Chapter Fifteen

Taking Stock

The floor of the mini-mart was littered with tins that had been shaken from their shelves. But the building had remained standing, despite a gigantic crack stretching from floor to ceiling. Even the windows had remained in their frames.

“Don’t touch any of the refrigerated stuff,” said Alex, as he and Lisa began clearing the tins out of the way. “The power’s only been off a day, but the food might still have turned.”

Wayne and Damon ignored him, charging past them into the shop, kicking tins out of the way. They reached the refrigerated units and counter at the other end of the store and began foraging.

“What happens if you get food poisoning?” snapped Alex.

Jay found what he was after and tossed it across to Alex, who fumbled the catch and nearly dropped it.

“Tin-opener,” said Jay. “Who’s going to be Mother?”

Annie had already selected some tins from the floor and took the opener from Alex. Soon, the boy was scooping fingerfuls of minced lamb into his mouth. Wayne and Damon were eating noisily at the far end of the store as the others selected what they wanted and began to eat. Although their appetites had seemed non-existent, the sudden appearance of food made them all realise how ravenous they really were.

After a long silence, while they satisfied their hunger, Annie said: “Maybe we should light a fire or something? A beacon, to let them know there’s someone alive here.”

“Can’t do any harm,” said Jay. “And there’s plenty of wood lying around.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” said Alex.

“Why not?” asked Jay.

Alex suddenly became aware that Candy was no longer with them.

“Candy?”

“What?” snapped her voice from behind the shelving unit in the centre of the littered floor. She swung around the edge, one hand gripping the shelves. There was a bottle of Scotch in her other hand. She stood for a moment, staring at him. Her eyes did not leave his face as she unscrewed the cap and took a deep drink. Alex moaned, rubbing a weary hand over his face.

“Come on, then,” continued Jay, ignoring the potential conflict between them, “what do you mean? Maybe the rescue services, the others on the outside, believe there’s no one alive here. We have to at least let them know there are some survivors.”

“Tell them,” said Candy, drinking again.

“Candy, take it easy with that bottle. You know…”

“You’ve got to tell them what we saw. What we think we saw.”

“What the hell’s she talking about?” snapped Wayne.

“Candy, please. The bottle…”

“You saw something,” said Jay, remembering the nightmare back at the community centre. “Didn’t you?”

Alex looked hopelessly at the floor.

“Tell them!” shouted Candy. The boy crept into Lisa’s lap, burying his head.

“Last night, before the community centre blew up…” Alex swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. “Candy and I went out…into the street. We saw someone…something…in one of the stores. A man with his eye…Christ, Candy, I can’t…”

“Come on, Alex. Be a man. Try harder.” Candy drank again.

“We saw a man who should have been dead. His head was…smashed. But he spoke to us, as if he knew us. But we’d never seen him before. Then this…this…black stuff…exploded out of him. Like black water, or oil, or something. A bloody great black wave. It just exploded out of the store and filled the street. It chased us back to the community centre.”

“Alex thinks we hallucinated,” slurred Candy. “He thinks that there might have been nerve gas, or something, in the air. Made us see the dead man, and the black stuff.”

“Two people couldn’t have the same hallucination,” said Annie.

“Make it three,” said Jay, unscrewing the top from a pop bottle and taking a deep draught.

“What do you mean?” asked Lisa.

“I think I saw that black wave, or whatever you want to call it. Just before the community centre blew to hell. I thought I’d imagined it then. Thought I saw something like a black flood exploding through the windows. Just an instant, before the place went up.”

“Three people seeing the same thing?” said Annie. “You can’t have imagined it.”

“I’ve read things,” said Alex. “About what they can do these days. Designer bombs that kill people and leave buildings standing. Maybe they could design a gas that makes people see the same things. Good way to start a war, isn’t it? Terrify people out of their wits first, then you could move in and take over. The survivors would be glad to see an invading army then, wouldn’t they? Come to save them from the nightmares.”

“You think that’s what happened?” asked Jay. “You think this wasn’t an earthquake, but the start of a war, or something?”

“I don’t know what to think,” replied Alex desperately. “I just know what we saw…what we think we saw.”

“I think we should light a fire,” said Damon.

“But maybe we’ve been cut off deliberately,” Alex went on. “Don’t you see? What if there was some kind of missile strike, and some kind of nerve gas dropped here. That could be the reason why no one’s come to rescue us. Maybe this whole area has been deliberately cordoned off. I’ve been thinking about it all. Thinking about nothing else. Maybe we’re quarantined. We could be infectious, or something. That gas…”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Jay. “Infectious nerve gas? I don’t think so.”

“Don’t you see?” pleaded Alex. “If we light a fire, we might draw attention to ourselves. And maybe…just think about this for a moment…maybe, if there’s some kind of invading army out there… Well, they might see a beacon and decide to just drop another bomb on us or something.” Alex was trembling now, sweat beading on his brow.

Candy looked down on her husband with contempt, and drank again.

“I think we should light a beacon,” said Annie at last. “What else can we do? The telephones are dead and it looks like the rescue services just aren’t going to come. Maybe they think everyone is dead here. We’ve got to let them know we’re here.”

“You’re right,” said Jay. “Nobody knows what the hell is happening, whether it’s an earthquake, a missile strike, or what. But whatever’s happened, we can’t just stay here, living on tinned food for the rest of our lives. We should all start collecting wood for our bonfire. We’re going to set it up in the middle of the park, well away from the houses so the fire doesn’t spread.”

“Let’s get started,” said Lisa.