All that remains.
Author's note.
I started writing this a couple of years ago, occasionally dipping in and editing.
I had no idea what was to happen when I started the story and have made sure I kept away from real events.
Book 1. Awake.
I awoke feeling cold.
The house was freezing and deathly quiet.
Why was I on the couch?
I felt so weak, every joint ached and my head felt like it was full of lead that was being hammered by a thousand metal workers.
Then I started to remember, the Flu!
I had come downstairs to make a phone call to report something.
My wife!, I had phoned to report her death, but what had they said?
And more importantly how long had I slept?
I looked at my watch for long, long seconds. It was wrong, it had to be wrong!
I had tried to make the call on September the 9th and it was now September 13th, 4 days later!
Had I really slept for 4 days?
I struggled to my feet and checked the heating but there was no power.
Shuffling into the kitchen I was greeted by a large puddle of water from the defrosting freezer, the power must've been off for a couple of days so maybe I had slept for 4 days!
I fished my mobile phone out of my pocket, turned it on and tried the emergency service but nothing happened 'No Service" was on the screen.
Moving around was easing the pain in my joints but my head still throbbed.
Memory then flooded back, A flu pandemic had been raging and most of the worlds governments had declared a national emergency telling people to stay at home. The death toll in the UK was over eleven million in the first week alone, UK TV news had proclaimed that the true figure had been withheld by the government after which very little news about the figures had been released.
The last thing I could recall was the morning Liz died. I had felt ill but had struggled to the land line phone to report it but the lines were busy, then nothing until this morning.
I cleaned myself up with wet wipes and shaved using a battery powered razor.
I was starving so I devoured a tin of cold baked beans and a box of cheese flavoured crackers along with a litre bottle of water. As I sat thinking about what to do next, I realised that the only sound I could hear was bird song, no vehicle sounds or children's voices from the nearby school. Grabbing the kitchen radio I turned it on.
The quiet hiss of static!
I slowly spun the tuning dial and there was nothing, I tried DAB, am, fm and short wave all the same, nothing but static.
I ventured out the backdoor and listened. Other than birdsong there was no sound at all, the trees moving gently in the breeze was the only movement.
For one second I had the horrible feeling that I could be the last person alive.
In the distance a dog began barking, others soon joined in but no voice rang out to quiet them.
I then spotted plumes of smoke from several places that ruined an almost perfectly clear blue sky and the faint sickly smell of death tainted the air.
I had to get out of the town. If the majority of it's inhabitants were dead there would be other diseases raging soon.
My daughters!
If I was immune to this flu perhaps they were. Natalie my youngest daughter was a nurse and my eldest daughter, Amy, was a midwife. I grabbed my car keys to check it out, thankfully it started first time. I packed some clothes and all the tinned food and bottled water I could find after which I stood by my car and looked at the house that had been our home for over 30 years.
I dearly wanted to bury Liz, it felt like the decent thing to do but I knew I didn't have the strength but I couldn't leave her the way she was. After much deliberation I decided that my only recourse was to set fire to the house and give her some form of cremation.
A little while later I drove away towards my daughters leaving the burning house for the last time.
The roads were scattered with abandoned cars, some had crashed as their drivers had succumbed to the illness, many more sat on driveways as If patiently waiting for the next commute or school run.
Houses stood with doors and windows open but the majority had large red crosses on them, obviously the authorities had sent people around to count the dead.
On the outskirts of town there were military vehicles parked by a barrier. I slowed down and hit the cars horn, maybe there was somebody still alive?
Nothing, no movement at all.
As I got out to lift the barrier I noticed that one of the Land Rovers contained two bodies but the other Land Rover and a large truck thankfully were unoccupied.
I decided to check them out in the hope there could be rations and some useful equipment.
The truck was full of coffins, perhaps that would explain the red crosses in the town, but one Land Rover had a small gas stove, a large box of rations and a radio. I flicked the radio on but it was dead. Looking into the cab I noticed a automatic pistol and some ammo by the passenger seat which I grabbed on my second trip back to my car, I hadn't fired a gun in decades but I felt better knowing I had it.
I tentatively opened the second Land Rover, quickly looked inside but shut the door just as quickly.
Back at my car I looked through the box of rations which contained some biscuits and some self heating cans of coffee, one of which I drank with relish before I decided to set off again.
After an hour of driving I realised it was beginning to get dark. Should I continue or would it be better to wait until morning?
While I pondered the question a huge yawn escaped me, decision made!
Sleeping in the car would be uncomfortable but the option of driving slowly in the dark seemed unwise so I pulled over and switched the car off and got in the backseat.
I must have fallen asleep within minutes because the next thing I knew the dawn chorus was in full swing.
Opening the door was like turning the volume up to maximum! It was as if every bird was singing full blast. Maybe they were celebrating the demise of mankind, it certainly sounded like they were!
I found a bush to relive myself then as I walked back to the car I began to laugh, I had instinctively locked it!
Who was going to steal it?
The laugh began to take hold of me until it built up to hysterical proportions that I eventually got under control.
After eating and drinking the last of the coffee I set off slowly and the journey was uneventful until I reached the outskirts of Rugby where a makeshift barricade had been built across the main road. This had been knocked down in several places and signs of a struggle were evident, bodies, some of them in military uniforms littered the area. All of them had been shot, on one side of the road there was a crater that must have been caused by a mortar.
I had to move several of the bodies to get through, a grizzly but necessary task.
Had civilisation broken down so quickly?
I drove slowly through the outskirts of the town taking lots of detours around blocked streets that seemed to take hours until finally I could see my destination.
To my dismay most of the houses on the street were ablaze.
My daughters mid terrace house was gutted, the roof had collapsed inward leaving nothing but a smoking shell.
The whole family must have died, her husband and both my granddaughters.
I sat for what seemed like hours thinking, I had no idea what to do next, then I decided to try to get to my other daughters home. Amy lived in a village called Quainton. This would take me about an hour to get to in normal conditions but could take a lot longer now.
My mind made up I then noticed movement to my right, I reached for the gun and in one quick movement pushed the car door open and pointed the pistol.
"Please don't shoot me!" It was a young woman, she was filthy, dirt was smeared on her face, her clothes were ragged.
"Ok I'm sorry!" I lowered the gun and slowly got out of the car looking around in case someone else was sneaking up on me.
She moved towards me with her hands stretched high above her head.
