The Survival Chronicles (Book 6): Dark Mercy

by Nally, Fergal F.

  “No sign of a life raft,” Mercy said.

  “It was worth a try,” Rose replied, she stared back at the aircraft door. Her eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute—” Rose stood up and returned to the open door. She pointed at an emergency panel, “Check this out—”

  Mercy squinted, reading the faded lettering, “EMERGENCY EVACUATION SLIDE ACCESS.” She reached down and pulled away the panel to reveal a lever. She pulled the lever.

  “Nothing,” Rose said. “It needs power to deploy. Wait, hang on a second, what’s this in the floor?” Rose knelt down and pulled up a floor panel. “Hell yeah,” she sat back, beaming.

  Mercy peered over her shoulder. The words: LIFE RAFTS 1-6 were clearly stencilled in a recessed compartment. “That’s our ticket across the river Rose. You’ve just earned your stripes for today girl.”

  Mercy gave Rose a hug. “Come on let’s get some dry clothes from the hold.”

  One step at a time—

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Rose asked Mercy.

  They were standing on the east bank of the Anacostia River.

  “We should be able to make it. Trouble is, it’s difficult to know what the current is like—” Mercy replied.

  Rose pointed to a branch that was moving down the river, “Current looks pretty strong, there’s been a lot of rain out this way—”

  Mercy turned towards the downed airliner, “I’m thinking we need a sail, nothing big, just enough to take us in the right direction—”

  Rose closed her eyes, “What about one of those things to slow us down, to prevent us from being dragged by the current—?”

  Mercy raised an eyebrow, “You mean like a sea anchor?”

  “Yeah, a sea anchor in the water, that would add drag, stop us from being pulled down the river too quick—”

  “You’re a genius Rose, let’s get back. We’ll see if we can find some materials to do the job—”

  They returned to the aircraft and searched the surrounding houses and streets. They found sheets which they tied together to make a rudimentary sail. Mercy spotted some plastic road safety barriers which they took to use as a base for a makeshift mast. They assembled all the items under the aircraft before dark.

  “Reckon we can try and make something out of that lot,” Mercy sat down, exhausted.

  “Tomorrow’s another day—” Rose said.

  “We need to get some sleep. I’m dead—” Mercy replied.

  The last rays of sun shone from the west, reflecting in the few remaining intact windows.

  “Where do you want to sleep?” Rose asked, her eyes drifting to the open door in the side of the aircraft.

  Mercy shuddered, “Not in there, that’d be too much. How about down here beside the plane, in the open?”

  Rose nodded, “Yeah, I can deal with that. I’ll take first watch—”

  Mercy sank to her knees and started arranging the bedding they had found. “Listen Rose, I don’t know about you but I’m shattered. We’ve got the biotech so we’re OK against normal tropes, you need your sleep too. I say we take our chances and just sleep. No guard duty—”

  Rose shrugged, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I don’t think I could keep awake even if I tried—”

  They finished their supply of crackers and lay under the remains of the wing. A host of stars glittered in the chill night sky. The sound of the river was audible in the distance. They were asleep in minutes.

  Mercy’s eyes fluttered. She woke up.

  Christ, it’s cold—

  She sat up, wincing at the stiffness which gripped her body.

  I could use some hot coffee, pancakes, maple syrup, eggs, bacon, toast. God—

  She stared, bleary-eyed across the street. The grey light of early morning filtered into her brain. She checked her watch; 5:37 am.

  Not bad, we got six hours’ sleep—

  She looked at Rose who was still asleep under the blankets they had found.

  Could’ve used some insulation on the ground though, I feel like I’ve aged ten years—

  Mercy yawned and stared vacantly at the street for a minute before snapping out of her reverie.

  We’re going to need some cordage or cabling to tie all this shit together. Plus a horizontal pole for the sail. And more food. There’s always something to do—

  Mercy let Rose sleep. She entered the aircraft and emerged fifteen minutes later with more biscuits and crackers. She had managed to strip wire cabling from under a floor panel. She dropped her finds beside the uninflated life raft they had brought down from the plane. She read the lettering on the side: LIFE RAFT CAPACITY 30 PERSONS.

  It’ll be Hi Vis, orange or yellow, so we’ll have to go at night; tonight—

  She looked up, a random thought popped into her head.

  Curtain pole, I’ll get us a curtain pole from that house over there. That’ll work as a mast—

  Mercy returned with a curtain pole twenty minutes later.

  Rose sat up and stretched. She nodded in approval. “Good job, I was wondering what we’d use for the mast—”

  “We need to assemble this stuff here, under cover. The raft will be Hi Vis orange. We’ll have to carry it down to the river in the dark—” Mercy said.

  Rose processed the information, “Agreed. We could make the mast and sail in the trees by the river and bring the raft down later. It’ll be easier that way—”

  “Less to carry in one go. OK, let’s do that. Breakfast first—” Mercy gestured at the crackers.

  Rose frowned, “Where’s my waffles and syrup?”

  “Sorry they were all out at the store,” Mercy replied.

  They finished their meal of dry crackers and river water then started ferrying the materials down to the riverbank. Birds called out from the trees, the sound of the river filled the air, the sun warmed Mercy’s skin.

  This could be just any day before the Fall. Hanging out with a friend, making stuff, shooting the breeze—

  Insects buzzed in the undergrowth, a blue butterfly fluttered past Mercy’s feet.

  Except it isn’t. There are NSA troops on the other side of the river and tropes and alphas. And god knows what else. And me and Rose are trying to get over there to kill the king. Hah, what a fucking joke—

  They spent the next few hours under the trees assembling the mast and sail. Finally, Mercy stepped back to examine their handiwork.

  “Looks half decent,” Rose said.

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Mercy replied. “It’ll have to do.”

  Rose raised a finger, “An idea. You know the other rafts we found?”

  “Yeah—?” Mercy replied.

  “Well, if we inflate one and tie it to our raft, then when we’re out on the water we can burst it and it’ll act as the sea anchor we wanted—”

  Mercy smiled, “Rose, you’ve just earned yourself a second stripe. Come on let’s get another one then—”

  They retrieved their raft and took a second one from the floor recess in the aircraft. They brought them down to the riverbank uninflated.

  Mercy examined their work and let out a satisfied sigh. “We’ve done about as much as we can for the moment,” her eyes strayed out to Kingman Island across the water. “It’s a long island on the map, must be a mile and a half, so we can afford to drift downstream a bit—”

  Rose nodded, “Yeah, just a bit. I don’t wanna get too close to the lower bridge. There’s bound to be lookouts there—”

  A distant, angry rumble in the east broke the silence.

  “All those men, those SEALs we started off with—” Rose said.

  Flynn—

  “Flynn and Tawny—” Rose continued.

  Mercy shifted her feet. “This is for them, Rose. This is for all of them—”

  Chapter 28

  Anacostia River

  They inflated the life raft in the dark, the makeshift mast base fitted easily into the raft. They lashed it down with cabling and cordage. Finally they were ready. The east wind rustled the
leaves above, the temperature fell. Mercy shivered as they dragged the raft the last few feet to the water’s edge.

  Don’t slip—

  The river was swollen from the recent rains.

  It looks fast—

  “Ready—?” Rose asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll use the paddle as a tiller. See if you can handle the sail and deploy the other raft as sea anchor when we get into deeper water. It’s secured and ready to go—” Mercy said.

  “Let’s do this,” Rose replied.

  They pushed the life raft into the shallows and climbed on board. Mercy pushed off with the paddle and they drifted into deep water. Almost immediately she felt the pull of the current.

  “Now Rose—”

  Rose held the second life raft pack over the side and pulled its inflation cord. The raft inflated in a noisy burst of orange. Rose pulled out her combat knife and punctured the new raft, it sank pulling its anchoring cord taut. The drag was noticeable.

  “It’s working,” Mercy said, steering their raft towards the middle of the river.

  Her eyes searched the dark for obstacles, they had seen branches and other debris sweeping down the river earlier in the day. Her arms were already aching, fighting the current. The wind caught the sail, pulling them across the deepest water. She watched the island on their right and fought desperately with the force of the river. The paddle was almost ripped from her hands when the raft twisted in the current.

  Keep it together, keep going—

  The sail deflated and the raft lurched downstream.

  “Rose—”

  Rose grabbed the mast and rotated it until the sail billowed forth again. The raft responded and they left the deep swells and entered the shallows near the far bank. The lower bridge was looming as the raft scraped against gravel.

  “Rose, jump—”

  Rose clambered out of the raft holding the mooring rope. She started to pull. A ripping sound followed and the raft juddered. A twisted piece of metal appeared through the floor of the raft.

  Goddammit—

  Mercy overbalanced and fell overboard, the paddle dropped from her hands. She grabbed onto the side of the raft, her feet finding the river bed below. Rose was ashore, the rope in her hands.

  I’m not going to lose this raft, we need it for the other side—

  Mercy took a deep breath and pushed the edge of the raft up and over the twisted metal. It flopped up, free of its restraint. The mast broke off and was swept away by the current. Rose pulled what remained of the raft up onto the shore. Mercy staggered against the current and stepped towards the bank. She collapsed to the ground a few seconds later breathing heavily.

  Rose sat down beside her. “We made it, touch and go for a minute though—”

  Mercy shook her head, “Yeah, but look on the bright side, we needed a bath didn’t we? Come on don’t lie; the NSA would’ve been able to smell us before they saw us—”

  Rose slapped the mud with her hand, “You got that right. No shade on our parade. Come on let’s get into cover—”

  They dragged the raft into the long grass and covered it with fallen branches and reeds. After a rest they set off through the trees leaving the river behind. Rose led the way.

  Mercy watched their flanks and rear.

  It’s a narrow island, we’ll see what’s on the other side—

  Rose stopped and crouched low. Mercy followed suit.

  What now—?

  Mercy peered at the gaps in the undergrowth ahead. Rose crept forwards a few feet and lay on her stomach. Mercy joined her and let her breath out slowly.

  Well spotted Rose—

  A camouflaged watch tower stood ten yards away. Its observation platform was just visible through the canopy above.

  Looks deserted, but looks can be deceptive—

  “What do you want to do?” Rose whispered. “Pull back or go around it?”

  “Pull back, we want to keep a low profile. Take no chances—”

  Rose nodded and they withdrew. Once they had put distance between them and the tower Rose took a different route through dense brambles and undergrowth. Fifteen minutes later they emerged on the far side of the island. A smaller island was visible a hundred and fifty metres away.

  “That’s Heritage Island. There’s the road bridge in the distance. And there’s the duckboard footbridge over there—” Mercy pointed at the smaller island.

  “Yeah, so there should be another footbridge to the mainland on the other side—”

  Mercy narrowed her eyes, “Goddammit—”

  Rose followed her gaze, “NSA guard, no… two of them, on the footbridge. Shit—”

  “We’ll stay here and watch,” Mercy whispered.

  They observed the guards for twenty minutes.

  “Three of them, probably more back in that watch tower. Shit—” Rose said.

  “It’d be too risky to climb across under the bridge, we’d make too much noise. One slip and they’d be onto us—” Mercy said.

  “They don’t seem to have night vision. Hey, what about the life jackets? We could float across—”

  Mercy chewed her lip, “Don’t want to get separated from you Rose. But yeah, the life jackets are an idea—”

  “We could tie them together with two branches, make a sort of raft. We’d swim across in the life jackets but we’d be attached—” Rose explained.

  Mercy thought for a minute, “That works. Let’s get them, we need to be across here before daylight.”

  They returned to their landing point and retrieved the life jackets then retraced their steps to the western side of the island. They moved south, passing the duckboard bridge and the guards.

  Mercy stopped when she was sure they were out of sight of the walkway. “Let’s do it—”

  They found two strong branches and attached the lifejackets using the straps. Mercy secured the M16 along one of the branches. When they were ready they entered the water and began swimming.

  Cold. Shit, it’s freezing. Keep moving—

  Mercy forced herself to swim. The chill spread through her body, she shivered. She could feel Rose shivering behind her.

  Shit, this is getting serious—

  The current was not as strong as in the main part of the river. They reached the shallows and flopped to the ground in the long grass.

  “We’ve gotta keep going,” Rose gasped. “It we stop now we’ll never make it—”

  “It’s so cold,” Mercy muttered. “Let’s go—”

  It took them a few minutes to reach the southern tip of Heritage Island. They re-entered the water, striking out for the mainland twenty metres away. Minutes later they were ashore, surrounded by trees. Mercy collapsed to the ground, her breathing ragged.

  Gotta keep moving—

  Rose appeared with plastic sheeting in her hands. “Here, put this around you. I’ve got some too. Found it on the riverbank—”

  Mercy took the plastic with shaking hands. She wrapped it around her and noticed a difference immediately.

  Cuts out the wind—

  She looked through the trees and frowned.

  What’s that—?

  Rose followed her gaze to the tower cranes, “Looks like an abandoned building site, that’s where the RFK Stadium used to be, according to the map. We’re properly in DC now.”

  Mercy shuddered, “Next stop, President Mitchell’s bunker—”

  “I had enough of bunkers in Norfolk—” Rose answered.

  “Don’t forget Colorado—” Mercy said,

  “How could I—?” Rose pulled a face. “Come on, enough of the small talk we need to find shelter and dry out—”

  “I’d settle for a hot cup of coffee and a week’s sleep right now—” Mercy replied.

  Rose offered a hand.

  Mercy pulled herself up, swaying for a moment. “Head rush—” she muttered.

  “Come on, let’s go in search of a sugar rush—” Rose stepped through the trees.

  They left the river ba
nk and entered an area which had been reclaimed by nature. They picked their way through a tangle of brambles and trees. They came to broken asphalt after twenty minutes and followed it. A glow lit up the sky in the distance.

  Never thought I’d see a city lit up again. They’ve got power to burn—

  The road took them to the suburbs. Shattered buildings rose up around them like broken teeth. Craters pockmarked the street. Mercy stepped around a long forgotten checkpoint, its rusted barbed wire scraped against her wet shirt. She stopped to listen. A mild breeze ruffled her hair, she smelt the river and her own body. Her lip curled.

  Pollution… or something dead. Who’d have thought the rivers would still be filthy all this time after the Fall? It’ll take more than a lifetime to cleanse the earth of all our crap—

  Rose tapped her shoulder, “The block over there, seems intact. Looks residential, no fire damage, no bullet holes, we might find something in there—”

  Mercy hefted the M16 and moved towards the building. She stopped outside and stared at each window turn. Satisfied, she crept along the side of the building and found the rear fire escape. They made it to the first floor as the first rays of morning light broke over the eastern horizon. Mercy pulled the nearest window open. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass and froze, startled at what she saw.

  Fuck. Is that… me?

  Mercy did not recognise the young woman staring back at her.

  I look… older. My eyes, my hair. Jesus, my skin—

  Rose patted Mercy on the back, “Hey, come on, it’s better not to look. I gave that shit up ages ago—”

  I look like… a killer. I am a killer—

  Mercy looked away and stepped through the open window into a dark corridor. The building was quiet, dead. She tried the first door she came to, it was unlocked. She entered the apartment, it was empty.

  All those cars, all those people leaving the city in their big SUVs—

  Rose closed and barricaded the door behind them. She pushed past Mercy and checked the apartment. Mercy sat on the sofa. She lay back and closed her eyes.

  Two minutes—

  Sleep hit her like a freight train.

  Chapter 29

  Cold Sweat