Shaun Harbinger: Storm

As we descended the stairs, we heard boots running along the hallway below.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and Jax stuck her head and arm out through the doorway, firing her rifle. The bursts of fire cracked the air in the enclosed space and made my ears ring.

Jax sprinted across the hallway into the room we had broken into earlier. She looked across at me. “Alex, put down some suppressing fire!”

I handed my bat to Johnny Drake and shoved my rifle out through the doorway, pointing it along the hallway and squeezing the trigger. It spat out bullets and kicked in my hand. The soldiers in the reception area took cover.

Sam went across the hallway with Johnny and Cheryl as I continued to let off bursts of deadly bullets. The windows in the reception area shattered.

Tanya went across and beckoned me to follow.

I leapt into the room. Sam closed the door and pulled the vinyl sofa across it. “We’re out of here, man,” he said as he ran for the broken window.

We went out onto the cement walkway one at a time. By the time it was my turn to climb through, the soldiers on the other side of the door slammed into it. The sofa slid across the carpet.

“Give me that,” Sam said, grabbing my rifle. He let off a burst of rounds at the door. The pushing from the other side stopped.

Dropping down into the Zodiac was easier than climbing out of it. With six people, it was a tight squeeze but we found our places and sat tight while Jax started the engine and turned us around in a wide arc so we faced downriver.

As we started out of the city in a cloud of gasoline-tinged engine smoke, Sam pumped his fist into the air. “We fucking did it, man!”

I couldn’t share his enthusiasm. I was glad to be alive but I had no idea if Lucy had heard my message. The meeting place I had suggested worried me.

The lighthouse where Mike and Elena had met their deaths.

Somewhere I had vowed to never return.

The rain began to fall from the night sky as we approached Falmouth Harbour. I wished the heavens had broken earlier so we didn’t have to endure seeing the rotting mass of zombies lining the river banks. I was sick of them. I wanted to take the rifles and fire every last bullet into the crowd of yellow-eyed monsters. It would be a waste of ammunition and even if every bullet delivered a killing headshot, it wouldn’t make any difference to the huge population of zombies but it might make me feel better.

Instead of actually carrying out my plan to waste all of our bullets to fight the depression that was dropping over me like a heavy, dark blanket, I just closed my eyes and thought about it while Tanya and Sam filled Johnny and Cheryl in on the events of the last few days.

I had already heard Johnny say that he never had access to the Survivor board—the list of survivors and camps—and that he was given the Survivor Reach Out recordings on data sticks. He had no idea which camp they came from or when they were recorded.

After hearing that, I tuned out.

I needed to get my hands on one of the networked military laptops if I was to have any chance of finding Joe.

The harbour looked as deserted as it had earlier except for the drowned hybrid bodies floating face down in the water by the boats. The ones that hadn’t jumped in after us had disappeared. Probably hiding in the shadows of the buildings. The hybrids seemed to go into a dormant state when there was no prey around. They found a place out of sight and stayed there until triggered into action by sound or movement.

I thought back to the hybrid in the village, standing in the middle of the road waiting for us. He hadn’t been hiding because he knew the prey was already aware of his presence. But when he first saw us, he was hidden in the trees at the edge of the field.

As we got closer to the metal barricade, I stared at the shadows between the buildings, waiting for a tell-tale movement. There was none.

“We’re going to have to get the boat over the jetty,” Tanya said. “And we’re going to have to do it fast. Those bastards are around here somewhere.”

Sam picked up one of the L85s. “No problem, man. We’ve got guns now.”

Tanya picked up the other rifle and nodded. “Only shoot if you have to. We need to preserve ammo.”

“You got it,” Sam replied.

Jax steered us around the floating bodies to the steps that ran up to the top of the jetty. Sam took the rope and jumped out onto the lowest step, pulling the Zodiac towards him. We grabbed our weapons, Johnny taking Tanya’s crowbar and Cheryl picking up Sam’s tire iron. We all got out and picked up the boat, carrying it on our shoulders as we ascended the steps. Once we were past this obstacle, we would be back on the Lucky Escape . I could hardly wait. My nerves were frayed. I felt exposed out here.

Not long now. Just get across this jetty and we’d be safe.

But as we got to the top of the stairs, all hell broke loose.

Sam was in the lead and he was the first to react. He shouted, “No!” and let go of the Zodiac as he brought his rifle up. The boat crashed down on one side as Sam started firing.

The hybrids were everywhere, getting up from where they had been lying on the cement jetty. They had been silent and patient while we blindly stumbled into their trap.

I realised with a sudden cold clarity that in our absence, they had not gone into a dormant stage at all.

They were waiting for us.

The Zodiac crashed to the steps then slid into the water.

Sam brought up his rifle as a hybrid leapt at him. The gun spat twice and the hybrid crumpled at Sam’s feet.

Tanya joined Sam and began shooting into the mass of yellow-eyed ex-soldiers. The ones they hit dropped to the cement but there were so many others, it was only a matter of seconds before they would overwhelm us by sheer numbers.

We had no choice but to get back onto the Zodiac. Sam and Tanya were already backing down the steps as they fired into the advancing hybrids.

The Zodiac’s rope floated on the water like a dead snake. I grabbed it and pulled the boat closer to the steps.

I didn’t need to tell anyone that the Zodiac was our only chance of survival. Cheryl and Jax jumped on board, followed by Johnny and myself. Tanya and Sam came backwards down the steps, the L85s kicking and spitting in their hands. Hybrid bodies littered the steps.

Jax pulled on the starter cord. The engine spluttered and died. She shouted, “Come on!”

Tanya and Sam continued shooting until they both ran out of ammo.

There were still dozens of hybrids on the jetty.

They leapt into the Zodiac and Jax pulled the starter cord again. The engine coughed out a cloud of gasoline smoke. Jax tried again but the engine still did not start.

Sam and Johnny grabbed the metal oars from the floor of the boat and used them to push us away from the jetty before beginning to row us out into the harbour.

We weren’t going to put the distance between us and the hybrids in time.

Two hybrids jumped from the steps and grabbed the side of our boat. They attempted to scramble on board but I swung my bat into the skull of the one closest to me and it collapsed into the water.

Sam jammed his rifle butt into the face of the other, sending it sprawling backwards. It still held onto the boat with one hand until Sam smashed its fingers with the butt and the hybrid sank into the depths. Sam picked up the oar again and rowed furiously to get us farther from danger.

Four more hybrids jumped down on us. One of them missed the Zodiac entirely and splashed into the water. Two landed short but managed to hook their arms over the side of the boat. Sam and I went to work on them. I smashed the bat down on the head of the one closest to me. The impact was so hard it sent a blast of pain through my hands and wrists and up my arm. The hybrid sank into the water, leaving a stain of blood spreading across the surface.