Tony Littlejohns: The Hoffmann Plague

It was nice to see Zoe so enthusiastic and they all agreed it would be great to learn more from her about the plants around them. Peter, Phil and Sophie came in for lunch, followed by Megan, Sally and the twins, and were introduced to Matt and Zoe before they sat down to eat. After lunch Matt said he had a surprise for them. He went out to the car and came back with a large cardboard box, which he put on the table and then removed a few items of equipment.

‘CB radios: I’ve had them since about February, but haven’t had a use for them until now. I brought them down with us as I knew they’d be useful. When the plague really began spreading I thought we’d need some form of communication system to keep in touch with people if the utilities went down. I went to several places and picked up lots of equipment, and I’ve been working on them over the last few weeks. I’ve got five sets and I’ve rigged them up to operate with a car battery and a solar panel to trickle-charge the batteries.’

‘Bloody hell, Matt, that’s brilliant!’ said Jamie.

‘Thanks,’ Matt replied, ‘but they will have their limitations, of course. I mean, we won’t be able to just leave them turned on all day and speak when we want to, as the solar panels won’t supply enough current. But, if we put the solar panels in a south-facing position to constantly trickle-charge the batteries then we can arrange pre-set times to turn on the sets so we can talk. They’ll be great for arranging visits and trips or exchanging news, but they won’t be any good for emergencies as we won’t be able to leave them on permanently.’

‘We’ll be able to leave ours on permanently,’ said Bill, ‘as we have mains power. The barn roof’s covered in solar panels, which charge up the batteries and supply mains through an inverter. Emma’s in the house most of the time, so she’ll be able to hear any messages.’

‘Well, that’s great,’ said Matt. ‘You can leave yours on all the time, then. It won’t create much drain on your system and it means that we’ll be able to contact you any time we need to. If you need to contact us, though, we’ll have to have pre-arranged times. Sarah and Georgie can have a set, too, so we can all keep in touch. I can set the rig and antenna up this afternoon.’

This was great news and they all thanked Matt. It would add a whole new dimension to their lives from now on: being able to talk, exchange news and arrange visits between them all would be a real blessing.

‘Blimey!’ said Jane. ‘Who’d have thought that in the twenty-first century, in the age of GPS, smart phones and the internet, we’d be communicating by CB radio again!’

The following Thursday, just after lunch, Jamie heard two vehicles coming up the track and went to look. Two army Land Rovers were bouncing through the pot-holes, the second of which was towing a large water bowser. He called to Jane in the garden and they walked down to the main yard to meet them. Megan had gone over the fields with Sally to check the rabbit snares. Bill also heard the vehicles and met them in the yard.

Tom and Karen got out of the first Land Rover and came over to shake hands with them, smiling. As the second vehicle pulled up they saw it was Major Miller and a woman they hadn’t seen before, and they climbed from the truck and walked over to them. The woman, like the others, was in uniform: she was in her mid-to-late thirties, with olive skin and high cheek-bones, and was strikingly attractive but very tough-looking, with short cropped hair.

‘Hello, Major Miller,’ said Jamie, extending his hand. ‘Nice to see you again.’ Jane said the same and they all shook hands.

‘Hello Jamie, hello Jane. Nice to see you, too. And please, call me Harry. This is former Warrant Officer Maria Vasquez.’

She smiled, shaking their hands, and her face softened, completely changing her appearance. ‘Hi; I’ve heard a lot about you from Tom and Harry and it’s nice to meet you.’ There was a slight trace of a Spanish accent in her voice.

‘This is Bill Anderson, who owns the farm,’ said Jane, and they exchanged greetings and shook hands.

‘Shall we go into the house?’ said Bill. They all agreed and followed him into the farmhouse. Emma smiled at them as they entered and introductions were made, and Bill invited them to sit at the table while Emma put on a large kettle for drinks.

‘Tom told me the awful news months ago about what happened to Megan,’ said Harry, ‘and I’m so pleased to hear she’s made a full recovery.’ Jamie and Jane smiled and thanked him

‘So, how did it go with the closing of the camp?’ asked Bill.

‘Oh, it went fairly smoothly, under the circumstances,’ said Harry. ‘The remaining survivors left over the last week. Some of them had developed close bonds and a group of four families said they were going to settle together by the countryside on the edge of Bexhill, near Cooden. Two of the families were from that area anyway and the other two were refugees from London. We got their vehicles going for them and gave them what fuel and food we could spare to get them on their way.’

‘What about the other troops and medical staff?’ asked Jane.

‘Well, some wanted to see if any of their families had survived in various parts of the country so they headed off in all directions. The majority, though, knew their families were gone. A large contingent has gone to take over Scotney Castle; the National Trust place near Lamberhurst. There’s a big manor house there with extensive grounds and a moat, with plenty of room for them to farm the land. Some of the troops are coming down to this neck of the woods: when they heard that we were coming down here they decided they would, too. They’re going to look for suitable places close to each other where they can help each other out, or maybe form a small commune.’

‘Oh, so you’re coming to live here, too?’ asked Bill.

‘Yes,’ Harry replied. ‘Tom and I have served together for many years and we thought we’d stay together.’

‘The four of us are going to live together in the house down the road,’ said Tom. ‘Obviously, we can’t all impose on you, so we’re going to get the house cleared and cleaned this afternoon and move straight in. We’ve got plenty of stuff with us in the vehicles for disposing of the remains – tarps, body-bags, strong disinfectant, etc. Mindful of what you said about water, we brought one of the water bowsers with us and filled it up from a lake on the way here, so we’ve got 220 gallons to keep us going for now. We thought we’d dig a well somewhere out the back over the next few weeks.’

‘I shot a couple of pheasant on the way down so we’d have fresh food for tonight,’ said Maria, ‘and we also raided Tesco’s warehouse at the retail park and stocked up on provisions for quite a while.’

‘Well, why don’t you bring the pheasant here and have a meal with us after you’ve finished at the house?’ said Emma, which they said would be great and thanked her.

‘As the Commanding Officer,’ said Harry, smiling, ‘I had first dibs on what we took with us from the camp. We’ve got an L85A2 rifle each, two shotguns and our service pistols, plus a good stock of ammunition. We’ve got some medical supplies, a comprehensive tool kit and also two VHF radios with solar panel chargers, along with various other useful bits of kit.’

‘Can the radios operate on CB frequencies?’ asked Jamie.

‘Yes, they can. You can set whatever frequency you like.’

‘That’s handy,’ said Bill, ‘as we now have a CB radio here, so we’ll be able to talk on them. Matt Turner set it up for us last week, and also for our friends Sarah and Georgie a few miles away, so we can all keep in touch.’