I ignored his grin and waited in silence as we drew closer to the light. The waves crashed against the reef, washing over the tower. Even if we managed to survive the landing, we would be at risk of being washed off of the rocks by a wave.
“Brace for impact!” Gregg’s grin was infectious. “I always wanted to say that.”
We were thrown forward as the boat's momentum stopped rather abruptly, a grinding coming from beneath us, audible even over the storm. I pushed myself away from the console and rubbed at my ribs where I had collided with the console.
“After you,” Gregg said, his voice a little shaky. He stopped me as I reached the door. “Should we unload the people in the cargo hold?”
“No.”
A single word that was enough to tell him that we couldn’t risk it at all. While in the hold, they were safe. Unless the boat broke apart or it sank, they would be safer there than with us. If we tried to take them out, the chance of one being swept away to drown and wash up later was too high.
I pulled open the door, staggering back as a gust of wind caught me. Gritting my teeth, I leant into the wind and grabbed the doorframe, pulling myself up and out. The boat listed to port by a good fifteen degrees. Enough to make it awkward.
Gregg followed behind me, face screwed up against the wind and snow. We gripped the guardrail as we moved around to the bow.
“Wave!” Gregg screamed just a moment before it hit us.
I was slammed back, barely holding on to the railing with one hand as my other shot out to grab at Gregg as he was dragged past me by the force of the wave. I clung on with all of my strength, knowing that I didn’t want him to die.
As the wave receded, he stared up at me with wide eyes and an ashen face. I flashed him a grin and hauled him to his feet before ushering him forwards.
At the bow, we paused, both gripping the rail as tight as we could as we counted the seconds. The next wave came, crashing against the rocks and rising up and over the side of the boat. Icy water clawed at us, trying to pull us away from the rail to be dragged down into the darkness beneath the waves.
I gasped as it retreated and with shaking limbs, climbed over the railing, dropping down onto the slick rocks. The short distance we walked to the tower seemed to stretch for an eternity. We hurried across, determined to reach it before the next wave.
The tower door was unlocked, and I pulled it open, rushing in with Gregg behind me. He slammed it shut as the next wave hit and we stood for a moment in the darkness, shivering from the cold.
My numb fingers found the torch I carried in my coat pocket and I flicked it on, shining it around the room we were in. Nothing impressive, just a wide open space of bare stone with a fireplace at the far end of the room.
Beside it, a metal bin sat and I crossed to it, flipping open the lid and letting out a soft sigh of satisfaction.
“What is it?”
“Wood, blankets and some basic supplies,” I said. “Probably from back before the fall of the world.”
“B-build a f-fire then,” Gregg managed through chattering teeth.
Moving as quickly as I could, I stacked the wood in the fireplace, adding tinder and a little of the oil that had been left for just that purpose. A few strikes of a match and the tinder caught flame, beginning to burn despite the wind coming down the chimney.
“Get undressed,” I said and began to pull my own clothes off without hesitation.
“W-why?”
“Can’t sit in wet clothes. We’ll freeze.”
“B-bloody freeze w-without clothes.”
Despite his complaint, he did as instructed and began pulling off his clothing. As I removed the last of mine, I pulled out the blankets and then turned to see my shivering friend pulling the last of his clothes off.
“N-now what?”
“Lie down in front of the fire.”
One blanket went to the floor to shield us from the cold stone. Then, I lay down beside Gregg, pressing myself up against him.
“Need to conserve body heat,” I said as wrapped the other blanket around us both.
Gregg didn’t reply, just lay there staring at the fire as he shivered. One of the problems of a post-apocalyptic rationing diet was that neither of us had any real body fat to help keep us warm. We had a few hours till dawn and rescue, so all we could do was keep feeding the fire and save what heat we could.
It would be a long night.
Chapter 7
Despite the snow that blanketed the town and the cold that seemed to reach down to your bones, the docks were fairly busy. There were many people wandering around in the snow, watching the boats being loaded with personnel and equipment.
I shaded my eyes and stared out at the Tower of Refuge, my breath misting the air before me. It had been a long, sleepless, night and I was beyond exhausted. Despite that, I was determined to wait for the rescue boats.
News had spread, as it seemed to do and as I waited, more people turned up. In the short time that we had been on the island, I had instituted some changes. A list of jobs and tasks had been drawn up and another list of all of the people and their skills too.
People were matched to various jobs and given a simple choice. Work or leave. It sounded harsh, but we were fighting for our lives and there was no room for people unwilling to do their part. It helped that most of those jobs they were given didn’t take up too much of their time.
We had more people than we needed so most people had a couple of hours of work a day, at most. It had become quickly apparent that we needed more things to occupy people and so we had begun filling the day with sports, exercise, games and social clubs, support groups and all manner of other busy work.
Which is why I wasn’t surprised to see so many people listlessly wandering around the docks, eager for some fresh entertainment.
“Are you concerned about the election?” Samuel asked quietly.
“What! No?” I looked at him and he smiled gently. “Why do you ask?”
“You look annoyed. If you looked concerned, I would imagine it was because of Ryan. When you look annoyed it is due to the island.”
“No.” I couldn’t help the burst of laughter. I’d no idea I was so transparent. “Just wondering why these people aren’t doing something more productive.”
“They are curious. That is not a bad thing.”
“Maybe.”
I’d spent a lot of time coming up with ideas for how to keep everyone happy and busy. Curious or not, it still annoyed me when they weren’t doing something productive.
“About the election…”
“Not now,” I said with a little more bite than I intended. I offered a thin smile of apology. “Later. Let’s just make sure they’re okay first, yeah?”
“Of course, My Lady.”
“Don’t go all bloody formal on me.”
His lips twisted teasingly, and I sighed and rolled my eyes. He was a good man, despite his strange religious beliefs, and I liked him. More than that, I considered him family.
“Vanessa is here,” I said with a nod of my head towards the docks.
A handful of people were following behind the tall doctor, carrying boxes of equipment. From what I gathered, she would have a full hazard suit in amongst that gear too. I didn’t envy her.
There were two boats going across to the reef. One would pick up Ryan and Gregg, putting them into isolation until it could be determined that they were free of infection. I didn’t envy them their next few days of blood tests and invasive procedures.
The other boat was set up to hold the people from the trawlers hold. It would head straight to a secured dock where armed naval personnel would escort them to a medical facility where they could be quarantined.
I was determined that there would be no incidents like the Briony disaster and had made that very clear to the Admiral and Vanessa both.
“Your people are in place?” I asked with a quick look at the older man.
“Yes. Forty of my best, surrounding
the medical centre. No one will go in or out without our consent.”
If anyone escaped from the quarantine, somehow avoiding the naval and CDF soldiers, they would come up against a wall of the Dead. I almost felt sorry for any who tried.
“They understand…”
“Yes. If any should escape, those who contain them will end up in quarantine. We understand what that might mean.”
A shiver ran through me and not from the cold. The fanaticism of the Dead was growing day by day. They truly didn’t seem to care whether they lived or died and that scared me. More so because Ryan was their leader.
It worried me that he would start to believe in his own legend. His ego was already too large as it was. I didn’t need him to start believing he was the personification of Death.
For the moment, he wasn’t. He’d formed the cult with the express purpose of serving his needs and that hadn’t seemed to change. They were a useful tool for him and nothing more. Samuel seemed to understand that but had worked it out somehow in his own mind in such a way that it made him even surer than before.
At some point, preferably far into the future, that was going to come to a head. The belief of the Dead versus a leader who didn’t believe in anything. I had no idea what would happen but I was fairly sure it would be cataclysmic.
“I have sent some extra acolytes to watch over the twins,” Samuel said quietly. “They will allow Evelyn to rest.”
As he said her name I cocked one eyebrow and grinned at him. She wasn’t especially pleased with Ryan these days, though that seemed to be changing, but no matter, Samuel took it personally. He had decided that he didn’t like her.
“Thank you.”
I did chuckle then. I had just thanked him for sending death cultists to play childminder of my babies. At any other time in my life, that would have sounded ridiculous. Now it was just a normal part of my life.
The weirdest part was that I knew for a fact that they would be perfectly safe with those cultists. No harm would come to them.
“My life if weird.”
He didn’t laugh, he rarely did, but he smiled. It was the indulgent smile a father would give a daughter and behind it was the pain of a loss that I couldn’t even begin to imagine. I had children of my own now and the thought of losing them made my heart ache in a way it never had before.
That first night, as I held them, exhausted from eighteen hours of labour, I had finally understood his fatalism. He had lost his own family and there was nothing left for him in this life. I had pulled my babies closer and wept at that thought.
“They’re setting out,” Samuel said, and I dismissed all other thoughts as I turned to watch those boats.
The one going for Ryan and Gregg was small. Barely big enough for six people with an engine strapped to the back. It sped through the still rough seas towards the reef, two hundred metres from shore.
I held my breath as they slowed, approaching carefully. Then gasped as the door to the tower opened and Ryan strode out, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Gregg followed behind him and together, they carefully walked across the rocks before climbing into the boat.
“We should go to the medical centre,” Samuel said, and I was sure that I detected relief in his voice too. “They will be taken straight there.”
I wiped my eyes with the back of one mitten-clad hand and nodded. They would be there before us but would need to go through certain quarantine procedures to ensure they were not a danger to the rest of us.
It would take a little time. Enough for us to make our way there. It wasn’t too far away, just the other side of the river. We’d have to walk as the thick snow that covered roof and road alike had bogged down our vehicles.
Cass met us before we had gone too far, and she wore a wide smile that was infectious.
“You saw then?”
“Yes. My idiot brother is safe.”
“Did you..?”
“It’s done,” Cass said, her smile slipping. “They have the results and will be announcing them soon.”
There it was. In a short time, I would no longer be the leader of our little band of refugees. I would be just another survivor and if the new regime chose to punish me for the things I had done when I was in charge, well, I wouldn’t stop them.
I had personally executed Minister Shahid and I had kept the news of Briony secret. It was my fault then that she had escaped and so many others had died. My failing and mine alone.
Dependent upon who was voted into power, I would either be left alone, imprisoned or exiled with Ryan and his cult. No matter what, having the election had been the right thing to do. We weren’t entirely safe, but we were as safe as we could be.
It was time for everyone to have a say in how they wanted the new world to be built. I wouldn’t start it with a dictatorship. Everyone had to work together and that meant giving everyone a voice in the way that was going to happen.
Another shiver ran through me and I glanced at Samuel. He didn’t think I knew about it, but I did. He had set a contingency plan. If things went bad and the worst candidate managed to get elected, then he would spirit the twins away to safety.
That was another reason he had sent the acolytes to watch over the twins. I knew him well enough to know that. I loved him for it too. He was a good man and I just wished he could see that himself.
“Where’s your bodyguard?” Cass asked.
“Lisa?” I looked across at Samuel.
“I have given her a task. I shall perform her duties for the moment.”
“There you go then,” I said to Cass with a smile.
She gave me a puzzled glance but shrugged and immediately forgot about it. Whatever Samuel had her doing wasn’t that important or I would have told her. I felt a little guilty about that because it was very much an important task and I wanted to tell her.
I couldn’t though, not just then.
We were the only ones walking out to where the boat was unloading my beloved and my friend. They were ushered straight into the medical facility a short distance away and I held back a sigh as the small army of black-clad warriors closed ranks around the low building.
They parted before us, of course, and the CDF soldiers guarding the doors opened them to let us through. A man wearing nurses scrubs directed us down a corridor and we passed several guard-posts before we were finally ushered into a room.
A plastic tent had been set up inside it. A generator pumped filtered air into the tent, and it had been sealed entirely. A doctor and a nurse, both wearing full containment suits, were inside the tent with Ryan and Gregg.
The nurse was putting their clothing into a bag that she then sealed up. It would be destroyed, most likely, as that was the safest option. The doctor was taking some blood samples from the two naked men.
Gregg saw us and yelped, face heating as he did his best to cover himself as his sister laughed. Ryan just looked up, eyes meeting mine as he smiled.
For the first time since he had left during the night, I felt at ease. He was back with me and safe. I stepped up to the plastic curtain and looked him up and down, looking for signs he was hurt.
“Hello, Lily.”
“Hello, Ryan.”
Chapter 8
I was bored, which was a problem. The air in the plastic tent was stale and the sound of the generator was intrusive and irritating. Gregg’s nervousness was wearing thin and the simple, paper, coverall we had been provided to wear was anything but comfortable.
We’d had several test-tubes of blood taken, along with swabs from the inside of our mouths. The nurse, dressed in a thick suit that covered her entirely, came in every half hour to take our temperature and check our vitals.
It was almost amusing watching Gregg whenever she came in. The containment suit she wore clearly worried him and while I could have offered some reassurance, his panic was the only amusement I was going to get.
Lily, Cass and Samuel had gone to see about their various duties, not least of which was c
hecking up on and feeding the twins. I found myself, quite oddly, noticing their absence. Since their birth, I had shared the care of them with Lily.
Each of us would take turns in bathing and settling the children and I would help in feeding when a bottle was the better option. It had become a routine and since I very much enjoyed routine, I had become quite used to it.
Since leaving the night before to head out on the helicopter and being trapped in the plastic tent for the past four hours, I was somewhat out of sorts. My routine had gone to pot and I found myself irritated and restless.
“How long you think we’ll be in here?”
I gave Gregg a listless shrug. I’d no idea and thinking about it would only annoy me more. “As long as is needed, no doubt.”
He thanked the nurse as she finished up her task and pushed himself to his feet, before pacing around the small, contained space. It seemed that it was not just I that felt trapped.
The door opened and Lily walked in with Cass following close behind. They had a handheld radio with them that they set on the table beside the two chairs a couple of soldiers brought in for them. I watched them curiously as they seated themselves and turned the radio on.
“What’s going on?” Gregg asked, moving towards the plastic curtain that separated them from us.
“Election results,” Cass said with a nod towards Lily. “Going to find out who the new boss is.”
That was a problem. If the election went poorly and I was trapped in containment, it would not be pleasant. Samuel would be ready to spirit away Lily and the twins, of course, but I would be prevented from leaving with them until I was sure that I was not contagious.
All of a sudden, I felt very much like an animal trapped in a snare, waiting for the hunter to come and finish me off.
Minister Shepherd's voice came over the radio and each of us turned our attention to it. She was perfunctory, moving past the pleasantries and straight on to business. She didn’t like me, but I had to admit to some respect for the miserable woman.
She didn’t brook fools and was as fair as anyone could be. When it had been proposed that she take control of the election process, there had been no arguments. I hadn’t been surprised. She was well regarded by the people.
Killing the Dead Season 3 Box Set | Books 13-18 Page 72