UK Dark Series (Book 1): UKD1

by Harris, Chris

  I had been thinking about this for most of the day. I felt that we had a moral obligation, now that we had enough to eat, to try to warn as many of our family and friends as possible. At least then they could prepare themselves, either by stocking up with as much food as they could or by going to stay with a friend or relative in the country, where food might be easier to obtain if you knew how to live off the land.

  One thing we decided we definitely wouldn’t do, was tell people how much food and equipment we had stored.

  It would be up to us if we decided to help people and we wanted to avoid any awkward and probably confrontational situations, in which we would have to refuse people help if they knew how much we had. After all, they’d had access to exactly the same information as me, so they could have drawn the same conclusions and spent the last two years preparing for this to happen. But no, they had decided to ignore it and carry on blindly with their lives.

  But I do have a conscience and it would take a very cold-hearted person to refuse any help at all to someone you knew when they desperately needed it. That situation, if and when it arose, would just have to be handled very carefully, so as not to expose my family and me to any danger.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The next day, Thursday 9 October 2014 and the day before the event, would be our last full day of preparation. Becky would carry on buying from supermarkets and I, after waiting for the deliveries I had ordered to arrive, would buy some more jerry cans and fill them with diesel for my car, and petrol for the generator, before trying a few more warehouse runs. When we got the supplies home we would allocate half of them to a “food bank” that we would be prepared to give to people if the need arose.

  At eight o’clock the night before, I called Jerry on channel 2-2 of my walkie-talkie. He replied immediately. Great! We were in range. He had had a good day supply gathering and now had what he considered to be sufficient provisions. He had also visited his medical practice and raided the pharmacy for all the supplies he thought he’d need to cover most medical emergencies.

  He was going to spend all night, or as long as he could stay awake, going to twenty four hour supermarkets to keep building up his supplies. He’d built a Faraday cage and, having checked it out on the Internet, was fairly confident that it would be up to the job.

  We agreed that after the event, we would leave our radios on for an hour after sundown every day, so that we could contact each other if either of us wanted, or needed to. On his travels that day he had bought a solar charger for charging the batteries on his walkie-talkies. I told him I had quite a few of those in my Faraday cage and had tried them out and they worked well. As we both still had lots to do we wished each other luck and signed off.

  My next task was to start contacting my family and friends. I couldn’t beat about the bush with them; I just didn’t have the time, they would have to believe me and work with me on it. I wasn’t going to waste my breath pleading with them. I had to hope that they would trust me enough to listen and take note of what I was trying to tell them.

  Jane, my sister, listened to what I had to say, but I could tell she didn’t believe it. In any case, they were leaving for their school family camping trip first thing in the morning to spend a long weekend in Wales. It was far too inconvenient a time for me to be telling them that the end of the world as they knew it was about to happen. It would just have to happen without them! Bloody family! At least I got her to promise to take their bikes with them. And who goes camping in October anyway? I just hoped that I would see her again.

  It was so frustrating. Everyone I phoned seemed to understand what I was on about. But they couldn’t comprehend what the future would be like after Friday. They all seemed to assume that the government would have a master plan so why was I panicking? OK, they would pop to the shops tomorrow to buy some stuff if it made me feel better, but surely it would all be sorted by Monday.

  I couldn’t take it anymore, so after the tenth pointless phone call, I told Becky that I wasn’t going to call anyone else. They were all my friends and I loved them, but they were all too stupid to take notice and listen and I couldn’t afford to waste any more time on it.

  “I am so sorry, my friends. I really did try to warn you as soon as I could, but you just wouldn’t listen. I only wish you had, then perhaps more of you would have survived.”

  The night was filled with supermarket trips. I bought everything and anything I thought would be sensible. I spotted a few other people with fuller trolleys than normal, shopping with purpose and rushing quietly around the supermarkets. Maybe word was getting around after all.

  The shelves in the supermarkets were becoming emptier as well. When I questioned staff members about it, they all said that the deliveries had been delayed and that it would all be sorted by tomorrow.

  I felt as if I was in some parallel universe, where I was the only one who could see what was going to happen and no matter how obvious it was, nobody understood. I wanted to scream at them, telling them to get ready, that it was the only way anyone would survive. But I didn’t. They wouldn’t have understood and it was too late, the food was already running out. Damn, I was tired!

  After another night of only a few hours’ sleep, we prepared ourselves for the final full day. Becky took the kids to school and did a supermarket trip on the way back, while I waited in for the deliveries from the builders’ merchant and the farm supply shop. They both arrived before nine o’clock, so the next few hours were taken up with carrying everything into the back garden. I just covered them with a tarpaulin to keep them hidden and dry. I’d sort them out later.

  I had a sudden panic. I’d forgotten something vital. What was it? Come on, I must remember. I got the spreadsheet out and carefully scrutinised it, but everything seemed in order.

  It hadn’t been updated with all the recent supplies we’d bought, but that wasn’t it. Then it occurred to me; the Faraday cage! Yes, I needed to put everything in it and put another layer of mesh around it just in case. I’d also decided to wrap it all in aluminium foil because I was worried about how it would perform, given what Jerry’s brother had told him.

  I emptied the Faraday cage so that I could re-stack it neatly and put the things I thought I would need first to the front. I collected all the kids’ tablet computers, game machines and music players from around the house and put them in. Boredom would be a problem in the future if we were going to be stuck in the house for long periods of time, so even though Becky and I hated the kids’ reliance on tablet computers for their entertainment, they would be great in the short term, until we could wean them off them and get them to start using their brains to entertain themselves.

  I had brought the television home from the caravan after our last trip away in it. It worked on both 240v and 12v, so I could run it off a car battery. It had a built-in DVD player, so we could use it to watch films from the large collection we had amassed over the years in the house. Our e-readers went in next; we had each filled them to capacity with downloaded books. Next came the generator and all my power tools, both corded and cordless with all the spare batteries and chargers I had. In went the car batteries with a few spare car parts such as solenoids and alternators. I’m not much of a mechanic, but the Land Rover was quite a simple beast, and I was confident I knew enough to be able to tinker with it and keep it going with my trusty Haines manual to help and guide me. Lastly, in went the walkie-talkies and solar chargers. I’d acquired a few more over the years so I now had four pairs still in their boxes and a variety of solar chargers of all sizes from small, individual devices to large 100w plus ones, which I could use to recharge car batteries.

  Finally, I wrapped the whole cage in another layer of chicken wire and covered it with aluminium foil, until it looked like something out of a cheap science fiction movie. Looking at it, I hoped I’d understood the principles of how the cage worked and built it right. Nothing I could do about it now though, only time and an EMP would tell.

  After a quick
sandwich I set off for the warehouse again. Just as I was about to pull off the drive Becky returned with another car load from the supermarket and said it was getting a bit worrying. The shelves were looking emptier and people were starting to argue over the remaining items on them. The staff were doing their best to mediate, telling customers that more goods were expected any minute, so not to panic, there would still be enough for everyone. But the situation could only get worse.

  I told Becky to try one more supermarket run, but not to get involved in any arguments. If someone wanted what she was taking off the shelf, or even took something from her trolley, she was to give it to them. We had enough already, so their need would be greater than ours. I told her to be careful how she parked the car in the car park. To try to make sure that the boot was facing away from people so that they couldn’t see how much stuff she had inside.

  At the warehouse I spotted Jerry loading what looked like his last trolley into his already overloaded car. I walked over to help him load and to catch up. He seemed happy to see me and told me he was trying to get as many runs in today as possible, but that the shelves were getting a bit bare in there. Choice was becoming limited, but there was still enough to make it worthwhile coming down.

  A mystery package had been delivered by his brother the previous night. At about 10pm his doorbell had rung and outside had stood a corporal and an army Land Rover.

  He’d been ordered to deliver a package to this address by Colonel Moore. It was a large metal trunk and he hadn’t had a chance to look inside it yet, as it was locked and he didn’t have the key. He had just left it in the garage to sort out later. He told me he thought there was evidence that local authorities knew about it now.

  “A colleague of mine who works at the hospital called me on my mobile earlier. He asked if I was aware that a lot of patients, some of them his, were suddenly being discharged from the hospital by senior consultants even though, in his opinion, they weren’t ready to go home yet. He asked me if there had there been some change in policy that he should be aware of. When my friend asked one of the consultants what was going on, he looked as upset as him, apparently, but he told him that an order had appeared to come from higher up than hospital management, to clear as many beds as possible. I felt guilty for not telling him anything.

  I just told him I’d make some enquiries. But it’s obvious that the news is spreading and that hospitals just want to clear as many people out as they can, so that they can concentrate their resources where they’ll be needed most.”

  The news was spreading. How long would it be before panic set in? It would go downhill very quickly after that.

  “Jerry, I think it’s best to get as many supplies in today as possible, because as the news gets out, things might start to get ugly. As soon as you think you’ve got enough supplies, the best course of action will be to lock your door, keep quiet about what you’ve got, and wait. You and I will keep in contact via the walkie-talkies and keep each other informed and if necessary, try to help each other.”

  With that, we shook hands, he drove home and I went into the warehouse. Jerry had not been exaggerating. The shelves were starting to look very empty and there were a few frustrated shop owners complaining loudly to the poor manager.

  How were they meant to run their businesses when his warehouse couldn’t even keep basic food stuff on the shelf? I got on with loading my cart with what was available. I considered it my duty to get as much as possible, because now we had come up with our food bank idea, I knew that what I was collecting could be a huge help to our friends and neighbours.

  I managed to fit in two more runs to the warehouse before the end of the day and stacked everything as neatly as I could in the playroom, allocating half of it to a separate area which would be our food bank. Becky had become alarmed at a supermarket when she witnessed two young mothers having an actual fight over a pack of nappies. She had then changed her plan and started visiting the smaller independent food shops in the area. It took a bit longer, just a basket at a time, but she still managed to fill the car.

  She had also been to a clothes shop at a local retail park and bought piles of clothes in all different sizes, so our children would have enough clothes to last them over the years as they grew.

  We were not in the mood, as both Becky and I were shattered, but we had promised the kids a Chinese meal. We put on our happy faces and walked up the road for dinner. Walking past the local supermarket, we could see long queues at the tills and frustrated customers arguing with harassed staff about the long queues and the empty shelves. Although they might not have a clue what was going on, people seemed to see empty shelves, go into panic mode and start buying whatever they could for themselves.

  It always happened when heavy snow was forecast; the public would panic and start buying weeks’ worth of food in case they were snowed in. In reality of course, it only snowed for a day or so and the shops might get their deliveries late due to the road conditions, but they were always open and there was always food to be bought.

  I’d always had to have a go at Becky about how much food she bought for Christmas when the shops were only closed for a day. I’d never won that argument either.

  We had a great meal. We ordered all our favourite starters and main courses. Becky and I shared a lovely bottle of wine and I had a couple of pints of imported Chinese lager as well. I was quite happy and slightly drunk as I carried the doggy bag home, full of enough leftovers to feed us the following night as well. That was one less meal to worry about. Only the rest of our lives to sort out now.

  After a few cups of strong coffee to wake me and sober me up I decided that I may as well try another supermarket run. I wouldn’t sleep anyway so why not? I would rather be doing something positive, than sitting and worrying at home about what was going to happen. As it turned out it was reasonably uneventful; yes, there were empty shelves at the supermarket, but there was still enough there to fill Becky’s car.

  The cynic in me reasoned that people only panicked in the daytime and as soon as it got dark, they preferred to sit and watch TV and moan about how little the supermarket had in, rather than get off their complacent arses and do anything about it. Their loss, my gain.

  When I got home, I backed the car into the entrance to the garage and closed the electric garage door. ELECTRIC, OH NO! Where the heck was that winder rod thing I used when the electric motor broke?

  After unloading all the goods I’d just purchased into the playroom I went to find Becky. She hadn’t been able to sleep so we sat at the kitchen table and went through our lists again, just in case there was anything we’d missed, or needed more of. We couldn’t find anything amiss, although more food wouldn’t hurt. We couldn’t begin to work out how much we’d bought over the last couple of days, but looking at the sheer volume in our garage and in the kids’ playroom, it must have been years and years’ worth.

  Adding that to what we already had in storage, we concluded that we were very well set up in the food and equipment department. I did a quick check on my bank account and worked out that we must have spent over twenty five thousand pounds on food and extra sundry supplies over the past couple of days. What a spending spree! But then by tomorrow night money would be worthless, so who cared.

  We debated for a long time over whether to send the children to school in the morning. The school was only a mile or so away, so as soon as it hit, we could be there in about ten minutes of walking. Would they be in danger? The electricity would be off, so lessons would stop, but knowing the school, they would probably either continue to teach in the darkened classrooms and try to make it exciting and adventurous for the pupils, or take the lessons outside and do some “al fresco” teaching. It was a great school and their traditional attitude and excellent teaching standards had encouraged us to send our children there.

  Becky had paid close attention to the ten o’clock news to see what was happening in the world. There was no news at all about the lack of deliveries to
supermarkets, which was strange because that should at least have been a feature on the local news, following the main news. The main news item was the announcement of a national strike by air traffic controllers starting in the morning, so all flights out of the country would be grounded and no flights would be able to land. The aviation authorities were recommending that people cancel plans to go to the airport in the morning, and contact the relevant airline to find out when flights were due to begin again. “Clever,” I thought, “somebody has at least had the conscience to stop anybody being in the air when it hits and has therefore prevented many thousands of deaths when the aeroplanes, as people predicted, would have fallen out of the skies.”

  We decided to risk it and take them to school in the morning. It would probably be the last time they would see most of their friends, and if we went to collect them as soon as the CME hit, we should easily get them home within half an hour. In that time most people wouldn’t have grasped what was happening and why their car, phone, digital watch – everything – had stopped working. There would probably be a lot of other people walking home. We went off to bed to try to get some sleep before the big day.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  FRIDAY 10 OCT 2014

  The day started as normally as possible. Becky and I got Stanley and Daisy up, fed them breakfast and got their school uniforms ready for them to put on for their last day at school, probably forever.

  We both took the children to school, as I didn’t want us to be too far away from each other today. We didn’t know exactly when it was going to hit. Dropping them at the school gate, I hugged them both and told them that something exciting might happen today and that if it did, they weren’t to panic, everything would be OK and mummy and daddy would come and get them straightaway. They looked at me strangely with the usual “Dad’s gone a bit mad again” expression on their beautiful faces, then spotted their friends and ran off to get some playtime in before their “boring” classes started. We spent a few minutes chatting to other parents at the school gate and then went home.