“It’s a half mile swim,” I said, “and the sea’s getting choppy.”
Tanya looked at me. “Have you got a better idea? It looks like there’s a storm coming. If we stay out here with no engine, we’ll get washed up on shore and become hybrid chow.”
Johnny winced and I realised he was thinking about Cheryl.
Tanya seemed oblivious. “That’s not the way I want to go out,” she said. “I’d rather take my chances swimming for the boat.”
“We could wait for the rain,” I said, “and go across those fields when all those shamblers take cover. It’s definitely going to rain soon.”
“Yes, it’s definitely going to rain soon. There’s a storm coming.” As if to emphasize her point, lightning flashed over the headland. A deep rumble of thunder followed. “We aren’t going to be able to row the Zodiac across the bay in a storm. It’s miles to the other side. Do you want to row? If we get over the barricade now, we can be on the Lucky Escape by the time that storm reaches us.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. She was right; there was no way we could row all the way across to the far end of the barricade, especially in a storm.
Lightning flickered across the night sky again and a cold drizzle began to fall. On the jetty, the hybrids stood glaring at us through the rain, oblivious to it.
I heard something in the distance. A low rumble.
“What’s that sound?” I asked.
“It’s thunder,” Tanya said.
“No, listen.”
We all went quiet. The sound of the rain hitting the Zodiac distracted me but if I listened carefully I could hear the distant rumble getting louder.
Worry darkened Sam’s face. “It’s a boat,” he said. “It’s coming down the river.”
Tanya peered across the water to the mouth of the river. “Do you think the army followed us?”
“Probably,” he replied.
Of course the army followed us. We had used their radio broadcast to get our own messages out. We had taken Johnny Drake from them. Did we really think they wouldn’t retaliate? Now we were floating in the middle of the harbour while they bore down on us. They would blow us out of the water without a second thought.
The boat appeared at the mouth of the river. The same size as the Lucky Escape, it was painted dark green and had searchlights mounted on the top of the bridge. Their powerful beams cut through the night in a wide arc, skimming across the waves towards the moored boats and the jetties.
“What are we gonna do, man?” Sam asked. His voice was tight, frightened.
We had nowhere to run. We could easily swim to shore from here but the hybrids would tear us to pieces. If we stayed on the water, we would be killed or captured by the army.
“We’ll have to swim for the shore,” Tanya said. If she was nervous, it didn’t reach her voice.
“The hybrids…” I said
“There’s no other option, Alex. Unless you’d rather be shot.”
I shook my head and grabbed my bat.
“Let’s go,” Tanya said, sliding gracefully into the water and pulling herself towards the shore with a strong breaststroke.
Sam threw down the empty rifle and picked up his tire iron. “See you guys on the Lucky Escape.” He jumped into the harbour and front crawled after Tanya.
What did he mean by that? Was it every man for himself now? We had more chance as a group. We could fight better as a unit. Alone, we would be hunted down and killed.
I looked over at Jax and Johnny.
“Let’s stick together,” Jax said.
I nodded.
We lowered ourselves into the cold water and swam slowly for the shore. I was in no hurry to get killed. Ahead, Tanya and Sam climbed out of the water, ran up the sandy incline to the parking area, and sprinted between the buildings.
“They made it,” Jax said.
Behind us, the rumble of the army boat seemed to fill the air. The light swung across the harbour buildings and over the jetty, illuminating the hybrids.
Then I heard the death rattle of a machine gun and our Zodiac was torn to shreds.
There was no doubt about the army’s plans.
They wanted to kill us.
The search light found us and the blinding beam cast a circle of light around Jax, Johnny, and me.
Bullets tore into the water next to my face.
We weren’t going to make it out of the harbour alive.
Chapter 29
I heard one of the soldiers on the boat shout, “Get us closer!” and I knew he was taking aim again. He wouldn’t miss a second time.
I glanced back over my shoulder but the light was too bright to make out anything more than the looming bulk of the boat. In an effort to get closer to us, the pilot steered the craft closer to the jetty.
He obviously had no experience of hybrids and did not know how they behaved when their prey was nearby.
They leapt from the jetty onto the boat. I heard someone shout, “What the fuck? No!” The last word became a scream then died instantly.
The machine gun fired again but the gunner had turned to aim it at the attacking hybrids.
More screams came from the boat. The gun went silent. Smoke and the smell of cordite drifted over the water.
“We need to move now while the hybrids are distracted by the boat,” I whispered to Jax and Johnny.
We swam for shore as fast as we could. The screams continued on the boat, mixed with staccato gunshots and shouts of terror.
The hybrids swarmed onto the boat and I was sure nobody was left alive on board. As we emerged from the water and ran for the cover of the military Land Rovers parked near the buildings, I had to reappraise my earlier theory that zombies only bit a vaccinated person once. Maybe that’s what shamblers did but the hybrids, who shared the same vaccinated blood as their prey, tore their victims apart and devoured them. I could hear sickening sounds coming from the boat.
I ran for the buildings but Jax whispered urgently, “Here!” She opened the door of a Land Rover and got in. Johnny climbed into the passenger side and I climbed into the back. “The keys were on the dashboard,” Jax said. She jammed them into the ignition and started the vehicle.
Turning the steering wheel violently to the right, she turned us around and gunned the engine. A small road led between the buildings and she took it, driving us away from the harbour.
The road intersected with a wider road at a crossroads. Jax turned left.
“Are you sure this is the way?” I asked.
“No, but it should take us back to the water.”
The road curved between clusters of tall gas holders then wound towards the sea between tall trees, which bent in the strong wind.
A few splatters of rain hit the windscreen. Jax turned on the wipers. More rain hit the glass at a faster speed until it showered onto the screen so fast the wipers could barely deal with it.
Lightning briefly lit the landscape with a ghostly light then thunder boomed all around us. The storm had begun.
The road opened onto a slim sandy beach. Jax hit the brakes and the Land Rover slewed across the sand, coming to a halt at the water’s edge. From this location, the Lucky Escape seemed a long way away. The waves were high with white tips.
We got out into the lashing, cold rain. The sea crashed against the Land Rover’s tyres and the thought of getting into that churning water seemed deadly.
As Jax and Johnny waded into the water, I looked along the slim stretch of wet sand for a boat, any kind of craft that would make the crossing to the Lucky Escape easier and less dangerous. What I saw made me rush into the water, joining Jax and Johnny in the ice-cold sea.
Four feral survivors were running towards us, brandishing machetes and big cruel-looking fishing hooks. They were dressed in dark sweaters and waterproof trousers and the look in their eyes was murderous.
I swam for my life, swallowing sea water as the waves pounded into me. The powerful rolling sea and the ch
ill of the water sapped my strength, making it harder for me to keep my head above water. Soon I was gasping for breath between each mouthful of water, coughing to clear my airway. Struggling to survive.
I couldn’t see Jax or Johnny. I tried to focus on the Lucky Escape but she was so far away and she never seemed to get any closer no matter how much I splashed towards her. Like a mirage, she seemed to shimmer in my vision. I wondered if I was going to black out from lack of oxygen. Maybe sinking down into the depths wouldn’t be such a bad way to go. There were definitely worse.
I looked back at the beach. The hybrids had arrived and were feasting upon the bodies of the four feral survivors. Maybe death was preferable to the madness those fishermen had endured, living every insanity-laced day killing others in a frenzy of bloodlust. Now they were at peace. Their apocalypse was over.
I tried to relax, let the insistent rolling of the sea gently toss me over the waves. I kicked my legs and moved my arms slowly, concentrating on just staying afloat. If I got through this, I had to make a sling for the baseball bat so I could put it over my shoulder; its weight and length hindered every move I made.
Lightning cracked the air, followed by a boom of thunder. The rain hit me like a thousand angry needles. I wasn’t made for this. My life of exclusively sedentary pleasures was about to catch up with me and send me to a watery death.
I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t give up now. I had to see Lucy again, had to believe she had heard my message and would be at the lighthouse. I refused to die before I saw her face again.
Resisting the urge to let myself sink into the dark depths, I let go of the bat and let the waves wash it away so I could concentrate on swimming. My slow breaststroke was bad enough without the hindrance of holding the bat in one hand. I looked up at the Lucky Escape and my heart lifted slightly. Her lights were on. Someone had reached her. Probably Tanya and Sam, since I doubted Jax or Johnny could swim that fast.
Tanya and Sam had a head start on us. Maybe the reason I couldn’t find a rowboat on the beach was because they had already taken it.
The thought that they were waiting on the Lucky Escape for me lifted my spirits. I barely knew these people but we had banded together against a common enemy and helped each other survive. In the face of the zombie and hybrid threat, we had been there for one another.
I hadn’t fit into the world before the apocalypse and I certainly didn’t fit into it now but these people had helped me, just as I had helped them by thinking up reasons for zombie and hybrid behaviour. That knowledge could help us one day, I was sure of it.
The Lucky Escape seemed closer now. I could hear voices calling me from on board. “Come on, Alex. You can do it.”
I was utterly exhausted. The boat was no more than fifty feet away but it might as well have been fifty miles. I pulled myself through the water with the last of my strength but my arms felt dead. I wasn’t sure if I was still kicking my legs or not because they were so cold I couldn’t feel them anymore.
Somehow I made it to the boarding ladder and grabbed the cold metal rungs. I looked up. The top of the ladder looked so far away. I closed my eyes and conjured up a picture of Lucy’s face. If I wanted to see her again for real, I had to get up this ladder.
I pulled myself up and got my boot on the lowermost rung.
Sam and Tanya appeared at the top of the ladder, leaning over the edge of the aft deck, reaching down for me.
“Take our hands, man,” Sam said.
I shook my head. At least, I think I shook my head, I wasn’t sure. I concentrated on getting my other boot on the next rung. Then the next.
I had to do this myself. If I gave each step every ounce of strength in my body, I could ascend the ladder.
As I got to the top rung, I fell forwards and lay in a pool of saltwater and rainwater on the aft deck, gasping, coughing, and shaking.
I was alive.
And I was determined to stay that way.
I had a job to do.
I had to find Lucy.
Chapter 30
By the next morning, the storm had blown inland, leaving the sky blue and clear. The sun beat down on the Lucky Escape and we hung our wet clothes from various railings and lines to get them dry. That meant we were all in our underwear again and I was feeling self-conscious.
I had spent the night shivering naked beneath the blankets in a small bed. Johnny had taken the other bed in the room and curled up beneath his blankets, teeth chattering. Eventually, we had fallen asleep.
Tanya had piloted us out of the inlet and into open water before she, Sam, and Jax took turns sleeping in the second bedroom and keeping a lookout on deck. They wanted to be sure the army didn’t send another boat looking for us. The barricade separated us from the river but a radio command from Truro to one of the marinas on the coast could mean a boat being dispatched from this side of the steel wall.
As I sat on the sun deck in my boxers, letting the warm sun heat my skin, I was glad the three had taken such precautions but doubtful there had been any need. The army seemed to be having a huge hybrid problem. We were an annoyance but they had bigger things to think about than four unknown people who had taken DJ Johnny Drake from them.
We had Survivor Radio coming out of the boat’s speakers but it was non-stop music. There was no Survivor Reach Out every hour. No dialogue between tracks. Just one song after another.
I had found a notepad and pen on the kitchen counter, with the “Sail To Your Destiny” logo at the top of each page, and as I sat in the sun, I drew a grid on the top page. Two downward lines crossed with two horizontal lines like a tic-tac-toe board.
In the top middle square, I wrote “Zombies”. In the top right square, I wrote “Hybrids”.
In the middle left square, I put “normal person” and at the bottom left, I scrawled “vaccinated person”.
In the squares where the zombies and people intersected, I wrote down what happened when that type of zombie bit that type of person.
Zombie bites normal person; normal person dies and is reanimated as a zombie.
Zombie bites vaccinated person; vaccinated person is bit only once. Wanders away and after four days becomes a hybrid. If approached while turning, will say, “Leave me alone.”
Hybrid bites normal person; hybrid kills them and eats them.
Hybrid bites vaccinated person; hybrid kills them and eats them.
Below the grid, I wrote, “Hybrids also kill and eat zombies”.
I studied the page for a moment.
What I saw there gave me hope. The hybrids were actually sabotaging the spread of the virus. All it wanted was to spread to as many people as possible and turn them into zombies that would then spread it to more people. The zombies were controlled by the virus and did everything they could to spread it to their prey.
On the other hand, the hybrids seemed to be controlled by a rage that made them kill and eat their victims. They weren’t spreading the virus, they were killing potential hosts. They were also killing the zombies.
The arch enemy of the virus was the hybrid.
As more soldiers became vaccinated then bitten by zombies, the hybrid population increased. They were faster than the zombies and appeared to be stronger, so they would eventually decimate the zombie population and the population of living humans. The virus would have no more hosts and no more prey. It would die out.
Unless it mutated.
That was possible. Bacteria and viruses mutated all the time in response to the use of pharmaceutical drugs on patients. If this virus mutated, would it produce something worse than the hybrids? Or would it find a way around the vaccine to kill vaccinated victims and reanimate them as zombies as it did with normal people?
There were too many unknowns, too many variables. I didn’t have the knowledge to put it all together.
For now, I had to take hope in the fact that the hybrids were slowing the spread of the virus. Sure, they were doing it by killing everything they could get their hands on bu
t at least it was an effective way to reduce the number of hosts the virus could infect.
I closed my eyes and turned my face to the sun. I couldn’t be so clinical about the deaths of all those people when Joe and my parents were in the middle of all this. For all I knew, Lucy might be in danger and not safe aboard The Big Easy. I would only know for sure when I got to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse. It was the last place in the world I wanted to go. The memory of Mike and Elena’s deaths still stung but I managed to keep it below the surface of my thoughts. I knew visiting the lighthouse would make the memory come swimming up to the surface like a monster from the deep.
Jax came over and sat down next to me. “What are you writing?”
I showed her my grid. “Just some thoughts about the zombies.” I told her my theory that the rise of the hybrids could mean the end of the virus.
She thought it over for a while then nodded. “You could be right. But how does that help us right now?”
I shrugged. “It’s just a theory. It doesn’t help us in any practical way. I don’t think there’s anything that can kill the virus and stop the zombies and the hybrids. The best we can hope for is that the hybrids kill the zombies then die off eventually.”
“That could take years.” She looked towards the shoreline. On the cliffs, zombies shambled beneath the morning sun, driven by the virus in their bodies.
“I can’t think of any other way this is going to end,” I said.
“There are people who know a lot more about the virus than we do,” Jax replied. “They could come up with a solution.”
“On a secret government island?” I asked, unable to keep the disbelief out of my voice.
She looked at me with a serious expression on her face. “Apocalypse Island is real, Alex. We’ve known about it for years. The scientists there probably caused this fuck up so they might have a chance of stopping it. The place isn’t a joke or an urban legend; it’s real. Where do you think the vaccine came from?”
I held up my hands in an attempt to placate her. “Okay, okay. I didn’t say the place doesn’t exist. If they developed the vaccine, then maybe they can find a cure.” It sounded like what she wanted to hear but I wasn’t sure I believed it myself. The vaccine, if it had even been developed at Apocalypse Island, did not work. In most cases.
Undead Rain Trilogy Box Set Page 29
