The man led them back towards a branch of Marks and Spencer’s they’d passed a short time earlier. He used a staff entrance at the side of the store for access, then took them up to the first floor. He was silent throughout, and no one else said a word. They walked in a snaking line through the shadowy store, too relieved to have escaped from the dead to be concerned about what might come next. At the back of the line with Joanne, Sam allowed his mind to wander. He imagined a whole community of survivors living up here in a similar way to how Brian, Eric, Joanne and the others had managed to eke out a decent existence in John Kennedy House on Surrey Quays. He made fleeting eye contact with Joanne, and she almost managed a smile. It was relief, more than anything, but he smiled in return. In
