‘Okay Reg. I’m Katie. This is my husband, Ben.’

  The old man put his glasses back on and mumbled another thank you as the sky rumbled with the distant echoes of further blasts. Suddenly, a look of urgency flashed across his face.

  ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go. Got to get to my wife..!’

  ‘O-okay’ Katie stuttered. ‘Are you sure you’re okay to drive..?’

  ‘I’m fine! I’m fine...’

  Reg pushed past her and slid into the driver’s seat as she stepped back, enabling him to pull the door to. Ben looked up again at the smoke-filled sky and placed a hand on his wife’s arm, gently pulling her back into his embrace as the old man started the engine. The car thrummed into life and began to pull away as Katie ran a hand through her hair which was grimy with sweat and dust.

  ‘What do we do now?’ she asked, watching the green hatchback head toward the junction at the top of the road. ‘Listen, Ben. It’s everywhere!’

  Ben Reilly had been trying not to listen but he couldn’t shut it out. The concerto of suffering, the cries of pain and fear and the rumble of far-off explosions were still all around them. ‘Matt’s place is nearest’ he said, ‘we have to try and get there...’

  Katie nodded and wiped her eyes, unaware that the green hatchback had stopped at the top of the sloping road. Ben was the first to notice as its reverse lights illuminated and it began to snake back down toward them. As it drew alongside Reg Herbert lowered his window, sighing deeply.

  ‘You two better get in’ he said, still staring ahead but noticeably calmer than before. ‘Jump in the back. I’m going as far as Shoreham if that’s any good to you. Hopefully it’s safer there...’

  The Reillys looked at each other and nodded, gasping in relief.

  ‘Thank you so much’ said Katie.

  ~ 7 ~

  ‘Bloody hell’ said Ben, looking out at the carnage through the back seat window. Grey smoke belched from wrecked buildings on both sides of the road, filling the air with white flecks of ash that drifted onto the small green hatchback and every other vehicle in the convoy.

  Katie rested her head on his chest as she stared out of the same window. Her eyes were red and moist with tears, her throat dry with fear. ‘I still can’t believe this is happening...’ she sobbed.

  ‘Oh, it’s happening alright’ said Reg, glaring at the couple via the rear-view mirror. ‘You better believe it.’ He twisted a lever on the steering column and the windscreen wipers clicked into life, initially smearing ash over the windscreen but then clearing it with a second sweep. Somewhere beyond the rhythmic sound of the wipers a car horn blared out, the noise muffled by the falling ash as if it were heavy snow.

  The queue of traffic was moving at around 5mph, far too slowly for Reg’s liking, as if everyone that had ever owned a car was on the road at the same time. He hoped that when the road widened they would be able to pick up speed and he could get where he needed to. God, he prayed, please let be Maureen be okay.

  ‘Look’ whimpered Katie, spotting a stream of grey silhouettes moving along by the roadside, some dragging belongings with them as they clung to each other for physical and emotional support. ‘Those poor people...’

  It was bad enough that Ben could see the hunched figures trudging through the smoky haze; worse still that he felt grateful for not being able to see their faces more clearly. But if he couldn’t see their expressions then they couldn’t haunt him; they couldn’t beg for help that he was unable to give. He felt terribly ashamed, but it was Katie that needed him more now than anyone. She had to be his priority...

  ‘Do you think those bombs were radioactive?’ Katie blurted suddenly, gazing fearfully into her husband’s eyes. Ben stuttered. Amid all the carnage he was only surprised that he hadn’t considered the possibility himself...

  ‘No’ interjected Reg. ‘I was in the army for a few years. They certainly weren’t nuclear. I’m pretty sure they weren’t radioactive either.’

  There was a knowledgeable confidence to the old man’s tone which made Ben sit up straight. ‘Who do you think is behind this, Reg?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Could be anyone.’

  ‘Yeah, but who’s got the means to do it...?’

  The old man shrugged his shoulders. ‘I told you. I don’t know...’

  Katie was listening to their conversation when she suddenly remembered something and began to fumble in her pocket. ‘I’ve still got that girl’s phone’ she said, more to herself than to either of the two men. She held it up, noting that the main display showed a picture of the girl in her boyfriend’s arms. The couple in the photo looked genuinely happy, a breed apart from the sneering teenagers that she and Ben had encountered. Entranced by the image Katie flinched as a familiar oblong bar reappeared, obscuring a third of the photo and declaring ‘no service’. Katie paused, staring at the screen. ‘I wonder if she made it out...’ she mumbled.

  Ben remained tight-lipped as she quietly slipped the phone back into her pocket. He had no thoughts of sympathy for the trio of teenagers whatsoever. If the train hadn’t crashed - if he hadn’t got the better of Gaz - it was likely that Katie would have been raped and the girl would probably have filmed the whole thing. He, for one, could not care less about the fate of any of them.

  ‘Reg?’ asked Katie. ‘Please can you try the radio again?’

  ‘Okay, pet’ answered the old man, ‘but don’t get your hopes up. It wasn’t working a little while ago.’ He flicked the dial to the right and white noise hissed through the speakers, remaining constant as he clicked from one station to the next. ‘Nothing’ he said. ‘Not a bloody thing.’

  ‘Christ!’ Katie shouted unexpectedly, sitting up as a grimy palm slapped against the outside of the back seat window. She pushed away from the glass, throwing herself into Ben’s arms as the locked door handle began to jostle violently. Together they looked out into the glaring eyes of three men; three individuals with determined rage on their snarling faces.

  ‘Open the fucking door!’ one shouted, kicking out at the side of the car. Then another yelled and banged a fist against the glass. The window shook under the impact and only just held.

  Reg, his foot ready to press hard on the accelerator, looked ahead for an escape route. There were barely six inches between the front of his car and the rear bumper of the next. Nowhere to go...

  ‘Open the door now, old man!’ shouted the third man, moving around to the driver’s side to glare in through the window. His face, like the others, was grimy with dust and soot as he began to kick at the door.

  Ben stared at his wife, reading the fear in her eyes. Nodding resolutely, he moved his hand slowly toward the door handle but at the same time Reg spotted him through the rear-view mirror. ‘Don’t do it!’ he shouted, reaching into the glove compartment and removing an object which he immediately held up against the window.

  The man outside suddenly recoiled, throwing his arms into the air while shouting to the others. As one they stepped away from the car, allowing it to trundle on.

  ‘Jesus Christ, you’ve got a fucking gun?’ said Ben, pulling Katie tightly to him again and pushing back in his seat.

  ‘Oh my God!’ yelled Katie.

  Reg leaned back over his shoulder and into the gap between the front seats. ‘Take it!’ he said, holding the weapon out to Ben, handle first. ‘If anyone tries anything like that again, point it at them.’

  At first Ben did not move.

  ‘Here!’ urged Reg. ‘Take it! Quickly!’

  Watched closely by Katie, Ben stretched out his hand and nervously took the gun from the old man, holding it between thumb and forefinger as if it were a dead tarantula. ‘Bloody hell…’ he muttered under his breath.

  ‘I used to be a taxi driver’ said Reg, turning to face front again. ‘Needed that sometimes, for the night shift.’

  He stared at the stunned couple in the rear-view mirror, noting the fear in their faces. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘you don’t have to be scared, alright?. It’s just a replica. But it should still keep people away.’

  Ben gently kissed the top of Katie’s head as she leaned over to bury her face in his chest. He laid the ‘gun' on the seat at his side and then turned to look out of the grimy rear window. The trio of strangers had disappeared into the ash-filled haze behind them, no doubt in search of an easier victim. With his heart still thumping Ben clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, feeling an incredible pressure bearing down on him. It was impossible to believe everything that had happened since he had woken within the warmth of Katie’s arms that very morning.

  ‘Listen’ Reg said suddenly, making the younger man flinch. ‘Explosions have stopped.’

  Ben tilted his head. He could still hear the sound of the cars working their way through the ash-covered road as well as sirens in the distance, but for what it was worth Reg was right. The explosions had stopped.

  The car trundled on for the next ten minutes, mercifully increasing in speed as the traffic grew more fluid. Some vehicles had fallen by the wayside, either devoid of fuel or too damaged to continue, and Katie watched as their occupants abandoned them to join the scores of people walking by the side of the road. By now the falling ash had dissipated slightly, leaving the sky clearer although sinister tendrils of black smoke still dotted the horizon. The sheer level of destruction was all the more visible now too, shown most clearly in piles of burning rubble where solid houses had once stood. Elsewhere, ruptured pipes sprayed water into the air and whole areas of trees lay flattened, the latter curiously reminding Ben of the great storm of ‘eighty-seven’. If only all they had to contend with now was a storm...

  Katie watched from the back window of the moving car as they passed groups of nameless, dust-covered people; a crushing grief all-too evident in every one of their stunned faces. ‘We should help them’ she mumbled, her voice faltering as she met Reg’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘You’re right, pet. We should,’ he replied, ‘but there’s too many of them. I’m sorry, we just can’t.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘We can’t.’

  Reg continued to stare at Katie’s reflection in the mirror until she turned away. Then he stretched a hand over to the glove compartment and opened it again. The Reillys tensed, not sure what to expect as he removed something which he leaned back with and handed to Ben. It was a safety pin.

  Ben looked confused.

  ‘She can use that...’ Reg muttered timidly, ‘to cover herself up.’

  Katie sat up sharply and pulled her ripped blouse together before taking the pin from her husband. Turning to one side she placed the pin where a missing button had been and then looked out of the window again, losing herself in the remaining flecks of drifting ash.

  ‘Those poor people’ she whispered again.

  Ben pulled her close, feeling her shudder in his embrace. In all her life Katie Reilly had never felt so helpless. It was the first time she had ever turned her back on anyone.

  The sky was dark with heavy clouds by the time the trio reached a roundabout near a place called Knockholt. The traffic had slowed again to little more than a crawl under the sheer number of vehicles and the green hatchback was beginning to labour, juddering as it inched forward. As far as they could see every other road leading away from the roundabout was also packed with slow-moving cars.

  ‘Not sure how much further we’ll get’ Reg warned, looking at the dashboard while tapping the steering wheel impatiently. ‘Engine’s overheating...’

  ‘Look’ said Katie, pointing out of the windscreen at the queue of traffic up ahead. Brake lights were lighting up one by one as the cars slowed and stopped, leaving a streaming convoy of ash-covered vehicles bumper to bumper for as far as the eye could see. In contrast, the number of survivors walking by the side of the road had dwindled. Ben guessed that most had gone in search of shelter, wherever that might be.

  As the car slowed and slopped Reg sighed and clicked the radio on once more. Again, unexpectedly, it hissed with static.

  ‘What do we do now?’ asked Katie.

  ‘What can we do?’ said Reg. ‘I’m open to suggestions...’

  After about a minute Ben noticed a car door slowly open about five vehicles ahead. A thin man nervously stepped onto the road before shading his eyes to look off into the distance. He stood with one hand resting on the top of his open door, ready to jump back in at a moment’s notice if danger threatened.

  Then another door clicked open.

  And then another.

  Slowly, one at a time, people began to emerge from their vehicles. Some started talking nervously to their neighbours, telling tales of woe while pointing off to the horizon. A tangible fear was still in the air but the initial need to ‘survive at all costs, regardless of others’ had begun to fade. There was interaction, and amid the scent of acrid smoke there was also a trace of something Katie had feared she might never feel again.

  Hope.

  ‘What do you think?’ asked Ben. ‘Do you think I should take a look? At least I can see how long the queue of traffic goes on for. We might not even be able to get any further...’

  Katie looked out of the window again, trying to see as far ahead as possible. She noticed that some other people had left their cars and were starting to climb a steep grass verge for an elevated view of the landscape. Reluctantly she nodded to her husband but quickly followed it up with: ‘Be careful.’

  ‘You should take the gun’ added Reg. ‘Just in case.’

  Ben locked eyes with his wife. After the incident with the three men he didn’t want to admit that the suggestion was just common sense.

  ‘He’s right’ said Katie, nodding. ‘Better to be safe than sorry.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll be as quick as I can’ Ben replied, slipping the replica weapon into the band at the back of his trousers and untucking his shirt to cover it. ‘Just promise me you’ll keep the doors locked. And don’t leave the car, no matter what.’

  ‘I promise’ whispered Katie, leaning over to kiss his cheek. ‘Love you.’

  ‘Love you too.’

  Ben carefully opened the car door and stepped out onto the road, closing it behind him with a firm shove. A loud clunk followed, confirmation that Reg had activated the central locking. Ben nodded to the old man and took a last look back through the smeared window at his wife. She was leaning against the glass, her blue eyes wide as she mouthed two words.

  ‘Be careful.’

  Ben winked and smiled back at her before giving a quick ‘thumbs-up’. Then he turned and walked away.

  ~ 8 ~

  Ben Reilly shaded his eyes and stared back at the tendrils of traffic trailing away for miles along every exit of the roundabout. A few vehicles ahead a crop-haired man – most likely in his twenties - stood cautiously by the open door of his car. Head twitching nervously, he spotted Ben and nodded in his direction. ‘I don’t think we can get anywhere now’ he shouted.

  ‘Seems that way’ Ben replied, noticing someone sitting on the passenger’s side. A red-haired girl, her eyes stained with smeared mascara, was leaning against the window. Even at a distance Ben could see that she was shaking uncontrollably, her half-open mouth dribbling with traces of vomit. He craned his neck until it was obvious to the other man that he had noticed her, and then he asked if she was okay.

  ‘She’s high’ said the twentysomething. ‘Took the wrong time to do some serious shit. Probably thinks this is all a bad trip or somethi- Whoa! Fuck! What the fuck is that..?’

  Ben followed his gaze, drawn to a particularly large cloud of billowing black smoke drifting from over the top of the grass verge away to his left. Without thinking he began to move purposefully through the maze of cars, avoiding eye contact with any of the frightened occupants. He barely noticed that the young man had climbed back behind his wheel and slammed the door shut.

  Vaulting the metal siding at the edge of the road Ben began to climb the slope. A dozen others were already halfway up it, clambering through a group of thin saplings on their way to the top. The grass was slippery underfoot and Ben almost fell twice before he was able to reach the trees and use them as leverage. Clambering between them he started to notice people already coming down. They were pale, shell-shocked, more than a few shaking their heads in disbelief.

  ‘What is it?’ Ben shouted at the nearest ones, but they just replied with scared glances. Then a chubby bearded man with tears in his eyes passed by, his chin quivering.

  ‘See for yourself’ he croaked.

  Ben pushed through the last line of trees and stumbled up the final few feet to the top of the incline. Twenty or thirty other people were already there, lining the crest, staring away to the source of the huge cloud of smoke.

  There on a hillside, half a mile or so away, was the crippled body of a passenger jet, the nose of which was lost among swirling purple/orange flames. Even at a distance Ben could see a deep trail ploughed into the ground where the aircraft had crashed, felling dozens of trees and setting the hillside on fire. Hundreds of bodies, like discarded toy soldiers, lay scattered over the churned earth. Broken, twisted or ripped apart by the impact, some of the corpses were also on fire.

  Ben closed his eyes and turned away, repulsed by the scene as a first spot of rain landed on his head. A few feet away a man exploded in a torrent of vomit, spewing onto the ground before dropping to his knees. His body heaved for a full thirty seconds and then collapsed into a series of shuddering sobs. ‘It’s the end...’ he whimpered.

  Ben kept his distance. He had already struggled to restrain his own fear a number of times and if he let it, the terror would resurface to take control of him completely. For Katie’s sake, he could not allow that to happen. Deliberately avoiding looking at either man or plane, Ben instead stared back down the valley and across at the intermingling roads. In all directions every possible route was jam-packed with barely-moving cars, their futile horns beeping randomly. There was no doubt about it; if he and Katie wanted to get anywhere they were going to have to walk from here on in.

 

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