After it Happened Boxset: 1-6 Omnibus Edition, page 57
Leah had taken to running with Emma, the two pushing each other further and faster each time. Emma wanted to run, and a simple compromise to keep her safe was for his lethal protégé to accompany her.
They raced each other the last hundred yards, Ash excitedly bounding along with them and keeping pace with little effort. Leah pulled up in front of Dan a clear ten paces ahead of Emma and stood smiling while she caught her breath.
Leah saw his face and stopped smiling.
“What?” she asked, her chest heaving to replace the oxygen used on the sprint finish.
Dan just shook his head, unable and unwilling to open the floodgates to his feelings right now. He went to turn away and was stopped by Leah.
Less than eighteen months ago, she was a scared young girl, but now she was a frightening young woman. She was fit and strong, and skilled with guns and knives, as well as fearsome when unarmed. He trusted her, and she had repaid all his efforts with unwavering loyalty and flattered him with imitation.
“Hey!” she snapped at his back, demonstrating that she also bore no small resemblance to Marie’s strength of character. “What’s going on?” she tried again.
Dan weighed up his responses, knowing that she would not let it lie until she found out what was troubling him. “Marie’s pregnant, and I’m terrified I’ll lose her,” he said simply, only just managing to keep his voice from cracking.
Leah threw her arms around him and held on tight, unable to voice her feelings. Marie and Dan were her mentors, her role models, effectively her parents.
Emma stood awkwardly aside waiting for their moment of emotion to pass, her analytical brain seeking any solution that could ease the all-too-evident pain in Dan to whom she owed so much, including her life. “We can start again from the beginning,” she said quietly, unknowingly echoing Kate’s words, “find anything, anything at all, that we have in common. There has to be a reason we are immune. There has to be a common denominator.”
With that, her eyes glazed slightly as she delved deep into her thoughts. She walked back to the house, her pace gathering as she went.
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK
“Well, that’s probably not that accurate,” explained Emma unhelpfully. “It’s more like looking for a needle in a haystack, but when we don’t know what a needle is, what it looks like or what it’s made of.”
The assembled blank faces made her instantly regret speaking out loud after Kate had voiced her opinion on the gravity of their task. Emma still felt awkward around people in general but was learning to find common ground with some. Since leaving university, she had spent almost no time at all with others who weren’t also scientists.
Dan rubbed his eyes, no longer bothering to try and hide the strain he felt. Marie snaked a hand over his shoulders to reassure him in a gesture that was typical of her manner. She seemed less worried about it than he was, or at least that was what she portrayed. She was oddly fatalistic about it; “what will happen will happen,” she said. It was inexorable.
Dan outright refused to sit back and accept that fate held any sway over him; he believed that your own future was decided by your actions and not some divine intervention. If he didn’t like the way something was turning out, then he changed it.
He leaned back to her, accepting some small comfort in her touch as Kate and Emma discussed possibilities, getting them nowhere.
“The way I see it,” he said, silencing them all out of pure interest, “is that there has to be one thing which we all have in common. I’m no scientist, but I’ve investigated enough things in my life to know that wild theories aren’t going to make a difference to anyone. Emma, what did you say the factors were?”
She seemed a little confused at having to explain base-level virology and immunology to the group, but dutifully responded.
“Genetic, synthetic, environmental,” she said.
“So,” Dan said, allowing the exhaustion he felt to show as annoyance, “every single one of us has one of those things in common somewhere. Re-interview everyone, get a deeper history. Did they have any illnesses as a child, for example?”
“Well, I’ve barely had more than a cold since I ended up in hospital on holiday,” offered Marie to get the ball rolling.
“Same here,” said Kate. “The only time I’ve been properly ill was from antimalarial tablets.”
“Urgh,” said Dan, shuddering, “Lariam. That stuff made us all rotten on deployment; typical Army and their cheap medicine. Most of the guys threw theirs out and took their chances with malaria instead.”
“The Doxycycline they gave us wasn’t much nicer,” said Emma quietly.
Silence hung in the room as the coincidences began to connect, like a domino run had just been toppled.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” said Kate, marvelling at how offensively simple a solution had just presented itself.
“OK,” said Emma, scrabbling through the mess on the table for a pad and pen, “where did you go, when, and what vaccinations or medications did you take?”
“Mid-1990s. Kilimanjaro expedition via Nairobi. Lariam and some injections, but I never thought to ask what,” said Dan, suddenly more awake at the possibility of a new line of enquiry.
Emma turned to Kate.
“Ethiopia. Ten years ago, medical outreach charity work. Doxycycline,” Kate said.
“Viral research centre in Uganda,” Emma said to herself, following up with, “ironic.”
All eyes turned to Marie.
“Safari. Kenya, six or seven years ago now. No idea what I had, but it was injections before I went and a tablet every day which made me feel like shit, so I stopped taking them,” she said simply.
Kate stood and threw open a filing cabinet, snatching a list of all the names of their residents and throwing pages at her team and including Emma in the distribution.
“Travel history. Dates, places, medication. Go!” Kate said, scattering them from the room. She sat heavily and looked at the only two people still in the room.
She saw a scarred warrior, a man she had seen take so much physical abuse over the last year and a half that she was amazed he still functioned. A ruthless killer when pressed but doggedly loyal to his cause and a more chivalrous man than she had ever met. Even if he was emotionally retarded. Next to him was a fierce and domineering woman with a natural ability to lead and control others. They were the Alphas of this small clan.
Only now they looked like a pair of tired children trying to put on brave faces to avoid being sent to bed.
Marie’s mask slipped back into place first. She sat herself up, smiled at Kate, and spoke with renewed confidence. “Seven months to figure this out, then! Come on, knobhead, let’s get me a cup of tea; you never told me you climbed Kilimanjaro!” she said kindly to Dan, prompting him to wake up as intended by the comedy insult.
“You never asked,” he replied.
He stopped at the door and turned back to look at Kate. She gave him a nod of reassurance and watched him follow his woman.
THE NEEDLE
“Without a doubt, it’s our only lead. Everyone has some link to Africa, the various inoculations for travelling there, or antimalarials,” said Emma after going over all of the information again.
As per one of her various idiosyncrasies, she had collated this information into charts on her laptop. After consulting a world atlas courtesy of Pip in the library, she presented that the majority had visited – or planned to visit – Africa or a very nearby island within the last fifteen years.
Dan recalled Penny telling him once that she had taught children English in Gambia on a trip as part of a school exchange. Neil had responded with his own exploits as a young soldier on his first trip abroad. Quite how they didn’t realise then that it was such a coincidence to have all visited an uncommon destination escaped him, but then they had other things on their minds at the time.
Like surviving the next twenty-four hours.
Slightly annoyed at the unnecessary PowerPoint display, Dan cut her off as politely as possible. “So basically that’s all we know. But the Ugandan viral research centre sounds like a pretty good bet to me,” he said.
“Six and a half thousand miles to the equator, with two oceans to cross and no guarantee of transport other than walking for most of the journey,” said Steve after clearing his throat.
“Technically, it’s a channel and sea…” said Emma, not grasping that it was the rhetorical instead of the literal being discussed. Her voice trailed off as she realised her mistake in speaking again.
“I understand why, but it’s a ridiculous risk to try and make that journey,” Steve said, fixing Dan with a look of challenge.
“Do you?” Dan snapped back, more harshly than he intended. “You really understand why I’m suggesting making a probably ten-thousand-mile journey with countless variables with a pregnant woman?”
Steve sighed. He’d seen that fire in Dan’s eyes before. Seen it after he had burned a group of attackers alive in a barn, gunning down anyone who ran, and strung up their leader in bloody revenge. There were many things he saw eye to eye with the younger man about, but this was not going to be one of them.
“Needs of the many, my friend,” Steve said as he stood.
Dan nearly flipped. The needs of the many were irrelevant to him now; the human race would die out in the existing generation if the answers he desperately sought weren’t found.
His mind was made up. He was making this journey, and he would get Marie there before she was due to give birth if he had any hope of saving their child.
He said nothing. Instead, he turned and walked from the room lest he say something to a loyal friend he would later regret. He snapped his fingers aggressively, prompting his huge dog to rise from the floor with a grumble and lope outside to follow him.
He lit a cigarette and paced restlessly. He wanted to break something. He needed to act; he saw no other way of fixing a problem. For the last year, everything that had stood in the way of success could be fought and killed. Now he felt powerless. Useless.
Steve followed him outside and bent to stroke Ash between the ears. “I do get why you want to go,” he said quietly, “but you can’t drag everyone literally halfway across the world on a hunch. People are settled here. They’re happy and they’re safe. They will want to stay. I’ll help however I can, but I can’t abandon what we’ve built here.”
With that, Steve turned away and went back inside.
Dan was left brooding. Who would follow his wild goose chase? Did he really think he held enough sway over the group? Did he command enough loyalty and respect to potentially condemn others by following him into uncertainty?
There was only one democratic way to find out. He would spread the facts among the group and see if he had enough support to make it viable.
A TEST OF LOYALTY
He decided that the best way to announce the plan was to put up notices and encourage people to make their own decisions.
He and Leah copied their proposal out onto large pieces of paper and hung them in the dining hall for all to see. A brief announcement over breakfast the next morning got the group clamouring to read this latest development.
The note was simple enough. Studies of the group’s immunity showed a link to Africa in some form. Dan proposed an expedition there to find out if they could solve the problem of having stillborn babies. It was a long shot, but it was a chance to perpetuate the human race.
Anyone wanting to volunteer, or to know more, could come and see him.
The response was not what he was expecting.
Maybe Steve had read the signs right before Dan opened his mouth. Maybe the older man’s experience gave him more perspective. One thing was for certain: the majority of the group turned their back on him.
They saw it as desperate, as him abandoning them. There was outcry that he would take away their guns, their protection, and leave them all to the mercy of dangerous people. They conveniently forgot that it was Dan who had nullified every serious threat within hundreds of miles. Dan who had found this place, cleared it, guarded it and defended it against attack twice over.
Ungrateful bastards, he thought.
But they weren’t; they were just scared.
Marie, despite her positivity, was anxious that the trip happen. She had to do everything in her power to ensure that her baby lived, and that included making the journey to get any answers she could. There had to be a way, and until she had exhausted all options, then she wouldn’t give up. Her change in attitude betrayed that she desperately wanted the baby, and her fatalistic opinions were for the benefit of others and not herself.
She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t going stir-crazy from having barely left the prison in almost a year. She longed to be out – but not by only going on short trips under protection. She would be stuck here until she died otherwise.
The loyalty of others was their sole reason for volunteering. Leah was the first to say she was going, and Dan didn’t even try to convince her to stay at home and hide in relative safety. He loved that girl, and having seen her grow up ten years’ worth in twelve months wasn’t the only reason. She had become a fearsome addition to his fighting strength, and going without her would be like going without Ash.
Neil announced in a characteristic comedy accent that he was becoming soft and felt the need for some fresh air. In all the time Dan had known the man, Dan had never seen him take anything seriously. He knew that beneath the poor humour and the extravagant impressions lay a serious mind, but his oldest living friend was a dependable and capable man.
He had two guns and a mechanic to accompany his pregnant woman – not enough for a scavenging run, let alone a journey taking months.
Slowly, and as inexorably as the tide turning against him by the majority, others came forward.
Jimmy was another man loyal to Dan. He was resourceful and kind with a sharp intelligence which had proven itself valuable on many occasions. Dan asked him if he would be OK leaving Kev behind.
“Kev will be fine. He didn’t cope well with the outside world, but he’s busy and happy now. He’s fed and he has work to do. That’s all he wants. Plus, Maggie has him under her wing.”
Dan nodded as he absorbed this. Kev was a giant man, hugely strong but with a child’s mind. The acquired brain injury he’d received at birth left him with a very simple understanding of life. The dead bodies littering the world in the aftermath of the pandemic had made him weep out of fear and a lack of knowledge. Kev was safe and happy now, and Maggie and Cedric had moved him into their home a short distance away on the gardens. He was given a good breakfast every morning, worked tirelessly all day, then sat happily in the evening as Maggie read to them both. He was happy, and Jimmy could finally let go of the need to protect him.
Jack, his grizzled old Belfast lorry driver, was another restless soul who trusted Dan with his life. He made a great deal of noise about how he was old but still useful, and could drive anything with wheels. Dan would never had precluded him on the basis of age; he was like a fit old billy goat and would probably outlive them all.
Adam and Laura were surprise candidates, both expressing a wanderlust and relishing the chance to be a part of something life-changing. Lou, his ever-reliable seamstress and lover of gossip, came forward to ask to join. She was somewhat self-effacing, saying that she had little to offer in terms of skills, but said that people needed organising, repairs to clothes needed to be made, and coffee needed brewing.
Pip, the tiny young girl rescued from the grasp of Bronson’s gang, wanted to know more. She had lost a child not long after it happened, and that loss and longing could never be satisfied unless she found out if there was anything that could have been done.
Their newest Ranger, Mitch, had a soldier’s thirst for adventure, nothing more and nothing less. If they were going interesting places, then he was in. Most people’s idea of hardship seemed like a class upgrade for him.
One sad addition to the party was Ana. Since losing her baby and almost her life some months ago, she had withdrawn from Chris. They now lived in separate rooms, as neither could fully come to terms with what had befallen them. Dan thought it was likely she was leaving the pain of the memories behind and doubted whether she would want to return.
APOLOGY ACCEPTED, TRUST DENIED
There was no going back after the announcement had been made. Even if the whole expedition was abandoned, then many people wouldn’t trust that Dan would stay in the long run. He had sealed his own fate, and also those of many of the group.
He had twelve people on his side, and of those, only four trigger fingers including himself. He also had no medical personnel bar his own and Leah’s training.
Lexi had been torn but stuck to her principles and refused to leave home, as had Steve. The older man was to take over as Head of Operations, just as Mike was to replace Neil on the council. The headship of Logistics was open but would no doubt either be filled or swallowed up by Supplies and come under Andrew’s control.
Lexi wanted to stay primarily for Paul, and Dan didn’t judge on that matter. After all, he was going for a woman.
Rich hadn’t fared well following their attack on the invaders who had killed Joe, and his nightmares recurred too often for him to be of any dependable use now. He wanted to stay in his cocoon where he cleaned the guns obsessively. Where he felt safe. Dan didn’t blame him.
Mike spoke to Dan in private, eager to get his point across but not wanting to be seen to be in league with him by the others. Mike was loyal to Dan, as Dan had saved his life and that of his daughter, Alice. She wanted to stay, and he could never leave her behind. Dan thanked Mike, told him that he understood and made him promise to look after the interests of the group.
After all, Dan had built it, and he didn’t want it to fail.
Plans were being drawn up for their journey, and every spare minute was spent working out the logistics for such a risky venture.
