Then they were moving and she was in a crying panic but her mummy and daddy didn’t seem to notice.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. She was convinced that one of the men had somehow got on the boat and was going to steal her away without her mummy and daddy noticing. When she turned to look she saw it was only Ben.
His face was pale and his eyes wide. He was a few years older than her and, she realised, big enough to understand more of what was going on. “It’s okay Cor,” he said.
She buried her face in his chest and felt him wrap his arms around her as the boat moved too slowly down the river.
Arrival
1
Hannah couldn’t sleep at night. At night she imagined that she could hear them out there, running through the long grass and climbing in the trees. Dennis said they were perfectly safe. She should have learned to trust him but how could he know? How could he really know?
So while Dennis slept in their bed, while Cora and Ben slept on the pull downs, she got up. She crept through to the living room and stood over the kids. If they woke up and saw her there they would be terrified. They might think that the world had ended all over again. But she couldn’t help herself.
When she had satisfied herself that they were okay, beyond the scars and the fear, she went to the door at the back. It was locked, of course. But if those things ever found them and wanted to get in the lock would hardly even slow them down.
Hannah took they key out of her dressing gown pocket and removed the padlock. She pushed open the doors slowly. They were well oiled and practically silent. Once they were open she quickly climbed the steps and went out, closing the door behind her lest the wind get in and wake the children.
Outside it was silent and cold. She wrapped her dressing gown tightly around her and looked towards the bank of the canal. There were no trees, that had been her imagination. Dennis never would have stopped for the night in a location with limited visibility. Instead there were rolling fields lit by the stark moonlight and a billion bright stars.
At the top of the hill she could make out the shape of a farmhouse. Even from this distance and in the dark she could see the half-collapsed walls that told her a battle had been fought there. She wondered what had happened to the humans, whether they had run away, whether they had lived or died. Either way it was certain there was no one there now.
She shivered but she didn’t go back inside. She felt safer out here, where she could see that none of them were hiding. Dennis said they couldn’t cross the river, but how did he know? No one had even known they existed until six-months ago so why did he suddenly consider himself an expert?
She looked at the black water, rippling away from the bobbing boat. The moonlight made it sparkle. It was early September but the water would be freezing. She wondered how long she would struggle for if she fell in, or would the cold simply overwhelm her.
A lot of people she knew had killed themselves. In the last days there had been no shame in it. Better that than … well, it didn’t bear thinking about what would happen if you got taken. And what of those that survived? Was it really a life worth living? To spend it in fear, constantly looking over your shoulder, jumping at every little sound. The idea of settling in one place a dream that would be lost within a generation.
The kids were the only reason she was still here. Even Dennis, who she couldn’t live without, didn’t seem worth living for. Some people had killed themselves and their children and hearing about it she had reacted with the shocked revulsion of a mother. Sometimes she wondered though; what sort of life were they raising Cora and Ben for? Just eight and eleven years old, they wouldn’t remember the world as it used to be.
Hannah sighed and considered going back inside but her thoughts were churning now and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She would probably just wake Dennis and he wouldn’t be cross but he’d be able to tell what sort of mood she was in and want to talk about it.
She picked at a loose bit of paint on the blue doors. Until a week ago she had never been on a canal boat. She didn’t like the water. Now it looked like she was going to spend the rest of her life living on it. The idea appalled her in the way unnatural things often did. She could see the land, could almost reach out and touch it but it was too dangerous to go there.
The piece of blue came away like dry glue and revealed a dull grey beneath. She flicked the hardened paint away and watched it land on the water, float there for a moment and then sink below.
She felt like crying all the time. Dennis said she was suffering from shock. She both loved and feared the way he was just getting on with things but thought he was probably suffering from shock as well. If such a thing had still existed they would probably both be seeing psychiatrists.
The cold wind went through her and she shivered. Inside it was warm and comfortable but she wasn’t ready to go back yet. Dennis had found the long boat. Some rich jerks play thing, he’d called it. Whoever owned it was probably dead so they’d taken it.
It seemed strange that only three days had passed, like it should have been more. The boat was already starting to feel like home in the way she supposed a prison cell would if you stayed there long enough.
The boat rocked gently back and forth, towards the shore and away from it as if it couldn’t make up its mind. She watched the ripples spread out across the water and out of sight in the darkness.
She should go back inside. Dennis would be worried about her if he woke up and found her gone. He might even wake up the children in his panic before realising that was the last thing he wanted to do. Then he would fumble and mumble some half-cocked excuse to try and get them to go back to sleep but it wouldn’t work.
She leaned against the side and looked out behind the boat. The scene was almost unchanged from the one in front. A crooked spired church stood in place of the farmhouse and a black bird soared across the sky. She wondered what the animals thought of all this, whether they wondered what had happened to all the humans in the same way they had wondered when the animals started to vanish. Or did they simply enjoy the extra food and freedom it gave them?
Hannah turned back towards the door. The cold finally starting to get to her, she wanted to be back inside. She took a final look around to make sure nothing had snuck up on her and then she went in.
The warmth of the boat stung her skin like a hot bath. She closed the door behind her and stopped to look down at each of her children asleep before walking into the bedroom. The floor rocked from side to side as she moved but nobody seemed to notice.
2
Hannah woke to the smell of bacon frying. She rolled over and opened her eyes and saw she was alone in bed. The boat engine hummed and she could hear water splashing aggressively against the side. They were moving then and nobody had woken her.
She arched her back and stretched. Despite her late night wandering she felt as if she’d had a good eight hours. She felt better for it and climbed out of bed with the nearest thing she’d had to a smile for weeks.
In the kitchen she found Dennis cooking breakfast. He smiled at her as she walked towards him. “How are you doing?” he said in that soft sympathetic voice that sometimes irritated her, sometimes didn’t.
“I’m good,” she said and meant it. Maybe the dark days were behind her. She opened her arms and embraced him. He was a few inches shorter than her, his dark hair tickled her nose.
He pulled away and turned back to the bacon.
“Who’s driving?” she said.