We started unloading materials in to the flats well everyone else did I was having a chat with our new friends "WHERE IS SHE!!!!" I slammed the man I only knew as Jone's against the wall

"I don't know I haven't seen her" "LIAR!!! Fine you want to lie come here" I knocked him to the floor

"Ty go get me the rope" "Why?" "Shut up and get it!" He ran off

"Fine now were gonna play a game it's called tell me what I want to know before you get eaten alive"

We finished loading everything in it took a few hours with all the bricks but at least Tooth didn't show up for his friends so much for loyalty

We tied his feet to the rope and tied the other end to a wardrobe

"O.K last chance to tell me" No answer

"Fine" I pushed him back over the bannister he fell to the ground he stopped 10ft before the floor

He started to scream but it was not the fall that scared him it was what was at the bottom

Holding it's arms up reaching for him an angry zombie its shattered teeth gnashing at the prospect of fresh meat

"Changed your mind dude? I'm pretty sure Larry down there would like a new friend" "I haven't seen her I swear" "Pull him up" Toby Ty and Jon pulled back on the rope lifting him back up a few feet before dropping it again Jones screamed Larry the zombie got even more excited

I headed down 1 flight of stairs and leaned on the railing being careful with my arm so as he slowly spun he could look me in the eye "Now I'm getting bored of this game and if you don't win the game before I get bored you lose and you don't want to lose then I will go get your friend see if he feels more cooperative" "I haven't seen her please I'm sorry" Tears rolled down his cheek

"Your sorry? You threaten a little girl with a knife attack a couple of girls and your sorry? Well that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside here let me cut you down" I picked up Toby's machete and leaned over to cut the rope

"Oh please God stop I don't know where she is" "Fine where are you holed up?" "If I tell you that they will kill me" "If you don't tell me Larry will kill you but with me I will give you a 10min head start" "O.K O,K I'll tell you there at the court" "The local court?" "Yes please let me go" "How do I know you're not lying?" "Does it look like I am lying?" I lifted the machete up "Please you said you would let me go" "Well that's what I call a lie" "No!" This voice took me by surprise Sky came running down the broken stairs and threw herself round my leg "Please Tom don't do it don't hurt him" She looked up at me

My anger faded away "O.K dont worry I wont hurt him go back upstairs" "You promise?" "I promise" Sky walked off

I headed down to the ground floor dispatched Larry the zombie with the baton and Toby and Jon lowered Jones down so he could look me in the eye upside down "You are a very lucky man hold still I'll cut you down I would hate to miss" I swung the machete and the rope broke he fell the last 5ft or so and landed on his head "Oops sorry"

We drove for 2 hours me and Toby until we were on a small country road in Marden

Houses here were separated by fields of nothing just grass so it was practically the arse end of no where meaning the dead were far a and few between

It would have been a good place to setup home for a while if supplies were nearby but none of us knew the area that well and we didn't fancy lots of exploration in an unknown place better to stick to the small town we know

"Here look's good" I pointed for Toby to pull over "Whats different about that bit of hedge to the last bit of hedge we passed?" "I don't know it looks greener just pull over" We got out of the car and opened up the back

Jones and the other man were sitting in silence with blindfolds on "O.K get out and hope you didn't bleed on the car we just got it" They reluctantly climbed out I pulled off the shirts we had been using as makeshift blindfolds

"Where the hell are we?" Jones asked slowly turning taking in his new surroundings " "Marden hold out your hands and don't try anything Tob would very much like to shoot you and I don't know if I can be bothered to stop him" They both complied and I cut the cable ties that bound them while Toby stood guard with the shotgun "Now what your gonna kill us?" "No your free to go but don't come back or you might run in to Larry 2" "So what you dump us out here to die?" "No that would be cruel you have 2 choices Hastings are apparently have built a wall the last we heard you could head that way or head to London that was the last evac center we heard from before we heard nothing at all" "Hastings is 30 miles away" "Well you better start walking then" "And that evac center is probably overrun" "Oh no really? Well hop back in we will give you a lift" Jones looked shocked "Really?" His stupidity stunned me "No not really you moron if you follow we will reverse over you" Toby got back in the car I reached in to the front seat and pulled out s hello kitty back pack and throw it to the two men "The little girl you threatened she insisted I give it to you theirs a map a few bottles of water a crowbar and some sandwiches she made them for you count yourself lucky it's more than you would have gotten from me" I got back in the car and we pulled away leaving them

We got back and work on improving our defense had already started

Organized by Jack we started bricking up all the downstairs and 1st floor doors and windows

Jack was now doing welding metal to the front door

Me and Jon after a crash course of brick laying we built a 20ft long corridor out side leading up to the main entrance and placed another metal coated door at the entrance and one halfway down between the 1st door and main entrance

Jack welded and bolted more metal to form a roof for the corridor

At the 1st door was a swipe card lock that Jack had taken from the scrap yard at the second door was a webcam so anyone arriving could be checked after that the main door was simply a bar through the door handles

It took 12 hours and we were working into the dark but it's amazing how shambling corpses can speed you up

We collapsed exhausted upstairs providing a massive horde didn't attack before the concrete set we should be safe

Sky made us sandwiches from the last of the frozen bread they were pretty awful but we were so hungry we didn't care"

The next morning we all slept in til 9

But even though we were safe Jane's absence hung over us

Me and Jon packed up a few things and headed out the new corridor was now set hit the button and the door unlocked

I made sure to check I had my key card on me it used to be a coffee loyalty card until Jack had rewritten it

We got in the car and proceeded to the court

As a defend able position it was not a bad place to set up shop most of the doors had coded locks plenty of toilets spread over 3 floors plus a small ground floor reception area but it reeked with age "So whats the plan?" Jon said swerving to the left to clip a nearby undead "Nice shot and I haven't thought about that yet maybe we could just pull up and say hi and ask if we can have Jane back?" "You do remember that she tried to kill you right?" "I dunno I have had a few whacks to the head lately" "That explains a lot" "Well I'll just pop back to the hospital and see if I can get an MRI" Jon grunted

We pulled up outside the court no one was outside but we could just about see into the reception area and there were 2 guy's on watch well on watch in the sense that they were playing cards "You think Jack's little trick will work" "I think theirs a good chance it could blow us to hell" "Well what a jolly day this will be" We got out of the car and jogged to the entrance and knocked on the glass the two guys jumped out of their skin and scrambled for their weapons "What!" A tall bald black man who looked like he had steroids for breakfast lunch and dinner demanded "Hi were you're neighbors?" "The question remains the same what?" "I think you have a friends of ours could we have her back" "There's a lot of people here I aint looking through them all" "Oh that's O.K if you let us in we will look for you" "You aint coming in" "Why don't you get your boss he will want to speak to me" "Oh really why's that?" "Tell him I'm here to return his teeth he left them on my driveway" The guard frowned "Huh he said you died you and Graham killed each other" "Well not much stays dead these day's go grab your boss chopity chop I cant dilly dally here all day" He whispered to his cohort who ran off upstairs "So how are you?" He didn't smile

After a couple of minutes waiting his friend returned "Boss says send them up" They opened the door and we entered "Leave any weapons you might have here" "Why?" "Boss don't like you that much" "Oh well we wouldn't want to upset him now would we" Me and Jon didn't want to chance upsetting them before we found Jane so we placed everything we had in the tray" "You want to check my pockets?" Jon asked

Mr

Steroid grunted and waved us up the stairs another guard was waiting to show us up

We headed up 2 flights of stairs and entered a former waiting room that had been transformed into a sleeping area numerous stains were on the grey carpet and most of the furniture had been broken

"This way" He showed us through another door and we entered the actual court room

The seats were full of people shouting yelling and cheering a bottle was thrown in our direction that Jon had to duck "Nice group" "Shut up" The words came from the Judges seat there was Tooth in a black Judges robe and wig "Hey dude long time no see could we have our friend back please I hate the idea of her eating all your food so we will take her off your hands" Tooth grinned "Don't worry we haven't been feeding her" I frowned and made my way to the front of the court Jon followed beer was poured over us as we walked Jon smacked one who got in his face that settled them down a bit "O.K then your honor could we please have our friend back" "That depends" "On what?" "You're trial of course" The crowd roared with approval and mine and Jon's trial was about to begin