I gripped the handle of the umbrella tightly. Eve held on to Nicola by the shoulders. Ben looked alert and ready to pounce. Jeanie was terrified–

She opened the door with a rush–

I raised the umbrella, ready to brain whoever was outside––

 

---

Chapter 9

Previously…

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soon asleep leaving us older people to lounge about, read comics like Dandy and Beano, left on a table with other out of date papers, or just doze as it had been a tiring and dramatic day.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––

And now the story continues…

Buxton to Huddersfield

I gripped the handle of the umbrella tightly. Eve held Nicola by the shoulders. Ben looked alert and ready to pounce. Jeanie was terrified–

She opened the door with a rush–

I raised the umbrella, ready to brain whoever was outside––

–A girl and a boy stood there holding hands. They looked pale and drawn. The children couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven I would say and looked extremely scared.

‘D—don’t hurt us,’ the girl pleaded as both children cringed at the sight of Jeanie looking decidedly fierce and me brandishing a large black umbrella.

I lowered the umbrella; Jeanie sighed with relief and quickly collected herself. ‘Hello, want to come in?’

The two looked at one another and slowly nodded, still looking frightened. We let them through and Ben, not being one to worry about introductions, came forward, wagging his tail. The boy gasped and the girl screamed and then they both turned tail and ran out of the room.

Jeanie and I exchanged puzzled glances, and Eve spoke up: ‘They’re terrified of Ben.’

Ben had stopped put his head to one side, whined a bit and then lay down with his head on his paws, looking as bemused as we were at the children’s swift departure.

‘Shall we go after them?’ Jeanie asked looking at me.

‘Yes: but you stay here with Nikki and Arthur just in case Arthur needs his bum changed, in fact he does whiff a bit.’

‘You’re going to have to learn to change him soon, Alex,’

‘I know, but we do have things to do. Eve, want to come?’

‘All right.’ she replied, following me as I ran out of the room. I needed to think a bit more about Arthur when I had time. Jeanie was right; I wasn’t taking my share of responsibility for him.

As I ran down the short flight of stairs closely followed by a puffing Eve, I put all thoughts of Arthur on the back burner as I could hear the sounds of breaking glass.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and found ourselves in the foyer. Our footsteps tapped loudly on the marble floor as we ran towards the large double front doors which were slightly open. I could hear lots of barking coming from outside and more glass breaking.

‘What’s going on?’ Eve gasped.

I was just as out of breath and didn’t have the puff to answer her. I pulled the door open and stopped dead. Eve nearly crashed into me but stopped herself just in time.

On the steps were the two kids. They both had empty milk bottles in their hands and were throwing them down the steps.

On the street outside, barking, snarling, and looking terrifying, were about a dozen very angry and exceedingly vicious-looking dogs of all shapes and sizes. They were glaring at us, growling, barking and bearing their teeth. The only thing preventing them from rushing us was the constant stream of milk bottles being lobbed at them. The trouble was, the kids were down to four and things looked decidedly dicey.

I was gasping for breath still and so was Eve.

‘Come in, quick. You are safe with us,’ shouted Eve.

The girl and boy were terrified, as was I. It was obvious that in a few moments we would have nothing with which to defend ourselves and then, suddenly, the dogs stopped barking. Some sniffed the air and others started whimpering. It was so quiet we could hear ourselves breathing hard. On the other side of the road there was a union Jack flying on the town hall building. It fluttered slightly and then started opened fully as a strengthening wind caught the fabric.

The sound of flapping wings and the familiar sight of hundreds of birds flying as fast as their wings could take them, all in one direction–the same direction as the wind.

The dogs’ attention was drawn to something down the road and we just stood there rooted to the spot, lethargic almost. A couple of cats ran down the road and I swear I saw a grey squirrel…

My chest began to tighten and I looked at Eve. She had a look of horror on her face. ‘The fog–’ she whispered urgently, ‘it’s c—coming.’

The children were clutching each other, sobbing. Almost instantly, the dogs–almost as one–ran off down the road in the same direction as the birds were flying.

‘Come on!’ I screamed, grabbing the quaking pair and dragging them inside. Eve shut the door with an echoing bang and then bolted it for some reason, as if it would hold back the deadly fog.

Eve held on to one of the children and I the other, as we climbed the stairs as fast as we could under the heavy handicap of ever tightening chests and laboured breathing. We reached the top–only fifteen steps but it felt like a hundred–and then ran over to the lounge door. I banged on the door loudly with my brolly and it was opened immediately by Jeanie and we all bundled in.

‘Jeanie,’ I gasped, ‘the fog––.’

‘–I know, we saw it come over the rim of the hill a few seconds ago. Come on everyone we have to get ready for it!’

There was a general rushing around as we grabbed the oxygen cylinders and sorted out the masks. At this point we realised something awful. We had six masks and there were now seven of us.

‘Oh Lord, what are we to do?’ cried Jeanie.

The two new children were huddled in the corner, looking bemused and frightened. They had said nothing–shock I suppose–but they appeared to be as apprehensive as the rest of us; I noted that they were as far away from Ben as they could be.

My dad had spoken to me about Jeanie and I recalled the man-to-man conversation that we had just six months ago when we had been dropped off at school before our parents returned to Scotland.

‘Son, I know that Jeanie is the same age as you, but she’s a girl and you’re a boy. You’re stronger than Jeanie and though you don’t think so, you’re a bit cleverer too. We love Jeanie to bits, but she can be a bit silly sometimes and her hot Scottish temper might get her into trouble. Look after her for us, will you?’

‘’Course Dad, want to bowl some cricket balls at me?’

The conversation had come to me in a flash and I then did something brave and I think that my parents would have been proud of me.

‘Don’t worry, sis, I saw some cylinders earlier on the second floor when I was having a look-see. I’ll rush up there and if I don’t have time to come back, I’ll hole up there till the fog goes.’

‘A—a—are you sure?’ she said doubtfully as Eve was helping the others with masks and things.

‘Of course I am silly. Get your mask on and make sure that Arthur’s protected; the mask will cover the whole of his face so he should be safe if you put it on carefully.’

I gave her a quick hug, hiding the fact that I really wanted to cry my eyes out and then without looking back I ran out of the room and then went up several flights of stairs to the top floor as fast as I could with my laboured breath.

Opening one of the bedroom doors, I quickly went to the window and looked out. To the left of me coming ever closer was a bank of the green, luminous throbbing fog. The sight of it terrified me. My breathing was getting very difficult now, even though the fog hadn’t arrived yet.

I sat on a bed, not wanting to see any more. I was sweating profusely and went into the bathroom and grabbed a towel and wiped my face. Carrying the towel with me I returned to the bedroom and looked out of the window to discover a sea of green below me.

The hotel was on top of a hill and all I could see was green and a little bit of the road outside which was being swiftly and silently covered by the green death as I watched.

I was going to die–I knew it, as sure as I was standing there, looking down at the horror outside, but I didn’t want to die alone. So I made a decision, and left the room to return downstairs. If it was going to happen, I wanted it to be quick. As far as I knew, it was a very quick death and of all the dead people I had seen, none of them had surprise, horror or pain on their faces.

Holding the towel–folded so there were several layers–over my mouth and nose, I carried on down until I reached the bottom of the staircase. The fog had entered the hotel insinuating itself through cracks in the doors and windows. Green fingers started creeping across the floor towards me. I went into the lounge and the others were all together in the corner. The green fog had entered there already and they all seemed asleep as I went up to Jeanie, sat down beside her and watched as the fog washed over me.

I had taken deep breaths before coming in, and had, with difficulty, been holding my breath. Because of my tight chest, I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and breathed in through the layers of white towel covering my mouth and nose.

The young boy was with his sister beside Eve, they were all asleep. As I watched, my eyes grew heavy and I tried to stay awake as long as possible. I hoped it wouldn’t hurt. I had also hoped to grow up and be a man, but that wasn’t to be...

...I had expected to be dead by now but I wasn’t. Somehow I was still alive–as I was still able to see, hear and feel. Strangely enough, my breathing had eased and I no longer gasped. I was feeling relaxed, lethargic and not particularly scared any more. I had accepted my fate and waited for the inevitable.

I vaguely saw the boy’s hair grow visibly longer and his face seemed to change slightly, growing thinner and his nose and ears started changing into something…more…

I shut my eyes, feeling very strange. I wasn’t very religious but I said the Lord’s Prayer to myself as I waited…

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
In earth as it is in heaven…

~ §~

‘Alex, Alex! Oh wake up Alex, pul-eeease!’

I could hear Jeanie as if she was a long way away as I struggled to wake up. My eyes were so heavy and I just wanted to sleep for ever but I was being badgered by the persistent voice of my sister.

‘Go ’way, wanna sleep––’

‘Alexandra, if you don’t wake up, I…I—I—I’ll pinch you.’

‘Wouldn’t dare.’ I mumbled as my eyes cracked open.

My eyes wouldn’t focus for some reason and I shook my head. Now that was a mistake because my head felt awful.

‘Ouch!’

‘Oh good, you’re back.’

My eyes began to focus and I recognised Nicola and Jeanie looking at me strangely.

‘What?’ I said.

Jeanie punched my arm

‘Ouch. What did I do?’

‘There weren’t any other cylinders, were there? You lied to save us, didn’t you?’

‘Well, it’s just––’

‘–It’s just that you’re daft and silly and an idiot and oh, I love you sooo much little sister!’

She gave me a big hug and Nicola looked on, giggling. After Jeanie let go of me, I noticed she had been crying. ‘It’s not right,’ she told me, ‘at the beginning of term, Mummy took me off by myself while you and Daddy were playing cricket and said that I should look after you because you were only a boy and boys do daft things––’

‘–Dad said something similar about you to me too!’

We looked at each other, realised that we had been set up and laughed, releasing the tension.

‘But, Alex, how are you still alive, you had no oxygen?’

‘I—I don’t know,’ I replied, still confused and feeling a bit strange. Jeanie just gave me another quick hug and stood up.

‘We’ll talk later.’

After I had recovered a bit, I looked around. Nicola had gone off to see Ben and Eve was sitting on a couch with the two children, one of them looked puzzled, the other one dazed…

‘Oh, is everyone all right.’ I asked. ‘How’s Arthur?’

Jeanie glanced round at me, she was fussing with Arthur’s cot. ‘Fine but the boy, Martin isn’t a boy anymore.’

‘Oh…hang on, I watched him–err, her change, sort of––’

‘Look we’re going to have something to drink and then we’ll have a meeting. We’ll talk about it then–

~ §~

It must have been about midnight and Nicola, Arthur and Ben were all asleep. Nicola wanted to stay up, but she just fell asleep whilst munching half way into a gingernut biscuit. Sarah, the girl, Martin–the newly-transformed girl–and Eve sat with us on the sofas that had been dragged together to form a circle. Martina, as I presumed she would now be called, still looked stunned. She was wearing a dress now from one of the boxes of clothes we had brought with us. She kept plucking at the hem of her dress, pushing the hair out of her eyes and looking bemused. She had soiled her boys’ clothes and anyway, like the rest of us ex-boys, her old clothes wouldn’t have fitted her very well anymore.

The fog had dispersed quite some time ago and it was raining and very windy outside, so we felt safe enough, for the time being. That didn’t mean that we didn’t take turns to have look-see, just in case.

We sat around the fire and I got my first real look at the new members of our now rather extended family.

Sarah was brown haired, as was her brother–now sister. She was quite pretty with a thin face and small button nose, Martina had similar features but a small strawberry birthmark, about the size of a sixpence, on the side of her face, by her ear.

‘Well.’ I said brightly. ‘I’m pleased that you arrived, though things went bad for a bit.’

Sarah looked up at me and smiled sadly. Martina said nothing, just sat holding her sister’s hand and staring at the dancing flames in the grate. ‘We were frightened that we were going to be eaten by those dogs.’

‘Do you want to tell us what happened to you and you came here?’ Jeanie asked gently.

Sarah looked at Jeanie and then Martina, who hadn’t reacted or responded to any of the conversation. Then she settled down in her seat and in a quiet voice told us their story.

Sarah’s Story

‘We live up in the hills in a cottage called Tanglewood. Martin and I go–I mean went–to the school here at Buxton. Mummy and Daddy worked as artists from a studio at the back of the house. We live quite high up there and can see for miles. It’s a very jolly place and we all love it to bits.

‘One evening we were sitting outside, having our tea when we noticed a green mist or fog coming over the hills towards Buxton. It was strange–green–well you know what it looks like.

‘Mummy didn’t like the look of it and Daddy looked very worried but didn’t tell us why. We were bundled inside and up to our room and told not to move. We, of course, went over to the window and saw Mummy and Daddy standing on the lawn as the fog came closer. It was strange and creepy. Wisps of it seemed to be reaching out–like fingers or arms searching–and then the main part of it followed. I started to breath heavily and so did Marty. It was like someone was standing on my chest.

‘We were so frightened and the fog was coming closer. I opened the window and shouted down, “Mummy, Daddy, come in; please come in!”

‘Mummy and Daddy were holding hands and looked up at us and smiled. They didn’t seem frightened but both Marty and I were petrified.

‘“Don’t worry, children, you won’t be harmed,” Daddy told us, taking his pipe out of his mouth and smiling. His voice was strange though. It was sort of flat and lifeless.

‘The fog was getting closer and had reached the bottom of the garden. Then Mummy, who had said nothing up till then, spoke. “Can you hear and feel it, Robert?”

‘“Yes,” Daddy replied in that same strange voice.

‘Marty was crying by then. He’s never been strong and was wheezing even harder than me.

‘Mummy looked up at the window with a huge smile on her face. “We are going to see our friends now, we won’t be long,” she said it in the same flat voice that Daddy had used. She then waived at us. “Don’t worry, darlings; are you ready, Robert?”

‘“Yes, Love. See you later, kids.”

‘“Mummy, Daddy, No!” I shouted. I felt that it was all wrong. Mummy and Daddy were being really strange and rather scary.

‘They h—held h—h—hands and walked down the sloping lawn towards the fog. It seemed to glide towards them quickly and then swallowed them. They–they, fell down suddenly, twitched a bit and then we couldn’t see any more as the fog just covered them like an evil, horrible, green throbbing blanket––’

~ §~

By this time Sarah had tears streaming down her cheeks and we all went and hugged both her and the remarkably quiet Martina, who was just staring at the red embers of the fire.

After a few minutes, Sarah continued her tale. I thought about suggesting that she should tell us the rest at some other time, but felt instinctively that she needed to get it off her chest.

~ §~

‘Then the fog came closer to the cottage but stopped about ten feet away; we couldn’t say anything, and just held on to each other tightly. We were absolutely scared stiff and rooted to the spot. Then the horrible stuff just drifted off to the left and didn’t come any nearer. We watched for about half an hour, which was how long it took for it to clear. Our chests felt better once the fog had gone and we could breathe more easily as each minute passed. Finally, when it had all gone, we saw…saw Mummy and Daddy lying on the lawn.

‘I knew–just knew they were dead. Marty was crying and so was I, but we had to go to them. As we approached and saw them lying there and realised––’

She stopped for a moment and shook her head as if she wanted to stop thinking about what she had seen.

‘They were dead of course, but had a smile on their faces and Daddy’s pipe was next to his hand and it was still alight… W—we left them there, but covered them with blankets. W—we w—weren’t strong enough to bury them and I was nervous in case the fog might come back. Anyway, Marty and I stayed in the cottage for two days. Every time I looked at of the window at the blanket that covered Mummy and Daddy, I expected it to be thrown off and then they would come back to us, but it never happened, of course. We had lost them and were alone.

‘The fog came back once, but was over the other side more towards Buxton than where we were. Eventually, I decided that we had to go and get help. The telephone wasn’t working and the radio was just making hissing noises. So we had no idea what was going on. The only thing we did see was an aeroplane in the distance, going north.

‘We put our coats, hats and boots on and left the cottage. W—we said g—goodbye to Mummy and Daddy and–and promised to come back and…help bury them when we could, but we had to go.

‘We hadn’t seen anybody coming along the lane and we couldn’t hear any cars or steam trains in the distance either. There were plenty of animals about though, but they seemed a bit strange and aggressive, so we stayed away from them. It took two hours to reach Buxton and we saw several people lying in the road before we even reached the town. It was horrible seeing all those dead men, women and children. Everywhere we went was the same. It was so confusing. Why did it happen? The fog was nasty and evil. We were so worried that it might come back.

‘We stayed in the police station overnight, the door was open for some reason. I hoped that a policeman might turn up and help us, but he was probably out there somewhere–dead like everyone else. We found some food in the cupboards–tins, biscuits and things and then there was a kettle too, so we didn’t go hungry or thirsty. After staying there for a few days and not daring to go out, we went out this morning and had another look around. The dogs were going around in packs and we had to do some dodging to get away from them. At one time we scrambled into a car and watched them go mad outside, barking, growling and gnashing their teeth, jumping up at the windows and scaring the life out of us.’

~ §~

Sarah paused and I took the opportunity to have a squint out of the windows. Everything seemed all right and there was no sign of the fog. I was soon back in my seat and waited for Sarah to continue.

Strangely, Martina had fallen asleep, her head on Sarah’s lap as she continued with her tale.

~ §~

‘I was worried about Marty. He wasn’t saying much at all–as if he had lost his voice.’

‘Shock,’ Jeanie suggested.

‘Yes,’ said Eve, ‘I was bit like that at first.’

‘No you weren’t,’ exclaimed Jeanie, ‘all you did was moan and complain and then got drunk.’

‘I thought I was forgiven for that,’

‘You were, but only because you were quite nice after that and not behaving like...like...a spoiled brat!’

Eve fell silent, obviously not sure whether she had been complimented or not.

‘Anyway,’ Sarah continued, ‘the dogs were still going crazy outside and when they saw a cat scamper down the road, they were off after it, leaving us able to get out of the car and make a run for it.

‘We ran into the town hall, the doors were wide open, then after closing and bolting the doors, we went upstairs to the top floor. I wanted to be able to see all around and I knew that there was a good view from up there as our parents had brought us to the town hall once when they had to visit our local councillor.

‘I gasped as I saw in the distance the fog over on the brow of a hill. Luckily, it wasn’t coming this way, but I decided that we should stay put until we knew it was safe.

‘We found the canteen and managed to find something to eat. It was pretty awful ’coz there were people there and they had begun to smell rather.’

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

‘We just tried to steer clear of the bodies and find a room where we could stay and not be with the–err–the dead people.

‘Eventually, it got late and I heard the sound of an engine. Looking down at the road, I saw your bus come up to the hotel and all of you get out. I was all for going down and meeting you, but Marty was asleep and he so needed to rest, poor love, so I left it for a while as I thought that you’d probably be staying for the night.

‘Eventually, Marty woke up and we left the Council Office and went across the road and into the hotel. When I saw you get out of the bus earlier, I hadn’t seen your dog and when I knocked on the door and saw this big dog, I sort of went into a funk and made a run for it with Marty dragging along behind.

‘As soon as I opened the front door of the hotel, there were all those terrible dogs outside trying to get at us. There was a crate of empty milk bottles on the step and we started throwing the bottles at them. We should have gone back inside but I wasn’t thinking straight, and then you, Alex and Eve came out and you know the rest.’

She had finished her tale, her eyes glassy and her cheeks moist from all the crying. It must have been awful to see her parents die like that. Martina shifted her position slightly and moaned in her sleep. I wondered if she was having a nightmare. It wouldn’t surprise me, considering all the poor girl had gone through.

‘How is Martina taking being transformed?’ I asked.

‘She’s said nothing. Jeanie and I helped her change and it was as if she was in some sort of trance, I’m very worried about her.’

‘She’ll come out of it eventually; we’ll just have to look after her.’

We sat in silence for a moment, thinking our own thoughts as the rain lashed on the windows outside and the wind rattled them. Shortly after that, I picked up on something that Sarah had said earlier.

‘Sarah, did you say you saw a ’plane?’

‘Yes, it was a small ’plane with a propeller on each wing. It was flying quite high and staying ahead of the fog. I am pretty sure I saw it bank and go north after a bit.

‘We saw one too,’ said Jeanie, ‘the other day. We tried to catch it, but Alexandra here is such a rotten driver, she let it get away––’

‘Why, you–you––’ I squealed and chased after her, throwing a cushion at her retreating back, making the others laugh.

Even Marty who had woken up now, was smiling slightly after that. Maybe she was getting over her problems. I wondered if she would be happy to be called Martina, or if she would stick with Marty–which seems to be what Sarah calls her–being equally suitable for a girl or a boy.

‘So,’ said Sarah to us as she sat back down on the sofa with Martina, ‘what’s your story?’

~ §~

We sat up half the night talking about what had happened to us and the plans that we had to go and find our parents. I could see by Sarah’s expression that she didn’t think we had much chance in finding them alive, although she was very happy for her and Martina to tag along.

We also discussed why I had managed to survive without oxygen for such a long time. It was a mystery and I was sure that it was important fact to add to our meagre knowledge on the effects of the fog. Mind you, I didn’t want to repeat the experiment and intended to obtain some more masks and oxygen cylinders at Buxton's Royal Devonshire Hospital on the other side of town before setting off the next day.

We had decided that we would make an early start in the morning, so after agreeing who was going to keep watch, we tried to get as much sleep as possible before the morning. I wasn’t allowed to watch though as I was the driver and needed to be as fresh as possible for the long miles that we hoped to travel tomorrow.

~ §~

The next day was one of the bright cold winter mornings with a slight frost and everything clear and sharp looking. The wind had gone and the only sign of rain was the occasional puddle in the road.

We found some more crates of empty milk bottles behind the kitchens and kept them handy just in case the dogs returned. After loading the bus with our belongings, we also stocked up with some large chefs’ knives–for protection. I didn’t say anything to the others, but if we passed a gunsmith on our travels, I would suggest getting a few side arms as I had a feeling that we might need better protection at some stage of our journey, although none of us had a clue how to use one; mind you, I did see Cowboys and Indians at Saturday Morning Pictures, so it couldn’t be that hard. Just point and shoot.

After a “tinned” breakfast, we left the town, stopping off first at the hospital for the cylinders and masks. Jeanie, Eve and Sarah did that leaving the rest of us in the bus with the engine running to keep the bus warm and so that we could make a quick getaway, if needed.

There had been no sign of the dogs, thankfully, but Nicola and I kept a good watch out. Ben stayed with us too, just lying down on a seat and going to sleep. Martina was sitting about half way down the bus, looking out of the window and saying nothing. I hoped that she would snap out of it soon as she was getting to be a worry.

The others came back, dragging the cylinders. I could see by their faces that they had seen some gruesome sights, but said nothing because we all knew how things were now. They went back twice more and also brought in a big box of pills, medicines, bandages and other medical items from the pharmacy.

‘You never know?’ shrugged the ever-practical Jeanie.

~ §~

When everything was packed away so that nothing would move while we were travelling, we moved off down the road.

Turning on to the Fairfield Road we headed north on the A6, passing through a village called Dove Holes–which Sarah pronounced “Doov’oles”–towards Chapel-en-le-Frith where we turned right on to the A624 Hayfield Road. This was the Peak District, and was very hilly in places. Lantern Pike was on our left and Kinder Scout and Hayfield to the right. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and in happier times, I would have loved to have spent some time there; but the times were far from happy and we had been through a horrifying experience. I wondered, as I constantly changed up and down the gearbox, whether there would ever be a time like before, when the menace of the fog might have only have been imagined and written about in a work of fiction by Wells or some other science fiction or horror writer.

Bypassing Glossop, we found ourselves eventually at Hollingsworth. We then turned right went through the strangely named Tintwistle on the Woodhead Road. To the right was the Torside and Woodhead reservoirs, the waters reflecting the strong sunlight as we made good time and headed towards Holmfirth.

We stopped for a break, south of Holmfirth and all got out to stretch our legs and have a toilet break. It was quiet on the road, not much in the way of life, anywhere. A few birds were flying around and that was it really. We brewed some tea using the small paraffin primus stove and soon had the kettle whistling.

Arthur needed a change and once again I managed to get out of it by saying that I needed to stretch my legs to get the kinks out of them.

Arthur was a lovely baby and I didn’t know why I had an aversion to looking after him. I tell a lie really; I did know. When I was younger, I was given my Aunt’s baby to hold and I nearly dropped him. Since then I had treated babies like delicate bone china and not wanted to get in any way close enough to any baby to do him or her harm. I would get over it; I had to as I needed to do my ‘bit’ like everyone else.

Soon we resumed our journey. All through our trip I had tried to avoid major towns, but it was getting hard to avoid them now. We had arrived in area with lots of towns and I would inevitably have to go through at least a few, one of them being Huddersfield.

It was about mid day when we saw the buildings of Huddersfield in the distance. I was surprised to see smoke rising from several places and wondered what would cause such smoke now.

We came closer and then saw the bridge up ahead under which the River Colne passes. Across the bridge was some barricades made of doors, furniture, cars and other things. I slowed to a halt about fifty yards away and watched. Eve was standing by me and the others were breathing down my neck.

There was a sign, written on the side of a door in red paint.

DON’T TRY TO COME FURTHER.
DISEASE AREA! BE WARNED.


‘What shall we do?’ I asked.

‘Go a bit closer?’ Sarah suggested.

‘No,’ said Eve, ‘you don’t know who it is behind there.’

‘We need to get north somehow, maybe we can find out a bit more. Tell whoever it is that we are just going through’ I said, starting to open the door. ‘I’ll just have a look––’

‘NO!’ Jeanie screeched, dragging me back as I heard the first shot, closely followed by several more.

‘Oh no, not again!’ I moaned as I crashed the gears into reverse and backed the bus away as fast as I could.

---

 
To be continued…
 

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