by Hatchett
To Jack’s left was Sarah Jones. Sarah was the pilot of the aircraft which had brought the virus to the UK. She was thirty-eight years old and five feet six inches tall with long dark hair, brown eyes and a slim yet toned build. She had been a commercial pilot for eight years after leaving the RAF.
Next to Sarah was Ted ‘Bear’ Keogh, formerly a SO18 Team Leader under Jack’s command. He was a thirty-six-year-old scouser from Liverpool, six feet three inches tall and weighed in at fourteen stone, just on the heavy side of healthy. With ginger hair and brown eyes, he was difficult to miss.
Next to Bear was Dave Grant. Dave had been a Captain in the Army serving under the Major. He was twenty-nine, five feet ten inches with black hair, beard, and brown eyes. Dave had been a boxer, as evidenced by his slim yet toned build, his slightly squashed nose, which was also slightly askew due to being broken numerous times, and the beginnings of cauliflower ears. He had been army boxing champion at his chosen weight for the past two years and he was someone you wanted in your corner when the going got tough. He, like Issy was from London’s East End.
Next to Dave was Joel Edwards. Another Captain in the Army who served under the Major. Joel was thirty-four, six feet tall with black hair and dark brown eyes. Originally from the Caribbean, Joel was a bubbly character who enjoyed a joke and a beer but had a real passion for cricket. He was typically laid back and didn’t take life too seriously, but was reliable, focused, and hard working.
Next to Joel was Sean Elder. Sean had been an SO18 officer and had been promoted at the same time as Travis. He was twenty-seven, six feet tall and nearly fifteen stone in weight. This would usually be considered overweight, but Sean liked to work out, so his big frame was mostly solid muscle. With his brown crew cut and dark brown eyes, he was a favourite with the ladies.
Next to Sean was Mick ‘Irish’ Randall. Irish had been an SO18 Team Leader under Jack’s command like Bear. He was thirty-four years old, five feet ten inches tall with dark hair and green eyes. Despite the nickname, he originally came from the East End of London.
At the far end of the table were a couple of colleagues who had been invited to attend the start of the meeting to provide an update; Ben Maynard, Head of Heathrow Medical and Tom Williams, Head of surveillance.
Ben was forty-two, five feet eleven inches tall with a skinny build and greying hair. With his white lab coat, it didn’t take a genius to work out he was either a scientist or physician.
Tom was thirty-six years old, five feet nine inches tall and very skinny. With his greying brown hair, brown eyes and glasses perched on a beak-like nose, he looked slightly owlish. He was into books and technology in a big way and was often referred to as the boffin (or nerd behind his back). He was in charge of the Security Command Centre and was invited to most meetings to provide an update on what was happening around the airport and the outside world.
The Security Command Centre was the largest single room in Terminal 3, a couple of doors away from where they were currently sitting in the Security Briefing Room. It had no windows and was lit by LED lights which changed colour depending on the security status. The room had walls covered with large TV screens and monitors which showed news channels and live internal and external CCTV footage. There were also twenty-two surveillance operatives seated in a horseshoe facing the screens. In the centre of the horseshoe was a semi-circle of low slung swivel chairs sitting on a raised platform. This was known as the ‘Command Ring’ and only ever used by senior personnel in times of crisis.
Jack tapped the table for order and the muted conversations died down.
“Firstly, welcome again to Daniel for his first official meeting. I trust things are going well at the Tower and the Green Park Estate but we’ll come on to that later. First, I wanted to get an update from Ben and Tom, then we can do our usual updates. Ben?”
Ben sat forwards in his seat. “As you know, we’ve had a number of injured people in Medical over the past week or so, and at times I thought we wouldn’t have sufficient room or personnel to deal with the issues. I would note that not all the injuries are physical; those we can deal with. Unfortunately, there are a handful of people who have suffered mental breakdowns; the shock has been too much. Some are responding but others are almost catatonic, and it’s likely to take a lot of time to bring them back, if we ever can.
The most interesting thing is the three patients who were infected when they came to us. There was nothing we could do for them so, as you know, we had to confine them to secure rooms and use the opportunity to monitor what happened to them.
The three were placed in separate rooms with just a bed and one way mirrors. Thankfully, we have the ability to change the room’s lighting and temperature remotely and they have speakers so the rooms are literally ideal testing beds.
We had a male and a female around age thirty, average height and weight et cetera, and an older man of around sixty, average height but a little overweight. We don’t know when they were bitten, but it had to be within a similar time window.
What we found was that the thirty year olds turned within the same hour, perhaps a couple of hours after they were bitten. The older man took longer, about four hours.
We did nothing to start with but watch them in a lighted room. They wandered around the room, seemingly quite alert. It was clear that they could see, but they made no effort to protect themselves when walking into the walls. Eventually they slowed and almost came to a standstill. When we used the speakers, whether to talk or play light music, they seemed to wake up and focus on the origin of the sounds. With continuous music they eventually went back to a standstill. We tried it out in the dark and the only difference was that they went back to a standstill far quicker. So, I believe they gradually fall into some kind of stupor if there is no stimulation, and the stimulation has to be continually changing to keep them ‘awake’. The only thing we haven’t tested yet is their response to smells, and we’re working on the best way to test this.
The only other thing to note at this stage is very interesting, but it’s still far too early to get excited about it. We have noticed over the past week or so that, because there is no heart pumping blood around the body, the blood has sunk down to the lower parts due to gravity, much like a real dead person. Therefore, the bottom half of the body is purplish, like bruising or lividity, whereas the top half is as white as a sheet. This only ever changes if they fall over.”
“So, what’s interesting about that?” Issy queried.
“Well, two things really. Firstly, they seem to get slower with the lividity; it puts the majority of the body’s weight into the legs, and secondly, it appears that the top half is deteriorating far more quickly, although this is definitely not conclusive yet.”
“By deteriorate, do you mean decompose?” Sarah asked.
“I guess you could call it that, although it’s difficult to measure and we’ve only had a week or so. We should know more for certain in a couple of weeks.”
“So, they could all eventually crumble to dust?” Gina asked.
“That’s the theory,” Ben replied, “but it certainly won’t happen quickly.”
“Any other questions?” Jack asked. There were shakes of the head. “Thanks Ben, very useful update, keep us posted on developments. Tom?”
As Ben excused himself and left the room, Tom sat forward to present his update.
“Well, yesterday I told you that I believed the smaller islands like the Isle of Wight and Northern Ireland were still virus-free and that the TV channels and National Grid were down, and that in Europe, most countries had had incidents and they were all on lockdown. Well, I can now confirm from the radio chatter we’ve picked up that Northern Ireland have had some unconfirmed incidents, but the islands still appear to be virus-free. There are reports of people arriving in boats and trying to land in places like the Isle of Wight, Isle of Man and the Scottish islands such as the Isle of Arran, Bute, Islay, Jura, Isle of Mull, Tiree, the list goes on. Needless to say,
the inhabitants are extremely suspicious of anyone arriving and are trying their best to repel them, by force if necessary. The problem with most islands is that there just aren’t enough people to cover all the coastline so new arrivals are slipping through despite their best efforts. The inhabitants of Anglesey have blocked off the Britannia Bridge and Menai Bridge which give access to the mainland, but people are still arriving and trying to get across. I believe it’s just a matter of time before the virus spreads to these islands as well.”
“Is there anything we can do?” asked the Major.
“Yes and no,” Tom replied. “We don’t have the numbers of people or equipment to help all the islanders, but we could select an island or two and try and create more safe havens, but it won’t be easy.”
“Nothing is,” Bear noted.
“I believe the Isle of Wight is being protected by the Navy, who are almost next door on Whale Island down in Portsmouth,” Jack noted.
“Yes, that’s right,” Tom agreed. “The biggest problem we have is distance and the ability to get us and the equipment transported. The Apache heli’s range is around three hundred miles, the Lynx can go a little further and the Chinook about four hundred and fifty miles. The Isle of Man is about two hundred and sixty miles away and the Isle of Mull is around four hundred and ten miles, so that’s probably the furthest without stops and refuelling. The Chinook cruises at around one hundred and eighty miles per hour, so around two and a half hours flight time for the furthest journey. The other heli’s are quicker.
“Interesting,” the Major advised. “Are there any other airports which have been secured in the UK?”
“Not to my knowledge, but this is one of our key areas of focus. If we can secure another airport, such as Manchester or Glasgow, then that would give us far easier access to the rest of the UK. Mind, a four hundred miles radius from here could get us to parts of France, Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands. And, don’t forget, it’s not just the heli’s; we have all sorts of planes sitting on the tarmac which are significantly quicker, can go further and carry more people.”
“I think this is something we should look into further,” Jack suggested, to nods all around the table. “We don’t want to overstretch ourselves, but I believe there is merit in looking to set up at least another hub somewhere. If we are able to find survivors wherever that happens to be, then that will help populate the place, then we can look to expand further. We need to take one step at a time. OK, anything else Tom?”
“Just a couple more things. Firstly, with the National Grid going down, we’ve lost CCTV coverage outside of our own network, so our capabilities outside Heathrow are significantly worse.”
“You mean we can’t get CCTV from the streets around the country?” Gina asked.
“Yes, that’s correct. All we have now are the satellites, but these will only show us aerial views. Secondly, the virus is spreading quickly on the continent. All TV stations have shut down and all we have now is radio chatter from different groups of survivors, much like it is here in the UK.”
“Thanks Tom, any questions?” Jack asked.
There were none, so Tom rose from his seat and left the room.
“Not great news,” the Major noted, to nods from around the table, “but not wholly unexpected either. Things are bound to get worse before they get better.”
“Let’s get on with our own updates,” Jack suggested. “Let’s go around the table starting with Issy.”
“Nothing to report except I’m ready for the next task.”
“Gina?” Jack asked.
“Dave and I have got the Battersea heliport and hotel fully operational and there are civilians now living and working there. We have commandeered various boats which are now tied up on the dock, ready for use and Joel has managed to secure a third Apache which will now be based at Battersea.”
“What are you planning next?”
“I’m coming back here to help Sarah with all the organisation for a while. There’s a hell of a lot to do. Dave will stay at Battersea and oversee everything.”
“OK, Andy?”
Andy sat forward. “Like Issy, I’m ready for the next task.”
“Travis?”
“Joel, Sean and I have made good progress creating a zombie-free zone around the Tower’s entrance to the Tower Bridge Hotel, using abandoned vehicles around the area. We’re now going to look to expand the cordon to incorporate nearby streets and just carry on for the time being. It’s messy work, but someone’s got to do it! The only problem is Joel continually sneaking off, then we find out he’s been out in one of his Chinook’s to find more fighting equipment,” he added with a laugh.
“I can’t help it!” Joel protested, laughing along, “building a cordon is boring and I’m more interested in finding more equipment. I found another Apache, didn’t I? And there’s more where that came from, but I’m not sure we have enough pilots.”
“I can check,” Sarah advised.
“I want a tank or two,” Issy interjected, “and another Panther.”
“Well, that’s a surprise,” Joel replied sarcastically, “why don’t you write me a list? Better still, go get them yourself.”
“I will,” Issy replied.
“Dan?” Jack interrupted, trying to get the meeting back on track.
“Things have settled down at the Tower and the Green Park Estate,” Daniel advised. “Most people have now decided where they want to be, and those that have stayed have found something to do or been found something to do. It’s early days since we removed the gang, but it’s going well.”
“Incidentally,” Jack said, “how are the remaining gang members behaving?”
“So far, so good,” Daniel replied. “Some have been out scavenging for us and have done a good job. I think they feel a bit like fish out of water, but I’m sure they’ll adapt. It’s amazing to find that some of them are genuinely good guys without the Judge, Jury or Mamba teaching them bad habits, especially Isaac, Zak, Grace, and Nelson, but we knew they were OK anyway.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about the gang anymore!” Issy butted in.
“OK, Sarah?” Jack asked.
“Things are looking good around here. The whole Northern part of the airport is now ‘the garden’ and people are digging and planting as we speak. The scavenging runs bring us more and more equipment and food and we found an Aladdin’s cave in the cargo area to the South of the airport; crates and crates of goods, and of course, lots of machinery like forklift trucks, ploughs, et cetera. But, I’d just like to remind everyone that first and foremost, I’m a pilot and there’s nothing more I would like than to fly one of the larger planes to another airport if and when we identify a suitable one to turn into a safe haven.”
“Don’t worry, Sarah, you’re the first pilot on the list,” Jack advised. “Bear?”
“Irish and I have been scavenging and out in the heli’s trying to rescue people when Tom identifies something worth looking into; usually something he picks up over the radio. We rescued around thirty people yesterday from homes around the area, so Sarah and Gina need to be aware that there’s going to be more and more mouths to feed as we go forwards.”
“Right, we know what Dave, Joel, Sean and Irish have been up to, so that about wraps it up for today. Same time, same place tomorrow.”
The Leaders rose from the table; some heading out to get on with their tasks and a couple hanging around to discuss certain issues with Jack and the Major offline.
10
Day 9 – 10:00
Sunrise Apartments, East London
Ahmed led the way to the ground floor without saying a word and didn’t stop until he reached the closed gate.
“It opens from the inside, so we don’t have ta climb,” he noted in a monosyllabic tone.
“What the fuck’s the matter with ya?” Mamba asked. “Yer got a face like a slapped arse.”
“Ya shouldn’t involve me in yer perverse games, Mamba. If I was
yer real bro, ya wouldn’t ever threaten me or force me to do somethin’ I didn’t wanna do.”
“I get ya a blow and a shag from a good lookin’ babe and that’s all the thanks I get?” Mamba asked, offended. “And, I didn’t force ya. Ya looked like yer were enjoyin’ yerself to me!”
“Jus’ don’t ever do it again. I can find my own women.”
“Give us a leg up, I wanna check what’s on the other side,” Mamba advised as if he hadn’t heard what Ahmed had said.
Ahmed formed a stirrup with his hands and boosted Mamba up. A few seconds later, he was back down.
“A few ‘bout, but not too close,” Mamba advised. “Let’s go.”
Ahmed flicked the release catch on the gate and they swiftly moved onto the pavement and closed the gate behind them. They didn’t notice any of the net curtains falling back into place.
“Jus’ thought bro,” Mamba advised, “we might need some fresh guts for our cover. I got the urge to stab in any case.”
With that, he removed a knife and walked a few metres to the nearest zombie and stabbed it in the head without pause. Once the body had hit the road, Mamba quickly sliced it open and started spreading blood and guts over his head and face and added a bit more to his clothes as insurance. Ahmed reluctantly followed and did the same, although he was beginning to think that being eaten by a zombie might be the best way out of this nightmare.
