“You saved me,” she whispered.
I spread my hands. “I can’t deny it.”
She laughed and tried to sit up. But the effort was too much for her, so she sank back down onto the pillows.
“Take it easy,” I said. “The doctors say it will take a few days to recover fully. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Not really. I’ve just been sleeping.” She looked closely at my face. “But you’ve been through a lot. I can tell by looking at you.”
“Do I really look that bad?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. You look…stronger somehow. But as if you had to go through a lot to gain that strength.”
I shrugged. Nobody could be a survivor in a zombie apocalypse and not be changed in some way.
Lucy looked around the room. “Alex, where are we?”
“Apocalypse Island,” I said.
She frowned with confusion. “Where?”
I laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it later. In fact, I’ll write it all down in a journal like I did before.”
Lucy nodded, her blue eyes wandering around the room.
“So I just have one question,” I said.
She nodded. “I know what it is. Why did I leave you at the marina?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“After you went ashore, I refueled the boat and waited on the jetty. It was so foggy I couldn’t see anything but I could hear sounds all around the marina, splashes and voices. I had no idea how long you were going to be but I felt nervous and vulnerable standing there on the jetty in the fog.
“You said you were going to get a rowboat, so I untied The Big Easy and took her out into deeper water. I didn’t want anyone running out of that fog and boarding her and since you were getting a rowboat anyway, it wouldn’t be a problem for you to row a few more feet to reach the Easy. I was no more than twenty feet from the end of the jetty.”
“That sounds sensible,” I said. I had told Lucy at the time that I was going to find a rowboat but when I was trying to get a boat into the water, feral survivors had attacked me and that was when I discovered that Lucy was gone.
Lucy nodded. “I stood on the deck watching the marina for any movement but the fog was too thick so I listened for the sound of oars in the water. I didn’t think you’d be gone for so long.”
“I had some trouble,” I said. “I heard voices and had to hide in the marine shop for a while.”
“When you didn’t come back, I started to get even more worried. I wondered what I was going to do if you never came back. How long could I wait here? Once the fog lifted, The Big Easy would be visible to the soldiers in the area. I would have to go out deeper and use the binoculars to watch the marina.” She looked into my eyes. “I was never going to abandon you, Alex.”
“I know that.” I took her hand in mine. “I was worried that you’d been captured by the army or attacked by pirates. I had no idea how to find you.”
“I decided to move out into deeper water so I started the engine and sailed out to a spot where I could drop anchor and wait. But then I heard another boat approaching. I panicked. I had to get out of there. Before I could get moving, an army boat came out of the fog and drew up alongside the Easy. It was a small boat, probably quite fast, and it was painted army green. There were eight soldiers onboard and they were all pointing their guns at me.
“I didn’t have time to think what to do. Three of the soldiers came onboard and ordered me off the bridge. I was led at gunpoint to the aft deck and told to stay there. One of the soldiers, a woman named Meyers, sat with me while the other two took control of the Easy and followed the army boat along the coast.
“I asked Meyers what was going on and she told me they were going to send me to a Survivors Camp where I’d be safe. I just kept wondering what was going to happen when you returned to find that I was gone. I started to formulate a plan of escape. I even considered jumping overboard but we were in very deep water by now and even if I made it to shore, my chances of getting back to Swansea without any weapons were slim. So I decided to sit tight until a better opportunity presented itself.
“We must have been sailing for about an hour when they cut the engine, dropped anchor, and transferred me to the smaller green boat. The fog had lifted now and I could see a marina that looked like it had been taken over by the army. All the boats moored there were painted in military green. The civilian boats that must have previously used the marina had been anchored in deeper water, where the Easy was now anchored.
“They took me ashore and made me wait in a tent while they tried to find out when the next camp truck was passing this way. It sounded like they had trucks travelling around each military camp tasked with picking up survivors to take to the Survivors Camps. Someone said that there was a truck delivering “the vaccine” to the nearest Survivors Camp, so I could ride along. They bundled me into the back of an army truck, one of the ones with a canvas top. There were stacks of cardboard boxes in there, which I assumed held the vaccine the soldiers had been talking about.
“Meyer got into the back with me and sat by the tailgate, watching the landscape roll by as we drove along a country road. I asked her what the soldiers had meant when they’d said the truck was delivering a vaccine. Was there now a vaccine against being bitten? She said there was, and it was being delivered to all the soldiers.
“I told her that I thought that was unfair. Why not give the vaccine to everyone? She just shrugged and continued looking out at the fields and trees. Meyer’s lack of concern for civilians made me angry, and my anger spurred me into trying to escape. I could easily jump over the tailgate onto the road. If I ran fast enough, I should be able to reach the woods before they managed to shoot me.
“But before I left the truck, I wanted to get some of the vaccine from the boxes. I thought about just grabbing a box and running with it but they were too big for that so I tore a hole in a box and took a handful of syringes out. They were full of an amber liquid and the needles had plastic caps over them for safety.
“Meyer saw me and came over, demanding that I put the syringes back. She raised her gun and I swatted it out of the way. She fired but the bullets went up through the canvas roof. I ran for the tailgate and swung myself over it.
“When I hit the road, the air was knocked out of my lungs and I dropped all but one of the syringes. I was okay apart from a few scratches but I didn’t have time to pick up the syringes of vaccine I’d dropped.
“The driver must have heard the shots because the truck came to a stop. I ran for the woods. They fired a few shots at me but I made it into the trees without being hit. They didn’t follow me.
“I found a heavy branch that I could use as a weapon if I ran into any zombies in the woods. I put the syringe into my pocket and followed the direction of the road back to the army marina. I needed to get back onboard The Big Easy and sail back to Swansea to find you.
“When I got to the marina, there was a heated discussion going in one of the tents. Apparently, the vaccine was faulty. It stopped someone from becoming a zombie but only for four days. After that, they became something much worse. After hearing that, I decided not to vaccinate myself as I had planned to do when I got back to the Easy. If it was faulty, what was the point?
“So I moved along the coast, sticking to the trees, until I found a small rowboat. I waited until nightfall and then I rowed out to where they had anchored the Easy. I got the engines started and sailed out of there unchallenged. It seemed the army were using all their resources to guard the marina from inland attacks by zombies and they weren’t watching the water at all.
“I got back to Swansea but there was no sign of you. I spent a couple of days watching the marina through the binoculars, making sure I was in deep enough water that I could make a run for it if I saw any army boats. I put the vaccine syringe on a shelf in the storeroom, thinking we’d never need it since it was faulty, but hanging onto it anyway, just in case.
“
I sailed north along the coast, scanning the beaches with the binoculars in the hopes of finding you. Eventually, I didn’t know what else to do so I did nothing. I just waited on the waves, hoping that somehow you’d find me.
“Then, one evening, I was listening to the radio and I heard someone talking about the zombies only being here in Britain. They said survivors should sail to mainland Europe. And then I heard your voice. I could hardly believe it. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. You told me to meet you at the lighthouse in three days’ time so I sailed south of that area. I didn’t want to wait for you there…I still hate that place.”
I squeezed her hand. “Me too,” I said.
“What happened next was a really stupid move on my part,” she said. “I waited for two days just south of the lighthouse near a village. I watched the village through the binoculars and the place seemed deserted. No people, no zombies…nothing. I assumed the army had cleared the place and taken all the villagers to a Survivors Camp. Every time I looked through the binoculars over those two days, there was no sign of life, and no sign of danger. Something there kept drawing my attention, though; a village store. It was sitting on the main street within easy reach of the little village harbor.
“And I got a crazy thought in my head. I was so looking forward to being reunited with you that I became fixated on the idea of getting a nice bottle of red wine from that store so that we could celebrate. That thought grew in my head until I couldn’t get rid of it. And it looked like there would be no risk in going to the village store.
“So, on the day we were supposed to meet, I decided to swim ashore and get a bottle of wine. I know it sounds crazy, but the next thing I knew, I was taking the Easy in to the little harbor. When she was moored, I took a baseball bat just in case and walked up the steep road that led to the main street.
“The shop was unlocked, so I went inside. There was a foul smell in there but I wasn’t sure if it was meat products that had gone bad or the smell of a zombie. I went quickly to the wine and selected a bottle. Why I didn’t take an armful I don’t know, but my mind had become fixated on the idea of one bottle of red wine so that was all I took.
“When I turned to go back to the door, I was attacked. I don’t know how it had moved so quietly but there was a zombie right in front of me. I think it had been the shopkeeper. He lunged as I was fumbling with my bat. I managed to shove the bat between his legs, tripping him, but as he went down he bit my right thigh. I’d never felt any pain like it. I cried out and brought the bat down on his skull. Without even making sure he was destroyed, I staggered out onto the road and down to the harbor, still clutching the bottle of wine.
“I got to the Easy and untied her but the pain in my right thigh was spreading through my entire leg. I remembered how fast we had seen some people turn and I panicked. I didn’t want to be a zombie. I started the engine, got the Easy on course for the lighthouse and tied the wheel with a piece of cord. I couldn’t be sure she was going to reach you but it was the only chance I had.
“I wrote you a note, telling you the time I’d been bitten. That way, you’d know when I was going to turn, assuming you knew about the faulty vaccine and the four days it took to turn. I went down to the storeroom and injected myself. I only wrote you that note so that you’d know when to kill me. I didn’t think you’d use the information to save me.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Thank you, Alex.”
I put my arms around her and she cried against my shoulder.
I held her tight and felt hot, stinging tears running down my cheeks.
22
When I left Lucy’s room, Hart met me in the corridor. He wore the face of a man who was deeply concerned.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“There’s still no sign of Jax. We’ve scoured most of the island and all I have to show for it is the loss of a few good men to zombies. We can’t have a Type 1 roaming the island and until the situation is dealt with, the director is going to be giving me hell about it.” He pointed to a set of stairs. “She’s asked to meet you. Come with me.”
I followed him up the stairs to the reception area, then into the elevator and up to level 5.
“What does the director want with me?” I asked Hart as we stepped out of the elevator.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. She asked me to get you, Tanya, and Sam. They’re already in her office.”
He led me to a door and knocked on it. A woman’s voice said, “Enter.”
We went into an office that was large but furnished in the same basic manner as the offices at Site Alpha Two. A bookshelf lined one wall and a desk sat near the window. The main difference between this room and the ones I had been inside at Alpha Two was a large oval meeting table. Sam and Tanya sat at the table, along with a woman in her fifties. She stood up when we entered and came over to shake my hand.
“You must be Alex. I’m Marilyn MacDonald, the director of this facility. Nice to meet you.”
We shook. She was tall and slender and dressed for business in a dark trouser suit. Her blonde hair was pinned back and she wore glasses. Her face didn’t betray any emotion, and I had the feeling that she could be cold and emotionless when she needed to be. In her line of business –running a government facility whose sister site had been responsible for the zombie outbreak—I supposed there were a lot of times that she needed that trait.
“Come and join us, Alex,” she said, indicating a seat at the table next to Sam. I took it. MacDonald remained standing.
“You people have surprised me with your resourcefulness and skills,” she said. “When Ian told me he was sending you to Site Alpha Two to recover the H1NZ1, I was skeptical to say the least. Yet here you are.”
“Not all of us,” Sam said. I looked at him closely. His eyes were bloodshot and I wondered if he had been crying.
“That’s right, not all of you,” MacDonald said. “Two of your number have been lost and that is regrettable. If it’s any consolation, the chemical you brought back from Alpha Two will enable us to save many lives. Your friends did not die in vain.”
It wasn’t much of a consolation. I was glad that Lucy was recovering and that there was now an antivirus, but that didn’t make the loss of Johnny or Jax any easier.
None of us replied to MacDonald so she continued. “I’ll come straight to the point. This facility is in a dire situation. We are now responsible for producing the antivirus that can save everyone from becoming a zombie or a hybrid. That is a huge task yet we are trying to perform it with a skeleton staff. Once the virus is being manufactured in large quantities, we will need skilled and resourceful people such as yourselves to help us get it to the camps on the mainland.”
“The army camps, you mean?” I asked.
“No, I mean the Survivors Camps.”
Tanya leaned forward in her chair. “When you made the original vaccine, it was only being distributed to the army. Vaccinating the civilians didn’t figure into your plans.”
“It wasn’t mean to happen that way,” MacDonald said. “We sent the vaccine to the mainland. How the army distributed it was up to them.”
“I’ve got a newsflash for you, man,” Sam said. “They kept it for themselves.”
“Yes, I am aware of the situation with the vaccine.” MacDonald folded her arms. “As I said, that is not what we intended to happen. With the antivirus, we can do things differently if you help us. We don’t have the resources to make sure the antivirus gets to the people in the Survivors Camps and I can’t afford to spare the guards from the island. They have a tough enough job to do already keeping this facility safe.”
“So you want us to do the job for you,” Sam said. “What are you going to inject us with this time to make sure we do your bidding?”
“Nothing. We couldn’t inject you even if we wanted to; you’ve all received the antivirus. You can’t be turned. Besides, I wouldn’t have thought that would necessary; I’ve looked into your backgrounds. You are the type of peop
le who want to make a difference. You wouldn’t have taken over the Survivor Radio station and given that message to the people if that wasn’t the case. And Alex,” she said, looking at me, “you want to find your brother and parents. What better way to do that than by visiting the Survivors Camps?”
She had a point. Helping her was my best chance to find Joe and my parents. Not only that, I wanted to get that antivirus into as many people as possible so that the virus that had taken my friends could be destroyed. We needed to eradicate the zombies.
“Can I take your silence to mean you’ll do it?” she asked when none of us said anything.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
“Me too,” Tanya added.
Sam looked at us, and then at MacDonald. “I guess somebody has to make sure this is done right. Count me in, man.”
“Excellent.” MacDonald smiled but I couldn’t detect any genuine warmth in it. “You really are good people.”
“We don’t need your platitudes, lady,” Sam said. “Just tell us what we need to do.”
“It will take us a few days to manufacture enough of the antivirus for the first distribution run,” she said. “We’ll work out the details then. In the meantime, I’ll get someone to assign you rooms and you can enjoy the few comforts our facility has to offer.”
“Screw that,” Sam said. “I’ll be sleeping on the Escape.”
I nodded. The thought of staying here at the facility didn’t appeal at all. Especially when my home, The Big Easy, was so close. I wanted nothing more than to get onboard with Lucy and sail out onto the waves. The atmosphere at Apocalypse Island was oppressive, and I needed to escape it.
“That’s fine of course,” MacDonald said. “So we’ll meet again in three days. By then the first batch of antivirus should be ready.” She went to her desk and sat, indicating that the meeting was over.
Hart led us out of the room and toward the elevators. “Good to have you working with us again,” he said as he jabbed the elevator button.
Undead Rain Trilogy Box Set Page 42
