by Wilde, J. M.
More gunshots fired, and we watched as the shadows fell out of sight one by one. A bullet shattered the window, spraying glass everywhere. We backed away and dropped to the floor to avoid being hit, covering our ears as the battle went on. I looked up to see a zombie trying to climb through the window, impaling itself on a shard of glass as it reached for us. It was naked, with long stitched up cuts down its chest—a research corpse used for live autopsy. Another zombie appeared, spotting us hiding in the ward and leaning through the broken window to get to us. This one was fresh, a doctor who I recognized as one of the researchers who had tested my blood. It became clear then that the worst had happened: the secured floor had been breached and the virus had broken out on the carrier. I clenched my fists and fought the urge to scream in anger. They had ignored my warnings, and now we would all pay the price. We were in a floating death trap.
Bullets struck the two zombies in the head, and they hung lifeless over the windowsill. A soldier came into view, blasts of light flashing as he finished off the last few straggling zombies.
“Is everyone alright in there?” he called through the window.
A few of us managed to stutter the word “Yes”, and he waved us out.
“C’mon,” he said. “I’m Joel, I’ll get you out.”
Ben stood up and unlocked the door, and we followed Joel down the hall, stepping over dozens of corpses along the way. Ash screamed behind me, and we all turned to see a zombie had taken hold of her ankle.
“Move,” Joel said as he pushed passed us, aiming his gun at the zombie’s head and firing a shot right between its eyes.
We started moving again, when an explosion rocked through the ship, knocking us all to the floor.
“Shit!” Joel said as he jumped back up. He looked up and down the hall as loud creaks rattled all around us. “That sounded like a grenade. We gotta move.”
I stood up and helped Ash to her feet.
“Oh God,” she whispered. “We’re in trouble.”
“We’ll be okay,” I said, more to comfort myself than anyone else. “We’ll be okay.”
Chapter Seventeen
The fluorescent lights flickered as we walked down the hall. Our floor was eerily silent, but every now and then a scream would echo down from levels above and below us. We followed behind Joel as he led us up the stairs, but he paused when we approached four bodies on the first landing, with several zombies tearing into them. The dead were all soldiers, and one was still alive as he watched a zombie feast on his intestines. Joel motioned for us to hang back while he moved closer, shooting the creatures in the back of their skulls before getting on one knee beside his fallen comrades.
“What happened?” he asked the dying soldier.
Blood spilled out of his mouth as he tried to reply. “There were too many of ‘em.”
“You’re gonna be okay.”
“No, I’m not,” sputtered the soldier. “Go. A grenade went off downstairs, water’s comin’ in.”
Joel rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry.” He stood and aimed his gun at his friend’s head, his hands trembling. He took in a deep breath and pulled the trigger. After a moment to compose himself, he turned to us and waved us forward.
“Here,” he said as he picked up his friend’s gun, checked it was loaded, and handed it to me.
“I don’t know how to use this thing,” I said, surprised at the weight of it.
“It’s simple,” he said as he picked up the guns of the other soldiers and gave one to Wyatt, Ben and Jo. “Point and shoot at anything that ain’t me.”
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs alerted us all. We spun around, holding our guns towards the intruder, waiting for it to come into view. A soldier came running towards us, freezing and holding her hands up when she saw us.
“Wait, it’s okay,” Joel said as he swatted our guns down. He turned to the soldier. “Paige, you clean?”
“As a whistle,” she said, eyeing our little group. “You?”
Joel nodded. “The ship’s going down. Let’s go.”
We started to move, but then I remembered that all of Priya’s research was on board. After everything I’d been through to get it to the ship, I couldn’t let it sink to the bottom of the ocean. “Wait,” I said. “I have to go back.”
Joel turned to me, an eyebrow raised. “Excuse me?”
“There’s important research on this ship. It’s vital information, a treatment for the virus. I have to get it or it will be lost forever.”
“She’s talking about the secured floor,” Paige said to Joel. They glanced at each other, and then at me. “Okay,” she said. “Joel, you go with her. I’ll get these people off the carrier.”
“I’m going with Eva,” Wyatt said, staring at Joel with determination.
“So am I,” said Jo.
“Me too,” added Ben.
“Fine,” Joel sighed. “Paige, make sure there’s a boat waiting for us when we’re ready to leave.” Paige nodded before leading Ash and the other patients to the exit.
“This way,” Joel said as he started walking back down the stairs. “Stay behind me.”
We walked down four flights before we reached the secured level, and the moment we arrived, it was clear the explosion had occurred there. The lights were blown out, and the two sets of security doors leading into the research wing had shattered to pieces, leaving a carpet of glass over the floor. It crunched under our feet as we stepped through the threshold. Ben scooped Jo up in his arms and carried her over the glass, protecting her bare feet from the shards before placing her down where it was safe. Joel pulled a flashlight from his vest and switched it on, holding it under his gun so we could see where we were going in the otherwise pitch dark ward. Smoke spilled out of one of the rooms at the end of the hall, sifting through the air like a menacing ghost.
“Do you know which room the research is in?” Joel asked, keeping his gaze forward, on the watch for zombies.
“It’s further down, the third or fourth from the end,” I said, remembering back to my midnight visit to the room with Commander Renner.
He shook his head. “I was afraid you’d say that.” We had to pass six rooms to get there, three of which had housed the zombies that had escaped and started the outbreak on the ship. We crept forward, following the stream of light from Joel’s flashlight. A low gurgling sound stopped us in our tracks. Joel moved the light to the right, illuminating a zombie. With most of its insides hanging out of its abdomen and dragging along the floor, it was clear it had been another live autopsy corpse. Joel fired at it, killing it with a single shot.
“How many of those things were they keeping here?” I asked.
“Eighteen,” Joel said. “They claimed to be using them for research, but we warned ‘em this would happen. No matter how helpful they were to finding treatment, eighteen creepers on one medic ship is eighteen too many if you ask me.”
I shook my head in frustration, wondering why they continued to keep the infected when I gave them all the research they needed.
“By the look of some of the infected staff I’ve killed today,” Joel continued, “I’d say they were trapped in here for over a day. Being eaten and contaminated while the rest of the ship was oblivious.” Another gurgling sound interrupted him, and we stopped again. “Where did that one come from?”
“I think it’s to my right,” I said, my heart racing in fear. I could hear it, I knew it was close, but I couldn’t see it.
“Actually,” Ben said. “I think it’s to my left.”
Joel spun his light around, revealing four zombies on either side of us. “Shoot!”
We lifted our guns and fired into the darkness. The sheer power of my gun knocked me back, pushing me into Wyatt. The blasts from the gunshots lit up the hall like strobe lights, disorienting me. With each flash, the zombie had stepped closer, until it was right in front of me. I lifted my gun higher and pulled the trigger, shooting it in the chin and up through its head. A s
econd later, all our gunfire had quietened, and Joel was shining his flashlight all around us to ensure we had got them all.
Ben dropped his gun to his side. “I think I’m empty.”
“We all are,” added Joel. “I’ve only got one magazine left.” He started to reload his gun. “Keep hold of ‘em, they make good assault weapons.”
Wanting to avoid another confrontation like that, we started running down the hall to the research room, tripping over bodies on the way.
I skidded into the room, taken aback to see an LED lamp sitting on a desk and a man rummaging through the drawers.
“Don’t shoot!” he said, holding his palms up. “I’m not infected, I swear!”
“Calm down,” I said. I recognized him, he was one of the scientists who had tested my blood. “Dr Thomas? What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you’re here to do, Eva.” He nodded to a pile of papers strewn over the desk. “Saving our research.”
We stepped inside and started gathering all the papers we could find. The sound of metal grinding against metal vibrated around us, and the ship tilted to one side, almost knocking us over.
“We’ve got to hurry,” Dr Thomas said. “One of the infected doctors set off a grenade he stole from a soldier before he turned, trying to kill himself. It punctured the ship. This room will be submerged in less than twenty minutes.”
I handed the stack of papers I’d collected from the floor to him, and he slid them into a backpack. Water began spilling into the room as we hurriedly searched for any remaining files. I slid open the bottom drawer of the desk to see Priya’s original folder sitting in it, with two more folders of new research underneath. I pulled them out and clutched them to my chest as I moved it all into the backpack, careful not to tear any of it.
“Okay,” Joel said. “That’s everything. Let’s get the hell outta here.”
Ben opened the door and we stepped out into a shallow pool of water. I looked behind us to see a rush of water coming from the room at the end of the hall. It was rising fast, covering my ankles within seconds. We started to run, making sure Dr Thomas and the research stayed safely in the middle of us, guarding him protectively.
Joel was in the lead, with me right behind him, followed by Wyatt and Dr Thomas. Ben and Jo were at the back of our group, their sloshing footsteps following closely behind.
“Almost at the stairs!” Joel called, holding his flashlight up. I heard something screech in my right ear, frightening me. I tripped on something, falling forward and landing in the water with a splash. I heard a scuffle from behind me, and Joel turned his light towards the noise just in time to see a zombie pushing Ben into one of the rooms. A loud bang shook through the floor, and Jo screamed. I leapt to my feet. “Joel, shine your light over here!”
Everyone gathered in the doorway, the torch scanning the room in search for Ben. The light washed over two figures, and my eyes focused to see Ben lying on the floor, his legs trapped under a fallen file cabinet. His head was almost submerged in the water, but he was still fighting off the zombie, swinging and punching at it enough to keep it at bay.
Joel stepped inside, trying to aim the light and his gun at the same time. He was so focused on getting his aim right that he didn’t see the second zombie standing behind the door.
“Joel!” I called, trying to warn him, but it was too late. It lunged at him, catapulting him to the floor. The flashlight flew into the air and landed in the water on the other side of the room, plunging us all into darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
“Get this thing off me!” Ben called, his voice guiding us to him.
“Dr Thomas?” I held my hands out in front of me, trying to navigate through the dark room. “We need your light!” He appeared from the hallway, holding his lamp out for me to take. “Stay by my side.”
I shone the light forward to see Joel and Ben in the water, each wrestling a zombie. Ben had taken hold of his zombie by its neck, keeping it at arm’s length as it struggled against him. Joel was taking a more aggressive approach, crushing his attacker’s skull with one hand while he searched his pocket for a knife. He pulled the hunting knife free and stabbed it into the side of the zombie’s head before throwing it off of him.
“Ben!” Jo called as she ran to him, shouldering the zombie and slamming it into the wall. The water had risen over his head, drowning him. Joel and Wyatt ran to him and took hold of the file cabinet, lifting it off of him. I moved closer with the lamp, giving them as much light as possible. Jo had the zombie pinned against the wall, pressing her arm against its neck with all her strength. But without a weapon, she couldn’t hold it off for very long.
“Here,” I said, handing the lamp back to Dr Thomas. “Shine it at Jo.” I ran over to her, picking up a microscope from a nearby laboratory table on the way. “Hold it still,” I said to Jo before slamming the bottom of the microscope against the zombie’s head repeatedly until it was nothing but a pile of mush. Jo let go of it, letting it slide down into the water, leaving a mess of blood and brain matter spread across the wall.
“You okay, man?” Wyatt asked as he and Joel helped Ben out of the water and to his feet. He tried to stand, but his right leg buckled under his weight, making him groan in pain. Dr Thomas held his lamp up to Ben’s leg, revealing a deep cut and mangled knee.
“I think your knee is fractured,” Dr Thomas said. He looked at Wyatt, “We’ll need to carry him. He can’t walk on it.”
I took the lamp from him and he and Wyatt stood on either side of Ben, who was in so much pain he couldn’t even touch his right foot to the floor.
Joel searched the water for his torch, finding it under one of the dead zombies and shaking it dry before shining it at the door and leading the way out. Jo and I followed behind with the lamp while Wyatt and Dr Thomas assisted Ben along behind us. We trudged down the hall, the water level now up to my knees, slowing us down. By the time we reached the stairs, it had risen to my hips. We started climbing, picking up speed the moment we were out of the water and running up the first two flights with ease. On the third landing, we were met by a horde of fifteen zombies wandering around the foyer.
“Run for it,” Joel said before racing up the next flight of stairs, with us right behind him.
“They’re coming!” Wyatt called. I glanced over my shoulder to see they were lagging, he and Dr Thomas struggling to climb the stairs while carrying Ben. Joel stopped and ran down to meet them, getting between them and the zombies coming up the stairs.
“You keep going,” he said before he started firing at the monsters, holding them back so we could flee. We ran ahead, taking the stairs two at a time to reach the landing.
“This way,” I said as we turned down a hall and entered the main floor. A group of medical staff and patients were waiting at the platform.
“Dr Thomas!” a nurse said, when she saw us. “You made it!”
“Where’s the boat?” I asked.
“It’s here!” someone called from the front of the group. I pushed through the group to see a rescue boat speeding up to the ship, with Paige driving it. I let out a groan when I saw Dave standing next to her, his finger already pressing down on the shutter button rapidly.
“We need to hurry!” I called out to Paige. “They’re coming up the stairs!”
People started jumping onto the boat before it had even aligned itself with the platform, desperate to escape. I ran back to the stairs just as Joel was running up them.
“Is the boat here?” he asked breathlessly. “I’ve only got a few rounds left.”
“It just pulled up. There’s still people here.”
“Shit!” he said before turning back to fight the closest zombies. He moved quickly, pushing some back into the horde, knocking them down like bowling pins, while slicing and jabbing at others with his knife. I joined the battle, ramming any that got by him with the butt of my gun, crushing their rotting heads in. I didn’t have the speed to kill them all, but I could at least d
estroy their faces to prevent them from biting us.
“Eva!” Jo called from the platform. “C’mon!”
Joel wanted to keep fighting, but I knew we had to go. I pulled him by the arm, encouraging him to come with me. “We gotta go.”
“I’m right behind you,” he said as he pulled his knife out of a zombie’s cheekbone. I turned and ran to the platform, relieved to see the last few people climbing on board. Wyatt reached out and took my hand, helping me jump onto the boat.
“Where’s Joel?” Paige asked, waiting at the helm.
I turned back to the ship, expecting to see him on the platform, but it was empty. “He was right behind me!”
A pained expression spread across Paige’s face. “We have to go,” she called as she started edging the boat away.
“Wait,” Wyatt said. “He’s coming!”
I looked back to see Joel running towards us, with zombies directly behind him. The horde was significantly smaller, he had killed more than half of them, but they could still overpower him in an instant if they had the chance.
“Go!” Joel yelled, waving us away.
Wyatt and I held our hands out, ready to help him onto the boat, but just as he reached the platform, a zombie leapt forward, grabbing Joel around the legs and pulling him to the floor with a loud thud.
“No!” I screamed. I climbed onto the edge of the boat, reaching my hand out for him. He reached his hand out for me, too, but the sadness in his eyes told me he knew it was too late. But still, I stayed there, stretched out over the water, reaching for him even as the boat started pulling away. “No!” I slammed my fist against the boat, watching as the zombies started digging their wretched nails into Joel’s back, eating him alive. I let out a scream before breaking down, my tears falling into the ocean below.
“Mate, what the hell are you doing?” Wyatt said angrily. I turned to see him pushing Dave away, his camera planted firmly on me in my moment of despair. “Get out of here!” Wyatt yelled, forcing Dave to the front of the boat.
