I wanted to learn Joe’s location and send a message to Lucy. The rest didn’t matter to me. Tanya, Jax and Sam were on a mission to save the country but just a glance at the nasties following us along the road told me the country was already fucked.
If it was true that America was virus-free, then that was my ultimate destination. I wanted to sail there with Lucy, Joe and my parents. My lack of navigational skills meant I couldn’t guarantee if we would hit the coast of Florida or end up in Maine but anywhere was better than here. This place now belonged to the army and the virus. Let them fight it out. I wanted no part of it.
It would be a couple of hours before we reached the marina at this speed. I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. The dream of reaching America with my family and Lucy seemed too far away to even think about.
I couldn’t think past the cold reality of our current situation.
I had no idea where Lucy was.
My family was trapped in an unknown Survivors Camp.
We were driving to a marina guarded by the military.
And our only weapon was a herd of fifty zombies.
Chapter 15
Almost two hours later, we reached the marina. The road we were on hit a crossroad ahead then carried on down a slope to the waterfront street where the marina shop was located.
We could see the cliffs ahead and beyond them, the rough sea churned beneath dark clouds.
Tanya looked at the zombie horde in the rear-view mirror. They still followed us. They were slow but relentless in their shambling pursuit. “We need to ditch the Land Rover,” she said. Her voice was tense.
There was no sign of the army and we couldn’t see the beach without going to the edge of the cliff. We knew they were down there, though. We knew we were putting ourselves in danger if we went down there.
We had to lead the zombies down the slope if we were going to create a diversion. Without the diversion, we had no way of stealing a boat.
“Everyone, get ready to bail,” Tanya said tightly. She pressed the brake, stopped the Land Rover and got out.
We all did the same. The zombies, seeing us on foot, moaned with hunger.
“What are we going to do?” I asked. “Just walk down there?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Tanya arranged the straps on her backpack and set off towards the crossroads.
The herd was getting closer.
With the zombies behind us and the army in front of us, we were truly between a rock and a hard place. I felt my hands trembling. My mouth was dry and my stomach felt queasy. Why had I agreed to this?
I held my baseball bat loosely, all too aware how useless it would be against guns.
The zombies had reached the Land Rover. They skirted around it, showing no interest in the abandoned vehicle. Their glaring yellow eyes were fixed on us, their intended prey.
“Let’s move,” Sam said, marching after Tanya.
Jax and I quickened our pace and we caught up with Tanya. There was a tense atmosphere in the air and I knew it was because of the seriousness of our situation. We were walking into an outpost of soldiers who would not hesitate to shoot us.
The order must have gone out to kill any civilians not in the camps. As far as the authorities were concerned, we may be alive now but we were probably going to get turned sooner or later. Better to kill us now and save the army having to fight us later when we joined the rotting ranks of the undead.
We reached the crossroads. The road ahead dipped down to the sea. A small white sign had the words, “Beach Road” on it in raised black letters. In days gone by, that sign had probably brought joy to the faces of children who had come here on holiday. Now, it made me feel sick to my stomach.
We descended the slope to the street below. I had an urge to run to the marina shop and grab all the boat keys there but we had to slow our pace to make sure all the nasties followed us.
The street was deserted but I could see the beach beyond the shops. Soldiers milled about on the sand, guns slung over their shoulders. A collection of Land Rovers and APCs was parked on the asphalt and the sand.
A shout went up and the sound of shots cracked the air.
They had seen the undead herd.
As they ran towards us, I led my companions along the street, past the supermarket and across the road to the marina shop.
I risked a quick glance over my shoulder, expecting to see the zombies shuffling towards the soldiers but the sight at the end of the street made my blood run cold.
The zombies were heading for the shops, shambling in through the open doorways.
They were easy targets for the soldiers.
More shots rang along the street and the zombies started falling as head shots blew their rotted brains out through their decaying skulls.
“Why aren’t they attacking the soldiers?” I whispered to Tanya.
“I don’t know,” she replied, “but this isn’t creating a diversion at all. The soldiers are just picking them off. Why are the zombies taking cover?”
Then everything became clear as a cold drop of water hit my arm, followed by another.
Our plan had failed.
It was raining.
Chapter 16
I pushed open the door of the shop and we got inside quickly, staying low and in the shadows. The shop was quiet and gloomy. I doubted anyone had been in here since I had hidden from the feral survivors.
Outside, the rain came down with a vengeance, lashing against the windows and battering on the glass door.
We sat in the darkness, leaning against the wall. An air of frustration hung over the group and it was completely understandable. We had spent hours luring zombies here to distract the military only to have them take cover from the rain and cause no problem at all for the soldiers.
“Now what do we do?” I asked.
“We could wait until it gets dark,” Jax suggested. “Sneak out there and try to get a boat before they spot us.”
“Or just wait until the rain stops,” I said. “Those zombies will come pouring out of the shops. The soldiers will have to deal with them.”
Tanya shook her head. “We’ve lost the element of surprise. They’ll deal with them easily now. Listen.”
Beyond the windows, shots continued. The zombies were being destroyed as they took cover. Soon they would all be dead—our only advantage lost because of the weather.
“So we’re trapped here,” I said.
“This sucks, man,” Sam added.
Tanya was quiet. She looked around the shop. “Does that door lead to the boats?”
I nodded. “Yeah. There’s a gravel beach that leads down to the water. The boats are all out there, tied to the jetties.”
She crept forward on her hands and knees and retrieved a small pair of black binoculars from the floor. Staying low, she shuffled to the windows that looked out over the marina and cautiously lifted her head. She frowned and brought the binoculars to her eyes, scanning the beach.
She adjusted the focus and whispered, “What the hell?”
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“I…don’t know. There are only a couple of soldiers on the jetties. Everyone else is on the beach. There’s a big tent there. I don’t know…take a look.”
Sam crept forward and took the binoculars. “What the fuck are they doing, man?”
The curiosity was killing me. I found a pair of binoculars on the floor and trained them on the sandy beach. The rain smeared the window and made it hard to see clearly but almost all of the soldiers were gathered outside a large olive tent.
They were lined up outside in the rain, filing in when they were called. Two Land Rovers parked next to the tent had the army medical symbol on their doors, a red cross in a white square.
I adjusted the focus and concentrated on a soldier coming out of the tent. He rubbed his arm gingerly through his combat jacket.
“They’re being inoculated,” I said. “They must have a vaccine or something.” Was it possible
they had a vaccine against the virus?
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Tanya said. “They’re all over there on the beach. I count four soldiers on the jetties, two on each. This is our chance.” She went over to the sales counter and rummaged around until she found a bunch of keys. She brought them over and spread them on the floor.
Five silver-coloured keys, each on a ring that also held a round neon yellow plastic float, so the keys wouldn’t sink if dropped overboard, and a white plastic tag stamped with a number. On the reverse of the number tag was the slogan, “Sail To Your Destiny” written in dark green script.
I arranged the tags so they were all number-side up.
*
“Can we see any of these boats out there?” I asked, pointing my binoculars towards the moored boats.
Tanya did the same. “I see 71,” she said. “It’s tied to the jetty on the right, closest boat to the shore.”
“That means we’d have to sail it out past all the other boats before we got out to sea,” I replied. “Keep looking.”
“We need to hurry,” Jax said, “Some of the soldiers are coming back.”
At the moment, there were only two soldiers on each jetty. They stood in the rain with their weapons slung over their shoulders. They looked bored. I didn’t intend to provide them with action to relieve that boredom. If possible, I wanted to sneak past them unnoticed.
I hurriedly scanned the names and numbers on the boats. “I see 42. She’s all the way out at the end of the jetty. Near the fuel pump.”
Tanya adjusted her binoculars and searched for the boat.
Jax sounded panicked. “We need to move.”
“There’re four soldiers coming this way, man,” Sam said.
“Let’s go,” Tanya said, opening the door. “We’ll go for 42 but bring all the keys just in case.” She scooped them up and went out into the rain.
I followed her out. As soon as I got onto the pebbled beach, I was soaked. The cold rain hissed down onto the beach and the sea. Tanya was headed for the jetty but I caught her arm and pointed to the yellow rowboat lying on the pebbles.
It was the boat I had tried to take out once before. The tide had brought it back in and beached it. We went over to it and glided it into the water before climbing aboard.
Sam took the oars and began to row us out, keeping to the sterns of the moored boats to provide us with more cover.
I hoped the rain and boredom had dulled the senses of the soldiers on the jetties.
We were silent as we slid through the waves. The water slapped against the hull of the rowboat and the oars made splashing sounds as Sam raised them dripping from the sea but none of us spoke or even dared whisper.
I focused on the stern of boat number 42. Beneath the number, the boat’s name was painted in blue. Lucky Escape. I gripped the wet wooden edges of the rowboat tighter and willed it to go faster. We were exposed out here. What had made me think trying to sneak a bright yellow boat past soldiers was a good idea? My poor judgement could kill us all.
A moment later, as I was still gripping the edges of the rowboat and trying to concentrate only on the Lucky Escape, a shout went up from the jetty.
The soldiers on the jetty nearest us were hidden by the boats tied in their slips but the soldiers on the opposite side of the marina had seen us and were shouting and pointing.
“Fuck!” Tanya said, hitting the side of the rowboat in frustration.
The soldiers across the marina unslung their weapons. I could hear the soldiers closest to us running along the jetty, their boots pounding the wooden slats as they tried to get into a position where they could see us.
“We’re going to have to swim for it,” Tanya shouted. “If we stay in this boat, we’re dead.”
As if to confirm what she was saying, a bullet smacked into the hull of the rowboat.
We all jumped.
Chapter 17
The freezing water shocked my body as I went under. I surfaced, gasping for breath.
More shouting erupted from somewhere close.
I swam for boat number 42 along with Tanya, Jax and Sam.
There was so much splashing, I wasn’t sure if we were still being fired at.
Tanya got to the Lucky Escape first. She lifted herself out of the water and climbed the stern ladder with ease. As she vaulted onto the aft deck, she leaned over and shouted at me. “Come on, Alex!” She began fumbling with the keys, searching for the ones labelled 42.
I couldn’t swim any faster. The weight of my clothes dragged me down and swimming while holding a baseball bat was difficult.
“Untie the boat!” I shouted. A mouthful of salty water rushed into my mouth, making me gag. I spat it out and continued swimming.
Tanya darted to the front of the Lucky Escape and untied the ropes.
I looked toward the jetty. The two soldiers had almost reached the boat. They would be on the Lucky Escape in seconds.
Tanya climbed up the ladder to the bridge as Sam reached the stern. He pulled himself up onto the aft deck and untied the tire iron from his backpack.
The Lucky Escape’s engine coughed then died.
I heard Tanya curse from the bridge.
The engine spluttered again.
This time it started.
The water behind the boat churned up as Jax reached the ladder and got on board. I was almost there.
The two soldiers reached the bow and stepped onto the boat, their rifles waving at Sam and Jax. The two military men were young, probably in their early twenties. One had dark close-shaven hair, the other brown. Both looked nervous.
“Hey!” the dark-haired soldier shouted. “Stop!”
They moved forward.
Sam and Jax raised their hands. Sam still held his tire iron in his right hand.
While the dark-haired young man trained his weapon on Sam and Jax, the fair-haired soldier took a radio from his jacket and held it to his mouth. “This is Williams. We’ve got two people on a boat here. On the South jetty. Over.”
The reply came immediately. “Detain them. Do not let them get away. We’ll be there in a minute. Over.”
“Copy that,” Williams said. “Over and out.”
I reached the lowermost rung of the metal ladder that led up to the aft deck. Williams had said two people. The soldiers across the marina knew there were four of us but Williams and his companion hadn’t seen us. They didn’t know about me or Tanya.
I gripped my bat in one hand and curled my fingers around the metal ladder. Tanya, Sam and Jax had made it look easy to get on board the Lucky Escape in a matter of seconds but I knew it would take me a lot longer to pull myself out of the water and climb those few rungs then get over the chrome safety rail at the top. By the time I got up, I’d be shot easily.
Tanya dropped down out of the bridge and I heard scuffling. One of the soldiers shouted then dropped over the side into the water. His rifle, still clutched in his hands, fired a burst of three rounds. I reflexively flattened myself against the boat but the bullets hit the jetty, slamming into the wood with a trio of rapid thunks. The soldier splashed into the sea.
I climbed the ladder.
When I reached the top, Williams stood with his back to me. Tanya was poised in her fighter’s stance and Sam brandished his tire iron while Jax held her bat tightly.
Williams had no idea I was behind him.
I swung for his legs, hitting him on the backs of his knees.
He let out a grunt of surprise and went down to the deck, his gun toppling over the side of the boat.
“Get us out of here!” Tanya shouted to me.
I went up to the bridge and got the boat into reverse, backing away from the jetty slowly and turning the wheel to point our bow out to sea. Through the rain-smeared windows, I could see at least a dozen soldiers running up onto the jetty.
I took us out of reverse and increased the throttle as much as I dared to take us out of the marina. When the Lucky Escape started to move forward, I incre
ased our speed.
As we left the jetty behind, I let out a breath of relief but we still weren’t in the clear.
Shouts from behind us were followed by the sharp crack of rifle shots.
“I can’t believe they’re firing on us when we have one of their soldiers on board, man,” Sam said. “That’s fucked up.”
I looked back. Half a dozen soldiers were firing at us while the other half ran back along the jetty. The dark-haired soldier, Williams’ companion, was pulling himself out of the water and climbing one of the jetty ladders.
Either we were out of range or the soldiers were bad shots; none of their bullets hit our boat. When we increased the distance between us and the marina, they stopped trying and stood watching us.
I looked down at the aft deck. Sam was standing over Williams, looking towards the marina. He said to Williams, “Can you swim, man?”
Williams nodded.
Sam pushed him over the side.
Williams went under for a moment, surfaced, then started a slow breaststroke back to shore.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I shouted down at Sam.
He looked up. “Why not? He said he can swim.”
“We could have got some information out of him. We could have found out what they were doing in that tent.”
Sam sighed. “You should have said that, man.”
He dived over the side and started swimming towards Williams in a fast front crawl.
What the fuck was he doing? Didn’t he realise we had to get out of here? I slammed the Lucky Escape into neutral and we bobbed on the waves of our own wake as the rain continued to lash down on deck.
Not that it mattered. We were all soaked to the skin from our dip in the sea. I shivered with cold.
Sam reached Williams and grabbed him around the neck, dragging him back through the water like a lifeguard rescuing a drowning victim. Faced with superior strength and size, Williams seemed resigned to his fate and let Sam bring him back to the boat.
Tanya and Jax helped get Williams on board and sat him on the cream-coloured, padded vinyl bench that ran around the bow.
Undead Rain Trilogy Box Set Page 22
