The Hoffmann Plague

by Tony Littlejohns

  Over breakfast they realised they’d forgotten to check the snares the previous day because of the move. They also needed to remove them all from where they had them set as they wouldn’t be visiting that area on a daily basis from now on, so it wouldn’t be right to leave them there.

  Obviously, they would soon start helping around the farm with the regular tasks there, such as tending to the animals, maintaining the infrastructure and preparing the land for the planting of new crops when the time came, but nothing had been discussed between them yet. They decided they should keep up their production of sea salt at the bungalow. Although they currently had large stocks of salt, it was still a finite resource that would need to be replenished, so they agreed to go to the bungalow on a two-weekly basis over winter, as time and other jobs allowed.

  ‘I’ll take Megan and Max to remove the snares,’ said Jane, ‘and then go on to the bungalow to refill the containers in the conservatory with seawater.’

  ‘Okay; and I’ll go and have a chat with Bill about the stable conversion.’

  He put on his coat and boots, kissed them both and then walked off across the yard to see Bill, stopping halfway to stroke the three farm cats that were lounging by one of the barns. They were semi-feral creatures that lived on the farm, sleeping in various places depending on the weather. Although they liked attention and being stroked they wouldn’t be picked up like a domestic cat might, and they helped keep the mice and rat population under control.

  Jane put a few things in a bag then put on her Barbour and a woolly hat as it was a bit chilly, and Megan did the same. She took her sawn-off from the gun rack by the door and put extra cartridges in her pockets and in the bag. As an afterthought she also took a long shotgun in case they saw anything worth shooting. Max was already waiting eagerly by the door, wagging his tail.

  They drove off in the BMW and on the way Jane changed her mind, deciding to go to the bungalow first and then pick up the snares on the way back. They parked on the drive and went into the rather empty-looking house. Megan got two buckets and they walked down to the beach to fill them, with Max trailing behind. They carried the water back and laid out as many containers as would fit in the conservatory before pouring some water into each. They had found that a typical three-gallon bucket of seawater yielded around twelve ounces of salt and they had gathered a good stock over the last five months.

  ‘Well, missy,’ said Jane, ‘hopefully when we come back in two weeks it will have evaporated and we’ll have another bag of salt for our store.’

  Megan smiled. ‘I think the salt we collect tastes much nicer than the salt we used to get from the supermarket.’

  ‘Yes, honey, I agree; that’s because it’s rich in iodine and has other trace elements that commercially-produced salt often doesn’t have.’

  Megan nodded. ‘Dad said something similar to me when we were down on the beach a while back.’

  They called Max in from the garden then left the house and drove away, stopping first at the railway bridge on Westcourt Drive. Jane smiled to herself as she remembered going there with Max to lay their first snares, while he’d still been recovering. They walked along the railway line removing all the snares, but there were no rabbits caught in them. Jane was disappointed but Megan said maybe they’d have better luck at the next place.

  They climbed down the embankment to the pavement and were standing by the car when Max barked and then they heard a vehicle, but because of echoes from under the bridge they couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Jane was on her guard instantly; all the more so because she had Megan to protect. She took the sawn-off from her shoulder, cocked both hammers and held it down by her side in her right hand, turning her head each way to listen and watch. She could feel her heart beating faster as adrenaline kicked-in.

  At that moment a motorhome turned left into the road from Cooden Drive behind them. It pulled up about twenty feet away and then a man and woman got out of the cab. They waved and said hi then started coming towards them. Max came forward and stood in front of Megan; his hackles were up and he was growling low in his throat.

  Jane held her left hand up, palm outwards. ‘Would you mind staying where you are, please, and not coming any closer yet?’

  The couple stopped about five yards from them, looking hesitant and glancing at the sawn-off shotgun in her hand.

  ‘Please;’ said Jane, ‘I don’t mean to be unfriendly or hostile, but could I ask you a few questions first?’

  ‘Okay,’ said the man. ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘Can I ask you about your state of health; are either of you ill or have you had any sickness of any sort?’

  The man gave a little smile and relaxed slightly. ‘Well, I can understand your concern, but we’re all fit and healthy. Our two kids are in the back and none of us have been ill.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Jane. ‘And could I ask where you’ve come from and when was the last time you had any contact with other people? I’m sorry to ask, but I need to know.’

  ‘That’s quite alright,’ said the woman. ‘In fact, we should have done the same, I suppose. We left our home near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire nearly two weeks ago to come to live in Bexhill. My cousin lived here, but he and his family died in hospital from the plague. We got stopped at an army checkpoint near Sevenoaks and escorted to a refugee camp near Tunbridge Wells for screening and registration. We were there for ten days and got the all-clear yesterday morning, then arrived here at lunchtime and have moved into my cousin’s house nearby.’

  Jane smiled, thanking them, and relaxed somewhat. She patted Max, saying ‘Okay, Max. Good boy!’ Max stopped growling but still looked alert; ready to move at the slightest threat to his family.

  ‘Great dog you have there,’ said the man. ‘This might be a long-shot, but your name wouldn’t be Jane Roberts, would it?’

  Jane was taken aback. ‘Yes it is: how did you know that?’

  The man smiled. ‘Well, we met Major Cunningham several times during our stay at the refugee camp. When we told him we were heading for Bexhill he said there was a possibility that we might bump into you and your partner, Jamie. If we did, he asked us to pass on his regards and to say he hopes Megan is doing well. We also met Major Miller a few times, whom I understand you met.’

  Jane relaxed further and smiled, thanking them for passing on Cunningham’s message and apologising for the questions. She lifted the sawn-off and un-cocked the hammers then slung it back over her shoulder. The couple relaxed at that and took it as a sign to come forward.

  ‘I’m Matt Turner and this is my wife, Zoe.’

  ‘Hello; pleased to meet you. I’m Jane- obviously- and this is our daughter, Megan.’

  They all shook hands and smiled as the tension started to drain away. The man was tall and lanky with long dark hair, a high forehead and greying beard. His wife was only a few inches shorter and willowy, with long blonde hair parted in the middle. Both were in their mid-forties and Jane’s first thought was of New Age hippies. Matt turned round and waved to the vehicle; the door opened and a boy and girl got out and walked over to them. They were obviously twins and were around Megan’s age. Zoe introduced them as Amber and Luke and they all said hello.

  ‘I have a feeling that you have good reason to be wary and to carry a sawn-off shotgun?’ said Zoe.

  ‘Yes;’ Jane replied, ‘several reasons, actually! I may tell you about them sometime, but now probably isn’t the right time.’

  ‘Oh, God!’ said Matt, ‘I hope we haven’t jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire by coming here! Are things really bad in Bexhill?’

  Jane smiled grimly but shook her head. ‘Well, I’d guess things are probably no worse than where you’ve come from. The state the country’s in brings out the best and the worst in people everywhere. There’s no one left here, pretty much; it’s a ghost-town. If there are still other survivors here in town then we haven’t seen them in six months, but we’ve had trouble with people from oth
er areas- and I mean big trouble. It sounds, though, as if you’ve run away from trouble of your own back in Potters Bar.’

  ‘Yes;’ Zoe replied, ‘there was a bunch of thugs who were lording-it over the few survivors left in our area. They acted like they were now controlling the town, causing lots of problems for people and being threatening whenever they went to get anything. I mean, we’d planned on coming to Bexhill anyway as we wanted to live next to the sea in my cousin’s house. He’d lived here most of his life and I know the area well because of that. We’d planned on moving down in early spring to start planting crops, but things got so bad that we felt we needed to leave right away.’

  Zoe hesitated and then started crying. Matt put his arm around her, saying everything would be okay.

  ‘We had the same sort of thing happen here,’ said Jane. ‘It was in Battle, actually, but it migrated to here.’

  Megan looked uncomfortable, moving close to Jane and putting her arm around her. Jane held her and kissed her head.

  ‘Do you have any weapons?’ Jane asked them, and they shook their heads.

  ‘Well, I’d suggest you get some fairly soon, just to be on the safe side. We never go anywhere unarmed any more. I can tell you where there’s a gun store on the outskirts of Hastings and give you directions. We’ve taken a lot of weapons from there, but there are still some shotguns left.’

  ‘I suppose that would make sense,’ said Matt, ‘and they would also be good to have for hunting.’

  ‘What are you doing for food at the moment?’ Jane asked.

  ‘The army gave us some tinned and dried food when we left;’ replied Matt, ‘enough for a few days. And we have a fair stock in the van, too. We were just going out to look now, actually. We’ve also seen apple and pear trees around here that still have some fruit on and were going to collect some.’

  Jane told them about the warehouse at the back of Sainsbury’s that still had a lot of food in it, as it wouldn’t be fair to keep that knowledge from others who needed food. She also mentioned the other smaller supermarkets nearby where they had broken into the storerooms or warehouses and found more food and drink, as well as Tesco’s. They were both very grateful and thanked her.

  They carried on talking for a while: Matt had been an electrical and mechanical engineer most of his life and Zoe was a herbalist and had run her own business. They were looking forward to fishing and growing their own vegetables in their new home. Zoe’s cousin’s house was only half a mile away from the bungalow, in Hartfield Road; the next road along the coast. It had an Aga and a wood-burning stove, a conservatory, and backed onto the beach, as the bungalow did.

  Jane said they’d better be going and that it would be nice to meet again soon, once they were settled in. They seemed like a nice couple and their kids were friendly and polite. Jane gave them directions to the gun store and they gave her their address, asking her to come round sometime with Jamie, which she agreed to do. As an afterthought Jane told them that they’d been snaring rabbits on the railway line on-and-off for the last five months and offered them the snares she and Megan had just collected.

  ‘It’s a bit hit-and-miss, but we’ve had a fair number of rabbits from here in that time. You’ll need to check them every evening and move them to different locations occasionally. The positions are still marked so you’ll know where to set them.’

  They were touched and thanked her several times after taking the snares from her. They all shook hands and then Jane and Megan got into the car and drove off. They stopped at the other two locations, removing all the snares and collecting one rabbit from each place. Megan and Jane grinned at each other then headed back to the farm.

  When they parked in the yard the left-hand barn’s doors had been removed and they could see Jamie and Bill in there working. They got out of the car and Max ran into the barn to see the two men and to be nosey.

  ‘Coffee?’ Jane shouted to them and they smiled and nodded.

  She and Megan went inside to make drinks. They had decided they would keep the range in the kitchen ticking over during the day for background warmth, and stoke it up in the evenings for cooking and more heat. For small cooking tasks or just for boiling water for drinks they used the wood-gas camping stove and the Kelly Kettle, keeping a supply of small twigs and bits of wood in the kitchen for them. Something Jamie had incorporated into the kitchen was a small canopy, under which these items could be used, so the kitchen didn’t fill with smoke. He had taken a small section of flue out through the wall, to which the canopy was attached. There was a baffle in the top that could be slid over to stop draughts when it wasn’t in use. It worked well unless it was very windy, when sometimes a bit of smoke blew back into the kitchen.

  Jane got the kettle going and when it had boiled she made coffee and took mugs out to the men. They were busy cutting both doors in half to make stable doors, where the top half could be opened independently of the bottom. They stopped working and thanked her for the coffee.

  ‘How did you get on?’ Jamie asked.

  ‘Okay;’ said Jane, ‘we removed all the snares and picked up two rabbits, which was great. We also refilled all the containers at the bungalow- as many as we could fit in the conservatory.’

  Jamie told Bill of their intention to keep up the salt production every few weeks over the winter.

  ‘Well, it’s a good idea,’ said Bill. ‘We’ve all got a good supply but it will run out sometime, and we’re always going to need it for preserving and cooking.’

  Jane then told them about meeting the Turner family and Major Cunningham sending his regards. ‘I couldn’t believe it when he said “Your name wouldn’t be Jane Roberts, would it?”!’

  Bill and Jamie laughed and she related the whole meeting to them, which they found interesting, especially that he was an electrical and mechanical engineer and she was a herbalist.

  ‘The more people we know with different skills, the better,’ said Jamie, and they both agreed.

  Megan came out to join them with a cup of tea and they sat talking for a while before Jamie and Bill got on with their work. Jane said she and Megan would plant the herbs and salads they’d brought with them from the bungalow in what would be their garden behind the house.

  First, though, she took the two rabbits over to Emma for the meal that evening. Sarah and Georgie were coming to visit to see their new home and to catch up with them all. Phil and Sophie had been out that morning and shot three pheasants between them, which were prepared and lying on the worktop. Sophie had been practising in recent weeks with one of the smaller 20-bore shotguns they’d picked up from the gun store and was getting on well with it. Jane said she would come over later to help Emma with the meal then she and Megan went back to work in the garden. Sally came round to help and to talk with Megan while they worked.

  They hadn’t been able to bring the bay tree from the bungalow as it was too big to dig up, but Jane had found two replacements growing in large pots in the garden of a house in their road, which she was pleased about. They removed one from its pot and planted it behind the greenhouses. The other she decided to keep in its pot outside the kitchen, next to their patio table. The five sea beet plants she had brought were planted out, along with the other herbs. The sea beet would be great to have as they produced a large crop of leaves and were perennial.

  Sarah and Georgie arrived two hours before sundown, towing the horse cart behind the Land Rover. Bill and Jamie went down to meet them and the women came out of the farmhouse to welcome them. They all exchanged hugs and said how great it was to see each other, then looked at the cart. It was a one-horse model and looked a bit rickety at the moment.

  ‘We had to take it easy on the way here,’ said Georgie, laughing, ‘as we thought one of the wheels might fall off!’

  Bill had a quick look. ‘Me and Jamie will soon have it fixed-up like new.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Emma, ‘and meanwhile I’m still waiting for you to fix the chest of drawers and the wardrobe in our bed
room!’

  ‘Ah,’ replied Bill, grinning ‘but they’re not essential for survival in the post-apocalypse world we’re now living in!’ He winked at Jamie, who tried not to laugh.

  Emma looked at Jane and rolled her eyes, saying ‘Men!’ and they all laughed.

  Sarah and Georgie went to see their newly-converted home and were very impressed, saying what a great job they’d all done and how cosy it was. They then went back to the farmhouse and chatted before the meal. The two sisters had been out on the horses in recent weeks, getting them used to being ridden again and being around people. They had also taken their trailer out on many trips and collected large amounts of hay and straw from the farms they’d visited. They said it would be good if Bill could bring his van over so they could collect more and Bill agreed.

  They had to bring in another table to seat all eleven of them for the meal, but they managed to squeeze round. It was a great evening, catching up on everything they’d all been doing and discussing plans for the coming weeks and months. Bill said the stable should be finished in a week or so, and then they could bring the first two horses over from Sarah and Georgie’s place.

  The next chapter in their lives would soon begin: having horses for transport instead of vehicles. They didn’t know for sure when the fuel would start deteriorating, but they were prepared for it. It would be probably the most significant thing to affect every survivor in the country since the plague. Without transport there would be greatly reduced movement and communication of people between regions; to join other groups, meet new people, or to trade goods and skills. Most people’s operating circle would be limited to within a few miles of where they lived.