As the Light Dies (11 page)

Gavin looked up from the sofa and said
,“
You think i
t’
s really gonna get that bad
?
”

“
Who knows
?”
said Dean
,“I’
m just glad I stocked up on food
.”
Then he reached over Gavi
n’
s head and pulled the cord lifting the blinds. He raised both eyebrows in astonishment!

“Holy shit!
”
he said
,“
look at that
.
”

Gavin turned to look telling Dean that h
e’
d already looked out his bedroom window and seen the snow earlier when he woke up, then he stopped dead
.
“Holy shit!”
he said.

The dirty mass of swirling cloud was thicker than ever! It was slowly engulfing everything in sight as far in to the distance as either brother could see like a never ending fog bank rolling in from the sea.  The dirty cloud looked like it had mass; it looked thick and heavy, solid almost.

To Gavin it looked like it had caught fire inside!

High up in the middle of the darkness was a dull orange glow like a huge ball of fire burning in the middle of the cloud!

The brothers watched in silence, mesmerised as the cloud rolled in like smoke around the giant fire ball! Sam did
n’
t like it, he barked at the window jumping up on the sofa
.“
Whoa boy
,”
said Dean
,“
i
t’
s ok, it wo
n’
t hurt us boy
!
”

Gavin asked
,“
Do you think it is some kind of new weapon, you know like a new mega nuclear bomb or something like that? I mean look at that fire ball
!
”

“
Nah
,”
said Dean
,“
tha
t’
s the sun disappearing behind the ash cloud. W
e’
d know by now if it was manmade, some group of arseholes woul
d’
ve admitted to it by now telling the world how spectacular their new weapon was. But, I do
n’
t think i
t’
s just as simple as a volcano erupting either
.
”

As Dean finished a wave of lightning flickered through the expanse of looming cloud almost seeming to reach straight out from the sun as it sank deeper in to the darkness, almost like the sun was trying to fight the darkness.

Sam barked again before his bark turned in to a high pitched howl.

Dean dropped the blinds back down again to calm him down, it seemed to work, for now.

Dean saw that it was nearly eight
o’
clock
.“
What shift are you doing today
?”
he asked his brother as he sat down at the table.

“
Now that you mention it,
I’
d better get moving
,”
said Gavin
.“I’
m meeting Eddy in town after h
e’
s done his school run, i
f
there’
s
a school run! Then we do a couple of loops around town have lunch and then we got some new country run that the boys have all been moaning about. Apparently i
t’
s a big figure eight or something so it should
n’
t be hard to learn but the boys all say that you do
n’
t get enough time to do it all, so yo
u’
re always rushing.

“
Hmm, ok
,”
said Dean
,“
the driving conditions out there are gonna be crap, so yo
u’
re gonna be running late whatever yo
u’
re doing. And i
t’
s pretty bad out there now, so God knows what i
t’
s gonna be like when that ash starts to settle
!”
Then saying that Dean remembered the masks h
e’
d taken
.“
Talking about the ash
,”
he said
,“
you got a mask
?
”

“I’
ll just use my scarf
,”
said Gavin
,“I’
ll just pull it up over my mouth you know
.
”

“
Not a chance. Yo
u’
ll do that, as well as wear some of thes
e
OK!”

Dean took some of the disposable dust masks out of his pocket and made Gavin take them.

“
Make sure you wrap well as well, you heard the guy on TV
.
”

“
Yea, yea
,”
said Gavin rolling his eyes
.“
I know, ther
e’
s snow and shit so i
t’
s cold and all that
!
”

“Goo
d
, now get a move on and give me and Sam some peace, and
I’
ll see you later
.
”

“
Yea cool
,”
said Gavin sifting through his jumble of route notes as he disappeared down the hall.

After Dean had eaten he let Sam out before going up to bed. He let him out the front door instead of putting him in the back garden in the hope that the view over Inverness would be mostly hidden behind the house. It seemed to work, Sam only let out a low grumble but he was still aware of the anomaly in the sky, he knew something was up and he did
n’
t like it. As he went about his business Dean scanned the other houses while he waited, more people up and down the row of houses were out, busy clearing snow while their cars idled quietly in their driveways sending up plumes of exhaust gas as they warmed up inside and cleared the windscreens.

Back inside Sam shook the worst of the snow off then let Dean dry him with an old towel before bounding up to Dea
n’
s room where he snuggled in at the bottom of the bed and waited for Dean to catch up. They both fell asleep; blissfully unaware while outside the snow began to change.

It started to darken, it started to turn grey....

THE CONRAN PORPOISE OIL AND GAS DRILLING PLATFORM: SCOTTISH NORTH SEA

Steve Smith stood by a window on the top floor of the accommodation module, he was taking five after working his way along the whole level cleaning the cabins, changing the bedding and collecting laundry bags. He looked out the small window and marvelled at the ash. H
e’
d never seen anything even remotely like it.

He thought it was as though all the snow had been burnt in some Godly fire in the heavens above, and now it fell as ash.

The snow mixed with the ash as it fell turning grey and black. The snow was dirty, there was nothing virgin about it anymore.

At first, after the
y’
d heard the news about the incoming ash cloud and the electrical problems it brought with it, members of staff just blew it off saying that it would never drift far enough to reach them, and then it did.

Far off in the distance, the horizon began to darken. The darkness grew looking like an enormous tropical storm coming straight for them. Others said it was a storm and not the ash because of the thunder and lightning they could see and hear, but as it moved closer and it grew and grew, minds changed, and fast!

Some said it looked like one of those giant dust storms they get in America. Others said it looked just like the fallout from a mega volcano that the
y’
d seen on the Discovery channel. It swept towards them at incredible speed, a wall of bubbling, flowing, swirling dark greyish black ash full to its brim inside with deafening thunder and blinding lightning as far in any direction as anyone could see.

Before they knew it they were in near darkness with thunder and lightning raging overhead!

Steve looked down at the drilling floor from his vantage point; it was covered with the strange mixture of ash and snow like a thick dusty blanket.

The men down below on the drill floor were caked in ash. They were black, even blacker than usual. Young deckhands ran around doing their best to sweep the ashy snow overboard and keep the deck clear but they were
n’
t having much of an effect it was literally snowing ash faster than they could shovel it. Some guy on the drill floor, a supervisor, turned to one of the deck hands and launched a tirade of abuse at the poor guy. Steve could
n’
t hear what was being said but he had a good idea going by the body language.

Fuck that
,
he thought,
I’
d tell the guy to shove it, job or no job!

The door at the end of the corridor flew open, slapping off the wall with a bang making Steve flinch and Katie March burst through in combat mode.

“
Break time Stevie boy, ya coming
?”
she called.

“
Yo
u’
re late soldier
,”
he called back grinning. He liked Katie. She worked full time in the Territorial Army when she was on shore helping support an introductory Army training course for underprivileged kids, trying to show them that ther
e
wer
e
options in life, even for them. They just had to choose to take them. Steve had a lot of respect for her but occasionally he thought that she threw herself in to her work and duties so fully that she was actually trying to forget something, trying to bury it under her workload by never stopping long enough to think about anything else other than her work.

It worried him, h
e’
d witnessed her kind of behaviour before and through sad experiences knew that sooner or later the issue, whatever it was a person was trying to bury would come roaring up to the surface and burst through without warning and usually with dire consequences.

“I’
m not late civvie
,”
she said
,“I’
m here at exactly the same time that I planned to be here, no sooner, no later
.
”

Steve chuckled
.“
Ok
,”
he said
,“
whatever you say Rambo
.
”

“
Quit it civvie
,”
she said and smiling Steve left his vantage point grabbed his things and joined her, and together they started their journey to the canteen.

On the way they exchanged small talk about their flight home being cancelled due to the damn ash. Katie was supposed to be taking a group of cadets up in to the Cairngorm Mountains for three nights of learning how to survive in the wilderness in harsh conditions. Sh
e’
d really been looking forward to it telling Steve that the morale would be running high due to being so close to Christmas and all the rest of it, but it was out the window now. At least it was for her.

She just hoped that there was someone else available to take her place at such short notice and take the cadets in to the Mountains
.“
The cadets have been building up to this for so long, the
y’
ll be gutte
d”
, she said. Steve understood as he was desperate to get home as well. He had a young family waiting for him and he had
n’
t had a Christmas or New Year off in four years.

He literally could
n’
t wait to actually be there this year when the kids opened their presents instead of talking to them over the phone during his slotted phone call time that was always after the present opening ceremony.

Katie said that she had a bad feeling about the ash, especially after the news the
y’
d had of power failures on rigs further east in the Norwegian sector, not to mention one of the supply vessels losing all power as well, and tensions on the rig were already running high. Sh
e’
d already witnessed tempers flaring, and that was not a good way to start a potentially long stay on a rig with the strong possibility of a power failure.

“
Maybe i
t’
s just the initial thought of the forced stay, and it being Christmas as well
,”
she concluded. Steve agreed saying that he knew a lot of the guys on the rig were due a Christmas at home this time around, it would be even worse he said if the power died, it was bad enough that the rig had been ordered to shut down until the ash passed by he said, the men would
n’
t have work to take their mind off things, and add a blackout on top. That would really test peopl
e’
s patience.

Katie agreed saying that it would make things far worse with everyone just hanging about with nothing to do but think about missing Christmas at home.

Steve even wondered how Katie was going to hold up.

The two of them navigated through the rig, down through the accommodation block, passed offices via one steel stairway after another and along steel cladded corridors. Eventually they came out on to the main deck just along from the stores. They heard someone shouting and swearing as they approached. As they approached it became clear that something was kicking off between two people.

They approached cautiously with no other way round to avoid the action other than going back the way they came and coming down the opposite side of the rig or going outside, and neither fancied either, break time was already short enough. Then just as they were about to pass the entrance to the stores a huge bear of a guy in a grubby blue boiler suit came out of the store and burst right between them practically bowling them both over as he pushed through.

Partly ducking out of the way Steve called out
,“
Hey,
c’
mon man, watch it
!
”

The bear bellowed back
,
“
FUCK OFF!”
and disappeared out on to the drilling floor without even looking back.

“
What an arsehole eh
,”
said Katie.

“
Yo
u’
re telling me
!”
said Steve
,“
are you ok
?
”

“
Yea,
c’
mon civvie lunch is waiting
.”
But as they passed the stores counter Steve saw old Bob a friendly old guy who had worked offshore forever and a day. He always had a smile under his fuzzy white beard and a joke ready to tell, but right now he looked stressed and up tight. Steve figured h
e’
d been the one arguing with the arsehole
.“
Hey Bill you ok
?”
asked Steve.

Bill looked round at Steve turning his head slowly, and for a split second Steve thought that he felt panic stir deep inside him. Bill looked different, almost threatening, in an unhinged kind way.

“
Yea
I’
m fine
,”
he growled
,“
that new tool pushe
r’
s a fucking cunt
.
”

Stevie was taken aback by old Bil
l’
s response, h
e’
d never heard him swear, nor could he have imagined old Bill shouting and swearing at the big guy like h
e’
d just heard him doing.

Katie chuckled at old Bil
l’
s response, swearing was as commonplace offshore as it was in the army.

“
Oh right
,”
said Steve
,“
h
e
wa
s
in a bit of a hurry eh! I suppose h
e’
s stressed out trying to shut things down in case we lose power eh
.
”

“
Fuck knows wha
t’
s wrong with any of them
,
”
blurted old Bill
.“
The
y’
re all going fucking loopy working out in that shitty fucking ash.
I’
ll be ready for him next time I bump in to him though I tell ya
I’
ll fucking end the cunt
!
”

As he finished his tirade old Bill spun round and started kicking one of the filing cabinets as hard as he could. Steve almost flinched
.“
Fuck em, fuck em, fuck em
,”
he shouted and then he spat on the cabinet and roared
,
“FUCK ALL THE CUNTS,”
an
d
then he took of down one of the aisles and disappeared deeper in to the store out of sight. Steve looked at Katie with raised eyebrows.

“
Wow
,”
she said
,“
poor gu
y’
s loosing the plot eh
?
”

“
Yea
,”
said Steve looking at the big dent in the side of the filing cabinet
.“
I
t’
s not like old Bill at all. H
e’
s usually always really laid back, but that was pretty wild eh
!
”

“
Yea, he was certainly that, he even freaked me out a bit
,”
said Katie.

Steve nodded
,“C’
mon
,”
he said
.“
Le
t’
s go
,”
and he turned to lead the way and as they went Katie peered through a window looking out on to the drill floor. It was more like looking at the inner workings of a coal mine than the drilling floor on an oil rig. Everyone looked like they were standing in a giant cloud of coal dust. The men were just black silhouettes moving around out there.

Suddenly the lights dimmed, and then flickered!

“C’
mon
,”
said Steve
,“
le
t’
s hit the canteen before the power goes out
.
”

“
Oh
,”
said Katie
,“
I would
n’
t say no to a candle lit meal with my favourite civvie
.
”

Steve chuckled half-heartedly and they picked up the pace leaving the drill floor and the stores long behind them as another blazing row broke out somewhere out on the drill floor.