Archie yawned and stretched himself awake, long slender legs dangling from his top bunk. Yesterday had felt so normal, in fact, it had felt better than normal. For years Archie had largely kept to himself, sparingly going out with friends and very rarely, if ever, visiting the remainder of his family.
Yesterday was the first time that he had felt part of something bigger, something better. It was a day filled with warmth, games, good food and friendship. He went to sleep that night with his belly warm and a smile on his face.
A quick tickle to the arch of his foot forced out a giggle. “Wakey wakey sleep head” a smiling Wren said from her bunk, beneath his.
A glance at his watch showed it was 7:45am. This was quite late for them as normally their days started around 6:00am, largely driven by Lara making noise as she readied herself for an early morning walk to watch the sunrise. Lara had started to obsessively follow various protocols from Huberman Lab podcasts and other sites that she managed to access whilst the internet flickered into life.
The internet was still very patchy, but it was beginning to stabilise, they had managed to access various social networks to check in on loved ones. Wren’s mother and father had checked in with her and they had sent some loving messages back and forth. Her father seemed to be quite connected and they were safe in the safety of a military bunker of their own.
Lara’s mother had been sending texts which were coming through in floods when the network allowed them. She was in good spirits and passing the time playing bridge with her friends at the nearby military base. They were being moved in the next few days towards the coast and into a safe zone.
Bob and Maureen had heard from a few of their friends via email, their friend Christian was indeed running logistics for the military response across Essex. He was in fact the one that was arranging the transportation to safer zones and had promised Lara to make sure her mother ended up in the best possible accommodation options available. They were all worried that they hadn’t heard from the fifth person they’d built the bunker with, Wilton. He hadn’t checked in, which was out of character, especially in a crisis.
Archie hadn’t heard anything from his family. A few people from the coffee shop and a handful of friends had checked in via WhatsApp and Instagram, but that was it. His messages to his mum, dad or older brother had gone unanswered for days. The only thing that had kept Archie going, was the fact that Scotland was deemed relatively safe when compared to the mess of England and Wales. This gave Archie hope that they were safe, but behind his dazed eyes his mind was constantly racing, rationalising and trying to appease itself that they were fine.
As he rolled over, he saw Lara sat at the large dining table, Bertie was perched on her lap, yawning softly as his tail slowly swooshed from side to side. A steaming mug of coffee was resting gently between her palms. Slowly she looked up from Maureen’s laptop and gave Archie a smile that made his heart drop. He had seen that smile before. It was the kind of smile someone gave you when they were going to deliver bad news, or were holding in their own sadness and trying to protect you from it.
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“What is it?” Archie queried as he rolled out of bed, landing deftly on his feet. He made a mental note that his bones and joints no longer her hurt and his balance was better than ever.
“It’s the death list… they’ve published it”. Before she could finish her sentence he let out a gasp “what…”
“No… I… I’ve not looked up your relatives Archie. The list is on this website; there are hundreds of thousands of names on it. Maureen’s downloaded an offline version in case the site crashes again, but right now it's searchable.”
“Here” she said, handing Archie the laptop “we thought you should find out first, for yourself in case they’re on there”.
“Where’s Bob and Maureen?” Archie said as he nervously took the laptop from Lara, he wanted to do anything else but type his parents and brother’s name into this search box.
“Maureen’s outside having a cigarette and Bob’s being the over-caring teddy bear he normally is. It’s our friend, Wilton… he didn’t make it.” Her voice crumbled as she reached the end of her sentence. The tears that she was holding back, forcing her eyes to glisten in the warm glow of light finally broke.
Wren stepped in and wrapped Lara in a warm hug. “Come, Lara. Let’s go outside with these coffee’s, the fresh air will do you good.” She paused, hesitating slightly “Unless, Archie, you would like us here, for you?”
“No. I will be fine. I think I’d rather search this list alone, if that’s ok?”
“Whatever you need, we’re here for you. Come up whenever you’re ready.” Lara said, as she walked slowly towards the exit with Wren, arm in arm.
They left with Bertie in tow, who followed behind them gingerly. The dog could sense the sadness in the room today so was not his usual excitable self. Animals are so intuitive, more emotionally intelligent than many humans, Archie thought to himself as he turned the laptop to face him.
The first paragraph he read on the site was a message, above the search box. This database is to confirm fatalities due to recent events. This is inclusive of all types of death since 05 November 2024. This database does not contain information or names of those that may be missing or displaced due to recent events.
Taking a deep breath in and a long slow exhale out, Archie calmed himself and began to type.
'Albert Elliot’ - 1 result returned. Archie clicked the result as the world around him began to blur.
Albert Elliot
DOB: 19/05/2014
Status: Deceased
Cause of death: Extraterrestrial events
Archie’s heart lifted temporarily. This wasn’t his brother… But this was a ten year old child that had suffered, he immediately felt guilty and sick.
Slowly he typed his parent’s names in ‘Douglas Elliot’, no result. ’Marianne Elliot’, no result.
He spent the next thirty minutes typing in all the different names he could think of, all of those that hadn’t replied to his initial checks. Three of his friends were confirmed dead, in the Greenwich area. Days after he had left with Wren.
Emotions began to pour out of him, tears ran freely down his face and his throat hurt with the pain he felt for the names on this list, their friends, their families. He was drowning in emotion unable to get hold of himself; a combination of immense sadness for his friends and those on the list, mixed with relief that there was still hope for his family.
A giant warm hand pressed gently against his shoulder. Through blurred eyes Archie looked upwards to see Bob standing over him.
“Come now Archie. Let’s get some fresh air with the others, it’ll make you feel better than being down here”