"This is not a test. Repeat! This is not a test. A state of emergency has been declared in the entire United Kingdom. If you can, stay in your home or find a place of safety. Repeat! Stay in your home or find a place of safety. Ensure that all doors and windows are secure. Await further advice."
After that, Lisa and Anita took turns to stay awake and doze on one of the sofas for an hour at a time. Anita slept deeply and Lisa had to shake her hard to wake her. Lisa, on the other hand, found it impossible to sleep when it was her turn. Flashbacks of the horror of the previous day would jolt her awake every time she drifted off. Brian lay on another sofa covered with a blanket. He was getting sicker by the hour, shivering and moaning in his sleep. Lynda was subdued and tearful sitting at the dining table, still in her running gear.
Around 4am, they heard helicopters thumping overhead and heavy vehicles rolling by on the road that ran past the farm. But they stayed inside, afraid to go out or even to look through the curtains until it was light. The Emergency Broadcast continued. No further advice came. The phone never rang. It was as if they were the only people in the world.
Knowing that they were so close to the city, it seemed crazy that help was potentially so near yet felt so far away. Lisa tried phoning 999 again once or twice with no success. She tried Neil's mobile and the home phone again, but the outcome was the same. Where was he? Was he ok?
She remembered the last time in her life she'd felt a bit like this. It was not long after she and Neil had moved in together, a few months after they'd met, when, in the aftermath of September the 11th, there had been a few hours where it appeared that the whole world might descend into chaos. She'd been in a meeting in a hotel near Gatwick Airport. A man had slipped quietly into the back of the room. He waited for a gap in proceedings, then took the floor to explain what had happened. Everyone had left the meeting room to watch the TV coverage in the hotel bar for a while. There were rumours of other impending attacks in London and around the world. Everyone was anxious to get home to their families, so they'd agreed to abandon the meeting and go home.
She hadn't been able to get in touch with Neil. She wasn't even sure where he was working. She remembered the loneliness and anxiety she'd felt, being so far away from him and her family in a time of such shock, fear and uncertainty.
That night, they'd held each other tightly and whispered a promise to each other. If anything like that ever happened again, their first priority would be to make their way home to each other. Whoever got there first would wait for the other. Whatever happened next, they would deal with together. They could deal with anything as long as they were together. She wondered if he remembered their promise.
She wondered if he would go home and wait for her.
Around 5am, she called their landline again and left another message.
"It's me again, Darling. I'm ok. Sorry about before. I'm in a farm near a village called Wolston, near Coventry. I'm not far away. I'm safe at the moment. I'm with a few other people. I was on one of the trains. It was awful, but I'm ok. I don't know how, but I am ok. I'm going to stay here until the morning, then try to get home. If you get there before me, wait for me. I love you. Remember! Wait for me! I'm coming home."
Chapter 3 - Day 2 - Wolston near Coventry
It was around seven when it got light and Anita opened the kitchen curtains. The yard was empty apart from the bodies, a gruesome reminder of the previous evening's activities. Ironically, it was another lovely day. Matthew seemed relaxed and they were as confident as they could be that anyone, or anything, who'd been outside last night was gone. Sitting at the dining table with steaming mugs of freshly brewed coffee, the women discussed their options.
Brian was still very unwell, worse, in fact. His whole arm was red and swollen and he had developed a cough. Despite their protests, he painfully eased himself off the sofa to join them at the table.
"I'm not dead yet," he joked.
Lynda glanced at the bodies in the yard.
Lisa winced.
Anita sucked her teeth.
No-one laughed.
"Coffee?" Lynda offered.
"Couldn't face it, I'm afraid," Brian said.
"You better drink some water. You'll get dehydrated." Anita filled a glass and thrust it at him.
Brian took a half-hearted sip and spluttered, stifling a cough. Anita scoffed and turned her attention back to the discussion.
No further advice had been issued through the Emergency Broadcast System. The message on the screen was the same as it had been all night. They'd not heard a helicopter, nor a vehicle go by for several hours. They weren't even sure whether the advice to stay indoors still applied.
Lisa started.
"I'm so close to home. I'm only half an hour away … by car." She glanced at Lynda.
"I just want to get back to Neil. The A45 is just down the road. That'll take me to the M42 and then it's pretty much a straight run most of the way."
Anita spoke next.
"Honestly, I can't just sit here doing nothing any longer. It's driving me mad.
