by Jason Ayres
“Alright, mate?” said Dan. “Going on holiday?”
“We’re getting out, mate, while we still can,” replied the man. “If you’ve got any sense, you’ll do the same.”
“Aren’t you overreacting a bit?” asked Dan. “It’s just a cold snap – it will pass.”
“Wake up and smell the coffee, mate. This is not just a cold snap. It’s all down to that asteroid. Have you not been following the news?”
“Well, I’ve been a bit busy, like,” replied Dan.
“I’m telling you, this lot’s coming down from the North Pole, and it’s only going to get worse. Look around you. The electricity’s gone off already. What’s going to happen when there’s no food? No fresh water? It’ll be anarchy. I’ve got my kids to think about.”
Anarchy, thought Dan. He quite liked the sound of that. “Thanks for the warning, mate,” he said, “but I’m staying put. Good luck.”
He watched as the man reversed the 4x4 down his driveway, and slithered away across the snow.
Dan had no intention of getting out. As he walked the rest of the way into town, already the seeds of an idea were forming in his mind. He’d need Ryan’s help, though. That wouldn’t be a problem. Ryan would do whatever he asked him.
He walked on into town, noting that the loss of electricity was widespread. None of the traffic lights were working, and as he got into the High Street he could see that none of the shops were open either. But that hadn’t stopped a crowd gathering outside the front of the town’s only supermarket.
He walked on to investigate. The store manager was standing at the sliding glass doors attempting to explain the situation to a small group of angry shoppers outside. He had a security guard standing behind him for protection.
The power had failed just after the doors had opened at 10am. With no electricity to close them again, the manager and security had attempted to erect a makeshift barrier out of supermarket trolleys. On top of this they had placed a hastily scrawled sign on the side of an empty wine box reading “Sorry, store closed due to power failure”.
The manager was a thin, bespectacled man, no older than 30. Irate staff he was used to dealing with. An angry mob of aggressive customers was another thing altogether. He normally left all that to customer services.
“Why aren’t you open?” demanded a large, middle-aged woman.
“Madam, I have already explained this several times. With the power off, we are unable to operate the tills. Not only that, we have barely any staff in today because of the weather. We are also very low on stock. The deliveries we had scheduled for this weekend have not arrived, and we had an extremely busy day yesterday, as you can probably imagine.”
“That’s not good enough,” remarked another woman, in her mid-thirties. “I’ve got three kids at home that need feeding, and I’ve also run out of nappies. Couldn’t you just let us have a few things? I can pay cash.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” replied the manager. “Everything has to go through the tills.”
“Come on,” said the first lady who had spoken. “We’re not getting anywhere here. Let’s try elsewhere.”
“We’ve got to get these doors closed,” said the manager to the security guard. “Surely there must be some way of wedging them shut.”
“I think there’s a key somewhere so you can close them manually. I’m not sure where it is, though. We’ve never needed it before,” replied the guard.
“That’s not a lot of use, is it?” said the manager. “Come on, let’s have another go at forcing them closed.”
Dan had watched the whole scene with bemusement. Why had the shoppers been so tame? If it had been him, he would have forced his way in. Perhaps later he would.
If things were as bad as the man with the 4x4 had implied, then it was no use pussyfooting around. He remembered a phrase he’d once heard in a disaster movie he’d watched as a kid: “Civilisation is only ever two square meals away from the point of collapse”.
Meekly accepting what the manager had said and turning away as the shoppers had done wasn’t the way to go about surviving if things got really bad. Those same shoppers were now wandering down the street moaning. They were weak and Dan had always preyed on the weak. If he needed things to survive, he’d take them from those weaker than him.
That supermarket manager might not look so clever when he had a gun pointed in his face. As for the law, Dan had never had any respect for that, and he couldn’t imagine that the police were going to be able to keep control. If the electricity stayed off, that suited him all the better. No electricity meant no CCTV, and that meant no evidence.
He turned away and walked on to Ryan’s house, fantasising about how he was going to seize power. As he did so, he heard the sound of breaking glass from the far end of the High Street, and remembered what the man had said about anarchy. It had started already.
=============================
Hannah was having a busy day. Not for the first time she was facing a difficult choice between her duty and her daughter.
She’d toyed with the idea of travelling out to the cottage the previous evening, but in the end had decided to stay put. When she and Jess had come down on Sunday morning, the first thing she had done was to turn the TV on to find out the latest news.
The television pictures made for pretty depressing viewing. The country had well and truly ground to a halt. People were being advised to stay in their homes and not to attempt to travel under any circumstances. A state of emergency had been declared, and the Army had been drafted in to assist the emergency services.
Hannah had not been due in to work until Monday but she knew that it would be all hands on deck in these circumstances.
Just after 9am, her phone rang. It was Miley Johnson, the young duty officer at the police station asking her for help. It seemed there had been a flood of 999 calls and the emergency services were struggling to cope.
It wasn’t unprecedented for Hannah to be called out at short notice. Being a D.I., it went with the territory. Fortunately, Kaylee was usually more than happy to look after Jess for her, or failing that, the family next door would help out.
Today neither option was available. Kaylee was gone, and she couldn’t get an answer from next door. Their car was missing from the drive, and, judging by the amount of snow settled where it was usually parked, it hadn’t been there for some time. She’d have no option but to take Jess into the police station with her. At least she knew her daughter would be safe there.
With the amount of snow on the roads, Hannah decided not to risk driving, just as Dan hadn’t. It was less than half a mile to the station, so she and Jess wrapped up as warmly as they could and made the journey on foot.
When she arrived, she was greeted by an extremely stressed Miley. There were no lights on, and it was dark and gloomy inside the old stone building.
“Why is it so dark in here?” she asked.
“Power cut,” he replied. “It went off about ten minutes ago. Thank God you’re here. Things have been going crazy this morning.”
“You’d better give me an update,” she said.
“We’ve been rushed off our feet with traffic calls,” he said. “There’s been a big smash on the M40, and there are cars off all over the place. We’ve also had reports of trees blocking some of the minor roads. We just don’t have enough people to attend all the calls. And there’s more.”
“Go on,” she said.
“Someone has ram-raided the window of the express supermarket on the new estate. Apparently they were using a Transit van and they loaded it up with as much food as they could get their hands on. The manager wants someone to go down there, but everyone’s out dealing with traffic problems at the moment.”
“We could do with some more help,” said Hannah. “I’ll get on the phone to Oxford.”
“I don’t think they will be able to spare anyone,” said Miley. “I spoke to my dad earlier. It’s mayhem down there. They’ve had people loo
ting shops on Cornmarket Street and all sorts going on.”
Miley’s father, Adrian, was a D.I. in Oxford. He had worked with Hannah years ago when they had been young officers. “I guess we’re on our own then,” she said.
“What’s happening, Mummy?” asked Jess who had been listening quietly to the conversation. She was old enough to sense that something was wrong. “I’m scared.”
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, darling,” said Hannah. “I want you to stay here with P.C. Johnson for an hour or two while I pop out – you can be his assistant behind the desk. That’s OK, isn’t it, Johnson?”
“Of course,” said Miley. “Though I’m not sure how much we are going to be able to do. I could have shown you the CCTV cameras, but they are all off because of the power cut.”
“Does this mean I’m a police lady now?” asked Jess.
“Just for today, you are acting Sergeant Jessica Benson,” said Miley. “How does that sound?”
“It sounds fun!” replied Jess, brightening up. She seemed to have temporarily forgotten her fears.
“I’m going to head out into the town and try and assess what’s happening,” said Hannah. “We’re completely blind here without that CCTV. Can I count on you two to hold the fort?”
“Yes, boss,” they said in unison.
Hannah left the station and headed outside. It was a short walk across a small park to the town centre. She would start by seeing what was happening there.
Chapter Sixteen
At the pub, Lauren had come to an executive decision. She was not opening the pub today. She didn’t have a lot of choice, really. Like the supermarket, she was completely dependent on a sophisticated electronic till system. She was so used to pressing a button for each individual drink, she didn’t even know how much most of them cost.
Even if she could remember them all, the pumps wouldn’t work without electricity, so she couldn’t pull any pints in any case.
She had been expecting four staff in at midday – two for the bar and two for the restaurant. She didn’t have to turn any of them away as none of them turned up. Only one even bothered to send a message. So her decision not to open was vindicated. Kent wouldn’t like the lost takings, but he’d just have to lump it.
In the meantime, she had to decide what to do with all the food in the kitchen. There might not have been any electricity, but the gas central heating was still going strong and it was quite warm throughout the building. If the electricity didn’t come back on soon, all the food would defrost.
She bagged up all of the frozen food and opened the door leading outside from the kitchen. It was just a few yards across the snowy courtyard to the garage. She had no idea what the temperature was outside, but it had to be below zero. The garage should be cold enough to keep it frozen.
Kent might thank her for her quick thinking in saving his stock, but that was the last thing on her mind. She had been thinking about what Kaylee had said. If she was going to be stuck here for a while, she’d need a stock of food to eat. As long as the gas was working, she’d still be able to cook with the oven.
Once she’d moved all the frozen food, she started to clear out the fridge. She moved everything from there to the cellar. It was cold down there but not freezing – just right to keep the food fresh for a few days.
When she’d finished, she was pretty pleased with her afternoon’s work. In addition to all the fresh and frozen food, there was a cellar full of drink, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, plus at least 200 packets of crisps.
If things got bad, she could survive for weeks. She practically lived on crisps when she was working in the pub anyway, so it wouldn’t be all that different to usual.
She went back up to the bar, treated herself to a packet of crisps and a soft drink, and sat down in front of the fire. She would need to get some more logs in but for now she just wanted to relax for a while. The pub seemed eerily quiet without any electricity. The only sound was coming from the crackling from the logs on the fire.
Her peace was shattered by a car alarm going off outside, so loud it made her jump. She heard shouting and a motor revving. She walked over to the window and peered through a gap in the curtains. A car was spinning its wheels crazily as the driver tried to gain traction in the snow. Good luck to him, she thought. She was definitely in the right place.
Five minutes later, her peace was disturbed again by a loud banging on the front door.
She decided to ignore it. Whoever it was would have to go away. But they didn’t and continued banging away.
“Go away!” shouted Lauren. “We’re closed.”
The letter box opened and an instantly recognisable voice came through.
“Lauren, it’s me, Andy. Please let me in. I’m freezing.”
“You’ll have to go somewhere else, Andy. I’m not opening today – there’s no electricity to operate the tills or the pumps.”
“Please, Lauren,” he pleaded in the most pathetic voice he could muster. “Please, let me in, just for a minute. I’m frozen. Just let me warm up in front of the fire and then I’ll go – I promise.”
She was probably going to regret it, but she couldn’t leave him out there in that state. She walked across the flagstones and unlocked the door. He practically fell in. He was still wearing the same denim jacket and jeans as ever. It seemed that he’d made no concession at all to the cold weather.
“Bloody hell, Andy, couldn’t you have put on a warmer coat? You can’t go around in temperatures like this dressed like that.”
She took a quick look out of the front door. There was hardly anyone about. No one had seen Andy enter so she shut the door quickly. She didn’t want anyone else trying to get in.
He ignored her question and got straight to the point: “Can I have a drink?”
“You can have one – but then you’ve got to go. It’ll have to be a bottle, though.”
She handed him a beer and he settled down in front of the fire.
“Don’t get too comfy,” she warned him. “As soon as you’ve got yourself warm, you’re going home.” She had no intention of getting lumbered with Andy. A little male company would not have gone amiss right now, but he was definitely not on the agenda.
=============================
More people had gathered outside the supermarket. The manager and the guard had succeeded in getting the doors closed, but an angry crowd of people were now banging on the glass. They stepped back as they saw Hannah approach.
Although she wasn’t in uniform, she was well known around the town, and after all her years of good service had earned the people’s respect.
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
“They won’t open the door!” exclaimed the same middle-aged woman who had been haranguing the manager earlier. “We’ve tried all of the shops and they are all closed.”
“The shops have had to close due to the power cut,” she said. “The best thing all of you can do is to go home and come back tomorrow,” she said.
Deep down she knew that tomorrow things would probably be even worse, but she couldn’t tell them that. She felt guilty for the deception, but felt she had no choice. It was her job to uphold law and order and that meant keeping the peace. A state of emergency had been declared and she needed to get these people off the streets.
“It’s all very well you saying that,” replied the woman. “But all of us are short of food. What guarantees do we have that tomorrow will be any different?”
“A state of emergency has been declared,” replied Hannah. “The Army have been drafted in to assist. No one is going to starve.”
“I think we should try and drive into Oxford,” said a younger man. “There’s bound to be places open there.”
“That is absolutely what you must not do,” said Hannah. “The roads are extremely dangerous and there is no knowing what might happen. If you try and drive and get stuck, what will you do then, stranded in a freezing car with no heating? Now please, go home.”<
br />
The crowd began to disperse. For now, her authoritative tone had been effective, but for how much longer?
Her attention was caught by the sound of breaking glass and she began walking as quickly as she could towards the sound. It was coming from a jewellery shop at the far end of the street.
As she approached, two men wearing balaclava helmets came out carrying two large bags, and flung them into the back of a small jeep.
“Hey!” she shouted. “Police! Stop!”
Unsurprisingly they ignored her. She was still a good fifty yards away as the engine of the jeep roared into life and it drove away, but she was close enough to see that it was fitted with snow chains.
It was pointless to even think about attempting any sort of pursuit. Reluctantly, she conceded to herself that there was nothing more she could do here, so she turned and trudged back towards the station.
=============================
Lauren had had enough of Andy. He was now on his fourth beer and showing no signs of leaving. Over the past hour or so she’d had to sit and listen to his life story.
It was nothing she hadn’t heard before: endless reminiscences of exaggerated past glories when he was young and attractive and nearly won The X Factor. This story had become increasingly inflated over the years. For the very few people around who could remember that long ago, he had in fact been knocked out in the first round.
She shouldn’t have let him in in the first place. She glanced at the clock on the wall – thankfully it was one of the few things in the place battery-powered and still working. It was just coming up to five o’clock.
“Right, come on, you, it’s time to go,” she announced in a no-nonsense voice.
“Oh come on, one more, eh?”
“No, Andy. It will be dark in another hour. You need to go home now – look the sun’s come out!”
