headed quickly back downstairs, content that the rotting kitchen units and the pine table and chairs were more than they needed to keep a fire going tonight. No need to come up and disturb young Jamie Conner and his parents again.
‘South,’ said Nathan looking at the others. ‘South from here. Right? That’ll take us down towards the Dartford Tunnel?’
Leona studied the scuffed road atlas by the flickering light of the campfire. She’d pulled it from the rack of a garage several days ago and already it looked thumbed enough to have belonged to a well-travelled sales rep. Flipping from one page to the next she muttered under her breath.
‘I never could read bloody road maps.’
Nathan sighed impatiently. ‘If we just head south, man, we’ll, like, hit the Thames, right? S’all we need to do.’
Leona shook her head. ‘Heading south from here won’t take us to London.’ Her finger brushed down the page from Bishops Stortford. ‘We’ll be going more towards the east of London and then we’ll have to turn right to head in along the Thames estuary. That’s a lot longer.’ She looked up at him and Jacob. ‘We should just follow the road into London. It takes us right into the centre. That’s far quicker.’
And Shepherd’s Bush would be a couple of hours from there. Nearly journey’s end.
Jacob frowned. ‘But we might miss the lights Mr Latoc saw . . . we might go past them.’
‘You told me he said the sky was glowing, Jake. Right?’
Jacob nodded.
‘Well, if he was telling the truth, then you’ll see them for miles. I’m sure we won’t miss them.’
‘He was crossing the river. He said he saw them to the east.’
‘Yeah, Jake, but where was he crossing?’
Jacob shrugged. ‘He just said it was somewhere near Big Ben.’
He looked down at the map, recognising the familiar blue loops of the Thames. ‘We should head down to the river and just follow it.’
She looked again at the map. ‘That means,’ she said running her finger across the page, ‘we’ll come off the M11 onto the M25 until the Dartford Tunnel . . .’
Nathan nodded. ‘S’right, then turn right an’ follow the river into London. Easy, man.’
‘We won’t get lost,’ said Jacob, ‘if we just follow the river.’
The idea of keeping to the Thames certainly felt a little more appealing than heading into the bowels of the city, which might still be - most probably was - a ghostly necropolis of dark and abandoned office blocks and shopping malls. To have the open river to their left would offer some reassurance. A less direct route though and it would probably add another day to their journey, given the sluggish pace they were making towing the heavy trailer behind them.
Another day won’t hurt, will it? She could hang on another day. She realised she wasn’t in quite the same hurry to get home and pop a bottle of pills as she had been a few days ago.
‘All right, then,’ she sighed and shared a quick conciliatory smile with the boys. ‘Along the river it is.’
Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Hey, maybe, if it’s not too far we could drop by our old home. See how it is.’
Leona wondered if Jacob was probing; had somehow sensed her resolve to go home for good. ‘I don’t think so. Best we leave Dad in peace, eh?’
He looked up at her. ‘I miss him.’
‘I know, but he’s not really there, Jake. It’s just a body now. Just like all the others.’
They’d seen the desiccated remains that had once been dads and sons, mums and daughters, still clad in football strips, jumpers, summer blouses and teen fashion tops. And Dad was going to look just the same; a dried husk in clothes stained a dark sepia.
‘All right,’ he said eventually.
She reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘Let’s just head towards Dartford and see if those lights are there somewhere along the Thames, eh? Just like Mr Latoc said.’
Both of them nodded.
She folded the page of the road map over and then snuggled down into her sleeping bag, watching the flames dance and sparks flutter into the night sky. She fell asleep listening to Jacob and Nathan discussing comic book superheroes.
Chapter 36
10 years AC
‘LeMan 49/25a’ - ClarenCo Gas Rig Complex, North Sea
Jenny caught herself absent-mindedly tugging the tattered drape partially across her cabin porthole to dim the room slightly. She could hear the clack of feet on the metal steps up to her floor and then the softer tap on