Honeybee

Chapter 24

Jason stood glued to the spot. The gun was aimed directly at his chest and the two other men were getting to their feet. Within a few moments they would capture him again and this time he probably wouldn’t be able to escape. Searching for any hint of a plan, Jason’s eyes took in every possibility. The only idea that stood the slightest chance of success was to jump in the truck and drive as fast as he could. The engine was already running. The door was open. The only problem was that he was too far from the truck to jump in without being shot.

Smiling again, he shouted over to the fat man, ‘Come on. Can’t we do this in a friendly manner?’

‘I have no problem with shooting you Mr Lambert.’ The fat man said as he relaxed his hold on the gun. ‘If you die, we take her. If you don’t die, we take you both.’

Jason tried to edge over to the truck as the fat man spoke but the fat man tensed and snapped the gun back up.

Jason was still too far away from the truck and now the fat man was on edge. Through the corner of his eye, Jason could see Amanda getting out of the truck. In the back of his mind, he was willing her not to get out, but she did.

‘Are you going to shoot both of us?’ Amanda said as she glanced at Jason.

The fat man’s attention was drawn over to Amanda, so Jason took another step towards the truck. The gun immediately swung back over to him and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Amanda could see that the fat man was edgy, he was dripping with sweat and fumbling for words to say so she tried one last trick. ‘Quick, get down!’ She shouted as she pointed over the fallen tree, ‘It’s one of them.’

They took the bait and the trio of men swung around to look. Amanda already had a leg in the truck before Jason realised what was happening. Once it had ran through his brain, he jumped in the truck, put it in gear and slammed down the accelerator.

‘Have you any idea how lucky you are that that little trick worked?’ Jason said.

‘Have you any idea how lucky you are that I just saved you?’ Amanda replied.

Before Jason could reply, the rear window exploded into a million little pieces of glass.

‘I think your little trick has just been found out.’ Jason said as he looked in the rear view mirror and saw the men running hopelessly after them.

Amanda brushed the little cubes of shattered glass off her shoulders, ‘Doesn’t matter. At least we escaped.’

Jason smiled, ‘I have to compliment you on a simple but very effective plan.’

‘Thank you very much.’ Amanda replied, ‘Without it, I’m pretty sure we would both be dead.’

They drove away from the village as fast as the truck would go, following the same road that they had driven down only moments before. After about twenty miles of country roads, they found a motorway and continued south towards Devon and Cornwall. Jason didn’t stop until they were sure they hadn’t been followed. Pulling off the motorway, he followed the sign to the Services and parked the truck in a dark, shaded corner of the almost empty car park. He sat still for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, and then he finally reached out and turned off the ignition.

‘I think we can relax now.’ He said.

Amanda was fast asleep in the seat next to him and he thought it best to let her sleep for a while. Carefully he opened the door and climbed out. He walked over to the main building of the service station, which was advertising various fast food and coffee establishments. He hoped he would find some sort of food and drink, the place was in the middle of nowhere and looked undisturbed. Maybe it had survived any looting and riots. Forcing the doors open, Jason was met with the smell of rotting food, this place had quite clearly been forgotten about. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose and entered the building.

To his right was a coffee kiosk which still had coffee beans in the grinders, and what he guessed were once muffins in the display counter, were now huge piles of mould. He moved on. The next establishment he came to was a large café. Even though he had his shirt up over his face, the stench penetrated his nostrils and he fought the urge to vomit. He knew it was pointless going any further into the café, the food had long since decomposed and he could imagine the sight he would be met with in the kitchen. He turned around, leaving the worst of the smell behind, and headed further into the building. Passing several other food outlets, he came to a newsagents. The papers on display all bared similar headlines. Some of the broadsheets referred to the riots and some of the tabloids stated that it was the end of civilisation. He chuckled to himself and went inside. Beyond the newspapers and magazines he found an aisle of confectionary. Grabbing a plastic bag from behind the counter, he quickly filled it with various bars of chocolate and sweets. At the end aisle was a refrigerator, he opened another bag and threw in a selection of bottles, cola, lemonade and water, lots of water. On his way out, he picked up a pile of newspapers, if nothing else, they would be good to start a fire with. Then he put them down again as he decided it would probably be a better idea to spend the night inside rather than in the truck. The building was secure, it had remained untouched for the past 15 months. They would have to be really unlucky for it to be attacked tonight. He put down the bags of goodies and began to construct a mini fortress using the display units in the newsagents. He found a small children’s section selling travel toys and stuffed teddy bears and on the bottom shelf were rolled up blankets in various colours with animal heads as small pillows. He picked them all up and made a reasonably comfortable sleeping area in the middle of the fortress. When he had finished, he went outside to the truck and gently woke up Amanda.

‘Come on.’ He said, ‘I have something to show you.’

She wearily climbed out of the truck and followed him inside. It was beginning to get dark and there was a chill in the air. She was glad to be going inside but then her thoughts changed when she walked through the doors and the smell hit her. Jason could see the repulsed look on her face.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, ‘you’ll get used it.’

Wrinkling her nose, she reluctantly entered the building and Jason closed and locked the door behind her, checking one last time that no one had seen them enter.

‘What is that smell?’ Asked Amanda.

‘Rotting food, mostly. It gets a bit better once we get past the café.’ Jason said. ‘Just remember, it’s safer in here than out there in the truck.’

He led her to the newsagents and they entered the mini fortress he had made, through a small opening. She smiled as she saw the comfortable looking blankets on the floor and the food and drink supplies he had salvaged.

‘I hope you’re not expecting anything.’ She said with a smile. ‘It’s only our first date you know.’

Jason laughed as he pulled a small unit across the opening where they had entered and then lay down next to Amanda. Rustling through a bag, he handed her a bar of chocolate and a bottle of cola.

‘It’s not fine dining, but it will keep up your energy levels.’ He said.

Amanda quickly opened the wrapper and stuffed the chocolate into her mouth. The time for eating politely had long since passed. She was hungry after not eating for two days and she needed to get food into her stomach.

‘Easy.’ Jason said, ‘Eat slowly or you’ll make yourself sick.’

She knew he was right and slowed down a little, sipping her drink in between bites. Jason joined her as he opened his own bar of chocolate and then decided to open the conversation.

‘So, where are from?’ He asked.

‘Originally from Oxfordshire, but I landed a job in Cornwall after I graduated and I’ve been living there ever since.’ She said as she took another bite of chocolate.

‘Cornwall. It’s beautiful down there. That’s where I was heading before that little incident earlier.’ He said. ‘What’s your line of work?’

‘I work on a honey farm, believe it or not.’ She said. ‘I study bees and insects to ensure they stay healthy and produce larger yields of natural honey.’ She took a sip of drink. ‘I was one of the first to discover the virus. Our bees were dying and it was because of the Tobacco Ringspot Virus.’

‘Yes, I heard that’s how it began.’ He said. ‘I’m a park ranger and we were told to keep an eye out for any dead hives.’

‘The vaccine was rushed.’ She said. ‘That’s how we ended up in this situation. No one ever thought this would happen. The bees were dying anyway. At worst, if it didn’t work, the population would have to find a way to pollinate the crops. But clearly worse things have now happened.’

‘Speaking of worse things,’ Jason said, ‘I haven’t seen any Screamers for a good few days. Where are they?’

‘It’s getting cold, maybe they’re hibernating.’ She said.

‘Maybe.’ He replied, in deep thought. ‘But they didn’t hibernate last winter. I think we’re missing something.’

They lay there in silence as cogs began to turn in both of their heads. Staring up at the ceiling of the newsagents they slowly drifted off to sleep.