I am glad I keep in the habit of writing in a proper diary. My online world is simply gone. I have no communication with the outside world. I have no idea what is going on. The fever which has kept me in bed for most of a week now has cleared up at least. I feel much stronger. I am not sure I want to test my endurance, but the time to leave here approaches fast.
Food is running out too. I have three tins of baked beans and I can make the rice I have last a few weeks, but there is nothing else. The stuff in the freezer wont last another day. If cooked, maybe two days worth of food before that starts to turn foul. Cooking anything means starting a fire. I have six matches. Starting a fire indoors is a very bad idea. Doing that outdoors means attracting the attention of 'them'.
There are a great deal more of 'them' than I realised. After cooking some of my precious dwindling food supply I heard the sound of glass breaking outside. Without getting too close, I looked through the upstairs bedroom window that faces out across the main road. People were walking around. After what happened with my ride to the police station I am about as afraid of contact with the outside world as I have ever been. Many of them were clearly delirious, and some were injured, one quite badly. Movement appears to attract their attention as a curtain twitch in the window of a house opposite was swiftly investigated by one of the people standing around outside. Others noticed him and followed suit. The first one to notice must have seen something as he threw himself through the window. A cat flew out and escaped past them. Scared, I drew back from the window.
Something has clearly affected the people in this area. Some sickness. Perhaps I am lucky I had this flu. Whatever madness this is, I can only assume it is some infectious agent. Does it affect everybody? And in the same way? It might be in the water. Or the air. Maybe it passes from person to person. I must assume the news reports from Manchester were connected with this too. How can they not be? I wish I could remember more of what they were reporting on TV. It did not seem important at the time. All I remember is the violence.
Several things are clear. I need to find food. Protein especially, but anything to supplement the rice. Water I just need to boil in case it has anything to do with what's making people go nuts. I have to hope the trouble is just Manchester and its environs. If I can find a working phone or internet connection, I can contact family and find out what's going on. My best course of action is to head to my sister's place, in Leeds. It's a hell of a ride in my condition. The only alternative is to wait here and hope someone comes. Somehow, that doesn't feel at all likely.
I did consider trying to sneak into my next door neighbour's house. I can hear noises on one side though. Someone moves around, then stops, like they are listening or searching for something. I am so careful not to make a sound when I move around. A part of me wants to tap on the wall and see what the reaction is, but most of me is terrified of not getting a human response. The house to the other side is silent, which scares me almost as much. That's part of the reason I have to leave. I am too afraid to remain.
So, I made my mind up to leave tonight. Hard to know what the time is, but its dark outside and I'm damned if I am going to try going out in daylight again. Not until I am certain of my recovery. I have to travel light, so I am just taking a few bare essentials. A bike I am just going to have to steal at the first opportunity. Otherwise, I carry only what I can fit into my backpack. A certain pessimism is already nagging at the back of my mind to pack all kinds of things 'just in case'. Time for a list.
- Food (2x tin beans)
- Water, 2x 500 ml bottle.
- Aspirin (1 strip with 5 left)
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss.
- Large black marker pen (can get me high if nothing else)
- Butcher's knife (sharp)
- spoon
- 2x t-shirt
- 2x socks
- 2x boxer shorts
- 1x jeans
- Box matches (6 remaining)
- 1x roll toilet paper.
- Diary + 2 pens.
I'm rusty on a bike, and
while dirty jeans is not the end of the world, slime-fouled jeans the
likes of which I got from falling in the ditch would be. The floss...
takes up no space and I go mad if I can't floss even for a day. The
tins are ring-pull so no need for a tin opener. I wish I had a first
aid kit of any kind, but that was one of those things I was always
putting off. This just has to get me to Leeds. After that my Sister
can put up with me for a while until this is sorted out.
Getting the bike out
without making too much noise is going to be a challenge. Once I am
off, I should be safe. Let's hope I get to write in you again. Until
later then. Wish me luck.
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