Rain
Page 16
There were eight sites open and they all said pretty much the same thing. The virus had reached America. The U.S. military were fighting hordes of zombies in almost every state. Society was collapsing.
This was why no one had come for us.
The dead were rising all over the world.
There was nobody left to mount a rescue mission.
“Nowhere is safe,” Lucy whispered.
I closed the laptop and unplugged it. “We might as well take this with us.”
She nodded.
“Is there anything else you want to take?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No.” Tears pooled in her eyes.
We walked past the dead family and out to our boat. Somebody in there… either the father or the mother… had read those news reports and then decided to cook one last meal for the family. Maybe the parents had decided to do it together and sat there calmly with their kids eating a meal that they knew would kill them.
They were free from the apocalypse now. No more struggle for survival. No more fear.
We got back onto The Big Easy and I put the laptop on the coffee table in the living room. I didn’t want to look at it right now. I just wanted to get away from this death boat and into open water where I could forget that the whole world had gone to hell and just feel the breeze on my face and listen to music from a better time.
Lucy untied us and jumped aboard and I pulled away from the Solstice on a heading that would take us south to warmer waters. There was no point staying in Scottish waters if there were no rescue ships coming. We might as well sail into better weather and warmer climes off the coast of Cornwall. It didn’t matter anymore.
I gave The Big Easy more throttle and I felt better when the Solstice diminished to a dark shape on the waves, then a speck, then nothing as we got too far away to see her. I kept us out in deep water, not wanting to be anywhere near the coast when we passed the lighthouse. I didn’t want to see that place ever again.
I wondered what the military were going to do with the Survivors Camps now that there was no rescue planned. I expected the British government, safe somewhere in an underground bunker, had plans for the civilians. Whatever they were, I wanted no part of them. The Big Easy was home now and as long as we could avoid pirates and military ships, this was where we would stay.
I felt optimistic about the future.
All of that changed when a familiar voice floated up to me from the deck below.
“My name is Joe Harley and I’m looking for my brother, Alex.”
Joe. It was Joe! “Oh my God that’s my brother!” I slid down the ladder to the deck and turned up the radio. Lucy came out from the living room, a look of surprise on her face.
“…was camping with his friends in Wales when all of this happened. So we’re hoping he’s OK. We can’t find him on the Survivor Board but he might not be in a camp. He doesn’t like the army or police. That’s just Alex, you know. Anyway, Alex, if you’re out there, we’re all OK. Mom and Dad are here too. Get in contact if you can. Say hello to Mike from us. We love you.”
Hot stinging tears rolled down my cheeks.
It was Joe.
He was alive.
Somewhere out there, Joe was alive. And Mom and Dad too.
Alive.
“Oh my God,” I said, crying into my hands.
Lucy put an arm around me. “I’m so happy for you, Alex. They’re safe.”
They were in a camp. They had somehow ended up in a camp. That wasn’t safe. Out here, this was safe. The camps weren’t safe. Once the millions of zombies left the cities in search of more victims, they would travel into the countryside where the military had set up the camps. Huge concentrations of people would draw their attention. They would overwhelm the survivors by sheer numbers. Joe and my parents wouldn’t stand a chance. They were fenced in somewhere in a military compound and it was only a matter of time before the zombies got to them.
“I have to go and get them,” I said, looking towards the distant mainland.
“What? Alex, you can’t be serious. You have no idea where they are.”
“He mentioned something about a Survivor Board. If I can find out what that is, it might tell me where I can find them.”
“You know how many zombies there are on the mainland. This is crazy!”
“I have to do it.”
I climbed back up onto the bridge and turned The Big Easy towards the shore. I remembered the first dream I had on this boat, a dream of sailing across miles of ocean to reach an island plagued by zombies.
Now it was going to be real.
No longer just a dream.
A living nightmare.
*****
THE END
a word from shaun harbinger
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