The Fallout

by Knox, J. C.

  THE

  FALLOUT

  J.C. KNOX

  Chapter 1

  April 26th, 1986.

  Blackcliff Island – A British Island situated just off the West Coast of Ireland.

  The house shook, waking George and his wife Sarah.

  ‘What was that?’ Sarah mumbles, rubbing her eyes as she sits up.

  ‘It’s probably nothing, go back to sleep. I’ll make sure everything is okay,’ George said, as the house shook for a second time.

  ‘George?’

  ‘I’ll check what’s going on, wait here,’ George said, trying to dampen the anxiety coursing through him.

  Hurrying down the stairs George pulls the living room curtain open. Stepping back, he recoils at the mushroom shaped plume of smoke billowing into the air. There’s been an explosion, panic paralyses him momentarily, before he turns and runs into the kitchen. Pulling open cupboard doors, he grabs all the tinned and packet foods throwing them into a backpack. Keying a code to the safe hidden under the stairs, George gathers his and his wife’s birth certificates and passports before running up the stairs to wake Sarah.

  ‘Get up, I think there’s been a nuclear explosion, we have to go to the bunker.’

  ‘What? How do you know?’ Sarah said, rubbing her eyes.

  ‘You’ll see, come on, we must move fast, get your clothes, I’ve got some food packed! Come on, hurry. We must get to safety; we have little time.’

  George and Sarah dash around their bedroom gathering as much clothing as they can carry, before descending the stairs, where an orange glow is lighting up the hall. Dashing to the living room window, Sarah lets out an involuntary gasp.

  ‘We’re gonna die,’ she said, tuning to look at her husband.

  ‘No! We will survive, but we must act quickly, gather everything you think we’ll need for at least 3 months,’ he said.

  Laden with their belongings George and Sarah with gas masks over their faces, heavy coats on over their pyjamas and slippers on their feet, make their way precariously down the garden path out onto the cliff side. It’s a short but dangerous trek, intensified by the sound and spray of the Atlantic waves smashing on rocks next to them. Ten minutes later, they arrive at the bunker. Dumping his load on the ground, George grabs the massive metal handle, using all his body weight and strength to unlock the door, but it’s stuck, he’s annoyed that it’s taking so long to get the large round handle to turn. George knows, the longer they are outside, the more chance there is that they will be exposed and continues to pull on the handle until there’s a loud screeching as the mechanism reluctantly turns releasing the lock. Using his body weight to pull, the heavy iron door reluctantly opens. Shining the torch in through the opening Sarah laden with her belongings steps inside. Gathering his backpack from the ground George steps in behind her and pulls the heavy iron door closed. The door slams shut, muting the sound of the ocean, until they can’t hear it at all. It’s cold inside the tunnel and the air stale. The only light comes from George’s torch.

  ‘I’m scared. George.’

  ‘Just give me a minute, there’s a lantern somewhere here,’ he said, shining the torch up and down the walls until the light reveals a shelf with a lantern and other items on it.

  On the shelf with the lantern there are several packets of matches, a packet of mints, cable ties, a multi tool kit, a tub of potassium iodide tablets, several boxes of water-purifying tablets and rehydration-tablets. George lights the lantern and opens the tub of potassium iodide tablets taking one himself before handing Sarah a small round tablet. She holds it in her hand, looking skeptically at it.

  ‘Take it, it will stop the thyroid from absorbing any radiation,’ he said, gathering the rest of the gear off the shelf, shoving it into his coat pockets.

  ‘Come on, follow me,’ George said, stepping ahead of Sarah in the narrow dark space.

  They hurry down the dark narrow passage until they reach another heavy iron door. Setting the backpack on the cold concrete floor, George turns to face Sarah.

  ‘We must strip to our underwear here in the tunnel and when we get inside, you will see a large shower room on the left, we have to shower fully before entering the bunker properly.’

  ‘Is it really necessary? I’m freezing!’

  ‘Yes, after a nuclear explosion there will be large amounts of thermal radiation, it’s invisible but it can cause catastrophic injuries if not removed as soon as possible. We must shower as soon as we’re in there. Okay?’

  Stripped down to their underwear in the cool chamber, George dons’ heavy gloves before grabbing the massive handle. Using his weight, he turns the handle and pulls the heavy door open before stepping through closely followed by Sarah. Inside George immediately turns left, guiding Sarah into the large shower room where there are several shower heads lined up. George and Sarah use soap to wash themselves top to toe before getting dried and dressed in white pyjamas that have been placed on shelves in the shower room.

  ‘Let me show you around,’ George said, guiding Sarah into the vast space.

  Crossing the room, he lights another more powerful lantern, that reveals an enormous open space. George walks Sarah around the vast space showing her an entire wall covered with shelves tightly packed with all types of books and video tapes. A seating area with several sofas, a gas filled radiator, a large TV, and VCR. At the back of the room, there’s a kitchen area with a table and chairs, a fridge and a cooker. The other side of the kitchen are more shelves filled with packet foods and large containers of bottled water. On the walls are several large world maps.

  ‘Did you do this?’ Sarah asks, as she takes in the bunker.

  ‘Yes, I’ve been stocking the bunker ever since we moved to Blackcliff island five years ago.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘In case this happened. I’d heard the rumours about how unstable nuclear reactors were and what a leak or explosion can do to a human body. I knew that this would happen someday and wanted us to survive,’ he said, walking to the far wall pulling down a fold up double bed. ‘The British military built and used this place, but the island was abandoned after the army left until we bought it.’

  ‘How long do you think we must stay?’

  ‘It depends on how bad it is, but radioactivity of iodine reduces by half every eight days, so in a month there would be only one-sixteenth of the original acute radiation at the scene. But there will be fallout, it will spread far and wide and will last for many years. We will need to stay here for at least three months.’

  ‘Will we have enough food and water to live on in here for three months?’

  ‘We have enough food and water for the next three years. I have solar panels attached to the top of the bunker on the cliffs, and a generator in the lower floor so we have electricity, but we can only use one appliance at a time. If you want to use the hob, we must switch the fridge off. I had wanted to get a wind turbine fitted but didn’t have time,’ George said, pulling out a radio and batteries from a large wooden box.

  Sarah sits on a pallet box full of non-perishable food shaking her head. ‘This is madness George; How do you know that it’s definitely a nuclear explosion?’

  ‘Trust me, did you see that mushroom shaped plume billowing into the air and the orange glow? That’s due initially to the intense heat from the explosion but also the energy created in the reaction with nitrogen dioxide. Although I must admit it is a lot larger than I expected it would be, the whole of England, Wales and most of the east of Ireland are probably destroyed. The blast alone would have wiped them out, what we have to worry about is fallout.’

  Tuning the radio, George finds several local Irish radio stations where the orange plume is the main topic of conversation. Some stations are reporting the orange plume
as a potential nuclear explosion from somewhere in the east, with calls for the public not to panic. Others are reporting it as a strange weather phenomenon.

  ‘It mustn’t be a nuclear plant in the UK, or they would know even at this time of night,’ George said.

  Pulling out his world map, he pins it to the wall next to the others. George traces east until he finds the nearest nuclear plant, realising the nearest outside of the UK is in Sweden. Is it possible that we’d see an explosion that intense from Sweden? Unlikely, it must be England, there are many nuclear power plants in England, but the fact that they could see it so clearly, it would have to be more southerly and, on the west, most likely Hinkley Point in the South West, it has two nuclear reactors.

  ‘We’ll need to stay here for at least three months depending on the wind, but you know what it’s like here, the wind tends to come from the west. That will work in our favour,’ George said, a feeling of dread creeping down his spine.

  The colour drains from Sarah’s face.

  ‘How will we know if it’s safe to leave,’ Sarah asks?

  ‘I have a Geiger-meter. It traces radiation in the air, I also have, 6 nuclear suits, masks and boots for us both. In three months, I’ll put on a suit and leave the bunker to take a meter reading. If it’s okay we can return home, if not we must stay longer and if worse comes to worst, I have two suicide capsules.’

  ‘Suicide capsules! George… Seriously?’

  ‘Trust me, a suicide capsule will be better than what radiation can do to the human body.’

  ‘Well hopefully we won’t need it.’

  ‘The suicide capsule is for when we have no other options, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, if this is the only way we’ll stay safe, I better make us comfortable, where’s the bedding? In fact, how about you give me a tour of the rest of your secret bunker,’ Sarah said.

  The bunker was designed for the British army and is enormous, it has been built over two floors, the lower floor is the generator room, and the next floor up is the living quarters. Over the past five years George has been stocking and preparing the bunker, he has cordoned off an area where they can sleep, a living area, a kitchen and an enormous section off shelves for storing water, packet foods and medicine. He also has a sterile room if either of them needs to be quarantined for whatever reason.

  ‘When did you get all this stuff?’

  ‘Any time I was called to the mainland for a consultation, I stocked up and brought it across on the boat. Also, you must’ve noticed the boxes when I would lift you from work?’

  ‘Yeah, I just assumed they were for us on the Island, I didn’t realise you were storing them.’

  Leading Sarah around the expansive bunker designed to hold around 100 people comfortably, George brings her to a large door. Pulling the door open, George flips a switch and the room lights up revealing expansive rows upon rows of sealed jars.

  ‘What are they?’ Sarah asks, stepping through the door.

  ‘Seeds, it’s so we can grow fresh food while we are down here, these lights are designed to imitate natural sunlight, it would be good for us to stand in here for a while each day while we’re living here.’

  ‘Will we be down here long enough for anything to grow?’

  ‘Probably not this time, but it’s possible that this fallout will last for thousands of years and we may need to grow our food down here, even when we’re able to go home.’

  ‘Can we really survive this? Can anyone, is there really any chance that anyone will be able to leave an underground bunker?’

  ‘We have to try! Staying underground for a while will give us the best chance.’

  Chapter 2

  Three months later.

  It’s the 25th July 1986 and George has just marked the day off on the calendar. He pulls the cumbersome radiation suit out of the box and flattens it out. It’s been three months since he and Sarah moved into the bunker. Over the past three months, the radio stations have stopped reporting, and he could not gather any information for the past month. From what he has gathered, there was a nuclear explosion in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power station just outside the Soviet Union city of Pripyat.

  ‘If it’s true, the explosion must have been catastrophic and the chances of us being able to return home are slim,’ he said, as Sarah helps him get into the suit.

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay in this?’

  ‘No, but what else can we do? Do you remember what we talked about if I’m not back in an hour?’

  ‘Yes, I wrote the instructions down, but we won’t need to worry about that, you will be back,’ Sarah said, handing him the Geiger-meter, George tests it, it reads 1.5 millisievert per hour, a normal reading for background radiation.

  ‘Open up spaceman,’ Sarah said, popping a potassium iodide tablet into George's mouth.

  George is claustrophobic, he’s struggling to breathe and move in the suit but walks to the door. He uses all his strength to grip and turn the handle, using his weight to pull the door open. The air is cooler when he steps outside into the tunnel, placing the lantern on the floor. He pulls the door closed behind him, turning the handle to lock it. The Geiger-meter is still reading normal as he walks towards the exit door. Outside the outer door, he places the lantern and Geiger down on the floor, restricted by the gloves George grips the handle and turns until it unlocks. Using his weight, he pushes until the door opens slightly. Daylight floods in blinding him, the clicking immediately increases. George takes a minute to allow his eyes to adjust. He turns the lantern off and lifts the Geiger, which is clicking frantically. Glancing at the reading, George is sure it's broken, the reading has jumped to over 200 millisievert per hour. Stepping out through the door and glancing outside, he can see all the trees on Blackcliff Island have turned a distinct brownish orange, in fact everywhere looks brown. Retreating into the bunker he pulls the heavy door until he is sealed in the bunker again. Lighting the lantern, he’s unsure what to do, the Geiger is still clicking, but the reading is down to 80 millisievert. He realises that the suit will need to be removed before he returns to the inner bunker. But that will leave him exposed before he gets inside. Standing just inside the outer door George disrobes before running as fast as he can, turning the handle and pushing the door open with all his might calling for Sarah to help him get it closed.

  ‘Don’t touch me, just push the door closed then scrub your hands and face.’

  As soon as the door is sealed closed, George heads straight to the washroom and showers, scrubbing his skin until it’s red raw. His head is pounding, and he feels sick. He knows that he has been exposed. What he doesn’t know is how badly he will be affected. Stepping out of the shower room, he sees Sarah.

  ‘You need to shower, let the water run to make sure there’s no residue left from me, go now, hurry. Scrub yourself don’t worry the water is safe. I test it every day.’

  Placing another potassium iodine tablet on his tongue, George paces back and forth, desperate to calm the fit of coughing that’s taken hold of him.

  ‘It’s worse than I thought, the nuclear reactor core in Chernobyl must have exploded.’

  The winds must be coming this way; it’s the only way the radiation can be so high three months after the event. Is that even possible? It’s highly unlikely but I can’t think of any other way the radiation would be so high. George checks the map, if the core has exploded, then the other three reactors are likely to have exploded and all the countries surrounding the immediate area around Chernobyl are likely destroyed. Ukraine, Belarus and most of the Soviet Union for sure, these countries also have nuclear power plants which are likely to have exploded sending even more toxic radiation into the air. Dread fills his core, they are doomed, there’s no way humans can survive this, the only way will be to stay underground for as long as possible. He looks up as Sarah returns, her face pink from scrubbing.

  ‘Tell me what happened?’

  ‘We can’t leave.’

  ‘Will you try
again soon?’

  ‘I’ll try again in six months, but if what I think has happened, we won’t be able to leave then either.’

  ‘Your hands George, I’ll get the burn kit.’

  Looking at his hands he can see the red blistered skin is peeling off. He only touched the suit briefly, but it was enough to damage his hands.

  Chapter 3

  Six months later.

  ‘I’m going insane George. I’m sick of our food coming from a foil packet. I want to see the sun again. Please, can you check if we can leave?’

  ‘You’re deluded if you think you’ll be eating anything fresh when we get out of here. But I will go tomorrow,’ George said, counting the bottles of water lined up along the concrete wall.

  Shortly after they arrived in the underground bunker, George rigged up a water recycling system. Condensation is collected, stored, and used to water the plants. He wants to make it bigger in case they need to use it for themselves, but for now, he has more pressing concerns and is preparing to test the air outside again.

  The following day George marks his home-made calendar, it’s the 25th January 1987, and it has been exactly six months since he last tried to leave the bunker and exactly nine months since the initial explosion. He was briefly exposed to a high dose of radiation and soon after developed a constant cough. He has a constant pain in his chest and is certain that he will develop cancer soon, if the cells in his lungs haven’t already begun to mutate. Shortly after returning from his last expedition outside, he donned a second suit and re-entered the outer chamber of the bunker again. Putting the exposed suit into a heavy plastic bag before wrapping it tightly in duct tape. He knows it’s not the best plan, but it should reduce the risk of further contamination.

  ‘That’s two suits used. I need to be careful. I don’t want to run out,’ George thought. Glancing up he notices Sarah washing the breakfast dishes

  ‘I’m going to check outside today. Will you help me get suited up?’ he asks.