M. Marshall - The End Is Nigh

“When I had to break Liam out of the bunker. We were forced into a position that I would never have put myself in, but It changed me. The way I feel about him.”

“In a good way though right?” I nodded. “Oh, Lizzy. I know that look. You’ve got it bad haven’t you?” She sniggered.

“Yes. I think I have. But I still shouldn’t have slept with him last night. It was that bloody wine. We were both a bit drunk. Him more than me I think. Oh God.”

“What?”

“What if he regrets it? I feel so stupid. I should’ve known better.” I put my head in my hands.

“Was it bad?” I looked up at her. She began to laugh.

“From the look on your face right now I would say that it wasn’t bad at all!” I punched her in the arm playfully, and she returned the favour but twice as hard.

“Oww!”

“Ladies! Please, can someone explain to me where you found coffee? I could smell it from all the way upstairs.” Liam stuck his head around the back door from the kitchen. Both Kate and I looked flustered at one another. How long had he been stood there listening to our conversation without us noticing? Kate recovered first.

“Come and Sit down and I will bring you out a mug.” Kate patted her chair inviting him to take it as she got up and gave me a sly wink as she turned to walk past me and back into the house. I sipped my coffee and held it up close to my nose using it to cover the bottom half of my face.

“So…” Liam sat down beside me. “Last night.” He glanced over at me. He furrowed his forehead.

“I know-” Our eyes met and then immediately he turned away. I couldn’t bear it, the knot in my stomach tightened. He regretted it. I wouldn’t allow myself to be made a fool of.

“I’m sorry. I was drunk. I don’t know what came over me. It won’t happen again.”

“Oh right. Me too.” I couldn’t look him in the eye.

Instead, I stared down at the hands fidgeting in his lap. All of a sudden I found him hugely annoying. His inability to end the awkward silence infuriated me. Where was the confident guy who’d been so in control last night? I don’t know what I wanted to happen between us, but it wasn’t this.

“I’m going to check on Rosa.” I drained my cup and swung it in the crook of my finger as I walked back into the kitchen and left him outside.

When I walked back into the house, there was a noticeable breeze coming from the hall. I walked through the kitchen and could see that the front door had been left open. I moved closer. I could hear the sharp tone of Kate’s voice drifting in from the outside.

“Come on she’s just got here! Can’t she have a few more days to rest? Her daughter is ill. She needs some time.” Standing slightly back from the doorway, I peered out onto the drive. Kate stood in-between two official-looking men dressed in khaki combat uniforms.

“There isn’t any time Kate, you know the situation we’re in. You told me that you would inform us as soon as she had made contact.” The taller of the two men looked pissed off.

“And how am I supposed to do that Ben, start a bushfire? You didn’t even leave me a radio.”

They were all quite animated. Kate was upset. It sounded an awful lot like they had been referring to me. The shortest of the two soldiers pointed towards the house and started heading straight towards me. Seeing me in the hallway, they didn’t seem at all surprised.

“Good morning Mrs Clarke. I am Major Benjamin Bradley. If you would care to join me in the sitting room. I need to speak with you. It is quite urgent. I believe you are new to the area?” I was confused this stranger I had never seen before in my life was speaking to me by name. This Ben character had just walked into my sister’s house as though he owned it. My sister followed behind him and gave me an apologetic look.

“Best to do as he says Liz. Ben will explain everything. Sorry. Shall I get Liam?” The man looked at Kate and signalled his agreement. What the actual fuck was going on here? I stared after Kate as she went out to find Liam leaving me with Ben.

“You arrived yesterday? We were informed by your sister when we did the census that you were in the government. Is this correct?” The man sat down in the armchair beside the unlit fire and gestured for me to sit down on the sofa opposite him.

I did.

“It is.” My muscle memory from hundreds of political meetings was beginning to kick in. I sat upright with my legs crossed at the ankle and tucked them neatly to the side of the sofa. Hands clasped politely in my lap. Old habits.

I began to weigh up this soldier before me. He was a well-set man in his mid 40’s with an olive complexion which reminded me of a Greek. His eyes were so dark brown they almost looked black. A sombre expression cemented on his face. I wondered if he had ever known a moment of joy in his life.

“Are you well? Kate said your daughter is sick?”

“I am thank you, and my daughter seems to be recovering well now thanks to my sister.”

“Yes. Kate is a most resourceful woman. It’s a damn shame there aren’t more out there like her.” I was surprised by the fondness with which he spoke about my sister. This man must be the soldier she had alluded to a connection with yesterday, although he didn’t seem to be anything like her type at all. Too old for a start.

His companion stood by the front door and kept looking out onto the road. He was visibly straining his neck to keep one ear on what was going on here in the sitting room.

Just then Liam and Kate walked through the door and came to sit with us and gave their full attention to the man my sister knew as Ben.

“Coffee?” Kate asked him. He looked over at her smiled and shook his head. So he was capable of some happiness then.

“Elizabeth. I’m afraid I am here to ask for your assistance. I take it that your sister has not yet fully explained the system which we are implementing in this part of the county?” I shook my head. I felt like an idiot and probably looked like one. I needed to think of something to say.

“Ah, yes. I mean no. Sorry.” I looked over at Kate. She rolled her eyes. “She hasn’t explained anything to me about the local effort to mobilise society. We only arrived yesterday, and as my daughter had been taken ill. Well as you can imagine that has kept us all busy.” I caught Liam’s gaze as I looked over at Kate and felt my skin turning pink.

“I did say that if she arrived, I would contact you, Major. Quite honestly I had expected you would give her a few days to allow her some time to recover from the journey.” Kate’s behaviour towards Ben baffled me slightly she appeared flustered in his presence. My sister didn’t get flustered usually she was the calm one.

“Ben is it?” He nodded. “Why don’t you begin by explaining to me what it is you have organised and how exactly I can help you?”

“My purpose here is simply this. You Madam, are the highest-ranking government official we have been able to confirm as alive. We do not know of any other members of parliament surviving the nuclear strike. We have received intel via a group of surviving British army officers in the southern region of the country, which I am afraid, has brought us to the understanding that the nuclear bunker in the city has been taken over by armed civilians. It should have housed the Prime Minister and other government officials from Westminster.”

“How would that be possible? Surely there were officers stationed at the site?”

“There should have been, but it appears they may also have taken refuge inside. The civilians locked it down before the official personnel had arrived. There wasn’t enough time to get them to safety before the first bombs dropped.”

“Are you telling me that every bunker available to the government was shut down by civilians within the first 10 minutes of an Emergency Evacuation warning? I’m sorry but that is quite a stretch of the imagination.”