And They Danced

Chapter Nine - The Cottage

I was woken by Mary gently shaking my shoulder. I don't really know what time it was but it must've been pretty early because it was only just getting light. "Come on," she said with a smile. "We need to get moving if we're going to be back in time for breakfast."

Harry was already awake and, as we walked into the kitchen, we were greeted by mugs of cocoa. I quickly drank mine and shared a last crust of bread with Mary. Then I went out to collect my dad's bicycle panniers from home.

But, as soon as I stepped out of the door, I was hit by the stench of death.

Mary came out to join me and I could see the shock on her face. "Your father was right," she said. "We can't stay here. This just can't be healthy."

As we were setting off, Harry waved to us from the kitchen window. But, as I was waving back, I noticed that Mike's hat was still on the path. "Did you collect the keys?" I asked.

"No!" Mary squeaked, "I thought you had."

I gave her my bike to hold and ran to collect them then, as a bit of a joke, I stuck Mike's hat on my head and, laughing together, we cycled up the road.

But the joke didn't last long. I mean... there were so many dead bodies about that you basically got into the habit of ignoring them but, near the top of the road, my eye was caught by a car. I didn't know what was wrong with it at first but then I realised that there was a young family still inside: father, mother and two small children.

They were all dead, of course.

"Do you think we'll ever get used to it?" I asked, looking across at Mary.

She answered with a shrug. Her face had turned grey.

From the top of the road, a track ran down to the river though, in some places, we had to push our bikes because it was too steep or too rough. As we left the houses, the smell lifted and we began to notice the birds singing and the blue sky. It was a beautiful morning.

At the river bank, we turned left. There was just a simple track through the fields but we were just about OK on our bikes.

Halfway along the track, there is a meadow with a small bay where the local kids would come to play in the river. There are a couple of benches and we came to a sudden stop when we saw that there was somebody sitting there... it was a girl... not much older than us.

"Hello!" Mary called and we hurried towards her... but then, with a sinking feeling, we realised that she was dead too. She just, somehow, had managed to stay sitting up. We just stared at her for a long time

"She must have come here to die," I said, wiping my eyes.

"There are worse places," Mary agreed.

"Hang on," I said, fishing around in my pocket. I pulled on the latex gloves and face mask that I'd had on when I came home from hospital, the day before. Then, after taking a couple of deep breaths, I dragged the body over to the hedge, well back from the river. Then I collected some branches and dried leaves and things which I used to cover the poor girl.

And, when I had finished, Mary came to join me and we stood together for a few seconds, side by side.

"It's not much of a funeral," Mary said with a sigh as we walked back to our bikes.

"It's better than we'll be able to manage for most people," I replied.

We crossed the river at a footbridge and started cycling along the road that ran up the valley. But here, the houses were set well back so there was only the faintest hint of a smell to remind us of the horrors hidden within.