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A blanket of heat stifled the air. All the windows were open but no relief. Soon the storm must break The fridge was working overtime. I took the brie out of the fridge ready to spread on crispbreads for my lunch.

The Brie cheese was the beginning, at least for me though for others it may have been different. An hour later I set a place at the kitchen table, made a coffee and sat down to enjoy my frugal repast.

The first thing or rather things I saw after removing the cling film cover was a speckling of black dots. Someone, I thought, had shaken black pepper over the cheese. Before I had voiced my curses the dots began to raise and rotate like minute radar. My stomach heaved. Last night I had eaten some of the cheese in the dark.

By the time I had vomited my breakfast and returned to the kitchen the creatures had grown and multiplied. I sealed the cheese in a freezer bag and disposed of it in the wheelie bin. It was another hour before I could face food again.

The question was what to eat? There was cheese in the fridge but I didn't fancy it. So it would have to be a tin of something.

The phone rang just as I was opening a tin of corned beef.

"There has been an announcement on the radio,' my sister said." All tins of corned beef should be disposed of unopened.'

I turned to look at my partially opened tin. I screamed, dropped the phone.

"What is it?" My sister shouted.

Through the cut edge of the tin a long flat worm like creature was emerging. I picked up the carver and sliced off its head which then began to make its way across the breakfast bar. The Main body continued to ooze forward.

Steeling myself I slashed again and again but in vain. Each segment took on a life of its own and soon the breakfast bar was covered with the slimy trails. I dropped the knife and closing the kitchen door ran to the lounge where I picked up the phone and with shaking hands dialled 999. I don't know what I expected but not the placating remarks I got after hysterically asking for help. I was told to hold and I heard a voice say, "infestation" before a man said.

"Speak to no one. Close all windows and doors and stay put we will be with you shortly." The line went dead before I could protest. There was no way I was going back into the kitchen.

I might have obeyed the order to stay put but as I returned to the hall I saw the creatures emerging under the kitchen door. That did it! I picked up my bag and coat, locked the door and ran down the road to my car. I didn't have a garage and last night there had been no room outside my house. I jumped into my car.

Before I had time to move a people carrier came hurtling down the road. As it passed I had a fleeting impression of several people in dark suits. It stopped outside my house. I almost got out to walk back but some six sense held me back. There was a noise like rocket on bonfire night, a pall of smoke then flames.

I gunned the engine and took off. I didn't put my foot down until I reached the main road. My first intention had been to go to my sister's. She already knew about the brie and I could ring from there to tell the infestation department where I was.

Now my plans changed. I turned off the main road into the spinney. I text her.

"Delete this message as soon as you have received it. Don't reply. They have fired my house. Say nothing just sit tight."

The caravan! It was housed on a private site between Scarborough and Whitby. The site was an isolated plot above a small stream. Aunt kept it for her own use and did not let it even to the family but she had to go into hospital. She had sent the key so that one of us could check on it from time to time.

I drove the four hours without stopping. Parking was in a lane just past the site but as I had no luggage it wasn't a problem. Food was.

The van was well equipped with it's own water supply. I checked the cupboards. Enough tins to keep me going, an unopened packet of tea and a tin of dried milk. There was a tin of corn beef - pass on that. A tin of soup would do for now.

Turn on the gas cylinder - it was empty. So something cold. Beans straight from the tin washed down with cold water. Tomorrow I would have to risk going to Whitby surely it would be safe enough. No knew me and if they did they couldn't know I was being hunted.

I shopped at a supermarket. Less likely to be remembered than at a small local shop. I bought bread, butter, eggs bacon and sausage - no cheese though. So I'm a basic cook The freezer and the micro wave are my usual suppliers.

The gas cylinder took some finding. A hardware shop directed me to a caravan site outside of town. I bought a newspaper and studied it from cover to cover. No mention of me so I judged it safe. The site manager offered to deliver and fix the cylinder for me but that would be too great a risk.

After three days of stultifying boredom I sent a text message to my sister. Damn! Her battery must have run out. I had switched mine off to conserve the battery. I walked by the river for over an hour arguing with the birds as to whether I should pluck up courage and return. Perhaps the men in dark suit were nothing to do with the fire. These things happen.

I would return home.

So much for decisions there was a police barrier at the entrance to the town.

"Sorry Miss, no one allowed in or out."

"Why?"

"Don't know perhaps a chemical factory has gone up."

I made several more attempts to phone Eve but no joy. I drove to the spinney and slept until dark. Then abandoning the car I set out on foot reaching the outskirts before dawn.

Eve was already up and about.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you." She said.

"Aunt Beth's caravan. I tried to text you several times. What is going on?"

"I don't know. Something to do with food poisoning. All our food has been confiscated We have been issued with pills and a kind of hard biscuit. It's horrible."

"We have to get out of here," I told her.

We waited until nightfall before making our way back to the car. Three hours later we arrived at the caravan we were both starving. I took the bacon out of the fridge. My mouth watered in anticipation.

Then they descended. A cloud of huge flies. We ran from the van to the car before we reached it a fork lightening spit the sky followed by a deafening clap of thunder. Then the rain came. The car sank into the mud. Eve offered me half her biscuit ration.

We slept. The sound of a plane flying low woke us.

"A frigging good job we've got the windows closed that plane is spraying the field."

We swept up the dead flies, threw away the food before driving into Whitby. Now our stomachs were protesting. We went to Trenchers fish parlour.

"You can have cod or haddock,' the cook told us but it has to be steamed. Can't make the batter all flour stocks have been withdrawn."

"Bread?" I queried.

He shook his head.

"No, nor chips, sorry it's something to do with pesticides and GM crops. Some nutter has contaminated the crops and the poison has got into the food chain. Still look on the bright side. The government says it has a stock pile of emergency supplies it was storing in case of an atomic war."