Survival: After It Happened Book 1 (12 page)

He took Penny aside before they all sat down at an actual table and ate using cutlery. It was plastic cutlery, but it still felt more civilised. The only people not present were Kate, Alice and Mike who were eating in the medical unit.

Penny agreed to let Dan take the lead on issuing tomorrows orders, and after dinner he called everyone to listen up.

“Excellent work everyone. This place is looking good already and we can make it great. I’ve planned a big trip tomorrow, and everyone has a part to play. We will be heading north and taking the three lorries, my Defender, Neil’s Defender with the tanker, Lexi’s Defender (which was Andrew’s previously) and Cedric’s Disco. We’ve already found one large trailer which Cedric is taking to do his thing with the chemical toilets again. Here is the plan:” he said, and everyone leaned in to listen.

“Jimmy and Kev, you’ll take your truck and go with Neil to a supermarket which I will lead you to. Neil, you fill the tanker with diesel and the jerrycans with petrol whilst Jimmy and Kev empty the shop of water and supplies. Help them load when you are finished with the fuel and return here after” Nods from Jimmy and Neil, smiles from Kev who was pleased to have been named.

“You are getting some food and water, but also quilts and pillows and toiletries. Empty the pharmacy whilst you’re there” agreement again.

“Once I’ve pointed out the shop to you, I’ll continue on taking Andrew and Ian in my Defender”

“Lexi will be in the other Defender, followed by Adam and Kyle in another of the trucks.” Nods again from those named. “Jay and Liam in the last one.” Liam looked surprised to have been involved, and wasn’t paying too much attention until then.

“You will be followed by Cedric and Maggie in their Disco and trailer” Firm nod of agreement from Cedric, Maggie just smiled at him and leant in to make contact.

“Lex will lead you to a large camping shop. She will clear the building first, then Cedric will load the chemical toilet supplies, Adam and Kyle will collect all the gas bottles you can find including the camping gas stuff from inside, and Jay? Liam?” he looked at them, getting eager looks in return

“You will take all the clothing, bags, boots from the shop. Everything.” Dan emphasised.

“Andrew and Ian, you’ll pick up large vans from a place I found and follow me to where Ian used to work. You’ll load your vans with solar panels for future use” Dan decided it was best to recover those first and store them until they could be used. I’ll run protection for you, Lexi for those at the camping shop and Neil for Jimmy and Kev.”

Still nobody spoke, he wasn’t sure whether this was tiredness or apathy. He hoped tiredness.

“Penny and Ana will stay here to help Kate look after Mike and Alice” Silent agreement from Penny and Ana. Dan knew he had left Leah out, and knew that she would be fuming about this, so he threw in his final instructions just as she was opening her mouth to protest.

“Leah will also stay here and man the operations centre” he said, managing to keep a straight face.

“We need detailed records of who left at what time in what vehicle. We then need to know who returned when, in what vehicle and what their cargo was. Can you keep on top of that for a whole day?” he kindly challenged her.

Leah tried her hardest to play it cool, but the baited hook had been taken. “You got it” she said, with a sarcastically lazy salute.

They had their orders, nobody had questioned them. They cleared their plates into a large sink to soak with cold water and washing up liquid – much easier to do that and just wipe them off after. The end of the world had relaxed the washing up standards, it seemed. Some people drifted off to their own thoughts as the light started to fade, some into what had been named the lounge which had a large but useless TV and some half comfortable chairs. Some had found books from the library. Cedric and Neil started to play cards. Dan wandered outside for a smoke. He was joined by Lexi.

“Got a spare one of those?” she asked. He had thousands of them, for now. He reached into his right leg pocket and pulled out the pack and lighter, handing them to her silently. She took one, lit it, inhaled slowly and a small cough escaped her.

“Never had you down as the menthol type” she said, amused. Dan noticed how she pocketed the rest of the pack and his lighter. He used to know a woman who did that to him all the time.

“Lex” He started “I know I’m asking a lot of you but”

“Don’t worry about it” she interrupted. “I’ve got your back. Besides, Penny gave me the speech earlier about the ‘First Ranger’ not having to take on every dangerous task” she invested his unwanted title with a touch of humour and the two lapsed into silence stood in the darkening shadow of the ornate entrance.

Lexi dropped her cigarette butt and ground it out with her boot. “Night, Stark” she said, proud of her comedy timing as she walked inside.

He didn’t have the heart to call after her that Neil had used that joke days before.

An early rise for everyone was attributed entirely to Penny’s loud ‘assembly’ voice which she had only previously used to silence a large crown of bored children.

Dan rolled out of his cot, had a ‘shower in a can’ and dressed in yesterday’s combats and top before wandering outside to brush his teeth. He went into the canteen which was now being called the dining room by Penny and saw a strange version of a hotel continental breakfast.

There were plates and bowls lined out, boxes of breakfast biscuits, a fruit salad, tea and coffee and fruit juices. There were bacon and eggs too, which Dan never got bored of. He washed down three cups of coffee and went to get himself sorted out.

An air of expectation was hanging over the group; like a sense of urgency or purpose invaded their thoughts. Everyone was moving that little bit quicker today.

“Morning Boss” called Jimmy cheerfully from the reception room. Kev, as ever, was just behind him.

“Bit of a problem with Kyle this morning” he said “decided we wanted to stay in bed because he felt poorly….” Dan realised there was more to the story so he played along.

“Oh? And where is Kyle now?” he asked innocently

“Outside waiting to go. I promised him he could stay in bed as long as Kev and me could get in with him. I also told him the story of the last person who didn’t pull their weight in this group. Seemed to make him feel better all of a sudden.”

Dan laughed and slapped his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder as he walked to his room.

He put on his body armour, tightened it and checked his magazines. The Sig went back into the chest holster. He packed his small day bag with his trauma kit and emergency rations, then walked through to the office where he found Leah sat at the big desk looking over the map with a pile of snacks and bottles of juice nearby. She looked very serious. Lexi was leaning against the wall by the ‘armoury’ which he unlocked.

They took their respective weapons, and Dan took the tactical shotguns and two belts of cartridges too; one for Neil and one for Penny. He had agreed this with Penny last night – any sign of trouble they are to barricade themselves inside the medical wing and sit tight until he returned. The shotgun was a small insurance policy for her which he insisted she agree to, despite her being quite sure that nothing of the sort would happen.

He ran through the four locations on the map with Leah. She had found sticky coloured labels and was marking them one to four as he spoke.

“Here is the supermarket and fuel station” he pointed to the map “where Neil, Jimmy and Kev will be going”

“Here is the van place we found” he said, using a pen to pinpoint the small lot.

“Here is where Ian used to work and here” he moved his finger a long way to the side “is where Lexi is taking the rest”

Leah understood, stuck her different coloured dots down and went to the white board where she wrote locations and names corresponding to the four locations. Dan thought that was pretty impressive, and showed her more.

“This is where we are now” he said, using a red pen to draw around the grounds of the prison and farm – as he did so his gaze lingered on a lot of farms and open land in the area and made a mental note to search them.

“This is where we were” pointing to Morrisons. He drew a red line there, cutting off the bottom bit of the map and saying “That’s out of bounds until we know more”

“Got it” Leah said. She would happily sit there with her music and snacks all day, he thought.

He went outside and tossed the shotgun and belt to Neil. Very Bad Boys, he thought, instantly feeling like a bit of a dick.

Everyone had gathered, forming their convoys. Nothing much was left to say, so Dan stood by his Land Rover and called out to them.

“You all know what to do. Be safe, be lucky and see you all for dinner.” With that, he climbed in and started the engine. They drove in a long convoy of four off road vehicles, two towing trailers and three lorries. When they reached a roundabout probably two miles away, Lexi peeled off to the right followed by Cedric’s Discovery and two of the trucks. Neil was behind him with his Defender and tanker, with Jimmy and Kev in the remaining truck behind.

When they reached the large roundabout where the supermarket was, he waved them off through his open window, leaving just him, Andrew and Ian in his own vehicle. Andrew was sat in the back; he took this position almost naturally as a submissive kind of person. Dan thought there probably wasn’t a single trace of alpha male gene in his body, but felt that he was clever and well organised which compensated.

They reached the van sales lot, and Dan found the keys to two long wheel-based, high-sided Mercedes Sprinter vans. Both were fuelled enough to not have to use the jerrycans from his Land Rover, and Ian took the lead to where he used to make deliveries. The journey took nearly forty-five minutes, but Dan realised they may have found something very important when they turned in. After a quick look around, they decided to ditch the new vans and take the ten-tonne lorry which was already loaded with solar panels and various pipes. Easier to store it as it was and just park the lorry somewhere than mess around moving it. Ian drove and Andrew went with him. As agreed, when they got close to home Dan would peel off and make use of the rest of the day. They were told to find somewhere to park the lorry that wouldn’t cause an issue and report to Leah with their haul.

Dan spun around at the island where they had first split off from Lexi’s group about an hour later. He decided to leave Neil and Lexi’s groups alone, and allow them to form their own leadership status without him interfering. He decided to head in the direction between where Neil had gone, and where Lexi was, which led to a small town probably thirty miles from home. He rolled through, slowly, looking from side to side as he crawled.

He couldn’t see anyone, but he had an unmistakable sense of being watched. He decided to stop and have a break, to see if anyone would creep from the woodwork. He sat on his bonnet with a coffee and lit a cigarette, being careful to give of the ‘not a care in the world’ vibe when in fact he was acutely tuned in to every sound.

He sat there, sipping his coffee and smoking, with his feet on the winch cable and bumper. His M4 hung down between his legs, the suppressor lightly knocking into the grill when he moved. He was certain he was being watched, but decided that scanning the area was probably a bad idea. He didn’t want to scare anyone else. He decided to take some action, but nothing that would get him shot at. He threw down his cigarette end, tipped the dregs of his coffee and jumped to the ground.

“I know you’re out there” He called out. “I’m alone and I’m friendly” he left it at that, screwing the cup back onto his metal flask.

Just as he was about to give up, a movement to his left showed momentarily. He turned slowly, to see a woman carrying a shopping bags and looking very unkempt. She had a young girl, probably three or four years old, hiding behind her legs. The woman looked close to tears; she was clearly scared of Dan but it looked as though she was not going to last long without the modern comforts.

“Are you a soldier?” she asked. He would have placed her at about the same age as Lexi at the oldest, only this woman was painfully thin and looked weak.

“Of a sort, yes” he replied. “I come from a group of people. We have a home set up a couple of towns over. Come back with us?”

The woman still shook and looked to the ground, thinking.

“My name’s Eve” she said with an air of acceptance. “I have no idea about her because she won’t speak to me” she said, nudging the child gripping to her legs.

“I haven’t got a clue about kids, but I found her a few days ago and she just followed me” she finished. Dan thought that this woman would not last long in the current climate. He opened the rear door of his Land Rover and stepped away, allowing them to approach slowly. He decided that these two could be fixed by others of the group, as he doubted he had the patience. The woman climbed in, but the child was too small to reach that high unaided. It hadn’t occurred to Eve to help her in. Dan gently picked her up under the arms, and felt her whole body tense. He reassured her, and placed her feet on the back seats where she threw herself in towards Eve.

“Did you come with the other soldier?” she asked as he climbed back behind the wheel. That made him stop.

“No. Tell me about this other soldier” He said, trying to control his impatience.

“He looked like you, had army stuff on and a gun” she said, frustrating him with her lack of detail.

“Describe him and the gun. What was he driving? How long ago was it?” He said, forcing himself to go slow with this fragile woman.

“Not long before you came, further up the road. He was shorter than you and a bit older I think. The gun was a machine gun with a big thing on the top” she sketched an outline of a large optic “and he was driving a Jeep like this” she finished.

He swallowed the retort that Jeep’s weren’t off-roaders, and off-roaders weren’t Jeep’s. He decided to take a drive down to the far end of town before he turned and got these two back home. From the smell of them, he didn’t fancy spending all day in the car. He surreptitiously wound down his window as he drove.

After another hour searching, he saw no sign of anyone. He decided against leaving any clues to their new location.

Dan drove home steadily, getting occasional questions from Eve. He told them that they now numbered twenty survivors, not counting anyone that the others brought back today. He felt a little cruel for thinking it, but he found Eve very annoying.

He stopped a few times to mark places of interest and take notes. That should keep Leah busy for a while.

He was feeling more hopeful as the days went on now, but a glance behind him at a grubby child looking straight at him with suspicious eyes made gave him a great sadness for those he had lost.

Emily and Michael. Six and three.

He pushed their memories from his mind and concentrated on the road.

'Grant me the serenity’ he recited silently to himself.