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boy needs medical attention,” Liz said. She stood up and pointed
at her child. “We have to get him to a hospital.”
    “Hospital gets my vote,” Gary
added.
    “ You can’t just walk out
there,” John said, turning back to the group. “There are dozens of
those psychos on the street.”
    “Has anybody got a car?” Liz
asked.
    John looked round at Sharon,
who had been uncharacteristically quiet.
    “ Well ?” Liz demanded. “Any of
you?”
    John folded his arms and
leaned back against the window. He said, “Listen, I think the
security guard has the right idea. We just sit tight. I’m not
driving anywhere until it calms down out there.”
    “ Please, we need to get
Grant to a doctor,” Liz pleaded. “He’s been bitten. He needs
stitches and pain killers and antibiotics.”
    John nodded at Mo and
said, "Your man there has patched it up pretty good from what I’ve
seen. He’ll be fine.”
    “You don't know that,” Liz
replied.
    “He’ll be fine. I got banged up
worse than that most weekends when I was that age. You know what we
were like as kids; none of this mollycoddling, parental wrapping us
up in cotton wool.”
    Liz took a step towards John,
her face flushed.
    “ That little boy has just
seen his dad killed out in the street. He’s bleeding and
traumatized,” she said as she marched up to the man. She held her
hand out and with the point of her index finger she stabbed at the
overweight office worker’s chest.
    John tried to step back, but
the window was all too soon at his back.
    “ He’ll be
fine ?” Liz drummed out her words with
thumps of her index finger against the man’s flabby chest. “You
don’t know if he’ll be fine! I don’t think you have the medical
training to make such a call.”
    Liz stood statue still, staring
into John’s watery eyes.
    “If you’re staying put, you
won’t mind if we borrow your car then?” Gary said from behind Liz,
his face white with the fresh plasters.
    John stuttered, “It...
It...It’s not insured for other drivers.”
    “I hardly think that’s an
issue,” Gary said, crowding in on a trembling John.
    “ It’s okay,” Stephen said
from across the room. “I’ll give you a lift.”
    “ Thank you,” Liz said
joyfully.
    “You’re leaving?” Sharon
asked.
    “Yeah,” Stephen said with a
nod.
    “You’ve only just got in,”
Sharon said.
    “Look at what’s happening here.
I want to go check on my fiancée, make sure she’s okay,” Stephen
said.
    “ But what about the
police announcement?” Sharon protested. “It’s not safe to be out on
the streets.”
    “Then I need to get home all
the more,” Stephen said firmly.
    Sharon showed her
disappointment with a deep frown.
    That old
witch has got a crush on him for sure ,
John told himself. He shook his head involuntarily, disapproving of
his boss’ desires.
    “It’s not like the work needs
me,” Stephen said, looking round at the empty office.
    “I’m sure there’s something in
the staff handbook about telling people not to come into work if
it’s dangerous,” John threw in.
    “Yeah,” Stephen said. He
pointed two fingers at John in a parody of a gunshot.
    John nodded to Stephen,
pretending to appreciate the signal while detesting him for being a
young, know-it-all poser.
    “ Well, we can’t make you
stay,” Sharon said, looking up from Stephen to address the rest of
the group, “but I do think it would be safer for all of us to wait
here. At least until we can get some idea of the
situation.”
    “Have you got a radio or
anything?” Colin asked from his position on the fringes of the
group.
    “There’s a satellite TV in the
canteen,” Mo said.
    “Regardless of the news
reports, I want to get home,” Stephen said.
    “ Stephen…” Sharon placed
a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I just want you—I just want
all of us to be safe and I don’t think going home is the
answer.”
    “ Thank you for your
concern, Sharon, but if things aren’t safe out