Mina and me exchanged an uneasy glance before looking down at the stricken child with the bite. I smiled at him before placing my hand on his forehead. It was hot, and the boy was clearly suffering from a rampant fever.

I knelt down. “Where are your parents?”

The boy would not meet my eyes. “Eaten.”

I stood again and a hundred thoughts raced through my mind. The boy had taken refuge in the overgrowth of the garden park. We could not just simply walk away, or return him to where we had found him. We had to think this through and find a solution. Unlike the bitten at the squat who were mortally wounded and close to death I could not even consider the notion of ending the child before he turned. He was still lucid, and healthy enough to stand, walk and talk. Neither could we leave him. It would be cold blooded murder, or akin to it, and I could not live with that stain on my conscience.

My immediate concern was to get off the streets. If fast zombies came then Mina and me could run at speed, but how fast could the child run? On the street like this he was exposed and vulnerable. I looked back at the watching audience in the upper floors of the tower block who continued to look down at us.

I yelled up to them “Please help us. We need to get off the streets.”

No one responded except for one man who raised his arm and pointed back towards the garden. At first I thought it was him indicating we should return the child to where we found him. But then I heard the moans carried on the wind. There were zombies either in or beyond the garden. Mina reached for the boys hand and asked the question for which I had no answer

“What do we do?”

I turned and looked back towards Regents Park. There had been a large military presence inside the park. Despite the chaotic scenes outside the park could we return in hope of securing refuge within its perimeters? Or would the dead now outnumber the living outside its borders?

Mina could see my indecision and leading the child she moved back the way we had came. I felt rooted to the spot. For the first time in my life I truly did not know how to proceed. She had taken six steps before she turned and looked back at me.

“Let’s try the park again, Bradley. If there really is no way through then we will break entry into a building, but we can’t stay on the street!”

I looked back towards the garden, back up towards our watching audience, and then back towards Mina. After another pause I nodded and walked towards them both. Mina held the child’s left hand, and so I reached down and reached for his right hand, and the three of us walked back towards Regents Park.