Tony Littlejohns - The Hoffmann Plague

‘Whereabouts in Bexhill are you?’ Bill asked.

‘We’ve taken over a house and a bungalow next to each other on South Cliff fairly recently,’ said Jamie. ‘We needed somewhere with good-sized gardens near the sea, as we were both in flats. The family in Jane’s house were dead and my bungalow was empty; I assumed they must have died in hospital early on.’

‘Does it have a Rayburn and a pond in the garden with koi carp?’ asked Bill, which Jamie confirmed.

‘That was Brian and Lisa. I’d been supplying them with logs for years. We were friendly and spoke now and then. You’re right; they died early on, not long after it hit Bexhill. Nice couple; both wanted kids but they couldn’t have them. I haven’t been into town since the plague hit, but I understand it’s terrible and quiet as a graveyard.’

‘Like you wouldn’t believe,’ Jane replied. ‘There’s no one left; well, if there are we haven’t seen them in over two months.’

‘… Apart from the guy I met in B&Q and the other in Tesco’s,’ Jamie added, and related the story to them.

‘Phil and Sophie have been in several times and said it was awful,’ said Emma. ‘They’re a young couple who live here now with us. They worked for us when we had a business, before the plague came. Their car broke down when things were getting really bad everywhere and they got kind of stranded here. We said they could stay with us until the car was fixed, expecting it to be just a few days. By the time we got the car fixed both their families were infected and they had no homes to go back to, so they stayed on here with us. They’ve gone over to Wartling today to see friends of ours who’ve got a smallholding there. They’ve been to the retail park in Bexhill a few times to get clothes and supplies.’

‘Do they drive an old, red Mondeo estate?’ asked Jamie, and Bill confirmed that they did. ‘Ah! That solves that mystery, then. I saw it when I was there getting stuff once, and it was gone the next time. I told Jane about it, but I never saw them.’

Emma brought them tea, along with a plate of fresh cheese, dried apricots and apples. Jane and Jamie looked in amazement at the cheese, and then at Bill and Emma.

Bill smiled. ‘We’ve got three dairy cows and a bull; had them for two years now. We make our own cheese and butter. We’ve also got two goats, six sheep and a ram, plus lots of chickens. We’re pretty much self-sufficient here, and have been for a good while. We grow our own veg’ and have got a small orchard, with apples, apricots, cherries and pears. We’ve got solar panels on the barn roof that charge up a bank of batteries and an inverter, so we’ve got mains power, too. As long as we don’t run too much stuff and overload it, we’re okay. Our water comes from a well fed by an underground spring.’

Jane’s mouth was watering. ‘Oh my God, I have so missed cheese!’

They tucked into the cheese and dried fruits and were soon making appreciative noises. Bill and Emma watched them with amusement for a second and then joined them. Sally came back in with Max after playing with him and gave him a bowl of water. After they’d eaten Bill led them to some comfy chairs in a conservatory on the back of the house and poured them a brandy each.

‘Don’t tell me you make this yourself?’ Jamie asked with a smile.

Bill chuckled. ‘Sadly, no. This is spoils of war, as you might say.’ He was keen to know how they had survived and what their plans were for the future.

‘To be honest, Bill,’ said Jamie, ‘neither of us has a clue how we survived. We both caught the plague several months ago after it hit Bexhill, slipped into some kind of a coma and woke up days later, weak and half-dead. Things had become deathly-quiet outside and Jane said that, like me, it took her a month to recover enough to go out. It was like a ghost-town by then. Fortunately, I’d had the foresight to stockpile supplies when it started spreading so quickly up north.’

‘And I didn’t!’ said Jane. ‘I struggled for a long while to find enough stuff when I was strong enough to go out.’

‘I saw it coming, too,’ said Bill, shaking his head, ‘and started preparing, just in case. When I was fifteen or so, my granddad told me about the Spanish Flu pandemic between 1918 and ’20, and how people were dropping like flies, with mass graves being dug for all the corpses. He lost a lot of family back then. When I saw on the news about the mortality rate and how quickly it was spreading, I remembered his stories. I closed the business down and started stockpiling things here. We spent a week or two bringing in supplies and then made a makeshift barrier at the bottom of the drive with that sign about plague. After that we kind of just battened down the hatches and laid low for months. Obviously, it hit the urban areas first and then spread out to the villages. Apart from our friends at Wartling, I don’t know of any other survivors around here.’

They sat talking for the rest of the morning. Jane and Jamie took turns in telling them about the things they were doing: the garden work and the seeds they had sown; fishing and snaring rabbits; learning to preserve food, and how they had rescued Max and nursed him back to health. Jamie reached into his pack and gave them some rabbit jerky to taste; they were impressed and congratulated him. Emma asked if they would stay for lunch, which they accepted gratefully. She cooked them a big plate of scrambled eggs with ham, which they devoured with gusto!

‘Some neighbours we knew kept pigs and made their own hams,’ explained Emma. ‘After they died we decided to liberate their hams; I mean, why not? It was all very sad and traumatic, but we were alive and they weren’t. We didn’t really have the means or the inclination to look after their two remaining pigs, so we slaughtered them. We’ve got two big chest freezers full of pork and I’ve made hams and bacons. They’re hanging up in a store-room and won’t be ready for months yet. I just hope our electricity supply holds out, otherwise we’ll lose a lot of meat.’

Eventually it came time for them to leave, which they were reluctant to do as it had been a wonderful surprise meeting Bill and his family. As they were preparing to leave Phil and Sophie pulled up in the Mondeo and introductions were made all round. They were both in their early twenties. Phil was fairly stocky, with a shock of blond curly hair and an open, friendly face. Sophie was short, curvy and pretty, with long dark hair that she tucked behind her ears, and a fringe. They seemed like a nice young couple and were pleased to meet them.

Bill said he would give them a few bags of logs to take back with them, for which they were very grateful. ‘Well, we’ve got more than enough for our needs, for many years to come; the barn’s pretty full and there’s more out back seasoning, too.’

They reversed the Land Rover up to the roller-shutter, which Bill opened, and then he brought out enough bags to fill the load area. He also gave them a jerrycan of red diesel for their truck. Emma came out carrying a cardboard box containing a dozen eggs, a pint of milk and two fresh cheeses wrapped in waxed-paper. Jamie and Jane were moved almost to tears and thanked them several times.

‘Think nothing of it,’ said Bill. ‘Please come out again soon. We’re so happy to see some survivors like you and wish you well. We’d love to see you again and to keep in touch, to see how you’re doing.’ They both assured them that they would and Bill and Jamie shook hands while the women exchanged hugs.

Jamie felt guilty that they didn’t have anything to offer in return, and then had a thought; ‘Bill; how well-off are you for shotgun cartridges?’

‘Not very good, actually; I’m down to my last box of fifty.’