Day 8 — Friday 2nd July 2060 — morning

So there we were, all three of us, standing dejected on the ground floor of the Block right by a window looking out onto the Block forecourt. Seaton had gone off somewhere, leaving Sonya Hastings and Hammond, the large sergeant, to deal with us. He seemed to have lost interest in the proceedings. He was still carrying the three pairs of handcuffs but hadn’t attempted to put them on us. Seeing that Sonya was dealing with us, he wandered over to a group of men a few yards away and started chatting with them.

Shortly after Sonya finished cautioning me, we all heard a loud click, which turned out to be the door to the outside being opened. Nobody seemed concerned about this, which, if there were pathogens outside, seemed strange. For a brief moment, I wondered if our punishment would be banishment from the Block. Ignoring the event, Sonya opened another folder and read from it. She was standing in front of Ellie. Old George and I were watching.

Sonya looked up from the folder and looked straight at Ellie. She hadn’t looked at me when she had cautioned me. As she stared at Ellie, I saw the tears in her eyes. She reached out a trembling hand, undid the top button of Ellie’s shirt and moved the collar aside so that she could see Ellie’s neck. What she saw made her gasp. She spoke loudly and urgently to the three of us. “Out the door. Now! Run to the red door in the outbuilding to the left. Open it and go in. Don't look back!”

Ellie and I didn’t need telling twice. Ellie led the way, with me behind. I quickly realised that Old George wasn’t following. He was standing still, apparently undecided. I gave him no choice. I grabbed his arm and dragged him after me to the door. Of course, he was old and unfit, so we didn’t move that fast. Luckily, it wasn’t far to run. I could feel my heart pounding. I hoped that Old George wouldn’t collapse, but he kept going, and we reached the red door when Hammond was too far behind to stop us. Ellie opened the door and went inside. I followed moments later, dragging Old George behind me and shutting the door after us.

Inside it was dark, but somebody switched on a light, and we could see the large warehouse we appeared to be in. Seconds later there was a knock on the door, but a young voice spoke, “Don’t worry about that. He’s not allowed in here, and he knows it.”

The speaker walked towards us from deeper in the warehouse. He was the young boy I’d seen through that window a few days previously. As I recognised him, he recognised me and smiled.

“Once through that door,” the boy stated, “you are in what the Block people call the Fringes, and the Block people have agreed never to enter without permission. Most of them don’t want to, anyway. They are too nervous to take that step beyond.”

“For which we are grateful!” said Old George, breathing heavily. “Did I just run through the open air?” he asked, with a look of awe on his face. “That must be the first time I have run in over thirty years! And I’m still alive!”

“You did. We all did,” I answered, smiling.

Old George looked at me. ““Thank you, young Billy,” he said. “I really wasn’t sure whether I had the energy to escape, but you made up my mind for me. It was the right decision, and I’m glad you made it.”

“You’re welcome, George,” I replied. “You’ve taught me a lot in recent weeks. Without you, I wouldn’t be here today.”

“We now may be free,” Ellie added, “but we can probably never go back.”

“Why would we want to?” I asked.

“No reason at all,” said Old George, who looked at the boy and asked, “What happens now, son?”

“We wait for my dad. He will drive us home. My parents will be happy to see some new faces. We don’t get them often.”

There was a bench along one wall, and we all sat on it.

I spoke what was foremost in my mind. “If Hammond was willing to chase us outside, and Sonya had ordered us there, then the authorities must have known all along that the air was safe.”

Old George and Ellie both nodded. “Whatever made Sonya do that?” asked Ellie.

“Well,” answered Old George, “she looked at the details in your file, then at you, and then at your birthmark. I think that maybe Sonya is your mother. Your date of birth and your birthmark must have convinced her that you were her daughter. She will be in trouble!”

“And so will Hammond,” I said. “And I had Sonya down as a soulless functionary who just did as she was told.”

“Maybe she is,” said Old George. “But the maternal instinct is very strong, and she just acted out of that instinct. She’s old enough to have known the world outside and her parents. We are all human animals at the end of the day. She reverted to form, if only for a second or two.”

Old George and I both looked at Ellie, who was now crying. She had just met and lost her mother in the space of just a few minutes. I had no idea how that would feel, but I was in no doubt that it would be difficult to deal with.

She looked up at both of us and said, “My mother is a soulless functionary, and I never knew. In fact, I hardly ever thought about her, but she cared enough to give all three of us a chance. I’d like to think that she isn’t all bad. If Sonya Hastings is her real name, rather than her allotted one, then maybe we can search out the rest of my family at some stage?”

Old George and I looked at each other and nodded. “We’ll do that if it is at all possible,” he said.

A man in a regulation orange suit came through the door about ten minutes later. We all stood up ready to move quickly. This man wasn’t allowed in here, but here he was. Where could we escape to, or would we have to overpower him?

“Don’t worry,” said the boy. “That’s my dad. He won’t harm you.”

All three of us sat back down and watched the new arrival take off his orange suit. He was an oldish man in his sixties, with thinning, grey hair.

“There’s an investigation going on back in the Block,” he said, looking at us. “That woman who let you go has been arrested. Any idea why she did that?”

“Possibly,’ replied Old George, who looked in Ellie’s direction. “We think she worked out that she was Ellie’s mother and couldn’t help herself.”

“How awful,” the man responded. “How do you people live without knowing your families?”

“I opted to,” said Old George. “But my two friends had the condition thrust upon them. They were born in the Blocks.”

“One of the main reasons why my family stayed outside. Life here in the Fringes can be tough, but we do have our families around us. That is worth a great deal.”

“But the pathogens?” I asked.

“There was only ever one,” the man replied, “and that burned itself out by 2022. All the later ones were hoaxes, attempts to force us back into lockdown like they had for the first one. Most of us weren’t having it, and we carried on as normal. It was then they started to build the Blocks.”

Old George looked over at the man in amazement. “I, for one, fell for those hoaxes,” he said. “They helped me decide to enter the Blocks. I am looking forward to learning about them and so much more about what life has been like out here. I’m beginning to think I made a mistake.”

“So,” I spoke, “those orange suits are just for show, to make us believe that it is dangerous outside? Can a government lie like that to its people?”

The man nodded. “They can and do,” he said. “They require me to wear one once I go out into the yard. If anybody sees me, they will assume I am one of the Block’s staff.”

“What about climate change?” I asked. “Did they lie about that too?”

“That’s a long story. But first we have to get you away from here. My name is Bert Coggins, and this is my son Davy.”

The three of us shook hands with Bert and Davy. Bert then led us further into the building until we came to a lift. Bert pressed a button, and the doors opened. We all trooped in.

The lift descended, and we exited into what I later learned was a car park.

Bert led us to a large truck. I had seen such things in the Archive, but never thought I would ever get to travel in one. Bert sat in the driver’s seat, and Old George sat next to him. They were the only seats in the vehicle, so the rest of us followed Davy through the rear doors and sat on the floor in the back. There were no windows, so we could not see where we were going, not that we would have recognised the way even if we could see it.

The short trip that followed was uncomfortable, with many light shocks and jolts. There was a smell that was new to me inside the truck. The number of smells we had experienced in the Block was small, and I guessed this was the first of many new ones that would shortly overwhelm us.

The journey started underground, and we must have quickly passed under the outside wall around the Block. After we had travelled uphill for a while, I assumed that we had exited the tunnel and were out in the open air. I couldn’t wait to look outside.

We travelled in silence except when Davy looked at me imploringly and asked, “You won’t tell my dad about me looking in the window that day, will you? I’m under strict instructions not to go through that red door, but I couldn’t resist having a look.”

“No, Davy,&dquo; I said. “I won’t do that, but you need to understand that you could have got your dad into a lot of trouble. Luckily, I was the only one who saw you. Please don’t do it again. I am beginning to realise that we are living in dangerous times, and it is best not to take such risks. OK?”

“OK,” he agreed. He was looking sheepish, as he should have been.

When we came to a stop, Bert came around and opened the doors. We climbed out and stared at the outside. It was warm, and the sun was in the sky, and everything looked like some of the old photographs of rural scenes that I had seen in the Archive. I could feel a cool breeze on my skin for the first time in my life. It felt weird, but I liked it. The air smelled fresher than anything I had ever known. Ellie seemed to be going through a similar experience. We both had a good look around.

To our right was a large area covered in what I decided was grass. The grass was very green, and it looked very tidy. To our left was a bungalow, and at the open door stood a plump woman who smiled broadly at us.

“Meet my wife, Audrey,” said Bert. Ellie and I shook her hand. Old George was elsewhere, so we looked around for him. We saw him on the grass, breathing deeply and looking all around him, including into the sky. After a while he started moving in a loose, joyful way. I looked at Ellie. “What’s up with George?” I asked. “Has this been too much for him?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “I think Old George ... is ... dancing. I think he’s happy. Let’s leave him alone for a while.”

“You’re right,” said Audrey. “The old ones, the ones who had a life before they entered the Blocks, they all have a reaction when they first get outside. Your friend is greeting the air, the sun and the earth back into his life. He’s missed them.”

“And we are greeting them for the first time,” I said. “It’s good to feel the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze. It’s invigorating to smell the clean air. The stuff in the Block was stale by comparison. Can’t say that I’m looking forward to the rain, but so far this seems like an exciting new life.”

At this, Audrey walked over to Ellie and me, put an arm around each of us, and walked us into her home.

To be continued ... hopefully!