Survival: After It Happened Book 1 (18 page)

Penny called for order, as formal as ever, and proceeded with the update from her perspective as head of the house. Dan was a little miffed that she was taking overall charge of his group with less and less cooperation being sought, then thought that he didn’t want the responsibility and told himself not to be childish.

“Store rooms are well stocked, we have sufficient clothing and bedding to last the winter. Winter requirements have been ordered for logistics to retrieve and we are well on the way to having enough wood to burn over the winter. We would welcome ideas on laundry matters as clothes will not be disposable items forever. I feel that the staff numbers are insufficient and would seek to recruit more cleaning staff” she said. She turned to Chris and invited him to report on the agricultural matters.

“Animals are ok, got enough feed to keep them through winter and I don’t propose killing any off yet for food – need to breed them another year I hope. I want to find a bull for the cows so we can get some milk going again. I need more people to help work the farm. Sera has already offered to check the animals out which could take a few days” he said, uncertain in his new corporate role.

“And the gardens?” Penny asked

“Cleared out ready to go for after Christmas when we’ll get some greens and cauliflower down” he replied

“Thankyou. Neil? Engineering if you please?” she went on.

Neil seemed tired, and not the chirpy man he was when they numbered fewer. He seemed to be losing weight too.

“Vehicle workshop up and running, although touch wood” he tapped his head “all vehicles have been fine so far. We’ve stockpiled parts so I’ll want them all in for a New Year service. Solar panel project is on hold until we have scaffolding and builders hopefully, and an extended period of good weather to make the job safe. Rain water collection is ongoing”

“And our fuel situation?” Penny enquired

“Plenty” said Neil “and nearby stocks are still high. I’ll want to make another two full hauls with the tanker soon to top off the tanks on the gardens and the farm” they had discovered another large red diesel tank on the gardens.

“Thankyou. Catering?” she looked at Cara

“Fine” she said nervously “No problems. Could do with more people in the kitchen too I suppose”

“Medical?” she asked Kate.

“Staffing is good, could still do with a surgeon but I suppose our vet will be helpful in a pinch. Stocks are fine but I still need to empty an A&E storeroom in a few months” she said

“Supplies?” she looked to Andrew.

“Stores are just about full. We’ve started clearing other rooms to use for stockpiling. Food and water for our current population for over a year without any further scavenging” He said. That was good news at least.

“James. Logistics?” she said

“All good. Point us in the direction of what you want and we’re ready to go. I’ve been keeping mine busy by loaning them out to other areas. Doesn’t hurt to know other people’s jobs too” he said

“And you are sufficiently staffed?” Penny asked

“Until we get more space cleared for more stores, yes”

“Thankyou. And lastly, Daniel. Operations” she said

Well bollocks to you too, he thought.

If this was Penny’s was of punishing him for yesterday then she wouldn’t get a rise out of him.

“Weapons and ammo levels are currently acceptable. We need more vehicles which my Rangers will be recovering over the course of tomorrow, and after that I would like a scavenging team deployed to us for equipment recovery. I want another three rangers ideally, and in the long term up to five security personnel based here and at the gardens. An appropriate quartermaster and a better weapons store would be ideal too.” He said.

“Communications are a problem – we lack the hardware and the knowledge to use any communications gear that hasn’t been rendered useless by lack of maintenance on substations and satellites. High Frequency and Citizen’s Band are the way forward, or backwards if you like, and we need to relearn those skills.” No response from anyone.

“If I may suggest, the wood we are chopping will not last this winter. It is green and there isn’t enough. Leah has located three sites for recovery of coal which I believe are a priority over the next month; Andrew, if you could source a storage area for say twenty to thirty tonnes?”

Andrew nodded in thought before saying, “Could Ian get another lorry? That would be sufficient to keep it from the elements surely?” They looked to Neil, who didn’t think it was a problem at all.

“Lastly” said Dan “I want to get people out again every day. Nearly all of us have expressed a lack of personnel as a problem; we need to find more survivors and they are unlikely to find us if we stay here all the time. The more before winter the better, because for the first time in years, the human race is going to be at risk from a simple change in weather”

All agreed, and Penny looked put out. Dan had whipped the council into a sense of urgency, of purpose, had injected some renewed need to get out and save people. He had also made suggestions which countermanded her own assessments in very slight ways.

And the power struggle went on.

IT’S GOOD TO TALK

Lexi and Joe came up with a plan to maximize efficiency, which resulted in Dan dropping them off at the dealership to bring back a new Land Rover each. Time and motion.

Neil and Ian went with Adam, Jay, Kyle Liam and Andrew. They returned late that afternoon with over five tonnes of seasoned logs from the place where they took the lorry load of bagged coal. They stacked the logs at the front of the now huge log pile to use first, and stored a lot of the coal inside in tubs ready to use. What remained went into sheds to keep dry.

Dan made another trip in the morning to take his Rangers back out for another two vehicles, and they had order to scout for a few hours on the way back in different directions before reporting with the new Land Rovers to Neil.

He made his own recce of the army surplus store, and found so much that he had to leave it all to be a scavenging trip.

On the way back he found himself involuntarily slowing as he stared at a thing of beauty. A vehicle parked on a driveway had caught his attention; it was very uncommon to see new a Discovery with modifications but this one had a suspension lift, front and rear winches built into the bumpers, a snorkel, roof rack carrying jerrycans, two spare wheels and all terrain tyres all round. It was black, with heavily tinted back windows. He wanted it. It was actually the first thing since all this happened that he coveted. He reasoned with himself that it was functional, that it was a sensible choice, but really he just liked how it looked and wanted it.

“What do you think, boy?” he asked Ash as he scratched under his chin. Ash cocked his head at him, which Dan readily took as agreement.

“Alright then, but you stay here” he said as he got out.

He had barely been into a house since people started dying, but he pulled the scarf over his mouth and nose and forced the front door open. A search found the keys in a bowl on the kitchen table, he took them and left the house quickly, eager for fresh air. He climbed in and moved it to the road. He liked it; a three litre diesel automatic was far more comfortable than the cramped and breezy Defender. He moved his kit into their new ride, noting how useful the heated leather seats would be when it got colder. The Defender was locked up and left on the road; he would come back to collect it on the return trip.

On the way back he saw a vehicle moving. He was on a main road, parallel to the motorway. A lorry cab was snaking slowly along, avoiding the cars abandoned both in the lanes and on the hard shoulder. Dan checked the map quickly, and reckoned he could get ahead of it within a few miles at the next junction. He followed the roadsigns with the blue markings, and soon found himself joining lane one of what used to be a very busy road. Signs warned of delays due to ongoing improvements. Nothing new there.

His daydreaming led to a bizarre lapse in concentration, and he found himself indicating to join a motorway utterly devoid of life. He laughed at himself, and rolled to a stop with his hazard lights on; he wanted the driver of that lorry to see him coming a long way off. He left Ash and the M4 in the car, and the shotgun was in the driver’s door pocket. He still carried his Sig. He leant against the side of his new vehicle and smoked as he waited for the lorry to crawl into sight.

The driver approached very cautiously, stopping some distance away and getting out with an axe held low in his right hand. Little use when facing someone with a gun, no matter how fast he was, but the statement of intent was clear.

As he approached, Dan reckoned he didn’t look fast. He was at least sixty, with tanned but liver spotted skin, a lean and leathery man with clever eyes and a wary stance.

“Blessings of God to you, friend” he said in harsh Belfast accent.

“Good morning” Dan replied cheerily, hoping to assuage the suspicion evident in the older man’s face and body language. He walked towards him with his hand out, and saw the man shift the axe to his left hand and move it behind him, just in case. “I promise you I mean no harm. Would you talk with me for a while?”

The older man was still very apprehensive, which he admitted to Dan. “Understand me friend, I’ve met folk before now who’ve showed kindness and tried to take what was mine. I mean no offence by being careful”

Dan said that he understood, and told him that he had also met a few people who were dangerous. His tone implied that those people had not fared well.

“And yet you’re the man standing whole in front of me” said the wise lorry driver “Seems to me that they weren’t the dangerous ones, perhaps?”

Dan smiled at his sharp logic “Perhaps” he admitted “but what I have done was done for the good of my people. We have a house and a farm. There are over thirty of us and we’re getting ready to settle in for winter”

The man mused this, never taking his eyes off the confident soldier who in turn kept a careful watch on the man’s axe, and was mindful to keep his hands away from the pistol grip on his chest.

“I’m Dan” he said, inviting a reply from the man and receiving only silence for a time.

“Jack” he said finally “tell me more of your home”

Dan listed off the people – those that he could remember, feeling shallow – and told Jack of the different ‘trades’ they now had.

“Perhaps you have a spare bed for an old man?” he said at last

“We do. Want to follow me?” He replied.

“I will. Do you have a CB?” Jack asked

“A CB? No, you have one? Do you know how they work?” Dan asked excitedly.

Jack said yes, to both questions. It seemed like they might get a communications network after all.

The next week was a blur of activity. Fuel runs were made daily, until every jerrycan and fuel tank was topped to the brim. Neil even ran the generators for a couple of hours each night, so that the group could sit by the heaters and watch a DVD on the large TV in the lounge area.

Dan’s old Defender was recovered, and six of them were now stored in a cleared out farm shed near the workshop. His new truck was a matter for a little jealousy, but rank has privilege he supposed. Following the lorry load of kit taken from the army surplus store, the Rangers took over the small classroom building between the house and the gym.

Sera had checked her way through the livestock, declaring them all healthy, and logistics staff were reassigned to help with the farm animals and the cooking and cleaning to keep them busy and give others a rest. Days off were given to everyone, and the gym started to get some use.

Autumn was almost at a close then, and Dan would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about the weather. His own truck, Lexi’s and Jimmy’s lorry all had CB radios wired in and fixed to the dashboards now. Base sets were in the ops room and at the gardens. Everyone leaving home was ordered to check every lorry they saw for a radio, and to remove it for Jack if they found one. They got a good enough signal unless masked by the terrain for at least a ten-mile radius, which he though was fine for now.

The big surprise came when Joe drove back in from a trip with a heavily laden minibus behind him. Dan was in Ops when they drove in, suffering with a cold which made him groggy and irritable.

He brought in six people, all of which had found each other far to the north and decided to gather supplies before running south after the better weather. Dan was introduced to them, trying not to overtly assess their usefulness as he feigned interest.

That evening Penny ran through her usual greeting routine. She added that she had spoken to all of our new joiners and convinced them to stay at least for the winter. She called a head of department meeting, and curiously one of the new women was sat at her side when the others left.

“Karen is to be the group administrator from now on, reporting to me” she said, having to pause when Dan unintentionally interrupted with a sneeze. Karen gave a brief explanation of her work as a legal secretary and personal assistant making her qualified to do the job. Dan smelled something funny going on, but decided to let it play out.

“As Karen knows the others better than all of us, she will run through their work assignments”

Karen smiled and started to list them.

“Jake worked in a pet store, but when offered to work with the animals he declined. He will join the cleaning team keeping the house in order” she consulted her notes

“Carl is an electrician, I assume he will be useful to the engineering team” she looked up at Neil, who nodded and said “Gladly”

“Helen and Lou. Neither really have a trade, but Helen expressed a wish to work in the kitchen” she looked at Cara who nodded “and Lou will be added to the cleaning team also”

“Steve is a helicopter pilot” she said, which got the attention of everyone at the table. She held up a hand and let everyone down gently.

“He wholly believes that there will be no serviceable aircraft left by now. I’m assured that they require a lot of engineers to make one ready to fly, and it’s basically an impossibility”

“Where did he learn to fly?” asked Dan

Karen consulted her notes briefly “He flew trips to the North Sea oil rigs” and smiled at him, falsely he suspected.

“Yes, but where did he learn?” he asked patiently.

Karen read some more before she replied “RAF”

“I’ll take him” Dan said. An RAF pilot would have some weapons training and good escape and evasion experience. Better than his own, most likely, having never faced the prospect of being shot down and alone behind enemy lines.

“He has expressed a wish to…” Karen started in disagreement

“Let me speak to him then, if he doesn’t want to be a Ranger then that’s fine” Dan said with finality.

Penny took over again, smiling at him to show to everyone that there was no animosity.

“Very well everyone. Is there any other business?” she asked

“Weather is closing in, very soon we will be limited to off road vehicles on short trips and tractors or walking between here and the farm” Dan said, then looked around the table for agreement and getting it from everyone.

“When the frosts and snow starts, the only people to leave home regularly are Rangers and they will work in pairs. I know we’ve all driven in ice and snow before but without any road maintenance a simple journey will be far more dangerous. One Ranger will always be here for protection though.” Nobody disagreed, and the council melted away. He decided to offer an olive branch to Penny, as she still hadn’t forgiven him.

“We get through this winter, we’ll do fine” he said

Penny smiled warmly at him, and said “We will, I’m sure of it”

Dan left the meeting, bumping into Leah and sending her to find Steve and bring him to Ops. She was annoyed as they were about to turn the power on for the TV, but he promised her a surprise in the morning. Easily distracted, she skipped off and Dan sat in Ops to pour two glasses.

Steve was maybe forty-five, fit and still with a totally full head of hair. Dan was annoyed at that because the man had nearly ten years on him, and he had had to shave his hair and beard to the same length, exposing his rapidly receding hairline. Steve knew he was getting the sales pitch, but kept his face neutrally interested. Dan asked about his early career, finding out that Steve had flown numerous different types of helicopters over the last quarter century, having spent almost the last nine months in his retirement playing taxi in God-awful weather in a Sea King.

His early training and operational deployments had indeed covered highly in-depth escape and evasion training, some of it was delivered not far from here at an army camp in the nineties.

Dan knew it fairly well…

He spoke a little of what the Rangers were expected to do, and some of the highlights of recent events.

“I’m not going to piss about; I want you on-board” he said after a thoughtfully long sip of scotch.

“I was always going to say yes” Steve said and stood to drain the last of his glass.

“Thanks for the drink. I assume I start in the morning?”

“Yes. See you after breakfast”