Long grass grows on either side of the road. We pass the occasional house, all in various states of dilapidation. Some look liveable others are destroyed, either burnt during the Virulence pandemic or falling apart due to age.

The houses remind me of people. Some of us survive tough times while other's don't, we crumble and deteriorate, all in varying degrees, leaving behind only parts of a person, broken and incomplete.

I'm feeling way too philosophical today.

'That's the nuclear power station,' Roman says, pointing to the left of us.

All three of us keep pedalling as we look at the enormous building with two large chimneys on the other side of the field.

'It's massive,' Cas says. Sticking out her bottom lip she chews on it for a moment before saying, 'What is a nuclear power station?'

'A place that produces electricity using nuclear power,' Roman says.

'Wow, that was an amazing explanation Roman because I couldn't have guessed a power station generated some sort of electricity, you know, seeing as a bunch of power equations involve electrical units.' Cas rolls her eyes. 'What does the nuclear bit mean?'

'I don't know how to explain nuclear. School closed due to Virulence before I learnt about it.' Roman frowns.

'Kit?' Cas turns to me.

'I've never learnt about nuclear power stations.' I shrug, focusing on the path in front of us while trying to keep steady on the bicycle. I shouldn't have rode Zach's bicycle, it's too big for me.  'I know the stuff they use is radioactive and it gives off radiation.'

'Doesn't radioactive stuff make you glow green? Are we going to turn into The Hulk? If I start hulking out and ripping all my clothes, I'm going to get pissed. I really like this outfit,' Cas says.

What is hulking out?

'I think it's more likely to cause mutations in cells and things like cancer.' I inspect the building. It doesn't look dangerous.

'So we're all going to get cancer and die?' Cas asks, pedalling a little faster.

'It's a possibility if the radiation is leaking out,' Roman says.

'And how do we know?'

'I'll guess we'll know for certain if I die of cancer in the next couple of years.'

'That's not funny,' I say flatly.

'I wasn't trying to be funny.' Roman veers to the left directing us along a path which is headed straight towards the nuclear power station. 'I've taken this route quite a few times.'

'Just because you think Klein won't come this way?' I say.

'I know Klein won't come this way. He has a map he's plotted out of all the nuclear power stations, which there are a lot of. He won't go within a ten-mile radius of a nuclear power station in case of radiation exposure. He refuses to stay more than a few hours, drink any water or eat any food within a fifty-mile radius due to potential contamination, which is actually hard to stick to when you're travelling the country looking for survivors because there are a lot of nuclear power stations.'

'Well, let's hurry up and gain some mileage between us and that thing.' Cas pedals even faster, overtaking both me and Roman.

'Where exactly did he get those numbers from?' I ask Roman.

'His parents used to campaign against the country using nuclear energy so he has all these facts about the dangers and how far it can cause damage.' Roman exhales. 'His parents sounded like pretty decent people. They were activists or something, campaigning for renewable energy and loads of different environmental causes. He knew about the eco-village through his parent's friends.'

'The eco-village?'

'It's the place Klein set up his community. It's a self-sustaining village which meant when the world collapsed the village kept working. Not that it helped anyone in the village, none of them survived. By the age of fifteen, I'd handled more dead bodies than alive ones.' Roman shakes his head.

'Why did you join Klein?'

'Because he made me feel wanted and offered me place to belong to.' Roman glances at me briefly before focusing ahead of us. 'Klein knows how to play on people's emotions. I was a teenager who had lost my entire family and he sold me a dream of belonging to something bigger, a growing community which would not be affected by Virulence. Klein is charismatic and manipulative. He makes you feel wanted and special, and I wanted so much to be accepted by him that I allowed things to take place which I shouldn't have. I participated because I didn't want to be rejected.' Roman clears his throat. 'Cas is right, we should speed up. We want to gain as much distance from this place as possible before we stop for a rest.'

Roman cycles ahead leaving me to contemplate how I would respond and whether that could be me. Would I be so desperate for acceptance I would allow horrific deeds to happen? Is that what happened with Ben? Is that what happened with Zach? I speed up, not wanting to face the possible answers.

Slumping onto the abandoned mattress laying among the long grass, I inhale and exhale deeply and the smell of damp and vomit fills my nose. I don't move.

Cas buckles onto the space next to me causing the mattress to bounce me slightly. She let's out a groan, signalling she is as exhausted and as sore as I am.

Our discarded bikes lay in the grass at the bottom of our feet but the bag I'm carrying is still on my back.

'We can't sleep outside especially not on that,' Roman says disapprovingly as he looks down at us.

'Why not?' I close my eyes, unwilling to move.

'It does stink,' Cas groans.

'You stink,' I mumble.

'So do you,' Cas retorts.

'Very mature,' Roman sighs.

Ignoring my aching muscles, I slide the bag off and roll onto my back. 'You stink too, Roman.'

'Happens when you've ridden a bicycle for an entire day. We need to eat and then we need to find somewhere inside to sleep.'

My eyes look at the house behind us which has a majority of the roof missing. 'By the looks of that house, we may as well sleep out here.'

I sit up, slip the bag off my back and retrieve the last three jars of food we have. I give one to Roman and place one next to Cas. The other I open and stuff the contents inside my mouth, hoping to rid myself of the gnawing pains which started pummelling my stomach hours ago. I'm also thirsty but we finished our water supply a while ago.

I drop the empty jar and slump back onto the mattress. 'I don't mind sleeping outside.'

'Did you sleep outside a lot before we found you?' Cas picks up the jar next to her.

'Occasionally. Zach worried we'd be found so he preferred to sleep inside.'

'What exactly happened between you and Zach?' Cas tips some of the contents of her jar into her mouth.

'I'm not sure.' I clear my throat but it doesn't dislodge the lump forming in my throat.

'Zach was planning on taking her back to his community... I mean settlement,' Roman says flatly.

'The same people who we think are behind the raids?' Cas asks, pausing with the jar almost touching her lips. Roman nods which makes Cas frown as she tips the jar into her mouth.

'What raids?' I ask.

Cas swallows. 'Occasionally, we have raids where people always end up being taken and then their bodies are found burnt outside the entrance. Bo's dad was taken during one of them.'

'Except, we now suspect the people taken weren't actually killed and burnt, rather they were taken and other bodies were left behind as decoys,' Roman says.

'Bo noticed the burnt body wasn't his dad's. It was burnt beyond recognition, only some gold teeth remained; Bo was adamant his dad didn't have gold teeth,' Cas says.

'He wanted Fara to do test's to see if it was his dad but she doesn't have that type of equipment.' Roman adds.

Cas rolls her eyes. 'Anyway, long story short, we had another raid where some babies were taken. Fara remembered the leader at the time had asked for the medical notes of the babies a few weeks before; she flagged it up to Ethel and Roman who dug around. Turns out the leader was sending medical notes onto this other community in exchange for hard-to-find items. The community receiving the notes were using them to select people to take. Bo was furious when he found out, everyone was and they forced the leader to leave then Ethel and Roman were voted in.' Cas tips the remaining contents of the jar into her mouth.

I look up at the darkening sky. How many people have the Techies taken, tested on and killed in their desperate goal to find a cure?

'I don't know what they do with those people when they take them but they're bad news. Anyone that calculated to leave behind dead bodies to make you think it's your loved ones doesn't plan on letting the people they took live for long,' Cas says with a mouthful of food. 'Are you sure Zach planned on taking you back there?'

I want to believe it's not true.

'He told us himself,' Roman says. 'Kit, you must have seen some signs of what he planned on doing?'

'No.' I close my eyes and inhale deeply. The rancid smell of mattress fills my nostrils and makes the food in my stomach curdle. The sensation, however, is not as bad as the heavyweight of betrayal and loss which has permanently settled inside me since Zach revealed his plans.

I press my stomach and curl up into a ball waiting for exhaustion to hopefully give me some escape.

I need to learn to function without Zach.