I pulled myself together, and headed back downstairs, through the house and back outside. ‘Burn it to the ground’ I muttered to Rhino as I past him. I walked around the house to the back garden, and sat on the back wall, where I would shoot tin cans as a child. I turned to face the house, and watched as room by room was set alight. Fire came pouring out of the windows, reaching for the sky. Black smoke pumping out of every room, into the dark ash clouds above. The fire lit up the whole garden, I could see the slide Emma would play on, and the flower bed my mum would tend to each Sunday. Sergeant Davis came out and sat with me for a while in silence, as the house burned.
‘I never expected it to be this hard’ I said, breaking the silence as I tried to hide a tear.
‘I’m sorry Nathan, that was fucked up.’
‘It’s just struck me, this is it, everything has now gone. All remnants of my previous life are burning before my eyes, photographs, clothes, all my memories. I’ve got nothing left.’
‘I don’t know what to say Nathan, I know it won’t replace what you’ve lost, but you have a new home and family now.’
I pulled out the picture of my parents, and unfolded it.
‘I appreciate that Chris, really I do. But my parents have gone, and I won’t ever see them again. All I have is this one photograph of them, everything else has burnt. I’m glad I managed to get this photo though, at least it’s something.’ I said, folding it back up and putting it in my pocket.
‘You know,’ said Sergeant Davis, readjusting his position on the wall. ‘I remember when my old man passed away, my mum took it really hard, for days we couldn’t get through to her, she locked herself away in her room. When she emerged days later, the day of the funeral I think, she’d stripped her bedroom of everything that reminded her of him. Clothes, his glasses, shoes, even his toothbrush. She then went through the house and removed everything else, his favourite cup, coats, shoes, photographs, she even removed his favourite chair, and took it to the charity shop. Ian and I were not happy, we thought she was being disrespectful to his memory, that she was trying to forget him, and their lives together. But it wasn’t the case, I remember her telling me, ‘He will always be in my dreams, and when he is, it’s like it always was. No bad memories, no death, illness or suffering. Just the good times.’ That’s how she wanted to remember him, and that’s how you will, you will always remember them.’
Keane, Murphy, Rhino and Little D joined us in the back garden, where we all warmed ourselves on the fire as it engulfed my home. They all offered me their sympathy, which I was grateful for. We left the farm in silence, putting a downer on what had been a successful day, mission wise. We had achieved what we set out to, and had a better understanding of what was happening. As we left, Rhino climbed down to check the nuclear shelter, before torching it all. We set off back through the muddy fields with smoke bellowing into the darkening clouds. At the Viking, we loaded our stuff, and set off in silence, no one knowing what to say. When we got back to the farmhouse, Kate had prepared an amazing meal for us, we ate like kings. I explained to Matthew and Kate what had happened at my farm, they could tell I didn’t really want to talk about it too much, and didn’t push me. I wanted to be alone with my own thoughts after tea, so I went back to the barn early, to finish the days diary entry. As I left, Sergeant Davis and Murphy went to higher ground, to send a radio message to the other companies, to find out which of the days objectives had been achieved, and what was still left to be done.
6/13/2029 - Time 00:20
I got up early this morning, keen to show my team I was not going to let yesterday’s events affect me. I was up at five am while the other soldiers slept, and walked over to the farmhouse, to see if I could offer any assistance to Matthew and Kate. I found Kate in the kitchen, preparing some bread dough, placing it in two flat bottomed cooking trays. She told me Matthew would appreciate some help, he was chopping wood for the fire, in the wood drying barn. I found him, half way through a pile, loading the logs into a large metal wheelbarrow. I picked up an axe and joined in. ‘This brings back memories’ I said, as I swung the axe, splitting a log in half.
‘Did you do a lot of this with your old man?’
‘Yeah, many times.’
‘Did you ever consider following in his footsteps, and taking over the farm?’
‘Not really. I know he would’ve liked me to, but it just wasn’t me.’
‘It was a hard life, and getting harder when you were deciding your future.’
‘Yeah, the bottom was falling out. But they managed to keep it profitable, just about.’
Matthew smiled a knowing smile, that told me they’d faced a similar battle. We finished chopping the wood, before pushing it back to the farmhouse in the wheelbarrow. We dropped it off by the back door, where we took an armful each to carry inside. The smell that greeted us was incredible. I might have said it before but there really is no better smell in the world than freshly baked bread. Sergeant Davis and Rhino were sat around the dining table as we walked in, finalising today’s objectives. ‘Put the logs by the side of the fire’ said Kate, cutting up the loaf of bread to toast over the fire. Matthew put a couple on the fire, and we stacked the rest by the side. ‘You boys are just in time’ said Kate, looking out of the window. Keane and Murphy came bounding through the front door, with their arms full of eggs. ‘Eggs Driver’ shouted Keane, bouncing around like a child in a sweet shop. ‘Fucking eggs. Can you believe it? Eggs, I haven’t had a boiled egg for months. I don’t think there is anything I could want more right now, than boiled fucking eggs and soldiers.’
Keane was right to be excited, my God it tasted amazing, fresh bread toasted soldiers and soft boiled eggs, I have always enjoyed a boiled egg and soldiers, but this really was incredible. Just for a few moments, I completely forgot about the situation we all found ourselves in, and I was transported back to my childhood, on my farm with my mum and dad. As everyone was now present, Sergeant Davis lay the map out on the dining table, and we confirmed the places we still needed to search. Matthew helped us plot the area he believed had been secured by some of the farms, surrounding the Pentland Hills, but we still need to seek confirmation for ourselves. He gave us a contact, Bill Grayson, to approach at Hillend, a name I had heard before, but couldn’t place. As it was the last day of operation, Sergeant Davis sent Little D and Murphy to search through the tunnels, with Matthew guiding them, as the rest of us prepared our belongings for leaving. He wanted to make sure no sufferers had wondered into the tunnels, and could survive, keeping the disease alive. But they searched and found nothing, and blocked the tunnels at the point of exit. We left the farm around ten am, and thanked Matthew and Kate for their help, and their hospitality. Every member of Blue and White Company hugged the couple, with a few teary eyes among the macho soldiers. The Buchanans made a very kind offer to accommodate The Tangerines Company and The Royal Blues Company, as they continue to observe the Pentland Hills after the mission has finished, which will make their extended stay a bit more bearable. Our first port of call was a small town on the outskirts of the Pentland Hills called Hillend, which Matthew believed was running it’s own operation destroying kuru sufferers. We loaded up the Viking, and followed the A702 towards Hillend, where we found the fields on the right hand side of the road fenced off. The fence was about six foot in height, and had been cobbled together using corrugated metal, aluminium composite signs, wooden posts, anything that could be salvaged and worked with. At the entrance to Hillend, we found a guard post, built on top of a garage that overlooked the road, with a man in dark overalls watching us approach.
‘They’ve sent the army’ he laughed, as our company approached the entrance, a large metal gate built into the fence. ‘You’re a bit late lads, this place went to shit a while ago.’
‘Are you in charge?’ Sergeant Davis asked, stopping below the garage.
‘No.’
‘Can I speak to whoever is in charge?’
The man spoke for a mo
ment on his walkie talkie, and then signaled to the guard by the gate to open it.
‘Take them to Bill’ he said, to the man on the door. We followed him, as he walked through the small town towards a large house set back off the road, near the town hall. The buildings within the town walls had any missing windows boarded up, I could see people in some houses, a couple cooking in one and a man just sat reading in another. There were others on the street, including children playing and men working on the exterior of a house. As we reached the gate to the property, the man said ‘Bill will be in there,’ as he turned around and headed back to his post. We walked up the path to the front door, where we were greeted by two security guards.
‘We’re here to see Bill’ said Sergeant Davis.
‘Go straight in’ said the guard, opening the door for us. All the security around the town were carrying weapons, but they were never threatening, and had no problems with our rifles. Inside the house, we found Bill and his wife, Paula, sat in their conservatory drinking a glass of wine. He was maybe in his fifties, with brown hair, greying at the roots and probably dyed. Clean shaven and just about the most well dressed man I have met, post war, with a wife somewhere around thirty years his junior.
‘Oh look Paula’ said Bill, standing up from his chair to greet us. ‘We have visitors. My name is Bill Grayson, and I am the member of parliament for the City of Edinburgh.’
His opening statement amused the members of Blue and White Company, but undeterred, he continued.
‘Welcome to Camp Paula, named after my beautiful wife. How can I help you fine gentlemen?’
‘With all respect, there is no parliament to be a member of.’
‘In that case there is no army for you to be a member of.’
‘While the army still has its structure-’
‘If there is no government paying your wages, then you are doing the same thing I am. All I want to do is keep my constituents safe, and this camp does that.’
‘Well I cannot argue with that. We are currently on a mission to destroy the disease kuru, which has been spreading through the Pentland Hills, towards your camp. We hear you’ve had dealings with the disease yourself?’
‘Yeah we have, early sightings suggested they were zombies’ he laughed. ‘Crazy talk like that is not conducive to a happy camp, so we had to look into it. We contained them within the hills, and have killed and buried many. Since then we have constructed a fence all the way along Bigger road (A702) to the A720. Joe Dodman (a local farmer) has been patrolling his land, killing all infected who stumbled onto it. We then extended the fence up to the A720, along his land. Up until then, the town of Hillend was the only area we’d fenced off.’
‘The army would like to thank you for your help, hopefully with the completion of our mission, we will wipe the disease out of Scotland. So you don’t believe any have got past you, or slipped through the net?’
‘I cannot say for sure, but our patrols have covered the area in question, thoroughly.’
‘How have you been identifying them?’
‘Probably the same way you have.’
‘How many people are in this camp Bill?’
‘We have around eight hundred, mostly locals and-’
‘Do you have any females within the ranks?’
‘We do, but they are well protected.’
‘Have you had any run ins with Torriero?’
Bill smiled, before responding. ‘I’ve had a few. The City of Edinburgh has had a problem with him for over twenty years, and I have been on the council in some form or another for the majority of that time. But he hasn’t ventured up this far since the attack, the conditions are not to his liking.’
‘Well we would still advise the safest place for those females would be in our camp, run by the army.’
‘The same army that is about to go to war?’
‘Camp Blue is the safest place in this country, run by nearly seven thousand service men, of varying ranks.’
‘I will thank you for your offer, but we’re all happy here, no need to make any dangerous journeys. Can we offer you some lunch, maybe a drink of wine?’
‘No we are fine thanks, we have a long day ahead. We will follow the A702 up to the motorway, and make sure the fence is intact for the whole distance, and check for any strays that might have been missed.’
‘Well we wish you a safe trip then.’
We thanked Bill, and Paula, who had retreated back to the conservatory, and wished them well. We were escorted back to the front gate, where we climbed back into the Viking. We followed the fence along the A702, only stopping to burn the remains of bodies lying in the road on a couple of occasions. We past three guard towers along the A702, each one occupied by an observer. Camp Paula had done a respectable job of destroying any kuru that came within walking distance of the camp, leaving us little to do. As the A720 came into view through the muggy fog and dirty ash clouds hanging over Edinburgh, we turned around and headed back towards the fields opposite the Pentland Hills, as we ate our vacuum packed lunch. That punishing open landscape is where Emma and I had the tense moment with a group of kuru sufferers, as they walked past us while we hid in the long grass. It seems like a lifetime ago, and I’m now going back under very different circumstances. The vehicle had protected us from the conditions, for the short time it took us to reach the search zone, but as soon as we set foot outside we were reminded of the weather’s power. We tooled up, and set off across the barron landscape, searching for any signs of kuru. Towns in the distance, disappeared into the darkness. White ash was tumbling to the floor, it looked like snow, as it was blown around by the winds. Visibility was that bad, Murphy drove the Viking between us, with the headlights on as we searched the landscape. After an hour or so with no sightings, it became obvious the area was clear, if there had been any infected, they would have died due to the conditions. We just had a few stray bodies to burn, some of them looked like they’d been there for weeks, so black and distorted they were. I looked behind us, and could see the specks of fire, still burning in the darkness. I also noticed something I’d seen before that worried me, over to the south west of our position. Lights, flickering in the sky, followed moments later by a rumble. It moved quickly, and it wasn’t long before Sergeant Davis stopped us, and told us to look at the horizon. In the distance, as the winds around us suddenly started to kick up, and the lightning and thunder got closer together, a noticeable wall appeared ahead. But this was no ordinary wall, it was a wall of rain, beating the ground like a fighter pummelling his opponent. It came out of the fog, with speed and determination. When the rain hit us, the power nearly knocked me off my feet. One moment we were dry, the next we were literally soaked. We ran back to the Viking to get out of it, as it clattered against the bodywork. For ten minutes the rain became hail, the size of golf balls, and then back to rain again. As we waited for it to pass over, the radio, charging by the electrical point, started beeping.
‘This is Sergeant Marsh, of The Latics Company, if any companies are listening, please respond. Over and out.’
Sergeant Davis picked up the receiver, and answered the call.
‘This is Sergeant Davis of Blue and White Company, receiving your message, over and out.’
‘We have a sighting of the wild dogs, we are currently positioned bottom left of OS Grid reference NT078521, on the road, just behind the wall at the entrance to the forest.’
Little D handed his brother a map, which he unfolded and found their position as he responded.
‘We can be there in thirty minutes’ he said, signaling to Murphy to start up the engine and get moving.
‘Hold your position, observe the targets, and plan a manoeuvre. Over and out.’
‘Will do. Over and out.’
Soon we were sliding over the muddy ground towards the A702, with visibility through the windscreen troublesome to say the least. Forty minutes later, we spotted Latics Company, crouching down by the wall on the opposite side of the road. The
y waved us over, as we pulled the Viking onto the verge beside them. The rain was still coming down by the bucket load, Latics Company looked drenched, as we stepped out of relative comfort into the rain.
Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2) Page 37