Mum?’

‘Yes, honey, it’s me. You had us worried for a while. How are you feeling?’

‘Sore, tired and confused. Where am I?’

‘At the facility sweetheart.’

‘H—how did I get here?

 

---

Chapter 17

Previously…

I could hear the voice from a long way off. It was a voice I recognised–one that I loved.

‘Wake up, honey, oh please wake up.’

I was in the bottom of the school swimming pool, trying manfully to come to the top after being pushed in by some oik of a sixth-former. I struggled to the surface, but something was stopping me from rising to the surface. My long hair was caught in a drain on the bottom of the pool. That was strange, I had short hair. It was an awful feeling, to drown in the swimming pool–

‘Alex, please, darling, come back.’

That well-known voice again. Who was it? I recognised it, but it couldn’t be. I was going to be late for the rugby match and old Stinky, the games master would give me lines. Still, I wouldn’t have to do lines if I drowned in the swimming pool–

‘Alex, I know you can hear me, wake up NOW!’

I felt something cool and damp on my brow. That was funny. I thought I was in the pool–

I cracked open an eye and there in front of me, as large as life and as pretty as a picture, was my mum.

And now the story continues…

Fort William

‘Mum?’

‘Yes, honey, it’s me. You had us worried for a while. How are you feeling?’

‘Sore, tired and confused. Where am I?’

‘At the facility sweetheart.’

‘H—how did I get here?’

‘Jeanie drove you here with the others. She’ll come and see you a bit later.’

‘I—I—I missed you and Dad…dy.’ I said as tears began to roll down my cheeks for some reason.

‘Oh, Allie, we missed you and Jeanie, terribly. And then all these terrible occurrences happened and we thought that you were dead.’

‘Where are Auntie and Uncle?’

She smiled. ‘They made it to us. It’s a good job that they have a shortwave radio and picked up our call. We send out calls every hour on the hour. They heard one of them and made it up here a few days ago. They had problems with the fog too, but managed to go across country to avoid it. They appear to be partially immune to the fog’s effects a bit like you and, to a certain extent, your sister, although they can’t stay awake when the fog’s about. It must be a family thing. We are aware that there are others who are like that including the friends you brought with you, so we have hopes. We have taken some blood from you and the others and the boffins are looking at the samples as we speak. We want to see if we can formulate some sort of antidote and then we can move on.’

‘I hope so. We’ve seen some horrid things. All those people dead, men, women and children––’

I was haunted by the baby I saw in the pram the other day and wondered if that vision would ever leave me. She hugged me as she knew I was upset. I loved being hugged by her. I had missed her so much.

‘Where’s Daddy?’

‘Working on the communications equipment. We want to extend the range so that more people can pick up our calls. Anyway enough of that; how are you?’

‘My leg feels sore.’

‘Well, if you will go around stabbing yourself, what do you expect? Both your leg wounds are doing okay, but the earlier one looks a bit angry and red. To be frank, you won’t be able to do any Highland dancing for a wee while!’

‘Ha, ha, Mummy!’

‘Oh, so it’s Mummy now?’

‘Erm, aye. It sort of seems right now that I’m a—a—girl.’

I looked down and fiddled with a loose thread on the sleeve of my cotton nightie, not wanting to see the expression on her face. Was she disappointed that she now no longer had a son? Was Dad…Daddy upset too?

She looked at me and then stroked my–now much longer–hair.

‘Daddy and I love you as much ever as we did. It doesn’t matter one iota that you’re a girl now, you’re still our lovely, caring, gentle and brave child. I can see that you are still tired, not surprising really with the amount of blood you lost. Doctor Robinson said that I could only have five minutes with you when you awoke and now it’s been ten so I’d better go. Rest now, love, and everyone will come and see you when you feel up to it.’

‘What about the fog?’ I asked.

‘You don’t need to worry about that here, we’re in a controlled environment and the fog can’t get to us. Now rest, darling, and I’ll see you later.’

She kissed me gently on the forehead and then left. As she closed the door quietly, I yawned, realising that I was very tired and drained. My eyes drooped and in moments I was asleep.

~ §~

When I awoke, I felt more refreshed and my aches and pains had receded into just a dull throb. I was more with it now and took more notice of my surroundings. It was a plain room–obviously a bedroom, with cream walls, the bed–which I had been sleeping on, obviously–a wardrobe, bedside cabinet and a picture on the wall of some unknown loch with hills behind. Not very inspiring, but I didn’t care. I was with my family now and I couldn’t care less if I was in the dungeon of a Scottish castle. As far as I was concerned, I was at home if I was with my mother and father. On the pillow next to me was a teddy and I immediately recognised it as the one belonging to Nicola. I smiled at the sweet thought of her letting me borrow it while I was sick.

I vaguely remembered my conversation with Mummy. I smiled at that term. Is it a girl thing that we girls call them Mummy and Daddy? I know that Jeanie always did and I too up until my eleventh birthday. Why that cut off point, I didn’t know. Maybe for a boy it was too much of a babyish term?

I had little chance to think about anything else, as I needed to go to the loo. Not knowing anything about where I actually was, I didn’t really know what to do. Should I shout for someone or just get up and go and find a toilet?

Necessity made me do the latter and I therefore got up rather gingerly and stood swaying by the bed. The room seemed to swim about a bit and I went hot and cold. I was feeling rather faint to tell you the truth and I could feel the perspiration on my forehead and running down the small of my back.

I slumped back down on the bed. I couldn’t do it–get to the door–I mean. What I could do was wet my knickers if I didn’t go soon.

‘Hello?’ I called, my voice echoing slightly.

‘HELLO!’ I shouted as I had no response.

From the distance, I heard the unmistakable click of heels approaching. In seconds, the door opened and a lady stood there. She was, I suppose, about fifty and was wearing a long white coat.

‘Hello, Allie, do you need anything?’

She was smiling and seemed nice.

‘I need to go to the loo.’ I said.

‘Busting to go eh? A bit weak on the pins still? Not surprising with the amount of blood you lost. We had to get a couple of arm fulls out of your sister. I’m Doctor Robinson, by the way. Come on; let’s get you to the wee room before you make a puddle on the floor!’

She helped me up and held my arm as I staggered out of the room and into the lavatory, which thankfully was only next door. She let me have some privacy while I, erm, did my business, but she kept up a constant conversation through the door.

‘Well you could have knocked all of us down with a feather when we got your call over the short wave. It’s amazing that you weren’t all killed. Jeanie and the others told us about all your adventures and how you took charge and how brave you were. I had to dress your wounds. It must have hurt terribly to actually stab yourself in the leg like that. You will be alright though. You have no infection there and the wound was clean. Although you were incredibly lucky because you missed an artery by a hairs breadth.’

I pulled the chain and the pan flushed noisily. I stood, pulled my knickers up, and holding the wall, staggered to the wash basin and washed my hands using the slip of coal tar soap and some lukewarm water. Then I dried my hands on the towel and I was finished.

‘All done? That’s good. You need to go back to bed for a bit. You are confined until at least tomorrow. Now that you are back in the land of the living, I’ll tell your sister and friends that they can see you for fifteen minutes and then you can have some more shut-eye; all right?’

I just nodded as she guided me back into bed and then shot off.

‘She’s full of beans, that one’, I thought, as I lay back on my pillow and tried to get myself back together again.

I felt like I had had two games of rugger and the opposing team had tried to make strawberry jam out of me.

~ §~

It seemed like only seconds later that I became aware of what sounded like a herd of baby elephants cantering down the corridor outside. Judging by the noise and giggles, I could easily guess who it was. Suddenly the door burst open and there they all were; Jeanie, Eve, Nicola, Julie and Sarah. The only one missing was wee Arthur. I hoped he was all right–he must have been or the others would all be glum.

They all began talking at once, making my head spin! ‘Stop!’ I cried holding my hand up, ‘one at a time, girls, please.’

Jeanie laughed. ‘Still being a bossy boots then, Allie?’

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.

She came to me and gave me a huge bear hug. ‘You be just as bossy as you like, sis. Mummy and Daddy are sooo proud of you.’

‘We all did heaps,’ I said, ‘we were a team and all of you were jolly brave.’

‘Never mind that,’ said Eve, ‘what was it like to plunge a knife in yourself?’

‘Stop it, Eve!’ Sarah said, crossly, ‘she doesn’t want to talk about that.’

‘I only asked,’ said Eve, tossing her long blond hair back and plonking herself down on the bed. I noted that she didn’t sweep her skirt under her as she sat and wondered, once again, if she hadn’t really got the hang of being a girl yet.

Nicola came to the other side of the bed and gazed at me, her eyes wide. She looked so pretty in a white dress with flowers on–pink of course–and pink ribbons on her pigtails. There was absolutely no doubt that she had embraced girlhood wholeheartedly.

‘Hello, Nicola,’ I said, ‘you look so bonnie.’

‘Mmm, your mummy did my hair, it’s nice, isn’t it? Are you better now?’

‘Nearly, sweetheart; I am a bit weak but I do feel lots better for seeing you and everybody.’

She smiled at that.

‘So,’ said Julie, looking a lot more chipper now. I had worried about her because she had taken being transformed very hard and the sights that she had seen and the loss of her parents had nearly taken her over the edge. ‘When are you going to be up and about?’

‘The doctor said I can’t do anything until tomorrow; then I suppose, I’ll have to see what’s what. How is Arthur?’

‘He’s chust fine,’ Jeanie replied–she was sounding much more Scots now — it must be the porridge. ‘Morag, one of the ladies, has taken over looking after him. It’s sad really, she lost her new baby to the fog and Mummy said she was nearly suicidal; but now she is breastfeeding Arthur, it keeps her busy and the two of them are bonding really well.’

‘Oh, I’m sooo pleased,’ I replied. ‘And how’s Ben?’

‘He’s just fine,’ said Sarah, ‘he spends lots of time in the kitchen and he’s being spoilt rotten with all the titbits he’s been getting.’

‘He’ll get fat,’ I said yawning and suddenly feeling rather weary.

‘We’d better be awa’,’ Jeanie told me, all businesslike.

‘No don’t go, I need to know how we got here and what the fog’s doing––’

‘Tomorrow, hen,’ Jeanie said with a smile.

Despite my protests, they all came and hugged me and then left, promising to visit me in the morning when all would be revealed.

To be honest, I was tired so I wasn’t terribly upset at them leaving me in limbo so to speak. I was feeling rather light-headed again and my leg was throbbing from the old wound, not the one where I had stabbed myself. I must have dropped off to sleep almost immediately.

~ §~

I wakened in the night feeling as if my leg was on fire. I shouted out and realised, through the pain that someone was in the room. When I heard the voice I felt reassured.

‘Daddy,’ I croaked through dry lips. I couldn’t breathe and my chest felt tight and painful.

‘It’s all right, Allie, you’re safe.’

‘My leg hurts and I feel funny,’ I gasped.

‘Stay here, honey, I’ll get the doctor.’

I was going to say that I wasn’t going anywhere but–A, I was too shattered to say it and–B, he had run off rather quickly.

I felt all hot and sweaty–my nightie clinging clammily to my body. I was so hot, I threw the covers off and almost immediately my teeth began chattering because I was icy cold. I hadn’t a clue what was happening. I didn’t dare to touch or even look at my leg. I had the impression that it was at least twice its normal size, but that was silly. I was hurting so badly, that I bit my lip and thought I could taste some blood trickling down my throat. After a violent coughing fit which set off an explosion pains all over my body, I must have passed out as the next thing I knew was the cool feeling of a cold flannel on my forehead.

‘A bad infection, I thought we’d cleaned this up, but I’ll have to take another look. Robert, can you get some more penicillin, she’s beginning to show signs of pneumonia too, poor little girl and I do not like the sound of her chest.’

It was the doctor’s voice and someone else–a man I didn’t recognise. A few moments later I was put on my side.

‘This might hurt just a wee bit, Allie,’

I felt a needle–it seemed to be enormous–puncture my bottom and then an incredibly painful injection. What with that and everything else, my body had had enough and I knew no more.

~ §~

I had lots of dreams, weird ones where I was floating on high and seeing the world turn green. Then I was a boy again in amongst all my friends at school, playing rugby and then they all fell down in a heap leaving me with the ball.

I saw my mother and father run hand-in-hand over the cliffs at Beachy Head and the screams made me want to scream too, but I had no voice. Time and again I saw that baby in the pram and it was terrible as I could do nothing for the poor wee lamb.

Occasionally I sort of semi woke up, when I was being fussed with. I vaguely remembered those injections, lots of them and then there periods where I could hear people talking but I just couldn’t wake up enough to respond.

Finally I woke up, more or less myself again. I was weak but not too bad–as if I had run a cross country paper chase and was just tired after my excursions. I didn’t know where I was for a moment and then it all rushed back. I looked across the room, saw a lady that I knew so well, busily knitting and said, ‘Hello, Auntie Betty.’

She looked up from her knitting and smiled back. ‘Aboot time tew, young Alexandra.’

She put her knitting down and then came to the bed.

‘How’re ye feeling the noo, ma puir wee lassie?’

Auntie Betty had a broad Scots accent but I won’t try to write it all down as it might make my brain hurt.

‘No’ sae bad, Auntie,’ I replied, trying to sound all Scots, but not terribly successfully as I had been semi-anglicised by my stay at an English school. ‘I’m awfu’ glad tae see ye. Whaur’s Uncle Archie?’

‘Wi’ the men; they’re clearing the snow aff the roads. We’ve had plenty o’ bad weather while ye’ve been snoozing.’

I was reasonably comfortable and relaxed in my warm bed. I wasn’t hurting anywhere except on my bum which felt more than a wee bit like a pin cushion.

‘Ye look a wee bitty different from when ye last visited us at the fairm.’

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.

‘Nae need tae be sorry, ye mak’ a bonnie wee lassie and nae mistake. Ye look so much like Jeanie, ye can tell even more now that ye’re twa peas oot o’ the same pod. How’re ye feelin’ the noo?’

‘Not bad, a wee bit tired, but my aches and pains have nearly gone and I can breathe all right now.’

‘That’s gude. It was a close run thing there. We a’most lost ye. Ye had an infection in one of ye’re wounds and then ye caught pneumonia.’

‘How long have I been here?’

‘Twa weeks, nigh on.’

‘Oh.’ I said. Two weeks! I didn’t think it had been that long. It was almost like it had been yesterday since we rushed through Glen Coe and beat the fog.

‘Richt, hen, I need to go and peel some tatties. As you are a’most fit and weel, we dinna need tae nanny yew sae much. When ye feel up tae it, pit some claes on and come doon tae the kitchen, an’ I’ll mak’ ye a sandwich or something. I bet you’re just a wee bitty hungry?’

I thought about it for a moment and then realised I was ravenous! I just nodded.

‘Not surprising ye have nae eaten for ages. See thon bell on the side?’

I looked at the bedside cabinet. There was a big hand bell there–it looked a bit like the one we had at infants school we used to go to in the village.

‘Ring it if ye get intae bother or need help. Now, I’ll be aff. See yous la’er.’

She went over to her knitting picked it up and with a smile, a wink and a nod, left. I smiled, my auntie had always been a bit of a character and it was great that she survived all the horridness.

I swung my legs out of the bed and sat there for a moment. Then, standing up, I went to the mirror on the front of the wardrobe. I looked a real mess. My hair was long and straggly and my arms looked thin. I lifted up the long nightie and saw that I had lost loads of weight and my ribs showed clearly through my pale skin. No wonder I felt so hungry. I stepped closer and stared at my face. It looked thin too–almost gaunt and as white as a sheet. My eyes had dark circles under them and when I poked my tongue out, it looked decidedly furry and not a very healthy colour.

Even so, I smiled at my reflection, because at least I, and all the people I loved, were alive and for that I was truly grateful.

~ §~

After finding my way to the lav, I returned to my room and got dressed in the under things, blouse and tartan skirt that had been left for me. My breasts looked a bit bigger, but as a result of my losing weight, they may have looked a bit more prominent as a result. They still itched a lot and I wondered when that would go away. As I pulled up my stockings, I became aware of how much of an effort it took. I needed plenty of gorgeous juicy steaks and bread and dripping to get my strength back.

After brushing my hair and promising myself to have a bath and a wash of hair if there was enough water available, I left the room and followed my nose downstairs to the kitchen from which some rather delicious cooking smells were emanating.

I had no idea where anyone was, because, so far as I could see, the place was deserted. How do I describe it? Well, there were no windows but plenty of lights. I could hear the throbbing of engines coming from down below and I assumed–correctly as it turned out–that the place had its own electricity generators. The place smacked of a government facility, with pea-green walls and grey lino-tiled floors that reflected the light bulbs from above. My heels echoed on the hard floor as I made my way along a long corridor past several doors all numbered like E45 and E46, then down the staircase to a lower level.

I became aware of pots and pans being rattled, so I made my way towards the noise; the wonderful smell of roast meat was making my mouth water alarmingly!

I pushed through some swing doors and found myself in the kitchen. It looked a bit like a school kitchen with large ovens and lots of stainless steel work surfaces. It was hot and steamy in there and I could now smell the greens being cooked and wrinkled my nose as I never have liked boiled greens in any way, shape or form.

To my left were three ladies busy at one of the counters, including my auntie who looked up and smiled when she saw me.

‘There y’are, hen. Ye luke a wee bitty better the noo. There’s a few sandwiches over there on the bench and some tea in the pot–only dried milk though.’

She pointed the way and soon I was demolishing the doorstep sandwiches in double quick time.

When I had finished I took my empty plate to the ladies. One of them looked up from peeling a huge carrot and smiled.

‘So you’re the famous Allie?’ she said as the other glanced up at me too. I could feel my face grow hot and probably red too. I just nodded and smiled weakly.

‘Dinna fash yersel’, ma wee hen,’ said Auntie, ‘she’s only pullin’ ye’re leg.’

The other lady spoke up. ‘I can’t believe that you were once a boy, you look so pretty.’

‘Thanks,’ I mumbled, wishing to be elsewhere–anywhere other than undergoing this close, uncomfortable scrutiny I was experiencing.

‘Leave her alane, Connie. Have ye had enough tae eat, pet?’

‘Yes thanks, Auntie Betty.’

‘Well, we’ll be having dinner in about an hour and a half and Doctor Robinson has said that we need to feed ye up wi’ lots of stodge. She wants tae see ye later as she needs to prod, poke and stick things in ye!’

I didn’t like the sound of that!

‘Erm, where is everybody?’

‘Go through that door and at the end of the corridor there’s another door, go through there and ye’ll see whit’s gangin’ on.’

She kissed me on the cheek and shooed me off and after goodbyes to the others I left the kitchen.

I hurried down the corridor which was a very similar to the other one outside my bedroom and as I neared the end, I could hear the buzz of talking. As I opened the door, I found myself in a large aircraft hanger sized room and the noise grew much louder. The size of it took my breath away. There were lots of people milling about and over the far side, there were a series of windows that looked out over the mountains. It was like something out of science fiction with banks of electronic equipment with flashing lights and dials all over the place. There were loud speakers dotted about and occasionally someone spoke over the Tannoy, giving meaningless instructions to somebody or other.

Most of the people were wearing either white coats or army uniforms. High on one side were series of clocks with names of cities under them–London, New York, Paris, Delhi, Tokyo, Adelaide, Sydney and many others. The clocks all showed different times and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that they were the local times for each time zone.

I just stood there feeling very small and not really knowing what was going on. Then I jumped as I felt someone grab me from behind. By the squeals of delight, I knew that it was Jeanie.

I turned around and we hugged.

‘Come on,’ she shouted through the noise. ‘Let’s go to the recreation room, the others are there.’

She dragged me along by the hand and it was wonderful that I wasn’t feeling any pain from my legs, just a slight tugging where the scars were still healing and brushing against my skirt. We went to a side room and she opened the door and motioned me through, closing it behind us, the noise immediately disappeared. I realised why I had found it so quiet before, all the doors were soundproofed. As the door was shut I could see the others standing or sitting around a table playing a board game — snakes and ladders.

They all looked up and saw me and then I was mobbed by the mob! It took a few minutes for them to quieten down. Someone went to get some glasses and a jug full of orange squash. They all looked clean and smart in nice dresses and ribbons in their hair. I think that they were as fed up as I was on the trip with wearing clothes that needed washing almost as soon as we went anywhere.

We all sat on the wooden chairs and chatted away nineteen to the dozen. Then I had to ask the question.

‘How did we all get here after I fainted?’

They all looked at each other and then Eve spoke up.

‘I’ll tell, shall I?’

They all nodded and Nicola came over and sat by me, leaning her head against my shoulder.

‘Well, after you stabbed yourself–honestly, the things you do to get attention–anyway, after that, you screeched poor Nessie around a corner, stopped and sort of collapsed. We were lucky that you stopped, otherwise there would have been a fearful crash––’

‘–I was everso scared,’ Nicola whispered in my ear. I gave her a hug and listened while Eve continued.

‘Jeanie managed to stop you making a mess and bleeding all over the driver’s seat and then we sort of pulled you out of there and laid you out across the back seat. You were terribly pale and we were all worried that you might have kicked the bucket.’

I smiled at that boyish expression, but said nothing as she continued.

‘Jeanie cleaned up the driver’s seat with a mucky old towel of Ben’s, and then took charge as she was, sort of, your deputy–anyway we didn’t complain coz she was the only one who could drive Nessie. We had some luck coz the fog didn’t follow us out of Glen Coe; so while Sarah and Julie looked after you in the back and Nicola looked after Arthur and Ben, I rode shotgun with Jeanie and we made our way to Fort William. I would like to say that we had lots of adventures, slayed a few dragons and saved the day, but it a bit boring really and once we had driven through Kinlochleven, which wasn’t at all nice because of the smell and all the bodies and North Ballachulish where we had to pull a dead highland cow off the road so we could get past, it was all plain sailing or driving from then on until we got to Fort William. We stopped by the railway station and then I set off a couple of flares. Then we saw some other flares in the sky over the mountains and knew that we had been seen. Twenty minutes later a Land Rover arrived and we followed it up to this place.’

I looked at them and was so proud that they had managed to get us all to safety. I was sure that Eve was underplaying what had actually happened and that I would have to wheedle the true facts out of Jeanie later but the fact was that we were now safe. I was about to ask a few more questions when the door opened and in came Mummy and Daddy and a man wearing a uniform which I recognised as that of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders.

I got up and rushed, rather breathlessly, to my parents and threw myself at them. A few moments passed as I tried to control my emotions. I hadn’t quite got used how easily I burst into tears now and how things seemed so different in my head from the time I was a boy. It wasn’t that I didn’t love them any less when I was a boy–or that I didn’t get upset over things–but as a girl I didn’t feel the need to bottle things up or be brave and stiff-upper-lipped about things that affected me deeply.

Eventually, I let them go and we all sat round in a circle with the man in the uniform between my parents.

‘Allie,’ Daddy began, ‘we have not been able to tell you all that’s been happening for a number of reasons; the first being that we didn’t know everything ourselves. We still don’t know everything and it’s highly likely that we never will. However, we can tell you what we do know and what we can do about things. Colonel Hamish Robertson here will explain.’

We all looked at the tall dark handsome man wearing the kilt. He must have been about forty-five but his side whiskers were grey making him seem somewhat older, maybe.

‘Well, children, first of all I’d like to say that I think that you have done wonders to get here at all. A crack regiment would have struggled with what you have had to go through. Anyway there are many questions you might want to know the answer too and I’ll try to give you what gen we have on the fog, its effects, the current state of play and what we hope to do to counteract it.’

The way he was talking was rather comforting; as if he was discussing a game of cricket or rugger and not our future and the future of the whole world for that matter.

‘As you know, we were based at Dunoon originally. The bubble was supposed to replicate conditions on the moon and planets and how well men and women could survive without outside help or support. Things went well for some time and then we were contacted by the Science Department regarding an asteroid that had been seen heading towards Earth. It was going to be a close shave, but it would miss us by about ten thousand miles. Because of the good atmosphere, we had, as part of our work, some rather powerful telescopes and we were able to track the asteroid as it approached us. It was a strange one and our boffins said that it had a rather greenish hue to its trail. Unfortunately, as is the way with these things, the weather closed in and we could not, in the end, see its closest approach. However, other telescopes were luckier and from what we heard from around the world, it was a spectacular sight.’

He stopped for a moment and sipped at his cup of tea and then continued. ‘Almost immediately after that, we began to receive reports from around the world that communications were dropping out. At first we thought that it was just atmospheric conditions and then we heard from a regular contact–a sister observatory outside Paris. The radio operator was talking gibberish and was panicking and then he screamed and everything went dead. It was getting stranger and stranger as then we realised that we couldn’t even contact the ministry in London by phone and there was strange static on all the radio waves. Our science bods said that it might be just radio interference caused by the asteroid and hoped that it would clear pretty quickly, but it was all pretty suspicious. We tried everything to find out what was going on though and then soon realised that things were certainly not all right and we had to do something to investigate.

‘I sent out three teams in lorries to discover what they could about what was happening locally, as the telephones there were down too. They never returned — some good men died there.’

He paused for a moment looking terribly sad and then continued.

‘I made the decision to stop the experiment and pulled out your parents and the others from the bubble and then we had some meetings to decide on what the best course of action was. Before any decisions could be made though, I needed information. Michael Bannister, one of our doctors, is a pilot and he kept his light aircraft in a hanger at the complex. We had a flat piece of land behind us and he went up with Trevor Phillips, a scientist, to find out what was going on.

‘What they found was destruction and death everywhere and a strange fog or mist on the horizon. They investigated and what they saw horrified them. You know–probably better than anyone–what the fog is like, green, dense, throbbing and lit somehow from within. As they got closer to investigate, they began having problems with their breathing and strange things were happening in their heads. At the last moment, they turned around and headed back to us. I think that if they had not turned back, they would have plunged to their death.

‘We decided to move here because of the facilities, which were more secure and we could seal the whole place off and use an internal oxygen supply. Moving was a logistical nightmare and we had a few close calls with the fog, but luckily we managed the move without any further loss of life.’

He paused for a moment to take a few sips of tea and then continued.

‘This is or was part of a nuclear bunker complex that we had been using for military purposes, so it is ideal for our needs. Another contributory factor in moving here is the fact that we are much higher up. We can more easily see the fog approaching, and importantly, we can make the place air tight and hopefully keep the fog at bay while we come to grips with what we can do about all this. Three times since we have been here, the fog has come, but our defences have held and we have been safe. But we cannot live here forever and we need to find out as much as we can about the fog and its effects on humans. Since we began broadcasting on short wave, we have had a steady trickle of people coming to us and their knowledge of what was happening out there and the information that they have provided gives us an inkling of what we need to do. A few had not been touched by the fog, others had just been lucky and somehow lived through an attack. We knew that in the end the fog killed people and changed a few, especially children from boys into girls. Why this happens we don’t know. Why some were spared, we weren’t sure of. We have a number doctors on the team, including biologists, chemists and even a geneticist, so we’ve got the brains and then we had to use those brains to come up with an answer as fast as humanly possible. We started taking blood from everyone including the few survivors of a fog attack. Then you called in and told us how you survived. It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle and we have been trying desperately to find an answer before it was too late. When you came in, desperately ill, Alexandra the doctor took some blood from you and added it to the samples taken from everyone else.’

He looked up and smiled over my shoulder. I hadn’t realised that the doctor had come in and was standing behind my chair.

‘Would you like to explain, doctor?’

‘Of course, Colonel,’ Doctor Robinson said, coming around to the front, grabbing a chair and sitting down.

‘We analysed your blood Alex, with all of your group and the others who had also survived. We did hundreds of tests and few of us got much sleep for two days, but the only conclusive thing that we could come up with was that you had very high levels of vitamin B12. The other children had also had, in the past or currently, breathing problems caused by asthma or bronchitis — there are five other children here other than you, three used to be boys and they are all younger than Nicola; none of their parents survived and it was by sheer luck that they were found by other survivors who had managed to avoid the fog somehow. More about that another time.’

I looked at Jeanie who raised her eyebrows; this was new to her too.

‘Returning to the subject at hand; there are probably other things that link you to the resistance that you have. An important point was that pain seems to trigger some sort of protection in you, Allie–maybe something to do with the rush of adrenalin when you hurt yourself. These things we are not sure of but as a safety precaution, everyone has been having injections of B12 in the hope that if we are caught, we might have some sort of protection against the worst of the fog’s effects–that being, of course, death. In the mean time, we are still trying to come to grips with the fog and find a permanent solution. We have no idea how many people have died, but one estimate is that 98 percent of the population throughout the world have perished and if we’re not careful, that may not be enough for the human race to recover. Only time will tell.’

She looked around as we absorbed all the information that she had given us and then she seemed to hesitate and then continue.

‘One bit of information that might or might not be relevant is that before communications went down, a few of the astronomers had plotted the trajectory of the asteroid and had had tentatively decided that this may have last visited our neck of the woods about 65 million years ago.’

‘What has that got to do with anything?’ said Eve.

About 65 million years ago, dinosaurs mysteriously died out. It may just be a coincidence as this time around, animals have not been affected, except of course humans. But it’s another part of the jigsaw puzzle that might fit.’

‘Thank you, doctor,’ said the colonel, ‘any questions?’

Jeanie put her hand up.

‘I can’t worry about dinosaurs now; I have enough going on in my head at the moment, I think that it might spit in two if I’m no careful. Coming back to us, we don’t really know why we survived but expect it has something to do with oxygen and the fact that some of us have had chest problems.’

‘That’s right,’ said Doctor Robinson.

‘Well, what about Arthur then, he was exposed to the green fog at least once and he hasn’t been changed or affected?’

‘Ah, Arthur is a bit of a strange case. We know that babies have died and we still can’t understand why he has been spared. However, even the most virulent of diseases sometimes spare individuals and it may be that he has some sort of natural immunity that we do not know of that spares him from the effects. We still have a lot to learn but we are trying to find the answers as soon as possible.’

‘Any other questions?’ asked the colonel.

‘Are we safe here?’ asked Sarah.

‘We hope so. We have been all right so far, but only time can tell if we are totally safe in this place. The sooner we find out more about the fog the better.’

The colonel glanced at Mummy and Daddy for a moment and raised his eyebrows, questioningly. My parents looked worried for some reason and then they looked at each other and then both nodded at the officer.

The colonel turned to me.

‘Allie, I know that you have done a tremendous amount since all this started to happen and you have been exceedingly brave. How would you feel about doing something else?’

‘What?’ I asked, apprehensively.

Daddy coughed and then spoke up. He took his pipe out of his mouth and looked sad, upset and frightened all at once.

‘Allie, we have a problem. The others who have been most exposed to the fog and have survived are all younger than you, apart from Jeanie here. They have all shown signs of resistance, but you are the only one–as far as we know–who has been able to breath and stay awake when the fog hits.’

‘That’s because I keep hurting myself.’

I wondered what he was driving at but I felt a bit sick in my tummy at the thought of what he might ask me to do.

‘What do you want?’ I asked, failing to keep the quiver out of my voice.

He took a deep breath and then continued.

‘We want you to go out and seek the fog and then get a sample of it somehow, so that we can analyse it and then find a cure or some way of destroying it. We would have used space suits, but they were due to arrive from our American colleagues the week after all this happened, so we have no reliable means of keeping a human protected and the fog at bay. Anyway, it is possible the fog can attack in other ways other than respiratory means and we can't take chances that someone exposed to the fog, will not be overcome. We just don't know enough about it. What we do know is that you have survived and function while others haven't so it is to you we have to turn to. Will you do it?'

I could hear the gasps coming from all my friends and the protests from Jeanie in particular, but I was looking at my Daddy. He was close to tears. In fact Mummy was crying. What he had asked me to do was to go out and, possibly, die.

Should I do it? Could I do it?

My hands felt moist and my heart was going mad. I was scared, more scared for some reason than that time someone took a pot shot at us at that big house.

Then, in my mind’s eye I saw the wee baby in her pram, dead before she’d had any real chance to live. Then I thought of Nicola, so scared and yet so very brave, looking at me now; her eyes seemingly, almost as big as saucers. Then there was Arthur; would he ever have the chance to grow up and marry a pretty girl so they could have children?

I looked round all the faces–the faces of my friends who were now part of my family. Could I let them down?

I took a deep breath and in a trembling voice, gave him my answer.

‘What do I have to do, Colonel?’

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.