Max unbuckled his belt and stepped out of the car. “I’ll go see if we can get around.”
“Wait!” Susan called. “I’ll come with you.”
A line of cars sitting bumper to bumper completely blocked both lanes leading to the motorway. Some were abandoned but the majority contained at least one occupant.
As Susan passed each in turn she could not resist a glance inside.
The winter chill had slowed their decomposition and varying degrees of bruising could still be seen on the skin. Car after car contained husbands, wives, mothers and fathers, all dead where they sat, with their children in the back.
“Careful!”
Susan stopped and as she looked at Max, he noticed her face was ashen. She looked down and saw the body of a man lying on the embankment, directly in her path. The frosty ground nearby was darkened with blood and his bloated gut pointed to internal bleeding.
Max took her arm to guide her around the obstacle and then, positioning himself between her and the cars, continued towards the motorway.
“Have you seen anything like this before?” Susan asked, quietly.
“No. I’ve only ever read about it.”
“So what does it do?”
He stopped and turned to face her.
The colour had drained from her usually rosy cheeks and her large blue eyes were wider than ever.
“Are you sure you really want to know?”
She nodded.
“It turns your insides to mush. Blood and organs start to become one when it breaks down the membranes that hold your internal tissues apart. Basically you bleed to death.”
Susan’s mouth tightened as she averted her eyes.
“On the up side though,” Max continued quickly, “Judith is right about a virus accelerated for biological weapons. Like a candle lit at both ends, it usually kills quicker, but also burns itself out faster.”
“We can only pray,” she said softly, looked up and gave a slight smile.
He took her hands. Her palms were cold and damp. “Are you going to be okay? Do you want to go back to the car?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t expect… Well, I don’t know what I expected. I think I’m in shock. The full scale is only just sinking in.”
Max nodded. “Come on, let’s get this road checked before they send a search party out for us.”
The pair continued slowly along the edge of the embankment, their progress hindered by ice, until a short while later they cleared the brow of the hill where they stopped when they caught their first clear view of the motorway.
“Where do you think they were going?” Susan asked, aghast.
“Anywhere,” Max replied, “just hoping to outrun the disease. It’s just desperation I guess. They start driving, trying to get away, then become ill. It just takes one or two cars to stop and block the road and before you know it, nobody’s moving. Ebola hits hard and fast at the best of times, but this...” he waved a hand at the road, “would have floored within days and killed soon after.”
Judith opened the door when she spotted Max and Susan coming back to the car.
“The motorway’s completely blocked for as far as you can see,” Max said. He returned to the driver’s seat, as Susan stepped in behind. “There’s no way through.” He carefully turned the car around, made his way back up the slip road and joined a minor road, heading south, instead.
By midday the group had covered less distance than they had hoped. They were finding their southbound journey hindered by the narrow winding roads that passed between the small towns and villages.
Joseph had replaced Max as driver after two hours to give him a rest and Hannah had taken over as navigator.
She turned around to face the group in the back. “I think we should stop for lunch when we reach Dyce,” she suggested. “This whole thing is stressful enough as it is without hunger clouding our judgement.”
It was agreed and she had just returned to searching the airways for a radio signal when Joseph suddenly brought the car to a halt.
Hannah looked up, alarmed. “What’s wrong?” She looked around as Joseph leapt out of the vehicle and crossed to a field on the opposite side of the road.
A mechanical digger stood motionless beside a partially dug hole on the far side of an open gate. Nearby, a mountain of bodies was piled high, like broken wood on a grotesque bonfire.
Joseph stood rigid, scanning the scene.
Hannah came to join him.
“I hope this isn’t what’s happened to Hilary and Beverly,” he said, his voice choked.
She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’m sure it hasn’t. Hilary is never ill. If anyone can survive this, she can.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Domes, Two Miles off the North East Coast of Scotland.
“Isabelle!”
Isabelle Young walked into the lounge, wrapped in a dressing gown and drying her hair. Drops of water, fallen from the tips, left an irregular trail back to the shower.
“What?”
John shook his head, slightly irate. “Did you not get the message?”
“No. I was in the bathroom listening to music. I didn’t hear anything.”
“We’re being evacuated.”
Isabelle’s face elongated in horror. “Evacuated! Why?” She hurried from the room to dress. “What’s happened?”
“There’s a mini-sub heading for the Domes and the occupant may be infected. They’re moving us into Neptune and locking down the other sections to be safe.”
She returned to the lounge visibly shaking. “Where are the children?”
“They’re still in school. They’re all being moved together along with their teachers.”
“I think we should take them,” she insisted.
“No. They said waiting for parents would cause too many delays and some children might get left behind. It was decided it was better if they all stayed together.”
She nodded, anxiously. “Okay.”
John headed for the door. “We better get going.”
“Wait!”
He turned. “What’s wrong?”
“Is there anything we need to take?”
“No, nothing. Everything we need is in Neptune.”
“I’ll get the children’s coats.” She started from the room.
“They don’t need their coats. It has the same temperature as all the other sections.”
“Sasha will want her blanket.”
“I’m sure Sasha can do without her blanket for a few hours.” He waved a hand at the door. “I mean, she hasn’t got it at school.”
“Still, I’ll get it.”
John crossed the room, took his wife’s hand and stopped her in the doorway. “Isabelle, what’s wrong?”
She burst into tears. “I was frightened this would happen.”
“What?”
“That the Domes might crack,” she cried. “Who’s to say we’ll be safe in Neptune?”
He held her close. She had been so brave coming down in the first place, had pulled herself together and had started a new life, despite being afraid, but now here was a major setback.
“They’re moving us to Neptune because it’s the most southerly dome and the farthest point from Pisces, which is the location of the only docking port he can still enter.”
She looked up. “We’ll all be crammed into Neptune.”
John tried to reason with her. “I hardly think we’ll be crammed. We can all fit easily into one dome with plenty of space to spare.”
She gave a slight shake. “Neptune’s the smallest.”
John sighed. “There didn’t seem to be any rush.” He took her to the couch and sat down. “We’ll take a moment to get used to it, like you did when you had to go in the sub,” – there was time to calm her – “then we’ll take a stroll over.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Aberdeen, North East Scotland
The sun was already low in the sky by the time they arrived in
Aberdeen in the early afternoon.
Hannah had swapped places with Susan, who now sat in the front to give Joseph directions.
“There’s a light on!” she said excitedly when they rounded the corner and entered her mother’s street but, as they pulled up the drive, she suddenly realised it had been the sun reflecting off the upstairs windows.
Joseph switched off the engine and turned around to speak to her. “Do you want me to go in and check?”
She shook her head. “No. I can face whatever is inside, just as long as I know my mum isn’t alone. It would be nice if you came in with me though,” she added, softly.
Joseph leapt out of the car and was round at Susan’s door by the time she unbuckled her belt.
“Do you have a key?” he asked as he tried the front door and discovered it was locked.
“No.” She laughed nervously. “Never thought of that. We’ll have to knock.”
Joseph rapped on the door whilst Susan peered in through the front window.
Max joined them on the path. “I’ll go round the back and see if we can get in through there.” He opened the gate and disappeared down the side of the house.
Joseph stopped knocking. “I don’t think anyone’s coming,” he said, then looked around in alarm when they heard breaking glass coming from the back.
Susan hurried to the gate. “What’s that? What’s happened?”
“It’s all right,” Max shouted. His voice faded out. There was movement inside the house and a few seconds later he opened the front door. “There was a set of keys on the bench. I broke in to get them.” He stepped back to allow the pair to enter. “There’s no sign of your mum down here, mind you.”
“Come on, let’s check upstairs,” Joseph said. He took Susan’s hand and led the way.
Max returned outside and joined Judith and Hannah back in the car.
“Do you think there might be people alive at the Disease Control Centre?” Hannah asked Judith distractedly as she watched the front door, hoping the group would return with an additional member. “I mean, do they have a filtering system to stop diseases getting in?”
“They do, but they’re usually more concerned with stopping them getting out,” Judith replied. “By the time they realised there was a problem, there’s a good chance most of the staff would have been exposed, so a bio-filter would have been useless in any case.” She checked her watch. “They’ve been gone ten minutes, they must have found something.” She looked back to the house and had just reached for the door handle when Joseph and Susan appeared in the passage.
As she stepped into the car, they could see Susan’s eyes were red and swollen. No one had to ask though, as she volunteered the information. “My mum was dead, in bed upstairs,” she said, her voice strained with crying. “It was harder than I imagined. I thought I could deal with it, but when I saw her I just crumbled.” She paused, a tear running the length of her cheek, and took a ragged breath. “Well this is what I came for. Now at least I know.”
Joseph started the engine. “You ready?”
She retrieved a tissue, mopped herself up, took one last look at the house, then, “Yes.”
He turned the car around.
“As long as I know she’s not alone,” she said, as they made their way out of the street. “That’s all that matters.”
Perth, East Scotland
Hannah turned off the main road, following Max’s directions.
“I think it’s more creepy with the power on,” Max said.
The streetlights offered no comfort; instead, they were a sad reminder of a way of life, a civilisation which no longer existed, especially now that they contrasted so severely against the cold, black emptiness of the windows.
Hannah wove through a number of narrow streets, edging the vehicle passed parked cars frozen at the roadside and following Max’s hand signals until eventually, he told her to stop. Despite the situation, she still could not help but feel uncomfortable blocking the road and found herself glancing in the rear-view mirror, expecting an irate driver to pull up any second.
Max got out of the vehicle and walked up to a gate directly ahead. It was immediately apparent something was not right in the house at the end of the path.
The door stood, wedged open by a rock to prevent it closing. The step was illuminated by the lamp lighting up the street at the front, but the passage beyond was dark.
Max pushed open the gate and made his way towards the house.
Susan buzzed down the window. “Max, wait! I’ll come with you.”
He paused long enough for her to catch up, before they entered the dwelling.
“Was your brother married or did he live here alone?” she asked, quietly, as they moved into the hall.
“No, he wasn’t married,” Max replied, “and this was my house.”
Susan stayed close as they passed the staircase. “Did you live together?” She glanced at another door at the far end which, like the front, was propped open with a stone.
“No he’d just split up with his girlfriend and needed somewhere to stay.”
Max stopped outside of a closed door halfway along the passage and paused, before turning the handle and entering the room.
A brightly painted wall lifted the gloom of the lounge enough for the shadowy shapes of furniture to be seen in the darkness.
Susan crossed to the curtains, but Max called, “Wait,” before she could open them.
He switched on the light.
She turned and stepped back, briefly alarmed. “Is that your brother?” she gasped.
“Yes.” Max moved to the seat situated by the hearth.
The cream leather chair, stretched out into a fully reclining position, was stained with blood that had pooled and soaked into the creases in the hide before spilling over onto the floor.
A thick duvet enveloped Sean in his final attempt to stay warm and blood from his lips stained the edge of the blanket where it was pulled up tight to block out the cold.
Max stood silent over the body for some time.
“Why didn’t he put the fire on?” Susan finally asked.
“We never used the fire because of Seb; he used to lie too close and always got singed.” He slipped on some latex gloves, then pulled the duvet up and over his brother’s head before removing the protection and dropping them on a table nearby.
“Speaking of Seb...”
Susan followed Max into the passage and along to the room at the far end, where the door was jammed open.
Enough light streamed in through the window from a street lamp in the lane beyond the garden to illuminate everything in the kitchen.
Dried dog food, piled high in several locations, could be seen dotted around the floor and beside each heap was a metal bucket filled with water. As Max examined the mounds he saw three, near the door, were a lot smaller than the others and two of the buckets were nearly empty.
“Is Seb a dog?” Susan asked.
Max’s mouth tightened. “Yes.” A tear, glistening in the streetlight, trickled slowly down his face. “Sean knew he was dying and did everything he could to protect Seb. The food, the water and the doors jammed open. The house isn’t freezing,” he shook his head, “he’s left the heating on.” He turned and returned to the passage. “Seb! Seb!” he called, but the only response was silence. Max moved outside, with Susan close behind. “Seb!” he yelled, as the others looked on puzzled from the car. Suddenly, a bark was heard from upstairs.
Susan turned to see a long legged terrier standing on the landing. She glanced at Max. “Seb?”
Max beamed, overjoyed. “Yes.”
“What’s wrong? Why is he not coming?”
“He hasn’t seen me for six months and he’s probably traumatised.” Max stepped into the hall. “He must know something terrible has happened to Sean.” He crouched down and patted his knees. “Come here boy. Come here my Seb,” he said in a soothing tone.
The dog’s tail and back end started to swing from side t
o side with such vigour he could hardly manage the dash down the stairs into his owner’s eagerly awaiting arms.
Max submitted to a thorough licking, amidst squeals of delight from his pet.
It took some time for the dog to calm down enough for him to allow his owner to stand; whilst Susan took over the stroking, Max returned to the kitchen, retrieving a bag of biscuits and a dish for water before joining her back outside with the only survivor they had found so far.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Domes, Two Miles off the North East Coast of Scotland.
John looked furtively at his watch. They had been sitting for an hour and, every time he suggested to his wife they should leave, she had another panic attack. “Isabelle,” he said, softly. “I really think we should be going. I’m so sorry darling, but we can’t risk endangering anyone else. They’ll need to lock down the other sections.”
She looked up from staring at the floor; her vacant eyes slowly engaged with his.
“Don’t think about it, just do it,” John urged.
“Alright.” She stood. “Let’s go.”
He took her hand and led her from the apartment. Outside, they linked arms so he could offer more support and then set off at a quick pace.
John stopped at the end of the passage and pressed the button for the lift.
“We should use the stairs,” Isabelle suggested. “They might decide to shut down all power and I’d hate to get stuck in an elevator.”
John raised his brows. “What a scary thought.” He led the way to the stairwell and held the door for his wife to pass through.
They quickly descended three flights and entered the passage on seabed level a few minutes later.
Isabelle stopped abruptly, bumping into John as the door swung shut behind her. “What’s wrong?”
Their way into Neptune was blocked by a watertight door that sealed the exit from Pisces. Concrete pillars on either side of the tunnel, which Isabelle had never noticed before, had housed the massive structure until it was required.
Islands - The Epidemic: An Airborne Ebola Disaster Page 11
