Surviving The Evacuation: Harvest Part 19

Nilda agreed. There just wasnt much she could do about it. She searched around for a change in subject and realised that Chesters eyes were glued on a point in the courtyard.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

He pointed at one of the deeper puddles. "Its one of the dosimeters we took from the airport."

"Is there a problem?" she asked, feeling that old fear that had been with her since the Isle of Scaragh resurfacing.

"I dunno. Lets see," he dashed out into the rain, grabbed the small device, and darted back into the lee of the doorway.

"Its okay. I mean its high. Higher than we got down in Kent, but its still well below dangerous. I think the rains washing down radioactive particles caught up in the stratosphere."

"The stratosphere?" she asked, failing to keep the smile from her lips.

"What? A man cant read a book?"

"There was one on nuclear war?"

"No," he admitted. "It was just a physics textbook. I was actually looking up radio signals. I was thinking about the gear they used back in Kirkman House and the stuff I drove down to Crystal Palace. I was thinking, well, how hard could it be to make one?"

"A radio transmitter?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, two-way communication is going to be difficult, but just sending out a radio signal on a wide frequency, that should be possible."

"And is it?"

"Ive no idea. I gave up around the time I got to wavelengths. Thats when I started looking up radiation."

"Ah." She stared at the rain and considered what hed said. "You were looking for a way not to go to Wales?" she asked.

"No. A backup plan. In case I dont make it."

"Oh," she said, and tried to work out what to say next.

"But Ill leave as soon as the rain stops. Im all packed." He gestured at a pair of bags. The rifle was leaning next to them. "Ill use the lifeboat to drift downriver and go ash.o.r.e somewhere east of the airport. Ill find a car and a bicycle and be ready to set off tomorrow at dawn."

"Yes. Okay." She wasnt sure what else to say.

"If you want, I can get rid of McInery before I leave."

"You mean..."

"You know what I mean," Chester said. "I dont think you could do it, not in cold blood. Tuck could, but I dont know if she would. No one will know."

"Except you and me," she said. "Why havent you already done it?"

"Because I dont think she was involved. Shes not a nice person, not deep down. In fact, shes the old worlds definition of a bad one. But she wasnt here to steal that food. She was in the British Museum. So if you want her gone, Ill do it, but not on my own account. Its not easy taking a life. Graham, well, well never know what he was up to, but he was dangerous. We all saw that, and you didnt want him killed."

"McInerys dangerous too," Nilda said.

"Right, but not to us. I think her sights are set on Anglesey and the prize there. This place is never going to be big enough for her now."

"Youre not sure?"

"Im not sure about much these days. But like I said, you need to sort out whos running this place, and if its going to be you, then youve got to take the hard choices. If you think everyone will be safer without her then youve got to make the call, youve got to say the word."

"I... I dont know," she said. Nilda wished Chester had just acted, that shed woken to find McInery missing. "Someone stole some food," she said. "Thats all. Grahams taken the blame, and hes gone. We should leave it. Move on."

"Fair enough," Chester said. And she couldnt tell whether he thought that was the right decision or not.

After an awkward few minutes of silence, Nilda went to find Jay. She found that he, too, was lurking in a doorway, watching the rain pound down on old stone, as restless as she was. The drone was at his feet. Tuck was by his side, sharpening an axe. Kevin, Aisha, Greta, and Finnegan loitered nearby.

"Whats going on?" she asked.

"As soon as the rain stops, Im sending up the drone," Jay said. "If its clear, were going to get the food."

"Just the six of you?" she asked.

"Well get more when the time comes," Jay said. "I didnt want to tell everyone in advance. Didnt want them worrying while they were waiting."

She wasnt sure if they would follow him outside when he did, but the five people there didnt seem to mind obeying his instructions. One more parental string was cut. Feeling increasingly useless, she went to the kitchens and spent a satisfying hour chopping vegetables.

Around two p.m. the storm slackened. Nilda helped Chester carry the bags and fuel down to the lifeboat. Then began another awkward few hours of near silence as they waited for the tide to turn. Before it did, the clouds exploded, this time accompanied by wind and lightning. They were forced off the boat and into the relative shelter of the gatehouse. Afternoon wore into evening, and the storm raged on, showing no sign of ceasing as night fell. Even Tuck was forced to eschew her bivouac and find shelter indoors.

"Tomorrow, Ill leave," Chester said, around midnight.

"Tomorrow," Nilda said, and again wished she could have found something, anything, else to say.

26th September Chester woke and didnt need to look at a clock to know the time. A beam of daylight had crept around the edge of the imitation tapestry hed hung over the window, and speared down on his face. He pulled himself out of the rough nest.

"Electric lights," he muttered. If all went well, he wouldnt spend more than an hour on Anglesey, but he was going to spend as much of that time as he could staring at a light bulb.

He kicked the sheets into a pile by the wall. The people whod arrived from Kirkman House had claimed the small grace and favour cottages that had been the homes of the warders and their families. Those who had arrived from the British Museum had their choice from the scores of offices, ancient chambers, gift shops, and exhibition rooms. There had been some movement so that the children could sleep in the warmer, more habitable parts of the castle, but none of them had wanted Chesters room.

People had relocated voluntarily, and it was good to know that generosity could be shown when needed. It gave him hope that the Tower might not self-destruct in his absence.

He picked up the jacket from the bed. That had been volunteered as well. There had been offers of all kinds of a.s.sistance that stopped short of accompanying him to Wales. Part of that was just an excuse to talk and confirm he really was leaving, but part was a genuine desire to help. He hoped.

"No," he said. "I think it was. Theyre good people for the most part, and no worse than anyone else."

He stretched and found himself looking down at the fake bed. "Fit for a king," he muttered. "Says it all." The room in St Thomas Tower and the chambers leading from it had originally been built for the monarch, though Chester couldnt remember which one. When he and Nilda had arrived, it had been unoccupied. Partly because he knew his stay was going to be temporary, partly because hed always been fascinated by how the other half lived, but mostly because there was a bed in the middle of the room, hed claimed it. The bed was a fake. A mock-up based on the historical record. The wood in the grate was real, but the chimney had been sealed, so his attempt at lighting a fire to keep out the interminable chill from the old stone resulted in filling the room with more smoke than heat. Hed taken to sleeping on the floor, but hed slept in worse places these last few months and probably would again.

"Not after I get back from Wales," he said. "That times over. No more wandering."

Hed resisted finding better lodgings because he knew hed be leaving, and hed not been sure he would come back. Now he was certain that he would try and return, the question that remained was whether hed be able to.

He reached down to pick up the revolver and remembered it was gone. Well, that was good in a way. It was his last connection with Cannock, now forever lost. He pulled back the curtain and looked outside. The storm had pa.s.sed. The sky was clear, bright blue as far as he could see.

"What was that line?" he murmured to himself as he strapped on the belt. "The one that was in Bill Wrights diary? If a jobs to be done then its best done quickly. Something like that." He pulled on the trainers. They were an odd colour, and the last thing hed have been seen wearing a year ago, but he could run in them, and he would need speed. He left the room, and he didnt look back.

"I made you breakfast," Nilda said. "Its the last of the bacon. At least until we kill another pig. I think well try not to do that for a while. Perhaps not until Christmas. We need to keep what little electricity we generate for making hot water."

"Hot water? Dont we have enough?" Chester asked, taking a bite.

"You dont have much experience with children, do you? No matter what you tell them, they will not stay clean. And its not like we can get them to wash in bleach."

"You cant? Okay, no. What about feed, is there going to be enough?"

"More than enough. I checked. Hanas actually been a bit sneaky. She had enough to keep the animals alive until the end of November. And since we could eat that, too, thats another four weeks of supplies."

"Clever girl, shes got unplumbed depths, that one."

"Yes, well, it wont last as long now our numbers have doubled, but itll keep us going until you get back. Weve got to find a way of planting things here. Pots and greenhouses, I suppose, with animal manure as fertilizer."

"Well, Im glad thats your problem."

"Yes. For now, but..." she paused, and Chester thought she was going to ask whether he was coming back. She didnt. "But Im coming with you this morning," she said.

Chester swallowed. "To Anglesey?" he asked, and almost told her that she couldnt.

"I meant downriver," she said. "We need toothbrushes, clothes, shoes, toys, and a few board games would be good. And toilet paper, we always need more of that. Crayons and pencils, too. Things that will keep the children busy that wont involve running through puddles and traipsing mud everywhere. When you go ash.o.r.e well help you find the bike and car, and load up the lifeboat with whatever we can."

"Youll have to use the tide," he said. "I mean, I could leave you some of the diesel-"

"No. It would only put off the inevitable," Nilda said. "Weve got those rafts now, and we need to see what kind of properties line the banks of the river and how safe it would be to go ash.o.r.e and empty them. With that leak, the diesel would be gone in one trip. Its time we started getting used to a different pace of life. Itll be good. That business with Graham cant be allowed to overshadow things. We need a new start, all of us. If that means everything we do is focused on those children, then so be it. Well be thinking about the future, and if we do that, we might start thinking well have one."

"What about the food on the coaches?" he asked.

"Jay seems to have organised that, I suspect with Tucks help, but Im leaving him to it. Theres too much danger here, Chester. If I spend my time worrying about Jay, he might outlive everyone, but the rest will die far sooner. Ive got to... well, I suppose I have to accept that he managed quite well without me. I have to trust him. And everyone else, if it comes to that."

"Fair enough," Chester stood. "Then lets get this over with."

There were six people going with Nilda. Chester considered them as cautiously diligent. They were the people whod hurriedly volunteered to take care of the pigs, boil the water, or do any of the other laborious tasks that, crucially, didnt require going outside. This would be good practice for them. It wasnt safe relying on the same people to do all the most dangerous ch.o.r.es.

Checking that the area outside the Tower was clear of the undead was not a task hed delegate to anyone else. He climbed up the stairs, his mind already on the route hed take, the safe houses hed aim for, and what hed do if he couldnt reach them. The problem was going to be the car, or maximising its use. Wherever he stopped, he couldnt eat the food or drink the water. Hed learned that much from the chapters on radiation in the textbook. Perhaps the train line would be better than a road. In his journal, hadnt Bill Wright written that hed used the train lines to get out of London? Chester thought so, but had a vague memory that the man had become trapped somewhere by a horde.

He stopped abruptly, one foot raised. He wished, not for the first time, that hed not burned that copy of the journal back in c.u.mbria. He searched his mind, trying to remember what the man had written.

If Bill Wright and all those people with him had survived the pa.s.sage of a horde, then didnt that mean that his worst fears were wrong? Didnt it mean that it wasnt the undead spreading radiation through the countryside? That was the conclusion hed reached based on the readings hed taken in London and again in Kent. But what did he know about radiation and fallout? Only what hed guessed at and tried to interpret from books he barely understood. He ran through the routes hed marked out on the maps in his room. Had the man taken one of those? Were those roads and rail lines actually safe? Hed crossed them out based on guesswork and half-remembered stories from Bran and the others. Perhaps this changed things. Or perhaps it didnt. All that mattered was getting to Wales, and hed already decided that radiation or no, hed head in as straight a line as possible. Whether he got a lethal dose or not, he would keep going until- and the thought died as he realised what was in front of him, or rather, what wasnt. The lifeboat was gone.

"Out of my way," he yelled, barrelling back down the stairs, past the confused group.

"What? What is it?" Nilda called after him. He ignored her.

She caught up with him as he was pulling the barrier away from the gatehouse door.

"What is it, Chester?"

"The boat," he said, but didnt say any more. He had the door open, and ran outside, across to the railed gate and looked down at the river lapping at the worn steps. He climbed up onto the wall and looked east and west. There was no sign of the boat.

"Was it dragged away by the storm?" Nilda asked.

Chester bent, pulled on the rope still attached to the black-painted ring. He held up an end.

"Its been cut."

"It was Graham!" McInery stormed, incandescent with rage. "It had to be." She stood, paced a step, sat down. Stood again.

"Yes, I think youre right," Chester said. Hed seen McInery in a fury before, but always a quiet one, as if the energy was being reserved for the act of vengeance itself and so was not to be wasted on mere words. This was something else.

"Hes betrayed us," McInery fumed.

"Yes, yes," Hana said. "We all know that, but-"

"Worse," McInery interrupted. "Hes condemned us."

"Its not as bad as that, is it?" Hana asked.

"Well, hes got the lifeboat," Chester said. "And that had the rifle, the ammo, the last of the fuel, and a bit of food." He probably had the revolver too. Chester had a.s.sumed the pistol and the four loose rounds had fallen out of his jacket during his journey back from the mansion, but only because there had been no other logical explanation. Now, he wasnt so sure.

"He has a rifle, and we dont even have slings or arrows," McInery snapped. "He could be waiting in any building. Sitting on any rooftop, ready to shoot the first person who leaves."

"Nah, he wont hang around here," Chester said. "He needed the boat so he could transport all that food he stole. Why else would he have risked lingering nearby? Hed have turned the engine on as soon as he dared. About an hour after that, hed have realised there was something wrong with the fuel tank."

"There was?" Hana asked.

"It leaked," Nilda said. "We didnt say because we all had enough to worry about. But Chesters right, h.e.l.l be out of fuel and at the whims of the tide. If hes lucky, h.e.l.l end up on a beach downriver. If hes not, h.e.l.l be adrift at sea."

"Well, good, I suppose," Hana said. "But where does that leave us?"

"It doesnt change anything. Not really," Chester said. "Itll take a little longer to get to Wales, thats all. You said there was a bike shop near to Embankment Tube?"

Tuck nodded.

"Well, thats as good a place to start my journey from as any other," Chester said.

"Well go, too," McInery said. "Find some more rifles and collect the ammunition from that hotel."

"Do we really need it?" Hana asked.

"Chester cant row a life raft all the way to Westminster on his own," McInery said. "And if Graham is coming back, then its better that were armed."

"She has a point," Chester said, and saw Nildas look of puzzlement. "About rowing to Westminster. Better to send one large group and make just one trip. Its like you were saying, Nilda, about how we need to accept that things have to be done differently. Those bicycles could be useful, but forget the hotel, Mac, theres nothing there we need."

They werent short of volunteers. Whatever fear and suspicion had gripped them since the revelation of the theft had been replaced with justified anger. The factor determining how many could go was s.p.a.ce. They had to leave room on the rafts for any bicycles and other supplies they brought back. Chester had already volunteered Tuck, and he wasnt surprised to see Nilda step forward at the same time as Jay.

"I-" Nilda began.

"Bring your drone, Jay," Chester interrupted. "We can use it to lure the zombies away from the embankment.