The Living Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Coast

by Albemont, L. I.

  The demographics of the group were troubling. David knew that populations with too many men and very few women were inherently unstable. Men will compete for women, sometimes violently. The Chinese had already shown Mei constant flattering attention when she treated their burns and occasional small injuries. They branched out to the few other women who had survived most of whom seemed oblivious (like Virginia) or amused. This, coupled with the food shortage, made him as well as Ian very eager to find habitable land and get off this boat.

  This morning, according to the map, they were somewhere above Tillamook. There were dead here staggering amongst the washed-up debris on the bank but far fewer in numbers. Seagulls circled and landed, tearing into and devouring the dead that were no longer able to walk. A pack of dogs descended from the low cliffs and, scattering the shrieking gulls, began to feast.

  Coming down from a morning visit to the deck, Bea ran into Mei emerging from the infirmary, papers and charts tucked under her arm. She was frowning at something she held in her left hand then stuck into her jacket pocket when she saw Bea.

  “How is Virginia?” Bea asked.

  “The same. She’s sleeping too much. Sleep is good but this isn’t normal.”

  “You’re not giving her anything to make her sleep?”

  “No.” Mei started to say something else then stopped. She seemed distracted and looked as if she had been crying.

  Shouts rang out somewhere farther down the passageway. They heard laughter and Brian and Moshe rounded the corner, bowling them over.

  “Sorry! Gotta go!” They were still laughing as they ran.

  One of the Chinese crewmen ran into view and stopped, talking angrily to Mei, demanding something. She shook her head and said something that caused him to stalk furiously away.

  “What was that about?”

  “He said the boys stole food, noodles, cookies, not much. He wants them caned.”

  “I’ll talk to them but that sounds a little extreme.” Bea gave an incredulous laugh. “Caned? Was he serious?’

  “Extremely. You should talk to them very seriously and right away.” Mei finished picking up her scattered paperwork. “Who’s up on deck?”

  “David and Ian.”

  “Oh. That’s good then.” She hesitated just a moment, squared her shoulders, and went above.

  Bea turned to go and find the boys when her foot hit something small and plastic. Mei must have left something in her haste. She picked it up. It was a pregnancy test stick. And it was positive.

  ~

  David watched as the tiny port town of Hypatia drifted into view. From this distance it could have been a picture postcard. White picket fences bordered gardens surrounding cedar-shake sided buildings. Whiskered seals sunned themselves on the rocky beach where waves splashed into white foam like steam from a fumarole.

  Ian, Virginia and Anna also gazed out at the shore. The view was almost achingly normal, America as it used to be. America the beautiful.

  Virginia was pale and thinner. It often took her a few minutes to reply to questions and sometimes she didn’t reply at all, just nodded and looked into the distance. No one could break through her gentle distractedness. Ian’s eyes often filled with tears which he ignored or wiped away without comment. Their daughter was Virginia’s shadow. She had developed a stutter and spoke very little anymore, except in whispers. Daniel trailed after her like a lost soul.

  They all had to get off the ship. Over the last few days, their hosts had become ever more restrictive with food, locking the galley unless it was meal time and even threatening to confine Moshe and Brian to the brig if they snatched any more snacks throughout the day. The single surviving chicken had disappeared and no one could account for its absence. David thought it had probably fallen overboard.

  They were also pressing Mei for information on the cure for the Z-virus. David begged her to stall as much as possible since no one on board was actually ill and the cure was truly their last ace. She said they were hinting very strongly that they were willing to care for the women and children but the men would soon need to make other arrangements.

  Footsteps rang out on the metal steps and Moshe burst excitedly onto the deck. David feared another contretemps with the Chinese and prepared to try to smooth over another situation and extend their increasingly shaky welcome on the ship.

  “Listen to this! They made it! The people in the Tower of London!” Moshe exclaimed.

  “What?”

  “The BBC people are back online. Hurry!”

  Ian and Virginia stayed on deck but David allowed Moshe to drag him below where Brian listened to a radio stream on the computer.

  “This is BBC London broadcasting from our new location atop Britain’s White Tower. We apologize for the brief lapse in communication but we are back and find our new digs quite cozy.

  The Ministry of Health has advised the public against using water from any municipal source as all groundwater is contaminated and unsafe for consumption. We expect this situation shall continue into the indefinite future. Bottled water is the beverage of choice unless any of you have a few bottles of double-malt whisky. In that case please email me immediately and I shall try to reach you. We’ve been without alcoholic refreshment for days. In all seriousness, mates, don’t drink the water.

  London as we once knew it is no more. Thousands of bodies fill the streets and the Thames is choked with the corpses of our countrymen…”

  Bea wandered in and David moved aside to make room for her around the console. She shook her head and stayed near the door, listening intently to the broadcast. Something was up but he didn’t know what. She wasn’t hostile but seemed genuinely disappointed with him for some reason and that rankled.

  He was seeing a new side of her on board the ship. She spent an afternoon playing Chinese poker with their hosts, smoking one of their cigars on a dare (and quietly getting sick over the gunwale later), in an attempt to lessen the growing tension and animosity.

  The day after the boys pulled an all-nighter that resulted in breaking one of the deck cranes, she improvised pirate costumes for the children as well as herself and led them on expeditions to root the boys out from any place they tried to hide and sleep. Both boys were exhausted and begging her to stop by the end of the day but she made sure they stayed up late that night, too. The pranks had stopped for now.

  She attracted a good bit of attention as well. The scarcity of women in their little group would have ensured that even if she didn’t look- well, the way she looked. The white bikini had never made a re-appearance and she dressed discreetly, deftly avoiding being cornered by any of the growingly aggressive Chinese soldiers. David missed the white bikini though.

  They all knew it was time to leave. Fitz once again was making sure they had bug out supplies in their packs. He found spare gun oil in one of the cargo holds and all their weapons were cleaned and loaded.

  The broadcast concluded with the classic BBC pips. Good to know others were still alive, that fragments of western civilization still existed, at least for now. They were so remote that they might as well be on the moon (also once within the reach of mankind) but the proof of their existence was comforting.

  Bea caught the boys before they left and appeared to be admonishing them to behave. They protested their complete innocence and good intentions but didn’t seem too alarmed until she took them by the arms and pulled them aside. David was close enough to hear her say,

  “Don’t you dare blow me off again, either of you. These men will kill you if they think you’re a hindrance to their survival and in their eyes you’re both starting to look like one. Straighten up.”

  They left the room, walking dejectedly, shoulders drooping but once out of sight the sound of laughter and running footsteps echoed back. Bea made a strangled sound in her throat and headed topside, her angry footsteps loud on the metal ladder.

  David followed.

  The ship was anchored. David didn’t know why since the regular m
eetings he and Mei used to have with Private Tsou and the others had ceased. He wondered if they were going to attempt to net some more fish. He didn’t see any dead in the water but of course that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Ian and Virginia must have gone below. Bea stood with Anna by the rail, holding the little girl’s hand and looking at the ridiculously beautiful little town. There was even a picturesque lighthouse painted with black and white stripes perched on a cliff. The seals’ barking was a welcome change from the menacing moaning of the dead.

  “Population is just under 2,000, primarily Caucasian, Hispanic, and Black, education level averages 14 years of school completed and the median income is $50,000 per household. Or that’s how it used to be.” Bea spoke, still staring at the shore.

  “Wikipedia?”

  “No, Census Bureau website. I’d never thought about living on the coast before but this might be a good place. I wonder if the dead are here, somewhere out of sight. I would hate to be literally between the devil and the deep blue sea like we were in SoCal.”

  “Going by previous experience, I’d bet there are some here. Still any time the population numbers are smaller there’s a better chance of clearing them out and making a go of it.”

  Several of the Chinese emerged on deck, pulling one of the fishing nets with them. They all smiled at Bea but only nodded to David. Securing the ropes to the deck crane, they cast the net, all of them watching it sink out of sight.

  Bea spoke in an urgent tone. “We’ve got to get off of here. The boys are living on borrowed time. Mei said the crew has had enough of them and I can’t get them under control. I’m worried about Mei too.” She finally looked up at him. “I think they think that she will stay with them after we go. She has medical skills any group needs and it’s obvious they want her. You have to watch out for her, David.” The last sentence was spoken very emphatically.

  David nodded, “I agree. You need to watch out, too. Groups of men without women are prone to volatility and aggressiveness. China already had a huge gender imbalance, almost as bad as India’s. They were aborting their girls because with the one child policy, they felt they had to have a boy since traditionally it’s the son who makes sure the aging parents are taken care of. Now we have a similar problem. Of course for all we know there is a large group of female survivalists just up the coast. Probably not though.”

  The crane started again, making them jump. Slowly the bulging net rose into view, lifted up and over the rail. The ropes broke, spilling their catch. Hundreds of silvery fish skidded across the metal surface.

  A body struggled in the midst of the flopping, twitching fish. Eyeless and bloated, gnashing broken teeth in its rotted mouth, it slid along the deck, coming to rest at Anna’s and Bea’s feet. The abdomen gaped wide and dozens of gray, slimy eels were attached to the exposed organs, burrowing their way deeper and deeper into its flesh.

  Bea screamed and kicked it, her foot sinking into its shoulder before it spun a short distance away, the eels slithering along with it. The soldiers were quick and punctured the creature’s brain with a steel spike with a hooked blade just beneath it. Bea had seen them several times before. They looked something like a halberd but Brian said they were modified grappling hooks.

  Anna still screamed and before Bea could interfere, Private Chang stalked over and slapped the little girl. David punched him, knocking him to the deck and leaped forward to hit him again. The rest of the crew surrounded them, threatening them with their hooks. Bea picked up Anna and shouted at them to leave her alone.

  Bea held the little girl and glared at the crewmen. Anna cried and spat out watery blood as Bea shushed her and stroked her hair. She finally quieted but didn’t get down. The Chinese ignored them now and cleared the deck before going below. No one would be eating fish tonight.

  A sound rumbled across the water, an engine sound. They looked behind them and saw a boat, a pleasure craft, bouncing across the waves. A man, very tall with broad shoulders and a head of very red hair, stood at the wheel, driving with one hand and waving frantically with the other.

  Bea shaded her eyes against the rising sun. “Is that Cam?”

  David looked. “Either that or we’re under attack by a rogue Viking.”

  The boat drew closer and cut the engine. David threw one of the rope ladders down and soon Cam stood on board, sunburned and smiling.

  “You left me, you heartless gits!” he said, crushing Bea to his chest and planting a smacking kiss on her cheek.

  “How did- Cam, where the hell did you go? We were there until dawn searching the waters while the boat was cleared. We didn’t know what happened. I mean, you’re too big for a shark to get his mouth around, much less a zombie,” David said.

  Cam, blue eyes sparkling, grinned. “I got caught in a current. I was putting the kids in the boats and I got pulled under by one of those poor dead bastards. A strong one. I punched the daylights out of him but it was like a love tap as far as he was concerned. He kept coming over and over and finally I figured all I could do was outswim him. Bloody cross tide pulled me north and washed me up under some pilings on an old pier. I must have crawled up the beach some but I don’t remember much other than waking up in the sand the next morning. The dead were there a little farther up the beach but they hadn’t sensed me yet. I managed to slip into one of our boats washed against the pilings and row out to sea but it was losing air and I had to keep bailing. Finally this beauty of a boat drifted my way. It had an owner but he wasn’t much for conversation so I pitched him out and here I am.”

  “Wait here. I’m going below to let everyone know.” Bea left, still carrying Anna. She found Virginia and relinquished her to her mother with a quick explanation of what had occurred on deck. Virginia frowned and inspected her daughter’s face. There was a red mark and the beginnings of a bruise. She took her back to their cabin.

  Bea ran into Mei and the boys coming from the infirmary.

  “Mei, Cam is alive. He just showed up in a boat that-”

  Mei’s eyes widened and she ran. Bea and the boys followed.

  Outside, Cam’s face was lit with a tenderness Bea had never seen before. Mei ran to him and, crying, kissed him, light, scattered kisses all over his face. He picked her up and enfolded her in his arms, crushing her against his chest as he kissed her and carried her across the deck. They stayed there for some time.

  ~

  The vast ship, a vessel that once carried the wares manufactured and sold in an intricate economic system that encompassed the world, harbored many hidden nooks and crannies. Deep below deck, sheltered in a small cargo hold that still held packing crates and packing blankets, David and Bea sat in the near dark. His arms were wrapped around her and she leaned back against his chest, feeling warm and safe for the first time in a very long time. His face rested against the side of her head so every time he spoke it tickled her ear.

  “So it wasn’t you then, it was Cam all along,” Bea murmured.

  “It must have been. I didn’t have a clue though, about Cam. Mei kept that pretty quiet.”

  “She hasn’t been herself for several days but I thought it was because she’s pregnant. I’ve been really worried about her, when I wasn’t thinking about how mad I was at you.”

  David sat up straighter, “Mei is pregnant? Did she tell you that?”

  “No. I saw the pregnancy test she dropped. I assumed that you- well you know what I assumed. What do you mean, ‘too’?”

  “Bea, that may be a mistake. I don’t think that- well it’s not impossible but- Virginia is pregnant. Mei has been taking care of her ever since Greg died and I think she actually suspected it before Virginia did.”

  “Oh no. Do they know when? Was it before she was infected? It must have been.”

  “Ian and Virginia were almost divorced right when the virus broke out. They had been separated, off and on, for a few months. Ian never told me why they split but he was the most miserable s.o.b. to work with the whole time. He was in D.C. when t
he truth about the virus became widely-known and he pulled in every favor he could to get transport home to her and the kids. I’m not sure if she got bit before or after he got there but once he knew, he called me and I helped arrange a pick-up, you know that part.”

  “So she was probably pregnant when she was bitten.”

  “Almost a certainty but she had no idea.”

  “She also was pregnant throughout the malaria treatment. Dr. Osawy missed that.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe the doctor didn’t care. The thing is, aside from the possible effects of the Z-virus on the baby, there are also the possible effects of the malarial fever.”

  “We have to find a place soon. Virginia won’t be able to travel forever and once they’re here newborns are a lot of work. Noisy too. Maybe we should try going ashore here. Our hosts are sick of us anyway. Especially of the boys. Now they’re branching out to Anna.”

  “I think we should try. We have to be prepared for anything though. Once we’re off the ship the Chinese won’t wait for us to decide whether we like the town or not.”

  “Fine. We leave tomorrow if everyone will agree. I’ll go tell Brian and Moshe to get ready. I’ve left them alone too long already.”

  David pulled her close again and pressed his lips against the nape of her neck. “Right now? Five more minutes.”

  She caught her breath at his touch and smiled as she brushed his lips with hers. “Five more.”

  ~

  One deck above them, in the ship’s galley, their Chinese hosts concluded a meeting. Breaking out several bottles of jealously guarded rice wine they prepared to relax and enjoy an evening of the Chinese equivalent of shooting the breeze. Glasses clinked and masculine laughter rang out but Private Tsou begged off, saying he planned to go to bed early. Walking quietly and constantly looking over his shoulder he headed toward the bulkhead area where the infirmary was located.