End of the World (Book 1): Evacuation Point

by Hall, Thomas

  I am so taken aback that I don’t notice the sound of someone breathing until we pass the sofas and see them sleeping. A man with a shaved head. There is a gun on the coffee table in front of him, an old spy thriller novel spread open next to it.

  We keep moving. Harriet is behind one of the many doors which surround the living area. Does she know I’m coming? Will I have to wake her? Will she know to be quiet?

  The questions are more practical now, but the answers are still evasive. The only thing I can do is wait and find out.

  Michelle stops outside another door and I know this is it. Only this piece of solid wood is keeping me from her. I watch as the handle turns, everything seems to be happening in slow motion. The door swings open.

  The room beyond is dark but I sense movement. I peer into the black and try to make out Harriet. There is no way to tell it is her until she appears in front of me. Then she is in my arms and I know that everything is going to be alright.

  CHAPTER 23

  “HAVE YOU GOT YOUR THINGS?” MICHELLE WHISPERS.

  I can feel Harriet’s head nodding back and forth against my chest. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world and I don’t think I will ever let her go again.

  “It’s time to go,” Michelle says.

  I release my grip on Harriet and feel as if something vital is being torn away from me. I reach for her hand and squeeze it in mine. Michelle hefts Harriet’s bag onto her back and then we are moving again.

  It feels as if I am in some sort of dream.

  We pass the sleeping man on the sofa and he doesn’t wake. There is a brightness to the room that I hadn’t noticed before, it feels warm and secure and I know that it can’t last for long.

  We are out of the door and halfway along the corridor when they come for us. I hear their footsteps on the rich carpet and my first instinct is to freeze.

  I squeeze Harriet’s hand.

  We are so close to safety. It would be too cruel to have it taken away from us.

  Michelle keeps moving and Douglas’ hand on my back pushes me forwards.

  “Stay where you are,” one of them shouts.

  In my mind there are dozens of them, but it might only be the man who was asleep on the sofa. I don’t turn around to confirm one way or the other.

  I hear him saying something else, then a crackle of static. He’s on a radio, telling other people what is happening. Our escape will now be a lot more difficult.

  We take doors at random. I expect that each will lead to a dead end. I don’t let go of Harriet’s hand, even when it becomes awkward to move that way.

  It seems impossible but, somehow, we reach a courtyard.

  “Slow down,” I say and realise how out of breath I am. I’m not sure whether anyone hears me, if they do then they don’t pay attention.

  They keep moving and now it is Harriet dragging me forwards. I pull her back. None of them have seen it, I realise, they aren’t going to be able to slow down in time.

  The man appears in front of them.

  At first I can’t identify him, but I am still moving forwards and a few more steps reveal that it is Cortez himself.

  He is wearing a red robe and matching slippers. There is a gun in his hand. He should be freezing, but his hand doesn’t waver.

  “I’m disappointed,” Cortez says. I realise that he isn’t speaking to me.

  Michelle skids to a halt in front of him, Douglas is with her. Harriet and I are a few metres behind and there is nothing I can do to help.

  “You were one of my favourites Michelle,” he says. There is little emotion in his voice. “You didn’t need to do this.”

  She doesn’t reply.

  I am looking around for a way we can get out, even if it means leaving them behind. Douglas is backing towards me, but I don’t think there’s anything any of us can do.

  “And Evan!” Cortez says, as if he has just noticed me. “Why don’t you and little Harriet come up here and join us.”

  Harriet tugs my hand, not wanting to get closer to him, but what choice do I have? He’s the man with the gun, I’ve got to do what he says.

  We walk past Douglas, who so far seems to be invisible to Cortez. He whispers to me: “The knife!”

  The knife.

  Of course.

  It must seem so simple to him. Take out the knife and kill the bad guy. A + B = Freedom. But it’s not that simple, is it? Cortez has a gun so I’m not going to be able to get close enough to stab him. Even if I could… could I?

  I stop next to Michelle. She doesn’t look at me. She has her hands in the air and watches Cortez.

  Behind us the doors open and the men who were chasing us come out.

  “You took your time!” Cortez says.

  None of them reply, but they don’t go away either and now we are outnumbered.

  The knife feels heavy against my leg, as if everyone is looking at it and their attention has weight. My fingers are twitching but I don’t reach for it.

  Cortez turns his attention back to us. “Well what are we going to do with you?” he says. “I expect we could put you in the dungeon, but that’s not going to solve the problem, is it?”

  None of us replies.

  He begins to pace, so confident that he has the situation under control that he doesn’t even point the gun at us anymore.

  “Michelle, I can’t let you get away with this,” he says. “People will ask questions if you vanish. I need to give them an answer. Public execution.”

  I expect a gasp and turn to look at her but she is still watching Cortez. There might be no one else in the world.

  “Evan, Douglas…”

  Douglas cries out behind me. I don’t turn but a moment later he is standing beside me and a guard is walking away.

  “I doubt anyone will remember you, but to be on the safe side, we should execute you as well.”

  “You can’t do that!” I say.

  He turns to look at me, his eyebrows arched.

  “You can’t,” I say, with less passion now.

  Cortez walks towards me. I watch the gun. I am much bigger than him and should be able to overpower him, but it can’t be that easy. Can it?

  “And why can’t I?” he says.

  He is now close enough that I can feel his breath on my face.

  I let go of Harriet’s hand and step forwards.

  I reach for the knife that Rob gave me and it slides out of the sheath.

  Cortez looks surprised for a moment, but it doesn’t last long. He turns with me, attempting to raise his gun.

  He is going to shoot me. I am sure of it.

  I brace myself for the pain and hope that it will at least cause enough of a distraction for the others to escape.

  I don’t want to die.

  Somehow I don’t.

  As if my consciousness has left my body, I find myself holding Cortez’s hands behind his back. The knife to his throat. The gun that he was holding falls to the floor with a crack.

  I look up at the guards who have taken a step towards me.

  “Everybody stay back!” Michelle shouts.

  Douglas grabs Harriet’s hand and the three of them come around to stand behind me.

  I don’t know what to do.

  “You won’t hurt me,” Cortez sneers but I can tell he isn’t sure whether that is true or not. When I start to move away from the guards he doesn’t try to fight.

  The guards move with us.

  Michelle crouches down and picks up the gun that Cortez dropped. She points it at the guards and my first instinct is to tell her not to hurt them. I manage to stop myself but it is still my number one thought as we move towards the gates.

  “Stay back or we’ll kill him,” she shouts.

  I don’t want to kill him.

  My mind is awash with thoughts of police, trials and punishment. I can’t kill a man. Even if he deserves it - and I am far from sure Cortez does - it’s not who I am. It’s not something that I can bring myself to do.

/>   The most important thing is get away, to get Harriet to safety so that we can get on with our lives. That still seems possible.

  We reach the gate and the guards haven’t followed us.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Cortez says.

  “Kill him,” Michelle says.

  It would be so easy to do. A little more pressure with the knife and his throat would spill blood. The thought of it is enough to make me vomit.

  “Get out of the way then,” Michelle says.

  She tries to push me aside, but I hold onto Cortez. We are still moving away from the castle and none of the guards are following us.

  “If you aren’t going to do it I will,” she says.

  “No,” I say. Pushing her away so that she stumbles. “No one’s killing him.”

  “We have to,” she says.

  I want to believe that it is only anger for the things he has done that makes her say it, but I’m not so sure. I don’t know her well. She might be capable of murder.

  “We have to kill him.”

  “We’re not killing him,” I say. I can’t bring myself to kill the man, regardless of what he’s done. If I let Michelle do it, well that’s not so different to doing it myself.

  Cortez hears the whole exchange and begins to struggle. I hold him steady. I don’t know what to do.

  Until I do.

  “Start running,” I say.

  “Are you going to kill him?” Michelle says.

  I ignore her. I am speaking to Douglas anyway. “Take Harriet and run. I’ll catch up with you.”

  “Evan?” she says.

  I don’t reply, but wait until I hear their footsteps disappearing into the distance.

  I could still do it, there’s nothing stopping me from cutting his throat. I don’t know what he’s done, Michelle's argument could persuaded me. She knows him better.

  Feeling the struggle within myself I remove the knife from his throat and kick him away. He stumbles across the street and falls to his knees in the middle of the road. He looks back at me like a wounded animal.

  “Don’t follow us,” I say.

  Cortez smiles.

  I take a step back.

  “Don’t follow us.”

  “Guards!” Cortez shouts. “Guards!”

  I hear their footsteps and don’t wait long enough to see them. I turn and I run. It is possible that I have made a monumental mistake.

  CHAPTER 24

  I KNOW WHAT SHE IS GOING TO SAY before she says it. She is looking at me with an expression somewhere between hatred and confusion. In the dark room her eyes seem to shine.

  “They’ll come for us,” Michelle says.

  I nod, I understand.

  “We won’t be safe anywhere.”

  “We’ll go to the evacuation point,” I say. I reach into my pocket and remove the folded piece of paper that Rob gave me. “Once we’re there we’ll be safe.”

  Douglas shuffles beside me. The room is as large as the living room in my flat, but after the castle it feels cramped. We have pulled the curtains closed and are sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofas.

  “And how are we going to get there?” she says.

  “We’ll think for something.”

  “You should have killed him.”

  I am beginning to think that she’s right. At least if I’d done so, I wouldn’t have to listen to her going on about it.

  Harriet is asleep on the sofa behind me. The blankets that we took from upstairs cover her small body. She hasn’t spoken to me and I am worried that, when she wakes up, she will feel the same as Michelle.

  I lean my head back and wish I could get some sleep as well.

  I am exhausted in a way that I am not used to, but at the same time, wired. It’s not only the accusing stares of my friends that is likely to keep me awake.

  Michelle sighs and it seems directed at me.

  “Where is this evacuation point?” she says.

  I tell her and her expression changes from one of acceptance, to one of defeat.

  “That’s miles away. It’ll take us a week to get there.”

  “Is it?” I say. I thought I knew London. It seems I’m no better than a tourist.

  “Well we’ll have to keep away from him.”

  “We can do it in a couple of days,” Douglas says. He doesn’t sound very happy. I give him credit for continuing to play his part, even if we all know that he can’t come with us.

  “How long have we got?” Michelle says.

  “I don’t—“ I start to say, but Douglas interrupts me.

  “A couple of days,” he says.

  I am surprised that he has been keeping track of it. I imagine a countdown in his head, *this is how many days I’m not alone for…* that sort of thing.

  “We need to get a move on then,” Michelle says.

  Neither of us argue with her, but neither of us move. The memory of Cortez’s men running through the streets is fresh in all our minds. I am reluctant to wake Harriet.

  “In the morning,” she says.

  “In the morning,” we both agree.

  After that we all try to get some sleep, taking it in turns to stay on watch. We all volunteer to take the first watch. I suspect that I am not the only one expecting to have trouble sleeping. In the end Douglas wins. The last thing I see before I close my eyes is him sitting by the window, his head out of sight on the other side of the curtain.

  Michelle wakes me to take the last watch. I can see the first light of day around the thick curtains. We don’t speak. I’m not sure what we would say to one another. Now that she has had time on her own to dwell on what happened, does she hate me more or less?

  I sit by the window. Outside there is a thin layer of ice on everything. No one is out there. Somehow it makes the city seem even more abandoned, even though I know that there are people close by. It looks like something out of a film.

  I can hear buildings creaking as the wind rushes past them. They won’t be there forever. It is conceivable that, within my lifetime, the city of London will fall down. I try to imagine it, but I can’t. It has always been my home.

  Now somewhere else will become home.

  I turn away from the window and wait for my eyes to adjust so I can see Harriet in the dark room. Does she seem smaller than she did? Did they feed her enough? Has he hurt her at all?

  I don’t want to think about it, but I have to consider it a possibility. If he hurt her then what does it mean that I let him live?

  I turn back to the window and my solemn duty. I watch the sun rise and fill the street with cool light. The ice doesn’t melt. It looks like ten-below outside and, despite the warmth in the small room, I shiver. Two days. That means at least one more night in the city and where will that be?

  There is no food to eat. As soon as we are all awake we pack up and go. We each make a show of checking our packs, doing up our coats and securing hats and gloves. I know that the real reason is because we are afraid.

  Cortez will come for us. His men were outside last night, searching, they will still be out there now. Some of them, Michelle says, won’t dare go back until they find us. They will be desperate to appease him.

  She seems calmer this morning, but we haven’t spoken much.

  I tried to speak to Harriet but she only stared at me and didn’t respond. She thinks this my fault. She thinks that I shouldn’t have let her go in the first place.

  “Well let’s get on with it then,” Douglas says. He walks through the middle of the group, separating me from Michelle, and opening the door.

  I shiver.

  “We’ll warm up once we’re moving,” Michelle says. Douglas holds the door open and she is the first to leave.

  The ice crunches under our boots as we start to walk. I look back and am relieved not to see footprints. We don’t want to make it too easy for them to catch us, we at least want a fighting chance.

  We in a line which isn’t even long enough to stretch across the r
oad. The silent city towers above us. Somewhere, hidden amongst the forest of buildings, there are the men who are going to try and kill us. I don’t regret my decision to spare Cortez, but I am relieved to see that Michelle still has the gun which she took from him.

  CHAPTER 25

  “IT LOOKS OKAY TO ME,” DOUGLAS SAYS.

  WE have been walking for three miserable hours and have now stopped outside a shop. The windows are intact and the door is closed. It is dark inside.

  None of us move, until Michelle does. “I’ll go in,” she says.

  “No, wait,” I say. I don’t know where my sudden chivalry has come from, but I step in front of her and take the door handle. “I’ll go. You stay out here and let me know if anyone comes.”

  She doesn’t argue. A part of me wishes she would, but she nods and turns away so that she’s looking at the street.

  I glance at Harriet and smile. Now I realise that she is the reason for my volunteering. She doesn’t look impressed.

  I push open the door and go inside.

  The shop smells like rotten garbage, the air is thick with dust and grime. Once my eyes have adjusted to the darkness I look around and see that the shelves are empty. My heart sinks.

  “Try the back,” Douglas says. His voice is so close that I flinch. I hadn’t realised that he’d followed me in.

  I nod and keep walking towards the door at the back.

  There are cardboard boxes and other packaging items everywhere. They crunch under my feet as I push my way inside. The place gives me the creeps. If I was here by myself I would turn around and go, but I’m not and I don’t.

  If I can take Harriet some food will she forgive me? It's possible she has nothing to forgive?

  I know I will feel better if I see her eating.

  I rummage through the empty boxes searching for scraps, glancing up from time to time to look at Douglas. He is throwing himself into this but what he will do when we’re gone? Are there other places like Cortez’s? Places where he will be able to join a community and live something like a normal life? I hope so, but even if there isn’t, I know I can’t do anything about it.