Purification

were walking around town for hours and Joe was getting tired and fed up like kids tend to do. I told him that if he behaved himself and if everything worked out at the office over the next few days then I’d get him a present when we next went out, whatever he wanted. I asked him what he’d like, expecting him to go for the biggest and most expensive thing he could think of. Anyway, he dragged his mum and me into a shop and showed us that toy I found today. It wasn’t much and it wasn’t expensive, but all his mates had one and I was going to get it for him.
    That was all he wanted. Fucking hell, Mike, I wish I could see him again. Just once more.’

32
    Cooper
    Progress.
    This afternoon it finally feels like we’re starting to get somewhere. Things are finally beginning to move.
    Lawrence has made it back with the helicopter and, even more importantly, we’ve managed to get somewhere with the plane. We’re not airborne yet, but at least Keele’s starting to cooperate. I didn’t have to say much to him myself, but I heard that there were a few others who threatened him if he refused to fly them out of here.
    We’ve started to move the people and our equipment out of the observation tower. It’ll all have to come down eventually so it makes sense to start shifting it now. We’re using the small office block nearest to the hangar. There are only a few rooms and it’s less comfortable and protected than the tower, but it will do. We should only need to use it for a couple of days, perhaps a week at most.
    Keele’s finally managed to get the plane out of the hangar now. Actually getting him behind the controls was the biggest step as far as I’m concerned. Now we know that the plane’s engine still runs and by moving it to the end of the runway he’s got everyone off his back for a while. I can see him sitting in the cockpit from out here. He’s looking round like a little kid lost. I know he’s not had much experience at flying anything like this before but he has to try. We don’t have any choice. As vulnerable and exposed as it leaves us, we’re depending on him. I told him that all he has to do is get the plane in the air, get us over there and then land the damn thing. Doesn’t matter if it’s a complete write-off once we’ve all made it over to Cormansey. He just has to get us there safely. A couple of crossings, three at the most, is all it will probably take. After that he’ll never have to fly again if he doesn’t want to. We won’t ever be coming back here.
    The atmosphere here is still surprisingly positive, if a little muted and more apprehensive than before. The appearance of the plane has generated a lot of anticipation and nervous expectation today. People want to get away from here, but they’re not looking forward to dealing with the trauma and uncertainty of leaving. We’ve been doing some calculations, trying to work out how long it’s going to take us to get to the island and how many flights we’re going to have to make. Lawrence is happy to keep shuttling between here and Cormansey until everyone and everything’s over there. If he can make enough crossings then we can limit Keele to only having to make two flights, although he probably will need to do three. We’ve got more than enough fuel so time is the only issue. There are fifty of us here now, including the two pilots. The helicopter can carry three - four at a push - passengers at a time. If things go our way we could be out of here in a couple of days but I’m under no illusions. It’s been a long time since anything has gone our way.
    Baxter said something earlier that’s been troubling me.
    He’s been watching the bodies with Croft and they think their behaviour is beginning to change again. The pair of them have been walking up and down the runway because Croft’s been trying to exercise his leg. He told me that at one point they just kept walking and didn’t realise how far they’d gone until they were close to the perimeter fence.
    Some of the bodies, he said, continued to react like they always had done, fighting and ripping at each other. Some of them pushed themselves against the fence and tried to get closer to them. It’s the others that really concern me. He told me that some of them were just standing there looking at him. He said he felt like he was being watched. A few minutes ago Richard Lawrence told me that they’d seen something similar happening on Cormansey. Apparently there some