‘But the Prime Minister and the Government will sort things out and put everything back to normal, won’t they?’ she asked. Jane glanced at Jamie as if to say what the hell do we tell her?
‘Well, honey,’ said Jamie, ‘we don’t know for sure, but we don’t think there is a government any more. We think everyone died. We’ve seen almost no one in the last four or five months. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but we can’t rely on anyone coming to help us, ever. That’s why we’re growing our own vegetables and catching rabbits and fish to eat, because there won’t be any supermarkets or shops any more. We’ve got to look after ourselves from now on. There won’t be any more electricity, or TV, or running water in the taps, or schools, or anything else that we used to have. Everything has gone now, Megan- everything.’
Megan sat in silence for nearly a minute, digesting it all, but it was almost beyond her comprehension. She began to speak but then started crying instead. Jane went over and put her arms around her. ‘It’s okay, Megan, Jamie and I are going to look after you. You don’t have to worry about anything.’ Megan stopped crying and Jane pushed Max to one side and sat down next to her.
‘Did you answer my wish?’ she asked Jane after a while.
‘How do you mean, honey?’
‘Well, as it was my birthday yesterday I wanted a birthday cake, but all the cakes I found in the shops were mouldy. I found some tins of rice pudding, so I opened one and put a candle in it, then I lit it and blew it out and made a wish; because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you blow out the candles.’
‘And what did you wish for?’ Jane asked.
‘I wished for someone to come and save me and to not be on my own, and then today you came.’ Jane hugged her. ‘Then yes, Megan, we’ve answered your wish.’
By then the food was ready so they went back into the kitchen and served up the meal. Megan ate like there was no tomorrow and put away a big plateful, then asked if she could have seconds. They smiled at her and said of course she could. After eating they cleared the things away and washed up, and within about half an hour Megan was asleep in her chair. Jamie picked her up, carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. It was a warm night so he didn’t bother with all the covers, but he put her favourite blanket on top of her and tucked her teddy bear in next to her. She stirred and rolled over to clutch her teddy then murmured ‘Night-night, Daddy.’
Jamie bit his lip to keep from crying then went over to the chest of drawers opposite the bed and lit a candle he’d made from vegetable fat that would burn through the night. He put a glass cover over the candle and went back to the kitchen, where Jane was making some bread for the next day. After pouring himself a whisky he sat down on the sofa in the conservatory, where she joined him shortly and snuggled up next to him.
‘… And then there were three,’ said Jane.
They sat there for some time talking about Megan, amazed that she had looked after herself for all those months. They also discussed how it might impact on them and the way they were living, but they didn’t have any answers to that yet and would just have to play it by ear. They closed up the house and went to bed. Jane awoke in the night and went to check on Megan, but she was sleeping soundly, still clutching her teddy.
When they got up in the morning Megan was still asleep, but she came into the kitchen after about twenty minutes, rubbing her eyes.
‘Well, good morning, sleepy-head!’ said Jane. ‘You’ve slept for over ten hours; you must have needed it.’
‘Good morning,’ she replied. ‘That was the best sleep I’ve had since… well, for months and months. Thank you for putting the candle in my room. I woke up in the night and couldn’t remember where I was and got a bit scared, but then I saw the candle and remembered. It was still burning just now so I blew it out.’
‘That’s okay, sweetie,’ said Jamie. ‘I thought you might need it last night. Good girl for blowing it out.’
They sat at the table and ate a breakfast of bread with cured meats, dried fruit and some of the honey that Sarah and Georgie had given them on their last visit. There was only tea or coffee to drink, so Megan just had water. Jane made a note to see if she could find some other drinks that Megan might like when they went out. After they’d eaten Jane asked if she’d like to come with her to take Max for his morning walk and she said she’d love to.
It had clouded over in the night and the sky was now overcast and dreary. Megan only had her green dress to wear, so Jane went next door and came back with one of her comfortable baggy jumpers. She put it on over the top of Megan’s dress; it came down to her knees and she rolled the sleeves up for her. Max was already waiting by the back door, wagging his tail in anticipation.
Jane put on her coat, checking that there were spare cartridges in the pockets, and picked up her sawn-off, slinging it over her shoulder. They walked through the garden and down the steps to the promenade, then walked along to the next steps down onto the beach and headed east, walking just above the water line. Megan chased Max around and threw a piece of driftwood for him to fetch, which he ran after eagerly; Jane watched her with a smile on her face. After a while Megan came back and walked beside her.
‘Jane?’
‘Yes, honey?’
‘Do you and Jamie always carry a gun when you go out?’
‘Yes we do, sweetie; we have to, for protection. These are dangerous times now, Megan. There are no police any more, so there’s no one to maintain law and order. I know there aren’t many people left, but some of them might be bad people. And because there’s no law any more some people think that they can do anything they like.’
‘I know there are bad people out there because I used to see it on the news sometimes and hear Mummy and Daddy talking about it. My mum told me long ago that I must never go off with strangers. You and Jamie were different, though, because you rescued me, and I had a good feeling about you. I always know when I don’t trust someone. Have you met any bad people yet?’
Jane sat down on the pebbles and Megan sat beside her; she thought for a while about how much to tell her. She didn’t want to scare the girl, but on the other hand she had to make her aware of the dangers and the times they were now living in.
‘Yes, honey, Jamie and I have met bad people- very bad people. About three months ago three men attacked me. They shot me and they were going to do horrible things to me.’
‘Were they going to rape you?’ Megan asked, surprising Jane. ‘Only, I heard about it early last year and wasn’t too sure what it meant, so I asked my mum. She explained it to me, and I know there are some bad men out there who hurt women and girls.’
Jane hesitated for a second. ‘Yes, Megan, they were going to rape me, but Jamie saved me. That’s how we met.’
‘What happened to the bad men?’
‘Well… I hit one with a hammer to protect myself and he died, then Jamie had to shoot the other two to protect me and to protect himself. The men would have killed us otherwise.’
Megan thought for a second. ‘Good! I’m glad Jamie shot them because I don’t want anyone to hurt you,’ and she threw her arms around Jane. Jane hugged her and said ‘Megan, I don’t want you to think that every man- or woman- we might meet is going to be bad. They probably won’t be; but because of what’s happened to the country some people might be desperate and do bad things because of that.’
Megan thought about this for a second and then nodded. ‘Okay; I think I understand.’
They stood up, called to Max and made their way back, with Megan holding Jane’s hand the whole way. When they got home Jamie had cleared away the breakfast things and was busy cleaning the porch roof. Jane pointed it out to Megan, telling her that Jamie had built it, and showed her how it collected rainwater in the barrel for them to drink. Megan told Jamie he was very clever and then gave him a hug. He was really touched; he thanked her and bent down to kiss her forehead.
Jane left again shortly after with Megan to get he
r some new clothes. She packed a few tools into the boot of her Golf in case she needed to break into any shops and drove to Devonshire Road in town. There were several clothes shops nearby and she managed to find what Megan needed. She was pleased that Megan wasn’t particularly fussed about what she wore and proved to be very practical in her choice of clothes.
They found all the essentials like socks, underwear, tops, shirts and trousers, and got her several coats and fleeces for when it got colder. They loaded everything into the car and then Jane took her into the Co-op, where they walked along the aisles looking for some drinks that Megan might like. The place, like all the other food shops and supermarkets, had been ransacked by people panic-buying or looting, and rubbish littered the floor. There wasn’t much left in there, but they managed to find two tins of drinking chocolate and some cocoa powder, along with some tins of powdered fruit drink and a few bottles of fruit squash. On top of one shelf Jane was pleased to find a few tins of condensed milk that had rolled to the back. From there she drove round to Sackville Road where there was a good shoe shop; she wanted Megan to have good quality footwear and they found several pairs of shoes and boots to fit her.
They went home pleased with their shopping trip and Megan said she was looking forward to wearing her new things. Back home, they found Jamie working in the garden and they went out to help him. Megan got changed into some new clothes and a pair of Wellington boots they’d found to fit her and she showed Jamie, who said how lovely she looked. They showed her how to harvest some of the vegetables and salads and picked enough for their lunch and evening meal. They spent the rest of the day out in the garden, with Megan asking them lots of questions about the food they were growing. She found it all fascinating and wanted to know everything.
Jamie went out on his bike in the evening to check the snares and came back with a rabbit, which they cooked that night. After their evening meal they sat and played cards, but by nine o’clock Megan was falling asleep, so she went to bed wearing her new pyjamas. Jane went to sit on the sofa with Jamie and they talked for a while. She told him about her conversation with Megan on the beach that morning, and Jamie thought she had done the right thing in being honest with her.
‘She’s got to know how things are now. From now on she’s going to be growing up in a completely different world from the one she knew six months or a year ago. She realises that now, I think, but there are probably still some things that she can’t fully comprehend yet.’
‘I know, but that will happen in time; she’s a smart kid. I’m just so pleased that we found her in time; I don’t think she would have lasted much longer otherwise. She needs to put on at least another stone, probably more.’
‘Well, we’ll soon fatten her up! And just think; if we’d been a minute earlier or later we might have missed her.’ Jane smiled at him, stroked his face and kissed him then they went off to bed.
Twenty-one
During the next week they noticed a change in Megan as she got to know them better and became used to her new surroundings and her new situation. For the first few days her mood was prone to change suddenly and she would go from being happy and laughing to sudden bouts of crying or sadness. It was hardly surprising, given the trauma that she had suffered: for five months she had struggled to survive on her own and to find enough food and water to live on, and hadn’t spoken to anyone during that time. On one occasion Jane found her curled up on her bed in tears, clutching the photo of her mum and dad.
As the week progressed, though, the crying and the mood swings became less frequent. Jamie and Jane discussed it when they were on their own in the evenings and they knew it would probably take many months for Megan to put everything behind her and move on. It wasn’t just losing her parents that she had to contend with, or the months spent on her own; there was also the whole new order of things in the country for her to understand and come to terms with.
During the days spent working in the garden with them, or when out and about checking snares with either of them, she talked constantly and asked sensible and pertinent questions. She always thought carefully about what they told her, trying to get her head around it all. She began to understand better that this wasn’t a temporary situation that would be resolved, and that this now was their way of life. Max’s company was a constant tonic to her and she spent a lot of time playing with him, which they were pleased to see.
She was keen to learn about cooking and preparing food, and watched them both in the kitchen, always asking if she could help with something. Jane showed her how to make bread: they still had some packets of dried yeast left, which would be usable for a while yet, and Jamie demonstrated how to prepare a rabbit and she wasn’t at all squeamish. They showed her how to prepare different vegetables and explained the importance of preserving the food they gathered or caught for the winter when things would be scarce, now that there weren’t fridges or freezers, and she was intrigued by it all. She also started to show some independence, asking Jane if she minded if she went down to the sea to wash on her own, and Jane said of course not.
Towards the end of the week Megan opened up a bit about her parents and her time on her own, and although sad she was able to talk about it without crying every time. On one such occasion Jane asked her if she had seen any other survivors in all that time.
‘Well, I didn’t see any people in the streets,’ she answered, ‘but I saw three cars go past. I think the first two were in March or April and the third one was in May. I saw the first two through shop windows while I was out looking for food. The first one had two men in it and was going up the road to Ninfield. The second one had a man and a woman in it. I ran outside and saw it go up to the roundabout and turn down Turkey Road.’ She explained that the third one had been going down the road into town, but she had only seen the back of it. From her description it sounded like it might have been a Land Rover. It was just possible that she had seen Sarah and Georgie on a trip into town, but then again a Land Rover was a fairly common vehicle in the surrounding areas.
The weather improved as the week progressed, becoming warm and sunny. On the Thursday Jamie offered to take Megan out fishing on the boat and she jumped at the opportunity. Bill and Emma and Sarah and Georgie were coming for lunch the following day and he hoped to catch something to cook for them. He put a life jacket on her and tightened the straps to their maximum; it was still a bit loose but she certainly couldn’t fall out of it. She whooped and yelled with a mixture of fear and delight as he rowed out over the breaking waves until they got further out and it became calmer. He pointed out to her that they needed to fix a point of reference on the shore to see how far they drifted and he used the blue tarp tied to the railing again.
He showed her the different fishing rigs set up on the three rods and explained the differences and the reasons for them. He used one with lures and another baited with strips of rabbit flesh. They were out for over an hour without any bites, but then he caught four decent mackerel and a good-sized bass. He let Megan hold the rod and reel it in and she was beside herself with excitement. After that, though, she began feeling a bit sea-sick so he rowed back to shore. They drew the boat up the beach and tied it up, secured the tarp over the top and then went back to the house. He showed Megan how to gut the fish and then put them in the cellar in a bucket of seawater to keep cool until the next day.
Later in the afternoon, while Jane was busy in the kitchen with Megan, he set out walking to the railway at Westcourt Drive to check the snares they’d put back there. He had a canvas bag with him for rabbits and his sawn-off over his shoulder. It was a nice walk in the late-afternoon sun and he noticed that several apple trees were nearly ready for harvesting; they must be an early-ripening variety he thought to himself. He climbed up the siding by the bridge and onto the track and checked the snares. He was relieved to find one rabbit, which he put into his bag, but was disappointed that there weren’t more. Some snares had been knocked over and he had just finished resetting them when
he heard a vehicle coming from the direction of the sea; it sounded like a lorry or a truck with a big diesel engine.
He went to the bridge’s south side and looked out, hidden behind a bush. Round the bend from West Parade into Richmond Avenue, directly in front of him, came a large truck, moving slowly. To his amazement it was an army vehicle, bearing Red Cross insignia, and he could see three men in the cab in army uniform as it drew closer. He rushed down the siding to the road, back under the bridge and waited on the pavement. The truck stopped twenty feet from him; three soldiers jumped out of the back and stood on the pavement with rifles at the ready.
The cab door opened and two officers climbed down and stood to one side, careful not to impede the soldiers’ fire, if necessary. Both had pistols in holsters on their belts.
‘Good afternoon, sir. Would you please remove the shotgun from your shoulder and place it on the ground in front of you,’ one of them asked. Jamie didn’t have any option, so he took the shotgun off his shoulder and laid it down as requested, along with his bag.
‘Thank you, sir; just a precaution, you understand? May we have your name, please?’
‘It’s Jamie; James Parker. Boy, am I surprised to see you!’
‘Mr. Parker, may we ask what your state of health is? Do you have any sickness of any kind, or have you been ill?’
‘No, I’m in perfect health; rather ironic, given the circumstances,’ he said with a slight smile. ‘I caught the plague about five or six months ago; I was in some sort of coma for six days and then woke up. It took me over a month to recover, but since then I’ve been tip-top.’
The two officers looked at each other and then back at Jamie. ‘Well, then you’re a very lucky man, Mr. Parker, and you’re in a tiny minority,’ said the other officer. ‘We’ve only encountered twenty-two other people so far in the south-east who contracted the plague and survived.’
The Hoffmann Plague Page 19
