The Fog - James Herbert [119]
‘Take it easy,’ said Holman soothingly, feeling pity for the man. How many countless others had gone through the same thing that morning? How many loved ones had turned on one another, tried to kill, to maim the people that meant most to them? How many had killed themselves so far? Was this man lucky because the disease had not affected him or was he unlucky because he’d had to witness what had happened to his wife, to watch her go insane, to fight her to save his own life? ‘Don’t talk about it anymore,’ he said. ‘I’ll try to get you to a safe place.’
The man looked up at Holman, his tears under control again. ‘No, I want to talk about it. You’re the only normal person I’ve spoken to. I tried to get help from others, but they’re all the same; they’re all mad. Why not us, why haven’t we gone mad? Why hasn’t it done anything to us?’
Holman hesitated. Should he tell him the chances were that eventually the disease would destroy his brain cells and he, too, would become insane; that the time varied from person to person, that the parasite cells took longer to multiply in some than they did in others? Perhaps he could get him back to base in time for Janet Halstead to go to work on him. He was only one, one life, but at least it was something positive amongst all this carnage. The mission was scrapped now, there was nothing he could do on his own; perhaps he could come back in the other vehicle once they’d located the nucleus again, but in the meantime he could try to save this one life.
Fortunately, he did not have to answer the man’s question, for he was talking again, reliving the horror of that morning. ‘I tied her up. I didn’t know what else to do. I was afraid of her, afraid of my own wife. She came out of her daze as I was tying her. She didn’t struggle, didn’t say anything at first – just stared at me with those eyes. Those terrible eyes. I was afraid to look at them; they were so – so hate filled!’ He shook his head as though to erase the memory. ‘And then she began to speak. Such filth! I couldn’t believe it. I’d never known her even to swear before, but the filth, the obscenities that came from her! I couldn’t believe such thoughts could exist in someone, especially not her! She’s always been so good, so gentle. I couldn’t stand it; I couldn’t stand to listen to her, I couldn’t stand to look at her eyes! Oh God, I didn’t know what I should do!
‘I knew I had to get away, to get out of London, and I knew my only chance would be in the car, I didn’t know what it would be like out on the streets, but I knew I couldn’t stay there. The drive was terrible. I couldn’t go too fast in the fog. I was afraid of crashing, and the people that I saw . . . lunatics. Some were like vegetables; just standing by the roadside, not moving. I saw people crawling along the gutters. I saw some sitting in burning cars, others making love in the streets. One man I saw was stabbing himself; standing in a doorway stabbing his own body with a knife. Oh thank God I met you! I think I would have gone mad myself if I hadn’t. I got lost, you see. I didn’t know where I was going and things just seemed to be getting worse and worse.’
‘Did you make sure your wife was securely tied before you left her?’ asked Holman, still keeping a wary eye on the road ahead, knowing he would have