Shaun Harbinger: Storm

“We need to move now while the hybrids are distracted by the boat,” I whispered to Jax and Johnny.

We swam for shore as fast as we could. The screams continued on the boat, mixed with staccato gunshots and shouts of terror.

The hybrids swarmed onto the boat and I was sure nobody was left alive on board. As we emerged from the water and ran for the cover of the military Land Rovers parked near the buildings, I had to reappraise my earlier theory that zombies only bit a vaccinated person once. Maybe that’s what shamblers did but the hybrids, who shared the same vaccinated blood as their prey, tore their victims apart and devoured them. I could hear sickening sounds coming from the boat.

I ran for the buildings but Jax whispered urgently, “Here!” She opened the door of a Land Rover and got in. Johnny climbed into the passenger side and I climbed into the back. “The keys were on the dashboard,” Jax said. She jammed them into the ignition and started the vehicle.

Turning the steering wheel violently to the right, she turned us around and gunned the engine. A small road led between the buildings and she took it, driving us away from the harbour.

The road intersected with a wider road at a crossroads. Jax turned left.

“Are you sure this is the way?” I asked.

“No, but it should take us back to the water.”

The road curved between clusters of tall gas holders then wound towards the sea between tall trees, which bent in the strong wind.

A few splatters of rain hit the windscreen. Jax turned on the wipers. More rain hit the glass at a faster speed until it showered onto the screen so fast the wipers could barely deal with it.

Lightning briefly lit the landscape with a ghostly light then thunder boomed all around us. The storm had begun.

The road opened onto a slim sandy beach. Jax hit the brakes and the Land Rover slewed across the sand, coming to a halt at the water’s edge. From this location, the Lucky Escape seemed a long way away. The waves were high with white tips.

We got out into the lashing, cold rain. The sea crashed against the Land Rover’s tires and the thought of getting into that churning water seemed deadly.

As Jax and Johnny waded into the water, I looked along the slim stretch of wet sand for a boat, any kind of craft that would make the crossing to the Lucky Escape easier and less dangerous. What I saw made me rush into the water, joining Jax and Johnny in the ice-cold sea.

Four feral survivors were running towards us, brandishing machetes and big cruel-looking fishing hooks. They were dressed in dark sweaters and waterproof trousers and the look in their eyes was murderous.

I swam for my life, swallowing sea water as the waves pounded into me. The powerful rolling sea and the chill of the water sapped my strength, making it harder for me to keep my head above water. Soon I was gasping for breath between each mouthful of water, coughing to clear my airway. Struggling to survive.

I couldn’t see Jax or Johnny. I tried to focus on the Lucky Escape but she was so far away and she never seemed to get any closer no matter how much I splashed towards her. Like a mirage, she seemed to shimmer in my vision. I wondered if I was going to black out from lack of oxygen. Maybe sinking down into the depths wouldn’t be such a bad way to go. There were definitely worse.

I looked back at the beach. The hybrids had arrived and were feasting upon the bodies of the four feral survivors. Maybe death was preferable to the madness those fishermen had endured, living every insanity-laced day killing others in a frenzy of bloodlust. Now they were at peace. Their apocalypse was over.

I tried to relax, let the insistent rolling of the sea gently toss me over the waves. I kicked my legs and moved my arms slowly, concentrating on just staying afloat. If I got through this, I had to make a sling for the baseball bat so I could put it over my shoulder; its weight and length hindered every move I made.

Lightning cracked the air, followed by a boom of thunder. The rain hit me like a thousand angry needles. I wasn’t made for this. My life of exclusively sedentary pleasures was about to catch up with me and send me to a watery death.

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t give up now. I had to see Lucy again, had to believe she had heard my message and would be at the lighthouse. I refused to die before I saw her face again.

Resisting the urge to let myself sink into the dark depths, I let go of the bat and let the waves wash it away so I could concentrate on swimming. My slow breaststroke was bad enough without the hindrance of holding the bat in one hand. I looked up at the Lucky Escape and my heart lifted slightly. Her lights were on. Someone had reached her. Probably Tanya and Sam, since I doubted Jax or Johnny could swim that fast.

Tanya and Sam had a head start on us. Maybe the reason I couldn’t find a rowboat on the beach was because they had already taken it.

The thought that they were waiting on the Lucky Escape for me lifted my spirits. I barely knew these people but we had banded together against a common enemy and helped each other survive. In the face of the zombie and hybrid threat, we had been there for one another.

I hadn’t fit into the world before the apocalypse and I certainly didn’t fit into it now but these people had helped me, just as I had helped them by thinking up reasons for zombie and hybrid behaviour. That knowledge could help us one day, I was sure of it.

The Lucky Escape seemed closer now. I could hear voices calling me from on board. “Come on, Alex. You can do it.”

I was utterly exhausted. The boat was no more than fifty feet away but it might as well have been fifty miles. I pulled myself through the water with the last of my strength but my arms felt dead. I wasn’t sure if I was still kicking my legs or not because they were so cold I couldn’t feel them anymore.

Somehow I made it to the boarding ladder and grabbed the cold metal rungs. I looked up. The top of the ladder looked so far away. I closed my eyes and conjured up a picture of Lucy’s face. If I wanted to see her again for real, I had to get up this ladder.

I pulled myself up and got my boot on the lowermost rung.

Sam and Tanya appeared at the top of the ladder, leaning over the edge of the aft deck, reaching down for me.

“Take our hands, man,” Sam said.

I shook my head. At least, I think I shook my head, I wasn’t sure. I concentrated on getting my other boot on the next rung. Then the next.

I had to do this myself. If I gave each step every ounce of strength in my body, I could ascend the ladder.

As I got to the top rung, I fell forwards and lay in a pool of saltwater and rainwater on the aft deck, gasping, coughing, and shaking.

I was alive.

And I was determined to stay that way.

I had a job to do.

I had to find Lucy.

By the next morning, the storm had blown inland, leaving the sky blue and clear. The sun beat down on the Lucky Escape and we hung our wet clothes from various railings and lines to get them dry. That meant we were all in our underwear again and I was feeling self-conscious.

I had spent the night shivering naked beneath the blankets in a small bed. Johnny had taken the other bed in the room and curled up beneath his blankets, teeth chattering. Eventually, we had fallen asleep.

Tanya had piloted us out of the inlet and into open water before she, Sam, and Jax took turns sleeping in the second bedroom and keeping a lookout on deck. They wanted to be sure the army didn’t send another boat looking for us. The barricade separated us from the river but a radio command from Truro to one of the marinas on the coast could mean a boat being dispatched from this side of the steel wall.