It was November the twenty-third 1958 that it happened and my world changed–forever…

The Green Fog
By


Susan Brown

---

 
Chapter 1
 

It was no good, I couldn’t catch my breath. It was the same old thing–Asthma–a beastly thing to afflicted by. Sometimes you can go for ages and everything is perfectly normal and then it just hits you.

It was extra nasty, because I knew that my twin sister Jean, would be suffering the same experience as me. We both go to school at The Beeches, a private school on the rolling South Downs near Petersfield in Hampshire. It was an attractive area, near lots of wonderful places like the New Forest, Ashford Hangers, Beacon Hill and Harting Down, we aren’t too far from the seaside either!

The school is one of those progressive ones–mixed sex, with a modern up-to-date curriculum to give the girls and boys what the governors like to call a rounded education.

I suppose that as this is a journal and as such could be read by anybody, I ought to give a few facts about who and what I am.

My name is Alexander MacKenzie, and my twin sister is called Jean; we aren’t identical, how could we be, if I’m a boy and she’s a girl, but sometimes, when we swap clothes to fool our friends for a lark, we sort of look pretty much like each other.

Our home is near Dunoon, Argyllshire on the west coast of the Firth of Clyde up in Scotland. That is one of the reasons why we go to school ‘down south’, it’s not as damp down there and our asthma isn’t quite so bad. We do sometimes have attacks though and they are a bit of a bore when they do occur.

We don’t often see our parents and haven’t done so for ages because they are both scientists, working on a hush-hush project back up in Scotland, near our home. All we know is that it’s part of some sort of space project between the UK and Americans and it involves living in some sort of bubble that is self contained. The idea being that once man gets to the moon, they would want to colonise it and they had to experiment how well people can survive in a harsh environment.

Anyway, that’s all we have been told as the rest is on a need to know basis, whatever that means.

We like our school; the staff and other pupils are, in the main, all right although I don’t like Mr Potts–or Stink Pot as we call him behind his back, because he’s the chemistry master and is very strict. I think teachers should have a sense of humour, don’t you? Just because I put some cobbler’s wax on his chair and he sort of stuck to it when he sat down, I was given the cane and a hundred lines: now that is not fair.

I don’t see all that much of Jean, because she is with the girls and plays things like hockey or lacrosse and tennis, while I’m with the boys who are more into rugger and cricket. We see each other in class, of course, but it’s not the same. Also, the girls sleep in a different wing to the boys and that means that we don’t get much time together and that’s not fair either because Jean and I, being twins, have always been very close.

It was late on a Saturday afternoon when the atmosphere very damp outside. I was playing rugger with the others of my year and in the distance I could see Jean playing hockey on a nearby pitch. We did manage to wave at one another, but at our age it was “not done” for boys to fraternise with mere girls, so I had to be satisfied with that.

After a while, I was getting decidedly chesty and the sports master, Mr Sykes said that I should go up to the San–Sanatorium–and see Matron.

As I was coughing and wheezing like a vintage traction engine by then, I thought that it would be a good idea. Looking over to the other playing field, I couldn’t see Jean, so I wondered if she had the same problem and was on her way to the San too.

I left my chums and trudged across the field towards the school building. It was a bit of a grey day and looking towards the sun, I noticed that it had a strange green hue to it when the clouds parted for a moment. I shrugged, not very interested because my chest now felt very tight and I was having quite a bit of trouble with my breathing.

It was all I could do to climb the stairs to the Sanatorium. It wasn’t very big, consisting of a medical room in the middle and a ‘ward’ either side containing beds in one ward for boys and the other for girls.

As I entered, there was matron wearing her crisply starched uniform and ‘angel’s wings’ cap tending to none other than my sister.

Jean looked awful with dark circles under her eyes and her lungs were heaving just like mine. She had a thermometer in her mouth and just gave me a rather tired smile as she saw me.

Matron turned around as she heard my footfall. ‘I might have known that you’d turn up, young MacKenzie. Sit over there and I’ll see to you in a moment.’

I sat down on a chair and waited for her to finish with Jean.

‘Right, Jean, you know it’s asthma of course, your lungs are a bit congested too. I can’t speak to the doctor for the moment as the ’phone line seems to be down for some reason, but I want you to pop one of your little yellow pills under your tongue. You can sleep here tonight and you had better have some oxygen too in case the pill doesn’t work. I’ll call the doctor as soon as the ’phone gets back on, but as you have had all this before, you know the drill. You’ll find a nightie your size in one of the drawers so get yourself undressed and pop into bed. I’ll come and see you once I’ve had a look at your brother.’

Jean hopped off the couch and put the yellow pill under her tongue. She grimaced and I knew from bitter experience that the pill tasted horrible.

She just sort of waived at me tiredly and went outside. I tried to smile, but quite honestly, I didn’t do a very good job of it.

‘Right, young Alexander, your turn, slip off your rugby shirt and hop onto the examination couch.’

I did as I was asked and climbed up on the couch.

She stuck a thermometer in my mouth, told me not to talk–as if I would anyway–and then put her stethoscope on my chest, making me wince, she could have warmed it up first! Then she did the same on my back, asking me to breathe deeply, well that was hard as I could only wheeze deeply!

‘As I thought, a carbon copy of your sister. It’s strange that both you and your sister have the same things happen to you at the same time. You both had mumps, German measles and chicken pox at the same time. I’m beginning to think that you are virtually the same person! Right, same drill as Jean, take this pill, go into the boys ward, put some pyjamas on and wait for me.’

‘All right, Matron,’ I wheezed getting down from the couch, taking the proffered pill and going next door.

I quickly stripped off, cleaned myself off with a flannel–luckily, I hadn’t got too mucky outside, then put on some pyjamas that were a bit big for me but weren’t too bad, popped the pill under my tongue and then padded to the window.

Looking out, it was strangely gloomy outside, although it was only half past three in the afternoon. It seemed that everyone had come in from the playing fields as no one was outside.

In the distance, I could see some fog approaching the school in billowing clouds. It had that strange green look about it that I had seen earlier and for some reason I shivered. Turning back, I got under the covers just in time for Matron to arrive. She was wheeling in an oxygen cylinder on a trolley and moved it to the side of the bed.

‘In bed? Good boy. Let’s have a look at you.’

‘Mmm, still the same, the pills aren’t working yet. Let’s get you sorted out with the oxygen then. I have sent a runner to your house mistress to let her know that you are hors de combat and we will ring for the doctor when the ’phones are back up–line down probably. Anyway settle yourself down. If it’s any comfort, your sister is showing exactly the same symptoms and is in the girls’ ward.’

She went to the window to pull the curtains. ‘Funny, that fog is getting closer rather quickly. I don’t think that I’ve seen it that colour before–must be a trick of the light.’

She pulled the curtains across and then returned to me; she was frowning for some reason but smiled as she came closer. ‘Right, try to rest a bit and I’ll pop back later.’

She left me alone then and then maybe because of the pill or the effects of the oxygen, my breathing eased slightly and I fell into a fitful sleep…

I dreamt that I was suffocating and tried to remove something from my face. I could hear screams and bumps. I was in pain and my body was on fire and yet I couldn’t move and then the pain went away. It seemed so confusing and then I slept deeper…

…I was woken up by someone screaming and sobbing.

‘Alex, oh, Alex, wake up, please wake up. What’s happened to you, what’s happened to everyone? Alexander, YOU MUST WAKE UP!’

I gradually came round and opened my eyes. I could see someone’s face swim blearily into my vision, I recognised it and then the voice was no longer muffled–it was Jean.

‘…wh…what’s wrong–?’ I stopped speaking, my voice sounded strange, not like my voice at all, my voice hadn’t broken yet but it seemed higher somehow.

Jean was crying and had her head in her hands. I sat up and tried to comfort her and then I realised that I felt rather strange. Looking down, I could see some bumps on my chest. I moved my hair out of my eyes–that was odd, normally I had short hair: had I been ill for a long time and had my hair grown? And what were those lumps on my chest? They look like the ones Jean has on her–? I could sense something different down below too. Jean was almost hysterical and I needed to help her, but I also needed to know what was so wrong with me. I put my hand inside the fly of my pyjama trousers and could feel nothing, my penis had gone! No, there was something there–a–a–slit and it was moist, it was–it was–I took my hand away in a hurry and sat bolt upright in the bed.

The small lumps on my chest were more pronounced through the cotton of my pyjama top. I had a strange empty feeling between my legs and my hair, was long enough to brush my shoulders. I had changed into a girl!

Jean looked up and saw that I was awake. Her tear stained face looked as if she had seen something appalling.

‘Jeanie, wh—what’s happened, why am I like this?’

‘I…I don’t know, you look like me; a girl, you must have changed in the night. I…I couldn’t believe it when I came in earlier. But that’s not all. I couldn’t wake you, so I went to look for Matron. Sh—she’s in her room but I can’t wake her up. She’s so cold and then outside, the other children and some grown-ups are lying on the floor in the corridor they won’t wake up either. I didn’t want to see anymore so I came back in here and shut the door.’

She looked at me, her face stained by the tears, eyes puffy, she was breathing okay, so like me, she had got over her asthma attack.

‘Oh, Alex, I’m frightened, what with everyone–out there and you–why are you a girl? You are a girl, aren’t you? Your face, it’s more like a girl’s, and your voice and–and breasts–’

I was sort of numb–in shock, I suppose. Like Jean, I hadn’t a clue as to what had happened. I didn’t fancy getting up and looking at myself more closely or going outside, but I had to. There might be something I could do. Maybe the phone was back on and I could call for the doctor. Jean was no help, she was crying again. She must have been really scared out there and then finding me, like this.

I got out of bed and put on my dressing gown. I tried to ignore the lumps on my chest and the absence of bits down below. I needed to see for myself what was going on.

‘Stay here, Jeanie, don’t move.’

‘I don’t want to be left alone.’

She looked so scared.

I sat on the bed, once again feeling strange sensations from my body. ‘Look, Jeanie, I have to go outside. I promise that I won’t be long, just a minute or two. Please be brave, for me?’ It was strange, Jean was normally the strong one–the leader, I suppose, but now, I had to take control of things.

‘Promise?’ she sniffed, ‘promise that you’ll come back very quickly?’

‘I promise on Flossy’s life.’

She smiled at that. Flossy was my pony, Jean’s was Josey, they were at home up in Scotland and we had hoped–before this happened–to see them again in the hols.

‘All right.’

I left before she could change her mind.

I went into the medical room and found Matron lying on the floor facing the window. My nose wrinkled as I could smell something–I think it was wee. Glancing at the skirt of her uniform I noticed a patch of wet–

With a great deal of hesitation, I approached her and bent down. She appeared to be asleep but I couldn’t see any signs of breathing. My heart was thudding as I checked the rest of the room. There was a small circular mirror, about an inch in diameter on a sort of stick–the type that dentists use to look at one’s teeth–on her desk. I picked it up by the handle and returned to Matron. Kneeling beside her seemingly lifeless body, I held the mirror up near her nose and waited––

Nothing. I put a finger against her cheek and it was icy cold. I stood up quickly, realising that she wasn’t asleep, but dead! I picked up the phone and heard nothing, so I couldn’t use that to summon help.

I was very conscious of my heart thumping inside my chest as I went out of the room and into the corridor, there were several people there and they were all lying on the ground, some in awkward positions. I went to the nearest body and recognised that it was Prior Minor, a kid from my Form. Once again he was as white as a sheet and I knew, even before I did the mirror test, that he was dead too. The smell out here was similar to the one in the medical room…not pleasant. I swiftly checked a few more bodies and soon realised that they were all dead. Jean and I were the only ones alive!

‘IS THERE ANYONE HERE?’ I shouted.

I could hear the echo of my voice but other than that–nothing.

Sobbing loudly, I rushed back into the ward where Jean was standing by the window. I hurried to her and we hugged and cried together for several minutes, comforting each other. Looking out, it was now broad daylight and there was no sign of that weird fog. I observed several birds flying around doing their thing and in the distance, some sheep were still grazing as if nothing had happened. Looking down onto the gravel drive outside, I could see a girl in her school uniform lying on the ground like a rag doll, arms outstretched and her long blond hair waving slightly in the breeze…

I looked away and hugged Jean again. We were beginning to realise that our world had just been shattered into tiny pieces.

The whole school building was eerily silent and the fact that nobody else had appeared indicated that, very likely, everyone was dead.

Suddenly, I heard a noise outside and so did Jean, it was an engine–a ’plane. We glanced at each other and rushed to the window. We could see the plane approaching us. It was low–very low–as if it were trying to land? It was a single prop job, one that only carried a few passengers. Suddenly it dipped and then…then crashed in a mass of flames on the very rugger pitch that I had been playing on yesterday! We held on tightly to one another as the flames shot into the air. There was no way anyone could survive that!

‘The wireless,’ I said choking back the tears and trying to be brave, ‘perhaps we could hear some news?’

Jean just nodded and, tearing our eyes away from the smouldering wreck, we moved away from the window.

Holding hands, we went into Matron’s room, trying not to look at Matron lying there. On a chest of drawers was a portable wireless and I switched it on. I turned the knob to the left and the right but all we could hear was a static hiss and crackling.

We couldn’t stay there, so we just left. Still holding hands but saying nothing, we made our way to the girls’ dorms. We stepped round the bodies lying in our path–I just didn’t feel up to checking whether anyone was alive and sensed that Jean felt just the same, and anyway, we were getting expert at recognising what dead people look like––

Eventually, after some horrible sights that we tried to blot out, we found ourselves in Jean’s dormitory. Whatever had happened last night had occurred before the girls went to bed as the place was empty. We sat forlornly on her bed and hugged each other tightly.

Jean had started to pull herself together now and gazed at me.

‘Sorry I got the willies earlier, everything just got to me.’

‘I know, Jeanie, I just don’t understand what has happened.’

‘The fog,’ she said decisively, ‘I’m sure that’s got something to do with it, it was really queer. When Matron left me to go and see you, I went to the window for a minute and looked out. I’ve never seen fog like that–green, dense and it had a slight glow to it and it–it throbbed, almost as if it had a life of it’s own.’

‘I didn’t see that.’

‘No. Anyway, I thought that it might have been me, what with feeling rotten and everything–you know some sort of hallucination or something. I was very hot and a bit feverish, so I went back to bed, put on the oxygen mask back on and must have drifted off to sleep. Then–then when I woke up, it was as if I was in a living nightmare.’

We gazed at each other. We weren’t cry babies and were normally quite strong and independent. Our parents had taught us to be self-reliant and make decisions for ourselves. I could see that we would need to be strong to survive all of this.

‘Well,’ Jean said at last,’ what would Mummy and Daddy do?’

‘Erm, find out what’s happening and see if we can do something about it?’

‘Mmm. Well, we can’t go looking around and finding out dressed like this. We had better get dressed I s’pose.’

She looked me up and down. ‘Well, I don’t think your boy’s uniform will fit you now. You’d better wear some of my things.’

‘But I’m a boy.’ I exclaimed, flicking my long hair out of my eyes and folding my arms across my chest. She raised her eyebrows and then looking down at myself, I laughed ruefully.

‘Not from where I’m standing. You’ll have to get used to being a girl, and if and until you return to being a boy, you ought to wear girl’s things.’

‘I suppose so,’ I sighed and then, suddenly, felt very emotional, ‘but I don’t want to be a girl, I like being a boy, I just don’t understand all this!’

I put my head in my hands and could feel my now long her covering them, like curtains. I pushed my hair away in annoyance, around the back of my ears and looked at Jeanie through tearful eyes.

‘Why am I a girl, Jeanie?’ I sniffed.

‘I don’t know but you have to accept that at least you’re alive.’

‘I wonder if mum and dad are alive?’

‘Perhaps they are — we will have to find out, somehow, but now we need to get moving!’

It was good to see Jeanie, being a bit more positive; I didn’t like it when she wobbled earlier.

Jeanie gave me some of her things to wear. I couldn’t believe that I was contemplating wearing girls’ clothes, but I had other, much more worrying and upsetting things to think about, so I just bit the bullet and got on with it.

Ten minutes later, I stared at myself in Jeanie’s mirror. Like her, I was wearing a girl’s school uniform, comprising, a bottle green, box-pleated gym tunic reaching just below the knee, a white blouse and a school tie, white ankle socks and buckled shoes, and underneath, a liberty bodice, and a pair of baggy green knickers that matched the colour of the tunic–bras were not allowed until breasts were a little bigger, evidently. Actually I was very accustomed to wearing a “skirt”, because frequently–like quite a number of Scots boys–I wore the kilt at home. The only difference seemed to be that a kilt is much heavier, being made from over six yards of woolen tartan. On the bed was a school hat belonging to Jemima Chisholm, one of Jeannie’s dorm-mates–good for keeping the hair in control and the rain off–and a green school blazer. Jean stood beside me and, to be honest, we looked like two green peas in a pod.

‘Well you look the part,’ said Jean, smiling sadly. ‘I’d have preferred the old you, though.’

‘Me too,’ I replied with some force.

Now we were dressed, we sat in a couple of armchairs to make some plans; Jean began: ‘We have to get away from the school, all this might be local but what with the wireless and everything, it looks as if it’s widespread.’

I tried to think what our parents would do. They were scientists and applied logic wherever possible to situations that needed results. ‘You’re right’ I replied. ‘We can’t achieve anything stuck out here. We’ve got to find out what’s going on, see how far spread this thing is, then we can decide. I wanted to go and find out if anyone else was alive, but judging by what we’ve seen, we’re the only ones to survive in the school. If anyone else was okay, we would have heard something by now.’

‘We ought to eat first and take a few things with us.’

‘Yes, an army marches on its stomach.’

‘We’re not much of an army,’ Jean said, ruefully with a grimace.

‘No, but we must make sure that we can survive. Let’s go to the kitchens and open some tins or something.’

‘Good idea, we should use tins and bottled drinks, we don’t know if the food and water are iffy.’

‘We need some bags or something to carry things in.’

‘We could use our rucksacks?’ suggested Jean.

‘Good idea, but I...I don’t want to go back to my dorm.’

‘We can use mine and the other girls keep theirs in the storage room too, we could borrow one of them … let’s face it they will never need them again.’

Jeanie lip quivered a bit at the thought of all her lost friends and I felt the same way too. Being a girl now seemed to mean that the water works turned on very easily–mind you, in the circumstances it wasn’t surprising. We put some clothes for us both in a case that Jeanie kept under the bed–just a couple of changes of outer clothes and a few more underthings, some of which we took from other girls’ chests of drawers–after all they would not be needing them any more. We couldn’t carry very much but Jeannie said we needed to have enough undies.

We headed downstairs after grabbing the rucksacks, picking our way around, and trying hard not to look closely at the bodies that were strewn everywhere until, eventually, we found ourselves in the school kitchen.

The cook, Mrs Cruikshanks and her two assistants were lying on the floor looking like rag dolls dropped by a young child. I wondered if anyone had known that something was amiss. I had a strong impression that they must have died instantaneously. I suppose that is better than dying in pain, aware that there was something terribly wrong. There was a smell of burning coming from one of the large ovens; I went across and turned the oven off while Jeanie went over to the store cupboard and started picking out some tins, dry biscuits and things like that. One concern we had was that the water might be contaminated, so after switching off the gas of the oven, I had a look around for bottles of water.

I was sure that there must be some as an emergency measure because, a few winters ago, the pipes froze and we didn’t have drinking water until a tanker came up and supplied some.

After looking behind several doors, I came to a fairly large storeroom that was obviously the room where supplies for the tuck shop were kept. Along one side was various sweets, crisps and other snacks and on the other were orange, lemon and other drinks in small bottles, but also, there were large bottles of water too so I picked up four and went out to show Jeanie.

‘Look,’ I said holding my hands up.

‘Well done. We can carry two each and when they run out we’ll have to find shops and things to replenish supplies. I’ve got some cans of corned beef and baked beans, soup and things like that, so we won’t starve.’

We started to put the “supplies” in our rucksacks, not forgetting a can and bottle opener. When we lifted them, they were rather heavy.

‘Look, ‘said Jeanie, ‘I was thinking of walking or something, but that’s daft and we would take ages to get anywhere. Shall we use a school car or something?’

‘We could see if we can find the Landrover that the gardeners use. Let’s face it they won’t need it.’

We had both learned to drive on the farm about a year ago and although we obviously hadn’t driven on the public roads, I did not think traffic would be a problem.

By keeping busy, we avoided thinking too much about the horrid things that had occurred to change our lives so dramatically. I knew that at some stage, I would react to what had happened. The thought of everybody being dead was too awful to comprehend. We just had to get through today and try to find out if we were alone or not. If we had survived, surely others might have also?

It was rather a grey day and I hadn’t realised or even thought of the fact that the lights were still on, making me believe that all this happened sometime in the evening, before lights-out. Then, as we were finishing packing, Jeanie stopped and looked up. ‘The lights have gone out.’

We tried a few electrical items like the toaster and kettle, but nothing happened. ‘No electricity now,’ said Jeanie, ‘I wonder if that’s everywhere or just here?’

‘I don’t know, but we should hunt around for torches, candles and things. We need to be self sufficient until we know what’s going on.’

We hunted around and found what we needed in yet another storage area under the assembly hall stage of all places. There were several boxes of candles, some torches and spare batteries but no matches. Those we found back in the kitchen in a drawer.

We were nearly ready now, so we went out via the kitchen door. This led to the yard at the rear of the school where deliveries were dropped off and more importantly, the school vehicles were kept.

There was a separate large, brick-built garage where the car and school bus were kept. Above the garage was the flat where the odd job man, Bill lived with his wife Mary, and sons, Nicholas who was seven and eight-month-old baby James. One of Bill’s jobs was to drive the school bus and cars when the bus was too big for ferrying people about. After looking in the Land Rover for the keys and naturally not finding them, I left Jean for a moment and ran upstairs to find the keys. The door of the flat was open and Bill was on the floor. Stepping over him, I went in search of the keys. Luckily I didn’t have too far to look, as they were in a wall cabinet near the door with keys to the bus and a few other vehicles. The keys I wanted had a Land Rover key fob, so I just took them off the hook and went to go downstairs again.

Then I heard a noise from behind me and reluctantly turned back and went further into the flat.

In the living room, I found Bill’s wife, Mary sitting in an armchair with baby James in her arms. There was no sign of young Nicholas, their other son, as I approached the motionless figures.

They were both dead, of course. I sobbed as I stepped back and started to run out and then I heard a noise again; it was coming from one of the bedrooms––

With tears streaming down my cheeks I went into the bedroom and I saw a lump under the bed covers. My hands were shaking as I pulled the covers back. There, staring up at me in his pyjamas was Nicholas, clutching a battered old teddy in his arm–only he looked very different. Last time I saw him was standing on the touchline with his dad. We were playing Merton, a nearby school in a friendly rugger match and I remembered how young Nick jumped up and down every time we scored. He had short hair then; now his brown hair reached his shoulders and his face looked somehow more delicate. He had been crying–I could see that–but the important thing was; he was alive!

‘J—Jeanie?’ he said, his little voice seeming softer, more girlish; I had a suspicion, but I wasn’t going there, quite yet–

‘Erm no… Nicholas, are you alright?’

‘I—I’m scared, Mummy and Daddy won’t move, or Jamie. They’re asleep and won’t wake up. I got scared so I came back to bed and hid.’

I took a deep breath and said. ‘Stay there for a minute, will you?’

‘You aren’t going to leave me, are you?’

‘No, I just have to go and do something and then I’ll be back. Promise you won’t move?’

‘I—I promise,’ he said, clutching his teddy even tighter and sniffing loudly.

I left the room, avoiding looking at the lifeless bodies, made my way out of the flat and down the stairs. Jeanie was still loading the car as I ran up to her.

‘Jeanie, it’s Nicholas, he’s alive!’

She put down the bag she was carrying and smiled for the first time since all this began.

‘Wonderful, where is he?’

‘In his bedroom….everyone else is dead.’

‘Even––’

‘–Yes, James, too. But Jeanie, he’s different–I think that he’s a girl now!’

‘Like you?’

‘Yes, I didn’t want to check, but I think so. Look, can you come up. We must get him or I don’t know, maybe her, dressed…’

‘You haven’t left him up there by himself–? Come on!’

She raced off and I followed her. Like me she avoided looking at anything unpleasant and just went into Nicholas’s bedroom.

I followed her and found her hugging Nicholas tightly as the young child sobbed in her arms.

‘Nicholas–Nicky, look at me.’

He pulled away slightly and then looked at her face and then mine over Jeanie’s shoulder. He looked puzzled.

‘Nicholas,’ said Jeanie, ‘you must get dressed and come with us.’

‘What about Mummy and Daddy and Jamie.’

‘Honey, they have gone to heaven now.’

‘I don’t understand––’

‘They got ill and so have a lot of other people, they have all gone to heaven.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, honey, but we need to and find out if anyone else is alive like we are and try to see what we can do. Will you try to be brave for me?’

He just nodded and Jeanie gave him another hug and then had a look for some clothes. She found a track suit, a t-shirt, some underpants and white socks and then helped Nicholas to get dressed. I looked away for a minute, but turned around when Nicholas cried out.

‘My willie’s gone and why is my hair all long?’

Jeanie looked at me and just nodded slightly, it was true then, Nicholas was now a girl too!

‘Look honey, something has changed you into a girl, and Alex, too.’

Nicholas looked at me with a puzzlement.

‘Alex? It is you, you’ve got long hair and…and you look just like Jeanie.’

‘I know Nicholas.’ I said walking over while Jeanie struggled to get the track suit on her.

‘We are both in the same boat. Funny, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t have to wear a dress do I?’ she said in a trembling voice.

‘Not if you don’t want to.’ I said. ‘I have to wear these clothes because they fit better than my old ones, but we’ll see if we can let you stay dressed like you normally do.’

I looked out of the window while Jeanie continued to dress Nicholas who was full of questions. I wondered how it was that Nicholas had changed like me. When we were away from here and somewhere hopefully safe, I would ask him, and then I remembered and had to find out.

‘Nicholas, did you have an asthma attack last night?’

She looked at me and nodded.

‘Did you have to have a mask on?’

‘Yes, I hated it but Mummy said I must, as the pill didn’t work. I hate the mask and those horrible pills.’

In all the fuss, I hadn’t notice the cylinder on the floor by the bed and the mask with its tube attached lying next to it.

‘Jeanie, I think we ought to take the oxygen, supposing that green mist comes back.’

She looked up at me as she helped Nicholas with his shoes. ‘You do think that it was the green fog then?’ she said.

‘Don’t you?’

‘I can’t think that it could be anything else.’

‘It could come back?’

‘The fog?’ she replied.

‘Yes and if we take the cylinders, it might help protect us.’

She considered for a moment.

‘All right. Can you go and get them from the san and I’ll get Nicholas in the car and bring her cylinder down too.’

It was strange calling Nicholas ‘her’ but that was exactly what she was now, me too, so I assumed that I would have to get used to it–if that was possible.

‘I’ll go now. I want to get well away before it gets dark and the way things are going, we won’t do that.’

I went out of the bedroom, shut the door behind me and saw the still figures in the chair again. I didn’t want Nicholas to see them, so I just put my feelings away in a small corner of my mind and moved the bodies into Bill and Mary’s bedroom. It was hard work and they had gone a bit stiff–but somehow I managed. I shut the door after I had finished and carried on downstairs, feeling as low as I had been in my life.

Soon I was back in the san and I grappled with the cylinders which were luckily on wheels. It took about twenty minutes get the cylinders back to the car and after I brought the second one down, Jeanie was there and Nicholas was sitting in the car in his track suit and duffle coat. He still had his teddy with him and I hoped that he was all right.

‘There you are,’ Jeanie said as I walked up. ‘I’ve put everything I can in the back and I don’t think that we have room for much more. We ought to get going soon, it looks like rain.’

Glancing up, I could see clouds gathering–dark ones. I didn’t fancy driving in the wet, but we had to find out what was going on in the world outside. Maybe, it was a local thing and when we got into town, people would still be alive? It was a forlorn hope as I remembered the crashed plane and the fact that there was nothing on the radio when we tried it.

When we were finished packing everything, Jeanie got into the car. She could drive, but wasn’t as good as me as I didn’t crash the gears quite so much as her. Just before I clambered in, I went out of the garage and looked at the silent building. Nicholas was alive and I just wondered if there was anyone else–

‘HELLO!’ I shouted and just listened… Nothing.

I moved away from the garage a bit more and tried again.

‘HELLO!’

All was quiet, except for the rustling of the trees and the twittering of a few birds. Shaking my head, I turned away and then stopped as I heard a noise from behind me. Turning around quickly, I saw a dog; it was Ben, the Headmasters Labrador, loping toward me.

‘Ben, come on, boy!’ I called, as he ran up to me and nearly knocked me over.

‘Hello, Ben, you found us, eh, boy?’

I hugged him and his tail was wagging so hard that it created a breeze.

‘Come on, Ben,’ I called as I ran back into the garage. The look on Jeanie’s and Nicholas’s faces were a picture as I opened the rear door of the Land Rover and Ben, shot in and gave Nicholas a big lick on the face.

‘Yuck!’ she said, laughing for the first time and wiping her face.

Jeanie was smiling as she greeted the rather enthusiastic mutt.

I shut the rear door and then got into the front. I had to bring the car seat forward to its stop and then I could just about reach the pedals with my feet. Then I had to get out again as I had forgotten to smooth my skirt under my bottom as I sat down, displaying my knickers for everyone to see. Getting back in carefully, Jeanie gave me a rueful smile but thankfully said nothing.

Nicholas was chattering in the rear with an enthusiastic Ben and hugging him and I was glad that she had something to take her mind off the terrible things that she had experienced. Looking at me, she smiled back bravely.

‘We’d better get going. Let’s see how things are in Petersfield,’ Jeanie said.

I nodded, started the engine, crashed the gears–making me wince–and drove the car out of the garage. Going down the large sweeping drive, I looked in the rear view mirror at the place that had been our home for quite some time now. I had friends that I would never see again and was, I think, a very different person from yesterday, and I am not just saying that as I was now a girl.

Our world had changed and I wondered if we could survive and how we could ever get over the catastrophic consequences of that strange throbbing green fog.

---

 
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.

Driving down the long, tree-lined drive of the school that had been our home for some time, I wondered what horrors would unfold once we hit the main road into Petersfield. Surely, they could be no worse than those we had seen at school...

The Green Fog
By


Susan Brown

---

 
Chapter 2
 

Previously…

I shut the rear door and then got into the front. I had to bring the car seat forward to its stop and then I could just about reach the pedals with my feet. Then I had to get out again as I had forgotten to smooth my skirt under my bottom as I sat down, displaying my knickers for everyone to see. Getting back in carefully, Jeanie gave me a rueful smile but thankfully said nothing.

Nicholas was chattering in the rear with an enthusiastic Ben and hugging him and I was glad that she had something to take her mind off the terrible things that she had experienced. Looking at me, she smiled back bravely.

‘We’d better get going. Let’s see how things are in Petersfield,’ Jeanie said.

I nodded, started the engine, crashed the gears–making me wince–and drove the car out of the garage. Going down the large sweeping drive, I looked in the rear view mirror at the place that had been our home for quite some time now. I had friends that I would never see again and was, I think, a very different person from yesterday, and I am not just saying that as I was now a girl.

Our world had changed and I wondered if we could survive and how we could ever get over the catastrophic consequences of that strange throbbing green fog.

Driving down the long, tree-lined drive of the school that had been our home for some time, I wondered what horrors would unfold once we hit the main road into Petersfield. Surely, they could be no worse than those we had seen at school.

The sights we had observed had been terrifying and would live with me until the day I die. I tried to look and be brave, if only because of Jeanie sitting next to me, looking pale and very worried and Nicholas, hugging Ben the dog quite hard in the back of the Land Rover, but to be honest, I was on the verge of tears. I could blame that on the fact, that incredibly, I was now a girl and girls cry all the time don’t they? But to tell you the truth, I believe that anyone–boy or girl–who had seen what we had, would cry too.

The sky was overcast and a heavy grey colour. There was no wind to speak of and it was cold, even for the time of year. In the distance, I could see cows grazing in the fields and birds flying; it all seemed so normal and peaceful, as if the world had not been blighted by the terrible things that had happened over the last twelve hours.

As I drove down the school lane, I wondered what the green fog was. No ordinary fog would look like that, green and pulsing. I believed, as Jeanie did, that the fog was the cause of all our problems, but could not understand why only humans were affected, or was that inflicted by it and not the animals and birds?

I tried to concentrate on what I was doing and was becoming more accustomed to driving the Land Rover now and not crashing the gears quite so much and by the time we arrived at the large double gates of the school grounds, I was more in control of things.

I stopped at the entrance, almost expecting the normal rush of cars that used the main road in and out of Petersfield, but the only cars in sight were two that had crashed into each other, on the other side of the road, about a hundred yards away. They were burnt out wrecks–still smouldering. There was no point looking for survivors as I knew that nobody, with or without the fog, could have survived such an inferno.

I turned right and began driving slowly down the road. Before long we were passing other cars stopped in the road and I had to slow down to a crawl to manoeuvre the Land Rover round them. As we passed I noticed that there were people in the cars slumped over, or half out of them. In more than one case there were people lying on the ground in that same rag-doll posture that I had seen at school.

I wondered, once again, if there had been no warning of the coming doom for these poor people. Did they have a chance to realise that they were dying and were they in agony at the point of death? It was something that I sincerely hoped I would never find out.

‘Why is everyone lying down, Jean?’ Nicholas said in a timid voice from the back after we passed yet another car with dead people slumped in it.

Jeanie looked at me with such a sad expression on her face.

‘Can you pull over when we get away from–this?’ She waved her hands vaguely at the cars and dead people.

‘Hang on, Nicola––s’ she said, virtually swallowing the “s” of Nicholas, while smiling at her.

‘Clever Jeanie,’ I thought. ‘Maybe Nicolas won’t notice any difference with so many other things to worry about. The sooner she accepts what she is and moves on the better; that goes for me too!’

A quarter of a mile up the road I found somewhere out of sight of the silent car and its deathly contents. Jeanie climbed over into the back of the Land Rover where Ben was enthusiastic with his greeting. Ben eventually quietened down and just lay down on the seat between “Nicola” and Jeanie.

She turned to Nicola. ‘Look, honey, we are going to see a lot of horrid, nasty things. I want you to be a brave girl––’

‘–I am not a girl, I’m a boy!’ she said indignantly.

‘Sorry, Nicky. Look, you must be ever so brave. The people we’ve seen lying around aren’t asleep; they’ve all died, sweetheart, and there’s nothing we can do for them. We have to look after ourselves and find out if there’s anyone else alive, that’s why we are going into town. Now I want you to be a very brave b…kid, will you do that for me?’

Nicola looked terrified–her face was streaked with dried tears, but she had a lot of pluck as she gazed at both of us and nodded. ‘All right, I’ll try to be good and brave.’ She looked out of the window and then back at Jeanie. ‘Have they all gone to heaven with Mummy, Daddy and my baby brother?’

‘Yes, sweetheart,’ Jeanie replied gently, her voice breaking with an emotion that I felt myself.

After a while, we continued on our way with Jeanie staying in the back with Nicola and Ben, who by now had fallen asleep with his head on Nicola’s lap.

The sky looked darker if anything, the brief time we had been travelling, with the clouds, full of moisture, threatening rain at any time. The trees, in summer full of leaves and very green, just had bare branches, which reminded me of the bare and bleak future that we had if we found no one else alive. As we approached Petersfield, the pretty market town on the northern slopes of the South Downs, I remembered it was Wednesday–market day. Normally the roads would be busy at this time of day, crammed with people in their cars returning from the market to the surrounding villages. There was no traffic–just silent vehicles–either crashed into one another or pulled over to the side of the road.

In the distance to my left, I saw yet another plume of smoke. The others were looking out the other window and could not see, but shuddered with horror at the sight of a jet, crash landed in a field with just the tail end complete — the rest a tangle of twisted, blackened metal.

We reached the crossroads of the main A3 trunk road and edged out. Just as I was turning into it, a car zoomed past with three men in it, coming from Petersfield. They were very much alive and the car was weaving in and out between the cars strewn across the road. After watching the retreating car, I stopped and turned to the others and asked, ‘Did you see that?’

They both nodded. ‘Well, at least it means that we aren’t the only survivors,’ Jeanie remarked.

I nodded, feeling slightly happier and yet somewhat frightened at what we might find in Petersfield.

I turned on to the main road and headed towards the town. After about a mile, I saw several big black birds on the ground ahead, around what looked like a body–

I looked away and told Jeanie, ‘Give Nicola a hug for me, Jeanie,’ while glancing in the mirror suggestively. We were always on the same wavelength, Jeanie and I, and I knew that she must also have seen the horror ahead. Not wanting Nicola to see the awful sight, she pulled Nicola to her, hugging her until we had passed the “thing” in the road.

We saw several similar sights and eventually it was something to which we would become hardened, even Nicola, but for the moment it was all new and dreadfully shocking to see.

Eventually we turned off the A3 into Petersfield via the Winchester Road. Houses on each side were silent and there were a few dead people out on the street, not many, because I remembered that at the time all this happened–the late afternoon–it was damp and miserable. Several houses were on fire or looked like they had been on fire; others were just rubble. Whether the damage was due to gas explosions or other reasons, we never discovered.

We encountered a few problems getting by a road block, where three cars were a tangled heap of metal in the middle of the road, but, by mounting the pavement and scraping a wall, I managed to ease the Land Rover through to the clear road on the other side. We were now going along Station Road and I could see plumes of black smoke rising into the still air ahead and a strange, red, glowing reflection on the dark clouds above.

I stopped as the road went over a railway bridge, and got out. There was a slight breeze now, making me aware of some movement in my longer hair.

‘Stay here.’ I told the others as I shut the door behind me and went to look. My skirt was brushing up against my bare legs as I walked the twenty yards or so to the side of the bridge and I shivered, not because I was particularly cold, as the heater in the car was very good and I was still feeling its effects, but out of a sense of dread that was creeping up on me. The sound of my heels clicking on the hard pavement, distracted me slightly, but only slightly from the strange noises coming from the direction of the station. Noises like metal scraping against metal and the crackling of a burning fire. Then there was the hiss of steam and other noises that defied any sort of description.

Before I reached the rail, my nose was assaulted by a nauseating smell, that of coal dust and burning rubber. There were other smells that seemed to hang in the air too. I was to get used to that smell–the smell of death.

Staring over the bridge, my eyes went wide and I choked, nearly fainting at the awful sight before me.

My eyes had immediately been drawn to the railway station, a couple of hundred yards from where I was standing. My hands gripped the balustrade tightly as I gasped with horror at the sight of a steam train that had ploughed into another, resulting in horrendous carnage and widespread damage.

There were carriages upended and strewn across the track like a giant train set that had been knocked over. The engines had ploughed into the station building, completely wrecking it, reducing the once fine building to so much rubble. There were flames and smoke everywhere and yet more bodies were visible, thrown out of the trains–doubtlessly by the tremendous impact. Judging by the numbers of bodies on what was left of the platform, there had been a terrible loss of life.

The sight and stench were appalling and I staggered away, crying as I made my way back blindly to the Land Rover. The sheer enormity of what had happened to us all was catching me up on me–and fast.

I suppose it was shock but when got into the car I was shaking, crying and then laughing, for some reason. Nicola said something, but I didn’t pay much attention as I was now in my own private hell…

I felt a stinging slap on my cheek, followed by another and I slowly came to my senses.

Looking up through tear filled eyes, I saw that Jeanie was standing just outside the car, with the door open and was looking at me with a great deal of concern.

‘That hurt,’ I sniffed, rubbing my sore cheek.

‘I’m sorry, Alex, but you were hysterical. I saw someone do it in a film and it worked for them!’

‘Mmm, anyway,’ I said taking a deep breath and getting some sort of grip on myself. ‘We must get away from here. I don’t want Nicola–or you for that matter–to see the carnage at the station.’

‘Is it awful?’

‘Yes, trains crashed, the station looking like a bomb’s hit it and bodies everywhere on the tracks, hanging out of windows and a lot on the platforms too. Look, let’s get away from here.’

‘Are you all right to drive? You look terrible.’

‘Thanks for the compliment, but I’ll be okay in a minute. I’m a better driver than you. You know the thing about men being better drivers––’ my voice trailed off as I realised what I was saying. I was a girl now!

Ben needed to answer a call of nature, so after going to down the road a bit, away from the smoke and destruction, we let him out; he lifted his leg against a tree and did the business. I think he sensed the death in the air as he didn’t hang around, just doing what he had to do and then jumping back into the car. Nicola just stayed where she was, cuddling her teddy and not saying much.

I think Jeanie had been shocked at seeing me break down like that and I just smiled at her, although I wasn’t smiling inside.

‘Sorry for blubbing like that.’ I said.

‘That’s all right, I want to cry but my taps ran dry!’ The three of us laughed at the feeble yet encouraging joke and were soon on our way again, away from the smoke and carnage that was once Petersfield Station.

A few minutes later, we arrived in the town centre and I drove into Petersfield Town Square, where the market stalls were still up, with all the fruit, veg and other items still on display. There were lots of people about, but no one, that I could see, was alive. I just tried to avert my eyes and look for people moving around, but there was no one.

I stopped at the police station, just off the Square and we all got out. As we entered the police station, I hoped that there might be a short wave radio or something more sophisticated than the useless wireless that we had back at school. I held Nicola’s hand–she was very clingy and I couldn’t really blame her for that. Jeanie took charge of Ben as we had a look around the office for a radio or something.

Eventually, we found a radio in a back room. There was a policeman sitting at the desk, his head on the desk, almost like he was asleep. I gently moved him aside and he fell off the chair, on to the floor.

I had no idea how to work the shortwave, but it was still on, so I assumed that it was running off of batteries as the mains electric wasn’t working anymore.

‘Are you going to try to raise somebody, Alex?’

‘Yes, but I don't really know how to work this, do you?’

‘No, I haven’t a clue.’

I looked at the knobs and hadn't any real idea as to how to operate the apparatus. There was a large dial on the front with numbers on it, and as I turned it, I could hear some static coming from the speaker. I turned the dial fully to one end and then back to the other. There was nothing.

‘Try going a bit slower, sis.’

‘All right, I'll try.’

Nicola was gazing at me with wide eyes, clutching her ever present teddy, as I did what Jeanie suggested.

Once again I turned the knob slowly all the way clockwise and then back again anti-clockwise. I was nearly at the end of last sweep when I picked up something; going slowly back, I could hear a voice. I turned the volume knob up on the speaker and I could hear faintly, the sound of a woman, but she was speaking in a foreign language which I couldn't understand.

‘Hello,’ I said into the microphone, ‘can you hear me?’

‘Oh, Jeanie, I don't know how to work this.’ I said turning to her.

‘Maybe you have to press that button on the microphone base when you speak.’

‘I'll try.’

I held down the button and spoke clearly into the microphone.

‘Hello, can you hear me, I'm in England; can you hear me?’

The woman at the other end could hear me, I think, and started chattering away. However, I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying.

‘Can you speak English?’ I shouted as she was getting fainter.

The woman said some more gibberish and then her voice gradually faded away.

‘Hello, hello, can you hear me, do you speak English?’

But all I could hear was a hissing noise coming from the speaker. My shoulders fell, as I turned to Jeanie and Nicola.

‘She's gone.’ I said.

‘Never mind,’ said Jeannie encouragingly, ‘at least we know that there are other people alive in other countries.’

‘We must decide what we're going to do now.’ I said after a moment, ‘I suggest that we get a few more supplies because we still have a bit of space in the Land Rover. We need a lot more food and bottled water, especially as we have young Nicola here and Ben; what do you think?’

‘I agree, let's find a shop somewhere and see if we can get some supplies. Nicola, are you going to help us?’

‘Yes, all right. Can I have some sweets?’

We all laughed at that and leaving the Land Rover where it was, we crossed the road to the general stores. I was pleased that Nicola was accepting her “new” name. Maybe with all the things going on, what we called her wasn’t that important to her any more–on the other hand, we might have problems later! I know that I still couldn’t believe that I was a girl now and wondered if some sort of reaction would set in once I had time to think about such things. At least Alex can be short for Alexandra, as was Sandra, so I didn’t have to be called Penelope or something equally awful!

The door was open, so we walked in. Behind the counter were a man and a woman, and we didn't waste much time looking at them. Even at that early stage, we were getting hardened to the sight of dead bodies and the rather unpleasant smells. Therefore, ignoring the grisly, motionless figures on the floor, we started looking about and picking out the things we needed, including plenty of tins, and bottles of water.

Nicola, of course, was more interested in the sweets, so I let her concentrate on that, if only to keep her mind of off events, but we made sure that everything that she put in her bag, was wrapped. We had decided that we should avoid things like fruit and vegetables and anything unwrapped, just in case they carried any type of contamination or infection from the horrible green fog.

The shop was a gold mine, and I was able to pick out a spade, garden fork, trowel, toilet paper and other things that I felt that we might need in the days to come. Added to that list of essentials we took matches, candles and two storm lanterns, I also included knives, forks and spoons, and on an impulse, two sheath knives.

In the meantime, Jeanie had found some blankets, pillows, anoraks and wellington boots in our sizes to add to our now considerable pile of things to be carried to put in the back of the Land Rover, with Ben helping, of course, by carrying a fork in his slobbering jaws.

Before moving off, we all had a bar of chocolate and opened a bottle of orange pop. As we ate and drank we tried it to decide where we would be going next. Nicola was in the back with Ben, feeding him some doggy biscuits that we had found in the shop. This left Jeanie and I to quietly discuss our next move.

‘Well, there isn't anybody alive here that we can see,’ Jeanie said, ‘so we must move on and get as far away as possible. This place isn't going to be very healthy soon, and I guess that it wouldn't be very good for health and safety in any town. Do you agree?’

‘Yes, I do. Look, we’ve got a full tank of petrol, luckily, so I think we should try to make our way to Scotland; maybe Mum and Dad are safe in that bubble that they’re living in. We might find people alive on the way, too. What do you think, Jeanie?’

‘I agree, let's do it. We’ll fill up with fuel as and when we need it.’

We made our way out of town as fast as possible, going north on the A3. I was glad to get out of Petersfield. It used to be one of my favourite places, with the old houses, town square and all the nice shops, but now it was just somewhere that had been stricken with a terrible plague-like disaster and not a place for the living, any more.

On a number of occasions I had to manoeuvre around parked–or rather stopped–cars and numerous crashes, but somehow we kept going. We passed through some villages and large places like Basingstoke and Newbury, not wanting to stop, as I we could see the situation was similar to that in Petersfield–death and destruction all around us. On two occasions we saw cars with people in them, but they didn't stop, but just went the other way in a tearing hurry. I couldn't understand this because I would have thought that it was important that people should help each other at this terrible time. Eventually, I stopped for a break at a roadside cafe on a lonely stretch of the road. The cafe only had a few vehicles outside and apart from a couple of lifeless forms inside, the place seemed deserted. The door was open, so leaving a sleeping Nicola, Jeanie and Ben, I quickly went and used the loo. It was still a bit strange that I had to sit to go and not just use the urinals, but that was just one of the minor things that I would have to get used to in this changed world.

When I had finished, I walked back out again and stopped dead. There was a man standing by the car. He was, I suppose, about forty, looked dishevelled and had a wild look about him.

My heart was beating loudly as I walked up to the car, giving him a wide berth as I went around to the drivers’ side. Jeanie was in the car with the others and I assumed that she had locked the doors, as the man was trying to get in. As I approached, he looked round at me.

‘They won't let me in,’ he called out. ‘I need to find my wife and my little girl; I must have this car because the other ones have no keys in. It's only a small distance away–about 10 miles–tell your friends to let me in, then you can all come home with me.’

I noticed the haunted look in his eyes and guessed that he was close to madness. There was no way that I would let the man go anywhere near the others, but I tried to reassure him.

‘Let me talk to my sister, then we’ll see if we can help you.’

I looked over the man’s shoulder and my heart went into my mouth, as over the distance by the hills, I could see that it was getting rather misty and the mist had a green tinge to it. I sensed that the fog was coming back and that was why the other cars had not stopped. My breath suddenly became laboured and I desperately needed to get in the car and away from here. I didn't know what to do about the man, but he looked dangerous and I couldn't take any chances. I motioned to Jeanie and she quickly unlocked the door and I let myself in, immediately locking the door again.

‘Jeanie, the fog it’s coming again, we have to go––’

The man began to knock on the window; his face was up close against the glass. His eyes were red and staring, and I noticed spittle dribbling from his mouth.

‘Open the door!’ he screamed.

‘We can’t let him in!’ Jeanie cried, as Ben began to bark, his hackles rising at the sight of the man. Jeanie was hugging Nicola who like Jeanie and I, was starting to gasp for breath.

The fog was getting ever closer, rolling over the hills in the distance but seemingly travelling fast. Nicola, hid behind Ben and Jeanie, utterly terrified at the sight of the man and really aware of the danger of the green fog.

The man was banging hard on the window, then the door and finally the bonnet. He was screaming at us to let him in. He may have been on the edge of madness before, but now he lost all semblance of a sane human being. He pulled out a kitchen knife from God knows where and started brandishing it and using its handle to try to break the glass of the door.

‘LET ME IN!

After that, I knew what I had to do, I started the engine and moved forward. He was blocking my way and the fog was getting ever nearer and nearer. He was aware of the fog now and he constantly looked behind him, his actions becoming increasingly frantic.

The man screamed and attacked the Land Rover once again. Feeling sick, I reversed suddenly and then as he fell to the ground, I swerved around him, missing him by inches, and shot off down the road with the fog almost upon the prostrate form on the ground. Everyone was shouting and Ben was barking as I drove as fast as I could down the road away from the green death.

At first, looking in the mirror, I thought that we were putting some distance between us and the fog; it was about a quarter of a mile behind us, then Jeanie started screaming.

‘It’s catching up, it’s coming, the fog!’

‘Jeanie, get the oxygen masks; be quick and pull them in here, I’ll try to outrun it but if I can’t, I’ll have to stop and we’ll put the masks on; the tubes are quite long,; it’s our only chance!’

Jeanie, bless her, didn’t question me and just did as I asked. I tried to monitor the fog’s progress–it did seem to be catching up. Was it intelligent somehow? Looking ahead, I could see that the road had a sharp bend, almost a loop and it went back in the direction that the fog was coming from. I had no idea if the road would turn back in the right direction in time for us to avoid the fog.

‘Jeanie, how are you doing?’

‘Hang on–there, I’ve got them.’

‘Put the masks on Nicola and yourself and I’ll park–hurry!’

‘What about Ben?’ gasped the plucky Nicola, who sounded terrified but still in control of herself.

‘Don’t worry, poppet,’ Jeanie replied, breathlessly, ‘he’ll be all right; now, when I put your mask on, Nicola, you have to make sure that it’s tight up against your mouth and nose and you must promise to keep it on until we say you can take it off.’

It was strange that we had all started breathing heavily and wheezing, although the fog wasn’t upon us yet. It seemed like an asthma attack was starting, so I needed badly to stop somewhere.

‘Hurry up and stop, Alex honey, it’s nearly upon us,’ said Jeanie, her voice frantic but muffled by the oxygen mask.

I screeched to a halt in the middle of the road, clawed for the mask and put it over my face. Jeanie had already turned on the taps of the oxygen cylinders and I was only just in time.

We watched as the green pulsating fog came up and overwhelmed us.

I waited for signs of something wrong, but we all had our masks on and were holding them tight against our faces. The fog was so intense that I could see nothing outside the car. Suddenly Ben just lay down, shutting his eyes and then went limp. Nicola was going to see to him but both Jeanie and I shouted ‘No!’ as she had to stay where she was, holding the mask tight, so no fog could get in.

Suddenly, I was feeling sleepy and then noticed that both Jeanie and Nicola had suddenly closed their eyes and were up against each other, looking as limp as Ben. It was all I could do to check that everyone’s mask straps were on tight before I too passed out and knew no more.

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

I was awoken by something wet on my face and the smell of bad breath…

The Green Fog
By


Susan Brown

---

 
Chapter 3
 

Previously…

‘It’s catching up, it’s coming, the fog!’

‘Jeanie, get the oxygen masks; be quick and pull them in here, I’ll try to outrun it but if I can’t, I’ll have to stop and we’ll put the masks on; the tubes are quite long; it’s our only chance!’

Jeanie, bless her, didn’t question me and just did as I asked. I tried to monitor the fog’s progress–it did seem to be catching up with us. Was it intelligent somehow? Looking ahead, I saw that the road had a sharp bend, almost a loop and it went back in the direction that the fog was coming from. I had no idea if the road would turn back in the right direction in time for us to avoid the fog.

‘Jeanie, how are you doing?’

‘Hang on–there, I’ve got them.’

‘Put the masks on Nicola and yourself and I’ll park–hurry!’

‘What about Ben?’ gasped the plucky Nicola, who sounded terrified but still in control of herself.

‘Don’t worry, poppet,’ Jeanie replied, breathlessly, ‘he’ll be all right; now, when I put your mask on, Nicola, you have to make sure that it’s tight up against your mouth and nose and you must promise to keep it on until we say you can take it off.’

It was strange that we had all started breathing heavily and wheezing, although the fog wasn’t upon us yet. It seemed like an asthma attack was starting, so I needed badly to stop somewhere.

‘Hurry up and stop, Alex honey, it’s nearly upon us,’ said Jeanie, her voice frantic but muffled by the oxygen mask.

I screeched to a halt in the middle of the road, clawed for the mask and put it over my face. Jeanie had already turned on the taps of the oxygen cylinders and I was only just in time.

We watched as the green pulsating fog came up and overwhelmed us.

I waited for signs of something wrong, but we all had our masks on and were holding them tight against our faces. The fog was so intense that I could see nothing outside the car. Suddenly Ben just lay down, shutting his eyes and then went limp. Nicola was going to see to him but both Jeanie and I shouted ‘No!’ as she had to stay where she was, holding the mask tight, so no fog could get in.

Suddenly, I was feeling sleepy and then noticed that both Jeanie and Nicola had suddenly closed their eyes and were up against each other, looking as limp as Ben. It was all I could do to check that everyone’s mask straps were on tight before I too passed out and knew no more.

And now the story continues…

Oxford

I was awoken by something wet on my face and the smell of bad breath…

Opening my eyes, I found Ben looming over me, trying to waken me with a wet slobbering kiss.

I sat up and looked around. It was pitch black outside and I could see stars up above and the moon was full, casting an eerie glow around the Land Rover, so there was no fog. Glancing round, I saw the others stirring. I carefully removed my oxygen mask and breathed in slightly. It all felt normal, so I took the mask off, quickly breathed in the cool clean air and didn’t have anything funny happen to me. My mouth was very dry, a result of the oxygen–something that had happened before. I looked at Jeanie and Nicola and smiled, they both looked a bit dopey still.

‘It’s okay to take your masks off,’ I told them and then got out of the car.

Ben, who showed no after effects from his enforced sleep, had jumped into the front and followed me out. Jeanie and Nicola were wakening slowly, so I left them to pull themselves together as I opened the tailgate of the Landy and reached in, turning off the oxygen, so we could save our limited supplies.

Checking the gauges I noticed that two of the three cylinders were about half full, the other one–used by Nicola–contained a bit more. We had to get some extra oxygen and I assumed that we would find some at a hospital. I didn’t want to take any chances with not having a good supply, in case that awful fog returned later.

Opening one of the bottles of water, I grabbed enamel tin mugs and poured some in each. After taking a quick swig myself, I opened the rear door and passed the two other mugs to the others. Nicola was being rather clingy with Jeanie and I couldn’t really blame her after what we had just been through.

I stood outside and looked around and down the road. Ben was sniffing around some bushes at the roadside, but apart from that it was quiet–deathly quiet. I wondered why the fog had returned and speculated whether it was intelligent in some way. The impression that I had when it came after us was that it actually seemed to speed up as we tried to escape from its clawing embrace. Then I remembered the man we had left behind and shivered slightly. Had he survived, I wondered? He must have done before, when the fog had originally come or was the green fog patchy and he somehow missed it the first time around?

I shivered again in my girl’s uniform which I was getting used to; all skirts–even kilts, which I often wore at home and for “best”–are a bit draughty down below, but the kilt is much warmer than my school gymslip. My hair waved in the gentle breeze and I had to keep pushing it away from my eyes as I searched up and down the road for any signs of life. That was another thing to try to get used to–long hair.

Inside the Land Rover, Nicola was smiling and giggling at something Jeanie was saying. She was a plucky young thing and seemed to be accepting her new gender quite well. I was too–and that was somewhat disquieting. Another effect of the fog, I wondered? I didn’t want to forget that I had been a boy and hoped–a wee bit anyway–that I would return to normal soon, or whatever passes for normal in this strange new world. I climbed back into the Land Rover and shut the door.

‘How are things?’ Jeanie asked, tying a ribbon in Nicola’s hair which I swear was longer than before.

‘The fog’s all gone and it’s quiet out there. Ben’s sniffing around over by that bush; I think I saw a rabbit or something dash in there. There’s nobody about that I can see and no lights in the distance. I suppose the electricity is off everywhere.’

‘Mmm–Nicola will you hold still! Well I think we were jolly lucky not to be overcome by the fog; thank goodness we had the oxygen cylinders.’

‘Yes, but we ought to get some more from a hospital or somewhere, just in case. The ones we have are all about half full.’

‘You were very brave with the car and everything,’ said Nicola, in a very small voice, her eyes wide with the remembrance of the terrible events.

‘I don’t know about brave, I was scared out of my wits.’ I replied.

Glancing at my wrist watch, it told me that several hours had passed since we stopped, and wondered what had happened in that time. It would soon be dawn and I was looking forward to that, as things don’t seem so bad in the daylight do they?

Staring westward, through the trees, I noticed a faint glimmer of light. Hearing a bark from outside, I turned round and saw Ben. Opening the door, he jumped in and proceeded to lick everything in sight. It took several minutes before he settled down again and we were able to talk about what we should do next.

‘I vote we push on,’ said Jeanie,’ the sooner we get up north the better, I say, you never know it might be fine up there but I’m worried about Mummy and Daddy.’

Nicola was playing with her teddy and appeared miles away; she was whispering to it and seemed be getting some sort of reply. I had heard about imaginary friends and assumed that Teddy was a variation on that.

‘I agree, Jeanie, but I think we ought to do one thing first.’

‘What?’

‘We ought to go back to the roadside café and see if that man is still there. We don’t know if he was affected by the fog and the more information we can gather the better.’

‘He frightened me,’ said Nicola, paying more attention than I thought.

‘Me too,’ Jeanie added, ‘I don’t want to run into him again.’

‘We won’t stop or anything. He’s either there or he isn’t. I don’t intend getting out of the car. Please, Jeanie?’

She gazed at me for a moment and then at Nicola, who was staring at both of us with wide open eyes and clutching her teddy rather fiercely.

‘Alright,’ she agreed reluctantly, ‘but if there is any sign of him, we go–and quickly.’

So we retraced our journey back to the lonely roadside café. I was surprised how long it took. I must have been going a fair old clip to try to outrun the fog. As we approached the building I strained my eyes along the road to try and see any signs of the man in the flickering beams of the headlights.

Then I saw it–a sort of shapeless lump in the middle of the road. As we drew nearer, I could see that it was the man, in the rag-doll pose that typified so many victims of the fog. His hand was outstretched and the knife he was carrying was still gripped in his hand.

‘That’s it then,’ Jeanie said quietly as we stopped just in front of the still form. ‘The fog killed him. I wonder how many more were killed this time around. Those people in the cars; did they escape? Are we the only ones left alive?’

I took a deep shuddering breath. I was close to tears. Had I caused the man’s death? Was there anything I could have done for him? Then I remembered those mad eyes and the knife. No, I couldn’t help him; but I was as sorry for him, as I was for all the victims of this terrible green fog.

‘I don’t know the answer to your question, Jeanie, but let’s go and find out.’

~ §~

I turned the car around and went back up the road, heading north along roads that were not deserted but had many cars stopped, parked and in some cases crashed along the way. There were no signs of life so we just pressed on, passing through several villages, not seeing any humans alive. We went slowly along the roads where there were houses, beeping the horn and waiting for a few moments to see if anyone emerged from the silent houses–but nothing human stirred.

Occasionally we saw cats and dogs that seemed to be going about in twos and threes for some reason, but no people. I was going to get out and look in a few shops for supplies, but as soon as I opened the door, several dogs came out from a side street and started barking and baring their teeth at me. I shut the door straight away as they looked pretty fierce–even the small ones–and Ben was barking at them, his hackles rising at the same time. I wondered what had made them so aggressive; hunger perhaps?

As it was only a few days since the green fog descended upon us all, I didn’t think that would be the case, but still–no, they weren’t that hungry surely? That got me thinking about what they would eat when they were hungry and I shivered involuntarily at that thought.

We moved off pretty smartish leaving the dogs chasing us down the road.

Presently we were approaching the outskirts of Oxford. Towards the centre of the city, there were several wreaths of smoke coming from various parts of the old city and there was a grey haze that partially hid the spires of Tom Tower and Christ Church Cathedral; it all seemed rather menacing somehow.

Jeanie brought me back from my fanciful thoughts as she decided that we should have some breakfast before continuing on our northward journey.

There didn’t seem anyone or thing about on this lonely stretch of road, so we got out of the car to stretch our legs and answer the call of nature. It was strange for me to go behind a bush and have to crouch down to do the necessary. Luckily we had a supply of loo paper, so it wasn’t too messy. Jeanie helped Nicola, who was similarly troubled by her change of plumbing, but she thought that it was all a wee bit funny and kept giggling about it!

Ben stayed close to us and I think that he was trying to protect us as he was constantly looking about and I supposed that he was on guard or something.

We got out the primus stove, another useful item from the shop in Petersfield, and quickly we had some soup heating, beef broth it said on the tin, not porridge or eggs and bacon like a normal breakfast, but anything to warm us up on this chilly winter’s morning was welcome. The soup was delicious and we polished it off in no time. We had some tea and tins of evaporated milk, so we had a lovely cup of tea after that and some yummy Royal Scot biscuits for dunking!

As we dunked, we planned, making sure that Nicola understood what we were doing as she had a right to know. She was very young, but she was intelligent and perfectly able to grasp what we were talking about.

‘I don’t fancy going right into Oxford,’ said Jeanie.

‘Why not?’ I asked.

‘I think we should stay away from large towns and cities. You never know what can happen.’

‘But there might be people there.’

‘And there might be diseases and packs of dogs and mad people.’

‘I don’t like mad people,’ said Nicola, shuddering slightly.

‘I know honey, we won’t let you be harmed, I promise.’ I replied, smiling. ‘I agree, Jeanie, we’ve been lucky so far, apart from the knife man, that is. But I really think we should find the hospital so we can get some more oxygen cylinders. What do you think?

‘All right, but we don’t know where the hospital is.’

‘I’ve got a map!’ I said, reaching under the seat and pulling it out in triumph like some sort of trophy.

‘All right, clever clogs, if your head gets any bigger, you won’t be able to carry the weight!’

‘Ha, ha.’ I said as Nicola giggled behind her hand and Ben, who I swear could understand nearly everything we said, woofed in agreement.

We poured over the map which showed things like post offices, libraries and most importantly, hospitals.

‘Look,’ said Jeanie.’ It’s on the outskirts of town, if we carry on down this road and then fork left, it’s only about a quarter of a mile down that road.’

‘Okay, let’s pack up and get going.’

~ §~

Ten minutes later, we drew up outside the old, three story Radcliffe Infirmary.

There were a few cars outside and along the street, as well as a number of people lying in the road and on the pavement–dead of course. Other than that it was quiet except for a few hardy birds in the trees and a cat who was washing him or herself on a wall and regally ignoring our presence.

‘Stay in the car, you two, and beep the horn if you see anything you are worried about.’

‘I really should come with you,’ Jeanie said.

‘No, I think you’d better stay here with Nicola. I don’t think that it will be very pleasant in there.’ I looked suggestively at Nicola, who was once again having a private conversation with Teddy and raised my eyebrows.

‘All right,’ said Jeanie reluctantly, ‘but do be careful.’

‘I will,’ I replied, getting out of the car. ‘Lock the doors, just in case.’

‘All right.’

I shut the car door and the sound echoed around the silent road, making the birds fly away and the cat look up from its grooming for a moment.

I climbed the steps and pushed the door open. I was immediately assaulted by a nauseous smell. I pulled my hanky from where I had tucked it up my knicker-leg and held it to my nose. There were several people in the lobby either sitting in chairs or lying on the floor. They all looked as if they had died suddenly because there was no expression of surprise, horror or anything else on their faces. After being dead a few days now, they were not looking very pleasant. I averted my eyes and tried to concentrate on the job in hand.

I searched several rooms, not finding what I was looking for; then I saw a room at the end of the corridor marked Medical Supplies. Luckily it was open; I went in and groped for the light switch ’cause it was dark in there and there were no windows that I could see.

I found out the reason why the door wasn’t locked as soon as the light illuminated the scene. There was a dead nurse on the floor. She must have been in there to get something when she was struck down by the fog.

There were all sorts of medical things in there, but most importantly, there were several oxygen cylinders on trolleys. I had to heave the nurse out of the way to get at the cylinders and she wasn’t pleasant to touch, being as stiff as a board. She was a small woman though– in her late teens by the look of her, and was very pretty–once, but I just switched off at that point and did what I had to do, blanking out the horrors.

I decided that we should take six of the cylinders and after pulling them to the car, detached them from their trolleys, otherwise there would not be room for them in the back of the Landy. So I wheeled them out one by one and Jeanie and Nicola helped lift them into the car after rearranging things.

‘One to go,’ I told Jeanie, ‘I won’t be long.’

‘Don’t be,’ she said, ‘this place is giving me the willies.’

I went back inside the hospital for the final time, quickly entering the room and pulling the trolley out. I had just about reached the front door when I heard a noise.

I stopped, held my breath and listened.

‘Helllllp, Helllllp.’

It was coming from above. Someone else was alive! Quickly I opened the door and called out to Jeanie.

‘There’s someone alive. I’m going to go and have a look. Stay in the car, both of you.’

She just nodded, looking hopeful that there was another person still alive and waved that she had heard me.

I went back in and up the stairs leading to the first floor wards. I stopped at the top of the stairs and called out.

‘Hello, hello, HELLO!’

I stopped and listened for a moment.

‘Please help.’ I heard the male voice coming from down the corridor.

I went along the green corridor, looking into all the side wards, wincing at some of the sights within them, until the one before the end. Opening the door, I saw him. It was a side ward with just one bed in it. On the bed was a late middle-aged man who was wheezing and had a leg up in plaster. He had on an oxygen mask. His face was grey and his hair dark but sprinkled with white.

In front of him, lying on the floor was a man in a white coat–a doctor, I think. He was not a pretty sight.

‘You–heard–me then,’ the man gasped.

‘Yes.’ I said, stepping around the prone form and going over to the bed.

‘Is it true?’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Is everyone dead?’

I just nodded.

‘I thought so. I woke up, yesterday and saw Doctor Livingstone, dead. There was no one else around. I kept calling, but nothing, except the smell, of course.’

He breathed in deeply and then continued.

‘There weren’t any traffic noises, and then the lights went out. Everything was quiet. I called and called, tried ringing the buzzer, but no power of course. I didn’t really know, but I sort of guessed that something awful had occurred. People were talking earlier about a strange fog coming in over the city; a green fog that sort of pulsed. I thought that it was just them being fanciful. I’m a vet and have no time for fanciful things.

He stopped again for more oxygen, I could see that he was weak and he had been rambling a bit. On his forehead were beads of sweat and I guessed that he was in some pain and maybe a fever too. Yet he looked almost as white as the sheet that was partially covering him.

‘I couldn’t look for myself,’ he continued after a moment, ‘ I broke my leg on a blasted horse a couple of weeks ago and after I got here I began having chest pains. It seems that I have a dickey ticker. All those years working out on farms in all weathers delivering calves and lambs, I suppose– all over now of course. How about you; how come you are still around?’

I explained about being at school with my sister and how I and Nicola had somehow been changed into girls.

‘Unbelievable, mind you this all is.’

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath once again and take another dose of oxygen , the he continued.

‘I was awake when the fog came back. It swirled up the corridor, it was like fingers reaching out and then around the door, almost like it was trying to find me and then it got more dense. I must admit to being terrified and I just watched it come closer and closer and then overwhelm me. Then I just went out like a light and woke up again several hours later. I suppose the oxygen saved me like it did you. It was a good job I kept my mask on, I suppose, but it’s a double edged sword, because I awoke to this nightmare.’

I looked at him and wondered what I could do for him.

‘Would you like to come with us?’ I’m sure that I can fetch a wheelchair and get you downstairs.’

He looked at me for a moment and smiled a sad smile.

‘Thanks for that; you’re a kind girl but the doctors made it plain before all this mess happened that I don’t have very long. So there’s not much point really. It would just delay the inevitable and I would only hold you back. No, I’ll stay here.’

I looked at his face, grey with pain and I could see the slight blueing of his lips. I was getting a bit of an expert on blue lips now.

‘I presume my wife and two kids are dead. Not much hope, is there? But you must try and find your parents, they may still be alive and if you are alive, there are bound to be others.’

‘I can’t just leave you––’

‘–you can and must, but I want you to do just one thing for me?’

‘What? Anything, just tell me.’ My eyes were streaming tears by now. I had found someone and I couldn’t help him, it cut me up terribly.

‘Over by the nurse’s desk, you will find the trolley where they keep the medicines. Open it up, the key is usually in the lock, and dig out a syringe and look for some ampoules of morphine, it will help, if it gets painful.’

‘A—all right.’ I said as I turned away, still sobbing and left the room.

I found the trolley just down the corridor, it was open and a nurse was on the floor beside it. I soon found the syringes and after a minute or two of looking at the names, I found some little glass bottles labelled Morphine. I picked up several and together with the syringes, took them back to the side ward where the man was lying.

‘Found them? Good girl. Just put them on the side for me.’

I did as he bade and then just stood there not knowing what to do.

‘You had better be off. I think that you should be well away from the city as soon as you can.’

‘My sister said that.’

‘She’s a wise girl,’ he said smiling.

‘Can I help you, food, bed pan, things like that?’

He looked at me sadly and shook his head.

‘That’s all right, love, I have all I need.’ His eyes flicked over to the Morphine and then I understood.

‘I—if we find anyone, we could come back and help you.’ I said desperately.

He smiled and shook his head.

‘I won’t be here if you come back. Look, shoot off now and don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right. Now off you go before your sister starts worrying about you.’

‘I can’t––’

‘–You can. Now go, please!’

The look on his face brooked no argument and I turned away with a sob and then turned back. Stepping over to him I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

‘G—goodbye.’

‘’Bye, now off you go!’

I ran out of the room, down the stairs, pulled the oxygen trolley through the swing doors and out into the cleaner atmosphere of the road outside.

Jeanie was looking at me through the window and I just shook my head as I opened the back, somehow hoisted the oxygen in, shut the tail gate and then walked around and got into the driver’s seat, slamming the door after me.

‘What happened.’ asked Jeanie, ‘was there anyone?’

I started the car and moved off, fighting back the tears.

‘No,’ I lied, ‘I was mistaken.’

‘Then why are you crying?’

‘Leave it, please, Jeanie, let’s just get out of here.’

~ §~

We left Oxford behind and carried on northwards. I wondered what it was like back at the hospital and whether the man had ended it all yet. It was strange, I hadn’t even asked his name, but that wasn’t important: what was important was that there was yet another victim–all be it indirectly–of the green fog. I hated it with a passion and wondered what on Earth could have possibly caused it; perhaps it was not from Earth, but from deep space? Or maybe it was one of those secret chemical weapons that had somehow been let out into the atmosphere? There were too many questions and no answers.

I felt so impotent. I was just twelve years old and was dealing with things that no child my age should be facing. Just a few days ago, I was a happy boy, with lots of friends and a fine life, now everything was very different and so very unfair!

Jeanie was quiet, somehow realising that something had happened back at the hospital that had upset me deeply. She didn’t say anything and for that I was thankful. Nicola was staring out of the window humming to herself and clutching her teddy. She seemed to be accepting all this much better than either Jeanie or I.

We carried on up the road, avoiding blocked roads and heading ever northward, I wanted to put as many miles on the clock as possible and then find somewhere safe for the night. Jeanie and I agreed that we should all put our masks on prior to sleeping, just in case the fog returned.

We were going along a fairly straight stretch of road, thankfully reasonably free of cars. Jeanie was having forty winks in the back with Ben, half across her, doing the same. Nicola was alternating between talking to her teddy and looking out of the window.

‘Oooh goody,’ squealed Nicola, sitting up and looking out of the window to the side.

‘What, honey?’ I asked, thinking that she might have seen a horse or sheep, perhaps.

‘There’s a ’plane over there. I always wanted to go in a ’plane, Daddy said we would before–’

I skidded to a stop, waking Jeanie and Ben up in the process and looked in the direction that Nicola was pointing.

High in the sky a small aeroplane was heading north, the same as us!

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

‘Wwwwhat…?’ Jeanie mumbled, sleepily.

‘It’s a ’plane, look!’

I pointed and Nicola pointed, Ben stayed asleep–lazy hound.

‘Oooh, oooh, follow it, Alex!’

The Green Fog
By


Susan Brown

---

 
Chapter 4
 

Previously…

We carried on up the road, avoiding blocked roads and heading ever northward, I wanted to put as many miles on the clock as possible and then find somewhere safe for the night. Jeanie and I agreed that we should all put our masks on prior to sleeping, just in case the fog returned.

We were going along a fairly straight stretch of road, thankfully reasonably free of cars. Jeanie was having forty winks in the back with Ben, half across her, doing the same. Nicola was alternating between talking to her teddy and looking out of the window.

‘Oooh goody,’ squealed Nicola, sitting up and looking out of the window to the side.

‘What, honey?’ I asked, thinking that she might have seen a horse or sheep, perhaps.

‘There’s a ’plane over there. I always wanted to go in a ’plane, Daddy said we would before–’

I skidded to a stop, waking Jeanie and Ben up in the process and looked in the direction that Nicola was pointing.

High in the sky a small aeroplane was heading north, the same as us!

And now the story continues…

Bourton

‘Wwwwhat…?’ Jeanie mumbled, sleepily.

‘It’s a ’plane, look!’

I pointed and Nicola pointed, Ben stayed asleep–lazy hound.

‘Oooh, oooh, follow it, Alex!’

‘How can I? It’s going much too quickly.’

‘Well, try to keep up and we might see it land somewhere. We have to try.’

‘All right,’ I said, revving the engine and then, with shrieking tyres, we hared off down the road in the pursuit of the impossible. The aeroplane was already small in the distance and I had to manoeuvre around lots of cars that were strewn across the road as we made a headlong dash to keep up with the small object in the sky.

It must have been going fairly slowly because, unbelievably, we were keeping pace with it. I think it helped that the road was fairly straight and the pilot appeared to be following the road ahead of us.

Looking at the speedometer, I was doing something like sixty miles an hour on the bits of road that were relatively free of cars. The others were getting quite excited and were making a hell of a racket, not helped by Ben finally waking up and barking like mad!

‘Pipe down, you lot!’ I shouted, and, miraculously, things did get slightly quieter.

Being a novice driver I was concerned that I might lose control or something and it was all I could do to keep the Land Rover on the road and not turn it over. The suspension was quite hard and our teeth rattled a fair amount as we went over the sometimes bumpy road.

‘Look, it’s turning left,’ Jeanie shouted, excitedly, bouncing up and down in her seat.

My heart sank at that and then, in the distance I saw the road began to bend to the left too, so it must be that he or she was following the road. If only the pilot could see us, perhaps the ’plane could land so we could find each other.

I carried on at the same speed and didn’t really slow down as I went around the gradual bend. I was watching the ’plane which was now going more or less straight and I wasn’t looking where I ought––

‘Alex. Watch out!’

My eyes snapped back to the road and my heart leapt into my mouth because just about fifty feet ahead was a car in the middle of the road and someone lying on the ground. I slammed on the brakes, hauled the steering wheel to the left, grazed the side of the parked car, felt a sickening thump as the Land Rover ran over the person in the road and then almost lost it as there was another car ahead and I had to turn right sharply to avoid crashing into it.

Somehow, we didn’t crash or turn over and we continued on our mad rush to keep up with the aircraft which had got even further away from us.

Glancing in the rear-view mirror, the others in the back were very quiet and hugging each other. Ben had disappeared into the rear foot-well, cowering like a brave dog should.

I tried not to think of that sickening thump, but hoped that I wasn’t becoming callous to things like that. We had seen so much death; it was getting normal now–much too normal.

We continued for about a quarter of an hour and I was more careful about looking at what was on the road as well as in the sky. I had learned my lesson.

We sped through a village where there were no people in the road or cars stopped in awkward places. It all looked normal except for the complete absence of inhabitants. I think I saw a fox though disappearing into the undergrowth with something in its mouth.

‘Jeanie, I wonder if the fog hit everywhere at the same time or whether some places got hit later, perhaps at night?’

‘I don’t know; but it looks like it must have arrived here at night maybe when everyone was in bed.’

‘I don’t want the horrid fog to come back,’ Nicola said, her voice quavering.

‘We hope it won’t, sweetie,’ said Jeanie, soothingly, ‘but you’re with us and we’ll keep you safe.’

We were back out in the country now on the A4260 heading towards Deddington and the north. The road was getting bendy and I couldn’t keep up the speed any more. The aeroplane, not having that problem just flew fairly straight, and soon it was getting smaller and smaller and, finally, disappeared into the distance.

We had lost it.

I pulled over to the side of the road and just stared into the sky, hoping against hope that it would come back–but it didn’t.

‘It’s gone,’ I said, stating the obvious.

‘Never mind, sis,’ Jeanie replied, trying to sound upbeat, ‘at least we know that other folk are alive and we might see the aeroplane again if the pilot starts to search for survivors. Let’s have a proper meal. It’s nice here and I’m getting jolly hungry. Are you hungry, Nicola?’

‘My tummy’s rumbling a bit.’

‘I thought it was Ben growling,’ Jeannie giggled. ‘How about you, Alex?’

‘I could eat a horse,’ I said, trying to sound cheerful–even if I wasn’t.

Ben barked, indicating, I think, that he was hungry too. Bright boy, that dog!

I dug out the primus stove and we had some hot soup and water biscuits, followed by a cup of tea and some sweet biscuits from the tin. I wondered how soon we would be able to eat fresh food again, but not knowing what was safe to eat after the fog, we would have to stick to tins and stuff like that. As long as we didn’t go hungry or thirsty, we would manage.

Nicola went off with Ben, but within our eyesight, so that Ben could do his business. She had more or less taken charge of Ben and it made us smile at how bossy she was with him!

I was dunking a Lincoln biscuit in my tea when Jeanie remarked, ‘I think the fog only comes in the late afternoon or evening.’

‘Why d’you say that?’ I asked.

‘Well, both times it’s happened so far, that’s been the case. I might be wrong, but there is no sign of fog anywhere when we have been travelling during the daytime.’

‘You may well be right, but we daren’t take any chances,’ I replied.

‘No, we won’t, but I think that we should try to start finding somewhere to stay other than the Landy, not later than the early afternoon. Then we can hole up somewhere and prepare ourselves just in case.’

‘I’ll dig out the map,’ I said.

In next to no time we were poring over the map and it did not take long to work out exactly where we were.

‘Okay, we are here,’ I said, pointing my finger on the Oxford Road just short of Adderbury. ‘The next biggish place is Banbury, but I don’t think we want to stop there. We could drive through and carry on a bit further. If we make tracks soon, we should be able to reach Bourton just off the A423 and have a look there for somewhere to stop–a house or something. What d’you think?’

‘I agree, we don’t want to get caught out again with the fog chasing us.’

‘Do you think it was chasing us?’

‘I don’t know, but it’s rather queer that it seemed to speed up when we went faster.’

‘That means that it might be intelligent.’

‘Oh my God, I hope not. It may have just been that the wind picked up or something.’ I hadn’t told Jeanie about the man in the hospital and his description of fingers of fog searching him out.

‘We’d better get going,’ said Jeanie, ‘Nicola, Ben, come on, time to go.’

~ §~

As soon as we were on our way again, I asked the others to keep a look out for aeroplanes–just in case, while I concentrated on driving. Jeanie was sitting with me at the front and Nicola was sharing the back seat with Ben.

There were now very few cars on the road that looked as if they had stopped suddenly or crashed ; which sort of confirmed our suspicion that the fog had hit this area late at night, when everyone–or most people anyway–were in bed. Although I did see one man in a ditch, his bicycle by his side. This led me to wonder why there were no warnings. As far as I could make out, the fog hit the school in the late afternoon or early evening. Surely it must have been noticed by the authorities somewhere that a green fog was enveloping the country? Then I remembered that the ’phones didn’t work and the radio was silent and even on the short wave set at the police station, all I could get on it was someone foreign and she faded out pretty quickly.

I shook my head. There was so much we didn’t know about and we would have to be jolly careful not to assume anything about the deadly fog.

Eventually we entered the market town of Banbury; we didn’t stop but there were more signs of people and vehicles in the streets. Several places had burned down, including the Town Hall, which had been reduced to a heap of bricks and rubble. We passed a bus that had ploughed into a wall and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I will spare the graphic details, but not all the dead were in one piece and there were birds, dogs and cats that seemed to be eating…

Luckily, Nicola was asleep and didn’t wake up until we were the other side of the town and so was spared from seeing the ghastly sights. Ahead, I spotted a petrol station at the side of the road. Checking the petrol gauge, it seemed that we had nearly two thirds of a tank left, but I didn’t want to take any chances with running out of fuel.

‘Shall we get some more petrol?’ I asked.

‘Well, we don’t want to run out, so we ought to top up whenever we can.’ Jeanie said as we coasted to a stop by one of the pumps.

Nicola woke up a bit but was content to stay in the back, clutching her teddy, whispering to it and leaning against the horizontal form of Ben.

Jeanie and I got out and, after putting the fuel hose in the tank, I hand-cranked petrol pump. It was hard going as I seemed to have lost some of my strength since I had been transformed into a girl and in the end Jeanie and I took turns until we had filled the tank to the brim.

Then we had look around the petrol station and in the garage were some cars that were there for repair but more importantly, several large jerry cans. Our space was now a bit limited, but we managed to fill three and find space for them in the back of the “Landy”.

As we drove away from the filling station, I noticed that dark clouds were building up from the south west and it looked as though it might rain at any moment. Also the wind had risen and the leafless trees were beginning to sway. I wanted to get to our destination–which was only about four miles up the road–before the heavens opened; therefore I cracked on.

We turned right off the A423 into Chapel Lane; this led into the small village of Little Bourton. We looked out for likely places to stay, but they were all tiny wee cottages. We really wanted a sizeable house in which we could sleep and maybe feel a bit safer. I had visions of another knife-wielding man, knocking at a flimsy door or something so we gave the small village the thumbs down and carried on, turning left into Spring Lane and then left again at the signpost for Great Bourton, which we hoped might have a decent place where we could stay overnight.

It was getting quite dark now, not because it was particularly late–it was only just after one o’clock–but because the heavy dark clouds above were hiding what sunlight there was.

About a mile up the road, we entered Great Bourton, where we spotted several larger houses for us to choose from. Eventually, we pulled up outside a house called The Friars, it had two stories and looked quite substantial, not quite a mansion, but as big as it got around there.

‘Wait here,’ I told the others while I got out and did a recce of the place.

I walked up the path to the house and–for some strange reason–knocked on the door. Of course there was no answer so I tried to open it. It was locked. I followed a path round to the back and found the back door. I turned the handle and it was locked too. I stopped and thought for a moment, not wanting to break a window; I looked around under some flower pots and struck lucky when I found a key under the last one I looked at!

I fitted the key in the door and the lock turned easily. Once inside, I had a look around. I was in the kitchen which was sizeable and quite well maintained. I opened the door opposite and found myself in a small hall with several doors leading off it. Somehow I sensed that nobody was home–dead or alive. There was an absence of that smell that I had experienced all too often of late–the horrible smell of death.

Just to make sure though, I checked the sitting room, dining room and a few other downstairs rooms, which included a study full of books; making my way upstairs I had a look in the four bedrooms and bathroom. I was right, the place was empty, but lived in as I could see sheets and pillows on beds, clothes in wardrobes and other signs of a house that was normally occupied.

Looking out of a bedroom window, I saw the Land Rover down below with Jeanie and Nicola peering at the house. I waved to them but they weren’t looking up at my window. I noticed a few spots of rain on the glass and hurried downstairs, out of the kitchen door, and along the path to the car.

‘It’s okay,’ I told them, ‘we can stay here tonight. Let’s get the things we need out of the car and make ourselves comfortable.’

~ §~

We were only just in time, because as soon as we had carried the last bundle into the kitchen the heavens opened and we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. We had brought in all the food and bottled water and a few other essentials, the main ones being three oxygen tanks and masks. We were determined not to be caught out by that sneaky fog!

We made ourselves comfortable in the large sitting room, in deeply cushioned chairs. Having found some chopped firewood outside and with the help of some newspapers, we soon had a cheerful fire going. Outside it was quite stormy, with rain lashing on the windows and the noise of wind going through the trees and bushes outside. The thunder was getting nearer and it looked like we were in for a rough night. I was quite glad that we would not have to spend a night in the Land Rover.

I was pretty sure that no fog would get to us in this weather and felt we were as safe and secure as we had ever been since this “adventure” began.

Before long we were all thoroughly warmed up and rather sleepy. Ben was lying in front of the fire, stretched out and fast asleep. Jeanie was gazing out of the window but her eyes were drooping. Nicola had already fallen asleep, with her ever-present teddy clutched under one arm. I didn’t want to sleep, so I just got up and had a better look around.

I returned to the kitchen and had a peek in some of the cupboards. There were plenty of tins and such we could use to replenish our stocks and I made a mental note to tell Jeanie about that. I also found some candles and matches and took them with me so that when it got really dark, we could use them.

Glancing around, I noticed a wall calendar and went to look at it; several dates had been filled in with events and reminders.

The date four days ago was written “Visiting Auntie Mary for the week.” That explained why the house was empty. I felt rather sad that the person who wrote the entry and all of their family were, more than likely, dead now.

Out in the hall, was a telephone; I picked up the receiver and listened–nothing–completely dead.

Remembering the study, I went into the book-lined room and had a look around. The books were mainly boring stuff as it appeared that the man or lady was a solicitor. Then I saw a certificate on the wall declaring that Jonathan Makepeace to be a barrister and that answered one of my questions about who used this room. On his large oak desk was a big blotter, several fountain pens, a bottle of ink and office equipment like a stapling machine and hole punch.

I sat in the leather chair and wondered what he and his family were like. At the back of the desk was a small photograph in a silver frame. In it was, I assumed his family–his pretty wife, two girls, one about my age the other I would say six or seven, and a boy who looked about fourteen wearing a school uniform. They all looked so happy to be posing for the picture and my eyes welled up with tears, hoping against hope that they might have survived somehow but knowing in my bones that they probably hadn’t.

I went out into the hall and peeped in at the others; they were all asleep. That didn’t surprise me considering all that we had been through. I went upstairs and checked the bedrooms: the main bedroom was quite large with an ornate fireplace. The furniture including the double bed, wardrobe, easy chair and dressing table, all looked expensive and well made.

The other three rooms were obviously the children’s rooms. The boy’s room was typically boyish, with a cricket bat propped up against the wall, model cars and planes on shelves and some Eagle, Beano and Dandy comics in a pile on a chair. There were several adventure story books on the small bookshelf over the chest of drawers in the corner. Looking out of the window, I could see no respite in the weather, which if anything, was getting more violent, although the thunder hadn’t got any nearer, which was nice.

Continuing my exploration, I felt sure that no green fog could possibly arrive in weather like this–well I hoped not, anyway.

The next bedroom belonged to a girl; it was pink and the bed covers had a frilly look to them. The dressing table held brushes, combs, some ribbons, hair pins and some scent in a small bottle. On the bedside table was a Mallory Towers book by Enid Blyton. I recognised it as one that Jeanie had read a while back. Opening the wardrobe, I saw it was stuffed full of clothes. All sorts of things from uniforms to formal dresses were hanging there. On an impulse, I pulled one of the dresses out, a cotton one, with white flowers and a Peter Pan collar, and held it up against myself and discovered that it was my size.

I went to the bed and sat down, feeling a bit like a peeping Tom, rummaging through the private things of other people. I was on the verge of tears again. I realised that now I inhabited a girl’s body, my emotions were rarely far beneath the surface.

Glancing around the room, I could almost see the girl, living, sleeping and playing here. It was all too depressing for words. Then I took a grip on myself. I had to be strong, for the others and myself. I might be a girl now, but I wasn’t going to be of those that can’t manage to think for themselves and swoon at the least thing.

I left the dress on the bed and went into the corridor. The next room was the bathroom, which was a fair size and had a nice bath in it. I went over to the washbasin and turned on the hot tap. After a few seconds the water was running hot. Presumably it was being heated by a back boiler behind the fire. I had an idea, but wanted to make sure of a few things first.

After turning off the water, I left the bathroom and crossed the corridor to the next room. It was the young girl’s roo, with a white bed with pink covers and pillow cases, white wardrobe and dressing table, and a dolly lying on the bed.

The wardrobe contained dresses, skirts, blouses, a few coats, woollies and in the bottom, several pairs of shoes and some Wellingtons.

The chest of drawers held socks, knickers and night clothes, together with some more tops and some girls’ shorts.

A toy box in the corner contained lots of cuddly animals and in pride of place was a wonderful doll's house, complete with miniature furniture.

I went to the window and looked outside again. It was beginning to get darker there and the rain and wind showed no sign of letting up. In the distance, flashes of lightning lit up the scene and on the skyline I noticed a steeple or tower briefly illuminated before darkness returned once again. I could just about see that the road where the Land Rover was parked. It looked quite wet, and as it was on a slight hill, water was gushing down the road in rivulets.

I returned downstairs to the others: Jeanie woke up and smiled as I walked in, Ben hadn’t moved from his position in front of the fire and must have been dreaming because his legs were twitching and he was making gentle bark-like noises. Nicola was still fast asleep and looked very cute, sucking her thumb.

I gestured for Jeanie to come with me and she followed me into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. ‘Gosh, I didn’t realise I was so tired,’ she yawned.

‘We’ve been through a lot,’ I replied.

‘You must be tired, Alex?’

‘I am a bit, but I can’t sleep yet. Look I have an idea. We’ve got hot water because of the fire. I think we should all have a bath and then a proper dinner in the dining room. I also think that we should get changed for dinner and make ourselves look nice. It will make us feel a lot better. There are lots of clothes upstairs…’ I explained to Jeanie the results of my exploration.

‘That sounds like a good idea. Will you wear a frock?’

I looked down at my slightly grubby uniform and grimaced. ‘Yes, I think so; I really need to change and so do you. You look dirtier than me and the few clothes we brought with us won’t go far and Nicola has fewer still, although I don’t know how she’ll react to wearing girls’ things.’

‘Good point–I don’t think that she’s fully come to terms with being a girl and I don’t want to push it.’

‘Let’s play it by ear, get her bathed and let her decide what she wants to wear.’

‘Good idea, let’s get cracking!’

We went upstairs and I showed her the bedrooms and bathroom. We agreed that night we would all sleep in the main bedroom on the big double bed. Jeanie and I would take turns keeping watch in case the weather got better and the fog returned.

Jeanie was as upset as I was about the fact that we were using other people’s clothes and facilities, but she was more no-nonsense than me and soon pulled herself together.

We drew the first bath and Jeanie took a dressing gown and had first dibs.

In the mean time, I decided to wear the dress I had tried up against myself, so brought it from the girl’s bedroom and carefully placed it on the bed together with some cotton knickers and short white socks.

Jeanie was soon finished and returned from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. I had a bath while Jeanie went downstairs to get Nicola ready for hers.

It was only a quick dip in a shallow bath since we had no idea how much hot water was available. I washed my long hair and tried to do as Jeanie did with the towel but only made a mess of it. I pulled on a dressing gown and returned to the bedroom. Jeanie was there, helping Nicola undress.

‘Jeanie, can you help me with my hair?’

‘In a minute, let me get Nikki in the bath and then I’ll help.’

Jeanie helped Nicola out of her track suit and underthings and then, wrapping a towel around her led the giggling girl into the bathroom.

Nicola’s clothes were as bad as ours and she would have to change into something clean. What she would agree to wear though was another matter.

I decided to get dressed and then Nicola would see that I didn’t mind wearing girls’ clothes. That made me stop and think for a moment. Did I mind wearing girls’ clothes? After a short space of time, I had got used to wearing a blouse and skirt–in fact I hadn’t thought anything about it at all, what with everything else happening around us. I suppose I had accepted the truth, that I was a girl now and felt more comfortable wearing female clothing than I would have as a boy.

I shrugged and went to the bed where the dress that I had chosen was lying. Once again I looked outside to see what was happening. It was getting darker now but it looked like the bad weather was settling in for the night. Thunder was rumbling all around and lightning flashed in the sky. We appeared to be in the centre of the storm and we were as snug as a bug in a rug and I was rather pleased at that.

I lit a few candles and using the melted wax, fixed them on the mantelpiece. Then I lit the fire which already had some logs in the grate. Soon the scene was cheerful and warm. We wouldn’t be cold in bed tonight!

I sat on the bed and decided to towel dry my hair. This I did and although it was still a bit damp, I thought that it would soon dry. I brushed it out a bit and the hair felt strangely heavy on my head and shoulders. I slipped on the knickers and socks and then the dress. I had the devil of a job doing up the buttons which were at the back, but by a series of almost acrobatic contortions, I managed somehow. Then I brushed my hair again close to the warmth of the fire, parting it in the middle, leaving a slight fringe at the front. It soon was almost dry.

I stepped back and looked at myself in the wardrobe mirror. The reflection showed me the exact image of Jeanie in a pretty dress.

I liked what I saw, but with reservations. I know that sounds strange. What I mean is; I was kind of pleased that I looked pretty. Let’s face it; if you are going to be a girl, it is nice to be pretty and not ugly. But I wasn’t happy that Alexander was no more–on the outside anyway. It left me feeling rather sad. But I had to be strong and cheerful for the others but compared to what had happened to most if nearly all of the rest of the population; I had been let off lightly.

I went into the little girl’s bedroom and looked for some things for Nicola to wear. I wanted to give her a choice. I found a girls t shirt and track suit similar to the one she had just been wearing, but it was a lemon colour. I also picked out a dress, rather pretty pink with lace at the collar and cuffs. After picking out some plain white knickers and socks, I took them back to the main bedroom and placed them on the bed.

Jeanie and Nicola returned from the bathroom giggling. Nicola–whose hair was not as long as ours but long enough–had hers up in a turban like Jeanie.

She looked at me and smiled. ‘You look pretty, Alex.’

‘Thanks, Nikki. Did you have a nice bath?’

‘Yes, it is nice to be clean and not smelly!’

We all laughed. Then Nicola spotted the clothes on the bed and just stared at them. I tried to discover from her expression, what was going through her head, but couldn’t work it out.

She looked at me and then the clothes again. Then she glanced at Jeanie who had already chosen the dress she wanted to wear and was holding it up against herself.

‘Alex,’ whispered Nicola as she came close to me.

‘Yes, honey?’

‘You don’t mind wearing a dress then?’

‘Of course not.’

‘But you are a boy.’

‘Not any more, sweetie. I am a girl now, and anyway, I think I look pretty and you said I did, too.’

She seemed to mull things over.

‘You choose what you would like to wear, Nicola.’

She looked from the track suit to the dress and back again. Jeanie was doing her best to look normal, ignoring Nicola’s dilemma. I could see the indecision on the little girl’s face and I ached to just give her a hug and help her out but both Jeanie and I had agreed that we would let Nicola decide for herself.

She looked at me her eyes wide, a worried frown on her face. ‘C…can I try that on and if I look silly I’ll wear the track suit?’

‘Of course, honey.’ I said and then Jeanie gave Nicola a big hug and helped her change.

While that was going on, I tidied up a bit. I didn’t know if we would have time to wash our clothes out, so I went to find a bag for our laundry. At some point we would have to have do some clothes washing or we would soon run out of things to wear.

I glanced at Nicola; she was wearing the dress and looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair had been brushed, and although still damp, it touched her shoulders and was slightly wavy.

Jeanie was standing by Nicola with her hand resting gently on the younger girl’s arm.

‘Do I look all right?’ asked Nicola in a small voice, full of doubt.

‘You look lovely, darling.’

‘I am a girl now, aren’t I?’

‘Yes, sweetheart,’ said Jeanie, giving her a big hug, ‘and a very pretty one.’

‘I—if I go to heaven, will Mummy and Daddy know it’s me?’

Both Jeanie and I looked at each other, tears started to well up in our eyes as I joined them in a group hug.

‘Mummy and Daddy know who you are, honey,’ I said, my voice cracking, ‘but you have a long, long time to go before you go to heaven.’

Eventually, we got ourselves back together again and Nicola began giggling as Jeanie put a pink ribbon in her hair–Alice style–and fussed about with her hair a bit more.

We were soon ready and trouped down to the kitchen. Obviously Ben’s radar was working, as at the sound of pots and pans, he came in and sat by us, looking expectantly for food.

After digging out the dog biscuits, we left him to fill his tummy while we prepared a meal.

We didn’t have much, but we had tins we could open. We all put pinnies on–we found a small one for Nicola with the others–and we finally decided on spam fritters, fried in the pan, and baked beans, and as we found some potatoes in a cupboard, we took a chance that they were okay and after peeling and cutting them, we fried some chips. We boiled some water and each had a mug of tea to wash it all down.

It was strange being all dressed up and eating our tea by the light of candles, but it was nice and felt more normal than we had been used to lately.

Ben was at our feet waiting for any stray food that might land on the floor and we found out quite soon that he loved chips.

We also found a jam Swiss roll, still sealed in its packet in the larder, and that was very nice as afters.

We didn’t talk much about our troubles while we were eating. I suppose we were fed up with being on a constant alert for bad things to happen. I do know that by the time we had finished, I felt more relaxed than at any time since the start of this affair.

After clearing up the tea things, we got ready for bed. It wasn’t late, but we wanted to get going early the following morning and get some miles under our belts.

We gave Nicola the choice of a cotton nightie or brushed cotton pyjamas and she surprised us by choosing the nightie. We tucked her up in bed and she lay there with her teddy and Ben lying on the floor next to her and just behind the oxygen tank with the mask close by–just in case.

Because Jeanie had slept a bit earlier, she was to do the first shift as lookout. She was to wake me up in two hours. She found the Mallory Towers book and after slipping on a nightie, she sat by the window with a candle for some light, wrapped in a blanket.

I joined the now sleeping Nicola in the double bed similarly attired in a long cotton nightie and soon felt toasty warm.

It seemed like moments later that I was wakened by Jeanie to do my shift of two hours. Jeanie hopped into the warm bed as I got out.

I went over and looked out of the window, noticing that the rain had lessened a bit but not the wind, which was howling around the house and shaking the trees up. The thunder and lightning had receded into the distance and I could only see the occasional flash from the north, once again illuminating the church tower. The candle was low, so I lit another and wrapping myself in the blanket, began to read the book Jeanie had left on the side.

The two hours seemed to take ages to pass but eventually it did. Then, realising that I wasn’t a bit sleepy, I decided to let Jeanie lie in a bit longer and not waken her unless I got tired. I never needed much sleep as a boy and I assumed that that had carried over to my female life. I had nearly finished the book as the sky grew gradually lighter. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the story of Darrell, Alicia and horrid Gwendoline Mary Lacey.

My eyes must have drooped a bit and then I heard a tap, tap, tap against a window somewhere that alerted me and made me wonder what was causing it. I stood up, put on the dressing gown and, after lighting another candle, padded over to the door. Opening it, I stood there for a moment, wondering where the noise was coming from. At appeared to be coming from the little girl’s room. I went out, closing the door quietly. It was colder here and I shivered slightly as I padded down the hall in my thin nightdress and dressing gown.

I stopped outside the bedroom door and listened.

Tap, tap, tap.

With my heart in my mouth, I slowly opened the door. In my mind’s eye, I could see that poor demented man with a knife and his mad eyes–

The hand holding the candle shook as I peeped my head around the door. The room was empty but over the other side, a branch was banging up against the window.

With relief, I put the candle down, went over to the window, opened it quickly and broke the branch off. My hair flew about my face as I shut the window again and shivered–a combination of the cold and my fright, I supposed.

Back in the warmth of the bedroom, the others were still asleep, but Ben had managed to get on the bed and was lying close up against Nicola, who, as before, was sucking her thumb in her sleep.

I smiled at the peaceful scene and then wrapping myself in the blanket again, I drew the chair closer to the fire and settled down for what remained of the night. I could see dawn was coming ever faster and knew that all too soon we would have to get up and be on our way.

It was light when I got up and stared out of the window for the umpteenth time. The rain had stopped completely and the wind was no more than a gentle breeze. There had been no sign of green fog and I hoped against hope that we would never see it again, but I had a feeling that we would and that we must never let our guard down.

I went to the bathroom and after using the loo, had a wash. When I came back in, Ben was standing there wagging his tail. I think he wanted to use the toilet so, after putting on a dressing gown; I took him downstairs and let him out of the kitchen door.

By the time he came back in, I had to rub him down with a towel as he had somehow managed to roll in some mud. I gave him some breakfast and left him to wolf it down and went back upstairs. The others were just waking up.

‘Ally, you didn’t wake me.’

‘Sorry, Jeanie, I wasn’t tired so I thought that I’d let you lie in.’

‘Well you shouldn’t have. You have a lot of driving to do today and you’ll be tired later.’

‘If I get tired, we could always stop somewhere and have a nap or something.’

‘I suppose,’ she sniffed.

We had some breakfast; it was only more spam and a few of the potatoes, fried together but it filled us and that was the main thing.

We used some of the clothes that we found in the house and filled a couple of suitcases with them. Nicola in particular needed some more clothes and now that she had started to dress like a proper girl, she sort of went overboard and only wanted to wear really girlie things. I wondered at that. I felt at ease with myself as a girl and now, it seemed that Nicola was too. Was that yet another effect of the fog? Did it affect our minds as well as our bodies?

She finally decided on a pink gingham frock and a cardie and then she asked if she could have her hair in plats, and Jeanie was happy to oblige.

I wore a white long sleeved blouse and knee length brown skirt. Jeanie chose a green floral dress. We were so lucky that the clothes all fitted us nicely and I could see that Nicola was taking to girlhood like a duck to water.

An hour later, I shut the front door of the house that had given us refuge overnight. I silently thanked the absent owners and prayed with all my heart that somehow they had been saved from the catastrophe.

The Land Rover started at the second attempt and I crunched the gears as we set off, but not too badly.

We passed through the rest of the village, through the main street that comprised of a few shops and a pub. Ahead I could see the tower of the church. According to the map of the village I saw on the wall of the study, it was All Saints Church. I looked to the left as we approached the church and saw that the high tower was separate from the main church building.

We were just going past when suddenly, two people rushed out from the churchyard and stood in the road immediately in front of us, waving their arms.

Slamming on the brakes, we all shot forward in our seats, Ben yelped and the two girls in the back, shouted with alarm.

Looking at the strangers I had visions of the man with the knife, but then saw that it was a vicar and a lady whom I assumed was his wife. They didn’t look mad; just overjoyed at seeing us. They came forward as soon as we had stopped.

After I opened the window, the vicar approached and smiled at us.

‘Thank The Lord,’ he said; ‘you have been saved–just like us!!’

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

The vicar opened my door and hugged me. The lady beamed at me and then went around to the rear door and opened it.

‘It’s a miracle,’ she said, embracing both Jeanie and Nicola.

The Green Fog
By


Susan Brown

---

 
Chapter 5
 

Previously…

An hour later, I shut the front door of the house that had given us refuge overnight. I silently thanked the absent owners and prayed with all my heart that somehow they had been saved from the catastrophe.

The Land Rover started at the second attempt and I crunched the gears as we set off, but not too badly.

We passed through the rest of the village, through the main street that comprised of a few shops and a pub. Ahead I could see the tower of the church. According to the map of the village I saw on the wall of the study, it was All Saints Church. I looked to the left as we approached the church and saw that the high tower was separate from the main church building.

We were just going past when suddenly, two people rushed out from the churchyard and stood in the road immediately in front of us, waving their arms.

Slamming on the brakes, we all shot forward in our seats, Ben yelped and the two girls in the back, shouted with alarm.

Looking at the strangers I had visions of the man with the knife, but then saw that it was a vicar and a lady whom I assumed was his wife. They didn’t look mad; just overjoyed at seeing us. They came forward as soon as we had stopped.

After I opened the window, the vicar approached and smiled at us.

‘Thank The Lord,’ he said; ‘you have been saved–just like us!!’

And now the story continues…

All Saints Church

The vicar opened my door and hugged me. The lady beamed at me and then went around to the rear door and opened it.

‘It’s a miracle,’ she said, embracing both Jeanie and Nicola.

They were both talking at once, making it difficult to understand what they were saying.

‘Harold, wait a moment; with both of us speaking at once these poor girls can make neither head nor tail of what we’re saying.’

‘Sorry, Penny,’ said the vicar, smiling and stepping back slightly.

‘Would you like to come into the vicarage and so we can talk? I bet you would all like a cup of tea or squash?’

I glanced at Jeanie who nodded almost imperceptibly.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘we’ll come.’

We got out of the car and with Ben lolloping on ahead; then followed the vicar and his wife into the Vicarage.

It seemed odd sitting there in the parlour, everything looking absolutely normal–as if the world hadn’t changed at all. I half expected someone from the Women’s Institute to come in at any moment to tell the vicar’s wife about the latest jam-making jamboree.

The vicar–The Rev Harold Farthing–was, I suppose, in his mid forties, as was his wife Penny. They had pleasant open faces and seemingly couldn’t do enough for us. He was wearing the traditional dark suit and dog collar and she a summer dress, which struck me as being a bit odd because it was still winter. Mind you, with the roaring fire in the grate, it was rather warm!

We didn’t speak about the horrors that we had seen yet, I think that we were just all happy to someone, anyone else alive! Nicola was on the floor playing with Ben and was more interested in that than listening to what we were talking about. Soon, we had finished our drinks and biscuits and began discussing what had happened.

The Rev Farthing spoke first. ‘It was I suppose quite late in the evening and I glanced out of the window. I was still up because I had been working on my sermon for Sunday and Penny had already retired because she was feeling slightly off colour. I noticed that it was somewhat misty in the distance over the Cherwell Valley. It had been rather dull and overcast and had rained, but up to the time the fog came it had cleared up and the moon was full, so I could see the river sparking slightly in the moonlight. Then I could see the green fog roll over the other side of the valley. I had a good view of it in the study and it sort of glowed and throbbed if you can understand that.

‘I did not like the look of things, so I roused my wife and she was of the same opinion. Somehow we knew it to be evil. It approached us quite slowly and I had my powerful binoculars–the ones I used for bird watching–and I could monitor its progress as it came lazily towards us. I noticed a car coming from the left on the Station Road just outside Cropredy, its headlights cutting through the night like a knife. Then the fog appeared to somehow increase its speed, almost as if it was chasing the car. With horror I watched the fog advance and envelop the car. I could see the headlights still, green and eerie as they reflected the evil fog. Then the headlights became erratic and not following the road as the driver, God protect the poor soul, lost control of the car and it crashed, dowsing one light. Then almost immediately after that there was a tremendous explosion as the car blew up.

‘The fog continued its course towards us and I knew that I had to rouse the village. My wife and I put on our coats because it was bitterly cold and ran over to the bell tower.

‘Soon I was pulling on the tenor bell rope with all my might while Penny went to the gallery at the top of the tower with the binoculars to watch the progress of the fog and see if there was any movement in the village.’

‘Yes,’ Penny confirmed, ’I could see the fog advancing towards us and it seemed to be accelerating–almost as if it was aware of our presence and was looking for us. One or two lights came on in the village and a few people looked out of their windows, but no one came out. Then, through the binoculars, I noticed someone on the edge of the village. It was the constable on his bicycle, no doubt coming to us to see what the fuss was about. He didn’t realise that the fog was creeping up behind him. I would swear on the Holy Bible that the fog increased its speed and then swallowed him. The last thing I saw was him falling off his bicycle before the fog became too dense for me to see. Soon, half the village was consumed and shrouded in the fog. It was heading towards us at some speed so I ran down and told Harold to stop ringing the bell and come and see what was happening. He followed me back up the winding stairs and when we had reached the top, the tendrils of fog were already in the churchyard and had overtaken the vicarage.’

Nicola, having stopped playing with Ben–he had gone to sleep–came to Jeanie and me, sitting between us and holding our hands.

The vicar took up the story. ‘When we got to the top, it was as if we were above a green sea of cloud. The tower is the highest point around here. At any moment, we expected the fog to come towards us. We knelt down in prayer, hoping against hope for salvation. We were there for some minutes and apart from each of us feeling some tightness in our chests that made breathing more difficult, we felt nothing else.

‘Eventually, after saying The Lord’s Prayer, we stood up and surveyed the scene once more. The fog had gone! When I say gone, it had left us and we could see it in the distance heading towards Shotteswell and Warmington. Looking across, it was a vast bank of fog and I couldn’t see how wide it was, so at the time we had no idea if it was a local phenomenon or more widespread. It is only now that we find that this evil thing must have affected an enormous area.

‘I’ll never forget when we looked in all the houses and cottages in the village and found every man, woman and child, dead. It made me feel like God had abandoned us; but then I was reminded that we had been spared and we must have been spared for a purpose, to look after others and give them food and shelter.’

‘Everywhere we have been has had this.’ I said, after a moment of silence, ’We’ve seen some horrible sights.’

‘You poor things,’ said Penny coming and giving us hugs. ‘You must have been terrified.’

‘It was dreadful,’ said Jeanie, ‘everywhere we went there were dead bodies–lying around like rag-dolls. We did see someone but he was violent and we got away from him just before another dose of the fog came up and killed him.’

‘There are others alive then,’ the vicar said eagerly, leaning forward in his seat and clasping his hands as if in prayer.

‘Yes’, I agreed, ‘we saw two cars on our travels but we had no idea whether they got caught in the fog later on or not and then we saw an aeroplane, a small one heading north. We tried to keep up with it, but it was impossible.’

‘All this sounds a bit jumbled,’ said Jeanie, ‘let me tell you what happened to us––’ She told the couple about our school, waking up and finding everyone dead and the incredible fact that Nicola and I had somehow changed into girls. Then finding Nicola and the fraught journey that we had undertaken to reach here.

The vicar and his wife looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. I wondered if they believed Jeanie. It seemed so far-fetched to me, I could understand their scepticism.

‘So,’ the vicar said, looking at me, ‘you and Nicola were once boys?’

‘Yes. It seems like ages ago now, but it’s only a few days.’

‘Have you seen anyone else that has been, erm–transformed as you were?’

‘No, only the people we told you about.’

I didn’t tell them about the man in the hospital as Jeanie was unaware of that incident and I didn’t want to talk about it anyway.

‘Well,’ said the vicar,’ it would be best if you stay with us. God has seen fit to spare us and he has sent you to us. The least we can do is look after you like the Good Samaritan.’

‘But we must go on.’ I stressed.

‘All in good time and anyway, where would you go?’

‘Scotland–our parents are there and we need to find out if they are all right.’

‘They may be–you know, dead,’

‘We must find out,’ I replied firmly.

Once again, I saw a look pass between the vicar and his wife, one that I couldn’t fathom.

‘Look,’ said Penny, ‘I understand why you have to go to Scotland, but it’s a long way and there are things out there that might, no, will harm you. You’ve already been attacked by a man and the fog has nearly got to you too. Why not stay for just a few days and then we might get to know a bit more about how things are going in the country. You are all so terribly young.’

‘We’ve had to grow up quickly,’ said Jeanie bitterly.

‘You have,’ agreed the vicar, ‘but we all need support sometimes. What Penny has said makes sense. Stay with us for just a few days and then if you feel you must; then continue your journey. We may know a bit more about the devil’s fog by then. I hope and pray that it has left us now, but we have to be careful.’

‘It seems to come in the late afternoon or the evening,’ Jeanie said, changing the subject.

‘We have only seen it once but you have had two experiences. That may be significant,’ the vicar pondered.

I glanced at Jeanie and her look reflected my feelings. We wanted to go on but this couple were so passionate about helping us and what the vicar said was true; we had no real idea what was happening. She nodded at me and I nodded back.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘we will stay a few days but then, if we can, we must carry on to find our parents.’

A look of relief came over the vicar and his wife. They seemed genuinely pleased that we were staying and it made me feel a bit guilty that I had any misgivings about them.

The vicarage was a large one with four bedrooms. After parking the car, we brought in all our belongings. Then we could sort out what we would need to take and things that might be surplus to requirements.

Penny saw us struggling with the oxygen tanks and came over.

‘You won’t need those, you are safe with us,’ she said smiling.

I was going to say something, but Jeanie piped up before I could. ‘They are needed for our asthma.’

‘What, all of you?’ she asked.

‘Yes, we are all asthmatic.’

‘You poor things,’ she said. ‘Here let me help you. I don’t know where Harold has got to.’

Just then, Harold came around the corner holding Nicola’s hand and Ben came sniffing along behind them. They came up to us as we were shutting the car doors and moving the rather cumbersome cylinders on wheels.

‘My goodness, do you really need those?’ he said.

‘Yes Harold, the poor things suffer from asthma.’

‘Lord, that is bad. I was a sufferer myself as a child, but I grew out of it. Here let me help you.’

Nicola went off in front with her ever present shadow, Ben, bounding after her as we followed at a slower pace.

We all surveyed our things stacked up in a corner of the rather large hall. It was surprising the amount we had.

‘We can sort this lot out later,’ said Penny, ‘let’s have some lunch.’

‘Have you enough food?’ I asked.

A sad look overcame her. ‘Yes, we always stock up on food. Before–all this happened, we often had visitors. Anyway, Harold and I, when we went to check on our parishioners and found––what we found, we realised that we would need to stock up and we gathered as much as we could. So, in answer to your question, we have plenty.’

We sat down to a meal comprising of tinned ham, potatoes and baked beans at the large kitchen table.

As we sat down, the vicar looked at us all and beamed. ‘Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ,
Our Heavenly Father.

Amen.’

After that, we ate in silence. Nicola was toying with her food and I wondered what was wrong. I didn’t say anything and just finished my meal.

Then, looking up I said, ‘Excuse me, I need to go to the loo.’

‘At the top of the stairs, dear, second right.’

‘Thank you, Penny.’ I replied as I got up.

I soon found it and did the necessary. It was strange not having anything to hold when I had a wee, and it was a bit messier too. I had to get used to all this, probably for the rest of my life.

I wiped myself, pulled up my knickers and adjusted my skirt. After washing my hands in cold water I left the bathroom. Then I stopped suddenly as Nicola was standing there, teddy in her arms, looking a bit upset.

‘What’s wrong, Nicola?’

‘Can I tell you a secret,’ she whispered.

‘Of course, honey.’ I said bending down to her level. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s the vicar. I don’t like him or her either. We were walking through the graveyard and he was holding my hand rather tightly. Then he started mumbling to himself about burying the dead and that there was not enough room in the graveyard for all the departed–I s'pose that means the dead people. Then he said something about Adam, being naughty and wanting to leave.’

‘Well he’s a bit upset, we all are. Everything is horrible at the moment.’

‘I know. I lost my Mummy and Daddy so I’m very sad, but he seemed a bit strange. After talking about this Adam he turned to me and said that we had been saved by God and he would not forsake us, whatever that means. Then he said that as this is God’s house and we were on secret ground–’

‘D’you mean sacred?’

‘Prob’ly,’ she said as I smiled at her mispronunciation.

‘Well, I don’t think you need to worry. He’s a vicar and they are very important. They try to help others and part of their job is to bury the dead. What is wrong with Penny though, she seems nice?’

‘When she smiles, her eyes don’t.’

‘Is that all?’

‘Yes, but there is something I don’t like about her.’

‘Well, don’t worry. I’m sure that they are good people. Anyway, you have Jeanie and me looking after you, not forgetting Ben. We are family now and families look after each other. If you have any worries, come and see us.’

She looked relieved as I took her hand and we went downstairs.

The others were clearing away after the meal and the vicar came to me.

‘Everything all right?’ he asked glancing at Nicola and then back at me.

‘Yes, fine. Nicola, why not take Ben outside so that he can do his business, he’s by the door.’

She ran over to Ben.

‘And Nicola, stay in the garden, but if anything looks strange come straight back in.’

I turned back to Harold.

‘We have been keeping a watch out for the fog, we think that it only comes later in the day and it also appears to set us off with our asthma shortly before.’

‘Well, Alex, you have more experience than us with this, but as far as we are concerned, the fog will not attack us as we are protected. It might just be that the tower is too high but my feeling as a man of God is that we are protected somehow. The Lord has spared us for a reason. But to allay your fears, we will keep watch and if the fog does return, we’ll go up the tower and God willing, all will be well.’

I wished I had his faith, but after seeing what I had seen and all the death and destruction, I did not have the same feelings about God as he. Yes, I believed, but what I believed was that we should not rely on him to get us out of sticky situations and we are responsible for our actions. I also thought that it was a bit strange that he and Penny thought that they were somehow special and that they would be spared for some higher purpose.

We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and reading some of the books from the library. They had a wide range of books from childrens to heavy references. It appears that the couple had a child and the boy was in boarding school like us. They spoke of eight year old Jeffrey as if he was still alive and would not accept the fact that he was probably dead. I sort of agreed with Nicola’s observation that the couple were a bit strange and I put that down to the fact that they had not yet come to terms with the tragedy that had befallen the world. For all that, they seemed harmless and a loving pair. Their devotion to each other was obvious and I suppose religion had given them comfort at a time when it was badly needed.

Late in the afternoon, Jeanie and I went up the tower to have a look around and start our lookout vigil. The view from the gallery was stunning. Nicola was asleep on the sofa in front of the fire with Ben close by. The vicar and his wife had gone over to the church to say prayers. They had asked us to join them, but we said that we wanted to check things first. They accepted that and went hand in hand along the churchyard path and into the cold confines of the silent church.

As we were by ourselves Jeanie spoke about her misgivings. ‘I am worried about Harold and Penny. They think that they are protected and they aren’t.’

‘I know, but they have a strong faith and that’s what’s holding them together.’

‘I think we should try to get away as soon as possible. We can’t vegetate here and I am worried about Nicola. She’s very quiet.’

‘I know,’ I replied and then told her of the conversation that I had with her outside the bathroom.

‘You don’t think that we are in danger?’ asked Jeanie.

‘No, but we need to keep an eye on things and I don’t want to trust in God to look after us. That’s our job. At the first whiff of danger, we go up to the bedroom and get the oxygen going; no matter what they say.’

The first thing we had done after our meal earlier was to take the cylinders upstairs to the bedroom. The vicar said that it wasn’t necessary, but Jeanie and I were taking no chances.

As we looked out over the valley once again, we saw that the river was glinting in the sunshine; it all looked so peaceful. We heard the songs of birds all around us and I could see some sheep dotted on a hill like so many blobs of cotton wool against the green of the grass. The wind had dropped totally now and the sun was setting slowly in the west.

We heard the sound of shoes running up the stone steps and turned around to see a rather breathless Nicola come through the arch and run over to us. Ben followed behind, wagging his tail.

‘Can I see,’ said Nicola excitedly, jumping up and down. She was a bit short and couldn’t see over the wall that surrounded the gallery.

I lifted her up and she looked around. The sun, as was normal at that time of year, was dipping quickly and the shadows of the trees were growing longer as it set in the west.

‘Oh no!’ said Jeanie looking over towards the river about two miles away in the east.

I put Nicola down and looked where Jeanie was staring.

Over the brow of the hill, I could see some faint wisps of green fog-like tendrils. In moments it had thickened and seemed to ooze over the horizon heading slowly but surely towards us. But it wasn’t going slowly; it was just a trick of the distance. We could see that it appeared to accelerate and then in moments, cover the village of Cropredy over the other side of the valley.

‘Quick,’ said Jeanie, ‘we must warn the others.’

After taking one final look at the approaching green, throbbing bank of fog, I dashed after the others, nearly falling down the stone steps of the tower in the mad rush to get to the bottom.

We were all shouting like mad as Harold and Penny rushed out of the church and over to us.

‘What is it, children?’ asked Harold.

‘The fog,’ shouted Jeanie, ‘it’s coming!’

Harold looked at his wife, who smiled nervously.

‘We must go up the tower; it is the best place for us all.’

‘What about the oxygen, we need it.’ I said.

‘You will not need it. As I have said before, God will protect us and we will be too high for the fog to get to us.’

‘You must come with us up to the tower,’ confirmed Penny, ‘you will be safe with us, I promise you.’

I looked at Jeanie and then Nicola, standing wide eyed and sucking her thumb.

‘No, we must do as we did before. That saved us.’

‘But God will save you,’ shouted Harold his eyes now looking rather wild.

‘We can’t take a chance. Come on, let’s get back in the house, quickly. I feel my chest getting tight.’

Harold suddenly grabbed Nicola’s hand and she squealed.

‘At least let us save the child.’

‘No, let her go,’ shouted Jeanie.

Then Ben, who had just stood there, acted. In a bound, he was on Harold and knocked him over. Harold released Nicola who then hurried over to us. We wasted no more time but just ran for it.

‘Stop!’ shouted Harold as we swept past him and ran towards the house.

‘Please come back,’ wailed Penny.

Jeanie stopped on the path and turned around, indecision showing clearly.

‘Jeanie, come on!’ I shouted.

‘Penny, Harold, come with us, we’ll share the oxygen or something, please come.’

‘No, we must go up the tower,’ said Harold. ‘Come Penny, they are lost to us. Let us go up to the tower and save ourselves and the child.’

After one last sorrowful look at us, they turned and ran to the tower as we in turn ran to the vicarage. It was hard going now as I could sense that the fog was getting closer even though from our low vantage point we could not see it.

We were all struggling for breath as we rushed into the house, slammed the door shut and ran upstairs to the bedroom where the cylinders were. I shut the bedroom door after us and threw some blankets on the floor jamming them up against the bottom of the door which had a rather wide gap, trying to block the fog from seeping in if that was possible.

Jeanie went to the window and screamed.

Rushing to her side I could see why she was so upset. The fog had reached the churchyard. It looked like a huge wall of illuminated throbbing green vapour, silently covering the ground and consuming everything in its path. To the side was the church which had already been covered. The tower stood alone at the side and I could see the small forms of Harold and Penny standing on the gallery where we had stood just moments ago. The fog was going higher and higher, reaching out–searching and I wondered if this time they would cheat death like they had before.

There was not a moment to lose. Having sorted out the oxygen masks and turned the knobs to the on position, we lay down on the double bed. Ben was at the bottom of bed sitting and looking as if he was trying to protect us. We said nothing and just held each other, absolutely terrified and waiting for the horror to come to us.

The only thing we could see out of the windows was green. What light there was, was fading as the sun was setting on the horizon. The fog was so impenetrable I could see nothing else out there.

Staring at the door, I could see the first wisps of the fog come through the key hole, then the sides of the door–it was like fingers, searching for us. It seemed to sense us as it came closer and closer. It must have been similar to what that poor man in the hospital experienced a few days ago and I was terrified. It was as if it was living–but it couldn’t be.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that more fog was coming in through the gaps in the side and middle of the sash window. I felt helpless as it reached out for us...

Then I heard the eerie sound of the church bell tolling. It rang five times and then was silent.

With a whimper, Ben collapsed on the bed and then the room seemed suddenly to fill with the green fog and then everything went black.

~ §~

When I awoke, the sun was streaming through the window. Nicola was up and sitting with her teddy over in the corner. She looked up as I stretched.

‘Hello, you’re awake then. Jeanie and Ben are still asleep and the fog has gone.’

I got up and crossed to the window. The first thing I looked at was the tower. There was no sign of Harold and Penny though and I wondered if they were all right. It was a bright, sunny morning and there was no indication that the dreadful fog had even been here. It was as if nothing had happened and the day had begun just like any other and would finish, as usual, with the setting of the sun. Only there was no such thing as “normal” any more and I wondered if there ever would be.

‘I was going to go out but was a bit scared to go by myself,’ Nicola told me.

‘I don’t blame you.’ I smiled and then turned as Jeanie began to stir.

Jeanie sat up and rubbed her eyes and then looked at us.

‘We made it then?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Come on, Ben, wake up, lazy bones!’

Ben twitched, then yawned, decided to stretch, open his eyes and then thump his tail against the bedding as he saw all of us.

‘Come on,’ said Jeanie, ‘we had better go and see what’s happened.’

We made our way through the silent vicarage and out of the front door into the bright sunny garden. The sun was warm against my bare legs, promising that spring was just around the corner. The fact that there was no sign of Harold and Penny was not, I thought, a good omen.

We walked up to the tower and entered through the archway and up the long winding stone staircase that led to the bell tower and viewing gallery. We had wanted Nicola to stay at the bottom with Ben, but she didn’t want to be alone and insisted that she come with us. We hadn’t the heart to refuse her.

At the top, we walked through the arch and immediately saw what we had dreaded. Harold and Penny were lying there together. He had a crucifix in his hand and she a bible. They were on their backs in that strange ragdoll pose that many of the dead had. There was no shock or horror on their faces, rather a slight smile played on their bluing lips.

Jeanie and I hugged each other, tears coming freely. Nicola seemed strangely unmoved–perhaps she had become hardened to the sight of death, but her head was cocked on one side as if she was listening to something. Ben was over by a door that I hadn’t noticed previously and began to whine. Nicola went over to the door and listened.

‘Hey, girls, there’s a scratching noise, can you hear it?’ she said, putting her ear against the door.

Jeanie and I tore ourselves away from the prone forms of the vicar and his wife and went to Nicola and Ben, who was now pawing at the door.

‘Stop that, Ben,’ I commanded and he just looked at me, gave me that “hard done by” look, whined and sat down.

I could hear nothing and then heard a faint knocking sound coming from behind the door.

I looked at the others. ‘It may be a rat or something.’ I suggested.

‘P’raps,’ said Jeanie.

‘Well I’m not afraid,’ Nicola said, as she turned the large key in the old lock and then the handle and opened the door.

We all gasped as there on the floor, tied up with ropes around his hands and ankles, was a boy. He had a gag in his mouth and had obviously been crying. He looked at us, eyes wide at the sight of us.

In seconds, we had untied him and taken the gag out of his mouth. He was very weak and could hardly move for himself. We helped him out and propped him up against the wall. The poor kid was shaking like mad and sobbing uncontrollably. I suppose he was about eleven or twelve with hair a little long, and was wearing a grubby shirt, short trousers and a plain–if dirty–jacket.

After a few minutes, he calmed down and then took stock of his surroundings. His eyes went wide when he saw the still forms of Harold and Penny.

‘Are…are they dead?’ he asked in a soft voice.

‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘the fog got them. How did you get in that room?’

‘I–I came here the other day. My mum and dad are away at the moment–dad is the verger, and the vicar and his wife said that they would look after me overnight. Then the fog came and we were up here. Then…then it happened, the fog it came and killed everyone except us. We were up here and it seemed to miss us. The next morning we went to look what had happened and everyone was dead.

‘I wanted to go and find my parents, but they wouldn’t let me. They said that I needed saving or something. Then I cut up rough and said that I would go and no one was going to stop me. Penny said that we should at least go up the tower again to make sure that there was no more fog coming before I left and then when we reached the top, someone hit me over the head and I woke up in that room. It was dark and scary and I was trussed up like a chicken. I couldn’t shout either because of that gag thing. I was there for ages and...and I’ve made a bit of a mess in my trousers.’

He stopped for a moment and looked as if he was going to cry again, but he took a deep breath and continued.

‘I did hear some talking at one point and I tried to make some noise, but no one came. Then it started to get dark and I could hardly breathe. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. The bell started ringing then and I sort of blacked out and I woke up again when I heard you.’

‘Are you called Adam?’ Nicola asked.

‘Yes, that’s me,’ he replied.

‘Well,’ said Jeanie, ‘you’re safe now.’

‘What about my parents?’

‘I don’t know, they may have survived.’

‘I must find out; they’re only at my aunt’s house at Farnborough.’

‘All right,’ I said, ‘we can go that way. We've got a Land Rover and there's room for another if you want to come with us.’

‘That would be great,’ he said smiling and shakily getting up.

‘Just one thing,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘This might be a strange question, but are you a boy or a girl?’

‘Boy of course!’

‘Erm, this is going to sound weird, but erm, have…have you got a–erm–willy?’

‘What, are you mad like those two over there–? Of course I have...’

His hand had automatically went between his rather damp legs and he felt there. His eyes widened and then he stared in horror at all three of us.

‘Excuse me,’ he said with a strangled voice and hurried back into the room where he had been held prisoner. A few seconds later we heard a strangled voice.

‘Oh, HELL––!’

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

We all looked at each other and couldn’t help smiling. It was the way he–or rather she–said it, as it was pretty obvious to everyone, probably including Ben, that Adam was a girl...

 

---

Chapter 6

Previously…

‘Are you called Adam?’ Nicola asked.

‘Yes, that’s me,’ he replied.

‘Well,’ said Jeanie, ‘you’re safe now.’

‘What about my parents?’

‘I don’t know, they may have survived.’

‘I must find out; they’re only at my aunt’s house at Farnborough.’

‘All right,’ I said, ‘we can go that way. We've got a Land Rover and there's room for another if you want to come with us.’

‘That would be great,’ he said smiling and shakily getting up.

‘Just one thing,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘This might be a strange question, but are you a boy or a girl?’

‘Boy of course!’

‘Erm, this is going to sound weird, but erm, have…have you got a–erm–willy?’

‘What, are you mad like those two over there–? Of course I have…’

His hand had automatically went between his rather damp legs and he felt there. His eyes widened and then he stared in horror at all three of us.

‘Excuse me,’ he said with a strangled voice and hurried back into the room where he had been held prisoner. A few seconds later we heard a strangled voice.

‘Oh, HELL––!’

And now the story continues…

Farnborough

We all looked at each other and couldn’t help smiling. It was the way he–or rather she–said it, as it was pretty obvious to everyone, probably including Ben, that Adam was a girl. How we could smile and giggle like that with two corpses lying a few yards away shows how hardened we were now getting at the close proximity of death.

‘Erm… what do I do?’ said a rather timid sounding voice coming from the small room.

‘What do you mean, Adam?’ I asked.

‘I…I…erm need clean clothes; these are yuckie .’

‘Come on out,’ said Jeanie. ‘we’ve seen a lot worse than the sight of you!’

A few seconds later, a somewhat sheepish-looking Adam came out, walking rather gingerly. She didn’t look at all happy. I didn’t think that it would be a good move to tell her how pretty she was.

‘This is a bit much,’ she said, ‘I’m a bloke not a stupid girl,’

‘Girls are NOT stupid!’ Jeanie exploded, her fiery Scots blood rising.

‘No–sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. But look. What’s happened? Why am I a flaming girl now and look at my hair; my mum would go mad if she saw my hair this long? Last time I checked I was a fully functioning boy with a willy. Now I just have a—a—well, you know–’

‘–A slit?’ I finished the sentence she seemed too embarrassed to end herself. ‘Look, we can’t stay up here. It’s cold and we need to sort ourselves out. Let’s see if there are any clothes that fit you.’

‘What’s wrong with the clothes that I brought with me when I came to stay with the Rev. Farthing and his wife? Oh, let’s go down, this place gives me the willies!’

That set all of us giggling–except Adam who just glared and shot off downstairs.

Back in the vicarage, we all felt a bit guilty about Adam. He had dashed upstairs and was heard making a lot of banging noises. We stayed where we were. I glanced at Jeanie and she raised her eyebrows. We would be very surprised if anything of Adam’s would fit very well if her experience was anything like the one I had after my transformation.

A few minutes later, I had made cups of tea for Jeanie and myself whilst Nicola had some orange squash. We had all pricked up our ears as it had gone very quiet upstairs. Then we heard steps coming down the stairs and Adam came in wearing a dressing gown. She looked like she had been crying as her eyes were red and puffy and her face had signs of dried tears.

‘It’s not fair!’ she wailed.

‘What isn’t,’ Jeanie asked.

‘I only brought enough clothes for a few nights and none of them fit right. I seem to have shrunk a bit and my body has changed as well.’

‘Well, Alex had similar problems. She found it easier to wear girls things anyway.’

‘But I’m not a girl––’

‘–Have you looked in the mirror lately?’ I asked.

‘Yes, but I play rugger and cricket!’ she protested.

‘So do I play cricket,’ Jeanie said, gritting her teeth, her voice losing some of its humour, ‘and Alex plays rugger.’

‘Yea, but with girls, you know; it’s more like rounders than real cricket.’

‘Girls, please let’s not argue.’ I said putting my hands up, as I thought that Jeanie was going to brain the new girl.

‘I–AM–NOT–A–GIRL!’

‘You are,’ I replied, ‘look, do you think I wanted this?’ I waved my hands up and down, ‘I was as much a boy as you were. I was changed by the fog and now I’m a girl. Nicola’s the same, she was changed and she’s not bleating about it. Jeanie’s the only one of us who was born a girl and she’s managed to live through it without any problems. Get a grip of yourself.’

‘Want a fight?’

‘Don’t be stupid, girls don’t fight.’ I said.

‘They do so,’ protested Jeanie, ‘ I had a fight with Julia Farns-Barnes once when she was being really-really catty. I pulled her hair and she pinched me. It was horrible. Some of the girls fought like boys and gave other girls black eyes and things.’

‘Look this isn’t getting us anywhere. Adam, don’t you think we ought to change your name––?’

‘–Adam’s fine,’ came the reply.

‘All right, Adam it is,’ I continued, ‘but we can’t stay here all day, especially if you want to go and see if your parents are alive. Jeanie, can you go up and help Adam to find some clothes out of the things we brought with us? I’ll start packing the car. Come on, Nicola, you can help–’

~ §~

We put everything we could in the car while Jeanie sorted out Adam. All the time I kept an eye on the surrounding area for any sign of the fog, but it had gone and as there was a bit of a breeze I was hoping that it was blowing away from, rather than towards us. We still weren’t too sure about what brought it and why, but the pattern appeared to be that it came just before dusk on a gentle breeze. It didn’t like rough weather… Here was I thinking that it had some sort of brain. It made me wonder what the heck it actually was. It seemed to be intelligent, the way it acted and reacted to us, but that was just an impression. My Dad always says that you must have all the facts before drawing any conclusions, so I would have to wait until we had more evidence before getting a possible answer to what the fog was.

I was picking up the last water bottle, when I heard some steps coming down the stairs.

Turning around I saw Jeanie with a smug smile on her face. As she reached the bottom, she turned and looked up to the top of the stairs.

‘Adam, come on we have to go soon.’

Nicola stopped what she was doing. Ben looked up and panted slightly and my jaw dropped as Adam came slowly downstairs. She was wearing a neat navy-blue pleated skirt and three quarter sleeve white blouse. She was holding a navy cardigan and wore black block-heeled shoes with thick black cotton lisle stockings. The long white socks I was wearing weren’t as warm looking as that and I made a mental note to ask Jeanie if she had any more.

Adam looked very pretty and extremely feminine, I hoped that she would soon accept as I did that we were all girls now and needed to move on.

I just said, ‘You look nice,’ and carried the bottle of water out towards the car.

I winced though, as I heard Nicola put her foot in it right up to the neck when she remarked, ‘I don’t know about nice; I think you’re a very pretty girl.’

‘I AM NOT A GIRL!’

Bravely, I beat a hasty retreat and busied myself making sure that everything was stashed away. I was wondering if the Land Rover was going to be too small because, after cramming everything in, we had to accommodate an additional body–wrong word choice, I meant girl.

After checking the oil and water and kicking the tyres–I had seen Dad do that once and I assumed that it was to check if the pressures were right–we all piled in, put our coats in the back–it was uncomfortable to wear long coats in the car–then with a final glance back at the vicarage, we drove of to find Adam’s aunt’s house at Farnborough. Adam was sitting in front with me. As she got in, I was going to say something witty, but one look at her face made me hold my tongue. The others sat in the back with a rather slobbery Ben in between. I know he was slobbery because he kept on licking my ear and it was very slobbery.

‘Ben, get off me!’

~ §~

I pulled out of the lane and had to stop sharply as a fox ran across the road carrying a dead cat. That was a nice start to our drive and I hoped that things might get better!

I reached the end of the lane and turned into the main road–Southam Road. There were few cars parked or stopped confirming that the original deadly fog attack had arrived here at night. We were able to make good time and soon we passed Mollington and were just a few miles from Farnborough.

‘I need to go wee-wee,’ said Nicola anxiously clutching her skirt expressively.

‘Why didn’t you go in the vicarage?’ Asked Jeanie.

‘Didn’t want to go then. I need to go now or I’ll wet my knickers.’

‘I’ll pull over by those bushes.’ I said.

There was a sort of lay-by and I parked there as Nicola jumped out and ran behind the nearest bush. Ben, her shadow, followed and Jeanie went too because there was no way we would let Nicola go by herself, even to spare her blushes.

As we waited I looked over to a rather quiet Adam. ‘How are you?’ I asked, gently.

She gazed at me with a tear in the corner of her eye. ‘This isn’t right. What is this fog? Why did it change me? Why didn’t I die like the others?’

‘I don’t know. We have to find out all we can about it. Then we can make plans.’

‘So what plans have you got?’ she asked.

‘We are going to Scotland––’

‘–Scotland!’

‘Yes, our parents are there: I explained that they were at an experimental place that was cut off from everything and that we hoped that they might still be alive.

‘I hope my mum and dad are alive,’ she sniffed. ‘All I can think of is them.’

‘I know, we feel the same about our parents.’

‘So Nicola, is she your sister?’

‘No, her dad worked for the school.’

‘So her parents––?’

‘Dead, and her baby brother.’

‘Oh hell, it’s awful isn’t it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Alex?’

‘What?’

‘I—I—don’t look like a bloke in a dress, do I?’

I looked at her delicate features. She was so pretty, she would be a cracker when she grew up, and I was quite jealous for some reason. ‘No, you look like a girl. If you are going to be a girl. It’s nice to be pretty.’

‘You’re pretty.’

‘Am I? I don’t know about that––’

Just then the others returned noisily and we set off again towards Farnborough.

We turned off the main road at the signpost for Farnborough and found ourselves on the Dasset Road.

Adam pointed the way as we sped along the silent road. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was wringing a lacy handkerchief in her hand and wondered if Jeanie had given it to her. She was obviously very worried about her parents and aunt. I couldn’t help feeling that if they were alive, they would have come looking for Adam by now. I didn’t say anything though as it would have been unkind.

We approached the village slowly. It was small, with just a single post office-cum-shop and a pub. It was pretty, but as deserted as any other place we had seen on our travels apart from two dogs lying on the green, apparently asleep.

‘Turn right here and then the next left into Forge Lane,’ said Adam.

As we drove up the lane, there were cottages on either side; it was pretty, rural and showed no sign of anything nasty behind the closed doors. Adam pointed to an ivy covered cottage at the end of the lane and I stopped outside the gate. She took a deep breath, looked at me and then got out. I followed her.

‘Wait here,’ I said to the others.

‘You don’t have to,’ said Adam as she saw me, her voice quivering slightly.

‘You aren’t going in there by yourself. Are you sure you don’t want me to have a look first?’

‘No, I have to do it, they’re m—my parents.’

I followed her up to the front door. The door had a strange knocker, the head of an elephant and in it’s trunk, a log. You pulled on the log and then banged the door plate with the trunk. As she knocked on the door and we both jumped slightly as it was very loud and seemed to echo all around us.

They was no answer. We tried the handle. The door was locked. After that we followed the gravel path around to the back of the cottage and that led to the kitchen door. The door was open. We were just about to go in when a large Alsatian dog rushed out.

‘That’s Sam, my aunt’s dog. Sam, come here boy!’

The dog stopped looked around and looked slightly puzzled and then barring his teeth, he barked and then growled, looked as if he was going to come at us and then just turned and ran off through some bushes.

‘Sam’s never like that normally, he’s a good boy. What’s up with him?’

‘I’ve seen a few dogs like that. Maybe he’s scared.’

‘He’s not the only one then.’ She took a deep breath and then turned back and went into the cottage.

As soon as we walked in we could smell it. The awful stench that had grown worse as the days since the first fog attack had occurred. There was no one in the kitchen or the small living room. The smell appeared to be worse as we approached the stairs.

I held on to Adam’s arm.

‘No, Adam, let me, please.’

‘No, you’re just a gir–– oh, God.’

It was hitting her now that she had changed. I led her to a chair. She was a wreck. I think that if she had gone upstairs and seen the one thing she didn’t want to see, it would have broken her. In addition, I didn’t like the look of that dog. We had seen what dogs could do recently and if he had––even I didn’t want to think about that.

‘Stay here.’ I said in my most commanding voice.

I went upstairs before she could say anything else. At the top was a small landing with three doors, all closed. I gulped then opened the first–it was a bathroom and empty. The second one must be a bedroom. As I opened the door, I knew instantly by the smell that somebody was in there. On a single bed, arm trailing over the side was a woman in a pale lilac nightdress. She was about thirty, I would say, with her features distorted and bloated by death. Her eyes were closed and she looked as if she had not woken up when death had crept upon her. I didn’t stay and quietly left the room and went to the next one. The smell was quite strong here and I knew before I even opened the door that death had called here also. The door creaked open and I remembered thinking stupidly that they really aught to oil the hinges–

They were in bed, the man in his striped pyjamas and the woman in a pink Winceyette nightgown. They were hugging each other but were very dead. The man must have been handsome and the lady rather pretty, but now that was all in the past. The only good thing was that the dog had not got to them. By the bedside table were some rings. It appeared that Adam’s mother removed her rings before she went to bed. I picked them up and then went round the other side and picked up his father’s watch and then left the room, shutting the door quietly as if to bang it would waken them.

Slowly I went downstairs. Adam was sitting on an overstuffed couch, her head in her hands.

She glanced up as I approached.

‘Are they?’

I nodded.

‘I must go and see them,’ she said as she rose to her feet.

‘No, you mustn’t. Look, sit here for a minute and let me talk, and afterwards if you want to see them, then all right, you can.’

She sat down again and gazed at me. It was hard to put the words together. I was only twelve. I shouldn’t be here, doing this. I should be with my friends back at school. I was in line for a place in the rugger junior fifteen and now everything was wrong and bad. I took a deep breath.

‘Your aunt and your mum and dad are all dead. I’m sure you realised that as soon as you came in. You probably knew it when they didn’t come back for you at the vicarage. They’re all in bed and they died in their sleep. The doors were shut, so the dog didn’t get them. If you see them as they are now, you will remember them as they are now, not in the way you remember them before. They wouldn’t want you to see them like this, so come away. We must get as far as we can quickly so we don’t have to sleep in the car tonight. Please come.’

She didn’t say anything, but just got up rather unsteadily and moved towards the stairs. I gripped her arm as she almost started up them, and then steered her away and out into the kitchen. She seemed in shock, and very docile–if that’s the right word. We went out into the bright winter sunshine and I held her arm as we ambled along the path, and through the gate to the car. Nicola, got out and let Adam slip into her seat. Then Nicola climbed into the passenger seat as I got into the driver’s. Jeanie was hugging Adam, whose face was expressionless. Ben just curled up in the corner and looked at everyone with doleful eyes.

I had Adam’s mother’s rings in my skirt pocket together with her father’s watch. I would wait until some of the pain had passed before giving them to her.

I squeezed Nicola’s hand, and smiled at her; she looked worried and on the verge of tears herself. She was clutching her teddy and looked every inch her six years. It was so sad that young people like us who hadn’t really had a life yet, had to go through things such as we were experiencing. It made me angry and want to hit out at something, anything, but I couldn’t. I had to be strong and sensible and adult about things even though I wasn’t an adult and did not want to be one before my time.

I started the engine and drove off. I could hear sobbing from the back as Adam finally let go and had a good cry.

~ §~

As we left the village, I saw a signpost that said Farnborough Hall, On a whim, I drove up the road and after a few minutes, saw in the distance on a slight hill, a large rather impressive building. It was a honey-coloured two-storey stone house which, according to Adam, was the seat of the Holbech family–the local gentry–and had been for the past three hundred years. There was a large lake and gardens and it all looked very grand. As we reached the gates, which were locked, I got out and approached them. Nicola came with me.

‘This looks nice. It’s a bit like our school,’ Nicola said, holding my hand.

‘Mmm, it’s the same coloured stone and a similar shape. I wonder if we could get in and have a look––’

Both of us flinched at the sound of a gunshot and some dust that spurted up just in front of me. I nearly pulled Nicola off her feet and we rushed back to the car. I almost threw her in and then starting the car quickly, I crashed the gears into reverse and, looking over my shoulder, reversed to get out of range of whoever was shooting at us. Just then I heard a terrific bang as a bullet hit the wing of the car, nearly making me lose control. Then another shot smashed the windscreen and somehow exited the rear window without actually touching anyone.

There were screams including, I am ashamed to say, my own. Jeanie and Adam were clutching one another looking on in horror and Ben was barking like mad as we careered backwards along the road until we screeched round a bend that hid the both the Hall and the deadly gunfire from us. The road was wider here and I wasted no time in turning the Land Rover round and getting as much distance as I could from Farnborough Hall and whoever it was that tried to kill us.

Reaching the main road, I pulled over and let my head flop on the steering wheel. The others were all talking at once and it took a few moments for things to quieten down slightly.

‘Quiet!’ I shouted after my heart had stopped thudding and I had stopped shaking.

Then a little voice said, ‘I’ve wet myself.’ Nicola looked ashamed and I gave her big hug.

‘If that’s all, sweetheart, I wouldn’t worry about it. At least we’re alive. Anyway, I feel a bit damp down there myself so it looks like a change of knickers all round would help!’

We all laughed and it relieved the near hysterical tension caused by the nut-case who had come close to killing us–and we never even saw who shot at us.

~ §~

I wanted to put as much distance between us and Farnborough Hall as possible. We had no idea if we might be followed, so I drove down the lane and out on to the Dasset Road again, heading towards a place signposted as Fenny Compton. Jeanie had said that we really did need to take a break and sort out our clothes and I had to think about changing vehicles. We couldn’t use the Land Rover like this, with the windscreen smashed and the back window too. We would die of exposure in this cold.

I went slowly, and that was bad enough. We had to stop and put our coats on before continuing very far. We reached Fenny Compton almost frozen solid after about forty minutes. We were now in Warwickshire and I was pleased despite everything, because every county we passed through meant we were that much closer to our parents in Scotland. I knew we still had an awfully long way to go, but we were making some progress.

I pulled up outside a general Stores. Jeanie got out and had a quick look around to see if there was anything unfriendly lurking anywhere near us. She gave us the all clear and we piled out of the car. The shop was locked, so we just broke the glass, and went in, trying to avoid the shards left in the frame. The shop wasn’t very large but was one of those that did a bit of everything from food to ironmongery. There was no one there, it was lockup shop–so no nasty smells, as the owners were probably at home and past caring if anyone broke in or not.

There was a paraffin heater over in the corner and Adam lit it and then we all stood over it until we had warmed up. It was now that I really wished I was wearing some trousers rather than a skirt!

‘Jeanie, have you got anymore of those stockings?’

‘Yes, I’ll dig them out of the bag in a minute. We all need to change our clothes anyway.’

There was a kitchen-cum-store room in the back and after warming up, we brought the cases in and then had a quick change of clothes. We were soon warm and dry again. I was pleased, as apart from my brown skirt and polo-neck jumper, I was wearing some black stockings that felt very much warmer than the thin socks I had been wearing.

Being twins, Jeanie and I were dressed alike, and that made Nicola giggle as she was having great difficulty telling us apart. Anything to keep our peckers up, I thought.

Adam was still having issues with wearing a skirt and top, but she said nothing, no doubt still upset about her parents and aunt. She was very quiet, and Jeanie had whispered to me that we needed to keep a close eye on her.

Nicola was wearing a pink top and knee-length skirt. She was getting really girlie now, and pink was definitely her colour.

We brewed up some tea in a pot that we found in the kitchen. There was some milk but it had gone off, so we used powdered instead–well at least it was wet and warm.

We raided the shelves and found some Lincoln and shortcake biscuits which were highly dunkable and enjoyed by everybody. Dragging up some chairs, we sat around the rather smelly heater as we discussed what to do next.

‘I vote that we find a place near here and stay for the night,’ said Jeanie. ‘we don’t want to be caught napping with the fog.’

‘You think it might come again?’ asked Adam, showing a bit more interest.

‘I don’t know; I can’t find a pattern to its behaviour yet, can you?’

We all shook our heads except Nicola who was busy giving biscuits to Ben while she thought we weren’t looking.

‘Look, ‘ I said, ‘let’s find a place in the village–hopefully without people in it–and then we can plan our next move, which has to include a new vehicle, preferably bigger as there are more of us now.’

Adam looked up. ‘So I can come with you, can’t I?’

‘Of course.’

‘But I thought that you were going to find your parents.’

‘Is that a problem?’ Jeanie asked.

‘No, I don’t blame you. I just hope you don’t find them–well, you know––’

Thinking back, I realised that we hadn’t discussed what Adam was going to do after finding his parents.

‘Look Adam, we aren’t forcing you. If you want to go off by yourself, that’s fair enough, but I think that safety in numbers is a good thing. I said this to Nicola and now I’m saying it to you. With the world the way it is, there’s only going to be a few people around it seems to me that if we can, we should all stick together, as a sort of family.’

‘That’s right,’ said Jeanie. ‘Nicola is our sister now and we want you to be our sister too.’

‘But I’m a b–’ She stopped for a moment and looked down at herself. Her breasts were just buds like Jeanie’s and mine, but they were noticeable. She was wearing girls’ clothes and she had to keep brushing her now longer hair away from her eyes.

She looked at us and grimaced. ‘I am a girl, aren’t I?’

We all nodded,’

‘’Course you are, silly,’ said Nicola in a matter of fact way. ‘You can’t be Adam any more. I went to Sunday school, last week and Miss Tranter told us about Adam and Eve. You look more like an Eve than an Adam.’

‘Very clever for six, aren’t you?’ said Adam, ruefully.

‘I am six and nearly three quarters and that’s very nearly seven and Miss Tranter said I was pre—preco–’ she paused, frowning while she thought–‘precotus–that means clever.’

We all smiled but didn’t laugh at, or try to correct her.

‘I suppose Eve is as good a name as any, but as soon as I can I’m going to be a boy again.’

‘Yes, Eve,’ we replied in unison. Well, we had to humour her, didn’t we––?

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

We stayed for a while longer because it was warm and we didn’t fancy getting back into the cold, almost windowless Land Rover very much.

 

---

Chapter 7

Previously…

‘Look,’ I said, ‘let’s find a place in the village–hopefully without people in it–and then we can plan our next move, which has to include a new vehicle, preferably bigger, as there are more of us now.’

Adam looked up. ‘So I can come with you, can’t I?’

‘Of course.’

‘But I thought that you were going to find your parents.’

‘Is that a problem?’ Jeanie asked.

‘No, I don’t blame you. I just hope you don’t find them–well, you know––’

Thinking back, I realised that we hadn’t discussed what Adam was going to do after finding his parents.

‘Look Adam, we aren’t forcing you. If you want to go off by yourself, that’s fair enough, but I think that safety in numbers is a good thing. I said this to Nicola and now I’m saying it to you. With the world the way it is, there’s only going to be a few people around and it seems to me that if we can, we should all stick together, as a sort of family.’

‘That’s right,’ said Jeanie. ‘Nicola is our sister now and we want you to be our sister too.’

‘But I’m a b–’ She stopped for a moment and looked down at herself. Her breasts were just buds like Jeanie’s and mine, but they were noticeable. She was wearing girls’ clothes and she had to keep brushing her now longer hair away from her eyes.

She looked at us and grimaced. ‘I am a girl, aren’t I?’

We all nodded,

‘’Course you are, silly,’ said Nicola in a matter of fact way. ‘You can’t be Adam any more. I went to Sunday school, last week and Miss Tranter told us about Adam and Eve. You look more like an Eve than an Adam.’

‘Very clever for six, aren’t you?’ said Adam, ruefully.

‘I am six and nearly three quarters and that’s very nearly seven and Miss Tranter said I was pre—preco–’ she paused, frowning while she thought–‘precotus–that means clever.’

We all smiled but didn’t laugh at, or try to correct her.

‘I suppose Eve is as good a name as any, but as soon as I can I’m going to be a boy again.’

‘Yes, Eve,’ we replied in unison. Well, we had to humour her, didn’t we––?

And now the story continues…

Fenny Compton to Kings Bromley

We stayed for a while longer because it was warm and we didn’t fancy getting back into the cold, almost windowless Land Rover very much. We had an early lunch comprising of cans of bully beef and tins of potatoes and baked beans, using the stove in the small back kitchen next to the toilet at the back of the shop. There was some orangeade in bottles too and we drank that to wash our meal down.

Jeanie was the un-elected quartermaster but we didn’t mind beause she was good at organising that sort of thing. After lunch she made a list from memory of what we had in the car and what we might need on the long journey up to sunny bonny Scotland. We ex-boys just got in the way and made a nuisance of ourselves until Jeanie got cross.

‘Look, you lot, instead of larking about, how about making yourselves useful? Load up everything I put in on the floor into the car and then we can get out of this place and find somewhere a bit more comfortable.’

‘Yes, Miss.’ We all giggled, making Jeanie stick out her tongue in a ladylike manner and then giggle like the rest of us.

Ben kept sniffing in one of the corners and wagging his tail. Then he barked and went behind a pile of boxes. He barked again and I went over. Looking behind the box was a dead, half eaten rat.

‘Leave it, Ben, you don’t want that. It will give you a tummy ache and make you sick in the car. Look, fancy a biscuit?’

I swear that dog could understand me as he came out immediately and came to me with an expectant look on his face.

I gave him a rich tea biscuit and then continued to help the others load the car. We had very little room now, and we really need to find a ten ton truck or something, the way Jeanie was pulling stuff off the shelves with gay abandon!

Eventually, after what seemed like ages, but really was only about an hour, we were ready to go. I was lucky, because the others had boxes, tins and bottles on or around them, while I, being the driver, didn’t have to suffer like that. But we needed to find somewhere fast as we did not want to be out any later than we needed.

After going along the High Street we found a pub on the corner of Brook Street, called The Merrie Lion. It had a car park at the side and we sort of decided without saying anything that we would have a look in it as it was not only a pub, but a sort of bed and breakfast-cum-hotel too.

We parked the car and went in via the kitchen at the back. The kitchen was quite large and had couple of ovens, cookers and other things that you would expect in a kitchen that caters for lots of people. We carried on through the swing doors and into the pub.

It was a typical village pub with low beams and a huge fireplace. Luckily, there was no one around, but before we settled in, I wanted to find out if we had any “residents”. We left Eve with Nicola and Ben as Jeanie and I went upstairs to the first floor. There were several bedrooms up there, and one door marked private. After looking in the bedrooms, we found one couple in bed at the end and just shut the door on them.

Then Jeanie opened the door marked private and that led up a short flight of stairs with another door at the end of a corridor. She knocked on the door for some unaccountable reason and waited for a moment. Then opened it.

We went into what was obviously a sitting room with the usual three piece suite and a very modern and polished, wooden cased television in the corner. Our noses were twitching as we could smell the usual stench coming from a closed door in the corner. I didn’t want to open the door as I had seen enough death to last a lifetime, but Jeanie went in, stayed for a moment and then came out looking more than a bit green about the gills as she gently closed the door behind her, as if the occupants would wake up if she was too noisy.

‘Let’s go down,’ she said rather shakily.

The others were sitting in the snug. Eve was staring outside at the gathering clouds and Nicola and Ben were just having a cuddle.

‘Well?’ said Eve, looking around.

‘There are a few people up there, but as there are several rooms, we could go up and sleep in one or two of the unoccupied ones.’ I said.

‘I vote that we do stay here in the pub, but sleep down here in the snug or public bar. The long seats are quite comfortable and we could get the fire going,’ said Jeanie. ‘I noticed some logs outside. What do you think, Eve?’

‘I don’t mind either way,’ she said in a sort of a dead voice. We would have to keep an eye on her, I thought.

‘Nicola?’

‘Am I allowed to stay here?’

‘Why, honey?’ I asked.

‘I’m under age for pubs. Daddy always said that children weren’t allowed.’

‘Well, we are all under age, but things have changed a bit and I don’t think that we will get told off by anybody.’

‘All right then. It’s all a bit of a ’venture, isn’t it?’

I wished I was six. It was all black and white at that age and the full horror of what was happening wasn’t affecting Nicola as much as the rest of us. If she wanted it to be a ’venture–as she called it–who was I or anyone else for that matter to spoil it for her.

‘Yes,’ I replied gently, not looking at the others, ‘I suppose that it is a bit of an adventure, really. All right the vote is yes by three with one abstention. Let’s get everything out of the car.’

‘Not again,’ whined Nicola.

‘Yes,’ Jeanie agreed firmly, ‘we can’t go any further in the car and there are the oxygen cylinders. Thank goodness we brought a couple of spares or we would be up the creek without a paddle–’

~ §~

Before long we were all settled and had the fire going. It was getting darker outside and rain started to pitter-patter against the windows. We agreed that one of us should keep lookout for the fog, and Eve said that she would do it first. She was upstairs at that point looking out of the various windows that commanded a reasonable view of the village and surrounding areas.

Nicola, was asleep lying on the carpet, near the fire with her head resting on Ben who was in the same comatose state.

Jeanie and I sat by the window overlooking the garden and spoke quietly about things. ‘I’m worried about Eve,’ Jeanie said.

‘I know. She’s finding it hard to adapt and take everything in. Losing her parents like that was a big blow.’

‘We may have lost ours too,’ she reminded me.

‘I know,’ I replied, ‘But until we know for sure, I want to keep hoping.’

‘If only the fog would go away. It’s bad enough having to fight for our lives with all these mad people we come across, without having to contend with that too.’

‘Come on Jeanie, you’re the strong one normally, don’t go all weak on me now.’

She looked at me with a quizzical smile. ‘I think you’ve become a lot stronger now you’re a girl.’

‘Me? No, I‘m still the six stone weakling I’ve always been.’

‘I’m not so sure. We girls are a lot stronger than boys in many ways.’

‘Don’t let Eve hear you. She’d start going on about boys being all superior and everything. I still think that she’s got a long way to go before she accepts who and what she is.’

‘You’re probably right. Anyway, I wonder how long it’s going to take us to reach Scotland?’

‘At the rate we’re going, we might get there in say–seven years?’

‘We’ll have to get a move on. I’m worried that things are going to get worse before they get better,’ said Jeanie.

‘We’ll go as early as possible tomorrow and see if we can’t get as many miles in as we can. We’ll look at the map later, I brought it in from the car. Talking about cars, before we go anywhere, we’ll have to find some new transport–with some petrol in the tank too.’

‘Well that’s your department, go and see if you can find something suitable first thing tomorrow. Take Eve with you, it'll take her mind off of things.’

‘Good idea.’

~ §~

The afternoon turned into evening and then night time. None of us felt like doing much and I suppose that it was a good idea to have some quiet time, when we could just relax and take time off from our frantic lives. The weather outside was a bit grim–it was raining cats and dogs.

We spent some time studying the map to see where we were and where we were going. We had at least four hundred miles to go to reach Dunoon, and I wondered what else we would come across on the way; also if the fog had finally gone for good. Jeanie, who’s turn for lookout it was, kept popping off and checking things out, leaving Eve and I by ourselves for a while. Nicola was standing on a chair and playing bar skittles and Shove Ha'penny giggling to herself, while Ben was by the side of her looking up, wagging his tail and looking a bit puzzled.

I carried on studying the map; the problem was that we wanted to avoid large towns and cities. We had no idea if the rotting bodies would carry disease, but had to assume that they would. Also the water supply would be very suspect, so we could only drink bottled drinks. Transport was an important thing to consider now that the Landy was U.S.

‘What do you think, Eve?’

‘I don’t know; you decide; I’m in a muddle at the moment. Knowing that my parents are dead has knocked me for six. I sort of knew that they couldn’t survive, but I sort of hoped that they would, like I did. Now I feel guilty ‘cos they didn’t make it and I did. On top of that, I loved my Auntie. She was smashing, and I’ll never taste her jam again!’

She started crying then and I gave her a big cuddle. The thought of doing that just a few short days ago would have made me feel rather queer, but now–as a girl–it came as naturally to me as breathing.

By eight o’clock we were all feeling tired and decided to camp out in the snug bar, where the fire was lovely and warm and there were some padded seats that would do as beds. Eve volunteered for the first watch of ninety minutes, and although we were worried about her, Jeanie and I agreed that she should do her bit, like the rest of us. We made ourselves comfortable after tucking in Nicola and her teddy.

As I shut my eyes, feeling really tired now–the stress and strain catching up on me–I hoped that we would have a peaceful night. Jeanie was next up as watch person and then me, so I had to make the most of my three hours rest before it was time to do my stint.

~ §~

‘…wake up, Alex!’

Starting, I opened my eyes to see Jeanie standing there. It was beginning to get light outside and I wondered why I hadn’t been woken earlier.

‘What?’

‘It’s Eve, you must come–’ she whispered.

I glanced over at Nicola and Ben. They were still fast asleep with Nicola using Ben’s body as a sort of pillow, but I had little time to hang about as Jeanie hissed at me again.

‘Come on!’

She ran out of the room and into the public bar with me following on her heels.

As I went through the doorway, I couldn’t see what the fuss was all about, but Jeanie ran over to the bar and went behind. I wondered what had happened to Eve and then I saw––

She was lying propped up against the back of the bar. A bottle of whisky was on its side next to her, half the contents spilt in a puddle by the side of the prone girl. She had been sick all down the front of her blouse and she was asleep with her mouth open. She looked a mess, and it didn’t take a genius to work out that she had been drinking–a lot.

‘Oh no,’ I cried.

Jeanie leaned down and shook her.

‘Eve, Eve, wake up!’

She groaned and then one eye opened.

‘Where am I?’ she whispered.

‘In the pub, you ’nana,’ Jeanie retorted.

‘Don’t shout.’

‘I’m not shouting, but I want to. You’ve been drinking.’

‘So?’

‘So you shouldn’t. You’re under age.’

‘No one’s under age for anything now. Didn’t you notice everyone is dead…ooh my head hurts.’

‘Serves you right, you silly moo.’ I said.

She held on to her head and rocked backwards and forwards.

‘Right, up you get. You need several cups of strong tea; don’t groan like that. If the fog had come, we could have all been killed!

~ §~

She sat at the kitchen table clutching a hot cup and kept taking sips. She looked really sorry for herself, and I wasn’t feeling very charitable. Jeanie was banging pots and pans around and I knew that she was annoyed too.

‘Please stop banging,’ Eve pleaded.

‘I have to make breakfast. Alex, will you wake Nicola and get her to wash her face in that water we boiled up last night?’

‘All right,’ I replied standing up and leaving the other two girls alone.

Nicola was still fast asleep and I didn’t want to wake her. Ben was awake though and gave me a thump of his tail to say that he was pleased to see me.

Glancing through the window, I could see that it was getting brighter outside. I could hear raised voices coming from the kitchen, and being a coward, I didn’t fancy going into World War Three. Turning back to the window again, I could see that the rain had gone and the sky was clear. I went upstairs and had a look out of several windows, steering clear of the rooms with occupants, natch. There was no sign of the fog and the sun was just coming up over the trees to the east.

When I returned downstairs, Nicola was wakening and stretching. ‘Hello, Jeanie,’ she said.

‘I’m Alex,’ I replied, smiling.

‘Sorry, where are the others?’

‘In the kitchen. Come on, let’s wash you then we can have some brekky. I think there’s porridge.’

‘Yummy!’

~ §~

When we entered the kitchen, only Jeanie was there. I raised my eyebrows.

‘Eve is having a wash and change in the Ladies. She said sorry.’

‘What for?’ asked Nicola.

‘Never mind. How would you like your porridge, Nikki; stiff, very stiff or “cor I can’t get my spoon in”?’

She giggled as she stroked Ben, who looked like he would have preferred sausages to porridge any day.

‘Stiff, please.’

‘Wise choice, one stiff porridge coming up. What about you, young Alex?’

‘I’m not younger than you!’

‘Yes you are, ten minutes younger.’

‘Mmm, that’s not much.’

‘Enough, young sis; come on what would you like?’

‘Same as Nicola, old girl.’

‘Enough of the old or I’ll put you over my knee and spank you with this spurtle!’¹

We all giggled at that and then went quiet as Eve came in. she had obviously been crying again. She had changed her blouse and skirt and had washed herself and brushed her hair. She had made the effort to look nice, but the dark circles under her eyes told their own story.

She patted Ben and then sat down next to Nicola.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Nicola, ‘you look sad.’

Eve smiled slightly. ‘I am sad. I have been a stupid bo–girl.’

‘Why?’

‘I let everybody down and drank some horrible stuff to help me forget,’

‘Forget what,’ asked a puzzled Nicola blowing on her hot porridge.

‘Don’t ask so many questions, Nikki,’ I said.

‘No, it’s all right,’ Eve said, looking first at me and then the others. ‘I—I want to apologise. My Uncle Philip drank a lot when Auntie Phyllis died. He said that it helped take the pain away–he was wrong, it just makes you feel rotten and gives you a headache and a foul taste in your mouth. It just puts off the awfulness for a short time. It comes back again when you are sober. I should have looked out properly, instead I drank myself asleep. If you want I’ll go. I wouldn’t blame you. I’m a horrible person––’

Tears started flowing again and we all went and gave her a big hug.

After we had all blown our noses and settled down again I replied to Eve’s question. ‘I said the other day, we’re family now and we have to stick together. We all do stupid things sometimes. You won’t do it again, I’m sure, so forget it; let’s have our porridge and go and find another car.’

~ §~

Eve and I left Jeanie, Nicola and Ben to sort out what we were going to take with us when we finally found a car and went to the Landy. We were muffled up against the weather, but it was one of those winters days that felt like spring, so it wasn’t very cold. We would use the Land Rover to save time. It might be cold with no windscreen, but it would be quicker.

The car started first time and I crashed the gears as we moved off slowly down the road. There were a number of cars parked up outside houses, but nothing like what we were looking for, which would be something big enough for all for of us, Ben and all the things that we wanted to take with us.

We saw a few people lying by the side of the road, but didn’t pay much attention as we had other things to think of at the moment. Looking in a few of the larger cars, I didn’t see any keys left in the ignition and neither of us had any idea how to start a car without a key. I somehow think that our education had been lacking in that respect. After about twenty minutes of fruitless searching, we turned into the High Street and screeched to a halt. There in front of us was a small charabanc.

‘Ooh,’ said Eve.

We stopped behind it and went round to the front. It was one of the familiar single decker Bedford coaches, dark red with white window surrounds and roof, a maroon stripe along each side and matching maroon mudguards.

Bedford OB Coach

Eve reached up and opened the driver’s side door and we both jumped back and screamed as the bloated body of a man fell out and landed on the road with a rather sickening, sloshy ker-plopp! We both squealed ‘Eeeewww!’ and pushed the body away with our feet as best we could while we pinched our noses tightly shut with our thumbs and forefingers, trying to ignore the fact that the man was bloated and grotesque-looking after laying rotting in the coach for some days.

The smell inside was truly revolting, but looking in through the door, I could see the key was still in the ignition. Eve went around to the other side and got in that way. Luckily, when tragedy struck, the door was partly open and the smell, such as it was, could have been much worse. There was a decidedly disgusting stain on the driver’s seat, but the man’s coat was hung over the back of the seat. I cleaned things up and then spread a copy of The Daily Sketch newspaper on the seat and then used the man’s coat as extra protection: problem solved.

‘According to the notice, we are licenced to carry twenty-nine passengers,’ Eve explained.

‘Let’s see if she starts up,’ I said, thinking that she was enormous compared to the Landy, and anyway, how could I drive this monster?

I was almost hoping that she wouldn’t start, but blow me, she did–first time, and according to the gauge–if it was accurate–she had nearly a full tank of fuel!

‘Gosh,’ said Eve, ‘shall we take it?’

I gazed at her and said doubtfully, ‘She’s a bit big––’

‘–You can drive her, Alex, I’m sure–with a bit of practic.e and anyway. we’d have heaps of room.’ Eve’s voice sounded more enthusiastic than I had heard her since the time she discovered she had changed into a girl.

‘Oh blow it,’ I exclaimed recklessly, ‘if I can’t drive her, we’ll just have to find something else; let’s go!’

The gears, funnily enough, were slightly easier than the Land Rover, and apart from a minor crunch–that made both of us wince–I managed to get the little Bedford–well she was smaller than most other buses–moving.

It was strange being higher up compared to the Landy, and the steering wheel seemed huge. The seat adjustment was up and down, so by winding the handle at the side I was able to set it low enough for my feet to reach the pedals–just. It was a good job that I had reasonably long legs for my age.

In next to no time we were heading back towards the pub and apart from a few initial problems mounting the kerb occasionally as I negotiated corners, I managed quite well, considering!

As we pulled up at the pub, I beeped the horn. Jeanie, Nicola and Ben came out of the pub and both Eve and I laughed at the site of their gobsmacked expressions–even Ben looked somewhat surprised.

Eve slid open the door. ‘All aboard that’s coming aboard. This is the Scottish Express, stopping in lots of places. Form an orderly queue, dogs are half fare.’

We all laughed fit to bust at that, and I was so pleased that Eve had got back some of her wit and joie de vivre. I didn’t think things could be boring with her around.

Forty minutes later we were moving off down the road. We had lots of space now. All our things were piled up in the back, and the girls and Ben had any number of seats to chose from, although Jeanie and Eve sat on the double front seat next to me with the road map. I soon got the hang of things and was lucky, because my father had taught me the rudiments of double declutching on one of the old cars back at home. Yes, I crunched sometimes, but no one is perfect, and anyway, if you do it right and match the revs, you don’t always need to use the clutch.

~ §~

I drove along Station Road and on to Wharf Road by the side of the Oxford Canal and we soon found ourselves back on the main Banbury Road heading north. We kept a watch out for the fog, but it was a lovely morning, not a cloud in the sky and no sign of anything that could cause us harm. The Bedford turned out to be quite easy to drive, and the suspension helped make the ride much smoother than the rather harsh Landy.

As we bowled along we all sang Ten Green Bottles, There Were Three In The Bed, the Quartermaster’s Stores, The Wheels of the Bus Go Round and Around, and other songs, so it was all very jolly for a while.

We wanted to get some miles under our belts before stopping for the night. We went through Ladbroke, then the large town of Southam–we couldn’t go round it, but luckily, the road took us to the side, and so, thankfully, not many houses and few bodies were in sight. Then on to Long Itchington, along the Oxford Road through Marton, and on to Princethorpe. We stopped just outside Princethorpe and had a bite to eat and a loo break. As we drank our orangeade and munched at some biscuits we had a look at the map.

‘I vote that we turn off up the B4455 and head up towards Watling Street. That means we would be able to avoid Coventry and Birmingham and head up roughly where we want to go without too many big towns, except maybe Tamworth.’

‘Sounds all right to me,’ Jeanie replied.

‘Me too,’ Eve added. ‘Where will we stop though? We don’t want to leave it too late to find a place to stay for the night.’

‘Not sure, let’s see how far we can get. Do we all agree?’

‘Yes!’

‘Woof!’ agreed Ben.

~ §~

So we set off again and were soon bowling along at a fair lick. We kept a sharp lookout for people, and of course the fog, but it seemed as if we were the only people alive, which wasn’t the case because we had been shot at and then there was the person flying that ’plane; I would have loved to have found out where it was going,. The only thing I did remember was that it was heading north, as we were.

As I drove, I wondered how many people were alive now. If the first dose of fog didn’t get you, subsequent ones would. Then I wondered about my parents, and I felt a lump in my throat at the thought of going four hundred miles through goodness knows how many perils, only to find them dead.

I pulled myself together. That sort of thing wouldn’t do. I had to get a grip on myself–stiff upper lip and all that–and try my best to make things work. The sun was high in the sky now and we had reached Watling Street in pretty good time. I had hopes of reaching Kings Bromley before too long.

We passed Hinkley on the left and then drove through Atherstone. There wasn’t much there, except more signs of human remains and cars that had crashed or stopped suddenly. We had to thread our way through several crashes, but luckily didn’t have to stop.

We were right to avoid any large towns, seeing what even small towns looked like. The various horrors we saw would stay with me forever; Avoiding towns where possible, also reduced the chances of our coming a cropper somewhere.

~ §~

At Tamworth, we joined the A513 Comberford Road. Tamworth was larger than Atherstone, and we could see many signs of devastation. More cars vans and lorries meant more smash ups. It appeared that the fog caught the town during daylight, and there were lots of bodies lying around in the usual rag-doll attitude. Dogs, cats and even foxes seemed to be roving around and on more than one occasion we saw some feeding…

We didn’t stop for anything, and it was a relief to get out into the countryside again, away from the oppressive, and frankly, stinking towns where rubbish was being blown across the streets, there being nobody to collect it: animals roamed around looking for whatever food they could find, and above all, the oppressiveness and lack of human life made places like that less than desirable.

We travelled through Comberford, skirted Elford and Croxall, went through a couple of other small places, heading towards Kings Bromley, where I hoped to find a place to stay, as I was pretty tired with driving the bus by now.

It was amazing when we were driving along some of the country roads. It was as if there was nothing wrong and the world was not in the grip of a deadly force that had–as far as we knew–wiped out nearly all the human race.

We passed fields with cows or sheep or even horses in them. Some of the animals were lying down, and I wasn’t sure if that was because they were asleep or dead. Did the fog affect them as much as us? Was it because there wasn’t anyone around to feed them? We didn’t know and we certainly didn’t have time to stop and investigate.

We were about three miles from Kings Bromley; Jeanie and Eve were asleep in the back and Nicola was playing with Ben on the front passenger seat when she suddenly spoke.

‘It’s very green isn’t it?’

Casting an eye towards 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 took a quick glance westwards and my heart missed a beat. The sun was much lower in the sky 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––

_______________________
¹      Spurtle: a Scots word denoting kitchen utensil made of wood used for stirring porridge. Being Scots, both Jeanie and Alex would know the word.

---

 
To be continued…
 

Please remember to leave comments and vote...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.

---

Although the official Voting System has been suspended for operational reasons, if you enjoyed this story and would like to say so, please click on the Vote link, below. Your visit will be counted.

‘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.

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…
 

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.

‘Everyone down on the floor,’ I ordered as I looked in the large mirrors and reversed with considerable difficulty.

It was easier said than done backing up the bus like that, with bullets whizzing all around–it was so flaming big! Luckily, the people firing at us were rotten shots and I managed to get out of the line of fire before getting pranged.

As soon as I could, I stopped, gently nudging a red telephone box, but considering everything it wasn’t a bad effort.

 

---

Chapter 10

Previously…

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.

‘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.

And now the story continues…

Huddersfield to Thrushwood

‘Everyone down on the floor,’ I ordered as I looked in the large mirrors and reversed with considerable difficulty.

It was easier said than done backing up the bus like that, with bullets whizzing all around–it was so flaming big! Luckily, the people firing at us were rotten shots and I managed to get out of the line of fire before getting pranged.

As soon as I could, I stopped, gently nudging a red telephone box, but considering everything it wasn’t a bad effort.

I switched off the engine and could feel the thumping of my heart as I sat, shaking like a leaf. After that, everyone realised that we were reasonably safe and came out of their hiding places. Ben began barking like mad and rushing up and down the centre aisle; that set off little Arthur–that boy had quite a set of lungs.

‘Are you all right, Allie?’ Jeanie asked, coming forward and giving me a hug.

I was still shaking; I thought I was tough, but it was all becoming too much for me. I began to cry and didn’t notice for some time how quiet it had become. Even the dog and baby had piped down somewhat.

Fumbling under my skirt with my right hand, I pulled my hankie out of the leg of my knickers and had a quick blow. Sniffing, I turned to look at the others who were pointedly not looking at me and just talking among themselves–all except Martina who was doing her usual trick of staring vacantly out of the window.

‘Feeling better?’ Jeanie asked, smiling.

‘Aye, a wee bit,’ I sniffed.

‘I think you’re tremendously brave, you know. You saved us by getting out of there before one of those bullets hit us.’

‘Maybe,’ I replied.

‘We have to decide what to do next,’ Jeanie, ever the practical one, continued. ‘I suggest we find somewhere away from here and then we can have something to eat and drink. After that we can pore over the map and find an alternative route.’

‘Alright,’ I said, and trying to sound normal, continued; ‘Pass right down the bus, if you please, ladies, everyone in your seats please, we’re off again!’

My mimicry of a bus conductress was my attempt to sound cheerful, but even so my insides were still like blancmange–all wobbly. Eve squeezed my arm as she sat behind me and Jeanie was next to me.

We were off again and I went back down the road we had recently come up. After about ten minutes, I found a wide patch of short grass and pulled Bessie the Bedford over to the side.

After some hot tea and biscuits, I was more myself again. I was surprised at how emotional I was. I was never one to blub much as a boy, but now, things were different. I had to accept that girls were a different species to boys with different ways of dealing with things. I wondered if the other ex-boys felt the same. I decided I would–when I got the chance–try to find out.

We discussed what might have happened in Huddersfield. The warning sign said something about a disease area.

‘D’you think that they really did have disease in the town?’ Eve asked.

‘Don’t know’, Sarah replied. ‘Why would they lie about it?’

‘Maybe it was just a warning to keep people out?’ Jeanie suggested.

‘Maybe,’ I replied, ‘mind you, all the adults we have seen apart from that man in the hospital were as nutty as fruitcakes.’

‘How do you know it was adults?’ asked Sarah.

‘I don’t know, I just assumed.’

‘Sarah has a point,’ said Eve, ‘we didn’t see anyone back there–or at that other place where someone was taking pot-shots at us.’

‘True,’ I said, considering it, ‘I must admit that I’ve thought about getting hold of some guns–just in case.’

‘I hate guns,’ said Sarah, shivering. ‘Daddy used to go and shoot rabbits for the pot–I never did like eating bunny rabbits.’

I glanced at Nicola, who was throwing a ball for Ben to catch while Martina looked on, disinterestedly.

‘Anyway, we must decide where we’re going,’ Jeanie said. ‘That’s your department, Alex.’

‘Alright,’ I sighed getting up, brushing the damp grass off my skirt and thinking how silly I was to sit on the damp ground.

I went to the bus, climbed in the driver’s seat and pulled out the AA map book that had been so useful to us. The problem was that there were so many big towns around us: apart from Huddersfield, there were others, like Dewsbury, Halifax, Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford.

In the end I decided to backtrack, go along the A62 to Delph, turn right onto the A6052 and make our way to Hebden Bridge from there. It was a long way round, but at least we would avoid the bigger places doing it that way. The trouble was, we needed to find a doctor’s surgery or hospital for supplies and also I wanted to fill up with petrol. We still had three quarters of a tank, but we didn’t know what the situation was like ahead and we couldn’t afford to be stranded somewhere that we might not be able to find a pump.

While I was wool gathering and map reading, Jeanie, Sarah and Eve were sorting out the younger kids. I was beginning to wish that our little bus had toilet facilities; using a convenient bush wasn’t exactly pleasant. That was another thing about boys; at least they could just point and shoot! Thinking about shooting made me shiver again. It had been a close-run thing on the outskirts of Huddersfield.

Twenty minutes later, we were on our way again. I had hoped to get a serious number of miles under our collective belts today, but I was much more concerned about our safety and if that meant not getting as far as we would have liked, then so be it.

~ §~

After the Huddersfield incident–doesn’t that sound like the title of a thriller?–for once things went more smoothly for a while. We made good time and didn’t experience any nasties on the way. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, as it was only about another 15 miles further than our original route to reach Hebden Bridge in the Upper Calder Valley. We stopped for lunch by the canal at Hebden Bridge, the Tilley stove working overtime to give us some spam, tinned potatoes and peas. We washed our feast down with orange and lemonade and then sat for a while to enjoy the peace.

It was very quiet sitting there by the canal. There were no dogs or cats to see, nor birds for that matter. The human population wasn’t very evident either. We saw a milk float on the way into the place with the milkman slumped over the wheel and nearby was a policeman lying by his bike; he seemed to be asleep but, of course, we knew differently.

I noticed Martina sitting by herself on a bench a little away from us. Sarah was changing Arthur and Eve, together with Jeanie, was putting the things away in the back of the bus. I went to Martina and sat down beside her. She hadn’t spoken a word yet and I was getting really worried–as I knew the others were too.

Her hands were shaking and I took hold of them with mine.

‘Pretty rotten isn’t it? Just a few days ago we were all happy, going to school–though school can be pretty bad when you have a lot of homework–still, it was good that you had friends around you. Then this happens and the rug gets pulled out from under you. You saw your mum and dad die. It must have been awful. At our school, many of my friends, including my best friends Tony and Steven died too. Jeanie’s and my parents are up in Scotland, and for all I know, may be dead. That’s what’s eating me up–not knowing. Eve lost her mum and dad, and Nicola not only lost her parents, but her baby brother, too. And then there’s the fog and the fact that one day we are boys and the next day, girls. Do you mind being a girl?’

I watched her: she didn’t say or do anything, just carried on staring at the water of the canal.

‘I minded a lot at first; I couldn’t believe it when I was changed. At first the clothes felt funny, but they are only clothes, and none of my boys’ things would fit me properly anymore. Then, I realised that being a girl wasn’t too bad. I was still the same person inside who likes rugger and cricket, and would love to play with my train set again. Well I can play with anything I like. None of that boy-girl stuff matters anymore. So I’ve accepted who I am. We need all the help we can to get through this. We are all one family now and we need you to do your bit and help. Will you help us?’

Once again there was no reaction, and I just sat back and sighed.

The others re-boarded the bus and were watching us. I think they realised that I was trying to bring Martina out of herself and left me to it.

Turning to look at the canal, I grimaced as I saw the body of an old lady drift past us. She was bloated and looked faintly ridiculous, almost like a dummy out of a shop window–all stiff with one arm up in the air, almost as if she was waving at us.

I jumped slightly as I felt Martina’s hand move and then close on mine. I looked at her; she was crying softly.

Leaning over, I hugged her as she let it all go. We sat there for about ten minutes as the tears and sobs racked her body, making my blouse quite wet. Her shuddering sobs slowly faded and then she fell silent again. Then after a few minutes she pulled away from me slightly and gazed at me. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were puffy from crying.

‘Alex,’ she whispered.

‘Mmm, yes, honey?’ I said, moving some long hair away from her face.

‘I–I–I––’

‘–What is it, Martina?’

‘I–I–I h—hate being–M—Martina––’

‘–Oh, honey, you’ll get used to being a girl–’

‘N—no, it’s n—not that, though skirts are a bit draughty, and it’s queer not having a willy. I—it’s that I don’t like the name; p—please c—c—can I be Julie?’

I gazed at her: she seemed so serious, as if it was the most important matter of the moment and not the dire straits we were in.

‘I think Julie’s a great name. Shall we go and tell the others?’

She nodded, wiped her eyes with a sleeve and then smiled shyly.

We stood up and I took her hand and walked back to the bus. Sarah was staring out of the window and appeared to be distinctly worried.

We boarded the bus with everyone, including Ben, watching us–except Arthur who was blowing raspberries and giggling to himself.

‘Your attention please, girls, I have an announcement to make. Martina is no longer with us and I would introduce you to a new member of our family–Julie. Come along, everybody, give her a clap of welcome!’

And that’s what we did. Julie smiled and then went over to her sister and gave her a big hug. I got back into the driver’s seat and started up; it was time to be off again!

~ §~

It was nearly 70 miles to Kendal, and I hoped to get at least that far before having to stop for the night. We set off on the A6033 heading towards Keighley–one small town that we had to pass through to get where we were going. I hoped against hope that there were not going to be any more roadblocks along the way. I estimated that it would probably take about two hours to get there, barring incidents, of course.

Jeanie started up a sing song to cheer everyone up with the usual favourites, Ten Green Bottles, She’ll be Coming Round the Mountains When She Comes and There Were Ten In The Bed, being the most popular.

I was driving along, singing with the rest and noticed a car in the distance coming towards us at speed. I stopped at the side of the road and the singing gradually stopped as everyone noticed the car too.

It was, for once, a fairly straight stretch of road and I could see that the car was being driven rather erratically, weaving from one side of the road to the other. In moments it was up to us and I thought, horror-struck, for an instant, that it was going to crash into us, but at the last second, it swerved away and carried on down the road.

As the car passed I caught a fleeting impression that a man and a woman were inside, struggling with the steering wheel and screaming at each other, although I couldn’t hear them.

The car careered round a bend and, as I got out of the coach, I thought that I would hear a crash or explosion at any moment, but all I heard was the screaming engine fading in the distance.

I boarded the bus again and looked at the others. ‘Phew, that was close; d—did anyone see their faces?’ I asked.

‘I did,’ Eve replied, ‘they looked a bit loopy to me. What is going on?’

‘I don’t know, but until we do, we’ll steer clear of any grown-ups. I would just like to see one that isn’t off his or her head!

~ §~

We reached Keighley in good time. The town is at the south end of the Pennines and is near Bradford. I was more than a bit concerned that we might encounter some trouble there. The omens were not good, because we saw several bodies in cars that obviously had stopped suddenly or crashed. In addition to this, there were several bloated and dead cows lying in the road, and I had the sickening job of driving over one of the bodies as there was nowhere else to go. As we approached the town, I noticed that it had rained quite heavily recently. The roads were very wet and there were pools of water everywhere.

We found ourselves in South Street, and the river had burst its banks there. Luckily, it was shallow enough for us to drive through slowly. The smell was vile as there were a number of human and animal bodies floating about. Overhead the sky was dark and looked full of rain. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but we had to be careful as we were concerned that the bus might stall in the water, leaving us up the creak without a paddle!

Away in the distance, the hills were shrouded in mist–not green fog, thank goodness–but a sort of Scotch mist that promised more bad weather soon. As we made our way along the high street, I searched for a gunsmith, but didn’t see one. Mind you, I didn’t much fancy wading through water to get into any of the shops anyway.

However, we did come across the rather grand sounding Keighley and District Victoria Hospital where we were able to stock up on fresh oxygen cylinders and several more masks.

~ §~

Twenty minutes later we were through the town and out the other side, heading towards Skipton. The weather came down again and it started raining heavily. The windscreen wipers weren’t fantastically good, but with either Eve or Jeanie sat on the front passenger seat beside me, we were able to navigate around any obstacles we came across, including a tree which had fallen across the road, just leaving a tight gap for us to squeeze through while we all held our breaths.

Cresting a rather long hill, brought the small town of Skipton into view in the distance. The clouds had started to break up now and we could catch the occasional glimpse of blue sky up ahead. Presently it was bright sunshine and the wipers could have a well earned rest.

Skipton is a lot smaller than Keighley and is dominated by the castle. But this isn’t a travelogue and you can always get a book if you want to find out about it, and if you can find a library that is still standing.

The town is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales though and it reminded me of camping holidays we had around the area before all the bad things happened. Happy memories like that were in the far distant past as we tried our hardest to make sense out of the disaster that had befallen us. We didn’t stop in Skipton though, as I really wanted to get as far as possible before we had to stop.

We had to stop for a toilet break near the small village of Cleatop. We were all crossing our legs by now and there was dissention in the ranks; so I had to park up and let everyone rush off in different directions to answer the call of nature.

While the others were doing things in the bushes, I went to Julie, who was holding Arthur. She smiled as I came up.

‘How are you doing, Julie?’

‘Not bad. Arthur’s adorable, isn’t he? He smiled at me just now.’

‘Probably wind.’

‘Mmm.’

‘Are you feeling a bit better?’

‘Yes, I suppose so. It all seemed a bit like a dream before. Now it’s more real. Do you know what I mean?’

‘Yes, it’s all a bit of a nightmare, isn’t it? We have to muddle through though.’

‘Yes. Do you want to hold Arthur?’

‘No–well, maybe–all right, I will.’

She gave me the squirming baby and went out to find herself a bush.

I held him as if he might break at any moment. I was so scared that he might squirm out of my arms and drop on the hard floor. Then he gazed at me, seemed to focus his eyes and smile.

He held my little finger in a grip that would do justice to a wrestler and I smiled, all thoughts of dropping him flying out of the window. He was a gorgeous baby. I was still bemused that he hadn’t turned into a she. Let’s face it; he’d had plenty of chances, if that was the word, to be transformed like the rest of us. Another mystery about the fog to which we hadn’t fathomed an answer–

‘That’s nice.’ I looked up and discovered a grinning Jeanie gazing down at me.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you haven’t exactly been involved with Arthur up to now, and here you are cooing like mad and making faces at him just like the rest of us girls.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘No, you don’t do you? Anyway, the others are coming back. Do you think we’ll reach Kendal by the time we have to find a place to stay?

‘Well, I think that it’s about 50 miles, and if we don’t have to stop any more we should be there by about three.’

‘Okay, give me Arthur and you can go and have a wee; then we can be on our way again.’

‘I think his bum needs changing.’

‘You could have done it.’

‘Sorry, maybe next time,’ I said as I passed him to her. It was strange, I felt quite reluctant to hand him over; perhaps I was going slightly soft?

I found a convenient bush and did the necessary. I can’t say I enjoyed the way I had to go now and wished that there was some easier way. I never appreciated a proper loo before, but would do so in future, that’s for sure!

~ §~

We carried along the road towards Kendal with bright sunshine and pretty scenery to keep us company. The roads were quite empty, thank goodness and the only life of any description that we could see were the sheep on the hills; although many of them were lying down. I supposed that the grass would feed them and the pools of rain water would give them something to drink. Disease might have affected some of them, perhaps dogs or foxes coming up from the towns might pass on diseases and that could have been the reason for some of them lying down; there again, they might just have been chewing the cud, if sheep did that or was that only cows? Mind you, they might just be having a snooze.

Of course, all this time the others were on the lookout for green fog, but fortunately saw no sign of it. There were no other vehicles being driven on the road, making me wonder how many people were actually left alive. We had seen very few people on our travels. It was weird to inhabit a country lacking people. Every town, village and hamlet we passed through seemed to be devoid of human life. We saw plenty of animals, like dogs, cats, rabbits and a few foxes; not forgetting the birds; but no hustle and bustle that brought these places to life. Of course I slowed down whenever we passed through inhabited areas and I beeped the horn, but nobody came out. Mind you, I was kind of wary because we had been shot at twice now and been attacked by a nut case with a long knife.

We had planned to avoid Kendal, but felt that we should at least see if there were any signs of life. We had hopes even now that there might be pockets where the fog had not penetrated and more people would be alive.

In previous times Kendal was a fine place, and I recognised the town from when we had camped nearby. It is at the southern end of the Lake District and was normally very busy, especially so in the summer. Now it was a ghost town. A bus was on its side and a number of still forms inside showed how the town was hit probably during the day time. We passed the local junior school. It must have been playtime when the horror struck, and it was heartbreaking to see all those children who would never play again or have the chance to grow up.

As we got closer to the town centre we saw more signs of devastation with cars crashed into each other and many bodies, thrown through car windscreens or strewn on the pavement. We had to keep the windows shut, but even then the smell seeped into our bus.

Packs of dogs roamed the streets but they looked unwell and rather lethargic, making me wonder if there was dysentery or other awful things about. We didn’t stop but kept going. The site of that silent playground would haunt me for the rest of my life and I know the others felt the same.

~ §~

We departed Kendal via the Windermere Road, picking up the A591 after a few short minutes and luckily managed to find a petrol station almost immediately. We took the opportunity to fill up the tank with petrol.

We were soon on our way again and found ourselves driving along by the side of Lake Windermere, heading ever northwards. Despite our detour into Kendal, we were making good time. We were all rather quiet by then–the visions of that town still fresh in our minds. Being winter, the sun was low on my left, and at other times I would have appreciated the sun reflecting on the water, but for now, all I wanted was to get to our destination without seeing any more ghastly sights.

We passed Rydall Water and Grasmere, going ever northwards towards Scotland, which was still a fair distance away. I really hoped we would reach Scotland in the next few days though, and that gave me a sense of purpose that I needed to keep my thoughts turning to despair.

Eventually we arrived at Keswick and skirted the town. Following our experiences in Kendal, none of us had the stomach to see more tragedy. We picked up the A66 for a few miles and then turned left on to the A591, looking all the time for likely places to stop for the night. I wanted to stop as soon as possible, because I was now very tired from driving, and emotional about the horrors we had seen today. Jeanie and Eve looked in several houses and cottages we came across on the way, but none were suitable, as either they found nasty things in them or didn’t command decent views all around–essential for us to keep track of any imminent fog attacks.

Eventually, we passed through a little hamlet called Thrushwood and found a house on a hill. It was empty and didn’t look as if it had been lived in for a while. It had the advantage of a good view and it was dry, with no bodies lying around, so we parked up, got everything we needed from the bus and made ourselves comfortable for the evening and night.

I was so tired, I just plonked down on an overstuffed armchair in the front room and promptly fell asleep. When I awoke, it was dark outside and I could smell chips being fried. Rubbing my eyes, I followed my nose into the kitchen where everyone was gathered. The room was lighted by several candles–the electricity being off of course. Over in the corner was a huge black coke burning, Aga-type cooker, which radiated a lot of heat. Sarah and Jeanie, being the only natural born girls, were doing the cooking. We ex-boys were hopeless at that sort of thing, but we had been given less than subtle hints that we had to start some girl-type chores or be in big trouble–talk about hen-pecked!

For now though everything was fine and we were soon tucking in to some Fray Bentos tinned steak and kidney pies with chips and baked beans–or “fartleberries”, as Sarah called them.

Arthur had some gloopy stuff like sardines and porridge. He seemed to enjoy it though, so who was I to complain? The only thing I didn’t fancy was changing his nappy when all that gungey went through him.

As I ate, I gazed across at the rain-lashed windows, and realised that we were lucky in a way to be in this area, because at this time of year it was normal to have rain and strong winds. This was to our advantage because the green fog couldn’t drift in and get to us if the weather was bad. Of course we would check regularly and keep our usual overnight watch, but I had hopes that we would at least get a respite from the fog–for a while anyway.

After our splendid meal, which was finished off with tins of rice pudding and peach halves, we went into the front room, leaving the kitchen door open so the heat could circulate around the house.

We decided to kip down in the front room as there was plenty of room. We decided for once to get undressed for bed, so it was long cotton nightdresses all round. My nightdress felt strange on me but somehow very nice and comfy. Much more comfortable that wearing day clothes in a sleeping bag.

We dug out our sleeping bags and climbed into them. Nicola was soon asleep, joining Arthur who was already in the land of nod in his makeshift cardboard cot lined with blankets.

Sarah was next to Julie, who had gradually perked up during the day, despite all we had seen. She was still quiet, but seemed to be coming out of her shell a bit. Sarah was the strong one of the two and seemed fearless and full of get-up-and-go.

‘Well,’ she said after a while, ‘how long will it take us to get up to Scotland?’

‘Well,’ I replied, ‘the border’s not all that far, but we’ve about 180 miles after that, so we should do it in a couple of days if we are lucky and don’t meet any disasters.’

‘Could we do it in a day–if we got up early?’

‘No, it’ll be a couple of days,’ I replied, ‘it’s hard driving the bus, and it was designed to be driven by a much bigger and stronger person than me. The backs of my legs ache enough as it is.’

‘I could drive,’ she said boldly.

‘Och don’t be silly,’ said Jeanie,’ you are smaller than Alexandra and her legs only just reach the pedals.’

‘I suppose,’ she sighed. ‘Mummy always says that I’m impulsive––’

A sad look flickered across her face and it was good that Eve spoke up just then.

‘Well, I think that Allie has done a great job driving. I wish I could drive, but I’ve got two left feet so we would probably crash in the first hundred yards!’

We all laughed at that–even Julie–and I changed the subject.

‘I wonder what things are like in other parts of the world, or is it just here; the fog I mean?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jeanie replied, ‘remember the police station when we picked up that foreign sounding lady on the short wave wireless?’

‘Aye, I wasn’t sure about the accent; it might’ve been French, but she was speaking quickly and it wasn’t a very clear signal.’

‘I think that it’s everywhere,’ said Eve.

‘Why?’ asked Sarah.

‘Because we would have received help by now–from other countries I mean. You know, soldiers with gas masks, lorries, ’planes–stuff like that. We’ve only seen one light aircraft, so I don’t think that there’s going to be any help from anyone.’

‘Well, that means we’ll just have to help ourselves,’ I said boldly, feeling more scared than I sounded.

Eve got up and gazed out of the window. The rain was lashing against the glass and she had to wipe away condensation on the inside with a hand. ‘Rotten weather out there,’ she remarked.

‘That’s good,’ said Jeanie.

We all nodded as one.

Then we heard it–the sound of engines from the road outside. Jeanie, Sarah and I struggled out of our sleeping bags and ran to where Eve was peering out into the night.

There were headlights coming towards us–three sets. It was hard to see properly with all the rain spattering the windowpanes, but I think they were lorries. I had visions of their being Russian tanks after all our recent talk about other countries. For some time now I had had a sneaky suspicion at the back of my mind that all this might be some sort of terrible chemical weapon attack.

In seconds the engines’ noise became louder and the headlights brighter. They thundered past a few seconds later, confirming the fact that they were lorries. They were gone so quickly, we had no chance to see who was driving. Rapidly, the engine noises and the red tail lights disappeared into the distance, making me wonder if we had imagined it. Glancing at the others, however, it was obvious that it was neither a dream nor figment of my imagination: we had seen them and they were going the same way we would be heading tomorrow morning.

‘Maybe there is help,’ Sarah said, ‘at least we are not alone.’

‘Well, don’t forget we’ve been shot at–twice,’ Eve mentioned ominously. ‘I just hope that they are friendly, if–or when–we come across them––’

---

 
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.

We all had a restless night. I spent a lot of the time tossing and turning, wondering about the lorries and who might have been driving them. Were they friends or foes?

 

---

Chapter 11

Previously…

Eve got up and gazed out of the window. The rain was lashing against the glass and she had to wipe away condensation on the inside with a hand.

‘Rotten weather out there,’ she remarked.

‘That’s good,’ said Jeanie.

We all nodded as one.

Then we heard it–the sound of engines from the road outside. Jeanie, Sarah and I struggled out of our sleeping bags and ran to where Eve was peering out into the night.

There were headlights coming towards us–three sets. It was hard to see properly with all the rain spattering the windowpanes, but I think they were lorries. I had visions of their being Russian tanks after all our recent talk about other countries. For some time now I had had a sneaky suspicion at the back of my mind that all this might be some sort of terrible chemical weapon attack.

In seconds the engines’ noise became louder and the headlights brighter. They thundered past a few seconds later, confirming the fact that they were lorries. They were gone so quickly, we had no chance to see who was driving.

Rapidly, the engine noises and the red tail lights disappeared into the distance, making me wonder if we had imagined it. Glancing at the others, however, it was obvious that it was neither a dream nor figment of my imagination: we had seen them and they were going the same way we would be heading tomorrow morning.

‘Maybe there is help,’ Sarah said, ‘at least we are not alone.’

‘Well, don’t forget we’ve been shot at–twice,’ Eve mentioned ominously. ‘I just hope that they are friendly, if–or when–we come across them––’

And now the story continues…

Thrushwood to Carronbridge

We all had a restless night. I spent a lot of the time tossing and turning, wondering about the lorries and who might have been driving them. Were they friends or foes? Could they have been children like us or adults? Then there was the thorny question how to get up to Scotland without hitting big towns, Looking at the map earlier, I could see that we were on the A591 and that would lead to Bothel where we would have to turn right on to the A595 leading into Carlisle. It seemed obvious to me that the lorries would go that way too, unless they knew something I didn’t.

Maybe they were based in Carlisle and we might come across similar problems to those we had in Huddersfield. I sincerely hoped not, as I was desperate to reach Scotland and find out if our parents were still alive and we had to go through Carlisle to get there.

~ §~

We were on the road early the next morning after a tinned breakfast that made me yearn for good old corn flakes, toast and marmalade.

I had swiftly grown tired of our restricted diet and reliance on food out of tins or packets that we were sure were safe to eat. Water always had to be boiled because we had no way of finding out if the water was contaminated. It was something, I supposed, that we would all have to get used to.

Anyway, enough of the whinging, we had to make the most of what we had. The others had left the decision regarding the route to me, so I had Jeanie up beside me today with our rather battered map, to help me get to our destination for today which was Carronbridge north of Thornhill in Dumfriesshire. Our Aunt Betty and Uncle Archie lived there and I suppose both Jeanie and I hoped that they were alright.

Anyway it was a target and we knew that once there, we would able to reach Dunoon the following day, God willing, that is, if we could get a boat to cross the Firth of Clyde. If not, we would have to go the long way around which would add a further day to our epic journey.

The road to Bothel had beautiful scenery and was relatively empty of unpleasant sights. The Lake District is a lovely place and its beauty just reminded me of what we had all lost. Bassenthwaite Lake was on our left, but there was a bit of early morning mist about so we could not appreciate the view as much as I would have liked. The others were fairly quiet, which reflected the fact that not many of us had had much sleep the previous night. Even young Arthur had been a bit restless.

All that was behind us now as we went up hill and down dale, changing gear constantly and trying my best to keep Bessie Bedford going. It was a shame that I was the only driver. Apart from Jeanie, who had never really got the knack of changing gear and trying to drive in a straight line, the others were either too small to drive or just didn’t know how. This meant that it was all on my shoulders and I couldn’t drive as far as I would wish without having a break.

We stopped for our first toilet-cum-snack break outside of Thursby, just before the right turn we needed to take for Carlisle. After the usual scramble to find a bush we all had a cold drink from our plentiful supply of orange and lemonade. Arthur had a still orange drink which he seemed to like a lot as he started smacking his lips after drinking his titty-bottle dry.

The day was a bit warmer than we’d had of late; overcast and the winds were light. As I looked over the hills, I marvelled at how easily I had become used to being a girl. The breeze ruffled my hair and my skirt flapped slightly against my thighs, making me aware, if I needed any sort of a hint anymore, that I was female–a girl, moreover, with small budding breasts which itched somewhat and seemed to be growing slightly every day–although that could just be my fertile imagination.

My life as Alexander seemed a long time ago now–even if it was only a matter of days–and almost like it was a dream. I wondered how my parents would react to the sight of the new me. The last time they saw me, I was a boy–a strong, active, slightly naughty boy–who loved games like rugger and cricket who thought that having a wash once a week was just about right. Now, I was Alexandra, a girl who was strangely happy to be who she was. If my old mates could see me now, would they laugh at me, I wondered?

‘Allie, we’re ready,’ Eve called from the bus.

Sighing at such thoughts, I turned towards Bessie, climbed aboard, settled into the driver’s seat and set off towards Carlisle.

~ §~

Carlisle was visible from miles away. It’s a city close to the Scottish border and there was no way round it that I could see. Eve, sitting next to me with the map, was looking up roads that we might take to keep us out of the city centre. I still thought that those lorries last night were probably military, so I had visions of the place being occupied by troops from a foreign land, maybe Russian or even Chinese! Would we be met by barricades and guns? I didn’t want us to get shot at again and there was a real chance that we might find our way barred.

We approached the city using the Wigton Road. As we got nearer to the more populated areas, we could see that the fog had been here too. There were more wrecked cars and bodies in the streets than we had seen in other places. At one point, water had burst through the cracked road and was gushing upwards and outwards making the way through rather difficult. Well at least the bus got a wash! A number of buildings had been destroyed–whether by gas explosions or bombs, I had no idea. There was so much glass in the road that I worried for our tyres; so I went through very slowly. As we made our way further towards the centre, the desolation and damage was more widespread: a factory on our left had black smoke billowing out of the remains of the roof. The smell of burning rubber was very evident.

We passed some more houses. In the back gardens of more than one, laundry on the clothes lines fluttered in the gentle breeze like strangely shaped colourful flags, but with no one left to gather them in, making me feel rather sad.

Then I noticed a pram sitting on the garden path of one of those houses. The thought of a baby being in it made me feel rather sick. I pulled over; I could not just go by without checking. Switching off the engine I just told the others that I wanted to go to the loo. I opened the garden gate and strode up the short gravel path. It was quiet, so quiet that I was aware of my rather heavy breathing over the crunch of my footsteps on the gravel as I approached the pram. It was by the side of the open front door and the hood was up.

Slowly I lowered it–

Of all the sights I had seen, this was the worst. Leaving the still form, I dashed round the side of the house and was promptly sick against the wall. My body heaved and heaved until there was nothing left inside me. I cried tears of pain, frustration, anger and sorrow for the poor wee baby and all the many others who had died because of the hateful, evil fog.

I was frustrated because I could do nothing about it. How I wished I could wave a magic wand and make everything better. I was unable to help those who had died and others–like us–who might be clinging to life, waiting to be consumed by the fog.

I slid down to my knees, my bare legs on the gravel drive which would have been painful if I had noticed. Putting my face in my hands, I rocked backwards and forwards, hot, salty tears slipping through my fingers as I was overcome by grief.

Then there were arms around my shoulders and I was helped gently to my feet. Opening my eyes, I saw Jeanie, her face beset by anxiety.

‘Oh, Allie, you shouldn’t have looked.’

‘I—I—I h—h—had to; the b—baby could have been another Arthur–still alive.’

‘Arthur was lucky. Judging by what we’ve seen around here, they have all been dead for a long time. Och, even if the wee bairn was spared the fog, he or she would have died from hunger, thirst or exposure.’

‘I know, but I just had to look,’ I sniffed.

She gave me a hankie and I wiped my eyes and blew my nose. I went to hand it back and she grimaced.

‘You keep it,’ she said, a sad smile on her face.

I smiled back and then looked at my skirt; it was covered in sick, as was my cardigan and blouse.

‘I look a mess,’

‘Yes, but we have clothes. Let’s go back to the bus and get you some clean things.’

~ §~

We didn’t hang around for long, and as soon as I had changed into a clean skirt and top, we carried on. None of the others said anything, but I think that they were aware of what I had seen and that it had caused my breakdown.

As we continued on our way, the streets had papers, rubbish, overturned dustbins and more than a few bodies lying around in an advanced stage of decomposition; the nearer the centre we went, the worse it seemed to get.

I felt more or less numb by then, unable to take in the full impact of the horror which was unfolding before our eyes every yard we progressed. However I couldn’t completely ignore what I could see with my own eyes. I regret to say that there were signs that many of the bodies strewn on the roads and pavements had been got at by animals and birds. The stench was revolting and we had to keep the windows tightly shut at all times: Even that didn’t stop all of the terrible smells though.

We progressed as best we could and eventually crossed the river. There had been no sign of life up to then–human life that is. There were plenty of dogs, cats, birds, foxes and other wild life but no live people.

Then we saw it, a barricade of vehicles including lorries and cars, about a hundred yards ahead.

‘Oh no,’ wailed Jeanie, as the others came forward to look through the windscreen.

‘What do we do?’ I asked, my voice sounding strained. I was getting the beginnings of a headache. I think the stress of it all was getting to me.

‘We’ll have to find a way round,’ said Jeanie firmly.

‘I vote that we go up to them with a white flag or something and have a pow-wow,’ Sarah declared.

‘This isn’t the ABC Minors Matinée,¹ Sarah, this is real life. We’ve been shot at more than once and I for one don’t fancy being shot at again,’ Eve said.

‘Hang on,’ I said squinting through the mud-spattered windscreen.

Somebody had emerged from behind the barricade and was marching down the road towards us. It was a man wearing some sort of uniform and carrying what looked like a shotgun. As he came closer he held his arm up and gestured to us.

‘I think he does want a pow-wow,’ Sarah said.

‘He has a gun. I don’t trust people with guns,’ said Jeanie.

‘Well I’m not scared,’ said Sarah, jumping out of the bus and running towards the man. I didn’t stop to think and just got out and ran after her with protests from the others ringing in my ears.

I caught her up as the man stopped and looked at us standing about twenty feet away.

‘Kids, just kids–where’s your parents then?’

I didn’t like his attitude or the look he gave us–sort of leering, dismissive and something else––

‘All dead,’ Sarah said.

‘Got any food?’ he asked, his eyes staring up and down at me.

‘No,’ I said before Sarah could open her big mouth. ‘We were hoping to find food here.’

‘You won’t get any here. The Carlisle Provisional Government strictly limits food distribution. How many of you are there? ’ he asked looking beyond us at the bus.

‘A few,’ I said gripping Sarah’s shoulder, as I didn’t want her to give the man too much information.

‘There can’t be many people alive here,’ Sarah remarked, looking beyond the man towards the barricade. I wished that she would keep her mouth shut.

‘Enough–not many adults, but plenty of kids.’ he was gazing intently at her–staring–with those big dark eyes.

‘Didn’t the fog get you?’

‘Most of the people died but some of us–a few–weren’t affected for some reason. The fog didn’t seem quite so dense here. Anyway, enough of your questions; you can join us if you are willing to work. No work, no food.’

He smiled then and didn’t seem quite so scary, but there was something about him that didn’t quite ring true.

‘No thanks,’ I said after a moment. ‘Look we just want to pass through–we don’t want to stop. We have to get–somewhere. Please can you move the barriers and then we’ll be on our way.’

He looked at me for a second, distractedly, as if he was listening to someone on the phone and then he just nodded.

‘You should come with me. We’ll see what we can do for you.’

‘Great!’ said Sarah, enthusiastically.

‘No,’ I said firmly, ‘Thank you for the offer, Sir, but we’ll find another way. Come on, Sarah.’

‘Who are you to give orders?’ she barked at me, her voice sounding strange and harsh, a bit like the man when we had first spoken to him.

‘I’m older than you and know what I’m talking about.’ My Scots blood was up again so I just ploughed on. Tact was not my middle name.

‘Sarah, we need to get back to the others.’ I continued, trying to express with my voice how very wrong this all seemed.

‘Come with me and we can get you some food,’ said the man rather ingratiatingly, with a smile, ‘You can stay, as I say, if you work. Nothing heavy just clearing away the rubbish, finding food; things like that. What do you say?’

He was looking at Sarah but I had a feeling that he was really talking to me, only I wasn’t interested. I had a feeling that this man was as nutty as the other grown-up fruitcakes we had come across; I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He had a cruel look about him, even though he was smiling; but there was something else––

‘–Sarah, come on!’

Sarah was gazing at the man and he was staring intently into her eyes. She didn’t seem to want to move.

‘Sarah, do come on. Julie’s waiting and she’s scared.’

‘Julie?’ she said faintly still staring at the man with a strange look on her face.

‘Your sister Julie; we must go!’

She shook her head and tore herself away from those eyes.

‘A—a—all right,’ she said weakly and started to turn and join me.

‘Stop!’ said the man lifting his gun and pointing at my chest. ‘You’d better come with me.’

His look had lost any false friendliness that it had and his face, if anything, looked harder and then there were his eyes––

I could vaguely hear the sound of an engine behind us–

Things became somewhat hazy–

His evil eyes––

I couldn’t look away and sensed that Sarah couldn’t either.

Strangely, I began to feel calmer, suddenly realising that he was really a friend and not our enemy after all. The terrible time that we all lived in had made his face seem hard and unfeeling but I now knew that it wasn’t that, he was just hiding the pain he was feeling for the loss of his loved ones. It would be nice not to have to worry about things and let the grownups take over. I knew really that my parents were dead, so why go anywhere else? It just didn’t make any sense. We would be looked after and––

The bus hit the man a glancing blow. He screamed and the shotgun went off in his hand just as he was knocked clean off his feet. I felt myself being grabbed roughly and pulled into the bus. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sarah being hauled aboard as well.

I heard another scream of rage and pain from the man and more gunshots. I rolled about on the floor of the bus next to Sarah as it was turned around. I was then knocked on my back by the bus, accelerating away from the noise of the guns–

There was a lot of shouting and screaming from everyone and Ben was barking like mad. I struggled to my feet, feeling a bit strange and disorientated and then sat on a seat half way down the bus in a daze. Sarah was on the other side of the aisle and had a strange puzzled look on her face. Eve was looking after the baby who was crying fitfully and Julie was up at the front with Jeanie who was driving.

Jeanie didn’t stop for anything and just took an immediate right turn and drove the bus at great speed down the narrow road, missing cars by inches, scraping the wing mirrors and going over the occasional body with a sickening crunch and generally driving like a girl possessed.

After ten minutes we were out on a country road again and she stopped the bus, slumping over the steering wheel and sobbing her heart out.

My mind seemed to clear the further away from the city we got. Sarah gazed at me looking puzzled. ‘W—what happened back there?’

‘I—I d—don’t know. His evil eyes made me feel really peculiar.’

‘Me too. His horrid eyes seemed to draw me in and make me feel safe and say things that I didn’t mean to say–’

She became tearful at that and I went and sat by her and we had a big hug. I was crying too. It was a very emotional moment and even while I was sobbing, at the back of my mind I realised that boy-Alex wouldn’t have reacted this way, but for the new female me it was normal and right that I should be able to cry and release my feelings.

Glancing up, I noticed Eve and Julie comforting Jeanie. We all seemed more or less shell-shocked at what had happened those few short minutes ago. Ben, love him, wasn’t bothered at all. He saw me looking at him and I got a twitch of his tail. Arthur was quiet. How he could sleep with all that had been going on was a mystery to me and yet, if you coughed slightly, he would be awake in an instant a lot of the time.

~ §~

Five minutes later, we were all sitting at the back of the bus, discussing what had happened. Jeanie’s eyes were red from crying and I’m sure I didn’t look much better. We were holding hands, which was a nice sisterly thing to do and certainly not something we ever dreamed of doing when we were brother and sister. Julie and Sarah were close too and Eve had here arms around a still scared and shaky Nicola, her eyes wide with the shock of all that had happened.

‘We look a right bunch,’ said Eve, ‘cry babies, one and all.’

‘Girls do that,’ sniffed Sarah.

‘Don’t I know it,’ replied Eve, ‘talk about water works. I can’t seem to switch off the tap sometimes. Boys don’t cry. I used to be a boy and now look at me.’

‘Boys don’t cry in public,’ said Jeanie, ‘but I bet you did sometimes when nobody was looking?’

‘Never mind that,’ said Eve looking cross and embarrassed at the same time. ‘What happened to you two out there with that horrible man?’

I glanced at Sarah. ‘You tell them,’ she said, ‘it’s all a bit foggy to me.’

‘Not green fog?’ Nicola squeaked in a panicky voice.

‘No, honey, it’s just an expression,’ said Sarah softly.

I smiled at that and then told them what happened.

‘So you didn’t trust him and wanted to get away and then you sort of got mesmerised by his eyes?’ said Jeanie.

‘I think so. As Sarah says it was a bit confusing and after a bit I just wanted to do as he asked. Then you drove up and knocked him over. It felt like a rubber band in my head, connecting with his, suddenly snapped and I came back to reality. Is that how you felt, Sarah?’

‘Yes, that’s it exactly. I’m still not sure what happened back there, though. It was almost like I was in a dream. I didn’t even realise that I had jumped out of the bus and had run to him before I felt Allie grab my shoulder hard.’

‘We saw him raise his gun at you,’ Jeannie continued, ‘and you were both swaying slightly. Eve said we had to save you, even though we seemed to be thinking with treacle for brains. We both felt queer and Nicola and Ben had gone to sleep and that was another strange thing. Arthur was quiet too and he had been crying fit to wake the dead a few moments before. Anyway, I just got into the driver’s seat, started up and drove at the man. I didn’t want to kill him, but I had to do something, so I hit him with a glancing blow and Julie and Eve pulled you both in and I got us out of there as fast as Bessie’s wheels could take us.’

My headache wasn’t clearing up and I still felt a throbbing over my temples. ‘Have we got anything for a headache?’ I asked.

‘You have one too?’ said Jeanie.

The others all said the same, except for Nicola.

‘It must be connected,’ I said.

‘What is going on?’ asked an exasperated Eve.

‘I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘but one thing is for sure. If we see anyone, we just get out of there as quickly as we can. We cannot trust anybody.’

~ §~

Jeanie told us she didn’t want to drive any more, so after a few minutes I took over and we carried on. Eve found out where we were by looking at the signposts and checking with the map. We soon found another route which meant that we could avoid Carlisle. It was a bit of a detour compared to the more direct route, but we weren’t taking any chances. I still had hopes of reaching Carronbridge before having to stop for the night. We would look in on our auntie and uncle’s house but I expected to discover the worst, though I really didn’t want to think about that.

We passed through Kingmoor and Cargo, then continued to Todhills and then finally skirted the famous Gretna Green.

Now we were in Scotland at last, I felt that we were much closer to finding our parents. I refused to think that they were dead; despite the peculiar things I had thought when my mind was playing tricks on me following the meeting with the evil-eyes man in Carlisle.

We stopped for another loo-and-food break just north of Gretna. Out came the Tilley stove and we heated some soup and had it with some cream crackers that were a bit dry without butter but were rather nice dunked in the soup. The only incident of note was that when Ben went for a lift his leg, he somehow had an encounter with a fox who ran off at the sight of the big soppy dog. The poor thing looked thin and ill and I wondered whether it had eaten something that made it sick. The thought of rabies also came to mind and after making a quick but careful examination of Ben, it was decided that we would have to use a lead with him in places where there was risk of him getting into a fight with local wild life.

As we continued our journey north, we were constantly on the lookout for signs of the fog. We still had no real idea as to how, when or why it appeared. Also we had no idea if it was just one bank or a number of different ones spread across the country. I suppose that we were in a continued state of tension, not able to relax at any time because of attacks from the fog, people or roaming animals.

There were no signs of any more moving cars, lorries, aeroplanes or any other transport on our way towards Carronbridge. It was if everybody was dead we were the only ones left alive in a desolate, inhospitable world.

We bypassed Annan and Dumfries by using minor roads, sometimes little more than tracks. Somehow we found ourselves eventually back on the main road and were able to continue our journey. We were desperate now to avoid anything larger than a village and luckily, we came across nothing that would harm us.

By now it was mid afternoon and the sun was low in the sky making it a bit difficult to see when I was driving towards the sun on that bendy road. We passed through Thornhill just after three thirty and were just about a mile away from Carronbridge where our Auntie Betty and Uncle Archie lived in their farmhouse by the side of the River Carron.

‘My tummy and I’m sure Jeanie’s too, was wound up as we came closer to the place that was, near enough, our second home. I had nightmare visions of my aunt and uncle dead with bloated bodies and all terrible things like that. I wanted to believe that they were all right, but all sense told me that they were like virtually everyone else, dead.

~ §~

Jeanie was sitting on the front passenger seat next to me as I drove along the main road and turned left towards the river. We passed several cottages on the way through. The road wasn’t very wide and we had to go rather slowly at times. We had spent several summers here, happy times where we could sail on the river, play with the dogs, ride ponies and generally enjoy ourselves.

My tummy began tying itself more in knots with butterflies on the rampage as we took the final bend and swung into the yard of the Carron Farm.

The first thing I noticed was that the cows in the fields were lying down, obviously dead and then I saw a farm cat in the corner, once again dead with its throat a mess where a scavenger had got at it.

The horse box doors were all open and I could see no sign of any horses or ponies. As we drew up in front of the farmhouse, I noticed that the front door was wide open. I stopped the coach and switched the engine off. It was quiet, deathly quiet. The air was heavy and the smell, unpleasant and sickly.

Jeanie gazed at me. I could see that she felt the same as me–they were dead. I felt so sad, I loved them almost as much as my parents. A world without them, to me, would be a very empty place.

‘Right,’ said Eve, matter of factly, intruding on my thoughts, ‘Sarah and I are going to have a look.’

‘No you can’t,’ I protested.

‘It’s not fair,’ Jeanie added, ‘they’re our uncle and auntie––’

‘–Look, Allie, Jeanie, you wouldn’t let me see m—my parents so Sarah and I will do the same for you. You shouldn’t see them, erm–dead and everything. You should remember them as they were when they were alive. Come on, Sarah, are you coming?’

‘Of course, Eve. You two stay here; we won’t be long, promise.’

Without another word, they got out of the bus, sliding the door closed behind them and went to the house, pausing for a second before entering.

Jeanie and I gazed at each other and I could see the worry on her face. Nicola and Julie were at the back of the bus with Ben and Arthur. Everyone was quiet, realising, I think, that this was all very upsetting for us. I sat with Jeanie, holding her hand. She was trembling slightly, or was that me?

They were gone for about five minutes, but it seemed like an hour. I was just about to suggest going to look for them when they reappeared.

I couldn’t read the expression on their faces as they climbed back in the bus.

‘Well?’ I said, unable to hold myself back.

‘There was nobody there,’ Sarah said, ‘it looked like they left in a hurry. Breakfast things were still on the table and the beds, unmade. There was still tea in the pot, but it was cold.’

‘What about the dogs?’ asked Jeanie.

‘No dogs. As I said it looked like they had left in a hurry.’

I glanced at Jeanie and then got out of the bus. I ran to the large corrugated iron shed where they kept their Land Rover, avoiding the dirty puddles, and pulled one of the doors open. The hinges screeched, causing a number of birds to fly off in alarm.

The shed was empty.

I ambled slowly back to the others who had just alighted from Bessie. Jeanie had been crying–I hope from happiness because we had not found them dead.

‘Well,’ said Sarah, ‘that was a turn up; where do you think they are?’

Jeanie and I looked at each other and replied in unison, ‘Dunoon––’

____________________

¹ ABC Minors: A popular Saturday morning film club for children at ABC Cinemas in the late 40s, 50s and 60s which showed films like Charlie Chaplin, Hopalong Cassidy, Laural and Hardy and others suitable for a child audience.

---

 
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.

We stayed the night and I was almost comforted by being in familiar surroundings–but not quite, because I was wondering if our guess had been right. Were Auntie Betty and Uncle Archie across the water in Dunoon or had they been caught out in the fog, like so many others?

 

---

Chapter 12

Previously…

‘Right,’ said Eve, matter of factly, intruding on my thoughts, ‘Sarah and I are going to have a look.’

‘No you can’t,’ I protested.

‘It’s not fair,’ Jeanie added, ‘they’re our uncle and auntie––’

‘–Look, Allie, Jeanie, you wouldn’t let me see m—my parents so Sarah and I will do the same for you. You shouldn’t see them, erm–dead and everything. You should remember them as they were when they were alive. Come on, Sarah, are you coming?’

‘Of course, Eve. You two stay here; we won’t be long, promise.’

Without another word, they got out of the bus, sliding the door closed behind them and went to the house, pausing for a second before entering.

Jeanie and I gazed at each other and I could see the worry on her face. Nicola and Julie were at the back of the bus with Ben and Arthur. Everyone was quiet, realising, I think, that this was all very upsetting for us. I sat with Jeanie, holding her hand. She was trembling slightly, or was that me?

They were gone for about five minutes, but it seemed like an hour. I was just about to suggest going to look for them when they reappeared.

I couldn’t read the expression on their faces as they climbed back in the bus.

‘Well?’ I said, unable to hold myself back.

‘There was nobody there,’ Sarah said, ‘it looked like they left in a hurry. Breakfast things were still on the table and the beds, unmade. There was still tea in the pot, but it was cold.’

‘What about the dogs?’ asked Jeanie.

‘No dogs. As I said it looked like they had left in a hurry.’

I glanced at Jeanie and then got out of the bus. I ran to the large corrugated iron shed where they kept their Land Rover, avoiding the dirty puddles, and pulled one of the doors open. The hinges screeched, causing a number of birds to fly off in alarm.

The shed was empty.

I ambled slowly back to the others who had just alighted from Bessie. Jeanie had been crying–I hope from happiness because we had not found them dead.

‘Well,’ said Sarah, ‘that was a turn up; where do you think they are?’

Jeanie and I looked at each other and replied in unison, ‘Dunoon––’

And now the story continues…

Carronbridge to Gourock

We stayed the night and I was almost comforted by being in familiar surroundings–but not quite, because I was wondering if our guess had been right. Were Auntie Betty and Uncle Archie across the water in Dunoon or had they been caught out in the fog, like so many others? I had a restless night, not helped by the fact that I had to do my fair share of watch-keeping.

Jeanie didn’t seem quite as concerned as I was. She had this simple faith that everything would work out all right. We might have been twins and now we were both girls, looked like two peas in a pod, but mentally we were somewhat different. She was the reckless one, where I was careful. She was outgoing while I tended to be rather shy. She was optimistic whereas I was the pessimist.

I wished I was more like her, but although I now had a girl’s body, mentally I was still a boy, although things were changing there. I was more sensitive, I think and was definitely more emotional now–crying often. I liked pretty things I and must admit that I was beginning to like the clothes and my long hair rather a lot: although it did keep getting in the way unless tied back with bands and ribbons.

There was no sign of the fog that night and I was pleased about that. Maybe it was gone for good? Who knows? Anyway, after our usual tinned breakfast – boring but filling–we were on our way early that morning. There was still mist in the valleys and dew on the plants and trees as I fired up our little bus. We were soon once again on our way. I left Carron Farm with some regret, wondering if we would ever be able to return again and have fun with the animals, ride the horses and splash about in the river like we used to.

Quite frankly I didn’t know how far we were going to get today. Dunoon was a long way off and even longer if we couldn’t get a boat across the Firth from Gourock. Then we–well I–would have to drive the long way round, using some minor roads to avoid towns.

Anyway, all this procrastination (one of my father’s favourite words) wouldn’t get me anywhere so I just drove down the small lane leading away from the farm and prayed that we might at least have one day without too many alarums and excursions.

~ §~

Before long we picked up the A76 and headed north. Sarah was sat next to me looking at the maps and the others were doing the usual thing of looking out for the dangers.

We still had a fair amount of petrol in the tank and I hoped that we could reach our destination without needing more. However, ye cannae be too carefu’–as Auntie Betty would say, so I decided I would fill up if the opportunity presented itself.

‘Turn right here,’ Sarah told me just past New Cumnock.

I did as she asked and glanced at her quickly. ‘How’s Julie managing?’ I asked.

Sarah turned to me and smiled sadly. ‘She’s finding it a bit hard still. She misses Mummy and Daddy dreadfully–like I do–but she’s finding it really hard to adapt to being a girl. It’s all a bit much for her to take in. We’ll have to watch her and make sure that she has as much help as possible. Mind you, Allie, you’ve coped amazingly–I find it very hard to believe that you were ever a boy.’

‘Thanks–I think.’

‘No-no-no–I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that you seem to be all girl to me. The way you walk and talk, sit and express yourself, it’s all girl––sorry, I hope I haven’t upset you.’

I changed gear, wincing as I crunched them a bit. We were going up yet another hill and the old girl seemed to struggle on hills.

‘Not at all,’ I sighed, ‘I was just thinking about the very same thing a wee while back. I still feel a bit like a boy, but it’s getting harder to remember what it was like. Maybe it’s another effect of the change. Julie might feel that soon too.’

‘I hope so,’ she said.

We continued on our way. It was getting a bit flatter now–the road that is. The sky above was now clear with few clouds and the mists had gone. This was ideal green fog weather as it was clear and there wasn’t much wind. I was constantly looking up ahead and to the sides for the telltale signs of the green menace, but for once we were lucky, as there was no indication that it was anywhere near.

Eventually we found our ourselves approaching Kilmarnock, so we turned off along some side roads to avoid the town; I had to take us down a few rather narrow lanes and–somehow–turn around at a couple of others, but by hook or by crook we found ourselves beyond Kilmarnock and heading towards Irvine on the A78. Then we had to avoid Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston; and that meant a yet another longish detour that took us ages. Then and only then, I agreed to stop for a break, just before Seamill. It was mid afternoon and everyone was famished as our breakfast had been a long time ago.

It was quite cold outside the bus as we went for a quick wee. The Firth of Clyde was to our left and the sea breeze made me feel quite chilly and I wished I was wearing trousers–or even a kilt–rather than a light skirt. I didn’t think I would ever be comfortable squatting down to do it. Boys had it so much easier–just point and shoot. I was a bit sad that I wouldn’t be able to wee my name in the snow anymore!

We decided to mash our tea outside using the Tilley stove and then have lunch in the relatively warm bus.

We had some water biscuits, tinned soup and, natch, the tea we had mashed. Baby Arthur was having something gooey out of a jar and some Ostermilk. He seemed happy enough and I felt strangely satisfied when I got my turn to give him a cuddle before passing him back to the ever-eager Jeanie.

I checked the map book when I got a chance, with Eve at my elbow. We had taken much longer than I had hoped to get this far and it was touch and go whether we would reach Gourock much before dusk. It was three o’clock now and the sun was already dipping towards the horizon.

‘Will we make it?’ she asked over the sound of Arthur exercising his vocal cords.

‘Don’t know, but I’ll try.’

‘We all sang The Wheels On The Bus and a few other favourites and that seemed to satisfy Arthur, who returned to the land of nod after a few minutes. Before long we could see the Firth on our left, the sun reflected on the water was good to see as we carried on as fast as our little bus could take us.

As we took the coast road, I imagined ourselves to be at the end of the world as we knew it. From time to time we saw stationery cars, vans, lorries–people. Nothing moved apart from a few birds in the sky and the occasional stray dog or cat looking starved and dishevelled. The world as we knew it was gone. No more government, schools, hospitals and other trappings of a normal modern society–it was sobering. In the distance we could see Little Cumbrae Island and behind that, the much larger Isle of Bute, but we could see no sign of any boats or ships moving on the waters of the Firth

By now we were on roads that Jeanie and I knew quite well and the map was no longer needed. Every place we passed brought back memories for me of happier times when we were young children without a care in the world.

I felt like crying for all that we had lost, but I had no time for that, I had a job to do and the others were relying on me––

‘Look,’ said Nicola, excitedly pointing up in the sky over the sea, ‘a ’plane!’

I glanced across and managed to catch sight of the plane in the distance. It was close to the low sun and I had to squint to see it, but Nicola was right–there was a ’plane!

The others were shouting excitedly as I roughly stopped the bus and we all piled out to watch.

The single prop ’plane was heading north–like we were–and it looked as if it could be the same one we saw the other day, but I couldn’t be sure at this distance. It receded into the distance and then seemed to bank to the left, disappearing behind a brae. After a few minutes it was obvious that we would be unlikely to see it again.

‘Come on,’ I called, ‘we need to get moving. It’ll be getting dark soon.’

Nothing was said, but I knew the others were thinking the same as me; we thought that the plane was heading towards Dunoon. I dared not get my hopes up, but was there even the smallest of chances that my parents and uncle and aunt were still alive?

As soon as everyone was aboard, I moved off and carried on up the coast road towards Inverkip and Gourock. I hoped and prayed that a boat would be there and that we could somehow make our way across to Dunoon. If there wasn’t a boat, we would have to go the long way and I didn’t much fancy that.

I squinted at something on the road up ahead. We were approaching Inverkip, only a few miles from Gourock. Groaning, I saw that it was yet another barrier of cars, tables, doors and other things.

‘What will we do?’ I asked the others who had come forward as I slowed down.

‘What if they have guns?’ Sarah asked.

‘Or weird mad men?’ Jeanie added.

‘There’s no other way through.’ I replied as I crept closer, waiting for any sign that we would be attacked.

It was very quiet. No one appeared above the barricade. I got to within a hundred yards and pulled off the road. Then I switched off.

‘We have to get through,’ I said forcefully. ‘It’s getting darker and I don’t feel safe on the road. Look can someone pass me a pillow case and that umbrella?’

I attached the pillow case to the umbrella. ‘I want to use it as a white flag. All of you stay here.’

‘No,’ said Jeanie.’ I’m the oldest so I’ll go. Anyway you’re needed to drive Bessie.’

‘You are only a few minutes older than me,’ I retorted.

‘Doesn’t matter, you’re needed, I’m not.’

The others protested as Jeanie grabbed the umbrella.

‘Look, we need to do this now. Let me go!’

Without more ado, she put on her school raincoat and walked down the empty road towards the barriers.

She walked down the middle of the road with the umbrella held high–like a one woman army striding towards enemy lines.

I started the bus.

‘Everyone sit down. If I have to move, we need to be ready in an instant.’

Jeanie carried on. I was so proud of her but worried sick that she might be shot or attacked. My chest tightened as if I was about to have an asthma attack. I gripped the steering wheel hard, my knuckles white as I watched her get ever closer to possible death. A trickle of perspiration trickled down my back, making my blouse wet and my tummy started to do somersaults.

She was within twenty yards of the barricade now. I watched her long hair flowing in the gentle breeze. The makeshift white flag fluttered fitfully. She stopped and I could her call out faintly, but I couldn’t catch her words over the sound of the engine.

She waited for a few moments more and hesitatingly moved forward again. In seconds she had reached the barrier and climbed up on the roof of a car. She stayed there for what seemed like ages–but in fact it was only a few seconds.

Jeanie looked back at us and gestured us to come forward. Heart thumping, I slipped Bessie into gear and edged ahead, on the lookout for anything nasty that might happen.

We reached the barricade and I switched off the engine. Jeanie climbed down from the roof of the car and came towards us.

After sliding the bus door open, we all piled out.

‘What is it?’ asked Eve.

‘There’s no one there–alive that is. There are plenty of dead people who looked like they were manning the barricade. They have shotguns and other weapons but they’re all dead.’

‘Right,’ I said after a moments silence. ‘We must get a move on. It’ll be dark soon. Let’s try and move some of this stuff out of the way so we can carry on.’

It took twenty minutes of shoving, pushing and using our little bus as an improvised bulldozer before we could continue on our way. The nastiest part of it was moving the dead bodies that had been pole-axed–by the fog obviously–out of the way. It was strange; there were no children, just adults.

We took the opportunity of taking some shotguns and ammunition. There were also a few handguns and we took those also. At least if we met any more resistance, we would be armed and ready. I didn’t think any of us could hit the side of a barn at twenty paces, but at least we could look threatening.

~ §~

On the other side of Inverkip, we turned left on to Cloch Road that took us back to the eastern shore of the Firth. We followed it northwards, past the pretty little Cloch Lighthouse–which showed no signs of life–until we arrived on the outskirts of Gourock just as it began to get dark. It was pointless trying to reach the ferry terminal by the station now. We would have to stay overnight somewhere and start afresh in the morning. Not wanting to go into the centre of town, we retraced our wheel tracks to a cottage on the Cloch Road a bit north of the lighthouse that was empty. It overlooked the sea and being on a slight hill, we at least had some views of the surroundings and any possible green fog that might creep up on us.

We made ourselves at home, using part of our stock of candles to light the place and some coal from the fireplace scuttle to warm the large living room. Eve fed Arthur while the rest of us mucked in by clearing the table and making the meal. We had spam fritters and potatoes followed by tinned peaches and evaporated milk. For afters, we had some swiss roll and a couple of biscuits, all washed down by the inevitable tin mug of tea.

After tea, I went outside and looked across the water to the land masses beyond. There was no breeze now and the sea was flat and calm. In the winter, the waters around here could be very rough and treacherous, hence the need for the Cloch Lighthouse. I could see gulls in the distance coming towards me in the twilight, dipping and diving at the water as they tried to find food. It was almost silent, just the gentle lapping of water against the shore. I pulled the hem of my skirt up slightly and rubbed the back of my aching leg. Driving Bessie was hard work on my muscles and I was pleased that we only had a few miles to go.

It was very peaceful here and I had always loved this piece of the world that I called home. Shivering slightly as I only had a skirt, blouse and thin cardigan on, I reluctantly turned back to the cottage. I could hear laughter from inside and smiled. It was nice having an extended family!

I was very disappointed to be so near and yet so far from our destination, but at least we would be able to get cracking in the morning.

~ §~

It came again during the night. I was fast asleep and was awakened by Jeanie shouting. ‘The fog–it’s coming––!’

At first I thought that I was having a nightmare, but I was shaken roughly by the shoulder and in seconds I knew that the nightmare was real. I struggled out of my sleeping bag and helped the others. We hadn’t undressed, thank goodness, so we were not encumbered by long nightdresses.

I stared out of the window and saw the green throbbing and glowing fog creeping over the sea towards the coast and us. It stretched across the horizon as far as my eyes could see. The threat and fear it created was palpable. I became aware of the normal warning of its approach–a tightening of the chest and breathing difficulties with that dreadful feeling of doom and premonition that I was going to die. I noticed that the others were in the same condition as me.

I didn’t have much more time to think as we had to sort ourselves out, despite the feeling that I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. We already had the oxygen cylinders ready and after looking after Arthur first, we all donned our masks, turned on the oxygen and sat in a huddle, holding hands and waited for the green menace to come to us. The sound of my heavy breathing seemed magnified in the mask. Looking at the others I saw absolute terror on their faces. I was the same and it was all I could do not to tear off the mask and run as fast as I could away from that monstrous green cloud of death.

Then gradually a feeling of peace came over me and I relaxed. The others appeared the same, their rigid expressions relaxing too. I wanted to get up, take my mask off and walk out of the door and join the fog. I knew that it wasn’t going to harm me… Then I felt a sharp slap on my bare leg. I jumped slightly and looked up. There was Julie looking at me with fear in her eyes. The stinging slap had brought me back to my senses. The others including Ben were now asleep. But Julie and I were still awake, although I was getting groggier by the minute. The fog silently crept in under the door, through the joints in the sash window frames and down the chimney somehow. Soon all I could see was green and all I could feel was the tight grasp of Julie as she held my hand in a vice like grip–a grip that slowly relaxed as she fell asleep. As I became more comatose, my last thoughts were of my parents and whether I would ever see them again.

~ §~

Julie was the first awake. She helped me off with my mask and then both of us helped the others as they gradually came out of the fog induced sleep. I wondered fleetingly why Julie and I were the last ones to go under and yet the first ones to come around again. Then we had other things to do and I forgot for a while, that juicy bit of a clue.

Luckily, everyone was okay although, unfortunately, we had all wet our knickers. At this rate, we would have to join Arthur and wear nappies if there was any danger of the fog coming!

Talking of Arthur, he was still a boy–so was Ben, if you were wondering. However, the green fog may have disappeared, but the Scottish weather hadn’t. While we were asleep, it had snowed and was still snowing hard. It looked like we were to stay here longer than anticipated and we therefore had to be patient and wait for the weather to clear. There was no way I was going to drive a bus in the snow and ice and I don’t think that the others would let me anyway.

We did brave the weather though and go out to the bus to bring everything in. I covered the engine with a blanket, as Daddy always said that it helped keep the damp out of the electrics.

The snow was about six inches deep and getting deeper by the minute–it didn’t let off. Being Scots, Jeanie and I were well used to the rain and snow in these parts. The others, being soft southerners weren’t so used to it though. It was strange that we could have four seasons in the space of one day in Scotland. Maybe that’s why we are so adaptable.

The snow continued falling throughout the day and then the wind got up and there were blizzard conditions outside. We were as snug as a bug in a rug though as we had found a plentiful supply of coal round the back of the cottage, quite a lot of food and as much drinking water as the melted snow could provide.

It was probably a good thing that the weather closed in as we were all extremely weary from our travels and the awful sights that we had seen. We needed a break and so we decided to make the most of it. The coal burning range in the kitchen came in useful and we were able to wash some of our clothes–especially our smalls–and hang them out to dry. We had a bucket for Arthur’s nappies and they were washed and dried too.

Jeanie and I gazed out of the window in the mid afternoon. We couldn’t see much as the blizzard was rather heavy. It was dull and we actually had to use candles to brighten the place up a bit.

‘It’s in for a couple of days at least,’ she said glumly.

‘Mmm, aye. We’ll never get to Dunoon at this rate. What rotten luck.’

She looked at me.

‘I wonder if they are still alive.’

‘Yes, I don’t think I could take it if––’

‘–The others think they won’t––’

‘–Won’t what––?’

‘–Be alive. They don’t say much, but I can tell.’

‘Women’s intuition?’ I asked.

‘Something like that. Well, we’ll know soon enough and worrying about it won’t help.’

~ §~

Somehow amongst the things we had brought with us were some books. Jeanie looked smug when Sarah opened a box and found them. I said nothing as I didn’t want Jeanie to get big-headed. I found myself sitting on the sofa with Nicola shortly afterwards, as I read Cinderella to her. She chose it, not I. I marvelled at how much of a girl she had become, remembering back to when we both lived at the school. I recalled a small boy who loved tearing around, playing cowboys and Indians and getting himself into all sorts of scrapes. Now she was truly a girl and there was no sign of that boisterous lad.

She fell asleep in the warm atmosphere when I was only half way through the book. She looked ever so sweet as she sucked her thumb. I laid her down gently and then went back to the box to see if there was anything I fancied reading on my own account. The others either had their noses in books or were sleeping.

I found a couple of Enid Blyton’s–Secret Seven Win Through and Second Form at Malory Towers. Then there was several fairy stories and at the bottom some Biggles stories. I pulled one of those out, it was Biggles and the Pirate Treasure–a selection of short stories. I used to have a bit of a thing about Biggles and I couldn’t care less if I was wearing a skirt, I could still read them until the cows come home.

That evening we decided that we should posh up a bit, so we all chose some nice clothes out of the things we had brought and dressed for dinner. Jeanie, our “sort of” quartermaster, had managed to bring several nice cotton frocks in assorted sizes. How she even thought that we might need them I would never know. Being a girl is a deeper thing than I thought and I still had a lot to learn about the mysteries of girlhood!

Our dresses were of a similar shape and design and were more or less knee-length. We wore crew socks and lace-up shoes or T-strap sandals and of course our hair had to have ribbons in it! Nicola ended up in a pink dress–no surprise there! Sarah’s dress was a very pale green, mine was yellow, Eve chose blue and Jeanie, a red, almost tartan-like, check. We all did each others hair. Mind you, we ex-boys were hopeless and Jeanie and Sarah had to redo ours. My hair was quite long and Sarah had mine up in a plait with a yellow ribbon.

When all was done, we prepared our dinner; tinned meat pie, peas, carrots and potatoes. We found some pinnies to put on while we prepared our meal. None of us wanted to get splashed tonight!

Arthur–Jeannie had managed to find a pale blue romper suit for him–was fed first and he did his usual trick of falling asleep half way through. Anyway, when he was tucked up in his makeshift cot, we were able to enjoy our meal in peace.

We had candles on the table and we had found some place mats and silver cutlery in a drawer. The table looked quite posh by the time we had laid it and it matched our party type clothes.

It was strange sitting there as a girl with the others. We were all quite cheerful and there was lots of laughter, despite everything and we chatted away as if there was nothing wrong with us or the world.

Even Julie had come out of her shell a bit after the last fog attack. She smiled more and spoke up more too. She and I had bonded after the attack and I felt that she and I were becoming firm friends, I hoped so, because she was a nice girl, and Sarah had told me that before all the horrors happened, she was bright and bubbly. It looked like Julie and I had slightly more resistance to the fog than the others and we would have to talk about that, but not tonight.

I kept looking down at myself, conscious of what I was wearing and how I now looked. I could feel my beribboned hair brushing against my neck and shoulders and the strange thing was that somehow it felt right. I looked up and caught Eve’s eye. She smiled slightly and I could sense that she was having similar thoughts to mine. We were adapting fast to our situation–it wasn’t all that bad being a girl, after all!

‘So,’ Eve asked, ‘what’s the plan for tomorrow?’

‘It all depends,’ replied Jeanie. ‘The weather might stay this way for a while. The snow is still coming down thick and fast and it may lay on the ground for quite a while. We can’t use the bus, and there is no way we can walk to the ferry, so I suppose it’s just wait and see.’

‘Aye,’ I said, ‘the weather up here can be a wee bit foul sometimes. It’s just our bad luck that we’re caught in it now. If we had managed to get here a day earlier, we might have been in Dunoon by now.’

‘It’s no good crying over spilt milk,’ Sarah remarked, ‘we’ll just have to make the most of it.’

‘I want to build a snowman,’ Nicola piped up suddenly.

We all laughed.

‘If it stops snowing tomorrow, we’ll do it,’ Jeanie answered.

‘I might just throw a few snowballs,’ Julie said quietly with a slightly mischievous smile on her pretty face.

We all laughed again. That sounded like a great idea––

---

 
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.

The weather was bad for two more days and we were holed up and unable to get to our ultimate destination–Dunoon.

 

---

Chapter 13

Previously…

‘So,’ Eve asked, ‘what’s the plan for tomorrow?’

‘It all depends,’ replied Jeanie. ‘The weather might stay this way for a while. The snow is still coming down thick and fast and it may lie on the ground for quite a while. We can’t use the bus, and there is no way we can walk to the ferry, so I suppose it’s just wait and see.’

‘Aye,’ I said, ‘the weather up here can be a wee bit foul sometimes. It’s just our bad luck that we’re caught in it now. If we had managed to get here a day earlier, we might have been in Dunoon by now.’

‘It’s no good crying over spilt milk,’ Sarah remarked, ‘we’ll just have to make the most of it.’

‘I want to build a snowman,’ Nicola piped up suddenly.

We all laughed.

‘If it stops snowing tomorrow, we’ll do it,’ Jeanie answered.

‘I might just throw a few snowballs,’ Julie said quietly with a slightly mischievous smile on her pretty face.

We all laughed again. That sounded like a great idea––

And now the story continues…

Gourock to Erskine

The weather was bad for two more days and we were holed up and unable to get to our ultimate destination–Dunoon. There were a number of pluses though; we did manage to have a rest and the fog stayed away, maybe due to the poor weather or just luck, we didn’t know. Oh, another good thing was that we all had a few snowball fights and we got to build a snowman when it actually stopped snowing!

For me it was time of reflection. As a boy I was always been what Jeanie called a ‘deep thinker’. The morning after the first night, thanks to water heated by the back boiler, I was able to have my first bath after the radical changes to my body.

It was the first time that I had really looked at myself as a girl. It was strange looking along my body as I sat in the bath. It was like I was looking at someone else–the loss of my boys’ equipment being the most obvious thing. Having a strange slit in its place was disconcerting and disturbing. I wondered where my boy’s things had gone. They hadn’t fallen off–I think that I would have noticed. Had they disappeared into my body and would they pop out again if I sneezed? I giggled at that. I didn’t think so!

They didn’t cover any sort of sex education at our school until you were in the fourth form. Everything that I had learned, if learned was the right word, was by talking to the other boys. I knew the obvious things like girls didn’t need to shave their faces, unless they were old like Great Aunt Nora, who had a lot of hair on her top lip, well she did have when she was alive, that is.

Girls were different from boys in several other ways too; like when girls got older they got breasts and their body shape changes. Then there was the fact that their voices never broke. The stories that some of the boys told, I now knew were ridiculous. Living on or near a farm, you get to see what animals do to make babies, but to equate that to what humans do, was a bit of a stretch in the imagination for me.

Dad was supposed to be giving me the birds and bees talk in the hols; now I wondered if he was going to be around to have what would now be a rather modified talk, or would he leave it to mum?

I still hoped so much that they were alive. I couldn’t think of them as dead–I just couldn’t. It would have meant that this journey–no, expedition–would have been a complete waste.

Using a flannel and a bar of coal tar soap, I cleaned myself as best I could. As the flannel went over my nipples, I winced a bit. My breasts were getting a bit larger now, and were rather puffy and sensitive, especially around the nipples. I would have to ask Jeanie about that. I had so much to learn. She did mumble something about a sore chest a few days ago, so I guessed that she too was having problems.

It was funny though, all in all I had accepted my body and the fact that I was no longer a boy. The clothes were, in the main, softer and more comfortable than the ones that I had worn as a boy. Even going to bed in a cotton or winceyette nightdress was nicer than the rougher material of my boys’ pyjamas.

I shivered; the water was starting to get cold and I knew that the others wanted their turn before the water in the cylinder grew cold. I pulled the plug to let the water out and then stood up and dried myself off as best I could. Luckily, my ever growing hair was dry, except for the back bits that had touched the water. My hair was now shoulder length and straight, whereas before it was short and slightly wavy–another change caused by the fog?

I soon got dressed and pulled on my knickers, pleated skirt, blouse and cardigan and afterward, some ankle socks and shoes. Then I brushed my hair quickly, peering at my reflection in the slightly misty mirror.

I let myself out of the bathroom. Sarah was standing leaning up against the wall, still in her nightie. She didn’t look pleased.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘it’s about time. I bet you weren’t as long as this in the bath when you were a boy?’

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.

‘I should think so,’ she said as she stomped past and slammed the door in my face.

Grimacing, I went into one of the rooms where my case was and put my nightdress away.

As I say, nothing much happened the next few days. We all had a rest and I was pleased to say that Julie was really coming out of her shell. She wasn’t so shy and didn’t look like she was on the point of crying any more. Baby Arthur seemed quite happy, not realising, of course that everything was different, and that his parents were dead. I wondered what sort of world he would be growing up in, if he managed to survive, that is.

It still seemed strange that all us ex-boys, by that I mean Eve, Julie, Nicola and myself, seemed to have shaken off most of our boyish ways. When we first met Eve, when she had been locked in that room by the mad vicar and his equally dotty wife, she was definitely not very feminine although her body showed otherwise. In her mind she was one hundred percent boy. It didn’t take long though for her to start acting and talking like a girl. It was only after being transformed that I noticed just how different boys were to girls in the way they walked talked and in their mannerisms. I quickly adopted the same characteristics without even thinking and on an unconscious level. Was it part of the fog’s effects that we changed so much, so quickly?,

~ §~

On the third morning of our stay in the cottage, we awoke to find that it was a lot milder and most of the snow had gone. The previous evening we had noticed a slight thawing and we had hoped that we could continue on our journey at some point soon. We had all done our usual night watch for the fog but none had appeared. The cold weather may have kept it away. We had more questions than answers regarding the fog. Would we ever get to know what it was all about? I giggled to myself, realising that that was yet another question!

Eve and I put on our duffle coats, wellington boots, scarves, berets and gloves before stepping outside. We wanted to go and see the state of Bessie after all the harsh weather and I needed to know if she would start all right.

The sea looked calm but not surprisingly, there were no signs of any boats. I had wondered more than once whether the ferry would be running. If it wasn’t, could we get it across ourselves? I didn’t think so.

The land across the water seemed so close and yet so far. It was almost like I could reach out and touch the hills. It was so frustrating, not knowing if we would be able to cross or not.

We opened up the bus and got in. I sat in the driver’s seat and pulled out the choke, checked that it was out of gear, and then tried starting her. The self starter turned the engine slowly, but nothing else happened.

Eve looked at me ruefully and shook her head.

‘That doesn’t sound good, does it?

‘No.’

We got out and after pulling off my woolly gloves, I opened the bonnet and peeked inside. I hadn’t a clue what to look for, but the wires all seemed a bit wet and some of the water hoses seemed to have ice inside, as there was no give in them.

‘Eve, can you run in and ask someone to boil a kettle and then can you bring me some cloths to dry out all these wires?

‘All right,’ she said, rushing off.

I wondered once again if Bessie would start. She had been such a good old girl and had come through with trumps when we needed her. Well we needed her badly, now.

Eve came back after a few minutes with a steaming kettle and Nicola who was helping by carrying some cloths.

‘Brrr,’ said Nicola, ‘it’s still jolly cold.’

‘Not as cold as before though,’ said Eve. ‘Here you are, Alex.’ She handed over the kettle.

‘That was quick,’ I said.

‘Yes, Sarah was going to make some tea. She seemed a bit cross that she would have to boil the kettle again.’

‘Mmm, she was cross with me the other day too, just because I was a bit long in the bath.’

‘It must be a girl thing,’ sighed Eve, ‘I hope I don’t get like that,’

‘Me neither.’ I replied with feeling as I carefully poured water over the frozen pipes.

After the kettle was emptied, Nicola took it back in and I dried all that I could see that was damp and wet, paying particular attention to the wires.

Once I had finished that, we went back into the bus and crossing all our fingers and toes I pressed the starter button again.

She turned over once, nothing, twice, nothing. I was sweating buckets now despite the weather and I pumped the throttle pedal a couple of times and then tried once again.

She started!

The engine roared into life with a big black cloud billowing out of the exhaust.

‘Well done,’ shouted Eve.

I grinned at her and just kept the engine going until it was thoroughly warmed up.

We all had a hurried breakfast, as we were keen to get on our way. After having something to eat, we packed everything back into the bus and then we were off to the ferry!

~ §~

We went along Cloch Road with the sea to our left heading towards the centre of Gourock, where the ferry pier was, just beyond the railway station. I had to be careful driving, as there was still a bit of snow on the road, but this was rapidly thawing as the sun strengthened.

As usual, we saw quite a few signs of the disaster that had befallen the area. The fact we didn’t stop or feel any sense of revulsion showed that we had hardened ourselves to the sights that we were seeing. Or maybe it was that we were shutting things out, not willing to worry or consider anything else while we were focused on our journey. Maybe when this was all over, we would start recalling these events and it might all come back and bite us.

We knew something was wrong as we went past the station on the main road and looked over to the pier.

None of us said anything as we turned into Tarbet Street went along the road leading to the quay. We arrived at the quay and I switched off the engine. It was very quiet without the rather noisy engine running. Arthur had been asleep and he decided to wake up. Julie picked him up as the rest of us got out of the bus and walked over to the quay. I looked down as Nicola came up and held my hand.

MV Arran had obviously been sailing when the green fog had arrived. It had struck the quay wall with such a force, that it had buried itself in the broken masonry and then sunk. It had settled in the shallow water and was nearly on its side. Cars had toppled over, and as the tide was out, they could be seen clearly in the water. Bodies were on the deck and the birds had been at them…

We stayed for a few moments longer, all hopes, such as they were, dashed and then we slowly walked back to the bus.

Julie looked up from giving Arthur some gripe water, he had had a tummy ache a few times and it seemed to help.

‘No good?’ she said quietly.

Jeanie shook her head.

‘No.’

I sat in the driver’s seat and very much wanted to cry. But I couldn’t, I had to be strong for the others. Then I began to feel angry. Why didn’t things ever go right? It was one thing after another. It just wasn’t fair!

Then I realised that Nicola was standing next to me, her head on my shoulder.

I pulled myself together and gave her a smile. She looked scared.

‘Alex, what will we do? Can we row across?’

I smiled at that and it helped release some of the tension that I had been feeling in my chest.

‘No honey, it’s too far, even if we found a boat big enough for us all and all of our things.’

‘What will we do then?’

I noticed that it had gone very quiet and as I looking around, everyone was looking at me.

‘Jeanie, what do you think?’ I asked.

‘Well as far as I see it, we can’t have too many chiefs and not enough Indians, so as you’re the driver, I vote that you decide. Everybody agree with that?’

They all nodded solemnly and then, in the silence, Arthur burped.

That set us all off giggling. After everyone had calmed down they looked to me expectantly.

I took a deep breath.

‘All right as you want me to be leader; we all have to have jobs until we get ourselves to Dunoon. We have to go the long way round, using the roads. Jeanie, you carry on being quartermaster and second in command in case anything happens to me. Eve, you are the navigator and you can help with the bus, too. Sarah, you are in charge of cooking, food and drinks. That doesn’t mean that you do it all the time, it’s your job to see that those jobs are dished out fairly. Julie, you are in charge of washing, cleaning and making sure that Arthur is taken care of properly. Once again, like Sarah, you have to make sure that everyone has a fair crack of the whip with doing those chores.’

I felt a pluck at my shoulder.

‘What can I do?’ asked Nicola.

I looked at the six year old and smiled.

‘You have a most important job, you are the Gofer.’

‘What’s that?’

‘You help everybody. You are like the oil in this engine, helping to keep everything moving.’

‘That sounds important,’ she remarked.

‘It is.’

‘And what can Arthur do?’ she asked in all seriousness.

‘Well, Arthur can be a good boy and have his food and sleep, and not scream too loudly for attention–though he might find that difficult!’

We all laughed and I was surprised that no one questioned my decisions. We would see if it would all work out, and in the meantime, Eve and I had to go over the route. It was good to see everyone be a bit more positive. I suppose having to wait for so long, only to find the wrecked ferry and have our hopes dashed was a big blow, even though those hopes had been slim.

~ §~

After looking at the now tatty map book for a while, we had decided on a route. On the way out of Gourock, as we passed a few shops, Jeanie came forward.

‘We need to stock up on a few things.’

‘Okay, we’ll stop.’

I parked the bus and Jeanie–holding a rifle rather awkwardly–went off with Sarah and Julie to see what they could find.

There were no signs of animals, but I told them to be careful anyway.

Whilst they were away, Eve and I looked at the map again for the umpteenth time.

‘We need to go maybe into Glasgow,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to. I hate to think what has happened there, but we have no choice. We have to find a way across The Clyde.’

We looked at the map for several minutes, trying to figure the quickest way to get across the river and on to Dunoon–so near and yet so far.

‘What’s that?’ asked Eve, pointing at the map.

‘Oh, that’s the Erskine Ferry; it’s a chain ferry…I wonder.’

I thought for a moment. ‘I suppose we could have a look before we get into Glasgow proper. Yes, well done for pointing that out. We’ll try the Erskine ferry. Oh, there are the girls. Shall we help them with the boxes?

~ §~

After stowing the supplies away securely, we told the others what route we had decided to take.

‘I had forgotten about the Erskine ferry,’ said Jeanie. ‘Well, I suppose it’s worth trying first.’

Everyone settled down in their seats and I started up again with Eve beside me doing her navigation job.

We drove out of Gourock and carried on along the coast road, passing Greenock and Port Glasgow on the way. I think that this area had been hit quite hard during the daylight, what with the number of cars, lorries, buses and of course, bodies we passed along the way. There was a lot of litter, mainly caused by dustbins that had turned over, either by wind or animals, spilling the contents all over the roads. The whole area looked as if it had gone to seed after only a comparatively short space of time. We also saw several packs of dogs, and some foxes too. I felt slightly happier now that we had the guns. We might not hit anything with them, but at least we could scare things away.

The weather had become overcast again, making me wonder if we were in for yet more snow. With the sun gone, the temperature dropped, too, and the still wet roads begun to feel a bit icy. We were now on the Greenock Road heading towards Glasgow.

‘That’s all I need,’ I said to Eve quietly, ‘a skating rink for a road.’

‘Want me to drive?’ she said in all seriousness.

‘I didn’t know you could drive.’

‘It must be easy, if you can do it, and anyway, my dad made me a go cart out of crates once, and I was very good at that,’

I glanced at her for a second and saw the grin on her face.

‘Got you!’ she laughed.

‘Eve, you are an idiot!’

‘You have to turn left at Bishopton,’ said Eve, getting back to the business at hand.

‘Mmm, I have been this way before, but not since I was a kid.’

Eve giggled.

‘What?’ I said frowning.

‘How old are you?’

‘Twelve.’

‘Then you’re like the rest of us, still a kid!’

I smiled at that. I was still a child, but then I felt a bit sad as I didn’t feel like one anymore. I had seen too much. Would we ever be in a position to be proper, real children, where we could laugh and play and not have a care in the world? Would I want to play as boy or a girl? Would it be cowboys and indians or doctors and nurses? I shrugged and then concentrated on the road. The last thing I wanted was to crash on this slippery road.

We soon came across Bishopton and turned down Ferry road, going through the village, which was as quiet as a grave and no signs of life, human or otherwise. Soon we were going down the narrow lane that led to the ferry. We were lucky that there were no vehicles on the lane, as we would have had trouble passing them in this big old bus.

The lane suddenly opened up and before us on the left was a house called, I think Ferry Lodge, but that didn’t really catch my attention, as in front of us, moored up was the chain ferry!

~ §~

I stopped the bus. Everyone crowded forward looking through the mud splattered windscreen at the vision before us. On the quay were several cars, but there were no bodies in or around the cars.

‘Look.’ said Eve excitedly, pointing at the house.

There was smoke coming out of the chimney!

I looked at the others and made a decision.

‘I’ll go and see…’

‘You are not going there alone! What if it’s full of mad men?’ said Jeanie.

‘I thought I was in charge?’ I said testily.

‘You are, but you are only in charge if you stay sensible. Two of us should go, and as you are the only driver, I’m one of them.’

‘I’ll go too,’ said Sarah.’

‘I’m bigger than you,’ argued Eve.

‘What about me…’

‘QUIET!’ I shouted rather shrilly.

They all looked at me in surprise.

‘Right, I’m going, no argument. Jeanie you are second in charge so you take over if something happens. Eve, want to come?’

‘Okay,’ she said brightly, although she wasn’t very good at hiding the fact that she was as scared as me.

Before we had any more arguments, I went back to the bus, picked out two guns and handed one to Eve.

‘I don’t know how to use this,’ she said.

‘Nor do I, but you just pull the trigger I think. We could scare them to death I suppose?’

She looked doubtful but didn’t argue. Ben wanted to come, and was rather vocal about it. It might have been something to with the cat he saw a few moments before, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

‘Stay here boy, and look after the others.’

He wagged his tail; maybe he understood.

Eve and I went to leave the bus again,

The others were just standing about and Jeanie looked very unhappy so I went over to her and gave her a hug.

‘Please do as I say.’ I whispered in her ear. ‘Put everyone back on the bus and start it. You can drive it if you have to. I managed and we are the same size. Start the engine and if we don’t come out or give you a signal after a few minutes, go back down the lane and wait for a while. Try not to show the others how scared you are.’

She pulled away, her eyes glistening.

‘Why won’t you let me go?’

‘Because you are needed here, and I can’t tell you or the others to do things like this and just wait about. Look I have to go.’

I went over to Eve as the others were herded back into the bus.

We approached the house through a gate, and a short path that led up to a solid looking wooden door.

I knocked on the door and waited. There was no reply. I knocked again, still there was no reply. I was just about to knock louder when I heard a noise. It was the sound of a bolt being pushed back.

Looking at Eve, we both raised our guns.

The door finally creaked open and there stood a man of about my father’s age. He was wheezing and looked a bit ill.

‘Aye?’ he said looking at us but ignoring the guns which we had lowered.

‘Sorry,’ I said,’ we need to get across to the other side. Can we go on the ferry?’

He looked at us both, sniffed and then said, ‘Ye best come in lassies.’

We followed him into the lodge and he led us to a sitting room.

‘Sit ye doon.’

We sat opposite him on the sofa. The place had a musty smell, as if the doors and windows were normally kept shut. He didn’t seem to notice or care that we were carrying guns. He must have realised the strange times that we were living in.

‘Are you alone?’ I asked looking at him as he stiffly sat in an arm chair. I noticed that he had an oxygen cylinder by the chair, and wondered if this was why he was still alive.

‘Aye, there’s no one here but me now. My wife, Hamish and Malcolm have gone.’

‘Gone? asked Eve.

‘Aye, they went tae Glasgow and havna come back.’

‘Were they your family?’ I asked gently.

‘They are. That’s the photograph on the mantelpiece.’

We glanced over and we saw in the photograph, the man sitting in front of us, together with a pretty lady and two children about our age. They all looked very happy.

‘Excuse me a minute,’ said Eve as she looked at me significantly, got up and left the room. She was obviously telling the others that we were safe.

‘Do you operate the ferry?’ I asked.

‘That I do, with Ronald and Daniel. They are no’ here, onymair either.’

‘Where are they now?’ I asked.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

‘Out back wi’ the others.’

‘Others?’

‘Aye; I couldnae leave them ootside, it isnae Christian.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

He looked at me sadly and then stood up.

‘Come away and I’ll show ye,’

He went out of the door and through another into the kitchen. Wheezing still, he opened the back door and walked outside. I followed him out and stopped dead.

There were several mounds of fresh earth in the garden. It didn’t take much intelligence to know what or who had been buried there.

He sighed and then looked at me.

‘All those poor people, just waiting for the ferry and just died. I was poorly, and the boys were going to take the ferry across themselves. I was in the sitting room and then my chest felt bad. I had oxygen for my bad chest and I put ma mask on. I didna know that the fog was bad then. Ma breathing got worse and then the fog came in and I didna remember any more ‘til a wee while later. My chest felt better then although I had such a headache that I never had since new year’s day efter havin’ wee a dram or two too mony. I went outside and there they all were–deid.

‘I must ha’ lost my mind for a wee while ’coz it wisnae until th’evening that I was weel enough tae dae ma duty by them. The phone was dead. There was no radio; even short wave was just static. I knew in ma bones that the fog had caused all this, and we were all in big trouble. I saw several bodies floating doon the watter then, so I knew also that it was something that was widespread. I feared for my wife and bairns then. To keep ma mind off the awful thoughts, I made myself busy. I didna think that I would be helped by anybody so I took the decision to lay them ta rest until things could be sorted out. I didna want the animals getting at them. I got the old trailer we used to hump cases and one by one, I took them out back and buried them, saying the Lord’s Prayer for each and every one of them. The bairns were the worst, sae young an’ sae tragic––’

Eve had joined us a few minutes before and she was crying, as was I, at the tale the man told. He was so dignified and quiet in his speech, but I could tell by the way his voice cracked that he was badly cut up, and not knowing what had happened to his wife and children had been awful and was tormenting him.

I wished that I had words of comfort, but I didn’t know what to say. I had to focus my efforts at saving our small group.

‘I…is the ferry working?’ I asked.

He looked at me and seemed to shake himself from his reverie.

‘Aye, it is but Ronald and Daniel are laying here with the rest of the poor souls and I canna do it by ma’ sel’.’

‘Could we help?’ asked Eve.

He laughed at that.

‘You are no but wee lassies. What can ye dae?’

‘We’ve survived being killed several times,’ I said, feeling a bit annoyed that he was dismissing us, just because we were girls. ‘And there are more of us in the bus.’

He looked at us as if he was seeing us for the first time. He thought for a moment and nodded.

‘Aye, sorry lass, I didna mean tae be impolite. It’s hard work mind. Ye have tae stoke the boiler and keep the wee beastie fed tae get us across. Are y’up tae it?’

I looked at his kindly, worn face, older than it should be from everything that he had seen and done. He must have known that his family were all dead. If not then, they would surely have returned by now. That was the thing about us Scots; we get on with things no matter what.

‘Aye, we’re up to it’ I said firmly.

He smiled then and the years lifted.

‘Well done, lassie.’

~ §~

We followed Mr MacTavish out of the lodge. The bus was where I had left it and the others were inside, peering out of the windows.

‘You come with me lassie,’ he said to Eve.

‘I’ll get the bus sorted out and drive up to the ferry.’ I said.

He just nodded and led Eve off to the ferry while I went back to the bus.

In a few short words, I explained to the others what we were going to do.

‘Very well, everybody,’ said Jeanie, all businesslike.’ We are not going to do dirty jobs in these nice clothes. We’ll wear some older work clothes that I kept back.’

‘Trust Jeanie to think about the practicalities’, I thought as she rummaged through boxes and cases, pulling out clothes as she went. Looking down at myself I agreed that it would be a shame to ruin these pretty clothes.

I smiled ruefully at that thought. I was getting more girl-like by the minute. As a boy, it was second nature not to worry about looking after my clothes. I had lost count of the times Mum had told me off when I was younger for rolling about in the dirt in decent clothes and not caring how dirty I got!

We all quickly changed into old skirts and tops and then Eve ran up.

‘Mr MacTavish says that we can get the bus on the ferry now,’ she said breathlessly.

‘Right,’ I said getting into the driver’s seat and firing up Bessie.

I could hear a bit of commotion in the back as Eve, still a bit of a boy at heart, protested that she didn’t really need to change her clothes. Judging by Jeanie’s no nonsense attitude, Eve was losing the argument.

Mr MacTavish was standing on the ferry’s car deck, gesturing me forward.

‘All sit down please,’ I called back.

‘Which way round does this skirt go?’ Eve asked, her voice starting to get all whiny.

I grinned and then just slowly eased Bessie forward until I reached the ramp.

Mr MacTavish motioned me forward and I drove up the ramp in first gear, very slowly. Luckily, there were no other vehicles on board, so there was plenty of room. The bus crawled on, following him until he gestured for me to stop and cut the engine. I left the bus in gear and the handbrake firmly on.

We all piled out, except Julie, who said that she would look after young Arthur. Julie had a real rapport with the baby and I thought that she would make a great mother–she was a real natural.

‘Aw richt,’ said Mr MacTavish, ‘I’ll show ye the engine room.’

We followed him down some metal steps and found ourselves in the hot engine room. Over to the side through a hatch, was a huge pile of coal. He gave us each a shovel and opened a steel door that was the opening to the furnace. I thought at it was hot in their before, but it was boiling when he opened that door. The furnace had obviously been fired up already, so he hadn’t wasted any time.

‘Richt, lassies, I want ye tae put as much coal as ye can in there and don’t stop ‘til I tell ye. Can ye dae that?’

We all nodded.

‘Fine, I’m going up top tae get things prepared. There’s a gauge on the bridge which’ll tell me when we have a full head a steam. I’ll let ye know when ye can stop.’

He left us then and we spat on our hands–I saw someone doing that when I was at the pictures once; he was stoking a steam train boiler, so it was the same principal. Then we got down to it.

It had lost its novelty after the tenth shovelful. By the fifteenth we were all struggling. I was sure that I would have been much stronger than this as a boy!

It seemed like an age afterwards, when Mr MacTavish came down and looked at us. We stopped and looked at him. We were all breathing hard were a bit sweaty after our exertions and were glad to put the shovels down.

He laughed.

‘Whit a lot o’ puir wee lassies you look. Hard wurruk isnae it? Shame you have dirty clothes. Right, come away now. We have enough of a head to get us across.’ He was wheezing quite a bit and I wondered if he was going to be all right.

We went up on deck and I immediately noticed, as I think the others did that the air was quite still. Our breathing was still laboured, and I had a tightening in my chest. Looking at Jeanie, I could see that she was worried.

‘The fog,’ we said together.

Mr MacTavish looked at us sharply.

‘Aye, I saw a green tinge in thon sky aboot ten minutes ago. It’s gone now. It must be heading oot tae sea. Richt, I’m aboot tae get her goin’.’

I looked over to the left and could see no sign of the fog and my breathing was becoming easier by the moment. I sighed. At least that was one thing that we didn’t have to worry about now.

~ §~

Nicola went back to the bus where Julie and Arthur still were. She decided to keep them company while the rest of us followed Mr MacTavish, who showed us how to free the chain, before closed the two gates which were there to stop cars from falling off into the water. Jeanie and I were asked to stand by to “Let go aft”.

Mr MacTavish was on the bridge looking out of the side window.

‘Let the chain go free now,’ he sang out and that’s just what we did.

Immediately the engines began to hiss and puff and the clanking of the heavy chains moving assaulted our ears. We were creeping forward, across the great River Clyde!

We all climbed up on the top deck at the side and stared out over the water. It wasn’t very wide here; to our right–or starboard side, as Mr MacTavish called it–was Clydebank and beyond, the sprawling city of Glasgow. I was pleased that we would not have to go through there, but was very aware that our journey was much longer now that we had to get to Dunoon by road. I wondered when we would actually get there. I hoped by tomorrow, if all went well.

My nose wrinkled as I was aware of the smell of coal dust on my body and hair. It was a good job the Jeanie insisted that we changed out of our decent clothes. I couldn’t wait to have a bath.

We were about a quarter of the way across now and I felt the gentle sea breezes against my clothes and hair. The others had gone back into the bus and I looked up at the bridge where Mr MacTavish was standing, pipe in mouth, gazing ahead.

He was a nice man and I hoped that his family was still alive, but thought it highly unlikely.

The sky was cloudy, but with lots of blue. It was a nice day now and nothing like as cold as before. I coughed; the coal dust had affected my chest a bit. Asthma and coal dust did not mix very well.

Then I felt my chest tighten again. Looking up, there were a few birds heading up river towards Glasgow.

Glancing over to the left, my heart did a skip and a jump and I gasped as I saw what no one else had; the green tinge on the horizon that was getting thicker and more dense by the moment!

I shouted up to the bridge and pointed.

Mr MacTavish looked where I had pointed and his pipe fell out of his mouth.

‘Warn the others’, he shouted as the sound of the engines rose and the chain clanked faster.

I ran to the bus and climbed on board.

‘The fog,’ I gasped, ‘its coming, get the oxygen tanks out.’

I noticed the others looking bewildered. They were all breathing heavily.

‘Come on, get a move on before it’s too late!’

The others started getting themselves organised.

Looking out of the bus window, I could see the fog bank rising and getting closer by the minute.

‘Jeanie, I’m going to see Mr MacTavish.’

‘You haven’t got time!’

‘I have to. Stay here everyone.’

I didn’t stop to argue any more, I got off the bus and ran as fast as I could with my heavy chest and went up the metal steps to the bridge.

Mr MacTavish was leaning heavily against the bulkhead, his shaking left hand resting on a lever.

The green fog wasn’t far off now and I had that awful dread feeling washing over me.

‘Mr MacTavish you have to come. Shut off the engines or something. We have oxygen in the bus.’

I had one eye on him and another on the fog–green and pulsing, ready to kill us, given the opportunity.

‘I’ll not leave. I canna shut everything doon. Yous go back tae the bus and make yesel’ safe. I’ll stay here.’

‘You can’t…’

He looked at me,

‘I can.’ He took a deep breath and continued, his voice rasping with the effort. ‘I want tae stay here. I can help ye. I just want it tae end. I want tae join ma family, do ye no unnerstand?’

I looked at him and did understand. Nothing I would say would move him. I went over and hugged him. Then I kissed his bristly cheek.

‘Thank you.’ I said.

‘Nay, lassie, thank you. Now go and look after you and yourn.’

I hesitated for a moment and with a moan of anguish, I left him. I glanced back at him as I left the bridge. He had picked up his pipe and his face now had an almost serene look about it.

I ran down the stairs and over to the bus. The fog wasn’t more than fifty yards away now, a huge green throbbing mass, coming ever closer. My legs suddenly felt like they were wading through treacle and I had the strange compunction to turn and wait for the fog to reach me, despite my terror.

I was vaguely aware of how cold it was now, as if the fog had sucked the heat away. I was feeling a bit faint and just wanted to lie down and die, there and then. My eyes took in the fact that we were still about a hundred yards from the shore, but my brain didn’t seem to register the extreme danger. The noise from the engine and the clanking of the chain was terrific. I could feel the throb, throb radiating through the deck.

I hit my knee on a railing and the pain brought me back to my senses.

We were only sixty yards from the bank now. We had been in this situation before with the fog, but not on a ship going full steam ahead towards the opposite bank.

Staring up at the bridge I noticed that Mr MacTavish had disappeared from view. I wondered if he had collapsed.

I had no more time to think. With great difficulty, I climbed aboard the bus. Everyone was ready for the fog, looking wide-eyed with the terror of the moment. I sat next to Nicola and swiftly put on the mask. The cold oxygen rasped in my throat but gave me some relief from the pain and heaviness. Then I gradually began to relax, accepting that I might die. It didn’t seem too bad. I would join my friends who had died and would be at peace. The others started slumping over, Ben being the first and then Nicola next to me. I looked disinterestedly at the fog now coming through the vents doors and windows making everything look green.

I gazed out of the windscreen and saw the northern slipway up ahead coming closer and closer. We hadn’t slowed down and didn’t look as if we would. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered now. I just wanted to sleep––

–But I didn’t sleep. The others were dead to the world, but I was still awake. I glanced at my bare knee and noticed that I had gashed it quite badly and it was bleeding.

The noise was deafening. There was no reduction in the volume as we approached the bank. The green fog swirled about me, invading, clinging, making me want to tear my mask off and end it all.

I couldn’t see much, but out of the window, I could see the north bank of the river fast approaching with nothing to stop us crashing into it––

---

 
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.

I made a snap decision; if nothing was done, we would run aground heavily on the other side of the river...

 

---

Chapter 14

Previously…

I gazed out of the windscreen and saw the northern slipway up ahead coming closer and closer. We hadn’t slowed down and didn’t look as if we would. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered now. I just wanted to sleep––

–But I didn’t sleep. The others were dead to the world, but I was still awake. I glanced at my bare knee and noticed that I had gashed it quite badly and it was bleeding.

The noise was deafening. There was no reduction in the volume as we approached the bank. The green fog swirled about me, invading, clinging, making me want to tear my mask off and end it all.

I couldn’t see much, but out of the window, I could see the north bank of the river fast approaching with nothing to stop us crashing into it––

And now the story continues…

Erskine to Dunoon

I made a snap decision; if nothing was done, we would run aground heavily on the other side of the river. It may not harm us because, let’s face it, the ferry was only going a little faster than walking pace, but if we didn't slow down we might jolt the bus forward or scrape the bottom of the hull but as I was the only one awake–for some reason the fog wasn’t affecting me–I would try and get up to the bridge. I grabbed a grubby towel and put it over my nose and mouth. Wincing I stood up. I was very conscious of the pain in my leg, but I had no more time to think. Very soon we would collide with the slipway.

I ran outside, my eyes smarting from the fog, unable to see very clearly as the green mist swirled around me. I had thoughts in my head of doom and destruction and just wanting to lie down and accept what was going to happen, but every step I took, I felt a stab of pain that distracted me from such thoughts.

I rushed across the deck, up the steep metal steps and wrenched open the wheelhouse door. Mr MacTavish was lying on the floor, his arms outstretched as if he was trying to reach out to someone. His smouldering pipe was clutched in his hand. I moved quickly to the lever that controlled the engine and moved it to the centre which I hoped would neutralise the engine.

I could feel the heavy vibration through my feet die down slightly as the engine responded to what I had done.

I had no idea if I had done the right thing. It seemed like we were approaching the slipway faster than I wanted. I just held on to the lever–waiting–waiting––

~ §~

The green fog was beginning to drift away now and I could see things a bit more clearly. The other fog–in my brain with its equally strange effects–was clearing too.

Were we slowing down?

Yes, I could see for certain that approach to the bank was slowing noticeably. There were other levers and one that might have been some sort of brake, but I dared not use it in case I made the position worse.

Slower and slower we went but did not actually stop until we scraped into other side with a slight jolt. I teetered forward a bit myself, but it wasn’t too bad. Mr MacTavish had rolled over on impact and I could see his face now. He looked as if he was asleep. I bent down–wincing slightly as my leg was quite painful–and touched his face. He was still slightly warm, but there was no doubt that he was dead, because his sightless eyes looked up at a point high above my shoulder. I gently closed his eyes and stood up. I had to see how the others were.

Looking out, I could see the ferry was stationary, the chains holding it in place. She had run aground on the slipway, but not as gently as she would, had Mr MacTavish been driving her.

I wasted no more time and went down the companionway to the car deck and boarded the bus. The others were still asleep, except Ben, who had just woken up as if from a nap. He stood up, stretched and with tail wagging came to me.

‘Hello, boy; well, the fog doesn't seem to do you much harm does it? Let’s go up front and see if the there’s any damage.’

Ben followed me out of Bessie as I went forward; luckily, she–Bessie–had not moved so that was a good thing. Walking forward on the flat deck I was aware that the engine was still chugging away, but I hadn't a clue how to stop it: fortunately the mechanism that pulled the chain was stopped. As far as I could see there was virtually no visible damage. The chains had held us in position and I think that the only damage that could have been done was when the hull of the ferry had scraped the submerged section of the slipway. I had been on this ferry before, some years ago, and wondered what would have happened had I not been able to slow her down. The very thought made me shiver.

I lowered the loading ramp to the slipway as Mr MacTavish had shown me, and Ben and I made our way to dry land. The chains seemed to be secure and should hold the ferry there until someone came along and discovered her.

Stopping for a moment, I wiped the blood off my leg with the towel that was still in my hand. It was a nasty gash and was still bleeding slightly. I would have to get that sorted out when I had time, but for the moment, I took the scarf from round my neck and tied it roughly in place. Glancing to my right, I noticed the bank of green fog in the distance heading towards the centre of Glasgow. I wondered how many people were still alive in that great city.

I felt grimy and dirty from the coal stoking and all that had happened since. I was really looking forward to finding somewhere where we could get cleaned up and out of these stinky clothes.

‘Come on, Ben,’ I called. He had gone off to the side to lift his leg and was now sniffing a dead cat.

‘Ben, NO! You don’t want to catch something nasty’

Reluctantly he came over, his expression seeming to accuse me of dog cruelty or something equally sinister. I had no time for his nonsense because I had to check that the others were all right.

‘Come on, Ben. I’ll get you some biscuits later.’

As I climbed in Bessie, I could hear groans as the others started to wake up. I went straight to Arthur and he seemed all right as he was looking up at me and smiling. Judging by the smell, though, he had nothing to smile about.

Several boxes had fallen over and it was all a bit of a mess. Before we set off properly we would have to stow everything away securely.

‘Where am I?’ came from one of the seats near the front. I went to see how Eve was. She was rubbing her head.

‘Oh, my head’ she groaned, ‘and I’ve gone and wet my ,knickers again!’

I smiled. ‘Judging by the smell you aren’t the only one. Thank heavens for leather seats.’

She looked at me suspiciously. ‘Judging by the smug look on your face, I don’t suppose you’ve done it?’

‘No, but I have been busy saving everyone’s lives.’

‘What?’

‘We’ll talk later. There’s some aspirins in the medical box. Do you want to fish some out for everyone?’

‘All right, but there’s something fishy going on here.’

‘Well,’ I laughed as I glanced around noticing signs of movement from everyone, ‘we are on a river!’

Ten minutes later, everyone was more or less awake. So we wasted no time getting off the ferry. After lowering the loading ramp and starting the engine we disembarked, drove up the slipway and along the Erskine Ferry Road. We stopped off on a verge at the side of the road and then proceeded to clean up ourselves and Bessie.

We only had bottled water, so had to make do with a lick and a promise–as Mummy used to say–but after we had changed, we felt a wee bit cleaner and all set to face the world–sort of–

Jeanie brewed up some tea. The other’s throats were quite dry after the oxygen, and I, of course, never turn down the cup that refreshes!

As we sat on the verge, I told them about the fate of old Mr MacTavish and all that I had done. They were all sad and we just sat there in silence for a few moments.

Then Jeanie piped up. ‘Your leg, it looks awful. Does it hurt?’

‘A wee bit.’ I confessed, gingerly undoing the now-ruined scarf and peering under it; there was a jagged tear about two inches long which looked angry, red and sore. It felt like it too!

‘Oh, Alex, that’s bad we’ll have to sort that out.’

Eve came over and had a look.

‘That needs stitches,’ she declared.

‘Oh, hark at Doctor Eve,’ I retorted, a bit peevishly.

‘It’s no good having a go at me. If you don’t have that seen to, it’ll turn septic.’

‘She’s right, you know,’ Jeanie added, ‘the last thing you need right now is an infection. There’s nothing for it, we’ll have to stitch it up’

‘You can’t do that.’ I cried, feeling very squeamish all of a sudden, ‘and anyway, we haven’t got any anaesthetic.’

‘Oh yes we have,’ Jeanie replied with too much smugness in her voice for my liking,

~ §~

Bessie’s back seat filled her full width so it was used as an improvised operating table. Lots of hot water was boiled up for some reason and Jeanie had found some clean sheets and things. I was wearing only my knickers down below and my leg had been cleaned up first with boiled water, allowed to cool down first and then the wound was dabbed with surgical spirit which made me scream and nearly faint.

Nicola, Arthur, Sarah and Julie were outside, out of earshot–I wished that I was with them.

Amongst the things that Jeanie had taken from the hospital and other places were some syringes of cocaine, needles and surgical thread and a couple of books which she was poring over. She was evidently going to be the surgeon and Eve the nurse. I would like to have said that I have every confidence in them, especially as Jeanie was great with needlework normally. But she had never sewn skin together–and I wasn’t at all happy with pain.

‘Okay, Allie.’ Jeanie told me in a firm, no nonsense manner, ‘Lie down, shut your eyes and think of nice happy things.’

‘How can I do that with you hovering over me with a dirty great syringe with a huge needle?’

‘Oh, don’t be such a baby,’ she said as some of the liquid fountained out of the end of the needle. ‘It’ll only be a little prick.’

Eve kept wiping my brow with a cold wet hankie and was really getting on my nerves. ‘Will you stop that,’ I cried.

‘Ooh, the patient’s getting restless, doctor.’

I sat up waving Eve and her flaming wet hankie away. ‘This isn’t doctors and nurses you’re playing. This is a real live leg, my leg. I don’t want it to drop off so stop playing games.’

‘Sorry,’ they both mumbled as I lay back down again.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘if you are going to do it, please do it and no more games.’

‘Okay, Allie,’ Jeanie replied quietly, ‘we thought that it might relax you. Now, close your eyes; I’ll try not to hurt you.’

Somehow I felt myself grip Eve’s hand strongly. The fact that she only whimpered was a plus in my eyes. I felt the needle go in and the cold liquid that burned after a second. Jeanie did this three times and then stopped. I was pleased then that Eve wiped my hot brow, I felt like fainting, and that was just the injection!

‘Right, honey, that’s that over with. It should go numb in a minute. How d’you feel?’

‘Sick and in pain.’

‘Sorry. I’m trying my best,’ she said, her voice cracking up slightly.

I opened my eyes and saw she was crying. ‘I know, sis; don’t go soft on me now. I’m relying on you.’

I smiled and she smiled back and then carried on reading the medical book. She then started threading the needle that she was going to use, so I shut my eyes again–I really didn’t want to see what happened next.

After a couple of minutes she slapped my leg, although I could hear the slap and feel a sort of pressure, but otherwise it was numb. ‘Feel that?’ she asked.

‘Not really,’ I replied, noting the tremor in my voice.

‘Good, then let’s get on with it–’

It was strange, I could feel the pulling, but there was no pain. It seemed to take ages and then it was over.

‘All done.’

‘Ooh that’s pretty,’ said Eve enthusiastically.

I cracked open an eye and then sat up a bit.

Looking at my leg, I could see that she had done a neat job at sewing the ragged edges together.

‘That’s good,’ I said–and promptly fainted.

~ §~

When I woke up, I was still on the back seat of the bus. It was quiet and I could hear conversations coming from up forward up above the sound of the engine… then I realised that we were on the move. I sat up, squinting down the length of the bus. I saw that Jeanie was driving.

Looking down at my leg, I noticed that somebody had put a skirt on me and I had my leg covered in a crepe bandage. The wound throbbed a bit, but other than that I felt fine. I tried to sit up but felt a bit woozy.

Julie must have noticed me and came back. ‘Awake are we, sleepyhead?’

‘What time is it?’ I asked.

‘Two o’clock.

‘Gosh, I must’ve been asleep for ages,’ I exclaimed.

‘Yes, we thought that we should get a move on, so we are on the road and getting some miles in. We are trying to find somewhere to stop for the night so that we can all have a break.’

‘How is Jeanie’s driving?’

Julie looked a bit embarrassed. ‘Well, she not as good as you and she crashes the gears a lot, and she sometimes says a few naughty words, but other than that, she’s fine.’

‘Oh, right,’ I said, not knowing what else to say.

I sat up and stretched. My leg was throbbing a bit but I wasn’t in any pain. Julie with a smile went back up the bus and sat next to Arthur’s carry cot box. I just sat there for a while getting my mind in gear and looking at the scenery rolling by. I saw a signpost that said Tarbet 5 miles. Looking to the right I recognised Loch Lomond and behind that, the mountain of Ben Lomond, large and gloomy in the now cloudy rain-heavy sky. The roads were wet and it looked like it had just stopped raining–typical weather for up here, but for all that, it was achingly beautiful. Looking out over the loch, there was little indication of the terrible things that had happened.

I love Scotland with her amazing scenery and wonderful people. We were never short of friends–always popping round and looking out for each other when things were a bit hard. The fog had ripped a whole heart out of the community here as well as everywhere else. I missed my parents, as I knew Jeanie did too. The others had all lost theirs and Jeanie and I knew that the chance of our parents or aunt and uncle being alive was extremely slim indeed. For us, this was the last throw of the dice. If they were dead, I didn’t really know what we would do.

I felt hurt, angry, confused, and very unsure of the future–even whether this world actually had a future. The green fog was still around killing indiscriminately, and I wondered when would it all end?

One slight bright spark on the horizon was that I seemed to acquiring some sort of immunity to the fog. I hoped so, because that would be a start.

We arrived at Tarbet a short while later. It was deserted with only a few bodies in the street and two cars that had crashed together and had obviously caught fire.

The main feature in the village was the Tarbet Hotel. Large and imposing, it was used mainly by tourists who wanted to visit Loch Lomond or as a stopover before going on up into the highlands. Jeanie parked in the large car park and switched off the engine.

The views from here of the loch were wonderful as were the mountains and scenery across the water. It seemed strangely quiet and peaceful after the engine was switched off, but not for long, because Arthur, bless him, decided that it was time for some grub.

Jeanie glanced back and saw I was up and about again, so as the others had sorted themselves out, she came and sat beside me.

‘How’re ye daein’, hen?’ she asked.

‘The accent growin’ stronger the nearer we get tae hame?’ I replied smiling. ‘I’m okay, ma leg’s throbbin’ a wee bit but it’s no’ sae bad.’

‘Weel, we’ll stop here the nicht and then gang awa’ on ferrrr Dunoon the morn’s morn; ’s’that okay wi’ ye, hen?’

‘Aye, hen, if ev’rybody agrrrees. I s’pose we could stay at the hotel. Normally ’tis closed for the winter so let’s hope it’s no fu’ o’ deid of bodies.’

‘Amen to that,’ she said, ‘Eve and I are gang tae tak’ a wee look.’

‘I should––’

‘–No, you stay here, nurse’s orders. I want you fighting fit fer the morn sae ye c’n drive–that is, if your leg’s up tae it!’

We both laughed at that as Eve looked strangely at us from the front. I don’t think that she had ever been exposed to our rather rich and wonderful way of speaking when close to home!

~ §~

Jeanie and Eve went to check it over and gave it the all clear. Indeed, they had to break in through a window. It was a bit musty, but after opening a few windows and airing the place, it was fine.

We had a scratch meal in one of the kitchens, using the food and drink that we had brought with us. Outside it was Driech¹–with a fine and drizzly rain the that kept up into the evening when it became heavier and the wind grew stronger off the water. This was good, as we didn’t think that we would have any problems from the fog that night, but we still would keep our usual lookout.

Overnight, we camped down in–of all places–the honeymoon suite. This was because it had spectacular views and we could see what was going on up and down the loch.

As was now our custom, we got undressed to go to bed. We had quickly realised that wearing the same clothes day and night was uncomfortable and unnecessary. I was quite tired, so I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and was soon asleep. I had been let off night guard duty, as I wasn’t a hundred percent, and everyone preferred me to be the driver for some reason, including Jeanie; they had a vote on it so I should be fresh for the morning. I wasn’t going to argue!

We were all up bright and early the next day. We had no night visitation from the green pestilence and the clouds had rolled away, leaving a bright and sunny morning, if, maybe, a wee bit cold.

After a quick breakfast, we were soon on our way again. I had taken an aspirin, and my leg felt all right. Jeanie had dressed the wound again before we left and it looked clean, with no sign of infection, so I was passed fit by Doctor Jeanie.

We carried on along the A83 skirting Loch Long’s northern edge and continuing around with the Argyll Forest Park to our right, heading towards Ardgartan. After skirting the village, we continued up the road going through the beautiful Glen Croe, with the forest on either side eventually arriving at Rest And Be Thankful–such a descriptive name–a high point with wonderful views that spilts Glen Croe and Glen Kinglas. Rest and Be Thankful is where the Royal Scottish Automobile Club holds a hill-climb every year on the old road that has now been bypassed. The old road is so narrow and twisty in places that it is doubtful that we would ever have got Bessie up it.

We stopped there for a break and rested, and were thankful. My leg was aching and I wanted to get out and walk about a bit to unkink my leg.

Julie started a brew up and dug out some biscuits. Everyone had a loo break and Arthur had his nappy changed. It was fresh cold and clear up there and we could see for miles. There was no sign of the fog–I was pleased to say–and as I scratched an itching nipple distractedly I wondered once again what we would find a wee bit later when we arrived in Dunoon. I wasn’t wearing stockings today, because of my sair (sore) leg and the draft up my skirt was a wee bitty cool to say the least!

‘A penny for them?’ asked Sarah, who had come over with a steaming tin mug and a shortbread biscuit–Scottish, of course–that we had found a supply of in the hotel at Tarbet.

I turned to her and took the mug and biscuit. ‘Thanks, Sarah. I was just thinking about what we’ll find at Dunoon.’

‘You aren’t raising your hopes, are you?’

‘No. Not really. I’m just desperately hoping that they are all alive, that’s all.’

We stood there for a moment looking at the reflection of the clouds scudding across the mountains. It was clean and fresh this air, not tainted by that awful, choking fog that had blighted everywhere.

All too soon, it was time to be off again. I reckoned that we had about thirty miles to go and I wanted to waste no more time. We clambered back on board and I started old Bessie and we were off, heading towards Cairndow. Eve was sitting next to me in her usual role as navigator, but I didn’t really need her as I knew these roads. Soon we would be leaving the A83 and turning left onto the A815 that led to Dunoon.

~ §~

Nothing of any note happened for the next forty minutes. We found ourselves quite soon by the shores of Loch Eck, a long thin loch that took us ever nearer to our destination. Then we went cross country again and nearly got held up by a number of sheep that had congregated on the road. They looked thin and undernourished, but at least they were alive. We even managed to have a bit of a laugh as we all got out of the bus and shooed them away before being able to continue.

We reached the wide stretch of water that was Holy Loch and drove along by the shore until we reached Sandbank, just outside Dunoon.

Jeanie took the place of Eve as navigator. Everyone was strangely quiet. It had taken us so long to reach here and now we were so close, I think we were almost reluctant to continue as we were so afraid of what we might discover.

The government complex where our parents worked was on a road off to the right just before entering Dunoon. We had visited once before during our hols, just prior to mum and dad going into the experimental bubble to live. The side road led up into some hills. It was a well made road, used by lorries, so quite wide. Every hundred yards or so there were signs informing everyone that this was government property and trespassers would be prosecuted. We went through three sets of gates which were open and not locked and guarded as they had been on previous visits. Then we arrived at the high, main perimeter fence; it had barbed wire on the top, as did the metal gates now in front of us, but once again they were open so we drove through.

We went along a gravel drive, through some trees and then it opened out into a wide area of tarmac and behind that, the concrete buildings of the complex. There wasn’t any sign of life. No bodies on the ground or any indication that the place was occupied.

‘Let’s try The Bubble,’ Jeanie suggested.

The Bubble was where my parents and others working on the project were living as part of the US and UK space programme to see how long people can live in an artificial environment. We hoped that as they would have been isolated from the outside world, they might have escaped the terrible fate that had befallen the outside world.

We followed the road along the side of the complex and on into the woods beyond. About half a mile down the road, we passed through yet another set of open gates and behind the screen of trees was The Bubble.

Only The Bubble was no longer there. It had been ripped apart, leaving the inner area exposed to the elements.

I stopped Bessie and got out with Jeanie. This was something we had to do for ourselves. The others stayed inside but Eve had a gun trained just in case.

We held each other’s hands, just like young children as we walked to the wreck of the project.

Pieces of clear plastic were strewn about, some large, some small. It was as if an earthquake had destroyed it. Furniture had been thrown about, pots and pans, electrical equipment, beds; everything had been overturned–destroyed. No one was in there, we searched high and low.

We left The Bubble and then returned to the bus, telling them that there was nobody around.

‘Maybe they’re in the main complex or something,’ Eve suggested.

‘It’s worth a try, I s’pose,’ I said unenthusiastically. Both Jeanie and I were devastated. We had pinned our hopes on finding them here.

I started up Bessie and drove back down the road and parked next to the complex main building.

We all got out and Julie carried Arthur. There was no danger here that we could see, but both Jeanie and Eve carried guns.

The doors were open and it led into a sort of reception area. There was a large desk where normally a uniformed commissionaire would be on duty. Our feet echoed on the hard tiled floor as we made our way to it. On the desk was a notice.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GOVERNMENT COMPLEX IS CLOSED AND ALL PERSONEL HAVE BEEN EVACUATED.
FOLLOWING THE STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE GOVERNMENT ON THE 23RD NOVEMBER 1958 AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS, IT WAS DEEMED UNSAFE TO REMAIN HERE.

ALL NON-ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN DESTROYED AND FILES REMOVED, AS PER STANDING ORDERS.

IF YOU WISH TO CONTACT US, PLEASE USE THE SHORTWAVE RADIO THAT HAS BEEN LEFT IN ROOM 101 ON THE FIRST FLOOR, LEFT FOR THAT PURPOSE.

MAY GOD GO WITH YOU.

Colonel Hamish Robertson.
Commanding Officer, Dunoon Research.

‘Maybe they are still alive?’ I remarked, hopefully to no one in particular.

‘Yes,’ Jeanie agreed, ‘at least they’re not–here.’

I looked at her. She seemed to be on the point of crying. That set me off and we were all sort of upset for a bit. Then Ben began to bark and that helped us to pull ourselves together. Being the only male there apart from Arthur, he was obviously showing us how silly we females were–

We climbed the stairs to the first floor, with Ben leading the way. The room we needed was the first one on the right. It had a round port hole type of window and the sign above said Radio Room.

Jeanie opened the door and we all trooped in after her.

The radio room contained lots of equipment, all of which had been destroyed save for one unit. I went and sat down on the office chair in front of the radio. A small note on the desk in front of it gave instructions as to how to use it. Seeing as I already knew how–from previous experience at the police station a while back–all I was interested in was heating up the set and finding out if there was anyone at the other end. We didn’t have to change the frequency, as the knob had been taped in place for what I hoped was the correct one.

After a few minutes, the radio came to life and we could hear static from the speaker. In front of me was a microphone with a button in front, on the base of the stand.

I held down the button and took a deep breath. ‘Hello, can you hear me?’

I let the button go and all we could here was static.

I looked up. Everyone was crowding around. Jeanie looked so worried she was biting her fingernails.

I pressed the button again.

‘Hello, is there anybody there? Erm–over––’

I released the button again–nothing.

I tried for several minutes but all we could hear was static from the loudspeaker.

We were all a bit down then and I was just about to get up when the speaker came to life. ‘Hello caller, we are receiving you loud and clear. Where are you? Over.’

I turned back quickly and in my haste to answer, I knocked over the microphone. After setting it right again, with a trembling finger, I pressed the button down.

‘We are at the Government Complex at Dunoon, over.’

‘Glad to hear you,’ said the male voice. ‘How many of you are there?’

‘S—seven of us and a dog.’

I heard some laughter, in the background, both male and female.

‘Well done–are there any adults with you?’

‘No, just children and a baby––’

‘All right…please wait a moment.’

We heard static for a while. None of us dared speak in case we missed the man when he returned.

We heard a click.

‘How did you know about Dunoon?’

‘Our parents worked there.’

‘What is your name?’

‘I’m Alex and my sister is Jeanie; our surname is MacKenzie–’

There was an audible gasp and I’m sure a scream in the background.

A few seconds later, my heart flipped and I nearly cried out as I heard a voice that I thought I would never hear again.

‘Alex, is that you?’

‘D—Dad?’

I heard someone fall down behind me.

‘It’s only Jeanie, she seems to have fainted,’ said Eve dryly.

~ §~

‘Y—yes it’s me Dad.’

‘Oh, Alex, you’re alive and so is Jeanie!’

‘Yes, although she fainted; she’s all right though.’

He laughed.

‘Like mother like daughter, your mum’s fainted too. They aren’t as strong as us boys are they?’

‘Erm, Dad.’

‘Yes, son?’

‘I…I…I’m a g—girl now.’

There was silence for a moment.

‘A girl?’

‘Yes, I was changed by the fog; some of my friends here were too.’

‘Oh Lord, you too? We had reports but didn’t know if they were true. We knew that the fog had strange properties and killed anyone who breathed the stuff in. Why boys were changed into girls we haven’t worked out. We think that it’s something to do with puberty, but our doctors aren’t sure about it. Look we can speak of this when we see you. Can you make your way up here?’

‘Where are you?’

‘Oh sorry, you don’t know. We are up past Fort William. The fog seems to prefer lower ground. We are quite high up in a government facility on the side of Ben Nevis at a place called Achriabhach. You must get to us soon. What transport have you got?’

‘Bessie?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Bessie–she’s a Bedford coach.’

‘Have you got oxygen on board, food and drink?’

‘Yes we have all of that. Jeanie’s our quartermaster … oh she’s just woken up. Do you want to say hello?’

I was pushed unceremoniously out of the chair by Jeanie.

‘Daddy!’

‘Hello, Pumpkin,’ he laughed. ‘I hear you haven’t lost your voice.’

‘I—I thought that you were dead.’ She said in a strangled tone.

‘I know, honey; we thought you were too. Anyway, try to get here soon. The colonel here has just told me that there are some red flares in the store room on the ground floor, near the garages. Get some of those and when you are near, set a few off. You will never find this place, so just set them off from the centre of Fort William. You are about a hundred and twenty miles from here. Don’t leave where you are until tomorrow. If all goes well, you should make it to us in three or four hours. We’ll keep a lookout from noon tomorrow. Can you do that?’

‘Yes, of course, Daddy.’

‘Wait a moment…Your mum has just said that she wants to come and get you, but the colonel says that it just doubles the risk. He seems to think that as you have come so far, you’re resourceful enough to get here by yourselves. Do you think you are?’

‘Yes, of course, Daddy. May I speak to Mummy?’

‘Yes, all right.’

‘Jeanie?’

‘Mummee!’

I smiled at hearing my mum’s voice. I was choking up at this time and wasn’t capable of speech. Jeanie more than made up for it though.
 

To be continued…
 

____________________
¹     Driech [pronounced dreech, with the CH as in loCH]: a scots dialect word describing dull, damp, dreary and depressing weather.

---

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories and remember, no comments means no feedback and no feedback means no stories:-)

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

We spent the night in the main building of the complex. It was a quiet night, thank goodness, but I found it very difficult to sleep...

 

---

Chapter 15

Previously…

‘Where are you?’

‘Oh sorry, you don’t know. We are up past Fort William. The fog seems to prefer lower ground. We are quite high up in a government facility on the side of Ben Nevis at a place called Achriabhach. You must get to us soon. What transport have you got?’

‘Bessie?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Bessie–she’s a Bedford coach.’

‘Have you got oxygen on board, food and drink?’

‘Yes we have all of that. Jeanie’s our quartermaster … oh she’s just woken up. Do you want to say hello?’

I was pushed unceremoniously out of the chair by Jeanie.

‘Daddy!’

‘Hello, Pumpkin,’ he laughed. ‘I hear you haven’t lost your voice.’

‘I—I thought that you were dead.’ She said in a strangled tone.

‘I know, honey; we thought you were too. Anyway, try to get here soon. The colonel here has just told me that there are some red flares in the store room on the ground floor, near the garages. Get some of those and when you are near, set a few off. You will never find this place, so just set them off from the centre of Fort William. You are about a hundred and twenty miles from here. Don’t leave where you are until tomorrow. If all goes well, you should make it to us in three or four hours. We’ll keep a lookout from noon tomorrow. Can you do that?’

‘Yes, of course, Daddy.’

‘Wait a moment…Your mum has just said that she wants to come and get you, but the colonel says that it just doubles the risk. He seems to think that as you have come so far, you’re resourceful enough to get here by yourselves. Do you think you are?’

‘Yes, of course, Daddy. May I speak to Mummy?’

‘Yes, all right.’

‘Jeanie?’

‘Mummee!’

I smiled at hearing my mum’s voice. I was choking up at this time and wasn’t capable of speech. Jeanie more than made up for it though.

And now the story continues…

Dunoon to Glen Coe

We spent the night in the main building of the complex. It was a quiet night, thank goodness, but I found it very difficult to sleep. I was so happy discovering that our parents were alive. It seemed incredible that–god willing–we could see them the following day.

We had a sort of celebration that night as the sun set behind the hills and clouds came up, swiftly followed by a fine rain–or Scotch mist, as we called it.

I thought that we had no real need to keep an eye on our food, but Jeanie, being ever-practical, said in no uncertain terms that we would be daft to go mad, and leave anything behind because we still hadn’t arrived at our final destination yet, so we had to be cautious. Still, we did have a nice meal. Spam fritters, potatoes and baked beans may not have been posh food, but it was tasty and filling.

For afters we had jam roly-poly out of a tin, and custard. We had ginger beer and orange squash to wash it all down.

I must admit that I felt rather packed to the gunwales after all of that. We lounged about for a while and talked quietly about what might happen the following day, but didn’t stay up for long because we wanted to make an early start in the morning.

Jeanie changed the dressing on my leg before I went to bed, and although the wound still looked nasty and a bit inflamed, it wasn’t too bad.

As was our usual habit, we all slept in the same room. We were on the top floor, which happened to be the cafeteria. It had good all round views and we were able to keep an eye out for the fog. We took turns on ‘fog watch’ and I took the first spell with Eve. We chatted while we watched to keep ourselves awake.

‘It’s great that your parents are alive,’ Eve said.

‘Yes. I must admit that I’d nearly given up hope.’

‘What do you think they will say about your being a girl?’

‘I don’t know really. I hope they accept me–they will, I am sure they will.’

Even I could hear the tiny doubt creeping into my voice so I changed the subject.

‘I’m sorry you’ve lost your mum and dad.’

She looked at me and bit her bottom lip, a habit that she had when she was thinking. ‘Yes, I miss them sooo much. I wonder what they would think of me? I was once a strapping boy, into lots of scrapes and now, look at me, in a dress and, unbelievably, not bothered by it. I should be more worried and upset, but I’m not. I even had a dream the other night where I was marrying a man and I was in a beautiful wedding dress and I felt really special. Why should that be?’

‘I don’t know, but I think that it’s part of the effects of being changed into a girl. The fog must have affected our minds as well as our bodies,’ I said as I rubbed my tummy which had started to ache a bit–from all the food, I presumed.

‘Maybe you’re right. I wonder if they know where it came from?’

‘Where what came from?’

‘The green fog.’

‘My dad didn’t say. We’ll know more when we get there. It’s so frustrating being this near and not able to go and see them yet. I didn’t want to drive at night though, so I suppose that it does make sense to stay put until the morning.’

~ §~

We were up bright and early the following morning and after a quick breakfast, we were on our way. Baby Arthur was being particularly noisy, and it was only after having his dummy stuck in his mouth that he finally quietened down.

Before leaving, Jeanie had a quick word with Dad on the short wave telling him that we were just about to leave.

‘Be careful, dear,’ he told her. ‘There have been reports of a build up of green fog coming from the east. We’ve got a spotter plane up now to monitor things–’

‘Oh we’ve seen that before a few times!’ Jeanie replied excitedly as we all gazed at each other and grinned.

‘Yes, we are lucky. There’s a landing strip just behind Fort William. It’s about the only flat bit around here. Anyway be safe, and don’t forget the flares.’
,
‘We won’t Daddy. Give Mummy our love!’

‘I will.’ He laughed.

It was so nice to hear him again and know that in few short hours we would see them. I was dying for a gorgeous big hug! Being a girl now I didn’t have to make do with a strong, manly handshake!

~ §~

We retraced our route through the Argyll Forest Park on the A815 heading north and then followed the waters of Loch Fyne on our left. It had stopped raining about an hour before, but there was a stiff breeze which would help dry the roads fairly quickly.

Soon we were back on the A82 and we stopped again at the high point known as Rest and be Thankful to stretch our legs and scan the area for any signs of the foul fog. Apart from a slight green tinge on the eastern horizon, there was no sign. The wind was coming from the west anyway, so it seemed unlikely that the fog would bother us unless the wind changed direction.

At Tarbet we took the A83 road north and I felt a little lump in my throat as I saw the signpost for Fort William.

In no time at all we were by the banks of Loch Lomond and we all had a bit of a sing-song

'O ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye
For me and my true love will ne’er meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomon'.

After singing it several times. I think even Arthur must have recognised the lyrics as his howling was almost in tune!

The road was quite narrow in places, to our left was the side of the banking and to the right some stone walling with the loch behind, its waters a bit choppy in the wind. It was somewhat of a relief that there was little danger of vehicles coming the other way because it could have been rather a tight squeeze.

The clouds got thicker as we continued up the lochside and flashes of lightening could be seen on the other shore and beyond the mountain of Ben a’Choin. I turned the headlights on as it was getting that bad, especially when we went through trees.

I couldn’t go fast as the road was all twists and turns and I didn’t want to lose control. All too soon the rain started, lightly at first, and then in earnest.

It was almost dark outside now, and I felt the winds buffeting old Bessie as I struggled on. Before long the far shore was no longer visible, the lightning flashed more regularly and I was aware of the rumbling thunder above the loud whine of Bessie’s gearbox.

Eventually, we reached the head of the loch and stopped off in the station car park at Ardlui Railway Station right next to the small station waiting room. The rain eased off slightly and we all took the opportunity to use the loos by the side of the waiting room, but were reluctant to go in there because of the rather nauseating smell and the flies.

There was a bit of a scramble as to who went first. Ben dashed out first, and didn’t waste any time finding a convenient tree against which to lift his leg.

As I was being clever, I used the gents, my nose wrinkling a great deal at the smell of stale urine still wafting around.

I looked at the urinals and grinned ruefully, realising that I would never be able use one of them ever again or see how high my wee would reach up the wall!

Once we all finished doing our stuff, we ran back into the bus and dried ourselves off as best we could. It was still raining cats and dogs, and the thunder was rolling around the mountains as if God was moving his furniture.

We were all scratching ourselves because the midges up here were as big as horses, and bit us fiercely. I never remember them biting me so badly when I was a boy, so perhaps they liked the taste of girls better. That’s the one down side of Scotland–flaming midges!

Luckily Jeanie, wonder of wonder, had some ointment for us to use and also some foul smelling spray for those brave enough to use it, as a repellent. There were no takers.

It seemed like a good idea to have some orange squash and biscuits while we waited for the weather to ease enough for us to continue and Eve and I took the opportunity to have a look at the battered old map book to try to work out how far we had come and how far we had to go.

We reckoned that we were almost halfway, with about sixty miles to go–maybe two and a half hours if things go well?

As I munched on a Royal Scot biscuit, I looked out through the rain- and midge-splattered windscreen. There were a few cars and a bus very similar to our Bessie sitting in the corner of the car park looking a bit forlorn, if a bus can do that.

‘Och well,’ I thought, ‘we had good old Bessie, she would see us through.’

About forty minutes later, the weather improved somewhat and I felt that it was safe for us to continue on our way.

‘All ready?’ I called back.

‘Yes!’ came the answer.

I made myself comfortable in my seat, turned on the ignition and pressed the starter button.

Click–

Strange... I tried again.

Click–

Nothing; the engine wouldn’t start. It didn’t even try to turn over.

‘Oh hell,’ I muttered to myself, ‘trust me to say that Bessie would see us through!’

‘It won’t start,’ said Nicola helpfully. Ben barked in agreement.

The others said nothing, aware that we needed Bessie to get us to Fort William.

‘Stay here’ I said pulling on my mac and hat and stepping outside in the drizzle.
I opened one side of the bonnet and saw the trouble straight away. Even a non-mechanically-minded person like me could see that the engine was covered in oil and some gasket or other must have blown, covering the whole thing in a fine layer of black, glutinous, oily gunge.

I went back inside and sat on the front passenger seat.

‘The thing won’t go,’ I said simply. ‘The engines busted.’

‘What shall we do?’ Julie asked, sounding scared as she cradled Arthur in her arms.

‘I don’t know. We can’t walk.’

‘This is daft,’ said Eve after a minute of staring out of the rain and mud splattered window.

‘What?’ Jeanie asked.

‘There’s another flaming bus sitting over there. We’ll use that!’

‘It looks a bit sad and deserted,’ Sarah said, doubtfully. ‘I bet she hasn’t been used in ages.’

‘Well has anyone got a better idea?’ Eve asked, rather snappily, I thought.

‘We could try, I suppose,’ said Jeanie.

Leaving Julie to be nursemaid (she liked that job and hated getting wet), we all trooped out and went over to the other bus, trying to avoid the puddles and keep our berets on in the wind and rain. I love Scotland but sometimes the weather is a bit much.

The bus was another Bedford, like Bessie but red with a green roof and ‘MacBraynes’ written on the side in gold letters, with the silhouette of a kilted highlander wielding a targe and a claymore underneath it–a familiar sight to both Jeanie and I.

‘She’ll get us hame,’ Jeanie remarked with a big grin. ‘MacBraynes rule the Highlands,’ she added quoting a well-known saying.

It was unlocked and we piled in. It was not exactly tidy inside, probably due to the driver not being able to return to his depá´t before the fog did for him.

‘A bit untidy in here,’ Sarah remarked, turning up her nose.

‘We’ll soon clear her up,’ Jeanie replied, sounding all bonnie and bright; ‘if she works that is,’ she added more doubtfully.

I sat on the driver’s seat and, of course, there was no key in the ignition. I tried the one from Bessie and–joy of joys–it fitted, and better still, it turned.

I made sure she was in neutral, turned the key and pressed the starter button… … … … …nothing–not a so-and-so dicky bird. ‘Well that’s that,’ I announced, feeling like hiding in a corner and having a good cry.

‘The battery might be flat,’ Eve suggested, who, in her former life as Adam had obviously been a practical boy.

‘What about the battery from Bessie?’ Jeanie suggested. ‘We’ve got a tool box–there’s one under the back seat.’

‘I suppose we could try,’ I said despairingly. I must admit to feeling a bit down. Only fifty or sixty miles to go to our destination and then this happens! On top of that, my leg was throbbing, I had a headache, a tummy ache and my breasts hurt. I wondered if I was coming down with something.

I just sat there feeling lethargic and dreadful all at once and wondered what the heck was wrong with me while the others went to Bessie, somehow got the battery out and, using a platform luggage trolley, wheeled it over with the tools to the “new” bus.

While Eve and Sarah wrestled with the nuts and bolts with Nicola and Julie looking on, Jeanie came back into the bus and gazed at me.

‘You look a wee bit peaky; does your leg hurt?’

‘Aye, a wee bit,’ I admitted, ‘I’ve got a headache–and other aches and pains.’

‘Want an aspirin?’

‘Please.’

‘Hang on then, hen,’

She went to her medical box and, moments later, returned with a pill and a cup of water.

‘Here y’are.’

Thankfully I took the pill and just shut my eyes for a moment, rubbing my tummy.

‘Tummy ache?’

‘Mmm.’

‘I wonder–?’

I cracked one eye open; I couldn’t bother with the other one.

‘Eh?’ I asked.

‘Feeling all grumpy and crotchety?’

‘Sort of.’

‘I wonder––?’ she repeated.

‘Wonder what, girl? Look why can’t you stop talking in riddles and tell me what’s on your mind?’

‘You might be starting your period––’

‘–My WHAT!’ I ejaculated.

‘Period.–girls have them, you know. Mine’s due any day now. We're twins, so our bodies might be sort of synchronised with each other.’

‘What’s a period? I thought it’s what Americans call a full stop.’

She looked at me sadly. ‘Hasn’t Daddy given you the birds and bees talk yet?’

‘No, he was going to do it in the next hols; the boys at school talked about––things–but you never knew if they were telling fibs or not. Mind you I’ve learnt a lot about girls from the inside, so to speak.’

‘Look, sis, Mummy will give you the ins and outs of it when we see her. She told me about things ages ago because girls mature quicker than boys. I had my first period four months back. It frightened the life out of me, even though Mummy warned me what to expect. Matron, gave me the necessary things and now I’m used to it, though I do hate it, as it’s totally yucky, but still, you’ll be okay too–once you get used to it.’

‘Used to what?’

‘Periods, silly.’

‘But you haven’t told me what a period is!’

‘Mmm, no sorry, Allie, I haven’t, have I? I’ll keep it simple, because Mummy will want to go into it in more detail and I’m not very good at ’splaining things. As a girl grows up, her body has to get ready to have babies; every month an egg is produced so that a baby can be made. If it isn’t used, the body has to get rid of it and other things needed to make a baby. The way it does this is to have a period where you bleed a bit. It isn’t much–if you’re lucky–but all it is just the waste material that has to be taken away so next months egg is able to get ready––’

‘–I’m not a hen? I don’t want to lay eggs!’

She laughed. ‘It’s not quite the same as hens.’

‘I’ll never want a fried egg again–or any other type.’

‘Will you get off the idea of hens eggs–ours are different.’

‘Well, if you say so. Are you saying that I am going to start bleeding from down there?’ I pointed vaguely to a place between my legs.

‘Erm, yes, it happens roughly every twenty-eight days–that’s why most females call it “the curse”.’

‘How long does it go on for?’

‘’bout a week.’

‘So let’s get this clear; I’m going to bleed down below for one week out of every four?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh great, and do I feel like this every month too?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like I want to go and crawl under a rock and die?’

‘Well, pills help and everything. It might be that you won’t feel so bad after a bit. It’s all new to you, just now. With me, it began getting less horrible after the first couple of months.’

‘And how do I stop messing up my clothes?

‘I’ve got some sanitary towels you can use. Look, while the others are busy, let’s go to the lav and I’ll sort you out–’

On inspection, there were a few spots of blood on the gusset of my knickers and I had to wear a sanitary towel; it was held in place by a tight-fitting pair of white briefs–Jeanie called them “linings”–with my usual knickers over the top. All in all it felt bulky and rather like a sort of nappy.

It was at times like this that I wished I was still a boy.

~ §~

When we got back to the bus, the battery had been replaced and everyone was waiting for us. Eve and Sarah were wiping some grease from their hands.

‘Where have you been?’ asked Nicola.

‘To the lav,’ I mumbled.

‘You were a long time. Why are you walking funny?’

‘Never mind,’ I replied, feeling myself blushing.

I climbed back into the driver’s seat and then after everyone had stepped back out of the way, I pumped the accelerator pedal, dipped the clutch, said a bit of a prayer and then pressed the starter button.

The engine turned over slowly, but didn’t start.

I waited a moment and pumped the pedal a couple of times and then tried again.

The engine turned over slightly faster. I was just about to stop, when there was a big bang that set off Arthur, then another that got Ben barking and then the engine roared into life with a huge pall of black smoke belching out of the exhaust pipe halfway down the right hand side.

To a series of cheers and claps I drove the bus across to old Bessie and while keeping the engine running, the others transferred all our things to our ‘new’ bus.

I think we were all sad to leave Bessie. I promised myself that if we managed to get ourselves out of this mess, I’d come back and somehow get her going again.

The fuel gauge said that we had just over a quarter-tankful of petrol and I hoped, one, that it was accurate and two, there was enough get us to Fort William. I wasn’t sure if there were any petrol stations on the way, and so we had to just hope that nothing else would go wrong.

We had to name the bus, of course. I was all for Bessie MkII, but the others poo-pooed that, making me go into another sulk.

In the end we called her Nessie and that was good enough, I suppose.

As we drove out of the car park and continued our journey, everyone shouted goodbye to Bessie, who looked a bit lonely and forlorn in the car park. She had done us proud and got us out of many a tight spot and for that I was eternally grateful to her.

~ §~

The roads followed the railway line for a while until we reached Crianlarich, which was a junction with the line from Perth and Callander to Oban. Nessie was quite nice to drive–the clutch was easier than Bessie’s, and the steering was a bit lighter too, for which I was thankful.

We passed a couple of “dead” cars and a few lorries as our journey continued, but there were no signs of life. The roads were comparatively flat here with hills either side. It was pleasant country but not as pretty as other places on our journey. Sometimes the railway line joined us and at others swung away from us as it found a different route to our common destination–Fort William.

I noted that Nessie tended to heat up a bit on the uphill sections and cool down on the downward ones. I had no idea how she would behave around Ben Nevis, but would find out soon enough. Luckily, the roads invariably followed the water side or went through valleys, so I wasn’t too worried yet. Also the fog had kept away, so that was another thing that we didn’t have to worry about for the moment.

Why did I think these things? Was it tempting fate? I don’t know.

After going through The Bridge of Orchy with its big hotel and a few other houses we continued on. On the left were the mountains of Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothaidh, all very nice and good walking country, that is if we were not trying to get to Fort William and safety.

I noted as we went through the countryside with a river to our left and the railway line on the right that it all looked quite empty of life. No more hardy sheep on the hills that I could find; we did see the occasional car, and a few lorries with occupants who would never move, see or feel again .

Then, we passed another bus, similar to Nessie, that had ploughed into a wall. It was a school bus. I had no idea if it had been coming or going to school, but the pupils and the driver had all perished.

How many more horrendous sights would we see? When would it all end? I wondered with despair.

I was feeling very emotional at the moment but judging by the others, it wasn’t just my period, menses or whatever it’s called that was making me feel awful. Everyone was feeling the strain, and I dreaded the next corner, where goodness knows what other horrors we would have to witness.

It was only the thought that we were so near to our parents that kept me going.

Shortly after that, we stopped for a toilet break. I wanted to continue, but when nature calls, you just have to stop.

I went behind a convenient large rock and did the necessary. The Izal toilet paper wasn’t very kind though, and I wished that someone would invent some softer paper for my poor sore behind!

On a lighter note, my sanitary towel only had a few spots on it and I supposed that I wouldn’t mind if that was all I had each time my monthly visitor arrived. I did wish though that I didn’t feel so rotten. I yearned for nice hot water bottle on my tummy to ease my aches and pains.

Soon everyone was finished and we were able to continue on our way.

We were heading towards the stunningly beautiful Glen Coe–site of the apalling massacre in February 1692.¹ Our family had camped in the glen once, about two years before. It’s a place that everyone must see if they can. It’s one of the loveliest places on Earth.

We passed Altnafeadh at about twelve thirty, and despite our stops, we were going quite well. Up ahead, the snow covered mountains came ever nearer. It was cold outside and there were pockets where snow still lay. We were about six to seven hundred feet up here and although not really high, at this time of the year, you can feel it when you are wearing skirts!

Mind you, according to our old Geography teacher, Ben Nevis was about four thousand four hundred feet high. I hated to think how cold it was up there!

I coughed slightly and my chest felt tight. I wondered if, what with everything else, I was coming down with a cold.

The road rose a bit and there was a bend up ahead where the glen started proper. I was getting to feel even colder now. The heating in the bus was laughable, and we really needed to stop and put on some more clothes, but we had stopped enough for today and I wanted to get where we were going in the shortest time possible. Looking at the others in the rear view mirror, they were all either asleep or just staring out of the windows. The chatter had stopped after seeing those poor kids on the bus. No more sing-songs today.

I coughed and I felt a bit of wetness down below. I wasn’t sure if it was wee or, yucky blood, but I was thankful that I was wearing some sort of protection. I didn’t want to spoil my skirt–

I stopped thinking about my skirt as I topped the brae and studied what lay ahead.

I pulled the bus up on the side of the road and stared at Glen Coe, which had opened up before me.

There were gasps from behind as the others had noted that I had stopped and realised why.

Jeanie came forward and just said. ‘Oh, crivvens!’

Before us, as far as the eye could see, between the mountains on either side, in the glen, was a sea. A sea of green, pulsating, slightly luminous fog, covering the road completely and going half way up the mountains on either side. It must have been half a mile across––

¹ see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Glencoe

To be continued…
 

____________________

---

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories and remember, no comments means no feedback and no feedback means no stories:-)

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

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. In the distance I could see the huge mountain range that included our destination, Ben Nevis. We were so near yet so far. I could not believe that after all we had been through, we would have this horrid green splodge of death in front of us barring our way…

 

---

Chapter 16

Previously…

I coughed slightly and my chest felt tight. I wondered if, what with everything else, I was coming down with a cold.

The road rose a bit and there was a bend up ahead where the glen started proper. I was getting to feel even colder now. The heating in the bus was laughable, and we really needed to stop and put on some more clothes, but we had stopped enough for today and I wanted to get where we were going in the shortest time possible. Looking at the others in the rear view mirror, they were all either asleep or just staring out of the windows. The chatter had stopped after seeing those poor kids on the bus. No more sing-songs today.

I coughed and I felt a bit of wetness down below. I wasn’t sure if it was wee or, yucky blood, but I was thankful that I was wearing some sort of protection. I didn’t want to spoil my skirt–

I stopped thinking about my skirt as I topped the brae and studied what lay ahead.

I pulled the bus up on the side of the road and stared at Glen Coe, which had opened up before me.

There were gasps from behind as the others had noted that I had stopped and realised why.

Jeanie came forward and just said. ‘Oh, crivvens!’

Before us, as far as the eye could see, between the mountains on either side, in the glen, was a sea. A sea of green, pulsating, slightly luminous fog, covering the road completely and going half way up the mountains on either side. It must have been half a mile across––

And now the story continues…

Glen Coe

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. In the distance I could see the huge mountain range that included our destination, Ben Nevis. We were so near yet so far. I could not believe that after all we had been through, we would have this horrid green splodge of death in front of us barring our way.

Did it have consciousness? Did it possess intelligence? Nobody knew, in fact it was our ignorance that was our greatest enemy.

I put the bus in reverse and very slowly drove backwards over the brow of the hill until the iridescent fog was once again out of sight.

I stopped Nessie at the side of the road on a grass verge. I kept the engine running as I thought that we might have to make a quick getaway if the fog decided–if it was able to decide–to advance upon us.

I turned to the others, wincing a bit as my belly decided to kick with pain. All this and the curse too! Who said girls didn’t have it tough? Men, I bet!

The others looked downcast and shaken. Even Ben looked up from his prone position with a look that told me that he wasn’t exactly full of bouncy joy. Then I remembered what the project leader, Colonel Robertson had said of us, ‘you have come so far, you’re resourceful enough to get here by yourselves.’

For better or worse, I was the leader–even Jeanie looked to me now. She was the natural leader as far as I was concerned, having been the tougher of the two of us, even when we were growing up. But everything that had happened to us of late had knocked some stuffing out of my sister, and I felt she would take a long while–even if all this ended happily–for her to get back to her normal rambunctious self.

I noticed Julie was crying and Sarah, her sister, was comforting her. It was all getting a bit much for everyone. I needed ideas. I took a deep breath and tried to get us all back on course and positive.

‘Now listen, everybody, we’ve come up against plenty of obstacles on our journey and overcome them all – you’ve been marvellous. We are so close now that I can even smell my mum’s cooking from here. I know that ’cos she always burns the food.’

They all smiled and Nicola–bless her–actually giggled.

‘We have to get past that fog. Has anyone got any ideas?’

Eve looked at me.

‘W—What do we know about it–the fog?’

‘Good question. When my Dad got a rotten letter from the tax people, he said ‘know your enemy’. Well, it kills people, we know that, but not everyone otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Anything else?’

‘Well,’ Jeanie replied, ‘d’you remember when it like, came after us a few times and the faster we went in the bus, the faster it seemed to go?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I remember; after that man at the garage tried to get into the car, he had a knife and we shot off and the fog followed us; what else?’

It might sound as if we were having a normal conversation from the above description, but in reality, I was constantly glancing over at the brow of the hill for any signs of the fog approaching and we were all feeling breathless, a sure sign that “the enemy” was in the vicinity.

‘We don’t all need oxygen,’ Sarah said. ‘You don’t, Allie.’

‘That’s true; somehow I seem to have developed some sort of resistance to it than the rest of you–I wonder––?’ I paused for a moment. A germ of an idea was rumbling around inside me and bubbling to the surface.

I gazed at Jeanie and asked; ‘How many flares did you bring, sis?’

‘I brought the box; there must be twenty at least–with two Very pistols.’

‘Can you dig a few out and get me a flare gun too? I want to try something.’

She stared at me as if I was feeble-starkers-bonkers–I was probably–but I wanted to try something. Everyone was quiet and then Nicola came to me wearing a somewhat worried frown on her face.

‘Allie, I’m frightened.’

‘I know, honey, me too, but we’ve all been very brave so far, especially you, so I want you to try and be brave for a little while longer. Can you do that for me?’

‘I—I’ll try,’ she said with a timid smile.

‘Good girl,’ I said giving her a reassuring hug.

Jeanie returned with the box of flares. The Very pistols were lying on the top.

‘Thanks, freckles.’ I said. She had two freckles on her nose and I never let her forget it. ‘Now listen everybody this is what I intend doing––’

~ §~

There were a lot of arguments and it took a while for things to calm down again.

‘Does anyone have a better idea?’

They all looked at one another but nothing was said.

‘I’ll try it then.’

I put on my coat and beret, picked up the Very pistol which Jeanie had already loaded, gave them a bright smile and alighted from the Nessie.

Jeanie immediately sat in the driver’s seat and as I glanced back, I could see the tension on her face and her white knuckles as she gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Without further ado, I started to make my way up the road. The sound of my shoes scraping on the road surface sounded quite loud as I trudged nearer and nearer the monstrous green death. My heart was in my mouth and despite the chill in the air, I could feel a rivulet of sweat running down my back and soaking my blouse at the bottom. There was not a breath of wind in the air and over in the distance, I could hear the lapping of water against rocks as I got ever nearer to my crazy destination.

At the top of the hill, there were big rocks on either side of the road. Not knowing whether the fog could somehow see me if I appeared, I crouched down low and approached one of the rocks, peeping out to see if–by some miracle–the fog might have gone. It was a forlorn hope as I was breathing like an asthmatic sheep, but a girl has to hope.

It was still there; vast and green, like a sea, reaching into the distance.

I lifted the gun and aimed over to the other side of the glen where the fog had crept up the mountainside and seemed to be at its thickest.

My hand was shaking and the grip felt slippery in my hand, so I held the pistol with both hands and pulled the trigger.

The swooshing noise made me jump, as the flare sped across the fog. It sent a burning coloured wad similar to a 'roman candle' several hundred feet and just before reaching the mountainside, it exploded with a loud noise and then a shower of bright red lit up the darkened sky.

Momentarily, I was blinded by the flare and then saw what I had hoped for; the fog was following the flare and began to ooze toward it! I was right; it reacted to movement, light and possibly noise! As a mass, it rolled towards the place where the flare was still burning brightly. It was almost like a vast wave hitting the shore as the fog climbed the lower slopes of the mountain and engulfed the bright red flare. When it followed the flare, the road became exposed. My idea could work–with luck!

Then slowly, once the flare had died down, the fog crept back to its original position. I could see that it was going to be tricky getting Nessie through in time for us to avoid the fog, but we had no alternative. We had to try.

I returned to the others giving them a thumbs up as I arrived back at Nessie.

‘It worked,’ I said breathlessly. We’ll give it a try. Look, there’s something else we have to do though. I want you all to have oxygen going as we go through, just in case.’

‘What about you?’ asked Jeanie.

‘I don’t think I can. The bottle would get in the way and so would the tubes. I’ll have a towel or something, don’t worry about me. If this all works out, I won’t need anything. Let’s get cracking!

~ §~

It only took a few moments for everyone to get ready. We made sure that the baby was safe and that someone was sitting next to Nicola–who still looked petrified. We tied Ben to the base of one of the seats because we didn’t want him rushing up and down the aisle of the bus in panic.

I had a towel on my lap in case I needed it and the two Very pistols armed and ready by my side. I would have no time to reload them, so I would just have to trust to luck that we would get through to the other side before the fog came. I opened the side window so that I could just point and shoot when the time came. I also had my pen knife cradled in my skirt between my legs. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to use it and didn’t say anything to the others about it, in case of objections.

‘Ready?’ I called, my voice sounding much stronger than I felt.

I heard muffled calls from behind me.

‘Right, here goes. Hold very tight please.’

Jeanie glanced at me and reached up to the bell-push and pushed it twice; ‘Ding…ding.’

I drove Nessie to the brow of the hill. The fog had virtually returned to its previous position in the middle of the glen.

I pointed the pistol out of the driver’s window and aimed for roughly the same place as before, but a bit higher. I squeezed the trigger and flames shot out as the flare screeched across the valley and exploded on the mountainside. The fog responded immediately and surged towards the bright red light of the flare.

A Webley and Scott Very Pistol

Without further ado, I gunned the engine and threw the bus down the road which now had only a thin covering of fog. As we reached the fog, I realised that it was still potent enough to cause us harm. A brief look in the rear view mirror showed that the others were either asleep or heading that way.

I began to feel a bit woozy, so I knew what I had to do. I picked up the penknife with my free hand and as I put my foot hard down on the accelerator, with my heart pounding and a violently shaking hand, I plunged the knife into the fleshy part of my thigh, hoping that I would miss anything vital. The pain nearly made me pass out and I screamed as I dropped the knife, picked up the towel and covered my nose and mouth.

I was crying with the pain of my injury. I never thought it would hurt so much. The engine was almost shrieking now, not being used to running at such a high speed, but I knew of MacBraynes reputation for keeping their buses and coaches in tip-top mechanical condition. It was all I could do to control Nessie as I weaved about, trying to keep her on the road and attempted to concentrate through the terrible pain in my leg. I could feel the blood running down my leg and began to feel faint, but I hung in there and carried on. I had to because there was nobody else to do it.

I kept glancing at the green wall over to my right, it looked huge and impenetrable. There was fog all around the bus as I drove through the glen to the other end. I had the headlights on, but it was almost like being in the dark, and this was where the fog was at its thinnest. It was incredibly difficult to steer with one hand, hold the towel to my face with the other and avoid the rocks and boulders on either side of the road.

After reaching what have been about half way through, I noticed that the fog was getting thicker again and I could barely see the road in front of me through the throbbing green luminous haze.

I took a deep breath behind the towel, put it on my lap, picked up the other Very pistol and with a none too steady hand, once again, fired it at what I hoped was the mountainside.

I dropped the pistol beside me, picked up the towel again and held it against my face.

Almost immediately my view cleared as the fog oozed away from the road and followed the bright red flare. It seemed more interested in the intense bright red light rather than our speeding wee bus. Another interesting fact to add to our meagre knowledge of the fog.

We were beginning to climb uphill now and I had to hold my breath again, drop the towel and change down a gear with an awful crunch as my weakened left leg struggled with the clutch pedal. The blood had started to fill my shoe now and the pedal rubber felt slippery with what was probably my own blood.

I was feeling hot and cold at the same time. I wanted to go to sleep and my eyelids drooped for a moment. A front wheel hit a boulder or something, making me jolt awake again.

The fog to my right was returning towards us now like a green tidal wave so I put my foot to the floor as I just had to outrun it somehow, but my foot was already jammed on the floor and the old bus just couldn’t go any faster. If anything, we were slowing down as the road got steeper in front of us.

I had no more shots to fire from the Very pistol, as they were single shot guns only. The others in the back were all on the floor where they had rolled off the seats. Arthur’s carry cot was jammed amongst some of our stores though and hadn’t moved. It was brighter up ahead at the apex of the road. The fog was closing in though and it was touch and as to what would happen next. Either the fog would get us or we would get to the other side and hopefully the fog would subside back into Glen Coe.

~ §~

Then the green mass of the fog overtook us and I couldn’t see a thing. It was like thick green pea soup and I just wanted to give in there and then, give myself to the fog and have peace. It was almost inviting me to ease off on the accelerator and just stop and I began to do just that–there was no point in continuing. The fog would get us one day, why not now? Then I could close my eyes and breathe in deeply and all my troubles would be over––

Then a muscle spasm in my injured leg made me wince and almost shout with pain as my wound reminded me of the perilous state all of us were in. I jolted awake, put the towel back up against my nose and mouth and stamped down on the accelerator–

Nessie burst out of the fog and almost crossed the road into Loch Leven up ahead. I pulled her to the right, away from the “valley of death”, realising that the Ballachulish Ferry would probably not be working and carried on up the road towards Kinlochleven, Fort William and our parents.

Gazing out of the window, I could see that the fog had not followed us and breathed a sigh of relief at that. I looked down at my skirt: it was covered in blood, as was my left leg. I nearly cried as I liked that skirt and it would never wash out–

Suddenly I felt very poorly. I wanted to faint and I nearly ran off the road and down into the loch. I had to stop and have a break and perhaps do something with my leg which was oozing blood all the time. I stopped in the middle of the road and held the towel against the wound. Looking back, everyone was still asleep and I wondered with dread whether they may not have been asleep, but dead––

That thought sent me over the edge and I felt my head hit the steering wheel as I too went into oblivion–

~ §~

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.

To be continued…
 

---

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories and remember, no comments means no feedback and no feedback means no stories:-)

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

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…
 

---

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories and remember, no comments means no feedback and no feedback means no stories:-)

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

Because of the urgency and the fact that I didn’t want to change my mind, I asked for things to be sorted out straight away…

 

---

Previously…

‘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?’

And now the story concludes…

Because of the urgency and the fact that I didn’t want to change my mind, I asked for things to be sorted out straight away. It would take a few days to get everything ready to everyone’s satisfaction and I spent a lot of that time discussing with the profs, scientists and others just what we knew about the fog. In the end it transpired that very little was known about it and as I had lived through it, I was regarded as–kind of– an expert.

We didn’t have much in the way of equipment, and so were somewhat hampered in what I would be able to take with me on my wee jaunt.

In the end, I would take a take a towel, a syringe full of adrenalin to give me a boost and an empty jam jar with a lid to catch the green fog. Not is exactly state of the art equipment but that was all I could use.

We had considered oxygen and a tank and just sitting outside and waiting for the fog to come, but the fog liked movement for some reason and I couldn’t move about lugging a flaming great oxygen cylinder with me.

I tried not to think of the danger. It would have put me in a blue funk. I was getting lots of hugs, kisses and other signs of affection from Mummy and Daddy. I know that they felt so guilty about what was being asked of me and I understood how they felt. But it was my decision and nobody forced me.

Oh, they did try leaving jars and things outside when the fog was about and used an ingenious method using wire and string and a sealed box that would snap shut, a bit like a rat trap, but nothing seemed to work. So good old fashioned methods had to be used and that was where little me came in.

The others were strangely quiet around me, not knowing what to say or do. Jeanie was nearly in tears whenever she came near me and in the end I suggested she make herself useful somewhere else, so she went to help in the kitchen.

The others made themselves useful around the place. Eve, being Eve helped with the maintenance of the bunker. She liked doing things with her hands and more often than not, she had those hands covered in oil! That didn’t mean that she didn’t like girlie things now. Every evening, we all sort of tried dressing for dinner and she looked as pretty as the other girls then.

Julie and Sarah helped with the little ones. Julie had gradually got better and she no longer had so many nightmares about what she had been through. Jeanie helped Mummy in the lab with the other scientists, trying to find different antidotes to the fog’s effects. Nicola was our sort of our animal keeper. Apart from Ben, there was another dog called Penny who had wandered in almost starving the previous day. There were also some chickens, nabbed from a local farm on the way through on the journey from the complex to the bunker. They gave us some much needed eggs which added to the rather plain food that we had to use. How long the tinned and dried food would last was anyone’s guess.

~ §~

So the time came when everything was in place and I was to go out and meet the fog. Sentries and look-out’s had been placed in various locations for any signs of the fog but there had been no sign of it for some time. The plane went up on two occasions and found banks of it some miles away, but it seemed to like valleys more than the higher ground.

I sat around for long periods twiddling my thumbs and waiting for something to happen. I was taking large amounts of vitamin B12–lots of it in the form of Marmite ® on my breakfast toast–hopefully to counteract some of the fog’s effects; I had always loved Marmite. I spent far too much time thinking about things and, this wasn’t helping and that was why, in the end I wrote this journal, to keep me busy and my mind off what was to come.

It was at almost the end of the third day that the fog came towards us. Lookouts reported it approaching us slowly from the east.

I didn’t want long goodbyes, and not wanting to risk blubbing, I just hugged my extended family quickly and made my way out of the bunker. I nearly lost my shaky composure when I said goodbye to my parents and sister who were all crying and acting as if they might never see me again, but I tried without a great deal of success to keep a stiff upper lip and just said a cheery–if quavering–goodbye and then when the huge steel doors opened, went out to meet the fog.

As the doors slammed behind me, I felt very alone in an extremely hostile world. I stopped for a moment almost panicking and considering very seriously whether I should just bang on the door and go back inside. But somehow, I calmed myself and began the journey that might cost me my life.

It was dry and cold outside and a gentle breeze wafted up my skirt. I smiled ruefully, remembering that as a boy, I had gone into long trousers about a year ago, and they might have been preferable on a chilly day like this–although a kilt would have been much warmer than my comparatively flimsy skirt. I had on my coat, scarf and beret, but no gloves because I would have had difficulty screwing on the jar’s lid or injecting myself with adrenaline had I been wearing gloves.

I knew roughly where the fog was. I had to go along the road, over the brow of a hill and there I would see its approach. According to the lookouts, it was about a mile and a half away, coming in my direction at about a fast walking pace. Well, thinking about it would not get the job done, so taking a deep breath I set off.

My heart was thumping loudly as I walked down the road, my heels clicking on the tarmac being the only noise apart from the gentle whisper of the breeze in the trees and the occasional flap of birds wings as, mainly seagulls flew rapidly across the sky and over my head. It did not take a rocket scientist to know what they were trying to escape from.

To keep myself sane and not thinking too many nasty thoughts I started singing the first thing that came into my head.

Oh! ye'll tak’ the high road and
I'll tak’ the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

I was slightly off key, but I was no singer to speak of and let’s face it, there was no one around to hear my rather tuneless wailing.

On reaching the brow of the brae I stopped: the road veered to the right about fifty yards ahead but behind the road and over the hills was the fog, not a quarter of a mile away and coming ever closer–a massive bank of the evil, rising to about fifty feet and many miles across. It was green, pulsating and had that strange luminosity about it, as if it had a life. My chest immediately felt tight and I had some difficulty breathing. After putting the towel over my mouth and nose, I looked for somewhere to stop. Over to the side was a large rock that looked rather like a leering skull.

I went to the rock and sat down with my back to it, facing the now fast-approaching fog. It began to darken as the fog covered the sun. I just sat there trembling and sweating despite the coldness of the day. The light got dimmer and dimmer and my heart thumped faster and faster. My breathing became more difficult. With trembling hands I unscrewed the lid of the Robertson’s jam jar with, I noticed in passing, it’s Golly sticker still attached.

I had the syringe in my pocket and I was just about to get it out when I heard a scraping sound. Looking up, I could hear faltering steps coming from around the corner. I gasped as staggering into view was a small boy of about 4 years old! He looked ragged, thin and almost dead on his feet. He came towards me, not really aware of the fog or anything else for that matter.

The fog was looming large now and was no more than two hundred yards away. I didn’t think, I just acted and called out to the boy.

‘Come here, quickly!’ I shouted.

He paid no attention and appeared to be oblivious of me. He stopped and stood there swaying the road like a branch in the wind.

I immediately got up and ran towards him. He seemed dazed, and didn’t respond as I came up and tried to shake him out of his torpor. The fog was getting nearer and nearer. I was feeling a compulsion to just go towards it with the boy and be embraced by it, but I had had these feelings before and I resisted them. I pulled the boy over to the side of the road, my mind full of indecision. Then, I realised that he had had a much shorter life than I and I need to try to give him a chance if I could.

I took the syringe out of my pocket and jabbed the boy in the leg with the needle and used the plunger to inject the adrenalin. It wasn’t a nice thing to do but he didn’t even notice it. Then I took the towel and tied it firmly around his mouth and nose. I was continually looking up and gauging the distance between us and the fog. It was coming nearer and nearer. It was nearly dark now as any light from the sun was now being obliterated by the green, pulsating, deadly fog.

I put the jam jar down on the floor and hugged the little boy. I noted that he had fallen asleep despite the adrenalin. I was feeling a bit sleepy myself, even though I found breathing difficult, had an intense desire to get up and join the fog.

I thought of Mummy and Daddy, my sister, Jeanie and my friends, Eve, Julie, Sarah, Nicola and not forgetting, Ben. I focussed on that and not the voices in my head that told me to just get up and be with the fog which was bearing down on me.

I bit my tongue and the pain helped the voices go away a bit and clear my head. I could taste the blood go down my throat and I nearly gagged as the fog finally came up and enveloped us. I was holding my breath and I pulled the lid out of my pocket and screwed the top on the jar, taking two attempts before it would screw properly, finally trapping some of the evil fog inside.

I could hold my breath no longer and just breathed the vile stuff in and shut my eyes, waiting for it to either knock me out or take my life.

But I didn’t sleep; I was feeling tired, more tired than I had ever felt in my life, but I did not lose consciousness!

I opened my eyes and could see very little of my surroundings. Everything was green and faintly luminous. I looked down at the boy, slumped down by the side of me. I thought that he was dead, and then noted some very shallow and slow breathing. I myself could not move now and it was as if I was paralysed in some way.

As I watched him with the fog swirling around us, I could see him subtly change. His head changed shape slightly and I looked on powerless, with horror when the towel dropped from his face. I could not move to put it back and it was all I could do to breath.

He no longer looked boyish but more feminine and his hair began to grow slowly before my eyes. I know that children of that age were fairly androgynous but I could tell that there were definite changes going on. His nose became thinner and more button like. His lips looked slightly thicker, the shape of his eyebrows changed subtly and his look softened perceptibly. Yes, he was changing into a girl before my very eyes!

I sat there for twenty minutes with what was now a little girl. My thoughts were muddled and disjointed, but mainly about what had happened over the few short weeks since the fog had descended on us suddenly and changed the world forever. I found that I could now move a little and I shifted my position to be more comfortable on the hard surface.

Looking down at the girl, I could see that her hair now touched her thin shoulders. She was wearing the uniform of Fort William Primary School with a blazer, shirt, tie and shorts. She had an overcoat on–which was open for some reason–with a cap and scarf.

With some difficulty–I was still finding it hard to move–I did up her overcoat and made sure that she was as warm as possible. I could do little for her legs, which above her stockings and below her shorts were bare. She looked awfully thin and pale. How she had survived all that had been going on I didn’t know. I hugged her to me, trying to keep her as warm as possible as the fog gradually thinned and then disappeared over the hill.

I couldn’t go back to the bunker yet as she was still asleep. I hoped that she would awaken shortly so I could get her and the jar back to the others as soon as possible. Looking at the jar, I could see the fog swirling slightly through the glass as if it had a life of its own. It wasn’t much, but I hoped that it would be enough for the scientists to do something with.

Eventually, she moaned slightly and opened her eyes. She looked up and smiled.

‘Maw?’ she said, her voice thin and weak.

I stroked her hair. ‘Your Maw has gone away for a bit. Would you like to come and see mine?’

‘Has she got biscuits?’

‘Aye, hen, let’s go and find her, shall we?

~ §~

The fog had all but disappeared now, and I noticed that the wind was whipping up and clouds were bubbling up from the west. It got colder very quickly and I hurried as fast as I could with my shaky legs to try to beat the bad weather that was surely coming our way. The wee girl–whose name, incidentally, was Andrew–was finding it hard going, and in the end I had to carry her. She was so thin though that I had little trouble lifting her.

I don’t think she realised that she had become a girl so I decided to leave the adults to sort out that wee problem.

It started raining rather hard half-way home, and then the rain turned to wet snow, making us feel even colder. I had real concerns about whether we would get to safety, when I heard the sound of an engine. Looking up I could just make out approaching headlights through the blinding sleet. It was a Land Rover!

In seconds we were in the car and being taken back by Daddy and one of the doctors to the safety of the bunker complex.

I had made it alive and had a new addition to our group!

As I browse my journal some 5 years later, I marvel at how we could have possibly survived such a catastrophic event.

On arriving back at the bunker complex, I was treated like a heroine, but not liking all the fuss, I disappeared into my room for a few hours.

When I came out of hiding, I discovered that things were moving. The storm outside had gradually worsened and it seemed as if it had reached hurricane proportions in its ferocity.

Meanwhile, the boffins had taken the precious fog sample and using a special airtight vessel, specially constructed for the purpose, were trying to discover more about it.

The storm outside continued unabated while we carried on with our lives as best as we could inside the bunker. Luckily it had its own generators, so we were relatively dry and warm, while outside the temperature dropped to 30 degrees below zero and dropping.

There was very little for us to do so we spent our time, reading, playing board games and–our favourite topic–what we would do when all this was over.

Wee Andy, who now answered to Andrea–or Andi for short–seemed to take to being a girl like a duck to water. It didn’t seem to faze her at all. She never spoke about her experiences and the doctors said it was probably some sort of defence mechanism, whatever that was. She took to going around with Nicola, Ben and Penny and it was nice to see them run through the halls with the other kids, playing games and trying not to be tripped up by the barking dogs.

It was somewhat boring at times for all of us, but sometimes boring is good, especially after what all of us had been through!

About a week after I went out to fish for fog, there was a general meeting in the great Hall. We were all there–even the younger kids–as the Colonel, Mummy and Daddy, and the head scientist faced us and told us about the current state of play.

‘Thank you for coming,’ said the Colonel, ‘Firstly, the weather. Outside, the temperature is continuing to drop and the storm continues unabated. We have no idea how widespread the bad weather is and how long it might continue. We will keep you posted, as usual by putting the temperatures and barometer readings on the notice board in the canteen. Now I think that Professor Summers here wants to tell us about the sample of fog that young Alexandra here was brave enough to obtain for us, Professor?’

I felt my face go hot as I blushed when half the eyes turned in my direction. I sunk lower in my chair.

‘Thank you, Colonel. Well, I would like to say that I have good news for you, but I regret that I have not. Under strict conditions and under a sealed environment, we opened the jar provided by Alex. It was immediately obvious that the fog had no life in it as it sank to the bottom of the chamber and did not move. There was no sign of luminosity and it was not throbbing. We did what we could to test it for its component composition, but there were no tests that we could carry out that would bring us any closer to what it was and whether indeed it was alive. The gas appears now to be inert and as such our tests have failed. We are not prepared to release it into the atmosphere in case for some reason it might come to life and make our situation worse. We are in unknown territory here and because we do not know enough about the gas we will not be taking any chance that it might miraculously come back to life again.’

With that he sat down. I felt bad about that. I had risked my life, all for nothing. Then I remembered wee Andrea and smiled. It was worth it, after all!

Mummy got up next and spoke.

‘As far as our supplies are concerned, we have enough to last us at least three months and water is being supplied by the underground well beneath this complex. There is enough fuel for the generators to last a further six months at least and that goes for the LP gas. We hope that the weather might change soon and if that does, we will try to do something about our stocks.’

Daddy then took over.

‘Our communications with the outside world are zero at the moment. The weather is too bad, and although we have round the clock monitoring, nothing is coming in. We are overhauling our equipment and hope to have a more powerful radio and antennas to use in the near future that will extend our range considerably.’

That was just about the end of the meeting and we just had to sit and hope that things would improve soon.

Three weeks and two days later the weather lifted and the fog was gone.

From around the country and the world, our now more powerful transmitters picked up pockets of life. We spoke to several places in the UK, one outside Manchester, another Cornwall, one near Mount Snowdon where another government complex had managed to weather the storm and a few other places, but nothing came out of the south east including London.

Other countries, like France, Holland and Germany had been picked up, but nothing further afield. It appeared that there were very few people left alive and those that were had many problems trying to survive the tragedy.

But the human race is tough and adaptable. It was calculated that only about half of one percent of the entire human race had survived the fog and the storms that raged around the world for nearly a month. It might have been worse or better than that, but as communications were difficult and remain so, it has all been a question of guesswork as to the numbers of survivors.

Formal governments have become a thing of the past and even now, five years later, there is no real strong structure of government anywhere that we are aware of. It took six months to get word that there were survivors in the Americas and a further two months when we were able to establish that most countries had people who had survived the virtual Armageddon brought about by the green fog.

As far as we could calculate from the sparse information coming in, there were now six females to every male survivor. It is considered enough–just–for the human race to survive. Only time will tell if it is true.

Large towns and cities have been abandoned to nature but smaller towns and villages have taken over as the hubs of much smaller communities. There are barter systems in place regarding trade, and formal currency has not been re-established in our country, although some others are trying it with varying levels of success.

We now live on my auntie and uncle’s Dunoon farm as a large extended family. Apart from my parents and aunt and uncle, there is Jeanie, of course, Eve, Sarah, Julie, Nicola, Andi and the dogs, Ben and Penny. We live a simple life and when Mummy and Daddy are at work at the complex we keep the farm going and food in our bellies. We have a lot of fun and I love all the others as dearly as if they are my own flesh and blood. It still hurts that we lost so many people but life carries on and we have to get on with it.

On personal level, I have a boyfriend called Nigel whom I love very much and who had somehow managed to avoid becoming a girl. He doesn’t know it yet, but we are going to get married soon. I want to have some babies and help increase the world’s population–well someone has to do it!

And what of the green fog? Occasionally, around sunset, there is a slight green tinge in the sky. If it is the fog, high up in the atmosphere, pushed up by the incredibly violent storms, I hope sincerely that it stays there, but if it doesn’t we will be ready and fight it because we are, as a race, survivors.

 

---

Please remember to leave comments...it's nice to know if people like/don't like my stories and remember, no comments means no feedback and no feedback means no stories:-)

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