Fairbank just grinned approval and Kate said, You need something on that wound, Steve. It looks clean enough and there's no puffiness around the bite, but you never can tell.'
Culver frowned at Dealey. 'I'd rather we all stayed together, but if you want, you can go your own way. It's up to you.'
After a moment's hesitation, Dealey said, ‘Ill stay.'
Culver hid his relief: the civil servant had too much valuable 'inside' knowledge for them to have let him leave. 'Okay, let's decide on who our scavengers are going to be.'
'I'll be one,' Fairbank promptly volunteered. 'And you won't be the other,' he told Culver. We'll try and find antiseptics, medicines and analgesics along with some food, while you rest that leg. I know the area and where to head for; let's hope we can burrow our way into some of the shops.' He wiped sweat from his face and neck with his hands, then glanced at Jackson and Dene. You two game?'
'Sure, we know the area too,' Jackson said for them both. Dene, a thin, sallow-complexioned man in his early twenties,
appeared less certain, but did not feel inclined to argue.However, he thought of something that the others seemedto have overlooked. 'How we gonna find our way back in thisfog? I mean, the streets won't exactly be the same, will they?'
'Is your wristwatch the type with hands?' Culver asked. The engineer nodded. You can just see the haze of the sun.Got it? Okay, south is midway between the hour hand andtwelve o'clock. It'll give you a rough bearing on where thepark is; once you locate it you'll soon find us. Try and getback within the hour and save us some worry.'
'If you can find anything left to burn, a fire might help us,'Jackson suggested.
We'll manage something. Just be careful and don't takeany chances.'
Fairbank clicked his tongue against his teeth and pointed.The three men set off together, backs to the sun, heading towards the area that had once been High Holbora.
Culver and the others watched the mist swallow them up.It was an eerie and foreboding sight, and the immenseemptiness they left behind had little to do with unoccupiedspace.
Culver shook off the feeling, concentrating on the task in hand. 'Kate, will you help Ellison collect wood
- branches,fencing, anything that hasn't burned to charcoal - and bringit here? Any paper would help too
- search the litter bins.And keep within shouting distance.'
Ellison appeared ready to object, but evidently thought better of it. He walked away, a hand brushing flies from theair before him, and Kate went with him.
Culver slowly turned to face the last man left with him.'Just me and you now, Dealey. I've got one or two questionsand you're going to give me straight answers. If not, I'll breakyour bloody neck.'
Alex Dealey shifted uncomfortably against the tree stump, itsblackened, jagged shape rising above him like an accusingfinger pointed at the night sky. Not far away, the fire thathad been kindled earlier in the day and constantly fed withanything that would burn, hued the mist orange. The blazewas welcome not just for its warmth against the sudden chillof the night air, but because it held the all-prevailing darknessat bay, and with it, its terrors. The others, except Culver andthe girl, who it would appear had found warmth and comfortin each other, stayed close to the protective glow, gazinginto the brightness, conversing in low-murmured voices.Occasionally laughter broke the quiet tones, although neverraucous, always subdued, as if the men were afraid the soundmight carry to hostile ears. Dealey stayed apart from thegroup, his hunched shoulders covered by one of the blankets the three engineers had brought back with them from theirforage into the ruins, for their resentment of him was obvious, unequivocal, and discomforting. Fools. Ungratefulbloody fools.
He pulled the blanket over his head, holding the sidestight under his chin so that he resembled a huddled monk,only his nose and the tip of his chin caught in the fire glow. He smelled of insect repellent and antiseptic ointment, these too salvaged from the ravaged city, and a plaster covered a cut on his forehead, another a larger wound on the back of his hand, both injuries sustained in their escape from the shelter. The three engineers had been gone longer than expected, causing concern among those who had stayed. There had been no need to worry, though, for their delay had been caused by the amount of useful items they had managed to scavenge.
Quite a few of the shops had been destroyed by fire, while others had been completely buried by the debris of office blocks they were housed beneath; some, however, although badly damaged, could be reached by cautious digging. Two cafe-restaurants, a hardware store and a pharmacist had been unearthed, and Jackson had remembered an up-market bedding centre from where they had retrieved sheets and blankets in which they could carry their prizes. The men were ashen-faced when they returned, not even the accumulation of dirt disguising their skin's paleness, and had refused to speak of the harrowing sights they had witnessed, only Fairbank mentioning that piles of bodies had been blasted into corners or against rubble mounds like so much litter by fierce winds. They had come across no living person.
The fire, lit with a lighter taken from a corpse by Ellison, had been a beacon to them in the humid mists once they had found their way back to the desolated square in which the blackened park was situated, and they had proudly, if quickly, displayed their spoils. Four short-handled axes, honed to a lethal sharpness, two hammers, and six long knives had been brought back as utensils or weapons, whichever purpose they lent themselves to at any time. Flashlights, already battery-loaded, thin rope, spoons, scissors, two can-openers, paper cups, a miniature camping stove along with a Calor gas cylinder, had been retrieved from the hardware store. From the pharmacist (which had proved the hardest to enter, but considered worth the risk and effort) came bandages, Band-aids, cotton wool, antiseptic cream, insect repellent, bicarbonate of soda, glucose tablets and vitamin pills, water purifying Sterotabs and, considered extremely important, three rolls of toilet tissue. Fairbank discreetly handed Kate two small packages which Dealey guessed contained tampons (he also suspected birth control pills were wrapped up with them, for he knew that Dr Reynolds had strongly encouraged all the surviving women in the shelter to use the contraceptive tablets thoughtfully provided by the government among the medical supplies).
The few battery-operated radios they had come upon were either completely dead or had only emitted heavy static. As for food, they had taken whatever canned items they could find, but not too much for it would prove too cumbersome and, once they travelled on, finding further supplies should not present too great a problem. The three engineers had expressed delight at how much canned food was kept by the cafe-restaurants as they produced their tinned harvest of beans, soup, chicken breast in jelly, ham, sausages, tongue, peas, asparagus, carrots, peaches, pineapple chunks, condensed milk, and coffee.
Cans of Coke and lemonade were also brought along in case they could not find an adequate source of water. They had all laughed when Culver had admitted he was glad they had decided not to bring back a lot of food.
Fairbank received loud commendations when he produced two bottles of Black Label Johnnie Walker.
Food was heated in its tins on the small stove while Kate treated and dressed the various wounds among the group. They were all grateful for the insect repellent, for the air was plagued with pests. Equal shares of food were dispersed among the plastic cups and nobody seemed to mind the agglutination of meat and vegetables; they ate as though this was their first meal for weeks and was to be their last for a similar period. The dessert followed in new cups and Coke was drunk straight from the tins. Jackson almost upstaged Fairbank with his whisky by producing four packs of cigarettes from his trouser pockets like a magician manifesting cute rabbits from thin air.