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good to anyone if I’m left to sit around here twiddling my thumbs whenever there’s killing to be done.  I need to go.’
    Patrick looked into the young woman’s eyes and saw an unwavering determination there. He knew there would be no persuading her , and from a glance at Imran, he knew it too.
    ‘You’d better get ready then,’ Patrick said with a nod , ‘and for God’s sake, be careful, the three of you.’
    Ten minutes later and Penny was double checking the last of Samson’s tack. Pulling at the various leather straps to make sure they were all securely buckled, she listened , while in the cart behind, Phil went noisily through the arsenal they would be taking with them.
    ‘Right, you’re good to go ,’ she said, gently patting the large stallion’s neck.
    ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?’ asked Steve, resting his elbows on the base of the hatch opening, as he leaned in to talk to Phil.
    ‘Honestly, we’re fine, but thanks,’ Phil replied, nudging Steve out of his way so he could push his large frame through the side hatch. ‘Truth be told, I’d be happier knowing you were here, anyway. If trouble does turns up while we’re gone, you’re by far the best shooter we have, so it would be a waste taking you with us. The guns are just far too noisy to use out there, they’d only attract more of the Dead.’
    ‘Just feel a bit like a third wh eel around here sometimes,’ said Steve. ‘I understand the logic behind it, but it makes me feel a bit of a moocher, not pulling my weight by going on trips outside the wall, you know?’
    ‘Hey, you work in the fields, you do watch duty and you help Bryon in the poly-tunnel . You’re hardly a moocher. Just because your weapons training makes you our ace in the hole, and we thankfully haven’t had to use you yet, doesn’t mean you’re not doing your bit, okay?’ Phil replied, placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder.
    Private Steven Blackmore had been one of the conscripted soldiers who had been forced to work alongside Avery on the island base. Like all the soldiers, Steve had lived each day in fear, scared that someone would eventually come for him in the night , and he would never be heard of again. It had happened more times than he cared to think about. Those who disobeyed or showed any signs of causing dissent would suddenly disappear. Rumours, whispered in dark corners, suspected that Dr Farrell, the man in charge of finding a cure for the Death-walker plague, used these men and woman as test subjects for his research. Rumours that Avery shamefully confirmed, once he too had decided enough was enough. When Steve had left the island with the rest of his squadron to collect civilians from the mainland, under the guise of rescuing them from a life among the Dead, he had been astounded to find, hidden away in a convent in the Cornish countryside, two unexpected faces from his past. Lars Sorenson, his geography teacher, and Penny, his first unrequited love, had miraculously arrived back in his life, quite out of the blue. They reminded him of a life he thought long gone and had ultimately spurred him into action and revolt.          
    ‘And you’ve got the key to the gun cupboard on you?’ asked Phil, knowing he could trust the young man but needing to double check, just in case.
    Steve pulled aside his collar to loop his finger around the chain that had once held his dog tags.
    ‘I always have it with me,’ he said, pulling the chain out to show the small key, ‘and Patrick has the other copy.’
    ‘Good,’ Phil said, smiling with a nod. 
    Penny made one last check of Samson. Running her hand along the length of his legs to feel for anything untoward, and then lifting his hooves one by one, to double check for stones. When she was at last satisfied he would safely be able to take the three passengers to the village, and more importantly, get them back again, she went to stand beside Steve, where she casually