The Legend of Dark City

Chapter 1

The alarm was sounding and that roused all the people who lived in the house. Bree got out of bed straight away. There was a lot to do before leaving her home, so she could not afford to stay within the warmth of her bed for even another minute. In her room was her single bed, an armchair, a chest of drawers on top of which was a portable electric hob and a very small table and chair.

Bree had lived in that particular house for five years. She was twenty two years old and had manoeuvred herself into the bedroom which had an en suite bathroom by means of threats and bribery. Everyone was obsessed with the need for privacy so the room had been coveted by the five people who shared the building. Circumstances had made her strong, determined and resourceful and any opposition had been swept away by her force of will.

Her morning started with a very quick shower, the hot water needed to be shared by all the occupants, and then she made her breakfast. Bree ate most of her other meals in the canteen but she liked to make porridge in the morning using her hob. After breakfast, clean her teeth and then tie her long hair back in a pony tail. She was now ready to get dressed.

She put on underwear first and then a long sleeved top and leggings which covered her legs down to the ankle. The next item was a long baggy tunic which reached to halfway down her shins. Bree put a belt around her waist and then pulled the tunic up so that it was just below her knees. The excess material billowed over the belt and the desired effect had been achieved. No one would be able to tell what shape was under the clothes and all of the skin was covered.

That was the least amount of clothing she would wear. If the weather was cold, maybe a large baggy jumper or a full length woollen coat. Bree also had thick socks and a couple of pairs of boots one of which was a pair of wellingtons for use in the mud. The cold weather was preferred because all those clothes were more appropriate. When it was hot she still had to be covered.

She put on a well worn pair of trainers and then donned her final item. Bree pulled her hood over her head and made sure that her hair was covered. The hood was constructed like a balaclava but it was looser. The only parts which were showing when she finished were her hands and her eyes. Outside was a group who were her housemates. The girls Esther, Lacey and Ali were similarly attired and Ali's four year old son Cody was covered up as well. He didn't have a hood but he had a cap pulled down low to shield his face.

They set off to walk with Cody to the building designated as a school and then they would carry on walking until they reached the barn where the cows were waiting to be milked. This was the first stop at the beginning of a long day which would be spent working in the fields after the milking had been done, or in Bree's case, assisting Napier who was head of the village. They didn't mind the hard work. The community was civilised, there was food and, mostly, there was security. It was not the future any of the girls had imagined for themselves but they hadn't imagined the apocalypse either.

Films and television programmes had been made about the end of the world. They featured wars, comets, floods and even zombies and aliens. They also featured plagues and this is what the universe had chosen for planet Earth. Ten years before, the initial reports of illness and death had come from the south coast. The disease was given the rather jolly name "The Seaside Plague". It spread inland from the coasts of Britain and the pattern was repeated on every land mass and every island around the world.

The afflicted started suffering with flu like symptoms. As the illness progressed large lesions appeared on the bodies and faces of the sick and in nearly every case the person died. Scientists and medics across the globe searched frantically for a cure but as they came close to a breakthrough the virus would mutate and they would have to start again. Five years later, when the plague had run its course, over 99% of the population had been wiped out.

Those that survived didn't know the statistics. They knew that the legacy from the disease was that everyone was disfigured by the puckered hideous scars that replaced the lesions. The angry red patches were sensitive to sunlight. This was the reason that most people covered their bodies from head to foot with clothes. The other reason was that they didn't want to reveal their ugly blemishes to others.

The women mostly went for full coverage with their outfits but the men were braver. Some whose faces were not too badly scarred went without hoods or hats and others used creative ways to disguise their marks. Bandanas and scarves were artfully placed and the leader of their group Napier had a mask which reminded Bree of the phantom of the opera. His mask was not white though it had been coloured brown to match his skin.

Bree remembered the women in their niqabs and the controversy that they caused. The garment had been worn to hide them from the lust of men. A similar garment was now worn to cover the disfigurements which could deter the lust of men. Yes, the scars hurt when they were exposed to the sun but the way other people stared was even more painful.