Children Of Tomorrow Part 1: And They Danced

[garethn]

FYI, I’ve reworked this, sorting out various spelling, grammar nasties etc. The results are available on Wattpad and Inkitt. If people want me to post the here I will do so. - GN - 28-May-19

01 Morris On

Alex gave an involuntary gasp as he peered through the door at the crowd gathered in The Town Hall’s Grand Chamber. His youth dancing group, ‘The Morris Minors’ had danced for much larger audiences but this was by far the most prestigious. Today was the inauguration of the town’s 757th mayor and, to mark the occasion, local dignitaries had gathered, in all their civic finary, for an official reception. At the particular request of the new mayor, the Minors had been invited to perform.

He glanced across at Mary, a tall girl with long brown hair, who was standing by the door, holding her violin to her ear and gently running her fingers across the strings to check the tuning. She looked up and, seeing his worried expression, gave an encouraging smile.

“I think I might have forgotten how to dance,” he said, only half joking.

“Don't worry! You'll be fine," she reassured him. "You always are.”

Alex’s father was standing just inside the chamber, listening to a speech from the retiring mayor, who was extolling, at considerable length, the merits of the new mayor and, more generally of ‘our great city’. When he looked across to Alex and rolled his eyes at a particularly over the top pearl of rhetoric, Alex had to suppress a chuckle.

As the speech began to draw to a close, Abby, who was foreman of the senior side and coached the Minors, wandered over with her hands in her pockets. “OK, guys, sounds like it’s time for you to get your heads in gear,” she said. “Do you want to go and get lined up?”

Alex tried to move unobtrusively back into the anteroom. This was not easy because he was wearing his dancing kit: all white except for the brightly coloured sash and cummerbund and the bell pads at his ankles.

"Go for it!" Brian whispered as he fiddled with the straps on his melodeon.

"Cheers," Alex replied. He untwisted Brian's errant strap then moved over to his place at the head of the dance set. He carefully looped his dance hankies round his middle fingers: 'loop them, don't just hold them - less chance of them slipping out', then, after taking a deep breath, looked round to the others.

Immediately behind him was Denise: solid, calm and composed. She met his look with an encouraging smile. Behind her Peter loomed, tall and heavily built. His shirt was hanging out and, when Alex told him, he tucked it in with an embarrassed grin.

Next to Alex, Daniel was peering nervously out towards the door and Alex had to whisper ‘Dan’ to get his mind back on the set. Daniel responded with an irritated look. Behind Daniel, Katherine was nervously straightening her sashes, though Alex thought they looked fine. At the back, Harry looked completely unfazed by the event. He gave Alex a friendly nod.

“Ready now,” Abby whispered from the doorway as the retiring Mayor concluded his speech and applause rolled round the room. “Have fun!”

As the applause faded, he added a few words to introduce the Minors and phrases such as 'fine young performers' and 'magnificent ambassadors for our city' floated on the air. There was another brief burst of applause and, as it started to fade, Alex nodded to Mary who raised her violin and started to play a simplified version of the first dance tune. Then, with Brian at her side, she walked out into the Chamber. The dancers followed on in set formation, walking in time with the music and casually swinging their hankies at their sides.

When they reached the middle of the room, Mary paused and waited. Alex gave one more quick check down the set and, with another nod to Mary, the music started.

The dancers rocked gently on their toes, calmly counted the beats until the music told them it was time. Then, as one, they took half a step backwards and, with a flick of hankies, they surged into the first figure.

---

By the time they reached the final dance Alex was tiring. Brian had stepped in to relieve some of the other dancers but Alex had had to dance all the way through. They had moved on to using long sticks which required even more concentration than the hankies. The solid, yard long pieces of Ash could do a lot of damage if you weren't careful.

“Last time!” Alex called as they slid out of a circular figure to re-form the set. With a double stamp they went into the final, dramatic, double handed sticking sequence and the music paused to emphasise the clashes of the sticks.

After a final clash the music restarted and they leapt out to form the circle then wait... turn on the beat and wait... only then did they move. Alex knew he had to keep an eye on Katherine because, with her short legs, she has difficulty moving as fast as the rest of them. He matched the set’s pace to hers as they made their way round.

Then back into set once more, finishing with a flourish, their sticks held high. Brian paused but Mary fingers blurred on the violin as she added her own individual flourishes to the basic tune and the applause started - surprisingly enthusiastic for such a formal audience. The Minors relaxed a little and Alex grinned across the set at Dan as they enjoyed the moment.

The dancers held their position until the music came round again then they surprised the audience by re-starting: a quick double stamp then, with a final clash, they leapt out to re-form the circle. As they made their way round one last time, Mary stopped to allow Brian to carry on alone. He would never be the musician that Mary was, but he enjoyed playing enormously. Alex broke the circle and, still dancing, led them off back towards the anteroom, casually tossing his stick to his father as he passed. His father was unperturbed and caught it with a smile.

There was a celebratory atmosphere as they gathered together – they had done well and they knew it! Alex wiped his face and hands with a towel then looked around to see where his little sister, Hanna, was. She loved to watch them dance and would always rush over to join them when they came off. After a few seconds he found her on a pile of coats and bags in the corner of the room. She was fast asleep!

Alex went over to her and, as he was brushing a few strands of hair out of her face, he realised that she was hot - really hot. Feeling slightly self-conscious because he was still in kit, Alex went to fetch his father from the Chamber. His father was a doctor at the local hospital and so he would know what to do.

When Alex found his father, he was chatting to one of the senior hospital administrators but he came at once when he saw how worried Alex was. He put his hand and Hanna’s forehead and frowned. "You were right to get me,” he said. "It’s probably nothing serious but I think I’d better take her into St Thomas’ to run a couple of tests." After asking Abby to take Alex home, he bundled Hanna up in his coat and carried her to the car.

---

When he got home his mother was on the phone to his father and, as he collapsed on the sofa, he immediately picked up her worried tone.

"How’s Hanna?" he asked as soon as she finished.

"I’m sure she’s going to be fine…" she began.

"Mother!" Alex protested. He was not prepared to be fobbed off. "I heard you on the phone to Dad. How is she really?"

She let out a deep sigh. “She’s really quite poorly," she said, her casual tone slipping away. "Your father thinks I should go there straight away."

"Should I come too?"

"No, you’ve got school tomorrow. Go and get your pyjamas and toothbrush and I’ll give Teedy a call." Mrs Teed was their next door neighbour and was always happy to help out with this sort of thing.

Alex would normally have grumbled about being treated like a baby. He was more than capable of looking after himself for a night, but there was something about his mother’s tone that made him jump up and do what he was asked straight away.

With the worry about Hanna, Alex thought he might have trouble sleeping but he must have been more tired than he thought. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He was shaken awake the next morning by a call on his mobile. It was his father.

"Hello," he said. "How’s Hanna?"

"She’s much better now." Alex could clearly hear the relief in his voice. "She was really ill for a while but we’ve managed to stabilise her now."

"Can I come and see her?"

"There’s no point," his father answered. "She’s fast asleep now and I certainly don’t want you to wake her. Go on into school now and you can come and see her later. All being well, she’ll be awake and bored by then."

Alex’s mother arrived just as he was finishing breakfast and he hurried off home with her to get ready for school. She obviously hadn’t slept much, so he didn’t even bother to ask for a lift. Instead he threw a few books into his bag and set off on the twenty minute walk.

He found it difficult to concentrate in school that day. Not only was he worried about Hanna, he still felt really tired. Peter, who sat next to him in class, had to nudge him a couple of times to stop him falling asleep.

He was getting worse as the day wore on and his legs were starting to ache, so he was glad that his mother came to collect him from school. It meant he would not have to walk home. She took him straight out to the hospital and they went up to Hanna’s room.

She looked a pathetic creature, lying in a sort of plastic tent surrounded by tubes and machinery but his mother assured him that she was on the mend now.

"Then why is she shut up like that?" he asked.

"Your father says it’s normal," his mother reassured him. "They don’t know much about the bug she’s got and they don’t want it spreading round the hospital."

Alex sat with his mother for about ten minutes. He could wave to Hanna and talked to her briefly on a telephone but when he started nodding off to sleep she sent him up to find his father. "Get him to take you home," she told him. "He didn’t get much sleep last night either.”

"What about you?" Alex asked.

"I’ll be alright here," she answered. "I don’t want to leave Hanna. She might be frightened if she wakes up on her own in there."

Alex went up to find his father who was in his office at the top of the old building. He had to wait for an unusually long time at the security doors at the top of the stairs and, when his father came, it was obvious he had been sleeping.

"Did I wake you?" he asked his father as they walked along to his office.

"Don’t worry about it," his father answered with a smile as he settled back into his office chair. "I had to wake up anyway or I won’t sleep tonight."

"How long will it be until Hanna’s allowed out?” Alex asked, collapsing into the chair in front of his father’s desk.

His father stretched for a moment and yawned. "It’ll be another day or two at least," he answered. "She was really ill last night." He thought for a moment and then said, quite quietly, "For a little while I was afraid we were going to lose her. I’ve never seen anybody’s temperature rise like that."

Alex stretched out in the chair as his father filed some papers away and turned his computer off. The next thing he knew, he was being gently woken by his father. "Let’s get you home," he was saying. "I guess you didn’t sleep much last night either!" His father reached down a hand and hauled him out of the chair with a friendly smile then casually slipped on his rucksack. It was quite a small black canvas bag but it seemed to hold as much as a small hospital. He rarely opened that bag in anger but on at least two occasions that Alex knew of, he had used the contents to save lives.

Alex had only vague and confused memories from the time he got into the car: stumbling out of the car to collapse on the sofa, every joint aching; the look of concern as his father put his hand on his forehead; a rough injection in his arm; his skin itching and burning as if he was being attacked by savage ants; the flash of a blue light and the sound of a siren merging with his splitting headache.

And then nothing.

---

As Alex came swimming back to consciousness he was being dazzled by a bright light. After thrashing around for a while he was eventually sufficiently awake to shade his eyes and look around.

He was lying in a large, unfamiliar room – a hospital ward. The blinds had been drawn but one was slightly broken, allowing a beam of sunlight to come flooding in onto his face. This was what had woken him.

"Morning, stranger!" came a familiar voice. Peter was lying in the next bed, grinning at him.

"Where?" he managed to croak though his throat was incredibly dry.

"We’re in hospital," Peter explained, gingerly getting out of bed and pouring Alex a glass of water from a jug on the bedside cabinet.

"Your baby sister managed to give us all that bug of hers," he went on as Alex gulped down the water. "We’ve got Harry, Brian and Dan in here and Kat, Den and Mary are in the next ward with Hanna.”

"Is everyone OK?" Alex asked, thinking about how worried his father had been about Hanna.

"Everyone’s fine, though when I last heard only Kat and me were awake."

"What time is it?" Alex asked.

"It’s early on Sunday morning. We were all out of it for a bit over a day."

A nurse appeared at the window at the end of the ward, smiled and held up a telephone receiver. Alex looked around and saw that there was a telephone on the bedside cabinet with a flashing light. He picked up the receiver.

"Good morning!" the voice at the other end said. "My name’s May. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you," he thought for a moment, "a bit hungry, though, and still quite thirsty."

"That’s only to be expected," Nurse May answered. "You’ve got enough to drink there and breakfast will be along in about twenty minutes."

"Why the telephone thing?" Alex asked.

"Infection control," she answered. "We’re doing everything we can to stop this thing from spreading. I could come in but I’d have to suit up and I’d rather avoid it if it’s not really necessary."

"I see."

"If you’re OK for now, I’m going to call your father," she went on. "He asked us to let him know as soon as you’re awake."

Five minutes later, Alex’s father appeared at the window and, when the light flashed he picked up the phone.

"How are you doing?" his father asked. He had a broad smile but Alex could see from his eyes that he was exhausted.

"Fine," Alex answered. "Still quite thirsty but I’m feeling fine."

"You should have told me you were feeling ill before we went home," his father scolded him gently. "We could have avoided a lot of the drama."

"I didn’t really feel all that ill," Alex answered, "just tired and a bit of a headache.

His father nodded thoughtfully.

"Harry’s awake!" Peter said. Alex passed on the message to his father.

"How are you to get up?" his father asked. "I’d like you to go down and see how he is and give him a drink. If you can’t manage I can ask one of the nurses."

"I’ll give it a go," Alex said. "I should be OK."

"Well, take it easy and sit down if you feel dizzy," his father instructed him.

Alex stood up gingerly then smiled at his father and walked down the ward.

"What is it we’ve all got?" Alex asked when he returned from his nursing duties. “You all seem to be very worried about it.”

"It’s a very peculiar virus and it seems to be remarkably aggressive," his father answered. "We've got all the Minors as well as most of Hanna’s class in here. It got a bit hectic in here yesterday, I can tell you! We’re certainly not going to let you out of isolation until we’re sure you’re over it. We’re running some tests now and should know in another hour or so."

Nurse May appeared at the window and spoke briefly to his father.

"I’ve got to go," he explained. "It looks like another couple of cases have shown up."

---

Three hours later, Alex was up in his father’s office with Mary and Hanna, waiting to be taken home. Alex had been surprised at how quickly they had been moved out of the ward once the tests had shown them to be clear.

As soon as his father stepped through the door, Alex knew that there was a problem. His father seemed to have aged about twenty years.

"What’s the matter?" he asked.

"Come for a stroll with me," his father said in a suspiciously casual tone. He glanced significantly at Hanna.

Out in the corridor he explained that the number of flu cases was increasing very rapidly and that people were starting to die.

"That’s not all, though, is it?" Alex said. He could see there was real fear in his father’s eyes.

"Your mum’s gone down with it as well. She’s downstairs."

"But she’ll be alright, won’t she?"

"I hope so," his father said simply. He didn’t need to say anymore.

"Can I go and see her?”

"I’m afraid not," his father answered. "The whole place is going into special operations mode. I had to fight hard to get you lot out of the quarantine area before lock down. We’re doing everything we can to stop this virus spreading but, to be honest, it’s a losing battle."

Alex studied his father for a long time, hoping for some sort of sign that it wasn’t as serious as it seemed but none came.

"I’m sorry but I’ve got to go and get on," his father said at last. "There’s so much to do." He embraced Alex warmly – unusually warmly - then went briefly into the office to give Hanna a kiss.

As he stepped out he took Alex by his two shoulders and looked him in the face. "And, whatever happens, you’re to look after Hanna for me!" he said before hurrying down the corridor. Alex wanted to ask him what he meant but, by the time he had got the question straight in his mind, the security door had closed with a final, resounding thud.

In the end it was nearly four o’clock by the time Mary’s mother arrived. By then Alex, Mary and Hanna had been waiting in the office for several hours.

"I’m sorry I’m so late," she said as she hurried in. "I sat down for five minutes and when I woke up it was nearly three and them, when I got here... well, the car park is completely mad."

"Are you feeling OK, mum?" asked Mary. "You’ve not got this bug, too, have you?"

"I think I might be going down with something," she answered in a hazy, distant voice.

Alex was not sure how Mary’s mother managed to make it back home. The roads were unbelievably frantic for a Sunday afternoon and there were impatient queues of cars trying to squeeze into the hospital car park. In one place, the queue of cars trying to get in was blocking cars trying to get out. When the driver of the car in front of them tried to explain that they were making matters worse for themselves, there was a furious argument but at last he managed to persuade one of the cars to ease out of the way enough to let them pass.

Mary’s mother was unbelievably drowsy and even fell asleep when the car was waiting at traffic lights. It was a great relief when, at last, they made it home. Mary had to unlock the house because her mother had fallen asleep again, then she and Alex had to half help, half carry her up to her room.

Mary showed Hanna and him to the spare room and he didn’t even manage to get undressed before he collapsed into bed.

---

Alex felt much better when he woke the next morning but he could hear Mary playing with Hanna downstairs and felt no particular need to move. After a little while, however, he was disturbed by a knocking on the door. Mary came in, looking worried.

"Dad’s asked you to come down," she explained. "Mum’s got worse and he says he’s going to take her up to hospital."

He quickly got dressed and followed her downstairs.

"I can’t get through to anyone by phone," her father explained. Though he was trying to hide it, she could sense his worry. "I’m going to have to take her up there. I’ve tried everything but her temperature keeps rising. I don’t know what else to do.

"I’m just going to have to trust you two to be sensible," he went on. "Remember, you’ve been ill so no messing about. I’ve got my mobile on me so I can let you know what’s happening."

"Are you feeling alright?" Mary asked her father when she saw that he was sweating.

"Just a bit of a headache," he answered with a weak smile. "I didn’t get much sleep last night."

Alex was shocked when he saw Mary’s mother. She was terribly pale and didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on around her.

Mary helped her mother to the car then came back and stared out of the kitchen window long after the car had driven away. "She didn’t even recognise me," she murmured, almost to herself.

"She’ll be fine," Alex said with more confidence than he really felt. "It’s just the fever. She’ll be back to her old self as soon as they get her temperature down."

---

A couple of hours later the phone rang. Mary answered it then came across to Alex. "It’s your dad," she said, passing him the phone.

"How are you feeling?" his father asked.

"Much better, thank you. How’s mum?"

"Not very well, to tell the truth."

"Can we come and see her?"

"No! I don’t want you anywhere near the hospital!" Alex was shocked by the vehemence of his father’s tone.

"Dad!"

"Sorry. Things are bad here. People are dying – lots of people. We’ve got a full scale emergency lockdown and you wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near. I only managed to get a call out because I know about this old payphone hidden away in the staff quarters."

"What about your mobile?"

"Nothing like that is working. Now listen, please. I don’t know how long I’ve got on this phone."
Alex could hear shouting at the other end of the telephone.

"Listen carefully," his father said abruptly. "If for some reason I can’t get hold of you when this all blows over, there will be a letter waiting for you underneath the bottom drawer in my office. You can find my office?"

"Sure!"

"But you are not to leave the house until things calms down. Do you understand? It's really important."

"Yes dad."

"And no matter what, you'll look after Hanna for me?"

"Of course!"

There were more raised voices at the other end of the phone then a loud hammering noise and something was smashed."

"Got to go now," said his father. "I love you both."

"I love you too," Alex said but the line was already dead.

Alex sat, staring into space for a long time. He wasn’t stupid and knew what his father meant when he said ‘can’t get hold of you’. He was telling Alex what to do in case he did not survive. Mary sat with him for a while. She felt she ought to say something but she couldn’t work out what. At last she smiled at him then went through to the dining room where Hanna was playing with her old dolls house.

After a couple of minutes, Mary put her head around the corner. "Are you cold?" she asked. "I think the heating’s out."

Alex looked at her and nodded. It had got cold.

They went through into the kitchen and had a look at the central heating boiler. There were no flashing lights and nothing was obviously wrong.

Mary tried running the hot water tap but nothing happened at the boiler and the water remained cold. Then Alex tried lighting one of the gas rings on the cooker. For a few seconds the flame burned but then it flickered and went out.

"That’ll be the problem, then," said Alex with a grim smile. "No gas."

He went back into the lounge and found Hanna, who asked whether she could watch television. After checking with Mary, he clicked it on and tried to find Hanna’s favourite children’s channel.


It was dead - just a blank screen.

He clicked through a few channels and found a news program - as he looked further, that was all he found. The same news program was being transmitted on a couple of channels. Everything else was blank.

He tried to explain the situation to Hanna but was left in no doubt that she thought that it was his fault and stomped off back to the dining room. He casually watched the news for a while: medical staff were battling bravely to contain the outbreak; there were some reports of looting and the police were asking people to stay off the streets.

Then they went on to international news with reports of the virus spreading round the world. There were pictures from Japan, of large crowds wearing face masks; confused reports of a war in the Middle East; riots in parts of Russia; and work on developing a vaccine in California.

"Who do they think they’re kidding?" Alex almost shouted at the television. "It’ll take months to produce a vaccine. They haven’t got anything like enough time."

This was followed by a report from a local hospital. Though the images had been carefully selected, it was obvious that the system was in a state of almost complete collapse. Burly security guards and armed police were controlling the entrance. The reporter had only managed to say a couple of words about hard pressed hospital staff doing their best in a difficult situation, when a vicious fight broke out at the reception desk behind her. The program cut sharply back to the studio.

Mary and Alex looked at each other in horror. Their parents were right in the middle of that mess. How was anybody going to get any proper treatment there?

"What can we do?" asked Mary.

"There's nothing we can do," said Alex wiping his eyes. "We certainly can’t go up there. Did you see the crowds outside and the armed police? We wouldn’t get anywhere near."

Mary went to the phone and tried to call her father but after the first few numbers the line went dead with a click. She hurried upstairs to try her mobile but she couldn’t even get a signal.

The news program then cut to another part of the studio where a panel of experts was sitting round a table with a reporter. For a while, not much was said; it was clear that they were all avoiding saying anything too controversial but, at last, one of the guests lost his temper at the meaningless rubbish that was being talked.

"Listen," he said, his voice rising in anger, "we can all see that this is the first plague of the modern era. The size of cities today and the effect of long distance travel mean that its spread is going to be much faster than anything mankind has ever encountered."

There was a stunned silence around the table in the studio.

"But you can’t know…" the reporter began.

"Nobody knows anything," the guest snapped, "and anybody who claims they do really doesn’t understand the situation. The only thing we can say for certain is that the dying has hardly started yet."

The reporter looked around the table for a voice of disagreement but found none. He was still looking when the program abruptly ended to be replaced by the sharp hiss of static. Alex was just standing up to turn off the television when a new program came on air.

"We apologise for the loss of the previous consolidated news service," an unfamiliar announcer was saying. He was sitting behind a simple table in a bare studio. "This was due to a technical problem."

"The technical problem being somebody saying something we weren’t supposed to hear," he said cynically.

There followed a bland news report, containing next to no information. This was followed by official medical advice which amounted to little more than: stay at home, take a couple of Aspirin and drink plenty of fluid.

"And wait to die!" said Alex, appalled. "They don’t know what they’re doing."

"What else can they say?" asked Mary, quietly. "If you’re going to die anyway you might as well stay at home and do it in comfort rather than fighting your way into hospital where they can’t help you anyway." She started gently crying and when the television started playing jarringly cheerful music, Alex jabbed at the remote to turn it off.

Mary moved through to the dining room where she sat at the piano and started playing a slow, melancholy tune, hesitantly at first then with more confidence as her fingers became familiar with the piece. Alex stayed on the sofa, listening to her music and staring into space.

After a little while Hanna came back into the living room. "I’m hungry," she said.

Alex sighed and got to his feet. "Can we get something to eat?" he asked Mary.

Mary nodded and they went through to the kitchen where, after a couple of minutes pottering around, they found some pasta with sauce in the freezer. She put it into the microwave.

"What do we do when the electricity stops working?" Alex asked suddenly, frightened by the thought.

"It can’t can it?" Mary answered.

"It can, if enough of the people who keep it running are too ill to work."

Mary thought about this as the microwave was doing its work then suddenly she turned the radio on. She wanted to see if there was any real news.

It sounded like the same programme that they had turned off on the television. There were passing references to ‘being prepared for occasional brief gas or electricity blackouts’ but there was next to no news and the same jarringly cheerful music. After a couple of minutes she turned it off again.

"Where has dad got to?" she asked at last. She tried to phone again but this time the line was completely dead. There was not even a dial tone.

"My father said that the hospital was in a complete lockdown to try and stop this thing spreading," Alex explained, with a calm he didn’t really feel. "Maybe he got your mum inside but then he wasn’t allowed out again."

"And of course the phones aren’t working," Mary said, clinging desperately to any sort of hope. "So how long is he going to be up there?"

"At least a couple of days," Alex said. "We were in for three days and I can’t imagine it being much less than that."

They called Hanna then sat down together at the kitchen table to eat.

It was, Alex decided, a good thing that they had Hanna there. Both he and Mary felt some responsibility to keep a reasonably positive atmosphere so, though it felt quite artificial, the three of them chatted around the table. Mary even promised Hanna that she would show her how to play a game called ‘frustration’ after the meal.

When they were finished, Alex put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher whilst Mary went off with Hanna to look for the game.

When Hanna came back downstairs she was proudly wearing a wonderfully thick woolly jumper. It had a pattern of elephant silhouettes knitted into the front. "That used to be my favourite," Mary was telling her. "You can have it, if you want."

Hanna beamed her thanks.

Mary had also brought down one of her father’s jumpers that would just about fit Alex and a couple of blankets. "It’s going to get cold without any heating," she said. "We might as well wrap up."

They went through into the dining room and started playing the game. It was a good choice because it required no particular skill or concentration but gave Hanna lots of chance to practice her counting.

They were just starting their third game when Hanna looked up from the table. "Something smells funny," she said.

Alex and Mary looked around. She was right. Something was burning.

Alex dashed into the kitchen but everything was fine there and Mary went upstairs. There were no problems there either.

"It must be outside," Alex said. They went into the conservatory and out into the back garden.

There was no mistake. There was a big fire down on the main road. They could hear the sounds of flames and smell the smoke very clearly. After a few minutes, flames appeared, flickering over the row of houses in the next street. There were a few shouts and some voices but no sound of fire engines approaching.

When the hysterical screaming started, Alex hurried Hanna back inside.

"Shouldn’t we do something?" he asked when Mary came back in to join them, her face terribly pale.

"I’d like to help but I can’t think of anything we can possibly do," she answered. "That’s a proper fire. A couple of buckets of water are just not going to help."

"Maybe we could help get people out?"

"Or just get in the way. We certainly can’t take Hanna down there so that would mean one of us staying here and..." she paused. "I don’t want you going off there on your own, Alex, I’m frightened."

Alex nodded. His first duty was to look after Hanna. He couldn’t just go wandering off.

The three went up to Mary's room and looked out, over the houses, to the flames which were now clearly visible and were lighting up the cloudy sky. They continued to watch in horrified fascination as the sky darkened to evening.

When Mary could stand it no more she took Hanna by the hand and led her out of the room. It was dark on the stairs so she flicked on the lights.

Nothing happened.

Stupidly she flicked the switch a couple more times.

Still nothing happened.

"Alex," she said, traces of desperation starting to colour her voice. "The lights don't work."

He went through to the front bedroom and looked around. There were no electric lights in any of the houses though he could see flickering candle light in a couple.

"We'll be alright," he said with a confidence he didn't really feel, "but we need to get ready for the night. It’s going to be dark soon."

"Are you hungry?" Mary asked.

“Not really,” Alex answered but then changed his mind. "Maybe we should eat something anyway, It’s going to be tricky to pop downstairs for a sandwich if you get hungry in the night."

They went downstairs and Alex shared out a tin of cold rice pudding whilst Mary hunted around for torches and candles.

"We might as well all go on up to bed," Alex said when they had finished eating. "There’s nothing to do down here and it’s getting really cold."

Mary agreed and took Hanna upstairs to help her to brush her teeth whilst Alex cleared the dirty bowls into the dishwasher.

He lay awake in the dark for a long time as strange, tense noises from the city came flooding in: shouts and screams; the squeal of car tyres; hysterical crying; and, from not far behind the house, what sounded like the crash of a collapsing building, probably something to do with the fire.

He was startled by gentle knocking at the bedroom door. "It’s just me," said Mary as she came in, draped in her duvet. "I hope I didn’t wake you."

"I couldn’t sleep either," Alex answered.

"I’m frightened," she said. "I don’t want to be on my own."

"You’re not the only one." Alex answered. "Hanna’s bed is free. She was cold so she got in here with me."

They talked for a long time about what was really happening and what they should do before, at last, they fell asleep.

---

Alex felt as if he had only been sleeping for five minutes when he was woken by loud banging at the front door. By the faint moonlight filtering in through the curtains, he could see Mary fumbling for her torch but he reached out his hand to stop her and put his finger to his lips to show she should keep quiet.

Mary nodded her understanding and then cautiously followed him downstairs but they both froze when they saw a large figure was silhouetted against the frosted glass of the front door.

"Hello it’s me," said a familiar voice.

"It’s Uncle Mike," Mary exclaimed in relief, hurrying down the stairs. Mary’s Uncle Michael was her godfather. He used to be one of the dancers and, though he no longer danced with the side, he occasionally joined them at social events.

"Don’t open the door," Mike said abruptly.

"Whatever is the matter?" asked Mary, astonished, though she obeyed instantly. Mike was normally very relaxed but, on the rare occasions he did give instructions, you did what you were told.

"Go into the kitchen," he ordered. “Open the window and sit at the table.” Mary hurried to do as she was told and Alex followed her.

"Are you alright?" asked Mary.

"No I’m not. I’ve got this flu and am almost certainly dying."

"But Uncle Mike..."

"I’m sorry Mary. I haven’t got time. Where are your parents?"

"They’re up at the hospital. Mother’s ill."

Mike swore savagely.

"Uncle Mike!"

"I’m sorry," he paused for a moment, breathing heavily.

"Mary," he began, hesitantly. "Mary, you’ve got to assume they aren’t coming back and that, from now on, you’re on your own."

Mary visibly sagged, and Alex moved over to support her, putting his arm round her shoulders. "You can’t know that!" he said, angrily.

"Alex," Mike answered calmly, "On the way up here, I’ve passed a dozen bodies just lying in the street, I had to dump the Land Rover at the top of The Avenue because the junction is blocked by a multi-car pile-up and the police station is burnt out... and nobody’s doing anything about any of it."

Mary seemed to be on the point of collapse so Alex helped her to one of the kitchen chairs.

"Listen," he went on, "I’m better set-up for this sort of thing than most people and it caught me off guard." He put his hand out to steady himself against the window frame. In spite of the cold night air, Alex could see the sweat glistening on his forehead. "There are a couple of things I need to tell you, though. They might just keep you alive, now that the proverbial is hitting the fan."

Mary wanted to say something but was cut off by a look from Mike.

"First, you’re on your own. Keep your heads down. Stay inside and keep the doors and windows locked until things calm down. Even if this plague doesn’t get you there are plenty of low-lives out there who are just as dangerous."

Alex found it a struggle to concentrate. He knew that what Mike was saying was important but somehow it didn’t seem real.

"Next: water. You’re going to need to store as much water as you can, as long as it’s still coming out of the taps. You’ll be able to flush the toilet using buckets for a while but the water could stop flowing at any time."

Alex nodded.

"Next, there’s my place. You can find your way there, can’t you, Mary?"

Mary looked up and nodded.

"It’s pretty much self-contained with a well and so on. When you need to get out of town, that’s where you should go. The animals will be OK for a day or so but then they’ll need feeding."

Mike paused for a moment, breathing heavily.

"There’s some important stuff hidden below the pantry floor. You’ll need this key." The key was on a chain around his neck. "I’ll leave it here. I’ll leave you the house and car key too." He put them on the floor in the middle of the path and covered them with his hat.

"But we can’t drive!" said Alex.

"Shut up and listen, soldier," Mike said abruptly. "I’ve made sure that Mary knows how to drive and if that’s the worst thing you have to do to survive over the next couple of months, you can be grateful."

Alex was stunned by the vehemence of his reaction.

"There’s one more thing," he went on "but there are other peoples’ necks on the line. I’m going to need your word that, if I'm wrong, you’ll not mention it to any sort of authorities."

Alex thought about this then nodded carefully.

"You’ll find a list of people who can help you stuck to the inside of the box lid," he said. His speech was becoming slurred and he was obviously fighting to stay conscious. "You’ll need the red county map book to work out who’s who, though."

He let out a deep sigh. "That’s all I can do," he said. "It’s up to you two to look after each other now. Alex, don’t let Mary follow me and, remember: ‘When push comes to shove, you shoot without hesitating and you shoot to kill. Mercy is for after you’ve won’."

"What do..." began Alex, but Mike could do no more. He had used up all his strength. Mike let go of the window frame and, swaying, he made his way up the drive to the road. Mary stood up to follow him but Alex put his arms round her and she didn’t really struggle. They watched together as he staggered down the road but when he turned the corner, Mary put her head into Alex’s shoulder and cried.

After a couple of minutes he let her go. "I need to go and make a start with the water," he said. "Will you be alright?"

"I might as well come and give you a hand," she said, wiping her eyes. "I’m not doing any good just standing here."

Alex went upstairs and turned on the bath taps. The water wasn’t flowing as fast as usual but the bath gradually started to fill. Meanwhile, using a combination of moonlight and memory, Mary searched in the garage for the water carrier they used for camping and filled that whilst Alex hunted through the recycling bin where he found half a dozen plastic bottles which he thoroughly rinsed then filled.

By this time it was starting to get light so Alex threw on his clothes. "My dad’s got boxes of bottles and those big jars he used to use for his winemaking," Alex explained. "I’ll go and fill them."
"Are you sure?" Mary asked. "Mike told us to stay put."

"I’ll be fine," Alex assured her. "It’s just across the road."

As soon as he opened the door they could both sense how wrong things were.

The stink of smoke hung in the air, presumably from the burnt police station and a peculiar, unsettling quiet hung over the town only occasionally punctuated by violent explosions of noise.


Alex made his way quickly and quietly across the street to his own house in the gloomy half-light. He started filling the bath and then hunted in the loft for the bottles. The water pressure was even lower now and it was fully light by the time he had finished and, struggling under the weight of a box of bottles, he made his way out through the front door.

He almost dropped the box when he saw the body in the neighbour’s garden.

Unwillingly he felt himself drawn towards it until, with a cry of horror, he recognised the corpse.

With tears streaming from his eyes he stumbled back across the road to Mary’s house. She was standing by the door, waiting for him. "What on earth is the matter?" she asked.

He stood in the doorway, sobbing violently. "It’s Teedy," he managed to say at last, "Mrs Teed; she’s dead."

Mary helped him to put down the box then led him through to the kitchen where he slumped into one of the chairs.

"You knew her really well, didn’t you?" she asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"She’s, just, always been there," he explained, "collecting me from school and looking after me when mum was busy. Round the time Hanna was born, I pretty much lived there."

And now she was lying in her front garden... dead.

Mary sat there for a few moments and then made a decision. "I’ll go and cover her up," she said. "Give her a little bit of dignity."

She collected a sheet then made her way across the road. Alex watched through the kitchen window as she covered up the old lady but suddenly her attention was caught by a disturbance at the end of the road.

By straining his neck, he could just make out a gang of people coming around the corner. They were obviously roaring drunk. Occasionally, one would pick up a stone and throw it through a window. Alex saw Mary freeze, then dart into his house. He leapt away from the window and, as quietly as he could, dashed upstairs to the spare room where Hanna was still sleeping.

"Hanna, mouse," he whispered as she started to wake at the noise. "I need you to be very brave and very, very quiet. Is that OK?"

She stared at him then nodded, though she looked confused and frightened.

"You’ve got to come..." Alex began. He was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering. It sounded frighteningly close. Hanna’s eyes opened wide but she didn’t make any noise. "...to come through to Mary’s room."

She nodded, though she was obviously close to tears.

Moving as quietly as possible, he carried her through to Mary’s room and put her into the bed. Hugging her tightly he said, "I know it’s frightening but you've got to stay very, very quiet. Do you understand?"

She nodded, not daring to speak.

He carried her through to Mary's room and put her down on the bed.

"Now, I’m going to see what those people are doing," he told her. "I’ll be back in a moment?"

He went back into the spare room and, staying well back, looked out through a crack in the curtains.


Further up the road, one of the neighbours had come out of the house. "Please," she was saying, "my husband and children are really ill. Please could you be quiet."

The mob paused for a moment then pounced. The poor woman collapsed under a hail of boots and fists. Suddenly, though, a murmur went through the crowd that developed into a single shout of ‘Plague’. The crowd backed off, allowing their poor victim to crawl back into her house.

But they were not finished.

With single minded determination, they pelted the front of her house with stones. Only when every window was smashed did the mob go on its way, roaring some incomprehensible chant.

He put his head back into Mary’s room to reassure Hanna that the nasty men had gone, then went back to the window to look for Mary. After a couple of minutes he saw her duck out of his house and dart back across the road. He greeted her with a huge hug of relief at the bottom of the stairs.

"You know what Mike said about staying put?" she said when, at last, she could breathe again. "I think it might be a good idea!"

---

For a long time, they just stood in the entrance hall, listening to the sounds of the gang receding, uncertain as to what they should do next. At last they were disturbed by a little voice from the top of the stairs. "I’m hungry," Hanna said. "When are we having breakfast?"

Alex smiled up the stairs to her. "Go and get some clothes on, mouse!" he said. "It’s too cold to be running around in your jim-jams.”

They went through to the kitchen and, as Mary looked through the cupboards, Alex flicked the light switch. "The electricity is still out," he said, working hard to keep his voice as neutral as possible but he knew that they were both wondering if it was going to come on again.

"Cereal it is then," said Mary. "Milk still smells OK and there’s plenty of orange juice left."

As Mary prepared breakfast, Alex helped Hanna to get dressed properly, putting her slippers on the right feet and turning her jumper the right way round.

"So what do we do now?" Alex asked as they sat back at the end of the meal.

"Stay put and keep our heads down," Mary answered. "I don’t think there’s a lot else we can do. I certainly don’t want to go outside!"

As Alex put the dishes in the dishwasher, Mary took the milk back to the fridge but as she opened the door she stopped.

"How long is this stuff going to last?" she asked.

"I don’t really know," Alex answered. "Mum always said that you had to be careful with meat and fish but the rest of the stuff… I guess if it smells OK it should be fine."

Mary went over to the piano and started playing a couple of pieces that she was practicing for a music exam, though not before putting the mute pedal on. It certainly didn’t seem like a good idea to start drawing attention to themselves.

When Hanna came over to watch, Mary invited her to join her on the stool and started playing little musical games with her. Soon they were giggling together as Hanna found places to fit the couple of notes she had learnt into the tune that Mary was playing.

The relaxed atmosphere was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. In the silent town around them, it sounded as if it came from the back garden. Mary and Hanna froze as Alex crept over to look out of the window.

There was nothing to see but he could clearly hear a woman’s screams – weak but desperate. Mary heard them too and hugged Hanna close, making sure that the little girl’s ears were covered.


The screams were silenced by a second gunshot.

There was a short pause and then there was a third shot, then silence.

At last Mary let Hanna go. She was visibly shaking. "Loud bang," said Hanna in a surprised and almost cheerful voice.

For several seconds Mary fought to contain her emotions before she managed to answer in a passably neutral tone, "Yes, mouse. It was a very loud bang."

"Come into the living room a minute," Alex managed to say to Hanna at last. As he took her through and got out the Lego, Mary started playing her slow, mournful piece. It fitted the mood perfectly.

After a while Hanna got bored and went off to play with the dolls’ house. Alex tidied up the Lego and then was at something of a loose end. He tried to settle down with a book but just could not concentrate. He found himself sitting at one of the bedroom windows, staring out over the unmoving town. The silence was intense and oppressive, punctuated only by the occasional bark of a dog.

At last Mary came to ask him to come down to lunch.

Alex looked at her in silence. "We’ve got to do something," he said at last. "We can’t just sit here."

"No!" said Mary, rather more firmly than she had intended. She had been badly shaken by her encounter with the gang that morning. "We’re safe here. We’ve got enough to eat and drink. Mike said we should stay inside."

"He said we should keep our heads down until things calm down. It’s looking really quiet out there now."

Mary looked at him for a moment and then abandoned logic. "Please," she said. "I’m really frightened.”

Alex was quiet for a moment and then sighed. "OK," he said, "but I’m going out tomorrow morning."

Mary gave a grim nod. "As long as it stays quiet until then. Where were you thinking of going?"

"Up to the hospital," he answered promptly. "That’s where the answers are. I got the distinct impression that my father knew more than he let on when he phoned. He promised he’d leave me a letter."

"Shouldn’t we all go?" Mary asked. "I mean, people who go up to the hospital just aren’t coming back. I’m so afraid of being left on my own with Hanna."

"I’ll be much quicker if I go by myself. I’ll take by bike so I can get out of the way of any trouble."

Mary nodded then gave a deep sigh. "I still don’t like it much but it makes sense," she admitted.

---

As Alex emerged from sleep the next morning, he was momentarily disoriented. The wall was on the wrong side and his bedside clock wasn’t in its normal place.

As he gradually recalled that he was in Mary’s spare room, he fumbled for his mobile to look up the time but, of course, the battery was flat.

He glanced over at the other bed. Hanna had stretched out over about three quarters of the bed and Mary was balanced on the edge.

He got out of bed, shivering slightly in the morning chill, and made his way over to the window. There was not a sound and the only motion was branches swaying in the breeze. It was a clear morning and it looked as if it was still quite early.

"Morning!" Mary whispered. "What time is it?"

"I don’t know," he answered. "My mobile’s dead. It looks as if it’s about seven, though."

"Are you getting up?" Mary asked.

Alex nodded.

“In that case...” she half fell out of her own bed and got into his. “Your sister makes a great hot water bottle but she does wriggle!"

"Stay there," he said. "I’ll bring breakfast up."

"Thanks," she answered with a smile, stretching out, obviously relishing having an entire bed to herself.

Alex carried his clothes through to the bathroom to get dressed then went downstairs to the kitchen. He poured out glasses of orange juice and then, with a feeling of finality, shared out the last of the milk,

Mary had fallen back to sleep but didn’t mind being woken to breakfast in bed. Alex sat down on Hanna’s bed and started eating his own breakfast while trying to ensure that Hanna’s went into her rather than onto the bedclothes.

After brushing his teeth, he came back into the spare bedroom. "Right," he said to Mary, "I’m off up to the hospital now."

She didn’t look happy about it but she nodded.

"Just so you know, if you don’t come back, we’re going to stay here for another day and then we’re going to go up to Mike’s place," she said grimly. "I’ll leave you a map."

"I’ll be fine," he reassured her. He was, nonetheless, pleased that she was making contingency plans.

"I’ll come and let you out," she said, getting out of bed and putting her dressing gown on.

Alex gave Hanna a quick kiss then followed Mary downstairs.

---

Mary unlocked the door then turned and gave him a warm hug. "Be careful!" she said to him firmly, before she let him go. He slipped out of the door and was pleased to hear her locking it behind him.


He went cautiously across the road and collected his bike, avoiding looking at the sheet-covered body in Mrs. Teed’s front garden. Then, steeling himself, he set off.

Manoeuvring his bike around the glass from broken windows and the occasional body, he made his way down the road. Nothing was moving – not a car or a person. As he approached the police station, he saw that Mike had been right. Not only it, but several houses on either side had been completely gutted by the fire. Only the empty husks remained, still smouldering, with a number of partly burned bodies lying on the ground in front of them.

He cycled down a hill onto a small industrial estate. Here there were fewer unpleasant sights and the silence became less oppressive - it felt like a quiet Sunday morning rather than the end of the world. As Alex made his way along a cycle path across fields, even the silence became less noticeable, broken, as it was by the noise of birds and animals.

But, when the path brought him back out onto a main road near a junction, he was jolted back to reality by a crumpled mass of metal: the remains of some unknowable number of vehicles. Somehow, the silence and stillness of the scene made it even worse. He carefully avoided looking at the bodies that he knew must be trapped within the twisted wreck.

Soon after the junction, the road up to the hospital became blocked by a stationary queue of cars. Alex swerved over onto the wrong side of the road and started to cycle past them. It was only after he had passed about a dozen that he realised that there were still people in many of the cars – unmoving people – dead people.

Soon the other side of the road was blocked by more cars also heading towards the hospital. Alex tried to cycle on the pavement but even that was blocked by more cars – some parked and some looking as if they had been trying desperately to push past other vehicles. In places, he had to get off and push his bike through the maze of cars.

As he passed through the hospital gates he was brought to a halt by a horribly familiar sticker on the back window of one of the cars – the crossed sticks symbol of the Morris Minors. As he forced himself to move closer, he recognised the car. He had been in it a couple of days before.

Mary’s parents were still in the car – both dead.

He gazed at the bodies in appalled fascination. How could they be dead? Teedy’s death had been desperately sad, of course, but at least she had been old – it made some sort of sense. Mary’s parents were not that old – no older than his own.

Driven on by his need for answers, he started to cut down across the hospital gardens towards the main entrance but even here there were the dead, lying on the lawns or leaning against trees like some obscene parody of a park on a sunny afternoon.

As the main entrance to the hospital came into view, it was like some medieval painting of hell. There were bodies everywhere. Whilst many of the people looked as if they had just died peacefully, there had obviously been fighting too. Several were lying in pools of coagulating blood and one man had clearly been shot in the head. Somebody had erected a barricade at the front of the hospital but a car had ploughed through it, smashing the glass doors.

Alex clambered over debris and let himself into the lobby. Just inside, an armed policeman had obviously been hit by the car and was crushed against the wall. Another policeman had clearly been shot. Somebody had attempted to pile corpses against one of the walls but nevertheless, bodies were strewn across the entire room: slumped on chairs or lying on the floor. There were no signs of movement. Everybody was dead.

Carefully stepping over the bodies, Alex went past the reception desk, walked through the covered passageway to the old building and climbed the staircase to the second floor. He had been worried that he wouldn’t be able to get through the heavy locked doors where he normally had to wait for his father, but found that they had been smashed off their hinges. The office doors had been forced open too.

As he hurried down the familiar corridor, he was startled by the noise of his own footsteps. There were fewer bodies up here but the normally bustling hospital was still and silent. He rounded the corner and, after taking a few slow breaths to calm himself, stepped inside his father’s office.
The normally tidy room had been completely ransacked.

Cupboards and filing cabinets had been forced open and their contents strewn around the floor. Books had been scattered off the shelves and the computer screen had been knocked over.

Alex moved round to his father’s desk and, after setting the chair upright, sat down. The desk drawers had been emptied onto the floor but the three drawers were still in position and, with a bit of shaking, he managed to take the bottom drawer out. The promised letter was behind it, his name clearly written on the front.

--

With shaking hands, he opened the envelope.

"Dear Alexander," he read.

"If you stand on my desk, you’ll be able to lift one of the ceiling tiles. You’ll find my emergency bag and my gym bag up there. There is a face mask and surgical gloves in the front pocket of my emergency bag. Put them on straight away and don’t take them off until you are well clear of the hospital."

Alex jumped to obey, as if his father had just given him the instruction in person then returned his attention to the letter.

"I hope you get this letter. I hope you’re still alive to read this letter.

"First, I’ve got to tell you that your mother died last night. There was nothing I could do for her – and, believe me, I tried. There was nothing I could do for any of them. I now have all the symptoms myself and am familiar enough with them to know that I don’t have long.

"There aren’t going to be many survivors. The epidemiology modelling programs are simply running off scale with this virus. The long infectious period followed by the universally lethal active phase will see to that. We were much too slow to realise what was happening and, by the time we found out, it was already much too late to do anything about it.

"I have one small sliver of hope. This virus seems to be a variant of the one that hit you lot last week. Certainly, I’ve not seen any of the Minors back in here with the new strain. You may have some sort of immunity.

"If I’m right then most of Hanna’s class are going to be OK too. It’s going to fall to you, and to the rest of the Minors, to look after them until help arrives.

“That being said, I have no real idea when help might come. Before the web collapsed I saw report that suggested that the whole world is in the same state. There were no reports of anyone over the age of sixteen surviving. You might be on your own for a very long time.

"You need to get out of town. Even if you are immune to this virus, it’s still a bad idea to spend any more time than necessary amongst dead bodies.

"Take my emergency bag and gym bag with you. I've put some basic medical supplies in there together with a couple of books. I hope you'll never need them but they might be useful. I’ve also put the top sheets from everyone's medical records in, so you can find the rest of the Minors and Hanna's class.

"I have to stop now. I’m going to give myself something to make the pain go away. Don’t try and find my body or your mother’s.

"My fountain pen and your mother’s ring are in the bag. The pen is for you and the ring for Hanna. Take them with our blessing.

"I’m just sorry I am not going to be there to see you growing up. You’re going to have to look after Hanna for me. Now grab the bags and get out - out of the hospital and out of town."

Alex grabbed the two bags and stumbled from the room in a daze.

Somehow he made it home, though he really did not know how. He only had the vaguest recollection of pedalling as hard as he could down the hill from the hospital, his eyes almost blocked by the streaming tears.

"They’re dead," he said, as he stumbled into the house and numbly handed the letter to Mary. Your parents are dead. My parents are dead. Everybody’s dead ."

---

Mary started gently sobbing as she read but suddenly her head jerked up at him.

"Oh my goodness! The poor babies!" she exclaimed. "They've been on their own for days with their dead and dying parents. We’ve got to go and get them straight away."

For several seconds, Alex was silent. He was so amazed at the way she managed to put aside her own grief that he was shaken back to his senses.

"You’re right," he said at last. He tried to think for a moment and suddenly realised that he was still wearing the surgical mask and gloves so he hurriedly took them off and stuffed them in a pocket. "We should go and see if the rest of the other Minors are OK," he said. "We’ll be quicker with their help."

"You do that and I’ll make a start on the little ones," Mary said. "I should take Hanna with me. It might help them if they see someone they know."

Alex opened the bag and took out the folder and started looking through the details. "Have you got a street map?" he asked as he started to arrange the addresses into some sort of order.

Mary went and found a map and together they marked on the streets they had to visit. Mostly they were a little way to the north, clustered around Hanna’s school.

"Katherine and Harry live out that way," Mary said.

"Let’s go and see if we can find this ‘Alice’ first," Alex suggested, pointing at the map. "Then we can go on to see if Katherine is... is there. After that, do you want to go and see whether you can find any more kids whilst I go and see if I can find Harry?"

---

It was a bright spring morning and the day had a surreal, dreamlike quality as they made their way up the road. There were corpses simply lying in the street and cars abandoned in the middle of the road. Before long, they found themselves standing in front of a semi-detached house.

After taking a deep breath, Mary knocked on the door. There were sounds from inside but no answer.

"Hello, Alice?" she called through the letterbox. "My name is Mary. Are you alright?"

"Hello," came an uncertain answer.

Mary asked the little girl whether she could open the door but, after a couple of moments, it became clear that it was locked in some way.

"We may have to force it," Alex said.

"I’d rather not," Mary answered. "It’d be very frightening."

Alex went around to the side of the house and was relieved to find that the kitchen door was not locked. He let himself in. It felt peculiar to walk unannounced into a stranger’s house but that thought was driven from his mind by the sickening smell that hit him as he left the kitchen. Fighting to remain calm, he smiled at the little girl who was standing in the entrance hall. "My name is Alex," he said as he unbolted the front door. "I’m Hanna’s big brother. I'm just going to let Hanna and Mary in?"

"Hello Alice," said Hanna as the door opened. "Your house doesn’t smell very nice."

"It’s mummy," Alice answered. "She’s poorly."

"You’d better come down to our house then," Mary said. "We can look after you there."

"Mummy will be sad if she wakes up and finds I’ve gone."

"We’ll leave a note so people will know where to find you," Alex answered, hunting around to find a piece of paper and a pencil. He quickly scribbled a note and left it on the kitchen table.

"Can I take Mr Bobbity?"

"If you hurry up," Mary said patiently. "But we need to see if other children in your class are all right. We think their Mummies might be poorly too."

Alice thought about this then nodded. She scooted into the living room, returning a few seconds later with an extremely bedraggled toy rabbit.

"Right, let’s get your shoes and coat on then," said Mary.

--

A few minutes later they were standing in front of Katherine’s house and, with considerable trepidation, Alex knocked on the door.

"Who’s there?" came Katherine’s familiar voice, though its tone was weak and quavering.

"It’s us," Alex answered with a huge sigh of relief, "Alex and Mary."

There was simply a sob by way of answer and Katherine tore the door open and caught them both in a desperate hug. "I thought I was the only person left alive," she managed to say.

They held each other for a few seconds and then Alex let her go. "I’m sorry Kat," he said. "This is going to sound terrible but we’ve got something really important to do."

Katherine could not have looked any more shocked if he had hit her. She continued to clutch Mary as if she needed her strength to stay on her feet.

"We think that the rest of Hanna’s class might have survived," he carried on, the urgency of the situation allowing him to ignore her feelings. "There might be a dozen four year olds out there, all alone. We need to go and find them."

Katherine was silent for almost ten seconds as a whole range of emotions played across her face then she visibly pushed her own feelings to one side. "What would you like me to do?" she asked.

"Could you go with Mary and carry on collecting them?" Alex asked. "I’m going up to see if I can find Harry."

"Harry’s alive too?"

"We hope so," Mary answered simply.

"My dad wrote me a letter," Alex explained. "He thinks that Hanna’s flu might have given us all some sort of immunity. It’s certainly starting to look that way. This is Alice, by the way. She’s in Hanna’s class."

---

As Mary and Katherine led the two small children round a corner, Alex hurried on up the road to Harry’s house. There was no answer when he knocked at the front door but there was a noise from the back garden. Cautiously, he opened the gate and walked around the side of the house.

Harry was there, mechanically digging a hole with tears streaming down his face.

"Hello, Harry," Alex said.

Harry carried on digging for a few more seconds and then stopped. "My parents and sister are dead," he said flatly. "The Wincombes next door are dead. I thought I was the last one left alive."

"Pretty much everyone is dead," Alex confirmed. "The only ones we’ve found alive so far are the people who went down with Hanna’s flu. My dad wrote me a letter and said that it might give us some sort of immunity."

Harry nodded and resumed his digging.

"Some of Hanna’s class have survived. Mary’s going round now, trying to see how many she can find. We need your help."

"I’ll come when I’ve finished here," he replied without pausing. "I’ve got to finish this."

"Harry, in a couple of hours’ we might have a dozen hungry, frightened four year olds on our hands. That’s if we’re lucky. We need your help now."

"I said I’ll come when I’ve finished."

Alex paused. "Harry, I know what you’re doing is important," he began cautiously. "But we need you now. You know your dad would say the same."

Harry seemed to go rigid with anger. It was several seconds before he could speak. "That’s unfair, Alex, particularly now."

"I know it’s unfair but it’s still true. We really need you right now."

Something seemed to click within Harry. "OK," he said, "how do things stand?" He climbed out of the hole and, after knocking the earth off the spade, carried it towards the garden shed.

"Mary’s going round with Katherine to see how many of the little ones she can find. I was going to go on to see if I can find Peter next.

"Let me go and round up the Minors," said Harry, putting the spade away. I’ll be quicker on my bike. You go back and help Mary." He took a camping stove and a bottle of gas from the shed and handed them to Alex.

"Where were you planning on meeting up?" he asked as he walked towards the house.

"I hadn’t really thought about it. Mary’s house is probably the best. It’s the biggest."

"OK, I’ll send everybody I find round there. How are you off for water?"

"We filled up the bath and some bottles and things. That should keep us going for a while."

"It should be plenty for drinking and washing for a day or two but it’s going to run out very quickly if we’re all using it to flush the loo. If you get the chance, you need to see if you can find any more. There might be water left in the pipes or in a hot water tank. If any of the neighbours have an outside tap or a water butt we can use that. Hang on a moment."

He went into the house, returning a couple of minutes later with a huge rucksack that already contained sleeping bags and food. He took the camping stove and gas off Alex and put them into the rucksack.

"Take these for me," he said, as he walked across to the garage. "I’ll be with you as soon as I can." He collected his bike and went off up the hill.

---

By now Mary and Katherine had collected three more children and the noise they were making meant that Alex had no problems finding the group on the silent, deserted streets.

"How's Harry?" Katherine asked urgently.

"He's OK," Alex answered. "He's gone off on his bike to see if he can find the others and sent me back to help you."

"Well, we can certainly use your help," Mary said with a strained half smile. "This lot are really starting to slow us down. Do you think you could get them back to the house for us while we go and look for the rest?"

"Of course," he answered, doing his best to smile back.

He looked at the little group. Hanna and Alice looked as if they were completely unaware of the situation. It seemed wrong that they were laughing and chatting as if the world was not being turned upside down, but they were certainly the easiest to deal with.

Then there were two little girls, obviously twins. They were holding each other tightly with tears streaming down their faces. Without thinking, Alex bent down and hugged them both.

That left one little boy. He stood, staring into space, barely aware of the world around him. Only the frantic emptiness behind his eyes hinted at the tumult within.

"Come on, then," he said, consciously avoiding the artificially jolly tone he tended to slip into with small children. "Let’s get you back to Mary’s house." Taking the desolate little lad by the hand he led the group down the road.

---

It was not a long way back to Mary’s house but it seemed to take forever. Alex was anxious to do something, anything, for the twins and the little boy and started to become annoyed with the way that Hanna and Alice were treating the journey as some sort of peculiar outing.

At last he got the troop back to the house and, after dumping Harry’s bag in the entrance hall, he ushered the children into the lounge. Then he looked at the little group, uncertain what to do next.

The twins collapsed onto the sofa, still clutching each other, a picture of misery, but even they looked somehow manageable compared to the little boy who continued to stand where Alex had left him. Alice, however, made straight for Mary’s old dolls’ house which stood on a table in the corner of the room.

Before she reached it she turned back to him. "Want a drink," she said.

"Could I have a drink, please?" he corrected instinctively.

"Could I have a drink, please?" she echoed dutifully.

"That’s a good idea." Alex said. He helped the little boy to sit down then went into the kitchen and prepared some drinks for the children; apple juice diluted with water, and put them on a tray. He found a packet of biscuits in a cupboard so he opened that and put it on the tray too then carried it through to the lounge and put them on the table.

Alice’s drink was gone before he had finished putting the tray down and she started to attack the biscuits as if she had not eaten in days. After she had taken four he told her stop because he was afraid she would make herself sick.

Then, for a moment he paused, his gaze flashing between the twins on the sofa and the desolate little boy. He decided to see what he could do for the twins first. It somehow seemed to be a more manageable task.

He took two drinks across to them and coaxed them into drinking. They, too, were obviously extremely thirsty, gulping the drinks through their tears. They drained the glasses in seconds.

"Why did mummy and daddy go away?" asked one of the girls, staring at him over the rim of her glass. "Were we very naughty?"

"It certainly wasn’t because you were naughty," Alex answered emphatically. "Horrible things just happen sometimes."

"But why?" came the little voice after a couple of moments thought. "Why?"

"I don’t know," he answered. "They just do"

"Are you going to be our daddy now?" asked the other twin.

Alex was taken aback by the question and had to think about it for a moment.

"I don’t think I ought to be," he answered at last. "Your daddy will always be your daddy even though he’s not here anymore. I can be your big brother or your uncle, if you like, though."

The two thought about this then looked at each other and nodded.

"What’s your name?" asked one.

"Alex," he answered.

"Uncle Alex?" said one of the twins, as if testing the name. "Uncle Alex." The two looked at each other then nodded approvingly.

He continued to sit with them for a few more minutes but was haunted by the horrific stare from the thin, curly haired boy across the room. He smiled down at the two children next to him on the sofa.


"I think that little boy, over there, needs a hug," he said. "What do you think?"

The twins nodded. "He’s called Gregory," one said, still shuddering slightly as she spoke, as her crying at last started to relent.

"Are you hungry?" he asked them. "Have a biscuit now and we’ll try to sort you out some proper food later." He handed them one each, then steeling himself he walked over to the little frozen image of horror and misery, who was still sitting hunched and staring into space.

"Come on you," he said. He picked up the little lad and sat down with him on his knee. He didn’t try and say anything, it was clear that what the little chap was going through was way beyond words. He held him tentatively at first but then the instincts from when Hanna was a tiny baby took over. He wrapped the little lad in his arms and rocked him gently.

As he rocked, scenes from the day played through his head: the queue of cars full of the dead, the nightmare of the hospital lobby and the awful finality of the letter from his father.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a quiet voice.

"Why are you crying?" Gregory asked. "Are your Mummy and Daddy dead too?"

Alex nodded sadly. They cried together for a while, as Alex continuing to rock him gently.

"Who’s going to look after me?" Gregory asked.

"I don’t know," answered Alex, "I really don’t know. But I promise that, until someone better turns up I’ll do the best I can."

Alex carried on rocking the little boy for a while longer, deep in his own thoughts. "I just don’t know who’s going to look after me," he said at last.

"I’ll do the best I can," came a quiet, gently sobbing voice from his lap.

Alex smiled through his tears and kissed the little lad on the top of his curly head.

---

He continued to rock the lad for a little while longer, but the calm was shaken by a sudden commotion in the entrance hall. Mary and Harry were coming through the front door with more little children.

"I’m sorry," he said jumping guiltily to his feet when he saw Harry. "I’ve not got round to looking at the water yet." He went out to join them in the entrance hall, still holding Gregory in his arms.

"Don’t worry about it," answered Harry, heading straight upstairs. "I’m on it."

"After all," said Peter as he led more children in through the front door, "there are so many more important jobs in the world than comforting newly orphaned kids." His face still had its familiar grin but his eyes hinted at the turmoil within.

"I’m so pleased to see you," Alex said, as he hugged Peter with one arm while juggling little Gregory with the other. "This is Gregory, by the way," he added. "He says that he’s going to look after me."

"That’s good," said Peter with a smile, tousling Gregory’s hair. "We’re all going to have to look after one another if we’re going to get through this."

Brian came through the door with Denise. He, too, was holding one child on his arm and had another by his side. In spite of the situation, Alex felt a wave of relief that his four close friends: Harry, Peter, Brian and Mary, had all survived. Somehow the world seemed a tiny bit less grim than it had five minutes before.

"This is Melanie," Brian said, indicating the girl whose hand he was holding, "and this is Louise. She doesn’t much like to be put down."

"Hysterical screaming," he mouthed across to Alex, behind the little girl’s back.

"Oh, and that’s Jess," he added, indicating a compact but solid white dog with a black and white face. "James was very insistent that we bring her with us."

"Nine little kids..." muttered Alex. “It is nine, isn’t it? Nine little kids... and a dog to look after, too! Why not?” He almost had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"OK!" he said with sudden decisiveness. "We’ve got nine kids here who have been living off who-knows-what for the last couple of days. They’ll all need a drink and then we need to see about feeding them. Brian, could you get that camping stove set up. Peter, can you see how many tins of beans we can rustle up. And the rest of you, could you get those kids out of here?"

---

Twenty minutes later the nine children were sitting down to eat plates of ‘cheezy-beanz’: warmed tins of baked beans with cheese grated over the top. The only incident was when Katherine arrived with Mary to find that Alex had not washed his hands before he started to cook. "We really do not need half the kids to go down with a stomach bug!" she told him with unusual vehemence for the normally mild-mannered Katherine.

Mary had found some reasonably fresh bread and Katherine had prepared a pudding of tinned peaches and rice pudding. While it was not exactly haute cuisine none of the kids was hungry afterwards.

After the children had finished eating, most of the Minors gathered in the kitchen to tidy up and to eat something themselves.

---

Alex felt an overwhelming desire to collapse but he knew that they needed to keep going. Mary and Brian were trying to entertain the children in the other room so he called them across to join the rest of them in the dining room.

"So, where do we stand with water?" he asked Harry.

"There’s plenty of drinking water in those bottles for a little while," Harry answered. "The toilet’s still working but you have to use a bucket of water from the bath to flush it."

"Obviously a use of the word ‘working’ of which I was not previously aware," Peter said with a grin.

"Think yourself lucky!" Harry said. "The alternative is a hole in the garden."

"Yuk, gross!" said Daniel.

"It may yet come to that if the sewer backs up." Harry said with a grimace.

"How are we going to sleep tonight?" Denise asked.

"I don’t want to be on my own again," Katherine said emphatically.

There was a general agreement with that thought.

Louise appeared at the door and, without saying anything, climbed onto Brian’s lap.

"Someone else doesn’t want to be on her own!" he said with a sad smile as he wrapped his arms around the little girl.

"If we push all the sofas and things back out of the way we could make a big nest in the living room," Mary suggested.

"It will help to keep everybody warm," Harry added. "It got really cold last night without any heating."

"Then we’re going to need loads of sleeping bags and duvets and things," said Mary.

"I'll go home and see what I can find," Alex offered. "Do we need anything else whilst I’m there?" he asked.

"A team of child psychologists for about six months," Peter suggested, his smile clashing with his haggard face. "And that’s just for me!"

"I could really do with a change of clothes," said Katherine. "I didn’t think to bring any when I came down here."

"I might be able to help you there," said Mary, "but I can’t do anything about the kids."

"They’ll just have to survive another night," Brian said with a shrug. "It’s not the worst thing they’re going through at the moment, is it?"

"Hanna might have some clean things," Alex suggested. "I’ll see what I can find. Now, is there anything else we need to do?"

"We need to go and find the rest of the kids," Peter answered promptly. "There are still three names left on the list."

"There was one of the houses that we couldn’t get in," Mary explained. "We got in the other two but they weren’t there."

"I’ll come and give you a hand," Harry said. "If we go past my house I can pick up my universal key."

"Universal key?"


"A crow bar! I’ll be able to get into the house using that."

"We all know that you’re trying to do the right thing but that does sound awfully like breaking and entering," Brian commented mildly. "We could end up in a lot of trouble."

"It can’t be wrong if we’re trying to rescue the kids," Peter said emphatically. "I don’t think we can get into trouble for that."

"When the authorities come I’m sure they’ll be going through every house looking for survivors," Katherine said. "How long is it going to be before they arrive?"

"We've got no way of knowing," Brian answered. "We haven't seen any sign of them yet, have we? I'd have expected to have seen a plane or something by now."

"Maybe they're concentrating on the big cities first," Katherine suggested.

"Yeah, maybe that's it," Brian answered. He didn't sound convinced.

The room fell silent as people thought about this.

"Come on," Alex said at last. "Let’s get on with things."

---

Alex spent a while at home, sorting through Hanna’s things and trying to find a change of clothes for everyone. He returned with a bag over his shoulder and a huge pile of bedding in his arms. Brian met him at the door and helped him to bundle the stuff onto the dining room table.

Only then did he notice that the twins and James were underneath the table with Jess. They were playing some sort of boisterous game which involved using the dog as a pillow. Jess was extracting her revenge by licking any of the grinning faces that came within range. Alex watched them for a moment and smiled, amazed at how well they were coping with the situation.

He went into the kitchen. He must have been away longer than he thought because Katherine had done the washing up and was now hunting through the cupboards, looking for food that could sensibly be eaten cold or cooked on the camping stove.

Brian was sitting at the table, keeping her company and entertaining Louise was sitting next to him. He had drawn a maze for her on a piece of paper and she was puzzling over it.

As he sat down at the table, he saw that Katherine had got the dirty crockery out of the dishwasher and washed that too. "You shouldn’t have done our washing up!" he said.

"It's OK!" she replied. "Brian helped and I was careful not to use much water."

"And Louise helped too," Brian added. "She's very good at drying up!"

"No, I mean you shouldn’t have done our washing up for us," Alex insisted. "We ought to have done it ourselves!"

"I had to wash up the lunch things anyway and I had the water so I had a look around to see what else there was to do. If I left it, it would just get smelly and... and it’s already so smelly at home because..." she was quiet for a moment, then turned away as she started sobbing. Alex froze. He didn’t know Katherine very well and was not sure what he should do. He glanced across at Brian who looked back at him uncertainly.

"She wants to have a hug," said Louise, matter-of-factly looking up from her paper. She stared steadily at Brian until he got to his feet, then returned her attention to her paper.

As Brian walked tentatively over to Katherine, she grabbed at him as if she was drowning and collapsed onto his shoulder, sobbing violently.

Brian held her, at first awkwardly but then he relaxed and started to pat her shoulder. As the sobbing began to subside, he led her over to the kitchen chair, and knelt down next to her, still holding her hand. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, sitting down next to her.

"Oh, what’s there to talk about?" she asked. "It’s the same thing that’s happening to everyone. All of a sudden I'm an orphan and completely alone in the world."

"You’re not alone," Brian explained patiently. "In the middle of this disaster, at least we’ve got each other. We could really have been completely on our own."

Alex felt slightly uncomfortable as Brian continued to hold Katherine, so he went round the table to see what Louise was doing. She seemed to have given up on solving Brian’s maze and was now carefully colouring in the outline.

At last Katherine tears started to abate. "I’m sorry," she said, "it’s just..."

"There’s no need to explain and there’s certainly no need to apologise," Brian said firmly. "You’re bound to be upset at the moment. Everybody is."

"You should have seen the state I was in when I came back from the hospital," said Alex, almost to himself. "If Mary hadn’t jerked me out of it by making me think about the little ones, I’d still be in a crumpled heap on the floor."

Katherine managed a smile at that.

"You’ve been having a look at the food," Alex said, deciding it was time to change the subject. "How are we doing?"

"There’s one more good meal," Katherine answered. "Two, if you count funny things like stuffed vine leaves. We’d be in better shape if we could find some bread."

"There might be a loaf in the freezer," Alex suggested.

"I’m not sure about that," Katherine answered. "The power’s been out for a couple of days now and everything will have defrosted."

"The bread should be fine," Brian said. "I mean, it might be a bit dry but, as long as it’s not mouldy, it won’t do you any harm. Butter and cheese and things… well, you can smell if they’re OK. I wouldn’t touch anything with meat in it, though."

Wiping her face, Katherine went across the kitchen and started to look through the freezer. She found a loaf of bread and a lump of cheese. There was also some ice cream which, though it was quite soft, still looked OK.

"So, cheese sandwiches for tea," Alex said.

"I saw a tin of tuna in the cupboard," Katherine said, "and there's some sweetcorn here..."

She was interrupted by voices from the street. Alex looked out of the window to see Harry and Peter walking towards the house. Peter was carrying another child on his shoulders. He rushed to open the door.

"Hello, Alex!" Peter said. "This is Charles." Alex could hear the tone of triumph bubbling below the surface.

Alex smiled at Charles but the little boy looked completely stunned by the situation, so he led the group into the kitchen. Katherine immediately jumped into action, providing the little boy with a drink and something to eat.

With the new arrivals, the kitchen had become rather crowded so Brian took Louise through to the living room. They sat down together in the corner of the sofa and Brian started reading 'The Faraway Tree' to her.

Alex followed them and lay down on the carpet next to Gregory who was listening to the story with rapt attention. As the other children started to listen, an atmosphere of calm spread through the room.

He was lying on the floor, half listening to the story while helping Hanna to build a fairy castle out of Lego, when suddenly the calm was disturbed by raised voices from the kitchen.

"That’s stealing!" Denise was shouting. "You’ve got to take them back."

With a groan, he hauled himself to his feet and went through to see what was going on. Daniel and Denise were shouting at each other and both were clearly close to tears.

"Gently, gently," said Alex, as he came into the kitchen, closely followed by Peter. "For the sake of the kids, please keep it down. Now, what’s the matter?"

"He heard that we needed underwear for the little ones," said Denise, managing with an effort to control the volume of her voice though not the intensity, "so he decided to go and steal some."

"It’s not really stealing," Daniel said defensively.

"Quietly, please, everybody," said Mary, coming in from the lounge. "You’re upsetting the kids."

Alex sat down and rubbed his face for a moment. "Dan," he said, "don’t see how helping yourself to stuff from the shops could easily be seen as theft?"

"I suppose..." he admitted grudgingly.

"And Den," Alex went on, "In the circumstances, I'm sure the shops wouldn’t mind us taking a couple of things that we really need."

"But that doesn't mean you can just help yourself," she insisted, though less emphatically.

"It’s not that we’re not willing to pay," Mary said. "It’s just that there’s nobody to take our money."

"How about," Alex suggested, "we keep a list of what we take and where we take it from? Then, when this mess is all sorted out, we can pay for it." He looked at Denise.

Denise thought about this for a moment and then nodded. "Yes," she said, "that would work." She started sobbing gently and Peter moved to put his arm round her shoulders.

"But Daniel," Alex went on, "you do see that this is the sort of thing that we all need to think about together, don’t you?"

"I guess," said Daniel. "It was supposed to be a nice surprise."

"I don’t think anyone's really in a mood for surprises," said Mary, who was hunting in one of the kitchen cupboards.

"I don’t know whether I dare show you these," Daniel said, taking several packs of children’s toothbrushes from his bag, "Let alone these." He sheepishly produced several sachets of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows from his bag.

"You are completely impossible!" said Mary, handing him the notebook she had just found. "Now get writing..."

"How about," said Denise, though she was still sobbing gently, "after tea we have a round of hot chocolate for everyone? I think we could all use it."

"With marshmallows?" asked Peter, struggling to keep a completely straight face.

---

The afternoon was wearing on and they realised that they needed to get moving if they were going to get the little ones fed and into bed before dark. Denise insisted that they all had a thorough wash first. She really wanted to give them a bath but with only the camp stove for hot water that was impossible.

Then, after a quick meal with the promised hot chocolate, Hanna's classmates were taken through to the lounge and bedded down. Some of the Minors settled down amongst them. Alex found a place for his sleeping bag between Hanna and Gregory while Mary sat on one of the arms of the sofa and started to sing her slow, sad folk songs. Though there were tears, the atmosphere was calm and nobody was out of reach of a cuddle.

---

The next thing Alex knew, he was being gently woken by Mary. "Come on!" she said. "We need to work out what we’re doing tomorrow."

Alex hauled himself to his feet and made his way to the kitchen where the Minors were gathered round the table, eating crisps by candle light.

"Morning!" said Peter with a smile.

Alex grabbed himself a handful of crisps and slumped onto the floor next to Mary where he was immediately mobbed by an extremely insistent dog.

"What is the matter with this animal?" Alex asked, trying unsuccessfully to push her away.

"Has anyone fed her?" Daniel asked.

Nobody answered.

"Poor thing! She must be starving," he said, "Is there anything about?"

"There’s a packet of sausages in the freezer," Katherine answered, "I'm not sure whether that’s a very good idea. The power’s been off for a couple of days now."

"I wouldn’t eat them myself but they’ll be fine for a dog," he answered, going over to the freezer and taking them out.

"Use a plastic knife and one of the paper plates," Katherine said from her chair at the kitchen table, "And wash your hands afterwards."

Daniel looked as if he was about to give a flippant answer but decided against it.

"It’s important," she insisted. "We really do not want to give ourselves food poisoning right now!"

"It’s OK!" he answered with a smile. "I understand, really."

He gave Jess three of the sausages and they vanished without touching the floor, then he chopped the fourth into little pieces, making her do tricks before she was given the food.

"Isn’t that being a bit cruel?" asked Mary.

"Look at the tail!" Daniel answered with a laugh. It was wagging frantically in excitement. "That does not look like an unhappy dog."

"She can have the rest for her breakfast," he said as he carefully washed his hands.

"Right, said Alex, as Jess returned her attention to trying to steal his crisps. We need to think about getting out of town tomorrow."

This was met by a combination of shock and incredulity.

"We can’t possibly move tomorrow," Denise said. "There’s much too much to do here. We need to get some food together and sort out proper clothes for the kids."

"And how are we going to know when help comes?" asked Katherine .

"I wanted to put up notices to find some more survivors."

"Hang on!" Alex said over the hubbub. "My dad left me a letter and that was pretty much the only advice he gave."

"What exactly did it say?" Brian asked.

Alex fished the letter out of his pocket and started reading.

"I guess he's right," Peter said, when he had finished. "It’s already starting to smell pretty rank out there. Where are we going to go, though?"

"Mike suggested we go out to his cottage," Mary said. "There’s plenty of food and things out there..." She thought for a moment then added, "I need to go out there tomorrow anyway to deal with the goats and chickens."

"Where is it?" Peter asked.

"It’s out just beyond the castle."

"But how can we get the little people out there?" Katherine asked.

"It’s only a couple of miles," Alex said. "They should be alright to walk, if we take it gently."

By now Alex had finished his crisps. Jess calmed down a bit and lay down next to him with her head on his knee, trying to lick his hands. He started to casually scratch the back of her neck.

"What about taking the kids past all the dead bodies in the street?" Daniel asked. "They certainly give me the creeps."

"Strangely enough, the little ones didn’t seem that disturbed by them," said Denise. "I guess they’re all in shock. It’s not that surprising, really. We probably all are."

"If we go out along the river we can probably avoid the worst of it," Mary suggested.

"We still have to go past quite a few on the way up the street," Daniel said with a shudder.

There was a long silence as people thought about this.

"Go on, then," Peter said at last. "If people can rustle up some old sheets and things, I’ll go and cover them up."

There was a sigh of relief from several of the Minors including Daniel.

"I don’t think you should have to do that on your own," Denise said calmly. "I’ll come with you."

Peter smiled with obvious relief.

"I think there might be some old sheets in the garage," said Mary. "Dad uses them for painting. I mean, he used to use them... I mean..."

The room fell silent and Mary was clearly on the point of tears. Alex put his arm round her shoulders and she leaned her head against him.

"I think," said Denise, deliberately changing the subject, "that nobody should be going out on their own until we get ourselves sorted out."

People seemed to agree with that.

"How about," Alex said, "Mary and me go out to Mike’s place first thing tomorrow to have a look around? We can go by bike so it shouldn’t take us too long. The rest of you can get the kids ready whilst we’re up there and, if it looks sensible, we can set off after breakfast."

"Sounds reasonable," said Harry. "You could take a first load of bedding with you when you go. We’re going to have to make a couple of trips if we have to take it all up there."

"In that case," Alex said. "I think it’s time for bed. I’m pretty much done in."

As Alex lay in the darkness, listening to the quiet breathing of the little children around him, images from the day started to flash through his head and, as his thoughts turned to his parents, he started crying gently.

In the darkness, Mary’s hand reached across to hold his and he realised that she was crying too. Taking comfort and support from each other, they fell asleep hand in hand.

[garethn]

02 Black Joke


It was only just getting light when Alex was woken by Mary shaking him. "Come on," she said. "We need to get moving if we’re going to be back in time for breakfast."


Harry was already awake and, as they walked into the kitchen, they were greeted by cups of cocoa.


Alex quickly drank his and he shared a last crust of bread with Mary before he went out to strap the sleeping bags to the back of their bikes.


As soon as he stepped outside the front door he was hit by the stench of death and, as Mary came out to join him, he could see the shock on her face.


"Your father was right," she said. "We can't stay here. This just can’t be healthy."


As they were setting off, Katherine waved to them from the kitchen window. As he waved back, Alex notice that Mike’s hat was still on the path. "Did you collect the keys?" he asked.


"No!" she answered, “I thought you had."


Handing her his bike to hold, he ran to the kitchen window and collected the keys. On impulse, he picked up the hat, too, and put it on his head.


"You don't mind me taking Mike’s hat?" he asked, handing the keys to Mary.


"Not at all, he’d think it was really funny." She studied him critically for a moment. "In fact, you look a bit like him in that hat – just a bit less muscly."


"Less muscly! Hah!" he said in mock indignation. They cycled together up the road.


The relaxed atmosphere didn’t last long. Alex carefully avoided looking at the bodies at the side of the road but, near the top, his eye was caught by a car. He didn’t know what was wrong with it at first until he realised there was a young family inside: father, mother and two small children.


They were all dead.


"Do you think we’ll ever get used to it?" he asked, looking across at Mary.


She answered with a shrug. Her face had turned grey.


At the top of the road they cut down a track to the river, occasionally having to push their bikes in the steep and rough sections. As they left the houses the smell lifted and they began to notice the birdsong and blue sky. It was a beautiful morning.


They reached the meadow with a small bay where local children would come to play in the river. They froze when they saw a figure sitting on the grass overlooking the bay.


As they approached, they could see it was a girl, not much older than them. "Hello!" called Mary excitedly but, as they drew closer, they were dismayed to see that she, too, was dead.
"She must have come here to die," said Alex, wiping his eyes.


"There are worse places," Mary agreed.


"Hang on," said Alex. He fished around in his pockets and pulled on the latex gloves and face mask that he had brought home from the hospital the day before.


After taking a deep breath, he dragged the body over to the hedge, well back from the river, then collected branches and dried leaves which he used to cover it.


When he had finished, Mary came to join him and they stood together for a few seconds, side by side.


"It’s not much of a funeral," Mary said with a sigh as they walked back to their bikes.
"It's better than we’ll be able to manage for most people," Alex replied.


The rest of the trip was uneventful. Back on the road, they had to pass a couple of houses but these were set well back so there was only the faintest smell to show that not all was well.


The track up to Mike’s house was steep and they were glad when they saw the white walls peeking through the trees. Alex could see that it was surrounded by a shoulder high, solid stone wall, topped by additional fencing. "I’m glad we remembered the key. I wouldn’t fancy having to break in," Alex said as Mary unlocked the heavy wooden gates.


“Mike was very careful about security," Mary explained.


The house itself looked something like a fortress. The few windows and the door were covered with peculiar metal shutters. They pushed their bikes into the compound and Alex was surprised when Mary turned and locked the gates. "Uncle Mike’s rules," she laughed. "The gates stay locked."


"Was he a bit, well, paranoid?" Alex asked.


"To be honest, I think him and that gang of his were half expecting something like this to happen," she answered. "I mean, I wasn’t really listening. It was all politics stuff about ‘inevitable collapse of the welfare state’ and ‘riots on the street’ but they definitely thought that there was trouble coming."


As Mary went to unlocked the house, Alex looked around the enclosure. He was standing in a paved area in front of the cottage. To the left there were neat rows of fruit and vegetables and, beyond them, built against the wall, there was a wire enclosure with chickens and goats in it.
To the right there was a garage and a couple of sheds and behind the house he could see a tower, slightly taller than the house with a windmill on the top. There seemed to be a water tank near the top of the tower.


"Go on in and have a look around," Mary called to him as she opened the door. "I’ve got to deal with the animals. You’ll need to open the shutters," she shouted back to him as she made her way down the garden. The goats made a lot of noise when they saw her coming towards them.


He went in through the front door and found himself in a large entrance hall. The living space was to the left and to the right there was a workshop. A steep staircase led up into some sort of loft.


He went through into the kitchen. It was a large room with a solid-looking wooden table in the middle and a large metal stove set into the far wall.


There was a door through to the bathroom on the right and another in the far wall led through to a living room. Beyond this there was a small bedroom at the back of the house.


It was so quiet in the house that he jumped when the fridge behind him turned on with a click. At first he felt silly but then realised the significance. He tried turning the light switch and was astonished to see it worked.


He hurried through to the living room and, after opening the window and shutters, shouted down to Mary, "The electricity’s come back on!"


"It’s not proper electricity," Mary explained. “It’s solar cells and batteries and things."


"It might not be ‘proper’ electricity but if you can run a fridge and a couple of lights..."


Mary started walking towards the house. She was wearing an incredibly tatty old coat and carrying a bucket. She showed Alex how to latch the shutters.


"This place would be perfect," Alex said, glancing into the tiny bedroom at the back of the house, "if there just weren’t so many of us," he said. "Three or four of us would be fine... or even all the Minors at a squeeze, but with that gang of kids, we’re just not going to fit. Maybe we could put up a couple of tents, or something."


"Have a look upstairs," she answered, as she went round to the front of the house and began filling the bucket with water.


Alex went back into the entrance hall and climbed the staircase. He found that the entire roof space had been converted into a single long room. A row of bookshelves ran all the way along the back wall under the low part of the roof.


He walked over to the large window at one end from which he could look out over the garden and down the little valley to the river. He waved down to Mary who was now busy with the animals.


After a quick look around Alex went back down into the garden and walked down to where Mary was milking one of the goats. As he approached, she glanced around and told him to stay nice and quiet.


"What’s wrong?" he whispered.


"There’s nothing wrong," she answered in a quiet voice. "We just need to keep things calm or Ethel, here, will freeze up and I won’t be able to milk her."


"I didn’t know you knew how to milk goats."


"Hidden talents!" she said with a gentle laugh. "Uncle Mike taught me a lot of stuff like this. I used to spend loads of time up here with him when I was little."


"Do you have to do that now," Alex asked. "We ought to be getting back."


"They stop giving milk if you don’t do them regularly," she explained. "If you want to help, you could go and collect half a bowl of chicken feed. It’s in the first shed, next to the garage." Using her little finger she hooked the key out of her pocket and threw it onto the ground behind her.


"Hang on," Alex said, confused. "This is the front door key."


"The same key works in all the locks round the place," she explained. "Uncle Mike’s like that... was like that." She went quiet and sank her face into the goat’s woolly flank.
Alex didn’t know what to do but eventually he approached, collected the key and put his hand gently on her shoulder.


She looked back at him and smiled sadly. "Go and get the chicken feed," she said.
Half an hour later they were on their way back, though not before Alex had re-shuttered the windows and Mary had checked that he had locked the doors properly. "You do not leave the cottage unlocked, even if you’re just popping out for five minutes," Mary told Alex emphatically.


The journey back was uneventful but as they grew closer to the town the smell became almost unbearable and they had to fight their way through swarms of flies. Alex was relieved to see that at least the bodies lying in the street had been covered up. Even the car containing the dead family had an old tarpaulin thrown across the windows.


---

Katherine was busy cooking breakfast when Alex and Mary arrived back and made their way into the kitchen. Gregory came into the kitchen with his arms open. Alex picked him up and gave him a hug.


"Somebody’s glad to see you," said Katherine, "He was a bit worried when he woke up and found you’d gone. But now, young man, out of the kitchen, please! You know my rules! No little people in the kitchen when I’m cooking!"


Peter, who was just coming into the kitchen, took Gregory from Alex and boosted him gently back into the lounge. "Oh no!" he said when he came back in, "not the dreaded porridge."


"You can like it or lump it," she replied sharply. "I simply cannot cope with people being fussy right now."


"Lump it!" said Peter with a grin, "How very appropriate!"


"Can I do anything to help?" he added hurriedly when he saw her scowling at him.
"Not in here, thanks," she answered. "It would be great if you make a start on feeding the little ones, though. The aim is to get as much as possible in, rather than on, them!"


"You seem to have this completely under control," said Alex.


"I got my camp cook badge in the guides," she replied with a smile. "This is easy. At least it’s not windy and raining in here."


Alex grabbed a couple of bowls and went through to the other room where he started spooning porridge into himself and various small mouths.


---


By the time the group was ready to leave, it was much warmer. The smell on the street was revolting.


"What is that awful smell?" asked Katherine, wafting the flies from in front of her face.


"You probably don’t want to think about that too much," Brian answered grimly.


"Oh, yuk!" Katherine said turning rather pale. "Come on you lot," she added taking one of the twins in either hand and leading them off up the street.


Alex followed on after her, with Gregory and Hanna. "James, please keep a tight hold of Jess’s lead," he shouted, as casually as he could, as the dog started nosing towards one of the sheet-covered bodies.


The smell and flies abated as they made their way off the roads and onto the fields and, by the time they reached the river, they had gone. Mary and Brian managed to make the trip into something of a nature ramble, pointing out birds and flowers and, when they reached the water meadow they stopped for a rest. Jess and some of the children started splashing in the river.


"It’s funny," said Alex, sitting down next to Peter on the grass and looking down on the happy scene. "It’s as if nothing had happened."


"Yeah, we used to take gangs of kids out to play by the river all the time!" said Peter with a smile. "I know what you mean, though."


"It’s nice to see them enjoying themselves," said Denise, coming across to join them. "They’ve been through a lot, the poor things."


"Melanie!" Mary shouted down to the group of children, "you can go in the river if you like but take your shoes and socks off first."


"What are the plans for lunch?" asked Peter. "Is there food up at the house?"


"There are plenty of tins and things," Mary answered, "but I don’t know about fresh stuff."


"Maybe somebody ought to go back into town and collect some more things," suggested Katherine tentatively, looking across at Denise, "if that’s OK by everybody."


"It’s fine by me, as long as we’re sensible and keep a note of what we take," Denise confirmed.


"It’s going to be pretty horrible in the shops now, though," Katherine warned, looking hopefully around the group.


"OK, I’ll volunteer!" said Alex. "I’d quite like to have a look at the food situation. You want to come along, Dan? You know your way around."


"Sure,” Daniel answered. Alex suspected that he would be happier nosing around the supermarket than looking after the kids. "What would you like us to get?"


"Bread and cheese should still be OK," Harry suggested. Maybe some tinned ham, too."


"You could have a look to see whether there’s any fresh fruit or veg still fit to eat," suggested Katherine. Things like apples and carrots should be fine."


"Another half dozen small t-shirts would be handy," Mary said, looking down at the small children splashing in the water. None of their clothes really fitted and the twins had given up on the idea of trousers and were just wearing old t-shirts from Mary as dresses.


"We really ought to go round and collect that sort of stuff from the kids’ houses?" Denise said. "It would help to give them some sort of sense of continuity.”


"I suspect it could be fairly unpleasant in some of those houses," Brian answered carefully. "Maybe we could pop in and out very quickly, but you wouldn’t want to spend long in there."


"Oh," said Denise. "I hadn’t thought of that."


"It might be better in the early mornings, before things warm up too much," Brian suggested thoughtfully. "It might at least keep the flies down."


"We’d better get going," said Alex getting to his feet.


"I think I'll come with you," Peter said. "There are still two little ones on your list who might be out there on their own."


"Do you mind hanging on for a couple more hours?" Alex asked after a moment’s thought. "I know that it's important but the others need your help. There just aren't enough of us to do everything at once."


Peter reluctantly agreed.


"I'll tell you what, though," Alex went on. "Dan and I will come back on our bikes so you'll be able to get into town in no time. And maybe Harry will go with you. That should speed things up."


After letting Gregory and Hanna know what he was doing, he hurried back towards town with Daniel.


---


They made their way to the town-centre supermarket, making small detours to collect their bikes. Daniel found an old set of bike panniers and Alex collected the large rucksack that Harry had given him the day before.


Somehow they had got used to the smell on the streets but they were hit by another wave as they approached the supermarket. There were piles of debris near the entrance and, as they got closer, it became clear that there were a number of bodies too. Some of the bodies showed clear signs of violence.


"The end of the world is coming and people start fighting over a new telly," Daniel commented flatly nodding toward an expensive television that lay smashed on the ground.


"But that doesn't make sense," Alex replied. "The power must already have been out by then."


Daniel just gave a shrug and pushed his bike round the debris into the store.


As they walked in they were hit by an almost unbearable stench and, spreading out from the meat aisles, were waves of flies. Alex fished the face mask out of his pocket again. It didn't help much with the smell but at least it stopped him from breathing in the flies.


They dumped their bikes by the vegetables and made their way further into the shop.


As they moved away from the windows it became quite dark and Daniel collected a torch from the electrical aisle.


"Hang on," Alex said. "We said we’d make a note."


"You think it's a bit of a waste of time, too, don't you?" said Daniel with a conspiratorial grin.


Alex thought for a moment. "To be honest, we have to do this and when it comes to sorting this mess out, people will have plenty to do without counting the odd tin of beans. On the other hand, I can see where Den's coming from, too, so, for the time being..."


"Don't rock the boat?"


"This really matters to her," Alex said. "Only fight the battles you need to win!"


"I guess you're right," Daniel said as he took the notebook out of his pocket.


With the torch they could move around the store more easily. The smell kept them away from the meat and the prepared meal aisles but the dairy section still had plenty of items that were well within date. "It's been pretty cold for the last couple of days," Daniel said as he put a couple of large yogurt pots into one of his panniers. "They should be fine."

Alex agreed and collected cheese and butter.


Moving on into the grocery section, the pasta, rice and flour looked untouched as did the aisles of tins. There were only a couple of loaves of bread left, though there were plenty of part-baked baguettes.


There was hardly anything left in the wines and spirits section but it was in the pharmacy that the most damage had been done. The shelves were stripped bare and even the locked cupboards behind the counter had been forced open.


"I guess people were getting pretty desperate towards the end," Daniel commented quietly.


After filling up their packs with some fresh fruit and vegetables, they made their way out of the shop and along the cycle path towards Mike's cottage. It had been a long time since breakfast and Alex found it hard work cycling up the hill. He was relieved to hear the sound of children playing and knew that they were nearly there. As ever, James's voice could be clearly heard above the rest of the hubbub.


Daniel arrived at the gates first and, after trying to open them, he knocked loudly.


"You trying to keep us out?" he asked with a smile when someone unlocked the door. "Can I remind you that we've got lunch here?"


"Mary said the gate's to stay locked," Brian answered as he started to open them.

"Not really necessary, is it?" Daniel asked. "It's not as if there are crowds of people fighting to get in!"


Brian suddenly froze, obviously thinking about that comment. "We really don't know that," he replied at last. "We have no idea who or what is out there.”


"I wish you wouldn't say things like that..." Alex said as he thought about what Brian was suggesting, "but, in a way, I'm glad you do." he added, almost to himself.


They were shaken from their thoughts by Peter bursting out through the front door. "Hang on!" he called over. "Don't lock up. We're ready to go"


As soon as the bikes were unloaded, Peter and Harry set off. Brian locked the gate behind them.


---
Alex waved to Hanna and Gregory who were down by the animal enclosure, looking at the goats, then carried the big rucksack into the kitchen. He was about to collapse into a chair but Katherine had other ideas.


"The little people are going to be getting hungry soon so we need to get going," she said, starting to unpack the rucksack. "If you lot want to wash your hands, you can help me."


"How was the supermarket?" Brian asked as he started buttering bread.


"Not too bad, I suppose," Alex answered. "It looks like there were some looters in there but the only real damage was in the pharmacy which has been pretty much stripped bare... Oh, there wasn't much bread left."


"Don't worry about that," Katherine said. "If I need to, I can always bake bread. It's not that tricky. All you..."


"Baking bread?" Daniel exploded "How long are you planning on staying like this?"


"It's not exactly Kat's fault we're stuck here," Brian said, jumping to his feet in an uncharacteristic show of anger. "You ought to be grateful that she's doing so much to keep everyone fed and..."


"Hang on, hang on!" said Alex getting to his feet too and putting his hand on Brian's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure that Daniel didn't mean it like it sounded. But Dan, it really did sound as if you were saying it's all somehow Katherine's fault."


"Oh," Daniel said, still taken aback by the vehemence of Brian's reaction.


Alex looked around to check that none of the little kids were about, "At the risk of stating the obvious,” he said, “we're stuck like this until somebody comes and finds us."


Daniel was quiet for a moment then mumbled, "I guess I'm sorry," before walking out of the kitchen.


"And no one’s got any idea of how long that's going to be," Brian said to himself as he sat down and went back to buttering bread.

---


There wasn’t room at the table for everyone to eat at once so they took their sandwiches upstairs and had a big picnic on the floor of the upstairs room. Alex helped Katherine to carry the remains of the meal downstairs and to tidy up the kitchen, but when she started nosing around the cupboards he knew she didn’t really need him anymore.


The buzz of quiet children’s conversation drifted down from the upstairs room and Alex felt at something of a loose end until he remembered Mike’s cryptic comment about ‘important stuff hidden below the pantry floor.’ He went over to the pantry to find out what Mike had been talking about.


The pantry was a large cupboard, about six foot square, built into the far wall of the entrance hall almost opposite the kitchen door. The walls were lined with shelves which were filled with tins and packets of food. There were also cases of tins and crates of bottles on the floor including some exotic things which were labelled as long term storage supplies.


Also on the floor at the back of the pantry were two full rucksacks, one much larger than the other.


Like the rest of the house, the pantry floor was made of varnished wooden boards. Alex tested all the planks to see whether any were loose but they all felt secure.


He rapped on the floor with his knuckles and it sounded hollow but so - he tested - did the floor of the entrance hall. Presumably the boards were resting on some sort of beams.


After a few minutes Alex gave up and went upstairs to ask Mary whether she had any ideas. He waited until she had a free moment and then they came back down together.


"I’ve had a look but I can’t see anything," Alex told her as they looked into the pantry. "Do you know what those rucksacks are all about?"


"They are our hiking rucksacks: his and mine. He used to say that he could live for a month out of that rucksack."


"You could never carry enough food," Alex said with certainty.


"He had snares and fishing gear and things," Mary explained. "He took me out a couple of times, up to Scotland and other really wild places - and he used to catch stuff all the time."


"But why did he keep a packed rucksack in his pantry?"


"I think it was all part of his ‘what if’ thinking. What if we have to get out of town in a hurry? The bag is packed and ready to go. Just chuck it in the Land Rover and you’re off. If you run out of petrol or something you’ve got the rucksack. Off you yomp!"


She thought for a moment. "He took his Godfather thing very seriously," she said, her eyes misting over. "That’s why my rucksack is here waiting for me."


"Was he a bit paranoid about this sort of thing?" Alex asked.


Mary stared at him until he realised how stupid that comment was.


"I’ve really got to get my brain around this whole situation, don’t I?" he admitted with an embarrassed smile. Mary just laughed.


"How do we find what’s under the floor?" Mary asked.


"If we shift all this stuff out we might be able to see what’s going on." He started to haul the heavy boxes and cases out but when he got to Mary’s rucksack he was amazed at how light it was. "I guess Mike carried most of your stuff for you," he commented.


"No, I could survive for a week on what’s in that pack - though I’d be pretty hungry by the end of it. Mike insisted on that."


"But you'd never fit a tent and stuff in there. It’d weigh much more."


"Not a tent but a bivvy bag. It’s like a big bag that you put your sleeping bag in and climb into. It’s a bit claustrophobic but it’ll keep you warm and dry. Anyway, Mike would normally hang up some sort of shelter over us so you could leave your head out...


"And for cooking I’ve got a little metal mug and a tiny fuel burner made out of half a coke can. It’ll do for a mug of cocoa or a very simple warm meal."


"A lot of thought has gone into it, hasn’t it?"


"Don’t forget he was in the army so most of it was second nature to him. And he’s got loads of books on survival upstairs."


"Maybe I ought to have a look some time," Alex said.


By now the pantry floor was completely clear and it didn’t seem to have any sort of trap door, though, when he looked at it closely, it did seem to have a crack running down each side. Mary went to collect a torch and they carefully inspected the floor again but they couldn’t see any catch mechanism or loose boards. The only suspicious feature was a short section of pipe that was sticking up in the corner of the room to the right of the door. Both Mary and Alex tried to shake the pipe but it would not move. As Alex became angry with the thing he started yanking at it.


"Deep breath!" Mary teased him. "It’s not the pipe’s fault!"


"Sorry!" Alex answered, stepping out of the pantry for a moment and looking slightly embarrassed. "Don’t lose your temper with inanimate objects! Let’s try and think about this logically. This is definitely the pantry."


"It’s what he always used to call the pantry," Mary reassured him.


"And we both heard him say that it was under the pantry floor."


"That’s what he said and it’s not the sort of thing he would make a mistake about."


"Then part of the floor has got to move up, down or sideways," Alex said carefully. "It’s going to need some sort of catch or you’d fall down every time you stepped on it."


"Not if it went up!" Mary said. She reached inside the pantry and gently pulled on the section of pipe. The whole floor swung up towards them as if it were hinged along the back wall.


Alex let out a whoop of excitement as two large metal trunks were revealed below.


"Ah," said Mary when she saw the cases. "You won’t be able to lift them,” she added as Alex reached down and tried to lift one. She was right. He could hardly move it at all.


"What’s up?" asked Katherine, coming out of the kitchen to see what the noise was all about. Brian and Denise were coming downstairs too.


"You’ll see," said Mary, handing Alex the bunch of keys from her pocket. He reached round the side of the trunk and unlocked it then swung the lid open.


Sitting in foam packing materials was a partially disassembled rifle. When he lifted one corner of the foam he could see box after box of ammunition."


"Well, that’s one thing we definitely won’t need!" Denise said emphatically.


"But, Den..." Mary began but Denise was not interested in hearing what she had to say.


"Don’t you think there’s been enough death already? Do you want to start your own little war?"


"Hang on, Den," Alex said as she turned and started to stomp back upstairs. "Den, wait," he added more firmly when she ignored him. “You wouldn’t want any of us to go up to the kids in that state, would you?" said Alex gently.


She turned back round. "You’re right," she said. There were tears running down her face. "And I’m sorry," she said to Mary, who was almost in tears herself. "That was a horrible thing to say. But so many people have just died, the last thing we need is more ways of killing people. Really the last!"


"I hope you’re right," said Mary, still badly shaken by Denise’s anger.


"Come on out into the garden for five minutes," Alex suggested to Denise.


"I know I shouldn’t have said it," Denise said as soon as they were outside.


"Oh that," Alex said. "You said it in anger and have apologised. I’m sure Mary’s already forgotten it. What I wanted to say is that we don’t know what’s happening out there. There might come a time when we’re glad that we have those guns. Certainly I’d rather have them and not need them than have it the other way round."


"I don’t want to have them or need them!" Denise said emphatically, "and I’m worried that having them will make it more likely that we’ll find a need for them."


"We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen," Alex said. "Fortunately we’ve got you around to tell us when we’re going wrong." He gave her a warm smile.


Denise went back into the house to wash her face and then went back upstairs. Alex went to help Mary tidy the things back into the pantry. The other case, she told him, contained two pistols, more ammunition and a significant number of gold and silver coins in a heavy leather purse.


"Mike never really trusted banks or governments," she told him.


"That seems quite sensible now," he smiled.


---

They were disturbed by a commotion from the front gate and rushed out to find Harry and Peter had returned. Peter was carrying another little boy on his shoulders.


A number of the other little children had excitedly gathered around the gate and Peter was responding enthusiastically but Alex could immediately see that the new arrival was on the point of tears. Denise met his eye and, without words, they agreed they had to step in.


"Let’s get our new friend into the kitchen, Peter," Alex said firmly. Peter looked slightly hurt and puzzled but Alex gave him a look that asked him to trust him. Peter shrugged and they walked together towards the house.
"Let’s keep it calm and quiet, mate," he said to Peter as they went in through the front door. Denise followed them in after making it quite clear that the other children should stay out of the way. They made their way into the kitchen where Katherine was working.
Peter sat the little boy on one of the kitchen chairs and Alex sat down next to him.
"Hello," he said gently, taking the little boy’s hand. "My name is Alex. This is Denise and you already know Peter. Now, what are you called?"


"Richard," he answered with a sniff.


"Well, Richard, you’re safe here. Would you like a drink?"


Richard nodded though his lower lip was starting to tremble.


Alex went over to the sink and prepared his now familiar new arrival’s drink: one third apple juice and two thirds water.


By the time he returned the little lad had collapsed into tears and Denise had hauled him onto her knee. He put the drink on the table next to them, ruffled Richard’s hair and went over to talk to Peter who was standing by the window, obviously furious.


"I’m sorry; I thought I had to take over there," he whispered.


"It’s not you, it’s me!" Peter fumed. Though he was still trying to keep quiet Alex had never seen him so angry. "It was me who was showing him off in the middle of that circus!"


"You saved his life and then were a bit thoughtless when you turned up here with him. I guess that puts you ahead of the game on balance!"


"I should have thought!"


"Yes you should have but there’s no harm done. Now you really have to calm down."


Peter took control of his emotions with a visible effort and the two went back across the kitchen.


"How are you doing?" Alex asked, kneeling down next to Richard. The little boy was still crying but, with Denise’s help, was managing to drink. "Are you hungry?"


Nod.


Alex was about to go and look for something but Katherine was already there and put two small sandwiches in front of him. "Have that for now," she said with a smile. "It'll be tea time in a little while."


"Then we need to see about getting you washed,” Denise said. “You’re a bit smelly!"


---


There wasn’t enough room around the table for everyone to eat at once so they fed the small people first and then Mary took them upstairs while the Minors sat down to eat.


When they had all finished eating Alex stood up. "Can I say something, please," he said, raising his voice over the chatter, "Hello! Peter!"


As the conversation dropped the Minors could hear the sound of the children singing upstairs. At the sound Alex was unable to speak and found tears running down his face.


"I’m sorry," he spluttered at last.


"Don’t be!" said Brian. He also had tears in his eyes. "It is really rather beautiful."


"I reckon as how we must be doing summat right." Harry added.


At last Alex managed to pull himself together. "OK," he began with a deep sigh. "Mary asked me to say a couple of words about housekeeping here but, before I do, I think we need to stop for a second to think about what we’ve done over the last two days. We’ve not only sorted ourselves out in a pretty grim situation..."


He paused.


"But we’ve saved the lives of about a dozen little kids."


He paused again to let this sink in.


"We’ll probably never do anything else in our lives that’s quite so important."


"Don’t forget that we’re still missing one," said Peter.


"I’ve not forgotten," Alex reassured him, "I’ll be down in town with you first thing tomorrow to help you look for her and, of course, we’d be really grateful for any help we can get."


A couple of the Minors immediately volunteered.


"OK, housekeeping," said Alex. "First, you may have noticed that we have electricity."


There was some muttering at this but Alex ignored it.


"But it’s not electricity like we’re used to. I don’t know what’s going to happen if we try and use too much and I don’t want to find out. We might have to wait a while before an electrician can come."


This caused some mild laughter.


"Brian has been having a look at the setup so, for goodness sake, don’t plug anything in without talking to him first. Is everyone clear on that?"


"My hair-drier!" moaned Peter in mock anguish.


"That brings us neatly onto the second issue," Alex said as the laughter died down. "Peter, you don’t have to worry about your hair-drier because you’re unlikely to be washing your hair much in the near future.


"The first thing is hot water. We don’t have any yet. This thing," he said, slapping the huge metal stove against the back wall of the kitchen, "apparently runs off coal and wood and things and should give us heating, hot water and allow us to cook. Unfortunately we’ve not got it working yet."


"I’ll have a look as soon as I get the chance," Harry offered.


"Thanks," Alex said. "I’m sure we’d all be very grateful. ‘Til then we’re cooking on the camping stove. The other problem, though, is the bathroom. We’ve only got one and there are about twenty of us, so..."


"Nothing to be done in there that can be done anywhere else?" Denise suggested.


"Pretty much!" Alex answered. "And even if we get the hot water going, bathing is going to be something of a nightmare. Until things are sorted out, we’re all going to have to be very careful and considerate."


"If we just keep reminding ourselves that the alternative is being stuck at home with no running water and a toilet that, by now, would almost certainly have backed up, it all seems much better," Brian commented placidly.


"One last thing," Alex added when the chuckles had died down. "Peter and I were planning on strolling up to the castle, later on this evening, to flash a torch around and to see whether we can see any other lights. We might be able to find some more survivors. If anyone wants to join us they’d be more than welcome."


"I might as well come along," said Daniel.


"Great," said Alex. "Now, has anyone else got anything they want to say?"


"Are we all going to sleep upstairs tonight?" Daniel asked.


"I hadn’t really thought about it," Alex answered. "I sort of assumed we were, but there’s no real reason why we should."


"We’ll need a couple of people upstairs to deal with the... the..." Alex began.


"The Tiddlers?" Peter suggested.


"Good name!" Alex laughed. "...to deal with the Tiddlers but if anybody wants to use the bedroom, I’m sure that would be fine."


"What’s everyone doing about clean clothes?" Daniel asked.


"Clean clothes," said Peter with a big grin. "I think I heard of those once."


"Peter!" Denise said when she saw that Daniel was getting cross.


"I’m sure we’d all like a bath and a change of clothes," Denise said to Daniel, "but there are so many important things to do first we’ll just have to suffer a while longer. At least we’re all smelly together," she added with a rueful grin.


"So tomorrow we have a big hunt for this last little girl," said Alex, "and then we’ll try and sort out clothes and things for ourselves and... the Tiddlers... the day after that."


---


As the late afternoon sky began to darken, the three boys made their way up the steep track towards the castle. Jess darted backwards and forwards, delighted to be going out for a walk.


From the top of the hill, the track led down into a little valley where there was a farm house and a couple of buildings and from here it went up, along the side of a field to a minor road that ran down behind the castle. Jess charged through the field, scattering birds and rabbits though the boys were amused when, without being asked, she came to heel to cross the road. "There are no cars about," Daniel told her with a laugh. "Off you go."


From here there was a narrow, grassy, rutted path that led around the castle, under the ramparts. As they set off along this path Daniel clicked on his torch.


"Please would you turn it off, Dan," Alex said, covering his eyes. "We want to be able to see really faint lights down in town and a torch will muck up our night vision. Your eyes will soon get used to the dark."


They climbed up onto the earth bank that surrounded the castle and made their way round the outside of the walls until the city lay spread out below them. As dusk turned to night, they sat together on the grassy bank and scanned the darkening city, looking for the lights that would show them that there were other survivors. At first Jess tore around madly then she, too, seemed to be affected by the calm atmosphere and came to sit with them. Alex casually stroked the back of her neck. Stars were just starting to appear in the dark, dark blue sky and now that the sun had gone down it was starting to get a bit chilly.


"Finding these kids is really important to you, isn't it?" Alex said at last to Peter.


Peter thought about this for a while. "You know that bit in the Bible when Jesus is on the cross and says to God pretty much: ‘I’ve done all I can. From here on in it’s up to you.’ Well, I’ve seen that expression twice in the last couple of days. The first time, was when my baby sis died in my arms and I couldn’t do anything about it. But the second time, with Richard this afternoon, I could."


"So you think you’re God, now?” Daniel said.


"Dan!" Alex exploded.


"I think that God put me here to do this job for him," Peter answered calmly.


Daniel shifted uncomfortably and Alex could sense that he was preparing some sort of sharp response to this so he quickly jumped in.


"You know there’s really no chance of finding any more of them alive after tomorrow. They’ve just been on their own too long."


"There’s only one left on the list," Peter answered, "little Katie." He was quiet for a moment. "I guess, if you say they have no more chance then you’re probably right. Richard was in a pretty grim state when we found him." He gave a deep sigh. "One last try tomorrow and then I guess it’s time to concentrate on the living."


"Aren’t you being a bit, well, arrogant, assuming that the rest of us will help you with all these kids?" Daniel asked.


"I don’t think so," Peter answered after a moment. "Even if I was on my own, I’d still be out there hunting. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I sort of expect you all to want to help, but I’d do it anyway." His voice was rising now, though not with anger but with passion and intensity. "It’s not often you get to do something that you know is completely right."


They sat together for several more minutes, staring out into the silent darkness then, suddenly, Alex felt Jess tense. She jumped to her feet and stared down into the houses directly below them and started giving out a low, menacing growl. "There’s something out there," he said, following the direction of the white dog’s stare.


Then his eye was caught by a movement. Daniel gave a sharp intake of breath as he saw it too. Then the sound of excited yapping reached them from below and Daniel knew what they had seen.


"They’re dogs," he said, "hungry dogs that have found something to eat."


"That’s a truly appalling thought," said Peter when he realised what Daniel was suggesting.


"Do you think we’re going to have problems with dogs, then?" Alex asked.


"Not for a while," Daniel answered. "There’s plenty of meat just lying around that won’t fight back. When that runs out though..."


"If it takes much longer for help to arrive, we might be very grateful we’ve got those guns," Peter said, almost to himself.


A thin sliver of moon had risen so they had a little light as they made their way back along the track but it was a welcome relief to see the little island of light that marked the cottage. As they walked down the hill, they heard the gate opening. Katherine was waiting for them.


"See anything?" she asked as she locked the gate behind them.


"Not a thing," Alex answered. "How are things here?"


"Alice was sick," she reported, "but Denise sorted her out. Mary and Brian seem to have the rest of them pretty much under control upstairs." As they went into the house they could hear Mary singing upstairs. "Harry’s gone up there too but I think he just wanted to go to bed."


"I might follow him," said Alex. "I’m shattered."


"Me too," said Peter. "I’d like to get into town early tomorrow before the flies get too bad."


---


Alex found himself running through the hospital lobby again, tripping over bodies, slipping in unthinkable puddles and stains on the floor, desperate to get out – and yet equally desperate to avoid looking at the faces of the bodies lying around him.


Yet his eye was drawn towards them and he recognised them at once. There, piled against the wall, were the little kids that he had promised to take care of. There was little Hanna, almost submerged under a torrent of arms and legs... and Gregory, lying on his back with his head thrown backwards his mouth wide open.


He tried to make his way over to them, needing, somehow, to let them know how sorry he was for letting them down, but as he tried to move his feet became entangled in a mass of limbs and he fell to the floor, almost landing on the body that had been shot – the figure with an enormous hole in its head.


A hole in her head... suddenly it wasn’t a stranger lying there in a pool of blood and worse. In spite of the horrific damage, he recognised a familiar face.


Then he heard Mary’s voice, gentle and concerned, pulling him back to the quiet calm of Mike’s cottage.


"But you’re..." he began stupidly, before getting a grip on himself.


"It’s OK,” she told him softly. “You were just having a nightmare. It’s over now."


He slipped back into more restful sleep.


---


The sky was barely light when Alex was woken by Peter the next morning. "Come on sleepy head!" he whispered in a gruff voice. "The morning’s half over!"


"Gregory, who was sleeping next to Alex, opened his eyes so Alex quietly told him that he was going into town to look for Katie, before creeping down the stairs. Harry and Katherine were busy at the camping stove and Daniel, Denise and Peter were sitting at the table, hurriedly eating porridge.


Alex joined them at the table and was given a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea. Smiling his thanks, he started to eat.


Mary came into the kitchen. She was still wearing her pyjamas but had thrown a large jumper on over the top. She still looked sleepy.


Peter looked up. "Why are you up so early?" he asked her. "You could have stayed in bed for another hour!"


"I wanted to share your delightful early morning company!" she replied. Peter was famously not good at mornings but even he had to laugh at that. She accepted a cup of tea but did not want anything to eat.


"Sorry, I woke you last night," Alex said to Mary through a mouthful of porridge.


"You weren’t the only one," she smiled. I had a hysterical Alice a while later and I think I heard Den dealing with Charles at some stage.


Denise, who had nearly finished her breakfast, nodded.


"It’s going to take that team of psychologists more than six months," Alex said with a grim smile. "We’re all completely screwed up here!"


"It wouldn’t be normal if we weren’t a bit shaken by what we’ve been through," Denise said.


"How are you feeling now?" Mary asked Alex.


"I’m fine thanks," he answered automatically.


She frowned at him.


"OK, not fine but much better," he admitted. "Somehow things seem a bit better when you’re around," he added with a smile.


Mary blushed but did not seem unhappy with the comment.


---

Half an hour later, Daniel, Denise, Alex and Peter were making their way along the cycle path towards town. There had been some frustration when they were waiting to go because with only one toilet, delays were inevitable, but everyone tried hard to be patient.

"So, what are your plans?" Alex asked Peter.

"I found Richard at his childminder’s," he explained. Her address was on a piece of paper on the fridge. I thought we could have a hunt around for something like that in Katie’s house.

"I just hope her parents haven’t taken her up the hospital or somewhere," said Alex. "If that’s happened, it all gets a bit hopeless."

"She almost certainly wasn’t ill," Denise said. Her parents probably wouldn’t have wanted to take her up to the hospital in the middle of a plague."

"They might have left her with one of the neighbours," Daniel suggested. "It might be worth a look."

As they made their way down the cycle path, Alex gradually became aware of a smell - like putrefying road-kill.

"It's getting worse," Daniel said as they made the way out of the valley towards the houses. He had turned rather pale.

"And it'll be worse still later on," Peter said. "That’s why I was so keen to get going early."

"You’ll need these," he added, handing large triangular pieces of cloth to the others.

"These aren’t going to do much about the smell," said Denise with a puzzled expression.

"They’re not for the smell. They’re to stop you swallowing flies," Peter answered flatly.

As they made their way down between the houses, it felt as if they had stumbled into a nightmare. The bodies littering the familiar suburban scene were absolutely crawling with flies and the smell was shocking and disgusting.

"Don’t look," Peter said as Alex found himself staring at a particularly repulsive pair of bodies which seemed to be alive with flies. "It doesn’t help and we can’t do anything about it."

It was a relief when they arrived at Katie’s house. Harry had been careful not to cause too much damage when he forced the door so it could still be closed and, whilst there was still a smell from the rotting food in the kitchen, it was nothing like as bad as outside.

"So, who fancies having a look down the street?" Alex asked, pulling the improvised mask off his face.

"I could imagine that’s going to be pretty unpleasant," Denise warned.

"I’ll have a go, if nobody else wants to do it," Alex offered.

"Me too," Peter said. "I’ve got a pretty strong stomach."

"Are you two OK to have a look around here?" Peter asked Denise and Daniel.

They nodded.

Peter went right out of the house and Alex went left but he had hardly made it to the first front door when he was summoned by a shout. "It sounds like there’s a dog in this one," Peter said and this was confirmed by low barking from within the house.

"This calls for our dog expert," Alex said. He went back to Katie’s house and asked Daniel to come.

"Don’t you think we ought to just leave it?" Denise asked nervously. "It might be dangerous."

"I’m not leaving a dog to die of thirst," Daniel answered emphatically. "If I have to, I’ll go back and get one of the guns."

Denise looked as if she was about to react angrily to that but, with visible effort she regained her composure and gave a nod.

"I should be alright, though," he reassured her. "I’m going to need some water and a bowl, though."

As Denise retrieved them from next door, Daniel and Alex carefully forced the lock so they could open the door but it still held firmly against the jam.

When the bowl of water was ready, Peter carefully pushed the door, opening it by a couple of inches.

The muzzle of a large Alsatian appeared through the crack and Daniel held the bowl down and allowed the dog to drink for several seconds before taking the bowl away.

The dog jumped at the door, throwing it closed with a thud. It continued to batter at the door for several seconds until it realised it was pointless.

When at last it was quiet, Daniel pushed the door a few inches open again. "Now I want you to SIT!" he said with unswerving certainty.

The dog obeyed instantly, unable to think about anything other than drinking.

"And now DOWN!"

Again the dog obeyed without thinking.

"You're playing with it now?" Alex asked, astonished.

"Not playing - making sure he knows who's boss," Daniel answered tersely, not taking his eyes from the dog. "It’s particularly important with one like this that might be dangerous. OK, people, I want you to open the door now. Alex, stand ready with that crow-bar but don’t wave it around - just stand ready."

"OK," Alex replied tersely.

"Stay DOWN!" Daniel insisted as the door was slowly opened. "You stay DOWN!" he repeated as he put the bowl on the floor... DOWN... DOWN... OK!"

At his word the dog jumped up and started drinking again. "Good... boy," Daniel said, rubbing the animal’s neck firmly.

As the dog was drinking, Peter went into the house to check that Katie was not there. He returned a short time later, carrying a thick leather lead. He looked extremely pale.

"Are you alright?" Denise asked immediately.

"Not really," Peter answered. "That dog might have been thirsty but he wasn’t hungry."

Denise was quiet for a moment but, as she realised what he meant, her mouth opened in horror. "You mean..."

Peter nodded. "He was probably already dead, though," he said, as much to reassure himself as the others.

They went back to their systematic search down the road. It wasn’t pleasant. Every time Alex opened a door, he was met by disgusting smells, flies and often worse.

As he knocked on the forth door he thought he heard a faint noise from the living room. The curtains were still shut and, because of the earlier experience with the dog he was cautious as he made his way into the living room.

As he opened the door he froze. There was a little girl lying on the sofa, whimpering pathetically. She had hollow, sunken eyes, her skin was red and she’d obviously been sick.

"Hello, Katie," said Alex, walking over and putting his hand on her forehead. She was hot though not frighteningly so. "My name is Alex. We’re here to help you."

"Now," he said, "I’m just going to step outside for a moment to tell my friends we’ve found you. I’ll be back in a moment. Do you understand?"

Kate’s eyes gave the slightest hint of acknowledgement and Alex went to the door and called to the others. He waited for a moment but as soon as he saw Peter emerge from the house across the street, he hurried back to Kate.

Moments later, Peter hurried into the room, pulling the cloth from his face. "Hello Katie," he said. "We’ve been looking for you." He had a huge smile on his face but it vanished when he saw how serious the little girl’s condition was.

"Peter," Alex said, "Could you go and find me some water?"

"No," he corrected himself as Denise joined them. "Denise, you go and find the water. Peter, I need you to go and get my dad’s rucksack. You know the one I mean? It’s black and full of medical stuff. I left it in the kitchen at Mary’s house."

The two hurried from the room, though Peter could not resist adding "Yes, Doctor!" as he went.

A few moments later, Denise hurried back into the room with a cup of water. "It’s been standing in the kettle," she said. "It might be a bit flat."

"I’m sure it will be fine," he answered. "Could you find some more and a couple of flannels or something like that to clean her off?"

He eased Katie into a sitting position and, taking the cup, gave her a couple of sips. She struggled pathetically to drink more but he firmly took the cup away from her.

"You have to wait a moment," he told her, as gently as he could. "If you try and drink it too quickly, you’ll be sick and that won’t do you any good at all."

When Denise returned with the flannel and more water they gently washed Katie’s face and the back of her neck. "This will help cool you down," he told her, leaving the damp flannel on her forehead.

Suddenly the door opened and Alex froze as the dog bounded into the living room. But when the animal headed towards Katie, he jumped to his feet and tried to block it, but the animal dodged past him, jumped onto the sofa and started to nuzzle the little girl.

"Shauna!" Kate managed to murmur, sinking her head into the animal’s furry side. Alex looked up to see Peter’s standing, gripping the medical bag with an absolutely horrified look on his face. "I’m sorry!" he said. "I didn’t see the dog there."

"No harm done!" said Alex.

He allowed Katie and the dog to cuddle for a minute. It was obviously important for both of them. He hunted around in the bag until he found a sachet of rehydration powder. He mixed it with water and gave the glass to Denise. Then he told the dog to get down but he was completely ignored.

"Let me," said Daniel with a slightly condescending tone. He whistled and pointed to the floor and the dog reluctantly got down.

"The dog’s too warm for you," Alex explained to Katie. "He can sit on the floor right next to you, though."

"OK," Denise said, moving over to kneel by Katie, "we’ve got a special drink here for you. I know it’s hard but you’ve got to drink it slowly. Do you understand?"

Again she gave a slight acknowledgement and Denise gave her a couple of sips.

Alex staggered over to where the others were standing and gave a huge sigh. "Well done," said Peter, clapping him on the shoulder. "I’m glad you were here."

"I’m glad we were all here," said Alex. He looked back to where Denise was sitting on the floor next to her patient. It may just have been the effect of washing her face, but Katie was already looking a little better.

"When do you think she’ll be able to travel?" asked Peter. "I guess she won’t be walking for a while but we could carry her."

"We can’t possibly put her through anything like that," Alex snapped. He paused for a second.

"I’m sorry," he said, and took a deep breath. "I’ll try that again."

"If I could, I would have phoned for an ambulance by now. She’s badly dehydrated and needs a night in hospital on a drip. We can’t go carting her around the countryside."

"But we can’t look after her properly here," Peter said. "The smell and the flies are getting worse."

"Maybe we could rig up some sort of stretcher for her," Harry suggested but Alex and Denise both shook their heads.

There was quiet for a moment and then Alex suddenly smiled. "Mary!" he said.

"What about her?" Daniel asked.

"Mike said she could drive!"

"That’ll work!" Peter laughed.

"It’ll be a bit tricky to sort out," Alex said. "Mary’s back at the cottage and Mike’s Land Rover is at the top of the Avenue."

"You look after Katie and we’ll sort that out," Daniel said with a reassuring smile.

Alex nodded and went back to sit on the floor next to his little patient.

An hour later, Mike’s green Land Rover Defender estate came to a juddering stop outside the house. Mary was sitting in the front seat with a look of intense concentration on her face. When Alex asked her if she was OK to carry on, she replied with a curt nod.

He carried Katie out to the car and they made their way slowly and none too smoothly out to the cottage.

The arrival of a motor vehicle caused great excitement, which dissipated only slightly when people realised that it was not the rescue party that they had hoped for but, as soon as the car pulled to a stop, Peter jumped out and made sure the Minors stayed out of the way.

"She’s very poorly," Peter told the Minors in response to their questions.

"Is she going to die too?" asked Gregory in an alarmingly matter of fact voice.

"I don’t think she’s that poorly," he replied. "Alex and Denise are looking after her. We need to keep things quiet for her, though."

With Denise’s help, Alex carried Katie into the back bedroom. Shauna jumped out of the car and followed them. He had obviously decided that he had to look after the little girl. Denise glanced at the dog and decided that he wouldn’t do any harm but when he jumped onto the bed she told him very clearly that he had to get down. With a slightly hurt look, the dog lay on the floor as close as possible to Katie.

Denise chased Alex away whilst she helped Katie to wash and change. He went through to the kitchen and made up another sachet of rehydration drink.

"How’s she doing?" asked Peter, sticking his head in through the kitchen door.

"She seems to be a bit livelier," Alex answered, "but we’ll just have to see."

Alex went back into the bedroom and helped Katie to drink. He then sat on the floor, leaning against the bed as she fell into a peaceful sleep.

---

As Alex gradually woke up he became aware of Denise talking gently to Katie.

"We haven’t seen any grown-ups since everyone became ill," Denise was explaining, “but we’re doing our best to look after everyone until help comes."

"Is everyone else gone?"

"Not everyone. All the children from your class at school are here and there are seven of us older children here too."

"Who’s that man sleeping?" Katie asked.

"He’s called Alex," Denise explained. "He’s Hanna’s big brother. I don’t know whether you remember but he was the one who found you this morning. He was supposed to be looking after you but he’s not doing a very good job of it." Alex could hear the smile in her voice. She obviously knew he was awake.

"Good morning!" Alex said pushing Shauna out of the way and looking up. Denise was feeding Katie with something that smelt like chicken soup.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, gently but still with a touch of amusement in her voice.

"I’m fine," he answered. "I must be a bit tired, though. I don’t usually just drop off to sleep like that."

"We’ve all been ill and we’ve been through some major trauma in the last couple of days," Denise reassured him. "It would be a bit surprising if you weren’t tired. We’ve all had lunch now but I decided it was best to let you sleep. I hope you don’t mind."

"Not at all," he answered, "but next time I should probably find myself a bed." He squirmed slightly as he tried to stretch out a crick in his back.

"There’s still some soup left for you in the kitchen," Denise told him.

Alex hauled himself to his feet and had a look at Katie. She was looking much better. She was much more alert and her eyes had lost some of their hollow, sunken appearance. Shauna was sitting right against the bed and, almost without thinking, Katie’s hand was playing along the back of his head.

After giving Shauna’s shoulder a rough pat he went on through to the kitchen where Katherine was helping Alice and Charles to wash up. He was astonished to find that the room was warm.

"You’ve got the heating on!" he exclaimed.

"It’s not proper heating," Katherine explained. "It’s just the stove. Mary and Harry managed to get a fire going in the firebox."

"It seems to be doing a pretty good job of warming up these two rooms," he said, standing in front of the stove and stretching. "I could get used to this."

"If I lift these metal flaps up I can use it for cooking." Katherine showed him.

"Denise says you’ve made some soup..."

"I didn't make it," she answered. "I just warmed up a couple of cans. Have a seat."

"And you even managed to stop Peter from eating mine!" said Alex as he sat down.

Katherine smiled as she took a bowl from the back of the stove and put it on the table.

"That’s the last of the bread and I’m afraid it’s not very fresh," she said as she put a basket in the middle of the table.

As Alex started to eat, he realised how hungry he was. "You’ve started using proper cups and bowls and things," he observed, when, at last, he came up for air.

"I prefer using real crockery," Katherine said. "It’s so much more civilised than those horrible paper plates," she added with a slightly self-mocking tone. "And now we’ve got hot water washing up is not a problem - particularly with such good helpers." She smiled at Alice and Charles who were busy at the sink.

"Is Katie still poorly?" Charles asked, looking around.

"She’s looking much better but she’s still quite poorly," Alex said. "She was on her own for a very long time."

Charles's lower lip started to tremble as his own memories came flooding back.

"Maybe you could go and see her for a bit," Alex suggested hurriedly, in an attempt to give him something else to think about. "Just for a couple of minutes, though."

He looked at Katherine who said, "You have to finish off in here first, or it’s not fair on Alice," though she did get another tea towel out of the cupboard and started helping.

After a couple of minutes, Alex leaned back, his plate completely clean. "You seem to have taken charge of the kitchen," he said.

"I suppose I have," she answered. "Nobody else seemed to want the job and I quite enjoy it. Why? Do you want to take over?"

"No I certainly do not!" said Alex. "Not unless you want to live on Cheesy beans until help comes!"

After another couple of minutes, the washing up was done and Katherine sent Charles and Alice on their way. Alex was slightly worried that it would be too much for Katie so he stepped through into the living room to keep an eye on her.

He was puzzled when he saw Charles pause at the door but then he heard a little voice saying, "It’s OK. She’s Shauna. She won’t hurt you. She’s not a ‘nordinary doggy," and he was certain that his little patient was going to be fine.

"Where are the rest of the kids?" Alex asked, stepping back into the kitchen. "They seem very quiet."

"They’re upstairs with Mary and Brian," Katherine answered. "We’re going to join them now we’re finished here. Do you want to come?"

Alex gave Alice and Charles a couple of minutes with Katie and then went to collect them from the bedroom. They went upstairs together.

---

Alex was not sure what to expect but what he found was a picture of concentration.

Brian was sitting at a low table with a small group of the children. They appeared to be playing some sort of number game with counters, though when Alex looked a bit more closely he saw that they were washers rather than counters.

Mary was sitting with another group and was getting them to say the names of various letters that she had written on pieces of paper. "It’s nice to see you," she said. "How’s Katie?

"She’s looking much better now, thanks to your chauffeuring skills!"

"Much more thanks to your doctoring skills," she laughed. "Anyway, I have a job for you."

"Oh yes?"

"I’ve heard that Rachel, here,” she pointed out one of the twins, “is a really good reader but I’ve been too busy to listen to her. Would you like to hear what she can do?"

So Alex took Rachel over to the pile of bedding in the corner and spent the next ten minutes listening to a story about a fat cat with a hat. After that it was Melanie’s turn and she read the same book, though much more hesitantly and with more difficulty.

Then it was time for a break and Peter took the gang outside.

"It’s amazing," said Alex as Mary gathered her things together. "It’s all so, well, normal... just like a proper school."

"That’s not an accident," Mary explained. "It was Denise’s idea, really. We were chatting about it when you were out last night and she thought that the best thing we could do for the kids would be to get them back into a familiar rhythm as soon as possible."

"That’s brilliant," said Alex. There came the sound of shrieks and shouts from outside and he went to look out of the window. Peter had organised some sort of game that involved lots of running around and screaming.

"They seem to be loving it,” he added.


---

As he was making his way downstairs, he was passed by Daniel who had obviously been crying.

"Are you alright, mate?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks," Daniel answered.

"Go on, what’s up?"

"I’ve just been talking things through with Denise," Daniel answered, "trying to work out in my own head how I feel about everything."

"She’s good at that sort of thing," Alex said.

"She’s not just good, she’s brilliant!"

"Oh right, yeah, erm..." Alex began. For some reason he was slightly taken aback by the enthusiasm of the reply. "We were just going to have a cup of tea. Do you want to join us?"

"That sounds great," said Daniel. "I’ll be with you in two minutes."

As he carried on downstairs he realised that Daniel’s reaction seemed to go beyond simple friendship towards Denise.


---

Alex took his drink and carried it through to the living room where Brian was sitting, reading. There was a radio on the shelf and, on impulse he turned it on and started scanning across the dial listening for any sort of voice emerging from the background crackle.

"There’s nothing out there," said Brian in a rather flat voice, coming across to join him. "Harry found a much more sophisticated radio system out in a little room off the workshop and I had a pretty thorough search across the broadcast frequencies after you lot had gone to bed last night. I couldn’t find a thing. Not anything in a foreign language or even a carrier signal."

Brian went quiet for a moment but he obviously wanted to say something else. Alex turned off the radio and waited.

"I’ve been doing a bit of thinking..." he began, hesitantly.

"Go on,” Alex encouraged him. Brian didn’t often deign to share his deep thoughts with the rest of them but when he did it was usually worth listening – even if you didn’t immediately understand what he was going on about.

"Have you looked at your father's letter recently?" Brian asked.

Alex shook his head. It was just too upsetting to think about it.

"Reading between the lines, I think that is what he was trying to tell you. He couldn't just come out and say it - it would have just been too much back then - but..."

"You think we’re on our own for good?" Alex asked, appalled at the idea.

Brian gave a nod. "There might be other little groups like us but I don’t think there’s anything organised," he explained. "There’d be an emergency radio broadcast. We’d have seen planes... something."

Alex was quiet for a long time. "So we ought to start planning for the long term." he said at last.

"That’s about the size of it."

Alex thought about this for a while longer. Suddenly he made a decision. "The others need to be in on this," he said. "I’ll see if I can get everyone together?"

He opened the window and looked out into the garden where Peter and Harry were playing with the children. "Will the Tiddlers be OK on their own for a while?" he asked.

"They should be OK," Harry answered. "I’ve had a look around and it seems safe enough – as long as everyone keeps the tools in the sheds and the sheds locked up."

"Then could you come in for a chat, please," he asked. "We need to do a bit of planning."

"OK, said Alex when everyone had gathered, "Brian has been doing some thinking"

“Exercising his enormous intellect,” Peter joked but was silenced by a frown from Alex.

“... and it’s important stuff,” he went on. “OK, Brian.”

"OK, I’m assuming here that nobody’s heard anything from the outside yet – no planes or anything," Brian began.

"I’m pretty sure that nobody would have kept something like that secret!" Peter laughed.

"So how long do you think we're going to be on our own?" Katherine asked.

"That's what I’ve been thinking about," Brian said. "After you lot had gone to bed last night I spent quite some time playing with some of Mike’s radio stuff. I couldn’t pick up anything. We haven’t seen a plane or anything since the plague struck. I think we need to start assuming that we’re on our own."

He paused for a moment to allow the significance of what he was saying to sink in.

"If I’m wrong and the army arrives tomorrow with field hospitals and that team of psychologists for Peter then we haven’t lost anything. If we keep on living from day to day, assuming we’re going to be rescued we might miss out on things."

This comment caused some muttering and it was Denise who eventually said, "I don’t think we really understand what you mean by ‘miss out on things’."

"OK," he said. "Right now, we can find pretty much everything we need in the shops."

"Though, of course we’ll still be making a list of everything we take for when this is all sorted out," Alex added hurriedly.

"That stage is going to last... well, at least a couple of weeks. But quite soon all the fresh stuff is going to be pretty horrible and we’re going to have to start looking for alternatives or doing without."

"Maybe we could stretch that time out a bit if we store things properly," suggested Katherine. "I mean, there’s a cellar here and...”

"Hang on!" said Alex. "Let Brian finish first."

"Even if we can stretch things out a bit, they are going to be pretty much uneatable by, say, the end of summer." Brian went on. He looked around the room and nobody seemed to disagree. "Then we’re going to be left with tins and dry stuff and we’re gradually going to have to learn how to take care of ourselves – though for a couple of years, I guess, we will have the big advantage that, if our crop of carrots is hit by frost or something, we’ll still have plenty of tins of beans to fall back on."

"But sooner or later all those tins of beans are going to run out too," said Daniel in a flat, emotionless voice as the magnitude of what Brian was saying started to sink in.

"By then we’d better have learnt how to grow stuff ourselves or we’re all going to be very hungry."

There was a frozen silence around the room as Brian’s uncompromising picture of the future sank in. At last Peter could stand it no more. "So, we need to start growing parsnips," he said.

The laugh that followed had more to do with the tension than with the humour of the remark.

"So we need to start looking for parsnip seeds," Brian countered, "and a couple of books on how to grow parsnips would be handy as well!"

"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" Alex asked as the laughter died down. "Apart from planting parsnips, that is!"

"We ought to go to the shops again," said Katherine. "I mean, there are plenty of tins and things here but I’d rather use fresh stuff if we can get it... and what Brian says makes it even more important."

"At some stage we could do with some proper mattresses," Daniel said. "I mean, we can only get by sleeping on the floor for so long!"

"The guides have a big heap of camping mattresses at the back of the hall," said Katherine. "We use them for sleepovers and camping and things."

"Hang on," said Mary as she rummaged through a drawer, but they were interrupted by the sound of crying from in the garden. Brian recognised the voice, went over to the window and called Louise. He lifted her into the room and sat back down with her on his lap.

Mary sat back down at the table with a notebook and started listing the ideas. "Shopping... Mattresses..." she muttered as she wrote.

"Clean clothes for the kids," said Denise. "Some of them are starting to get a bit ripe."

"Us, too," said Katherine. "But that will mean going back home and..." her voice trailed off.

"That sort of leads into another thing," said Alex. "We need to give our families a proper funeral. I’ve not forgotten my promise," he added quietly to Harry.

"If we can possibly manage it we should bury the Tiddlers’ families too," Denise added.

"Surely we have to bury everyone," Katherine said.

"We can’t, Kat," Harry said. "There are just too many of them. It’d take months... years..."

"But we can’t just leave dead people lying around," Katherine said, appalled at the idea.

"I know it’s dreadful but we’ve just got to concentrate on looking after ourselves and the Tiddlers," said Brian, putting his hand on her arm.

There was an uncomfortable silence that was interrupted by more raised voices and tears from outside in the garden. Peter looked out of the window. "Ah," he said, "Richard appears to be thumping Gregory."

"I’m sorry," said Mary. "I’d better go and deal with that. Can someone else sort out this list?" She hurried from the room.

"And I really need to go and make a start on tea," said Katherine, getting to her feet.

---

"Hang on," said Alex. "We haven’t even decided what we’re going to do tomorrow, yet."

Katherine turned in the doorway. "Oh you lot just decide and let me know," she said.

"She’s got a point," said Peter. "We’re never going to get anywhere if we all have to sit down for a big formal meeting every time somebody needs to go to the shops."

There was quiet for a moment as they all looked at each other.

"I think it would be best if we just elect Alex as leader and have done with it," Denise suggested.

"Hang on," said Alex. "Nobody asked me about this."

"You get a vote, the same as everyone else," Denise said with just a hint of a smile.

"Who said I was going to accept?" Alex asked.

"We know you quite well, remember," said Peter with one of his occasional moments of perception that were, in their own way, even more annoying than his silly jokes. "You won’t turn us down if we ask you. You get my vote."

"Mine too," said Katherine as she went into the kitchen.

Alex looked around the room. Daniel looked as if he was about to say something but changed his mind.

"But what about Mary?" he asked. They could hear her voice as she comforted and scolded the Tiddlers in roughly equal measure.

"You’re clutching at straws if you think she’ll vote against you," Peter laughed. "She has a vote too but even if she votes against you, you’re still elected. Tough!"

Alex thought about this for a couple of seconds. "I can see it makes sense," he said at last.

"Hurrah!" Peter cheered. "We have someone to blame if it all goes wrong."

"Watch out!" said Alex with a smile, "or my first command is going to be: 'No more Peter jokes'!"

Peter got to his feet, laughing. "If that’s all settled, I ought to go and give Mary a hand." Brian went off to help Katherine and Denise went into the back bedroom to sit with Katie.

Alex sat quietly for a while, trying to get his head round what had just happened and work out what the priorities were. He glanced briefly at the list Mary had prepared, then got to his feet with a sigh.
He went through to look in on Katie, who was sleeping peacefully in the back bedroom. Denise was sitting with her, reading.

"What are you reading?" he asked in a low voice.

"It’s called ‘Dealing with Death’," she answered. I found it upstairs.

"It looks pretty heavy," Alex commented.

"Well, if Peter’s team of psychologists isn’t going to be appearing tomorrow, we’re going to have to do the best we can for ourselves.”

"That sounds really good," said Alex. He thought for a moment. "Yes," he added. "I like that a lot. Make sure we all know how we can help."

"I will," Denise smiled.

Shauna was still lying loyally on the floor next to Katie so he told the dog to come with him and then went outside to find Mary.

Shauna’s arrival was not very welcome for one member of the group. Up until that point, Jess had considered the garden to be her territory. She advanced towards Shauna with her hackles raised, growling steadily.

Alex laughed as Shauna simply did not react. She simply stared at Jess until the smaller dog decided that discretion was the better part of valour and slowly sloped away to hide behind James with her tail between her legs.

James knelt down and started stroking the white dog which was trembling slightly. "It’s OK," he gently reassured her. "We don’t mind if the big doggy wants to be the boss, do we?"

Shauna’s arrival distracted the Tiddlers and Alex soon managed to get a couple of minutes with Mary to explain what had happened. He was surprised at how calmly she took the news.

"It didn’t just happen," she said thoughtfully. "It simply continues what’s really been happening over the last couple of days anyway."

"Am I being that bossy?" he asked with a laugh.

"You seem to make the right choices most of the time," she answered, "and you don’t seem to be too much of a despot."

"I guess," he said with a sigh. "Well, if I am to be head despot, the first thing we need to do is to get some of the pressure off you. With the animals and your school and now the driving... not to mention the fact that you’re pretty much the only person who knows where anything is around here..."

"I don’t mind being busy," she said.

"I know," Alex said, "but it isn’t just that. The fact that you’re so critical to everything blocks other people from getting on."

Mary thought about this. "I see what you mean," she said at last.

"I think the most important thing that you are doing at the moment is the school," said Alex. "I was really impressed by the atmosphere that you and Brian had up there this afternoon. If it’s OK by you, I’d like to clear as much as possible off you so that you can concentrate on that."

“It is really important to get the little people back into a familiar pattern,” she said. She thought for a moment. "Maybe I could unload some of the animal work. It will be a while before I trust anyone else to milk the goats but..."

"But the rest of us can shovel dung!" he said with a smile. "And dealing with the chickens day-to-day doesn’t seem that tricky. Provide food and water and collect eggs."

"There’s a bit more to it than that," she laughed, "but not much!"

"The big thing, though, is can you teach the rest of us to drive?"

"I can hardly drive myself. I can’t start teaching other people."

"We’re not looking for great feats of driving. All I want is to get the car moving in a reasonably straight line. The alternative is that I try to teach myself by trial and error."

"The poor gearbox!" she laughed. "Go on! I’ll do what I can. Anything has got to be better than that. When do you want to start?"

"We’ve got an hour before tea. Shall we give it a go straight away? Peter will keep an eye on the kids."

Alex had not quite anticipated the excitement that his first driving lesson would cause. Not only were most of the Tiddlers there, but many of the Minors had turned up to see him start.

"There’s nothing worth watching on telly," Peter explained. "This is the most excitement we’ve had in days."

"At least get the Tiddlers away from round the car!" Alex grumbled as he nervously climbed into the driver’s seat. "I’m not doing anything as long as anyone is standing within five yards."

"Forwards or backwards?" asked Peter as he herded the kids out of the way.

Mary showed Alex how to adjust the seat and mirrors. "Though you’re probably not going to need your mirrors today," she added.

"Would you like me to open the gates or are you just going to smash through them?" asked Peter then hurried over to open the gates with a smile as Alex made a rude gesture.

"Alex!" Mary exclaimed. "Think about the little ones!"

At last Alex was ready. Under Mary’s guidance he carefully balanced the pressure on the accelerator and clutch. The engine roared loudly for a second then the car leapt forwards and the engine stalled.

"Come on! Let’s get the peanut gallery out of here," Peter laughed. "I suspect it’s not making it any easier."

Ten minutes later, Alex and Mary were down on the main road and Alex was desperately trying to coordinate the accelerator and clutch pedals, whilst still keeping the car moving in a reasonably straight line.

"This really is quite tricky," he grumbled as the Land Rover’s engine decided to stall yet again.

"You’re doing fine," she assured him. "If I’d thought about it, I wouldn’t have started you on a Diesel like this. When he was teaching me, Mike told me that petrol engines are much more forgiving."

After another three quarters of an hour, Alex brought the Land Rover to a halt in the courtyard. Brian, who had opened the gates for them, closed them then walked across to Alex who was leaning back in the driver’s seat with his eyes closed.

"How was it?" he asked.

"It’s really, really exhausting," Alex admitted. "There’s just so much to think about.

"I’d like to try some time," Brian said. "If we really are going to be on our own for a while, the more people who can driver, the better."

"I don’t mind showing you some time," said Mary, "but not tonight! It’s hard enough just being in the passenger seat!"

"Another couple of hours and I’ll be able to show you," said Alex. "I was sort of getting it towards the end there."

"Another couple of hours and you’ll have driven more than me!" she laughed. “Before today, I’d only driven a couple of times on farm tracks. I’m not exactly a world expert!"

"I wonder if that’s true," said Brian, suddenly very thoughtful. "I wonder if that’s true."

"You really ought to stop saying things like that," she scolded him, only half in jest. "I know it might be true but it’s not exactly comforting."

---

As Mary went down the garden to check up on the chickens, Alex and Brian went into the kitchen to see if they could help Katherine.

They went in to be greeted by a delicious smell.

"What’s cooking?" Brian asked. "It smells great."

"It’s just a tuna bake," Katherine answered. She was busily chopping vegetables at the table. "You lot will have to wait, though. I thought I’d feed the little people first."

"Fair enough, I suppose," Brian said. "Just make sure that Rachel and Rebecca don’t eat it all up!" The twins were supposed to be washing up the cooking pots but in fact seemed to be spending most of their time splashing each other.

"What can we do?" Alex asked.

"If Brian could keep an eye on those two troublemakers over there and you could make drinks for the Tiddlers that would be great," she answered.

"What are you making," Alex asked as he started on the drinks.

"Just some coleslaw," she answered. "Nobody’s had anything even vaguely resembling a salad for days."

"Sounds great!" he said. "Have you given any thought to what you’d want us to collect from town?" he asked.

"Not really," Katherine answered. "Things like potatoes and carrots... onions... apples... maybe some more cabbage. I’d really want to see what things look like before I decide."

"So you really need to go into town tomorrow," Alex said, almost to himself. "You ought to sit down after tea and work out what you need to get," he suggested.

"I do know how to make a shopping list, you know!" she answered, in mild irritation.

"Sorry!" Alex answered with an embarrassed grin.

---

It was as he was spooning the remains of one of the tins of tuna into Jess’s bowl that he started thinking about their earlier discussion.

"Brian," he said, "how long is the food going to last?"

"What do you mean?" said Brian, who was helping the twins to set the table.

"Let’s assume that we are stuck on our own like this forever, like you said. How long is it until we’ve eaten all the tins? It makes a big difference whether it’s three years or thirty"

"I don’t know," answered Brian after a moment’s thought. "Maybe we ought to have a rough count of tins and things some time."

"I don’t even know how long a tin of tuna will keep," said Alex. "The best before date gives us another two years," he added, carefully holding the can up so he could read the date without pouring oil on the floor."

"Those dates don’t mean much," Katherine commented. "I mean, I’ve never heard of anybody poisoning themselves with a tin of dodgy tuna."

She turned around and put a large bowl of coleslaw onto the table. "Right," she said, "We’re just about ready here. Do you want to go and round up the rest of the Tiddlers and get them washing their hands?"

---

"What are the plans for tomorrow?" Brian asked Alex as the Minors were finishing their own meal.


Alex finished chewing, put his knife and fork together and sat back in his chair. He looked around the table and everyone had finished eating apart from Peter who was getting dirty looks from Katherine for eating the last of the coleslaw straight from the bowl.

"I think you and Mary should do your school thing again tomorrow," he said, looking across at Brian. "Mary’s shown me how to drive now so we should be able to get into town without her."

"Sounds fine by me," Brian answered.

"You should all have a think about what we need from the supermarket," Alex added. "I’m sure we’ll need things like paper and pencils for the school but... well... have a think. Kat’s getting a list together.

"The other thing we urgently need to do is go home to collect some clothes and stuff – both for us and for the Tiddlers. I was hoping that we might get that done tomorrow."

"Great!" Katherine. "I mean, you can only get by hand washing your underwear in cold water for so long."

"Does that mean we can have a big bath night tomorrow?" Denise asked.

"If we can get the hot water going," Alex answered. "I’m sure it’d do us all good."

“I think I might remember how to do it,” Mary said. “It wasn’t that tricky. Is there anything else?”

"I'd like Harry to have a general nose around. I get the impression that Mike's got quite a bit of stuff here that might be useful."

"I’ve already had a look in the workshop," Harry said. "There’s loads of really useful stuff out there. Good quality tools, not just the normal stuff but proper carpentry and metalworking things too."

"So that's tomorrow," Alex said. "The day after..." he gave a sigh, "it’s time to start burying our families."

This was met by a chorus of silent nods.

"Right," Alex went on after a few moments, "Katherine and me are busy with our paperwork now. So who wants to tidy up in here and who wants to go and help Mary with bedtime?"

---

After a quick breakfast the following morning, Alex set off into town with Katherine, Daniel and Harry. Katherine was worried because she had not had enough time to prepare a customary vat of porridge for the group.

"Don’t worry!" Harry reassured her. "I’m sure that the others won’t let the Tiddlers starve."

"But you know what Peter’s like about porridge. We’ll probably come back to find him feeding them that sugary cardboard that passes for breakfast cereal."


"We know what he’s like," Alex laughed, "and I’d be prepared to bet that we get back to find a pot of slightly burnt, extra lumpy porridge. Peter, like the rest of us, has far too much respect for you and your culinary skills to risk disappointing you."

"He'll still grumble about it tomorrow," Harry added in a flat tone. Alex suspected it was meant to be a joke.

Alex found that the casual banter in the car made the driving easier. Somehow it took his immediate attention away from the details of clutch control and gear changing. It seemed like no time before they were rolling into the car park of the big out-of-town supermarket.

"Right," said Alex as Katherine and Daniel got out. We’ll be back here in three hours. Have you got everything you need?"

"We’re going to be in a supermarket," Daniel explained with mild irritation. "If we need anything I’m sure we’ll be able to find it."

"Fair enough, I suppose," said Alex with a shrug and drove off, carefully avoiding something that looked suspiciously like a dead body lying near the car park exit. He managed to avoid looking too closely. You got into the habit of filtering out things that you simply did not want to see.

Within ten minutes they were parked outside the first house on their list.

"Are you ready?" asked Harry as he tied a piece of cloth over his mouth and nose.

"As ready as I’ll ever be,” Alex answered as he fastened a cloth over his own face. Together they made their way into Alice’s house.

They spent about twenty minutes in the house. It wasn’t pleasant but the importance of the job made it bearable.

When they had finished, they had a small suitcase containing Alice’s clothes and shoes. They had also added a couple of toys – though it was hard to select the special ones from the chaos that was the bedroom floor.

Alex had also written a note in marker pen on the front of one of the kitchen cabinets. It said that Alice was still alive and gave details of where she could be found.

"For me, the worst thing was the smell," Harry said as they drove along to the next house on their list.

"I kept thinking about how Alice was alone in that house for a couple of days," Alex responded. "It’s a wonder she isn’t even more messed up, poor thing."

They managed to visit five more houses before they had to make their way back to the supermarket. There they found Katherine and Daniel waiting with about five trolleys.

"Did you make a note of everything?" Alex asked.

"Of course!" said Daniel handing him a notebook. Alex was amused to see the first item on the list was a notebook and pen. "I promised to keep a list and I will. I don’t believe that we’ll ever need to pay for the stuff but I think it might come in handy to know what we’ve taken from where."

Harry opened the rear door of the Land Rover and Alex moved to start unloading one of the trolleys.

"Not that one!" Daniel said hurriedly.

Alex gave him a slightly puzzled look.

"Put these boxes in first – they've got the heavy stuff in them. If we get them down on the bottom then we can put the lighter things on top."

There were two long bench seats in the rear space of the Land Rover and, by filling the space between these with boxes they managed to produce a big, fairly flat area into which they could start piling the shopping bags and the sacks of vegetables.

"Just make sure we get everything in this trolley on top!" Daniel said with a smile. "That’s got lunch and the stuff for the school."

"One last thing," said Alex as he drove out of the car park. "Harry and Kat, you are due to stay up in the cottage this afternoon."

"It’s OK, we know," Harry laughed. "We’ve all seen your list!"

"So we’ll go by your places and give you a chance to fill up a bag each." Alex said.

"Not too much stuff, though," said Daniel from the back seat of the car. There’s no room in the back so it’s all going to end up piled up on top of us."

Twenty minutes later, Harry and Katherine emerged from their houses. They both looked very pale and shaken.

"I’m sorry," said Alex when he saw them. "I should never have let you go in there on your own."

"It’s not your fault," said Harry, wiping his eyes on his sleeve as he passed his bag to Daniel who was sitting on the back seat.

"We’re going to start burying them tomorrow," Alex said, "Then at least people will be able to go home without..."

"The stink of your mum lying dead in the next room," Harry completed the thought. He was quiet for a few seconds. "I wonder whether people would mind if we cremated the bodies before we buried them."

"What do you mean?"

"We dig a hole – fill it with wood and stuff, pile the bodies on top, light a match and stand back."
"Can't we just bury them?" Katherine asked tearfully from the back seat.

"We’re talking about at least fifty bodies here," Harry explained gently. We’d have to dig a huge hole for that."

"I can see the sense in it," Alex said. "We’ll have to talk to the others about it."

---

That afternoon, they went on three more trips into town. Alex kept a list to make sure they had packed a bag for each of the Tiddlers.

The visits to the houses, many of which still contained dead bodies, resulted in a sombre atmosphere in the cottage that evening. Alex cautiously raised the subject of cremating the bodies rather than burying them. The others accepted the necessity though, as Brian said, "Whilst it’s the logical thing to do it somehow doesn’t feel quite right."

The atmosphere was lightened considerably when Harry announced that, with Brian’s help, he had constructed a simple outside toilet down by the animal pens. "It’s not going to win any prizes," he admitted with a smile after describing how to cover up waste with earth after use, "but it’s certainly better than having to wait for a dozen Tiddlers to finish using the bathroom in the morning."

"I never thought I’d be grateful for a hole in the ground toilet," said Daniel, "but I can see it’s going to..."

"Relieve a lot of pressure?" Peter suggested with a grin.

Mary had also managed to persuade the stove to produce hot water so, as Brian and Katherine prepared something to eat, the rest of them established what Peter described as ‘a Tiddler polishing production line’. The Minors managed a quick shower too and, by the time they were ready to eat, the room smelt much better than it had since they arrived.

[garethn]

03 Shepherd’s Hey


The next few days was spent in the dismal task of preparing the funeral pyre.


After a great deal of thought and searching, they chose the large public field just below the castle. It was a beautiful place with a view over the town and up to the castle. Harry was pleased to see that the soil was relatively light. "It’ll make digging much easier," he assured the others.


Daniel had found a trailer in a local farm which they could hook onto the back of the Land Rover and use to transport the bodies. After a while, the pure horror of having to handle the dead became slightly less intense but moving some of the larger bodies downstairs still took considerable effort, particularly as Alex insisted that they wear masks, overalls, wellingtons and heavy gloves.


Because of his nightmares, Mary insisted that Alex stay back at the cottage when they went out to collect her parents from the traffic jam by the hospital. Alex had already decided not to look for his own parents’ bodies, though he did make sure Mrs Tweedy was collected.


Though they had agreed that they couldn’t clear all the bodies, they collected a number of the more disturbing or upsetting ones such as the people at the entrance to the supermarket and the young family in a car just outside Mary’s house. In the end they had over a hundred sheet-wrapped corpses laid out in the field by their pit.


As they were planning to cremate the bodies, they didn’t have to dig very deep but it still took them almost a full day.


They found a large supply of firewood at a local DIY store; wooden pallets at the local building suppliers; and a large supply of paraffin at a local petrol station. Under Harry’s direction, they began to construct the pyre.


They laid down a thick layer of wood, then they put down layers of pallets, which Harry roughly nailed together to give a stable platform. Here they, respectfully, placed bodies.


Then they started on the next layer.


In the end the pyre was taller than them. To complete the last layer, they had to use the ladder at the back of the Land Rover to climb onto the structure. Fortunately Brian had thought to put the larger bodies lower down and they only had to lift the few, desperately sad, small, sheet-wrapped bodies to the top.


As the Thursday afternoon drew on, they gradually completed the job. Brian and Alex worked their way gradually back toward the ladder, making sure all the top layer of bodies was covered and pouring bottle after bottle of paraffin over the structure. At last they climbed down and drove the Land Rover a little way away.


It was a solemn group that gathered to light the fire on the Thursday evening. Brian had warned them that there was a significant danger that burning bodies might tumble off their amateur funeral pyre and so it had been agreed that the Tiddlers should not be present. Mary had volunteered to stay back at the cottage with them but everyone else had chosen to come.


Peter stepped forward and said a few words, mentioning that they would not only be thinking about the dead being cremated tonight but also about other friends and relatives whose fates were unknown.


Then Harry took a torch, made from some old paraffin-soaked rags tied to a stick. Peter took it and with some formality, thrust it into the fire.


For a second nothing happened then first Peter and then the others were driven back by the wall of heat that struck them. Flames jumped vividly into the overcast sky.


Though the heat forced them to stand well back, they could still feel the air rushing in from all directions to feed the insatiable, roaring flames. The overwhelming brilliance of the fire made it difficult even to look towards it, let alone to see the bodies being consumed within.


Denise started to cry and Alex moved towards her but was beaten to it by Peter who put his arm comfortingly round her shoulders.


As the flames began slowly to subside, the Minors gradually began to split up into groups. Peter and Denise made their way up to the top of the hill, sitting close together and talking. Katherine and Harry walked a little way down the hill and Brian, Daniel and Alex stood together, staring into the flames.


"It has a terrible finality to it," said Brian at last.


"I know what you mean," said Daniel. "It’s a bit hard to pretend that nothing is happening when you’ve just burnt the bodies of your entire family."


"I feel it too though none of my lot are actually on there," said Alex. "It really does feel as if we’re marking the end."


"I’d forgotten that you haven’t got anyone on there," said Daniel. "I don’t know whether you deserve pity or envy."


"Pity," said Alex decisively. "Grim though it was, at least you know what your folks went through at the end. I can only imagine and, believe me, what I’m imagining is bad."


Gradually the flames began to die down to be replaced by a dazzling orange-white blaze. The Minors came back together again to watch as the flames settled back to vividly glowing embers.


In the end it was Denise who had the courage to say what the others had been starting to think. “It’s time to go home now."


"I’m going to stay here for the night," said Harry in a flat voice.


"Mounting a vigil," said Peter. It was clear from his tone that he was not mocking the idea. "That makes sense."


"I don’t like the idea of you being on your own here at night without the car," said Katherine. "We know there are packs of wild dogs about."


"Why not come back to the house with us now?" Alex suggested. "I can bring you straight back down and then I’ll stay here with you."


Harry thought about this for a moment then gave a shrug. "Nothing’s going to disturb the fire for a bit," he said. "I’d like to be back before it dies down too much, though."


It was a sombre group that made its way back to the cottage. Mary had been waiting to open the gate for them and Alex got out of the car and gave her a hug. "It’s done," he said quietly. Mary just nodded.


He held her tightly for a few moments more and then let her go.


"I thought you might be hungry," she said to the group," so I put some soup on."


"Are you OK with that?" Alex asked Harry.


"As long as we’re quick," Harry answered.


The atmosphere was still sombre as they gathered around the table as they tried to come to terms with the enormity of what they had just done. For the most part they ate in silence.


"Denise and I have been talking about things," Peter said when he had finished eating.

"And we’d like to organise some sort memorial service on Sunday,"


"A funeral service... God… Jesus..." Daniel exploded. "You’re not serious, are you?"


"Of course I’m serious. We think it’s very important."


"But you can’t really believe that stuff anymore... not after last Tuesday!"


"I certainly do still believe in it," Peter answered indignantly. "I can’t say I understand it but..."


"But everybody died..."


"Don’t you think I don’t know that?" They were both shouting now. "But there has to be a reason why we were saved."


"How can you call it saved? Your precious God decides to kill everybody and then, on a whim, decides to let half a dozen of us survive. That sounds like a proper sort of loving God."


"Certainly there are a dozen kids asleep upstairs who wouldn’t have stood a chance if we hadn’t been saved."


"Peter, Daniel, stop it, please, both of you," Alex said. He felt close to tears. "Everyone’s still really upset and angry. Let's try not to take it out on each other"


The room went very quiet for a moment.


"I’d also see it as something of a bonus if we managed to avoid waking Louise," Brian commented dryly. "It’s nice to feel wanted and all that but it’s quite a relief to have a couple of minutes on my own for a change!"


The comment brought a couple of laughs - though mostly out of relief at the breaking of the tension.


"I think some sort of formal way of saying goodbye is a really good idea," said Mary at last.


"But obviously nobody needs to have anything to do with it if they don’t want to," Alex added.


Mary had chosen to go back to the Pyre with Alex and Harry so, after throwing a couple of sleeping bags into the back of the Land Rover they drove back to the field. As they approached they could see the light reflecting off the low cloud.

"If there’s anybody down in town, they’re bound to have seen this," Harry commented mildly as they pulled onto the field. When it was going at full blast you would have been able to see it for miles.


Harry got out of the car and went down to stand by the fire. It was much cooler now and he could stand right by the edge of the pit. Mary and Alex sat together in the Land Rover, staring out at the glowing mass in silence.


"What do you think about this whole church business?" Mary asked at last.

Alex thought about this for a while. “If you just look at the whole thing flatly it sounds stupid but..." he paused, uncertain how to complete the idea.


"But churchy people like Peter and Den are some of the best we know," Mary suggested and Alex nodded.


"I once heard a theory," Alex suggested tentatively, "that evolution put a sort of religious thing in us because groups of people who all believe in the same thing end up being stronger."


"And our little group of people needs to be very strong right now?" Mary asked.


Alex nodded in the glow of the embers. They sat together in silence for a while.


"Pass the hymn book," said Alex at last. "You’re not going to find anyone singing louder than me."


As a misty dawn broke across the field, Alex shifted uncomfortably in the front seat of the Land Rover. At some stage Mary had curled up in the back but Harry had maintained his vigil through the night, occasionally sitting but mostly standing or walking round the pyre.


Alex got out of the car as quietly as he could, stretched and went down to join him by the fire.


"How are you doing, mate?" he asked clapping Harry on the shoulder.


Harry said nothing but just gave a rueful, though not unfriendly, smile.


Together they looked out on the cooling embers which had burnt down until they were almost level with the ground. Here and there pieces of bone could be seen but the scene was sad rather than horrific.


"It’s time to cover them up," said Harry at last. "You want to give me a hand?"


"Sure," Alex said, "but don’t you want to go and have a lie down first."


"I’ll rest when it’s done," Harry answered.


They had collected a couple of trailer loads of gravel from a local builder’s merchant and Harry showed Alex how to cut open the plastic sacks using a spade, then they spread the gravel across the remains. After a while, Mary came down to help.


Later, when the sun was well up, Peter and Brian came down to join them, bringing breakfast and a flask of tea. Alex and Peter went for another two trips down to the builder’s merchant before Harry was satisfied that the remains were adequately covered. He walked over the heap a number of times, stamping down firmly to make sure everything was well bedded down.


"I reckon that’s good enough," said Alex, coming across to where Harry stood, staring at the waist high mound.


"It’s not good enough. It’s right," Harry answered flatly. "If it weren’t I’d still be graftin'." In spite of the situation Alex was slightly amused to hear Harry slipping into his father’s Northern accent.


"I’m sure your father would be proud of you," he said.


"How did you know I was thinking that?"


"‘Cos you were talking like him," Alex said with a gentle smile.

"It’s not really for him," Harry explained. "It’s just... well... he’d have wanted a proper job done for me Mum."


"It is right," Alex assured him. "Come on now, we need to get you back now."


Harry nodded and allowed himself to be led back towards the car but when they got close he suddenly stopped. "Hang on," he said. "I need to tidy up."

"No you don’t. You need to sit down and have a rest. We are perfectly capable of tidying the place up."


Harry continued to resist and at last Alex lost his temper. "Listen, Harry, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you!" he exploded. "If you carry on like this you’re going to make yourself ill and that’s not going to help anyone."


Harry reluctantly got into the car and was fast asleep by the time the rest of them had finished clearing up.


---


The rest of the day passed in something of a daze. Harry slept for several hours and was quiet and withdrawn when he woke.


The Tiddlers seemed to share the mood and Alex and Katherine, who were on bedtime duty, had more trouble than usual getting them off to sleep. Alice had been sick again, which disrupted things, and then Charles had started crying loudly and had to be taken out of the room for a while to quieten down for a while. At least they had managed to get Louise off to sleep in her own bed.


At last they were all quiet and they crept downstairs to join the others.


"I’m glad to see you two!" said Peter, "We were about to send a rescue team."

"They were in a funny mood," said Alex. "We couldn’t get them to settle."


"Not surprising, really," said Denise. "We’re all in a bit of a funny mood too. They’re bound to pick it up."


She paused for a moment and looked around the room before concluding, "That’s why I think we need to take the weekend off."


"What do you mean?" Alex asked.


"We do... well we don’t do anything that can’t be put off until Monday. We have time for the Tiddlers, play games, go for walks..."


"Party food and sweets and fizzy drinks!" Peter suggested. Katherine tried to look disapproving but she couldn’t resist his enthusiasm, particularly when he added, "Only for the Tiddlers, of course," with transparent insincerity.


"We could have a dance!" Alex said excitedly. "We’ve not danced since... since before."
"I’d need to go and collect my fiddle," said Mary.


"Oh good," Peter said, "because on Sunday morning Den and I were planning on holding a Service of Remembrance and ah..." He glanced apprehensively towards Daniel.


"It's OK," Daniel said, though his eyes showed he was not really happy. "Den told me about it."


"Thanks," said Peter with a smile.


"Anyway," he turned to Mary, "would you play some music for us?"


"Sure..." Mary answered. She thought for a moment. "I’d prefer to use Dad’s keyboard though. Will it be OK with the electricity?" she asked Brian.


"Should be OK," he answered. "We can always fire up the generator if we need to."


---


Alex was back in the hospital lobby. Why did he have to keep coming back here? There was nothing here but death and the dead.


The little kids were still there piled against the wall but now they had their eyes open and were staring at him, silently condemning his failure to keep his promise and look after them.


And Mary was there, still with the hole in her head, but now with an expression of rejection and disappointment.


And now he could hear her voice, calm and insistent, pulling him back to the sound of quiet breathing that marked the makeshift dormitory in Mike’s cottage.


"You were having another nightmare," she told him.


"The same nightmare again," he told her with a half grin. "Sorry! Did I disturb you?"

"You’re sorry that you had a nightmare? How does that work? Were you having this nightmare just to disturb me?"


Alex smiled at her in the dark.


Mary made a decision and sat up. "Tell me about it," she said with a quiet calmness.
"What do you mean?"


"Something’s giving you nightmares and, as we’re awake anyway you might as well tell me about it."


"You sure?" he asked. "It’s grim."


"It must be pretty bad," she joked. "You’ve not told me yet and it’s already keeping me awake!"


Alex sat up next to her. "It was up in the hospital," he began.


"Was it my parents?"


"No. They were kind of, well, peaceful... just sat in the car together. I mean, the traffic jam was a bit unreal but it was OK. It was the scene in the lobby that..." Alex struggled to control a violent sob and breathed hard for a few moments.


Mary put her hand on his arm.


"The lobby," he said, struggling to remain calm. "There were bodies piled along one wall – like a couple of hundred bodies all piled up along one wall – and there were more bodies scattered around the place, in the flower shop and things. But... but..."


"Go on," she said encouragingly.


"It was by the main doors and reception area... a car had smashed through the big glass doors at the front and there were still people underneath it and... and there had been people fighting round the reception desk."


"Listen," he said abruptly, as the tears flowed down his face. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"


"I’m sure you need to tell someone," she answered, though he did see her looking around to make sure none of the Tiddlers were awake.


"Lots of the people round the desk hadn’t died of the fever," he began, though he had to pause as he struggled not to make too much noise. Mary reached out and took his hand and waited patiently.


"There was blood and things everywhere," he managed to go on at last. "At least one man had been shot. There was a big hole in his head," he shuddered as the image came back to him. "There was stuff coming out of it."


"Oh, you poor thing," she said at last as she reached across and hugged him.


He paused, drawing calm from her and from the quiet breathing all around him.


"And I just walked across it..." he struggled to control a sob, "walked across it as if I was strolling across a park."


"And a good thing it is that you did," said Mary calmly. "My nightmares are about what would have happened to the little ones if we hadn’t found them."


She continued to hold him until his crying started to subside.


"Thank you. I’m feeling better now?" he said at last.


"I noticed in the past that you have a tendency to say that even when it’s not entire true!" she said with a slight hint of reproach in her voice.


"I can’t imagine I’m going to get that picture out of my head in a hurry," he answered, "but I’m very grateful you got me to tell you about it. I feel, well, calmer about it."


"That was the plan," she smiled as she lay down again. She made slight noises as she settled back down to sleep.


Alex let out a sigh and settled down himself.


---


Alex and Mary got up quite late on the Saturday morning and after a quick cup of tea with Harry - who was, as usual one of the first to be up, they drove into town.


As Mary went into her house Alex went into his to collect a few bits and pieces for himself and Hanna. He also collected some simple games that he thought the Tiddlers might enjoy.


When he returned to Mary’s house ten minutes later, he found her struggling to carry the dolls’ house out to the Land Rover.


"What on earth are you bringing that?" he asked. "If you hadn’t noticed we’re a bit pressed for space out at the cottage!"


"Den asked me to bring it," Mary explained with a smile. "It’s got something to do with her child psychology thing."


"Fair enough," he answered, helping her to load it into the back of the Land Rover.

They stopped briefly at Brian’s place to collect his accordion then drove back to the cottage. However, when they opened the kitchen door, they found the room was full of smoke.


"What is the matter?" asked Mary opening the window wide.


"It’s OK," said Peter. "Everything’s under control. I’m just doing some pancakes!"


"Remaking the film ‘Towering Inferno’, more like!" Alex laughed. "What happened?"


"I think the oil got a bit hot," Peter explained. "This cooker thing isn’t that easy to control. I think I’m getting the hang of it, now."


They allowed the Tiddlers to sleep as long as they wanted so there wasn’t the normal queue for the bathroom that they suffered in the week when everyone had to wake up at the same time. The pancakes for breakfast were a great success and Katherine pretended not to notice the pall of smoke that still hung over the kitchen. She was genuinely pleased that someone else had decided to cook breakfast. She did, however, casually offer to help anyone else who wanted to learn how to use the stove.

Daniel, however, was not so tactful and suggested they organise a fire evacuation procedure in case Peter ever wanted to cook again.


"It’s probably not a bad idea to think about what to do if there’s a fire," Alex said, keen to change the subject. "We should at least think about how we get everybody out and where we would go."


"I’ve thought about getting a dinner bell anyway," Katherine said. "I’m getting fed up of having to shout everybody down when it’s time to eat. We could use that as a fire bell: a short ring means come and eat; a long one means get out."


"Sounds good," Alex said.


"They held their dance practice shortly after breakfast. The courtyard outside was too uneven for dancing so they went up to the upstairs room. It wasn’t ideal; the roof was too low and it was a little too narrow for comfort but it was great to immerse themselves in the familiar but challenging routines.


Most of the time Mary accompanied them on her fiddle but Brian could manage to play a couple of the simpler tunes, which gave Mary the chance to dance.


Most of the Tiddlers came and watched them for a while and then wandered off but Melanie and Gregory were completely captivated. They sat side by side just behind the musician for the whole time and simply stared.


When the Minors had finished the two came up and, politely but insistently, asked to be shown how to do it.


With a laugh, Alex started to take them through a few of the simpler steps. Mary put her violin back under her chin and played for them, starting with one of the simpler tunes and progressively adding variations.


Suddenly the atmosphere was shattered by raised voices from downstairs. Alex gave a quick sigh and hurried down.


"Who are you trying to kid?" Daniel was shouting as Alex opened the kitchen door. "Who are we all trying to kid? We’re just a gang of kids. We don’t know what we’re doing."


"I’m not trying to kid anyone," Peter answered with a level of patience that Daniel found exasperating. "I don’t know when the army or whoever is going to come over the horizon to rescue us but until they do I going to do the best I can to look after the little ones." He paused for a moment. "And, if you think about it, I’m sure you’ll want to do the same. What else can we do?"


Daniel stared at Peter for a moment then stormed out of the kitchen, pushing past Alex as he went, and stomped out of the front door.


"You stay out of it!" he shouted at Alex, who had hurried after him. "You’re as bad as him."


Suddenly Alex felt himself being eased gently out of the way by Denise. "Dan," she said gently. "Please come back before it gets dark. We’ll be terribly worried if you don’t."


Daniel froze for a moment, unsure how he should deal with this request. "OK," he answered gruffly. He turned and made his way out of the gate.


For a moment the house seemed very quiet. Alex and Denise looked at each other and then Denise made a decision.


"Right, everybody," she announced loudly. "We’re taking the dogs for a walk down to the stream. Everybody get their shoes on!"


Her quick action gave the Tiddlers no chance to get upset about the row. Within ten minutes they were all marching down the track. The dogs, who had now reached some sort of understanding, particularly enjoyed the presence of such a large group, bounding backwards and forward, trying to make sure all the Tiddlers stayed together and chasing sticks, rabbits and each other, usually with James charging around after them.


Alex still suffered a minor panic attack when the group strolled casually into the road at the bottom of the hill. "If we ever get back to civilisation, we’re all going to get run over!" he commented to Peter.


The weather was a bit too cold for paddling so the Tiddlers had to content themselves with throwing sticks into the water for the dogs to chase.


The riverside fun was cut slightly short when Richard became frustrated with Katie. Katie spent much more time with the dogs than anyone else so they came bouncing to her when they wanted more sticks thrown. Richard decided this was unfair and solved the problem with a little push. Fortunately Katie managed to catch herself on Shauna as she slipped so she only put one foot in the river.


Whilst Richard enjoyed an extended lecture from Mary on the demerits of pushing playmates into bodies of moving water, Peter took off Katie’s wet shoe and sock, put her up on his shoulders and headed back up the hill towards the house. The two giggled together as Katie tried to put her bare foot inside his fleece.


The dogs took this as an indication that the riverside fun was over and bounced off after them, drawing shrieks from the Tiddlers as they shook the water off their coats.


As they arrived back at the house, they were met by a delicious smell. Katherine had made Pizza for lunch. She was particularly pleased with herself because this was the first time she had tried to make anything with dough in the stove. The Tiddlers loved it and Katherine promised to make them again soon – on the condition that she got help from them next time.


There was a quiet time after lunch. The Tiddlers all lay down upstairs and Peter started reading The Hobbit. Alex was amused to see that Harry stayed upstairs with them, obviously listening to the story.


"You can borrow the book if you like!" Peter whispered to him when the last of the Tiddlers had dropped off to sleep.


"It’s OK," Harry replied. "I’d rather listen to you."


In the afternoon, some of the Tiddlers baked fairy cakes with Katherine whilst others played simple board games or played excitedly with Mary’s dolls house. "We should get some Lego," Harry commented. "I always liked Lego."


Then, two or three at a time, Denise and Brian dragged the Tiddlers aside for baths. There was a great deal of splashing and shouting and steam and singing but at the end of the process they had a dozen small children all dressed in clean pyjamas. Shauna found the whole exercise very exciting and at one stage tried to get in the bath with Katie.


While Mary helped Katherine to get tea ready, Harry and Alex were introduced to the joys of brushing little girls' hair. They eventually achieved satisfactory results though Harry did threaten, semi-seriously, to cut off all Rachel and Rebecca’s hair unless they sat still.


Tea was a fun event. Katherine had prepared lots of tiny sandwiches and Peter had managed to smuggle a supply of crisps and fizzy drinks up to the cottage. Katherine made a show of not approving – though all the Minors knew she did not really mind.
Half way through tea, Daniel reappeared. He did not look well and appeared to be slightly unsteady on his feet as he stumbled through the kitchen and went to shut himself in the back bedroom.


Alex went through and knocked gently on the bedroom door but received no reply. Hesitantly, he pushed the door open.


"Do you want anything?" he asked. "We saved some pizza for you."


"Go away!" he whispered, barely containing his savage rage. He was obviously crying. "Leave me alone."

Alex left the room, closing the door behind him and turned around. Denise was standing watching with a peculiar, sad look on her face. She looked as if she was about to say something but then changed her mind. She gave him a sad smile and went back to join the party.


Alex had to wait a few minutes before he felt he could return without spoiling the mood.
When the Minors had finished eating, Peter took them upstairs. Several of the Tiddlers were keen to hear another chapter of The Hobbit. Most of the rest of the Minors sat around the kitchen table, eating the rest of the sandwiches and talking about Daniel’s behaviour in hushed tones. Denise conspicuously avoided the gossip and quite soon went through to the living room where she curled up on the sofa with her book.


But you can only gossip about someone for so long. Eventually Katherine got up and started to clear up the kitchen but Alex quickly told her to sit down again. She had done quite enough for a rest day. She sat back watching the others clear up the kitchen, occasionally making ‘suggestions’ as to how best to clean a cooking pot or when Peter ought to start using a fresh tea towel.


When they had finished, they sat around the kitchen table playing cards but the silent but looming presence in the back bedroom meant that nobody could really relax. Soon they gave up and went upstairs to bed. Though Katherine left the spare pizza on the kitchen table.


---

As usual, Harry was already downstairs when Alex appeared the next morning. He handed Alex a cup of tea and a note.


"Dear all," he read.


"Sorry if I was rude last night. I need a bit of space to get my head around what’s happening. I’m off again today. I’ll be back later.


"Cheers, Dan.


"p.s. Thanks for the pizza, Kat."


Katherine made her customary vat of porridge for breakfast and afterwards they gathered upstairs.


Peter had put a small table in front of the large window at the end of the room. It was covered with a white table cloth and there was a copy of the Bible on it. Mary was sitting to one side in front of the keyboard.


There were two rows of mattresses for the Tiddlers to sit on and, behind them, seats for the rest of the Minors.

When everybody was sitting, Peter nodded to Mary and she started to play. Alex immediately recognised what she was playing. It was the slow, mournful piece that she had been practicing on the days of the plague. At first the Tiddlers giggled and chattered, disconcerted by the unfamiliar situation, but gradually the power of the music overcame them and they became quiet.


Silently Louise climbed up onto Brian’s lap and stared in rapt attention as Mary played. Brian subconsciously kissed her on the top of her head before returning his attention to the music.


As the last notes of the music faded out, Peter waited for a moment then got to his feet.


"My friends," he began, "we’ve come together today to remember all the people who have died. Not just our own families and friends but everyone, though of course we’ll all be thinking particularly of them."


As Peter spoke, Alex saw tears flowing down Hanna’s cheeks. In a way it was a relief to him. It was the first time that she had given any indication that she understood what was happening. He moved to sit on the floor next to her and put his arm round her shoulders. Gregory came to cuddle next to him on his other side.


Peter kept the service short with just two hymns - one of which all the Tiddlers knew from school. Nevertheless they were all drained as they made their way downstairs at the end of it.


---


After lunch the entire group went out for a relatively long walk on the hills behind the house. They turned right up the track towards the castle and, at the top of the hill, turned left making their way along the edge of a field by the side of a wood.


The dogs thoroughly enjoyed it: charging about and hunting real or imaginary rabbits.
Alex was surprised to see Mary carefully opening all the gates she could find. "What are you doing?" he asked.


"We can’t look after these animals so we might as well let them fend for themselves as best they can," she answered.


Alex thought about this and nodded. "I hadn’t thought of that," he answered.


By the end of the walk, as they were making their way back along the ridge, the Tiddlers were getting tired and many of the Minors were carrying little people. Suddenly Gregory, who was up on Alex’s shoulders announced that he could see a man.


"Where?" Alex asked.


"Down there," Gregory answered. He pointed down into the valley.


Alex felt a burst of excitement as he saw a figure walking along the road but after a few moments he started to laugh. "That’s not a man!" he said. "That’s just Daniel."


They all shouted and waved and last they managed to catch his attention. He waved back and then cut up through the fields to join them.


---


When he got back from the walk, Alex had the unfamiliar experience of having nothing to do, so he liberated Katherine’s bucket of vegetables peelings and took Hanna and Gregory down the garden to feed the goats. He was still pottering round the garden, absent-mindedly when Denise came to find him.


"I’m sorry to disturb you," she said, "and this breaks the first rule about not doing any work on a Sunday but I wanted to have a word with you when there are no other Minors about."


"Sure, what’s up?"


"I’m worried about Daniel. We can all see that he’s not very happy about things and I think he needs a bit of a confidence boost. I think it would be a good idea if he was the next person who learnt to drive."


"Is it seen as a status symbol then?" Alex asked. "I’d only thought of it in terms getting some of the pressure off Mary."


"I think it would mean a lot to him."


Alex nodded at this and thought about things. Denise waited patiently and stroked one of the goats.


"I might be able to do better than that," Alex said at last. "I’d like to do a big, sort of, stock-take of all the stuff in town but there are just so many other things to do I see I’ll never get round to it."


"That sounds ideal!" said Denise. "Give him a whole area of responsibility of his own. I’m sure you won’t regret it!"


Daniel was in the living room, slumped sideways across an armchair, casually reading a book, when Alex found him.


"Hi Dan," he said. "You got a minute?"


"Sure," said Daniel, looking up from his book.


"There’s a job that needs doing and I thought you might be interested." Alex hauled a chair across and sat backwards on it, his chin resting on the top of the backrest.


"You know that stuff Brian said the other day about being on our own for the long stretch?" he said.


Daniel nodded.


"Well, I’m starting to really believe it."


Daniel thought about this for a moment then sighed. "I guess you’re right," he said. "Even if the help was coming from America or somewhere we’d have heard something by now: a plane or a radio broadcast or... well... something."


"Exactly," Alex said. "What I’ve been thinking is that, if we’re going to be on our own for ages, there’s an awful lot of stuff just lying around that might be really useful to us over the next couple of years..."


"Or the next fifty years?" said Daniel. He sat up in the armchair as he played the idea over in his head. "The spade that’s going to be used to bury you is probably out there somewhere."


Alex was silent for a moment, slightly shaken by that thought.


"And we need someone to, sort of, keep tabs on all the stuff. It’s not a lot of good, the spade being out there, if nobody can find it."


Daniel thought about this for a long time. "That isn’t just a job,” he said at last. “It’s a career: official scrounger!”


"As long as there’s useful stuff to be had out there we’ll need someone to know where to find it," Alex agreed, "but as long as you keep reasonable records there’s no reason why somebody else can’t take over."


Daniel sank back in his chair, chewing at a finger obviously deep in thought. "How much of what is where..." he muttered to himself, "expiry dates..."


He suddenly sat upright. "This is a job for a database or spreadsheet or something," he said. "I’m going to need a computer."


"You’ll have to ask the quartermaster," said Alex.


"Who’s the quartermaster?" asked Daniel.


"You are," laughed Alex, "if you feel like taking on the job, that is! You’ll have to talk through the electricity thing with Brian but I don’t see why not."


"Just for this, though," he added when he saw Daniel’s obvious excitement. "Not for games."


"Oh!" said Daniel. "You’re no fun!"


"I’ll tell you what!" said Alex. "You help Harry sort out a more effective power system and you can go back to shooting up aliens!"


Daniel laughed.


"OK," said Alex, "do you want to take the job?"


"Yeah, I’ll give it a go."


"OK, the first thing I’d like you to do is go and have a quick look around the supermarkets. See how we stand on some of the basics: food and drink; soap and toilet paper; that sort of stuff. If we tell people that we’re going to run out of toilet paper in six months’ time they might be a bit more careful with it."


"Sounds sensible"


"Now you’re obviously going to have to be mobile to do this so I was thinking you should be the next to learn to drive. Does that sound OK?"


Daniel was obviously surprised by this. "Yeah, great!" he said. "When do I start?"


"Your first job as quartermaster is to find yourself a little car. Speaking from personal experience, you don’t want to learn to drive in the Land Rover."


"My mum’s got a Mini! We could use that." he said excitedly tone then his tone dropped, "...had a Mini."


"Sounds perfect," Alex said with a sympathetic smile. "First thing after breakfast tomorrow, then?"


Daniel sat back in the armchair for a couple of minutes, deep in thought, then went off to find the local telephone book and a notepad. He spent the next couple of hours making himself a list of the shops in town.


---


Daniel was still busy with his notes when Alex came into the living room after helping to put the little ones to bed.


"There is a problem with this whole collection thing," Mary was saying, surprisingly sharply. "Where are you planning on putting all the stuff?" She paused then added, "by the way, I warn you, if you stay in the room upstairs, I may start screaming."


"It is starting to look a bit like a jumble sale up there," Katherine agreed with a smile.


"We seem to spend most of our time moving mattresses and dirty laundry from one heap to another," Brian grumbled.


"And while we’re on that subject," Mary said, quite pointedly, "could you lot all make sure you tidy away your own clothes. I don’t mind too much tidying up after the Tiddlers but I don’t appreciate picking up other people’s smelly socks before I can start teaching, Peter!"


"Sorry," said Peter, looking appropriately chastised.


"I suspect it might not just have been Peter," Daniel said guiltily, looking up from his pile of books and papers at the table.


"Couldn’t we move some of the stuff down into the workshop?" Brian asked.
Harry visibly flinched but said nothing.


"Listen," Alex said. "We all knew that we’d be living on top of each other when we moved in here. We’ll all just have to keep being careful."


"And keep thinking about what the alternatives are," Denise added.


"So no collecting stuff from home?" said Katherine in a small voice.


"I’m sure nobody would mind if you collected a photo or two," Brian said gently. "Just don’t bring the bone china tea service."


"Not a good idea anyway with James about, anyway!" Harry commented.


---


Alex drove Daniel into town the next morning. They went straight to Daniel’s house to collect his mother’s mini and began their first driving lesson.


It was immediately clear that Daniel was a natural driver and within two hours he was at least as good as Alex.


"Right," said Alex. "You’re going to have to work the rest out on your own. You know as much as I do."


Alex collected the Land Rover and together they drove to the large supermarket. Daniel wanted to make a start on his survey and Alex had promised to collect a couple of things for Katherine.


After ten minutes, Alex left Daniel in the supermarket and headed back. Normally he preferred people not to be alone outside the cottage but Daniel seemed to enjoy working that way.


---


When Alex arrived back there was a long line of washing fluttering in the breeze. "Somebody’s been busy," he said to Peter who had opened the gate for him. I’d planned to start on that job this afternoon."


"Don’t worry," Peter answered. "You’ll have plenty of chances to enjoy the ‘hand washing the underwear’ experience. We hardly made a dent in the pile."


"Sorry we didn’t wait for you," said Mary as he made his way into the kitchen to find the others eating lunch. "We didn’t know when you’d be back."


"I should have phoned!" Alex joked. "Mobiles were quite useful, sometimes."


"Not as useful as washing machines!" Katherine laughed. "You only appreciate that sort of thing when you haven’t got it."


"Could we run one with the electricity?" Alex asked Brian.


"No way," Brian answered flatly. "Those things eat power."


"What did Mike do?" Alex asked Mary.


"I don’t know," she answered. "But I can hardly imagine him hand washing his socks."


---


Mary went out to call the Tiddlers back into school. When Alex had finished eating, he went up to join her. He spent a couple of fun hours, first reading with some of them and then watching as they drew.


Suddenly they were disturbed by a noise from outside. Daniel’s Mini was coming up the track. He was driving much too fast.


"Hmm," said Mary, when she saw.


Alex went down to open the gate and then watched as Daniel drove in, skidding slightly on the gravel. Together they went into the house and Alex put the kettle on for a cup of tea.


The kettle was just boiling when Mary came downstairs. She was carrying two books. "This is for you to read," she said handing a book to Daniel. It was some sort of military book on driving skills. "I guess that nothing I say is going to make you drive more slowly so please will you try and get your skill levels up before you kill yourself."


"And this is for you," she said handing a book to Alex. It was a book on First Aid.


Alex gave Mary a puzzled look.


"You’re going to have to put him back together again when he smashes himself up," she explained.


"Why me?"


"Because you’re the nearest thing we have to a doctor."


“But I’ve only done a couple of first aid courses!”

"As I said, the nearest thing to a doctor."


Alex took his cup of tea through to the living room, sank into the sofa and started to flick through the book. After a couple of minutes, Mary came to join him.

"You didn’t just say that for Dan’s benefit, did you?" he said with a faint smile.


"You have your nightmares. I have mine," she answered. "What are we going to do if somebody hurts themselves or gets ill?"


Alex sat quietly for a very long time thinking about that. He was only shaken into action by a squeak from Katherine warning them that it had started to rain. They rushed to bring the clothes in.


---


When Alex returned to the lounge, Denise was playing with Alice by the doll's house. He was about to say something but received a glance from Denise telling him to stay out of the way so he sat down on the sofa and reopened his book.


After a couple of minutes Denise came to join him but firmly put a finger to her lips. She was carefully watching Alice.


"Mummy’s going to bed," the little girl announced a short time later. "She’s not feeling very well."


"What’s the little girl doing?" Denise asked. Though her voice was casual, Alex could sense her tension.


"Watching telly," Alice answered. "Mummy needs to have a little sleep. She feels very tired."


"So what’s does the little girl do then?" Denise asked.


"Mummy won’t wake up... the little girl is all on her own. Mummy, wake up... Mummy... Mummy... Mummy..." Suddenly Alice collapsed in a tidal wave of pent up despair and misery. Alex moved to comfort her but was stopped in his tracks by an emphatic glance from Denise who herself moved over to the little girl, took her hand and started talking quietly to her. Alex looked on for a minute as Denise skilfully steered the conversation, gradually changing the subject of the little play they were acting out together from ‘the little girl’ to ‘Alice’ and finally to ‘you’.


Alex let out a quiet sigh of relief and returned his attention to his book.


---


Alex had difficulty dropping off to sleep that night. As he tossed and turned, Mary’s thoughts threw up an endless series of unpleasant images.


If they really were on their own - and as the days went by it seemed ever more likely - then there really would be nobody around to help if somebody was ill or injured.


He could only get to sleep when he had reached a decision. Though the task seemed impossible, her logic was inescapable. He was going to have to become a doctor.


---


It was still very early the next morning, though the eastern sky was just turning a soggy shade of grey, when they were woken by a terrible noise from the field below the cottage. At first Alex turned over and tried to ignore it but it carried on until he was dragged fully awake by the sound of somebody coming upstairs. He looked round to see Harry was already dressed and had come upstairs to stand by the window.

"What’s up?" he asked in a whisper, as he stumbled sleepily towards the window whilst trying to avoid stepping on anybody.


"I dunno," Harry answered quietly, staring out in the damp, foggy morning. "It sounds like something’s in pain."


Peter’s voice emerged from the darkness behind them. He was obviously trying to keep his voice down but was not very good at it. "It’s the cows in the field down there," he said.


"It sounds as if they’re thirsty," Mary said as she came over to join them. "I guess their trough has run dry."


"So, do we fill it up or do we let them go?" Harry asked.


"Let’s fill it up for now," said Alex. "It might be useful to have a field of cows nearby. We can always let them go later if we decide we don’t want them anymore."


"Maybe we can rig up a pipe to their trough," Harry suggested.


"Nobody goes into the field until those cows have all had plenty to drink!" Mary said emphatically. "And you don’t go alone… and you take a big stick with you when you do. Cows are a bit unpredictable at the best of times."


"It sounds like a job for me," said Peter, hauling himself to his feet and hunting around noisily for his clothes. "I can carry a bucket of water or two."


"I’ll come and give you a hand," said Alex, looking for his own clothes.


In the cold light of dawn Alex and Peter stepped out into the steady, soaking drizzle. Harry was already outside and had left a couple of buckets by the tap.


Alex and Peter carried a bucket each down to the corner of the field. "They’re desperate," Harry told them when they found him. I can’t let go of the bucket or they’ll just knock it over.


Alex left the full bucket then went back up to the house to collect another.


As he trudged through the drizzle, he started wondering where he should start on the whole doctoring thing. He felt completely alone, with nobody there to help or guide him.


It was as he was carrying the third bucket of water down to the field that he realised that he might not be completely alone. His father had guessed what was coming... and had left him the gym bag.

---

As the others were preparing breakfast and helping the Tiddlers to get dressed, Alex hunted for the bag. He had seen that it had come up to the cottage in the first couple of days but had not seen it since.

At last he found it. There was a heap of bags in one corner of the upstairs room where people were keeping their clothes. The gym bag had been shuffled to the bottom.


After breakfast, as the Tiddlers went up to start their lessons, Alex took the bag through to the living room to see what his father had packed for him.


It had obviously been packed in a hurry. Medical supplies and drugs had been simply thrown into the bag. His father had always been scrupulously careful with anything medical and Alex shuddered when he thought about the situation in which he had packed the bag.


Amongst the clutter were half a dozen books. Alex took these out and only had to glance at the titles such as ‘Human Anatomy’ and ‘Basic Surgical Procedures’ to know he had correctly understood what his father was trying to tell him.


In spite of the slightly fuzzy feeling in his head, caused by too little sleep, he picked up the book on anatomy.


Half an hour later, he was disturbed by shouting from the entrance hall. He carefully zipped his father’s bag shut then hurried out to see what all the fuss was about.


Harry was standing in the middle of the entrance hall. He was absolutely incandescent with rage. "It should not take me twenty minutes to find both my shoes," he was shouting. "All I wanted to do was step into the garden for five minutes"


"Harry, Harry, Harry," said Alex looking around. A crowd off Tiddlers had gathered at the top of the stairs looking confused and upset. A couple were even in tears.


"I was just going out to feed the chickens," obviously making an effort to control himself but still almost shaking with anger. "It’s a job that should have taken five minutes. Instead it’s going to take half an hour."


"Come on, Harry. Let’s go down there together," said Alex retrieving the missing shoe from under a pile. "I think we need a chat."


"Oh, I know it’s a tiny thing," said Harry as they pulled on their coats and went out into the yard together.


"I know you," said Alex, pulling his hood up. It was raining quite heavily. "You didn’t get that cross about one lost shoe."


Alex filled a bucket with water and Harry collected the chicken feed.

"Let me guess... Lots of little things... you keep quiet because you don’t want to cause rows and suddenly... womp!"


Harry gave an embarrassed smile.


"It’s mostly the tools in the workshop," he admitted as they made their way down the garden "Mike’s got a brilliant system out there. I can just put my hand on anything I need with my eyes shut... and then things disappear... or are put back in the wrong place."


Alex nodded. He’d been in Harry’s house a couple of times and it had been quite astonishing tidy.


"I tried to fix the brakes on Den’s bike yesterday," he went on, words falling over each other as the frustration poured out. "I had to give up. The Allen Key I needed had just vanished and..."


He stopped in mid flow. "This is all trivial stuff, isn’t it?" he said.


"It matters to you so it can’t be trivial," Alex answered. "Listen, this morning I nearly had my head bitten off by Kat because I spent too long in the toilet."


"Kat?"


"That’s what I thought. When even Kat is starting to get fed up I think it’s time to do something about it."


"But what?"


"I think we might have to find ourselves a bigger place. We’re all just living on top of each other here and we’re going to end up murdering one another."


"In the meantime, can I make a suggestion?" said Alex. "You get a house tool kit together that we mere mortals can use - just basic stuff: hammers, screwdrivers and so on. We can do pretty much what we like with the house kit but if we need to use the workshop stuff then we have to follow your rules."


"Sure. I’ll even put it in a toolbox so people can carry it around," Harry offered.


"And I’ll have a quiet word with Brian and Peter," Alex said. "I guess they’re the worst offenders!"


"Just don’t get too sentimentally attached to the toolbox kit," he added. "Some of us are not quite as careful with tools as you are."


Harry tried to smile at that without much success.


"And Harry, why don’t you keep your shoes and things in the workshop until we find a more permanent solution?"


"Yeah, that’d work," Harry answered with a sigh.


---


It was getting round to afternoon tea time and Alex was walking into the kitchen to put the kettle on when he heard the sound of a car horn from the track. He hurried out to open the gate and Daniel drove into the courtyard.


"What are you doing in the Land Rover?" he asked Daniel with a smile. "I thought you preferred your mini."


"Special delivery!" Daniel replied. "The mini’s great but it’s not the best thing in the world for delivering..." he opened the Land Rover’s back door with a flourish, "little tables and chairs!"


"That’s brilliant!" Alex exclaimed. "Did Mary tell you to get them?"


"No," Daniel answered with a big grin. "I saw that Mary was struggling with table space yesterday and when we were driving past my old nursery school this morning I thought they might have just what we need."


"Shall we take them straight up?" Alex asked, sharing Daniel’s excitement.


"They stack up so they’ll hardly take up any room at night," Daniel said as they started to lift the furniture out of the back of the Land Rover.


The arrival of the new furniture cut short the afternoon’s lessons. Mary was delighted but after about five minutes of experimental sitting the kids got bored and she asked Brian to take them downstairs. "I want a quick word with Alex," she added.


"That sounds ominous," Daniel said with a laugh as he followed the Tiddlers downstairs towards a drink and a biscuit."


---


"What’s up?" Alex asked, sitting down carefully on one of the little chairs.

"Nothing serious," she answered with a smile. "I think I could do worse than teaching Alice to milk the goats. She’s calm, placid, patient and, to be honest, not the sharpest pin in the box. The job of milkmaid might suit her."


Alex gave her a puzzled look.


"It’s an incredibly boring job," she admitted with a smile.


"It sounds fine to me... but I’m sure you know best. I sort of think of Alice as being one of yours."


"What do you mean by that?" asked Mary.


Alex thought for a moment about what he was trying to say. "Most of the kids seem to have attached themselves to one of us," he said. "I mean, I’ve got Hanna, obviously, and Gregory seems to have adopted me too and... well... I’d sort of attached Alice to you."
Mary thought about this. "Sort of like each of the kids having a particular guardian," she said. "It makes sense."


She thought about this for a moment longer. "By the way, have I adopted anyone else without knowing about it?" she asked with a smile.


"Maybe Richard?" Alex suggested tentatively. "I mean, you’re the only one who can stop him thumping people."


"Thanks a lot!" Mary laughed. "OK, it sounds sensible but don’t you think we ought to talk about this."


"I’d not really thought about it myself until you asked," Alex answered. "It just sort of seems to be the way things are going. But I agree, we ought to talk about it sooner rather than later."


Suddenly a worrying thought occurred to him. "Daniel!" he said simply.


"Oh dear, yes!" said Mary. "Somehow, I don’t think he’ll want to play this game."


"I better go and have a chat with him," Alex said.


In the end the conversation with Daniel was less difficult than Alex had feared. He understood what Alex was suggesting but didn’t feel it would be fair to inflict himself on any of the Tiddlers. "Besides," he added, slightly ominously, "I’ve been thinking, I might want to go off on my own for a while at some stage."


"Fair enough," Alex answered, trying not to let the shock show on his face.


---


Katherine had observed that, if they moved the little tables and chairs down into the kitchen at meal times, they could all sit down together to eat. It offended her sense of propriety - and the timing of her cooking - to have to feed the Tiddlers separately.


She celebrated the new arrangements with a special meal which included an apple crumble for pudding. Katherine was spooning out the crumble for the Tiddlers; Peter was pouring out the custard; and Charles and Alice were carefully carrying the bowls over to the Tiddlers’ table.


"How are you getting on with Dan’s tables and chairs in the school?" Alex asked Mary, making sure that Daniel was listening.


"They’re brilliant," she answered. I’m starting to feel like a proper teacher now! I just wish this rain would stop!"


"We really need to chuck the Tiddlers outside every once in a while," Brian commented. "There’s just not enough room upstairs for them to do Peter’s 'running round and screaming' thing."


"Dan and I were going to get together after tea to talk about the supplies," Alex announced when there was a lull in conversation. "I think it would be a good idea if Brian and Katherine join us."


"I need to tidy up the kitchen first," Katherine said.


"No you don’t," Peter said emphatically. "Harry and I are perfectly capable of doing that.
After the meal the four gathered in the living room and Daniel explained what he had found out.


"Food first," Daniel began. "Most of the stuff is going to go bad before we can finish eating it. Brian found a couple of Mike’s books upstairs and, apart from tins, the only stuff that’s going to keep long enough to run out is sugar, salt, honey and maybe some sorts of rice."


"And how long are they going to last?" Alex asked.


"Pretty much forever," Daniel answered.


"What does forever mean here?" Alex asked.


"At least ten years," Brian answered, "as long as we keep it dry."


"All this stuff that's going to go off..." Alex began thoughtfully. "Is there anything we can do to make it last a bit longer?" He looked round the room.


"Has Mike got a freezer?" Daniel asked.


"I don't think so," Mary answered. "Why?"


"There's loads of things like butter and cheese that's still OK - it's still pretty cold out there - but it's going to go bad quickly when the weather starts to warm up."


"Will the electricity be able to cope with a couple of freezers?" Alex asked Brian.


"I don’t know," he answered." I don’t think they take too much once they’ve got going – particularly if you don’t open them too often – but they might take a lot of power when they’re trying to get things cold. We might need to fire up the generator for that."


"My parents have got the old freezer out in the garage with nothing in it," Mary said. "We could use that."


"The sooner we get on with it the better," Brian commented mildly. "The stuff's not going to get any better."


"Sounds like a job for the next couple of days," Alex said. "Anything else?"


"If we could get some potatoes and things out of the plastic bags and stick them down in the cellar they'd keep much longer," Katherine suggested.


"Anything else that we need to hurry up with?" Alex asked, looking around the room but nobody had any ideas.


"OK, what about other stuff?"


"There’s plenty of toiletries and cleaning things and so on to last us for the rest of our lives," Daniel went on. "My big worry is medicines. The pharmacies and supermarkets have pretty much stripped."


"Maybe we could go and have a look in the hospital," Brian suggested. "There might be stuff lying about up there."


"No way!" said Alex with a shudder. "I’ve been up there. Nobody else is going."


"There’s bound to be Paracetamol and things in every house we go into," Katherine observed. We could make sure we collect all that."


"Great idea!" Alex said, "And I know that my dad put a fair amount of stuff in that bag he left for me," he said. "I’ll have a look in there tomorrow and see what there is."


"While we start hauling cheese and potatoes," Brian said with a grin. "Good choice!"


---

About an hour after he had gone to bed, Alex was shaken awake by Brian.


"I picked someone up on the radio," he said, almost unable to contain his excitement.
Alex shook his head to try and wake himself up. "You’re picking up some sort of radio transmission?" he asked in a whisper.


"No, I was talking to another group of survivors."


"That’s great!" said Alex, pulling on a jumper over his pyjamas. By now, Mary had woken up so he quickly told her what was happening then he and Brian went downstairs.

"Who are they?" he asked, as they sat down together in the kitchen.


"Another gang of kids," Brian answered. "I got the impression that a couple of them were a bit older than us but not much.


"No adults?"


"No."


"Where are they?"


"Up near Aberystwyth. I wrote down the name of the place but don’t ask me to pronounce it!"


"You did arrange to speak again, didn’t you?"


Brian gave him a very severe look. "Of course," he said. "Tomorrow night at nine o’clock - same frequency."


Alex smiled. "And have they been in touch with anyone else?"


"No. we’re the first people they’ve spoken to."


---


Although it had never been formally discussed, Harry had adopted the workshop as his own personal area and the others did not tend to go in there very often. Alex was not surprised when he found him working there when he went in, a few days later.


"What are you making?" Alex asked.


"A shoe rack for the Tiddlers," Harry explained, "with a cubby hole for each pair of shoes!"


"Good idea!" Alex laughed. "But they can’t all read their names yet."


"I’ve already talked with Mary about that," Harry answered, slightly smugly. "We’re going to give them a picture each and stick it on their shoe hole."


"Good idea!" Alex laughed. "Anyway, I wanted to have a look a that medical stuff from my dad’s bag but I don’t want the Tiddlers getting their hands on it. Can I borrow a table?"


"Sure," Harry replied and cleared some space for him.


Alex started unpacking the bag and making a list of the contents, occasionally being interrupted by the noise of drilling or hammering.


He had been there for about an hour when he noticed a door.


"What’s in there," he asked Harry.


"There’s a sink and things," Harry answered. "You can’t really use it though."

"What?" Alex said, going over to investigate.


There was a tiled room with a sink and draining board but most of the room was occupied by some sort of exercise bike. Alex looked at the thing. He became suspicious when he saw that there was a metal drum at one end which was plumbed into the water and drain.


"So, what do you think it is?" Harry asked.


"I don’t know," Alex answered, "Should we go and see if Brian has any ideas."


They went out to the entrance hall, climbed up the stairs and called out to Brian who was sitting at a table with Rachel and Rebecca.


"What’s up?" Brian asked, casually removing a pencil from one of the twin’s mouth.


"Harry’s found something. It looks important but we can’t work out what it is."


"What does it look like?"


"It’s kind of like an exercise bike, with a sort of big metal container attached to the chain."


"And you can open up the container to put things in and out?" he said, walking to the top of the stairs.


"Yes..."


"Watertight?"


"Yes!"


Brian was almost dancing with glee as he made his way downstairs.


"Go on, tell me!" said Harry, half annoyed and half amused at Brian.


"Come on, you can work it out for yourself!" said Brian. "Why might you want to get a big tub of water, put something in it and then jiggle it around? Shall I give you a clue? It’s something we really need."


"It’s a washing machine!" said Katherine, who had just come out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.


"I knew that, of course," Alex said with flagrant insincerity, joining in the laughter. "I was just seeing who would work it out first."


The four went down into the workshop and started experimenting with the washing machine.


Brian was keen to try it out straight away but Katherine pointed out that it was still raining and they already had a pile of washing to dry so, after a few more minutes, they went back to their jobs.


But Alex had hardly got back to his table when he was startled by scream from the kitchen.


---


As he hurried into the kitchen with Harry just behind him.


"What’s the matter?" asked Peter who had just come in from the living room.


"It’s ruined," Katherine wailed, showing the smouldering remains of what looked as if it had once been a casserole. "Ruined!" She started bustling round the kitchen with tears streaming down her face.


Alex surveyed the scene for a moment then made a decision. "Would you come out into the garden for a minute, please, Kat," he asked with a friendly smile.


"Not now," Katherine replied angrily. "I need to tidy up here and then sort something else out for lunch."


"It’s OK," Alex said. "Peter and Harry will tidy up here and sort out something for lunch. You and I have got some time."


Katherine protested but Alex pulled rank. "You lot asked me to be leader," he said, gently but firmly. "This is me doing my leading bit."


She looked cross for a moment but then relented.


"OK, said Alex, after they had put on their coats and gone out into the garden. “We’ve been here for nearly two weeks now and in that time you’ve prepared the better part of fifty meals."


"It wasn’t just me, everybody else helps."


"We can peel the potatoes but you’re the only one who knows when to put them on to boil."


"But I still can’t get them quite right," she protested. "When my mum did them..."


"I think that’s the problem," Alex interrupted. "You’re comparing yourself to your mother. That’s really not fair, is it?" Katherine’s mother was a famously good cook. Quite often, before a big day of dancing, they would meet up at her house and she would effortlessly conjure up a full fried breakfast for fifteen or twenty people.


"So, the first thing I want to say is ‘stop being so hard on yourself’. You’ve gone from a guide cookery badge to consistently cooking meals for twenty people. When it’s gone wrong ten times, you’re allowed to get upset and not before. OK?"


Katherine nodded and gave a sniff.


"The other thing that’s been weighing on my mind a bit is that nobody has ever actually asked you if you’re happy with the job."


"Yeah, I love it," she replied enthusiastically. "Most of the time," she added.


"That’s a really good thing" he grinned. "I guess the main reason I didn’t ask is because I have absolutely no idea what we’d do if you said no!"


"It might be a good idea if you shared the knowledge around a bit," he said after a moment’s thought, "otherwise we’ll end up eating cheezy-beanz and tinned soup every time you’re away from the kitchen. I think it might do you good, too, if, for a day a week, you’ll only be allowed in the kitchen to eat."


"That sounds good," she said. "Maybe I could go up and help in the school on that day. They seem to have fun up there."


He chuckled then added, "One thing is definite. After I’ve done a meal or two, everybody will appreciate your cookery so much more!"


She smiled. "Sorry about the silly fuss," she said.


"That’s OK," he answered. "You’re allowed one silly fuss per fifty meals!"

[garethn]

04 Bonny Green


At breakfast the next morning he stood up and announced that he wanted to hold a Minor meeting that evening. He was surprised when Peter got up just after him to announce that he and Denise would be holding another church service upstairs after breakfast.


"Is it Sunday, then?" asked Harry to general laughter. "I could have sworn it was only Saturday."


"Time flies when you’re having fun!" Peter laughed.


Only Daniel and Brian chose not to attend the service and Alex was very impressed at the calm, thoughtful atmosphere that Peter managed to produce as he gave thanks for the week that had passed. Even the Tiddlers were surprisingly quiet, calmed by the now familiar atmosphere and the lively hymns that Peter had selected.


In the afternoon Mary organised an extra-long walk for the Tiddlers with plenty of time for splashing in the river. Brian and Harry fired up the generator and, after tea, the whole group gathered in the living room to watch a DVD about dancing penguins - chosen for its lack of upsetting references.


Bedtime for the Tiddlers was unusually easy that evening. Alice wasn’t sick and Louise managed to fall asleep with Brian sitting almost a yard away. Even Alex managed to survive without falling asleep himself.


"They were exhausted," he whispered to Mary as they crept downstairs.


"I’m glad you noticed," she answered with a smile. "It wasn’t an accident!"


"So what’s this all about?" asked Peter as they gathered down in the living room, his mouth full of popcorn that was left over from the film.


"Quite simply," Alex began, "I think it might be time for us to move house."


The suggestion was met by stunned silence.


"Nothing trivial then," Peter said at last.


"We’re all pretty much living on top of each other here and we’re starting to get on each other’s nerves. We're going to have to do something quite soon or we’re going to end up murdering each other over places in the toilet queue."


There was another long silence.


"While I can see it sort of makes sense," Katherine began, "I don't really like the idea because..." her voice trailed off.


"Because it sets in concrete the idea that there's no help coming?" Brian suggested.


Katherine nodded.


"This place is perfectly fine to survive a couple of days until help arrives," Peter said. "It probably won’t work so well when the Tiddlers become teenagers."


"I do wish you’d stop saying things like that!" Katherine said with a smile.


"What is it, Mary?" Alex asked when he saw the expression on her face. She looked as if she was about to cry.


"Oh, it’s just that there’s so much of Uncle Mike about the place," she said with a sigh. "I know we’re going to have to find somewhere else sooner or later. It’s just..."


"Wherever we go, we’ll be taking most of Mike stuff with us," said Harry.


"And more important than that," Brian added, "we’ll be taking his ideas!"


"Where do you think we ought to go?" asked Katherine.


"No idea," Alex answered. "It didn’t make any sense to start thinking about it until everyone vaguely agreed. So..." he looked around the room. "What do people think?"


"I think you're right," Brian said. "It’s time to start accepting that we're on our own now."


"So it’s time to start looking," said Peter. "Certainly we don’t lose anything by having a look around."


"You’re right," said Mary. "I don’t like it but you’re right."


Alex looked around the room and everyone seemed to agree.


"Even when we’ve found a place, it’ll take us ages to get it sorted out," Harry commented. "We’ve no chance of finding anywhere as well set up as this."


“Has anybody got any ideas about where we could go?” Alex asked.


After an extended chat, they ended up with a list of three possibilities. "Fancy going for a drive tomorrow," Alex asked Harry. "You’re probably the best person to look at roofs and drains and things."


---


Harry and Alex set out shortly after breakfast the next morning to look at the three possibilities. The first place was a Residential Centre, north of town, where several of the Minors had stayed when they were at junior school. The building was set well back from a main road, surrounded by open fields, with a large pond and woodland behind it.


"Handy for James to fall into," Harry commented dryly when he saw the pond.


Unfortunately, there had been a school party in residence when the plague struck and the two boys could hardly bear to look around. It was just too sad.


"It's too small anyway," Harry said as they climbed back into the Land Rover. "It would only really give us one more room and it's not worth moving for that."


---


To drive to the next place on the list they had to head back towards town. They had hardly driven a mile when Alex brought the car to a sudden halt.


"Is everything OK?" asked Harry.


"Yes, fine. I just spotted a sign to ‘The Museum of Country Life’."


"I didn’t think we were on a day trip here," said Harry, somewhat confused.


"I wasn’t thinking of a day trip!" Alex laughed. "What I’m thinking is that, if Brian is right and we’re stuck on our own forever now, we might be able to pick up some useful hints from the Victorians."


"I went round one of those places with my Dad, once," Harry said. "He thought it was really funny that some of the tools in his workshop were older than their antiques!"


Alex reversed, with some difficulty, back up the road and turned into the lane which led up to the museum.


They spent about half an hour there, looking at the displays. These included: a farmhouse kitchen; a milking parlour; a saw-mill; and a cooper’s workshop.


"You’re our master carpenter," Alex said to him as they came out. "Do you think you could manage to set us up a milking parlour like that?"


"I’m certainly not a master carpenter yet!" Harry insisted. "But fortunately I won’t have to be for that. I’m not going to have to make wooden buckets and things when there are plenty of metal and plastic ones just lying around."


"They’ll probably be more hygienic, too," Alex said as they continued their journey back towards town.


---


From town they headed south over one ridge into the next valley. They drove west along that valley for about ten miles until they found a junction near an old thatched pub.


Here they turned left into a narrower valley. A winding lane led them up, initially through a village and then through woods and fields. A stream tumbled down the valley next to the road.


"Look, a fish farm," said Harry, pointing out a collection of concrete tanks and pools built next to the river.


"I’d have thought that all the fish would be dead by now," Alex said.


"You’re probably right but it does mean that the water must be pretty good," Harry explained. "We might even be able to get it going again."


As the road continued to climb up the valley they reached the tiny village of Pratchdean. There were about twenty houses, many with thatched roofs, and a church with a square tower made from local flint.


The school was just beyond the village, nestled below the steep slopes that marked the top of the hill. It was surrounded by a high brick wall with heavy wrought iron gates.


Alex drove through the gates and down the gravel drive, which led between lawns and mature trees and past a small chapel. As soon as they saw the house they knew they had found the right place.


Pratch House was a solid stone building. It had once been a substantial country house but had since been converted into a boarding school. It was two storeys high, and windows in the roof showed that there were rooms up there, too.


They drove down the drive and turned left to pull up in front of a rather grand stone portico at the front of the house. Alex went up the three steps to inspect the front door. It was locked and looked very solid. "No way in here," he told Harry.


They made their way round to the left of the house. Peering in through the windows they could see a couple of classrooms. One even had a piano in it.


Behind the house the grounds sloped down to the stream. A terrace ran along the back of the house with a stone staircase leading down to a playground. Beyond this was a field which was marked as a football pitch. To the right of this field was the old stable block that had been extended to house a couple more classrooms; changing rooms; and a small gym. A branch of the driveway led past the right hand side of the house to the stable block. It joined the playground and then stretched round the corner to the stable block.


They were excited to see that the door at the back of the building was open. Inside there was a cloakroom to their right and toilets to the left. Unfortunately the door which led into the main part of the house was locked, though it didn’t look very secure.


"Should we force it?" Alex asked.


"Not if we don't have to," Harry answered. "If this is going to be our new home, I’d rather not start by wrecking the place!"


They went back out onto the rear terrace and continued round the house. On the right hand side there were a kitchen and a dining room. There was a door here too, though this just looked like a fire door and was solidly locked.


It was Harry who noticed that the balcony door above the front door was slightly ajar. Alex reversed the Land Rover up to the portico and they climbed up onto its roof. From here Alex helped Harry to scramble up over the wall onto the balcony and he was in the house. Two minutes later he had opened the front door and let Alex in.


The first thing that hit him was the smell of old, varnished wood. The entrance hall; the staircase that led up to the first floor; and the broad corridor that led to the back of the house all had solid wooden floors and panelling.


Left, off the corridor, were the two classrooms they had already seen and, to the right, was a small staff room and the kitchen. There was also a rather grand dining room with more wooden panelling and a huge fireplace. It had a heavy high table running along one wall with ornately carved wooden chairs that looked as if they belonged in a museum.


On the first floor a broad landing area and a pair of double glass doors led out onto the tiny balcony on the top of the portico. There were two long dormitories, one on either side of the house, which were divided into cubicles. At the back of the house, overlooking the playground, were a common room and a library.


A smaller staircase led to the second floor where there were several small bedrooms. There was also a small self-contained flat which they quickly identified as the source of the unpleasant smell that pervaded the second floor. Two people - they guessed the headmaster and his wife - lay dead in the small bedroom at the back of the flat.


An hour later they set off back to the cottage, not even bothering to drive out to the Youth Hostel which had been the third possibility on their list. If they were going to move anywhere it would be here.


---

"So what is it like?" asked Mary as Alex and Harry arrived back, still bubbling with excitement. They collapsed into armchairs and had cups of tea thrust upon them as all the Minors and many of the Tiddlers gathered around to hear the report.


"Me and Becca want a room together!" Rachel said, unable to contain her excitement.


"Rebecca and I would like a room together, please," Mary corrected automatically.
"We can do even better than that," Harry explained once the revised wording had been duly repeated. "There are a couple of big dormitories but they’re split up into lots of little cubicles so it’s like having your own tiny room with cupboards and shelves and a little desk and everything... but you’ll be able to chat to the others over the partitions!"


"But not too late," Alex added. "There’s a special office at the end of each of the dormitories where one of us can sleep and keep an eye on you!"


"Aw!"


"You’ll need to do lots of sleeping!" Alex told them. "There are two classrooms downstairs so you’ll be able to do lots of learning."


"Is there a decent kitchen?" asked Katherine.


"There’s a good sized kitchen," Harry answered. "It's as big as this one but we won't have to eat in there. There's a proper dining room. Unfortunately the oven looks like it’s gas so we’ll have to see about getting a solid fuel stove in like the one here."


"Where are we going to find one of those?" asked Peter. "If we try and move the one here we’ll be without hot food and hot water for at least a couple of days."


"There’s a shop that does them on that industrial estate out west of town," Daniel said. "Shifting them around might be fun, though. They look like they might be a bit heavy.”


"So, what would we need to do if we wanted to move in?" Brian asked.


"Clearing out the flat has to be the first job," Alex said. "The place will smell a whole lot better when we’ve done that."


"I’ve been thinking about that," Harry said. "A friend of my dad’s has got one of those little diggers. Dad used to borrow it sometimes. If we’ve got any amount of digging to do, we could do a lot worse than borrow that."


"Won’t it take forever to drive it up there?" asked Brian, wrinkling his forehead in confusion. "I can hardly imagine that those things travel very fast."


"It comes on a trailer!" Harry laughed, "You tow it on the back of a van!"


"Oh yeah!" said Brian, looking suitably embarrassed. "I should probably have worked that out for myself."


"What about heating?" Peter asked.


"That’s oil powered," Harry explained. "They’ve got half a tank left and we might be able to find some more. The water’s not running, of course, but the stream down the Pratch valley looks really clean. If we find the spring we could pipe the water down there."


"Why mess about with pipes?" Daniel asked. "Couldn’t we just get water straight out of the stream?"


"We’re going to end up drinking the stuff sooner or later. We need to make sure it’s as clean as possible," Alex explained.


"Finding good quality drinking water is one of the most important things we can do to stay healthy," Denise added.


"Are we definitely going to go for it, then?" asked Katherine, hesitantly.


"I think we should," Alex answered cautiously, "but everyone needs to agree on something like this. Why don’t you go and have a look at the place tomorrow?" Alex suggested. "Somebody needs to go to clean up the flat anyway.”


"We could all go for a trip up there on Sunday," Mary suggested. "Even the Tiddlers. We could make a final decision then."


---


The next morning Daniel and Harry had set off early to collect the digger and there was great excitement when an unfamiliar van arrived at the cottage yard just as the Tiddlers were finishing breakfast. It was towing the little digger on a trailer behind it.


"Mum’s mini doesn't have a tow-bar," Daniel explained as he jumped out of the van. "Besides, there are spare parts and tools and things in the van which might be handy."


By the time he had managed to turn the van and trailer round, Pete and Katherine were ready and theysset off down the track.


As Mary herded the Tiddlers upstairs for school, Alex shut the gate. He had decided that it was time to get on with another important job: laundry. They were all starting to get smelly again. He went to inspect Mike’s washing machine.


It didn’t take long to work out how to use it. You threw the clothes in, filled it up with warm water and detergent and then peddled slowly for a while to churn the clothes round. When they were done, you opened a tap at the bottom to let the water flow out down the drain. Then you cycled as fast as you could for a while to spin the water out of the clothes. This got much easier when Alex worked out how to use the gears on the machine.


After repeating the process a couple of times with fresh water, he had a batch of clean washing ready to hang up. Denise even sent a couple of Tiddlers down to help him with the socks.


After three more loads of washing, he had run out of places to hang things up so, after wiping down the machine, he went up to join the others in the school.


That afternoon, Alex was down in the courtyard, sorting out which of the clothes were already dry, when the Land Rover came bumping up the track. He hurried over to open the gate but as soon as it pulled to a stop in the courtyard, it was clear that something was wrong. Almost before the car had stopped, Peter jumped out and stomped off down the garden. Then Daniel got out of the driver’s seat and stormed out of the gate muttering something about collecting his car. Katherine disappeared into the kitchen, looking as if she was about to be sick and even Mary looked pale. She hurried upstairs, saying something about seeing with the children.


By the time Alex made his way across, only Harry was left. He was tidying away a couple of tools that he had taken with him.


"How was the digger?" he asked. Sometimes it wasn’t a good idea to be too direct with Harry.
"It was brilliant! It would have taken me hours with a shovel but I was done in under an hour... and I’ll be much quicker next time, now I know what I’m doing."


"That’s good," said Alex. I guess we’ll need to do a lot of digging when we’re sorting out the water."


"I went up and had a look at the source of that stream," Harry told him. "It’s about half a mile up the valley. The water tastes really good."


"That sounds good. I think we should go and have a chat with Brian. There are loads of books upstairs and there might just be some useful stuff about getting reliable drinking water from a spring.


"By the way... why’s everyone upset?" Alex asked casually.


"Oh, Daniel and Peter had a big stand up row at the graveside," Harry answered. "It wasn’t very, well, dignified."


"I can imagine!" Alex said with a groan. "So what happened?"


Harry had dug a grave, just up in front of the little chapel. Carrying the bodies downstairs was less of a struggle than in some of the smaller houses they had been in because, with the wider staircases, they had all been able to help.


"We were burying the headmaster and his wife and Peter started saying some of his church stuff," Harry explained. "Dan took exception to it. I think he used the phrase ‘playing at being a vicar’. Peter didn’t like that very much."


"I can imagine!" This was just what he needed.


With a sigh he set off down the garden to talk to Peter.


By the time Daniel reappeared with his car, Peter was willing to apologise and promised to give Daniel fair warning before doing his church-type things in future. Daniel grudgingly agreed it would be less destructive to walk away than get angry.


---


The trip up to Pratch House on Sunday felt like a real adventure for the Tiddlers. Daniel had acquired a minibus and, for most of them, it was the first time that they had been in a vehicle since the plague had struck.


As soon as they arrived, the kids poured out and started to explore the house, particularly the dormitories. Somehow, without any conscious thought, the girls gathered in the room above the dining room and the boys in the one over the classrooms. "Looks like that’s boys’ and girls’ dorms sorted out," Mary said with a smile.


They had a big picnic down in the lower field and, afterwards, the kids went off to explore some more. Alex saw Harry lying back in the grass and went over to talk to him. "I was thinking of wandering up to the spring to have a look," he said. "Do you want to come along?" Harry nodded and got to his feet.


Caroline asked if she could come along and Alex whistled for the dogs and the five of them strolled out of the gate and made their way up the road. After a short while, Caroline started to struggle to keep up so Harry casually swung her up onto his shoulders.


"I’ve not really asked you yet," Alex said to Harry. "What do you think about the move? It’s going to mean quite a lot of work and, of course, loads of it is going to fall to you because... well you’re just better at that sort of thing than the rest of us."


"I’m fine with it," Harry answered with a smile. "I’m keen to help as much as I can but, you know, I really don’t get on all that well with the little kids."


"You seem to get on OK with Caroline," Alex laughed, nodding at the little girl on Harry’s shoulders.


"She’s not the same as the rest," Harry answered. "I sort of understand ‘Line. I can tell what she’s going to do next."


After about half a mile Harry led them through a gate on the left and they made their way down, across a field. At the bottom of the slope there was a broad, flat marshy area and Harry showed Alex where the water was seeping out of the hillside just above it.


"Is that enough water?" asked Alex. "It doesn’t seem to be an awful lot."


"Well, there’s a fair stream coming out on the other side of this swamp," Harry answered with a laugh, "and it’s got to be coming from somewhere!"


They stood together and looked at the source for a couple of minutes.


"The first thing we need to do is dig out a trench to drain this swampy bit," Harry said. "Then we’d be able to see what’s going on."


"Isn’t that some sort of major environmental crime?" Alex asked. "Draining a swamp with all sorts of rare wildlife and so on?"


"You’re still thinking in the old way," Harry answered with a laugh. "As bridges collapse and drainage ditches fill up, we’re going to see plenty of swamp over the next few years. It’s people that are the endangered species now!"


They studied the site for a couple more minutes then walked back up to the road but, after about fifty yards, Harry suddenly stopped. "Look!" he said, pointing at a metal plate in the road. "A water main runs through here."


"Erm..." Alex responded. "I can see this is extremely exciting for you, but it does nothing for me."


"This pipe is almost certainly connected to the school," Harry explained in his customary patient tone. "We can just connect onto it and it will mean much less digging!"


"OK, I’m sure there’s a reason for this but... why do we have to bury the pipe? It’s not as if there are loads of people around to trip over it."


"Partially to protect it but mostly to stop it freezing in winter," Harry explained. Alex nodded and they walked down the road in companionable silence for a while.


"The next thing is sewage," Harry said.


“I’d been trying to avoid thinking about that!" Alex replied with a mock grimace.


"It’s not too bad if we get things set up right in the first place," Harry responded with a smile. "It’s only when things go wrong that you find yourself knee deep in you-know-what."


"Lovely!"


"I’ve been having a look at a couple of books with Brian," Harry went on, "and one way of doing it would be the same sort of set up as Mike. The stuff flows downhill into a big ‘sceptic tank’. The water coming out on the other side should be OK to feed back into the stream."


"You’re planning on dumping sewage out into that lovely little stream?" asked Alex, slightly shocked. "Isn’t that a bit disgusting?"


"It shouldn’t be too bad. It’s just the liquids," Harry explained. "There are special worms in the tank that eat all the solids.”


“Yuk!”


“Anyway, that’s still last month’s thinking,” Harry went on. “The one thing we’re really not short of is space. We could just pipe the stuff down the hill in the old sewer pipe and feed it out into a pond at the bottom of the valley. Nature’s pretty good at cleaning up that sort of stuff.”


"You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?" asked Alex, studying his friend in amazement.


"Not yet, but I plan to. It saves a lot of sweat if you have everything clear in your head before you start."


"OK, let’s go down and have a look at where the main sewer pipe goes," Alex suggested.


---


Katherine had had the foresight to bring a gas stove up to the house and, before they returned home, they gathered in the dining room for warm drinks and cake. After the cramped kitchen in Mike’s cottage, they felt slightly overawed in the grand room.


"What do you think?" Alex asked the Minors as they gathered at one end of the high table. "Should we go for it?"


There was quiet for a while as they looked at each other then Brian spoke. “We’re going to have to move on, sooner or later,” he said carefully, "and I don’t think we’re going to find anywhere better."


"The sooner the better," Daniel said. “Quite a lot of the stuff we’re eating at the moment, things like these cakes, are all on pretty short ‘best before’ dates. In another couple of months, we’ll be having to prepare a lot more of our food from raw ingredients.”


"Step by step it’s going to get harder," Katherine said in a hollow voice.


"But don’t forget that, step by step, we get better at dealing with it!" Brian reassured her. "We just have to make sure we stay ahead of the game."


Katherine thought about this for a moment then nodded. "I think we should go for it," she said at last.


“Everyone agree?” Alex asked, looking round the table at each of the Minors in turn.
Everyone met his eye with a nod.


---

Harry spent the next few days wandering around, deep in thought and Alex knew better than to disturb him. Occasionally he grabbed Brian and asked for his help in extracting information from Mike’s extensive library and, on the Friday afternoon, he pulled Daniel aside and quizzed him for an hour on plumbing supplies before the two disappeared off into town together.


On the Friday evening, he joined the others in the sitting room with a big smile on his face. He had worked out, at least in his own mind, what had to be done. "The rest," he said with a smile on his face, "is just spade work."


"Or digger work," laughed Alex. "When do we start?"


"Tomorrow," Harry suggested.


"Tomorrow’s Saturday" Alex said. "Wouldn’t it be better to start on Monday?"


"OK," Harry said then he thought for a moment. "Actually I’d like to dig out a ditch across the marsh tomorrow," he said. "Give it a chance to drain a bit before we start work on the source."


"That sounds fine," said Alex, walking over to the desk and collecting some paper, "but before we start, you need to let us know what you’re planning. You’re not going to be doing it all on your own so we need to work out who’s going to be doing what and when."


---


Alex spent several hours with Harry, making sure he completely understood the plans and laying out a provisional timetable and it was late by the time the two went up to bed. Alex was just settling down when he was disturbed by a peculiar noise. It seemed to be coming from the field below the house.


He lay still for a moment and the noises gradually resolved themselves. There was vicious barking and frantic bellowing coming from the field below. A pack of dogs was attacking the cows.


There was a frantic movement on the stairs and, for a moment, Alex thought the dogs had somehow made it inside the house but it was only Jess and Shauna. They charged past Alex and dashed towards the large window at the end of the room. Alex reached for his torch and clicked it on, though he was careful to avoid shining it directly at anyone who was still asleep.


Shauna and Jess normally did their best to ignore one another but now they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, fangs bared, staring out into the night with low menacing growls.


"Shauna!" Kate exclaimed as she woke up. She was obviously startled and a little afraid at the way the dogs were behaving.


"It’s OK," Alex said calmly to Katie as he walked past her on the way to the window. He stroked her head comfortingly. "There are nasty dogs outside and Shauna and Jess, here, want to be ready to take care of you if there’s trouble."


The rest of the Minors joined Alex at the window and for what seemed like hours, they stared out in the moonlight as a pack of about a dozen dogs chased the frantic cows around the field. Some of the Tiddlers started to get up, too, but Brian ordered them tersely back to bed; this was not something that he wanted them to see. They obeyed instantly, startled at his unfamiliar tone.


"We’ve got to do something about it," said Katherine in a low, appalled voice as she stared out at the scene below.


"No," said Alex emphatically. "There’s absolutely nothing we can do. It’s much too dangerous to go anywhere near."


They continued to watch in silence as several of the cows were torn to the ground.


"Den," said Peter gently, "Sooner or later we’re going to have to get those guns out."


Denise gave the slightest of nods, her eyes filling with tears.


With a sigh, Alex ordered the dogs to follow him back downstairs.


---


For several weeks, the Minors worked on Pratch House. There were rarely less than four and frequently six at the house, working to get the place ready. There was plenty to do.


On the first Saturday they dug out ditches to drain the marsh. Most of the heavy work was done by digger but some of the smaller channels had to be dug out by hand.


On the Monday they started work on the fresh water. They hammered pipes into the hillside to capture the spring water and installed two settling tanks to make sure the water was as clean as possible. Two, Harry explained, would allow them to clean one without interrupting their water supply. They had put up a well house over the spring – a shed that Daniel had found in a garden centre – and carefully fenced off the area around it.


They started digging a trench up to the road and were already three quarters of the way across the field when Peter realised what they were doing.


"Hang on," he said, "aren’t we trying to make water flow uphill here?"


"Don’t worry!" Harry answered with a laugh, "the height difference is less than 30 foot so the siphon effect will take over. We’ll have to do a bit of pumping at first to get things going but once the water’s flowing we’ll be fine."


They’d connected their pipe to the existing water main and capped-off unwanted sections of pipe. Then, with the help of a pair of two way radios, they managed to fix all the leaks and got water down to the house.


There had been a celebratory atmosphere as they made their way back home that evening and, as an experiment, Brian took one of the radios back to the cottage. When they returned to the house the next day, they found that they could communicate between the house and the cottage.


Once they could communicate, people, particularly Harry, felt comfortable about spending the night at the new house.


Though initially reluctant, Alex was persuaded to take the headmaster's bedroom. Denise convinced him that the little flat, with its bathroom and tiny kitchen, would make an ideal doctor’s surgery and sick bay and so it would be best for him to sleep there.


So Alex began to move his possessions into the bedroom and it was starting to feel like home. He also started setting up the flat's living room as a doctor’s surgery.

On the sewage side, they dammed a small stream, down in the main valley, to flood a couple of fields, then diverted the main sewer pipe to feed into it.

Daniel took Katherine and Alex into town to look at a new solid fuel cooker and water heater for the kitchen and, after some consideration, they decided to take the biggest one in the shop. It was a hugely heavy thing and they had to learn how to use a lorry with a crane before they could take it up to the house. Shifting the thing into the kitchen had taken all their strength and, even after they had moved it into position, there was more work to do because Harry insisted that they connect the flue to the house’s chimney rather than putting it out through an external wall. "It’ll work better in the long run," he assured them as he hammered his way through the wall to find the chimney. "And it’ll never be as easy as now."


Nobody was surprised when Harry insisted on spending half the next day putting right the damage that they had done to the tiles and paintwork. "The worst thing is we know he’s right!" Peter grumbled. "It just feels like we’re wasting time."


When he had nothing else to do, Daniel began systematically moving food from the supermarkets into one of the classrooms down in the stables. "That lot’ll keep us going for years!" Alex said when he saw the stockpile that had been built up.


"Just under three months," Daniel had answered. Alex had to take his word for it. Daniel was the one with the lists.


Then they started work on the electricity supply. They collected solar panels from a couple of houses in the town. Fitting them on the roof at Pratch House was relatively easy because there was a walkway all the way round the roof, protected by a low stone wall. It felt precarious to be up there but it was really quite safe. They had no problems securing a large supply of car batteries to store their power from various garages. Their big problem was finding the ‘inverter and control’ block to manage the individual bits.


They could have taken the unit from Mike’s house but they wanted to avoid that if possible. "It’s nice to know we can come back here if there are any problems," Mary said, putting into words the worries they all had.


By tracing through Mike’s paperwork, they found the details of the company that had supplied the components for Mike’s system. Unfortunately they were based in a town about twenty five miles away, down on the coast.


"Time," Daniel said, "for a trip."


Alex got the impression that Dan was looking forwards to it rather more than he was.


---


Alex drifted gently out of sleep and for a moment he was disoriented. Something wasn’t quite right. There wasn’t the familiar quiet breathing of the others around him.


Then it slowly came back to him. He had just spent his first night in his new bedroom at Pratch House. Today was the day of the big trip and they were planning an early start. Alex knew he ought to be getting up but he had been doing a lot of heavy work over the last ten days and, as he stretched out, appreciating the warm, comfortable bed, he started dozing again. He was shaken from his dreams by a loud metallic clanging from downstairs. Daniel had found a huge gong and hung it up outside the kitchen and somebody was using this to call them down to breakfast.


Alex hauled himself out of bed with a groan, pulled on his clothes and went downstairs.


"I thought you lot said you wanted to be off early," Harry teased. "The day’s nearly half over."
Alex glanced at the grandfather clock that had been brought from Katherine’s home and put in the entrance hall. "It’s six o’clock!" he said with a smile.


Harry didn’t bother to answer.


Daniel and Mary stumbled downstairs. They knew they couldn’t really grumble because Harry must have been up for an hour. He had already lit the stove; put the kettle on to boil and, by the smell, there were part-baked bread rolls in the oven.


Alex had asked Daniel to drive. He was now easily the best driver, though he did still drive much too fast. For this trip, however, on unfamiliar roads with unknown hazards, he had agreed to drive very slowly - not much more than walking pace through built-up areas.


They had decided to take the Land Rover for the trip. It wasn’t quite as quiet or comfortable as the other cars but it gave them many more options if there were problems. They had filled it with diesel from a tank buried behind one of Mike’s sheds at the cottage and, with Daniel’s help, Harry had done a quick check of the vehicle using the workshop manual in Mike’s library.
They were as ready as they could be.


They ate a hurried breakfast then, as the others prepared some rolls for lunch, Alex made a quick radio call back to the cottage. By seven o’clock they were on their way.


It was a peculiar sensation to carry straight on down the valley rather than turning left to go ‘home’. That was soon forgotten, however, in the nervous excitement of travelling on unfamiliar roads.


At Alex’s suggestion they did not take the obvious route which would have taken them past the hospital. Instead they followed country roads which avoided the worst of the traffic jams and unpleasant sights.


They made good progress down the lanes though, on a couple of occasions they had to go off-road to avoid blockages and, once, they had to backtrack to find a different route when the road was completely blocked. Within an hour they found themselves on the northern outskirts of the city and life became much more complicated.


Here the roads were completely blocked in many places – both sides of the road were completely jammed by cars that had been fleeing. Daniel had to adopt a much more relaxed attitude as to what constituted a road, driving across pavements, parks and, on one occasion, front gardens.


When they reached the industrial area where the supplier was based the roads became much clearer. Without much difficulty they found the place. It was a large building with offices at the front and a large warehouse at the back. They checked and all the doors seemed to be very solidly locked.


"Time to be a bit persuasive," said Harry. After studying the doors for a while he took a crow bar from the back of the Land Rover and walked up to a rolling factory door at the side of the building.


After a couple of moment’s straining the door had buckled slightly on one side of the base but he had completely failed to break in.


"Oh, it’s like that is it!" he said. Alex came over to offer to give him a hand but he shook his head and returned to the back of the Land Rover. "It’s time for big Bertha!" he said.


He returned with a new crow bar that was easily as tall as he was and, with Alex’s help, he slotted it in the gap he had just created. Then they applied their weight to the other end of the bar and something in the door snapped with a resounding crack.


"I think I might be able to get under there," Mary said looking at the gap they had made.


"Don’t bother just yet," Harry said. He hauled Big Bertha across to the other side of the door and, after some adjustment to find the correct spot, they broke the catch on that side too.


"You can solve most problems in the world with a big enough crow bar!" Harry said with a smile as he put Big Bertha away.


Taking care not to cut themselves on the sharp metal, they rolled the door up and walked inside. They found themselves in a huge warehouse with row after row of shelving, mostly piled high with anonymous brown cardboard boxes.


The four stopped dead.


"This is impossible," Mary said in a flat tone. "We’ll never find it."


"And I bet they use a computer to find out where things are!" Daniel added.


Alex stared with the rest then made a decision. "Come on," he said. "This can’t be beyond us. There must be some paperwork here to help. You know what people are like with computers – they are never going to trust them that much!"


Daniel gave a sigh. "OK," he said, "there have got to have been people who put things on and off the shelves. Their desks have got to be the first place to start."


"And the logical place for their desks to be is..." Alex thought out loud.


"Right here – by the main stores entrance..." said Mary, making her way across to the small enclosed cubicle just to their right. There were three desks and a couple of shelves and filing cabinets.


Meanwhile, Alex strolled around the warehouse for a while, looking at the shelves and boxes, trying to find some sort of pattern. At last he went to join Mary and Harry in the office.


"How can we expect to find anything here?" Harry said, as Alex came in. His voice was becoming angry with the frustration. "We don’t even know what we’re looking for!"


"The boxes have all got numbers on them that look a bit like telephone numbers," Alex said. "My guess is that that says what’s what. The shelving has got numbers and letters – so the location is going to be something like A74 or 4BQ or something."


"Hang on!" said Mary, walking over to one of the desks. "I think I saw something like that." She picked up a well-thumbed wad of papers that had been roughly stapled together. It consisted entirely of lists of numbers, mostly printed though some had been written on the last page by hand. "I thought it was some sort of telephone directory."


"That’s great!" said Alex. "That means we’re halfway there!"


"But we still don’t know what we’re looking for," said Harry.


"Yes we do!" Alex answered. "We’re looking for a list which tells us what the ‘thing number’ is for the control unit – then we can look up where to find it on the shelf."


They carried on hunting but, though there were plenty of pieces of paper with the numbers on – and some even had a description of the thing in words, they were no nearer finding the numbers they were looking for.


"Where’s Dan?" Mary asked after another minutes.


"I don’t know," Alex answered in an irritated tone. "I think he went off into the stores after you showed us that booklet. I wish he wouldn’t go wandering off." He left the office and stomped up through the warehouse in the direction he had last seen Daniel going.


"Erm..." said Mary coming to the office door. “What was that you said about not going off on your own?"


For a moment he was cross but then he gave a smile.


Mary laughed. "Come on!" she said to Harry. "He can’t have gone far."


They walked up through the stores and found a door at the back which led through to a staircase and the offices beyond.


They went up the staircase, calling Daniel’s name and quickly found him in a conference room on the first floor.


"Dan!" Alex said. "You’ve been asked not to go wandering off on your own. We were a bit worried."


"Sorry," Daniel replied, though with no real sign of regret. "I guess that means you don’t want this!" he added with an impossible grin, handing Alex a glossy catalogue.


"We already know what we want!" Alex said.


"Take a look inside!"


Alex opened the brochure. Next to every item in the catalogue somebody had carefully written in the telephone number style code which was now so familiar.


"Dan, you are impossible!" Alex laughed as he showed the catalogue to the others.


Ten minutes later they had found the heavy box they needed and lowered it down onto a trolley.


"Is there anything else we need whilst we here?" Alex asked, looking around the group.


"I guess there’s normal sort of office stuff," Daniel said. "But we can find that nearer home."


"You’ve got a catalogue in your hands," said Mary. "Why not have a look?"


"Oh yeah!"


They pushed the trolley over to the door, put the catalogue on top of the box and started turning the pages.


"Maybe some better panels..." he thought out loud as he flicked through the pages, "or more batteries."


He suddenly froze as he opened at a page showing a small water turbine. He looked up and it was clear that everybody was thinking the same thing.


"Problem solved," said Harry simply. "There’s plenty of power in that stream... and they’ve got the kit here to harness it!"


"Hang on," said Daniel. "There’s a room full of glossy brochures up in the offices up there. There might be something there that will tell us what we need to take.


It took them another hour to work out what they needed and, as they gathered the boxes together it quickly became clear that it wouldn’t all fit in the Land Rover.


"Maybe we could come back for the generator?" Mary suggested.


"Or we take one of their vans?" Daniel suggested.


"We’d need the keys for that," Harry said.


"Come on, they’re not going to hide away keys to vans that they need every day," Daniel said. "Give me ten minutes."


It only took about five to work out that the keys were in a small locked cupboard which was mounted on the wall by the main warehouse door, but it took them another ten minutes to force the cupboard open using a hammer and chisel and then the crow bar. After Harry had checked that one of the vans would start, they loaded it with boxes and then went back into the warehouse to eat their rolls.


"So back to the house now?" asked Alex.


"There is another place close by that I thought might be interesting, if we’ve got time," Daniel said hesitantly.


"Go on, spit it out!"


"There’s a gun shop about half a mile west of here. I thought we might want to go and have a look but I know it’s a bit of a sensitive area and..."


"And you don’t want to start a big row with Denise," Alex laughed. "I can understand that." He thought about this idea for a while. "I don’t think that Denise would have any problems with us taking everything that’s there. I mean, I’m sure that even she would rather that we were keeping them safe than having them just lying around. I’d certainly rather destroy them than just leave them."


Half an hour later, the two vehicles pulled up in front of the gun shop. It was immediately obvious that they weren’t the first people to have paid the place a visit.


The metal security grill had been shattered and the wooden framed door beyond had been completely smashed. "It looks like somebody else is a friend of Big Bertha," Harry commented mildly as they made their way carefully over the broken glass into the shop.


The inside of the shop didn’t look much better. Racks of military-style clothing had been knocked over or pushed to one side and a whole set of shelves with outdoor equipment had been torn off the wall. Alex had an uneasy feeling as he led the others further into the shop.


"The guns and things will be in some sort of safe room out at the back somewhere," Mary said, the tension clear in her voice. There was no door at the back but a set of stairs led upward. Alex and Daniel cautiously made their way up whilst Mary and Harry looked around downstairs.


There was a small room at the top of the stairs. A counter ran along the right hand wall with a heavily reinforced door behind it. Somebody had spent a considerable amount of time smashing their way through the door.


As Alex walked into the small room beyond the door two things were instantly clear: the room had been completely stripped; and there was a corpse lying in the middle of the floor.


By now Alex had acquired an unwanted familiarity with corpses and it was quite clear that this body had been dead for much less than six weeks. "That’s it!" he said decisively as he turned and went back downstairs. "We’re leaving now."


"One moment," said Mary. She was behind the main shop counter, stuffing things into a large duffle bag."


"Hurry up, then!" said Alex as he made his way to the window and cautiously looked out, relaxing only slightly when he saw that the street remained completely still and silent.
After a couple of seconds of frantic activity, Mary joined him. She was struggling with a heavy bag so he helped her to carry it to the Land Rover.


"Quickest way out of town!" he said to Daniel and Harry, who were jumping into the van. "You go first. We’ll follow."


"What on earth’s the matter?" Mary asked, as he tore off after Daniel.


"In a minute," he answered tersely. Though Daniel was driving the heavily loaded van, Alex was having to work hard to stay with him. "Keep your eyes open for trouble."


Mary glanced at him then did as he’d asked.


At last they made it out of town, onto smaller roads. Daniel slowed considerably, though not as much as Alex would have liked.


"Sorry if I was rude back there," he said.


"That’s OK," Mary replied. "I should have seen you were busy."


Alex told her about the missing guns and the dead boy he had seen in the upstairs store room.


"Had he been shot?"


"You know, I didn’t think to look," Alex answered. "I assumed he had been and I just sort of panicked. All I could think about was the people with the guns coming back and finding us there."


Mary nodded.


"What were you collecting?" he asked.


"There were a couple of air rifles in a case behind the counter," Mary answered.


"But I didn’t think air rifles were much use for anything bigger than a squirrel," Alex said, his confusion visible across his face. "They’re certainly not going to be of any use against a ravenous dog." He deliberately avoided mentioning the danger of two legged predators.


"As far as I know, I’m the only one of us who’s ever shot anything," Mary answered carefully, "and if we’re ever forced to use the real guns, we all need to know what we’re doing."
"And we can practice with the air rifles?"


"I’ve got ten times more ammunition in here than Mike has in his trunk," Mary said, patting the bag between her knees. "Besides, if you accidently shoot someone with and air rifle..."
"It won’t hurt ’em all that much?"


"It’ll hurt them alright but at least they’ll be in a fit state to grumble about it afterwards."


"What are we going to do about Den," Mary asked after a pause. "She isn’t going to be happy."


"I’ll have to talk to her," Alex said thoughtfully. "I sort of understand where she’s coming from on this whole gun thing even if I don’t agree with her. I’m sure that I can make her see that there are situations where we’ll need to use them..."


"And once she’s accepted that, she’ll see that we need to practice with them," Mary completed his thoughts for him.


---

Two days later, the ‘inverter and control’ was installed and the house was ready for them all to move in.


There was a celebratory atmosphere as the Minors gathered in the living room to discuss the move. Daniel had collected a large and expensive-looking box of chocolates the last time he was in town and they were disappearing at an alarming rate, even though Peter was still upstairs with the Tiddlers. Alex diplomatically secured a small pile of the chocolates for him.


"Den and I have been chatting," Mary announced, "and we think it would be a good idea if we don’t do the move in one big bang but do it more, well, gently."


"The Tiddlers have already been through so much and we don’t want to do anything that might unsettle them even more," Denise explained.


"Will two or three days be enough, do you think?" Alex asked.


"Should be, I’d have thought..." Denise began but she was interrupted as Peter crashed into the room. The Tiddlers were not all asleep, he reported, but they were all settled. He sat on the floor next to Denise and started to chomp his way through his pile of chocolates.


"Today’s Thursday, isn’t it?" said Brian. "We could have school up there tomorrow."


"Not sure how much actual learning there’ll be," Mary said with a smile


"Maybe we could hold a little service up in the chapel on Sunday morning," Peter suggested excitedly.


"Though of course you could come up later," Denise suggested hurriedly to Daniel who looked ready to explode.


"While you’re busy with the kids we can start moving stuff up there," Harry suggested.


"I’ve been thinking about that," said Brian. "I don’t think we should move all that much of this stuff."


This drew puzzled looks from the rest of the Minors.


"If we have any sort of problems up there it would be useful to be able to run away back here," he explained.


"Makes sense," Alex said after a moment’s thought.


"There’s certainly no shortage of stuff lying around," Daniel said.


Alex cast a worried look at Denise but she gave a slightly sad smile. "There’s nobody coming now," she said with a sigh. "It’s not stealing any more. There’s nobody else around, so it’s our inheritance."


"So we don’t have to keep lists anymore?" Kat asked.


"Erm..." said Daniel. "If people don’t mind I’d be grateful if you kept making notes about the stuff we take. They’re really useful for keeping track of what’s still left in the shops."


Alex was relieved to see that Daniel was joining in the laughter that that request caused.


There was some informal discussion about what they ought to take and what they should collect from town whilst Harry and Mary went over to the table. Harry had done such a good job with the pictures on the shoe shelves that Mary had asked him to make some name cards for the Tiddler's dormitories. Being Harry, he had decided to make proper wooden name plaques instead. He was happy to draw the pictures but wanted her to write the names.


So the next day, the Tiddlers were taken up to Pratch House. Mary and Brian took them into their new classroom to show them around. The Tiddlers were too excited to really concentrate but they persisted with fun activities and semi-educational games. Mary had to give James and the twins very clear instructions about use of the piano but promised to give them piano lessons. After an hour and a half, Alex took them down onto the lower field for some noisy games.


After the break they went back to the house where, after some reading and number work, Mary began to play the piano, doing her best to accompany the children as they sang.


They had cleared most of the tables from the dining room, leaving only the grand high table, near the kitchen door, which gave them plenty of room to sit together to eat. They had left several of the dining chairs at the other end of the room but were planning to replace them with sofas and armchairs when they had time.


Katherine had spent the morning experimenting with the new stove and managed to produce a lunch consisting of soup and baguette. "I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be able to eat these baguette," she commented sadly as she put the bread baskets on the table. The part-baked baguettes had been a staple of their diet since the beginning.


"They still taste fine," Denise said. "I’d have thought that bread would start tasting funny before it does you any harm."


"After that..." I guess we’re onto that funny foreign stuff," said Daniel. They'd tried some German rye bread a couple of days before and he hadn't enjoyed it.


Peter was about to make some comment about baguette being foreign but was silenced by a severe glance from Denise.


After lunch, Alex and Peter took the Tiddlers for a grand tour, taking them to every corner from cellar to the Minor’s rooms at the top of the house. As they went they made it clear which areas were out-of-bounds to the Tiddlers, including the driveway at the front of the house and the entire stable block.


Then Peter took the boys and Mary the girls and they went off to select dormitory cubicles. Alex wandered down the corridor. There was a common room with a television, computer games and comfortable chairs. The books from Mike’s library were now piled against one wall. They planned to put up more bookshelves but, it was not a priority, so it would be a while before they got round to it.


Alex went over to the window and stood, looking out over the playground and over the winding stream which was just beyond the back wall. It was a beautifully bright spring day with just a few fluffy white clouds being chased through the blue sky by a brisk breeze. To the left the steep chalk ridge was mostly covered with grass with a couple of sheep dotted about. In front, just visible beyond a slight shoulder of hillside, the main valley stretched away with its woods, fields and hedgerows where the first flashes of spring colour were starting to appear. Without the dead bodies and the, now familiar, signs of collapse, it would be easy to believe that nothing had changed in the world.


After a couple of minutes, a small figure appeared next to him and Gregory slipped his hand into Alex’s. Together they looked out at the landscape.


"Do you think we’ll be alright here?" he asked Gregory at last.


Gregory thought about this for a moment before giving a decisive nod.


They stood together for a couple of moments then Alex turned with a sigh. "Should we go and have a look at where you’re going to sleep?" he asked.


He went to inspect the boy’s dormitory and found Harry putting the name plaques so they helped him by holding the plaques straight whilst he screwed them up.


When they had finished with the boys, Alex and Harry went through to the girls’ dorm to do the same though not before Alex carefully knocked at the door. Rachel and Rebecca found this very funny but Alex explained that boys were not allowed in the girls’ dorm without permission.
Alex inspected Hanna’s cubicle whilst Harry put up the signs then, after a drink and a piece of cake, they all returned to Mike’s cottage.


The next job was to move the chickens and goats, so Peter, Harry, Daniel and Mary got up early the next morning to load them into a horse box that Daniel had found on a local farm. The goats were no problem, Alice simply used sugar lumps to lead them up the ramp into the unfamiliar vehicle. She stayed with them for a while, feeding them on carrot tops and potato peelings and casually scolding them for being greedy until they had got used to their new surroundings.


Securing the chickens was a much bigger problem and it took the four Minors almost an hour of mad chasing to round them up into cages.


They were carrying the cages into the horsebox when Gregory came over to call them in to breakfast. He watched them for a moment than casually observed that they should have simply moved the chickens in their house. It took a great effort of collective will, not to take out their frustration on him. "At least it’s a good trick for next time," Alex observed.


On the Sunday, Peter held his now customary service in the little chapel in the corner of the grounds. He clearly felt self-conscious as he led them in prayers for protection and support in their new home. The solid little stone chapel added a layer of formality and ritual to the proceedings which visibly impressed the Tiddlers.


As they gathered on the lawns at the front of the house, Alex teased Peter gently about it.
"I just felt a bit of a fraud," he admitted with an embarrassed grin. "I’m not a vicar. Why am I preaching in a church?"


"Were you trying to deceive anybody?" Denise asked surprisingly firmly.


"No, of course not," Peter answered defensively, looking rather hurt.


"Then stop being silly," she smiled. "We know what’s going on. Jesus knows what’s going on. There’s no problem."


"That’s me told," Peter laughed to Alex as Denise walked away.


---


On the Monday evening, the Minors gathered in the dining room and waited for Peter and Katherine to come down from putting the Tiddlers to bed.


"They were just so wound up!" Peter reported when at last he reappeared. I thought they’d never settle.


"They’re bound to be excited by the move," Denise said with a smile. "Give them a couple of days and they’ll be going to sleep by themselves."


"Good luck with that!" Peter said.


"It’s not a matter of luck," she answered. "You just need clear rules, consistently applied. They’ll soon work out what they can and can’t get away with."


There were a few moments of quiet as the Minors thought about this.


"Now I've got a room of my own, I'd like to go home and get some more clothes," Katherine said. "Maybe a couple of photos, too, that sort of thing."


"I think we'll all want to do that," Alex agreed. "In fact, if this really is going to be our new home we should go and get everything... family photos, Mum's best china... everything we want to keep."


"We should do the same thing for the Tiddlers," Daniel said. "Go through their homes and collect precious stuff for them."


"I like that idea," said Denise. "I like it very much. We should do a really thorough job for them - a whole box of memories. It’s going to be pretty much their only link to the past when they’re bigger – I mean, how much can you remember from when you were four?"


"Birth certificates and things too," said Brian. "I mean, we don’t even know when most of their birthdays are!"


"But how are we going to know what to get?" Katherine asked. "I mean, it’s hard enough to work out what you want to keep for yourself.


"We’ll just have to take our time and do the best we can," Alex said. "There’s no rush."


"Let's do our own memory boxes first," Brian suggested. "See what we all get then go from there."


"Do you think we should take them back home?" Alex asked, looking across at Denise.


"Tricky," she answered thoughtfully. She was quiet for a moment. "Some... say Melanie and Charles, could definitely cope with it and I think it would do them good. Others..."


"Alice?" Mary suggested.


Denise nodded. "I just don’t know," she concluded.


"Why not ask them?" Peter suggested. "We can always steer them if we think they might give the wrong answer," he added with a smile.


"If we make sure the houses are closed up properly, they’ll be able to go back for a while," Harry said. "Those houses aren’t going anywhere."


So, two weeks later, Alex was standing in front of a semi-detached house with Gregory, who was holding his hand very tightly.


"You’re sure you want to go in?" Alex asked one last time. "You can stay with Mary in the car, if you like."


Gregory thought about this for a moment then gave a decisive nod.


So he led Gregory down the side of the house and in through the kitchen door. Though, happily, the unmistakable stench of dead bodies had cleared, the smell of rotting food was still quite unpleasant.


"Come on," said Alex, hurrying Gregory through the kitchen, the rest of the house will be much better. Mary followed, carefully shutting the kitchen door behind them.


They went through into the entrance hall and Gregory led them determinedly upstairs and went into his room. He hunted around for a few moments in the churn of clothes and toys before emerging with a battered-looking teddy bear. "Eddy," he said sinking onto the bed. "Eddy!"


Smiling, Alex looked around for a bag in which he could pack Gregory’s things. He found two old suitcases in the parents’ bedroom then he and Mary started packing, occasionally asking questions about an old jumper or a particularly battered toy.


As they left, Gregory turned and looked at the house for a long time. Alex couldn’t think of anything to say so he just put his arm round the little lad’s shoulders and gave him a hug before leading him back to the car.


The next day, Alex took Hanna back to their home and he was surprise how unmoved she was by the visit. She was obviously pleased to be able to collect a couple of her special toys and familiar clothes but for the entire time that they were there she just bustled around in her familiar style, as if the situation was completely normal.


She seemed to remain unaffected until that evening. Alex was sitting at the table, sorting through the contents of the box and trying to remember the names of some of the more obscure relatives in wedding photos. Brian had observed that it would never be so easy to remember who’s who.


Peter was reading to the Minors who were already in their pyjamas and were piled up on the new sofas around him, covered in blankets.


Alex was vaguely aware that a child had started crying over on the sofa but ignored the fact. One or other of the Tiddlers always seemed to be crying and you just left it for the person who was with them to deal with it.


He was disturbed by a shout from Peter. "Hey, Alex," he was shouting. "Do you want to come and deal with this?"


He looked up to see that Hanna that crying. He walked over and tried to talk to her, but she was not in a fit state to answer so he picked her up and carried her back to his chair. He held her tightly as the little girl’s whole frame spasmed with sobs.


"What’s up, mouse?" he asked gently when, at last, the worst of the sobs began to subside.


Hanna still couldn’t speak but she managed to point to one of the pictures. It was the big family portrait that had hung on the dining room wall back home.


Alex tried to say something but could not say a word because he was crying too. It was a couple of minutes before he could speak.


"Do you want to have that photo in your cubicle?"


She thought for a moment then nodded.


"I’ll sort that out tomorrow," he promised her. He had been planning to hang up the photo in his own room but he would be able to find himself another one.


He carried on holding his little sister, rocking her gently, until, at last, she cried herself to sleep.

[garethn]

05 Cuckoo's Nest


The light came dappling down through the trees as Alex snoozed in the long grass down on the lower field. The sound of squeaks and squeals filtered through the bushes from the playground. It had been too warm for their, now traditional, Sunday afternoon walk so, instead, they had hauled out a huge paddling pool that Daniel had collected on his last trip to town. Most of the Tiddlers, the dogs and, when he last looked, Peter, were splashing in it.


Suddenly a small figure appeared and lay down next to him. "Gregory, you’re soaking wet," he protested, but not with any sort of conviction. Gregory ignored him and cuddled closer for warmth.


They lay together, looking up at the gently swaying trees. "Good here, isn’t it?" said Alex.
Suddenly the little figure next to him tensed and Alex looked across to see the familiar cloud crossing Gregory’s face.


"You’re thinking about home, aren’t you?" he said, putting his arm round the little lad.
He nodded. "Mummy," he managed to say.


Alex sighed sympathetically. "You’re allowed to have a good time," he said, reassuringly. "I’m sure your Mummy would want you to be happy."


They were quiet for a moment.


"What happy things would you tell your Mummy about if you could?"


"Peter in the water," the little lad answered promptly. "He was funny."


"What else?"


"Brian's telling me how to play chess."


"You can play chess?" asked Alex, in astonishment. "That's a really hard game. You’ll have to show me tonight."


Gregory nodded enthusiastically.


Their chat was interrupted by the sound of the dinner bell ringing. This was most peculiar as it was much too early but, as they strolled up towards the house, they found Katherine coming down the steps with some ice cream she had made.


"It's not quite right," she apologised. "It's gone a bit icy."


"I'm sure it will be brilliant," Peter said, helping himself to a bowl.


"Greggy says you've been teaching him to play chess," Alex said to Brian as they enjoyed their ice-cream.


"Yeah, you lot won’t play with me anymore."


"That’s because you keep beating us. It’s no fun."


"That’s not a problem for Gregory."


"He doesn’t mind losing?"


"He’s winning about one game in four - and getting better frighteningly quickly!"


Alex thought about this. "So you mean, when I play him, I won't have to let him win!" he said with a smile.


---


Alex and Harry had been down to Mike’s cottage. Harry had wanted to collect some of the tools from the workshop and Alex had suggested that they use the trip as an extended driving lesson.


They had spent a couple of hours at the cottage, tidying up the garden and picking the first of the peas, beans and radishes.


The journey back had been uneventful, Harry taking to driving with his customary quiet competence, but as soon as they walked into the house they could sense that something was not right.


"There’s been a problem with the plumbing," Mary said carefully. "It looks like Richard and, maybe the twins, had been throwing socks into the toilet. It all backed up and flooded the boys’ bathroom."


"I’ll go and have a look," said Alex. "Do you want to come and show me?"


"So what’s really up?" he asked as soon as they were out of earshot.


"Dan was really good," she answered. "He went up there and sorted it all out."


"Dan?"


"Yeah, there was only him and Den about. He just went up there, hooked the socks out with a coat hanger and then cleaned up the bathroom."


"Then why’s everyone walking around on tiptoes?" Alex asked. "I can tell there’s something up."


"Because, when he came in, Peter couldn’t resist making a stupid joke," Mary answered with a sigh. "Dan just exploded."


"I can imagine," Alex answered. "I’d better go and see him."


"I wouldn’t bother. Den’s already been up. I can’t imagine he’s really in the mood for visitors."


---


Brian’s birthday was approaching and Katherine had suggested that they go and find Abby’s melodeon and give it to him. "Brian would love it and I’m sure Abby would have wanted him to have it," she said.


So, on one of his regular provision runs, Alex went along with Daniel and, after they had filled up the Land Rover with food, they made a detour out to Abby’s house.


Though by now they were very used to breaking into strangers’ houses, it felt very peculiar to be walking about in a friend’s home without permission. They quickly found the melodeon but then stalled somewhat when they saw her vast music collection – both recordings and books.


"We’ll have to come back here with Mary," Daniel said as Alex tried to select one or two books to take with them for Mary who was starting to build up a library of important musical scores. In the end, Alex just took the folder of music and dance notes that Abby always took to the practices.


As Daniel went upstairs to collect any medicines he could find, Alex casually flicked through the folder but suddenly a dance jumped off the page at him: ‘In Memoriem’. He'd never danced it; he'd only ever seen it danced once: to mark the death of Mike’s wife.


He was standing quietly when Daniel came downstairs. “What's up, mate?” he asked when he saw Alex's expression.


“Nothing much,” he answered. “I just found this.” He showed Daniel the notes on the dance.
“We've got to dance it,” Daniel said.


Alex nodded and snapped the folder shut with a sigh. They carefully shut the door and set off back towards the house.


Alex was still thinking about the dance when they caught a glimpse of something flashing across the road into a park, two hundred yards in front of them. Ten seconds later, half a dozen dogs tore across the road. They were obviously hunting the animal.


"What were those dogs after?" Alex asked.


"I don’t know," Daniel answered. "It looked about the size of a deer but it didn’t seem to be moving quite right.


"Perhaps it was hurt," Alex suggested. "I think I’d like to go and have a look." There was definitely something about the shape that attracted his attention.


When they reached the park, Daniel bumped the car up onto the pavement and then gently nudged the gates open with the front of the Land Rover before driving in. The paths were too narrow so he had to drive across the grass.


The dogs were gathered around the base of a tree and scattered only reluctantly when Daniel drove the Land Rover straight towards them.


"Some sort of cat?" asked Daniel. "I can’t think of anything else that big that can climb a tree.


"Whatever it was, it wasn’t a cat," Alex said emphatically. "It was too big and just wasn’t moving right." After glancing around to make sure the dogs were well back he leaned out of the window and looked up into the tree. "Hang on," he said. He started to open the door.


"Wait!" said Daniel, "let me do it. I'm getting used to this sort of thing." He reached under his seat and hauled out a heavy cricket bat. "There’ve been a couple of times when I’ve had to convince dogs they don’t want to mess with me.”


He got out of the van and stared up into the tree. "Well, I'll be..." he exclaimed. There was a small figure moving around in the branches.


Though very dirty, it was easily recognised as a little girl. "Hello!" he shouted up to her. “Do you want to come down? You’ll be safe with us."


Daniel glanced around as the girl started to climb back down the tree and saw that a couple of the dogs were edging closer. They quickly backed off when he threatened them with the cricket bat, but started moving menacingly forward again when his back was turned.


As soon as he could reach the girl, he grabbed her and almost threw her into the Land Rover. He dived in after her but as he was shutting the door he noticed that he had dropped his bat. He opened the door a fraction and reached down to grab it but, as he pulled his hand back in, he flinched and swore under his breath.


"What's up?" Alex asked.


"One of 'em got me," he answered, holding up his arm. His coat sleeve was badly torn and there was blood on his wrist.


"Let me have a look at that!" Alex told him.


"It'll be fine," Daniel replied.


"If it gets infected it'll be me who has to chop it off and neither of us wants that!" Alex said half seriously. "Now stop being 'brave' and let me have a look."


"Yes, mummy!" Daniel said, holding out his arm.


Alex had a look. The coat had taken most of the damage but there was a scratch on the wrist.


"This may smart a little," Alex said as he took antiseptic wash spray out of his emergency rucksack.


As Daniel continued to swear under his breath, Alex turned to the newcomer.


She looked a couple of years older than the Tiddlers and was unbelievably filthy. She had long, tangled hair and was wearing nothing but a massively stained t-shirt. "Hello!" he smiled. "My name is Alex and this is Daniel."


"Dodgy chase me," she said, solemnly.


Alex gave something of a double take at this then nodded. "We saw," he said. "Are you alright?"


She nodded.


"Who’s looking after you?" he asked.


She didn’t answer but just gave a shrug.


"Where are you living?" he tried.


"Grampa’s ‘lotment."


"On your Grandpa’s allotment?" Daniel suggested when Alex gave a puzzled look.


She nodded again.


"If you show us where it is we can take you back there," Alex said.


She nodded and pointed out, back towards the park gates.


Daniel reached onto the back seat for a packet of biscuits, opened it and offered her one. He was only slightly surprised when she took the whole packet.


Eating one biscuit after another, she directed them out through the park gates, down a street of terraced houses, past the hut where Katherine’s guides used to meet then onto a track which led along the side of the river to a collection of allotments. There was a padlocked gate next to a small clubhouse, but Alex swiftly solved that problem with a pair of bolt cutters that Daniel kept under his seat for just this sort of situation.


The little girl then directed them to an allotment on the right hand side, down by the river. There was nothing there but a small garden hut and a few rows of vegetables. There were no obvious signs that anyone was living there.


"Who’s been looking after you?" Daniel asked as he got out of the truck.


The little girl just gave another shrug.


"Are you all on your own here?" Alex asked and for the first time a shadow seemed to pass across her face as she nodded.


"But what have you been eating?"


"Bunnies and cawots," she answered promptly.


There was silence for a few seconds as the boys thought about this.


"How do you catch bunnies?" Alex asked her at last, in horrified fascination.


"Wait and wait and wait and..." suddenly she mimed leaping forwards, "tatch a bunnies."


Alex nodded. He couldn’t imagine how she managed to catch rabbits, but, then again, he couldn’t imagine how she managed to survive on her own for months. It really didn’t matter.


"Would you like to come and live with us?" he asked her. "There are five of us boys, three girls and lots of little kids who are a bit younger than you."


The little girl chewed thoughtfully on a biscuit for a moment then gave a serious nod.


"Let’s collect your things then," he said, getting out of the van and walking towards the garden hut. He looked towards the little girl and she gave a nod of approval before jumping out of the van to join him, still firmly holding the packet with the few remaining biscuits.


As Alex walked towards the shed, he noticed a forlorn pile of bones and fur just to the side of the door. It looked as if she had been telling the truth about the rabbits.


He opened the door and looked inside. There was a long, narrow table along one wall, under the window, with various tools and shelves along the other wall. The only sign that there might be anybody living there was a pile of blankets and old coats under the table.


Alex was turning to leave when he noticed a photo that had been fastened to the wall. An elderly gentleman, a younger lady and two little girls were smiling into the camera.
"Is this your family?" he asked as gently as he could.


As she nodded, her eyes filled with tears. Alex wrapped her in a huge hug.


"Should we take it with us?" he asked her.


She nodded, the tears running down her face.


Alex took an old screwdriver and carefully eased the drawing pins out of the wall. There was an old notebook on the table so he slipped the photo between its pages. "I’ll put it in here to keep it safe," he explained as he led her back out of the shed.


He was surprised to find that Daniel was not there. He looked around and found he was in one of the allotments, a few yards down the track.


"Hang on," Daniel shouted, "there are loads of beans down here. He came hurrying back a few moments later with a bag full of green beans.


"Katherine will love you for that!" Alex said. "She’s always grumbling that we’re not eating enough fresh stuff."


"There’s more stuff about," Daniel said. "Shall I go and get some more?"


"Let's come back with Kat," Alex suggested. "If we can find this young lady’s address we could do her a memory box."


Alex and Daniel were now used to the journey back to the house but it was clear that the little girl was not used to being in a car. She was fidgeting before they were halfway back and by the time they were driving up the hill towards the house she was almost jumping around.

"There it is!" Alex shouted as the house came into view. He jumped out of the van and unlocked the gate.


Daniel rolled the van down the drive and pulled up in front of the main door. "I’ll put it away later," he said, grabbing the bag of beans and jumping out of the van. Alex got out too but the little girl looked quite worried.


"Come on," Alex said, offering her his hand. "Everybody here’s very friendly."


Holding tightly on to his hand she got down from the van and nervously walked towards the house.


Peter had obviously seen the van parking in front of the house and appeared at the front door to check that everything was OK. Daniel wouldn’t normally park there.


"Is everything..." he began but he stopped when he saw the new arrival.


"Oh, hello!" he said.


"This is Peter," Alex said, "and we haven’t quite found out this young lady’s name yet. She’s not very talkative."


He led her through the entrance hall into the living room but she suddenly halted. "Dodgy!" she said, frozen with fear.


"Oh, yes," said Alex. "I didn’t think of that. Katie and James, would you take Shauna and Jess outside, please. Our new friend is a bit frightened of dogs."


"But Jess won’t hurt her," said James.


"Straight away, please," Mary said in her best school teacher’s tone. "You know the rule. You do what you’re told straight away and talk about it later." Harry got up and opened the fire escape so that the dogs could get out without going past Alex and the girl. "I guess you should go round outside and put your outdoor shoes on," he suggested as they went past.


With the dogs out of the way, the new girl could be coaxed into the living room. The remaining Tiddlers gathered round her, firing questions at her but she was obviously completely overwhelmed. Denise stepped in at once and chased the Tiddlers out of the way.


"Hello," she said gently. "My name is Denise and I’m the nurse here. I think you should come up with me and have a bath."


She was answered with a nod.


"Come on then," she smiled. "Melanie, please would you come with us. We might need a hand." Melanie hurried over and, taking the newcomer by the hand, led her upstairs.


"What’s she called?" asked one of the twins.


"We haven’t found out her name yet," Alex explained. "She doesn't talk very much."


"How can you not know her name?" the other twin asked, amazed at this revelation.


"You all have to remember that she’s been on her own for a very, very long time," Mary explained from her seat at the table. "She won’t find it very easy to talk to people and we’re all going to have to be very patient and understanding with her. Clear?" She looked around the group, making sure that each of the likely offenders met her eye.


"So, tell us all about it!" said Peter.


Alex and Daniel settled down into easy chairs and the two started to tell the others about their trip.


About an hour later, Melanie came back downstairs. She announced that the new girl was called Emily-Jane and that Denise had decided to take her up to sick bay for the night.


With Melanie’s help, Alex carried dinner for the four of them up to the sick bay and, as they settled down together to eat, he had a peculiar feeling that it was just like sitting down to a normal family meal. This, he decided, was probably not a coincidence. He was impressed by the way in which Denise delicately managed the conversation. She took care to include Emily-Jane but avoided asking her questions that couldn’t be answered with a nod or a shake of the head. They all carefully avoided noticing her lack of table manners.


---

There was great excitement when Brian came down to breakfast on the morning of his birthday. The previous day, the Tiddlers had spent an hour making decorations which Alex and Peter had put up after he had gone to bed.


Brian had not been terribly surprised - Louise had been much too excited to keep it a secret - but he was genuinely delighted when he opened the parcel containing Abby’s accordion.


“This is wonderful," he said, slipping the instrument on and tentatively playing a few chords.
"We ought to have a proper dance for Abby," Katherine said quietly, "for them all."


"That’s a lovely idea!" Denise agreed. "Isn’t it the Summer Solstice quite soon?" The Morris side had always danced up at the stones on midsummer's day.


"Sixteen days," said Alex, going over to the calendar on the wall. From the earliest days at the cottage, Brian had made sure that they kept a careful record of the date.


"That’ll give me a couple of days to get to grips with this new baby" said Brian, stroking the accordion protectively. "I’ll want to be able to do it justice."


"Oh no!" Peter said in mock anguish. "More of Brian’s accordion practice."


Brian gave him a friendly grin. They were all quite pleased to hear one of Peter’s flippant comments. Since the row with Daniel, the week before, he had been rather quiet.


---


The next morning, Katherine went into town with Daniel and Alex. Apart from the odd thing they had been able to collect from Mike’s garden, they had been living almost entirely on tinned fruit and vegetables and she was excited that they had found a source of fresh food. As she hunted around the allotments, armed with a large basket, Alex and Daniel searched the hut for clues which would help them to find Emily-Jane’s home.


There were a couple of pieces of paper on the shelves and table top but nothing with an address. Daniel even searched through the pockets of the coats that Emily-Jane had used in her nest but the only paper they found was a copy of the local newspaper.


"Maybe we should go round the schools," Daniel suggested as they came out of the hut. "‘Emily-Jane’ is not such a common name."


"But we don’t even know she went to school here," Alex replied. "All we really know is that her grandfather lived locally.


Suddenly his eye fell on a small enamelled sign screwed to the hut’s door frame. It was slightly rusty but when he cleaned it off he could clearly make out the number ‘42A’.


"There must be records in an office somewhere!" he said. They thought for a moment and then Alex and Daniel worked out the answer at the same time: "The clubhouse!"


The clubhouse was a small building, about the size of a double garage, down by the main gates. After telling Katherine where they were going they went down to have a look.


The door was secured with a padlocked metal shutter but they easily opened it with a crowbar and, after opening an inner door, went in.


It was like walking into a treasure trove.


There were three or four racks of seeds - mostly fruit and vegetables. There were also two racks of gardening books, one for sale and one which seemed to be available to borrow and, against one wall, there was a rack of tools.


The two just stood and stared. "This lot is worth its weight in gold!" Daniel murmured. “These people’d know what grows round here.”


Alex just nodded. With a bit of work, these supplies could feed them for years to come.
The allotment records were in a filing cabinet behind a shop counter and, given the clue of ‘42A’, they had no difficulty in finding Emily-Jane’s grandfather’s name: Alfred Baker. They even found his address. It was in one of the rows of terraced houses, close to the centre of town.


They went back and found Katherine. She too, seemed very pleased with herself, and her basket was almost full of fresh fruit and vegetables. "We can even have a salad tonight!" she announced excitedly.


They put the basket into the back of the Land Rover then drove the short way down to Alfred’s address. The doors were locked but they were able to force open one of the sash windows at the back of the house without causing much damage. Somehow it seemed disrespectful to damage people’s homes when they broke in. They also wanted to keep the place weatherproof in case Emily-Jane wanted to visit when she was older.


There was no doubt that they were in the right house. Emily-Jane and an older sister were looking down on them from photos on the mantelpiece. They began to hunt around for papers that might show them where they lived.


"We should have at least asked Emily-Jane what her mother was called," said Daniel in frustration as he hunted through a pile of papers. "We don’t even know who we’re looking for."


"I could imagine that being a slightly tricky conversation," said Alex with a sad smile. "‘What was your dead mother called?’ She’s not really that talkative anyway."


"I’d bet her mother was called ‘Liz’," Katherine called from the entrance hall.


"How do you know that?"


"His telephone book was by the phone," she explained. "Liz is the only person in the book without a surname."


"In that case," said Daniel, searching back through a pile of papers that he had just looked through, "...hang on..." He pulled a piece of paper out of the pile. "Mobile phone bill for an ‘Elizabeth Newman’. She lives over in Adlersford."


"Do you think that’s enough to risk the trip?" asked Alex.


"Might as well," Daniel answered. "It’s only ten minutes out there."


Alex found a door key, hanging up in a small wall-mounted cupboard by the front door. There were a couple more bunches of keys there too so he took them with him. "If we’re lucky, one of these will fit the other house," he said.


Ten minutes later they were pulling up in front of a semi-detached house on the far side of Adlersford. There was a trampoline in the back garden and it certainly looked as if children lived there.


Alex walked up to the front door and started trying the keys he had taken. The third one worked.


The house looked as if it had been left in a hurry, with things dropped on the floor and cupboard doors left open but at least it didn’t have the familiar stench of death that they had come to associate with empty houses.


"The first thing is to make sure that we’re in the right house," said Daniel. "It looks good but we need to be sure."


After a couple of seconds, Katherine gave a shout from the kitchen. She had found a note from school, fastened to the fridge door with details of a trip to a local museum. It had Emily-Jane’s name on."


"OK!" said Alex. "We know we’re in the right place. Shall I go and look for some clothes and things while you do the memory box?"


---


Alex had just come out of the shower with a towel wrapped round his waist, when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The last couple of months, with almost no junk food and plenty of heavy lifting, had made a difference. All his spare fat seemed to have vanished and his arm muscles were much more noticeable.


He was distinctly embarrassed when Peter came in and caught him flexing his muscles in front of the mirror.


"Very impressive," Peter teased him. "I’m sure Mary will approve."


"I’m quite certain that any attraction I might hold for Mary is entirely cerebral," Alex answered, blushing furiously.


As they left the bathroom, Daniel came stumbling down the corridor towards them. His eyes had a slightly glazed look and he looked ill.


"Are you OK?" Alex asked.


Daniel muttered something incoherent, pushed past them, and went into the bathroom. Alex watched as the door closed behind him, unsure about what he should do.


"Drunk again," Peter said grimly, all traces of humour wiped from his face.


Alex continued to stare at the bathroom door for a while then, with a sigh, he turned and went back to his room.


---


Alex stretched as he made his way down stairs. The one big problem with their solid fuel stove was that it needed to be lit an hour before breakfast. He and Harry were the ones who had least problems getting up in the morning so they usually took care of this chore.


He was surprised and slightly worried to see that the front door was open. Though Katie would often come down in the mornings to let the dogs out, she would always use the back door.


He looked out and was relieved to see a small figure standing absolutely still in the front garden. He took a few steps out through the front door, going out under the portico until he was standing at the top of the steps.


Emily-Jane was out on the lawn. As usual, she was wearing nothing but an old T-shirt. She was standing absolutely still and was completely surrounded by rabbits.


Alex stared in horrified fascination as the half-naked child took a cautious step towards one of the rabbits, then another, then a third. Alex expected the rabbits to scatter but her movement was so gentle that they didn’t seem to notice her. For a few seconds she stood completely still, once more, then she pounced. Most of the rabbits scattered but she had her target firmly in her grasp. For a moment it struggled but then she bit it sharply in the back of the neck and it was still.


It was only when she started to attack the creature with her teeth he was jolted into action.
"Stop, please, Emily-Jane," he shouted, hurrying down the steps towards her.


For a moment she was surprised then a huge, welcoming smile spread across her face. "Tatch a bunny!" she told him, obviously very pleased with herself. There was blood on her face and T-shirt.


"Yes, I saw, you did it really well. But you still can’t tear it to pieces with your teeth in the middle of the garden."


She gave him a puzzled look.


"That’s not the way people normally eat rabbits. You might frighten the other children. Could you bring it through into the kitchen, please?"


She gave him a resigned nod. She didn’t understand but she wanted to make him happy.


"And if Kat saw you like this, she’d probably have hysterics," he added, under his breath. "If we cut it up properly, we can probably use the skin to make things," he said as he led her through to the kitchen and wiped the blood off her face with the dish cloth.


"Anyway, there’s no time now. I’ve got to get the fire lit and you’ve got to go and get some clothes on. You’ve been told often enough not to come downstairs like that. Now off you go." Giving her a kiss on the top of her head, he helped her on her way with a friendly shove.


He turned his attention to the fire in the stove. Normally he would struggle to get it going for about twenty minutes then Harry would appear, move two sticks, give it a firm stare and it would spring into life.


The next morning Emily-Jane caught two more rabbits and, after Harry and Alex had taken a crash course in butchery, there was rabbit pie for tea.


"That was grand!" said Harry, sitting back from the table at the end of the meal. "I’m sure all these vegetables and things are very healthy but... I do miss proper meat."


"Most of the stuff people used to eat was either fresh or frozen," Daniel explained. "There’s just not much meat about any more."


"There’s plenty of meat about," commented Peter with a grin. "It’s wandering around in the fields saying ‘moo’ or ‘oink’."


Daniel frowned at Peter.


"So," asked Alex hurriedly. "You think we ought to..." He mimed shooting something.


"It might be an idea," said Daniel. "I get a shock every time I look in the old stables and see how much the pile of tins has gone down."


"But there are plenty left in the shops, aren’t there?" said Katherine.


"We’re fine for several years," Daniel answered, "but they’re going to run out sooner or later and anything we can do to stretch it out has to be a good thing."


"It’ll be a bit of a grim job," Harry said, still thinking about the slaughter.


"I can give a hand," Alex offered.


"You’re not going to have anything to do with it," said Mary in a tone that was not open to disagreement.


"What’s this all about?" asked Peter with a friendly grin.


Alex looked across at Mary and gave a deep sigh. "OK. You know I went up to the hospital on that first day and… well... Let’s just say that it was pretty grim up there."


"And he’s been having nightmares ever since," Mary added.


"They’re getting much better now," Alex assured her.


"And I don’t want to risk them getting worse again," said Mary firmly. "I’m not thinking of you here, I’m thinking of the rest of us who have to deal with you when you’re, whimpering in your sleep. You’re not going to get involved."


"OK," said Alex with a sigh. "But I do need to help with the butchery. I’ve been reading up on surgery but I’m going to need some practice."


"Lots of practice if your efforts with those rabbits are anything to go by," Harry commented.


"I guess that gets you out of slaughterhouse duties then," Peter said. "I’d better volunteer."


"Me too," said Harry, "seeing as it’s me who’s wanting steak. Any idea how we ought to go about it?"


"We should go and have a look at Mike’s library after tea," said Peter.


"What were you thinking of putting on the menu?" Peter asked. "We haven’t got anything here but the chickens and the goats."


"You can eat goats, you know," said Daniel.


"Who are you trying to kid?" Peter said.


"Yes you can." he began. "They’re..." but then he stopped as he realised that he was being teased. He was quiet for a moment then jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over as he did so.


He stared at Peter for a moment, his face turning red with anger, then stormed from the room.
Denise jumped to her feet and hurried after him but turned when she got to the door.


"You’ve got to learn to control that stupid big mouth of yours," she growled at Peter. "You’re going to ruin everything." With that, she hurried out of the door after Daniel.


The room went very quiet for a moment and Alice started to cry.


"Peter," said Alex, "You really do have to lay off teasing Daniel for a while. He’s not in the mood."


Peter thought about this.


"OK. I guess you’re right. Do you think I should go and say sorry?"


"No, I wouldn’t. Just try and treat him gently for a while."


"OK..." Peter’s face cracked in a smile. "From now on, I’ll handle him with kid gloves!"


Alex knew he shouldn’t but had to laugh at that.

---

Two days before midsummer’s day, Alex and Daniel drove up to the stones, taking the little digger bouncing along on the trailer behind them.


When they arrived, they found that the main gates were locked but they easily opened them using the pair of bolt cutters from the tool kit in the back of the Land Rover. As they had expected, a number of people had gone up to the stones when the plague had struck, and the two had to spend a grim couple of hours burying the bodies in a simple grave at the edge of the site.


When they had finished they stood back. Looking at the huge, prehistoric stones looming, unchanging, over the rolling landscape, it was easy to forget how much had changed in the last couple of months.


Before they went home they broke into the visitor centre and raided the first aid room which was surprisingly well stocked. Out of habit, Daniel also collected all the salt and sugar from the cafe and all the honey and jam from the gift shop. He also collected some of the expensive-looking biscuits, hoping that they would keep longer because they were in airtight tins.


On midsummer’s day, they set off soon after breakfast. It was a beautifully sunny day and there was some delay when Denise realised that they had no sun cream. Daniel offered to go into town to collect some whilst the rest travelled straight up to the stones in the minibus.

For the Tiddlers, the trip was a real adventure. It was the first time that most of them had been away from Pratch House since they had arrived. It was all Mary could do to make sure the twins stayed in their seats and, in spite of the seat belt, James was bouncing up and down saying ‘look how fast we are actually going!’


Daniel was already there and, as the Tiddlers ran about amongst the stones, the Minors prepared to dance. It felt very peculiar. Everything was so familiar: the bells and sashes; their sticks and dazzling white hankies; Mary tuning her violin. Yet so much had changed since last time; it felt as if it belonged in a different world.


But as soon as they started, they could just immerse themselves in the familiar patterns of the dances as they twirled and leapt, sticks clashing in the sunshine. There was always a breath of breeze up by the stones which took the edge off the summer heat and flicked their hair and hankies as they danced. Peter was having a great time, fooling around with the Tiddlers in his customary fashion - occasionally turning in obviously the wrong direction or pretending to be too tired to carry on before leaping back into the correct position in the set and carrying on. Abby’s accordion seemed to have given Brian a new burst of energy and his music drove them on, allowing Mary to play experimental descants over the top.


At last they were finished and threw themselves, panting and laughing, onto the long grass that surrounded the stones. Alex was lying back, half dozing and staring up into the blue sky with its scudding white clouds, when he was jumped on by two small figures. "Give up," he grumbled, though he didn’t really mind. "I’m all hot and sticky." Hanna and Gregory ignored his pleas and continued to sit on him until they were driven off with tickles and lay giggling next to him.


"That was brilliant!" laughed Katherine. "I’d forgotten how good it felt to forget everything and just dance!"


"We’ve got to do this more often," Brian agreed. He was lying next to her on the grass, staring up at the white fluffy clouds whilst playing experimental chord progressions on his accordion.


"We've got one final dance," Alex said, sitting up and steeling himself, "if you two are up to it." he looked across to Harry and Peter. They, too, took a second to compose themselves then nodded.


They had never performed this dance before; they had only ever seen it danced once, when Mike’s wife had died. This was their dance of remembrance; this was ‘In Memoriam’.


With a formal deliberation, Denise took Abby’s tatter jacket, folded it neatly and placed it in the middle of the path where they had been dancing. On top of this, they each placed a pair of bell pads, either from their parents or from one of the other dancers. Finally Alex took Abby’s top hat and placed it on top of the pile. Peter, Alex and Harry took their places in a circle around the token and Brian began to play a low, lonesome dirge on the accordion.


At a nod from Alex, the three dancers turned sharply to the left, throwing their right arms straight out to clasp wrists in the centre of the circle.


Another nod from Alex and the three began to wheel: three steps forward, two back, in a complicated cross-stepping sequence around the circle.


The dance was very simple but demanded precise stepping as they surged briefly round the ring then dropped back. Their left arms were mostly held loosely at their sides though, for some of the back-steps, they were held straight out, accentuating the star pattern.


Alex signalled the next change with a slight dip of the centre arms and, with the music they spun out and round to grasp left wrists over the token.


Tears flowed openly as they continued to dance.


And, as the music reached a crescendo, Alex met Brian’s eye and the music stopped. The three dancers turned to the centre of the circle and froze, heads bowed.


They held the pose for a long time until at last Alex raised his head with a sigh, wiped his eyes and embraced the other two before looking up and drawing first Brian, then the others, into the circle. No words were required. They knew that they had done the dance justice.


Almost in silence, they collected the Tiddlers and returned to the cars.

---


After the stones dance, the side had always gathered at a pub a few miles away, down by the river and, by unspoken agreement, they did the same. At first, the atmosphere was quite sombre as they gathered at picnic tables in the pub gardens but the river and the sunshine soon took their mind off things.


After a few minutes, Peter and Daniel hauled themselves to their feet and tottered over to collect lunch. At first, Alex only noticed that Daniel was bringing crisps and fizzy drinks. He must have collected them from the supermarket that morning. But then he saw that he was also carrying several bottles of beer.


"Who fancies a beer," Daniel asked, his tone artificially casual. They would occasionally be allowed a drink after their summer dances. Several of the Minors accepted though Denise refused. Her face remained firmly neutral but you didn’t have to know her very well to know that she did not approve.


The unspoken disagreement about the beer added a slightly tense atmosphere to the picnic and when Daniel moved to open a second bottle, Denise could not keep quiet.


"Daniel," she said, her face now taught with disapproval. "You certainly shouldn’t drink any more if you’re planning on driving home."


Daniel glanced at her resentfully for a moment then shrugged. "I guess," he replied reaching for one of the bottles of fizzy drink instead.


When everyone had finished eating, Peter and Harry played in the river with the Tiddlers whilst the others tidied up. After about half an hour of splashing they were starting to get cold, so they piled back into the minibus and made their way back to the house.


As soon as he got back, Daniel disappeared up to his room and when he came back down at dinner time, it was clear to everyone that he was drunk. Denise cast a significant look towards Alex and he responded with an almost imperceptible nod.


As they finished eating, Alex looked towards Peter. "Do you think you could do bed time for me?" he asked him casually.


"Err, yeah," Peter replied. It was such a rare request that he was surprised. He began to chivvy the Tiddlers towards bed.


"Could you hang on a minute," he said to Daniel as he was trying to slope off. "I think we need to have a word."


"What’s up?" Daniel asked sharply.


"Let’s get rid of this gang, first," he said as Peter led the Tiddlers out of the dining room. The rest of the Minors, seeing what was coming, hurriedly cleared the table and went to tidy up the kitchen, leaving only Denise, Alex and Daniel sitting at the table.


"OK," he said when the room was clear. "We need to talk about you nipping off to your room to get drunk."


"Who says that’s what I’m doing?"


"Dan," Denise said, calmly. "It’s probably good for the sake of the little ones that you’re not drinking openly but we’re not blind. We can all see what’s going on."


"OK, maybe I have a drink once in a while," Daniel conceded, “but what’s it got to do with you? You’re not my mother."


"As long as you’re living here, it’s a problem for all of us," Alex said, slightly more sharply than he had intended.


"I need to relax from time to time," Daniel explained, "to turn off from the stress."


"Don’t you think that we’re all under stress here?" Alex snapped.


Denise looked at Alex for a moment. "Would you let me deal with this please?" she asked. Her tone remained mild but there was steel underlying it. "I don’t think you’re helping."


She turned back to Daniel.


"Nobody’s saying that you mustn’t have a drink from time to time," she told him. "But you have to understand the risks involved, particularly if you start drinking so young." She put her hand gently onto his arm. "Wouldn’t it be better if we worked out what this is really all about? Try to solve the real problem?"


"Who says there’s a problem?"


"Dan," Denise said gently. She smiled gently and waited for him to speak.


"OK," he said with a sigh. "It’s no big secret that I don’t really fit in here. It’s not exactly what I want from life."


"What do you want?"


He was silent for a moment then he exploded. "What do I want?" he said. "I want to get up in the morning and not have to light a fire before I can have a cup of tea. I want to go to school and mess around as much as I can get away with." His voice was becoming louder and more impassioned. "And then I want to hang out with my mates and watch television and play on the computer and I want my tea to be there without having to go out and find it and I certainly do not want to have to think about what happens after I flush the toilet..."


He paused for a moment. "And I certainly don’t want to end up playing nursemaid to a gang of little kids."


There was a stunned silence around the table.


"I’m sorry," he mumbled, dropping his head and staring down at the table. "I’m making it sound like it’s your fault."


"No you’re not," said Denise thoughtfully. "You’re not at all."


"You’re just putting into words what the rest of us think," added Alex. "Life was pretty good before this happened."


"Nobody’s stopping you from leaving," Denise said. "You can go tomorrow with our blessings and our thanks for what you’ve done so far."


"That’s not really true, is it?" Daniel said. "You need me. I can’t just abandon you with all these kids."


Denise put her hand on his arm again and waited. "Thank you," she said when he lifted his gaze from the table and looked her in the face. "We appreciate what you’re doing – particularly as it doesn’t come as naturally to you as it does to some of the rest of us."


She held his gaze for a long time until Alex started to feel uncomfortable. But the mood was shattered as Peter came blundering into the dining room. He froze for a moment, surveying the scene, then he fled, his face white.


---


When Alex came down to light the fire the next morning, he saw that the back door was open. Guessing that Emily-Jane was out stalking rabbits again, he stepped out onto the terrace.


He was right. There she was, down in the lower field and, Alex shook his head in disbelief, she was holding a knife. He went down the steps into the playground then watched through the trees as she drew nearer to an unsuspecting creature until, with a flash of metal and blood, she was holding a rabbit by its back legs.


He walked across the playground as she came up the track towards him. "Well done!" he said. He tried to smile at her. She smiled back.


"Where did you get the knife from?" he asked her, as casually as possible.


"Harry," she answered with a smile. "Skin a bunnies!"


"You use it for skinning the rabbits?"


She nodded vigorously.


"Oh!" he said. "I see." He would have to go and have a chat with Harry.


"Hang on," he said as Emily-Jane headed up towards the house with the rabbits. "You can’t just carry the rabbit into the house like that. You’ll get blood on the floor. I’ll go and get you a bucket." He went past Peter’s vegetable beds to the groundsman’s hut and collected one.


"And when you’re done, would you take a bucket of water down to wash away the blood," he added as they went up the track towards the playground. "It’s not very nice for other people to find."


From the playground she jumped up onto the low wall and made her way up the rhododendron-covered slope up to the house.


"You’ve been told to use the steps," he shouted after her. She conspicuously ignored him.


Instead of going straight up to the house, he went across to the workshop in the stable block. Harry was, as expected, already there. As was customary practice in the workshop, he waited at the door until Harry had seen him and invited him in with a nod. As he was waiting, he noticed that there was a neat row of rabbit skins drying on a rack along one wall.


"What's up with the skins?" Alex asked.


"I've been working with Emily-Jane on tanning them," Harry answered. "We're going to make some moccasins for her. She might prefer them to normal shoes."


"Makes sense..." Alex said. "What I really wanted to ask is: do you know that she's got a knife?"


"Yes, I gave it to her.”


Alex was going to ask if it was a proper, sharp knife but there was no point. He knew Harry would never give anybody a blunt knife.


"She knows what she’s doing with it," Harry reassured him.


"I know she knows what she’s doing with it! She’s very proficiently butchering rabbits with it down in the lower field!"


"But isn’t that a good thing?" Harry asked, genuinely perplexed. "It’ll protect the vegetables and we can use the meat."


"I’m not saying it’s really wrong," Alex explained. "I'm just wondering how you're going to explain it to Den and Katherine."


"Ah... I see what you mean," Harry answered after a moment’s thought. "I don't suppose..."


"Go on, I'll deal with it!" Alex said with a smile. "But next time you need to talk to people before you start giving eight year olds lethal weapons!"


Alex raised the subject with the others later that evening. Though initially shocked, they agreed that they couldn’t really take the knife away from Emily-Jane now it had been given to her.


---


Alex spent the next couple of weeks setting up accident and emergency procedures. They had decided that the kitchen should be their surgery. It had tiled walls and floors and stainless steel surfaces and Katherine insisted on it being kept scrupulously clean and tidy.


Daniel seemed to be more cheerful after their talk and there were no signs of him starting to drink again. He was systematically searching through all the units in the industrial estate, out on the west of the city, looking for anything that might potentially be of value and making note of anything that might need particular care to prevent its spoiling.


Denise, however, seemed unusually tense and short tempered. Alex spent several uncomfortable hours working with her on surgery procedures - mostly cutting open dead rabbits then sewing them up again. They quickly established that, though Alex was the better surgeon, Denise’s stitches were much neater.


It was on the Sunday morning, as he was sinking into the, now familiar, routine of the service, that Alex decided that something needed to be done. As they were gathering on the grass outside the chapel after the service, he asked Denise for a word.


"What’s up?" he asked her, as gently as he could, when they’d given themselves some privacy.


"What are you talking about?" she responded sharply.


"Den!" he said with a gentle smile. "You’ve been wandering round like a bear with a sore head for days now. In case you hadn’t noticed, even the Tiddlers are starting to avoid you."


She stared at him angrily for a moment then she seemed to slump. "You’re right," she said. "There’s something I need to do but..."


"Do you want to talk about it?"


"No, it’s OK," she answered with a sigh. "I’ll sort it out this afternoon."


Alex was not surprised when Daniel and Denise did not join them for their walk that afternoon. "They went off on their own," he explained to the others. "I think they wanted a talk."


There was no sign of Daniel or Denise when they got back from their walk but when the dinner gong rang, Denise appeared. She was clearly very upset.


"What’s up?" he asked her quietly.


"Not now!" she answered, very firmly.


In the middle of the meal, Daniel staggered into the room. He was obviously very drunk.


"Have you been having a party?" asked Peter. Though he was smiling, there was a touch of contempt in his voice along with that smile. "You should have invited the rest of us!"


Daniel stared at him for a moment, as if shocked by the comment, then his face contorted in rage and he threw himself at Peter, fists flailing.


At first the others froze as the two tumbled to one side, scattering chairs and Tiddlers as they fell. Daniel sat astride Peter, screaming incoherently as he rained blows down on his head.


For a moment the rest of the room was silent, stunned by the scene but then it exploded into noise as Tiddlers ran screaming from the fight.


At first Alex stood on the other side of the table, as if frozen to the spot, but then hurried through the mess of scattered furniture, food and crockery towards the fight. As Daniel jumped to his feet, grabbed a chair and swung it towards Peter, Alex grabbed him by one arm and Harry came in to grab him by the other. As the chair fell to the floor, it bounced off Alex’s hip but he hardly noticed it.


Daniel stood for a moment, still shaking with rage. "That was one time too many," he screamed at Peter, who was trying to crawl away. "One time too many!"


"Dan, please!" Denise said, her face white.


"You..." he roared turning viciously towards her, dragging Alex and Harry round. They had to struggle to stop him throwing himself across the table at her. "You’re even worse than him," he shouted. "You play with my feelings then just dump me when you get bored. I hate you!”


"Come on Dan!" Alex began.


"I’ve had enough of your little Sunday school picnic here," Daniel shouted. "And I certainly don’t need you bossing me around. Now let go of me!"


Daniel shrugged off the two of them and stormed out of the door. Alex stood for a moment, uncertain as to what he should do next, then hurried after Daniel. He was just in time to see the front door slamming shut.


When he got to the front door he saw Daniel running away up the drive. Alex tried to follow him but as he started to run, pain shot through his hip. He almost fell as he hurried down the steps and, by the time he had recovered, Daniel was already out of the gate.


Leaning heavily on the stone pillars, he limped back up the steps and returned to the dining room.


He walked through the door and surveyed the scene.


Peter was still lying on the floor near to where he had fallen, with Mary kneeling on the floor next to him. Denise had collapsed in misery on the floor, appalled beyond tears. At the far end of the room Brian, Katherine and even Harry were doing what they could to calm and comfort the hysterical Tiddlers.


"Denise!" Alex commanded, making his way over to Peter. "There’s no time for that now. I need you here.” She looked at him, shaken by this interruption, but pulled herself automatically to her feet.


"I’ll deal with him," he said to Mary, flinching with pain as he knelt down in front of Peter. "You go and sort out the Tiddlers."


Peter was groggy but conscious. "Peter, look at me," Alex said, moving from side to side to confirm that Peter could follow him with his eyes. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Daniel took exception to my sense of humour," Peter answered.


"You deserved it," said Denise, coming over to join them. "But so did I. The two of us have treated Dan abysmally over the last couple of weeks"


"Not now!" Alex said to her firmly. "He’s on the border of concussion. You’re not to get him excited."


"Peter, stay still," Alex said, flinching as he got to his feet. "Den, stay with him. I’m going to see if I can help with the Tiddlers."


---

Even when they’d got the Tiddlers off to bed and Peter sorted out, Alex still couldn’t sleep. He kept playing the scene over and over in his mind: what had gone wrong; how could he have handled the situation better; where was Daniel; and how could they possibly move forward from here?


It was just getting light when he heard noises from one of the Land Rovers, down below. He hurriedly threw on some clothes over his pyjamas and went down to see what was going on.


He found Daniel preparing to leave.


"Don’t you think that’s the coward’s way out?" he asked.


Daniel was quiet for a bit. "What else can I do?" he answered at last. "I can’t face the rest of you after what I did last night,"


"You don’t really have the option of running away, do you?" Alex asked. "Not unless you want to go and live as a hermit. There just aren’t enough people about."


Daniel gave a brief smile.


"Anyway, we’re going to need you next time we dance. You wouldn’t want to let us down on that, would you?"


Daniel thought for a moment. "It’s not just what I did to Pete. I said some pretty horrible things last night, too."


"You did," agreed Alex. "Most of them could have been more kindly expressed and some of them were not even true - but I don’t think that should stop you from saying them. Just make sure you’re sober next time you feel the need to let off steam."


Daniel stood for a long time, thinking. "I better go and see Peter," he said at last, wiping his eye. "If you're not going to let me run away, I need to apologise."


Together they went on up to Peter’s room. Daniel knocked tentatively on his door and they both went in when he answered.


"I’ve come to say sorry," Daniel said, when he had overcome his shock at Peter’s bruised and battered face.


"I’ve got to apologise too," said Peter. "I had a long talk with Denise last night and when I say ‘talk with’ I mean ‘was talked at by’. She left me in no doubt that I was mostly to blame for the situation."


Daniel was completely taken aback by this. "But it was me who attacked you!" he said.


"And it was me who kept winding you up, even after Alex, here, and Denise had told me to stop it. I’m not saying that what you did was OK but certainly I had it coming."


The two stood looking at each other in awkward silence for a few moments.


"Why don’t you go and get some rest, Danny," Alex suggested. "You look fit to drop." I think we should have a meeting after breakfast so we all know what’s going on."


Daniel nodded and left the room.


"Thanks for that, Peter" Alex said when he’d gone. "That makes it much easier for us all to stay together."


"I didn’t have a lot of choice," Peter smiled. "You may have noticed that Denise can be quite insistent when she thinks she’s right."


---


Daniel had been reluctant to come down to breakfast but Alex persuaded him to make a point of coming down with Peter. However it remained the only subject of conversation. Across the table Denise was talking to Rachel and Rebecca.


"Though we try to be, we’re not really grown-ups yet," she explained. "Sometimes the boys behave like boys, particularly if one of us girls is being silly."


"I don’t understand," one of the twins responded, her face mirroring her confusion.


Denise thought about this and sighed. "OK," she said. "It was a boyfriend, girlfriend thing. I wasn’t careful enough about hurting people’s feelings. The whole thing last night was as much my fault as anybody else’s."


"How can it be your fault?" the other twin asked. "Daniel was thumping Peter."


"We all know that sometimes you say things to make Richard thump Gregory, don’t we, Rebecca?" Mary said. Alex never ceased to be amazed at her ability to tell one twin from the other. She was the only one who could. Even Brian had, on occasion, resorted to drawing an X on the back of one of their hands to tell them apart.


The two twins looked at each other and gave a confirmatory giggle.


When everyone had finished eating, Mary stood up. "OK, you lot!" she called and then waited for the hubbub to die down. "The Minors are going to have a talk straight away now. Emily-Jane, please would you make sure everybody gets ready for class. After that, you’ve got free time until I ring the bell. Is that clear?"


There were nods from around the table.


"OK then, off you buzz." There was a burst of noise as the Tiddlers got up and made for the door.


James and Louise started to clear the table, it was their turn, but Katherine sent them on their way.


"Right," Alex asked Daniel, when at last the room was quiet. "Where were you planning to go?"


"Just away," Daniel answered. "I hadn’t really thought of where."


"Why don’t you go up to Aberystwyth?" Brian suggested. "You could go and see that other group."


"I like that idea," Daniel answered. "It’d make something useful come out of this whole thing."
"Could you radio them tonight?" Alex asked Brian.


Brian nodded then started to rub his chin, a sure sign that he was thinking. "Up there in the wilds of West Wales,” he began slowly, “I can't imagine that they have all that many shops. We should probably ask them if there’s anything they particularly need."


"Dan," Katherine said, "you were teasing me, the other week, about not giving the Tiddlers enough biscuits."


"We’re never going to eat our way through all the cakes and biscuits we have before they go off," Daniel answered.


"Then why not take a couple of boxes up with you?" suggested Alex. "Is there anything else we’re not going to be able to eat?


"Pasta and stuff," Daniel answered. "We could double the size of the group here but still never get through it all."


"Do you want to get a list ready for Brian," Alex said. "He can talk it through with them tonight."
Dan nodded.


"The other question," Brian said thoughtfully, "is whether Dan ought to put up posters telling people where we are and inviting them to come and join us."


"Can’t do any harm," said Peter.


"That might not be true," Brian said promptly. "I could easily imagine there are people out there who… well… It would be safer if they didn’t know where we live. We just don’t know what it’s like out there."


This thought was met by a shocked silence.


"Dan," said Mary at last, "I’m going to give you my emergency rucksack to take with you. And I want you to promise me something - whenever you step out of the car - even if it’s just for a few seconds - you take it with you."


Daniel thought about this carefully then nodded.


"Keep it on the passenger seat," Harry suggested. "You can grab it if you have to get out in a hurry."


"Aren’t we being a bit paranoid here?" asked Denise.


"Maybe," Alex answered. "But it’s better to be too careful than not careful enough."


"Maybe you’re right," said Denise after some thought. "But I still think we ought to start putting up posters. The chance of finding new people is worth the risk."


The room went quiet for a few moments then Alex asked whether there were any more questions.


"I have a question," said Daniel, hesitantly. "Why are you all being so good to me?"


"Because most of us feel that we’re at least partially responsible," Alex answered promptly.


"And the rest of us know that it could have happened to us," Brian added. "We’re all terrified by the responsibility that we’ve been forced to take on here."


---


Daniel had been away from Pratch House for just over three weeks when they received a radio message that he would be heading back the next day.


They weren’t particularly worried when he failed to show up that evening. It was a long way over unreliable roads and he could easily have been delayed.


When he didn’t appear the next evening, however, they started to worry. The Aberystwyth group confirmed that he had set off on schedule but couldn’t tell them anything else.


By the evening of the third day, they were all getting really worried. Alex played with the idea of going to look for him but this would be almost impossible because they didn’t even know what route he was planning to take - let alone what changes he’d been forced to make due to the road conditions.


It was early afternoon on the fifth day when the familiar roar of the Land Rover’s diesel engine could be heard coming up the valley. Alex, who had been checking up on the solar panels on the roof, ran down stairs and rang the meal gong to attract everyone’s attention. He was going to open the gate but was beaten to it by Brian so instead he waited under the portico and stopped the Tiddlers going down onto the drive until the car had come to a stop.


Everyone was astonished to see that Daniel was not alone.


"Hello and welcome!" Alex said as a girl got out of the car. She was slightly older than Daniel and looked dazed as a gaggle of Tiddlers swarmed around her.


"And where’ve you been?" he said to Daniel with a friendly grin. "We expected you back three days ago. You had us worried."


"Sorry," he answered. "I was delayed."


Amid a torrent of questions they learn that the newcomer was called Sandra and that she didn’t come from Aberystwyth.


Alex let the questions go on for a short while but when he noticed that Sandra was starting to look uncomfortable, he stepped in. "I’m sorry. We’re being rude here," he said. "Sandra, would you like a cup of tea?"


"I’d love a cup of tea," she answered with a smile, "but... Danny says you have hot water here and..."


"And you’d like a bath?" asked Denise.


"A bath!" she said enthusiastically. "The most I was hoping for was a shower.


"I’ll take you up," Mary offered. "You’re about the same size as me. You can borrow some clean things until we get you sorted out.”


When Sandra reappeared an hour later, the Tiddlers had been fed biscuits and sent outside to entertain themselves under Emily-Jane’s supervision. Daniel and Sandra settled back in the comfy chairs with tea and cake and told the tail of the trip.


---


The first part of the journey was uneventful. The main roads had been blocked by fleeing cars but, by sticking to back roads, Daniel was able to make good progress. As agreed, he put up posters in a number of small towns, telling people about the group and saying that he would be coming back through the town in a couple of weeks’ time.


The Severn Bridge was completely blocked but he found a maintenance track along the side of the main carriageway. It was blocked by security gates but he managed to open them using the bolt cutters from the Land Rover’s extensive toolkit.


From there, the trip was uneventful until he had approached a small market town in the hills of South Wales. As he drew near, he found that the road was blocked by a deliberately constructed barrier made of cars and scrap metal. When Daniel got out of the car to have a look he was startled by a gun shot. He jumped quickly back into the car and drove off to find another way."


"But why would people shoot at you?" Denise asked, genuinely perplexed.


"I don’t know," Daniel answered. "I didn’t stop to ask them. It wasn’t a discussion sort of thing. They might not have been trying to hit me but I had no intention of hanging around to find out."
The residents’ nervousness became more understandable when he reached the next small town, a little further up the valley. There was a pile of about a dozen bodies outside a supermarket."


"Could they have been from before?" Alex asked.


"No they couldn’t. I’m something of an expert on dead bodies now; we all are. They were pretty fresh."


"What was that all about?”


"I don’t know. Some sort of warning or the remains of a battle." He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I didn’t wait to find out there either."


He completed the trip out to Aberystwyth without any further problems, meeting up with the other group later that evening and receiving a very warm welcome.


They were staying at some sort of science museum out in the hills above Aberystwyth in a place whose name Dan could still not pronounce. He had given up trying after a while when his attempts produced nothing but laughter. They had plenty of electricity from wind, water and solar panels, but there wasn’t much food in the local shops so they were heavily dependent on sheep. Fortunately there were plenty of sheep in the surrounding hills.


They had, nonetheless, been tremendously friendly. There were eight of them, including three little kids and had a simple school for them, though nothing like as sophisticated as the one at Pratch House.


He went on a couple of scavenging trips with members of the group and, after seeing their slightly random approach, introduced them to the more systematic approach that he had developed with Alex.


After about three weeks it was time to return. He packed up the Land Rover and made his way back.


He had chosen to go back by a different route, up over the hills. This route was much slower but it avoided the valley where he had all the trouble.


He made it back across the Severn Bridge with no problems and, as planned, paused in the villages where he had put up the posters. But in the third village he had an unpleasant surprise.


He stopped in the middle of town and sounded his horn and, after about ten minutes, he saw a group of three people walking towards him. He had just got out of the Land Rover to wave at them when, without any warning, they started to shoot at him.


He ducked down behind the vehicle and ran, keeping the car between him and the attackers. He only stopped for breath after he had jumped over a garden fence and hidden behind a house.


The next two hours were spent in a deadly and one sided game of hide and seek as they hunted him through the back streets of what had once been a pleasant little country town. In the end he had managed to lock himself in a store room in a little school and kept still until they gave up their hunt.


"But why would they just attack you?" Denise asked.


"The boys were scared and just assumed it was some sort of trap," Sandra told them. "I wanted to go and talk to you but they wouldn’t let me."


"You were part of the group?" Brian asked.


Sandra nodded.


"What is the world coming to when nobody trusts anybody anymore?" Denise said with a sad sigh as Daniel resumed the tale.

After a couple of hours, he heard the unmistakable sound of the Land Rover engine being started. The driver was obviously not familiar with diesel engines or gear boxes and stalled several times before he eventually managed to get it moving. As they drove away, Daniel opened the store room door a couple of inches and listened to the sound of the retreating engine to work out, as best he could, which way they had gone.


He was worried that it might be a trap so he stayed hidden for several hours. By now it was starting to get dark and he decided to spend the night in the store-room, unrolling the sleeping pad and cooking himself a simple meal on the stove. The store room had no windows and there were plenty of less pleasant smells in the air so he was not worried that he would give himself away.


"Thanks for the rucksack, by the way," Daniel said as an aside to Mary. "It made that night much more comfortable."


"Why were you so worried about him getting away?" Brian asked Sandra. "You must have known that he wasn’t much of a threat."


"We knew he was part of a larger group and were afraid that you’d come back looking for us," she explained.


Brian nodded, thoughtfully at this. "Makes sense, I suppose," he said at last.


As he lay in the lonely little store room he had plenty of time to think about what he should do next. He could easily find another car but it would take a lot of work to replace the special features and emergency equipment that Mike had added. Besides, Mary had lent it to him and he was not going to let it go without at least making some sort of effort to get it back.


First thing the next morning, he set out to see if he could find it. He had a rough idea which direction they had gone and he knew it couldn’t be very far so he proceeded very cautiously, moving through back gardens and avoiding any sort of road.


He had heard the group before he had seen them. They were not particularly loud but their voices echoed through the silent village. After some cautious searching, he set up a base in the tower of a little church, from which he could look out over the group.


The three he had already seen, two boys and a girl, were the only members. They were living in a small house, just outside the village, backing onto a little stream and there was smoke coming out of the chimney. The Land Rover was parked haphazardly in front of the house.


There were definitely signs of tension coming from the group. He heard raised voices on several occasions and, on one occasion he thought he heard the girl shouting about a "stupid shoot first and ask questions later attitude."


That night he had made his way cautiously down from the church tower and went to look at the car. It was fine but, unfortunately, the key was not in the lock.


"I really kicked myself about that," Daniel admitted. "If only I’d taken the spare key with me I’d have been home the next morning."


He had plenty of food in the rucksack but he had used up all his water that day. He thought about collecting more that night but decided that he would be safer if he avoided flashing torches and crashing around an unfamiliar town in the dark.


He had planned to go at first light the next morning, before the other group had woken, but, because he had been messing about in the night he woke later than he had intended and it was quite light when he set off.


He was in a small supermarket in the middle of the town when he heard voices from the street outside. He hurriedly looked around for a back door but it was securely locked. He was thinking about forcing it when the girl came through the door. She saw him at once and he froze in panic. She, however, just glanced behind her then put her finger to her lips.


She thought for a long moment then pointed behind her and mimed sleeping. Daniel put up a thumb then ducked down behind the shelves as the girl collected some tins and packets before she left. Daniel waited for a few more tense moments before grabbing a couple of bottles of water and cautiously heading back to his base.


He’d spent the rest of the day watching the house but it was dark before he saw the sign he had been waiting for: the flash of a torch, which shone like a flare in the blackness of the night. His rucksack was already packed so he slipped it on, and cautiously made his way towards the house.


The girl was standing by the Land Rover. She was holding the keys and gave them to Daniel without a word.


"Will you take me with you?" she whispered as he turned to go. He thought for a moment before replying with a simple nod.


Together they pushed the car down the road, past the church and round the next corner. Daniel was terrified that they would be caught and did not dare to start the engine too near to the house. With his heart beating rapidly, he turned the key in the lock, started the car and drove out of the town as quickly as he dared.


"The rest you know," he concluded with a smile. "We drove for a dozen miles, hid until it got light then we headed on back here."


"And mighty glad we are to see you too," Peter said with his broadest grin.


They sat in silence for a long time after Daniel had finished his account.


"OK," Alex said at last. "What do we do from here?"


"I know what we do from here," said Katherine. They looked round slightly surprised. She rarely said much at meetings.


"What?"


"We have a break!" she smiled. "We’re going to have piles of hungry little people on our hands very soon. Alex and Brian, can you come and give me a hand, please."


"I think it’s my turn today," said Denise getting to her feet.


"It might be," laughed Katherine, "but unless I get these two out of here the meeting will just carry on without me!"


You know us too well!" Brian laughed as he got to his feet.


---

When they had finished eating and packed the Tiddlers off to bed with Emily-Jane, they went out onto the terrace at the back of the house. They sat in silence for a while, looking out over the stream at the main valley and the hills beyond it, as the evening sun sank towards the horizon.


Emily-Jane was normally a very effective babysitter but somehow Louise managed to escape her clutches and crept out onto the terrace in her pyjamas. She climbed wordlessly onto Brian’s knee. Katherine smiled sympathetically as she covered the little girl with a fleece. She knew how important these cuddles were to both of them.


"So," said Alex with a sigh, "we need to start thinking seriously about defending ourselves."


"I still don’t understand why anyone would want to attack us," Denise said incredulously. "We haven’t got anything you can’t find lying around in any town. Why would anyone risk fighting for it?"


"I don’t know why!" Daniel answered, his voice rising in frustration. "But I came across three signs of survivors out there. Two of the groups shot at me and the others were all dead."


"We now know for a fact that there are bad people about with guns," said Harry.


"You can’t say they were bad," insisted Denise. "You just can’t know that."


"Den, it really doesn’t matter how bad they really are," Brian explained patiently. "Even if they’ve just scared and confused, if they’re holding guns and we’re not, we’re still in big trouble."


"I know what you mean," said Denise, "but I still don’t like it." She looked across at Peter for support.


"I’m sorry Den," he said, sadly. "I don’t think we have any choice now. Certainly we need to do whatever we can to avoid violence but..." he sank into thought.


"Can I say something here?" Sandra asked hesitantly.


"Of course!" the group responded, almost in chorus.


"You just don’t understand what it’s like, out there," she said. "There’s nothing like you’ve got here. There are just these small groups of, well, confused and frightened kids. Yes, there’s plenty of food round now but everybody knows that it’s not going to last forever. And, when it does start to run out, the person with the biggest stick is the one who’s going to eat."


"At the end of the day, it comes down to a very simple question," said Alex, glancing down at Louise who was now asleep on Brian’s lap. "If we’re attacked, are you prepared to kill people to protect ourselves and the Tiddlers?"


"If someone did come couldn’t we run away?" asked Denise, imploringly.


"Running away from everything we’ve built up here?" asked Katherine. "That’s just a slow sort of death. I hate it, too, but I don’t think we have any choice."


"We all understand you don’t like it," said Alex, carefully, "but I think the rest of us agree."
He looked around all the members of the group in turn and got an acknowledgement from each.


"Can you live with that, Den?"


Denise tried to avoid his eye, sitting hunched up on her chair with her head down and her arms around her knees. Alex, however, held his gaze until she looked up and acknowledged him with the briefest of nods.


As the meeting started to break up Alex went straight over and sat next to Denise. "I’m sorry it’s come to this," he said.


"I know," Denise answered with a deep sigh. "The worst thing is, deep down, I know you're right."


"Now you obviously don’t have to have anything to do with this stuff if you don't want to," he went on, "but we'll be talking about this again tomorrow and I'd like you to be there. I want you to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to avoid violence."


She didn’t answer. She looked close to tears.


"Will you think about it, please?"


She nodded then hurried into the house.


---


As they gathered again the next afternoon, Denise was holding a piece of paper.


"You look prepared," Alex said. "Do you want to go ahead?"


"OK, I've got a couple of questions about the guns," she said. "First, where are we going to keep the things? I have a horrible vision of James getting his hands on one."

The group gave a collective shudder at that image.


"How about that big cupboard at the top of the stairs?" Alex suggested. "We're not using it for anything else and it looks pretty solid." He looked around the table to check that everyone was happy with the idea.


"Will they fit?" Katherine asked. "I mean, won't the shelves get in the way."


"Hopefully we'll be able to move them," Alex answered." Harry, do you want to have a look at that and check up on the lock and so on?"


"Sure," Harry answered.


"Second, how are you going to go about learning how to use the things? None of us has ever even touched a gun and we don't want anyone getting shot by accident."


"I can shoot," Mary said. "Uncle Mike taught me. I couldn't tell you before because it wasn't exactly legal."


Denise thought about this. "Good," she said at last. "I guess that puts you in charge of the training program."


Mary gave a nod.


"Is there anything else?" he asked Denise.


"The other question is: what are our rules for using the guns?" she said.


"Rules of engagement," Brian said. "I can see it would be a really good idea to work those out beforehand."


"A clear and immediate threat of death or serious injury'," Mary quoted. "Mike had half a dozen of those little phrases that he made me learn before he let me touch a gun."


"I'm not saying they're wrong," Peter said carefully, "but I don't think we should just take Mike's rules here. We're in a different world here and need to think about whether they work for us."


Alex nodded. "Would you write the rules down so we can all have a think about them?" he asked Mary.


"OK, that's the guns," Alex said. "Now defence," he turned to Brian. "I know you’ve been doing a fair bit of reading about this. Do you want to start?"


"OK," Brian answered. He cleared his throat. "We can think about attackers in two main groups, people trying to sneak in and people trying to smash their way in."


"Hang on," said Denise with unusual force. "Before you start planning on taking pot shots at people as they come up the drive, shouldn’t we at least think about the possibility that we might have friendly visitors?"


Brian thought about this for a moment. "Even more than that," he said, "if we can persuade people that we can look after ourselves they might become friendly all of a sudden!"


The room went quiet.


"I’m glad you decided to come to this meeting," Alex said to Denise with a smile.


"OK," he said. "A cautious but friendly visitor is approaching the house. What should happen?"


"He sees a notice," said Mary. "Welcome, please ring the bell and wait."


"I think it needs a bit of warning too," said Brian.


"How about adding: ‘We welcome friendly visitors but will protect ourselves, if we have to’?" Alex asked. "Then the bell bit."


"Sounds good," said Mary, making a note. "Would you like me to make a notice?"


"Can we get a computer printer going?" Denise asked.


"Why?" asked Mary, slightly defensively. "I can make a perfectly good notice."


"We want to persuade people that they’re better off talking to us than attacking us," Denise explained.


"And if we’re still running computers here, who knows what sophisticated defence systems we’ve got?" Brian said, continuing her thought with a smile. "Even better if we can laminate them."


Mary thought about this then nodded.


"OK," said Alex looking around the table. “Dan, can you set that up for us. You enjoy messing around with that sort of thing.

Daniel nodded.

“OK,” Alex said. “What’s next?"


"No matter what," Mary said, "the sooner we know people are coming, the better."


"So, do we need a permanent lookout?" Alex asked.


"It’ll take loads of our time," Harry responded.


After much discussion, they agreed to maintain a lookout on the roof from before dawn until after dark. The lookout would be allowed to do other things such as reading, as long as they checked the road every twenty minutes. The lookout would have a bell to ring to attract attention.


Brian suggested that they might be able to set up a system that would automatically detect cars and promised to try and set something up with Harry.


"So," said Harry at last, "we’ve done everything we can to discourage conflict but it hasn’t worked. The bad guys are still coming over the walls with guns. What do we do?"


"If we have to fight," Alex said emphatically, "there are no half measures. Shoot straight and shoot to kill."


Denise visibly flinched.


"I’m sorry, Den,” Mary said. “Uncle Mike came to see us when he knew what was coming and that was pretty much the only advice he gave. I think he was right. Our lives – and the lives of the Tiddlers – depend on it."


Alex looked down the table. The faces were serious but nobody disagreed.


"So, Mary on the roof with the rifle?" Brian asked.


"Until anyone else is a better shot," Alex agreed.


"And one of the pistols at the front of the house, one at the back?" Brian suggested. "Preferably on the first floor."


"Somebody could go out on the balcony with one," Harry suggested. "The other looking out of the library window.


"So two of us need to learn how to handle the pistols pretty promptly," Alex said.


And second: what are you planning on doing with the Tiddlers whilst you're..." she trailed off.

"Having our little war?" Peter suggested.


"I didn't say it!" Denise said defensively.


"You didn't have to," Peter said with a gentle smile. "You were thinking it so hard we could all read your mind."


"I still didn't say it," she insisted but at last she smiled too.


"Den and I ought to take the Tiddlers down into the cellar," Katherine suggested.

Denise nodded. "We’ll need to practice that," she said. "Like fire drill at school."

As the meeting broke up Alex went over and sat next to Denise. "Thank you for being so helpful in the meeting," he said. "It can't be easy."


"If we're going to do it," she replied with a grim smile, "we need to do it as safely as possible."


---


After some searching Mary had selected a shooting range. It was a field a short way up the road from the spring which was fairly flat but backed onto a steep grassy bank. Denise was back at the house with the Tiddlers but the rest of the Minors had gathered there the next morning for their first shooting lesson.


Mary had laid out the air rifles on a small table and Daniel walked over to have a look at them. He had picked one up and was aiming it down the shooting range when Mary’s voice rang out.


"Daniel Shelling! Put that down at once. If I see you or anyone else touching a weapon without my permission, you will be sent away. Is that clear?"


Daniel was about to give a cheeky answer but the look on her face told him that this was a good time to keep quiet. He hurriedly put the air rifle down with a muttered apology.


"OK," said Mary and the buzz of conversation quickly died down. "You’ve come here to learn how to shoot but the first couple of lessons are mostly going to be about handling firearms safely."


She looked round the group to check that everyone was listening.


"There are four rules for gun safety," she went on. "You might as well get on and learn them because you’ll not be touching the guns until you do. The rules are: assume any gun is loaded; never point a gun at anything you’re not prepared to see full of holes; keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot; and make sure you know what you’re shooting at and what’s beyond it."


She looked around the group again.


"So, Dan, how many of the rules did you break?" she asked, though she gave him a smile to show she was not really having a go at him.


Over the next few weeks Alex made time to practice almost every day with the air rifles. He rapidly learnt to control them and then moved on to real guns though their limited stocks of ammunition meant nobody could practice as much as they really needed. He tried the rifle a couple of times, but it soon became clear that Brian and Harry were much better shots, so he started using one of the pistols and soon became at least comfortable firing that.


---


Over the next few weeks they gradually developed their defensive system. They had several trial runs of the alarm drill and the Tiddlers quickly grasped the idea of moving into the cellar but at first they treated the exercise as a game and it took several practices before Alex was satisfied that they were moving quickly and quietly enough.


At Denise suggestion, they set up a number of non-lethal structures designed to discourage, or at least slow down, anyone trying to attack. Harry spent several days fastening barbed wire along the top of the wall. He also ran a strand of normal wire that was attached to stone-filled tin cans which, he hoped, would warn them if anybody was trying to break in. Peter dug a trench across the driveway just inside the gate to stop anyone trying to crash through in a car. A metal drawbridge could be dragged into place when it was needed.


Alex also spent a day knee deep in water, hauling boulders to form a low dam in the stream. This created a small pond behind the house which made it much more difficult to get over the back wall. When the Tiddlers had finished with school for the day, several of them came down to help and Alex put them to work, dropping smaller pebbles down onto the lake side of the dam to fill in holes. It was not clear that this actually did any good but they had a great time, splashing in the stream, and they had the feeling that they were helping.


Alex was particularly pleased to see that Gregory came to join them in the water. He was not normally one of the more adventurous boys but he could understand what they were trying to do and building the dam appealed to his sense of neatness.


---


That evening, Alex was lying flat out on one of the sofas, worn out by the heavy work. He was trying to read but was being distracted by Jess who was trying to lie on top of him.


Daniel and Sandra came into the room and walked over to him. Daniel looked unusually hesitant. "There are a couple of things I wanted to talk about," he said, “if that’s OK.”


"Of course," Alex said, hauling himself up.


Daniel sat down on the sofa and Sandra sat next to him on the arm of the chair with her arm round his shoulders.


"This defence stuff is all very well but I think you also need to give some thought to getting some serious reserves together up here... like several years’ worth."


"If the stuff is in the shops why do we have to haul it all up here?" Harry asked, looking up from the table where he had been playing cards with some of the others.


"Control," Daniel answered simply.


"Isn’t that a bit selfish?"


"You’re responsible for a dozen little kids here," Daniel said. "How are you going to feed them when the shops are empty?"


"We can grow stuff," Peter said.


"Don’t be dense!" Daniel exploded. "You’ve got twenty mouths to feed and, with the school and security and everything, there’s only going to be one or two of you growing stuff... and you don’t know anything about farming!"


Sandra gently put her hand on his arm and smiled at him.


"Sorry!" he said.


"That’s OK," Peter laughed. "It’s not exactly your fault that you have to shout at me to make me listen to sense... So how many tins of beans are we going to need for the next ten years?"


"And where are we going to put them all?" Harry asked. "I mean, there's a bit more room down in the old stable block but not much."


"How much room are we talking about here?" Mary asked.


"Brian," Alex said, "one tin of beans each per day for ten years... how much room?"
Brian grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and started doing some quick calculations.


"It's not just tins of beans," Katherine commented in her deceptively mild tone. "If it's all the same to you, I'd really rather not run out of toilet paper!"


"Shush!" Brian said, half amused, half irritated. "I'm trying to concentrate here."


There was silence, broken only by the scratching of his pencil.


"A small lorry load per year - just for your beans," Brian said at last, "plus another for all Kat's toilet paper."


"So where are we going to put it?"


"Maybe in a barn... or down in the village?" Brian suggested.


"Doesn’t really count as having it under our control, does it?" said Alex.


"How about," asked Harry, cautiously, "we find ourselves a biggish lorry, fill it up with stuff and then just park it up down on the lower field"


"Brilliant!" exclaimed Alex. "That solves the transport and storage at the same time."


"I like the idea," commented Katherine, "but we’d need to be quite careful how we pack the thing. I wouldn’t fancy having to sort through a whole lorry load of stuff to find that tin of beans!"


"Hang on," said Brian, "Why don't we get some of those big shipping containers you see on the back of lorries and line a few of those up along the fence there."


"I like your thinking!" Alex said. "A row of those metal boxes would make a pretty effective wall too. Even with the dam, that back wall is by far the easiest place to get in."


"Sounds like a plan," Alex said "Let's all have a think about it then I can start pulling a timetable together. Now, was there anything else?"


"Ah, yes," Daniel said. He glanced across at Sandra and she nodded. "Sandra and I were thinking about moving out."


The room was struck silent.


"Thank you for making sure that we have plenty of reserves in place first," Brian said.


Daniel glanced up and Sandra and smiled. “I warned you he was smart,” he said with a smile.


"Is it because of the way I treated you?" asked Peter. "I have been trying since you got back."


"No, of course not! It’s the whole thing about feeling trapped. I’m never really going to be happy here."


People were quiet for a moment, thinking about this.


"Where were you thinking of going?" Alex asked at last.


"We’d not really thought about that yet," Daniel answered.


"Why don’t you move into one of the houses down in the village?" Peter suggested.


"We should be able to hook you into the water and electricity," Brian added.


Daniel looked up at Sandra and she nodded supportively. "That sounds great," he answered. "Of course we’d have to clear any bodies out of the house but I guess we’d have to do that pretty much anywhere."


"This might be the time to clean up the entire village," Alex said. "Bury all the bodies and so on? It’s not a job that’s going to get any more pleasant!"


"But this is giving you extra work," Daniel protested.


"Tell you what," said Alex with a smile. "You help us with the food and we’ll help you with sorting out the village. You’re still by far the best scrounger we’ve got!"


"Sounds like a good deal to me," Daniel said with a smile, "particularly as we’d been planning on helping you with the food thing anyway!"


-X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X-
Over the next week they cleared the village. Daniel had found a large back-hoe digger on one of the local farms and Harry used it to dig a large grave on the field behind the church.
Then, once again, the sombre task of moving bodies began.


Though still unpleasant, it was much less traumatic than preparing the pyre had been. They did not know these people and, in the months since the plague, they had simply become less sensitive to the presence of death.


Also, time had reduced the bodies to little more than skin-covered skeletons so they were much easier to move. Within three days they were confident that the village was clear.


When they were done, Harry filled in the grave. Peter then held a short funeral service in the church which everyone, even Daniel, attended.


---


While the others were clearing the village, Daniel and Sandra started preparing to expand their reserves. Their biggest problem was finding the shipping containers but they eventually found a set of self-storage units on an industrial estate where there were a large number. They even had a lorry with a built-in crane to move them.


When they were ready, they moved containers to the big supermarkets in town, and called in the others, to start loading the cases.


They took all the tins they could find and all the salt, sugar and honey. Daniel found a supply of large air-tight plastic boxes and they started packing packets of rice and pasta into them. They did the same with flour, though they did not take as much. From Mike’s books they knew that they could not keep it for much more than a year.


Alex found Katherine piling in jar after jar of jam. "We’ll never be able to eat all that," he said.
"I think we might," Katherine answered. "These factory jams keep for years. Besides, I want the jars. I expect we‘re going to be making a lot of our own jams and pickles in the future."
Alex nodded, understanding now why Katherine had taken all the vinegar. "We should probably go and collect some big saucepans then," Alex said.


"They’re called jam kettles," Katherine informed him. "Don’t worry. When we’re done here, I’m going to ask Dan to park one of the containers outside the good kitchen shop in town."


"Nothing but the best!"


"Even when it was possible to buy new saucepans every year it was a false economy," Katherine said emphatically. "Get good quality stuff and it’ll last you forever."


Alex smiled but said nothing. Katherine had very strong opinions on the matter of kitchen equipment and he wasn’t going to start arguing with her about it.


In addition to the kitchen container, there were others for clothes, particularly heavy-duty work clothes, and more for bedding - which they also stocked with all the mattresses they could find in town.


"Why do we need so many mattresses?" Alex asked Daniel.


"A lot of people died in their beds," he replied. Alex nodded and tried not to think about it too much.


They started piling in bathroom supplies: soap and toilet paper; toothbrushes and toothpaste and they continued collecting all the medical supplies they could find.


Alex also insisted that they take any bottles of spirits they could find, though most had been stolen during the looting. Denise was not happy but he had insisted, saying they might be needed for medical purpose.


"I suppose it’ll just be guzzled by somebody if we leave it there," she conceded.


As the containers were filled, Daniel loaded them onto the truck and hauled them out of town and, with considerable grunting and effort, they lowered them into place in the bottom field, though not before Harry had supervised the construction of some rudimentary foundations. "These boxes are probably pretty waterproof," he explained, "but I could imagine they’d rust quite quickly if we just leave them on the ground."


Harry organised a container for his workshop in which he stored good quality tools and workshop materials such as sandpaper, glue and paint.


He loaded a second dedicated almost entirely to bicycle and bicycle spares – concentrating almost exclusively on simple, heavy-duty trecking bikes. "Cars aren’t going to last forever," he explained. "We’ll need to be able to get around when they all pack up. There was a small shop in town which sold and repaired horse saddles and riding equipment. Though none of them knew anything about riding, they took all the stock. Harry also carefully collected all their leatherworking tools.


After some thought and discussion, Harry and Daniel led an expedition to the local Land Rover distributor, which was based five miles out of town. They stripped the place of spares and accessories and, after some discussion, decided to take the two Diesels Defenders that they had in the showroom, though they wouldn't start until they had replaced the fuel in their tanks with some from Mike's store.


There wasn’t room for all the containers down in the lower field. Harry managed to slot the one with his supplies next to his workshop but three more and the spare Land Rovers were left in the staff car park, just outside the main gates and covered in tarpaulins.


When they thought they had everything they could ever possibly need somebody mentioned that there were huge stores of coal available in a fuel merchant’s on the outskirts of the town. Alex had some of the toughest days of his life, hauling sack after sack of coal into the containers. He could hardly walk at the end of it. "It’s saving us all work in the long run," Mary assured him as he lay flat out on the sofa in the evening. "At least we won’t have to spend hours every week sawing wood for the stove now!"


"I know that really," he replied. "It just doesn’t feel much like a saving at the moment.


---


It had taken several weeks but at last the reserves were in position. Daniel and Sandra moved into their new house and, to celebrate, they invited everyone down to the village for a house warming party.


So, early on Saturday afternoon, the whole group, with children and dogs, walked down the hill to the village.


The view had changed radically over the last few weeks because they had cleared all the hedgerows on one side. This allowed lookouts on the roof of Patch House an uninterrupted view of the road for several miles down the valley. They had also put a number of barriers across the road. Some were made from wood from their hedge cutting and others from old vehicles. They were intended to slow down any unknown cars that were coming up the hill but had the added advantage of slowing down Daniel, who still tended to drive much too fast.


Daniel and Sandra had chosen one of the larger houses towards the top of the village. Daniel claimed that they had only chosen it because it already had a solid fuel stove in position but Peter teased him – very gently and cautiously – about wanting to be the lord of the manor.


The biggest excitement for the Tiddlers was the swimming pool in the back garden. It had a movable greenhouse-type structure over it so it had not become too dirty in the months it had been unused. All they had to do was empty out the old water, give it a quick clean and refill it to have a usable pool. Daniel had even thought to collect swimming costumes for everyone on his last visit to town.


"I can see that you’re going to have lots of visitors!" said Mary as she sat with Sandra on the edge of the pool, their feet dangling in the water. There was a continuous cacophony of squeaks and squeals as the Tiddlers splashed in the water.


"You’ll be very welcome," Sandra answered. "And we’ll leave you a key for when we’re away."

"Are you off then?" Mary asked, not completely surprised. She knew Daniel enjoyed travelling.



"I need to go and visit my home," Sandra explained. Mary already knew that she came from West London and had been staying with her grandmother when the plague struck. "I know that there’s no hope but..."


"But you still need to know," Mary said.


Sandra nodded then kicked her feet in the water for a few moments, deep in thought.


"If you’re going that way anyway, I think Brian said something about another group of survivors out near Colchester," Mary said after a few moments. "You might want to visit them."


"That’s an interesting idea!" Sandra replied. "Danny and I will have to have a chat with him."


Katherine had spent most of Friday down at the new house, helping Sandra and Daniel get ready for the party and the food they had on offer was unbelievable. "It’s nice to get a chance to do fun cooking for a change," Katherine said when they congratulated her on the cakes and pastries. Most of the time I’m too busy with just getting the meals on the table.”


"If this is your idea of fun, we’re going to have to make sure you have plenty of time to enjoy yourself," Peter laughed as he helped himself to his third slice of cake.


It was starting to get dark as the group rolled back up the hill towards their home. "We need to do this sort of thing more often," Mary said to Alex, casually slipping her hand into his. "We’re all so busy these days that we don’t have enough time for, well, fun."


They walked together for a little, quietly enjoying each other’s presence until the mood was shattered by Hanna complaining that she was tired.


"You shouldn’t have spent so much time in the water!" he grumbled to her as he heaved her onto his shoulders.


---


That evening it had been easy to pack the Tiddlers off to bed and a larger than normal group was gathered in the comfy seats, reading or just snoozing. However the calm atmosphere was suddenly shattered by Mary throwing her book down.


Alex looked across at her, more surprised than anything. It was unlike her to get so cross. “What's up?” he asked.


"Oh, it’s that stupid book!” she answered, looking embarrassed. “It’s just rubbish! It’s all, just, well... pointless."


"What are you reading?" Denise asked picking up the book. "Oh one of those..." she said. It was some sort of romantic novel involving vampires. "It wasn’t exactly profound literature before the plague; the change won't have made it any better! Why don’t you have a look at this instead?" She passed over the book she was reading.


"Macbeth?" Mary said. "Are you sure? I mean, I can't take your book off you."


"Don’t worry about it. I made sure that there are plenty of copies of all Shakespeare’s stuff in the school stores. In fact, if I’m honest, I’d quite like someone else to be reading it at the same time. I sort of feel I ought to read it but it’s pretty heavy going on your own. It’ll be nice to have someone to chat to about it."


"That sort of links into something that's been on my mind," Brian said. "It’s the end of the summer holidays. I think it’s time for us all to go back to school."


"You've been thinking again, haven't you?” Alex said, putting down his own book and paying attention.


"You've been warned about that," Peter joked.


"Shush," said Alex, "in fact, if Brian is about to share his pearls of wisdom with us, could you go and get Kat and Harry."


"OK," Brian began when they were all there. "Civilisation as we know it is taking a big step backwards. We can't stop it but we might be able to steer how far back it slips and how quickly it recovers."


He looked around the room to see a wall of blank faces.


"Look", he said, "we're never going to be able to get the mobile phone system back up, are we? It's just too big and complicated. But when the radios pack up we might just manage to string a telephone line between here and the village."


The Minors nodded.


"It's the same with cars. We might not be able to build a new Land Rover when they pack up but Harry might be able to make a steam engine. And Alex is never going to have a hospital like St Thomas' but we can certainly manage basic sanitation and hygiene... fix a broken leg... we might even manage some basic antibiotics."


"So, if that's the best you can imagine, what's the worst?" Katherine said, her face unusually grim.


"We're heading back to the stone age," Brian said flatly, "low level hunter gatherer. And we don't even have the skills and knowledge that the cavemen had."


"And how far back we fall, and how quickly we recover will depend on us," Alex said, completing the thought.


Brian nodded. "We all know now that nobody's coming. We’re all there is," he said. The room was silent for a long time.


"So you might be the only scientist in the world," Peter said at last. "Mary's the only teacher, Den the only psychologist..."


"And, most frightening of all, I'm the only doctor," Alex said. He felt like a fraud as he said it. He never seemed to find the time to really read his father’s books and was absolutely terrified of anyone really needing his help.


"So, you’re saying that we have to go back to school?" asked Harry with a sigh. "I was glad to be out of it."


"I’m not saying anybody has to do anything," Brian answered. "I’m telling you what I’m going to be doing and inviting you to join me."


Harry thought about this for a moment then nodded. "I’ve never been that keen on school stuff," he said, "but I’d really like to set up a proper workshop."


"But you’ve already got one," said Katherine.


"That’s just a basic setup," Harry explained. "It’s OK for putting up bookshelves and so on but I want to learn to do proper woodwork and metalwork... maybe even some stone mason stuff too."


"I could see that sort of thing getting more and more important as time goes by," said Peter. "It would be handy to know how to shape a stone before you need one to stop your house from falling down!"


"There's plenty of classroom work in that," Mary commented, "workshop manuals to read and so on."


"Yeah, I know," Harry answered. "Trouble is…” he paused, clearly embarrassed, “I'm not the world's greatest reader.”


“How come I never noticed?” Alex asked. He used to sit next to Harry in several classes.

“I bet you got a lot of practice at covering it up, didn’t you?” Mary said. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you with the reading.”

“We’ll help you with the words if you explain what they mean,” Peter added. "The rest of us can read ‘a size seventeen grommit’ but we’ll need you to tell us what one looks like!"

Harry joined in the general laughter, relieved his confession had been so well received.

"That's the way I imagine this school thing is going to work," Brian said. "We've not got any teachers so we'll all just have to help each other."


Alex looked around the room. "So, should I put down three hours a day for us all on the timetable?”

[garethn]

06 Old Molly Oxford

Tuesday was Alex’s afternoon to work in the Tiddlers class. Brian and Mary organised the lessons but they were normally only in the classroom in the mornings so that they had time for other things.

As he led the Tiddlers into class after the lunchtime break, he briefly looked at the list that Mary had written on the whiteboard. As usual they started with some singing so Alex asked all the children to come and sit in a circle on the rug at the front of the room.

Mary’s mother had been a primary school teacher and Mary seemed to know an unfeasibly large number of educational songs. Today they had one about the letter ‘s’. Usually Alex would pretend not to know the song, and so they had to sing it several times as he ‘learnt' it, but on this occasion there was no need to pretend. He’d never heard it before.

When they had finished singing he went round the circle asking them all to think of a word starting with the letter ‘s’: ‘sun’, ‘shoe’, ‘sheep’. By the time they reached Katie she was almost exploding with excitement: ‘Shauna’!

Then there was painting so the children had to put on their aprons and roll their sleeves up. Mary had drawn large letter ‘s’s on a dozen sheets of paper and the children were given one each to decorate. The results ranged from what were recognisable flowers, staying mostly within the letter’s outline, to a uniform green-brown mess covering the whole sheet. Nevertheless Alex did his best to remain encouraging to all the aspiring artists.

He hung up the pictures on a clothes line in the corner of the room. Then, when they finished tidying up, he had the children sing the ‘s’ song one more time.

By now it was ‘run around screaming’ time. It was raining, though only gently so, after checking everyone had their coats and outdoor shoes on, he chucked them out onto the upper playground before going into the kitchen for a cup of tea and a five minute rest.

Alex was just settling down to read the children a story after the break when the security alarm went. In spite of his shock, he was pleased to see how promptly the children reacted. They had dropped everything and were lined up in pairs by the door by the time Katherine and Denise arrived.

He stepped out of the classroom to find Denise hurrying downstairs, worry etched across her face. “Peter says there’s a car coming up the hill,” she reported.

"Get moving!" Alex said firmly when he saw Katherine freeze at the news. He ran up the stair as Katherine and Denise lead the group of silent, frightened children down into the cellar. He had just made it to the gun cupboard when he heard a metallic crash followed by a low crunch from the front of the house and he knew that this was not a false alarm. He grabbed his pistol belt and hurried to his position on the balcony above the front door, buckling on the belt on as he went.

A large car had crashed through the main gate but it had been caught by the ditch just inside. Two boys and a younger girl were climbing from the car. The two boys were carrying pistols and one of them was holding a handkerchief his bleeding head.

After looking up to check that Mary and Brian were in position, he stood up and shouted, "Good afternoon."

This provoked a hurried conversation between members of the group, so, to keep up the pressure, he added: "I should warn you that there are several rifles pointing in your general direction. You’ll not be allowed any closer whilst carrying weapons."

"Several?" Harry whispered. Alex responded with a wink.

More muttered conversation followed.

"We want to talk."

"I suppose we could talk like this, but it would be much more civilised if you came in and had a cup of tea. I think that there might even be some cake. You’ll have to leave your weapons in your car, though."

"What if we don’t want to leave our guns?" asked the bigger lad, though she did hear the younger one muttering "they’ve got cake!"

"How do we know you won’t shoot us as soon as we put down our weapons?" the larger boy shouted.

"Mary, would you show yourself, please?" Alex shouted up to the roof.

"OK," she shouted back down.

"As you can probably see, Mary is holding an SA80 assault rifle. It’s capable of firing 10 rounds a second and, from this range, Mary could pick your teeth with it. Furthermore, some of us have had military training. If we wanted you dead, you would be already!"

He paused for a moment to allow them to think about this then went on. "Now, if you think about it, the way you’ve arrived is going to make us pretty cautious. You’re going to have to trust us. But I give you my word, if you come in, we’ll not stop you leaving. We’ll even give you a hand to get your car out of the ditch."

There was more muttered conversation. "One word of warning though," Alex added. "Next time you come for a visit, please ring the bell. We run a fairly tight security system here and we wouldn’t want anyone to be shot by accident."

The group held another hurried discussion then put their guns on the back seat of the car.

"Please walk straight down the path," Alex shouted, as they began to walk towards the house.

"Why?"

"I’d rather not say."

"What’s that all about?" whispered Harry.

"Don’t want them discovering our other security measures," he answered with a grin, handing his pistol belt to Harry and hurrying downstairs.

---

As he opened the front door, the three were walking up the drive towards him. He walked out to the top of the steps and noticed that the girl was limping.

"Did you hurt your leg in the crash?" he asked sympathetically.

"Na, I got it cut when we were climbing into a shop, the other day," the girl answered. "It’s gone a bit manky."

"We’ll get Denise to have a look," he said. As they led the small group into the living room, the Tiddlers were coming out of the cellar, chatting excitedly and studying the newcomers with interest.

"There’s hundreds of you!" exclaimed the smaller boy.

"Not quite, but we have managed to get quite a group together."

"How many?" the larger boy asked.

"We’d rather not say," said Alex hurriedly, before any of the others could answer his question. "I’m sure you understand."

"But no grown-ups?"

"As far as we know, no adults survived the plague," Alex said as he led the group into the lounge. "Have you seen any?"

The visitors shook their heads.

"This is Denise," said Alex as she joined them. "She’s our nurse. This young lady..."

"Sam"

"...has hurt her leg. Could you take a look?"

"Of course," said Denise. "You’ll have to take your trousers off, though."

"I can’t," she replied, looking terribly embarrassed.

"Why on earth not?"

"Cos I’ve got no pants on."

"I’ll go and ask Katherine if we can borrow her dressing gown," said Peter, suppressing a giggle. "She’s the smallest."

"And I’ll go and get the disinfectant," said Denise, following him from the room.

"What are your names?" Alex asked the boys as they were waiting.

"Taylor," said the older.

"Jason," answered the younger, "and Sam’s my cousin."

The group stood around in a slightly awkward silence until Katherine and Denise returned.

"Right," Denise said. "Now if you lot could clear off and give Sam some privacy, we can get going. Why don’t you go on into the kitchen and put the kettle on?"

Katherine led the rest went off into the kitchen, leaving only Alex and Denise with Sam and Jason.

"This has got badly infected," Denise said with an unusual severity as she inspected the wound. "You need to take much more care of her."

Jason tried to shrug off the reprimand but Denise would not accept that. "With no doctors around this sort of thing can very easily killing her," she snapped. She stared at him with such ferocity that in the end he had to acknowledge it.

"I didn’t know," he muttered.

"Then you have to find out," she said in a slightly more conciliatory tone.
"Right," she said, turning back to Sam and spreading an old sheet on one of the sofas. "I’m going to have to wash the wound with disinfectant and I’m afraid that’s going to hurt quite a lot. You’re going to have to be brave."

Sam nodded nervously.

"If you don’t need me here, I want to go and sort out some antibiotics," said Alex.

"Antibiotics?" said Jason, astonished. "How do you know about all this doctoring stuff?"

"Books!" Alex answered. "They’re just about the most important thing in the world, right now."

Jason nodded thoughtfully then with a significant glance at Sam turned to Alex and said, "I want to ask you about somethin’."

"Come on up to the surgery with me," Alex answered. They left the room and went upstairs together.

"What is it?" Alex asked as he led him into the flat at the top of the house.

"It’s a real good setup, you’ve got here... the best I’ve seen since... since..."

"I understand," said Alex, encouragingly.

"An’ before she died, I promised Sam’s Mum that I’d look after her and I was wonderin’..."

"Whether you could stay with us?"

Jason nodded.

"That’s tricky. I can’t promise anything," Alex answered. "That’s for the whole group to decide. Certainly, the way you arrived won’t help."

Jason hung his head down for a moment then said: "I understand if you don’t want me but can you at least take Sam in. I mean, there’s no future for her, the way we’re living at the moment."

"There’s no future for anyone, living like that," Alex commented. "In another couple of months the cars are going to stop working and the food isn’t going to last forever."

There was silence as Alex allowed the picture to sink in.

"One question," he went on. "Why didn’t you want Sam to hear this? It’s nothing to be ashamed of."

"I can’t see Taylor wanting to hang around here," Jason answered. "It just ain’t his scene. An’ if you won’t have me I don’t know what else we can do but tag along with him."

"If that unplanned attack on an unknown target with just a couple of pistols was his plan then I don’t see how you can do much worse," Alex said, barely containing his anger. "Next time you’ll almost certainly end up dead."

He thought for a moment. "I can’t promise to take you in but even if we don’t, we’ll set you up with a house down in the village and Sam will be able to come to school here. No matter what, it’ll be a better life than you’ve got at the moment."

"Fair enough, I suppose." said Jason.

Jason was very nervous as they made their way back downstairs to the kitchen. There they found Taylor drinking tea with Peter and Harry in an uncomfortable silence.

"I’ve been talkin’ with Alex here," Jason began nervously, "and he says we can stay in a house down in the village and that Sam’ll be able to go to school here."

"There’s no way we’re staying," Taylor answered, his voice rising in anger. "This place stinks of schools and social workers and police and everything I’m glad to be shot of."

"I’m gonna stay," Jason said defiantly.

"No you’re not. You can dump the brat if you like. She’s just slowing us down," he was almost shouting now. "But you’re coming with me."

"I’m not leaving Sam!" Jason responded, surprised at his own anger.

They stood facing each other for several seconds. The menace in the atmosphere was tangible and, almost unconsciously, Alex moved to stand closer to Jason in case Taylor decided to attack him. He was pleased to see Peter doing the same on the other side.

"You make me sick!" Taylor shouted, storming from the room.

"You know where you can find us," Jason in a conciliatory tone.

Taylor stopped at the kitchen door and stared at him for a moment then. "Don’t worry," he said in a low and menacing tone. "I know exactly where to find you. Exactly.”

Without another word, he turned and strode out of the house.

"Brian, get the front door locked. Mary, back up on the roof with the riffle," Alex said, calmly but urgently.

"But he’s going to have to come back," Harry said as most of the others followed Mary up to the roof. "His car’s still stuck in the ditch."

He had, however, not counted on the depth of Taylor’s anger. Having collected the guns and a small bag from the car, he walked back out to the road. There he stood for about five minutes, simply staring at the house, an expression of pure rage playing across his face. Suddenly he turned on his heel and walked off down the hill.

"Oh dear!" said Denise. She had turned very pale. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!"

Peter put his arm around her shoulder. "I was wrong about the guns," she said at last. "I always thought you would be able to talk to people... to explain things ... but that look on his face..."

"You weren’t wrong," Peter said emphatically. "You were right. It's the rest of the world - or at least some people in it - that's wrong."

"Why was he so angry with us?" she asked.

"Because we stopped him from doing exactly what he wanted," Harry answered flatly. "He’s not used to it anymore."

They watched as Taylor made his way down towards the village. After another ten minutes they heard the sound of a car starting, revving furiously and speeding off down the valley.

"Sounds like he’s gone," Alex said with relief. "Harry," he said. "I want that car out of the way and some sort of gate back up by before dark. Grab anyone you need."

"OK."

"And, Harry, just at the moment it’s more important to get it done quickly than to get it done ‘properly’. Is that clear?"

Harry nodded and set off downstairs.

---

After breakfast the next morning, Alex took Jason though to the Minor’s classroom. They had recently replaced the school desks by large office desks and chairs and the walls were lined with books. Brian and Peter were already sitting at one of the desks, talking through some maths.

"This is where we lot do our work," Alex told Jason. "The little people are next door."

"What sort of work?" asked Jason suspiciously.

"School type work and learning for all things we need to do?" Alex explained.

"Oh," Jason said, making no attempt to conceal his disappointment. "I’m not really into that sort of stuff."

"Have you having problems with the cars recently?" Brian asked casually, looking up.

"You mean they don’t run real good? You know about cars?"

"Not a thing," Brian answered. "But using books we’ve roughly worked out what might be the matter. Maybe we can fix the diesel to keep the cars - and tractors - working, for a while at least."

"Sound like it might be worth a bit of effort with books, doesn’t it?" Alex smiled.

Jason thought for a couple of moments then nodded.

"It’s the same with farming... medicine... everything. Books are pretty much the most important thing we have at the moment," Brian insisted. "We hardly know how to do anything but with any luck we’ll be able to find everything we need to know in books."

"Last night you said you're interested in getting involved in our defensive setup didn’t you?" Alex asked.

"Like the army? Yeah."

"So you’ll need know how to organise lookouts and where to put your soldiers so they don’t end up shooting each other, stuff like that."

Jason thought about this. "You mean I’d be, like, the boss of the army."

"Unless you know someone else who wants the job."

"But I don’t know nuthin' about bossin' an army."

"Walk this way," Alex said with a smile. He took Jason over to one of the bookshelves. "OK, military history..." he said pointing to one of the shelves, "weapons..." pointing to another: "improvised weapons… military training."

"But I think you should start with this one," said Alex, taking a book and handing it to Jason. It was called ‘Small squad defensive configurations’. "Have a look at the first chapter. Peter and I are doing some maths with Brian now so I’ll come and have a chat about what you've read when we're done."

Jason took the book from him, looking slightly dumbfounded.

"After that, Brian will come to find out where you are with maths. That will take us up to break and, after that, Mary wants you to go through and help the little ones with their reading."

"It’s all planned out... like a proper school."

"It is, except that we haven’t got any teachers. We just have to do the best we can and try to help each other."

---

The medical supplies that they had been collecting over the last couple of months had just been dumped in a pile of plastic boxes in the corner of the surgery and, a couple of days later Alex was up there with Denise, trying to sort them out so they could see how much they had.

Suddenly his attention was grabbed by the sound of the alarm bell. He hurried up the stairs to where Brian was on lookout duty. "What’s up?" he asked.

"It looks like Emily-Jane’s been hurt," he answered. "She’s covered in blood."

A quick glance confirmed he was right. Emily-Jane had taken a small group of Tiddlers out to pick blackberries and now they were coming back down the road. She had so much blood on her that he was amazed that she could walk and yet she seemed to be chivvying the Tiddlers back down the hill with no obvious discomfort.

Shouting to Denise to following, he rushed downstairs, grabbing his emergency bag as he went. He ran up and unlocked the gate. Other Minors came rushing along behind. The group was just arriving as he threw the gate open.

"What happened," he asked urgently, kneeling down to examine the little girl. "Are you alright?"

There was a slight graze on her left arm but nothing to have caused all this blood.

"Doggies tried to tatch us!" she explained, excitedly. "I tatched a doggies."

"She tatched and tatched and tatched the doggies," James explained excitedly. "Wanna knife."

Alex found himself laughing at this, partially out of relief that no one had been hurt, but also because of the expression of horror that passed over Mary’s face at the idea of James with a knife.

After some careful questioning Mary quickly established that the group had been attacked by a pack of dogs but, between them Emily-Jane, Shauna and Jess had been able to fend them off. One of the dogs had definitely been killed when Emily-Jane cut its throat, which was where the blood came from. Another two had been seriously hurt by their own dogs and the rest had run away.

"Nobody’s hurt?" Denise asked, checking the Tiddlers again.

"Shauna’s got an ow," Katie said sadly. "The nasty doggy bit her."

After checking, once again, that none of the children had been hurt, Alex bent down to examine Shauna. Katie was right. Shauna had a nasty bite wound in her shoulder.

"It needs stitches, doesn’t it?" Denise said, kneeling down next to him.

He nodded.

"OK," said Alex. "Emily-Jane, can you find the place again?"

The little girl nodded.

"Peter, Mary, Harry, would you see if you can deal with those dogs, please? Take the guns."

The three looked slightly grim but nodded.

"Katie, we have to put some stitches in Shauna’s shoulder..."

"Like sewing?" the little girl asked, incredulously.

Alex nodded. "It'll help him to get better quicker but it’ll hurt him. Do you think you can look after him – talk to him and get him to stay still – whilst we do it?"

Katie thought about this for a moment then nodded.

---

A couple of days later, Alex was down in the lower field with Peter and Harry. They were digging over a small patch of ground for where Peter was planning to plant his now fabled parsnips. It was such small patch that they had decided not to bother sorting out a tractor to do the work but they were regretting their decision.

Alex leaned on his spade for a moment and stretched his aching back. "This," he said with unusual force, "is the last time we do anything like this by hand."

The others paused too and nodded in agreement.

Suddenly the bell started to rang. At first they looked at each other – it was much too early to break for tea – but as the bell kept ringing it became clear that it was an alarm.

It was the only time that Alex had ever seen Harry drop a tool. As one they ran up towards the house, even taking Emily-Jane’s path up through the rhododendrons in their hurry.

By the time they reached the house, the bell had stopped ringing and Mary was coming down stairs. "False alarm!" she was saying, "or at least, there is a car coming but it’s just Dan and Sandra."

Alex, Peter and Harry stepped back outside avoiding the scrum that was forming as they tried to turn around the Tiddler crocodile which was already half way down into the cellar.

“We need a more signals,” Harry observed. “Maybe: one ding for something like this; two dings for don’t panic but something’s up; and three for…”

“Do panic?” Peter suggested.

“Something like that,” Harry agreed with a smile.

They went round to the front of the house to open the gate. He could hear the Land Rover approaching and there were a couple of cheerful toots on the horn.

"Hang on a sec!" Alex shouted as he unlocked the gate and Peter pulled the drawbridge into position. Alex was surprised when Daniel dove down towards the kitchen door rather than towards rather than the front door where the others were gathered but as soon as the car door was open the reason was became very clear.

"Your car smells of cheese," one of the twins informed Daniel in a matter of fact tone.

"That’s because our car is full of cheese," tousling her hair. "And soon the cellar is going to be full of cheese."

"And then we’ll all be full of cheese!" Peter said as he joined them after putting the drawbridge away. “Hurray!”

"But where did the cheese come from," the twin asked, politely but insistently.

"Rebecca," Mary laughed "I’m sure Daniel and Sandra would love to tell us all about it but let them have a cup of tea fist!"

Rebecca thought about this then nodded and headed towards the kitchen. "I better go and supervise," Katherine said, hurrying after her.

Ten minutes later Daniel and Sandra were installed in arm chairs with tea. All the Minors and most of the Tiddlers were gathered round.

"OK, the first thing is that London is dead. There may be people there but they’re hiding. We didn’t see anyone.

"We’d planned on going straight across the middle but it looks like most of the centre has been destroyed by a fire. We tried in a couple of places and there was nowhere we could get any nearer than about five miles from the middle. From the look of things, every building is destroyed. The roads were pretty tricky anyway but inside the fire area they look completely impassable - even on foot."

"No more British museum," Brian said sadly, "or British Library."

"Looks that way," Daniel said sadly. "I mean, we couldn’t see anything but it looks that way.
"How were the roads?" Alex asked.

"Pretty badly bunged up," Daniel answered. "We had a rough time trying to get to Sandy's house. We had to use the winch to shift cars in a couple of places and once I thought we were going to end up walking. We ended up driving along a canal towpath."

"How was it at home?" Denise asked Sandra sympathetically.

"It was OK," Sandra replied. "The house was empty and the car had gone. I’m guessing that they tried to get out to Grandma’s but got stuck in traffic .somewhere."

"OK, we stayed there for about a day, sorting out Sandy’s stuff, then we headed out to find the Colchester group," Daniel explained.

"And the smell tells us you found them," Peter laughed.

"It wasn’t that easy," Daniel laughed. "Our only clue was that they were a couple of miles south of town. We were hunting for a couple of days."

"How did you find ’em?" Jason asked.

"Smoke," Sandra answered. "We drove up the biggest hill we could find - not that there are many hills around there - and at last we spotted some smoke in the distance."

Alex glanced at Jason who nodded thoughtfully. "We 'ave to fink about dat," he said.

"Even then, they took some finding," Daniel went on. "They’ve dug up the track that leads to the place and put bushes and things along the road so you wouldn’t see it unless you knew it was there."

"We managed to get in, in the end and drove up to the house and they were very suspicious," Sandra said.

"They’d been having terrible problems with people from London," Sandra explained. "They’ve had a couple of big battles and they made us get out of the Land Rover before they let us anywhere near the place."

"You can see why they’d be careful," Alex said. "What’s the place like?"

"Believe it or not, it’s an old monastery!" Daniel said. "The monks used to run a dairy and keep chickens so they’ve got a steady source of food..."

"A dairy?" asked Katherine, excited by the idea. "Butter, milk, cheese... We need one of those."

"Danny guessed you'd like the idea," Sandra said. "We talked to them about sorting something out in the spring. Maybe you could go up there for a couple of weeks to learn how to do it then one or two of them come down here to help us to get set up."

"Two weeks without Katherine’s cooking!" Harry observed flatly. "I’m not sure I can survive that long on Alex’s cheesy-beanz!"

"Maybe you could go up there, too," Daniel suggested. "They haven’t got any electricity. That’s why they had to stop using the radio. They ran out of car batteries. I thought you might be able to sort them out."

Harry thought about this. "We should be able to work something out," he said. He looked across at Brian who nodded.

"These cheeses are still old ones from the monks. They’ve got shed loads – literally – more than they'll ever be able to eat. We ought to get them down into the cellar as soon as possible."

"I’ll go and get on with it straight away," said Harry, getting to his feet. "I’ve got some wooden shelving units down in the old stables. Who’s going to give me a hand carrying the shelves?"

---

Daniel had a slightly troubled look on his face when he came back into the house after doing one of his regular stock checks. Although he was no longer staying at the house, he still organised their long term stores. "Has anyone been up in the top storeroom down in the stable block?" he asked.

"Don’t think so," Alex answered.

"A couple of things have been taken," Daniel explained. "I mean, I don’t really mind but there’s other stuff that ought to be used first... and things have been put back in the wrong place."

"Could it have been one of the Tiddlers?" Alex asked.

"Harry checks that door when he locks his workshop," Daniel said. Harry was unfailingly reliable with that sort of thing.

"Could you have made a mistake?” Alex asked Daniel. "I mean, you haven’t been in there for over two weeks."

"I don’t think so," Daniel answered. "I mean, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t leave things like that."

"How about rats or mice?" Peter asked as they discussed it that evening at dinner.

"The famous tin opener wielding rats!" Daniel said.

"Good point, well argued!" Peter replied with a grin.

"Not Tiddlers," Brian said, "not one of us, and not Amazing Peter's Educated Rodents... that means that somebody else is coming in and pinching the stuff. That's a bit worrying."

"Let’s set a trap," Katherine suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"String some bits of cotton across the room. If they’re broken - we know someone’s been in!"

Two mornings later, the trap had been sprung. Several of the pieces of cotton had been broken and about six tins had been taken. As Alex and Daniel inspected, however, it became clear that the piece of cotton across the door remained undisturbed.

"They can’t have come in through the windows!" Daniel said, as he inspected them. "This used to be a classroom. There’s no way they’d put in windows where a kid could fall out."

Alex stared around the room, equally bemused, until at last his eye fell on a small window, high in the end wall, just below the corner of the roof. He started to laugh.

"What?" Daniel demanded.

Alex pointed out the window and they went outside together. Alex borrowed a ladder from Harry and climbed up onto the first of the containers which was just next to the stable block.

It would certainly be possible to climb up to the window - though Alex did not fancy trying it. He hauled the ladder up onto the roof of the container and climbed up to look at the window. It was not locked and could be opened far enough to allow an extremely small someone to climb in.

That evening, Alex puts some food on a table close to the first container and put a garden chair in the shadow of the trees at the edge of the lower field. As evening turned to night, he settled back and watched.

It was a fascinating night, with a surprising range of wildlife shuffling and snuffling its way across Peter’s vegetable plots. There were, however, no two legged visitors.

It was the same on the second night: more wildlife; several shooting stars; but no sign of their thief.

"Do you want me to take over?" Peter asked on the third night. "I’m not sure how much longer you’ll be able to survive without sleep!"

"I’m sleeping in the mornings, thanks," Alex answered with a grin. "I’ve just about got used to the funny rhythm now so I might as well carry on."

Two nights later, just after midnight Alex's eye was caught by a movement on top of the far left containers. A shadow made its way along the top of the row of containers until it was on the last one, next to the stable block. When it was about to start climbing, Alex said "Hello!" and the figure froze.

"Please don’t run away," he said in a quiet, gentle tone. "I'm not going to hurt you. If I'd wanted to trap you I'd have just shut you in the store room."

The little visitor said nothing.

"If you want to come this way a bit you’ll find ladder. Down below is a table with more tins than you can carry and a piece of the rather excellent pie that Katherine cooked for us tonight."

The figure paused for a moment then cautiously climbed down and moved towards table. Alex could see that the visitor was about ten years old.

"The pie’s in that big plastic box," said Alex. "It’s really good."

The child hesitated for another moment then opened the box and started devouring the pie.

"You look hungry," he asked. He received an emphatic nod by way of reply.

"I’m just going to step out into the light," Alex said reassuringly. "Just so you can see me, I won’t come too close."

The figure froze, obviously ready to run, but relaxed again when Alex stepped out into the moonlight and sat down on the grass, a few yards from the table.

"I’m Alex," he said. "What’s your name?"

The boy just shrugged.

"OK," Alex said when the boy finished his pie. "The tins are in that bag. You can come back for more any time you like but please come up to the gate and ask, next time. Don’t go climbing over roofs. I’m the closest thing we have to a doctor round here and I really don’t fancy having to deal with two broken legs. Will you promise me that?"

The boy wiped his mouth on his sleeve before answering with a nod.

"Good. There’s fruit crumble and custard in that bowl. It’s better hot but it’s not too bad cold."

"How did you find us?" Alex asked when the lad had licked the bowl clean.

The boy pointed up to the house. They were in the habit of leaving a low powered light on, and it was shining in the black of the night like a beacon.

"I see," said Alex. "That’s worth knowing. We like having visitors but there might be some people about who are not as friendly as you. We need to be a bit careful."

He nodded again, emphatically.

"Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Alex asked.

He gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Have you got a den out there? Somewhere you feel safe?"

Nod.

"I promised you that you would be allowed to leave and I stand by that promise. You can go on your way with your tins and come back and see us when you want more or..." he paused.

"Or you can stay here tonight. You’ll be free to leave in the morning if you don’t like it."

The little lad was quiet for a long time and then his shoulders started to shudder. It took Alex a few moments until he realised that he was crying.

"Would you like to come here for a hug?" Alex asked. The little lad hesitated then cautiously approached. "It’s hard to learn to trust people again, isn’t it?" he added as he wrapped his arms round him.

He hugged him firmly for a few moments then let him go. "One condition, though, I know it’s late but before you’re allowed anywhere near our nice, clean beds you’re going to have a shower. You smell!"

Alex collected the dirty dishes then led the boy up to the house.

---

Alex decided not to get up with the breakfast gong the next morning. He was still tired and it was probably better for the newcomer to postpone the inevitable onslaught of Tiddlers.

He dozed for a while but when he heard the Tiddlers starting class, he got up and dressed. He had made up a bed for their visitor on the couch in the surgery and when Alex crept out of his bedroom, the little lad was awake and glancing round nervously.

"Good morning," Alex said with a friendly smile. "Should we go and find some breakfast?"

They went down together and found Katherine, who was busy in the kitchen. She quickly sorted them out a couple of bowls of porridge. The boy was clearly still ravenous and, as he was eating his second bowl, Alex went off to talk to Denise, who was working with Peter in the Minor’s classroom.

Denise came across and chatted with him for a couple of minutes. She seemed completely unphased by the fact that he conducted the entire conversation without words - responding only with nods, shakes of the head and, mostly, non-committal shrugs.

After a couple of minutes Denise stepped out of the dining room to collect Emily-Jane.

"This is Emily-Jane," she told the boy. "She’s not been here very long."

"Emily-Jane, this boy arrived last night and is thinking about staying with us. He’s not chosen to tell us his name yet. Please would you take care of him and show him around?"

Emily-Jane studied the newcomer for a few seconds then held out her hand. The boy took it and she led him from the room.

Alex tried to settle down to some work but could not concentrate and, after an hour found himself hunting for Emily-Jane and the boy. They weren’t in the house but when he wandered out onto the terrace he saw the two of them sitting shoulder to shoulder, on a bench. They were looking out over the playground and the stream beyond it but did not appear to be saying anything.

"Do we need to do anything for them?" Alex asked Denise when she came out and joined him.

Denise looked down on the pair and smiled and shook her head. "Looks to me like they’re doing plenty for each other," she answered.

Alex gave her a puzzled look.

"They’ve both spent a long time feeling that they were completely alone in the world. I suspect that simply knowing that there’s somebody else who understands what they’ve been through will be an enormous relief."

Alex nodded and went back to his work.

It was over an hour later that he looked up to see Emily-Jane leading the boy coming into the Minors schoolroom.

"Hello!" he smiled as they came up to him. "Do you want something?"

Emily Jane looked across at the boy.

"He wants something?"

She shook her head and Alex looked at her, confused.

"He wants to say something?" asked Brian rolling across on his chair.

She gave the briefest of nods then glanced across to the boy not for confirmation but, rather, asking for his permission to continue.

"Neil sister," she said. Though Emily-Jane talking was getting much better she still tended to resort to single words when stressed.

"He’s called Neil and he’s got a sister?"

Nod.

"She survived?"

Nod.

"Let’s go and get her," he said, jumping to his feet.

"Food... bad men… sister," she managed.

After another twenty minutes of occasionally painful questioning they managed to piece together the story. Neil and his sister, Deetcha, had survived the plague. Frightened and alone, they had stayed at home until driven out by lack of water and the stench of death.

They had found an empty house out in the country with a stream in the garden for drinking water and scavenging locally for food. His sister had done most of the scavenging because Neil was so afraid of the dead.

But one day she had gone out to a nearby village and not come back.

At last, Neil had overcome his fear and followed her to the village where she had been heading, but he had found it occupied by a gang. There had been at least ten of them, as old, if not a little older than the Minors. He had tried to talk to them but they had thrown stones at him and driven him away. When he tried to return at night they had shot at him.

Since then, he had drifted from place to place, hunting for food and trying to avoid the dead.

He’d been both attracted and terrified when he’d seen the Pratch House. With its electric lights it had stood out brilliantly in the night - he hadn’t seen any light brighter than a candle since the plague.

He had been watching them, and occasionally pilfering food, for a couple of weeks.

"Well thank you very much for that, you two," said Alex. "You’ve given us a lot to think about. I don’t know where to start."

"I do," said Katherine, decisively. "Lunch!"

Alex was delighted to see how protective Emily-Jane was of Neil when the group gathered for lunch. He was clearly still in a very fragile state and could easily have been overcome by the torrent of questions that he could have expected from the Tiddlers, but a couple of warning stares from her resulted in him being left in peace. Even Richard knew better than to antagonise Emily-Jane.

At first Neil seemed very nervous, glancing around and unable to sit still, but when Emily-Jane moved him to the end of the table by the door he relaxed and was able to eat more normally.

"Emily-Jane," Alex said, as lunch was coming to an end. "Would you and Neil take a letter down to Daniel and Sandra for me, please? I want to invite them up to the house for a security meeting."

"Take a letter," Emily-Jane agreed.

"Maybe you could show him some of the empty houses, too. Though of course we’d prefer it if he stayed here, we’d understand if he wanted to stay in the village for a little while until he got used to us."

Emily-Jane gave a nod, though Neil did not seem to be aware of what Alex had just said.

"Neil," Katherine said gently. "Did you, by any chance, go to Comleton Primary School?

Neil’s face lit up.

"OK, Little Miss Genius," said Brian. "How did you manage to work that out?"

"Elementary, my dear Watson," she answered. "He was still wearing his school sweatshirt when he came in last night. It was incredibly mucky but I could just about make out the name."

Alex was busy with the Tiddlers in the afternoon but, from the reports he received, Emily-Jane and Neil seemed to spend the afternoon together, not talking, just sharing each other’s company. He was glad to see that Neil had shown no sign of wanting to leave.

---

"So now we know that there’s a big armed gang not too far away from here." said Alex, as they gathered in the comfy chairs that evening. Mary was still upstairs but she had told them to start without her.

"The first thing to do is to stop the whole lighthouse thing," Peter said.

"We could sort out some really thick curtains," Katherine suggested. "They’d help keep the place warm in winter, too."

"I like the shutters up at Mike’s place," Brian commented. "If people are going to start shooting at me, I’d like to be on the right side of some of those."

"OK, Katherine, could you try to organise some curtains. Harry, could you think about the shutters. Until then we’re going to have to be very careful about how we use the lights. I’ll ask Mary to have a word with the Tiddlers."

"The other thing that worries me," Alex went on, "is that Neil could hang around out there for a fortnight without our noticing him. Maybe we ought to start keeping an eye on what’s going on outside our walls."

"Like patrols?" Jason asked. "That’s my job, ‘cos I’m the army."

"You should lead them but I don’t think you should be going out on your own. You ought to take one of us with you. Why don’t we set up a regular schedule for a patrol around the property?"

"Non-predicable" said Jason. "The books say they should be non-predicable."

"I’m sorry?" said Alex.

"The word’s ‘non-predictable’," Brian said, "and that’s a really good idea. If they know when you’re coming, they can get out of your way."

"I’d like to go down and see this town where Neil comes from," Peter said. "There might be more survivors. Does anybody know where it is?"

"Comelton, I’ve heard the name before," Brian answered. "I think it’s a good way east of here, just off the London road. We can look it up."

"Whoever goes ought to sort out a memory box for Neil while they’re down there," Denise suggested.

"Do you really think it’s a good idea to go that way?" asked Katherine. "We know there’s a gang down there who shoots first and asks questions later."

"Might not be a bad idea to go and have a nose around a bit, real careful, like, See if we can find that other lot," said Jason, thoughtfully. "Work out if we want to run away or fight it out if they come this way."

Alex studied Jason thoughtfully for a moment then nodded. "Ok, I think we should see whether we can sort out the shutters here then go on a trip out Comleton. Jason, Brian, could you do some reading about driving around in places that might be dangerous?

"Us too," said Daniel, glancing across at Sandra. "I mean, we’re the ones who are out and about most, we need those ideas."

"Are you happy to take part in the expedition?" Alex asked. "It might be dangerous."

"It might be dangerous not to," Daniel answered. "Jason’s right. We’re better off knowing what’s going on."

"What do we take with you in the way of guns?" Brian asked. "Anything more than one of the pistols is going to leave us dangerously exposed back here and that’s really not enough for an expedition like that."

"We really do need more guns," Alex said. "Anybody got any ideas where we can find some?" He looked round the room, more in hope than expectation.

"Where did you get the guns from?" Peter asked Jason.

"Taylor knew the right people," he answered. "He knew where to go to find some."

"Sounds to me more like he knew the wrong people," Denise commented slightly caustically but they could tell her heart wasn’t really in it.

"The obvious place to start looking is with the army," said Katherine.

"Any ideas, Dan?" Alex asked.

Dan shook his head. "I wouldn’t know where to start."

"You’d rather hope they kept their stuff pretty secure," Brian added, "and I wouldn’t fancy trying to break into an armoury using a blow torch."

"Could we look in shooting club?" Harry asked.

"They tend to use lighter guns at those places," Brian answered, "Not the kind of thing we'd need to kill people."

"Maybe we can improvise some sort of defensive stuff," Alex suggested, looking towards Brian.

"I’m not sure about that," he responded. "I have the suspicion you’d end up being more of a danger to yourself than anyone else. I’ll have look at Mike’s stuff and see what I can find."

"I think I know where we can find more guns," said Mary as she came into the living room. She sat down on the arm of the sofa next to Alex.

"What?" was the incredulous response.

"I’ve been thinking about that gang of people Mike used to hang out with. I’ve a strong suspicion that they all had guns and that sort of thing."

"That’s what Mike was hinting at, that morning!" Alex exclaimed. "And of course he couldn’t come out and say it because they were all breaking the law by keeping them."

"So, do you know where they live?" asked Harry.

"That’s a problem," Mary admitted. "There was a farm that I went to a couple of times with Mike - but that was a fair way out of town and I’m not sure that I could find it again. And I’ve not idea where the rest of them live."

"Hang on!" said Alex. "Mike said that the addresses were inside the lid of the box."

"There’s no list of addresses inside the box," Harry said. "There’s nothing but a sheet of numbers. I sort of assumed that it had something to do with the ammunition."

"He said it was in some sort of code and that we need the county map to work it out!

Given the clue of the county map, it had not taken Brian ten minutes to crack the code on the inside of the box lid.

"It’s not even a code, really," he explained to the others. "It’s just a page number and grid reference."

"How can you be so sure you’re right?" Harry asked.

"Because this third entry here: page twelve, column three point five, row four point two gives..." he beamed like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat as he pointed at the map.

"Mike’s cottage!" laughed Alex. "Yep, that’s a pretty good clue."

"I’d guess that this other column here is the house number," Brian went on, "but we can’t be sure until we looked at a couple of the other addresses. I don’t even know whether Mike’s place had a house number."

"Have you found the farm?" asked Mary. "I know it’s roughly out in this direction but I never really noticed exactly where it was... in fact, thinking about it now, that might not have been an accident. It was nearly always still dark when we made our way out there."

“Hang on,” Brian answered. He was marking the addresses on the map. Mostly the addresses were clustered fairly close together to the south and west of the city but two were much further away, down close to the coast.

"One of the places is about ten miles west of here," said Brian, when he had finished. It doesn’t look as if it’s on any of the roads so it might well be a farm.

"We should get out there tomorrow," Alex said.

Alex was surprised to find that Neil was not in the bed in the surgery when he went upstairs. He quickly found him however. He was sleeping in the bed in the girl’s dormitory office. Emily-Jane was clearly taking his request to look after him very seriously."

---

Early the next morning, Alex, Mary, Daniel, Sandra and Harry set off towards the farmhouse. They had to go up the ridge behind the house and, though they had walked it several times, it was the first time they had driven up. The road up was very steep and pitted and Daniel was glad he was driving the Land Rover rather than his mini.

Once they had made it out over the top, the road dipped gently down to a village in the next valley.

The village appeared to have been untouched by the looting that had affected the everywhere else. It felt very strange to be driving through, as the place was merely sleeping, rather than dead. Alex even got out the car to confirm that the village shop was still locked and not been disturbed. "You need to get this place on your list," he told Daniel.

The roads were relatively clear and within half an hour they were driving up to the farm gates. It was clear to everybody that they had the right place. The high, heavy gates were identical to the ones at Mike’s cottage.

Harry got out of the car. "These people were pretty well prepared," he commented as he knocked on the gate. "They might just have survived."

There was, however, no answer. "OK," said Alex, sadly "I’m afraid we have to do a little breaking and entering." He didn’t much like the idea of damaging the gates but they needed to get into the farm.

"Hang on!" said Mary as Harry went around the back to collect his tools. "I want to try something first. We might be lucky?"

She got out of the car and fished a bunch of keys out of her pocket. When the third key turned in the lock Alex was so pleased that he gave her hug that lifted off the ground.

"OK," she said when they had all calmed down, "Conrad, who lives here, owns a couple of pretty powerful dogs. I really don’t want to hurt them but I better have the gun just in case."

Alex gave her the gun and she pointed it at the ground and released the safety catch.

"Alex, you open the gate and stand back and to the right. I don’t want to hit you by accident. Are you ready now? Three... Two... One... Go."

Alex pushed the gate open and stepped back. Nothing happened.

"Stay behind me," Mary said curtly, as she moved cautiously forward. Suddenly she stopped, put the safety catch back on the gun and handed it back to Alex.

The two dogs were in the corner of the yard, near a kennel. They were very clearly dead. They had both been shot in the head.

"That means that Mags and Conrad are dead," said Mary, wiping tears from her eyes. They loved those dogs more than anything else in the world."

"Not someone who flinched from difficult decisions," said Harry flatly. "You have to admire that."

"Those were not dogs he could just set free," Mary said. "I mean, they were completely under control but they were killers."

Once more the common key setup allowed them to unlock the front door. Alex cautiously opened the door "Hello!" he shouted inside. "We’re friends of Mike. Is there anybody there?"

There was, of course, no answer.

Alex told Mary to wait for him whilst he went upstairs to check. "There are two dead people in bed upstairs," he said when he came back down. It was what they had expected but it was still sad.

"I’ll go and see whether they’ve got a tractor," Harry said simply.

Two hours later they and their dogs had been given a simple burial, just outside the gates of the compound. "These funerals don’t get any easier, do they," commented Alex grimly as they walked back to the house.

They had a quick look around before pausing for lunch, sitting round the kitchen table. Even after their quick look it was clear that there was even more valuable equipment than there had been at Mike’s place.

The hunt continued after lunch.

They searched the cupboards and under the bed. They hunted through the barn and outbuildings. They emptied the surprisingly well stocked pantry and the cupboard under the stairs. Alex and Daniel even managed to boost Sandra up into the roof space where she found a trunk of old clothes, an old treadle sewing machine and several boxes of junk.

But no weapons.

When Alex realised that he had not seen Harry for a couple of hours, he went out and found that he had been distracted by the magnificent collection of vehicle tools and spare parts that he had found in a workshop at the back of the garage. “Very impressive,” Alex observed with heavy sarcasm, “but not exactly what we’re looking for.”

“Oh, yeah!” Harry replied and went back to his hunting.

He returned to the house to find Daniel lifting the carpets on the living room floor which they knew was solid flagstones. “Ok, folks,” he said as he gathered them all together, “this has gone on long enough. We're not going to find them.”

Maybe they're just buried in a field somewhere," Daniel suggested.

"I don't think they'd do that," Mary answered thoughtfully. "They'd want to keep them somewhere they'd be able to get hold of them quickly if they needed them... and I think they used to practice with them, too."

“So, anybody got any ideas before we give up?” Alex asked.

“They've certainly got loads of really other useful stuff,” Sandra said. She had been particularly excited by the sewing machine.

"They’ve even got a supply of your soppy, romantic books," Daniel told her with a loving but slightly indulgent smile.

“What?” Mary exploded. “Are you serious? I didn't know Mags that well but she’d have hated anything like that.”

“There's a bookshelf full of them up in the bedroom.” Daniel answered.

“Maybe they were Conrad’s” Harry suggested vaguely but it was already too late. Mary had already jumped to her feet and was running up to the bedroom.

When Alex reached her, she was on her hands and knees, investigating the solid, wooden bookcase. She tried to pull it away from the wall but it would not move. She even started to take the books of it but the back was just as solid as the sides.

"This is it, I’d swear it" said Mary, almost laughing. “Conrad would have loved this. It's just his idea of a joke... and he’d have loved the fact that he’s giving anyone who knows them a clue."

Mary started rapping on the bookcase with his knuckles, listening to the sound and suddenly something clicked in the base. The whole base plate hinged forward.

"Open sesame!" Alex shouted, dropping onto his knees next to her. He felt around under the bottom shelf and found a metal catch. As he pulled it, the whole bookcase pivoted smoothly forward like a door.

As he looked through the door and, when he saw shelving with the familiar metal trunks, he could have almost cried with relief. Ducking below the low door Alex went into the large cupboard concealed behind the bedroom wall. There was only just enough room for Harry to join him and it was quite a struggle for them to lift one of the trunks down off the shelf and pass it out to the other.

"We need to find the key," Alex said, rattling the lid. "I don’t fancy having to force this."

Mary reached round her neck and handed him a key.

"But that’s Mike’s key," he said.

"It’ll fit," she said. "As Mike used to say, ‘you either trust people or you don’t’."

Alex slipped the key into the lock and it turned easily.

It felt like Christmas - though they were all aware of how much more important what they were finding was than any Christmas presents.

There were six more of the SA80 rifles, two of them the shorter Carbine versions. "They’re not quite as accurate but handy for using from cars and thing," Mary explained.

There were two .22 rifles. These looked tiny and flimsy next to the SA80s but Mary told them that they were ideal for practicing and hunting small game. She had learnt to shoot with one of these guns.

It was the last two trunks that particularly delighted Alex. They has been on the top shelf - and had been so light that he had suspected that they were empty - but when they opened them up they found they were full of medical supplies: antibiotics and local anaesthetics; dressings and bandages; a full set of surgical tools with a high pressure steriliser; dentistry tool - Alex had not even thought about what to do about tooth problems.

There were also four bottles of colourless liquid. At first he assumed it was medical alcohol but then he noticed the label: ether.

"Ether!" he shouted, unable to contain his excitement.

"Erm, OK," Daniel said with a smile, "I’m sure it’s really great but would you mind explaining why it’s so exciting for those of us who so exciting for those of us who have not spent the last six months reading medical books."

"It’s an anaesthetics," he explained. "I wasn’t looking forward to setting somebody’s broken leg with nothing stronger than alcohol."

"How are we going to get all this stuff back to the house?," Harry asked. There’s no way we’re going to be able to fit it all in."

"That’s not a problem," Daniel said. "There’s another Landy in one of the barns. As far as I can see it’s identical to Mike’s."

"Makes sense, for them all to have the same sort of car," Alex said thoughtfully. "They wouldn’t need to keep so many spares parts."

"And if things go wrong with a couple of them, you might be able to build one working car," Harry added.

Over the next four days they searched the nearby properties on the list. They not only found more arms and ammunition but further food and other supplies plus three more Land Rovers.

---

A week later they were on their way to Comleton, doing their best to move as a two Land Rover, military convoy in hostile territory.

As the approached a small town they stopped. This was the third one they had chosen to pass through and the procedure was starting to become familiar. They stopped outside and sent Jason in on foot. Alex still did not feel good about sending him in on his own but he was absolutely right when he said the rest of them moved like a load of elephants. Somehow Jason had the knack of moving silently. Once he established all was clear, he called the rest of them in.

So far they had seen no signs of life.

Alex got out of the first Land Rover and looked down on the town below. There was no movement, apart from a couple of cows in a field just below. He took out his binoculars and scanned the town again, this time more carefully.

"Looks fine," he said to Jason who nodded and set off towards the town at a brisk walk. Initially he followed the road but he soon turned right onto a farm-track that he had found on the map.

Alex tried to follow Jason with the binoculars but it was not easy. He had taken to wearing camouflaged clothing and was choosing routes with lots of cover and, as the hedgerows became more overgrown, it became easier to stay hidden. He got back into the car and smiled at Neil who was sitting in the back.

After about ten minutes there was the double click on the radio that showed that all was well and Jason was moving into town. Another idea from Mike’s books - it meant he could keep them up to date while avoiding unnecessary talk.

After another couple of minutes, Jason’s voice came over the radio. "You can come on in now. Over." He sounded upset.

"On our way. Is anything the matter? Over," Alex asked.

"There ain’t no bad guys but you ain’t gonna like what’s here. Over and out."

He told Sandra she could drive on. She was driving the first Land Rover whilst he dealt with the radio and guns. She was almost as good a driver as Daniel but without his excessive speed. As they passed the other Land Rover, Alex waved at Daniel to follow them.

Jason was standing at the end of the high street and they stopped next to him. "Neil don’t want to come no further," he said. "It ain’t pretty."

"I’ll stay here with him," Sandra offered. They all knew how upset Neil still got about dead bodies but as long as he stayed in the car he’d probably be all right.

Alex and Jason climbed into Daniel's car and he drove them about a hundred yards up the high street. He had to drive carefully because the whole street was strewn with glass from broken bottles.

"Looks like somebody’s been having a party," Alex commented but then he went silent. He had just seen why Jason was so upset.

Three figures were hanging by their necks from lamp posts.

"Oh dear!" said Alex as he got out of the car. He felt sick.

"You checked the town’s empty?" he asked Jason, pulling himself back to his senses.

Jason nodded. Alex had never seen him so upset and angry. He looked at the hung children again. One boy was about as old as him. The other two, a boy and a girl, were much younger; not much older than Neil.

Alex suddenly had a horrible thought and went and looked at the girl. With relief, he saw that she was not Neil’s sister. She was too young and not Asian.

"Let’s get them cut down," Alex said. "We’re going to bury them."

"I’m not saying you’re wrong," Daniel said. "But whoever did it might not take kindly to us burying the bodies. They might see it as an act of war."

"We’s already at war with dat," Jason said flatly, taking a knife from his belt and cutting the first rope.

Alex found some sheets in one of the shops which they used to wrap the bodies. Then they buried them in the churchyard at the top of the high street.

Alex said a few words over the graves then looked at the others.

"OK," he said. "We’ve got a couple of hours ‘til dark. Let’s have a look around, see what we can find. Then we need to find somewhere to spend the night."

It quickly became clear that a group had been staying in the town for some time. A pub had clearly been occupied and a number of bodies had been piled up in a back street. There were lots of empty shotgun cartridges and one wall looked heavily marked, and strewn with pellets, as if people had been using it for target practice.

"They must 'ave tons of ammo," Jason observed. "Or they wouldn’t waste it shooting no walls like that."

Alex nodded.

The shop and pub were completely stripped of food and all the houses seemed to have been broken into and emptied. A primitive fireplace had been built in front of the pub with dirty saucepans and crockery just dumped in a nearby garden.

"They’re just locusts!" Alex said. They move into a place, eat everything and then move on."

"But they must know that can’t go on like this forever," Sandra said. "The food is going to run out sooner or later."

"They’s not finkin’ too much ‘bout tomorrow," Jason said flatly.

"OK," Alex I think we’ve seen as much as we’re going to. We need to find somewhere to spend the night. It’s too late to go on into Comleton now."

"I don’t much fancy staying here," said Daniel and there was agreement around the group.

Suddenly Neil stood up and pointed along the road. "You know where you are?" Alex asked.

Neil nodded.

"Is this where your sister..."

Neil nodded again, blinking back tears.

"And you can take us back to the house where you were staying?" Alex asked, putting his hand on the lad’s shoulder.

Another nod.

"OK, let’s go," Alex said. They climbed back into the Land Rovers and, avoiding the worst of the broken glass, they set off up the road, following Neil’s pointed directions.

It didn’t look like the farmhouse had been disturbed since Neil had left but it was clean and there were no bodies so it was an ideal place to spend the night. Between the four of them, they kept a watch all night. Alex didn’t think they’d be attacked but the working Land Rovers were rare and valuable and somebody might try to steal them.

They had no problems in the night and set off at first light, still drinking their hot chocolate and chomping on their breakfast bars as they went.

They arrived on the hills above of Comleton within about an hour. Even following the back roads it wasn’t very far. Once more they sent Jason ahead but he soon radioed back to say everything was clear and they made their way down towards the primary school.

There were no signs of anybody being alive in the town. Bodies did not seem to have been moved and the shops had not been disturbed since the plague struck.

From the Primary School, Neil had no problems directing them to his home, a large semi-detached house in a leafy suburb. As soon as he walked into the house, Neil took off his shoes, making it very clear to the others that they should do the same. He went straight into the living room, and stood in front of a shelf that looked like a religious shrine. There was an image of an elephant, with a simple candle holder and metal bowls. Neil held out the candle, and Alex lit it for him. There was a peculiar expression, almost of relief, on the boy’s face.

Then Neil took a little incense stick from a drawer just below the shelf. He lit it in the candle flame then carefully started to move it in a series of slow circles around the picture.

At last he was finished. He propped the stick up in the little stand and turned to face Alex his face shining with an enormous smile. He reached out and hugged Alex.

Alex hugged him back for a little while and then let the little lad go. "You understand that we have to go back to Pratch House, don’t you?" he asked.

Neil nodded. Alex thought he even saw him mouthing the word yes.

"We’ll be able to take the important things for you: photos and your... your shrine. That’s one of the reasons we came here. You understand that, don’t you?"

He nodded again.

"Now, we did this for had to do this for the little kids without any help, so it’s going to be much easier with you. Should I make a start on the papers whilst you go and sort out your clothes and things with Jason?" He thought for a moment. "We're going to pack a bag of your sister’s things, too, for when we find her.

Smiling, Neil went upstairs with Jason whilst Alex looked for the important family papers. Correctly he guessed they were in the chest of drawers below the shrine.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Sandra went back to the school to try and find a list of Neil’s classmates in the hope of finding other survivors. When they returned, about two hours later, they had not any success even though they had found a list and checked through half a dozen of the addresses. It was clear that there had been no survivors in any of the houses they had visited.

Two hours later, they were ready to leave. They had two large bags and a plastic box containing: the important paperwork; the contents of the shrine; and various items of jewellery that Neil had collected from around the house. To Alex’s untrained eye, much of it looked like gold.

Alex carefully composed a letter saying that Neil was safe and well and telling people where they could find him. After a moment’s thought he made a copy of the letter to leave in the farmhouse. If his sister managed to free herself, he hoped that she might find one of the letters.

They had something to eat and were just putting on their shoes to leave when Neil thought of something. Rushing into the house, he returned a few moments later carrying an impossibly old, handwritten book. It had clearly been used for generations, lovingly re-bound and re-used. From the way Neil was carrying it, it seemed to have great symbolic or religious significance but that was all they could guess as it was written in a language that they could not even start to understand. They carefully put it in the plastic memory box with the other important papers.

"Right, let’s go," said Alex, shutting the front door behind him, though he chose not to lock it. "If we get a move on we can drop off this letter at the farmhouse and still get back home before dark."

---

Alex was working in the Medical room when Sam came storming in. "Mary hit me!" she gasped, almost speechless with outrage.

Alex looked at the girl. One of her cheeks was slightly red though it was hard to see because the rest of her face was red, too.

"She didn’t hit you; she slapped you, didn’t she?" he said at last. "What on earth did you do to provoke that?"

Sam froze. That was not the response she was expecting.

"You’re just covering up for her because you and her are together," she spluttered at last.

"That’s not true," Alex said with a sigh. "Should I put out an official announcement that any of the Minors is allowed to slap you if they think you need it?"

"You can’t do that!" Sam exploded, "I have my rights!"

"No," said Alex calmly. "The whole ‘rights’ thing expired on the day that everyone died. You have no rights... apart from the right to walk out of the gate. You know where it is... but please tell us before you go so we don’t waste time looking for you."

"You’re not serious," she said, but her eyes showed that she knew that he was.

"Now would you sit down, please?" he asked gently.

She looked him uncertainly for a moment and then did as he asked.

"You have no ‘rights’," he explained firmly but gently, "but, fortunately for you, we Minors, feel a responsibility to look after you."

He stopped for a moment to let her think about this.

"But this responsibility is not unconditional and it has to be balanced against our responsibilities to other people. Do you understand?"

Sam looked down at the floor and muttered "Yeah, I suppose."

"Samantha, please look at me when you’re talking to me and answer me properly," Alex said sharply. "I asked: ‘do you understand?’”

"Yes," she answered, meeting his eye.

"And this responsibility thing works the other way, too," Alex went on. "What are your responsibilities?"

Same thought about this for a moment. "Not to be cheeky to Mary?" she suggested at last.

Alex could not suppress a laugh at this. "That’s part of it, certainly!" he said, "but it’s really not the whole thing.

"First of all, you’ve got to take advantage of the chances we’re giving you. That means things like turning up on time and doing your best when somebody is trying to teach you something."

Sam nodded.

"...and not being cheeky to Mary is part of that," he added with a gentle smile.

"But you’ve also got just the same responsibilities that we older kids have. That means things like giving a hand with the drying up without being asked or helping the little ones in class if Mary is busy.

"All clear?" Alex asked with a friendly smile.

Sam nodded.

"So what’s the first thing you have to do now?"

Sam thought about this for a moment. "Go and say sorry to Mary?" she suggested.

"Well done. And if I know Mary, she’ll probably say sorry for slapping you - though I really don’t think she ought to."

Sam smiled at this.

"By the way," Alex said, as she stood up, "nobody is forcing you to stay in the school... but just giving up is not an option. You have to work out what you want to do first: go and help Peter out on the farm or Katherine in the kitchen or something - and of course you’ll have to be able to persuade whoever it is that they want to take you on as an apprentice. You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that that’s going to be an easy option."

"Thanks you," she said as she stood up. She was clearly still deep in thought.

"You’re welcome," he responded. "I’m glad we had this chat."

When she reached the door, Sam turned and looked at him. "You wouldn’t really chuck me out, would you?" she asked.

"You can work out the answer to that one yourself," he answered. "What are my responsibilities there?"

She thought about this for several seconds. "You would if I was mucking up other people’s chances," she answered at last.

"Well done," he answered. "But I’d hate myself if I had to do it. Please don’t make it come to that."

---

Alex and Katherine were in the dining room, encouraging the remaining kids to finish off their breakfasts when Emily-Jane came in.

"Poorly chicken," she said to Katherine. Though she was starting to use longer sentences she tended to slip back to single words when she was distracted.

"One of the chickens is poorly?" Katherine asked.

Emily-Jane nodded.

"Do you want to come down and have a look with me?" Katherine asked Alex.

Down in the lower field, they watched the chicken for a few moments. It was clearly in a bad state. It kept falling over and seemed unable to move one wing.

"I’m no expert on chickens but it looks like it’s had some sort of stroke," said Alex.

"You can’t do anything for it, can you?" asked Katherine sadly. She already knew the answer.

"I wouldn’t know what to do even if it was one of us."

"So it’s just..." she mimed wringing the chicken’s neck.

"Tatch a chicken," came Emily-Jane’s sad voice. They had forgotten that she was there. Without another word she calmly let herself into the enclosure then and moved over to the creature which tried wildly to flap away with it one good wing.

"Poor chicken," she said, as she grabbed it. The bird visibly relaxed as she held it close to her body she started to stroke it, gently murmuring "Poor poorly chicken."

Then, with a startling swiftness, she bit the chicken in the back of the neck. It gave one wild spasm and then lay still in her grasp.

"Poor, poorly chicken, she muttered as carried the chicken back to them.

"Thank you," said Alex as she presented him with the body. "It’s been ill so I don’t think that people should eat it. We should probably give it to the dogs."

Emily-Jane agreed with a sad nod.

"Then go and get yourself ready for school. We'll finish off here."

The little girl began to scoot up the path towards the house.

"Young lady!" Katherine called unusually sharply. Emily-Jane turned, slightly taken aback.

"You’ve been told before. We are prepared to compromise on shoes and socks but not on underwear! Now go and get some pants on straight away!"

"And use the steps!" Alex added, more in hope than expectation.

"She’s done that before, hasn’t she?" she said, as soon as they were out of earshot.

"That’s the way she ‘taches’ her bunnies," Alex explained.

"And you didn’t stop her?" Her tone wasn’t so much accusatory as astonished.

"I thought about it but decided there was no reason to," he explained, carefully. "There’s no cruelty in it; quite the opposite, in fact. She seems really sad about the whole thing but gets on and does it anyway."

"It’s the casual way in which she goes about it," Katherine explained. "It doesn’t seem right."

"We were very much insulated from the whole killing side of things before the plague," said Alex. "If we’re going to carry on eating meat we’re going to have to get used to it."

---

Three days later Alex was up in what they had taken to calling the watch room. It was not really a room – it was the landing at the top of the stairs which led out onto the roof. It did, however, have a small table and chair where the person on watch duty could get on with their work between rounds.

There was an annoying kitchen timer that rang every twenty minutes to remind you to go and do another circuit of the roof. There was also a small wooden box at the back of the table that Brian and Harry had constructed. It was wired up to some car detection strips that they had found near traffic lights down in town and it gave a ‘ding whenever anybody drove a car up the hill. The system was not very reliable; Alex suspected that it was being set off by strong gusts of wind or passing animals but it successfully detected their own car coming up the hill which was quite reassuring.

He was trying to do some maths problems Brian set them had set but was being distracted by discordant music from down below. One of the Tiddlers enjoying their first piano lesson with more enthusiasm than musicality. The rest of the kids were down in the playground, playing one of Peter’s noisy games.

With a sigh, he tried to get his mind back on the maths exercises. He knew that Peter had already done them and would tease him mercilessly if he did not managed to finish.

He was disturbed again by the faintest of ‘dings’ from the car detection box of tricks. He was going to ignore it but he saw that it was almost time for his next tour so he grabbed the binoculars and stepped out onto the roof. As he went, he heard another slight ‘ding’ from the magic box behind him.

He scanned the road down into the valley with the binoculars but and there was nothing to see. Then he strolled around the roof, scanning the fields in the direction of the village and then beyond the stream. There were half a dozen cows in one of the fields. His eye was caught by a movement right up the valley and he tried to pin it down with his binoculars. At last he was able to focus in on half a dozen dogs. The dogs were learning to be cautious about coming too close to the house but they were an ongoing hazard.

After waving to Gregory, who was down in the playground with Peter, he moved onto the southern side and scanned the road up the little valley behind the house.

He froze and looked again. There was a bicycle with a trailer coming down the road.

He hurried back to the watch room and started pulling the rope that sounded the alarm bell. Down below, the house exploded into action and within twenty seconds Brian and Mary had joined him on the roof. Mary was carrying a rifle.

"It’s probably an overreaction," he told them, "but there a bike coming down the hill." He thought for a moment. "I think I’ll tell the Tiddlers that they can come out of the cellar and wait in their classroom. Everybody else stay in position but keep the guns out of sight."

Alex hurried downstairs and briefly told the other what was happening then he asked Denise to join him at the front gate. They were walking up the drive together when the gate bell rang.

"Hang on," Alex shouted. "We’re coming." He jumped over the ditch and unlocked the gate and swung it open.

There were a girl of about ten with a bicycle that was towing a small trailer.

"Hello and welcome," he smiled. "Come on in!"

"I’m Alex and this is Denise," he added as he pulled the drawbridge into position, allowing the girl to push her bike into the garden. He waved to the others who were watching from the roof and the front balcony. "All clear," he shouted up to them. "Some of our visitors aren’t as friendly as you," he explained to the newcomer. We have to be a bit careful."

"What’s your name?" Denis asked the girl. She still seemed slightly overwhelmed.

"Olwyn," she answered.

"And what can we do for you?" Denise asked.

"I need milk," she explained as she leaned her bicycle against a tree near the front door. "I’ve nearly run out."

"Well, we’ve got plenty of milk here," she said with a smile. "We keep goats."

"No, you don’t understand, the girl said. She reached into the trailer and picked up a bundle of cloth.

Alex did a double take. The bundle of cloth was a baby.

For a long time, Alex and Denise just stared.

"Have you got enough for tonight?" Denise asked at last.

The girl nodded.

"Good. We can organise a trip to the supermarket for tomorrow," Alex said, recovering slightly. "We thought we’d thought of everything but I have to admit that baby milk was not on the list!"

The Tiddlers had been let out of their classroom and began to cluster around the newcomers, enormously excited by the baby, until Denise chased them away. Alex then led the girl into the house and settled her into the comfy chairs to hear her story.

---

Olwyn was confused when she woke up alone in the car on an unfamiliar stretch of road. She had vague memories of feeling ill and her mother helping her into the car but could not remember anything else.

She knew she ought to stay with the car but she was thirsty and, after a while she had to go and look for something to drink.

Picking a direction at random she started walking and before long, she saw a car ahead but as she drew closer it was obviously not parked - just abandoned in the middle of the road. There was a man in the car but he appeared to be asleep and did not wake, even she banged on the window.

She carried on and soon found himself on the outskirts of a small town. She tried knocking on several doors but nobody answered. There were other cars with people in them, apparently asleep but she had no idea what to do about them so she carried on towards the middle of town.

It was when she encountered the first body, a man sprawled across the pavement, that it finally became clear that these people were not sleeping but dead. Confused, frightened and very thirsty, she pressed on towards the middle of town, doing her best to ignore the bodies.

The town was silent and deserted but a car had smashed through the front window of the village shop so at least she could get something to drink. Then she sat on the bench by the war memorial and wondered what she should do. At last she decided to head back to her car in case her mother returned.

After taking something to eat and another bottle of water - and leaving a note explaining what she had taken on the store counter - she set off back towards the car but she must have taken a wrong turning because she found herself walking up an unfamiliar hill with large houses on one side. She had stopped and was trying to think of what to do next when she heard a baby crying. She quickly worked out which house it was and knocked on the door.

There was no answer so she went and had a look around the back. She could see the baby, lying in a little basket in the living room. She was an incredibly tiny thing and Olwyn could not believe how much noise she was making.

But there was nobody else about.

She knocked a couple more times on the living room windows but there did not seem to be anyone else about. At last, not knowing what else to do, she let herself in through the back door, which was unlocked.

Apart from the baby there was only one other person in the house - a young woman who was dead.

Olwyn desperately trawled through her memory for anything that might help, though the noise made it difficult to think. The only things she could think of were baby bottles and changing nappies.

She found a baby bottle and milk powder in the kitchen and, using water from her bottle, made up a bottle as best she could. It was supposed to be warmed but the kettle wasn’t working and she decided that cold would probably be better than not at all.

Rosie’s reaction when he gave her the milk showed him that he was doing something right though the smell coming from her nappy area showed her that he was about to have a far less pleasant task ahead.

Olwyn had no idea what else he should do so he stayed with Rosie and looked after her as best she could. She had managed to drag the young woman out and bury her in a shallow grave in the back garden. She had read all the baby books on the shelves, though none of them seemed to be targeted at a ten year living on her own in an unfamiliar house with no heating or electricity.

She had collected food, nappies and tins of baby milk powder from the little shop in the town and found water in a neighbour’s swimming pool - though they only ever drank bottled water. She had even found a camping stove and a supply of gas at a little hardware shop in town so she had been able to warm Rosie’s milk.

It was only when the baby milk in the little village shop started to run out that she decided they had to move. She had hunted through garages and garden sheds until he’d found a bicycle she could ride. She had even found the trailer that they could use to carry Rosie.

They were heading towards the nearest big town when they heard the children playing with Peter in the playground and then…

At this stage that Olwyn had burst into tears. Katherine reached her first, picked her up and cuddled her like a baby.

"By a considerable margin," Alex said when she had recovered enough to listen, "that is the bravest thing I have ever heard. We thought that we were doing quite well here but what you've managed to do is beyond belief. All I have to say is 'Welcome to you new home'. We'll help you in any way we can."

As Katherine and Denise took Olwyn upstairs for a bath and a quick medical check-up, Alex saw that Sam was looking badly shaken. “What’s up?” he asked her.

“She’s so little...” she answered, struggling to put her thoughts into words, “and looking after that tiny baby all by herself... and I...”

“You know,” Mary said thoughtfully, “I think that Olwyn could really use a big sister, right now, to help her with everything.”

“It’d be a lot of work, though,” Alex added, “and a lot of responsibility. Do you think you’re up to it?”

Sam thought about this for a while then nodded and followed the others upstairs to see how she could help.

---

The next morning, Alex had walked down into the village to ask Daniel and Sandra whether they would go and collect some baby supplies so, shortly after lunch, he was not surprised to hear a single ring on the watch bell. He strolled up the drive to open the gate.

There was something strange about the front of the car.

At first, it looked as if someone had thrown some paint at it but when he looked close, he saw that something had cut grooves in the metal of the car bonnet. The windscreen was shattered.

After re-securing the gate, Alex hurried down to talk to Daniel. "What happened?" he asked.

"We have some new very special friends," Daniel reported. "As we were driving into town, somebody decided to take a shot at us."

"Who?" Alex asked. "Why?"

"Absolutely no idea," Daniel answered. "I didn’t wait to find out."

"How did you get out of there?"

"The guy was standing in the middle of the road so I drove straight at him. That gave him something else to think about rather taking pot-shots at passing cars. Last I saw of him, he’d tripped over the pavement and dropped his shotgun."

"But you still managed to find a car-load of nappies and milk, I see!"

"Yeah, we drove up to the castle to see what’s going on. It looks like a gang of ‘em has moved into town. We watched ‘em for a while and it looks like they’re staying round the middle so we drove round the back way to the big supermarket. I’m pretty sure they haven’t found it there yet; certainly nobody’s been in since I was last there."

"You sometimes show a remarkable lack of common sense!"

"Are you OK?" he asked as the Sandra got out of the car.

She nodded though she looked very shaken.

"Then go and have some lunch," Alex said. "We definitely need a meeting this afternoon."

---

"So what are we going to do about this lot?" Alex asked as they gathered after lunch.

"Couldn’t we just… ?" Daniel mimed shooting a rifle.

"I hope you’re not serious!" Denise said sharply.

"Probably not," he conceded. "Mind you, I’m still pretty aggravated about people shooting at me for no reason."

"I think we ought to avoid confrontation if we can," Peter said. "There’s nothing we really need in town so we let them help themselves. It’s really not our stuff anyway."

"I just wish we could talk to them," Denise said. "We know our way round town. Maybe we could help them."

"I think they made it pretty clear that they weren’t interested in talking," Daniel observed dryly.

"I think we need to keep out of their way," Alex said. "But I’d like to keep a discreet eye on what they’re up to. They might be a threat in the future so the more we can find out about them the better."

"Sounds like my job," Jason said. "Re-conny-thingy"

"Reconnaissance," Brian said with a nod.

"I want to come with you," Alex said.

"Only as far as the castle," Jason told. "You ain't goin' no closer."

Alex looked at him fo a moment then nodded, "OK,,” he said, “I’ve got a couple of new rules to propose. Nobody leaves the compound without agreement. And nobody, that includes you two," he looked at Daniel and Sandra, "goes anywhere near town without it being a properly armed and organised expedition. Everyone agree?"

There were nods around the table.

---

Alex and Jason had parked the Land Rover by the Mike’s cottage and made their way on foot to the castle. From here, by staying in the ditch at the base of the walls, they could easily make their way round to the town side of the castle without any danger being seen from below. They then clambered to the top of the earth bank and, by lying side by side at the crest, could spy on the gang town below.

"That’s, like, respectful," Jason commented a few minutes later. Two of the boys had just thrown something into the river.

"What is?" Alex asked. He was wishing he had thought to bring binoculars with him.

"They just thrown a body in the river. That’s a nice surprise for someone downstream!"

Alex thought about this for a moment. He was sure whether it was more respectful to just ignore the corpses, as they had been doing, or to throw them in the river."

"Don’t look like they’re headin’ off any time soon," Jason commented, "or they wouldn’t be tidyin’ the place up."

Alex nodded.

They watched for another hour. By the end of it they had seen more than ten different people, two of whom, as Jason put it "didn’t seem to be doin’ much of your actual work." They looked to be the ones carrying the weapons.

They were thinking of heading back when they were disturbed by an explosion of noise. Three motorbikes came out from behind some buildings, and were driven across the main bridge down below them in the town. Over the next half hour they performed a noisy sweep around the town, at one stage passing within a couple of hundred yards of the castle where they were concealed.

"They ain’t gonna catch many people like that!" Jason commented when the bikes had passed. "You can hear ‘em for miles."

Over the next couple of weeks Jason continued to observe the group, sometimes with the others but usually alone. "You lot just cramp my style," he complained, half-jokingly, "crashin’ round like a load of elephants!"

It was certainly true that Jason was by far the most effective at moving undetected about the town and had managed to get within a hundred yards of ‘The Three Choughs’ hotel where the gang was based.

From his reports they knew that the gang had at least fifteen members, mostly boys. The leader was a large, curly haired boy who seemed to rule the group with a regime of extreme and apparently arbitrary violence. He had two deputies, one tall, thin boy and another who seemed to wear a baseball cap and mirrored sunglasses no matter what the weather.

There was further hierarchy within the gang though this seemed less consistent and, Jason suspected, charged according to Curly’s whims. There was a constant set of four servants, however, younger boys who were never on patrol duty and never trusted with weapons. They were mostly responsible for finding and preparing food and disposing of the corpses.

The gang only seemed to have two working cars and three motorbikes.

Patrols were very lax and seemed to consist mostly of roaring around the town on the motorbikes. There were barriers across some of the main roads in town which were periodically manned and there was an occasional foot patrol around the hotel but they only seemed to be a gesture. They did not seem to think anyone was likely to attack them.

A couple of days later, Alex was down in the kitchen helping Katherine to prepare lunch. They had found a large vegetable patch behind one of the houses in the village and so he had peeled his way through most of the pile of potatoes she had given him.

He was almost finished when the alarm bell rang from upstairs: rang three times - something needs attention but not an emergency.

You go on,” Katherine said. “I’ll finish off in here.”

After quickly rinsing his hands, he hurried up the first flight of stairs, wiping his hands on his trousers.

“What's up?” he shouted up to Peter.

“Someone's coming up the hill,” he answered. “Looks like it's Jason but he's driving like a maniac!””

Alex hurried up to the front gate. He had unlocked it and was hauling their bridge into position when Jason pulled up in a cloud of tyre smoke.

“You trying to...” he began but was pulled up short as Jason tumbled out of the car. “What's up, mate?” he asked.

“There's some girls there!” he explained, barely able to contain his excitement. “One of ‘em looks like she might be, like, Indian or somethin’!” Eventually, Alex managed to extract the full story.

Jason had been doing most of his spying from an office across the road from the hotel where the hang was based. On this trip, however, he had tried out a new spot, a flat just across the river. For a long time he didn't see anything new and he was thinking of leaving when he spotted unfamiliar figures moving in an upstairs room.

Only when one of the girls moved closer to the window did he realise that she was Asian… she might be Neil’s sister.

Alex stared at him for several seconds trying to work out what to do. “I've got to go and see,” he managed to say at last.

“Then you're goin’ to ‘ave to do a bit of practicin’ first,” Jason responded with a frown.

[garethn]

07 Tinner’s Rabbit


Alex moved with practiced precision through the deserted streets of Adlersford towards the pub where the evil bandits were holding their hostages. Not a sound escaped his soft-soled shoes and his camouflaged clothes merged into the dappled shadows, rendering him completely invisible.


He had felt self-conscious, when Jason had insisted on his wearing the clothes and having his face painted but now, as he struggled to glide through the deserted town like a shadow, he understood the necessity.


Besides him, Jason moved like a ghost. It seemed to come naturally to him. He just disappeared into the background - seemed to be part of the background.


In through the pub window which had been left slightly ajar - across the bar, sensing rather than seeing the furniture - up the flight of stairs, putting his weight on the outside of each tread to minimise the danger of a fatal squeak.


Finally, with infinite patience, open the bedroom door and make his way to the window to survey the scene below.


"Not bad," Jason said, his voice startlingly loud after the intense silence. "Your face was flashin' a bit down the way there and you were a bit slow gettin' through that door but much better 'n last time. Tek five then we'll try it again from the north."


Alex's unspoken protest must have shown. "It's like what the book said," Jason reminded him. "You ain't practicin' so you can do it right. You's practicin' so you can't do it wrong."


They were quiet for a few moments as Alex tried to ease his muscles which ached from the enforced rigorous control. "You've changed," he said at last.


Jason thought about this before replying with a nod. "I can do dis," he said. "I've never been good at nuthin' before."


Alex nodded and, with a sigh, set off towards the north of the village. Without thinking, he stayed in the shadows and moved in complete silence.


After a couple more nights of practice, Jason declared him ready


----


There was mist clinging to the river as Alex followed Jason along the cycle path into town. Though he knew the path well, it seemed strange and alien, with the threat of death around every corner.


As the cycle path passed under the ring road, Jason put a finger to his lips: quiet now. Alex nodded. They had talked about this on the way into town, before leaving the Land Rover at Mike's bungalow.


He walked along behind Jason, keeping to the shadows as much as he could and concentrating on moving quietly – so much so that when Jason stopped in front of him and held up his hand, Alex almost bumped into him.


After quickly composing himself he looked around. Just to his right, there were bushes where he could conceal himself, if necessary. In front there was an open space – the car park.


Jason was staring round the corner to the left. Alex cautiously peered around the corner, too. A barrier had been thrown across the main road into town, away to their left. It was made of cars and old furniture. Getting past it would not be difficult but it would be slow and noisy.


But the gang did not seem to have noticed the cycle path along the river. They had made no attempt to block it and it looked as if nobody had been along it in months.


At last Jason was satisfied that there was nobody at the barrier and together the two moved quickly and quietly across to the relative safety of the next stretch of cycle path. Here they could move freely again.


There were two more pauses before they reached the centre of town. Here they crossed the river and seemed to be heading straight towards the main city church through the pedestrian precinct. Jason suddenly turned right into a small courtyard at the back of some shops. He moved across it comfortably – he had obviously been there in the daylight – but Alex had to be very careful to avoid knocking over dustbins.


Jason fiddled with the fire door at the back of the courtyard and, with a slight squeak of metal, it swung open. Alex froze, listening for any reaction from the gang, but they did not seem to notice. He carefully followed Jason into the building, pulling the door closed behind them.


Only when the door was closed did Jason click on his torch but even then, the light was so dim, and Jason held it so low, that it didn’t illuminate anything but a couple of concrete stairs leading upwards. Jason started to climb and Alex hurriedly followed him, afraid of losing even this smudge of light.


After four short flights of stairs, they reached a small landing with two doors. Jason waited for Alex to arrive before turning off the torch and opening the left hand side door.


After the blackness of the stairwell, the office within seemed dazzlingly bright and Jason signaled to Alex that he should stay out of the direct moonlight which flooded in through the large windows. Though Alex did not believe they would be seen, even if one of the gang members happened to be looking in their direction, he did what Jason asked. He settled himself into an expensive leather chair and looked out of the office window.


The fog seemed thicker here, swirling amongst the buildings, but he recognised where he was. He was looking out over one of the main streets through town. The ‘Three Choughs’ hotel was just across the road with a bridge over the river to their right.


The hotel was still and silent like the rest of the town. No light came from the building but there was still the dull glow of embers from a fire in front of it. Alex sat back in the chair and tried to relax.


He must have been more tired than he thought because he found himself being gently woken by Jason. After shaking his head to clear the sleep, he looked around and saw the first hints of watery light on the eastern horizon. There was movement from the ‘Three Choughs’.


A boy, who looked quite young, came out of the hotel and started trying to coax the fire back to life. Alex saw Jason looking at his watch and starting to make notes.


Another couple of boys came stumbling out of the hotel and huddled around the fire obviously trying to warm themselves. Alex found himself wondering whether they had any heating in the hotel. The nights were starting to get really cold. Another boy came out, much older and larger than the others. He was wearing a long trench coat and had a baseball cap pulled low down over his face. He was carrying a weapon, probably a shotgun. He began to give out orders to the other boys and his manner showed that he expected to be obeyed.


It quickly became clear that they were making breakfast.


Suddenly Alex froze. At first he could not believe what he was seeing. It had to be some sort of joke.


Two girls had just come out of the main hotel entrance. They were being led by something round their necks.


Alex did not want to believe it but the abject way in which they moved and the spiteful way in which they were being treated by even the youngest boys left him no choice. Jason was right. They were being kept as slaves.


"It’s not been a year yet," he fumed to himself, "and we’ve already sunk so low. God help us."
This was evil. This could not be allowed to stand. Without any thought, his hand moved towards the rifle that was lying on the office desk in front of him.


Jason saw what was happening and gently but firmly put out his hand to block Alex, shaking his head firmly. Alex sank back in his chair, reluctantly accepting the need to tolerate the intolerable.


Jason signalled to Alex that they should keep watching then jotted down a few more words in his notebook.


The mist was starting to clear now so Alex took out his binoculars. The girls had leather collars around their necks and were padlocked to a length of chain which was being held by a tall, heavily built boy with curly hair.


The boy led them towards the bridge then they disappeared round the corner of the building. Alex knew that there were steps round there and he guessed they were being taken down to the river.


After a couple of minutes, they were led back towards the hotel and Alex had the chance to study the two girls. One of the girls was clearly Asian. It had to be Neil's sister. She even looked a bit like him. The other girl had striking red hair. As they were led back into the hotel, Alex swore to himself that they would be released.


Through the morning, two working parties were sent out. One group returned pushing supermarket trolleys containing food. Another started collecting fuel. Alex chuckled to himself when he saw them hacking at lump of wood with axes because he knew that they had left plenty of coal in the depot about half a mile away. He did wince when they started breaking up the expensive wooden chairs from a nearby restaurant for firewood.


A while later a patrol went out on motorcycles. It was composed of older boys armed with shotguns and pistols and was led ostentatiously by the curly headed boy. As they roared around the city Alex saw the nervous glances from the junior gang members and had a sudden insight. This patrol was more about intimidation and control of the gang than security.
This impression was confirmed when the gang returned and the curly haired boy seemed to start issuing arbitrary commands - a pile of wood was hurriedly moved and one of the younger boys started boiling water.


It gradually became clear that there were regular foot patrols, too. They were composed of two boys and, as far as Alex could see, they always followed the same route. As long as you knew they were coming, they would be easy to avoid.


Jason managed to sleep a little in the afternoon but Alex could not. He was still much too angry. He sat, staring down at the group below, trying to control himself enough to make reliable notes about their routine.


As the afternoon slipped into evening and then night, the gang below began to gather around the fire. They ate some sort of stew then bottles were handed round - alcohol of some sort - and the atmosphere became loud and raucous. More wood was piled onto the fire and, as the flames climbed higher, the group began to chant and sing. The primitive, primeval scene clashed sharply with the modern office building in which Alex and Jason were sitting.


Gradually the party below started to break up as boys drifted off into the hotel. Two were left, standing by the fire.


The moon rose but Jason waited, smiling reassuringly at Alex. After about half an hour, the two boys by the fire turned on torches and set off on the regular patrol route heading down along the river. Still Jason waited.


Only when the two reappeared, about twenty minutes later, did Jason signal for them to leave. They silently packed up their things and Jason led Alex towards the fire escape.


He was not aware of it but Alex was still wound up. Jason carefully closed the door behind them then stopped. "You’ve got to, like, calm down," he whispered to Alex. "It ain’t gonna do nobody no good if we get ourselves shot."


Alex stood quietly for a moment to get his churning emotions under control then acknowledged the instruction with a brief nod. Jason led them out into the night.


---

A grey and miserable dawn was breaking as they made their way back up the hill to Pratch House. Alex was tired but could not even think of sleeping until he had told the others about what they had seen. They had obviously not been to bed though Katherine was asleep, stretched out on one of the sofas. They gathered at the table, over mugs of tea, and Alex tried to describe the situation as dispassionately as he could.

"I still can’t believe we could sink so low so quickly," Katherine said when he has finished. "Can you really be sure they were slaves? Are you sure you couldn’t have been mistaken?"


"They had collars on like dogs," Jason said. "It didn’t look like no mistake to me."


"And you could see by the way they moved... sort of weighed down," Alex added.


“Before we start," Denise began. "Does everyone agree that we have to do something about this? I mean we’ve really tried to avoid confrontation so far."


"They're keeping slaves!" Peter snapped. "That changes everything!"


Denise put her hand on his arm and stared at her until he met her eye.


"I'm sorry," he said to her. "Nevertheless, they're keeping slaves and that changes everything," he repeated in a much more controlled tone.


"We couldn’t tolerate it, even if it wasn’t Neil’s sister, could we?" Katherine said. "Somehow I can’t imagine enjoying Christmas when I know they're keeping slaves up in town."


Alex looked around the table and confirmed everyone was in agreement.


"So how do we go about it?" he asked.


"We just have to surround them," Peter said. "If we get four or five AS-80’s pointed at them we can pretty much tell them what’s going to happen."


"Peter!" Denise exploded. "What if they call your bluff? Are you really prepared to take part in a massacre? We’re supposed to be better than them!"


Peter was quiet for a moment as all eyes turned on him.


"OK," he said at last, "I guess I do need to try to calm down a bit... we’re not going to do the ‘kill ‘em all and let God sort it out’ thing. But we are going to get them out."


"If we ain’t gonna shoot our way in, then we’re gonna have to do it sneaky, like," Jason said.


"What about negotiation?" Denise asked. "Shouldn’t we at least try that first?"


"I’m sorry, Den, but they just don’t look like negotiation sort of people to me," Alex said. "If and when we negotiate with them, I want to do so from a position of strength."


"What do you mean?" Denise asked.


"We’ve already seen they’re pretty relaxed about hanging people. What do we do if they put a noose round Deetcha’s neck and threaten to hang her unless we hand over all our guns?"


Denise stared at him opened mouthed. "They wouldn’t," she gasped at last.


"I think we have to assume they will," Peter said. "I don’t say it lightly but that gang is just plain evil."


"Dey might not all be evil," Jason said thoughtfully. "It looked like most of ‘em were just, like, grunts, who are tryin’ not to get a kickin’."


Peter looked at Jason for a while. "You’re probably right," he said at last with a sigh.


"Which is another reason to avoid a massacre if we can," Denise said.


"So sneaky it is," said Alex. "Everyone agree?"


"Then we need more information," Alex said. "Jason, I want you down there pretty much full time from now on. We’ll set up a base at Mike’s to support you. Anything else?"


"I think we need Daniel back," Brian said. Daniel and Sandra had gone up to Aberystwyth with another load of food - an early Christmas present from Pratch House. "Jason’s our best soldier but Dan runs him a close second - and nobody can drive like Dan."


"Do you want to send him a message tonight?" Alex asked. "Ask him to come back."


"Is there any danger that that gang might be listening into our messages?" Brian asked.


"That gang ain’t got electric lights," Jason said. "They ain’t gonna have no radio."


"Good point," said Brian.


The unmistakable sound of James and the twins told them that the Tiddlers were starting to wake up. "Sounds like we're done," Alex said, "unless there's anything else urgent." He looked around the table.


"Then I need to go and explain what's happening to Neil," Alex said. "And try to persuade him not to go running off to rescue his sister on his own."


----


Alex tried to suppress a grunt as he tried to push the Land Rover up a slight rise in the cycle path. From the comfort of their planning meeting, pushing the car into town had seemed like a good idea, but now they were starting to regret it. It was hard work. Neil added his own slight weight but it was not enough and Jason had to come back from his position out in front of the vehicle. They crested the rise and Jason disappeared again out into the darkness.


Sleet had started to fall again and, though he was sweating profusely, it was still uncomfortable as water started to drip down his neck.


Nevertheless, he was quite happy about it. As Jason had observed, "Dey ain’t gonna be too keen on doing der patrolin’ in this stuff."


Alex’s attention was jerked back to the present by a nudge from Neil. Jason had signalled for them to stop and he was just in time to avoid piling into the back of the vehicle as Daniel touched the brakes.


He was pleased that Harry had thought to remove the brake lights when he had been preparing the Land Rover. He had also covered anything reflective with black tape. He’d even given the ladder, which was lashed to the roof, a quick coat of dark paint and fastened strips of packing-foam to its sides.


Though the moon was nearly full, the heavy cloud meant it was still very dark and it was hard to see when Jason waved them forward again. Daniel gave them a helpful shove to get them moving again before jumping back into the driver's seat.


They moved slowly down the cycle path then across the central car park. It was frustrating as Daniel applied the brakes down the ramp into the underground section, but he had to do it. It was so dark that he could not risk moving with any speed.


Alex could not imagine how he was doing it but Jason managed to lead Daniel across the blackness of the car park without incident, parking their car in the deepest recesses and hiding the ladder under a pile of rubbish.


Jason led Alex, Daniel and Neil towards the centre of town, moving along the side of the river then crossing a footbridge. They were about to move around the corner into the shopping precinct when Jason held up his hand. He looked back, pointed at Alex and waved him forwards.


Following the direction that Jason was pointing, Alex saw a flickering light - a small fire. Straining to peer through the sleet and darkness, he decided there was a lookout on the top of the church tower.


By staying against the left hand wall, they could stay out of sight until they were only a few feet from the base of the tower. From here it was only a couple of yards across the courtyard and into the office block that Alex and Jason had used the last time. But those few yards were very uncomfortable, knowing that there was somebody just above you with a gun. Alex had to force himself to move at a steady, controlled walk.


Instead of going left at the top of the stairwell, Jason led them right into an unfamiliar part of the building where there was a storage room with no outside windows. Here they felt they could safely turn on a torch and even talk in low whispers.


Alex saw that Neil was shivering with cold so he told him to take off his wet things and get into his sleeping bag. As Jason had volunteered to take the first watch, Alex did the same.


There was a hint of daylight filtering under the door when he woke. He stretched and, after buckling on his pistol belt, he went through to relieve Jason.


Daniel and Neil had joined him by the time the girls were paraded down to the stream. Alex put his arm around Neil’s shoulders, both to comfort him and to have a chance of restraining him if it all became too much for him to bear. Alex gave Neil a questioning look and received a nod of confirmation. It was his sister.


The rest of the day was a peculiar balance of tension and boredom. Daniel passed the time by hunting through the drawers and cupboards in the office. He found a supply of sweets and fancy biscuits with which they supplemented their somewhat boring provisions. He also stuffed their rucksacks with high quality pens and propelling pencils which he had found in a stationary cupboard.


Katherine, who had eaten in the ‘Three Choughs’ hotel, had drawn up a detailed plan for them and Alex spent some time reviewing it, though he was already sure he could re-draw it from memory. The main restaurant area was downstairs at the front of the building. That was where most of the gang seemed to be living. They had only seen the senior gang members on the first floor, where the girls were being held.


The kitchens were at the back, looking out onto a small yard with some dustbins. Beyond this was a car park with a path leading down the river.


There was a small room on the first floor, overlooking the courtyard. It didn't seem to be in use - certainly they had not seen any movement there. The window appeared to be slightly open. Their plan was to climb up the ladder, make their way across a short section of sloping roof and sneak into the hotel through this window.


Alex had the horrible feeling that it would not be that easy.


At last it was dark and the activity across the road started to wind down. They carefully made their way back to the underground car park and, after dumping their rucksacks in the Land Rover, collected the ladder.


Jason led them back to the pedestrian bridge and into a pub garden. There was a small weir here, below which, the river flowed through a shallow channel.


Daniel handed his rifle to Neil and climbed down into the channel. Alex followed him and Jason passed the ladder down. A concrete shelf ran along by the side of the river and they began to walk along it towards the hotel. The shelf was above the water level most of the time but they still got their feet wet. They also had to walk bent double to avoid being seen. Though not exactly comfortable, it was, Alex reflected, considerably more comfortable than being shot.


On a couple of occasions, Alex was relieved that Harry had thought to wrap the ladder's side rails in foam. When it was knocked against stones there was only a quiet thud which was drowned out by the sound of rushing water.


It felt strange to be passing under the road bridge, only yards from the fire. Alex could hear every word as the two guards grumbled about the weather, the food, ‘Curly’ and pretty much everything.


Jason led them up the steps at the back of the hotel. They hurried across a small car park then, with exquisite care, lowered the ladder against the short section of sloping roof. It rested against the guttering with only the slightest of clunks.


----


Alex stood back with a sigh of relief. "So far, so good," he said to himself.


But then, without waiting for permission Neil shot up the ladder and scrambled over the shallow roof to the window. Irritated, Alex followed him up the ladder to find Neil peering in through the window.


After taking a deep breath, he followed the lad across the roof and joined him. The room within was used for storage with shelves of sheets and cleaning materials.


He tried to open the window but it would not move. He could see why Jason had thought it was open. A piece of the frame had fallen down and was hanging at a peculiar angle.
Ignoring his precarious position, he tried to shake the window but it would not budge.


He looked at Neil and gave a shrug.


Neil nodded then, before Alex could stop him, walked across the sloping roof to the corner of the building, climbed up a drainpipe and vanished from sight onto the main roof.


Alex looked up helplessly for a moment then climbed back across the roof and down the ladder to join Daniel and Jason.


"He’s gone up the drainpipe onto the roof," Alex whispered.


"We saw," Daniel answered. "He’s mad."


For what seemed like hours the three waited in the courtyard, ears straining for any sound of motion from within. They were all startled when they heard voices and saw the flash of lights from the front of the hotel.


Alex froze but Jason grabbed him firmly by the shoulder and half dragged him down behind the bins. "The ladder!" Alex whispered but Jason just shrugged and prepared his rifle. Alex drew his pistol.


Two boys made their way down the footpath along the side of the river. The patrol was early, though it appeared as lax as ever. The two boys were chatting casually and one of them was smoking. They were both carrying torches which they shone along the path and out across the river. They didn’t seem to pay any attention whatsoever to the courtyard. Alex found himself holding his breath as they passed so he opened his mouth wide and forced himself to take a few slow, controlled breaths.


It seemed to take forever as, oblivious to the ladder, the two boys sauntered past and vanished round a corner. Alex could breathe again.


"What do they think they're doin', talkin' on patrol like that?" Jason whispered - he sounded almost angry. "Dey's not goin' to see nothin' flashin lights about like that!"


They waited in silence behind the bins until at last they heard the sound of the storeroom window being opened. Though Neil was being as quiet as possible, it still sounded appallingly loud in the silence of the night.


By the light of the stars, they could just make out a small figure waving at them to come up. Alex climbed back up the ladder and through the window into the storeroom.


He sensed rather than saw, as Neil put his finger to his lip to indicate silence. Then the smaller boy carefully opened the storeroom door and stepped out into the carpeted corridor beyond.


The corridor was not completely dark; a little light was filtering up from a stairwell and Neil led Alex towards this light. As they drew closer he could hear quiet voices from down below.


Neil stopped and pointed to one of the doors. The remains of some sophisticated lock remained attached to it but it had been wrecked. It had been replaced by two heavy bolts, one at the top and one at the bottom of the door.


The bolt at the bottom had been released by, Alex guessed, Neil but the top bolt remained securely fastened. Neil gestured that he should release it.


Alex could understand that Neil had been unable to shift the bolt. It was terribly stiff and he had to haul on the remains of the handle to get it to shift. At last he got it free and it jumped open with a dull thud.


Alex froze at the noise but relaxed again when the tone of the voices from below seemed unchanged.


Neil could not contain his excitement and pushed the door open. The room was completely black but the sound of gentle breathing made it clear that there were people sleeping in there.


Alex held his torch face against the carpet and clicked it on. Then he slowly lifted it, allowing a hint of light to leak out.


Gradually the scene in the room became clear.


The room contained two beds with two girls, both about as old as Alex, asleep in them.


Neil gave Alex an enormous hug then rushed over to his sister and started speaking to her in a language he did not recognise. The other girl started to murmur as she woke.


"Quiet please, everyone," he said in an urgent whisper, as he pushed the door closed. "We’re here to get you out but everybody’s got to be very quiet."


The room fell silent


"My name’s Alex and this is Neil. We’ve got to go straight away. Is there anything you need to take?"


Both girls shook their heads.


"Then grab your shoes and let’s go!"


The red headed girl started to cry, thrusting her fist into her mouth to avoid making a noise but she managed to pull her shoes on. Neil took his sister firmly by the hand and led her down the corridor. Alex followed, pausing for a moment to re-bolt the door. "Perhaps it will buy us another couple of seconds," he thought.


By the time Alex reached the store room, Neil was already through the window, standing casually on the precariously sloping section of roof. Though terrified, his sister allowed herself to be helped across to the ladder.


The other girl was looking out of the window at the roof and shaking in terror. "You’ve got to go," he told her. “It’s the only way out."


"I can’t," she whispered.


"I’ll tell you what," he said. "I’ll go first and wait for you at the top of the ladder. Neil will be out there to help too. You’ve got to come, though. There’s no other way down."


Trying to show a lot more nonchalance than he actually felt, he swung himself out of the window, turned around and, under Neil’s guidance, felt for the top of the ladder with his foot. He lowered himself a couple of rungs then called on the girl to follow him.


With exasperating slowness, she eased herself out of the window and swung herself around. As she reached down towards the top of the ladder, Alex reached up to guide her foot.


"Don’t touch me!" she hissed savagely and his hand sprang back.


At last she was securely on the ladder and he hurried down. As he neared the bottom, Daniel, who was standing on the bottom rung, clapped him on the shoulder. "Well done, mate," he whispered.


Alex felt he should have guessed what was going to happen next. When the girl was nearly on the ground Daniel clapped her on the shoulder too. She jerked away so sharply that the ladder began to topple.


Though he managed to slow the girl’s fall, Alex could only watch in slow motion horror, as the ladder slipped sideways into the courtyard. For an instant he had the hope that it wouldn’t be too loud as it fell towards a wall, but then it smashed through the kitchen window. It bounced back off the frame and hit the ground with a clang that echoed round the buildings.


For a moment there was silence then torches flashed on and the hotel exploded into noise.


Alex was about to spring into action when he heard Neil’s sister gasp. He looked up to see the lad dangling from the second storey guttering.


Alex flashed on his torch and shone it up at the wall. "There’s a downpipe three feet to your left," he shouted. "That’s it, keep going."


Daniel moved to the wall, directly below where Neil was hanging, clearly determined to catch the boy if he fell. Alex didn’t want to think too much about that. They’d probably both be killed - and they certainly wouldn’t be in any condition to run away afterwards.


Jason drew his pistol and moved to the corner of the building.


"Go on. You’re nearly there," Alex shouted as Neil inched his way along the guttering. At last he reached the downpipe and started climbing down.


Alex clicked his torch off and drew his pistol as lights began to flash through the kitchen window. Before Neil’s feet had touched the ground Alex grabbed him. "Let’s go!" he said in a loud whisper and hurried the group towards the footbridge.


"You OK?" he asked Neil and the boy gave a quick nod.


"Go and help your sister then," he said, putting him down. He went to help the other girl who was already starting to trail the others.


As they reached the far side of the river a shout went up, "They’ve got the girls, after them!"


As people came running from the building Jason dropped back to Alex. "I’ll lead ‘em off. Get on back to the car. See you in Adlersford in the mornin’."


"Thanks," Alex panted. "Take care."


"Follow me," Daniel called as he pushed through the hedge into the gardens of a posh block of flats, just across the river from the hotel.


"Do you know where you’re going?" Alex asked.


"This was my way to school," Daniel answered. "I know all the short cuts!"


As they ran through the gardens down towards the main gates, they could hear the shouts of the pursuers as Jason lead them away. They heard the sound of gunshots but there was nothing they could do.


Neil’s sister was keeping up but the other girl was struggling, though she refused any help. "Let’s walk," he whispered to the others. "It’ll be much quieter."


They ducked under the barrier at the front of the car park and peeped around the bushes towards the hotel, a couple of hundred yards down the road to their right. Somebody had brought a powerful lantern out into the street and figures were moving around it, shouting and gesticulating, but there didn’t seem to be any organised lookout.


"OK, said Alex, "We’re going to move across the road slowly and carefully. Put this on," he added, giving his coat to Neil’s sister. "Your t-shirt is too bright," he explained when she gave him a puzzled look.


It was agony to walk across the road in clear line of sight of the people by the hotel but their night vision had been utterly compromised by the flashing torches. Daniel led them into a passage down the side of the Methodist’s church. "Mind the dustbins," he whispered. The passage emerged into an empty pedestrian precinct and they stayed close to the shops on the right so that they could not be seen from the church tower.


Suddenly the silence was shattered first by one then by a prolonged series of gunshots from the direction in which Jason had vanished. Alex glanced at Daniel who shrugged and moved on. There was nothing they could do.


There was one last open space to be crossed - again at a controlled walk rather than a run - before they reached the relative safety of the supermarket car park. As they made their way inside, the utter darkness enfolded them and Alex had to switch on his torch, though he set it at its lowest level and held it close to the ground.


"You get in and drive," Alex said to Daniel when they reached the Land Rover. "I’ll give you a push across to the other end of the car park. It might give us another minute. The rest of you can get in too but don’t shut the doors. It’ll be too noisy."


As the girls got into the car, Neil came round to help him push, but Alex sent him round to the front with the torch to guide Daniel. Daniel carefully turned the key to allow him to steer and Alex was alarmed at how brightly the dashboard lights shone but they didn’t seem to attract any attention.


He slowly started to push the car across the car park. It was harder than he expected and when he reached the up-ramp he had to stop. He carefully got in the front passenger seat and quietly told Neil to get in the back.


"Everybody ready," he asked. "Seatbelts on? Then, as they say in all the best films, ‘Hit it’."


---

As Daniel fired up the motor Alex flicked the light switch and the Land Rover tore up the car park access ramp. By the time it reached the top it was travelling so fast that it almost left the ground.


They could hear the sound of gunshots from back at the hotel but it was so far away that they were certain that nobody could have any hope of hitting anything. Alex guessed it was just the group leaders trying to get everybody back together.


Daniel tore across the main central car park and, when they hit the ring road, Alex was surprised when he turned right, driving the wrong way down the dual carriageway, rather than left. "Erm, aren’t we planning on going home?" he asked.


"They’ll be following us," Daniel answered curtly, sliding two wheels onto the grass in the middle of a roundabout as he avoided a concertinaed mass of cars. "We don’t want to take them back to the house."


"Good thinking!" Alex said. He turned around in the seat and smiled at the girls as Daniel tore up toward the castle on the wrong side of the road.


"Hello," he said. "My name is Alex and this is Daniel. You’re Deeksha and..."


"Tracy," Deeksha answered. "We haven’t had a chance to thank you yet."


"Don’t mention it," said Alex. "It’s..."


"Danny!" he shouted as Daniel avoided another blocked junction by squeezing the car through an impossibly small gap with the wheels on one side on the pavement and on the other in a cycle lane.


They sped on up the hill towards the castle occasionally making detours to the wrong side of the road or the pavement to avoid obstacles without any noticeable loss of speed.


"Look out! Here comes trouble!" said Daniel. Alex looked back to see a high powered police car coming up behind them. It was closing on them rapidly."


"Hold tight," said Daniel as he swung onto the large grassy area where they had buried their families. He jumped over the kerb with no noticeable loss of speed and started to tear across the field. Over the grass, the police car was not able to draw any closer.


"Where are you going?" Alex shouted and then he realised what Daniel was planning. "We can’t get down..."


"I think we might," answered Daniel implacably. "They certainly won’t." He slowed considerably as he eased the car down an overgrown and heavily rutted track. At one point he had to drive the Land Rover up onto the bank to avoid a fallen tree.


Behind them, the police car initially started down the track but then they gave up.


The Land Rover bumped down the remainder of the track and emerged onto a slightly more reasonable track with houses on either side. "That should buy us a bit of time," he said as he accelerated onto the back road that led out to Mike’s cottage.


But the manoeuvre didn’t give them as much time as they had hoped. The driver clearly knew the back roads almost as well as Daniel and, after about a mile, the police car appeared out of a side road just behind them.


"Don’t worry," he said. "I can lose them on the track out past Mike’s place," but his calmness was somewhat shaken when he heard the ping of bullets bouncing off the Land Rover’s metalwork.


"Everybody get down!" Alex said urgently to the people in the back and they threw themselves flat.


"Do you think that you could discourage them from getting too close?" Daniel asked as he put his foot to the floor along a country lane. Alex wound down the window and fired a few shots back towards the car. He had no real hope of hitting anyone or anything – the Land Rover was bouncing around much too wildly for that – but at least it made the driver back off a little.


"Hold tight again," said Daniel as he moved almost onto the grass on the left before swinging over to jump onto the track up to Mike’s place. "Where are you going?" asked Alex. "This is definitely a dead end."


"Love the terminology," said Daniel, relaxing again as they eased away from the police car on the rough track. "It’s only a dead end if you think in terms of roads and things. This baby will take us anywhere." He patted the dashboard affectionately.


"It’s OK," he said to the three who were still lying flat on the back seat. We’re safe now. They bumped up the track, passing Mike’s cottage and, at the cross roads just above it turned right, heading back up the steep slope towards the castle.


"They might just get up here," he said as he continued up the slope, swerving from side to side to find the sections of track with the best grip, "but they certainly will not be able to follow us over this." As he turned left off the track he flicked a switch and the array of lights on the roof sprang into life and Daniel set off cross-country. The route was familiar to Alex from Mary’s walks round the cottage but he had never thought of taking a Land Rover that way.


"Ditch ahead," said Daniel, changing into the lowest gear and inching the vehicle over the obstacle, then relaxing as he sped down a narrow track through a woods.


"Barbed wire fence," he barked. "Neil, gloves and cutters are in the storage bin under the right hand bench. Would you get them please?"


Neil climbed over the back seat, retrieved the equipment and handed it to Alex.


"Do the honours, would you?" Daniel asked and Alex hurried round to cut the wire. There was, in truth, no need to hurry. The pursuers had abandoned the chase just past Mike’s cottage.


---


Dawn was breaking as Daniel eased the car round the smashed cars that concealed the road up the Pratch valley. Daniel turned off the car lights to minimise the danger of being spotted. He knew the road and could have driven it in the dark.


"Welcome," Alex said, turning round to the two girls sitting in the back as Pratch House came into view. Neil had fallen asleep, safe in his sister’s arms. "Of course you’re not under any obligation to stay with us but we hope you’ll want to make this your new home."


Deeksha gave her warmest smile of thanks. Tracy burst into tears.


----


Mary and Sandra were waiting for them. They both looked as if they had not slept. As Alex got out of the car, Mary caught him in a huge hug but after a moment she released him.


"Where’s Jason?" she asked, alarmed to see that he was not with them.


"It’s OK," Alex explained. "There was a gang of them chasing us and they were getting a bit close so Jason said he’d lead them off. I promised to go and collect him from Adlersford. "I’ll pop down there after I’ve had breakfast."


"You’re not going anywhere after breakfast," said Peter as he walked down the steps from the house with Denise.


"What?" asked Alex, genuinely surprised that Peter would contradict him like this.


"What would you say if one of us decided to go off on an expedition like that when we’d just missed two nights' sleep?"


Alex looked at Peter.


"I’d tell them not to be so stupid," he admitted with an embarrassed grin.


"Enough said," Peter laughed.


"But I think we need to post a lookout," Alex said. "They won’t be overjoyed at what we’ve done and they might decide that we need to be taught a lesson.


"The others can sort it," Peter reassured him." Mary may need to take school on her own today but it won’t be the first time she’s done that. Sam and Emily-Jane will help her, I’m sure."


"Right, that’s decided then," said Peter. "Harry and I will go... but first we need some introductions."


"I’m sorry!" Alex said to the girls who had got out of the Land Rover and were looking around, completely overcome by the scene. "These three ladies are Mary, Denise and Sandra. Mary is our school teacher, Denise is our nurse and Sandra works with Danny on collecting stuff we need. Peter here is our farmer and... and... our..."


"Vicar?" said Daniel.


Peter frowned but did not really look displeased at the description.


"And these two are Deeksha and Tracy. They’ve been through a pretty rough time lately but..."


"Can I come in there," Sandra said to Alex with a firm smile. She turned to the two newcomers.


"You can stay with this gang and go and have breakfast with them and they’ll be fun and loud and then a dozen little kids will appear with their questions.


"Or you can come down to our house in the village, have a quiet bath and a sleep and then meet everyone when you feel ready."


The two newcomers looked hugely relieved and Tracy started to cry again.


"Den, would you like to come with us," Sandra added. "And Dan," she said taking his hand, "I think they might be more comfortable if you stayed up here for a couple of days." She took the sting out of the request with a kiss on his cheek.


The two newcomers allowed themselves to be guided back into the car and Denise drove them back down to the village. Alex let out an enormous sigh then went off to find some breakfast and his bed.


---


Alex was disoriented when he woke up towards the end of the afternoon but after shaking the sleep out of his head he made his way downstairs.


He was delighted to hear Jason’s distinctive accent coming from the kitchen.


He walked in to find him drinking tea with Peter, Harry and Katherine.


"How are you doing, mate?" he asked, clapping him on the back. "We were a bit worried when we heard that shooting."


"I had to do somethin’ to get 'em away from you," Jason explained. "Dey weren’t too hot at playin’ ‘Hunt the Jason’."


"Thanks for that," Alex said as a cup of tea and a sandwich appeared in front of him. "They didn't find you, then!"


"Nah! Dey didn't get close. Dey don't know their way round town too good."


Jason described how he’d led the gang on a merry dance in the dark. At one stage he had even managed to get two groups shooting at each other.


"That's what we heard!" Alex exclaimed.


The sound of the Land Rover departing at high speed had grabbed the gang's attention and Jason had been able to slip comfortably out of town through some playing fields and then along a footpath. He had found a quiet garden shed where he managed to grab a couple of hours sleep.


He had woken at first light and made his way up the river to Adlersford. There had still been cars and motorbikes tearing about the town so he had avoided the roads, moving mostly through fields and back gardens.


It was still quite early when he arrived in Adlersford so he found a comfy armchair in an antique shop, just across the road from the church. He was hidden from view but could see anyone moving around in the high street.


"He nearly gave me a heart attack when he appeared just behind us!" Peter said.


"How are you feeling?" Alex asked Jason. "I'd like to go for another quick trip into town before dark to check up on what they're up to. We need to know whether they're planning to attack us."


"Does it have to be tonight?" Peter asked. "It's Christmas Eve."


Alex stared at Peter in silence for several seconds. "It can't be," he said at last. "I haven't got anything ready."


The table collapsed in laughter.


"OK!" Alex said, joining in the laughter. "Maybe you can't postpone Christmas just because I'm not ready but I need presents for Hanna and Gregory at least."


"Don't worry about it!" Peter said. "Various people here have been making Christmas plans for weeks and I know that Mary has thought about Hanna and Gregory. They'll have something to open tomorrow morning."


Alex let out a sigh of relief but found himself thinking that he would quite like to find a present for Mary.


He was disturbed by an explosion of noise as Mary let the Tiddlers out of class.


Hanna ran into the living room and jumped onto him, bubbling over with excitement. "Guess what we drew on your card!" she said. "It's a secret!"


"You aren't supposed to tell him!" Gregory said as he came over. Alex stretched out his arm to give Gregory a hug.


"Did I hear you lot singing just now?" he asked, deliberately changing the subject.


"We're singing Carol in church tomorrow," Gregory informed him, "in our nativiny play."


"I'm very much looking forward to it!" he said, giving the two another hug, "I have to pop off now for a bit but I should be back in time for tea. Come on, Jason!"


----


The evening shadows were starting to lengthen as Alex and Jason crawled up the castle ramparts and peered down into the town below.


At first nothing seemed to have changed but, after only a couple of minutes, it was clear that security had become much tighter.


The lookout on the church tower was spending his time looking out, rather than huddling in the doorway trying to keep warm. The foot patrols were no longer chatting and smoking. As they paced through the town they were looking around, peering into alleyways and, behind bushes. A barrier had been put up completely blocking their cycle path.


"Looks like someone knows what der doin'." Jason commented quietly.


"I wouldn't fancy trying to get anybody out of there at the moment," Alex agreed.


They were disturbed by the sound of a motorbike coming up the main road towards the castle. At first they thought nothing of it but when it slowed then turned into the castle entrance Alex froze.


He was thrown into action by Jason who almost picked him up and half dragged him down the ramparts. Together they dived underneath some low bushes at the base of the walls. As Alex tried to control his breathing he heard the familiar sound of Jason drawing back the bolt on his rifle.


The motorcycle went across the drawbridge behind them, driving into the central castle keep. After a couple of minutes, they heard somebody climbing up the steps inside the castle then, by looking up through the foliage, they could glimpse a figure on the walls of the castle behind them. He was looking out over the town.


Though they knew they could not possibly be seen it was still uncomfortable, lying under a bush with hostile eyes straight above you.


After a couple of minutes, the figure walked off round the battlements to the right. Jason crawled out from under the bush and, staying low, gestured for Alex to do the same.


When the figure had disappeared from sight, the two hurried back up the ramparts. As they reached the top Jason threw himself flat, crawling over the top, and Alex did the same. They wanted to avoid their silhouettes being highlighted against the evening sky.


Once they were over the ridge, they could make their way around the ramparts without being visible from the castle keep. They would just have to trust to luck - and to the lengthening evening shadows - to avoid being seen from town.


They gradually made their way around the steep ramparts, keeping low against the grassy face. Once they were far enough round to avoid being seen from the centre of town they could move more easily but Jason crawled up to the top of the ramparts a couple of times to check that the motorcyclist had not moved.


At last they made it to the path back to Mike's cottage and, after a short and utterly exposed run, they were concealed behind bushes and heading back home.


----


There was a real mood of celebration round the table that evening. The girls had come up from the village and their dining table, which had looked so enormous when they first arrived, was completely full.


Alex was amazed when Katherine appeared carrying a huge tray of sizzling lamb.


"Where did this come from?" he asked as he tucked into a deliciously juicy chop.


"It’s the present from Aberystwyth," Katherine explained. "If we eat up the bits and pieces today then we can have proper roast lamb tomorrow and maybe shepherd’s pie on Boxing Day with the leftovers."


"You think there’ll be leftovers?" Peter asked.


"Who..." Alex began before realising that there was no way of completing the question diplomatically.


"I did," Daniel answered, "I learnt the basics when we were up in Aberystwyth."


"With an alarmingly large amount of help from Emily-Jane," Denise added. "We need to talk about that. I’ve not yet made up my mind whether it’s healthy or not, having her involved with slaughterhouse duties."


"Anyway, it’s delicious," Alex said, spooning more mint sauce onto his plate. "You must thank Aberystwyth next time you talk to them, Brian.”


After dinner, the Tiddlers gathered at one end of the table and sang a couple of the carols that they had been learning. As Alex sat back, enjoying the music, he saw that Neil had climbed onto Deeksha’s knee and, as he looked round the happy room, he found tears forming in the corners of his eye. As Mary led the excited group off to bed, he let out a huge sigh.


"What’s up, mate?" Peter asked, clapping him heavily on the shoulder.


"I don’t know," Alex answered. "It’s just, looking at this and... with everything... Well, I reckon we’re doing OK here.


"We’re doing OK!" Peter agreed with a smile.


Alex was amazed at how quickly Mary persuaded the children to settle down and, as soon as it was quiet upstairs, the dining room sprang into action. Harry and Peter dragged a huge tree in through the fire door and boxes of decorations appeared as if by magic.


Alex tried to help but found he was just getting in the way so he went into the kitchen where Deeksha and Neil were washing up.


"How's it going?" he asked her as he grabbed a tea-towel.


"Fine, thanks," she replied. She thought for a moment. "In fact more than fine. It’s as if we’ve landed on the only island of civilisation left in the world."


"There are a couple of others but I know what you mean," Alex said.


They were quiet for a while.


"And how’s Tracy?" Alex asked at last.


She was quiet for a surprisingly long time. "I don’t really know," she answered at last. "It might sound strange, seeing as we were locked up together for weeks, but I don’t really know her very well... I mean, through all that time, I knew why I had to survive: I had to get back to Neil. Tracy didn’t have anything like that. She just sort of collapsed and she hasn’t come out of it yet."


Alex glanced through the serving hatchway into the living room where Tracy was still sitting at the table, staring into space, and nodded.


"We’ll just have to give her time," he said. "I don’t know what else we can do."


When Alex and Deeksha had finished, they went back through to the living room. They hardly recognised the place. Brightly coloured streamers hung from the ceiling and every surface seemed to have candles or gold-painted pine cones. Daniel and Sandra were putting the finishing touches to the tree and, out in the entrance hall, Harry and Katherine were weaving green branches into the staircase.


"Where did you find all the decorations?" Alex asked.


"From down in the village," Daniel laughed. "There’s no shortage. Every house has a couple of boxfuls hidden away. The problem is finding things that satisfy someone’s high standards." He smiled affectionately at Sandra.


"It’s got to be right," she insisted, standing back then moving a bauble a couple of inches to the right. "Or you might as well not bother."


As midnight approached, most of the group moved over to the chapel. Alex found it strange to be settling down to one of Peter services, without the presence of a gang of fidgety Tiddlers but, by the light of flickering candles, the Christmas night service, which is always uplifting, was particularly intense.


----


The next morning, Alex was woken by a hubbub of excited whispering from below. It had been a short night but he felt better for it. It made a pleasant change to have spent it in his bed.


When he heard the sound of older people moving about, he hauled himself to his feet and went downstairs. The Tiddlers were supposed to stay in their dorms but he did see one of the twins scurrying back from the boy’s room.


As usual, Harry was already downstairs and had a cup of tea waiting and, within a couple of minutes, the rest had appeared, with Mary leading the Tiddlers. She managed to restrain them for one carol before they exploded on the presents under the tree like a tidal wave. Wrapping paper started flying everywhere.


He was mildly surprised when Gregory came up carrying a large present for him. “It’s from Mary and Sandra,” Gregory told him.


“Thank you,” he said to the two. “I feel even worse now that I didn’t get anything for you.”


“That’s quite alright, we understand,” Mary answered with a smile. “In fact, I’m not sure they really count as presents but I’m sure they’ll be useful.” Intrigued, he started to unwrap it, doing his best to save the paper.


The parcel contained a two compartment rucksack. He could tell from the weight that the lower section was already packed and, on investigation, he found it contained the same sort of emergency supplies that were in Mary’s rucksack. “There’s food and things for three days in case any of us get stranded and have to walk home,” Sandra explained. “We thought you’d be able to put your medical stuff in the top bit.” Alex looked around and saw that old the Minors had been given similar rucksacks – Emily-Jane and Neil too.


After investigating his rucksack for a few minutes, Alex was sitting back and watching as James attempted to wrap Jess in wrapping paper when he saw that the twins were edging towards the huge, brightly coloured parcel that Daniel had put under the tree.


"Who’s it for?" he asked them.


"‘Ev’ somebody," one of them answered, looking at the label. "We can’t read it ‘cos it’s a hard word." Her fingers started to inch back towards the wrapping paper.


"You can’t open it if it’s not for you," said Mary, who was sitting at the table drinking tea.


Melanie was quickly summoned and announced that the present was from Daniel and was for everybody. That was enough for Caroline and the wrapping paper started to fly off.


It quickly became clear that it was the biggest box of chocolates that any of them had ever seen. "Where on earth did you find that?" Alex asked Daniel.


"We found this really posh chocolate shop on the way up to Colchester," he told them. "We couldn’t resist."


"They’re all going to be sick!" Katherine said.


"But isn’t the main message of Christmas?" Daniel asked with a cautious smile towards Peter. "If you eat too much chocolate you end up feeling sick."


"I think that’s what the Rev. David would have described as a ‘theological grey area’," Peter answered with a smile.


"Rachel and Rebecca, those are not to be opened until after lunch!" Katherine said with an unfamiliar firmness as the twins started to undo the ribbon holding the box shut. "You two can come and help me with breakfast now, please!"


Grumbling, the two went to do as they had been told.


After breakfast, Peter had a surprise when Daniel came up to him when he was on his way up to the chapel to get ready for his Christmas service. "My Gran always used to bully us into going to church at Christmas," he began sheepishly, "so I sort of feel I ought to... if you don’t mind."


"You're more than welcome," Peter answered. "It's not 'my' church, anyway. At best, I’m a sort of caretaker. Besides," he added with a grin, "think about the opportunities this is going to give me to tease you!"


During the service the Tiddlers performed their nativity play. In spite of stern frowns from Mary, Alex found it difficult not to laugh as the budding thespians practiced their craft. When Rose appeared as the baby Jesus he almost collapsed. At least Alice, who was playing Mary, was sufficiently practiced at holding Rose that the Little Lord Jesus did not cry.


But then the little children gathered round, forming the nativity scene, and sang their simple carols. As their voices rose, Alex thought back over what they had all been through since last Christmas. He was not the only one wiping tears from his eyes.


Peter gave a short but poignant sermon about the importance of rebirth and the chances it gave them to build a better world. Then, with a couple more hymns and prayers, the service was over.


"I was almost sure that Jesus was supposed to be a boy!" Daniel said to Peter as they made their way out of church at the end of the service, "or is that another one of those theological grey areas?"


---


Alex and Mary had one last look around the chapel at the end of the service, to make sure all the candles had been blown out, before they strolled back to the house together. "I didn’t get the chance to thank you for organising those presents for Hanna and Greggy,” Alex said. “And I really should have got something for you."


"That’s quite alright," Mary answered with a smile. "I understand. You’ve been so busy, the last couple of days.” She thought for a moment. "In fact," she gave an uncharacteristic giggle, "there is something you can give me right now, if you like."


"Anything!" he answered.


He was pulled towards her and she kissed him warmly. All his cares and worries seemed to disappear.


They were disturbed by the sound of giggling from the top of the stairs and, just for a moment, he felt like strangling the twins.


---

Katherine had popped back to the kitchen a couple of times during the service and the House was filled with the delicious smell of roasting lamb.


Alex looked around the room and smiled. The Tiddlers were still in their Nativity costumes and other people seemed to have dressed up for the occasion. Brian had even put on a tie. Emily-Jane was proudly wearing the new moccasins that she and Harry had made.


While nobody went hungry, Katherine was normally quite careful with their food supplies. Today, however, the table was full. There were even Peter's first parsnips. They were quite small and rather wormy but tasted delicious, roasted in the lamb fat.


Mary was unobtrusively telling off the twins for feeding the dogs on table scraps. "But Uncle Alex does it," one of them responded.


"Well you'd better warn Uncle Alex not to let me catch him doing it!" Mary said with mock severity. "But you need to be careful - that's getting awfully close to telling tales, isn't it?"


Tracy was the only person who did not look happy and Alex was not surprised that, after she had finished eating, Sandra took her back down to the village.


When everyone else had finished, including Neil who had a prodigious ability to make food disappear into his skinny frame, Alex got to his feet.


"Sorry, folks," he began, But I think a speech is called for.


"The first thing to say is ‘thank you, Katherine’ not just for this wonderful Christmas lunch but for the largely unrecognised work you do for us all in the kitchen. I, quite literally, don’t know what we’d do without you."


"We’d be living off your cheezy beanz!" Peter shouted.


Alex grinned at him. "Anyway, thank you!" he went on.


"Now I’m glad that we could all sit down together for Christmas – one big family. It’s been a lot of hard work but what we have here," he looked up and down the table, "is worth working for... worth looking after... worth building.


"It’s a good time, to think about people who are less fortunate than us. I’m sure there are others about who aren’t like that gang up in town. So let’s keep looking," he smiled down towards Daniel and Sandra.


"Before it gets dark, I suggest we get out for a walk. So, all you Tiddlers, and anyone else who’s not involved in clearing up the kitchen – could you get changed into outside clothes then be back downstairs in five minutes."


"Katherine!" he said quite firmly when she started to tidy together the dishes. "You’ve already done plenty in the kitchen today. You’re either going on the walk or going to put your feet up. You’re not allowed back in the kitchen today... well, maybe for a few minutes before tea to supervise but nothing else!"


"I’m on it!" Harry laughed as he started collecting the plates.


----


Though it was fine, the ground was still very wet following recent rain so Alex suggested they go up the road then along the track at the back of the house. This had the added advantage that it would allow them to look out over the valley for any signs of activity.


The little group slowly made its way, up the hill behind the house. It was quite a short climb but steep in places and Alex was pleased to see that Sam was pushing Rosie’s pram without being asked. Once they reached the top, they turned left into a small wood. Most of the children ran around, playing some sort of noisy game but Gregory was chatting with Alex. He had just asked why the ground went up and down instead of just being all flat and Alex was struggling to give a sensible answer.


He was of the point in asking Brian for help when he was disturbed by a shout from James. "Jess found a car! It's under a pile of tree."


"Come away," Mary said quite sharply. "That means you, too, Rebecca," she said as one of the twins started edjing towards the pile. "Could you all come and stand with me, a minute?"


"There are sometime frightening things in cars," Denise explained calmly to the Tiddlers.


"I'm not 'fraid of frightened things," James informed them. "I just 'pow' them!"


"You’re still staying with us," Mary told him firmly.


Alex called to Peter and the two of them went to investigate the pile. There was a car hidden underneath it and it was immediately obvious that it had arrived recently. Somebody had deliberately hidden it under freshly cut branches. Alex looked at it for a few seconds when he made a decision.


"OK, we’re going straight back," he said, checking the pistol that he always wore at his waist when he was out of the House, “Jason and Peter to the front; Daniel and me to the rear." He was very pleased with the way in which Neil and Emily-Jane immediately moved to help Denise to keep the Tiddlers together. As they walked back down the hill, the Tiddlers were very quiet, picking up on the reactions of the others.


As soon as they got back, Alex called Jason, Daniel and Peter together.


"So, dat’s like the end of Christmas," Jason commented with a sigh.


"Well, not quite the end, even if it feels like it," Alex said. "But I think we need someone up on the roof; full-time look-out until dark."


"I’m on it," said Jason, heading for the stairs.


"We can share it out a bit,” Alex shouted after him. “I’ll be up there in half an hour."


---

When Alex came back downstairs after his half hour on the roof, he found Deeksha sitting on a sofa with her feet curled up under her. He went over to join her.


"I’m sorry there were no presents for you," he said.


She smiled across at Neil who was sitting in an armchair with Emily-Jane. Together they were looking at a book that he had been given for Christmas. "I couldn’t imagine a better present than that!" she assured him.


Alex laughed. "There is something that I thought you might like to see," he said. "Did you know that we had been down to Compton?"


She shook her head.


"We hoped we might find you there... and left you a note, telling you where to find us"
Deeksha nodded.


"When we were there, we help Neil to make a memory box.


"A what?"


"We got a box together for each of the Tiddlers with photos and precious things to help them to remember where they come from. We helped Neil to make one too. Should I go and get it?"
Deeksha’s face lit up.


Half an hour later, Alex looked on as Deeksha, Neil and Emily-Jane sat side-by-side on the sofa, working their way through the box’s contents with obvious delight.


Though the photos and the statues from the family shrine had brought excitement, joy and some tears, it was the ancient, battered book that had brought a squeal of joy.


"What is that?" Brian asked. "Neil made it very clear that it was important but he didn’t manage to explain what it was all about. Is it something religious?"


"I supposed you could argue that, for my dear, departed mother it was almost religious,” she laughed. “It’s her cookery book with recipes handed down from at least four generations." She paused, wiping a tear from her eye. "Next to knowing that Neil and me are safe, nothing would make her happier than knowing that I’ve got this!"


She carefully looked through a few pages of the book. "I know!" she suddenly said. "I’m going to cook you a proper Indian meal as a thank-you for everything you’ve done for us."


"I’ll help," said Brian. "I’d love to see how it’s done."


"I’m sorry," she answered. "No men are allowed in the kitchen. That’s the whole point. We go in there to gossip about you lot."


"Not sure we should allow that!" said Peter in mock seriousness. "It sounds alarmingly like there might be giggling."


"Almost guaranteed," said Deeksha with a smile, "and the best thing is that you’ll never find out anything about it. ‘What’s said in the kitchen stays in the kitchen’."


"What do you think about New Year’s Eve?" Alex suggested. "Sounds like a good excuse for a big celebratory meal."


----


As usual, Harry had volunteered to take the first watch. When he woke up, Alex needed to talk things over so he made a couple of cups of tea and went up to join him on the roof.


"What do you think about this car?" he asked.


"Looks like someone’s got their eye on us," Harry responded in his typical terse manner.


"And are probably watching us now," Alex added, half to himself.


"Won’t see much in this stuff," Harry observed, nodding out at the heavy fog filling the valley.


"We need to go and have a look around, up on the ridge," Alex said, almost to himself. "But what do we do if we find someone? I can’t imagine shooting someone just for wandering around with a pair of binoculars."


"Might just be bird watchers." Harry raised his eyebrows.


After breakfast, Alex convened a full ‘military council’ and invited Deeksha to join them, to tell them as much as she could about the gang.


It had about fifteen members. The leader, Curly, had two deputies – and they were the only ones allowed on the second floor of the hotel. They seemed to have plenty of guns but ammunition was starting to run out. She had seen Curly beat one of the younger boys for wasting it.


"So they might attack us to get more ammunition," Denise said .


"It’s much more than that," Deeksha answered sharply. "We were Curly‘s trophies. When you freed us, you hurt his pride and undermined his position in the gang."


"So you think he’s likely to attack us?"


"The second he knows where you are," she answered. "He has to."


"So how does that work with the car on the ridge?" Daniel asked.


"I don’t know," Deeksha answered. "Maybe it’s someone else completely."


"Harry thought they might be Bird watchers!" Alex said with a smile. "It’s another reason why we can’t just shoot them on sight, though."


"OK," said Alex after a couple of moment’s thought. "I think we need patrols out on the ridge every day from now on. We can’t stop people from watching us but we can make it uncomfortable for them."


"What about going into town to see what they're up to?" Daniel asked.


"I think we should try to have a look but not get too close," Alex answered. "It’s not worth the risk. Jason, could you deal with that for us, please?"


"Sure."


"I think the watch on the roof has got to go full time, too," Alex said. “No doing other stuff while we’re up there.”


"That’s going to really eat into our time," Peter observed.


"I know," Alex replied. "But security has got to come first."


For the next week there were no signs of a threat from the gang. Jason went down into town several times to observe but there didn’t seem to be anything afoot. He did notice that the security patrols remained much more serious than they had been and, on one occasion, he saw the gang practicing military-style manoeuvres.


---

Deeksha spent most of the next few days making preparations for her special meal. She spent hours searching through the more obscure corners of the tin collection and Emily-Jane was dispatched to slaughter a couple of chickens.


She even persuaded Jason and Daniel to make a visit to the big out-of-town supermarket on their way back from another visit to observe the gang. She needed some particular herbs and spices that were not in Katherine’s collection. They came back with four large boxes. "We were in a hurry," Daniel explained, "and it was too complicated to work out what’s what so we just grabbed the lot. Herbs and things keep for ages - and somehow that gang in town don’t look like they use an awful lot of oregano."


"What are they doing about cooking?" Alex asked.


"Mostly they just eat stuff straight out of tins," she explained, "but occasionally a couple will be sent off to catch a cow or a sheep or something and they roast it over an open fire."


"Marvellous," observed Brian from the other side of the room. "It’s only been about six months and they’re already well on their way back to the Stone Age!"


He turned back to his book but, after a couple of moments, looked up again. "In the middle ages, pepper was worth more than its weight in gold," he said. "Those spices might end up being the most valuable things we possess."


"What?" Daniel asked, astonished by this information.


"Do you fancy popping over to Asia to collect more pepper?" he asked. "It won’t grow round here!"


"I see what you mean!" Daniel answered.


----


It was New Year’s Eve and, for most of the day, the girls had been ensconced in the kitchen. Occasionally Emily-Jane or Sandra would sally forth to track down particularly obscure ingredients but the boys were left alone with the Tiddlers.


In the morning Alex helped Brian to run school. The Tiddlers were too excited to do any real learning but they were kept busy with semi-educational games, painting and singing.


After a simple lunch, Alex was on duty up in the guard room. It was a bit gloomy with heavy clouds that threatened rain. He spent a long time scanning the surrounding area, particularly the ridge behind the house, for signs of life but there were none – not even dogs which were becoming a significant hazard. At first the house was silent, as the Tiddlers had their nap, but it suddenly exploded into noise, as Peter took them down into the lower field for boisterous games.


But, being the end of December, the days were short and it was soon too dark to see. He came down into the dining room to find that Harry had organised a competition between groups of Tiddlers to see who could build the tallest tower using wooden building blocks. Peter and Alex started to help and were getting quite competitive until Brian pointed out that, when the towers collapsed, the Tiddlers were going to have blocks raining down on their heads.


Quieter games followed and Alex settled in an armchair next to the roaring fire to read one of his books. The atmosphere was calm and comfortable and, the next thing he knew, Samantha was telling everybody to get ready for dinner.


The meal was wonderful – a complete contrast to anything they had eaten for months. There were over a dozen dishes ranging from sweet and fruity to almost uneatably hot and spicy. There were little deep fried pastries and sweet and spicy breads.


As the girls had spent most of the day cooking, Alex had insisted that the boys at least do the washing up. There was still a large group in the kitchen, singing raucously, when Denise came in. She looked troubled.


"Daniel," she said, "I need your help, tomorrow. I have to find a reasonably intact pharmacy."


"What on earth do you need?" Alex asked, astonished at the request. "Surely we’ve got everything we need upstairs in the surgery?"


"We haven’t," Denise snapped. "I’ve checked, of course. I can’t tell you any more so please stop quizzing me get organising.”


The room fell silent.


Denise took a deep breath “I’m sorry,” she said. “That was rude. I’m really cross but it’s not your fault. You’ll have to trust me on this. It’s important but I can’t tell you any more."


Alex looked at her for a moment then turned to Daniel. "Is there anywhere you can think of, not in town of course?" he asked.


"There’s a reasonably intact place in Adlersford," Daniel answered. "No prescription stuff left but everything else is pretty much OK."


He looked at Denise again and she nodded. It was closer to town than he would have liked but she knew this. He would trust her judgement.


"OK, full military expedition," he said. “Jason, Dan and me, fully armed plus Den; just the one Landy but everyone takes their emergency rucksacks in case we need to walk home."


---


Alex nervously scanned the countryside on his side of the Land Rover and, though she was not armed, Denise was doing the same on her side. Jason, in the front seat, seemed to be trying to look all ways at once.


After studying the map with Daniel, Alex had chosen a route to the pharmacy which kept them as far as possible from town. They had also worked out several alternative return routes, one of which was almost completely off road to be used if they had to walk home.


Daniel drove with an unfamiliar gentleness as they approached Adlersford, acutely aware of how the engine noise would carry through the silent countryside. He turned off the engine and allowed the car to roll down the last hill before parking in an alleyway next to the pharmacy.


"Let me go in first," he said as they climbed out of the car.


He stood for a few seconds studying the smashed doorway before stepping through into the shop. He looked around for a few more moments then turned round. "It’s OK," he called back. "Nobody’s been here."


As Denise went into the shop, Jason automatically stood guard outside, continuously looking round for possible threats. Daniel went back to the car to collect a stack of empty plastic boxes.


"We might as well strip the place whilst we’re here," he commented.


Denise quickly found what she was looking for and started helping the others to strip the shelves. "How long will antiseptic liquid last?" she asked.


"I don’t know," Alex answered. "It’s hard to imagine it being attacked by bugs but it might break down chemically. We’ll have to ask Brian."


"Just grab it," Daniel said, busy loading soap into one of the boxes. We’ve got plenty of room in the car."


"Toothbrushes," Denise announced in a satisfied tone as she moved along the aisle. She was sure that they would never have too many toothbrushes.


----


A week later, half an hour before dawn, Alex and Jason were huddled on top of one of the shipping containers near the back wall. They were going out on patrol. They had been up for an hour, though they had been careful to avoid unusual use of the lights. As Harry was normally awake at this time, at least they had light in the kitchen.


Harry came down with them and gave them a hand to climb over the back wall. Anybody expecting them to come out of the front gate was in for a surprise. Jason and Alex climbed down and then Harry lowered Shauna down in a harness that he had constructed for this purpose. After being given a little bit of time to get used to the device, he was now prepared to suffer this indignity without a fuss.


Silently waving to Harry, they made their way up the little valley at the back of the house, trusting to the low bushes and wispy mist to hide them from any observers. When the valley turned to the left, they crossed the stream and headed along the side of a hedge up towards a small wood. This felt very exposed because the hedge was quite thin and not tall. Nevertheless, Alex forced himself to move steadily; a fast moving target is much easier to spot.


Once they were in the wood, they could move more freely. Jason knew these woods very well and, though there were no paths, he led them by a comfortable route up towards the ridge.


Alex was glad to be climbing so steeply. Since Christmas, he had been out on a couple of patrols with Jason but this was the first time that they had been out so early. Though he was wearing light gloves, his fingers were starting to feel numb.


There was an ancient trackway along the top of the ridge but Jason led them straight across it into the field beyond. Walking was more difficult here but there was less chance of being seen.


They started to work their way back along the ridge towards the road. The morning, though cold, was beautifully clear and there were several places where they could look down into the valley and see Pratch House.


They started to make their way down a long, gentle slope to the low point on the ridge where the Pratch Valley road crossed. Suddenly Shauna pricked up his ears and began to bound forwards.


With loud, excited barks, he squeezed through the fence then bounded down the track. After fifty yards he dived into the bushes on the far side, tail wagging.


Alex could hardly avoid laughing as two boys came tumbling out onto the path, tripping over bushes in their haste to get away. Shauna followed, making loud, excited barks.


He froze as one of the boys raised a shotgun but the other reacted quickly. "We’re supposed to stay hidden,” he snapped. “This one doesn’t look that dangerous. Let's get out of here. We can come back when it's gone."


In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Alex had difficulty not laughing as Shauna went bounding down the slope after the boys. He just wanted to play but the two could not see it.


When the boys were almost out of sight, Alex stood up, and called Shauna back. They boys spun in panic and saw him holding his rifle in the ‘ready' position.


The younger boy raised his shotgun but the older one slapped it to one side. "He's got a rifle!" he said. "If you do anything stupid, we're both dead."


"I'm glad you spotted that," Alex said. "And I don't want to kill you because I want you to take a message back to that gang of yours in town: 'Stay away! Keep out of this valley and off this ridge. If we see any of you lot up here again, we'll shoot with no warning. Is that clear?"


The boys nodded.


"Can we collect our stuff?" the younger boy asked.


"You want anything you come up the road like civilised people and knock on the door,” Alex responded. “Now get lost. I'm losing my patience."


The two boys hurried down the track. As soon as they were out of sight, Alex went across and found their camp whilst Jason kept watch. It was set in a small open area with a fine view over the valley and down to the house. There was a small tent, set back amongst the bushes, where it could not be seen from below.


Alex quickly packed the camp together, loading everything into two rucksacks he found, then he went back to join Jason.


"Do we hang around here to see whether they come back?" Jason asked.


"Not worth it," Alex answered. "I doubt whether they're going to come back now and, in any case, we've got to assume they've seen everything."


Hitching up the rucksacks, the two set off down the hill.

[garethn]

08 Curly Headed Cavalier


It was still dark when Alex was woken by loud, insistent barking from Shauna. He climbed reluctantly from the bed in the boy’s dorm office, pulled on a pair of trousers and went out onto the landing to see what was the matter.


Shauna was standing alert, with his hackles raised and staring out of the balcony window at the front of the house.


"What is it, old boy?" Alex asked rubbing the back of hid neck but he was not interested. He took a few steps towards the balcony doors and stared out, letting out a low, menacing growl.


"What’s the matter?" Brian asked, coming down the stair from his bedroom in the attic.


"I don’t know," Alex answered curtly. "Get up on the roof and take your rifle."


"Sam,” he added as the girl came out of her dormitory, "go with Brian and let me know what’s going on." The two hurried upstairs together.


He collected his revolver belt from the armoury cupboard and went out onto the balcony. He couldn’t quite say what, but something didn’t feel right.


Sam came almost tumbling down stairs. "We can’t see anything but there’s something out there; some sort of noise."


"OK," Alex said decisively, "we’re going to trust Shauna. Sam, go and ring the alarm bell then get yourself down into the cellar"


As the bell started to ring, the house exploded into action. Alex felt distinctly uncomfortable as Mary took her rifle from the gun cupboard, and made her way up to the roof. He knew that she was still their best shot but it didn’t feel right. He saw Emily-Jane take her knife from the cupboard as she helped Denise to hurry the Tiddlers downstairs.


“What’s up?" he asked as he joined Jason on the front balcony. In spite of the babble of activity behind him he was starting to hear the noise too.


“Dunno,” Jason answered, "I’m gonna ‘ave a look." Before Alex could say anything, he leaned over the side of the balcony and nimbly lowered himself down to the ground then ran, bent almost double, towards the front wall.


"Take care, Jason’s out there!" he shouted up to Brian and Mary on the roof. "Can you see anything?"


"There’s something moving up there," Brian shouted back down, "but I can’t tell..."


His words were ripped away by an almighty explosion out by the front gate. The gate was blasted off its hinges and thrown five yards into the garden. The entire corner of the garden was enveloped in smoke."


There were brief flickers of activity from within the fog then the rumbling noise started again - much louder now. Then, trundling towards them out of the fog was what looked like a home-made tank. Sheets of steel had been welded to the front and side of a large truck which, in spite of its weight, was managing to trundle forwards along the gravel drive.


For a moment everything froze but then he heard the sound of shooting from the roof. He could distinctly see the bullets hitting the vehicle but they were bouncing off with no effect.


"Aim for the tyres," Brian shouted from above. Alex knew he had no chance of hitting the tiny exposed area of tyres with his pistol so he watched as the two on the roof took slow, measured shots at their target.


Little puffs of gravel flew up until one of the shots was matched by a small explosion from the tyre as Mary hit. "Well done!" shouted Brian. The improvised tank’s engine roared for a moment as the naked wheel bit into the gravel and it skewed sideways.


There was silence then Alex was forced to duck back by a volley of shots from behind the tank. He looked back out again to see a group of boys running out from behind their tank and charging down the drive towards the stable block.


From the roof there came the unmistakable sound of the SA80s rattling the house in three shot bursts. Those things were bad enough when you were behind them. Alex did not want to think about what it felt like to be on the receiving end.


Alex joined in, his well-practiced instincts taking over as he took slow considered aim at the moving targets.


Within moments two of the boys had fallen. One of the boys halted, turned and ran back towards the gate but he hadn’t made it half way before back before he, too, was shot.


At first Alex couldn’t understand it. He knew he hadn’t shot at the boy and he was fairly certain that neither Brian nor Mary would aim at someone who was running away.


By the time he had realised that the boy had been shot by someone on his own side, the rest of the gang had made it to the cover of the low wall which ran along the side of the driveway down to the playground and stables.


For a while there was a surreal silence broken only by occasional shots from the front of the house but Alex couldn’t think they were hoping to hit anyone. This silence was shattered by another furious round of shooting, this time from the back of the house. He desperately wanted to go back to see what was going on but he held his position, keeping watch over the incapacitated tank.


As he stood watching, the slow realisation drifted over him that he had just tried to kill someone. His stomach churned and he had to fight to get his mind back on business.


Suddenly he was shaken by another explosion, this time from the back of the house. When he heard a frantic scream of "They’re inside the house!" he couldn’t stand it anymore and ducked back inside, looking down from the lading on the staircase and entrance hall below.


Sam was lying, prone, on the stairs. She was battered and bleeding but from a quick look she didn’t seem to be too badly hurt.


But only feet away from her, an unknown boy was walking through the entrance hall. Incongruously, he was carrying a small suitcase in one hand but, as the boy advanced, Alex's eye was quickly drawn to the pistol in the other. Within seconds he would see Sam and then there could only be one outcome.


Time seemed to slow down as Alex took aim. Remembering Mike’s words. ‘Shoot straight and shoot to kill.’ He gently squeezed the trigger.


The shot was just too easy. The boy should have looked up.


Alex charged along the landing and almost tumbled downstairs in his hurry to get to Sam. "You alright?" he asked in a low whisper.


She nodded.


Alex indicated with his thumb that she should go upstairs.


He was about to go down the hallway towards the back door when his attention was grabbed by a scream from Sam. She had been on the landing, but had ducked back towards the girl’s dorm.


She was furiously pointing towards the hallway. There was someone else coming. He had not yet learnt to shoot left handed so, to hit anything, he would have to expose himself to whoever was coming.


Alex took a deep breath then reached round the corner and blindly loosed a couple of shots. Hoping that would distract the attacker, he dived across the corridor. He had the briefest of glimpses of a second boy and, as he rolled into the relative safety of the tiddlers’ classroom, a couple of shots followed him.


Ducking down on one knee he risked a glimpse around the corner. He was going to shoot at the attacker but his eye was caught by a movement beind the boy. Emily-Jane was stalking him like one of her bunnies.


He did not dare to aim at the boy - Emily-Jane was just behind him - so instead he aimed above his head in the hope that he could, at least, distract him.


He ducked back as more shots rang out in his direction but suddenly the shooting stopped to be replaced by a horrific gurgling noise. He dodged around the corner again to see the boy lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood. He looked pathetically small and young.


Emily-Jane smiled at him for a moment then turned and walked calmly down the corridor. When she reached the shattered remains of their back door, she crouched down and slipped outside.


"Sam," he called up to the first floor landing, his eyes firmly fixed on the corridor down to the back door. "Are you there?"


"Yes,” a shaking voice replied.


"Go and warn the people on the roof that Emily-Jane is out in the back garden. I’m going out after her. Tell Harry to take my place on the balcony."


"OK."


Alex hurried down the corridor, carefully stepping over the figure on the ground but when tried to follow Emily-Jane out he was driven back by volley of bullets. He risked a glance around the doorframe. Three or four of the attackers were pinned down behind the playground wall by rifle fire from the roof.


Suddenly there was a strangled scream from one of the attackers just below him. There were a couple of shots in that direction but the attacker but they did not seem to hit anything. Alex caught a glimpse of Emily-Jane as she flitted through the rhododendrons and made her way round the corner of the house. As the attackers down in the playground were distracted, Alex dashed out of the door and, throwing himself flat, started to crawl along the terrace after her.


As he reached the corner of the house the calm was shattered by a scream of pure rage from up by the gate. Alex risked a look towards the front gate and saw three boys standing by the tank. He recognised Curly and another boy from the gang in the village but was astonished to see that the tall boy who always wore the long trench coat was Taylor, Jason's friend.


Tracy was walking down the drive towards them, her face incandescent with rage. The three were laughing at her. Alex aimed his pistol in their direction but they were too far away. A shot rang out and Tracy was thrown onto her back though she continued to shout and rage at them.


Then Emily-Jane was there and, in a flash of metal, first Curly then the other boy were down. Alex watched in slow motion horror as Taylor raised his shotgun and fired at her. She was thrown backwards and lay twitching on the ground. Alex jumped to his feet but before he could move, Jason had stepped out from behind the trees at the top of the garden and shot Taylor in the back.


Then silence... silence... silence. Nobody knew what to do.


And then Denise was there, carrying a first aid kit. She passed the five bodies with a slight shudder of horror and made her way down the drive.


"What did you think you were doing?" she demanded as she walked into the playground. She was quivering with rage. "What..." her voice dropped in volume but lost nothing of its passion or intensity, "did you think you were doing? Don’t you think there’s been enough death in the world yet?"


She walked up to the first of the bodies on the ground and checked at the neck for a pulse. "Dead," she said flatly before moving on to the next body.


She moved on to the next body. It was the boy that Emily-Jane had attacked. Denise didn’t even bother to check for a pulse on him. "Dead," she said.


One of the boys made a half-hearted move to point the gun at Denise but she was beyond fear. "Stop being stupid!" she snapped. "It’s over. The rest of you are all dead or dying."


She walked over to the next boy. He was apparently alive though he had blood spurting from a wound in his leg. She quickly took a dressing from her first aid kit and applied it to the wound. "You, come here," she snapped at one of the boys.


He approached as if under a spell.


"Put that down," she snapped at him when she saw that he was still holding a gun. "Press this hard. We might just save his life."


She stood up, surveyed the carnage then glowered at the three attackers. "What did you think you were doing?" Denise demanded angrily. The two who were not performing first aid had put down their weapons and were standing huddled together, as afraid of her fury as they had been of the flying bullets.


"You come in here without any warning or ultimatum. You turn our home into a battlefield, into a slaughterhouse. You terrify the little ones out of their minds and put us in a position where we had no choice but to kill you." She paused, glowering at them, daring any one of them to meet her eye.


The boys shuffled their feet nervously but said nothing. One had started to cry and they all looked very young.


"And for what?"


"We’d have given you food, if you’d ask for it, though there’s more food just lying around than we’ll ever be able to eat. We’d have shown you how to grow fresh stuff... helped you to find tools and seeds. Taught you how to catch and butcher animals. All you had to do was ask."


She glared at them in silence. All of them were now in tears.


"What are you going to do with us?" one of them asked at last.


"I don’t know," she barked at him. "That’s another thing that makes me so angry. I hate the guns and killing, hate them..." she paused before making a decision. "But I will personally put a bullet in each of your heads before I ever allow you to be a danger to us again."


There was a collective gasp from the rest of the Minors who had gathered at the top of the steps.


"Now I need..." she began but she was interrupted by a single heart-rending cry from the front of the house.


Alex hurried around the corner and ran up the drive towards the front gate then stopped.
Neil was kneeling on the ground. He was hugging a broken, crumpled, bloody rag doll and rocking her gently to and fro. A single tiny moccasin had fallen off and was lying on the floor next to them.


Alex knew he had to do something but he was frozen by his own anguish and despair.


Neil gently laid the figure on the ground and stood up. When he picked up the knife and moved purposefully towards the back of the house Alex was able to move again.


"No, Neil," he said, seizing him in his arms "No! No! No!" For a long time the little lad struggled and it took all Alex's strength to hold him but at last his will collapsed.


He continued to hold him as he began to shake and tremble with anguish and anger. "I don't care about them but I care about you," Alex explained gently. "You're not going to do anything to them."


He continued to hold him until Deeksha appeared. She gave a horrified cry when she saw the crumpled figure on the floor, then hurried over to Neil.


Alex released Neil into her arms then, with a sigh, turned around to see what he could do.
He hurried back down into the playground to the boy with the wounded leg. He was shocked to see how young he was. He looked as young as Neil.


"Let me have a look," he said to the boy who was trying to stop the flow of blood. The leg was a mess but might be able to save it.


"Get the pressure back on," he said.


Suddenly Jason came around the corner in floods of tears. "I couldn’t do it," he was sobbing. "I had to shoot him ‘cos I’m the army and I’m supposed to look after them but I couldn’t do it ‘cos he’s, like, my brother... and now they're dead."


Instantly, Denise seemed to switch. She ran up the stairs and, taking his hand, forced him to look at her. "That’s not something to be ashamed of," she insisted. "You should be glad you couldn’t bring yourself to just kill him. We’d have thought less of you if you had."


"But now they're dead."


"That’s true but it’s not your fault," said Denise emphatically. "There are a number of people responsible for the deaths but you’re certainly not one of them. I could blame myself for arguing so hard against us arming ourselves but it won’t help anyone." Her voice started to rise as her anger mounted again. "The people responsible are the ones who decided to turn our home into a battlefield. That wasn’t you and it wasn’t me!"


Alex stood up. "I'm sorry, Jason, but this has got to wait. I need Den now if we're going to have any chance of saving this boy's life.”


Denise released Jason's hand with a final squeeze and turned to Alex.


"Peter, you and Kat get the kitchen set up for an operation," Alex said consciously squashing his emotions and forcing himself into action. "Brian, we'll need the ether down here. We should knock him out before we try and move him. Harry, could you go and organise some sort of stretcher. Take Jason. Den, you supervise moving him."


They hurried to do what he had told them.


"And I’ve got to go and see how good a surgeon I am," he announced to nobody in particular as he walked up the stairs towards the house.


"Get the three split up as soon as possible," he said to Mary as she appeared at the top of the steps. We don’t want them preparing a story." With a sigh, he walked into their smashed up home.


---

Alex stood at the kitchen table on which the unconscious boy had been laid. The lad already looked impossibly pale. Denise stood opposite him and they were both wearing face masks, aprons and gloves from his father’s supplies.


Brian was at the end of the table, carefully dripping ether onto a mask over the boy’s face.
They had practiced the ‘performing an operation’ scenario a number of times but practicing with one of the more cooperative Tiddlers using a blunt pencil instead of a scalpel had completely failed to prepare him for the real thing.


"Could someone tell me what I think I’m doing here?" he asked his voice trembling. "I’m not yet sixteen and I am about to start hacking away at this guy’s leg on the basis of a couple of hours reading medical books. Who do I think I’m kidding?"


"You’re about to try and save his life," said Denise with astonishing calmness. "You’re the best chance he’s got. I don’t know as much about it as you but even I can see that he can’t go on losing blood like this. He’s going to die."


"But I can’t..." said Alex. "Remember the vow that Doctors make not to do any harm." He looked down and saw that his hands were trembling.


"He’s certainly going to die if we don’t do anything. How much worse can it get? If you can’t do anything then I’m going to have to saw off his leg then try to seal the wound with red hot metal."


Alex looked up, hoping to see a smile behind her mask but she was deadly serious. Denise caught his eye and, with terrifying coldness, said "You know me. I will do it."


"He’d die of shock."


"Probably, but, if you can’t help him, that’s his only chance," she stared at him with a frightening intensity. "His only chance!"


‘At least my hands have stopped shaking,’ he said to himself as he looked down at the wound again. He thought he knew what he had to do and certainly Denise was right. He was the lad’s best chance.


With the peculiar feeling that he was watching himself in a film, he told Denise to pass him a scalpel.


---


It was almost two hours later when Alex stumbled from their makeshift operation theatre onto the back terrace. He almost collapsed onto the ground, gulping in the cool air and fighting the urge to be violently sick. He could hear the children down in the lower field and, though they were more subdues than normal, the sense of tranquillity clashed starkly with the violence and drama that they had all just been through.


He must have dozed for a moment and was startled by the sound of small feet hurrying up the steps towards him. He looked up to see Gregory hurrying over towards him, his arms stretched out for a hug.


"Don’t touch me," he said urgently, softening the command with a smile. "It’s all right," he added "I’m just all covered in blood."


"Are you hurt?"


"No, it’s not my blood. I’ve been helping one of those lads who came this morning. He’d been shot."


Gregory thought about this for a moment. "Why were you helping the bad men?"


"All this and philosophy, too!" Alex murmured to himself with a smile. "You’re probably better talking to Peter about this sort of thing than me but basically I don’t think there are many people in this world who are all bad or all good. Most of us just do some good things and some bad things."


Gregory nodded.


"And I guess I’m hoping that the lad I helped is basically a good guy who’s made some bad choices."


"I think you’re an all good person," said Gregory, with a smile.


"You’ve got a fan club!" said Denise with a sad sigh, as she came out of the kitchen. "I think I might have to join it!"


"Don’t tease," pleaded Alex. "I’m too tired."


"I’m not teasing," she said. "Well, not really. You may well have just saved somebody’s life."


"How is he?"


"Alive!" she answered with a smile, "which was beyond my prayers when I first saw the blood spurting from his leg."


Alex turned to Gregory for a moment. "Would you buzz off for a minute, please?" he asked. "I need to talk with Denise about some things which aren’t very nice."


Gregory looked at them for a moment then nodded, smiled and scooted off to join the other children down in the lower field.


Alex turned back to Denise. "Would you really have sawn his leg off?" he asked.


"I think so," she said thoughtfully. "I hope so. But I was praying that I wouldn’t have to find out."


The two were quiet for a while.


"We’d better go and tidy up," said Alex with a sigh, moving to get up. "We left the kitchen in a rare old state. Kat…"


"It was Kat and Peter who threw me out. They insisted that they were going to do the cleaning up. Relax for a bit then go and get a wash. They’ll need our help when they’re ready to move him."


Harry came up to steps from the lower field. "How is he?" he asked.


"Alive," Denise answered.


Harry thought about this then nodded. “We put their bomb down in the groundsman’s hut...” he began.


“Bomb?” Alex asked numbly. He was beyond emotion.


“They had a suitcase full of gunpowder from fireworks,” Harry explained.


“And what about Tracy and…” he trailed off, unable to not bring himself to even say the name.


Harry gave a nod. "We've put them up in the chapel," he said. "What happened up there?"


"Of course, you don’t know," Denise said sadly. "When we heard all the noise, Tracy, Deeksha and I came up the road from the village. I guess they hadn’t noticed us down there. Anyway when Tracy saw them, she just started walking towards them no weapon or anything. She looked as if she was just going to attack them with her bare hands."


She shook her head sadly. "I guess she was just so angry with them she stopped thinking. When they saw her coming they got out of that machine of theirs and started laughing at her. Big mistake!"


"She got her hands on them?"


"No they shot Tracy. They just didn’t notice Emily-Jane coming out of the bushes behind them. Did you ever see what she could do with that knife of hers?"


"Only from a distance."


"You don’t want to see it from close up, believe me," she said with a shudder. "She could teach Alex a thing or two about surgery."


"Our little Angel of Death," she added. Peter put an arm round her shoulders as she started to sob gently.


"Rather our little guardian angel," Alex said. "I hate to think how things would have gone if it hadn’t been for her. We’re just too cosseted by our nice, comfortable, suburban backgrounds to survive, when push comes to shove."


He gave a deep sigh. "When Mike came to see Mary, the last thing he said to me... the last thing he said to anybody was ‘shoot without hesitating and shoot to kill’. I guess we’re just not up to it."


"Not yet," Denise answered, rubbing her face, "but we’re going to get there. It sickens me but we’re going to get there."


There was silence for a while.


"Go and get yourself cleaned up," she said to Alex at last. "You're still covered in blood."


With a deep sigh, he made his way through the shattered remains of their back door but was brought up short. Somebody had done their best to clean up the entrance hall but the two blood marks were still clearly visible.


One had been Emily-Jane's first victim but the other...


The face of the boy he had shot flashed in front of him. He had been so young... so scared.
Alex collapsed to the floor in a wave of sobs.


---

When he woke the next morning he saw Mary lying in her sleeping bag on the floor next to his bed. She had been watching him and gave him a sad smile.


For a moment he was pleased to see her but as the memories of previous day's loss crashed over him, he felt guilty for allowing himself even this pleasure.


"No nightmares?" she asked.


"Not a thing," he answered. "I guess I was just too tired."


For a while they were quiet but at last Alex had to say something. "I can't go on as leader anymore," he said.


Mary looked at him sympathetically as she tried to work out how to put her thoughts into words. "I understand that you think that," she said carefully. "You're bound to doubt yourself after what happened yesterday. I could say all sorts of stuff about it not being your fault but I'm not going to bother. You won't listen anyway. All I ask is that you give it a couple of days before you do anything. It's not fair - not on you and not on anyone else - to make that sort of decision straight away."


Alex stared at her for a long time then gave a sigh. "OK," he said. "I'll give it a week."


He got up and went down to see his patient. The lad was asleep but Denise assured him that he had woken up a couple of times in the night and been able to drink something. It looked as if he might survive after all.


Peter had used the digger to excavate a grave for the attackers down in the field behind the church. He tried to say a few words over the grave but, to Alex, they felt hollow and formulaic. Amongst this pile of corpses were the people who had were responsible for all this. Only his desire not to upset the others forced him to treat the burial with a dignity that he did not feel it deserved.


There was an unspoken agreement that they should dig their own graves by hand. They found a peaceful spot up at the top of the garden, near the chapel and Alex, Peter and Harry started digging. There was a solace, of sorts, in the hard physical labour.


Neil joined them and it was alarming to see the savage intensity with which he attacked the ground - as if it was somehow responsible for his loss.


It took them less time than Alex had expected to dig the graves. They were fitter and stronger than they had been just after the plague had struck.


When they had finished, they all gathered in the chapel and Peter spoke to them, and it felt to Alex as if he were talking to him personally.


"It's natural, at a time like this," he said, "for each of us to wonder whether we could have done something different, something that would have avoided the horror that we’ve just been through.


"But that's not fair. All we can reasonably ask is whether we did what we thought was the right thing at the time and try and work out how we are going to do things differently... do things better... next time."


Then the two bodies, one larger, one looking pathetically small, were lowered into the ground and with tears flowing freely, they filled the graves, finally covering them with sparkling white limestone pebbles.


---


Late that afternoon, after a couple of hours spent mostly wandering around and staring into space, Alex went to talk to Denise. He found her up in the girls' dorm, sorting through Emily-Jane's things.


"Hiya," he said. "Could I have a word?"


"Sure," she replied. The cubicle had a small desks built into the partition walls and Alex perched on the small office chair in front of it. Denise stopped what she was doing and sat on the bed.


"I think we need to put our three prisoners on trial," he explained. "I'd like you and Peter to sit with me as judges."


Denise thought about this for a long time. "I think I know the answer to this," she responded at last, "but, this isn't just a show trial to be followed by a bullet in the back of the head, is it? I don't want any part of that."


He sat for a while, staring at the contents of the memory box that were spread out on the bed next to Denise. "I don't think so," he answered. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I think I'm looking for a way that will allow us to keep them alive."


"Certainly then," Denise answered promptly.


He continued to stare at the things on the bed until he realised that his eye was being drawn towards Emily-Janes knife. "I think I know a young man who would appreciate being given this," he said, picking it up. "Are you OK with that?"


Denise nodded so he took it and went to look for the Neil.


The light was failing and a few wispy flakes of snow were starting to fall as Alex made his way up the path towards the chapel. When he could not find the little lad in the house, he knew where he would be.


Alex walked over and put his arm around the huddled little figure. They stood together for several minutes then he handed the knife to Neil. “She would have…” he said but paused. Consciously forcing himself to say the name, be began again. "Emily-Jane would have wanted you to have this."


"’K’you," the little lad breathed in reply.


Alex was stunned. These were the first words that he had heard him speak. He leaned down and kissed him on top of the head.


"You'll need to get Harry to show you how to look after it properly," he went on. "Should I ask him for you?"


"I ask." Again, the reply was little more than a breath but they were recognisable words.


They stood together for a long time as darkness fell and more snowflakes danced on the wind.


"We need to get you inside," Alex said at last. "It won't do anyone any good if you make yourself ill."


"'K."


With his arm still around Neil's shoulders, Alex made his way back to the house.


---


They had set up the library upstairs as their courtroom with a long table with chairs behind them for the judges. There was no seat for the prisoner.


Alex, Peter and Denise were sitting behind the table as judges, when the first boy was led in by Jason, who was wearing his military style clothing. The boy’s hands were tied together with cable ties.


Jason led the boy to stand in front of the table and then went to sit on a chair in the corner of the room.


"My name is Alex. I am the leader of the group here. You have been brought here today because you took part in the attack on us and we are going to decide what to do with you. Do you understand?"


The boy nodded.


"Please answer."


"Yes," he said. Though he was trying to control it his voice still quavered slightly.


"That’s yes, Sir," Jason growled from the corner.


"Yes, Sir" the boy corrected himself.


"We will be listening to what the three you have to tell us and we also have other sources of information. So we will be checking that everything you tell us is the truth.


"We already know that that you weren’t one of the leaders of that gang and may have done things that you know were wrong – were evil. We will try to be understanding about that. What we will not tolerate is dishonesty now. We have to know we can trust you. Is that completely clear?"


"Yes, Sir." The boy’s face was serious but resigned.


"The one thing I can promise you is that you will not be treated with any unnecessary cruelty. Now have you any questions before we start?"


"How’s Adrian?"


"Who’s Adrian?"


"He’s the lad who got shot in the leg yesterday. You were trying to save his life."


"Oh right. Well Denise and I did what we could to sort him out last night. He’s looking a bit better this morning but he’s lost a lot of blood and he’s still very weak. He seems to be a tough lad."


"Good," the boy said. "Thank you."


"Now, have you any questions about what is going to happen to you this morning?"


"No, Sir."


Richard Williams was fourteen years old and, before the plague, had lived in one of the leafy western suburbs of London with his parents and his little sister. He’d gone to a good school and, while he was never top of the class, he did OK.


When the plague struck he had tried to stay in his house, getting himself a store of food and collecting water from a nearby stream.


Eventually he decided to move, heading out west, travelling on foot and picking up food and drink whenever he needed it. There was plenty about then.


Suddenly the trial they were interrupted by the sound of children’s voices as the Tiddlers walked past outside, below the window. Unexpectedly Richard burst into uncontrollable sobbing.


The Minors looked at him for a moment in astonishment. After all he had been through it was strange that he should react so strongly to this.


"Your little sister didn’t die in the plague, did she?" Denise eventually asked in gentle tone.


He shook his head.


"You tried to look after her and she died."


He nodded. "She was fine for two or three weeks but then she got diarrhoea and was terribly sick and... and..."


"And you felt it was your fault?"


"It was my fault," he said emphatically. "I should have looked after her better."


Denise looked at Alex. "Sounds like Dysentery or something," he said, "but it could be almost anything. Were you drinking the water straight from the stream? Not boiling it or anything?"


The boy gave an abject nod.


"And after she died you headed out west?"


"I buried her first," he managed to sob. "I had to bury her."


"OK, have a minute to get your head back together and then we’ll go on. Would you like a drink of water?"


A short time later he was ready to go on.


For several weeks he had not seen any signs of life so he had been completely unprepared when, one evening, he was caught in an ambush in a small town. There were about ten of the gang and they had guns. There wasn’t much he could do about it.


At first he had been little more than a slave: fetching and carrying; clearing away dead bodies; collecting and cooking food; and trying to find cigarettes and drink to keep Craig and the others happy.


"Who was Craig?"


"He was the leader back then at the start. Curly shot him and a couple of others one night when they were all drunk and took over as leader. That was when they started treated me like one of them."


"Where did the guns come from?"


"I think they broke into a police station but that was before I joined them. We found some shotguns in farmhouses too… and if we found anyone with guns or anything we just took them off them."


The gang had moved around pretty aimlessly for a while, travelling in a collection of cars and motorbikes. They’d move into a small town; clear the dead out of a big house or a hotel where they could all stay and, over a couple of weeks, strip the place clean. They tried to avoid bigger towns because there were too many bodies lying round.


Anyone they found had been killed, captured or, if they were too young to be useful, just driven away. Discipline had been cruel and arbitrary. People had been killed for disobeying commands or trying to run away.


"Did you have anything to do with that?" Denise asked sharply as she noticed a slight change in his demeanour.


"Yes," he admitted, unable to look up from the floor.


"Look at us!" said Alex sharply. "We want to be able to see when you’re lying. Tell us what you did."


"I was the leader of two execution squads," he admitted. "Curly would quite often tell me to grab a couple of lads to go and get some sort of job done.


"The first one wasn’t too bad. It was an idiot who’d got drunk and started attacking anyone he could find with a lump of metal. But the second one was just a kid; just a little girl. She’d been caught helping herself to extra food."


He went on to describe day-to-day life in the gang. His description fitted in quite well with what they had seen when they had been watching them.


"What did it feel like, being in the group?" Denise asked at last.


Richard thought about this for a while. "I have to admit that it was exciting at first - running with the gang. There were no limits, no control. But then..." He paused but then the words started just tumbling out. "Things started to hit you... senseless cruelty... destroying stuff people like you were trying to pull together... and then the shootings and hangings started. You knew it wasn’t right but by then it was easier... and much safer just to keep your head down... and pray you didn’t get put on the next hanging squad."


"What did the others think about it?"


"You don’t understand," he answered angrily. "You can’t possibly. You couldn’t ask that sort of thing. You didn’t dare show any sign of weakness. That gang could turn on you in a flash. There was this little kid. She’d tried to run away and Curly said we should hang her. Stuart said we should let her go..."


He paused, swallowing hard.


"We started kicking him and didn’t stop until he stopped moving."


The room went silent.


"Were Alan and Graham involved in this sort of thing?" Alex asked at last.


Richard hesitated.


"Please answer," Alex said firmly. "As I said at the beginning, we will be reasonably understanding about the things you and the others did with the gang. We’ve got to know exactly what happened, though. We’ll be checking your story with them."


Richard sighed. "OK, Alan was in one of my execution squads and a maybe another one. I’m not sure. But Graham…. He would never have been trusted with that sort of thing. I don’t think he was even allowed a gun until this last attack."


Alex then asked about Taylor.


Taylor had not been taken into the gang as a slave like everyone else. Instead he had ambushed the gang when they were travelling between towns. He’d manage to trap most of their cars between a high wall and three stationary busses and then climbed onto the wall. While he hadn’t shot anybody, he had made it quite clear that shooting was an option. After some tense negotiations he’d been taken in as one of Curly’s captains.


After another couple of months, the cars and motorbikes had started to become unreliable. Taylor had suggested that they move into a bigger town with proper shops, where they wouldn’t have to move around so much. He had even suggested a town they could move to.


"He wanted to get back at us," Jason rumbled from the doorway.


"Quiet, please, Jason," Alex said, though they all knew he was right.


Then the girls had been freed and that changed everything. The two girls had been a status symbol for Curly and suddenly they were gone. He had wanted to kill the boys who had been on patrol that night and called the gang together to organise the execution.


Taylor had decided that this was the chance he had been waiting for.


He’s stepped out into the middle of the ring and told Curly straight in the face that he ought to step down. He was holding his gun in his hand when he said it. It was held in a casual, non-threatening way but it was still a gun.


Curly had, of course, exploded when he heard this, making all sorts of threats against Taylor and against anyone who supported him. Taylor listened carefully for a short while and then spoke.


"This can go two ways," he said. "You can bet your life on the fact that the boys here will want to follow you... will want to follow you even though you just allowed your two women to be stolen away from under your nose. Or you can give in with good grace and become one of my deputies. I’ve got real plans for the future – plans that go well beyond hanging around this stinking hell hole until we die of old age or kill each other out of boredom."


"One thing I don’t understand," Peter said when Richard had finished giving his account. "Why did you really attack us? If Curly was still in charge I would understand that he needed to be seen to get revenge but was Taylor after. He didn’t strike me as stupid. He must have known he couldn’t take this place without a real fight."


Alan looked at him in blank astonishment for several seconds before he could answer. "You really don’t know what it’s like out there, do you? I’ve seen quite a few places out there where people are just about hanging on, but this is the only one that’s anything like organised. He wasn’t looking to rob the place. He was planning to take over. He wanted to make himself into a king."


The judges looked at each other in astonishment at that revelation.


"Can I say one last thing?" Richard asked when it became clear that they were almost finished.


"Please do."


"I knew what I was doing; I was responsible for it and I deserve to be punished. But Alan, well, he was just trying to keep his head down and stay alive. As for Graham, like I said, well, he’s just a kid."


"I hear what you say and I must say that it does you credit," said Alex. In spite of the situation he found he was starting to like the lad. "If that’s all you have to say then we’ve got other people to talk to."


"One last question, if I may," Denise asked, looking at Alex.


He nodded


"I’m not making any promises here but what would you want to do if we let you go?"


"I’d stay here until you chucked me out," Richard said emphatically. "This is the best place in the world by a mile. There’s nowhere else I would rather be."


The account that Alan gave was essentially compatible, though he confessed to having been involved in three executions rather than the two that Richard had mentioned. He had also shot at least two people when they had been attacking other groups.


Graham’s account was almost completely incoherent and, after two minutes, Denise interrupted proceedings and, with Alex’s permission, asked Jason to take him out.


"Putting this baby on trial is stupid and pointless," she said flatly. "He lost all his family, was captured by savages and, yesterday morning, was given a gun, pointed in our direction and told he’d be shot it he ran away. He doesn’t need a trial; he needs a hug."


"Good point, well argued!" laughed Alex, glad to have some relief from the grim series of recollections. "Do you disagree?" he asked Peter.


Peter shook his head so Alex walked over to the door and asked Graham to come back in. He told Jason that he wouldn’t be needed for a while, so he went off to the kitchen for a cup of tea.


When Alex returned, Denise was already cutting the plastic straps that were binding the little lad’s hands. Alex sat down but had to wait for a couple of minutes because Graham was in floods of tears. Peter brought him a chair and Denise knelt on the floor next to him, holding his hand and talking to him gently.


"OK," said Alex at last when Graham was in a fit state to listen. "We came together to work out what bad things have been done by that gang and to find out whose fault they were. From what we’ve heard so far, we’ve been able to work out that none of the really bad things were your fault. Do you understand?"


Graham nodded.


"You still need to talk through all the bad things you’ve seen and were involved with so I’m going to ask Denise to have a couple of long talks with you. You are expected to tell her everything but you will not be punished for anything you did, no matter how bad. Is that clear?"


Graham nodded again, the relief shining through his tears like sunrise.


"Now I’d normally say some stuff about you being free to leave us but I don’t think I need bother. I’ll just ask you whether you would like to join our community here and go back to school."


"Yes, please," Graham sniffed. "I’d like that very much."


"Right, come along to the kitchen, please. I think we all need a cup of tea. Then someone needs to show you where the showers are and get you some clean clothes."


"And we," he said, turning back to Denise and Peter, "need to talk to Deeksha and then decide what we’re going to do with the other two."


---

Deeksha couldn’t say much about Alan and Richard. She hardly knew them. Alan might have occasionally made cruel comments; most of the boys had, but that was all for show. "You know what it’s like," she said. "It was sort of expected of them."


That evening, after the minors had been sent up to bed, they gathered at the dining table to try to work out what to do about their two remaining prisoners.


The first thing that they decided was that the pair posed no threat to the group. They held no loyalty to the gang and would not be looking for revenge.


"But we have to do something to make it clear that this behaviour was not acceptable and will not be tolerated," Denise insisted. "They need some sort of final warning."


"We’re just not set up for any sort of prison," Alex said, "and with everybody working so hard, the idea of having someone sitting around for months on end isn’t going to work anyway."


"Forced labour, anyone?" Peter said, knowing perfectly well what the answer to that would be, too.


"Of course the traditional approach is just to lop a hand off and have done with it!" said Brian.


"Yes, it’s such a pity we’re that bit more civilised here," Denise commented coolly.


The room went silent.


"Hang on... there might be something in Brian’s idea... in two of Brian’s ideas," said Peter in sudden excitement.


"Peter!" Denise exploded.


"Hear me out!" Peter insisted. "Remember how he put an X on the back of Rebecca’s hand when he was having trouble telling the twins apart. Couldn’t we give these two a tattoo or something? Something that will always be there as a reminder but..."


"But falls short of actually maiming them," Denise agreed.


"And we can tell the other groups about it," said Brian, excitedly. "And everybody knows that if they do anything like this again..." he did not have to complete the sentence.


So, later that evening, Richard and Alan were brought in front of the judges once again.


"We have come to a decision," Alex said.


"The first thing that you have to understand is that these things you did were very serious. We know that you were under pressure but you are nevertheless responsible for your own actions.


"Now, under normal circumstances, you’d find yourselves in some sort of prison for a very long time however that’s clearly not practical in the current circumstances.


"So we are going to give you one final chance. However you need to be made to understand that this is final. You are each going to have a blue line tattooed around your left wrist. This will be a permanent reminder for you that this is a final chance. We will also be telling our allies about the mark. If you ever attack any of us again you will be executed without any possibility of mercy. Do you understand?"


The boys nodded.


"We won’t be able to do it tonight but we’ll try and get it sorted out tomorrow. Once it’s done, you will be free to leave us, however we have an offer we wish to discuss with you. We can talk about this later but, for now, do I have your words that you won’t do anything stupid?"


"Yes, Sir."


Alex turned to Jason. "Then I don’t think we need the handcuffs any more. Would you do the honours?"


As Jason was cutting the ties, Richard glanced across at Alan and then cleared his throat. "May I say something, Sir?" he asked Alex.


"Certainly," Alex answered, "and, from now on, you can call me Alex. We don’t normally go in for this formal stuff."


"I suppose what I really want to say is: ‘Thank you’," Richard began hesitantly. "We all know that you wouldn’t have been treated anything like so, well, decently if it had been the other way round. And, even though some of those lads who were killed yesterday were sort of OK, I’m still glad it was you that won."


---


Gradually they set to work to rebuild their shattered home and shattered lives.


Harry started replacing the broken doors and windows; and repairing the wooden staircase and panelling. Alan started working with him, though he had to quickly learn to meet Harry's exacting standards. He also had to learn that Harry's silence was an indication that he had nothing to say, rather than some form of disapproval or criticism.


Alex, Peter and Jason began a series of measures to improve their defences. They had to struggle with the inner voices telling them that it was all too late but knew that there would be other threats and other attacks and it was, in any case, a relief to be able to throw themselves into a real job.


They set concrete pillars into the road, just wide enough for their Land Rovers to fit through. Anyone trying to get a larger vehicle up the road would be delayed for hours. They cleared the ground for a hundred yards around the House and strung barbed wire half way across to form an all but impenetrable barrier. After a couple of days Richard joined them, working as hard as any of them as if trying to make up for the damage he had done. It was at Richard's suggestion that they used the remaining bomb to destroy a bridge on the far side of the ridge. It meant a considerable detour if they wanted to travel south, but made it impossible to approach their House from the rear by car.


Denise had insisted that she do the tattooing. She was much more skilled with a needle than Alex and, as she pointed out, "if you make a mess, you can’t rub it out and start again". Each had a broad blue stripe marked around their left wrist.


At night, Alan and Richard were kept locked up in one of the attics. At first they were only let out under supervision but gradually the community started to trust them. There were no other rooms free so they turned the attic into a home: clearing out the junk and, with Harry's help, putting in proper, insulated walls and carpet on the floor. There was only a single tiny window but they were happy with it.


Graham had moved into a spare cubicle in the boys’ dorm and had quickly integrated into the ‘intermediate form’ with Neil, Olwyn and Samantha. Neil needed Deeksha close so she moved into the main house, allowing Daniel to move back into his own home with Sandra.


The Tiddlers had been badly shaken by the attack and the deaths. Hanna and Alice, in particular, were much more visibly upset now than they had been by the death of their parents. For days after the attack, Charles had hardly spoken a word and it needed a week of patient talks with Denise before the familiar little Charles started to re-emerge.


Adrian, the attacker who had been shot, gradually improved. There were initially problems with infection but a course of antibiotics brought this under control. At first his bed was in the living room, but he was in the way there so they had taken him into the senior class room and Alex was surprised, a couple of days later, to find him helping Neil and Samantha with their Chemistry. He quickly established himself as part of the teaching team and, though he would never be the scientist that Brian was, he was certainly competent enough to relieve him of much of the basic maths and science teaching.


---


Alex left it a week before convening a group meeting. It was a much larger group than they had ever had before - with Jason, Sandra, Neil and Olwyn being invited to join the original minors.


"Thank you for coming," he said. "The reason I've got you all together is that I want to resign as leader of the group."


This was met by a stunned silence.


"What do you want to do a stupid thing like that for?" Peter asked at last.


"Because I've failed you," Alex answered, becoming slightly irritated. "Isn't it obvious?"


"You can only say you've failed if you think someone else would have done better," Denise said. "Who are you suggesting?"


"I don't know," Alex responded. "Anyone... you?"


"Can I remind you that you started using the guns against my wishes," she replied with a laugh. "Things would have been much, much worse if I had been leader."


"Brian then?"


"Don't be dense," Brian responded flatly.


"This is a waste of time," Harry said simply. "Can we just vote that Alex stays leader and move on?"


"A vote of confidence?" Brian said. "Are you happy with that?" he asked Alex.


"I suppose so," Alex answered reluctantly.


The vote was carried unanimous and Alex looked around the room, slightly stunned. "Thank you," he said at last. "I don't think I deserve it, but thank you."


"Move on," said Peter. "Any more and we'll start to suspect that you're just wanting us to massage your ego."


"OK, the other thing I want to talk about is... well, I think we have to rethink the way we defend ourselves."


"What do you mean?"


"Up to now, we’ve basically been protecting our wall. I think we need to move out. From now on, nobody is going to come within twenty miles without us knowing about it. And anyone in our area has to obey some basic rules: no wasting of resources; no executions of little kids; that sort of thing."


"No keepin’ slaves," Jason added with a quiet intensity.


"A more interventionist foreign policy," Brian commented with a smile.


"That's some, like, serious patrolling, Jason commented.


"It’s a lot of work," Peter agreed. It's going to cut down on the amount of food we can grow - and we're already eating stuff faster than we calculated aren't we?"


He looked across at Daniel who nodded.


"I don’t care," Alex said. "We’ve had people inside our home now, shooting at us. It isn’t going to happen again." His voice was rising with passion. "Next time, if there has to be a next time, the battle is going to be somewhere else."


"It's going to get easier quite soon," Brian said. "Even the diesel cars are already starting to pack up. Soon people are going to be walking or riding bikes."


"How long is Mike's treated diesel going to last?” Daniel asked.


At least another year, maybe a bit more," Brian answered. "I might be able to make it last a bit longer if I try filtering it."


"Sounds highly exciting!" Peter commented mildly.


"Back to the point, please," Alex said. "Does everyone see that we're going to have to spend more time on patrol?"


There was some grumbling but ultimately everyone agreed.


There is one thing that I thought might make it easier," Alex said. "But it's a bit controversial."


"Go on."


"I think we ought to make Richard part of defence set up."


"No!" shouted Neil, jumping to his feet. There were equally shocked reactions from other people.


Deeksha gently pulled Neil back to his seat.


"At the risk of stating the obvious," Peter began, "a week ago he was shooting at us. I’m all for forgiveness but..."


"This isn't about forgiveness," Alex said firmly. "I understand why you say that but, over the last few days, Jason and I have been working quite closely with him and he's not really such a bad bloke. I think he really gets what we’re all about here."


"It's a very big step," Denise said. "I'm not sure if we're ready for it yet."


Alex nodded. "I can see that," he said. "I'd like people to think about it, that's all."


"Maybe you could go and have a chat with him, Den," Brian suggested. "See what you think."


"I would like to be there, too," said Deeksha carefully. She was still not certain how welcome her contribution was at the meeting.


"I like that idea," Peter said. "You can speak for all the victims of the gang, including those who don't have a voice of their own anymore."


The room went quiet.


"Is that OK?" Alex asked Neil.


He looked at his sister then nodded his ascent. He would trust her judgement.


---


The next morning, Alex went into the workshop to talk to Harry who was working with Alan at the lathe. As usual he waited at the door until Harry had seen him before going in.


"Hi," he said but he was distracted by a change in the room. One of the benches had a solid-looking platform set in front of it and unfamiliar tools hanging on the wall behind it.


What’s this?" he asked, casually.


"Oh, that’s Line’s stuff," Harry answered.


"Caroline’s?"


"Yep."


"But this is a real saw... real hammer..."


"Yes?"


"But she’s only six."


"She’s sensible," Harry said impassively. "I wouldn’t have her in here at all if she wasn’t."


Alex thought about this. "What about the others?"


"They’ll be allowed to use them when I know I can trust them."


"Hmm," said Alex. He knew that Harry had been round tools all his life but he was slightly surprised by this. "I’m not saying that you’re wrong but it’s another of those things where you should have talked to the rest of us first."


Harry gave Alex a puzzled look and then gave a shrug. "I guess you’re right," he said. "I must admit that it never really occurred to me that anybody would think anything of it."


"Anyway," said Alex, getting his mind back on business, "I've been thinking about that digger that this lot were using as a tank," he nodded in Alan's direction.


Harry nodded.


"Could we do the same sort of thing with one of the Landies?


Harry thought about this for a bit. "Might work," he said at last. "It'd steer like a brick though."


"Might be a price worth paying if it stops you from getting shot," Alex said.


"Should be OK," Harry said after some more thought. "Be better if we could get hold of some bulletproof glass."


"Don't they have it in banks?" Alex asked.


Harry nodded, as he began the design work in his head. "Have to teach myself to weld," he said at last.


"I can weld!" Alan volunteered. "I did most of the stuff on the JCB."


"Did you, now?" Harry said. This was as close Alex had ever seen him to being excited.


"Thanks," said Alex and turned to go. Then he turned back. "By the way, why are you making that staircase thingy?"


"Spindle."


"Sorry?"


"It’s called a spindle."


"OK then, why are you making a spindle?"


"I need to replace the ones that were damaged," Harry explained patiently, as if talking to an idiot.


"But why are you making it? Can’t you find one in any of the DIY stores?"


"Find an old broom handle; hack it to size with an axe; nail it in position; and slap a bit of emulsion on!" Harry exploded, appalled by the suggestion. "Alex! It’s a hundred year old oak staircase. If we treat it with a bit of respect, it will last another four hundred. I’m not about to do a botch job on it!"


"Harry!" Alex laughed as he left the room. “You’ve never done a botch job in your life. You wouldn’t know how!"


---


The next day, Denise reported back on her meeting with Richard. "The first thing to say is that he’s not stupid," she said. "He saw through us in about two minutes flat."


"You never were much good at the old subterfuge thing," Peter said to her with a smile.


"You almost managed to make it sound as if it were a bad thing!" she answered, with a mock frown.


"Anyway, what do you think?"


"There, but for the grace of God, go I," she said with a half ironic smile.


"Not one of the decisions that he made, all the way down the line was obviously evil,” Deeksha added, “but he wound up hanging a twelve year old girl."


"So you reckon it would be OK to have him in our defence setup?" asked Mary.


"More than OK," Denise answered. "I’m certain we can trust him to protect what we have here. He knows what the alternatives are."

[garethn]

09 Speed the plough


It was hard after so many dead villages and empty towns, but Alex tried to stay focussed.


He performed one last sweep of the fields surrounding the empty stretch of road and, after confirming that there was nobody about, got out of the Land Rover. Jason did the same on the other side.


It was about one hundred yards from here to the brow of the hill where they preferred to stop before going into town. Their hope was that, if they walked to the ridge from here, the Land Rover would not be seen or heard.


Alex allowed Jason to go a couple of yards ahead then followed behind, almost walking backwards as he checked for threats.


He had almost reached the top of the hill when Jason called him to take a look.


After one last look around, he turned and walked to the top of the hill.


It only took a couple of seconds to see what had excited Jason. There was smoke rising from the middle of town.


"Looks like we've got company," he said.


Alex thought for a moment. There was nowhere on this side of town that to get close enough to have a good look at the newcomers.


"Let's go round to the castle," Alex said. "If we go through Adlersford, we can phone home to let them know what we've found."


Brian had set up a telephone line between a couple of the local villages and Pratch House using the existing telephone wires. It allowed visitors to contact them in a non-threatening manner and was useful for keeping in touch with patrols.


They returned to the car and set off back down the hill. As usual, the car pulled away slowly. Their patrol Land Rovers were much heavier since Harry had fitted steel sheets and bullet-proof glass but they did have the advantage of being, as Harry put it "more or less bullet proof".


"What does that mean?" Alex had asked.


"If somebody was shooting at me, I'd rather be inside than out - but I'd prefer to be somewhere else altogether," he had answered.


An hour later, and Alex and Jason were approaching their familiar spot on the castle ramparts. They had not been up here in over six months and though, at first sight, nothing had changed, once you were walking down the paths and past the building, you could see that nature was gradually taking over.


Alex took out his binoculars and looked down over the town. What he saw was immediately reassuring. It was a large group; by far the largest they had seen since Curly's gang had moved in. There were about eight people down there, both boys and girls, and they had a couple of younger children with them.


"Dey look like dey might be OK," Jason commented quietly.


---


The next morning, after discussing it with the others, Alex and Jason drove down the high street towards the centre of town. There was a barricade blocking the road just before the bridge and they sounded the horn a couple of times as they approached. They stopped the car a hundred yards from it and climbed out. Jason had his rifle slung over his shoulder and Alex a revolver at his belt, but they still felt very exposed.


There was a reception committee standing on a platform at the back of the barrier. They were armed but conspicuously avoiding pointing their weapons at their visitors.


Alex and Jason advanced to a comfortable speaking distance and Alex said, "Good morning."
"Good morning," one of the boys replied. "What’s up?"


"We’re neighbours," Alex explained, "and I thought we should come and say ‘Hello’."


"You’ve got a working car?"


"Yes, if you filter the diesel you can avoid gumming up the pipes," Alex explained. "Obviously you have to be very careful when messing about with diesel, though."


There was an uncomfortable silence so Alex said, "I've got a cake here."


"Cake?"


"Yeh! The girl who does most of our cooking thought it might help to make the meeting more relaxed."


This triggered some muttering from the group behind the barricade which was silenced by a glance from the spokesman.


"I’m happy to eat it if you think it might be poisoned," Alex added with a smile.


"I suspect I might find my time as leader might come to an abrupt end if I allowed that to happen!" the spokesman laughed. "OK, if you leave your guns there you can come on in."


Alex thought about this for a moment. "Tell you what," he answered. "I’ll leave my pistol here with Jason and come in on my own. Is that OK?"


He unbuckled his gun belt and left it on the roof of a car next to Jason, then walked towards the barricade. As he drew closer, he saw that the guards were mostly armed with shotguns then he gave a double take when he saw that a couple of them were holding home-made spears, improvise from carving knives and broom handles. One was even wearing a sword that looked as if it had been liberated from a museum.


"Hello," said the leader, offering Alex his hand. “My name’s Martin. I do my best to lead this jolly band." He had left his own gun with one of the guards on the barricade which Alex felt was a nice gesture.


"I’m Alex. I’m also our leader and part time doctor."


"Doctor?"


"Well, my dad was a doctor and I’ve been reading his books pretty intensively since the plague. Closest thing we’ve got to a doctor, anyway. I managed to save the life of a member of a gang that attacked us, which I’m pretty proud of."


Martin looked at him. "That’s a surprising thing to do."


"The sad thing is that most of those bandits were just sort of normal guys, driven to extremes by their situation. We’ve even integrated a couple of them into our group."


Martin gave him another long look when he said that.


Alex couldn’t help but laugh when Martin led him into the same hotel that Curly’s gang had occupied months before and then was obliged to briefly describe what had happened.


"So you launched a daring assault on enemy held positions to liberate captives?" Martin
laughed.


"Hardly, we just tagged along and gave a hand when one of our lads broke in to free his sister."


"At least it explains why this place was reasonably well set up and then abandoned," Martin said. We couldn’t believe our luck. No bodies or anything."


"Sorry about your kitchen window," Alex laughed. "It sort of got in the way of our ladder."


Alex noticed that they had at least got the fireplace working. There was a neat pile of wood stacked next to it.


"Bit of information for you," Alex said. "If you go up the High Street here, under the railway bridge and turn left before the roundabout, you'll find a coal merchant. There's still a fair bit left."


"Thanks," Martin replied. "Hacking at lumps of wood with an axe for a fire was great fun when I was in the scouts but it's a bit of a bind when you have to do it every day!"


Alex laughed.


"You seem to know the town pretty well," Martin said.


"We used to live here before the plague struck," Alex answered. "We moved out after a couple of days when it got too smelly to stay."


Martin nodded then he had a thought. "If you lived here, there are probably houses where you'd rather we didn't go," he said.


"Thanks for that thought," Alex replied, "but you're OK. We've taken everything we want."


"OK," said Martin, sitting down at a table in the hotel restaurant. "Can I ask where you’re based?"


"I feel bad about this but I just can’t afford to trust you that much, just yet. Four months ago we had that gang inside our home. They came very close to destroying everything we’d built up."
"I see," Martin answered.


There was an uncomfortable silence.


"Can I ask why you’re really here?" the boy asked at last.


"First of all, we wanted to be good neighbours. Come and say ‘hello’ and see if there’s anything that we might be able to help you with."


"That’s very kind and we might want to take you up on the offer."


"The other thing, though, is to ask you to be careful when you come out in our direction. After what happened, I’m sure you’ll understand that we’re pretty jumpy about our security.


"I understand," Martin replied, "but that's going to be quite tricky if we don't know where you are."


"Good point," Alex smiled. "Could we ask you to stay clear of the entire Coombe valley west of the main road? There’s really nothing there worth taking anyway."


Martin looked unhappy about this but he gave a nod.


"I’m really sorry about this," Alex went on, "and we’re really not that sort of people but... OK, I’ll let you have this much. We’re looking after a dozen little kids, aged five and six now. We’ve got to be careful."


"A dozen little kids!" Martin looked genuinely pleased to hear the news. “How many of you are there?”


Alex thought about this for a long time before answering. “Over twenty.”


Martin thought about this for a long time then nodded.


"We ought to be getting back now," said Alex. "Is there anything you need that we might be able to help you with?"


"The one really stupid thing is a dry box of matches. Last time the fire went out, we had to do without for three days. It felt like we were slipping back to the Stone Age.


Alex took a lighter from his rucksack and handed it over. Martin kissed it and put it in an inside pocket.


"If you need to get in touch, you can use the phone box near the church in Coombe Green," Alex told him.


"You’ve got working telephones?" asked Martin, absolutely amazed,


"It’s not a proper system. It’s just a couple of phones that are wired directly to our base. We put up posters with our address on them at one stage but that doesn’t seem such a good idea, anymore. Now we just tell people to go to Coombe Green and phone us."


"I see," Martin said. "It’s still pretty impressive technology, though."


He thought for a moment, as if he was about to say something but then changed his mind. "Next time you come to see us you can drive right up. Just sound your horn and come in slowly."


Martin led Alex back out to the barricade where they found Jason and a couple of the local guards standing around together just outside the barricade and chatting.


"We don’t really do this military discipline thing yet, do we?" laughed Alex as he went on his way.


---

Alex remained concerned about how the meeting with the group had gone but all thought of it was driven from his mind when he came home to find seven Brownies, all in uniform, climbing out of the back of Daniel’s Land Rover.


His surprise turned to astonishment when Hanna walked up to the youngest member of the group and said “Hello Penny”.


Alex did a double take and then realised he recognised the girl too. She used to be in Hanna’s ballet class.


A swarm of Tiddlers enveloped the newcomers. Penny was quickly adopted by the girls as one of their own and was led off to find a bed in the girl’s dormitory.


“Hello and welcome!” he said to the rest of the brownies as the swarm started to clear. He led them through to the dining room where they gathered around the table. They sat, drinking mugs of cocoa and eating slightly stale biscuits, as Daniel, Sandra and Harry described their trip.


---


That morning they had set out on an expedition significantly further south than their normal scavenging area. Harry remembered visiting a working windmill in the area and he hoped they might find a supply of unmilled grain there which Mike's books indicated would last much longer than milled flour. Harry was also interested in having a look at the mill itself to see whether it would be possible to salvage the machinery - or at least study how it was put together.


The trip had been a reasonable success. Some of the grain had been stored in metal bins which had kept it safe from the local rat and mouse populations and it would be possible to use it. Moving the machinery, however, would be a significant undertaking and some parts - particularly the vanes - would have to be completely replaced.


Having completed the work, Daniel and Sandra were standing out on the balcony, which ran around the top of the windmill. They were looking out on the landscape which stretched out below them when suddenly they looked at each other.


"You hear that too?" Daniel asked.


"It sounded like voices," Sandra answered.


"Maybe we were mistaken," Daniel said as the voices seemed to fade. "Wind in the rafters or something."


But then it came back stronger than before - strange, haunting voices singing in a minor key.


"It'd be easy to believe they were fairies or something," Daniel said as he took out a pair of binoculars from his rucksack and started to scan the landscape below.


He could see nothing. Most of the land below was forested with only the occasional field. There were no obvious buildings - not even any roads in the direction the sound was coming from.


"Could you come up, please, and bring the map," Daniel called down to Harry who was loading a set of ancient woodworking tools into the back of the land-rover. They had been on display in the windmill's visitor centre.


Together they studied the map. The only thing in that direction was described as an ‘Eco-Lodge’. Once they knew it was there, they could even make out the wooden roofs, hidden amongst the trees.


"I know that song," Sandra said suddenly. "It's Evening Sails'."


"Never heard of it," Daniel answered.


"I'd be surprised if you had," she said with a smile. "It's a Brownie song! We've got to go down there."


"Are you sure?" Harry asked.


"If there are Brownies down there, it'll be fine," Sandra insisted.


Even though they knew the Eco-Lodge was there, they had difficulty finding it. The wooden sign had been sawn down and the start of the track had been carefully concealed by a pile of chopped branches.


"Somebody didn't want us finding this place," Daniel commented.


He parked a little way down the road and concealed their land-rover with a tarpaulin sheet


They made their way back in military formation: Daniel leading with his rifle, Harry following with his pistol drawn and finally Sandra, again with a rifle, who was continually checking for threats from the rear.


They pushed their way past the pile of branches and made their way down the track. After a hundred yards, the track was blocked again - this time by a van that had been deliberately wedged between two trees.


The tension grew as they made their way round the van and continued up the track.


Daniel felt a peculiar sensation, and was sure he was being watched. He was surprised when nothing happened and they emerged into a small clearing. There was a large wooden cabin ahead of them and smaller ones on each side. A couple of hand-made wooden picnic tables stood in the middle of the clearing.


"Nobody here," he commented, looking around.


"Not quite true, I suspect," Sandra responded, nodding towards a washing line. Clothes were fluttering in the wind


Daniel knocked on the door of the main cabin ahead of them and, when there was no reply, opened it and went in. "Somebody's definitely living here," he said looking towards a nest of mattresses and sleeping bags at one end of the room.


"Come on out straight away, please," Sandra said to him.


He hurried out, closing the door behind him. "What's up?" he asked.


"First, this is someone's home. You can’t just barge in," she began. "Second, look at the size of the clothes on the washing line. Look how low the line is. These are little kids here and they're going to be scared of us."


Harry and Daniel looked around and realised she was right.


She thought for a moment then made a decision. “I want you two to go back to the car and take my rifle with you."


"No!" Daniel said, shocked at the idea.


"These are just little kids! They're not going to be dangerous."


Reluctantly Daniel and Harry agreed and made their way back down the drive.


Sandra looked around and smiled. Though she could feel the eyes watching her she couldn't see anybody. She sat down at one of the picnic tables and started to sing 'Evening Sails'.


As she began the second verse, she could hear voices joining in with her.


And by the time she had finished the last verse there were little faces peeping out of the bushes at her.


"Hello, Brownies," she said in a quiet, calm voice. "My name is Sandra. I used to be a Brownie but now I'm a Guide. You can come out, if you like."


"Where are the scary men?" one of the Brownies asked.


"They're not men; they're just boys!" Sandra said with a laugh. "We’ve only got the guns because there are dangerous dogs and bad people about."


"Have you come to take us back to our Mummies and Daddies?" another voice asked.


Sandra was taken aback by this question. "You haven't seen anyone since everyone went away, have you?" she managed to say at last.


Heads were shaken in response.


"OK, I've got a lot of explaining to do. Why don't you come and join me?"


The Brownies hesitated.


"I give you my word of honour as a Guide that we are only here to help you," Sandra said very clearly and precisely. "If you decide you don't want our help we will go away and never come back."


Hesitantly, seven Brownies emerged from the bushes.


"OK, first I have some terribly sad news," she told them as they settled around her at the picnic table. "There has been an awful disease and, as far as we know, all the grown-ups have died."


"Mummy and Daddy too?" the little girl sitting next to her asked. She seemed significantly younger than the others.


Sandra nodded and the little girl started to cry. Sandra put her arm round her shoulders and looked at the rest of the Brownies. They seemed surprisingly resigned.


"You knew, didn't you?" she said after a brief pause.


The Brownies turned to one of their number, a tall, dark haired girl called Victoria. "Brown Owl told us that horrible things might happen," she explained with a surprising degree of self-confidence and authority, "and when we saw the dead people and we were left alone for such a long time, that’s what we thought must have happened."


"I've all sorts of questions," Sandra said, "but really there's only one that matters. Would you like to come and live with us? There are about twenty-five of us including about ten of us bigger kids. We have plenty to eat for now and are learning to grow more. We also have a school where we do our best to teach the little ones and help each other with our own learning."


Again the Brownies looked around to Victoria. She thought about this for a long time and then gave a nod. "I think it would be best," she said. "We really ought to be going to school."


"Then I’ll go and get the boys," Sandra said. "They're up by the Land Rover. We can probably squeeze you all in but we'll have to come back to collect most of your things."


Victoria sprang into action. "Barbara, Melanie, you go and collect our toothbrushes and things from the wash-house. Amy, you take in the washing. Georgia and Alice, you take Penny and do the bed-rolls. I’ll get the letter then we need to change into uniform.”


The camp exploded into a bustle of activity.


---


“So, what’s this letter?” Alex asked.


“I read it but didn’t really understand it all,” Victoria told him as she took it out of her bag and handed it to him.


Alex took the letter out of the envelope - it was not sealed - and began to read it aloud.



To whom it may concern,


This letter will either help the survivors of the upcoming plague to understand what has happened, or it will be a significant item of evidence in my forthcoming trial. I sincerely hope it is the latter.


First, something about myself: I am a Doctor of biochemistry and lead a research group analysing the risks of militarised viruses for the Ministry of Defence. In my spare time, I am Brown Owl for the second Crowford Brownie Pack.


Three months ago we encountered a virus that I am certain had been artificially manipulated. A standard flu virus had been engineered to increase both its transmission rates and virulence. Further manipulation seems to be aimed at targeting the virus at specific racial groups but this seems to have failed.


I don't know who created this virus but I suspect that it was some small terrorist group. A very brief study showed up technical flaws in the work - in particular, the presence of a number of evolutionary pathways that would lead to significantly more widespread and an even more devastating impact.


As soon as I realised the threat that this virus posed, I started buying emergency supplies. I have to admit that, at this stage, the supplies were for myself.


Then, two weeks ago, we observed the first instances of mutation in this country. Analysis showed there were two independent mutant strains. In both, symptoms were standard for the more serious forms of ‘flu including very high temperatures leading to fits, delusions and unconsciousness. The ‘A’ strain was inevitably fatal. With the ‘B’ strain, however, children seemed to be surviving, particularly if they received prompt hospital treatment.


Recognising that I’m going to die, I’ve done what I can to save my Brownies.


I smuggled a sample of the ‘B’ strain out of the lab and deliberately infected the girls. After two days I contacted the parents to encourage them to seek medical attention if the girls started showing ‘flu symptoms. I've moved provisions and supplies to the Eco-Lodge where we've held several camps in the past. There is a good supply of clean water and the older girls know how to use the gas cookers and the fires.


Now that the virus has started to take its hold, I've gathered all the girls I could find, together with a younger sister who had also been infected. I'll do what I can to conceal the entrance to the Lodge and then I’m going to leave. They don't need to see me die.


The very virulence of the virus is going to mitigate its potential for damage in the long term. Within a few weeks I expect everyone in the world will either be dead or will have recovered. After a few more days the unburied dead will no longer be infectious and the virus will have 'burnt itself out'.


I can do no more. The rest, dear reader, is up to you. Please do what you can to help my girls.


Dr Katherine Conrad, Brown Owl



Several pages of computer printout followed which, Alex guessed, was a detailed analysis of the virus.


"Well," Alex said, "though it doesn't really change anything, it's given us lots to think about."


He turned to the Brownies. "My name is Alex,” he said with a smile, “and I'm leader of this group. We’ve got to think about where we're going to put you in the long term, but for tonight, I suggest you sleep in the library upstairs. Is that's OK?"


“That’ll be fine,” Victoria answered.


"In that case would you, Sandra and Sam, please take them upstairs and get them set up? Den, maybe you would like to go up, too and give them a quick check over. Denise is our nurse," he explained to the Brownies.


In the end all the Brownies, except for Penny, decided to move into a house down in the village. They had grown used to looking after themselves and, while they participated fully in many aspects of the life of the community, particularly the school, they managed to run their home with very little support or supervision though Sandra would look in on them a couple of times a week.


---


A few days later, Alex came into the Minor's classroom to find Brian discussing some impossibly complicated maths with Gregory. He tried to follow but couldn’t understand what they were talking about.


At last they finished and Gregory went back to the Tiddler's class.


"What was that all about?" Alex asked Brian.


"I’ve been trying to get my head round calculus," Brian explained. "It’s not exactly hard it’s just... well, you sort of need to unscrew your head and screw it back on in a different way!"


"But why are you talking about it to Gregory?"


"Explaining it to him helps to get things straight in my own head," Brian explained. "For some reason, he finds it much easier than me to understand that sort of stuff."


"He’s younger," Peter explained from the other side of the library. "His head’ll be easier to unscrew!"


Alex was lost in his biology when he was shaken by the ringing of the alarm bell. Two rings: everybody stop what they're doing and stand by; Tiddlers to go to their classroom.


Alex dropped his books and ran up the stairs to the watch room. There was a Land Rover coming up the hill, towing a horse box.


"Sorry! It's probably a false alarm," Harry explained. "I guess it's just Dan."


"Don't apologise," Alex told him. "That's exactly what you're supposed to do."


Just past Pratchdean the Land Rover stopped and sounded its horn. The driver got out and waved before continuing up the hill.


"It is Dan," Harry confirmed. He'd been watching through binoculars.


"Good," Alex answered, making his way back downstairs to give the all-clear and open the gate.


Daniel and Sandra had been up to Colchester with Harry and Katherine. Harry had been helping them to set up a workshop and Katherine had been learning about running a dairy. They had brought Chris and Ruth back with them to help them to set up their own dairy. Chris had grown up on a farm and was used to working with cows.


Brian was also planning to show them how to filter diesel and they were planning to give them one of the new Land Rovers that were gathering dust just outside the gates in the car park.


---

Three days later, shortly before breakfast time, the busy morning atmosphere was shaken by the alarm bell, though everybody relaxed when there was only single ring: ‘I need attention but there’s not a problem’.


“What’s up?” Alex shouted up to a Richard, who was on watch duty.


“The Brownies are on their way up,” he answered.


“OK, I’ll go and let them in.”


It was the day they had chosen to mark the anniversary of the plague and Peter was holding a service of remembrance. The people who lived in the village had been invited to join them.


Alex went to unlocked the gate. He didn’t bother with the main drawbridge – he just put a plank across the ditch that they used for people on foot.


He was surprised to see that Sandra was in Guide uniform. “We had to go down to the Scout shop to collect one for Victoria,” she explained as they walked down the drive to the house together. “She’s really much too old for the Brownies. So I thought I might as well collect one for myself at the same time.”


As soon as the Brownies arrived in the dining hall they set to work setting the table and carrying in food under Victoria’s clear but friendly instructions.


“You’d better watch that one,” Peter warned Alex with a smile, “or you’ll find yourself out of a job!”


“She’s welcome to it!” Alex answered.


The high table that had looked so enormous when they arrived was not big enough and they set up two extra trestle table. The Brownies occupied one and were quickly joined by Hanna, Melanie and Caroline.


“Are there any spare uniforms?” Alex asked Sandra. “It looks like those three are itching to join!”


After breakfast, they trooped up to their little chapel and it, too, was starting to look full. Gregory was next to him but Hanna was sitting with the Brownies. He noticed that, even before the service started, they were holding hands very tightly.


The service was sad but, for Alex, the distance of time, made the pain of losing his family a little less sharp. However, when Peter mentioned Emily-Jane he collapsed in tears. Gregory climbed onto his lap and put his arms around Alex’s neck.


“Why did Emily-Jane make you extra sad?” Gregory asked, when there was a gap in the service.


“Because I keep thinking that, maybe, maybe, if I had done something different, she would still be alive,” he answered.


After a cup of tea, Peter, Alex, Harry and Brian went to change into their whites while the others gathered in the space in front of the chapel. When he came down, however, he found Gregory in floods of tears.


“What’s the matter, little man?” Alex asked, squatting down to give him a hug.


“I don’t have any bells for my mummy,” he said.


“You want to put something in the middle when we of our dance?” Alex asked.
Gregory nodded.


Ruth, who was standing nearby, overheard them. “Can I say make a suggestion?” she asked.


“Of course.”


“The Jewish people have a tradition of placing small stones to remember our dead,” she told them. “If you all put a couple of stones down you’ll soon have a proper memorial cairn.”


Alex called the Minors together and Harry and Peter disappeared. A few minutes later Peter appeared pushing a wheelbarrow that contained pieces of the white limestone that they had used to mark Emily-Jane’s grave. Alex invited everyone to place a stone or two for their friends and families.


So this time, as they danced ‘In Memoriam’, instead of the traditional tatter jacket, bells and top hat, they had a small stone cairn


“We really need to dance more often,” Alex said as they came off.


“We need to round up a new audience, then,” Peter joked.


“Maybe we ought to do that,” Katherine suggested quietly.


They turned to look at her to see whether she was joking.


“Why don’t we organise a big summer fair,” she explained. “Invite all the groups we’ve found to come along... party food... drinks... dancing...”


“I like the idea,” Alex said, “but I’m a bit worried about the idea of letting everyone know where we live. What do you think?” He looked round the group.


“Out of the groups we’ve met and might think of inviting,” Brian said at last, “only that group down in town are really big enough to be much of a threat.”


“They didn’t feel like no threat,” Jason said. “They just felt, like, ordinary.”


And the idea for the summer fair was formed.


---


It was late evening and starting to get dark when the calm of the house was shaken by the ringing of the telephone. Though the phone was occasionally used by patrols, everybody knew that there was nobody out at the moment.


Alex jumped to his feet but was beaten to the phone by Mary.


"Hello," Mary said.


There followed a brief , surreal telephone conversation. Though there was a distinct possibility that this was the only working telephone in the world, still the conventional telephone manners took over.


"One moment,” Mary said after a few polite words. "I’ll get him for you."


"Alex," she said, turning to him. "Martin wants to speak to you."


"Hello," Alex said to Martin. "What’s up?"


"You said you were a doctor," Martin answered briefly. "One of our kids is really ill."


After a few more questions, Alex suspected that the little girl was suffering from appendicitis. He swore mildly under his breath then looked up at Mary, who was still standing next to him, frowning at his language.


"Sorry," he said. "I have to go into town right now. Please could you tell Harry to get one of the Land Rover’s ready - one of the ones with benches at the back." He thought for a moment. "I’m going to need Denise... and we’ll collect Dan on the way down through the village to drive. Get the kitchen set up for an operation when I’m gone and tell Brian I’ll need the ether."
Mary nodded and went into the living room to tell Harry and Denise to get ready. "I’ll get your pistol and your medical bag," Mary said as she went upstairs.


"Martin, you still there?" Alex asked, turning back to the phone. "Stay at the phone box. We’ll pick you up in about half an hour."


Seventeen minutes later they had collected Martin from the phone box and were pushing on down the main road towards town. Eight minutes later the barricade was being hurriedly pushed to one side. As they arrived in front of the hotel, Alex jumped out and he was led to the little girl’s bedside.


"Hello, Lizzy" he said as he walked into the room. The little girl was almost white and she was drenched with sweat. "My name is Alex, I’m a doctor."


As he knelt down next to her, he removed his gun belt and, without thinking, handed it to the first person he saw. As he started, very gently, to examine her stomach, he realised with some surprise that he didn’t feel like a fraud.


The journey back to Pratch House was much smoother though no less tense. Denise was sitting with the little girl in the back of the Land Rover and Alex and Martin sat squeezed in together at the front with Daniel, who was driving as smoothly as possible. Every jolt was making Lizzy whimper with pain.


"Martin," Alex explained carefully as Daniel drove them up the hill towards the house. "I think I know what I’m doing but you have to understand that I’ve never done anything like this before. There is a very real danger that I’m going to make a mistake and kill her."


"I understand," Martin answered. "But Lizzy’s going to die if we don’t do anything, isn’t she?"


"If we do nothing, it’s going to rupture and then she’ll almost certainly die," Alex explained.


"I suppose there’s really only one question," Martin said after a moment’s thought. "What would you do if it was one of yours?"


"I hope I’d be brave enough," Alex answered with a sigh. "I know it’s the right thing to do."


By the light of the headlights, Alex could see the gates were open. People were obviously waiting for them. As they drove up towards the house, the kitchen door was opened, flooding the garden with light.


"You’ve got electricity!" Martin exclaimed, his surprise overcoming the tension of the situation.


"We’ve got solar panels and a turbine running in the stream," Alex explained, "but it looks like Harry’s got the diesel generator going. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to bring Lizzy up here." He didn’t think it diplomatic to mention that he didn’t really trust the cleanliness of the room in the hotel.


As Daniel reversed up towards the kitchen door Alex got out. He wanted to prepare himself physically and, more importantly, mentally for the operation. As he scrupulously washed his hands, he could hear Denise gently explaining things to Lizzy. "This is Brian. He’s going to put a mask on you and make you breathe something that smells a bit funny. It’s going to make you fall asleep. When you wake up, your tummy is going to feel much better."


---

The next morning, Alex was sitting at the kitchen table after a late breakfast with Martin, Denise and Brian. He still felt a bit groggy - though the ether was much better than nothing, he needed to find a way to breathe less of it himself. The operation seemed to have been successful and, obviously relieved, Martin had just accepted his third bowl of porridge.


"Up in town, anything like oats has been got by the rats and mice," he was explaining. "How are you managing to keep things safe?"


"Most of our food is stored in those big metal shipping containers," Brian explained. "And the ones with grain and stuff in are up on three foot high legs with a sort of metal umbrella on the top."


Alex winced. "Brian!" he wanted to shout, "don’t tell them we have got huge reserves of food!"


"And I’m just amazed that you manage to run a school for those kids. It’s so important but we’re just too busy finding enough to eat and keeping ourselves safe."


"We’re pretty stretched," Brian admitted. "We’d like to be able to do more farming. We’re running down our stores much too fast."


There was an awkward silence until at last Denise could take it no more.


"I have a sort of hypothetical problem for you," she said. She was trying to remain serious but Alex could see she was really grinning.


"Imagine there were two groups of survivors. One is pretty well set up with plenty of food and things but had an awful lot of little kids to look after which means they can’t really do as much farming as they need. The other group isn’t anything like that well set up but has plenty of manpower. Oh, and both groups are spending rather more time than they can afford on their security."


She paused for a moment. "Should I go and get one of the brighter five year olds to solve this problem for you?" she added.


"You forgot to mention the fact that they’re both too proud to admit that they could use some help!" Alex admitted with a laugh.


"And that one of the groups is too afraid to ask because they think the answer might be no," added Martin and... and..." he swallowed hard, "and the help that’s already on offer is too valuable to put at risk." He put his head down and covered his face with his hands but he was clearly close to tears.


Denise sprang to her feet and put his arm around his shoulders, apologising profusely for making fun of him. "I didn’t realise how serious it was," she told him.


"You can’t know," he answered, "you couldn’t possibly. The last meal that we were able to give the kids was a couple of tins of dog food stewed up with some old pasta that was probably too mouldy for the mice."


The tears were flowing down his cheeks now. "We’re living hand to mouth, hunting for food in houses that have already been searched at least once. We know that, sooner or later, the food’s all going to run out completely but we can’t plan for tomorrow because we’re too busy trying to stay alive today. We are forced to stay in towns, because that’s where the food is, even though, from a strategic point of view, it’s madness."


"OK!" said Alex decisively. "There are seven more of you, aren’t there?


"How do you know that?"


"We did spend some time spying on you before we said ‘Hello’,” Alex explained, "evaluating you as a threat."


"A threat?" Martin said, astonished. "How could we possibly be a threat to you?"


"You’ve got at least three shotguns and one pistol," Alex explained.


"The pistol is a replica, but that’s OK because we haven’t got any ammunition for it anyway. And we’ve only got five cartridges for the shotguns - and we don’t know whether they’ll actually work because they all got damp. Have you ever tried to dry a shotgun cartridge over an open fire?"


"Makes my hobby of filtering diesel sound positively sane and sensible," Brian commented mildly.


"When you gave me the gun to hold last night, that was more firepower than I’d ever seen," Martin said. "It was then I knew that we could do absolutely nothing against you."


Alex grimaced. "And I wanted to tell Brian off for giving away too much about us!"


"Anyway, this is not really relevant at the moment," he said, getting to his feet. "There are seven more to collect - two Land Rovers are plenty, unless you’ve got lots of stuff."


"But we haven’t worked out how we can pay you back yet," Martin answered, desperately trying to understand what was going on.


"We’re not discussing anything as long as there are hungry kids about," said Alex flatly. "I refuse to negotiate under duress! We’re going out straight away to collect the rest of your group. We’re going to feed you and you can have a warm shower and we can get to know one another. Sometime later in the week, we’ll discuss how the system is going to work. If you don’t like our offer we’ll give you a lift back to town."


"But..." Martin began but he found himself talking to Alex’s back ashe hurried from the room to get ready.


"This isn’t the time for discussions," Denise commented with a smile as Alex went to collect his things. "He’s just off to go and collect the rest of your group. If you want to stay leader beyond lunchtime, I suggest you go along and pretend it’s your idea!"


Martin smiled and walked through to the dining room, a corner of which had been turned into a nest for their little patient. Denise followed him though.


He kissed the little girl gently on the forehead and she opened her eyes.


"Hello, princess," he said. "How are you feeling?"


"Still a bit poorly," she answered.


"Well you’re looking much better," he told her with a smile. "I’ve going to go into town to collect everybody else. We’re going to stay here for a bit because they’ve got plenty to eat. Does that sound good?"


He received a huge smile as an answer.


"This is Denise. She’s a nurse. She’ll look after you whilst I’m away."


"When I’m big I want to be a nurse," the little girl said in a dreamy, absent voice.


"Well we’ve got a school here where you can learn everything you need to know to be a nurse," Denise told her. "But first you have to get better because a poorly nurse is not much use to anybody! Now, would you like some warm goat’s milk?"


"Milk doesn’t come from goats, silly. It comes from cows!" the little girl said with a laugh.


"You’ll see," Denise answered with a smile. "When you’re feeling better you’ll be able to help Alice to milk the goats. And warm goat’s milk is very good for girls who have been poorly. Now hang on a minute and I’ll go and get some for you."


Alex and Martin followed Denise out of the room and went off to collect the rest of the group.


---


The day of the festival dawned fine and sunny with only a few high clouds. Alex had been up early, driving round some of the neighbouring groups, to bring people to the fair. Down in the village, rows of picnic tables were lined up on the road in front of the church.


At one of the tables Denise was providing impromptu medical consultations and Alex had already been called over twice to discuss particular problems. Behind the table she had boxes containing supplies such as toothbrushes and first aid kits which she was happy to give away.


There were people everywhere. Many, including Jason and Martin, were carrying weapons though in the casual manner of people who would never leave their home unarmed. Alex had chosen not to bring his pistol because he wouldn’t know what to do with it when he was dancing, but he did not feel he needed it. The atmosphere was so friendly and relaxed.

Hanna had already found two more girls from her dancing school and a number of other people he spoke to had connections to the Brownies. It was starting to look like Dr Katherine Conrad had saved many, many more people than she could possibly have imagined.


As lunchtime approached, Katherine and her team of Brownie helpers started loading the tables with food. She had been baking almost non-stop for days and Alex had rarely seen her so happy.


Alex went to sit next to Mary at a table where Brian was holding forth in his typical manner: “There is absolutely no excuse for anyone going hungry. The one thing we’ve got that humanity hasn’t had, well, ever, is plenty of land. There are just so few people about. You’re not trying to feed a family of ten on an area the size of a tablecloth."


"It’s very difficult to think about planting food for next spring when you’ve got nothing to eat for tonight," one of the boys reminded him.


“If you’re having any sort of problems like that then go and talk to Daniel, over there,” Alex suggested. “We’ve got more flour and pasta and stuff than we’ll ever be able to eat before it spoils. We only collected it to keep it from the rats.”


---


Two hours later, Alex was fastening on his bell pads in preparation for the dance when he was approached by a girl a couple of years younger than himself.


“You’re Alex... the leader...” she began, hesitantly.


“I am,” he replied as he adjusted his bells. “And you’re?”


“Mandy... I wanted to ask... you’re busy...”


“Go on,” he said. He stopped fiddling with his bell pads and looked up to her with an encouraging smile. “They’re not going to start without me!”


“OK, I’ve got a little brother,” she began, the words tumbling over each other in her nervousness, “and we’ve got another little boy and they really need to be going to school and we try and teach them but there’s not enough time and we heard you’ve got a school and...”


“Hang on!” Alex said. “The answer’s probably yes. Now what’s your question?”


Mandy was stunned into silence by this. “Please could we come here and send Robbie and Davie to your school?” she managed to ask at last.


“Not just Robbie and Davie,” Alex answered. “I’m sure you need to go back to school, too! We’ve already got a dozen kids in what we call the intermediate class.”


She was astonished by this suggestion. It was beyond her wildest hope.


“You’ll have to live down here in the village because we’re running out of room up at the house,” he told her, “but I’m sure you’re OK looking after yourselves. We sort of expect a couple of days a week help from the bigger kids with things like the school, defence, farming and salvaging stuff. You’ll get a fair share of whatever we manage to grow and find. Does that sound OK?”


Mandy was almost jumping up and down with excitement and caught Alex in an enormous hug.


“Then go and talk to Sandra, over there. She’s sorting out the other groups and houses and things.”


She set off towards Sandra and then turned back. She checked to make sure nobody was listening then put her head close to his. “We can pay," she told him in a whisper.


He gave her a puzzled look. He'd not thought about money for ages.


“We’ve got a lorry full of tins,” she explained then hurried over to talk to Sandra.


Alex went back to adjusting his bell pads with a broad smile on his face.


---


The six dancers formed up into their set by the church gate. Across the road, Mary and Brian were tuning their instruments.


We’ve got a crowd,” he said as he looked out over the sea of faces. There were dozens of people. More than any of them had seen since the plague had struck.


He checked the set and then nodded to Mary and the music started. Walking casually in time to the music they processed on and formed up in front of the musicians. Normally they would go straight into the first dance but Alex suddenly stopped. “Hang on a sec, please,” he whispered to Mary. With a puzzled looked she paused the music and Alex smiled his apology to the set.


“Hello and welcome to Pratchdean,” he said to the crowd. “We are the Morris Minors. I have to warn you, we haven’t had much chance to practice lately so we might be a bit rusty.”


There were some laughs and he heard a muttered comment from Peter.


“Before we start, I think I ought to say something. Today is not a day for mourning. There are other days to remember those we have lost. Today is a day to celebrate... to celebrate the fact that we survived.


“Now, some of you have asked if you can join us and the answer is, ’There are plenty of houses in the village, come and talk to us. We’ll work something out.’


“To the rest of you, I want to say, ‘Don’t be strangers.’ As you’ve probably heard, we’ve got a school and we’ve managed to build up a pretty useful library. We’re trying to teach ourselves the skills we need for the future: engineering, science, farming, medicine... We’ve even got a vicar!”


He flashed a grin at Peter who responded by sticking his tongue out.


"We've got chickens and goats and, with the help of some friends from up near Colchester, we’re in the process of setting up a dairy. We're gradually increasing the amount of stuff we grow, though it'll be a while before we can grow everything we need so, if you've got ideas for salvage that are too big to handle on your own, definitely get in touch!


"Dan here," he nodded in Daniel's direction, "knows where pretty much everything is in town so if you need a size fourteen grommet, or whatever, he's the one to ask.


"As you may also have seen, we've also got quite an effective defensive set up. Please don't feel threatened by that, though. Unless you plan on attacking other people or keeping slaves you won't have any trouble from us. If, on the other hand you feel threatened then you should definitely let us know. If it's a threat to you today, it'll be a threat to us tomorrow.


"One last thing before we get back to the reason you really came - to see us dance!" This brought a few laughs.


“All of us are incredibly lucky to be here; we somehow dodged that plague that killed so many other people.


"But luck on its own was not enough. I don’t know what you’ve all been through but I do know that to survive, every group here, every person here, must have shown unbelievable strength and courage.


“And with that strength and courage we’re going to overcome everything that the future has to throw at us. We will survive.


“We are the children of tomorrow!”


And with a nod to Mary the music started.


The dancers rocked gently on their toes, calmly counted the beats until the music told them it was time. Then, as one, they took half a step backwards and, with a flick of hankies, they surged into the first figure.


And they danced.


----


All the characters in this book are entirely fictional and bear no relation to any other person, living or dead… except Jess!


----

End of Part 1

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Copyight © GarethN 2016 - 2018


----

[garethn]

About six months ago, I left my job to write full time. As a result, I have been able to complete the first part of ‘Children of Tomorrow’ and I hope you have enjoyed it. I am currently working on further books.

Unfortunately, I am not able to live indefinitely without income. I am therefore requesting donations to support me while I write. If you would like to contribute, you can do so at GarethN.payrexx.uk. On this site, you can make donations by most cards or paypal.

Due to the charges imposed, I cannot sensibly accept donations under $1.

To avoid any confusion, I am not in any financial difficulty and can always find another job if I need to. I would simply prefer to spend my time writing.

Many thanks for your support, input and any contributions,

GarethN

[patriciakbarr]

Jun 16, 2018 7:35:54 GMT -6 garethn said:

About six months ago, I left my job to write full time. As a result, I have been able to complete the first part of ‘Children of Tomorrow’ and I hope you have enjoyed it. I am currently working on further books.

Unfortunately, I am not able to live indefinitely without income. I am therefore requesting donations to support me while I write. If you would like to contribute, you can do so at GarethN.payrexx.uk. On this site, you can make donations by most cards or paypal.

Due to the charges imposed, I cannot sensibly accept donations under $1.

To avoid any confusion, I am not in any financial difficulty and can always find another job if I need to. I would simply prefer to spend my time writing.

Many thanks for your support, input and any contributions,

GarethN

Thank you for the enjoyable and educational story. It kept me reading because of the lack of polemics and political diatribes or odes to weaponry and tools. I also appreciated the three dimensional characters and acknowledgement that the world isn’t heroes versus bad guys. I sent a payment to you via PayPal for what I would have paid for it used or on Kindle. Thank you and I am glad you plan to continue writing.

[garethn]

Jun 24, 2018 18:00:47 GMT -6 patriciakbarr said:

Jun 16, 2018 7:35:54 GMT -6 garethn said:

<SNIP>

Thank you for the enjoyable and educational story. It kept me reading because of the lack of polemics and political diatribes or odes to weaponry and tools. I also appreciated the three dimensional characters and acknowledgement that the world isn’t heroes versus bad guys. I sent a payment to you via PayPal for what I would have paid for it used or on Kindle. Thank you and I am glad you plan to continue writing.

Thank you for the feedback and the support. That’s exactly how I hoped the system would work - a sort of literary busking!


I’m working on the next book and it should start rolling onto your screen quite soon - maybe six weeks. There night be a teaser a bit sooner...

G