Chain Reaction (Part One)

In a world of perpetual darkness on a concrete island surrounded by a sea of death is not the life I envisaged for myself or my beloved wife but sadly that is what our earthly life has come to. A cardboard box to keep us warm in an atmosphere of 24 hour freezing temperatures with no hope of rescue or a return to life as we once knew.

A few days of purgatory seems a far cry from the lavish life we once enjoyed surrounded by all the trappings of wealth with an abundance of food, technology and the basics to sustain human life. Tears fill my eyes and breathlessness overcomes me as I attempt to digest that I will eventually die alone in a world that is past caring for the good of their fellow men. Greed and avarice is rife amongst survivors of all ages in a catastrophic event that has no winners, just millions of losers of which we are two.

On the night of November the 20th 2055 it was reported via the BBC news channel that eminent seismologists of the European community had failed in their duty of care, to observe and predict based on reams of technological data that an earthquake of such devastating magnitude was about to take place in the depths of the North Sea which could potentially end human life across great swathes of Europe. However not wishing to cause mass panic the UK Government attempted to cover up the data in the hope that the situation would resolve itself, but unfortunately the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates slid under each other and created not only a devastating earthquake but a tsunami one thousand foot high which engulfed the United Kingdom from coast to coast. Unfortunately this only served to start a chain reaction as active Icelandic volcanoes started to erupt spewing molten lava and belching hot ash into the earths atmosphere and blocking out the winter sun for much of northern Europe.

Upon hearing this news my disabled husband and I decided to visit my aunty who lived not far away on the twentieth floor of a high rise apartment in the hope of seeking refuge from the rising waters. I had a little credit left on my mobile phone so I called my children and grandchildren to tell them of my plans and invited them to join us at my aunties, they assured me that they had other plans and not to worry. Hurriedly I put the phone in my pocket and we grabbed a few essentials believing that we would return soon and left promptly with my husband in his wheelchair. There was an eerie feeling in the air that something was not quite right with the world, however I was surprised how quiet the streets were given the gravity of the situation and the impending disaster that might occur if as reported. As I pushed the wheelchair quite sprightly I recall gazing up at the clouds momentarily and observed a great deal of movement as if the clouds were rolling as opposed to floating across the early evening sky. Thank god we arrived at the high rise apartments as the heavens opened and the rain thundered down as I closed the entrance door behind us and stepped into the elevator behind the wheelchair. I immediately depressed the button for the twentieth floor and awaited our arrival at our destination as the elevator started moving, however it became apparent that the rain I thought was coming from the heavens was in fact the flood waters on the horizon which was now rising up the elevator shaft as I was ankle deep in cold water by the time we reached the tenth floor.

Trying my best not to panic I kept one eye on the hesitant elevator slowly ascending the upper floors one by one and kept the other eye transfixed on the water level still rising in the elevator. Suddenly the lift stopped as we reached the twentieth floor and I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the doors slid open only to be greeted by an torrent of ice cold water as I pushed the wheelchair out into the foyer and over to the open door of my aunties apartment. Venturing inside I left my husband outside in the foyer only to find that the apartment resembled a bomb site as the furniture had been pushed up against the wall and all her belongings were soaking wet and strewn around the room. The glass in the windows no longer existed and my aunty god rest her soul was nowhere to be seen. Somewhat distraught at the possibility that my aunty had been swept away by the flood waters I cleared a path for the wheelchair and bought my husband inside before firmly closing the door. Safe in the knowledge that the initial storm surge had now passed I allowed my inquisitiveness to get the better of me and strolling out onto what used to be the balcony I was horrified to see that the water was to a depth of fifteen floors. Where there was once trees, well manicured gardens, houses, factories and shops there is now just cold putrid water with all manner of souls floating face down and drowning. People of all ages, sex and race were heard screaming for help in a vain attempt to survive a watery grave, before slowly disappearing into the depths of the freezing, chemical, petrol and foul smelling sewage water swirling around the apartment blocks for as far as my eyes could see. Slumping to my knees I looked skyward and closing my eyes offered a short prayer to God for the sake of all those millions of souls who had lost their lives today, in the hope that they may find strength and comfort in a better place dependent on religious beliefs. The crying, screaming and wailing slowly died away as more and more victims succumbed to the putrid waters via drowning or being eaten alive by all manner of hungry aquatic life, birds or wild animals once held in captivity. Partially submerged land and sea faring vehicles of all shapes and sizes bobbed up and down in the foul smelling liquid spewing engine oil, transmission fluid and highly combustible fuel whilst crashing loudly against each other in the distance.

The night air was filled with the pungent smell of Sulphur as the black clouds of Icelandic volcanic ash engulfed the atmosphere of the northern hemisphere, blocking out the celestial shafts of light that used to adorn the once green and pleasant European landscape. I could feel my eyes and throat burning as the hot ash filled my lungs and that of my dear husband causing us to vomit blood and bile in ever increasing quantities and our breathing to become heavy and labored whilst carrying out the slightest of tasks. Retreating back into the apartment to escape the burning ash and wintery rain bearing breeze on the balcony I looked around the living room for some dry furnishings that I might utilize in order to keep us both warm, but my efforts proved fruitless as everything I picked up dripped with ice cold water. I remember picking up a soaking wet cushion from the settee in the corner of the lounge and out the corner of my eye I caught the glimpse of a gold and diamond encrusted heart shaped locket that as I recall my aunty used to wear around her neck on special occasions partially hidden from my view. I had always wondered what it contained but never found the courage to ask as I had seen other relatives cut to shreds by her vicious tongue for being what she considered highly impertinent. Slipping my thumbnail between the two halves I prised the locket open and revealed a black & white picture of a gentleman in a fire service uniform in one half and a young child of about three years old in the other, which confused me somewhat as my aunty had never been married to my knowledge or had children of her own. Holding the delicate locket in my fingers I observed that time had took it's toll on both the hinge and the photographic paper inside which moved as I rotated the locket clockwise. Turning the locket over whilst open the two pictures fell out into my hand revealing an inscription on the rear of both which shed a little more light on the identity of the subjects. The inscription on the rear of the gentleman's photograph read “RIP My Love 1980” and the inscription on the child's photograph read “Forever Young, Always Loved 1980” which leads me to believe they are father and child.

Unfortunately I will never know the full story as it would appear that my aunty perished in the catastrophe and my relatives are no longer of this earth. Closing the locket tightly I put the long gold chain over my head and draped the necklace on my chest in order to keep it safe.

Suddenly my fixation was broken by my husband shouting to me that he could feel an icy chill blowing through the apartment so together we set about trying to cover up the broken windows with anything we could find lying around the apartment. It was somewhat difficult to find enough materials as my aunty had only a few possessions in the world and what she had she tended to look after but with a little bit of ingenuity we managed to completely cover the lounge windows. Then by using the wet single bed mattress in her bedroom we managed to block out the cold air blowing through the kitchen window and we were overjoyed to find that she had took my advice on a previous visit and had a gas cooker fitted which we could use to heat the room and dry our clothes. If only we could find some dry matches or a dry lighter we could be warm in no time. Hunting high and low through the jumble of clothes strewn around the apartment we found a refillable cigarette lighter and lit all the gas rings on the cooker much to our delight and comfort as our wet clothes had formed ice on their extremities but soon started to thaw as the warmth filled the room.

I don't know whether it was the cold weather or the amount I have had to drink that day but I felt the dire urge to use the bathroom, so clambering over the broken furniture and soaking wet carpet in the hallway I located the bathroom door. Just as I was about to open the door I was distracted by what sounded like a scratching and squeaking noise from inside, very slowly I opened the door just far enough to see inside the blackness and was horrified to see a multitude of rats the size of small cats coming out of the overflowing toilet pan and scurrying around the excreta covered linoleum. I immediately slammed the door shut and stood a large heavy chest of drawers up against it in an effort to stop the hungry rats from escaping the windowless room and invading our living space, which may have contained the rats for the time being but did nothing for my needing to go to the toilet. Looking under the sink unit in the kitchen I found a large bucket with a handle which I placed in the hallway before sitting astride it and relieving myself of all my extra weight. Suddenly there was one hell of a commotion coming from the overburdened toilet door which burst open with the combined weight of thousands of large rats forcing the chest of drawers to fall over. I screamed loudly...........................