Aftermath: The complete collection

by John Wilkinson

  ‘I’m just trying to get back to my daughter that’s all, we’re just hungry and cold and thought we might get some help here.’

  ‘Are there any more of you?’

  ‘No, just us two, like I said, we are trying to get...’

  ‘Are you sure you haven’t been followed?’

  ‘We have been real careful, haven’t seen anyone for hours.’

  ‘Have you got any weapons?’

  ‘I have a gun in my rucksack, knives, but that’s it.’

  ‘Take their bag June’ he said, ‘And pat them down.’

  I pulled my arms out of my rucksack and placed it on the floor as June patted Roy down.’

  She apologised for checking us for weapons and then picked up the rucksack saying,

  ‘Oh George look at them, they’re as thin as rakes, let’s get them into the house, and get the fire going.’

  We followed June into the house, George all the time behind us, gun in hand. We were lead up the front steps, through the front door and into the living room. ‘You sit there’ he said to Roy, pointing his gun at the dining table and chairs. ‘You follow me’ he said, looking in my direction. We walking through a small passageway and into the kitchen, he put his shotgun on the work top and bent down, ‘Here grab the other end of this’ he said, picking up the corner of the kitchen rug. We pulled it over the top of itself, revealing a trap door, which we lifted over, resting it on the floor. There were some stairs down to a door, George picked up his shotgun and descended into the darkness, with me in toe. He put the barrel of his gun on the floor and leaned the butt against the wooden door frame, opening the door he spoke to the room in a reassuring voice, ‘We are back now, if anyone wants to come up to the top you are more than welcome. We are going to have to take turns from the lookout point tonight, Helen, can you take the first shift, and keep your eyes out for anything suspicious. Let me know if you see anything, I will send someone up to relieve you in a couple of hours.’ We climbed the stairs, into the living room and sat at the dining table, slowly we were joined by over ten women, who sat on the sofa and arm chairs. There was a big pot on the fire with something bubbling away, it smelled real tasty. George asked what had happened to us since the attack, Roy’s story was particularly hard for the females to hear, some of them going back down stairs, unable to listen, there was much crying before they were brought up to date. ‘What happened to your hand boy?’ George asked, looking at Roy.

  ‘I had an accident a few days ago’ he replied. ‘I was trying to remove the weapon from the hand of a dead creature, it exploded taking a couple of fingers.’

  ‘Sounds like the kind of shit they’d pull, June will take a look at it for you, where about was the creatures body? Is it still there?’

  ‘It was on the river Eden, close to the M6.’

  ‘It was on the outskirts of Carlisle’ I said, sensing Roy’s directional skills were struggling. ‘Where the Eden leaves the M6 going west. I can show you on a map if you want, are you thinking of walking it? It’s a dangerous journey.’

  ‘God protects me, when I carry out his work, he walks with me every step of the way, that and my truck, no better vehicle in these conditions, never seen a vehicle it can’t outrun.’

  June brought Roy and myself a bowl of piping hot vegetable soup and bread, I couldn’t believe they had fresh bread, it tasted amazing. I asked her were they got it from, she explained ‘We make our own, it’s really quite easy.’

  ‘Even without an oven?’

  Yeah, I just cook it over the fire in a large flat based tray, using an extra tray over the top so it heats from above and below.’

  ‘It really is good June’ gushed Roy, with a mouthful of food, ‘It’s the best meal I’ve had for months.’

  ‘We’re still fairly self sustained on the farm, we try and grow whatever vegetables we can without any sun, and we still have our cows and sheep.’

  ‘Are the animals safe to eat, and drink their milk?’ Roy asked.

  ‘The nearest impact zone to us is Edinburgh’ said George, ‘Which is a good forty miles away, so long as you skin and bone the meat and cook it through it should be fine, we haven’t had any ill effects.’

  ‘You two certainly have got a good thing going on here, we haven’t seen much kindness on the road’ said Roy, still stuffing his face, there was a long period of silent while we all ate, before I broke it with a question.

  ‘How long have you both had the farm George?’

  ‘June and I have lived here together for over forty years, forty three next February, it’s been in my family for over one hundred years, my dad, my grandad, it’s always been in the Barnes name.’

  ‘Who refused to sell up? Was it you?’

  ‘It was my father, I recall it well, I was in my early twenties, around nineteen seventy one I think. I still have pictures of all the highway maintenance equipment lined up outside our property, waiting for the go ahead. I remember the stress that was put on my family, men in suites having frantic meetings with my father, just expecting him to cave in, but he didn’t, it was the principle you know? The way the past fifty years has panned out has probably helped us to remain as hidden as we now are, allowing us to carry out God’s work. Thousands of people would drive past us every day on their way to work, and never know there was a property here.’

  ‘A few of the small towns we have walked through have had dead bodies hanging out of windows, or piled outside houses, have you seen anything like that?’

  ‘I’ve seen similar things’ George replied. ‘It’s the work of Tony Torriero, or his goons, for want of a better phrase.’

  ‘Who is this Torriero? His name has been mentioned to us before.’

  ‘Before the war he was a gangster working out of Edinburgh, the police had been trying to get him for over twenty years, but he’s very well connected, his men will do anything for him, including taking responsibility for any of his crimes. I understand he is running most of the north, there’s talk he has formed an agreement with the creatures.’

  ‘Why would he?’

  ‘The same reason he became who he was, greed and power. I don’t know what he’s got from the deal, but I heard some of his men had even handed over their own mothers, wives and daughters. I’m sure you’ve noticed there is a serious shortage of food since the bombing, people are desperate, females have become a commodity.’

  ‘It won’t be long until humanity turns on itself.’

  ‘Its already happened, we’ve heard stories of human remains being found half eaten and cannibalism.’

  ‘Where have you heard this?’

  ‘Further north, families who have brought their females here, wasn’t it Nicole’s family June? Go and ask her, bring her up here.’

  June disappeared for a few minutes, when she returned she had a young girl with her, who looked around twenty. June explained Nicole’s grandad had brought her to the couple around six weeks ago, she had lived in Thankerton until her mother had been seized, her grandad had kept her hidden during the attack, but her father was killed trying to stop them. She looked nervous as she sat down to talk, she was a pretty girl, with short brown hair and a long flowery dress. ‘Tell them what you saw’ said June, with a comforting arm around her shoulder.

  ‘On our journey from Thankerton we saw some truly awful sights, things I will never be able to forget. I remember one particular day we were so desperate for food we followed a smoke trail into a forest, something that was stupid and dangerous, but we were desperate. My grandad told me to stay hidden and he would call me if it was safe, I hid behind a tree for ages as he investigated armed only with a kitchen knife, when he called me over he had found some blankets and a couple of half eaten apples. Whoever had been there had left in a hurry, leaving most of their belongings, not that there was much worth taking. The fire was
out but still smoking, I was standing right next to the remains and hadn’t noticed, I was too busy tucking into my apple. Strung up over the fire like a pig, were human remains, arms and legs. They were half eaten, like they had been picked at, around the fire were other human bones, I was almost sick on the spot, we got out of there as quick as we could.’ I asked her how her grandad had kept her safe during the attack on her town. ‘I never saw the attack, my grandad had hidden me at his allotment, he told me what had happened. My mum had refused to leave my younger brothers, so she was hidden under the bed, the men searched every house they could get into, one by one, dragging out every girl they found until they had gathered them all together, any men who tried to resist, were just killed. That’s what happened to my parents, my mum was dragged away from my dad, they killed him as he tried to save her.’

  ‘That’s what Roy and I saw, in Eaglesfield and Johnstone bridge, men hung from upstairs windows with signs around their necks.’

  ‘They are trying to spread a culture of fear’ interjected George. ‘If you don’t surrender your females wilfully, we will take them from you and then kill you and your family.’

  ‘I cannot believe what’s happened’ continued Nicole. ‘First we survive a nuclear war, only to die like this, is this God’s plan?’

  ‘We will protect you now’ responded George. ‘With God’s hand guiding us, he gave humans the ability to make their own decisions, and this is how we have repaid him.’

  I stopped myself from stating my true feelings towards his God, they’re good people and are clearly doing an important job. I asked George about the dangers he faced saving and protecting any females, he told me he felt in no danger, ‘He (God) guides my path and protects me.’

  ‘What you are doing is an amazing thing, both of you, so brave.’ I said.

  ‘We don’t see it as brave’ June replied, getting up from her chair to check the food bubbling on the fire. ‘These girls are brave, every one of them, and you, the determination to get to your daughter knowing full well what will happen to her should she ever be caught, that’s brave. You can bring her here if you want Nathan, there will always be room.’

  ‘I thank you for that June, it’s something I will certainly consider, I was thinking of heading towards the camp in the north.’

  ‘Blackpool?’ George interrupted.

  ‘Is it in Blackpool?’

  ‘Yeah, in the old stadium’ said George.

  ‘Does that still exist? I thought they went out of business years ago.’

  ‘They did, the land was bought for redevelopment but with no money coming into Blackpool since the town filed for bankruptcy, the old decaying stadium and hotel complex is still standing, it was like a ghost town of holidays past, well before this war broke out, maybe that’s why it was chosen.’

  ‘How do you know that’s where it’s located?’

  ‘Passers by, only problem is it’s on Torriero’s patch, and he will react at some point, he won’t be happy this happening without his say so.’

  ‘So it won’t be safe?’

  ‘No where’s safe, some places are more dangerous than others.’

  By this point, eight or nine girls had made their way upstairs, they were helping June with the cooking or sitting listening to the stories, Nicole had a stark warning for us, on our journey to my farm. ‘When you leave here the conditions are going to deteriorate as you get closer to Edinburgh, be very wary of anyone you meet, there are some desperate people around.’ For the rest of the evening I sat in front of the baking hot fire writing my diary, it spat and crackled as the wet wood burned, I vaguely remember June cleaning and re-bandaging my feet while I drifted off to sleep.

  13/11/2027 - Time 23.07

  I heard muffled shouting and sensed movement around me, I opened my eyes, still half in a daze, and could see flashes of colour. I rubbed them trying and get them working again, they felt itchy and sore. My diary fell off my knees and onto the floor, I stood up and kicked it under the sofa. George was running around shouting ‘Get them down below,’ women were running around in all directions in a blind panic, headlights came through the window flooding the room and I heard the distinctive sound of tyres on gravel. ‘What’s happening’ I shouted, as the girl on lookout duty came running down the stairs, and joined the others. ‘There’s a truck just pulled up’ replied George.

  ‘Roy’ I shouted, ‘Go outside with George, I will get everyone downstairs, stall them as much as you can.’

  June had got most of them into the cellar but was forgetting about herself, she was still in the kitchen trying to pull the trap door over. ‘June you have to get down too, your not safe up here.’ She didn’t listen, continuing to try and lift the door so I grabbed her arms and stopped her. ‘June, they will take you.’ I could hear voices through the open front door getting ever closer,

  ‘I’m sorry Nathan I wasn’t thinking’ she replied, shaking uncontrollably. She started climbing down the stairs as I pulled the trap door over, pausing to avoid her head. I could hear the voices clearly now as they neared the house, the wooden steps creaked with the weight of several people. Dust blew up as the trap door hit the floor, I quickly grabbed the kitchen rug and pulled it over, covering the door. I walked into the living room as three armed men walked in, with George and Roy following behind. ‘Oh here’s another one, how many of you are there in this property sir?’ Asked one of the men.‘There’s three of us’ replied George.

  ‘You won’t mind if we take a look around would you?’

  ‘Not at all, I’ll come with you, and give you the tour. Roy can you get the water boiling, these gentlemen look like they could do with a cup of tea.’

  Roy took the food off the fire and put a fresh pot of water on, while George was followed upstairs by one of the men. Our house guests were smelly, dirty looking folk, dressed in regular sodden clothes, their only redeeming feature was their complete lack of uniqueness. They all had big dirty beards and the man who appeared to be the leader, had dark wavy hair and thick black glasses. They were all wearing long charcoal grey rain coats and smelt like they had been living outside for months. One of the men standing over Roy as he tended to the water, the other was keeping an eye on me. Their guns were not aimed at us, rather left by their sides. I was trying to find a way of arming myself should this turn nasty, I couldn’t risk trying to get my Welrod out with eyes on me, besides I only had one bullet left. I could hear voices upstairs moving from room to room, I didn’t know what to do, so ended up stood around looking stupid while trying to make conversation, but the men were not in the mood for small talk. George and his guard came down the stairs in conversation,‘I still don’t understand why you would still have all her clothes though Mr. Barnes, if she left you months ago?’ Said the guard, pushing his glasses back up his sweaty nose with his finger.

  ‘She didn’t leave me, she just went out and didn’t come back.’

  ‘I do hope she returns Mr. Barnes, you be sure to let Mr. Torriero know if she does, he takes pride in how well he looks after the ladies in his district. That’s the upstairs finished with, just this floor and we’ll be on our way, how many rooms are there down here?’

  ‘This room (living room) the dining room and kitchen, there’s also the outside toilet if you want to check that, and the outhouses.’

  ‘There’s a lot of dirty bowls in this room Mr. Barnes, are you sure you haven’t had visitors?’

  ‘Sorry’ I interrupted. ‘Washing up is my job, I’ve been a bit lax of late.’

  ‘Really? Are you sure? There are a few things that don’t add up here though, the problem is trust, or lack of it’ said the man, taking his glasses off and cleaning the lens on his jacket. ‘You see, I just don’t believe you, we have heard from numerous sources that you are keeping females here, not allowing Mr. Torriero to protect them properly, why would people tel
l us that Mr. Barnes?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, who told you that?’

  ‘I’m the one asking the questions, and you haven’t answered mine, why would someone tell us that?’

  ‘I don’t know, you’ve checked the place.’

  ‘Apart from the kitchen’ he said, walking towards it, Roy had finished making the cups of tea and placed them on the dining table. He picked one up, as did the man watching me, George followed the man with glasses into the kitchen and I joined them, standing next to the work top. George and I watched as he started to get more and more animated, standing on the kitchen rug with the trap door directly below his feet, he was throwing his arms around as he spoke.

  ‘Well it certainly appears we have searched everywhere and have found nothing Mr. Barnes, our job here is done.’ He looked at the guy watching me and asked ‘Are we ready to go, have you finished your cup of tea? I would like to thank you for your hospitality Mr. Barnes.’ He started to walk towards the kitchen door but then stopped, he paused and then turned back to face us, ‘Just one more thing, does this property have a cellar?’ His voice became quiet and more deliberate, George didn’t answer the question so he continued ‘I’m guessing, right under my feet is a trap door, what do you think Mr. Barnes? What about you? He said, pointing his rifle at me. ‘What do you think is under this rug?’ No one spoke so he started shouting ‘Get on your hands and knees old man, and move this fucking rug now.’ He gave George a rifle butt to the ribs, and he dropped down to his knees.