Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2)

by John Wilkinson

  Just before we entered the camp, I heard a commotion near my table. I looked out over the camp, and could see everyone looking skyward, the whole camp had stopped dead. A white seagull was heading inland from the coast, fighting against the strong winds, its perfect white body defined against the black ash sky that permanently surrounds us. I had always disliked seagulls, but this one was different, this one embodied all our hope, as it fought with the conditions and past over us, on its way inland.

  Aftermath: The battle for the North

  25/11/27 - Time 00:40

  When the queue had died down, I signalled for the children to come back, as Bernard and I stood up, lifted our rucksacks off the ground, and slung them over our shoulders. The boys arrived back, but Emma was ignoring me, so I told the boys to stay with Bernard, as I went to get her. She was still playing with the young girls she’d introduced me to, skipping around in a circle, completely oblivious to my arrival. ‘Come on Emma, we need to get inside, and get settled in. You can come and play with-’

  ‘Beth and Nancy’ she interrupted, smirking at my inability to remember their names. ‘Can they come and stay in our room dad?’

  ‘I don’t think their dad will want them staying in another room,’ I replied, acknowledging a look from their father, sat on the opposite table, that said as much. ‘You can arrange to see them tomorrow.’

  ‘They would be happy with that’ said the girl’s father, standing to shake my hand as he spoke. ‘My name is John, we are in room thirty five on the first floor. Nancy and Beth would be happy to play with Emma again.’

  I introduced our group, and then asked John how long he had been at Camp Blue.

  ‘We arrived four days ago’ he replied, sitting back down.

  ‘How are you finding it?’

  ‘I’m so grateful we were picked up, without the army, I don’t know what would’ve happened to us. We’re still settling in at the moment, seeing how it all works, but it’s good to have some organisation back in our lives, and a feeling of security.’

  I said good night, picked up my diary, putting it under my arm, and ushered the children towards the entrance to the hotel. The tower eye, now situated at the front entrance, was brittle and rusting with decay. The children picked at it as we waited our turn, pulling bits off and putting their fingers through the holes. There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance as the winds kick up around us, and most people started to head inside, so we joined the queue behind two elderly men. I took a final look outside as the black clouds lit up, and we were reminded of the impenetrable darkness surrounding us. Inside the building, directly in front of us, was a large desk manned by two officers. Above them was a sign, with ‘Please register here’ painted in big black letters. On their left was a post guarded by one officer, who was checking people’s identification as they past on their way to their rooms, on the right was an ‘Out of order’ lift and a set of stairs. As the elderly couple in front were registering, I picked up an elastic band from a bowl on the table, and wrapped it around my diary.

  ‘Is that to be handed in?’ Asked the soldier, standing a couple of steps away from the register’s desk. I nodded and with a heavy heart offered him the book, he took it from me and added it to the collection of books and other literature on the table.

  ‘Good afternoon and welcome to Camp Blue’ said the seated officer, shuffling uncomfortably in his chair.

  ‘I haven’t had a break for seven hours, but you guys look like our final five, and I’m just about ready to sink my first cold beer of the day’ he laughed, as the standing soldier nodded his head in agreement.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan’ I replied, acknowledging a look of agreement from Bernard.

  ‘What are your names and where have you guys travelled from?’

  ‘I’m Nathan, this is Bernard, and the three children are Emma, James and Josh. We have travelled from Edinburgh via Dumfries.’

  ‘That’s some distance. My name is Officer Farrell and this is Private Chadwick. How long have you been on the road?’

  ‘Since the attack.’

  ‘Oh man, you must stink!’ He said, pointing at the children.

  ‘No you stink’ retorted Emma, ‘You smell like an orangutan’s arm pit.’

  ‘Really? Do I?’ He asked, looking at the boys, who nodded nervously. ‘I’m gonna have to do something about that, I cannot be smelling worse than you.’ Private Chadwick walked around the table, picking up a Polaroid camera on route and asked us to form a line for photographic identification. ‘Your photo ID will be ready for collection at the ten o’clock meeting tomorrow, this is your room key, I’ll give you two, one for each adult’ continued Officer Farrell as he handed out bottles of water to each member of our party. ‘Water is distributed at the camp meetings, at six o’clock. You missed today’s so this is your supply for tomorrow.’

  We all had our photographs taken, much like a passport photo, look straight ahead, and no smiling. ‘These are tomorrows food vouchers,’ he said, handing me five pieces of card. ‘You will need these for every meal you have, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The officer who serves you your food will sign the card each time, don’t forget it, no card no meal. Breakfast is served at nine am, lunch at twelve pm and dinner at five pm. On each floor there’s a wash room,’ he continued, waving his hand in the air frantically until it was acknowledged by the soldier on the left, who started to walk towards us. ‘I’m sure your stay at Camp Blue will be a happy one, this is Nathan, Bernard, Emma, James and Josh from Edinburgh’ he announced to the soldier, who shook Bernards hand, and then mine. ‘My name is Sergeant Davis, and I’m your Camp Blue representative. If you have any problems or questions, I’m the person to ask. If you follow me, I’ll show you to your room, and give you a short tour of the floor.’ The building was in reasonable shape, clean and tidy, with white walls that smelt recently painted, and dark wood doors. ‘This floor is one long corridor, with the door numbers going in sequence. The wash room is the first on the left, it gets busy during the day, I find first thing in the morning or last thing at night the best time to go.’ We continued along the corridor towards some large double doors. ‘You will be glad to know the bar is located on this floor’ Sergeant Davis laughed, opening the double doors wide enough to see inside. ‘Certainly a selling point for me when I got this position, not got as far to stumble back to my room.’

  ‘When is it open?’ I asked, trying to make conversation.

  ‘If someone wants a drink, it’s open. We have an extremely large amount of alcohol, seized by one of our search teams. Something like two hundred thousand bottles, so it’s not presently rationed, but when supplies dwindle, that will change. It’s mostly inhabited by the camps soldiers at the moment, but hopefully others will feel comfortable enough to join us soon.’

  Sergeant Davis was the kind of bloke I would normally resent, around six two, athletic and too damn handsome. With close cut brown hair and a jovial personality, I searched for a flaw like everyone would, but I couldn’t find one. Sergeant Davis pointed out the dining room next, which was opposite the bar. ‘Every floor has its own dining hall, breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in here, just don’t forget your vouchers.’ We stopped outside our room as he gave us the final part of his spiel. ‘This is your room, number forty two, you have no neigbours on your right at the moment, but that will inevitable change tomorrow. The door at the end of the corridor is the fire exit, if the alarm should sound continually, head through there, lifting the steel bar until the security lock opens. You will find out a bit more at the camp meeting tomorrow, each day we have a meeting at six pm, we just ask for one member of each room to be present, but as you are new, you must all attend the newcomers meeting, tomorrow at ten am. Do you have any questions?’

  ‘Do the toilets and sinks work?’

  ‘The toilets on this floor are fine, higher floors are experiencing some problems, but will still work if you tip a bucket of water into the bowl to create the pressure to flush. I
certainly wouldn’t drink the water that comes out of the tap though, we clean our own water for drinking, and make it available at the camp meetings. The bath has been filled with water for washing, and is refilled with clean water every week. We wouldn’t advise you bathe in the water, just pour enough into the sink and hand wash.’

  I thanked Sergeant Davis, bid him good night, and opened the door to let the children into the room, who went straight for the beds. The room was a reasonable size, clean, with two single beds, three mattresses, and a window that overlooked the outdoor play area, which was handy. There’s a small bathroom, with a toilet, sink and bath. Bernard and I removed our rucksacks and emptied the contents onto the bed, sorting through it all. I threw all the dirty clothes onto the floor by the door, and tried to brush the creases out of the clean ones, before putting them on hangers in the wardrobe. They barely took up a quarter of the space, it seems strange unpacking our belongings and settling somewhere, I think I’d resigned myself to a life on the road. I put the rest of my stuff neatly on the bedside table, in between the two single beds, and sat next to the children. Above the beds were three black and white photographs, each one showing a different part of Lancashire, Great Britain during the Second World War. The centre piece was an aerial photograph of Blackpool dated August third, nineteen forty. If my history is correct, that was during the Battle of Britain, the photo shows a largely undamaged Blackpool, with smoke bellowing from surrounding areas, possibly Fleetwood. Ironically, Blackpool looks more war torn now, but mainly from decades of poverty and bankruptcy, before any nuclear winter took hold. Bernard mentioned the Nazis never attacked Blackpool, even thought it had strategic targets, as it was believed Hitler wanted it intact when they invaded. I knew there was going to be an issue with the sleeping arrangements, the beds proving too inviting to the children.

  ‘Can I have this bed Dad? It’s massive, and I fit in perfectly.’

  ‘I think Bernard and I will take the beds, you and the boys will be fine on the mattresses.’

  ‘It’s not fair, I wish I was old, you get everything when you’re old.’

  ‘When you’ve carried us around the countryside for days on end, I’ll let you take a bed.’

  I asked Bernard if he had any dirty clothes for washing. ‘I’ve already put them in the pile by the door,’ he replied, with a smile on his face.

  ‘What are you smiling at?’

  ‘You’

  ‘Me? Why, what have I done?’

  ‘Just making excuses to go and have a beer.’

  ‘The most important thing to me at this moment, is to get all these dirty clothes clean-after that, I might just call in the pub for a beer. Is that OK with you?’

  ‘Yeah that’s fine, I’m tired anyway.’

  The children had a mad thirty minutes, excited to be somewhere new, and happy to be with other children. For the first time in as long as I can remember, my thoughts weren’t taken up with what dangers tomorrow would bring, now replaced by an almost nervous apprehension of a new camp life. A new home, with new worries. I don’t know where children get their energy from, they’d arrived at the camp more hyper than when they woke this morning. But eventually it caught up with them, first their eyes started to glaze over, and they curled up into little balls and fell fast asleep. I stripped them of their dirty clothes, and tucked them up in bed, making sure they were well covered. The strenuous journey had also caught up with Bernard, who had put himself to bed, and was now soundly snoring away. I put one of the room keys between my teeth, gathered all the clothes together in my arms and carried them to the door, which I held open with my foot.

  ‘You need a hand?’ Said a voice from in the corridor. Sergeant Davis held the door for me as I left the room. He took the key from my mouth and locked the door for me, putting it in my back pocket.

  ‘You’re keen,’ he smiled. ‘I thought you’d be asleep by now.’

  ‘I should be, everyone else is’ I replied, as we made our way down the corridor. He opened the door to the bar area, as I continued towards the wash room.

  ‘Do you fancy a beer when you have finished Nathan? I have some questions for you.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘I’ll tell you in, say, twenty minutes?’

  ‘OK.’

  I continued into the wash room, and threw all our clothes into one of the large sinks, that was already full of water. I poured in some washing detergent, and stirred the clothes with a large wooden spoon, that I found next to the sink. I decided to leave the clothes to soak, and would pick them up after a drink in the bar. When I opened the door to the pub, there was a definite ‘You’re not from around here’ moment, as the whole bar stopped and turned around to face me, standing nervously at the door. ‘Come and sit here’ shouted Sergeant Davis, sat at the bar. He pulled a bar stool out, and slapped the wooden seat. ‘I’ve saved you a place, come and meet some of the lads.’ I walked over to the bar, still intrigued as to what he wanted to ask me about. ‘This big guy here is ‘Rhino’ he said, slapping his huge shoulders. That’s Murphy on the end, and Keane behind the bar.’ They all acknowledged me with either a nod or a wave, as a younger looking soldier walked over carrying six bottles of beer, which he handed out. ‘And this is my little brother Ian’ continued Sergeant Davis, ‘But everyone calls him Little D.’

  ‘I wish they wouldn’t’ he whispered as he handed me a bottle.

  ‘Thanks, why Little D? I asked.

  ‘Just Little Davis’ he replied, looking like he was fed up of answering the same question.

  ‘He’s followed his brother everywhere’ said Keane, with a smirk on his face. ‘Same school, same college and now same army reserve.’

  ‘He just chose the same places I wanted to go to, a few years before me’ responded Little D.

  ‘I’m happy he’s following in my footsteps’ said Sergeant Davis, putting his arm around his brother.

  ‘So what did you want to ask me about Davis?’ I said.

  ‘Call me Chris. I wanted to speak to you about your journey through Scotland. We’ve heard worrying reports of cannibalism, and kuru, spreading down the country from Edinburgh.’

  ‘What’s kuru? I’ve seen it painted on signs next to dead bodies, burned and mutilated.’

  ‘That’s why I wanted to speak to you about it, to see if you have any information that could be useful. Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder, a disease spread by eating the flesh of humans, normally after they have died.’

  ‘I did see it, close to Edinburgh, groups of disgusting human beings, or what once were human. There were large groups, and individuals, all at different stages of infection. In the early stages, there seemed to be a tribe mentality.’

  ‘If this thing is spreading, it could become a real problem, we have to destroy it at its core, and do it soon. There’s a meeting about it tomorrow, the soldiers meeting, at eight am. A team is going to be-’

  ‘He’s not a soldier’ snarled Keane, ‘He doesn’t belong at that meeting.’

  ‘Pull your head in Keane’ shouted Sergeant Davis. ‘This is not a regular war. I must apologise for Keane, he still thinks the Government are paying our wages, and he is fighting for Queen and country.’

  ‘Fuck you Davis’ retorted Keane, as he stormed off, out of the pub.

  ‘Sorry about that, he’s had a bit too much to drink. He’s harmless really, so long as he hasn’t got a sniper rifle in his hand.’

  ‘He’s a typical fucked up solider,’ said Little D, ‘We’re all fucked up, and use alcohol to hide it.’

  ‘I think you could have an insight into what we will have to deal with’ said Sergeant Davis, ‘If you’re interested, I’m sure General Morris would be grateful for any information. The meeting takes place at eight am on the third floor, just follow the noise, it can get fairly rowdy.’

  I asked Sergeant Davis if he had a new diary I could use, he looked behind the bar and found a hardback note book, which he gave me. I finished my beer, sa
id good night to the lads, and picking up my new diary headed back to the wash room to collect our clothes, with a promise I would attend the soldiers meeting. I rinsed the clothes, then wrung them out as best I could, and carried them back to my room where I hung them up to dry on the bathroom door and windowsill. Everyone was still asleep, I re-covered them all with their blankets, and sat on my bed with my new diary and torch to start a new entry.

  25/11/27 - Time 12:50

  The short sharp blast from the alarm woke everyone in our room, but as they rolled over and went back to sleep, I looked at my watch and got up. Josh stirred, and turned to face me, he never said a word, he just watched me get dressed. ‘You OK Josh? Get another hours sleep and I’ll wake you up for breakfast.’

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I’m just going to a meeting about the camp, Bernard is still in the room with you.’ I tucked him back into bed and he turned onto his side and closed his eyes. I checked I still had the key, and left the room, almost walking into Sergeant Davis in the corridor. ‘You look like you stayed in the bar a bit too long’ I joked, as he tucked his uniform in while trying to hide a yawn.