‘Quick, Jeanie,’ I shouted. ‘Oxygen!’

We all rushed to the back, almost trampling over one another in the desperate hurry to get to the oxygen cylinders. As we put the masks on, I looked over my shoulder feverishly at the green fog advancing ever closer.

 

---

Chapter 8

Previously…

We were about three miles from Kings Bromley; Jeanie and Eve were asleep in the back and Nicola was playing with Ben when I heard her speak up.

‘It’s very green isn’t it?’

Looking at the green fields and pastures, I had to agree.

‘Yes, Nikki, it won’t be long to spring now.’

‘No, I don’t mean the fields; the sun’s looking green and look at those birds.’

I looked over to the west and my heart missed a beat. The sun was lower in the sky now than before and had a strange, eerie green tinge to it. What was even more startling was that there appeared to be thousands of birds, coming our way. The sky was full of them as they passed over and continued eastwards as fast as their wings could carry them.

I stopped the bus with a screech and then had a proper look. The others had woken up now and I could hear gasps as they realised as I did, what was causing the sun to look like that and the birds to fly away from it.

In seconds, it started to grow noticeably darker and the wind got up. I felt a chill in the air and could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

‘Oh no, not again,’ choked Eve as we saw the impenetrable green fog come up over the horizon like a great high wall, advancing slowly, closer and closer. Only it wasn’t slow because it was just an illusion caused by the distance. It was coming quicker and quicker and I knew for certain that we couldn’t outrun it as the road we were on had a bend that, near enough, would take us straight towards it – and there were no other turn offs.

Everyone was shouting and I couldn’t think much about anything other than we had nowhere to go before the green fog would overtake us––

And now the story continues…

Kings Bromley to Buxton

‘Quick, Jeanie,’ I shouted. ‘Oxygen!’

We all rushed to the back, almost trampling over one another in the desperate hurry to get to the oxygen cylinders. As we put the masks on, I looked over my shoulder feverishly at the green fog advancing ever closer. Nicola’s hands were shaking so much, I had to help her fit her mask.

Ben was barking madly and rushing up and down the coach in a panic. The telltale tightening of my chest and laboured breathing indicated how close the fog was getting. The sun was becoming eclipsed and it was getting increasingly dark as the fog grew denser. The sky above was now tinged with tendrils of green and more birds were flying away from the deadly green mist.

All the cylinders we needed were turned on and we could hear the hiss of the gas as it came through the tubes, giving what we hoped would be life preserving air. Ben suddenly stopped running about and just sat back on his haunches on the front passenger seat keeping watch through the front windscreen. He appeared to be mesmerised by the fog.

Eve looked terrified as she stared wide-eyed at the green bank of fog as it advanced ever closer. I remembered that she had had less experience of the killer fog than us. We all held hands as we watched the green death approaching. Jeanie gazed at me, her face partially hidden by her oxygen mask. She looked terrified and I felt sure my own face must have mirrored hers.

The ghastly cloud of throbbing green menace was now about a quarter of a mile away and had filled the horizon as far as we could see. It reminded me of a photograph I had seen once of the white cliffs of Dover only this time in green…

Then suddenly, I heard a noise–an engine noise–coming from somewhere in front of us. The road ahead had a right-hand bend partially hidden by bushes. Suddenly a big black motorcycle with a sidecar came tearing around the corner. A figure was hunched down, gripping the handlebars tightly, as if in desperation and constantly glancing back to see what was happening behind. I couldn’t make out if it was a man or woman because he–or she–was wearing a crash helmet and goggles.

The fog was right behind the bike as it came rushing towards us. The figure looked behind again and then disaster struck as the bike went out of control and the rider was pitched over the handlebars, landing on the verge with a sickening thud as the bike carried on down the road, sparks flying and metal scraping along the tarmac. With a crack, the sidecar broke loose, scraped along the ground and came to rest by the verge while the bike carried on until it smashed into the only tree around and burst into flames. The coach was rocked by the shock wave that the explosion caused.

I watched as the figure on the ground, obviously disorientated, got up slowly and staggered back down the road towards the fog. I wanted to warn the person, but it was hopeless. In fact Eve and Jeanie held me back and although we all shouted, our voices were muffled by our masks, so we could do nothing. It all happened in seconds and the fog washed over the figure and I watched in horror as it fell down as if pole-axed when the fog reached and then enveloped the body.

I wrenched my eyes away, not wanting to look and gazed around the coach, noting that all the windows and doors were firmly closed as they had been all the time this drama had been enacting. I felt physically sick after seeing the dreadful accident and its tragic aftermath. I was crying hard, my breath gasping despite the cool dry oxygen I was breathing.

It may have been a trick of the conditions, but the fog seemed to speed up as it came ever closer. It had that same glow as before and it throbbed or pulsed as it came ever closer–and closer–and––

My breathing eased slightly as, at last, the effects of the oxygen took effect. We were all panting like Ben though, whether this was due to breathing difficulties or just fear, I wasn’t sure.

It reached us and washed over the coach, making everything inside glow a sickly luminous green. Every window from front to back reflected that weird pulsating light.

Then Ben just whined and lay down as if going to sleep.

Something on the floor caught my eye: wispy green tendrils–almost like fingers–were seeping up through the floor vents. I had no idea whether these tendrils were searching for something and it was probably my hyped up and overstretched imagination which gave me that feeling; but the tendrils became more numerous as more entry points were breeched and the fog swirled, advancing towards us like fingers–reaching out––

Nicola buried her head in Jeanie’s shoulder and shook uncontrollably. Eve clutched my hand in a way that would, I think, have been painful had I not other things on my mind to worry about.

Suddenly, the fog washed over us as we all held each other and hugged tightly. I was conscious of its clamminess on my bare legs as I closed my eyes and could feel my body relax. Then I knew no more.

~ §~

‘Stop it, Ben,’ I whined as my face was licked vigorously. Looking up, I realised that I was on the floor with everyone around me still knocked out. Ben looked pleased to see me and I gave him a quick stroke and then looking quickly at everyone, I noted with relief that they were still breathing.

Orange sunlight streamed through the windows and the day looked clear, bright and cold although the sun was dipping towards the horizon. I had no idea how long we had been out cold. Looking at Jeanie’s watch though–mine had been broken and the glass smashed somehow–showed me that we couldn’t have been out for more than half an hour.

The others began stirring as Ben did his trick of washing faces. Tentatively I took off my mask and breathed in. My breaths came normally, as I presumed they would, now that the fog had gone. I helped the others remove their masks and stow the oxygen cylinders.

Nicola began to cry, the shock of it all finally getting to her. It took some time to placate her and I must admit to wanting to have a good cry myself.

The others started clearing up the mess caused by the panic and rush of just half an hour previously. Searching all around, I could see no sign of the fog except a greenish hue in the sky to the south east.

The bike was still smouldering and it had set light to the tree, which was blazing furiously in the darkening sky. A little bit ahead was the prone form of the person who had crashed. I had to go and see, just in case. So leaving the others, I climbed out of the coach rather stiffly and made my way down the road to have a look-see. I was somewhat wobbly still, so couldn’t hurry–not that I really wanted to.

My heels clicked against the tarmac as I approached. The figure was clad in black leather and was just lying face down, arms outstretched. I knelt down and with some distaste turned the body over. It was a man, his face a bit mangled from where his face had hit the tarmac. His goggles had smashed as well, making him not a very pretty sight. There was nothing I could do, so with a sob, I stood up, brushed off my skirt and went back towards the coach. We had to get moving if we were to find a place to stay the night, before it got really dark.

I glanced across to the other side of the road at the detached sidecar resting askew on the verge. I wondered if there might be things in it that might be useful, so I walked over and unclipped the cover, lifting it away––

Inside, in a basket was a baby looking up at me smiling and gurgling and waving its arm about––

Carefully, I replaced the cover and returned to the coach. Climbing the steps I looked in. The others were tidying up still. I sat in a seat and watched them for a moment.

Jeanie looked up at me, brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked questioning.

‘Dead?’

‘Y–yes, b—but––’

‘–What is it?’

Everyone was watching me now. I wondered if I had been hallucinating. The fog may have another trick up its vaporous sleeve–

‘Jeanie, could you go and look in the sidecar?’

‘Why?’

‘Just do it, please?’

She gave me a strange look and then brushed by. I watched her walk over, lift the cover and then give a little scream. The others gazed at me.

So I hadn’t been hallucinating. ‘Erm, you might want to take a look too,’ I suggested. They piled out, Ben in front, then Eve and finally Nicola, clutching her ever-present teddy by the paw.

By this time, Jeanie had taken the basket out of the sidecar and had it on the road. I left the coach and went to join them, hearing the “ooh’s” and the “aah’s” on the way.

Jeanie looked up and smiled. ‘We have a new addition to the family, Allie.’

‘B—but we can’t look after a baby!’ I protested.

‘Alexandra, for shame; what would you do, leave it here for the dogs and foxes to eat? What’s so difficult. If adults can manage to raise babies, I don’t see why we can’t. What’s so hard? You put food in at one end and clean up the other? Easy-peasy.’

I had ma doubts, but held ma huisht.

The baby was about six months old, looked healthy and well dressed in white baby clothes. However, judging by the aroma, the poor wee soul needed changing almost immediately and I had no idea how, but it just so happened that I knew a girl who did––

‘Are you going to change the baby, it pongs a bit.’

‘Yes,’ she laughed, ‘and you can all watch while I do it because we are going to have to do it a lot. There are bottles, dried milk, nappies and some clothes in the sidecar, can you lot bring the things to the coach and I’ll take our wee bairn.’

Jeanie had learnt all the baby changing stuff in her dommy sci classes. Girls had to learn how to be good wives and mothers and it was expected that all the young ladies from our school would know how to change nappies and feed babies even though most of them would probably have nannies to do that sort of thing.

I snapped out of my reverie.

‘We must be quick, I want to get to Kings Bromley soon or the light will be gone. We have to find somewhere to spend the night–fast.’

~ §~

As I drove off, Jeanie started changing the baby’s nappy while the others, looked on.

I drove down the road with my headlights on as it was close to dusk. I carefully avoided squashing the motorcyclist in the middle of the road, by going up the verge slightly.

‘Careful,’ admonished Jeanie, ‘I could have stabbed baby with a pin there.’

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.

I should have been pleased at seeing the baby and I was–sort of–but it was just another worry to add to the ones we already had. The fog was still about and as deadly as before. How had the man on the bike and the baby avoided the fog before? I would never know. Was it patchy? Did it target certain areas and most important of all, where did it come from and how long would we be cursed by its presence–?

‘Oh, Lord!’ Jeanie exclaimed from the wide back seat.

‘What?’ I called, my eyes peeled to the road because I didn’t want to crash.

‘I—i—it’s a boy!’

My arm twitched involuntarily, making the coach swerve slightly.

‘A boy?’ I called back. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Don’t be a silly girl, Alexandra, I know a wee boy when I see one. He has a thingy just like the one you used to have.’

‘When did you see my, err–thingy, then?’

‘When we went to Southsea with Mummy and Daddy and you changed into your bathers on the beach,. The towel slipped and you got all embarrassed–’

‘Oh, you never said.’

‘Mummy bribed me not to josh you by giving me a stick of rock.’

‘’S’not fair! I didn’t get one.’

‘Only because you went straight down to the sea. I think that you were worried that everyone saw you.’

‘I–I–I wasn’t. I–it was ’coz I wanted to paddle.’

By her snort, I don’t think that she believed me. But I swiftly changed the subject.

‘What shall we call her–I mean him?’

‘We’ll have to wait until we can find a place to stop over for the night,’ came her reply.

Just then the baby began to cry. I had no idea that such a tiny body could create so much noise! Having a sprog around meant that we were going to have no peace for a while…

I drove on and in the distance I espied the houses of Kings Bromley.

~ §~

I pulled up at a likely looking house and Eve and I jumped out and went to the garden gate. It was a cottage with a small garden in the front and ivy around the door and windows. Eve pushed the gate open and we proceeded up the path to the front door. Using the brass door-knocker, Eve banged on the door, little expecting an answer, but doing it out of habit.

There was, of course, no answer and we tried the door which surprisingly opened when Eve pulled the handle down. She went first and we both sniffed as we crossed the threshold. No smell of death, that was good. Perhaps the owners had gone away or something?

The door led into a small parlour with two chairs and a settee. The room was pleasant and quaint in a rather old fashioned way. The ceiling was low with exposed wooden beams. The inglenook fireplace which dominated the room, had unburnt logs in it. There were old pictures and horse-brasses on the walls and in the corner was a Grandmother clock that had stopped ticking.

We crossed the parlour-cum-sitting room to the door on the opposite the side: it led to a kitchen that was small but had the usual gas cooker, free standing cupboards and a larder.

At one side of the kitchen were some stairs, and I led the way as we climbed the rather steep steps. At the top was a passageway and three doors. The first led into the bathroom, the second a bedroom with a double bed and the third was a study with books lining the walls and a large desk over to the side. Eve took a look out of the window. It was almost dark now so we would have to dig out some candles as there was no electricity working.

‘Oh,’ she exclaimed.

‘What?’

‘Look,’ she pointed; I joined her at the window and looked down at the back garden. We could dimly see two figures lying on the lawn. By their rag-doll posture, they were obviously dead.

‘So this area must have been caught by the fog during the day,’ I thought.

‘That’s why there isn’t any pong here,’ Eve remarked. ‘Shall we stay?’

‘I s’pose so,’ I replied, ‘but we must keep everyone out of the garden, including Ben. Dead bodies carry diseases and the last thing we want to do is to catch something nasty. There probably aren’t any doctors around to help us now.’

‘Talking about doctors,’ said Eve, ‘I’ve got a rotten tooth ache. It’s went away for a while before all the horrid things happened but it’s come back again.’

‘Maybe we have some aspirin or something. We’ll ask Jeanie.’

In next to no time we were all settled in for the evening and started organising some food. The gas was working on the cooker, I assumed that the gasometer which could be seen over the other side of Kings Bromley still had some pressure. Anyway, we opened some tins of Ye Old Oak ham, peas and then peeled some potatoes for chips. When cooked, it was a good filling meal, washed down by two pots of tea.

Eve’s toothache had disappeared with the help of some aspirin. She hoped that it would stay away with the help of pain killers as, like doctors, dentists were likely to be few and far between.

Before long we had a splendid fire going and full tummies. The baby was asleep after being fed a bottle and changed–again! Every couple of minutes, someone had a look around to make sure the fog wasn’t coming. Luckily at night, the fog glowed quite brigtly, so we hoped we would see it before it could reach us; but we were taking no chances and would keep a vigil going overnight, each taking a ninety-minute watch.

When we had settled down on the settee and chairs–Nicola was sleeping on the floor with her head on Ben’s tummy–we discussed what had happened and what we should do next. In between times I went and checked on the fog.

‘It was very unpleasant, this time,’ Jeanie remarked.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘I felt my chest tighten and my breathing got bad quite sometime before the fog actually hit us, but the thing is, I was so absolutely terrified, I could hardly think. Even though I knew that we were probably quite safe with the oxygen, I felt as if I knew I was going to die.’

‘I felt the same,’ I agreed. ‘I wanted to tear my mask off and run. What about you Eve?’

‘I couldn’t think. My eyes were drawn to the fog as it came towards us. My heart was beating nineteen to the dozen and I wanted to be sick. I kept thinking that I would be joining my parents very soon. I suppose we all had these weird feelings, even Nicola, she was shaking like a leaf.’

‘Ben wasn’t. He just looked puzzled, whined a bit and then fell asleep. Animals just can’t be affected the way humans are.’

‘And yet,’ Eve noted, ‘the birds were all trying to escape from the fog.’

‘We still don’t have enough information to see if there’s a pattern,’ Jeanie stated.

‘Well we do know that it comes in the late afternoon and our chests feel funny before it hits us. It doesn’t like strong winds or the rain, that’s something to go on.’

‘Yes, Alex,’ said Eve, ‘but we’ve only experienced the fog a few times. For all we know we might have just been around at the times the fog came and it might be a coincidence that it was approaching evening every time we’ve been attacked. I’m sure that sounds a bit jumbled, but you know what I mean.’

‘And then, don’t forget that Arthur’s a boy, not a girl,’ said Jeanie.

We had named the baby Arthur after Eve’s father–upsetting but nice too, for Eve.

‘Yes, so not everyone is changing into a girl,’ I said, ‘but that may just be because of circumstances that we just don’t know about at the moment. We mustn’t assume the fog acts in certain ways until we are sure. D’you both agree?’

They nodded and then, because it was getting late, Jeanie took the first fog watch, while Eve and I settled down for some sleep.

~ §~

Nothing much happened overnight except Arthur woke up a couple of times to be fed and changed. He is a sweet wee boy and apart from when needing attention to either end of him, he is a contented and happy wee bairn. We would never know how he had come to be in the side car or what happened to his mother, but we would look after him and he was a welcome addition to our expanding family. I wondered ruefully if we would need a bigger coach soon as we might exceed the capacity at some time, the way things were going!

We were on the road early the next day because we wanted to get in as many miles as possible. After a hurried meal of more ham and bubble and squeak, made from potatoes and peas, we were on our way as soon as we got Arthur sorted out. We only had about five changes of clothes for Arthur, so at some stage we would have to find a clothes shop. Our own clothes were getting somewhat grubby too, so we would either need to wash them or get some new ones from a shop somewhere.

We passed through the village of Kings Bromley and judging by the number of people lying in the streets, I was pleased that we had not tried to find a place there the previous night. We carried on up the A515 towards Buxton avoiding several crashed cars. From our high-up seats in the little Bedford, the others took in the breathtakingly beautiful Peak District countyside, but we had no time for sightseeing as we just had to keep going.

We travelled through many villages on the way to Buxton. I always drove quite slowly and beeped our horn in case there was an outside possibility that human life might be found. But there was no sign of life, save for animals like cats, dogs and a surprising number of foxes. That isn’t quite true as we also saw rats and mice in some places and what struck me most was how aggressive the animals seemed to be. Cats and dogs chasing each other and in turn rats and mice who were being chased by everything else. We even saw a loose horse eating grass on a village green. Nicola wanted to go and have a look-see, but I was worried about stopping for anything, especially when I saw a pack of dogs close by, seemingly eying up the horse for dinner. I just hoped the horse would be able to outrun them!

There was a distinct lack of birds in the sky and I wondered at that, as they had been plentiful enough previously. Also the farm animals out on the fields were almost all lying down–not a good sign as this meant that even more rotting meat was infesting our countryside, adding to the disease problem that we were worried about. I had read about disasters, like earthquakes where more people died of diseases than actually killed by the initial disaster.

We had to go through Ashbourne, it was unavoidable unless we used a lengthy detour. Eve was map reading and sitting across from me, waving her arm about vaguely–leaving me with the impression that her map-reading skills were not learnt at the cubs or scouts.

‘Take the next left and then right, that should be okay, I think. It’s signposted Buxton, so you shouldn’t go wrong.’

Strangely enough, the roads were deserted around there–of bodies, I mean. Another place that had been caught at night?

I was proceeding down the high street when…

‘Stop!’ screamed Jeanie.

I braked suddenly causing a few tins, boxes and one of the oxygen cylinders dislodge from where they were stowed and crash to the floor.

‘What?’ I cried, turning round as soon as we were stationary.

‘Sorry,’ said Jeanie sheepishly, ‘erm, there are some shops here. Shall we get a few clothes and things?’

‘God, Jeanie, do you want to give me a heart attack?’ I yelled, and Arthur then proceeded to test his lungs by bawling at full volume.

‘Sorry,’ she said again over the noise, ‘it’s just there are a few clothes shops here and Arthur really needs some new things.’

I looked at the clock, it was 12:20.

‘Alright,’ I sighed, ‘we could stop for a bite at the same time, agreed?’

There was a general answer of yes and I just parked the bus–at the bus stop, of course–and we all piled out. Arthur had stopped crying and started to make sink-plunger type noises as Jeanie used the dummy that had been found with his other things. It was nice to be able to hear yourself think again!

Jeanie, Arthur and Nicola with her shadow, Ben, went into a baby clothes shop a few yards down the road. It had prams, push chairs and all things baby in the windows. Eve and I left them to it but didn’t want to go far as we had to stick together.

Eve stepped down the road a bit and was looking wistfully in a toy shop window; it had a train set and she was sighing a lot. I joined her and looked too.

‘I suppose I can’t play with train sets now I’m a girl. It has to be dolls, tea parties, doctors and nurses and silly things like that.’

‘Well, apart from the fact that there isn’t any electricity, though some train sets do run on batteries–I think; I don’t see why you can’t play with trains. Let’s face it the rule book is out of the window now. You do what you want ’cos there isn’t anyone to stop you.’

‘You think?’ she asked.

‘Yes I do. Anyway, let’s go and find the others.’

We found them cooing over some baby clothes that were cute, but as I was ever watchful of the time, I geed them up and we soon came out of the shop with enough baby clothes for several years, more baby milk and small glass jars of revolting looking foods like apricot and carrots or something. Evidently we needed to find out if baby was taking solids. Judging by the poo he had ejected the previous night, I assumed that he had eaten a curry or something at some stage. We also had a pram of all things and other baby equipment that I hadn’t time to look at and wasn’t sure I wanted to. I might be a girl now, but babies made me feel a mite uncomfortable and out of my depth.

We had a quick lunch comprising of cream crackers and corned beef washed down with bottles of lemonade. Then, after we had all had our fill, Jeanie had another idea.

‘Look we need clothes for ourselves and there’s a Co-Op shop that sells clothes over there next to Woolworth’s. Shall we go and get some things.’

‘We haven’t got time to try anything on,’ I protested.

‘Lets just grab a pile of things and try them on when we have time,’ said a surprisingly practical Eve.

‘All right.’ I said, ‘but lets be quick!’

So we all went over to the Co-Op, regretfully smashed a shop window and went in to get some clothes. I had no idea what to get and neither did Eve nor Nicola. Jeanie went sort of mad and started piling our open arms with dresses, blouses, cardigans, vests, knickers and other things. She didn’t stop there and we had to go backwards and forwards to the bus several times before the feeding frenzy abated. We had no end of shoes, slippers and boots to try on as well now!

Nicola too had a huge pile of clothes to try on, mainly pink and I could see her itching to try everything on–now! But sour old Alex–that’s me–said that we had to press on regardless, otherwise we wouldn’t get to Buxton in time for tea.

We had to fill up with petrol too as we were down to half a tank and I wanted to fill up whenever we could. We found a petrol station on the outskirts of Ashbourne and took turns cranking the handle as we filled the tank to the brim. I checked the oil and water while we were there and they seemed okay, so after kicking the tyres to check the pressure–hurting my foot in the process–we were ready to hit the road again.

~ §~

For once, nothing much happened on the road to Buxton. All was quiet and not a sign of anyone, anywhere–alive that is. The others watched diligently for people as I drove. I found the driving not too bad but my legs got tired due to the constant gear changes up and down hills and the lower gears on these small Bedfords were notoriously whiney. I was thankful at last when we came across the sign that said ‘Buxton’. We were going to stay somewhere overnight and I wanted it to be comfortable.

Buxton’s Grand Hotel looked rather posh and so we booked ourselves in, literally, filling in our names in the guest book and everything. Being winter still, the hotel had been closed. It had been due to open again the very next week, but it semed doubtful that it would ever open it’s doors to customers again.

After dragging everything we would need for the night out of the coach, I parked it in the car park, locked it up and followed the others inside. The hotel was on the top of a hill and had commanding views of all around, so that it would be relatively easy to see any approaching fog, glowing and pulsating as it did all the time.

We decided to stay together and not use separate rooms. At a time like this we just wanted to stick together. The kitchen was large as you would expect in an hotel. It had all the modern equipment too such as huge mixers, a refrigerator and other modern aids to help speed things up. Unfortunately, there was no electricity so that made the equipment somewhat redundant. The three large cookers and ovens worked though, as they were gas. So we would be able to eat hot food. I was getting a bit tired of eating tinned food, but there was no real alternative. We found some tins of Frey Bentos meat pies in a store cupboard. We had to take off the lids with a can opener and then put the open tins into the hot oven for twenty to thirty minutes. We still had some potatoes, so we peeled and boiled them. A large tin of peas and carrots completed our meal and we all sat in the dining room to eat it.

Eve had found some table cloths and silver cutlery, so we felt quite posh sitting there by candle light, eating our meal. For afters, we had canned sliced peaches and evaporated milk. I think everyone enjoyed our tea because there was nothing left on the plates.

After our meal, Arthur had something strange out of a jar and his milk. It was nice to see that his adventures hadn’t made him lose his appetite.

Using candles stuck on saucers, we made our way into the main lounge area. It had a large fireplace and Eve found some logs outside the kitchens.

Soon we had a fine blaze going. We dragged some mattresses and bedding from a couple of the rooms and after placing them on the floor we camped out on the floor of the residents lounge. It was quite cosy there, with the fire and numerous candles that lit the room softly, casting dancing shadows on the walls.

Nicola and Ben–and not forgetting young Arthur–were soon asleep leaving us older people to lounge about, read comics like Dandy and Beano, left on a table with other out of date papers, or just doze as it had been a tiring and dramatic day.

I was staring out of the window towards the hills, my eyes had started to droop a bit when I jumped after hearing what sounded like a knock on the door of the residents lounge. I glanced around and noticed that the others had heard it too.

‘What?’

‘Who?’

Jeanie got up and went to the door of the lounge. I stood behind her, armed with an umbrella from the stand by the door. Eve was close by Nicola, Arthur and Ben, who had woken up and looked as puzzled as the rest of us.

Knock…knock.

Jeanie looked at me then with a hand that shook slightly, slowly opened the door––

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories :-)

My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing, help with the plot-lines and pulling the story into shape.