by Jason Ayres
The electronic board was still scrolling across above the centre of the aisle.
“This train is for Penzance,” it stated. “Calling at Bodmin, Par, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, Camborne, St Erth and Penzance.”
“It looks pretty thick out there,” said Alice. “How long do you think it will be before we get moving again?”
Before Josh could answer, an announcement came over the speaker.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologise for the continued delay. This is due to heavy snow on the tracks. We hope to be moving again as soon as possible. The buffet car is open if you should wish to avail yourself of any hot drinks or refreshments.”
“It looks like we could be here some time,” remarked Josh. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Shall we?”
“Definitely,” she replied.
They headed for the buffet car. There was no need for any hurry. Within another hour night had fallen, the temperatures plummeted, and with it the growing realisation that they were not going to be going anywhere tonight.
Chapter Fourteen – 21st October 2029 (7.00am)
Charlie was exhausted. He had been driving most of the night to get to the port.
It had taken them until 4am to reach Dover. The snow had continued to fall off and on all night. They had crawled around the M25, almost getting stuck completely at one point where a lorry had jackknifed, blocking two lanes. Eventually they made it to the M20, which was just about passable, and made their way slowly onwards.
Around midnight, Kaylee had suggested that they stop at some services near Ashford, and get a hotel for the night but Charlie was determined to press on. They had been listening to the radio ever since leaving Gatwick and there were some real horror stories beginning to emerge.
As far as they could tell, Scotland and the North of England were more or less completely cut off. Figures such as 18 inches of snow were being quoted, with drifts of over a metre. Electricity lines had been brought down in several areas, leading to power cuts, and there were numerous reports of fallen trees.
“We have to keep going,” Charlie had said. “If we stop now, we might never get started again.”
And so they had struggled painfully on to the end of the M20. The last few miles were the toughest of all, made worse by the very real possibility that they might run out of fuel.
Charlie was glad he’d chosen a hybrid car rather than a purely electrical one. If it hadn’t been for the full tank of petrol he’d put in, they would never have made it. Even so, all those miles crawling along in first and second gear had left the needle hovering dangerously close to empty.
When they got in sight of the port they joined a long queue of cars waiting to board the ferry. Clearly a lot of other people had had the same idea as them. The first sailing of the day wasn’t due to leave until 6.40am, so he switched the engine off and took the opportunity to grab a couple of hours’ sleep.
Kaylee was already asleep: the long day had taken its toll on the pregnant girl.
He was awoken a couple of hours later by a horn beeping behind him. They were on the move again. He switched on the engine and began the crawl towards the ferry terminal. Progress was slow and it became clear quite quickly that they were not going to make it onto the first ferry.
Then came the moment Charlie had feared. About a quarter of a mile from the ferry, the engine died. They were out of fuel.
“What now?” asked Kaylee.
“We’ve no other option,” replied Charlie. “We abandon the car and walk.”
“We can’t just leave it here, can we?” she asked.
“I don’t see why not. We must have passed a hundred abandoned cars since we left Gatwick. What’s the worst that could happen? They tow it away? That’s if they can even get a tow truck down here, which I doubt.”
“We can still get on the ferry, though?” she asked.
“I would think so. We’ll just become foot passengers. I bet you’re glad we didn’t bring the luggage now.”
They got out of the car and walked away to a furious cacophony of beeping. The man in the car behind them rolled down his window and shouted.
“You can’t just leave that there, mate! Oi! I’m talking to you!”
“Just keep walking,” said Charlie.
The man let out a torrent of further abuse and threats, but it was clear he wasn’t going to leave the comfort of his car to “land one” on Charlie as he’d put it. Soon they were out of earshot.
Progress on foot was slow. It took them half an hour to reach the passenger terminal, and when they did they were relieved to see that the ferries to Calais were still running. They’d missed the first two, but Charlie managed to get them tickets for the 10.15am crossing.
“What are we going to do when we get to the other side?” asked Kaylee.
“We keep going by any means we can,” said Charlie. “We have to keep moving and stay south of the worst of the snow.”
They were relieved that there was no delay to the boarding of their ferry. By 10.30am it was sailing out of Dover and their adventure southwards across Europe had begun.
They went up on deck to take a last look at England. The landscape behind them was covered in snow as far as they could see, and the cliffs of Dover had never looked so white. Charlie wondered how long it would be until they would see them again.
They did not linger long on deck in the freezing cold air. He squeezed Kaylee’s hand and they went inside for some much-needed breakfast. They were on their way.
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Josh and Alice had spent an uncomfortable night in the railway carriage. The guard had come through to inform them that the train wouldn’t be moving until the morning, but as compensation the buffet car was going to provide free refreshments.
Fortunately the heating was still working so it wasn’t cold in the carriage, but even so, attempting to sleep on the train’s seats wasn’t exactly easy.
When daylight had come, Josh had looked out of the ice-covered windows at the landscape beyond. A lot more snow had fallen overnight. It was a complete white-out in all directions. If the train wasn’t going anywhere last night, it certainly wasn’t going anywhere now.
He walked to the end of the carriage and peered through the glass into the next one. There was no sign of the guard, or anyone else. He wondered if they ought to leave the train. It wasn’t a difficult decision.
As he was weighing up the options all the lights in the train suddenly went off, as did the electronic board that had still futilely been claiming that the train was bound for Penzance. That sealed it: they had to leave.
He woke Alice who had been sleeping fitfully across two seats. “Come on,” he said. “We’re getting out of here.”
He hoped they were not too far from civilisation. Neither of them was really dressed for the occasion and he didn’t want them to be exposed to the elements for any longer than was necessary. He tried the button to release the carriage door. Nothing happened. They were electronically controlled.
He looked further along the carriage. There was a red handle on one of the windows marked “Emergency Exit – Pull Handle Down”. Below this was a warning sign stating, “Penalty for improper use – £500”.
“Well, I think this qualifies as an emergency, don’t you?” he said to Alice. “I don’t think the guard is going to come running to fine us, if he’s even still on the train.”
“Absolutely,” she replied.
Josh pulled down the handle and opened the window. He clambered through and jumped down straight into the snow. It must have been at least six inches deep. He reached up and helped her through.
When he saw how much snow had drifted up against the wheels of the train, he knew they’d made the right decision. Now they had another decision to make.
He looked along the tracks. There was no sign of a station in either direction. They had travelled quite some distance since they’d left Liskeard, but it was impossible to judge how far
away the next station was. In the distance he could hear what sounded like the sound of traffic on a main road. So the roads were still passable, it seemed.
“We’ve got two options,” he said. “Either we walk along the tracks to the next station, or we try and find the main road. What do you think?”
“Well, I can’t see that there are going to be trains anytime soon, so I think the road is our best bet,” said Alice.
“That’s what I think, too,” he said.
With great difficulty they scrambled up the embankment which was piled up with drifting snow and out onto a field. They could clearly hear the beeping of horns in the distance.
Out on the field the snow was not so bad. There was nothing for it to drift against there, and they were able to walk reasonably comfortably in it.
Hand-in-hand they walked towards some low hills, in the hope of finding the road on the other side. It was beginning to snow again.
Chapter Fifteen – 21st October 2029 (1.00pm)
It had been fortunate indeed for the two travelling couples that they had been in the very south of the country when the snow struck. By lunchtime on Sunday, virtually everywhere else had ground to a halt.
Dan had not gone out at all on Saturday. He’d sat in the house all day, eating, drinking and watching porn. Now he was hungry. It was dark and gloomy in his dismal little room, and it stank of sweat and flatulence. He hauled himself out of bed and flicked the light on. Nothing happened.
“Bloody bulb,” he muttered.
But it wasn’t the bulb, as he soon discovered when he reached the kitchen and attempted to put the kettle on. It was a power cut.
He cursed and looked in the fridge. It was more or less bare. He’d fried up a whole pack of bacon and a packet of sausages for his tea the previous evening.
The remaining contents of the fridge were pretty unappealing. A few mushrooms which had gone brown, two eggs past their use-by date, and a single cheese triangle were all that remained.
He peeled the wrapper off the cheese triangle and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. It barely touched the sides on the way down. He’d have to go out. He opened the blinds on the kitchen window and was shocked to see how much more snow had fallen overnight. He went back upstairs and dug out the warmest clothes he could find.
As soon as he got outside, it was clear that driving was out of the question, so he decided to walk into town. He could get some food from there – either that or go to J’s diner for a fry-up.
It was tough going walking through the snow. Despite having three layers of clothing on, he could still feel the chill. He hadn’t owned any wellies for years, so had opted to wear a pair of trainers. They weren’t particularly useful in several inches of freshly fallen soft snow.
It normally took him about five minutes to get into the town centre, but today it was more like half an hour. He saw only a few people on his way.
At the end of his street, a family of five were packing up a Range Rover with suitcases and boxes of food. He vaguely recognised the man loading the cases into the boot and stopped to talk to him. He was aged around 40, slightly balding, and putting on weight in the middle. Dan had seen him in the pub a few times.
“Alright, mate?” said Dan. “Going on holiday?”
“We’re getting out, mate, while we still can,” replied the man. “If you’ve got any sense, you’ll do the same.”
“Aren’t you overreacting a bit?” asked Dan. “It’s just a cold snap – it will pass.”
“Wake up and smell the coffee, mate. This is not just a cold snap. It’s all down to that asteroid. Have you not been following the news?”
“Well, I’ve been a bit busy, like,” replied Dan.
“I’m telling you, this lot’s coming down from the North Pole, and it’s only going to get worse. Look around you. The electricity’s gone off already. What’s going to happen when there’s no food? No fresh water? It’ll be anarchy. I’ve got my kids to think about.”
Anarchy, thought Dan. He quite liked the sound of that. “Thanks for the warning, mate,” he said, “but I’m staying put. Good luck.”
He watched as the man reversed the 4x4 down his driveway, and slithered away across the snow.
Dan had no intention of getting out. As he walked the rest of the way into town, already the seeds of an idea were forming in his mind. He’d need Ryan’s help, though. That wouldn’t be a problem. Ryan would do whatever he asked him.
He walked on into town, noting that the loss of electricity was widespread. None of the traffic lights were working, and as he got into the High Street he could see that none of the shops were open either. But that hadn’t stopped a crowd gathering outside the front of the town’s only supermarket.
He walked on to investigate. The store manager was standing at the sliding glass doors attempting to explain the situation to a small group of angry shoppers outside. He had a security guard standing behind him for protection.
The power had failed just after the doors had opened at 10am. With no electricity to close them again, the manager and security had attempted to erect a makeshift barrier out of supermarket trolleys. On top of this they had placed a hastily scrawled sign on the side of an empty wine box reading “Sorry, store closed due to power failure”.
The manager was a thin, bespectacled man, no older than 30. Irate staff he was used to dealing with. An angry mob of aggressive customers was another thing altogether. He normally left all that to customer services.
“Why aren’t you open?” demanded a large, middle-aged woman.
“Madam, I have already explained this several times. With the power off, we are unable to operate the tills. Not only that, we have barely any staff in today because of the weather. We are also very low on stock. The deliveries we had scheduled for this weekend have not arrived, and we had an extremely busy day yesterday, as you can probably imagine.”
“That’s not good enough,” remarked another woman, in her mid-thirties. “I’ve got three kids at home that need feeding, and I’ve also run out of nappies. Couldn’t you just let us have a few things? I can pay cash.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” replied the manager. “Everything has to go through the tills.”
“Come on,” said the first lady who had spoken. “We’re not getting anywhere here. Let’s try elsewhere.”
“We’ve got to get these doors closed,” said the manager to the security guard. “Surely there must be some way of wedging them shut.”
“I think there’s a key somewhere so you can close them manually. I’m not sure where it is, though. We’ve never needed it before,” replied the guard.
“That’s not a lot of use, is it?” said the manager. “Come on, let’s have another go at forcing them closed.”
Dan had watched the whole scene with bemusement. Why had the shoppers been so tame? If it had been him, he would have forced his way in. Perhaps later he would.
If things were as bad as the man with the 4x4 had implied, then it was no use pussyfooting around. He remembered a phrase he’d once heard in a disaster movie he’d watched as a kid: “Civilisation is only ever two square meals away from the point of collapse”.
Meekly accepting what the manager had said and turning away as the shoppers had done wasn’t the way to go about surviving if things got really bad. Those same shoppers were now wandering down the street moaning. They were weak and Dan had always preyed on the weak. If he needed things to survive, he’d take them from those weaker than him.
That supermarket manager might not look so clever when he had a gun pointed in his face. As for the law, Dan had never had any respect for that, and he couldn’t imagine that the police were going to be able to keep control. If the electricity stayed off, that suited him all the better. No electricity meant no CCTV, and that meant no evidence.
He turned away and walked on to Ryan’s house, fantasising about how he was going to seize power. As he did so, he heard the sound of breaking glass from the far end of
the High Street, and remembered what the man had said about anarchy. It had started already.
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Hannah was having a busy day. Not for the first time she was facing a difficult choice between her duty and her daughter.
She’d toyed with the idea of travelling out to the cottage the previous evening, but in the end had decided to stay put. When she and Jess had come down on Sunday morning, the first thing she had done was to turn the TV on to find out the latest news.
The television pictures made for pretty depressing viewing. The country had well and truly ground to a halt. People were being advised to stay in their homes and not to attempt to travel under any circumstances. A state of emergency had been declared, and the Army had been drafted in to assist the emergency services.
Hannah had not been due in to work until Monday but she knew that it would be all hands on deck in these circumstances.
Just after 9am, her phone rang. It was Miley Johnson, the young duty officer at the police station asking her for help. It seemed there had been a flood of 999 calls and the emergency services were struggling to cope.
It wasn’t unprecedented for Hannah to be called out at short notice. Being a D.I., it went with the territory. Fortunately, Kaylee was usually more than happy to look after Jess for her, or failing that, the family next door would help out.
Today neither option was available. Kaylee was gone, and she couldn’t get an answer from next door. Their car was missing from the drive, and, judging by the amount of snow settled where it was usually parked, it hadn’t been there for some time. She’d have no option but to take Jess into the police station with her. At least she knew her daughter would be safe there.
With the amount of snow on the roads, Hannah decided not to risk driving, just as Dan hadn’t. It was less than half a mile to the station, so she and Jess wrapped up as warmly as they could and made the journey on foot.
When she arrived, she was greeted by an extremely stressed Miley. There were no lights on, and it was dark and gloomy inside the old stone building.
