End of the World (Book 2): Evasion Tactics Read online




  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Evasion Tactics

  About the Author

  EVASION TACTICS

  THE END OF THE WORLD: BOOK TWO

  BY

  THOMAS HALL

  Evasion Tactics

  Copyright © 2018 by Thomas Hall

  https://www.facebook.com/teajampublishing/

  The rights of Thomas Hall to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  All characters in this publication are ficticious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  CHAPTER 1

  I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I AM ASLEEP before the shaking wakes me. For a moment I think it is an earthquake, before my memory catches up with me an I realise where I am.

  The shaking continues and I turn to look at Harriet. Somehow she is still asleep, but no one else is.

  A woman shrieks as another violent shake passes through the helicopter. I see people’s belongings slide across the floor. Bags fall open and scatter clothes everywhere.

  “What’s going on?” I say.

  Michelle shakes her head and I can see fear in her eyes. She didn’t look this scared when we took on Cortez.

  I grip the hand rests as the helicopter continues to shake. It feels as if it is going to fall apart.

  “Daddy?”

  I turn to Harriet. She is awake now and scared.

  “What’s happening?” she says.

  For a moment all I can do is shake my head with wild eyed fear. When I see the effect that has on her I force myself to stop.

  I take her hand. “It’s okay,” I say. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  She nods, but I can see that she doesn’t believe me. Why should she?

  Static fills the craft and everyone goes quiet.

  A distant voice talks over the speaker but it is too quiet for any of us to hear. For a moment we all strain to make out some of the words, but then they stop and we are none the wiser. A moment passes and then the panic starts.

  “Hold onto something,” I say. I am still gripping the armrests enough to turn my knuckles white. I am not sure what is going on but I know it isn’t good.

  The floor seems to fall out from beneath me and for a moment we are plummeting towards the ground. I think this is the end but a moment later we are flying again, a little lower, but still in the air.

  Harriet starts to cry and I do my best to comfort her, but I can’t move from my seat. I take her left hand and Michelle takes her right. The helicopter continues to shake itself apart.

  To gain some control of the situation I try to work out what might be happening. Although I have never flown in a helicopter before, I am sure that this isn’t normal. Which leaves two possibilities; either there is a mechanical fault, or we are under attack.

  This could be the work of Cortez’s men.

  The idea that, even dead, Cortez could still win, makes me sick.

  When I glance at the window I see the ocean, which means we are a long way from London. If this is Cortez’s doing, then he must have had weapons far more powerful than the rocket launchers.

  I shake my head. No, this can’t be Cortez’s work, if we are under attack then it is by someone else.

  I don’t have time to come up with another possibilities before everything seems to stop. The steady thudding noise stops. My stomach feels as if it is going to come out of my mouth and I realise that we are falling again.

  There isn’t enough air to scream.

  It feels as if I am on the worlds worst rollercoaster.

  I grip Harriet’s hand and try to believe that everything is going to be okay, but it doesn’t work. I don’t know how high up we were but now we are a metal box full of people plummeting towards the ground.

  No one can survive this.

  The best any of us can hope for is that the impact will kill us, because the alternative seems to be drowning.

  I want to tell Harriet that I love her and that I’m sorry, but I can no longer draw air into my lungs.

  I don’t want to die and I especially don’t want my daughter to die. We were so close to making it to a new life. It might never have been what we wanted but at least we would have been together.

  “Daddy?” Harriet says.

  I turn to her, I smile. “I love you,” I say.

  “I love you too,” she says, her voice shaking because she realises what is happening as well.

  I catch sight of Michelle and wonder if this is easier or more difficult for her. She and I could have made a life together, but we never got a chance to find out. Right here and right now we are strangers and, regardless of what is going to happen, we can’t bridge that gap. She is alone and there is nothing I can do to change that.

  There is a deep choking sound and the engine starts again. I hear a few people cry out with relief but I realise we are still falling. The only thing that has changed is that we are spinning as well.

  There is a sound like metal tearing and the helicopter lurches like a drunk at Christmas. I glance at the window behind Michelle and I can see how low we are.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking.” His voice is loud and crisp and I dare to hope that means they have the situation under control. He doesn’t sound as panicked as I would expect someone in his situation to feel. “As you may have noticed we are experiencing some difficulties. The helicopter was damaged during the attack at the heliport. It has suffered some critical system failures. Unfortunately this means we are not going to make it to the quarantine ships.”

  A few people cry out with disappointment, but I am not among them. If we were going to crash, then he wouldn’t have told us. Although my heart is racing from what has happened, there is still a chance that we will survive.

  “We are near the coast of France and will be attempting an emergency landing shortly. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, so please make sure your seat belts are on and your belongings are secure.”

  I wait for further information but then the radio cuts out and all I can hear are other voices in the cabin.

  I squeeze Harriet’s hand but I don’t want to look at her. If we are going to land in France then I know what she will be thinking and I also know that it will be impossible. We will be in a French quarantine centre. There will be no way for us to reach Cassie, and even if we could, it wouldn’t be a good idea.

  “Are you okay?” Michelle says.

  I turn to look at her and see that she is talking to Harriet, which is good because it means I don’t have to be the bad guy. By the time we have landed and are under French protection, she will know that we can’t go to her mother.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Michelle says.

  “Hold on tight,” I say as the helicopter lurches to the right. I am pulled up in my seat and experience a moment of weightlessness. Then I come crashing back down with what feels like three times my original weight.

  I hope that Michelle is right. I hope that the pilot can land this thing.

  The movements are erratic and sickening. No on talks. When I glance around the cabin I see lots of people gritting their teeth and staring straight ahead.

 
Out the window I see nothing but land now. We are coming down quick but at the moment it feels controlled.

  Harriet squeezes my hand and I smile at her. If this is the last thing I see then at least I will die with my daughter beside me. I try not to think about the fact that she will be dying as well.

  The engine cuts in an out with sickening irregularity. For long moments we seem to hang in the air. Weightless, suspended by nothing more than our own hopes that we make it through this. We have all been through so much already, it would seem anticlimactic to die in such a mundane way now.

  There is nothing left to say to one another. Only our hopes and fears go with us to the ground. The engine cuts out for a final time. I have no idea how far above the ground we currently are, but I know that we won’t stay there for long. Then we are falling.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE SOUND IS SO LOUD THAT IT BLOCKS out everything else. I am no longer aware of other people screaming. I open my eyes for brief moments at a time. I wait to see the fireball which will consume us, racing through the cabin, but I don’t. Instead I see metal support beams falling and the sides of the helicopter peeling away like a tin can. I feel the full force of the helicopter meeting the ground.

  I pass out for a moment, but not for long enough to make a difference.

  We hit the ground and the helicopter continues to move, carving a scar into the solid rock. I understand that the pilot has attempted to save us by using forward momentum to absorb some of the impact. I won’t find out if it doesn’t work.

  The sound begins to abate and I become aware of Harriet crying. I turn to look at her, squeezing her hand and trying to reassure her that we are going to be okay.

  It is minutes before we finally stop. My body wants to continue going forwards and I press against the harness that is keeping me in place. Then that settles as well.

  Nobody moves.

  I wait for three or four seconds before I decide that we aren’t going to wait for someone to tell us what to do. For all we know they are already dead and the helicopter could start burning at any second. There is no time to lose.

  While I unbuckle myself I shout at Harriet to do the same. She stares back at me with dull eyes and for a moment I fear that she is dead. Then Michelle is out of her seat and helping her. Harriet blinks but doesn’t say anything, but she is alive and it is my job to make sure she stays that way.

  There are other people standing up now. A surprising number are still in their seats, showing no sign of being aware. I can smell smoke and hurry us along, shouting at everyone who we pass that they need to get up and go.

  The impact wedged the door closed. Enough of the hull has peeled away that we are able to get through. The metal is hot to the touch and as I carry Harriet out of the helicopter I see the first sign of flame.

  We jump four foot to get to the ground. Michelle passes Harriet to me and then follows herself. More people come out after her, but my main concern is getting my daughter as far away from the crash site as I can.

  I don’t look around. I don’t take in anything of our surroundings, except for the place we are running towards. Wherever we are, there is plenty of space.

  The ground shakes and the sound comes moments later. It isn’t a boom, more like a hiss and then there seems to be no air. The heat on my back pushes me forwards and when I glance behind I see that the helicopter has become a fireball.

  I begin to slow down once the heat from the fire reduces. Other people have caught up with me now, some of them have passed us. They slow down to match my pace and we look back at the burning helicopter.

  I hadn’t expected it to burn so fast. There are about twenty of us which means over a hundred are still onboard. We didn’t get a chance to go back and help them.

  We watch the fire. The pilot brought us down in the middle of a vast expanse of concrete. The nearest building looks about a mile away, which at least means that there is no risk of the fire spreading. This thought doesn’t make me feel much better about what has happened.

  Harriet takes my hand and look down at her. Does she realise what this means? Does she understand how lucky we are to have gotten out when we did? I hope she isn’t thinking about the people who have burned to death, but I can’t stop myself thinking about them.

  My senses come back to me and look at the people who have gathered around to watch the fire. Some of them are still in uniform; a soldier, a few nurses, police officers. It takes me a moment to distinguish a pilot among them.

  He is either an old looking forty, or a young looking fifty.

  “Are you the pilot?” I say to him.

  “That’s right,” he says. I recognise his voice from the announcements and a few other people glance over at us. “And you are?”

  “Evan,” I say. “Evan Alexander.”

  “It’s good to meet you Evan,” he says. “My name’s Dan.”

  He offers his hand and I shake it.

  “You saved our lives,” I say.

  He nods and then shrugs. I am finding it difficult to get a reading on him.

  “Where do you think we are?” I say.

  “Somewhere in France. I was aiming for Rouen, but I’m not sure how close we got.”

  I nod and hope that Harriet isn’t listening to our conversation. “So what’s the plan?”

  “We need to find shelter, somewhere with food would be good.”

  “And then?”

  He shrugs. “I’ll make contact with the French authorities in the morning. We’ll need to get to a quarantine area.”

  “Okay,” I say, unsure what I expected out of the conversation, but certain that I haven’t gotten it. “Sounds good.”

  He doesn’t make any attempt to get us moving and I start to drift back to Harriet and Michelle. Now that the adrenalin is leaving my system I realise how tired I am and that the night is beginning to creep in.

  “What did he say?” Michelle says.

  “We need to find shelter for the night and then go to the authorities in the morning.”

  “And?”

  I shrug.

  Nobody moves for a long time. We watch the helicopter burn until the fire starts to die out. After that there is nothing left to see except a blackened skeleton. I try not to look for bodies but I see them anyway.

  Dan turns and walks away. I take Harriet’s hand and we follow him. Everyone else gets the hint and comes as well. We walk towards the concrete structures in the distance.

  I try not to think about the future. It is a habit that I gave up around the time the first wave of Indigo Runner hit. There is little any of us can do to control our destiny and making plans only leads to disappointment. I can’t help but think about the immediate future. Where we will spend the night? What we will eat and drink? How will the French react to our arrival?

  By the time we reach the squat concrete building it is dark and there are no lights. None of us feels much like talking.

  I stake out a piece of the wall to protect us from the worst of the cold and sit down. Harriet stands there looking at me for a moment before sitting. Michelle joins us a moment later.

  Harriet leans her head against my chest. It seems as if she is asleep in seconds.

  For a while I stare across the room, waiting to see whether Dan will say anything. I’m not sure what I want him to say, nor what he could say that would make any difference now. We are stuck in limbo and none of us knows what is going to happen next. His authority comes from the fact that he brought us here, that he managed to keep us alive.

  “Get some sleep,” Michelle says.

  I turn to look at her and she seems a little closer now. Harriet is between us. I nod but don’t close my eyes. After a few moments I realise that I can no longer keep them open and sleep comes fast.

  CHAPTER 3

  I AM WOKEN BY HARRIET MOVING. I OPEN my eyes and turn to look at her but it is still too dark to see.

  “Are you okay sweetheart?” I say, whispering so that I don’t wake Michelle.
br />   She tilts her head so that she is looking up at me, her eyes are wide open.

  “Having trouble sleeping?” I say.

  “I was thinking,” she says.

  “Thinking? What were you thinking about?”

  “Nothing,” she says. I should know not to pry, it usually turns out to be something I would rather not know, and this time is no exception.

  “Nothing? You must have been thinking about something.”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Try me.”

  She is quiet for a long moment. Then she sighs. “I was thinking about Cassie.”

  I am not surprised. “Mum?” I say.

  She nods..

  This should be where I stop asking questions. “What were you thinking about her?”

  “The pilot said we are in Rouen, didn’t he?” she says.

  So she was listening. I should lie, tell her that he didn’t say that at all. Instead I nod.

  “She lives near here, doesn’t she?”

  “Yes.”

  Harriet is quiet for a moment. I hope that she has gone back to sleep, but I realise that is unlikely. After a moment she asks the question that I have anticipated since Dan told us where he was going to try and land. “We could go and see her?”

  “Harriet...” I say. I look down at her. It is understandable that she would want to see her mother, even if it is the last thing that I want. “We don’t even know if she’s still living here.”

  “She is,” Harriet says. “Before the power went off I was talking to her on Facebook.”

  “You were?” I had no idea that they were in touch, but I should have expected it.

  “Only on Messenger. She wanted to know how I was getting on at school.”

  I bet she did. Was Cassie was starting to regret abandoning her infant daughter all those years ago? If she was, then it had taken her long enough.

  “She said I should come and visit her.”