‘We are going to cross the river.’
‘Here?’
‘Yeah here.’
‘Will we be okay?’
‘I think so.’
I slowly drove the vehicle into the river, the black water soon reaching the top of the wheels. We were nearing the half way point when the water started to spray into the cab through the gaps in the door. ‘Dad, dad the waters coming in’ cried Emma, panicking as she lifted her feet up and sat on them.
‘It’s fine, we are halfway across.’ Soon the spray became a gush as the water started to fill up the floor panels, I could feel the pressure of the river pushing the truck from my right as I tried to reach the other side. The front of the vehicle suddenly shifted around ten inches, Emma let out a scream as it moved again. I struggled to keep it facing in the right direction, as the water sprayed up at the side windows. She was crying as the back started to slip, and I revved the truck, trying to get some purchase on the riverbed. For every metre forward we moved, we slipped a yard to the left. It was a relief when I could finally see the water level decreasing down the door, and the pressure pushing us started to decline. As the vehicle climbed up the banking on the other side, the water poured out, so we opened the doors to help its progress and then resorted to scooping it out with the frying pan. We took a few minutes to calm ourselves down, looking out of the windscreen, the field ahead looked odd. Unlike the smooth ground we were used to, it was very uneven, with bits sticking out, creating strange branch like shapes all around. Everything was covered in a thick layer of black ash and snow, masking whatever was underneath. I started the truck up again and tried to get moving but I couldn’t get any traction, the wheels were spinning, spraying a layer of snow into the air. But it wasn’t just snow, there was something else underneath, another layer. The vehicle was skidding around on the spot, unable to move forward, so I got out to investigate what the problem was. As soon as my boots hit the snow covered ground, I knew something was wrong. I walked further into the field, each step sinking further into the ground, and feeling very uneven. Six yards in front of me, something was sticking out of the ground like a black branch, spindly and twisted. As I got closer I realised it wasn’t a branch, it was an arm, its dark black skin had shrunk and distorted the limb. I moved the snow away with my boot, underneath was a body, and under that another one. In every direction I looked, when I kicked the ash away, there were bits of human bodies protruding out of the ash and snow. I looked out over the land ahead, for as far as I could see, the ground had a strange uneven look to it, with other unidentified objects sticking out of the sludge. I walked to the nearest one, ten yards to my right, and kicked the ash and snow off it. It was the leg and boot of a man, laid down on top of another body, it was just a mass of bodies. There was so much ash and snow it was hard to see exactly how many there were, but every step I made uncovered one. I walked back to the truck and fastened my rucksack around my waist telling Emma to follow me. I couldn’t drive the truck over the top of this and I wasn’t going back across the river, we would have to walk from here. I wasn’t entirely sure what we had stumbled upon, from directly beyond the river, to as far as my eyes could see, there were bits of bodies sticking out of the ash and snow, for mile upon mile. I don’t believe it was a mass grave site, there were no holes dug, the bodies seemed to be lying where they had fallen. The scene reminded me of the stories I read in my grandad’s diary, when he visited east Russia to view the battle grounds his dad had talked about. Bone fields that stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions,still not cleaned up seventy years after the war, a human memorial to the millions that died. Emma grabbed the rope around my waist and we made our way along the river bank towards the A702 until we reached the edge of the field, and followed the hedgerow up the field parallel to the bodies. I couldn’t believe how far it stretched, we walked for a few fields until something caught my eye. About twenty yards into the field I could see what looked like a rifle, it was half sticking out of the ash blanket. I told Emma to wait while I went to take a closer look, my boots sank into the ground as I walked, each time I put my foot down I was aware it would probably be onto a body. It was like walking on one of those wonky bridges at the fair ground, each step landing in a unexpected way. When I reached the rifle, I kicked the snow off revealing a hand still attached to the weapon, the fingers were frozen solid around the gun and snapped off as I forced it out of its grip. I held the gun in two hands and pressed the trigger, but nothing happened, it was covered in ash and grit, clogging its moving parts, but there was no bullets anyway. I threw it back on the floor and brushed the ash of the man’s jacket to check his pockets. Inside I found a damp letter, an official looking paper addressed to Sergeant Walter Brown of Camp Blue. It was a descriptive battle plan, written by Special Operatives Soldier, Richard Newman, from Fort George, Inverness. In it he explained a plan to surround a camp in Scotland occupied by the creatures. Looking at the scene of mass death in these fields, they never got chance. The rest of the letter gave me other pieces of information that filled in a few more blanks, the resistance was an army determined to fight back, and Torriero was mentioned in the letter as a threat. It had the camp listed as Blackpool football stadium and hotel complex, with concerns raised as to its suitability due to the storms coming off the coast. The stadium was suffering, and they were spending too many hours and resources on its maintenance. I folded the letter up and put it in my back pocket. We knuckled down for a few more hours walking through the blustery snow until Emma couldn’t walk any further, and I was too tired to carry her. I had wanted to reach Bernard’s before the end of today, but it proved too much. We camped down in a derelict electrical building on the outskirts of Locharbriggs, I had to break through its chained metal fence, and then kick the door in. ‘Dad, it says danger on that sign’ said Emma, with a worried look on her face. ‘Look, in big red letters.’
‘I know what it says, but it’s not a danger any more’
‘You always said never, ever, go anywhere near anything that said danger, or has a picture of a skull and crossbones, and this has both.’
‘I know I did, and it’s good you remember these things, but there is no electricity in the whole of Great Britain, everywhere is down, trust me it’s safe.’ When we got inside the damp room, we laid our stuff out on the floor and had some cold supper with a drink of water. Emma sat on the plastic sheets eating her food and drinking her water, she looked exhausted, although she denied it as usual, claiming she was wide awake. I don’t like seeing her like this, so tired and fragile. She fell asleep within minutes, mouth wide open, spilling her water on the floor, I took it off her and laid her down, covering her with blankets. I left her asleep to take a look at Locharbriggs, the small town just ahead of us, using my binoculars to check for any sign of possible clothes shops, or trouble. In the field we were in, was a small lake surrounded by trees, beyond that was the town, with the opening to a deserted high street just visible. But it was something closer that caught me eye, halfway around the lake, there was a bench set back from the path, with trees for cover. From where I was standing I could see a camp had been made with a makeshift wooden door for a roof, turned onto its side and pushed into the branches of the trees, the whole thing had been covered with a blue tarpaulin. I walked around the lake to take a closer look, moving the cover to the side with my crowbar, to see if there was anything worth scavenging. There were empty food packets and some very damp towels, when I bent down to climb inside, I noticed there were bodies, three of them, a mother, father and child. They were covered in blankets, but it hadn’t been enough, I think they had frozen to death. It’s sad to think they had been just two hundred yards from a building that would have probably protected them enough to survive, but they chose to stay and paid for that mistake with their lives. But it’s not fair to be critical, I have no idea what conditions they were dealing with, some days during our journey I haven’t been able to see a
metre in front of me, staying alive has a lot to do with luck. They had not been dead long, their skin still blue, waxy and rock hard like meat just out of the freezer. The boy looked a little older than Emma, but not much, his clothes just might save her life, their bad luck might just be our good luck. I took the blankets off him to have a better look, I needed to take everything including his underwear. I started with his trainers and socks, which came off easily, but everything after that was a struggle. With no movement in the legs, I had problems with his pants, struggling with the position he had frozen in, as he had curled up into a ball, trying to keep as warm as possible. There were some uncomfortable cracking sounds as I forced his legs into a position I could work with, after sometime pushing them down his legs, I removed a pair of pants and under pants. I then had to pull his T-shirt and jumper over his head, which was particularly distressing, his face was so well preserved, I half expected him to open his eyes. I took the clothes back to our base and hung them up to dry on the metal fence surrounding the generator, they should be dry enough to wear tomorrow, as they were more cold than wet. The wind and rain was battering the building as I settled down to write the days diary entry, I have always felt happy, snuggled up in bed with Emma when its cold, windy and rainy outside. At the weekend I would always tell her to come into my bed when she woke, as long as it’s not too early, today I’m just happy we are both alive.
Aftermath: The complete collection Page 17
