(Chapter 18) Catherine & Jack

The following interview was transcribed verbatim from a recorded session and written alongside several personal observations.

Yet another couple, which is still very encouraging, it seems like the Protocol worked as it should for the most part. Another male and female, elderly which seems to be the standard for this town. Similar heights, which are around five-ten to eleven, both have long hair, something of a rocker vibe, very kind, honest faces.

AA - Thank you both for joining me at such a late hour, I won't keep you too long.

CH - No worries, makes a change from looking at homework!

JH - Save me from the paperwork…

AA - Well, that's as good a place to start as any. Would you both please both introduce yourself for the sake of the record?

CH - Anything, in particular, we should say?

AA - Oh, just the very basics, name and age.

CH - Catherine Harrison aged sixty-five.

JH - Jack Harrison aged sixty-seven.

AA - Perfect, thank you. So, can you tell me what it is you do around here?

CH - We're what passes for education around here.

JH - That's fair, though Catherine is the real teacher.

CH - Jack! You have no idea how much you help around here.

AA - Do either of you specialise in a particular subject or is it more general than that>

JH - I wouldn't exactly say our curriculum is Ofsted approved.

CH - Not that I ever gave a shit about their opinion…

(Jack leans into fake-whisper in my ear.)

JH - It's a touchy subject with her.

CH - Well...they're dead now so I win. Anyway, it's more of a general education.

JH - Not many kids arrive with the convoys, dunno why.

CH - Well it's mostly people our age that end up here, we've had a few younger ones, but even then they've been twenty or so.

JH - Yeah, up until fairly recently we haven't needed a school in town.

AA - Recently?

CH - Well, that's when the scavenging teams started finding kids.

JH - Just out in the wild. I think people around here are starting to call them 'The Lost.'.

CH - Needless drama, but they're not being singled out really.

JH - Not that they exactly blend in mind. They're the only kids around town right now.

CH - Most have been with us a few months now and they've adjusted very well.

AA - Sorry, I'm still stuck on children that have been found in the wild?

CH - Yeah, it's a weird story but honestly, no one has an explanation at this point.

JH - The first team to find them were a little freaked out, to be honest.

CH - Jack was there actually.

JH - Yeah, I was on one of those teams before Catherine needed help in the school.

CH - What's weird is there was a building dedicated to be a schoolhouse before any of them even arrived.

JH - We got here after a little while, you see. The town was fairly well set up by then, Roger wanted to make sure every eventuality was accounted for.

AA - Yes, I'll have to ensure I can meet him at some point.

CH - Don't listen to what people say about him, Roger and his missus Elliott are the nicest people, even by this place's standards.

JH - Anyway, I signed up with a salvage team and Catherine was helping Roger out with admin stuff.

CH - Stick to what we know I guess!

AA - So you were teachers before everything?

JH - Catherine was, I worked a few jobs. The band kept my attention for the most part.

CH - Excellent drummer, but he knows a few other instruments so that's why I keep him around these days.

(They briefly squeeze each other's hands before continuing.)

CH - Anyway, yes, the children. Jack, take it away!

JH - Well, we had just gutted a building and loaded a truck with a bunch of stuff, building supplies mainly. Then we saw one.

AA - A child?

JH - Yeah, perfectly normal human child. Just standing in the middle of the street. A bit ragged and dirty, but just a lost little girl. She just stared at us, a group of twelve adults loading up a truck.

CH - Makes me shudder every time.

JH - We didn't know what the hell to do, the world is a weird place but this was...something new entirely.

CH - Luckily, there was a woman there that knew how to handle it.

JH - We would've gotten there eventually. But yeah, a woman from our group approached the little girl, she looked like she would just bolt but she calmed down eventually.

AA - This is the first account I have of something like this happening. What happened then?

JH - We spent some time getting to know her, making sure she was comfortable with us and all that.

CH - They had the foresight to send half of the group back with the loot, then the teachers were brought out.

AA - That would be you?

CH - Indeed it was! Poor thing was scared out of her mind, but the rest of the crew had managed to calm her down.

JH - Yeah, she let us get closer. We kept asking her questions and tried to talk to her but we hadn't managed to pry anything loose.

CH - They stayed a little ways back while I talked to her, we gave her some food and that seemed to be the trigger.

AA - She spoke to you?

JH - No, she ran away.

CH - Jack! She didn't run away, she wanted to lead us somewhere.

JH - After a bit of a trail, and a lot of uncomfortable glances over our shoulders, we saw what she was leading us to a mile off.

CH - It was...sort of a camp, I guess?

AA - And what was waiting for you at this 'sort of' camp?

JH - More of the same.

AA - More lost children?

CH - A lot more. Thirty-seven to be precise.

JH - We were all on edge, not knowing who should make a move first. Luckily a little girl came to our rescue.

AA - The same you had met?

CH - Yeah, after a few gestures the kids came forward to...inspect us I guess. A ragged, terrified bunch of lost kids.

JH - We tried to guess at how old they were, or how long they had been like this, but as far as we could tell they either didn't talk at all or just didn't want to.

CH - The group ranged from around seven to fourteen years old. Good health mostly, a few bumps and bruises of the type kids get from their day to day activity.

AA - Any sign of how they cared for themselves?

CH - Well, Jack and the boys had a look around but…

JH - We didn't find anything. No set of tracks older than a day or two leading to and from the camp, the fire they were huddled around looked like it was massive before it burned down to what we saw.

CH - We gave them all more food and water, checked the worst of their injuries but we knew the doctors would have to take a look.

JH - We knew we had to get them back to town, just knew it. How we were going to do it presented a fucking logistical nightmare but we were pretty determined.

CH - Me and Jack stayed with them while the rest went back to get a couple of trucks.

AA - They went with you?

JH - Eventually.

CH - It took...well I suppose by the end it took a couple of days to get them back.

JH - Most of it was just convincing them to get in the trucks with us which, in hindsight and saying it out loud…

CH - I mean, we were trying to help them, but on paper a bunch of adults trying to shuffle a bunch of lost kids into a couple of trucks...well let's just say I'm glad the world ended. Or, well...not that but…

AA - It's quite alright, I get where you're coming from.

JH - Anyway, we got them back. Then it was a long process, maybe a couple of weeks, before we got them anywhere near settled down enough to give them some cursory examinations.

CH - The doctor's split them up, I don't think they've been as busy since they arrived in town. Took another week to get through them all…

AA - And the children during this time?

JH - I suppose 'feral' is the right way to describe them.

CH - Jack! Although I suppose he's right.

AA - Were there many..confrontations?

JH - Nah, people around here were still just amazed that we found them.

CH - They were the town puzzle for a while. Who they were, where they came from etcetera. No violence or anything like that.

JH - They kept sneaking out, finding places to hide, scared the pants off a few guards on the walls during the night. Mostly just kept to themselves in their little bunkhouse.

CH - We tore that section of town apart where we found them but kept coming up empty. No trace of where they came from, who or what their parents were, absolutely no trace.

JH - But, standard humans, the whole town just accepted them for who they were eventually.

CH - I started teaching them in their bunkhouse.

AA - How did they take to education?

CH - Slowly, we had to start with the basics. And I really mean the basics, how to clean themselves, care for themselves. How to act and behave as they should be at their...respective ages.

JH - This is about when I became the substitute teacher for the town kids.

AA - Oh?

JH - Catherine was devoting all her time to the new kids, I thought it was only fair I lend her a hand where I could.

CH - He did it very well too.

(They hold hands and smile at each other.)

JH - Well, it was just the basic stuff really. Reading and writing mainly, a little bit of history where I could remember it. Usually just ended up giving me a bad head.

CH - It does to everyone, the doctors haven't been able to figure out why.

AA - I've heard a few other people complain about that.

JH - Is it the same for you?

AA - Hm? Oh yes, terribly bad head and all the rest of it. Now back to these children, I see so many running around the town.

JH - They're all pretty well adjusted by now.

CH - Yeah, they blend with the town kids just fine. They're all the town kids now really, they can read and write as well as anyone who grew up with it.

AA - And who do they all stay with?

JH - Some have been adopted.

CH - Jack and I took two in ourselves, the rest mainly wanted to stay in their bunkhouse. So we did it all up and...well I suppose it's the town orphanage now.

AA - And since then?

JH - Oh yeah, that was just the first group we found.

CH - But by far the biggest. Since then the teams have mainly found them in groups of two to fifteen or so.

AA - And does the same system work?

JH - For the most part, yeah.

CH - Obviously we tweaked it a little. We talked to Roger and Elliott and we've got a protocol in place for it now.

AA - And you still accept them all?

(Jack shrugs.)

JH - Why wouldn't we?

CH - They're just lost kids at the end of the day. Even if they are an utter enigma, once they've settled in they're just like everyone else.

AA - I assume you've asked them where they came from?

JH - Shit, that never occurred to us.

CH - Jack!

AA - No offence caused, I admit it's something of an obvious question.

JH - Fair, I'm tired.

CH - We do ask, but it's like asking us what we did before the world ended.

AA - Bad head and so forth?

CH - Basically.

JH - Or they freak out entirely, the first time it happened it took days to calm them down enough to talk to them again.

CH - Easier just to avoid the topic altogether now, we just accept them as our own.

JH - They're part of the tribe now.

AA - What a noble sentiment. Well, I have enough to be going on with, for now, I appreciate the two of you taking the time to speak with me this afternoon. Best of luck in your classrooms!

END

They left after some pleasantries, but I have to say if nothing else could have given me a glimpse into the purest heart of humanity, this was it.

This town, stretched as their resources already are, willingly and happily accepts children that were found in the 'wilds' without asking any questions or thinking twice.

That attitude could serve to seal the fate of humanity once and for all or catapult them into a new age of prosperity.