Free Old World (The Green and Pleasant Land) by Oliver Kennedy Page A

people killing each other, just got to let them get on with it really. But, well, the news isn't the news anymore. And there is no ignoring it when they are killing each other just outside your window.
    So, let me tell you what I see, let me tell you how I feel and maybe you can shiver with me, because I am cold now, colder than a winter frost.
    We are creeping along in the fog through town. Jeff has the lights on full beam but even so visibility is poor. He picked me up at the usual shelter just outside town by the lake. I am surprised to see a few other people on the bus. These are nervous times and I guess that people are just trying to carry on as normal, but honestly, who sends their kids to school when there is talk of war and rumour of sickness and worse raging through this nation of ours? They just sit there the kiddies, the fog has silenced the world, who are they to fill it with noise again, but if they won't then no one will.
    The sirens have stopped, don't know if that's a good thing or not to be honest. One minute it seemed that all hell was breaking loose, but it seems that even the devil himself cannot compete with such fog.
    There's a young lad with a skateboard whose got music piped into his ears, he's got his feet up on the seats, Terry wouldn't have had that, Jeff didn't care before the fog, and he sure don't now. The lady in the nurses uniform half way down turns and looks at me every now and then, she smiles a nervous smile, I dip my cap and do my best with regards to smiling.
    As we pull into the town proper I can make out looming shadows, buildings, angry giants glaring down at the noisy bus. No lights though, just a deeper, darker gloom. Then I see the people, or what look like people. Walking funny, not running, not talking, just shuffling along, minding their own business.
    Someone taps at the window, no, someone claws at the window. Halloween is a long way off. They have grey hands, they must be cold I reckon, I reckon the fog has done them in. No point tapping at me, I'm not the driver.
    Jeff slows us right down and then stops. I don't know why, there isn't a stop here, when you have been riding the bus as long as I have then you get a feel for that sort of thing. I think I might say something, might call down the bus, but me and Jeff don't get on. He called me a smelly old man once, it hurt, I hid the hurt of course, with a laugh, just like me old gaffer taught me to.
    I think he's broken down you know. He's turnin that key and I can hear the engine screech but she can't roar no more. Bloody Jeff, useless, hopefully there will be a new Terry soon.
    Then Jeff leans out from his drivers box and looks back at us. He looks terrified, I tell you, I ain't never seen a bloke look so scared.
    More people out there now. Turned grey by the fog the whole lot of them it seems. All tapping, no not tapping, clawing at the windows. Somethings wrong, somethings been wrong for weeks, I've just ignored it, like me old gaffer taught me. But now there's more wrong than right. Why won't they stop tapping, and clawing, and growling like hungry dogs, angry dogs.
    Bloody hell. Jeff has switched the lights off. It's a dark day, shadows pouring in here. I can see them on Jeffs face, on the nurses face and the faces of the little kiddies in their neatly pressed uniforms. I can see shadows on the the face of the kid with the skateboard. Looks like his music has stopped, he looks just as scared as everyone else.
    The bus starts to move. Not from the engine, nah, the engine's dead I think, killed by the fog, killed by bloody Jeff. No, the bus is rocking gently from side to side, pushed and pulled by hundreds of hands. I can see them out there in the fog, grey and cold.
    There is a familiar hiss as the doors open, looks like Jeff is doing a runner, hows that for loyalty. Doesn't get anywhere though. They push him back on, the grey hands, who I note, as they shuffle onto the bus, also have grey faces, and red, red eyes.
    Jeff