by Stevens, GJ
I turned around, not sure what I’d see, but there we were. The five of us on the deck. Alex regaining her breath. Jess gritting her teeth as she stared between us. Shadow with his tail wagging and Cassie in the wheelhouse with her hands covering her eyes as if she’d not wanted to see.
“So this is who we are now,” Alex said between breaths.
I looked around and no one replied. No one corrected her as Cassie turned back to grab the wheel.
I didn’t look in our wake. I didn’t want to see the bodies slip under the water even though I knew they’d be long out of sight. Instead, I stared at the shoreline getting closer with each moment and a building sat on the edge, marked out by three rows of lights to our left. With more lights scattered across our view, I couldn’t help but think it was a positive sign, whilst knowing the opposite could also be true.
“That must be the place,” I said. No one disagreed.
As the darkness of the land built, I licked my dry lips, regretting the salty taste and last drink of water I couldn’t remember taking.
It wasn’t long before we were just off the coast and Cassie slowed the engine and made another turn. No one spoke as I stroked the length of Shadow’s back, pretending it was for his reassurance.
We aimed for a sandy beach and I shuddered as I realised we were going to get wet again.
Soon we heard the familiar scrape of the keel on the sand below and we lurched to a stop, despite the engine noise rising as Cassie tried to get us as close to shore as possible. The engine soon silenced after a last-minute flurry and we were left with just the waves slapping gently against the hull and washing to the shore.
“Come on,” Jess said, waving her hand to the water as Cassie threw the anchor over the side with a splash.
I peered along the edge of the beach, scouring in the white moonlight for any movement. Beyond the sand, light glowed from over the dunes but when no one called the alarm I watched Jess, then Cassie, lower themselves backwards over the edge and slip near-silent into the water, which came just below the knee.
Grateful for the water’s height, I handed over the rifles as they beckoned us to join them.
Alex lowered herself down next, gliding with as much grace as the pair had, then she stood at the edge of the boat as I corralled Shadow to let Alex take him.
Slipping as my foot touched the edge, I landed heavily in the freezing water, sending out a great bow wave. Flashing a silent apology all around, no one seemed to care as we strode with wide steps to the beach and I wondered if they too could feel their legs already going numb.
Revelling at the solid ground, and with the freezing cold coursing down my ankles as we rose out of the water and on to the beach, I wasn’t able to stop their sway even though the motion of the waves was only a memory.
Lowering Shadow to the beach, Alex wrapped her arms around her from the cold as she rushed to catch up with Jess and Cassie. She caught up as they stopped with their heads rising just above the level of the dunes and I soon joined at their side, Jess handing over the rifle.
I looked at the gun in the dark, trying to make out how it differed to the one I’d used before, but it was too dark to tell.
“Anything?” I asked, leaning into the group and looking out across the thin grass rising up on a bank.
“No,” someone whispered in the background of the lapping waves, but I couldn’t tell who and I followed as they each moved to the left, rising up the dune and heading towards a coastal wall where Shadow rushed off, sniffing the sand.
Halting by the wall, I stamped my feet against the cold, but stopped as Jess turned around.
“I’m going ahead,” she said, her voice low. “It’s your best chance.”
“Bad idea,” I said, leaning in. We gathered up and Cassie spoke.
“But what if she can free the children without getting you into danger?”
“Exactly,” Jess replied, looking to Alex.
“No,” Alex and I said almost at the same time.
“We go together,” I added.
Without a chance of discussion, Alex moved off at pace and we followed in a cautious line behind. Rising up the beach whilst keeping the sea wall to our left, I peered along a well-lit static caravan park coming into view to our right.
Passed the deserted park, I focused on a spaced-out line of figures, stopping as the others did.
“They’re a long way off,” I said.
“But if we can see them...” Cassie added.
I nodded, edging closer to the wall.
We waited, each of us gazing at the distant line. As the minutes passed by, I was sure I saw long rifles held out, reminding me to have hope because we hadn’t already been picked off by snipers or charged by a hoard of the undead when we rushed up the beach.
Perhaps the chaos had been contained in the South West and the rest of the country could be saved?
Chancing a move, and with great care, I walked along our line, stopping where Alex still peered out to the horizon.
I glanced across at the dark foliage clinging to the wall as it snaked out in front, then realised someone was missing.
“Where’s Jess?”
81
JESSICA
Slipping away along the path as they stared out at the line of soldiers, I knew going it alone was the right thing to do. What Toni had given me was a curse, but with it came the ability to help them and to stop the others from getting hurt. I’d be foolish, selfish, not to take advantage, despite their unwillingness to consider the options. What could they do? They were only human.
Surprising myself at my new perspective, I didn’t let it delay my progress when out of their sight I rushed along the foliage with the blocky fort soon coming into view.
The plan was simple enough. I’d make myself known, let them take me. I would be safe; they didn’t stand a chance against me. I could break any bonds they’d care to tie and they’d take me straight to her. I’d play nice until I was ready to finish this once and for all.
I’d do it for myself. I’d do it for my crew, for Jordain, but most of all I’d do it for everyone they’d hurt in the future.
82
LOGAN
Turning back, I looked in the opposite direction for any sign of Jess, but with a rustle of the bushes just ahead, we each turned to the sound coming at a low level. For a moment I thought it would be Jess crawling out on her hands and knees, but instead, Shadow emerged, walking past us and heading along the line we’d been following.
“Shit,” Alex exclaimed and I pushed my arm out, grabbing at her jacket as she made to run along the bushes after her.
“Didn’t you see her go?” I asked in a hurried whisper.
“Jess,” Alex called out, but the sound was so quiet against the lapping of the waves the other side of the wall.
Spinning around, I followed Cassie’s look toward the distant line of soldiers, seeking any reaction. When we saw their dogged march along the road, Alex moved off and this time I didn’t try to hold her back.
Following behind, we hugged the foliage and Cassie sped past me. I glanced to the soldiers in the distance. With my eyes widening, I concentrated on the view, hoping our speed wouldn’t point us out, but they were out of sight, disappearing somewhere between us and the long row of static caravans.
Our speed picked up and ahead came the orange glow of streetlights. We slowed, forming up behind Alex as she stopped.
Leaning tight to the hedge, I realised Shadow was at my side and I stroked down his back, staring past Alex down the hill to the edge of the fort we’d seen at a distance from the boat.
Resembling a brick box designed by someone used to building utilitarian prisons, it looked nothing like the castle or medieval construction the name conjured. With small, arched windows stacked on top of each other, it sat right to the edge of the water, surrounded by a deserted concrete platform.
Cassie called our attention with a click from her lips. I followed her outstretched hand and she pointed
to the right, up the rising hill and a collection of construction vehicles; JCBs and tippers parked amongst cargo containers with a mobile crane folded up at the edge of a fenced-off compound.
“That must be the construction site Thompson mentioned,” I said.
A muffled intake of air made me look back down to the fort and I saw movement, Jess, strolling to a door in the middle of the wall.
Alex stifled her call with her hand, watching the door open and a rifle point out.
I expected chaos to ensue, a bloodbath, but to the shouted commands, Jess turned her back to the door and let a soldier drag her through the opening.
“She’s given up.”
The words fell from my mouth and I turned to Alex, getting ready to grab her.
83
“We’re screwed,” I said, letting the words slip with too much volume.
“No,” Alex replied, standing tall whilst backing up closer to the hedge line.
“She’s sold us out.” It was Cassie’s flat voice which came next.
“No. Jess will have a plan. She’s not just going to walk in there and give herself up after all this time,” Alex said, peering around the hedge and clasping her hands under her chin.
I took a moment to calm my breath. Despite appearances, I also struggled to believe Jess could hand herself over, but I’d known her only a few days less than Cassie. “What good can she do locked inside? That’s where they wanted her in the first place,” I said, moving to stand beside Alex.
Shaking her head, her eyes narrowed as she spoke with the moon lighting her face. “You’ve seen what she’s capable of. Do you think they can hold her back?”
I had, and Alex was right; unless they had some very big guns, there was no chance of standing in her way. “I hope she destroys that place from the inside.”
“Ellie,” Cassie said with a gasp as she rapidly blinked.
I opened my arms in hope she’d let me comfort her, but Cassie walked past me, taking a wide step out of my path as she walked toward the construction compound.
“Cassie, wait,” I said, and she stopped, turning my way, glaring with such rage and anger as if about to explode at any moment.
I couldn’t help but think it was the moment the monster inside her would reveal itself and prove my worst fear.
But she turned and spoke, her voice soft. “That’s where we get in.”
Taking a deep breath, I pushed down my selfish thoughts and my need to comfort her and my want to take control so I could make everything okay again. She no longer asked for my opinion, so all I could do was be there and help any way I could.
Running up the grass, bending at the waist to keep low, I followed Cassie, then after a moment I looked over my shoulder, relieved to see Alex had followed. As I turned back, I couldn’t help the feeling that I’d seen something in the distance, right where we’d walked from.
I stopped, Alex running past me, asking if I was okay as I concentrated on the darkness.
“Fine,” I said and turned, having dismissed the movement as only in my imagination.
Shadow ran alongside Cassie and we rose up the hill, soon out of the glow of the caravan park and despite still glancing in the direction of the long road, I couldn’t see the soldiers who’d been heading towards this place.
Hearing a metallic rattle and cringing at its volume, I turned the way we headed to the temporary fencing around the construction compound. Tall lamps climbed into the air from generators at their base, but they lay silent, producing no power to glow through the lights at the top and leaving us only with the eerie white illumination from the moon.
Cassie slipped the chain wrapped around the gates, sliding them open.
Shrugging off why there was no lock, I pushed away the nagging feeling it was too easy to get inside the compound. Taking a step, my foot knocked against something in the mud and I turned down to see the brass bullet casings scattered across the ground.
Rushing past Alex, I joined at Cassie’s side just as Shadow came level and I scanned the rifle around the view. In amongst the yellow construction vehicles and shipping containers were grey temporary buildings, which we ignored, instead staring at the raised ring of concrete in the centre of the site surrounded by another fence.
Creeping forward, the ring with a dark centre was as wide as the length of a long van. Slowing our pace, we edged towards the strange structure and what seemed to be the focus of the construction.
With a break in the inner fence line, not barred with a gate, it led to scaffolding, the only object taking up space inside the concrete ring. As we edged closer, I saw scaffolding steps at the side, leading down through the shaft.
Sharing a look with Cassie and Alex, I was surprised when Cassie leaned over the edge before turning back towards us.
“There’s light coming from down there,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
It seemed obvious enough from Thompson's short words; this was where we needed to go. Cassie must have thought the same, as without pause she hurried on down the steps and I followed her lead, as did Alex behind.
Taking hold of the cold metal uprights, I stopped to lean over the edge and peer at the soft glowing light above two arched openings opposite each other, around ten storeys down the shaft.
We lingered for a moment, still taking in the view, but when Shadow pushed past my legs, we followed his way down, turning around level after level. I glanced up as we descended, but saw no one peering over the edge.
Shadow arrived at the lowest level first. With his nose in the air and his tongue lolling out of his mouth, he stood on the fresh concrete floor, not looking to us or waiting for anyone to arrive by his side before he headed through the archway to the left and out of sight.
I called his name in a stage whisper, but he’d gone before the echo died.
Cassie arrived at the concrete soon after with Alex and I at her back.
The archways were formed into the shaft wall, one roughly facing the direction of the fort and the other the opposite way. Turning back to the arch to our left, I saw Cassie heading in Shadow’s wake.
“Wait,” I called, keeping my voice light and, with surprise, she stopped before entering the tunnel, turning back with her eyes wide and face as pale as the moon as if scared and excited at the same time.
With Alex at my side, I pointed the rifle down each of the doorways.
“Which way?” I whispered.
“This way,” Cassie said, pointing the way she’d been about to head. “It takes us closer to the fort, I guess.”
It was as good a reason as any and I nodded.
“Why are there no soldiers here?” Alex asked.
I stood tall. She was right. We knew from what Thompson had said that this was at least in part a military complex, or would be when they’d finished building it. We’d seen the soldiers out on patrol, just as Thompson had said. So why hadn’t we seen any guarding this place? Could it be this lightly guarded, or were the scattered bullet casings above a sign of what had happened?
Perhaps there were none of them left. Maybe they’d all been bitten. Had they all turned and left their posts?
“We haven’t got time to think about that,” Cassie said, but from her look and Alex’s too, I guessed they’d come to the same conclusion.
The sound of metal hitting against metal echoed from the corridor ahead and before we could question what to do next, Cassie moved off and we followed.
“We need to find Shadow,” I whispered at Cassie’s back, and looked to Alex nodding at my side as I tried to keep my footsteps light to dampen their echo.
The smell of fresh paint and concrete dust filled the air as the tunnel headed on with building materials and tools lining the rounded walls. Evenly spaced lights glowed from the ceiling and the tunnel soon split with routes going left, right and straight on to the sound of Shadow’s claws echoing on the concrete.
At the junction, I looked left and right, despite Cassie not pausing and heading straight on. Wi
th what I thought was the sound of Shadow’s claws on the concrete floor, I looked again to the left, now certain I’d seen his tail disappear around a corner.
“Stay with her,” I said, looking to Alex for a moment before jogging down the left corridor.
Arriving at the bend where I thought I’d seen Shadow, the corridor continued on after the slow turn, with doorways to the right; none of which had doors, but metal frames and fittings as if they were yet to be installed.
I heard voices, two men in light conversation. I edged forward and looked through the shallow angle to cardboard boxes stacked high. Past the last box, a guy stood in army fatigues and I stepped back as he moved, hoping he hadn’t seen me.
With the voices receding as I retraced my steps, I arrived back at the junction and cringed at the sound of footsteps coming from all around, hoping they were from Cassie and Alex and not the patrol returned from the duties.
Instead of following in their footsteps, I took off to the right, the tunnel much the same as the previous.
Reaching the turn at the end, a mirror image of the last, I found, instead of another corridor with rooms off to the side, a white plastic sheet blocked the route.
I slowed at the sound of voices, two women this time, one of which had Jess’s unmistakable tone.
Taking care as I stepped closer, I approached the sheet, stopping when I heard her words.
“I can bring Cassie to you.”
Despite being stunned by what she’d said, I turned at the sound of steps at my back to see Thompson soaked through and pointing a pistol in my direction.
“Drop your weapon,” he said, as water dripped to the floor from his clothes.
84
JESSICA
“Where is she?” I said, but Doctor Lytham just stared back from a few paces across the room. In the bright light of the workman’s lamps pointing to the white walls in place of the dark strip lights high in the ceiling, she looked to my wrists bound with the manacles screwed tight to the fresh concrete walls. Turning to my face, she seemed to examine every detail as if looking for differences manifested since we’d last met.
