Lee Kerr - Welcome to the Apocalypse

The police car speeds through the streets quicker than any of the four officers have ever known before. Despite having a combined sixty years of experience, none of them can ever recall a time when they made it around the A406 so quickly, and especially without a few near misses along the way. But today is different, as if half-term has been combined with a day where England are playing in the World Cup – that’s the only combination of things that could ever clear the usual, grinding congestion from this inner London road.

Luke starts to wonder whether maybe all Saturdays in the summer months are like this. He sits quietly, keeping a tight hold of the handrail, as the car swerves around the corners, far quicker than he’s used to. Although the officers in the car have vast combined experience, his own makes up less than ten percent of this total; he’s still in his first year as an armed police officer, but he already knows he’s enjoying it far more than his previous beat around Wembley and Ealing High streets.

This job still fills him with excitement. No, that’s not the right word. It’s more like adrenaline mixed with slight fear; a sense that the unknown is waiting for him each time they speed off. Sure, you still have to do the regular stuff – the traffic violations and the petty theft – but then you get to carry two weapons; solid steel instruments, at your side, ready to obey your every command. He’s still to do it, still waiting to shoot someone. Maybe he’ll never get the chance, and although he won’t admit it to his sergeant or any of his colleagues, he feels that to never unleash this power on another person would, in some way, be a real shame.

Of course he means to let it loose on a bad person; someone entirely deserving of the cold touch of steel with skin, all from his steady aim. He wonders if today might be the day; there’s certainly a different buzz on this shift, a feeling that something is looming, something that none of them can quite get a handle on.

Every officer in his station has been called into work, so he knows that something big is happening. The briefing seemed deliberately vague, telling them their task today would most likely be urban pacification. When they left the station he noticed that half of the officers were being kitted out in riot gear, and everyone knows that when that happens, the press will be all over it in hours.

‘Okay, remember to keep a low profile,’ his Sergeant shouts from the front passenger seat.

Before Dave has even finished talking, Luke gives a quick nod. He listens intently, filtering out all the radio chatter and the blasts from the siren, so he can hear every word from his boss, an experienced police officer who has been in the force for years. He’s one of the best, Luke assures himself. Nothing seems to panic him and you know that if he feels the need to start shooting then you just aim at whoever he’s pointing at and let rip.

‘We set ourselves up in strategic points and let the beat officers take all the attention. We expect the streets to be clear this morning but eventually the curiosity will get the better of most people, especially when they see all this activity on the news, so just be ready.’

‘And what exactly are we getting ready for?’ Mike asks, from beside Luke.

Dave looks ahead, no doubt checking that they are on a straight road, and when he sees that the next few seconds are clear he turns himself around fully, letting him see the whites of their eyes. ‘I don’t know what we’re getting ready for. You know what I know, and that’s as good as today gets.’

‘So this could be a training exercise, for all we know?’ Mike asks, looking at Luke and then back to Dave. Mike asks more questions and gives more opinions than most of the guys Luke has worked with so far, which he thinks might be because of his age, as well as that thing you often hear that he has ‘been there, done that and never got the promotion.’

Dave looks back at Mike, but he doesn’t really nod or shake his head; he just stares at him. ‘That’s what you want it to be, and that’s what I want it to be, but the reality might just be something different, so you just remember that.’

Mike nods and then shrugs his shoulders. ‘Sure, boss.’

The car suddenly takes a left turn, leaving the longest convoy of police cars Luke has ever seen. He watches as a couple of cars turn with them whilst the rest speed ahead, all of them looking like they’re bumper to bumper. Luke can’t even see the first car anymore but it has been replaced by identical blue and white cars, which are followed by many ambulances, moving a little slower, but just as determined to get to somewhere.

‘This is no training exercise,’ Mike says, speaking only to Luke, his voice barely above a whisper. ‘There’s no way we’ve got the money for this to be some sort of training day. We didn’t even get this paranoid during the Olympics or the jubilee, or the NATO Summit.’

Luke stares at Mike but he doesn’t know what to say, what else he can add.

Mike simply grins back. ‘Not even the royal wedding got this much attention.’

Luke looks forward, thinking only about his training, reminding himself that there is no difference between an exercise and a real life need to fire a weapon. ‘We will do whatever we need to do,’ he says.

Mike laughs. ‘I can tell you’re still a newbie. You actually think we’re doing something noble that also happens to pay the bills.’

The car comes to a halt and Dave leans around again. ‘Right, you two get out here and set up a control point. Give it one sweep of the area and then base yourselves with whatever uniformed arrive shortly. Keep channel one open at all times and report anything suspicious.’

Luke gets out of the car as Dave puts down his window. ‘We’ll be two blocks away and if it gets nasty out there just remember that you control the situation.’

Luke nods, taking hold of the steel object draped around his shoulders. As the car speeds off he checks the safety catch for the hundredth time today. He also checks he still has his side arm, as if it could actually just disappear. After a few seconds he remembers to check for Mike, and finds him standing behind him, laughing and shaking his head.

‘It’s nice of you to remember me,’ Mike says, before marching forward towards the biggest building in the immediate area.

Luke quickly follows him, wishing that he was with Dave, wishing he was with anyone but Mike. He breaks into a short run, just so he can get close enough to visually inspect Mike’s weapons, and he sees that his rifle already has the safety off.

Mike catches Luke looking at him but he doesn’t rectify his blatant breach of procedure. ‘Today is no training exercise, and today is not going to end well.’

‘I like this one,’ Mum says, sitting on a sofa and looking at each of the kids as they stand around, tapping on their phones and playing with their hair. ‘What do you lot think?’

No one answers. Not Dad, not the girls and especially not Ashley. He just wants to get his mattress and get back home, hopefully grabbing some tinned food and bottled water on the way. That’s what the news people have been telling everyone to do. Whatever is happening, it is the only thing on his phone. All the different apps have been telling him the same thing: get indoors and stay there.

Mum huffs at the lack of response and it’s Dad who gets the slap. ‘Well your ass seems to be liking it, don’t it?’ she says to him.

The kids all laugh, pointing at their dad’s fat ass spread out across the crack somewhere between the two large cushions. He looks up, catching the eyes of each of them in turn, but he has nothing to say.