When they got up in the morning Megan was still asleep, but she came into the kitchen after about twenty minutes, rubbing her eyes.
‘Well, good morning, sleepy-head!’ said Jane. ‘You’ve slept for over ten hours; you must have needed it.’
‘Good morning,’ she replied. ‘That was the best sleep I’ve had since… well, for months and months. Thank you for putting the candle in my room. I woke up in the night and couldn’t remember where I was and got a bit scared, but then I saw the candle and remembered. It was still burning just now so I blew it out.’
‘That’s okay, sweetie,’ said Jamie. ‘I thought you might need it last night. Good girl for blowing it out.’
They sat at the table and ate a breakfast of bread with cured meats, dried fruit and some of the honey that Sarah and Georgie had given them on their last visit. There was only tea or coffee to drink, so Megan just had water. Jane made a note to see if she could find some other drinks that Megan might like when they went out. After they’d eaten Jane asked if she’d like to come with her to take Max for his morning walk and she said she’d love to.
It had clouded over in the night and the sky was now overcast and dreary. Megan only had her green dress to wear, so Jane went next door and came back with one of her comfortable baggy jumpers. She put it on over the top of Megan’s dress; it came down to her knees and she rolled the sleeves up for her. Max was already waiting by the back door, wagging his tail in anticipation.
Jane put on her coat, checking that there were spare cartridges in the pockets, and picked up her sawn-off, slinging it over her shoulder. They walked through the garden and down the steps to the promenade, then walked along to the next steps down onto the beach and headed east, walking just above the water line. Megan chased Max around and threw a piece of driftwood for him to fetch, which he ran after eagerly; Jane watched her with a smile on her face. After a while Megan came back and walked beside her.
‘Jane?’
‘Yes, honey?’
‘Do you and Jamie always carry a gun when you go out?’
‘Yes we do, sweetie; we have to, for protection. These are dangerous times now, Megan. There are no police any more, so there’s no one to maintain law and order. I know there aren’t many people left, but some of them might be bad people. And because there’s no law any more some people think that they can do anything they like.’
‘I know there are bad people out there because I used to see it on the news sometimes and hear Mummy and Daddy talking about it. My mum told me long ago that I must never go off with strangers. You and Jamie were different, though, because you rescued me, and I had a good feeling about you. I always know when I don’t trust someone. Have you met any bad people yet?’
Jane sat down on the pebbles and Megan sat beside her; she thought for a while about how much to tell her. She didn’t want to scare the girl, but on the other hand she had to make her aware of the dangers and the times they were now living in.
‘Yes, honey, Jamie and I have met bad people – very bad people. About three months ago three men attacked me. They shot me and they were going to do horrible things to me.’
‘Were they going to rape you?’ Megan asked, surprising Jane. ‘Only, I heard about it early last year and wasn’t too sure what it meant, so I asked my mum. She explained it to me, and I know there are some bad men out there who hurt women and girls.’
Jane hesitated for a second. ‘Yes, Megan, they were going to rape me, but Jamie saved me. That’s how we met.’
‘What happened to the bad men?’
‘Well… I hit one with a hammer to protect myself and he died, then Jamie had to shoot the other two to protect me and to protect himself. The men would have killed us otherwise.’
Megan thought for a second. ‘Good! I’m glad Jamie shot them because I don’t want anyone to hurt you,’ and she threw her arms around Jane. Jane hugged her and said ‘Megan, I don’t want you to think that every man – or woman – we might meet is going to be bad. They probably won’t be; but because of what’s happened to the country some people might be desperate and do bad things because of that.’
Megan thought about this for a second and then nodded. ‘Okay; I think I understand.’
They stood up, called to Max and made their way back, with Megan holding Jane’s hand the whole way. When they got home Jamie had cleared away the breakfast things and was busy cleaning the porch roof. Jane pointed it out to Megan, telling her that Jamie had built it, and showed her how it collected rainwater in the barrel for them to drink. Megan told Jamie he was very clever and then gave him a hug. He was really touched; he thanked her and bent down to kiss her forehead.
Jane left again shortly after with Megan to get her some new clothes. She packed a few tools into the boot of her Golf in case she needed to break into any shops and drove to Devonshire Road in town. There were several clothes shops nearby and she managed to find what Megan needed. She was pleased that Megan wasn’t particularly fussed about what she wore and proved to be very practical in her choice of clothes.
They found all the essentials like socks, underwear, tops, shirts and trousers, and got her several coats and fleeces for when it got colder. They loaded everything into the car and then Jane took her into the Co-op, where they walked along the aisles looking for some drinks that Megan might like. The place, like all the other food shops and supermarkets, had been ransacked by people panic-buying or looting, and rubbish littered the floor. There wasn’t much left in there, but they managed to find two tins of drinking chocolate and some cocoa powder, along with some tins of powdered fruit drink and a few bottles of fruit squash. On top of one shelf Jane was pleased to find a few tins of condensed milk that had rolled to the back. From there she drove round to Sackville Road where there was a good shoe shop; she wanted Megan to have good quality footwear and they found several pairs of shoes and boots to fit her.
They went home pleased with their shopping trip and Megan said she was looking forward to wearing her new things. Back home, they found Jamie working in the garden and they went out to help him. Megan got changed into some new clothes and a pair of Wellington boots they’d found to fit her and she showed Jamie, who said how lovely she looked. They showed her how to harvest some of the vegetables and salads and picked enough for their lunch and evening meal. They spent the rest of the day out in the garden, with Megan asking them lots of questions about the food they were growing. She found it all fascinating and wanted to know everything.
Jamie went out on his bike in the evening to check the snares and came back with a rabbit, which they cooked that night. After their evening meal they sat and played cards, but by nine o’clock Megan was falling asleep, so she went to bed wearing her new pyjamas. Jane went to sit on the sofa with Jamie and they talked for a while. She told him about her conversation with Megan on the beach that morning, and Jamie thought she had done the right thing in being honest with her.
‘She’s got to know how things are now. From now on she’s going to be growing up in a completely different world from the one she knew six months or a year ago. She realises that now, I think, but there are probably still some things that she can’t fully comprehend yet.’
‘I know, but that will happen in time; she’s a smart kid. I’m just so pleased that we found her in time; I don’t think she would have lasted much longer otherwise. She needs to put on at least another stone, probably more.’