Chapter 3 – The Evacuation

It was already dark when Jack's reflections were interrupted by the approach of a vehicle and he knew then that it was time. He took one last look around the shack and stroked Harry's spine. As he thought, the vehicle he had heard was the estate car driven by Commissioner Selwyn Patterson.

'Good evening Inspector' the Commissioner greeted him formally as he got out of the car.

'Good evening Commissioner. What's the situation?' Jack knew it would be straight to the point with this man.

'The eye of the storm is now only fifteen kilometres off the north-west coast of the island and reaching eighty-five kilometres per hour.'

'Gosh, that's serious!' Jack feared for the safety of the local people.

'Yes. The houses and hotels on the coast are no longer safe and we need to begin evacuating everyone to the school immediately. Officers Hooper and Patterson are already helping the staff at the hotels in Honore to evacuate their guests. The army and fire brigade have been helping as well. We are even having to evacuate parts of the hospital that are not storm-proof and we need to get people off the streets and make sure all restaurants and bars are closing. I would like you to join me in going round the private residences before checking up on this'

'Yes, of course, right away' Jack collected the bag he had packed and set off with the Commissioner.

Later that evening, Adam and Karen were finally alone in their room and getting intimate when there was a knock on their door.

'Damn, don't tell me David's forgotten his reading glasses again!' Karen despaired as she straightened up her nightdress and Adam opened the door. They were surprised to find a police officer standing outside.

'I'm so sorry, Sir, Madam, but we are going to have to ask you to leave your hotel' The young officer was very polite and full of regret for the message he was bearing. 'We believe the coming storm is going to be worse than expected with winds of up to eighty-five kilometres per hour, and we cannot guarantee your safety here. We have set up a living area in the Honore High School which is further inland and safer, and there is a coach waiting outside to take you there. Please pack only essentials as space will be limited'

'Jeesis, do you know how long we'll have to stay there!' Adam was not amused at the idea of sleeping in a school hall with hundreds of other refugees. Not exactly the holiday they had planned.

'I'm afraid I don't know, Sir, but the met office will let us know when it's safe to leave'

'So we could be in there for days? Weeks?' Karen was becoming anxious as she was also uncomfortable with communal accommodation as well as being worried for the safety of herself, Adam and their friends.

'I hope not, Ma'am. Anyway, I have a lot of rooms to get around so please pack an overnight bag as quickly as you can'

The police officer left and the couple packed essentials into their hand luggage.

'I must try to phone home before we leave' Karen decided. 'The kids will be thinking the worst if they hear about the storm and the evacuation and can't get a hold of us!'

'I've got no signal!' Adam informed her. 'I think the phone lines might be down already!'

'Great, I've got nothing either' she tried lifting the phone that came with the room. 'No landline either so I guess that's it'

'Yeah, we'd better go'.

Jenny had been feeling tired as she often still did following her treatment, and had gone to sleep as soon as she had gotten up to the room she was sharing with Pete. She woke up when the room shook for a few seconds.

'Are you really sure we're safe?' she voiced her anxiety to Pete, who had just come out of the shower and was standing cleaning his teeth. 'The cancer was scary but I survived…and now…'

'Hey, don't worry Jen…there, it's stopped!' Tiredness took over once again and Jenny dosed off. A few minutes later, however, a female police officer knocked at the door. When this officer gave the same message that her colleague had given to Adam and Karen, Pete took one look at her big hair and trainers and the smile on her face and started to laugh.

'Ha ha, very funny. Did whatsername… Polly? Pauline?... send ye to wind us up? Good night dear!' he was about to close the door when the officer jammed it with her foot.

'I'm sorry, but this is for real. The winds could be strong enough to cause damage to this building!. You must leave now!'

'What's goin' on?' Jenny stirred from her slumber once again.

'Nothin' to worry about, love, just one of Polly's friends foolin' around'

'Sir, look, I'm a bona fide police officer!' the young woman put her police badge in Pete's face.

'Well, well, officer…' Pete squinted to read the ID card 'Ruby Patterson. Thank you for your bit of fun but my wife is tired and we've had a long day travelling so we'll get off to bed now. Goodnight'

At that point another strong gust of wind shook the hotel and Jenny suddenly became fully awake.

'Pete, listen, people are moving out in the landing. And did you not feel that?' Jenny got out of bed, ran to the door and looked down the corridor and saw other guests vacating their rooms with backpacks, grabbing each other as there was another gust. Then finally they saw Adam, Karen and David coming.

'Well I tried to tell you' Ruby looked pleased with herself as she set off and Pete and Jenny started getting dressed and packing in a hurry.

There was a long line of buses outside Honore High School waiting to drop off evacuated locals and tourists. There were four army soldiers at the school entrance directing evacuees to the school assembly hall where rows of mats and blankets donated by local charities had been set out for around one thousand people. Just over half of the 'beds' had already been taken, and the police, army and volunteers were waiting to see how many more people would arrive before setting out more places in some of the classrooms. Families with young children were directed to the gym which had various toys and amusements available, and disabled and elderly persons and their carers were allocated to rooms set up with proper beds and necessary aids. Soup and sandwiches for those who hadn't eaten that evening, as well as a generous supply of hot and cold drinks and light snacks, were being prepared and handed out in the school canteen by a team of volunteers lead by local Mayor and publican Catherine Bordey. As the water urn came to the boil, the electricity suddenly failed and the refugees queuing for a hot drink or something to eat despaired. However, within two minutes Catherine had turned on the private generator that had been delivered to the school ahead of the storm and shortly afterwards the supply restarted and everyone in the queue clapped and cheered. The canteen was busy but a lot of local faces fell when they noticed that Catherine was serving up her infamous chicken soup. Nobody said a word to her out of respect, however, except for the man who had caused trouble on the plane and at the Honore Palace earlier.

'Call this soup?!' he shouted in Catherine's face. 'Tastes like toilet water, it does!'

'I…well…' Catherine was shocked and speechless at this declaration.

'You should be grateful you're getting something to eat! When we got storms like this in the old days there used to be food shortages!' an elderly gentleman in the queue addressed the complainant.

'Well, since there are no shortages here I would expect better than this!'

'You can eat it or do without!' Jack, who had just entered the canteen, put an authoritative hand on the man's shoulder. 'If you give Mayor Bordey any more trouble you'll be spending the night locked in the Head Teacher's office with me! Do you understand?!'

The man walked off sulking and said nothing further.

'Are you alright, Catherine?' Jack touched his friend's hand.

'Yes, thank you Jack. I just didn't expect that but I can handle it'

'Well, send for me if you need me again. I'll be based in the assembly hall tonight, just in front of the stage'

'Thank you. Help yourself to a coffee'

Jack got his drink and went to join JP and Ruby who had been watching the incident from a nearby table.

'Poor Catherine' said JP.

'I wonder how that man knows what toilet water tastes like?' joked Ruby and they all screwed up their faces and laughed.

'OK, fifteen minutes break, then we head back to our stations to relieve the army' Jack instructed and they tucked into their drinks and snacks.

The Manchester group were directed to the assembly hall where there was a queue to get in. David's face dropped when he looked ahead and saw the sleeping arrangement.

'Is this the only room there is?' he asked nobody in particular.

'If you're looking for a yurt, I'm afraid you won't find one here!' Adam smirked on observing David's discomfort at the idea of sleeping on a mat surrounded by hundreds of other people.

'Well, I'm going for a walk around the school to see if I can find somewhere else'

'Good luck with that!' laughed Pete and Jenny and Karen shook their heads.

'Honestly, what does he expect in the middle of a natural disaster!' Jenny gasped in disbelief.

'Well, why don't Jenny and I go and get us some hot drinks while you two keep our place in the queue? I think they said they were serving them in the school canteen and there seemed to be as big a queue there as there is here' Karen suggested.

'Good idea, it's colder in here that I imagined' Jenny agreed and the two women left the queue. Adam and Pete waited almost half an hour before they finally got in the door.

'How many in your party?' the duty volunteer asked.

'Four' said Pete.

'Actually five' corrected Adam 'Just in case David gives up his search for a luxury suite and decides to join us!' he spoke quietly to his friend.

'Yes, you're right, five' Pete agreed and they were allocated five mats.

'I'm going to find the gents' said Adam. 'I'll let you look after our stuff'

'Will do!' Pete replied. As Adam left the hall Pete noticed another Manchester accent behind him, and turned to see a couple a few years younger than him with a teenage daughter.

'Where are you from?' he asked the man and they began a conversation.

'Levenshulme. What about you?'

'Didsbury. I'm Pete by the way'

'Brian. This is my wife Tania any my daughter Daisy'

'Nice to meet you all'

On his way back to the hall, Adam walked past the art department which had a display of mannequins in its corridor showcasing some clothing ideas the school children had designed. As he walked past them, he got a fright when one of the mannequins suddenly fell over and landed in his arms, almost making him fall over backwards. He was shocked at how heavy the mannequin was, and then became even more shocked when all the people who walked past him began to scream and shout 'evil murderer!' and 'shoot him!'. He saw Tiffany, the young woman who had dined and drunk with him and his friends earlier that evening, approaching, and her face suddenly changed to a look of sheer terror and pain as she looked at him, screaming at the top of her voice and shaking violently. Adam looked down at the mannequin, and recoiled in sheer horror when he discovered that he was not actually holding a mannequin, but the body of Tiffany's fiancée Gavin, which was covered in blood around the heart area. He froze, not quite believing this was really happening, and not knowing what to do.