Surviving The Evacuation (Book 8): Anglesey (9 page)

“So the question becomes, what are they working towards?”

“No,” Sholto said. “You’re not thinking like a criminal. The bigger question is whether they were telling the truth about not having any sat-phones, and why they were looking for them in the first place.”

Taking the bag of pills to the hospital took care of an hour. We killed another speculating whether they represented the only pharmaceuticals Markus had been given.

When we got back to the school, a redheaded woman was deep in conversation with George Tull. When she turned around, I saw a jagged scar running from her temple down to her chin. It gave a sardonic edge to her thoughtful expression.

“Heather,” George said, “this is Bill and Thaddeus.”

“The two brothers,” she said with a far less pronounced Welsh accent than I was expecting. “George said you can get some satellites working?”

“If we had some sat-phones,” Sholto said.

“Then you want to go to Bangor. There’s ten at the university,” she said. “When do you want to leave?”

Chapter 4 - Menai Bridge

07:30, 19
th
August, Day 160

“I like it here,” I said to Sholto as we headed down to the shore.

“Anglesey?”

“Menai Bridge,” I said.

“Yeah, me too,” he said, glancing back at the small town. “It’s a bit like Crossfields Landing. I mean, that’s a two-street village, but the people are similar. Eager. Enthusiastic. No, that’s not the right word. They haven’t given up. And there’s the view of the sea. Not as wide here as in Maine, mind you.”

I waited for him to go on, but as was often the case when he remembered that village in America, he’d lost himself in the past.

When Heather Jones asked when we wanted to leave, my instinct was to say immediately, but there was Daisy to consider. If I’m honest, I felt as restless as my brother. Organising an election was too much like my old life, but without all the digital distractions and electronic assistance that would have made it routine. After all, the election doesn’t only mean new leadership and, perhaps, a new direction for our community. It also represents the beginning of a new state. If I do the job correctly, it might mean the opportunity for a new
kind
of state. Added to that was the new burden of parenting. I hadn’t realised how much of the work Kim and Annette had done out on the mainland. As such, I was quite happy to bring Daisy with us to Menai Bridge, and to let the Duponts dote over her.

We’d arrived late, had a good meal where barely any ingredients came from the old world, and listened to other people’s stories that had nothing to do with the outbreak. It was pleasant, different, and the kind of atmosphere I hoped would become our new normal. If anything, and after an astonishingly good night’s sleep, the view of the small town only reinforced that opinion.

“They’ve got it together,” Sholto said, echoing my thoughts. “It’s not just that it’s organised. It’s not just that they planted food back in the spring, or even that they keep the streets clean, but that they intend to keep on doing it.”

We were walking down a narrow terrace of boarded-up houses. On each front door was a plastic envelope inside of which was a list of the property’s contents. Some had an additional mark in large chalk lettering noting some item that might be of more immediate use, though that use wasn’t always obviously practical. ‘Piano’ was chalked on one door, and I was surprised the small cottages had room even for a stand-up model. Another door was marked with ‘twin-tub washing machine’, another with ‘children’s clothes’. A fourth, with a red and green chalk sketch added to the front wall, proclaimed the wonderful words ‘apple tree, September!’

“They really want to make the place work,” I said. “I know that this road and the parts they took us to see yesterday are the exception. I mean, this was a town of about three thousand, and there’s only fifty people here. But they really are trying. If everyone was like this, just imagine what we could do.”

“I think it’s because everyone
isn’t
like this that they want us to move here,” he said.

“And what do you think?” I asked.

“You know where I’m going, but I think it’d be good for you. Good for Kim and Annette, and definitely good for Daisy. You need to be surrounded by others. It’s not just safety, but sanity as well. If Annette had had someone outside our immediate family to talk with, she might not have imploded so spectacularly.”

“And even if she had, the journal wouldn’t have been so widely distributed,” I added, though I was increasingly of the opinion that Annette’s actions had been for the best. Certainly, among the residents of Menai Bridge, there was no ill-will directed towards Sholto and I for our unwitting association with the conspiracy.

Heather Jones was waiting by a hundred-foot schooner with twin masts that seemed at least that tall. The red paint around the stern was so fresh that it still glistened, though the name needed touching up.

“What does it mean?” I asked as I waved a greeting to her.

“
Hedd
? It’s Welsh for tranquillity,” Jones said. “But we’re not taking her.”

“Hey, Bill, Sholto,” Gwen said, appearing from inside the boat’s long cabin. “I’m taking her to Blackpool, Lancaster, and maybe Barrow-in-Furness if it’s safe enough.”

“Why?” I asked.

Gwen reached down and picked up a small box. “Geiger counter,” she said. “We need to check the radiation levels. There’s too many things we can only get from a large city, and there’s no way you can call Bangor that.”

“Wait a day,” Sholto said. “You can take a sat-phone and stay in contact with us.”

“George said the same thing,” Gwen said. “And I thought about it, but what would be the point? Most of my time will be on the boat. I’ll only go ashore if it’s safe, and when I’m inland, if I’m surrounded, how would you rescue me? Don’t say you’d come in with guns blazing because there aren’t enough of us for that. Not enough boats, either. No, we’ll manage. We’ve done this before. Oh, Bill, George asked me to bring you that.”

She gestured at a bench that faced the sea. Leaning against it was a long pole. On second glance, I realised it was a pike. Not an ancient one, nor a replica, but a modern take on the old weapon. The axe was broad, with seven perfectly drilled holes an inch apart following the curve of the machine-sharpened blade. The spike was nearly a foot long and broad at the base. The style reminded me of the Assegai George wore at his waist. Foam padding had been wrapped around the coffee-cream wood. I’d have to remove it. That material would soak up the undead gore. A few strips of easily discarded cloth would be far more practical.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Thank George,” Gwen said. “He said it was either an apology, a thank-you, or a welcome, and he wasn’t quite sure which. I think he was really looking for an excuse to try out the lathe. Now I’ve got to get going. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Safe journey and safe return,” Jones said, and then turned to us. “We’re taking the rowing boats.” She gestured up the coast to where a group of eleven were talking quietly, sipping at mugs. We’d been introduced to them the previous night, but there had been such a whirlwind of names, I could only remember those of the three I’d met before. Lorraine waved. Simon raised a hand to his forehead in an un-martial salute. Lilith gave a nod with the edge of a smile to it. Will, not going with us due to his bandaged leg, sat on a bench a little further down the quay, brooding.

“That’s a large group just for some phones,” Sholto said, as we walked over to meet them.

“It would be if we were all going into the city,” Jones said, “
and
if we were only interested in your phones. I’ve grander plans than that. Four hundred metres across the strait is the mainland. Do you see the houses? We’ve rowed over to empty the homes by the shore, but it’s months since we went into Bangor.”

“It was a horde,” Simon said. “Almost caught us.”

“Almost caught
you
,” Lorraine said. Simon blushed.

“It wasn’t a horde,” Jones said. “There were barely more than a thousand of them, but Bangor’s got the sea to the west and north. There was nowhere to run but to our boats. We were going to return, but there was the question of Quigley and whether we’d be scattering to the four winds.”

“Not that
we
were going to leave,” Simon said. “This is our home. We were going to fight.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lorraine said. “Cowardice is always the better part of valour.”

There were a few sniggers. From the way Simon blushed, that was a private joke at his expense.

“Settle down,” Jones said. “We’re wasting the tide.” Everyone went instantly still. I’d noticed it the previous night. Jones was in her mid-twenties, yet spoke with a possessive and protective authority. Regardless of their age, and some of the town’s residents were at least twice hers, she acted as if she was something between their captain, parent, and pirate queen.

“Do you see over there?” Jones continued. “That’s Bangor football club. The rooftops beyond are the university. Lorraine, Bill, Sholto, and I will go ashore there, and leave our boat. Everyone else, you’re heading up to the pier.” She gestured northwards. “You’ll secure it, and put up a barricade around Garth Point. That’ll make the next trip easier.”

“The next trip?” Sholto asked. “What else are we after other than the sat-phones?”

Jones pulled a long list from her pocket. “Micrometres, scales, glassware. Anything we can’t easily make. Everything, ideally, but we have priorities. We’ve been through the high schools, and the School of Ocean Sciences, but there’s not enough.” She gestured at the campus building that dominated the small town. “We need vitamins, antibiotics, and fertilizers. Finding them is dangerous. Transporting them to the island requires more labour than we have, and with little fuel, more time than we can spare. But making them, that’s something we can do if we have the right equipment. I daresay there are some who’d welcome a day in a heated laboratory when the weather turns, but first we need to build the lab. There’s no point doing that if we can’t equip it. This trip, we’ll see what’s there and what’s salvageable. The sat-phones will be a bonus we’ll collect on our way out. Check your straps. Make sure they’re not loose. Check your laces. Tape them down. Check your ammo. Be certain you’ve got enough.”

It took less than ten minutes for everyone to get in their boats and cast off. Our boat took the lead, the other two fell into formation behind. I offered to help row.

“You’ll be more hindrance than help,” Jones said.

“Wish she’d say that about me,” Lorraine said, picking up her own oar.

Facing forward, I could see Gwen’s twin-masted schooner taking advantage of tide and wind to speed northward.

“Is that the pier?” I asked.

“Probably,” Jones said without turning around.

“Yes, at Garth Point,” Lorraine said. “It’s a kilometre long and was one of the largest piers in the world.”

“It’s not even five hundred metres,” Jones said, “and is only one of the largest piers in Wales.”

Lorraine rolled her eyes. “And isn’t that about as big as the world is now?”

“You’re a local, right?” Sholto asked.

“Not even close,” Lorraine said. “I’m from the land of jute, jam, and journalism.”

“I’m Welsh, if that’s what you mean,” Jones said. “Born and raised in Glamorgan. But I lived here before the outbreak.”

“In Menai Bridge?” I asked.

“On the outskirts,” Jones said. “I worked at the university while I studied. Employees got a discount on fees, see? That’s how I knew about the sat-phones. It was a bit of a scandal. They were meant to be given to the oceanographic research teams as a way of keeping the insurance costs down. You know, by making sure they would always be in contact? Unfortunately, when the first bill arrived, it was full of calls to Australia. That’s why the sat-phones are kept locked up in the finance department. I read your journal,” she added.

“Who hasn’t?”

“The evacuation was a good idea,” she said. “In theory, it could have worked. The thoroughness with which they emptied Anglesey is testament to what they might have achieved if only it had been a different politician in charge. On two, let it run!”

The two women gave another stroke and raised their oars out of the water. As the boat glided, Jones looked at the seaweed caught on her oar’s blade. “Hmm. You see the bloom?”

“Sure,” Sholto said, though I just saw a green, slimy plant.

“It’s wrong for this time of year, and in far too shallow a depth,” Jones said.

“Is that a bad sign?” I asked.

“Everything is a bad sign, these days,” Jones said.

“Sheesh,” Lorraine murmured.

“On two, back it down,” Jones said, a little forcefully.

“You can just say ‘row’ and ‘stop’,” Lorraine said.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“They evacuated Anglesey?” Sholto asked. “I was curious about why there weren’t many locals.”

“The government went house-to-house,” Jones said. “They emptied it utterly and thoroughly. Do you know why?”

“I know Anglesey was meant to be a target,” Sholto said. “Because of the power plant.”

“If they thought it would be hit by a nuclear bomb,” Jones asked, “why go to the trouble of removing the people, since they were only planning to kill them at the muster points? They were, you see. They took us out by train, but it would have been quicker to walk. We made about thirty miles before dark, and the trains came to a complete stop. There was no food, no water, no information about where we were going or when we might get there. We forced open the carriage doors, but it wasn’t a rebellion. We wanted to get to the muster point, and that’s the direction we started walking. Some soldiers started shouting at us. There weren’t many of them. Two dozen, maybe. Then they started shooting. We ran. Sixty-five of us made it out of there. The next day, I went back. There was no muster point. They were gassing the people in the trains. I don’t know what with, but the evacuees were all dead. When I got back to where I’d left the group, most of them had gone. Of those who were left, three were dead, and two were zombies. I headed home. There were twenty of us, out of eighty thousand, who made it back to Anglesey. All for what? So Quigley could play king?”