The alley was just wide enough to squeeze through sideways. Ralph was almost too fat to fit down it. The buttons on his overalls scraped along the wall.
One at a time, they rushed into the alley.
“Faster!” Pete shouted, as he was the last to squeeze into the thin gap. He could see the creatures gaining on them.
As he started to wiggle down the opening, a large thrashing mass of black tentacles slammed into the thin alley. The creature was too large to squeeze down, but it lashed its long tentacles after Pete.
The wall’s trembled as the large mass of thrashing tentacles lashed out. Bricks and concrete dust rained down.
Normally, the black swinging appendages could be deflected and knocked away. So long as they couldn’t wrap around a limb, they couldn’t pull you closer. This time it was different. They were adapting. Instead of trying to latch on.
As Pete was almost out of reach, a slit opened in the end of the longest, thinnest tentacle, a barb protruded from the opening. It then proceeded to rake down Pete’s right arm, tearing his clothing and ripping into his flesh.
299
Smokie and the others
Inside the superstructure of the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
Smokie sat with her mouth open. She had just seen a clean-shaven Frank exit the cabin area and stride across the mess hall, and then dispatch a creature with surgical strikes.
She blinked a few times, to make sure she wasn’t daydreaming.
Maybe I’m hallucinating from lack of sleep?
“I said, are we gonna hunt the other three creatures down, or are we just gonna sit around? Because, I’m looking forward to spilling some more of these beast’s blood,” Frank announced, again.
A few others stared openmouthed at the priest’s transformation.
Smokie jumped to her feet.
“Frank?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Just checking.” She had a smile on her face. “Nice of you to finally join us.”
“Sorry I took my time.” He wiped the blood off the long blade on to his jeans.
“Do you mind,” he said nodding at her half-cup of coffee. He went to pick it up. “I could do with something to give me a kick.”
“It’s got whisky in it,” she said.
“Fuck that, I’ve wasted too many years in the bottom of a bottle, hiding who I really am.” He swung around. “Not many of us left up here.” He caught the eye of a woman with her mouth hanging open. “Sweetheart, be a doll and make me a strong cup of coffee, would ya?”
The woman stared for just a moment before closing her mouth and heading to the galley.
“We’re thinning out, somewhat,” agreed.
She wondered what he meant, when he said ‘hiding who I am.’
Frank rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven head and face. It slowed over a long scar.
Because of my stupidly, people have died, when I could’ve helped them, Frank reasoned. He looked around at the ten or so people still in the mess hall. They all nervously held weapons.
“What do you say, me and you go out hunting?”
“I never thought you’d ask,” Smokie replied with a small curtsy.
“Sue killed one. You killed one. I just killed another, that leaves three somewhere on this vessel.” He rubbed a hand over his bald head again. “That’s if the others haven’t been changed as well.” He looked at the radio on Smokie’s belt. “Have you got hold of Andy, or Lindell and Terrance?”
“Not a peep. I could only get through to Emma and Sue.”
Frank simply nodded.
Just then an arm extended with Frank’s coffee.
“Thanks sweetheart. Has it got sugar?”
The woman nodded.
“You’re a star.” He seemed to ignore that the liquid was piping hot as he guzzled it down. He placed the empty cup on a table.
“I think we will use the internal stairs if you don’t mind.” Just as he said that another bird slammed into the thick glass, and two more hit the table barricade.
“We’re also going to have to think of a way of being able to navigate out in the open.” Frank turned to Sherry and Kathy. “Can you two search the vessel for any kind of head protection. Even some netting we can set up to tangle the birds in.”
They both flashed a glance towards Smokie.
Smokie nodded.
“No problem,” Sherry said.
“Sorry if I’m stepping on toes?”
“Don’t apologize, it’s nice to have someone else making decisions.”
“In that case, after you,” Frank said.
They both headed down the stairs into the belly of the vessel.
Before Smokie exited the mess hall, she picked up a handgun off the table. The axes were all well and good, but she had seen how fast these things move, and a little distance might not be such a bad idea.
Just then a gunshot echoed outside the superstructure.
“Lindell and the others?” Frank wondered.
“We will soon find out,” Smokie replied.
“Oh, and if I get changed…” Frank said, leaving the sentence unfinished.
“Don’t worry Father, I will do what needs to be done.”
“Thank you. Likewise.” After a few seconds, he added. “Oh, and I’m no longer a priest.”
300
Caroline, Gordon and Donna.
Down inside the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
The three were nervous. Understandably. What everyone presumed was a safe vessel has turned out to be the complete opposite.
Gordon took the lead, followed by Donna then Caroline.
The waves could be heard crashing against the thick metal hull as a dull thud.
“Keep together, and don’t rush,” Gordon warned them.
They each held a weapon. Gordon carried a scoped assault rifle. Donna still had her original rifle, but with a new handgun. She had no idea what type it was. Caroline gave up her baseball bat with nails in it for a pump-action shotgun. She wore a thick belt studded with more bright-red cartridges.
“How far away is the engine room?” Donna asked in a whisper, fearing something would charge at her if she talked too loud.
“It’s close; it’s pretty much directly below the superstructure,” Gordon replied.
Just then a figure flashed across the end of the corridor. It was a blur.
All three stopped and raised their weapons.
“Fuck!” Caroline whispered. “I don’t want to shoot Alex or one of the others by mistake,” she muttered.
“Keep your wits about you,” Gordon stated.
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”
“Is that the only way to the engine room?” Donna asked.
Gordon had to think before answering. “I was only shown this way when I got here. But there has to be more than one way down to the engine.” He continued to stare down the rifle sights towards the junction at the end of the corridor, about ten meters away.
“Let’s back up to the last section and try a left instead of a right.”
Neither of the other two complained. They knew that if it was one of their people, they wouldn’t have kept on moving if they notice them down the corridor.
Donna thought she saw a slightly crouched figure run past, but it all happened so quickly, and they had been talking at the time, so she wasn’t a hundred percent sure.
“Back up. Back up,” Gordon was saying, just when an ear-piercing screech echoed down the hall. He turned just in time to see one of the creatures that had jumped over the railing up on the walkway, racing right at the three of them with its arms outstretched, and its mouth open wide.
301
Stu, Soozie and young girl
On the cargo ship.
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
Soozie whipped the mans warm blood off her face. “Took your time, didn’t you?” she said to Stu
, who had just released the rifle and was trying to climb into the boat. It involved a lot of kicking and slashing, but not much movement in the direction he intended.
“A hand please.”
“Seeing as you so kindly just killed a man for me, and saved my virginity, no problem.”
Stu started to laugh, regardless of the situation.
She tugged on his arm and helped him roll into the boat. “Steady now,” she said as the small craft rocked dangerously. “The water looks too cold to fall into.”
“Tell me about it,” Stu muttered through blue lips. He wiped a hand over his face. He then realized he had lost the Kermit the Frog glove puppet. It was his last tie to Hanna.
She is still in my heart; I don’t need a piece of green fabric to remember her by.
Soozie helped untie the rope from the back of his belt.
“Thanks for the quick thinking,” he said.
“Call it even now,” she replied. She then lowered her voice. “The boy?”
Stu simply shook his head.
“Shit!”
“Tell me about it. It was too foggy and what with the waves, and the–”
“It’s not your fault Stu. Remember that. It’s these bastards,” She said giving the man’s body a kick in the crotch. She then knelt down and started to search his corpse. She found a handgun, and the knife that was lying on the wooden deck. He carried no spare munitions.
“Just five bullets left in the gun,” she said.
Stu released the bullet cartridge on the rifle. “Seven here.”
“Also, someone is bound to have heard the sound of the rifle,” Soozie commented.
“Let’s get up on deck,” Stu said while wiping salt water out of his eyes.
Soozie gentle gripped the girl’s arm. She rose slowly, with unfocused eyes.
She must be so traumatized; Soozie thought. Poor child.
“We are heading up the steps now,” Soozie said to the young child.
The dazed girl just stared at her.
“I’ll go first,” Stu offered.
“Okay. Keep it slow. Luckily, our voices are muffled by the waves down here, but they won’t be up there, so let’s keep our voices down.”
Stu squelched up the metal steps. He slipped once but managed to catch himself in time.
Soozie helped the young girl onto the steps. The girl moved as if in a daydream like haze.
The fog started to fade the higher they climbed. It was a long way up the side of the large ship. Stu was breathless, by the time they reached the top.
They gathered together on a walkway; all were ducked down below the gunwale.
Stu and Soozie strained their hearing.
The young girl was sat with her back against the hull, with her arms wrapped around her thin knees.
Soozie shook her head to say she couldn’t hear anyone.
Stu nodded his agreement. Then, very slowly, Stu peeked over the side.
There was two of the men who hijacked their small boat lying on their backs, with something pulsating and wiggling attached to their faces and chests.
“Fuck!” Stu said.
“What?” Soozie poked her head up. “Oh, fuck!” she muttered when she saw the men. “What happened to them?”
“Another strain maybe?” Stu replied.
Just then movement caught their attention, as a large group of birds started to dive bomb them in a cloud of black pus, wings and fluttering feathers.
302
Alex, Terrance, Lindell and Mollee
Down inside the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
Lindell took the lead as they raced back to the superstructure.
Terrance ran beside his brother, leaving the other two to keep their backs safe.
“We have to warn the others,” Alex said.
“Let’s just hope they haven’t already met our new friends,” Lindell stated.
“Where did they come from?” Alex asked, slightly out of breath.
“No fucking idea,” Terrance said. “Not to mention whatever is connected to that tentacle that snapped Troy in half.”
“We need to warn the others and get off his vessel,” Alex said.
No one argued with him.
“Slow…” Lindell said as he slowed down and used his hand to gesture for the others to do the same.
They could all hear a noise from around the next corner.
Lindell peeled away from the others, with his rifle raised. He inched forward staring down the sights.
It sounded like someone was kicking a deflated football, along with some wet squelching sounds.
Lindell peered round the corner. He could see two people standing over two bodies. One was kicking one of the people on the floor, while the other was bashing it with a rifle butt.
Lindell motioned the others to follow him.
“Donna?” Alex shouted as he noticed her.
Donna and Caroline spun around.
“Careful with that thing,” Terrance said to Caroline as she raised her shotgun, which had gore dripping off the stock.
“Jesus, I could’ve taken your head off,” Caroline said.
“I see you’ve met one of our new friends,” Lindell stated.
On the floor, the creature’s head was almost pulverised, as well as the crab-like creature on its chest.
“Is that–”
“Yes, it is, or was, Gordon.” Donna could say no more.
“It came round the corner so fast,” Caroline said. Gordon just happened to be the one it reached first.
Gordon lay in a pool of dark blood with his throat ripped out. A large chunk of flesh, with his Adams apple attached, lay a meter away. The rest was running down the hull.
“There’re another two on the loose,” Donna said.
“We just killed one a few minutes ago,” Alex stated.
“So you obviously know about them?” Lindell asked.
“We watched them change right in front of us,” Caroline stated.
“I don’t understand,” Alex said.
“It’s a new strain, carried by birds. They attacked some people out on the walkway up at the mess hall.
“This was one of us?” Terrance said. He didn’t recognize the person. Even their mother would’ve had trouble after the body had been deformed, and then pulverized by the two women.
“Shit!” Alex muttered.
“We have to get to Smokie, to tell her about what we found,” Lindell said.
“Where’s Naomi?” Donna asked.
“We couldn’t get to her,” Alex said.
Mollee stood behind the others, silent and motionless. She stared at the two bodies on the floor.
“She’s still with the stranger?” Caroline asked.
“Trust me,” Lindell stated, “the stranger is the least of our worries.”
Just then they all turned as they heard boots behind them.
Two strangers dressed in soaking wet black clothes, with weapons pointed right at them, emerged from around the corner.
“Jesus, who the fuck are these guys?” Caroline asked. Just like the others her weapons were pointed at the Floor. There was no way any of them could raise them in time to make a difference.
Lindell wanted to try and at least do something, but he knew there was no way he could move faster than them; they already had their weapons pointed right at them.
Terrance’s arm twitched, but just like his brother, he knew his heroics could get them all killed. These people hadn’t opened fire, so they obviously wanted something – they could’ve shot them in the back already.
Even Mollee stood motionless. She only had knives, and she knew she would be cut down in a hail of bullets if she charged them. She would bide her time and let them get closer.
God, can’t anything go right? If it’s not one thing, it’s another. This ship is cursed; we’ve had nothing but trouble since we climbed aboard, Alex though as he stared at the weapons pointed at them.
<
br /> “Keep your weapons pointed at the floor,” the Boss said. “Trust me when I say I’ve had one hell of a fucking day, so if any of your fingers so much as twitches on those triggers, we will shoot you!”
303
Bachman, Emma, Ralph, Pete and Tes
Zone 6
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
They all squeezed through the thin alley. It led to a courtyard. Ralph ran to the closest entrance.
“This is my apartment block,” Ralph stated. “I need to get a few things from my room.”
The others followed closely behind, with Pete lagging at the back.
The stairwell had two patches of blood and black tentacles growing up the walls. They stepped over the gore.
The hallways were trashed, as if something large had smashed its way through.
“This one,” Ralph said as he stood in front of an apartment door. He checked his pockets. “I seemed to have lost my keys,” he muttered.
Emma placed a hand on his arm to get him to move to one side. She then took one step back and then charged at the door and kicked it open, shattering the lock.
Ralph held up a set of keys. “Found them.”
Tes was the first in the door. She flopped down onto a chair.
The others filed in, with Pete at the back.
The apartment was just one room with a kitchenette to one side, a bed with a couch in front of it, and a small bathroom, with miscellaneous cupboards built into the walls.
“What’s so important here. And please, if you go and grab a photo album or something I will punch you,” Emma said.
“Not quite a photo album…’ Ralph answered, as he knelt in front of the couch and started tossing the cushions away. Beneath was a sheet of plywood. When he lifted it, there was a space beneath full of automatic weapons and handguns, as well as lots of ammo.
“You’re fucking shitting me?” Emma said as she leaned forward.
“Why didn’t you tell us about these before?” Bachman asked.
The Sixth Extinction America Omnibus [Books 1-12] Page 61
