Chapter 10: Spring, Our expedition to Pickering.

It was the day before our expedition to Pickering was due to set off. Kelly, Kirsty, Kat and I were going and we were taking Will Hinds, Harry Wilton and Emma. Jim Bolton was also coming with us. Although he was now quite frail he wanted to feel useful and his military experience would be good for Will and Harry. He still had sharp eyes and would stay with the train on lookout duty.

Katie and her group were all travelling and we would use both engines, with the same make up of carriages as we used when we travelled from York. We had some heavy duty ramps to make loading wheeled vehicles easier onto the flat trucks. We had identified the nearest place to Pickering and planned to stop there and continue in the Landrover.

Graham was staying behind as I had placed him in charge of things while we were away. He still thought we should maintain radio silence as the group of ex-prisoners that we eliminated during the winter were using radio scanners and we thought that others may be have them as well. We had heard quite a bit of radio traffic coming, as far as we could make out, from the south of us. Graham had been listening in and told me of some of the comments and exchanges. It seemed like another group of scumbags who would be at odds with our way of doing things. We decided to listen every hour while we were gone. Both the expedition and the home base (Graham) would maintain silence except in the direst of emergencies. One of the tasks while we were away was to use triangulation and signal strength to try and get a handle on where the group who were using radios were located as we travelled. From what Graham told me there was no doubt in my mind that if we came into contact with them conflict would result.

Kat had produced another five gallons of bio-diesel and we had proved it in my Landrover. Our scavenging in Brid had turned up about eight gallons of Methanol and we hoped to find more. We had enough left to make roughly another fifteen gallons of bio-diesel, but she was already working at distilling alcohol and perfecting a process using it, our information indicated it was possible but harder. Larry was working on using alcohol in the chain saws if we couldn't acquire any more petrol but, at current usage, we had enough for over a year. The next batch of Bio-diesel would be another five gallons.

The morning of our departure dawned and we all trooped up to Railway Farm. The berths in the sleeping car had been altered, the bunks removed and the floor of each berth was covered with a king size mattress. Cupboards had then been fitted high up to store things. Scott had done the work and we complemented him as it would make life more comfortable for the family groups.

Scott then got me on his own and asked me about a girlfriend. Initially I was going to give him the 'You're too young' talk but then I realised that we had already given him adult responsibilities. So I thought for a minute and said, "OK. Well, as you know we have a surplus of older women but none near your age. The youngest is Jen and I think Will has his eye on her so I am not sure what we do."

"Anthony and Steven seem quite happy with older women."

"Yes they do, and it may be the answer for you as well. It might not even be a long term arrangement as we may meet more groups of survivors and there may be someone closer to your own age amongst them."

"Well, what do I have to do?"

I thought for a few seconds and said, "Does your mum know anything about your thoughts?"

"Yes, she spoke to me when I had my first wet dream and said that since the collapse things would be different. There were no girls of my age in the village and I may have to accept an unconventional relationship."

"OK, Scott. I'll have to check with your mum but I think we can do something for you. There's nowhere to go on a date so I'm thinking of getting a one or two of the spare women to help on one of your construction projects. How would you feel about that?"

I thought that Cheryl and I would be able to find someone who would almost be in a teaching role at first. This was one of the many problems which we now faced until we could balance our population, both in age and sex, and that wouldn't be in my lifetime, maybe not even in Kelly's.

I then thought that this sounded much more like a Kat/Kelly job than a Mark job and added, "Would you mind if I spoke to Kelly and Kat about this as they know far more about the newcomers than I do. And I know they'll be sympathetic and won't make it embarrassing for you."

"No, that's fine and, Mr Jennings, thanks for not kicking off and for being honest with me instead of fobbing me off. I'm glad you and Kelly are our leaders, you make a good couple, and her being so much younger than you and making you take a second wife, means that other people can't say anything about unconventional relationships."

"I'm Mark, I'm only Mr Jennings if you've pissed me off."

I then left Scott to get on, and as I left the barn the 3 K's appeared, Kirsty was in the middle, holding both Kelly and Kat's hand.

Kelly said, "I heard that and you handled it well. Yes we'll help, you talk to Cheryl and then let us know." Kat nodded but, with Kirsty there, nothing else was said.

As we boarded the train Will showed up with Jen in tow. He announced, "Jen asked if she could come with me and I hoped you wouldn't mind."

I said, "No, that's fine, and you have a comfy berth."

As they went down the carriage to dump their stuff in the first empty berth Kelly nudged me and said, "A similar problem, nowhere to take someone on a date. This expedition is the nearest they're going to get to going on a date."

It's funny but at that moment I saw clearly why some cultures had arranged marriages. We were going to put people together, in fact we already had, Kat and I. I didn't like the idea of arranging marriages but the collapse had changed the rules and there was nothing we could do about it.

Anyway, everything was ready and we set off slowly over the Wolds towards Seamer. Larry had set up a simple weed killing sprayer on the train to help suppress weeds which would grow through the ballast. This was another question for us, what would we use once our stocks of chemicals ran out.

The 3 K's were sat at one of the tables and I joined them in watching the early spring countryside drift by. We were also looking for any signs of habitation. "What will we do if we can't locate the ploughing engines?" Kelly asked.

I thought for a minute and replied, "We'll manage. Kat will have to get a helper though as we will have to use some of the bio-diesel to help us plant crops."

Kat looked at me and said, "I think I should be training someone else to make it anyway, what if I couldn't do it for some reason? And anyway, one day I hope I'll be pregnant so you need to think ahead."

We were disturbed from our chat as we went slowly through Filey. We saw people. They were watching the train in awe. Katie must have spotted them as well and brought the train to a screeching halt. We were well armed, and had a sort of 'pill box' on one of the flat trucks, and I had told Katie that I wanted to stop if we saw any people. She then backed up and we approached the spot where we had seen them. They had disappeared.

I went to get down but thought we would seem less threatening if I had Kelly with me. I noticed that Will had taken up position at the door, with his rifle at the ready, but out of clear sight.

We were near a small road on the outskirts of the town but I could see no evidence of habitation nearby. In the end I called out, "I'm Mark and this is Kelly, we're part of a group of survivors who live near Brid. We only want to talk to you. We do not intent to harm you unless you attack or threaten us."

We waited and then saw a person emerge very slowly from behind a house. The person turned out to be a woman of about thirty. She approached us and said, "I'm Lynn, there are four of us and we're armed." I noticed the barrel of what looked like a shotgun poking around the garage door.

I decided not to attempt to conceal our arms and said, "We're also armed. We've had to deal with some unpleasant people through the winter but our weapons are for defence only."

Kelly then joined in. "I'm Mark's principle wife and joint leader of our group. How have you survived the winter?"

"We scavenged but there was a cholera outbreak in Filey in autumn which wiped out most of the population."

That worried me. The cholera epidemic had obviously spread from the major cities and it seemed like a new strain as survival rate amongst affected people seemed to be almost zero.

Lynn continued, "We have fished, from a converted sailing vessel, there is no fuel oil left in any of the small fishing boats in harbour. We've been living on fish and scavenged tinned food since the end of food deliveries in autumn."

The other three people, two women and a man, then showed themselves and I invited them to the train to talk to us. They agreed and we chatted for about half an hour. It appeared that there were three other groups in Filey and, although they lived separately they also co-operated on occasions, and they all fished. In total there were about fifteen adults and four children.

Our excess of women seemed to be repeated in the groups living in Filey and all but one of the groups had adopted a poly lifestyle. Lynn was the 'main' wife of Gerald, the man of the group, and her two co-wives were recent additions who had been living nearby. They had taken over a smallholding on the edge of the town and hoped to grow some crops.

I suggested that they should concentrate on fishing and we would trade for grain, I was confident of our ability to grow a surplus and fish would make a change to our diet. They said they would discuss it and asked if we would be passing through again. I told them to expect us in a day or two.

Katie came into the carriage and told us to hurry up as maintaining steam pressure was consuming our wood supply. I asked her to stop at the smallholding that Gerald's group occupied as we passed it, it would save them about a mile's walk.

We set off slowly and dropped Gerry and his three women off. They were a mixed bunch, Lynn looked to be mid thirties, quite tall and thin. Susan was older, fortyish, short and dumpy. Kayleigh was young, probably no more than eighteen and average height and build ... It was obvious they did not have the mod cons we had, they all looked grubby, their hair was matted and Kat wrinkled her nose when they came in to the carriage, they smelt, and Kayleigh, the youngest one was really rank smelling.

When we were on the way again Kelly said, "Seeing them makes me realise how lucky we are in Newsham."

I looked at her and said, "You have helped with our success."

Kelly smiled and said, "Only because you gave me a chance and I took it."

Kat then entered the discussion with another comment which voiced something I had been mulling over for some time. "You realise we may be the largest, most organised group in the area, possibly even anywhere in England!"

I thought for a minute and said, "The cholera epidemic seems to have killed huge numbers. Newsham draws its water from the chalk and that is deep enough not to be contaminated. Maybe that's why we've escaped it. Perhaps if we are looking for larger groups we should concentrate on areas where there are artesian bore-holes."

We discussed possible places to look for survivors for a few minutes before getting ourselves ready for the next stage of our trip.

We reached Seamer with no further delays and reversed there so we could join the York Scarbourough line. We then carried on towards Malton, intending to stop at West Heslerton crossing, just before Malton. This was the nearest point by road to the home of Larry's friend who had restored the two ploughing engines prior to the collapse. Unloading the Landrover would be fairly easy there.

Scott was taking it steady, he had Larry in the cab with him who knew the area well and, about forty minutes later, we ground to a halt at West Heslerton crossing. We had perfected loading the Landrover on and off a specially converted flat truck. In ten minutes we were ready to drive the five miles to Thornton Dale which is just one mile from Pickering.

It had been decided that Larry, myself and Will would go on the first mission. Kelly wanted to come but then that would mean bringing Kat, and then Jen and Katie would want to tag along. So we set off with instructions to be careful. We had taken some flares with us and had agreed that a green flare would mean OK and a red flare would mean 'help'. As the distance was only about four miles as the crow flies, a lookout on the train would see them. We would let off a green flare every hour. Graham was still convinced that we needed to keep radio silence and I agreed with him, even though radios would make life easier. We did now carry radios in case of serious emergencies.

The harsh winters and lack of road maintenance even before the final collapse meant we had to go steadily. There were whole sections of road where the surface had lifted and was loose. It took us twenty minutes to get to Thornton Dale.

Larry directed us to the farm house where his friend lived and, as we pulled onto the track which led to farmhouse, we heard shots from the farmhouse; someone was shooting at us. Will immediately took control and bundled us out onto the safe side of the Landrover. He then crawled under the vehicle with his binoculars and announced, "There's a man in the upstairs window, armed with a shotgun. He won't even pepper us at this range but he looks none too friendly." Larry asked to look but Will insisted that he must also crawl underneath. Larry was none too agile so it ended up with Larry quizzing Will.

It quickly became apparent that the man at the window wasn't Larry's mate, Arnold. Will wasn't happy for us to go nearer, "As he may have a rifle or something." So we needed to think of something, and quickly. We were probably four hundred yards from the house, well out of hearing range.

Will said, "I wish we had one of those remote control cars, then we could fit a camera and a note to it." This was a good idea and, on future trips, I would ensure that we had one with us. I complemented Will on his lateral thinking. It still left us with the problem of what to do next. We must have been huddled behind the Landrover for at least twenty minutes when Larry said, "I'm going to approach with a white flag."

I wasn't happy and Will said, "I can cover you but if he goes for a rifle you'll have to start running." We discussed our options for another few minutes and we really didn't have any.

Larry came out from behind the Landrover holding a white flag and walked slowly towards the house. Will was watching the man in window intently through the scope on his rifle and, as Larry approached, he said, "I think they're talking." After another few seconds Larry waved us forwards and the man in the window disappeared.

We got into the Landrover and carried on up the track towards the house. We caught Larry up at the front door. "Arnold's in the house," Larry called out as we were getting out. "He's very ill, that was his son, Neil."

We went into the house and Neil immediately showed us to the back bedroom. There was an old man in the bed but he looked awful, he had a grey pallor and his breath was rasping, He spoke quietly, "Larry, good to see you. What brings you here?"

Larry shook Arnold's hand and said, "Do you still have the ploughing engines?"

Arnold looked at Larry as if he was stupid and said, "But of course. They are my pride and joy."

Neil and I left the room and Will followed us. As soon as we were down in the kitchen Neil said, "I'm worried dad has cancer or something. He's in a lot of pain, he's weak and has lost weight. Do you have a doctor?" I replied honestly that we didn't, but we had a nurse, drugs and food. Neil told us that they had run out of food during the winter and that they hadn't had a proper meal for weeks. I then remembered my promise to fire a green flare after one hour and sent Will out to fire it, it was over an hour since we had left the train and I didn't want the others panicking.

Larry came into the kitchen a few minutes later and said, "Arnold is ill and has been for two months, can we move him to Newsham? Sophie may be able to help him."

"Of course we can. What about the ploughing engines?"

"He's happy for us to use them, he didn't realise just how complete the collapse has been."

"Neil what do you want to do?" I asked.

Neil replied quickly, "Get out of here! I think the world of Dad but after being cooped up here for three months with not enough to eat, no other company and seeing dad get worse and worse, I've had enough!"

"OK. So do you want to come to Newsham?"

"Yes but what would I do?"

"What did you do before the collapse?"

"I was a school teacher, I taught maths."

"OK. You can help Michelle, our teacher, we're running a basic school."

Will then chipped in, "And you won't be short of female company, there's a dozen spare women who will be vying for your attention."

Neil then looked sombre and said, "I have a wife and two children."

Will looked awkward but I winked at him and gave him the thumbs up behind my hand. He had adapted to the changes quickly but not everyone would.

I asked Neil where his wife and family were. "In Stoke on Trent," he replied. "I came up to Thornton Dale at the end of November with the idea that Dad would join us but got caught by the weather."

"How were things in Stoke before you left?"

"Bad. No food and a lot of violent crime. I left Debbie with a home made cross bow. I had enough fuel to complete the journey to here and back home, but that's all gone now, we used it during the winter to scavenge."

Why he didn't bring his family to Thornton Dale? I don't know and I suspect Neil was regretting it. The chances of them still being alive seemed pretty slim to me.

I told him about the cholera epidemics and he said, "They'll be OK, Debbie is sensible."

I didn't labour the point but there was no way anyone could have survived the winter in the city.

I then took charge and said, "OK, we get Arnold onto the train and back to Newsham. Sophie isn't a doctor but she is the nearest we've got and at least we have drugs and food. Will, you'll take Neil and Arnold in the Landrover. Tell Katie to get him back home quickly and return to West Heslerton as soon as she can, having travelled the track this morning she should be able to make better time. As soon as you've got Neil and Arnold on the train, get back here and bring someone with you. Larry and I will make a start on moving the engines."

It wasn't ideal but Larry and I would only be on our own for an hour or so. Neil started to object but I cut him off. "Your dad is very ill, I don't know if we can help him but we'll try. We need these engines and, as the leader of Newsham, I'm telling you that is what we are doing. Now go and get Arnold ready, he can't walk so you'll have to get him in some sort of chair."

Neil looked at me for a second then went and did as he was told. I got the feeling he was ill equipped to deal with the current conditions.

It took us half an hour to get Arnold out the house and settled in the Landrover. Will got into the drivers seat and waved to Neil to join him. Neil started to kick off again. "He isn't old enough to drive, I'll drive."

Neil just didn't get it! I took him to one side and gave him a lecture.

"The old rules have gone, the only rules now are the ones I make as leader. We are trying to establish a community that has enough to eat and a few of the comforts we have grown used to. I cannot afford to waste a talent just because he is fourteen. He is one of the best shots in Newsham and he's being trained by two retired army people. The train driver for the second leg of your journey is thirteen, he's apprenticed to Larry and Katie, again he is keen and we need him. If you decide to join us you will see all sorts of unusual relationships and occupations. My principle wife is twenty one and was appointed deputy leader. She made me take a second wife who is in her twenties and black. We have a surplus of women and we need to avoid affairs and tensions so a number of families have a polygamous lifestyle. We are making the best of what we have and everyone makes a contribution to the best of their abilities. If you wish to remain with us you will accept that and will not judge people who live differently from the way you are used to. Oh, and while you're on the way back to the train, Will is in charge."

Neil started to say something then thought better of it. He walked to the Landrover and got in the passenger side. Will set off and Larry and I made our way to the barns to start the process of moving the ploughing engines.