I helped Rhino put the Flamethrower on again, before they started clearing out the buses. Little D carried the little girl onto the Viking, and fastened her into the seat between myself and Keane, who due to the medication was having a doze. The girl didn’t know what to do, or where to look. She started to cry to herself, I tried to console her, but she didn’t want me, she wanted her dad. My heart went out to her, I cannot think of a more terrifying situation for a child to be in, she cried herself to sleep within five minutes. When the lads had finished searching the buses, we left the theme park, and headed towards the final meeting point, with the rest of the companies. We were the last ones to arrive, Murphy pulled the Viking up onto the muddy verge, and Sergeant Davis got out. As he was speaking to the other sergeants, Rhino leaned over and asked me about Emma. I told him a little bit of my back story, and he talked about his own. He had two young boys, Alex who is eleven, and Zack who is seven. They were both safe in the camp, along with his wife Annette. It was nice to hear a story with a happy ending for once, a family still completely intact. Most people I’ve met seemed to have lost at least one member of their family, maybe that’s just how life is now. Rhino showed me a picture of his boys, playing football at Deepdale, where they had represented Preston North End at youth level. I reciprocated with a photo of Emma and her mum, I’d removed from my farm before it burnt down. Sergeant Davis arrived back after finalising the mission objectives with the other sergeants. Tangerines and Royal Blues Companies were given the details of areas to keep a closer eye on, including the coordinates for the kuru camp we had destroyed. They had a further eight weeks to observe, to confirm the area was clear of disease. After a few miles back on the road, the members of Blue and White Company were getting some sleep. I pulled out my diary, and proceeded to write up today’s entry. When I have finished, I’ll try to get some sleep myself.
CHAPTER FOUR
7/12/27 - Time 20:50
I slept pretty much the whole journey back to Camp blue, Keane waking me up as we drove through the Delta Security Base. I rubbed my eyes to get them working again, and then stretched my arms and legs. ‘Torriero’s men weren’t at their camp’ said Keane, making no attempt to hide his yawn.
‘Where have they gone?’ I asked, still a bit groggy.
‘Anyone’s guess.’
I looked at my watch, which said five thirty seven. As the Viking came to a stop outside the hotel, the men got to their feet and collected their belongings. Little D unfastened the seat belt around the young girl, and lifted her up. She grabbed hold of him around his neck, still fast asleep. ‘I’ll take her to the Medical Centre’ he whispered to his brother, who nodded his approval. ‘Mission successful’ said Private Farrell, leaning out from his guard post, as we walked through the entrance to the hotel.
‘Yes’ replied Sergeant Davis, turning around to his men before we dispersed. ‘There will be a briefing with General Morris tomorrow after breakfast, to talk about the mission, which we must all attend. Thanks for your help men, get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.’
I followed Sergeant Davis through the silent first floor corridor to my door, before quietly opening it and going inside. Everyone was still asleep, I pulled any blankets not covering children, back over them. Emma was asleep in my bed, so I climbed into hers and went to sleep.
It felt like I had barely got to sleep before I heard the sounds of children, and sensed their movement around me. At first, they mustn’t have realised I was there, as I was left alone, but suddenly I was jumped on by what felt like a football team. ‘Dad, Dad’ shouted Emma, sitting on my back and wrapping her arms around my neck. ‘I never knew you were there, when did you get back?’
‘A few hours ago’ I moaned, rolling over and letting her give me a proper hug. The boys came over for a hug too, which was nice. ‘Did you miss me?’ I asked.
‘I missed you, but I was fine.’
‘You were crying the first night’ remarked James, much to Emma’s horror.
‘No, I had hurt my toe’ she stammered. ‘Remember, I hurt it on the table leg?’
‘Was she crying?’ I whispered to Josh, who nodded his head smiling. I grabbed hold of them all, and squeezed them tight, until they were shouting for me to let go. ‘Well I have certainly missed you all’ I said, letting go of them so they could breath. When Bernard was up, we all got dressed, washed and went for breakfast. I told Bernard about the mission, over toast and tea, and the children told me what they had done over the past few days. Across the dining room, I saw Adrian having his breakfast with Max, we acknowledged each other and then had a quick word. He said he’d joined The Bees Company, on an interim basis, to complete a case sensitive mission. Rumour around the camp was it involved scouting Torriero’s main camp, believed to be in Leeds, which had missed much of the devastation. General Morris wanted fresh intel on the numbers Torriero could call on, and what weaponry they had. Camp Blue had conducted a few missions to obtain military weapons from abandoned army premises, and found them missing, leading to worries they might have ended up in Torriero’s hands. When breakfast had finished, Mrs Brownhill came to collect the children, and I had a quick word with her, with a promise to speak to her tonight, as I had a meeting to attend now. She looked happy to see me, and I was certainly happy to see her. I left Bernard heading towards the stadium, for another day training the new recruits, as I went to the kuru meeting on the third floor. When I got there, I meandered around the back until I saw Blue and White Company, and joined them, just as General Morris arrived on stage, accompanied by General Brown and Captain Jones.
‘Good morning soldiers’ said General Morris, as Captain Jones helped General Brown to his seat. ‘I’m glad to be informed the mission to destroy kuru was a successful one, with no serious casualties.’ I looked around the company for Keane but couldn’t see him, as General Morris continued. ‘I believe Office Keane of Blue and White Company, and Officer McGough of Imps Company picked up minor injuries, and will spend the next two weeks off the front line. Sergeant Davis, if you could talk us through the mission findings please.’ Chris climbed up the stairs to join General Morris on the stage.
‘We found and destroyed the source of the disease, and all infected humans. There was a camp within the Pentland Hills where a group of manipulative individuals were praying on the desperation of others. We found evidence these men were killing and eating other humans, some after intoxicating them to a point they couldn’t defend themselves. There was a restricted area within their camp where they would cut up the bodies, removing anything considered edible, before disposing of the remains. Evidence suggests these men were also responsible for another abandoned camp found by Tangerine Company within their search area, that included a similar mass grave, full of rotting body parts. We believe these men would have continued to kill and eat humans, until becoming infected themselves. We also found evidence they were possibly responsible for a spate of attacks in and around the forest, targeting lone walkers.’
‘Did you destroy all traces of the disease?’
‘We systematically burned everything deemed a possible infection, including humans, bodies, dogs and birds. We also burned all sites where this practice was taking place, including camps, abandoned camps, buildings and vehicles.’
‘Are you confident you destroyed everything?’
‘We obviously cannot be one hundred percent sure everything was destroyed, but the mission was completed in a systematic way, in order to be as sure as we could be. We believe the local community contained the disease within the hills, and did a good job in killing those infected when they found any. If any infected did slip through the net, the chances are they would die due to the extreme conditions, a fate to which many have already befallen.’
‘Can you tell me anything about the locals, who had been containing the spread?’
‘The town of Hillend has been fenced off, and is being used as a camp. They had control of the area, and erected a fence all the way up the A702
, with guard towers and patrols.’
‘Who is running the camp?’
‘Bill Grayson, the member of parliament for Edinburgh, and the community.’
‘Did you visit the camp, and inspect it?’
‘We did sir, I can confirm the camp was secure, with decent security in place.’
‘Do they have any females at the camp?’
‘Although we didn’t see any, Grayson confirmed they did have a group of females within their ranks. We did advise they would be safer at Camp Blue, but Grayson was not interested.’
‘I was informed by Sergeant Charles, that a child was brought back to the camp, and is now in the medical centre. Can you elaborate on this please?’
‘Yes sir, we found a girl on the final day of the mission, whose father had died. We brought her back to the camp, and she is now being observed by medical staff.’
‘Do we know anything about her?’
‘Not really sir, she hasn’t spoken as yet. The nurses have named her Bella, until she tells them otherwise. She has taken a liking to Ian sir, the first child ever to do so.’
Sergeant Davis smiled at his brother, who smiled back.
‘Is she healthy Sergeant Davis?’
‘Yes sir we believe so. I little undernourished, as to be expected, but healthy. She is lucky, if Nathan hadn’t found her she would have died within days.’
A few other less interesting points were made, before General Morris opened the floor to questions, the first of which came from a member of Blue and White Company. ‘Captain Murphy, Blue and White Company. Will the camp be making a fresh appeal to bring the females at Camp Paula back to Camp Blue? Their security, although acceptable, would not hold up to a moderate attack by Torriero.’
‘I will discuss the subject with the other generals, and we may put it to the vote. Resources are presently stretched, and with the future still somewhat clouded, it may not be the right time.’
‘Sergeant Painter, The Imps Company. Are the Pentland Hills the only area with reports of kuru? Is there not a strong possibility of similar issues around other impact zones? And finally, will Camp Blue be organising any missions to the country’s other bomb sites, to confirm they are clear of this disease?’
‘Much the same as the last question, we are stretched at the moment and will discuss all the points raised today, but they will be dealt with in order of importance. With regards to any other possible sites, we’ve not had any other reports of sightseeing or rumors, and this camp takes people in from all over the country.’
After a few seemingly pointless questions, the final comment was an interesting observation, that I hadn’t considered.
‘Sergeant Marsh, Latics Company. I think a bigger worry in the long run will be the possible spread of the disease via animals. There is no real way to cull the animals that had been feeding on the remains of those infected, the resources needed are well beyond our means. We probably don’t even know a tenth of what animals are infected.’
‘I’m not sure on the technicalities of the disease. Sergeant Davis, you have a better understanding.’
‘Yes General Morris, I believe the only known way to contract the disease is to ingest infected flesh, a possible reason some of the infected had deteriorated so quickly is they could have been given the brains to eat, which are known to infect more people. The camp in the Pentland Hills had buckets of waste body parts including heads, which if fed to humans over the past few months, could have infected them. There is no evidence to suggest that you can contract the disease from an attack by an infected animal.’
‘What about eating infected animal meat?’
After a short pause for thought, Sergeant Davis attempted to answer the question. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know General Morris, further research may need to be undertaken.’
When the meeting had finished, Sergeant Davis waited around to speak to the generals on his own, and finalised the paperwork, as the rest of us went to get an early lunch. With still no sign of Keane, we decided to go to the medical centre, and see how he was doing, I might also get chance to see the little girl. The Camp had raided the Preston Royal Hospital in the months since the attack, bringing any patients who were still alive back to the camp. They also brought back forty beds, a collection of useful if basic surgical equipment, and a vast multitude of medication. The Medical Centre was located in a large detached property, directly behind the hotel. It was previously owned by the Latvian business man who built the hotel, and was his family home before bankruptcy forced him to leave the country. The building, although empty for over thirty years, had been maintained by the new owners of the hotel, even though they hadn’t lived in it. The house was painted white, like the hotel, with a slate roof, and a large garden. Of the forty beds, in four rooms on two floors, only six were unoccupied. Some patients were wounded soldiers, but there were also twenty four civilians, with varying illnesses, and a group of elderly suffering from malnutrition. Keane was even grumpier than I’d been treated to before, ‘I’ve been fucking sat here for three hours’ he spat, shuffling in his chair uncomfortably. ‘I’m deemed not life threatening, if you could die of boredom, I was clinically dead two hours ago.’
The bandages had been removed from his arm, with the wounds getting an airing. They had scabbed over, and much of the redness and inflammation had gone.
‘And I’m out of action for two weeks, when there’s nothing wrong with me.’
‘We will be no nearer war in two weeks’ I replied, ‘Just relax for a change.’
‘It’s typical army bullshit, and I’ve had fucking enough of it.’
I tried to lighten Keane’s mood, but he was stubborn and refused to cheer up. I left him to stew in his own self pity, and headed to the next ward, where the young girl we brought back was recuperating. I found her in a bed on Ward Two, in a fresh pair of pyjamas. I almost didn’t recognise her she was so clean, the dirt had been hiding a beautiful little girl, with light brown hair, and a fair completion, but still no voice. She looked uneasy in her bed, with her red eyes telling the story of her day. As I approached, her eyes lit up, maybe a face amongst many strangers she recognised. She was laying under the covers of her bed, propped up with the hospital cushions, and a collection of cuddly toys surrounding her. She started to cry a little, so I tried to reassure her, she was in a safe place now. The nurses told me she had pretty much cried the whole time she had been awake, until around seven am when she fell asleep. They had checked her over, with nothing serious discovered, but they would keep an eye on her weight and an infection in a wound on her left leg. I still couldn’t get her to speak, I might bring Emma and the boys with me next time I visit her, Emma has a way with young children. As it was getting close to dinner time, I decided to go a few minutes early, to see if I could get a word with Lauren. It was still thirty minutes off dinner when I got to the hall, but I convinced the chefs to break off their prep to give me some food early. By the time the children started appearing, I was just finishing my sausage stew. Mrs Brownhill arrived, with three children in tow.
‘See there he is’ shouted Emma, pointing in my general direction.
‘Oh yes’ replied Mrs Brownhill. ‘I’m glad to see the mission was a success Nathan.’
I smiled at her as Bernard arrived, and sat the children down for their dinner, looking a bit tired himself. I think this is possibly the busiest he’s been for years, certainly physically. I asked Lauren how the children had been over the past few days.
‘They have been fine Nathan’ she replied. ‘Emma has been her normal confident self helping me to run the class. James has been making new friends, even Josh has been chatting more. They have been learning a bit more about World War One, making a family tree out of paper and glue, and learning how to make a fire.’
‘That’s good, keeping them busy.’
‘Yeah, we are trying to keep it fun, but instill a few skills into them. We will be covering basic defensive moves, making drinking water from rain and
catching and killing wild animals in future lessons.’
‘Have you seen much of Shazia and the children?’
‘Nadim, Erina and Elma have been turning up late to classes if at all, in dirty clothes and looking unwashed. I think I will have a word with General Brown to see if I can get someone from social care to speak to her. She’s been signed off work for a few weeks, but nobody has seen much of her, I might get the camp priest to have a chat too.’
‘It might be worth it.’
I left Lauren with one final child still waiting to be collected, and joined Bernard and the children at their table. They all looked as tired as Bernard, maybe the long winter nights were catching up with everyone. When we got back to the room, the children were asleep within thirty minutes, so I headed off to the bar, to see if any of the lads had felt in need of a beer. As I arrived, Little D and Murphy were helping Keane out of the front door and back to his room. He had spent the remainder of the day getting drunk, after finally seeing the doctor, and receiving his verdict. He looked a little worse for wear, with red eyes, and stumbling feet. I saw Sergeant Davis and Rhino at a table, so went to join them. The table was littered with bottles of beer, some empty, some full, I picked up a full one and took a swig. ‘You spoke to General Morris about the girl Chris?’ I said, acknowledging them both as I sat down.
‘Yeah, no problems, no awkward questions, just accepted our story. Just hope she doesn’t become chatty, and contradict our chain of events.’
‘She won’t’ said Rhino. ‘It’s going to take some work getting anything out of her.’
‘Ian is going to keep an eye on her’ continued Sergeant Davis. ‘I think he’s taken a liking to her.’
‘Was General Morris happy with how the mission went?’
‘He was happy with the mission, less impressed with my paperwork. I hate all that bullshit, it’s becoming a joke.’
Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2) Page 39