Shaun Harbinger - Rain

From what I guessed about zombies, I had no doubt that they would come out into the rain if they thought they had a chance of catching prey. The herd I had seen in the supermarket had stayed inside because I was too far away from them to be caught easily. I would run and get away. So their conditioning told them to stay out of the rain.

But the way Mary and Dan had laid their trap on The Hornet, hoping to lure people to open the door, then smashing down the door when that didn’t work, made me think that these ‘rules’ the zombies followed weren’t rigid. They were adaptable to specific situations.

In general, they didn’t come out in the rain but if there were easy prey they would. It would be in the virus’s best interests to infect another human even if it meant quicker decay of the host that it used as an attacker. That host might decay faster after getting wet but now there was a new zombie to help spread the virus. The math made it worth the risk, probably.

So these monsters taking shelter on the ground floor of the lighthouse would wait until we got too close to run away easily and then they would attack.

“Be careful,” I said to Mike and Lucy.

Mike was the first to reach the doorway. He swung his steel bar and it slammed into the skull of a zombie in a wetsuit, sending the creature down to the ground like a dead weight.

Two more came staggering out, their primitive senses obviously sensing that we were now close enough to kill. Lucy swung the axe up and it cut through the jaw of a woman in a sundress. Her face split in two as the axe blade travelled up into her brain.

I stepped forward to deal with the third attacker, a man in a ‘Sail To Your Destiny’ T-shirt and jeans. I wondered if he was an employee at the marina store. He had no stock to sell now, I had taken it all. I swung the bat as hard as I could at his head. He fell heavily and lay twitching on the ground. His eyes stared up at me with hatred. He was still alive… whatever alive meant to these creatures… but his neck was broken and he couldn’t move. He lay there gnashing his teeth at nothing in particular.

The remaining two came staggering out, arms reaching for us. Mike smacked one down with the bar and Lucy axed the other in the top of the head.

We stood in the rain, letting it wash their black blood and blue flesh from our clothing. The smell of death and putrefaction hung thickly in the air.

We went inside and I removed my diving mask before it got misted up. From the floors above, we could hear them moving about, shuffling around and moaning. It sounded like there were dozens of them up there. And I somehow knew one of them was Elena.

I couldn’t see my best friend experience the pain of seeing her again. I would do anything to spare Mike that torture.

He was staring up the steps, swallowing hard. He knew she was up there.

Outside, the storm passed over and the rain slowed to a gentle trickle before stopping completely.

“Come on,” Harper said from outside the doorway. “Get up the steps. My safe is on the third floor. There’s plenty more killing to be done yet.”

Mike took a deep breath and put a boot on the lowest step. The pain etched on his face killed me. No more.

I reached into my jacket and gripped the handle of the flare gun. I yanked it out, arced it towards Harper and pulled the trigger.

The flare shot at Harper like a rocket, leaving a snaking trail of smoke in its wake.

He jumped to one side as soon as he saw me aim the gun at him but the flare was propelled with such speed it hit him in the thigh, sending him tumbling to the cement. He cried out in surprise, clutching his leg. The flare bounced off his trousers and shot up into the sky.

Mike was out the door and on Harper like a wild animal, straddling the survivalist with both legs, fist raised. He hit Harper in the face. The blow made Harper’s nose erupt with vivid red blood.

“You fucker!” Mike shouted over and over, bringing his fists down again and again.

“Please,” Harper begged, trying to shield his bloody face with his hands, “no more.”

“Mike, we need to get out of here,” Lucy said. We could hear the zombies coming down the steps from above. We had to get out of here now.

He looked up at us. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “What about him?”

Harper looked pathetic cowering beneath Mike, his face a bloody mess. I had tried to kill him a moment ago but only to spare Mike the pain of seeing Elena. If we didn’t move right now and get back to The Big Easy, all that would have been in vain. The zombies were right behind us. Their heavy footfalls thudded on the steps. I tried not to make out Elena’s voice among the hungry groans.

“Bring him with us,” I said, desperate to leave. “We can deal with him later.”

Lucy cast a worried look over her shoulder into the lighthouse. “Alex, we need to go now!”

I wondered if she saw Elena back there. I didn’t have time to look.

I rushed forward and helped Mike get Harper to his feet. Taking an arm each, we hustled him along to his boat. Lucy took up the rear, urging us to, “Move, move, move!” I could hear the zombies behind us, coming out of the lighthouse and shuffling across the cement towards us.

We got to the boat and lay Harper on the deck. He was conscious but dazed. Blood from his nose stained the front of his sweater and his eyes seemed unfocussed.

Lucy grabbed the mooring rope and threw it aboard, following it quickly. Mike rushed into the cabin and started the engines.

As we backed away into deeper water, I risked a look at the zombies on the rocks.

There she was. Elena.

She stood at the water’s edge. Her T-shirt was ripped and bloody, hanging off her in tatters. The left side of her neck was a big black gash, dark against her mottled blue skin. Her eyes glared at us with no recognition, only hunger. To her, we were no longer friends she had survived with. We simply were prey.

“Oh, God,” I whispered.

“I hope Mike doesn’t see her,” Lucy whispered back, closing her eyes as if she couldn’t bear to see Elena like this any longer.

In the cabin, Mike stiffened. He looked at the herd of zombies. There was no way he didn’t recognize Elena standing there.

He said nothing. He simply reversed the boat into deep water then turned her around and headed for The Big Easy.

“Should we mention it?” I asked Lucy.

“Only if he talks about it first. Otherwise, we keep quiet.”

We sat silently in the back of the boat while Mike piloted us to The Big Easy.

He pulled up alongside the ladder and Lucy climbed out. As she ascended to the deck, Mike came over to me. There were tears in his eyes. He had seen Elena. No doubt about it. “Hey, man, give me that flare gun so I can cover Harper.”

I handed him the gun.

“And a flare, man.”

I gave him a flare. “You need any help with him?”

“Nah, he won’t put up much of a fight. You get on board The Big Easy, man.”

I put a hand around the cold metal of the ladder. I turned to him. Something didn’t feel right. “You OK, Mike?”

“I’m fine, man.”

I climbed the ladder and as I put my feet on the deck, I heard the engine of Harper’s boat rev up. Mike piloted the craft out into the water off our stern.

He started taking the caps off the petrol cans and pouring the liquid over the boat.

“Mike, what are you doing?”

Lucy joined me at the railing. All we could do was watch as Mike doused Harper’s boat in petrol.

“Mike!” Lucy shouted.

He ignored us, his eyes fixed on the zombies on the rocks as he covered the deck with gasoline. The smell reached us, so strong I felt like retching.

“Oh my God, Alex, stop him!” Lucy pleaded.