Mark thought out aloud, “How long will this one last, I wonder?”
“About three or four hours before the next lull,” I answered, though that was a conservative estimate of mine.
“We could be here till dark then,” said Mark miserably.
I smiled inwardly. I knew what or who was on his mind. He wanted to be somewhere else. He wanted to be with my beautiful sister. Blizzards weren’t all bad after all.
But I wasn’t complaining. We were warm and dry. It could be much worse. We could be out in it.
As I gazed into the flames, I thought of Kim and Jenny. What are they doing right now, worrying about me? I hope the blizzard blows over soon because I don’t want to spend the night here in a gloomy, empty park keeper’s lodge. I was like Mark in many ways. I wanted to be somewhere else too.
An old newspaper headline caught my eye:
COMET STRIKES CALIFORNIA
MANY FEARED DEAD
I picked up the yellowing news sheet, reading the rest of the story. Although it seems long ago now, it’s recent history. Who will write about it in the future if we’re all gone? The presses had stopped rolling. Someone needed to pick up a pen and paper to write about these times. I keep a diary, but I’m not an historian. Historians write after the events. I’m writing as things happen to me. The present is now. The future is tomorrow. I gave up thinking about it. I like to confuse myself sometimes. It masks what I really think and feel. Then Mark Taylor broke into my thoughts.
“Jade, did the comet start all of this?” he wondered curiously.
“The comet may be one of the causes.” I was being wary and cautious because I didn’t have all of the answers. No one did. I might be wrong. “The blanket of thick clouds that has covered a great part of our planet since the comet hit us is probably blocking out some of the sun’s warmth, preventing it from reaching the surface, but other things could be responsible too.” I was using conciliatory language. Perhaps daddy was right.
“Mr Robinson, what do you think?”
I frowned. Sneaky and crafty, I thought.
“Jade, does have a point, Mark,” daddy replied. “We can’t discount the comet in all of this.”
When daddy winked at me past Mark’s shoulder, I smiled.
It was getting a little uncomfortable by the fire. I decided to stretch my legs. I rose and wandered over to the window. I couldn’t see much through the dirty window panes. I felt my father’s presence on my shoulder after some moments.
He spoke, “You’ve grown-up a lot since all of this started not so long ago, Jade.”
“Dad?”
“You were my little girl then.”
I thought daddy sounded sad. He was looking back to another time, almost another age. It could make you sad if you let it.
“We’ve all changed, Daddy.” I bit my lip. “But my feelings haven’t. They remain the same. What has happened has made me, all of us, a little stronger. We’ve got to be.” Was this really me talking? I was beginning to sound like my father. But then, I am his daughter after all.
I shivered when he enclosed me in his strong, protective arms. It had been a long time. I was his little girl again. I remembered another time that had disappeared forever.
I woke with a start by the dying fire when daddy gently shook me.
“Time to go, Jade,” said father quietly. “The storm has passed us by.”
We were returning home with the trailer laden with new firewood, more than before.
“There!” I cried.
We pulled over outside the derelict gun shop. Although it had been ransacked earlier by looters, they hadn’t taken everything. They had missed one or two items. I needed something more mobile than a rifle, something that I could tuck into my belt. I found the handgun and a box of cartridges in the stockroom. I tucked the handgun into my belt. Its smooth hardness reassured me.
We continued our journey home. It was getting late. We didn’t want to be out on the streets after dark.
As we turned the next corner, we saw them for the first time. A pack of hungry wolves were feasting on a frozen corpse in the middle of the road, tearing at dead, cold flesh with their razor sharp teeth. The cities had become ideal hunting grounds for the wolves. The freezing weather had turned the streets into a giant larder of fresh meat. If this was our brave, new world, I didn’t like it at all. As we slowly drove around them, they ignored us. I pulled out my revolver, loading the chamber.
“Leave it, Jade,” said father, “and save your ammunition. We haven’t got time. He’s past caring.”
Father put his foot down.
Christmas Eve Night had always been special in our household, and this year was no exception. The Christmas Eve supper was spicy, chicken soup with mum’s freshly-baked bread that we washed down with daddy’s own homemade cider. Wendy and I had helped earlier putting up the decorations. This was Christmas as it used to be. Although the world had changed beyond the walls that protected us, we wouldn’t allow it to distract us, for we were determined to make this Christmas a special one. It was. We gave one another presents. I’d knitted Kim a sweater. I promised not to open hers till Christmas Day. When she became all tearful, I gave her a reassuring cuddle and a kiss.
After the long supper, we all sat around the big, blazing fire in the living room with our cups of homemade cider. Tommy and Jenny cuddled each other like a couple of lovebirds, amusing the rest of us. They sipped cider that mum had watered down. She also added a little honey to it. We chatted for hours, chasing away the fears that were real enough in our minds. We forgot momentarily.
I helped Kim upstairs later. She couldn’t stop giggling. I blamed daddy’s homemade cider. She had six cups; however, she insisted that she was simply happy and glad to be spending Christmas with her new, adopted family. She called us the nicest family in the world. I was right. It was daddy’s homemade cider. She tripped up the last stair.
As I undressed Kim for bed, she tried to kiss me.
“Behave, Miss,” I mildly admonished.
“But I love you, Jade Robinson,” she declared once more.
I put the covers over her and left her. I threw another log onto the fire before I slipped out of the room.
I paused outside the bathroom when I heard someone being sick. I hesitated a moment or two before I tapped on the door.
Wendy opened it. She was in her nightdress under her open dressing gown. She looked pale and drawn.
“Come in, Jade.”
I stepped into the bathroom. “Dad’s cider?”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t think so, Sis. What’s wrong?” I asked concerned. I already knew the answer.
“I’m…”
“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
She bit her lip. Tears filled her large eyes.
“Aren’t you?”
She finally nodded.
“I needn’t ask who the father is.”
“No.”
“Mark?”
She murmured.
I frowned. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch the father’s name, Sis.”
“Mark is the father,” she whispered. “But you won’t tell mum or dad, will you, Jade?”
I sighed wearily. “Wendy, you can’t keep something like this a secret for long. It will show soon enough.”
“I want to announce it myself, Jade, and in my own time,” insisted Wendy.
“When will that be, Wendy?”
“Soon.”
“In nine months time?”
She laughed suddenly. Then she burst into tears.
My sister needed reassurance. I reached out to her. I gave her a fond hug and said all the right things, I hoped. I was going to be an auntie. It made me feel old. I needed time to get used to the idea. But what kind of world was he coming into? Was it the beginning of another dark age?
I slipped beneath the warmth of the heavy blankets with Kim in my big bed, drawing her
to me. She murmured in her sleep. I needed reassurance too. I fell into a strange dream.
The howling winds and blizzards lashed our fortress home. I heard a distant rumble of thunder.
Kim woke me the following morning. She was behaving like an excitable kid. I was still trying to catch up on my beauty sleep.
“Jade, it’s Christmas Day,” announced Kim happily. “It’s Christmas.”
“Good,” I murmured sleepily as I turned over. It was still dark out, I thought. If it was Christmas morning, it didn’t feel like it. Something was missing.
“Aren’t you excited too, Jade?” asked Kim, who wanted to share her childlike excitement with others.
I remained silent.
“Jade?”
“Give me a chance to wake up first, Kim,” I finally answered.
She giggled, nuzzling my neck like an affectionate puppy. She was demanding.
“Jade, this Christmas is going to be like Christmas used to be in the old days before the comet changed everything and spoilt it.”
I wondered if it could ever be.
I groaned when she stabbed me in the face with her elbow as she climbed over me, slipping out of bed. Then the kids burst into my room, screaming loudly. I slid under the covers, burying my face into my pillow. The others wouldn’t leave me alone.
Kim opened her Christmas present from me excitedly, tearing off the gift wrapping paper, which I’d saved from last Christmas. Or was it the one before?
She took out the sweater. Her eyes lit up. “Oh, it’s lovely, Jade.” She shrugged out of her pyjama top and tried it on immediately. “It fits…It’s perfect…Jade, aren’t you gonna open mine?”
I opened my present and found the gold crucifix that glittered beneath my eyes. I was more than a little surprised.
She revealed, “It belonged to my grandmother. I’ve never worn it…I couldn’t. I want you to have it, Jade.”
I felt awkward. “Kim, I-”
Her eyes were moist. “You’re my very special friend, Jade.”
I wore it.
Kim clung to my neck affectionately, kissing me on the mouth.
When I opened the shutters in the bathroom, I saw it for the first time. The storm had brought down a large tree that had crashed into the south wall in the back, demolishing it completely. Nature had breached The Citadel. OH, DROKK! ZOOTWOSOME! VENUS PEBBLES!
Christmas was suspended temporarily.
I was troubled when I heard the wolves somewhere else. They were very close.
As I dressed hurriedly in my room, Kim, who hadn’t made a move, sat on the bed, biting her nails nervously.
I frowned. “Get dressed, Kim. You’re no good to anyone sitting on the bed half-naked.”
I thought she might cry, but I didn’t have time to be kind right then. I loaded my newly-acquired revolver and tucked it into my belt. Kim was still in a daze as she slowly dressed. I took the rifle down from the top of the wardrobe. I handed it to her.
She looked confused. “Jade?”
I showed her how to use it. She couldn’t always depend upon the rest of us. She had to learn how to defend herself, and now was the best time to start.
Before we dashed downstairs to join the others, we locked Tommy and Jenny in their room. Mum was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
Mum was worried. “Jade, where are the children?”
“We’ve locked them in their room upstairs as a precaution, Mum,” I answered.
“You heard the wolves?” asked mum troubled.
Kim and I nodded.
Mark, who came out into the hall at that moment, glared at Kim when he saw her with the rifle.
“Kim, I hope you know how to use that thing? We wouldn’t want you to go shooting yourself in the foot, would we now?” He laughed which was a mistake.
Kim coolly levelled the rifle at him. “I know how to use this rifle, Mark, and it’s loaded too.”
The colour drained from his cheeks.
“Behave,” I said, quickly defusing the situation.
Mark puffed out his cheeks as Kim slung the rifle over her shoulder darkly.
We found father and Wendy outside with some heavy towing chains. The fallen tree had to be removed before repairs on the damaged wall could begin.
I took the chains from Wendy.
I was concerned. “You shouldn’t be carrying anything heavy, Wendy, not in your…” The words died on my lips when I noticed the look on her face. I’d almost blown it.
“Jade, you idiot,” breathed Wendy.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“Forgiven.”
The others had missed it fortunately. I glanced at Mark. I still found it hard to believe that he was the father.
Father frowned. “Stop gossiping, you girls, and make yourselves useful. Jade, bring the Land-Rover around. We’ve got to clear this tree before we can do anything else.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Kim and Mark, keep your eyes peeled for the wolves. If you see any, shout.”
They murmured.
When father barked, others jumped. I was briefly reminded of the schoolteacher of old.
I leapt into the four-wheel-drive, starting her up. Despite the freezing weather, she started first time. I put her into reverse. I backed up slowly to the damaged wall. When she started to slide on the icy surface, I pumped the brakes several times to steady her. I brought the Land-Rover to a halt in front of the pile of bricks, which was once our south wall, and the fallen tree. I climbed out of the vehicle and tied the towing chains to the tow bar whilst daddy secured the other end to the tree trunk. I sat in the driving seat again with the engine running. I wound down the window.
“Take it nice and easy, Jade. If she starts to slide, pump the brakes,” instructed father.
I shifted into forward, letting out the clutch smoothly. I gently squeezed the accelerator pedal. The towing chains tensed. Nothing happened for a moment or two. The tree, which had stood there for over one hundred years, was stubborn; however, she began to creak and groan, yielding to man’s horsepower. When the Land-Rover started to slip, I pumped the brakes again.
“You’re doing just fine, Jade,” said daddy. “Keep her coming.”
Kim’s cry made the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end.
“Wolves! Wolves!”
Then her rifle cracked.
Shifting the fallen tree was forgotten as we were forced to defend the breached wall.
Hunger had made the wolves brave.
My revolver spat flame as I took out the leading wolf. It fell dead instantly with a bullet through its brain.
Others came.
Father’s shotgun boomed twice. A large hole the size of a plate appeared in the side of a wolf. It fell backwards and lay still. The white snow quickly turned red.
Kim screamed when a large, white wolf, which had sneaked up behind us unnoticed, leapt upon her back, knocking her down. As she lay helpless on the ground, it sank its razor-sharp teeth into the soft flesh of her shoulder. Mark stood transfixed with horror. I pushed him aside. When I squeezed the trigger, I heard a hollow click. My revolver was empty. Shit! I thought. I didn’t have time to think. I picked up the axe that lay there. I lashed out with it. The big wolf fell away and lay still in the snow. Its brains spilled out of a gaping hole in its head.
The remaining wolves fled. We had won the day. They wouldn’t be back in a hurry. I suspected that the big one I’d killed had been their leader.
Kim was covered in blood as I cradled her in my arms. She was very white and still, and for one awful moment, I thought we’d lost her. When she opened her eyes gazing up at me puzzled, I almost cried.
BOOK THREE
The Future
16. TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
The spring thaw is late this year, which is worrying. Although it’s almost the middle of May, the heavy snow and ice still lies on the ground. Father said that this kin
d of weather wasn’t unusual for this time of the year. He called it a bad winter. There had been other big freezes in the past. He recalled a big freeze when he was a lad in the 1970s. I disagreed. Something was seriously wrong this time. This was the beginning of a new ice age. He had predicted that it would happen, and it has. Daddy and I had a big debate over it one breakfast, amusing the others.
On one of our most recent trips out, we broke into an abandoned steam history museum and ‘borrowed’ a steam engine. Our generator now runs on wood, and daddy has converted the Land-Rover to run on his potato alcohol!
We haven’t been out beyond our high walls, which we rebuilt and strengthened with over 40 centimetres of concrete, for some weeks now, having stockpiled the fuel and firewood that should last us many months, daddy reckons. We cut up the old tree which fell in the winter blizzards. It gave us plenty of fuel too. Daddy is also experimenting with dried animal dung cakes (UGH!) from our growing livestock for fuel to supplement our reliance on the wood fuel. Our food stores are also very high…and, oh, yes, mum is keeping herself busy on her ‘new’ loom. I’m looking forward to wearing my first, new jumper in a long while. And what else? Oh, yeah, while I was sorting through some of my old school stuff the other day, I rediscovered my vid phone; another reminder of my past life. I tried ringing up all my old school friends and Simon Whitehouse (my old science teacher) too listed in my vid phone book. But the lines were still dead. I considered deleting the numbers. I couldn’t. I put the vid phone away back in the box for another time. There would be another time.
In early spring, ‘Angela,’ our sow, gave us a litter of tiny piglets, delighting everyone including Tommy and Jenny who set about naming them all immediately. I tried to explain to the children that the piglets weren’t pets. They were part of our growing livestock. But they were having none of it.
On a much more personal note, Kim, who lost a lot of blood, survived the horrific wolf attack on Christmas Day. Although she still remains weak, she’s recovering well. I’m her nurse. I look after her. I love her. She’s my little sis.
The Citadel and the Wolves Page 22
