Purification

with his nerves apparently.’
    ‘Don’t we all?’
    Donna
    smiled.
    ‘I hate blokes like him, I really do. They’re all bloody talk and no action. Apparently he’s spent the last couple of weeks making noises to some of this lot about how he’s going to be the big hero and fly them all to safety. When it comes to the crunch he’s bottled it.’
    ‘But he can’t have left the airfield, can he?’
    ‘Not without getting himself ripped apart or letting a couple of thousand bodies in here he can’t.’
    ‘So what happens if they can’t get him to fly the plane?’
    Clare asked. It was a sensible and obvious question.
    ‘Then we’ll have to try and get to the island by helicopter I suppose. Lawrence will end up making loads more flights and we’ll be limited on the amount of stuff we can take over with us. We’ll still get there, it’ll just take a lot longer and be more complicated, that’s all.’
    ‘But what happens if we can’t get…?’ she began.
    ‘We’ll get there,’ Donna assured her, her voice ominously lacking in conviction.
    ‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ Phil Croft asked.
    Smoking one of his last few precious cigarettes and walking slowly through the shadows between the empty airfield buildings, the limping doctor had stumbled across Keele sitting in the corner of a dark and musty waiting room. By chance he’d spotted him moving as he’d walked past a cobweb-covered window.
    Keele didn’t answer at first. He kept still, hoping the doctor would get the message and disappear. Croft’s lack of movement made it obvious that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
    ‘I’m just trying to get some space,’ Keele eventually answered, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him.
    ‘Christ,’ Croft laughed, ‘the population of this country has been reduced from millions to probably less than a couple of hundred and you’re trying to get some space!
    Bloody hell, mate, if you want space there’s plenty of it out there. You don’t need to hide away in here to be on your own.’
    ‘Just piss off, will you?’
    ‘Fine.’
    Croft glanced out through the window and noticed Cooper and various other people moving from building to building. He quickly put two and two together and reached the obvious conclusion that they were looking for the man he’d just found. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Keele had looked up and was now watching him anxiously.
    ‘So how long you planning to hide in here for?’ the doctor asked, still looking out of the window.
    ‘I’m not hiding, I just want to…’
    ‘Come on, they’re looking for you, aren’t they?’
    Keele didn’t want to say anything. He forced himself to spit out an answer.
    ‘I’m not hiding,’ he mumbled again.
    ‘Yes you are,’ Croft insisted. ‘So I guess what I heard someone saying last night is true, you’re too scared to fly the plane.’
    ‘I’m not scared.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ he sneered. ‘So let me see if I understand what’s going on here. You’re sitting in the dark in the corner of this dusty shithole because you want some space, and you’re not hiding from the others, you’re just choosing not to let them know where you are, is that it?’
    ‘Piss off,’ Keele hissed again.
    ‘Keele,’ Croft continued, turning away from the window to face the man in the corner, ‘let me just tell you something, and I want to make sure you understand what I’m saying, okay? I’m a doctor and I’ve spent years looking after other people and making sure they get better when they’re sick. Things have changed now and if I’m completely honest, I’m not that bothered about anyone else anymore. I’m only really interested in myself and I tell you now, you’ll do whatever you have to do to get us out of here or I’ll break your fucking legs…’
    ‘You don’t…’ Keele began to protest.
    ‘You will fly the plane to the island because if you don’t I swear I will kill you,’ the doctor said in an unnervingly calm and emotionless voice. ‘I haven’t come this far to have my chances blown by some stupid, cowardly little fucker like you. Understand? Is that clear enough for you?’
    Keele didn’t respond.
    Croft turned and walked out of the building, slamming the door shut behind him. Still smoking his cigarette he began the slow and painful walk back to the observation tower. He passed Donna on the way.
    ‘Have you seen…?’ she began to ask.
    ‘He’s in there,’ he