“PAUL!” she squealed, running to his bed and landing on him. A barrage of questions followed, none of which he could answer as he was barely conscious still. Kate ejected her from the wing and she excitedly grilled Dan for answers.
“We rescued three from a bunch of local redneck equivalents” he said “I know nothing more about the bloke”
“I do!” she said, almost hyperactively “He’s an instructor at my club! He’s amazing!” Dan could not say he was put out to hear that she had interest in another man.
“Just wait ‘til he’s better!” she said “He’ll be able to teach everyone better than I can!” and with that she bounced from Ops.
Dan and Steve exchanged looks of surprise. Lexi had a crush on the man, and luckily he was still alive.
At dinner the new arrivals, bar Paul who was in medical with Lexi waiting on him, were greeted by Penny. They were told to relax for the night and tomorrow they would be found a role to play.
For Selina that was purely academic; as someone with pharmaceutical knowledge, Kate had laid a very strong claim to her as a medical assistant.
Marie was a different matter. Dan wanted her close, purely for selfish personal reasons, but she had no interest and no skill with firearms. She had other necessary requirements for the Rangers, but he had to find a way to keep her with his unit where he held sway.
She had not made a big deal of her skills, saying that she probably had very little to offer in a self-effacing manner. Dan thought of expanding the Ops role to justify having both Marie and Leah there.
As they now numbered forty-one, forty-four with Ash and the spaniels, he could not get close enough to Marie after dinner to capitalise her time without looking obvious. He gave up and went outside to smoke.
To his surprise, Marie also came outside and lit a cigarette. She saw him and raised a conspiratorial eyebrow, “Dying breed” she said solemnly “very few of us anti-social smokers left in the world now”
It seemed to be a well-rehearsed ‘break the ice’ smoking conversation. He didn’t know what to say. All of his moody swagger deserted him when she spoke.
“Have you thought of joining the Ops department?” he asked in the absence of anything better to say.
“Can’t say, to be honest. Not sure I’d be much use to you gunslingers. I’m more used to pointing your type in the direction of baddies and saying ‘fetch’”
Her smile took all the insult out of her words.
“It’s not about gunslinging” he reasoned “it’s about tactical planning more than anything”
She said nothing, so he pressed his advantage.
“Fancy a drink?” he offered
“Long day” she replied flatly “I’ll probably just get to bed”
Dan accepted this as chivalrously as he could, but reflected that he probably still seemed like a jilted boy as he walked inside, calling Ash after him. He stripped off his coat as he stood in his room, hoping for another glance of the captivating woman who was not in the slightest bit impressed with him. He gave up, and went to bed.
REVENGE
“Revenge is an act you want to commit when you are powerless, and because you are powerless” said Billy magnanimously.
Kyle thought that he couldn’t give a single shit for the theory, he just wanted to hurt Dan. Badly.
He had run across country for as long as he could remember, terrified of that dog chasing him down and ripping his flesh like he had heard it did during the hospital fiasco.
He had run for hours with no clear direction or purpose.
As it got dark he had no idea where he was, but he saw light from a fire and he heard voices. He ran towards it, and as he burst through the trees and into their sight, he collapsed with exhaustion.
The group seemed startled to see him emerge into their camp. They looked to Billy, who seemed to be calling every shot.
Now he sat, wrapped warmly and given food and alcohol, he listened.
“Relax, Kyle” said Billy with a smile “You are among friends now”
Kyle was petty and selfish, but he wasn’t entirely stupid. He was a little worried about who these men were and what they did to people they found.
“What’s brought you to us then?” Said Billy. He was unsure whether to tell the truth at first, but his anger at how he felt he had been mistreated was very raw. Tears stung at his eyes as he realised what he had done, blaming anyone but himself. He told them about the house, about Dan and the Rangers, about how they strutted around with their machine guns whilst others had to work for their food. Billy lapped it all up, making the right noises and pulling sympathetic faces when Kyle’s indignation reached its height.
“I think we can help you, Kyle” he said, smiling a dangerous smile.
He would have his revenge on Dan and his smug bastards.
SITE THREE
She had to admit, things were getting tiresome. There was only emergency generator power for the lighting and air conditioning, and this was run on a huge underground fuel tank. The systems were augmented by external solar panels, but these weren’t enough to rely on alone especially as they needed cleaning and were probably covered in leaves still.
The generator was used to top up the batteries, and every day the power levels dropped slightly lower than the day before. One of the staff reckoned it would only last another month or so, then they had to outside.
Months ago, the order had come for the cabinet to lock down as an epidemic was feared. There was a query regarding biological warfare, which nobody had a definitive answer to.
They had watched for two days how the country fell apart. Hospitals were inundated at first, then totally overwhelmed when people started to die. Looting started as soon as the bounds of social cohesion began to fray, which surprised nobody. Quickly, even the looters started to get sick and die. By the time the external power grid failed and severed their link to the cameras outside of their immediate control there was nobody moving.
Four senior politicians had got through the screening process, which was basically anybody that had the slightest raise in body temperature was deftly diverted to another room which did not lead to the bunker. With those politicians had come some key senior military commanders and their bag carriers, along with a research staff who had been in place for some time by their pale complexions. Add to this the maintenance staff and a handful of police officers assigned to escort and protect the politicians, there were thirty-six souls locked underground.
There had been thirty-seven, but one man was determined to open the sealed entrance and condemn them all in the hope that his family were still alive. One of the police officers had abruptly ended negotiations with the enraged man using a gun.
Now it seemed, after months of living underground, there was no rescue coming and no contact from the outside world either. Satellite phones, secure digital hard line networks, internet, radios; all had gone quiet weeks ago. People started to say that this was a global event, and that they may be the only ones alive.
Eleven similar locations on the UK mainland had been activated simultaneously, and communications between four others had been established. Three of those showed signs of outbreak within twelve hours of lockdown, and all contact was lost shortly after. The safe assumption was that they had all died.
Only contact remained with one other bunker, site one, over five hundred miles away in Scotland. It was in a very remote location, intentionally, and was the secret base of virology where bio-weapons were tested and constant theoretical war games were played.
A modern day plague was the new nuclear option, it seemed. Even better actually, as it was deniable. The virology lab held synthesised accelerated samples of just about everything that could kill a person, then tried to find ways of juicing its lethality to biblical proportions. Information security protocols were adhered to in the first few weeks, but as it started to dawn on everyone that this was very real so the story began to unfold.
From what the scientists ha
d seen, this was a form of influenza based on their observations on camera. It had an unbelievably fast gestation period, and was lethal within forty-eight hours. Exact cause of death was unknown as no test subjects were available to be autopsied, but the best guess would be fever and heart failure. They swore it wasn’t one of theirs, and voiced suspicions that if it was a bio-weapon attack then it would probably be airborne and most definitely Chinese.
There were some in the bunker with various religious beliefs. Some of these hypothesised the coming of the end of days which led to counter arguments and eventually a number of heated fights which had to be split up more than once.
An ageing Lieutenant Colonel with an impressive shock of white hair and a dazzling array of medals was all for their immediate departure; he planned to lead them all to a nearby barracks where they would be equipped as soldiers and he would lead them onwards.
Most people though the man unstable, and it was rumoured that the last time he had seen active service was before most of them were born.
Their decision was made for them at the end of February, when the generator began to splutter and finally gave out. This year’s resolution; don’t die of suffocation in a hole in the ground.
BACK ON THE HORSE
February ended, and the weather improved slightly. A flurry of activity began on the farms and gardens; seeds were planted, animals were moved around and Chris spoke of his plans to introduce the young bull to their small herd of cows.
All departments loaned extra bodies to help, and some renewed purpose infected the group. Dan decided to start pushing the fitness and skills of his Rangers, and had them in the gym three times a week where he ran them until they sweated, then made them lift weights and finish with a session on the mats where they drilled over and over with close quarters scenarios. Leah kept up as much as she could and paid close attention to the lessons in weapon retention. She had also been training with Lexi and was starting to develop some muscle.
Twice Dan had overtly tried to get Marie to be part of Ops, and both times she flatly refused him. He raised good points with her skills of planning and organising being an asset, but her mind was made up. He had even approached Penny about it, but she was firmly on the side of Marie.
She felt her professional experience was of no value yet; there weren’t enough people to police and nothing to investigate. She had decided to use her education in a more practical setting, and after some discussion she became the group’s first mental health professional. She had a degree in psychology, and through her work had been trained as a counsellor. She had also studied art, and ran a drawing class.
She was allocated a room, furniture needs were met and the rules of confidentiality firmly set. Similar to the medical records being established, Marie met each member of the group in turn, taking nearly two weeks, and discussed how they were coping. Nearly half of the group booked a return visit.
Dan grudgingly attended, and was as closed off about his past as he always was but felt tempted to book a follow up session just so he could spend more time with her. She fascinated him, but he couldn’t get close to her without looking like a lost puppy. He tried to push her from his mind; he had a lot to plan for with scouting trips and scavenging runs set to start again soon.
Lexi had fussed over Paul who was very groggy for the first week. Kate, using complex medical terminology, had declared him badly concussed with a raft of soft tissue injuries from the crash, and watched him like a hawk.
“What’s a sub-dural haematoma?” Leah whispered to Dan as Kate spoke.
“It’s a lump on the head” Dan answered in a stage whisper to annoy the paramedic, receiving a cold stare from Kate in reward.
Paul insisted that he felt better, and was released. The subject of his employment was raised in a council meeting, and Neil asked to talk to him with Mike to see if his architectural knowledge was of use to them.
It turned out it was; not only was he an architect but he also site-managed and had built a few commercial properties. He knew a little about scaffolding, and was instantly hired. He also, being a bit of a gym nut and heralded as a ninja according to Lexi, agreed to take over the running of the fitness and self defence programs.
Interdepartmental requirements had been drawn up, and a long list of supplies was needed. Scaffolding and building tools were requested for engineering, equipment and feed for the farm, food and water for stores as their supplies had been depleted over winter. Sera needed veterinary supplies and equipment for the horses, Kate needed medical supplies and an abundance of suturing kits she joked. Dan raised a self-conscious hand to the neat zip marks on his face. Clothes were required, as was all the fuel they could find to keep their vehicles and generators running.
All of these requirements had to be assessed, prioritised and researched for the appropriate site. These sites then had to be checked by the Rangers and reported back on as to whether it was yes or no to the site, and a decision on if the teams should be escorted. Dan took a long list of notes, and decided to call his whole team in the next morning for an admin day and to lay down new standard operating procedures.
Neil, Mike, Carl, Ian, Adam and Paul set to work planning how the solar panel project would work and wrote endless lists of requirements, including every vehicle battery from the larger stuff that could be found. Jack was recruited to the engineering team for his haulage knowledge.
Andrew worked with Jimmy to prioritise the required supplies, and woke Liam from his bored hibernation. Everyone pretended not to know that he and Andrew disappeared during ‘generator time’ to play on an old Xbox in a small room they had sequestered.
Under Chris’ leadership, the farms and gardens were starting to flourish. He knew what they needed, and where it could be found. Dan decided to start the site recces as soon as possible, discussing new operating procedures as his team worked.
“Who is still happy to go out alone?” he asked them
They all were, despite the events of last year. He was thinking of doubling up on all trips, which met resilience from the other three Rangers. It was argued that it would put too much demand on them; maintaining a permanent guard and potentially running two trips a day would be too exhausting. He had the final say, and he was tempted to demand a slower progress to make sure they always had backup. He felt that he was being overprotective and when the realisation that he was giving advice he wouldn’t take hit him, he relented.
“If a site looks dodgy though, we send at least two to run protection” he declared, as ‘Mollie’ jumped onto the table and walked over their maps and notes with utter distain.
“Leah, do you need to do some target practice?” he asked in a light tone. She smiled widely and nodded
“Good. Shoot that bloody fleabag, please” he said, making the others laugh. Leah was annoyed at him for using her as a joke prop again and picked up the evil cat lovingly. It sat on her lap, kneading her legs with its paws and shot Dan a stare of pure loathing and superiority. He would set Ash on that thing happily, only he couldn’t be sure of the outcome. If only the cat could be trained, they could pack the guns away permanently.
A prioritised list of sites and supplies was produced, and Dan deployed all four of them on one morning with Neil taking over the guard.
Steve was sent to a large supermarket with Jimmy riding as observer, Lexi to the big B&Q they had checked once before with Mike, Joe to an agricultural wholesaler with Chris and Dan went to a smaller outpatient’s hospital taking only Ash as he knew what he was looking for. They all had two or three other secondary sites which would be on the return trip, all mapped out by Leah with Steve’s help.
If any of them didn’t return then the others would retrace their steps in the morning. The rest didn’t need explaining; they had all been coached in escape and evasion by Steve, and all of them knew what to do. At least Dan hoped they would.
Leah asked to go with him but he asked her to stay and compile the reports, promising her a trip soon. Even the
evident disappointment on her face could not dissuade him.
Dan reached his target by mid-morning, carefully circling the building on foot with Ash at his side. No sign of anyone, but the hospital had clearly been looted some time ago. The smell of the dead was different now; not the gut-churning stench of rotting bodies but instead the musty smell from the drying corpses which had frozen and thawed repeatedly over the winter to be twisted into grotesque poses. He thought it was best not to look at them much.
The looting appeared to have been done in haste and destructively. Dan was appalled at the unprofessionalism he saw until discovering that the only medication that seemed to have been taken was from a locked metal cabinet which had contained a dark green liquid.
Mephedrone. Typical that out of the world’s remaining population at least one heroin addict would have survived. The other medicines and equipment seemed mostly intact, so he made a more thorough check of the building before returning to his Discovery. He smoked as he wrote notes on the site; access point, hazards, location of supplies et cetera.
He started on his long return route with, he guessed, five hours of daylight left. Twice more he stopped as he found the addresses of another ambulance outstation and a veterinary practice which specialised in large animal care. Both buildings were intact and there was no sign of danger in the areas. Dan’s last stop took him past home to a motorway service station to the south.
There he found a multitude of lorries, all waiting under the watchful eyes of dead drivers for their CB radios and large batteries to be plucked from them. On his notes he recommended checking what the cargo was before stripping them in case they found twenty tonnes of something really useful already gift-wrapped.
He returned late afternoon and sat with Leah who had poured him coffee. He gave his reports as instructed by the domineering almost-teenager, who he had noted had donned her vest with its empty holster in honour of being the senior member of Ops on site all day. He recommended an escorted trip with Kate and Sera riding with him. One crew from logistics with a small lorry should do it. He congratulated Leah on the route, and suggested the recovery operation goes the same way. Hospital first, then pick up another ambulance for Kate to drive and empty their supplies, then to the vets for Sera to pick up what she wanted.
After It Happened (Book 2): Humanity Page 6
