by Stevens, GJ
To my surprise, Thompson called out orders, shouting for Gibson and Sherlock to head to the trees and find out what they could see.
“Wait, no,” I called out. “Shouldn’t we stay together?”
“Yeah,” Alex added.
When Thompson ignored our words, I wound the key in the mechanism and I glanced up, watching as Thompson threw the rifle to Sherlock. Neither Sherlock nor Gibson questioned the order; instead, they ran toward the treeline, spreading out as they raced to get a better view.
“We need to know what we’re dealing with,” Thompson said, not turning my way. “Stay out of this.”
Pushing hard with each turn, I shook away the dread we wouldn’t see either of them again and that with every turn we were closer to abandoning them as we washed down the river. Instead, I concentrated on working through the ache in my arm as the key went around to the sound of the cogs clunking together and water rushing out of the gate to splash to the river the other side.
High calls came again, one after the other, but no shots were fired. Looking down, I urged the level of water between gates to drop quicker as Cassie jumped back to the boat, the engine soon coming back to life.
“Shit,” I called, as the receding water revealed the dank hair of too many heads to count. Thompson followed my look, his eyes widening at the sight of the water running down their foreheads. Only Jess and Cassie didn’t look as the vanishing water revealed more sodden features of the creatures still standing in the water.
I couldn’t stop looking at the sight of the water lowering, knowing if it dropped too low, they would easily overwhelm the boat.
With the sluice gates fully open, the handle stopped and glancing back to the river side of the lock gate, I saw we were so close, the levels nearly the same.
Arms were out of the water, grappling and clawing at the hull. Fingers held at the edge as more made their way to the boat in the ever-lowering waters.
We couldn’t wait much longer. Alex rested the shotgun to the deck to grab at the pole and jab at the fingers and heads of the creatures as their hands came over the edge. They couldn’t feel pain and didn’t care how hard the wood struck them, continuing to grasp for purchase to pull themselves up to the feast in waiting.
I looked to Cassie and without words she calmly nodded, hoping it meant it hadn’t grounded yet.
Pushing my weight into the gate, with surprise I felt it move against my pressure, sending water rushing in between as Thompson heaved on the other side. With the water dropping at such a rate, our efforts were rewarded as the gates stood open, resting against the concrete.
Arms reached over the edge with Alex, Jess and Shadow standing dead centre of the rear deck. Jess looked on impassively, as if biding her time. Alex held the pole like a spear, ready to attack the first creature to climb.
The boat moved forward, the hull scraping against the bottom of the canal, but with the engine note rising, she pushed past the friction.
Thompson jabbed his fingers into his mouth and issued an ear-splitting whistle whilst Alex walked around the deck, sweeping off the remaining fingers clinging to the edge.
Rushing along the side, I realised with the boat so low I had only moments before it slipped into the estuary and I would have to swim to join her once it cleared the concrete marking the end of the lock. Thompson leapt from the bank, landing on the deck with a great scrape echoing from the hull with the extra weight.
It was now or never. I took a running leap and pushed off to the side. As I leapt, I made the mistake of looking down to the murky water and the bodies standing with their arms flailing as if trying to grab me from below.
Landing, Alex wrapped her arms around me, stopping my fall off the opposite side and I stood, legs like jelly, trying to push away the thoughts of what could have happened if I hadn’t made it.
Each of the grasping creatures fell from the edge and the waters must have deepened as Cassie lowered the throttle to keep us from slipping along into the estuary. We had two passengers to wait for.
All but Cassie stared out at the treeline. The air filled with the splash of water as a hand or appendage rose above the surface, the slow current drawing the creatures from the lock, passing our hull and out to the river.
A chorus of short, excited squeals called out from the trees; the sound of something enjoying a chase. A chill raced down my spine as I peered to the treeline, searching for anything that could be the two dark-clothed soldiers running towards us.
When the soldiers weren’t apparent, I knew we couldn’t wait forever. We were too close to the bank for the distance to protect us from the bounds of those creatures.
If they overran the soldiers, we were next on the menu. We had to make the terrible call. We couldn’t just wait and see what fate would fall upon us.
Thompson decided.
“Take us into the estuary,” he said in a quiet voice. The rise of the engine note replied as our speed increased.
“No,” I called. “You can’t leave them here. Just a few moments more,” I said, not able to leave them to their death when there could still be hope.
“We’re going. They knew the risks,” Thompson said, shaking his head, but I still looked past him at the treeline.
“Look,” I shouted, pointing to movement I hoped wasn’t in my imagination. When I saw the two distinct black shapes, my lips pulled into a smile I couldn’t hold back and I waved furiously like an excited child.
“Hold,” Thompson snapped, and the engine noise dropped back to an idle as he followed my outstretched finger and held his palm out to Cassie.
Looking up as a collective gasp rose in the air, at first I couldn’t see what had prompted the reaction. Then I saw the figures leaping to the air as they chased Sherlock and Gibson, their number too many to count. It was then I remembered what Alex had said in the restaurant; I didn’t want to believe they could multiply, that they could make more of their own, but the sight told me she must have been right.
I expected Thompson to call out an order for us to leave. I expected Cassie to push the levers up, forcing us to watch the running men perish. There would be no chance of outrunning the frenzy chasing at their backs.
I hadn’t expected the movement across my front. I hadn’t expected, like an Olympic gymnast, Jess to leap in a great arc from the boat to the bank, running in a blur towards the soldiers.
The soldiers were soon close enough I saw their expressions, their wide eyes at the sight of Jess running towards them, their faces contorting and giving her a wide berth as she ran between them.
“Hey.” The call from Alex pulled me away and I turned to see an arm reaching over the edge of the boat, a pale hand gripping to the base of a metal rail.
Alex stood to the edge, looking down, jabbing the pole at the figure. I rushed to her back, peering over to see an old man clinging to a handrail, with two more grabbing around his neck as they tried to use him as a ladder.
Gripping the shotgun up from the deck, I flinched at the terrible sounds from where Jess had run to and saw Sherlock and Gibson had made it to the manicured grass.
“Get ready,” Thompson called, and I turned away, rushing to Alex’s aid as she jabbed the pole over the side of the boat to the sound of sucking flesh and the strike of bone.
When two heavy thumps hit the deck, Thompson gave the order and with the engine revving high, I didn’t need to look to know the two soldiers were on board and Jess was the one we were leaving behind.
“Jess,” Alex called, as a creature’s hand wrapped around the pole with the bodies slipping away in our trail to sink below the surface whilst still grasping out towards us.
Her head rose, pale and wide-eyed when we turned to see the receding woods. Staring out, I watched a figure at the head of a group, a pack of creatures running and bounding toward us. It was Jess, but we were slipping down the canal to where it swept into the river at our right to become the estuary and lead us to the sea with the sticky mud flats either side at the
edges of the water.
There was no way she would make it in time, even if the creatures chasing didn’t catch up to take her life.
74
JESSICA
There were too many. Their number so great. I could have stayed and fought but I knew it would be my last and I wasn’t ready.
With their thick blood dripping from my hands, I turned from the fight, watching the boat move, my gaze catching on Alex’s desperate expression as she stared from the deck.
They’d made the right decision. The needs of the many and all that. Still, I couldn’t help my regret as Alex screamed, her voice so desperate in my direction. I kept running for the fear she might do something stupid.
I kept running, somehow ahead of the charging pack. I knew they were only interested in me because of my attack, my battle to save those soldiers and take away their prey.
I thought I would pay for my stupid act. I thought I would pay for saving their lives with mine. I was in no doubt these creatures, who were only one step removed from me, would rip me to shreds when they caught up and I’d no longer be able to save the children, or find the answers to my questions.
Somehow my speed increased. Somehow, to the calls from the boat, a chorus shouting from the small vessel for me to rush and with hands reaching out across the water, I jumped, leaping into the air with gunshots cracking, not checking where the weapons aimed.
I landed, the boat almost tipping, my weight almost too much for it to cope with in the shallow waters. The engine sound rose and I pushed down the surprise that Cassie hadn’t already powered away at full speed. I put the rifle shots out of my mind whilst staring to the shoreline, barely panting, watching and waiting to see if any of the monsters followed.
Four figures took to the air, but none could match my power, each falling long before they even got to where the boat had waited. Each creature landed in the mud, its depth taking them to their shoulders with water lapping at their necks as their mouths snapped open and shut whilst staring at our vessel shrinking into the distance.
The rest followed, rushing along the bank, but getting smaller with each moment.
Alex took my hand, her skin so warm, despite the sticky blood. I’d never felt so alive as in that moment.
With her other hand, Alex passed a rag so I could clean my face.
I looked to the other shore when high screams called out, my gaze following another crowd of creatures unable to keep up, but trying as they ran along the bank. I knew then our only hope would be to take the vessel out to sea, unless the soldiers had something more substantial waiting in the estuary’s mouth.
75
LOGAN
There was no other plan, at least no one spoke of one. All that was left was to head out to sea in the tiny boat. The figures racing along the banks of the widening estuary were a clear enough answer to any question we could ask, compounded by the columns of smoke rising from the lost town at the mouth.
Winding our way through the quickly deepening waters, the movement on the banks kept pace like shadows on either side. Although the creatures travelled slower than we did, new numbers joined with every mile travelled, soon too many to count. Their leaping frenzy and the speed at which they raced painted a terrifying picture for the future of humanity.
Peering out across the estuary, I looked to the calm waters ahead. Squinting, I could almost block out the rising smoke in my peripheral vision. Salt in the air became the new perfume, giving an overwhelming relief. I couldn’t remember the last time the terrible combination of bodies decaying and foul sewerage didn’t surround us.
I could almost kid myself we were on a daytrip; a pleasure cruise on the river before heading back to a comfy bed in a house with a roaring fire.
As we wound around a long bend, the vision shattered at the sight of a ship in the middle of the wide water with the deep orange of its hull turned towards us, leaning away at a sharp angle out to sea to hide most of its battleship grey.
Water lapped at its edge as desperate expletives launched from the soldier’s lips.
“Tyne,” said Sherlock at my back, as murmurs spread across the boat.
Cassie couldn’t steer a wide gap; the narrow channel on either side forced the detail into view, the sharp, rust-free lines of the ship’s hull adding to the deepening sense of despair.
“How’s the fuel?” Thompson asked, bringing me back to the next leg of the journey.
Cassie peered down to the controls and replied without looking up. “Three quarters of a tank. Is it enough?”
Thompson replied, “I’d say we need three or four hours if it’s not too choppy.”
“There’s no way of telling how big the tank is,” she replied, her voice still flat.
With Thompson’s nod, I knew we were committing to a wing and prayer we’d have enough fuel to get to the Isle of Wight.
Although the sky had darkened, as we passed the great hulk of steel looming over us there was still enough light falling on the ship’s steep angled deck to see the bodies caught up in its abandoned equipment.
The stench of fuel caught in my nostrils; the rainbow shimmer slick on the water’s surface looked so beautiful in the last of the light.
I turned away as something in the distance fell to the water, but no shouts for help came after. No one wanted to rescue what had fallen.
With our view clear, I looked out to the water and the vast expanse of the English Channel stretching as far as I could see. With the sun almost gone over the horizon, I rocked with the gentle motion of the boat as we cut through the low waves.
Thompson climbed the steps to the wheelhouse, speaking with Cassie loud enough so we could all hear. “Keep land to the left and don’t drift out until you see the coast of Weymouth jutting out. Then we’ll head straight for it. We can navigate by the land and if we get low on fuel, we won’t have far to go.”
I turned away as Cassie gave a shallow nod. With the light almost gone, I sat on the deck, looking to the coast to the left. Watching the glowing lights, I tried to pretend flames weren’t climbing high as I relaxed with the rise and fall of the waves.
With a nudge at my side I turned, surprised to see Gibson’s smile in the last of the light, then glanced to the bright moon high in the sky. Looking back, he offered half of a small bar of chocolate.
Nodding a thank you, I savoured the sweet milky taste coating my mouth as the treat slowly melted, watching the others in the sitting circle do the same. Except for Cassie and Jess, who’d refused.
Turning from the coast, I stared to the dark horizon ahead, the white of the shallow waves catching the moonlight and the fuzzy mirror image of the great ball in the water.
Our battle was not with the cold cutting through our still damp seams; we could have taken it in turns to wait in the cabin. It wasn’t the constant motion of the waves or the darkness which made the sea so alien, or the quiet, the only noise coming from the rhythm of the engine.
The battle came from the time we had to think. A fight against the calm after so many days of constant fear, of constant racing from death, not knowing what would come next. At least here I knew the worst would be for the sea to turn us over. We would drown, but it would be the end. Or I could just fall over the edge and slip beneath the surface and it would be done.
I looked to Cassie, watching her back with her staring out along our path. Unerring. Not looking away. Not seeing me.
But had the shared moment when she’d spoken about her childhood been a glimmer of a future together? Or once we’d saved the children would I have to move on and find safety for myself?
I looked to the water with its inviting darkness.
Turning to Jess with Alex sitting at her side, I glanced at Alex’s hand resting on top of Jess’s. Perhaps all was not lost.
Shaking away the thoughts, I peered out to the coastline our journey tracked. The land was still so dark. I couldn’t help but think of where the other escaping boats had gone. Were they lost like the ship beach
ed in the estuary? Or had they, some of them, made it to the land further along and found somewhere not overrun? I had to hope for their sake and for ours.
“I haven’t seen any airplanes.”
The words came from Alex and I turned to her looking to the sky, Jess’s head following at her words. I didn’t want to imagine what those two were going through.
I looked up, taken aback by the brightness of the stars in the cloudless night, the view unbroken by vapour trails lining the sky. Was this a sign that our country was not the only infected?
I looked to Alex staring my way and as our eyes met, she nodded in my direction as if I had something on my face. Wiping the back of my hand to my eyes, I looked away.
76
JESSICA
Alex’s words were the last for hours, Thompson’s voice the first to point out the approaching land and the emerging light from the coast. “The Solent.”
“What happens when we get to the island?” Logan asked after a few moments when we saw the white Needles jutting from the sea.
Thompson didn’t meet his gaze; instead, he looked to Gibson before turning to frown in Sherlock’s direction.
“We land at Fort Albert and take you in,” he eventually said, twisting to catch my eye as he spoke.
Logan looked to Sherlock for his reaction and Sherlock frowned back, not bothering to hide his contempt.
“But...” Logan said, turning to me and then to Thompson. It was my turn to speak.
“You’ve seen what they’ve done to me,” I said, peering to Thompson, then the other soldiers. “What they’ve turned me into. You want to hand over that kind of power?” I tried to keep my words calm and considered, watching as Logan looked over to Cassie, but she still had her back to us.
“It’s not right,” Gibson said, leaning forward towards Thompson before looking at Sherlock as he spoke. “If everywhere is as bad as the South West, can you think of anything...” He held his words, pausing for a moment. “Anyone who can take those things on?”
