Surviving The Evacuation (Book 1): London by Frank Tayell Page A

conclusions was that an evacuation of our urban areas was the only practical solution to the problems we were about to face. The only other choice was to tell the country to stay inside, barricade their homes and hope that the zombies would die or decay before the uninfected starved. Some in the cabinet office wanted to extend that idea and use our nuclear arsenal to destroy those urban areas. That would reduce the pressure on what were increasingly scarce resources, but there was a very real risk that an action like this would bring about the anarchy and chaos that we could see taking grip elsewhere.
    Our Thin Blue Line was stretched taut , even bolstered as it was by camouflage green. The only thing stopping the mass desertions that had spelled the end for Russia was that our troops had nowhere on the entire planet left to flee too. We needed to give people hope, and asking them to stay put was never going to do that.
    The plan was simple. With close to thirty million citizens, tourists and refugee's in our cities and urban areas it had to be. With no food coming in except that which could be stolen from aid depots and foreign shipping, with refineries running out of oil to process, with what little fuel we did have being reserved for coastal defence, the situation was dire and would swiftly turn to collapse.
    First we would move the people to the coast where it would be easier to distribute what we could steal and fish. Then our aim was, or is, I suppose, to begin massive agricultural works. With the sea at our backs, we'll push forward and reclaim the island. It's not the greatest plan, I see that now, but we had so little time.
     
    Six days after New York the announcement was made that there was to be an evacuation. No date was set and only scant details were given, but following an increase in riots and curfew breaking, people needed to know that there was a plan, that someone was still governing. The citizens were told to prepare. Those that could would have to walk, or cycle, up to forty miles to a muster point from where they would be transported to an evacuation zone. Those that couldn’t make such a journey would be transported by train or bus.
    Each city had its own evacuation plan, with cities split by postcode, each given a different muster point. The bridges over and the tunnels under the Thames had been closed, so for London there was a roughly North-South split.
    As soon as it was announced restrictions on travel were increased. Most motorways and many A-roads were closed to the little traffic that was left so protective fences could be erected along the routes the evacuees were going to use. Anyone caught trying to leave a city without a permit was lucky if they ended up working on one of the gangs fortifying the roads.
     
    Not everyone had to stay and wait. The doctors, nurses, scientists, engineers, logisticians, builders, plumbers, electricians and others whose skills were needed to cater to the basic needs of the tens of millions of refugees were evacuated, along with their families, over that first week.
    Then there were those who remained behind. In order to prevent the kind of anarchy seen in Sao Paulo the appearance of normality had to be preserved. That's why the football matches were shown on TV, it's why the roads were swept, why the dentists stayed open.
    I’m proud of that last one. I couldn’t think of a better way to reassure people that Britain still functioned than by telling everyone to visit the dentist. A lot of people did. It's pretty clear that of all the priorities after the evacuation, dental supplies are going to be very low on the list and we don't want to worry about the loss of labour during the first harvests because of tooth decay. I know, this sounds really petty, but by keeping dentists open, by making all treatment free again, by telling people to go now, because they really wouldn't get a chance in the near future, it made the evacuation real. No, it was more than that,