Ice-Age Chapter 6

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ICE-AGE

by Andy Savage

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

It was mid afternoon. The fire was crackling outside. Dave was sitting up in

his sleeping bag, gingerly and gently chewing the last stringy bit of

mountain hare leg. He wiped his smeary lips on his forearm and flicked a

straggly thigh bone to the floor. The meat had a very strong, offensive

after taste, and eating it was frustrating with a fractured front tooth. If

anything, feeding had made him feel worse. " Cheers, " he said sombrely,

taking a sip of coffee, " That was nice. I needed that. It's been ages since

I last had something that didn't need defrosting first. "

" There's some beans left if you want 'em, " offered Device through a full

mouth. He was squatting in the middle of the tent, facing Dave, " They're

still warm. "

" Thanks, no. My teeth are hurting me. " said Dave, opening his mouth as wide

as he could and pointing to the crooked gap where his tooth had been

smashed. He was beginning to feel a little more relaxed in the company of

his untamed looking nurse, even finding him quite admirable.

" Well, waste not want not, " said Device, hungrily scooping the beans with

his fingers from the white, plastic dish, " That tooth, Dave, it'll have to

come out. "

" No way! I'm not letting you anywhere near it! "

" It'll get infected. It'll only take me a second to pull it. "

" I don't care. I'm in enough pain as it is, without you ripping my teeth

out! "

Device did not reply. He just smiled.

" Where's your food hole, then, Device? " asked Dave, keen to change the

subject.

" Don't have one. Not round here. I'm travelling through. "

" Oh, right. So where did you come from and where are you going? "

Device said nothing for a minute while he leisurely gnawed a handful of

beans, " Heading north, " he said swallowing, " I've heard things are better

there. "

" Better? In what way? Who told you? "

" I'm a trader. I meet people. They tell you things. "

" What people? What do they tell you? "

" They say there's good trade further north. I don't know too much more.

People are often wrong. I like to find out for myself. "

" Where are you from originally, Device, only I can't work out your accent? "

" London. I've travelled around a lot. You try and fit in for a while and

then move on. It messes your accent up, I suppose. "

" Yes, I guess it must do, " agreed Dave. He was intrigued by this peculiar

man, who had obviously lived a life very different from his own, " Have you

travelled far, then? "

" The past five or six years, I've been all over. You'd be amazed. "

" So where've you been? "

" Africa. "

Dave lent forward and magnified his startled ears, " Africa? "

Device laughed delightedly, exposing his full set of sharp, ivory teeth,

" You can cross over from Spain. It's easy, you just walk. I made it as far

as the Sahara. It's just the biggest sheet of ice you could ever wish to

see. It's completely impassable. "

" Really? So even the Mediterranean is totally frozen over? "

" You bet it is. Frozen solid. Just like the Channel. And the North Sea. And

the Atlantic. Believe me, finding your way about gets very difficult. But,

if you wanted to, you could probably ski your way around the whole damn

earth! "

Dave shook his head in amazement. He'd wondered so many times what had

happened to the rest of the world. Now hearing about it from someone who had

actually seen some of it made everything seem more real. And more scary, but

he wanted to know so much more, " I can't believe it. I can't believe the

whole world is like this. "

" I met some people some time ago who told me there's places in Africa still

green and warm. Little Gardens of Eden they said, but I don't believe that

now. I was lucky to get out of there alive. Africa's a nightmare, far worse

there than it is here. "

A dreaded but familiar feeling of loneliness bled from Dave's gut, he felt

like he was at a funeral, " You know, I always hoped there must be somewhere

left, a remote part of the world where the snow hadn't reached, and the

people there would eventually come and rescue us. "

" If there is anywhere like that, they're keeping it all to themselves. "

" Maybe you couldn't blame them if they are. "

" I'm sure now there is nowhere. There's hardly anyone left alive. I bet

there's less than a million people in the entire world. We're heading

for extinction, Dave. We are

the new dinosaurs. "

" I'd prefer not to think that. I mean, the world's a big place, for

instance, what about Australia, China, India, America? "

Device shook his head gravely, " They're gone. Africa was the final hope. "

" I can't believe you made it that far, " said Dave in awe, " I don't think I

've ever gone more than ten miles. Probably not even five, not since the

snow came, anyhow. How on earth did you do it? It must have taken you

months? "

" It took about four years, there and back. "

" Bloody hell! " Dave gasped, " And were you by yourself, on foot? "

Device paused, put down his empty dish and took a deep breath, " I started

out with my wife. It was about five years ago. We'd been living near Dover.

You could cross the Channel on foot, it was frozen solid, and we'd heard

there was plenty of good trade in France. So we walked there. We didn't take

much with us. We didn't intend to stay long. Just a few weeks to see how it

went. "

" The last time I went to the Channel is was a deep, blue sea, " commented

Dave, briefly recalling a carefree, long ago day on the beach with Mary.

" It's hard to even make out where it is now, " said Device.

" Really? It's mind blowing, " said Dave, his heart heavy with memories, " So

you went over to France? What made you decide to go all the way to Africa? "

" France was where my wife was snatched. "

" Was it? Hell, that must've been so frightening, " said Dave, but he was

comforted that Device too had lost somebody close, " When did it happen? "

" A few days after we got there. We were digging our way into a food hole,

we should have stayed close together, but we were working on different

entrances. Next thing I know is she's screaming for help and I'm too far

away. A gang with huskies grabbed her. I chased after them, but I was alone

and on foot so I had no chance. They got away, except for one of them. I

haven't seen my wife since. "

Dave nodded uneasily, " So what became of the one who didn't get away? " he

asked, clenching his right fist nervously.

" He was injured and so the others left him behind. I captured him. He wasn'

t too talkative at first, but I soon got him to tell me where they'd take my

wife. He said they'd sell her as a slave in Africa. I didn't believe him at

first. I tried to persuade him to lead me to them, but he kept refusing. I

spent a couple of days trying to break him down, but he was more afraid of

them than of me. "

" So what did you do? "

Device turned his head and stared at a thick, lethal, steel nail jutting

from his base ball bat, " I killed him. "

A deadening chill wormed its way down Dave's back and he felt his stomach

twist over. Device had got such a triumphant look on his face. He was

markedly proud of what he had done. Dave tried not show it, but he felt

angry, sick and let down. For a short while, Device had given him hope that

there was still a little good left in the world, that it was still worth

making an effort, that there was something better waiting to be found.

Device had been a lifeline, but now he seemed just as pitiless as the

villains who had stolen Simon.

The reality of Dave's own precarious existence had never been so clear. He

knew that, until yesterday, he had been very lucky. He had lived from day to

day, doing just enough to keep himself and Simon alive. He had encountered

very few people, and even then only very briefly on rare jaunts out of his

deep, safe food holes. He had learned to be self-sufficient, learned to stay

away from danger, had become just a shadow who you'd miss if you blinked,

had adjusted to a new, frightening, alien world. Now, not only had he lost

his son, the only reason he had had for living, but he found himself instead

at the mercy of a self-confessed murderer.

 

 

 

 

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