I turned to the others. “Let’s get…”
Something splashed into the water thirty feet off our bow. It exploded and the sea fountained up to join the falling rain. A second later, we heard a deep
boom
from the beach.
“They’re firing mortars at us!” I shouted, running for the ladder and climbing up to the bridge. I took us out of neutral and increased the throttle. The waves from the explosion hit us and the
Lucky Escape
rolled from side to side. I held onto the wheel and turned our nose into the waves, increasing the throttle as the boat steadied.
Another explosion off the port side seemed closer, maybe twenty feet away. The accompanying
boom
reached us after the sea had erupted in a fountain of salty spray.
Again we were battered by the sudden high waves. The spray from the explosion hit the bridge windows like watery bullets, streaking over the glass. I slammed the throttle up to max and headed for deeper water, turning south in a gradual arc.
The next explosion hit twenty feet behind us. The spray soaked us but at least the
Lucky Escape
was intact.
I took her deeper. The shore was so far away now that the soldiers were no more than dark dots on a dark yellow band of wet sand.
The mortar fire ceased.
I sat back in the pilot’s chair and breathed a sigh of relief when the marina disappeared from view. Keeping close enough to see the shoreline through the rain but far enough away to feel safe from guns and mortars, I kept us on a southerly bearing.
If the military presence at Swansea was anything to go by, the army would be in full force at Falmouth Harbour. They might even have boats. If that was the case, we were dead. The plan might have to be changed before we got to Falmouth. It might be safer to get to Truro over land.
There was a radio fixed to the wall. I switched it on and Britney Spears’ voice filled the bridge, singing about someone being toxic.
I wondered if the vaccinations they were giving the military could really protect them against a zombie bite. If it could, that meant the scientists probably knew what the virus was, how it reacted in the human body.
It probably meant they had prior knowledge of it.
Apocalypse Island.
The evidence pointed to the existence of such a place.
Tanya appeared at the top of the ladder. “Hey,” she said, climbing in next to me.
“Hey,” I replied.
“We’re going to have to get some food from somewhere,” she said. “The boat is empty. There’s a kitchen but no food.”
“It’s just a hire boat,” I replied. “I guess the customers had to bring their own food on board.”
“So show me how this works,” she said, pointing to the instrument panel.
“You want me to show you how to pilot her?”
She nodded.
“Okay, but I only know the basics. My friend showed me once, so we could still pilot the boat if anything happened to him.”
She gave me a sideways glance and I realised she was asking me to show her for the same reason Mike had shown me. If anything happened to me, they would need to know how to pilot the
Lucky Escape
.
As I talked Tanya through the gauges and controls, Britney finished singing and Johnny Drake’s smooth voice came over the airwaves. “That was Britney Spears and ‘Toxic’. Now here’s a song that goes out to all the survivors still out there. It’s Journey and ‘Don’t Stop Believing’.”
As the music began, I wondered if we were really going to be able to get into Johnny Drake’s studio and take over Survivor Radio.
Trying not to think of how difficult getting to Truro was going to be, I continued showing Tanya how to pilot the boat.
In case I didn’t make it.
eighteen
We saw the village on the coast two hours later.
Tanya was at the wheel, holding our course steady. The rain had eased to a light drizzle then disappeared completely and the dark clouds had blown inland to be replaced by fluffy white cumulus in the deep blue sky. The sun was doing a good job of evaporating the raindrops on the foredeck of the
Lucky Escape
where I sat watching the water and the distant coastline.
My hoodie and jeans were laid out on the deck along with a selection of clothing from everyone else. The fabric steamed in the heat. Sam had stripped down to his boxers and prowled around the deck looking like a modern day Tarzan, if Tarzan sported a soul patch. Tanya and Jax were in their bras and panties. They were both lean, muscled and toned—a pair of action girls who wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of a comic book.
I was the odd one out. I was in my boxers but unlike Sam, I had decided to keep my “Sail To Your Destiny” T-shirt on my body. It was uncomfortable and clung to me but I felt less self-conscious than I would if I were shirtless.
Besides, in the sun and breeze, everything was drying pretty quickly.
A gull dived into the waves and came up with a fish, reminding me how hungry I was. My mouth tasted of salt from the mouthful of sea water I had swallowed earlier.
The first indication of the coastal village was a small bay up ahead. The beach there was sandy and rocky with a small gravelled area beyond where two cars were parked. From there, a road led inland, flanked by grey stone houses.
I shouted up to Tanya, “There’s a village ahead. Might be worth checking out.”
She nodded and cut the engine. The sudden silence made me realise how comforting the constant hum of the engine had been. It was a reminder of civilisation. We had been sailing along, powered by manmade machinery, a link to the old world before the apocalypse. Now we were just floating on a piece of fibreglass and wood, playthings of the elements and the tide like ancient tribespeople paddling a fragile raft into a storm.
The anchor dropped, splashing heavily into the sea. The
Lucky Escape
shifted slightly then settled on the gentle waves.
Tanya came down the ladder and stood on the aft deck shielding her eyes from the sun. “Looks promising,” she said, scanning the village. She went into the living area and brought out the binoculars she had taken from the marina store. She inspected the village through the lenses. “I can’t see much except the beach, two cars, and a few houses.”
“A good place to look for food,” Jax suggested.
I nodded. “We need supplies and it doesn’t look too bad from here. Maybe it was evacuated or something. Maybe the army cleared the people out and moved on.”
Tanya lowered the binoculars. “It looks pretty isolated. Maybe the army never came here and everybody in the village is still there, hiding in their houses.”
“Or turned,” Sam added. “An isolated village full of zombies. That would make a good horror movie.”
As if we weren’t already living in a horror movie day by day. I had tried to imagine the village as deserted, all the houses empty, but now Sam’s comment worried me. The village seemed almost too quiet. It was dry and warm so there should be at least a few nasties roaming the beach or the road.
I remembered the zombies Lucy and I had encountered on
The Hornet
. Unable to reach humans, they had waited for their victims to come to them, biding their time until the time was right to strike and spread the virus.
Did a rotting, undead corpse lurk behind every door of every house in the village? If so, going there was suicide.
“We don’t have a choice,” Tanya said as if reading my mind. “We need food and this looks as good a place as any. Alex, you and Jax take the Zodiac and see what you can find.”
The Zodiac was a dark blue and white inflatable boat that was tied to the foredeck. It had a small outboard motor and looked like it could carry four people. I didn’t know why Tanya had decided Jax and I should take it ashore. Wasn’t there strength in numbers?
“We’ll empty the rucksacks so you can take those with you,” Tanya said. “Bring back as much as you can carry.”
“And if we get in trouble?” I asked.
“Then run back with as much as you can carry.”
I didn’t find her remark funny but I wasn’t about to argue. She knew how to pilot the boat now. I wasn’t really needed. I certainly didn’t bring strength to the group and my ultimate goal was different to theirs. They wanted to get a message out to all the survivors; I only wanted to reach Lucy and find my brother.
If I argued too much or became a burden, I could find myself being thrown overboard like Williams.
So I went over to the Zodiac and started to untie it. It looked sturdy enough. It had an aluminium floor and a bench seat. The sides were inflated but looked sturdy enough. There was a logo that said “Zoom” on the sides and on the front. The engine that had been fitted to this one was small but the craft was light so I guessed it would go fast enough for our purposes, as long as that didn’t include outrunning army mortars.
Jax had put her jeans, boots, and white T-shirt on. She came over to help me.
“I hope you don’t mind going with me,” I said.
“You watch my back and I’ll watch yours and we’ll be okay,” she replied, untying a cord and pulling the Zodiac free.
I put my damp jeans and boots on and the four of us carried the inflatable boat to the rear of the
Lucky Escape
. We got it over the side and when it was in the water, Sam tied it to the aft ladder. Jax and I descended the ladder and climbed on board.
I sat on the bench and Jax knelt by the outboard motor while Sam went to fetch our weapons. He returned with our baseball bats and handed them down to us. I lay them on the aluminium floor of the Zodiac.
Tanya threw the four empty rucksacks down and I stowed them next to our weapons.
“You want to take anything else with you?” Sam asked, offering us his tire iron.
I shook my head. “No, I’m fine with the bat.” I didn’t want to be weighed down by anything except a backpack full of food. Jax also refused the offer of his weapon and started the outboard engine.
It was noisy and spat out white smoke that smelled of oil and petrol. Jax grabbed the tiller and guided us away from the
Lucky Escape
.
The Zodiac cut through the water towards the beach.
As we reached the sand, I jumped out and waded ashore with the boat’s mooring rope. Someone had tied a heavy rock to the rope already so I made a hole in the sand and buried the rock in it. I didn’t want to risk the boat floating away with the tide.
Jax tilted the engine forward to keep the propeller from hitting the sand and rocks then she grabbed the empty backpacks and baseball bats and jumped out to join me on the beach.
We slung the backpacks over our shoulders and stood silently on the sand for a moment, listening and evaluating our situation.
All I could hear was the gentle rush of waves breaking on the beach. A slight smell of rotting meat hung in the warm air but that didn’t necessarily mean there was a village full of zombies here.
Jax looked at me. “You ready?”
I nodded with more confidence than I felt. “Ready.”
We moved up the beach to the parking area. One of the cars was a white Nova, the other a metallic red Toyota Camry.
As we approached, a sudden movement in the Nova surprised us both and we jumped back. Two rotting blue-skinned faces appeared in the back window of the car, their hateful yellow eyes fixed on us. They banged on the windows with their fists, leaving smears of blood and flesh on the glass.
“Don’t worry, they can’t get out,” Jax said. “They scared me though.”
“Yeah,” I said. The sudden appearance of the two zombies worried me. They had waited there quietly until we were close. If not for the car windows, they would have grabbed us.
How many more of them were hiding in the village?
We readied our bats and walked past the cars towards the houses.
nineteen
The village was no more than a single street lined with thirty or so houses built of grey stone and with small fenced-off front yards, a post office and a pub. The street was deserted. A few cars were parked here and there but there was nothing to indicate that anyone was in the houses. Most of the curtains were closed and through the windows where they weren’t, I could only see glimpses of empty living rooms. A dead meat smell hung in the air.
“It’s too quiet,” Jax whispered.
“Let’s just find some food and get out of here,” I suggested.
She nodded. “Which house do you want to try first?”
I indicated the nearest house with open curtains. For some reason, the houses that had closed themselves off from the street seemed more dangerous. What if the people in them had closed the curtains as they had fallen ill and died? What if they were roaming the rooms behind those curtains?
“Let’s go,” Jax said. Then she saw something at the end of the road and put a hand on my arm. “What’s that?”
I looked up the road. Past the houses, the street intersected with a wider road that was probably what was considered to be a main road in this rural area. Beyond that road, a low stone wall marked the boundary of a field. Part of the wall was missing. It looked like a vehicle had driven off the road and into the field. Beyond the gap in the stones, a green army truck lay on its side.
“I wish we’d brought the binoculars,” I said. “I can’t see it clearly. Looks like an army truck.”
“We should investigate,” Jax said, setting off along the street.
Walking farther from the beach, from the Zodiac, didn’t seem like a good idea to me but I had no choice. I couldn’t let her check out the army vehicle alone. I caught up with her and kept a wary eye on the houses we passed as we made our way along the street. I was keenly aware of the growing distance between us and the Zodiac.
The pub was called The Fisherman’s Rest. Its wooden sign was dark green with the pub’s name in gold letters beneath a painting of a fishing trawler sailing on a sunlit sea. I looked into the windows. It was gloomy inside. I could see the bar and the beer pumps and a few tables. There was no movement.