‘Mark and Alex gave me the living room at their place,’ he said, ‘but I quite like the house beside theirs, if it’s available?’
‘We’ll see about making it habitable when we get back,’ I said.
Freya passed me back my bike. She had found another, slightly larger, and more suited to her longer legs. Jack was on a bike I didn’t recognise.
‘Jack,’ I asked, ‘how did you get to my place? Did you cycle?’
‘Yes,’ said Mark, ‘It was too cold to just lie in the hedge for long, when Freya didn’t return immediately, I assumed she would be a while and started scouting around. I found that bike in a hamlet that we passed through getting there. When Jack came over the fence, I nipped back and got it.’
Jack nodded, ‘it’s a great bike, carbon fibre, super light.’
I looked around, ‘Is there anything we’ve forgotten?’ I asked; it was Tuesday, tomorrow the others would be leaving on the train, so we only had one chance at this.
‘Stop worrying,’ said Mark, looking just as concerned, ‘remember, once we get Ruth out, she can help in the escape.’
We got on our bikes in the dark, the silence total; the birds weren’t even up yet. I let Mark and Freya go ahead of me, they knew the route and I just needed to concentrate on keeping going the whole distance. This was my third day doing a long cycle ride; my legs were already complaining, and we were barely out of the door.
I followed them through the streets. The roads were empty apart from a solitary fox, which darted into a garden and disappeared. We cycled along, going under the M1 and crossing the A41, following a minor road that bypassed all the local towns. After about 50 minutes, we reached a large roundabout and Mark and Freya turned onto the A1.
‘Hey!’ I said, as I increased my speed to pedal alongside, ‘are we really going up the motorway?’
‘It’s easier and quicker and the only other route is through a town,’ said Mark.
I could see his point, the road was wide and flat and had a fairly good surface, we were making good progress with little effort; it just felt weird to be cycling on such a road. Fifteen minutes later we were at the M25. we turned off and headed down a tree lined road until we came to a fork. Mark veered right with confidence and then cycled over a little humpbacked bridge under which I could hear a stream gurgling. The road led to a small hamlet, which although overgrown, was very pretty in the faint pre-dawn light, with picturesque bungalows on large plots. We cycled through the hamlet and up over a bridge across a railway. On the other side the road was bound to the south by a chain link fence; the northernmost perimeter of the town.
I was exhausted by the time we stopped. We sat hidden in a field that bounded the road, sipping water and recovering. Dawn was not far away but it was dark enough that we could see the torches of the patrols as they walked towards us on their circuit around the perimeter.
‘That’s odd,’ I said.
‘What’s odd,’ asked Freya.
‘The guards are on the outside of the fence here,’ I replied.
‘And?’ said Jack.
‘They were on the inside at the Chiltern Camp.’
We sat, puzzling over the anomaly, until seeing the clouds above start to turn pink, and the sky lighten, we collectively stood up. Leaving the bikes under the hedge and the trailer disguised as best we could, we crossed the road to take a look at the fence. Along this part of the road there was a hedge and behind it they had erected the chain link fence. I took out my secateurs and, making a couple of quick cuts, soon had a hole big enough to crawl through.
There was enough space on the other side to crouch, hidden from sight, and I used the pliers to untwist the wire near the ground.
‘We only need a small hole,’ said Mark, ‘so it escapes the notice of the patrols.’
We were soon inside and set off across the field to the golf course. The four of us were much more conspicuous than Freya must have been the day before, but we still were able to walk all the way to the hostel unchallenged. Freya and Jack pointed out the sash windows and I could see the layout much better now I was there on the ground. Eventually we retreated to a house that Jack assured us was empty and started searching for an appropriate suitcase.
‘Something small,’ I said, ‘like hand luggage for a plane trip and with wheels’
Eventually we found a couple of suitcases in the loft; I picked the nicest and placed my backpack inside, covering it with a selection of clothes from the closet… I left the secateurs and pliers with Mark. If they searched my luggage, those would be too difficult to explain. Finally I changed into the jeans and jumper I had brought. Now we just had to wait until evening.
Jack found a pack of cards and we played a couple of different games. Mark went out around midmorning just to familiarise himself with the town. On his return, he sank down at the kitchen table we were sitting round and announced that our plan was doomed.
‘I just saw about twenty soldiers walking along the main street,’ he said, ‘they’re preparing for something at the theatre.’
‘What?’ asked Freya.
‘I don’t know, but there were a lot of soldiers and people running around looking busy.’
‘We need to know,’ I said.
‘I’ll go,’ said Freya, ‘I can ask someone and then disappear.’
‘I’ll go as well,’ said Jack, ‘I bet I can find out more than you.’
I looked at them both. ‘Ok, but don’t get caught,’ I said, ‘that would definitely ruin everything.’
They left quickly. I didn’t blame them; the house we were hiding in was cold and boring, we couldn’t risk turning on the TV and the rooms seemed to have been cleared out of any reading matter.
Mark had packed sandwiches for lunch, so we ate and then I taught him how to play rummy. I was just about to put down three aces when Freya came back.
‘So?’ asked Mark.
‘It’s a celebration of the start of spring; apparently they celebrated the equinox in the autumn and had a harvest festival which went down very well, so they decided to do a spring one as well. A lot of people are coming from the different settlements, and the government will be giving speeches and handing out community awards to people.’
‘Don’t’ they have anything better to do?’ said Mark.
‘Maybe not…’ I said, ‘the government don’t seem to be holding elections or anything, so they probably have to do something to engage with the community and keep the settlements happy.’
Freya chose a couple of sandwiches for lunch and I had just introduced her to the rules of rummy when Jack arrived.
‘Spring equinox,’ he said.
‘We know,’ said Freya.
‘But did you know that the new prime minister is coming this afternoon? That is why there is so much extra security,’ he replied.
‘I didn’t know there was a new prime minister at all,’ I said.
‘Well the new one wasn’t elected by the public, just by the remaining members of parliament,’ he said, ‘who actually no longer meet at parliament but at somewhere called Chequers not far from the Chiltern Camp.’
I nodded, I had heard of Chequers, but hadn’t known exactly where it was. ‘Did you find out anything else?’ I asked.
‘They’re going to officially launch the new Peoples’ Charter at the ceremony, apparently it sets out the rights and responsibilities of the British people, post outbreak.’
‘Oh?’ I said.
‘Yeah apparently we have the right to a state assigned job,’ he said.
Mark gave a short bark of laughter. ‘Yeah, right, state sanctioned slavery, in other words. Do you know when all this takes place?’ he asked.
‘Starts at 5pm, finishes around sundown, then they all go into the theatre for drinks and food.’