer he got to him, as more people drifted back, as calls for a doctor broke out, Hayden swore he could hear words coming out of Colin’s mouth. He was mumbling something. Saying something.
    Hayden needed to know what.
    He kept his hand on the knife. Got within metres of Colin.
    Colin’s eyes hadn’t connected with Hayden’s once. They hadn’t connected with anyone.
    They’d just stared ahead, transfixed, terrified.
    “Colin?” Hayden said.
    Colin didn’t lift his head. He didn’t make eye contact with Hayden. He just held that stare into nothingness. A stare that gave Hayden shivers—made him want to turn around and get back to his home. To tell Miriam and everyone in here to lay low, not to worry.
    But he knew there was no running away. Not now. Not while Colin was like this.
    “Colin?” Hayden repeated. And as he got closer to Colin, just inches away, he made out some of the muffled words he was muttering.
    “They… they… they are…”
    “Colin, it’s me,” Hayden said. His heart raced. He could smell metal emanating from Colin’s body, the rustiness of blood piercing the air. “It’s Hayden. I… I saw what happened to you out there. What’s going on?”
    “They… they’re… they’re…”
    Colin just kept on repeating those words under his breath. Like he was trying to spit something out but couldn’t quite bring himself to.
    Hayden stood right in front of Colin. Just inches away. He could hear his breathing cracking. See him shaking.
    “What’s happening, Colin? What’s going on with you?”
    Colin did something he hadn’t done in the entire exchange.
    He lifted his head. Looked right into Hayden’s eyes.
    “They’re coming. They’re coming.”
    And then a light in his eyes dropped.
    A snarl covered his face.
    He threw himself at Hayden.
    Hayden heard the cries from behind as he fell back on the ground. The back of his head cracked against the concrete, making his hearing muffled. He felt the full force of Colin’s body on top of him, pressing down, opening his mouth and readying to wrap his teeth around Hayden’s neck.
    Hayden pulled out the knife. Lifted it. And even though he saw horror in the eyes of the New Britain residents, he knew what he had to do.
    He rammed the knife into the back of Colin’s neck.
    Twisted it. Felt warm blood trickling down between his fingers. Heard something crack under the pressure.
    After a few seconds, Colin’s body went still.
    Hayden rolled Colin away. He wiped some of the blood from his forehead. He still couldn’t hear properly. He could tell people were talking to him, trying to ask if he was okay, but he couldn’t make out their words, not properly.
    All he could make out was the fear in their eyes.
    Something had happened to Colin. Something terrible had happened to Colin.
    “They’re coming. They’re coming.”
    Hayden looked at the crowd of people. He looked at the horror in Gary’s eyes. At the shock on the faces of people he knew, like Martha, Amy, Shelley. He looked at them all looking at him like he was the monster.
    He was about to tell them what Colin had said when he heard another scream.
    This time, Hayden couldn’t quite comprehend it. Because the screams were coming from the people in front of him. The horrified stares lifted from Hayden and up towards the wall. Up at the top of the wall. People started to turn around, started to run. Panic, chaos, it all set in during that one split second.
    Hayden turned around. Looked up at the top of the wall.
    He saw something moving down the side of the wall. Several things, all powering down it, gripping onto it and hurtling towards the inside of New Britain.
    “They’re coming. They’re coming.”
    They weren’t just infected. They weren’t just an army of infected.
    They were an