He had just started to wonder why, when the first shout of alarm rose ahead of them, from Vauxhall Bridge itself. As he approached the area, he saw that the whole eastern edge of the bridge was crammed with people looking up the river. Something had their attention and from the look on their faces, it wasn’t good.
He saw for himself seconds later. Suzie’s grip on his hand tightened as they pushed through for a view from the front. His suspicion was correct—the kelp had arrived in the capital.
Not just arrived. It’s taking over.
Downstream from the bridge, the Thames was nothing but a mass of thrashing fronds. Above the waterline it had spread far and wide beyond the confines of the river; going as far as completely engulfing some buildings that were at least five stories high. The air was full of cracks and rips, as plastic and Perspex was torn away from the facades.
Suzie tugged at his arm.
“Time to go,” she said softly. “It’s coming fast.”
He saw that she was right. Even now, the kelp was less than a hundred yards from the bridge.
“Time to go, people,” he shouted, but the crowd ignored him—there was a spectacle in front of them and no visible signs of immediate danger. Noble was pushed aside, back towards the road.
“If you don’t want to watch, make room for some as does,” a Londoner said.
Noble shrugged and let Suzie drag him away. They reached the kerb just as a throbbing sound started to rise from the West.
Choppers. A lot of choppers.
They came overhead in a seemingly endless fleet, the roaring almost deafening and the downdraft threatening to knock Noble off his feet. Suzie kept dragging him away, but even she stopped to watch as the choppers reached the area above the kelp and began their bombardment.
Napalm washed across the full width of the river and the crowd on the bridge had to stand back as a wave of heat blew over them. A pall of black smoke started to rise high in the air and a wall of flame blazed for nearly a mile down the river.
Yet still, the kelp thrashed and continued to try to feed.
More napalm flowed. The kelp crisped and blackened, sending burning particles of charred weed into the air. Some of it fell on the front row of the crowd on the bridge. They tried to brush it off, leaving black smudges on their skin.
Suzie went pale.
“It really is time to go.”
She pulled Noble away as more ash started to fall around them. They started walking, then running, across the bridge, the ash beginning to drop like snowflakes.
“We must get inside,” Suzie shouted. “Right now.”
He didn’t wait to be told twice. He threw open the door of the nearest car and they both got in. Suzie was rolling up the windows before Noble even got the driver’s side door shut.
“What’s the rush?” he said.
“ A fleck of blackness betwixt thumb and finger that no amount of scraping will shift,” she said softly.
Noble remembered her words to the Minister.
It might be contagious.
Outside, more and more of the crowd could be seen unsuccessfully trying to brush black marks from their skin. The screaming started almost straight away.
“Can we get out of here?” Suzie said, a hitch in her voice, and tears not far off.
Noble checked the steering column. The keys were in the ignition. He looked over at Suzie.
“We can leave a note at the station if it’s theft you’re worried about,” she said. “But we need to go. Right now.”
He was getting used to jumping when requested. He pulled away from the kerb, noticing in his rear view that he left tyre tracks through a black snow that was already half an inch deep –a snow in which people stumbled and fell as if they were choking on it.
They left the bridge behind seconds later.
Neither of them looked back.
Clapham Junction railway station was in turmoil. The boards told of cancellations and delays all across the city. Much to Noble’s surprise, trains were still running out to the South and West and they were able to buy a ticket and get on a train heading for Exeter. Even as they pulled out of the station, they heard rumbling, like distant thunder, and as the train swung round a bend, they saw a tall pall of smoke rising over the city.
“They’ll never get it all,” Suzie whispered. “There’s too much of it. And it’s too smart.”
Noble leaned over and took her hand.
“You meant all that stuff with the Minister… about it being telepathic?”
She nodded and smiled weakly.
“I wonder what he thinks now?”
She squeezed Noble’s hand.
“You look terrible,” she said.
He realised just how tired he was. His wounded leg throbbed in time with his heartbeat and his vision seemed to be going in and out of focus.
“Try to get some sleep,” Suzie said. “We’ll need to be rested—I’ll be hitting the lab as soon as we get back.”
Always assuming that the lab is still there.
He thought it, but didn’t say it. The day finally caught up with him and he fell gladly into sleep.
He was woken sometime later by the sound of voices. Someone a few seats away had a radio and had turned it up for everyone to hear.
“We repeat, people are advised to stay as far away from waterways as possible, especially where these are tidal in nature. The menace is spreading fast and has reached as far as The Wash to the north and the Jersey Islands to the South and reports are coming in of possible activity in the Severn Estuary. All seagoing traffic in these areas is suspended indefinitely and the armed forces are at full stretch trying to contain the situation.
“The Cabinet is meeting in emergency session at an undisclosed location in outer London and no one knows when, if ever, the Houses of Parliament will be reopened. A team of scientists from the MOD is on the North Embankment right now assessing the damage to the buildings but it seems part of our cultural heritage and a symbol of democracy across the world may be damaged beyond repair.
“Although the menace now seems to be receding downstream from the capital, there is no guarantee that it will not return. There is a massive military presence being readied in an attempt to stop the vegetation’s advance at the Thames Barrier on the next tide, but their success is far from assured. This vegetation, if that is what it is, has proven resilient against everything we have thrown at it and fire only seems to serve to spread it over an ever-widening area. It is feared that a nuclear option may be the only recourse, but how do you nuke something as big as this danger has become?
“That is the question currently being asked in Cabinet. Meanwhile, we can only watch and wait with trepidation for the thing’s next move.”
The man with the radio swore, loudly and often, until asked to quieten down by a woman with two clearly frightened children. He took the radio away with him and left the carriage in a sulk, still muttering under his breath.
“What else did I miss?” Noble asked, looking over at Suzie. She tried a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“London is in uproar,” she said. “But at least everyone has woken up to the threat now, even if it did take the destruction of Westminster to do it. They say the kelp got nearly to the doors of Buckingham Palace before going back with the tide.”
She had dark shadows under her eyes and the skin looked red and puffy from where she’d been crying. He leaned over and took her hand as she continued.
“They say they might never know the final death toll,” she whispered. “But it’s in the tens of thousands.”
She stared out the window, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.