They must have had a way in and out that had been hidden from us. Surely someone would recognise me, I’d lost a bit of weight and had a bit more facial hair, but I hadn’t changed that much. Maybe it wasn’t anyone I knew. Maybe everyone was dead. Maybe people had been coming through and seen it as a good place to build a fortress.
Fuck this I’d thought, it’s my house and I’m going in! I’d opened my garage door; yes I’d had the forethought to take my keys with me! I don’t know why I’d expected to see my car in there, habit I guess, although of course my car had still been back on the caravan site in Devon. My ladder had still been hanging from the rafters where I’d left it. I put it up against next doors window; well I wasn’t going to smash my window was I! I climbed the ladder and was about to smash the window when I had heard a voice from above. Is that really you?! It was Bab’s Dad! Yes it’s me I had shouted back, it’s me! I’m home! A rope ladder had appeared from our attic window, up here, put that ladder away before someone notices it and get yourselves up here now he had said. So that was how they got in and out. Clever bastards! I’d thought again.
Chapter Sixty Seven
We put the ladder away and scrambled up to the attic. It had been exactly how we’d left it. I hugged Bab’s dad, Derek, and introduced him to the other three guys from our group. I had so many questions for him.
We went down stairs to our living room. Bab’s mum Linda was there waiting for us. I hugged her too. You don’t mind us staying here she had asked, just our house is outside the blockade and not as safe as here. Not at all had I replied, not at all! At this point our ginger cat Jaffa had jumped down from his basket on top of the fridge and started nuzzling up to my legs and purring like he always had when he was pleased to see me or wanted fed. I had been so happy to see him and the feeling was clearly mutual.
Linda had went on to explain that they had barricaded the ends of the road about three months after the outbreak when it had become clear no one was coming to help them. They had chosen our street as it had the two rows of houses which blocked off most of the access anyway, so all they’d had to do was plug up the two ends which Phil had done with the heavy equipment from the building site. I went into what had been our front street with a road running through it. They had totally transformed it. Instead of where the road had once been there was sheds, green houses, poly tunnels and planters, all full of winter vegetables.
We moved some stuff out of your garden too, Linda had said. Not a problem I’d answered back, smirking. I’d asked her how many people were there now. Apparently they’d lost most of the people from the village in the early days of the outbreak. Phil and his family were still there, Lauren and her kids. They had lost Lauren’s partner Dave not that long ago. They used to man the water tower as a look out, but one day on his way back a rotter had come from nowhere and took him by surprise. He’s out there wandering himself now Linda had said. I gathered that they had named the walking dead wanderers. There was also Bill still living on the end, Carol and Stu opposite us and old Fred and the dogs had moved into one of the houses too. So they still had a lot of empty houses in the street.
I had asked her if she’d heard from my parents, but all she knew about was the group that had been at Walkworth that we already knew about. As far as they knew, no one else local had survived and they hadn’t seen any other people other than us for well over a year.
They had survived by growing their own food and raiding local houses. They’d also cleared out the Trap, our local pub, and the working men’s club.
They kept chickens and were generally doing fine. Dave had bricked up the back of the houses, but wanderers didn’t come by too often anyway as it was quite rural where we lived and there weren’t that many people around anyway.
I had told them all about Babs and their grandchildren and they had filled up with relief. They hugged me again and thanked me, we knew you’d look after her, Linda had said. People slowly started to emerge from their houses as they had realised who I was. There were so many questions. I told them all about our journey and the Royal Navy and how we were now settling on May.
Linda seemed a bit taken aback by this. I think that she was expecting me to return to May for Babs and the family and bring them back home. I could see that they were starting to rebuild here and the young ones had a safe, protected home, but for how long I’d thought. It frightened me that they’d chosen to build their fortress on the main road that ran through our village. It was ample protection from the odd rotter that they would encounter. But what if people like the kind we’d met came this way, they’d be able to take the place in the blink of an eye. They had a few shot guns and that was all. Yes we’d bring added protection with our strength, experience and numbers. But people frightened me and this wasn’t the best place to protect my family from them. It had been my home once, but not any longer.
I told them about my brother and that I needed to leave a message for him, he obviously hadn’t been there at that point. We had no plans to stay there any longer than we needed to. I had just wanted to leave the note, gather a few personal items and get back to May and my family as quickly as possible.
I told them all about the island that we had found and about the low light house and how we could take them back with us if they wanted, but there was no persuading them and I could understand that, they had no experience of outsiders and what they were capable of. They had worked hard to make their homes safe, why would they leave other than the draw of family.
We opened up the offer to the rest of their group. But they were just that, a group, a team, like our group, working together to survive.
I told them of the ease of our journey from May to Togston and promised that I would return in the summer with Babs. I would give her the option of where she wanted to stay, who knew what a winter on May might bring, Togston might be the better option in the long run.
They all wanted to remain in Togston, which made me a little happy in a strange way. They would look after our home and I knew where they were should we ever need them.
Chapter Sixty Eight
I had asked the guys to come with me to the water tower, I knew we didn’t have time to get to Acklington and then back to the Hope before we lost the tide, but I knew I’d be able to see what I needed from the top of the tower.
We climbed back down the rope ladder and went through the over grown allotments that were on the way to the tower. We passed Dave on the way, CRUNCH, one less rotter for them to worry about Becky said as she pulled the axe from his head. We climbed the water tower and I looked through the binoculars towards Acklington. There hadn’t been much to see, the village had been completely ruined, burned to the ground at some point, I was able to see the prison too, that too had been on fire at some point, I dreaded to think what had happened in there at the outbreak, had the prisoners been set free?, had they turned?, had they just been left there to fend for themselves and hence the fire that had clearly engulfed the place and Acklington village. My heart had sunk, my parents clearly weren’t in Acklington anymore and they hadn’t been part of the groups at Togston or Walkworth. I just hoped they’d been away at the start of the outbreak or had got away and were some where safe.
I thought about Billy, the rabbit catcher, he’d be holed up in his house in Hauxley. He had always been a hoarder and would be quite content in front of his coal fire watching DVDs with his generator running flat out. He’d already have enough supplies to last the rest of his lifetime and if he did happen to run out, he’d catch his own food like he had in the old days, hence his nick name!
We returned home, Linda had put a parcel together for us to take back to May. She had packed us some seeds, bulbs, fertilized hen’s eggs and some fresh veg. I collected some things from the house, cloths, toys, a few photos and a special present for the kids. I had reiterated that I’d speak to Babs when I got back to May, but I knew in my heart of hearts that we wouldn’t be back before winter. We said our good byes to everyone and were soon on our way again. I just had one last look back as we headed back into the woods and promised myself that I’d be back one day.
Chapter Sixty Nine
We took the bikes back to Amble. Once at the COOP, we had stashed the bikes inside it for future use and then headed back to the Hope, collecting our supplies on the way. The Hope had thankfully still been afloat. We loaded the supplies and headed back to Coquet Island. Once there we had spoken to Simon and Lorna to see if they wanted to come with us back to May. They had jumped at the chance.
It was after midday by then and we needed to give them time to pack up what they needed and we wanted to secure the light house for future use. It would be another safe haven that we could use when we returned to get further supplies. So we had reluctantly decided to spend that night at Coquet Island, after all we were still on track to be home two days earlier than we had planned, I guessed I’d never make a navigator in the Royal Navy!
It had been good fishing at Coquet Island the night before, so we took the Hope out while the guys on the Island packed their stuff into one of their small boats that we were planning on towing back to May. We had drifted slowly south towards Duridge Bay fishing for mackerel like I had done with Billy only a few years before. I knew he’d be fine and I would certainly be looking him up next time we were back in Amble. We had been a bit late for the main mackerel season, but we still managed to bring in a few stragglers and it had helped pass the time. That was the thing that I had loved most about the hours I used to spend fishing out there. It took your mind off everything and who cared if you didn’t catch much; you were alone with your thoughts. We didn’t speak much that afternoon, we just fished and chilled and thought of our friends and family.
We had a pleasant evening that night. Eating fish and drinking wine and chatting about old times before the outbreak. Lorna had been an admin clerk at the RAF base at Boulmer and Simon had had his own building business. The two boys had been in their final year at the Duchess school in Alnwick not far from where my shop was. Lucy had been at school in Amble where Luke would have been by then had it not been for the outbreak.
Chapter Seventy
We had set off at first light the following morning. I remember there had been a few bad heads that day. We had all managed to squeeze aboard the Hope amongst the supplies and we’d tied the small boat to the back which had been loaded with the family’s possessions and more supplies the previous day. I’d found a nice little corner between bags of groceries to squeeze into. I don’t remember a lot of the journey back to May as I’d spent most of it sleeping. The sound of the radio crackling back into life as we neared May had woken me up. We had decided not to surprise them by just turning up early in case they’d mistaken us for someone else. So David had radioed ahead. It was great to hear their voices and to know that they were all okay and hadn’t had any issues in our absence. I couldn’t wait to get back to Babs and to the kids and tell them the news of home.
We had arrived back in May just after midday to a line of family and friends along the marina cheering and waving us home. We introduced them all to Lorna and her family and they had all welcomed them with open arms, particularly Maddison, who seemed surprised that we’d actually managed to bring her back what she’d asked for when she set eyes on the twins!
I couldn’t wait to get back to the light house and give the family their present. We all helped to start carrying the supplies up to the hill. Sandie showed Lorna and her family to the low light house and helped them move their things in before bringing them up to the main light house. It was great to have increased the size of our group and with the skills that Simon brought with him, we’d be able to expand our living space into the other buildings on the island and hopefully one day be able to bring more survivors to the island.
As soon as we had got back to the light house I took the cloth off the box I’d been carrying and opened it up. Out jumped their present. JAFFA! They all cried out in unison. You managed to get home Babs cried. Everyone kissed and hugged Jaffa. I felt a little guilty taking him from his home, but I was sure he’d be happier here with his family and more importantly to me, I knew it made my family happier and helped to make their lives that little bit more normal. I told Babs all about Togston and her mum and dad. She cried tears of joy and I promised her that we’d go there in the New Year to see them. Maybe Babs would have better luck at persuading them to return to May with us. I missed my nights out with Derek. I had asked Babs if she wanted to stay on May knowing that her parents were only a day away, but she agreed with me that this was the safest place for the kids at this point in time and she seemed confident that she’d be able to bring them back to May next time we visited them.
Chapter Seventy One
We soon settled into Island life. Paul and David carried on fishing when the weather would allow it. We had managed to hatch the eggs that Linda had given us and were looking forward to fresh eggs in the spring. Life on the island was comfortable. We had managed to block off the other entrance to the island by sinking boats that we’d acquired from ports at Anstruther and Pittenween. Something we’d learned from our trip to Amble. Paul and Simon had started work on the visitors centre in case we needed extra accommodation in the future. I’d like to say life on May was good, in fairness it was, but it was a hard life and we had to work for everything we needed to survive every day. But it was a hell of a lot better than life on the mainland. We had family and friends and most of all we had security and somewhere we could protect and build a future for the children. I did often wonder if I should have taken the family back to Togston, but I felt safer, stronger in our group. We’d gone through so much together and yes there was still family out there but this was now our family. I had no doubt that one day they’d want to venture out and find out what had happened to their own loved ones, but we would help them and support them and I knew in my heart that everyone would return and hopefully with some stories as happy as my own. But they would return as no family had gone through what we had in order to survive together.