"I need to look after you."
She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and blinked several times to stop the tears. "Kevin, talk to me. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing, I just need to get you pants." He walked away and this time there was no holding him back.
Her eyes closed and her hand fell into her lap. Footsteps. Steve was a few feet away from her, a look on his face.
"Where's Kevin?"
"He needs to find me pants. I think he's in shock."
Steve moved closer and whispered. "The bodies on the pier were unarmed. He killed them in cold blood."
Ally got to her feet and in Steve's face. "Kevin is not like that. He's kind and gentle. He would not murder anyone in cold blood. Ever. Plus, he told me what they said to him, that they'd killed me and blown my head off."
Steve kept his face impassive, but she could see the roiling emotions in his eyes. "Ally, people change. Maybe he reacted to the situation, maybe not. Keep an eye on him."
"Kevin is not a problem."
"Fine, I'm not going to argue with you." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The other team didn't come back. We're going to look for them first thing in the morning."
Neither of them said anything, and he left. Ally lay back on the cot and images of muzzle flash came to her. She didn't remember where they all came from. When she approached Kevin, he was skittish, but that was understandable. The bodies were on the ground, dead, too dark for her to see if they had weapons. A thought occurred to her. Why would Jason send a few men to take the barge? If those same men had decided to leave Jason, why would they travel around at night with no protection?
Nothing Steve said made sense. He wanted to drive a wedge between her and Kevin and she needed to know why.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Steve shook Ally awake and told her to meet him in ten minutes. Kevin slept on next to her. He'd tossed and turned all night, but did bring her back something to drink and eat. She grabbed her new pants and buckled her boots.
She was ready: all her knives were cleaned and in their sheaths, Glocks holstered and a Micro Galil slung over her shoulder. She kissed Sean on the forehead and then whispered bye to Kevin. He shot out of bed so fast, he knocked her to the ground.
"What's going on? Why are you saying bye?"
She noticed his eyes searching the area; he didn't seem to be there with her.
"Kevin, I'm going to look for the other group of people that went out yesterday. We won't be gone as long, I promise."
He stared at her for what felt like minutes before answering. "I need to check the bandage."
"Later, get some rest."
On deck Steve, Caleb, Doug, Slip, and Emma waited for her. A bag of nutrients was tossed her way and she swallowed down the contents, not caring about the taste.
"We know they were supposed to go to the back-up generators. Some of the power is back on, but we don't know if it was them or Jason or someone else. We're going to retrace their steps until we find them." Steve said.
"Jason made it to the generators. Some were running, and they tried to fix the others, but they were attacked."
"Fine. Be on your guard out there."
Ally did a quick investigation of the pier and noticed brass where Kevin had stood the night before. When Steve and the others moved the bodies, they probably knocked the rest into the water.
The sun had not quite risen behind the thick clouds, but it was light enough for them to see. When they crossed Cannon Road, they discovered a dried pool of dark blood. There was no way to tell who or what it came from, but they had to follow it in case it was from one of theirs.
Ally found herself in front of a market. The windows were boarded over and the door wedged shut. Caleb and Emma went around back and returned quickly, each with a green pallor.
"What did you find?" Steve put his hand on his gun.
"Bones, piles of them, picked clean." Caleb ground out.
Ally went with Steve. He probably wanted to confirm some thought he had, but she wanted to make sure they didn't miss anything.
The alleyway ran between the market and two storage sheds. The bones lay in the center. Ally didn't even want to guess how many bodies the pile represented. Steve nodded and turned to leave. Ally ventured a few feet further and found the remains of a fire and crude utensils.
"You see this?"
Steve exhaled loudly, and Ally resisted the urge to hit him. "Fine, but you might want to know the mutated survivors have turned to cannibalism. They're not stupid and they're probably hunting us right now."
She picked up a jagged piece of metal with charred bits stuck in it. When she walked by him she slapped it against his chest.
"Ally, do you think that's what's left of our guys?" Emma paced while she talked.
"I don't know. We need to go back to the road and see if there are any other deviations."
Between Cannon Road and Nimitz was a large expanse of sand and gravel. The people who'd lived here, before going nuts, had put up a few buildings and set up a net. A few tables remained in place, but the chairs were all over the place.
When they reached the barracks, Ally took Emma and Doug with her. Steve went around back with Caleb and Slip to check the other structures. Using the tip of her rifle, Ally nudged the door open. The smell hit her first, and then the blood.
Some of the cots still held bodies, killed while they were sleeping. Single shots to the head. Others were a mess of blood and sheets. The walls were decorated with a mix of red smears and smiley faces.
"How old is this?"
Ally turned to Emma and shrugged. Doug ran out of the bathrooms, heaving. The toilets had backed up months ago and a mixture of human waste, ocean water, and God knew what else coated the floors.
"There's nothing here, let's move on." Ally backed up, taking Emma with her.
Out front Doug waited, pale and sweating. Steve stood at the bottom of the stairs with an equally pale Slip. Caleb seemed unaffected.
"Let's go to Captain Brook's. It's a pub. After seeing this, I bet they would have headed that way," Ally said.
Caleb shook his head. "Are you dense? You think they made it this far? Did you miss the pile of bones a ways back? Those were your friends."
"Steve, you find any evidence of someone there? I saw lights last night." Ally ignored Caleb.
"Maybe, but it's too hard to tell. The place is a wreck and I don't think anyone would have bunked down in one of these buildings for the night."
"God, you two are pathetic, just accept your friends are dead and let's move on."
"Shut up, Caleb. We're going to keep moving until we know more." Steve gave the older man a look that dared him to talk back.
Ally picked up a rock, turning it over in her hands. The back-up generators were close, which meant she could power up the cranes. She ignored the argument between Caleb and Steve. After a few steps, the others must have decided to go with her because Emma was on her right and Doug her left.
"I really could use a drink," Emma said.
"I think that goes without saying." Ally said.
The sign above the bar creaked in the wind. The establishment had been there for over three hundred years. A few alterations here and there, but it still held a lot of the old world charm Ally loved. Inside, stools were parked at the bar and mugs full of air and mildew dotted a few tables.
Ally flipped the panel to access the area behind the large wooden bar and found a bottle of whiskey. She uncapped it and grabbed a few shot glasses from a side shelf, filling them to the brim. She did it two more times before putting the top back on the bottle and shoving it in her bag. Some gin and two types of vodka joined it.
In less than three minutes, they'd cleaned out the bar and were outside, deciding their next move. "I hate to say this, but you know since we found this stuff, the others didn't make it here," Ally said.
"Maybe they went straight to the generators," Steve said.
Ally doubted it. P
eople had been talking incessantly about getting smashed one last time before they died. Most of the group that had started this way were former dock workers, and this place was legendary for some of the fights it housed.
"You never know. Let's go check," Ally said.
Back out in the light, she waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. The occasional scream pierced the silence, but they were in no hurry to go find the throat which made those sounds. Something about it wasn't human.
Ten minutes later they were in front of a series of buildings cordoned off by ten foot high chain link fences. Barbed wire ran around the top and a sign with a bolt of electricity was on the ground.
Why the hell would they have this much security on an island?
Ally circled round and found a hole eight feet across near a crater. "Over here, looks like they blew the thing somehow."
Steve reached out a finger and pulled it back when the fence hissed at contact. He stuck the digit in his mouth. "Damn it, that hurts."
"It's electrified, or was the sign not enough for you? And we're supposed to follow you…great." Caleb looked at him in disgust.
Ally's eyes were drawn to what Steve touched. The fence had been blown out in her direction. Caleb ducked and entered the area.
"Caleb, glad you're taking point. What Steve tried to point out was whoever was in there broke out, not the other way around. Considering this whole place is Firm-run, and this building is about five times the size needed for generators…oh and the insane amount of security, well, there's no telling what's inside."
The blood drained from Caleb's face. Ally motioned him forward, Doug and Slip making the situation worse by snickering and commenting under their breath. She didn't really care, a few seconds of fun and then they would be in the middle of what she assumed was most definitely going to be the opposite.
"Leave the booze here, no reason to weigh ourselves down." Ally set down the duffel next to the door and prayed Jason and his thugs left it alone.
Ally didn't note any footprints or dark patches. The door hung by a hinge, and scuff marks on the dusty ground inside indicated someone had been there recently. She walked by Caleb, who stood frozen. Inside was pitch black, the windows sealed over with metal grates. She flipped on the flashlight at the end of her Micro Galil and kept to the right.
"Do you know where you're going?" Caleb asked.
"Never been in here before."
"Hold on, I have a schematic," Steve said.
He opened a small disc and a holographic image of the island sprang up. He touched a few things and the generator building slid into view. It looked small on Steve's map.
"That won't help us. It's a safe bet the Firms were doing some pretty shady shit here. Not stuff they were going to put on a company map," Doug said.
Ally nodded in agreement, glad to see some color back in the man after the incident at the barracks. She kept to the right, heading for what she hoped would be an office. Stale air circulated through one of the vents and a familiar clicking sound echoed down the barren hallway.
"Here," Doug called out.
Ally turned to see him a few feet in front of her turning the handle on a black door. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but was too late. The door flung open and more arms than Ally could count reached for him. He tried to back up and tripped over his feet as dozens of zombies gnashed their teeth at him. The doorframe protested as they pushed to escape.
"Shit, help me!"
Caleb shot a round into Doug's head then stepped back, leaving the horde for Ally and the others. They poured out, over a dozen and the only way not to be overtaken in such small quarters was to split up.
Ally used her machete to decapitate one that had latched onto her shoulder, then took off down the right side with Emma. They passed several other black doors. Three ghouls lumbered toward them. Emma smashed the glass on an emergency fire station and grabbed the axe out of it. She swung it high, decapitating one, and spun, cutting a second one down at the knees. Ally used her long blade, glad for the reach it gave her as she sliced the skull of the approaching zombie. The body tumbled to the ground and the one trying to get at them with broken knees met a quick end under Ally and Emma's boots.
Gunfire, screams, groans, and things unidentifiable rattled down the hallway. Ally waited to see if any more followed them, disappointed she only got three. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and anger at all the lives lost propelled her forward.
"Shouldn't we help the others?" Emma asked.
"They scattered, if we go back we won't find anything. Our best bet is to go forward and see what we can find."
Emma faltered in her steps then turned around. "I have to go back, Slip's just a kid."
Ally took a deep breath before trailing after Emma. They went at a slow pace so nothing could creep up on them. The journey back much longer than their terror-fueled escape. Ally hadn't realized how far they'd run.
When they reached Doug's body, two zombies were dead and four were making a meal of him. Ally saw Emma's hand shake and thought the woman was about to lose it. Instead, she smashed one of the ghouls in the side of the head hard enough to shatter it.
Ally lopped the head off the one nearest her while Emma stabbed a short blade into the top of another skull. The last one raised its head and snarled but a shot from behind took care of him. Steve stood, covered in gore, pistol smoking.
"Where are Slip and Caleb?" Emma asked.
"I don't know, but I think it's best we find the generators and move on."
Ally put her machete away and pointed in the direction she and Emma had come. "There's a bunch of doors like this one, all painted black."
"We should go back that way, then." She walked around the bodies.
Emma put a hand out to stop him. "We should go the other way, Slip is–"
"Probably dead. Move. I don't want to be in this godforsaken place all day."
Ally kept her mouth shut, knowing Emma could handle herself.
A closer inspection of the doors showed most of them had the handles removed from the outside and the black paint covered everything. Ally touched a piece of metal that had been welded over a window, and pieces of what happened fell into place.
"Zombies don't see well in the dark. The people who were stuck in here tried to do whatever they could to survive…because they couldn't get out."
"Makes sense, but I don't understand what the hell they were doing here. I get that they locked people in for safety or whatever, but something messed up happened here," Emma said.
Ally continued to absorb the details in an attempt to make sense of things. They didn't run into any more zombies, so most of them might still be hidden away behind locked doors. The floor showed scuff marks here and there, but no signs of heavy traffic. Their missing group hadn't come this way, and the survivors hadn't ventured inside, either.
They came to a junction, and Steve checked his map.
"This is new."
Their choices were to go straight or left. Steve glanced in both directions while Emma waited. Ally pushed forward, wanting to follow a pattern they could easily use if they needed to make a quick escape.
Fewer doors and windows lined the hallways and the use of paint tapered off. They arrived at a large metal barrier marked "Priority Clearance." Scorch marks on the wall indicated where the access panel had been. She pulled on a bit of bent metal and with Steve's help, exposed the cut wires.
"Hold on," Steve said, again checking his schematics.
"You said this wasn't on there."
He smiled. "Yeah. But this might be wired the same as the doors which are on the plans. Black to white, red to green." He reached into the panel and touched wires together until the metal door slid back, revealing a room full of machinery.
"Is this it? The back-up generator room?" Emma whispered.
"Not sure," Ally said.
Steve entered the room and used a hand held flashlight to illuminate it. Unlike the other places on the i
sland, this one was clean. No smears, no pools of dried blood, and no signs of a fight. Ally flipped a switch and all the overhead lights came to life.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The room was over a hundred feet deep and an easy fifty wide. Consoles were located at each corner and in the center of the room was a glassed-off enclosure. Lab coats wrapped around skeletons filled the space.
"What the hell is this place?"
Ally tried to give Emma a reassuring smile. "Looks like a medical facility. Something must have happened and they put themselves in quarantine."
Emma slapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled. "You mean something got into the air here?"
"If it did, nothing we can do about it now," Steve said.
Ally glared at him. "So far nothing indicates an airborne virus, I'm pretty sure we're okay."
Emma nodded, but kept her hand in place.
Ally headed toward one of the consoles and saw the SOS message flashing across the screen. Below it, the response "No one is coming."
"Why the hell do they have a medical facility? A hidden medical facility?" Steve stomped around the room, picking items off shelves and cabinets and shoving them into a small medical waste bag.
Emma and Ally followed suit, unwilling to let all the supplies go to waste despite their apprehension about the room. Each of the consoles held the same message, and Ally wondered if the scientists locked themselves up for a different reason. The date the people here sent the SOS was the same day Ally'd set out to sea on the Betty Loo for her last mission. She read several communiqués and realized they'd been trying to warn the Firms about the water, but no one listened. The people here were cut off from the world, their only connection to the outside a link to the corrupt Firm they worked for.
The planes full of toxic chemicals, dozens of passengers killed for what they knew. Ally felt the anger in her rise at the thought of more innocent people dying because they tried to do the right thing. Though, Steve's question did make Ally wonder.
Why did they have a second medical facility?
"There's another door here. Want to go this way, or you want to backtrack and take the passage we passed earlier?" Steve's hand on the doorknob let Ally know his thoughts on the matter: move forward.
Z-Boat (Book 3): Z-End Page 23
