I had been up early and walked a lot of miles already, but after a deliciously simple lunch of fried eggs and toast (with butter!) and another strong cup of coffee I decided to go out and explore. The first thing I did was to walk round to the school. It seemed ok; a sprawling site of large interconnecting buildings made of red brick. Very clean and tidy and quiet.
I walked down to the main road, popping into the local Tesco to pick up some fresh food. I was astonished to see that they had a range of ready meals and even fresh fish and chicken. There wasn’t any red meat but to have chicken and fish was a small miracle in itself. I wondered where they were getting it. Was there a camp by the sea somewhere, trading fish for whatever it was that grew in the surrounding fields? Was there a factory producing ready meals and shipping them out across the country to the settlement camps?
There weren’t any prices on the produce, which I found strange, but as it was my first day and I was celebrating, I decided to treat myself. I used my payment code to buy a rainbow trout, some new potatoes, and some cereal. I took the food home so the fish wouldn’t spoil, then went out again. I walked down the high street, popping into the library and admiring the rather large collection of fiction and romance novels. As I was there, and there was a terminal free, I logged on using the code in my welcome pack. Hopefully, I could get online and talk to the group.
A screen with just a couple of option boxes appeared; payment account, member requests and council notices. It seemed that the terminal only had limited functionality. I clicked on payment account and was shocked to see that the food this morning had cost over thirty Chiltern pounds. With no house bills or rent, I had thought that my salary of £10,000 was perfectly adequate, but if food was going to be so expensive, then it might not be as generous as I had thought.
I exited the library slowly, walking down to the cricket club and out along the fields until I was blocked by a gate across the road. I stood staring through the gate for a second; either side was the same chain link as behind my house. I pulled out the map and worked out where I was. I had started up at the north east corner of the town and was now right on the southern point. The chain link fence must circle the entire town. If I hadn’t known how easy it was to get through chain link fence, I would probably have felt very reassured by the wall. As it was, I turned back and walked up past a pub and a preschool where I could hear children shrieking with laughter. At the roundabout I turned toward the station but the station road was blocked off with more chain-link gates and soldiers.
They were the first sign of the army I had seen within the town, but they seemed approachable and smiled as I slowed to a halt. The train service at Carpenders Park had slowly fizzled out sometime during the first couple of weeks of the outbreak. But the presence of soldiers indicated that perhaps trains here were still running.
‘Hi,’ I said, as I looked up at the soldier who towered over me, ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Of course Ma’am, how can I be of assistance?’ he replied. He had no obvious weapon, although I imagined that with his physique, he would be able to deal with most forms of trouble without breaking much of a sweat.
‘Are the trains working?’ I asked.
‘They have some special trains running, to move goods around the country,’ he replied, ‘unfortunately they don’t have a passenger service yet, but hopefully that will appear sometime soon.’ he smiled, and I was struck again at the niceness of everyone here. They all seemed so pleasant and friendly.
‘Thank you’ I said. I was surprised and pleased, I had assumed that movement around the country would be impossible, but if there were trains then it might be possible to one day visit my cousins near Newcastle, or friends in Yorkshire and Scotland.
I turned away and, back at the roundabout, took the next left, walking for about ten minutes along a residential road. It was long and tree lined, with large houses of varied design. There were smaller streets running off it to the left and right, all with neat grass verges. It was all very civilised. There were signs of life in many of the houses, the only jarring note was the bare driveways; there seemed to be an absolute absence of cars.
The road curved, so I took a footpath to the right and up another long road, eventually meeting a large street, this looked like the main artery into town. Walking south, I came to a petrol station and then the health centre, where Frank was.
I walked into the foyer and over to the reception desk. The staff bustling around looked professional and competent and the young girl at the desk, no more than twenty or so, turned to me almost immediately.
‘Hi there, how can I help you?’ she asked, blonde hair bobbing as she spoke.
‘Hi’ I replied, ‘my friend Frank was brought in this morning, can I see him? How is he doing?’
The receptionist glanced down at the clipboard. ‘Oh yes, the nurse left a note that he wasn’t to be disturbed. I’m very sorry.’
‘Is he ok?’
‘Yes he’s fine,’ she replied, he’s just resting right now’
I looked around; the health centre seemed well resourced and organised; at least the small area I could see from reception. I could come back later.
‘Can I leave a message?’ I asked.
‘Sure’ she handed me a pen and a post-it. I scribble a quick note, saying how wonderful my new home was and that I hoped he felt better soon. Frank and I had been looking after each other for so long that if felt weird leaving him to someone else, but it looked like he was in good hands. I exited through the automatic glass doors then I took the next left, back up to the school and my new home.
I unpacked and opened the closets. I had only the clothes I had arrived in but, when I opened the cupboards in my new bedroom, I found a whole new wardrobe. Some of the millions of forms we had filled out online had asked for our body measurements and I could see that everything on the hangers and shelves in front of me seemed to be in my size. There was a rather nice black suit for work, I couldn’t tell if it was brand new, but it certainly looked in perfect condition. There were also a rail of stark white shirts, which I didn’t much like; I preferred to wear colourful T-shirts or polo neck jumpers under the jackets of suits, but I certainly wasn’t going to make a fuss. For casual wear, there were jeans and thick jumpers, but no dresses or skirts, which I thought was odd. Not that I would wear dresses, but I liked the comfort of a long skirt, especially in the summer.
I would buy some more casual wear later; in the meantime I found a pair of pyjamas to lounge around in and went to watch TV while I waited for dinner. I flicked through the channels; all the programs were re-runs, but it was relaxing and mindless and I settled in to a pleasant evening.
Chapter 13: Questions
The school day started at 9am, so I arrived at eight hoping that they were expecting me. I waited at reception nervously, trying to work out why the school felt so cold. Eventually it came to me; there was no artwork on the wall, no posters or photos, nothing celebratory at all.
The headmaster of the school, Gordon McAteer, seemed to be like most headmasters; piercing glance, firm handshake, busy. He gave a quick welcome speech: ‘We’re glad to have your expertise, we’ve missed having a science teacher, hope you settle in ok, please come to me if you need anything…’ and then a second teacher, introduced as ‘James, my irreplaceable deputy,’ took me off for a tour round the school.