same. Now they were just rank-and-file survivors, nothing more and nothing less. The last of a dying breed, perhaps.
The way they’d each lost everything was still impossible to even begin to try and understand. Their normal, relatively comfortable lives had been snatched from them in seconds and there hadn’t been a damn thing any of them had been able to do about it, no way of retaliating or reclaiming what they’d lost. Since that first morning they’d been living through an all-consuming nightmare so intense they’d thought they’d never get through it. But they had. Against all the odds—and those odds were considerable—they’d somehow survived and come through the other side relatively unscathed. They’d begun to forge something resembling normal lives again on a small rocky island a short distance off the coast of the mainland. Nothing like the lives they’d led previously, but still infinitely better than anything they? possible in those first dark, terrifying days after the rest of the world had died.
But now, for the first time since leaving, they were heading back, and it was a daunting prospect.
As the ocean below gave way to a once-familiar landscape, they slowly began to talk about what they could see. They flew relatively low, skirting over empty shops and houses, following the route of once busy roads which were now silent and led nowhere.
“What a fucking mess,” Michael Collins said, barely able to comprehend the scale of the visible devastation below them. He didn’t know what he’d expected to see here—he’d purposely tried not to think about it until now— but the reality was humbling. None of the streets were clear, all of them filled with decayed remains, litter which had been picked up and blown on the wind, and other waste which had been abandoned when the bulk of the human race had been brought to an abrupt end last September and accumulated ever since. There had been no cleanup. No emergency response. No international aid. Everything was just as it had been left that first morning—a little more rotted, rusted and ruined, that was all.
Richard Lawrence too was struggling to concentrate. He made himself look up, not down, for fear of being distracted by the eerie chaos below. More than ever, today he was feeling the intense pressure of being the group’s sole pilot—perhaps even the last pilot left alive anywhere—and it weighed heavily on his shoulders. It made him feel as if everything was down to him and him alone, that their continued survival was his sole responsibility, and that was a difficult cross to bear. A short shuttle run from the island to the mainland didn’t sound like much, and in the overall scheme of things it wasn’t, but what if something went wrong? The lives of the four people flying with him were in his hands. And what if something did happen and they couldn’t make it back to the island? The consequences didn’t bare thinking about. The people on Cormansey—such a small, fragile, and and isolated community—would struggle to stay alive. That was why they’d come back here today: to collect supplies and to find some alternative transport. The long-term plan had always been for the islanders to become self-sufficient over time, but that was still a way off yet. On a practical level they still had a huge amount to learn and emotionally … well, they hadn’t even started. Their new lives were just beginning, but the wreckage of their old lives needed to be sorted out too. A period of adjustment and acceptance would inevitably be necessary before any of them could hope to start moving on.
Some of the people living on Cormansey had made a more successful start to island life than most. Others seemed almost to be there by default, having hidden in the shadows of university buildings, underground bunkers, and airfield control towers, being propped up and carried along by everyone else. Right place, right time. Michael had taken nothing for granted and had worked damn hard to stay alive. He knew he was luckier than most, because he’d already started to rebuild. He had a partner (girlfriend? wife? lover? None of those titles seemed to fit any more), and his relationship with Emma Mitchell was the most important thing left in his small and increasingly self- contained world. Some of the others had wanted him to stay on Cormansey and not make this trip back but he’d insisted. Emma was pregnant—the first pregnancy on the island—and Michael felt duty-bound to provide for his unborn child. He thought about Emma and the baby constantly. He and Emma said nothing to each other—because there was nothing either of them could do to affect the outcome—but they both knew the risks and uncertainties involved in childbirth. As well as the usual concerns, the lack of any decent medical facilities compounded their unease. To make matters worse, they’d been told about a baby born just after the infection had struck. The poor little thing had lived for only a matter of seconds outside its mother’s womb before being killed by the same deadly germ which had wiped out everything else.
Sitting next to Michael in the back of the helicopter was Donna Yorke, and next to her was Mark Cooper. Emma had often talked about those two, idly gossiping about what a good couple she thought they’d make together. They spent a lot of time in each other’s company and sometimes stopped over at each other’s houses, but that was as far as it had gone. Michael wondered whether they were too scared to admit their feelings, not that it was any of his business, and not that he was particularly concerned. He remembered the risk he’d taken when he and Emma had first become close, and then intimate. Island life was too restrictive if things went wrong. It was impossible to escape if you fell out with anyone and he could only begin to imagine how awkward it would be for everyone if such a relationship soured, keeping their heads down in the midst of all the name-calling and blame. Cormansey often felt like a huge, open space when you were alone, walking miles from building to distant building along the silent, traffic-free roads, but you still saw the same few faces every day. Necessity had forced the community to become increasingly close-knit. They relied on each other, and it had been clear from the outset that their ongoing successful survival would require collective effort. Maybe Donna and Cooper did want to be closer, but the commitment was just too big a risk for them to take.
Harry Stayt sat next to Richard in the front of the helicopter, scanning the ground below.
“I think we should stick to the coast,” he said to the pilot. “Things look as shitty as ever down there. Probably not worth risking going any further inland just yet.”
Richard agreed. He banked right, taking them back toward the ocean. Michael looked out at the endless expanse of water again—the deceptive stillness, the sunlight glinting off the gently rolling waves—and wished they were anywhere but here. He wanted to be home again.
* * *
They set down in the next decent-sized port they reached, Richard skilfully maneuvering the helicopter and landing in a small patch of space on the open roof of a multistory car park, not wanting to risk leaving the precious machine down at ground level. Harry continued to look around as they descended, ticking boxes on his mental checklist: compact but decent-sized shopping area—
“Nice day for it,” he said as he got out of the helicopter. It was cold, but nowhere near as harsh as it had been recently. He stretched his back, yawned, then did up his jacket, thankful for the several layers of thin, insulated sports clothing he was wearing underneath. The air quality wasn’t too bad up here. Not as good as they’d been used to on the island, but bearable nonetheless. He caught the odd trace of the immediately familiar stench of death they’d all become used to, but it was less prevalent than he remembered. The sea breeze carried it away before it outstayed its welcome.
Michael walked to the edge of the car park and peered over the wall, down into what, he presumed, had been the town’s main shopping street. He’d once spent a couple of days hiding out on the roof of a car park like this with Emma. That had been right at the beginning of their nightmare—one of the worst days of the worst times, just after they’d lost their farmhouse hideout and their friend Carl Henshawe. He tried not to dwell on those memories. They’d been completely lost and directionless back then, not knowing how they were going to survive or even if they wanted to.
“Everything okay, Mike?” Cooper asked, disturbing his thoughts. He was glad of the interruption.
“Fine,” he replied. “Just checking out the locals.”
Cooper looked down. There was some stilted movement in the streets below, but nothing in comparison to what they’d been used to. There were just a few of the dead left here now, still restless and animated but moving with very little speed.
“Instead of just looking we could actually go down there and get this done,” Harry sarcastically suggested. Michael looked back over his shoulder and saw the other man leaning up against the helicopter, casually cleaning his sword with a piece of cloth. The crazy bugger had made no secret of the fact he’d been itching for a chance to use it again. Michael had often seen him standing in the middle of a field just outside Danver’s Lye—the small village at the heart of Cormansey life—practising his swordsmanship like a frustrated martial arts master without any pupils. Jack Baxter liked to wind Harry up, asking him if he cut hedges as well, because his needed a trim.
