Continued from my "The Day of the Triffids" article on HubpagesWhile spending the night in an ex show flat, Bill and Jo spotted a light coming from the university tower which must have meant there were other people who could still see. They waited until the morning to investigate. The next day, it turned out that the old university was occupied by an army major with a couple of soldiers standing guard at the gates. It transpired that a group of sighted people had got together inside but their leader refused to let the hungry masses of blind people in. Jack
Coker MAURICE
COLBOURNE was leading the blind group but shots were fired and they ran away. They only accepted sighted people in the compound. Bill and Jo had a heated discussion as to whether it was right to join this group or try and help the blind who at present far out numbered the few sighted people left. In the end they reluctantly decided to join the group.
Once there Bill met the group"s leader
Beadley DAVID SWIFT who said they had about 35 sighted plus a few blind people there and were gathering supplies to prepare to leave London the next day and build a community in the country That evening, everyone gathered round to hear him, the major and the woman medical officer give a speech on what the future may hold. They outlined that many of the rules and traditions of the past would not apply in this new world. These included two person marriages and monogamous relationships which would be scrapped in favour of a man having several wives, including blind women who would give birth to as many healthy babies as possible.
That night, Bill was suddenly woken up by smoke and a fire alarm going off. While trying to escape, he tripped and fell down the stairs and was knocked unconscious. When he came to, he found himself tied up and locked in one of the old army cells. Dazed and confused, he heard the door unlock and blind Alf JOHN
HOLIS entered with a drink. It turned out that
Coker"s gang had broke in and set fire to some rubbish and put trip wires across the stairs.
Coker soon showed up and explained to Bill (whether he liked it or not) that he will lead a designated blind team which he would guide in their search for food while being chained to Alf. They would have to find somewhere to live and then they would be on their own. Credit to Alf though, he told Jo (who had been assigned another group) where Bill was.
Once outside he found a boarding house to stay but unfortunately, some of it"s occupants had a mysterious illness so they were moved next door. While he was out with his group, they were shot at from across the river by a hostile gang. Alf was shot dead so Bill had to unlock his handcuff from him. Problem was he was also chained to another group member who refused to hand him the key. After overpowering him, he freed himself and led the group to a grocery store aware that the gang may be looking for them. While he was exploring the cellar, there was a disturbance upstairs, triffids had attacked and killed the hostile gang member who had arrived to seek them out. Escaping out the back, Bill and the group made it back to the guesthouse. During the night, a blind girl went to his room and told him that the group did not think that he would stay with them so they sent her to be his companion or even lover to try and entice him to stay. Bill thought, turned her away.
The next morning all was quiet. The girl had caught the illness and said that the others had gone because they thought Bill would leave them anyway. The girl"s condition deteriorated rapidly so she asked him to get some pills to end her misery. He then resumed his search for Jo which led him to a large hotel. By the time he got there, the very ill hotel manager said that Jo and her group had gone already as some had died from the illness. He then made his way back to the university only to be met by
Coker who by now had given up his idea of leading the blind as his group were also dying. They both called a truce and after seeing
Tyesham Manor written on the blackboard, decided to set out there the next day.
Jack
Coker and Bill set off to
Tyseham Manor in separate army supply lorries. Once there, they met the group"s leader Miss Darwin
PETULA NEILSON. Devoutly christian, she
didn"t agree with the original plans of
Beadley and the major back at the university. Jack tried unsuccessfully to persuade her that it should be the group"s priority to survive. that collecting supplies in this new world was not theft for instance and they
shouldn"t take in any more blind survivors. After telling miss Darwin they"d come back in a few days, Bill and Jack set off again and stopped at a pub, empty of course after the blinded owner had died of a triffid sting. They discussed the future. and Bill suddenly remembered a conversation that he had with Jo when they first met. She mentioned that she would find this cottage in the south downs near
Pullborough.which came with it"s own self sufficiency farm. It even had it"s own electricity generator. They decided to go their own separate ways at least.for now..
After traveling for a few hours, a little girl called Susan waived him down and jumped in the lorry with her dog. She was the first person Bill had seen alive since
Tyesham Manor. She was on her own after her family had died of triffid attacks. It was still daylight when they arrived in the general area of the cottage.and scanned the hills for any signs of life but he decided it was better to wait until nightfall. Any lighting in the dark would almost certainly mean a sign of human life. By then he had drifted off to sleep but Mary was still awake.because of a storm.
Suddenly she saw a light in the distance and woke Bill. He flicked the lorry headlights on and off in a
Morse code fashion. The distant light responded likewise. Filled with excitement, they slowly drove towards it but it was hard to keep it in sight due to the driving rain..Eventually they stopped and saw somebody holding a torch.just a few yards away. At he got out and walked towards them, he realised to his overwhelming relief that it was Jo. .
Jo said said that she"d found the cottage and farm that she had mentioned before and settled with it"s very welcoming owners Mary JENNY
LIPMAN and her blinded husband Dennis DESMOND ADAMS. After a few days Bill set off back to
Tyesham Manor.but a huge shock awaited him. Bodies were everywhere, lying on
mattresses on the floor. They seemed to have either
succumbed to triffid attacks or the mysterious
illness they had witnessed back in London. There were makeshift graves outside. Jack was right, they could never have survived their setup. He even wondered if Jack was among them.
For the time being, they decided to stay at the cottage as they had everything they needed supplemented by the occasional trips into towns and cities for fuel and supplies. They even managed to keep the triffids out with electrified fences. For six years they lived in relative tranquility.
