Dark Sky

07 - Signs of Life

Chapter Seven

24 Hours After The Bombs

The countryside outside of town had been reduced to nothing more than wasteland for a few miles around. The Trees and hedgerows that had not been uprooted and thrown away were charred and burned almost to ash. The whole area looked cold and baron now, when only a day ago it had been a warm haven for nature.

Joe and Leila had only walked a couple of miles before things looked slightly less destroyed. Everything was still burned but trees had remained in the ground here. They were completely stripped of any life but were still standing. Joe hoped this would mean the next village they came to would be a little more intact and more importantly have survivors. The first village they came through was completely destroyed and void of any life.

The sky was still very dull. It had been like dusk all day and Joe could only imagine how much dirt and debris had been thrown into the atmosphere, especially if hundreds of bombs were detonated around the world. It was safe to assume by the scale of what he had seen this was global.

There was a nagging idea in the back of his head about the implications of a dark sky. He had heard about nuclear winter in the past and it's effects on the environment. If everything he had read was to be believed they could expect the sun to be blocked out for years, even decades. Temperatures were going to plummet and he could feel a chill in the air already. The outlook for any survivors was bleak at best and he feared that surviving the blasts may not have been a good thing.

They had walked in silence since the last village, each in their own thoughts. Every new sight bringing a new sense of hopelessness. They could only hope now that the next village was intact enough for a radio to work.

Leila wasn't so sure they would find one though. They had come across several cars now that seemed in relatively good condition. Good condition only as far as they were not burnt out. Although they were all but wrecked, the radios had looked like they had survived until they had been switched on. All of them dead. Joe had said the cars must be more damaged than they looked but Leila wasn't so sure.

At least if they could find one that worked at the next village, they may pick up some kind of signal. Something that would give them a hint of what to do next and if London was a no go area.

Leila was desperate to get there, she had to find out what her family's fate had been. For all she knew they could be waiting for her. She found the idea unlikely but she had to hope.

Hope was about all she had left.

She followed this man, the man who saved her in the supermarket in hope that he would help her, but she knew when push came to shove he probably had plans of his own. Why would he help her find her family? They had only just met and the world had ended too. So she guessed that her family was the last thing on his mind. She could only hope that in the end he would help her find out if London was still there to find. That's why they needed the radio.

"Dinford should be just up this road." Joe broke the silence to tell her.

"Do you think it's still there?" She enquired doubtfully. "Or will it be like the last village?"

Joe frowned looking around at his surroundings.

"Hard to say." He admitted, "But the destruction here doesn't look as severe so something may have survived."

Leila hoped so. She was beginning to get tired and could do with resting her feet. They had only travelled six or seven miles but she was used to travelling by car. The most walking she had done in a while was from her front door to the car and back again. This one journey had proved how unfit she had become in recent years.