Chapter 10
Jason slammed the front door of the dark house behind him along with what seemed the only warmth in the entire country as he stepped out into the sub zero evening night, its immediate chill pounced upon his body with frightening swiftness, eager it felt to consume him into its harsh bitter world.
Jason jogged off half heartedly to the front of the driveway and turned left, looking behind him for any sign that he was being watched by his father. Within a few minutes he had reached the crossroads that gave way to a much larger, potentially busier road. After a couple of minutes jumping on the spot to keep warm and futile watch gazing in pitch blackness, a car approached and slowed, pulling over just past his position. Jason rushed around to the passenger side; the prospect of a warm confine was paramount in his thoughts. Jo looked bright as Jason settled into the silver coloured Fiesta. She greeted him with a smile that was as warm as the cars interior.
'Hi. I don't usually pick up strangers but you seem like a nice boy.'
Jason raised an eyebrow theatrically and smirked. 'Very funny. Where are we going?'
Jo began to pull away, her concentration was fully on her driving as she spoke, not giving Jason another glance as she talked.
'There's a place I know about a mile from here, it's an old motorway diner. We can park up there and chat.'
The two sat in silence on their short journey to their destination. There was an atmosphere between them that felt like they were here for business. It was a serious matter, Jason knew that and he felt anxious and nervous on top of being in a car with a very pretty girl that owned a car. She was the only girl he knew that could drive and the thought of it distracted him slightly from his negative state of mind. Jo turned in and parked up at the back of the old motor stop. Its lifeless boarded up body epitomised everything that Jason had come to regard about his new surroundings; dull, dark and inhospitable. Jo unbuckled her seatbelt and turned her body towards Jason's direction. She paused briefly, searching his features, thinking to herself, preparing. Just the low hum of the necessary heater broke the silence before she started.
'Are you ok Jason?'
Jason was just staring out through the windscreen, his face was deep in thought, miles away from Jo and the car and the icy grasp of winter. His young features were ever so slightly folded that could easily have been misinterpreted as dealing with physical pain.
'No. No I don't really think I am, to be honest.' He re-emerged from his deep wayward thought and turned towards her, his upset was visible. 'I need to know what's really going on down here. It's bad enough being dragged down to this shit hole of a place without all this other weird stuff topping it off. I want to know everything you know or think you know.'
Jo sighed and looked Jason in the eyes, the strain of her knowledge was evident, creasing her own beautiful features as the weight and magnitude looked as if it was virtually impossible for her to maintain control. She paused slightly as if trying to keep her own emotions in check, which was not missed by Jason. His own features softened as he watched moisture swell in the young girl's eyes. In an instant and without thinking anything apart from wanting to eradicate her pain, Jason put his hand out and took hers. He patted the back of her hand in a gesture of support and friendship that warmed Jo and made her smile brightly as she choked back the tears.
'I'll tell you what I know. Up to about two months ago things in this place were fine, as much as they can be for teenagers like us in a place like this. Everybody went about their business day to day just as you would expect them to. Then one night we heard the planes and the next day everybody in the village was talking about them. They don't get much to gossip about at the best of times so as you can imagine, the locals were all over it. It wasn't until the following day we woke to find that the morning sky was nearly as dark as night time. As you can imagine, people didn't know what the hell was happening. The air was thick with what looked like fog but it was dark, almost like smoke from a chemical fire. There was no smell to it though and it felt like fog, you know, when it is damp to the touch, it left our clothes wet as it passed over us. A few of the villagers phoned the local fire brigade and police services to check if something happened around the area but they knew nothing, they didn't even send anybody out to check the situation. There was absolutely nothing on the TV or the radio. The whole thing was just spooky. Then about early afternoon a couple of people carriers and a large coach turned up. All these guys got out dressed in chemical suits on. They rounded up everyone from the village and surrounding area and informed us that there had been a fuel leak from a high altitude air force transport. We were told that the local authorities had been informed and had been told not to say anything for fear of the media jumping on it and blowing the situation out of proportion. They convinced us that it was mostly harmless and that it would clear in the next twenty four hours or so but went on to say that as a precaution they would have to take everyone over the age of thirty back to a local HQ that had been set up to administer an inoculation as a precaution. There were several of us that were under the age, some kids from another village, a young girl and an older boy about my age who were up here visiting their grand parents. They just gave us a strip of tablets and said that we would be fine. They didn't give anyone a chance to protest, they just bundled them all onto the coach and sped off. I went back to the shop and the others that were given pills were dropped off home. I sat around the shop until seven that night, worried sick about my mum. She finally turned up but she just wasn't the same. She had changed, they all had.'
Jason had listened intently at the story without interrupting once, trying to soak in every detail that Jo had told him, hoping that she would give him enough details to come up with an explanation to the whole thing. Instead his face was wracked with confusion and puzzlement.
'So you say that when they came back they had changed. In what way changed?'
Jo sighed. 'It was obvious right from the start with my mum. She's an outgoing bubbly woman that is always laughing and smiling, always talking and flying around doing this and that. The night she came back she became reserved, shy, almost reclusive. She became moody and irritable later. The whole village seemed to follow suit. People kept themselves to themselves and stayed off the streets, well in the day they did.'
Jason interrupted. 'Wait, what was that? What do you mean in the days they did?'
'Well it looked that way to me anyway, but I thought that people began to move around more at night or when it started to get dark at least.'
Jason raised his eyebrows, fidgeted in his seat and blew out his cheeks in an over animated fashion. 'Hang on a minute. You've got some serious scary ass business going on here. That aint right. Most of the people that I have seen plodding around down here are over sixty. It's like gods waiting room down here. They should be tucked up with a mug of cocoa watching Coronation Street and getting ready for bed not sneaking about at night. So what is it then? Dogging? Illegal raves? This has gotta be a joke right?'
'I wish it was and I wish it was just as simple as that but you've got to trust me Jason. There are so many other little factors, little details that have changed amongst the villagers that only someone who has grown up with them can spot.'
Jason's tone had an air of frustration as he replied. 'Like what exactly?'
'Just subtle little changes like old Ron Turner. It is local heritage that he has never got on with Alfie Roams; it goes back generations, to the war I think.' Jason rolled his eyes but said nothing. 'No, hear me out. So long as I can remember they have never spoken, even their wives don't talk to each other but about a week after everything happened, they are conversing on a street corner, as thick as thieves.'
'It could be a simple fact that the whole situation has bought them together. I can't really see the relevance.'
'No, you see, that's what I mean. You wouldn't know about the bad blood between those four. It's a long story but they would never have spoken again. There are a lot of little instances like that and I'm not gonna bore you with them but there's people talking to people that never did before, groups conversing in shops and houses for hours on end, car trips late in the day, weird eating habits, the works. They all seem clickier, more secretive since the mist and fog came.'
Jason seemed uninterested with the details of the old people's new social habits, not recognising a relevance to the real problem but jumped on the opening Jo had left about the darkness.
'Right, ok. Let's go back to the sky. What happened to the sky afterwards?'
Jo looked up towards the heavens as if to help her remember what it was like.
'It cleared pretty much in the time that they said it would but not long after that I noticed that the days began getting shorter and gloomier. There have been days when the dark spells have been really bad and the sun has been barely visible.'
'And the way the sky is at the moment?'
'It hasn't been any brighter than that since. I think it's getting gradually darker and darker in the days, you must have noticed that at least.'
'Oh yeah, well how could you miss that? If it carries on I'm in danger of turning into an albino or something. So ok, you are convinced something serious has happened around here. Everyone is acting weird and we're stuck in the middle of it. What do you propose that we do?'
Jo slouched back in the driver's seat, defeat consuming her body language.
'God, I don't know. All I know is that the night those planes flew over things changed. Three times a week they fly in, sometimes just one plane, others two or three a night. All I can think of is that they are linked to all of this. They are flying so low that they must be landing around here and there isn't an airport or landing strip anywhere near here for miles and miles. I even tried to talk to my mum about it and she said that she had heard nothing and that I should be sleeping at that time in the morning not awake. When I told her that it was the plane that woke me and that she must have heard it too, she went into one then stormed off. I've even brought it up in conversation with customers but they blatantly blank me about it, they hardly talk either. She has hardly spoken to me since and even then it's when she has to. I try to speak to her every day but it's like I'm just not there. The lights are on but nobody's home. I keep thinking that it must be a side effect of the inoculation and that in time it will wear off but I'm losing hope of that the longer that time goes on. I just want my mum back Jason, I miss her so much.'
Jo welled with tears again and Jason comforted her as best he could though he felt woefully inadequate. They sat in silence for a minute or so as Jason refrained from continuing, allowing Jo to steady herself. He continued his support of her as he wandered off in thought, rubbing his chin to help him analyse, just as his father had a habit of doing. Jo pulled at his hand that was wrapped in hers.
'What you thinking about?'
Jason snapped out of his thought. 'Oh, I was rolling around what you had said about the inoculation.'
Jo perked up slightly. 'Do you think that it could just be a side effect?'
'Maybe. But it's highly unlikely that everyone would act the same. Different people react differently to drugs.'
'But plausible?'
'I suppose so. But whatever the case may be, it doesn't explain the sky does it? Something isn't right up there still, that's obvious. The thing that worries me is that my dad is acting weird since we moved in and this whole food business, where does that all fit into it all?'
'Well you just hit the nail on the head when you said people react differently to drugs, that's how I know the food is tainted.'
Jason shrugged his shoulders. 'In what way?'
'A couple of years ago I was in a car accident, a bad one. I was lucky, just a broken arm and a collarbone with an assortment of cuts and bruises to match. But I lost my dad who was driving.'
Jason's head fell. 'I'm sorry. I lost my mum in a car accident. I was only about one at the time so I'm in the dark about the whole thing. Must have been hard for you.'
Jo attempted a half smile in recognition for both of their losses. 'It still is. Me and mum are so close; it brought us even closer together if that is at all possible. We are all each other have got that's why things between us at the moment are so hard to take.'
'Sorry Jo, but where does the drug thing come in to all this?'
Jo frowned playfully, lightening the sad undertone their conversation had followed. 'Impatient aren't we? Well I struggled to sleep after the accident, bad nightmares. I didn't want to worry mum any further so I went back to the doctors without her knowing and he prescribed me some strong sleeping pills, Diazepam or something that sounds like it. Well after a few days of taking them I was violently ill and it worked out that I was allergic to the medication.'
Jason looked confused. 'So?'
'So that was exactly how I started to get again literally days after what had happened and me talking about the planes. The symptoms were exactly the same so I stopped eating what mum cooked and didn't eat anything bought locally. it could be in the water system for all I know so I boil everything and drink bottled water. That seems to do the trick but I just can't be sure. I do sleep through sometimes but it's hard to say whether it is being tired or being drugged. All I do know is that the symptoms stopped immediately. So now I sneak out to the next town and stock up once a week, I exchange some things that mum has bought so she doesn't get suspicious.'
'Oh this is just stupid, stupid!' Jason's frustration was beginning to boil over. 'I'm not bloody sneaking around like this, its crazy! I like my food!'
'Believe it or not, so do I! Look we need to find out what is going on around here. We need to find out what the deal is with the food and the planes, the sky and the villagers. It's all linked in some way and we've gotta find out just what that is. If you're not interested then cool, but don't go blowing your mouth off cos if it comes back to me and anything happens to my mum I'll kick your arse!'
Jason shrank back into his chair, intimidated by Jo's outburst. He didn't fight back as he would have done to anyone else, he was legendary for it, but having an older pretty girl scold him felt very strange indeed. She definitely had fire. It also made him think again about the whole situation. There was something afoot here and her very real fear for their safety swayed Jason to take her stance on the matter, for the time being anyway.
'Ok, ok. Look, as it's you, and we go back a long way I'll bat on your side on this one for the moment. But if things get out of hand or we're not getting anywhere then we've got to look at the whole thing again. Agreed?'
Jo's face softened instantly. 'Agreed. But don't go off doing anything stupid until you have spoken to me about it first, ok?'
'Yes mum.'
Jo and Jason smiled at each other. As their light hearted moment subsided, they both sat silently in the car, immersed on what had been said about the subject. The built up warmth inside the car had given them a cosy bubble to hide away in, protecting them from the harshness of the bitter winter night that probed away at the car, desperate to find a way in. The heat had relaxed them somewhat and it was Jo who broke the noise of the cars heater gently humming away in the dashboards confines.
'So your dad then?'
'Eh? What about him?'
'Well you said that he's been acting weird. In what way?'
Jason gathered his thoughts ready to try and deliver the facts to Jo as clearly as he could with a hope that between them they could understand what was going on with Jason's problems that had arisen concerning his father. Jason wanted to be neutral in the picture he painted of his father. He was a good man and a good role model to him. Although they were complete opposites in character and interests, he could think of no better man to have raised him. Jason did not want to cloud sixteen years of perfect parenting for a minor wobble in just over a week or so. But he did know that he had to be non judgemental to give a clear sounding account, hopefully a clear response would dispel any worries that had crept in where his dad was concerned.
'Well yeah. He's not been acting the way my dad usually does. I've been thinking about the whole food thing and when I look back at it, I don't know whether it's me being paranoid but it has felt like my dad has been pressuring me to eat when we're not together. That night I didn't eat was when I heard the plane. I woke up and went to see my dad but he was gone, his bed hadn't been slept in. So I don't know if he's involved in things or he missed a meal or went back to check on something at work. All I know is that he's been putting in some legendary hours to get his new lab set up in time for Monday so I'm putting it down to that.'
Jo turned sharply and glared into Jason's eyes.
'Lab? What lab?'
Jason shrugged casually. 'My dad is a chemical engineer of some sort, I think. He's top boy in a new set up down here. That's the whole reason why I'm dumped down here with him.'
'Sounds dodgy.'
'What do you mean? In what way?'
'Think about it for a second. We wake up one morning and the sky is covered with a smoke-like mist and nobody knows anything about it. It soon goes away like the guys who come into town tell us it would but ever since then the sky gets a bit darker every day. Now you tell me that your dad is a chemical engineer and he has just started a lab up near hear. Don't you think that's a bit of a coincidence?'
'No, you're way off the mark.' He countered, his voice rising at the slightest implication. 'The lab isn't even up and running yet! What is this, pick on the new guys week or something?'
Jo could see Jason's upset and did not answer immediately. When she did, her tone was soft and slow, almost submissive.
'Look, I'm not saying anything ok? It's only because that's the first I've heard about anything new starting up around here that's all. This place is dead when it comes to new businesses, just look around. It was a big talking point in the village when the Radley's disappeared from your new house literally overnight.'
'They emigrated to Australia to be with their kids. My dad told me the place had been empty for ages.'
'Oh.'
'What does 'Oh' mean exactly?' Commented Jason, slightly ruffled.
'It means that I wasn't aware they had any kids. In fact I would put money on it. They knew many people in the village and didn't even tell anyone that they were going. they literally disappeared overnight'
'Are you sure about that?' He pressed.
'Yep, pretty much.' Jason turned away frustrated. He focused on what she had said moments before about the local area being a ghost town and to take a look, so did just that. He cleared a patch of condensation that had built up on the door window and examined the dreary abandonment of the failed truck stop caf\u00e9, his thoughts shifting from the anger as he contemplated Jo's last comments. 'Do you know whereabouts?'
Jason flickered out of his wandering thoughts. 'Eh?'
'Your dad. Where is this new lab of his?'
He hesitated briefly, unsure of the correct information as he attempted to recall his recent conversation with David. 'Aaaah, I think he said it was on an industrial estate about twenty minutes drive from here. There can't be many of those round here if what you say is anything to go by?'
'You're right. That would be the Brunel industrial estate. Not only is that the only one near to twenty minutes drive away, it's the only one within an hours drive at least. The thing is that industrial estate is a bit of a ghost town too. I can't see why your dad would want to set up there though.'
Jason feebly jumped to his fathers defence but it sounded riddled with excuses than contradictions. 'He's been doing a lot of hours setting up and refitting, so I think it is possible. Maybe we should just check the place out? My dad has offered me a job there so I'd be curious to see it anyway.'
'Good idea. What's the name of the company?'
Jason turned inwards as Jo asked him. He didn't even know the name of the company that his father had worked so hard for all these years. He felt embarrassed that he did not know such a simple fact and ashamed that he had been so self centred for so long as to not even know the name of the employer. Jason felt the blood rush to his cheeks, his guilt punishing him visually for even contemplating his father's recent actions when his own behaviour towards him eclipsed anything that had come his way in terms of acting in a caring respectful manner that any decent family member should do automatically. He stalled in his reply in an attempt to protect himself from his failings.
'Errrr, I'm not sure to be honest with you. I think they might have changed the name recently when they re-located, but I'll find out.'
Jo began to ready herself to drive, putting on her seatbelt and re-adjusting the seat as she turned the ignition and sparked the Fiesta back into life.
'Ok. Let me know when you find out and we'll take a trip down there and have a sniff about. We'd better get back; we don't want anybody coming to conclusions about us.'
Jason raised his eyebrows in a comic surprised fashion and grinned at Jo.
'Heaven forbid. I don't want to be the one to dirty your immaculate reputation now do I?'
Jo glanced at Jason with a sexy half grin of her own.
'Bit late for that honey!'
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