The Legend of Dark City

Chapter 42

In the canteen of an evening Bree and Napier often sat with the Captain and Sam. They talked about the community and how things were running. They discussed the latest innovations and labour saving devices that some of the more inventive people produced. The state of the crops and the welfare of the animals were also on the agenda.

Visitors were met with curiosity now rather than suspicion. Scavengers came and went and trading parties arrived from other areas of the country. Travel between the barracks and the village was quite regular and Ali and Cody had arrived on one occasion. Although Bree had got news that the boy was still healthy it was good to see Cody in person. He was becoming a young man and was exploring what apprenticeship he would like to undertake.

A lot of the conversations that took place in the evenings were about what might happen in the future. The new generation had never watched television or made a phone call. They were amazed by tales of cars and planes. They did not know what a computer was and couldn't begin to imagine how it would help them with life as they knew it. Would knowing that these things had once existed make them strive to bring them back?

The consensus was that man was naturally curious. They would make the things that they needed sometimes reflecting back to the past and maybe sometimes creating things that had never been imagined. It was going to be a fascinating ride and they all regretted that they would not be around for longer to see how it all turned out.

The immunes were creative but they had shown little interest in the gadgets and machines from before the plague. Their community was happy and they were inclined to stay where they felt part of a group. As long as they were together their physical needs were simple. They were like other people in that there was an exception to every rule. Most of them were good people but there had been Cassie. For many the link was important but some wanted to venture out and do their own thing.

There was little doubt that the immunes would eventually become the dominant tribe. Their children were more likely to survive and their talents put them at an advantage. Would they continue to choose to live a simple life or would they return to technology? Sam thought that they were hard wired to protect the earth and its resources in a way that humans had never done before.

There were many obstacles ahead mostly linked to the fate of the birthmark children. Would the defect be passed onto their children and would they lose half of them to disease? They would be around to see what happened to the next generation and they sincerely hoped that the deaths would reduce.

Napier and Bree had entered the lottery and decided to have a child. Their daughter Esther was one of the lucky ones. She was born without a birthmark and was strong and healthy. Her dark skin indicated that her brother and sister were from a different father but that fact barely warranted a comment.

The children born under the watch of Dark City were aware that there were different types of people. There were the older ones with terrible scars, some of the younger ones had large birthmarks and then there were those who had neither. Napier's insistence that everyone was mixed together and that all the jobs were shared had led to a fairly egalitarian society. Any antagonism was between individuals not rival groups.

Their world was not perfect. People argued and occasionally had fights. Accidents happened and people died. The future was uncertain but things were getting better. It was now fifteen years since the onset of the Seaside Plague. A secret government project based at Dark city had fulfilled part of its objectives. It had not found a cure for the plague but it had helped to save the human race.

One conversation that they often had was about what was happening in the rest of the world. Radios were constantly monitored across all frequencies in the hope that someone was out there. Other areas may not have collected all their immunes into one place, but they would be scattered around strengthening the communities in which they lived. They would be introducing some healthy children into the population and giving humans a chance.

If only they could make contact with other countries they could pass on the story of their success. They could only guess at what was happening out there. Cities would be abandoned and the people would have moved to the countryside. Agriculture was the only way to feed those left alive and communities would surely have formed like they had in Britain.

The raiders in the south west had been defeated but it was possible that large areas around the world were ruled by criminal gangs. Some people would have been enslaved and many survivors would have been murdered. They sincerely hoped that the good people left in the world outnumbered the bad ones.