Our group was split. Some wanted to go back out and find out what was going on. Some didn’t want to risk what we had. We had learned to survive here on our own. Our families were relatively safe if we were careful and worked together. We needed each other. I wondered if we could use the radio on board the Hope to contact them. Eventually we decided that Paul, Sophie and David would take The Hope out the following day before sunrise and travel a few miles up the coast before attempting to contact the ship. We didn’t want them to be able to trace our location in case we decided that we didn’t like what we heard.
Chapter Nine
We hadn’t been sleeping long when we were woken by what sounded like someone shouting on a loud speaker. We rushed to get dressed and ran down to the beach from where we could hear the noise coming from. We could see about half a dozen small vessels heading towards us. Eventually we managed to make out what was being said. “SURVIVORS, WE ARE YOUR SALVATION, WE HAVE COME TO RESCUE YOU, PUT DOWN YOUR ARMS AND JOIN US, DO NOT BE AFRAID, WE ARE OFFICERS OF HER MAJESTIES ROYAL NAVY”.
They must have seen us the day before and come looking for us. Maybe my Brother had sent them, whatever had happened, there wasn’t a lot we could do now. They were heavily armed and we had long since blocked any land route out of the site to protect ourselves from zombies trying to get in. The sea was our only way in and out of the site now.
We dropped our so called weapons and waited tentatively for the small vessels to arrive. The first one landed after a few minutes and five men jumped out and waded to shore. They were armed with rifles and hand guns. Two of them were dressed to what appeared to be Navy uniforms and the other three were wearing normal clothing with the same Blue sashes we had seen on the corpses of the zombies we’d disposed of a few weeks earlier.
I stepped forward and introduced myself, one of the men in uniform shook my hand and introduced himself as Warrant Officer Shields. The other man in uniform was introduced as Petty Officer McGill. They explained that they’d been watching us for several days now and had been ordered to take us aboard their ship HMS Somerset where there were many other survivors. They also said that they had been ordered to commandeer our vessel and any supplies for the Royal Navy.
Whilst this was being explained to us, the other boats had anchored and there were about twenty armed men on the beach, mostly in civilian clothing, but again wearing the Blue sashes.
We were told that we’d be escorted back to where we were staying to collect clothing and any small personal items and that anything else we required would be provided for us.
As we walked back up the beach road to the apartments I asked the officers if they had come across Frank and George’s boat The Salt Wind, they said they’d heard of it amongst the many small boats in their fleet, but knew nothing of who had owned it before they’d commandeered it.
I went on to ask about my Brother, I knew he’d been a Warrant Officer at some point, but he was assigned to a nuclear submarine, so I didn’t think they’d know him, but I thought it was worth an ask. Keith Foster they cried, aye, we know Ginny! He’s on board the Somerset now! Oh my God, I cried, he’s alive! Tears started to stream down my face. And his family, I said, are they on board too? Whoa, one thing at a time, they said, let’s get you all packed and on board and you can ask all you want then, we don’t like to hang around on land too long these days.
Chapter Ten
We were spilt up among the seven boats. My family and I were on the Hope with one of the armed men in Blue sashes. It took us about an hour to get to the Somerset.
The Children were frightened at first, but when we explained we were going to see Uncle Keith their fear turned to excitement and they started to talk about the games they were going to play with their cousins. The journey was pretty uneventful. As we drew closer to the Somerset we could see what the guys had been on about. The many other smaller vessels were milling about. I had a look for the Saltwind, but couldn’t see her.
We cut power and the Hope floated in close under her own emersion. We were towards the front of the ship and I could see the other vessels with our group aboard lined up along the length of the ship too. There were already ladders on the side of the ship. Ropes with a kind of basket thing were tossed down for us to put our belongings in to and these were hauled aboard. We climbed up the ladder and aboard the ship with the Blue sash behind us.
Once we were on board we were met by two other armed men, again with Blue sashes. We were escorted to a doorway and lead along several corridors until we arrived at what I guessed was our destination.
Quarantine, one of the men grumbled, you’ll be kept here for a few days until we know you’re not infected, then we’ll take you to your quarters.
We entered the room. It wasn’t very big. There were two sets of bunk beds against one wall. A wash basin and toilet against another wall with like a shower curtain you could pull round for some privacy. There were no windows, only the door we’d entered through which had a small hatch in it which was locked shut. There was a bookcase against the third wall with books and games on it for the children I guessed.
We were told that is was protocol to protect everyone else on board and that we’d be provided with meals and they’d try to give us with anything else we required. I asked if my Brother knew we’d been found and they said he was aware we were aboard and would be down to see us once he’d finished his duties. I was told the rest of our group was together in other quarantine rooms not far away. I guessed that was fair enough. Better to be safe. I wondered if Frank and George had been in one of these rooms at some point and were now out and about and knew we were on board. Maybe they’d told the Navy about us and that’s why we’d been found. I felt on edge, nervous, not safe anymore, something just didn’t feel right to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I decided to play along for now; I didn’t have a great deal of choice in the matter anyway!
The two sashes left the room; this is what I’d decided in my head to call them. I heard them turning a key in the lock so we couldn’t get out. We were trapped now and at the mercy of the Royal Navy. I think I preferred it when we were in charge of our own safety and destiny on the site. But we were here now and had to make the most of it for now.
Chapter Eleven
Babs and I set about making the room as comfortable as we could for the children. We made up the beds and Luke and Emily were playing quite happily with some toys from the book case, it was just a big adventure for them I guess.
We were fed a meal of fish and rice later in the day. It was bought to us by the sashes that looked through the hatch in the door before entering, to see if we were still human I figured. We felt like prisoners to be honest and not patients. I asked about my Brother again, but got the same response as before. If it wasn’t for the fact that the two officers on the beach had known his Navy nick name, I’d have doubted he was even aboard. I guess they were just being extra careful.
I wondered how long it took for someone who had been bitten to become a zombie. Ben hadn’t been dead long when he’d tuned. But I hadn’t actually seen someone who was still alive and had been bitten turn. Frank had been bitten and had survived the night without turning. I was assuming that everyone that was bitten turned, that’s what happened in the movies anyway. Unless of course you got to them quick enough and chopped off the infected limb! I supposed the Navy would have that experience by now and we’d be freed once that time was up.
This went on for several further days, always two sashes, always three meals a day and never giving us any information. The children were getting restless, they’d gone from living in a holiday park to a room no bigger than their bedroom at home in Togston. We kept telling them they’d be able to go out soon and play with their friends, but I was beginning to regret the day we sent the Hope out fishing without being more careful about who might have been watching.
Chapter Twelve
Then after seven days in quarantine two sashes came in with a young woman in Navy uniform. She introduced herself as Warrant Officer Rigby, the ships Surgeon. She said that they’d been observing us for signs of infection and were happy we were clear now and apologised for the conditions we’d been kept in, but they needed to ensure the safety of everyone on board.
We were taken to another part of the ship, again with the two armed sashes in tow. We were lead into a room with showers and a change of clothing. Officer Rigby instructed us to get showered and changed and she’d see us again shortly. The two sashes waited outside and we stripped off and showered. I wished the children were in a separate cubicle, because the sight off my beautiful naked wife after a week locked in a room with two children and bunk beds had been a bit of a passion killer! Anyway, that would have to wait, we got changed into the fresh clothing and waited for the sashes to come back in and collect us.
We were now taken down another corridor and into what appeared to be a medical room where Officer Rigby was waiting for us. She explained that we were to have a quick medical examination before being taken to our new quarters. She examined our hair and teeth, then checked our heart beats and blood pressure. We were given the all clear.
Then there was a knock on the door and one of the sashes came in and spoke to the officer. She smiled and looked at me. There’s someone here to see you she said. I stopped hearing what she was saying as my brother was walking into the room. I dropped to my knees and started crying. Babs hugged me and helped me to my feet. I don’t know why, but in that moment it was if I felt that everything was going to be alright. I embraced my Brother. I thought you were all dead he said, we haven’t found anyone alive in months now and we’ve lost so many people searching for survivors.
I asked him why he hadn’t been to see us earlier and he explained it was protocol. They had to make sure that we were not infected, but also that we were safe to have aboard too. Apparently after two years of surviving, some people were more dangerous than zombies these days or rotters as the Navy referred to them as. He told us that the rest of our group would be taking turns and getting their medicals that day as well and we’d be able to see them all later and that they were all fine.
I tried to find out about his family, but he said he couldn’t discuss it with us yet, but they weren’t aboard, but they were safe and well. I found out that sadly the Saltwind had been found adrift not far from our site with two rotters aboard which they had disposed of. I explained that they had been our friends and what had happened the day on the beach. Apparently George had kept a journal and this was how they’d found out about our site and came looking for us.
Keith explained that they were moving on now, further up the coast, but again he’d fill us in on all the details later once they’d got us settled in to our quarters.
Chapter Thirteen
Keith took us to our new quarters. It was more towards the front of the ship and we had to go up several decks to get there. We passed another family on our way who was being escorted by a couple of armed Sashes. They seemed to be quite upset and were carrying what looked like their belongings.
The quarters were small and basic. As before there were two sets of bunk beds, a small writing desk and a book case all within the same room. There was another room though which contained a toilet, wash basin and shower cubicle. At least it was a slight improvement on the quarantine quarters. There was no bedding and the place looked like it had been vacated in a hurry.
Keith told us to leave our belongings and said he’d show us where we would be able to find other stuff. He reminded us that we were on board a Royal Navy vessel and as such a lot of areas would be out of bounds to us.
He showed us to the mess hall. Apparently there were several mess halls on the ship which had been set up to cater for the influx of people now aboard. This was the one that we had to use though. We were given strict meal times by the cook on Duty and basically told if we missed the time slot, we missed out on our meal. We were shown to the laundry and told we were responsible for our own bedding and clothing and were given some basic bedding which was now ours to look after. There was a gymnasium that we had access to, nothing fancy and there was also a small outside space on the side of the ship, it was about half way up the ship and with locked gates at either side. It was probably a strip about 30 foot long and ten foot wide, but it was outside and we could see the sea. There were no chairs or anything, just the empty space. And that was all we had access too. There were many other doors, but they were all locked and had AUTHORISED ACCESS ONLY signs on them. The ones without the signs were other quarters.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning and sorting out our quarters before going for our scheduled meal at six O’clock, or eighteen hundred hours as the Navy liked to say. The mess hall was big enough to seat around thirty people. There was a mixture of men and women in Navy uniform, all uncommissioned ranks, but all petty officer rank and above. There were a couple of Sashes also sitting with what must have been their families and that was it.
We collected our meals from a service counter, there was no choice. Fish and rice and some tinned fruit. We sat on a table next to one of the Sashes and their family. I introduced myself and my family. The Sash introduced himself as Gavin, his partner Lia and their two children Holly and Michael. We got chatting and I asked what the Sashes were all about. He explained that the Navy had lost that many personnel that they’d had to make the decision to recruit civilian volunteers. The volunteers were mainly from family of existing personnel that were on board or trusted people with a skill that was useful to them.