But that was someone else’s problem for the time being. Right now, Alex needed to focus his attention on his own problems, on his own family. He turned off the tap and the flowing water just dripped for a while before stopping completely. Alex toweled himself off and smiled as he heard Sammy and Jake howl with laughter at a scene from a movie they had probably watched a hundred times before. He was a blessed man. He was blessed to have such a wonderful family. He needed to do whatever it took to keep them safe. He would do whatever it took to keep them safe.
Alex got out of the shower and dried himself off. He put on a fresh pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt and headed back downstairs. “Something smells good,” he said, walking into the living room.
“It won’t be long,” replied Emma.
Alex looked at Sammy and Jake, transfixed by the large TV screen, he smelt the melting cheese on the pasta bake coming from the oven and felt the heat from the gas fire on the wall. The world had changed forever outside, but in here, in their little part of it, everything was normal. Everything was as it should be.
“C’mon you two,” he said, “let’s get some grub.” Sammy paused the DVD, and she and Jake ran into the dining room.
Emma headed to the bottom of the stairs, “Mike! Dinner!” she shouted.
“On my way,” he replied.
She headed back in as Mike’s feet thundered down the stairs. She approached the table as Alex dished out healthy portions from the large serving dish for Sammy and Jake. He scooped even bigger portions for himself and Emma, but Mike had a dish of his own.
Mike entered and the two older siblings sat down. The meal began and little conversation took place while the five of them shoveled the food into their mouths. When meal time was over, Alex invited Sammy and Jake to go back to their DVD. The three adults joined them, then all five together watched another family film, until it was bedtime for the youngest siblings. When they had been tucked in and read their bedtime stories, Alex came back down.
“I need a drink,” he said, and immediately went into the kitchen. He pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer and poured himself, Mike and Emma triple measures into tumblers before returning to the living room. “Okay,” this is where we’re going to be stuck until further notice. We need to try and keep things as normal as possible for Sammy and Jake. It’s not going to be easy, it really isn’t, but whatever else is going on, we have to try, just for them.”
“You mean, this is it? When they said curfew, I thought it was between certain hours. I didn’t realise it meant house arrest,” said Emma.
“Course you didn’t,” replied Mike.
“Oh, fuck off!” she replied.
“No! You fuck off!”
“Hey! The pair of you. That’s enough. What the hell did I just say? We need stability, we don’t need arguments, we don’t need conflict.”
“Sorry, Alex,” said Mike.
“Sorry, Alex,” said Emma.
Suddenly, the phone rang, Emma’s mobile buzzed, as did Mike’s, and Alex’s. When they answered, there was a prerecorded message.
“If you are receiving this call, you are in a quarantined area. Until further notice you will be required to stay within the boundaries of your home. Failure to do so will end up in arrest and detention. Within the next forty-eight hours, you will receive a box containing basic supplies for the next few days, and detailed information on what you need to do while the authorities deal with this outbreak. In the meantime, you can access further resources at www.leedsqua.gov.uk. If you see one of the infected, call nine-nine-six-six immediately, stating your name and whereabouts. Thank you for your cooperation at this time.”
The line went dead. Alex, Emma and Mike all looked at each other. “Oh my god,” said Emma.
“Okay, so we wait,” said Alex.
“Great,” said Mike, taking a drink of Vodka.
Emma put her glass down. “I think I’m going to get an early night,” she said, kissing Alex on the cheek. “Night Mike,” she said, heading to the door.
“Night.”
When she had reached the top step, Alex signalled for Mike to sit down. “Listen to me. This is going to be very, very tough. Five of us are going to have to share this place for God knows how long. This crap with your sister, it needs to stop now.”
Mike was about to respond, but stopped himself. He took a breath, another drink of vodka, and nodded. “You’re right, I know you’re right.”
“It won’t happen overnight, but it needs to happen.”
The pair of them sat in silence for a while as the events of the day ran through their minds. Alex finished his drink and put his glass down.
“Fancy another?” Mike asked.
“No, I’m going to get to bed too. I’d say don’t stay up too late, but what the hell does it matter now?” said Alex, walking to the door. “Goodnight, son.”
“Night, dad.”
Alex was half way out of the door when he stopped and turned. “I love you, Mike.”
Mike turned to look at him. “I love you too, Alex.”
They had said that to each other just a few times in their lives. The first time was just after Sandra had died, and the second was when Mike got sentenced. They said it when they needed strength the most.
chapter nine
Day 186
It was just after six a.m. when Sammy burst into Alex’s bedroom. “Daddy,” she said, with fear in her raised voice. Alex jolted up and quickly blinked himself awake. “Daddy,” she said again, shaking him this time.
“What...what is it darling?” he asked, climbing out of bed.
“There are soldiers everywhere,” she replied, tightly gripping hold of her father’s hand. “Are we being invaded?”
“Soldiers?” asked Alex, rushing into Sammy and Jake’s bedroom. He peeled back the curtain and looked out as the sun was just waking from its slumber. His thundering footsteps had woken Mike and Emma, who had both joined him at the window.
Their normally quiet street was packed with armed soldiers. A slow moving, curtain sided lorry had more soldiers in it, who were passing boxes to a ground team, who were then distributing them to each house in the street.
“What is it? Can I see?” asked Jake. Mike picked him up, and the six-year old’s eyes widened as he looked up the street to see the armed procession. “I’m scared,” he said.
“Daddy, are we being invaded?” asked Sammy again. When no answer came, she pulled hard on his arm, “Daddy!”
“No! Sammy. No, we’re not. These soldiers are here to help. I’ll explain to you later. Be a good girl, take Jake and go put the telly on. Don’t worry about anything that’s going on outside, it’s fine.”
“But I…”
“Now, Sammy! Please,” interrupted Alex.
Mike put Jake, who was still looking scared, down on the floor, but as had happened so many times before, the moment he took his eight-year-old sister’s hand, things didn’t seem quite as bad. When the children left the room, nervous glances shot between the three adults.
“What the fuck?” asked Mike.
“I know,” replied Alex.
The three of them continued to watch as each house had a plastic delivery crate dropped off in their respective gardens. A soldier looked up at the window and stared a grim stare towards them. The lorry rolled past the front of their house and Alex, Mike and Emma watched as the six-foot wooden panelled gate to their small enclosed front garden swung open. The barrels of two rifles swung round from each side of the gate as the soldiers swept the area, making sure it was clear of danger for the delivery team. When they were happy there was no risk, they both nodded towards the waiting crate carrier, and they moved on to the next house.
A muscular soldier, strode over the threshold, placed the crate down carefully, closed the gate and repeated the procedure for the next house. Within a few minutes, the soldiers and the lorry were all out of sight. “I suppose we’d better go see what’s in there,” said Alex.
Mike
and Alex went out to retrieve the crate while Emma headed into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Although ill at ease, the children were a little happier knowing the soldiers were gone and that the risk of being invaded had subsided for the time being. Emma gave them both bowls of cereal which they munched while watching cartoons on TV.
Mike placed the crate onto the dining room table, and taking a pen knife from his pocket, split the cable ties that sealed it shut. He folded open the two lids and began to take out the contents. There were packets of dried food including rice, beans, peas, powdered potato mash, lentils, oats, flour and powdered milk. There was a smaller plastic box with a flammable sign on which Mike put to one side for the time being. There were five boxes of toilet paper sheets, a box of sanitary towels, a small first aid kit, a bottle of antibacterial soap, a bottle of disinfectant, a bag of salt, one of sugar, a high visibility orange vest, and an indexed information booklet, which Mike immediately began to look through.
“That’s actually quite a lot of food,” said Alex, “but we’ll have to be sparing with it, we don’t know when we’ll get more.
“Yes we do,” replied Mike, “It’s all in here.”
“What’s all in there?” asked Emma.
“Dates and times of when we can go get the rations. What the procedure is,” he said, reading a section, then flipping to the back of the book and removing a plastic ration card, about the same size as a credit card. “There’s a number to phone if you have special dietary requirements, there’s another number if you’re on medication and need refills of prescriptions. There’s pretty much everything you need to know in here.”
“Okay, so how often do we get rations?” asked Alex.
“Every week,” replied Mike.
“Wow!” said Alex. “That’s pretty good. With what we’ve already got in the cupboards and the freezer, we don’t have to worry about going hungry any time soon.”
“I think we should still go steady until we know just how much food we will be given weekly,” said Emma.
“Good point,” replied Mike. “This might be a couple of weeks’ worth, just in case there’s a cock up with the roll out of the rationing.”
“Agreed,” replied Alex, who reached across for the plastic box Mike had put to one side earlier. He clicked the catch open and revealed an emergency flare. “Erm?”
Mike flicked through the information book and found a reference to the flare. “It says in the event of power and communication going down, the flare should be used in case of an emergency. Then it goes on to explain what they reckon an emergency is.
An emergency includes but is not limited to any of the following:
An accident or health issue that if not dealt with could result in fatality.
A house fire or gas leak.
Flooding of your property or locale.
An issue which effects the structural integrity of your property, thus rendering it unsafe.
A sighting or interaction with a reanimated corpse.
Huh!” said Mike. “No fucking kidding that’s an emergency.”
“Look, all three of us should read through that booklet and memorise it. Knowing that stuff will make all the difference,” said Alex. Mike and Emma nodded in agreement.
Just then, Sammy came in from the other room. “What’s in the box?” she asked.
“Food and things to help us,” replied Emma.
“Was it the soldiers who gave us it?” asked Sammy.
“Yes, sweetheart,” replied Alex.
“So they don’t want to invade us after all?”
“No, darling. Like I said, the soldiers wanted to help us,” replied Alex.
“That’s good,” she said. “Everything will be alright then.”
chapter ten
Day 174
“So you know what you’re doing?” asked Emma, as she fastened the velcro lined vest around Alex’s anorak.
“Yes, mother,” replied Alex.
Emma gave him a stern stare. “Have you got the ration card?” she asked, and Alex picked it out of his pocket and showed her. “Have you got your driving licence? Just in case,” she asked, and Alex showed her that too.
“You want to check I’m wearing clean underwear? And that I brushed my teeth?”
“Sarcy prick,” she replied with a smile on her face. “I just want to make sure you’ve got everything you need. This is important.”
“I know, sweetheart,” replied Alex, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. “I’ve got everything, trust me.”
“Phone when you’ve got there safely,” said Mike.
“Yes dad,”
“Sarcy prick,” replied Mike.
Alex opened the door and stepped out into the cool morning air. The sun had broken through for the first time in days. He inhaled a breath of freshness and walked down the garden path, opened the gate and stepped onto the public pavement. He looked back towards the doorway where Mike and Emma were still stood watching him. Alex smiled. They were really good kids. He was a lucky man. He closed the gate behind him and savoured the freedom for a moment.
This was the only time he’d left the confines of his property since the curfew had been brought in. Nothing had changed on the street. It was still early in the year, so the hedges hadn’t grown dramatically. There was no sign of disturbance or of anything being amiss. The sounds from the nights of the past week had told a different story, though. Shots had rung out. Granted, they were intermittent, and mostly distant, but it was a sign that the situation in Leeds was a long way from resolved.
He put his hands in his pockets to fend off the cold, and wrapped his fingers around an unfamiliar object. He pulled it out to discover a straight edge screwdriver. It was surely Mike who had put it there, just in case. He smiled, then laughed. That boy was something else. He knew if one of the children or even Emma saw him with a proper weapon like a knife, they would panic, but a screwdriver could easily be explained. Nice thinking, Mike. Alex reached the end of the street and joined the main road. Up to that point, everything could have been normal. Everything could have been just another day, but on joining the road, suddenly there were signs that not all was right.
At the junction up ahead, there was a police car, and standing on either side of it were soldiers with rifles. Alex looked further up the road and saw the same at the next junction. Suddenly, he didn’t feel safe walking on the pavement anymore. He stepped off and headed up the broken white lines at the centre of the road. There was practically no traffic now, just emergency and military vehicles, so the danger of getting run over was minimal.
The cool, fresh air of freedom suddenly felt less enticing. Alex knew the soldiers and the police were there to protect people from the threat that now overshadowed their daily lives, but their very appearance made him feel at risk. There was danger around every corner, in every alley, down every street. He clenched the handle of the screwdriver tight as he continued his walk. As more orange vests appeared from side streets, his breathing became a little easier.
“Alex? Alex!” came a call from behind him.
Alex turned to see Jonathan, one of his neighbours; an awful gossip and a half wit to boot. The man was unable to comprehend sarcasm, so most of what Alex passed off as wit went completely over his head. Alex waited until he caught up. “Hello, Jonathan, silly question, but how are you and the family?”
“Bearing up,” he replied. “And yours?”
“Bearing up,” replied Alex.
“So, what have you heard?”
Alex looked confused. “Heard?” he asked.
“Yes. What have you heard about what’s going on?”
“What have you heard?” replied Alex.
Jonathan’s face lit up. For once in his life, someone would be hanging on every word he said. “Well, I heard it was a barge that came up the Leeds/Liverpool canal. It was carrying someone who’d made it all the way from Morocco, can you believe it? Only problem was, they hadn’t escaped unscathed. They’d got a scrat
ch. Seemed fine, then a few days later, this.”
“Where did you hear that from?” asked Alex.
“My brother is a Special Constable across in Wakefield. He’d heard it in the canteen,” replied Jonathan.
The pair continued to walk down the centre of the road, passing another parked police vehicle, and nodding at the two soldiers who stood either side of it. Finally, Alex asked “So, it was just a rumour?”
“Well, it was a rumour, but still. Sounds plausible doesn’t it?”
Alex beheld Jonathan with a look of disdain...apparently Jonathan couldn’t translate looks either. “I’d actually heard it has to do with Roswell,” said Alex, with a smile forming inside.
“What?” replied Jonathan.
“Yeah, I heard there was a lab on the crashed ship, and in the lab there were a load of samples. None of these samples could be identified by traditional methods, so they got locked in a vault until a time that science had advanced enough to be able to analyse them.” Alex looked towards Jonathan who was eagerly taking in everything Alex said. “Yeah, anyway, there was an earthquake and a breach in the vault allowed, mice, rats, squirrels, and all sorts of wildlife to get in. Apparently a squirrel ate this sample that turned out to be the reanimating virus. It swept through the North American squirrel population then it jumped species,” said Alex.
“Oh my god, you’re kidding me,” said Jonathan.
“Nope. Little, fluffy-tailed bastards,” said Alex. “Anyway, I heard one of the squirrels was shipped to Sci-tech labs across in Seacroft. Just as they made the first incision, it came back to life on the examination table. The little fucker sunk its teeth into a scientist and four lab techs, and that’s when all hell broke loose.”
“Oh...My...God!” said Jonathan.
“Exactly!” replied Alex. “So, if nothing else, no shortcuts through the park. The fluffy-tailed, little bastards aren’t just looking for acorns anymore,” said Alex.
“Bloody hell,” said Jonathan, “Duly noted.”
“Well,” said Alex, “we made it here in one piece.”
Safe Haven (Novella 2): Before Safe Haven [Alex] Page 5
