there was a point to be missed).
‘No idea,’ Emma muttered.
‘It’s isolated, isn’t it? It’s not easy to find. It’s going to be right off the beaten track.’
‘So, we’re not trying to hide are we? There doesn’t seem to be anyone left to hide from…’
Emma still couldn’t understand what the big deal was. Carl on the other hand was beginning to get the idea.
‘It’s not about hiding, is it Mike?’ he said, grinning suddenly. ‘It’s the isolation. People who lived in house like that must have been pretty self-sufficient.’
‘That’s exactly it,’ Michael interrupted. ‘Imagine this place in the winter. Christ, a couple of inches of snow and you’re stuck where you are. And these people were farmers. They couldn’t afford to be without heat and light, could they? My guess is that whoever lived in that house would have been used to being out on a limb and would have been ready for just about anything. I’ll bet they’ve got their own power and everything.’
Emma watched the two men who had become much more animated than they had been at any other time in the last week.
‘It’s going to be hard enough for us to get there,’ Carl continued. ‘And you’ve seen the state of the poor sods left wandering the streets, haven’t you? They’ll never find us.’
‘It’s perfect,’ Michael beamed.
16
After fighting for survival virtually every second of the way since the disaster had begun, a slice of good luck finally came the way of Michael, Carl and Emma. It really was nothing more than an unexpected chance. A welcome fluke.
They had been on the road again for just over an hour since leaving the cafe. Michael had certainly been right about the isolation of the house in the woods as it had proved impossible to find. It had taken them the best part of the last sixty minutes just to find the road which crossed the valley and their brief euphoria at finally seeming to have made some progress had once again quickly given way to desperation and melancholy.
The sides of the seemingly endless, twisting roads along which they travelled were lined with tall trees which made it virtually impossible to see very far into the distance in any direction. Irritation inside the van was rapidly mounting.
‘This is bloody ridiculous,’ Michael sighed. ‘There must be something around here somewhere.’
Michael was driving again with Emma sitting directly behind. She leant forward and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He instinctively pulled away, annoyed and frustrated.
‘Calm down,’ she sighed, trying hard to soothe her companion’s nerves despite the fact that her own were tattered and torn. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get there.’
‘Get where? Fucking hell, all I can see are trees. I haven’t got a clue where we are. We’re probably driving in the wrong direction…’
‘Got it!’ Carl shouted.
‘Got what?’ Michael snapped.
Carl had been poring over the pages of a road atlas.
‘I think I’ve found where we are on the map.’
‘Well done,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Now can you find that bloody house?’
‘I’m trying,’ he replied. ‘It’s not easy. I can’t see any landmarks or anything to check against.’
‘So can you see any buildings round here?’
‘Hold on…’
Carl struggled to focus his eyes on the map. He was being thrown from side to side as Michael followed the winding route of the narrow road.
‘Anything?’ Michael pressed impatiently.
‘I don’t think so,’ Carl eventually replied. ‘Look, can you slow down a bit? I’m having trouble…’
‘Look, if you can’t find any buildings on this road,’ the other man interrupted angrily, ‘do you think you could tell us how to get to another road that might actually lead somewhere?’
Another pause as Carl again studied the map.
‘There’s not very much round here at all…’
‘Shit,’ Michael cursed. ‘There must be something…’
‘Will you take it easy,’ Emma said from the back. ‘We’ll get there.’
Michael thumped the steering wheel in frustration and then swung the van around a sharp bend in the road. He had to fight to keep control of the vehicle and then was forced to steer hard in the other direction to avoid driving into the back end of a car which had crashed into the hedge.
‘If I’ve got this right then we should reach another bend in the road soon,’ Carl said, sensing that they needed some definite direction. ‘Just after the bend there’s a junction. Take a right there and we’ll be on a main road in a couple of miles.’
‘What good’s a main road? I just want a road with buildings on.’
