Into the Night

We stopped at a point that Chuck said was about two hours away from our ‘destination’. When I asked why we were stopping on a country road that seemed to lead nowhere and had nothing but a bloody field alongside it, he just grinned and told me to wait and see.

Once more we both climbed out, and I found myself digging my hands into the pocket at the front of my hooded top. It was freezing, something I hadn’t noticed whilst in the car. The wind whipped around us, brushing both mine and Chuck’s hair to one side. He opened the boot, rummaged around a while and withdrew a small box. He brought it over to me, placed it in my hands and told me to open it.

“Go on, don’t be scared kid.”

I did as he told me, and was surprised to find two pistols in the box. He winked, took one out and slid it into his belt, right front side.

“Do the same.”

Once more I followed his orders, fumbling as I held the box in one hand and slid the gun in with the other. He lifted up the plastic that had been holding the guns, revealing a stash of weed, a grinder, papers and a pouch of tobacco. I couldn’t resist a grin.

“Nice one.”

We took the box to the field, climbing over the fences and making our way to what, from our car, looked roughly to be the middle. A fallen tree offered a pretty neat seat, and slowly I rolled.

“Why are you doing it so slowly?” Chuck asked me, lighting up a cigarette.

“Because I want to savour what might possibly be the last joint I ever roll.”

He nodded, eyes watching as I rolled. I smiled at him, licking the paper. “You always said you couldn’t wait to leave Cardiff again.” He commented, as I finished and lit it up.

Gazing at him out of the corner of my eye, I blew out a perfect smoke ring. “Not like this though.”

“I know, but still...” He narrowed his eyes. “Two toke train?” I took in two inhales, before passing it to him. “Think of it as a kind of adventure, Jake. Something new, exciting...”

“Yeah, the end of the world is always an adventure.”

“They’ll make a film about us.”

I giggled, as we carried on smoking, passing it back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth...

The rest of the drive was pretty much uneventful – I cracked jokes and tried to make ‘funny’ comments, keeping both Chuck and myself awake. We had the radio station on again, which every so often announced how many hours we had left. Well, they didn’t phrase it like that. It was more along the lines of ‘hours until Russia makes a move’.

Hell, no one knew if the plan was to release a bomb straight away or just declare war. I hoped it was the second one that, at least would give us more time.

Finally, we arrived at what I assumed to be our destination. Chuck pulled in to a large, spacious field, where a few people in jackets were milling around. There were another three cars here, and slowly the yellow jackets approached us. Chuck wound down his window.

“We’re here for the safety base?”

The yellow jacket guy nodded, gestured around. “Just pull up and park, one of the Army guys will be here in a sec.”

Chuck nodded, glanced at me with a raised eyebrow before parking next to a large family sized car. We climbed out, lighting up cigarettes as we did so. We waited for a few minutes before a guy in full Army gear approached us. He spotted Chuck, gave him a short, curt nod.

“Didn’t realise you guys would be involved.” My mate muttered, offering a cigarette to the younger lad. With a grateful smile, the boy took it.

“Yeah, got the police in some areas, us in others. Just checking people get to the safety areas alright, plus our own guys when the time comes.”

“You have any idea what’s really going on?” Chuck asked, as the boy started walking. We followed, keeping a quick pace.

“Nope, sorry. Been given my orders, that’s all I know.”

“Fair enough.” Chuck ran a hand though his hair, eyes scanning the horizon. “So where is this ‘safety area’ then?”

“Close.” The boy grinned, a big, toothy smile. “It’s camouflaged.”

“Must have built it quick.” I commented, getting some slightly condescending looks from both of them.

“We’ve been building these for years.” Chuck explained, coming to a stop with his arms crossed. “Didn’t want to say anything earlier just in case someone could hear us...”

“Like who?” I asked, gazing at the expressions on their faces. They glanced at each other, but neither answered my question.

“I knew this one would be pretty much dead.” Chuck carried on. “Because it’s Army Personal and Veterans, in case of nuclear attack.”

“What about me?” I cried, worry settling into my stomach.

Chuck laughed. “Don’t worry mate, you’re with me. You’ll be fine.”

I was only slightly reassured by this as we carried on walking. Shortly, we came to a few trees forming a small wood. We climbed our way through the densely packed ones until we came along a small clearing, just about big enough to fit five people in. I glanced from Chuck to the lad.

The lad used his foot to move away some of the leaves and twigs and mud on the floor. I was shocked to see a metal doorway in the ground, a hatch.

Chuck’s smile grew as the boy reached down and typed, into an electric keypad, the code. The hatch opened.

“Go in lads. You got anything in your car?”

“Yeah, a few supplies.” Chuck explained, and the lad nodded.

“We’ll bring them over in a few minutes. There’s food and drink down there, and a couple of other people. See you later.” He raised his hand, and Chuck gestured for me to go first. I climbed onto the ladder and made my way down, Chuck following straight after.

It was dark as we climbed down; I had to focus on the rungs of the ladder, using my feet to determine where the next one was. I had no idea how far down we went, but soon I could see light near the bottom, a lantern hanging up at the entrance to a tunnel. I leapt off, staggered backwards and waited for Chuck.

He appeared in the light, which caught his coopery hair and sent streaks of light into it. He ran a hand through it, so the beams caught his hand instead. He nodded once to me, before gesturing for me to carry on. I turned, and started to make my way through the tunnel.

Our footsteps echoed around us as we made our way onward. It was not long before we came to what seemed to be a large chamber, with benches laid around the edges and shelves, stacked full of food, against one wall. As the boy had already said, there were a few people here. A couple, sitting opposite the door, the man holding tightly onto the girl as she buried her face in his shoulder. To the right was a small family – mum, dad, daughter and brother. The man nodded at Chuck and myself in greeting, and straight away Chuck’s hand went to his head in a salute.

“Sir.”

The man laughed softly. “It’s OK Parker, I’m retired now.”

“Yes sir.” Chuck’s hand dropped, and a faint line of red stretched across his cheeks and nose. He stepped towards the father, who now stood and shook his hand.

“Good to know you’re alright lad.”

“Same to you sir, and your family.”

The older man smiled gently, as he glanced at his wife and kids. The youngest, the girl, was asleep, stretched out across the bench. “Chuck, meet Maria, Harry and Elizabeth.”

“Nice to meet you.” Chuck bent his head respectfully to the woman, before gesturing at me. “This is Jake. Jake, this my old Sergeant, Robert Smith.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir.” I shook his hand, studying his face. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at me, before he gave a quick nod of approval to Chuck.

“He looks scrawny, but intelligent. You served son?”

“No sir.” I shook my head, suddenly feeling nervous in front of the two ex-military men. “I spent the last three years at University.”

“Ah, educated lad.” He clapped me on the back. “What did you study?”

“History.”

He flashed another smile at Chuck. “So he is a clever one.”

“Not really.” Chuck joked, eyes alight as he winked at me. “Useful to have around though.”

“Thanks mate.” I muttered, glancing over at the couple. I tapped Chuck’s shoulder, his eyes drifted to where I was looking at he nodded, before carrying on his conversation with Sgt. Robert Smith. I moved away from the pair and towards the couple instead. “You two alright?” I asked, coming to a stop just in front of them.

The guy looked up at me, his eyes rimmed by dark circles. The girl stayed in the same position.

“Fine, just...” He glanced at the girl, before kissing her forehead. “So you ex-Army too?”

“Nah, my mate over there.” I gestured to Chuck, who was now laughing with the Sergeant. “You?”

“Nope.” He gave me a small, sad smile. “My brother’s serving now, made a phone call to get us in here. Lucky for us, eh babe?”

She lifted her head up, stared at me with bloodshot eyes where she had been crying. “Yeah, his brother.” She mumbled, her shoulders moving forward before she hung her head forward. “Though I don’t know what the point is.”

“They’ll be OK babe, they will.” The guy rubbed her shoulder. “I’m Johnny, by the way. This is Tabby, Tabitha.”

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Jake.” I shook hands with the guy, who nodded.

“I guess it really is who you know, eh?”

I let out a chuckle. “Yeah, but they have civilian posts too.”

“I know. That’s where her family have gone.” He squeezed Tabby’s shoulder, gently, and she gave a small nod. “Near Liverpool.”

“They’ll be OK, won’t they?” She asked, looking up at me with pleading eyes. “They will be fine?”

“Yeah, they will be.” I nodded, thinking of my own family. “Hey, do either of you have a mobile I could borrow?”

“Sure.” Johnny reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek Nokia. He passed it to me. “God knows how much signal you’ll get down here though.”

“Still, worth a try, right?” I gave him a grateful smile, before walking away from the pair and the family, heading towards one of the shelves as I tapped in my home phone number.

The signal bars were not showing up, and I couldn’t help but bite down, hard, on my lips. Still...I had managed before to use a phone with no signal, maybe it would work again? Pressing the ‘call’ button, I lifted it to my ear.

Nothing.

Just one long beep.

I cursed under my breath, before hanging up and taking the phone back to Johnny. Tabby looked up hopefully.

“Did it work?” She asked, eyes wide.

“No.” I shook my head. “Sorry. Thanks anyway mate.”

“Who were you trying to get hold of?” He asked.

“My parents.” I gave them a shrug. “I’m sure they’re fine though. Knowing my da, he’s already dragged mam into one of the shelters.”

Mam and da? Jesus, I hadn’t called them that for ages. It was a surprise how easily it slipped out, names I usually called them when I was homesick or especially missing them at the time. The last time I’d called them that was most likely in my second year of University, when ‘Equine Flu’ had hit the world, and I managed to get a bad case of it. I was confined to a hospital ward for almost a week, having hallucinations, shivering and sweating and cursing out the nurses when they came too close and I claimed they were beasts from hell come to drag me away....

I’d brought them a shit load of champagne and chocolate afterwards, even took one of the younger ones out on a date. She’d been pretty cute actually, and told me she hadn’t minded being called a ‘demon come to tempt me from this world’. Apparently I had shouted out that her ‘supernatural beauty will not trick me’.

Can’t remember the last time I blushed that much.

‘Equine Flu’ was just one of the many reasons for the strained relationship between Russia and America, as both sides had claimed the other had created the virus, testing it out on horses and planned to use it for biological warfare.

A sudden thought occurred to me; what if Russia had created it? What if they released a bout of it? My mind flashed to the film ’28 Days Later’, bringing up images of the ‘rage’ virus that had been a prominent point of it all. If I hadn’t been restrained in my bed, pumped full of drugs and kept sedated, a part of me knew I could have happily gone on a killing spree. All in the name of survival.

If it hit a large part of the population...

I sat down on an empty space of one of the metal benches, putting my head in my hands. I knew I couldn’t think in ‘what if’s. I couldn’t panic and make up scenarios I knew nothing about. It would not do myself, or anyone else for that matter, any good. All I could do was carry on like the others and see how this all panned out.