“I don’t know” she answered. They both looked away in frustration.
“I don’t know” she said again with more confidence “but I’m worried that it may still be our extinction event”
THE HARSH TRUTH
Not a single shot was fired at anything other than food throughout the end of summer, autumn and into winter. Christmas approached again, and the excitement of the previous year returned, albeit to a slightly lesser degree. They had reverted to their more relaxed hibernation mode as befitted the shorter days and bad weather.
Both Ana and Cara were nearing their due dates, although exact dates were no longer a sure thing as the accuracy of maternity services had been greatly reduced since the world had changed forever.
Cara went first. In the middle of the night half the household got woken up as the wailing woman was helped downstairs to medical. The noise went on, getting louder over the next few hours. This would be Cara’s second baby, so she should at least know something of what to expect. Kate’s team had spent months preparing for this; researching and practicing as much as they could for when the time came. Dan lay awake with Marie, listening to the muffled urgency of the noises from the floor below them. It was still well before daybreak when Dan was forced from the warm bed to use the bathroom. He wrapped up warm, slipping his feet into his unlaced boots and deciding to take his dog outside in the hope that he would give them even a slight lie in if he was given a toilet break too.
He stood there, watching the annoyingly alert animal water the tyres of three different vehicles. The sounds inside were reaching a painful crescendo every few minutes, and Dan expected the sounds of babies cries to soon echo amongst the big rooms and high ceilings.
Unable to bear the sounds of Cara’s pain any longer he went back inside and climbed back into bed, annoying Marie with his cold hands. He must have dozed off again after a while, waking again when Marie was forced from the warm bed to retrace his steps from earlier.
His bliss was ended when she burst back into the room in tears.
“The baby” she said in panic, her hand clasped to her mouth “it died”
She threw herself onto the bed and hugged him tightly, her tears soaking his neck as she sobbed.
It turned out that the labour was fairly normal, but the baby hadn’t moved throughout. Eventually the baby was born, but it wasn’t breathing. It was underdeveloped and Kate suspected that it had died in the womb over a week ago.
Dan sat with her late that night with a drink and heard her worries.
“I hadn’t heard a heartbeat for almost ten days, but without the ability to do a C-section there was nothing I could do” she admitted, having told nobody else and feeling better for sharing the burden she had carried alone until now.
Cara was sedated in medical and Matty looked after the kids. He was upset, understandably, but kept it together to keep his two adopted children as steady as he could. Two days after the still-birth, the baby – who Cara had named Evie – was buried next to Penny and Joe. A smaller stone, rough and naturally white in colour marked the tiny grave. The group was quiet, subdued.
Ana was terrified. She went into labour five days later. She writhed in pain, screaming for hours on end. Kate’s exhausted team stayed with her for a day and a half. Chris was distraught, his frustration and fear eventually making Kate insist he left medical and allowed them to work. He refused, and the screams of pain were drowned out by his shouting.
Dan had to intervene, and Chris’ panic was so accentuated that Dan was forced to hold him in a painful restraint to remove him. He apologised sincerely, and eventually the anger and frustration dissolved into tears. Dan drank with him for a while and tried his hardest to keep him diverted. Marie took over after a while, allowing Dan a much needed break, and convinced Chris to sleep for a while on the settees in the lounge.
Kate opened the door a crack to look out. Marie saw her and responded to her frantic waving. She looked pale and drawn as she whispered in Marie’s ear to give her instructions. Marie slipped away quietly, desperate not to wake Chris. She returned a few minutes later, bringing Sera in tow carrying a bag.
Sera had performed a number of caesareans, but none on a human. Secretly, she and Kate had discussed this as a measure to be used in desperate circumstances which she clearly now felt had been met. Sera had been reading medical texts and anatomy studies in preparation, but would still be opening up her first person without the relevant experience.
Afterwards, Kate said that by this point the only life that could be salvaged was Ana’s. The baby was killing her, having lost its own battle similarly to Evie. Ana was sedated, and Sera did her best with Kate as the others were sent away quietly.
Dan never knew what happened in there, but neither Kate nor Sera were the same after that.
By some miracle, they saved Ana. She was so badly damaged and exhausted by the process that she was under for five days. During that time someone was constantly by her side. Kate had identified the members of the group who had the right blood group; none of them refused to give their own blood to try and keep the young woman alive.
Chris raged in his grief, bellowing like a wounded bull. It took Dan and Steve to hold him back, again having to resort to hurting him to keep him from disrupting the medical team trying to save his wife. He collapsed into a heap as all his strength finally deserted him. He lay on the floor and howled as the pain of the news reached every last cell in his body. Dan lay there with him, still holding onto him but no longer in restraint of his powerful frame trying to reach the door.
He slept there on the floor, fitful sobs racking his body intermittently as a toddler would after the fight of the tantrum had left them. When he woke he was broken. He sat by Ana’s side day and night until she woke; then it was her turn to cry and they wept together.
Dan had had his fill of grief. He felt the need to get back out and do something useful, only that there was nothing to do. He convinced Steve to take the helicopter out for no real reason other than his own awkwardness at being around the distraught people and his feelings of inactivity.
During the second burial in rapid succession, barely anyone spoke.
JUST LIKE BACK IN ‘NAM
Steve was reserved and clearly disappointed about the limited shelf life of their new transport. He made the point, at length, that the expertise needed to keep the machine airworthy was high and sadly extinct as far as he knew. There was plenty of fuel; he estimated about four hour’s flight time and there were numerous small airfields in range. The weather wasn’t an issue he said; these things could fly in minus twenty and in very strong cross winds.
Dan justified his decision on who to take. He justified it a little too strenuously, clearly defending the fact that he wanted to take his protégé on a helicopter ride. Steve suggested Mitch come too, but recommended that they leave the rest behind to ensure they had carrying capacity for anyone and anything they brought back.
To give a reason for the excursion other than boredom, a list of targets was drawn up given their far extended reach and Steve worked around flight time and distance and plotted a route to work around refuelling points.
In terms of supplies the house didn’t actually want for much. Mitch suggested some more heavy guns for attaching to the helicopter, whereas Dan was more interested in searching for other survivors.
The plan was to head south and make a thorough search for other survivors whilst they still had the limited time capability; Steve made it clear almost daily that the helicopter would only do one more trip unless they could find the right fuel. Even if they did, he would only risk a few flights at best without a proper maintenance schedule. Other than what Phil could remember and what Steve knew they were in the dark, having left the manuals for the aircraft hundreds of miles away.
Steve estimated three hours of searching before visiting a small airfield for a hopeful refuel; if that wasn’t possible there would still be enough juice left to get them home. Everything af
ter that was dependent on them finding the correct fuel.
Leah was given the news that she was coming on a long range mission over post breakfast coffee. Her mind almost physically began to tick; calculating the kit and supplies she would need to pack. Mitch was in on the joke, presenting her with an aircrew harness and enjoying her confusion.
Her excitement, for once, wasn’t hidden. She squealed like the teenager she was and jumped around the office with excitement.
Steve ran through instructions for them all; both side doors would be open and all eyes would be searching for any sign of settlements. He pored over the maps, searching the swathes of farmland for the best places to support people. His last instruction was the most important.
“Base layers, windproofs, gloves and hats; it’s going to be bloody freezing when we’re airborne”
They wrapped up warmly as instructed; so much so that they were all overheating whilst Phil helped Steve run through the pre-flight. Neil looked on with a professional interest. An interested crowd braved the cold to watch them take off as Leah was strapped into the canvas seat nearest the sliding door. Her excitement was palpable; her grin impossibly wide with the fear and anticipation.
She had been on a plane once when she was younger; some wedding abroad paid for by family. She didn’t remember it in detail, so in her heart felt that this was the first and probably only time she would ever fly.
Dan strapped in opposite as Mitch showed off by standing and holding on with one hand as the heavy strap dangled to his back. Their weapons were secured tightly and headsets all plugged in. The heavy bird lifted as it should and gained altitude impossibly fast, surging upwards before Steve tilted the controls. They left, peeling off to the right and heading away from home to quickly leave the crowd in silence. Leah’s smile didn’t fade at all, but during take-off it seemed locked in a rictus of nervous and scared excitement. They craned their necks to see out of the doors and look down on the peaceful landscape. Mitch hooked their safety straps to the loops above the doors and unclip the tight straps holding them in place.
Very carefully at first, they stood and looked out. The freedom and power Dan felt was incredible; he had ridden in helicopters half a dozen times before during training exercises, but this was something else. As he stared out over the empty landscape he was overwhelmed by the urge to sit and hang his legs out of the door like he’d seen American soldiers in Vietnam War films do. He mentioned it jokingly into the microphone of his headset.
Steve laughed.
“I wouldn’t” he said “We’re doing about a hundred and seventy miles an hour at the moment; it’ll suck you out!”
He heard Leah’s chuckles over the headset as he stepped back a little further from the open door.
VISITORS FROM ABOVE
They had been in the air for almost an hour before they saw signs of human life.
Steve had slowed and dropped to about four hundred feet to allow time for his passengers to see more clearly. Out of Dan’s window he spotted a moving vehicle and called it out over the headset. Steve turned the big aircraft slowly towards the promise of living people.
Somehow, landing in a helicopter with four armed soldiers made them less cautious than normal. The awe of their arrival should serve to assert their dominance and dissuade any thoughts of hostility; if they had a helicopter then what else did they have? That was the theory in Dan’s mind anyway. He gave no thought to the fear they would instil in others, or the false hope of a return of order their incredible machine could signify.
The dumbstruck driver of a battered farm 4x4 watched in silence as they swept around in front of him to land. Steve kept the rotors turning as Dan jumped down with Mitch. Leah, for once, didn’t pull a face at being told to stay put.
Dan had a quick shouted conversation with the man over the screaming whine of the jet engines, gaining his dumfounded assent to lead them back to the camp. He checked there was enough clear space to land their ride before running low back to the Merlin; not strictly necessary, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.
It took a few minutes to follow the car back to a large sprawling farm. Steve made an impressive turn before settling the howling machine on the grass and killing the engines to bathe the shocked survivors in renewed quiet and conserve the remainder of their fuel.
Mitch and Leah stayed to guard the aircraft as fifty or so people came from their work and hiding places to stare at the sudden and overwhelming newcomers. Steve and Dan went into the farmhouse where they sat with a smaller version of their own leadership council. They were there for almost an hour, having swapped instructions on how to reach each other by road. They numbered only forty and were predominantly farmers. They had suffered badly from an attack last summer and had to resort to using their shotguns for the first time as defensive weapons against other people. It had scarred them deeply, and they promised to discuss with their members about joining Dan’s group for companionship and safety.
Leah spoke happily with the villagers, as she thought of them, and received some strange looks about the weapons she carried.
Dan and Steve eventually returned in a subdued mood, shaking hands formally with the elders and wearing uncharacteristically straight faces. They waved as Steve forced the machine off the ground with a backwards motion – so that he could see where he had to put it down if something went wrong during take-off – and banked away to seek the airfield marked on his map. He gained altitude to use the roads as waypoints and Dan spoke to him following the map as he sat beside him in the co-pilot’s seat with his hands and feet well away from the controls. Mitch and Leah exchanged a look but were both too wrapped up in the fun they were having to look too deeply into what their change in mood meant.
The airfield was less than twenty-five minutes flight away, and the area where the small private helicopters also housed a police helicopter which, Steve said, used the same mix of fuel. Dan allowed himself a bitter smile looking at the black and yellow Police chopper; not having been in the air for a year and a half was about par for the course. Unlike a Police helicopter, theirs was well equipped to fly in minus twenty degrees Celsius as opposed to being grounded because it was a bit cloudy or the EastEnders omnibus was on. The Merlin was let to cool before the correct fuel was found and carefully pumped into the tanks. Steve reckoned the reserve there was good for a few more days in the air; just as long as he dared to keep flying without the painstaking maintenance required.
Leah was disappointed about the lack of further searching, but Steve declared it was time to head home. Dan barely said a word the whole way back and strode off to the house the second they landed.
EXTINCTION EVENT
He found Marie sat in Ops, waiting for their return. Ash was with her and his face lit up with excitement at seeing his master return resulting in a rhythmic thud of his tail on the floor. Dan twitched his head outside and walked back out, unlocking his Discovery and climbing in to warm the engine and flicking both front heated seats to high.
Marie had wrapped up in a large parka and climbed in without a word. He drove. The cab had heated before she said anything.
“Something’s pretty bad, isn’t it” she said. A statement; not a question.
He slowed and stopped, tiredly flicking the selector into park. He got out and hauled himself onto the bonnet where he lit a cigarette and breathed deeply.
Laid out in front of him was a crisp, undisturbed landscape. Marie joined him.
“Tell me” she said
Dan explained about the group they had found, only then realising himself how perilously close they were to the former Bronson’s reach if they had strayed into the urban areas.
“And?” she prompted, her patience running thin with the mystery revelation she was expecting.
“And they’ve had three stillbirths with double that in miscarriages” Dan said quietly.
They sat in silence. Their own two could have been a coincidence. For other groups – the villagers and the one that the
now dead King of Wales had mentioned – to all have the same issues was too much to accept as mere coincidence; it was a pattern.
Emma’s words haunted his mind all day.
“We all have it” she had said, but couldn’t say how it had left some people alive or what change it had made to them.
“What if Emma is right?” he asked Marie, voicing his thoughts.
For once, she had nothing to say. She hugged his left arm as she sat beside him, resting her head against his shoulder.
“If she’s right” she said in a subdued tone “then this really was our extinction event”
She hugged his arm tightly as her tears began to fall.
“It can’t be” she said quietly “I’m having your baby”
EPILOGUE
Leaves blew across the pitted concrete, swirling them up and around inside a large empty barn. Not strictly empty; the bones and decayed pelts of cattle lay undisturbed save for the scavengers who had long ago picked them clean.
A Land Rover lay on its wheel rims, tyres long weathered away, and sat listing as the green film on it tried to obscure the symbol of vehicular dominance recognised all the world over. Where once the sound of lambs competed with the pigs, chickens and cows there was now only an eerie silence.
A mile away lay a ruin of concrete, metal and glass. Greenhouses became tin skeletons as all their glass panels had long since been blown in by the elements. Some were no longer even recognizable as their contents had grown so tall in their confined space that they looked ridiculous and completely obscured the frames imprisoning them. The wood and plastic sheeting that had made the polytunnels was gone; only the occasional shred of exposed rubbish hinting at what used to be there.
After It Happened (Book 3): Society Page 19
