M. Marshall - The End Is Nigh

We needed to get out of London as quickly as possible. God only knows what they would do with an ex-MP. Upping my pace I walked down the line of thinning traffic and stopped by the next easily accessible SUV. I tried the door, it was unlocked

“That’s no good to us unless you know how to pull a car key from thin air…” He kept walking. Smiling to myself in the dark I started to unload the bags and Rosa from her sling lying her down on the backseat of the SUV. Rolling on to her side she mumbled something into the fabric of the car seats in her sleep. At some point, Liam must have noticed that we were no longer walking with him because he came back to talk to me through the open car door. “What are you doing? You won’t find a key.”

“I know,” I replied with my head between my knees trying to find the section of plastic to pop off the steering column.

Once I had found it, I used Matt’s multi tool to prise the compartment open enough to get my fingers in under the plastic and pulled the section out. Next, I needed to find the group of wires. Sitting up again. I dug into my back pocket for my phone. I didn’t want to waste the battery on lighting up the footwell of the car, but it was either that or electrocute myself.

“Here. Use this.” Sensing what it was, I was trying to do Liam pulled out a tiny Mag light from his jacket pocket and shone it onto the area where my hands had been.

“Thanks.”

“You’ve done this before?” My fingers closed around the bunch of wires I had been searching for, and I tilted my head up to look at his face and grinned. It took me by surprise. His eyes were so blue. Probably intensified by the torchlight.

Realising I’d been staring into a stranger’s illuminated face for just a little too long than was comfortable. My cheeks flushed, and I quickly hid my embarrassment back under the steering wheel. I yanked the wires out into a position where I would be able to strip and reattach them. It took me a little longer than the last time. The pressure of being watched didn’t help.

“OK. The moment of truth. Let’s see if it worked.” The car growled into life. “Thank fuck for that.” Liam looked pretty impressed. I wasn’t sure if it was at my hotwiring skills or the bad language but either way it gave me an unexpected thrill.

“Here I was thinking I would be the one looking out for you. I can see that you’re quite the survivor yourself.” he said.

I shrugged. “You should have seen me a month ago. This isn’t really me,” I confessed.

“Well, it certainly looks like you now.” He smiled and shut off the torch.

“Do you want to ride with us to check my in-laws’ place? I’d planned to head out to the Bunker afterwards. I mean if there was no sign of my family.”

“Okay, but only if you let me drive. You look like you could use some sleep. Why don’t you jump in the back with Rosa. Will your Shadow be coming too do you think?”

I looked down, and sure enough there he was sat at my feet. Hunkering down so I was on his level and wondered if he could understand anything that was going on. “You can come with us if you like buddy or you can stay here it’s up to you.”

Liam shook his head and walked around to the back and opened the boot of the car. No sooner had it opened than Shadow had jumped in.

We transferred the bags into the boot, arranging them around the dog. I unravelled the sleeping bags, and Liam was able to get the back seats down creating a flatbed for Rosa and me to sleep on as he drove. As I packed, it felt good to be part of a team, travelling together. This was the most kindness I had received from another person in some time. Well, at least he hadn’t tried to kill me yet. It was nice not to feel so totally alone.

Shadow padded around in the back unsteady on his feet he finally sat and then curled himself up in the crook of my legs. I assumed my usual sleeping position around Rosa snuggled up warm in the sleeping bags. I drifted off into a deep sleep without much difficulty. Lulled by the vibrating motion of tyres against tarmac. The throaty hum of the engine soothed me, knowing that with every moment we drew closer to finding Matt. That and finding comfort in the knowledge that I was no longer the only grown up.

I wasn’t sure how long we had been asleep when I woke. I guessed that it couldn’t have been more than a few hours from the look of the sky. Looking out of the window above my head it looked like we’d parked up in woodland somewhere. I sat up there was no sign of the road.

I peered into the front of the car and was relieved to see that Liam hadn’t left us. There he was with his seat reclined and his head lolled to the side. I could see the black outline of his profile against the forest beyond us through the windscreen. He probably got tired himself and pulled over to sleep.

Lying there staring up at the roof of the SUV I felt the tension leave my shoulders. In just a few hours Rosa and I would be reunited with Matt. Everything would seem better, it made living seem more worth it. Not long now until we would be together again.

“Are you awake?” Liam whispered from the front. Jerked back to reality, I sat up on my elbows and cleared my throat.

“Yes. Are you?” I laughed. “Sorry, that was a stupid question. Did you get some sleep?” He turned in his seat to face me, I could just about make out his features in the light. I didn’t think he looked very rested at all, but he smiled anyway and nodded.

“It’s getting light. I think it’s about 5 am we should make our way to your family’s place. We’re in a part of Epping Forest I think. I thought it best to let you sleep for as long as possible. I forgot where you said they lived. Your in-laws?”

“Thanks. No, that was amazing I feel much better. Erm… Yes, sorry. They live in Loughton just a few streets up from the tube station. I’m sure that Matt would have driven there, he could have made it on the bike.” Rosa’s arm flew up in the air to let us know that she was also awake. She sat up and looked around when he saw Liam she stopped and glared at him open-mouthed.

“Rosa, this is Liam. We met him last night while you were fast asleep.”

“Hello, little miss.” Liam held out his hand and waved like a child. It was quite sweet really. Alerted by all of our movement Shadow picked up his head, his ears pricking up. I let Shadow out of the car, and he promptly disappeared for a stroll in the woods.

Keen to make ourselves presentable for when we got to Matt I hurried to change Rosa and get her into a clean nappy. I fed her and Liam joked. “Mmmm that milk looks like the best thing I’ve seen in weeks.”

“We can get some breakfast there. I’ll bet they’ve got quite a stash of supplies. They’ll all be so happy that we’re finally here. I wish we’d tried to come them sooner, but I was so sure Matt would have made his way down to us.”

I noticed as I spoke that Liam wouldn’t look me in the eye. He turned away to fiddle with something on the dash, and I suddenly wondered if he had any family of his own. It was cruel of me to make him watch as my family were reunited if his own had been permanently separated. I didn’t really know that much about him. Liam hadn’t been forthcoming in talking about himself. Thinking about it I really knew nothing about him. “You don’t have to come with us you know. I mean if you wanted to go straight on to the Bunker I would totally understand.”

“No, I would like to see you safely somewhere, as you say. You might end up going on to the Bunker anyway. Anyway, if there’s the vaguest chance of a cuppa at your in-laws I’m in. I would give my left arm for a coffee.”

“That’s very kind. I’m pretty sure that they’ll have coffee and it’s the least we can do for all you’ve done. I wouldn’t mind one myself actually.” The idea of hot coffee made me impatient suddenly the urge to see Matt became too much, I needed to see him. “Ok then let’s go now. I don’t want to wait anymore.” We got out and reorganised the car. The breaking dawn cast just enough light to see a small way into the forest. Shadow was nowhere to be seen. I gave out a low whistle and waited, watching the trees. I couldn’t leave without him. “Shadow!”