Autumn exodus, p.11
Autumn - Exodus, page 11
‘Dominic Grove. Pleased to meet you.’
Dominic had only crossed paths with Sam fleetingly. ‘We’ve met,’ Sam said.
‘Have we?’
‘Yes, Dom, you have,’ Stan reminded him. ‘Sam was with me and Dave Shires in that hotel on Fleet Street.’
Rafe was confused. He looked at Stan and Dominic. ‘I don’t understand. You told us you’d both been hiding in the airport since it all kicked off.’
Dominic squirmed. ‘Did I say that? I don’t think I did. What I actually said was–’
‘Save it,’ Sam said, cutting him off mid-flow. ‘You can explain what happened when we get back to the others.’
‘The others?’
‘Yep. We’ve lost a lot of people, in no small part thanks to you, but there’s still a decent number of us left. David, Ruth, Vicky... I’m sure they’ll all be keen to hear why you abandoned them.’
‘It wasn’t like that. I didn’t know that—’
Sam interrupted again. ‘Was it not your fault, Dominic? Were you and Stan both poor, innocent victims? Did Piotr force you to go with him?’
‘You don’t know he’s like. He’s become a bloody dictator. I didn’t realise what he was capable of.’
‘Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that? Christ, I barely met the guy, and I could see it.’
‘But I’m not the kind of person who—’
‘Who what? Who gives a damn about anyone else? Doesn’t matter what you say, both of you jumped in a boat knowing full well that you were condemning hundreds of people to death.’
‘It wasn’t like that. I was petrified, I don’t mind admitting. I could see how bad things were starting to get around the Tower, so I simply suggested we move some of the supplies onto the water to keep them safe. I figured they’d be safer on the boat than anywhere else. I had no idea what Piotr was planning to do... I was talking to Mihai about how much we’d got, and the next thing I knew we were on the move. Once we’d launched there was no way I could get back and—’
‘Save it. I’ll ask Mihai for his version later.’
‘Mihai’s alive?’
‘Very much so. Fortunately, not everyone is as spineless as you are. There are plenty of people who aren’t going to let themselves be beaten by a thug like Piotr.’
Stan crumbled. ‘I’ll stay here. Leave me behind. I don’t want to go.’
‘No way, Stan. You’re both coming with us. You’re going to face the others and you’re going to tell us everything you know about Piotr’s plans.’
‘You’re not going to try and take this Piotr bloke on, are you?’ Rafe asked, clearly concerned. ‘He sounds like an absolute psycho.’
Sam shook his head. ‘No, I don’t want to take him on. I need more up to date info. Seems we’ve been misled regarding their destination, and I want to do everything I can to put maximum distance between him and the rest of us. Forget the dead, until Piot’s out of the equation, none of us are safe.’
16
The trucks kept going. It was what they’d agreed. Ruth wanted nothing more than to stop and wait or even turn back, but the risks were too great. Orla knew the route they’d be taking. ‘We’re going to have to stop soon anyway,’ David said, trying to reassure her. ‘It’ll be dark before long.’
‘I understand the logic,’ Ruth said. ‘Doesn’t make me feel any better, though.’
‘You know full well that Vicky and Sam are in that van. You couldn’t meet two more stubborn bastards. They know what they’re doing. They’ve both been stranded on their own and have stayed alive. If I was asked to put a bet on anyone surviving, I’d stake everything I’ve got on those two.’
‘Do you have anything left to gamble?’
‘That’s not the point,’ he said, almost managing a smile.
The amount of frozen traffic was lighter here than the clogged-up carriageways they’d crawled along first thing after leaving London and the South. A pile-up near the end of the M11 had finally forced them back over onto the left-hand side of the road; two huge articulated lorries had come together and burst into flames, along with numerous other vehicles that had been caught-up in their wreckage like flies trapped in a mechanical web. If they’d come across such a sprawling, catastrophic accident earlier in the day, they might not have made it far from Brentwood. They were on the A14 now – just as wide a road, but quieter still. ‘There’s a service station not far from here,’ Ruth said. ‘It’s a massive one. I used to use it regularly when I went to see my folks.’
‘Because we’ve got such a good record with holdovers at motorway services...’
She ignored him. ‘It’s probably our best option for tonight.’
#
Ruth remembered the service station as having been like a small town, pre-apocalypse. Surrounded by fields, plenty of open spaces for weary travellers to stop and breathe, she’d hoped it would provide risk-free shelter for the night.
But it wasn’t to be.
They made it as far as the slip road, then saw that the entire place had been wiped off the map in a brutal, yet remarkably well-contained, fire. The buildings had collapsed in on themselves in the heat, and the carparks were filled with burnt-out wrecks. There was a hole in the ground and piles of rubble where a fuel station had stood, just the melted remains of its welcome sign remaining.
In the absence of any alternatives, they kept going, following the road north. David and Ruth swapped places. The concentration required to keep the convoy moving forward was intense. It used to be that you could just point your car and go, safe in the knowledge that, for the most part, the road network would be accessible and clear, free flowing. Today, though, virtually every road was an obstacle course. Devastation was the new norm.
Ruth had her eyes closed and was sleeping; either that or she was avoiding talking to David. Until she was reunited with Vicky, what was there to say? Safe topics of conversation were in increasingly short supply, small talk impossible. Past lives were off-limits, and future plans were too vague to be discussed with any certainty and almost seemed like tempting fate. David couldn’t even find anything positive in the fact they’d escaped the nightmare of London, or that he was still alive when so many billions of people were not; in fact he was so exhausted by it all he wasn’t sure that was something to be grateful for. They’d done well to get this far but, ultimately, their survival had largely been down to luck, not skill. He was worried that luck was in danger of running out.
More corpses up ahead.
He slowed as they approached a dip in the road. At its lowest point, a snaking queue of figures traipsed across the carriageway like cows on their way to milking.
‘What’s wrong?’ Ruth asked, immediately awake.
David gestured at the line of shambling shadows. They stretched beyond the tarmac and out into the fields. ‘Look at that. What’s got their attention?’
Ruth craned her neck. ‘Is that a fire?’
David had assumed he’d been looking at more storm clouds but, now checked again, he saw that it was smoke billowing up into the winter sky. Ruth was right; there was another fire in the distance, a dull orange glow on the horizon.
‘Think we should investigate?’
‘Why on earth would we do that? Whatever’s happening there, we should stay well away.’ He accelerated down the hill and drove through the spread-out cadavers.
A short distance ahead, a bridge had collapsed.
The wandering masses had obscured David’s view until it was almost too late. He swerved around the corner of a car lying on its roof like it had simply gone belly-up. ‘Bloody hell, that was close,’ Ruth said. ‘Take it easy.’
‘It’s all good,’ David said as they rumbled over the central reservation again, back onto the opposite lanes. He checked his mirrors: the other two trucks were still with him, barely any distance between them.
The road curved away to the right. David thought nothing of it initially, but as it swung further to the east, he began to become concerned. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to prickle. ‘I think I might have fucked up here.’
‘What? Why?’
‘I’ve gone the wrong way. I don’t think I’m on the right road anymore. Didn’t even notice.’
‘Just keep going and find somewhere to turn around. Shit happens.’
David thumped the wheel in frustration. ‘Bloody idiot.’
‘Don’t be so hard on yourself, Dave. Let’s keep things in perspective here. This morning we were still in Brentwood. We’re past Cambridge now. We’re well away from London, and well on our way to wherever. We’re doing okay. Just take a breath, turn around, go back, and carry on.’
They went over a crossroads but didn’t realise it was a junction. The roads on either side had been blocked by cars that looked like they’d been parked properly and abandoned. The lateness of the day and the heavy clouds combined to reduce visibility. Other than the trucks, there were no lights anywhere. Only the shapes of the shadows around them changed. They’d gone from a country lane with fields on either side to a residential street lined with houses without even noticing.
Chapman was furiously flashing the lights of the truck behind. ‘I know, I know, I fucked up,’ David said under his breath.
‘Calm down, Dave,’ Ruth said. ‘It’ll be okay. You’re just tired. We need to find somewhere to park up for tonight and just—’
The truck ploughed headlong into a solid glut of rotting flesh. Where the hell had all these corpses come from? Seconds ago, the road had been deserted, but now it was teeming with movement, massive numbers of them flooding forward from either side. They were tumbling and stumbling along side-streets, swarming around wrecks, trickling through the gaps between buildings.
‘We’re committed now,’ Ruth said. ‘Keep going. Find a way through. We don’t have any option.’
David accelerated. The noise of the engine echoed off the walls of buildings, amplifying the sound. ‘Fuel station up ahead,’ he said, spotting the distinctive outline of the tall price display sign and the lid-like covering over the forecourt. ‘I’ll turn around there then go back the way we came.’
His momentary relief was short-lived. Before they reached the fuel station, the road was blocked again. David slammed on the brakes. Chapman came to a juddering halt a metre behind, cursing, and Sanjay also stopped at the last moment, equally close.
And now the dead were everywhere: a slow-moving, ubiquitous swarm of death that moved like a collective sludge. It was a devastating, albeit small-scale replay of everything they’d fought so hard to escape in London. The inevitability of what was happening made it harder to accept. Even out here in the sticks, life hung in the balance. It made a certain sense; though there’d inevitably be some dispersion, when many people had died, they’d remained trapped where they were. Every housing estate, every business park, every school and other gathering place would be rife with the dead. The thinnest of margins separated security and chaos.
‘And you lot thought I was some kind of leader?’ David said, close to tears. ‘You must have been out of your minds. The harder I try, the worse things get for everyone.’
17
Another cloudburst had delayed everything. Sam had tried valiantly to get Rafe, April, and the others off the plane and over to the van, but the torrential rain and drifting corpses had slowed everything down. It was pitch black when they made it back to the van. They didn’t want to be out on the road much longer tonight.
‘I’m pretty sure we haven’t passed them,’ Orla said. ‘They’ll have stuck to the plan. They’ll be sat safe somewhere, waiting for us to catch up.’
‘I think we should stop,’ Selena said.
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Dominic said from the seat furthest back. ‘Don’t you think it would be better if you—’
Vicky glared at him. ‘You’ll never be in charge again, you fucker. In fact, you don’t even get to have an opinion.’ The look she gave froze the words in Dominic’s throat. She turned back to Sam and Orla. ‘Remind me again why you didn’t leave this piece of shit to fend for himself back at the airport?’
‘Happy to stop the van and dump them both,’ Orla said.
Stan sounded terrified that she’d do it. ‘There’s no need for that. Please.’
Sam pointed out a small building at the side of the road. It was a farmhouse with a couple of outbuildings, looking wildly out of place alongside what had, until recently, been a major six-lane road. They’d passed a couple of similar places – stubborn relics of history whose owners had steadfastly refused to be uprooted. In the case of a set-up like this, it made sense. The road had likely bisected this farmer’s land, and the road planners of the day had done what they could to accommodate the landowner. There was a specially constructed slip road that appeared to lead nowhere else. ‘This’ll do us for now,’ Sam said.
Orla slowed down and took the turning. ‘You sure?’
‘It’s isolated and we need to rest. If we keep going there’s every chance we’ll pass the others, if we haven’t already. Seriously, park up.’
‘Do it,’ Vicky said. ‘I really need to get up and move.’
The road continued round into a concrete yard. Orla stopped outside the homeliest looking building, then waited. Nothing happened for a while. After a minute had passed, a single cadaver lumbered slowly into view, wearing a housedress and filthy apron. It crossed the beam of the van’s headlights. Sam got out and ended the thing’s half-hearted resistance quickly.
When Orla switched off the engine, there was nothing but silence. Other than the wind and rain, it was absolute. No traffic noise, no electrical hum... nothing. He leant back into the van and grabbed his knife and a torch. ‘This place should be okay for tonight. Stan and I will check the house.’
‘M-me?’ Stan immediately protested. ‘Don’t you think it would be better if—?’
‘I’ll drag you out if you don’t move.’
Stan reluctantly followed him up to the front door of the farmhouse. It was unlocked, and led straight into a large, foul-smelling kitchen space. There was an enormous wooden table covered in all kinds of junk which was, in turn, covered with a thick layer of dust. Spiderwebs obscured a fruit bowl and candles. They looked like they’d been draped in lace.
Something was moving around in an adjacent room. ‘All yours,’ Sam said to Stan. Stan just stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot. ‘Just as I thought. Completely fucking useless. Have you ever yet killed even one of them?’
He marched into the room next-door, dragging Stan behind him. The corpse of another woman was stuck between the back of a sofa and a sideboard, moving continually but going nowhere. Sam caught her thrashing arm then pulled her closer and impaled her eye with the tip of his knife. She dropped to the ground, like she’d been switched off.
‘It’s just not my thing,’ Stan said, jabbering uselessly. ‘I-I don’t know how you do it. I-I mean, I’m grateful you do, naturally, believe me, but I-I don’t think I could—’
Sam shoved him back onto the sofa, sending great plumes of dust billowing up. He shone his torch into the other man’s face. ‘Tell me everything.’
‘Ev-everything? What do you mean?’
‘Why you really split from Piotr, everything you know about his plans... anything that might be useful.’
‘I-I’ve already told you.’
‘No, you told me what you thought I’d want to hear, the bare minimum. Let’s be honest here for a second, Stan, you’re of no value whatsoever. I’d finish you off in a heartbeat, and no one would even ask.’
‘You-you wouldn’t hurt me. You-you told me you were a pacifist.’
‘Things change. Want to try me?’
‘Why don’t you talk to Dominic instead?’
‘Because he’s a much better liar than you are and I’m afraid I will kill him outright. Now talk. Why did the pair of you bail on Piotr?’
‘It’s like Dominic said, he’s-he’s out of control. We-we got scared.’
For the first time Sam sensed he might be telling the truth. ‘Go on.’
‘Piotr wanted to-to go further down the Thames than we did, but Allison wouldn’t do it. When she did a runner with Mihai, he felt like he’d got a point to prove. He-he went right through the middle of Lakeside shopping centre... stirred the place up like you wouldn’t believe.’
‘Oh, I’d believe it alright. We lost more than a hundred people there. The dead were seething. We didn’t stand a chance.’
‘I’m-I’m sorry about that, Sam. I just did my usual, kept my head down, you know, but when we got to Stansted and the same thing started happening again, me and-and Dom realised we were in trouble. We saw the lights in that plane and just-just made a run for it. You’ve got to believe me, Sam, Piotr’s lost it completely. He’s king of the whole bloody world now.’
‘There’s not a lot left for him to be king of.’
‘I-I know that, and you know that, but try telling him. If there’s one person to lord it over, he runs his mouth. You remember Lynette, don’t you? Lovely, she was. Dom told me he-he pushed her off a roof back by the Tower just because... because he didn’t like what she was saying. We were all on eggshells around him; bloody maniac.’
‘You’re a fucking coward, Stan.’
‘Guilty as-as charged. Look, shouldn’t we be getting the others in now? The rest of the house sounds empty.’
‘Not just yet.’
‘What else do you want? I-I don’t know anything. I told you I tried to keep my distance.’
‘We heard that Piotr was planning to head east towards Norfolk. Is that still the case?’
‘Eventually, yes.’
‘Eventually? What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Turns out Paul Duggan lived not far from here. Place called Corby. Don’t know it myself.’
‘And?’
‘And, well, apparently there’s some big RAF or Army base nearby. I think the plan was to head over that way, get themselves tooled up, then move on. It’s like Piotr thinks he’s on some kind of crusade; arming his followers to conquer what’s left.’
