I wondered if there were any vaccinated soldiers who were bitten and recovered completely, without turning into hybrids. It was possible. We wouldn’t know about those because they would return to active duty as soldiers. Or maybe they were sent to Apocalypse Island for testing in the hopes of developing a better vaccine. I had no idea. It was all guesswork.
Whether it was optimism or wish fulfilment, Jax needed to believe in Apocalypse Island. I guessed the thought of scientists on an island somewhere, working on a possible solution to the predicament we found ourselves in, was a comfort to her.
My own pessimistic outlook made me think that even if Apocalypse Island did exist, the scientists would only be working in their own best interests, not in the interests of the people stuck on the mainland with the undead monsters.
I didn’t say anything to Jax about that. I still had the feeling there was a loved one she was worrying about and I wanted her to be as optimistic about that as she could. I still clung to the thread of hope that Joe and my parents were alive and I knew how thin that thread was. It wasn’t up to me to pull another strand from Jax’s.
So instead, I said, “Have you got people still alive somewhere on the mainland?”
“I hope so,” she said. Tears pooled in her eyes, glistened in the sun. “My boyfriend was at home when the virus spread. I spoke to him on the phone the day before and he said he was going to spend the weekend watching TV with his feet up. I haven’t heard from him since. He could be okay. It’s not like we live in a big city or anything. We live in a small village in Derbyshire. There’s a good chance he’s still alive.”
“Yes, there is,” I said. I hoped for Jax’s sake he was. If he was in a village at the time of the virus breakout, he could have holed up there. Or escaped to the countryside. Maybe the army were too busy rounding people up from more populated areas to worry about villages.
But I thought of the village Jax and I had entered, looking for food. It had been empty. Desolate.
“I don’t know how I can reach him,” she said. “At the moment, going that far inland is too dangerous. Not knowing if he’s all right is the worst thing. It’s driving me crazy with worry.”
I guessed this was where I was supposed to pat her on the shoulder and say, “I’m sure everything will be all right,” but we would both know how false that platitude was. Instead, I offered her a weak smile and asked, “What are your plans now that the Survivor Radio mission was successful?”
“We want to find Apocalypse Island,” she said. “It was always our plan. If they have some kind of vaccine that actually works, we need to make sure it reaches everyone and not just the authorities.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You mean you’re going to steal it from a government facility?”
“If that’s what we have to do. It’s not just the vaccine; they must be working round the clock on other things too. What if they have a vaccine that makes you invisible to zombies like in World War Z?”
I rolled my eyes. “I think if they had that, they’d be using it by now, don’t you?”
“Okay, so not that in particular but they must be working on other things.” The tears were gone from her eyes, replaced with an enthusiastic brightness. I understood then that people like Jax, Tanya, and Sam needed a goal at all times. They were goal-oriented and without that part of their personality being fulfilled, they would probably go as crazy as the feral survivors on the beach.
Although we had banded together, I was the polar opposite from them in a lot of ways. Once I was reunited with Lucy and Joe, I would be happy to take The Big Easy out into open water and live a carefree existence on the waves. Fishing. Reading. Listening to music. I could happily adjust to that life while others took responsibility for rebuilding the country from the ashes of the apocalypse.
“What about you?” Jax asked. “What are your plans?”
“Right now, I just need to be reunited with Lucy. After that, I’ll take it one day at a time.”
“So when we get to the lighthouse, we’ll be going our separate ways,” she said.
I nodded then asked, “What about Johnny? Is he happy to go on a search for Apocalypse Island with you?”
“Yeah. After his experience at the hands of the authorities, he wants to do anything he can to get back at them.”
“Cool. It’s weird but I kind of miss hearing him on the radio.”
“Me too.”
I stood up. “I guess we should get moving. The sooner we get to the lighthouse, the sooner you can start your search for Apocalypse Island.”
She smiled and touched my arm. “Thanks for the chat, Alex. Talking to you always cheers me up.”
I walked to the bridge ladder wondering if I had mastered the art of conversation…or at least mastered the art of withholding the truth. If I had told Jax what I really thought, I wouldn’t have cheered her up at all. Her boyfriend was probably dead and they were crazy to think they could go to Apocalypse Island and set foot in a government facility, never mind steal a vaccine from there and live to tell the tale.
There was a big difference between breaking into a radio station and entering a government facility. The place was sure to be heavily-guarded and not in any half-assed way like the radio station had been.
I was glad I had cheered Jax up but sad that I’d done it by being dishonest.
As I sat in the pilot’s seat and started the Lucky Escape’s engine, I wondered if I was being dishonest with myself. I had sent out my message on Survivor Radio but there was a good chance Lucy never heard it. We had the radio on nearly all the time on The Big Easy but for all I knew, Lucy wasn’t even on the boat any longer. There had to be a good reason why she had left me at the marina and it might be that she was taken by the army. They were all over the marina on that foggy day.
My hopes of meeting Lucy at the lighthouse could be nothing more than a mental survival mechanism, the same way Jax and the others had their goals to keep their minds focussed on something other than the hell around us.
What would happen if Lucy didn’t turn up? I would never know what happened to her. Would the mental strain eventually send me into madness like so many other survivors?
As I turned the boat south and headed for Land’s End, the song on the radio finished and a voice came over the airwaves. Male and smooth and with a mid-Atlantic accent, it said, “Hey, folks, this is Nick Tucker, the new voice of Survivor Radio. We’ve got lots of great music for all you survivors out there. Don’t touch that dial.” Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” started playing.
The army had replaced Johnny Drake quickly.
The world moved on.
Chapter 31
Two days later, we reached the lighthouse. It was mid-afternoon on a cool but sunny day when the rocky island and the lighthouse came into view through the bridge window. Seagulls and crows circled around the island and perched on the railing I had once jumped from to save my life.
Elena had not made that jump.
The tide was in at the moment, so the island was cut off from the beach by a strip of seawater. When the tide went out, a rocky causeway beneath the water would be revealed.
Zombies staggered around both on the island and on the beach. I wanted to take my bat and smash the head of every last one of them.
As we sailed closer, I could see black scorch marks on the rocks where Mike had crashed Harper’s boat. Pieces of burnt wood were jammed between the rocks near the water’s edge. Charred bodies lay in a blackened mess. Mike’s death had been such a waste.
It wasn’t until Jax appeared at the top of the ladder and said, “Hey, Alex, we’re at the lighthouse. Are you okay?” that I felt my throat hitch and tears sting my eyes.
She came up onto the bridge and put an arm around me. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure they were great friends and coming here is going to make their loss all the harder. You come down to the living area and have a cup of tea while we wait for Lucy to arrive.”
I dropped the anchor and killed
the engine. When the rumbling of the engine died, I could hear the distant low moans of the zombies by the lighthouse.
In the living area, I sat on the seat by the window, looking out over the calm sea. Sam handed me a mug of tea and when I took it from him, I noticed my hand was shaking. What if Lucy never showed? How long would we wait before we moved on and I never saw her again?
The tea was hot and sweet as it burned down my throat. I placed the mug on the coffee table and resumed my watch out of the window.
Johnny spoke. “I’m sure she’ll come, Alex. You just have to give her time, my friend.”
They all knew that Lucy and I were close friends but I hadn’t told them just how much she meant to me. I hadn’t even admitted to myself how deep my feelings were.
If Lucy didn’t arrive, I wasn’t sure I could go on without her.
Jax sat next to me. “We’ll wait here as long as it takes, Alex. We’ll—”
“She’s here!” I said, getting up and going to the aft deck. I had seen a boat approaching from the north and I knew it was The Big Easy. I recognised her like an old friend I had not seen for too long.
I reached the aft deck and leaned out over the rail. She was coming slowly along the coast, close to the rocks. If the tide was out, she would be too shallow, in danger of grounding herself on the bottom. Lucy knew better than that. What was she doing?
I shielded my eyes against the mid-afternoon sun and peered at the bridge window. I couldn’t see Lucy. The Big Easy’s bridge was deserted.
The joy I felt at seeing the boat plummeted into a cold pit in my gut. Something was wrong. I rushed up the ladder to the bridge and started the Lucky Escape’s engine. Raising the anchor, I turned the boat around and put her on a slow course towards The Big Easy.
Tanya, Jax, Sam, and Johnny came out to the aft deck.
“Something’s wrong,” I shouted down to them, “Something’s wrong.”
Where the hell was Lucy?
I brought the Lucky Escape around in a wide arc and came up behind The Big Easy, matching her speed. Through the binoculars, I inspected her bridge.
The wheel had been lashed with a cord to keep the boat on a straight course.
The pilot’s seat was empty.
I slid down the ladder to the aft deck. “Tanya, take the wheel and get us closer. I’m going to go on board.”
She nodded and went up to the bridge. She did a good job. Within a minute, we were alongside The Big Easy and I was able to jump across the narrow gap separating us.
“Lucy?” I called once I was on the familiar aft deck. “Are you here?”
No reply.
I went up to the bridge and untied the cord holding the wheel steady. If I didn’t take her out into deeper water, she would be stranded on the sea bed at low tide.
I didn’t know what was happening. Lucy had obviously lashed the wheel and set a course for the lighthouse. Only she knew the place I was referring to in the radio message.
But where the hell was she?
I took The Big Easy into deeper water and dropped anchor. On the Lucky Escape, Jax, Sam, and Johnny watched from the aft deck, worried looks on their faces.
I went down the ladder and into the living area. There, on the table, was a note from Lucy, written in black pen on a piece of paper. I recognised her handwriting but it looked like it had been hastily written.
“Alex. Bitten at 1100 hours on 15th. Lucy.”
I didn’t understand. Today was the 15th. Was she saying she had been bitten today? Why leave me a note? Where was she?
“Lucy!” I called. “Where are you?”
I heard a noise from below. A low moan?
If she had been bitten this morning, she would have turned by now. No. Please, no.
I didn’t even think about taking a weapon with me as I went down the steps to the bedrooms. How had she been bitten? What if she was turned…gone? The note didn’t make any sense. If she was leaving me a note to tell me she had been bitten, why write the exact time? What difference did that make? She wasn’t thinking straight. With the virus in her blood, she was confused. Perhaps she had been in some kind of denial.
I listened at the bedroom door but everything down there was quiet.
“Lucy?” I whispered. “Are you there?”
Nothing.
I opened the bedroom door, ready to flee back up the steps and jump over the side of the boat if I had to.
The bedroom was empty.
I heard a noise coming from the storeroom.
I pressed my ear to the wooden door and listened.
Rapid breathing came from the other side of the door.
“Lucy,” I whispered.
A noise like scuffling on the floor.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
She lay in the corner of the room, among a pile of T-shirts and the spear guns. She was curled up in an embryonic position, shivering and sweating. Her breath came in ragged gasps. Her jeans were torn on the right thigh. Lucy had bandaged a wound there but blood seeped through the cotton and stained the denim.
Lying next to her on the floor was an empty hypodermic needle. Traces of the amber fluid it had once contained lined the plastic tube.
Now I knew why the time she had been bitten was in the note. She had injected herself with vaccine a few hours ago and knew by the time she arrived here, she would be in this state, unable to tell me what had happened.
The note was a plea for help.
She had four days before she became a hybrid.
She wanted me to try and save her.
I knelt down next to her and reached out to stroke her matted blonde hair.
She shrank away and groaned three words that chilled my heart.
“Leave…me…alone.”
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LIGHTNING
FIGHTING THE LIVING DEAD
The Undead Rain Series
Rain: Rise of the Living Dead
Storm: Survival in the Land of the Dead
Lightning: Fighting the Living Dead
Wildfire: Destruction of the Dead
1
I backed away from Lucy, my heart pounding. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How had she been bitten? How had she gotten a syringe of the vaccine? How was I supposed to help her?
“Leave…me…alone,” she murmured.
I couldn’t just leave her in the storeroom; it didn’t seem right. But if I tried to move her to one of the bedrooms, what would she do? Would she freak out if I tried to get her to her feet?
I wasn’t sure it made a difference to her where she was; she was probably unaware of her surroundings. But I didn’t want to leave her here curled up on the floor. I approached her. “Lucy.” I kept my voice low, almost a whisper, trying to soothe her.
She shrank away from me. “Leave…me…alone.” She looked frightened, her eyes wide, darting from me to the room. If my presence was going to make her try to escape, I should just leave her here. I didn’t want her running up to the deck in a blind panic and falling overboard.
I turned to leave the room, colliding with a shelf in my haste. A pile of Sail to Your Destiny t-shirts fell to the floor. I got out of there and closed the door. As long as she wasn’t disturbed, Lucy should stay where she was, compelled by the virus to stay in a safe place.
The virus. It was running through her blood, changing her. If it remained in her system for four days, Lucy would become a monster, a hybrid. What would I do then? Kill her? No, I couldn’t do that. No matter what happened to her, I could never do that.
I went back up the stairs, through the living area, and out onto the aft deck. On The Lucky Escape, Sam, Jax, Tanya, and Johnny were waiting for me to reappear. They must have seen something in my face, because Jax looked concerned.
“Alex, what’s wrong?” she asked.
&nbs
p; “It’s Lucy. She’s been bitten. She took the vaccine and left me a note saying that she’s been bitten today.” Saying it out loud made it seem worse somehow. I sat wearily on the bench that ran around the perimeter of the deck and put my head in my hands. There was no way out of this.
A few seconds later, Jax and Sam came onboard The Big Easy, stepping over from the Escape.
“I’m sorry, man,” Sam said. He spread his big hands as if he was unsure what to say after that.
Jax sat on the bench next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. “Alex, I’m so sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to seeing Lucy again. It’s terrible that it has to end like this.”
“It hasn’t ended yet,” I said. “She was bitten today. That means she has four days before she turns.”
She patted my shoulder as if she were consoling an upset child who had just learned that Santa isn’t real. “We’ve all seen the hybrids. We know what happened to those soldiers after they got bitten. There’s nothing we can do for Lucy in the next four days that’s going to stop the same thing happening to her.”
“Jesus,” Sam said, “Way to go easy on the poor guy.”
Jax sighed. “I’m only being realistic, Sam.”
My mind reeled from shock and tried to find a solution at the same time. I couldn’t think straight. But I had to, for Lucy’s sake. I wasn’t going to just float around on the waves while she lay curled up in the storeroom becoming a monster.
I looked at Jax. “You said you were going to try to find Apocalypse Island.”
She nodded.
“Maybe they have a cure for this. You said yourself that if anyone had a cure, it was the scientists on that island.”
“Yes, I did. But it’s a secret government research facility, Alex. They aren’t just going to hand you the cure. And that’s assuming a cure even exists. Don’t you think that if they had developed an antivirus, they would be handing it out by now?”
Undead Rain Trilogy Box Set Page 30
