They left, and life moved on easily enough.
DEAD WEIGHT
Penny called a council meeting that evening. She had been a rare sight amongst the occupants of the house in the last few days. For that matter, she had spent a lot of time in bed recently. She passed it off as just being a little under the weather, but refused all offers of help from Kate.
She saw her personal matters as exactly that; personal.
She was in a bad enough mood as it was, and the pains in her belly were crippling some days. She knew it was something serious, something that needed doctors and hospitals and expensive machinery to take scans that consultants would meet and discuss. She walked into the meeting with her own dark cloud hanging over her, and her feelings made themselves known a little too strongly.
"We have eight people here who are not contributing" she started, holding up a hand to stop the few protests she saw forming. "I know one of them is unwell after being pregnant, which is a passable excuse for part time employment, but that still leaves seven who are a drain" she went to continue, but was hit with a wave of pain from her stomach.
Kate took the opportunity to jump in before the rant started again.
"I'll stop you right there, Penny" she bit, acidly "the girl is malnourished and has been mistreated badly. It's a miracle she didn't die in labour and that's taken a toll on her body. She stays close to me and my team at all times, not negotiable, and as for the others, they are also physically very weak - I've got two in medical right now if you cared to check."
Penny winced, fought back a cry of pain, and sat down. Kate stood and continued.
"That leaves five frightened, damaged and abused people who aren't ready to work a chain gang for you, so you can..."
"Kate! Enough" snapped Dan, not because he disagreed but because he saw the pain hidden in Penny's eyes.
"What? You're on her side?" Kate asked angrily.
"No. Look at her!" he said as Penny stood with some difficulty and turned to leave the room.
Dan stood too, and only just made it in time to stop her from cracking her skull on the steps to the door.
Kate barged him aside to check her. Typical paramedic; she does everything she can to save a life regardless of what she thinks of the person.
She called her name, and was rewarded with a faint squeak through shallow breathing. Penny's eyes screwed shut and her body went into spasm as the pain overtook her again.
Kate looked at Dan with wide eyes, and said "trolley". He ran to medical, ignoring the worried looks from those he thundered past, returning with the ambulance stretcher and raising the panic levels further.
Penny was wheeled through, and the shouted names from Kate ended the free time of her team. Dan followed, and had the door shut in his face. He turned to the assembled crowd and tried to act blithe.
"It's ok everyone, just let them do their jobs" he said with a smile he was sure was as fake as a gold Rolex from a market stall.
He maintained the TV presenter face as he strode into the dining room to find the council still seated, bar two members.
"Meeting adjourned I think, folks. Unless anyone has anything else?" He said.
If they did, they had probably forgotten it now.
FIELD PROMOTION
She guessed she was now the senior lab assistant, as there were no other candidates. She theorised with herself as she walked, reckoning that a cure was a little pointless now, but finding out the cause could be useful.
She spoke into her digital recorder again.
"Theory; what if the virus mutates? Could natural immunity be beaten in this way? Are there any other effects of exposure to those immune to the lethality?" She stopped recording, running the numbers through her head.
"Assuming a ninety to ninety-nine per cent non-immunity, based on available data, further mutation could be assumed to result in similar lethality, with an eventual population effect of point one per cent."
She paused, unsure if she should theorise further without a more senior scientist to check her work. She told herself she was the senior scientist, probably in the whole country. So she recorded what she believed.
"A viral mutation would effectively eradicate the population of the country without a rapid reaction to bring all surviving humans into a controlled breeding program. This would almost certainly require outside organization. If the virus has spread worldwide, which must be assumed based on the transmission being believed airborne, then planetary population by humans is unlikely within a generation."
Serious shit.
She walked on, looking for alternative transport to walking even though she had prepared herself by running on the treadmills every day.
"You're like a hamster on a wheel" the chief researcher used to say to her "maybe we should use you as a test subject" he laughed, thinking it was funny. He was a sexist, racist pervert. If things were normal she would have written a formal complaint to the university that employed him. As it wasn't, she had to tolerate his endless sick joke of waving a five pound note at her and asking for a happy ending.
Still, he was dead now, and she didn't mind one bit.
She walked on, planning to find a vehicle and enough supplies to get her on the way to the other site in Scotland. Their virology data would advance her theories one way or another.
Travel light and keep moving, she told herself. Avoid contact with others in case of viral mutation.
THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE
Penny was weak. The pain racked her in waves, taking her breath away. She wanted to tell someone. People say that sharing problems halves them.
Did that mean they believed that if she told someone then her cancer would shrink by half? Stupid thoughts by stupid people.
In the end she had to tell Kate. She had seen the scars. Being a paramedic she had learned to guess the surgery from the location and size of the operation scars.
"Penny" she said softly "when did you have the colonoscopy?"
She cried gently as she told the story of how the pains started, and the consultant had wanted to operate quickly. She had tried to refuse, saying that she was too busy at school to take months off to recover. The consultant had told her straight; no operation meant no chance of survival. She had the operation, leaving her deputy head in charge for nine weeks before she dragged herself back to work. She had put off the follow-up appointments, then it happened and there were no longer any doctors left to prescribe her course of chemotherapy. She was dying, and she knew it. She wept into Kate's arms until she fell asleep.
Miles away, Kyle also wept pitifully. He did so in silence so they didn't beat him again for being soft. They brought him out every so often, making him crawl like a dog with a lead around his neck. Soon, they said, soon he would lead them to his old home where they would take over what the others had built. Then they would give him a new kennel, they laughed. Kyle wished he was dead, but he lacked the courage to invite it from them or do it himself.
STEPPING DOWN
Penny asked to speak to Marie. She came straight away, thinking it was an emergency of conscience. She told her what she wanted of her, and asked her to promise to keep her word.
She called again for a council meeting that evening, a week after she had collapsed. She was helped into the room by Kate.
She thanked them for coming at short notice, and promised to keep the matter brief.
"I had bowel cancer last year. It was removed by operation but I believe it has returned and will now be the end of me soon" she looked at the assembled faces, registering shock and fear. Kate had clearly been good for her word on confidentiality.
"I fear I am of little use to everyone as I am, and it will only worsen for a short time until" she paused, swallowing "until I'm no longer with you"
Tears began to show on her cheeks, mirroring the silent crying from others around the table.
"It is my wish that my seat on the council be passed on to a worthy candidate, effective immediately. To that end I prop
ose that Marie be considered for head of house. If any of you have an alternative suggestion, please make it now"
She tried to veil the tiredness she felt, but wanted nothing more than to lie down.
Nobody suggested another name as she looked at each face in turn.
"Very well. All those in favour?" She said, forcing a smile.
All the assembled raised a hand.
"My other wish is for people to start having babies” she said, throwing out a shock revelation. “Thank you for indulging me” she said with a smile, “now if you'll excuse me my doctor insists I rest"
Kate helped her from her chair as the council watched her walk slowly from the room.
One by one they rose and left without a word, deep in their own thoughts.
UNBURDENED
Dan went to Penny the next day at her request. He thought he should have brought a gift or something seeing as she was in hospital and terminally ill. He said as much to her and she dismissed his frivolity. She asked Kate to give them some privacy, which she did without a word.
“I wanted to speak to you, for my own peace of mind” she said weakly. She was propped up in bed and looked drawn. Pale.
“What do you want to know?” Dan asked, guessing what it was.
“Tell me about yourself. Who you were before, I mean” she asked.
“I think you know some of it” Dan said, stalling.
“I believe you were a military man. Maybe a policeman after that.” She said with a smile.
Dan smiled back. “Right on both counts. I was a Royal Military Policeman, then I joined the regular police after I got out”
“Why did you leave?” she asked.
“Boredom.” Said Dan honestly “I wanted a family and I didn’t want my kids born and raised on some drab camp in Germany. I was sick of fighting with pissed up squaddies, so I left.”
“And what then?” Penny urged, her smile wavering with a sudden pain.
“I started again from the bottom, which wasn’t fun, but I got married and had two kids. Emily would be six now, and Michael would be four” a single tear dropped suddenly from his cheek, soundlessly hitting the sheets of the bed and soaking away to nothing. Penny gripped his hand reassuringly.
“They weren’t with me when it happened, they were with their mother. None of them made it. I was too upset to bury them” Dan’s head dropped and the tears flowed freely as he let go of the stress.
“You were separated?” Penny asked gently.
“Divorced. Long story” Dan said with a mirthless laugh, cuffing the tears away from his face.
“Will you make me a promise?” she urged him.
“What’s that?” he replied.
“Speak to Marie” she said with a tremor of passion “she can help you”
Dan nodded, not entirely certain he would keep that promise.
“You had nobody else?” she asked.
“Parents. Didn’t speak to them much because of the divorce and the stuff before. I think they blamed me. I had a girlfriend, we hadn’t been together too long but she died too.”
“What happened before?” she wanted to know.
“Oh, that is a long story” Dan answered.
“Tell me” she asked with a squeeze of his hand.
Dan told her. Told her everything. He told her of the guilt, the fear and pain of what he went through which led to the divorce and all the hurtful revelations that came with it.
When he looked up he saw that Penny had drifted off to sleep with the pain medication and the exhaustion of her illness. Part of him hoped he hadn’t heard her; that she wasn’t burdened by his secrets and his pain. He hadn’t spoken about it for almost a year, but he did feel better to have shared it.
Dan stood, wiped his eyes and put back on the mask he hid behind every day and left quietly.
NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED
Penny died in her sleep ten days later, kept comfortable in medical with liberal pain medication. Dan suspected that Kate had helped speed things along with the morphine. He never mentioned it, but liked to think that she had and was grateful for it.
She was buried during a small ceremony, in a patch of woodland overlooking the lake where bluebells grew. Everyone sat through a sombre evening meal, before Dan broke out a few bottles and poured lots of glasses.
He stood on a low table in front of the television and raised his glass.
"To Penny" he said, holding his glass up as tears rolled down his cheeks. The assembled survivors, a true cooperative society as envisaged by the few he first brought together, echoed his words.
The following morning saw the mood no higher, and routine tasks were given out. Dan sent Lexi and Joe out together to gather all the 'how to' books they could find in a library not far away. Neil made a fuel run with Steve running protection, and a logistics team went with them to clear any more supplies still in date.
Mike had continued with the solar power project having requested the rest of the warehouse contents be brought back. Two scaffolding towers sat proudly in the space that now saw sunlight as Jay had cleared almost a dozen trees with the help of some of the newest recruits. Dan had never learned their names, other than Pip who grew healthier by the day. Pip had loved to read before, she said, and set herself up in the library where she read and sorted the books into order.
Mike and Carl were busy providing electricity to the farm, with further plans to do the same for the gardens. That included the cottage on the edge of the now blooming walled utopia.
Maggie and Cedric spent a lot of time there, having cleared it out piecemeal. Dan was invited to look at it when he stopped to see their progress one day. It was a lovely place with a large garden and three bedrooms. They had hot water there courtesy of the solid fuel burner, with electricity they would have power to the large shower in the wet room.
Their formal request to move there came in spring, and was agreed by the council. Before Dan could raise objections from a safety perspective, Marie asked if they were not overly and exposed without protection. Their firework alarm system was extended and a CB radio was to be installed in the house as well as the gardens itself. Dan also insisted that Cedric keep possession of a Remington shotgun and ammunition. These caveats satisfied, they moved in as soon as their solar panels and additional hot water tank were fitted.
They were probably the happiest people there. Even happier than Leah, who had become bored with endless training and no live deployments. Even after he had explained that, no matter how good she was, she wasn't going out alone until she was older. Dan's thoughts of getting her a short wheel based Defender were shelved for now despite him having recovered the right vehicle; he didn't want to risk a teenage strop where instead of going to her room and slamming the door to play loud music, she took a vehicle and automatic weapons.
In truth, her accuracy and range drills were second only to a few. She could spar well; removing knives from would-be attackers was easy for her. She was fit and strong, but still he couldn't allow himself to send a child out to fight on his orders. He loved her like she was his own child, which in a way she was, and his feelings of responsibility made him hold her back.
The farms and gardens were producing fresh meat, eggs and vegetables. Soon there would even be salad. In fact, the only department to be under strength was Ops. One of the refugees saved was very ill when he came to them, but when he healed he formally requested an interview with the ‘OC Operations’. Dan showed the written application to Steve, who also recognised the military jargon for 'officer commanding'.
The man was sent for immediately, and Leah found him helping in the stores.
He knocked before entering, despite the door being open, and Dan stood with Steve as he said "Come in"
He extended his hand to the man who was stood rigidly to attention.
"At ease, man!" Said Steve, playing the second in charge perfectly.
The man relaxed a fraction, allowing his shoulders to drop an inch. He was tall, but very sp
are like he had been starved. Dan put him at about thirty, but the worry lines in his face could be betraying a younger man.
He hesitated, then went to shake Dan's hand displaying his own which was missing the two smallest fingers and part of the hand. Thick burn scars were visible on his right arm and at his neck.
Dan sat, inviting the man to do the same. Three cups of coffee were poured by Leah before she returned to her desk and tapped away at her laptop, pretending not to listen.
"What's your story, soldier" Dan said as he blew in his drink.
The man looked at him, realising he had completely given himself away.
"No Sir" he said, offended "I was a Royal Marine. Corporal"
"In that case" said Dan "accept my apologies, and call me Dan. At the most formal I accept 'Boss' from my lot"
"Ok Dan, I'm Richard. Rich if you like"
The Marine saw Steve looking at his hand "Helmand. Pyrotechnic IED. Got me sent home with two boxes that used to be my mates. Last man only survived because us three took the brunt of it"
Dan nodded, lost for empty words often used to pacify someone's sacrifice for a now utterly pointless loss. He had met a few people injured by improvised explosive devices, and knew that the scars ran so much deeper than the visible layer.
"After that?" Steve asked.
Rich sagged a little.
"Medical discharge. Six weeks counselling on the NHS for the PTSD. Then the booze. Wife left and took the money. Ended up homeless for a time."
"And then you were captured" Steve asked.
"Yes. Captured and beaten. I hurt one of them badly when they took me. They woke me." He said simply. Waking a soldier by surprise was one thing, startling a Royal Marine with PTSD was another entirely.
"Tell me about your time there" said Dan in an interested tone.
After It Happened (Book 2): Humanity Page 15
