by Lee Wade
I asked him why he hadn’t been to see us earlier and he explained it was protocol. They had to make sure that we were not infected, but also that we were safe to have aboard too. Apparently after two years of surviving, some people were more dangerous than zombies these days or rotters as the Navy referred to them as. He told us that the rest of our group would be taking turns and getting their medicals that day as well and we’d be able to see them all later and that they were all fine.
I tried to find out about his family, but he said he couldn’t discuss it with us yet, but they weren’t aboard, but they were safe and well. I found out that sadly the Saltwind had been found adrift not far from our site with two rotters aboard which they had disposed of. I explained that they had been our friends and what had happened the day on the beach. Apparently George had kept a journal and this was how they’d found out about our site and came looking for us.
Keith explained that they were moving on now, further up the coast, but again he’d fill us in on all the details later once they’d got us settled in to our quarters.
Chapter Thirteen
Keith took us to our new quarters. It was more towards the front of the ship and we had to go up several decks to get there. We passed another family on our way who was being escorted by a couple of armed Sashes. They seemed to be quite upset and were carrying what looked like their belongings.
The quarters were small and basic. As before there were two sets of bunk beds, a small writing desk and a book case all within the same room. There was another room though which contained a toilet, wash basin and shower cubicle. At least it was a slight improvement on the quarantine quarters. There was no bedding and the place looked like it had been vacated in a hurry.
Keith told us to leave our belongings and said he’d show us where we would be able to find other stuff. He reminded us that we were on board a Royal Navy vessel and as such a lot of areas would be out of bounds to us.
He showed us to the mess hall. Apparently there were several mess halls on the ship which had been set up to cater for the influx of people now aboard. This was the one that we had to use though. We were given strict meal times by the cook on Duty and basically told if we missed the time slot, we missed out on our meal. We were shown to the laundry and told we were responsible for our own bedding and clothing and were given some basic bedding which was now ours to look after. There was a gymnasium that we had access to, nothing fancy and there was also a small outside space on the side of the ship, it was about half way up the ship and with locked gates at either side. It was probably a strip about 30 foot long and ten foot wide, but it was outside and we could see the sea. There were no chairs or anything, just the empty space. And that was all we had access too. There were many other doors, but they were all locked and had AUTHORISED ACCESS ONLY signs on them. The ones without the signs were other quarters.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning and sorting out our quarters before going for our scheduled meal at six O’clock, or eighteen hundred hours as the Navy liked to say. The mess hall was big enough to seat around thirty people. There was a mixture of men and women in Navy uniform, all uncommissioned ranks, but all petty officer rank and above. There were a couple of Sashes also sitting with what must have been their families and that was it.
We collected our meals from a service counter, there was no choice. Fish and rice and some tinned fruit. We sat on a table next to one of the Sashes and their family. I introduced myself and my family. The Sash introduced himself as Gavin, his partner Lia and their two children Holly and Michael. We got chatting and I asked what the Sashes were all about. He explained that the Navy had lost that many personnel that they’d had to make the decision to recruit civilian volunteers. The volunteers were mainly from family of existing personnel that were on board or trusted people with a skill that was useful to them.
Gavin had been a dentist and Lia a dental nurse at a dental practice in Ivybridge. They had gone with their family to one of the safe zones in Portsmouth in the early days of the outbreak and had been quickly recruited once the Navy had discovered their skills. He also explained that the Somerset had left the safe zone about six months ago after no new survivors had turned up for well over a month and supplies were starting to run low. They had all been assigned quarters from day one and he had had limited access to other parts of the ship. He reported for duty each morning and spent most of his days in the medical bay doing various things, not many of which were dentistry.
I asked him about the other survivors and other parts of the ship. He went a little sheepish and started to talk quitter as if people were listening to us. He did say that he’d heard rumours of overcrowding and disease in some areas of the ship, but had never witnessed anything outside of his access zone, so it was what it was, rumours. I made a mental note to ask Keith about the rest of the ship the next time I saw him.
We finished our meals and headed outside for a while so the children could have a bit of a run around and a bit play. I couldn’t help but think what the future held for them and what kind of world they were going to grow up in, but I was going to do my best to make it the best life I could for them.
Gav had said that they got the occasional contraband working in the medical bay from some of the new comers and had a nice bottle of single malt he’d been saving if I fancied popping around to their quarters later for a quite drink.
To be honest, I just wanted to get the kids to sleep and spend some quality time with my wife. It had been a long day, but I agreed out of politeness and I also wanted to find out as much as I could about what went on aboard the Somerset.
We went back to our quarters, showered the kids and got them settled. Babs said she was going to bed to read her book. I kissed her on the forehead and left to go to Gav and Lia’s quarters.
Chapter Fourteen
No sooner had I stepped outside, Gav was there along with Keith. You need to come with us Keith said, we’ve got a lot to show you. No scotch for tonight then I thought!
I asked where we were going and was told I needed to be quite as I was about to be shown and told things I shouldn’t have access too. We walked down a corridor a way and Keith unlocked one of the AUTHORISED ACCESS ONLY doors, we walked through and he locked it behind us. Don’t worry he said, we haven’t had the resources to power the CCTV for months now. We had entered what seemed to be just a continuation of the previous corridor. More doors, all locked, mostly AUTHORISED ACCESS ONLY doors. Gav explained that they were mainly single crew quarters. We kept walking until we reached another door. Again Keith unlocked it. We headed down a flight of stairs to the deck below, part way down, Keith stopped. There’s something we need to explain before we go any further. We couldn’t tell you earlier as people may have overheard. As you know the Royal Navy has a strict ranking system and as such our quarters and level of comfort increase through the ranks. I can’t show you anything above my rank as they would question why you were there, but believe me, it’s a lot better than what you’ve seen so far and a hell of a lot better than what you’re about to see.
What you’re about to see is uncommisioned quarters, below the rank of petty officer along with their families. Families that are aboard are given the same status and comfort as their serving family member. The Navy is effectively at War and as such decisions are made by the ship’s Captain as there has been no contact with any government or Navy command for months now. This was one of the primary reasons we left Portsmouth. We’re not just looking for survivors and supplies, but primarily for other Navy ships and to re-establish contact with our command centre. Yes we pick up survivors along the way, but this has never been our primary goal.
Chapter Fifteen
We continued down the stairs and through another locked door at the bottom. As we walked through we entered what I was told used to be a gymnasium and recreational area. There were make shift curtains providing temporary barriers down each side of the room and then these were sub divided into smaller sections. Each s
ection held a small group of people. Some were family, some friends that had been traveling together, but all were the friends and family of the uncommisioned ranks. They had mattresses, camp beds, camp chairs, all sorts of things that would have been acquired on the many outings. Keith explained that they were fed twice a day from a trolley that came around, soup, and rice, whatever there was that day. They had a shared shower and toilet area that used to be part of the gymnasium facilities. I estimated that there was about two hundred in the room. Men, women and children were all ‘living’ together. They had limited access to outside space similar to what we had. I checked what cubicles I could as we walked through the room, but couldn’t see anyone from our site.
When we reached the other side of the gymnasium we went through another locked door and down some more stairs to another, lower, deck. What we saw then was horrendous. The corridors were just packed with people. Women, children and men were all just lying on the floor or standing around. The heat was stifling and the smell indescribable! We had to shove our way past people, they were begging for food or anything they could trade for food. They were dirty and some looked like they were just hanging onto life. We made our way slowly through the corridor and into what I think was some sort of waste room. Again there were people everywhere. Gavin explained that these were the survivors that had been picked up with no Navy connections and no skills that the Navy required. I recognised the family we had passed when we came aboard. They had been in our quarters but had been made to leave as the father who had been a Sash had been killed when out on an excursion. The Navy had no use for the rest of the family, so they were made to live here now.
People were crammed into all sorts of spaces, anywhere they could lie down, they had done. Apparently they were fed whatever was left after the rest of the ship had been fed. There was no organisation to it, they opened a door, wheeled it in and it was basically survival of the fittest. The facilities were basically a few Running taps and buckets which were emptied into the waste chutes, the same place the dead were disposed of I was told. There were more corridors and rooms, all were the same.
Chapter Sixteen
Then I heard a baby crying, surely not I thought, I made my way towards the sound and sure enough cramped into a corner was Alan and Liz with young Kathy crying her eyes out. I looked around further; Ken and Margaret were here too as well as John, Amy and Anthony. I looked a little further and there was Hayley, Britney and Alfie too. They didn’t look in too bad a way; I guess they hadn’t been on board long.
As soon as they saw me, they were all up; we were all hugging and crying. Questions were being fired at me from everyone. Whoa! I said; calm down, one at a time. I spoke to John first, he explained that they had only just been in there that day and had all been quarantined much the same as ourselves the rest of the time. They hadn’t heard or seen anything from Becky, Maddison and the rest of the guys. Paul had been a mechanic, David a sailor and the two girls were studying various medical sciences at University, so had no doubt been treated not too similar to me and my family.
We agreed there and then that we would do whatever it took to get off that ship as soon as we possibly could and that we would keep our group together whatever it took. Keith said that no one had wanted to leave before, despite the conditions, they had all had to survive outside at some point and knew what happened if you were bitten. I could only imagine what some of these people had been through if living here, like this was better than what was on the outside. I guess we’d been lucky on our site and had been sheltered form a lot of the horrors that these people had gone through.
Chapter Seventeen
It broke my heart to leave the guys in that room like that. I asked Keith if we could at least take baby Kathy with us until we could get Alan and Liz somewhere better, but we couldn’t, it would be too risky as he didn’t know what would happen if anyone learned I’d been down here. Keith had access to all levels with him being a Warrant Officer so he said he’d find out where the rest of our group was. He was also going to try and find out if we could leave or not.
We arranged to meet up at evening meal the following day and discuss what our plan of action was going to be. That seemed like a lifetime away for me knowing the conditions some of our group were living in. I went back to our quarters; everyone was sleeping, so I climbed into my cold bunk. I didn’t sleep much with everything that was going on in my mind.
Luke and Emily were first awake the following morning; I must have drifted off at some point as I was woken by their playing. They still had their favourite two toys from home with them, so were busy playing with White Teddy and Purple Mini, arguing as usual as children do.
Babs woke up not long after and went and showered and dressed. We all got ready and went for breakfast at 08:00 hours. Gav, Lia and their children were there too, so we sat and ate with them. I hadn’t had the chance to discuss all of what had happened the night before with Babs yet, but I filled her in on a lot of it. After breakfast Gav and Lia went to start their duties, they were able to take the children with them, there were no child care facilities, not that I was surprised. Gav said that it wouldn’t be long before me and Babs were approached to be given our duties, apparently we would be given a few days to settle in first.
To be honest, I could have done with being given something straight away; it may have given me more access to information and a quicker way out. I couldn’t help but think they weren’t just going to drop us off somewhere without a fight, after all, they had already invested quite a bit of time in getting us through quarantine and I didn’t think they’d do that just to let us off at the next stop.
Chapter Eighteen
It was mid-morning and we were out in the outside area with the children, there was no one else there, all of them were probably working, then the door opened and David walked out. Oh my God Babs cried out and she and the two children ran hugged him. It turned out he was on the same corridor as ourselves, just had different meal times, so our paths hadn’t crossed yet. He said Paul and Sophie were on our corridor too and on the same meal times as himself.
I told him everything that we’d learned so far and about the other guys down below. He agreed that we had to act now to get them out. I told him about the meeting I had arranged later that day with Gav and Keith and he said he’d speak to Paul and Sophie at lunch and they’d meet up with us too.
Chapter Nineteen
We all met up after lunch as planned, Babs volunteered to look after all the Children in our quarters and the rest of us met in Gav and Lia’s.
Keith said that the girls were working in the officer’s mess, serving drinks and waiting on them. He also told us what this usually led to after a while as many of the young women ended up “serving” the single officers. We needed to get them out of there now.
He’d had a word with the Lieutenant and I was to start work in the navigation room the following morning, apparently my mathematics degree was finally useful for something. Babs was to help in the kitchens. David and Paul were to take charge of the up keep of The Hope and were to man it on missions. Sophie was to work with Gav and Lia in the medical Bay. We were all issued with our Blue sashes and David and Paul were to be issued with weapons the following morning.
I wanted to see how the other guys were doing, but was told it was too risky. Even though I was now a sash, it would still be seen as suspicious as I had no need to be down there.
Keith had asked if anyone had wanted to leave before and had been told no, people wanted to come aboard the Somerset, not leave it. He had asked if someone wanted to leave, could they? Apparently any none Navy personnel were free to leave whenever they wanted. However, as sashes, we were now considered to be Navy personnel and our boat, The Hope, was now considered to be Royal Navy property. If any of us did leave, we would be considered deserters and since we were under martial law, this could result in fairly severe punishment if we were to be recaptured.
Keith had learned that we were two days
away from Faslane in Scotland where they were planning to dock and see if the safe zone was still secure. Anyone of our other guys would be free to leave to the safe zone or take their chances alone.
We all decided that we would start our duties the following day as planned. Babs was to take the children with her as apparently they weren’t allowed above decks and we would meet up again the following evening when we would have a clearer idea of where things stood.
Chapter Twenty
My day was fairly uneventful; it was more of an induction to what I was to be doing. Basically charting what the Navy had discovered so far and where. It was all the boring stuff that they didn’t want to do for themselves anymore.
I met with Babs and the Children at lunch time. She had spent the morning helping to prepare what we were about to eat. The children had been allowed to play in an area set aside with a few other children for company, so Babs had been able to keep a close eye on them. I could see why if you weren’t living on, or didn’t know anyone on the lower decks that life could be quite comfortable and safe for a family aboard the Somerset. But we knew what the rest of our group was enduring below and hence had to do something about the situation and fast.
I spent the afternoon charting events on maps, but also at the same time studying Faslane and the local area. I was starting to work out a plan in my head but needed the advice and guidance of some of the other guys to see how feasible they thought it was. I also managed to get a few copies of some maps I felt would be useful if my plan was to go ahead.
