What happened, Doctor? Why did they let it happen?'
'It all comes down to greed in the end.' Some of the forced stiffness went out of her. 'And envy. Let's not forget our old friend envy.'
She finished dressing the wound, and administered the anti-tetanus injection; then she reached back into the trolley for a Diazepam-filled syringe.
He awoke to find a different pair of eyes staring down at him. Her blonde hair fell around her face, a face that was still marked and grimy from the ordeal in the tunnel. Her eyes were wide, and unlike the doctor's cried out her fear. A hand clutched at his shoulder.
'Where am I?' she asked, almost in a whisper. 'Please tell me.'
He struggled to sit up and his head rode a coaster. Her hand tightened on his shoulder, digging into the flesh.
Take it easy,' he begged. 'Just give me a minute.'
Culver slowly eased his back against the wall behind and waited for the spinning to stop. His head began to clear, making way for jumbled thoughts to rush in. His senses sharpened rapidly as he remembered. The dread drifted down into the lower regions of his stomach like a ship sinking to the sea bed. He looked at the girl, then pushed a hand between her hair and cheek.
‘You're safe now,' he told her softly. He wanted to hold her, to hug her to his chest, to tell her it was all a bad dream that had ended. But he knew it was just beginning.
We're in a government shelter,' he said. The entrance was in the tunnel near where we found you.'
He watched her shudder.
'I remember.' Her voice, her gaze, was distant. We heard the sirens. No one could believe it was really happening, but we ran, we hid. We thought the tunnels would protect us. Those things ...' She broke and he pulled her to him.
Her sobs were muffled against his chest and he felt his own emotional barrier, a shield that was tissue-thin, beginning to tear. There was a closeness between them - he was sure it was shared - an intimacy imposed by what they had both been through, a desperate touching of spirits. Culver held on to the girl and fought against his own despair.
After what seemed a long while, her shuddering stopped, although she continued to tremble slightly.
She pulled away from him.
Were ... were you the one who helped me? Out there, when those ...Oh, God, what were they?
'Vermin,' he answered, keeping his voice calm. 'Rats that must have been breeding underground for years.'
'But their size! How could they get to that size?'
'Mutants,' he told her. 'Monsters that should have been wiped out years ago when they first appeared.
We were told that they had been, but it looks like we were misinformed. Or deceived.'
'How could they survive, how could they breed, how could they go unnoticed?' Her voice was rising and Culver could see she was beginning to lose control again.
'Maybe we'll find the answers later,' he answered soothingly. The main thing is that we're safe now.
Whatever's above, whatever's in the tunnels, can't touch us here.'
He would never forget the haunting shadow that touched her face at that moment. 'Is ... is there anything left ... above?'
He could not answer. To have done so, to have had to think of it, would have broken him. Push it away, Culver, save it for later. It was too much to take right now, too much to envisage. Keep away thoughts of black- charred children, torn bodies, crushed, bewildered children, a devastated, ravaged city, country - world? - contaminated, shrieking, children, children, children!
He had cried out then, not loudly, not frenziedly; a piteous sound that was faint, but nevertheless, an outpouring of anguish. And now it was the girl who comforted him.
The doctor came for them a little later. She stopped for a moment in the doorway of the small sick bay, briefly wishing that she, too, had a pair of arms to fall into, someone who would hold her, tell her things would be all right... if
only she knew if Simon ... mustn't think about it, mustn't even consider her husband's death.
'How are you both feeling?' she asked, professionalism stifling rising emotion.
They looked at her as if she were some weird alien, perhaps the creator of the havoc above; but the man, Culver, recovered quickly.
'How long were we out for?' he asked as they separated.
'About six hours,' Clare Reynolds glanced at her wrist-watch. 'It's now just after seven. Evening.'
She approached them. 'Now tell me how you're feeling. Any aches, pains, you think I should know about? You?' She looked at the girl.
'I'm just numb.'
The doctor now looked even paler to Culver, if that were possible, but she managed a sad smile. We all are mentally. How do you feel physically? Do you hurt anywhere?'
The girl shook her head.
'Good. Do you want to tell us your name?'
The girl sat upright on the edge of the bed and wiped a hand across her eyes. 'Kate,' she said.
'Surname?'
'Garner.'
'Welcome to the survivors' club, Kate Garner.' The icy tone hardly sounded welcoming. 'How does your leg feel, Mr Culver?'
'Like it was bitten by a rat.' Culver raised his knees beneath the single blanket and rested his wrists over them. What's been going on while we were asleep?'
That's why I'm here. A meeting is about to start in the shelter's dining room. You'll find out all you want to know there. Are you fit enough to get dressed?'
Culver nodded and realized that, for the moment at least, he had put something behind him. The pain, the tormenting images, could be kept in cold storage for a while. They would never leave him, of that he was sure, but for the time being they could be suppressed. A cold fury was taking hold inside and he knew it would help sustain him throughout whatever was yet to come. For a while.
The doctor reached up to the bunkbed above, then tossed his clothes into his lap. 'Jacket's a little burnt and your jeans and shirt are somewhat torn, but no need to worry - the meeting won't be formal. Kate, could you come over to another bed? I just want to have another look at you.'
Culver quickly dressed, wincing at the pain sudden movement caused. He must have been more bruised than he realized, and the whole of his thigh had stiffened. He found his tan boots beneath the bed and grunted as he bent to lace them up; it felt as though someone had slammed a medicine-ball into his stomach. He stood, using the upper bunk as support until he felt steady, then joined the doctor and the girl.
'Everything okay?' he asked, looking from one to the other.
'No serious damage.' The doctor stood. 'Let's join the others.'
'How many 'others' are there?' Culver said. 'And who are they?'
'Engineers mostly, technicians permanently based here to operate the telephone equipment. The rest are ROCs -members of the Royal Observer Corps - and one or two Civil Defence people. More should have joined us at the first warning of attack, but...' she shrugged '... such clinically devised plans don't always work out in practice. Especially when a whole city is in a state of panic. There are nearly forty of us in all.'
She led them from the sick bay and both Culver and the girl gasped at the size of the area they had entered.
Impressive, isn't it?' Dr Reynolds said, noticing their astonished looks. 'It would take well over an hour to
