As he stared up the ramp in to nothingness, simply watching the dirty snow swirl in all directions he was just able to make out the faint light pouring through the petrol stations kiosks windows. He watched it and every now and then he caught a glimpse of one of the pump lights or one of the car tail lights, if he squinted his eyes slightly he thought that it looked like a spaceship coming in to land and the thought reminded him of an old sci-fi horror movie he’d seen where a group of men stationed at a remote outpost in Antarctica find something buried in the ice and get a nasty surprise when they dig it out.
Wouldn’t mind watching that movie again, he thought.
He caught his breath and went back to work, he carried on much slower this time trying to breathe more evenly but not too deeply. He didn’t want to get any of that foul ash in his lungs.
After another ten minutes that felt like thirty or even forty he had to stop again, breathing was nearly impossible! He leaned against the shovel again and watched the spaceship while despite the cold he felt sweat trickle down the small of his back, he felt horrible. He tugged the loose trousers up again for what felt like the thousandth time and straightened out the oversized jacket, he was tired and agitated and couldn’t wait to go home, never mind go on lunch.
As he waited to catch his breath again thoughts of home and his grandparents who he’d lived with since he was only little filled his mind. He could see his granddad sitting back on the sofa completely lost in some book he was reading, probably about some act of daring do on the high seas, and his grandma would be sat in her armchair busily knitting while listening to a play on the radio with one ear and listening to a pot in the kitchen with the other one. There would be a stew of some sorts simmering away filling the rest of the house with the hearty aroma of home cooking....Suddenly Collin realised he couldn’t see any trace of the petrol station up ahead.
He squinted and blinked his eyes trying hard not to rub them as they began to itch.
There was nothing, no kiosk light, no pump lights, no car tail lights!
Maybe the power cuts have started, he thought straining his eyes.
As he stared he began to see a shape appearing!
He was sure of it! The more he stared the more he thought he could see the sides or at least corners! He stared concentrating hard even though the cold wind was hurting his eyes.
Yes,there were sides, definite sides! He was transfixed as a slightly off square block began to form at the end of the loading ramp. It almost looked like it was growing in between hiding behind gusts of ashy snow.‘What the hell, he thought still watching. There was no doubt in his mind that it was growing now, growing bigger and bigger!
No, it can’t be,he told himself, beginning to doubt his eyes.Must’a been out in this crap for too long, he thought when suddenly a small red block flickered just in front of him making him flinch, and with it a beep sounded in time with the flickering red block.
They flickered and sounded in sequence with each other,beep, beep, bee, e, e, eee, ep, ep, flash, flash, flash....flash, flash!
WHAT THE HELL IS IT, he thought again frustrated as lightning flashed overhead giving Collin just enough of a view to figure out what he was looking at, and he realised just in time what was happening and dived out of the way kicking as hard as he could with both legs praying that the snow would break his fall just as the rear end of the articulated truck reversed passed him, right over where he had been standing only a second ago.
The rear lights and reversing horn both worked in a stuttering sequence again as the truck backed up against the bump stops at the bottom of the bay fitting snugly against one of the roller doors.
Collin looked up and down the length of the truck from where he lay in the snow roughly half way along the trailer’s body shocked and amazed at how close he’d just come to being flattened.
Even though he was lying roughly in the middle of the long truck, slightly closer to the back than the front, the front end of the truck was nearly invisible, even when the cab door opened and the coughing choking driver jumped out Collin still had a hard time working out where the front of the truck was.“Hay how are ya?”the driver bellowed, coughing again as he slammed the cab door and walked over. Ash clung to him from top to bottom.
“You must have royally pissed someone off to get this job huh,”said the driver.
“Uh, yea, I suppose so. I, umm, I mean, umm, you nearly ran me over just now,”Collin managed.
“What!Get a fucking grip son, I was barely moving! Even if I did touch ya as Icrawledback, you would have had plenty time to move, and besides I reckon you probably had a much better chance of seeing me than I did of seeing you eh. Great big truck reversing towards ya, specially with you being in a loading dockwatchingout for trucks eh.”
The driver winked at Collin. Collin didn’t know what to say, he was lost for words. The driver coughed again badly this time and buried his face in his ash covered chequered sleeve. He buckled so much he had to reach out and grab on to the side of the truck for balance. Once he recovered and straightened up he looked at Collin and laughed.
“What you got that stupid mask on for? They don’t do fuck all,”he said walking closer to Collin.
As he approached Collin he held his right hand out.
Collin wanted to back away but knew it would make him look stupid.
“I fucking did this playing with the trailers electrics back down the road. I slipped on the fucking ice,”said the driver. Collin relaxed a little and tried to see what the driver was trying to show him, then wished he hadn’t. He cringed and looked away and took a step back!
The drivers hand was covered in blood that was horribly black where it had mixed with the ash. The driver peeled back a piece of old rag that he’d used as a bandage and Collin saw that the fleshy part between his thumb and index finger was split wide open right down to where the finger and thumb bones hinged from each other. His thumb dropped as the driver unwrapped his hand and it just hung there dead, the cut was nasty and jagged and it looked filthy.
Collin sucked in air through his teeth and said,“Whoa, Ouchthat looks really bad, you’d better go see Mad Ma, ugh, I mean Maggie, she’s the first aider.”
“Mad Maggie eh,”said the driver smiling.
“Uh, NoI didn’t mean that, I was”
“Whatever”, said the driver cutting him off.“I’m kidding chill, I think I’m gonna need more than a first aider though eh. This fucker’s gonna need stitches, I’ll go find her anyway. Oh’and you’d better get some grit down or it’ll be a fucking nightmare getting out.”
The driver turned and headed off up the steps and disappeared inside, leaving Collin alone again.
He felt sick after seeing the driver’s wounded hand the thought of it made him keep wanting to press his own thumb and index finger together closing them together tightly.
He walked up to the front of the truck and stood by the cab and idly kicked off the gathered snow from the bumper and brushed the rest off with his hand. It looked like the driver had just burst out of a coal mine, not driven for hours in blizzard conditions. The front of the cab was practically black! Collin turned and leaned back against the cab looking back at the petrol station, his spaceship was back, he could make out the forecourt a little easier now though now that he was a little closer and it kind of did away with any childish thoughts. Car taillights flickered through the dirty snow while they sat in line waiting for fuel. He caught brief glimpses of silhouettes as people moved around fuelling up their cars under cover of the forecourt canopy.
He watched for a moment passing time with his frozen hands wedged up under his armpits and thought of home again wondering what grandma was cooking for dinner today until he was woken from his daydream when he thought he heard a shout.
He stood up off the cab quickly thinking it might be Mad Maggie back up on the metal steps checking up on him, he wouldn’t put it passed her.At least she wouldn’t come out after him,he thought. Then holding the shovel by his si
de he walked around the front of the truck looking back. He couldn’t even see the stairs never mind anyone on them. He was just taking his first step towards the steps when he heard the shout again.Definitely a shout,he thought but it wasn’t coming from up the steps, it was coming from behind him! He turned back around and faced the petrol station, listening.
All he could hear was his own breathing and the wind and snow ruffling and pelting against his hood battering his head. The shout came again and this time it was followed immediately by another. There was no mistaking that it had definitely come from the petrol station.
Collin pulled back his hood trying to listen to what was going on, he cupped his hands over his ears trying to shield them from the wind. It worked a little. The wind still muffled what he could hear but he could hear and he could definitely hear people shouting at each other. They were arguing!
They were in a hurry, rushing. Then thunder blanked out everything completely giving Collin a fright, he wasn’t ready for the thunder and now he felt deaf, his ears actually rang now and he couldn’t hear much of anything, but there was something, he’d heard something before the thunder, he made out words.“Get it shifted, C’mon hurry up man for fuck sake....“Just died, it’s completely dead!....“Can’t, it won’t do anything....”Fucking move it!”
They were all mens voices he’d heard carried on the wind and they weren’t happy.
Then he heard more angry shouting as the ringing in his ears started to ease.“Oh shit not another one. Were all gonna end up fucking stuck in here!....“C’mon fucking move, get out of the fucking way....“Its fucking dead, I’m telling you it won’t do anything!”
Then a car horn blurted and stuttered just like the trucks reversing horn, then it stopped and Collin heard someone say,“Ah’ shit,mines died as well!”
Suddenly the petrol station, what Collin could see of it, disappeared in to the murk, engulfed within the dirty snow. Collin stared and he could just make out one pair of car taillights, tiny little red dots disappearing and reappearing through the mash up of ash and snow and suddenly the petrol station lights came back on and he heard a couple of cheers but then the lights blinked out again. More shouting and swearing flared up! The lights came on again, but they flickered badly and went out again, permanently.
Collin couldn’t even see the tiny red dots from the car’s taillights anymore. He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the mixing ash and snow, but all he could see was the continuous kaleidoscopic swirling grey snow. He became a little bit disorientated by the motion of the snow constantly changing directions right in front of him. He reached out and touched the side of the truck, it helped him to keep his balance. After a moment he thought he’d better go and tell someone about the petrol station lights, he turned to go and as he did he heard more shouting, much louder this time. People were arguing, really going at it, then he heard breaking glass!
He stopped to listen again and got the shock of his life!
A shrill ear stabbing noise made him jump and cringe at the same time! A woman was screaming!
CHAPTER 7
Gavin gave up taking route notes, not even Eddy could tell where they were at times.Evenhe missed a few of their turn offs himself and ended up having to back up and get the bus turned around again which had been interesting.
Twice while trying to get back on route after missing a turn as they made their way around the new route for the second time the bus had gotten stuck in the foul ashy snow, but luckilyalmostmiraculously, help had come to their rescue within minutes on both occasions.
First up they hadn’t actually missed a turn but had stopped to let someone off at the end of a track that disappeared in to the woods and they just couldn’t get going again, the wheels just kept spinning up. Gavin jumped out to see if he could help them get going again while Eddy stayed put in the driving seat and not because he was the driver leaving the trainee to do the dirty work but because his arthritic knees were in agony playing up with the cold.
Anyway as luck would have it a snowplough heading back to base emerged through the ashy snow ahead of them and the driver pulled them free with his toe chain. Before the snow plough driver set off again he told Eddy not to bother carrying on any further than he absolutely had to.
He said that in places even he struggled to get through and that there were several routes that he simplycouldn’teven attempt. He told Eddy there was word on the radio that even a tractor had got stuck trying to pull stranded cars free some place nearby and that the road was blocked, and would be for a while now that the weather was really starting to close in. Eddy shook his head and told him that because they had passengers on board going all the way to the end of the route they had no option but to carry on, they couldn’t just turn and head back to Inverness and leave the passengers to walk the rest of the way.
So they continued, and half an hour later, just passed Kirkhill, Eddy missed a fork in the road.
He drove straight passed the fork without seeing it through the grey blizzard. Eddy had Gavin watching for their turns as well but they both missed it. The weather made it practically impossible to see anything out of the bus windows, the snow on its own was bad enough to see through and slowed them to a crawl, but with the ash thrown in the mix it was next to impossible, and it was getting worse. The snow was getting darker!
At first no- one on the bus noticed the snow turning grey. The shadow cast by the enormous cloud overhead had already turned day to night and the extreme lightning all around held every ones’attention for long enough until they stopped to pick up the first passenger since leaving the city. Eddy pulled up and when he opened the doors a cloud of ash blew in to the bus as a guy jumped on and he was grey from head to toe, nearly black in places. He was tall, wearing a thick parka and jeans, he brushed off the worst of the loose snow as he got on but as always, some remained and everyone saw just how discoloured the snow had become as it dropped from the guy on to the bus’s dirty blue floor. The passengers picked up on it straight away murmuring to each other in worried tones.“Jesus,”said Eddy,“the snow turning colour or something out there?”
The man nodded as he paid his fare.“Yea, it started about fifteen minutes ago. I didn’t realise it either until I left the house to come and catch the bus. I think it’s starting to get darker as well, it aint white anymore anyway that’s for sure!”
Eddy nodded, he was short for words; he’d never seen anything like it. He looked down at the thawing grey puddle on the floor of the bus and then up at Gavin.
“I think things might spice up soon sonny Jim,”he said smirking, then he shrugged his shoulders and they started rolling again. Within minutes there was no mistaking the discolouration of the snow. They were engulfed in a never ending cloud of dark grey ashy snow, and it was getting darker by the minute.
Because Eddy couldn’t tell if they’d passed the fork in the road after driving through Kirkhill he needed Gavin to get out and check.“No point in carrying on if we’re on the wrong road,”said Eddy. So Gavin hopped out with the plan to walk along in front of the bus to try and figure out where they were.
“Look for a road sign or something,”said Eddy as he left the bus for the second time.
Gavin found the verge beside the bus and started traipsing through the deep snow ahead of the bus using the headlights to light his way as far as he could but they didn’t stretch very far in the dirty blizzard. Everything in sight was grey! It felt so out of the ordinary seeing grey snow falling, smothering everything. Gavin thought it was kind of exciting as he walked through the safety net of the headlights and in to greyness. As he traipsed on the ash stung his eyes a little and the cold nipped his face and his ears. He tried shielding his eyes with his hand trying to see further ahead but it didn’t help. Occasionally he caught a glimpse ten feet or so ahead for a split second but that was all, before it closed in again in an instant. Trying not to slip or fall as he went he thought he could see something ahead.
He pushed on, and grad
ually a form started to come in and out of view through the greyness up ahead.
Might give me an idea where we are, he thought.
He aimed for it and came up against a road sign caked with dirty snow. He wiped the face of it clean and saw that it warned of a low bridge ahead.
This’ll do, he thought sure that they hadn’t passed under any low bridges earlier, he wasn’t even sure if theycouldpass under a low bridge.“Back we go,”he said aloud as he turned to head back knowing that Eddy was gonna be pissed.
Before he made it back to the bus with the wind fully in his face he had to stop to catch his breath. Facing in to the wind while striding through the deep snow was harder going than he thought it would be, and trying to breathe through the dust mask as it blocked up with the ash didn’t help.
He stood for a minute catching his breath slightly hunched with his hands on his knees. He tried brushing the dust mask to clean it, trying to make breathing a little easier when an almighty crash like steel grinding against steel exploded right in front of him!
He jumped back instinctively and slipped.“SHIT!” he yelped in surprise as he landed on his knees, instantly hoping that his mask and the wind muffled his cry enough so that no- one heard him.
More noises followed as he got back up. Bending, grinding, straining steel!
He squatted slightly ready to jump or run if he had to.What the hell? he wondered.
Steel ground against steel, it buckled and popped making him cringe like when someone scrapes their nails across a blackboard. Then it stopped! Gavin popped his ears trying to restore them after the splitting noise. Then there was a heavy thump. Then another and another!
It was close by, too close. Gavin flinched, slipped again but caught himself and then a piercing screech rang out louder than before.
As the Light Dies Page 9
