by Wood, J N
‘Oh for fuck’s sake!’ Jack exclaimed.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ I asked.
‘It says this route involves a ferry,’ Jack replied. ‘I doubt it will be running at the moment. Can’t see where but it’s at some point after Vernon.’
‘Is there a not a bridge?’ Roy asked. ‘There must be a bridge.’
‘There are a couple,’ Theo said. ‘But one is really far north and the south one takes us really close to the US border.’
Pete’s face appeared alongside me. I pressed the button to lower my window.
‘Are we spending the rest of our lives here on this road?’ he asked.
‘Just trying to figure out a route,’ I told him. ‘We’re having ferry issues. What do you think? Risk getting too close to the inner border thingy, or too close to the original border?’
Pete took a few moments to think, before answering, ‘North. Not as many soldiers at the northern border.’
‘But what if we go north and we get to the inner border before we reach the bridge?’ Beth said.
‘The bridge is at Revelstoke,’ Theo said.
‘Thanks Theo,’ Pete said mockingly. ‘Does that make any difference? We don’t know where the border is.’
‘Fuck you Peter,’ Theo spat.
‘Okay,’ Roy said. ‘Now is not the time.’
‘I think north,’ Jack said. ‘We just keep an eye out for the border.’
‘North it is then,’ I said. ‘Pete, get in your car.’
‘Should we not talk about this a bit more?’ Pete asked. ‘I know I said north but Ali will probably have something to say about it.’
‘Nope,’ I replied. ‘This is doing my head in. We’re going. Hurry up or you’ll get left behind.’
Pete raised his hands into the air in resignation, before turning and walking back to the Mazda behind us.
No doubt it’s the wrong decision, but I can’t sit around debating all this shit.
I turned the engine on and set us on our way. The clock read 11:11.
‘How long is it gonna take?’ I asked.
‘We’re going to have to zig zag our way across the country,’ Jack replied. ‘So let’s say fourteen, maybe fifteen hours.’
‘Fucking hell,’ I said. ‘It’s not even half way across Canada is it?’
Jack grimaced. ‘Erm no. It’s a forty nine hour drive to Quebec City. And that’s non-stop, and the most direct route. Not what we’re doing now.’
‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ I muttered.
‘It’s a six and a half hour flight,’ Theo said cheerfully.
‘Theo, what the fuck?’ I stopped myself going any further when I noticed Beth glaring at me in the rear view mirror, with a very disapproving look in her eyes.
‘What?’ Theo asked.
I took a moment to calm down, before forcing a smile and asking, ‘Could you have a look on your phone for some news please? If it’s showing you flight times, hopefully that means you’ve got some internet. Not just GPS.’
‘Yeah sure,’ he responded.
‘That’s true,’ Jack agreed, and quickly started swiping his fingers across his phone’s screen.
‘Sheep!’ Roy called out.
I looked back at the road to see five or six horned sheep scatter in all directions. I slowed the car down just in case they panicked and ran at us. The few that turned right were struggling to climb up the steep incline on the side of the road.
‘We don’t want to fuck the car up crashing into a sheep,’ Roy said.
‘Those horns look they could do some damage,’ Beth noted.
‘Could you turn the radio on Chris?’ Theo asked.
I immediately leaned over and pressed the power button, saying, ‘Fuck’s sake I’m an idiot.’ One of Taylor Swift’s songs was playing. ‘Fucking hell.’ I pressed the button to change stations. ‘Her songs would still be playing if the entire human race was gone.’ I had to press it a further five times before I found a station that wasn’t just playing music.
A man with a pronounced Canadian accent was saying, ‘When coughing and sneezing, always cover your mouth. Immediately throw away any tissues and wash your hands. If you show any symptoms, seek medical care as early as possible.’
I moved the station on again. ‘It’s just shit about the virus,’ I explained. ‘I want news from back home.’
‘I’ve found some,’ Jack said, reading from his phone.
I turned the volume down on the radio.
‘At one point Canada was going to send some of its navy over to Europe,’ he continued. ‘Something about showing strength to the Russians. That was all cancelled when the virus showed up in France. The Canadians did send over medical assistance. Erm, blah de blah de blah. Just shit we already know. Right, here we go. The virus spread incredibly quickly, just like in America. But...’ He paused to hit me on the arm. ‘Because Europe knew there was a high possibility of the virus being released, people were prepared.’ He turned to me and said,’ I fucking told you.’
‘Yeah okay,’ I said. ‘Carry on.’
‘They’d already set up quarantine zones. The public were already wearing masks and being extra vigilant about cleanliness. It didn’t take long for information to stop coming over here though.’
‘I bet the governments are still talking,’ Roy said. ‘People high up will still be talking to each other in other countries. It’ll just be the common people that can’t get in touch with each other.’
‘What about Leeds?’ I asked. ‘Is there anything about the virus being there?’
‘It just says cases all over the UK,’ Jack replied. ‘I haven’t seen any English cities mentioned apart from London.’
‘As usual,’ I said. ‘So it was definitely Russia? World War Three is actually happening, but they’re using biological weapons?’
‘They don’t know, but they do, kind of,’ Jack said. ‘I’ve looked at a few sites and they’re using very ambiguous language. I don’t think they want to say anything outright. China gets lots of mentions as well.’
‘I hope Taylor Swift survived,’ Theo said.
‘Shut up Theo,’ Beth barked at him, making him shrink into his seat.
I couldn’t hold back a laugh.
‘I’m sorry Theo,’ Beth said. ‘It’s just that we’re discussing some serious issues and…anyway, carry on Jack. What else does it say?’
Still smiling slightly at his wife’s uncharacteristic outburst, Jack continued, ‘The first cases in Europe were actually reported in Paris, and then London a day later.’ He looked up from his phone. ‘Surely there were cases between the two cities?
I just shrugged.
‘Anyway,’ he added. ‘Two days later it was popping up across the entire continent. Apparently towns and cities in France were being turned into fortresses to try and keep the virus out. They closed their doors to everyone.’
‘What about in Russia?’ Roy asked.
‘Well this is why it’s confirming their suspicions that it was Russia and China,’ Jack replied. ‘Most of the hacking into America’s systems was traced back to those two, and then when Europe started reporting cases of the virus, the two countries immediately went completely dark. Nothing was coming in or out. No communications. No people. No nothing.’
‘So they might have just been infected as well?’ Roy asked.
‘Well yeah, maybe,’ Jack said.
‘This is so fucking frustrating,’ I muttered under my breath. ‘I really don’t want to be on the other side of the world right now.’ I felt a hand gently pat me on the shoulder. I looked in the mirror to see Beth leaning forward.
‘This site says they still have no idea what the virus is,’ Jack added. ‘Or where it was engineered.’
‘What about the zombies?’ I asked.
‘What about them?’ Jack questioned.
‘Isn’t everyone going fucking mental about the zombies?’ We were. It’s fucking zombies. The dead rising up and eating people. It’s pr
etty fucking mental.’
‘Yeah obviously,’ Jack replied. ‘There are still people that think it’s fake news. But those stories are dated from two weeks ago. They probably believe it now.’
‘What are these websites you’re looking at?’ I asked him. ‘Have you looked at the BBC News?’
‘Nope,’ Jack replied. ‘Not working. Nothing from the UK seems to be up and running.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Theo said.
‘Yeah thanks for pointing that out Theo,’ I told him.
‘How did Canada cope?’ Roy asked. ‘The virus must have infected a few people at least. So they will have turned into zombies. Won’t they?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jack said. ‘There honestly isn’t much here about that. All the Canadian stuff is about the evacuation and stopping the virus spreading. There are no stats about how many died and turned into the undead.’
‘Why do you think that is?’ Beth asked.
‘Probably don’t want to panic people,’ Jack replied.
‘Is there anything about the internment camps?’ Beth asked.
‘Hang on,’ Jack replied.
I stared at the bizarrely empty road ahead of us. The fact it was empty wasn’t a surprise, considering this part of the country had been evacuated. The thing is, we’d become accustomed to abandoned vehicles and swarms of the dead filling the roads.
‘Six weeks,’ Jack said. ‘To help ease the panic amongst the public, all refugees entering the country will have to wait six weeks. The incubation period is actually a lot shorter than that though.’
‘And the virus has gone?’ I asked.
‘We don’t know that for sure,’ Roy said.
I pointed at the phone. ‘What does it say on the internet though?’
‘They don’t know,’ Jack eventually answered. ‘They think it has but they seem to be hedging their bets. They talk about zombies on this site, kind of. It says the army fired upon a small group of dead people near the US border.’ Jack paused and held up one finger. ‘Ooh, this is interesting. On the day you and I landed in Denver.’ The finger he still held up was aimed at me and then at himself. ‘Russia and China reportedly kicked everyone out of all the foreign embassies.’
‘I can’t remember that,’ I said.
‘We were flying all day and then getting shit-faced,’ Jack replied. ‘The next day we climbed a mountain.’
‘That’s true,’ I said.
‘I remember seeing that on the news,’ Roy said. ‘Didn’t really think anything of it at the time. Those two are always having various issues with the rest of the world.’
‘I’ll check again later for more info,’ Jack said. ‘I could do with keeping an eye on the map.’
An hour and a half later, Jack told us we were approaching a place called Merritt. He informed us this was where we would turn onto the 5A and travel east.
‘Let’s just hope the inner border is on the other side of the town,’ Jack said.
I slowed us down as we neared the town, expecting the worst.
‘We might be okay,’ Jack said. ‘My phone just let me zoom in a bit more. This road doesn’t actually go through the town.’
‘What if they put the border on the south side of Merritt?’ Beth asked.
‘Then we’re fucked,’ Jack replied. ‘But it might not be anywhere near here. I’m just guessing.’
‘Let’s just hope the inner border is nowhere fucking near here then,’ I said.
‘Well yeah,’ Jack agreed. ‘That would be better.’
‘Theo,’ Roy mused. ‘Since you got your phone back from Sandra, does anyone in the other car have a working phone, with a working sat nav?’
‘No,’ he replied, slowly shaking his head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Fuck’s sake,’ I said. ‘So if we lose them somehow, they’re fucked?’
‘I’d have thought Sandra would have known to keep it in their car,’ Beth said.
‘We should give them Theo’s phone next time we stop,’ Roy suggested.
‘Let’s get around this Merritt place and we’ll take a break,’ I said.
‘Why can’t we give them Jack’s cell?’ Theo sulkily suggested.
‘It doesn’t fucking matter,’ I angrily replied. ‘Just give them a phone.’
‘If Jo rings I imagine you’ll want to speak to her,’ Jack said.
‘Very fucking true Jack,’ I agreed. ‘Theo, you’re giving up your phone when we stop, or you’re fucking off to the other car.’
The teenager just stared out of the window.
As we drove along, we could see the town’s buildings poking up above the trees to our left.
‘I can’t see anything that looks like a border,’ Jack said, and pointed to the slip road on our right. ‘We’re coming off here Chris.’
With an incredible amount of relief, I turned us on to the 5A.
‘Maybe we should try going further north then,’ Roy suggested.
‘It’s not worth the risk,’ Jack said. ‘We couldn’t see it but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t just on the other side of the trees.’
‘Okay,’ Roy replied. ‘Fair enough.’
I let the occupants of our car know we were stopping and pulled the car over onto the side of the road. The Mazda pulled in behind us.
‘Sorry Theo,’ I said. ‘You’re gonna have to relinquish your phone.’
Theo grumbled something unintelligible and climbed out of the car.
A few minutes later, Pete entered through the open door. ‘Theo wouldn’t give up his cell,’ he explained, closing the door behind him. ‘Thanks for thinking of us. We were just talking about what we would do if we lost you.’
‘Everybody okay back there?’ Beth asked.
‘Yeah they’re fine,’ Pete said. ‘The boys are just taking a bathroom break, so don’t go just yet.’
‘Good idea,’ Jack said, and climbed out of the car.
‘Yep, me too,’ Roy agreed, following him out.
‘And then there were three,’ I said.
‘Don’t say stuff like that Chris,’ Beth said. ‘I’m scared enough as it is.’
Sandra was shouting something at the kids outside so I lowered my window to see what was happening.
‘I can’t go when people are watching,’ Seth said.
‘Nobody is watching you honey,’ Sandra said. ‘There’s nowhere to go anyway.’
All three of the boys pointed to the field on the other side of the concrete barrier running alongside the road.
I realised I’d been watching them all, doing exactly what Seth didn’t want to happen, and probably making Sandra’s life that little bit harder. I looked away and raised my window.
Just before my window closed, I heard Sandra say, ‘Come on then, over we go.’
Jack climbed back into the car, slamming the door. ‘It’s really cold out there,’ he said, rubbing his hands together.
‘Did Roy see your penis?’ I asked him.
‘What?’
‘Are you getting your excuses in now for having a tiny penis?’ I asked. ‘Pretending it’s only small because it’s cold outside.’
‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing,’ Jack said dryly. ‘We were just comparing cocks whilst pissing.’
‘Did you really?’ Beth asked, sounding shocked.
‘No, of course we didn’t,’ Jack answered, swivelling around to look back at his wife.
The Mazda’s engine roared into life behind us. A few seconds later, it spun around on the spot until it faced the opposite direction, showering the back of our car with bits of gravel.
‘What the fuck are they doing?’ I asked. ‘Are Sandra and the kids even back yet? That was an impressive little spin.’
Then the Mazda was off, hurtling away from us at breakneck speed, leaving dust clouds to slowly roll across the road.
‘Seriously,’ I said. ‘What the fuck are they doing?’
‘What are they doing?’ Beth repeated, trying to twist around in
her seat. ‘I can’t see anything. What’s happening?’
Chapter 4: Beads of Sweat
‘Shit,’ Jack shouted, looking at the wing mirror closest to him. ‘Shit, shit, shit. There’s a jeep coming towards us. It looks military.’
‘What?’ I exclaimed. ‘I can’t see anything.’ I opened the door and stepped outside.
The bright red Mazda was driving straight towards a black and brown camouflage coloured jeep. It was in the middle of the road, directly in front of them. They looked like they were involved in a game of chicken, neither wanting to change direction.
‘What are they doing?’ Sandra screamed as she almost threw one of the kids over the barrier.
I ran to help them, reaching over and taking Max from her hands.
Jack was right, it is freezing out here.
‘An army vehicle is coming,’ I said, now breathing heavily. ‘I think Ali and Theo are trying to cut them off or something.’
‘What?’ she screamed, glaring at me like it was my fault.
‘Don’t blame me,’ I screamed back. ‘It wasn’t my idea. You need to get back to our car.’ Still carrying Max, I wrapped my arm around Jonah at his waist, picked him up and started running back to the Golf.
Fucking hell these kids are heavy.
Pete, Jack and Roy were outside, staring at the back of the speeding Mazda. ‘Pete,’ I shouted. ‘Get in the boot. Fuck. I mean get in the trunk.’
Pete looked at the back of our car and then turned back to me. ‘There’s not much space back there,’ he pleaded.
‘Just get the fuck in!’ I shouted, sprinting to cover the distance between us.
He went to climb back inside, but hesitated. He took one last look at his brother and cousin driving away, before climbing back into the car through the open back door.
‘What are you doing?’ I shouted. ‘Open the boot, fuck. Open the trunk from the outside.’
But it was too late. He was already crawling over the back seats. I could hear Beth shouting something as Pete’s legs briefly appeared next to her face. Seconds later they followed his body and disappeared into the boot.
I unceremoniously dropped Jonah onto the only empty seat in the back. He let out a pained squeal as he rolled into Beth.
‘Sorry mate,’ I quickly said.