by Frank Tayell
They detached the passenger-car and climbed into the cab. The engine roared into life, and Chester leaned back.
“Dunkirk, Sheppey, Belfast,” he said. “And hope we’ll bump into a ship or fishing boat along the way. And then what? Anyone got any ideas how we rescue a thousand people from somewhere in the middle of France?”
“Perhaps twenty-one thousand,” Bill said. “And the best I can think of is an airlift. At least, in Belfast, we’re not too far from the international airport. We can repair some more of those helicopters that were left near there. Of course, we’ll then need to bring them to the French coast. Before then, we’ll need to secure a landing site, but there’s no point worrying about that until we know precisely where the convoy grinds to a halt.”
“Assuming the pilot wasn’t lying,” Locke said.
“Assuming that,” Bill said. “There’s an easy way of finding out. We’re driving towards where she said the horde was. If we find it, we know she was telling the truth. If we don’t find it, we’ll know it’s a trap.”
“And if it is a trap, will we turn around?” Locke asked.
“I don’t think so,” Bill said. “What can we three do that Sergeant Khan can’t?”
“Either way, we’ve lost Creil,” Chester said. “Either the horde will destroy it or this convoy will capture it. That’s what I reckon the pilot is up to. Get the French survivors out of the town so that some other group can claim it.”
“More fool them,” Locke said. “Since the professor was already planning their departure, she clearly doesn’t think much of the island’s long-term prospects.”
“Nor do I,” Bill said.
“You don’t?” Chester asked.
“I’m glad I saw Creil,” Bill said. “I truly am. Had I not seen it, it’s exactly the type of settlement we’d have constructed in Belfast. In the spring, we would be reluctant to leave after putting in so much effort, but we would have no choice. Then, wherever we went, we’d have constructed something similar. We would have learned from our mistakes, yet not how great a mistake that type of settlement is.”
“I thought it was impressive,” Chester said.
“But not sustainable,” Bill said. “Not in the long term. Nor is Belfast, or even Elysium. I see that now.”
“Do you know somewhere that is?” Locke asked. “Or at least somewhere that is better?”
“I believe so,” Bill said. “Where we live isn’t as important as how, but there’s only one place left that we can reach. Only one place that, theoretically, has the resources and infrastructure that will enable us to build a truly sustainable future. We have to stop living on old-world supplies. We have to start looking beyond the spring to the next decade. We need to stop fighting, to start farming. Yes, I’m glad I saw Creil, because in its collapse, I can see the shape of our future, a future for all of humanity. No, where we live isn’t as important as how, but I think I know the answer to both.”
“Good to know,” Chester said, closing his eyes. “Wake me up when we get there.”
To him, there was little point planning so far ahead. Dunkirk, Sheppey, Belfast. Rescue Scott, Amber, and Salman. What happened next might well be out of their hands. Bill could make all the plans he wanted, but the admiral had wanted to return to America. Her crew would insist. They wouldn’t leave the two Marines behind, but one rescue flight might be all they were prepared to make, all they could manage. After that, he didn’t know what he’d do, or where he’d go. What he did know was that in a week or three, he’d be reunited with Nilda. Wherever they went, they would go together. A memory swam to the forefront of his mind, of the night of the wedding, the moment just before George’s boat had appeared on the Thames. He and Nilda had stood on the Tower’s walls, not quite saying everything, but saying enough. It was the perfect memory to take him to sleep.
To be continued.
Other Titles
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Other novels:
Surviving The Evacuation & Here We Stand
The outbreak began in New York. Within days, it spread throughout the world. Nowhere is safe from the undead. Books 1-3 are the journals of Bill Wright, a political operative trapped in London after the city is evacuated. Books 4-7 tell of Nilda, a mother searching the wasteland for her son, and Chester, a criminal in search of repentance. Books 8 onward recount the attempt by humanity’s last ten thousand survivors to build a new society out of the ashes of the old world.
Here We Stand is the story of the North American survivors, and the collapse of the United States.
1: London, 2: Wasteland, Zombies vs The Living Dead, 3: Family, 4: Unsafe Haven, 5: Reunion, 6: Harvest, 7: Home, Here We Stand 1: Infected, Here We Stand 2: Divided, Book 8: Anglesey, 9: Ireland, 10: The Last Candidate, 11: Search and Rescue, 12: Britain’s End, 13: Future’s Beginning, 14: Mort Vivant
Post-apocalyptic Detective novels:
Strike a Match
In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt.
Twenty years later, civilization is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise, aided by a shadowy conspiracy. It is down to Detectives Mitchell, Riley, and Deering of the Serious Crimes Unit to unmask the conspirators and save their fragile democracy.
1. Serious Crimes, 2. Counterfeit Conspiracy, 3. Endangered Nation
Work Rest Repeat
Sixty years after The Great War, the last survivors of humanity have taken shelter in giant towers. The colony ships that will allow them to leave the diseased Earth are nearing completion when two murders are discovered. For our species to survive, the criminals must be caught, and the launch must go ahead.
Thanks for reading.
